Weiss stretched out on her bed, thoroughly enjoying the absolutely delicious feeling of her soft, warm bed beneath her weary body. A sound that was half groan, half whine tumbled past her lips as she sprawled haphazardly over silk sheets. Her abused muscles protested the extra movement, but Weiss was luxuriating in the feeling of her small, comfortable rest far too much to care. After spending the entire weekend playing 'dodge or become pretty pink paste' with Yang, and being elected communal pack-mule by Rose, jumping into her bed after her gorgeously hot bath, feeling clean and relaxed?
It.
Was.
Bliss.
"D'you enjoy your bath, Weiss?" Yang asked rhetorically, grinning down at the white-haired woman from atop her bunk.
"Mmmmm."
"Feelin' a little better?"
"Mmmhmm."
"Nice and relaxed, huh?"
"Mm."
"I don't think I've ever seen you this loosened up."
"Hmmm?"
"Are you just going to keep Blake-talking me?"
Blake, busy going through some impressive sets of stretches on a yoga mat in the middle of the floor, snorted.
Weiss, in turn, groaned, and turned over in her bunk, facing Yang and cracking open an eye. "Fine. What do you want, Yang?" She asked in exasperation, being too tired to get properly annoyed. She knew it was going to be practically impossible to get a nap in before dinner, but she really would like at least a few minutes of quiet, quality time with her bunk.
"Can't a girl just talk to her teammate?"
"We can talk later you goof." Weiss grumbled, and Yang's enthusiasm receded at the slightly mutinous expression the Schnee heiress bore.
"Ok, ok!" Yang lifted her hands in the air as a gesture of surrender, recognizing Weiss' rising ire. "I just wanna know what was so special about that bath, is all. You got some salts or something? You just seem really chill." Yang shrugged. "Pun intended, Ice-Queen." She finished, deadpan.
Weiss stared at her levelly, thinking her response over. She did, in fact, have a large selection of relaxing bath salts. Or she used to, as it were, her stock was running a bit low, currently. She could see that Yang was angling for something, probably some of her dwindling bath supplies. Usually, she wouldn't be averse to giving some to Yang, but she was running pretty low… And Rose was to begin her teaching role this week. Weiss wouldn't be surprised if her insane training methods collectively caused the student body's blood pressure to double before the weekend. Her precious mineral baths were one of the few things Weiss could rely on to relax her, and she didn't even want to contemplate what would happen if she was unable to get her fix due to her running out; she wouldn't be able to resupply until the end of the school week when she could journey down to Vale proper.
What to do… what to do… hmm. Oh, that could work. But could I stand to be so... ugh. All things considering, it's justifiable. And sometimes, sacrifices have to be made for the greater good, Weiss sighed, steeling her resolve. Sanity before dignity, it seems.
"So, you got a secret stash of the good stuff, eh? Wanna hit a sister up?" Yang cajoled, leaning out of her bunk with two encouraging thumbs up. Weiss met her pleading gaze before responding slowly.
"Actually," She drawled, drawing the word out wickedly. "did you know that our shower head has five different pressure settings?" She said with a lazy grin and hooded eyes, her voice pitched low and oozing salacity.
Yang made a choking sound as Weiss' words sent a jolt of warmth straight to her stomach and her face. She jerked a little in surprise, causing her balance to tip over, sending her spilling over the edge of her bed, landing on the floor with a curse and a muffled thump. Blake, who had been half-listening, blinked away her startled surprise and then tipped her head back and laughed, deep and throaty.
Weiss, surprisingly amused at Yang's reaction herself, decided to play it up as much as she could. In for a penny, she rationalized, I may as well enjoy myself while I can. She eased herself onto her side with sensuous hum, almost boneless in her visible comfort. "It was, ah, thoroughly," She paused as if considering her next words. "Relaxing." She purred.
"Right, ah-well, um, good! That's… good." Yang stood up jerkily, turning her head and coughing into her fist, a bright red blush washing over cheeks. "I well, uh, I'm just gonna go take a bath." She nodded to herself, before blushing even more heavily and snapping her gaze back to Blake and Weiss. "Wait, not that kind of bath!" She said quickly, going tomato red when Weiss raised an eyebrow and Blake snickered. "Not that there's anything wrong with taking that kind of bath, I mean, it's perfectly natural and everyone does it and I'mjustgonnagonow." Yang finished in a rush, practically sprinting into the bathroom and slamming the door.
Blake fell into laughter once more, and Weiss joined her, rolling onto her back and covering her eyes with her forearm, giggling lightly.
"Well played, Miss Schnee." Blake praised, grinning at the smirking Weiss.
"Thank you, thank you." Weiss nodded demurely, her glimmering, amused ice-blue eyes making contact with Blake's own molten gold. "What gave me away?"
"Apart from the fact that you would never tell us something like that if it were true?" Blake said with an eye roll before she tapped the side of her nose with her index finger. "You smell earthy, but clean, like herbs and flowers, and it isn't the from shampoo, you usually use mint."
Studiously ignoring the less than stellar aspects of her teammate being able to differentiate scents from rooms away, Weiss blinked slowly in honest surprise. "You can smell the bath salts from all the way over there?"
"I could smell them as soon as you put them in the water, actually." Blake shrugged, sinking into a low split, rotating her torso as she did so.
"I, uh, assume that has to do with your being a Faunus…?" Weiss asked unsurely.
"Yes." Blake paused, giving Weiss a lingering look, before smiling a small, crooked smile. "You have questions about the Faunus, right?"
Weiss sat up quickly, nodding in affirmation. "I have more than a few, yes. Is that ok?" She questioned uneasily, not wanting to offend her teammate.
Obsidian crawled out of his corner, and asked, "Is this a private talk?"
"No, take a seat. I suspected there might be questions, and while we're at it, Obi can answer some questions about his powers, sound fair?" Blake bent backward in a startling display of flexibility, as she was still maintaining her split.
Obsidian sat on the bunk across from Weiss, and says, "Sure."
Blake gave them both an encouraging look, and Weiss began looking between them, "Well, I was wondering, just how much do you… inherit from your.. other… sides?"
"Well, first off, be careful about how you word it, call it our Faunus side, nature, or our heritage. People won't like it if you make it sound like we're half beast or something." Blake pointed out. Weiss cheeks pinked and she nodded.
"Sorry."
"It's fine." Blake smiled lightly. "It's why we're talking."
"Ok then, so how much do you inherit from your Faunus side, then?"
Blake frowned thoughtfully, slipping into a cross-legged position on the floor. "Could you clarify that?"
"Well, you have enhanced senses, like night vision, and now your sense of smell, which is obviously far above human standards. I was just wondering how, um, different you are." Weiss muttered the last bit, fiddling with her bed sheet nervously. Blake fought the urge to smile at her uncharacteristic bashfulness, she knew it was a result of Weiss doing her utmost not to sound offensive whilst still wording her questions appropriately.
"Well, that depends on the type of Faunus you are, and how strong your Faunus blood runs."
"So, the species matters?"
"Definitely. First off, you are more likely to have attributes that could be contributed to your Faunus nature the stronger your heritage is."
Weiss frowned thoughtfully. "You're saying that the purer your Faunus blood is, the more evident it becomes?"
Blake nodded with a smile. "Exactly. You know Velvet, right?"
"The rabbit Faunus?"
"That's the one. She has the normal amount of Faunus attributes. It's practically perfect indicator that the more visible major animal features you have, the stronger your heritage is, and the more subtle attributes you probably possess. Velvet only has one major trait, her ears, making her one of the many. Eighty-nine percent of all Faunus only have one major trait."
