I'm back, and right on time! And yes, several other chapters are already pretty much ready and waiting to go. To be honest, was a little worried about this one since I noticed that not a lot of action seems to be happening, but fret not, the plot is progressing and the pace will increase in the coming segments. I just had to get some of these more important sentimental scenes out of the way. But fortunately, from what some of you say, you like that. So enjoy.
Once again I wish to express my thanks to all those who review, and even to those who give me their tacit support. I couldn't have done it without you. I tried to answer all of your reviews personally, but I feel like I may have missed some. If I somehow neglected you, forgive me, and try asking a more direct question in the future so I know if you expect the 'personal touch'.
And to continue on with the disclaimer about important issues in this, I just want to disclose something before we go in here. When I reference Winter's prior positions in the Atlas military, I am drawing from real life scenarios of South Africa during the Apartheid. So if any of you are confused as to what I am getting at, I would suggest looking that up, especially if you don't know about that in general.
If you have read my other story, you will know that I do not claim to be political in any way, so please do not take it that way now. I think I make my positions very clear if one just reads what is there.
"So do you think they do this every year?"
The familiar gang, recast in the roles of second-year students, gathered in the cafeteria to watch their prospective peers line up on the green hills overlooking the Emerald Forest. The sight invoked both pleasant and disagreeable memories all around. It was uncanny watching the familiar scene unfold like a scripted film in front of them, the changes so minor it might have been an out of body experience.
"You're asking if we watched you guys from the live feed security cams last year?" The stylish leader of Team CFVY responded to Yang's question with another of her own. She tried her best to appear bored with the proceedings, but was herself sneaking furtive glances at the monitors spread out against the long side of the room, disguising her action while filing her nails. Each one of the half-dozen screens showing a drone's unique perspective, each one showing the dozens of exited, scared, aloof and confused faces which might once have been theirs.
"I can't speak for any of the upperclassmen, but we didn't have this last year."
"Huh, wonder why?"
"Hm."
While the two boisterous females loudly made small talk sitting on the table above them, Sasuke expressed his equal intrigue with a mere grunt, never once taking his eyes from the monitors. Sitting next to him on the bench, Naruto split his attention between the projected images and the bowl of noodles in his lap. Nonetheless, he was paying more attention to the goings on around him more than anyone would give him credit for.
"Yeah, I wonder why nobody ever thought of this before." Naruto nodded approvingly while clipping off a long strand with his chopsticks and slurping it up into his mouth with a wet snap. "This is better than a movie. We get to sit inside nice and warm while getting to see the noobs make fools of themselves."
"You forget that you lot were the freshmen not too long ago." Coco chided him, swatting the back of his head and making him whip a mouthful of noodles into his face.
"I haven't forgotten." Naruto growled exasperatingly, perhaps more sharply than intended. "In fact, that's the reason I can enjoy myself now, because I know how much it sucked getting thrown off that cliff!"
"Can't argue about that." Jaune chimed in, helping himself to a second batch of pancakes that Ren had begrudgingly agreed to make for their late breakfast. Under duress of course, and the penalty of Nora throwing a tantrum: aka certain death.
"I don't think it's because nobody ever thought of doing this before." Blake's subdued voice carried out over Sasuke's other shoulder, her eyes too watching the far-off scene with a predatory casualness as she stretched her back out on the tabletop. "They've always had the drones watching the exam, at least they did when we went through it."
"Hn. It's probably because Ozpin didn't want to breed a hierarchy within the grades." Sasuke deduced. He likened it to the Jonin and Chunin exams back in Konoha. One was a public event, designed to show off skills to challenge the other nations. The other was private for the protection of the participants. Now it was for the weaker among them instead of the strongest, but the concept was the same.
"By having us actively attend the security footage screening, we are more apt to look competitively at the incoming classes, rather than meeting them in a social setting."
"I wonder why's Goodwitch doing it now?" His blond companion mused to himself and the general audience, brows knit, and lips twisted slightly, as if his sacred ramen had just turned fowl.
"Can't say."
Sasuke shrugged, apparently having gotten bored or hungry enough to get up in time for a gap in the que to get flapjacks. He had never been good at guessing what was going through Glynda's mind, another reason he was glad to be under the tutelage of Aurelia instead. The headmistress didn't strike him as the type of person to want to mold the school into a dog-eat-dog arrangement. But she had in the past stressed the importance of responsibility and maturity among the huntsmen to be.
"I guess she just decided it was time for a change."
That, none of them could argue. For they all knew that despite appearances, nothing would be the same again.
"Hey, Naruto?" Seeing him polish off the last of his breakfast bowl, and a free space open up with the departure of Sasuke, Ruby sidled around the other side of her team to sit adjacent to the young man.
Though he was cheerful at first to be favored by her presence, he hadn't yet had a chance to talk to after their time apart and was a little embarrassed for that negligence. The distracted look on her face worried him as well, informing him to clear disappointment that this was no mere social call.
"Morning Ruby, what's up?"
"Can I- can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Uh, sure, of course."
Unknown to the two teens, the conversation around them stopped. At least until they both got up and left, and then it reignited with a furor of carousing. Yang gleefully celebrating her sister's maturation into womanhood whilst planning ways to extort it for her own gain. Others argued that the covert chat was purely platonic and natural among separated friends. And yet another faction maintained the merits of both while staying on the other side of the fence and tuning out the gossip. But all had lost focus on the screens in front to focus on the latest potential gossip.
Some hid their curiosity better than others. And even as Sasuke took a careful bite of his optimally glazed pancake, he watched the two leave with more than a token interest. He met Blake's eyes too, and realized they were held in the same worried furrow. Neither acted on their suspicions, though, even if they had plenty of opportunity to do so with everyone discoursing at the top of their lungs around them.
