It's finally happened, people – I finished writing my novel! Effin' YES!
For those of you unaware, a long while back, I started writing was to be my second original novel and it was turning out to be a real doozy – easily more than 300 pages long and counting! Until, well, I wrote myself into a stump of sorts. Not only that but the entire premise that I had thought was solid enough was looking less so as I kept on writing.
And so, I ended up pretty much discontinuing it and rebooting it from almost the ground up – same MC and to some extent the other characters, but with a reworked setting, character backgrounds and plot in order to accommodate what I now knew to be what I wanted to do.
From there, I got to work. With a much better idea of what to actually do, I started writing this rebooted novel in the last few days of October of last year (2018) and alternated doing a single chapter for it and a chapter for my fanfic at the time – Mayflies of the Dead – and eventually this fic until I finally finished the first book of a planned trilogy just a few days ago!
Or so I say now, ha ha. Though I do plan to do a trilogy, I'm the type of writer to plan out the major stuff I want and then just let the smaller details pretty much form themselves as I write. Not the most trustworthy method, but the most natural one for me. For now, it looks like it'll be a trilogy, so the fact that this doesn't seem to be changing in my mind anytime soon is a good sign.
That said, I can't quite go and publish it just yet – need to think up a summary to write, which is always the hardest damn thing to do, especially since this first book is all pretty much just set up for the second one which will be the main 'meat' of the entire story. I also need to come up with a cover for the book too. Was thinking of doing something fairly simple, but not sure quite yet what 'simple' is entailing.
But it's not as if I'm in a super big rush to get it published. While it would be preferable, sure, rushing will only make me frustrated at myself and that's never a good thing. Besides, with all the work done on it, I think I need a bit of a break to just relax and think before committing to anything just yet.
Heh, but enough of my droning – you all came here to read a chapter for Slave of Light, so that's exactly what you're getting! And much like before, I'm still planting some seeds here for future events. Hope you'll enjoy it!
Chapter 13
"Any word yet?"
"No, Yang."
"You sure?"
"Very sure."
"But, like, how sur-?"
Blake levelled a glare at the blonde brawler that finally got the girl to mime zipping up her mouth. But though Yang shut up at Blake's unspoken demand, the others at the table sure didn't.
Sheesh, absolutely no backup from any of them, not even Ruby. What a bad little sister!
It's been days since the whole shebang at that Tukson guy's bookstore and Yang was really starting to feel antsy now in all sorts of ways.
She knew for a damn fact the others felt the same way too.
Unfortunately for her, it seemed like she was the only one letting it show.
"You really gotta learn patience, sis!" Ruby chirped as she dug into her food, acting for all the world as if they were on some last-minute deadline when classes had already ended for the day.
Weiss huffed. "Indeed. Hoping for some action isn't going to make it happen that much faster. You do realize these types of things take time, right?"
"I know, I know," Yang grumbled. "I just thought maybe things would be happening sooner is all. I mean, just look at how much stuff had been going on recently."
"A fair point," Pyrrha conceded from where she sat across the table. "With all the Dust thefts that had occurred over the past few months and the incidents at both the docks and bookstore, the lack of related news now feels a little… disconcerting."
Yang motioned to Pyrrha. "See, guys? Even P-money feels the same way!"
"W-Well, I wouldn't go that far…" Pyrrha began.
"Ah come on, don't you wanna go out there and beat up some crooks for the greater good!" Yang whined, only to then pause. "Eh, no offense to your former buddies and all, Blake."
Blake sighed. "It's fine. I've come to terms with how the White Fang is now," she replied quietly, not wanting to be overheard by any other students. "But I do wish you wouldn't call them crooks – they may have their moments of typical criminal stupidity, but not that often…"
From directly across the table, Ren hummed quietly after drinking from that nasty-ass 'health shake' of his. "They do know how to hide, if nothing else…"
Yang grunted in annoyance and agreement at that.
Though they all had planned to spend this upcoming weekend looking for where the White Fang and Torchwick may be holing up, that didn't mean they weren't going to just not discuss it during their free time. With how freakin' large the search area was estimated to be, every last bit of reasonable conjecture they could, well, conject, then the smaller their search area could potentially become.
Her thrill-seeking ways aside, Yang really didn't like leaving known terrorists and criminals running loose when something could be done about them. Hence her antsy mood.
Nora, in the middle of pretty much inhaling her third plate of food, nodded vigorously in agreement upon noticing Yang's unspoken thoughts, made obvious by her facial expression.
