Welcome to the second part of what I'm calling the Perspective Trilogy. If you are new to this, you have two options. One of them is to read the first, and if you do this you can skim the first 4-5 chapters minimum. I advise that you do go through and read the lore sections at the end of chapters 18 through to the finale. If you decide to not read the entire original, then you will need to read the finale. So head on over and read at your discretion, but I heavily advise skimming the first.
To returning fans, good to see you again. c:
A Warning to Newbies and Veterans
This is going to be the ONLY warning I issue regarding the content. This trilogy is going to be dark, full of mental and physical trials for the main and secondary cast. When I say that no character is safe, I do indeed mean that no character is safe from death or injury. There is no longer a main character, this is the tale of Remnant and the many people who inhabit it. All characters are expendable.
If you are uncomfortable with major character death, torture, gore, and a myriad of other heinous acts then you will not enjoy reading or continuing to read this trilogy. I hope to handle the coming content with something akin to grace, but be warned that this is no fluff fic. The down time will be small and the humor situational for the most part. This is a dark, realistic, gritty story. If that is your cup of tea, then go catch up by reading the finale or the entire story.
This is also a very political universe with backstabbing and complex political structures.
Now onto the story.
Aftermath
"War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over."
- William Tecumseh Sherman
...Beep...Beep...Beep...
The incessant noise of that damnable heart monitor plagued his sleepless nights and ragged days. For the past half week his daughter, Weiss, lay in a medically induced coma with only one of two arms attached. By the time medics arrived on the scene due to a call from an Atlesian AI known as Penny no amount of huntsmen or traditional medicine would get the arm reattached, and Weiss was in a state of shock due to trauma and blood-loss.
Without that AI, Weiss would be dead, that Augustus was sure of. In a sign of gratitude he had allowed Ozpin to take the AI in and hide her, perhaps more accurately it, from Vale; specifically Charlemagne.
Blake was the closest to death of the four members of RWBY; through luck, negligence, or arrogance Cindy had missed the Faunus teen's heart by mere millimeters. Blake currently lay in the ICU unconscious, with a respirator to help the weakened Faunus breathe and a myriad of other medical devices designed to keep her still until the doctors were sure it was safe to allow her to move.
The rapidity of Aura healing was a double edged blade. It could seal previously fatal wounds and mend bone, but sometimes it didn't 'heal' right. More often than not bones of huntsmen and military-man alike that were healed in what was called a 'Aura Burst' would need to be re-broken, set, then allowed to heal naturally. It took seven weeks on average for a femur to heal on a civilian, five for combat-oriented military personnel, and an astounding two for graduated huntsmen. Rumor had it that the older Beacon professors need only wait a few days for shattered bones to heal, so powerful was their passive aura.
However, more than a few cases in the military have shown that this deficiency is not isolated to bone. In over thousands of cases a injury to a organ that was healed through an Aura Burst was found to have medical defects where there were previously none. Of those thousands, 306 died as a cause of this healing method. Those were only known and recorded cases. He was sure there were many more unreported.
Yet those staying at the Schnee dynasty's personal hospital did not end there. Neo, Roman's adoptive daughter, was still under watch after her brush with death. Cinder's strike had pierced through the gut and allowed lethal bacteria from the intestines to spread throughout the body. Had she been left for another five minuets the colorful girl would have died on the still warm concrete in a puddle of her own blood.
The R and Y or RWBY sustained relatively minor injuries. Yang a broken arm, nose, and fractured ribs; Ruby only had a concussion and broken nose. Those two were out helping the cleanup at Beacon and throughout Vale City. Yang less so for obvious reasons.
Roman...
Well, Roman was dead. His aura had been far too weak to protect him from a direct hit of Cinder's caliber. Out of respect he had taken a hour out of his day yesterday to tell Neo of his passing. After a few seconds, the shock wore off, and he could still see the outright broken gaze she gave him afterwords. He left her to mourn her adoptive father's passing, but a report he requested from one of the nurses caring for her said she had silently sobbed throughout the night.
