Chapter Text
Weiss Schnee was not having a good day.
It felt as though her second semester at Beacon Academy had barely started when she was called back home by her father for the weekend. With the Vytal Festival only a few short weeks away, it was extremely inconvenient for both her and her team. He stated that it was so that she could accompany him on various errands, to “help you see the importance of what we do”, he said.
Weiss knew that it wasn’t really the reason, but she was on thin ice with her father as it was. She was already pushing her luck by attending Beacon, and she’s started avoiding some of his calls. If she wasn’t careful, he could see to it that she never went back to Beacon, something that she had to make sure would never come to pass.
As such, she could only reluctantly comply, packing up a few of her clothes and amenities before leaving the rest of her team behind, urging them to share any strategies for the Vytal Festival that they might make in her absence. It also meant that they’d have to put their search for the White Fang’s southeast base on hold for the time being.
Now she was spending her Saturday evening walking with her father through one of his Dust mines in a “show of power”, as he called it. In reality, they rarely ever went down into the mines, considering the abhorrent conditions that most of them tended to be. Based on the slight glimpses of reports she had seen, this was one of the nicer ones. The air was clean enough that they were not required to wear protective masks to ward off potentially harmful gases. It didn’t keep her from pitying the poor souls that were forced to work there, despite the fact that they were still encouraged to wear protective headgear in case of falling rubble and such.
She couldn’t help but feel that, even if the air weren’t as clean as it is now, the miners would still be expected to work with or without masks. The miners in question toiled away as the inspection continued. Out of the corner of her eyes she noticed many of the laborers, both Faunus and Human, glaring at them as they walked past. Even long after they passed by, she could feel their ire fixed on the back of her head, itching away at her skull and worming its way into the recesses of her mind.
She almost missed the times when she could return their glares, followed by an indignant huff and walk off with her head held high, but now she’s grown enough to know that those glares were born just as much out of pain as they were of anger, so instead she kept her head down and followed her father and his entourage further along the mineshaft.
She continued through the motions, to the point where she couldn’t quite recall how much time had passed, the oppressive atmosphere mingling with the unease silently eating away at her. She suspected this might have been the reason her father brought her along; a show of power, yes, but against her. Keep her disheartened and firmly under his thumb.
To try and keep her mind off of this, she absentmindedly fiddled with the straps of the travel handbag she brought with her. It wasn’t much, just a small satchel to keep a few things that could aid her on little excursions like this. A brush, a small flask of water, a handheld fan if it got hot, and a couple snack bars to hold her over if she got peckish. It was large enough that it could also fit a small book or two, though she only brought one from the Beacon Library about the history of the Kingdoms, something she was well acquainted with by now. She’d been meaning to ask Blake for book recommendations, but she never seemed to get around to it.
Her father and the supervisor predictably only discussed profits and efficiency, and even when the supervisor gave yet another empty promise about how well they treated their workers, her father brushed past it to present another query about Dust yield or deadlines without so much as a second thought (or even first thought, if you asked her) about the wellbeing of those he saw as beneath him.
It was insufferable, painful to be a part of. But it wasn’t new. It was familiar. Far too familiar.
After who knows how long, their tour led them to a dark tunnel, relatively new, to the point where it was barely lit. She couldn’t help wondering if that was because of how many Faunus were able to see in the dark, the first cohesive thought she’s dared to have in a while. The walls sparkled with various colors of Dust yet to be mined, illuminating the darkness stretching off into the newly made cavern just enough to show a glinting outline of the walls.
Their guide urged them to be cautious, which both Schnees acknowledged. Unrefined Dust may not be as volatile as its manufactured counterpart, but they still made sure to stay in the middle and away from the walls, leaving them to only look at the lifeblood of Atlas’ accomplishments. The tunnel that had been mined out mostly held Fire Dust, though there were specks and glints of blue throughout.
It was rather interesting, seeing Fire and Water Dust form in such close proximity, Weiss showing the first actual hint of interest she had expressed that day. The blue and red glows seemed to almost dance together, occasionally casting an indigo hue on the formations around them. It would have been almost pretty, if the sorrow and pain throughout the mine were not palpable in the air to anyone with even a shred of empathy.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”, the supervisor breathed, his quiet voice echoing off the walls, turning back into silence as the sound left them behind with a freedom that she desperately envied.
“Beauty has nothing to do with it.”, her father replied. His voice did not account for the confined space, almost booming off the walls with the same disregard he showed for others. After staring into the dim lightshow before them, he looked along the length of the wall, taking in all of the unearthed Dust. “I take it that this section has yet to be harvested.”
“Yes, we intend to begin as soon as this inspection is concluded, sir.”, their guide promptly confirmed. Her father turned to the supervisor, staring down his nose at him, which was almost impressive considering that they were the same height.
“And yet this does not seem to match the promised yield that you were telling me about.” Jacques accused, his tone carrying an almost challenging tone. While the foreman sputtered out excuses and a pitiful explanation about averages, Weiss rolled her eyes, knowing it was too dark to see, not that either of them had given her so much as a glance since they entered the mines.
They could have just as easily had this conversation on the way out, but her father of course rivaled Whitley in terms of patience, though due to causation, it was probably more accurate to say it was the other way around. Either way, the little disagreement meant she had to remain here even longer, forced to stand amidst yet another example of what the Schnee Dust Company has become.
This weary and admittedly rather depressing thought process of hers was interrupted as her eyes landed upon a small glint of light. Of course, that was not uncommon considering her immediate surroundings, but there were a couple details of this glint in particular that caught her eye.
For one, it was green, a jade sparkle piercing amidst the reds and blues it dwelled among. Her immediate thought was that it could have been Wind Dust, but that seemed rather unlikely since she had not seen a single Wind Dust deposit on this whole tour.
The other detail was the material it seemed to illuminate. Whereas the light emanating from the Dust embedded in the mine revealed both the smooth faces and sharp edges of stone, this unique green seemed to light up a wood of some kind, the grain becoming more prominent as the silent thrum of light cast soft shadows, making its slight crevices all the more noticeable.
Weiss quietly stepped closer to this emerald shimmer, more and more engrossed by the second. Her father and their guide began walking off further into the cavern, the bulb on the latter’s hat being the only manmade light illuminating their path. Weiss remained unaware of this fact as she slowly outstretched her hand towards the mysterious piece of lumber.
Her fingers gently brushed along its surface, the wood rough against her fingers, though her Aura would have protected her from splinters. Not that Weiss herself had thought of this, remaining entirely transfixed on the object now almost in her grasp. Now that she was closer, it seemed as though the object was somewhat small, the section visible appearing roughly the size of her hand as the rest of it remained buried in the wall of the cave.
It seemed small enough that the thought occurred to Weiss that she could simply try and pull it out, her hand carrying out the action before she could even consider any possible ramifications of doing so. With barely a light tug, the object began emerging from the wall, loose stone and gravel giving way with hardly any resistance as her prize worked its way into her grasp. Her fingers brushed away the loose minerals as she turned it over in her hands, the identity of the object becoming clear as she carefully traced it with her eyes.
It was a mask.