Weiss sighed. "Look, the past few days, we've talked plenty about our upcoming 'plans.' I'll never refuse being too prepared, but as we've already noted back at the café, dwelling on this too much will not do us any good. How about a change of topics?"
Ruby looked positively delighted. "That's my partner for you! So, any of you excited for the Vytal Festival?!"
"Isn't that at least a few months away?" Blake asked aloud, not to any of them in particular.
"Give or take, yes," Pyrrha responded. "But yes, I am excited for it nonetheless, Ruby." She smiled at the silver eyed girl.
Said girl practically had stars in her eyes as she thought about something. Knowing her sister the way she does, Yang could guess at her thoughts.
And sure enough, she was proven right.
"Ah, just imagine the kinds of weapons the other students might show off! Maybe something like that fire sword I saw at the beginning of the year! Oh, or even a specialized Dust weapon!"
"Hmph, but before you get all excited for the Festival, Ruby," Weiss began, looking a little amused now. Amazing how much more relaxed the W of the team was now compared to the first few days of the semester, Yang noted. "There will be the dance – and I for one intend to make sure all of us attend it."
Ruby's enthusiasm died a quick and sudden death at the mere mention of the dance, which was only a month away now, give or take an extra week. "D-Do we really have to go…?"
"Much like the Vytal Festival itself, it is a way of showcasing the comradery between kingdoms," Ren chipped in, the normally quiet boy looked a bit bemused. "As it is, despite only a week or two having passed since then, most of the students from the other academies have already arrived so preparations for the dance should be underway rather soon."
"Heh, hard to think how quickly the time has gone by," Yang finally said as she leaned back in her seat and stretched a bit, having finished her food just now. "Whelp, since this is the topic we're now stuck on… any of you already thinking of anyone in particular to take to the dance?"
Yang made sure to make eye contact with each and every member of both her team and JNPR as she said that.
As always, expressions varied.
Blake looked like she just barely even remembered the dance existed.
Weiss' expression was neutral, but Yang, more perceptive than most might think her, could see a bit of genuine thought behind those ice blue eyes of the heiress.'
Ruby looked as if she'd rather be discussing anything else other than the dance. She'd always been a socially awkward wallflower and it looks as if her recent increase in decisiveness wasn't quite up to par for helping her out of this situation.
On JNPR's side of the table, the latter two members, Nora and Ren, had just about the expected reactions, Nora looking just about ready to break out in song and dance with Ren right there and then whilst the quiet boy looked resigned to whatever fun his longtime friend was already imagining.
As for their resident Invincible Girl, Pyrrha was blushing slightly and making furtive looks to their leader.
And speaking of JNPR's leader, Jaune was once more the stoic listener in their conversation, drinking the same stomach-churning 'health shake' that Ren usually had.
Noticing her gaze, he turned fully to her and stared, silently questioning.
"How about you, Jaune?" Yang asked with a little smile. "Already have someone in mind to sweep off their feet for the dance?"
He blinked twice in slow succession. "No, can't say I have," he replied after a slow second. He then placed an elbow on the table and rubbed his chin with his free hand as he appeared to fall deep in thought. "The dance… right… forgot about that."
Aaaaaannnnddd there he goes once again being his usual enigmatic self.
Man, Jaune sure was an interesting dude, Yang must admit. Not only was he a pretty cool and good-looking guy, he was clearly pretty damn strong considering what she heard through the grapevine of him having beaten Pyrrha in a spar some time ago, just prior to the docks incident. Huh, guess she couldn't call Pyrrha the Invincible Girl anymore, she realized.
That aside though, Jaune has also given some advice to Ruby and the others and Yang sure as hell didn't forget the unexpected pep talk he'd given them when Blake had run off on them. Not to mention too the way he'd apparently gone out and figured out the whole search area thing in the first place.
She wasn't trying to sing the guy's praises constantly or anything here like some fangirl, but holy hell was he an enigma, considering his accomplishments so far and all that jazz.
But for all those awesome traits, something was clearly up with him.
Every time they all got together – which was daily, really – to just hang out and talk, though he seemed to genuinely enjoy their company, he rarely contributed to the conversation unless he was spoken to first. Then there were the little things here and there that she'd noticed about him.
Like now, for instance.
The way he mumbled about the dance to himself, it was as if he was hearing about something that he hadn't heard of in a very long time.
…
…She's seen something similar before. With her dad, actually.
When Summer had died, her dad had become pretty despondent for a time, shell-shocked even, if that made any sense to say. And when he finally started to pull himself out of his funk, though not without some help from Qrow and herself and Ruby, dad had gone about rediscovering past hobbies and activities as if he hadn't indulged in them ever since he was a kid or something.