A fire of absolute rage burned bright in the elder Schnee's stomach. Besides Roman, over one-million and counting Civilians had died as a result of the nation-wide terrorist and Grimm attack. The Capital was ground zero of the calamity. The once proud city now lay in ruin. Skyscrapers that had touched the heavens now lay atop countless crushed corpses of human, faunus, and Grimm. The Royal family's number plummeted from twenty seven to ten; Charlemagne's few remaining close relatives were all dead aside from a sister who is only four years old.
It is rumored the remaining Royal line has already been moved into hiding, self-exiled to a land few if any know of. Aside from the King of course. He stayed behind to mend together the pieces left in the disaster's wake.
Schnee also died as a result. All branch members, but most if not all old and powerful to a degree. The power vacuum left from the sudden departure of these influential giants would not be easily or peacefully filled. In total seven Schnee lie in the ruble of the Capital, Arymitus.
Currently the legislative body and King were in an emergency session behind closed doors. The public was waiting for someone, or something, to blame and Augustus' delivering of one Mary Alabaster to the authorities was going to seal the fate of a certain superpower. Soon he would be going to meet Charlemagne per the King's request, likely to preside over the live interrogation of Mary in the current emergency session.
Adam's existence was still not known to them. Hopefully, at least. His contribution to victory could not be underplayed. Without him convincing (or perhaps forcing) Mary to lay down her crusade for one night and fight a threat to everyone on Remnant, it was conceivable to think that Vale would have completely collapsed into Anarchy.
It was an odd place for the White Fang to be in; a limbo between subjugation and total eradication. On one hand, without the loyalists help, Vale might have fallen to the surprise Grimm attack while on the other Vale authorities would have been in a much more advantageous position to fight off the Grimm without the initial devastation of the White Fang attacks nationwide.
The issue was keeping it active and folding what was left into current Vale military hierarchy might prove more trouble than it was worth. They didn't have any special technology, unique military assets, or a mass amount of grassroots manpower. As the White Fang increased their raids against non-military targets, their approval among Faunus plummeted.
As it stood only the most bitter or desperate of faunus were still fighting. In part due to faunus rights making headway within both the Schnee dynasty and the Kingdom at large. Wages, benefits, living conditions, courts, and even law enforcement were beginning to look something akin to equal. Of course, anti-faunus sentiment was still strong, but equal treatment under the law of the land was an increasingly popular position to take.
On the international stage, the Vacuo-Vale alliance block was strained, but perhaps stronger than ever. For the first time in history Vacuo military forces were in Vale without hostile intent. The Supreme Leader (Dictator) of Vacuo had offered assistance in the wake of the disaster; Charlemagne had accepted with only a little hesitation. The border towns and city centers were now under Vacuo care as the small but no less capable Vale military reorganized and folded back to rebuild and secure the core provinces of the Kingdom.
Officially, the Federal Mistral government condemned such 'barbarity'. Unofficially, the Religious Council had requested that those territories who were capable send aid. Nearly all of them complied. From monetary donations to blankets, resources poured from the more prosperous Mistriali Territories. The people of Vale were down, but with the help of two superpowers and a thirst for justice, they would endure.
Of course, the Atlesian Emperor sent his blessings and condemnations, as was custom when any nation had a domestic disaster. The already strained Union of Atlas was coming together to offer some type of aid, but nothing official had been offered yet.
After today, Augustus had a feeling Charlemagne wouldn't be accepting any help from them, no matter how useful it might be.
"Augustus."
Shaken from his thoughts, said man turned from the edge of the SDC headquarters in the Capital to a familiar feminine voice.
The war-torn city below looked...
Well, it would haunt his nights for some time to come. Only reason this building wasn't wiped from the face of Remnant was due to the automated security systems, mercenary huntsmen, and triple reinforced internal infrastructure.
"Time already?"