"So she isn't likely to have many subtle traits?" Weiss questioned.
"Well, apart from the obviously heightened hearing from her ears, and the night vision that all Faunus share, she only has the one more subtle trait. Her legs are a lot stronger than normal; she runs faster and kicks much harder than she punches, and that is probably due to her Faunus nature."
"That's interesting." Weiss told her truthfully. "I'm not sure I would have made that connection on my own."
"Well, she doesn't exactly advertise it, but yeah." Blake's shoulders rose and fell in a minute shrug. "And if you could keep it to yourself, I think both of us would really appreciate it."
"Oh, of course, it isn't my place." Weiss waved her off absently, obviously deep in thought.
Obsidian asked, "Why does such a large portion of Faunus have only one trait?"
"If you have a strong heritage, then you might have two major traits, like whiskers and ears, or horns and a tail. Only about ten percent of the Faunus population has two major features. And if you have incredibly thick Faunus blood, you might even have three traits, but only about one percent of all Faunus have that many. It's incredibly unlikely, and very, very few Faunus have a heritage that strong, for a multitude of reasons." Blake told Weiss.
"I can't believe this sort of information isn't more readily available." Weiss frowned.
"Ignorance breeds hatred, and those who already hate the Faunus seem to enjoy promoting others to join their company, so a lot of what is important to know about Faunus is suppressed in order to separate us, dehumanize us." Blake said with a slightly melancholy smile.
Weiss winced, fully aware that she had fallen into exactly the trap Blake had just described. She shook her head before continuing with her original line of questioning. "From what you've told me so far, in summary, the more major traits the more subtle traits you are prone to possess, and having three major traits is a one in one hundred likelihood."
"That's the gist of it." Blake agreed. "Vale's population is about nine million people, the smallest country in the world, right?"
"Nine point two million, or thereabouts, yes." Weiss motioned for her to continue.
"The Faunus make up about a tenth of the population in Vale, so that's nine hundred and twenty thousand people, which means that only nine thousand two hundred people in all of Vale have three traits, just to give some perspective."
Weiss leaned back a bit and closed her eyes. "That is a small number, all told."
"The minority among the minority." Blake concluded. Weiss hummed contemplatively, tapping a small tempo against the wood of her bed with her fingernails.
"Those subtle traits you mentioned, could you give me some examples? And why are so few Faunus carriers of three attributes?" She asked.
"Depends on your Faunus species, really. Bear Faunus could be gifted with better natural endurance and durability, maybe strength, a deer Faunus might have an instinct for danger, a wolf Faunus could have an incredibly keen sense of smell, and I knew a hawk Faunus that had pretty outstanding eyesight." Blake informed her.
"That sounds astoundingly useful." Weiss admitted. "I could see how jealousy might lead to discrimination, in such situations."
"That's part of the problem, of course." Blake agreed with her. "But it isn't always a good thing; that same hawk Faunus have very light, weak bones, like a bird. And sometimes it isn't bad or good, it just is. I know a chipmunk Faunus that can fit a pretty impressive amount of food in her mouth."
Meanwhile, at the Beacon armory, Rose gave into a sudden urge to waggle her eyebrows, and then she began chuckling for no apparent reason.
As she was busy helping her upgrade her scythe, Ruby blithely ignored her duplicate's oddities for what felt like the hundredth time. Because...?
"See, if you line the thread of the barrel with this particular variant of inert freeze Dust, the rifling still works just fine but you don't lose nearly as much power because of the reduced friction. It's a straight-up improvement, it is more accurate and powerful, all you have to do reapply the Dust after about five hundred standard shots - oh, and this is super important, make sure you're using the inert variant, otherwise Crescent Rose will end up with the mother of all ice-jams."
"Oooooooohhhhhh."
Ah, that's right, because guns.
Weiss snorted. "Well, that's a party trick, at least."
"She's gotten a lot of weird looks, apparently. Not good with time, she's late for work a lot, so she'd stuff her mouth with toast and run out the door." Blake said with a chuckle.
"Smooth." Weiss laughed lightly.
"Mm, anyway, the reason why there are so few is that it is impossible to have a child with more than one major Faunus trait with a human, and cross-species Faunus don't exist. If you have a boar Faunus dad and a monkey Faunus mom, you aren't going to end up with tusks and a prehensile tail, you take after one of your parents, and you won't inherit a greater number of major traits than your parent has. The only way to inherit more is for both of your parents to be of a closely related Faunus species, and for them to have different major attributes. Take Velvet for example, if her mother had the ears and her father the tail, she could have ended up with both." Blake lectured.
"Yes, I could see how that would work out as it has." Weiss pursed her lips, looking pensive. "It's more complicated than I thought it would be but less than I'd worried."
"Yeah, it's a lot to take in at first, but it's not that hard to figure out once it has sunk in." Blake concurred, indulging herself in the same stretch Yang had seen the other day. Weiss' eyes widened as Blake arched her back in a manner that was distinctly inhuman but from the sounds of Blake's groan, immensely satisfying. As Blake stood up slowly, Weiss regarded her with a critical eye, trying to pick out any noticeable differences.
"Is your flexibility due to your cat Faunus nature?" Weiss asked Blake.
"It's a part of it, but I did put in my fair share of effort to reach my level."
"Is it rude to ask how many major Faunus traits someone has?" Weiss queried bluntly. Blake snorted at that, giving Weiss a neutral look.
"Not necessarily, but it can be a very touchy subject, so I wouldn't unless you are on good terms." Blake paused before walking over, looking at the space next to Weiss on her bed. The smaller woman motioned for her Faunus friend to join her on the bed. "You want to know how many major traits I have, right?"
"Yes." Weiss admitted candidly.
Blake took closed her eyes and took a slow breath. "This is… it's not a small thing to talk about, with me." She warned.
"Blake, if this isn't something you want to talk about, we don't have to." Weiss said softly. "You've already taught me a lot, today, and I don't mean to pry."
Blake shook her head. "No… no, it's ok. I just felt I should warn you. It's for the best that we get this out of the way, I suppose. Better than it coming back to bite us later. Just give me a few, I'll join you as soon as I'm done." Blake said, and Weiss nodded her assent. Smoothly, Blake strode towards the bathroom door, rapping on it sharply. "Yang?"
"Wassup, Blakey?" Yang's voice echoed from the bathroom, muffled from behind the door.
"I've got to get some stuff from the medicine cabinet, and I need to use the sink. Is it alright if I come in?"
"S'all good, I'm pretty much covered up with bubbles, I stole some from Rubes." Yang hollered. "Sad for you, though, you're missing ouuut~."
"I'll take your word for it." Blake answered dryly, opening the door, then closing it behind her as she walked into the bathroom. Weiss scooted up on her bed, trying to get as close as possible in an attempt to overhear what Blake was up to, while Obsidian attempted to tune out anything and everything that happened beyond the door.
A few moments of silence later and an audible sigh was heard. "Yang, it doesn't really count as covered up if it's only from the waist down."
"Eh, we're partners, it was bound to happen sometime."
"True."
"At least I'm not standing up."
"Small mercies."
"And don't even pretend you aren't impressed."
"…For something of their size, they are unnaturally perky."
"Gotta love those Branwen genes."
"Mother's side?"
"Unless you think I got my perky tits from my father, then yeah."
"Technically you did get them from your father, you are sort of a collaborative effort, after all."
"And that's something that I nev- whoa, hold up. What are you doing to your eyes, Blakey?"