Jaune here was kind of, sort of similar in his reactions.
Thing is, he wasn't always like this.
Some stuff he went about as normal, but then mentioning the somewhat special shit like this got him all blinking in confusion and the like.
Now, what that could actually mean, Yang could only really guess at, but seeing this kind of reaction in someone her age… she wasn't gonna lie to herself here, it was pretty unnerving.
But she wasn't about to let that push her away.
Jaune had stepped up in some pretty big ways, having helped them all and especially Blake out over the past few weeks, with the entire dock incident and the events that had led up to it being the most obvious times.
The least she could do is try to pay him back for his help, even if she was damn sure he'd refuse if he knew her intentions. He was a big softie like that, considering all the other things he does for the other students and faculty.
That said… that didn't mean she couldn't have some fun along the way.
"Well, if you don't have anyone in mind, how about me?" Yang said to him, a teasing tone in her voice. "I can tell ya, I'll make it a night to remember for you."
"Yang?!" Ruby sounded positively scandalized. Ah, to be so innocent and impressionable. Never change, Rubes, never change.
Ah, and sure enough, everyone else there looked surprised by her words. Not that surprised, mind you, but enough to be taken aback by her apparent interest in Jaune.
But none more so than Pyrrha looked so utterly shocked, even nervous.
"Ah," Jaune began, looking sheepish. However, said sheepishness didn't seem to be due to her feminine charm, which she'd been demonstrating just now by leaning forward a bit to show off a little cleavage. "Thanks for the offer, but you could do far better than me. Besides… now that I think about it, setting up the dance must be pretty difficult, so I'll probably lend a hand instead."
Yang blinked. So did everyone else.
Do much better than him? Besides, he'll be busy helping setting the dance up and stuff?
Not to toot her own horn here or anything (well, not too much), but a lot of guys back in Signal would've gladly taken her up on her little offer, seeing as she'd been regarded as one of the hottest girls back then, not that she'd been really trying to get such a reputation.
To be turned down so quickly was a real shocker to her here, but for such a reason?!
"O-Oh," she started dumbly, her mind not exactly able to come up with anything to immediately reply with. "You sure about that?"
Jaune took a few seconds to reply, seemingly out of hesitation, but when he did, he responded first with a firm nod. "I'm sure. Thank you though, Yang. Um… that is the right thing to say in this situation, right?"
Yang blinked again but then reluctantly waved it off. "Eh, it's fine, Jaune. But… are you sure? I mean, about the whole helping the dance getting set up and stuff?"
As she asked her question, she tried discreetly looking around at the others for assistance, but they too seemed a bit too surprised to be of much help.
She'd have thought Pyrrha at least, given her obvious growing interest in the blond teen, would've now taken this chance to make it known she was available and willing to accompany him to the dance as his date.
But instead, the redhead looked just as taken aback and unable to intervene.
Jaune's expression changed numerous times in the span of a split second, making it almost impossible to tell what he was really feeling.
But Yang, more perceptive than others would probably give her credit for, could've sworn she saw just a bit of genuine longing there.
Just what was Jaune's story?
"…Yeah, I'm sure," he said. "But if I do have some time, I'll try and hit the dance floor."
That last statement almost felt forced and now, feeling a bit annoyed, Yang was tempted to call him out on it.
Except she didn't.
With everything else currently going on, now wasn't really the time to be snooping around into the personal lives of others.
"Well, if you do, I expect some slick moves," she said instead, forcing a smile.
It was a smile that Jaune seemed to have some trouble returning.
Then, without another word spoken, they all returned to their meals.
As they finished up eating dinner and began their walk back to their dorms to start their homework, Jaune did his best to maintain a perfectly neutral expression and posture.
However, as strong willed as he is, this was something he had trouble doing and he could almost feel his friends' eyes on him, studying and judging him in silence.
Well, except Nora, she wasn't one for silence most times.
He knew that it was for his recent behavior too – his refusal of Yang's gracious offer as well as his now likely absence from the dance.
If anyone else had been in their places and lacked the still budding friendship between him and others, they likely would've simply written him off as being anti-social or something and moved on without issue.
But his friends weren't falling for that crap.
No, he could tell that they all had started to take a more vested interest in him for varying reasons… but it could probably be chalked up to his semblance still, not that his semblance was that powerful, at least not in that respect.
That said, his refusal of Yang hadn't quite been something of his own conscious doing. Nor had his statement of intending to help set up the dance and maintain it.
