Just found this fandom and fic! Bravos! Hs was so good and I can't thank you enough for it! Hope you are well during this pandemic and staying safe. Can't wait for more Freezburn in the future! Any chance of a sequel?

Freezerburn, was a couple I always felt was a bit fun since Yang and Weiss work very well as foils, so seeing stuff for them is always nice. I am not all that read about the Golden Compass, so some of that side’s nuance I missed while reading this. So of the daemon were pretty obvious choices, others a bit more surprising, I wasn’t expecting Jaune with a squirrel for example. The difference between human and faunus in this settling is more pronounced since in a way the look soulless to causal observation since their soul resides deeper within their body only leaving a few marks that don’t carry the same intimate sensitivity, compared to humans external embodied forms.

Love at first sight is always curious topic, at once comforting to be able to say ‘yes that is the one’ but also concerning since figuring out what it means and how it could change you is a big deal, so Wiess and Yang struggling through that question looked well. This might be a part of the book, but I’m surprised that the idea of Soulmates can be both well storied and fairly concrete I get that it is somewhat justified by history and yet it still caught my eye, since the daemons can directly talk about it and yet so disbelieved.

I am pretty sure that Pyrrha intentional worked to make her first meeting with Jaune one of those storied and picturesque ones. Perhaps serving as a counterpoint to Yang and Weiss rockier start. The big effect of the soulbond here isn’t that it makes everything work out, or bulldozes away obstacles, but keeps them invested in working out things since they can feel the potential so much more. I do appreciate the fact you have soulmates not need to fall in love immediately but instead something that could happen.

Don’t really know what witches are in the Golden Compass-verse but it certainly gives Pyrrha a couple more tricks than a normal person. And that gelled her work with the mechanics and bend the rules a bit in her favor.

Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn - I’ve seen the Schnee family compared to this threat responses and I do feel it still matches up here as well to the rest of the Schnees as well.

Weiss is far more insecure since she never got the chance to train to become a huntress, or held power as an heiress, she never held on to something that let her feel and internalize her strength into her behavior. Weiss certainly takes some time work through through her issues with Faunus, much more time than in canon, perhaps because she is both more sheltered and more scared than in canon. To be honest until Weiss told her story about the scar I didn’t realize that she had kept her’s hidden.

Yang teaching her to fight, helped her out significantly as she picked up tools and methods to allow her to act, as well more allies to back herself up in taking actions against her father even if she like Winter would end up aiming to escaping from Jacques reach. It also booker her starting a confrontation with her brother to get them both to open up regarding their family issues.

You did land pretty close the canon version of Willow; though she is a survivor of more explicit domestic violence than in canon, and her alcoholism is a tool to avoid the full violative sensations of Jacques’s assaults, which pretty dark. And it grows worse over time making it the latest crisis point of the story. She has some good advice, but she’s pretty much at the point of surrender.

The fact that Whitley daemon remains in flux for so long I feel is mostly like caused by Jacques is smothering out, Whitley natural interests, passions and identity in favor of trying to make a clone, and also might have some other aspects of Whitley trying to make himself ’normal’ via someone else’s definition instead of being himself. And him being MLM adds another layer to why he was placed under such pressure. He may hate the entire situation, but he can’t see a way to escape, but instead been trying to work things so that it will be best of the worst options. He eventually stops but it took him a while.

Yang getting Whitley to come on out and meet the rest her friends was definitely growth on her part regarding her views on the Schnees, and it did work out well, since he and Ruby hit it off, though this time as platonic soul mates rather than romantic, aiding another perspective on the relationship that developed.

The actual escape took some planning since Weiss didn’t want cause problems for servants that would be left behind, though it then had to accelerate in order to save Willow from both lobotomy and poisoned wine. Willow starts resigned but when given an option and knowing that Klein was still there for her she did end up joining in. Then to add more fuel Weiss’s excursions to the outside got discovered by the rat daemon servant.

Pyrrha witchcraft was a good way to find a way to escape the threat, she did after all set up an offer of protection sometime ago and knew much more about how the soul-mate bonding works allowing for some intervention. Some healing and averting equipping a person for an unnecessary suicide.

Certainly a darker story than most of your other works, particularly that ‘doctor’ that and the aftermath he left was the bleakest the story got. Pyrrha only could get a list of names to memorialize at the end and perhaps a drive to expose and bring an end to the program, but that is a choice for a later time. Willow the only survivor got the honors of burning the building down and that started her healing mend.

I do worry about what happened to the faunus riot that helped to cover escape from Jacques, they certainly enjoyed causing problems for him, but there is possible retribution for him. Still it gave them the chance to make a last few preparations and discussions to get everyone moving out.

The ending is a respite one, marking the end of the struggle under Jacques and giving them now a chance to adapt to a new life for everyone. Also Ren and Nora finally show up, managing the Snow Lotus, their absence was noticed.

Apologizes for some of the messiness of these reviews, did them in a rush. Here’s to the best for your own future writing endeavors!

(I will try to get the Dark Crystal and Dragon Prince stories once I can actually catch up on those series and thus understand them better, so I’m sorry these reviews were just for older materials)

"Jackass Schnee"
I'm stealing that

I called it!
I KNEW Ruby and Whitley were going to be soulmated.
...
That doesn't mean I have to like it.

I wanted to thank you for such a wonderful story. I'm glad some of the abusive parts were not fully descriptive due to some horrific personal experiences which those of us would rather not fully relive, but I was still able to get your meaning well enough. Your writing style I found very easy to follow and you have good character development. This is the first story of yours I believe I have read, but sure to not be the last. Thanks for your hard work.
Jay
Arizona , USA

This was amazing! I’m glad to have read this and finish this. It saddens me to hear you’ll be making a somewhat final exit from FF, but I’m glad to hear you won’t just be gone.

Thanks for the read!

I enjoyed this story so very much. I've never read a Daemon genre story before, so this was a pleasant new venture. I think perhaps my favorite bits had to do with Whitley and Weiss, surprisingly enough, because I've never really given the duo much thought nor do I hold the youngest Schnee in high regard. But the dynamic here was superb, much as I've come to expect from one of your stories. It's been a while since I came across a fic that I will drop everything to read once I get that notification. So thank you once again for a brilliant tale, and I look forward to more. Cheers!

Loved it! Great fic, amazingly written and just so beautiful!

Hard to believe it's already finished. This was a really cool concept to use. And it goes without saying that you made it into an amazing story. I'm looking forward to seeing more from you in the future. Go ahead and take the time you need to recharge. Vol 6 will keep me occupied in the interim. I'll see you on the other side.

And yes, they're save!. Awesome jbo, dude, i loved this fic based on one of my favorite books, can't wait for next, maybe your Kitsune!Jaune au, i hope it will have a lot of battles. Keep up the good work and see you soon.

Great story, loved it.
Can't wait for your return

A wonderful and touching end to a wonderful and touching story. Thank you so much for all of your hard work

*sends hugs and cookies* Have fun during your hiatus, and make sure you take care of yourself, okay? Thank you for the wonderful story!

Mainly started reading on whim, and it was terrific! Looking forward to your glorious return!

It'll be sad to see you go. You're by and away one of the best RWBY authors and it will be a huge loss to see such talent leave but all things come to an end eventually. If you plan on getting your original fiction published in physical print I would love to know the tittle so I can get a copy because if your Original Fiction follows your FF writing style in anyway I'll definitely enjoy reading it.