Hey, quick note before I start. This may be something that is more important to me than anyone reading this, but I don't feel like this is something I can just put away again and not talk about.
While I was working on this chapter, I went back and considered Aspen's emotional journey to use as reference. In doing so, I realized that I've unintentionally drawn parallels between Aspen's racial identity/experience and real-world transgender identity/experience. I have no intention to continue the story as a transgender narrative and don't intend to retroactively change the current narrative as it exists, but I feel this is an important subject to raise given recent events in the story.
As I'll bring up in this chapter, Aspen has just had her "real" identity exposed against her will, and the people closest to her have not taken it well. While this makes sense for the narrative I'm telling, it can be a very traumatic experience in real life and the last thing I want to do is diminish that. Had the parallels been intentional, this would have been a horrible faux pas for me to have included as a major plot point, especially as a cis-gender dude. As it stands, I feel bad that I've only realized this after the fact.
I'm not talking about this because anyone has complained to me. This isn't me trying to be an "SJW" preacher. I'm also not trying to say I don't want people to think of Aspen as a transgender woman; I just don't feel her story would be acceptable if she were. All I'm trying to do is acknowledge the situation I've inadvertently created so that I can handle the rest of this story intelligently and respectfully.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy.
-/Click/-
"—We have since received confirmation that last night's city-wide raid was a joint operation between Vale and Atlas targeting the remaining White Fang elements responsible for the Vytal Festival attack earlier this month. Government officials described the raid as 'extremely successful' and promised to provide further information on arrests and asset seizure in the future.
"Valean and Atlesian forces weren't the only parties involved, however, as a group of hunters-in-training were recorded making an arrest of their own. Please be advised, some viewers may find the following footage disturbing—"
-/Click/-
"—According to the publisher of the video, the man's appearance coincided with, quote, 'an overwhelming feeling of fear' that left them unable to move or breathe. Additionally, while it does not appear in the video, the publisher claimed to see a sixty-foot tall woman rise up out of the ground shortly after the man's appearance. Numerous witnesses reported similar phenomena, leading to the popular theory that both the woman and the sense of paralysis were the result of one or multiple Semblances.
Atlas has denied any association with the man, who appears to be dressed in Atlesian military armor. In a statement early this morning, they warned the public that he was to be considered armed and extremely dangerous—"
-/Click/-
"—Am I wrong, or is that the same girl who jumped into the arena during the Vytal Tournament?"
"You mentioned that earlier, off-air, and I think you're absolutely right. I mean, Beacon straight-up admitted they'd accepted her as a student, even despite the rumors that she almost killed the team she fought."
"Well, I think we can safely dismiss those rumors at this point. I mean, the way she jumped in and took the hit like that—"
"Courageous. Totally courageous. That's the only way I can describe it."
"Absolutely, and Beacon doesn't usually comment on it's students, but Headmistress Goodwitch did confirm that this girl survived, so I think I speak for us all when I say I hope she recovers soon—"
-/Click/-
"Does this seem discrete to you? Do your people even have a concept of discretion?"
Aspen didn't want to be here. She couldn't say where she did want to be—nowhere, perhaps—but it wasn't back on Atlas's command ship, and it certainly wasn't in the same room with Colonel Silvia and her boiling anger. Glynda was present as well though, thankfully, her frustration was directed at the Colonel and not her.
"I will remind you once again, Colonel, that Aspen is my student, not one of your soldiers. I would ask that you respect that at the very least."
"Respectfully, Acting Head Mistress, she became mine the moment you signed off on her involvement in my operation. As far as I am concerned, she is mine until the end of this debriefing."
Laurel was outside and down the hall. Normally, her presence would have at least been a small comfort, but life was no longer normal. Aspen didn't know how Laurel felt about her being Rephaim. She felt her anger, her frustration, her uncertainty, but she could not discern where those emotions were directed. She did not know the thoughts they connected to. She did not know if the difference between Rephaim and Grimm had been explained to her. She did not know if that would matter to her.
