The dazzling embers at the corners of Harriet's eyes swelled and flared intermittently in a display of raw, uncontrolled power. She scuttled backward across the floor, breathing heavily as she tried to get away from Marrow and Clover while everyone else simply stared in shock. The only sound in the room other than Harriet's panicked whimpering was that of General Ironwood's scroll hitting the floor as it slipped from his hand.
"…Bree..?"
"I-I didn't…" the woman began, still scooting backward toward the wall of windows as the violet plumes began to stabilize. "I could hear her voice, a-and then she just… why is this happening to me? I can't become the Winter Maiden!"
"…Fria had a problem with fixating on events," Clover said slowly as he stood upright. "You were the first to be kind to her when she came to us. Her first contact in Atlas…"
"S-so she thought of me?" Harriet asked as her back touched the glass, her breaths still wild and panicked. "When she… Fria is…"
"…you ordered her to be executed," Yang said as she moved into General Ironwood's line of sight. "That's why Winter isn't here. You just ordered Winter to kill her for a tactical advantage…"
Again, the room fell into uncomfortable silence other than the noises of distress from Harriet. All eyes turned to General Ironwood as he took a long, stabilizing inhale. He stared down Yang, unblinking despite the fierceness in her gaze.
"Yes. I did," the man said coldly. "As per our plan- the plan that Fria agreed to. The plan that all of the Aces, and all of you were made aware of well ahead of time so that such a thing wouldn't come as a surprise. We don't have time t-"
"She was still a person that you just ordered to die!" Yang yelled, taking an aggressive step forward.
"We are at war!" General Ironwood retorted, the volume of his own voice rising to a level that made Yang flinch and recoil as he pointed emphatically toward the floor. "We are at war, and we have already been caught unprepared! The power of the Maiden is a necessary edge, and this is the first of many sacrifices we will need to make in order to stand our ground against Salem! If you don't have the stomach for the reality of what we need to do to survive, then leave!"
Yang clenched her fists and showed her teeth as Harriet got to her feet and turned to look at her reflection in the glass.
"…I don't want this…" Harriet said slowly as she inspected her hands, her voice devoid of emotion. "I can't do this. I can't be responsible for something on this level…"
The attention in the room was divided between General Ironwood, Yang, and Harriet as the Ace looked up at the glass once again. Marrow was the first to realize that she was no longer looking at herself- her gaze was angled downward and through the fragile barrier.
"Harriet, don't do anything desperate," the faunus warned as he began to walk toward her. "Talk to us…"
"I refuse to be a part of this," Harriet said as she looked over her shoulder at her colleague. "This is too much. It's too far. I… I'm sorry."
"Amin, stop her!" General Ironwood said quickly. "That's an order!"
"Don't you dare try!" Harriet hissed as she turned around to face Marrow fully. Swirls of icy blue began to coalesce around her fists, and she began to shiver in response to the sudden temperature drop within the room. "If you use your semblance, I will never forgive you…"
"We need her secured now!" General Ironwood emphasized. "We h-"
"She isn't an object!" Yang roared.
"General, please!" Weiss tried as Marrow closed his eyes in frustration.
"I'm not securing her," Marrow asserted as he moved to stand directly between Harriet and General Ironwood. "Yang is right. Harriet is a person, and a friend to all of us. She isn't a weapon to keep under lock and key and then throw into action as needed!"
"I am acutely aware of that," General Ironwood said, his anger barely restrained behind an even and insistent tone. "But we need to move now. The ramifications of this development, Fria, Winter… everything that isn't protecting Mantle can wait! If you won't carry out orders…"
Suddenly, the fallen scroll on the floor began to ring. General Ironwood stooped down to pick up the device and connect the call, which he immediately put on speakerphone while keeping his eyes on Harriet.
"Speak."
"Something's wrong," Winter's voice said in a panicked tone. "It's… I-I did it, b-"
"Harriet is the Winter Maiden," General Ironwood said simply, interrupting her. "We always knew that Maiden inheritance was fickle and uncontrollable, but… we're dealing with a situation here. Get here now."
"Understood," Winter acknowledged, her voice shaky.
General Ironwood disconnected the call and pocketed his scroll before her cracked his neck. The man closed his eyes, seemingly lost in thought.
"…fuck this. Fuck all of this," Yang declared. "Harriet… come on. Let's get out of here."
"She isn't going anywhere," General Ironwood countered.
"Don't threaten me," Harriet growled as she took a step closer to Marrow. "I don't care that you're my superior. I just completely lost control of my life, and I'm not letting you take more of it."
"Listen to me," Ironwood insisted as he raised his hands in a gesture to try to defuse the situation. He met Harriet's eyes with a look of genuine sympathy as his tone softened considerably. "Bree. Harriet. I… understand. I know what you must be feeling right now, and I reacted… poorly to your situation…"
"You have no idea what I'm feeling," Harriet insisted as the burgeoning energy around her fists dissipated. "How much this hurts. How can I trust you?"
"…I don't," General Ironwood admitted with a shake of his head. "But I'm sorry. Truly. I panicked, and your welfare should have been my first concern before discussing anything else. This is a high-pressure situation, and you needed my support in an emergency. I failed in that… but I'm not going to allow such a thing to happen again. You're not going anywhere because you need to be checked out. The rest of us will handle the situation in Mantle. Schnee will take you to the med bay, and once I return… we'll talk. One on one. Please, just… trust in me. Trust in all of us."
"…the General is not a bad man," Corsac finally chimed in as he approached Harriet. "He is a flawed one, to be sure, and one thrust into an unfortunate scenario, the burden of which now rests firmly upon his shoulders, but he is not a bad man. I know bad men, and I have served them before. Harriet… we do, indeed, need to get moving in spite of your situation. I agree with Marrow- you shouldn't do anything drastic. Go with Winter. Give this time. Lean on us, and trust in General Ironwood. We'll support you as soon as we have the time to do so."
