Chapter Text
"It is becoming hard for me not to doubt that you are committed to this family"
"I am, Daddy" Weiss replied quietly. Her response wouldn't appease him but that wasn't the point.
"Really? Because you don't sound sure" This was all part of the ritual. "Surely you are aware of the sacrifice and the untold hours of hard work that have gone into providing you a life of comfort?"
"I… I know, I am, Daddy" Weiss answered, stumbling over her words.
"Then why are you sneaking off to your room when there is a banquet going on downstairs which you are meant to be helping host".
The 12 year old girl stared at the floor. "I was just… some of the guests were…. I was feeling uncomfortable and.. I just needed some space."
" Weiss, at times we will all feel uncomfo rtable. That is a fact everyone must deal with. You are going to have to learn to be stronger." He paused "Otherwise what use will you be to anyone?"
The dreaded shrill alarm didn't have to work hard to pull Weiss from her usual frustrating sleep. With a small groan she forced herself up out of bed. Despite her lack of sound sleep, or maybe somewhat because of it, she woke up at six AM every day and did her make up, hiding the darkened circles below her eyes and ensuring her skin retained it's usual, flawless, pearly complexion. Almost flawless at least. There wasn't much that she could do to hide the jagged scar that marred the left side of her face. When she looked in the mirror it always loomed over her, a reminder of the weight that was always on a Schnee's shoulders, and the consequences of failing to carry it.
Coffee was the lifeblood of the young heiress, the key to managing her 22 credit college schedule. If she could have had a coffee IV drip hooked up to her, she would have. Weiss held herself to very high standards and that fact that college was a ton of work would do nothing to dissuade the relentless girl from meeting those standards.
Beacon University was about a 45 minute car ride from her home in Atlas, a bit outside the city. The rides were usually quiet ones; their butler Lawrence wasn't much of a talker. Her heart panged a little for his predecessor Klein. One of the few who had been able Weiss laugh as a child, he had always seemed to provide some energy in the cavernous and muted Schnee Manor. Jacques had let him go when Weiss was in high school. "Too distractible from his work and too much of a distraction from yours"
Regardless, the drive out of and back to the city was one of the few moments of relaxation she had all day so it was probably for the best that it was quiet. Weiss had hoped to go somewhere further away for college, explore the world perhaps, but her father had wanted to keep her close enough to keep his eyes on. Fair enough, she supposed. Beacon had been their compromise, allowing Weiss to attend school outside of the Atlas lights she has spent her childhood under, while still living at home.
Weiss glanced back and forth between her lunch and her textbook, picking quietly at her salad. Keeping perfect grades in 7 classes and competing on the fencing team required her to squeeze studying in whenever she could. Thankfully this early in the semester, things hadn't really picked up yet.
She felt a heartbeat pound in her chest. Taking a deep breath, she flipped the page and continued on with her reading. As she stared at the words, her vision slowly lost focus, then returned. Glancing back over at her salad, Weiss reached for a small bite, but as she looked at the tomato and greens speared on her fork Weiss decided she wasn't hungry. Her heart pounded in her chest again. Quickly, Weiss gathered up her things and made a brisk exit from the cafeteria.
The panic attacks had started when Weiss was 15 and they had become a great source of frustration and even more than that, shame for the white-haired girl. They made her feel embarrassed. They made her feel vulnerable. They made her feel scared. They were a chink in what was meant to be an invincible armor.
Her vision seemed to fail her, her mind processing the images far too slowly for Weiss to keep a clear picture of what was going on. She was able to force herself to focus her hearing for short intervals, long enough to hear herself gasping for air, but after a few seconds the jackhammer in her ribcage took precedence once again. A small part of her worried she might die, that she would collapse on the floor right where she was. A much bigger part of her was occupied with a much more terrifying thought. Everyone here is going to see me die right in front of them. A door slammed behind her and Weiss snapped just the slightest bit back to reality as she realized that she had been the one who slammed it closed. Curling up in a bathroom stall, Weiss struggled to coax deep breaths into her shivering body.
