34
Truth and Reconciliation
"You look like hell Qrow." James commented as the huntsman in question oozed into the chair in front of his desk.
"Good cuz I feel like it." Qrow slouched into a more comfortable position, ignoring the man's critical eye as he did so.
Ironwood sighed, "What was it you needed to see me for?"
He looked at his flask and took a deep breath. He needed to get this out, just get to the point so he couldn't back out, "When we got the Relic of Knowledge, it wasn't used up like Oz said it was."
James' eyes widened and Qrow continued before he was interrupted, "We used a question. Or, well, Yang did. At the time I was out looking for the Arc kid and Ruby so I didn't witness it but Raven told me later what happened."
The General listened quietly as Qrow recounted what his twin had told him.
"You must be joking, Qrow!" Ironwood slammed his fists down onto his desk, the sturdy, metal thing withstanding the force admirably but still sending the contents atop it tumbling to the ground, "Neither of you thought this was something that I needed to know?! We are allies, Qrow!"
"Believe me, James, I wanted to tell you. But with everything going on I wanted to be sure you wouldn't over react and do something drastic." The old huntsman looked regretfully at the General. They held eye contact for a moment before James slumped down into his chair. Qrow let him have his moment to think, he'd surely needed his own when he had found out about Ozpin's lies, even if they were lies of omission. It made it seem that all his talk of trusting the strength of the human spirit to be merely pretty words. Maybe it was, Qrow couldn't tell. He didn't feel very trusted at the moment.
"This changes things, Qrow." James' voice was low, he sounded tired and on his last legs. Folding his hands together he leaned his forehead on them, propped up on the desk by his elbows.
"Yeah." Qrow took a long swig from his flask, feeling the burn of the hard liquor as it went down his throat. They sat in silence for a long while, Jamnes lost in thought and Qrow content to let him be. It wasn't everyday you found out the enemy of humanity was indestructible.
"There must be something." Ironwood finally said, ending the silence, "There must be something Oz never considered."
"The question didn't leave a lot of room for interpretation. Salem can't be destroyed."
"No, by Raven's account Jinn said 'You can't.' You can't. She was saying Ozpin could not destroy her. And that's not saying she can't be stopped, just not killed." Ironwood was on a roll, his head was perked up and it looked like some vitality had returned to him. He never had been someone to give up easily.
"You have a point," Qrow allowed with a small nod, "But who could, if anyone? Oz wasn't exactly weak, James."
"I'm not sure yet, but it's too soon to give up hope, that would only further Her goals. For now." James stood up and looked out over his school, the students milling about in the courtyard, "For now we figure out how to stop Salem in her tracks. She may be immortal but her lieutenants aren't."
Qrow had to give him the point, as daunting as the information was, it changed little of what they had to do right then. They were already on the defensive. Of course it meant James had to rethink his plan but that didn't mean it had to be wholly scrapped. Better to have the information now to plan for the future. Even weighed against the risk of Ironwood trying to take the Relic, it was better that they be upfront about it. Raven had been the one to convince him of that, warning him they didn't want to act like Ozpin.
Count on her to try and be the opposite of Oz.
"There's one question left." Ironwood spun around to say something but Qrow held his hand out, " And before you suggest we use it, let's just take a long consideration on what to use it on. The thing only refreshes once a century. We'll be long dead before another question comes along, none of us are excited about using it up."
He looked like he might argue but instead cast his eyes downwards towards his desk, "Yes. It's something we should think about carefully. I guess I have to some plans to change, for now." Running a hand down his face James looked to Qrow once again, "Still nothing from Ozpin?"
"Silent as a cemetery." He shook his head, "Oscar says he can't even feel the bastard, though I'm sure he's still there."
"Even with everything he's done, I would still have liked to ask his opinion. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. We'll just have to make do without him. I assume you still want to lock the Relic within Atlas' vault?"
"Yeah, be safer that way."
James sighed, he'd been doing that a lot lately, "There's one problem with that." Qrow's heart fell, "The Winter Maiden is stable but… in a coma. It's likely she will never wake up."
"Seriously?! When were you gonna-"
"Oz knew already." James interrupted him.
"That machine." Qrow's eyes narrowed, "I always wondered why you built it. You were gonna use it on Fria, weren't you?"
"Letting her pass in the state she's in is a risky option. We hadn't yet decided on the new Maiden at the time so when she went under… we were caught unprepared. If I could, I'd have Winter take the position, but now..." He shook his head.
"You can't just transfer the powers to Winter anyways?" Qrow drained the last of his flask's contents, wiping the dregs from his lips with his sleeve.
"We had something of a breakthrough during the development. A vessel capable of generating its own aura but was immune to the effects of age."
It took Qrow only a few seconds to piece the picture together, "The Polendina girl, the robot. You were going to transfer it to her?"
"Exactly. The Vytal festival was meant to be a demonstration to Ozpin on the capabilities of Penny. After the end I was going to tell Oz about my plan."
"But instead Fall stepped in to cause chaos."
