Weiss loved Jaune, or at least felt something close to it. She'd never felt this way about anyone before, so it was hard to tell. Perhaps it was too early to have these feelings, but from what she knew about how love should feel, it seemed to be the obvious conclusion. The heiress felt warm, accepted, happy, when Jaune was with her. And if love was something other than those feelings, then, well, she wouldn't want love- Because how she felt now was beyond perfect.

With all of that considered, searching for Jaune amidst the panicking crowds and swarms of Grimm was torturous. Every second she failed to find her boyfriend added to the insane thought that, perhaps, she'd never see him again. But that just drove her to run even faster than before.

For a brief moment, Weiss wanted to blame herself for everything that was happening. After all, they were the ones who'd stopped Cinder previously, so they must've failed this time around. Then the rational side of her brain kicked in, and Weiss realized how ridiculous it was to blame herself. They were the ones who'd stopped Cinder previously. Not Ozpin or Ironwood or the Valean Police: the people actually responsible for the welfare of Vale's citizens. When the White Fang was still around, the authorities made zero busts on them. Sure, they surrounded City Hall and provided backup during raids, but those situations were all initiated by Team PBNYJWLR first and foremost. There were no proactive measures done on the side of the authorities.

And that made Weiss suspicious. It wasn't exactly hard to find criminals, as evidenced by every time a bunch of teenagers managed to track them down and take them out. Yes, Neo had been their informant, but she hadn't been the whole time. Jaune had informed her of at least three such occasions before Neo contacted him. Not to mention, Cinder had put another hack into Atlas' security system. Ironwood had only been able to remove the first one because Jaune urged him to check. How could they have fallen for the same trick twice in a row?

When Jaune informed them that they could no longer trust Ozpin, Weiss went along with it because her team leader and partner were in agreement. She didn't particularly care one way or the other. Now… The heiress was beginning to understand their suspicion and could only find herself agreeing with it the more she thought on the matter.

That wasn't exactly the matter at hand, however. Really, Weiss had to focus on the current battle happening in front of her before she could consider any matters of intrigue. The Atlasian robots were thankfully still on the right side of things, targeting Grimm instead of humans, but it was a bit of a stretch to say that they were helping. Clearly, the robots were designed with human targets in mind: suppressive fire, evasive action, and such. But against hordes of swarming Grimm that cared not for their own survival, the robots provided nothing more than temporary distractions before the monsters could reach civilians.

As such, it was up to Weiss, Ruby, Yang, and Blake to take out a majority of the Grimm and help civilians evacuate while they searched for Jaune. The coordinated Atlas military personnel also helped out, but the four huntresses were in a league of their own.

"Weiss!" The heiress suddenly heard her name called as they reached a more stabilized area. Bullheads were being loaded with civilians and shipped away to safer locations while Atlas soldiers and specialists took up the perimeter.

"Winter?" Weiss was surprised. Not by seeing her sister here, but rather by the fact that her sister wanted to interact with her. "What is it?" The team of huntresses took a breather to talk to Ironwood's right hand woman.

"Father wants you to evacuate. You'll be going directly to him on my airship." Winter informed.

"What? I can't go now! The people still need help!" Weiss spoke back to her older sister, making the woman scowl.

"Everything is under control by the Atlas military. You've done your duty, now it's time to go home."

"Even if that wasn't a lie, I can't just leave my friends behind!" The heiress protested.

"Enough, you blithering fool!" Winter snapped. "This is not a choice, it is an order. Now act like a proper Schnee for once in your life and board the ship." Weiss was taken aback. Was this really happening? An ultimatum between family and friends…

Now wasn't that an easy decision.

"You know what, Winter," Weiss snarled her sisters name in defiance as Ruby put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe I'm not a 'proper Schnee,' maybe I never have been. But at least I'm not a bitch like you! I'm staying here and helping the civilians and my friends. Go and tell father that he can take his inheritance and shove it up his ass. I'm done being a Schnee, and I'm done taking shit from him or you!" Man… That felt good to say out loud. Yang snickered at her word choice, Blake gave her a smile, and Ruby gave a thumbs up; Weiss couldn't help but grin. Yeah, these were the people she'd rather be with, no doubt.

"It wasn't a choice, Weiss." She only had seconds to react to her former sister's words before Ruby shoved her onto the ground, causing her to narrowly dodge a blast of ice dust from Winter's rapier.

"You… attacked me?" Weiss uttered.

"Seeing as you refuse to cooperate, I will simply remove your compliance from the factors." The specialist replied heartlessly.

"That's it!" Ruby declared. "I'm not gonna sit around and let you attack my partner. If you want Weiss, you'll have to get through me." Crescent Rose 5.0 was at the ready, practically begging to make a strike. Yang and Blake joined the youngest huntress in solidarity, allowing Weiss time to get herself upright once more.

"You still can't win any battles on your own, can you Weiss?" Winter criticized. "Always needing people to help you- You're so weak."

"That's where you're wrong." Blake stated. "She's strong because she has people to help her."

"Yeah," Yang agreed. "And do you really want to see how strong she is with the three of us by her side? Because I am dying to give you a taste of what I've got in store."

"You're causing a scene, Schnee." Ruby said the specialist's last name like an insult. "So let us be on our way before we have to embarrass you in front of your subordinates." True to the huntress' word, some of the soldiers were beginning to notice the commotion, and were looking over at them to see what was happening.

"You have a large airship, Winter." Weiss pointed out. "Instead of taking me to your father, how about you bring more civilians to safety instead." Winter was silent for a moment as she mulled over how to react to the situation that had gone so far out of her hands.

"…This isn't over." She said simply.

"Yes, it is." The former Schnee responded simply, turning around and walking away. Winter wouldn't be stupid enough to attack a second time.

As the girls rejoined the fray and began fighting the Grimm with a renewed intensity. Weiss couldn't stop herself from smiling. This was where she belonged. These were the people she should be with. And when she found Jaune, she could be truly happy once again.

Not much to say for this chapter. We finally get a view into Weiss' perspective.

Until next time,

-RMV