December 20th
Schnee Dust Company
World Headquarters
City Of Atlas
Atlas
Downtown
12:17 PM

"Winter, it's perfectly fine," Cristal said, sighing as her niece continued to pace around her office. "I can't imagine that this one trip is going to be damning. For god's sake, you're going to Argus. Of all the places in the world that you could be sent for a week because the current commanding officer is recovering from an accident, that is one of the safest. We have a strong presence there because of the mutual interests we have in that region, and, while it's sending you outside Atlas, it's not sending you anywhere sketchy. I'm surprised you even care at all."

Winter paused for a moment but then shook her head. "I only care because of some changes Qrow and I are going to be making in our lives."

Cristal raised an eyebrow as she leaned forward, propping her elbows up on her desk and clasping her hands together as she sent a cursory glance towards her emails. "What kind of change might that be?"

Winter hesitated. "You're joking, aren't you?"

Cristal shook her head. "No, I'm not. What are you talking about, Winter?"

She sighed as her aunt stood up and closed her laptop. "Cristal…"

"I'm serious, Winter," She said, folding her arms across her chest. "What are you talking about?"

Winter gestured to her aunt's rather visible curve. "Qrow and I are planning on starting a family."

Cristal looked at her in surprise. "Really?"

"Yes," Winter said, then biting her lip. "And he's worried that I'm going to drown myself in my work and change my mind."

"Well," Cristal said hesitantly. "Will you?"

Winter stared at her. "Are you joking?"

"No, that was a serious question," Cristal said, adjusting her glasses and leaning against her desk. "Are you going to do that?"

"No, of course not," Winter said quickly. "I care about my work, but in the last few months Qrow and I...well, he's convinced me that having a child would be a good thing for us, and that he'd take fewer missions to take care of it so I could continue to work."

"See, it's harder to do that when both of you are huntsmen," Cristal clicked her tongue as she gave her a sympathetic look. "Things like that are easier when you run the company you work for like Emmett and I do. Emmett's going to be able to take care of his second child is born in May, and, as for me and Oz, when my daughter's born in late February then I'll be able to work around most of the issues by working from home or having Oz care for her during the day if I have a board meeting or have to be at the office."

Winter nodded. "I know that, Cristal, but you...your circumstances are easier to deal with than mine."

Cristal snorted. "Yes, because it's easy having the life I do. Circumstances aside, I have severe anxiety, I've had to work incredibly hard to earn my strength and fight -"

"But things are still easier for you, and your relationship with your husband is far less complicated -" Winter started.

"No, I don't think that's true," Cristal said as gently as she could. "Winter, no one, unless their marriage is nonexistent, has a marriage that is simple or without complications. It's not really comparable, and the best sign of a strong marriage, so far as I'm concerned, is being able to communicate and work though those complications. Everyone I know is able to do that, and I know you and Qrow can. Oz and I do, Emmett and Emmeline do, the lord knows that Blake and Allison, Elizabeth and Michael, and Glynda and James do."

Winter sighed. "I'm probably overthinking."

"That's a learned trait that you've gotten from people like me," Cristal said, and Winter nodded. "But it's not a bad thing, you just have to learn to not let it get to you."

"You probably know that better than anyone," Winter said, then pausing when she realised that her words could have been insensitive. "Sorry, I -"

"No, that's true," Cristal said, then smiling in spite of herself. "But the most important thing I've learned is to let the hardest things that you can go, to not let yourself become defeated, and to fight back no matter what. To not let anyone snuff out your fire."

Winter stared at her for a moment. "That sounds difficult, more difficult than a lot of the things we generally consider difficult."

"It is but, at the end of the day, you can't reap what you don't sow," Cristal replied. "You have to let things go to move forward. No matter what your end goal is, I'm afraid that if you don't learn to let go that you'll find yourself stuck if you don't remember that you have to keep moving forward. If you stay chained to the past, to mistakes and pain, then you'll never change. You'll be stuck. Permanently."


"Dr. Andrew Ryan Merlot, you have been brought before this Council today to testify to your...collaborations with Arthur Martin Watts, one of Atlas' most wanted criminals," Kiara Davis paused for a moment before going on. "This is not a trial at this time, however, you are expected and legally bound to to answer any and all questions we ask of you with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Should you be found guilty of lying to the Department Of Justice, you will be put on trial for attempts to mislead or conspire against an ongoing investigation by the Government Council Of The Kingdom of Atlas. In such a case, anything you say here today can and will be used against you."

