"Wake up!" Jett yelled as she slapped Paris again and grabbed him by the chin, looking him over to make sure that he'd come to enough to understand his predicament. "It is by the grace of Salem and the fear that I would have incurred the wrath of Abigor that I shot you in the knee and not the head. Your aura will be able to heal it in due time, but next time I can guarantee that you will not be as lucky. I've spoken with Abigor and he is in full agreement, isn't that right Master?" Paris was sat at a large table in a dark cave that was crudely lit by lanterns. He'd been here before, it was their place for emergency meetings in Vacuo, he'd been placed where Vale would normally sit, Admon to his left in Atlas's seat, Strakh to his right in Vacuo's seat, and Abigor across from him in Mistral's.
It was the first time any of them had 'seen' Abigor despite the lack of lighting, he seemed to be a looming and brooding man, the darkness shrouding his face but if one strained, they could make out half of a plague doctor's mask with a single goggle lens still attached on the left side of his only sound that filled the room was Abigor's breathing and that alone brought Paris unrest as he struggled against the ropes that bound him to the chair he was in. Strakh shifted, trying to avoid Abigor's gaze, but jumped when the man finally made a move and slammed his fist down on the table.
"Who here remembers why this all began?" Abigor asked, his voice thundering. "Do any of you even remember why you are here?" Abigor sat back, darkening all of his face. "Jett is the only one who has done exactly as I have asked without questioning me why or deviating from the cause." Silence as Admon rapped his fingers. "Am I a means to ends for some of you? Are we not all here to bring back this world's true savior?"
"Yes we are Abigor, but…" Paris spoke but stopped as he felt one of Jett's kukris at his neck.
"But?!" Abigor shouted. "You make me sick. Paris, you have come here for revenge. Strakh, you have come here for power. Admon, you have come here to put an end to a child. Personal gain!" Abigor stood. "It is because Salem needs us all to work together that you all have lived so long, but once I've gotten what I need from the three of you, there will be no compassion left within me. I will pass down Salem's judgment on you swiftly unless you begin to prove to me that the work you do is for Salem."
"I am at a standstill sir, I must wait until the current event comes to pass before I may speak with Her again," Strakh said trying to defend himself.
"Is that why Jett had to wait several hours for you to finish playing with your whores?" Abigor asked. "Mercury was the only one of you four who did exactly as was asked, but Mercury is also the only other person beneath me that has seen the full power of Salem." Abigor sat. "Our plans must change. Everything must shift. We must stay vigilant, I fear that the Council will soon know our full intentions, they meet tomorrow in Shade and invite Coco Adel into their walls to tell them about all of the facts that Paris handed over to them while taunting the Latherus girl! Is your target not the hybrid?!"
"Y- Yes," Paris stuttered.
"Then why must you deviate from the path?" Abigor shouted. The cave walls shook, Admon glanced around before raising his hand. Jett shot him a stern look.
"What is it?" Jett asked.
"As long as I have my foothold in the Atlas army…" Admon began.
"Do you?" Abigor asked. "Your sister has been captured and your plan to kill the Schnee and the head of Atlas has failed."
"Ironwood is nothing to be worried about, the man is lethargic in his old age," Admon told them. "If I am only given more time and resources, the Atlas army will fall under my command and I will be able to produce a war so large that even Vale will erect a military force to put an end to it."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Abigor told him. "Atlas moves now as we speak. I think you may find by the end of the week that Ironwood is no longer in the picture and that Winter's first order of business will be finding you and tearing you limb from limb. People thought that Ironwood had questionable tactics, that woman will put him to shame."
"Vacuo is the most secure of the kingdoms, I can afford my luxuries…" Strakh said defending himself.
"How secure? What about the girl that escaped?" Abigor asked. "She knows more than you care to admit and your men have failed time and time again to apprehend her."
"I can't just attack Beacon," Strakh protested.
