A/N: Here is the chapter nine of my story! Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed! I'm really thankful that all of you have been so supportive! I hope you guys stay with me for the rest of the ride!
Trust
*click*
…
*click*
…
*click*
"Wait what?" Roman quickly went back a page on his browser, something having caught his attention. A neat silver and white page filled his screen. Photos of overly exuberant individuals managing a variety of scientific tools were splashed across the screen.
The title was neatly tucked into the corner of the website; Yellow Brick Research Foundation.
"Aspro Multi-Goods funds a high tech research organization?" Roman asked himself aloud. It wasn't unheard of for large transnational companies to have their own little research groups but usually they focused on their specific market. Aspro didn't deal in the tech industry like other corporations, namely the big dogs like Schnee Industries and Anselmo Pharmaceuticals.
As he dug in further and further into their commitments and goals he began to notice a pattern of absence spattered throughout their page. They never directly stated their goals and skirted around what they had accomplished so far.
Their biggest accomplishment was supposedly a new form of wire for transferring energy?
This has got to be the biggest sack of shit I've ever seen…Aspro funded these guys over 100 MILLION lien for a fucking wire? His thoughts rang violently against the walls of his mind.
Roman decided to take a metaphoric step back, opening up several windows on his screen; Beacon Academy buying unknown supplies from Aspro, Aspro funding an esoteric research group, Aspro dealing a covert trade deal with Schnee Shipping, the Vale and Atlas councils having a closed door session with the heads of their respective academies, the extensive research bill passed by both Valerian and Atlesian governments.
So much he had garnered over the past few weeks of research. So much that seemed completely unlinked to the untrained eye. Yet for a man like Roman, the connection were so clear to him, every line could be drawn between each object but the one thing missing from all of it was the seemingly elusive question; why?
What the hell were they trying so hard to accomplish and cover up?
He took a look at all of it and leaned back in his chair.
"What the hell is this?" He absentmindedly grabbed the cup of coffee presented before him. "Thanks Neo." Said girl rolled her eyes at the complete dismissal of her arrival.
Ever since Roman had started researching this stupid little group, he hadn't acknowledged her presence properly a single time. Hell, she got attention from Jaune nowadays and that was saying something.
Since they met exactly once every other week.
*CRASH*
She jumped when the glass mug shattered against the floor. Neo immediately teleported to Roman's side, watching him with worried blue and green eyes. She nervously tugged on his sleeve.
Roman stayed steady, his eyes darting across the screen, his hand clenching the mouse so tightly it cracked on the side.
Slowly he closed out of every window and clasped his hands on his lap.
A bead of sweat rolled down his brow, leaving a small trail of clear sweat in its wake. Roman opened his mouth and spoke quietly, his voice barely loud enough for himself to hear.
"Aura research…"
"However the battle was not completely lost, the faunus were able to-"
*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*
Oobleck stopped his lesson as a small chiming noise filled the class room. He pushed his glasses up and rapidly moved his gaze from student to student –they shirked under his strict gaze.
*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*
"Uh…so-sorry professor." His head flew to one Jaune Arc, who was awkwardly trying to get his scroll to stop ringing. Oobleck sighed, weighing his options in his head –he of course came up with his answer rapidly.
"No need mister Arc, you may either take the call outside then shut the scroll off, avoiding future interruptions."
Jaune sheepishly got up and stepped out of the classroom, slouching embarrassedly.
Once outside, the door firmly shut behind him of course, Jaune answered his scroll.
"…Roman?" He asked hesitantly.
"Jaune." Said blond immediately took note, Roman NEVER called him by his name before. "I'm calling in another favor."
Jaune immediately cringed, his hands gripping his scroll even tighter now.
"Roman, I'm in the middle of class." He hissed out. There was no way he could just leave and-
"You won't need to leave class Jaune. Just...Look, whenever you get the time, go find the headmaster. I have a series of questions you're going to ask him."
Jaune sighed, thank god it wasn't something insane like stealing something from the headmaster's office or breaking into some secured research facility. You couldn't be penalized for questions.
Hopefully.
"Alright what's the question Roman? I've got class still, hurry up."
"I'll send you the questions later alright. Just be ready okay?"
"Yeah, okay then." He hung up and walked back into the room, ducking his head from the stares he received. As he sat back down, Pyrrha glanced curiously at him from the corner of her eye.
Who was that? She wondered to herself.
