Disclaimer: I do not own either RWBY or Star Wars

"Well, well, well, isn't this an unusual guest…" Mercury said as he gazed at the girl who stood outside his cell. "What do you want? I get the feeling there is absolutely no need to interrogate me."

It wasn't untrue. Mercury didn't understand how, but he was quite certain that Wayle Tyran already knew everything he had ever known. Or at least everything still relevant. There had been no attempts to interrogate him after Wayle was done with him.

Although there had been something else…

"You were offered a chance at redemption and refused it. I want to hear why first-hand." There was a certain imperiousness that crept into Blake Belladonna's voice as she looked down at him.

"What is there to say, that you haven't been told? Or what? You don't trust your boyfriend?"

"You strike me as too self-centred to not take an offer that allows you freedom. I don't think Wayle would lie to me, so I'm trying to sort this out myself."

Mercury smirked at her. "Well, you haven't entirely got me wrong. But I would have to work for him for that pardon. I don't believe in 'the cause'. Besides, you're all screwed. You don't even understand what you're really dealing with."

Well, according to the theory Mercury posited to himself just moments earlier, Wayle Tyran should know what he knows. But…

How well does Blake Belladonna understand what Wayle knows?

If she was in any way phased by the teen's words, she didn't show it.

"You think our cause is doomed? Do you think 'they' will rescue you?"

"Nah. But I don't think they'll kill me horrifically. Besides, I can't be redeemed. Do you even know why Cinder recruited me?" The question was rhetorical, and Mercury didn't wait for Blake's answer. "Because she wanted to recruit my pops, but I had already killed him."

Perhaps this was the first time she heard it, or maybe it was just the way he said it, but there was certainly a bit of a reaction.

She was appalled. Understandable really. Most people probably wouldn't be able to think about killing their own parents, much less speak of it afterwards. Even fewer would be able to speak of it with ease.

Only the rarest of scum would speak of it like it was a joyous occasion.

"I see. I seem to have misjudged you." And with such a brief statement his view of the corridor, and the girl, disappeared as the door shut.

He could faintly hear her footsteps as she left, and only barely perceived a somehow… familiar, presence follow her.

It was only as the doors to the prison block slammed shut that he remembered something he had wanted to ask if he got the opportunity.

'Where's Emerald?'

-Break—

"You know, we've been looking for you." A man said as he gestured for the other person to take a seat.

The other person, a positively tiny woman, didn't say a word as she seated herself with gracious ease, instead giving him a knowing smile, although those who knew her would say that it was… oddly tired.

The woman was, of course, none other than Neo Politan, who had spent the last month or so moving about the underworld, in a manner that had been described by people familiar with her as unusual.

The man wasn't one of the people overly familiar with Neo, but rather someone associated with a previous employer of hers.

Doctor Arthur Watts. A tall man with a less than savoury presence. A disgraced Atlesian scientist.

And the previous employer he was associated with…

Cinder Fall.

Neo didn't particularly like him.

Nor was she overly fond of the faction he served.

Honestly, at the moment she'd rather not have anything to do with them.

Unfortunately, they had found her.

Or…

Had she found them?

There was a reason for the tiredness of her smile. Doubts. She didn't feel like her actions were her own any more.

And not just because she had killed Roman.

It was part of it, certainly. But also… The reason she had moved about as much as she did.

It was because she had felt compelled.

And she always felt like she was looking for something.

"We hoped you would be willing to… return to our employ." Watts said.

Neo almost wanted to just refuse. Certainly, they would probably try to kill her.

But that person would most assuredly kill her. After all, she had only barely escaped him, and only because he had let her go.

And Watts represented a faction in opposition to him. So normally she would actually refuse.

Instead, she acted nonchalant, as if considering it.

Instead, something within her told her to work with the faction Watts belongs to.

With an entirely normal smile, as if nothing was wrong, Neo Politan nodded. And more than ever she felt that her actions simply weren't her own.

-Break—

Wayle evaluated the admittedly meagre run of prototypes for the new Valean Paladin.

Numbering only five, they currently stood lined up to be inspected by representatives of Vale and its military.

They were, as the name honestly suggested, based off of the Atlesian Paladin. Quite literally as a matter of fact, although Wayle had been told that these had been constructed from scratch.

The head of development had been Lloyd Asplund although he'd had a lot of co-workers, which seems to have been beneficial considering the many reports of Lloyd having to be reined in.

Of course, judging by Aureus' reaction as he read up on the specifications, they probably still needed to have their costs brought down.

Interestingly the new Paladins didn't resemble their Atlesian counterparts all that much. Atlesian Paladins were bulky, while these were sleeker, and almost… humanoid.

Honestly, to Wayle, as long as they fulfilled their function of bringing more power to the ordinary defenders of Vale, it didn't particularly matter.

He'd been assured that they were quicker and more agile while having similar durability, although achieving this might be part of the reason Aureus seemed displeased.

