Menagerie, Post Helghan Emergence War…
Only three years had passed since the war that tore Remnant apart and still nations were rebuilding themselves from the awful conflict, Menagerie itself had been worse off compared to all the other Kingdom nations that bore the scars from Helghan's savage fury. To the Faunus it was most unfair, the war had started just after their own war for civil rights, not more than a month had past, before Helghast ships invaded their shores without warning.
Those that hadn't fled fast enough found themselves back in chains and shackles, slaves not to humans but instead to the Helghast, if you were to have asked a veteran slave his opinion of it, he'd tell you the Humans were decent compared to the Helghast on how they treated their slaves.
While armies clashed on the mainland Kingdoms a guerilla war was waged in the jungles of Menagerie, led by Ghira Belladonna of the White Fang, on the Helghast side however were two men of immeasurable cruelty led what was known as the Colonial Guard, General Armin Metrac and Colonel Tendon Cobar.
All of Menagerie knew their names and their visages, horror stories told by unlucky slaves or skeletal-like POWs revealed just how inhumane and sadistic their occupiers truly were, even the most racist Human being on the planet paled listening to the stories about the truly cruel and sadistic men. Some would even say the Helghast felt nervous around them.
Ears were torn off by hand, tails snapped and pulled off, sometimes men and women were flayed in public, all to lure out guerillas from the forests, the screams and cries of torment being blasted on loud speakers to echo throughout the land. Any that had the misfortune to listen could attest to having bloodcurdling nightmares and visions of hellish scenes from the psychological torture, the Grimm unsurprisingly went rampant, suffering and fear permeated the island.
Even though the war was over, people would lock their doors tight at night, sleep with weapons in hand or nearby as the thought of the White Death kicking down your door to drag you away chilled even the most hardened of warriors down to their very bones.
Ghira Belladonna himself practiced this nightly ritual, he had a lot to lose, a lot of things men like Tendon Cobar could use to hurt him, he had a wife and daughter to take care of now. Even if the war was over he'd never take risks with any of those men in gas masks. He however had to accept this parley from one of those… those monsters.
Menagerie was still in dire need of aid, many structures needed rebuilding, agriculture needed to be kickstarted again and of course there needed to be a reformation of education on the island so that his people were literate, he didn't even want to think about the economy.
Being High Chieftain and the White Fang's leader was an awful weight on his shoulders.
Though his heart was twisted, on one hand his people needed aid, on the other… it was offered by them.
"Ghira," Kali said waving her hand in front of her husband's face, a tea tray being held up by her other hand, "you're doing that thing again."
The large Faunus man looked up at his wife from his chair, "What?"
Kali gave a warm smile as she patted his arm, "You're doing that foot tapping, you're going to break the floor at the rate you're going."
Ghira gave a heavy sigh, "Sorry…it's just that- you know who's coming."
For a moment, a look of dread crossed the Faunus woman's face, "I know. Let's just hope that things remain civil and something is accomplished."
A faint smile appeared on the man's face as he took a deep breath, "I'm sure something will come out of it."
Out of the corner of his eye he spied a little cat Faunus peaking outside the doorway, "Blake, I see you, come here. You aren't in trouble."
With a slight bit of hesitation, the short Faunus girl ran up to her father, looking up at him with big yellow eyes, "Dad, what's going on? Are you meeting someone tonight? Can I stay and listen?"
For a brief moment, stark fear crossed the man's eyes, "No," he said sternly, "this meeting is not for little kittens to listen to, you'd find it boring anyways."
Blake pouted crossing her arms, "I'm not a kitten."
Kali bent down and pinched Blake's cheek, "You're my little kitten."
The small Faunus girl hissed batting at her mother's hand, only to be surprised by her father ruffling her hair, "Dad!"
"Run along now Blake," Ghira said patting his daughter on the head, "our guest shouldn't be too long."
Blake looked like she was about to protest, but she kept whatever comment she had to herself as she nodded and left out the door she came through. Kali made sure to lock the door just in case her daughter tried to sneak into the room again, the door wasn't thick enough to completely drown out the conversation to come but it was enough to muffle even Faunus hearing.
The two Faunus watched a clock hanging above the doorway intently, sweat formed but was wiped away quickly as both tried to keep a calm composure, the tea was placed in the middle of the negotiation table, the scent of green tea leaves with a pinch of mint filled the stiff air, providing little comfort to either man or woman.
Suddenly the doors opposite of the entrance burst open, two Helghast with rolled up sleeves entered the room with shotguns in a low rest position, they seemed almost tempted to raise their weapons, Ghira's eye twitched as he balled up both of his fists, his knuckles cracking even as his wife held onto his arm to keep him controlled, she herself had a look of distress as neither of men looked away from them.
Their uniforms weren't the urban standard that they usually wore, modifications of the fabric were made to keep them cooler, even then they were begrudged to show off their paler than death skin, as if afraid to get a tan. The feeling of hate was mutual between the Helghast soldiers and Ghira at this point, they butchered his people and he was responsible for thousands of dead Helghast.
"That's enough, leave us." A voice commanded from behind the two Helghast, a man shimmered into view, standing well above his two guards in his unique uniform.
"Sir." Both men replied as they all but glared daggers at the two Faunus in the room.
"You must excuse my men," Colonel Radec said as the door closed behind him, "they can be rather…passionate at times."
The Colonel walk towards the table, he offered his hand to the Belladonna's, "I don't believe we've been properly introduced, I am Colonel Radec."
Ghira hesitantly, if not begrudgingly met him with a firm grip, "Ghira Belladonna. This is my wife Kali."
"Hi." The Faunus woman said as she met the Colonel's hand, "Would you like some tea?"
Colonel Radec glanced down at the tea set momentarily and bowed his head respectfully, "Hmmm, I could go for a cup I suppose. After all, our discussion will be lengthy."
The Colonel took his seat in front of Ghira as Kail pulled out three cups and gently started pouring tea into each cup, both men held an uneasy stare, at least in Ghira's case, Colonel Radec had yet to adjust his mask just yet as he eyed the cup Kali set before him.
"Thank you, Madam Belladonna." The Colonel said nodding his head towards the woman, she blinked seemingly caught off guard by the Colonel's niceties and bowed her head slightly with a warm smile.
Slowly the Colonel deactivated his eyepieces and shifted the mask back so his eyes could be seen, surprisingly to the Belladonna's he had disengaged the mask further and removed the head piece attached to his mask and set it aside on the table, his sweaty brown hair had seemed uncharacteristically fuller than expected yet was thinner than most Human men.
"If there is one thing I appreciated about the Kingdoms up north it was the mild temperature." The Colonel said as he used a handkerchief to wipe sweat from his brow, "Let's see, where do we begin on our negotiations?"
Ghira crossed his arms, his chest was slightly puffed out to give off a bigger appearance to the Colonel as an attempt of minor psychological intimidation, "First let's address the reason why you contacted us in the first place."
"Ah, yes, you see Chieftain Belladonna," Colonel Radec began, unfazed by the Faunus man's attempt at intimidation, "the Autarch has personally instructed me to give his apologies for the…atrocities committed by General Metrac and Colonel Tendon Cobar, he wishes for our peoples to move on, and to hopefully progress to a mutually beneficial relationship."
Kali and Ghira looked between each other and then back to Colonel Radec, "I don't understand."
"You see, our problem was never with Faunuskind," The Colonel explained, "it was with Mankind, it was with the Kingdomers that have treated both of our peoples as…lesser beings, treated us like subhumans instead as fellow inhabitants of Remnant. It was a mistake for us to invade Menagerie."
Ghira frowned with a dangerous tint in his yellow eyes, "A mistake? A. Mistake!? Do we honestly look that Human to you people!?"
Colonel Radec sat passively stirring two sugars into his tea, "The last any Helghast had seen a Faunus, you were in bondage to Humankind, under Mantle's heel, we hadn't realized your war for independence was occurring when that ship crossed into Helghan's waters, we had believed you were going to be used to invade our island, so we acted accordingly."
"Is torturing and killing hundreds of innocent people acting, 'accordingly,' as you put it, Colonel!?" Ghira demanded smacking his open palm on the table, causing a little bit of his tea and Kali's to spill slightly.
Colonel Radec narrowed his dark green eyes at the Faunus Chieftain, his eyes color changed drastically, unnerving the Belladonna's as his eyes took on a reddish hue, "I understand your frustrations, Chieftain, but I seem to remember something about your forces using similar tactics on captured Helghast. Not that I'm claiming moral superiority, but you sure as hell know your hands are, not, clean either."
Kali started to rub Ghira's back, hoping she'd be able to calm him down slightly, she hadn't heard much about this Colonel, but she could sense the power his aura had, it honestly terrified her that one man could hold such power and she did not want to test his patience.
Thankfully though his eyes reverted to dark green, "Our actions are usually harsh, this is true. Again, I agree personally that Metrac and Cobar went too far in their actions. It is all because we are outnumbered in terms of total population, so we need to exert more strength to threaten our opponents, we, Helghast and Faunus are minorities to the Humans."
"What are you suggesting?" Kali asked as the man moved his rebreather down to take a sip of his tea.
With a held breath Colonel Radec sipped his tea silently, he sets his cup aside resituating his rebreather, "Autarch Visari would like to establish a Helghast-Faunus defense alliance, both of our nations working together, to provide our peoples with a prosperous and safe future, one the Humans would not be able to threaten with our combined might."
Neither Belladonna said a word as they both stared at the Colonel in complete shock. The concept of a treaty of that magnitude with Helghan was unprecedented, very few of the Kingdoms had even offered such a thing post-Faunus Rights Revolution, even then, would it even be the best thing for their people?
Humankind had alienated Faunuskind for as long as any could remember, yet if anything the Helghast Emergence War brought them closer together when both of their races had been pushed against the metaphorical wall by the hateful Helghast and Grimm. Yet they knew old habits would persist with Humankind, and the offer made by The Hound was a very tempting one.
"This is a very…" Ghira trailed off as he thought more on the offer itself, from what he experienced with the Helghast before; he saw that they did not either like or respect the Faunus, he saw how they chained up civilians and made them into slaves, again, how they'd beat them without mercy, showing them no semblance of decency.
Would it really be fair to those people to just accept an offer from their former brutish oppressors? No matter how desperate their situation, it just wouldn't be right, to just crawl on their bellies with open hands begging for handouts from the very people that made them that way in the first place. Then it truly dawned on him, they wanted Menagerie to be a satellite state, a buffer zone between them and the Human kingdoms, they didn't see the Faunus as equals or fellow minorities.
Just a useful chess piece.
"The answer is no." Ghira stated firmly, he watched as the Colonel's eyes narrowed slightly, "I cannot accept that offer."
"You'd refuse our offer of money, food, and building materials?" Colonel Radec asked with his arms crossed, seemingly unamused.
"I-I am." Ghira said reaffirming his stance, "While we are in a great need of many things…that offer is one that we cannot accept. We may be weakened but we are not going to enter into a deal that would only further alienate us from the Kingdoms, we may have our differences, but the White Fang is striving to improve our relationship with Humanity."
Colonel Radec seemed like he was about to further argue the point but the sudden movement of a shadow above him caused the Helghast man to look up as a sudden shriek rang out from above.
The Belladonna's snapped their heads up as their daughter came plummeting downward from the rafters above, "BLAKE!"
Before either parent could react Colonel Radec had already jumped out of his chair and grabbed the Faunus girl before she smashed on top of the tea set. He looked down at the little Faunus in his arms as she stared back with wide yellow eyes, he glimpsed up to the Belladonna's as they both warningly stared at the Colonel, Ghira looked about ready to jump over the table to grab Blake, while Kali looked to be on the verge of tears.
"This your kitten?" Colonel Radec asked as he compared the obvious features the young girl and her parents shared.
"Please," Kali begged with her arms out, "don't hurt her, give her back please."
The Colonel squinted mildly offended, "Do you believe Helghast eat children or something? It seems Metrac and Cobar left a worst impression than I originally thought."
One of Ghira's worst fears had just manifested, a Helghast had his hands on his daughter, the man in front of him could use her as a hostage now to threaten him into accepting the Helghast offer, or he could just crush Blake in his hands.
