"Hey, Sam! Good to hear from you. Thought about what we talked about before?" Austin answered the call on his scroll.
"Yes, I have thought about it, and decided we may need the extra help," Sam admitted. It had been one week since the funeral, leaving only three before the invasion and Sam wanted to be as prepared for the final fight as possible.
"Great! Well, all you'll need to do is send a message out on the CCT to each of the kingdoms asking the Tetharans to gather wherever you wish, whether it be Vale or anywhere else. If the order came from me, I doubt anyone would listen. You, on the other hand, will get their attention. I'll be watching for whenever it comes on," Austin sounded relieved over the scroll's speakers, but it could just be Sam's imagination.
"Right, see you later," Sam chuckled and ended the call.
"So you really plan on gathering an army of Tetharans?" Seth questioned from the door to Sam's office.
"At this point, I can't be too careful," Sam replied with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"How do you think the other kingdoms will respond?" Seth reasoned softly.
"I don't know, I know that Pierce and Vacuo would be okay with it, as well as Ozpin and Vale, probably even Chaney and Mistral. I'm not sure how the people of Atlas would react though," Sam thought out loud.
"You think Ironwood and Anselm doubt you?" Seth seemed surprised.
"No, of course not, I'm more worried about what they people beneath them will think when I make the announcement," Sam clarified.
"Don't worry about that, Sam, if you think having the reinforcements will help, then by all means do it. I certainly won't turn away any help," Seth reassured him. "I know Tom wouldn't either, if he were here right now."
"Heh, maybe a couple of years ago he would, but not now, you're right," Sam chuckled and lifted his head. "Very well. I'll head to the CCT to send out the message."
"Cool, well I'll be sure to let anyone know where you are if they ask for you," Seth smiled and turned to leave the office. Sam followed after, determined to bring as much help as possible to their side.
"For those of you who do not know who I am or do not recognize me, my name is Sam Engle, son of Mark and Susan, the former king and queen of Tethara. Since the fall of our city, they have passed leaving me as the sole survivor of the Royal Family. We are at war, and our opponent is led by a very powerful Tetharan, so I am asking for all Tetharans to come together to finally destroy the evil that has plagued us ever since the Tetharan Civil War! I understand if you are apprehensive in coming to join us, but the fate of the world hinges on this battle. Should we lose, the world could very well be lost to darkness. But, with your help, we can prevent it. Join me, and rally to Vale! For Tethara, for Remnant!" Sam finished his speech through thousands of TV screens all around the world. Some citizens were shocked, others contemplating the option, others were angry at the notion of the return of Tethara, others were happy about it, and some let the chips fall where they may.
"So, how did I do?" Sam asked Weiss, who had already been at the CCT sending a report to Atlas of how preparations were going.
"You did great, so now we just need to wait for anyone to show up," Weiss smiled and gave Sam a peck on the cheek.
"How's your team doing?" Sam asked as he returned the kiss to Weiss' cheek.
"We've been sparring more and more, trying to get as strong as we can. Yang has better control of her semblance now, Blake can manage three clones, Ruby has gotten even faster, and I've managed to summon some smaller knights than the one I made in Vacuo," Weiss told him.
"Awesome! Sounds like you guys will be ready for the fight," Sam sighed relief at the news.
"We were ready regardless, the training simply gives us another edge," Weiss scoffed at the thought that they hadn't already been prepared.
"Hey, Sam!" a voice called out from behind he and Weiss, causing the two to turn and see Blake run up to them out of breath.
"Blake! Good to see you're recovery went over smoothly. What's up?" Sam questioned at the sight of seeing Blake winded.
"I saw your message to the other Tetharans, and I guess I finally realized that your people aren't the only ones who need to redeem themselves through this final fight," Blake straightened up and caught her breath by the time she finished.
"What do you mean?" Weiss asked curiously.
"I've been a part of the White Fang from back when they were just a peaceful organization moving for equality, which means I was very young. I wasn't in it alone, my parents were also a part of it. Not just a little part, either, my father used to be the head of the White Fang," Blake explained solemnly. "My father had disagreements with other faunus who had power in the White Fang, and stepped down as leader and fled with my mom."
"I'm sorry to hear that Blake, where did they go?" Sam shared a sympathetic expression.
"They didn't go alone. They took a faction of the White Fang with them, their own army, in case the rest of the White Fang ever came after them," Blake continued. "They're on a small island in the corner of the world. I can take you there, and maybe my father would be willing to help."
