"I'll drink to that," Annabella Sassler laughed, tossing her hair back and smiling at her husband, who seemed rather unnerved by everything around them. "Have you had some, Brian? It's some of the best champagne in the kingdom."

Brian glanced around. "Annie," He said almost under his breath. "I know you've already given your speeches with the Ciels, but what about the kids? Are you sure it's okay for them to -"

"It's important that they get exposure to politics," She reminded him, gently patting his shoulder. "It's going to be okay, Brian, everything is under control."

"Under control?" He looked at her incredulously. "You actually think that you've got the kingdom under control? With everything that's happened? You're joking, you have to be."

Annabella sent him a pointed look. He fell suddenly silent, and began to look around, no less unnerved than he had been before. People were talking - constituents and senators from several provinces alike - and there was more than enough alcohol going around to relax them. Ronnie Ciel was standing beside his wife, and the two of them were speaking with a few of the kingdom's business leaders in hushed tones that almost suggested that something extra-legal was underfoot. Brian snorted. He had never trusted the Ciel family in the slightest and retained only a bit of good faith in them because of his wife's confidence in their intentions. Brian knew he had never been one to judge people based off of what they intended but, he supposed, that was the best way to play politics. His wife had always been skilled in her work, yet, for as proud of her as he was and for how much he loved her, he doubted many of the people she trusted so wholeheartedly.

It would have been an understatement to say that he didn't like the people his wife was so amicably socializing with and, by force of habit, with whom he was occasionally speaking to as well. There was an image to be upheld, to be certain, but it had always gone deeper than that. Brian knew better than anyone that his wife was obsessed with two things: her image and the work she was doing for the good of the entire kingdom. He privately believed that if she focused solely on the latter that the former would come, but she was not so convinced. At the end of the day, media appearances were important to her and so were public ones. This was what everything around them was. She had already been publicly supporting Edward Ciel's recently announced bid for the presidency in November - in part, because he was a member of the conservative party like her - and this was a demonstration of that. The liberals - or FreeAtlas, as they called themselves - were having their own events that night and it was timed perfectly.

Brian knew better than most of the people in the room did. It was all a game, and he knew that the two parties were going to be competing heatedly until the elections finally took place in November. There would be primaries for both in the spring, of course, to decide who the conservatives would run against the liberals but, at the end of the day, there wasn't a question for either side. It had always been set, in Brian's mind, as Edward Ciel against Jacob Hill. Hill, a Mantillan senator, was a formidable opponent for Edward and everyone in the conservative party knew it. Hill had been strongly against the push by the conservatives, in the recent years, to declare war on the provinces of some of the (many) minor kingdoms due to White Fang and general terrorist activity, going so far as to accuse some of his colleagues of tyranny.

Brian disagreed. He knew that going off and starting a war somewhere or killing off some of the most dangerous members of the White Fang and other terrorist groups or governments would be bad, but he didn't agree that showing apathy to the situation and focusing on internal problems would make it go away. Mantle and other cities were falling apart and it was unlikely that anyone was going to change that whether they were from the conservative party or FreeAtlas or not. Hill and his supporters in FreeAtlas were what his wife feared would become extremists, and it worried Brian that he could see it. Hill himself had even gone so far as to say that he thought the conservatives had become the "law and order" party that didn't give a damn about the lower classes.

It wasn't true, of that most of the people and Brian Sassler himself were certain, but it was fuel to the fire in Atlas, which, for the world's strongest military power and last superpower, was shockingly uninformed.

"You look completely thrilled by all of this," Jameson Sleet, one of the few senators Brian actually liked and was friends with, said. "I can't say I'm a fan myself."

"Are any of us?" Brian remarked dryly.

Sleet smirked. "That is an excellent question and, I'm afraid, it is one there will never be a true answer for."


"I was a hellion," Emmett Schnee concluded with a smirk.

James scoffed. "A hellion in pants your own wife has described as 'tight-hoochie pants' which, honestly, was never an image any of us needed to have."

Emmett shrugged. "My wife would strongly disagree."

"Lovely, Emmett," Glynda remarked dryly. "You know, of all of our teammates, you have always been the weirdest."

Emmett grinned. "Yes, I have. Speaking of which, I am still sorry for what I did to your curling iron freshman year...I hadn't realized that it would catch fire because of the water in the sink."

"It didn't catch fire," She reminded him. "It did, however, start billowing smoke -"

"It basically caught fire," Emmett said, putting his hands up in mock surrender. "All things considered, it caught on -"

"Emmett, you're not helping your case," James warned him. "You're making yourself sound like a pyromaniac."

"That's not fair!" Emmett protested. "I have three kids and I'm a responsible parent! You're being unfair!"

Glynda laughed. "That's rich."

"Hey!" Emmett groaned. "If you and James had kids, you'd get what I'm saying!"