Burgundy hummed an affirmative. She had been running and continued the run the SDC since his...incapacitation at Cinder's hands days ago. From time to time he could swear he heard her speaking, whispering in the back of his mind. Tempting, gloating, poisoning his thoughts. Until he deemed himself well Burgundy was the leader of the Schnee Dust Company with full emergency authority.
Thank Gods Burgundy used to be a huntress, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to escape. Likely would have died by that madwoman's hand, and he would have helped do it.
Augustus forced down a sudden urge to vomit. Now was not the time for self pity and reflection. He would deal with everything later; now was the time to act. Decisively at that.
"I wish." He paused, glancing at the war-zone below for just a second. "I wish it hadn't come to this."
His assistant, more accurately partner, looked up from her scroll eyes tired but mind still buzzing.
"Don't we all." She responded dryly.
"Is Velvet cleared yet?"
Her breath hitched. Subtle but still noticeable.
"Ozpin claims she will be fine, but...he still isn't allowing any non-Beacon staff or students on property. Claims it's for security reasons. So truthfully I don't know."
He stared for a few seconds, thoughts reorganizing and focus coming back. "I'll go speak with him once this meeting is done."
An implication lay in that sentence; you're going to be able to see her weather he approves or not. That, and so much more.
If what Mary said was true, and the evidence of it being so was mounting, then Beacon was going to be soon assimilated into Vale military hierarchy no matter what Ozpin said. It was possible the Schnee patriarch could get the Huntsmen schools in Vale under Schnee control, but Charlemagne appeared to be done ruling from the sidelines. It wasn't that he refused to listen, only that he was replacing less compotent Schnee advisers with more capable non-Schnee and creating new slots for even more non-Schnee.
It was both a message and a warning; I am King, and you will comply. Some in his dynasty thought it an insult; Augustus thought they were silly.
Waging political war with the King at a time like this would not only be foolish but lead to even further curbing of Schnee privilege. With the nation in the state it was in the populace was looking towards their government, not their employer, for leadership. Perhaps in a few decades that would change, but for now the Schnee dynasty was going to play second fiddle to Charlamange.
Rising from his chair the Patriarch had one more question for his peer.
"Any luck locating the Bismark?"
Burgundy shuffled in place for a few moments then responded with a weary voice.
"We managed to pick up faint distress signals deep in Grimm infested territory and our satilites are currently overclocking to try and zero in on the Airship. The last signal we recived was yesterday at noon before going silent once again."
Augustus sighed and bowed his head for a moment before composing himself. As he walked past the Scarlatina he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you. Both this company and I own you a great deal."
She just smiled a tired smile and nodded. "Just doing my job; now it's your turn to do yours. Go get em."
He smirked.
"With pleasure."
Deep in unexplored territory, a battle of fire and lead was being waged rather than words and intrigue.
"Get the Nevermore off the port side! Focus on the ones with blue eyes!"
Point defense turrets sprang to life in response to the Captain's orders; a mist of high caliber lead slammed into the multiple over-sized avian creatures and shredded them to bits before their brains could even register pain. The Captain of the Bismark, Julius Schnee, looked at his interface with narrowed eyes.
All of their equipment used for navigation and communication was down or missing, with the experts in communication on-board hardly having enough scrap and spare parts to put together something akin to a communications device. It's range was absolutely pitiful and its strength even more-so; they would be lucky if the few huntsmen stations located close to Vale would register their signal let alone Vale proper.
"Radar shows multiple hostiles driving from above!"
"Continue climbing; weapons, I want those Grimm regretting their very existence."
"Copy that. Focusing firing in three, two, one..."
"Grimm just doubled in number! Half are veering off with the new ones gaining speed!"
Julius paused for a fraction of a second.
"They couldn't be...Heavy ordinance on those things! Now! I want marines on all of the upper decks!"