Yet to his surprise the man in front of him did not such thing, instead he held Blake out to Kali with an amused chuckle, "I know how children can be, always so nosey."
Colonel Radec took his seat once more, and as he sat down his arm snapped out and grabbed something in thin air, he raised his arm and turned his head towards whatever was in his grasp, "I have my own pup, who will uncloak this instant."
With a light shimmer of air, a young boy dressed in Helghast clothing appeared, the Colonel's hand held onto the boy's collar as he dangled, he wore simple black shorts and a rolled up Helghast collared shirt, his respirator was far less complex but still seemed a higher quality than most, "Heheh…hi."
It had soon dawned on the Belladonnas this was the first instance of them ever seeing a Helghast child, they very easily forgot that the Helghast soldiers were at one-point small children like the one in front of them, the idea of the men that had occupied their island years ago were at one-point innocent and small was lost on most people in Menagerie.
"Koza, what have I said about spying on my meetings?" The Colonel asked his son, his tone seeming very unamused.
The boy twiddled his thumbs together looking up at his father, "If I'm going to do it, try not to be so obvious?"
"Correct. You obviously need more training in your stealth, boy. We will work on that later." The Colonel said as he placed Koza on his knee, "Now, where were we?"
"I-uh-" Ghira stumbled over his words as he tried to make sense of the current situation, he grunted and said firmly, "I said no to your proposal."
"Hmmmmm," The Colonel said as his finger tapped on his son's head, "the Autarch won't be too happy about your decision, I know for a fact that he'll nearly have a stroke ranting about how my plan to make deals with, as he put it with all due respect, animals, was a huge waste of Helghan's time."
The Belladonna clan frowned at the mention of the word animals, a word Humans and the Helghast often used to demean the Faunus people. Blake puffed her cheeks out as she clung onto her mother, but noticed the Helghast boy waving at her, timidly she waved back.
"And what do you think about it, Colonel?" Ghira asked with crossed arms and a deep frown.
"Personally, and off the record," The Colonel said as he sat back in his chair, "you prove to be as smart as I thought you were, I knew you'd never accept the offer, your people have pride and strength, though you'd wear your belts tight for a few years you'd eventually rebuild on your own. Something that even Visari would have to respect even if he doesn't like your race."
The Belladonnas seemed taken back by his response, "Then why did you even try to make this deal? When you know we'd refuse and when your leader hates us."
"It was a gesture of goodwill towards an unintentional opponent," He answered plainly with a casual shrug, "and unlike other Helghast, including Visari, I do not believe in subjugating or killing either your race or Humanity, only in Helghan's defense. Your refusal does not hinder Helghan in either way, so in the end I don't care what your decision is Chieftain Belladonna, though I do hope our peoples come to better terms. Eventually."
Colonel Radec reattached his headpiece back to his mask, his eyepieces shifted back over the upper portion of his face again, "Since we will not be entering a defense pact I will contact His Excellency and inform him of its failure, I have no doubt Stahl will be the next person contacting you in the coming week. I suggest taking up his offer, though not truly apart of Helghan's government his wealth and influence could put in a favorable word for your nation."
"Why are you telling us this?" Ghira asked with caution.
"The better your relations are with Helghan, the more valuable of an asset you become," The Colonel's eyepieces flash a bright crimson momentarily, "the less likely the Senate and Emperor will want to see Menagerie burn when our war starts back up with the Kingdoms."
Confusion over took the Belladonna's as the Colonel allowed his son to stand beside him, "But the war is-"
"Helghast vengeance," The Colonel interrupted, "is never easily satisfied, and I can tell you now, my people are not satisfied. Do your people a favor, pick the right side."
Blake looked up at the grim expressions on her parent's faces, she saw their distressed furrowed brows, she barely understood the topic at hand or its importance to the future of Menagerie. She trembled at the coldness in the giant's voice, he had rescued her, but his visage still made her prefer the sight of a Beowulf over him.
Then her yellow eyes went down to the boy, compared to his father he looked silly with the little black shorts and mask, she felt somewhat uncomfortable with his silent stare, he probably didn't mean it because she was also staring at him curiously, all she knew about his people was to be afraid of them, yet this child did not invoke fear in the slightest.
"Thank you for the tea," Colonel Radec said bowing his head towards them, "but I'm afraid our meeting ends here. I will be present when Stahl arranges his meeting, I suggest you accept his proposal."
Suddenly the Colonel disappeared from sight, his son followed suit after taking a double take where his father once stood and one last glance at the Belladonna clan, he raised his hand and waved goodbye before disappearing as well.
Beacon, modern day…
"I remember you," Blake mumbled feeling the gravity of the memory coming back to her, "I remember it now, geez, that was a long time ago."
Koza nodded his head, unlike in Atlas he didn't really get to explore the Faunus nation like he did with the Human one, he also didn't have a playmate like Weiss. The thought crossed his mind that if things had been different then maybe he would've had a similar relationship with the Faunus girl like he has with Weiss, but his heart was set on his snow princess and her only.
Then the realization hit him once more, this was a Faunus, not just a Faunus but the daughter of their nation's leader, so why wasn't her attendance in their briefing before they were sent to the school for the diplomatic mission?
"Your bow," Koza squinted at the black ribbon in her hand, "I assume that isn't a mere Kingdomer sense of fashion, is it?"
Blake met Koza's eyes, her amber eyes couldn't hold his stare for long as she felt him size her up, "I didn't want to be judged for what I am, but for who I am, things are not exactly easy for us in the Kingdoms."
Unsurprisingly the Helghast nodded his head with a look of disgust in his eyes, "You'd sacrifice pride and comfort to meet the expectations of others? Every day you wear that bow, you submit to them, every day you cower before their power that you LET them have. You only prove men like Visari right, with every cowardly act of hiding yourself in plain view."
"Who do you think you are talking to me like that!?" She snapped tossing her book to the side and getting in his face her teething baring in a sneer, "You think it's easy for me to do this? That it doesn't sicken me to death that I have to hide my heritage to be treated like an equal?"
Koza leaned down pushing his forehead against her own, "Just because it is not easy does not mean it's impossible, we Helghast are evidence of what embracing the strength of our heritage can achieve. Our ancestors did not give up and die on Helghan, they pushed through the hardship and over came it. Yet all you do is hide in fear, instead of stepping up to adversity and staring it directly in the eye, you blink and cast your eyes to the ground."
Blake stumbled backwards as the Helghast invaded her personal space even further, she found herself bumping into the wall with his eyes glowering down at her, "Consider it like this, you can at least hide yourself. The Helghast must embrace themselves as there is no way for us to hide in plain sight, and we seek no one's approval. We know that many will not accept us, yet that does not stop us from marching towards our destiny, they are but bumps in the road."
"You say that like its so simple," Blake growled, poking her finger against his breastplate, "its so simple for you because everyone is afraid of your people, they know that picking on you isn't even an option because your race is so feared by everyone."
Koza's eyes seemed to flicker slightly, "That may be a blessing for some but it's a curse to me. You think you're the only people that are afraid? What my heart wants could get me killed by my own people, and could get my love ostracized and disowned by her people and family."
It took several seconds for the raven-haired Faunus to process his words, but the realization struck her like bat upside her head as her eyes widened, "You mean Weiss?"
A thin smile crossed Koza's lips as he sighed, taking a few steps back, "I was smitten by her the day I met her, even though I knew damn well what would happen if anyone outside of my father's trust reported that information to men like Cobalus Pistris Eldritch."
Blake frowned not recognizing the name, "Who?"
"Eldritch is one of the most zealous Helghast race supremacists, even rivaling Visari on his views," Koza replied with a disgusted sneer, "he is an honorless worm, he performs witchhunts to find non-pure Helghast and enforces Helghast superiority. Good friends with Colonel Cobar, but my father hates his guts, because some of the halfbreeds he exterminated were warriors under his command."
The news didn't really surprise Blake in a sense, she knew only tidbits about the Helghast Purge but knew they did kill each other. However, the news of Colonel Radec's distain for this Helghast surprised her still, he was after all The Hound, so you'd expect that he'd blindly agree to everything Visari spat. Of course, she knew little about the Radecs when it came to racial politics, but from what she has so far seen they are apparently very liberal compared to the rest of the Helghast Empire.
"So that's why she was so excited to meet you guys first, and why she was embarrassed to see us try to welcome your team to Beacon." It all seemed to make sense now, she didn't want to look bad in front of potential rivals for the festival, she just didn't want to look bad in front of her boyfriend.
"Really? Welcome us how?"
Blake scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Ruby, our team leader, wanted us to throw you guys a little welcoming party and to hangout during school."
Koza blinked with shock, "Really? That seems odd."
The Faunus girl allowed herself a genuine smile, "Trust me, when it comes to Ruby, odd just seems normal."
For a dew seconds the tall Helghast boy stood contemplating the notion of a party involving his team and the Kingdomers, "Well, I suppose that would be good for morale, but we'd need a day or two to get accustomed to dryland. A party however does sound nice."
Blake nodded seemingly satisfied with the answer, yet had a look of apprehension, "Cool, I'll make sure to let Ruby know that then…but I have to ask, why tell me about Weiss and you?"
Koza didn't answer her at first, he opted to allow his eyepieces to cover his eyes once more, "I figured it'd only be fair that you had a secret of mine since I know yours. Though make this clear, Belladonna."
The eyepieces of Koza's mask flared red as he leaned towards Blake, "I won't hesitate to kill you if you use this information to hurt Weiss."
And just like that he disappeared from her view again, having cloaked and teleported away to leave the raven-haired Faunus in her lonesome. She contemplated what the Helghast boy said to her, he made sense yet everything he had said to her also seemed implausible because of how bold it was, revealing her heritage now for the whole school to see just seemed like a bad idea.
Though there was something poetic in just taking the bow off in a crowd, standing defiantly with a smug proud smirk on her face as numerous members of the crowd gasped with shock at her display of bold pride and fearlessness while random people cheered her on. That however was not Blake Belladonna and that wouldn't be the Remnant she knew, the one she knew was far more judgmental and cold, and the Blake Belladonna she knew, she was just a frightened child pretending that she was a Human because deep down she just couldn't handle the stress that came with being a Faunus.
She would almost admit envy to the boldness and respect the Helghast garnered, yet the whole reason why she left the White Fang was because she could no longer stand their violent almost Helghast inspired hatred for non-Faunus. The hate and fire in Adam's eyes sent chills down her spine, it was the same look her father described when he faced off against the higher breeds of the Colonial Guardsmen that were without gas masks; merciless, spiteful, filled with nothing but pure hate.
The irony pained her heart greatly, how they faced off against the genocidal Colonial Guard and the bloodthirsty Colonel Cobar, only to adopt their racial hatred for their own misguided crusade. She hated on how badly things have turned out, for the White Fang to rival the Helghast, how they've turned their backs on everything her father taught them.
Hate however seemed too enticing for Sienna Khan to pass up exploiting when she took power, then again, she couldn't blame Sienna too much, her husband and children had perished underneath General Metrac's occupation late into the war, she was the least enthusiastic of seeing Helghast products in Menagerie's markets.
She had a feeling that Sienna was not amused with the Helghast exchange students arriving at Beacon either.
Helghast dorm room...
"Just take two and you'll be out like a light," Antoine said as he pulled a small white red capped bottle from his medical bag, "but are you sure you want to sleep so soon? I mean dinner is in a few hours."
"I don't care, I just want to sleep is all." Sobieski grumbled as he snatched the bottle away from Antoine, taking his recommended dose with a sip from his canteen.
The Stahl heir cringed seeing the branding of House Cobar on Sobieski's face, he had heard rumors from the school and even from his own father about the Colonel who went by White Death in the Kingdoms, a cruel sadistic, some would say evil by even Helghast standards, horrible man. It was no secret that Helghast warrior men would spar their children, but from what he heard, Colonel Tendon Cobar did more than just spar.
He never heard Sobieski ever admit to his father beating him, even though many could recall the bruises he had when he was younger, those that tried picking on him for it got a lesson on why you do not provoke a wounded animal and promptly stopped teasing him. It became obvious when he took up full time residency at Radec Academy that he didn't want to go home.
