Blanc's Rooms
He woke up on a couch that had been covered in boxes, which were now on the floor. The room was empty, save for Pyrrha, who sat nearby in a chair. "I'm glad you've recovered."
Blanc sighed, looking around a bit, and noticing the door was shut. "Has it been long?"
"Half an hour or so. I wanted to make sure you were ok. You'll have to talk to them about this, you know?"
Blanc stared at the ceiling. "It's falling apart, and I can't blame this one on anyone else; I was simply careless. Can they be… discrete?" Pyrrha considered it for a moment. "Ren won't be a problem, though you might need to work to convince him. We'll talk to Nora. It'll be ok." Somehow, Blanc wasn't convinced. "Pyrrha, I don't know if you understand. The only advantage we have right now is my foreknowledge of what's going to happen. If our enemies get spooked; if they don't commit, they'll change their plans. And then, instead of acting, we'll be reacting."
"Would that be so bad? Time to be who we're supposed to be. Time to prepare?"
"And how do we do that? For what? They know a great deal about us; we know so little about them, even with what I brought back with me." He reached out and took her hand, first to pull himself upright, then to stress his point. "Pyrrha, listen to me. They won. We fought for decades and they won." For some reason he didn't let go over her hand. He'd have thought it would be calloused and hard, like his own, but it was remarkably soft for the hands of a warrior like herself.
She looked at him sharply, pulling her hand free. "So what is this then? You're getting us ready for what? I told you that you had my allegiance; Jaune is with you as well. Now, I've no doubt, Ren and Nora."
He looked her in the eye, and replied as sincerely as he could. "I'm getting you ready for what happens after. The war doesn't end here, even if we succeed. We'll push them back; perhaps give them a critical wound, deny them a crucial weapon, and give the world breathing space." He reached out for her, taking her hand in his again. "I need you to keep a secret for me. From everyone. A… contingency."
He rose from the couch and walked over to the workbench where his replacement tonfa lay, pulling her with him. He took her hand, and had her feel for a secret switch on the bottom inside of a drawer. A keypad appeared from a hidden holographic display. "You need to memorize this number." He then began putting his fingers through the projected numbers. There was no noise, no indicator that he'd activated anything. The number was at least 10 digits long. "Please, slow down. I can't… I can't keep up"
He showed her again and again, had her repeat the number, then repeat entering it. Each time she did, a hidden compartment unlocked across the room, then relocked after a few seconds; just long enough to get over to the compartment if you knew where it was. He made her repeat the pattern until she could do it from muscle memory rather than having to focus.
"Why is this so important?" She nodded. "Let me show you. Do it one more time."
She unlocked the mechanism again, only this time Blanc opened the compartment on the other side of the room and pulled out a leather bound journal. "This is a roadmap. A detailing of everything I can remember regarding the events of the future, up until I left. I … well I skip things like what I had for breakfast, but it details events, locations, people, resources… vulnerabilities and strengths… it has schematics I memorized, as much technology and other research as I could cram into my head. Information regarding the nature of grimm, of the enemy directing them, of who's come to destroy Vale and ultimately Remnant itself. This… if something happens to me, this is our failsafe. It's not finished yet, but I am working on it every day, for a few hours at a time, before I begin to forget." He handed her the book, thick with neat precise writing. "It's also a sort of memoir. Parts of it are very personal. There are parts of it written for Ruby, for Jaune, for my mother… for Yang. And yes, part of it is for you too." He took the book back from her gently, put it in the compartment, and shut it, the locking mechanism activating automatically."
Pyrrha was a bit shocked. "I don't know what to say… are you sure I'm the right person?"
"You're the only person. I have faith in you. I'm asking you to keep this to yourself and not abuse it. This information is only for if something happens to me, so that you can carry on without me. I'm trusting you to know who needs to know what, and to control that information. It has to be you. I've spent my entire life training for this mission; admiring you from stories and news articles and letters written by my father and others, to you and mentioning you in passing. I trust no one more. Will you do this for me?"
Pyrrha hesitated. "If you can't, I'll move the journal and find some other way to deliver the failsafe. I can't trust electronic means; hence the journal." She responded "No, I'll do it. You've shown great faith in me, and I promise to be deserving of it."
"I knew you wouldn't let me down. Thank you." Pyrrha made her way to the door. "I have one question. You've put a lot of work into that, I can tell just by looking at it for those few seconds. Why? I remember your conversation after Professor Ozpin left."
"Some things can't be avoided, Pyrrha. Your place in the plan puts you in a position to unconsciously inform our enemies by the way you react; I have to keep parts of the plan secret from you and many others because of that. But you're right."
"So do you just believe you'll die, or is you dying part of your plan?" Blanc hesitated at the angry look on her face. "You already know the answer to that. I'm sorry; the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. I know you understand because you would sacrifice yourself." She turned to him. "Sometimes a warrior will fall on the battlefield, defending who and what she loves, but dying is a consequence, not the goal. What you're doing is more like suicide than sacrifice."
"Whatever it is, it's necessary. I promise, I'll explain it to you when you understand more about the nature of what will be asked of you; when you can understand it better. When you're faced with your own sacrifice. Good night, Pyrrha."
She turned to the door, opening it, then called over her shoulder. "Blanc, I can accept your decision without liking it, but I'll hold you to that promise. And, you can talk to me. You don't have to go through this all alone." She closed the door behind her, and learning from experience, Blanc locked it, then retired to his bedroom to sleep and recover for a few hours.
Patch, home of Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long
"I'm home!" Ruby came in, tired from a week long extermination mission to clear grimm surrounding a nearby village. "Weiss? Blanc? Where are you guys?" Ruby was eager to see them, but there was no answer. As she passed Yang's room, perpetually empty, she heard a ring of steel on steel. Guessing they were in the back yard, she went to join them.
She slipped outside. "No, don't block. I told you, parry!" A quick strike, and the sickening sound of a blade stabbing into flesh. "Faster." Blanc stood in front of his mother, whose back faced the returned huntress. He was exhausted, holding up his father's sword, trying to deflect blows from his mother.
"Weiss! What are you doing?" Startled, Weiss turned mid-strike, Blanc barely deflecting the thrust which clipped his ear. Ruby rushed forward to scoop the boy up into her arms. Weiss turned back to the boy, then dropped her blade. "Weiss, we talked about this. He's not old enough for this." As Ruby picked the boy up, she could feel the wetness in his shirt.
"Aunt Ruby! You're home!" The boy snuggled into her.
Weiss schooled her features. "Welcome home Ruby…. He needs to train. You know as well as I how dangerous things have become. I can't afford to wait anymore. He was attacked while you were gone, Ruby."
"Grimm? On Patch?" Weiss shook her head. "Fang. I… he has to be able to defend himself."
"He's bleeding! Weiss, his aura isn't unlocked. You've just been stabbing him." Weiss looked away, then turned back. "He's my son. Jaune's son. He's tough. I love you, but he is MY son and I will raise him the way I must." Ruby narrowed her eyes, then turned to Blanc, who smiled up at her. She could see the hidden grimace from the pain of his wounds, so she let him go. "Come on, let's get you all fixed up." Ruby didn't say another word, leading the boy inside to close up his cuts. Waiting until Blanc had proceeded her inside, Ruby turned back and whispered to Weiss, just loud enough for her to hear. "We'll talk about this tonight. I can't… later. We'll talk about this later."