Big Issues
AN: Longest chapter so far but this isn't a happy chapter. Fair warning but you could say that this is the calm before the storm. And thanks to Sonikah for following this series. I have plenty more planned out already, enough to double the length of this story and I'm sure that it's not going to be anywhere close to ending there. On with the show.
Vytal Tournament – Embers
The medics had run onto the stage and immediately declared that Mercury had to go to a hospital. They loaded the boy onto the stretcher they had brought with them after quickly wrapping his shot leg with bandages to keep the bleeding to a minimum. The path back into the stadium was kept clear by some of the security forces so the two medics, the patient laying between them, and his teammate could move quickly down an otherwise unoccupied corridor where a medical transport would treat him better on route to the Vale hospital.
Passing by a door, a nurse stepped out with a wave. "Over here! We have an ambulance ready to go." She tells them and they weren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. It may not be the ambulance that they were intending to go to but a closer one could make a difference, as far as they could tell.
The main door for the airship was already open with a short and stout woman prepping equipment to be used already inside. The medics deposited the stretcher on the bed inside and told the nurses a brief report before the door slammed shut to isolate the shorter woman, her patient, and his teammate inside.
"I hope he'll be okay, that girl won't leave his side." The one medic comments to the taller nurse as she prepared to fly them down to the city.
"We'll take good care of them." She assures him before the ship lifts off into the darkening sky.
Inside the ambulance, things weren't as expected for an emergency medical transportation vehicle.
"Oh Doc, tell me… will I ever walk again?" Mercury asks in what could best be described as over the top acting. He received a punch to the arm from Emerald for his trouble from where she sat on the bench next to him. "Ow! What's your deal?" This time, the question was more genuine as he sat up easily.
His dark grey eyes locked onto red one that gave him a pain filled glare. "Ugh… Headache." She gives as an answer, dropping her head into her waiting hand to help ward off the strain. "One I can handle but two is a stretch." She groans out.
"Well, you all performed marvelously." Cinder commends them from her seat up front. She seemed to like her outfit a bit too much, though whether that was because of her plan going perfectly, she enjoyed the deceptive cosplay, or that she found a uniform that fit her highly accented curves, no one could say. Or would risk asking. It was probably a combination of all of them.
"Driver included." Neo smile and nods. She enjoyed dressing up and tricking people and was extremely glad that not only did her 'employers' find a nurses outfit that would fit her short stature but one that would also fit her own recent gains. The mute girl had only bulked up to play her role for the tournament round she had participated in, but she enjoyed being able to eat all that she wanted without much of a care. But she also knew that it wasn't going to last, so she took what she could while it lasted.
"So… think it worked?" Mercury asks rhetorically, his legs hanging off the edge of the bed, the 'injured' leg pant torn at the site and bunched up on Talaria, exposing his prosthetic leg in its mechanical glory.
All over the news, there were interviews of civilians' reactions on the end of the first fight of the finals. None of them were favorable towards Yang or Beacon as a whole. More reports of increased Grimm activity from the walls of Vale to drone footage from Mountain Glenn, even other kingdoms and the reporters urging for viewers to calm down as to not attract the attention of more of the beasts of darkness.
The television projection shut off, thanks to Emerald with her hand on the remote. "Hey! I was watching that!" Mercury whines as he turns a screwdriver into his leg. There had been some damage thanks to the lack of aura to protect it, thus requiring a bit of maintenance, especially on the knee joint.
"Shut up!" The thick thief growls at him, she'd been annoyed by him almost since the moment he'd joined their group.
"Is this how you treat a patient?" He asks, making the mistake of taking his hand off the tool in his leg.
Emerald had enough of his sarcasm and twisted the tool sharply, making the boy flinch enough that his leg came off the table he rested it on. "Ah! Too tight!" He grunts as he reverses the pressure as his teammate stood by, satisfied with her revenge. It was bad enough that he had to take his leg off to perform the repairs, now the clamp that held his flesh and prosthetic had left a sore spot that wouldn't ease up for a few minutes, especially if he was keeping his leg on.
"Our Mercury put on a wonderful show. He was quite brave." Cinder smirks from a corner where she was watching their interaction. The way she praised him was a mix of her usual flair for dramatics, mocking, and genuine pride. She had also changed back into her 'Haven Huntress gear'.
The assassin took that as an invitation to continue as he normally did. He moved the tool to another part and began using it as he turned to Emerald. "These things aren't exactly cheap, you know." He scowls.
Emerald ignores him for her master. "So, what' next?"
"You and I will make sure the next matchup will go… just as smoothly." Cinder replies before walking away, hearing the dependent thief following after her.
'What about me?" Mercury asks.
"You get to lay low until the end." She says before pausing to look back at him. "We wouldn't want to have people see you back on your feet and all of this be for naught, would we?"
"Can do." Mercury replies as he returns to his adjustments to make sure his legs would be ready for the real fun. A few cranks later as he listened to the hefty ladies' heels leave the room, the power was restored to his leg, the area just below the knee glowing blue with a small whine as the limbs systems were filled with power. It didn't take long for the small air compressor within his 'ankle' to begin storing pressurized gas. Then he moved on to removing Talaria to ensure that was fully fixed and reloaded. He still had the other leg to do and a television to entertain himself with.
Outside the Team RWBY dorm room, a pair of Atlesian Knights stood on either side of the door. Denko and Itazura were barred from entering but they could hear General James Ironwood speaking inside. Denko had his hands shoved in his pockets as he listened to the voices heavily muffled by the door as they drifted through. Itazura though, was busy on her scroll. One ear was focused on the occupants of the room, the other was apparently linked to her scroll so the hallway was otherwise silent. The look of concentration on her face was enough to keep him from disturbing whatever she was doing but he did catch a few clips to know that she was reviewing the fight.
