CONTENT WARNING
This chapter contains mentions of slavery and abuse that may be disturbing to some readers.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Weiss' hands shook as she pushed the bookshelf ajar, freezing when the wood groaned. She waited for the silence to stretch on before pushing it the rest of the way open. The Library was the same as last time, with not a single book out of place.
Yang kissed Blake once they were safely inside. Weiss turned her back to them, giving them as much privacy as she could in the open space.
"You okay?" Adam approached her.
"That should be my question." Weiss searched him for any signs of injury.
"Cutting down a couple of tin cans is nothing. I could do this all night."
"My hero," she laughed softly, pecking his cheek.
"Oi, lovebirds, we're still not out of danger yet." Robyn made her way towards the exit.
"I-it'll be faster if we take the stairs up from here." Weiss cleared her throat, pointing to the white staircase. "Father's office is on the second floor."
Robyn nodded in thanks and made her way up. Adam waited until Robyn lost sight of them to steal another kiss from her.
"Your boss isn't going to like seeing you kissing on the job," Weiss teased lightly.
"She isn't here to see that, now is she?" He pressed another kiss on her lips before pulling back.
They hurried up to the second landing. Robyn waited until everyone huddled by the exit before cracking the door open. She went silent for a moment before easing it to shut again.
"We have a problem," Robyn whispered. "The hallway is crawling with those things. There's nothing for us to use as cover."
"They already know we're here. We might as well push through with force before backup arrives," Yang said, cracking her knuckle.
"How far is your dad's office from here?" Adam asked Weiss.
"It's not a long walk. I'm not sure how long the guards out there will delay us, though."
"We'll be fine," Yang assured her. "I've been dying to kick ass all night."
"I suppose we don't have a choice." Robyn loaded her crossbow. "Weiss will take the lead from here on out. Everyone else, give her a clear path. We want to cut the time she needs to get us to the office."
Weiss' heart dropped. Even without Father's presence in the Manor, she still felt him watching her every move. It was like the Manor itself knew the treason she was about to commit.
What if this was all an elaborate trap Father set up? What if he already knew she was trying to break in? If they all somewhere get arrested, or worse, it'll be her fault.
Adam's hand pressed on the small of her back as he leaned close to her ear.
"It'll be okay. We're right behind you," he whispered. "Whatever happens, you aren't alone."
She could do this. There was no point getting scared over what-if scenarios. With everyone by her side, there was nothing Father could do to hurt her. She had nothing to be afraid of.
She wasn't alone anymore.
Weiss took a deep breath before drawing her sword out from her side.
"Okay," she said, squaring her shoulders and holding her head high. "We're going straight."
Robyn kicked the doors open. Robots crowded the hallway. Weiss counted at least ten guards patrolling up and down the hall in pairs. Their heads all turned to them.
Robyn and Fiona took out the robots closest to them. Adam and Blake ran out first, beginning to clear a safe path for them. Weiss rushed out next. Jaune and Yang trailed after her, picking off stray robots that were still functional. Robyn and Fiona's arrows zipped by her as she ran, penetrating through the heads of incoming robots in the distance.
Adrenaline and gunfire numbed the terror in her heart. She swallowed her fear and pressed for speed.
Weiss led them down two more turns before their target was in sight. Their attacks grew more frantic once she announced they'd finally arrived.
Tired of letting others fight on her behalf, she threw herself into the battle. Robyn and Fiona fired their Dust-infused arrows, scattering fire and ice into the crowd of androids. Weiss' Glyphs boosted her team's agility as well as her own. She skated through the crowd of robots with her blade burning, slicing apart her targets like paper as she went. Victory was their's to take when Adam and Yang's Semblances blazed through the corridor like fire.
A hush fell over the hall when the final robot fell. Electronic parts and pieces of metal littered the corridor like disembowelled corpses.
"There's going to be more coming," Jaune said as they converged around the office door. Blake knelt to pick the lock.
"I can keep them off our backs." Weiss created two thick walls of ice on either side of the office entrance. She further reinforced it by creating a stone layer with Orange Dust.
"Good thinking," Robyn said. "But I still want two of you standing guard in case those walls break."
"I can do that," Yang volunteered.
