"Bring out the condemned."
The voice was clear and commanding in the crisp Atlesian air, and if the speaker was younger than Weiss herself, her voice was calm and steady. Calmer than Weiss herself was at the moment, in any case.
It was just under three months since Valen forces had captured the Atlas City in a daring raid, air-dropping their troops and mecha on the floating city with more of their magitek airships than Weiss would have dreamed existed. She could remember one of her father's generals calling Atlas City "an impregnable fortress with a natural defense no enemy will ever be able to overcome."
The assault had begun in the middle of the night. By mid-afternoon, the last shattered remnants of the city's garrison had surrendered. It turned out that the same isolation that made it 'impossible' to attack made it impossible to reinforce.
To Weiss, that night was a series of images, moments frozen in time. The first was being awakened by a roar of weapons fire outside, followed by an explosion that blew her windows inward, covering the floor of her suite in shards of glass. Atlas may have invented the concept of the blitzkrieg when it launched its war against Vale, but that night Vale proved that the student had become the master. Met with resistance, the response of the invaders had been simple: Overwhelming firepower. Those that stayed out of the way were left alone, those that surrendered were taken prisoner and treated fairly.
When it became obvious that the palace defenses wouldn't hold, the palace guard had tried to get the royal family out, only to find that themselves under attack from within and without. A large part of the palace staff had been Faunus slaves; in hindsight, it should have been obvious that it would be child's play for White Fang commandos to infiltrate them. The guards trying to get Weiss out had fallen one by one, until finally, she found herself huddling in a storage closet, blood running down her face, the gun she'd taken from her last guard's body clutched in her shaking hands. When the door opened, she'd fired blindly, hoping to at least anger them enough to make them kill her quickly. She'd downed the one that opened the door. His teammates had laughed and tossed in some sort of grenade that made a flash and a loud noise, leaving her blinded and her ears ringing. Later she would learn that the commando team that had captured her had insisted on guarding her themselves, as a show of respect.
Come the morning, Weiss had found herself a prisoner in her own home, one guard on the door, another on her balcony, both of them with orders to shoot her if she tried to escape or made too much of a nuisance of herself. She'd spent most of that first day huddled in her bathroom, sobbing, feeling ashamed as she wished that they'd been a little less thorough in stripping it of things she could use to hurt herself. Even that had been interrupted by one of the commandos sticking her head in periodically to make sure Weiss was alright. Or at least as alright as the situation allowed.
On the morning of the third day, Weiss and every other noble the invaders had been able to lay hands on (with one notable exception) had found themselves marched to the city's edge, there to stand before the Scarlet Empress of Vale herself.
Younger than Weiss, the Scarlet Empress had earned the name not because of how she dressed, but because of the rivers of blood her troops had spilled at her command. Not that Weiss could blame her; Atlas had, after all, started the war with the murder of the previous Empress under a flag of truce. It had then launched a blitzkrieg invasion of the Empire of Vale, believing that if they captured enough territory quickly enough, Vale would surrender. And it had worked, for a time. Then the counterattack had come. The war in Vale had turned into a slugging match, Atlas technology versus the unholy hybrid of magic and technology Vale called 'magitek.'
And now it was time for Atlas to pay the price for what it had done. The Scarlet Empress might be a girl of only sixteen, but she had grown up in a country at war. When her father the regent had been assassinated by an Atlesian plot, she'd made up her mind to truly rule, not just reign. Within six months, she'd survived no less than three separate plots to usurp the throne.
On the cold, windy morning after the invasion, the Scarlet Empress had stood there, facing down a line of men that had been scheming and plotting long before she had been born. A Valen soldier had walked down the line, handing out sunglasses as she spoke. "People of Atlas, Vale did not start this war, but we are going to finish it. Three days ago, we captured your capital and many members of your nobility, including your king and the rest of the royal family." That was some relief; at least her family had been captured alive. Weiss regarded the sunglasses she'd been handed curiously before realizing the Empress was wearing a pair herself and put them on quickly. "And now we will discuss terms of surrender.
"Put simply, Atlas will surrender, unconditionally. Atlas will become a vassal state of Vale, and your legal codes will adjust to match ours. The first thing is that all forms of slavery and indentured servitude will be outlawed. Starting now, Faunus will be treated equally under the law with humans. Delaying and stall tactics will not be tolerated on this point."
