Debriefing
The members of Team SCCI stand in Ozpin's office with both the Headmaster and General Ironwood present. They are being debriefed on their last operation.
"I've received the field reports logged by Kismet and the footage from you helmet cams." The general states, "With the information we have now received, we will send Agents to investigate for potential strongholds. In the meanwhile, maintain your cover within the Academy and keep your eyes pealed for potential infiltrators."
"Yes, sir." All members of Team SCCI say simultaneously.
"You are dismissed." General Ironwood orders.
The members of Team SCCI exit the office, leaving the two Headmasters behind.
Ozpin sighs from his desk and takes a sip from his mug.
"Something wrong?" Ironwood asks.
"Do you mean besides the spies that you implanted into my school without my knowledge?" Ozpin asks.
"You put me in charge of Providence." Ironwood states, "I am not required to report all of Providence's operations to you."
"You are when they involve my school." Ozpin retorts.
"Oz..." Ironwood calls, "The students in your school were not at risk due to Ash's operation. What happened to Team SLVR would not have been different is Ash had been a normal student and not an agent of Providence."
"Tell me, James." Ozpin begins, "If you had agents of Providence already within Vale and investigating the current threat, why did you bring your fleet?"
"You know as well as I do that Providence's job was never to deal with Salem." Ironwood declares, "If Qrow's intel is to be believed, then the White Fang are working with her. Providence will have to pull back or else they will get involved. When Providence pulls out, my army will take over."
"You're holding something back." Ozpin notes, "You could've pulled Providence out the moment that your fleet arrived; you didn't. I want to know why."
"Ash." Ironwood declares, "We need his silver eyes."
"And unlike Ms. Rose, Ash is aware and capable of using them." Ozpin catches on.
Ironwood nods and Ozpin sighs.
"Are there any other Agent of Providence in my school besides Team SCCI?" Ozpin asks.
"No." Ironwood lies, "Only them."
Ash floats in a gravity chamber, still in the jumpsuit of his Kavacha with none of the plates attached. The gravity chamber is a large spherical room with five rings of pure gravity Dust constantly orbiting around the room. Currently he is in a no gravity setting. Ash's body is rotating, constantly spinning as he adjusts to weightlessness. Ash, using his scroll, gradually increases the gravity until it reaches normal levels. Now on the ground, Ash sets the level of gravity to triple normal. The added weight hits him immediately. Ash nearly buckles under his own weight, but regains his footing. Four hovering drones enter the gravity chamber from an opening at the top. They begin circling Ash. One of the drones fires a shot, and Ash rotates his body to dodge. Another drone fires from behind Ash and he jumps into the air and over the shot. When Ash lands, he collapses to all fours, and struggles to get back to his feet.
One of the drones fires at Ash, who quickly jumps back to his feet to dodge. Ash leans back, dodging a blast and then forward to dodge another one. Ash rotates his body, letting a blast fly past his shoulder and then leans back to let one fly past his face. Ash leans back again to dodge another blast and continues dodging. Despite this, he is rooted in place and unable to take a single step. Eventually one of the drones blasts Ash, barely scrapping his shoulder. This unbalances him, and Ash falls onto his stomach. Ash quickly gets onto his knees and puts up his hands to create an active barrier of Aura to block the next shot, but the other drones shoot Ash from different angles, causing him to collapse.
Ash slowly pushes himself to his feet as the drones charge up another blast. He clenches his fist and furrows his brow. Ash crosses his arms, his eyes glowing white and body glowing green. Ash then lets out a roar, spreading his arm as energy pours from his eyes. The sheer power destroys the drones and Ash immediately collapses afterwards. The gravity chamber deactivates, leaving Ash fading in and out of consciousness.
"This battle is a holy war in the name of Salem." Cole Carne's voice echoed.
Two children, wielding a poorly made rifles ran down the street using cover from a poorly made building. They reached a crosswalk and opened fire on roaming Grimm.
"We shall strike down the infidels who disrespect our traditions and lay waste to the land of Salem." Cole declared.
The two children were both killed, left behind. A young Kermes breathed heavily as he took cover inside an abandoned building.
"We must not submit to the infidels." Cole declared.
An older child ran down a street firing as he charged. He was quickly shot and killed. Kermes turned to the direction of the gunfire and made his way towards it. He fired as he exited the building and gasped as he barely dodged a feather sent back at him from a Nevermore.
"By dying in battle, we shall be led into the presence of Salem." Cole declared.
Kermes took cover inside another building. He heard the footsteps of a rather large Grimm, but couldn't see it. One of the children launched mortars into the back of the large Grimm. The Grimm shrugged off the explosion and turned to its attacker. It launched a wave of sharpened feathers, which smashed through the wall Ash was hiding behind. In response, Kermes grabbed his rifle and moved.
"This battle is a holy war in the name of Salem." Cole's voice repeated, "We shall strike down the infidels who disrespect our traditions and lay waste to the land of Salem."
Kermes ran through the streets as the Grimm patrolled, searching for survivors. One of them spotted Kermes and charged, but he hid in a small crevice. Kermes glared at the Grimm as it approached his hiding spot. Before it could strike, it was swiftly decapitated by a red blade. Kermes gasped in shock as the rest of the Grimm were quickly slaughtered by that red blade. Kermes stared at the blade in awe. He continued to stare as the blade was turned towards him.
Ash wakes up in his bed with Cora sitting at the foot. She's holding the picture of Team SLVR and staring intensely at Ash in it.
