Each year I usually take a little time off at Christmas from writing for obvious reasons. I might be taking two weeks off this year as I've been feeling exhausted of late – not just with writing, but just exhausted in general. Just a mention here to let you know. I'll make sure to decide and have dates accurate, etc, and it'll probably start 22nd December and return 4th January. Just an early mention here.
I'll have more definite dates to you all closer to the time.
Cover Art: GWBrex
Chapter
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Bank robbery undone as police capture assailants and Jaune Arc resurrects six fallen victims. Police Chief hails heroic actions of officers on the scene and extends personal gratitude to Arc for their safety
Atlas Times
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Sources claim Vale in "secret talks" with Atlas and Jaune Arc. Is this prodigal son preparing his return?
Vale Daily Tribune
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Mistral's Council secures new term in landslide victory won off back of successful Vytal Festival and new deals with Atlas
The Mistral Review
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Gillian Asturias to visit Atlas to mend ties fractured by actions of past government
Vacuo Today
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Belladonnas make shock return to politics by announcing diplomatic visit to Atlas. Treachery, or a return to the battlefield?
Kuo Kuana Express
.
It took time for the delegation from Menagerie to arrive, and that time was sent festering in unease and anger over what they represented. It was almost certainly why Ironwood had given in to his requests to Clover that saw him cleared for emergency response duty across Atlas. In the last week alone, he'd covered one fire, two dust leaks leading to explosions and one highly televised bank robbery. The latter had made the headlines all over the city, and children were talking about him as if he was the next X-Ray and Vav. Healing in the hospitals was heroic, but he supposed actually stopping a bank robbery was much more of a superhero kind of thing.
He liked it.
There was a part of him that said he shouldn't, but Dr Seng helped him work past that and realise there was nothing wrong with liking saving people. They picked apart the philosophy that wanting to save people meant wanting people to be in danger as stupid, mainly because that same logic would mean wanting to be a dentist meant wishing tooth rot on the world or wanting to be a vet meant wishing suffering on everyone's pets. His wanting to be involved in bigger and more immediate threats to people's lives didn't mean he was starting those threats, nor that he wanted people to be involved in them. It just meant he wanted to stop them when it happened.
In a way, the work was the same as it had ever been. He would show up, use his Semblance, and the dead would rise and walk again. It was no different to the hospitals. It felt different, though. It felt more real somehow. Maybe it was just the newness of it, a change from sterilised hospital rooms and stupid parents. When you saw someone who had been shot in an armed robbery, you couldn't think that they'd done something wrong or drawn it upon themselves. They were victims, pure and simple, and it felt right to bring them back without asking questions. For the first time in forever, he smiled back at people who gratuitously thanked him, because he knew they wouldn't have been in that situation if they could have helped it, and he knew they wouldn't show up to him again for a long while. Hopefully, anyway.
The public loved it as well. They saw it as him doing more than before, even if he wasn't. It was because he was out more on the streets and in front of the cameras, and something he'd learned early on was that whenever he wasn't directly in the focus of a camera, everyone assumed he was sipping martinis off the bellies of strippers on some beach in Vacuo.
Not exactly, but they assumed he was a lazy and spoiled brat when they couldn't literally see him working. And since no cameras were allowed in the hospitals, they didn't see the work happening, and thus didn't respect it. Weird, pathetic, but that was just how it was. Seeing him in headlines foiling a bank robbery or saving people killed in a freak dust accident reminded everyone he was there, made them feel safer, and helped to justify all that taxpayer money he was getting. The consensus had come all the way around again to him being a hero again. Funny how poor their memories were. Some of the newspapers hailing him a national hero had called him a hypochondriac and virtue signaller only a few weeks ago.
He found it funny now, in a cynically amused sort of way. He'd even bought both newspapers, taken a picture of the two headlines side by side and sent them to Weiss, who had a good laugh at it. Pyrrha, too, who responded with her own pair of headlines from some Mistral newspaper that had her highlighted as "shaky and vulnerable" on one and "clear champion material" on the next, with a one day difference between the headlines.
And then the day came.