Something was off and she knew it, that's what he knew. He wasn't in the frame of mind to try reviewing the fight himself, trusting that his sister and her knack of spotting small details would do the job for him. It came as part of the training for her Foxfire Semblance, the ability to create illusions on whatever was 'burnt' by the blue flames that she can produce. Everything that the victim experiences was under Itazura's control, even making them feel like the flames were burning them, yet without causing any damage themselves. The real trick, they had found, was that there were limits to her Semblance.
One of which being how obvious it was being used, it was a bit hard to disguise a blue jet of flames or a blue fireball being thrown around. The second was what could be done to the victim, as there was only so much that Itazura could imagine to manifest for the target to react to. If she were to make enemies attack each other, Grimm or bandit, the best results came from using Foxfire on both targets and manipulating them together.
Some testing had discovered that there was some input into the Semblance from the victim(s). The deeper that they were into a reactionary mindset, the easier it was for the flames to manifest the expected results of the actions. Thus, it made it easier to use on Grimm and untrained fighters, evening the playing field if she was outnumbered. It also made it easier for the girl to use her Foxfire on multiple targets. Even more intelligent fighters could fall victim as Itazura could make sure that what they experienced was slightly off from the real world, anything from a delay to adjusting the lengths of weapons being used.
But it was that required attention to detail, flexible thinking, and imagination that made Foxfire so powerful on a battlefield. Now, she was using those skills while analyzing the footage of the fight. She had already seen that the repair crews had taken care of the arena and the report was in a back folder waiting to be read through. But she had seen something, a change in how Yang moved that was much like those under the effects of Foxfire from an outside perspective… just without any tell.
"I'm sorry, but you left us with no choice." Ironwood informs the girls as he paces in the room.
"But he attacked me!" Yang insists, even waving her arms to show her frustrations at the whole thing.
"I'm sorry, but video footage and millions of viewers say otherwise." James counters immediately.
"But Yang would never do that!" Weiss defends her teammate, gesturing to the blonde.
"Yeah!" Ruby jumps to her feet in support. Next to her, Yang simply sighs and drops her face into her hands, still upset at how everything just suddenly went wrong for her and there seemed to be nothing she could do.
James let's out a small sigh of his own before turning around to address them calmly. "You all seem like good students." He begins, ignoring the pointed look Weiss was giving him and the pleading eyes of Ruby. "And the staff here at Beacon are fully aware that you would never lash out the way you did. Under normal circumstances." He looks at the wall for the last part.
He looks back to see the sad faces of the sisters, the regret and confusion still on Yang's face. "But I believe and hope this to be, nothing more than the result of stress and adrenaline." Ruby collapsed onto the bed next to her sister, her weight making the larger girl bounce a little. On the other side of the room, Weiss was silently glaring at him while Blake had barely even looked at him directly, instead she kept her eyes down to the floor.
"Out in the field, your judgement can become clouded in an instant. Sometimes you simply see things that aren't there." He looks to the side again and sounding regretful and possibly having experience with what he said next. "Even after the fight has passed."
"But I wasn't-" Yang tried to defend herself once more.
"That's enough!" The General raises his voice for the first time since entering the room. The girls had been cooperative thus far and Yang had yet to change her story, even after seeing the video back in the stadium. His outburst shocked the girls into silence, quieting Yang and keeping whatever the others were going to say at bay.
James straightens himself up again and regains his composure. "The sad truth is, whether this was an accident or an assault, it doesn't matter. The world saw you attack an innocent student. They've already drawn their own conclusions. And it's my job to inform you that… you're disqualified."
Yang could only gape at the Atlesian Headmaster and General with wide eyes. That may have been the result she was expecting from what she's been told she did… but to hear it out loud from one of the authorities overseeing the tournament. She held that expression for a few seconds before accepting his words and silently looking away and to the floor.
With that said and no further objections, Ironwood walks out the door, taking the Knights with him as an escort. Silence reigned in the room as the footsteps faded away. Yet none of the occupants noticed that someone else was just outside and listening.
"You guys believe me, right?" Yang asks quietly. There was none of her usual confidence left in her, replaced completely by the weight of the world directing their disappointment at her and she felt it all.
"Duh!" Was Ruby's immediate response, supporting her sister fully.
"You're hotheaded but not ruthless." Weiss tells her.
But everyone noticed that there was silence from the fourth member of the team, one who was refusing to look at them even as they stared at her, expecting something.
"Blake?" Yang asks, sounding like she would break down if one of her closest friends wouldn't believe in her. The fact that the faunus turned her head even further to avoid looking at anyone was enough for everyone's trust in their teammate to drop. Weiss looked to Ruby with open-mouthed shock and received the same in kind. Yang had tears brimming in her eyes.
A few more seconds and Blake finally spoke. "I want to believe you." She still refused to look at them.
"Huh?" Was Ruby's intelligent response.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss was indignant enough in her tone to make up for the other two girls.
The lack of support shattered more of Yang's trust in her faunus teammate and the tears threatened to fall from her eyes. "Blake?" She questions, simultaneously wanting the girl to elaborate and not wanting to hear her speak in case her trust would be fully broken, it still hadn't fully been repaired from the confrontation before the dance.
Blake barely moved, just enough to look at the devastated blonde but never even looking at her face before looking away again.
"How can you say something like that? Yang would never lie to us!" The Atlesian defends her tallest teammate. After so many months together, she had learned that the blonde was a bad liar and often played with her hair as a really obvious tell when doing so. There were a few small lies, but only for games but that was expected from anyone.
But that defense was enough to make Blake move, at least enough to look directly at the snow themed girl before turning away to sigh. Finally, she spoke but still refused to look from the floor.
"I had someone very dear to me change. It wasn't in an instant, it was gradual." She looks towards the window to avoid directly looking at Ruby or Weiss. "Little choices that began to pile up. He told me not to worry."