"Perhaps, then, you should have informed her team that such an operation existed in the first place."
"Are you insinuating that this is my fault? That I somehow jeopardized the lives of three-hundred-and-forty soldiers because this... girl couldn't keep one target contained?"
"If I am insinuating anything, it's that you're only upset with Aspen because she upstaged you."
Aspen could not feel Oliver or the rest of her team on the ship. That… was probably for the best. Unlike Laurel, their fear and anger and distrust had been clearly directed. Had they been nearby, she would have had an even harder time focusing on what was in front of her. Oliver in particular. His anger hurt, even beyond his aura. Its mere existence burned a hole within her, eating through the only barrier between her and an all-consuming abyss.
"Any respect she earned from the public is misplaced. Her team wasn't supposed to be anywhere near a residential district, and certainly not with the only other rephaim on the planet!"
"Rephaite."
Colonel Silvia slammed her hand on the table between herself and Aspen, rattling its entire structure. "I told you yesterday I don't give a damn what you call yourselves. As far as I'm concerned, you're nothing more than a Grimm that can talk, so why don't you put that skill to use and tell me why this—" She gestured back at the video-screen, showing a frozen image of Deirean preparing to execute Emerald. "—is all over the news!"
A part of Aspen's mind roared at her, yearning to lash out and destroy the woman's scalding aura. She knew that was how she should be feeling. She'd lived with that feeling for weeks now, and yet that part felt distant. It felt disconnected from the rest of her in a way that she couldn't summon the energy to care about her own pain. It simply… didn't matter.
"When we found Emerald and Mercury, Rhys and I went in through the roof while Ilex and Carmine covered the outside…" Aspen did her best to explain the events of the night before, including her decision to send Rhys after Emerald, her fight against Mercury, and her own pursuit after. Both Colonel Sylvia and Glynda asked the occasional question for clarification, but there were still holes regarding her team's chase that Aspen couldn't fill. The lack of those details seemed to only add fuel to the Colonel's anger, but nothing incensed her more than when Aspen detailed the encounter with Deirean.
"You made a deal with him?!" Colonel Silvia's aura flooded over Aspen, pressing her down into her seat and forcing some of the air from her lungs. "After all the people that thing has killed, you just gave him what he wanted?!"
"I can understand your anger, but what exactly would you have had her do?" Glynda asked. "We both know how dangerous Deirean is. Aspen's intervention is likely the only reason any of them are still alive."
Colonel Sylvia turned on the other woman, inadvertently relieving Aspen of the weight of her aura and easing her breathing again. "I would have had her not let Sustrai escape in the first place! The entire point of this operation was to capture the girl so we could deal with Deirean on our own terms, and she's completely invalidated it!"
"Given Aspen's testimony, I'd argue there was just as much risk that Deirean would have found them in the warehouse, in which case we would have faced the very real possibility of him killing even more soldiers."
"I hope for sanity's sake that you are playing Darkness's advocate. Because of her, we have no way of knowing where Deirean is or how to find him!"
"That is not true."
The pressure returned, with it a vague stimulation from Gynda's aura. "Is that so?" Colonel Silvia said with naked hostility. "How, exactly, do you intend for us to find him?"
"My havashah."
Disgust rolled off of Colonel Silvia's aura, a nauseous, fluid feeling. "What is 'havashah' supposed to mean?"
Aspen hesitated. To her knowledge, the word didn't have a direct translation that non-Rephaim would understand, but the true problem was that she herself only had a vague understanding of what it was. "It is… a place. It is what I exchanged for my team's lives."
Glynda hummed absently. "As I recall, you've mentioned havashahs before—"
"Havashae."
A brief flicker of irritation. "Havanshae. You told us there was one in the Emerald Forest where you found Deirean, but you never mentioned any others. Why exactly is Deirean interested in yours?"
