"Professor Ozpin. For the last time, I am not relinquishing control of Vale to the Vale Council," sighed Valeria. For what seemed to be the umpteenth time that week, the headmaster of Beacon Academy had petitioned her to restore Vale to what he called its 'rightful leaders'.
Not that he had any authority any more, in any case. The planetary bombardment ordered on the Grimm dragon had all but annihilated Beacon Academy. Only the initial rune circle used to anchor the transplanar portal and the amphitheatre beside it had survived; partly due to the thick shielding around both structures, and partly due to the distance. The rest of the Academy had been reduced to a smoking crater nearly half a mile wide, much to Ozpin's chagrin.
With the arrival of the Nirnian Third Fleet, which had parked itself above Vale, the rest of the Grimm had been obliterated in twelve hours of fierce fighting. The Sixth Legion, finding itself relieved of combat duties by the naval forces in the air, began to put out the fires that raged in the city itself. By daybreak, every fire in the city centre was extinguished, though the structures in the outlying districts of the city required demolition, thanks to excessive damage. New fortifications had been erected where the old had been damaged or destroyed, bringing the city's defenses back up to a formidable level.
Huntsmen and huntresses, both in-training and active, also assisted in the search and rescue effort that followed. Some chafed under the strict chain of command that was exercised by the Legion; but most would tolerate it in order to assist many more people than they otherwise could on their own. Thousands of civilians, buried under collapsed structures, had been rescued by their combined efforts. While they would not acknowledge it, some of the commanding officers in the Legion found the free-spirited approach of the huntresses and huntsmen somewhat...refreshing. It was certainly different for those that were duty- and honour-bound to obey orders, to discover an order of warriors whose sole calling was to assist from the kindness of their hearts.
"The battle for Vale is won, and there exists no Grimm threat in the immediate area. Order has been restored. Don't you think that it's time to return control to those that held it?"
Valeria bit back a growl. "Order has been restored, but it has not been kept, Professor Ozpin. Until the Grimm have been wiped off the planet to the last, smallest Nevermore, the Grimm threat still exists. Relinquishing control to those too complacent to defend themselves properly will only result in another potential tragedy,"
"We have the huntsmen and huntresses to eliminate the Grimm that wander too close to our borders," argued Ozpin.
"A task that would have been made infinitely easier, had your people maintained a respectable military and deployed it to clear the wilderness," Valeria sighed again, tapping on a dataslate and sliding it to the headmaster sitting across her desk. "Observe,"
On the dataslate, he raised an eyebrow as he watched Weiss Schnee and Ruby Rose traversing what looked like the Emerald Forest. Weiss was carrying a stack of curious white-and-silver disks with a bluish-green glowing crystal in each one, while Ruby was hunched over with a crate on her back that he assumed was filled with the same things. In front of them, a squad of battlemages scoured the forest underbrush for any Grimm, eliminating even the smallest one with great prejudice.
But what he saw next made his jaw drop. Weiss pressed the crystal on a disk, before letting it fall to the ground. A conjured flaming creature in the likeness of a woman – a flame atronach, if he recalled correctly – emerged from the disk. Even as the group advanced, the atronach remained hovering above the disk.
"When you eliminate Grimm from a territory, it is in one's best interests that it remains clear of Grimm," Valeria explained, "These disks contain a conjured Atronach, which will stand guard where they are summoned. Day and night, without sleeping or resting. They will ensure that what ground we take back from the Grimm, we will be able to claim it for ourselves without fear of being overrun,"
"This is something that we did not have before,"
"Indeed, you did not. However, you still had the entire population of the city. How many of them volunteered to become huntsmen and huntresses, while the others would rather cower in their homes as they are attacked? There is a reason why every man and woman that is of age in my empire must spend at least two weeks in a year training under the Legion's banner, Professor Ozpin. It ensures that should they be attacked, they will not be defenseless; and that they may join their brothers and sisters in arms at a moment's notice,"
A brief pause ensued as Ozpin choked on his coffee. "Are you mad?" he coughed out, clearing his throat, "Putting helpless men and women in great danger? The Grimm are too dangerous to take on without constant training!"