"We do," James told him, squeezing his wife's hand.

Emmett considered that for about a minute before he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"You're…" Emmett paused for a moment and then embraced his former teammates with a grin. "Just wait until Emmy hears that the two of you are going to —"

"Emmett —" Glynda started, half-exasperated.

"I can't believe you two are having a kid!" Emmett exclaimed, almost in a sing song voice. "Damn!"

Glynda sent him a semi-amused look. "You are a man-child, aren't you?"

"That is debatable," Emmett replied with a smirk. "But I'll take it because you aren't entirely wrong."

"Emmeline's said as much before," Glynda matched his smirk. "And speaking of things your wife has talked about...the pool table you had sent to Atlas Academy?"

Emmett looked suddenly awkward and rubbed his neck while James stared at him somewhat incredulously.

"Emmy knows I bought a pool table for me and Spencer to play each other in the teacher's lounge," He told them, fidgeting with his hands behind his back. "And she doesn't care. She thinks it's hilarious because Spencer and I are absolutely terrible at anything that has even a tangential call to sports. I made myself run last night, for example, and almost fell asleep on the kitchen floor because I was so exhausted and in so much pain after."

Glynda raised an eyebrow. "You are out of practice, aren't you?"

"I haven't taken a hunting mission in years," Emmett admitted. "You both know that."

James considered that and then laughed.

"You've always been a bit odd, haven't you?" He asked, chuckling. "Hopefully you won't impart the weirdest parts of that on your godchild."

Emmett stared at them both for a moment, completely stunned.

"You want me to be your kid's godfather?" Emmett repeated.

James nodded and pressed a kiss to his wife's forehead while she smiled.

"Yes," He told him. "Who else would we ask beside you and Emmeline?"

Emmett suddenly looked happier than he had in a long time.

"That means a lot," He said, awkwardly adjusting his glasses. "Really, it does."

"Well, of all of the parents we know, you two are the best," She sighed. "Nicholas and Anne got lucky with all of you, they really did."

Emmett snorted. "You're forgetting Ashlynn went crazy and off the grid."

"That's not a reflection on the rest of you, though," James countered. "She had always been delusional, and -"

"I know," Emmett said, then shaking his head. "I just don't know how we ever got this far."


"I thought about what you said."

Spencer Ciel turned around suddenly, an eyebrow raised. He had been filling — it was another 'professional development' day, so, naturally, he hadn't gotten much done. He was more surprised than anything else to see the young huntress-in-training standing in the doorway, looking as prepared to fight as ever. He knew that her presence of mind had always been attributed to her childhood in the slums of Mantle alongside eight mile road. Though Atlas floated high above Mantle (and many other originally industrial cities) in all senses, it was situated far to the east, and was damn near the eastern coast of Atlas. This had always left Mantle and the other cities peppered by it in the midwest, extending far north and some to the south, in the diminishing light. Spencer had always known, consciously, that those areas were often forgotten and left behind in politics, but, seeing this woman's face again, this was the overdue confirmation. Atlas didn't give a damn about the cities and hubs that didn't glitter like the coasts. All they were was flyover territory and, Spencer realized, they resented them for every bit of it.

"I see," The professor mildly replied, running a hand through his shaggy dark hair and adjusting his glasses. He still had not turned to fully meet her gaze. "And? Are you still set in your paradigm?"

"Drop the eloquence," She told him, stepping into the room and crossing her arms. "It ain't helping, Professor Ciel."

Spencer chuckled. "I'm not sure what you mean by that, but no matter."

Robyn scowled. "You hate me because my father wants to crush your father's bid for the presidency, don't you?"

Spencer stared at her in surprise. "You're kidding."

"I'm not," She said scathingly. "And, for your information, we don't need more from the Ciels."

Spencer sighed. "Miss Hill, for what I might disagree with you on, I understand where you're coming from."

Robyn activated her semblance and eyed him up and down.

"You're telling the truth," She said bluntly. "About all of it."

Spencer took a step back in discomfort. "There was doubt?"

"Yes," Robyn said, gritting her teeth. "You're a law and order party member, aren't you?"

Spencer unflinchingly met her gaze. "That's a statement of fact so much as remarking that you're part of FreeAtlas, isn't it?"

Robyn fell silent, still stunned by his honesty and calm mannerisms.

"Why aren't you more angry like the rest of us?" She eventually yelled. "Aren't you pissed with this never-ending cycle of secrecy and paranoia? There's a reason we don't trust politics, there's a reason that so many Atlesians -"

"Let me tell you what you are failing to see," Spencer said calmly, his hands jammed into his pockets. "Secrecy, distrust, and paranoia are ingrained in us all because of the type of world we live in today. I don't blame our leaders for skirting some of the rules to balance each other out and keep us all safe. What you can't see — beyond that — are the good intentions behind them. Yes, their actions are sometimes bullheaded or overcorrect, but, at the end of the day, they are working within and through our systems to keep us all safe."

