After Effect
Ozpin watched from his scroll as Vale's police airships were in the process of arresting various White Fang members. "So things seem to be progressing smoothly." the headmaster remarked looking up from his scroll at the conference call he was in with Ironwood and the council.
"Yes, while the handling of that incident could have gone smoother, the team you sent out there certainly has shown some promise." one of the council members agreed. It was Councilman Oak.
"Of course, they're looking to be the top of their class." Ozpin sat up in his chair now. "Makes sense considering who two of them are related to."
"Team STRQ, right? They were one of your top graduating classes." Ironwood spoke up. "I've done my research. Back to the matter at hand. I would like to request control over the security for the upcoming Vytal festival. This incident has shown a dangerous threat slowly mobilizing in the shadows of your kingdom. I think taking action to stamp them out is the right action and by taking charge of the Vytal Festival's security, we can discourage further incidents."
"James, while your intentions are noted, we're denying this move." Another member of the council spoke up, Councilwoman Cherry.
"Oz, you have to trust me with this." Ironwood pleaded with his fellow headmaster. "Passiveness won't get us anywhere with threats like the White Fang."
"We weren't passive though." Ozpin set his scroll down on his desk. "We saw a threat and stamped it out before it became anything major. The way I see it, is that we're better at handling things like this, and not with a show of bravado like you want. Council members, tell me, what do you think Ironwood's fleet in our skyline would do for public morale at the Vytal festival?"
"Nothing Good." Oak argued.
"It would instill fear into our enem-"
"I would only instill fear into our citizens. The sense of fear and mistrust that only brings Grimm to our borders." Councilman Spruce pointed out. "We can argue this all day, James. But our point stands. You will dismiss the majority of your forces from this Kingdom before the start of the Festival, are we understood?"
"Yes." Ironwood shakily responded.
"We've got things well-managed on our end, James." Ozpin tried to assure his colleague before the call ended.
"Excellent job keeping this situation under wraps by the way, Oz." Councilman Spruce spoke up. "The festival can progress smoothly. Keep up the work."
With that the call ended and Ozpin took a long sip from his mug of hot cocoa before the elevator up to his office opened and Qrow entered with his scroll in hand.
"I've pulled up everything I could on our guy." he projected out of his scroll various documents that showed the face of Tyrian Callows along with a basic case file on his escape incident. "I suspect he's working with who we think it is."
"The fact that he's after Miss Rose is troubling." Ozpin remarked. "I might have to belay more missions for her team if she's sending people after her."
"You shouldn't keep the kid cooped up here. She'll know something's up." Qrow shook his head.
"I have a feeling her team knows more than we think they do." Ozpin admitted. "I'll keep a reasonable watch of them and try to keep their next missions in safer areas then."
"Thanks, Oz." Qrow let out a sigh before starting to walk off.
"One last thing, Qrow… You said you saw your sister?"
"Yeah, she showed up and helped me deal with Callows. She's definitely not on our side here. But she's not with the enemy." Qrow assured. "She was just paying her only debt to her daughter."
Stepping into the elevator, Qrow took out his flask. The door closed behind him.
Ironwood grit his teeth as his call with Vale's council ended. "Oz… You have to trust me…" he groaned while walking further into the bridge of his ship.
"Sir, what are our orders?" one of the officers aboard the ship asked.
"We're to pull the majority of our fleet back. Council's orders."
"Understood."
The command was now being passed around and Ironwood closed his eyes as the ships from his fleet began to depart. Why wouldn't Oz see what's wrong with this and that the enemy now had a huge opening to attack?
Of course, all this really did was give them one less thing to exploit…
The door shut behind Neo as she entered her "team" dorm room. Standing with her back directly turned to the door was none other than Cinder Fall… She was hunched over and looked rather bothered.
Neo did have to admit, this was a way better look for Cinder than smug and arrogant like she was 90% of the time.
"Neo…" the half-maiden woman turned around with a flame in her hand now. "Where is Roman?"
