A/N: Hey everyone. I am going to try and post the third part as soon as I can, but after that third part of chapter 10 goes up, I'll be taking a hiatus. Personal health problems and other adulting responsibilites are heavily impacting the time I can spend on my hobby in good conscience. I thoroughly enjoy reading your comments, and it is so so so encouraging to read the positive and constructive notes you leave me. Thank you, and I promise I'll be back as soon as I'm able.

Enjoy

Weiss had heard a great deal of commotion in the halls, at one point she could have sworn she heard a woman screaming followed by what sounded like a full-scale battle stretching down the hallway complete with broken plates or pottery and splintering wood.

Adam returned a short time later and ordered dinner. As Weiss navigated the hallways, she could see small pieces of the aftermath of whatever had gone on. Members were scurrying about trying to sweep up broken shards of what looked like decorative vases and frantically trying to cover holes punched in the wall with cloth banners. Avoiding eye contact, she stayed out of their way to the kitchen.

Returning back to the room was more of a challenge with his dinner tray in her arms, but she managed it with grace. She could hear whispers and comments as the halls were still strewn with wreckage and faunus making speculations. From what she could gather, someone had put up a fight being restrained, and it took a number of people to finally wrestle her into a cell. Words like coup, loyalties, and overthrow were being thrown around in tiny snippets that hushed as soon as she was close enough to pass by.

She said nothing as she laid out Adam's food for him and then for herself, only speaking up as he was about to take his first bite of food.

"You seized power of the White Fang from the high leader?" She said more than asked, but judging by the way he continued eating nonchalantly, she figured not only was it true, but that he'd been planning on it for some time.

He saw no need to mince words with her. "Yes. Sienna Khan has been removed as high leader and is incarcerated in our prison block. I have ascended as high leader in her stead. This happened a bit faster and sloppier than I had envisioned. It goes without saying that Sienna Khan resisted the take-over vehemently."

"And now you are high leader with no Blake at your side."

"Not for lack of trying," Adam said, shrugging his shoulders. Weiss realized that having Blake was initially a part of his plan in returning to Mistral.

"That's why you wanted to capture her in Menagerie. To be part of your take-over here? You can't make her love you, Adam." Weiss said.

His shoulder sagged. "Blake wasn't…I loved Blake, but I never really thought of us as romantic, I guess. We were partners. And I wanted us to stay partners, I wanted to use both of our determination and connections to lead the faunus into equality. I just assumed us as an inevitability: the logical progression of our relationship. I was the driving force that pushed us forward, she was the rock that kept us well grounded. The cause always came first, and she knew that. I thought we were on the same page about that until…we suddenly weren't anymore." He placed his chopsticks down in his bowl, almost in defeat.

"And how did you think capturing her would help this situation at all?" Weiss asked. "Were you going to hold her hostage trying to get Ghira's compliance with the White Fang? Or did you think bringing her back would make her want to rejoin?"

"I wanted to face the people she hurt," Adam snarled.

"So that you could hurt her back?" Weiss pressed. "Were you going to execute her?"

"I don't owe you an explanation of my actions!" He snorted, but continued. "Of course not. She would have remained our prisoner as punishment for betraying her brother and sisters. Just as Sienna is now. Hopefully, in time, both of them will come to see reason."

He finished the last portion of his food. Weiss had finished her bowl of rice and prepared to take everything back.

"While you're there, have rations prepared for Sienna and deliver them to her cell," he ordered.

"By myself?" Weiss asked, wary of his previous orders.

"When you were just the servant of an officer you could still be touched without fear of repercussions. Since I am high leader, no one would dare interfere with my pet project now. Besides, right now, no one is even going to care about you, they're all still buzzing about the high leader getting dethroned." Adam poured himself a glass of bourbon, a rarity since that was only reserved for his end of the day routine, and the night was still young. Weiss bowed and excused herself.

She had to get directions from the cook to the prison block where Sienna was being held. Her fare was to be the same as Weiss's: a normal sized bowl of white rice with blunted chopsticks in a plastic bowl that she couldn't break and use as a weapon. Weiss was honestly nervous taking food to the recently disgraced tigress.