"When was the last time you saw your father?" Weiss inquired.
"When he left the White Fang, back when I was 8," Blake answered sadly.
"I would like very much to meet your father, Blake. When can we go?" Sam got straight to the point, which Blake appreciated.
"We can go whenever you like," Blake answered, turning away. "You know where to find me whenever you're ready to leave."
"Maybe we should wait," Weiss started, with Sam giving her a questioning glance. "You just sent out a message for Tetharans to join you here at Vale. If they got here and you weren't, they'd think it was a fake signal meant to draw them out, or something else radical."
"I guess you've got a point. We'll give it a couple of days, and if no one comes we will leave for wherever Blake's family is," Sam nodded his head. The two shared one last kiss before walking away from the CCT and back towards the dorms to take a quick break.
Weiss woke up in a cold sweat, screaming as she had a nightmare of the previous battle. She quickly tried to catch her breath and calm herself down before eventually just breaking down into tears. Sam, who was lying in bed next to her heard this and sat up with a look of concern. "Is everything alright?" he asked gently.
"I-I'm fine, it was just a dream," Weiss managed to say, wiping away her tears in an attempt to hide her face from Sam.
"Weiss, you can tell me what's bothering you," Sam rested a hand on her shoulder and rubbed gently.
"Just a nightmare, it doesn't matter, let's just go back to sleep," Weiss wanted to avoid the topic, laying back down under the sheets facing away from Sam.
"Okay, if that's what you want," Sam sounded disappointed but laid down next to his girlfriend, wrapping his arms around her. Weiss knew that Sam wanted to help, but there wouldn't be anything he could do anyway, so she just sighed and closed her eyes again, allowing herself to snuggle into Sam's body.
Darkness. Weiss tried to look around, but she couldn't even tell which way was up. She looked around until eventually she saw a figure in the distance. She tried running up to it, but her body didn't want to move. Eventually, the figure turned towards her and walked slowly. Weiss could just make out Tom's face, and her eyes widened as she saw his body covered in wounds.
"You let me die," Tom's voice echoed through her brain.
"No, there was nothing I could do!" Weiss cried out, trying to shake the voice out of her head.
"You let me die," Tom's voice repeated like a mantra, causing Weiss to screw her eyes shut and break down into tears. The voice stopped suddenly, and Weiss looked up to see two more figures standing where Tom was. Her eyes widened in horror when she realized the two figures were Emerald and Mercury, who each had their weapons while Tom did not. Weiss reached a hand out, and immediately afterwards Emerald and Mercury ripped Tom apart, with his screams of pain filling Weiss' brain, causing her to break down and cry again.
"STOP IT!" Weiss screamed over and over again.
"STOP IT!" she screamed again, this time aloud causing Sam to wake up again. He shook her gently, trying to bring her out of the nightmare.
"Weiss, its me, Sam, everything is okay," he held her gently as Weiss slowly came out of her sleep. Not realizing she was awake and that Sam was holding her, she quickly started screaming again and kicking to try and break free of Sam's grasp. "Weiss, its only me, we're safe in out bed!" Sam called to her, causing her to stop slowly and just begin crying.
"I'm sorry…" she wrapped her arms around Sam and pressed herself against him, trying to muffle her cries.
"Weiss, it's okay, I'm here," he rubbed her back gently trying to calm her down. They laid like that for what seemed to be an hour before Weiss finally calmed down. "Now can you tell me what's wrong?" he pleaded gently.
"Tom was in my dream…saying that I let him die…and then Emerald and Mercury showed up and…and…" Weiss managed to say before breaking down again.
"Shhh, everything is okay, you're safe, I promise," Sam whispered to get her to calm down again. "It's not your fault that Emerald killed Tom. He would never blame you for that. And Emerald and Mercury are dead, there is no need to worry about them."
Weiss took a deep breath and wiped her tears away before responding. "I know, I don't know why I'm having these nightmares. I just want them to stop," she replied, looking down at Sam's pajama shirt and seeing a wet stain from her tears. "S-sorry about that," she pointed to it, embarrassed.
"Oh, don't worry about that," he reassured her, giving her a kiss on her forehead. "Let's just try to think about something else, something happy."
"Like what?" she asked curiously.
"Like…us being together, or your dad and sister, or your teammates being back together, stuff like that," Sam listed off what he could think of.
"I can try," Weiss accepted that was most likely all she could do before laying back down. "Thank you Sam," she snuggled up to him again, this time facing him.