"Why wasn't she stopped prior to reaching Vale?" Abigor asked. He sat and seethed for a long moment before Jett approached him and whispered something in his ear. He whispered back his reply and she nodded, heading for the cave's exit. "I have new plans for all of you and if I do not feel that they are being kept as well as they can, I will send Jett out to personally thank you for serving Salem with a bullet through the forehead, is that clear?"
"Yes," Paris replied audibly.
"Admon, you are to break your ties with the Fang now and take whatever remaining troops you have and march for Menagerie," Abigor told him. "If nothing else it'll stir up more unrest between Faunus and humans, and might be the tipping point that turns the island into a point of massacre. Strakh, I want the girl caught by the end of this year. If you fail to do so, I will leak all of the information gathered on you before she can and you'll fall at the hands of that pathetic Olesia. Paris, you will return to Vale but you will not lead them. I will allow Merc's gang to thin themselves out and once they choose someone new to take up the mantle, point them towards me. If Mercury escapes and returns before they can do so, more power to him."
"What of Mistral?" Strakh asked. "Sterling sends more and more of his military to Vacuo and Vale every day. The Fang won't pose much of a distraction if they're discovered before Athena gets the stick out of her ass and attacks."
"Mistral will have to be dealt with by the three of you for now. I've been able to siphon away men and goods for several months, but Sterling is getting suspicious and we can't have him discovering our plans yet, now can we?" They all shook their heads.
"Meeting is adjourned," Jett said. The men all left, blinking hard as they entered the desert and the sun blinded them. Paris glanced back once more, hoping to make more of Abigor out, but was denied the satisfaction. Jett was left with Abigor, watching them all leave before returning to him.
"Is there still hope that Salem might be brought back?" She asked. Abigor chuckled.
"Of course," he replied. "My Queen shall be returned to her former state and save all of us. If we fail, Remnant will perish as she has."
"I know that I'm always going on and on about something during every meeting that we have, but I think I finally have it figured out. We should hold every meeting here in Vacuo. It's always warm no matter what time of the year it is, not like Vale or Atlas. I mean, sure it gets a little warmer during the summer months, but if we move the meeting location towards the northern end of the kingdom, I think that we can come to a compromise. Just think, this morning I kissed my wife, we had breakfast, and then I came to work. I'll be home tonight, isn't it glorious? I say this every time, but all of this could just be done over video conference or email or something similar, but then we wouldn't get to hear Sterling and Siobhan complain about how hot it is, or how they had layovers in Vale. Not to mention I'm quite excited today, we've really started making headway on the Strakh issue!" Dorian told Olesia as they took their seats.
"With the help of Mistral's military," Olesia reminded him as she took a few pages from him. He scoffed.
"Details," he sputtered. Olesia kept her eyes on Sterling the entire time as he entered the room with Siobhan so close behind him she was practically on his ass. He shook Coco's hands, sharing a few words with her and both of them laughed as the Mistralis moved along to take their seats, Sterling mouthing 'Hello' to Olesia who blushed as she normally did until catching Siobhan's gaze. A death stare that seemed as ice cold as the woman's personality and Dorian chuckled.
"Hopefully Siobhan's semblance isn't 'looks that can kill'," Dorian offered. Ruby and Qrow were the next two to enter the room, Ruby hugging Coco and smiling before taking her seat with her uncle and the doors closed as Ironwood entered, Winter and another younger woman following. She wore standard Atlas Military Officer attire and had a fox tail that was long and swished about back and forth happily. The girl seemed ecstatic, but Olesia also picked up a hint of nervousness in the girl's eyes. Atlas was planning changes, Olesia had seen what happened on the news, everyone had.
"Can I have everyone's attention please?" Ruby called out as always. "Let's not waste any time today, we have a lot to cover and figure out. Let's get this underway and let Coco give her report so we can determine where to go from there." Ruby sat and Coco took center stage, clearing her throat and glancing over her file.
"I hate to interrupt, but it's a bit unprecedented to let a non-council member in on a meeting," Dorian stated. Coco smirked before turning to him.
