*An
Hello and welcome my next chapter, please enjoy, like and review. Any and all criticism is welcome. Thank you to merendinoemiliano for being one of the few readers to review regularly. Knowing at least one person is still reading is a massive driving force for me.
I have decided to keep writing in the first person, a deeper explanation further down.
Also I have edited and rewrote this chapter because surprise my writing quality takes a dive at 2 am.
The Professor sat back in his chair, contemplating the question he was presented. His knowing smirk never left his face as he simply leaned forward to answer with,
"I have my reasons."
I slumped back to the dorm alone. When I stood just outside the door, my ears were blown off by the uncharacteristically anger filled voice of Medusa. She was ranting to someone about their uncaring nature and how that will sink the team. Upon entering the dorm I found Lance all-but holding Medusa back from strangling Rán.
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" shouting was the only thing I could think to do to establish dominance over my team.
Medusa finally stopped attempting to break free from Lance's clutches to turn away from Rán as if she was radioactive.
"I was trying to change HER attitude, but she is more stubborn than a tree." The acquisition was accompanied by a vicious point of a slender finger.
The tension would not be dissolved until Lance started to attempt to joke around with the other team members. Most of these jabs were lost on me as I have settled onto my bed with the file given to me by Ozpin. The only thing I focused on was reading the suggestions he gave me. By the time the last bit of tension had sputtered out and died, Medusa has gone to bed being quote 'Tired of Rán's shit' and Lance has excused himself and promptly disappeared for over an hour.
I have nearly finished reading the file when I felt the bed sink beside me. Knowing the only other person there at the moment was Rán since I had a hard time believing Medusa would lurk from her bed to lie beside me, I simply ignored her until she spoke up.
"You have been reading that file for nearly one and a half hours, what's it about."
"Something." I said in my most monotone and uncaring voice.
"Hey, Shortstack, you can trust me." came the eerily suspect voice of my teammate.
"Don't call me that, especially since you are the second shortest person in the team."
She dismissed my statement with a wave of her hand. "Semantics, Anyway you still have not told me what the file is about."
I rolled my eyes at my teammate's persistence, but knowing she wouldn't let me read in peace until I gave her an answer I let out an exasperated sigh and simply stated."Let's just say that my livelihood depends on the CONFIDENTIAL contents of this file."
When it became clear that I was refusing to divulge personal information Rán gave up and dropped her 'nice' act, retreating to her bed while muttering unheard profanities to continue reading a book she kept on the shared nightstand. Seeing two of my teammates settle down I decided to follow their lead. A slight pang of guilt resonated within me as I remembered a part of my nightly routine that I have shrugged off for the entirety of the year I fled from my memories. As I kneeled at the foot of my bed to pray, as I did with my parents, I could vaguely make out the sound of someone moving. Thinking nothing of it I started my prayer quietly as to not disturb the two sleeping teammates in the dorm.
"I'm sorry I didn't do this for several months, Mother, Father, but I hope you understand. I did not know how to live without you, but I'm going to reopen the quarry and I'm going to avenge you." a smirk crept onto my face at my statement."It reminds me of your crew's battle oath mom, how did it go again?" My smirk grew into a full blown smile as I answered my own rhetorical question. "Oh the hero comes, I can hear the drums and the horses drawn till the kingdom come. Through the pale moonlight, our hearts ignite to the call. Claim your prize for a crown of stars, in the name of love be the sacrifice, You and I will stand and fight, our backs to the wall. No escape, let the fever rise as our horses' rage and our goal's insight, maybe I am the one who will fall. Lay me down on a bed of stone, I will wait for you as I rest my soul, I will watch you ride when you reply to the call. Shut your heart to the horrors of the world, shut your eyes to cruelty, don't be scared, shut your eyes and watch those lights from the stars, in your head be hypnotized and find peace." I could barely hold back my tears as even though I was grinning from ear to ear. Thinking about it now, even though the oath was about my mother's crew pledging loyalty to her, The adventures described within strangely fit my life to the closest moments.
I nearly leaped out of my skin when I felt a gentle embrace from behind me. From the size of the person, I could tell it was Lance, who has somehow sneaked in behind me, through my tears I could only ask, "How much have you heard?"
He simply answered "I have heard enough." while drying my tears with his giant hand.
His deep voice only sounded deeper thanks to the hushed whisper he spoke in."Don't fear the past, you have a new family to confide in."I could feel the warmth from the large man behind me. "From what I've heard I can tell you have some issues in your family history but I believe that you don't want us poking into your past, which is something Medusa and I respect." He pointed at the bed next to mine."Rán tried to poke into your history the moment you left to professor Ozpin's office. We tried to stop her, which is why she and Medusa were arguing vigorously when you walked in."
I wiped away my last few tears with the crook of my arm since scales and eyes didn't mesh well.
"Thank you, Lance. I do feel better but I'm exhausted so I'll hit the hay."
"Rest well, Auriga."
I looked at him with a questioning look at my new nickname. He simply smiled and said "My favorite constellation."
The first semester flew by quickly with little happening. Two events stood out to me clearly though.