The panic in the normally composed Schnee's voice put the bridge crew on edge, but they completed their assigned tasks with lethal efficiency. Heat-seeking missiles left their pods and soared towards their targets at speed; the blips on the screen barreled straight through the heavy ordinance thrown at them and slammed into the top of the hull. Heavy thuds reverberated through the upper decks of the massive airship.
"I want visual."
Instantly a camera feed was sent to the Schnee's interface; standing on top of the Bismark's hull were at least eight massive Ursa Majors covered in nothing but thick, bone white armor. A few had spikes of pure red jutting out from their backs while others sported yellow.
"Point defenses on those beasts now!"
"Yes, sir."
The hard-point turrets swiveled as the dumb AI on board assigned targets for destruction at the command on the weapons' personnel; a hail or bullets slammed into the creatures of Grimm, but they were prepared. The Ursa dipped and angled their armor shells in order to maximize how many rounds bounced harmlessly off their shells. Under heavy fire the Grimm did what they were instructed to do; make an opening.
Those with red spikes began to radiate the color from their very being before flame erupted from their gullets and began to slowly, agonizingly slowly, melt through the thick hull of the Bismark. Those with yellow spikes began to spew bolts of electricity from their bodies towards the turrets.
"Aura barrier is failing! Hull is being breached!"
"Get marines to the holes! We can't let those things in here!"
"Security has everyone they have moving now. Permission for close-quarters heavy ordinance?"
"Authorized."
Four decks above the bridge, team Delta was taking up positions to repel the unwelcome guests.
"We can use the big guns; I want changes right below the entry point! Mobile cover on both sides!"
The thin hallway was packed with infantry in advanced light blue armor. All guns were pointed and at the ready for the first sign of a breach; they didn't need to wait long. More loud thumps were heard topside followed by explosions and the sound of point defenses firing. Not long after all was silent as the temperature began to slowly rise. Fire soon broke through the metal hull and flooded the hall.
"Hold!"
A few greenhorn's hands' began to shake as adrenaline coursed through their veins. The gullet of flame was soon gone, replaced by an eerie silence. A thick, black, unnatural fog began to enter through the hole in the Bismark.
"Command, we have any idea what's up there?"
...
"Command?"
...
"Anyone copy?"
...
The lights flickered for but a moment and the ship shook as its engines slowly began to give out under an unknown pressure. While no one took their eyes off the breach in the millisecond visibility was gone a pure black figure managed to make it's way in. Now the humanoid creature just stood in the center of the crossfire, either unaware or uncaring, a set of glowing red eyes on the front and back of it's head stared down both sides in apathy.
"Fire!"
The infantry unloaded their weapons in contained panic; the black fog continued to creep towards them with it being so thick it couldn't be seen through from the knee up. The HUDs the of the mercenary's began to flicker and static noise began to come through their headsets.
The ship shuddered again, this time shaking violent enough to force the security team to pause and try and find their target. It was nowhere to be seen through the thick fog that now had made its way up to their chests. The leader turned his helmet lights on which seemed to flicker in an out before a solid thump to the head put everything in order. The rest of his team followed his lead.
There, hovering in the midst of the fog, were two sets of glowing red orbs.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
The one who spoke was instantly drawn down into the fog feet first and never seen again.
"Fucking shoot it!"
With unrestrained terror and hysteria building the humans led loose down range again, as futile as it proved to be. By now the dark cloud was neck high; the helmet lights of each mercenary slowly vanished into the black until none remained. With a near inaudible growl the glowing orbs dissipated and the fog receded.
Not a trace of the battle was left aside from the mobile cover platforms setup on either side of the breach. Not even a casing from the rounds fired remained.
The Bismark shook again, this time to its very core, and its engines gave out allowing the massive airship to succumb to gravity. It began to silently careen towards the ground.
Not a siren or scream was heard from the halls; everyone was already gone.
Back at Beacon, a certain Rose was talking to a certain headmaster in more than heated language.
"You sent us all on petty missions and left all of Vale undefended! Why would you do that? We told you what Cinder was up to!"