"A little training is still better than none. I am certain that you, yourself, have noticed that the Grimm do not hesitate to attack people, whether they are armed or unarmed, a combatant or a non-combatant. If a citizen was to die during a fight, dying while eliminating several other enemies would be preferable to simply hiding and waiting to be slaughtered,"
The matter-of-fact way that Valeria had delivered her thoughts on the matter had caused a bit of anger to flash across Ozpin's eyes. "So, you see the citizens as nothing more than cannon fodder?"
"On the contrary, Professor Ozpin, I see them as people worth defending. But those that wish for help must be able to help themselves first, in order to buy some time. There is an apt saying among the humans of another nation of my plane of existence; it is that those that wish for peace, must prepare for war. Is there something more that you wish to ask?"
The two black-robed and hooded mages on either side of Valeria moved forward, as if to escort the former headmaster out of the newly repaired town hall. But Valeria herself held up her hand, and gazed into Ozpin's eyes, as though daring him to ask another tedious question that had been answered hundreds of times before.
"Just one," he said curtly. "Did you plan for this all along? When you first came here?"
"Truthfully, no. I had no intentions of even bringing in my legions to defend this city. However, Miss Schnee invoked a debt of honour that I owed her, and I was honour-bound to comply,"
"And what did she ask for, exactly?"
"Why, the annexation of Vale itself, in order to protect the lives of its citizens,"
High above Remnant – or was it even above, considering that the Wrath of Talos was well out of Remnant's orbit? - the Empress' dreadnought was drifting along lazily in space. The lesser frigates and cruisers of the Imperial Navy had been assigned the dull task of providing fire support to the Legion soldiers on the ground, and thus the dreadnought was issued the task of surveying the local system for any resources that might be of use for the Empire, and breaking open asteroids if any valuable minerals were found locked inside.
That, of course, was only one of the objectives that had been issued. In one of the hangars, J'Bari was having a field day with a particular assassin that had been captured, now bound by ethereal chains to a metal crate. It seemed that Valeria's vindictive streak was something that had been passed on to her daughter; a fact that the crew had discovered after the younger khajiit had been given the privilege of administering Cinder Fall's punishment.
A punishment that J'Bari had been administering with rather disturbingly great pleasure, on her part.
"Six hundred and sixty five," she chuckled darkly, lashing at Cinder's naked back with an icy whip. The assassin barely flinched when the barbed ice spikes on the whip's end raked across her skin, all feeling had been reduced to numbness after the first two hundred or so lashes. "Six hundred and sixty-six, and this one is done with this portion of the punishment. Healer, please make sure that she yet lives. The final part of the punishment is yet to come,"
The healer, a priest of Kynareth, looked torn between helping the bleeding and dazed prisoner and simply putting her out of her misery. In the end, his fear of being whipped for insubordination won out, and he hurriedly rushed over to check on Cinder. "She...she still lives, Inquisitor,"
"Very good. You may take your leave, now,"
Those words could not have sounded any sweeter to the priest. He bowed and left, eager to take no more part in the torture of a prisoner.
"Excellent. Now, where was this one up to?" purred J'Bari, advancing on Cinder.
The woman was almost unrecognisable; her hair had been shaven off, and her Dust-infused clothes had been stripped away to rid her of any weapons that she could use. She had been issued a set of rough prisoners' rags to wear; rags that could barely stop the constant chill of the dreadnought's interior. Even now, she moaned in pain, half unaware of what was going on any more.
"Ah, yes. The execution itself. Her Majesty has informed this one that Cinder sought power. Power beyond her own understanding. Her Majesty, in her infinite wisdom, has decided to grant Cinder a chance to approach the greatest power in this star system,"
Smiling viciously, J'Bari walked over to the side of the hangar. There was a row of four escape pods there, each one large enough to fit exactly one person.
"Fire is power. And when one plays with a fire too large to handle, one is likely to be burnt. And what larger fire is there, than the blazing heart of a star system?" continued the khajiit, slamming her fist onto the door release button of one. The door immediately slid open, and J'Bari turned about. Snapping her fingers, an ice atronach burst to life behind Cinder; an unspoken command later, and the bound assassin was sent sliding across the room on an icy slick, straight into the open escape pod. "This one grants your wish to find the greatest power in the star system. And this is the vehicle that will take you straight to it,"
"No- this is madness! You can't do this!" Cinder whimpered incoherently, only vaguely having an idea about what the khajiit was about to do.