Aspen's eyes fell to the table. "I do not know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Colonel Silvia leaned forward on the table, looming over Aspen. "What are they for?"
"I don't know."
"How… can you possibly… not… know?!"
The woman's hands curled into fists. Her aura burned hotter than ever, and her demeanor reminded Aspen of the soldiers who'd beat her under the pretense of questioning. Her instincts screamed at her to fight, but they were still too far and too separate to register in her physical self.
The Colonel was right to be angry. Aspen should know about the havashae. She should be able to give them answers. She was the only one who could, and yet the answers just weren't there. No matter how she tried, she could not summon the stream of knowledge that seemed to flow so easily for everything else. It was like a mountain on the horizon—knowable and visible, but indistinct and out of reach.
"Perhaps we can gain some insight if we investigate the site in the Emerald Forest," Glynda suggested, once again redirecting a portion of Colonel Silvia's wrath to herself. She gave no indication that she noticed, even in her aura, keeping her attention focused on Aspen. "For the time being, however, please tell us everything you know about your havashah."
Aspen nodded. "It is somewhere in the desert, east of Vacuo. That is where O—" A cold, sawing feeling cut through her chest, killing the words she'd been about to say. Swallowing, she changed them. "That is where I was found."
Colonel Silvia shook her head. "Impossible. Even in a desert, if such a structure existed, it would have been found by now."
"Hardly," Glynda said. "The havashah here in Vale is far underground, and we didn't even know of its existence until Aspen told of it."
The Colonel's glare only hardened. "In that case, finding it is only going to be more impossible."
Aspen frowned. "It seemed to be enough for Deirean."
"Deirean is a rephaite," Colonel Silvia said, spitting the demonym like blood. "He is not bound by international treaties forbidding military presence without explicit permission. Even if we were to get permission, we would be searching for an underground facility somewhere in kilometers of Grimm-infested desert. Maybe Deirean expects to get lucky and that he'll live long enough to stumble across this 'havashah,' but it's more likely that he knows where it used to be and can figure out where it is now."
Aspen shook her head. "If that is the case, then he would still need some means to pinpoint its exact location, just as you would." Colonel Silvia looked at her as though she'd spoken Rephaitic, though Glynda's aura revealed surprise and curiosity. "When… I was found, I was nearly dead of dehydration. Rephaim cannot survive indefinitely in a desert. Also, as you said, it is a desert. Even if I were to have cleared it when I left, any entrance I created would have been re-covered with sand by now. If Deirean expects to find my havashah, he will be not doing so blindly."
Surprise skittered off of Glynda's aura, but was burned away by Colonel Silvia's irritation. "Unless you lied about having no memories before the desert, you can't know any of this for certain. It is pure speculation."
"But not illogical," Glynda said, interjecting before Aspen could respond. "If rephaim really do live for thousands of years, they would need some way to keep track of where an underground facility was buried in a constantly shifting desert."
"Assuming it was even a desert when they were wiped out."
"Deirean seemed to know—"
"I am finished listening to you!" Colonel Silvia turned on Aspen, aura pushing her back in her seat and smothering her. "If I didn't know you knew nothing about our kingdoms, I would say you were actively trying to compromise their security. Hell, you might still be trying to do that anyway. Deirean, at least, doesn't hide the fact that he wants to kill us all, but you… You are the real threat. Every life that Deirean has taken is on your head, as will every life he takes because you let him escape a second time." She scowled at Glynda. "I can only hope it won't come to that before everyone else comes to their senses."
Aspen barely registered the Colonel's departure, the inferno of her fury disappearing into the void she'd opened within Aspen. Threat. That was all she really was, wasn't it? Against her every intention, all she ever managed to do was hurt people. The Ruby Team, her own team, the White Fang, James Ironwood, Mercury and Emerald, everyone Deirean killed, and now Oliver and Laurel… Aspen had sought the impossible against every warning and inflicted nothing but pain in her pursuit. What right did she have to continue on when so many lives were broken because of her?
