Qrow heard all the stories but refused to believe it was true. The footage he saw later had to be fake; there was no way Clover Ebi, of all people, would snap and hit Jacques Schnee the way he did. Yet after a few days had passed and after completing his duties in isolation (which mostly involved patrolling Mantle). Qrow eventually plucked the courage to make his way down to the prison cells. Most of the cells were empty, so it didn't take the veteran huntsman long to find the ace-ops leader.
Clover was sat looking distant, in the same clothes he usually wore, although there was a different set on the bed next to him. Qrow pulled up a chair and sat down. During this time, Clover hadn't even looked up but continued to gaze at the ground.
"Hey," Qrow muttered quietly.
Clover remained silent.
"Listen," Qrow said. "I've heard what happened. I don't judge you for it. Everyone just has their breaking point eventually, right?"
Clover finally looked up with an expression of anger on his face.
"But not me," Clover stressed.
"You're being too hard on yourself," Qrow said.
Clover let out a bitter chuckle.
"You're one to talk," he spat. "You've probably been moping around the past couple of days not speaking to anyone, haven't you?"
Qrow sighed.
"Am I that predictable?"
"Yes," Clover said bluntly. "It's funny you can try and come here and talk to me to feel better. But you're just going to continue to hate yourself. I can't stand that."
"Clover, it's different for me..."
"Different!?" Clover exclaimed. "You honestly think a bad-luck semblance dooms everyone around you?"
"I've seen it happen multiple times!" Qrow exclaimed back. "Everyone around me gets bad luck at some point, and it happens at the worst times!"
"But you went and flew away when I had my little... outburst. So explain that, smart-ass." Clover snarled.
"I... I dunno..."
"I'll tell you what that was," Clover said clearly. "It wasn't your semblance; it was mine."
Qrow blinked.
"What?"
"Yeah, if your semblance can give people around you bad luck. What do you think my semblance does? Clover asked before he answered his own question.
"It gives them good fortune, doesn't it? And it just so happened it was Jacques lucky day."
"You're being ridiculous!" Qrow snapped. "You can't blame your semblance for that!"
"Now you know how you sound to everyone else!" Clover exclaimed, catching the huntsman off guard. He liked to think he was more aloof than how Clover envisioned him. But Qrow remembered his talk with Ruby and what she'd said to him. Feeling as if he'd swallowed a stone and as if his stomach was turning to lead, Qrow let this truth wash over him.
Yes, he did hate himself.
"What do you want me to do!?" Qrow asked.
Clover seemed unable to answer him.
"Stop acting as if I can just... change overnight!" Qrow exclaimed, feeling an unnatural rush of anger in his body. "I can't! And you can't make me! No amount of good luck is gonna change that!"
"And no amount of bad luck means you have to hate and isolate yourself," Clover snapped back. "You know why I wanted to get to know you?"
"Why?" Qrow snarled.
"Because we're both the same!" Clover said. "You think you're the only one who's had doubts about their semblance? I learned that the hard way."
"What do you mean?" Qrow asked, sitting down once again and gazing at Clover through the blue of the security shield.
"When I grew up, things would always turn out just fine for me," Clover recalled. "If I didn't do some homework, the teacher would fall sick. If I forgot my umbrella, it wouldn't rain even if it was forecast to. And everything I studied for in tests was the exact questions that came up on my exams. They felt so easy for me."
"Clover," Qrow said. "What Jacques said that didn't get to you, did it?"
Clover sighed.
"I've been told so many times that I'm just a hack or a cheat," Clover said. "I learned to ignore it. To let those words never bother me. But back there, with everything going on and then just being reminded that everything I worked towards is a fluke..." Clover sighed there. "Honestly, I don't even remember hitting him; it was just a blur."
Qrow surveyed him closely.
"Do you have any close family or anything? Are they ill or...?"
"No, it was just my parents and me, and they died years ago," Clover said. "No wife or husband or kids or anything like that. So, no. I'm not having any family crisis or anything."
"Apparently, Winter thinks..."
"I know what she thinks, and I'd do the exact same in her position," Clover said. "What I did was completely wrong. The other ops have come to visit; I already know I cost us the use of that hangar."
Qrow wanted to say another "It wasn't your fault," but he felt those weren't the right words.
Maybe, Clover just wanted someone to be honest with him.
