Chapter 18
An hour has passed and Cerise and her children were watching Ironwood giving the two teams their license she was proud to see them getting it she allowed her two children to mingle in with their friends when she noticed Winter taking a seat next to her "I like to apologise for my outburst a few days ago!" she hears her saying in an apologetic way.
Smiling to her "my dear child you don't have to apologize for it you were only protecting your home I would've done the same in your shoes" looking back to the others "so tell me when did you learn I was your aunty?" she asked her.
"back at Beacon my sister shown me a photo you gave her and I did a little digging into my family history and it was true" she nodded to her trying to think of this situation.
"and how do you feel about this?" she asked her while facing Winter.
"well at first confused but as time went on and after collecting the information I now find myself wanting to know that part of the family this made her smile knowing that Winter want to know the family.
"well how about we start getting to know each other and I can tell you everything you want to know about this side of the family" she said before she was tackled into a hug by her.
Once she was let go she looked at her watch and saw the time sighing in a bit of sadness "if you will excuse me I and my children have something to do your welcome to join" she said getting up and saw her nodding as they both walked down to the others.
...
"Crimson, Ebony it time we do that thing bring your friends if they want to come" Crimson attention was grabbed by her mother who shouted out to her as she and her brother knew what she meant.
Everyone was confused even the Ace ops that was there was confused but they were allowed to come so they all got up and followed them.
...
They all arrived outside where a small transport plane was with it side door open and two coffins were inside a bunch of troops were around now they all understood what is happening when Ruby noticed Cerise walking up to the plane and place both hand on the two coffins with a sad look on her "may your souls be free and your spirit arrive in the promise land" soon they all saw the setting sun and a female soldier walking up with a book that has a wolf's head on it cover.
Crimson held onto Jaune hand for some support as they watched in silence the female clearing her throat "we are here to say farewell to two great pilots who had fought on many fronts and had served the empire well they always said that each flight would be their death they would always come out of it but sadly this one was to be their last one we hope they didn't suffer in pain we hope they are now in the arms of our mighty she-wolf where she would guide the spirit to the promise land and their bodies shall return home to be buried with the heroes of empire as the sun set here on this one battlefield the empire howls out to the rising moon for the lose of it people" they hear her finished off just then they heard the clicking of guns and three loud shots and the transport plane door shut as it engine began to lift it up and away.
Once the plane was out of sight Cerise turned to face them all "thank you for coming!" she said with sadness in her voice as she walked away leaving them alone.
"mother get very sad when she has to do these things" Ebony said catching everyone attention.
"does she do that very often?" the male Faunus with the dag tail from the Ace ops asked.
"yes almost every week one of our petrol would always come back with either one or two dead soldiers and she would always write a letter to their family and do this she prays to the mighty she-wolf for it to end to give her and her people one whole year to have without a death by some Grimm" Crimson said still holding onto Jaune hand as they all walked away to get back to Atlas Academy and to spent some quiet time with each others.
...
The next few days flew in Crimson was helping Jaune with the kids she smiled at how he handled them making sure they crossed the road safely which brought her to think about having children's with him "he would be a great father!" she said dreamily but just then her mood suddenly changed when she saw Jaune being hit on by a bunch of mother she felt this jealous growing up in side of her taking deep breath to calm herself down she walked over to him and placed her hand on his waist "how are you?" she asked him while place her head on his shoulder.
"I am fine thanks for asking" she hears him saying to her as they walked to the pavement.
...
The days was going by with Cerise when she saw Atlas news and that man speaking against Ironwood when suddenly one of her crew shouted out to her "riots in the city of Mantel!" she rushed to the crew console and saw the CCTV footage showing people rioting throwing cars onto their roof and smashing up windows "should I get units down there!" she hears him asking unsure what to do.
"no this is Ironwood problem not ours just keep and eye on it" she said before walking off to her office to fill in some paperwork.
...
Crimson was with Jaune and Oscar as they had plan to go to a movie while her brother went to that rally with Penny to help her out Ebony wasn't listening into that speech he was more concentrated on the vote screen he noticed something wasn't right "mother do vote count downwards!?" he asked over a radio piece in his ear.