"And how do you expect to enforce this?" The voice came anonymously from the crowd, and the empress smiled a smile as cold and unforgiving as the most northernmost and desolate reaches of Mantle.
"Like this," she said, turning to face the bay spread out below them.
Suddenly an actinic blue flash erupted from one of the larger islands in the bay, blinding Weiss temporarily and sending out a shockwave that almost knocked her off her feet. The Empress didn't even flinch, leaving Weiss certain that she'd been planning for this moment.
When the roar and some of the dust had subsided, the Empress turned to face the nobles once again, framed by the mushroom cloud rising into the Atlas sky. A shiver ran down Weiss's spine that had nothing to do with the cold weather or how under-dressed for it Weiss was. "For too long, the Kingdom of Atlas has been the belligerent neighbor that others appeased, for fear of its wrath. The Empire of Vale cannot allow Atlas to be a threat to us, ever again. We do not expect every citizen of Atlas to embrace us in their hearts, but Atlas as a whole will bow to us. Insurrection will not be tolerated. Fight us, and your cities will become ash. Cooperate, and we will build a new Atlas, one that is stronger because of the differences between its people, not divided by them.
"One point on which we will not, cannot yield, is that those responsible for atrocities committed during the war must be punished.
One by one, generals, nobles, and officials that had been responsible for atrocities committed during the war had been tried, found guilty, and been sent to the gods at the end of a hangman's rope. And now the last of them was being led out of his cell and into the courtyard.
King Jacques Schnee wore a plain white suit if one far less refined than he'd been accustomed to wearing. The two soldiers escorting him kept a good meter behind him, prodding him gently with the stun wands they were carrying. "Come on you," one of the guards said, none too quietly. "Go out with a little dignity."
Weiss sniffed. At his trial, her father had screamed at his captors, denouncing the trial as illegitimate and calling for the people of Atlas to rise up against the Valen invaders. He didn't bother to deny any of the charges brought against him; instead, he'd admitted to them, even gloried in them, regarding atrocities committed at his command as triumphs. Weiss had known her father was mad with power, but this-! When the sentence of death finally came down, the prospect of his own death finally seemed to have broken him, and now he shuffled toward the platform in a disjointed manner, rather like a puppet whose strings were tangled.
Finally, her father was brought to the top of the steps, the noose tightened around his neck. The Empress stood, her voice carrying across the courtyard. "King Jacques Schnee, you have been found guilty of ordering the murder of my mother, Empress Summer Rose, of ordering the assassination of my father, Regent Taiyang Xiao Long, and of a variety of war crimes, including ordering the firebombing of the city of Vale. For these crimes, you have been sentenced to death by hanging. Do you have any last words before this sentence is carried out?"
Silence filled the courtyard for a moment, then, just as the executioner was starting to reach for the lever, Jacques began to sing. Softly, hesitantly at first, then steadier and steadier, Weiss' father began to sing the Atlas national anthem. She'd hadn't heard him sing since she was a child, and hearing him now, she couldn't help but wonder why, he had such a beautiful singing voice.
The executioner paused, his hand on the lever, looking at the Empress. She gestured for him to wait, listening attentively. Finally, he finished, his head bowed, and the empress applauded. "Thank you for that. Most of your fellows have gone to their end screaming hate at Us. We do not hate the Kingdom of Atlas, nor its people, but We are angry at some of the things that kingdom and some of those people have done, and those responsible must be punished. Farewell, and may whatever gods you hold dear have mercy on you." With that, the empress gestured for the executioner to pull the lever.
The witnesses watched while Jacques Schnee dangled at the end of the rope, swaying in a chilling breeze that seemed to have come out of nowhere just for the occasion. The executioner checked the body before nodding gravely at the Empress. She stood from her chair and turned toward Weiss and her siblings. "And now," Empress Ruby Rose said quietly, "we have matters of state to discuss."