"Yeah, it was stupid. Hitting the CEO of a major company," Qrow said. "Pretty dumb move Clover."
Clover scowled before he noticed the tiny grin on Qrow's face.
"What are you happy for?" he noted. "If you hadn't gone off on a pity party, you could have stopped me. You're just a... mopey, anti-social... imbecile!"
"Imbecile, really?" Qrow inquired. "I thought with those years of Atlesian education behind you. You would at least have a better-worded insult than an imbecile."
"I don't need advice from a rogue, alcoholic huntsman," Clover said, grinning now. "What's with that face? Did I just touch a nerve there?"
"No, unlike you. I have self-control," Qrow boasted, grinning wider.
"Ha, you'd deserve a punch just as much Jacques did!"
"And you deserve prison just as much as he does!" Qrow shot back.
"Getting Jacques Schnee in prison? Good luck with that," Clover muttered.
"Well, that's why when you're out of here. We'll have to try it." Qrow said. "I haven't forgotten about going to the casino either if you want a game. I'm ready for it. Should lead to some interesting results."
"You know that's what I was thinking," Clover said, just as Qrow received a beeping noise from his comm. He looked down and listened to the prerecorded message there. Which detailed how he was needed to patrol Mantle during these late hours.
"Looks like you're on a nighttime shift," Clover observed. As Qrow switched off his comm and placed the chair back where he'd found it.
"Yep," Qrow muttered.
"Hey, thanks for visiting, seriously," Clover said.
Qrow smiled back at him; he wasn't sure how insulting Clover and receiving insults in return had made him feel better. Yet somehow, it had done. Maybe it was time for both of them to cease the pity party and look towards the future. It wasn't going to be easy, and Qrow couldn't just change overnight, but he felt like he was slowly taking steps in the right direction.
Blake had to shake her head and laugh at the broadcasts when they aired. Clover, had the nerve to teach her about self-control and obeying orders? And then he was the one who punched Jacques Schnee in the face for the whole of Atlas and Mantle to see. She heard the rumours from across the kingdom; it was thanks to Clover that they'd lost the hangar area.
And her trust.
She was doubtful of them before, but now she was one-hundred per cent convinced that patrolling Mantle and keeping her distance from the others was the right thing to do. People would recognise her on the street, and while Blake didn't know their names, they certainly knew her's. Faunus, in particular, would smile politely at her when they called her name. "Belladonna! Belladonna!" she was a hero amongst them.
When she wasn't defending the wall from the Grimm that threatened to spill out onto the streets. She was tasked with investigating domestic affairs or other petty crimes that occurred in Mantle. Winter assigned her these with the relatively straightforward message that it would "Keep her away..." and Blake was happy to oblige. She didn't think much about the team she'd left behind.
"It's been three days since Robyn joined your little Atlesian squad!" one petty thief told her as she placed cuffs on him. "And the wall still isn't fixed! You're all fucking useless!"
Blake didn't reply to him.
But that was a growing concern she was met with as she got to know the citizens of Mantle better. Blake hated to admit she may have been wrong about Robyn Hill. But, it seemed as soon as she learned the truth, Robyn too had abandoned Mantle to its fate. Leaving her and a few other Atlesian soldiers to deal with the mess.
Debnar was probably right; they all said the same things to get elected.
And Blake began to grow increasingly tired of obeying these laws. Especially when it came at the expense of Mantle.
And espeically... her fellow Faunus.
"Belladonna, did you catch that thief?" one woman asked her once she'd returned to the checkpoint.
"No, sorry, Ma'am, he slipped away," Blake lied.
But the thief hadn't given Blake the slip at all. The small convenience shop he'd stolen from had an obvious, "NO FAUNUS ALLOWED!" sign plastered on the front window. And the owner, a chubby, bigoted human, made his feeling towards Faunus very clear went Blake was sent to investigate.
"They send a fucking Faunus to deal with Faunus robbing my shop!" he bellowed the second she entered.
"Sir," Blake muttered. "I'm here to help you. I've heard..."
"Get out,"
"...thefts are going on around..."
"GET OUT!" The man screamed.
So she obeyed, and a day later, she was tasked with catching the thief who'd robbed his goods. She could have caught him easily, using her semblance and speed. Yet as she approached the fleeing thief, she spotted the horns on the top of his head. He looked skinny and was dressed in rags... clearly, a homeless man.
