Weiss Schnee stared back at her reflection in the mirror, contemplating.
She looked at herself, her face, her features. Her ice blue eyes trailed down the pale skin of her face, along her eyebrows, and the bridge of her nose, down to her lips. Then, they flickered like shadows, up to the left.
Almost mesmerizingly, her hand reached up to touch it, the scar, tracing it from the bottom to the top.
She almost wished she was someone else. She wished she had someone else's pretty problems, and not this.
Percy was arriving tonight, and the charity banquet was tomorrow, hosted for all of Atlas to see.
Was she... really going to do this? T-to... proposition her team leader, one of her best friends, and the boy she liked, into- into signing a sponsorship?
All for her despicable father, who had increased the stakes, threatening her very inheritance? Who claimed that, if she married Percy, the Schnee Dust Company would "rise to new heights"?
Was she really going to do it? Simply so that she could keep her position as heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?
She squeezed her eyes, her resolve wavering slightly, her fists clenching at the thought.
Weiss didn't know the answer. She didn't know.
It seemed like that was happening more and more lately...
She had been so sure of herself when she had first gone to Beacon. But when the world showed itself, she had to adapt, both in her beliefs and her abilities. Instead of having the world at her fingers, she questioned herself more and more, thinking critically. Her team had forced her to adapt, Percy had forced her to adapt.
And still, even after all that, she was still going to bend the knee to Jacques Schnee, the most hated man on Remnant. And there was nothing she could do about it.
Refusing to submit to her father would result in being cut off from the Schnee family, and her dreams of inheriting and fixing the SDC would go down the drain.
On the other hand, submitting to his will, like she was doing now... it seemed like the only option. She didn't like it, but it had to be done, if she wanted to change the world for the better. To help people like Blake, the faunus who needed change. To make better labor practices...
And all of that boiled down to this.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow night, she would attend the charity banquet with Percy as her date, and, afterwards, they would retreat to the bedroom.
There, she would proposition him, all because of Jacques Schnee. Because the richest and greediest man on Remnant wanted to become even richer.
She stared down at her pale, white hands. She was a horrible person. She swallowed her saliva that had unknowingly gathered in her mouth.
After several moments of silence, she lifted her head back up, resolve strengthened.
It was for the better good, she reasoned. If she could change the world for the better, and all she had to do was to proposition Percy... then she would.
For the better good.
-----
"So this is Ozpin..." Yang commented uselessly, as they all sat around the campfire awkwardly. The boy from before, Oscar Pine, who indeed was fourteen, cringed as they gazed at him expectantly. He shied away from their glances, fidgeting with Ozpin's cane, which Qrow had given back to him.
Well, they knew he had reincarnated, but... it was still kind of strange to see it in person.
"It's kind of weird, isn't it?" Nora chimed in, "To think that he used to be this tall professor dude, and now he's a little shorty!"
It was actually kind of ironic, considering Nora herself was just barely above five feet. Yang made her look short... but Percy made Yang look short. So did Pyrrha, although slightly less so.
"Shut up, I'm getting there," Oscar muttered, partially to himself, and partially to the group of people that was looking at him.
"Don't you worry! We're going to train you to be the best huntsman you can be, even if you were a farmhand before!" Ruby threw her arm enthusiastically around the boy. Oscar blushed in response, cheeks darkening slightly.
Aww, he already has a crush on Ruby, even if she doesn't realize it, Yang grinned to herself, Jaune better watch the competition.
"Still, we need to check on Ozpin," her dad retook control, like the worrywart that he was.
The boy nodded, taking a deep breath. He closed his eyes, before opening them again.
His irises flashed slightly, and Oscar suddenly stood taller. There was a marked change in him, but also something subtle. The expression on his features shifted slightly.
"Greetings, children," he smiled. Even the voice sounded different from before, even if it wasn't.
"Woahhh," Nora and Yang intoned simultaneously. They looked at each other; violet met turquoise blue eyes, and they nodded, agreeing.
Geniuses think alike.
"It has been a long time, Tai. And Qrow," Oscar, or, Ozpin, smiled. It was a smile, sure, but not a boy's smile. It was a fatherly smile, on a boy's face.
"This is so weird!" Yang barely heard Jaune whisper to Ruby, who nodded back.
Ozpin nodded, "Trust me, Miss Xiao-Long, I get that a lot."
"Alrighty, alrighty, I'll go over details then," Qrow stood up from the couch he was laying on, not with a flask in his hand for once, "So, the big news first. Percy's a demigod."
"A what!?" Ozpin shouted. Yang and the others froze.
Ozpin sounded... angry. Angrier than she had ever seen him before. In fact, she couldn't remember when she had ever seen Headmaster Ozpin angry before. He was furious.
Even though he was a small boy, his eyes contained an unmistakable glint of hatred in them, and his small fists were clenched so hard that his nails began to dig into his palms. Yang could see where the nails cut into the flesh, and blood began to ooze from the wound. He didn't even have aura yet.
"A demigod from a different planet, son of the god of the sea and storms, and also other stuff," Qrow finally repeated, somehow not hearing the hostility in his voice, nor did he catch Yang's frantic eyes for him to shut up, "He helped us at the Fall of Beacon. Without him, Vale would have fallen. And apparently the Brother gods are real. Aether and Erebus, except Erebus, the God of Darkness, is like the older one. He's actually the father of Aether. And Percy's like one of their descendants, or something..."
Without word, Ozpin began to tremble, his hands shaking, his jaw clenched.
"I wonder how I hadn't seen it before. All of the signs were there. How powerful he was, the display he had put on... all of it pointed to the fact that he was only another cruel immortal... he must die..."
There was a strange aura coming from him; not his normal aura, but one that exhibited true killing intent. All of them shied away from him now, and Qrow's eyes widened.