"Just taking out my contacts, Yang."
"Since when do you wear contacts?!"
"Since before I met you, obviously."
"I didn't even know your eyesight was bad!"
"It isn't, these are cosmetic."
"Oh. Well, as much as I like your eye color now, I'm sure I'll like the original even more."
Blake's soft laughter bounced around the closed room. "That's very sweet, Yang, thank you, but these aren't for the color, see?"
"I don't… ohhhhholy shit. Dust! I can totally see why you wear them now! Not that they aren't awesome, but they sure do give the game away, don't they?"
"A little bit. Well, it has been nice talking Yang, but I've gotta go finish up my chat."
"So that's why you took out the contacts? Cool. Have fun!"
"You too! Don't forget Weiss' advice about the shower head!"
"Couldn't if I tried."
The door to the bathroom was flung open, and Blake strode out in a small billow of steam, closing the door neatly behind her. Weiss and Obsidian, both of whom had been eavesdropping shamelessly, was intensely curious as to what had inspired Blake to wear contacts. Blake, perhaps sensing her curiosity and deciding to toy with her a little, kept her gaze firmly averted as she approached the bed. Or maybe she was nervous? As much as Weiss wished it wasn't so, she had been horrifically racist just a few days ago, Blake being nervous or wary about her response wasn't exactly unwarranted.
It hurt a little, but it was expected, and Blake had been conditioned for years to distrust humans just as much as Weiss had been pushed into distrusting the Faunus.
Obsidian looked pensive, both suppressing the overflow from the conversation, and wondering about Yang's response.
So it was that when the bed dipped as Blake sat down, and she let her gaze rise to meet Weiss', that the heiress herself felt a little nervous now. It was a scant few moments later that their eyes locked, and a fraction of a second later that comprehension tore through Weiss' mind like a flood.
Blake's eyes had always been rather stunning, in their own way. That particular tone of topaz she wore with such self-assured ease was striking, attractive, and disconcerting all in one fell swoop. The eyes that Weiss saw now were all that and more. It was silly, perhaps, that such a relatively small alteration could change Weiss entire perception of what her teammate's eyes really looked like, but it did.
The thin, vertical slit of her iris, identical – possibly literally – to a cat's eye added an entirely new element to the Faunus' gaze. Firstly, above all else, Weiss realized that this looked right, perfectly natural, and she could see herself having difficulties getting used to their human camouflage once more after she had seen the reality. Then a myriad of other musings and observations flitted through the periphery of her thoughts. Her eyes were disquieting, most assuredly. Even now, simply meeting her stare head-on, as a friend, it was disturbing just how predatory it felt. Every aspect of what they were seemed enhanced, sharpened to a deadly, keen edge. Whereas before Blake gaze before had often felt penetrative, now her eyes felt they could catalog her fault, vice and move before she was even aware of them herself.
Weiss had seen beautiful eyes – she rather admired Yang's lilac coloration, she had seen calculative eyes – her father, General Ironwood, and Ozpin came to mind, she had seen expressive eyes – Ruby could probably communicate solely in wide-eyed looks, giggles, pouts and her ridiculous gestures. She had seen Obsidian's eyes both just red and truly horrifying with the pictures of a white pupil focusing his malice, she could confidently say that Blake's eyes, from this distance, fell more intensity of his normal eyes than any other comparison she could make.
"Lovely, and not a little startling, I'll admit." Weiss said, breaking the silence. Blake regarded her steadily before a light smile quirked at her lips.
"That's one of the nicer reactions I've had." Blake mused, as she turned to Obsidian, who merely raised a brow.
"I can understand why you invested in the contacts." Obsidian began, "Hiding would be impossible without."
Weiss continued, "They are a bit shocking."
"I can't imagine showing these to Jaune, he's frightened enough of me as is already." Blake laughed lightly. Weiss joined her, nodding enthusiastically.
"Oh, I would pay to see that. I wouldn't be surprised if he fainted outright if you glared at him."
"Pyrrha would murder me." Blake replied with a slight snicker.
"Oh please, we all know Pyrrha's probably some sort of cyborg or demigod, but she has the soul of an old lady that likes nothing better than to knit sweaters for her grandchildren."
Blake's laughter was deep and velvety, and Weiss was growing rather fond of coaxing the sound out of her friend, a friend who was already growing to be increasingly dear to her. "It seems Rose is rubbing off on you, after all, Weiss." Blake remarked. The mixed look of abject distaste and resignation on the white-haired woman's face at her remark elicited another uncharacteristic laugh from her. It was a fairly stark contrast to her usual reserved nature.
"Imagine that I was a partner to that woman, in another life. I'm not a war-hardened veteran by any means, but I'm not some impressionable teenager either, yet I've barely known her a month and my worldview has been irrevocably altered," Weiss paused, before rubbing her temples with a sigh. "It is moments like these that I remember that Ruby is more clever and influential than I would have thought, initially."
Blake looked at Weiss, surprised. "I was under the impression you were still – as of yet – unsatisfied with Ruby's ability to lead our team."
Weiss let out a huff, frowning lightly. "I will admit that I was, at first. I was also under the impression that I would make a better leader." Weiss admitted, looking at Blake levelly. "And as much as I've learned to… tolerate her, I do still think that, but I can recognize why I am her subordinate."
"Mmm?" Blake prompted, subtly fascinated with this insight into her prideful teammate.
"Growth." Weiss said plainly. "I come from a life of preparation tailored to a leadership role. And as much as people espouse natural leadership, it is still a skill that can be learned and honed by anyone – and it is not as if I lack the talent for it myself." Weiss fought the urge to roll her eyes at Blake's slightly disbelieving look. "Once again, I'll admit, my personality would have caused a lot of clashes within the group, and my prejudice could have irrevocably harmed the team dynamic; most probably one of the major factors in me not being elected as a team leader. But, as I said, I have received training in order to lead both large and small groups of people, in business and war; ex-Hunter's tutored me in the latter aspect personally. And these were people that were paid, to be honest, to assess my role in combat so that I wouldn't bite off more than I could chew. They wouldn't have told me I would make a good leader if I could not."
"Well, I haven't seen you lead, so…" Blake trailed off into a shrug. "I'll be the first to say that not everything is always as it seems.
"Quite." Weiss agreed dryly, giving Blake's Faunus attributes a slow once-over. "As I was saying, despite the risks that could have been associated with me leading the team if Ozpin wanted a safe bet on a competent leader he would have chosen me. But he didn't, instead, he chose a socially impaired, inexperienced girl two years our junior to lead us. One with a good heart and natural predisposition for it, yes, but it was not the better option on paper. So, why did he do it?"
"I think I'm starting to understand, but you've already given me the answer if you recall." Blake told Weiss. "Growth."
"Something important to note about Ruby is her relationship with Yang, a more naturally outgoing older sister acting as protector and guardian of sorts. Ruby, put simply, was used to being looked after, directed, just as I was used to being in command." Realization bled into Blake's eyes and Weiss nodded. "You see it now? I have lifetime's worth of learning to undertake as a subordinate, whereas Ruby has much to learn about branching out and the burdens of responsibility. Ozpin set us up in such a way that it would force us to improve ourselves, expanding our comfort zones in order to broaden our capabilities."
Blake blinked slowly at the display of insight. "Sometimes I forget that you really are the most intelligent person in our year."
"Please, she talks intellectual circles around Yang, Ruby and I on the regular." Obsidian comments.