Weiss and Ruby watched as the bottom-heavy cat girl spoke of her past, the most she had done so beyond explaining White Fang tactics and recruitment methods, she had kept everything else from them, no matter how much she was pressed. Even now, what she was saying was so vague that shadow puppets could have been more descriptive. But Yang kept her head hanging, her eyes closed so she didn't have to look at someone who kept breaking her trust in her.
"At first they were accidents, then self-defense." A small pause before a touch of self-loathing worked its way into her speech. "Before long, even I began to think he was right." The room sat silent for a few seconds, before Blake lifted her head to actually look at her team. "This is just… really familiar."
Yang finally looks up tears falling from her eyes, her emotions finally breaking through, at least a little bit for the release, however little. But she was feeling the familiar urges of a big sister hearing Blake tell her story, Ruby had done the same thing when she was in school on Patch.
"But you're not him. And you've never done anything like this before." Blake continues, and the teammates actually look at each other. "So… I want to trust you." She says, ignoring Weiss' scrutinizing glare next to her. "I will trust you." The declaration lost its power as she couldn't look at Yang while she said that.
Then she looked at the blonde again, speaking with more strength than before. "But first, you need to look me in the eyes and tell me he attacked you." It was hard not to notice that her eyes narrowed as she issued the challenge. "I need you to promise me you regret having to do what you did."
Yang sniffed as she wiped the tears from her eyes before she sat up straight, regaining some composure. "I saw him attack me, so I attacked back." Her words were clear and said as if giving a report with seriousness to Goodwitch.
Once again for a few seconds, the room was silent as the four girls looked at each other. Weiss was still maintaining her glare on the faunus for putting Yang through this trouble. Ruby was looking between her sister and teammates, scared that things could get worse and there wasn't much that she could do to help. Blake studied Yang's face for any signs of deception. Yang simply sat there waiting for the judgement.
"Okay." Blake finally says, her lips turning up into a smile. "Thank you."
With that over, relief that the team was still together and exhaustion from the fight and the aftermath caught up to her. "I think I'm gonna rest up." Yang used the roundabout way to be left alone.
The three girls rise from the beds, leaving Yang to sit where she was. "We'll get out of your hair." Blake says as an attempt at a joke as they leave the room. Ruby gave Yang a quick hug and Weiss gave her a squeeze on the shoulder as they passed.
Ruby took one last look at her sister who hung her head again before the door closed. "This is a mess." Weiss states the obvious as they stood in the hallway.
"Is she going to be, okay?" Jaune asks through his now open door. His whole team was back in their dorm as the finals had been postponed to the next evening. A few matches had quickly been set up to entertain the crowd while they were still in Amity, but without the main event and after what had just happened, there was a sizable portion of the audience that had left. There was also the matter of the minor Grimm incursion near the walls that Vale and Atlas wanted to take care of quickly before too many took notice of it.
Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren peeked around Jaune to look at the girls, all of them worried for their friend. "She's doing the best she can." Blake vaguely answers.
Ruby pipes up. "I heard Mercury and his team rushed back to Haven to be with his family. So, until they land no one can really question him about what had happened."
"If there's anything we can do, please don't hesitate to ask." Ren offers his assistance.
Ruby looked grateful at the offer before her gaze turned to the floor. "Alright then, if that's the case, Pyrrha?"
The girl in question just sat on her bed, the furniture groaning a bit under her weight as she was technically the heaviest of the group, her height over all of the girls lending to that as did the armor she still wore. "Hm?" The redhead looks to the youngest around.
Ruby raised her fists to her face with a smile. "You be sure to win one for Beacon, okay?"
Next to her, Weiss nods in support. "It's what Yang would want." Even she felt that it was bad to speak for her friend but knew her well enough that it would be the case. Blake was silent on the matter but didn't deny either of what her teammates said.
Pyrrha looked away for a second to adjust her troubled expression to a cheery one. "I'll do my best." She says brightly for her friends.
"I'll be sure to watch tomorrow in case you're picked!" Ruby says a bit louder than she should have in the hallway.
"Sorry, but I think I've had enough fighting for one year." Blake says tiredly.
"Ditto." Weiss nods in agreement. "Coffee?" She offers.
"Tea." Blake responds with a small smile, both at the offer and their little game over drink of choice. With that, the two left, presumably for the common room. Jaune watched as Ruby trailed after them before closing the door.
It was only then that Ruby noticed that Denko and Itazura were standing there and likely heard everything in both rooms. The fox was still busy on her scroll but with the way she was dealing with something on the screen, she was seemingly too occupied to notice the black and white duo pass her. Denko though, looked at the young girl with unasked questions in his eyes.
No words were said between them as Ruby motioned to the door, Denko simply nodding his thanks before quietly opening the door and shutting it behind him. The cloaked girl looks to Itazura and sees that she's still engrossed in whatever she was doing and left her to it to follow after her teammates.
A few moments after everyone were gone, Itazura looked up from her scroll, satisfied that she had everything with more data being collected by another program looking for relevant information and compiling it for her. But she finds herself alone and shrugs, sending a quick text to her team and sending another message to another group before hurrying to the meeting place.
Inside the Team RWBY room, Yang had stayed where she was on Weiss' bed. She wasn't able to focus on anything but her mind kept coming back to the fight and how it ended. She knew what she saw and heard but the cameras saw something completely different.
"Was he right? That I was just seeing things?" She asks herself quietly.
"That's a possibility." A familiar voice responds.
Yang jumped in fright, nearly hitting her head on the bed above her. She thought she was alone yet someone had slipped in during the short time her team had left. Lilac eyes snapped over to find blue staring back that were slightly amused at her reaction.
"When did you…?"
"A few seconds ago."
"Am… am I really that out of it? I didn't even hear you come in." Yang lowers her gaze to the floor.