Robyn rolled her eyes and snorted. "Isn't your wife the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Military Action?"

Spencer narrowed his eyes. "You might have the right idea and a drive for justice now, Miss Hill, but, ultimately, you're no different and the absence of evil in you or the members of our Council does not make you a saint."

"Oh? Really?" She irritably challenged.

"Yes," Spencer shortly replied. "After all...intentions are only half of this game of chess that we so casually refer to as day to day politics."

"And the other half is what is done?" Robyn shook her head. "Bullshit."

"You're forgetting that both are pivotal in accountability," Spencer sharply reminded her. "A man could be on trial for first or second degree murder and only be charged with voluntary manslaughter because they were inebriated or clinically insane."

Robyn scowled. "What do you know about accountability?"

"That I'm lucky to be alive after all this time," Spencer replied, glancing at his inner elbows for a moment and then tugging down the sleeves of his jacket. "And that every day I'm lucky to not succumb to another overdose...or, worse, lose my own life in the process."


"He's not here?" Cristal stared at her sister incredulously. "If he's not back by the end of the month to give deposition to the legislature, he will be held in contempt -"

"It seems like he's trying to foster an excuse," Willow told her weakly. "An excuse for any question they may ask him. I can't blame him, all things considered, regardless of the fact that I think what he's doing with the company is wrong."

Emmeline scoffed. "That would be an understatement."

"Well, what else do you want from me?" Willow shook her head and sent her sister-in-law a dark look. "He's begun locking his home computer, and he only takes meetings and calls at the office where, I'll have you know, I don't have access to the camera system."

"Willow," Ozpin said gently. "Are you sure you should even stay if you're so paranoid that you've put cameras in every room of the house?"

She sighed heavily and didn't respond for what felt to be the longest time.

"I'm not going to leave Weiss and Whitley alone with him," She finally said. "They have it hard enough without their mother walking out, and, while I know the circumstances aren't that much better for them, I can't...not…"

Ozpin glanced to Cristal, who looked rather worried for her sister. He gave her a small squeeze, and she relaxed the little she could for the time being.

"Jacques isn't stupid," Emmeline said after a moment. "He'll play the game like he's supposed to and get off because no one has a strong enough case against him. Unless a member of his own board of directors turns on him and reveals something truly scandalous, then things will continue on as business as usual and this will all be forgotten within a few weeks at most."

Willow shook her head. "It'll be forgotten long before then. This is minor news, especially in comparison to what we learned about Arthur Watts and his connection to the -"

"Agreed," Cristal said shortly. "Interestingly, though, only Edward Ciel has commented on the gravity of the situation. Of the people vying for the presidency, of course. I have to wonder what's going through Hill's mind. This isn't a partisan issue. What Watts and Torchwick was unethical, illegal, and amoral. It should be unilaterally condemned and the fact that it isn't being such worries me."

"It's a game," Willow told her. "I know that for a fact. Jacques is considered 'vital' to FreeAtlas and they're taking his advice to keep on the downlow and 'let Ciel bumble and be the coward we all know that he is' because, apparently, they think that's their best chance at winning."

"I'd believe that," Emmeline admitted, rubbing her neck. "They're underestimating but that isn't a surprise. Hill's worried about being viewed as an extremist, and he wants my father to be forced to retaliate so Hill can have an advantage going into the primary season."

Willow rolled her eyes. "With Sassler's popularity still going through the roof, I don't think that skinniving is a very good strategy for them to use."

"It probably isn't," Ozpin remarked, half lost in thought. "But things are becoming desperate in parts of Atlas...at the end of the day, I know why people are upset and…"

"Well, perhaps FreeAtlas should focus more on accountability than attacking the conservatives," Cristal shook her head. "It worries me where we're headed. It's not just the polarization, it's -"

"Linena Scarlatina's murder?" Willow suggested. "Or the Watts-Torchwick connection?"

Emmeline nodded. "Yes. The DFAMA's working overtime, which is never a good sign."

Cristal raised an eyebrow. "Are you honestly understating now too?"

Emmeline scowled. "That's not helpful."

The two women stared at each other for a moment in stalemate and then Cristal turned back to her sister in concern, having noticed the way Willow had begun to twist her hair in her hands.

"Willa," Cristal said gently. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"No," She said softly. "And I think you and I both know why."

Cristal bit her lip. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Willow shook her head sadly. "Not unless you can push everything back to where they were."

Cristal swallowed hard. "Willow -"

"I just…" Willow stared at her hands and then brushed the tears away from her eyes. "What am I supposed to do now that this...love has faded away and the rest of my body wants to disintegrate?"

Nobody knew how to respond, and, in the end, she had no answer.