Chapter 5: Spring Snows

Ruby the Bankert

"Hey that's my journal!" Ruby shouted the sense of nervousness and mortification all hitting her at once. That journal was most certainly private, all her most intimate and personal writings were etched into that fine little red notepad. So many little stories starring her and another member of her team meant for no one else to read. A very special member who would kill her if said person read any of those inscribed short stories. "Give it back!" Yes she needed it back now, immediately, post-haste. With a blush as fine as a can of cherries, Ruby bolted forward, rushing the strange man in their room. What was the worst that could happen? He could kill her. Not as bad as if her girlfriend found out she had been writing pirate fiction about them.

The older man put up no fight, tossing the journal in the air and taking a quick step to the side. Ruby caught her diary midair, giving herself enough time to flip and land upside down on the floor, clutching her journal vigorously for dear life. All her secrets were safe, and though Ruby felt embarrassed knowing she would have to explain that, she knew it would be better than explaining Reiss at Sea.

"You know Miss Rose, your writing is not so bad. In time I think you can write something great. You must watch your technicals, poor grammar will give the reader the impression you don't care. All things considered I give it about a 4 out of-"

"Please stop!" Yelp Ruby still a mess on the floor, clutching her notebook in a vain hope that he would just shut up and go away. Ruby opened her eyes to look at Weiss afraid she had caught on, but instead of finding her girlfriend staring annoyed at her the Heiress was locking eyes with fury in full force, all on the mystery man who she seemed to know.

"Zawisza, no more games, what are you doing here?!" Weiss spoke, nearly screamed really, at the man called Zawisza. Ruby had seen her like this before, all her weight shifted to her back foot and arms crossed in displeasure. The man, dressed in fine white smiled scratching the back of his head, nervously acting like a little kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

"You know this guy Weiss?" Blake asked, stepping into place on Weiss' left, covering her flank. The Faunus kept her hand on the Gambol Shroud, expression chill but eyes tight with suspicion. Ruby just hoped they wouldn't completely destroy the room in a fight; the bed was really hard to get right after all.

"Should I escort the creep out?" Yang added stepping to Weiss' right slamming her fists together for emphasis. 'Well at least if we destroy the room we might get bigger one!' Ruby kicked herself into gear, with a flip landing perfectly ready for battle, hand on dearest Crescent Rose other brushing her skirt back into order.

"He works for my family. He's one of my father's enforcers." Weiss let out with a deep breath, lowering her arms, one hand going slack, the other resting firmly on her blade. Weiss was in total serious mode. Times like this Ruby felt like Weiss would make a far better leader than anyone seemed to think she could.

"I am a knight of Schnee, Sir Zawisza, and it is pleasure to meet you all." The apparent enforcer bowed at the mentioning, making light of it with a goofy sort of easy smile. "Like I said I'm here to see you, I have good news, you're all-"

"It's a sleepover friends. we are going to Castle White!" Penny shot up, reminding everyone that the bit of a sweetheart; bit of a weirdo was even here. She shot her hands out for emphasis, a little awkwardly and robotic as she did it.

"What?!" Everyone shouted in unison caught completely by surprise, this earning a knock on the wall from angry dorm room neighbors. Honestly with how much noise team RWBY always made, it was hard for Ruby not to feel bad for them.

"Penny is just a little excited." The older gentleman clarified in a soft apologetic approach, reaching over and patting Penny on the head, the strange girl looking back up at him with admiring eyes, seemingly thirsty for approval. "Lord Schnee has expressed an invitation for all of you to join him this weekend at a stay in Winterstown, all at his own expense." This time he spoke with a sort of fancy gravitas, announcing it more to the room than any specific member of team RWBY. Penny clapped, Blake glared suspicious, Weiss was taken aback, Yang smiled and Ruby eyes widened at the thought. She was going to have to meet Weiss' parents.

"Aww yeah, party at Weiss' house!" Yang shouted, first to be freed from the daze. Excitedly she ran to her duffle bag, throwing assorted goods in there as fast as she could. Ruby wanted to shake her. 'Dummy, this was not going to be some party'. Schnees were super rich and fancy. What could she wear even? Her combat skirt was the fanciest clothing she had, except maybe the school uniform. Would that be considered lazy? This was way too sudden and the panic made Ruby dizzy.