"Yes." James' fist tightened. "We were so close from never having to place this burden on a young woman ever again."
"Sounds ideal. If it worked." Qrow allowed.
"Yes. With Cinder's intervention there was no telling if the exchange with Miss Nikos was going to work or not. The only solution now it to go ahead, and hope for the best." James walked around his desk to a small standing cabinet and out from it's interior he drew a never touched bottle of Atlesian Scotch and two tumblers. Pouring some out for the both of them he handed one to Qrow and cradled his own in his hands as he sat back behind his desk. Ironwood seemed to contemplate his drink before looking back at Qrow.
"I'm just glad you're here Qrow, and that you decided to tell me the truth. Even with Winter and the others, it's been trying, attempting to keep the kingdom afloat but also keep this secret."
"I don't envy you, James." Qrow swirled the amber liquid around his glass before holding it out to his old friend, "To never giving up."
James' glass clinked against his, "And never surrendering."
-SY-
A lone amber eye stared at the reflection in the dimly lit bathroom, a black eyepatch over the other and covering the disfigured part of Cinder Fall's face. Her top was removed and she ran a finger of her remaining hand along the dark, angry lines extending onto her chest. The Grimm-flesh her mistress had bestowed on her had consumed more, consuming more of her body to regrow itself and give her back the Grimm arm.
Slowly she wrapped the bandages around the new limb, covering it from view before pulling her top back on, her mantle covering her left side, bandaged arm hidden beneath it. It was an annoyance, having to rebandage the arm occasionally, but a necessity. The growth brought with it pain and sometimes blood as it expanded. It would not take her life, it was linked to her in a way that was symbiotic, but that didn't make the process of making a new arm pleasant.
Her thoughts drifted back to the ones who had done this to her. Rose, for taking her original beauty, then Raven and Neopolitan for the events underneath Haven academy. Her Grimm arm tightened around the porcelain sink, cracking it.
They were in Atlas, she knew. Adam and she had tracked them to the floating city. They had been so close at Argus and yet the Grimm attack had caused their plans to accelerate, through luck and skill they had managed to take advantage of the chaos to follow the group.
She had still yet to fully plan out how to take her revenge, preferably after she had acquired the Winter Maiden's powers. That was the reason why she was there.
Cinder exited the bathroom, bandages snuggly in place once more, and made her way to just backstage, out of view of the audience. From behind she watched Adam give his speech, a considerable amount of nonsense, trying to convince the old veterans of the former White Fang in Atlas to join him. He'd asked for the strongest and the most belligerent of those that remained free after Atlas had crushed them.
The thirty or so that had answered Adam's call were the ones who hated Atlas the most, and the bull faunus was determined to use that to his advantage. Cinder couldn't quite show her face at the meeting, they couldn't know of her involvement but they also needed the leftover White Fang resources that this group had.
Cinder felt something shift behind her and her body tensed as someone spoke.
"I spy with my little eye, something that starts with C!"
Cinder turned around and scowled at the speaker, "Tyrian."
"Wrong!" The madman crowed, "Nice try. The word was Cinder."
"What are you doing here?" She hissed, "You're supposed to be in Vacuo!"
"I'm supposed to be wherever my Goddess needs me. You know that, Cinder." Tyrain said like it was the most obvious thing in the world as he started pacing in front of her, his tail swaying lazily behind him.
"She's moved the timetable?" Cinder's eye widened.
"She wasn't happy to learn that Ozpin had taken the relic to Atlas." He turned a snarling glare towards her and his voice turned to a growl, "A relic you were supposed to retrieve!"
Cinder felt fear jolt through her, Tyrian was just crazy enough to try to kill her, especially if he thought it would serve Salem.
"I didn't come to find you because it's what I wanted, but because someone else wished to speak with you." Tyrian fished a scroll from his pocket, the screen already showing a call in progress though not who it was connected to. She had a feeling she knew who it was, she took the scroll and held it up to her ear.
"Hello dear Cinder." The voice drawled through the tiny speakers.
"Watts, to what do I owe the pleasure." Her voice told that it was anything but.
"More like business really. I was looking through security footage in Mantle and imagine my surprise at seeing you walking around so brazenly." His voice grated on her nerves, she could practically feel his smug smile through the scroll, "You see since our timetable has changed due to someone's failure I find myself taking up their slack. Salem has ordered us not to assist you so I will tell you this. Do not get in our way. I know you, Cinder, the Winter Maiden is no longer yours."
"The Maidens are mine, Watts! You have no right to-" Cinder cut her hand to the side.
"I have every right Cinder. I am acting on our Mistress' will." Watts cut her off, "You've failed and so has Salem's trust in you. Someone else will become the Winter Maiden so stay away. But I'm nothing if not magnanimous. I have something you may want more than Winter."
"What could you possibly have that would be worth a Maiden?" Cinder snarcked back.
"How about another Maiden?" Cinder tensed, "How about Spring? She's the one who defeated you after all. I assume you want to repay the favor more than you want Winter."
