RWBY: The Stepmother

Chapter 6: Beating The Butler

Klein meant what he said. Tonight, he was going to kill Mother.

The butler was filled with anger, but he did not let it cloud his judgment. He was no fool, after all. He knew that attacking Mother head on was probably a bad idea. She must be a very powerful individual to have someone like Jacques cowering underneath her. Though Klein had to wonder why his employer was so afraid of her. Was Mother a criminal? A killer? Someone with Huntress training? Did she have some sort of powerful Semblance at her disposal? Klein could only guess at this point, and Jacques was being very tight-lipped about this.

However, Klein did recall a little slip-up from Jacques back in the man's study. It was something about him angering Mother a long time ago. Did that mean they knew each other? If so, what could Mother have possibly done to Jacques to frighten him so badly?

Anyway, the point was, Klein knew absolutely nothing about Mother, and only an idiot would try to attack their opponent directly without knowing anything about them. He had to find more... subtle means to get rid of Mother once and for all. And he had a plan...

POISON. It was both a simple and an effective plan. For the past few weeks, Klein had been keeping track of Mother's... eating habits. He noticed that every Monday, Mother would gorge herself on the food and wine in such a gluttonous manner, just like how she ate so much on her first day here, and then for every other day of the week, she would not take a single bite, only joining the family to dinner to sit down and watch them eat. Klein had to question if Mother was even human at this point... Anyway, today just so happened to be Monday, which means that tonight, Mother would eat. All Klein had to do was sneak a few drops of poison into her food or wine while serving them, then simply wait for the poison's effects to take hold.

It was a very strong poison too. It wasn't exactly something one could find in any random marketplace. He got it from... Well, that wasn't really important. What was important was that he could finally put that poison to good use. He knew the poison would be traced back to him, and he would most likely get arrested for it, but if it meant ensuring the children's safety...

"...then it is well worth the risk," Klein murmured to himself.

It was dinnertime. As always, most of the family ate in silence. Most of them. Mother was stuffing globs of food into her mouth like there was no tomorrow, hot gravy and little bits of meat dribbling from her bulging cheeks. Meanwhile, the chefs and servants worked themselves to the bone just to keep up with Mother's insatiable appetite. It was disgusting to watch.

Klein, who was standing in the corner of the room, was holding up a tray of glasses filled with wine. Keeping an eye on Mother, he discreetly took a small glass vial from his shirt pocket, tapped a few drops of the poison into Mother's glass of wine, then quickly stuffed the vial back into his pocket. Mother was too busy gorging herself on the food to have noticed.

It was time. Forcing a polite smile, Klein walked towards the table and began serving each of them the wine, making sure that Mother had the poisoned one. Then, he stepped back into the corner and waited. He waited and waited for what felt like forever, mentally urging for Mother to pick up the wine glass already. Fortunately, after a few minutes, she did.

He watched as Mother lifted it to her lips... His heart froze when he saw the glass stop just an inch away from her mouth. He began sweating profusely when Mother sniffed the wine, then placed it back down on the table. She smelled it! She smelled the poison!

"Klein," she spoke. With just one word, she made everyone else in the room, including the other servants, freeze up and stare. Without looking at him, Mother beckoned him over with her finger. "Come here," she ordered softly. Feeling like a small child, Klein meekly walked up to her side. "Is there anything wrong, Mother?," he asked, trying his best to hide the fear in his voice. "I'm afraid so," said Mother, smiling up at him unnervingly. She picked up her wine glass and held it up to him. "There is something wrong with my drink. I want you to take a sip for me and see what you think." Klein stared at the glass in her hand like it was poison. Which it was. Just one small sip would be enough to kill him in less than thirty seconds.

"It... it doesn't look like there's anything wrong with it...," Klein said nervously, taking a step back. Mother narrowed her eyes and grabbed Klein's arm, squeezing it tightly. "You can't be too sure simply by looking at it, can you? Drink it, Klein. Right. Now."

Klein was frozen in terror. This didn't go according to plan at all. Instead of saying or doing anything, he just stood there silently. "You won't?," asked Mother, raising an eyebrow. "Then let me tell you this. Did you really think you could trick me so easily?" She leaned towards him until their noses were almost touching. The tension was so thick you could actually cut it. "Did you think Jacques hadn't tried that on me before?," she whispered.

Suddenly, Mother smashed her wine glass right into Klein's face, causing it to shatter into shards that flew everywhere, leaving deep cuts in Klein's face as well as her own. Then, she shoved him back, causing him to lose his footing and fall to the floor painfully. But she was not done. In a flash, she stood up from her chair - all seven feet of her - rushed towards Klein, and began punching him in the face repeatedly. "KLEIN!," screamed Weiss, horrified by what was happening. Winter and Whitley were equally horrified and stood up from their chairs. But Jacques quickly put a stop to that. "Sit down," he said, staring down at his plate.

"But father!," Winter protested. "I SAID SIT DOWN!," yelled Jacques, glaring up at them with anger, fear, and desperation all mixed into his voice. The children quickly sat back down in fear. As much as they cared for Klein, their fear of Mother and Jacques was greater.

Nobody made a move to help Klein, not even the other servants in the room. They were all too terrified to do anything other than watch. They watched as Mother kept pummeling Klein with her bare fists, even as the butler was crying and begging for mercy. CRACK! His nose was broken. CRACK! There went his jaw. CRACK! It went on like that for a long time...

Finally, Mother stopped. Her usually clean white gloves were now stained with Klein's blood, though she didn't seem to care too much about that. She wasn't even tired.

Klein, on the other hand, was a mess. His face was covered in cuts and bruises. His jaw was dislocated, his nasal bridge was shattered, and his eyes were so swollen that he could not even open them. Blood was leaking from his eyes, nose, and mouth, forming a small pool under his head. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you view it, he was alive.

Acting as though she didn't just beat a man to near death, Mother got out a handkerchief and wiped her brow with it, smiling calmly. Some of Klein's blood got on her face, which she did not seem to notice or care. She turned to face Jacques. "Jacques, sweetie," she said. "Please have the entire staff gather around in the courtyard again." She looked down at the nearly comatose butler, taking her gloves off while sporting a wide and sadistic smile.

"This one needs to be made an example of..."