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Act III
The Madness of Death
Scene 35:
Repercussion
edit: A/n:
Well, this is coming out a week late because last week because shit happened and then when I posted it FF didn't actually tell anyone I had updated
which was cool
thanks
thanks.
so I said "fuck it, I'll post it again next week."
How is it only 10:00 am?
I rubbed my hands over my dirt encrusted face. I was in desperate need of a shower, but that could come later. I was still at the makeshift basecamp they had set up in the area around the blast zone to figure all this shit out.
After the meeting, I had gotten a basic breakfast of the good old staples of donuts, pancakes, and coffee. They all tasted like black piss, but that wasn't really the point. I needed fuel to keep me up for the moment. I could relax later. I was still in the breakroom the had setup, coffee on the table in front of me and.
"Arc!" A voice called out to my left.
Turning towards the source I found Captain Sherwood entering the tent. "Hey."
"Hey" I grumbled out, my voice hoarse.
He made his way over to my table, plopping down on the other side of it.
"You," He began, taking a sip of his own coffee. "Look like shit."
"We can't all be knights in shining armor." I quipped back, "Oh wait, you're not the captain of Squad 1."
He snorted.
There was no real feeling to my remark, and there was barely any emotion in his response. It was a dead exchange with no feeling. Just the two of us going through the motions.
We sat there in silence for a few minutes, not really feeling like saying anything or not really knowing what to say.
Finally, I said it.
"What's the casualty report?"
He glanced away, scowling at the table for a what felt like an answer, before he finally sighed.
"We're still digging but…it's currently assumed that anyone and everyone that was inside the precinct at the time is dead, prisoners and officers alike." He answered emotionlessly, "From the first responders and bystanders, we're assuming about 90% casualties."
He let out another snort, "You and the people you saved actually make up a significant portion of the people who lived"
"Great" I breathed
"Fucking. Great." I punctuated with taps of my cup hitting the plastic table.
"What makes this even better," He began bitterly, "Is the Watchman casualties."
"I am currently the only Watchmen for the Western sector who is fully equipped. Ymir lost his armor and his machine gun, all he's got is his giant fucking ice hammer, the Slägga." He sucked in a breath.
"…and Jack's dead."
I all but gasped. I looked up at him in shock, "Jack?"
He could only nod grimly.
I looked down at my cup of pitch black coffee, "fuck"
"Yeah…" He breathed, taking another sip from his own cup.
Jack was…well, an asshole, but he didn't deserve to die. The man had a fiancé and a kid on the way.
Fuck, how's Carol going to take this? I cursed internally, How's Robin taking this.
Robin and Jack were brothers in all but blood. As I understood it, they had practically grown up together.
As I looked up at the commander of Watchmen of West Vale, I realized I had my answer.
"…What about Mila?" I asked.
"Mila?" He questioned.
Then he snorted, "Yeah, she's dead too. She was supposed to be guarding Torchwick but now they're both probably just ashes. "
"But," He began, reclining in his seat, "She was just a rookie. It's a shame the kid died so young, but it's not as bad of a hit as Jack."
My fist clenched tightly on the table.
"You don't even know, do you?"
He blinked
"What do you mean?" he questioned, sitting up with far more attention.
I sighed, not sure whether to be sad, angry, or just…tired.
"Lyudmila Odessa." I began, "The only daughter of Simo Odessa."
"Ok" He shrugged, "So she's got pedigree, and?"
"And she's the youngest marksmen to join the Winter Guard."
He stopped.
His eyes bulged and his jaw dropped.
"She was in the Winter Guard?" He repeated incredulously.
I nodded.
"Ymir's old crew?"
I nodded again.
"…Fucking 'A" he sagged, unsure of how to properly process that information.
Before Ymir joined the Watchman project, her was a part of the Winter Guard. One of the mean special forces groups in Atlas. And the Winter Guard was several times more discerning than the Watchman program. Not because of arrogance or intolerance.
But because the weak simply didn't live long.
"T-then how could she be so…her?" He questioned, bewildered.
I shrugged, "Not sure."
"But" I said, raising an imperious and commanding finger in the air as a grin split across my face, "Ymir did tell me something very interesting."
"Oh?" He leaned in, getting interested.
"Most of the time, Mila's a loveable dork who's not great around people." I smiled, Robin nodding at what he knew.
"But the second she gets behind a gun, she leaves everything behind. She becomes an empty weapon who's only purpose is to follow orders and leave corpses."
"…That…" He paused, "…Makes a disturbing amount of sense."
"Well it came straight from Ymir's mouth, so it better be true." I remarked, taking another swig of the warm, bitter, and piss-weak coffee.
"How the hell did she get into the Winter Guard?" he wondered, "And when? She's not a day older than you!"
I shrugged helplessly, "Don't know, ask Ymir. He's the one that told me all this stuff about her."
"Why the hell didn't he tell me?" He asked, "I'm his goddamn captain, I should know this stuff."
"Well…" I began, "He forgot."
Robin groaned loudly, knowing this was full well something Ymir would do.
"But he also said he emailed you about it and it was mentioned in one of her files." I added.
