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It took very little time for Winter to put her plan in place, such as it was, even with the constraints placed on her by the very minor infiltrations she was able to make on the ship's systems. The previous owner hadn't even removed the Atlesian registry, and she had been enlisted for a long time by now, so she was able to simply insert herself in a 'crew transfer' of sorts, as far as the ship's security systems were concerned.
Just a member of the crew, like Jaune himself and everyone else.
Luckily, the droids didn't question why she was hiding out in a closet close to the cafeteria, watching Roman and Cinder on her Scroll impatiently as they mulled about in the cafeteria, nibbling on food. Eventually, the pint-sized assassin joined them with a dour expression, plopping into a chair and kicking her legs boredly with her head lying on a table behind the seat. None of them noted with any real concern the extra few droids in the halls nearby, milling about and doing menial tasks, or the extra four in the cafeteria. Every single piece was perfectly in place… So long as Jaune didn't happen to sense her, which was a long shot at best. From what she understood though, identifying people at range required effort. He had no reason to put that effort into looking now, though.
He had no idea she was here, and little reason to suspect it. Even if he did, he'd have to get to the cafeteria - well inside her trap - to get to his friends. And knowing she was there wasn't the same as knowing her plan. So hopefully, he wouldn't think to try anything about it. A lot of assumptions she was being forced to make, but he was an amateur, if she remembered him properly. It was unlikely he would think out her plan.
Where the hell was Jaune? What was he even doing in Ansel that took so long? It had to be important for him and Nikos to have both gone. She couldn't spring her trap until he got there…
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"And that's why your armor is all dinged up?" Cairi asked, Jaune nodding at the question. She giggled and poked one of the dents, "That's such a silly story, Jaune! There's no way you could kill a Huntsman! They're unkillable! Right, Papa?"
"Yep." His dad answered, forcing a stiff chuckle from the chair next to Jaune's, "Completely unkillable! Just like your old man, right here." He gave Jaune a look, a once over that glanced over his armor and lingered on Crocea Mors at his waist, "And… The scrawny kid I knew who wasn't worth trainin' couldn't hold a candle to a real warrior like us Huntsman."
That Jaune wasn't the same person as he had been was both a compliment, and a fear. How much had he truly changed if even his dad felt that way? For once, he was almost entirely missing his Semblance's benefits. What had his father meant, exactly?
"Lying is bad, Jaune!" Airi scolded him lightly, thumping his armored chest a few times with her small fist and pouting. "You shouldn't tell us stories like that! It's mean!"
"I thought you wanted story time?" He chuckled when his mother pushed open the door, smiling at the display. Sighing, Jaune gave the girls a nudge, "Go with mom, okay? Time to get back to studying or something." The girls whined at him, and he shook his helmeted head, "No. Storytime is over, it's time to go with your mother."
The girls whined again, but did as they were told, shuffling towards the older woman with pouting faces, and Jaune relaxed against the chair with a sigh, looking at his father when he spoke, "They missed you when you left, you know. Cairi was so upset she didn't eat for two whole days, just stayed in her room the whole time. And Airi didn't know what to do about her, none of us did."
"I did what I thought I had to do." Jaune said simply, taking a deep breath as Pyrrha grimaced at the sudden shift in tone in the room. "I won't apologize for it. I don't think I did anything wrong, and I would do it again if I were back in that position, so… If I did say sorry, it would just be a lie. To make myself feel better."
"Standin' by what you did, even if it was wrong?" The older Arc chuckled, scratching at his chin and nodding. After a few seconds, he looked to Pyrrha, "And what do you think about all this? You're all wrapped up in his shit, you have to have thought about things at least a bit, right?" Pyrrha hesitated, and his father's voice boomed at it, "Don't let him keep your tongue unless you're in his bed, girl, that's the only place he needs to worry about what you're doin' with it."
"S-Sir!" Pyrrha flushed brightly, stiffening where she sat on the floor and stammering, "I-I would… That is to say, I haven't been bedded by him." Coughing into her fist, Pyrrha took a breath and spoke, "I believe that every man and woman can do only what they think in their hearts is right. Perhaps what Jaune did was… Wrongly done, but it has shifted the world's state in a way no one else could have. Perhaps peace may even be attainable."