Alright Jaune, relax. You got this. You ARE the man. Just asking the headmaster some questions, no big deal man. Just some questions…about aura…Oh God he's going to notice something is up. Jaune's stream of consciousness went into full throttle as he approached professor Ozpin's office. He drew a deep breath as he pressed the intercom button.
"Um…Headmaster, I had some questions that I wanted to ask you." Jaune waited patiently for an answer. Seconds ticked by slowly. Those seconds slowly formed a single minute. Then another. Then another. Then another…
…
…
"Headmas-"
The elevator dinged and opened its doors. Jaune stared at the immaculate interior and hesitantly put a single foot in, testing for some unforeseen danger. In a moment he found himself heading up to Ozpin's office.
Jaune closed his eyes, allowing his mind to go through a quick overview of his conversation with Roman.
"I need you to ask Ozpin some questions. Nothing crazy."
"What kinds of questions."
"They're gonna be about aura primarily. Tell me when you're ready kid."
"Woah! Wait, I can't just ask him questions about aura! I'm already supposed to know about aura."
"Yeah, but luckily you won't be asking too many simple questions. Ozpin won't suspect a thing as long as you play it off as curiosity."
"I don't know Roman…This sounds like it could go south really fast…"
"This is my favor kid, there's no turning back from this. C'mon, you'll be fine."
"Are…are you trying to pep talk me?"
"…Just ask him the damn questions…"
Jaune plastered a nervous smile onto his face as he stepped off the elevator and found himself face to face with…
"…Professor Goodwitch?"
"You had a question mister Arc?" She raised an eyebrow as he craned his neck, looking around her for the elusive headmaster.
"Yeah…I was hoping…you know…um…" Jaune's words stumbled over each other as they left his lips. Glynda stuck her hand up, cutting off his words with the simple gesture. Jaune bit his lips and clenched his sweaty palms.
"Mister Arc, any question you have for Ozpin can be answered just as easily by myself," at Jaune's slightly disbelieving look Glynda sighed and added to her statement, "I assure you mister Arc, Ozpin and I share quite a bit of knowledge."
Shoot, why is professor Goodwitch even here!? He wasn't ready for this at all! Ozpin was supposed to be here –where the hell could he be and why was Goodwitch in…his…office… Wait a minute…There's no way but…
"Professor…um…why are you here in Headmaster Ozpin's office in the first place?" Jaune asked tentatively.
Glynda's expression darkened at his question, the temperature around them dropped below Schnee levels of cold in response. Jaune immediately decided that he asked the wrong question and had forfeited his life.
"Mister Arc…I can answer many questions…but not even I could tell you why I'm here." She sighed, her head drooping ever so slightly in defeat. Jaune awkwardly nodded at her answer.
Guess they aren't a 'thing'… He blankly thought.
"So, the question mister Arc?" She requested curtly, returning back to her usual form of perfectionism. Her arms crossed tightly against her chest.
"If-if it's fine with you, I'd re-really like to ask the headmaster instead." He replied, his voice quivering slightly through his bold statement. Glynda sighed and closed her eyes.
"I honestly don't know when the headmaster will be returning mister Arc." She looked at him and brought out her clipboard. "However, if you truly need to speak with the headmaster I will write in an appointment for you."
Jaune bit his lip. Roman was expecting answers to his questions soon and having to explain to him that he couldn't get Ozpin didn't seem like it would be easy. 'He wasn't there at the time' just didn't sound like it would really fly with a guy like Roman.
Professor Goodwitch was pretty smart to boot…I mean, she and Ozpin spent a lot of time together and truth be told she must have had a pretty equal amount of knowledge…
Right?
"A-Actually, maybe I could just ask you instead. I don't really feel like waiting that long." Jaune hesitantly asked, he shoved his nervous hands into his pockets.
"Oh." Glynda raised an eyebrow and nodded at him, she motioned for him to take a seat across from here at Ozpin's desk. "So, what exactly is it that you need to know?"
Jaune took a deep breath, calming himself as he stumbled out the first question.
"Aura comes from our souls, right professor?" Glynda merely nodded in affirmation and motioned for him to continue. "What exactly is our 'soul' supposed to be?"
Glynda cleared her throat as she prepared her answer. It wasn't uncommon for hunters in training to be wholly uninterested in aura and its intricacies –for most it was just another tool to kill grimm. Though, while she was still suspicious of his attendance into the school, it was nice to see some level of interest and dedication beyond the basics.
