Chapter 14: Eternity in an Hour

Ruby was at Weiss' side, the couple was, for the moment, tasked with delivering supplies to the populace of Lapenrauma. The day had been long, and their presence outside the cobblestone street in front of the town hall was mostly symbolic, almost unnecessary, were it not for the fact that their presence brought the idea of security. It was calming to large groups, and such clear prevention to Grimm attacks was almost enough reason on its own.

As members of completely different branches of entirely different governments, Huntresses and village officials were only tenuously connected, but to leave before making sure everything had been distributed as promised would be akin to leaving a job half done. The citizens had been instructed to form a line, and it spanned from the village hall down the entirety of the main street. A lively day despite the snow, almost unbearable cold and the somewhat cloudy skies.

The delivery was somewhat expedient, as far as the village Chief had informed the team Lapenrauma only had about fifteen hundred people, (one thousand, five hundred and seventy six, if Weiss' estimates were correct) yet many of the of the townspeople slowed down as they passed by the couple, either in awe or confusion. As far as she'd been told, before Coco's mission they hadn't seen a Huntsman in years, and Specialists were but distant rumors, agents of the miracle city of Atlas hundreds of kilometers away.

Many of them weren't completely aware of the brewing conflict with the levitating landmass, yet most seemed to recognize Weiss. She could distinguish her name among the somewhat private conversations between the people in line. Weiss feigned ignorance, but she still wondered, what could they be speaking of? Her name and image had been spread all across remnant years ago when she was still seen as nothing but the Schnee singer, but it would normally draw nothing more than a few glances. Perhaps they'd heard of the fight on the outskirts? Or maybe even the fact she'd denounced her noble seat. Regardless of the reasons, even as she stood vigilant, just in case there was some sort of trouble, her mind had strayed elsewhere.

Ozpin's words echoed in her mind, what could he mean by "survive the next night"?

To survive, she remembered, didn't necessarily mean surviving in a fight, it was a basic Hunting principle. There were many they'd accrued in their education, as the diversity of tactics, strategy and philosophies were key to continuous advancement, another key principle. Surviving could also mean adapting, or efficiently farming, or building sturdy settlements, or it could be none of these and simply mean surviving a fight. It would all depend on the context.

She could afford to explore the possibilities for the moment.

Weiss recalled the conversation, during it, Ozma seemed to… predict future events? If he had some form of precognition that would make her persistent attempts at understanding it rather futile, but it seemed as if it took some amount of effort. She didn't think it possible, to calculate the future, it felt like a development out of a science fiction book.

But then again, under another context perhaps ever her own powers would be called such.

Returning to the most basic, she thought, Maybe he simply meant making sure the people here are fed and defended, we'll have to go with the shotgun approach and just cover as many bases as we can.

Weiss sighed internally, It's such an Ozpin move to give us a vague mission like this. What the fuck am I supposed to do now? If I tell my team I'll sound like a madwoman, but there's no one else I can trust.

"Weiss," Ruby called, to catch her attention, then pointed behind her, "You're doing it again."

Weiss glanced behind herself, seeing the Glyph she'd unconsciously conjured. It was wide as her arm span, and floated close to her back. Ah, maybe that was why people were looking.

Ruby continued as Weiss dismissed the Glyph. She looked worried, and not just because many hours ago Weiss had collapsed on the snow for mere moments before making a plethora of suggestions for the continuation of the mission, "You've been doing that a lot more lately, ever since the fight with the Dragon," she inched closed, lowered her voice to a whisper, "Do you think we might get attacked or something?"

Weiss considered the thought, in a way, she did think they were under a very, very severe threat, but there was no reasonable way to justify it. As hard as it pained her, she'd have to omit the details for the moment, it was all okay as long as she told her team the truth eventually.

"I guess I've been a little jumpy ever since I passed out. No big deal."

Ruby shrugged, "Alright. You know, there's no problem taking a break, we've been here way longer than we need to anyway, I could call Blake and Yang-"

Weiss' eyes went wide at the suggestion, "There's no need! I wouldn't want to interrupt Blake's task anyway."

After a moment of hesitation, Ruby continued. "Sure," she dragged out the word, disquieted by the sudden burst, "I don't think it'll go anywhere though, Cardin scouted the area outside before, right? If there was a chance we'd be attacked we'd be fighting right now."

"Yes," Weiss said, noncommittal. It was something of a conversation ender, and given how Ruby wasn't necessarily the best at expressing herself to begin with, it would keep her from continuing the conversation for some time. It was necessary, she didn't doubt Cardin, but there was no way she could trust his assessment over Blake's, her teammate had specialized in Stealth and Security after all.

Weiss hated what she'd just done, she knew Ruby for a long time, enough to know so much about her that she could use her social weaknesses, and the act of doing so made Weiss loathe herself to her core, the sickly feeling bubbling up from her gut certainly didn't help. She felt more like an atlesian Noble and less like the Huntress she wanted to be.

This better be fucking worth it Ozpin.