"Files I haven't read," He sighed
He pinched the brow of his nose together and cursed with the tone of a man who'd just had so much shit piled on him so fast, he didn't know what emotion he was supposed to feel.
"So…" I began, trying to switch topics, "How long 'till we can get out of here?"
"You can go now, if you want." He said, not even bothering to look at me, "They'll call you back when they need you. Right now they're still sifting through a shit ton of evidence."
"Considering the hell you just went through, though, they might just give you some mandatory time off to rest, relax, and get your shit together."
"hmm," I frowned, not entirely sure how I felt about the idea of being forced to not work, especially in the wake of a disaster such as this.
"You can ask the guys for a ride home, public transportation's shot in this area." He offered,
"no thanks," I shook my head, "My car's probably still fine."
"What, that old thing?" He grimaced
"That thing is a classic" I scowled.
"It's 40 years old."
"It's a Chevalier."
"And there's no way it survived that blast if you drove it here."
"I parked it outside the main blast radius." I answered easily.
"Ok, that doesn't mean some debris didn't get it. Or looters." He argued.
"Pft," I scoffed, "It's made of sterner stuff than that."
"At least, it is now." I grinned, proud of all the modifications and upgrades I had made to my Black Beauty over the years.
"You know what, I don't even want to know." He surrendered with a raised hand. "I wouldn't get in anyways."
"I'm not even sure why you want to get out of here so bad, I mean, what would you even do?" He wondered.
"Oh," I said, finishing off my final sip of coffee.
"I'm going to find my adorable little brother."
Breath in
All around me I felt it.
It was simple, it was calm, and it was still.
Breath out
It was like there was ice was hovering just over my skin. It felt like my hair was standing up on end. Like the cool breath of my own homeland was washing over me.
Breath in
It was my own little world. Everything was at peace here. It was what I wanted it to be.
Breath out
And it was right.
"Weissy~" a voice called out.
I twitched.
Breath in
"You in there~?" it called out again, its voice light and curious, filled with song and joy.
My finger itched.
Breath out
Slam!
I was jarred from my own place of peace as the door was thrown open with a thunderous crash.
Then it gasped, "There you are!"
I tried to relax again, to force myself back into that state of mind, but it was too late.
The storm had already come.
Two hands gripped my shoulders, shaking me. "Come on sleepy head, get up!"
"Nora," I huffed, trying to reign in my anger. "I was not sleeping."
"Oh, I know that, silly." She dismissed, "You were doing that thing Ren does, the whole meditating thing-a-mah-whats-it."
Finally, I opened my eyes to glare at the redhead.
"If you knew what it was, then why did you interrupt me?" I ground out.
"Because I'm bored." She groaned, leaning back.
Nora was wearing her light and casual sleeping clothes. Basically just shorts, a t-shirt, and socks. It let her run around and do stuff immediately after she got up without having to worry about changing, and she could also just go to bed in the outfit as well.
As much as I didn't want to admit it…it was efficient.
Still, the efficiency was wasted on the fact she spent that time consuming heart-stopping large amounts of sugar.
Or bothering me.
Technically, yes, I wasn't the sole person she bothered. But somewhere along the line, Yang and Nora had determined that I wasn't…"fun". Or, well, fun enough.
Since Nora was friends with Ren, I figured that she vouched for him or something. Either way, it was blatantly clear I was on my own here.
Not an unfamiliar situation.
"Nora." I said, grabbing the sides of her face as I leveled a flat glare at her, "I don't care if you're bored."
"You don't?" She attempted to pout, restricted by the presence of my hands upon her face.
"No." I said blankly,
"I don't."
Her whole body seemed to deflate at that, "You're just being an Ice-cold meany again, aren't you?"
Normally people said "bitch" instead of "meany", but I suppose it was the thought that counted.
"Sure." I responded apathetically, "Whatever. Point is, get out of my room."
"But Weiss!" She whined.
"Go find Ren, or Yang. I'm sure they'd love to chat." I pointed out
Nora actually looked away at that, "Yang had a nightmare and Ren's helping her with that"
I blinked, I hadn't heard about that
Then she looked at me again with those beautiful, wet, turquoise eyes, filled with such desperation it almost moved my soul.
"Help me, Weissy-one, you're my only hope"
Almost.
"No."
Gasped, recoiling in almost physical pain, "You cruel, cruel witch!" She cried, pointing her finger at me dramatically.
"Cool." I said flatly,
"Now shoo," I waved my hand, "Get out of here."
"I will break you out of your icy cage, fair princess!" She swore emphatically, standing up and posing in what I was assuming was a heroic pose.
"Uh-huh,." I said blandly, "Well, whatever you do, just do it later, and away from here, where I can't hear you."
"Hmm." She pondered, rubbing her chin, "Like a mime?"
"I'd prefer not to see you, eithe," I added, seeing no harm in it.
To my surprise, she snapped her fingers in sudden realization, "Like a ninja!"
"Uh." Was all I had time to unceremoniously say.
"Perfect! Ninja hero!" She exclaimed, raising her fist to the ceiling, "I shall save the Prince from the castle and vanquish all evil doers."
