The Burning Rose

by King of the unknowns

In an alternate universe, Summer lives and finds Cinder in Atlas. She decided to bring her back to Patch. Due to her traumatic past, Cinder is hesitant to trust the family, but after a close brush with death, she opens up to them and is eventually adopted by the loving family. After a few years of training, she heads off to Beacon to train to become a huntress!

64. A new mission

Adam let out a breath as he stared up at the tv displaying the police raid of the hotel where the riots had taken place. He was in the Grimm invasion shelter where the Atlesians civilians had been evacuated too. There, two of the first year Beacon teams were patrolling the perimeter, keeping a look out to make sure everyone was safe.

It had been two hours since he had escorted the refugees from the attack, two hours since he heard the sound of the sirens blaring, warning of an Grimm invasion, practically begging him to go back and help, abandoning his charges to try to help his team.

Fortunately, not long after reaching the shelter, general Arc himself had reported that a lone Nevermore had slipped past their defenses, and it had been dealt with by the students who were suppressing the riots. A pretty quiet, underwhelming threat, but one that carried hidden undertones of danger, one that was not lost to anyone gathered here.

"I can't believe this." One of them said quietly, staring up at the screen next to the Faunus. "To think Vale has fallen to this level. I can't believe this is the kingdom my grandfather gave his life for."

"I mean, are you surprised?" Another chimed in, shouldering his weapon as he stretched his arms. "These guys lost their jobs, then they had to listen to the Seraphim Agitators who were screaming about Atlas being behind it, then they're claims are proven right. I'm more surprised that it took someone from the SDC coming down here to cause it. Desperate people in desperate situations are prone to desperate actions. I just hope they get lighter sentences because of all that metal manipulation they went through."

Adam bit his lip at this, hand tightening into a fist as they continued talking about a situation they clearly didn't understand. Just because these people had fallen on hard times didn't excuse them pulling this kind of stunt. It had been less than half a year since they had been forced to face the hardships of living without a secure job or source of income. Such inconvenience were little more than a bump in the road.

Back when he had started with the White Fang, shortly after his parents had died and he had been taken in by the Belladonnas, he had seen really hardships almost every day. From blatant racism, abuse in the workplace, the refusal of service, upscaled prices, threats of death or castration, arson to homes, a complete dismissal from the police, the list went on so long, he honestly couldn't remember half of them!

But one thing he always noticed when these injustices were being served out, was how the human in the same position, with the same job title never seemed to get the same treatment.

Staring up at the screen, he once again felt anger rising in his chest. How dare these people go around acting like they had it tough! This was nothing compared to the misery his people went through every day! Most of their peaceful protests turned sour as cops sprayed them down with fire hoses or lossed dogs on them. Event that had left Blake traumatized when one had bitten her leg and refused to let go.

Yet for some reason, when humans began a violent riot, it was all sympathy and understanding. People asking for a lighter sentence instead of pushing for them to be arrested and tried immediately. It sickened him how unfair the treatment the Faunus got that most news outlets seemed to be more than happy to ignore!

But before he could descend further down this line of thought, a sudden shout drew Adam's attention. Jumping to his feet immediately, both him and his classmates rushed to the edge of the shelter, drawing weapons as they went. And upon reaching the top of the heavily fortified doors, they saw what had alerted the lookout team.

There, on the road rattling straight towards them was an armored car, the same kind that the Seraphim had used in their roadblock. A sight that prompted several of the students to raise their guns toward the vehicle, fingers twitching as they rested on their triggers.

However, Adam, the only one without a gun, peered at the truck, squinting to try to make out what was going on. He wasn't so green to think this was some kind of assault, no one would be stupid enough to drive up to a heavily fortified safe house in a known hostile vehicle with nearly a dozen huntsmen in training protecting it. So this was either a trap, a distraction, a surrender, or something else. And no matter which it was, he doubted the answer was to open fire blindly.

And as the truck came closer and he saw who was in it, he let out a sigh of relief as he turned to the team leader, placing a hand on their gun to lower it as he spoke.

"Put down your guns and open the gate, it's not an enemy."

The leader looked at Adam, then picked up a pair of binoculars to check for himself what the Faunus had seen, almost immediately letting out his own sigh upon seeing who it was.

Calmly, he raised his hand, signaling to his team to stand down before he jumped down to open the doors.

Adam meanwhile, jumped off the other side, landing in front of the doors as the vehicle approached, coming to a stop a few feet away, letting the driver hop out and dust herself off before flicking open her battle fan to cover her mouth.

"Well, that was a completely pointless experience. Honestly, why does everyone in Vale have such thin skin? This kingdom owes me new clothes after these ruffians ruined mine!" Lee huffed as she raised her arms, looking down at her dirty outfit with an annoyed expression.

She was wearing a beautiful, green kimono with cranes embroidered on its chest, one flying the other stocking through a field of reeds. It looked custom made as the sleeves had been altered so that they still reached her hands, but lessened the part that hung down normally. Letting her hide things up them without them getting in the way.

Her skirt had been altered as well. It was made to hang down to just above her knees while being looser than the traditional Mistral style, not constructing her legs like the original.

Her figure made Adam look down as he took in her outfit. Normally, she was a bit shorter than him, but a pair of raised, clog-like wooden sandals gave her enough height to stand equally with him, something he really didn't enjoy thanks to the many times she had used the added inches to look down on him and his team by simply turning her head back. Something she had gotten annoyingly good at.

Honestly, Cinder's description of her after their first meeting was probably the most accurate. A painted Mistral doll with resting bitch face and an attitude problem to match.

"Well, being a huntress is dirty work." Adam quipped, folding his arms as he approached. "Wear nice things at your own risk. A little dirt or blood is to be expected from the job. And at least it's not ripped or torn, that's when you need to start worrying as the threads will quickly start to come undone."

At this, Lee brought her hands in, flicking open her fan to cover her mouth as she let out a huff.

"Don't lecture me about such basic things. I'm well aware of how clothes work." She hotly replied. "But no amount of cleaning or sowing will remove the stain of stupidity that those idiots rubbed into my outfit! I understand they're scared and angry, but attacking people over something like this is just a massive waste of time and energy!"

Adam felt a smile tug at his lips. He was happy to find someone who shared his thoughts, (even if it was Lee.) and opinions. This whole thing was just ridiculous.

"So, what are you doing here? And where's your team?" He asked, glancing at the vehicle, noticing it was empty save for the girl herself. Something he found somewhat strange as he knew her whole team had been tasked with clearing out the roadblocks.

To answer his question, she shifted her fan up slightly, covering her nose as she turned to the side, looking at him out of the corner of her eyes.

"Why, didn't Amber tell you?" She said in a condescending tone. "My, my, what a lossy leader. Not even informing her subordinates of what's going on! Shame on…oh you know what? I don't have the energy for this right now." Her tone dropped, the arrogance and pride falling from it as her hand fell back to her side, sliding her battle fan into her sash holster. Her tone became something akin to a normal, tired girl. With none of her normal showboating or over exaggerated mannerisms.

"The police chef has called a meeting with the team leaders. He wants to talk about a potential student task force to help suppress the riots in the future. Unfortunately, he seems to want it as an unpaid internship or individual contractor. You know, so he can basically abuse us to make himself look good. Fortunately, Professor Ozpin will never agree to something like that."

Adam nodded in agreement at the girl. Clearly, this wasn't her first time around the block of dealing with corrupt bosses or their bullshit terminology. Something he could heavily relate to.

"So why are you here?" He pressed, folding his arms with a calm but questioning expression. "If the leaders are needed to talk with the police chief, why aren't you with them? Shouldn't you be telling the others this instead of me?"

At this, Lee let out a shrill laugh, throwing her head back as she flicked open her fan, positioning it so when she lowered her head, it immediately covered her mouth.

"I already told them." She said dryly, waving her hand at the Faunus. "But your goody-two-shoes of a leader still wanted to try to come to an agreement. She's currently negotiating with him as we speak. And while I get she wants to become a huntress for some altruistic reason, I became one for the money. So needless to say, if there's no pay, there's no Lee."

Adam raised an eyebrow at the girl, his expression darkening at her blatant confession. Money? That was why she was here? Surely she was joking with him. There were so many other ways to get rich that were both faster and safer than being a huntress, why pick this route?

Seeing his expression, Lee let out an annoyed sigh, pointedly rolling her eyes at the Faunus as she cocked her hip, closing her fan with a flick before gripping it in a fist.

"Oh would you put a sock in it?" She demanded in an exasperated tone. "I know what you're thinking, why not get a comfy job somewhere like Atlas or something? Because there's more to my dream than that and I don't need someone who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth to judge me for my decisions!"

At this, Adam found himself bristling with anger again. Prompting him to take an aggressive step forward, shoving his face into Lee's as he let out a snarl.

"Not that it's any business of yours, but I grew up in the slums of Mantle. Back then, my family could barely afford a roof over our heads as they both worked long, exhausting hours in an SDC mine. And when General Ironwood destroyed Atlas' branch of the White Fang, leaving us without a voice, they-!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you've had it rough, I get it. Cry me a river." Lee stated as she turned away from Adam, waving him off dismissively with her clasped fan. "But here's the funny thing, Mr. Hero of the Faunus. Not everyone has a rich organization backing them or parents who are willing to support their dreams, let alone have the funds to do so. Sometimes, people just get the short end of the stick. Not because of race, or something in their control, sometimes people have to learn to pull themselves up without anyone's help. Because they got the short end of the orphan stick. And let me tell you something Mr. You hit the Orphan jackpot."

At her words, Adam opened his mouth to protest, but stopped when her words started to truly sink in.

As much as he hated to give Lee the point, she wasn't entirely wrong. When Ghira had taken him in, Kali had been more than willing to include him in everything the family did, even saying things like she had always wanted a liter, making him feel safe and loved. Even helping put aside funds for his enrollment into Beacon. Something that, according to Amber, Lee hadn't had. And after a quick look into her school records and seeing she was running on no less than three Mistral scholarships, more or less confirmed her…difficult situation.

Swallowing his anger, he turned away and folded his arms, letting out a huff as he conceded defeat on that subject.

"But for money? That seems more than a little petty." He grumbled as he pouted, making the girl turn to face him properly.