Looking her in the eyes, Neo merely shrugged her shoulders.
"Don't give me that." Cinder threatened with her hand outstretched. "Where is he, Neo. He's your boss and I know he has some sort of connection to you that's meaningful. I'll start sending you back to him in pieces-"
Neo merely crossed her arms now and shrugged. And how are you gonna send me back in pieces if I can't even find where he is?
Cinder's gaze met Neo's for that moment, almost as if she understood what she was trying to convey. "You don't know where he is?"
Neo shook her head.
"Criminals are all the same anywhere you go." Mercury spoke up from the corner of the room. "The second things go south, they'll do anything to save their own skin. Sorry that creep ditched ya with us." he put a hand on Neo's shoulder which internally made her cringe.
"I'm sure we can arrange for a proper punishment once he's found. In fact, our dear friend at the White Fang, Adam Taurus recently reached out to us. He wishes to take over the operation from this point forward, I'll be sure to put the hunt for Roman Torchwick high on his list." Cinder assured Neo.
"Looks like you're in it for the long haul with us, shorty." Mercury chuckled.
Neo wanted nothing more than to smugly laugh at all of these idiots. Roman was safe and sound in one of many safehouses they had established throughout the city of Vale. There was no chance in hell they were finding him.
"Say, were you able to do anything about Ruby?" Emerald asked.
Neo shook her head.
"The person sent after her was intercepted by Branwen, meaning she's something we have to plan around." Cinder noted.
"Why not just have me sneak into her room at night with a pillow and ya know…" Mercury drew a line across his neck and made a dying noise.
"Not subtle at all Mercury. Besides, just because she showed signs of using the power that my benefactor views as a threat to our greater plans, doesn't mean she's mastered it yet. For now, I'd recommend Emerald keep monitoring her to get more information out of her. Any potential weaknesses to exploit." Cinder explained with a glare in Emerald's direction.
"U-Understood." Emerald met her gaze for a moment before looking away. "And your greater plan for the festival?"
"You'll be needed there of course. Perhaps I might make use of your knowledge there because what friendships don't have exploitable drama?" the woman chuckled while walking back towards the window and picking her scroll up from the shelf.
Peering in from the cover of a tree, Blake overheard bits and pieces of that conversation.
The moment Cinder's gaze suspiciously fell on the tree, Blake was already clear from there.
Blake plopped herself down onto her bed and looked up at the others. "That's all I have to report about what Cinder is up to."
"Seems like we really riled her up then." Yang chuckled. "Good. Let her get mad."
"Roman's disappearance… Think Neo might have had anything to do with that?" Ruby asked.
"It's a possibility. If that is the case, that might just mean we don't have to worry about Roman anymore." Blake pondered while snatching a book from under her pillow.
"Well either way, it sounds like she also plans on using Emerald to try and get to you, Ruby." Weiss expressed with concern in her tone. "You know you don't have to-"
"I'll keep trying to get through to her." Ruby shook her head. "She's integral to Cinder's plan here, if I can turn her against Cinder, then everything Cinder's worked for up till now will just fall apart, and we'll have a new friend to hang with as well."
"Why does that attitude not surprise me." Weiss groaned while looking at her scroll, seeing a message that Jaune just sent her reporting on progress for his team's mission at a regional village.
"Speaking of friends. I already promised Penny I'm gonna tell her all I know." Ruby hopped off of her bed. "She did assure me that Ironwood and Dr. Polendina wouldn't know a thing. I think if anyone deserves to know what happens, it's her. She deserves as much of a fighting chance as us. By the way Yang, what are you planning with your Mom?"
"..." Closing her eyes, Yang stared up at the ceiling of her dorm room. "I just wanted to confirm some things, and maybe make an arrangement with her, so that she won't aid Salem in any way."
"Planning that far ahead?" Blake asked, surprised.
"Yeah." Yang leaned back. "I'll let you know how it went."