Half an hour later, Weiss found herself led into what had been her father's favorite conference room, along with her sister, Winter, and brother, Whitley. Waiting for them were the Scarlet Empress, her sister, Yang Xiao Log, the Chieftain of Menagerie and her husband, and a black-haired Faunus woman Weiss didn't recognize. As soon as the door shut behind them, the empress surprised by stepping forward and hugging Winter, then taking a step back, holding Weiss' sister at arms' length. "Winter, I'm sorry to put you through all this."
Her sister's response made Weiss frown. "I appreciate that, Ruby. I understand the necessity of it even if…" Winter drew a deep ragged breath. "My father may have been cold and distant, and done terrible things to your kingdom and its people, but he was still my father. I… I need time."
Ruby nodded and opened her mouth to speak, then stopped, looking at Weiss. "Is something wrong?"
Weiss stiffened, mentally chastising herself for letting her reaction show. "I didn't realize the two of you were so… familiar," she answered carefully, trying to keep the anger she felt out of her voice.
Ruby and Winter looked at each other, but it was Ruby that spoke first. "When the sentence of death finally was handed down for your father, I sat down and had a long talk with Winter. I was trying to set us on the road toward a sound working relationship, but I think we're on our way to building some mutual trust and respect."
"I will agree, although it's probably best if we don't appear too friendly in public. If it looks like we're getting along too well, it will make things harder for me here." Winter started to sit down at her usual place, the seat that would have been at her father's right hand, then stopped, resting a hand on the ornate arm of her father's chair. "I suppose this is my place now, or should it be yours, Ruby? The protocol is a touch vague on this point."
Ruby laughed and gestured Winter to the chair. "Eh, I don't think there's really set protocol on this one. I think we'll say that's your chair all the time, and get something appropriate made up for me when I visit. For now, let's keep things informal. Public face versus private face, right?" She matched action to words by flopping down in the chair at the opposite end of the table from Winter, the one Jacques Schnee had usually reserved for someone that had displeased him greatly. Ruby stretched her arms and legs wide. "Sorry, sitting so still for so long, I've got a lot of pent-up energy."
Yang coughed gently, pulling everyone's eyes to her. "Uh, sis, matters of state and all?"
"Right." Ruby gestured toward the table and everyone took a seat, Yang to her sister's right, the unnamed Faunus woman on Ruby's left, the Chieftain and her husband halfway down the table, and Weiss and Whitley on either side of Winter.
Weiss hesitated before sitting down, noticing how the nameless Faunus reached out and took the Empress' hand. Who was she, and what was her place here? She had the air of a predator about her, like a snow leopard or panther, and Weiss would have bet everything she had left to her name that the woman had some serious combat training.
"Okay, orders of business. Winter, you were your father's heir, so the crown of Atlas falls to you. Given the circumstances, I'd like to have the coronation as quickly as possible. Atlas law says you have to be confirmed by parliament first, right?"
Winter nodded. "Correct, but I would recommend not rushing to bring the issue before parliament just yet. The courts are still working through all the inheritance issues, given all the titles changing hands. The political aspects are complicating things; if a magistrate hands over a title to someone supporting you, they look like they've been pressured to do so. But they're also worried about passing a title to someone who's calling for armed resistance…." Winter shrugged.
"Ugh." Ruby slumped in her chair. "I'd rather have honest opposition than syco-syco-"
"Sycophants?" the still-nameless woman suggested.
"Sycophants, yeah, thanks, Blake. I don't want to meddle unless there's a title that's going to somebody who's literally ready to start the war again tomorrow." The empress shrugged. "Damned if we do, damned if we don't. Okay. Winter, let the magistrates overseeing the inheritance issues know that the Empire regards the transfer of titles to be an Atlas internal civil matter, and will not interfere, so far as Atlas law is followed. With one exception," she added as Menagerie's Chieftain shifted in her seat. "If there's a Faunus who would not have previously been able to inherit due to being a slave or indentured, then that person will be given full consideration, the same as any human heirs. Complaints may be filed with the White Fang commandos. Feel free to use those exact words."
Weiss and Winter looked at each other, neither one wanting to speak. Finally, Winter let out a bark of laughter. "Weiss, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"If you're thinking of the late Lord Winchester, you are." The sisters shared a dark chuckle.
"Somebody want to let the rest of us in on the joke?" Yang said, leaning back in her chair and putting her boots on the table.