"What happened to us?" Cora whispers, unaware of Ash's consciousness.
Ash groans as he tries to sit up, startling Cora.
"Easy!" She warns, pushing Ash back down, "Your body couldn't take that many G's. You shouldn't push yourself like that."
"So now you care about my wellbeing?" Ash scoffs.
"That's not fair." Cora argues, "I was being irrational."
"No kidding." Ash comments.
"And so are you." Cora continues, "I get that Ash's death changed us, and then you lost your team, but you need to see that you're not thinking straight."
"I'm fine." Ash insists.
"Are you?" Cora asks, "You were never like this. Even at your worse, you were never this aggressive. Neither was I. I would never raise a hand against another agent, but I was going to shoot you and you were going to shoot me. I don't want us to be like this."
"Cora." Ash calls as he attempts to sit up again.
"Why are you so insistent on killing every member of the Flames of Destruction?" Cora asks, "I know they killed Ash, but still. You're not hunting his killer, you're hunting the group. There has to be more to it. What aren't you telling me?"
Ash thinks back to dream he had when he was unconscious. The memories flash before his eyes.
A young Kermes charged at Cole, both equipped with knives. Kermes slashed then stabbed, but Cole disarmed him in the same fashion he did during Ash's first battle with him. Cole then swung upwards, disarming Kermes and knocked him to ground. The knife clattering across the ground.
"The Flames of Destruction are terrorists." Ash states, "I'm doing what Providence does best."
"You're not out to massacre the White Fang." Cora declares, "Why are they different?"
"The White Fang fight for a cause." Ash says, "The Flames of Destruction fight because they feel like it."
"What did they do to you?" Cora asks.
Ash raised an eyebrow.
"Now that I think about it, you chose the mission when Ash died. Ash wasn't even supposed to be on that mission, but you wanted to fight them." Cora comments, "You hated them long before they killed Ash. They didn't make it personal, it already was."
Ash turns away from Cora.
"What did they do, Ash?" Cora asks.
"That would be breaking the rules." Ash states.
"Fine then..." Cora responds, "A secret for a secret."
Ash grunts in annoyance, lying back down.
"Please." Cora pleads.
"I never knew my parents." Ash states, "I know who they are. I know where they are, but I've have no memories with them. I grew up with the Flames of Destruction. They were my family. We were trained to fight, to kill. We were mercenaries, hired by villages too poor to afford Huntsmen. We took everything from them, and when they had nothing left to give, we pillaged the village. We would kill the men, rape the women, and kidnap the children. I pretty sure that's how I was recruited, but obviously I was too young to remember. One day, Grimm overran our hideout. And my family left me and the other children to die. I was only survivor, and not because my own strength, it was my aunt that saved me. She didn't even know I was there, her goal was to exterminate the Flames of Destruction. She was going to kill me, but she saw the resemblance to my parents, and she knew their child was missing. So she took me in, did her best to undo the indoctrination of the Flames of Destruction."
"How awful." Cora responds, "I really had no idea what you were forced to go through before Providence."
"It was over a decade ago." Ash states.
"It explains a lot." Cora admits, "Like why you were willing to join Providence at all."
Ash hums in agreement, closing his eyes.
"As for me..." Cora begins, "I was raised in a normal home, like you'd find within the Kingdoms. I really like music, and if I could have, I would have liked to pursue that path, but..."
She sighs and looks down.
"Because of my family, I was chosen to be among the 17th generation of Gravity Meisters." Cora comments.
"I've got to say, making music seems to suit you better than the life of an Agent of Providence." Ash declares.
"Maybe I was trying too hard." Cora admits, "But you, I could say the same thing about you. You've been forcing yourself to fight."
"And you're not?" Ash challenges, "What did you mean you joined Providence because of your family?"
"Both my parents were part of the 16th generation Gravity Meisters." Cora explains, "Like you, I never met them. I was recruited because of their death. And that's all I know about them."
"All the members of Providence are sworn to secrecy." Ash declares, sitting back up, "But still, to not tell you about your parents... You're following in their footsteps."
Ash puts his arm around Cora's shoulder and pulls her close. Cora closes her eyes as he leans into his chest.
"It's Kermes." Ash states.
"Huh?" Cora asks, opening her eyes.
"That's my real name." Ash states, "Kermes."
"That's your real name?" Cora asks.
"Yep." Ash declares, "If it's still strange for you to call me Ash, just call me Kermes."
"Are you sure?" Cora asks, "Wouldn't that be weird if others are around?"
"Only Pyrrha knows that my name is Kermes." Ash states, "It'll just be like a nickname."
"Why does Pyrrha know?" Cora asks.
"'A secret for a secret.'" Ash quotes.
"You stole my trick." Cora accuses.
"Gotta admit, it does work." Ash justifies.
"You know, this is the first time we've ever talked like this..." Cora states, "About ourselves. After all these years."
"We've never had to." Ash declares.
Cora nods as she closed her eyes again. The two stay in that position, enjoying each other's company for the first time in about 2 years.
"Kermes..." Cora calls.
"Yeah?" Ash asks.
"Promise me something." Cora requests, "Promise me that when the time comes that we face the Flames of Destruction again, you control yourself."
"I'll try." Ash responds.
"Promise me, Kermes." Cora insists.
"I promise, Cora." Ash says.
"Why do you lie to her?" Lancel asks.
Remember how I said I love subtle details? Take a look at Ash and Cora's dialogue from this chapter and previous ones and notice the parallels.