A/N: I've been building up the canon divergence for a while now, but it's going to start seriously taking off with the battle of Haven turning out so differently.
1. With the battle of Haven going the direction I took it, Weiss wasn't present, meaning Weiss wasn't there to get impaled in order for Jaune to have horror flashbacks of Pyrrha's stabbing (which he didn't actually witness) thereby unlocking his semblance.
2. With all the extra teams present, Oscar's identity wasn't revealed to Hazel, meaning Hazel doesn't get to take that information back to Salem.
3. The White Fang is neither broken up or captured by the Mistral Police. Adam is still in charge and the organization is still a unified brotherhood going into Volumes 6 and onward.
I know that makes things more convoluted, but there comes a point where the story becomes more mine than Miles' and Kerry's.
Author's notes are running long today, so I'm going to forego the lore discussion in order to not bore you before getting to the actual chapter. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it.
"She said his name was Arthur Watts," Sun said, relaying the information he promised to the rest of Weiss' team and JNPR. "She said he's alive and we have to tell her sister this. Apparently, he's some important scientist."
"Our best bet is to try and get tickets on the Argus Limited." Qrow grunted, "From there we can hopefully access the Atlesean military base and contact Ironwood. I'm not sure how Watts plays into this, but if Weiss thinks it's important her sister knows, we'll be sure to tell her." He gave a nod to Oscar who nodded back.
Not wanting to reveal himself to those unknowing in the room, Ozpin would have to wait before explaining Arthur Watt's identity and the importance of him not being dead when only the core group was left. Salem certainly had an eye for both talent and evil, and Arthur Watts was a formidable opponent. Undoubtedly, he was the cause of the hack that turned the Knights and Paladins against the citizens at Beacon. Who
"But she was ok?" Ruby asked anxiously, "She wasn't hurt or scared or anything?"
"Not really," Blake said with a shrug, "it's obvious she's a prisoner, but Adam held back with her. He didn't want to hurt her."
"I don't understand, why would the White Fang want to kidnap Weiss and not just kill her?"
"Because she's more valuable alive than dead?" Blake shrugged. "Adam's pragmatic; he does whatever he thinks will be the most beneficial to him."
"She even said in front of us that he wouldn't kill her," Sun added. "She didn't seem afraid of him; she was willing to yell at him in front of his own underlings. It was ballsy; I liked it."
"She's leverage," Oscar said. "If he ever needs to get out of trouble, he can always offer the Schnee heiress in exchange for his freedom, and it'll be more desirable if she's unharmed. It's a political move."
"I guess we should be grateful to know she's ok," Jaune said, taking Ruby's hand in his own. "If we're able to sort all this out with…" he had to choose his words carefully. Ozpin had gone to great lengths to make sure none of the teams outside RWBY and JNPR knew his secret, and he was not about to be the loser who flubbed that up, "getting to Atlas and finding out who led the attacks on Haven and Beacon, we'll still be able to pick up Weiss' trail, and maybe Winter and her dad will be willing to help us when they know where she is." He tried to sound optimistic.
None of this put Ruby at ease about her former partner. She stood and walked out onto the balcony of the safe house, leaving the rest of the group to continue talking about their plans. Yang followed her outside to make sure she was ok. Ruby paced for a bit, sighed, then leaned on the railing and looked outward over the city.
"She's going to be ok," Yang said, standing beside her enjoying the view. "Especially if she knows we're still looking for her." The sound of a sniffle caught her attention. Ruby was trying to keep it bottled up, but tears finally fell. It broke Yang's heart to see her sister crying. She took Ruby into her arms and cradled her head in a maternal fashion as Ruby clung to her, taking a few minutes to just let out her emotions.
"It's ok to cry," she whispered. "I know you miss her. We all do."
"It's not fair," Ruby sobbed. "We should be out looking for Weiss, but there's always something more important. Getting the relic, defending Haven, taking the relic to Atlas. I hate that there's always something in the way; she's our teammate, we should be prioritizing her."
"She'll understand," Yang assured her. "She's always been the big picture person. She knows we'll come back for her when we can. She's still part of our team and we'll get our whole team back together eventually."
"At least we got Blake back," Ruby said, trying to wipe the tears out of her eyes. "I know you're probably still mad at her, but…"
"It's fine," Yang cut her off, "I was mad, and I still kinda am, but she's part of our team and she did come back and she helped us. We just have a lot of things to work through." She released Ruby from her hug. "Come on. You're tired and you get cranky when you get tired."