"The soul, Jaune, is…it's very difficult to give it a physical definition." She kept her eyes locked on him as he listened. "At best, we know that the soul is supposedly an intrinsic and abstract model of our very being."
"Oh…So we don't actually know what it is?"
Glynda's hands clenched the slightest amount at his question.
"No mister Arc, we do not."
"Why haven't there been any endeavors into aura or soul research in the past couple of years then? Wouldn't it be better to understand the most used tool in hunter history?"
Her brow furrowed slightly.
"There have been plenty of research into the topic I assure you Jaune. How do you think hunters have learned how to utilize aura in their martial arts?"
"But isn't that just practice? Not really re-research into what aura is or what the soul is." Jaune replied, swallowing his fear as much as he could. It stuck to the side of his throat though when Goodwitch raised an eyebrow.
"I see…" This wasn't the usual line of questioning she was used to from a student. Most hunters in training just asked about how to better utilize aura and the intricacies behind its applications. This was delving into very deep waters…"The council..." she paused, her fears behind the young boys entrance into the school resurfacing, "…does not allow people to do extensive research into aura. It is illegal." Such a dangerous answer, hopefully he would accept it and leave.
"It's illegal?" Jaune genuinely asked, going off script. He had no idea it was outlawed completely, that was…strange to say the least.
"Yes mister Arc, illegal. The council, along with most civilians, believe human souls and auras to be sacred." She added, carefully gauging his reaction. When she saw Jaune's' confused face she sighed.
"Human? What about faunus? Is there a difference there?"
Glynda cursed herself silently for the slight mistake.
"No mister Arc, there is no difference whatsoever. Despite popular belief, faunus are not some offshoot species of human, genetically they seem to be identical to humans." She amended quickly. "They just happen to have some…extra features."
"What about their souls?" He asked.
"…They would be the same…" She answered slowly. What was with this strange dialogue, she asked herself. These questions seemed to have no end goal in mind at all…
As though he were…
Fishing…
For…
Information…
She stood up and smiled amicably at Jaune.
"Is that your final question mister Arc?"
Jaune nodded and stood up along with her. She gestured him towards the elevator doors which would lead him back out of the office.
"May I ask you something in return mister Arc?" Jaune paused at the question, on foot already in the elevator. He turned around to face his professor.
"Ye-Yeah of course."
"What made you so interested in aura research?" She calmly asked, her visage never changing from amicability.
Jaune stuck his sweaty hands back into their respective pockets.
"I-I was just curious about how aura works you know..."
"I see. Well, have a wonderful afternoon." She waved him goodbye and as the elevator doors closed shut, she immediately pulled out her scroll and dialed a number in.
It rang once. Twice. Three times before a voice sounded.
"Glynda? What's the meaning of this?" Ozpin's surprised voice sounded through the speaker. "This line is-"
"The Arc boy, I have a problem with him, I'll explain when you get back but I'm keeping tabs on him from now on."
"...Very well, explain later. Don't do anything rash."
"If I do something, it won't be rash."
*click
Jaune breathed a sigh of relief as he left the office and entered the cool grounds. He filled his lungs with the fall air and walked towards the gardens.
Once he found a nice secluded spot, he pulled his scroll out and dialed Roman.
"Kid…you get the answers?"
"Yeah…" Jaune pulled the small recording device out from his pocket, it had recorded every single word of their conversation -he had gotten it via delivery from Neo earlier in the day. "I've got everything. I kind of went off script a little bit though…" He winced, waiting for the biting retort or angry rebuke. None came however.
"It's fine, as long as you asked every single question I asked you to ask, you're fine. Look I'll tell Neo to meet with you now, just give her the recording and leave the rest to me." Jaune sighed in relief and nodded to no one in particular.
"Can I ask you a question Roman?"
"…" Roman held his tongue. Though at this point the boy did deserve to have some questions answered. "Fine, but don't expect me to answer it in full." Jaune sighed, having expected that already.
"What was up with these questions?"
"I just needed to know what they thought. Don't worry about it. Just keep doing what you're doing. By the way, we're going to be cutting contact for a while alright. Erase my contact info from your scroll. Complete blackout."
Jaune hacked out a cough.
"What!? But what about-"
"Look kid, I promise we'll train more, but right now we have to take a break, alright."
"Why?"