"You talk like you've got some sort of grudge. Have we met before? I used to party a lot when I was younger, did I hit you in the balls? You sound like you might have deserved it…" Coco said.
"Coco," Ruby said sternly. Coco glanced back at her friend and nodded.
"Sorry," Coco replied.
"Don't be, he was out of line," Siobhan said. Sterling elbowed her and cleared his throat. "My apologies for speaking out of line, Ruby." Qrow rolled his eyes and Ruby waved her off.
"Coco, please continue," Ruby told her.
"Let me preface this entire meeting by saying that while I am very proud of the students at Beacon coming together and discovering what we couldn't. That being said, they will be punished accordingly for hacking into the Council's Security Database," Coco said. The announcement was met with egregious argument, and uproar from all sides as Ruby stood and tried to quiet them.
"Stop! Quiet!" Ruby yelled.
"Why weren't we told sooner?" Olesia demanded. Ironwood simply gave Qrow a cross look who stood and shouted out above the noise.
"Shut the hell up!" Qrow yelled out. They all looked at him.
"A child hacked into our files!" Dorian yelled. "And you waited a week…"
"The breach wasn't severe, I have the information that was stolen in hand. At first, I wanted the kids to destroy it, but had them hand it over instead," Coco said. "The firewall is being patched and reinforced by the SDC research department as we speak."
"Was any other information leaked?" Siobhan asked.
"No. I've had the system triple checked, I can have the SDC check again if you'd like," Coco told them. She presented the file first to Olesia so that they could pass it down the table. "You'll see there that the commerce records for Vale were stolen by the students and the highlighted dates are the dates that robberies were made by the Stardust Gang. See anything that's the same between them?"
"Mistral," Olesia said glancing across at Sterling. He stood slowly.
"What?" Sterling said. He looked down at Siobhan.
"Are you in charge of commerce along the western coast of Mistral Mr. Stratford?" Coco asked.
"Not directly," Sterling said in disbelief.
"Sir, a relatively large amount of men from your military have gone AWOL in the last several months. In addition to the EMP that the Stardust Gang is in possession of, I'm thinking that maybe you need to get things together over there," Coco said. "Maybe I'm out of line to say this, but as Ruby's head of intelligence in Vale, I'm getting really tired of cleaning up your shit." Sterling nodded.
"I will place Siobhan in direct command of military operations, it will not happen again Mrs. Adel," Sterling informed her.
"Thank you." She replied. "With the Stardust Gang this time it was Mercury, who was caught by Neela Xiao Long, a first-year student at Beacon. Orion Nova and Sirius Canis are still at large, as well as a former student of Beacon who has an unknown origin, a Mr. Paris Goldfinch. Lastly, there was a masked woman, the same that had shown up for the EMP handoff, that got away."
"Were the police not involved?" Dorian asked.
"It is in our experience that the police are more at risk when dealing with criminals that have semblances and auras. We are currently working on getting a few huntsmen from our kingdom to join the police force as well as starting a security staff at the school," Coco informed them. "This is the first time that Mercury has been caught, this is a huge breakthrough. We haven't been able to interrogate him properly yet. Even if he doesn't give us any information, this should set them back from whatever they were planning with that EMP."
"Anything else that we should know?" Ruby asked.
"I think that's it," Coco said. "Though one thing bothers me that I might add if I may."
"What would that be?" Qrow asked. Coco pointed to Olesia.
"When that Dust shipment came in a few days ago, there were Strakh Dust crates. An entire two ships I believe. If you're going to stop this guy, Olesia, you need to make sure that he can't export," Coco instructed her.
"Tell your people to embargo them," Olesia replied. Coco chuckled.
"There is a shortage. Even if I told them that, they wouldn't listen," Coco told her. She stared the girl in the eyes. "Fix it."
"Ruby…" Dorian said slowly standing. Coco offered him a smile and headed for the exit as Ruby motioned for him to sit.