Merlot stared at her, and then looked around the room to the thirty other people present. "Madame Davis," He said hesitantly although the traces of his former power still remained in his voice. "Is it truly necessary to have the heads of all twenty departments, including yourself, present for this? Let alone three scribes, a judge, five high ranking officials within the Council - two of whom are military leaders? The military! Is Atlas a dictatorship?"

"No," Davis replied, her heels clicking as she paced though she sent him a sharp look even as she did so. "General Ciel and General Ironwood both hold important positions on the Council related to national defense and foreign affairs. As for the scribes, we need full and clear documentation of this hearing and, to be completely frank, we may very well need to retain you for hearings like this for several more days. And while this is not a trial at the present time, we require a judge in order to maintain order."

"But the nineteen department heads other than yourself as well as five different sub department leaders?" Merlot questioned a bit anxiously. "Surely that is unnecessary?"

"Madame Davis, if I may," Blake Adel said, coming forward and addressing Merlot personally as Kiara stepped aside. "Dr. Merlot, the wide variety of subjects for which we need information from you come from equally varied paradigms, hence why we are reliant on those with the knowledge and expertise to match that."

A weighted silence passed as both he and Kiara sat down amongst the other department leaders. Once a minute that to anyone present could have felt to be many more, the judge spoke.

"First, Dr. Merlot," She began calmly. "You will be questioned about your business ties to Arthur Watts by the head of the Atlesian Department Of Fiscal Affairs And Corporate Restriction, Miss Adeline Carrington."

Merlot nodded once as Carrington stood up to her full, reasonably intimidating height of 5'9''. "Of course."

"Dr. Merlot," Carrington said, her voice perfectly clipped from years of work on the Council. "It is the basic understanding of this Council that in the last twenty years you have maintained some form of contact with Arthur Watts ranging from, and changing over time, direct work, collaborations, and funding to simply the giving of information. Can and will you confirm or deny that?"

Merlot was silent for a moment, but then sighed. "Yes, I can. I did, in fact, have such a relationship with Dr. Watts."

Carrington clicked her tongue. "Arthur Watts' title was revoked by the DSAEO eighteen years ago upon the uncovering of his unethical practises and scientific work."

Merlot looked down in shame upon her words. "My apologies, Miss Carrington."

"Now that you have confirmed your association," Carrington said, giving him a sharp look. "We have obtained official business documents between you and Watts. One of which is from just two years ago."

Merlot looked up suddenly, his eyes wide. "I beg your pardon?"

Carrington stepped towards him and set down a copy of the transaction in front of him. "This was difficult to come across because of the way in which you'd secretly set up a shell corporation in order to transfer documents to Watts regarding secrets you'd obtained about the Atlas Council and Atlesian national security. Things such as this have allowed him easy access in and out of the kingdom undetected, and it has also allowed him to bring others in and out of the kingdom. Including Cinder Fall."

Merlot took in a sharp breath as he looked over the paper. "Yes, Miss Carrington, I did this. I did in fact send him this information in transaction for several million dollars which he received from Jacques Gele-Schnee."

"In short, the purpose of this was monetary gain, then?" Carrington questioned, and he nodded curtly. "You purposefully took Atlesian government secrets to one of its greatest threats for your personal gain?"

Merlot looked down in shame once more. "Yes, Miss Carrington."

A silence passed between them and hung over the entire room before the judge spoke once more.

"I will ask that the head of the Atlesian National Security Council, Madame Elizabeth Morell, come forward," The judge said, motioning for Carrington to sit down as Morell stood up. "As Madame Morell is familiar with the information and the consequences of sharing it."

"Dr. Merlot," Morell started, a clear note of haughtiness in her voice. "Tell me, are you aware of the consequences, legally, that you could face for hacking into the Council, providing Watts with the information to do so, etc?"

"Yes, Madame Morell, I am fully aware," Merlot said, clipping his tone as he went on.

"As Miss Carrington has covered the issues regarding your motives and the actions themselves, I should like to inquire into ethics and the funding that you gave Watts, regardless of the fact that he has given you monetary reimbursement for aid in the past," Morell sent him a sharp look under which he nodded. "To start, were you aware of the projects you were funding and the ethical conundrums that were a part of them?"

