Chapter 49: A Murder
A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my P atreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!
In which Jacques dies.
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In the end, Jaune makes his decision. A compromise that would likely leave nobody happy.
"Fine. You want Jacques dead? He'll die."
Willow's eyes light up, the drunken woman looking positively thrilled by his capitulation. That doesn't last long however as Jaune reaches out and gives her an aura boost right there on the spot. His hands grab her arms and she squeaks before shuddering as he pushes his aura onto hers. There's a reason he does it. Specifically… he burns the wine out of his system. Finding out her daughters were missing might have been enough to sober her up, but Jaune wasn't taking any chances here.
Only once he's sure Willow is no longer inebriated does he pull back. Though not before giving her a little extra on top, leaving her staring down at her hands with glowing white eyes.
"I… I've never felt like this before. W-What did you do to me?"
Jaune smiles slightly.
"Gave you a little boost. Do you feel stronger, Mrs. Schnee? More powerful?"
"Y-Yes… this is incredible."
Her voice is filled with wonder and awe as she looks from her hands up to him. Jaune's smile turns decidedly grim.
"Good. Because I'm not going to kill your husband for you, Willow. If you want Jacques Schnee dead… you're going to do it yourself."
Willow's eyes damn near bulge out of her skull at that. The Schnee Matriarch freezes in his grasp for a long moment before beginning to tremble.
"W-What?"
Staring into her eyes, Jaune does not waver nor falter. If Willow wanted it… if she truly wanted it, she needed to do it herself. Not because Jaune was squeamish or anything like that… he'd kill Jacques at the drop of a hat at this point. The man was scum and everything Jaune had seen made him think that putting Jacques down would ultimately be no different than the other people he's killed. Like that big bald bandit back at the Branwen Tribe. Ultimately, the two men weren't actually all that different. They were both thuggish bullies at the end of the day. It was merely a matter of scale.
And yet, if Jaune killed Jacques for Willow, then he didn't doubt that the Schnee Matriarch would never truly recover. If he fought her battles for her, she would never overcome all of the trauma and pain that Jacques Schnee had heaped upon her over the years. Willow needed this.
Looking away, Willow trembles like a leaf for a moment before going through a full-body shudder.
"I c-couldn't… I'm not strong enough."
It's very telling that her denial isn't because she doesn't want to kill him, but because she doesn't think she has the strength to do so. Willow's suggestion for Jaune to just assassinate Jacques had not come out of nowhere. The alcoholic woman had clearly thought about it quite often, perhaps even planned it out in her head. Or maybe not gotten so far as planning it out, seeing as she didn't think she could pull it off.
Except… Jaune knew she could pull it off. In fact, he already had an idea for how she could do it. It would be… easy for Willow Schnee to get away with killing her husband in fact. Painfully easy. How she didn't see that, he could only imagine was a result of her trauma, of years of feeling weak in comparison to Jacques.
Her husband had convinced Willow Schnee that she was nothing, but the truth was… she was everything. She was Jacques' entire claim to power, to influence. She just needed the proper… push.
"You're going to, Willow Schnee. You're going to kill him… for your daughters."
Willow startles at that, looking at Jaune with wide, almost accusatory eyes.
"W-What? But you said you wouldn't hurt either of them."
"And I'm not going to. You're going to kill Jacques Schnee for Winter and Weiss. Because up until now you've failed them both as a mother. Because removing their abusive, monster of a father from their lives is how you're going to start making it up to them both. That's why you're going to kill your husband."
Willow hangs off his every word. She wants to do it. He can see it in her eyes. And yet…
"H-How?"
Jaune smiles… and then he tells her.
-x-X-x-
It takes a few days to arrange things, but eventually they manage it. Jaune assists in some small ways, clearing the path for Willow and ultimately getting her where she needs to be. Jaune's original idea was a picnic. That, as it turned out, had been something of a fanciful dream on his part. While the Schnee Estate was utterly massive and actually hosted multiple gardens and at least two different hedge mazes… getting Jacques Schnee to step away from his work long enough for a whole-ass picnic was all but impossible.
In the end, a walk through the gardens was what they wound up going for and even that took days of Willow Schnee showing up in Jacques' office completely sober and acting as lovey-dovey as possible before it finally worked. But it did. And here they were.