The guards only raised eyebrows when Weiss approached in her red cheongsam and heels, but stepped aside without a word.

Sienna had been so violent while being detained it took ten guards to hold her down and bind her arms behind her back and her feet together at the ankles. She was seated on the stone floor of her cell.

"Of course, he'd send you," Sienna rolled her eyes after one look at Weiss. "Send the human I targeted for assassination to deliver my meals as a show of force."

Weiss was unsure of what to say at first, but sat the tray on the floor. "I…I don't know how they expect you to eat this," she said honestly.

"It doesn't matter, I'm not hungry." Sienna said turning away from her.

"If they feed you the way they feed me, you'll wish you'd eaten when food was offered." Weiss said calmly.

"What do they want, you to feed me? By hand?" Sienna snorted. It was just like him, to make sure she was completely helpless and aware of it. She was in silent awe when Weiss picked up the bowl and put the chopsticks in, carefully holding the small ball of rice within her reach to bite. "You're serious?"

"Consider it me going it the extra mile to prove I'm not like the White Fang portrays humans," she said, holding up the bowl. "Food is food, regardless of whose giving it to you."

"It's nothing personal, but no thanks," Sienna responded. "Adam might want to humiliate me this way, but if he thinks I'm going to eat out of the palm of your hands, he's going to be disappointed."

The door opened.

"Disappointed, but not surprised." Adam said flatly. Weiss scurried to his side, leaving the tray and food on the floor Leave us," he ordered. The two guards stepped away from the entrance and allowed Weiss to exit, leaving the food behind. He waited until they were completely alone before continuing his conversation. "Please understand, that I had no other choice but to seize power from you, high leader." He kept his voice calm and even respectful as he spoke.

"You're going to run this organization into the ground, and the respect for the faunus with it," Sienna spat.

Adam kneeled to be eye level with her, but kept his distance. Knowing her, she'd probably try to kick or bite him, even tied up. "I needed to put on a good show for Hazel and let him report back to his bosses that we're being compliant."

"You made a grave mistake by including them," Sienna snarled.

"I had no other choice, Sienna." Adam said frankly. "These people have power we can't even begin to fathom and I was afraid for my chapter in Vale when Cinder approached me after she'd gotten her maiden powers."

Sienna squinted at him. He wasn't making any sense.

"What do you mean, maiden power?"

Adam sighed, but seated himself cross legged on the floor. He calmly explained everything to her just as Hazel had explained it to him. Hazel's boss was a Grimm who used to be human, an immortal woman named Salem who wished to rid the world of humanity's rule. He told her about the maidens and their special powers gifted to them by Professor Ozpin, who coincidentally was Salem's lover in some past life. He told her about how Cinder had approached him years ago, when Blake was still part of the White Fang, about how he'd laughed her out of the camp, but she'd come back with magic, magic that didn't require the aid of dust, and all but threatened his people if they didn't assist her in her attack on Beacon. He explained that Salem had resources besides that of the maiden powers, that one of her men had hacked the android that turned on the Atlesean fleet. He even explained what he knew of the relics, though he didn't understand for what purpose Salem wanted them.

Sienna listened only half believing, but Adam was so calm, so serious: he'd either have to be telling the truth or completely convinced of whatever delusion he was under.

"I knew you would have turned down Hazel on principle, because that's what I did at first, but they will eradicate the faunus with humanity if we don't assist them."

"She sounds like she's going to eliminate us anyway," Sienna replied. "If these people are as evil as you say they are, they're not going to stop at the human race."

"Which is why we must play our cards carefully. Right now, Hazel and Salem think we're being complicit which will buy us time to find a way to save ourselves and possibly find a way to overpower them. We can't let them know we don't trust them. If they don't suspect us, we will have the element of surprise. Let me be their point of contact while you look for a way to get us out of this in the background."

For a long time, Sienna was silent. Trying to cope with her situation, learning all of this new reality and being put in such a situation by Adam took some time to absorb, much less formulate a response.