If it were even possible for someone already grinning from ear to ear, J'Bari's predatory grin grew even wider. "Madness? That is the realm of this one's grandmother. This? This is the Nirnian Empire!"
She punched the launch button on the escape pod controls, and watched with glee as the blast doors in front of her slammed shut. With a dull roar, the thrusters on the escape pod ignited, and the pod shot out into space. The pod was soon just a black speck against the bright yellow-white of the distant star, drawn inexorably to its blazing surface.
"Inform Her Majesty that the sentence has been carried out to this one's satisfaction," J'Bari spoke crisply into her dataslate. Her would-be assassin had been executed by her hands; Vale and her friends were safe and everything seemed to be returning to normal. Nothing could possibly ruin her day.
"Understood, Dominatrix-"
J'Bari blinked. "...What did you just call this one, Admiral Servilius?" she murmured incredulously.
"Domin- I mean, Inquisitor J'Bari,"
J'Bari groaned. She took it back. Her day had just been ruined.
Down in Vale, Weiss was having a shoutout session with her father – as had happened every day since the Battle of Beacon. Thanks to the 'hostile takeover' of Vale, the Council of Atlas had decided to boycott the Empire – and that naturally resulted in a terrible, terrible state of the Schnee Dust Company losing hundreds of millions of lien overnight, due to their Dust quarry expansions no longer being necessary. Her father had been beyond livid; he had believed that having Weiss as someone that was close to the Empress would have brought him great dividends in the way of favourable trades and guarantees, but instead he had heard about how she was directly the cause of all his troubles. Fighting back against the Grimm invasion was one thing, but to encourage the annexation of an entire kingdom?
"I do not care about your childish reasons. The people of Vale were not in immediate danger. They had huntsmen and huntresses to protect them, and our great army and air fleet! What possessed you to ask for something as unreasonable as that? You could have asked for a better deal for the Schnee family, and we could have both walked away from this richer! You are returning to Atlas with me, young lady, and you will not have a say in this!"
Disgusted by the lack of concern for what happened to the people of Vale, Weiss finally snatched her hand free of her father's grip. Ruby had been right after all; taking care of other people felt better than having tremendous amounts of ill-gotten wealth. It was one thing to witness her father ignore the plight of numerous faunus, as that could be justified by the constant attacks of the White Fang on her family. It was another to witness her father simply ignore the plight of humans, simply because rescuing them would offer little to no financial benefits in return.
"I'm not going back to Atlas," she said firmly, meeting his glare with one of her own. "And I'm certainly not returning with you,"
Jacques' face turned purple with rage. He raised a hand to strike Weiss' cheek; and to his surprise, Weiss did not make a single movement. She took the blow, and staggered to one side, an angry red palmprint on her pale cheek. Instantly, the Schnee patriarch found the cold edge of a blade at his throat from his left, and the searing heat of a greenish-glowing energy blade from his right.
"Strike my apprentice one more time, and I will personally ensure that there is not enough of you left to bury in a shoebox, Jacques Schnee. You are treading on thin ice," growled Valeria from his right. She flared her scythe blade one more time as a warning, forcing him to take a few steps back.
"Yeah- I mean, um, that wasn't very nice, what you did to Weissy!" echoed the shrill voice of a red-cloaked girl to his left.
His daughter's partner. Ruby Rose, he vaguely recalled. And if rumours were correct, a different sort of 'partner' for his daughter.
"What I do to discipline my wayward child is none of your business, Miss Septim. And it is certainly none of yours...Miss Rose. Now, you will come along quietly, Weiss, or we will have a rather terrible disagreement once we arrive home,"
"You may wish to update your records. The last I have checked, young Miss Septim is not your dependent any longer. She is her own woman, of sound mind and body, and legally a citizen of the Empire as of three days ago,"
Jacques gave a small, nervous laugh. "Excuse me? Did you just call my daughter young Miss Septim?"
