"So let me get this straight," started Terra Cotta-Arc. "You want to contact Marshal James Ironwood himself through the Atlesian CCT network."
"Need to," Jaune repeated. "Emphasis on need."
The woman sighed into her palm. With Ren and Nora keeping Terra's toddler son Adrian busy in his room upstairs, she was able to join in on the explanation for the powder keg that had walked into their home.
"Y'know, Jaune," she groused. "You're just like your sister sometimes."
"Uh, really smart?"
Terra frowned. "You're both airheads! Merde de putain! What makes you think someone like Marshal Ironwood is going to listen to a fugitive like you!?"
"Because he'll be talking to me," Ruby declared.
Jaune, Pyrrha, Saphron, Terra, and Maria all craned their heads to the 'missing' Empress of Sanus warming her hands by their fireplace. It took a lot of meticulous explanation to calm the Cotta-Arcs down and a lot more meticulous fact-checking to convince them that she was not an imposter but the real missing sovereign.
"It's not just Marshal Ironwood," Ruby continued. "I will need to get in contact with my Guardsman Praefect Qrow Branwen and my friend Frau Weiss Schnee."
"Weiss Schnee?" Saphron worded. "As in SDC?"
"Yes."
Though it would not just be Weiss. The Empress had a mind to get in touch with Blake as well and have her figure out just how involved the White Fang was in all this. If she could, she might even try to get through to Yang in Vale or, if the gods would permit, Ozma himself. Gods knew, she feared less and less whatever tongue-lashing her 'advisers' were going to give her especially after what she had personally gone through for the past several days.
"Her Imperial Majesty is going to make a public announcement," Pyrrha elaborated. "We are anticipating that her appearance—alive, unharmed, and healthy—should be able to pacify the Sanussian people."
"Would it really?" Terra caught herself. She bowed (once again) before the young sovereign. "Sorry. Um, Your Imperial Majesty, how sure are you that...this will work?"
"You know how passionate my people can get during times like these," Ruby replied. "I go missing and my countrymen are up in arms over it. Honestly, I don't know why. But it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This is the only means I have to stop this from getting any worse."
Saphron and Terra eyed each other.
"I can't believe I'd get roped into something big like this," the technician sighed, whipping out her scroll. "I'll see what I can do, Your Imperial Majesty."
"Thank you," the Empress replied.
"In the meantime," Saphron said. "I suggest staying indoors until, um, well, this whole thing gets sorted out...uh, Your Imperial Majesty."
"Please," Ruby raised. "I can do without the honorifics. Really. You're Jaune's family, and by extension, team JNPR's family as well. And the family of my friends are excused from these annoying formalities."
Maria snickered from the kitchen. "Never thought I'd hear those kinds of words again."
Ruby glanced to Jaune and to Pyrrha who both had their brows quirked. Miss Calavera had so far been very knowledgable and cooperative despite her brashness. The old lady's goal up to this point had been to get to Argus to have her cybernetic optical enhancements checked. But below that, her uncanny expertise on Sanussian politics and military affairs hinted at more than just a cranky miser on her way for an overdue check-up.
Saphron excused herself. "I'll go make dinner then. You should've called, Jaune."
Her brother groaned. "I know, I know. You keep saying that."
"If you did, we would've stocked the fridge with more food. Which means someone has to go out and buy extras."
"We won't be staying long," Pyrrha said.
"That depends on how fast we can get this over with," Jaune countered.
"You do know that the Atlas CCT is heavily monitored, right?" Terra remarked. "I don't have the clearance to protect you from the censors and the security AI."
"It doesn't matter," the Empress dismissed. "Anything to grab as much attention as possible. Enough to disrupt the mobilization of both countries."
She strode to glass door that led to the patio in the backyard.
"I'm taking charge now," Ruby muttered to herself.
Whether Jaune or anyone else was aware of it, these were her only options. She hoped Marshal Ironwood would respond the way she expected he would. Weiss was her safety net while Blake was her last resort. Qrow was a secondary yet greatly important objective—she needed her praefect, her most effective bodyguard, by her side again.
"Your Imperial Majesty," Terra called.
"Yes?"
"May I ask a favor?"