"Well, I was being as quiet as possible for a reason, to see how you are dealing with this without knowing there are others watching you." Denko explains, watching as her eyes snapped up to him, wide with a combination of fear and surprise. "To be fair, you have a lot on your mind, I get it."
"You're not the one who's hated by the whole world now!" Yang fires back at him.
"You're hardly hated by the whole world. Your friends and family are standing by you." He says confidently. "I heard them."
"You heard Blake then, she didn't trust me!"
"I didn't trust you too much when we met either but we got to know each other."
Her eyes narrowed. "But you never broke your promises to me or lied about big things like who you are."
Denko closed his eyes as he recalled the night before the dance and how Yang had vented to him. She was a fair bit smaller then now, he could wrap his arms around her waist then. But she was upset at the lack of trust and understanding by the friend she was looking out for; telling a very personal story that made her more vulnerable emotionally than normal.
"I know." He says quietly. "You were the first friend I had and it was your family that gave me and sis a home. We could finally live and be ourselves. I'm not going to turn my back on someone who did so much for me."
Yang looked at him with tears in her eyes. Her emotions were usually worn on her sleeve but few knew how much she kept hidden from the world. But Denko was one of the few who knew and he was open to her in turn. "You really mean that?"
"Didn't you just say that I don't break promises and don't lie to you?" He smirks but that faded as the tears began to run down her cheeks. "Um… Yang?"
He didn't get a chance to say anything more as the heavier girl all but tackled him onto Blake's bed and started bawling. His ribs protested a few times as she squeezed him like her life depended on it. He was sure that he'd have to give his vest a thorough cleaning after this with the amount he could hear her sniffling and rubbing her face into his shoulder. But he could rub her back and hold her, as he'd done several times before.
There was no way that this was the actions of someone who wanted what happened tonight in the stadium to happen. This was the actions of someone who deeply regretted her actions, and if her side of the story was true about seeing Mercury attacking her after the match was over, something was definitely wrong at play.
But he wasn't going to leave his best friend to suffer, though he was sure that Weiss wouldn't mind swapping beds for the night; it would be too difficult to try lifting Yang onto her own bed. He'd at least stay to get her into bed once she was exhausted herself.
Outside the window, a blackbird sat on a branch and watched through the open window.
Across the hallway, Pyrrha was the center of attention of her team. From Nora wanting to work out, having grabbed some weights from the gym to Ren offering a 'health' drink. Though when Nora had objected to what he was providing, the ninja had forced some into the short girl's mouth. It was amusing to see Nora turn green, but the retching into the trashcan was something that could have been done without.
"What is wrong with you? We're supposed to help her, not poison her!" Nora screeched at her best friend and the two devolved into a tired old debate about health – food vs exercise.
"Hey, why don't we all get some air?" Jaune interjects with his hands on the arguing pairs shoulders. He had seen the way Pyrrha was looking and opted to give her a way out. That and he knew that she liked to go for a walk to relax.
The rest of Team RWBY came back to their room to find Denko sitting on the floor and leaning against Weiss' bed where Yang lay sleeping with her fleece blanket. The boy was sleeping but woke when they entered the room, gesturing for them to be quiet as soon as he recognized them.
"Is… is she okay?" Weiss asks in a whisper with Ruby looking worried over her shoulder.
Denko glanced over his at the girl sleeping behind him. She was sleeping soundly, but her eyes were still puffy and red from her crying with tear streaks on her cheeks. "Just give her some time to come to terms with things."
"Are you staying here tonight?" Ruby asks, knowing that Yang wouldn't be likely to talk to them much when she woke up.
"It's probably best that I go to my own dorm now that you're here." He answers as he stands up and stretches his back, feeling a few of the joint's pop.
He was stopped at the door by Ruby hugging him. "Thanks for taking care of Yang." The young girl mumbles into his chest.
"No problem." Denko gives her a soft smile with a hug. He was out the door soon after she released him.
"Who?" James says in shock when the elevator chimes behind him signaling the arrival of someone visiting the Beacon Headmaster's office.
The doors opened to reveal Itazura, Talon, and Anya walking out to meet them, their unexpected arrival making the conversation about the fight in the finals come to an abrupt end.
"What are you three doing here?" Glynda asks them. She may be a strict teacher but she cared for her students and what happened earlier with Yang had thrown her for a loop. The girl had always been respectful of her opponents and encouraged them to do better after she beat them.
"Got something you're gonna want to see." Talon answers, she was all business right now.
"And what would that be?" James questions as he slides into a parade rest.
"For one, Jimmy, you're going to need to update your security." Itazura informs the General, making him narrow his eyes. "Your mother's birthday isn't what I'd call secure for your Secret files. At least the Top-Secret password is better, the date that Atlas was lifted from the ground." That got the man reaching for his scroll and pulling it out.
"You're too late, that infiltrator had input a virus into the CCT to access various functions around the campus… your scroll being one of them." The fox tells the adults, much to their shock. "If it makes you feel better, I had my own program chase it down and follow through wherever it went, that's how I know what's in your scroll. The problem is that they do too. But you can thank me for erecting a firewall that will keep them out and the firewall is being put up onto every system starting with the most vital and those that had already been opened."
"Why didn't you tell us of this sooner?" Glynda asks, scared for the school's safety.
"Because I was already working on the situation and was hoping that I'd be able to find who they are by letting them think they got away with everything. Even saw last night that they had rigged the fight for Yang to fight Mercury. I reset things back to the randomizer but luck was fickle enough to put them in the ring together anyway." Itazura explains, crossing her arms and her tail swishing in agitation.
"But you are saying that Miss Xiao Long's fight was rigged?" Ozpin finally speaks. "What evidence do you have of that?"
Anya produces a small memory stick from her pocket. "Foxy here saved a shit ton of the information on here. Best you look at it on a computer on a closed network." She tosses it to the man who catches it with ease. "But we can show you the important stuff now." She gave a slight grin when Oz motioned for the girls to continue.