"I'm not ready for bed yet," Ruby rubbed the tears out of her eyes. "We have stuff to plan and I want to catch up with Blake and Sun."
"If you need to stay out here a minute longer, we can. At least until your eyes aren't red and puffy anymore."
Ruby nodded. "Ok."
For a minute they stood side by side, looking up at the fractured moon.
"You think there's something Qrow's not telling us about Winter Schnee?" Yang asked absentmindedly.
"What do you mean?"
"They apparently knew each other and had harsh words when she came to town for the Vytal festival, but from the way dad talked to her, and the way Uncle Qrow talks about her, I think maybe they knew each other…more than just as colleagues."
"It's kinda weird to think she visited him when he was dying but didn't stay until morning," Ruby admitted, "And it's also weird she sang to him. Maybe they were partners on one of Oz's secret missions."
"Do you think she knows about all this stuff? About the relics and the maidens?"
Ruby shrugged. "I don't know, I have to think if she's Ironwood's right-hand woman, she'd have to know about some of it, maybe not all of it."
"Everything ok out here?" Jaune cracked the patio door open and poked his head through. "We were going to break out the ice cream, I wanted to let you guys know if you wanted any…before Nora eats it all…"
"We were actually just about to come back in," Ruby said.
"And I'm not letting ice cream go without a fight. I'll arm wrestle her again if I have to," Yang said, pushing the screen all the way open to allow herself passage. As she disappeared into the kitchen, Jaune and Ruby exchanged a knowing look.
"I know what it's like to be a captain with a teammate missing. The hole never really goes away."
"I know," Ruby said, "and I know you still have a soft spot for her, too."
"So, we both agree to not give up hope?" He held out his hand.
"And that we'll track her down the first opportunity that we get." She said taking his hand and shaking it firmly. "Deal?"
"Deal."
A new moon kept the relocated headquarters completely shrouded in shadows as the hovercraft and
ships moved in to dock. Unlike the previous headquarters where all business and was conducted under a single roof, the relocation was a village comprised of several abandoned homes and few communal edifices, one being a watchtower. There were certainly some benefits to the compartmentalization and separation of the buildings, another fire wouldn't ruin the entire operation for one, it also allowed for privacy and cut down on the noise of other activities. While the buildings were in disrepair, they were still well constructed, leaving the things to be fixed superficial or at the very least, easily fixable.
Perishable items were unloaded for storage, but the faunus were tired and by Adam's permit, left the bulk of the stolen goods from Haven in the ship to be unloaded in the morning when they were rested and sober.
Adam disappeared to attend to his other responsibilities leaving Weiss to follow her instructions. The lieutenant smirked as he led her to Adam's quarters, a two-story house centrally located between the watch tower and what looked like a dojo.
The house to a degree had been furnished and cleaned as much as possible. There was a table and two chairs in the kitchen area, and a larger cushioned chair in the living area.
"No electricity and no running water just yet, but we're getting them connected building by building," He lit two lanterns, one to leave downstairs for Adam when he came in and another to show her around the upstairs.
"We have linens and bedding here, and there's a wash basin you can use and refill as needed," he directed. He shone the light into the master bedroom. "We have a foundation and a mattress but not a frame for the bed yet. We're working on unloading everything and are just getting the essentials out as we go. Servant's quarters are in here." He shone the light in the room. There was a hole in the roof, and no furnishings whatsoever.
"There's no mattress for me," she said quietly.
The lieutenant waved dismissively at her. "Not my problem. We have people who need mattresses. You and the other humans will get beds once we've secured housing and bedding for ourselves first." He left her the lantern and went his way with no more explanation or even a farewell.
Weiss hated the anxiety of waiting, and looked for things to do while she waited for Adam. There was a tank of water she used to fill the wash basin up and give herself a good wipe down. After that she carried the lantern from room to room, first sleeping the floor and then using the small pile of linens to put sheets on Adam's bed. Four pillows were delivered to Adam's room, but after putting the cases on them, Weiss took one for herself and hid another: if she was going to sleep on the floor, she'd at least have some support for her neck and back. From there, she kept herself busy sweeping up the layers of dust and dirt as well as she could with just the two lanterns until Adam came in.
He looked briefly at their accommodations, saying nothing, merely carrying the lantern from one room to the next. He finished in the kitchen, placing his lantern on the table next to Weiss and sitting in one of the chairs, removing his outer mask, followed by his sword, his jacket and then his gloves, all plunked on the table. Weiss couldn't take the anticipation any longer.
