Troll in Reviews
As has been noted, there is a troll in reviews spamming guest reviews and trying to frame people by writing their name in the name slot. Just ignore it. It's not worth the effort of paying attention to and I'm only writing this message so people are aware.
He's also pretending to be me by writing my name in guest review slots. I would only ever review something from this (logged-in) account.
Note: I made a small mistake last chapter in saying Ozpin was not of the Black. Been distracted stuck in quarantine so forgot that. Apologies. He is of Black so I'll go back and change it so he offers the advice to Ruby a little more freely. As for why he doesn't do the work himself, we'll just say he's busy with other things – say, the Wildmage running around Vale.
Cover Art: Z-ComiX
Chapter 37
Weiss opened her eyes to a clean, white ceiling and a soft blanket laid atop her body. The room was dimly lit so as not to harm her eyes, the bed she was laid upon soft with numerous cushions under her head and shoulders. Her grey robes had been replaced by something soft and warm, and when she struggled to sit up and the blankets slid down, she noticed the robes she'd been put into were a pristine white.
Her stomach both raised and dropped at the same time, flopping awkwardly. She wasn't sure if she should be pleased or not.
"You're awake. That's good."
Weiss turned and felt her shoulders tighten. The blonde Arcanist who had stood upon the stage and mocked her now sat in a seat nearby, a book face down in her lap. The blonde ringlets that fell down one side of her face bounced as she stood, putting the book down and approaching. Though the Robes were white, the woman's Arcanum also featured a red gemstone.
"I am Glynda Goodwitch of the White Arcana, and I welcome you to our ranks. Congratulations on passing the trial of will." She watched as Weiss tried to speak and only croaks came forth. "Your throat must be sore. We forced some water down you, but you went hours without. Here."
A porcelain cup was offered, ornate and rimmed with gold scrolling. Weiss toom it and drank, wincing at how sweet it was. Sugar water, or a fruit juice so strong it rotted her teeth, but she had a feeling it was the former and to grant her some energy after standing still for so long.
"W-What happened?" she rasped.
"You passed the trial. You and the girl beside you."
It was only then that she noticed another bed, within which lay a girl with long red hair pooling out across the cushions. She was still unconscious, and it took Weiss a few seconds to place her. "She was in the trials. The one who passed out before I did…"
"The only other with the strength to do so," Glynda remarked.
So lasting didn't matter. Weiss had outlasted her and they'd both passed, while others had held until mere minutes before this girl passed out. Something told her it wasn't a time trial or a situation of the top two passing.
"You said will. I thought the trial would be magic…"
"Magic? Other Arcana might focus on that." Glynda said it dismissively, like she was holding back her derision. "The Crimson asks for show of skill and strength as though any person cannot achieve such given enough time. The Black only cares for you to know how to enchant, and again, is this not a school teaching people to use such magics? You may as well invite anyone in off the street. Our selection method is a little more rigorous, as you experienced."
"As I can still feel in my muscles!"
"I apologise." It sounded empty. "The Emerald Arcana cannot see this. Not all would agree with what we do."
I'm not sure I agree, she thought, but it felt unwise to say that to Arcanist Goodwitch in the midst of the White Arcana's base of operations. Before, she might have thought no one within the Collegium would harm her, but she wasn't so sure now.
"Why do it then?" she asked instead. "Why put us through that?"
"To test your spirit."
The Arcanist raised a hand and caused a ball of purest light to appear within it. That light moulded itself into shapes, twisting into a rose, links of a chain rolling around one another and then a running horse the size of an apple, galloping in place on the woman's palm.
"Anyone can learn magic like this. What does knowing a selection of spells prove; that you're gifted? You could be approaching us at the age of fifty, the laziest Arcanist in history. Does it prove that you are capable? For all we know, it took you hundreds of hours to master those spells and you don't know a single one otherwise." Her hand clenched and the horse was crushed into motes of light. "It proves nothing more than that you can ready, study and perform magic. Anyone in the Collegium can do that. But not all can achieve what you and your friend there did."