"I do believe that your hearing is still functional, Mr. Schnee. I should not need to repeat myself," sighed Valeria, casting a dirty look at a grinning Yang. The blonde even had the nerve to return a double thumbs-up, causing the ancient archmage to give her a withering glare. "Now, before I do something rash that we would both regret, I would suggest that you remove yourself from Vale. I have had one attempted regicide upon a daughter of mine, and I would prefer not to have to deal with a second regicide attempt within a month,"
A squad of heavily-armoured troops stepped up behind Valeria when the khajiit motioned for them to come forward, and at that point Jacques Schnee knew that he had overstayed his welcome. To his surprise, however, Valeria handed a single large datapad to him as he left.
"Though our business dealings may be at an end, Mr. Schnee, I have not forgotten that your company has delivered the Dust as agreed. On this datapad, you may find a cheque for the sum of lien that I owe you. Let it be known that a Septim always pays her debts," Valeria spoke, giving the man a warning glare, "Either financially, or through fire and blood. And for both our sakes, let us hope that the latter never comes to fruition,"
Jacques nodded stiffly, gritting his teeth. That was as thinly-veiled as a threat could ever be. "I should hope so," he replied, inwardly plotting how he would get back at this arrogant cat that dared to think she was above the Schnees, "I...will return to Atlas,"
"That would be best,"
A few minutes later, Jacques had been ushered into a transport ship and ordered to leave Valean airspace. As his airship departed, Weiss let out a sigh of relief that she never knew she had been holding back. "I'm so glad that he's finally off my back. No more having to do things because he wants me to,"
"So proud of you, Weiss! You're finally doing things for yourself!" Ruby cried out, practically tackling Weiss into a tight hug.
"Indeed, Miss...Septim. Or I suppose I should call you Weiss," Valeria grumbled, glaring at a totally unrepentant Yang. "I am pleased that you have finally taken control of your destiny. Your potential would have been stunted indeed, had you remained under control of that short-sighted man that you once called father,"
"I suppose that is true," Weiss said, smiling as she pried herself away from Ruby. She was somewhat relaxed, for once, knowing that no longer would she have to be worried about having her credit card locked out whenever she refused to answer her father's calls. No longer would she have to worry about whether her future was endangered by the whims of a megalomaniac father that was bent on global economic domination.
"That being said," sighed Valeria, turning to face Yang, "I still wonder whether I should be concerned by your apparent attempt to assist your teammate,"
Yang waved a hand airily. "What? Ice Queen got to be a real princess, and Rubes gets to stick around with her partner and get to be a little more lovey-dovey-"
"Hey!" Ruby and Weiss both exclaimed, their faces burning beet red.
"-and that means I don't have to think about how I'm actually going to use my wish any more! A win-win situation for everyone, right?"
"Hm. We shall see what the future holds, then. Weiss, do be aware that despite being taken in my household as a ward bearing the Septim name, you will not be eligible for succession. Still, I do expect you to behave in a manner befitting a princess of the blood,"
"I understand. I shall not disappoint you," replied Weiss in her best, haughtiest voice, earning a barely-stifled laugh from Yang.
"I should have you know that courtly etiquette is a fine art, Miss Xiao Long," grumbled Valeria in response, "At the very least, Weiss is behaving much like a proper lady, other than a few minor details. But we are not here to discuss the finer points of refined interaction. Beacon Academy is destroyed, and many of its professors have said that they would have little interest in teaching under the supervision of the Legion. This leaves many fine huntsmen and huntresses-in-training without proper tutelage,"
"Yeah, uh...about that...what's going to happen to us? Are you just...going to send us home or something?"
"Not unless you wish it, Miss Rose. The Empire believes in the right of self-determination for every law-abiding citizen. As the closest equivalent to a huntsman would be a member of the Fighters' Guild, I have requested that the Fighters' Guild establish a branch in Vale so that they may continue the training of any huntsman or huntress that wishes to continue on their chosen path. However, for education on Grimm-specific topics, I must admit that we are not particularly well equipped. Professor Port has mentioned that he is willing to teach, but I am...not convinced of his ability to teach,"
Both Ruby and Yang snorted. "Yeah, you could say that again! He's boring, he only likes to talk about himself, and he really only tells us things worth listening to in the last five minutes of class!"