While he'd never say helping others was wrong, there were still limits. There were times where helping others out simply became too ridiculous a thing to do. There were times where one had to focus on and make themselves happy rather than focus on doing so for others.
This had been one of those times.
It was enough to fill him with shame, really. He'd promised his family that he'd at least try to live something akin to a normal teenaged life, something he'd been making some progress in doing, but now with everything else currently going on – Roman Torchwick, the White Fang and their unknown plans, all the Dust thefts and the recent attack on Tukson by two unknown assailants that clearly knew what they were doing yet didn't seem to be directly associated with the White Fang despite conveniently targeting a former member – he was finding it hard now to focus on that goal of his.
His compulsion, brought up by both his memories of what had happened to his mother that day along with the mental effects of his semblance, was now pretty much overriding whatever thoughts he'd been having of actually attending the dance and enjoying himself.
Ha, how pathetic. Despite being regarded as someone possessing a strong will, he sure sucked at resisting the hold his own semblance had on him.
He truly had wanted to take Yang up on her offer, even if it had possibly been just to tease him. He truly did want to go to that dance.
But instead, with his mind now so completely focused on literally everything else, it'd been easy for his semblance to take hold of him and steer him towards once again putting others before himself.
And this time, his friends really were getting suspicious of him. Such a thing would've been inevitable anyways given how he was around them all the time, but his own actions recently weren't helping his case.
By all rights, he should just come clean; it's not as if this secret of his was that shameful or anything. But to do so would likely be to worry them and heroes were supposed to alleviate worries, not cause them.
Ah, but could he really be considered a hero? To those like Corrin and the other kids along with Isaac, his family, Patrice, Faustus and many others, he may certainly seem like a hero…
But to himself? No, he wasn't.
He was merely a slave. Nothing more.
Of course, that didn't mean he was content to be one forever.
He will find a way to shake hold of his semblance, learn to control it and not the other way around.
But until then…
Jaune sighed as he and his team reached their dorm first.
As he opened the door and they all shuffled inside, he came to the conclusion that it would be a long while before that particular goal of his would be achieved.
He understood very well that baby steps were all that could be achieved for some goals, but he prayed that said baby steps wouldn't come at too heavy a price.
"I didn't think you'd come down here, Ozpin," Glynda spoke as she entered.
"If that were the case, this likely wouldn't have been the first place you'd come looking for me," Ozpin replied with a bit of a smile.
But the smile didn't last long at all before being replaced once more by a solemn expression.
It was hard not to be so down, considering where he was at.
The 'at' in particular being a vast secret chamber located well below the ground level of his tower, accessible only by imputing a special code into the elevator.
Here lied one of the most important people in the world to him – dear Amber, the current Fall Maiden, who was lying comatose inside a special pod of sorts.
Various machinery and equipment was set up all around this little corner of the chamber, each one meant to support the pod's own functions as well as to obviously monitor Amber's vitals.
Vitals that haven't changed all that much ever since she was first put in this place.
"…Has there been any kind of change?" Glynda asked as she neared.
"No," he responded quietly.
"I see."
Glynda didn't ask him why he'd suddenly decided to pay a visit to Amber here. She didn't have to, for Ozpin himself hadn't quite been sure why he'd done so too.
If he had to try and explain himself, however, well, he'd simply been in a mood of sorts. With everything on his plate and everything that seems to be continually added to it, the stress was just endlessly piling up.
Seriously, if his hair wasn't already gray to start with, then the stress would've turned his hair such a long time ago.
"Is there a pressing matter?" he asked, turning to his deputy headmistress slightly.
"James has been attempting to make contact with you the past half hour. News about what happened at the docks has finally made its way to him," Glynda explained.
"Ah, I suppose the White Fang would garner his attention," Ozpin quipped listlessly. Slowly turning away from Amber, he gave Glynda his full attention. "I take it he wants to take preemptive action of a sort?"
The blonde nodded. "Of course; you know how he is. Though the Vytal Festival is still a ways away, he's been hinting at arriving a little early to beef up security himself and I believe that'd mean he'd be bringing more men than necessary as usual."
Ozpin grumbled. James Ironwood was one of his most trusted allies alongside Glynda, Qrow and Leonardo. While there were still plenty of secrets he's still keeping from them, they were still among the very few that his current self could trust with the general truth of this world.
He'd trust them with his life. That said… James in particular could be rather… hotheaded. One would expect a general to be more in control of himself, but James liked to break the mold, it seemed.
"I take it he hasn't been taking no for an answer?"
"Despite me speaking in your stead, he refused to be swayed. He'll be prepping for departure from Atlas to here within a week or two," Glynda responded before sighing. "I swear, that man is just so…!"