"I think that this is the perfect segway into Atlas, wouldn't you agree, Ironwood?" Ruby asked. Ironwood nodded as he stood and straightened his tie.
"After all of my years of service both on this council and in the Atlas Military, it is with a heavy heart that I announce my retirement," Ironwood said. He coughed and regained his composure as he cleared his throat. "I leave both positions that I hold in the capable hands of Winter Branwen, she's been at my side for many, many years now, and I know that she'll do just as well as I did." Ironwood sat and the room was swallowed in silence. There were no claps or congratulations, the council digested the information, it was the first time that someone had willingly given up a position on the council since its conception.
"You did good, Jimmy," Qrow said. Ironwood scowled and smirked, nodding to Qrow. Winter stood and moved to the front of the table with the fox behind her, following closely and staring at the floor the entire time.
"I would like to assign Lieutenant General Kitsune Aka of the Atlas Military as my second starting with our next meeting," Winter informed them. "Even though she's only been with Atlas for a few months she has shown instant promise and even assisted Lieutenant General Prasinos in keeping Weiss Schnee alive during the White Fang attack at the ball."
"Were the funds saved?" Sterling asked.
"They were. It'll keep the lights on for now, but if we aren't able to mine Dust again soon, we're going to have issues everywhere. Half of the plants were there from the time that we did our mass hiring of Faunus, the other half were men that Admon had brought with him. Admon's last spies were wiped out when we double checked the system following the attack," Winter explained. "Things remain at a standstill as well in Menagerie, but tensions continue to grow, especially since the primary assassin that was after Weiss was an island native."
"It appears that Atlas needs to get their military in check as well," Siobhan offered offhandedly. Sterling grabbed her arm.
"Do you know how to hold your tongue?" He asked her. "You've been valuable as a second for years, but your off-handed comments as of late are inappropriate. Bringing you with me is not a necessity, nowhere is it written that you need to attend the meetings if I'm here as well." He let her go and recomposed himself and looked up at Ruby. "I apologize for the both of us." Olesia was impressed by Sterling decorum over the last couple of meetings but was still pissed off that she didn't have the first clue about how to stop Strakh.
"I think we covered the two that needed to be addressed the worst, but let's recap what needs to happen by the next meeting if we can," Ruby said. "Coco will establish a police force that uses both standard officers and huntsmen. Atlas either needs to find Athena and end the tension between the Faunus and SDC, or they need to work on finding new locations for Dust mines. Admon is also a top priority. I approve Siobhan being placed in charge of the Mistral Military and I trust that she will straighten things out as swiftly and cleanly as possible. Lastly is Vacuo…"
"Olesia, are you okay?" Dorian asked. She was in need of water and the room was spinning, but the idea that all of her progress had been brought to a standstill was weighing heavily on her.
"Olesia," Ruby said. "If you don't make progress by the next meeting, it's possible that we may look for other leadership options in your kingdom. It's not a path that I want to think about, you've done great so far and have a lot of potentials, but we can't have someone like Strakh running around unchecked. Dismissed!" The members all stood and began to leave, Dorian gathering his things and walking past Olesia before realizing she hadn't moved.
"Ma'am?" Dorian asked. She waved him off.
"They'll make me leave in a moment anyway," she groaned. She sighed, running her hands through her hair and staring into the darkness that she'd created between her folded arms on the table. Someone touched her gently on the shoulder and she looked up expecting to see Dorian but instead found Sterling. She'd never been so close to Sterling before, he looked younger up close, though she imagined his looking old was an illusion of the silver hair that he had. Her eyes stared into his for a long moment before she broke free of his gaze.
"Are you alright Olesia?" Sterling asked as he crouched in front of the table so that he was eye level with her. "I'm sorry, how inappropriate of me. Ms. Lychnitis?" She chuckled and slowly stood, moving around the table and sitting on the edge of it, forcing him to stand.