"…" He couldn't really tell him why, it was far too dangerous to let him know what they were doing. "Just trust me kid." What a joke, coming from a criminal like him.
"Really Roman?" Seemed like Jaune felt the same way.
"I know but look, I can't tell you everything alright. Just, c'mon kid, how many times have I lied to you so far?"
"How would I know that!?" Jaune asked incredulously.
"Fair point, but the fact remains. We need a blackout for just a couple of weeks."
"…"
"Kid?"
"…Alright…" Jaune finally relented. As much as he refused to trust Roman, he kind of did for some twisted reason. Roman was his only real 'ally' at the current moment. Hopefully this wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass sometime later.
"Great, Neo will be right over, she'll grab the recorder and dip out fast."
"Alright then." Jaune hesitated to hang up, knowing it would be the last time he could talk with the criminal for weeks. He didn't know why he said what he said, but he said it and he certainly couldn't take it back. "Roman, I still owe you some favors, don't forget that."
"I won't."
*click
And with a one teleporting girl's despondent look later, Jaune knew that everything was going to be tougher from here on out.
He could feel it.
"The council-not allow-genetically-identical-the same." Roman fast-forwarded his way through the tape once again. He closed his eyes and focused on every single word that had been spoken in their short conversation.
Point number one, Glynda clearly lied to Jaune. She also seemed to have done it willingly. The closed doors research bill passed by Vale and Atlas specifically repealed the heavy ban on aura and soul research -covert and still unknown as of now, but still, she definitely knows this and still lied to Jaune.
Point number two, Glynda doesn't seem to know anything about faunus involvement with aura research. If she did, Jaune's random question about faunus would have garnered a far stronger reaction.
Point number three, Glynda knows something is strange with Jaune. She'll absolutely be keeping tabs on the boy now.
Roman thought lengthily to himself, he breathed deeply, letting delicious Tabaco fill his lungs. Smoking always helped him put the dots together and now was no different –there were plenty of dots that needed connecting here.
"Alright then," he sat up and straightened his shoulders, "what have I garnered?" He asked himself aloud, turning to face his computer. Files littered the screen, all of which he closed out of, leaving only a single file left on the glowing screen. It was a simple self-made chart, outlining his thoughts on what was currently going on.
He looked through it quickly, nodded, and began typing furiously. With each added snippet of knowledge he had garnered from his research the picture slowly came into view. Unlike a good puzzle, none of his pieces fit perfectly with each other, still lacking the specific details that would truly link them, but he would make do with what he had.
As he came to a finish Neo appeared with another cup of coffee. He graciously accepted and leaned back, looking at his hard work.
Neo stared at him expectantly.
"I dunno, it might be completely wrong but I'm certain this is on the right track." He gestured for her to read his little 'theory'. Her eyes slowly widened as she read through each line of text. By the end her eyebrows were practically shooting through the roof.
She looked back at him, her brow furrowed and lips slightly parted, she pointed at the screen and shook her head at him.
He shrugged.
"Like I said, it might be wrong, but I'm betting that it's not. I don't have every piece just yet, but don't worry, I'll get there eventually." He said confidently.
Though, it wasn't really a matter of whether or not he could –he absolutely could with enough time- he just hoped that he could do it before Cinder killed him off.
"He knows something Ozpin!" Glynda shouted at her leader and friend, who looked back at her with calm eyes. He saw the rage and worry in her eyes and sipped his mug.
"No Glynda, I don't think he does." When she opened her mouth to protest, Ozpin flashed her a stern look, quieting her instantly. "You might not be wrong on him working with someone else to gather information, but I do not believe that Jaune is doing this out of his own interests."
Glynda paused, hearing his words. She rubbed her left arm with her free hand and looked down. "You think someone might be using him." Her expression softened just a bit.
"No, that is a possibility. We might be wrong entirely. He could just be very interested in this kind of topic. It's not unheard of." Ozpin hoped that was the answer. Jaune, despite what Glynda might say at times, was a good student. A good leader, even. He cared about those around him and with the right push, could become a very powerful force for good.
"I suppose…I still want to-"
"Keep tabs on him Glynda, just be covert about it." Ozpin said, interrupting her. He knew that she wouldn't let something like this go and truth be told, he was okay with it. While he doubted that Jaune was some miscreant force of evil, Glynda had every reason to keep tabs on the boy. If it turned out that he was dangerous…well, they would deal with that if it came to that.
