Every revolution is built on a foundation of betrayal.
The betrayal of an ideal by a nation. The betrayal of a nation by a cause. Often, the betrayal of a cause by its leaders. And of course, the betrayal of people... by people.
And with each betrayal, a choice must be made.
...
Sic semper tyrannus.
Volume II: Episode 1: Welcome to Beacon
Adam Taurus was sharpening Wilt's blade in the little room that had presumably once been the station manager's office years ago. Back when this subway station was still running. Back before Mountain Glenn had fallen.
He paused as he heard the door click, and the big, beefy man who served as his lieutenant in the White Fang stepped in, closing the door behind him. A different person might have reprimanded him for his discourtesy, for failing to knock, in order to reassert his dominance. Adam was not that kind of man. The sword in his hands was the only dominance he needed.
"What?" he asked instead as he returned to sharpening his blade.
Ash grabbed a chair and pulled it around, straddling it as he sat on it backwards, looking at Adam hesitantly. He paused for a long moment, then looked around, left and right. His ever-present mask concealed his expression, but his body language gave away his wariness. He leaned forward. "Why'd you do it?" he asked, his voice quiet. "Send the Autobots away? They might be a bunch of goody two shoes, but they were right there. They could have gotten rid of Cinder for us."
"Could have, perhaps," Adam allowed. "Would have? I'm not so sure." That was a lie. "Even if they did, how many of our brothers and sisters - wounded from the battle at the docks - would be dead right now, slain by Cinder, held hostage, or caught in the crossfire?"
Another lie, this time wrapped in a truth. He had thought of the welfare of his men, but it had been a small and distant thought next to Cinder. In that moment? In that time? It was Cinder who had dominated his mind. He had forgotten for a while what it was like to be next to her… he wished he could forget again.
Ash paused once more, then frustration echoed through his frame. "I... suppose you're right. But what do we do now?"
"Now?" Adam echoed as he sheathed Wilt into Blush and stood up. "Now, we do what we have to in order to survive."
Ozpin stood in his office, gazing out the window at the Atlesian airships that now dominated the sky. He sipped his hot cocoa pensively. James, what are you doing? There were very few people he trusted in this world, none he trusted completely, but the thought that Ironwood may have joined the long list of people who had betrayed him…
Well, it hurt, to say the least.
His desk chirped, and he turned, noting the "Access Requested" message.
At least he'd have some answers soon enough.
He tapped the access command and said, "Come in."
The elevator doors slid open, and General James Ironwood of the Atlesian military, Headmaster of Atlas Academy, entered with long, powerful strides. "Ozpin," he said, his voice urgent, "we need to talk."
"I'd say we do, General," Ozpin agreed, sizing up his old friend. The Atlesian general looked far different from the precise and proper officer he was when they had last met. In fact, he looked positively disheveled and apparently had even neglected to shave for a while, judging by the stubble on his face.
James paused, then looked around. "Where's Glynda?"
"Running late," Ozpin replied. "A disciplinary issue."
James nodded, then withdrew a device from his pocket - a six-inch-long electronic wand with a blinking series of multicolored LEDs on the tip - and began scanning the area.
Ozpin quirked an eyebrow.
"Sorry," the Atlesian apologized as he finished his scan and pocketed the device again. "Can't be too careful."
For his part, Ozpin took another sip of his cocoa. "What's this about, General?"
"We have a problem," James declared. "About a year ago, the Atlesian Council was approached by a… new arrival. He struck a deal with us, and I believe CCT communications have now been compromised."
"And you don't trust them," Ozpin concluded. What have you gotten yourself into, James? he wondered.
"I trust them about as far as I can throw them," confirmed James.
"You can throw someone pretty far," Ozpin pointed out.
James shook his head. "Not these people. They're… not from around here." He pulled out his scroll. "Let me show you."
Rather than insert his scroll into Ozpin's desk, however, James simply opened it up and brought up a picture of what looked like the interior of a hangar, and standing in it was a faceless blue robot with a red and yellow chestplate. The catwalk running across the shot in front of the robot's chest with what looked like Specialist Schnee standing on it, facing the robot, gave the image a sense of scale.
"His name," James said, "is Soundwave. He represents an alien faction called the Decepticons."
"James," Ozpin said, controlling his reactions even as his mind raced, "if you don't trust these Decepticons, why are you working with them?"
James looked away. "The council made its decision," he said through gritted teeth.
"You hold two seats on the council," Ozpin reminded him.
"I was outvoted," James said simply.
Ozpin's eyebrows shot up. That was a surprise. There were five seats on the Atlesian Council. "All of them?"
"Petty little men with petty little vices and delusions of grandeur," James spat. "They don't trust the Decepticons either, but they think we can milk them for advanced technology before they turn on us. Or we turn on them. I have a suspicion there might also be blackmail or bribery involved, but I haven't been able to turn anything up."
"What sort of technology are we talking about here, James?"
"Advanced telecommunications, computer hardware and software, some sort of superfuel they call energon," James listed. He paused. "Space travel. They're offering to put a communications network in space, far beyond the reach of the Grimm, without the vulnerabilities of the CCT network."
That… that was quite the carrot. Global telecommunications relied on the Cross Continental Transmit System, which ran through gigantic primary relay towers within each kingdom. The peculiar nature of the network meant that if any one primary relay tower went offline, the entire network would collapse. More relevantly, the smaller relay towers scattered across the continents to grant more reliable signal to the parts of the kingdoms further from the primary towers were often attacked by the Grimm, resulting in significant downtime.
Even Ozpin, who appreciated the poetic symbolism of the CCT's interreliance, would be tempted by such an offer… depending on the price.
"It sounds like they're promising you the moon."
"That too," James agreed with a sigh. "And all they want… is dust."
"Dust?" asked Ozpin with an incredulous raised eyebrow. "But dust doesn't work in space. Why would a space-faring people need something that only works on Remnant?"
"Dust doesn't, but apparently, energon does, and they refine it from dust," explained James. "They're apparently stranded here for now, until they can acquire more energon. Neither Soundwave nor any other Decepticon I've seen has made any secret of their desire to get off world."
Ozpin shrugged. "Understandable."
"Yes, but Ozpin, there's more to than that. They're at war, and-..." He was interrupted by a ding, and they turned as the elevator doors opened. James smiled welcomingly. "Glynd- urk!"
There was a sudden thrusting bang, and then James found himself pinned to the wall, unable to move as Glynda stalked towards him. Her face was contorted into a look of disgust, hurt, betrayal, and absolute rage that made even Ozpin take pause. She, it seemed, would not be delayed, crossing the distance in but a moment until she was but a few feet from him.
"Ozpin trusted you," she growled, her voice strange and hateful. "I thought I could too. So why the hell does Starscream know you?!"
Glynda's voice had become a shout of fury by the end.