Could he have accounted for this, for her potential to manipulate her own teammates using their trust? She hoped not, but something told Weiss on that path only lay disappointment. The man was immortal, and apparently had even created the concept of Huntsmen itself. If there was someone who could take into account even the most minute details about someone to manipulate them…

Unless…

He couldn't possibly know enough about Weiss other than nationality and family, in other words, only the broad strokes. Weiss considered it, if one person made too many assumptions it became nearly impossible to explain anything, mistakes would pile up, making the conclusion completely incorrect. She had to eliminate strings of unfounded assumptions if she wanted to correctly predict his intentions, and perhaps even the ex-Headmaster had to do the same?

She could remember that as a Hunting principle too, Osias' Razor.

If a person was making as few assumptions about Weiss, perhaps even with information from her Beacon days mixed with what Ozpin could gather during their conversation, what would they come up with? They'd think she was an entitled heiress, a noble and a supremely cautious person… Perhaps that was why he was so vague.

During their conversation, Weiss couldn't tell if he was friend and foe, because the face was completely unfamiliar, and in a way she still couldn't. The only reason she even followed through with what he asked was because if he was correct, then too much was at stake to risk it. In that sense, even if he was really Ozpin and was really looking to help, he'd know Weiss wouldn't possibly follow any specific course of action, at least not before consulting with her team, who'd probably consult higher authority.

That line of thought was dangerous, Weiss realized. She was dipping into some amount of paranoia there. Sure, perhaps some of it was warranted given the fact there was a continent wide mental attack happening at all times, but paranoia was paranoia nonetheless.

So then maybe the task itself was meaningless, meant to keep them in one place for a day? There wasn't much to survive against in the area they found themselves in, unless some grand attack or siege was incoming, and she'd only know that once Blake returned. Weiss kept the thought on the back of her mind.

Exploring the thought only a small step further, the possibility made sense, in a grand scheme kind of way. Predicting individual people is a difficult task, there are many variables, and the ripples single individuals can cause stretch so far that it can ruin entire larger plans, strategies that spanned decades.

And so the reason for it could be narrowed down to one of three possibilities: Either Ozpin wanted them in one place to correctly predict their enemies, and such made sense, given the fact that one operation could disrupt them and change many variables like Dust reserves, manpower and movement. The second possibility being that he wanted the team in one place because something important was about to happen there…

Or third, he simply needed the time.

Of course, all of it assumed she had really spoken to Ozpin, and Weiss was well aware that she could simply have experienced what it's like to have several cerebral accidents in quick succession and hallucinate the entire ordeal. It was why she didn't tell her team straight away either.

But the third possibility, the more she thought of it the more it made sense. If each of a single person's decisions were so arbitrary they could be compared to a hundred-sided dice, then even a thousand people would magnify the possibilities by such. It was really impossible to correctly predict what that one die roll would be, therefore a thousand die rolls would be even harder, right?

Wrong.

Weiss considered the dice analogy she thought of a moment ago. As long as all the dice were a hundred sided, the more dice were introduced into an equation, the higher the chances of an average roll of fifty or so. In essence, it was easier to acquire a predetermined outcome from masses than single individuals, and all it would require was restricting the possibilities to a predictable range.

Perhaps the unpredictability of smaller groups was one of the reasons they fought in teams of four, rather than five, or ten, or in military squads. Had Ozpin come up with it in the past to fight Salem?

Again she knew she was falling into very superstitious and paranoid thinking. As far as she knew Ozpin was simply a very intelligent man, but damn it, how could she help her team like this? There was no direction to go, they'd been chasing the wrong enemy all along!

Just as she'd worn herself out, Blake walked down the street, joining them shortly. "Everything good?" she asked.

Ruby nodded, "No problem so far. And since you're here and not sounding the emergency sirens I guess it's all good out there too?"

It was Blake's turn to nod that time, "Nothing, no sign of Grimm or military. Four Seven Niner is looking over the interceptor's footage, just to be sure tho."

Weiss glanced at Blake, "You scouted the area with the interceptor?"

"It was kind of Yang's idea actually. It's small and quiet enough it can be mistaken for something out of Atlas at a glance."

"That's… good. So we're clear then."

"Yes, we're clear, I do have to say though, we've found a pretty position."

Considering the thought, Weiss raised a hand to her chin, "You mean because of the taiga forest?"

"That," Blake said, "And the walls here. Yang's been fortifying them you know, they're pretty sturdy. I gave her some tips like you asked, ways to make the inside of the wall more… navigable. More openings, a few fake towers to distract any attacking Grimm, you know the ordeal."

So the outskirts were fine then, no sign of the atlesian military? But what about-

"But what about flying enemies?" Ruby said, before Weiss herself interjected, "I don't think the walls are going to do much about that."

Blake took her scroll as she continued, "I talked with the Chief about that. You see here?" She showed a map of the village on her scroll, evenly spaced dots pulsated in the image of the semicircular village, "The whole village used to be a military outpost. Some of the places here, local markets and whatnot were watchtowers. Many people here don't even know it."

"And the guns, do they work?" Ruby asked.

Blake made a so-so gesture, "They'll need a little work, about eighty years without cleaning or switching parts kinda ruined them. I think the biggest problem is something else though…"

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "How so?"