"Thank you for agreeing to this walk, Jacques. All I wanted was a moment of your time."
"Hmph. I gathered as much when you kept showing up without a wine glass in hand. What is it, woman? Are you trying to seduce me into your bed for a fourth child? As much as Winter and Weiss have proven to be utter disappointments, Whitley looks to be shaping up alright. I'm not sure a fourth will be necessary at this point."
Willow freezes for a moment at that, and even Jaune pauses from where he's hiding nearby to make sure that nothing goes wrong. Damn. Jacques really was a jackass, wasn't he? What kind of husband spoke of their wife 'seducing' them in such an accusatory tone? If there'd been a wine bottle anywhere nearby, Jaune can tell Willow would have uncorked it and drank straight from the source so to speak. Perhaps it was good that the picnic idea had been such a bust after all.
"… No, I'm not seeking a fourth child, husband. Though speaking of our daughters… have you heard from either of them lately?"
Jacques sneers at that, his bushy white mustache wiggling on his upper lip like an angry caterpillar.
"Why would I have? The only reason I've merely disinherited them rather than completely disowning them is because of you, woman. I want nothing to do with either of those traitors to this family."
Again, Willow stiffens, emotions flashing across her face. But after the briefest of pauses, she continues leading Jacques through their garden… deeper and deeper in, all the way to the garden's edge, close to the border of the Schnee Estate itself. Only once they're closer to their ultimate destination does Willow speak up again.
"I see. So you don't know they're missing then. You didn't even know the danger they were in?"
This brings Jacques up short and he comes to a halt as he turns to face his wife properly.
"Excuse me? Missing? What are you talking about, Willow? Make sense! Hm, I could have sworn you were sober but…"
Willow grits her teeth angrily.
"I AM sober, Jacques. As sober as I've ever been or ever will be. And I don't think it's likely I'll pick up another wine glass ever again. Not when our daughters are on the line!"
The CEO of the SDC looks positively baffled now… but of course, Jacques Schnee isn't the type of man who takes being confused gracefully. No, he's the sort of man who gets angry when he doesn't understand what's going on. With a growl, he steps forward and proceeds to backhand Willow across the face.
S-SMACK!
Jaune nearly steps in right then and there… but in the end, he doesn't. Because one, he knows that Jacques didn't really hurt Willow. See, that was the thing. Willow Schnee might not be a trained huntress, but she had her aura unlocked and even knew how to use her Semblance. It was the same Semblance that all of the Schnee Family had in fact… that of Glyphs, specifically the Summoning Variety.
On the other hand, Jacques had never had his aura unlocked. It was rather surprising when Jaune had first learned of it. A man as powerful and influential as Jacques Schnee had simply… foregone such a basic defense? How the fuck had the White Fang not managed to assassinate the SDC's CEO at the height of their terrorist activities? His security was just that good, Jaune supposed.
Except… here at the Schnee Estate, the security was more focused outward than inward. And Jacques didn't take bodyguards with him everywhere he went. Especially not on impromptu walks through the garden with his wife.
Willow's head turns with Jacques' blow, and she brings up a hand to her cheek. However, from where he's watching, Jaune can see the Schnee Matriarch's face. She doesn't bring the hand up out of pain… but rather surprise at the LACK of pain. This can't be the first time Jacques has hit her… but Jaune suspects that this IS the first time that Willow Schnee has realized just how little Jacques can actually HURT her.
Slowly straightening back up, Willow looks her husband in the eye, something that clearly catches the man off guard. He's probably not used to his wife responding to his abuse by glaring back at him right afterwards rather than scurrying away to drown her sorrows in a wine bottle.
"… I've always wondered why you never had your aura unlocked, Jacques. Was it simply because you knew that whoever helped you do so would see the real you underneath? Were you afraid that they would recognize you for the monster you are?"
"What? What sort of question is that, woman? You-!"
"It doesn't matter."
Willow's hand comes up and her eyes glow white. Even with the aura boost that Jaune has given her, the glyph she summons in the air wavers from clear lack of practice. And yet… sometimes extra power was all you needed to shake off the rust and overcome it. Jacques takes another step back as a glowing white Boarbatusk rapidly rises from the glyph. The man's eyes widen as he finally, at the end, realizes the situation he finds himself in.