/-/
"We've had them watched since the moment they arrived," said Clover. The Arc-Ops were out in force today, every single member, and Clover was sat on his left with Elm on his right. Rather than make him feel safe, it made him nervous, but he understood they'd only be doing this if they were genuinely worried.
It was that which had him worried.
"Are they that much a threat?"
"They shouldn't be," said Clover. "The Belladonna have always been peaceful before. The problem is that they pretty much retired from the scene when Sienna Khan took over the White Fang and twisted them into what they are today. It's hard to know for certain they haven't been won over, turned, or if they aren't being forced into something."
"You'll be covered every second of the way," promised Elm. "I know it's probably too much to say don't worry when we're all obviously on high alert but try not to worry too much. You have your aura to protect you from any number of hits. They're in the middle of Atlas and we have their daughter. It'd be insane for them to try anything. We're just being cautious."
Jaune nodded. He could hardly blame their caution when his last few interactions with the White Fang had been so bad. Weiss didn't even know about this whole deal yet, and he wasn't going to be the one to tell her – mainly because he wasn't going to accept that he'd made it happen. This was Ironwood's idea, and Ironwood convinced him. Nothing more.
"How long will they be staying here?"
"Three or four days. You only need to see them today. As per your demands, their daughter is going to be given over to Vale, and we're waiting on a Valean diplomat to come and agree that deal, then talk to her parents. We can't really tell them to go if they're not sure how she's going to live in Vale."
"As long as I don't have to deal with her."
"You won't," assured Clover. "They'll be staying down on Mantle."
The rest of the wait was done in silence from him. Elm and Vine began to bicker just to distract him, and he could tell it wasn't heated despite their best efforts to insult one another. It was maybe another forty minutes before the Belladonna family arrived, and it was precluded by General Ironwood stepping into the room and holding the door open, nodding to Jaune as signal that he needed to prepare himself. Jaune took a deep breath and stood.
The first to enter was a woman he assumed to be in her late thirties or early forties. She had short black hair, black ears stamped with gold or bronze earrings, and soft, tan skin. She was robed in black and white, the kinds of clothing you didn't see in Atlas' colder climates. She wasn't short by any means, but when her husband stepped into the room she looked tiny. Then again, everyone did.
He was a giant of a man, easily seven foot tall and maybe even taller, with huge, barrel-like shoulders and massive arms. He didn't have a bodybuilder's physique and looked more like one of those strongmen you saw on the internet, less bulging muscles and veins and more all-around girth and power. He had black hair as well, but also a big beard and sharp, intelligent eyes. It was no wonder Elm had been quick to try and calm him down, because this man made him feel nervous by sheer size and presence alone.
He didn't know what to say. If anything.
To his surprise, he wasn't alone.
"I don't know what to say or do," admitted the woman. "I want to rush forward and hug you, thank you for agreeing to spare our daughter, but I'm afraid I'd be shot if I tried."
"You would be wrestled to the floor," said Elm, half-threat and half-reassurance. "No one is going to be harming anyone here, ma'am."
General ironwood stepped between them. "Jaune. This is Kali and Ghira Belladonna, the current chieftain and chiefess of Menagerie. They are also the parents of the young woman we have in our cells." The reminder had the woman, Kali, closing her eyes sadly. The father huffed, annoyed, and it was hard to tell whom at. "They were the ones to reach out to me and make the offer. They've already provided a dossier on Adam Taurus' past that will help in hunting him down, as well as actionable information on Sienna Khan."
They'd already betrayed the White Fang, basically. Didn't that just make them untrustworthy? Or was it okay because it was for their daughter? He wasn't sure, and he wasn't in the right frame of mind to decide either.
"I-" began Ghira.
"We," stressed Kali.
"We," he allowed, "would like to apologise for our daughter's actions. I realise that means little given what she's done. Her choices reflect on us and our failures as parents. Blake was raised in a White Fang I'd like to say is better, but she was raised surrounded by failure and racism."