Ozpin allowed himself a slight chuckle. "You never have cut him any slack."
"He's yet to give me reason to do so," was Glynda's flat response.
He chuckled again. But he could see why Glynda would be so frustrated.
James was the type of man to bring in the big guns, even when it may not yet to be warranted. The 'big guns' in this case likely being a small fleet. If so, then the public eye certainly wouldn't let that go unnoticed and it would only cause them to worry.
After all, if the general of Atlas was coming to Vale with such a large fleet, just what sort of enemy were they preparing to combat?
If such firepower was all that was needed to end this secret war that he'd been waging for so long, then things would be different. Alas, that wasn't the case.
Unfortunately, he doubted calling up James now would do much good. Once the Atlas general decided on a course of action, steering him away from it was supremely difficult.
Ozpin sighed. Looks like he was going to have to roll with it. Oh well, it's not as if this was the first time he's ever been blindsided by anything.
But that aside…
"Is there anything else, Glynda?"
"I've been digging into Ms. Belladonna's past as you once requested," she began, now folding her arms across her chest. "As you'd thought, this Tukson fellow you mentioned just a few days ago appeared to have once been a member of the White Fang too."
"I see." Following his visit to the police station a few days back, he'd decided it best to instead look into things instead of planning to ask the students about it later. Time was quickly becoming a luxury he couldn't quite afford, after all.
"So, Tukson was once a member, hmm? Do you have a file on him already?" Ozpin now asked.
Glynda unfolded her arms and pulled out her scroll. She handed it to him silently.
Accepting it, he proceeded to look through the files Glynda had either found or formed through the information gathered on such short notice. The benefits of a wide-spread information network truly were not to be underestimated.
It was not, however, all-encompassing; there were more than a few blanks here and there in the information, but Ozpin had what he needed.
From the looks of it, Tukson had once been an equipment and comms worker. Originally from Menagerie just like most of the main members of the White Fang and… well, that was really it. Just because this information had been obtained so swiftly didn't mean it was too extensive.
But it served its purpose.
"From the looks of it," Glynda started as he reread the files. "It would seem this man is a rogue member, one that the White Fang wants dead or otherwise captured."
"Mm. Normally, this could be said of most organizations when members suddenly go rogue but wanting him dead… they wouldn't do that unless there was a reason of some sort." Ozpin stated this with more than a little certainty. Once again, his lifetimes of experience were speaking here through him. "Given what his former role in their organization was, he must have valuable intel on them… or has ways of monitoring their current movements."
"In which case, he'd be quite a target for them," Glynda added. "One that they never tracked seriously if only because they had no lead on where he ended up. But now that he's been attacked here in Vale, where the White Fang have been recently active…"
"Then it's only a matter of time before the White Fang launch an attack against him," Ozpin finished.
Oh dear, it would seem his thoughts about the situation being more serious than it was said to be were coming true.
However, more than that…
"Given his affiliation with Ms. Belladonna and their apparent friendship, there's a chance he may be helping her and her friends with tracking the White Fang," he then said, now growing tense. Once again, he spoke from experience and insight.
When he first met the young Blake Belladonna and spoke with her, he'd made it clear to her that he knew of her criminal past and desire to redeem herself. An admirable goal but one with much hardship. He knew she'd run from the White Fang and had intended to keep on running if need be, but in light of the docks incident and the events that had apparently led up to it, it seems now that the B of team RWBY now had every intention of stopping the White Fang forces here in Vale herself if need be. And taking into account her teammates and team JNPR, which was close with team RWBY and also had the enigmatic but crazy helpful Jaune Arc as their leader, the headmaster had no doubt that they'd get willingly wrapped up in whatever crusade Ms. Belladonna wanted to go on.
And it was just a bit too convenient that she'd recently gone to see her friend Tukson, whose expertise likely meant he could help track the White Fang's movements and determine where they may strike next.
That meant that there was now a likely chance teams RWBY and JNPR may attempt to battle the criminal forces gathered here in Vale some time in the not-so-distant future.
This was a conclusion Glynda appeared to come to just now as well, the deputy headmistress looking more worried than she'd ever willingly show around her students.
"Should we have them watched and detained when needed?" she asked.
By all rights, he should. This may be an academy meant to train the next batch of huntsmen and huntresses, but for all their considerable talent and skill, they were still first-years. They could only do so much. They couldn't just let both teams run around, doing what they wanted.
Truly, the right thing to do would be to keep an eye on them and make sure they didn't do anything too foolhardy.