Weiss looked pleased with the praise, but in response, she shook her head minutely. "I wouldn't have connected the dots if Professor Port didn't help me take a step back from my pride to look at how things stand."
"I know that, but remember that I am, and was, rather quiet. I notice a lot, and especially noticed your attitude whiplash on our first day as a team, something that changed in the space of a few hours." Blake pointed out. "You wouldn't have been nearly as calm if Professor Port had simply placated you; you made these connections and observations in less than four hours with little to no real knowledge of either Ruby or the headmaster."
Weiss shrugged. "I knew enough."
"So did I, and I wasn't even involved on a personal level, but it still took me until literally a few seconds ago to realize these things. I had just written it off as Ruby putting in a better showing during initiation." Blake replied honestly.
"I had assumed that is was a stress test for Ruby, and for us. Much like JNPR, putting Jaune in charge, to test how we reacted and adapted. That makes more sense."
Weiss sighed. "We could analyze our team dynamics to death, and we probably still wouldn't fully understand the headmaster's reasoning; the man is brilliant, but a brilliant mind often makes complicated decisions and leaps in logic that are incomprehensible to anyone not intimately familiar with said mind." Weiss rubbed her temples as if to stave off a headache. "And that is ignoring the not-so-insignificant political maneuvering that inevitably comes with my name."
"Circles within circles." Blake said wonderingly. "I can't believe I didn't even think about this, I mean, I know how powerful the Schnee name is." She shook her head, distaste written across her face. "I've done a pretty poor job of understanding our situation."
"I'm surprised, really. Ruby's too naïve and inexperienced with the real world, and Yang is simply isn't interested with this sort of thing, but I rather thought you would have considered my position in the team – and Beacon as a whole - very thoroughly."
"If there is a better way to make a secret Faunus anxious than putting them on the same team as a Schnee, I don't know it." Blake said wryly. "I've been pretty preoccupied with making sure I didn't get ousted, and the workload here isn't exactly negligible." She paused. "And the whole time-traveler thing has been kind of distracting too." She commented thoughtfully.
"There is that." Weiss agreed with a small laugh. "But anyway, we've digressed, we were talking about you."
Blake closed her eyes and nodded slowly. "So we were." She murmured, before stealing herself visibly. "Look, we don't have much time to really talk about this before Yang gets out of the shower, and now isn't the time to delve too deep in it anyway; I believe the whole team should be present when we... I talk about this."
"This… this is sounding less and less like something I wish to hear." Weiss observed uneasily.
"It isn't." Blake said softly before she continued. "My mother and father were both cat Faunus, and both were of exceptionally strong heritage. My father had a tail, amber eyes and a secondary set of ears, my mother had amber eyes, slit pupils and a secondary set of ears."
"So you take after your mother." Weiss murmured thoughtfully, and Blake couldn't quite contain her flinch.
"And my father." She said, voice still soft. Weiss looked briefly confused, then surprised.
"You don't mean...?"
"I don't believe I am a unique case, but I haven't ever met someone like me. There is more to love than simply being similar to one another, after all. Sharing a heritage probably provides a lot of common ground that would be impossible to find elsewhere, it's really the only reasonable explanation I can think of. But yes, I was born with four major Faunus traits." Blake looked pensive. "I would hesitate to say that I am the only Faunus with four major traits in the world, there are far more of us in Menagerie so it is probably not unheard of there, but I might be the only one in Vale."
"That's damn cool Blake." Obsidian comments, leaning forward.
Weiss felt a little stunned and took a few moments to find her composure. "That is… unexpected, but not unwelcome."
"Oh?"
Weiss tilted her head to the side to stare at Blake. "You've only just explained all this to me, I'm hardly going to be so used to it that any outlier would make me uncomfortable. All this tells me is that you are of immensely strong Faunus sto- Faunus blood." She finished, flashing a guilty look at Blake.
Blake fought down the twinge off annoyance she felt at Weiss' aborted adjective, willing herself not to get upset after seeing her friend's instantaneous remorse. As much as it needled her, it wasn't fair for her to blame Weiss, the situation as a whole wasn't ideal. She was immensely pleased and not a small bit relieved when the white-haired young woman's opinion of the Faunus had changed so drastically, but that didn't mean she had managed to completely overcome a lifetime of conditioning and habit, as much as it irked Blake to acknowledge it. Plus, before her little slip-up, Weiss had been saying something rather supportive. "Thank you, Weiss." She replied, giving her a slight, reassuring smile.
Weiss internally breathed a sigh of relief, happy that her teensy faux-pas had been brushed off so readily. "So Obsidian, you were going to answer some questions."
"Sure, lay em on me."
"How much of your…" Weiss pauses, looking to Blake for a word.
"Other works splendidly." He supplied.
"...Other side is prevalent with you?" Blake finishes.
"That's difficult to say, the degree of Grimm-ness I express varies significantly."
"How." Blake asks.
"Well…" He pauses and shifts fully Grimm. Solid red eyes, black skin, and white hair. "Right now, I'd say fully physical, thirty present behavioral, while…" He shifted back to human colors, "Zero physical, and like ten behavioral. My emotional state and environment make the behavioral aspects come out, and a heightened emotional state makes keeping my look repressed more difficult."
"Upper limits, what scale do your power work on." Weiss asks.
"Physically, environmentally, or socially."
"Physically." Blake responds while Weiss says, "Socially."
"Ok, in order, physically, I can transform into anything I can conceive of. Swords.." His arm shifts into a long, horrific blade. "Maces…" his other arm forms into a measure looking version of Cardin's. " Shields, etc." His first forms into a smooth, reflective shield. "I can grow limbs, remove limbs, alter body type…" He goes through several morphs and looks horrifying doping it. "Really anything I can imagine."
"Socially, my Grimm particulates can spread and I can spread my direct power to other Grimm. Creating them from scratch, or altering existing ones. Rose gave me a list of what I did in the future, and I was horrifying."
"Grimm Particulates?" Blake asks.
"Creatures of Grimm are formed together on these small… flakes… and these combine in different ways to form claws or armor or skin. Living things require things like air, and circulation to live. Grimm don't, but their internal structure is formulated to accelerate the rate of multiplication and spreading the particulates to the whole body. Lose enough mass and Grimm die. It's why decapitation doesn't always work of bigger Grimm."
"So everything we know about Grimm is false." Weiss asks, pulling up our Grimm biology book on her scroll.
"Upwards of ninety percent." Obsidian responded.
"And here I was wondering with your grades in GB are so bad." Blake comments.
"What should I say, By the way, everything you know about Grimm anatomy is bull, move over tubby, let the Grimm teach the class?"
Weiss laughed. "I can't see Professor Port taking that well."
"Ya. And finally environmentally. Not a Grimm damned clue."
"Why not?" Blake asked
"I thought I knew my upper limits in controlling Grimm. Rose has notes of my surpassing anything in my wildest dreams. An absolute control range of thousands of miles. Currently, my limit on absolute, synchronized control is visual. So ya. Not a clue."
"Ohhhhhh yeahhhh!" Yang exclaimed loudly, slamming the door as she walked out of the bathroom with a massive smile, her hair damp and arms stretched out above her head. "That was a good bath." She proclaimed happily, turning to beam giddily at her friends. "You won't believe how much gunk gets stuck in my hair whenever I'm out in the field." Her complaint was offset by her-cat-who-got-the-cream-smile as she ran her hands through her clean, blonde locks with a small hum.
"I can't imagine." Blake replied, dubiously eyeing what she saw as an excessive curtain of hair.
"Murgle."