Ruby nodded.
"Can I ask for a guarantee of protection?"
The Empress glanced to Jaune, Pyrrha, and even Saphron peeking from the kitchen across the living room. Maria had moved to the couch in the living room, studying her from behind her knuckles planted on her cane.
"I know you're risking a lot for my sake," Ruby breathed. "But know that I will do my best to keep you safe from unwarranted prosecution or any form of persecution that would arise from your services to aid me."
And while Terra smiled back in relief, the young sovereign turned away to hide her faltering glimmer. Whatever power she had rested solely on how many powerful people were willing to obey her, much less lend her their ear. Then again, leadership of this magnitude carried high risks and this was surely one of them.
She smirked at her own reflection in the glass pane door. Ironic how she was essentially applying some Ozma and Salem's lessons against them.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Ruby slowed her racing heart as she faced the lens of the mounted camera hooked up to the laptop on Terra's workstation halfway across the room. The windows were locked, the curtains pulled completely, and the frame of the shot greatly limited to the drywall behind her. Despite the steady temperature, the guest room on the second floor of the Cotta-Arc apartment was still humid enough to cause her palms to sweat.
"We're all set," Terra announced. Maria, Saphron, and team JNPR surrounded the technician, all keeping behind the camera.
Jaune gave a thumbs up. The Empress replied with a nod.
"Alright," Terra drawled, her eyes glued to the screen of her laptop. "I can squeeze in a three-second delay before the censors will pick up our transmission. Once we go live, there's no turning back."
"How long 'til the cops start knocking on the door?" Maria asked.
"Ten minutes at best, thirty at worst," vexedly grunted Terra. "Assuming I won't be able to mask our location for twenty-four hours with this special Atlesian cyber-military software that's not supposed to be used outside of the office but, pardon me for the language, Your Imperial Majesty, but oh, fait chier."
"They'd either have to divert patrols or scramble reserves from the barracks across the city," Pyrrha noted.
"I'd rather not be engaged in a scuffle with authorities," Ren remarked.
"Not like we haven't been in trouble with the law before," Nora snorted.
"Guys, can you keep a positive vibe here?" Jaune hissed. "You're making her nervous."
"You're nervous," Miss Valkyrie snickered. "Chill, Fearless Leader. Her Majesty's pretty chill over there."
Ruby giggled nervously. For the tenth time, she wiped her sweaty palms on her lap. Saphron held up the outline of her script, scribbled in bold marker. With little Adrian at daycare, Terra and Saphron cashing in on their sick days, and the city of Argus largely ignorant of the missing Empress within her walls. Things had gone without error since last night that Ruby feared some great misfortune about to befall her at the most pivotal moment.
"Time check?" Ruby asked.
"Ten thirty-two," Terra replied.
"Okay, Ruby," Jaune said. "We're waiting on you."
"Right," she stammered.
Breathe in, breathe out.
"I'm ready."
She was not ready.
She had nerves of steel when they initiated the call to Marshal Ironwood's office in Atlas. Her nerves melted however, when the man was not the only person to show up on the screen.
The startled faces of Marshal James Ironwood, Lady Weiss Schnee, and Praefect Qrow Branwen occupying three quadrants of a four-way conversation on the Atlesain CCT network was a sight that shocked Empress Ruby Rose. Instead of communicating with them one-by-one, she ended up between a garbled yelling match between her three contacts. The first minute was agonizingly filled with surprise, anger, worry, and general confusion. At least Ruby did not have to try and convince them that she was real and not some impostor.
"Your Imperial Majesty, it is good to see you alive and well."
"Ruby, my gods! How are you? Are you alright?"
"Where the hell are you!?"
Well, there was only so much Terra could do. Even team JNPR winced when the noise seeped through the technician's headphones. Then Marshal Ironwood raised his voice to drown out the hysterics of Lady Schnee and the aggravated slurring of Praefect Branwen. Ruby waited several seconds before she felt herself audible to speak.
"I'm in Argus," she calmly announced. "I don't have much time so pay attention."