The sounds of faint bells ringing echoed throughout Beacon's courtyard as Yang Xiao Long began her walk towards the statue on the other end of it.
A raven flew around the statue and quickly morphed into the masked Raven.
Coming to a stop in front of the statue, Yang crossed her arms. "Sometimes I try to think I know who you are, but I don't know you at all. You're a stranger to me."
Raven finally removed her mask and looked her daughter in the eyes. "Yang… We have a lot to talk about, don't we?"
"We do." Yang nodded in agreement as Raven then leaned against the Beacon statue.
"Well then, why don't we start?"
"Sure thing, Raven." Yang walked closer now.
'"Not even a Mom?" Raven seemed almost offended.
"You lost the right to that name when you abandoned me all those years ago." Yang sat herself down on the ground in front of her now. "Why don't you have a seat?"
"Fine." Raven sat across from Yang now.
"I'm going to just say that I'm aware of everything. Everything you likely would want to tell me about Ozpin, Qrow, and this war…" Yang began.
"Then you know it's pointless, that only a fool would try to fight her?" Raven asked.
"I know her real plan." Yang admitted. "She doesn't want to dominate the world, she wants to destroy it, so she can finally die."
"And where did you learn that?" Raven asked in a condescending tone.
"From the future… Although I suppose it isn't really the future anymore." Yang shrugged, looking back.
"The future? You mean to tell me you came from the future? How is it? Is the world in ruins? Was there nothing left?"
Yang shook her head. "No, nothing like that. My team and I... We screwed up big when fighting against her. Atlas was under siege and we used the staff to usher everyone in the Kingdom to safety. But, we were ambushed by one of Salem's people. The one that's residing in this school right now." Yang glanced over to the dorm building. "We fell into a mysterious world and well, when we found our way back to Remnant, we were pretty much back where we started everything."
"One hell of a story." Raven admitted before standing herself up. "Maybe you've got a career in writing lined up in your near future." she joked.
"I'm not making any of it up!" Yang stood up as well now as Raven created a portal with her semblance.
Before Raven took a step towards her portal, Yang spoke up again. "I know your secret! I know what you did to Spring."
That made Raven freeze in her tracks.
"That…" Raven was at a loss for words, that was something no one but her knew, how could Yang…
The portal vanished now. "How can you know that?" she drew her sword out. "How can you know something that only one other living person does?!"
The blade was pointed at her daughter's throat now. "Because I told you, I'm from an alternate timeline. Look, I don't understand how any of this works either, but when I was brought back here with my team, we all saw a chance, a chance to create a better outcome for everyone."
"So what? Do I die or something?" Raven asked.
"No. You side with Salem, and then you run. Like a gutless coward." Yang took hold of Raven's katana blade with her right hand. "Because you're scared of her."
"And you're a brave fool then?" Raven asked as Yang let go and she sheathed her weapon.
"I was brash at one point. It Cost me an arm." Yang began. I'm just as scared as you are, but I'm just more scared of doing nothing and letting the world die. Look, I wanted to share this information with you so we could come to some sort of agreement. I know pertinent information about potential events that you can keep on top of. All I want from you is a sworn oath to never side with Salem, no matter how backed into a corner you are. You and your tribe be damned."
"So you want me to lay down my life-"
"I didn't say that. If it comes to it, you're better off fighting to the death. I believe you once told me that only the strong should live. So how about you live by those words?" Yang reasoned with her now.
"You're a real smart-ass, you know that kid?"
"Well I got that from my Mom." Yang mocked her with something that only one other version of her mother that she met had heard. "You hold the key to something that can doom the world."
"Fine, I get your point. Now then, what information do you have for me that you haven't already told me?"
"Headmaster Lionheart's compromised." Yang spoke up immediately. "He's working with Salem, hence why her people were even able to get here to begin with."
"That lying bastard. And Oz and Qrow still trust him." Raven grit her teeth. "I'll keep that information in mind and have my people steer clear of anyone Lionheart sends out. Any hint that he might have to my tribe's location isn't something I'm keen on giving away."