Harriet turned and braced her palms upon the general's desk, her shoulders tense. She closed her eyes as the door to the office let out a soft shiff, signaling that Winter had arrived.
"…get going," Harriet said, her tone completely deflated and her voice wavering. "I'll… stay. I'll get through this. Mantle needs us…"
"Mantle needs us," Marrow echoed as he approached his colleague. "Hey."
Harriet turned to face the faunus with a sniffle and launched herself into his arms the moment he spread them to offer a hug. The pair squeezed each other tightly, and Marrow leaned in to whisper into Harriet's ear.
"I'm so sorry… but you're strong. We'll be back soon."
As the pair broke contact, the assembled fighters organized themselves into their squads near the door. Winter walked in looking as though she had seen a ghost. Despite Weiss' efforts to catch her sister's eyes, the older Schnee kept her gaze dead ahead, looking past Harriet.
"…I need to get to the med bay," Harriet said. "Let's go…"
"Yes," Winter acknowledged. "Let's… get it done."
Blake had read and reread the same page, or in truth, the same line in one of the books she'd found in her temporary room within Lil' Miss Malachite's compound so many times that she had lost count. Even so, she had absolutely no idea what she had read, to the point that the words forming the sentence seemed unfamiliar each time she tried. Even though she hadn't found an opportunity to read for pleasure for ages, Blake simply couldn't manage to get into it- her mind was entirely elsewhere.
All that the faunus could think about was Sun, and whether or not he had made it to Atlas alive.
A series of three knocks broke Blake out of her worrisome haze and drew her attention to Neptune, who stood shirtless in the open doorway of the room.
"…not even trying to sleep, huh?"
"I am, actually," Blake denied as she sat up atop the mattress and let the book fall into her lap. "I… usually read in bed, and then just eventually fall asleep. I've woken up with a book on my face more times than I'd like to admit…"
"Yeah?" Neptune asked as he slowly walked into the borrowed room, inspecting its rather homey décor. "And how many times have you woken up with one of the pages spotted with drool because of that?"
"…no comment," Blake answered as Neptune deposited himself upon the bed beside her. "I see you're up and about."
"…I don't think I can sleep," Neptune admitted with a shrug. "Daisuke's already out like a light. I envy him."
"I don't," Blake replied. "Knowing how I feel about Sun's safety right now, I have some idea what he must be feeling about Cinnamon. Still… must be nice to be able to actually sleep. This might be our last night in a secure location for a long time…"
"Then we should probably make it count," Neptune suggested as he flopped backwards and let his arms hang back past his head. "Wanna just… hang out and talk until we pass out?"
Blake responded by falling back in kind, her book resting upon her stomach.
"Not like I have any better ideas. What's on your mind?"
"Right now?" Neptune asked. "Honestly… how if you were a dude, I'd totally just be walking around nude. I miss driving Sun crazy by never wearing clothes at night."
"…he has mentioned that little habit of yours," Blake replied with a smirk. "But I'm glad you chose not to. No offense, but there's only one guy I don't mind walking around naked."
"Qrow?" Neptune joked.
Blake merely rolled her eyes, though she couldn't help but smirk at the low-effort attempt.
"You got it in one. The guy old enough to be my dad who also happens to be my friend's uncle. That's what gets me all hot and bothered."
"Yeah, I bet," Neptune said sarcastically. "Gonna be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing our lizard-tailed companion. Nudity doesn't really bother me, and he has some sweet tattoos. I'd like to get a good look at 'em."
"…ever thought about getting some ink done yourself?" Blake asked with a lazy yawn.
"…once or twice," Neptune considered. "Thing is, I've never really figured out what I'd want to get. Nothing really meaningful comes to mind, and I wouldn't want it to be something I'd regret later."
"How about a bat?"
Blake could tell without looking that Neptune was glaring at her. She kept her eyes on the ceiling as a grin crept across her features.
"…you're evil, you know that?"
"I dabble," Blake said with a shrug. "Hey, tell me something- in all seriousness, do you think we're going to make it?"
Neptune followed Blake's gaze up to the beige ceiling. He spent a moment wrestling with his thoughts before seeing fit to answer.
"…I don't know anymore… but I do know that if we don't, I'm glad I got to fight alongside you, Sun, and a whole bunch of others. Let's try to make the good times we've got left the best that we can."
"I guess that really is all we can do, at this point," Blake agreed. "I appreciate the honesty…"
"…this has gotta be the end of the world," Qrow muttered to himself as he warmed his hands over the small campfire he had erected upon a patch of frozen dirt. "Just a matter of time, now…"
The man stood up and peered over the edge of the snow-covered cliffside at the city far in the distance. Argus was under siege, and buildings were burning near the gates. Grimm of all sizes patrolled the lands between the base of the cliff and the city itself, while the sky was pocked with winged blights circling high above. Even higher up was a whale-like grimm nearly the size of the city itself, seemingly suspended in midair as its fins undulated to a silent rhythm. Though the exact number of casualties and the state of resistance deeper in the city was uncertain, the air was strangely silent save for the screams of grimm. Qrow only knew one thing for sure- Argus had already been lost.
It took a while for Qrow to tear his eyes from the spectacle and fish his scroll out of his pocket. Predictably, there was no signal in range from any of his companions, and the only frequency he could reach on the device was Caroline Cordovin's repeated distress call. He pocketed the device with a grumble and shook his head in disgust.
It was then that a brilliant, deep red light manifested behind him. Qrow turned around just in time to see the portal fully open as several figures appeared within the gateway.
Author's Note:
…correct!
-RD