If that was true, then he paled at the thought of the rumors concerning Sobieski's mother were also true.
Yet even with that incredible burden on his shoulders, Sobieski found the time to be a devoted Helghast nationalist and a…decent friend with all things considering, he was loyal to whomever he called friend, to the degree of spying on his friends every now and again, though in truth no one minded, they knew he was just concerned.
The dorm door opened with Koza appearing out of thin air, no one was too shocked or even fazed as they had grown accustomed to the apparent Radec tradition of cloaking and uncloaking unnecessarily all the damn time.
"Yo boss," Eli called sitting up from his bed, "the Kingdomer Ruby Rose requests that we participate in a party with her and her friends, what do you say?"
Koza stood for a moment overlooking his team, "I am aware of their request, I do believe this will be a good chance to get better acquainted with our new neighbors. What say the rest of you?"
Eli gave two thumbs up, "I think it'll be fun."
Antoine nodded his head with a smile, "It sounds like the opportunity we were waiting for."
Sobieski however snored in reply, apparently Antoine was on point with the medication putting the white clothed Helghast out like a light, he was turned on his side still fully clothed in his combat uniform, already with a steady stream of drool escaping the corner of his mouth as the other three Helghast stared with minor amusement.
Eli started rifling through one of his bags mischievously, "I'm drawing a dick on his face."
"Please don't," Antoine groaned hanging his head, "he'll go apeshit and break something expensive in the school."
"Belay the dick drawings Eli," Koza command just as the boy pulled a marker from his bag, "we can not afford any possible hinderances caused from a Cobar episode as of yet. For now, we let him sleep and rehearse what we're going to say when Helghan is brought up into conversation."
Eli flipped both of his teammates off with doubles birds boasting loudly, "Helghan rules and your Kingdoms suck!"
Antoine and Koza both sighed nodding their heads, "Something with far more tact than that."
"Bah," Eli waved off nonchalantly, leaning back on his bed with crossed legs, "they know it's true."
"How about this," Antoine cleared his throat and spoke in a very neutral tone, "with respect to our obvious cultural differences it is in our opinion that Helghan is first above all else."
Koza nodded to the statement, "That sounds boring and fair."
"That was so gaaaaaaaaaaaay!" Eli mocked with both of his hands cuffed around his respirators voice amplifier.
Antoine crossed his arms glaring at Eli, "That so was not gay at all, it was a fair and reasonable-"
"Gay."
"Get fucked in the arse by a Ursa Eli!" Anotine yelled pointing at the beefier Helghast teen with an irritated scowl, the big Helghast however was childishly chuckling at the skinny rich Helghast boy.
"Ain't my fantasy Anne, but I know you got a soft spot for animals, since we're in the Kingdoms why don't cha get yourself dicked by a Faunus?" Eli mocked making a jerking motion with his hands.
With indignation Antoine blushed brighter than a cherry tree in Forever Fall, he gritted his teeth as his fists clenched, "Eli. I will lobotomize you in your sleep."
Koza chuckled smacking Eli's shoulder, "Not like there's much to cut out in the first place."
"Ugh," Antoine grunted sitting down on his bed, keeping his arms crossed whilst crossing his legs with his face set in an annoyed scowl, "your antics will cause unnecessary tension and possible violence if you don't conduct yourself in a manner befitting of a semi-sophisticated gentleman."
Eli looked himself up and down and flexed his biceps, "What about me looks gentle? I'm just pure MAN!"
"Pure meathead is more like it," Antoine muttered with exasperation, his glasses sliding down his face loosely.
Koza clasped his hands together in an attempt to get his team's attention and move the conversation forward, "Alright, now, what do we say if Radec Academy is mentioned? What details if any do you give?"
Antoine was the first to speak up, "Radec Academy is the most prestigious school in all of Helghan, it rivals if not encompasses the capabilities of your Beacon Academy, if I may be so candid to say."
"RA is not only bigger but its full of the meanest and nastiest fockers you ever did saw just like us!" Eli once again boasted with complete and utter confidence, flexing his biceps with gusto.
Koza and Antoine gave the meatheaded Helghast boy a dull look, "This isn't a soccer competition Eli. You don't need to act like a hooligan the entire time."
"What you boys call hooligan I call patriotic!"
Antoine moaned rubbing his eyes, "You utter bellend."
"Eli," Koza groaned, "you and Sobieski need to speak as little as possible for the betterment of our mission."
The big Helghast snickered patting Antoine's shoulder, "Relax guys, I'm just messin' around is all, I'm smarter than the average Ursa. I did just make a Human friend after all, so that has ta mean something."
The two Helghast noblemen had to admit, Eli was no blathering idiot and compared to Sobieski he was a weekend patriot, in earnest Eli was the nicest on the team besides Antoine. Sobieski was the greatest concern but he himself could be curtailed by an order, though his fuming wouldn't be too hard to miss, as much as he hated his father Colonel Tendon Cobar, even he had to admit the White Death more than rubbed off on him.
Beeping from Koza's belt took the room's attention, the Helghast boy removed his Radc Academy TAPC pad and pulled up the holoscreen as the Helghast News Network's intro started to play. The first symbol to appear was the Helghast Party's Triad, with the motto of "Blood and Iron" written and surrounded by wreathes of gold, then came House Visari's sigil which signified that the Emperor himself would be giving a state address himself.
Whenever the Emperor himself gave an address it was mandatory to view it, though it was understandable that not everyone can stop what they were doing just to view Visari's speech, so every member of the Helghast Empire was allotted forty-eight hours to view the broadcast before the Colonial Guard or National Protection Detachment would be kicking your door down after reviewing a citizen's broadcast history and finding out that the broadcast was not viewed.
Everyone understood that the reeducation camps of Helghan were to be avoided.
Later on, Sobieski would need to be shown the broadcast, he more than likely would be upset that he chose a time to sleep at the same time when Emperor Visari would be making a grand speech. For right now however all three boys stood patiently for the national anthem of Helghan to end and for Visari to speak his words of wisdom and guidance to the Helghast people.
His image dominated the hologram as the music ended, "Brothers and sisters, the sons and daughters of Helghan. Today marks a great day for our people, a day that that marks for the first time in our history where Helghast men attend a Kingdomer academy. I know that many of you may question, why? Just why are Helghast men attending a Kingdomer academy of all things? Why is this occasion important to us to mingle with these peoples who have wronged and humiliated us in the past? Quite simply this is a show of Helghast strength, a show of the martial prowess and the superior refinement of the Helghast mind. Our brave young men who took upon this great task are the visage of Helghan. Intelligence, strength, fury, and most importantly…loyalty. With their brief time abroad they shall show the Kingdomers and the Halfbreed traitors who take upon residence on Vekta who the superior Huntsmen are, they will show them what true sacrifice and courage can create in a short span of time, they will show them the product of a civilization that only Helghan can create! And on the day of the Vytal Tournament when they take the stage, when they humiliate the Kingdomers in their own arena, maybe then they will truly see that the Helghast Race is in fact the dominant race on this planet. For now, I bid you farewell my people, hail Helghan!"
As the broadcast ended, Eli started clapping with vigor as he felt a new wave of Helghast nationalism flowing through his veins, the Emperor expected them to win in the tournament against the Kingdomers, he was not to be let down. The young Stahl also clapped but his face was straight and composed, his family had a rocky relationship with House Visari, his grandfather's betrayal had been a long-standing humiliation that had forever stained his family's name, his father Jorhan's "personality", wealth and loyalty were the very few reasons why they weren't wiped out. To say he had a strange relationship with the Helghast nobility and Autarch was an understatement.
Koza however was motionless, it wasn't uncommon for the Radecs to show nothing even if they were being praised for their actions, he was personally disturbed by Visari's words about humiliating the Kingdomers, the energy in his speech had sent alarms throughout his mind as he remembered the very same energy being used in the recorded speeches he made during the war. Of course, it wasn't his safety he was worried about, rather he was worried about the direction all of Helghan was moving now.
Grumbling that came from the largest Helghast boy's stomach however signified much more immediate and easily solved problems.
Eli patted his stomach with a chuckle, "Geez, being proud of Helghan is hungry work, you lads wanna grab some of that Kingdomer grub? See if its any good?"
"I think anything is better than the Navy rations." Antoine said as he pulled a map up to the cafeteria, just to make sure they didn't get lost in their new habitat.
As the three Helghast prepared to leave Koza glanced back at the sleeping Cobar boy, "Let's make sure to bring Sobie something back."
Lunchroom, obviously...
Team JNPR sat casually with their trays as they waited for their friends on RWBY to arrive for their usual luncheon conversation, there was after all a lot to talk about considering the new arrivals and about keeping Blake's recent revelation on the downlow, other than that they were also keen on trading ideas about the new course in Oobleck's class, unsurprisingly enough it was about the Emergence War.
The thought of asking the Helghast students came to mind but they had obvious reservations about that, first and foremost that they might cause a scene if there were any ethical and moral disagreements, then there was also the fact that they more than likely would have a more favorable view of the war as something their people were proud of.
Suffice to say when they saw three of the Helghast students walking into the lunchroom they went as silent and rigid as everyone else in the room. All eyes were on the tall and awkward looking foreigners, they stuck out worse than a sore thumb on a good day, feelings of unease and intimidation was felt throughout the room even though Antoine himself seemed uneasy.
"Wot?" Eli asked allowed with his big muscular arms spread out, "Never seen three lads going to lunch before?"
Most of the students looked away after that and went back to their meals or milled about to not garner the attention of the Helghast whilst they glanced back at them whenever the chance presented itself. The Helghast themselves however drew their attention to the food presented, more so on how alien the choices were.
"...the bloody hell is a steak fry?" Antoine whispered to Eli with a look of apprehension if not outright confusion over the golden wedges in the tray before them.
Eli shrugged his shoulders as he bumped Koza's shoulder, "You were in the Kingdoms before, what the fock is this stuff?"
Koza pointed at the food off handedly as he filled his own tray, "Those, my dear friend are potato wedges that have been cut up and deep fried in oil, then salted."
Antoine and Eli gave each other a double take of disgust, "That sounds horribly unhealthy, drowning food in oil? The Ministry of Health would have our heads if they found out we ate that."
Stark horror over came both boys as Koza scooped up two ladles worth of the contraband onto his plate, "Well then the Ministry will have to forgive us then, we are after all in the Kingdoms and must show of level of adventurism by consuming some of their cuisine, what better way to build relations than by eating the same meal?"
The Ministry of Health under the orders of Scolar Visari banned oily foods and placed a limit on the use of salt, claiming that the health of the Helghast Race would be at a great detriment by the mere consumption of these foods and that they would be left vulnerable to the decadence of obesity. Helghan held up to the ban with extreme prejudice, not a single drop of oil is used to cook, for example, butter was a condiment that the Helghast had no concept of in their nation.
Both of the formally apprehensive Helghast teens decided to follow Koza's lead, their fear of the Ministry be damned, and piled the food onto their plates. The Helghast were thankful to see that there was at least recognizable meat that wasn't battered in oil, though they were rather interested in the colorful fruit that had been offered as a side dish, fruit being a very rare luxury item that costs an arm and a leg to obtain on Helghan.
"Hey Eli!" The big Helghast snapped his head around and saw his cheerful little Human companion waving over at him as she and her team filed into line.
Eli waved, unintentionally nearly smacking Antoine in the face, "Oh, hey Ruby. Lady Schnee, Ruby's friend, and…"
"Yang," The blonde Kingdomer said, "Ruby's sister."
The three Helghast boys looked between both girls visibly confused at their relation, Antoine himself being the only one that could properly illustrate their confusion with his thin maskless face.
"Same dad different mom." Yang added with a smile to alleviate their incertitude of her claim.
"Oh," Eli said nodding his head, "well it's good to meet ya then."
Koza stepped out of line after gathering his fill and waited for RWBY to do the same before he gave Ruby a short bow, "Koza Radec."
Antoine had followed his lead, "Antoine Stahl."