"You can't be serious… Sir… We aren't even allowed…" Weiss' seemed to choke something down, looking very awkwardly at Blake, giving out an apologetic sigh of discomfort. "allowed to have Blake over." Blake shut her eyes for a moment seeming to almost shiver at the line, but kept complete composure, only an annoyed frown on her lips to tell it upset her.

"Your father has decided to make an exception. A special vacation for team RWBY, a sort of thank you for taking care of our dearest Lady Schnee." Zawisza replied, emphasizing exception, he looked cheery and pleasant enough, but the way his stare lingered on Blake for a moment was a little creepy. Still it pacified Ruby's Faunus friend even if it seemed to make Weiss more unnerved. 'Wait Lady Schnee...does that mean?'

"Weiss you are a princess!" Ruby squealed, forgetting herself in the moment. She really was dating a princess, which meant she was a knight in crimson armor! The little huntress always wanted to be in a fairy tale.

"Shut up! I'm a lady not a princess and that rank hasn't mattered in twenty years." Weiss turned red blushing, but trying to keep her composure, crossing her arms in indignation. 'Such a cute thing.' If it wasn't for the creepy stranger, Ruby would tackle her right then and there.

"I think it fits you very well." The knight said rather sweetly causing Weiss to snap back to serious bossy mode and staring him down, even if the red still lingered on her nose and cheeks. Zawisza seemed delightfully oblivious, but it did not seem to give Ruby's girlfriend any comfort "Regardless I will be back to pick you up in an hour, should that be enough time to pick you all up. We will be taking airship and be there in time for dinner."

"And if they don't want to go?" Weiss finally asked, Ruby only starting to consider how this could actually be a bad thing.

"Oh I don't think that'll be a problem. I'm sure they wouldn't dare miss out on the chance." Zawisza finished clapping his hands together like a salesmen right about to seal the deal on a pinch. This however made Weiss furious, her teeth clenched in complete disgust, red faced and bitter.

"Leave." The Heiress ended, seeming to shove down anything else she would have preferred to say. Ruby felt a tenseness in her chest she couldn't describe, somehow there was another conversation going on between the lines of this one, she wasn't privy to. Somewhere there Weiss was arguing alone.

"Yes, my lady. Good day to you all." The Enforcer finished with all the courtesy one could expect of the high people in society. Though the mood didn't call for it, the actions and way this man talked made Ruby consider that modern Knights might be more like super butlers. "Come now Penny."

"Yes sir!" The seemingly robotic companion shouted giving her customary salute, stopping only to see Ruby for a moment. "Bye friend. We shall have lots fun." Salutations finished the emerald eyed girl skipped past Zawisza and out the door. The older man chuckled at this about to leave before Weiss cut him off.

"How are you involved with Penny?" Weiss asked, giving voice to what Ruby had wondered, but didn't think to ask. Penny sort of popped in and out of their lives, but this was a little weird. Weiss' inquiry stopped the older gentlemen for a moment, but he just shrugged his shoulders and went back to smiling.

"Do you think anything that expensive doesn't involve us?" With that he closed the door, leaving a mixed bag of emotions for Ruby and judging from Weiss' expression, a sense of defeat on the heiress.

"Shit." Weiss cursed, making Ruby's protective side kick in. Rushing over to her, the crimson huntress reach over and grabbed the Heiress' hands. Times like this a hug was too much for her, and Ruby was never good with words so this sort of touch was the only thing she could do. Weiss breathed, but didn't say anything. She was thinking, tense, but thinking. Of what Ruby just had to trust she would say in a moment.

The whole room fell silent, even Blake seemed to be in her own head, just resting her slim frame on on her bookcase. The only one making noise was Yang who was rummaging through things tossing clothes, dust, ammo, snacks and all sorts of stuff into duffel bags. "Well time to have some fun." The older sister remarked breaking the silence as she said it. Ruby could feel Weiss tense up angry, the pale nearly frozen hands gripping Ruby's tightly.