Except… except he couldn't bring himself to fault them. How could he, considering his own actions throughout his recurring lives?
In his war against the Queen and her own forces, he's had to do many things he never would've done otherwise, and all for the sake of gaining even the slightest advantage.
And call him crazy, but somehow he felt that his ancient foe had her hands in this current mess somehow. However indirectly it may be, he knew the Queen – Salem – had some level of involvement in this. The changes in the White Fang's modus operandi in addition to Roman Torchwick's own change of actions were far too sudden now in hindsight. There was just now way they'd be stockpiling Dust for legitimate reason.
Not only that, but there's no way the White Fang, xenophobic towards humans, would willingly work with the likes of Torchwick for any reason… unless they were being forced to. And Roman Torchwick himself was too much of a wildcard amongst Vale's criminal element to ever bend his knee to anyone else unless they had something on him or were otherwise capable of forcing him to submit.
Ozpin doubted anyone high up within the White Fang would suddenly develop such an oddly progressive mindset, if it could be considered as such. That meant someone else, a third party, was involved here, one who has gone to considerable lengths to remain undetected.
Given his own connections and resources, that Ozpin has been unaware of such a force was an indicator that whoever this third party was, they were likely very wary of him and therefore was doing their best to make sure not to attract his watchful eyes.
That meant they had some idea, however slight, of his information network and intelligence gathering methods. This in turn also meant they at least had an idea of who his closer allies may be.
In which case, making a move himself or having the likes of Glynda and the others make a move would be something this third party may either be outright expecting or at the very least be mindful of.
"…Ozpin," Glynda said, now sounding a little angry.
Ozpin allowed himself a small and bitter smile. "I see you've become very adept at anticipating my trains of thought."
Glynda ignored his comment. "You intend to let them go through with this?!"
"I'm afraid to say that may be the case. With the White Fang and Torchwick working together so suddenly and for the purpose of stealing Dust so far, there's no way whatever plan they're following could've been formulated by either side. There must be a third party involved in all this, directing them all. That we're only now entertaining such a thought means this third party has put considerable effort into remaining undetected thus far. Any move we've made thus far could've been monitored somehow by this unknown force… and I can't help but feel her hand is involved somehow."
That got Glynda to wince. "I understand your point, but even so… you'd use teams RWBY and JNPR as bait? Whatever schemes you may now be thinking of to use them in, they're not ready!"
Ozpin let out a heavy sigh. "None of us were ready for any of the struggles we've been through. No one ever is, despite how much they may have prepared. This may be the first time we've used teams so… so new like this, but unless we can figure out a better way to potentially flush this third party out into the open, letting teams RWBY and JNPR do what they're doubtlessly intending to do is our only option right now. We simply can't afford to waste any more time thinking through things – we need to start being more active now."
Glynda actually gritted her teeth; such was her anger. But the fact she didn't yell and try to refute his words showed she understood their situation.
With Amber in her current condition and the other Maidens unaccounted for, they were far from being in a good strategical spot against Salem. The additional fact that he could still sense the magic within Amber being only half as strong as it was long ago meant that they also had to worry about a… well, a half-Maiden running around out there too, no doubt under their foe's employ since she's the only one who'd ever have a reason to know about and target the Maidens in the first place.
Hmm, come to think of it, could the ones who attacked Amber back then be this third party he's been thinking of? It was certainly a very real possibility, but until he had something substantial to back up this new hypothesis, acting on it would be extremely unwise. With so many threats running around Remnant, getting any of them mixed up could have drastic and terrifying consequences.
"I know you have the best of intentions, Ozpin," Glynda said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "But this time around, I truly hope what you know you're doing – I'm not sure how much longer I can stomach how many more lives we may have to sacrifice for the greater good."
She then pivoted and promptly took her leave.
Ozpin watched her go with sad and tired eyes.
It wasn't until Glynda left his sight for good that he turned to look back at Amber, still comatose within the pod. He reached out with a hand to gently touch the pod, praying for the young woman's recovery.
"I feel the same, Glynda," he whispered.
He's made more mistakes than anyone else in the world. He's long since grown tired and angry over how many people have had to pay in his stead. And for all his faith in humanity and its inherent goodness, he more than anything simply wanted to rest, something he'll never be able to do so long as this war kept on going.
Not for the first time, he silently asked the gods if this was how things really had to be, if it was worth all the effort he and Salem had spent waging conflict after conflict against each other.
And like always, he received no answer.
Roman let out a haggard sigh. Today had been yet another long day. Not to say that it had been a particularly frustrating day per say, but it sure had felt long.
