AN: Another flashback, this time from our favorite Ice Queen. This should be the last of the full-chapter-flashbacks then it's back to the space, sci-fi story you all know and love! Please enjoy and review!

Thanks to Spartacus400 on the RWBY Wikia for beta reading.

Disclaimer: RWBY is a product of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. All characters are owned by Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC.

Chapter 6: Gold

The Schnee manor was quiet. Its inhabitants spread thin across its adequate amount of square-footage. The sound of a coffee pot straining echoed from the corner of a wide room. It made its place in the white kitchen as the only source of disturbance, besides the noise of graphite scraping itself onto paper.

A young woman sat at a marble island. Books of all sorts spread across the rock sheet. The tip of her pencil almost setting fire to the paper, she was writing so fast. The logo of a familiar snowflake printed on the back of a blue-tinted bolero. Her shoulders shimmied as she worked.

Weiss flipped a page in her textbook, taking note of every imperative detail. She scribbled into her notebook, repeating the formulas she'd been studying from her book. Her pencil recited older and more basic equations as well as the recently acquired ones. Ecstatic spots of azure darted between the sets of escribed paper.

Today wasn't like other days. This day was a day of excitement and achievement. Weiss pleasantly worked through her material merely as a means of distraction. Distracting her from the time as she waited on the notice from a certain college, explaining that she was either accepted or rejected.

Eventually, her scroll buzzed. Weiss' hands snapped to the piece of technology faster than the reflexes of a cat. Expanding the screen, she opened the message. She carefully read over each word in the letter, anticipating the final verdict. As she read the final words, the seventeen-year-old cheered with joy. She jumped out of her seat, smile spread across her face. Clutching the piece of technology close, she rapidly read through the text over and over again. The scroll compacted itself as she looked up. She called for her father and dashed off through the manor.

"Father! Father!" Weiss tripped over herself sprinting into her father's office.

A middle-aged man looked up from his paperwork. An expensive white suit complementing his cool grey hair. Pieces of silver such as a couple rings and a pricey watch were snug against his skin. He removed his reading glasses and scratched his chin. Blue eyes scanned his daughter, attempting to determine the purpose of the interruption.

"Yes, Weiss?" He replied, deciding to not put much thought to it.

Weiss expanded her scroll again, turning it to face her parent, "I got into Newville University!"

Mr. Schnee developed a smile and nodded in approval, "That's fantastic news, darling! You'll get that business degree in no time at all." He propped his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose.

The girl sighed and looked down at the floor. Her excitement quickly turned to shyness. She took a step forward toward her father's desk, inhaling deeply. The taste of iron made itself known as she bit down on her inner cheek.

"About that, Father…" Weiss' eyes were shifty

"Yes, Weiss?" The man sipped from his mug.

She glanced over her shoulder, peering out the one of the office's many windows. Glossing over all the elements of the manor's exterior. The lush and extravagant gardens, full of exotic plants and flowers from all over the globe. An elegant fountain formed from stone angels made its place in the courtyard. Arrays of white bricks made up the kilometer long driveway that could sustain two large trucks side-by-side. Although not visible, Weiss could remember the amount of acres the property contained, too many for anyone to own. The manor was a picturesque visage of outrageous wealth. And she was giving up, here and now.

Weiss tightened up her stance, "I'm not going for a business degree…"

Her father nearly spat out his beverage, "What? Then what are you going for?"

"I'm going for engineering." She tried to keep a stern look.

"Weiss... Darling…" Mr. Schnee stood from his chair, setting his glasses onto the cherrywood workbench, "I don't understand…"

Weiss noticed her father looked genuinely confused for someone who had known her passion for sometime, "How can you not?"

He stepped around his desk, "It was always your dream to take over the company, darling."

His word triggered a shocked expression from his daughter, almost a look of astonishment, "No. That was never my dream, Father. That was always your dream…" She looked him up and down, "I can't believe you..."

"Weiss, I-"

"You disapprove of my vision of my future so much... you manifested a false truth of your own daughter?" Weiss raised her voice.

Mr. Schnee was taken back on her outburst, it wasn't like her to rebel, "Weiss! Calm down. There is no need to make such accusations." He sighed and shook his head, "I just don't understand you, Weiss…" He leaned back onto his desk.

"What's not to understand, Father?" The aggravated girl crossed her arms.