"…I'm sure there will be several more long discussions with the Council before we come to a consensus but, for the time being, I think your testimony will be sufficient… Aspen?"
Aspen lifted her gaze to meet Glynda's. The woman stood opposite her, lips pursed and brow tight. Her aura rippled with frustration and worry. Letting out a sigh, Glynda sat down on the edge of the table. "Now that you no longer belong to Atlas, I suppose I should conduct a debriefing for Beacon. Normally, we would do this with the entire team, but…" She let out a short breath. "Tell me, how would you appraise last night's mission?"
A light on the bottom of the display screen winked on and off, then on again, and then off again in an endless cycle. "It is as Colonel Silvia said. I let Deirean get away and—"
"Stop." Glynda's aura chafed with annoyance on Aspen's skin, but only briefly. "I did not ask for someone else's opinion. I asked for yours."
Aspen absently ran her gloved fingers across the table, scratching a shallow oval into its wooden surface with one claw. My opinion… Strictly speaking, her team's assignment had been to capture Emerald and Mercury, and they did. Further stipulations, however, had required them to keep them contained and not be seen by the public, which they failed to do. Because of that, Deirean had found them and now everyone knew what she… She closed her eyes. She was getting too far from the question. "The mission was a success."
"But it doesn't feel like it."
Aspen lifted her finger and tapped it down with just enough force to bite into the wood. She slowly drew it back toward herself. "We should not have left the warehouse. Rhys, Ilex, Carmine, and Emerald were all in danger because I did not go after her myself. I could have—"
Glynda cut in with a click of her tongue. "As I already explained to Rea, there was no guarantee that Deirean wouldn't have found you even if you had stopped Emerald from escaping. By your own account, her aura was already troubled enough to be felt from several blocks away."
"We made it worse by chasing her, and when Deirean…" Aspen flicked her finger away, dragging an arc out to the left of her last line. A form had begun to take shape, as though a message to herself from her subconscious. She drew a final line, cutting back across the first. "We were supposed to keep our mission contained so we would not cause a panic, but Deirean's presence is fear itself. It is an ocean of blood that drowns any aura it touches and leaves them hollow. When he released it…" Screaming. Terror. Pain. Aspen pulled her hand back into a fist. Her claws rattled on the table's surface. "There were hundreds of people within reach, and I could not stop him."
Glynda stood in silence for some time, long enough for Aspen's hand to still once more. Extending her fingers, Aspen brushed them over the etching to brush away the dust. The woman's eyes lowered, as though noticing it for the first time. "What is this you're drawing?" Curiosity filled her aura.
Aspen frowned. "Drawing" didn't sound right… Write. Writing. The final shape, cleaner than her reproduction, filled her mind: two intersecting arcs, skewed to lie somewhere between an "x" and a "t"; a third arc connecting the two lowermost ends to form a triangle; an oval resting on the uppermost tip like a leaf on the stem of a flower. With the shape came a word: "Penance."
A heavy sigh pulled Aspen's focus from the word carved into the table. "You're a smart girl, Aspen," Glynda said, shaking her head. Her aura turned somewhere between despair and sympathy. "Perhaps too smart for your own good. I am certain that, if I asked, you could find a thousand flaws in the way your team handled the mission and a thousand more reasons to feel guilty, but the fact of the matter is that you have nothing at all to feel guilty about."
Aspen opened her mouth to argue, but she was silenced by a wave of Glynda's hand. "It is impossible to account for every variable on every mission. You will simply never have enough information or control. It is far more valuable to be able to adapt to an evolving situation, and that is a skill I know you have." She gestured over to the video screen, still showing the same image of Deirean and Emerald. "Above all else, a huntress's duty is to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and Deirean is a man few can protect themselves from. Regardless of Atlas's or the Council's intentions, you did the right thing letting him escape. If you hadn't…"
"…my team would be dead," Aspen finished. It was difficult to accept, but perhaps Glynda was right. She hadn't put her team in danger, she'd saved them. It had only cost her everything. She pulled her hand away from the rune she'd carved and brought it close to her chest to cover the gap she felt there. "Instead, I have betrayed their trust and made them fear me."
