July 27th

Mistral

9:28 PM

"You look cold."

Emmett Schnee stepped out onto the balcony where Emmeline was. She turned around, startled for a moment, and then smiled softly. Her hair was down and the wispy monochrome locks were floating in the wind and she was only in her pyjamas. Her feet were bare and lightly dusted in snow, which was unsurprising. The Mistrali capital was closer to the south Menagerie sea than it was to the equator, which meant, though Atlas was well into its tolerable (for the Midwest and upper coasts) to unbearable (for the south and eastern and western seaboards) summer, it was halfway into Mistrali winter. Still, it was warmer than it often was in northern Atlas and Emmeline, after years of living in the Atlesian capital, was used to the chill. Emmett lingered in the doorway for a brief moment and then came over to her, shrugging off his mink coat and wrapping it around her. She sighed but didn't protest and let him pull her into him, gently treading his fingers through her hair and trying to keep his glasses from attracting too many snowflakes. After all, they both knew just how bad his vision had become.

"Glynda thinks I've gotten a little too into finding creative ways of telling Raven off," He murmured, eliciting a small laugh from Emmeline. "Supposedly calling her a warmongering zealot to a dated set of morally ambiguous ideals was both over the top and ridiculous."

Emmeline smiled. "It doesn't help if you're proving her point about Atlesians being obnoxious know it alls."

Emmett shrugged and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

"I'm a professor, what can you do?" He replied teasingly. "I get paid to correct people when I'm not on missions as a huntsman."

"That's fair," She replied. "And, as our daughter constantly reminds us, you no longer scream when you see grimm."

Emmett groaned. "Oh, come on! It was a reflex reaction!"

Emmeline laughed and nuzzled his neck. He affectionately ruffled her hair in response.

"If you two are done…" Elizabeth Morell began dangerously, her heels imperiously clicking out onto the balcony. "We need to talk, and everyone has done a damn good job avoiding me for too long."

Emmeline sent her a dark look. "You aren't helping your case, Eliza."

"No, I'm not," She agreed. "But I deserve answers and none of you have been willing to give them to me. Ozpin can't just keep secrets forever. James has been honest with us…once he realized we knew and that's fair. But Oz? No. The only person he's ever been honest with is Cristal."

Emmett raised an eyebrow. "Are you waiting for us to disagree with you? Because, believe me, everyone knows that. He trusts his wife before anyone else and –"

"Yeah, yeah," Elizabeth muttered, slight bitterness rising in her voice. "Ozpin's a hero…a saint…and he's a freaking –"

"Human," Emmett finished.

Elizabeth stared at them for a moment and pulled her blazer a little tighter around herself. The chill of the winter air was finally getting to her and she worried, in that moment, she had overstepped or, at the very least, misinterpreted something. She had spent years defining people specifically because it made things easier and she was, for the first time, startled enough to even briefly question it. She had always clung to six major groups: people like her, who were tormented but in high class; people in high class; the poor people she knew hated her and many of the executive officials in the Atlesian capital; the poor faunus; the wealthy faunus; and people like Ozpin, which, as it happened, were almost exclusively him, his wife, and children. She had never thought of Oz as human and now, she realized, that had been a mistake.

"Well, that's…" Elizabeth shivered despite herself. "Fair," She concluded. "That's fair…but it doesn't mean he has the right to keep so much from us when he needs us to –"

"Eliza," Emmeline said tiredly. "Are you sure you even want to know everything?"

She glowered. "That shouldn't even be a question."

"It's worth asking," Emmeline countered. "After all, none of us really had a choice and you do."

"And I have to act in the best interests of the people – whom are all going to know about this…this soon enough!" Elizabeth exclaimed in exasperation. "It isn't about what I want, it's about doing what's right and atoning for –"

"You have nothing to atone for," Emmeline cut across her, far more harshly than she had meant to. "You have done more than enough and saved more than enough lives. Hell, by telling the truth when you realized how, you never had to do more than bring to light –"

"You can never understand what I mean, Emmeline," Elizabeth snapped. "And, furthermore, if I don't do what's right now, then how many more people are going to die for this? Your father was one of them, wasn't he?"

An awful silence befell them and Emmett almost wanted to object but knew he couldn't.

"You're right," He finally said, giving Emmeline a reassuring squeeze. "But we have to proceed carefully and, honestly, you really ought to hear it from Oz."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "You really think he's above lying?"

"Oz has kept plenty of secrets from all of us, but he hasn't lied," Emmett reminded her. "Not so far as any of us are aware, anyways."

Elizabeth sighed heavily. "What about his plans for my stepdaughter? Or what happened when Beacon fell?"