"no why!?" he heard his mother confusion.
"it just I notice the woman was up at 59% and it now dropped to 54% while that man votes been climbing up!" he said trying to piece this together.
"I see I will get one of our tech people to look into this thank you son" he hears before cutting his communication off and went back to watching over the crowd of people.
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A few minutes went by when he heard Ruby screaming out and the light suddenly went off and a bunch of screaming turning is eyes onto night vision he could see people running around "I need back up in the rally" he shouted over the ear piece while trying to make his way through the crowd but is proving difficulty when suddenly the light went back and everyone stopped and saw Penny on the stage with her weapons out and an injured person next to her soon he noticed the crowd turning angry as he quickly climbed onto the stage as he saw Nora and Ren pulling Penny away with Ruby and that male Faunus rushing through the back door just before he went with them he saw the front door being bashed down by his troops who all rushed in to control the crowds with medical staff coming in behind them.
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Cerise was worried she was sent by one of her guards who told her something had happened she rushed on the bridge to find everyone was shouting out orders "someone tell me what happened!" she shouted out in demand while grabbing their attention "your empress the rally was attacked your son along with Ruby and the other are out in an alley way we sent a transport plane to collect them but Grimm have arrived into the city not many just a few!" she listened to one of them who told her all this.
Thinking on the best options she face that person "do we have grounds units in the city?" she saw her nodding "okay get some air support" she said to them watching the battle from her ship while her children went to help with the Grimms.
...
The next day after the Grimms were dealt with Cerise had ordered all her forces to pull out of the city and back on to their ships and had ordered her ship to make way to the mines where the amenity is being kept while her son was with Penny along with Crimson she was gaining reports from her spy's telling her that shipment for the communications tower were going missing she was thinking on her next step on what to do she knew this latest news would force the General to make more tough decisions which would probably active some her protocols "your empress you know what must be done" she looked up from her desk and saw her three top military advisers there looking out the window she sigh in sadness.
"you all know my reputation" she saw them nodding "I have always kept to the protocols to the later no matter what" she said getting up and walking to the window looking out to her ten ships while the rest still remained outside the borders closing her eyes for a moment then facing the three "bring one of the six sister's ships to the border where the fleet out there will keep it safe I know they can make it here in 4 hours but in the meanwhile we gather more information on how Ironwood is doing and how he is acting understand" she saw them nodding and leaving her alone.
"I am sorry mighty she-wolf forgive me and us for what I hope will not happen" she said looking up to the sun.
...
Ebony was with the man watching over Penny as they tried to pull up some memory unit while he listened into Ruby's conversation he felt sad for the old man as he listened into how she was build and him using his own aura "don't worry I won't let them get to her" he looked and saw them all looking at him "if they chose to destroy her then my mother would be glad to take her in under her protection where she can be save" he said seeing the man smile.
"thank you for that" he smiled to the man before facing Penny with worry.
...
Cerise was on the bridge when she saw her daughter walking up to her "mother someone gave me this to give to you" she looked at the white envelope that her daughter gave her it had a wax seal of the Shnee family on it.
Slowly she opens it up to find it was an invitation to a dinner party to celebrate the victory of the votes "I see okay I will go to this party but I am leaving me ships here at the mines come daughter" she walked off to her room "Crimson get Sienna Khan pack to be our escorts for the night" she said as her daughter nodded and rushed a head.
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Later that night Crimson and Ebony had arrived with Ruby's group while they all saw the empire transport plane landing with troops walking off and Cerise walking behind them smiling to the cameras as she walked by them "ah Ironwood how are thing?" she asked when seeing him.
"not bad could be better" she hears the tiredness in his voice as she nodded.
"yes I understand well shall we go in" she said seeing him nodding as they both walked up to the door and saw a young boy answering the door and allowing them all in the boy asked those who would be in the dining room to follow him as she and her escorts followed.
Crimson watched her mother walking off as she staid by Jaune side when they watched Weiss walking off only to be stopped by that young boy again.