"Well," Glynda said, annoyance sparking through her aura. She straightened her back and gestured toward the door Colonel Silvia had left through. "Perhaps a full debrief is in order, then."
(- - -)
"Aspen, please tell me you have a good explanation for this."
The sound the girl—could she still be called that?—made was pitiable, and the look of terror on her face when she realized she couldn't speak was equally as moving. For Laurel, however, they paled in comparison to the pull she felt on her heart when Aspen dropped her head and raised her arm toward them. It took her several seconds to realize what was happening.
She was surrendering to them. This… girl, who had torn other Grimm apart with her bare hands, who had outfought two hunters and a full team of trainees, who had just survived being stabbed in the head, who had no reason to fear for her life, was giving up. She wasn't fighting back. She wasn't trying to run. She was placing her fate in their hands.
Laurel's hands.
Something snapped inside the woman, cutting through her regret and horror and pity to crawl its way to the surface and manifest in burning, directionless anger. This, whatever it was, couldn't be allowed to happen. There were simply too many things they didn't know, and this was not the time to sort them out. Stepping between Aspen and the others, she looked down at the girl. "Get up."
"Tawny…"
Red eyes turned upward, peering through loose black hairs with fear and confusion. Aspen mouthed a word, but the sound was indecipherable. Her arm shook.
"Put your arm down and get up. Now."
The girl hesitantly rose to her feet.
"Tawny, what are you doing?"
Laurel barely looked over her shoulder at her partner. "I'm taking control." To Aspen, she said, "Take Emerald. We're leaving."
"Tawny, you can't just—"
"Don't test me Oliver!" Laurel spun on the man, subconsciously pulling the heat from the surrounding air with her Semblance. She jabbed a finger into his chest. "There are only two courses of action: either put her down, or finish the mission. If you want to pull the trigger, be my guest, but if you won't take that step, you are going to go back to Beacon and I am going to get some goddamn answers."
Oliver tried to stare her down, but Laurel was unrelenting and he looked away. Letting go of the heat she'd built up, Laurel turned back to Aspen, who'd done as she'd been told and held the unconscious Emerald in her arms. She kept her gaze downward. "We're going back to the warehouse." Laurel barely waited for a response before leading her off in that direction. As she walked, she pulled out her scroll and connected a call with Acting Headmistress Goodwitch.
"You have a lot of explaining to do."
(- - -)
Laurel pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long sigh. In retrospect, she might have been a little harsh with Oliver. Probably freaked the kids out more than they already were. Did they even know about the kill-switch before she mentioned it? Carmine, possibly, but certainly not Ilex or Rhys. If Oliver had actually used it, there would have been no coming back from that and, even if she still didn't have the full picture yet, Laurel knew he would have regretted it for the rest of his life. Separating Aspen from the others had been the only good way out of that situation. Well, least worst.
She shook her head. How did she get here? Where had her life gone so sideways that a mid-tier huntress from Vacuo barely in her late twenties was pulling double duty as both a teacher at Beacon Academy and custodian to a girl who may or may not be a Grimm while also coordinating with the Atlesian military? Well, the answer to that was obvious: it was the moment she stopped to pick up said girl from the middle of the desert.
But how could one girl change her life so drastically?
Laurel didn't have long to think on it. Down the hall, a woman stormed out of the room Aspen was debriefing in. The hairs on the back of Laurel's neck stood on end when Colonel Rea Silvia turned her gaze toward her, only to glare and walk the other direction. Laurel couldn't relax until the other woman turned a corner and passed out of sight.
