"This just in, the Schnee Estate in Mantle was attacked by White Fang terrorists earlier this morning. Altesian soldiers arrived at midnight to find the staff and Willow Schnee, wife of Jacques Schnee, murdered inside. Whitley Schnee, son and current Heir of the Schnee Dust Company, is missing. Authorities suspect he is being held captive by White Fang terrorists.
"Jacques Schnee addressed a sombre crowd this morning about the attack. Schnee plans to charge General Ironwood, head of Atlas Military, for this tragedy. Schnee claims Ironwood's lax security measures led to the recent uptick in terrorist attacks all over Mantle and the murder of his family."
"Faunus terrorists have free reign over Mantle because of Ironwood's incompetency! Our children shouldn't have to live beside violent terrorists! How many more innocent lives need to be destroyed before the Military decides to take action?!" Father's furious voice boomed. "This is the final straw. I won't stand by and let Faunus terrorists take over our Kingdom! I won't stop until every single one of these criminals has been flushed out and locked away!"
"Schnee has begun making plans to implement stricter security protocols in Mantle. Ironwood has refused to make a statement at this time.
"In related news, Faunus terrorists attacked Altesian soldiers at around 9:30 pm in district 12 of Mantle. Altesian robots found them wielding unauthorised weapons outside curfew, vandalising stores as a violent reaction to the election results. Authorities believe these suspects may be involved with the Schnee murders. The weapons used matched what was found inside the Estate–"
Whoever was watching the news switched it off before they could hear what the media had to say about the civilians who helped fight the Grimm.
They'd taken refuge in an abandoned store. There was nothing left except for a single wooden chair that looked to be days from collapsing in on itself. The initial plan was to bribe another ride back to Atlas, but that went out the window when they saw the barrage of robots standing guard around the airship station.
"Those are all lies." Yang seethed once the building went still. "How can they blame the White Fang so quickly? There hasn't been enough time to do a proper investigation."
"Because it's easy to blame it on the Faunus," Weiss answered without skipping a beat.
Now that she'd had time to catch her breath, Weiss felt the total weight of everything they saw and experienced crash into her like a tidal wave. The truth was suffocating.
Whitley had told them what happened after they were safe. He was in the library when he heard gunfire outside in the hall. Upon investigation, he was horrified to see a group of robots attacking their fellow guards with crude weapons. None of the robots put up much of a fight, letting their attackers take them apart.
He'd locked himself in the library when the attacking robots spotted him and called Weiss. Mother rushed in to rescue him after their call cut off. They both tried to escape, but the robots on guard stopped them from going further. Mother's Aura broke during the altercation with them. They fled to Whitley's bedroom for refuge as a last resort. Had he not unlocked his Semblance at that moment, they would've died then and there.
Weiss didn't know what to make of his story until the resident upstairs turned on the news. It was a perfect set-up to place further blame on the Faunus. After all, there were no survivors left to tell the truth.
Still, would Father go as far as to harm his only Heir for his political campaign? He sounded genuinely upset in the television broadcast. She didn't buy that he faked his agitation. Father was rotten, but Weiss still had difficulty accepting he'd assassinate Whitley and Mother. There must be more to the story, or she was being foolish again.
Regardless of the truth, they'd failed to protect anyone in the Estate.
Guilt poisoned her every thought. She replayed the past few days on repeat in her head, her nails digging into her palms each time she recalled a point where she could've done something different.
Adam wasn't only right about Atlas Huntsmen, but he was right that she'd been overly optimistic about helping the Faunus. Weiss couldn't believe she promised to make a difference for his people. How naive of her.
Who did she think she was?
All she's ever been was delusional.
"We still need to find a way back to Atlas," Jaune said, pacing feverishly back and forth. "They can't keep spreading lies like this."
"There's no point, Jaune," Weiss snapped. She couldn't see why Jaune still felt it necessary to keep fighting a war they were never meant to win.