"That doesn't excuse her," interrupted Kali. It really did look like she wanted to step forward, but that the Arc-Ops all around them had spooked her to stillness. "Ghira isn't trying to say it does. Blake was… I hate to say it, but she was as good as groomed by Adam and Sienna. Sienna, especially, wanted Blake loyal to her as a means of keeping us in check and making sure we wouldn't act against her new White Fang. How could we when it would mean the life of our own daughter?"
"Blake was sent out on missions almost straight away," said Ghira. "Anything to get her out of Menagerie so that we couldn't convince her to come home. It was never said, no explicitly, but we knew that if we moved against Sienna, our daughter would be put in harm's way. Foolishly, immaturely, we thought it best to wait, do nothing, and hope Blake would have a change of heart and come back to us of her own accord."
Silence reigned between them. It lasted too long, until even Ironwood shifted a foot.
"What do you want me to say?" asked Jaune, in a quiet whisper. "That it's okay? That it's tragic? Your daughter wanted to kill me – and she did kill my girlfriend."
Kali Belladonna gasped and covered her mouth with one hand.
"That is not yet publicly known and not to be shared," snapped Ironwood, more at her than him, though he did shoot Jaune a meaningful look. "And Weiss Schnee was killed by Adam Taurus or – and I cannot stress this enough, Mr and Mrs Belladonna – we would not be here having this conversation. Had your daughter any direct hand in the death of an Atlas resident, whether they were resurrected or not, I would see her locked away for the rest of her natural life."
Kali shuddered. It was hard to tell if that was at the thought of her daughter imprisoned until death or at the knowledge of how close that had come. Or just at Blake being involved in a death. He'd suspected they hadn't known the full story, and here was the proof.
"We understand if you don't want to speak with us," said Ghira. His eyes were on Jaune. "In your shoes, were it my wife who suffered, I don't think I could do this either. We can skip this meeting if you wish it. The whole thing is politics. We can discuss what we will do for you with General Ironwood. There's no reason for you to be here if it bothers you. Don't trouble yourself on our accounts. You have done enough just allowing this transfer."
It was a good offer. He wanted to take it. "I'd rather see this through. Make sure she's out my and Weiss' way. I don't want to have to see her again."
Ghira nodded, while Kali looked at him with an expression that was somewhere between lost, aggrieved and disappointed. He somehow didn't think the latter was aimed at him. Maybe at her daughter, or even at herself and her husband. He couldn't claim to understand anything about their past or circumstances, but it was their daughter who went and became an armed terrorist. They should have been able to stop that.
General Ironwood touched his collar as a quiet beep echoed from his lapel. He listened, then nodded and said, "Alright. Bring her in."
If he'd thought it hard to see her parents then seeing Blake Belladonna was worse. It was a distant anger because he hadn't seen her kill Weiss, but it was still anger. The girl came in with her head down, eyes on the floor, and her hands held before her, pushed through a solid block of metal that acted as handcuffs but also kept her wrists locked in the exact same position. It was connected by a metal wire to a belt around her waist that would keep her from moving her hands too far or too quickly. Extra precautions for someone who was huntress trained, he imagined. Ironwood had said she was cooperative so far, which was probably why she came in flanked by two armed soldiers, and not more.
Kali made to rush forward the moment she saw her daughter but for Ghira's hand on her shoulder, checking her approach and pulling her back. He shook his head, watching their daughter with hard eyes.
This is going to be awkward, thought Jaune. He wished he'd taken their invitation to back out the meeting. Then again, she deserves much more than this. If her parents weren't famous, she'd be going to prison for a long time.
"Blake Belladonna," said Ghira, each syllable clipped. "Is the floor so interesting that you cannot look at your own parents?"
The girl flinched. Her ears wilted downward, and she did not look up. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
Again, Kali tried to pull out Ghira's grasp, and again he held her back. He shot her a look, and the woman sighed and allowed herself to stand still. It wasn't hard to see who the disciplinarian in the family was. "You're sorry?" asked Ghira. "What for, exactly? Running away? Breaking the law? Refusing to contact or listen to us? Harming people? Taking part in an attempt to murder an innocent person?"
"I didn't touch her."