Ruby glanced at Weiss with a questioning look and followed her lead by curtsying whilst saying her own name, her silver eyes however looked back up to the heir of House Radec, "So you're Weiss's childhood friend?"
"Why yes I am." He said looking down at the little girl that adopted a more serious look.
"Well listen here!" She said pointing up at him, "I'm Weiss's BFF for life! And don't you forget it!"
The Schnee Heiress facepalmed screaming inside her head, of all ways for Ruby to not only embarrass the both of them and possibly aggravate Koza, she just had to point at him. Weiss knew that she should've given Ruby a quick rundown of what not to do around Helghast, because to them it looked as if she was serious about challenging Koza in a fight over friendship.
A fight Weiss knew Ruby would lose.
Thankfully though the young Radec boy tilted his head at her, "BFF? What does that acronym stand for?"
"Best friend forever!" Ruby chirped pulling a disgruntled Weiss to her side, "You can be a best friend, but no one takes the BFF role from me!"
Antoine scratched the back of his head as he tried to make sense of that statement, "What?"
Weiss groaned giving Ruby a pleading look, "Please stop embarrassing us."
"Oh, I see," Antoine said snapping his fingers, "she's your Eli. Likes to talk about guns, talk some more, perhaps gets into unnecessarily awkward situations."
"Yep, that's Ruby alright." Yang said patting her little sister's head, not minding the hissing that followed and subsequent feathery hand slap she gave in her defense.
"Oi," The large Helghast said smacking the rich Helghast's shoulder, "do you want to get yourself a pile drivin'? 'Cause I'll give it to you Stahl."
Antoine rolled his eyes, "How about you quit being a knuckle dragging brute and just accept that you're a big geek."
Eli huffed nudging the young Stahl, "Says the nerd."
"The nerd that helps you with your homework." Antoine added nudging him back.
"Before you two imbeciles get into a brawl can we at least eat first?" Koza asked sounding thoroughly annoyed.
"You guys can come sit with us and JNPR, they're right over there!" Ruby exclaimed, pointing right at the table their friends say out, failing to notice on how Jaune lost absolutely all color and seemed almost transparent with stark terror.
The Helghast were able to sit on opposite sides of the table, Antoine sat next to Ren on the Human teens left side, Eli took up a spot next to Antoine whilst Koza chose to sit across from them on the far end, right next to Weiss much to the Schnee girl's hidden preference. A snicker escaped Yang, which briefly annoyed the Heiress, but she did her best to ignore it, Blake herself snuck a cautious glance at Koza to see if the teen was going to give her a warning glare to remind her of their little arrangement if it could be called that, she was relieved that he was ignoring her.
Ruby plopped herself right next to Eli, with an ever present toothy grin, for a split-second Yang had the faintest itch to try and sock the big Helghast in his jaw but the friendly fist bump he gave Ruby hushed away her protective big sisterly urges.
Koza glanced over to the occupants of the table he was still a stranger to, he snapped his fingers at Antoine and motioned to JNPR, "Koza Radec."
"Antoine Stahl."
The blonde boy almost jumped in his chair, "Oh, uhh…uh, Jaune, Jaune Arc! How's it going?"
"Ren." The teen with pink eyes said calmly and with the utter neutrality one would expect from a machine instead of a man.
His bubbly orange haired companion piped up with her nigh obnoxious voice, "Nora!"
"Hi!" The pretty scarlet haired girl said with a sunny smile, "Pyrrha Nikos."
"No bloody way!" Eli blurted as he leaned over the table, "The Mistralian Champion herself? Me mother loves watching your foights on the holoscreen, says you knock people around like a Helghast!"
"Well I'll be," Antoine gasped getting a better look at Pyrrha, "it is her, the Invincible Girl."
Pyrrha's cheeks became immediately flushed, she knew that she was popular in the Kingdoms, but she had no clue that the Helghast were even aware of her existence considering their immense distaste for the Kingdoms and Humans altogether, while normally she'd just be embarrassed by the attention she received it was somewhat different from the Helghast students, it made her feel unusually bashful.
Koza nodded to her, "It may sound a bit odd, but my father has seen some of your fights, or maybe all, I'm not too certain, he seemed rather impressed by your skill in your Kingdomer duels."
If she wasn't feeling embarrassed before then she felt radiant now, the fact that the most skilled Helghast, arguably the most skill fighter on the planet itself, was impressed with her combat capabilities made her face feel like a tea kettle.
"He is?" She asked somewhat meekly, a stark contrast to the confident and friendly greeting she gave earlier.
"Well, as impressed as Colonel Radec can get," Koza said giving an exaggerated head roll, "I can barely get a reaction out of him, he rarely walks around without his mask on even at home."
"Really? Even at home?" Weiss asked genuinely curious, though she had a remarkably great relationship with the Radecs, especially one in particular, she didn't know all to well about their at home rituals or preferences.
"So, what, does he have a whole wardrobe of the same exact outfit to wear?" Yang snickered.
"Actually," Koza said shrugging his shoulders, "yes, he does, exactly forty back up uniforms, they are uniforms, Helghast men do not wear outfits."
Yang blinked dumbfounded as she tried to find a way to respond that that tidbit of information, "Seriously? Does he wear it when he goes to bed?"
Koza shrugged his shoulders, "I actually don't know, I've rarely seen him wear anything else, and it was only in pictures did he wear something other than his uniform."
"You've never seen him wearing pajamas or anything?" Jaune asked.
"Pajamas?" Koza laughed, "Like what? A onesie or something?"
Eli followed his team leader with a hearty chuckle, "Just what sorta self-respecting man wears something like that to sleep?"
Jaune's face lit up like a hot coal as his own team and team RWBY all collectively glanced at him, "What!? What's wrong with that!? Its comfortable!"
Antoine failed at keeping his face straight as he nearly slammed right into his food laughing, Eli smacked his knee as the whole lunchroom could feel the almost artillery like booming coming from his maniacal laughter, Koza attempted to wipe a tear from his eye but instead just poked glass with his gloved finger.
"Oh yeah!?" Jaune huffed with indignation, "Just what do you wear to bed then?"
"Nothing," Eli stated simply, "I sleep naked."
Jaune opened his mouth to retort but instead of saying anything he closed, the Kingdomer teams immediately felt a sense of discomfort at the idea of this big and particularly muscular Helghast in his bareness, while most were frankly uncomfortable with it there were a few that entertained the idea. Yang seemed more comfortable with it as she could very easily see someone like him wearing nothing, her poor little sister however had the image in her head just briefly and could've sworn steam was piping out of her ears like a locomotive.
"You what!?" Antoine shrilly asked with an utter look of horror on his face, "The fuck Eli!?"
"Language!" Ruby squeaked as she was still trying to get the rather refreshing idea of a bare Eli out of her head.
The big Helghast seemed unfazed by Antoine's discomfort as he just crossed his arms, "Its cooler to sleep like it, plus its highly liberating."
"You disgust me Gruber, the fact that you managed to hide this from us is rather disturbing," Koza muttered nodding his head, "stuff some food down your gullet before you ruin our appetites."
Eli chuckled lowly as she looked down at his food, however he did not dig in right away, instead it seemed like he was a little bit hesitant at even touching it, "Are uh, are you certain that we're allowed to eat this Koza?"
"Oh, what's the matter?" Koza mocked as if he was talking down to a child, "You afraid that the Minister of Health is going to get Cobalus to come after us for eating Kingdomer chow?"
Antoine blanched at the name, "That isn't funny Koza."
The Kingdomers looked at each other with confusion at the interaction between the Helghast, just what exactly did this Cobalus have to do with food?
"Tell you boys what," Koza said as he detached his rebreather from the rest of his mask, he took a deep breathe, much to the surprise of everyone excluding Weiss, "I'm going to show you that the Health Minister and that goblin faced coward are not omnipotent."
Boldly, the Helghast boy took a potato wedge and dipped it into a bit of ketchup, he took a bite out of the wedge and swallowed after chewing it. A rather simple and menial act to anyone not from Helghan, but to the Helghast, he just willingly and knowingly broke several codes of the citizen's health codex, effectively spitting in the Ministry's face.
Koza bent his knees as he stood from his seat, he looked to his left, then to his right as if expecting someone to come bursting from the doors, he sat down giving Antoine and Eli a sardonic roll of his head, "See? No security or Colonial Guardsmen are kicking the doors down, no sniper has made my head explode, so unless one of you feels like reporting me to the Ministry for merely doing what we've been ordered to do there is nothing to worry about. It's just food."
"Uhhhh…" Ruby scratched her head as she tried to understand what just happened.
"Helghan has a very strict public health standard," Antoine said as he peered down at his food, "it is expressly forbidden to consume any food cooked with oil or with an excess amount of salt."
"But are we on Helghan?" Koza asked.
Antoine stammered as he tried to contemplate the outcome of this conversation, "N-no… but we're here to learn about the Kingdoms and-"
"What better way to learn than by first hand?" Koza suggested like a little red devil whispering temptation to his fellow Helghast, "How about this? If you two don't start eating, then I'm sparring the both of you first chance we get, barebones style."
Just like that Antoine force fed himself a potato wedge, though after tasting it he started to chew slowly to further contemplate the food, "…Eli, it isn't that bad."
Fearing the idea of a barebones match with Koza, the Helghast teen held his breath as he disengaged his rebreather and tried a wedge, "Bloody hell."
Eli, having been too surprised by the new-found flavor of the forbidden fried Kingdomer food, drew a breath not from his respirator and immediately began to suffer the side effects of the foreign air as he began coughing violently with his only relief being his respirator being used as an inhaler.
"Eli, are you alright?" Ruby asked as she patted his back, though she doubted she was helping by patting his back, the sentiment was nice.
The big Helghast took three deep breathes as he finally calmed down, "Foine, just gotta chill for a sec."
"I'm confused," Nora looked between the Helghast teens, "why is he the only one hacking up a lung?"
"Koza and I are what is called Evolved Helghast," Antoine explained gesturing between himself and Koza, "our genetics have evolved to endure not only Helghan's air but also Kingdomer air, we might feel a small tickle in our throats every now and again but it's nowhere near what Eli or Sobie might feel, they are what's known as Helghast Commons."
Nora's big wild green eyes seemed lost as she stared at the Helghast noble boy, making him feel slightly uncomfortable under her oddly distant stare, "Wut?"
"Let's do a comparison," Antoine said as he avoided her stare and gestured to the whole table, "the nobles that lived in the higher reaches of Helghan had better access to cleaner air, which slowed their conversion and evolution into the Helghast they are today, it allowed them to evolve to both climates but held stronger ties to Helghan's atmosphere. Helghast Commons were the Helghast peasantry that mostly mined and built the cities that are seen today. Their evolution was far more radical, thus they lost most of if not all of their hair, developed the reddened puffy eyes, the height difference, and the hyper aggression."
"The upper class Helghast however aren't exclusively considered Evolved," Koza added, "I for example descend from the lower class but because of the genetics of my family and time itself has produced more favorable genetic qualities I've inherited."
Jaune seemed confused by that, "Lower class? Isn't your father like, your leader's bodyguard?"
"Yes, he is, but before the Helghast Revolution my father was a miner that had collected enough money to pay for his tuition for his schooling in what used to be a Mantlean Remnants military academy. Ironically he built his school on that academy's corpse."
Eli inhaled and exhaled a lot more comfortably with his mask covering his mouth, "My pops' had more dominant traits then me mum's, even though she and uncle Orlock are Evolved my father's Common zygotes won out for the most part."
"Orlock?" Ren asked as he tried to place a face to the name, "Like the Admiral?"
Eli nodded proudly, "The very same man, tries to spoil me as a bribe to get me to go Navy instead of Army, big problem with that though, Gruber is an Army family."
"Wow, so all of you are related to someone in power?" Nora asked as she secretly wondered if there was someone in her unknown lineage that could've been a special person of power, though she hadn't the memory of any familial history before she was orphaned, "Did that make things easier in your academy? I mean it's your dad's academy."
Koza gave a deep sigh and nodded his head, "No, if anything, things were made extra tough for me. Guess who was picked first to answer forty percent of the questions? Who had to do an extra twenty pages of homework? And worst of all, who gets to spar the most skilled fighter currently living? Besides that, pedigree means nothing in Radec Academy."