James blinked. "'Starscream'?" He looked up at Ozpin. "You... already... knew?"
"We've been running our own investigation," Ozpin replied, taking another sip of his hot cocoa. "You've provided far more information than we had previously, however."
Glynda's fury cooled slightly as she looked between them. "James?" she asked acidly.
"Three to two," he said simply. "The rest of the Atlesian Council... thinks Atlas can profit from this… 'partnership.'"
"Indeed," Ozpin confirmed. "The good general was just briefing me on the situation in Atlas."
"And you think that makes up for what he's been involved in?!" hissed Glynda. "He comes crawling up here with his uniform less than perfect, his face all scratchy, and tells us a sweet song about how much of a difficult position he's in, and that's supposed to smooth over the pile of corpses he helped create?!"
"'Corpses'?" echoed Ironwood in confusion. "Glynda, I don't know... what... you... think-…"
He was cut off by his throat constricting, and he started to struggle for air.
"Glyn-…"
"Glynda!" shouted Ozpin in alarm.
She ignored them both. "I overheard Air Commander Starscream name you as one of his chief political rivals, that you had arranged for some of the ninja that work under you to raid the SDC's Vale Headquarters dressed as White Fang in an attempt to make him look bad in front of his boss. The only way that would even be possible is if you were already involved in their politics. Are you saying you weren't involved? Answer me!"
"Miss Goodwitch!" Ozpin interjected sharply. When she finally looked at him, he added, "I don't believe he currently can."
Glynda started and relaxed slightly. James gasped for air. The sound of ragged coughs filled the room for a moment before he recovered enough to reply.
"Starscream…" he said slowly, his voice hoarse. "...is delusional. I'm not after his job... and I definitely didn't send in anyone... disguised as White Fang... to raid the SDC. I don't think I could... join their ranks... even if I did want to. It doesn't... take a lot of time... sneaking around... where you can hear... a Decepticon... before you notice they don't like humans."
Glynda's eyes narrowed. "And yet, here you are, going along with this abomination. I… James, how could you? How could you stay on knowing about what the Decepticons were doing to people? The factories staffed by slaves piled high in mass graves?"
"'Mass graves'?" James shook his head. "Glynda, I have no idea what you're talking about. With the CCT almost certainly compromised, I have... basically no information on any of their operations outside Atlas that hasn't been filtered through them or the SDC."
"Liar!" snapped Glynda, a look of hate on her face and tears in her eyes.
"Glynda, why would I lie about this?! I didn't know!" he said defiantly, though it was more akin to begging.
"Yes, you did!" Glynda barked. "You had to have known, because Winter Schnee knew!"
And it was then, Ozpin saw, that all the fight left James.
"...What?" the general said in a very small, stunned voice.
Glynda's voice was calm, cold, almost scholarly. "When Weiss went to Atlas, she encountered the Decepticons while they were meeting with Specialist Schnee. She and her sister left together, and she asked your right-hand woman point blank if she knew about the slave factories, and she said yes. She knew, and so you had to have known."
"No," James replied weakly, his eyes unfocused.
"That-…!"
"Glynda!" interrupted Ozpin forcefully as he grabbed his cane and advanced around his desk holding The Long Memory. "Glynda. Stop this. He didn't know."
Glynda glanced between the two men, and then released James from her telekinetic grip; he collapsed to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut and made no move to pick himself up..
"He should have," she said in disgust.
"Yes," agreed James in that same weak voice. "I should have."
She ignored him and walked briskly to the elevator and out of the room. There was a ding, and then, they were all alone. Ozpin walked over and tried to get James up as best he could.
He… he did not look good.
"I'm sorry about Glynda," Ozpin said with a frown. "She's been under a lot of stress lately, but that was completely uncalled for."
The taller man shook his head as best he could. "No, I understand where she's coming from. But… you believed me."
Ozpin nodded. "Yes."
"Why?" asked James. It was the obvious question, after all.
"Because I saw in you, James, something I've seen in myself all too often."
"You sure you're feeling okay, man?" Sun asked as he and his best friend walked through the courtyard of Beacon.
"I'm telling you, I'm fully recovered," insisted Neptune.
"Good, 'cause I don't want you losing your breakfast all over these people, and especially not Blake," stressed Sun.
"Dude, chill, I am completely on the level. Sage was able to cure my death," Neptune said confidently.
"I... don't actually think it was called that," mused Sun.
"Hey! You didn't have it, man. You don't get to complain," he objected. "So, this Blake girl must be pretty special."
"Oh, she is," replied Sun with a smile. "She's beauty, she's grace, she can stab you in the face, and I'm half-convinced that at any given moment she's about ready to."
"Nice," said Neptune appreciatively while covertly taking half a step away from him.
"I'm telling you, man. I think she might be the one," said Sun with a dreamy tone.
"Whoa," replied Neptune with wide eyes. "That's pretty serious. …So, uncomfortable question time, but... is she a faunus? I mean, you've said before..."
"What?" Sun blinked. "No! At least, I don't think so. Well, okay, maybe. She's got this really cute bow she wears on top of her head, which honestly, I think she'd look better without, and at first, I thought she was hiding a pair of ears under there, but literally no one else has commented on it, so it probably isn't the case. I mean, what are the odds she was able to conceal a secret like that from her roommates for a whole semester?"
Neptune shook his head. "Pretty slim. I mean, it wouldn't just be her roommates either. She'd also have to hide it from the rest of the school as well. You'd have to be some crazy twelfth level ninja or something to pull that off… oh! Or using hologram projectors. That could work too."
Sun shook his head. "Yeah, but there's no way Blake could afford something like that. It's not like she's a princess or anything."
"You'd be a lucky man if she was," observed Neptune.
"Would I?" asked Sun. "I mean, that would just confirm that she's way out of my league, right? Stories where the poor Vacuan boy woos the royal lady just don't do well. Hers would be the story where she was the heir to some bandit kingdom, and then she was swept off her feet by the prince of another bandit tribe."
"Oddly specific example there," pointed out Neptune.
"I had some time to read the books she's into," explained Sun. "Anyway, the point is that it doesn't matter if she's human or faunus. I like her for her. Race has got nothing to do with it."
"Well, I, for one, am glad to hear this," said Neptune with something akin to relief.
Sun looked his extremely human friend up and down. "Yeah, I bet you would be, filthy human."
"Oh! Such cruelty from a faunus oppressor, I am slain," Neptune said dramatically with a mock swoon.
The two burst into laughter at that and exchanged good natured shoves.
After they had had their fun, Sun stopped in front of the doors to the cafeteria.
"Anyway, before we meet them, just remember to play it cool," he informed his fellow.
"Dude," answered Neptune, posing slightly with arms wide.
Sun looked him up, and a glint of light somehow caught Neptune's smiling teeth at just the right angle to make them sparkle.