Weiss wanted to point out she didn't even know the other girl but thought better of it. "What, stand still for hours on end? I'd think that's a fairly universal skill as well." Her eyes widened suddenly. "I-I mean no disrespect, Lady Arcanist."
"You are upset after the trial. Your outburst is forgiven." Weiss sagged in relief. "And to answer your question, the test was not of your ability to stand in place, but the strength of your will. It was a test of how dedicated you can be unto a certain task, how focused your mind is. Others chattered or fidgeted, let their minds and attention wander, or tried to amuse themselves in idle thoughts and curiosity. They call themselves Arcanists, but they lack the discipline to keep their minds on the task at hand."
"Others gave up when the task proved too difficult," she went on. "They backed out, surrendered, gave up. However you want to say it, they lacked the will to see it through to the end."
"You made it seem impossible…"
"We did," Glynda said. "And that was no accident. Ours is a task that feels at times impossible. Our duty is unending, our work constant. Every victory we achieve is tainted by the knowledge that we have at best stalled disaster, not prevented it. We need Initiates who can stand firm despite that, who can remain dedicated even when it feels as though the world itself is working against us."
"Then the way to pass wasn't to last…?"
"No. Defeat was inevitable. Your body would fail eventually." Glynda's smile grew proud as she looked over Weiss and the other girl. "What we seek are those willing to face defeat unflinchingly. Those who will not give up, even at the threat of excruciating agony."
That explained the offensive spells to finish them off, and they were probably also a threat to intimidate away the weaker aspirants. Intimidation. They'd been attacked and suppressed from every angle, their bodies driven to exhaustion not as a test to them but to see what decision they would make on the verge of collapse.
It was flattering despite how disgusted she was. Weiss couldn't help it. She had stood and passed with a single other out of what had been almost a hundred aspirants, many of whom were older and more experienced than she. Further proof that noble blood didn't mean anything. A Schnee had succeeded where ancient lineages failed.
None of that entirely removed the sense of gloom that hung over her. She'd been excited to join the White and prove to Ruby that she was worthy of being her equal. Ruby, a noble, had accepted her from the start, and she wanted so badly to show she was worthy of that sentiment. This was nothing like what Ruby spoke of, however. Ruby had been bursting with excitement at her success, visibly in love with her Arcana.
Weiss felt sick. Sick and afraid.
"We can make your body stronger in time." Arcanist Goodwitch either didn't notice or didn't care. "Physical strength can be trained. Magic can be taught. Experience can be learned. All those things the other Arcana would test you on can be won in time, but your mind – your determination – is set in stone. We accept only the best into our halls, and with good reason." The woman stepped back and gestured to the closest door. "Come with me."
Weiss looked down at her sheets. "Now…?"
"You are alive, are you not? I know you can handle a little pain, Initiate. I've already seen it."
A little pain didn't even begin to describe it! Weiss groaned and swung her legs out the bed, stepping down into slippers that had been left for her. Immediately, her calf muscles locked up and turned to brittle chunks of wood. She had to catch herself on the bed and stand for a few seconds, easing her feet up and down until her legs came back under control.
Even then, they ached. Hot and heavy and tight in a way she wasn't used to, like she'd been forced to run with the Newbloods. Ruby might be capable of that but not her!
Goodwitch waited patiently, smiling the whole time as though she were enjoying some subtle joke. Weiss hoped it wasn't at her expense but followed regardless, knowing she had little choice. They stepped out of what she'd assumed to be an infirmary and into a wide hallway with white marble walls, silver statues and rich purple curtains. It was the kind of décor she was used to seeing in the wealthiest of mansions and wouldn't have looked out of place in the royal palace itself.
"The White Arcana stands as guardians of our way of life," Goodwitch began. "Where others indulge their curiosity or their passion to create objects, spells, seek secrets or master the applications of combat, we stand above and protect them and their freedoms. Without us, there would be no Collegium. Without us, there would be no Arcanists."
"Isn't that…" Weiss trailed off.