"Yeah, heard that before." She replied in her more normal tone. "But as they say, money talks. And besides, if the White Fang can spend their money aiding the Seraphim's riots, I really don't think you have a lot of legs to stand on."

Immediately Adam whipped his head around to face Lee, any semblance of collectiveness falling from his face as he practically grabbed her by her collar and pulled her face right into his. Due to her sandals, she was the same height as him, but her knees had bent from the force he had pulled her with, leaving her hanging in his grip, causing her to instantly reach up and grab his arms to alleviate any strain on her neck.

But despite the threatening position, Adam didn't even notice as he gave her a violent shake.

"What do you mean the White Fang's supporting the Seraphim?!" He demanded, giving her a shake, his own voice shaking as he yelled. "The White Fang would never aid a group of terrorists like the Seraphim! At least not without being tricked! Ghira has stated many times and without question that we are not a group for hire and we won't serve anyone who seeks to harm our message! There's no way they would go back on their word! Not after Music Fest! How do you even know they did, anyway?! What exactly did they do to support them?!"

His panicked shouts seemed to draw the attention of some of the evacuated citizens, making a few poke their heads out from behind the gate as the Faunus' classmates also looked over to see what was wrong. Though given who was involved, they couldn't tell if it was something serious or Lee just being herself.

As for the girl in question, she might have been taken aback by his sudden hostility, but quickly regained her composure. Standing up properly, she locked eyes with Adam, not showing the slightest bit of fear as she held his gaze.

"The vehicles the Seraphim used were supplied by the White Fang." She replied calmly, yet somewhat annoyed. "Not only that, but they had supplied the main gang members with firearms and other harder to get weapons as, I'm sure you recall, you put their sugar daddy in jail before the SDC strung up his corpse, completely cutting off their funding. And while I don't know how many of their members were directly involved, I do know that when my team got to the barricade, we saw Sienna's right hand, you know, the big guy with a chainsaw sword, directing rioters how to get in and where to go to cut off any escape routes. You know, the normal stuff peaceful protest groups always do."

"B-but are you sure?" Adam practically begged, every part of him refusing to believe it but unable to find an excuse. "I know we're not perfect, but to aid a group like the Seraphim, that's just-! They wouldn't-! There must-!"

Tongue tied, Adam struggled to fit one sentence to the next, his mind racing yet unable to keep up. This couldn't be real! No way Sienna would support people who were using a riot to gain political power within an organization. It was impossible! She might be a bit hot headed at times, but that was because she was getting frustrated with the lack of change from both humanity as well as Ghira's tactics. She wouldn't-!

Before he could finish that thought, a forest green light appeared on his arm. Looking down, he saw a sigil appear on his arm where Lee was still gripping. At the same time, the same sigil appeared on her fan as she flicked it open, the pink cherry blossom embroidered in the mesh slips in between the metal guards.

The next second, she threw her fan like a shuriken around the side of the car. Then, before the redhead could react, activated her semblance, swapping the locations of the two objects she had marked when she had extended her aura.

"Oof!" Adam grunted in pain as he hit the floor, landing to the side of the armored car as the fan appeared back in the girl's hand, which she flicked open covering her mouth and nose as she turned around.

But the redhead paid her no mind as he pulled himself into a sitting position, turning to the car as he looked for anything, no matter how small to disprove Lee's claims.

However, the moment he turned, any hope he had in his heart vanished as he saw the insignia painted on the side.

There, in perfectly clear paint, was a blue beast's head with three lines running behind it. The new and improved sigil of the White Fang. Implementing both Ghira's pacifism as well as Sienna's more…extreme methods.

"Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure." Lee said dryly, dusting herself before turning to look down at Adam. "Also, while we're on the subject of the White Fang. I want you to know this is hardly their first time aiding the Seraphim. Back when my team was sent out on our first mission, we actually had a run in with both groups, trading information on high ranking SDC shareholders. You know, people like the idiot who started the riots today. Meaning they've probably been plotting this for some time now, long before Adelaide and Howard kicked the bucket."

Adam sat there, staring blankly at the logo of his organization, his mind slowly absorbing the information he was receiving.

The White Fang had been in contact with the Seraphim for months now? How? Why? Were they being forced to work together by Howard and the like? No, that didn't make any sense. The whole point of their organization was to liberate the Faunus from human kind, not become subservient to them all over again. His brothers and sisters would die before bending the knee to a human. That much he was sure of.

But what about Chesher? She had been willing to set that aside for a chance at the Schnee. Her and her team. And it wasn't like she was some young, hotheaded newbie. She had served the White Fang faithfully for as long as Adam had been in it! No way she'd throw away all her pride just like that! So why-?

"What was that?!"

Turning, both students saw Maywether making his way over, his face red with anger as he approached.

"You're telling me that those degenerates are behind this attack?!" He bellowed, throwing his hand angrily into the air. "Why I never! I know this kingdom was uncivilized, but this amount of ungratefulness is preposterous! The SDC feeds them, houses them, and this is the thanks we get?! A knife in the back?! Well, we'll see how well they'll fare without us! The second I get back to the swamps, Jacques and I will have a long talk about how to punish these filthy animals! They think they can survive without us?! Well, let's see how well they far without running water or heat! And if they don't like us taking that carrot, we can simply impose the stick!"

Immediately, Adam jumped to his feet, mouth falling open in utter horror at what he was hearing.

Cutting off the heat in Mantle? That was a death sentence! That kingdom's climate could kill someone in a matter of hours! And after Ironwood destroyed their branch of the White Fang, the Faunus had nobody to give them a voice!

"You can't do that!" He yelled walking towards Maywether, pushing past Lee without giving her a second glance. "You shut off the heat, they will die! People in Mantel can't survive in that kind of cold! Besides, they had nothing to do with these attacks! This was a one time thing done by some misguided-."

"Misguided? Misguided!?" Maywether bellowed, cutting Adam off as he took a threatening step toward the Faunus. "They almost had me killed! I might have lost several hundred-thousand of dollars in personal property, and my premiums will skyrocket after all the therapy I'm going to need to get over this trauma! This is not the act of a couple misguided buffoons! It's an unprovoked attack against Atlas and the SDC! The fact that we haven't had Ironwood put them all in the cages is a mercy at this point!"

At this, Adam came to a stop, his breath still quick as he weighed his options. Obviously, physical violence wasn't going to get him anywhere. In fact, it would only worsen the situation. He had to be like Amber and play the mediator, someone to explain things calmly and rationally, get them to understand what they were doing was wrong.

"Sir, please understand. The Faunus of Atlas have lost all contact with the White Fang." He said, forcibly removing any animosity in his voice. "They have nothing to do with this assault. And while we are quite sure your company didn't have anything to do with the Murder of Mr. Howard, the people here acted on emo-."

"Quite sure? What do you mean, quite sure, boy?" Maywether snapped, standing up straight and tucking his hands behind his back as he glared at the Faunus.

"Look here, just because your kind has sub-human intelligence doesn't mean you can make up excuses to push this unjustified hatred on us! Jacques, as well as many other members of the board have gone on record publicly explaining our innocence! To say that you are only quite sure that we had nothing to do with the murder is like saying two plus two equals seven. Utterly ridiculous! But, for the record and to simplify things for that tiny, animal brain of yours, allow me to say it one more time."

Leaning forward, Maywether pressed his face right into Adam, a mocking grin spread across his face as he spoke very loudly and slowly as if the Faunus couldn't understand basic English.

"We. Had. Nothing. To. Do. With. The. Murder." He said calmly. "Unlike you, we have very civilized and sophisticated methods of fascist. And NOTHING we've found conclusively says we were involved. So, with that settled, why don't you drop and make a lovely mud pie or whatever you animals do when we're not around."

Despite the obvious insult, Adam bit his tongue, simply glaring at Maywether as he held his ground against the man, fighting every urge to cut his stupid head for his shoulders and be done with his deranged stupidity.

"Leave the Faunus of Atlas out of this." He hissed, hands tightening into fists. "They had nothing to do with it and killing them out of spite will only slow dust mining production. What would your boss say to that, huh? Finding out you destroyed his labor force won't be something that man will tolerate."

Adam moved in closer as he spoke, his voice carrying a dark threat despite his best efforts to keep it neutral. He knew he couldn't threaten this man without him taking it out on the Faunus under him, but even so, the barely concealed intention behind his words were clear to Maywether, Lee, and even Adam himself.

And with that intent clear, the executive throw back his head with a laugh.

"I don't think you know who you're talking to." He replied, calmly reaching into his pocket and pulling out his Scroll, waving it tantalizingly in front of the Faunus' face.

"Maybe you don't know because you piss on your friends to tell them apart, but there are more than enough animals in our kingdom itching for a job. I'll have no problem replacing a couple of worthless things that I break before anyone notices. In fact, I've done so often, I don't think even any of the shareholders are aware of what I'm doing. One little call and not only does one animal get put out to pasture, but another comes in to fill its place." He said with a sneer, calmly hovering his finger over the call button. "How about a demonstration? I believe there's a cute little mouse Faunus working down in the mines. How about I have her brought up to my personal garden for some special treatment before I put her away. I must say, your kind are normal excellent targets. Those furry ears make wonderful trophies to decorate my wall."

At this Adam immediately felt his breakfast rise up in his stomach. His hand flying to his sword in utter disgust before he even realized it. This man wasn't just some narcissistic, greedy bastard. He was batshit insane!

"Don't you dare." The redhead snarled, his entire body shaking with rage. His words were soft yet carrying an unmistakable threat as he saw red. Every inch of his being roared with disgust and outrage at the audacity of this thing before him. It couldn't even be a person anymore, could it? Just a horrific, slimy, wrenched ball of filth, something not even fit for this life.

"So why not just take it?"

The thought entered Adam's mind instantly, effortlessly. A single, simple question with a beautiful outcome. Why not just kill him? It would be easy, effortless. The thing in front of him was weak, flimsy, and without aura. All he needed to do was take one, single slashing draw with his sword, send blood spraying out his neck or severed arm, and everything would be over, just like that.

Surely it was the right thing to do. It had already killed hundreds if not thousands of Faunus. It seemed more than fair that its life should be extinguished by one. It would be easy, it would be justice. It would be…

"Natural!"