Sasuke merely sat back down in his seat next to her while disinterestedly parting out another bite of his breakfast with his fork. Her frown deepened seeing his commitment to inaction, but could not bring herself to disagree with this decision. She was sure Ruby would feel the need to tell her if she needed to know, eventually. Hopefully.
For the sake of the young man next to her, she hoped Naruto felt the same.
The two had left down the side corridor, walking aimlessly side by side a hand's width apart.
"Well, I guess you were right." Naruto chuckled lamely while rubbing the back of his shaggy hair. "Here we are again. Feels like just yesterday we… it all happened."
"Yeah," Ruby nodded, automatically agreeing with the teen while never meeting his eyes. Naruto felt ashamed that he could not pin down the reason for the girl's clear depression. His hind brain meanwhile warning him that he had committed a faux pas without noticing it, and he should tread lightly over the likely mined ground.
"It's… really good to see you again." He ventured with sincerity, trying to send out an olive branch across an unknown divide. "I missed you." He added softly as he continued to walk on ahead without noticing his surroundings, hands shoved defensively in his pockets. He realized only half a beat later that the girl had stopped walking with him.
"A-and the others as well!" He amended quickly, thinking he had overstepped a boundary with the introverted scythe-wielder. The last he had seen of her, of any of them, it had seemed like they had all parted on good terms. Was she upset that he hadn't been more attentive to her the other day? He still wasn't sure what defined their relationship, and in none of his experience, real or vicarious did he pretend to understand personal affairs.
"I-" He heard her mutter then stop, and so dared to take a step back towards her, getting within striking distance. But still he couldn't read her expression which accompanied the pained voice, staring at the floor. "I missed you too." She said at last, and at last looked back up at him, a sad smile on her face.
"What's wrong, Ruby?" He asked, suddenly rife with concern surpassing that for his own being. Taking another half-step closer, he tried to rest a hand on her shoulder. "Did I do something wrong? Did somebody else? Whatever it is, whoever it is, tell me, and I promise you I'll deal with it." Oh, if only he could take away her pain. He felt the negative emotions so strongly within himself that he might as well be living from the same nerve endings, the same synapsis that moved her to the brink of tears forcing him too by their invisible hand.
This declaration brought a chuckle out of the dark-haired girl. But it wasn't a joyous sound by any means.
"I wish you could."
She placed her hands on top of his, keeping it cemented there against her imagined fears, against the possibility that what she had to tell him would drive him away.
It had been his burden, not too long ago, and for far longer than it had been hers. But with no memory of the hardship, only knowledge, would he still be able to keep his promise? Could he empathize with her and commiserate with her, and ease her burden? Or was telling him a mistake that would sever the bond between them permanently? What good what it do, anyway? The Fox was with her now, and there was little chance that they could convince it to leave her alone.
But what of her conviction? She had decided days ago that she needed to tell him of the sudden and dramatic shift in both their lives. She understood that keeping it secret wouldn't work, and in the long run would only hurt them all. Secrets always would. All of them new that now. So why couldn't she form the words?
"I can. I will."
She felt his other hand rest on her shoulder as he squared himself to face her. "I know I'm not the same person as I once was. I'm probably not as good as he was." He looked aside suddenly, exposed to the glaring shame he felt for that fact.
But from everything that he had heard, that was probably the truth. The shinobi Naruto had been the dead last of his class, and still leagues ahead of all the students at Beacon. He had to fight tooth and nail just to get back to decent fighting order, and even then, his partner had eclipsed his every accomplishment. He didn't resent him for it of course, nor did he resent his past self for setting the bar so high. He just lamented that he couldn't protect his friends as well as he once might have been able to.
"But…I give you my word that whatever it is that's bothering you, I'll do everything within my power to make things better." Even knowing his inadequacies would not prevent him from honoring this promise. The promise was his truth, perhaps the only one he really knew.
She didn't need him to tell her that, but still it helped to hear it. But still it felt like she was woman approaching the gallows. It was time to get it over with.
"Naruto…."
He was confused, and more than a little embarrassed when she let go of his hand to lift up the hem of her shirt, exposing the skin of her stomach, as tight as a drum head. But abashed thoughts were exiled as soon as the garment passed above her navel. The web of symbols as dark as a bruise took his breath away and he stared in abject shock and even horror. For he could not help but recognize the symbol. Inscribed on that virgin flesh were lines as familiar as those on the palm of his own hand.
"What the…." He couldn't bring his mouth to form the question nonetheless ambient in the air.
"I am the new container for the Kyuubi."
Sasuke sat behind the desk with a bored look on his face. But in truth was anything but. Everything was as it should be in that school, that academic vanguard. Everything the same as it had been many times before. But it couldn't become mundane, they could not become complacent. Not yet at least, for although everything was the same, so too was it different.
Everything was so close to the way it had been it was scary. The sights, the smells, even the ringing of the brass bell at the end of each period was the same as every other classroom there had ever been. It was the same that had been in the academy back in Konoha, as well as the one in Goodwitch's class.
But this wasn't Glynda's combat class anymore. It was Aurelia's. This wasn't the same stage which had born so many students' falls and victories. These weren't the walls which had been honed by calloused hands. And the faces, young and impressionable, were no longer unmarred as they stared intently on their new instructor not with boredom, but cautious restraint.
And there was more amiss. He couldn't concentrate on his respected instructor as she addressed the class as a whole, could not take pleasure in her speech causing a few weaker souls to wet themselves.
Not when something was so clearly wrong with his comrade. Sasuke may have but arrived after several months away, but he still could have spotted the abnormal behavior from halfway across the world, let alone across the room.