"Okay," he admitted. "You have a point."
The two entered the dining hall, and soon enough, they found Teams RWBY and JNPR together. Secretly they were the combined unit Team RRANNBW - or would that be RRANNBWW now? - except for Yang who always did her own thing, but Sun wasn't about to tell Neptune that. At least, not intentionally anyway. Ruby, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Blake were seated on one side of the table, while Weiss, Yang, Ren, and Nora were seated opposite them.
They all looked… well, not good, exactly, but they were definitely still kicking. It was a certain win. Then again, he was from Vacuo, and not everyone shared his home kingdom's views on what constituted success.
Weiss, in particular, was looking especially out of sorts, like she'd suddenly been dragged out when she'd been planning a night watching movies on the couch… except not, because he remembered how she looked when she had been planning a night watching movies on the couch at the Xiao Long-Rose home on Patch. Instead of the usual side ponytail with elaborately arranged hair pins, her hair was pulled straight back into a simple ponytail with a scrunchie. She didn't seem to be wearing any makeup, her uniform was looking rumpled, and frankly, it looked like she hadn't been sleeping very well either.
"'Sup losers," Sun greeted them, offering a peace sign.
"Hey, Sun!" Ruby returned the greeting with a big wave.
"I never got a chance to introduce you to my old friend, Neptune," he said, gesturing to his blue-haired teammate.
"Oh, yeah," Yang said. "Didn't he pick up a nasty case of death on the flight over?"
Sun paused. Had he mentioned that to her? He must have.
"Yes," Neptune confirmed without hesitation.
"Don't encourage him," Sun said instead with a dismissive wave. "It was just a little food poisoning." He turned to his friend. "Anyway, Neptune, these are Teams Juniper and Ruby. Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang," he introduced as he pointed to each of the Beacon students in turn, who offered return greetings before turning back to what they had been doing.
Neptune scanned the group, but it was clear the white-haired girl - Weiss - was looking pretty miserable. Maybe he could cheer her up?
Taking a seat next to her while Sun sat opposite him next to Ruby, he offered his best winning smile and asked, "So, something got you down, Snow Angel?"
Weiss stiffened, then glared at him. "You don't get to call me that," she declared venomously.
Neptune leaned back and scooted a few inches away from her, holding his hands up in surrender. "Whoa, whoa, okay, was it something I said?"
"Yeah," called the blonde seated on the other side of Weiss. "That's Lover Boy's nickname for her," she explained, nodding across the table to where the male blond sat sandwiched between the two redheads.
Jaune, for his part, looked up from his quiet conversation with Pyrrha and held up his hands in a near-mirror to Neptune's own pose. "Hey, don't drag me into this, Yang. She made it pretty clear how much she hates it when I call her that, remember?"
At that, Weiss's gaze focused in on Jaune, and she stared at him for a long moment, but as he turned his head to look at her, she shot to her feet, stepped over the bench, and fled the cafeteria.
Blake lowered her book. "Oh, no."
"I should-" Jaune started as both he and Ruby started to get up.
"No," Yang cut him off, waving them down as she stood up, "my fault. I'll go talk to her."
With that, she left, following the white-haired girl.
Neptune looked at the rest of the group.
"I'm missing something here, aren't I?"
It took longer than it probably should have, but Yang found her white-haired roommate back in their room, appropriately enough.
Wow. Little snowflake can really move when she wants to, she thought as she looked at her.
It wasn't a particularly cheerful sight. Her hair was still in that simple ponytail, her shoes had been kicked off, and her face was half buried in her pillow. She hadn't even bothered to take off her school uniform, which was about the only thing besides some simple synth fabric undergarments that she had worn since getting back from Atlas. She didn't know exactly what had gone wrong, but she didn't need to; there was someone in need, and she could help them.
If Ruby or Bumblebee were here, they'd be leaping to assist. They might not know what to do, but they would try their best. Heck, Ruby had tried - repeatedly - ever since Weiss had gotten back from Atlas, but the snow-haired girl hadn't even deigned to respond to her overtures. Now, Yang supposed, it was her turn. After all, could she do less?
"Hey, Weiss," Yang began as she closed the door behind her. There was no response. "I'm sorry for what I said. That was insensitive of me. I shouldn't have teased you about that, especially now."
"I'm just like my father," muttered Weiss with half her mouth visibly moving and the other half buried in fabric.
"What was that?" asked Yang, not quite hearing her clearly and deciding to step a little closer.
Weiss rolled over, hugging her other pillow to her chest, half-hiding her face behind it. "Professor Port was right," she said. "I grew up getting almost everything I wanted, and I didn't appreciate it. I was never satisfied, just lusting after whatever I didn't have. Just like my father, I can't appreciate what I do have until it isn't mine anymore."
"...You're talking about something specific now, aren't you?" Yang asked. Because she really couldn't see how what had happened in the cafeteria had led to this line of discussion.
"Not something," Weiss whispered hoarsely. "Someone."
Yang blinked at that, then it clicked. She closed her eyes, leaning her head back and pinching her nose. Oh, great. Why now? she wondered. "Please tell me you're not talking about Jaune." She womanfully resisted the urge to tease Weiss about "lusting."
"Why-?" Weiss cut herself off. Her eyes narrowed, and she shot upright. She jabbed an accusatory finger at Yang as the pillow dropped into her lap. "I won't lose to you."
"What?" Yang blurted out, eyes snapping open as she stared at the heiress. "Whoa, hold up, Princess," she said, raising a hand for calm as what Weiss was implying registered in her mind. "While I'm glad you've still got a spark left in you, I'm really not interested in the dork."
"Well, why not?" Weiss asked, sniffing primly. "He not good enough for you?"
Oh, God, Yang thought, her expression frozen, it's like talking to Pyrrha. With that surreal thought, she answered, "No, Weiss, but Jaune is very… safe. I don't do safe. But, I guess… you do?"
It wasn't entirely accurate, Yang reflected. After all, one of the things she liked about Sun, perhaps the thing, was that he was safe too, if perhaps in a different way. That intense loyalty of his was so incredible, so attractive, so desirable in a husband and father, but... he didn't want her, and she knew it. So "safe" - the kind of safe she wanted - was one thing she couldn't have.
"Maybe... I guess…" Weiss said, suddenly sounding uncertain. "It's just- I was… well, not okay that he'd moved on, but I was willing to accept it and move on myself."
Yang pressed on. "But...?"
"He made me forget," explained Weiss simply.
"Go on."
"On our date, sure, you're right, the restaurant was a misstep, but afterwards... afterwards, he treated me like I was the center of the universe," she elaborated. "He helped me forget... everything. My father, the company, my status and wealth... for one night, none of that mattered. And right now… that's important to me."
Yang knew she would be regretting this very soon, but it was a question that needed to be asked. "Why?"