Suddenly, a glowing green light shot out from behind Adam, attaching itself to Maywether's Scroll where sigil suddenly appeared, immediately drawing both men's eyes to it. But before they could do anything more than let out cries of confusion, the Scroll vanished, being replaced with an almost identical, empty sigil in its place that vanished after a second.

"Well, as fun as it is to watch you two compare the sizes of your dicks, I think it's time for the adult in the room to take charge." Lee said as she held up the Scroll in one hand, covering the lower part of her face with her fan with her other. "And while I normally don't butt in between hopeless losers, I think I'll make an exception this time."

Both Adam and Maywether stared at the girl for a second before the shorter man let out a snarl, stepping forward hand outstretched, a look of rage stretched across his face as he snapped at the girl.

"What do you think you're doing?!" He roared, approaching threateningly, as if he could do something to an actual huntress. "I demand you give that back to me this instant or I'll have you thrown in jail for theft! You have no idea how horrible it is for a young woman like to-!"

"Nice Scroll." Lee cut in, completely ignoring the man. Opting instead to examine the device in her hand, rolling it over to get a good look at every part. "This is the newest model? The one released a few months ago in Atlas that will be coming to the rest of Remnant sometime in the near future? Must be worth a pretty penny. Way more than mine."

Calmly, she pulled out her own Scroll, unlocking it where she began to press some buttons.

"With that said, my Scroll does have some interesting perks that make it useful. Some that don't require the newest model. One of which includes a little thing I like to call a recorder. One that is very useful in…saving a confession from someone who might not do it again."

Immediately both of the two young men froze, eyes wide as they stared at the girl.

After a couple minutes of silence, Maywether broke out of his trance, taking a threatening step forward, eyes narrowed as a sneer spread across his face.

"You're bluffing." He said confidently. "A poorly recorded video isn't sufficient proof of any wrongdoing. Nobody's going to believe a little nothing like you over a genuses like me. All you're doing by siding with them is painting a target on your own back. One that I promise to repay you in kind for. So how about you give me back my Scroll and I'll consider simply ruining your public image and won't have you thrown into a mental-."

"Hehe. How adorable."

Before he could finish his threat, Lee cut the man off with a shrill laugh, flicking open her fan to cover the lower part of her face, turning her head to look at him from the side with an air of arrogance she wore so well.

"How truly ignorant you are to assume you have any power over me, little boy. Hate to break it to you, but I'm far more than a little nothing."

Confidently, she took a step forward, coming to a stop a breath wits apart, head tipped back so she could look down at the taller man, a mocking sneer plastered to her face that was half hidden by her fan.

"I may not be a shareholder of a very controversial company, but I do have my perks." She said, turning her head to the side to look even more conceded. "See, it's not every day a champion chess player quits her career before it even begins to pursue a life of a huntress. So an accusation coming from someone known for their perfection will carry a little more weight than you might realize. Especially against someone from a foreign nation who's most recently sent their men into our kingdom to carry out an assassination on two of the most powerful, outspoken huntsmen against their kingdom. Something I thought you'd remember given how you were almost turned into a severed head stuck on a pike. Something which I'm almost regretting working so hard to prevent."

Turning red, Maywether glared down at the shorter girl, eyebrow twitching with barely suppressed rage as he grabbed her by her collar, something that surprisingly, Lee didn't even try to dodge or prevent.

"Are you threatening me?" He asked in a low voice. "Because if so, you have no idea who you're messing with. I am one of the most powerful people in the kingdom and if you think you can blackmail me into-."

"Why yes, I think I can." Lee cut in, completely unfazed by the older man. "See, while I know this isn't enough to put you away, I'm pretty sure with the current political climate it will get people to start looking at what you're doing in the marshlands a little more closely. After all, it is a little strange to have a mining company's regional base in the middle of a swamp, wouldn't you agree? Almost sounds like you're doing something Very unethical out there and don't want anyone to know."

At this actuation, Maywether immediately froze, eyes narrowed to slits as he glared down at the huntress for a couple more seconds. Then, he released her with a huff, turning on his heel and marching back toward the bunker not saying a word to avoid adding more shame to his verbal defeat.

At this show of incredible conversational skill, Adam found himself dumbfounded, simply looking between Lee and Maywether, mouth hanging open in disbelief at what he had just witnessed.

Never, in a million years did he think he'd be grateful to Lee Zetian of all people. Arguably the most insufferable student in the entire school, competing only with Cinder Rose herself. He had always assumed she was just some selfish bitch, but the way she had not only stepped in but also dealt with the situation painted a very clear picture as to why Professor Ozpin had named her team leader. She was actually really word savvy when it-.

"Hey."

Said girl's voice broke Adam out from his thoughts, making the redhead look up to see her looking at him over her shoulder, eyes narrowed as she held her fan in such a way that it still somehow covered part of her face in a natural looking way.

"I know you're probably to stuck up in your own self-righteousness to understand these words, but here's some advice for your cause." She said, turning back towards the school's tower. "If you want people to take your cause seriously, clean out your own house before calling someone else out on their. Otherwise, you'll just look like a hypocrite, making it harder to achieve the cause you're trying to help."

With that, she snapped her fan shut and began walking away, back toward the academy, her hips swaying with each step. Leaving Adam alone with his thoughts and her advice,

---

Beacon academy.

Fang's room was quiet save for a computer streaming the news that played in the backdrop of clicks as the two occupied moved their pieces across the checkered board, eyes flicking from one space to another as they tried to out maneuver the other.

"Knight to A6. Check in seven moves, mate in nine." Fang said as he placed his horse in the requisite square, blocking Cinder's queen from retreating while staying safe behind one of her pawns.

It was the evening the day after the riot. Classes had been canceled for the day as Ozpin had been called for a council meeting and the other teachers were helping the army repel any of the Grimm that remained had managed to survive the bombing runs that had lit up the outside of the kingdom's walls all night.

And as a result of all this chaos, the students throughout the kingdom were given the day off, letting families stay close together which reduced the fear and uncertainty in the city to an extent. And with both their teams out enjoying the day, the two had found themselves alone.

"Isn't checkmate supposed to be right after you put your opponent in check?" The dark haired girl shot back, her eyes scanning the board, trying to figure out his plan of attack to cut it off. "Lee always either ensures her checkmate is either right after driving her opponent into a corner, or setting everything up before even attacking the king. Though I must say, you seem better than her by a far margin."

Fang rolled his eyes as Cinder attacked his front line with her queen, ultimately sanding it to its death as her escape route had been closed off.

"Lee's good, I won't say she's not." Fang replied, immediately countering by moving his pieces in to attack the defenseless queen. "However, her strategies are stiff, ridged. Having very little fall back if they should fail. As such, she can't afford to tip her hand before everything is ready. A fault that follows her into her position of leader as she doesn't have the same experience to put her strategies into practice on the battlefield. Funnily enough, you'll find most people aren't going to follow someone who views them as despicable pawns. Check in six moves."

At this, Cinder paused for a moment, thinking about how she'd feel if Amber treated her like a a throwaway pawn, something that, now that she thought about it, was a fairly common practice back in Atlas. Making her suddenly feel very appreciative of who had been named her team leader.

"Fair point." She said, continuing her assault with her queen, trying to take out any the pieces she thought he'd used to attack her king. "Still, her teammates seem pretty happy with her leadership, saying that she understands the difference between a game and real life. So I guess she's doesn't seem to be a complete bitch. Not that that was ever a high bar."

With that, Cinder looked up, locking eyes with the white haired boy as a smug grin spread across her face.

"Or was that little dig about yourself?" She poked, her grin growing wider. "You know, I've always wondered why you weren't named team leader, the title going to Roman instead. Could it be that you can't separate the game from reality? You view your teammates as pawns instead of people?"

At this assortment, Fang let out a snort, rolling his eyes in response to the girl's accusation.

"You know, throwing shad at your opponent because your losing is a sign of bad sportsmanship. As well as showing a complete ignorance to what's required of being a leader." He said, his fingers resting on one of his pieces, absentmindedly tilting it on its base. "It takes a certain amount of charisma to lead a team, something I simply lack. Roman has that charisma, so he was named leader. It's simple as that."

Calmly, Fang reached over and picked up his glass of tea, taking a sip before continuing in his normally calm and soothing voice.

"Roman's a lot of things, most not good. But one thing he isn't is an idiot. He knows I'm the better tactician and refuses to my advice when needed. A good reminder that just because you're smart, doesn't automatically make you a leader." Fang paused for a moment here, a chuckle escaping his lips as he added an additional sentence.

"Besides, just because you can't beat me at chess doesn't mean you can just throw insults around like that. Pawns are far more useful than Dudley and Dee could be."

Cinder snorted at that, throwing her head back as she let out a shrill laugh.

"Okay, you got me there!" She laughed. "Seriously, between peaking at the girls locker room, failing multiple times at basic rational thinking, not being able to hit the brad side of a barn, and trying to hit on multiple girls at the same time, can those two idiots do anything right?"

"Follow orders after being told three times." Fang answered as he sat his glass down. "Though with that being said, seeing as their only reason for becoming huntsman was to become rich and score with women, I'd say their doing surprisingly well. Most with that goal would have dropped out alone ago. This training just isn't worth what the job actually pays."

Cinder nodded as she picked up her own cup of tea. She knew that despite the risks and lack of huntsmen, the pay wasn't that great. Especially after factor in insurance as, surprisingly enough, most places didn't want to cover someone in a career that literally involved them charging into danger.

Leaning back, Fang shrugged his shoulders as he turned to look at the computer, his face darkening as he watched the news.

"Well, with that said, at least their just dumb, not malicious. Something certain people can't say to save their life." He spat, eyes filled with contempt as he stared at the screen.

Caught off guard by his anger, Cinder turned to the computer too, watching a reporter interviewing a overweight man in his late fifties/ early to mid sixties through a computer screen which had been put on full display for the audience's convenience. An expensive dark blue suit and red tie on full display, complimenting his obviously died black hair and very fake full hairline.

"-oining me is Councilman Alexander Anodeser. So, thank you so much for agreeing to this interview Mr. Anodeser. " The reporter said, glancing down at some notes resting on her desk. "Could you please tell the public what you meant when you said this was an attack on our democracy? You were one of the most outspoken against the peace treaty with Atlas back during the war, could you explain why as well as why you are currently pushing to have more oversight into Beacon Academy?"