"But," She paused, crouching down and leaning to me, as if telling me a scandalous secret, "I shall do it unseen and unheard."
Then she laughed madly. Or, for Nora, laugh #4.
"Whatever, just, outta my room." I shooed her again.
"Oh, have no worries Weiss, you shall never see me again!" She said menacingly, racing out the door as she cackled like a loon.
Aka, Nora laugh #5
I sighed, having a feeling this would just result in more headaches later. "Sweet fucking Maker, that girl is weird."
Instead of focusing on that headache, however, I focused on a different one. Glancing at my Scroll I saw the latest lines of messages.
Last night, or this morning depending on how you saw it, things had changed.
The supposed White Fang attack on the WVCPD was devastating and crippling. The city was gripped by fear, both from the earlier serial killer and now the more recent major terrorist attack. It was alarming for me in particular.
I came to Vale, in large part, to get away from the stresses of Atlesian life.
But it seems that despite my efforts, those stresses have followed me here.
Atlas didn't usually suffer as devastating attacks in metropolitan areas that Vale just did, not anymore, at least. Technically, it had been a long time since any of the kingdoms had suffered such an attack within the heart of a city. But at the beginning of the White Fang's turn to violence, some of their more…aggressive moves were directed at the places they had the most to hate.
This meant Mistral and Atlas.
Especially Atlas.
Atlas was seen as the root of the evil, in many ways, the mountain to climb. So they struck their first.
But they underestimated the will of the Atlesian people. Instead of being broken by the attacks, they simply tempered themselves harder. Now terrorist activities, no matter how small, were all but unheard of in the capital.
Now, whether this was because of strong information control on the part of the government or actual security, I didn't know.
I was cynical enough to believe the former, but had enough pride in my country to not disregard the latter.
Still, the fact was, White Fang attacks on SDC property was relatively common. It didn't always work, but it was distracting enough to go from being a nuisance to a genuine problem.
Then the assassinations started.
Explosives, raids.
What started as small-time interference had now escalated to unofficial war.
And now it was here
Vale was supposed to be relatively safe.
Faunus were treated relatively well here. Vacuo technically treated them the best, but that was mostly because they didn't have the same sense of self the other kingdoms did. Vacuo was the combination of various vagrants who all, somehow, managed to live in a desert, and not only survive, but thrive.
That was really their identity
The Survivors.
If you could make it, you were one of them.
Simple as that.
In theory, I could get on board with that. In practice, this just meant that their standards were quite low. They didn't strive to do better like Atlas. They didn't seek to better their fellow man, to spread their prosperity. To help the world, and not just themselves.
Every man was in it for themselves.
They were little more than rabble when all was said and done.
Still, that wasn't her problem
Not now, anyways.
One day, yes, but that day was not this day.
One step at a time, Wiess I told myself.
One step at a time.
Focusing on more… pressing…issues, I looked at the other headline.
The Atlesian Fleet was here.
It was led by the General Ironwood.
On the one hand, it meant I felt safer. Atlesian military might was finally here, able to properly protect the people.
On the other hand, it meant that Winter was here.
My sister.
I loved my sister, I did, but I came here to get away from the pressures of the family.
All of it.
And despite that, she wanted to see me
The third line.
She wanted to talk.
Apparently she was going to be here for several months, leading up to the festival, which took place in the last half of the second semester. The reason the fleet was here already was because there were a large number of preparations needed to be performed as the Festival stadium was transported here.
Right now they still had to get things in order, but in about a month Winter was going to be actually taking some time off for R&R. Only a week or so, but it "happened" to coincide with the ball that the academy was hosting in December.
And knowing my dearest sister…she expected me to have a date.
While dating wasn't something I was actually interested in really pursuing at the moment, for various reasons, the rest of my family didn't exactly see it that way.
They were far from pushing me into marriage, those days were far in the past, but they weren't exactly discrete either. Winter would allude, on occasion, to the various men she had danced with at the balls she had attended. Whitley mentioned the occasional maiden who had fallen for his charms, and father would…act like father.
Mother would, as usual, drink and occasional grumble at the past and perhaps look at father wistfully, before going back to drinking.
Joy.
Point is, they tended to needle me about it. It didn't actually push me to date, much to their disappointment, it was simply an annoyance.
An annoyance that grew as time went on.
I knew, inevitably, that once I actually hit my twenties and became of suitable marriageable age that it would become fully intolerable. I also knew I didn't really have a plan for when that happened.
But that was later, and this was now.
And now, I had an elder sister I adored who would no doubt be hovering over me and judging me for my various failings.
Fortunately, I didn't have to add "Embarrassment at school" to that list, but academics were hardly the only thing they would judge me on.
And now I'm wallowing in a downward spiral of self-depreciation, anxiety, and anger again. I frowned, rubbing my hand through my hair, fantastic
Pushing my scroll away, I sat down on the cold floor again.
My skirt left my bare thighs resting against the chilled tiles of the floor, sucking the heat out of my body in a peaceful and relaxing fashion.
For hunters, one's soul was something vitally important. Technically it was important to everyone, but hunters actually had to be aware of its health. It was both a hunter's shield and sword. Strengthening and empowering them.