Both Blake and Yang turned to look at Weiss and then Obsidian, who were both slowly going bright red, a notably human red.
Obsidian quickly shuttered, and his color returned to normal. Glaring at Yang.
Yes, Weiss admitted internally, her garbled response had been a little... strange, and embarrassing, but who could blame her?! Yang was wearing a black singlet and short shorts. She also wasn't wearing a bra. Weiss was by no means a pervert, and ordinarily she wouldn't bat an eye at what she had seen - well, that was before she had figured out she had a crush, and if Yang was so happy wearing that, then Weiss felt entitled to a little peek.
Except for the fact that the singlet and shorts were most definitely Ruby's, marked by her rose decal. The same Ruby who was Yang's little sister. In every sense of the word 'little'. She was fairly certain that the shorts hardly qualified as decent underwear, and the singlet was less a top and more an exploration of the flexibility of cotton and what seemed to an unintentional airbag escape act.
And it did not escape Weiss notice that Yang was still slightly wet from her shower, causing the tight clothes to cling to her like a second skin, highlighting what little of her supple curves and taut muscle that were not already on display.
Weiss was having horrible (wonderful) flashbacks.
And her friends were still staring at her.
"I...I- um I'm hot- I mean you're wet, ah, I mean ho- oh Oum, it's hot, I think I'll go for a walk. Goodbye!" Weiss stormed out of the room, face aflame, barely pausing to grab her scroll as she left. Silence reigned for a few seconds after her dramatic departure. Blake slowly swiveled to face Yang again, noticing the taller woman's slightly pink face and elated grin.
She also noticed her rather enthusiastic fist pump and whooping cheer. "Ein and Zwei coming through for me again!"
"Subtle Yang. Incredibly subtle." Obsidian snarks.
Blake was about to ask what she meant when Yang turned her face downwards and gave her own breasts an adoring smile. "You do know that she's going to see right through that, right?" Blake asked after a few moments of watching her strange, strange partner.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Yang replied archly, playing up her innocence.
"Even ignoring what I just saw, you've already made a mistake." Blake said with a smirk.
Yang eyed her partner warily. "Hypothetically, if I was actually doing what you think I was doing, what mistake would that be?"
"You did washing before we left, you currently have the most clean clothes out of anyone on the team."
"And that means...?"
"That we both saw you walk into the bathroom with a set of your own, clean clothes, but you decided to come out dressed in Ruby's clothes instead, for no 'apparent'" Blake mocked quotation marks in the air with her fingers. "reason."
Yang coughed awkwardly into her fist, looking a shade sheepish. "Well, uh, it's not like she'll remember, right?"
"Yang, Weiss has an eidetic memory or as good as one, anyway. There is no way she won't remember." Blake shook her head slowly. "She'll probably figure it out as soon as the hormones stop frying her brain."
"Ah." Yang exclaimed. "That... that could be bad." She ventured, frowning in thought.
"Well, your flirting is so fucking obvious that she would have to thicker than Jaune bundled in bubble wrap to not notice eventually, so you probably just sped up the inevitable." Blake said with candor.
Yang looked briefly shocked, amused and pissed at Blake's blunt statement. "Jeez Blakey, not pulling the punches today, are we?"
"Considering we just came back from a training trip that was, in essence, the beginnings of preparing us for a race war that wiped Vale off the map. This, in turn, could possibly lead to the decline of the human and Faunus races in what might, and probably would, escalate into another great Grimm-war, so not so much, yeah." Blake shrugged indolently. "Romantic teenage drama is not high on my list priorities."
Yang slumped and blew out a long breath, plopping herself down next to Blake's position on Weiss' bed. "Well shit, when you put it like that..."
"Look, I have a lot of faith in Rose, she's-" Beautiful, loyal, strong, amazing. "a great Huntress, and I really hope that she succeeds in stopping the war before it can really start, but you have to see the reality of things. Being a Huntress was never going to be a joke, and I'm not saying that you see it as one, but you're still not taking it seriously. Not really." Yang opened her mouth, ostentatiously to disagree with that remark, but Blake cut her off. "And that's fine. Or, it would have have been fine if we were on a normal schedule. We're going to be at Beacon for four years, and that is a lot of time to gain a more serious, mature approach to our line of work, and it's probably why no one except Professor Goodwitch has called the first years out on it. Most of us are still minors, on the cusp of adulthood, so they seem to expect a little childishness from us, and again, that isn't wrong. But the fact is, if Rose fails, we are going to have to fight a war. We don't have the luxury of settling into our future roles, not when the peace we enjoy is so fragile it might as well be an illusion." Blake took a long, slow breath. "What I am trying to say is that you need to think about what is happening, and what might happen in the future. Yes, it's fine to live your life, but you have to realize that something like getting together with Weiss shouldn't be your priority anymore, it can't be, there is just too much at stake."
"Well said." Obsidian said, moving toward his corner.
Yang flopped down on the bed, eyes closed in deep thought. Blake, having said her piece, got up and grabbed a book to read whilst she waited on Yang's reply. The minutes passed by, and neither Yang nor Blake moved an inch, both absorbed in their tasks. Eventually, almost fifteen minutes later, the golden-haired girl sat up, her features carrying a solemn cast. "You're right." She said.
Blake, sitting comfortably huddled in her bunk, looked over and nodded. "About?" She prompted.
"What you said about my priorities." Yang told her. "Until you talked to me, the biggest problem on my mind was Weiss. Even after everything Rose has told us, and even the things she hasn't, it still hadn't really sunk in, I guess." Yang huffed quietly, running her hands through the length of her hair. "I feel like a stupid kid." She admitted.
"Not stupid." Blake shook her head slowly. "You've never really had a problem this big before, you've never faced the fact that you might be part of something has horrible as war."
A long few seconds passed as Yang scrutinized Blake, and she understood then that she had made a mistake. "And you have." Yang stated matter-of-factly. "You've already been through something like this." She muttered through narrowed eyes.
Blake pursed her lips, weighing her options. She was an excellent liar, that much was almost a necessity for a majority of the tasks the White Fang had assigned her. She could try to get one over Yang, do her best to bluff her way out with an imagined story... but she knew that lies, especially in tightly-knit groups, had a tendency to unravel. On the other hand, it was entirely possible that Yang could react adversely to outright honesty. She doubted any good would be done if she fully admitted to her past indiscretions. She mulled it over, and eventually decided to hedge her bets. No lies, but she wouldn't reveal anything overly important.
"I have." Blake acceded. "But now isn't the time to talk about it, Yang. I said something along the same lines to Weiss already. I have a few secrets that probably have to come out sooner or later, but I'd rather it was on my terms, with the entire team there, okay?"
Yang hummed pensively, before nodding slowly. "That's fair." She allowed. "I can't say I'm not curious, but I can wait. 'Sides, I figure if Rose can keep all her little secrets about the future, you can have a few of your own." She stalled then, tilting her head to the side slightly. "You two talked to Weiss about something important as well?"
Hoping that Yang wouldn't make the connection between the conversations, Blake nodded. "We talked about the Faunus, and Obsidian unique circumstances."
"Huh." Yang smiled slightly. "Feeling chatty today?"
"Rose told me that a lot of the major problems we had at the beginning were because of my secrets and the lack of communication." Blake admitted. "I'm making an effort."
"Give and take."Obsidian explained.
"Well you've done pretty well, I think this is the most I've heard either of you talk in a day." Yang grinned.
Blake nodded, her cheeks going a little pink. "My throat hurts." She uttered sheepishly.
Yang chuckled, shaking her head fondly at her quiet partner.
