Online Friends

Chapter 8

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Perfection.

That was, and always will be, what her father expected of her.

There never was any positive feedback for her achievements because in the eyes of her father it was expected for her to excel. Anything less was met with deep scrutiny and distaste, so the only thing she could do was to not disappoint.

When her father wanted her to take dancing lessons to show his friends how talented his precious daughter was, she took lessons and trained until her little feet were stained with blood.

She was seven at the time.

When her father wanted her to sing, she took lessons and practiced until she nearly lost her voice. He never even showed up at a single concert of hers.

Didn't stop him from bragging how 'talented' and 'gifted' his precious little snowflake was, never acknowledging the sheer amount of work and dedication she put into it.

Her own dream of following in her grandfather's footsteps nearly got trampled when she voiced it to him, her father immediately shooting down the idea.

If not for her younger brother, she probably never would even get the chance.

Whitley helped her only because he wanted to take her place as the next in line to inherit the family business, Winter forfeiting any claim for it when she conscripted into the military.

She didn't blame him, nor her older sister.

Taking a plunge, she trained like she always did.

Dancing lessons were replaced with fencing and martial arts. Aura and semblance manipulation took the place of singing.

In only two years she managed to catch up to the best students in the preparatory schools, leaving them behind in the third. She did what was always expected of her. She excelled.

A week before she left for the Beacon academy her father decided to test her in his own way, forcing her to fight against an Arma Gigas, a subtype of a Grimm called Geist.

The towering suit of armor was a frightening opponent. It was fast, it was strong and it was durable. She nearly lost her cool when the enormous monster was released from its cage suspended from under one of the larger SDC freighter airships, the ground trembling with the impact of its landing.

The memory sent a shiver down her spine, the large scar ruining her perfect face a permanent reminder of how hard that fight was. She won by the sheer force of will, pushing her Semblance like never before.

"You are distracted, try not to think about anything." The soft voice of a young man startled her slightly, even if it didn't show on her face.

Letting out a long sigh, she tried to follow the instructions but it was harder than it sounded.

Opening her eyes she saw her 'instructor' sitting in a cross legged position before her, his open palms pointed upwards with a few spheres of light dancing over them.

It was an ethereal sight. It reminded her of the few memories of her grandfather, when he would take her on his knees and show her the Schnee family semblance, the small glyphs lazily rotating on the older man's hands, giving off a gentle glow.

The blonde Aura Master looked peaceful, relaxed even. There was nothing in his demeanor that would indicate the sheer amount of power that he released a few days ago in the combat class.

"Are you certain that it isn't your Semblance, Jaune?" She decided to ask for the third time since they started those little training sessions, a bit annoyed at the lack of progress.