"I was talking about the boy who stands before us!" roared Ghira. It was so sudden that Jaune flinched as well as Blake, and even Elm's hand dropped to her waist before she realised the threat wasn't to them. General Ironwood was the calmest among them. Ghira wasn't done. "The fact you failed doesn't change the fact you agreed to it in the first place! And for what? Because Adam told you to? Because a man you liked told you it was okay to kill someone? I thought we raised you better than that. I didn't think we had failed you that badly."
Blake looked like she wanted to shrivel up and die.
Kali did as well, and spoke in a whisper, "Why would you, Blake? Why? What could have possibly possessed you to think this was the right choice?"
"Adam…" The girl's breathing hitched. "Adam said-"
"He didn't hold a gun to your head, young lady!" said Kali. "I asked for your reasons!"
"I… I don't have any…"
"Lies," said Ghira. Blake flinched as if she'd been slapped. "Or are you suggesting you don't need a reason to try and kill someone? If so, a part of me wonders if we should let you go to prison. Your mother asked what was going through your head, Blake Belladonna. You will answer her."
"I… I was wrong. I know-"
"That is not what Kali asked you. Why did you accept that it was justified to try and kill Jaune Arc?"
Blake's wrists came closer to her stomach and she huddled into a tight little ball. It was miserable. Even Jaune was uncomfortable. It was deserved, though. He forced himself to breathe and forced himself to listen.
"He was protecting the Schnee, undoing everything the White Fang accomplished. Adam was angry – and I know that's not an excuse, but I… I didn't know what to do. I'd already done so much, and it felt like it was too late to back out, and then Adam said it was just one death and…" Blake cut off with a strangled sound. "I know it's wrong. I know it was."
"Then why did you do it?" asked Kali.
"He made it sound so little. Like it was a small thing."
His life was a small thing? Jaune, who was stood there, alive and well, was a small thing. He couldn't quite stop the scoff coming out his lips, and it was deafening in the quiet room. Blake stiffened, and her parents looked to Jaune. Kali's face reflected pure anguish and guilt, and she turned away, unable to even look at him. He almost wanted to say it wasn't her fault, but he doubted she'd believe it.
"Are you still blaming him for your actions?" asked Ghira. "I'm disappointed. I dared hope we'd raised you better than that."
"D… Dad… I…"
"No more." He cut her off. "It's clear to me you're still trying to deflect. I hope that attitude changes quickly. In the meantime, I want you to look at the man you tried to murder, and whose girlfriend you did murder."
"We didn't mean to-"
"You may not have – but Taurus certainly did. You helped him get into the stadium and hold joint responsibility." Ghira's voice rose. "Look at him, Blake!"
The girl's head rose obediently. It was the first time Jaune had gotten a proper look at her, and he almost wanted to take a step back. She might have been pretty normally, but no one could look good when they were crying big, ugly, tears. Her eyes were swollen, her nose red, and there were dark tracks down her cheeks. Her yellow eyes met his and her shoulders hitched, a fresh sob breaking forth. Jaune swallowed and broke eye contact. At least she wasn't bruised or beaten or showed signs of torture.
"If it was not for this man then you would be going to prison for a long time," said Ghira. "This man that you tried to kill – for no other reason, apparently, than that you didn't want to fight with Adam – has agreed to spare you that. I wonder what it is Adam told you about him. That he's a racist? That he hates faunus? Well, here he is agreeing to spare you fifteen or twenty years in a dark prison. I hope you're appreciative of that, Blake, because based on your actions today there is a part of me that isn't even sure you deserve it."
Her head fell again, and she was wracked with sobs. Jaune grit his teeth against the instinctive urge to say something. What was he supposed to say? She'd broken the law and tried to commit murder, and maybe this was what she needed. He remembered Weiss, dead and cold, and that took the sympathy away like a bucket of ice cold water. This was no more than she deserved, and probably a whole lot less. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again he was calm.
