RWBY: Forsaken - Pre-Beacon Chronicles

Chapter 2: A New Face

Weiss was now 6. It has been two years since Theresia's death, and though it seemed like those wounds had healed, they never truly did. Weiss lost her mother, and her best friend. Anselm lost one of the two things he kept living for and keeping the company together for. Anselm was out for more days than he was before Theresia's death, mainly because work had picked up, as well as the covert battles taking place with the White Fang. Anselm did not like to see his daughter sad, but he knew he could not bring her true happiness.

One day, Anselm was deciding on a choice of a personal bodyguard for a campaign he was holding to expand his company. The decision was fairly simple, he chose Ozpin, one of his old friends from school, as well as one of the most well-known Huntsmen around. After bringing up the idea, Ozpin agreed, and said he would arrive at the Schnee mansion within an hour.

Soon, a knock was heard and Anselm ran over to open it for his friend. Opening the door, he saw Ozpin, but he also saw Ozpin wasn't alone. A little behind Ozpin, a young boy stood there. The boy had blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore black pants, as well as an orange shirt, with a solid blue overcoat. The overcoat looked like some kind a military uniform, golden buttons on the front, forming two vertical lines up the torso. Also on the front, by the heart, the was an orange "M". The jacket zipper was on the back, and the boy was wearing the jacket backwards, and had the clip on the collar clipped, with the zipper left undone.

"Who might this be, Oz?" Anselm asked, confused.

"This boy is someone I'm supposed to look after," Ozpin said. He leaned a little closer and whispered something into his ear, causing Anselm's eyes to go wide in shock.

"I understand," Anselm responded, nodding his head. "Please, come in. Oz, if you don't mind I need to speak with you in private. Oh, I don't believe I ever got your name young man," he said, turning his head back to the child.

"Sam," the boy said simply.

"Right, well Sam, one of the butler's will lead you to the family room. My daughter should be in there and having someone to play with her would make her happy," Anselm said, motioning to one of the servants.

Sam said nothing, as the servant led the way through the castle to the family room, where Weiss would be waiting. The castle was massive, and everything about it was also massive. There was an outer wall that protected and concealed the inner gardens and courtyards, as well as the lower levels of the castle. The castle was known throughout Atlas as White Castle, and it lived up to its name. The outer wall was white, the Castle interior and exterior were all different shades of white, and all over the castle there were grey banners and flags, with a white snowflake on them, the snowflake being the logo of the Schnee Dust Company. And everywhere you looked there were guards. Ever since the White Fang became hostile and basically declared war on the Schnee Dust Company, every square inch of land owned by Anselm Schnee was watched, 24/7.

The servant continued to lead Sam towards the family room, and they continued to pass large doors, large courtyards, large rooms, and copious amounts of soldiers. Eventually, the two came upon an even larger door, bearing the Schnee logo on it. "Here we are, the Castle's family room. This way, sir," the servant moved to the door and opened it just enough for Sam to get through.

Inside the room it was just as massive, if not even more so than the rest of the castle. There were large bookshelves, a large desk, and a large indoor playset that hadn't seem to have been touched in quite some time. There was also a large table close to the center of the room, where a little girl sat, looking down at nothing in particular.

The servant closed the door behind Sam, leaving the two in there alone. There were large balconies that probably held security guards and several surveillance cameras. Sam decided it best to try and at least interact with the little girl, guessing she was Weiss. Even as Sam slowly walked up to the table, Weiss never acknowledged him. Not until he pulled out a chair next to her did she react, seemingly drawn out of a trance.

"W-who are y-you?" Weiss asked, voice trembling a little. Weiss hardly, if ever saw anyone her age, so to have someone like that come up to her alone was quite terrifying, despite the boy's intention.

"Sam, I'm a friend of Ozpin," Sam responded coolly, trying not to startle the girl further.

Weiss had met Ozpin the day after her mother died, and he became a close friend to the family. So to hear he was here brought her spirits up a little bit. "Ozpin is here?" she asked.

"Yes, he and your dad needed to talk in private, so your dad said I could come here," he replied. "So what were you doing?" When Weiss got a scared look in her eye, even looked like tears were forming, Sam quickly asked, trying to calm her down, "Are you ok?"

"I-I'm fi-fine," Weiss responded, trying to hold back any tears. She wasn't going to cry in front of a stranger. "And its none of your business what I was doing," she said, curtly.

Sam showed an expression of hurt at her words, and Weiss let out a sigh, and tried to mend her previous statement, "I'm sorry, it's just something I'd rather not talk about, it's hard for me. I didn't mean to offend you."

Sam brightened up a little at her words, but then his face fell again slightly, "What's wrong? You can talk to me, its best to not keep things bothering you bottled up inside."

"It's nothing, maybe I'll tell you later, but I hardly even know who you are," she responded, trying to act slightly more friendly.

"I guess that's the best I'll get. Well, what would you like to know?" he asked, sitting up to better answer any questions.

"You said your name was Sam?" she asked, sitting up to meet his posture.

"Right, my name is Sam Engle," he responded cheerily, "At your service."

Weiss giggled at his response, and took notice of his attire. "If you don't mind me asking, what's with your clothes?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

"Oh, this? Well, my dad was in the military, and my mom wanted me to get my own little uniform, so she got me this, custom made. I can go back to the armor smith anytime I want to, to get it adjusted as I grow up," he replied. He shifted uncomfortably at the question, as if there was something more, but Weiss decided not to press.

"Do you like to play games?" Sam decided to ask a question of his own. "You have all this cool stuff, but it doesn't seem like you do anything with it."

Weiss tensed as he mentioned the toys and other playthings she had not touched since her mother and she last played together. Sam noticed Weiss tense, and decided it better to leave that subject. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I was just curious."

"I-its alright, just I haven't really played any games in a while," Weiss replied, gaining back some of her composure.

"Do you want to?" came the innocent question from Sam.

Weiss had never really wanted to play with anything after her mother had died, but at the same time did not want Sam to feel as if she rejected him, so she agreed. Sam introduced games he knew, as Weiss introduced games she knew to each other. It started out slow, but soon both Sam and Weiss were running around, smiles on their faces and laughing.

Overhead, in one of the balconies, both Ozpin and Anselm watched the two children, hidden. "Maybe all they need to help each other is one another," Ozpin commented.

"Maybe so," Anselm responded, watching his daughter as she ran around, apparently trying to tag Sam. She smiled and laughed, and she had not done that since Theresia's death. "Maybe so."

Another chapter is in the books. Just as a reminder I will be updating every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so expect new parts to come out then. If you enjoyed, leave a comment and/or vote, letting me know what you think of the story so far. I will see you all in the next chapter!