Itazura pulled out her own scroll and used the projector in the room make the screen large enough for them all to see clearly. What was on display was the fight between Yang and Mercury playing from the beginning from a dozen different angles. The video only ended once Mercury was being carried away.
"What was that supposed to prove? We all saw what happened and that is why Yang has been disqualified from the tournament." Ironwood says, showing no real emotion on the matter.
"Did you notice anything wrong with what happened?" Anya asks, sounding like she knew a secret that she was about to tell.
"Besides the obvious of one student ruthlessly attacking another?" James wasn't trying to push the buttons of the others in the room but he was doing a good job of doing so, again.
"What kind of weapon does Yang use?" Talon jumps back in, the question raising eyebrows of the older generation. "Her gauntlets are shotgun based, meaning that they are powerful but fairly short range. She uses two types of ammunition in them: Fire Dust laced buckshot for standard use, especially in close range combat. The other is an explosive slug meant for long range attacks."
Dots were being made in their minds but they weren't making an y clear picture yet. Itazura played the final attack after the buzzer on a loop.
"Yang usually punches when she fires a round, a counter to the recoil. She said that she saw Mercury attack her and she punched his leg in a reaction, unloading a shell in the process as is part of standard Huntsman training to prevent an enemy from attacking again while also keeping the injury non-life threatening." The fox explains.
More dots but any connections were fuzzy at best.
"What kind of damage does a weapon like hers do to an unprotected target?" Anya cuts in, all but pointing out the obvious. She watched as the three turned their attention to Mercury himself. The aura gauges showed that his has been spent completely when the match was called in favor of Yang.
"Where is the injury?" Glynda was the first to ask. Being the combat class instructor had its benefits when watching for injuries.
"And where's the blood?" Talon smirks slightly as she watches the General step closer to the projection. "With something like that, he would be lucky to have his leg attached and we've seen Yang blast the head off an Ursa once or twice."
James blinked at her choice of words for the situation at hand… but he could see her point.
"We also have the report from the repair crew, no blood cleanup required anywhere on the stage, just some cracks and broken stone from being hit and blown up." Anya adds as Itazura cues up the report for the Old Guard to read for themselves.
"There's also the matter of the medical transport that took Mercury and Emerald away." The fox continues, drawing attention. "From the reports I've been able to dig up so far, the one that the medics were supposed to take him to never received their patient. Instead, another airship had been parked along the way and took them."
"If he got the care, he needed…" Glynda began out of habit.
"That transport was supposed to be on the other side of the city getting repaired. Ran the serial numbers taken by security cameras for confirmation." Once more, reports were displayed along with pictures and video of Mercury being loaded onto the transport.
"And the report filed by the medics that took him there declared that at a glance they could see he was going to need surgery to repair the damage." Anya declares, and more documents appeared.
"And you are sure that none of this has been falsified?" Ironwood asks, playing the devil's advocate.
"Feel free to search for yourself. I don't need to tamper with anything for this." Itazura defends.
"But Miss Xiao Long is a close friend of yours, I'm sure you can see how that looks." The General counters.
"Not really caring about the optics of my friendship with Yang. But I do have a ton of evidence here that calls things into question.
"That does bring up the questions of how and why this was done in the first place." Ozpin finally speaks, steepling his fingers in front of him.
"The why is the harder question, though making Beacon look bad seems to be a large part of it." Itazura answers as she shuts off the projection. But with three pairs of eyes staring at her, she saw that as a cue to move on.
"For two fights involving Mercury, I noticed that the infiltrator had rigged who he was going to fight. When he and Emerald were set up to fight Coco and Yatsuhashi, I let it go to see what would happen and to let them have a false sense of security of their plans." Itazura began pacing in the dimly lit room and her tail lashed to show her agitation that her calm tone lacked… mostly.
"We saw the results of that fight, one of the favored teams to win the tournament got their butts handed to them by nobodies. And I mean nobodies; their documents from Haven are boring with nothing of note beyond two things. The first is that all four members apparently never attended any prior combat schools, not that it's needed, but they came from small towns that are barely on the map. The second is that they had apparently been out on an extended mission and returned just in time to have a taste of The Issue. Kinda odd for a team with nothing to their name to receive a mission like that."
"Are you sure of this? Those are some big accusations you are making." Goodwitch reminds the faunus.
"I'm sure of this as I'm sure your waistline grew this year." The fox ignored the shock on the blondes' face in favor of holding up her scroll once more. "Got their files here from the systems at Haven if you want to take a look."
"Yang says that she saw something other than what happened." Anya begins. "We checked with Coco and Yatsuhashi about their fight and Coco swore that her teammate was there in the forest with her, before the announcement was made that he'd lost."
"Add that into the medics seeing a wound that apparently wasn't there." Talon adds with her arms crossed.
"But what is the goal?" Ozpin asks.
"We're still working on that but we can tell that the backlash has been agitating the Grimm." Itazura tells the Headmaster. "The Breach by Roman and the White Fang didn't help anything either from a few weeks ago."
The faces of the adults soured at the news. Things were rarely black and white in the world and it ate at them that something so big was taking place under their watch.
"What is your recommendation to do?" Glynda asks. Since Itazura was the one who seemed to have all of the information and already was acting on it.
"You could start by clearing Yang's record." Was the immediate reply.
"We can't just reverse her disqualification." Ironwood protests. "The world saw what happened and would begin to question the integrity of the tournament rules and create tension between Vale and Mistral."
"I said clear the record, not let her back into the tournament." Itazura leveled a tired glare at the much taller man. "Use the information I dug up to bolster the decision and say that the investigation turned up things after the initial decision. That would be the honest course of action. You can do that, right?"
James was taken aback by her attitude but after a few seconds he cleared his throat and tugged at his tie a little. "We'll get on it, after we go through the intel you gathered."