"I'm sorry, Adam," she said, still refusing to look him fully in the face, "You had a chance to keep the faunus out of this from the very beginning. You thought you were keeping us safe by joining with someone every human would seek to fight against. You put us directly into danger by subjugating our organization to the whims of an organization that seems more like a cult than anything. You played with fire, and you're starting to feel the heat. Don't have the audacity to take my throne from me and then enlist my help."

"This is the best course for the faunus," Adam said, trying to keep his composure.

"You thought helping Roman Torchwick was the best course for the faunus, and it killed how many of our men? You thought helping invade Beacon was the best course, and that disaster has only made the White Fang look like anarchists, not activists. You're not in a place to determine what is best for our people."

Adam stood abruptly. "You're tired. You're hungry. This has been an eventful day for you, and you're not thinking clearly. After you fully are able to process what I've told you, I hope that you'll change your mind."

He turned, and had his hand on the doorknob when Sienna growled at him.

"I won't." She said flatly.

The new high leader looked over his shoulder of his predecessor. "Probably."

He swung the door open to re-summon the guards. Weiss was gone. He was frustrated, but had to maintain control of his emotions in front of his men. Returning to his room, Weiss had already turned down his covers and was adjusting her cot for bed.

"Is there anything else you will require for the evening, sir?" she asked, as she was required every evening before being dismissed for bed.

"Yes." He said removing the grimm mask from his face and removing his gloves, both signs that he was in for the night. "From this time forward, you will no longer address me as 'sir' but as high leader in front of the others. Here, you may continue to address me as sir."

"Yes, sir," she nodded.

"I'll make arrangements for a different uniform for you. Typically, Mistral has the red uniforms but the faunus who had any kind of status or served high members of the SDC wore black uniforms that were a little shorter."

He dismissed her for the night. Laying on her cot, she thought of the vial she had filched. She'd decided to wait a few weeks before trying anything with it to make sure it hadn't been missed. She doubt it would with everything that had happened today, but she'd been so careful to play along, to earn their trust, it would be a shame to ruin it now.

In just the course of a week, Weiss's situation changed drastically. She had some suspicions as to why, but couldn't confirm any of them. It seemed the entire mood of the White Fang toward her had changed. Adam had insisted on moving into the high leader's quarters, which were larger, and included a servant's chamber, meaning Weiss had to move all of Adam's belongings, but at least was able to get a private room to herself that wasn't the antechamber.

She only had to wear high heels the first day with her red uniform. After commenting on them being uncomfortable once, she was offered a set of flats by Lehela which were astronomically more comfortable. She was even given makeup and hairpins. For some reason, Adam wanted her to look good.

As she passed through the hallways of the converted palace, she was given space. The sideways glances and snide comments stopped. It was as if she was now no longer a piece of property, but an extension of Adam's authority. Whether by his orders or just by virtue of his new position, she was being respected.

Most of her mornings were spent with Adam in the throne room. Literally seated at his feet, he listened to the concerns of the White Fang, assigned troops, approved campaigns, and ran his business from Sienna's old throne. Whenever he needed anything, Weiss was called upon to deliver or fetch for him, giving her some amount of trust. The afternoons, Adam spent either training troops, working on his own technique, and conducting business that didn't require her 'assistance', leaving her to attend to his personal matters such as his laundry, cleaning, and taking food to Sienna Khan.

With the newfound respect, she was beginning to feel safe. The protection and status made her feel something akin to comfortable.

At Mountain Glenn, the building her 'dormitory' was in was the furthest from the main grid. The electricity frequently went out and she'd gotten fully accustomed to lukewarm showers or the hot water running out altogether. She wasn't sure if the other buildings were the same way, but Adam's quarters were one of the best in the Mistral HQ. She looked forward to nothing more than her afternoon showers where she had the privacy and security to be to herself as Adam was almost always out.