This went double for hunters that used their Aura's extensively in other ways, particularly those that made extensive use of their semblance.
Nora and Yang fell into the group that didn't need to worry about it too much. They mostly just used it for the physical benefits. Yang, despite using her semblance quite frequently, didn't really seem to have much to refine. Or, at least, nothing she was informing me about, anyways.
Ren fell into the second group. I hadn't actually seen him use his semblance much. That might be because, well, it wasn't particularly useful. Don't get me wrong, its uses, but they were extremely selective and honestly something that could be done by simply having good control of oneself.
And all the emotional suppression in the world wouldn't save you if a Grimm was staring right at you. It was unfortunate that one such as him appeared to have drown the short straw when it came to semblances.
Still, he made up for with his frankly absurd level of aural control.
I, on the other hand, fell into the final group.
The one that needed the most control.
The group that needed to be the most in tune with their soul.
As a Dust Mage and one who made extensive use of my semblance, my soul's health was absolutely essential. Being in tune with my soul, and making sure it was healthy, was, without hyperbole, the most essential thing I needed to do.
Legends stated that those who had attained complete attunement with their soul didn't even need to eat, or even breathe, and that their soul provided all sustenance.
I didn't actually know how true those legends were, but there had to be a kernel of truth somewhere, and it was reported that the school's very own Glynda Goodwitch, someone who was in my own category, really only needed one meal a day despite the absurd levels of energy she had to expended by being a Huntress of her caliber.
Still, I thought, Best not to get my hopes up on mere legend or rumor. The only thing I can truly have absolute faith in is myself.
And with that though, I closed my eyes, and took a breath.
Breath in
"I'm fine, Ren."
"Are you?"
"Ren?" I began, "Relax. You're just overreacting."
He frowned, "Yang, we are your teammates, if there's something you would like to tell us, we're here for you. You know that, right?"
"Of course!" I smiled easily
He gave me a wary look, concern evident in his otherwise muted form.
I giggled, "Ren, seriously, I'm fine, it was just a nightmare."
"As were the events preceding Initiation." He calmly pointed out.
"That was then, this is now." I dismissed with a shrug.
He frowned, still looking unconvinced.
"Look, Ren, it was just a nightmare." I tried again, "They do happen, you know."
His gaze remained on me, concerned and worried. His expression might have been unreadable if his intent wasn't so obvious.
Finally, he sighed.
"I suppose…you may have a point." He admitted reluctantly.
"Of course I do!" I beamed smugly.
"Now scoot, a lady like me has morning needs she has to take care of," I said, shooing him, away.
"Unless…" I turned slightly, letting my posture fill with equal parts allure and shyness, "You want to join me?"
His gaze turned flat for a moment before he let out an explosive sigh, "Very well, Yang."
He turned around and left me, "Take care of yourself," were his parting words.
"Whatever you say, Ren." I grinned, stepping into the bathroom.
I locked the door behind me and walked up to the counter in front of me. I all but sagged onto the countertop, my arms propping me up as I looked in the mirror. I wasn't drenched in sweat anymore, but my golden blonde hair was still a mess. My eyes were a bit red and there were small rings under my eyes.
Frankly, I looked like shit.
It's probably purely due to my exemplary ability to just put on that beaming face that I was able to turn Ren away. Either that or Ren just found me annoying.
At this point, I frankly didn't give a shit. If he hated me, well that just made things easier on my part.
Or maybe that's just what I tell myself? I considered.
"Wow, Yang." A cheerful voice sounded.
My body stopped and my blood froze.
"You've turned into such a good liar." It teased.
"S-shut up," I muttered, hanging my head.
"Aw, what a mean thing to say to your dearest little sister." It continued.
I turned, and sure enough, she was there.
With silver eyes, pale skin, and crimson-black hair, there was no mistaking her. It was her younger form, the bare 6-year-old version of Ruby. She was in the corner of the bathroom, sitting on the edge of the tub.
"You're not real," I muttered again
"And now you're trying to lie to yourself." She smiled.
I've been doing that for years I grimly acknowledged.
"You're just some kind of hallucination," I argued quietly, trying not to raise my voice.
"Just a figment of my imagination."
"Hmm…" She pretended to consider for a moment. "Or, I could actually be her, desperately trying to reach out to you."
"You know it's something I'm more than capable of." She grinned with devious self-satisfaction.
Mainly because she was absolutely right.
"R-ruby wouldn't do something like this." I said.
At this point, I wasn't even sure who I was trying to convince.
"You say that like you really know me." She giggled.
"It's cute."
My hands clenched into fists on the counter, my teeth ground together fiercely, all from the fact that she would Dare say such a thing.
And even more, because it was so painfully, painfully, true.
I…didn't know Ruby.
Not really.
Not anymore.
I…it was just like they all said. I had done everything I could to avoid her. And now that she was gone again, I realized I didn't really know anything at all.
And didn't that hurt, she was gone again.
I had wanted her back so much before, but when she finally returned…
Drip
Drip
Drip
I opened my eyes and was greeted with a blurry world.
Tears I realized.