"I was just telling Ruby and her friend about how that one lad got himself shot for a wrinkle in his uniform, fifth son of the current Duke of Sector Honos he was." Eli said making a finger gun and firing it off.
Though Ruby and Blake already heard of the killing it still made them uneasy at the thought whilst their friends seemed utterly horrified at the very casual statement of a student being executed over a wrinkle of all things, it was just utterly ridiculous to them that such a society could be so callous and inhumane as to murder a child over something so minor that could easily be overlooked.
"That's just awful!" Pyrrha cried out, she covered her mouth as her thoughts drifted to the boy's poor grieving family, "How could they do such a thing?"
Eli obviously rolled his eyes, grumbling to himself with crossed arms. Antoine shrugged his own shoulders, feeling complete and utter indifference to the execution on RA school grounds, it was just simply status quo for it to happen every so often that it was like a cloudy day.
"My father takes his coined phrase, 'the dress code is the foundation of discipline', very literally, violations of this very basic principle are not tolerated." Koza stated neutral with indifference.
Yang gave the Radec heir a scornful look, "Yeah, well it sounds like your father has got a stick up his-"
"DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" Koza snarled snapping his arm to point at Yang so fast it sounded as if a whip cracked in the air.
Immediately Ruby used her tray as a shield, inadvertently spilling her food all over the table, Nora had actually fallen backwards out of her seat and as she fell Ren was sadly pulled along with her to the cold floor. Blake was under the table holding in a scream as the whipping noise Koza made had physically crippled her and every other Faunus in the room.
Jaune sat perfectly as a statue even though his heart was slamming against his ribcage, Pyrrha had his hand in a deathgrip as she shuttered from the unbridled hate that pulsed off Koza's voice. Yang held the Helghast teen's literal glowing stare, even as the air around him seemed to shutter in a very unnatural way, one could almost say that he flickered in place.
"You may not approve of my father's methods, believe me, some of them are downright silly," Koza ground out as he leaned forward, "but you will hold your tongue when speaking about him on a personal level, or I'll rip your tongue out!"
Antoine slowly raised his hands, "Hey, she didn't mean it, it's just a heat of the moment lack of judgment, just let it go."
"It's not worth Koza, just not worth it." Eli said as he eased Koza's hand down very slowly.
Though Yang kept a straight face she behind her façade had a small inkling of fear, the conviction in his voice made her believe that he wasn't giving her an empty threat and that he just might rip her tongue out if he was angry enough to do it, "Yeah…I was just joking around…sorry…"
Briefly, behind his eyepieces, the Helghast glanced at Weiss and her eyes, he could see that she was worried if not outright frightened that he was going to do something regrettable which would reflect badly on not only himself but cause a mission failure on its own.
So, swallowing his pride and outrage, Koza calmed down, his eyepieces stopped glowing and his semblance deactivated itself. Antoine released a held breath and immediately glanced over at Yang, "Did you need to be reminded just how easily a Helghast can get angry!?"
"I said I was sorry!" Yang hissed with her arms crossed, "I didn't think you guys would be that touchy."
"If there's one unspoken rule on Helghan," Eli said cracking his knuckles, "don't talk shit about someone else's family, can't tell ya how many duels take place over a slight like that."
Blake cringed coming out from underneath the table, she was grateful that her Aura was doing wonders to heal her ears, the Faunus in hiding brought up her fork to make it look like to anyone that might've been watching she had been recovering the utensil. She hadn't realized that the rumors of Helghast anger weren't just a stereotype made to insult the mutated Humans, apparently it was on spot when it came to the lightening quick unbridled fury the Helghast can barely contain.
"Alright, fine," Yang muttered rolling her eyes, "wait, where's the other guy?"
Eli jabbed his thumb backwards towards the dorms, "Sobie is sleeping, now there's a lad that gets pissed really easy."
"He's the White Death's son, right? How much does he take after him?" Ren asked politely, even though he asked in a non-offensive manner it still seemed to be a very touchy manner for the Helghast as they seemed to collectively cringe.
"Please," Antoine pleaded with almost desperation in his tone, "don't ever compare him to his father, I don't like being compared to mine either, but he outright hates his own."
Ruby frowned as she glanced to Eli, "Why does he hate him?"
The Helghast teens cringed as they weighed the pros and cons of telling their Kingdomer associates about the very off putting relationship between Sobieski and Tendon, such matters were very personal to Sobieski, learning that his business being flaunted about like gossip would most certainly send that Helghast teen in a murderous rage.
"Between us all," Koza said giving off a serious tone, "you never heard anything about this, especially if Sobie asks."
RWBY and JNPR nodded to the Helghast, they leaned forward to better hear what they had to say and to lessen the chances of a stranger hearing whatever sensitive information would be told.
"Tendon Cobar by all accounts is one of the cruelest and most sadistic Helghast to live, it's no wonder he is good friends with that snake Cobalus Eldritch, both are honorless evil men but Tendon is far worse." Koza growled out, he himself had only met the White Death on several occasions and each one was less pleasant than the last, "It was said that he abused both Sobie and his mother, Lady Helena Griswuld, that he beat her so bad that she went blind in one eye."
The Kingdomers blanched, a wave of utter disgust was shared among them that such a man could be so cruel to not only his wife but also his child.
"The poor woman, humiliated, beaten, scarred with acid, tortured every single day she had with that utter beast," Eli whispered nodding his head, "she took it for a good twelve years before it was just too much, apparently from an official report she tried fleeing to Vekta just to get away from the craven Colonel, unfortunately for her she didn't make it. Tendon shot her as she escaped on a boat."
A tear rolled down Pyrrha's cheek, it broke her heart to hear that such an injustice occurred, years of enduring a monster like Tendon Cobar only to be cheated out of her freedom. Ruby faired no better as she wiped at her eyes with her sleeve, sniffling ever so slightly. Nora felt Ren's hand slide over her own, knowing how disturbing the story was going to give her nightmares in the coming night.
"That horrible monster," Yang growled with her lilac eyes turning crimson, "did they put him in jail?"
Antoine replied curtly and simply, "No."
The simple two letter word outraged the Kingdomer teams as they stared in abject horror, asking in unison, "WHAT!?"
"Since Colonel Cobar killed a deserter he was accommodated for a 'heroic act of citizenry', all for gunning down his wife." Koza muttered bitterly.
"He was abusing them!" Blake cried in righteous fury, "How can he get away with that? Why did no one help them?"
"How could they?" Eli asked with shrugged shoulders, "She was too afraid of him to say anything, and since Sobieski was a child he was deemed too emotional and unfit for a testimony."
"Lady Heather Anzak, formally Heather Griswuld, appealed to her husband General Anzak to do something about it, but his hands were tied due to the Colonial Guard being a different branch from the Army," Koza said, "She even went to my father pleading to him to appeal to the Emperor to do something, but without willing testimony nothing could be done."
"That's such bullshit," Yang huffed nodding her head, "utter bullshit, does he still have to live with his father?"
"No, Sobieski was allowed to take up residency in the academy by testing for an officer's course," Antoine said as he adjusted his collar, "in fact that's how we met, I saw he was struggling so I offered to help him, he's been staunchly loyal since."
Jaune sat nodding his head, he felt horrible for Sobieski, he felt horrible that the Helghast teen had to stay at an Academy versus going home to a monster, and here he was, running away from his loving family all for some childish grab for glory.
"Sobieski is a good fighter," Koza admitted as he took a sip of water, "prone to getting sloppy when angry, but he also gets more brutal because of it. If I were you, don't let your sympathy for him distract you if you spar him, because he will not return the favor, in fact he'll hit you even harder for it."
"It sounds like he does that mask his pain," Blake said with a sympathetic voice, "I can't imagine what he has gone through."
Helghan, Sector Mars, thirteen years ago…
Peaceful, an adjective no Kingdomer would ever use to describe the Helghast Nation, yet that was the word that could be used to describe the current atmosphere of jubilee since their victory against the Kingdoms, as food was now plentiful and industry flooded wallets with wealth. The victorious Helghast armies had been conducting island wide marches with parades leading their grand flaunt to the Helghast people that welcomed them with cheers and waving flags after the war, parades were even hosted now after a few years, dubbed appropriately as Victory Day.
With the fighting men now within the comfort of their great nation went right to work in creating the newest generation of Helghast in the years to follow. Some had families of great size, around six or ten new additions to the Empire, whilst some were lucky to produce any children at all do to the volatile nature of Helghan's most prized mineral giving off normally hazardous doses of radiation, of course with the Helghast physiology the radiation was mostly harmless in small doses but could lead to a difficulty in producing children.
A young Sobieski, no older than the age of four, was sitting on a hard synthetic-wood floor with little toy Helghast soldiers and a Heavy Hovertank breaking a line of Atlesian Kingdomers, he made shooting noises as he pushed the tank forward, knocking over the Atlesians with one hand, while the other pushed a flag bearer behind the tank.
Like many Helghast boys he was bald, crimson eyed, and pale like cream. To his right was a grand fireplace, crafted with intricate designs of Helghan's history from its humble beginnings as the mutated oppressed miners underneath Mantle's boot, to the masters of their new Empire with Scolar Visari depicted in an embellished god-like hieroglyphic.
Above the fireplace was a grand portrait of the most powerful Helghast men to ever live, Autarch Visari, Generals Lente and Metrac, Colonel Radec, and of course… his father. Sobieski however was too preoccupied with his own personal glory of a victory against his mock Atlesian foes. Though even as a speech of the Autarch's played on the radio, his ears could pick up the soft and warm humming of a woman that meant the world to him.
He looked to his left to see her sitting in her favorite chair, a wedding gift from his uncle, General Anzak, an ornate synthetic-oak arm chair with velvet colored fabric, brass buttons dotted in the crossings of each rhombus pattern. Her dress was long, made of black silk with golden lines encased by red lines that formed the Helghast Triad by her dress's neck that went between her bust all the way down to the end of her dress, a typical noblewoman's design to showcase pedigree, her face was obscured by a thin red veil that sparkled in the fire's light, an eyepatch however covered her left eye which left her sole red right eye as her only means of sight, though the patch itself was covered by her soft and chin length silver-white hair.
To him however, she was the most beautiful woman on Helghan.
His mother was occupying herself with sowing a Triad onto a black flag, a noble and patriotic act that was always encouraged by the State for women or veterans to do in their spare time, to secure their spiritual loyalty to the Empire and to show pride in their people's struggle for the place they now possessed. The boy hadn't known how long he was staring at her but for a brief moment his eyes met her lone one.
The movement of the red veil showed that she was smiling, her child couldn't help but return the smile with his own boyish, usually pale, rose colored cheeks. This is how he liked his home, just him and his mother enjoying the warm peaceful calm of their abode on a cold sandy winter afternoon.
Unfortunately, however, this proved to be the calm before the coming storm.
Suddenly big synthetic-oak doors flung open and all the warmth, all the joy, merriment, all the life was sucked out of the room. Sobieski's mother, Helena, set her sowing to the side as she stood with her hands crossed in front of her, she bowed forward with her eye staring at the ground. Sobieski copied her movements as he knew what was coming, he knew who was coming.
A cold gravity of fear smothered the room as the slow and steady rhythm of squeaking leather boots entered, each step was like thunder to the boy no matter how calm the gait seemed, his heart pounded like war drums as he heard the steps drawing closer, though not towards him, but to his mother.
"Good afternoon," Helena said as formally as she could even as she prepared herself mentally as well as physically, "husband."
The boots stopped suddenly, metallic breathing filled the air, Sobieski dared to look up, his father stood over his mother in his usual white uniform, this time however he held one of his white tunics in his left hand and a pair of boots in his right.
"Helena," His cold grunt replied, "Look at these things and tell me what's wrong with them."
With trepidation, the Helghast woman stood straight and looked at what the Colonel had brought with him, she looked down at his tunic then her eye flickered back up to his mask's eyepieces with worry, "I-I don't understand-I-"
"This uniform, has wrinkles all over it," He roughly shoved the tunic into her arms, "And these boots, look at them. What is wrong with them?"