By day three, she was comfortable enough to start singing in the shower. At first it was just humming quietly, but by the end of the week, she'd turned shower time into her own private concert hour. It was almost cathartic getting to sing again; it gave her some minuscule sense of happiness and control in her world. Even the acoustics in the bathroom were perfect. She could close her eyes and for just a few minutes every day be somewhere else. She'd imagine herself in Atlas, on stage, everything dark except the spotlight on her and she could perform whatever song she wanted: no father to tell her what she could and couldn't sing.

On the one-week anniversary of her shower singalong, she'd just turned the water off when the shower curtain ripped open.

Adam was scowling her in his cloth mask, his mouth open to either shout at her or scold her, but upon looking her naked frame over he took a step back. His brows furrowed and his hardened frown was replaced by a look of confusion. The anger on his face immediately melted into shock and almost disgust.

Weiss stood still and locked and eyes with him. Ashamed, but not willing to let it show, she stood locked eyes with him, standing in the shower.

"How much weight have you lost?" he asked. If she hadn't known better, he sounded genuinely concerned.

"I...I...I don't know," she stammered.

"You look anorexic."

With as much dignity as she could muster, she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel to wrap around herself. Quelling her internal panic, she used the smaller towel and began squeezing the excess water out of her hair. "When you aren't fed, but still have to work ten to twelve hours a day, you tend to get anorexic," she replied softly.

Without a word he retreated, pulling the door to the bathroom shut behind him. She promptly began to sob, praying he was far enough away not to hear her. In truth, she hated seeing herself in the mirror now. Her once shining mane was now dull, void of any vitality. Her eyes looked sallow, and every time she inhaled, she could see her own ribs. The muscle tone in her arms had improved, but with bones protruding from her hips, shoulders and ribs were unsightly on her already wiry frame. Her slaver pointing it out just exacerbated her feelings about it.

Adam was cleaning his weapon at one of his work tables when she emerged from the bathroom. He said nothing as she made her way to her room to dress. By this time, a new black silk uniform had been delivered for her, along with a set of black silk slippers. She emerged to find Adam putting his sword back in the sheath.

"You're left-handed, right?"

"Yes, sir?"

"I need a left-handed sparring partner," he said matter-of-factly. "I find that aspect of my skill…lacking."

"With all due respect, sir, I don't think I'm the best candidate." Weiss replied, fiddling with her hair. She'd gotten accustomed to having to put her hair up in the morning without the convenience of the bathroom mirror since Adam was getting ready at the same time every morning.

Adam turned to face her. "I need someone who I can practice with at my command, and none of my left-handed officers are always going to be available. I will make arrangements for you to train with me in the dojo and will even provide you work out clothes to practice in. I doubt you'd want to spar in a skirt."

Weiss smiled despite herself. "Depends on the skirt," she smirked. "This thing, with the slits up to here? No. Give me combat skirt and I'll be fine."

"You'll be getting a gi. I'll also let you select from the assortment of practice weapons. I understand you're more of a fencer? You seem to be the prissy, formal swordswoman type."

"My sword was…is a rapier. I took fencing, so I know the forms, but my style isn't as prissy as you think. My main concern isn't my attire, it's this." She lifted her collar with one finger.

Adam scowled. He hadn't thought of that. "I'll think of something." He resolved. "Carry on. The other humans will be arriving later today, so I'll be overseeing their work assignments and housing arrangement, you'll eat at the same time you serve Sienna Khan and then join for their reception."

"Yes, sir," she agreed.

He left without saying another word, leaving Weiss a little confused as to his new request.

The two trays Weiss went to collect for dinner were different. While one had regular 'prisoner rations' of white rice and a small amount of vegetables, the other had a large bowl of rice accompanied by a beef stir fry.

"Yours," the cook said as she handed Weiss the bigger tray, "And high leaders," she said again stacking the tray on top of the first, before sliding in blunted bamboo chopsticks to each tray.

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked.

"This is what he ordered," the cook said, splaying his hands over the food. "I don't ask questions; I just do what the boss orders."

"Ok…thank you." She made her way to Sienna's cell. The guards made no comment, merely unlocking the door and stepping out of her way.