"Arrogant? I wouldn't fault you thinking it. The other Arcana and the Collegium as a whole aren't fully aware of how important our actions are, and we prefer it that way. What is the point of protecting the peace if people must live in fear? We do our work quietly where possible, the better to protect the lifestyle of the Collegium. Make no mistake, however. The White Arcana is the most important Arcana among all."
A large wooden door with gold symbols on barred their path. Two Arcanists in white stood on either side but parted for their approach. Miss Goodwitch touched the door and whispered something. White lines grew out from her hand, spiralling along patterns in the shape of the Arcanum of Vale, before the door creaked open.
"What you are about to see must remain secret," she said.
The door opened to a staircase leading down underground. It wasn't dark however, the walls lit with glowing stones that pulsed warm light and lit every corner. Grandiose pillars kept the ceiling from collapsing inward, making it reminiscent of a treasure vault. As the doors closed behind them, the lights grew stronger, adapting and changing so that no illumination was lost.
On either side of the tunnel hung paintings of regal and powerful looking men and women, beneath which were gold or bronze plaques with names etched in.
"Former Grand Arcanists," Glynda explained. "Rulers of the Collegium. Each one of them from the Collegium's founding until now have been of the White."
"All of them!?"
"Every single one." She gestured and they made their way deeper, Weiss looking over the paintings. "That is no accident either; the same holds true for all Collegiums from Atlas to Mistral, Vacuo to the one that once stood in Menagerie. They are all of the White, for we are the ones who founded the Collegiums, and we are the ones who continue to protect them." On reaching the end, the tunnel expanded out into a wide chamber, but not without a final painting. "And our current Grand Arcanist, Ozpin."
It could be a coincidence, she thought. Grand Arcanists could have four gems which meant plenty of combinations which just so happened to include white, but then it also meant plenty that didn't. Was the white a political Arcana? There were groups like that in noble politics, banding together to better increase their own odds of being placed into high positions.
The chamber she was brought to was wide and shallow, the ceiling only about two or three feet above her, and she was short already. Bookcases lined the outer edge, while in the middle a single book stood upon an ornate pedestal, as obviously important as the room was ostentatious. Even the pedestal was on a raised platform, steps leading up to it from every angle, set in a circle.
"Do you remember what it is you were told about the White during the fayre?"
"That the White protect Arcanists and uphold the law," she recited. "They work to keep the Collegium running."
"Yes. That was the truth, but not all of it. Tell me, what would you say is the place of Arcanists in the city? How do the people perceive us?"
Weiss thought for a second, thinking back to when she hadn't known she had the spark and had only ever seen them from a distance. "They're respected. Admired. There are some who find them mysterious and grumble about how much power they have, but it's always just jealousy. Everyone knows Arcanists serve the city."
"We are respected," Glynda said. "Admired. It was not always so."
It had been for as long as Weiss could remember, and as long as the books she'd read about the subject went back, which was no small amount! Arcanists had been a part of life in Vale for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
"Would the people respect us if they could see how we are day by day? Think for a moment of what you've witnessed first-hand. Arrogant scions. Petty arguments. Children lashing out with power that could kill. Arcanists unable to let go of their noble roots."
Malneux was a prime example, but not the only one. There was Ruby too – for as sweet as she could be, she had a vicious streak and wasn't afraid to let it show. And she was childish. Weiss wondered for a moment what the average person would think if they saw those two fighting and realised they had power the likes of which could determine if people lived or died.
Though some might accept that they were young and flawed, she knew not all would. Some people would feel angry or even afraid, wondering just how dangerous those with magic might be. A temper tantrum away from a village burned down.
"The Collegium stands not only as an institution for learning, but a cage for those unprepared to face everyday life. It is a place of safety, where children can be children without having to worry about their actions influencing how people view our kind. It is a bastion for those unprepared to act in a way that befits all Arcanists, for they remain here their lives if they so wish. Some do," she added faintly, though Weiss balked at the thought.
The Collegium was everything she'd ever dreamed of, but to spend her whole life trapped in it? That was too much!
"You said a cage…?"
"Yes. Gilded as it may be and however I might make it sound, we designed the Collegium's walls not with the purpose of keeping people out, but to keep Arcanists in."