Ozpin cleared his throat, prompting Glynda to face him once more.
"You know your answer was very poor right?" He said sternly. In his heart he knew that Glynda was simply trying to keep Jaune out of trouble but her lie could be far more damaging for them in the long run.
The female hunter nodded, understanding the danger in her answer.
"I know, but I couldn't just tell Jaune that the council randomly decided to overturn years of legal precedent with no discourse."
"I suppose…Have they buried the documents online?" Ozpin asked swiftly.
"Yes, they aren't easy to find and even if someone were to find it the actual change is hidden in between several pages of completely useless drivel."
Ozpin held his metaphoric breath, it wasn't a lot to go off of and anyone who was truly dedicated could oust the bill in a second. And while no one really had a reason to read through pages of legal jargon, one dedicated soul could change everything.
It would have to be enough though. He had sacrificed a lot to get the deal through with the councils. If it came back to bite him…well, he could only hope that it would bite him after everything was resolved.
"Glynda, you'll report to me every Saturday on Jaune's activities." A simple order.
"I know."
"If he does anything suspicious though…"
"I'll contact you immediately."
"Tell Peter and Oobleck as well." He amended after careful consideration.
"Very well."
With that, the two departed from each other's company.
One left on an elevator back towards her quarters.
The other stayed in his spacious office, sitting on his chair, sipping his coffee.
He opened a series of local news reports and stared at them deeply.
He whispered to himself.
"Roman Torchwick…"
*ring* *ring* *ring*
"Huh?" A pale hand grabbed a ringing scroll and brought it to a similarly pale face. Amber eyes gazed at the screen, the caller id flashing brightly as it continued vibrating. The girl bit her lip as she placed a single finger over the green answer button. With a deep breath she pressed it and brought the scroll up to her ear.
"…Hello?" A deep voice sounded from the tiny speaker. "Black Cat, is this you?" He firmly vowed to kill himself if another human ever heard him saying that out loud. It was mortifying now that he had finally used it in practice.
"Yes…" Blake's quiet voice answered, her eyes shifting to the surrounding shadows. "Tukson, why are you calling me?"
"I told you I'd give you information didn't I?" He answered. Blake nodded to herself, it seemed Tukson was actually going to pull through with his deal. Though that didn't mean she was ready to blindly trust him.
"So what do you need to tell me?"
"The White Fang are gone."
Blake shot up from her chair like a bolt of lightning, one hand slammed into the table. Lucky for her, the library was pretty much empty –she had secluded herself to a private little corner.
"What do you mean they're gone!?" Her shrill voice scraped through the air.
"Exactly what I said. They. Are. Gone." He reiterated and while she couldn't see it, Tukson pantomimed small explosions with his hands.
"Where?" She rushed out. The White Fang couldn't be allowed to just run around and do whatever they wanted, she had to find out and…and…do something! She didn't know what she would do when she found them but some idea would surely form in her mind by then.
"No clue but I'm certain you wouldn't be able to go wherever they are." He said carefully, his whole body wincing when Blake hissed loudly into the speaker.
"Why not!?"
"Wherever they are it's outside the city. I've asked around and the people who weren't invited to this little soiree weren't told where it would be held." He could practically feel Blake's narrowed eyes burrowing into him, accusing him of everything. "The most I've got is that it's location is connected to the city in some way. Maybe a CCTS extension installation site or something."
"Shit." Blake slouched into her chair, her head drooped into her hands. The White fang had somehow just...disappeared right from under her nose and who knew what they were planning next.
"Blake…" Tukson's calm voice spoke clearly through her scroll. "Stay out of this for now." She glared at the scroll and opened her mouth to protest but was stopped when he continued. "You can't do anything. You have no connections to the White Fang that you can use. You can't find out where they using the internet either. Stay at school for now, drop some hints to the teachers that something big might happen in Vale soon. Ozpin knows that you used to be a member right?"
"How do you know that?" She accused him.
"He's the headmaster of a hunter training school. There's no way he doesn't know." He snorted loudly.
"I…I can't sit around and do nothing."
"Yeah I figured." Tukson sighed. "But you can't do anything to help find them kid. Let me deal with that and when I figure it out, I'll tell you, alright?"
"No, that is not 'alright'! How am I supposed to accept that!?"
"By saying yes?"
"Don't make jokes right now!"