"For most of the projects, I was unaware," Merlot said, examining his hands and picking at his nails. "That can and I imagine will be proven when those documents and communications are obtained and brought to light. However, there was one project of which I was aware of and actively aided."

Morell raised an eyebrow. "Might that be the quote un quote Gene Editing Endeavour which Watts undertook not only to learn how to alter the germline of the human and the faunus as well as lesser beings but to cross the DNA, in the germline and in the somatic, of a human and the grimm?"

Merlot shifted to look her straight in the eye, a shift which caused Elizabeth to visibly flinch and break eye contact almost immediately.

"Yes," He said almost tonelessly. "I believed we were going to be able to better humanity, and in that the faunus, but we ended up creating multiple forms of grimm. Several of these were merely superior species of what already existed, but one of them was a new species that was a crossbreed between a human and the grimm. Only a couple hundred ended up being created both through our experiments and the procreation of the creatures, and they were, in shadows and without the knowledge of the man to whom obtained them, sold in Mistral. Their current numbers, I'm afraid, are not something I can provide. I do believe, however, that this species is known to all four kingdoms, albeit barely whispered about, as the apathy."

Morell took in a deep breath as she went on. "Yes, that is the case. But tell me, Dr. Merlot, why fund such a project when you were aware of the violations to international ethics laws? Under the sanctions on experimentation, the Vytal Union, of which all four major kingdoms are a part of, human experimentation is limited and only approved in extreme circumstances that must be reviewed by each individual government council. While the clause is broad and up for interpretation, you must have known that none of the kingdoms would find such work acceptable."

"Madame Morell," Merlot said, sighing heavily. "The grimm are much stronger than us and always have been. I wanted to create my, shall we say, lusus naturae to prove that point. I was attempting to make a statement, not to cause one of the largest ethical scandals in modern history. Although I will refer you to the fact that the kingdom of Atlas broke those sanctions about ten years after the end of the Great War in its genetic experiments."

"Every single kingdom in the world has broken those sanctions, including the minor kingdoms," Morell reminded him. "But, yes, that is true. However -"

"Madame Morell," Merlot said, cutting her off as respectfully as he could. "What I did with my statement was, in hindsight, a grave mistake but at the time I was trying to prove that the fools that we always place in power were trying to halt my dreams but would ultimately fail. Watts and I have both proven that."

Morell stiffened, her eyes narrowing as she stop pacing and, in the centre of the room, scowled at Merlot. "So you are saying that you disregard ethics laws for self promotion?"

"I did," He corrected. "But, yes."

"Dr. Merlot, you understand the gravity of what you have done, do you not?" Elizabeth questioned, and he nodded curtly. "You have aided and abetted one of the most dangerous men in the world, one of the most wanted criminals not only in the kingdom of Atlas but in your home kingdom of Vale as well. Jacques Gele-Schnee was recently convicted of similar crimes and various others that he committed personally in business, and he was given a life sentence in prison for what he has done to undermine this kingdom and to aid a man who seeks nothing more or less than the destruction of what we all value. Do you have any reason to believe anything you have done is right?"

"As it happens, I believe I did what I thought was right but I did it with the wrong person," Merlot replied irritably. "I am just as much of a victim in this case as everyone else who has been affected by these things. Everyone in this room, in this kingdom, in this world. I am just as much of a victim as they are."

"Dr. Merlot, we all will still have many, many, many questions remaining after this first day of testimony," Elizabeth said, then shaking her head. "But you should know that the world is disgusted by the work you have aided, by the work you have done yourself. This Council, the people in this room, and myself are disgusted with you for what you have done because at the end of the day, arguably, you have endangered us all through your selfishness. This world is a dangerous place, and you have only aided in making it more dangerous. You are not a victim, you are looking for a way out and I can imagine that no matter what you are able to provide that it will not outweigh the sins you have committed against all of us, against the entire world. I hope you know that."

Merlot hung his head shamefully. "Yes, Madame Morell."


"I hate being a teenager," Caitlin Morell muttered to Cas, Grace, and Genevieve as all four of them climbed up into the window seats in their high school's dining hall. "And I really hate being a teenager whose parents have access to classified information she's not allowed to look at."