Fuck, I'm crying I thought as I rubbed my eyes clear.
"Wow." She said.
And suddenly she was right next to me, standing on the toilet cover to lean over at look at my tiny little puddle of tears.
"I know they say the truth hurts, but you must be some piece of work for it to cut that deep." She pointed out casually.
There wasn't even any real malice to her voice. There never was. Sure, there was that undercurrent of implied venom, but it was almost like she wasn't really trying to hurt me.
And yet I thought painfully, she always seems to know just where to stick the knife
"Why can't you just leave me alone?" I sniffled, wallowing in my own misery.
"Leave you alone?" She pouted, her eyes wide with concern, her lips twisted in worry, "But I'm only trying to help you."
"Some help you are," I growled.
I whirled around on her, "You're just some…some…rotten thing in my mind."
"Yang," She all but whimpered, "I only want to help you understand, so we can be together again."
"No. You're. Not." I glowered.
"Yang-"
"Shut up!" I all but shouted.
"But-"
"You're not real! Get out of my head!" I snarled.
"Yang!" A voice cheerfully cried out by the door.
I startled, pulled from my…argument…by the interruption.
"…Nora?" I finally said after reorganizing my thoughts.
"You gonna be in there long?" She asked
"Y-yeah," I said, trying to keep my voice even and normal.
"Okay~" She whined.
Her voice was matched by the sound of the other bathroom door opening.
I let out a sigh of relief, glad she hadn't pressed.
I really hope nobody noticed that I prayed.
I turned back to where…that thing was, about to yell at it again, but it was gone. There was no trace of the not-Ruby.
I frowned, but moved on.
It was at this moment that I realized I forgot my towel in my room. My clean one, anyways.
Sighing, I unlocked and stepped out the door.
As I passed through the portal between the bathroom and the hallway I heard it.
"I love you." She whispered in my ear.
And it took all I had not to cry again.
I'm starting to wonder if I should have just stayed in bed today
The door closed behind me and locked with a click.
I had come back to the dorm after my…productive day out. It turned out that thanks to the terrorist attack we didn't have school today. Which was…fortunate, I suppose.
A bright spot in an otherwise terrible day.
"Dammit it all" I grumbled under my breath as I stepped into the kitchen.
I picked up a paper towel, wetting it with water from the faucet before wiping my sweaty face.
Since we had the day off, I decided to go for a run, see the sights, see the people…
See the aftermath.
It was…disconcerting, if not unsurprising.
Sure, I expected this to happen. That didn't make me feel any better about it.
It hadn't been officially announced that this was a White Fang attack, but it was on everyone's mind. "Who else could it be?" they thought. They weren't entirely wrong to think of it, either.
"B-blake, is that you?" A shaky voice asked from the living room.
I startled, not expecting to hear someone's voice, especially not his.
"Jaune?" I responded, walking into the room.
Jaune was sitting on the couch wearing the clothes he left in the other day. They were rumpled up, and frankly, it looked like he slept in them. Jaune himself wasn't looking so good. His eyes were red, tear tracks down his face.
"Jaune, are you ok?" I asked, seriously worried now.
He glanced up at me with those watery eyes, looking like a heartbroken blonde puppy.
"T-the attack" he stuttered.
"Right, the terrorist attack, why would you care?" I asked, trying not to be rude.
"A-Aveline." He sniffled.
"Aveline?" I repeated, "What about her?"
Aveline was his sister, but what does she have to do with this? She wasn't a Faunus, so she shouldn't be catching any flak for this attack. Hell, she was a cop, if anything she'd be a hero...
Oh.
"Shit, your sister worked at the WVCPD, didn't she?" I winced, suddenly connecting the dots.
Too choked up to even open his mouth, he just nodded.
I vaulted over the couch to sit beside the distraught boy, putting my arm around his shoulders, "Ok, Jaune, what happened?"
"I-I don't know." He managed to force out.
"S-she woke up this morning, they said she was called out to try and contain the p-precinct, but that was only after the first b-bomb." He slowly continued. "T-then an officer came by to take me b-back to the academy."
"Ok, that's good," I said, rubbing his back. "She's probably alive and told them to do that."
"T-then why didn't she do it h-herself?" He asked with wide sapphire eyes.
"I'm sure she was busy herself," I answered.
To be honest, I didn't actually know. I mean, sure, it made sense, but what the hell did I know about police protocol for their families? For all I knew this was standard procedure. I doubted it, but who knows?
Besides, there was no guarantee she was actually still safe. I know as well as anyone that working in the ruins of an attack for cleanup can be, in some ways, just as dangerous, depending on the debris left from the attack. And if it was a terrorist attack, it's possible that they might have staged another attack after the initial ones to target first responders.
Though, from the sounds of it, they already did that.
Again, however, I just didn't know.
Still, I didn't want to tell Jaune that. The poor boy was a mess. The last thing he needed was for someone to tell him, "Oh, yeah, sure, it's entirely possible your sister's dead, but who really knows?"
It's kind of weird to admit that in this situation that I thought of Jaune as just a boy despite the fact he was around my age. I still couldn't help it. Whenever I saw him looking at me with those wide teary eyes filled with so much raw pain couldn't help but see a boy.