Anodeser shifted in his seat, straightening his tie before responding in a loud, low voice.

"Yes, thank you for asking." He said, the movement of his mouth showing the lines on his face hidden under a mask of makeup that made even Cinder flinch at the tackiness of it. "You ask a very good question, and unfortunately, I hate to say it, but the answers to both questions are one and the same. Ozpin, much as we love him, and believe me, nobody looks up to the guy more than me, has lost it."

As he spoke, he moved his hands in large, exaggerated movements, as if he was scolding a child. Something that made Cinder immediately think back to the arrogant, spineless politicians in Atlas.

"Lost it? Professor Ozpin? Could you explain what you mean?" The reporter asked, clearly somewhat confused by the comment, something Anodeser was more than happy to explain.

"Well, you see, it's very simple. Very simple you see." He repeated, looking straight at the reporter. "See, after the war ended, we all, and I do mean all of us, got a little carried away. We didn't make the best decisions as unfortunately, we had just fought a war that lasted for well over a hundred years, and we believed it was time to rebuild. And so, Ozpin pushed not only to completely, and I do mean completely, forgive Atlas of their many war crimes. Which, with the benefit of hindsight, was incredibly stupid. Unfortunately, we didn't catch it until it was too late."

With that, Anodeser raised his hand to either side of his head, as if in surrender.

"Now, don't get me wrong. It's not Ozpin's fault he made this mistake. He had fought as a soldier in the war. And as a wise man once said, it takes a hundred years to make a man, it takes a day of war to break him. And that's what Ozpin is, a broken, hurt, injured man. And while it definitely made us give him more leniency, that doesn't excuse his most recent actions! And as much as it pains me to say this, I don't believe his fit for the Vale counsel anymore."

Lowering his hand, the politician lowered his hands in front of him, where he started counting on his fingers as he pointed out the 'failing' of the headmaster.

"Forgiving Atlas without putting someone from Vale in charge of the kingdom, allowing the White Fang to go in and out of the kingdom unchecked, letting refugees plug our streets, stealing whatever they please, pushing for our already thin government to investigate completely legitimate businesses, the list goes on. It's absurd!" He threw his hands up to emphasize his point as he continued his rant. "You know, back in my day, my father hit us with a belt, or banged our heads against a wall if we misbehaved. Now it's all, love and understanding, with discipline being now libeled abuse. A law like this will turn our young boys into sissy instead of real men. And while I can understand why a patient should have the right to punish their child the way they see fit, he crossed the line with his latest bill."

Reaching for something off screen, Anodeser pulled out a sheet of paper, placing it infront of him where he began reading it out loud for the reporter.

"The Garden act, a measure that would provide food and shelter to those people who can't afford it." He said, pushing the paper away before turning back to the screen. "Now, I know that sounds good, but I want you to stop and actually think about who this affects. Because once you slow down and actually remember what this means for the kingdom and who they're resources will end up going to."

Cinder felt her eyebrow start twitching as she listened to this stupid idiot talk in circles about his stupid opinions. Why should he care where tax money went? It's not like Vale was in desperate need of a budget overhaul. All the important services like healthcare, fire departments, and the like, while not rich, were well funded and fairly competent.

"Now, I'm sure we all think that a little helping hand is a kindness. But that couldn't be further from the truth." Anodeser droned on, constantly running his mouth while somehow saying nothing. "In reality, by helping those at the bottom, all it does is make them complacent, dependent. And a kingdom built on this kind of sentiment will not stand. See, what the kingdom really needs is something to motivate these people to get out of poverty. To make them pull themselves up by their bootstraps and stand on their own two feet as I'm sure you're all well aware, the vast majority of people in this situation are Atlesian refugees and Faunus of the White Fang. Both have become so complicit on the charity of others, they now prefer to mooch off the hard work of others instead of becoming active members of their communities."

"Or maybe the laws you pass make it difficult for anyone born outside the kingdom to get fair wages and proper treatment." Fang snarled, hand tensing into a fist as he glared with disgust at the screen, listening to the man go on.

"Again, I don't blame Ozpin for this. He means well, he just lacks the experience necessary to make the right choices." Anodeser said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "However, that doesn't change the fact that he is currently running Vale into the ground. If something isn't done soon, our children will be demanding to play with fire, and if the parents deny them, well, that abuse right there."

The consistent patronizing of her generation made Cinder shift angrily in her seat, getting into a better position to glare at the man through the screen.

Oh yeah, her generation had it so easy. Having their parents go away to fight in the war, not knowing if they'd ever seen them again, the thousands of displaced children now completely clogging the foster system, the sheer number of homeless kids who never got adopted and never got taught the skills they'd need to survive on their own, and of course who could forget the child trafficking that ran rampant as both sides were in desperate need of cheap labor. Something that the leaders on both sides were more than happy to ignore as it benefited them. Yeah, so fucking easy, she could laugh!

"As such, I've come up with the perfect solution to solve the problem, ensuring not only to motivate those lazy children while teaching them the value of hard work, but also solving the poverty problem." Anodeser's words made Cinder pretend to vomit, making the noises along with the motion, making Fang laugh at the display, the same thought passing through both their heads. They both knew the Anodeser family ran the largest insurance and loan company in Vale. Making a fortune in scamming others and stealing from the desperate, fattening their pockets at the expense of everyone else. Basically ensuring the man had gotten to attend the best college in the kingdom without need a scholarship or every having to work a labor job.

"Behold! The AZ act!" The politician announced, bringing up a bill on his side of the computer. "This has been passed to the Council after yesterday's tragic abuse of power from Ozpin against our innocent citizens. Sending in huntsmen and huntresses to intimidate a peaceful protest like that is a disgraceful act that this law will prevent by not only removing the money allowing these bums to sit back and feed off the hard work of others. But also force the next generation to start pulling their weight in society by ensuring only the best and brightest can pursue higher education by cutting student loan forgiveness!"

Immediately, both Cinder and Fang shot up from their seats staring at the document on the man's computer. Mouths hanging open in disbelief. Surely he wasn't doing what they thought he was!

"Now, when this act is put into place, it will force those children coddled by their parents to grow up and learn to pull their own weight. Teach them that those participation medals they got mean nothing, and to survive in this world, they'll need to start pulling their weight! Something that, if left up to those new age parents, they'd never learn."

"Fucking bastard." Cinder breathed out, her eyes wide and fixed to the politician on screen. "He can't be seriously thinking about cutting both student loan forgiveness. Doesn't he know how many Beacon students rely on that to attend school? Remove that and two thirds of the student body will have to drop out! Something neither the kingdom nor the world at large can afford! Not when we're so short handed as is! Why would he ever think that was a good idea? Stupid idiot!"

"He knows, he just doesn't care." Fang chimed in, his expression as disgusted as his tone. "I suspect this is nothing more than a political power move."

"A political power move?" Cinder asked, turning to the boy, unsure what he meant.

Noticing this, Fang closed his eyes and rubbed his temple.

"Basically, because huntsmen and huntresses are not bound to a single kingdom after graduation, they hold a certain type of justice and power that politicians can't control." He explained, a note of fatigue in his voice. "This means, if a kingdom passes a policy that they don't like, they can simply move to another, taking a portion of their military power with them. And if not many huntsmen leave, then guess what? People leave as well, which in turn makes fewer contracts for huntsmen, so they also goes on and on in a cycle that can and has resulted in kingdoms completely disappearing from the map. Forcing politicians to uphold certain values held by the population. Many of which usually are things like fair wages, a lawful justice system, and of course, actually acting in the people's best interests. Something those in power generally hate doing."

Fang paused for a moment, letting out a sigh as he began massaging the bridge of his nose before continuing.

"This as been something politicians have been trying to get around for years. From the indoctrination of huntsmen in Atlas, to Mistral's expanding their territory while maintaining a small counsel, they're always trying to find work arounds." Looking up, Fang turned his attention back to the computer while keeping one hand resting against his face as he glared at the politician. "But the fact he's not even trying to hide that he wants to cut back on the number of huntsmen and huntresses is telling. Seems between Howard Shipping and all its partners closing, the execution of said company's CEO, and Seraphim agitators, the kingdom has been pushed to their limit. Right now, I suspect there's so much chaos, he knows people are looking for someone to hate, pin their problems on, that he could pass anything and wouldn't see any backlash so long as he keeps that narrative up. Which this new act does."

"What do you mean?" Cinder asked raising her eyebrow in confusion. "How stupid would you have to be to not see the problem? Less students in Beacon means less huntsmen. It's not that difficult to figure out."

"And that's why he's cutting funding to both Fauna and Atlesian refugees." Fang replied immediately. "He's trying to incite a riot, trying to get them to act out on their anger. Because once they do, he'll have an excuse to make another law to restrict them even further. He knows people are more likely to agree with extreme ideology if there's an enemy to fight. And using a minority as an enemy has proven to be the best strategy to radicalize people into doing/believing what you want them too. Something every kingdom has a rich history of abusing."

Cinder said nothing as she stared in disbelief at the screen, shaking her head as if trying to wake up from a dream. Surely, people wouldn't be this stupid actually fall for this crap.

Her question seemed to get some good news as the report doing the interview raised an eyebrow, seemingly somewhat confused by the man's horrible, self-serving plan.

" You…want to cut student debt forgiveness?" They asked, leaning forward slightly. "You do know that about half the students attending higher education rely on that to attend good colleges, right? The most recent survey says over half the students attending Beacon are practically dependent on it, with many coming from foster care or low income households. By cutting that, you'd effectively slash our potential new huntsmen in half."

"And that's exactly the point!" Anodeser replied. "Statistics say that of all students who graduated from the huntsmen training academies, over half of them don't remain loyal to that kingdom. Opting instead to offer military power to their rivals. By cutting the budget, we effectively cut a hostile foreign power by about three fourths. As well as get additional money to invest elsewhere, such as protecting our children from the rampant cuddling they receive from these new age parents."

His words and manner of fact tone made Cinder shake with disgust. How can someone this stupid be on the council?! Cutting funding that students rely on wouldn't make them stay in the kingdom, it would drive them away! On top of that, what did he mean 'hostile foreign powers?' All the kingdoms were united, none of them even looking for a war or takeover. Why on Remnant did it matter where they went?