Genevieve rolled her eyes. "I thought you just hated being only 5'3'' when I'm 5'7'' and Grace is 5'6''."

Cas stuck out her tongue. "Hey! I'm only 5'2''!"

"See?" Genevieve said with a smirk. "At least you're taller than Cas."

Caitlin sighed, blowing on her bangs and raking her fingers through her frizzy bronze waves. "You know I really like knowing everything."

"No one can really know everything," Genevieve countered. "So your argument is invalid."

"Well, I like knowing as much as possible," She replied, taking a sip of water and then nibbling on her sandwich. "Y'all can understand that, right?"

"Of course we can," Grace said. "I think we all feel that way, to some extent."

"Why do you care so much today?" Cas asked her as she adjusted her glasses. "I mean, usually you don't care all that much."

"Because Merlot's first day of testimony today," Caitlin reminded her. "And it's being talked about on all three of the major news networks and I just want to know what's going on. All of it."

"I forgot about that," Cas said, rubbing her neck. "Since my parents won't talk much about work at home."

"Mine won't either," Caitlin sighed as she went on. "Which makes me curious."

"Your dad isn't home all that much, and even when he is he's usually working," Grace said, a bit hesitantly as she knew the sensitivity of the subject. "Why is it -"

"I don't know!" Caitlin finally exclaimed, her green eyes flaring for a brief moment and only emphasised by her dark lipstick and eyeliner in comparison to how pale she was as always. "I guess maybe I'm just stressed and dealing with that comes most easily from knowledge!"

"Well, at least we have the winter holidays starting tomorrow," Genevieve said, and she nodded. "And your family is traveling through various parts of Vale for it. That'll be fun."

"We don't leave until the twenty fourth," Caitlin said, then shaking her head. "You know what, maybe you're right. I just shouldn't worry about these things and just refocus on my art and my music."

"The cool thing about your art and music is just how well you capture what you see and what you think," Cas remarked, and Caitlin smiled weakly as she looked down at her feet and tugged on the long sleeves of her stripped, high collar, button down, and front tied shirt. "You're really talented, you know that, right?"

"I guess," She said, biting her lip. "I try, anyways."

"Hey, I've got a great joke I should tell you guys," Grace said, laughing as she pulled out a small box from her purse. "My mom has these because my dad cut his finger, and I brought in the box as a gag."

Caitlin raised an eyebrow in confusion as she looked at the box. "Finger cots?"

"Or as my mom calls them, elf condoms," Grace smirked as she went on. "Genevieve, care to pull them out of the box?"

Genevieve laughed as she took the box from her and pulled out one of the wrapped finger cots. "Oh my god, they're even rolled like condoms!"

"Let me see one," Cas said, grinning as Genevieve passed her one. Unwrapping it quickly, she pulled it over her finger. "Well, now I'm protected. I should bring it home and tell my parents if they have an elf to give it to them because protection is good."

"Give her a few more wrapped ones," Grace told Genevieve, giggling. "God, I can't wait to hear all about how Emmett and Emmeline react to this."

"Finger cots…" Caitlin said, looking at them funnily but with a hint of wariness. "Well, I guess that elves should be able to partake in safe sex practises too."

Cas burst out into laughter. "I love how seriously you can say things like that even if they're ridiculous."

Caitlin smirked. "There are many oxen in my bed, many, many oxen."

Grace covered her face as she laughed. "That might be one of the best Sheldon quotes ever, and in the show he said that in a foreign language and those words were the subtitles."

"It was funny because he thought he was complaining about the state of the food he was getting from a restaurant," Caitlin said, smiling as she went on. "But nothing beats the episode where Raj, Howard, and Leonard accidentally got high while camping."

Genevieve shrugged. "Yeah, it's hard to beat Raj talking about what he'd be like if he were the king of rabbits because he could speak their language."

"Welcome to Atlas," Cas said with a grin.

Grace nodded. "Atlas: the kingdom of the weird and the free."

Caitlin giggled. "And we all know that goes deep. We certainly represent that."

"Our families too," Cas said, sighing. "Always fighting back."

Caitlin shared a long look with her, and then shook her head. "On the surface it looks perfect, but underneath it's just a perfect storm. I think we're all like that, at our core. After all, it's not as if we know how to win a losing war."