Laurel hadn't dealt with Atlesian officers before, but she'd heard plenty of rumors, few of them positive. Arrogant, stubbornly independent, nationalistic to a fault, and open in their prejudices. While Colonel Silvia hadn't quite lived up— or down, rather—to the generalized reputation in the few instances Laurel had interacted with her, she'd hardly refuted it, either. Judging from how furious she'd looked coming out of the room, Laurel suspected she'd simply had the good fortune not to receive the full Silvia experience.
"Excuse me, but could you possibly point me in the direction of the personal cabins?"
Laurel turned to face the voice, finding it vaguely familiar. When she saw the source, she understood why. Weiss Schnee stood before her, hands folded politely and a veritable crate of luggage behind her. Schnees had their own reputation, a variant of Atlesian officers: cunning, conniving, cutthroat, and plenty of other hard-c words. It threw Laurel, then, when the girl feigned surprise. "Oh! I'm sorry. I thought you were Atlesian personnel."
Laurel looked down at her poncho and chino shorts, then back up to the girl. "Really."
Weiss sighed, her prim and proper posture slumping in. "No, I suppose I didn't." She straightened up again. "You're one of Aspen Gray's… guardians, correct?"
"I suppose you could call me that. Laurel Tawn."
The girl curtsied, crossed ankles and all. "Weiss Schnee. A pleasure to meet you." Laurel wouldn't describe the encounter as "pleasant," but she nodded politely anyway. When the girl stood up again, she looked down the hallway. "My partner told me that Aspen had been released from Atlesian custody. Is that not the case?"
Laurel glanced down the hall, then raised an eyebrow at Weiss. "I take it you haven't watched the news in the last, oh—" She checked her scroll. "—sixteen hours?"
Weiss frowned, a sad look in her eyes. "No, I'm… I'm afraid I've been a little preoccupied the last few days." She gestured to her luggage. "I'm going to be returning to Atlas with this ship."
"Oh." That explained why she wanted to know where the personal cabins were. "That's a shame."
"I'm sorry?"
Laurel shook her head, mentally backpedaling away from the unintended connotation. "It's just Grimm activity tends to spike after something like a terrorist attack and it's helpful to have as many capable hands as possible fighting them back."
Weiss's eyes fell to the floor. "Yes. Well, I'm certain everyone will make do without me." The difficulty with which she forced the words out told Laurel she was definitely not talking about city defense. Not that she was going to press, but Weiss rebounded before Laurel even had the chance. "Anyway, I've been hoping to have a chance to speak with Aspen before I left. Is she on the ship?"
Laurel looked down the hallway, hoping that Aspen might walk out of the room so she wouldn't have to answer. No such luck. "Yes, she's—" The door opened, and both Aspen and Acting Headmistress Goodwitch stepped out. Laurel rolled her eyes. "—right there."
In her periphery, Laurel caught the look of shock that passed over Weiss's face. "Well that's… certainly a look. Are the bones…?"
"Yep."
Weiss opened her mouth.
"Best not to ask."
Weiss closed her mouth.
As Aspen approached them, Laurel noticed the wary look she gave her. It hurt on some level, both the perceived lack of trust and the fear of a wounded animal, but Laurel could understand it. Aspen clearly knew she'd been keeping a part of herself secret from them, and to have it suddenly exposed without her control or consent would naturally make her question who she could trust. Laurel wasn't even sure if she herself could trust Aspen.
When Aspen and Goodwitch were close enough, Weiss greeted them in similar fashion as she had to Laurel, though reduced her curtsy to a simple nod for Aspen. "If I may," Weiss said, once pleasantries were out of the way, "may I have a moment with Aspen?" Goodwitch looked to Aspen, and it seemed to take the girl a moment to realize the decision had been deferred to her. She gave a small nod.
Saying a curt farewell to Weiss, Goodwitch subtly ushered Laurel away from the two students, though that didn't stop the younger woman from eavesdropping as she walked away. From the snippet she picked up, it sounded like Weiss wanted to personally thank Aspen for saving her teammates, just like Ruby had.