Sure enough, tears sprang from Weiss's eyes, and her face became wracked with despair and… resignation. That was not good. "Because you were right, Yang! You were right. I thought I could save my grandfather's company, but… there's nothing left to save. It's gone, it's all gone! Everything my grandfather died building… it's all a mockery now. I can't even begin to tell you how bad it really is because I can't bear to think about it. Every time I do, I… I… I…"
Yang reached over and snapped her fingers in front of Weiss's face. "Hey, Weiss, snap out of it!"
"I was born in shame, and I'll die in shame," moaned the heiress, her voice rising.
"Weiss!" shouted Yang. She wasn't sure what the other girl was talking about, but she had to snap her out of it.
"I'm a monster!" Weiss shrieked.
Yang grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Stop it!" she said, leaning in to look her in the eyes. "You. Are not. A monster," she said, enunciating forcefully.
"Yes, I am, everyone in my family is," she declared heartbrokenly, and it was clear then that she was having a relapse into something terrible.
"Doesn't matter," Yang declared solidly. "You're no monster, Weiss. You're anything but. A monster wouldn't care."
"Like you have any idea," Weiss scoffed. "My father's a monster, and I've met yours, remember?"
"Yeah," Yang agreed sadly, "but you never met my mother."
That caught the other girl off-guard. She blinked owlishly at Yang in confusion. "But… I've heard you and Ruby talking about her: Summer Rose, baker of cookies, slayer of monsters…"
"Summer Rose was my dad's wife," Yang said, "but she wasn't my mother." She felt her hands curl into fists. "My mother is a woman named Raven Branwen. Summer stepped in after she… left. And after Summer died, I- we needed a mom. I tried to find her, and I almost got us both killed." She barked out a self-derisive chuckle. "You'd think I'd learn from that, but I didn't. I just kept looking."
"And you found her?" Weiss asked.
"No," Yang answered, shaking her head, "but I found out who she is. What she is." Weiss didn't say anything, and Yang looked her in the eyes. "My mother, Raven Branwen, is a bandit. A bandit queen, if you want to get grandiose about it."
"What?"
"Yeah," Yang confirmed. "Dear old mom is a bandit, leading a whole tribe of bandits somewhere over in Anima, murdering and pillaging their way across the countryside. Whole villages go dark, and civilization stumbles closer to annihilation because of her."
"I-I'm sorry," Weiss stammered. "I-I didn't know."
"Of course you didn't," acknowledged Yang. "Neither did I, until recently. But... if you're a monster because your father runs a company with unethical business practices while supplying the world with the dust needed to fight back against the darkness? What does that make me?"
A thoughtful look crossed Weiss's face as she began to run the numbers in her head.
"Yang…" she said, "how old were you when Summer Rose started taking care of you?"
Yang blinked in surprise at the question. "Um, not sure. A couple weeks, I think, according to Dad."
Weiss arched an eyebrow at that. "And when did you last see Raven Branwen?"
"I… haven't seen her," Yang said, shaking her head slowly. "At least, not that I can remember. That's why I kept looking for her, remember?"
"Yang, Summer was your mom then," Weiss said bluntly. "Shut up about Raven already."
"What?!" the blonde yelped.
"You heard me," Weiss pressed on. "Summer raised you from when you were a baby until the day she died. All Raven did was carry you to term and look after you for a few weeks. I'm pretty sure that's not a mom. An incubator, maybe. This sounds like it's been bothering you for a while. I guess you just hide it better."
"Practice?" Yang offered with a wan smile.
"Yes, well," Weiss continued, "as I was saying, it's like you said. A monster wouldn't care."
And… that was the thing, wasn't it? A monster wouldn't care. So what did that say about Yang?
"And what about you?" Yang asked. "I mean, you've said very little about your home life, but you've dropped enough hints that I think I've got, well, enough pieces to put together a rough idea what it was like."
Weiss's eyes narrowed. "And?"
"I mean, maybe I'm completely off-base here," Yang continued, "but… can you really say your father actually raised you?"
Weiss rocked back at that. "No. No, I can't really say that he did."
"So who did?" Yang prodded. "Your mother?"
Weiss flinched at that. "No." Her eyes darted searchingly around the room before settling on an empty spot on the floor. "If anyone… it was Klein Sieben, my butler."
"And is he a monster?" asked the blonde.
Weiss smiled faintly. "He is anything but," she echoed.
"Well, there you go."
"Say," Weiss broke the silence that followed, "you said you never did find Raven…?"
"I've stopped looking," Yang said. "At this point, I can't imagine why anyone would bother searching for her… except maybe to bring her to justice, I suppose."
Leonardo Lionheart was ashamed to admit, even if only to himself, that he didn't really live up to his name. Not anymore, not in a long time. Still, he was Headmaster of Haven Academy, and he had his… orders. Yes, orders. Orders from Ozpin, and this wasn't something he could risk delegating, not with how… precarious things were in Mistral right now.
So, with Stalwart, his trusty dust launcher shield, at the ready, he made his way through the forests of Anima, in search of Raven Branwen.
He stiffened and brought up Stalwart, deflecting an incoming bullet.
"You made a big mistake, old man."
The welcoming committee, of course. He'd expected that. It wasn't like Raven had what one would call an open door policy, after all. There were three of them, all armed, all with guns trained on him, but they didn't move like trained Huntsmen. Even he ought to be able to handle them. Still, the best victories were the battles never fought.
"I'm not looking for trouble," Leo said. It didn't hurt to try, after all. "I just have a few questions for Raven Branwen."
"Y'know," the one on the left said, "is it just me, or did he just contradict himself there?"
"Sure does," the one on the right nodded, stepping forward menacingly.
"Let's teach this old geezer a lesson," the center one finished.
"Hmph," Leo harrumphed as the three of them opened fire. He dashed to his right, holding Stalwart defensively until he rounded behind a large oak, immediately reversing direction while he was concealed as he chambered a dust round.
He brought Stalwart up and fired at the furthest bandit, the lightning dust sending a bolt of electricity out to strike him down. He didn't wait to confirm his target was disabled. Instead, he charged the nearest bandit, the one that had been on the right, bashing Stalwart into his face as he overran the thug.
He turned to face his last opponent.
"I'm the teacher here, boy," he declared, projecting confidence, "and it looks to me like you could use a refresher course on respect."
"Enough!" a voice sounded, and Leo turned.
"Raven."
She hadn't changed a bit. She stood atop a tree branch twenty feet up and was wearing the Grimm mask she usually affected these days, but her voice had been unmistakeable. The gigantic mane of black hair that hung from her head was identical, as was Omen, the sword she wore on her hip, her hand resting lightly on it, ready to draw it in an instant.
"Leonardo," she greeted. "Did you finally decide you have a spine after all? You seem a bit undermanned if you intend to eliminate us."