Marshal Ironwood, already seated in his office in Atlas, straightened himself more than he already had when he was startled out of his paperwork by the sudden video call. Meanwhile, in the confines of her own room in the Schnee manor halfway across the same city, Weiss hurriedly displaced herself from her own bed, caring neither to switch out of her nightgown nor fix her untangled hair, and planted her scroll onto her dresser. Somewhere in Mistral, Qrow was already sifting through various articles while keeping his own scroll glued to his unshaven face.
Ruby breathed deep. So much for a one-on-one. "Qrow."
Praefect Branwen snapped his head to the screen, his right hand still rummaging through whatever.
"I'm in Argus right now. I'm safe but not for long. My location is already compromised. I'm being tracked, transmitted, and deciphered as we speak. If you can access my coordinates, hurry here now. I need you."
"Already on it," he grunted before planting the face of his scroll onto a table, completely denying any video footage of what exactly he was doing.
"Marshal Ironwood," the Empress called.
"Your Imperial Majesty?"
"I may be in absentia but I am still the Empress. I hereby invoke our treaty of mutual assistance and strongly request Atlesian support in ensuring my safe extraction from Mistral."
The Marshal tilted his head, studying her for a quick moment, before he nodded firmly. "You have my word."
"Good."
Ruby felt assured that Ozma had not revoked any existing agreements between the other nations save for Mistral. Besides, she had read up on her country's laws. The Senate granted Ozma emergency powers; the Senate neither stripped her of her throne nor revoked her authority as sitting royal. As well, the concept of emergency powers in Sanussian law was founded on the context of the sudden absence of any ruling authority—in essence, her.
Now that she had resurfaced, she still carried her supreme authority and was essentially on the same footing as her Lord Protector. Ozma was as powerless over her as she was over him.
"Is there anything else, Your Imperial Majesty?"
"Can you command your troops here to secure Argus?"
Marshal Ironwood breathed deep. When he spoke, his tone had changed. "Argus is already secure, Your Imperial Majesty. However, I will be traveling there to personally oversee your safe return to Sanus."
"You'll be knowing my exact coordinates soon," Ruby worded carefully. The marshal had a known temperament and she was wary of pushing the man too hard. "There are elements here who are actively pursuing me to do me grievous harm and I have no doubt that they are narrowing down on me as we speak."
"In that case, I will issue orders to lock down the city until I will arrive and take personal command of the garrison."
"Like hell you will!" hollered Qrow, whose face was now back on the screen. "I'm riding there and you better open those damn gates for me!"
"I will when I get there, Praefect Branwen," hissed the Marshal.
"Weiss," Ruby cut in, silencing the two men.
Lady Schnee flipped her scroll towards her, showing that she had one of her female servants present in her room, holding a hanger that carried one of her many elaborate winter coats. "Say no more. I'm on my way with my best servants."
"Frau Weiss?" gasped Marshal Ironwood.
Qrow snorted. "You're fucking kidding me."
"Weiss," the Empress repeated more sternly. "There is an SDC branch here in Argus. Use that as your liaison."
"Pardon me," forced the Marshal. "But is it wise to involve der Firma? What would Herr Jacques or even the Bundesrat think of this?"
"Der Bundesrat wird denken was sie denken!" Weiss snarled. "I have free reign over my own retinue and I will exercise my right to independent action, Herr Feldmarschall."
"Are you suggesting the use of mercenaries, Frau Weiss?"
"My retinue," the heiress corrected forcefully. In translation, yes, she would be bringing SDC mercenaries. Armed and equipped in the same way as the Atlesian military. "FSS interests are being threatened by this spat between Sanus and Mistral and as heiress and co-proprietor of der Firma, I have every right to personally see to the safety of my employees by any means at my disposal."
"Uh-huh," sneered the Guardsman Praefect. "Sure. Complicate the problem. Argus has only enough room for enough soldiers."
"Qrow," Ruby growled. "Focus on reaching Argus as soon as possible. And Marshal Ironwood, you are aware that should any harm befall me on territory within Atlesian suzerainty, your kingdom will inevitably fall into the crosshairs of my people."
Marshal Ironwood remained impassive as he stared back with an intense fire in his eyes while he tightly clasped his gloved hands over his desk. "... Understood, Your Imperial Majesty."