Confident—more confident—she couldn't say she was one-hundred-percent certain—that there wouldn't be any issues between Aspen and Weiss, Laurel focused in on Goodwitch. Unlike Weiss, Laurel did want to have a conversation with the woman. "So, what's the deal? Are you actually going to tell me what the hell's been going on?"
Goodwitch merely shook her head. "Once we've returned to Beacon, you, Mister Cyprus, and the others will all be brought up to speed on this matter. There are also a number of rules to be established that would be best said once."
Laurel rolled her head back and groaned. "You sound like Oliver." A moment later, blood rushed to her cheeks and she covered her mouth. "Oh, I did not meant to say that out loud."
Defying expectations, a small smirk appeared on Goodwitch's face. "There is also the matter of Aspen's exceptional hearing," she said, continuing as if Laurel had not just made a snide comment about her boss to her boss, "and that it would be in poor taste to speak about her behind her back while still in earshot."
Laurel grimaced. "Right, right. Of course. I suppose I can—"
"I BEG YOUR PARDON?!"
Any embarrassment Laurel felt vanished into the newly-formed pit in her chest. Oh, gods. Can't you just cut me a little bit of slack?
Turning around, she saw Weiss Schnee glaring up at Aspen, hands on her hips as if trying to make herself appear larger. "It's not as if I want to go back, but if I don't, I am guaranteed to lose everything I risked coming to Beacon in the first place!"
While far more subtle than Weiss, there was a sharp edge to Aspen's expression that betrayed her frustration. "That does not answer my question. Why come here if you were not willing to lose what you risked?"
Wiess thrust one hand out, jabbing a finger into Aspen's chest. Laurel tensed up, but Goodwitch calmly placed a hand on her shoulder. "What do you know about risk? You almost killed me and they practically gave you a spot here! You couldn't possibly understand the kinds of choices I've had to make to get where I am!"
Aspen's upper lip drew up, her first open sign of hostility. Laurel's eyes were fixed on the scene, but she didn't miss Goodwitch opening her scroll and preparing to activate Aspen's bracer. "Do you know what choices I have been given? Join or die. Win or die." She held up her arm. "Stay in line or die. I am not here because I was given a spot, as you say. I am here so that I can be controlled and used as a weapon. I am here because my freedom is less valuable than my life."
Laurel's head was spinning. Had Beacon actually threatened to kill Aspen if she didn't enroll? If that were true, either they knowingly threatened what they thought was a normal human girl or they knew that she wasn't from the start. Laurel wasn't sure if the latter possibility was more likely or just less troubling, but it didn't feel like it mattered in the end. She'd been pulled in either way and been made complicit in the use of a girl as a living weapon. It made her sick.
Aspen lowered her arm, and the hostility and anger bled away from her face. "I do not mean to tell you that you are wrong to leave. I simply do not understand how you can risk that which you are not willing to lose."
Weiss looked to be having trouble standing. Were it not for her luggage, she might have fallen over. "Is… Is that true? Did they actually threaten to… kill you?"
Aspen nodded. Weiss looked at Laurel, then Goodwitch. While Laurel did her best to meet her gaze, Goodwitch kept her eyes firmly averted, looking for all the world as if she were paying no attention to the conversation happening just down the hall even as she closed her scroll. From Weiss's scowl, Laurel suspected that only she was close enough to see the small, remorseful frown on the woman's face.
"Don't hate them," Aspen said, drawing Weiss's attention back to herself. Her red eyes briefly flicked up to meet Laurel's before dropping back to Weiss's. "They were not wrong to do so."
The words hit Laurel like a Beringel.
Weiss's gaze lingered on Aspen for a time longer, slowly moving down her entire height. When she reached the floor, she lurched forward, wrapping her arms around the other girl. Despite Weiss's much smaller stature, Aspen grimaced at the contact, and it was only once Weiss pulled away again that her discomfort seemed to fade.