"If you're going to punish me for defying you at the camp…"
"I'm not going to punish you," he said calmly. "What you said this afternoon, before the siege started…"
"I stand by it."
"I'm not arguing it further, just listen," he braced his hands in front of himself, growing more and more agitated. "You kept me from making a grave mistake tonight. If it weren't for you, I might have set the White Fang on their own friends and family and if you hadn't convinced me that would turn my men against me, it might have ruined my status as High Leader and splintered the entire brotherhood."
"Is this your way of saying I was right?" Weiss folded her arms.
"I'm trying to thank you!" he said harshly. Why was she making this so hard?
"You want to thank me? Let me go back to my team!"
Adam didn't appreciate being shouted at, but remained unphased. "And let you run back to Mistral so you can lead an army here? I'm not risking my men.
Weiss leaned with her back against the table, gripping the edge. "I've been beaten, starved, worked until I couldn't barely stand. You…you permanently marked up my back, called me a trophy and property, and you even played mind games and emotionally manipulated, but I still tried to keep my moral compass. I patched you up, I gave you honest advice about things in your best interest. If I have built up any trust, any amount of goodwill toward you and your people, you know I won't do that. Please, let me go back to my team."
Adam sighed. "You know I can't do that." He stood, taking a lock of her hair and tucking it behind her ear. It was an intimate gesture, almost affectionate. "You're the only leverage I have if the White Fang is attacked or captured. It's nothing personal."
"Nothing personal?" she recoiled from him. "You made it personal when you kissed me and begged me hold your hand until you fell asleep the night Sienna Khan escaped!"
It gave Adam pause. "That was a gamble," he finally said.
"A gamble?"
"I thought I was dying and I thought you were going to kill me in my sleep. You easily could have." He stepped away and ran his fingers through his hair. "You had access to my sword, dust and could have gotten out of your collar the same way Sienna had. But…I thought maybe you didn't hate me as much as you once did…just as I didn't hate you as much as I once did."
Weiss closed her eyes, her mouth falling open as she searched for words to say. After a deep breath, she glared at him, thin lipped. "I'm sorry, I need to get this straight: you wanted to convince me not to kill you and you decided the best way to do that was to kiss me while I sat curled up next to you caked in your blood."
"At the time I was hammered, hopped up on adrenaline and hemorrhaging blood. Granted, it wasn't the best plan, but it worked, and a week later I was able to return the favor."
"So, it was just another manipulation tactic? Another trick to keep me under your thumb?" She let out a laugh, half out of scorn for herself and half out of disbelief.
"I didn't mean it for it to affect you like this."
She'd had enough. She took a step toward him and planted her feet, pointing a finger in his face as his brows knitted in surprise at her outburst.
"You need to make up your mind about what exactly I am. When you first took me, I was treated like a slave, but then you turn around and start worrying about my weight. You used to slap my face when I spoke out of turn but then encourage my dissenting opinions so long as your officers aren't around. You lie and manipulate me and toy with my emotions and now you say you 'didn't mean for it to affect me'?" She'd been struggling to maintain her composure until this point, but his last comment was the final straw. Tears of frustration came to her eyes as she threw up her hands, letting them fall at her sides with an exasperated slap. "What exactly am I, Adam? Am I your trusted servant? Your bargaining chip? Your therapist? Your trophy? Your training partner?"
He responded by cupping her face in his hands and kissing her. Her body stiffened as she let out a small gasp. He kept her head cradled in his hands as he spoke.
"I don't know what you are to me, Weiss, or what I am to you. All I know is, you're the first human I've ever been able to trust, and right now, that's all that matters. I'm about to cut ties with Hazel which will no doubt anger not only Salem, but some of the more extremist factions. I'm going into this with no certainties, except you."
She put her hands on his forearms and leaned toward him, inviting another kiss, which he took, pressing his lips to hers, sweet and gentle at first, then escalating to firmer and more forceful. His hands wandered down her waist to her hips, pulling her closer as she gripped the fabric of his shirt.
Her mind tried it make up excuses: that she was only so responsive because she'd been starved of any kind of positive interaction and was overreacting, but she knew the truth: she wanted this, she wanted him to trust her, to value her as more than just her status as a glorified hostage, to be attracted to her, to affirm in some way that she'd won him over.