The report seemed to have noticed this discrepancy as well, as their next question had a bit more bite behind it than the others.

"I'm sorry, do you mean to say that we should be preparing for war? Because that seems a little far-fetched." They stated firmly. "While the peace with Atlas is delicate, that doesn't mean we should be jumping to radical conclusions. If we do that-."

Before he could finish, Anodeser practically leapt out of his chair, towering over the reporter as he glared down at them.

"That's the point! We do need to start making decisive decisions!" He roared, driving his fist into the table to emphasize his point . "We've been in a state of crisis for years now! Relying on Atlas for dust has been an issue I've spoken out about since my first term! And now look! The things I was so afraid of are coming to pass!"

"Raising prices, taking jobs from our citizens and giving them to refugees instead, placing military right on our borders to keep us trapped inside, and now even attacking our infrastructure, forcing us to become more dependent on them for our way of life! Sure, they aren't marching over the border firing guns, but make no mistake, this is a non-aggressive take over!"

Each word was punctuated by a slam on the table or the arm of his chair, his loud voice completely drowning out the reporter's attempts to speak on the matter.

"Right now, more and more Atlesians are becoming middle to high class financially. Meanwhile, we've seen an unprecedented amount of Vale citizens have reached near poverty levels. Why, just last month, when the Grimm swarmed the walls, did you know about two hundred Vale residents were killed or injured during the attack? Meanwhile, Atlas refugees only lost about seven percent to death and injuries! All because they were able to afford homes closer to shelters! Shelters that are supposed to protect our citizens, not these parasites who infect our great kingdom!"

Cinder felt her eyebrow twitching at the sheer stupidity of these statements. The reason Vale had so many casualties was because there were more Vale civilians than Atlesian refugees. And as for the seven percent claim, she knew that info had come from one study about one area given to the refugees, one that was right next to the food bank that they had used for shelter. Meaning they were right next to both safety and protection and had spent less time in danger.

However, these factual inaccuracies didn't seem to slow the pompous man down. In fact, these lies seemed to galvanize him, making him push forward with even more bombastic claims.

"That's not all! Remember the events at Music Fest? At that point, a few students engaged in a high speed car chase right in the middle of the day down the freeway nonetheless! Their actions killed another fifty people through driving related accidents! And instead of surviving time or getting what they deserved, capital punishment, they were given a slap on the wrist! Well, even with this weaker generation coming into the picture, that just smelled funny to me, and after some digging I found something very interesting."

Leaning back with a grin as if he had just won the lottery, he straightened his tie before continuing.

"One of the people on the team was none other than Adam Taurus, the sweetheart of the terrorist organization, the White Fang." He said with the bravado of someone who had a smoking gun in his hand, as if you couldn't just read the report to know who was involved. "And that's why they got off so easily, because now, we are required to endorse terrorists as long as they are Faunus or otherwise be labeled as a racist. I mean, I don't know how much more I need to say! This is a direct attack on the kingdom as a whole, a second Great War! Only this time, they aren't using weapons or force to bring us to heel, they're using social norms and the weak will, spineless new generation to carry out their plan! If we want to survive this war, we need to fight back the only way we can, place restrictions on those aliens, force those entitled brats to grow up, and put those animals back into cages before they can develop intelligence on par with us humans! And if we can't do that, we'll, I'm afraid it's going to be the end of Vale as we know it. That's why, if I get re-elected, I intend to start my No Aliens campaign to ensure the freedom, diversity, and prosperity of the kingdom is placed back in the hands of those to whom it rightfully belongs, the citizens of Vale! Not those backstabbing-!"

Anodeser was cut off as Fang turned off the laptop, letting out a disgusted curse as he slammed the lid shut.

"Power hungry bastard." He snarled, the blatant attempt at fear mongering clearly leaving a bad taste in his mouth, something he shared with Cinder. Honestly, could politicians even be bothered to try to hide that everything they did was to buy votes? This shameless display was an obvious statement at how much turmoil and hatred the Seraphim had stirred up.

"How do the other counselors just stand by and let this happen?" Cinder asked as she reached up and rubbed her eyes, suddenly feeling extremely tired from just listening to the man spout his nonsense. "I mean, this is basically propaganda designed to rile the masses. He's practically pushing to start another war. Why aren't they doing anything?"

"Why would they?" Fang replied, returning to his seat and staring angrily down at his board. "War, as in the actual dangerous parts, only effects the low to middle class. With the rich ten percent being completely untouchable by the actions. In fact, it actually benefits them."

Looking up, he started counting off his fingers as he began making a list.

"More money as you can get contracts from the government, a ban on union boycotts, the ability to disregard ethics using the battles as an excuse, sudden layoffs which you can point to an event that has realistically no effect on your business. And of course, if you're a politician, basically a stable seat of power as most people understand it's not the best idea to change leaders mid way through. All this and more for the people who are supposed to be serving the people, not the other way around."

His response made a lot of sense to the dark haired girl, making her lean back in her seat staring up at the ceiling.

She might not have worked for the criminal underworld like Fang, but she had seen enough shady politicians and company owners during her time at the Glass Unicorn to know that if there was a single loophole in the law, they would exploit it relentlessly.

"Huh, you sure know a lot about politics." Cinder commented, trying to turn the conversation into a lighter place. "You studied it in Mistral? Or does Lil'. Miss have her fingers up their kingdom's ass as well?"

Fang let out a soft chuckle, turning his gaze to the ceiling, a small smile playing on his lips.

"A bit of both honestly." He said. "I never was high enough to work with those Lil'. Miss had put into politics, but I did have to learn about various loopholes and word manipulation to enact some jobs she needed done. Things like insurance fraud or stealing documents that proved some company were violating worker's laws. In fairness, that specific area was always somewhat lacking in that kingdom. But the main reason is a bit more personal."

Closing his eyes, the white haired boy smiled softly as he recalled a found memory, one that seemed to put him at peace.

"Back when I was a child, I wanted to become a politician." He confessed, making the dark haired girl almost jump out of her chair. "Even as a kid, I could see what the king of Atlas was doing was wrong. I thought, I'll join the counsel, set things right, make a difference and help reintegrate Atlas into the world as an ally. Hehe, I drove my mother crazy when I started studying law instead of combat. Shame all that time went to waste the moment the monarchy lost the war."

Opening his eyes, Fang's face became a bit more somber as he stared up at the ceiling, his eyes fixed on a point above the fan as he spoke absentmindedly, as if he had forgotten he wasn't alone.

"I think she knew the war was over. That Atlas didn't really stand a chance in the long haul. I suspect she wanted me to learn combat so quickly because she knew someday, I'd have to defend myself. And let's be real here, nobody is ever going to allow an old Atlas noble into a position of power."

Fang let out another chuckle, this one carrying a tight pain as he continued to stare at the ceiling, as if transfixed by some invisible thing only he could see, something that was taking him on a long trip down memory lane.

"And so, you decided to become a huntsman instead?" Cinder asked unsurely, careful to not address anything too personal, but still feeling like she had overstepped. "I know you had said something about the political power huntsmen have, do you want to create some kind of union for huntsmen? Take power away from those who abuse it?"

At her question, Fang finally pulled his attention away from the ceiling, looking at Cinder across the table from him with a slight smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Something like that." He said with a shrug. "If I'm being honest, it was more to do with the fact it was something I knew how to do. Fighting and killing Grimm, making money while helping others, it was the next best option for me. However, the reason I came to this school was more personal than just a job."

Turning now to the window, a shadow crossed the boy's face. Eyes darkening as his expression became set.

"This school holds a key to my vengeance. And if I became a student, I could get around much easier than having to repeatedly sneak in." His words carried a heavy tone, one that if used at the beginning of the school year, Cinder was sure she wouldn't have picked up on.

"Originally, I had planned on just getting the information then dropping out. That once I had stolen it, I wouldn't have any need to stay as I'm already at the point where I could pass the license exam if offered." Slowly, he closed his eyes as yet another chuckle escaped his lips, this one noticeably lighter then the tone he had been using before. "Then as time went on, I realized how much fun being in this place was. Honestly, deepening my bond with Roman isn't something I ever thought I'd end up treasuring like I do now. And Dudley and Dee, for all their stupid, annoying, moronic antics, I do enjoy sitting back and watching the chaos unfold, even when I get dragged into it wrongfully."

Calmly, he reached up and touched the eye, letting out a soft laugh as he turned back to Cinder.

"And then of course, I ended up becoming partners in crime with the most self-centered, hotheaded, unbelievably petty, girl in the entire school. Something that I definitely didn't see coming and a decision I'm still questioning to this day." Fang let out another laugh, ducking without even needing to look as a glass knife flew over his head, flying out the window where it hit a large tree growing right outside.

"Keep talking, you annoying pests. Let's see how much fun you'll be having after I beat you up." Cinder shot back, though her words carried no bite. Much as she refused to say it, she had learned to enjoy his company as well. Even if he got on her nerves more times than not.

But as she recomposed herself, something about what Fang said made her do a double take.

"Wait, you knew Roman before coming to Beacon?" She probed. "How? Neither of you two strike me as the social type. And besides, I thought partners and team were chosen at random. How'd you end up on a team with someone you knew?"

Sitting upright, Fang smiled, opening his Scroll and flicking through it as he replied.

"It wasn't intentional." He said. "Originally, I was sent to deal with someone who had crossed Lil. Miss. But after running into Roman and his little accomplice, and very nearly getting my ass handed to me, I offered them a deal. Help me fix the mess they made and I'd put in a good word on their behalf, or be hunted for life and eventually die. And after choosing the former, we ended up becoming friends while trying to take care of business."

Calmly, Fang hands over his Scroll to Cinder, now displaying a picture of him, Roman, and a little girl who looked around Yang's age with pink and brown hair and matching eyes.

The three were gathered around a table at some kind of outdoor restaurant, with the girl in the process of eating a Neapolitan ice cream sundae. Her face was scrunched up as apparently she had eaten too much too quickly, hand reaching up grabbing the redhead's shoulder as he laughed in the seat beside her.

As for Fang, he was sitting in the front, looking back at the camera, jerking his thumb toward the two with a warm smile on his face. One Cinder had never seen on the boy during his time at Beacon. One that, unlike his normal ones, seemed to be free of all the burden of being forced into an adult, one that seemed genuinely happy for the moment, no matter how fleeting it was.