"Well, the only Huntsmen who even knew how to fix them are dead. The guards they have here aren't used to anything but basic equipment like rifles and pistols."

"I think," Ruby said, then hesitated for a moment, thinking, "I think I can get them back online, is it a pre-war model?"

Blake shook her head, "Great war model, but it's a modular caliber turret."

The disappointment in Ruby's face was palpable, "Ah, that's… Not as good, but hey, we work with what we've got right?"

"Right. I'll go back to the walls, Yang still has a lot of work to do and I think I can still help a lot."

As Blake walked away, Ruby turned to face Weiss, "Well, I guess that one weight off our back isn't it?"

"Yes," Weiss answered, almost distantly. The fact that Blake couldn't find any enemy… in a way it confirmed her suspicions! The only enemy Blake couldn't catch so far was one that both used magic and attacked their minds, and even then, she almost had it. If Blake said there were no enemies, then Weiss was sure of it! She turned her attention elsewhere, to the line of waiting citizens. Throughout the time she'd been thinking and watching, it had shortened considerably. It seemed as if Penny and Winter inside were pretty efficient in distributing.

Without the worry of a direct attack, Weiss could finally think clearly. There were new options to consider, and the first being the one named Salem. Had she seen Weiss' location, was she personally sending any spies their way? There was no way to tell, Ozpin had told her that magic was not only real but much more flexible than Semblance, and there were resemblances who could transform women into high-speed rose petal storms, who was to say that magic couldn't spy on them from afar? If it could, she'd already be damned.

Then again, if she was already damned, then there could be some refuge in audacity, same as Ruby had suggested all the way back during the assembly… If she was open enough about Salem to her team in secret, then maybe it would uso a portion of Salem's plans. Maybe only slightly but small deviations had their way of creating ripples, spiraling out of control. She knew the only thing to avoid was making it public, an easy task.

Perhaps she didn't need to tell her team directly either. Not right away… There were ways to "soften the blow", to make it more palpable. The moment of revelation had been a shock to Weiss, but it didn't have to be one to them. She could be better.

'Hey Ruby," Weiss said, "Doesn't it feel a little strange?"

Ruby looked at her, confused, "What do you mean?"

"I mean we've been fighting for months now and not much has changed."

"Oh come on, don't you think that's a bit pessimistic?"

"No, that's not what I mean, look, we still have no intel on Atlas, right?"

"Right… don't see why though."

"Don't you think it's a little weird they've been hitting places that matter but never taking them, not even the Dust?"

"Maybe?" after a moment of hesitation some confusion spread acrossRuby's face, "I.. think?"

There it was, that spell again. Weiss could keep pressing on, continue the line of thought, maybe make Ruby feel something to break free of the spell…

But strength failed her. As much as it might've been for the greater good, as much as she could manipulate her fiancé to free her of the influence of Salem, she remembered the experience of being trapped within a magical illusion. How could she do that? How could she inflict on her own partner the possibility of mental torture? She could never do that to Ruby, or to Yang, or Blake!

What if she was wrong?

What if it was all a figment of her imagination, and Salem was nothing more nothing less than a hallucination named after a half-remembered exotic meal?

She couldn't possibly know. She couldn't know if any of the passing citizens were spies of an all-powerful or simply… people, living their lives. Maybe one of the citizens was analyzing her, to report to Salem, maybe not. It was frustrating!

"So… Are you going to finish what you were saying?"

Before Weiss could speak, she took a deep breath, to calm herself, "I was just thinking out loud, that's all."

Ruby turned her attention back to the line, now only a couple dozen people long, "Well, we all do that. Either way, we'll be going right back to base as soon as we're over here. We can hash things out in detail there, don't you think? Oh!"

Ruby's scroll caught her attention, the rhythmic low beep ringed thrice, then stopped. A direct long range message from The Mirage, at that time of day?

"Oh." Ruby said, in a more serious tone, "Well that's new."

"What is?"

"Well they've rescued some Teams but that's not important. For some reason Ozpin is here. I wonder why that is, isn't he a Council member now?"

It took all of Weiss' strength not to collapse then and there. The timing, it was too close to be coincidental, was that illusion real then, had she really spoken to Ozpin. She did her best to keep her emotions from showing.

"Ah.. I… I see."

"And," Ruby continued, "He wants to talk to us. I wonder why that is."

Fuck, so it was real! Had he told her to stay in place to gain himself time? If so, that was one piece of manipulation Weiss certainly loathed, could he have any idea how she anguished over the conversation? If it was just maneuvering he'd probably told her to attack Atlas directly purely because he knew they'd have to return to The Mirage to resupply.

At least that piece of information she could trust. Attacking Atlas made sense, there was someone in power at that moment and they had to find out who. They had to cripple the military before the city could raze Solitas to the ground, and there was no better place to plan for it than The Mirage.

How many times had Ozpin manipulated things in such a way?

Fucking shit Ozpin! Why couldn't you just tell me? Weiss grit her teeth, realizing she'd tensed up in the heat of the moment. She could've been relieved. Relieved that she wasn't insane, or paranoid or simply a victim of circumstance. Instead she fumed silently.

Ozpin better have some answers.