"People will die if we don't try to help them–"
"Those robots are going to destroy us the moment we step into Atlas. At best, they'll blame our murder on the Faunus again and at worst we disappear like that other Huntsmen team."
"We can't give up!"
"We don't have a choice! Even if we manage to tell the others, what will change? It's us against all Atlas Military for all we know."
"So what? You think we should live out the rest of our days as fugitives in Mantle?" Yang challenged. "Doing nothing will only make the situation worse, Weiss."
"What good have we been doing up until this point, Yang? The people we're supposed to protect have been getting arrested for defending themselves while we're patting ourselves on the back for having a license!
"We ignored Adam and Blake when they tried to warn us about this. What makes us so different from them?"
"I-I know, but…" Yang's jaw tightened as she struggled to come up with an argument.
"We couldn't even save my mother." Weiss turned her back towards them and pretended to wipe the dust out of her eyes. "Adam and Blake are dead for all we know. Anything could've happened while we were fucking around in Atlas…"
Yang and Jaune went quiet. She couldn't believe they still wanted to keep fighting. It's already a lost battle.
"I know it looks bad right now-"
"It doesn't just look bad. It is bad - worse than anything we could've imagined," she cut off Jaune. "There's nothing more we can do."
"Weiss-"
She ignored Jaune and isolated herself in a dark corner. She collapsed on the ground, burying her face in her hands.
The fears she had about Adam's fate raged like a furious thunderstorm. Each scenario was more gruesome than the last, but they all shared a single commonality. They always ended in Adam losing his life.
It was all her fault. If she hadn't been so stubborn about Winter and Atlas Military, she could've been there for him. She ruined everything because she blindly trusted her sister and a profession that was supposed to protect people equally.
Now he was gone because of her.
The worst part was she didn't even know where to find his remains. What happened to the bodies of the people killed by the robots? Did they burn them? Throw them out for the Grimm to destroy? Or did they dismember them and scatter the remains into the wilderness?
Was he alone when he took his final breath?
An invisible weight crushed her chest. She almost wished he hadn't met her again. At least then, he'd be spared from whatever tragic fate those robots put him through.
Someone took a seat beside her. Weiss presumed it was either Jaune or Yang. Weiss turned away from the person beside her without saying a word. She hoped her cold reception would give them the hint to back off, but they stayed.
"What happened to your bold claims that Huntsmen were heroes?" Whitley was the last person she expected to hear from.
She looked up to confirm that she wasn't hearing things, but sure enough, her brother was sitting beside her. He folded his arms over his chest as he stared at the other side of the room. His sleeves were still down.
"You got all pissy with me after I insulted Winter's career choice," he went on when she didn't respond. "It's a horrible time to change your mind about it now."
"That was before I knew better."
"What's there to know? Your job is to swing some overly elaborate weapon around until the problem gets fixed."
"It's not that simple." She balled her hands into fists. "Huntresses and Huntsmen are supposed to protect people. We aren't supposed to be bigots like Father. We're not supposed to ignore job requests from Faunus clients or assume they're all criminals without proper evidence first!"
The room tensed when her voice bounced off the decrepit walls. The resident upstairs didn't notice as the second floor remained silent.
"You seem passionate about this whole Faunus thing." Whitley shifted uncomfortably. "I always thought it was about fighting the Grimm not…defending the Faunus."
Weiss couldn't be mad at Whitely for speaking as if the Faunus were monsters. He wouldn't have such horrible ideas if she helped him escape Father's influence. She failed him in more ways than one.
"It was never about fighting the Grimm for me," she replied with an exhausted sigh.
"Then why did you take Winter's offer?"
"It doesn't matter anymore. Fighting for the Faunus is far more important than whatever I wanted back then."
"How could fighting for the Faunus be that important?
"The only reason I'm still here is because of all the Faunus that helped me in Mistral. Without them, I'd be dead right now."