"Anytime, Weiss," he pulled her close and held her before wandering back into sleep.
Sam awoke just as Weiss had finished changing into her clothes for the day, with her giving a scolding look at him. "As someone who is supposed to be king, he is being awfully lazy," Weiss teased, looking to make sure she had everything she needed. Sam looked over at a clock and saw it was only 7:30 in the morning.
"You're too hard on me," Sam groaned, getting out of bed slowly.
"Only because I love you," Weiss smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Now go shower, I'll meet you at breakfast."
"Yes, mom," Sam groaned again, still tired. Weiss simply giggled and left Sam be, who begrudgingly got into the shower and cleaned himself up. By the time he was finished and dressed and down where Weiss was for breakfast, it had already been cooked and waiting for him. "Did you make this Weiss?" he gestured to the stack of pancakes, as well as assortments of chicken, sausage, bacon, and biscuits along with coffee, milk, and orange juice.
"No, I had the butler do it," Weiss said simply, waiting for Sam to catch on. "Of course I did it, dolt, now come eat!"
"Well, thank you," Sam smiled and sat down to eat.
"You're welcome," Weiss said with a blush after taking a sip of coffee.
"Do you think anyone will come?" Sam asked curiously.
"Of course, I'm not sure how many, but I have no doubt people will come," she answered as she took a bite of a biscuit.
"I hope your right," Sam muttered as he finished his fourth strip of bacon.
After breakfast, Sam and Weiss walked out of the dorms together in time to see a massive crowd of people standing in front of it. "What's going on?" he asked the closest person, who simply responded with a warm smile.
"We are responding to your call, King Engle," the woman responded.
As Sam looked over the crowd in disbelief, five gentlemen walked forward and got on their knees before him. As they did, the entire crowd behind them followed suit, with the area becoming incredibly silent. "We are the remaining command Council of Tethara, spread out over the world to ensure our people's survival. You have been lost to us for some time, my lord, but with the message you sent out we now know our people truly do have a chance," the one in the center of the five who came forward spoke.
"How many Tetharans have you brought with you?" Sam asked as he looked over the expanse.
"This is merely the preliminary force, your highness. I have 2,500 Tetharans here, and will have another 7,500 soldiers on their way tomorrow," the man replied, looking up at him.
"Are they the only survivors?" Sam questioned, concerned.
"No sir, we still have several thousand more scattered at the respective kingdoms, we are simply those who have volunteered to stand with the forces of Remnant to assist you in destroying the White Fang," the man finished.
"This…this is incredible," Sam was almost speechless.
"With the several thousand I have mentioned scattered across the kingdoms, they have offered their services to defend the kingdoms from further invasion and have bolstered their weakened defenses, sir. The only thing standing in our way now is the Tetharan leader of the White Fang," the man explained.
"Very well, thank you. I will introduce you to the headmaster of this academy, and he will arrange for your housing as well as food and supplies. Council, if you will come with me," Sam spoke to the crowd, in which the crowd responded only with nods and some cheers.
"You coming along too, Weiss?" Blake was surprised to see the pair walking up to her the next morning.
"Of course. As you know my family has…made mistakes in the past dealing with faunus, and I'd like to personally apologize and make sure that doesn't happen again," Weiss replied.
"Alright then, we leave for Menagerie," Blake turned around and walked into an awaiting airship Sam had set for them to take. Sam and Weiss followed after her quickly, and within moments the airship was off the ground.
"Where is Menagerie again?" Sam asked as he lost his balance with the sudden takeoff.
"The far southeast corner of Remnant. My father and his followers fled there after the White Fang turned more violent," Blake answered.
"Right. So, what should we expect?" Weiss asked, sitting down on a bench in the open space of the airship.
"Well, there was a reason you had probably never heard of Menagerie before I told you about it. It's a secret hiding spot for faunus who want to escape both the White Fang and the humans who hate our kind," Blake explained.
"And when they see us?" Sam inquired.
"They most likely won'tt shoot us. My dad might look intimidating, but he's a softie at heart, its why he couldn't take the violence," Blake smiled.
"Ha! Most likely won't shoot us," Sam chuckled, "and if they do?"
"Then hopefully we can avoid the shots and explain ourselves," Blake shrugged her shoulders.
The rest of the flight was mostly silent, except for some small talk. After a long day of travel, the island of Menagerie was finally in sight. "Well, they haven't shot us yet, so that's good news," Sam reported as he looked out of the bay door.