"This is not going to be fun." She said lowly, voice full of frustration. "All of you stay here; I'll go and try to deal with my father. I think I know what this is all about." Weiss tried to pull away looking all tough, but Ruby didn't let her. No she didn't let go, instead looked up at her girlfriends serious expression, up at that pretty little scar that no one knew the story of

"Is it me?" Ruby asked feeling a tight coil of guilt in her chest. What else could it have been? Weiss was near perfect, never let anything out and was super good at not getting the two of them caught. Ruby was the dangerous one, of course it was her fault, and that look of both frustration and hurt on Weiss' face told Ruby she had hit the nail on the head.

"Weiss. I don't think you can stop me invitation was for me too." Yang said with a smile and a wink, her bag already packed and ready to go.

"If Yang's going I need to make sure she doesn't make an uncivilized fool of herself." Blake added, turning away to pack her own things, shaking her head all the while.

"And I'm not leaving you alone." Ruby said herself. Letting go for now, but only to pack up and go face whatever trouble she had caused her partner. Team RWBY stuck together like every other time and Ruby was so proud of that.

"This is not some fun trip girls, my father doesn't do anything without reason." Weiss gave her final warning, looking to each of the girls, but they all were busy packing, getting ready for whatever would come.

"Heard ya." Yang said without a care, loading another bandolier of bullets into her golden gauntlets Ember Celica. "We're going princess, deal with it."

"Weiss...this is your house." And so it was, from above and below it the castle seemed impossible, cast in black and white. The stone only in a uniform state of glowing or utter darkness. It was nested above the oddly named city of Winterstown. It didn't seem like a town at all with all industrial with smoke and zooming lights from all sorts of vehicles, but the center was without unnatural light one side glowing by the moon bright the other pitch. It was breathtaking, a structure as massive as all of Beacon coupled with massive towers and rows of flying buttresses like a web of moonstone. What made it seem even more majestic was that here in the north it was still snowing. Drifting little drops of white light it seemed. This place was forever winter. "You must be a princess." The princess of Ice and Snow.

"It's not as impressive as it looks." Weiss whispered to Ruby, her hair fixed back to a very un-Weiss-like symmetric ponytail. She looked pristinely beautiful in the snow. There wasn't much time to appreciate it as a couple. Their feelings only really maturing at the height of winter, but here in the land of snowy spring, Ruby got to look at Weiss with her silver hair crested by small snowflakes, as a pair. Ruby didn't think about it, but as they got off the airship, as the two of them stood looking at the same Castle, one mystified, the other dreading, she reached out for her girlfriend's hand. Almost reaching it before...

"Everyone off. Right this way now. Lead the way Penny." The Knight's voice snapped her back to the world that was, not the fairy tale winter she just lost herself in. As if Weiss was a flame Ruby pulled away having been warned public affection was deadly here.

"Friend, this way." Penny motioned before grabbing Ruby and pulling her towards the gate, leaving Weiss to follow, kicking up a white trail as she fell behind them all. It should have been her hand gleefully taking Ruby back home. Penny seemed happy though, Yang equally so, the excited blonde bolting up the steps. Even Blake seemed impressed, trying to seem cool, but her eyes darted in every direction trying to take in the architecture, her ears back in her bow twitching. At the top of the steps, dressed in fine white furs was an older lady with the dimmest emerald eyes she had ever seen, though a gentle sort of happy air to her.

"My my, so these are my daughters friends." Ruby grew suddenly super nervous. The older woman was Weiss' mother, what would, what should she say? Was it too obvious to try and be talkative and immediately introduce herself, or maybe play it off as formal and cool? Instead she stood frozen, face starting to blush knowing she was making an awful fool of herself.

"Hi." Ruby finally muttered terribly afraid. People were so confusing.

"Heyo miss Schnee!" Yang called out kicking a pile of snow down at Blake. The Faunus dodged it of course, running up another two steps. Just for her to gently kick Yang in the shins.

"Sorry about that Ma'am, she doesn't know much in the way of manners. I'm Blake Belladonna and this is Yang." Blake said flat toned, but as soon as soon as Weiss' mom chuckled Ruby could see a small grin from on the Faunus' lips.