Whitely seemed taken aback by her response. For once, he didn't have a clever retort to throw back at her.
"I made a promise to some very important people that I'd use my training to help create a better future for the Faunus. I thought being a Huntress like Winter meant I could do some good in the world...because that's what a Huntress is supposed to be. A hero.
"I was stupid to believe there were heroes in real life." She laughed darkly. "I was even more stupid to think I could ever do anything heroic."
She couldn't even stand up to her father. How did she ever expect to stand up for those who didn't have a voice?
Yang and Jaune looked worryingly at her, and Whitley studied her with a tense expression. The corner she'd taken refuge in felt all too small now. She helped herself up to her feet and stumbled to the other side of the building.
"You saved me from those killer robots," Whitley said before she could make it halfway across the room. "I thought that was pretty heroic."
Lies.
"I also abandoned you at home with Father," she reminded him. "And I failed Mother."
The lump at the back of her throat threatened to suffocate her, but she still did not feel sad. It was like her body felt the true weight of their Mother's passing while her mind did not care.
"But you came back for us." Whitely caught up, stopping right behind her.
"Look what good that did. We're hiding in some shitty building with nowhere else to go."
"I'm alive because of you."
"Sooner or later, those things will find us and then what? We can't keep running forever. I just delayed the inevitable."
"Do you know what makes you different from Winter?"
The question made Weiss curious enough to turn and face her brother. He blushed and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Winter's strong and successful in the Military, but she's never dropped by to see how I'm doing. She's never apologised for abandoning me, and she's never left me a way to contact her. You were the only one who did that."
Weiss shook her head. He made it sound like she did a better job at being a sister than Winter. It was absurd. She was misinterpreting his words in a desperate attempt to make herself feel better.
"It doesn't make up for what I did," she protested.
"I still owe you my life because you left me a lifeline. Mother was happy to see you too, c-couldn't you tell?"
Seeing Whitley tear up made it even more difficult to keep her composure.
"You're a hero not because you're a Huntress or because you're like Winter." Whitely looked sheepishly down at his feet. "To me, you're a hero because of who you are."
Weiss stared at her brother, wide-eyed and completely speechless. She couldn't believe Whitley, of all people, was telling her this. Was she, a girl who couldn't even face her father without breaking down, truly enough?
"Y-you mean that?" she asked him anyway.
"Yeah." He looked her in the eyes again. "So what if your colleagues are less ethical than you thought? You're still here, right? You can do what they won't."
"He's right." Yang walked over to them, resting a firm hand on her shoulder. "Just because other Huntsmen are shitty doesn't mean we're like them. We won't turn our backs on people who need help."
"Yeah, we can still do the right thing even if they don't," Jaune added, joining the rest of them. "Give yourself more credit, Weiss. You're not like your sister – i-in a good way, of course."
She was…enough?
Weiss couldn't stop mulling over the shiny new idea blossoming in her mind. Was this another delusion she was feeding herself?
"We've all made some bad decisions recently. But as long as we're still here, we can fix our mistakes." Yang smiled. "You said weren't going to assume the worst, right? I'm completely behind you on that. I'm not going to assume we've lost until the very end, and I'm not going to believe Blake's gone until we find her body."
"This is far from over," Jaune promised. "We'll get through this. No matter what happens, we're going to find a way to make things right as a team."
Weiss still believed they were trying to see a silver lining that didn't exist. She couldn't see how Yang and Jaune could still hold onto hope after everything they'd been through.
But she wanted to hope.
She wanted to believe they weren't too late – that they could still fix their mistake and save the people of Mantle. She wanted to believe Adam was still out there.
She saved her brother from an orchestrated murder, and they were still alive despite being hunted all over Mantle. Maybe it wasn't so naive to believe they stood a chance.
"Okay," she said. "Let's find a way to fix this."
Yang beamed, pulling both her and Jaune into a tight bear hug.
"That's what I love to hear." Yang squeezed all the air out of her lung. "We're not going to let some hunk of metal beat our asses."