He had decided when Naruto left with Ruby during breakfast that he would give the young man space, give him time enough to get used to his company again, appreciate his being there. He was starting to regret that decision. Ruby looked equally bothered by whatever had passed between them, but she had her sister by her side to provide moral support. And here he was, with the other members of Team RWBY instead of with the person who needed him.
"She seems pretty no-nonsense." Blake whispered carefully to him and Weiss regarding their new instructor, the latter gulped and nodded at the understatement.
Registering the comment, Sasuke merely nodded, not trusting his voice to be quiet enough to go unnoticed by the huntress. He wasn't too keen on his master interrupting his thoughts at that moment with her usual subtlety.
Blake glanced furtively at him, and followed his gaze to the two spots his focus flicked between. She had long since picked up on the underlying tension that had been blatantly hanging about ever since the two younger teens had returned from their 'chat'.
In fact, she had sniffed out Ruby's buried concern far before that. Ruby had tried to hide it with her usual antics, but the fear and sorrow had hung about her like a toxic cloud in the eyes of the Faunus, hidden emotions like a brassard to those who could smell them.
"Sasuke," She whispered his name softly trying to get his attention.
"Sasuke." His head which began to lean over to her whipped back to the front at the icy address which sent a shiver down his spine.
"Yes ma'am." He answered back regimentally. Almost too quickly, like a guilty child's denial. He very well could have been, as the militant woman stared back with a calculating look which laid bare conspiracies and made Blake want to confess to things she hadn't even considered yet. Elsewhere in the benches, Jaune cowered, trying to make himself as small as possible.
"Why don't you get down here and give the new students a demonstration."
He stood to comply but paused when making his way to the stair steps.
"What would you like me to demonstrate?" She arched a piqued eyebrow at his obvious delay tactic, and so he amended it quickly. "So that I know whether or not I need my gear."
How she could sense his impatience he would ever know. But as soon as he asked that innocuous request for clarification, she sent him a smirk that said he would be busy for the rest of the class time, and that she would give him something to occupy his harried mind.
"I want to show them how I run my class. Help me show them how I expect you to fight."
Sasuke felt his stomach drop as he took another delayed step down to the arena. He knew what that phrase stood for. She always expected the same thing out of students regardless of fights or spars.
You fought tooth and nail, for your life.
Every day was a struggle to survive. Tooth and nail scraped pennies together under the nose at the grindstone. Every day he worked for what meager pittance came to him, no matter how small. And each day he was as hungry, as cold, as tired as the last.
It really was a dog's life.
He laughed grimly even as his whip-like tail tucked between his legs, a passerby snapping at him for daring to make himself noticeable above the flotsam. It wasn't bad enough that he was no better than the refuse which accumulated in the lowest part of the gutters, he couldn't even rustle as they did. Every sound brought the ire of his 'neighbors', the denizens of those gutters in the dirtiest parts of Vale.
Vale wasn't all that bad for Faunus, just as it wasn't so bad for humans, or so he had been told. But every city had its slums, and he had never seen the greener side of the grass promised to him by authorities both official and criminal. The silver lining on the clouds was hidden by the towering buildings around him, allowing only rain to reach through its spiny metallic fingers to drown him in his depression.
One thing about being at rock bottom- you didn't have much farther to fall.
"Hey, kid."
Who was he talking to? He had never been addressed as such in the decade of time he had spent in this world. He had always been trash, or at most, an animal, never raised to such a lofty level to be given personality.
"Kid, I'm talking to you, kid. Come on, I know you're not deaf. Are you hurt? Can you walk?"
What were all these questions? No one as far as he knew had ever taken such an interest in his life. There was no reason for now to be any different, so he eyed the stranger with a healthy skepticism and no little fear, not daring to emerge from his cardboard box for what could very well be a cruel ploy.
"Look, kid, it's alright, I'm a cop. See?"
He saw the shiny metal badge flash across the far opening, too clean to be anything that came from his world. But he had seen such things before, and they never portended anything good. Shiny things were wealth, shiny things were power, shiny things were blades lurking in dark allies waiting to excise him of what little he had left.
"You're not in trouble. I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to talk. I'll even pay you. Are you hungry? I have some food here, we can get some more but I need you to come out so we can talk."
The protein bar crinkled in front of the legs plastered with gray trousers that had planted themselves outside his hovel. The wrapper crinkled just like the trash that rode the cold evening breeze and cut through his bones which rubbed against his threadbare shirt. But it wasn't trash. It was life.
"Come on kid. I'm not going to bite."
No, there was little chance of that. He was a human, not a Faunus. Fat faced and with a kindly hue in his cheek. Not at all like the stony-jawed detectives which routinely prowled around Vale's underside and strong-armed their way to their goals just like the criminals they sought. They always found enough of thsoe down here, expecting the worst, and never being disappointed.
"There we go. See? I'm not so bad, right?"
The enforcer saw the softly glowing eyes stare fearfully out at him from the dark depths of the cavernous box. He didn't often stray down into the lower ends of Vale. Not out of fear, but of pity. Vagrant children like this reminded him of his own son. And there were just too many of them these days. The bar he offered now, and even the promise of a meal later would feed but one of them for a day. It wasn't even a chip on the monument of mistakes the politicians of the kingdom had built in their negligence.
But the food was honest as his will. And it as real as his empathy.
"I just want to talk, alright? So why don't you take the bar, and then we can go somewhere and get something more."
He saw the eyes dim in the shadow which fell across the opening, and quickly sought to correct his mistake.
"Or if you prefer, we can stay here and chat. I just want to know if you've seen anything-"
Something other than the eyes flashed in the darkness and the food dropped out of his limp grip. Red droplets pattered down all around and on top of it. His crouched knees wobbled and he felt a chill creep through his skin and down into his bones.