"Me too," Blake said as the lock finally gave in with a soft click.
A chill crawled down Weiss' spine as Blake pushed open the door. Cold air snaked out from the pitch-black room.
"Let us know when the barriers begin to weaken," Robyn ordered Yang and Blake. "Weiss, do you know if there are cameras inside?"
"I've never been inside before," Weiss confessed. She hadn't considered what kind of security Father would install in his study.
"I can check." Adam threw his hood over his head and went inside first.
He fired several rounds into the room. Her ears rang when a tense silence settled in the space between them.
"We're clear."
The lights inside flickered on.
There's no turning back now. Weiss tightened her hold around her sword and stepped inside.
Father's office was a completely different world compared to the rest of the Manor. Dark wood floors replaced their blue tiles, and the light from his chandelier stained the room yellow. Bookshelves lined the entirety of his walls. At a glance, she recognised some of the texts she studied as a child.
A life-sized portrait of Father glared at them from the end of the room. It must've been painted before she was born as it depicted Father with a full head of dark hair. His eyes remained the same, cold and unloving. His gaze followed her as she moved through the room. No matter where she went, he scrutinised her every move.
Robyn made a beeline for the computer on Father's mahogany office desk. She pulled out a folded piece of paper Weiss and Whitley had provided for a list of potential passwords.
"Look around and let Fiona know once you've found something," Robyn said, already typing in one of the passwords written down.
They got to work, leafing through every book, looking over every stray piece of paper, and tearing out every object from the bookshelves in hopes of finding something – anything.
They found nothing.
The only thing out of place was an old newspaper clipping of Father attending a promotional party for Orin Blackwood, the Huntsman Sienna had butchered so many years ago. Weiss didn't understand why a stupid party was significant enough for him to keep a whole article preserved on his shelf.
Father's eyes never stopped watching her fruitless search. His frozen grin mocked her every move – taunting her for taking on a mission way above skill level. Weiss hurled a useless biography into the wall, ignoring the concerned looks from her team.
Robyn hadn't stopped trying to access the computer, but the furrow on her brow told Weiss their list of potential passwords was running thin. Muffled gunshots outside grew louder as time went on.
It didn't make any sense. Why would Father be so protective of his office if nothing was damning to find? Why did someone in the Military scare him so much?
It wasn't as simple as keeping people away from his personal space. If that were true, his bed chambers would've been equally guarded. There was something that she wasn't seeing, and their ticking time limit made her too nervous to consider what to do next.
Weiss kicked one of the shelves in frustration, producing a dull thump. Her heart dropped when she recalled the secret passageway in the library.
Weiss had always assumed she was the only one who knew about the hidden rooms and passages. She never thought anyone else in the family knew about the Manor's secrets. If they did, who was to say they would tell anyone?
Weiss pushed and pulled the wooden bookshelf in any way she could. When that showed no signs of budging, she tried the next one. She must've made quite a concerning sight when Adam asked if she'd like to sit down.
"There might be something behind these shelves," she explained curtly. "I can't be sure, but what if it's here?"
That was enough to convince everyone else to begin testing the shelves. Still, there was nothing. No matter how much they tried ripping the shelves out, there was nothing to find.
Weiss was a jittery mess when she made it to Father's portrait. The painting towered over her like the night butchered her courage. Father's unblinking eyes stared soullessly back at her. She froze, paralysed by the uncanny realism in the painting.
Weiss clenched her teeth, conjuring up the memory of Robyn's family portrait and all the preparations being made to help the Faunus enslaved by the SDC. She remembered every Faunus she's met from Mistral to Atlas – the promise she made to Violet. She remembered what happened to Adam's family and the scar that controlled his life afterwards.
Weiss looked up at Father's portrait in defiance, matching its cold stare with a fierce glare of her own. This wasn't just about her anymore.
She won't let Father hurt any more innocent people.
This nightmare ends with her.
Weiss pressed her hands against the frame of his portrait, the wood icy to the touch, and pushed.
The wall opened up with a blast of cold air.
A hush fell in the room when fluorescent lights in the hidden room flickered on. Even Robyn stopped typing to look into the space.