I suppose it was just because of my experience in the matter. I wasn't exactly a normal girl anymore, not even by huntress standards. I probably shouldn't try and measure everyone against myself.
Still, it was pretty obvious that Jaune was far out of his element.
I glanced back at Jaune. It seemed like my words were helping. Sort of. Honestly, socializing and comforting people never really was my thing. I never really was what most people would call a "Stabilizing element."
Oh god I thought with wide eyes, don't tell me I'm the most emotionally stable person on the team
Shaking my head of those…deeply disturbing thoughts, I brought myself back to the matter at hand.
Glancing back at the clock, I turned to him once more. "Jaune, it's a little after twelve. I'm sure she'll be freed up soon so she can give you a call."
"...You think so?" he murmured.
"I know so." I nodded seriously.
I have no fucking idea
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, pulling us from the conversation.
…I can't be this lucky I thought, walking up to the door.
Out loud, however, I said, "I bet that's her right now," with a smile as fake as my mood.
I opened the door and sure enough, I was met with sunset blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes.
Motherfu-
"Aveline!" I cheerily called out.
"Hey, uh, Blake, was it?" She began, looking equal parts stressed and panicked, but trying to hang a shabby and frayed façade of being polite and reasonable.
Aveline looked like shit…but not necessarily horrible. There were bandages covering large swaths of her pale skin, some of them tinged dark with soaked blood. All over her there seemed to be this light covering of grey dust. Her hair was unkempt and a mess, I think I spotted one or two pieces of debris in it. Despite that, through it all, her eyes seemed to shine through with a kind of dogged determination.
"Have you se-"
"He's on the couch." I interrupted her, gesturing towards the living room.
Chiming in, Jaune called out, "A-Aveline?"
Hearing the sound of her dear brother's voice, Aveline properly entered the room. She really only got halfway between the kitchen and the living room before she was tackled into a hug from her brother. The sister, made of much sterner stuff than her little brother, didn't even so much as stumble from the impact. All it served to do was shake off a layer of the dust covering her.
But it did manage to bring a smile to her face.
It was here, covered in blood and dust, in the arms of her family, that Aveline seemed most at home to me. It seemed almost sickeningly sweet.
But more importantly, I didn't feel like I belonged here. I felt like I was intruding on some private scene between a family that I didn't have any place being witness too.
I gave them a small smile, not that I was sure either of them could see it, and walked back to my room. The door was closed, oddly enough, but I opened it without even bothering to really think about it much.
To my surprise, Pyrrha was inside.
She was wearing her typical workout attire for these days. A pair of pants and t-shirt, all drenched in sweat that seemed to fill the air with its scent. One leg was hanging off the bed while the other was on the bed, propping up a book. The book was that large old and locked book she always seemed to write in. I'd call it a diary, but that didn't seem to really fit the weight the book seemed to have, not even journal truly seemed worthy of it.
When she paused in her reading to look up at me, I almost froze. I briefly considering just leaving the room to take a shower rather than face that dead glare of hers.
But…it never came.
She blinked, as if remembering my existence, before a small smile bloomed on her face.
"Blake," She greeted calmly.
"…Pyrrha." I said warily.
Then I stopped that train of thought hard and shook my head instead.
What is wrong with me I thought, bringing a hand to my temple, I hate two people for being a picture perfect family and I consider stabbing a girl for smiling at me.
"Blake?" She repeated, looking concerned.
"Yeah yeah," I dismissed with a wave of my hand,
"I'm just tired. It's been a long day." I sighed, walking over to the bed. "I think I just need a nap."
She smiled again, that old smile she tended to give before the night before Jaune seemed to piss her off.
I didn't even bother to seriously think about the how's and why's of its reappearance when I hit the bed. I was tired, exhausted, even. More emotionally than physically, I still feel like I just need to take a second and rest.
It felt like my paranoia was running on overdrive. No surprise considering recent events.
That White Fang attack was probably one of the biggest setbacks in Faunus integration in years, almost as bad as…that day. Worst…it was hard to blame them.
Don't get me wrong, I knew it was wrong, but…I could understand it. It's so much harder to hate the other side when you can actually understand them. They did this as a kind of burst of rage, a way to lash out and do something. Too many Fauns felt like they were trapped in a shitty situation where the whole world was out to get them and there was nothing they could do about it.
Parents could get the jobs they needed to feed their families, kids couldn't fit in at school, and everyone felt so helpless. In the end, to a lot of people, even if the White Fang might have been going about things the wrong way, at least they were doing something.
And for all the bad they were doing, they were, in a way, succeeding in what they set out to do. The White Fang was supposed to protect Faunus and give them a place they felt like they could belong.
Well, it was working.
Now instead of pure disgust, people felt a strong measure of fear. Each Faunus they looked at made most humans wonder "are they a terrorist?" It was disgusting…but it also made a kind of sense, especially with what I knew. The fact was, there were more than enough brothers and sister in plain clothes running around for them to worry. They were far from every Faunus, but that wasn't what mattered.