"Five more minutes!"
"Sorry Rubes, but no."
"Awww daaaad! Please~?"
"He's right little Rose, we have to go."
Ruby gasped, turning to point at Rose. "Not you too!" She wailed.
Rose patted her shoulder in sympathy. "Yes, me too. It really was great to tinker with Crescent Rose again, but we've been here for hours and we have a meeting to get to."
Ruby unleashed a weapons-grade pout, and Tai-Yang forced himself to look away, lest his resolve crumble. "Let's go, Rose, we really have to go." He snuck a peek at Ruby, whose bottom lip was quivering ominously. "Now." He fled the room.
"Dang." Ruby sighed, instantly dropping her distraught mask as soon as he left. "That usually works."
"You're an evil little girl." Rose laughed as she followed her father, and Ruby snorted. Rose strode out of the workshop with long, swift strides, closing the large, soundproof metal doors behind her. As she did so, the door to the demolitions section opened, and out skipped a soot-stained Nora, a merry-wild grin on her lips. Her silver eye locked with Nora's light turquoise.
"Hellloooo~!" Nora sang, popping off a vigorous salute mid skip. "You're Yang and Ruby's older sister, aren't you? Why are you down here? Is it because you wanted to fix your weapon? Oh, oh! Are you here to make a new one to celebrate your new job?!"
Rose blinked slowly, trying to once more grow accustomed to Nora's highly intense form of conversation. "Yes, I am, I believe we've already met, Nora was it?" A giddy nod was her reply. "I was down here because I was helping Ruby with her scythe. My weapon is fine, and I don't feel like replacing it any time soon. And how did you know I got the job?" She began walking, motioning for Nora to join her, which she did with much aplomb.
"Yup yup, Rose, right? Right! I didn't know you got the job until you told me! Congratulations!" Nora squealed with excitement. "It's going to be so awesome having you as a teacher, I can see it now! I can't wait! It's going to be the best! Your class is going to be so cool, and you are going to teach us so much-"
"And you have no idea what class I'm going to teach, right?" Rose grinned.
Nora nodded unashamedly. "It's going to be awesome, whatever it is!"
"Well let's hope so. Hey dad." Rose got her father's attention, falling in next to him, with Nora humming what sounded suspicious like 'The flight of the Valkyries' next to her.
"Hey kiddo, who is your friend?" He asked curiously.
"Nora, this is my dad Tai-Yang. Dad, this is Nora." She introduced them.
"Hey Mr. T!"
"Nice to meet you, Nora."
Walking around Rose, Tai-Yang proffered his hand to Nora in greeting. As they shook with a grip so firm that it would have turned the bones in the hand of a civilian into powder, they spotted each other's weapons. Tai-Yang's was slung over his shoulder, having freshly repaired and fabricated all the damaged pieces of Malwr after its introduction to Izhar's digestive system. Nora's Magnhild was sitting comfortably on her lower back, despite its immense weight, and Tai-Yang could see just the stock and barrel.
"Is that a war hammer?" "Is that a grenade launcher?" They asked simultaneously.
"It's also a bomb." "It's also a hammer." They answered in unison.
A beat passed before both smiled toothily at one another. Rose swore she could feel a slight tremor in the floor and walls...
"Walk with me, Nora." Tai-Yang said grandly. "Let's talk about hitting stuff really hard and explosions."
Nora dipped her head and fluttered her eyes at him. "I bet you say that to all the pretty girls, Mr T." She said coquettishly, the corner of her lips twitching madly.
"This can only end well." Rose chuckled softly, watching as her father and her old friend carried on an increasingly animated discussion, sound effects and all. When they both started laughing madly, the sounds of their deranged mirth echoing through the halls, Rose felt the tremor return, and she imagined it was almost like Beacon itself was nervous...
Weird.
Glynda staired, a not-so-insignificant part of her wishing for either the reemergence of her patients. Or at the very least the energy of her youth, as Tai-Yang bid an overdramatic, tearful goodbye to Nora. Rose was watching with an air of indulgence and amusement as her manchild of a father hammed it up with the best of them. Nora, who was always game for goofing around, was playing the part of grizzled, stoic hero saying goodbye to her lady love 'because evil (homework) never sleeps.' "Ah'll never forget you!" Tai-Yang sobbed, affecting a drawling accent and a high pitched voice. "Don't cry sweet thang, I reckon we'll see each other soon 'nuff." Nora replied in kind, in a startlingly accurate facsimile of a gruff man. "Hammers and explosions?" Tai-Yang mumbled with a sniffle and a hopeful glint in his eyes. "Hammers and explosions forever, baby." Nora confirmed with a small nod, her own glint less hopeful and more outright manic. "Goodbye." Tai-Yang fell to his knees as Nora mimed turning around and riding away on a horse, though whether it was to stifle fake grief or all-too-real laughter was unclear. Rose did no such thing, walking over and lifting her father up with a chuckle. "Let's get going, sweet thang." She teased. Tai-Yang, who was now visibly giggling, snorted, a resigned smile playing across his face. "At least it's better than sweet-cheeks." He mused. "Ah, honey buns, you don't know the half of it." Rose cackled, slinging an arm her father and bullying him into Ozpin's office. Tai-Yang groaned as his ever-growing collection of nicknames was just unceremoniously expanded. "Honey buns? Oh, Qrow is going to love that one." "You have no idea." Glynda heard Rose say, a smile in her voice. Promptly, their predictions were proven right. "Honey, your home!" Qrow's voiced called out from within the room, his words bubbling with mirth. "Oum damn it." Tai-Yang sighed. The rest of the conversation was cut off as the doors closed behind the pair, but Glynda was hardly paying attention. She was too busy beating her growing horror into submission and planning sweet her vengeance upon Rose for introducing Tai-Yang and Nora to one another. 'Hammers and explosions, forever' indeed. Reclining in comfortable chairs, with mugs of hot, strong coffee – some enjoying an especially potent brew, courtesy of flask of good whiskey – Qrow, Rose, Tai-Yang, Glynda and Ozpin sat around a table. The air smells slightly of incense and petrichor. A light drizzle persisted outside, providing a soft pitter-patter of water on one of the many windows.
By all means, sitting in an outrageously nice leather chair, thoroughly warm, and enjoying a delicious coffee that she had secretly crammed full of chocolate, marshmallows and far too much sugar and cream, Rose should be comfortable. She most assuredly was not. There was a thick undercurrent of tension hanging in the air, and she supposed the shoe was really about to drop for everyone here, bar herself.
So far, the extent of their combative actions to prevent the war had been one raid that went so far off the rails it must've gone full circle, as it still ended in something akin to complete success – save for her not so insignificant injuries. The idea of war was not an easy one to acclimatize to. War, truly large-scale war, despite the highly militaristic nature of all successful nations in Remnant's history, was exceedingly rare. To go to war was to invite turmoil onto your doorstep, to bathe armies of men and women in the madness and horror of mass bloodshed and death. The heartfelt despair of a single person can be potent enough to attract over a dozen Grimm in a moderately dangerous area. The cesspool of dark emotions that could be elicited by something as devastating as war?
City upon city had fallen to the influx of Grimm that conflict on that scale inevitably brought, along with the intentional destruction Cinder had ordered. There was a famous Atlesian general that, on the eve of his victory, was credited to have said 'And to the last, our lay opposition slain, every man put to the blade and claimed by their inevitable, eternal rest. Their transgressions repaid. Every slight, and injustice laid on our backs reaping penance paid in blood. Theirs was a dynasty forged of heartlessness and malice, and for that, we will never forgive them, even in death. But now, men, take up your swords, for our true enemy has yet to arrive, and the night has not yet been won.'