"Please, Your Highness, have some respect for my furniture. Just because it was my father's favorite table doesn't mean it isn't a beautiful piece of furniture. Well," Winter stopped to compose herself, "the late Lord Winchester was well known for… entertaining himself with the Faunus members of his household staff. Rumor has it that a large portion of the current staff are his children and grandchildren."
"Some of whom are older than his son Cardin, and have children of their own," Weiss mused, one corner of her mouth lifting in a malicious smirk. "Cardin tried to put his hand up my skirt, once. It cost his father a bill he was pushing in parliament."
"Hm. The Chieftain of Menagerie (Kali, that was her name, Weiss remembered now) leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. "Would it distress anyone in this room very much if the Chieftain of Menagerie offered to pay for the genetic testing needed to support any Faunus claimants to Lord Winchester's title? Or other titles?"
Yang burst out laughing, overbalancing her chair and sending her tumbling to the ground. "Oh, man, that's one way to get Faunus in Parliament. I'd pay to see that!"
Weiss leveled her gaze at Kali. "For doing that to Cardin, I could almost forgive you certain things," The scar across her left eye twinged for a moment, and she repeated, "Almost."
Kali dipped her head in a brief nod. "As Empress Ruby says, better an honest enemy than a dishonest friend."
"And that brings us to another matter," Ruby said, clearing her throat with a grimace. "Pretty soon, we'll be withdrawing most of our troops from Atlas. A small detachment will remain, both to see to the security of the viceroy and to, let's be honest, handle things the Atlas army can't or won't handle." Ruby's silver eyes locked on Winter's, and for a moment the Scarlet Empress sat with them. "You may call upon them, Queen Winter, but do so carefully and discreetly."
She shook her head before she continued. "And one more matter that's kind of silly, but people in the Vale parliament are pushing for it. They want a member of the Atlas royal family to come to Vale, as a hostage against Atlas's good behavior."
"That's ridiculous!" Whitley yelled, coming to his feet. "Atlas will never stand for it! There'd be rioting in the streets at the very idea."
"I don't think so, Whitley," Winter said quietly. "You haven't been paying attention to the news feeds lately. Most people are tired of the war and see that Vale had a legitimate reason for striking back at us. Our father was not nearly as well-loved as you might think. Feared, perhaps, but not loved or even respected."
"I'll go." Weiss was surprised to find that she was the one who had spoken. "A hostage might be an old-fashioned idea, but it will make for a good token gesture. As the empress said, it will appease some of her people at home, and some of the nobility here in Atlas will appreciate the gesture, and my sacrifice."
"Please, call me Ruby. I think we'll be seeing a lot of each other."
''As your majesty commands," Weiss answered, bowing her head.
And with that, everything changed. Less than an hour later, Weiss found herself wandering the palace where she had grown up freely once more, with no more escort than the empress's half-sister. Even the Vale army troops serving as palace guards had already gotten the message, not ignoring her but more focused on looking for threats than tracking her movements. As they wandered down a corridor toward Weiss' suite, her eye caught sight of a groundskeeping crew, still working to undo the damage done the night of the invasion
Two things passed through Weiss' mind at that moment. The first was now that the Faunus on the work crew were free and not slaves, they kept on doing the same job, but now they tackled it with greater vigor. The second was that the palace gardens had existed for hundreds of years, and it would take years if not decades to restore them, but they would never truly be the same.
"Man, it will be good to get home," the blonde woman said, shattering Weiss' concentration as she stretched her arms over her head. "I don't think there's a decent beach anywhere in Atlas. Shore's too rocky, the water's too cold. You ever been to a beach, Weiss? And the food! It's all seafood and vegetables, not a noodle to be found. And does it ever get warm here? I mean the kind of warm that you feel down to your bones."
"I have never been to a beach. If you think this is cold, I suggest you hang around until winter. You can try your hand at a polar bear plunge if you like. And if you despise our food that much, feel free to starve until we leave!" Weiss snapped, leaving the Yang standing there, stunned.