Weiss arrived at Professor Goodwitch's Atlesian History class, as always, on time and looking impeccable. She made sure of it, no matter what happened during her lunch period on any given day. History had always been a class which she found easy to do well in. It was interesting enough and she had no problem keeping dates and events organized. That was the function of history really, a system of organization so that the past could be contextualised and understood. Weiss Schnee was always organized. A time and a place for everything and everything in its time and place. She pulled her notebook out of her bag and as Goodwitch launched into her lecture, willed herself into focus and began scribbling away.
The hour and a half-long class passed uneventfully. There was some class discussion which Weiss mostly abstained from, preferring to take in the information she was hearing without unnecessary comment, and some lecture to which she was her typically attentive self. Before long though, the Professor had only her final orders of business left to speak on.
"Now, there's one last thing we have to deal with today. I'm going to assign you partners for your research project." Weiss gave a quiet but exasperated sigh. Meeting up with a partner: yet another thing she would have to coordinate and find time for. It might actually be preferable if she was placed with someone who would leave her to do all of the work herself. On second thought, Weiss decided that would not be preferable.
"Coco Adel and Sky Lark" Goodwitch read off of a sheet of paper "Jaune Arc and Lie Ren. Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee" Weiss craned her head back towards the rest of the classroom searching for a face to pair with the name Professor Goodwitch had said. After a few seconds her eyes met a pair of silver eyes staring back. They belonged to a baby faced girl, who sat in the back of the room, scarlet-tipped black hair sticking out of a red hoodie. The girl gave her a nervous grin and waved. Weiss didn't know what to think. She sighed. Lacking information, she defaulted to a sense of dread as she prepared to meet this Ruby Rose
After class, Weiss cautiously approached the dark haired girl. As she neared her, she could hear her humming to herself, whether excitedly or nervously, Weiss wasn't sure. "You are… Ruby Rose, correct?"
"Uhh, That's me." the girl said with a giggle. Weiss stared at her, raising her eyebrows. This girl looked young. Too young to be in college surely.
"How old are you?" she asked curtly.
"Oh, I tested out of high school early, I'm 16" Ruby replied, her smile shrinking a little. Weiss paused at her response. She couldn't help but feel a bit of intimidation at the younger girl. To test out of high school and be accepted straight into Beacon was extremely impressive. It would be just Weiss's luck that she would end up with a child prodigy to have to compete with. Then again, they would be working together at the moment so it probably wasn't worth her frustration yet. "Very impressive" she complimented after a second of thought.
"Eh, it just, sorta, happened, I'm not really that smart. But, anyway do you have any idea what you want to do the assignment on?" Ruby asked.
"I was thinking that we could possibly arrange to meet up sometime tomorrow to discuss that." Weiss answered.
That seemed to excite Ruby again "We could get lunch after classes end. I'll be out at three and my sister works at a pizza place a few blocks from here. She can get us free food while we work."
Pizza place? Hmmph. Weiss thought, picturing the greasy garbage a restaurant like that in Patch must put out. Well it's not like we're going to go to my house. "Fine" she replied "But I won't be out till five"
"That's ok" Ruby smiled at her " I can wait, I usually hang there anyways. Give me your scroll number, I'll send you the name of it."
Once the exchange was finished, Weiss turned on a heel to move on to her next class. "See you then" she forced out as she began to walk away.
"Wait" called Ruby, speeding over to catch her "it was Weiss right?" She had never even introduced herself, Weiss realized.
She took a sharp breath. "Yes" she answered, "It's Weiss".
Jacques turned and began to walk away and Weiss instinctively flinched at the movement. "That's it, Daddy?" she asked with caution. This would often be the point in the conversation where he would begin to raise his right hand back.
"Yes Weiss, that's it." he replied coldly. Then Jacques left her alone in her room. She wasn't even worth it.
Weiss signed and slid down into a sitting position on the floor, leaning against the side of her bed. She tucked her head into her knees. These conversations with her father always left her mentally exhausted. He was pushing her, she understood that, and in the end he would be proud of who she would become one day. But until then she was still going to disappoint him more often than not.