White-tiled floors and blank grey walls contrasted the dark wood and patterned wallpaper that made up Father's office. Row upon row of grey filing cabinets filled the space, like a brigade of soldiers ready for war. At the end of the room was a desk facing a map of Solitas. Colourful pins marked various spots on the map.
Weiss approached a cabinet labelled "Items A, M3". The current year was printed on the cabinet label. Her heart raced as she pulled open the drawer. Yellowed folders organised by letters and numbers filled the drawer to its brim.
#A0A - A0M, #A0N - A1A… and on it went.
Jaune, Adam, and Fiona converged around her, and Robyn's typing resumed outside. Weiss leafed through a folder labelled #A3N - A45 and randomly pulled out a piece of paper.
ID: #A4D65E
Species: Goat
Age: 15 (f)
Origin: Anima
Brand Identification: SDC
Brand Location: Right shoulder blade
Status: Functioning with light maintenance
Notes:
Weakening physical endurance.
May require cleaning before selling at the next auction house.
A full-body photograph of a bony girl with hallow green eyes was paper clipped at the corner of the page. A metal collar locked around her throat, and brown work coveralls clung to her thin body.
Jaune cursed and stepped out of the room. Weiss couldn't blame him. She wanted to burn every single filing cabinet in sight.
Fiona lightly pushed her aside and took out the folders in bulk. Weiss blinked in surprise when the folders absorbed into her hands.
"Look inside and see if there's more information about where they are. I'll try to take as many of these as I can," Fiona spoke without looking her in the eyes.
Weiss nodded numbly and handed the paper back to Fiona. Adam followed her to the map at the very back of the room. The pins piercing the map all had a small annotation written beside it.
M1, M2, M3…
There were so many marked locations across Solitas, more than she knew from her studies about their mining locations. Some annotations were crossed out and had no pins attached to them.
"I'm going to tell her we found more," Adam said quietly. His voice was deceptively calm.
Wanting to keep her hands busy, Weiss explored the steel desk. More folders were tucked in the drawers, but unlike the cabinets, they contained information about the guards.
Each file had details about where the guards lived, their family members' location, and other information Weiss didn't know how Father obtained legally. Every guard walked away with a generous paycheck. It was enough to retire early and put a kid through higher education.
Guards with exceptionally high pay had additional notes detailing what earned them that promotion.
"Went above and beyond to discipline the new fawns." One note read. "Despite running low on supplies, electrical cables were used to help train-"
Weiss couldn't bring herself to finish reading. She wanted to throw up.
"I can take over from here," Fiona said gently beside her. Weiss wasn't even sure when she'd snuck up on her. "Can you try to dig out more files? The more recent, the better."
"Yeah."
Weiss caught Jaune's eyes when he walked back in. They stared blankly at each other before parting to look through more cabinets.
Weiss worked on autopilot. She mechanically opened drawer after drawer for Fiona, choosing to target cabinets with the most recent years labelled.
She wasn't sure when she found her way back to Adam again. He was sifting through an old cardboard box on the floor. Several stacks of boxes were pressed against the wall beside him. Each box had a year written on it, going as far back as fifteen years ago. A paper shredder sat in the corner of the room. The blinking red light indicated it needed emptying.
He was looking for his family.
A sharp pain clenched her heart.
Weiss took one of the stacks of boxes dated to around the time she was five and looked with him. All she saw were nameless victims staring back at her.
When she went to pick up another box, a particular package caught her eye. It was a tiny white box wedged between the wall and the main stack. Unlike the other packages, this one only had the word retired written on it.
Curious, Weiss pulled the white box out for further examination. She popped open the lid, her heart dropping at the photograph of Orin Blackwood wearing an old guard's uniform.
Weiss fished out his file, scanning over the page with burning curiosity. His pay was ridiculously high – higher than any of his other colleagues. She hesitated for a second before delving deeper into the notes about his promotion.
Notes:
Promotion granted upon good leadership, good judgement, and appropriate execution of #CB7119's accomplices.
Blackwood discovered #CB7119 attempting to bribe Human Guards for an unknown favour. Blackwood led a 6-month campaign by himself to seduce #CB7119 and gain its trust. He soon discovered #CB7119's family's plan to escape.
The rebels were caught on the night of the escape attempt, with #CB7119 executed by Blackwood at gunpoint.