"T-Then it's a prison?"
"Think of it more as a correctional facility. You were forced into schooling when you were young. Would you call that a prison?"
No, though some kids had certainly acted that way. The difference was that she got to go home at the end of it, usually hiding tears at all the horrid things the noble children had called her. There, Jacques would take her upon his knee and talk about how jealous they were, how afraid they were of her coming in and being better than they. Of showing them up because she was a Schnee, and the Schnee were perfect in every way. Still, this was far different despite what Arcanist Goodwitch might say. A prison was a prison.
"And what do you teach?" she asked.
"How to control your power. How to not let your power control you. The Collegium enforces the minimum of a gemstone to wander within the city, and not without good reason. That is a standard by which we can expect magic to not go out of your control and harm innocent people."
It's a good reason, she thought. Even learning as much as she had, some still eluded her, and it wasn't uncommon to soak herself. Arcanist Oobleck's point about using water instead of fire for that very reason remained poignant, but she could imagine some people forgetting and burning down a house by accident. That would be their fault of course. Surely no one would blame all Arcanists for the mistake of one.
"Another thing is how to act," the older woman went on. "How to be respectable. How not to embarrass the Collegium. We also set rules and laws by which all Arcanists are judged. We enforce these because we are the only ones who can. The average city guard cannot hope to hold or punish someone with our powers. If we do not put the foot down, who will?"
People in general. Consciences existed for a reason and anyone could pick up a knife and stab someone, yet the city managed to remain free of mass murder. Weiss wasn't saying that would yield her any reward however, and so went with the next best option.
"The King? He could make the army attack any Arcanists who broke the law."
"He might try. We hunt down Rogue Arcanists so that the city does not have to. We protect them from reckless children wielding power they do not understand so they don't have to become victims to it. We lock Arcanists away until they are wise enough to control and contain their power so that not every child with the gift must suffer for the actions of the few. It is a harsh task we are left with, both to clean up the mistakes that slip through and to look after those who take the right path, but it is a task we accept because we know that without us, Remnant would fall to ruin." Her eyes hardened. "As it once did."
Weiss' breath caught. "Once…?"
"Come." Goodwitch stepped up onto the pedestal and laid a hand on the book's cover, then motioned for her. "This is the true history of the founding of the Collegium of Vale, the first Collegium on Remnant, though certainly not the last. Come and read for yourself just why we must lock ourselves away for the betterment of all."
/-/
Growing up as a city gal gave Yang plenty of reason to be confident in the city itself, but all that went flying out the window in the outskirts. Even at its shittest, the slums still managed to be more hospitable, if only because you knew there were people around to hear you scream. Sure, they'd ignore you half the time, but they were there.
"I don't like this…"
Blake looked back from ten or so paces ahead, pushing a branch out her way as she picked her way through the forest with the kind of grace Ruby showed on the rooftops. "Which part exactly?" she asked. "The silence or the possibility of Grimm?"
"Yes."
Yellow eyes rolled. "I'm not exactly thrilled about this either, but we need to see if the Grimm are active."
"I've never even seen a Grimm. Have you?"
"Considering they destroyed my home…?"
"Ah." Yang winced and wished the ground would swallow her whole. "Yeah. Sorry. So… They not as scary as people make them out to be? I guess the imagination makes it worse, right?"
"No." Blake looked ahead. "They're so much worse. The stories make them out to be single monsters who are huge with red eyes and sharp teeth – and they're right – but that doesn't do the Grimm justice. The scariest thing isn't how strong they are on their own. It's how they work together. They look and act like they're mindless, but they move in packs, fighting and attacking in a huge mass of black that can sweep over any defence. One Grimm is enough to rip a grown man in two, but ten or a hundred at once? There's no stopping them. Nothing you can do but lay down and die…" Blake turned around suddenly and noticed Yang stood rooted to the spot, face ashen and sweat running down her face. "Oh. Sorry. Didn't mean to panic you."
"F-Fuck you. And why again did you bring me out here if I'm so useless?"