Why was Blake chasing him?
When she could have let him go very quickly.
As the days turned into a week, Blake passed that shop once again. With no one to protect it and with the thief likely spreading the word of his easy escape. The place was robbed blind a few days later; the owner lost everything he'd worked towards as his shop was trashed.
Blake saw the empty, derelict store and smiled.
"Justice." she thought to herself.
It was cases like this that persuaded her to start tackling these issues more head-on. She saw many shops that had that familiar banners, "NO FAUNUS ALLOWED!" "NO FAUNUS ENTRY!" "NO FAUNUS!" and she'd seethe in rage. The owners, however, appeared much kinder than the previous man who let his hatred be known for everyone.
"Oh dear, we don't serve Faunus here because... the food wouldn't be suitable for them, or you. So sorry." an old woman told her, smiling from ear to ear.
"Liar," Blake thought to herself. Yet, the old woman had a family she needed to support, making Blake hesitant to sabotage her business the same way she did with the other man.
But that didn't stop her from finding out who needed to be punished for their actions.
"Well... there's a few assholes that live down the street. That always harass us when we go by..." a group of teenage Faunus described to Blake.
"That old drunk down the road has always hated us!" another woman told her. "He screamed at my daughter once and grabbed her tail so hard! It was awful!"
"So, have you been given a mission to arrest that lady? Because she's denied us access to her pharmacy for years! Surely that's illegal!" a fox Faunus woman said.
"Don't worry," Blake said to reassure them all as they described their tales of woe. While pointing out the racists and where they lived in the Mantle. "I'll handle all of them. I've been given the orders to make these arrests," she lied.
"Belladonna!" One of her fellow soldiers exclaimed at the end of the day.
"What?" Blake asked.
"Don't, what me!" the woman snarled. "We gave you access to the atlesian, security, van to arrest those you were ordered to!"
"So what? I got them," Blake said.
"Yeah, them and an additional 17 others, who weren't on any lists!" the woman snapped. "Who are these people, and what have they done for you to arrest them! They're all claiming they're innocent!"
"But they aren't!" Blake exclaimed. "They're criminals! And racis...!"
"Oh, for the love of... Winter did warn me about this." The woman groaned.
"About what?"
"Your one-woman crusade to bring justice to Mantle," she said. "Do you have any evidence that these folks committed hate crimes, any video evidence? Photos? DNA samples?"
"I have multiple accounts from eyewitnesses!" Blake exclaimed. "And some of them ran businesses that go against Anti-Faunus laws that were supposed to be put in place. If you investigate that..."
"It takes time, effort and a lot of paperwork!" the woman growled. "So you just asked the locals where the hated bigots were. Went to arrest them and felt you were justified when they responded violently. You, of course, being trained, managed to restrain them and bring them here. And now you just expect us to deal with the legal work?"
"You should have dealt with it years ago!" Blake exclaimed back. "It's your fault these criminals are allowed on the street!"
"Yes, Atlas has been lacking in the justice department for some years, I'll admit." the woman said. "But do you seriously think arresting people just because someone else said they were discriminatory towards them solves anything?"
"Yes!"
The woman sighed.
"So, if I said one of my buddies was being sexist towards me and had done horrible things to me. You'd just arrest him straight away?"
"Yes."
"And you've fallen for it," the woman said. "Because it turns out I was lying about him. So where does that leave you or us?"
"We'd issue an apology and..."
"No. It leads to lawsuits. And in some cases, losses of jobs and operations being cancelled," the woman explained. "You can argue it's bureaucracy all you want. But you heard what happened with Clover, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Then you'd understand that acting like an idiot now will get us nowhere," the woman said. "I'll deal with the issue here. But if I find you disobeying orders again and acting out of line. Then you will be imprisoned for treason, you understand that, don't you?"
Blake sighed.
"So you're just going to let all those criminals go!?"
"We don't have the evidence against them," the woman said.
"People have said...!"
"If our legal system ran on what people had said, we'd all be rotting in a cell right now!" the woman exclaimed. "We can investigate people if allegations are made against them. But we can't arrest them on the spot!"
"But...!"
"May I remind you. That you're part of Atlesian police force, tasked with arresting and restraining those that have committed crimes and are known to us." the woman informed Blake. "You're not the judge, jury and executioner, Miss Belladonna; you act within the system to help clear the streets. You're not above it. Understand that."