"All of you," she continued. "Hurry. I don't have much time. Again, I am in Argus. I repeat, I am in Argus. Please, hurry."
With that, Ruby squeezed the fabric of her dress on her lap, signaling Terra that she was done. As soon as the connection terminated and the screen went black, the Empress almost collapsed from nausea. Jaune and Pyrrha caught her while Ren and Nora padded her with a towel.
"That didn't go as planned," Saphron remarked.
"What's done is done," Ruby breathed. "How is our connection?"
"Ironclad," the technician replied over the noise of her typing. "We're already on the map. For sure, even the hicks in the sticks with a jury-rigged scrambler have picked us up and are probably deciphering every word."
"So we've got more Atlas troops coming our way," Nora said. "What did that Weiss girl mean by FSS?"
"That's the Atlesian abbreviation for the SDC," Pyrrha answered. "I believe it stands for Firma Schnee Stäuben."
"Atlas troops, SDC mercenaries, and Her Majesty's Imperial bodyguards," Ren counted.
"Don't forget the Armée Royale," Jaune added somberly. "They've got codebreakers across the kingdom. We have a day at most before soldiers start amassing outside the walls."
Miss Valkyrie glanced around uneasily. "That was the goal, right? Force Sanus to reconsider going to war? Not necessarily rile up the troops?"
"Ruby's Imperial Guard needs to know where she is in order to do their job," Mister Arc reasoned. "Likewise, since we're in an Atlesian colony, we're under Atlas's laws which means having to get the support of Atlas."
"Meaning we're under the protection of the Atlas military," Miss Nikos continued. "No doubt they're going to have to respond to something this big."
Mister Lie eyed the Empress. "According to plan?"
"That was phase one," Ruby answered. "At least we got Weiss, Qrow, and Marshal Ironwood in one call. Thank the gods it turned out better than I thought it would."
"Setting up for phase two," Terra announced over her frantic typing. Despite her focused, steely mien, her voice betrayed a slight fearful tremble. "I'm getting alerts from the office. They're scrambling to find us right now."
"What's phase two?" Saphron inquired anxiously.
"Ozma and the world," Ruby breathed, reigning in her dizziness with her hands tightly clasping onto Jaune and Pyrrha for support.
Maria snorted from the far back. "Start bolting down the doors."
Making the announcement took more out of her than she expected.
For three minutes, Ruby orated. She stuck to her points as much as she could and tried to keep the facade of a strong, resurgent leader all throughout. Her declarations of surviving the attack on her life, of her intention to return to Sanus, of her pleas with her people to stand down, and finally her message to Lord Protector Ozma—all of these words were spoken with intensity that drained Ruby's energy.
By the time she was done, and she slumped back into Jaune and Pyrrha's arms, she could hear the sudden silence permeate the street outside the apartment.
It was tense. Then the noise of the people below began echoing back up to the darkened room. The faint din of chatter was slowly drowned out by the wave of mixed emotions bubbling in the streets; Mistralian, Atlesian, various dialects, and even some Sanussian blended so much to distort the gossip overtaking the masses. But it was clear that the world had heard her message. And for sure, these many voices speaking out in response to her announcement would be too much for the Sanussian Senate or even Ozma to ignore.
"Hey, you okay?"
Ruby smiled weakly up at Jaune. "I need a drink."
"I'll go get some water," Ren announced, departing immediately.
"I'll watch the door," Nora added, following after.
"Doesn't sound pleasantly exciting out there," Saphron noted worriedly.
"Don't worry," Maria prattled. "This is Argus. The people here are smart enough not to riot."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Pyrrha warned. "Troops will be descending upon the city soon. Not something the public would be eager to see."
Breathing.
Jaune patted Ruby on the shoulder, bearing her weight against him. "Easy, easy."
The Empress's panting drew the attention of the rest of those present, even Terra who glanced up from her frantic typing.
Ren returned with a glass of water that shook in Ruby's hands.
"I'm sorry," she said, trembling.
Jaune tried to speak but was startled by the tears that landed on his hands.
"I'm sorry causing all this trouble for you..."
"It's worth it," the blond said.
"How could you say that?"
Mister Arc righted the Empress on her chair. "Because I believe in you, Ruby."