"Fine. At least your scroll is safe now." The fox accepts his terms. She could have easily altered the records herself but she wanted to make the man who upset her friend so much to make a step to undo the problem. She glances at Ozpin and Glynda. "Your scrolls and office computers are safe now too."
"We were compromised?" Ozpin asks, suddenly looking very stiff.
"Only partially. Jimmy was the only one that they went into depth but he has enough other crap that it kept them too distracted to dig into your stuff." Her tail bristled as it snapped behind her. "But it's a good thing that you're so paranoid about this stuff to limit most things to in person meetings and what you do have is behind several layers of security and false trails."
Ozpin didn't like what he was hearing. Clearly, the infiltrator had the means to explore his extensive files on many aspects of Remnant, including the work of his Circle. But from her tone, even Itazura had tried and failed to locate them… something that gave him some hope. He settled for giving the girl a warning glare. Glynda and James were doing the same though the girls ignored them.
James opens his scroll and looks at the new data, specifically the stolen medical transport. "I'll get a team to begin investigation into most of this at once."
"Keep it covert, no telling where the infiltrator and Mercury are. Best to watch for Emerald as well." Anya advises.
Ozpin and Glynda begin to go through the information themselves as James leaves for the elevator. Both of them seeing the notes that Itazura included on her examination of the end of the Yang vs Mercury fight.
'Likely an illusion creating Semblance. No tell to an outside observer. Possibly too subtle for victim to notice unless user wants it to be. Probably extremely limited in range…line of sight? Very small area of effect… maybe has a limit of two or three victims at a time.'
The three girls left as soon as the elevator returned.
Yang didn't bother leaving her room the next morning. She was glad to have her team give her space, leaving her lone in the room to sort through her emotions. Denko's visit last night had certainly helped relieve the built-up stress, the talk and cry had emptied the floodgates but now she was left feeling that she wanted to be alone as much as she wanted her friends by her side.
She had no distractions at the moment, checking her scroll had simply made her mood worse as her 'attack' was all over the news with all kinds of comments that she didn't bother reading. She wasn't interested in reading any of the books in the room. She had no homework to do, the whole team had finished what they had been given before the tournament started.
Not only was she lacking in stimuli to help her, but now she was bored out of her mind. That left her to constantly replay everything that happened yesterday on a loop in her mind. Everything made no sense; she saw what she saw and reacted accordingly. It was nearly enough to drive her crazy with the contradictions.
Her greatest distraction had been watching Team JNPR going for a walk outside. Jaune and Pyrrha seemed to be rather close, the champion looking rather withdrawn compared to normal. Ren was as calm as always and Nora was skipping along to burn off her excessive energy.
"Hey there, Firecracker." A rough voice greets the depressed blonde.
Yang was startled by the sudden arrival but she knew her uncle well enough. A quick glance confirmed that it wasn't just her imagination. "Hey, Qrow." She hangs her head, already anticipating the discussion.
Seeing her sitting there like that, it broke his heart. At least she wasn't as far as Tai had been but with as emotional as the girl is, she nearly looked the part. But there was something he needed to do as family. "So… why'd you, do it?" He asks.
"You know why." Yang replies bitterly, already on the defensive thanks to what she'd seen and heard from the news.
Qrow uncrossed his arms as he stopped leaning on the wall next to the door. "All I know is that you attacked a helpless kid." His tone was accusatory enough to make her glare at him from under her bangs. "So, either you're crazy or lying."
Yang looked at him directly but refused to move from her seat on Blake's bed. "I'm not lying." She states firmly.
"Ah, crazy… got it." He scoffs with a touch of sarcasm as he moves to the middle of the room with his hands now in his pockets.
"Who knows, maybe I am." The chubby blonde depreciates herself.
"And here I thought your dark-haired friend was the emo one." The man interjects some humor to the situation but the situation was too somber.
"I saw my mom." Yang changes the subject, making Qrow stop his pacing and look back at his niece. He rarely saw her like this and the subject of her mother… his sister… was one that would bring out her depression. It was one of many things that he liked about having Denko and Itazura around his family, they were close enough in age and had bad experiences that the kids would talk and get things worked out that way. The only problem was that Qrow is the one who knew his sister the best, being her twin brother born a few minutes later. Asking Taiyang would just make him clam up, probably for the rest of the day, and possibly take out a few dummies to reduce them to scrap with his fists.
"I was in a lot of trouble." The girl began to explain. But she looked and sounded more scared to bring up the subject as her mother was a sensitive subject for the entire family- Ruby excluded as she was ever told about her family's complex relationship beyond that Tai was the father of both girls and Summer loved her daughters.
"Took a pretty hard hit." She continues. "But when I came to, the person attacking me was gone. And I thought I saw…Her." Yang's voice hitched at the last part, not wanting to get her hopes up and the events of last night had her questioning her own sanity. "Her sword. Like in you and dads' old picture." She adds, her tone becoming pleading as she looks to her uncle for answers.
"Tsk, you're not crazy, Yang." Qrow scoffs and changes tact. He turns around to face the girl. "That was your mom alright. Lemme guess, didn't even say a word, did she?"
"How did you know that?" Yang had calmed a bit, the events from last night being pushed to the side in favor of an older personal problem that had plagued her as long as she could remember.
Qrow adopts an easy smile, out of habit, if anything else. "I don't see my sister very much but we do keep in touch… when it suits her." He looks out the window during the last part.
"Wait… you talk to her?" This was news to Yang as she had always believed that nobody had seen her since she abandoned her family when she was an infant. "That was real?" Some anger crept into her voice at the slight dishonesty from her family.
"Yeah, she found me." The man admits. He wasn't going to even try to lie to the girl who was already suffering from distrust. "Had a tip from my most recent assignment, and wanted me to give you a message."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Answers that she had been searching for over a decade for were close at hand and yet they were so far away, it was frustrating.