Blake snarled.
"I should have known coming to you was a mistake. You're all human anyway, so you wouldn't understand."
"I don't suppose I do. But we are all trying to help." the woman said. "You need to listen to what I'm trying to tell you. If you work with us and get evidence on these people, then we can..."
"No," Blake snapped. "Just let them go then! It's no wonder Faunus can't come to you to help because you always let them down!"
She stomped away from the woman there.
It was up to her to do something.
Yet as the next few days went by, there was nothing she could do without ending up in a cell next to Clover, and she wanted to be above him. What he did was complete stupidity, although Jacques Schnee, of all people, deserved it. She wasn't stupid enough to do something in plain view of her fellow soldiers. They tailed her closely, knowing that Yang had told Robyn when she wasn't supposed to and now, with her latest antics, it would make sense that Winter would keep a close eye on Blake.
Yet while Blake acted moodily and never spoke to her fellow officers. She followed all of their rules and arrested those that needed to be dealt with.
If she wasn't doing that, then it was mostly just repelling more Grimm from the wall. With so much else to deal with and trying to contain rioters and disorders in Mantle, the force was soon spilt further. Blake was finally able to have some time on her own. It seemed her good behaviour the past couple of days had lowered the suspicions of the people around her.
Yet, she knew she couldn't do anything, even without those observing her closely. She sat in a coffee shop on her break. Mulling over everything that had happened and remembering her team now more than ever.
Was this break from her former team really for the best?
Progress in bringing order to Mantle and dealing with numerous criminals was too slow. Blake didn't mind the issue with the wall that much. While it seemed Robyn Hill had abandoned them, it was also possible she was helping to work with Ironwood and Winter. Once Amity was up, the wall would have to be fixed. They had no excuse for avoiding it after the arena was lifted to the sky.
"I just wish they'd do it now," she thought to herself. That way, she'd have less time at the wall and more time helping Mantle in other ways.
"You know I don't even know what's so important about lifting that arena back into the sky!" a man exclaimed from a nearby table. While pretending to drink her coffee, Blake listened in on their conversation.
"Come on, dude, having the network restored means we can contact those in the other Kingdoms and help trade and business get started again..."
"Ah, you always make it political!" his friend snapped back. "I'm just saying how long would it take to just plug a bloody hole in the wall and then focus on that arena!"
"Hell, the embargo was lifted; Ironwood did that at least."
"That asshole only cares about that floating shit stain in the sky," the man snapped, jabbing his finger upwards. "And then Robyn Hill goes quiet after joining them. I mean, yeah. I can kinda get that the arena plan is important. But wasn't Robyn was supposed to solve our problems? And now she's just up and gone."
"I heard she was working along with them, so the wall could get fixed." his friend said.
"Ah, you'll believe anything," his friend snapped. "Let's face it. No one on the fuckin' council gives a shit about us little people. You know my brother lost one of his friends last night by the wall?"
"I'm sorry to hear that,"
"Yeah, he was an Atlesian soldier too. A fat lot of good that does..."
"Excuse me, M-miss Belladonna?"
Blake looked up, tuning out of the two gentlemen's conversation. She saw that a blonde-haired Faunus with a rat's tail was gazing at her. The rat-Faunus looked to be in her mid-40's with a kindly face and a winning smile.
"Hello," Blake replied.
"Hi, It's a pleasure to finally meet you," the woman said. "My name is Roula, but... I... guess that's not important," she muttered shyly.
"No, it's a pleasure to meet you," Blake said with a smile.
"Erm... listen. I know you're the one that's been going around. Dealing with those awful people..."
"I tried," Blake said. "I'm sorry I couldn't get them locked up."
"Oh, it's not your fault, dear... I just...well..." she looked around wildly there as if she was expecting someone to show up.
"Is everything okay?"
"Fine," Roula said. "I... I just... well could we talk in a more private place. I... know it's too much to ask, and you'll probably say no, but..."
"No. I'll come," Blake said. "Lead the way."
Blake kept her guard up as Roula led her down a dark alley despite her friendly and timid nature. Her cat ears perked up at every noise; she kept expecting an ambush. Yet, Blake felt as if she could trust a fellow Faunus. The poor woman was clearly frightened of something, Blake just hoped it wasn't against her, and if it was... well, she had her blades and shadow clones at the ready.