Ah, the consequences of being relied on to do so much shit. The price of being competent.
Not only did he have to do his usual Dust thefts, but he now also had to get some people to watch those Beacon brats over the weekend too. Then, there was the other thing he'd been recently 'asked' to do – hold a rally to recruit more idiots to the White Fang.
Sheesh, it was bad enough he was working with the animals as it is, but now he had to go and do their jobs too? He was practically a member in all but name!
But hey, he understood – they'd been taking some heavy hits over the past few years. As many misanthropes as there are out there among Faunuskind, not every single one of them was joining up with a terrorist organization to vent their pathetic feelings. And with all the battles they'd been waging through the kingdoms for their oh so precious equality, the White Fang was slowly but now noticeably losing its precious manpower. So, they needed to do some recruitment.
Besides that, if he and his current crew were going to carry out their parts of Cinder's supposedly master plan, then they were going to need more bodies anyways, so this was a two-birds-with-one-stone thing.
Now normally, he'd doubt simply holding a rally in some nondescript part of Vale and spreading the word through the more rundown Faunus neighborhoods would stir up much genuine interest, but thanks to Cinder's connections, he was able to get his hands on something good that would not doubt entice a good handful to join up.
"Now it's just another matter of transporting it safely and quietly to wherever the hell they want this rally held…" Roman mumbled to himself as he headed back to his makeshift room.
He sighed again. That was yet another thing that would be up to him to personally organize. Seriously, sometimes he wondered just how the hell the White Fang had survived this long if the rest of the bunch were as incompetent as the ones he has around him.
Yeah, suffice to say his mood wasn't all that good. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it was far from good…
But just as he'd been about to open the door to his quarters, he paused for a split second, looking only marginally surprised before smiling a little.
"Well, well," he began as he finally opened the door and strolled inside. "I'd say what a surprise, but not really. How are things out there, Neo?"
Inside his room and seated atop his bed was none other than his longtime partner, the short yet oh so dangerous neopolitan hair-colored, well, Neopolitan. Neo, for short.
The silent and colorful young woman eyed him and smirked in that confident way he was always used to.
However, the smirk vanished once she really got a look at him. She gestured immediately to his leg.
Roman grunted. "Yeah, I know I'm not a pretty sight. It's a bit of a long story though so I'll tell you later. Anyways, my question…?"
As he walked over to a nearby chair and plopped down on it, he watched as Neo gesticulated, having long since learned how she 'spoke.'
He sat there silently and nodded every now and then as Neo spent the next fifteen minutes explaining how their other endeavors were going.
"I see. That's good. At least we have a backup plan in case things go south with Cinder," he said as he leaned back and carefully stretched his bad leg now. It was much better than it was several days ago, but he was obviously still hurting. Of course, his knee will never really be better again, but the less pain and cramping, the better.
Neo tilted her head and frowned, quirking an eyebrow.
It was all she needed to do to ask her question.
"Nah, Cinder doesn't know you're back. I made sure to lie about how long it'd take for you to come back here – said you were busy and all that." When he'd told Cinder how using Neo for any near future part of their plans was a no go, that had been a lie – not long after the docks incident, he'd summoned Neo back as fast as she could make it back.
It had taken a while, but nowhere near as long as he'd suggested to Cinder and the others. Neo was, after all, to be his trump card. Telling anyone else of her presence back in Vale now would obviously be giving away the surprise.
Neo motioned to his leg again and didn't look too keen on waiting until later to hear his little tale. So, with but a small grimace, he launched into a retelling of recent events, from the stupid preparations he'd made for the docks operation to how it all went wrong and even about the recent assassination that Cinder's two spunky sidekicks screwed up.
Neo's eyes went wide as he told his tale and she even stopped twirling her closed umbrella too.
"Yeah, even I feel it's all pretty surreal… and I freakin' lived through all this," Roman mumbled. It still felt ridiculous to him how wrong things had suddenly gone at the docks. And as much as he may like to rag on Mercury and Emerald for their own recent screw up, he knew it was still a speedbump in their plans.
Cinder may say she's got it all under control and that she'll figure things out, but he didn't like continuing on while half-cocked. He was no stranger to adaptation and improv, but it helped immensely when he still had something to work with in general.
But in this situation? He couldn't help but feel like they were flying blind and it wasn't a feeling that he liked very much.
It was something Neo agreed with too, what with the young woman now silently grimacing, kicking her legs back and forth like a bratty child that didn't hear what they'd wanted to hear.
She made a motion with her umbrella and pointed around.