"What are you-?"
The small fist gripping the glass shard drew back and thrust again into his chest. Again. And again. And again. It clattered to the cold hard ground, next to the forgotten bar which had joined the other piles of trash in that filthy ally. The policeman's body dropped next to it, so much the same.
It was a dog eat dog world out there. She had told him so, and had been right. She was always right. Gods always were.
"I hope you were able to enjoy your time off with your sister."
General Ironwood expressed without having to turn away from his monitor, and without emoting the sentiment. Winter could already tell that he was distracted, yet highly alert, indicating that something important was on his mind. Courtesies which he afforded her as his favorite soldier would come second, if at all.
"Yes, sir, I did. She has returned to Beacon and I have been assured that she will be well taken care of."
She had checked and double checked the security protocols around the rebuilt school herself, and was reasonably satisfied with them.
The general nodded absently.
"I certainly hope so."
"As do I." A new voice broadcast from the darkened corner of the room.
Winter jumped slightly, blade half-way out of its scabbard when she recognized the voice that had appeared out of nowhere. And even then, almost drew it the rest of the way regardless.
"What are you doing here?" She hissed out, not catching on to her superior's lack of surprise as she took a threatening step at the lackadaisical man who held his hands out in flimsy defense of his person. Even if he had his weapon, he would not reach for it. There was a time and a place for games, but this was not it.
"Qrow came to me a few hours ago, looking for information." Ironwood admitted, finally turning around from his computer screen to face the two on opposite ends of the room so that both could see the weary recesses under his eyes shadowed by the monitor's soft glow.
"So what is he still doing here?" Winter questioned her superior officer cautiously, but with no small amount of spite showing through. She was now more able to tolerate his presence after what he had done for her and for Beacon, but she still could not see eye to eye with the man. And having him spontaneously show up in the secure military facility was not conducive to her patience.
"I'm here to bring you back to Vale." Qrow sighed wearily, already anticipating the vehement protest that would arise from this statement. There was no good way to break the news. Luckily for him, however, the general killed his subordinate's outburst with a stern look and a subtle gesture.
"Qrow came here originally because he had some suspicions about a possible resurgence of activity from her." Winter froze at this statement, loosely restrained protest vanishing as she tensed up and regarded her commander with an analytic gaze.
"And?" Her question ignored the other man in the room. But despite that it was Qrow who answered.
"Originally, I was just going to pop up and ask some questions of Jimmy here," Winter narrowed her eyes at the casual nature of his address to the military leader, but Ironwood himself didn't seem bothered by it. "Just to see if the same sort of strange behavior was happening in Atlas that's going on in Vale." He didn't yet bother to elaborate on what he qualified as 'strange behavior', and instead just ran an idle hand through his bedhead, sighing as he did so. Winter noticed that he had not been getting much sleep either, and looked worse than usual.
"Just before I left, one of my police contacts that I asked to do some snooping around the slums of Vale got himself stabbed to death." The man looked especially bitter to admit that, and the Lieutenant found herself scorning his sentimentality. The man was a police officer, and that kind of end was not to be unexpected in his line of work. But still, she knew instinctively that she would not feel quite the same if it was one of her fellow soldiers that had died for a tidbit of information.
"And you think they're connected." Winter surmised, though she had yet to see any evidence for this obtuse conclusion, other than the fact that it was brought up in the first place. Qrow nodded somberly.
"Last thing anyone knew, he said he was going down-town to poke around the gutters and question some of the street rats." That made sense, the disenfranchised youth that hung out down there tended to see a lot, and could be bought with minimal effort.
"So, one of the gangs caught him snooping around and decided he was after them, then decided to cover their backs."
Winter shrugged, knowing the scenario herself from time spent in Atlas's more dangerous ghettos, when riots broke out and the military was called in to restore order.
"It just sounds like they would be the ones you are after." As far as she was concerned, what the man was describing was an internal conflict, something Glynda had made patently clear she didn't want their military involvement in.
"It would seem like that," Qrow conceded, nodding. "Except that he was stabbed at a shallow angle in the chest, multiple times with a piece of glass that was found by the body."
Winter cringed, understanding the situation more fully. But still, it wasn't totally unexpected. Not to her, at any rate. She had seen the signs of desperation first hand, and seen the results of people pushed too far. Even children could be made to kill, if desparate enough.
In her own service to the Kingdom, time and again she had voiced her concerns and just such circumstances with reports to the civilian government of Atlas, and even vocally to her father. But time and again the deteriorating situation within the Faunus-populated districts stayed its retrograde course. Things hadn't gotten better after she left.
"I guess even Vale has its darker parts." She muttered lowly without accusation. Still the huntsman heard her and nodded grimly.
"Yeah, that it does." Despite the finality of the statement, Qrow had more disturbing news yet to reveal. "The thing is too, after stabbing him, the kid just left the food he was being offered as a reward." Winter found her eyebrows knitted together as she wrapped her head around this odd bit of info. "We also can't find hide nor hair of the kid that witnesses described. We have a description as well as a name, but can't seem to turn up any trace of him now."
The prodigal Schnee felt herself becoming intertwined in the details of this drawn out explanation, and shook herself to be rid of the cobwebs tying her down from seeing the bigger picture.
"Forgive me, but I mean, so what? Yeah, it's horrible and a downright shame, but what do you want me to do about it? The incident is over and done with, and I'm not a police officer, so I don't have jurisdiction in Vale. What do you think I can do?"
"It's precisely the fact that you are not a police officer that they need you." Ironwood spoke up again at last, rising laboriously from his seat and began pacing the room. "You see, this isn't an isolated incident."