"That's Neo." Fang explained, pointing to the girl as he took his Scroll back. "Don't know the specifics, but Roman found her and helped her overcome her personal demons and as a result, the little gremlin became attached to him. She still sends letters despite not being able to come to Vale while he never lets me read them, Roman always seems happy whenever her receive them."

With that, Fang locked eyes with Cinder, a smile still on his lips.

"Ironically, from what I gathered, he helped her get revenge on her parents for being neglectful. And while at the time, I will admit I had my doubts how strong a bond like that could be, I think I can relate to it a bit more now. After all, I never imagined I'd think of you as anything more than a pest, but I'm actually starting to like you a bit, Ms. Rose."

With that, a small, genuine smile formed on the corners of his mouth, one that looked very similar to the one in the picture.

But before she could comment on it, Fang quickly wiped it off his face, jabbing his finger in her face as his tone returned to the more (in her words) asinine one he always used.

"But remember this. While I did promise to help you get your revenge in exchange for you helping me with mine. This is a contractual agreement. Start slowing down and I'll leave you behind." He half joked before he leaned one arm over the back of his seat. "But then, I should probably be the one worried about being left behind. After all, not everyone can defeat both the Enlighten Seraphim's leader and Isaac Howard in the same day. Keep that kind of experience up and you might not even need my help to take down the Phantom."

At his words Cinder immediately felt her heart drop, killing her confident, cocky attitude immediately as her gaze drifted to the floor, suddenly unable to look the boy in the eyes.

Noticing this, Fang rose to his feet, reaching across the board and gently placing his hand on her arm. "What's wrong?" He asked, worry in his voice as the girl turned her head even more, making a point to not to not look any part of him.

A moment of awkward silence followed as they both froze, unable to move right away as they both tried to figure out the best way to address the problem as they saw it.

Finally, after a few seconds, Cinder took a deep breath, gathering her courage before beginning to speak in an uncharacteristically soft tone.

"Right, about that. I've been doing some thinking about that lately and…well-." She broke off unsure of how to continue. She knew what she wanted to say , what she was about to say, but that didn't make choosing her words any easier. She knew she lacked Amber's public speaking abilities and that what she was about to say would likely upset her white haired friend as he had undoubtedly heard it before. But she still knew she owed it not only to him, but to herself.

"Fang, listen. I know you've probably heard this before. And I don't mean to sound condescending or anything. It's just…how do I say this? I…I'm not sure what my future holds anymore and-."

"You gave up on your vengeance."

Cinder bit her lip at Fang's words. Delivered hard and fast, carrying an unnatural coldness in it that she hadn't heard from him before. This wasn't a question, it was a statement. One that, judging by his tone, he was not happy about.

"Yes." She said quietly, staring at her hands folded in her lap. "I…I've been doing a lot of thinking after Music Fest. Thinking about my future, my path, me."

Closing her eyes, she reached up and placed a hand on her neck, remembering the feeling of Adelaide's frigid fingers pressing into it, burning it with cold temperatures. The agonizing pain of her throat feeling like it was filled with needles, each breath ripping her to pieces.

But more than that, she remembered the cold, disconnected look in the woman's eyes, the way that they just didn't look…alive anymore, appearing as soulless as the Grimm, that had left more of an effect on her than the fading mark on her neck.

"I…don't want to end up living in the past, so obsessed with my hate I lose track of the present. I…I don't want to become some monster who just hungers for power. Something I don't recognize in the mirror. That's not what I want."

Slowly, the dark haired girl reached up, hugging herself tightly as she tried not to shake. She had come so close to becoming another Adelaide, someone who didn't care who she had to trample over to get her way. All because she couldn't let go of her past. All without noticing how far down that path she was straying. It terrified her. Her own pride, ego, lust for power, it had all covered her eyes, letting her ignore all the signs, even if they were practically pushed into her face. Had it not been for Summer revealing the truth of her greatest triumph, she had no doubt she would have continued down that path, completely blind till the end.

"I know it might sound horrible, but I'm…going to try to let my anger go. Try to heal my pain." Slowly, she looked up at Fang, her shaking starting to stop as she strengthened her resolve against the raging emotions beneath the surface.

"It might sound cliche, but as much as I hate the Phantom, as much as I want to see him burn for what he's done. I don't want to lose myself in that cause. I know he hurt Yang, killed Mr. Beige, but if I lose myself chasing him, than not only will my future end, I will hurt and traumatize my entire family far more than he could ever do to them. So, while I still intend to track him down before he can lay a finger on them, I won't. No, I refuse to kill him out of anger."

Taking a deep breath, she dug her fingers into her arm, steadying herself for the backlash of what she was going to say next.

"And, I think you should as well." She said slowly, scanning the boy's face for any sign of anger. "I know you're a few years older, and I know I really have no place to talk on this matter, but try to remember, even if you get your revenge, what's the point if you sacrifice everything else to attain it?"

A heavy silence filled the room as the dark haired girl's speech came to an end. The ticking of the clock being the only thing to break the tension as the two stood as still as statues, staring at each other. One with eyes filled with emotions, the other a completely blank slate, unreadable in every sense.

After a few minutes, Fang finally broke eye contact, turning away and walking over to the open window where he stared out of it, still not saying anything. A silence Cinder felt no right to break.

They stayed like that for another few minutes, simply listening to the ticking clock or the voices of students in the courtyard below them. Waiting for something to break the moment, something to finally tell them it was okay to speak.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Fang broke the silence with several, slow words, each one picked with more meticulous planning than Cinder could begin to comprehend.

"You know, my mother said I was destined for great things." He said, his voice as unreadable as his expression. "She told me that if I studied and trained hard, the very stars would be in my reach. Hehe. Funny how I always fall short whenever it matters."

Slowly, Cinder stood up, taking a hesitant step toward him before stopping, unsure of what to do. She knew Fang had a lot on his chest he needed to talk about, but didn't know if this was a time when she should offer comfort or I've him space.

Fortunately, she was spared from making that call as Fang didn't seem to notice her approach, too lost in the past to pay attention to her. Or maybe he had but he simply didn't care to mention it.

"My father was a complete deadbeat, always buried in his work, never had time for me or my mother. As such, you could say we developed a much closer relationship than most. Which maybe is why even now, I cling to every word she said to me."

Fang's tone didn't change in the slightest as he spoke, making reading the boy even more difficult. But Cinder figured he must have a reason for telling this, and so decided to try to offer some support or kind words of nothing else.

"She sound amazing." She said, immediately kicking herself the second the words left her mouth. Brothers, why was she so bad at this? Comfort was the least she could offer, yet no matter how hard she tried, it always came out so awkward.

"She was." Fang said, a small smile in his voice, rescuing her from the embarrassment as he seemed to appreciate the effort. "She was the kind of person who fought armies, was tough as nails, yet came home and could still be a person, a mother."

His voice turned slightly stiff at the last word, his hands twitching up to over the burn on the right side of his neck, fingers digging into the skin as if it was an open wound.

A short pause followed as he stood there, not moving. Then, still without turning around, in a tight, constricted tone, he spoke one more time.

"She burned to death, you know. Right in the middle of our own home by the huntsmen of Vale."

Immediately Cinder's eyes widened and her mouth fell open, a scream dying in her throat as she stared at the white haired boy.

His mother had been burned alive in their own home? By a huntsman from Vale? No wonder he had such a negative perception of people. He had been forced to watch his own home be burnt to the ground by the side that was supposed to be the good guys, the ones who fought for freedom and tolerance.

Body frozen from horror and unable to move Cinder found herself unsure of how to respond. She obviously knew that not all Huntsmen were good people, but to pull something like that, it was something she'd have expected from Igor or someone else from his ilk. Not the ever noble huntsmen of Vale who could be constantly preaching their dogma to any who would listen.

Slowly, her eyes drifted to the burn on his neck, the way he was gripping it telling a very real part of the story, one that Cinder wasn't entirely sure if she should ask about. Or even wanted to know.

Breathing in the silence, Fang closed his eyes, hand tightening even more, pressing in on the brunt skin, nails digging into his his flesh.

"I was also inside when it happened. After fighting and failing to kill her as she defeated my father, who despite his absence, had work vital to the monarchy, they left her horribly injured before sealing the doors and lighting the place ablaze. All under the guise of peace, their peace. Not caring who else got hurt as long as they could achieve it."

Fang paused again, his head turning upwards, eyes still closed.

"I actually awoke my semblance that day, an act that was able to save me, but at the cost of my mother. See, she was too injured to move, and when I tried to carry her out. But the building had taken too much structure damage and she knew that if I didn't leave her, we'd both die. So, she did what she thought was right, use the last of her breath to try to put my mind at ease, then brought part of the ceiling down between us, forcing me to go on without her."

Fang's voice was becoming more stiff and strained, as if he was struggling to keep his emotions in check yet still wanting to continue. It reminded Cinder of the first time he had spoken to her about his own need for revenge, making her wonder how long he had been waiting to get this off his chest.

"My mother loves this world, saw beauty in it despite everything it had taken from her. And so, right before she left to meet her end, she made me promise her something. That I'd help this remnant of a planet grow into an even more beautiful garden, one where I could see its beauty. And upon my agreement, my semblance awoke, acting almost like a sacred pack between our promise. One that allowed me to escape that day with only a light scar."

Fang came to a stop here, his face slowly relaxing as he let a small smile spread across his face, one that seemed to melt away all the negativity he had been leaking as he recalled his tale, the air seeming to clear as he slowly turned back around, facing Cinder with a much more composed look than when he started.

"So, the TLDR story is this, while I both understand and won't hold it against you if you decided to abandon your vengeance, please don't tell me how to respond to mine. As much as I hate to sound cliche, losing the most important person to you is very different from a friend you just met, and the trauma burden upon your sister."

Fang's voice was calm, composed. Displaying not only a strong yet rationed resolve that made the dark haired girl stare, but also the determination of a man who had thought out his plan carefully and with honest reflection. He knew the risks in pursuing his goal, but had chosen to still follow it. A testament to his resilience.

And as Cinder stared up at him, the light from the evening sun shining through the window, bathing him in an orange glow, highlighting his ragged scarf that blew out in the gentle wind, a single thought entered the girl's mind. He was different.