Clasping her hands in front of herself, Weiss took a deep breath. "I know what it's like to be treated like a pawn and to be told that what you want comes second to what someone else wants. I suppose I just lost perspective on what it is I actually want, so thank you, Aspen," she said, bowing her head, "for showing me. If you ever want to talk, I will be glad to listen."
After a moment's hesitation, Aspen nodded in return. Spinning on her heel, Weiss walked up to the two women. Despite her obvious irritation, she managed to suppress her glare and keep a polite tone. "Professor Goodwitch, would it be too much trouble for me to accompany you on your trip back to Vale? I have decided that I will be staying at Beacon for the foreseeable future."
A small smile crept over Goodwitch's face as she bowed. "It would be my privilege, Miss Schnee."
(- -)
Booted heels thudded on metal flooring, echoing through the vast, open chamber and blending in with the low hum of the airship's engines. The brig on the Atlesian command ship had seen more use in the last month than any other in the past, and few officers would ever view this as a positive trend. While none of the occupants had been military personnel, it did not reflect well that two of those prisoners were no longer imprisoned, particularly given that one had escaped and the other was a Grimm.
Now, the brig had two new occupants. Vale had taken custody of all White Fang elements captured in the city-wide raid, which Atlas had agreed to in part due to most being Valean citizens. In exchange, Atlas took custody of Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai. While both had been injured during their capture, neither's injuries were severe enough to warrant an extended period under medical care. For Black, a simple prosthetic replacement had been enough to put him back on both his metaphorical and literal feet again. Sustrai's injury was hardly as deep as it was long, and Team GREI's field dressing had been sufficient to stabilize her after she'd gone into shock. A properly maintained dressing and the healing power of aura would do the rest, although the wound would still leave a scar.
The damage suffered during the arrest was not only physical, however. Sustrai hadn't spoken since regaining consciousness, even to answer simple questions. She complied with basic requests asked of her, but she never shook the far-off look, even when moved from the med-bay to her cell. It wasn't until an hour after she'd been closed in that she showed emotion, breaking down and weeping. In light of Aspen Gray's debriefing, it seemed likely that Sustrai's mental state was connected to her exchange with Deirean.
Colonel Rea Silvia was not interested in what was said, however.
The woman stopped outside Sustrai's cell. Moments later, the door slid down into the floor, revealing the green-haired criminal within. Between her puffy eyes and the loose clothes she'd been given to more comfortably wear over her bandages, Sustrai was a sorry sight. Her eyes were focused, at least, and not defiant. A good sign that Silvia wouldn't receive silence in response to her questions.
"You have a powerful Semblance," Silvia said, stepping just inside the cell. Sustrai followed the movement, but didn't move herself. "The ability to make others see or hear things that aren't real would be particularly useful if one were to, say, attempt to destabilize a Kingdom." Sustrai's involvement wasn't in question, but Silvia took satisfaction in how she averted her gaze. "I can't imagine it's easy to create a believable illusion from nothing, however. The best lies do carry a kernel of truth, after all. What I would like to know is very simple." She leaned down over Sustrai.
"Who was the woman you showed to the Rephaim?"
Some characters just refuse to go away. A one-off character like Colonel Silvia just decides to extend their stand-in duties and do their own thing. I think I might've gotten rid of her this time, though there's a chance she might worm her way back in before the story's up.
Speaking of characters doing their own thing, I'm finally giving Laurel more room to do hers. It's always been in the back of my mind that she hasn't really existed as a character outside of Oliver, and that's… not ideal. Admittedly, her character arc will deal with exactly that issue, but I still don't feel simply incorporating it excuses the fundamental flaw in my writing. Giving characters more room to exist separate from the others is something I'll definitely be looking to improve through the rest of this story.
Until next time. Au revoir!