"Yang, I need air," Jaune complained.
Yang laughed, letting Weiss go so she could torment Jaune with an even tighter embrace. Weiss couldn't remember the last time she heard Yang laugh. It brought a smile back to her face.
"I never knew you got your license," Whitely added quietly while Jaune tried to pry himself from Yang's grip.
"It's a bit of a long story," she replied. "Not that it matters anymore. We're fugitives at this point."
"Well…congratulations still…I never knew you could get one so soon."
"Thanks." She hesitated for a moment before wrapping her arms around him.
He sheepishly returned the hug. He felt so thin. If she hugged him too tight, she might hurt him.
"Thanks for saying all those things earlier, Whitley. I really needed to hear that."
"I was only speaking my mind. Y-you don't have to be so melodramatic…"
"I promise I'll make it up to you somehow." She gave him one last gentle squeeze before letting go.
He turned his head away, but she still caught the small smile on his face.
"So what should we do next?" Yang directed her question at Jaune.
"Would it be too farfetched to say we should try and hijack an Atlas airship?" That earned Jaune a painful punch on the arm from Yang.
"I'm being serious."
"Ow! To be fair, I don't know where to go from here. Weiss wasn't completely wrong when she said it would be dangerous to try and get back to Atlas."
"We still haven't found any clues about Blake."
"True, but we also understand their last message more. I'm convinced they were trying to tell us about the hacked Scrolls."
The room held its breath when metal footsteps approached the front of their building. Whitely hid behind Weiss while she kept her hand on her sword. They locked their eyes on the boarded-up entryway, bracing themselves for the robots to tear through the wooden planks.
The footsteps passed by without missing a beat. No one spoke a word until the world went silent again.
"Do you think they also found a place to lie low?" Yang whispered.
"They must've. I don't see how either Adam or Blake would want to stay out in the open," Jaune breathed. "If they're careful, they can camp in an abandoned building for days without drawing any attention to themselves."
Weiss knew Adam was careful enough to pull that off, but Mantle was enormous. It might take them weeks to track down the abandoned building they were occupying.
"There's just one thing I still don't understand, though. Adam mentioned something about feathers in his message. Unless Mantle has a local chicken farm somewhere, I have no idea what he could be referring to."
Weiss' heart skipped a beat at the mention of feathers.
"Maybe they're hiding in a pillow factory?" Yang speculated. "At least they'd have something soft to sleep on."
"He wasn't referring to a place," Weiss gasped.
The idea was crazy. Weiss didn't know if she was about to lure them all into a trap or if they were finally going to reunite with their friends. But it was the only other solution she could think of. The tricky part was going to be making contact with them.
They couldn't waltz into the soup kitchen where dozens of vulnerable Faunus and volunteers would be. There had to be a more discreet way to contact them. Maybe that's why May gave them both such a cryptic message before she left Orchid.
"I have an idea."
Weiss hurried to the backdoor where they'd entered from, gingerly cracking it open. There was not a single soul in sight.
"I'm not sure if we're looking for a literal object, a poster, drawing, or whatever. We'll need to keep our eyes peeled." She pushed the door open and scanned the dark alleyway, inspecting every crack and graffiti mark for hints of a feather.
"You think they left clues for us to follow?" Jaune asked, catching up with her.
"No, but I think they followed clues left by someone else. I need you guys to look out for robin feathers."
There is someone who really loves Knightshade here lol. I really love the enthusiasm but I'm gonna have to spoil the story a bit and say that ship doesn't exist in this AU ^^;
We do have some small platonic scenes with Jaune and Blake if that helps (?) Just wanted to clarify in case someone is here for some hardcore Knightshade content!
Thanks to BrazeRancor, denewyosh, Iwr1918, AlexusAP, blazingshade3, Frank, Kaze, Gleaming Onyx, and a Guest reader for the reviews!
See you guys next week and take care!