"What now, you ask? Well, I'm afraid we don't have much choice but to continue on like this for now – until those other matters you've been dealing with for me are settled, we don't really have enough immediately available funds and resources to go running, at least not for long. I get the feeling if we took off right here and now, Cinder would track us down in short order somehow… and no offense, Neo, as tough as you are, I'm not sure you could beat her, not when she can toss flames literally everywhere."
Neo pouted at her combat ability being doubted, but this was merely an act; she knew as well as he did that while she may be an excellent combatant, her abilities were a bad matchup against Cinder, whose mysterious flame abilities, clearly not the work of Dust or an average semblance, could effortlessly turn the tides. Plus, Cinder also had the backing of Mercury and Emerald and who knows who else. The fact the woman had been able to get Adam Taurus of all people and most of those under his command to work for her was another thing to balk at.
"But," Roman began. "I think I got an idea of sorts. A really dangerous one though. It's kind of why I called you back, actually."
Neo perked up and now eagerly gestured for him to continue.
"That Jaune punk that left me in this state… call it gut instinct, but I get the feeling he's stronger than he's let on, scary as that sounds. And goddamn, is he a stubborn freak of nature. But he can be useful – namely, in taking out Cinder. Of course, in order to do that, we got to lead him towards her and do so before she even thinks of taking off to stay hidden or whatever." Roman shifted in his chair, leaning forward now. "This weekend, some of those dumbass White Fang grunts will be tailing him and that damned kittycat and their friends, see where they go and all that jazz. I want to follow them too but stay hidden from both groups. Then, try and lead them closer to where Cinder's current little base is set up at."
Neo's eyes went wide for a second before a predatory grin appeared on her face.
Roman shared this grin. "Yeah, that's right. Like I said, it could be dangerous, but if we can lead that freak to Cinder and let them duke it out, he might just be able to take her out right then and there. Or she'll kill him first. Or maybe even they'll both off each other. However it plays out, that's one less major thorn in our side and we'll get some leeway. Personally, I'm hoping if this works that Cinder is the one to die so we can just go back to doing our usual thing, but if the blond punk goes down, we'll have a lot more breathing room with our current operations and Cinder will hopefully back off just enough for us to escape at the first chance anyways. So, what do you say, Neo? Feeling up to it?"
Neo nodded eagerly. She then leaned forward a bit and assumed a questioning expression.
Roman, as always, understood her intentions. "As long as you can somehow lead him to Cinder, I don't care if you have fun with him or his friends. Just don't get too cocky – like I said, he's as much a monster as Cinder. Hell, probably more in some respects."
Neo's grin returned. It would soon be time for her to play a little.
Yep, so Neo is now officially introduced! And boy, what a gambit pileup this is – Cinder with wanting Jaune and Blake and the others surveilled, the Beacon group intending to hunt down the White Fang's current base of operations, Ozpin willing to let them do just this whilst watching as to sweep in and clean them up, and now Roman and Neo intending to make them all collide for the express purpose of potentially taking them all down. Yeesh, even I'm feeling intimidated by all that, ha ha.
Anyways, while some of you may immediately deem Ozpin's actions or inactions to be callous or even reprehensible, I just want to say that this isn't necessarily the case. As I had hoped I'd demonstrated during his section of this chapter, it's not something he really wants to do, but feels he must for the greater good. That's not the most appealing thing to hear, I know, but it's sadly a fact of life both within and without fiction.
Frankly, I feel Ozpin got seriously shafted in canon – yes, a lot of things he's done as Ozpin and during his many past lives really could've been handled differently, but you do have to keep in mind he was dealt a very shitty hand and it's not like he could perfectly foresee every consequence.
Personally, the way all of RWBY and JNR ragged on him for keeping so much hidden from them seriously infuriated me. Yes, they have a right to be angry given the deaths of Penny and Pyrrha and many others, not to mention getting unwittingly drafted into an ancient war against a powerful magic-wielding immortal, but as they clearly saw thanks to Jinn, it was either resist Salem or let her rule humanity as their new god and it was clear she wasn't going to be any better than the God Brothers. Plus, even if Salem is somehow taken out of the picture, the Grimm will still keep spawning as long as the pools of destruction remain and they'll keep killing humans, just as they've always done even before Salem became their ruler, they just won't have any specific tasks or whatever.
Again, not saying Ozpin is faultless, but his treatment in volume 6 simply didn't sit well with me. I intend to correct that by painting him as the flawed but ultimately good and tragic character he was meant to be seen and handled as, by both the fandom and the characters within the fic.
But of course, that will take time to do, ha ha. Hope you can bear with me until then.
Until next time, everyone. Take care!