"You will not be returning to Menagerie," said General Ironwood. "Initially, our plans were to keep you here as a prisoner in all but name. However, Jaune has said that he doesn't feel safe with you around. Something I can hardly blame him for. You will instead be handed over to Vale, where you will be kept as a guest of an associate of mine. You will be free, comparatively, but you will be monitored. And rest assured, Miss Belladonna, that even a single action put toward helping the White Fang or breaking any law – of Atlas or Vale – will see this opportunity taken from you. We may even see fit to demand reparations from your parents. Am I understood?"
The girl's head bobbed slowly. "Y… Yes… sir…"
"This is a new chance for you, Blake," said Kali, and there was a sorrow in her. A sorrow not only for what her daughter was going through, but for what she had become. "Please don't squander it. I beg you."
"I… I won't."
"Don't you have something to say to Jaune Arc as well?"
Her head didn't rise. "T-Thank you. F-For this chance…"
Jaune closed his eyes again. "If you really want to thank me, do so by never coming near me or Weiss ever again. I don't trust you. I feel bad for your parents. They seem like good people." He looked to her ashamed parents and then back to Blake. "I'd say the apple fell a long way from the tree."
General Ironwood winced. "I think it's time we brought this to a close. Would the two of you like some time alone with your daughter?"
Kali made to say yes, but Ghira shook his head. "I think it might be best for everyone if we had time to cool off. Otherwise, this is going to get loud."
Reluctantly, Kali Belladonna nodded. It must have hurt them both to watch Blake be escorted out the room and away, back to a cell, but it was no less than she deserved. Once she and her guards were gone, Ghira turned to Jaune and got down on one knee. It was so surprising that Jaune took a step back.
"You have my utmost apologies for my daughter's actions. I know you despise her – and I know you have good reason to. There is no reason we should expect your sympathy or support after what she's done to you and yours. I hope you will believe me when I say it means the world to us that you would even consider this. Despite how I acted to her, I do still love her. I love her so much that seeing her like that drove me to anger. Again, thank you."
Kali echoed her husband, getting down on both knees. "From me as well. Ghira is… I… It's hard to see her like that and not rush to her, but I feel the same way. Disappointed at her, at myself, at the White Fang and what it's become. We raised her better. I don't want to blame others or act like we aren't at fault, but Sienna Khan played on the misery and mistreatment that faces our kind, and on the feelings of helplessness after our peaceful protests went ignored. It's easy to inspire people when you're relying on fear, anger and violence. Too easy. I won't pretend my daughter isn't at fault, but I will say that she isn't the root cause."
"You don't need to do this," said Jaune. "I've already agreed. It's already done. Ironwood is the one who convinced me to take the deal anyway." He pointed to the man. "Thank him instead. He's the one who saw value in it. I'd… I'd have let her rot."
"All the more reason for us to thank you," said Ghira. "And to apologise. It's you who are daughter most wronged, and it's you who could have stopped this deal but chose not to. We won't forget it. And we will repay it."
"Yes," said Kali. "We'll become more active in Menagerie and fight back against Sienna. Now that Blake is safe, we have no excuse not to. I promise we'll make sure everyone back home knows you're not anti-faunus, and we'll fight back against the White Fang's propaganda. When we return," she added. "We need to… It's going to take a few days…"
"That's fine," said Jaune. He tugged on Clover's arm in a desperate plea.
"We should go," said Clover, taking the hint. "Jaune has places to be and everyone in Atlas tends to get jumpy if they don't confirm his existence with their own eyes within a twelve hour window." He smiled lopsidedly. "We'll leave you with General Ironwood to hammer out the details."
/-/
"Glynda is on her way to Atlas to approve the transfer," said Ozpin. "I'm sorry I couldn't come in person but you know how it is after the Vytal Festival. The students are back to normal lesson times and looking for any excuse to get out of them."
"I have it on my end as well," chuckled Ironwood. "And I'm surprised you could spare Glynda."
"I can't. On the other hand, the Council has made it clear that I must send someone and I don't want to bother Port or Oobleck with this. Glynda is the only one I could trust. I'm covering her lessons myself." The way he pinched his nose implied the lessons weren't going well. "How did the meeting go? Are her family cooperative?"