"You're not useless if you have eyes, and I can probably deal with a single Grimm."
Probably? What did probably mean? Yang swallowed and tried to push her terror back without much success. The shadows cast by the trees seemed to chase them as they moved, washing over their faces and making her twitch and look behind, expecting to see a huge monster blocking out the sun. Every crunch of leaves underfoot made her tense up, while the occasional crack of a broken twig made her heart jump up her throat.
She was a city gal, which meant she shouldn't be out in the middle of this place. Ruby might have gotten away with it once but even once was one time too many. And she said she saw red eyes. Oh fuck, what if that really was a Grimm?
No. Logic said no. if Grimm were as deadly as Blake said, they wouldn't look at Ruby and not do anything. They'd try and kill her as well.
They'd long since passed the point at which the desperate tried to make a living out here. Those people lived as close to the edge as they could to keep some vestige of civilisation. The crude hovels or shelters set up at the entrances of caves and trees hadn't been much but the people there ate better than she and Ruby did. Game wasn't sparse in the area. They'd passed numerous squirrels and rabbits already, and she was sure she'd seen a deer at one point. Birds were also chirping away above, which calmed her down a little.
"Least the birds are still here."
"Is that a good sign?" Blake asked.
"Sure. Animals go quiet when there's a predator around."
Blake shook her head. "Grimm don't hunt animals."
Great. Take away any comfort she might find. That was fine. Yang jogged to catch up with the Arcanist, walking close behind, close enough to be protected if shit went wrong, she hoped. Can't believe I agreed to help her with this. I should have told her to stuff it. Agh! This is the worst!
Give her someone refusing to pay protection money or a drunk trying to beat her with a rock in an alley and she'd be alright. Give her a gang war. Those, she could fight her way through.
"If they don't hunt animals and don't eat then they don't shit either," Yang pointed out. "So what exactly are we looking for? If you tell me we're literally going to have to see these things to prove they're here, I'm turning around and going home right now."
"We're not looking for them. And they still leave tracks. They're big. Bigger than any other animal."
Big enough that tracks ought to be obvious then. Yang hadn't ever hunted animals, but Summer had. Or, if Blake was to be believed, she'd been using her magic to do so. She still wasn't sure she believed that crock. Summer hadn't ever shown off any magic and she'd been living in squalor with them. If she had that kind of power, why not improve their lives a little? Maybe magic was hereditary, but it could have been someone way back in either of their lines that gave Ruby her power.
Either way, Summer never taught her to hunt, but she could make a few guesses for big beasts. They'd have to leave big tracks. Broken branches, squashes bushes and the like. Obvious things that they hadn't really come across so far. Yang checked a tree as they walked by, looking for any scratch marks that might be too much for normal. There were a couple near the base, but it looked knee height. Probably a critter sharpening its claws.
"So, Grimm go after people but not all people, right?"
"It depends." Blake answered without stopping. "When they attacked Menagerie it was indiscriminate, but it's not always like that. Most of the time it's fifty-fifty. They might attack someone, but they might as easily not. There are theories of course, but they're just that. One thing is for sure, though. They like to target people with magic."
"Like you," Yang said glumly.
"Yes."
I'm walking through the outskirts with literal Grimm bait. No one could describe a worse day in her mind, except for the floods and even that was something you got used to! "But if they go for Arcanists then surely they can defend themselves."
"They can. Most of the time."
"Only most…?"
"We're still human. If the Grimm get the drop on us or we're sleeping or distracted, then it doesn't matter how strong you are. That's why you should stop talking and let me listen." As a hint, it worked a charm. Yang's lips sealed shut and didn't open again.
I bet she thinks Summer died to a Grimm, she thought. The idea hurt more than she cared to admit, which was weird since she'd already gotten used to the idea her mom was dead, and it didn't really matter what did it.
In fact, a Grimm should have been better because it meant it took something that horrible to stop her coming home to them. It should have made it better, but it didn't. Dad had never been able to find the body. That might not mean much given how big the outskirts were, but it still ripped them apart at the time.
And then when dad died…
No. Yang shook her head. Focus on the now or I'll be joining them and leaving Ruby on her own!