"We're at peace, not war, Nikos." Jacques scoffed, shaking his head. "What war are we fightin' that I don't know about?"
"The war with the Grimm has never ended, dad." Jaune said quietly, the man flinching at the implications. "We've never been at peace, ever. Not really. We stop killing each other for pointless reasons for a while, but the Grimm?" He sighed and shook his head, "Salem's war against Ozpin has never ended. People have been dying every day since the dawn of history. That is the war we can end, dad."
"Assuming we can force Ozpin and Salem to terms, of course." Pyrrha added, smiling as diplomatically at Jacques' affronted look. "Jaune can perhaps convince Salem against continuing the needless killing Human and Faunus alike have faced. It is, at least, a possibility. Something which couldn't have ever been said in the past, so far as I know at the very least."
"That's insane..." Jacques said, and when Pyrrha's mouth opened to retort, Jaune held up a finger. After a moment of thought, staring off into space with his eyes bouncing between invisible figures, something Jaune had seen a lot when he was younger, Jacques spoke, "But it… I mean, it's as possible as all the other shit you've pulled, which means it's impossible but… I mean, you've done that already."
"This is all just theory at any rate." Pyrrha said quietly, sighing as she rose and stretched, legs stiff from sitting on the floor for too long. "For now, we ought to merely concern ourselves with our survival. Anything beyond that is… Presumptuous at best, frankly. For now, we intend to focus on that."
"The freight will all be together by mornin'. Your robots can load it for you, and you can go with my blessing." He sighed, the old Huntsman's head lolling back to rest against the chair. "Please, don't start anything or drag Ansel into anything while you're out there? We don't have the manpower for this kind of crazy shit, so don't piss off your Grimm-Queen bitch with some stupid spat, got it?"
"I- We are not together, dad!" Jaune sputtered, standing stiffly from his seat and taking a breath. More serious, he looked at the man, "Seriously, dad. Don't take Salem's desires lightly, she'd see every Kingdom on Remnant scorched if she believed it would force me to her side."
"So…" The man swallowed nervously, giving his son's words some thought. "Why doesn't she?"
"Because she knows I would sooner die than allow that." He said simply, laying his off hand on the damage to his breastplate purposefully. "Even knowing I would die, she knows I would fight her with every last thing I have. And then she'd be all alone again, for centuries more and longer." He started towards the door, mood soured beyond repair and glowering under his helmet, "And she is not one to risk what she really wants."
"G-Good day, sir." Pyrrha said politely, following Jaune out of the room.
Guards waved or nodded their heads at Jaune when he passed, even under the helmet they recognized the scion of the Arc line, and heads turned to follow Pyrrha as she trailed behind him respectfully. She was used to the looks, the leering gazes of men and even women with perverted intent. Fighters with analytical stares following the way she moved, the way her body flowed as she moved, the fluidity and power her muscles held that everyone could see if they knew how to look.
And she ignored them all, only closing the few feet between Jaune and herself and speaking when they exited the settlement's gates, "Jaune, your shoulders are stiff. Everyone can tell you're tense, and they don't need a touch of your power to do it."
"I just…" He paused, a dozen steps from the gate, looking at the ship far down the hill for a long moment. "Where do I go from here, now? What am I supposed to do? The life of a trader isn't, I don't know… It just feels anticlimactic, I guess."
"We're not at out climax yet, Jaune." Pyrrha said surely, stepping past him and turning, cocking a hip and nodding slightly at him with a knowing smile. "We have fights ahead of us, and plenty of them. Ozpin, Salem probably, and everyone else that tries to hurt people. The White Fang, maybe."
"That's a lot of fights." He sighed, looking at the Mistralian for a long, long moment. "And you're okay with that?" She made to answer and he continued, "Not just the fighting, Pyrrha. Everything else. Everyone else, Neo, Cinder, Roman…" He trailed off, and Pyrrha looked at him, eyebrow quirked in a question, "You have a family, in Mistral. Most of a team and a future in Beacon, especially as the Fall Maiden."