"Then my fears are vindicated. The other alternative is that I request assistance from Signal Academy. From what I understand, your father is a teacher there; as is your...uncle," Valeria muttered, shuddering as she recalled the first and only meeting she had with Qrow. The man was likely less sober than Sanguine at a party in full swing, and that was saying something. "If you could ask whether he would be willing to teach some extra students twice a week, it would be most appreciated. Remuneration is, of course, assured,"
"Sure, I'll get in touch with dad. Hey, Archcat – speaking of dad, I told him about mum being – well, you know, alive again,"
Valeria's ears twitched. "I should not be surprised that you have done so," she groaned resignedly, "Allow me to guess. He has requested that he be allowed to meet her, yes?"
"Uh, more like, he wants to know when she can come back home,"
"Within a year, I believe. I am still uncertain of the true nature of half-vampires, and for everyone's safety, she must remain in my custody until we can determine the extent of her...changes. However, if he desires to meet her, I may be able to arrange a meeting in the coming days,"
"Awesome. Thanks,"
"If that is all, you should all make your way to the Fighters' Guild Vale headquarters. That is the fortified encampment just on the outskirts of Vale, near the ruins of Beacon,"
In the Shivering Isles, Ra'shamarra was cackling gleefully. She had spotted through her scrying that her jester's partner had wisely jumped out of the doomed Atlesian airship. Whether through a bout of brilliance, or just lunacy born of desperation, the pink-and-brown haired girl had used her parasol as a way to try and glide down safely to the surface. Whatever the case, the inspired way that the girl had decided to escape danger had piqued the ancient khajiit's interest. And so she decided to bring her in to the Shivering Isles, bound in thick ethereal chains.
At first, Ra'shamarra was confused as to why the girl only responded with a glare every time she asked a question. But then she realised what was the problem. The girl was mute!
Well, muteness never stopped anyone from talking. At least when the Daedric Princess of Madness wanted you to talk. Then you talked, even if you didn't want to – or in this case, physically could not. So with a clever bit of restoration magic, the girl could talk. And talk she did, even as she strained against her bindings, cursing like a flea-bitten swashbuckling pirate with a bad case of rum withdrawal. So much so, that Ra'shamarra's grin grew wider with every passing moment. This 'Neo', as Ra'shamarra found she was called, was a particularly amusing specimen of a mortal.
She decided to bring out her jester to obtain more amusement from her.
On seeing Roman Torchwick in a golden cage and wearing a jester's motley, the girl stopped and her face paled – and then grew purple with rage. She looked as though she were about ready to strangle Torchwick; especially as the jester had completely embraced the essence of the Shivering Isles and no longer recognised her.
"That settles it! I haven't seen this much fury, this much anger, this much rage in centuries. Brilliant! Simply brilliant!" crowed Ra'shamarra, clapping slowly as Neo continued to spew out profanities at the thoroughly befuddled Torchwick. Grabbing Neo's shoulder, the cat spun the pink-and-brown girl around. "You are amusing. More so than my jester. Tell me, what do you think of chaos? Disorder? Getting fun out of others' misery?"
Neo paused, raising an eyebrow.
"I've got a Duke of Dementia that's proving to be boring. Too boring. Not enough chaos, not enough destruction. I've been watching your antics in Remnant, and I think you could actually amuse me! Replace him, you will!"
"I'm not your plaything, you damned insane cat! Find a chew-toy or ball of yarn to amuse yourself with!"
Which proved to be a bit more true than Neo ever anticipated. Ra'shamarra actually summoned a gigantic ball of yarn out of thin air – and promptly rolled Neo in the middle of it, before she proceeded to roll it about the throne room while purring loudly, ignoring the terrified screams that Neo gave as she was tumbled about while inside the ball. Eventually, the ball came to a rest and vanished, dropping Neo unceremoniously in a heap at the Princess of Madness' feet.
"You see, you're wrong about one thing. You ARE my plaything! Everybody's my plaything in MY realm. I do as I please, as long as it pleases me!" giggled Ra'shamarra, giving Neo a long lick on her forehead. The diminutive girl blinked once, not quite sure of what exactly just happened – or whether or not what she was seeing was real. She could swear that the cat's robes were shifting colours, as did the carpets around the room. Whatever doubts she had, however, vanished when a large, heavy gold coin was dropped into her lap. Or rather, a whole bag of it.
"Ha! It's so predictable, what you mortals want. Women for the men, men for the women; gold and treasures for some, and food for others. But seeing as you seem to like gold, I think it's gold and treasures for you! And I can tell you that I have a lot more than that...if you do exactly as I say!"