It was a hard pill to swallow, and being intelligent, experienced warriors, the repercussions of what they were about to undertake and what failure could mean were painfully tangible, an ominous cloud on the horizon. War is hell, and a war on Remnant came with demons – both monster and man – as part and parcel. And that was ignoring the personal stake everyone in the room had, and all that included.
Rose sighed softly to herself, taking a deep sip of her velvety, hot choco- err, coffee, to brace herself. She made eye contact with Ozpin, both of them meeting gazes over the rims of their mugs, and nodded almost imperceptibly. Ozpin was many things, a charismatic leader and impeccable strategist included, but she had experienced war – this war – firsthand, and so she would take the lead. She took another sip of her drink, trying to savour the rich artisan brew.
But, for the life of her, as she stared at the file on the table she couldn't quite rid her mouth of the taste of so much ash.
"Operation 'Maskfall'," She began evenly, reaching forward to flip open the file with deliberate slowness, fully aware of the intense stare she was receiving from every member the war council around her. "The planned assassination of one Raven Branwen to happen in six standard days, midnight." The heavy cover of the file fell to the table with a dull thump, and a picture of Raven, clad in tattered black and red wielding a telescoping katana crackling with lightning, her mask half slipped off her face in the middle of battle became instantly visible. Tai-Yang sucked in a breath, and Qrow lay a hand on his shoulder, but both of their eyes were riveted to the picture of Raven. "I believe, in my original timeline, that this plan was successful." She said bluntly.
There was a dull, almost painful silence at her proclamation. Glynda, tapping her fingers against the table rhythmically, inclined her head slightly. "What makes you believe it succeeded?" She asked, her voice devoid of anything but bland questioning, giving nothing of her own thoughts on the matter away.
"Beyond the laborious prep work and thoroughness of the plan itself?" Rose began, flipping through an incredibly intricate, thorough, brilliant plan spanning hundreds of pages – everything from information on the target, to diagrams, to contingencies and beyond. "By all accounts, the idea of Raven turning traitor is-" Tai-Yang and Qrow both scoffed, Glynda shook her head and Ozpin pursed his lips. "Apparently utterly ridiculous." Rose finished dryly. "And passivity is a trait I've never found in any Hunter, so her sitting out of the fight is unlikely as well. Which means if she fought, she would have fought on our side." She blew out a slow breath. "The problem with that is I never saw her, not once, in all fact I never even heard of anyone nearing her description, and someone of her skill would make waves in the war, there's no doubt. More than that, Yang never mentioned hearing anything about her either, and she was definitely paying close attention – she never really gave up on finding her."
"Is there any chance at all that she kept a low profile, perhaps? Working behind the scenes seems to be her modus operandi." Ozpin pointed out.
"Very, very low," Rose disagreed. "My team and I were central to the war, and I don't think anyone was more well informed than we were. What little slipped through Blake's fingers was practically always caught by the council's spymaster. She'd have to be a ghost to slip in between cracks that small," She flipped back to the picture of Raven mid-battle. "And impressive as her skills in subterfuge are, we can see that she isn't perfect, the facts in this dossier are so comprehensive I think Qrow could still stand to teach her more than a thing or two."
"Comparing her to the Man-Of-Many-Masks is somewhat unfair, but I suppose your point stands." Ozpin conceded. "It doesn't seem as if she would be able to elude you so utterly."
"I hate that epithet," Qrow grumbled. "Being well renowned for your infiltration abilities is," He gestured with dismissively with his hand before settling on, "Kind of fucking stupid."
"Better than sweet-cheeks," Tai offered.
"Please, Mr. Unassailable Aegis, tell me about your woes," Qrow sniped back dryly.
"Gentlemen," Ozpin chided gently. Tai-Yang and Qrow both grimaced, coming back to the present reluctantly, having subconsciously begun bantering to provide a brief escape from their current reality.
"Right." Qrow sighed, reaching over and flipping through the pages of the dossier with a deft hand. He was utterly impassive until he slowly lay he plan on the table. "This is Oum be-damned insane." He passed the file to Tai-Yang, closed his eyes, and began kneading his brow. "What lunatic conjured this up?"
"This has Cinder written all over it." Rose answered. "Literally, she signed at the bottom of some pages." She pointed out.
Qrow snapped his eyes to her, a budding expression of horror twisting his features. "Cinder? This is one of her plans?" She nodded, and he groaned. "Are they all like this?"
"This is a good one." Rose admitted. "But I've seen her pull together better." She added bitterly.
"Ah, Grimmshit." Tai-Yang breathed, flipping through with an awed sort of horror. "Goddamn. I thought planning from a through to z was just an expression."
"There's a reason that Cinder almost conquered Vale, you know." Rose pointed out tersely. "And isn't just because she's hardcore in a fight. If Blake wasn't so good at espionage, without the intelligence she got to us, team RWBY would have been dead a hundred times over. I've said it before, but Cinder is completely looney, and no less the genius for it."
"I know… It's just…" Tai-Yang shook his head, throwing the folder down and pointed out a page marked as vital information. "She tested Raven, over and over again. Calling her in for backup from less than a kilometer away, to intercontinental distances to get a glimpse of her limitations. She did this for years, never giving anything away, just to get a perfect idea of how limited Raven's teleportation is." Tai-Yang thumped a knuckle down on the papers, right on top of a series of graphs and diagrams. "She's got her energy expenditure and ability down to the meter. Raven teleported us to the beaches in Vacuo more than once on a whim. That's thousands of kilometers, and Cinder's margin of error is in centimeters, and from what I remember she's completely right."
"That's what 'Maskfall' is, exploitation of Raven's surety that she can escape any situation." Ozpin mused. "First, a call to drive off Grimm attacking an essential White Fang supply convoy in Mistral - Grimm which Cinder is going to have attack. Not so many that Raven would decline her next call to arms, but not so few that she would escape fresh and unscathed. Then, a call to drive off another Grimm attack, this time in Atlas. Again, she drives the Grimm off and undoubtedly is feeling the strain at this point. That is when Cinder plans to strike." Ozpin turned the page, pointing to the plans on the next page. "She knows that Raven's Aura is within the indicated range, enough that all the bombs planted on-site would be enough to cause lethal damage, regardless of all the lives of the White Fang that will assuredly be lost in the explosion," Ozpin said in distaste, the blatant sacrifice of life not sitting well with him. He flipped another page, and a map was revealed, dotted with lines and circles.
"Even if she does survive, which is already highly unlikely, the location just so happens to be in a near-wasteland, with barely any civilization within a hundred kilometers in any direction – which at this point, even before the explosion, is predicted to be Raven's maximum teleportation distance. Every town and city within two hundred kilometers will have at least four squadrons laying in wait to finish the job. Beyond that, Cinder herself will be near the explosion site, ready to take care of Raven personally if the opportunity presents itself. And coming back to the bombs themselves, they all contain a distinct scenting chemical, highly traceable by any gifted Faunus, of which Cinder has no short supply. Multiple airborne squads, each consisting of a tracker and long-range suppression specialist will roam the area in order to find her. And when they do, there is a team of Hunter-level combatants, consisting of Cinder's own teleporter and a handful of her lieutenants."
"Neo Politan." Rose said with an odd twist to her lips. "A mute illusionist with teleportation abilities, albeit much more limited than Raven's. She's a bloodthirsty sadist with a penchant for torture."