Eventually, Roula stopped at a spot behind some warehouses. They were clearly alone here.
"Okay, what's wrong?" Blake asked.
Roula chewed her lip, she looked around once again.
"Well... I..."
"THERE YOU ARE!"
Without warning, a meaty, muscley man sporting a large beard. Made his presence known, barreling down the narrow alleyway with a blade in his hands.
"NO!" Roula roared. Cowering behind Blake. "NOT AGAIN! PLEASE!"
"I FINALLY TRACKED YOU HERE!" The man bellowed. "YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!"
"What!? What's going on!" Blake exclaimed.
"He's...He's..."
"GET OUT OF THE WAY, CAT-GIRL AND LET GUT THIS CUNT!" The man screamed, taking more towering steps towards the pair of them.
"He's... HE'S ALWAYS HATED FAUNUS!" Roula screeched. "He's stalked me for years...!"
"LIAR!" The man spat, coming ever closer.
"Sir, get back!" Blake ordered, holding her weapon up.
"YOU CAN'T BELIEVE HER! CAN YOU!?" the man screamed. Angry tears were starting to well in his eyes.
"Roula, what is going on? Who is this!?" Blake demanded.
"He... his my ex," Roula admitted shamefully. "It didn't work between us. And when we broke up... he... he never stopped following me. And he hates Faunus because of it."
Blake's eyes widened in sympathy; she knew full well what it was like to have a crazy man you were once close too, turn out as an insane stalker.
As she thought this, the man covered more ground.
"Let me past!" he screamed.
"You'd kill a defenceless woman!?" Blake exclaimed.
"DEFENCELESS!" He bellowed. "SHE'S A MURDERER! I SAW HER KILL MY FAMILY! MY WIFE AND MY CHILD! SHE BUTCHERED THEM!"
"YOU'RE LYING!" Roula screeched. "PLEASE STOP THIS, GREGOR! PLEASE!"
"SHE'S LYING TO YOU!" Gregor exclaimed at Blake. "SHE'S TRICKING YOU! I'VE NEVER SEEN THIS WOMAN BEFORE UNTIL SHE SLAUGHTERED MY FAMILY!"
"THAT WASN'T ME!"
"I KNOW IT WAS YOU!"
"Roula, promise me, you're telling the truth!" Blake exclaimed. Gregor was now closing the distance; any second now, he'd be on them.
Roula looked Blake tearfully in the eyes and nodded.
"It's the truth," she wept. "Someone did kill his poor family, but it wasn't me!"
"But if he was your ex, and he was stalking you, how did he have a family?"
"I don't know myself!" Roula wailed. "I tried to tell him to focus on them, but he never did! He couldn't move on!"
"HOW DARE YOU!" Gregor boomed. "WHY WOULD I COME ALL THE WAY HERE IF I DIDN'T CARE!"
"BECAUSE YOU NEED SOMEONE TO BLAME! BUT IT WASN'T ME!" Roula screamed. "PLEASE! WE DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS! I DIDN'T KILL THEM. IT WASN'T ME!"
"OF COURSE IT WAS YOU! I SAW YOU WITH MY OWN EYES!" Gregor bellowed.
"Gregor," Blake said clearly, "You've stalked your ex for years and then your family gets killed. I know it's easy to blame her, but..."
"I'VE TOLD YOU THIS WOMAN IS A LIAR! SHE'S ANYTHING BUT MY EX!" The man screamed. "THAT'S AN INSULT TO MY WIFE! AND MY SON!"
"You've wanted to hurt this woman for years!" Blake exclaimed. "Now your family gets killed by some low-lives, and you think killing her will make this better? I know it's hard...!"
"YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT! I DO!" Gregor screamed. "SO WHAT IS IT, CAT-GIRL!? ARE YOU SIDING WITH HER!? WHAT ABOUT HEARING MY SIDE OF THE STORY!"
"You've already explained your side, and I don't believe you," Blake concluded. "Besides if she wasn't your ex, how does she know your name?"
Gregor snarled.
"So be it then; you clearly don't believe me, so you can die with her!" he snarled.
Blake felt a rage build inside of her. Why was it that every misfortune humans suffered, they had to blame Faunus for it? This poor, defenceless and weeping woman was going to be another victim of a human's rage. Still, she wasn't going to let that happen.