"Half of the Fall Maiden." Pyrrha corrected weakly, absentmindedly looking around to see if anyone had heard. "And I know, all of those paths are open to me. And more paths than you know, back in Mistral especially. But…" She sighed, "There are things about myself I don't understand now, Jaune. My powers are the least of it, Cinder can help with that, but… My mind..."
"You need Neo to understand it?" Jaune guessed, Pyrrha grimacing at the idea but nodding regardless. "I… Guess we don't really know much about Amber. I barely knew her, and the Amber I knew was broken by what had happened to her. What that could do to your mind…" Jaune growled, in frustration and anger, "Damn it, Glynda was right. Playing games with Aura was a stupid idea. Gods damn it, Ozpin."
"Jaune, it's fine."
"No, it clearly is not." Jaune snapped, turning to look at the mountains around them with a hand gripping the hilt of Crocea Mors tightly. "Ozpin should have known that your mind would be damaged by the merging. I should have felt Amber's damage, warned him, but…"
He sighed, searching for something to hit, and Pyrrha grabbed onto his upper sword arm before he could storm off. "Jaune, you couldn't have understood what you felt from Amber, it's unreasonable to hope to have. Almost impossible." He gave her a look, and she released him nervously, "Regardless, what is done is done, now I have to deal with it. Amber had something… Dark inside her, along with other proclivities not my own. Where will I learn to understand any of it without Neo?"
"Neo is…" Jaune paused, eventually sighing with a grimace and continuing, "Not the kind of person who should be teaching you anything, Pyrrha. Don't… Don't get me wrong, I love her. I wouldn't change her if I could, but…"
"You accept her flaws, you don't exalt them." Pyrrha offered, the blonde nodding at the words. "I understand that, but… Some of Amber's proclivities, and they must be hers, and the trauma she held, they direct me to things. Things Neo understands, or she says she does at the very least." Pyrrha shrugged uncaringly, "I would be here regardless, though. Because my place is at your side."
"My side is a dangerous place to be, and… Strangely in high demand." Jaune observed, shaking his head sadly and making to step past her and head to the ship. He paused when Pyrrha made a face, half-fear and half-excitement, or something else he couldn't tell, and his fingers itched to remove his helmet. "Pyr?"
"Jaune, I… Want to do two things, and for once, I simply want to get my way. Alright?" He hesitated and nodded, and Pyrrha took a breath, and then she sank to a knee and pulled her weapon from her side, digging the blade into the soil. "My name is Pyrrha Nikos, of Mistral, trained as a Huntress and the Fall Maiden. By my weapon and the soil it is buried in, I do offer you myself in service and homage, to use as you see fit in battle and service alike, until I should die or you should release me." She waited a moment, voice finally cracking but never looking up from the ground, "D-Do you accept my vow?"
"I…" Jaune paused, the Mistralian kneeling in the dirt's shoulders stiffening anxiously, and looked up. Soldiers on the wall watched, some curiously leaning against it to see better and some with a sort of reverence for what was happening. Mistralians maybe? Impossible to tell this far out, but it was certainly possible. Looking back at Pyrrha, he swallowed and finally said, "I do."
"I… Then touch the crown of my head." She whispered, and Jaune did so. After a moment she rose, shaking the dirt from her sword and taking a shaky breath.
"What was that?" He asked her, the Mistralian's green eyes lighting up when she smiled.
"That was an oath, from me to you. So long as I wield this blade in battle, or walk the ground of this world, I am bound to your will." She smiled as though it were the best thing in the world, relaxing in a way he hadn't seen her do in a long time, and for once seemed… Happy. "It's a Mistralian tradition, when a warrior finds someone worth following, they swear an oath to them, on the steel they use and the earth beneath their feet."
"Oh…" Jaune blinked, rubbing the back of his neck with his right arm nervously. "That's… Important, very. Right?"
