"Junior!" Cinder yelled as she returned to their base underground.
Junior had been sitting in a wooden chair, reclining himself. He fell over once he heard Cinder, scrambling to his feet as she walked up to him
"What can I do for you?" Junior asked, trying to play it cool after he embarrassed himself.
"I thought you said that… thing died 8 years ago!" Cinder spat at him
"Whoa, what are you talking about?" Junior asked, confused.
"That little brat Sam Engle! You told me he died 8 years ago!" Cinder shook her head.
"Yeah, he did. I still have the message from Ozpin to Anselm Schnee saying that he did," Junior said.
"Show me," Cinder motioned to his scroll.
Junior pulled up his records on his scroll, searching until he found the conversation between the two about Sam. He handed it to Cinder, with her taking it forcefully and giving it a clean look over. "It's possible Ozpin just lied about Sam's death," Junior suggested.
"But why?" Cinder asked.
"I don't know. Do you want me to find out?" Junior knew what she was getting to.
"Yes, find out everything you can about him," Cinder ordered. Junior sighed, heading over to his office and organizing some of his men together.
"Hello and welcome back to the History of Remnant! Ah, Mr. Engle! To what do I owe this pleasure today?" Oobleck said as he sped up to Sam.
"Merely coming by to see how things have been going. How are you, Professor?" Sam asked, smiling as he saw his old mentor.
"I'm doing mighty fine as always! I'll have you know we are actually learning about the Remnant Civil War," Oobleck added.
"I see. What all have you gone over so far?" Sam questioned.
"Merely causes, as well as ruling families," Oobleck said, with a hint of easing Sam into talking about the subject. "Class, this is Mr. Samuel Engle! One of the sole survivors of the Engle family from Tethara! Is there any questions you have for him?"
A bunny faunas raised her hand timidly, as if she was scared to talk in front of the class. "Yes, Ms. Velvet?" Oobleck called on her.
"How old were you when the war ended?" Velvet asked.
"I was sixteen years old. Keep in mind that is incredibly young for Tetharans. Tetharans remain an infant for the first 50 years of their life, growing only about the size of a normal two year old. Once they reach 100 they begin to grow like a normal human, but stop growing in height around 127," Sam explained.
Pyrrha raised her hand, and Oobleck pointed to her to speak. "Do you remember anything from back then? Anything about the war, or the fall of Tethara?" Pyrrha asked.
"Oh yes, I remember all about it. That is one of the worst things about being a Tetharan; you never forget anything. Just over 160 years ago, all kingdoms of Remnant made the decision to become united. Everything was all well and dandy for about 40 years, then the Tetharan Civil War broke out. We fought each other for ten years before the other kingdoms of Remnant decided it would be best if my people were destroyed, so that way there wouldn't be anyone that was naturally superior to the rest of the world. The Remnant Civil War lasted for about another ten years, ending when the combined strength of Atlas, Vale, Mistral, and Vacuo captured the capitol city of Tethara. The surviving Tetharans were granted mercy by the other four kingdoms, and were assimilated into their populations," Sam told the class.
"What was it like back then?" a voice asked from the back of the class.
"It was pretty hectic. I was born four years into the Tetharan Civil War, and my family had already been targeted. By the time I was born I had already lost a couple of cousins, along with a couple aunts and uncles. The capitol was always tense and under watch 24/7. We tried to keep a normal life going, but with the war raging outside the city walls, it made it hard to ignore it. Tethara is situated on the side of a mountain, and surrounded on both sides by mountains. The city and it's defenses are built into a circle valley with one small opening about 10 miles from the city gates. It was pretty hard to attack, the mountains being near impossible to traverse."
"Tetharan forces were based in the north, while the southern colonies housed the rebel forces. It was a constant back and forth battle, sometimes we would make a march into their territory, but then get pushed back into ours, or vice versa. When the other kingdoms joined the fight, they struck us at where the border between our territory and the rebel's territory were. We definitely didn't make it easy for Remnant forces, but the rebels were fighting because they wanted to conquer the other kingdoms. My family and our forces fought out of self-defense. No matter if we were good or bad, the other kingdoms of Remnant were out to destroy any Tetharan they found."
"Tethara had already weakened out its forces as we fought against ourselves, so with the combined might of four other armies, it was a pretty tough struggle. We managed to hold out for ten years, but once the assault on Tethara happened, it was all over. It was actually pretty terrifying. The battle of Tethara was a slaughter. Our defenses ripped through their initial assaults, devastating their forces. However, Remnant forces rallied and began taking apart our defensive stations, one by one. Then, the battle for the valley began. Remnant forces were forced to come up piece by piece, since there wasn't a large gap they could march into the valley from. This allowed our forces to take them apart, trying desperately to push Remnant forces back. It didn't really matter, though, as Remnant put all of their forces into this. This battle was all or nothing."
"Once our soldiers were pushed back into the city, bombers began destroying chunks of the city. Remnant forces pushed through the gates or the city, rushing in and taking down anything that moved. It was a horrifying and gruesome sight as they ripped through everyone they saw with everything they had. Machine guns, swords, flamethrowers, explosives, you name it and they used it. They killed soldiers, civilians, everybody. No one was safe if they were Tetharan. By the end of the war, only me and my parents were left of my family. We surrendered at our citadel, watching as our city went up in flames. There were 5 million people in Tethara when the attack began. Less than three hundred thousand survived," Sam finished.
"Where are your parents?" another voice asked after a long pause.
"They died about 13 years ago. They were murdered, and I'm all my family has left," Sam said.
"So does that make you the heir to the Tetharan throne?" the same voice asked.
