I can't help but feel like this was all a massive setup. I also can't help but feel like I don't know how I feel about that fact.
Adam Taurus has returned to the campsite. He was gone only a week or so, before he marched right back into the center of camp and made several sweeping declarations. As it turns out, there will be no transfer of power, he will not be returning to Vacuo, and the Mistral campground of the White Fang is now its own separate entity, led by him. People were given a single opportunity to leave after his speech, but I didn't take it, nor did any of my 'party' of allies. I think we were all thinking the same thing- it may be a test, and if it comes down to trying to run from Adam Taurus, I don't like those odds.
Sienna knew. Watching her face while Adam laid out her manifesto, and knowing what I know about her, she absolutely knew this was coming. A conversation was had between Ghira and Adam, likely by scroll, and it didn't go the way Adam expected, wanted, or both. I think Ghira knew this would happen… and talking to Blake privately only reinforced that notion within my mind. She apologized to me personally for allowing me to get roped into this, but she reminded me that her father believes in all of us. Blake believes that if we were put here and he had a feeling this was coming, he did it in order for us to have a positive influence within the campground. I can't deny that notion from what little I know of Ghira, or from the call he made to me a few days ago. Even so, I can't help but feel a bit betrayed.
Ilia doesn't seem to mind all of this. Blake has gotten a lot quieter. Shiv seems furious. Cinnamon… for once, she seems to be relying on me to keep her grounded, rather than the reverse.
Cin has gotten quieter, too, and not just in public, but with me. She doesn't want to talk about the current situation, but she wants reassurance and comfort. I've been stepping up to try to give it to her and telling her that we can do this… but I'm not entirely sure I believe it, myself. After all she's done for me, I have to be strong for her. I may not have wanted anything close to a leadership position, but with Adam here, that role has been significantly reduced, yet inflated in its importance. I owe it to all of those I came here with to do what I know is right, and regardless of whether or not he knowingly put us here, I owe it to Ghira, as well.
When Ghira called me, he made no mention of Adam. He didn't seem interested in discussing our mission- he was only interested in me, and Oniyuri. After looking through files and making a few calls, Ghira suggested to me that the Winchester Military Technologies company and their CEO, Jay Winchester, had something to do with what happened to my home. He forwarded me several photos of masked men with W.M.T. weaponry around the outskirts of Oniyuri collecting data mere days after the attack.
Supposedly, the White Fang managed to track them for a short time, before they were discovered. Several members of the Fang were killed by the men around the village's remains, but there are photos that exist of Oniyuri artifacts in the hands of the hired mercenaries. The report from the surviving Fang said that the men appeared to be tracking something- potentially the giant grimm responsible for laying siege to Oniyuri. I don't know when, but I'll be using that lead to get some answers, and I owe Ghira for that, at the very least. Perhaps the W.M.T. is involved, and perhaps not- but they're as good a place as any to start my investigation.
Speaking of calls, I contacted Sun, finally. I was tempted to blow our cover and fill him in on everything going on, but as it turns out, there's no need for me to try to protect him- Cin already took care of that. Cin has told Sun that in the fall, she'll be attending Haven Academy, along with Shiv and I. I had to go with the lie in order to prevent raising suspicion, and she later explained to me that it will keep him from asking questions while we're occupied here. Apparently, Ghira can forge the paperwork for us, but it all still feels so wrong. I feel awful lying to the boy, and I do want to see him again, once things settle here. He needs to be protected. Once I see him again, I'm not sure what I'll say… but he at least seems to be keeping his chin up, despite other events happening at the foster home.
Swirls is apparently gone. A man that Sun didn't recognize came and formally adopted her, and after some digging, Sun found out that his name is apparently Roman Torchwick. That means nothing to me, but I suppose it's something else I could look into using Fang resources, to make sure that she's safe. I hate so much that Sun is now alone, but there's little I can do for him beyond reassurance. That seems to be my new role in all of this- being everyone's rock and keeping things relatively stable.
There's honestly only so much I can write, now- Kali has disappeared, Shiv is largely keeping to himself and shutting us out when not actively working, and Ilia and Blake seem to be at odds. At this point, it's just a matter of doing the best I can for the overall good of the Fang, and hoping things work out. I'll be writing here less and choosing my words carefully. I suppose, at the very least, things won't be boring or directionless in my life anymore.
So long as I have Cin, I think everything will eventually work out. Here's to a new chapter.
Author's Note:
Sorry for the very long delay on this and the sparse nature of the past few chapters, but I've been going back and forth on how I want to incorporate this journal into Arboretum canon. More or less, the decision that I've made is to stop the journal here, a fair bit earlier than I expected, so that the events going down in the White Fang camp can actually be written out in Arboretum Volume 3. Initially, I thought that wouldn't work out, but now, I have a concrete plan to get it done. I think that Dai, Shiv, Cin, Blake, and Ilia's situation would be better served and more interesting in a third-person retelling within Arboretum. That being said, this journal isn't "done", it's just going on hiatus until Arboretum catches up, at which point Dai will record his thoughts again on what's going on. The entire point of this first part of the journal was merely to justify how a reasonable and thoughtful person like Daisuke could be enticed to join the Fang, and I hope that goal was accomplished.
With this story "ending", of course, that means a new one is coming- sometime in the next few weeks, I'll be starting Aces High, which is also canon to Arboretum. Aces High will be a third-person story setting up the background of and fleshing out the Ace Ops in Arboretum canon, as there will absolutely not be a good opportunity to weave them into the main story until way, way later- something like Volume 7 or 8 of Arboretum. Aces High will also work as a standalone story and have a… somewhat surprising connection to this very journal. All I'll say for now is that it takes place about 6 months after this entry, and a certain someone will be joining the team that isn't there in canon.
Hope you enjoyed this first large chunk of Daisuke's journal, and I hope to see you all along for the ride in the other two stories!
-RD