The dismissal of him as a threat burned in Leo's heart, but he couldn't dispute it. Instead, he shook his head. "Ozpin wants to know what you've been doing in Vale."
Raven hopped down and walked up towards him. She seemed to relax slightly, her hand no longer resting on Omen's handle. "What?" she asked. "A woman can't check in on her little girl?"
Leo turned to face her directly, ignoring the three sentries he'd confronted, no matter how much his spine itched. They weren't important. What was important was his mission… and her curious turn of phrase.
"And running around with the White Fang?" he pressed.
Raven cocked her head to the side. Ah, so Yang had accepted her gift after all. She ignored the warmth she felt at that. "Oh, that?" she said dismissively. "What makes you think that's me?"
Leonardo jerked his chin at her face, or rather, the mask she wore over it. "She wears your mask."
Raven tapped the side of her mask. "I wear a Grimm mask. As I recall, the White Fang have developed a thing for Grimm masks as of late." It had been one reason she'd been willing to pass the mask on to Yang. It had been a bit sentimental of her, but… well, it was just an old mask, after all. Still, if the silly girl was thinking of her as her mother, rather than Summer, it had probably been a mistake. Oh, well. Too late now. Always too late.
"I... see," Leo said hesitantly, his eyes narrowing. What was he thinking? "Then... I suppose I'll let Ozpin know what you told me." He turned to leave. Odd choice of words.
Something was off, though, and it took her a moment to realize what.
"You know what I find interesting, Leo?" she called after him.
Leonardo stopped and turned back to face her. "What?"
"You're a very busy man, Headmaster," Raven said, "yet you took the time to come all the way out here yourself. Why is that?"
She saw something in his eyes when he justified himself. "It was a request from Ozpin himself."
Raven shook her head. "Not every request the old man makes is of dire importance, and I know this isn't something he'd have asked you to handle personally. You could have just sent a messenger you trust."
Leonardo looked away. "Trustworthy people are in... short supply."
"Hmm, yes, they certainly are these days, aren't they?" she agreed. Now, I wonder why that might be?
She took the time to ensure his departure before turning and bounding back to the camp.
"Vernal!" she called as she landed.
The short-haired woman with, funnily enough, a raven tattoo on her arm nodded. "Yes, Raven."
"Get everyone packing," Raven ordered. "We move tomorrow."
Her lieutenant's eyes widened in alarm. "We just got settled in. Is something wrong?"
"I don't know," admitted the bandit queen. "Which is why we're moving."
"Pyrrha Nikos!" a female voice rang out across Beacon's courtyard in challenge.
Jaune and Pyrrha turned. The group had split up after lunch, with Sun and Neptune off to look for Sun's friend Penny and the other half of Team RWBY wanting to check on Weiss. Team JNPR hadn't wanted to crowd the heiress, so Ren and Nora had gone off... to do Ren and Nora things. Given the manic expression on Nora's face, Jaune hadn't wanted to inquire too closely.
The two of them weren't the only ones to react to the challenge. The crowd of students parted to reveal a dark-skinned platinum blonde wearing a Haven uniform, her olive green eyes locked onto Pyrrha's vivid green.
"Arslan Altan!" Pyrrha called out as the two strode toward each other. Jaune blinked and hurried to keep pace with his teammate, only vaguely aware that the crowd had turned into an audience.
The two met and stopped, staring hard into each other's eyes, grim expressions on their faces, ignoring everything else around them.
Jaune looked between them, trying to figure out what to do, but it was like they didn't even notice him. Even the crowd had fallen silent, holding a collective breath as the tension built and the confrontation approached a seemingly inevitable breaking point.
"Um, Pyr-" he tried, bracing himself, but he was interrupted by the impact of flesh on flesh, thundering like an explosion in the silent courtyard.
Like lightning, the two girls' hands had swiped out and met between them, their auras flaring, the shockwave forcing Jaune a step back as they met in intense competition. Others were not quite so prepared, and almost the entirety of the gathered crowd was knocked flat on their backs. The ground rumbled and shook, and the pavement beneath their feet cracked from the pressure of the colliding auras.
Like two arm wrestlers, their hands had clasped together, frozen in mid-air: the immovable object and the unstoppable force made manifest and clashing in a titanic struggle.
Jaune watched, eyes wide, as the muscles in Pyrrha's arm and shoulder bulged and flexed in a way he'd never seen, even when Pyrrha had taken on whole teams in Combat Course or waded through dozens of Grimm or Atlesian Knights. And yet, the other girl - Arslan, presumably - was clearly matching her, a fierce grin on her face equaled by the one on Pyrrha's. Neither would give an inch… and it was clear, neither would want the other to.
There were maybe two people Jaune knew that he considered stronger than Pyrrha, but both Nora and Yang's strength was an explosive power, not this… inevitability. He wasn't sure he'd bet on either of them against her in a contest of strength like this one. Of course, he'd always known Pyrrha was holding back, but he'd had no idea she was holding back this much.
The knight was the first to see it. A tremor in Pyrrha's arm, barely visible, nor borne from the shaking ground. He'd seen it rarely, only during their late night training sessions on the roof, and even then, only after the longest and roughest of days. Slowly, inexorably, impossibly, Arslan began forcing Pyrrha's arm back.
"You've... gotten stronger," Pyrrha noted, her voice straining with effort as she tried to hold back the impossible.
"Have I?" Arslan questioned, her voice equally strained. "Or is Beacon… making you soft?" With a grunt, she finally forced Pyrrha's hand down completely.
"Ah!" Pyrrha cried, finally letting go and stepping back, shaking her hand to restore circulation.
Arslan shook her head as the tremors in the ground finally stopped. "You never did know when to quit, huh?"
"Of course not," Pyrrha agreed. "Why do you think I always won in the arena? Good to see you, Arslan! I should have known you'd come for the Vytal Tournament."
"Yes, you should have," confirmed Arslan, rubbing her own shoulder. She nodded to Jaune. "This your boyfriend?"
"Um…" Jaune said eloquently, feeling his cheeks heat up.
Pyrrha blushed and ducked her head. "I, um, uh, actually, this is Jaune, Jaune Arc. He's the leader of my team, Team Juniper."
"Pleased to meet you," Jaune said, extending a hand… and fervently hoping Arslan wasn't the sort of person to "test" people during a handshake.
"I see." Arslan gave Pyrrha a sidelong glance, raising an eyebrow, then gave Jaune a measuring look as she accepted his hand and shook it with a firm but not crushing grip. "There must be something very special about you, Jaune Arc."
Jaune scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Ah, well, I dunno-"
"Arslan's an old friend, my sparring partner back at Sanctum," Pyrrha interjected hurriedly. "In last year's tournament, she broke my Invincible Girl streak."
"Wait." Jaune frowned as he let his hand drop. "I thought Weiss said you won the last four tournaments?"