Of the four rebels caught, Blackwood proposed #A0522D should be spared on the reason of high sales returns.
#A0522D was personally punished by Blackwood to set an example for the rest of the herd. Blackwood disciplined #A0522D publically with sixteen lashes daily. To discourage further rebellion, Blackwood kept #A0522D in isolation, restricted food access, and...
Weiss' tears blurred the rest of the note. She couldn't imagine what it was like to be betrayed by someone who likely promised them freedom and a chance to start a new life. From the way it was written, his victim might have even fallen for him.
The fact that Blackwood later became a successful Huntsman made her furious. It didn't matter if he ended up losing his life early. The punishment wasn't enough.
"You can take a break if you need," Adam said quietly.
Weiss shook her head, crumbling the paper into a tight ball and throwing it against the wall.
"I'm not stopping until we find them." She kicked the white box away and continued looking through the brown boxes again.
"...Thank you."
They went through box after box without any success. Weiss leafed through the files in her fifth box, wondering about their chances of recovering his parents' files when a flash of red passed. She backtracked and stopped when she found it again. Her blood went cold when she pulled the paper out.
A photo of Adam stared blankly back at her.
He was pale as snow, save for the purple bruise on his swollen right cheek. Thick iron shackles hung from his bound hands and legs with a single chain connecting them to his collar.
The SDC logo on his face was red and blistered. The skin around it swelled with a pasty white tint.
While his expression was neutral, the pain in his eye made her chest hurt. He was a kid who wanted to reunite with his family in the afterlife.
She set his file aside and continued looking through the box.
His mother was easy to spot. She'd never forgotten about the kind red-haired lady who caught them together. His father was harder to find, but she recognised those brilliant blue eyes anywhere.
"I found your parents."
He moved to look over her shoulder. Weiss heard him take a sharp breath. She slipped the photos from beneath the paperclip and handed them to him. Adam accepted the photographs without a word, staring at them with an unreadable expression. She laid a hand on his knee and looked away.
Her eyes trailed back to the files of him and his parents. With a heavy weight in her throat, she read what was written about them.
ID: #DC143C
Species: Bull
Age: 13 (m)
Origin: Solitas (homebred)
Brand Identification: SDC
Brand Location: Right shoulder blade, left eye
Status: Stolen
Notes:
Caught seducing the Schnee Heiress. #DC143C must never be left alone.
Heavily restrained at all times (Level S Semblance)
Weakening physical endurance. Reselling is improbable due to property damage. Euthanasia will be considered if its physical condition continues to decline.
…
ID: #E0115F
Species: Bull
Age: 35 (f)
Origin: Anima
Brand Identification: SDC
Brand Location: Right shoulder blade
Status: Dismissed
Notes:
Good physical condition and strong animal traits.
Permitted to breed.
Reason for dismissal: encouraged #DC143C to seduce the Schnee Heiress.
…
ID: #EEDC82
Species: Bull
Age: 38 (m)
Origin: Solitas
Brand Identification: SDC
Brand Location: Right shoulder blade
Status: Dismissed
Notes:
Obedient and agreeable.
Good physical condition and strong animal traits.
Permitted to breed.
Reason for dismissal: encouraged #DC143C to seduce the Schnee Heiress.
"What were their names?" she whispered.
Adam didn't respond at first, staring at his parents' photos without blinking.
"...My mom was Autumn Taurus…and my dad was Jasper Taurus." His voice was so quiet she almost missed it over the muffled gunshots outside.
Weiss repeated his parents' names internally until she knew them by heart.
"I never found out what happened to their bodies…" Adam's trembling hand found its way to hers. Weiss squeezed his hand as tears welled in his eye.
"What were they like?"
"Dad was well-liked by everyone. Some guards went easy on him because he was so kind to everyone…even them. He believed we needed to make the best out of every situation, and he played his role by making everyone else's lives a bit easier."
So that was where Adam got his heart from. Weiss had only seen Jasper once, but she never forgot the night she saw a truly kind and loving father. She regretted not taking the opportunity to meet him when she had the chance.