"Hello mother." Weiss stepped up to the group, her posture perfect prim and proper. She held her chin high and kept herself looking in control, But Ruby knew she was nervous. The red on her cheeks was not the cold, Weiss never gets cold.

"My Lady Schnee, you mustn't wait outside, it is much too cold." Zawisza said with certain gallantry rushing over to Ms. Schnee. the older woman brushed him off however, taking a step towards Weiss.

"Good to see you my dear, I'm glad you could make it back on such short notice." As her mother looked at Weiss, Ruby noticed it seemed to make the younger Schnee sad, even if a bit relieved to see a fairly cheerful mother greet them. Ruby knew she was a little happier about this, not as scary as what she had thought the Schnees were going to be like. They were still people and people were scary, but not that bad. "I just wanted to say that I'm so happy to see you, but we must come inside. It's too cold for you all outhere."

The inside was no better though. The moonstone hall had nonsensical holes at the top and while it bathed the scene in moonlight the opening also choked it with an icy atmosphere. The long hall of arches and openings ended at a stained glass window in the shape of the Schnee snowflake behind what was likely once a throne. Stairs led up both the sides and the hall was meant to hold an untold number of people. The moonstone glow made some things unspeakably bright while others dim and faded. Nothing ever had this effect that Ruby had seen, but the whole building seemed barren. Barren aside from giant stone knights whom stood silent every few feet. They seemed to have eyes that followed, specifically following Blake. Ruby could hear Weiss sigh as the whole group reached the end.

"Where is father?" Weiss said aloud standing before the glass crest of her family.

"Fixing your mess." A voice a thunder in the hall, something that garbed all in the rooms attention, including the previously thought inanimate statues.

"Father" Weiss muttered. Ruby swallowed upon hearing that. Up on the railings stepping down the stairs to them below was an incredibly tall gaunt man, someone that looked more a ghost than person. His hair was faded silver, his build tall, but skinny. He had the clearest blue eyes casting a glare on them all. It took all her might to keep Ruby from noping right out of there, her social anxiety hitting an all-time high. This was exactly what she feared, and he was coming straight their way.

"Mr. Schnee sir!" Penny immediately ran up to him excited like a child seeing their father come home. "Aufhören." A word Ruby could not understand came from his lips and with it Penny stop, turning into a statue just like the guards around them.

"Father, you called us all here very sudden we did not have time to prepare anything more formal." Weiss started stepping ahead and between the group, but the tall Schnee just walked right past her, making a straight line right for Ruby.

"You must be Ruby Rose." He spoke with a sort of dismissive displeasure. As if he disliked, but didn't care about Ruby all at once. Either way, Ruby felt so uncomfortable she spent the moment reacquainting herself with her shoes. "Look at me girl." He added, though Ruby did nothing, instead moved on to his shoes, much more expensive fine black leather. Somewhere in her thoughts, he did something Ruby wouldn't have expected. Not roughly but just as frighteningly he pulled Ruby's face up by the chin, looking down at her with studious blue eyes. Seeming to search for something. "So this is Summer's bastard."Ruby went wide eyed. 'mother...'

"Hey what do you think you're doing!" Yang screamed eyes already flooded red, only stopped by Zawisza who held her up trying to dust off her clothes and saying some sort of apology about too much dust on the airship. Ruby thought she would have clobbered him, if Weiss hadn't stopped everything.

"Father. They are our guests." Weiss cut in, pulling her father's hand away from Ruby. The elder Schnee smacked the younger's hand away glaring her daughter down with a look of resentment. Weiss in all her coolness did not back down in, returning that same look.

"So my daughter means to chastise me about the treatment of guest. Very well have it your way. All of you are welcome to make your way to the dining room; I will join you there shortly. Zawisza will carry your bags up to your rooms." Weiss' father began leaving as soon as he arrived, stepping back up the stairway, only stopping a moment by the frozen Penny. "Reactivate the android when you're done Zawisza will you." And with that he was gone.

"The nerve of that guy, you okay Sis?" Yang was all over Ruby the moment it was over, big sis a faithful mother bear to her all of her life. Weiss mouthed an apology, but did not move to embrace Ruby like Yang was, her mother was still in the room after all, awkwardly trying to calm things down.