Gregor reached them and brought his blade down; without thinking, Blake left one of her shadow clones in place as Roulla screamed from behind her.
Gregor got his weapon stuck in her dust clone for a second, but it's all Blake needed to jump behind him and watch as her own two blades pierced him straight through the chest. She had a flashback of Adam; as Gregor froze on the spot, he whimpered for a moment before Blake harshly withdrew the blades.
Gregor fell to the ground wordlessly, twitching on the spot, gasping desperately for air that didn't come.
Roula continued to weep from behind Blake's fading clone; Blake jumped over Gregor, who went still and breathed his last. As a puddle of blood leaked from around his body, Roula took one look at him and screamed.
"Come on, come on," Blake said. Feeling like she was on autopilot, she got the shaking woman to her feet and led her away. Embracing her, Roulla wept on her chest.
"I... I... was only g-gonna ask if y-you could protect me from him," she wept. "I-i didn't want this..."
"It's okay," Blake said, comforting her. "It's good you came to me."
"But... but the body..."
"He's gone now. Don't worry." Blake said. Yet she knew she'd have to get back to her duties soon after she'd just killed a man. It felt surreal, and it had happened so fast.
Yet, she didn't shake as much as she did when she killed Adam.
Because she understood clearly, that the man there was going to kill them both. She could have restrained him, but what would be the point of that? He'd be released back into Mantle after a short investigation, and he'd go on and most likely kill Roula when she wasn't there to protect the Faunus woman. Blake breathed in profoundly and calmed herself down; if she moved fast and returned to her fellow soldiers, they wouldn't know any better.
"Listen, you need to go home and keep this quiet," Blake instructed of Roula, who nodded.
"I understand!" she sobbed. "Thank you! Thank you so much! I know you didn't want to do it! But you saved my life! You really are a hero."
Despite everything, Blake felt her face flush at the compliment.
"I don't like killing, but..."
"You killed that awful Adam, and now you do this," Roula said, wiping away her tears and smiling. "You don't have to like killing. But you do it anyway for us. And I admire that. A lot of people do."
Blake smiled back now.
"Go home, and look after yourself, Roula," she said.
Thanking her once again, Roula soon departed, still in tears and shaken.
But Blake kept calm and kept her composure. Wiping as much blood off her blades as possible, she took one last look back into the alley before departing.
Blake ran back towards her unit. The Faunus knew there might have been security cameras around that caught her in the vicinity at the time. Maybe when they found Gregor's body, suspicion would fall on her. Yet when she returned to her unit, no one said anything to her. Meaning that (for the time being) she was in the clear and not under any direct surveillance. (otherwise, someone would have asked her where she disappeared too with the rat-Faunus).
"Alright, we gotta get to the wall, there's another herd of Grimm approaching..." came the latest order and Blake went about her day as if nothing had happened. At the back of her mind, her nerves frayed at the thought of being outed as a murderer. But at the same time, she knew what she had done had been right.
No matter how wrong it felt.
Later that day, in the Atlesian medical ward, Claret saw Ironwood sit up and blink rapidly. She felt her gut sink in her chest as the General yawned and stretched his arms.
"Claret," Ironwood said, spotting the pink-haired nurse instantly. "How long have I been out?"
"About a week, sir," a frozen Claret replied. "But you have fully recovered, so you're free to resume your duties."
"Okay," Ironwood said. Already getting to his feet. "I need updates on what's been happening while I've been out of commission. Claret, do you have any intel?"
Claret remained silent; the look on her face confirmed Ironwood's worst fears.
"Claret, what's happened!?" he commanded.
The nurse sighed.
"Sir, it's better if Winter tells you." Claret said, "I'll contact her now..."
A/N: So another chapter down. So yep Blake's attempts to make things better, begins down in Mantle, Qrow/Clover talk and finally Ironwood's awake and ready for bad news. So to run through a few things this chapter I wanted Qrow to start developing and stop moping around, and discussing things with Clover will set him on the right path for what's to come.