"I'm sorry, Weiss," Yang said, her face downfallen. "I just… I miss home. I guess you haven't traveled much, huh? Me neither. I mean, dad tried to make things as normal as he could for us, but it was hard, with the war and all. He was busy being regent, and Ruby being the heir, she was busy learning how to be empress. I could have gone without them, but it just didn't seem right. So I'm sorry about being glad that the war's over, and I'm getting to go home without that looming over our heads."
"Apology accepted, Your Highness. I am… having trouble adjusting to the way things are now."
Yang laughed, a bright, friendly sound that seemed out of place in the somber halls of the palace. "Okay, first of all, too many titles flying around for all these 'Your Majesties' and 'Your Highnesses' you keep tossing around. I've got a name, use it, okay? Unless we're in a formal setting. I'm not big on titles, because I'm only technically a princess, and if we are in a formal setting, don't forget Blake, okay?"
Weiss blinked, surprised. "You're only technically a princess? Is that why Ruby inherited the throne, even though you're sisters? And I wasn't aware that Blake held a title, I should apologize to her for that.."
"You know what, let's find somewhere to sit down and something to drink, my family history's kinda convoluted," Yang answered, jerking a thumb toward the gardens outside Weiss had been watching a moment ago.
Shortly they found themselves seated on a patio, coffee and some delightful cookies brought to them by one of the staff. "Okay, here's my family history, starting from the beginning. Ruby and I have different mothers, but the same father. Our father, Taiyang Xiao Long, was an Imperial official. On a trip to Vacuo, he got kidnapped by Vacuan separatists. My mother Raven Branwen, was a mercenary, and she's the one that rescued him, mostly because the separatist leader owed her money. Mom's was like that. She tried to settle down with dad, mostly for my sake, but, well, she never took to the home and family thing, so after a while, she bailed on me and dad."
"Where is she now?" Weiss asked, reaching for a cookie. Oh, sea spiral puffs, her favorite.
"Dead, probably. Right after your dad killed Empress Summer, her and some of her friends got it in their head that he deserved the same. They went off to kill him and we never heard from them again." Yang sighed and grabbed a sea spiral puff of her own before continuing.
"Anyway, Summer and dad had always been close, and she needed a husband that wasn't a total waste of space and air, so one day she proposed to him and then along comes Ruby, my little half-sister." Yang laughed, shaking her head. "When I was five or six, Summer formally adopted me, placing me in the line of succession right after any descendants of Ruby's."
"So that's why you say you're only technically a princess," Weiss said, dipping a cookie in her coffee and chewing it thoughtfully. Her father had always berated it for the habit, but it had become the principle of the matter, a small defiance he could not take from her.
And now he was gone. Weiss shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. For all his faults, Jacques Schnee had been her father, after all, and his rare moments of affection were still some of her brightest memories.
"Are you okay?" Yang reached out and laid a hand on Weiss' arm, starting her. "You just, you looked a little lost there."
"I was remembering my father," Weiss said quietly. "We had very different childhoods, you and I. You were living through a war, while I was singing in concert halls and attending balls, being dangled as a marriage prospect for the sons of men my father needed to convince of one thing or another." She sighed. "Your invasion shattered my world, but now I am more free than I ever dreamed. I feel like I'm falling from an incredible height, waiting to hit the ground."
"Well, you could always try learning to fly," Yang said, giving Weiss a grin that was warmer than the warmest summer day Weiss could remember.
The white-haired girl nodded and smiled weakly, grateful for the encouragement. Then something made her look down at Yang's hand. "Are you wearing gauntlets or something? Your hand feels like it's covered in metal."
"Not covered in metal, made of metal. The right one at least." Yang pulled the glove off her right hand and rolled up her sleeve, revealing a black and yellow prosthetic arm. "I've kept it covered because you don't have magitek prosthetics like this, here in Atlas."
"Mm." Weiss turned the arm over, marveling at its construction. "If I may ask, how were you injured?"
"I lost it the night dad died." Now it was Yang's voice that was full of pain. My arm was trapped under some debris, and to save my life, someone cut it off so they could get me out of there. That night, I, I don't want to talk about it right now."
"I suppose our lives have scarred both of us," Weiss said, reaching up to touch the scar she'd acquired the night of the Vale invasion. "To scars," she said, lifting her coffee cup in a mock toast.
"Yeah, to scars."