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Cerise walked into the dining room behind Ironwood as she saw the man with open arms she noticed three of her escorts were fighting to keep their emotions in check as she taken a seat as Ironwood asked why was the other woman was here when the man went on about Penny Cerise placed a reassuring hand on her to keep her calm and supportive with a smile as they went on about talking further into their meeting.
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Crimson and Ebony watched from the side lines as they saw Nora walking about collecting food as Ren got into position just then they watched as Ren went bumping into Nora who pretended to fall while flinging the food up in the air only for a woman in a white dress to get hit making her scream out and throwing her drink over the boy both of them couldn't hold it in longer as they burst out laughing at the scene catching everyone attention as they tried to calm themselves down.
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Cerise listened into their talks when she saw Winter jump up and slamming her fist on the table shouting out about trust she saw Sienna Khan approaching her and leaned into her ears "your empress I've received a message from the fleet out side the boarders one of the sister's ships has arrived!" she hears her whispering into her ear.
Nodding slowly and facing her "thank you keep me informed if anything else happens!" she whispered back to as she saw her nodding and backing off.
...
On board the ten ship's that were at the mine one soldier was on late watched while he was sipping away a warm tea he then heard a series of bleeping noise coming from one of the many computers looking at with a frown he carefully looked at it as it was a radar just then his eyes shot wide open as the screen was showing a huge army of Grimms heading straight to Mantel quickly he rushed to the alarm which caused the whole the ship to come alive as everyone rushed in to the bridge and the soldier explained what is going on quickly they all scrambled the other ships with them and started to make way to the city.
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Cerise was busy watching the scene of the man being questioned by everyone when she saw Sienna rushing to her with a worry look "your empress our ship's pick up a huge army of Grimms heading to the city!" .
She gasped quietly as not to alert anyone else "okay get me plane ready and get another one here for children, I will meet the ship's half way" she saw her rushing off facing the other's "I am sorry to leave but it seems my ship is asking for my presence" she said leaving the room with them all saying their goodbyes to her.
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As she walked through the lobby she saw her children calling them over she had whispered to them about the development of this situation and told them not to worry but she was worried herself about this as she was climbing onto her plane leaving Sienna Khan pack behind.
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It been a few minutes since their mother told them not to worry as Crimson and Ebony watched their friends rushed out to get to the city but not before saying their good luck to their lovers and they too rushed off on their own plane with Sienna pack "mother what are we dealing with?" Ebony asked over the radio.
"we have multiple types of Grimms in the city I have just arrived on the ship and have ordered our troops to deploy with armour support I will send the light Grimms if we need them but the troops are to secure the evacuation points as well as our planes to help with transporting the civilians to safety I want you two to help secure two point one is the main hospital point it has a huge area large enough to land three of our transport plane there at a time while the other is a huge open area next to the wall it's big enough to land four of our transport at a time" both of them looked at each other nodding.
"okay mum don't worry we get them secure" Crimson said to her.
"okay and be careful my children" they heard before the comms were cut and they felt the plan landing Crimson opened the door to a huge building showing it was the hospital and already there were several of their troops and vehicles there their own trucks being used as walls while tanks lined up in different directions to keeping the area safe they saw lots of civilians all climbing into their transport planes.
"I'll stay here sis" Ebony said hugging his sister before climbing out "keep safe" he said closing the door and watched the plane moving away he was approached by a soldier "how are thing here?" he asked the female fox Faunus.
"sir it been okay so far had a few Grimms here and there" he nods to her as he went to the wall.
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Crimson watched as the plane landed in the area were it was the same scene as the hospital using their own vehicles as a wall while the hospital had tracked tanks this area had those Walker tanks all aiming at different streets while she noticed the huge wall that was there from Atlas she saw civilians walking onto their planes to be lifted to safety "please Jaune be careful out there!" she said to herself worried for him as she went to check on the situation.
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Cerise watched from her ship as crew members rushed around from one station to another she saw a screen showing her their planes movements around the city and their ground forces some where spread out defending little location while their ground vehicle's help get civilians to the evacuation point "well here goes nothing!" she said to herself while thinking of plans to cope with this battle.