"I think I've found something," Blake said, kneeling by a tree. Her hand brushed some leaves aside. What it might be, Yang didn't know, but she hovered nearby more for her own safety than any real interest. "There's dried blood here."
Yang tensed. "Animal's?"
"Not unless animals wear linen cloth. Someone was attacked, had their arm ripped open and lost some material from their clothes while they were at it." Blake didn't notice Yang's panic. "It's recent. Week or two at best."
Okay. Recent but not too recent, and not far back either. For a second, she'd had the horrible thought they'd find Summer's body, impossible as that sounded. She'd have been bones by now, no doubt buried underground after so many years. "Could be something else," she offered. "I've heard there are bandits and the like out here. Robbers who-"
"That's a lie."
"Hah?"
"The bandits," Blake explained. "We used the same lies to tell people to stay away from the mountains near us. Think about it, Yang. What would bandits possibly be doing here? Who would they be robbing, people who live in caves?"
Yang was speechless. It really didn't make sense, did it?
"They'd be near roads and trade routes, not scavengers living in the wild. The story helps people sleep easy, though. Anyone who dies out here gets blamed on the bandits and no one has to worry about monsters living so close they could roam into the farmland at any moment."
"S-Shouldn't we know about it though?"
"And do what, panic? Normal people are no hope against the Grimm. Better you not spend every night wondering if one will steal your children away. Besides, the Arcanists come clear them out. Or they should do. Ours did. It's probably the same here."
"Why so many secrets?"
"I don't know." Blake stood and dusted herself down. "I only know what I was taught, that it's important the people don't panic. Grimm are a Collegium problem and we do our best to make sure the normal folk don't have to worry about them. Making the Grimm into fairy tales is a part of that. It gets people used to the danger but without them realising just how bad it is. No one worries about the Beowolf hiding under the bed because it's made into a childish fear."
"Should they be?"
"No. The Grimm really are under control. Or…" Her expression hardened. "They used to be. Not anymore, not with Menagerie gone. Whatever happened there, I don't want it happening again here."
"Yeah. You and me both."
"Heads up," Blake said.
"Huh?" Yang followed Blake's attention and froze, rooted to the floor.
Red eyes watched from the trees.
/-/
"No!" Weiss staggered back, eyes wide, mouth open. "No, this can't be right! This can't be true!"
"It is. I'm afraid it is. Like anyone with power, Arcanists have the potential for much good – but also ill. Not everyone is as upstanding as you or me, and back then there were few with the power to hold our kind accountable. Arcanists – or Mages as they were called – ran amok. They killed, pillaged and waged petty war on one another for no other reason than because they believed their power granted them some degree of uniqueness. That they were chosen by the gods or blessed in some way, that they stood above their fellow man. Power corrupts. We have seen that all too often."
"B-But this is too much. You're saying we almost brought about the end of the world!?" Weiss shook her head, hair flying. "That's insane. This has to be an exaggeration!"
"Do you believe it so? Do you truly believe that without our laws, without our order, powerful Arcanists would be content to serve under weaker people? Do you imagine no one would try and use their power to steal the throne?"
They would. It was undeniable. Her father was just like that, but thankfully without the spark. It came from her mother's line; from the noble line he'd married into. Jacques was an ambitious man but also not a fool. He knew what he could and couldn't do, and so would not risk himself unduly. But if he had that kind of power?
I don't know how far he'd go if he knew there was no one to stop him.
And Jacques Schnee was hardly the only one. Ambitious and petty nobles were a lien a dozen. It was harder to find the honest ones! Assuming they all had the spark within them, that was a vast array of potential dictators just waiting to forge alliances, backstab one another and tip Vale into civil war.
Kept back by the Collegium. By the fact that children with the spark were all but stolen away and locked within its walls, trained to respect and control their power and to show loyalty to the Collegium first, their families second.
It was manipulative and it was that was on purpose, designed by the White to turn people into good Arcanists who would follow the laws or, at the very least, fear the consequences of not doing so enough that they would stay out of trouble.