Now the main segement of this chapter, the blake part. I'll admit some parts feel like they've been gone over too fast and with too little of an explantion. However I wanted to get the main part with Roula and Gregor. I also wanted to make the world feel even larger, as the unnamed woman speaking to Blake was originally supposed to be either Harriet or Anna. But I felt like I was just recyclling the same characters over and over again and I wanted to make the army feel more stretched out. Hence Blake chats to more unknown characters rather than the same group over and over again. (Makes sense as she's also trying to activley avoid them). So more nameless OC's are added, again they won't play major parts, but they'll act as placeholders, as Mantle is a big place and hearing random civillans and miltatry makes the world feel more alive to me.
As for the whole section with Gregor/Roula and Blake being dragged into their dilemma, it's an interesting plot I have starting there. Yes, it's the typical inticting incident where Blake feels justified in murdering someone who clearly had it coming (such as the case with Adam). But also further shows she's no longer just talking or whining about these things, she's actually doing it. And this will go... places. But I won't say anymore on that, just keep a critical and analytical eye on things...
Anyway onto answering reviews!
Kayden Delta- Glad your liking the Ruby character development! Also curious by what you meant when you said you enjoyed my previous fics. Did you mean chapters? Or actual fics, as this is the first fic I have on this account. I had a previous account before but sadly I can't get back on it now for certain reasons... So sadly my past fics can't be updated, which is a shame. For those interested however my past account was Zombieguy96 and I did a few fics on there a while back. Feel free to check them out!
the god of wolves- Thanks! Hopefully I continue to fix things!
Shinigami-Fallen- Glad you liked Winter's choice to try and deal with things in the best way possible. and yep Ruby's growth is fun to write about and her becoming more independent or her team and sister shows how she's maturing. As I felt (At the end of Volume 3 and during Volume 4) she was actually going in that direction. However it all went downhill during Volume 5 and she reverted back to her child-like self. So hopefully I can keep her as the sweet, likeable character she was, but still have her grow more mature and sensible. Anyway hope you liked this chapter!
Engineer1869- Yep, while it didn't happen this chapter. Next chapter the difficult Winter/Ironwood talk will happen. Or more like Ironwood's reaction to hearing all the bad news. As we readers already know what's happened so we don't need an entire section for Winter to tell us what we already know, but for Ironwood's reaction... oooh let's say there's some good stuff planned. I like your idea of Ruby speaking to Ironwood as well and have considered this in the future and I'm glad the Fria/Maria section amused you!
The Amazing N- I appericate that you've noticed the little details, like the mention of Cordovin in Maria/Fria's talk it takes me a little extra effort to include it and usually I feel such details go unnoticed. But I'm glad reviewers like you pick up on them. Anyway hope this chapter kept you interested! Thanks for reviewing!
OBSERVER01- Yep Winter does need sleep with everything going on.
ThatSexyShikamaru- If Yang angered you last chapter, I'm wondering how much rage Blake will give you this chapter. Anyway, looking forward to hearing your review!
Hyperpixal357- Yeah, you know it's bad when even Ruby can't defend her. And tbh that was done on purpose. Ruby isn't the type to start arguments, but she's gotten to point where I imagine her anger is mostly just giving people the silent treatment. and hopefully this chapter gave Clover a little more depth, anyway glad Fria/Maria went down well with you and thanks for reviewing!
joecola00- Glad you and many others enjoyed the Maria/Fria scene and as for Lancaster... well I won't say much on it. But I can see how it might come out of left field for many, so thanks for the feedback.
Luffy L Deathwalker- Yeah you could say Jacques deserved it and in canon he was part of the reason Atlas fell, because him working with Watts led to Atlas fall in the long run. As for what Jacques is really up to in this fic, you'll find out soon enough, thanks for reading and thanks for your reviews!
merendinoemiliano- Fair enough. But as Lancaster hasn't happened yet, I still have you as a reader, and who knows what will happen. Thanks again for reviewing
SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta- Glad your loving Fria and Winter!
ReDestrobo- Yeah... about Blake this chapter... you may have been right. But others could argue that's she's not in the wrong yet for mudering someone that was about to kill her and an "innocent" woman. But it's the start of something... but I won't say anything more on that. As for the rest of your review yep I liked how you and few others pointed out that Ruby didn't even defend Yang and how good the Fria/Maria scene was. I'm glad a lot of people liked that! Cheers again for reviewing!
and finally MadTitan9- I can see you don't like Yang, but will she face worse consquences? Only time will tell and as for your point on the villians, well they certainly know more now... anyway thanks again for reviewing!
See you all next chapter!