Latune seemed to like them though. She had, unsurprisingly, been one of the people testing them, so Wayle certainly had a good assurance of their quality.

Of course, it was indeed moot if they couldn't produce and maintain them…

Well, as long as they could phase out the old (stolen) Paladins for newer and better models… That was all that mattered.

Wayle's gaze wandered off to the side.

There, a bit away from the new Paladins, stood something else.

Well, it was also a Paladin.

Or at least, it once was.

They had, with Lloyd's blessings, let Cécile Croomy, the good professor's assistant, try her skills on Latune's old prototype.

He could almost still recognise it.

As it turned out, Cécile was, somehow, even more prone to getting carried away than her mentor.

The result now stood there.

Latune and Cécile called it the Astolfo, although why was beyond Wayle, who admittedly also didn't care.

If there was anything to note about it, it was that it outperformed the Valean Paladin utterly, and that any hope of making it suited for mass-production was foolish.

Its performance was also such that it was utterly unsuited for any but the most capable of operators.

For now, that meant only Latune herself and a handful of the very best Paladin pilots they had available.

Wayle's inner pragmatic didn't really approve of it. What was the point of having a machine like this, if it was too valuable to risk it getting destroyed?

Well, Latune seemed intent of making use of it, so he didn't voice that thought.

Glancing back at Aureus, the man had now started talking to Lloyd, probably in an attempt to get the man to make the Paladins more suited for mass-production, although it didn't seem like Lloyd was listening.

Wayle took a look at the specifications as well. He'd already made the observation that it seemed fine to him, that was, after some questioning of the manufactory on what it all meant practically.

He sighed.

Wayle already knew that Aureus would immediately change his tune if Wayle merely said so, and the young Lord didn't really like it.

And on top of all this was also the matter of additional ships they needed to build, the continued rebuilding of Vale (the city), and whether or not the people of Vale (the kingdom) wanted to have Wayle as their monarch.

Aureus and Ouka had done magnificent work in swaying public opinion towards it, and for the most part they expected there to be no problems in the matter.

The problems would rather be in dealing with the other Kingdoms…

They would probably react once the news reach them, the question was…

How?

-Break—

Blake sat in thought.

Wayle's inner circle…

The six people closest to Wayle, excluding herself.

They were all privy to some insights about both Wayle himself and his plans, and, in actuality, had even been able to affect those plans.

Really, the main plan was to bring Humans and Faunus together in cooperation, and maybe also saving Remnant in the process…

Ouka and Aureus, the two most loyal, more accurately described as fanatics, were not as interested in the actual plan as much as they seemed to want to elevate Wayle to greater heights.

Well, who knew? Wayle seemed quite fine with the course those two had pushed the plan into…

Latune was difficult to pin down. She seemed to house a healthy dose of respect for Wayle, and almost seemed to revel in her position. She wasn't a fanatic like Ouka, but she was certainly loyal in her own way.

Not that she seemed particularly interested in the plan.

The Captain was probably the most loyal to the cause, to the original plan. As far as Blake could tell, he followed Wayle because he saw in him the best chance to bring the conflicts between Faunus and Humans to an end.

Felis had followed the Captain, but wasn't all that loyal to the cause. As a matter of fact, she was more so loyal to Blake herself, even if she enjoyed the position she had been given and followed orders.

Blake suspected Felis might prioritise her over Wayle though.

And, last but not least, Roland. Roland was loyal to the ideal, not to Wayle. It was a well-known secret that Roland had promised to oppose Wayle should he stray from the right path. According to Wayle, that was why Roland was part of the inner circle to begin with.

They all formed important parts of Wayle's powerbase, with which he sought to bring change. Unity.

Perhaps it was Wayle's past that manifested itself and brought him to want power to bring about his goals?

Or perhaps he merely saw no other way for Remnant?

Blake had been part of trying to change this world with only voices.

She had seen how well that worked.

A question gnawed at her. She couldn't easily answer it.

'What can I do to help?'

Blake already knew that she was a bit of a symbol, but merely being a figurehead didn't sit well with her.

She could fight, and was ready to do so, but so were countless others.

The only other thing she had…

Would be…

The identity of her father.

If she could mediate, it might be possible for an agreement to be formed…

In an odd way, Menagerie might be one of the most important places for Wayle's plans.

If he can't win them over, then his talk of cooperation, unity and equality between Faunus and Humans would probably not be taken as seriously.

Blake tried to steel herself at the prospect of returning to her family.

She couldn't really think of anything else…

She really wasn't looking forward to explaining everything to her father…

Author's note: Oh goodness me. How long...? Honestly, at this point part of me just wants to finish this story, but I don't want to half-ass it. More than I already have, that is. Well, I don't feel like I have anything to say, really. So on to the obligatory request for feedback and constructive criticism, the usual.

I hope you enjoyed, and that you have a nice day.