Helena stammered and stuttered as she frantically tried to examine the boots, "I-they-"
In a swift motion, with utter brutality, he struck her in the head with the boots, sending her to the floor. Sobieski's mouth opened but no words left him, Helena had instinctively and after years of practice curled herself into a ball to protect herself. The Colonel reared his arm back and with pitching force threw a boot at her ribs, causing the woman to yelp, another boot came crashing down on her arm shielding her head.
"GET UP!" Tendon screamed, savagely pulling Helena to her feet when she refused to stand, he backhanded her veiled face like lightening, "YOU HUMILIATE ME WITH YOUR SPINELESSNESS!"
"I-I'm sorry!" Helena cried with her eye closed, her head bowed and shaking, she winced as Tendon's grip on her arm was starting to sting and bruise, "Please Tend-"
He smacked her again.
"Damnit woman, you should know by now to never call me that," He growled pressing his helmeted forehead against her bare silver head, like an angry bulldog, "or are you just too stupid to remember something so simple?"
Helena nodded her head as her lip trembled behind her veil, a hot stream of tears came down from her lone eye, they built up and started leaking from her eye patch as well, staining her veil. The White Death noticed the veil, he snarled with disapproval and mocked her, "There you go, Madame Waterworks! Why did I get stuck with the weakest, most cowardly sister? I know that at least your older sister would be more entertaining in bed, she'd cry less, maybe."
Sobieski bit back the rage swelling in his chest, his eyes stung as he wanted to cry but at the same time wanted to stay strong for his mother.
Helena hung her head briefly as she started to devolve into a sniveling mess, she shook violently as she could barely breathe. With a twisted sadistic smile behind his mask the Colonel turned his head towards his son, "Boy."
Sobieski held his stare even as he felt those evil orange orbs attempt to drill into his soul.
"Take a look at this." Swiftly the Colonel ripped Helena's veil off, causing the woman to scream and cry in shock, he forced her into a headlock and made her look at her son with her burned side showing more prominently, "Take a look at this ugly slag."
Tears of anguish brimmed in the boy's eyes, his fists clenched behind his back as he looked at his mother's face. On her burned side he saw her malformed ear having melted down too little more than a nub with a hole, her cheek and half of her nose had seemingly been pulled down towards her shoulder when she was burned, the skin was irritably pinkish red which conflicted with her fair milky unburned skin. Tendon further humiliated her by removing the eye patch, showing her hazy grey-red eye, too damaged to be useful.
"To think, she used to be beautiful like your aunt Heather," The White Death said as he seemingly reminisced, "Well, not really, she was the ugly sister."
Like a brute he threw Helena to the ground, not caring as she slammed into the marble floor, "Clean that tunic and shine my boots proper or I'll thrash you even harder, cunt."
Helena nodded as she curled up into fetal position, covering up her marred face with her arms, whimpering her response, "Y-yes Colonel…"
"Good," He said walking away, "I'll be back at zero eight hundred, you will not eat until then. If I found out you disobeyed me, you'll have a very good reason to cry."
Sobieski watched as the ma- the monster that his father was left the room, when the doors closed he immediately ran to his mother as she wept on the floor, he gently brushed her shoulder with his little fingers, but the woman flinched and crawled away under a coffee table next her chair where she hid herself.
"Mama." He called in a choked sob, his heart having been shattered by the awfulness of his father and the pathetic state he made his mother devolve into.
Slowly Helena lifted half of her head out from underneath her arms, her hands were pulling as much of her hair over her burns desperately. She watched him get down flat on the ground and crawl next to her under the table, her skinny, almost bonelike fingers gently reached out to him, wiping a tear from his eye.
"Its fine Sobie," She lied with a choked sob and forced half smile, "Mama will b-be fine."
The boy scooted closer to her and wrapped his arms around her head, letting her good side rest on his chest, he pushed her hands away from the burned side of her face along with her silvery hair. Helena tried to cover her left side back up with her hands, but Sobieski refused to let her do it, with gentle reverence he stroked her deformed cheek with his fingers, "You're pretty to me Mama."
A few stray tears stained Sobieski's shirt as his mother sniffled, his heart started to beat painfully as his chest filled with unrefined rage, as he whispered, "I hate him."
Helena blinked hugging her son, "Don't say that."
"I'll kill him."
"Don't say that!" Helena cried with a fear straggled sob, "Please, don't say that! Don't ever let him hear that!"
"He hurts you," He cried back, "he hurts you and I hate him! I want him to die!"
"Sobie, listen to me!" Helena pleaded, gently stroking the sides of his face, meeting his eyes with desperate terror, "Don't get yourself hurt for me! Your father is right, I-I'm weak, I'm ugly…but you aren't, you're strong, you're fair, you are the future of Helghan. Don't squander that for me, the weak, old, and undesirable are doomed. Helghan has no room for people like me."
"NO!" He screamed back, hugging her tighter with tears and snot streaming down his face, "You're strong! Stronger than him! He picks on you because he's evil and a bully, don't let him hurt you! I'll protect you from him! Y-y-you're my mom, I-I-I won't let him! Not again!"
A faint bittersweet smile made its way on Helena's face, she reached into one of Sobieski's pockets and pulled out his handkerchief, she wiped away the tears and snot that was making its way down the boy's chin, "Can you be brave for me? Can you keep a secret?"
He nodded his head silently as he memorized her face, to etch it into his mind like a stone sculpture, "Yes Mama."
"One day, one day you and me are going to run away. We're going to run away and never look back not even if we are a million miles away, so far away, that not even He will find us. Someday."
"Someday."
A large thump woke the teenage Sobieski up, he groaned picking himself off the floor, his uniform drenched on the inside with sweat, his bed sheets had followed him to the floor, the mattress nearly did as well. He stood up with a snarl, his teeth barred as he breathed heavily, a few tears rolling down his face, his nostrils flared as he gagged himself with a bundle of socks and his hands clamped tightly.
He screamed with muffled fury, like bloody murder into his socks and hands, he savagely kicked and stomped on his pillow with murderous Helghast Fury, this tantrum went on for nearly three minutes until he tired himself out. After a brief moment of composure, he spat the sock bundle out. Silently he got to work on remaking his bed as he would any other day, using the monotonous task as a means to cope with the utter hatred he had towards the monster that had tortured his mother for so many years.
Unlike many of his fellow Helghast he didn't join Radec Academy because of a desire for glory or honor, he didn't join so he could one day be trusted with the task of protecting his Emperor's life, it wasn't for the fearful reputation that came with the prestige of graduating the academy, he most certainly didn't join out of fear of his father, no. He joined because he wanted the training he needed, the training that would help him be able to challenge him to a duel and take vengeance for all Colonel Tendon Cobar had done, not just to him.
But for the prettiest woman to have ever lived.
Beacon's dorm halls…
After a frankly rocky if not downright awkward lunch period with the Kingdomer teams, the Helghast students made their way back to their dorm room with a packed lunch for Sobieski, they doubted that he'd want to eat Kingdomer food, but it was worth a shot to give him the opportunity to try it out for himself later, it would just need to be heated up.
They were surprised to find him making his bed.
"Was the dosage not strong enough?" Eli whispered to Antoine as Sobieski continued his routine in drone-like efficiency.
Antoine hesitated to answer, the dosage should've been enough for a man twice Sobieski's age, if he was still up even after taking his pills an hour prior that meant he had built up an immunity after prolonged use, "I guess not."
"Sobieski," Koza called out as he held up the bag, "we got you something."
The Helghast teen glanced at him with a distracted if not distant look, "Oh…thanks."
Koza knew the look and understood it, he set the bag on the school work table and directed the other boys out of the room, "We'll be in the courtyard, foods on the table."
Sobieski blinked as he processed Koza's words, "Oh, okay. Thanks."
Slowly Koza closed the door to the room and lead his teammates down the hall, "Let's give him an hour to relax."
"What happened to him?" Antoine asked glancing back to the dorm.
"Since you two don't take up fulltime residency at the academy, you don't know Sobie as well as I do," Koza said as he continued on down the hall, "whenever he has a really bad nightmare he'll need an hour to get back into a proper mindset, otherwise you either get him in a bloodthirsty rage or that drone-like state you saw."
Eli nodded his head, "Geez, that bad?"
"It could be worse, between us." Koza stressed the last word very carefully, "I found him sobbing hysterically calling out for Lady Helena, my father forbade every staff member and student present from ever speaking of it. Less of course, they face execution."
Not a word was said after that, their time spent in the courtyard was nothing noteworthy as there was very little to talk about with the recent conversation still fresh on their minds none of them felt the desire to speak, when the time came to return to their dorm they were surprised to find Sobieski had actually eaten the Kingdomer chow.
When morning came however it did not come to the Helghast team's joy, in fact they barely slept, thanks to an oversight made my Koza's rash and rebellious decision for the team to try out Kingdomer food. They had spent most of the time in the co-ed locker room shitting themselves bloody as the fried food's grease and oil tore the up on the insides, only after a small reprieve did Antoine manage to find the right pills in his medical that would cure their ailment.
Several hours pass...
"Fuck you Koza," A now normal Sobieski whined, he was still feeling the effects of the greasy food on him, "the whole fucking bowl was just blood and shit!"
The Radec heir gave a weak chuckle as he felt like a whole grenade was shoved up his ass, "Don't tell it didn't taste good when you tried it."
"Nnnnnnnnngh," Antoine whimpered as he unscrewed a bottle of indigestion syrup on the floor, "Ifuckinghateyousomuchrightnow!"
Eli it seemed was the only to have recovered the fastest, as he was now preparing his Radec Academy uniform, "You boys are such bitches."
"Well sorry Eli," Sobieski growled with an annoyed glare at the big Helghast dope, "Maybe if we got assfucked as much as you, we wouldn't be so sore."
"Ha, ha, ha," Eli said as he clapped dryly, "look at me, I'm Sobieski, I'm so smart, I'll make fun of Eli's Navy side of the family."
Antoine lifted himself off the floor, wincing as he struggled to walk with the soreness he felt, "Quit it you ingrates, we've got class in thirty bloody minutes and my arse is so fucking sore!"
"More sore than usual?" Koza asked cheekily with his fist going in and out of his pillow.
"You're a cunt."
"Do we really gotta wear these things here?" Sobieski asked as he held up his Radec Academy uniform, "I mean seriously?"
Koza nodded his head, clicking his tongue as he started arranging his own uniform, "Orders from Visari himself, we are not to wear Kingdomer clothing, only Helghast made products, and since we're still in school we're wearing them."
"Fock." Sobieski groaned.
The uniform from Radec Academy like every other Huntsman Academy had a distinctive look to it that separated it from the other Huntsmen establishments yet was uniformed to the school's specifications. It was a black uniform for the most part, unsurprisingly considering Helghast fashion, the double breasted short coats that went down to their waist, each button was a brass Triad, the lining of the coats were red, but the edges were white, essentially making the Triad from the neck down as they were worn as such. Corded gold lines outlined blood red lines and thicker black stripes that went down their arms to gold colored outlines around the cuffs of their coats.
Considering their race and the culture behind it they also wore garrison caps, better known as "cunt caps", on their heads with cordless gas masks the officers of Helghan usually used. Do to the strictness of Radec Academy and its most popular choice of punishment, the Helghast students always made sure their uniforms were clear a free of any unsightly blemishes.
Even though they were in Beacon, they knew better than to shame their academy.
Oobleck's class…
RWBY for once was early enough to get to their usual seat in class before the other rows had even begun to fill up, they had agreed that after their discussion with the Helghast team from the day before that not a word of what they spoke about was to be mentioned around strangers or anyone else for that matter, not only out of respect to Sobieski, but avoid any retaliation that might spawn from it being common knowledge.
They could see plainly on their classmates' expressions that they were nervous about the Helghast students arriving in class, some were vehemently against it, while only a few were relatively curious on their classroom behavior. Needless to say, when they entered the classroom everyone was watching them, observing their every movement as they went to take four empty seats in the first row just opposite of their team.
Since Weiss was the only one that truly knew anything about the Helghast and their culture it was no surprise to her that Ruby nudged her shoulder to ask a question, "Why do they have different symbols on their right arms?"