Arslan threw her head back and laughed, before maneuvering around and draping an arm over each of their shoulders. "She did. When she says I broke her Invincible Girl streak, she means I was the first person in four years of tournament fighting to actually land a hit on her. You know, before she beat me like a drum."
Pyrrha blushed again. "Arslan!"
"Come on, you two," Arslan said, ignoring Pyrrha's protest as she began steering them onwards. "I've got to introduce you to my team. Hey, guys!"
Three Haven students stepped out of the crowd that had been far enough away to stay on their feet to join them, two guys and a girl. One of the guys had dark hair and amber eyes, while the other was darker-skinned with blue eyes and pink hair, with a black-haired undercut. The girl's shock of mint green hair and green eyes rounded out the colorful ensemble.
"Arslan," the pink-haired boy said, "I can see why you told us to stand back. You okay? I saw you rubbing your shoulder a minute ago."
Arslan waved it off. "It's fine, Nate. Just a little muscle strain, nothing to get worked up over. You probably recognize the famous Pyrrha Nikos, and this is her… team leader, Jaune Arc. Pyrrha, Jaune, this is my team, Team Auburn." She pointed first at the dark-haired boy, then the girl, then the boy who'd spoken. "Bolin Hori, Reese Chloris, and the worrywort is Nadir Shiko."
"Oh!" Pyrrha cried out in surprise. "You're team leader? Congratulations."
Arslan shrugged. "Yeah. Not sure why they put me in charge, but they did. Pain in the butt, if you ask me."
"It has its moments," Jaune acknowledged with a shrug in return, "but I find it pretty rewarding."
The two ninja squared off, their whole bodies covered in white and grey cloth save for their eyes, one pair a raw umber, the other a moderate cerise, both twisted in focus. Together, they moved as one, and when the dust settled, one stood, and one fell.
"Match! Shadow wins!" cried the instructor.
"Urgh, did anyone get the number of that truck that hit me?" asked the figure on the ground.
"I am flattered by the compliment, Boomer," said the winner, Shadow, as she reached down her hand.
The defeated foe took it and was pulled to her feet . Once she was up, the instructor brought an end to the class, and the two took off their hoods. Both had their hair tied up tight in styles meant for ease of wear under the mask, but that was where their similarities ended, for Shadow's hair was as black as her namesake on the far side of the moon, while Boomer's hair almost naturally fit her real name, with six of the seven colors of the rainbow.
"Hey, just remember to give me a rematch sometime, will ya?" asked Boomer with a competitive smile.
"There are other students in the class," replied Shadow icily, and then a smile by her own fashion came to her lips. "I'll see what I can do."
Shadow walked back over to where her team was kneeling in wait.
"Wow, they're really something," said Neptune appreciatively. "I mean, they're just… wow!"
"They're not bad," confirmed Sun reluctantly. "I've seen better." Actually, that black-haired girl looks and fights a lot like Blake. It's kind of freaky… though, not as well, of course.
"Wonder which one's Penny," said Neptune.
As if in answer, one of the ninja-clad students that were standing up took off her hood to reveal a ginger bob cut, bright green eyes, and a million-watt smile. She straightened up and waved enthusiastically. Sun waved back with a smile, while Penny's teammates took notice of them. All their eyes narrowed.
Oh no, worried Sun.
As a group, the four of them began walking back across the mat and towards the pair from Haven.
The two besides Penny and Shadow seemed to be formed by the same molds they poured to make those stereotypical Atlesian soldiers from movies. The girl had dark skin, an asymmetric cut of navy blue hair that was longer on the left, blue eyes, and what looked like a yellow sun symbol embedded in her forehead. The boy was big, angular, and sported red hair cut very short. Neither seemed particularly happy to see them, in contrast to Shadow's guarded disdain and Penny's exuberance so great she was actually skipping.
"Friend Sun!" the peppy Atlesian called out as soon as they were close. "It's so good to see you! Who is this?"
"Friend Penny," echoed Sun with a smile as he reached out and grabbed Neptune's shoulder. "Let me introduce to you Neptune Vasilias, my oldest friend."
"'Sup," the buddy said coolly, much to the frigid reception from the other blunet.
"Salutations, Mister Vasilias. My name is Penny Polendina, though I'm also known as Bladerider," Penny greeted. "Allow me to introduce you to my team. First is my team captain, Aska Roku, callsign Shadow."
She gestured to the black-haired girl, who was still watching them inscrutably.
"Next is Ciel Soleil, callsign Farsight," she continued, gesturing to the girl with navy hair.
"And finally, there is Rufus Madison, also known as Mad Dog," she finished with a wave to the lone man amongst them.
Sun's eyes instinctively darted to the top of the guy's head, and he couldn't mistake the grin that spawned on the redhead's face.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Rufus said. "But no, I'm human. Got the callsign for how I act when I get ticked off." He paused. "And I'm not even the one you should be afraid of ticking off."
Well, that was reassuring. Not.
"So, this is the boy you ran off ahead and spent the day with, Penny?" Ciel asked, giving Sun a critical eye. "You didn't say he was so… profligate."
Well, wasn't that a word and a half? She was probably insulting him, but how was he supposed to come up with a comeback to something he didn't understand? Ah well, sand on the dune.
"Well, technically, we met the Friday before our little adventure," explained Sun.
"Oh yeah, didn't you say your abs collided with her face or something?" asked Neptune in recognition.
With that, all three of Penny's teammates, and even some of the few other Atlesian students still in the room, turned their gaze upon him with a curious glare that threatened to incinerate Sun where he stood.
"To be fair," said Penny to Neptune, ignoring the glares around her, "he had no control over where he was going, since Yang was rocket-kicking him in the back at the time."
"Riiight." Neptune nodded. "They were chasing you over the whole stowaway thing. I still don't get how you ended up on a boat coming to Vale from Vacuo. That's, like, on the opposite side of Vale from Mistral!"
"Skill," Sun replied seriously. "Pure skill."
Aska quirked an eyebrow and seemed to allow herself a smile. "A stowaway, hmm? My, you certainly do lead an interesting life, don't you, Sun Wukong?"
"I like to live dangerously," the monkey faunus declared.
"Clearly," coughed Rufus loudly.
"Still…" Aska began before pausing and then humming. "Hmm, now that's an idea."
"What?" asked Penny curiously.
"Oh, nothing, just had a thought for a future team-building exercise," said Aska with a faint smile. "Come on, Team Apricot, we have things to do right now."
The group of four Atlesian students brushed past them, Aska in particular getting awfully close, and then they were gone.
"Bye, Friend Sun! I'll see you again soon!" called Penny as she waved goodbye even as she passed through the door.
"See ya!" replied Sun with his own wave. "Dang. Thought we'd get to know them a little better."