"You consistently chase this ridiculous, dangerous dream over this well-established company. You could have anything you want with the slightest of ease, but instead you choose to go after the occupation that will underpay you, put shame on you, and put your life at risk repeatedly! The risk outweighs the reward!"

Weiss balled her fists, "You don't understand, do you? It's not about the money. It's about being happy! If I took the company, I wouldn't be happy, I'd just be sad with a pile of lien. And what good is that?" Her eyes met with her father's, "If I went for my dream, I'd be happy as I was fireballed into orbit!"

"Weiss…" Father Schnee moved past Weiss and to the window across from him, letting his palm fall onto the windowsill. He scanned his beautiful estate. The estate he himself, built. Despite the company not being founded himself, it being founded by his own father, he had been the one to foster the most growth to the company. Expanding the distributor greatly in his years of command; increasing dust sales tenfold, establishing Schnee Dust Co. offices and warehouses in all of the kingdoms, and nearly monopolizing the dust industry.

His achievements were not all accomplished through clean and legal means. Repeatedly sabotaging other companies, in media and behind closed doors. He'd also began using cheap faunus labor; which he was not particularly proud of, but it kept the profits rolling in. Though the faunus work force came with a cost, it had painted a bullseye on his company's back, his family's back, and his own back. A war between him and the faunus rights group, the White Fang, had been ongoing throughout the years. Loved ones disappeared and innocent people were executed, and their blood was on his sooty hands.

Weiss knew everything he had done to ensure the expansion of his family's company. She never agreed with it; and most definitely did not wish to have a shady, political mess of a business handed down to her, no matter how much her father wanted it to be. She would be more content to pursue her honest astronaut aspiration, even if it put shame on her. A way to please her and put as much distance between her and the Schnee Dust Co. as possible. It seemed to be a win-win scenario, but it was jumping this final hurdle that made the goal almost impossible to attain.

Father Schnee's hand gestured toward the outside world, "Look at all this. All this company, all I have built," He turned back to his daughter, "And I built it for you, to pass it on to you. To ensure a pleasant and luxurious future for my beautiful daughter. I don't understand why you'd refuse such a wondrous thing."

"Wondrous?" Weiss exaggerated, "If by wondrous you mean the most troubling thing to happen to this family, then yes! It is wondrous!"

"Weiss!" Mr. Schnee scolded, taking offense to her comment, "You-"

"No!" The heiress cut off her parent, "I understand perfectly, Father. You want to pass down your mistakes and errors so you don't have to work with them anymore. You want me to run this hollow company just so you can leave its problems to me! I don't want the cracked policies, the corrupt politics, the lying, the modern slave labor force, government agencies and rights groups breathing down the back of my neck!"

At this point, Weiss was shouting at her father, whom stood petrified as a deer caught in the headlights, "I want to rid myself of the giant red target you've plastered on me! I want to get away from this company! You! This life! You've have been the source of all my problems! This family's problems! You always say you're trying to give us a better life! But all you've done is hurt others and make so I have to have bodyguards when I go out into public! You've brought more insecurity and jeopardy to this family than peace. And I'm tired of it!"

With feet planted into the wood flooring, Father Schnee took a moment to comprehend what had just occurred before him. His panting daughter, still recovering from her rant, remained in a fighting stance. He studied the power radiating off of her, her profound ability; it's what he needed in an heir. But he needed to surpass this one-woman rebellion and make it so that she will accept the business, whether she approves of it or not.

His spooked look quickly turned his signature straight-faced, commanding stare. Weiss remembered this expression. This was his expression when he'll blatantly ignore something and have only his words listened to; like a true dictator. He stepped to his desk, sitting back into his cushioned chair, and reinstated his spectacles on his nose.

He picked up a silver pen and continued his work, "You'll go for that business degree."

"No!" Weiss her ground.

"You'll receive the business degree and take the company," He carried on his decree as if there were no interruption.

Weiss dug her heels into the floor, "No!"

"And you'll disregard your ridiculous astronaut fantasy."

That's when Father Schnee broke through the thin ice. Weiss balled her fists and countered his order with an proclamation of her own.

"Father. You've always made my decisions for me. And now, for the first time, I will make my own. Right. Here." She gritted her teeth, "I'm packing my things and I'm leaving." she turned on her heel and made way for the office doors.

Father Schnee blinked, "Wait! Weiss!" He called, but it was all ineffective. "Weiss!" He jumped from his chair, "Weiss, don't you dare!" He yelled.