"I went back and took a look at police records." Qrow admitted, grimacing. "The hard copies, not the electronic. It took me a while, but I found out that there's a lot more going on than I originally thought.
"Corruption is nothing new, even in Vale, but what's strange is how wide-spread the discrepancies are, and yet it's all very shallow. No one implicated too high up."
"Whatever it is, it's tainting the system with a wide brush." The general supplied, expressing his own view after analyzing the records himself. "And from what Qrow says, it's not just limited to the police force, but the criminal organizations as well. Many more incidents of double-crossing, and strangely enough, more isolated incidents of philanthropy and mercy on the criminal end."
"What…what on earth is going on?" Winter looked between the two with confusion and concern to match the overall mood.
"That's just it, we have no idea. Everything about the data just seems random, chaotic. If this is Salem, she's taking a novel new approach, and frankly playing much nicer than she has in the past."
"But that's why I'm sending you." Winter blinked at this, even more surprised perhaps than she had been before.
"You're sending me, sir?" The man nodded and gestured to the Branwen.
"Yes. I suggested Qrow bring you in on this as an outside observer, and your experience in dealing with the Townships." She frowned at that. Her experience back then had not been the best, to put it mildly. It was perhaps one of the main reasons she had become so jaded. She was a good soldier, but that didn't mean that she didn't question things she had done.
"You have reason to be in Vale as well." He continued. "Even if it is just for a few weeks at first, to say that you are checking on the security for you sister's sake. If your preliminary report there finds anything, I'm sure we can arrange something with Beacon's headmaster, to give you a visa to stay longer." Both of them noticed how Ironwood carefully avoided using Glynda's name.
Winter sighed, sensing what seemed to be the end of the conversation. Not that she wasn't in agreement with her superior. It was probably the most prudent course of action if Salem was at all reactive in Vale. But at the same time, she worried about her own home country and people, though would have to trust that Ironwood could take care of it without her assistance.
It seemed she would be going back to Vale. Again.
Once she left, the two men discussed similar thoughts.
"Will you be able to handle things here in Atlas?" Qrow questioned, not intending to doubt the man, but worried that the problem they had stumbled upon was more endemic than they supposed. The general nodded assuredly as he busied himself checking things on a data pad.
"Yes. I have gone through great pains to root out the leaks in my command. But still, I will lead the investigation here in Atlas personally. We cannot afford to have undue panic spread, as much as we cannot afford for this to overlooked."
"But who will do your duties then if I'm taking the Ice Queen?" Ironwood chuckled hollowly at the nickname.
"Winter is my most skilled and trusted subordinate, but she is not irreplaceable. There are plenty of other officers chomping at the bit for my job. I can let them take on some of the duties while I am otherwise engaged."
"Just be careful, Jimmy. We need you in the position you are in now. It would do no good for any of us if you were demoted or lost your influence." Ironwood sighed, nodding as he set down the data pad and massaged his temples.
"It's a dangerous game, to be sure. But have a little faith in me. I haven't survived this long without knowing how to play along." Qrow nodded reluctantly, but could offer no sound advice in this case, so turned to leave through the door he came in.
"Right, but just remember that this is one game I don't think any of us can afford to lose. Well, better check and see if the princess is ready." He ducked out of the room and left the solemn General by himself.
Once alone, he made his way over to the small bar his office had for entertaining guests, and carefully poured out two fingers of scotch in two identical glasses. Raising one to his lips, he held the crystal tumbler aloft in a toast to the picture on his desk of three, very much younger figures whom he hardly recognized anymore.
"Here's to you, Oz." He knocked his head back and downed half the viscous amber liquid before raising it again. "And to you, Glynda." He tossed his head back and downed the rest of it, before raising the empty glass yet again. "And here's to the devil that came between us."
Something was seriously wrong with Sasuke's partner. Even him get tossed around the classroom like a ragdoll had yet to coax a smile out of the normally exuberant young man. Happy as a clam for once would be appropriate, for he had yet to crack a smile or suggest an inkling as to what might be the problem. He had hardly uttered a word throughout the remainder of class. The highest form of expression had been in the suffering glances he shot at the leader of team RWBY who either didn't notice, or pointedly avoided his attention.
Sasuke had improved. Even he could admit that. And not just in fighting skills. But a handful of months up in the Arctic circle with someone even more antisocial than him was not conducive to reinforcing any of the progress he had made with other people. Still, it was obvious he had to do something.
He might try and wait things out, to see if any of their other friends would notice the sudden despondence in him. But if he was being honest, it was less likely than Naruto getting over the matter himself. The blond Faunus was the one who normally approached others. And despite how well he had entrenched himself in their social circle, he wondered if they still were seen as peers, or if the rest of the students still held them on a pedestal like they had for Pyrrha.
"Hey."
Sasuke found himself holding Naruto back in the hallway, separating him from the stream of students flowing onward down the hallway. Ahead of them he caught Ruby shoot the two of them a wounded glance before she was swallowed up by the rest of her team.
"Sasuke…"
Naruto looked at him with confusion and surprise, muted by the thick thoughts which clouded his mind. He allowed himself to be lead down the opposite direction, through the hall and out into an open courtyard where the only sound was the happy chirping of a swallow as it tended its perch which nested in the corner eves.
"So…" Sasuke sighed deeply, not at all familiar or comfortable with the conversation he was about to have.
"You want to tell me what's up with you and Ruby?"
Instead of the deep red and flustered look he expected to see, Naruto went ridged and dug his hands into the pockets of his school uniform which had been drastically simplified under Glynda's directive. He was certainly uncomfortable enough for the awkward subject. But the rest of it was wrong, looking far too grim for mere embarrassment of fondness.