It was the threat of their presence. The inescapable fear of what could be. The fear that maybe the next boy with wolf ears they insulted would lead to two shattered kneecaps, that the next girl with a cat's tail they kicked out of their shop would burn it down. But for all good that the fear caused, it brewed just as much hate.
And it was at an all-time high today.
It was times like this that I wasn't sure whether to be glad or disgusted with my decision to hide my heritage. Everywhere I looked I saw the humans of the kingdom leering at the Faunus, hate and fear in their eyes. Some wilted, others bristled in rage, but everyone felt it. They all felt that blame placed on their backs, that accusation in everyone's eye.
And here I was, hiding in plain sight. Freed the weight of their stares, I still felt that well of disgust bubble up within me as I looked at others suffering what I deserved.
My mood plummeted to new depths as curled up under the covers. I couldn't help the silent tear that fell as I closed my eyes.
What would you do, dad?
"So she's here."
"Yup."
"Right now?"
"Uh-huh."
"Asleep?"
"Dead to the world."
She let out a breath that was somewhere between an exasperated sigh and an angry huff while burying her face in her hands.
"Well look at it this way," I smirked, "She delivered."
"Oh, she did more than deliver." She began with a caustic sarcasm "She practically started a war."
"We were already at war." Another voice rumbled.
"You may have been at war, Adam, but we were not." She pointed out.
The Faunus simply snorted derisively at her.
"I don't particularly care." I beamed, mostly just to piss her off,
"Of course you don't," She said with a sarcastic smile, "They think you're dead, why should you give a shit?"
"Exactly!" I perked up brightly, "Glad you were bright enough to put that together."
"You're a piece of shit, Roman." She scowled.
"Aw, thanks, doll face. Love you too." I smirked, blowing her a kiss.
She seemed to fume for a moment, before giving up with another huff.
"…We can still use this." She said after a moment.
"There's that pragmatism I love about you, Cinder," I said with a proud grin, gesturing to her with my cane. "You always find a way to make something work, even if you fucking hate every part about it."
She momentarily glared at me, but decided not to press the issue.
The three of us were in the meeting room. The three of us sort of represented three different aspects of the whole operation. Adam represented the White Fang, which was basically the raw muscle, the military might, if you will. I represented the…underground side of the equation. I had the information networks, the criminal connections, the connections in general. If they wanted it, I could either buy it, steal it, or point them at where they could get it.
And Cinder herself represented the…weird…side of the arrangement. Technically she was our employer.
Sort of.
She was certainly the one paying the bills for me. I wasn't too sure about Adam and the White Fang. Adam didn't seem like the type to simply be bought, he struck me as an idealist. My best guess for how she had brought him to the table was the promise of power. Then again, he was just here more or less on orders from the White Fang leadership in the area. He wasn't actually at the top of the pyramid so much as he was our…go between for the moment.
Really wish they could have chosen someone more diplomatic. I thought dryly
As for the room itself, the upside to retooling an old Vale Fortress was that it was actually designed to be, well, a fortress. Which meant it actually had dedicated meeting rooms. Rooms that were sound proof.
This was all made better by the leather seats and an oak table with built in holo-projectors I brought in.
It was the little things, really.
Like the coffee machine in the corner.
"…We had already planned to stage a massive terrorist attack on the city." She began, "The Breach was supposed to be our opening move. If all went well, it would have inspired fear in the eyes of the people, and doubt in their faith of their leader's ability to protect them."
"It also would have caught everyone off guard."
"We don't have that anymore." She frowned, looking at the blue-tinted map of the city projected on the table. The areas affected by Ruby's…extraction…were in red.
"We've still caught them off guard." Adam pointed out.
"Yes, but now they know what level of power we're willing to bring about to the city. While they'll still be surprised if the Breach works, it won't have that same opening shock." She argued.
"Basically, you wanted the Breach to be a sucker punch." I summarized.
"…Yes." She acknowledged after considering it for a moment.
"I like this outcome better," Adam grunted. "We've struck a decisive blow against them, taking out a major encampment of our enemies in our opening move."
"Since it was in the area around the ports, their ability to monitor shipping will be hampered. At least on the urban level." He said, pointing towards the docks, "But since she didn't attack through a naval route, I doubt they'll realize that. It could let us smuggle more things in."
It was times like this that reminded me that Adam, despite his appearances as a thuggish brute, he actually had a frighteningly sharp tactical mind.
"That may be true, but at the same time there will be more scrutiny placed on our own operations." Cinder pointed out, "They aren't going to take this lying down, they're going to hunt us down"
"And?" He asked
"And that's a problem." She scowled, "We don't need that kind of scrutiny, not now."
"Not when we're so close." She whispered.
"Ah yes," I mocked, "Another reference to this mysterious 'plan' of yours."
She scowled at me, not liking what I was trying to say.
Tough.
"Frankly, Cinder, this is what you get for trying to hold all the cards to your chest." I pointed out, "We don't know what you're trying to do beyond strike at Vale in some way and make the people piss themselves."
"Congratulations, we did that," I said with a mean smile, pointing at the angry red mark in the middle of the blue sea of the city.