All the Schnee girl needed was just a quick glance, "Those are House Sigils Ruby, when a Helghast family earns Visari's favor they are awarded minor lordship, if they do something to really impress him he allows them to exercise more political power in the government."
"Oh." Ruby whispered as she glanced over at the Helghast students, one of them gave her a little wave and made a little finger gun, from what she could assume it was Eli, so she returned the gesture with a smile.
Given the uniformity required by Radec Academy it was a challenge for the professors to know who they were calling, hence the house sigils were an easier way from the Beacon Professors to pick out the articular students as none could read the Helghast characters on their name tags. Though its not a really well-known fact to Kingdomers, the Helghast of Radec Academy would always sound off whenever called upon by their professors or asked a question.
Out of the four Helgast, it was Eli that was most excited for the class as he was a closet history buff and was eager to hear about Kingdomer conflicts that occurred in the past. Because Helghan was cut off for so long and with much of Mantlean history being lost during the Helghast Revolution it almost seemed like the world just started existing forty years ago, so if anything, this would be a useful exercise for filling in the massive blanks.
When Oobleck entered the class, he was like a green blur that just appeared out of nowhere for the class, the Kingdomers were somewhat used to it but the Helghast were outright startled by his arrival in class, though after getting a good look at Doctor Oobleck it was safe to say that the man embodied everything Colonel Headmaster Radec hated about un-uniformity and would more than likely drive the man insane.
"A good morning to you all," The Doctor said as he spoke to the entirety of the class, he turned his eyes to the Helghast students and in an instant appeared before them, "my name is Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, welcome to my class."
The Helghast students stood from their desk and gave the Doctor a deep bow, a very common procedure on Helghan as it was the most appropriate way to greet someone of a Huntsman's caliber, one of the few traditions that they inherited from the old Mantle Empire, hence archaic to current day Huntsmen in Training.
Doctor Oobleck returned a similar short bow without hesitation, the man appreciated the gesture as very few Kingdomer Huntsmen in training show respect enough as it is, manners were not a common observed thing by the newer generations. Admittingly there were some things that the Helghast did that Oobleck liked, though they were considerably very few and very far between.
"Today," He announced to the whole class once more, "we shall be moving on from the Battle of Fort Castle and General Lagune's subsequent defeat, to the start of a subject that has no doubt changed the very nature of our world and its course of history after its rather brief but highly significant appearance. Of course, I am speaking of the Helghast Emergence War."
Unsurprisingly the class broke out into murmurs and whispers, no doubt pertaining to the Helghast students as they themselves sat silently, the only remote noise they made being steady breathing through their filters. Though if one could peer into the minds of the Helghast teens they would find mainly anxiousness within Antoine, pure giddiness with Eli and Sobieski, but boredom in Koza. Then again, in Koza's case, hearing about the same thing over and over again tended to get stale.
All of Helghan knew a great deal about the Emergence War, its start date and end date are considered to be national holidays where extravagant parades would take place all across their island, war stories would fill the radio waves as per usual, every screen would either have a documentary or movie playing about some battle that took place overseas.
Koza did manage to shoot Weiss a barely noticeable nod, her brief smile confirmed that she saw his gesture.
"Now while this subject may be a particularly touchy subject for a lot of people in every Kingdom it is extremely important that fact does not get muddled in rumor or in misconception. So before discussing the war itself we shall start by reviewing the events that lead up to the war." Oobleck declared as he pulled his clutter of papers and red string down to reveal his map of Remnant more clearly, Helghan itself being outlined in red with the Helghast Triad marking Pyrrhus Deep.
Sobieski nodded his head, approving of the sight of Helghast forces advancing on the inferior Kingdomer nations, he hated his father, but he loved Helghan's history and its strength, it was something he idolized, it was something that brought him comfort. His heroes were the Helghast warriors that fought with brutality and merciless precision, common, everyman Helghast warriors.
"Though our understanding of the Helghast Revolution, or Visari's Revolution as it is sometimes referred to, have been hazy at best for quite some time, we have been granted never before seen access to the more detailed version of the events that took place, courtesy of Radec Academy."
Oddly enough, Koza felt the smallest of hairs on the back of his neck stand up, his chest swelled with pride at the mention of his home. While he dreaded the idea of one day becoming its master, there was an odd sense of destiny about it, as if it felt right for him to inherit the institution he spent most of his life occupying.
"This lesson however is not for the faint of heart, from my translations of the Helghast written language, it is rather violent." Doctor Oobleck's warning seemed rather grave to the Kingdomer students in his class, but it was extremely silly if not outright cheesy sounding to the Helghast students, a lot like one of those political cartoons that mock the Kingdomers for their weakness.
"We shall start by listing the major players on the Helghast side," Oobleck zipped across the room at a startling speed, slapping several pictures of masked and unmasked Helghast on the chalk board, "Who can name a few of these individuals?"
The temptation to shoot their arms up to answer the questions was nerve-wracking, it would've been far too easy to give the straight forward answer to further advance the lesson but Koza ordered that unless they had his permission, not a single question would be answered until the Kigdomers had a fair chance to answer it themselves, this was a means to test Kingdomer students in their knowledge of Helghan.
Pyrrha raised her hand and pointed to an embellished photo of a bald trench coat wearing man, "That's Autarch Visari."
"Yes, very good Miss Nikos." Oobleck said nodding his head.
Weiss was next in raising her hand, "The two gas masked men on the right are Colonel Radec and General Anzak."
A small smile formed underneath Koza's mask, he knew that Weiss could name everyone on the board but merely abstained from doing so, whether that was to give her fellow classmates a chance to try their hand at the naming game or to keep the knowledge of her in depth insight of the Helghast between her friends was unknown to him, but he suspected the latter.
Oobleck pointed his mug at her before taking a quick sip, "Ah yes, The Hound of Visari and Visari's Fist, both legendary Helghast Huntsmen, very good Miss Schnee, anyone else?"
Blake raised her hand, "The white uniformed Helghast is Colonel Cobar, the man next to him is General Metrac, and the other bald man is General Lente."
"Very good! Very good indeed," Oobleck said as he looked around the room, "Anyone else?"
No other answers came from the Kingdomers as their eyes unconsciously shifted towards the Helghast students. None of the boys moved as they sat firmly and quietly, in Radec Academy teachers directly asked students questions, never asking aloud to the class as it invited chaos instead of order. Oobleck barely moved five feet in front of the Helghast as he looked at them curiously, "Perhaps one of you could answer?"
Koza nudged Eli's foot subtly, underneath the table, the Helghast boy stood in parade rest as he cleared his throat, "The man you see with the plain white mask and short overcoat is Colonel Vyktor Kratek, or Doctor Kratek as he is known by in Radec Academy, Chief Scientist of the Helghast Science Department, personal physician to Emperor Visari."
Eli pointed to two men in leathery business suits, "Those two, right to left, are Khage Stahl and his son Jorhan Stahl, Khage Stahl however made a terrible choice of rebelling against Helghan, his son however saved his family and their honor by swearing a blood oath to the Imperial Throne. Jorhan Stahl is currently the Private Sector Minister and main supplier of Helghast goods."
Antoine felt a light buildup of sweat on his brow, he hated the stigma that his family's name held, while his friends did not seem to hold his grandfather's betrayal against him, it did earn the odd glare every now and again from students of Radec Academy. It also may've had something to do with his father being the richest man on Helghan.
"The man you see without a mask and with a moustache is Admiral Orlock, the Emperor's second in command, as well as his title suggests, the leader of Helghan's naval forces."
"If I'm not mistaking Junior Sergeant Gruber," Oobleck interjected as he rubbed his chin, "isn't he also your uncle?"
Eli gave the green haired Professor a very firm affirming nod, "True, he is, but the day a Gruber joins the Navy is the day me Pops eats his boots."
The Helghast teen's unexpected comment drew several giggles and chuckles from the Kingdomer students in the upper rows, the tense atmosphere of their earlier arrival was slowly dissipating. Before they had left Radec Academy, they were schooled on ways to diffuse tension, humor was the best solution that they could use to keep a conversation from getting too hot.
Of course, for a Helghast that could be split second timing.
"Now that we have the Helghast leadership listed out, we shall now list the Mantlean leaders."
Stahl Incorporated…
Under advisement from Minister Schyler and his team Colonel Radec decided that he had to speak with Jorhan himself about the recent discrepancies in his finances along with the pressing topic of the man's private army being increased. If he knew Stahl as well as he remembered, then he'd have to be careful about what he asks the man to keep them from having a screaming contest in his factory.
Because of the history they shared it was no surprise that Stahl made time for an unscheduled visit from an old friend, one would believe that they were friends after the Revolution or Emergence War, but in fact they had been friends before that. When Khage Stahl had founded his company underneath Mantle's inhumane governance, he had initially invested some money into their venture, he didn't have much then, but it was for his friend.
Now look at them.
It seemed like two life time's ago they were nothing more but dirty mutant miners underneath the heel of despots in exile, scraping by with empty starving bellies, Helghast pride being little more than a fleeting dream of greatness, one that they achieved against all odds. At that time a young Mael Radec was no older than sixteen when he killed his first man, over a stale piece of ration grain bread.
In a sick sorta of way it was funny, that stale piece of bread made for a good tool that helped him beat that man to death. Since it was mutant on mutant violence, the Mantleans just ignored it, like they were being inconvenienced by the murder scene. He was thankful for it yet oddly enough he was angry that the man's life meant nothing to the Human constables.
At the end of the day, Mael was just happy that he had food to split between himself and the only family he had since his parents died two years before, he had the Hakha's that gave him refuge in his time of need, in return, he'd work the mines and split his wages with them. Yet the prospect of more money from ring fighting was all too tempting, it would be there, the start of his life as a warrior, where he learned how to fight and hone his abilities through constant struggle.
Eventually he managed to pay tuition to attend the Mantlean's military academy, for a mutant it was hell, it was there he learned to be especially ruthless in every aspect concerning fighting and military affairs. He met Jorhan on the streets, the young skinny man that would someday run Helghan's Private Sector, selling Petrusite irradiated Dust weaponry.
On that corner he bought the knife he still carries today, an original prototype for a transforming StA-18 pistol, its craftsmanship being one that many could never match up to, and since he had about thirty Lien left over he gave it to Jorhan to show his appreciation, telling him to never stop making weapons of such high quality.
Hence, he now runs a company whose weapons out shine that of Atlas and makes Jacques Schnee look like a minor noble with his wealth.
A Helghast Aircorpsman opened the bay doors for the Colonel, he left his seat and hesitated as he saw The Hound staring off to the side, "Colonel? We've landed sir."
Colonel Radec shook his head, the Aircorpsman shook as the Colonel's gaze was fixed upon him, "Sorry for disturbing you sir, but we've landed…"
"That's fine…I was just miles away." Years was more like it, but he knew the soldier wouldn't question it, in a way he enjoyed the fear that people held at his very name, almost a lifetime ago his was just another mutant nobody, now he was a war-god in Helghast form, of course he did somewhat miss going to bars with his old friends when they were impoverished miners working deep within the bosom of Helghan.
Colonel Radec stepped out from his personal transport ship, a civilian aircraft he personally modified extensively with weaponry as his own little personal hobby to keep himself busy, running one of the most efficient academies could be absolutely boring, teaching itself was also boring but he saw it as his duty to train Helghan's inheritors to wage war effectively.
Normally he'd bring a retinue of guards, but he felt no need for that amount of armed men to escort him, especially to see Stahl, instead he only brought an entourage of two. Romulus and Remus, General Anzak's sons, his most recent graduates from the Academy. Thanks to their high grades and pedigree, they were able to purchase Stahl's newest set of armor that has yet to be incorporated in Helghan's military.
He had to admit, the Commando variant was a handsome uniform, it certainly looked much more protective than the current Helghast uniforms, his own being the best of the Scolar Era or Founding Era as some would call it, Hera's Era will see these uniforms becoming the norm.