Weiss stepped outside the doorframe as her father began to march after her. She retaliated by calmly shutting the twin doors. Tugging on her ribbon around her waist, she removed it from her body and tied it around the gold door handles. Her father ran to the office entrance and rammed the handles forward, but the knotted fabric on the other side refused to give out.

"Weiss! Untie that, now!" He banged on the glass, "Weiss! Weiss!" His muffled shouts were nothing but a nuisance to Weiss.

With her fists still taut, the no-longer-to-be heiress glared directly at her father for a few moments, silently sending a message. She swiveled her feet, keeping her eyes on her parent for as long as her body would allow before finally turning away. Father Schnee watched with his jaw agape, stunned by his daughters action. His eyes following her until she left his line of sight.

"Weiss!" He roared once more in vain, slamming his fist into the door a couple more times. He grimaced and let out a growl. Stomping back to his desk, he snatched his multi-scroll from its place in the mess of paperwork. Large fingers aggressively tapping a few holographic buttons and placed the scroll to his ear.

He tapped his food as it rang, grunting in disapproval when the person on the other end answered, "Winter."

An open white suitcase was tossed onto the bed with a thump. Not allowing for the springs of the bed to rest, the bag was quickly unzipped. Weiss sighed and turned to her dresser, remembering which drawers contain what. After deciding what items she was going to take with her, she began her harvest. Hastily, but still carefully, folding the articles of clothing and placing them into the bag.

Weiss was never one of those children who would throw tantrums at small disagreements or not receiving what she asked for, despite the contrary belief of 'pretty rich girls.' She was quite mellow, but clever, becoming more devious and craft than the other younglings. As a result, she never had staged running away from home, like most small ones did at a time in their young life. This experience was new, it was never rehearsed as a child nor planned legitimately in the later years. Obviously the girl was panicked, but she couldn't lose her composure now, not at this crucial moment.

Midway through packing her things, there was a light knock on her open door. Weiss' body stiffened, mentally preparing herself to look over her shoulder and discover who was disturbing her. Tightening her fist and inhaling, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Weiss?" A soft voice spoke up.

Weiss' eyes snapped open as she spun her head around, meeting her sister. Feeling relief, she exhaled. Winter was an all around good person. She was there during most of Weiss' hardships, giving advice and comforting her. Though the thick and thin; the pressure of going on stage, the happy accidents, the fights, the loss of loved ones. They'd been through it all; together.

A tiny smirk made itself known on Weiss' lips, "Has Father sent you to stop me?"

"Yes…" Winter nodded, taking a few small steps forward, "But I think I can say you put up a fight and got away." She laughed softly.

"Thanks," Weiss' happy expression grew bigger. She went back to bundling her belongings.

"So, you're really leaving, huh?"

The shorter sister bobbed her head yes.

"Good. I'm glad one of us finally stood up to him." Winter patted the snowflake on Weiss' back, "Where are you going?"

The runaway dashed around the bedroom, gathering items to put in her suitcase, "Well, I'm going to try heading north, for college, but that may be difficult." She zipped her bag shut, "Considering the ocean."

The room was silent for brief moment, "After what Father told me, Weiss. I thought you might need a little help," Untwining her hands from behind her back, she revealed a large stack of lien in her hand. Winter gestured it towards Weiss.

Weiss looked down at the ridiculous amount of cash and was absolutely touched, "Winter...where did you get this? Our allowance-"

"I'd been saving a little bit of each allowance of the years…" Winter placed the lien into her sister's hand, taking her other and cupping them together; sheltering it, "For a rainy day."

"W-Winter...I-I can't take this...this is your money, it's-"

"I don't want to hear it…" The big sister smiled, "You're right. It's my money, so I'm choosing to give it to you. It'll help you for airfare, rent an apartment, food. Today's a rainy day, Weiss."

Feeling the stack of chips in her palms, Weiss realized just how massive the pile was, "Oh my….How much is here, Winter?"

"Twenty-five thousand." Winter spoke without missing a beat.

Weiss shot up to meet her siblings eyes, a couple tears forming, "Winter….Thank you…" She threw her arms around Winter, whom reciprocated.

"Will I see you again, Sister?" The taller one asked with a snivel.

Hiding her face with the hug, Weiss replied, "I don't know."

"So this is goodbye?"

"Yes...I love you, Winter…"

"I love you too, Weiss…"

A tear fell onto the carpet below.

A little more backstory on where these two have come from and what they've done. But like I promised, back to the space capsule next chapter.

Love,

~Vox