"It is all a clever balancing act," Glynda said. "If one part of the Collegium falls, it all collapses, and then we descend into anarchy once more. These books all detail that time, the time of chaos where Mages waged war on one another in their pursuit for power."
"They crafted weapons of untold power," she continued. "Spells that could destroy cities; swords that could sweep away armies; elixirs that could sway the mind or enthral the innocent. The Mage Wars didn't end because of our intervention, Initiate. They ended because the Mages all but destroyed one another and those that remained were forced to band together or perish against a far greater threat. The threat of the Grimm."
"And those were the first of the White Arcana?"
"Yes. The survivors of a terrible age and the founders of the Collegiums of Magic. Our work is not only to preserve our way of life, but to prevent the chaos from returning. To do this we not only hunt down those who would stray, but the remnants of this time. The weapons created by petty Mages seeking to slaughter one another."
"You mentioned the Grimm. They're… They're weapons…?"
Who would make those beasts intentionally? They were evil beings. Weiss had never seen one but even that small story of Ruby's encounter in the Azure Archives was enough to impart that knowledge on her. Evil and murderous things.
"No one knows the name of the one who created them, or whether it was intentional or a last act of spite as their life crumbled to dust around them. Whatever the case, they were the finest of all these weapons." Glynda sneered as the said finest, making her opinion clear. "Hunters of those with the spark, killers of mages and Arcanists alike. They exist for one purpose and one purpose only, to eradicate anyone who has the spark of magic within them."
"The Grimm are after the Collegiums…"
"They are. They are drawn to Arcanist blood, and because we have banded together, they are drawn to our Collegiums, our cities and our people. They may even have killed their creator. It wouldn't surprise me. It is the duty of the White to hunt them down, and a duty you, Weiss Schnee, may now choose to carry upon your own shoulders."
Weiss pulled back, almost hysterically. "You're giving me a choice? After telling me all this…?"
"I am." Glynda turned and picked a small vial off a bookshelf. "This is another of the weapons created in that time. One we have preserved and turned to our own use. A potion to destroy the mind. Worry not," she said as Weiss backed away. "It has been diluted and carefully researched. It erases time now, or memories. With but a few drops I can remove the last few hours. Your last thought would be of being struck down in your trial. You would awake anew, and I would regretfully inform you that you failed to pass the Trial of Will."
A chance to back out and never know any of this, to pretend it never happened. Suddenly, the `Trial of Will` made a lot more sense. It wasn't over, she realised. This was a part of the trial. If she could not accept the truth and swear herself to it, she didn't have the will to join the White.
Do I even want to? This is too much. The trial was horrible, their work is dangerous and the things I've learned are already terrifying. There's probably so much more.
Combined with the promise of a never-ending battle and the constant threat of defeat, the work sounded thankless. The stress alone would break the average person. Why would she ever accept this? Why put herself through so much pain?
"Why?" she asked the older woman. "Why did you join?"
Glynda Goodwitch smiled faintly. "Because someone has to do something. Because if everyone closes their eyes to the truth and refuses to act, our world will come crashing down. Because I have those I love whom I want to live peaceful lives, even if that means I myself cannot."
Weiss stared at the vial. Did she have those things? Some, perhaps, but not all. She had her place in the Collegium, she had her family and she had Ruby – her first real friend, and something she couldn't bear to lose. Ruby had no idea about the Grimm, but the memory of her roommate's pale face when she spoke about it remained with her. Even then, she hadn't really understood why it wanted to kill her.
If Ruby died then, Weiss wasn't sure how she'd cope. And it wasn't just Ruby anymore, was it? There was Coco in some small way, even Jaune as Ruby's illicit lover and that rapscallion Sun wasn't so much a boor as she'd first thought. They were all friends in some strange way, friends that had no idea their lives were in such danger. Friends that she could protect.
"I accept." The words tumbled out. "I'll join the White."
Oh Weiss, and in wanting to protect Ruby, you've become one of the people tasked to hunt down and kill her. Well, not like anyone didn't see this coming I suppose.
Next Chapter: 26th April
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