Weiss Schnee and the Seven Sisters

Summer. A time of fun and relaxation, of bright skies and beach holidays. A time for meeting up with friends and just generally having good times. However, there are some who are not so lucky as to have this luxury. For Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and student at Beacon Academy, summer was a time of education and hard work. Much like the rest of her life. Her time was taken up with furthering her education as far as it would go. Her days were filled with endless hours of business, economics, engineering and marketing, all in preparation for the big day when her father would step down from his position as head of the SDC and she would take over, running the multinational as it had been run for generations. She hated every second of it.

Of course, she still excelled at it, as she did with everything she turned her hand to, but that didn't make it any more interesting or enjoyable. The dreary hours slid by as if dragging a tonne of bricks through treacle as the hot sun filtered in through the window of her one-to-one classroom. Her tutor continued to drone on about some piece of heavy machinery that was frequently used in her father's mines. She desperately tried to remain bolt upright, her eyes fixed and her face giving the illusion of wakefulness, but her attention was totally lost to him. Her mind kept wandering back to the conversation she had had during her uncharacteristically late night the day before.

Her friends had called. Yang and Ruby had sent her a message via her private scroll at some ungodly hour and she had replied to find that Blake was staying with them. They had stayed up deep into the early hours, talking, gossiping, joking and just generally having more fun than Weiss had had in the two weeks since their first year at Beacon had ended. She really missed them. Ruby had said that they were going to have dinner at a restaurant and see a movie, some thriller starring Spruce Willis, and had asked if she wanted to join them, however due to her unforgiving regimen of classes, she sadly did not have the time to make the trip out to Patch.

"Ms Schnee, I see you haven't taken any notes regarding the pressure ratio in the hydraulic tunnel bore."

"wha-? OH! Sorry, please could you repeat that" she replied, but all she could think was this lesson is a bore. She smiled to herself at the joke. Yang would be proud, she thought.

"Perhaps it would be better if we continued this, rather important, aspect of mechanics when you are… a little more focussed. We shall return to this topic in one hour. May I recommend some fresh air and a glass of cold water." The old man opened up his briefcase and withdrew some mathematical formulae that she had completed for him the day before. Taking the hint, Weiss left the room.

As the door closed behind her, she felt a weight lift off her shoulders. A broad grin spread across her face as she walked down the lengthy corridor that lead to the entrance hall of the large house. She quickened her pace, pulling loose her tight ponytail as she made for the doors. she could already taste the crisp air, feel the bright rays of the sun caressing her face. But she stopped as she passed the door to her father's study. Raised voices drifted through the heavy oak and, although the words themselves were indecipherable, the meaning behind them was clear. Something had happened, maybe a shipment robbery, maybe another attack on a mining base. Whatever it was, it had put her father in another foul mood and she decided that it would be best if she were to make herself scarce.

Moving past the door, she made her way over to the grand entrance hall to their home and opened the doors. The outside was everything she had hoped that it would be and she set off at a run, sprinting across the gravel road and onto the extensive lawn that stretched out away from the house like a mantle of uniform emerald. She couldn't help but laugh as life flooded back into her limbs and her heart filled with joy at the freedom of just being able to run.

"Weiss!" the booming voice echoed across the lawn, bringing her to a stop and instantly dissipating the bliss that had filled her a moment before. She turned to see her father, standing tall at the top of the steps at the edge of the grass. His face was locked in a severe frown that darkened his features and the tone of his voice said that it would be best if she obeyed. "Stop making a fool of yourself and come inside. You should be studying."

"Yes father." She said, knowing full well that any objections or protestations would be shot down and ignored. Her gaze fell to the ground as she began the long walk back up to the house. Why? She thought. Why can't I run? Who is watching that I could embarrass myself in front of? Anyway, what's to be embarrassed about? She raised her head to see her father turn and move back towards the house.

She was blinded by a flash. A second later she was thrown to the ground by a shockwave that deafened her with a thunderous roar. Rolling over and picking herself up, staggering slightly as she regained her balance, she saw that the façade of her home had been destroyed. The windows were blown out and fires smouldered in small clusters. She saw the prone figure of her father lying, unmoving, at the bottom of the stone steps. She screamed and ran towards him, rolling him onto his back and assessing the damage. His suit was torn and burned, as were patches of his skin. He bled from a hundred miniscule cuts and lacerations and a large wound in his forehead ran slowly down the side of his face. His leg was twisted at a funny angle and a large splinter of wood, projected from a wound in his chest.

Identifying this as the most terminal of his injuries, she began applying pressure to the wound in an effort to stop the bleeding. She heard distant, cries and yells as the perimeter guards rushed to emergency procedures a hand grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away from the house and her father as the feint sound of whining sirens drifted over the crackling of fire.