"They came down on her hard. It was an awkward meeting." Nothing he hadn't seen before as a teacher. He, and likely Ozpin as well, had hosted such intervention before, though usually when a student was caught taking drugs or skipping classes, and not involving themselves in terrorism. Those meetings always ended with shouting, screaming and tears, however, so it wasn't too different. "I got the impression they do care for her, but they are angry. Justifiably so. Frightened as well. The girl came very close to imprisonment and they want her to understand that. I'll be honest, Ozpin. If they weren't who they are then I'd have thrown her into the darkest cell I could find and left her there."
"Politics, eh?"
"Politics," he agreed. "And strategy. As much as I hate it, the information they've given us on the White Fang is a treasure trove. We have names, addresses, information on how they used to smuggle money and more. This is going to shake things up, Ozpin."
"It may also get them killed."
"They're aware of the that." They had as good as told him. "And they are willing to risk their lives if it means giving their daughter a chance to live hers. Why else do you think I'd make such a generous offer? I trust you'll follow through on your end."
"Yes. I've convinced the Council not to lock her away. Instead, she'll be kept as a ward of Beacon. Not a student, not until she's of age, but she will be performing community service here to make up for her crimes. The Council thought that best given our ability to fight off any White Fang agents, and to subdue her if she tries to flee. What are the chances of that if I might ask?"
"Low. Not impossible, but low. I'll fill Glynda in when she arrives."
"Appreciated, old friend. And Vale appreciates this chance to get on Mr Arc's good side." Ozpin rolled his eyes good-naturedly as he said it. "They're taking it as a sign of his trust in Vale's law keeping abilities. I don't have the heart to tell them otherwise." He grew serious again. "I will make sure the girl has her chance at reform but I will also keep an eye on her."
"Thank you. Any news on our other problem?"
"Qrow has been investigating and believes she has agents working on her behalf. We're not sure what exactly she has eyes on Mr Arc for, but I fear she may believe he could bring back her – our – children. We both know she can't, otherwise I'd be begging him on my hands and knees."
"His four hour limit is a known factor. Her agents should discover that without issue."
"Yes, but Semblances evolve and can grow over time. I fear they might try his at that or abduct him and try to find a way to forcefully change it. She is desperate, James, and she holds no regard for his life. If she tries and fails then she has lost nothing. That is how she will see it. His death won't bother her any."
"The Arc-Ops won't let anyone take him. I'm looking to expand the team."
"You know your people better than I, James. Just be careful. Salem will stop at nothing to get at him if she believes he might be of use – and if nothing else, killing him removes us of a powerful Semblance that could pass down through his bloodline for all we know. It's a sound strategic decision on her part however you look at it."
"I feel like you're leading to something, Ozpin," said Ironwood. "Let me guess. You think he would be safe in Beacon?"
Ozpin smiled and raised his hands in mock surrender. "Would it matter if I did? I know you have no authority to make such a decision and I wouldn't bother you with it. I trust you, James. Out of every kingdom he could have gone to, and any person, I am glad it is you. I mean that." He looked to the side, off camera. "Qrow is pecking at my window instead of using the elevator like a sane person might. I need to go. I will speak to you soon, old friend. Expect Glynda sometime tomorrow."
Okay, I know, brutal treatment of Blake is brutal. Then again, I like actions having consequences and that's something I get annoyed at the show for failing. Like when Blake reunited with her team after having run away at the end of S3, I wanted to see big arguments, accusations, and then, through effort, them reconnecting and getting close again. That didn't happen and it was just water under the bridge, which some have said is proof of "just how good friends they are" but which I personally think was both lazy writing and a missed opportunity. Good friends get over their problems together. They don't brush them under the rug and pretend those problems never existed. That's called ignoring the issue.
And let's be honest, Blake did a good thing in the show deciding to split from Adam, but that only means she finally did the right thing. It doesn't mean there aren't a whole lot of WRONG THINGS she did before then. Blake joined and supported the violent side of the White Fang when she was young. You don't really think she spent years beating people over the head with wiffle bats, do you? One doesn't get to the level of skill that one is good enough for Beacon (without a formal education like the other characters) if one hasn't been involved in some serious combat.
Next Chapter: 8th December
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