"Alright jeez…" Tukson cringed at the venom she threw in her voice -kids were getting scarier every single year it seemed. "But the point still stands, there is literally nothing for you to do. They even stopped their dust shipment thefts."
"I refuse to sit by and-"
"Then don't, but something you should remember before you go quit school and decide that hunting the White Fang is your new profession," he paused and took a deep breath, "you are infinitely more useful where you are right now. If I find anything out I can tell you, and you can immediately go to the hunters of your school who can do something about it. If you leave though, who knows when you'll be able to get a message out to the right people."
Blake gnawed on her lips, one hand wrung the edge of her table in fury as she listened to him speak.
"I'm not telling you to stop fighting the White Fang," in his heart he was but she didn't need to know that, "I'm just asking you to wait. That's it."
"…"
"Can you do that Blake?"
"…How long?"
"Max, two weeks. Nothing more than that."
"That's a long time."
"You can use that time to scout for potential White Fang in Vale," there were none, he was pretty sure about that by now, "maybe some were left behind for something else. I'll find out where the big boys went."
"…"
"Well?"
"Find out where they went Tukson. Two weeks."
"Aye aye mam." He said, sarcasm dripping with every word. Funny how teens thought they were so above their elders nowadays. Though she was probably a lot stronger than him when he really thought about it.
*click
Blake hung her scroll up and gathered her belongings. She walked out of the library and headed back to her dorm room where her teammates were waiting. She ignored the curious gazes and climbed up to her bunk. She stared quietly at the ceiling, her eyes trying desperately to bore a whole through it with her glare.
"You um…you alright Blake?" Her blond teammate asked of her.
"I'm fine." She mumbled out.
"Doesn't sound that way…"
"I know." She ended the conversation on that note and turned over, covering herself with the sheets and placing the pillow firmly over her head, drowning out all further noise from the room.
"Blake? Blake? Blake? Blake?"
"Yang, she's tired, leave her alone." Weiss reprimanded quickly, pulling her blond teammate aside and towards a secluded corner where she, Yang, and Ruby sat huddled together.
"You think it's-" Yang threw up an intertwined set of index and middle fingers.
Ruby cocked her head and shot Weiss a confused glance.
"It means boyfriend Ruby." Weiss explained quickly. She moved her gaze back towards Yang. "I don't think so though, I'm pretty sure we would know by now if it was a boy."
"You mean I would know." Yang retorted. "I AM her teammate you know." Weiss rolled her eyes and snorted at the statement.
"Yeah exactly, and if you knew it was a boy there's no way you would keep silent about it."
"I can keep secrets!"
"You mean like all those stories about Ruby you tell me and Blake? The ones Ruby told you to keep secret from the world."
"Yang!"
"I did no such thing!"
"Did you know that one time, Ruby went into the town market wearing nothing but her unde-"
"Weiss!" Ruby quickly shot her hands out, smothering her mouth and silencing her instantly. Weiss eventually pried Ruby's hand off and shot her an icy glare.
"Look, I think we need to focus on the main objective here, Blake." The other girls nodded firmly at Weiss.
Yang, slapped her fist into her open palm. "We need to help her get laid!"
"Absolutely not!" Weiss hissed back, quickly moving to cover Ruby's innocent ears. Said girl sighed at wiggled her way out of her teammates grasp.
"It's a good plan! She'd glowing if we just find the right kind of guy."
"Maybe in your twisted world but Blake is far too normal for such barbaric acts. I propose we go to a play." The sisters both blanched at the idea and vehemently shook their heads.
"Plays are ~boring~ Weiss! We need to do something fun for her."
"Plays are culturally enriching and intellectually stimulating!"
"Yeah, I already said they were boring. No need to prove the point any further."
"How about we just, you know, go to a bookstore or something with Blake?" Yang turned her head to look at her sister as though she had grown two more heads. Ruby shifted nervously at the sudden attention. "…Just…a suggestion…you know…"
"Weiss, when did you infect my sister with your dull ideologies!?" Yang protectively wrapped her arms around her younger pair. Shielding her from the harmful Weiss rays of boredom.
"I'm not boring and besides, I think Ruby's idea is fine." She gave Ruby a proud smile. Thank goodness the younger girl was finally taking after her a bit, she was finally learning how to be a bit proper with her ideas and thoughts. Her hard work of being the perfect role-model was finally paying off it seemed! "That's two against one Yang, bookstore wins." She smiled smugly at Yang's horrified expression.