"She wasn't…. expressing her affections, was she?" He didn't need to ask the question, but he really didn't know what else he could ask without Naruto giving him something more to go on. He silently shook his head and Sasuke felt a wave of fatigue settled on his shoulders as he prepared for an even harder talk. He had no choice though, and regathered his resolve for the long road ahead.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
Naruto bit his lip, clearly wanting to do so, but continued to remain silent while mulling the question around in his noggin. Finally, he sighed and shook his head in the negative and Sasuke felt another stone added to his shoulders.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke. But this is kind of…personal." He weighed his words for a minute before he decided to clarify himself. "It's Ruby's decision if she wants you to know or not. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do, but I know I can't betray her trust like that."
Sasuke nodded reluctantly now that he understood the problem was far more serious than just two teens with atrophied social skills and fluctuating hormones.
"Are you sure you can't talk to me about it?" Sasuke ventured, not sure exactly what answer he was expecting, or even hoping for, for that matter. He was ashamed to feel some relief when Naruto again denied him.
"It's not just you." Naruto insisted. "It's really between me and her. She trusted me with something important. And I…..I just don't know how to deal with it." How could he? This was a ludicrous situation from the get go. How was he supposed to rationalize an irrational situation with anything besides total breakdown?
The physical pain which suddenly shot through Sasuke's chest and throat drove both of their convoluted concerns aside for the moment as the raven-haired young man collapsed to a knee in a coughing fit. The swallow squawked indignantly at the sudden outburst and took flight in a flurry of beating wings, a couple of loose feathers trailing down to the ground besides the young warriors who supported one another.
"Sasuke!"
Naruto didn't know what to do as his partner and friend collapsed in the middle of their conversation, unable to speak, and if he had to guess, unable to breath. He just gripped the young man's shoulders firmly to keep him from spilling onto the ground in his convulsions. Eventually the fit began to break and Sasuke was again able to catch his breath, ending the episode with a pair of labored, wet hacks.
Naruto's eyes widened at the glob of blood which coated the mottled feathers and spilled out onto the cobblestones.
"Should I get a doctor?" Naruto asked with some desperation.
Despite the obvious concern expressed by the blond, Sasuke suddenly found himself fed up with everything. The coughing, the pain, the blood, the conversation, the social dance that he was suddenly forced to endure upon coming back to Beacon. Most of all, his helplessness.
He grabbed Naruto by both shoulders, pulling the surprised young man down to his level and glaring at him with a half-crazed expression.
"Listen to me, idiot!" He hissed and Naruto could only stare back wide-eyed. The fear and hurt returned to him made Sasuke tone down his tirade some as he realized his mistake. But he still could not let go of his fervor.
"Naruto, listen to me. You need to talk with someone. If it isn't me, talk to her team. Talk to her uncle. Hell, talk to Glynda, if you can't be a man and talk to her." He had to pause and catch his breath which still had not fully returned to him. The seconds he used to breath allowed him to calm down another step, all the while hoping he hadn't managed to shatter his questionable friendship in one fell swoop. He began to regret the words incubated in his infirmity.
"Damn it. Look, Naruto, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so short with you- it's just that I can't stand to see you like this. It's not you. It's wrong. It's-" Sasuke shook his head and cursed himself as the foreign words spilled from his mouth. He didn't know if he had made any sense, and was certain that he must sound agitated.
Naruto stopped his apology with a clap on his shoulder and a wry smile which gave Sasuke no small amount of relief.
"Don't worry about it. I know you are just trying to help me out. And thing is, you're right. I do need to do something, but I can't solve this on my own. I just need to find someone who can help me out with this." His smile turned apologetic as he helped his partner to his feet, keeping one hand on his shoulder to steady him.
"I'm sorry it can't be you. Really, I am. You would probably be the best one to ask, but I would need to ask Ruby and I'm not quite ready to do that yet."
Sasuke nodded, inexpressibly comforted he hadn't managed to screw things up just yet.
"If you want, I could talk to Ruby and mediate for you." He wasn't sure at first why he offered this service, but the wistful look on his friend's face quickly answered that question. Once again though, Naruto respectfully declined his assistance.
"No, I couldn't have you do that, as much as I'd like to." He looked at his comrade sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head in that most familiar of expressions. "To be honest, I'm not even sure I should be having this conversation with you right now, I may have already said too much." Sasuke nodded in understanding.
"Well, I needed to try." Thanks for letting me make a fool of myself. Though he kept that expression to himself. He was the only one thinking it, anyway.
"Thanks for that. I realize now that I was brooding too much, and that wasn't going to get me anywhere."
"Yeah, you're pretty useless at it. Just leave it to the professionals." Naruto chuckled softly.
"I'm not sure that I'll ever get used to you making jokes…"
"Hn."
"That's better."
Suddenly realizing the length of the shadows on the wall, an important realization came to Naruto.
"Oh crap, we're late for our next class, aren't we?"
Sasuke sighed and nodded despairingly before steering the two of them back into the hall they had come from, putting an arm in front of his companion to keep him from rushing off.
"We're already significantly late. A little more won't matter." Naruto looked like he was going to protest, but then shrugged his shoulders as he realized the model student was basically giving him a free pass to drag his feet. He followed Sasuke's direction, walking leisurely next to his partner with head resting in both of his hands, ears silently twitching on the top of his head.
"It feels…kind of right though."
"What? Being late?"
"Yeah. I know it's weird, but I just can't shake the feeling that we are supposed to be a little late in showing up."
"Yeah."
Sasuke allowed himself a small smile as he felt his job had been done. He would never quite be sure what had provoked him to involve himself in that matter, but was glad he had done so. Whatever it was, was still far from over, so he hoped that it wouldn't be too serious.