"My apologies, my husband is under quite a bit of stress, you see one of the extended family is here to argue over inheritance practices and such. He did not mean such nastiness, Ms. Rose, like the flower right?" She seemed sweet enough bowing ever so slightly at Ruby in apology. She lacked a threatening persona, definitely the favorite of the two parents if Ruby had to choose.

"Just call me Ruby, Ms. Schnee. I'm your daughters...partner after all, she's kind of like my co-captain in a way. Thank you for letting us over." Ruby finally found herself a bit, trying to think of her own mom, what she would want to hear in times like this. Admittedly she really didn't have any idea, but it would be nice to think it was more stuff like this.

"Well thank you Ruby. Well enough dallying, he is right we do have dinner ready and waiting for you right this way."

The dining room was something else entirely. Bright with the light of at least a hundred candles and five fires, the room alone was eight by five dorm rooms in size, the walls decorated with scrolls of the Schnee snowflake. With fires burning in all four corners and one at the back, the room had hundreds of tables all finely clothes, but most empty. Sitting slightly above the rest was one large table in finer white cloth with silver snowflakes at the end. On this table was an entire splattering of nothing but food, more food than Ruby could conceive of this group even eating. Three servants all stood in waiting, but the entire team seemed dumbstruck, aside from Weiss who just began to walk towards the table.

"Who else is coming? This is so much!" Yang started running up to her own seat, finding a nice place by the table end next to a finely carved bird of some sort. Blake stood most distant, a mix of both distaste and mysticism from the look of it.

"Is this normal?" The Faunus asked settling on suspiciously cool. Ruby wondered what had offended her so much about the food, but Weiss seemed to know and looked back shaking her head no. Ruby wondered how true that was. All this rich people stuff was kind of astounding thinking of how Weiss had grown up in a building made for giants.

"Sit sit. I had everything prepared to be as varying as possible. I even had some more traditional Faunus dishes ordered in; I did not want anyone to go hungry!" The mother announced while pushing Ruby and Weiss into the seats next to each other opting herself to sit across from Ruby and next to Blake. Yang of course sat at the table end next to Blake and Weiss, wanting to reach the most possible food.

"Thank you for the special consideration." Blake replied scratching her bow at that. Probably not sure whether to find that somewhat touching or a tad bit ignorant, but opting to acknowledge the sweet attempt. Ruby felt a little better now, eating with everyone. She found enough courage to reach with her left hand over to Weiss' right, knowing that she was left handed and herself ambidextrous enough to eat with her right. The first attempt ended with Weiss swatting it away, but Ruby didn't give up, after another bite she tried again.

"So Ruby. I hear you are the youngest student at Beacon in recent history, must have been quite a feat." Weiss' mother asked looking at Ruby excitedly. Ruby would have wondered why her mother was always giving Ruby so much attention, but currently she was engaged in a hand war under the table and could not think much on it.

"I impressed Professor Ozpin and Goodwhich during an incident in Vale. So I went straight from my second year at Signal to my first at Beacon. Nothing Weiss couldn't do though, so I was just lucky." Finally Ruby got Weiss' hand, though her girlfriend preferred staring into a wall instead of looking at her while she did it. 'So cute.' She thought gleefully, intertwining her fingers with Weiss'.

"My sisters a total badass is all." Yang voiced opened mouth much to Blake and Weiss' mortification, though the compliment made Ruby blush,

"Yang! Watch your manners." Both of them shouted, which made Weiss' mother laugh pleasantly, though that did not stop the monochrome duo from glaring at Yang who in turn laughed at the whole thing. Truly the meal had been entirely pleasant, but the Castle was not destined to stay that way. Walking into the room, his knight directly in step was the father himself looking even more displeased and gaunt. Ruby didn't like it, instead she squeezed Weiss' hand as the Heiress tried to let go.