"Charming, I'm sure." Glynda murmured. "You almost sound fond of her." She said after a pause, looking at Rose strangely.
"Her less than savory habits aside, Neo isn't what I would call evil, or loyal to the cause." Rose sighed. "Ruthless and mercenary to the core, but not evil."
"How so?" Glynda questioned.
"Torchwick might be in it for the money at the moment, but that will change, eventually. He fancied himself in love with Cinder, and vice versa," Rose shrugged. "I think she's manipulating him, but hell, it might be the real deal, who knows? Fact of the matter is he's loyal to her. Neo is loyal to her money, that Cinder's guiding hand is much less restrictive and prone to indulge her darker whimsies doesn't hurt."
"You mentioned her not being evil, but the way you sell it doesn't really match up, Rose." Tai-Yang mentioned, slightly confused.
"I didn't say she was stable, or even sane, but sadism is hardly a crime - even if Neo's case is a tad extreme," Rose said.
Qrow snorted, lifting one dark brow. "Isn't torture a bit more than, well, extreme?"
"Everyone has their kinks," Rose shrugged. "And she's proven that she doesn't exactly need to torture people, she just enjoys it. I believe it's more of a 'two for the price of one' situation, Cinder gets her information, she gets off."
Ozpin scrunched his nose minutely in distaste. "Lovely."
"It is what it is." Rose sighed. "Honestly, I'd jump at the chance to get her on ur side, but Cinder has more dosh to throw around than we do right now, and Neo isn't going to skip out on a contract so juicy unless she's offered something significantly better. Besides that, we have already inadvertently deprived her of what is honestly her biggest Trump card."
"So we include her in our threat assessments for now, and we can come back to her once we have the resources to get her to go turncoat?" Qrow asked.
"I'm getting a distinctly Robin Woodsy' tingle right now." Tai-Yang said with a grin. "Steal from the rich and absurdly evil, give to the uh..." He paused. "...Materialistic, bloodthirsty she-devil." He finished lamely.
Rose and Qrow both snorted, and Glynda rolled her eyes.
"In the future, keep any and all tingly feelings to yourself, if you would." Glynda said, deadpan.
This time, Ozpin chuckled at her snark, giving her an approving look she felt vaguely ashamed to have earned. "That aside, perhaps we could return to the matter at hand?"
"Making sure Raven isn't horribly murdered." Rose supplied.
Qrow grimaced. "Right, definitely, that would be lovely. If only because I want a chance to ring her idiot neck myself."
"Ah, family." Rose sighed, before stretching out and taking a deep breath to prepare. "So, here's the least dangerous path to extraction that I could map out, according to the Cinder's proposed plan. If we make our insertion point here - or here - we'll have a few minutes before we come across patrols..."
Rose yawned, pulling the last cover down, and slapping her chalk-covered hand together, expelling small clouds of white dust before leaning herself against the front of the desk in her new classroom. A few moments later, the door creaked open, and the first group ambled in. It was amazing how quickly time could pass when you were both tired and busy. It felt like just minutes ago she'd started the war council, and here she was, standing and watching as her class of students walked in. It was a blur, really. So much planning, and dredging up old memories on even older enemies, and attending to the task of going through 'Maskfall' with a fine-toothed comb to ensure that any and all exploitable flaws were discovered. She didn't even remember going to bed, just waking up this morning with a distinct odor and only about fifteen minutes to prepare for her first class. And damn, it sure was strange to watch a mix of old comrades and some of her most desperate enemies walking in like a bunch of rowdy, hormonal teenagers. Which they were, technically, but that didn't make it any less odd for her to watch. First off, there was her(?) team and her younger self, good ol' RWBY. It felt like some sort of out-of-body experience she was completely lucid for, watching as she sat down in her old seat, and took out what used to be her favorite stationery - ladybug themed, all of it - and immediately began goofing off with Jaune, just like she used to, before Obsidian moved the four over, and became a buffer. She mentally thanked him for the gesture. And then there was JNPR. The golden, shining heroes of the Remnant's modern era. Unassailable champions of light, literally beating back the encroaching darkness with the strength of their own hands. Revered and beloved worldwide as the brightest hope for humanity and Faunus kind worldwide. Poor, poor JNPR. The war had screwed them worse than almost anyone else. The thing about war on Remnant, especially large-scale, potentially world-wide war, was that it was pretty excellent at driving people to despair and panic all over. The first problem with this was the cycle of depression waking ancient, forgotten Grimm, causing more negativity in an apocalyptic cycle of death. Secondly was that every scared person on Remnant who saw Abyssal snap his fingers and reduce named Grimm into loyal attack dogs, who roll over on command, or level a town of resistors in seconds, was one more person who wouldn't fight her and bid for power. And so, to combat that threat, and to keep the people hopeful and happy the governments of the world responded with propaganda. So much bullshit was thrown around all those years ago Rose could have fertilized the Emerald Forest. And, in keeping with Jaune's natural luck - or lack thereof - most of what was said about his team stuck. Partly it was because of his own family lineage, already widely renowned as having produced a few of the most powerful hunter's of their time. Another part was Pyrrha's own fame and her meteoric and completely justified rise through the ranks of the Hunter world. Another was Ren, and his immediate relation to the most dangerous man in the world, his grandfather, Vacuo's 'Slumbering Dragon'. Even Nora's surprising talent as a master smith became part of their aspiring legend. In the end, it amounted to team JNPR being dragged from the front lines if the war kicking and screaming to instill calm within the masses and to keep the peace. They became more than celebrities. They were living legends, with tales of their exploits tearing across the various populaces of the world. They were practically deified. They were credited for the destruction of armies of lesser Grimm, of killing named Grimm, of liberating camps full of POWs, and just about every other heroic thing you can imagine. Rose was pretty sure they'd at least half of them, to their credit. They became symbols, torn from the place they had come to call home in order to distract the world from the terrible, bloody conflict happening right under their noses. A living rallying point, the bannermen, and women of humanity, the vanguard of war against darkness. Selfless martyrs to the cause, all in an effort to save as many lives as they could, even if it was an incredibly bitter pill to swallow. And, Rose reminded herself, fighting the tamed hordes of Grimm, as JNPR had, wasn't exactly a cushy job, either. Her war may have been horrible, but their side of the fight had not been a whit less awful, no doubt. A Hunter's life was never an easy one. She sighed, realizing that her thoughts had taken a sharp turn for the melancholy and that yes, someone had noticed her despondent mood. 'It'll be fine!' Yang mouthed encouragingly from her seat, giving her older sister two big thumbs up, mistaking Rose's dour mood as nervousness. Rose quirked a small smile at her, and swept her gaze around the room. Hm, seemed as if during her trip down memory lane most of the class had settled in. Her previously small smile grew, reaching a point where she no doubt looked slightly deranged. In all fairness, that much was accurate as could be. "Hello, everyone," She began. "My name is Professor Rouge Rose, but you may address me as Miss, Professor, or Rose. I am your new combat instructor, and this," She slapped the wall behind her, causing a series of shades to zip up, revealing the chalkboard at her back in all its glory. "Is your new class." The class's response was a mixed bag of stunned silence, growing dread and smothered laughter. Obsidian, put his head down with a groan of anticipated pain. 'Avoiding the pointy end - 101.' Rose smiled toothily. "Practical application begins in five minutes." The mixed bag became decidedly less mixed, after that.
AN: The next chapter will be half the last chapter of Remnants Reclaimer, and then will be entirely my own work. Looking forward to it.