"You-urk!"
Before he can get more than a word out, Willow's eyes flash and the Summoned Grimm lances forward. The Boarbatusk's glowing white tusks sink through Jacques Schnee's suit jacket, burying themselves in his chest and piercing his heart right off the bat. The auraless businessman has finally discovered that no amount of money or political power can save you from the true dangers of this world… and that hell truly hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Willow can only maintain the summoning for a moment before the Boarbatusk rapidly dissolves, her glyph disappearing from the ground as well. But the deed is already done. Jacques Schnee slumps to his knees, blood pouring out of the massive wounds in his chest and also the corner of his mouth. His eyes stare accusingly at Willow for one final moment before he collapses backwards on the ground, dead.
For a long moment, Willow just stares at his body, to the point that Jaune wonders if he's going to have to intervene. He's prepared to step in if need be, if Willow goes catatonic or simply can't carry out the rest of their plan. But… no.
Slowly, taking plodding steps forward, the Schnee Matriarch and now widow moves to stand over Jacques' corpse. She stares down at it for a long moment before the disbelief on her face slowly gives away into relief. Then, she looks around hastily, as if to make sure no one has seen what she's done. No one has, Jaune has made sure of that. The only witness to her murder was him.
A beat later and Willow Schnee collapses next to her husband's body, placing her hands on his bloody chest and throwing back her head as she HOWLS.
"WHITE FANG! WHITE FANG ATTACK! PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP! JACQUES! JACQUEEEEES!!!"
The Schnee Matriarch's screams carry with ease and soon enough people can be seen leaving the Estate, rushing to her aid. Jaune watches this for a moment longer and then leaves the scene, returning to his 'post' to maintain his cover. The rest was up to Willow now. If she cracked and wound up confessing to what she'd just done… well, that would be problematic. But he still felt good about this choice. Jacques was dead now. And Willow had been the one to do the deed. Perhaps it wasn't the hard way, but it wasn't the easy way either.
What came next… that would be very difficult indeed.
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He returns to her bedroom later that evening, after everything has died down and Willow has finally been left alone. He finds her sitting beside the fireplace in her quarters, staring into the flames as she waits for him. Jaune knows she's waiting for him, because as soon as he stops beside her chair, she speaks.
"It… it was as easy as you said. All this time… all these years spent afraid of him and I was never really weaker. I was always stronger than him."
Physically… yes. Mentally? No, Jaune didn't think so. Still, he doesn't say that out loud. Instead he stays quiet as Willow continues to stare into the flames.
"He didn't even care. I told him his daughters were both missing and he didn't even care. Didn't even give me a chance to let him know that their disappearances were being covered up by the Military. The very institution he's profited off of so damn much. The man, General Ironwood, that he's propped up for so long."
Willow grits her teeth as she claws at the arms of her chair. She looks half-feral truth be told. Like she's finally awakened to the world around her after a long, dozy sleep. And in a way, she has hasn't she? She's finally aware of just how fucked up things have gotten in her emotional absence.
Still… Jaune isn't ignorant of what he made her do today.
"Would you like me to stay or go, Ms. Schnee?"
Looking up at him in surprise, Willow furrows her brow.
"W-What?"
Tilting his head to the side, Jaune gives the Schnee widow a sardonic sort of smile.
"I just all but forced you to kill your own husband, Willow. Piece of trash he might have been, but I've still made you a murderer. There will be things that I need from you of course… things that I will ask for when the time is right. However, if you don't want me here, assisting you in the days to come, I would understand. If you feel like you can handle the board on your own, if you think that my presence would only make things more difficult… I would understand."
Willow blinks rapidly at that, before looking back to the flames and biting her lower lip in thought. Jaune waits by her side patiently, ready to give her all the time in the world to answer him. He didn't need to be holding her hand through this next part, not now that her husband was dead. So if she wanted him to leave, he would. But it would be her choice, one way or the other.
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The P atreon Vote:
[ ] Willow has him leave, it will be easier to maintain her cover if he's not around - 4%
[ ] Willow has him stay, she needs his help if she's going to survive the days ahead - 12%
[X] Willow has him stay... and aggressively comes onto him again, this time completely sober - 84%
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