"Airship, what business do you have here?" a gruff man's voice called out over the radio.
"We're friendly!" Sam called back through the radio. "We've got Blake Belladonna, and she'd like to talk to her father."
"Is this true?" the gruff voice replied questioningly.
"Yes, I would like to speak with them," Blake answered this time, and the gruff voice didn't respond for some time.
"Very well, you may land," the gruff voice returned after a few minutes. A landing pad lit up as soon as he said it, and the pilot landed as ordered. The lights on the pad went out immediately after they landed, and a few faunus wearing all red armor came out with weapons to check them.
"Drop any weapons you may have," one soldier who appeared to be the leader ordered.
"What's the meaning of this? You can see me in person now, you know this isn't a trick," Blake questioned incredulously.
"We need to make absolutely certain, Ms. Belladonna, your father's orders," the soldier replied, lowering his weapon. The others did as well, as the sound of a door being slammed open sound behind the soldiers.
"Where is she?" A loud bellow came from the same direction as the door. A large man wearing a violet coat that exposed his chest came forward until he saw the group. "Blake?" he asked in disbelief.
"Hey, dad," she showed a small shy smile, before he ran over and gave her a big hug.
"It has been too long! Who are your friends, here?" the man asked happily.
"This is Sam, and this is Weiss Schnee. I don't know if you get any reception from the CCT here, but," Blake began.
"Oh, I think I know what this is about," the man sighed. "We will speak of that later. For now, let's go and get some food. It is good to meet you, Sam and Weiss. My name is Ghira Belladonna, Blake's father if you couldn't tell."
"Its nice to meet you, Ghira," Sam extended his hand to shake his, which he responded by shaking heartily.
"Yes, it is very nice to meet you," Weiss bowed respectfully, which caused some soldiers there to whisper at the action.
"You all may leave," Ghira growled at the faunus around him, who responded by leaving immediately. "I apologize for them, there is a bit of a divide between my people and your family, so it shouldn't come as a surprise they may think less of you," Ghira bowed back.
"Its fine, I understand. That's part of why I'm here, to try and patch together the relationship between at least my family and the Faunus," Weiss admitted.
"Like I said, we'll speak about all of that later, let's go eat. Kali has already made dinner," Ghira turned and walked towards the building he came from, with Blake, Weiss, and Sam following behind him.
"How many followers do you have here, Ghira?" Sam asked as he looked around the island to see several camps scattered around.
"I've definitely got quite a few," Ghira laughed. "My last count had them somewhere around 15,000, but we've had more join the cause."
"15,000 faunus are here?" Weiss asked in surprise.
"At least," Ghira replied. "I wanted to build a strong enough force to where the White Fang would be intimidated enough to back of their violent campaign, but as Remnant has seen, their armies still outsized mine by a wide margin."
"Well, perhaps, if you join us," Sam started.
"Enough, as I said, after dinner please," Ghira shrugged off the subject.
"Very well," Sam sighed in defeat. The rest of the walk was in silence, and eventually they came upon a large mansion. Ghira opened the door for them and allowed them through first, and closing the door behind them.
"Kali, I have brought visitors!" Ghira called.
"Coming, dear!" Kali called from the kitchen, presumably with dinner. She didn't take long and appeared in the hallway in front of them, only to stop. "Blake…?" she couldn't believe her eyes.
"Hey, mom," Blake gave another awkward smile as Kali ran up to hug her daughter.
"I'm so glad your safe," Kali broke the hug after a few moments. "After hearing everything that had been going on with the White Fang and the war…and there wasn't any news from you…"
"I'm sorry mom, I would've tried to contact you, but I kinda got distracted because of somebody behind me pulling me out of the White Fang," Blake turned to look at Sam, who simply scratched the back of his neck.
"You will have to tell us the story over dinner," Kali looked both relieved and excited. "What are your names?"
"I'm Sam, and this is my girlfriend, Weiss Schnee," Sam bowed as he introduced himself.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Weiss bowed as well, while Kali let out a laugh.
"While I appreciate you two being so polite, please, you don't need to be so formal with me," Kali smiled and turned back towards the kitchen. "Come, we'll talk over dinner." The others followed her, and the talks began.
And that's all for this chapter! I'm really eager to get to the final fight, but there is some filler things we need to go over first. I know, I know, I just want the action, but this is important too! Thank you guys so much for reading, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, criticisms, or ideas, please leave a review! I will see you all in the next chapter!