"Well, yeah, I guess it does," Sam shrugged his shoulders.
"Are there any other questions?" Oobleck called.
"Yeah, what happened to the rebels?" Velvet spoke up again.
Sam sighed, shaking his head. "We… we don't know. We lost track of the rebels once Remnant invaded," he said.
"Do you think they are still out there?" Velvet asked.
"They very well could be. I wouldn't be too worried, though. Remnant is more than ready if they ever try to take over," Sam said confidently, attempting to ease some of the nerves that may have been building up in the class.
"What is it you do, besides be an assistant in the sparring class?" A voice called from somewhere in the crowd.
"I'm on security. Commanding officer in the Vale Defense Force, to be more specific," Sam answered.
"I think that is enough questions for now, we will get back to what is currently at hand in the Remnant Civil War…" Oobleck began
"Wait!" a final voice called. The class turned to see Jaune with his hand raised, directing it towards Sam. "One more question, please."
"Sure, Jaune. What is it?" Sam questioned.
"How did your parents die?" he asked softly.
Sam froze and his eyes widened at the question. "That… that is something I would rather not talk about in public. For now, they were murdered and that is all I'm willing to say now. Ask me again later for more details," Sam answered shakily.
The class was confused by Sam's answer, but decided against pushing the subject forward. "Any more questions for Mr. Engle related to Tethara and the war?" Oobleck asked one more time. When no one answered his call, he began his lecture and motioned for Sam to sit wherever he pleased. Sam took the place next to Weiss, placing a hand over hers. She flashed a small, grateful smile, and then turned to face Oobleck as he began talking.
"What did you find?" Cinder asked as Junior made his way back into the camp underground.
"Not a lot. His past from when you attacked him to now has been seriously covered up. I couldn't find much of anything, other than the fact he is alive. I don't know what he does now, I don't know where his base of operations is, I don't know anything other than he is alive," Junior reported.
Cinder growled and stared menacingly at Junior. "There is something on him out there. Find it!" she spat at him, with Junior running out of her presence.
"You shouldn't be so hard on him. He is our main info head, and if he can't find anything, that means no one can," a voice called from the darkness behind her.
"I don't care, Roman. They can't have just deleted part of his life, so it is out there somewhere. Shouldn't you be organizing people to move dust?" Cinder turned to face the orange haired man.
"I've already got them started. Everything is going according to plan. Now, about the Schnee girl…?" Roman hinted to possible plans.
"That brat Sam Engle will probably be attached to her by the hip since we took her teammates. We need to find a way to get them into the open," Cinder told him.
"A date, perhaps?" Roman smiled evilly.
"Yes, a date would be the perfect idea. Have anything in mind?" Cinder asked.
"I say we stalk the two of them for now and see if they already have plans. If not, we could get someone to… make them plans," Roman chuckled darkly.
"I like it. Get that plan into motion," Cinder ordered.
"Already on it," Roman told her, pulling out his scroll and tapping the screen a few times. Roman nodded to Cinder, and then left her alone in the room she had been staying in. I'll take everything that that boy holds dear, and then I shall crush him when truly broken.
Seth and a couple of scouts were staying by one of the entrances into the underground maze, waiting and praying that the doors would open. Each soldier had been briefed by the sergeant about the hostage situation and the defensive position the White Fang are in. They know what to expect, and will take any and every chance they can get to getting one step closer to the main objective: stopping a war before it starts.
Seth and several other men were posted at all of the different entrances, wondering if anyone would be coming by. Seth had ending up losing sleep trying to stay awake for the chance a White Fang soldier would open the door. His eyelids became heavy, and he found it incredibly difficult to remain conscious. He had almost allowed himself to give in to sleep when a sound echoed nearby. The sergeant got up quickly and saw that one of the doors into the underground had been opened, and a couple of vehicles packed with soldiers began driving through the entrance. Seth motioned to a couple other soldiers who were at the post with him and began to stalk towards the door. Once the vehicles were out of sight, Seth and four other soldiers ducked in through the opening before it began to close automatically. Seth held his fist up, giving the signal to his squad to halt and remain quiet. He opened his fist and motioned for them to begin moving forward slowly. They reached a little alcove that seemed to pass through some of the walls, so when the squad heard voices they ducked inside quickly. A patrol of White Fang soldiers passed by the entrance to the small hole, but paid no attention to it. Seth lead the squad through the little tunnel until they reached a part that they could look through the grating and see the main cave of the underground structure. Everyone on the squad gasped at the sight they saw.
There were at least 8,000 White Fang soldiers stationed in the underground fortress. They had hundreds of airships, as well as armored vehicles and stacks of dust crates that reached up to the ceiling, which was around 60 feet from the floor of the cavern. There was a train that sat in the middle of the cavern, and it appeared that the White Fang were loading specific dust crates onto it.
"Sir, what do we do now?" a soldier called from down the line.
"I have no idea where to even begin."
AN: Thank you guys so much for being patient for this chapter, as well as reading so far! I'm pleasantly surprised in the minor popularity this story has gotten, and it has really surprised me that anyone would actually be willing the read the stuff I write. I've been on vacation for these past couple of days, so I am finding it hard to find times to write. I am still writing though! Chapter 10 will be out by Friday at the latest! I have an interesting challenge for you guys: You know how other RWBY shippings have little cute names, like Whiterose, Bumbleby, Ladybug, stuff like that? Well I want to see what ship names you can come up with for Sam and Weiss. If you have any questions for me, you can put them in the reviews or PM me. Thank you all so much reading! Please leave a review! (If you don't mind of course) I'll see you all next time!