This wasn't the rash emotions of an upset or hurting boy, but the carefully crafted thoughts of a young man, one who held his conviction to a higher standard than the normal edgy, dark ideology of those who chose that path. Even Cinder herself had to admit, she hadn't really cared what she had to do if it meant getting even.

Fang, despite wanting revenge, very much seemed to place his priorities in order. Caring more about his main goal first, placing it above his own personal interests. And given how incredibly painfully going through that was, it impressed the girl on the sheer strength he must have to hold himself to those standards.

And she looked to the white haired boy, Cinder to made a decision she could hold herself to.

"Okay." She said, smiling as she walked over, coming to a stop a comfortable distance away from him. "In that case, I'll still help you with your vengeance, even if I've given up mine. In return, you can-."

Fang cut the girl off as he raised his hand up, stopping her in her tracks as he grinned back at her.

"Don't make any choices yet." He said kindly. "Next week, when regular missions start again, my team is going to escort cargo ships from Vale to Vacuo. We'll be gone for weeks, plenty of time to think over your decision and make up your mind on what you want. And who knows, maybe you'll find you actually do want to get revenge. After all, someone as petty as you could probably find a multitude of people who rub you the wrong way."

He laughed as Cinder made to punch him in the stomach, only for the white haired boy to dodge out of the way at the last minute causing her to stumble, her fist hitting the windowsill causing her to freeze and grimace as pain shot through her arm.

She stood there for a second, mouth tight as she fought back a curse before quickly pulling back and dusting herself off, trying to look dignified after her miss.

"Yeah, I'm never being nice to you again." She grunted, rubbing her sore hand. "I listen to your sob story and you won't even take a punch to the gut for my troubles? Jerk! How do you keep doing that anyway? I haven't been able to land a hit on you yet. And I've been actually trying for a while."

Fang laughed as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Hand-to-hand isn't your specialty, is it?" He asked. "It doesn't take an expert to read your line of attack. You always chamber too far back, making it obvious where and how you're going to strike. But if you must know, I do have a little help from my semblance."

"Your semblance?" Looking up with genuine curiosity, the dark haired girl dropped her angry facade as she turned to him. "What is your semblance anyway? You mentioned it helped you get out of…some tight situations. But even when sparring I don't think I've ever seen you use it."

Fang laughed in response, shoving his hands into his pocket. "Oh, you've seen it plenty. You just haven't realized it as unlike yours or Adam's, mine isn't quite as obvious as a giant red laser or a burst of fire. See, my semblance is a little more..hidden than most."

Reaching up, Fang tapped the side of his temple with two fingers, smiling as he did so.

"My semblance is Premonition. I can see the future of everything within my line of vision." He said proudly. "With it, I can see falling debris, collapsing floors, and of course, the attack line of an enemy. This makes it child's play to dodge or counter depending on the situation, effectively making me a near impossible opponent to hit."

"Get the fuck out!" Cinder cried, any thoughts of the pain in her hand vanishing instantly. "That's your semblance?! No way! No semblance is that powerful! Time manipulation is impossible! It'd take too much aura! And if you somehow could, you'd be way stronger than you are now! You have to be bullshiting-!"

Cinder broke off as Fang let out a laugh, clearly enjoying her reaction and response to his power. "What's the matter, jealous? Well, don't lose sleep over it, my power does have limitations as, unfortunately it's not a godlike power that you probably think it is."

Sitting down on his bed, Fang turned to look out the window, a faint, pale gray light emitting from his irises as veins slowly began sneaking their way from the edges of his eyes, snaking toward the center like vines growing from underground and reaching toward the sun. Changes so subtle that had Cunder not been looking for it, she would have missed it.

"My semblance actually limits my vision, allowing me to only see a few feet away from me, which makes aiming a bit difficult. What's more, the longer I use it, the more blurred my vision becomes. If I use it too long, I basically become useless."

Looking up, the boy blinked, opening his eyes as the gray light dissipated instantly, the veins beginning to retract back behind his open lids.

"Second, and arguably must critically, this power is Not a time manipulation ability, it is a data analyzation and perception manipulation power." He said, reaching up and gently running his closed eyes. "Basically, my power works by analyzing my knowledge or information I have on either my opponent or/and my surroundings, feeding it into an algorithm that then calculates the most likely odds to the part of my brain that is tied to my visual senses, creating an singular delusion that plays out in real time on my eyes not unlike a movie, letting me keep track of both my real opponent and what their most likely next move is. Does that make sense?"

"Huh, kinda." Cinder responded, rolling his words over in her head as she tried to understand what he was saying. "So, what you're saying is that you see the most likely course of action based on what you know about them, the surrounding, and any other factor without needing to spend time thinking about it, right? Is that how you knew where that Nevermore would appear yesterday? Because of your semblance? And why I can't ever beat you in chess?"

Fang laughed in response, opening his eyes as he did. With the dark haired girl noticing they were back to normal. "No, I don't use this when playing chess." He said with a playful roll of his eyes. "Unfortunately, it's not that powerful. I can only see 0.07 seconds into the future. And while that did let me dodge that Nevermore, I wouldn't have the time in a game like chess. Not that I'd even need it against an opponent like you. Just like I don't need to to dodge this."

He added the last part as he calmly moved his head to the side, letting Cinder's thrown knife land in the wall with a thunk, her irritated cry making his chuckle even more.

"Bite me!"

---

Down in Vale.

Amber let out a sigh as she entered one of her favorite stores in the kingdom, greeting the Faunus who worked the register.

"Afternoon, Tucson." She said with a quiet wave, one the man was happy to return.

"Good afternoon, Miss." he called back. "You looking for more books on historical battles? Or some ancient lost history nobody else has the patience to translate? Either way, I hate to have to tell you, but we haven't gotten anything new. Delay with shipments and all that. I'm sure you understand."

Amber smiled politely as she nodded, making her way over to one of the shelves. "No need to worry. I wasn't looking for anything new today." She replied, putting on her fake gritty act. "Got a school project to work on and needed some books on law and youth labor. Chosen topic was rights in Mistral, so I kinda need some weird stuff to make the report stand out."

The Faunus nodded, disappearing into the back.

"I think I have just what you're looking for." He called from the storage area. "Just the thing came in last week. The client canceled because of the delay and with everyone in a frenzy after Howard's death, I didn't want to have it on the shelf. Just give me a minute to dig it up. In the meantime, I have a collection of other law books over in the corner. Feel free to read a couple pages to see if there's anything you're looking for."

"Thanks!" She called back, instinctively smiling at the door before making her way over to the designated area.

After a quick scan of the shelves, she found two that caught her interest. "Vale law and order." And "How to slave legally." Both written by credible authors and with pretty good reviews online.

Normally, she wouldn't need to bother with such advanced books. This was the kinda thing that only those studying to be lawyers would need. However, yesterday the police chief had applied to the council for an emergency law to be passed that would allow him to call first years students from Beacon to aid them in times of crisis as part of an internship program. Aka, without pay.

Now normally, Amber wouldn't have minded helping the police suppress violent extremists. However the chef had added a claws that indicated he would have the power to call for students whenever he felt the need, with zero input from either the students or the school.

Naturally, Professor Ozpin had opposed the law, however two of the other three thought it was worth considering, believing that the upholding of the law was more important than higher education.

Now, Amber believed that a middle ground would be the most beneficial for all parties involved. However, when she had tried to put in her input, the whole point of why the team leaders were there in the first place, she had been completely shut down.

The fourth and final member of the council, Anodeser, had told her, to her face, that he had no intention of humoring a, and these were his words, horny teen of a weak generation who put frivolous things like their feelings above real progress.

His 'speech' had been accompanied by a long rant about how thin skinned kids should have no say in adult matters and that they should just learn to listen to their parents and obey. Basically telling everyone there that as long as he sat on the council, they would do what they thought was best, regardless of what the students thought.

And so, with Roman basically dismissing it as a lost cause and Lee not even showing up, Amber had taken it upon herself to make an argument as to why students' opinion should play a role in the deciding factor. Even if she really, really didn't want to.

Bringing the two books up to the counter, Amber set them down with a sigh as she waited for Tucson to come back. She knew there were technically three other team captains at the meeting and that one of them actually did have a lawyer in their family. But given that she didn't know them very well and that they had been one of the people to practically make themselves a stranger to her team after Music Fest, she decided it would probably be better if she just did it herself.

Fortunately, she was brought out of their thoughts as the Faunus returned from the back, carrying a couple books with him which he placed next to her's.

"Here you go." He said, fanning the books out in front of her. "These are extremely popular with those from law school. Basically everything you need to know about general law. And of course all the way corporations exploit it. This one, The Fall of the Schnee's, is a documentary about how the SDC fell to corruption after Nicholas retired, and how, even after trying to come back to make it right, he was effectively stripped of any ownership of the organization."

Tucson paused for a second, sadly shaking his head as the bell above rung, sounding off to another customer.

"Shame really. He and one of his old friends used to come to Vale all the time. Actually met them when I was a kid. Old man Beige we used to call him. They had the craziest stories and were always so nice. Too bad they both had to kick the bucket, could really use some more generous millionaires these days."

The unsaid, "like Mr. Howard" didn't go unnoticed by the girl. And while it did poke at a raw nerve, honestly, she couldn't blame him.

Back then, before Music Fest, (before her.) the kingdom, for all its flaws, had been pretty stable. Jobs were abundant, housing was affordable, and violence was lower than any of the other kingdoms. Still high, but nowhere near as high as the others.

Now, with the police needing huntsmen to help with their daily rounds, it had become almost completely unrecognizable. Crime was through the roof, jobs were rare and getting rarer, and most people who could afford a home were being forced out as they struggled to pay all the bills. All because of her.

She really shouldn't have been bo-.

Immediately, the girl shook the thought from her head, simply smiling at Tucson instead.

"Thanks!" She said cheerfully, picking another one of the books. "This will be a great help with my report. Those I was wondering, do you have anything specifically on child labor or illegal slave ownership? That's the main topic of the work and I was hoping to get an in-depth analysis from a professional."