Unsurprisingly, Jorhan was making a big deal of his arrival, with his personal soldiers lined up along the platform with parade swords unsheathed and raised in the air as if honoring the arrival of Visari. A man of pageantry. Said man was walking past the guards to greet the Colonel with two of his own personal guards, admittingly the Colonel did not know the names of those men, but he did recall them initially being from the Colonial Guard, henceforth he knew they were well trained.
Both parties met at a halfway point as Mael gave Jorhan a short bow, "Minister Stahl."
The Helghast Petrusite tycoon rolled his eyes as he set his hands upon the Colonel's shoulders, "Mael, quit with the political dog and pony show, it's me you're talking to. Come, come, my suit isn't exactly weatherproof."
Colonel Radec humored the man and walked with him, both men had their bodyguards following them single file, as to avoid any clashes over the right of way on the relatively narrow pathway.
Stahl brought the party to a door leading into the greater compound, he leaned down and kept his eye open for a scanner that activated the door, "Now what brings you to my humble abode? I'm sure if you just wanted to talk then you could've just pulled me aside after the meeting or gave me a call."
"It's been awhile since we've spoken man to man Jorhan," The Colonel said as he glanced over at Stahl's mercenary guards, "new guards?"
"Yes, Marus Arlec and Simon Fell, both of which being your former students."
Mael squinted as he recalled those names, considering Radec Academy's standards and of course deaths caused in duels, graduating classes were rather small and often times reserved for the most ruthless Helghast men to excel in. He remembered both men having qualities he absolutely despised, such as the self-centered streaks both men held, not that he could really blame them, survival of the fittest after all.
But the skeletal motifs were tacky in the Colonel's opinion.
"I see you boys found yourselves a good paying job," Mael said watching Marus in particular, out of the corner of his eye, "though I had thought you went into intelligence services instead."
Marus nodded, "We did Colonel, but Mister Stahl gives better paychecks."
"And all they have to do is follow an old man around all day, what could be easier than that?" Stahl said as he leads the party past an assembly line, where armored beasts made of steel were being put together much like a cradle, engineers monitored and utilized control panels that kept the process at a steady rhythm.
Security guards patrolled up and down the lines with their weapons in low rest, their uniforms being the newest generation that would replace the Scolar Era attire, each man looked sharp and serious, yet the underlying aura of boredom was something Colonel Radec could sense, he himself new the feeling all too well, especially in this new "time of peace" as Ozpin once put it.
The term still left a bad taste in his mouth, for it was a false peace.
Helghan knows nothing of peace, neither does all of Remnant, nothing changed just because they stopped killing each other, Humans hated Faunus, Faunus hated Humans, and the Helghast hated everyone. On top of that, the Grimm never stopped their assaults on the Kingdoms, but without the Helghast around to increase their aggression things had considerably winded down in that sense.
As they approached Stahl's office the bodyguards stood facing each other at the doors, they knew that their place was outside when these men would talk, the less they knew the longer they would live, an unspoken rule on Helghan when it came to powerful men having a meeting. The Anzaks saluted the Colonel as he passed them by into Stahl's office, their actions simultaneous and crisp, almost like machines.
The Colonel took a second to admire the paintings in Stahl's office, any of which being originals, some detailing Mantlean Occupied Helghan to the grandest dreams of Helghast Imperialism, such as cruisers orbiting the broken moon and Triad banners flying over what was obviously Vale's capital. Such grand dreams brought to an abrupt halt thanks to supply lines being thinned and Kingdomer Witches bringing devastation to Helghast forces.
There wasn't a day that went by when he didn't think about his humiliating defeat, if it wasn't for the artillery to even the odds it might have very well been his end, though technically it was a draw he thought of it as a defeat since he was bed ridden for weeks. Never again would he be so compromised, even if his poor state did lead to something more fulfilling, something that would give him more meaning to live besides his duty to Helghan.
As his mind began to drift once more, the Colonel spotted a framed picture taken many, many, years ago. He recognized his younger self in that horrid Mantlean uniform, a wirier younger Jorhan Stahl, and of course the Hakha's in their uniforms. It seemed like a lifetime ago yet at the same time it was only yesterday, an unfortunate side effect of being a nostalgic old man.
"Those were the golden years, weren't they?" Jorhan asked as he poured himself a glass of Scotch, "Even with those lousy Human occupiers, keeping our people in the dirt there was some good times here and there."
"Hmmm," Mael nodded as he turned from the picture, "that they were, it's a shame they ended the way they did."
Jorhan nodded as he glanced at the picture one last time, then back to Radec, "Care for a drink?"
The Colonel shook his head, even as he kept an eye on the bottle, "I've been dry for years Jorhan and I wish to keep it that way."
"You take your vows too seriously," Jorhan said as he took a sip from his glass, "it's not like Visari always has his eyes on you."
"It's not just about Visari, Jorhan," Mael said softly as he started examining a model for some kind of new and very large drone, "I was in a dark place when I drank, and the last thing I want is for Koza ever hearing about or seeing me in that place."
Stahl clasped a hand on his shoulder, looking at the newer ATAC drone model, one that dwarfs the earlier models in both size and firepower, it was a marvelous new toy, "We were all in a dark place during Helghan's rise, what's the harm a sip could do?"
"Temptation is like a spark Jorhan, it devolves into a wildfire when unchecked," Mael stated ominously, he however decided to change the subject, "your son is apparently making friends, at least that's what Koza's text inferred from yesterday."
Jorhan's mood and demeanor visibly changed, he gave a loud groan as he set his drink down, "That boy, love him to death, but I wholeheartedly regret ever teaching him how to read Kingdomer speak, its given him all of these stupid romantic ideas on how the world should be."
"It's not like he's preaching about democracy Jorhan," Mael said with exasperation, "he's just doing what he's supposed to do."
"It's not just that!" Stahl said bitterly, he sneered slightly as he took a bigger sip from his drink, "The boy talks about gene therapy to convert Humans and Faunus into Helghast without needing them to evolve over generations-"
"That sounds very ingenious."
Stahl rolled his eyes, "Like we really need any more mouths to feed, on top of that, he's even talked about treatments for de-evolutionizing Helghast! He's lucky I haven't reported him!"
"Jorhan," Mael said seriously, "you wouldn't dare do that."
"Of course I wouldn't!" The Industrialist said throwing his hand up for dramatic effect, "he's supposed to be my heir, but he keeps on going on about converting the company to purely pharmaceutical company versus an arms centered company, this company was built on weapons, Helghan's culture revolves around weapons!"
"Of which we have more than plenty," Mael calmly stated as he watched Jorhan down the last of his glass, "more medicine of higher quality will be beneficial to our people."
"Ugh, yeah, and you'd just let Koza do anything other than run your academy" Jorhan grumbled as he sets his drinking glass on his work desk, he ran one of his gloved hands through his grayed hair he glanced back at the Colonel, the masked man was squinting at him through those red eyepieces, "Helghan is no place for the weak, I've tried to raise that boy to be like me and I failed, I pushed him away the more I tried to get him to see things my way. If you had accepted my-"
"I wasn't going to raise your son Jorhan." The Colonel said crossing his arms with a tone of finality.
"Yet you raised that brute's son in your academy." Jorhan countered with a hint of venom.
"I did nothing of the sort," Colonel Radec nearly sneered, catching himself even though he wore his mask, "Sobieski sought asylum, he swore his oath to Helghan, to Visari, so he was granted it with the knowledge he'd be treated no differently from any other student. The system raised him, not me."
"Hmph," A strangely smug sardonic smirk crossed his lips, "a system you helped create, yet you can't tell me you haven't once treated that boy like your own. Speaking of which, how is your boy?"
Mael relaxed his posture as he glanced up to a map of Remnant, more specifically towards the dot indicating Vale's namesake city, "From what I gathered, after reading his encrypted message this morning, he, your son, and the rest of his team are doing fine in their new surroundings, they have class today."
Jorhan nodded his head as he fixed another drink for himself, "Koza Radec, heir to his father's academy, The Hound's pup, huh. His mother must've been one hell of a woman to leash you."
The Colonel's face twitched, he stiffened his posture slightly, meeting Stahl's gaze, "You never did say who this woman was, just that she was a nurse, that she died giving birth, it's a shame really, I would've liked to have met the woman to bring The Hound to heel."
"Jorhan." Mael growled, his lenses glowing a faint crimson, his fists tightened, the sound of his leather gloves cracking filled Jorhan's ears.
The Industrialist raised his hands defensively with a small smile, "Sorry Mael, I forgot how touchy this is for you."
The Colonel stared silently at Jorhan for a moment, he briefly flashed back in time to a dirty wiry miner boy, with that same smile, "Why didn't you tell the Council or me about your recent security force expansion?"
For a moment Jorhan's face nearly twitched in surprise, but he instead set a suspicious pair of eyes on the Helghast Colonel, his lip quirked in irritation, "Just how in the hell do you know anything about that!?"
"I have my ways Jorhan," The Colonel half lied, he often times didn't se a need to personally monitor Jorhan, him being an adult that could look after himself, yet Minister Schyler's findings drew more of Mael's suspicion, "you know that everything pertaining to your security or military hardware production requires reports to be filed. Jorhan. I'm asking you as your friend, why have you neglected this?"
The elder Industrialist glared with unnatural intensity at Colonel Radec, very rarely had any being been able to pull off such a glare, yet Jorhan did not waiver as he stared into those red lenses, for a brief moment he saw a younger maskless Helghast in a Mantlean military academy uniform holding out thirty Lien, "I see, if you must know, Colonel-"
Mael's eye twitched at the hostile venom that Jorhan spat at him, he could plainly see that Jorhan's buttons have been pushed.
"-I'm still compiling the expenditures, more accurately, my two dozen secretaries are doing that, they can only type so much, I'm told that we'll have your fucking numbers by the week's end. Satisfied? Or do you want to go through the fucking filing cabinets? Examine every single last godsdamned piece of hardware getting shoveled off the fucking conveyor belt, Mael!?" Jorhan listed off as he took a step per exclamation towards his so-called "friend" with every exclamation.
"Lower your voice." The Colonel warned as he pressed his forehead against Jorhan's in their test of wills, even though Stahl was an Evolved he was still very prone to Helghast Fury, unlike Mael though he lacked the strength to remotely hurt his opponent.
Jorhan sneered as he stepped away from the stare down, taking his glass and downing it in a swift motion, "Get the fuck out of my office!"
The Colonel did not reply as he stormed towards the door, he stopped before making his exit, "Take care Jorhan."
For a moment both men shared a sparing glance at one another, Jorhan frowned as he pointed at the door, "Fuck off!"
'Childish twat.' The Colonel thought as he stepped into the hall where his bodyguards, the Anzak twins, stood facing off Stahl's goons in the corridor. Both parties flinched as the sound of glass striking and shattering the door was heard, Mael however was unfazed with the act, "Romulus, Remus, we're done here."
After unclenching his fists from the white knuckled deathgrip he had, Jorhan Stahl fixed his crimson tie as he returned to his welcoming leather work chair, his right hand found a covert switch that activate a hidden compartment containing a TAPC that the he had specially made to be invisible to the prying eyes of Helghan's government spies, its frequency being totally isolated from the rest of Helghan's Cabal of digital information. He accessed the CCT through a secured encrypted channel that would flood prying devices with spam and other sorts of malware to disable or override systems, after ensuring his conversation would be well and truly private he typed in a Scroll number.
As the device rang and the call went through into a private chatroom, he spoke clearly, "Operation Brutus is to be moved ahead of schedule, complications are arising."
/
If I remember correctly, I started this fucking chapter at least two or three months ago and intended for it to proceed quickly, but I felt that I needed to reach my twenty thousand word quota whilst not sacrificing anything relevant to the plot or character development. I've just been swamped with shit lately and can only find time late in the night to actually write anything of substance, but never fear, Doomsdayguy is here, and the next DKRWBY chapter should be in its final paragraphs rather soon, maybe sometime in early March, don't hold me to that.
But a quick shout out to Lord Cadeus Lives! for his amazing Helghan's Reach and DKRWBY tributes, who'd think some sweaty nerd would have his fanfictions getting youtube tributes, now, if only someone that wouldn't mind twenty bucks...or at least that equivalent in the Deviantart thing...whatever that shit is-
Anyways, enjoy what you read.