Swinging her sword out now, Raven created another portal. "Thank you for the information, I'll keep in touch."
"I never told anyone that you're the maiden." Yang admitted. "Not even my teammates know that."
"...Keep it that way." Raven affirmed.
"And Raven." Yang spoke to her again. "If you break that oath…"
"Yeah, yeah the world's screwed." she shrugged with a raised hand before leaving through the portal.
Yang just let out a heavy sigh. "Mom of the year. I hope I wasn't wrong to believe you could still be a good person." she walked back towards the dorm building, feeling a slight chill going down her spine.
Inside the confined space of a Vale prison, the White Fang's soldiers that hadn't evaded the capture of the Vale police were being held, awaiting the processing for their respective trials.
Not that it mattered to them in the slightest, given the fact that they all knew the verdicts they were guaranteed to receive.
As one scaled man laid back in his bed, he noticed something odd by the outside bars of his prison cell.
It was a lone locust bug. But this one looked off. Leaning to get a closer look at it, he saw the faint markings of a Grimm mask, except instead of the usual red accents it had, it's accents were green.
"Huh?" taking a step back, he watched as another locust landed right next to it, then another, then a few more.
Running to the edge of the cell he panicked. "Guard!" he called out frantically as more locusts began to enter his cell.
"A lot of Faunus didn't make it out of the tunnels." the voice of Mercury Black faintly echoed in the wind as some of the other prison cells were having similar encounters with these mysterious locusts...
Commentary: A lot was certainly packed into this chapter, huh?
Here we're finally seeing some consequences to the team's actions, in more ways than one. Even Neo's done some meddling here.
Which yeah, the Raven scene is pretty much like a reimagining of the original Volume 2 post-credits scene that served literally no purpose and has been disregarded from the canon.
Just a short summary for what's changed as of this chapter:
Ironwood is no longer in control of the Vytal Festival security
Tyrian Callows is now on Ozpin's radar(Pretty minor all things considered)
Roman Torchwick is mysteriously missing, meaning he's not confined to Ironwood's command ship.
Ruby is on Cinder's threat list a lot sooner than she was in canon.
Emerald is starting to like hanging around Ruby more than Cinder given her defensiveness of her.
Raven's been tipped off about the future and has made a questionable deal with Yang.
And lastly something's going on with some members of the White Fang in jail? Huh, wonder what that's about? I won't say it just yet. But I will hint that it definitely ties into some of the later stuff I'm planning on bringing into the fold with this story.
So... As a mild confession I've kind of realized where my shortcomings are while writing this. I don't know if I'll go back and retroactively change stuff with this story. I've always kind of seen it more as a challenge to kind of just roll with the punches as they come. But like, admittedly I've been more plot focused than character focused. I kind of hope I can be better about the character focus as well.
What made me come to this realization is another story I recently found that totally explores my idea in a different (and arguably better) way than mine here. I'd very much recommend checking out "Two Minutes Silence" by catsvrsdogscatswin. Which has kind of helped me realize the genre of this story is called "Fix-it". Good to note, and again I'd really recommend checking out their story because I enjoyed reading what they've put out for it thus far.
Now I do still have my loose outline of ideas I'd like to explore with this story, especially ones that cut into the deeper lore. But I won't be strict about sticking to that outline necessarily on any specific timeframe, especially when I have to decide between that and working with character stuff. This also means I might be a little while when it comes to updating this story with more chapters as I really try to get a better feel for things.
Which I suppose I am at least glad I finished up Volume 2's events before taking an indeterminate break on this one. I suppose that is kind of the risk you run into while writing and publishing things as you go. Probably why most folks here take their time more. But hey, what're you gonna do? It's a learning experience for us all here. Until next update I suppose. Which, RWBY RE is very much still going on since that story's all done and written. I just have it on an upload schedule so I can edit things properly(Yet I still am probably gonna have some errors there that I miss).