"That was ignorance, not lying," Emmett replied. "If Oz had listened to me and James from the start, then maybe what happened to Beacon could have been prevented. Either way…be careful, Eliza. Things are bad enough and we really can't afford for them to get any worse."


July 29th

City of Vacuo

Vacuo

Downtown

3:25 PM

Gina Adel deftly plucked an emerald encrusted broach off of a temporarily abandoned market stand and slipped it into her pocket easily. They had been scouting the area all morning (and, per orders by the Atlesian DFAMA, beginning to keep tabs on Varna) and all four of them were done with the heat and the constant chattering. This, while technically downtown, was the cusp of the poorer stretches of the city of Vacuo and all of them wanted to snag what they could before returning to their hotel. It was clear they were tapped in the building and spa but, so long as they were out in town, it had little impact on them. Roman was free to relax and have a cigar or two while his wife read a book or stabbed birds out of trees (much to Marshall-Monster's amusement) and Gina could envelop herself in the finest things in life from silk to massages. For the time being, they were content to scrape up information and mess with people but none of them could deny that they were looking forward to fucking around with Varna's mind and her deadly games.

"We should play knife monopoly later," Marshall grumbled, lowering his head from the heat. "Take our minds off the bullshit and work on our reflexes."

Neo, deciding that was stupid, smacked him upside the head with her umbrella.

"You're a bitch…" Marshall hissed.

Gina laughed. "Oh, honey," She purred. "You haven't seen a real bitch yet."

"And you better watch the way you talk about my wife," Roman added with a killer smirk, flicking some cigar ash aside. "Unless you wanna end up six feet under tonight, that is."

Marshall activated his semblance and brushed a finger against Roman's cane, causing it to electrify and shock him, much to the tattooed mercenary's amusement.

"Grow a pair, Roman," Gina said, rolling her eyes. "You're like a little girl. Should I get you a fluffy dress and a floppy hat?"

Roman resisted the urge to smack her with his cane but Neo, lacking all impulse, decided to smack Gina with her umbrella with even more force than she had smacked Marshall with.

"I'm your leader!" Gina shrieked when she fell to the dusty ground, much to her chagrin. "Don't you understand how important that is! You will –"

"Pretty sure Karissa Mar said I'm running this shit," Roman silkily put in while Gina stood up and brushed the sand dust off of her clothes. "She seems to think I'm the most trustworthy."

Gina rolled her eyes. "She just didn't want to risk making my dad mad."

Marshall socked her in the arm. "Yeah," He said dryly. "Because that makes perfect sense."

Gina turned towards him suddenly, snatched his arm, and, before he could stop her, flipped him over and onto the ground with a sharp snap.

"We playin' street rules, Bozo?" She laughed, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I'm Gina Adel! You really think you'll ever beat me in –"

"I sure can try," Marshall growled. "And we can settle this with just a simple round of knife monopoly –"

"Oh, really?" Gina smirked, activating her semblance – pyrokinesis – and causing her aura to ripple over her body, something which served only to highlight how pale she was in the harsh Vacuo sun. "You do know that I'll win either way. I can do whatever I want because you, Monster, are replaceable."

"Everyone is," He replied, standing up with a dangerous smile. "Including you. You're not protected by Blake and Allison Adel anymore, you know."

Gina sent him a dark look. "You're going to regret that when I show you how we end fights in Atlas."

Marshall snickered. "By suing the pants off people?"

"That's how rich people handle fights in Atlas," Gina informed him. "But for those who can't afford to…"

She trailed off menacingly, which she undermined by winking flirtatiously at a muscular, shaggy-haired dust miner who walked by with his pickaxe slung over his shoulder.

"Call me…" She purred, slipping a business card into his back pocket and cupping his backside for a few seconds. "Shake that thing, too, honey."

Marshall rolled his eyes and shared a look with Roman and Neo that suggested Gina had both lost her mind and was disgusting all of them.

"Now I really do wanna play knife monopoly," Roman remarked dryly. "If only so I can stab her."

Marshall snorted. "I'd only stab someone in retaliation."

Neo hesitated but then quickly whispered something to Roman, who grinned.

"Really?" Roman said, smirking and leaning on his cane. "Because Neo would stab someone as a warning."

"That I believe," Marshall swore under his breath when Gina returned to their little group. "Pick up anyone worthwhile, Adel?"

Gina grinned. "Hell yeah. It's gonna be a fun night for me, Monster."

Marshall glowered. "If you're gonna call me by somethin' other than my real name, call me Mister DJ."

"I can get behind that," Roman chortled. "You know anything about clubbing?"

"That was my career before this," He shot back, running a hand through his slick hair. "Believe me, I'm the master when it comes to deejaying."