"Ruby! It's a bookstore! You know what they do there!"
"…Read books?" She slowly replied, brows furrowed in confusion.
"No!" Yang shook her sister vigorously. "They ENJOY books there Ruby! They aren't normal!"
"Enjoying some books would do you well Yang." Weiss interjected calmly, prying her spinning eyed teammate from her sister's grip. "Either way it's settled, we're taking Blake to a bookstore."
"Ugh…fine." Yang acquiesced, she splayed herself onto her bed, stretching her arms out.
They each went to their beds, intent on getting their rest for the coming days.
As Ruby slept, her mind turned to dreams of heroic feats and stories.
Weiss dreamt of proud parents and successful missions.
Yang dreamt of a small red cloaked girl, safe in her arms.
And Blake…
Blake saw fire.
Huge cranes lifted massive dust crates onto the train, a group of soldiers clad in white vests overlooked the task. Voices shouted through the air, bodies bustled their way past each other, and in the middle of it all, Roman stood watching.
"Um…sir?" Roman moved his gaze towards the young faunus girl who had interrupted his thoughts. "We were just wondering, the first five cars have been completely loaded and the detonators all installed, do we continue?" Roman scoffed at the question, these people never seemed to understand what an order really meant. How the White Fang could operate with such clumsy people was beyond him.
"How many cars did I say to load today?"
"Just the five…"
"How many have you loaded?"
"Five…"
"So how many more do you have to load today?"
"…None?" The young girl shrunk into herself at his annoyed scoff.
"So then you're all done. I don't get how that's difficult to understand. You're all on schedule."
"But we have plenty of time-"
"No, no we don't." Roman swung his cane in lazy circles as he drew out his communicator. "Everyone get away from the train and return to camp. We're done for the night."
Mountain Glenn, the forsaken city of Vale. Roman grimaced as White Fang members poured out from the tunnel and back into the clearing. His own members dotted the group though not quite as numerous.
"…um…"
"What?" He spun to face the young faunus again –this girl was getting on his nerves. "Do you expect me to explain why we're not working past this time?" She shook her head and slinked away, her shoulders slouched.
"Sorry sir." He ignored her pitiful voice and instead focused on the massive tunnel looming before him. If you concentrated hard, you could still hear the sounds of tortured screams, you could feel the fear in the air as children huddled with their parents for one final moment, you could practically smell the blood that lingered here.
It disgusted him.
Neo sidled up next to him and tugged on his jacket. Her eyes peered into his, searching for his distress. Her lips thinned to a grim line and she shook her head when he looked away, back towards the tunnel.
"Grimm will come if we're not careful." He doubted that he had to point that out but the rest of the White Fang didn't seem to be a privy as himself. When Neo nodded and pointed back at the train, Roman just clenched his cane even harder, nearly bending the hand crafted metal. "It's a deathtrap."
She turned her multicolored eyes upon the massive vehicle, old and abandoned but now completely renovated for its new purpose; to bring death. They could very easily die soon, perhaps they wouldn't be able to escape the grimm. Perhaps the explosions would kill them. Perhaps Cinder would afterwards.
Perhaps, a lot of things would happen. She stepped just a bit closer to Roman.
But she trusted Roman.
A/N: That ends chapter 9! So some things have been pushed up, Roman is in Mount Glenn FAR sooner than in the cannon since he doesn't have a bunch of robot suits to move around. To put it to perspective, other teams still haven't met with the foreign delegates from other schools. Team SSSN is still out of the loop.
Tukson will be having one hell of a hard time finding anything about where the White Fang scampered off to since there really isn't anyone left in Vale who could tell him where they went…
Supposedly anyways.
On the topic of aura and the soul. The series just completely glosses over this topic. Like seriously? NO ONE seems to have done any research into it over the years. Other than Penny's creator, no one seems to understand what aura really is or how it works. I assume that this isn't just because people don't care, that would be ridiculous, but because aura and soul research is outlawed in general.
Some food for thought, Roman's put together a general image of what Ozpin, Ironwood, and the councils are doing right now.
What do you think they're doing?
The pieces are all there if a bit jumbled up. Figure it out and you'll get a cookie.
-POLITICAL TALK-
Donald Trump secures the nomination with 1239 delegates! Incredible to see happen! He even challenged Bernie Sanders to a pre-California debate! So hype if that really
-END POLITICAL TALK-
Next Chapter: June 10