"Olesia is fine," She told him. "I'll be okay, I just don't understand how Stakh keeps avoiding me every step of the way, even with your help." He smirked and shook his head.
"And I don't understand how my military is running amuck under my nose," Sterling told her. "We're in the same boat." He glanced at her. "Is there anything more I can do to help you with Strakh?" Olesia shook her head and collected her things as she moved for the doors.
"You've done enough already Sterling and I thank you for it, but I'd hate to keep you from the issues that your kingdom is dealing with," she told him as he followed her.
"I trust Siobhan can handle it, and if she can't, I'll take care of it myself," Sterling told her. The man exuded confidence, he had no shortage of it, and she wished she could just reach out and use it. Borrow some. Fix her kingdom and give it back. She had so many projects that she wanted to work on, ideas to run by the SDC that could make her kingdom more viable, more livable for all. All of that was put on hold by that bastard crime lord that ran her streets better than she did.
"I'm sure that you're right, but it's not that I don't trust Dorian to handle it, I just think that Strakh's too much for any one man to handle," she told him as they passed through security.
"Or woman," Sterling said. She glanced at him as he smiled at her. Her eyes glossed over for a moment as she thought about what he said and lit up as she was hit with an epiphany.
"That's it!" She exclaimed. "Yes!" She grabbed him and pulled him down kissing him on the cheek. "Yes! Thank yo-" Her excitement faded and she took a step back as he glanced away. "I… I'm sorry. Oh Oum, how embarrassing. I got carried away Sterling, I didn't mean anything by it." He chuckled.
"It's quite alright," he told her. She began to walk away and he called after her. "Olesia!" She stopped and looked back, still ashamed about what she'd just done.
"Yes, Sterling?" She asked.
"I've been meaning to ask you for a while now if you're single," he said looking away. Her head tilted slightly and her brain stopped processing everything for a long moment. Did he just ask her if she was single? Had Sterling Stratford, one of the most powerful men in all of Remnant, just asked Olesia Lychnitis, just some girl struggling to lead the Kingdom of Vacuo, if she was single? She blushed hard and walked back to him slowly.
"I'm sorry, did you just ask me…" She stuttered. He looked into her eyes and she was drowning, the man had gone from rugged asshole to… well, just plain rugged in about six months. Maybe she'd misunderstood him at first, maybe she saw him that way to begin with because Dorian wanted her to.
"Was it too forward?" He asked.
"No! No! No, I just thought that you and Siobhan were a thing," Olesia said defensively.
"I don't think the council would approve of such things," Sterling said. "Are you saying yes then?"
"Yes to what?" She asked coyly.
"Dinner tonight. Somewhere expensive in Vacuo?" He replied.
"I don't think the council would approve of such things," she fired back. He leaned in towards her.
"I'm sure it's fine, Winter and Qrow are married," Sterling told her. She pointed at him and gave a nod.
"You're right," she said.
"Pick you up?" He asked.
"How will you find the place?" She asked.
"I'll ask around," he replied. She cupped her mouth.
"I'm pretty secretive," she whispered.
"I'll ask Dorian," he fired back. She laughed.
"You'll end up in the middle of the ocean," she replied.
"I'll call you," he told her.
"Before the first date?" She asked with a scowl.
"I'll ask Ruby?" He inquired.
"I thought this was hush-hush," she reminded him.
"I'll use my semblance," he offered.
"What's that?" She pried.
"The ability to find attractive women within a kingdom," he joked.
"Sounds rapey," she laughed.
"You could just give me the address," he finished. She covered her mouth and batted her lashes as they laughed.
"I thought you'd never ask."
Sterling laughed as he sipped on his champagne and dabbed his mouth with his napkin, Olesia sitting across from him in the restaurant and covering her mouth as she giggled. It was girly and she was independent more often than not, but she was hard-pressed to say that she wasn't enjoying his company.
"What happened next?" She asked.