Cinder stopped as she considered the deal he had laid out before her. One the one hand finding the Winter Maiden would be difficult, especially without the help of Watts. The thought of revenge on Raven Branwen was incredibly tempting, as well.
"Dealing with Ozpin and his group may well be your way back into the good graces of our Mistress. We know they still have Knowledge. If you… retrieved it from them and the powers of the Spring Maiden ended up in your possession as well? Well, I would think Salem would be delighted."
As much as she hated to admit it, Watts was right, "Fine. I'll play your game Watts."
"I knew you would." She didn't think his smugness could have gotten any more intense but it did and she almost crushed the scroll in her hand, "Keep this scroll at hand. I'll provide you information through it."
Not seeing the point in the conversation anymore she ended the call abruptly, hanging up on the man before she really did destroy the scroll. Tyrian giggled in the deranged way he often did.
"Make sure to please our Goddess Cinder, or the next time I visit it won't be fore a conversation." His tailed swayed behind him as he walked away and back into the shadows.
The only thing keeping her going was her singular hatred for Raven Branwen. She wouldn't stop until the woman had her blade buried in her chest and the powers of Spring in her grasp.
-SY-
Ruby panicked when a hand clamped around her mouth and she was dragged back into the body of the person that had gotten a hold of her.
"Found you!" Yang's voice dripped with honey and she had a saccharine smile plastered on her face that made Ruby struggle even further to escape her grasp, "Now now, Ruby. I've been looking all over for you. I thought we'd have a nice, sister to sister conversation. Doesn't that sound great?"
Ruby shook her head violently from side to side.
"Great! I was beginning to think you were avoiding me." Yang ignored her sister.
Yang dragged her sister to a nearby classroom, and wasn't conversations in empty classrooms quickly becoming a thing. Once released Ruby's eyes darted around the room but with Yang blocking the only exit she was stuck, she couldn't overpower her sister without Crescent Rose or at least Rose Thorn.
"Ruby I'm not mad."
That made her little sister freeze in confusion, silver eyes glanced up suspiciously, "You're not?"
"Not.. not anymore." Yang looked away, feeling slightly awkward. It was a little weird to talk about the guy they both liked, "I lost my temper, but I kind of understand what happened."
"I didn't mean to kiss him!" Ruby pleaded, "It just happened. I thought we were gonna die and -"
She was cut off as Yang rushed at her, flinching she held her hands out to ward her off but froze as her sister enveloped her in a tight hug.
"I know Ruby." Yang whispered, "I talked to Jaune and it made me realize something. You've been pushing us together for a long time, haven't you?" Yang held Ruby at arms length and received her answer when she avoided eye contact, eyes skating across the floor instead. She touched her forehead to Ruby's and whispered, "You idiot. I'm sorry I didn't notice."
"I'm the one that should apologize, Yang. After all…. I have feelings… for…"
"Jaune." Yang finished for her and received a small nod from the younger girl. Exasperated Yang shook her head, golden locks dancing in the limited light of the classroom, "You should've just gone for it, but, I'm kind of glad you didn't." When Ruby raised an eyebrow she smiled back apologetically, "Sorry Sis, he's mine now."
A bitter smile spread across the younger sister's face and yang pulled her back into a tight hug, "I'm sorry I'm hurting you like this. I love you, Ruby, and nothing will ever change that."
Slowly small hands wrapped around her back and finally Ruby returned the embrace.
"I love you too, Yang. That's why I want you to be happy." Yang could hear the slight wobble in her voice and it made her grip her even tighter.
They stayed like that for a time, Yang couldn't tell if Ruby was crying or not but she started feeling better. Normally she could read the girl like a book, so her being able to keep her feelings from her for almost a year made her think that maybe she was finally growing up.
It was a shame there wasn't two Jaunes, Ruby and he would have made a cute couple. She could imagine the two fumbling around each other and it brought a smile to her face. There was no use spending too much time on what ifs, however, and eventually the sisters pulled apart.
An idea suddenly occurred to Yang, "Hey Rubes, wanna go swimsuit shopping?"
Ruby looked at her like she was crazy and she laughed it off.
"Well you see, the Academy has a heated indoor pool so I was thinking that when Jaune finally gets his cast off in a couple of days we could all go swimming. I've heard it's great for therapy."
She nodded along, "Okay." She relented with a small voice.
Yang wouldn't mention her sisters red rimmed eyes. Hopefully everything was back to normal now.
A/N: So wow this took a terribly long time but mostly it was because my father died and I've been dealing with my grief.
I'm trying out a new spacing because I don't like how it eliminates all the spaces around line breaks.
On this chapter we have the view from the villains side and here's where I gotta say some thing, and if you haven't been keeping up with the new season of RWBY I'll try not to spoil anything but you shouldn't be reading RWBY fics before catching up because a lot of them have spoilers in the content, including mine. Moving along I wish to say that what happens from here on was planned out a long time ago with only some minor things being altered. The status of the Winter Maiden being old and in a coma is close to canon and honestly I came up with it be trying to predict RWBY to a certain extent. A lot of the similarities will be that way though others will be changed due to new info received from canon.