"I apologize; my second uncle, ingrate that he is, has been trying to convince me to alter my will in favor of his son. Fool should know better than to ask that." His own plate was small, a dutiful and sensible meal. His drink of choice clear water as opposed to the wine his wife sipped from. "On top of that another attempt by the White Fang on a shipment. Ended much more poorly for them than I think they would have wished." He ate with perfected manners, never speaking if even a microbe of food was in his mouth. He even kept his elbows off the table. No one keeps their elbows off the table.

"You could try fairly negotiating with them." Blake muttered only barely showing restrain. "Sir." She added trying to make it more polite. Weiss gave her a look, but it was too late. To his credit, the Lord of Castle White did not seem fazed or offended, instead continued chewing, only starting again once he finished chewing.

"Appease a dog by feeding it whenever it barks and that dog will never grow silent." Blake acted uneffect, but her fingers were clawed into the wood of the table. Now a silence had struck the table, one nobody seemed willing to end, except for of course the one person who simply didn't care.

"Hey thanks for having us over big guy, I really like the food, It's really going down good." Yang stated up, eating as she pleased while saying it; something that irritated Weiss to no end. "Hate to look a meal in the mouth, but what's got us going here on such short notice." Ruby thought Weiss would have tried to kill her sister if the Heiress wasn't anchored to her. Yang was a great big sis, but Ruby had a feeling this could only make things go bad quicker.

"Well" Lord Schnee noted with emphasis. "It's going down well." Yang shrugged off the correction to her grammar immediately, but Ruby felt that this was a real bad start. Now he thought Yang was stupid and rude. "I wanted to give all of you an opportunity to enjoy a weekend in Winterstown. After that, the three of you can return to Beacon richer for the experience. Simple, easy, painless." He said so with a very matter of fact tone, never an octave high or low. One might notice it as normal causal speaking had the older Schnee not stopped eating as if to properly discuss business.

"What do you mean the three of us?" Ruby asked believing she knew exactly what was meant by that and the sweat she felt begin to form in Weiss' hand meant her girlfriend thought the same. Blake noticed it too and stopped eating; even Yang noticed something wrong and looked to Ruby for clarification.

"Yes, Ms. Belladonna, Ms. Long, and you as well Ms. Rose."

"What about Weiss?" Ruby asked knowing full well the answer was told to her three times already, but whatever vain hope was there she wanted to see if maybe it was just a mistake. They had been right to not let Weiss go by herself. He means to...

"I have tried my best to speak with only pleasantries as my daughter so insisted, but to speak most clearly to you Bankert. Weiss will be staying here, to continue her studies under private tutors or in one of the many other schools, perhaps in Mistral." Ruby didn't know what bankert meant, but whatever it was the way he said it meant it could only be something wrong. Ruby felt Weiss rise in her seat filled with fury.

"You can't do that. Beacon is the best school for Huntresses!"

"Unfortunate that you have taken to studying dance by moonlight instead." Ruby felt her heart sink as she realized exactly how right Weiss had been. "Did you really think we wouldn't find out?"

***Hello and sorry for the wait, like really really sorry I intended for this to be out Friday while I work on it from the plane, however with how tiny they make seats nowadays I literally couldn't fit my laptop on the tray space and open it all the way before I hit the top. American Airlines is the worst! Not to mention I was in the middle seat, so it could get awkward writing an ff between two larger than average older ladies. Either way I'm sorry for the wait I hope you all can understand it is due to family affairs and such. . sorry.

Winner of the Art competition is FF user 8bitInferno, 8bit sent me a lovely characterless art of the park in Melting Vale, I like the rendition and love how 8bit did the shadowing on the title. Everyone else who entered like Kam, Someguy, and Ambidextrouslion thank you! Any other art is so wanted, and while she needed added time I expect a dark horse entry from amazing Frozen hikki, whom released another October Storm chapter you all should read.

For those of you wondering, I openly speculate that Penny was built by Schnee, being as they are a rich and powerful group and I believe this explains the low security on the shipment that was coming in during the end of RWBY volume one. Also if you think there isn't enough Penny in this chapter, don't worry I agree.

Also for a more difficult translation note, Bankert means literal bastard (unwed parents) in archaic German. This is a reference to my theory that Ruby is the child of an adulterous relationship between Summer and Yangs father.

Also thank A-rav for edits!