"It was an absolute mess. Not only were the four of us inexperienced, without the slightest clue what we were doing, but our leader had been trapped in a cave by a pack of Creeps with no way out. I started handing out commands but my men decided that running in head first and using brute force would be the better choice. They were wrong. I ended up scaring the creatures off after some time and dragging my men out and back to Haven without assistance," Sterling told her. "But less about me, what about you Olesia? My story only goes as far as climbing up from the quagmire of the desolate countryside of Mistral. Surely yours is one of more appeal and interest."
"Sadly it isn't. Dorian and I were both runaways that just ended up here after some time," Olesia told him. She took a sip of her wine and swirled the glass, her legs crossed as she looked her plate over once more and smiled at him. "I have to say that in comparison, you've done a much better on your assent. I can't even flush out a crime lord. That damn Strakh matches me at every turn, but I guess that my military force is more police than anything, and aren't quite the best equipped to deal with such things. I really appreciate the help that you've provided."
"And I'm glad that I was able to help," he said as he handed the bill back to the waiter with his credit card. "So you still haven't told me yet what your idea was this morning."
"Right!" she replied excitedly. "What if we've been going about catching him the wrong way? His reputation precedes him, he's known to have a rather large 'harem' of women at his side when he's in hiding. If we can train a few women to fight or we can find a huntress and use her as bait, he'll take them in for his collection and they can take him out and end all of this!" Sterling pointed at her and nodded.
"And Siobhan doubts you," Sterling said. "I don't think she would have come up with something like that." He smiled at her and she blushed, what was happening? She had always told herself that she didn't need a man, that she could make it on her own, that she needed to focus on the task at hand… but when he spoke to her all of that faded away. She was putty in his hands, she melted everytime that he smiled, anytime that he laughed at something that she said. A true man. "Don't be so hard on yourself, you're a talented, right, beautiful young woman." She waved him off.
"Don't flatter me," she chuckled.
"I mean it," he told her. He stood and took her hand, leading her out of the restaurant as she took his arm and followed him down one of the main streets, it was just starting to get dark, and with it a coolness to the arid desert.
"I'm not that much younger than you are," she said.
"We're both young, aren't we?" He asked with a smile. They both looked up at the stars as Sterling pointed certain ones out along with constellations. "They say that when our loved ones die they become stars to guide us home at night." Sterling pointed to one and Olesia craned her head to see it. "I'd like to think that the star there is my mother, guiding me home. It hangs directly above Haven no matter where I'm at." She looked at him as he stared in awe.
"How can you be so sure?" She asked. He smiled at her and continued on.
"I just know." He replied. He led her back to her house, dropping her off at the door. "I'm glad that I could share this evening with you." He began to walk away but something pressed her out after him a step or two.
"Wait!" He stopped and turned back with a glint in his eye. "Can we do this again sometime? It doesn't have to be a regular thing, I'm sure there are women you have back in Mistral that are far more worth your time."
"Whenever you'd like," he told her.
"Tomorrow?" She asked, her eyes filled with wonder. He chuckled lightly.
"As much as I'd enjoy that I need to be getting back to Mistral," he told her. "How does the next council meeting sound?" She nodded slowly.
"That sounds great…" She broke free and turned away blushing. "I mean, it sounds okay. Yeah, I mean, if neither of us are busy, I guess that might work out." He nodded at her.
"Good." He told her. He left her as she slipped inside and she felt a rush of anxiety leave her body.
"What am I doing?!" She yelled to herself pacing. "I'm supposed to avoid distractions! But I've never had more fun in my life! But it'll never work because Dorian won't approve! But screw Dorian, what do I care?! But what will the rest of the Council say?! What is happening to me!?" She was in ecstasy, but was conflicted.
So it seems Abigor is feeling confident in his plans but Olesia needs time to adjust to her new relationship. Next Week, Chapter 56 - Dread Deals and Adapting!
A big thank you to Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE. Carlomontie is our newest artist, go check it out!
Until next week, stay classy!