Qrow took a few moments to walk close to the window, sparing himself from looking at the hurt expression from his eldest niece. "I was trying to wait for the right time." He says with his hands on his hips. "And this sure ain't it." He shakes his head at the timing but knew this had to be done. "But I guess you deserve to know.
Yang stared at him with anticipation, fear, and hope… probably some more emotions that she couldn't express at the same time.
Qrow turned to look her in the eye, to show how serious he was but also regretting what he was about to say. "She wanted me to tell you that 'She saved you once, but you shouldn't expect that kindness again.'"
He watched as she hung her head, disappointed in the words of her own mother. Her hopes may have been too high even though there was little to hope for from Raven.
"Raven's got an interesting way of looking at the world that I don't necessarily agree with. And she's dangerous." The man warns the depressed blonde, knowing that since that one incident years ago, she wouldn't do anything rash in her search for answers.
He points at her now for encouragement. "But you're a tough egg, kiddo." He unintentionally puns but neither of them was in the mood for it. "You shouldn't let this tournament thing get you down. You had a slip up; sometimes bad things just happen. I say it's time you move on."
"Move on to what?" Yang looks up to her uncle as she asks that, hoping that he could provide some useful advice.
The man turns to the window and leans on the sill before speaking. "Well… Raven let some info slip before she took off. If you ever want to track her down, I think I might be able to help." He gives her a small smile. It wasn't much but it was a show that she wouldn't do this alone.
As for Yang… she couldn't muster up the ability to smile. Not since yesterday at the fight but she was glad to have her uncle to support her. But if she were to act on his offer to find her mother, she was going to enlist the help of her best friend to do so. Maybe her team as well.
Pyrrha sat alone leaning on an outside wall of the cafeteria. It would soon be time to go up to the stadium for her chance to fight in the finals but she needed time to think in the relative seclusion. A maple leaf drifting in the light breeze landing near her legs… a reminder of the season and her current predicament. The likelihood of becoming the Fall Maiden. The likelihood of changing who she is. And if she didn't change in personality, what would become of Amber's soul? Would she still require being in Beacon if she took the power? Would she even be allowed to stay?
A short talk with Anya had been helpful as she knew the Summer Maiden personally. The normal process had a brief touching of souls, a very personal passing of the torch, before the power filled the new Maiden. Being a friend or being someone to comfort the previous Maiden as they died was certainly a good way to ensure that the power was passed onto her.
But these circumstances were different. Could she really kill a woman for her power? Did it matter if she was barely alive already? That she was doing so as a way to help keep the power out of the hands of those who would willingly harm others?
Neither of them had much of a choice that Amber was slowly dying from her wounds. Neither of them wanted to take the power of the Maiden, the same power that was probably the only thing that was truly keeping her alive. But the two girls had been chosen as successors for events such as this.
"Could I really pass it off to someone else? I don't want to lose what I have." She says softly to herself. She had been wrestling with the desire to keep herself as she is; her skills, her Semblance, her friends… Jaune...
If she took the power and they found out how she obtained it, would they remain her friends? Anya had assured her that her team would stick around to help her train her powers, if she took them.
Then again, she had said that if her friends would reject her for becoming the new Fall Maiden, then they weren't real friends at all. Yet she could relate with her own Semblance; a power so great and terrible that she had isolated herself from the world. But it had been her family that pushed through the pain and suffering caused by her to help her train and gain control. When Denko and Itazura had learned of it, they didn't care as they were used to it; Denko has a Semblance that he doesn't like to use around others for fear of hurting them. The times that Anya's control slipped, her team were there to help her, making the normally withdrawn girl value them more.
Perhaps Pyrrha would be the same?
"Hey!" A familiar voice brings her out of her thoughts. Looking up, she found Jaune standing nearby holding a stick of pink cotton candy out for her. "It's no green goop but I still think it might do some good."
Surprised by the gesture but plagued by her thoughts, she couldn't manage a smile as she took the spun sugar. "Um… right. Thank you Jaune."
Sensing that something was wrong, the blondes smile fell into a slight frown. He didn't like to see any of his friends upset, especially the one who had helped him so much to get to where he is. Movement from around the far corner revealed itself to be Nora and Ren carrying a load of snacks that they were planning on taking up to the stadium… if they (Nora) didn't eat them all on the way.
But the short girl saw the situation and the need for some privacy, dragging Ren back to the fairgrounds to buy some more food. As if the big cup, huge bucket of popcorn, and the cotton candy he was holding wasn't enough for them. Then again, the food was also mostly air…
The blonde watched them disappear around the corner again before he sat down next to his friend and trainer. "You were the first person to ever believe in me. You know that?" He asks sadly and they look at each other. As sad as Pyrrha already was, that didn't hide her shock from hearing that.
"Even when I told by parents that I was going to Beacon, they told me not to worry if I ended up having to move back home." The lack of support from his family was shown in his face and voice, it wasn't anything he was proud to admit… much like how he had admitted that he had faked his way into Beacon. "How depressing is that?"
Pyrrha could only look at him with sad eyes, realizing that he was trying to distract her from her own troubles by telling her of his own. Sadly, it was working… to a degree. "I'm sure… they didn't mean…" She couldn't find the words to say, not with the jumbled mess that her mind was right now. But with him putting his hand over hers on the walkway, her mind shorted out and causing her to drop her treat and gasp. She manages to look down at their hands and look back to him for his reaction but he was almost ignorant of the situation.
"I guess… I'm trying to say that… you've always been there for me." He says the last part with a smile as he looks to her. Then he looked away and the smile faded. "Even when I didn't deserve it." He recalled when Cardin had him under his thumb and made it difficult to be a member of his own team.
He looks back to her again. "I can tell there's something on your mind, so… I don't know. How can I help?" He offers, smiling once more.