In the week since her detainment, Sienna had been fitted with a collar similar to Weiss's, and was still shackled by the feet to the wall. Weiss set the tray and scooted her food close enough to her to eat before sitting on the floor in front of her own food.

"You're early," Sienna noted.

"Adam wants me to be a part of his twisted welcoming ceremony for the human slaves when they arrive," Weiss said frankly. She didn't have to feign respect for Sienna, nor did she have to put on an air of respect for Adam in front of her.

"Humans in our most sacred place," Sienna sighed. "He'd better hope none of them escape. They'll lead every huntsman in Mistral right to us."

"They're taking people who have never wronged him and abusing them to get back at a system they neither participated in nor benefitted from," Weiss confessed. "Those villagers in Mountain Glenn never did anything to him, to the faunus. Adam doesn't hate the injustice or the prejudice, he just hates humans."

"He seems to have taken a liking to you though," the tigress said, nodding to her larger portion of food.

"I don't know why," Weiss said between bites. "When he first took me, he encouraged my abuse and starvation. Now, I'm basically his administrative assistant."

"More like his collared lapdog," Sienna retorted. "It reminds me of the old stories of when kings would conquer their foes and then collar the defeated kings and make them eat under the table. You're his prize, his trophy. Something to show off."

The heiress looked down at her bowl. "Maybe…that's why he's feeding me more. He saw how unhealthy I looked and maybe thought it reflected poorly on him."

"It could be that, but it could be just him seeing himself in you."

"What do you mean?"

Sienna took her last bite of food and put the bowl back on the tray. "When he was a kid, pre-teen aged, he came to the White Fang after he'd escaped the mines. He was so starved Kali Belladonna cried when she saw him. He'd gone weeks without food staying in hiding long enough to find a White Fang outpost."

"That…had to be harrowing."

"This may not have been your decision personally, but I hope it makes you realize how wretched he had it in the mines. He'd rather starve to death than work for the Schnees." She pushed her empty tray back in Weiss's direction. "I'm not saying that his desire to exact vengeance on the human race is just, but his hatred of the human race is at least somewhat justified. And he won't stop until he has his vengeance, regardless of the consequences."

"But then…why hasn't he killed me yet?" Weiss asked, taking her finished tray and stacking it under her own.

Sienna could only shrug. "He could use you for leverage later on. He could keep you as a testament to his achievements, or perhaps he is finding that he can't hate you as an individual despite your race and your family history. Either way, don't get comfortable. You have no guarantee he won't kill you tomorrow."

Weiss took her tray. "If things were up to you, you I wouldn't even be alive right now. I consider myself to be fortunate. In that regard, we're in the same boat."

It was a fair point, Sienna nodded, conceding to Weiss as she stood. "It was nice to get to eat with someone," she admitted. "Dinners with Adam are pretty quiet."

"I guess we'll have to do it again some time," Sienna half smirked.

Weiss dismissed herself, joining Adam in the throne room after she dropped off the trays. The humans were brought in: collared, and separated out with the men on one side, the women on the other and the children in the front. Most of them looked thinner, and all bore the same expression Weiss had: resignation. They'd resigned themselves to their fate: a life of thankless servitude, but could one blame them? They'd had their spirits branded and starved out of them. Adam made some grandiose speech about how they'd usher in a new era of humans fearing their betters and how the humans before them were property designed to serve them and what would happen if they resisted their orders, but Weiss wasn't paying attention. Scanning the faces of her fellow captives, she found only hopelessness and resentment, making it harder and harder for her to maintain her composure. Her eyes flitted to the White Fang members who had come from Mistral, still in their white uniforms instead of the Mistral black and silver. Bran was among them, and she almost smiled when she saw him. He never looked at her though, and was never able to connect. Looking further, she also saw the lieutenant. She scowled, and of all people, he noticed. His grin spread on his face as she could only imagine his eyes lighting up with sadistic delight behind his mask.

Everything was changing so fast, Weiss wondered if she could keep up with all the new plans being put into effect, and wondered if Adam wasn't stretching himself too far with his new regime.