Searching Purple

I, Silva Branwen, along with Qrow, and Winter, stood before the Schnee Manor to start the investigation of Jacques's disappearance. Just as my uncle was about ring the intercom system, the ice queen stopped him.

" Wait, let me handle this!"

Qrow glanced at Winter, then shrugged and stood aside to let her ring the intercom with a flamboyant gesture. The Schnee's eye twitched at the reaper's attitude but took a deep breath and pressed the interface. It rang, and a voice on the other side said.

" Sorry, the Schnee family is not currently taking visitors at this moment. Please try again at a later date."

" Klein, it's me."

" Oh! Young Mistress Winter, come in, come in."

The metal gates opened, and Qrow went through them as a jabbed at Winter in a sarcastic tone

" Come along, Young Mistress Winter. We got interviews to do and places to be."

The ice queen huffed in annoyance at the reaper's jab through her nose but restrained herself from retorting. I followed the two of them through the gate and soon found myself at the front door of the manor with them. The doors opened to reveal Klein Sieben, the head butler of the Schnee family. He greeted Winter with a friendly smile.

" Winter, my dear, it's good to see you. How have you been? Are you getting along well with the specialist program at Atlas Academy?"

The ice queen returned the warm smile with one of her own and said.

" I am well, Klein; thank you for asking. As much as I would like to catch up, I am here in an official capacity on... my father's disappearance."

Winter showed her reluctance at being involved with the investigation, and the butler gave her a sympathetic look and said.

" I understand; come on in. I will let Mistress Willow know."

After Klein showed us to a foyer to wait for Willow, Qrow tried to get a rise out of the ice queen.

" Daddy issues, much, ice queen?"

Winter glowered at the reaper and looked ready to shove her saber where the sun don't shine. I barked at him with a bit of venom as there are lines you just do not cross.

" Feeling lucky, old man? Don't poke fun at other people's personal issues when you have plenty of your own."

I felt a bit bad as Qrow did look a bit hurt by what I implied, but he quickly recovered and retorted.

" Look at you, defending her! It looks like someone has a crush; what would Raven say?"

" I do like Winter as a person, and I do find her attractive, but as for what would Raven say, I dare you to ask her that yourself."

Qrow looked stunned at my admittance along with Winter as she had a blush adorning her face. I am not shy about my affections; I like who I like regardless of the reasons. My uncle got out of his stupor and tried to embarrass me in the most immature way possible; this tells me he was already drunk.

" Ice queen and snowball sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

I rolled my eyes, and Winter covered her face as she was embarrassed by Qrow's antics and asked nobody in particular.

" How in the name of the brothers does someone like him become a Huntsman?!"

" He's good at hitting things."

That got a chuckle out of the ice queen as she got what I was implying about the reaper's intelligence. And that went over my drunken uncle's head.

" Yes, I am good at hitting things, among other things."

Qrow said while looking smug and suggestively raising his eyebrows. I sighed and asked him.

" Can't you do this investigation while being sober?"

" Nope!"

My uncle popped the P in his reply as he took a sip from his flask. I gave up trying to reason with him and asked Winter.

" Can you handle the interview since Uncle Qrow is being Uncle Qrow?"

" I... understand."

She hesitated, not that I blame since I know exactly what Jacques did during her and Weiss's childhood. I got up and told my drunken uncle.

" Mind coming with me, Qrow? There's something I want to talk to you about in private."

I pulled Qrow up from his seat before he could reply and dragged him away. I wanted to splash some water on my uncle to make him a bit soberer, and thanks to Jacques and Klein's memories, I knew where the kitchen and bathrooms were. I dragged Qrow to the kitchen since it was closer and filled the sink with water while my uncle sampled whatever caught his eye. Surprisingly the kitchen only had robots working in them at the moment, and they ignored Qrow and me as they worked. After filling the sink with cold water, I grabbed my uncle by the hair and dunked his head in the water.

He immediately got out and bellowed, looking surprised at my actions.

" What in the heck, snowball?!"

" Heads clear now, Qrow?"

I asked him in a cold tone, and he replied with a question of his own as he looked at me strangely.

" What crawled up and died on you?"

I sighed in exasperation and explained myself to him while trying not to let my annoyance get the better of me.

" Qrow, I am not asking you to be nice to Winter but at least not go out of your way to get a rise out of her. She has enough on her plate as is, especially since she had to deal with weeks of your drunken antics and now has to help find the father that likely made her childhood a nightmare."

" What do you mean?"

Qrow asked, looking curious, and I told him.

" You said it yourself, Jacques Gele is a massive pr*ck, but you don't know just how massive."

" And you know this because?"

My uncle regarded me with some suspicion, and I explained.

" When I came to Atlas and learned how bad things were for the faunus here, I had some... thoughts on how to deal with it and research the movers and shakers of Atlas to see who to hit and found out that some of them are complete monsters to one degree or another, including Jacques. It doesn't paint a pretty picture."

While everything I said was partly true in how I came to know this, it's not the entire truth since I want to hide the fact I have three Semblances as that has never happened before in Remnant, and I want to have as many aces up my sleeves as possible. I like Qrow, but if I tell him, he will definitely tell Ozpin and possibly Ironwood as well, and I don't want that to get on that old wizard's radar just yet. My uncle looked at me and said with a serious expression.

" Tell me everything, snowball."

I told him about some bits and pieces of how Jacques acted at home. Qrow sighed and rubbed his temples, then said.

" Fine, I will try to be a little nicer to the ice queen."

" That's all I ask."

***

Winter sat across from her mother, Willow, as she suppressed her conflicting feelings on the case of trying to find her father. On the one hand, she felt that Jacques was getting what he deserved, but on the other hand, her sense of duty compels her to act as she should as a specialist-in-training of Atlas. The ice queen puts aside her awkward feelings and questions her mother in a professional manner.

" Now, when and where would you say Jacques Schnee would have probably been before he disappeared?"

" Either in his office or bedroom at night, if I had to guess."

Willow understood her eldest child's position and answered to the best of her ability to end the interview quickly. Winter then asked.

" Have you noticed anything unusual as of late?"

" Nothing comes to mind."

Willow lied as she knew the reason Jacques disappeared was her unseen ally doing as they promised. The eldest Schnee child then asked.

" Where were you at the roughly estimated time of Jacques's disappearance?"

" Probably at my menagerie like I usually do in my time."

The Schnee matriarch answered with a sad smile as she knew what her eldest thought about her escape from reality. Winter buried her disapproval and disappointment she felt in her mother, then said.

" That about covers everything; if you find anything else out, you can contact us through this number."

The eldest Schnee child wrote the number and handed it over to her mother. After accepting the paper, Willow asked Winter with a solemn smile.

" How have you been, Winter?"

" I've been... well."

The eldest Schnee child wanted nothing more than to leave the manor, where a number of unpleasant memories came to mind but had to wait until Silva and Qrow came back. The Schnee matriarch then said with a sincere smile.

" I'm glad to hear that, Winter."

As an awkward silence filled the foyer, Qrow and Silva finally returned. The reaper then asked the eldest Schnee child.

" Oh, hey, ice queen, are you finished with the interview?"

" Yes."

Winter curtly replied in a cold tone, and Qrow shrugged at her attitude and asked Willow.

" Mind letting us see Jacques's last known location?"

" Certainly, Klein will show you the way."

The Schnee matriarch called for the head butler, and they headed to Jacques's office to find nothing that could serve as a clue. The reaper sighed as he commented.

" The theory that the one who kidnapped Jacques is the same guy or group from the other cases is starting to seem more likely."

Silva smirked inwardly and thought.

" You have no idea."