For the moment he just reveled in the routine, the comforting similarities allowing him to let go of his own troubles for the while.
At least, before everything would change, as it always would.
"So…I hear tell you've been looking for me."
It been a long, long day, thirty-six hours and counting by his reckoning. And it had been a long, long, road from Beacon to Atlas and back again in the span of one solar cycle. From dawn till dusk he rode the crimson sunset into oblivion. Yet he still had so far to go, and began to wonder if he would be able to keep this up furious pace in his old age.
But he could rally himself for this. If he were honest, he wouldn't miss this conversation for the world.
He just hoped he had enough wherewithal to avoid saying something he would regret.
"I have." The young man stood stalwart in front of the weary huntsman, clearly not in his usual humors. "I'm going to take a stab and say that you know why I need to talk to you, Qrow?"
He might have been proud that the dull-seeming boy was finally showing some manner of attentiveness. But the fact that he was here meant that he wasn't at Ruby's side, where he needed to be. And so Qrow was irritated instead, ire building like the throbbing migraine behind his drooping eyes.
"Yeah, I think I do." He crossed his arms and stared down his nose at Naruto, unsure of why he was feeling such malediction towards Naruto's reaction of the news. He had much more time to come to terms with his niece's burden, yet still hadn't. Why should the kid be any better?
Was he wrong to expect more from the boy? Naruto had been through so much. He retained the shadow of sensation and emotion, but was cursed to disremember the very events that had forged him. In many ways it was a crueler fate than to simply forget, but Qrow would argue otherwise.
But how could he expect someone so lost to succeed where he had failed? Maybe he had truly been bewitched by the incorrigible optimism Naruto symbolized, and thus by necessity had to feel his trust betrayed.
"But before you ask me anything, I need to ask something of you."
Qrow told himself that he was going to be patient. That the kid deserved another shot at redemption. Once again, it was for the sake of his niece, and not for him.
Naruto nodded diffidently, expecting both a literal as well as hypothetical flogging from the overprotective uncle.
"Why aren't you with her right now?"
He would have said that he had been prepared for the stern huntsman to ask him anything. He was ready for all manner of cruelty, obfuscation, and blame. But he wasn't ready for that.
Frankly, everything that happened since this morning had blindsided him, and this esoteric question should not have come as any additional surprise. But still he felt himself struggling to comprehend the train of logic behind the spiteful sounding words.
"I…. don't understand." He weighed his words and found them poor currency.
"Clearly." Qrow huffed and rolled his eyes in weariness and impatience both, wondering if he was ever going to see a pillow again. He lowered himself jadedly down into the armchair, convinced that he was probably not going to get any sleep this night, either. And wondering also if he was going to have to spell it out for the confused teen.
"I mean: why aren't you giving her your support right now?" He shut his eyes and let his head flop back on the padded seatback and felt himself sink into the increasingly enticing plush. "I admit, I'm an overprotective uncle. And as such, normally, I'd rather see your skin splayed out on my floor than have you spending 'personal time' with my niece." He gathered his energy and sat up, mustering all the acuity he had left to focus on the Faunus who was listening with rapture to his words.
"But- and this is big but- right now she needs support, and I'm not the one that can give it to her." He admitted his own failings in not so many words. "Not even Yang can satisfy the need she has right now. She's her sister, so she'll always care about her no matter what. Same with me, and same with Tai. But you, Naruto Uzumaki-" He jabbed a dagger-like finger at Naruto who felt the stab of pain acutely.
"She trusted you with that secret, not because you were once it's container, but because she needed you to support her." Naruto felt his eyes widen and a sense of panic envelop him as a sudden call to action gripped him. "She could have easily kept it to herself and to those who could actually help her with it. But instead, she wanted, needed to tell someone. And she chose you. What does that tell you?"
"But I-" He still didn't have words to describe exactly the emotions he felt with the knowledge. They were all lost in the furious storm of memories and emotion that fought for that little window of air at the surface. It was almost a relief when Qrow cut him off.
"It ain't about you, kid." He threw his head back yet again, screwing his eyes shut and covering them with his palms as the last of his energy left him. "It seems like you've talked with everyone in this school except the one you need. I would have thought you'd figure that out by now…"
He let his sentence drift off, unable to muster any other words of wisdom or criticism for the young man who was oddly silent in the wake of what must have been, for one of them, quite a wakeup call.
He was really silent, not even his soft breathing echoed through the stony chamber.
"Kid?" He ventured after what felt like a few minutes ticked by. There was no answer. Naruto had left the small room long ago, letting the window rattle back in forth in the midnight air, just turning cold and signaling the looming winter. Qrow sighed and let his cares leave him as consciousness took flight out the same window.
"Finally…."
"…What the hell?"
Blake listened to the groggy question as it was drowned out by the banging on their door. She chose to stay silent, turning over and burying her head further into her pillow, hoping that whatever insanity was waiting on the other side of the portal would go away, or become a moot issue. Preferably before she went deaf.
*BANG-BANG-BANG*
"Alright! Alright! Jeeze, what the hell's the matter with you? People are trying to get some beauty sleep here!"
Blake sighed under the covers as the latter happened first, Yang having gotten fed up with the incessant disturbance at their doorstep, her patience being the shortest. She threw herself out of her bed and stormed over to answer the inconsiderate visitor, not bothering with any pretense of sociability by dressing or turning on the lights. Concern was reserved entirely for accosting the moron that was calling on them in the middle of the night.
"WHAT?!" Yang yelled louder than prudent for such an hour, but reasoned that if her roommates weren't already awakened by the banging, they wouldn't stir with her additional uproar.
She surprised herself with the proficiency of her own instincts as she groggily shot her arm out to snag whatever intruder had tried to shove their way into their dorm room.