"I have no doubt the people of Vale are shitting themselves silly right now at the fact that one of the supposedly safest places in the city just blew up."
She looked distinctly unhappy with what I was saying. Honestly, it looked like she wanted to kill me. Adam, for his part, looked surprisingly passive. He was probably on my side for this. He didn't know what Cinder's long term goals were, either. He saw this whole thing as a war, so he tended not to really think about holding back.
"Now, if you actually explained what you wanted, then maybe we could have arranged this into a more beneficial event." I smiled.
I could see her jaw clenching as her mind was forced to acknowledge the truth of the matter.
"You will know what you need to know when you need to know it." She ground out.
"Well, in that case, you shouldn't bitch and moan when we do something like this." I argued with an easy expression, "'Cause as far as we know, this is exactly the kind of shit you wanted."
"You will do as you're told." She glowered.
"We aren't your dogs, Cinder." Adam all but growled menacingly from his end of the table. "You don't own us."
She sent him a venomous glance, before turning to me, "I'm paying you, aren't I?"
"Technically, I didn't do this." I brought up, "Red did, with help from the psychotic little munchkin."
"Right," She sighed, "Her."
"Yes, her," I grinned, "You know she's gonna be saying the exact same things we are."
She frowned, "You don't expect me to let her in on these meetings, do you?"
"Oh, even if you don't, I'm telling her everything that happens in here."
"You wouldn't dare." She said, her eyes narrowing into dangerous slits, one of her eyes shimmering with golden power.
"Pft, I'm not dumb to try to keep secrets from a mind-reader." I scoffed, "Especially not one like that little demon."
"Scared off a little girl, Roman?" She mocked.
"You tell me," I smiled, "can you even look at fire without feeling a shiver?"
Given the expression on her face, I got the feeling it was taking all her self-control not to leap over the desk and kill me herself. Probably by melting my face off.
I really couldn't help the shit-eating grin that came over my face.
"…Are we actually going to do anything, or are you two just going to try to kill each other with your words?" Adam asked blandly, his tone conveying equal parts confusion and exasperation.
Adam wasn't really the type for verbal spars. If he didn't like you, sure, he'd throw in some barbs here and there, make it his dislike clear, but he'd be professional. Relatively speaking. If he actually got mad at you, he'd probably just punch you in the face.
Or kill you.
He could do that too.
Still, the man had a point.
"Maybe we should wait until the little demon that sparked this whole argument wakes up?" I suggested.
"Sure" "No" Adam and Cinder said respectfully.
Adam glanced at Cinder, and I got the distinct impression of him raising his brow in confusion, not that I could tell from behind his mask.
"Aren't you at all mad at her for what she did to that Faunus Girl?" Cinder questioned.
Adam frowned, but answered the question in a way that was…distinctly Adam.
"If she tries anything that I don't like, I'll kill her."
"Right…," I nodded, "But you tried that already. It didn't really work."
"Then I guess I'll just have to keep killing her."
"…uh-huh."
Honestly, I couldn't quite tell whether he was being dim or committed. Sure, he had a frightening tactical mind, but he could also be somewhat…simple, in his goals.
Cinder, keeping up her trend for this meeting, crossed her arms over her chest, and leveled a glare at the two of us.
"Fine." She eventually said, sounding distinctly unhappy, "We can wait for the girl to wake up"
"But she better have a damn good explanation for all this."
A/n:
Alright
This was actually supposed to come out yesterday.
But then I burned my primary hand the other day and so that just fucked everything up.
Wasn't the best day.
But I'm fine now.
Anyways, I was going to try to keep up a certain pattern. I got slightly shifted off of it, but whatever. In general, I'm going to try and keep my update schedules to Sundays. I'll update Madness on the First Sunday of the month, and I'll have Vanguard and Silver Serpent on an every-other-month basis.
Hopefully, that'll work.
That said, real life things are happening at the end of May, so that might shake up my schedule again. So I can't promise that it'll get done in time. It might get offset to before or after. If I don't have a proper Madness chapter I'll have a certain special Dreamstate chapter I'll be able to post instead to sate you guys.
On another note, this chapter.
I basically hit on most all the characters or settings, save for a few. Those few I either plan to add in next, addressed last time, or am being sneaky with.
But for this chap, we got Aveline and the po-po, Weiss trying to find some piece and quiet, Yang dealing with her waking nightmares, Blake's opinion of the aftermath, and Cindy being an unhappy camper.
Poor, poor, Cindy.
In other news, fun.
After this arc we'll be getting into some fun stuff. And I mean that earnestly. With the freedom gained from you guys knowing things now, but the tension gained from you guys not knowing all the things, I get to have fun hinting at stuff while providing backstory, breaking canon, breaking spirits, breaking...all the things, really.
It'll be grand.
Also
On the romance front...
I
Have gone somehow backwards.
Kinda
Romantic plots that I earlier went, "Oh yeah, that's happening, no doubt," I'm now going, "Hmm...I guess that could happen...OR"
So that's a thing.
Sure, some shit's more ironed out, but other things are proving to be oddly attractive.
Possibly in a morbid sense.
In any case, that's all I've got.
See you guys in about a month.