"So do I," Pyrrha added firmly. "We can get through this together. Your Guardsman Praefect is on his way, you have the full support of the most powerful military leader on Atlas, and you even have the SDC coming in to help."
"No doubt," Ruby sniffled, downing her glass. "The Mistralian Army will be sending forces our way."
"They already have," Terra confirmed. "I've intercepted traffic from their channels. Two cavalry divisions and the First Battalion of the Royal Knights."
Both Jaune and Saphron visibly tensed.
Ruby eyed them both. "Do you two know something?"
The Arc siblings looked to each other, silently pleading the other to do the explaining. Pyrrha, however, did it for them.
"Jaune's father is the commander of the Royal Knights."
Ren cleared his throat. "All of the Royal Knights, not just the First Brigade."
The Empress gulped. "How convenient."
"Family drama?" Maria inquired.
Jaune gestured to Saphron who fiercely gestured back at him. Her brother glared at her while making some hand motions to which his sister fired back with a heavier glower that was accompanied by arms flailing over her head. At this point, Mister Arc sighed dejectedly, pulled out his scroll, paled, and showed all those present the name of the person calling him right now.
"Should I take it?" he asked.
Ruby puckered her lips. She turned to Saphron who had was pacing back and forth. Pyrrha appeared as nervous as her partner.
"Oh, fait chier!" Jaune hissed. He was about to answer when the ringing stopped. And the icon for a missed call flashed on the scroll. "Merde."
"Terra," the Empress called.
"Your Imperial Majesty?"
She sighed. "Please stop calling me that. Anything on the city garrison?"
Terra pushed up her glasses and typed something on her laptop before replying, "Squadrons are moving up to our street right now."
"Do they know which door to knock on?" Maria inquired.
"Not yet."
"What can you find out what their orders are?" Ruby pressed.
More typing, followed by clicks of a mouse, and a muffled hiss. "So far...their objective is to secure the streets and...maintain order."
The young sovereign forced herself to stand. She had seen the trembling in the technician's hands. "They're expecting a riot."
"But Argus is largely peaceful," Pyrrha argued.
"Largely," Ruby worded. "There's always that chance, no matter how dismissive or miniscule. There is always that one percent chance...that things will go awry. Ren, head downstairs. Nora might need help keeping the front porch clear."
Mister Lie bowed before dashing down the stairs.
"Jaune, Pyrrha, I need you two to watch the windows. Peek through the blinders. Don't be seen."
The two nodded.
The Empress turned to Saphron and Terra. "I know that you wish for your son to be here with you. But trust that the city garrison will be prioritizing educational centers for children in the case of an emergency."
"How can you be sure of that?" pleaded the distressed blonde.
"Because Marshal Ironwood would strictly enforce it."
"Pardon?" Terra coughed.
Ruby instinctively folded her arms behind her back while she paced to the corridor. "I may not know what goes on in his mind but I do know what is at stake if he makes the wrong decisions here. If I get hurt here, Atlas will become the new target for Sanus's anger. If any citizen here, more so children, are harmed in any way, then Atlas would end up bearing the wrath not only of Mistral but also of its own people."
Maria chuckled. The old lady hopped off her stool and accompanied the Empress across the corridor to the other guest room that had been provided for her by their hosts. All the while, team JNPR spread across the interior; Jaune and Pyrrha peeking through curtains down on the streets while Ren and Nora held their vigil in the antechamber, guarding the front door.
Ruby left the lights off as she shuffled into the room and gracelessly dropped herself onto the bed.
"That's a nice play you did, Your Majesty," remarked Miss Calavera. "Funny how a teenager such as yourself could pull something like that to someone like Ironwood."
"Yeah, well, Marshal Ironwood wants to keep the peace between nations, after all," the young sovereign replied tersely.
"That he does."
"And he greatly envies Sanussian power."
Maria chortled. "True."
"And he sees me as weak. So him stepping in to save me, answering my call for help, would bolster his image as world cop. Sanus being indebted to Atlas and so forth. Of course, that's where Weiss and Qrow come in. Either one of them, actually."
The old lady sat beside her, giving her a rare scrutinizing look through her shimmering blue optics. "You're wilier than I took you for, Your Majesty."