He broke from their kiss for just a moment to catch his breath. Keeping a hold of her hips, he sat in the kitchen chair, pulling her towards himself until she was sitting, straddling his lap. He wrapped one arm around her waist, his fingers tracing the outline of the brand on her back while he weaved the fingers of his other hand into her hair. She braced her hands against his chest until she'd steadied herself. He leaned in for another kiss, but she stopped him, trailing her fingers up to his cloth mask, pushing it up and over his horns, letting the black strip fall to the floor. She studied his eyes; he looked apprehensive but also intense and hungry. They said nothing for a moment, enjoying each other's closeness before Adam resumed, pulling her in to plant a string of kisses starting at her jaw and moving downward.
She winced when the kisses on her neck turned to bites.
"Please, no marks." she breathed, tugging on his hair to pull him away. "Your men; they'll see."
"They already think I use you," he replied, "We might as well give them something to talk about." He kissed and nipped at her neck again, kissing lower until he reached her collarbone. He released his grip on her hair, allowing her the freedom to return the favor.
She pressed herself against him, giving him a long passionate kiss before moving to his jaw, kissing and giving gentle bites to the sweet spot where his jaw met his neck, eliciting a groan of pleasure from him.
"Kitten," he panted, the word escaping his lips before he was able to control it.
The mood dissipated almost instantaneously, as Weiss process what he'd just called her. She froze, pulled back and glared at him with indignation.
"That's it," she pushed him away and stood, her actions measured and cold, despite the fact that internally her blood was boiling. "That's what I am to you. I'm Blake. I'm just replacement Blake. Another young, idealistic girl with status that you can keep by your side to use as a vehicle to keep yourself in power and validate the White Fang.
"Weiss, no," he sounded more frustrated at himself than desperate, "that's not…"
Weiss squinted at him. "That was probably your little pet name for her. But it's nothing personal, right? You're just hopped up on adrenaline again." She grabbed the lantern and stormed away from him up the stairs.
"Come back." He picked up his mask and lantern to follow her upstairs, refusing to let a human girl be the reason he lost his composure. He didn't rush, he knew he'd blown it, but he also knew she wasn't going anywhere.
She'd retreated to her room and had thrown a glyph in the doorway to bar his entrance.
"I'm sorry," he apologized through the blocked doorway. He sounded calm and sincere, but she ignored him, leaving the glyph in his way as she locked eyes with him defiantly. He could have broken through, and Weiss knew it. He could have done whatever he wanted; forced her, hurt her, but he stood outside the doorway, hoping she'd calm down enough to have a civil conversation. What he got instead was the most intense staring contest of his life.
When he realized she wasn't going to take the glyph down and talk to him, he took the lantern and left the house altogether, slamming the front door.
A wave of emotions hit her all at once. Seeing Sun and Blake again, Adam's reaction at Haven, and their…whatever the last ten minutes had been was overwhelming to process all at once, especially in a strange place with no creature comforts. She sat on the floor, replaying every detail for what felt like hours, realizing she'd never get any kind of sleep if she didn't resolve this as soon as she was able. She made her way back downstairs and waited for him in the padded armchair in the front room, eventually falling asleep as the lantern burned out.
One of the biggest positives of the new location was the bar that had been discovered not only still in good condition, but well stocked. A number of the soldiers and officers had gathered with their lanterns and were making a raucous singing and drinking and celebrating the return of all of their men safe and alive. Adam entered the building to cheers and toasts, the crowd parting to give him access to the bar.
"What'll it be?" a reptilian faunus asked, stepping aside to let him see the selection.
"Bourbon, if there is any," Adam said.
"You'll have to drink it out of a plastic cup," he said, pouring the stiff, amber colored liquid into a brightly colored monstrosity more suited to beer at a barbecue.
The lieutenant muscled his way to the barstool next to his. "Everyone says you had a chance to kill the Belladonna girl but didn't do it."
"Yeah," Adam sighed, "Half of Menagerie showed up to fight for the humans with the Belladonnas spearheading the attack. I wasn't going to make my troops fire on their own friends and family. The White Fang is against humanity, but not our own people, however misguided." He took a sip of the bourbon and winced: it was bad, but at least it was something. "In case you want to know, Ilia ran off with them and I let her."
"Sounds like it wasn't quite the victory you wanted."
"Well, we can't always get what we want, we just have to be content with the victories we do earn," Adam replied. After a moment, he looked over at the lieutenant. "I'm going to be going to traveling to our different sites for a bit," he said finally, "but there's a mission I'd like you to carry out for me while I'm gone."
"Sure, I'm up for it." The lieutenant smiled, "Since you put me on transport duty while you went to have fun at Haven."
"It involves you sneaking into Atlas."
The lieutenant leaned on his elbows. "I'm listening."