Ozpin shifted in his metal chair and placed his mug on the glass table; below them Beacon law in shambles from the battle between Raven and the Beacon staff. The headmaster considered his next words carefully, as he had certainty underestimated Rudy's constitution. The girl was getting too smart for her own good.
"The operation of Beacon staff does not concern you, Ms. Rose; I would hope that by now you would trust me. Those missions were meant to drain Cinder of Grimm to draw from. This attack was a complete surprise."
Silver eyes narrowed and the teenagers arms began to tremble.
"I can't believe in someone who doesn't believe in me." She pointed an accusatory finger at the coffer lover. "Your actions are not those of someone who is concerned for the safety of Vale or its people. You left them defenseless with a madwoman on the loose. What did you expect would happen?" Her orbs flickered rapidly, as if seeing something he did not and putting it together. Summer's daughter was dangerously intelligent and the Schnee was doing an excellent job at drawing that out.
Perhaps a too good a job.
"You told us you knew Cinder, once, before she vanished for three decades. You said you were close...you didn't seriously think you could make a deal with her, did you?!"
Certainly too good a job. The girl was grasping at scraps of facts and accounting for his personality to formulate a theory on the fly and predict his behavior. It shocked the already stressed headmaster so much he forgot for but a second to mask his surprise.
Of course Ruby saw it; the split second of truth revealed on his face. Her face contorted into complete, all consuming rage. Ozpin knew he was in for a fight the second her dominant hand twitched and aura unconsciously built up in her system. The headmaster discreetly pushed a concealed button the on bottom of his desk and the normally transparent windows become completely tinted.
Rose petals began to fall towards the cold metal floor as Ruby vanished.
"You bastard!"
On the left!
In under the blink of an eye Ozpin intercepted her slash with his cane, eyes widened by a centimeter. Her speed was impressive.
"You're the reason Weiss lost her arm! It's all your fault!"
Guilt washed through the ancient man. This wasn't what he had intended to happen. He began to push the blade back from his torso with little effort.
"Ruby, it was the only way-"
Silver eyes flashed. "Bullshit!"
The huntress in training fired her weapon, forcing the scythe to hook Ozpin's cane into it's curve and for but a moment the headmaster could feel himself being disarmed. That was before he unleashed a contained pulse of his aura, forcing time to move over thirty times slower than normal. In a micro-second to Ruby Ozpin grabbed onto her weapon and yanked it from her grasp while solidifying his hold on the cane and redirecting the force into the ground. Crescent Rose's recoil vanished from her person and instead Ozpin shook an inch from its firing he had stolen it so quickly.
Time returned to normal and Ozpin sighed as he looked into a now thoroughly terrified Ruby's eyes.
He had over-reacted due to instinct. One mistake after another; perhaps it was an omen?
"As I was saying; it was the only way to viably make Vale safe while also moving to interfere with her operations. We know where she's hiding her White Fang, we know what she's doing now, and if we played defensively our only warning of these tamed Grimm would have been an concentrated army appearing from thin air. I gambled, I let Cinder have an opening, and she revealed her hand. Now we can counter-attack with the full fury of nations behind us."
Ruby looked less convinced and more 'I just want to leave', so Ozpin decided to leave her with a single thought.
"If you truly think I don't have humanities best interest at heart, if you truly mistrust me so deeply, then please trust your uncle and father. That is all I ask."
Ruby left without another word, and Ozpin couldn't help but feel completely, utterly alone.
AN: There it is folks. I...might have procrastinated this to an extreme sadly. I lost my passion for writing, especially things RWBY related, and just took months off. I can tell you now that the spark is back, and I cannot wait to present to you the sequel to 'A Different Perspective'.
For any returning people concerned about the length of this chapter, I can say without any doubt that this will be the shortest chapter in this entire story. Just wanted to get a good, solid, shorter introduction to event going here. Yes, there will be lore next chapter to those who enjoy it.
As always, reviews, especially critical ones, are welcome and appreciated.
Till next time.