The Empress smirked. "Weiss bringing in the SDC will prove that Marshal Ironwood does not have total control over Atlas. Qrow would undoubtedly contest Ironwood out of pure spite. All this in view of the media which, by now I'm sure, is going crazy over this."
"You never liked Ironwood, have you?"
"I admire him as a leader." Ruby choked out a bitter laugh. "But I know that he looks down on me as a child unfit to rule. As much as it pains me to say it, I actually need him more than just keeping his troops here in check and to protect Argus from Mistral. I'm going to need a lot of Atlesian support if Ozma continues to be stubborn."
"And Praefect Branwen?"
"He's my bodyguard. I will need him by my side for obvious reasons. I want to evacuate my men with me. Also to counter whatever power moves the Marshal will try to do when he gets here."
Tick, tock. The old lady and the young sovereign idled in momentary silence in the dark room.
"Whose ship are you going to use?" Maria asked.
"A guarded one, of course."
Miss Calavera hummed in thought. "And what about your new friends? Team JNPR?"
"Greatly rewarded. Teams CRDL, CFVY, and ABRN as well. I haven't forgotten them."
"Assuming you can set Ozma to rights and get Sanus back in order."
"With support from Atlas and the SDC."
"You know that you'll end up in debt to them."
"I'll worry about that later," the Empress waved. "Besides, all that wouldn't matter if I don't get back to Sanus, to Vale. Ozma isn't as popular as he was. As far as I know, he's already lost the support of the plebes and nearly all of the collegia throughout the Empire save for the few larger ones in Vale. If I show up, the Senate and the nobility would surely reconsider their allegiances."
Maria laughed. "You know, Your Majesty, you've been quite the personality. A fragile young girl, clueless and terrified, running from a deranged assassin. Yet here you are talking like your predecessors."
The young sovereign plopped herself to sit on the bed, a thoughtful expression on her face. "You're right. I am starting to sound like my dad."
"More like your grandfather. His late Majesty Seris Canum more often had the same mind as your advisors."
Ruby tilted her head. "Really now."
A nod. "Back then, we called them the Third Triumvirate. Imperator Seris, Proconsul Ozma, and Magister Salem. Truly a powerhouse that led to the Empire to expanding to the other continents. Those were the days. Ambitious, wild, bloody. Then your grandfather died and his daughter, your mother, put an end to the campaigning."
"She ended the Third Triumvirate," Ruby said, reciting from memory what she had read in the annals back in Vale.
"She ended it by marrying your father. His late Majesty Taiyang Xiao-Long had a different approach to leading the Empire. He saw that the treasuries were drying up and the people were becoming war weary. So he switched to a defensive policy which...worked far better than he expected it to."
"What do you mean?"
The old lady scratched the back of her head. "Well, some memories get hazy over time."
Ruby tugged at Maria's sleeve. "Wait. Tell me what else you know of my father."
Miss Calavera paused. "Well, what I can say...or recall...is that he won the Imperial Army over. It was something Seris never fully achieved. Neither could Ozma nor Salem. But in case things go south, you can bet that half of the Imperial Army would have your back before you even set foot on Vale."
"Are you sure?"
Miss Calavera shrugged. "I can't be right. But it's what I think. And I've learned over the time we've traveled together that you value my opinion a lot."
Ruby slid off the bed to stand in her way. "Because you're a Sanussian citizen. You...you served in the Imperial Army. I just know it. If I'm wrong, say it to my face."
Maria sighed. Despite her crooked frame, she planted her cane firmly on the floor and addressed the Empress as a centurion would. "No, you're right, Your Majesty. I did my ten years and more. I served your grandfather, your Lord Protector, your Grand Magister, your father, and even your mother. I am now retired and wish to have my eyes checked in Atlas."
Tick, tock. Breathe in, breathe out.
The young sovereign wordlessly stepped aside and watched the old lady amble past, leaving her alone in the room.
ORIGINALLY DRAFTED: May 27, 2020
LAST EDITED: June 21, 2020
INITIALLY UPLOADED: June 21, 2020
NOTE: About time Ruby makes moves of her own.