"Why are you doing this?" she asked, tilting her head. The more that Neo thought about whatever possible motives this insane cat could have for giving a thief a bagful of gold, the less she thought she could ever decipher.
"Shh. Don't think. Just do. Thinking is for stiffs! Like my daughter. I'm sure you've met her. After all, she was the one that blew that ship out of the sky! A magnificent bit of chaos she caused, I must say. But that's not relevant now! You took my gold, you're in my employ now. Isn't that right, Torchwick, hm?"
"Yes...mistress..." the orange-haired man slurred, his pupils dilated. A bowl full of moonsugar lay at the bottom of his golden cage, a telltale sign of what he had been using.
"See? Even my jester knows it!"
Neo frowned. As much as she thought of Torchwick as just an accomplice, leaving him to be this cat's plaything seemed to be a bit much for a punishment. "Alright. So a bit of gold, and you give me your...jester, and I'll replace this...Duke of Dementia,"
"Splendid! How truly delightful. Well then, off you go! Put that gold to use, and find out what you need to do from the people in Dementia,"
"W-Wait, you aren't going to point me to where I need to go?" Neo sputtered out, her eyes widening in surprise. How was someone supposed to do a job without instructions?
"Well, if I told you where to go by pointing exactly where you need to go at every second of the day, things would get boring pretty quick, I'd say. So just to spice things up, I'd say...nope. I'm not going to point you to where you need to go. Just know that Dementia is that-a-way-" she pointed at a purple-and-black door on her left "-and that the Dark Seducers will put you in jail if they find you doing something that breaks the law. And when that happens, you get put before me, for JUDGMENT! Oh, how I love judging people. Especially the pastrycooks. The ones that can't bake proper pies get PUNISHED! By baking them into a proper pie. Mmm...pie. Brain pie. Care to donate?"
Deciding that she was completely and utterly unnerved by the cat's ramblings, Neo zoomed out of the throne room and into Dementia. She didn't know what to do, but whatever it was that she needed to do was good – as long as she got as far away from that insane cat as was humanly possible.
Later that night, once Valeria had finished washing herself and had changed into her sleepwear, she walked into her private suite to catch some well-earned rest. The moment that she had slipped under her bedcovers, however, she found the gentle caress of a cool hand on her cheek.
"Serana, my love," she purred, returning the caress with a gentle bump of her forehead against the ancient vampire's own, "It has been too long since we have had some time to ourselves,"
"That would be the understatement of the century," Serana snarked. A silence fell between the two of them, broken moments later by their muffled giggles. "Years upon years. We've both been too busy, haven't we? You have a knack for dragging us into wars in one plane, and now in this one too. I'm starting to think that your chancellor and his diplomats aren't doing their jobs properly,"
"If only things could all be solved by words. But you are aware that war never changes, my love," Valeria replied, finishing her head-rub and giving Serana a wet kiss on her cheek, "Peace is only a temporary ceasefire between wars, and the only way to resolve it is to bring all under the rule of a single nation,"
"I never knew statecraft was a topic appropriate for pillow talk,"
"It is not. However, you were the one to initiate this line of thought,"
"Fine, I give. Let's move on to something more...interesting, shall we?" said Serana, licking her lips coyly.
"I think that's something that we could both agree on. A splendid idea,"
Before they were both lost in the flames of passion, several thoughts flashed through Valeria's mind. She had beaten back an enemy that Vale – and indeed, the rest of Remnant – had thought undefeatable for as long as they could remember. She saved most of the citizens from a gruesome death at the hands of the Grimm hordes, and the huntsmen and huntresses had been inspired to actually push back the Grimm and reclaim lands from beyond the walls of their kingdom. In a few years, where would they be?
A kiss silenced her any more of her thoughts that rose up. The future could wait, and Azura would deal with it anyway. What was in front of her was infinitely more interesting.
A/N:
And that concludes the Battle of Beacon and its aftermath - and the main part of this story. There may be additional discontinuous chapters which follow on after this point, depending on whether or not I find a particular inspiration to write a chapter.
To those that have reviewed, thank you for taking the time to do so. To those that have read, I hope that you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it. Letting the inspiration of the madgod flow through you is a very liberating experience; writing totally non-sequitur things is incredibly, incredibly amusing.