RWBY: The Son of Salem: Volume 4-5

Chapter Seven: Courage

-Schnee Estate. Atlas.-

The atmosphere of the home of the Schnee family has always felt cold and oppressive to everyone, even to the members of said family. It was an atmosphere that Jacques Schnee had taken great care in fostering, to keep his family in line, to maintain control. After all... He was a man that thrived on control, breaking down any resistance until it was nothing but a fantasy.

And until recently, the very concept of resistance was a fleeting fantasy to Willow Schnee.

Eight years ago to the day, Willow had learned the horrid truth as to why Jacques had married her. The truth that he only married her for her family fortune and nothing more had broken her, driving her to drown herself in alcohol and further fracturing her family. Jacques had won, and she was left a broken woman, resistance all but crushed. Her fire, smothered.

Until she heard that Weiss had defied her father and applied to Beacon Academy.

In one of her rare sober moments, Willow had congratulated her youngest daughter on her victory against the Arms Gigas, but she was met with cold indifference from Weiss, which hurt her, but she still wished her luck. It was then that she told Weiss that she would clean herself up, apologizing for not being in her daughter's life for the past seven years before telling Weiss her plan.

Weiss had unknowingly inspired her mother, and began the process to heal what was broken. The next step was to clean herself up, and while she was still lucid, called a hospital in Atlas and applied for rehab.

It was difficult to maintain her appointments and resist the temptations to grab a bottle of wine like she'd done for so long, but if Weiss could be strong and stand against Jacques Schnee, then so could Willow.

When Weiss found out that Willow was serious about what she was doing, she wrote to her mother. Willow read her notes that were sent to her, becoming aware of Team RWBY, Silver Rose, Team JNPR, and in one particular note she received a day before the Vytal Festival, her daughter's sexuality.

Willow wrote back of course, keeping Weiss up to date with her progress, her thoughts on her friends, and told her that it didn't matter to her who Weiss loved, so long as she was happy. In truth, Willow finding out that Weiss was gay wasn't a shock to her. Even before the truth came out, Willow had seen Weiss looking at other girls, and even at one point called one pretty.

Then the Battle of Beacon happened, and Weiss defied Jacques again by disowning him and passing the title of heiress to Whitley. She had received one last letter from Weiss before Atlas closed its borders, telling her about the night the meaning of the Vytal Festival was changed forever, and how Ruby Rose, her leader, partner... And crush, had been kidnapped by a Faunus named Gabriel Midus.

Now, a year and six months later, Willow had been forcefully removed from rehab by her husband and taken back to the Schnee Manor. The air felt even more oppressive now that Weiss was no longer under Jacques' thumb, and the atmosphere even colder. Willow looked at the end table by her and her husband's bed, noting the bottle of wine left for her. Jacques had ordered one of the servants to leave her one thinking she was going to down it again.

She was tempted to, she really was... But doing so would undo a year of progress, and she refused to do that to her children. Not again.

During that time, Willow had been busy coming up with a plan to drive Jacques out of the Schnee Family for good. Thanks to Winter, the first step was done and Willow still had access to the Schnee fortune, so she completed the second step of her plan.

With a knock on her door, the hard part would begin shortly.

"Dinner is served, Mrs. Schnee." The butler said. "Your son and your husband await you."