"Mom was a realist. She never sugarcoated things and was blunt with her words. She used to berate my dad for being overly generous and letting people take advantage of him. Honestly, she wouldn't be too thrilled with us being together, but I know she'd warm up to you. I-if she got the chance to know you…"
Weiss wrapped her arms around him. Adam clutched her, burying his face into her shoulder as the last of his composure crumbled to pieces.
His anguished cries made it impossible for her to keep her tears in. She swallowed the lump in her throat and held him close. There wasn't anything she could say that'll bring his family back. All she could do was hope her comfort alone could ease some of his pain.
They didn't move when Robyn announced she guessed the correct password and didn't pull apart when Fiona called them all to leave the room.
"Take your time," she whispered, kissing him on his head. "We'll leave when you're ready."
She rubbed his back when his sorrow left him shaking. She kissed his head again, quietly promising to stay by his side.
Soft footsteps stopped where they were.
Jaune looked like a deer caught in headlights. If Adam heard him walking in on them, he didn't care. Or he was too caught up in his grief to notice.
Jaune's eyes landed on Adam's file and his photograph on the floor. Fury flashed in his eyes. For a split second, Jaune looked ready to murder someone. Weiss had never seen him so enraged.
He turned his attention back to Weiss and Adam, his expression falling from anger to despair. He knelt beside them and wrapped his arms around both of them.
"We're going to stop him," Jaune promised lowly. "I don't care what we have to do. We're not letting him get away with this."
Weiss couldn't have said it any better herself.
Jaune only let them go when Adam's cries went mute. Adam didn't lift his head from her shoulder even after calming down.
"I'm sorry you have to see me like this," Adam breathed. Weiss wasn't sure if he was talking to her or Jaune.
"Don't be. We're all friends here." Jaune rested a hand on Adam's back. "I'll tell the others you two will catch up. Take all the time you need."
"Thank you."
It was only until Jaune's footsteps faded that Adam pulled back from Weiss. She pulled her sleeve up, gently wiping his face dry. He caught her hand.
"Thank you for leading us here, Weiss."
"Don't. I'm only doing what's right." It was something that should've happened ages ago.
"I'm still grateful you did it." He squeezed her hand.
Fiona and Robyn's voices rose outside. She couldn't tell what they were saying, but whatever they found must've been damning to get them both so worked up.
"We should go. There's still work to do," Adam said, pocketing the photo of his parents.
"Are you sure you're ready? We can stay for a bit longer if you'd like."
"I'll be okay."
They rose to their feet. Adam's attention shifted to his old photograph and the file it was attached to.
"What do you want to do with it?" she asked.
He picked up his old file and his parents', staring at them for a moment before approaching the paper shredder. Weiss turned her back to him when he fed their files into the machine one by one. She studied the other files thrown haphazardly on the floor from his search earlier. Her heart stopped when a familiar pair of eyes stared back at her.
Weiss fell to her knees again, brushing aside the other files to confirm what she was seeing. The child in the photo was tiny. Her brown uniform sagged loosely off her skeletal body like a potato sack. Despite her drastically different appearance, Weiss could never forget those eyes.
She was only twelve.
#A0522D was in place of her real name.
Sienna.
Weiss felt like someone punched her in the gut. She searched the pile of papers on the floor until she found an older woman with the same eyes.
#CB7119 was as starved as Sienna. She was listed as twenty-six on her file despite looking decades older.
Weiss filtered through the pile of discarded papers. There were two more people that could have family ties to Sienna. An older gentleman labelled #CD7F32 and an elderly woman tagged #C04000.
"What are you doing?" Adam asked when he got back to her.
"It's Sienna's family," she said, taking all four photographs and tucking them safely in her pocket.
It didn't feel right to leave them all in the room like this, not when she knew who deserved to see them more than anyone else.
I wish I could experience this chapter as just a reader and not the writer/editor.
I have no idea how heavy the content comes across as a reader, but I can say from a writing and editing perspective, this is the one chapter that always leaves me in a bad mood.
I've written a few dark scenes up until this point, and I find they become easier to revisit when I look at them from an editing perspective. This chapter is the only one where that process doesn't work, and I have no idea if it's because I'm a bit too attached to the characters.
I've also debated censoring some of the finer details, but that felt like an injustice to the story.