Pyrrha stared at him with wide eyes for a few moments before they narrowed as she began to smile genuinely for what felt like the first time in days. Finally, she was able to relax and she leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. "You're already doing it." She assures him. It didn't matter to her that he was wearing armor at the moment, her circlet rested on the pauldron rather than her head directly. But she relished the peace that they were having right now, sitting side by side with no one around and their hands together.
But her previous worries came back. He was willing to tell her of his troubles, she should do the same… but keeping some details vague as she wouldn't betray the trust that Ozpin and his Circle had put in her.
"Jaune…" She says as she sits back up and withdrawing her hand, missing that he gave a small jump that he didn't seem to notice that their hands were together. "I don't know what to do."
"Wha- what do you mean?" The drastic change in the conversation was confusing him.
Pyrrha looked to the roof over them as she thought about her next words before looking at the blonde. "Do you believe in destiny?"
The question seemed far too random and something that he would have expected more from Ren as he was the more philosophical type… when he spoke. "I, um… I guess. That depends on how you view it."
"When I think of destiny," Pyrrha begins, her tone suggesting that this was something of a prepared speech or at least a frequent enough thought to count as one. "I don't think of a predetermined fate that you can't escape. But rather… some sort of final goal; something you work towards your entire life."
"Yeah, um… I can see that. Sure." Jaune wasn't much of a thinker when it came to such matters but he could see her point.
Pyrrha hung her head, creating a double chin under her softened jawline. "Well… what if something came along that you never expected. Something that had the potential to come between you and your destiny?" She looked up to him for the last part, sounding worried and scared.
"Like what?" Jaune had to ask. She was being too vague to make much sense but he could see that she was getting worked up.
She could no longer lean against the wall with how agitated she was by her own thoughts and speaking to him was giving her an outlet. "Or what if you could suddenly fulfill your destiny in an instant but at the cost of who you were?" Her hands here clenching in front of her chest, another sign of her distress.
"Pyrrha, you're not making any sense." Jaune tried to get more details while reaching out to her shoulder in an attempt to calm her. He missed as she turned away to stand.
"None of it makes sense!" She nearly yells as she takes a few steps away, hugging herself and close to breaking down in tears. "This isn't how things were supposed to happen!" She was now referring to her own plans, plans that had been derailed by forces beyond her control.
Behind her, Jaune stood up. "I'm sorry! Please… I'm just trying to understand what's wrong." He pleads to his friend, trying to help her.
Silence passed between them for a short time. Neither of them moved during that time except their hair in the light breeze.
"I've always felt that I was destined to become a Huntress. To protect the world." She lets out a deep sigh, still hugging herself in a vain attempt of comfort. "And it's become increasingly clear to me that my feelings were right."
She pauses to turn around to look at Jaune, the young man staring at her desperate to help her but confused as how to do so. But talking was helping her vent and he was more than willing to listen to her since they began training together and especially now.
"But I don't know if I can do it." She finally let her arms drop to her thick and curvy sides.
"Of course, you can! The Pyrrha Nikos I know would never back down from a challenge." Jaune responds immediately and honestly. He takes a few steps closer to her. "And if you think its your destiny to help save the world, you can't let anything stand in your way." He finishes with a confident smile.
Her response wasn't what he expected; she used both hands to cover her mouth as she began crying.
For Pyrrha, his confidence in her to do what she was so afraid of is what broke her. He may not know what she was referring to at all but the fact that he was sure that she could do it anyway opened her own floodgates to release her built up emotions. All she could do right now was cry that she may be sacrificing the Pyrrha that he was so supportive of now for someone else that she wasn't sure would even be her anymore.
"Pyrrha?" He was worried now.
"Stop." She warns, not wanting to break down any more in front of him.
He took a step closer as he reached for her shoulder and worry clear in his voice. "Did I say something wrong?"
"Stop!" She shouts and uses her Polarity on his armor to slam him into the wall hard enough to create a spiderweb of cracks. She opened her eyes to see him pinned to the wall and withdrew her hand as she shut off her Semblance, causing him to drop further than he was tall. He landed on his stomach as he was stunned from the hit and too confused at her reactions to act appropriately to catch himself. "Jaune!" She shouts, scared that she had hurt the man that was trying to help her. It was like when she was learning to control her Semblance for the first time back in Argus, throwing metal objects around. It was after she nearly hit her own mother in the head with a pan that she shifted to the far more subtle usage that she's used in tournaments and training since.
But now she was scared. Scared of hurting those she cared for. Scared for becoming someone different. Scared of nearly everything that she couldn't control; something that was becoming very clear that she had little influence in the world around her. She may have watched Jaune pick himself up quickly, his aura being durable enough to handle that abuse with ease.
"I'm… I'm sorry." She pleads to the blonde with tears pouring from her eyes.
"Pyrrha! Wait!" He calls after the girl as she runs away from him. He could only hang his head from where he was kneeling. "What did I say?" He asks himself, confused as to how his words of support would make his teammate lash out the way she did. Nothing made sense but he hoped that she would make it to the tournament… he was going to give her all of the support he could from the stands.
AN: I gotta admit, if there was something that I had to nitpick about the canon episode, it would be the inconsistency of the time. Something I noticed as I reviewed the episodes, kinda like how Yang's gauntlets could be activated for something as simple as walking into her room or worn collapsed in a random scene, or even in the stands of the tournament when everyone else has theirs stored away in lockers.
But yeah, Yang's fight takes place as it's getting dark but its daylight outside when the General tells them about their disqualification. Then it's still day when Qrow spoke to her and sunset when Pyrrha and Jaune had their talk. I really doubt that they would have waited until the next day for James to give them the bad news. So, a few little tweaks to the timing were required. Just one of those little details that the editors and directors failed to catch.
But yeah, not a happy chapter and you got a little more insight into Anya's Semblance. Time to guess what it is is running out as it will be revealed in a few chapters. Same with Denko. Until next time, try to stay safe!