"Yes. It's… A way for me to be yours, to be frank. Neo will be your wife. Cinder, your slave, and our best fighter by far I wager." Pyrrha shrugged simply, Jaune giving the watchers on the wall a look until they turned around and went about their day. "And I am your sworn shield. It is not quite all I could want, but I am satisfied by it. It also allows me… Some perks, without facing dishonor or dishonoring your, or Neo."
"Perks?" Jaune asked, an eyebrow raised as he turned back. Pyrrha pressed against him, gently pushing his helmet up just enough to get at his mouth without exposing his Semblance and pressing her lips to his softly and wrapping her arms around his neck, and Jaune blinked in surprise before melting into the kiss. It only lasted a second before she pulled away, flushing lightly, and Jaune repeated, "Perks."
"Yes." She said simply, smiling more like the teenager she was than anything else, hands awkwardly twiddling and rubbing each other while Jaune adjusted his helmet. After a second she gestured at the ship with her hand, "Shall we, Theros?"
"Theros?" He asked as they started to walk, the Mistralian just behind and to his left. On his shield side, he noted, and that probably meant something.
"A Theros was, and is in a way, a commander of Lokhois, the greatest warrior units of Hunstman in Ancient Mistral. Even today, Hunstman and Huntresses working in tandem with or military are accorded the rank." She smirked, "It is always what a warrior calls their sworn person. A Theros. And you are my Theros."
Jaune hummed, a foot rising on the ramp into his ship, and paused, looking around. Something felt… Off, and he couldn't place it, even as his instincts guided his hand to his sword's hilt.
"Theros?" Pyrrha asked in concern, stepping forward onto the platform and looking around before her eyes returned to his. "What's wrong, Jaune?"
"I don't know." He answered honestly, sighing as he made his way up the ramp and into the ship. "Just a bad feeling is all, I guess. Probably nothing." They boarded, and a quick question to a droid sent them to where the others were, and Jaune didn't like it one bit. But something about the robots still irked him, still dug at his suspicions, and he couldn't make out why.
Why was everyone in the cafeteria, all at once?
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Winter watched them walk through the ship carefully, ordering extra drones away from them when she saw Jaune's body language. Tense, rigid, even Nikos had obviously noticed it, her shield on her arm and her sword in her hand, grip relaxed enough to appear casual to most. Not to Winter, of course, but to most. Winter didn't need to read minds to understand body language, but she knew they weren't entirely on guard.
Jaune would already know she was here if he honestly suspected something. All he'd need to do is use his Semblance, and she'd have to spring her droids into action to 'pacify the crew's infighting'. Now, all she needed was patience, for a little while longer. To let her plan do its job.
But the timing had to be perfect...
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Cinder rose as soon as she saw Jaune and Pyrrha step through the door, smiling politely and happily at the same time. Roman tipped his hat and Neo even sat up in her seat, smiling brightly at him with that smile she reserved for him, eyes flashing brown and pink alternatingly as she blinked. "Master. How was your visit with your family?"
"It was nice." Jaune said honestly, looking at the three of them curiously for a second. "But, uh, why is everyone here? I expected to meet you on the bridge, but a droid said that you were all here, waiting on something."
"You mean…" Roman started, eyeing them all warily as he rose, Melodic Cudgel in his hand raising as he did, the criminal twirling the cane in his hand so the long shaft pointed towards the ceiling. "You didn't set up this little shindig? The robots said you had a surprise for us, Boss."
Then Jaune noticed the difference in the drones, one hand drawing Crocea Mors and the other reaching up to shove his helmet from his head. All the drones were armed, even though they didn't need to be, most were maintenance staffers and even serving food. But they had their rifles mag-clipped to their backs regardless.
Which meant that someone had ordered them to be, and when Jaune felt his Aura flair as his Semblance flexed out, finally free of the confines of his helmet, he turned to the door, "Winter Schnee."
In a flash, Pyrrha slammed her palm onto the table and slid to Jaune's left side with her shield at the ready, using her Polarity to fling it to the side and crushing seven of the droids against the wall. Cinder spun, her fire spreading out on Jaune's right and swallowing another several drones, Neo and Roman at his back, the man's cannon blasting two more. And Jaune raised his shield, rounds peppering the dented metal as several more stepped in through the door.