As luck would have it, Aurel's team lived down the hall from us, when she heard of my plans to reopen the quarry she wiggled her way further into my life, she suggested we go to the city to retrieve the deed from the bank. This task was not as easy as it would seem, not helped in the slightest by the recent incident where one of the students ran away for a day. Also not helping was when the bankers refused to believe she was the sole beneficiary of her parent's estate. An annoyingly long and irritating blood test later she finally convinced the bank of her identity. With the quarry and her mother's merchant vessel under her name, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
It turned out that the SDC was biding their time to retake the quarry after the heat around the incident died down. I spent most of my weekends traveling to every source of Dust in vacuo, offering every worker the same contract my father offered them. Luckily I also found a girl outside one of the SDC quarry's who looked to be recently fired, what really sold me on offering her a job was when I found she has nearly the same semblance as my father.
The other event that stood out to me was when the first years took a class trip to the Forever Fall forest, all went fairly well, considering that as a team I still had trouble commanding my team, Rán still had a habit to try and force me under her control and Medusa still did not like this. This mission proved the only thing keeping the team together was Lance, who literally picked all three of us up and ran to safety before we could react to the alarm raised by one of the students.
"I'm sorry to say, but according to my sources, the SDC is already near claiming the quarry. So unless you take us there right now we won't get there in time." came the news on the first day of my school break.
Steeling myself, knowing that going home for the first time in a year was going to be difficult, I looked straight at the professor."For my family, anything."
I stood and made my way to a relatively open area of the office. Taking up my low stance I visualized my home, biting back my tears as a portal fizzled into existence with the sound of tearing silk. I turned to the professor while wiping my face to find him simply sat in his chair waiting for me to speak. "The portals stay open until I enter and leave them so if you want to, you can finish anything up and then come call me when you are ready to leave." I clarified.
"We are just waiting on Glynda to finish her last few assignments." and as if on cue the elevator opened to reveal Miss Goodwich standing within.
"I assume you were waiting for me."
"Just in time Miss Goodwich."
We soon warped to the quarry and I knew that the moment we stepped through the portal I would break down at seeing my home again. Surprise, Surprise the first thing I did when I laid my eyes on the reception hall of my childhood home, was to promptly drop to my knees and ball my eyes out. Thank the gods Miss Goodwich paid attention during my first attack at the start of the semester and knew how to keep me from crying until the SDC arrived.
When they finally did arrive I had finished crying, moved to my father's war room and drew up a trade agreement I felt the Dust company deserved while Glynda and Ozpin gave me advice, because if it was up to me they wouldn't be getting anything from me.
The arrival of the SDC freighters was announced by a large amount of dust being blown away beneath them. Glynda went outside to greet the representative and ushered him into the war room. When he arrived I gestured for him to sit in front of me. After watching him gape like a fish for nearly a full minute I spoke up with the smuggest air I could add to my voice.
"Bet you thought I was dead huh."
"But how?"
"Portals, Mate" The last word dripped with the most visceral poison I had at my disposal.
He sat up straight and straightened his tie, trying to look professional.
"Would you at least be open to trade again?" he asked hesitantly.
"If it were up to me I would venture to every single family member of every miner your company killed and reveal to them what truly happened to their family members above the lies your company no doubt told them, but my advisors helpfully drew up this." I pushed him the trade agreement which he took tentatively and read through carefully.
"But this is only a tenth of the original amount at the same price."He scoffed.
"Well since you don't have any other options I wouldn't scoff at it just yet."
"What do you mean we have no other options?"
"Have you not yet found out, I went around to other Dust quarry's and offered every Faunus worker what my Father offered them, most of them are starting next week which will leave you short staffed."
His face sunk at this news"Why?" he asked.
At this I promptly lost it, nearly leaping at him from my chair with a burst of anger. My rant was accompanied by wild arm movements.
"WHY? I'LL TELL YOU WHY. I DON'T do this for the riches, I'M INFECTED, My condition is always up here, in my head. THESE WORDS are my religion, I am OBSESSED by decision. I'll do this until the day I die, So set me on fire but I am stronger than you." I could see the fear in the man's eyes but I was not done with him." I do This with conviction, Try to stop me and I will write the truths to your fictions. You spread this disease in me and now you will pay. I CAN'T STOP MY AMBITIONS, I am a missile on a mission. I AM A FORCE YOU WILL DREAD. BY THE NAMES OF JOHN AND CORCEA THIS QUARRY WILL STAND." I finished my rant with a scaled fist nearly making a new cup holder in the stone desk. I watched as the man scurried out the war room with the trade agreement. Shouting afterward. "Win back my trust and I'll consider restoring the agreement to what it was." A concerned Goodwitch appeared by the doorway.
"I hope you feel better, that was quite the show."
"Actually I do feel slightly better, but I do need to check this out." I said while raising my now bleeding fist from the desk. The fact that my skin actually split indicated just how much force I put into that punch.
"Let's see if I remember where the medkits were."
*AN
Thank you for reading this Chapter, Sorry it is a bit late, but it is also a bit longer. Also, I decided to keep writing in the first person because I find it more interesting to learn everything as the character does.