"Let go Yang! I need to talk to Ruby!" The familiar male voice burbled above the bicep smothering his face.
"Naruto?" Yang ventured incredulously, still wondering if this was not part of some elaborate dream. "What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?"
While struggling from his place in the headlock, Naruto had the decency to look sheepish as he fought in vain to free himself.
"I know. I'm sorry." With each word that came out of his mouth he reeled in his volume in deference to the others still sleeping. His urgency restrained to a minimum now that he was so near his goal.
"But please, you have to let me talk to her." He entreated with the girl's sister, but even in the darkness he could see she didn't look in any mood to entertain leniency.
"Are you kidding me? It's past midnight. And besides that, what makes you think that I'd let you? She's been pretty upset most of today, starting after you two had your little 'talk'."
"I understand that." He stated dejectedly, his voice barely above a whisper, suddenly aware of the scene he must be causing. Additionally, he realized that even if he did manage to talk to the silver-eyed girl tonight, the attention he had attracted with this midnight escapade would cause her no small amount of grief. She wanted as little attention on her issue as possible, and this was far from helping.
But he didn't have any choice, not in his eyes.
"I know that I screwed up this morning. Can't you see that I'm just trying to make it right?"
She heard the pleading tone in his voice, but having been spurned one too many times herself, she wasn't about to let her little sister bear that hard lesson just yet. Before she could deny him, though, the decision was made for her.
"Yang? What's going on?"
Ruby's sleepy voice issued forth behind her as she stumbled out of bed and walked over into the yellow light spilling in from the hallway. She absently rubbed her eyes and failed to suppress a yawn, still unsure of what commotion was going on in their tiny dorm. She had actually just fallen asleep. The day had worn her out completely, but her mind still refused to let her be, and continued to harry her for hours after she went to bed.
"Huh? Naruto, what are you doing here?" She blinked away the fog, not quite sure the silhouette she saw was really there.
"Ruby!"
Before Yang could tighten her stranglehold and prevent escape, the furtive young man slipped out of her grip using his semblance and dashed over to the sleepy girl faster than either two newly awakened women could comprehend.
"Eep!"
Ruby found herself completely enveloped in a desperate embrace, the strong, wiry arms clinging to her and compelling their two bodies together as if the universe itself were going to try and tear them apart.
Sometimes, it felt like that.
"I'm so sorry for how I acted earlier." The desperate words spilling into her ear barely above a whisper. "It's just- you surprised me. B-but that's no excuse. I promised to help you out, and I should have been doing that all along, right from the get go. I should have been there for you like you were for me."
The tears spilling down her neck and onto her nightgown surprised the both of them. And, even more shockingly, she didn't feel any embarrassment despite this most public of displays. Only relief, as her own tears joined his and she shakily returned the embrace. Neither had truly understood until then, the tumult caused by a few spoken words, more by those omitted.
How the common tongue they trusted so often betrayed them, so that meaning only precipitated in tears.
"I won't break my promise. I swear. I'm here for you now, and I'll always be here when you need me." He had come so close, though, to doing just that. So close to doing the one thing that in any incarnation was treasonous to his nature. He would never do so again.
"I know." She whispered back, letting her tears be whisked away by the spiky golden locks as she buried her nose into the shielded crook of his neck, losing herself in that private little world of touch and scent.
The others watched on in disbelief at what seemed like a stage performance. As if the scene before them was a midsummer night's dream, a grotesquely sentimental and poorly acted play at real life. Not yet clear if it was a comedy, or tragedy.
Yang stood perplexed by the doorway, unsure of what to do with herself and now feeling the third wheel in the situation. She was unable to coax herself to make light of the tender scene in front of her, no matter how perfect the opportunity to tease her little sister.
Weiss had sat up sometime during the height of the confrontation to see what the fuss was about. But in the ensuing calm, decided that whatever the private matter was did not warrant her ire or attention. She lay back down with an exasperated huff. Yang shrugged to herself, deciding to do the same and padded obliquely past the intertwined pair who paid her no notice. She flopped face-first back into bed.
Blake smiled quietly to herself, picturing the act that words both soft and hard had invited in her mind. It was almost like one of her novels. She denied knowing which book, though. She didn't want to know how it played out. She chose instead to let it be a mystery for a little while longer, so that real life might yet enjoy a happy ending as well.
"You came back."
The way she spoke, it was a post-facto command. There had never been any doubt in her eyes, even though skepticism shone contemptuously in the faces of men and women she surrounded herself with, as they all looked down on the street rat that had walked unfaltering into their midst.
She appeared to ignore them as she focused her softly cloying gaze on the outsider. But she wasn't ignoring them. She was acutely aware of every set of eyes in that dimly-lit rat's nest, and wanted them to watch, to understand just what she was all about.
"Do you think you're ready?"
The harrowed face stared unblinkingly up at her as she kneeled in front of him. He couldn't tear his gaze away even if he wanted to. She was his angle, even missing her wings and one arm during her descent from heaven, she was beautiful. She would show him the way to his salvation.
He raised his hands to show his childish ocher palms, now bearing wrinkled gouges and crimson stain.
She smiled at him, reaching out a sheltering arm and beckoning him into the fold. The tail which hung limply between his legs wagged a slow metronome as he stumbled forward into the light of her favor.
She wasn't perfect. None of her followers would openly say so, of course, though they all knew her fallibility. But she was as close as they would get to perfection, or so they believed. She had displayed that she was there for them, the ones forgotten by both sides playing the game of good guys and bad guys. She was their fallen angle, their mundane savior, the bodhisattva that was going to lead them to the truth.
The truth that life was selfish, nasty, brutish, and short.
And oh, so beautiful.