Neo giggled at the thought.

"Well, let's get this party started," Gina said, sauntering forward and motioning for the others to follow her. "We're going to show this town what we're made of and just how weak they all are."


August 1st

City Of Mistral

Mistral

Downtown

10:34 PM

Raven Branwen stared out at the city before her from where she sat on the rooftop of the decidedly small townhouse the group (of whom was there, at any rate) was staying in until they better understood the Haven-Lionheart situation. Based on word from Atlas and delivered so haughtily by Elizabeth Morell, it seemed Leonardo had flipped without, as Raven put it, the snare's knowledge and he would return soon to help organize a trap for the snare's underlings. To Raven, this was a dangerous game. Yes, she was relieved that she would reunite with her tribe and the letter she had sent to Vernal (whom she knew, provided her vassal had listened, was in the white forest about a hundred miles north of the Mistrali capital) was a testament to that. Yet she was unnerved nonetheless. She hoped — for everyone's sake — that Rosalinde Varna wouldn't show her face but, considering that Raven was convinced Varna had been leaking information to the snare for decades, it seemed unlikely at best. With Ashlynn Schnee six feet under, too, it seemed there could be a smooth reunion with minimal fighting.

At least, to an idiot as Raven believed.

Elizabeth Morell seemed so damn convinced the situation had turned in their favor and it drove the Spring Maiden insane. Even Ozpin and his little inner circle had reservations — to say otherwise would be a lie on so many levels — but Qrow had taken Elizabeth's side, as had most of the kids, and Raven was almost certain he had done so out of spite. It was either spite or, just as likely, he actually held faith in Lionheart's supposed flip. Raven knew she never would, even if things went their way in the coming weeks. He was a man dominated by fear and nothing more. If the snare threatened him with a fate worse than death when she discovered his so-called treachery, then Raven was certain he would flip back to her side out of sheer cowardice. The Atlesians, likely because they had always lived in the freest kingdom (and the safest one), were arrogant at best and Raven hated it.

"Mom."

Raven barely moved from where she was sitting on the ledge and observing the city. She merely lowered her head slightly and let Yang speak for herself. She knew her daughter was still angry with her (as everyone else seemed to be) for what she had done to Emmeline but Raven believed they should all be grateful the woman had survived because, if it had gone any worse, she wouldn't have. There was silence for a few seconds in which the only sounds were the whistling wind and the light snow that had been continuously dusting the area for the last week. It was the only comfort Raven had, but, she imagined, comfort was unlikely to be what her daughter had come seeking. Far more likely, Yang was about to lash out – something Raven believed her daughter excelled at and something, as it happened, she blamed Qrow for.

"I know you haven't spoken to anyone about it, other than insinuating to Emmett that he should be glad General Ciel's alive, but I want you to talk to me," Yang said, slowly stepping towards her with heavy footsteps that resonated over the rooftop. "So: what did you do when you turned General Ciel's hair half white?"

Raven scoffed. "And why should I tell you anything when you're going to tell Elizabeth and daddy everything anyways?"

"What did you do?" Yang tersely repeated, her eyes flashing red. "If you —"

"I lost control, if you must know," Raven irritably replied, standing up from the ledge and starting towards her daughter. "I never meant to cause permanent damage. I just wanted to cause her enough pain to respect me and stop hiding behind wealth."

Yang took a small step back. "I don't believe you," She said darkly.

"I don't expect you to," Raven said, crossing her arms. "In fact, I don't expect any of you to."

Yang eyed her for a moment. "You know you could have killed her."

It was a statement of fact rather than a question and both mother and daughter knew it.

"That hadn't been my intention," Raven said evenly. "It would have defied purpose of everything I've wasted the last few months getting myself entangled in."

Yang snorted. "Aren't you just in this for yourself?"

"You would think that, wouldn't you?" Raven shook her head. "And, once again, you're wrong."

"That's what you say," Yang retorted. "Except you never prove me wrong, which, honestly, is the bigger problem. You're always trying to –"

"Do what's right –" Raven protested.

"Rationalize," Yang snapped, her eyes flashing red again. "Have you ever done one thing in your life that wasn't selfish?"

Raven was silent and her eyes, despite every instinct, started to tear.

"Yes," She said, her voice far weaker than she would have liked. "I had you and have spent all of this time trying to keep you alive…even if I wasn't there."

Yang said nothing but her eyes betrayed her when they flashed back to her natural lilac. She and her mother then simply stared at each other in disbelief for a minute. Suddenly, impulse and childhood emotion threatening to subsume her, Yang tightly embraced her mother and, for the first time, Raven did not push her away.