"Dude, I think she likes you," said Neptune.
"Who, Aska? Ciel?" asked Sun as he turned to face his friend. What the...? Was there something off about him?
"No, idiot, I mean Penny," Neptune said as he turned to him.
Sun was taken aback. "What? No, that doesn't make any sense. She's… she's Penny, man."
"That doesn't actually refute what I was saying," pointed out Neptune.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Hey, listen, you got something in your hair," said Sun as he reached up like a striking viper and snatched a tiny little origami swan from behind the strap of Neptune's goggles.
The blue-haired boy boggled. "What?! How?! ...Oh, they're good."
"Eh, just ninja things," said Sun nonchalantly as he unfolded the paper. "Huh. 'Wait. Hide. Heat. Burn.' Any idea what it means?"
Neptune shook his head. "Not a clue."
Coco glanced over her aviator sunglasses at the strangers facing them on the path. They were all very impressive-looking, all dressed in Atlas Academy uniforms. They also looked like they were trying to reorient themselves.
"Hey," she said finally, tipping her shades back up, "you boys lost?"
"Something like that," rumbled one of them. He was a faunus with a runner's build, his head topped by a pair of panther ears that blended into his black hair. His grey eyes looked at her warmly, and his uniform was impeccable. "I'm Rain Bailey, callsign Vanguard, captain of Team Ruffle," he introduced himself, extending a hand.
"Coco Adel," she replied, shaking his hand, "leader of Team Coffee." Letting her hand drop, she jerked her head behind her, careful not to dislodge her designer beret. "My team. The redhead's Fox Alistair, big guy's Yatsuhashi Daichi, and Velvet Scarlatina's the one hiding behind Yatsu."
"Coco!" the rabbit faunus complained from behind their seven-foot-tall teammate.
Rain chuckled, then stuck a thumb over his shoulder at his own team. "The twins are Reg and Ferris Rogue - Reg's the one with the nuts - and the wings in the back belong to Lavi Stall; Thunder, Lightning, and Black Out, respectively."
Sure enough, Coco could see a pair of black feathered wings poking up from behind the twins, and one of the twins was munching from a bag of peanuts. In contrast to their leader, the twins' uniforms looked pretty disheveled, like the twins had slept in them. Both had black hair, though Reg's hair had a blue tinge, while Ferris's had a red tinge, and Reg had red eyes to Ferris's blue. Both looked at Team CFVY and nodded in greeting, with Reg holding out his bag of peanuts in an obvious offer to share.
"Uh, hi?"
The voice drew her attention to the last member of Team RRFL - a redhead with amber eyes and the aforementioned wings - sticking his head out to peek out from where he hid behind his teammates. Coco raised an eyebrow as she noted the fancy-looking camera hanging from his neck.
The redhead squeaked and vanished behind his teammates again. Well, mostly. There was no hiding those wings.
Were all photographers that shy for some reason? Or did photography just attract the same type of people, people who were more comfortable behind the camera lens than in front of it? Rather than comment on it, though, she simply turned her attention back to Rain.
"So, not lost but 'something like that'?" she prodded.
"More like trying to familiarize ourselves with the grounds," Rain explained. "We'll be here all semester, after all; might as well get to know the place first. It would be embarrassing to get lost because we didn't take the time to make sure we knew our way around."
Coco grinned. "Well, we're not busy at the moment. Care for a tour?" she offered.
"We'd very much appreciate it," Rain accepted.
As she took the lead, Coco cocked an ear to the back of the group, from where she heard Velvet ask tentatively, "Is- is that... the new Kodiak XLR-800?"
"I wish," came the wistful reply. "It's a 750, but I've made some… special modifications to it."
"Oh? Like what?"
As the conversation quickly grew far too technical for her to follow, Coco grinned. With how small recent class years had been, it had been hard for shy little Velvet to make friends outside the team. Coco had even been steering her team toward spending their lunches in the cafeteria with a couple of the firstie teams, though the less said about her attempts to set Velvet up with that dork knight she seemed to like, the better.
"Hey, Sun? Can you sleep?" asked Neptune as he lay awake in his dorm room bed staring at the ceiling.
"I could," muttered Sun as he blearily blinked himself awake. "What's the matter?"
"It's just… do you think we'll actually be able to make it here? At Beacon and at the Vytal Festival, I mean," asked Neptune, keeping his voice as quiet as he could.
"I'm pretty sure we'll make a fairly good impression," answered Sun positively in that same quiet volume.
"I hope so," Neptune muttered forlornly.
"What's the matter, Nep?" ask Sun as he turned to look at his friend.
Neptune bent up and brought his knees in. "It's just… That girl, Weiss, I couldn't help her. I just made things worse."
"Man, is that it?" asked Sun somewhat sarcastically. "Weiss has her own issues going on. They all do. Even Yang's got her own private little traumas. They try to keep it under wraps, but… look, Weiss comes from a broken home or something, from what I hear. And she went back there during the break, so something terrible probably happened there between her and the rest of her family that's just made her a little sore. Doesn't excuse what she said, it's just… well, give her time, and try to be there if she needs it. I'm sure things will work out."
Neptune nodded. "Okay, thanks, man."
"Anytime," Sun said with a wave. "Now, get back to bed."
The blue-haired teen made to do just that, but when his head hit the pillow, it collided with paper instead. "What the-?"
Quick as a spinning dog, he brought himself back up on his hands and looked down at his pillow. There, nestled in the center, was a crumpled piece of paper. Obviously, it hadn't been there when he had first laid his head down that night.
Suddenly, in a flash, he knew what was going on. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the piece of paper and got out of bed. Then, quietly, he woke Sun back up. Again.
"Wha-?"
"Get up. We have a message to decode," whispered Neptune as he held up the seemingly blank piece of paper.
Sun's eyes widened, and he got out of bed to follow Neptune as he rummaged around and found a tiny burn dust crystal held in a small transparent steel case in their luggage. It was frankly amazing they didn't wake Scarlet or Sage. Indeed, they didn't wake anyone as they carefully entered the bathroom.
"What's the code?" asked Sun as he locked the door and turned on the flashlight function on his scroll with his other hand.
"No idea," admitted Neptune as he held the paper out over the toilet. "But that's what the burn crystal is for."
Then, with practiced ease, Neptune fed a little of his aura into the crystal, and it began to heat up. He ran the crystal beneath the paper, and then, suddenly, shockingly, words began to appear. The whole time, Sun watched with incredible fascination.
"That is so cool," the monkey faunus observed. "How did you know to do that?"
"I read it in a book once," Neptune replied with a shrug. "I mean, they're ninjas, right? Why not use invisible ink like this?"
Now revealed by the heat, the message could be read in the illumination of the flashlight.
My step is slow
the snow's my breath
I give the ground
a grinding death
My marching
makes an end of me
Slain by sun
or drowned in sea.