Winter followed the droids in, rapier held out, "Jaune Arc, Roman Torchwick, Cinder Fall, Neopolitan. Atlas has warrants for all of you, and one will be made for you before we return to Vale." Jaune grimaced at her smirk. "Surrender. I don't want to hurt any of you. Aside from Roman, of course." "Him I could do without…"
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Salem growled to herself, watching through the eyes of her Grimm and knowing that a fight was either ongoing in the Atlesian ship or soon would be, from the seat of her throne. Her chin rested in one palm and the other was splayed across her long table, fingers drumming idly on the surface as she peered at the tentacled Grimm. Watts watched anxiously from his new place at her right side, swallowing nervously, and she spared him a glance when he leaned forward with a clear intent to speak.
"Your Grace, the drones' combat programs are running, the alert just reached my Scroll. I can shut them down, however, if you wish it." He offered, laying the piece of technology on the table in front of him and offering it to her. She spared it a glance and he added, "I would mention, however, that it will take a few moments to reach them."
"Do nothing." She said simply, reaching out from the table with her hand and touching the Grimm, who leaned into the contact almost needily. "I will move Grimm nearby, the woman attacking him will not kill him." Hopefully, at least. "It isn't like Ozpin's little cohorts, even without him in the lead, to simply kill so brazenly."
"And when you save him, he will be indebted to you." Watts observed with a whiskered smile, nodding appreciatively. "And he will know that you have your many eyes peering at him, at all times. Truly, my Queen, brilliant. Splendidly brilliant."
"Of course." She murmured, more focused on commanding her Grimm before she grimaced and looked at Watts, "Leave me. To control my Grimm in such close proximity to a Human settlement like Ansel requires the most concentration I can muster. I can't do that with your prattling."
He nodded and rose, bowing politely and turning to leave with a strained expression. Salem didn't care for his wounded pride, of course. She needed to focus, to control. It wouldn't do for her Grimm to attack Jaune's people when she was meant to be his savior. Closing her eyes, she turned in her seat and laid her fingers on her other hand across the surface of the globe of the Grimm, eyes fluttering closed.
She needed focus.
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"We aren't surrendering." Jaune said simply, shield locked against his side as more droids filed in behind Winter to form two firing lines, the front kneeling so the back could stand. Cinder moved to step towards them and Jaune held his shield out to stop her, shaking his head at the woman, "Winter, please. This isn't necessary. We're not a threat to Atlas, or any of the Kingdoms."
"General Ironwood disagrees." Winter said simply, shrugging and sliding into a fencer's stance that was familiar to Weiss', but with a more military feel. Shoulders stiffer, legs taught, and eyes watching them all closely. "The General has never once steered Atlas wrong, and if he says you are a threat to my homeland-"
"Winter, I may not like Atlas, but I am not a threat to it." Jaune snapped loudly, "The kinds of things I am fighting, and you think a Kingdom is what I am worried about facing up against?" He chuckled, the woman's thoughts racing for answers, and Jaune continued, "The only thing I've thought about Atlas since I got here has been what kind of goods to carry to it."
"Goods?" "A trader? Since when was Jaune a trader? Our information has nothing about this..." She looked between them settling on Roman for a moment, "Roman… Smuggling, maybe?" Cinder reaching out and using the Maiden's power to quell the flames smoldering in a corner of the room before the smoke tripped an alarm. "What manner of goods could you possibly be carrying?"
"Roman?" Jaune asked simply, the man behind him clicking his tongue in thought.
"This haul?" He asked rhetorically, "Some impure Dust and rubies, not worth much except to some collectors in Vale that like the cracked look for some reason that never reached me. Food as well, for a few settlements along the way, and some other mundane crap." "Not that she gives a rat's ass, of course."
"Because the words of a criminal are meant to sway me?" Winter asked after a second, shaking her head. "A criminal and a traitor, that is."
"No, but I can say I tried." Jaune said honestly, rolling his shoulders and frowning sadly. "And that matters, to me. Sometimes, it's all I have."
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