I march before armies
a thousand salute me
My fall can bring victory
but no one would shoot me;
The wind is my lover
one-legged am I
Name me and see me
at home in the sky.
Beneath the two riddles was a date and time, normal by contrast.
The two looked up at each other in mutual bafflement. "Riddles?" Sun complained. "Why riddles?"
"Obviously, it's a test," Neptune pointed out. "To see if you're worthy of fair Miss Polendina's affections."
Sun groaned and facepalmed. "I told you, Nep, she's not into me like that."
"Yeah, well, you got a better theory?"
"They're ninjas," Sun suggested. "They're just being inscrutable because that's what ninjas do."
Neptune opened his mouth, then closed it again. He didn't actually have an argument against that. Instead, he asked, "Sooo, what does it mean? The first one, I mean, is that supposed to be talking about us?"
"Nah." Sun shook his head. "Look. There's a date and time, so these must be riddles telling us where to go." He paused, then added, "Unless they're saying I should kill you."
"Or they're saying we're to compete at killing something," Neptune pointed out. "It does say 'slain by sun or drowned in sea.' We'll come back to that one." He looked back at the paper. "The second one, though, that's obviously a flag."
Sun cocked his head. "Huh. Now that you mention it, that does make sense. Okay, so they're talking about a flag, and… what? Something related to the cold?"
"Too bad we're not from the coldest climate around, huh?" asked Neptune jokingly.
"No, but… something seems familiar about it," Sun paused, brows furrowed in thought. "I've got it! It's a glacier. When we were on Patch, Weiss mentioned how beautiful they were, and I was so confused, I just had to look it up on my scroll. I got to admit, they're pretty cool."
"Okay, so…" Neptune mused. "Glacier and flag? What, like the Atlesian flag?"
Sun snapped his fingers. "The Glacier Lounge! It's a bar and restaurant in Vale. They serve Atlesian cuisine and have this gigantic Atlesian flag hanging from the back wall. Ruby warned us about it, said they got terrible service when she ate there with one of her teammates."
"Huh. So they want to meet us at the Glacier Lounge at this time?" asked Neptune as he looked at the message intently.
"I think so," Sun said with a smile. "We got it, man."
"Good," replied Neptune.
With that word said, he flipped open the canister of burn dust and poured more of his aura into it. Fire leapt from the cylinder and struck the letter. The dry paper began to incinerate.
"Dude!" hissed Sun. "What the heck?!"
"What?" asked Neptune as he dropped the burning letter into the toilet. "They told us to burn it, remember? I'm pretty sure part of the test is whether or not we can remember a basic instruction like that."
"But what if we need a reminder of what we're actually supposed to do?!"
"I'm pretty sure we have good enough memory that we'll be able to remember all that… right?" reassured Neptune, getting less sure himself as he continued.
Sun sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You are so lucky that I snapped a picture before you burned it."
As Yang settled into Professor Greene's classroom for the first class of the semester, she had to admit, she was feeling pretty good. The talk yesterday seemed to have helped Weiss - she still hadn't bothered with her usual, more elaborate hairstyle, but she wasn't looking like a half-dead zombie either - and it had certainly helped Yang. Now, she could finally put her biomom behind her and move on.
Though the smile Weiss gave Jaune as they came in worried her, mostly for Ruby's sake. She didn't think either of them knew about the other's… intentions toward the dork knight, nor Pyrrha's. Pyrrha's awareness of theirs, she couldn't get much of a read on, but no matter what, it was likely going to come to a head at some point.
She was honestly glad to have put the Autobots and their war behind her. It meant she had more time to help her sister and her team. It gave her time to figure out how to limit the damage when the situation around Jaune eventually blew up.
And it was better than the blow ups around the White Fang, who were now officially the problem of the professionals and not her.
The sound of the door opening and a crowd filing in broke her out of her musings. The Haven exchange students had arrived, and…
Rowr.
...Sun looked good in a uniform, even if he seemed a little uncomfortable. She shook the thought out of her head.
Down, girl, she reminded herself as she watched the Haven students file in. Neptune flashed Teams RWBY and JNPR a charming smile as he took a seat near Sun, followed by presumably the other half of their team, a piratey-looking redhead and a boy with green hair and brown skin.
It was as the last of them filtered in that Yang felt the blood drain from her face, driving any thoughts of romance - comedic or otherwise - from her mind.
For she recognized the last three Haven students entering the room.
Cinder Fall, she thought, trying to clamp down the panic rising within her. What is she doing here?!
Author's Note 1 (Cyclone):
Raven probably would have been a bit more careful with her choice of words if she knew what Leo was actually asking about. I'm sure this won't have any long-term consequences whatsoever…
You might be wondering why Raven seems a bit... different from what you might normally expect and why she doesn't consider herself Yang's mother. For that, I'll point you to A Stark Divide, our standalone prequel. It's complete and only three chapters long.
Really enjoyed writing the Arslan scene, BTW. Sometimes, you just want to go full cheese, in this case, inspired by the YouTube explosion cut of Dutch and Dillon's meeting from the beginning of Predator. It was originally conceived as a much more subdued "Han and Lando" style meeting, with a switch from fake-out anger to friendly hug.
You may notice that Boomer's real name is alluded to but not mentioned. That's because… well, figuring out how to bring it up in the scene was more trouble than it was worth. As we mentioned earlier, we had some difficulties figuring out this character's callsign, but eventually, we stumbled across the TF Wiki page of the Autobot Targetmaster partner and decided that the name fit rather well, and it also works from the meta perspective of continuing Hasbro's tradition of slapping an old character's name on a new character who has nothing to do with his or her namesake in order to keep the copyright active. Just ask Wheeljack.
Author's Note 2 (Cody MacArthur Fett):
You know, writing that Sun and Neptune scene was incredibly difficult, with four different versions being cooked up, and none clicking. Then I had a brainwave, and then I belted both scenes out in a few hours. So… yeah, now there's seven plot threads in this season. The amazing thing about this is that it really does solidify these first few chapters and work towards the ultimate objective we had planned.
Never been involved with a protect like this before, but it feels fantastic. The whole writing process is just clicking all over the place. And if I sound enthusiastic and happy it's only because I am.
Bit of a note about the characters though, specifically in this case, Team APRC. Aska's name looks a little strange to me (it's Asuka, darn it!) and I'm betting it's for copyright reasons, but if you're wondering where she's from it's actually from a little Takara franchise called CyGirls. (And since that's really obscure, there's a YouTube playlist of footage from the tie-in video game starring Aska.) Rufus Madison is actually from an even more obscure (as in, we can't buy it) Transformers: Prime comic. Ciel Soleil is from canon RWBY but everything else about her character is listed straight out of SAPR with ScipioSmith 's permission. Penny is Penny, and she is very similar to herself.