"I believe I do." The Faunus replied cheerfully. "Recently, we got a copy of the, Twice rended, book. It talks about the mistrust of Faunus and how humans tried to normalize it, while suppressing any information about it. The author isn't actually known, but it's believed he was a Faunus who got his own trait cut off to-."

Tucson broke off as he looked up, pulling his gaze away as he stared at the person who had just entered his shop, mouth falling open in surprise, causing Amber to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

That was strange. The Faunus wasn't a stranger to violent individuals coming in to cause a scene. She had actually first met him throwing two teens out, so he clearly knew how to fight even without an aura. Yet he was staring as if he thought his head might explode.

Confused, Amber turned around expecting to find a member of the Seraphim or some long lost relative he might be having a moment with. However, the moment she laid eyes on the customer who had just entered, her mouth fell open as well, eyes going as wide as dinner place as she stared at the boy staring right back at her.

"Adam?" She gasped, still unable to tear her gaze away. "What are you doing here?"

"Right back at you." The Faunus replied, his face mirroring her's in shock and confusion. "What are you doing at a White Fang subsidiary?"

---

"So, law work huh?"

Amber nodded as she sat across from her teammate in the back room, two cups of tea sitting between them.

"I figured that if the council wouldn't listen to us, they might listen to the law. Not sure how that's going to work out, but I figured it was a good place to start, although this is very far outside both my field and education." She confessed, taking a sip of her drink. "Though if I'm being perfectly honest, I'm not sure how much good it's even going to do. That generation are pretty stubborn when it comes to doing things differently than they do."

The Faunus laughed as he leaned back in his seat.

"You're not wrong." He said, crossing his legs as he leaned back. "People like that don't care about what others think. They just want power for themselves, and are willing to step on everyone else to get it. Honestly, your time would be better spent somewhere else rather than trying to convince a couple old geezers that they're wrong. Especially with our return to actual missions next week."

"Uggg!" Amber let out an agonizing groan as she slammed her head down onto the table. That was one thing she had actively been trying to forget! The last thing she wanted was to go on another mission after the events of Music Fest.

Every time they went on a mission, regardless of if it was a training exercise or an emergency call, people would recognize her, some hurling insults and derogatory remarks in her general direction. All of them making a point to remind her that she was the one who not only lost them their jobs, but also made Vale more dangerous. And this was coming from people who bought into the Seraphim's lies as well as those who didn't!

With the help of her team, she learned to tune some of it out. But the constant reminder of Howard and what had happened to her was definitely something she didn't need. Especially considering she still didn't really know how she was supposed to feel about him!

Yes, what he had done with the Seraphim was irredeemably, nobody was arguing that. But, after the moments she had spent with him off the battlefield, she had developed some attachment to him which was strengthened by his connections to her parents. But after his betrayal, she had been left with a confusing tangle of emotions she didn't even know where to start unpacking!

However, the main reason she didn't want to be reminded of the old man was because of his cryptic last message to her after their battle.

Back then, after the headmaster had saved them from expulsion, she had been ready to write it off as nothing more than a senile old man's attempt to get back in her good graces, or as an attempt to place doubt into her head.

However, as she did some research on the topic, more strange things kept coming up. And while it looked like nothing at first, or even the second or third time, after a while, and because she was looking for it, she noticed a very, VERY subtle pattern leading up to Ozpin's promotion.

First, there was his unnatural growth in terms of both combat capabilities and knowledge of Grimm. Going to nearly college level capability seemingly overnight. A feat which caught the attention of the then newly appointed headmaster of Beacon, allowing the boy to skip two years to enter the academy where he graduated after two years!

Now, prodigy wasn't exactly unheard of, just look at Adam. What was much harder to explain away as just a gifted boy genius was how he started welding a completely different weapon in that same year. Going from a kinda whip blade to his cane once again, seemingly overnight.

Originally, this had been explained away as him being skilled in multiple weapons, which had been demonstrated. But in some very obscure articles she had to use hacking software to find, (complements of Fang.) she had found some of his own relatives saying that they didn't remember Ozpin ever taking up that specific weapon or style. And even stranger, it bore a striking resemblance to another weapon wielded by a famous explorer back in the industrial age.

Student records also showed how his team was constantly given special assignments and additional training, all of which he passed with flying colors. A feat that carried on into the war, where he rarely ever saw defeat, and the few times he did, he always left a surprise for his enemies that soured their victory. All while employing tactics and tricks that were comparable to that of the last king of Vale, the one who fought in Vacuo and nearly ended the entire war with his blade.

With his many achievements and accolades accompanying them, when the previous headmaster had announced he would be stepping to let Ozpin replace him, nobody had batted an eye. However, when looking a bit closer at the whole event, it definitely raised some red flags.

First was Ozpin's lack of teaching experience, something that raw skill, no matter how much of it you had, was something you couldn't use as a replacement. Second, the previous headmaster wasn't even that old. Sure he was getting up there, but to retire that early and get replaced by a kid some thirty years younger? Didn't that just feel a little weird?

All of this was so subtle, things a normal person wouldn't notice. In fact, she only did because she was both well versed in history and looking for anything strange or suspicious. Had she lacked either of these two traits, she honestly doubted she'd have seen anything wrong. And now that she had, that doubt was creeping in.

Was there really some secret society controlling the kingdoms from the shadows? Was that really why Howard couldn't bring himself to trust Ozpin? Was that the reason why the SDC had killed him? Were they in on it as well? And if so, what else had they done or could do? What was their purpose? Why create all this in the first place? What could they possibly want now that they had worked their way into every kingdoms' politics? And if all this really were true, just how long have they been around?

All these thoughts filled the girl's head, making it pound. What the hell was wrong with her? She was getting all jumpy over probably nothing. Connecting dots that just weren't there. Professor Ozpin probably just had a really good teacher that one year and he picked up a weapon similar to him, that was all. And the resemblance between his cane only came from a black and white picture of the explorer and was probably just because of the grainy nature of cameras back then. It wasn't the focus of the photo and you could hardly even see it. And besides, how many different ways could you make a cane? They probably just took inspiration from the same source.

Letting out another groan, she banged her head against the table once again, letting out a long moan of frustration as she pressed her face against the wood. "I can't take it anymore." She pleaded to no one in particular. "I can't take another mission in this city reminding me of my screwups without going crazy! I need to get out of here before I lose it!"

Across the table, Adam, who was starting to get used to this kind of thing, calmly sipped his tea before addressing his leader.

"Fat chance of that." He said sympathetically. "No way a shipping company is going to accept our team. And convoy escorts are usually reserved for third years and up. We'd practically need to submit a written document with one of our names requested by the contractor. And with all due respect, I'm pretty sure we've burned that bridge with Howard shipping."

Amber let out a gran in response, burying her face deeper into the table. She knew that finding a caravan or something would be practically impossible right now. And while there was the option of going to a small village in the middle of nowhere, those were also mainly given to older students with more experience or students with an incredible track record, something her team seriously lacked.

"Ugg!" She groaned into the table, practically feeling her brain falling apart. She didn't want to have to be reminded of Howard, or how effortlessly he had managed to work his way into her head. She needed to put some space between herself and this kingdom, clear her head, maybe even see some new sights instead of the constant reminder of her screwups.

But it didn't seem like that was happening.

"Oh well, guess it can't be helped." She bemoaned, looking up at Adam with her head still resting on the table. "I just wish we could get out of the kingdom, away from all…this. It's just so exhausting having to be given a stream of constant reminders about-. Well, you get it."

The redhead nodded sympathetically as the team leader returned her face to the top of the table, calmly sipping his tea as he watched her.

"If it make you feel any better, I feel the same." He said. "I want to get out of this place and go somewhere where people are actually worried about real problems, not this whole them vs us bullshit that's been going on since Music Fest. I swear, it's like theses idiots forgot that all that hate their spewing is drawing the Grimm to the kingdom."

Honestly, Amber found herself unable to disagree. Ever since all this started, despite the best attempts by Professor Ozpin and many other important figures and celebrities, the hate speech didn't stop, instead growing more wild and out of control, drawing more and more people into that pit of fear and anger, which in turn draw hordes of Grimm to their borders. Something that, with their already depleted resources of huntsmen and huntresses, they were struggling to defend against, which only made the people more scared and more on edge.

This cycle would repeat over and over again, destabilizing the kingdom more and more, with none of the people being able to see the obvious pattern, a fact that frustrated her to no end. It was just so unbelievable-!

"Well, if you're looking for a special contract, I think I might be able to help with that."

Both students turned as the owner of the store came into the back room, another tray of tea in his hands which he set down before the guests.

"It's not very glamorous, but it will take you out of the kingdom and get you away from all the chaos therein. Although, it might be a little bit tougher for your kind specifically." He said, looking directly at the dark skinned girl. "But it would be for a good cause and you'll definitely learn a thing or two from the pros. One of the top huntresses in the kingdom is assigned to the mission, so you'll be learning from the best."

At his words Adam and Amber exchanged confused looks. A mission that would be tough on Amber specifically? What did he mean? The girl hadn't exactly poured her heart out to the bookstore owner and the little of her history available to the public wouldn't be enough to make an accurate assumption. So how did he figure it would be difficult for her?

And so, after a few seconds of confused silence, Amber decided to ask the question that was burning on both their minds

"Who's the client?"

---

Cinder let out a yawn as she made her way back. The sun had already set and it was rapidly approaching curfew. After spending the day playing chess with Fang, (she had lost every game.) she had received a text message from their group chat telling her to get back so they could talk about their next mission.

Apparently, Adam and Amber had somehow managed to secure themselves an escort mission that would take them away from the kingdom for a few weeks, something Cinder was already looking forward to as she practically sent an unreadable text saying she was in.

This mission would be similar to Music Fest, but instead of them being in charge and calling the shots, instead they would end up working as one of many different teams under a single commander who would organize, coordinate, and issue orders to them teams as a whole, with the different leaders making the calls on how to get it done.

In other words, they would be shadowing pros to learn from them while not having the responsibility of either dealing with the real client or the backlash if something went wrong. Which was already something to look forward to.

Still, Cinder couldn't help but wonder how Amber had managed to get this mission as the school normally reserved these types for three years and up. On top of that, most pros were currently staying in the main city to help protect against Grimm invasion, so how someone had gathered a large enough group of people willing to leave was beyond her.

Coming to a stop in front of her room, she calmly punched in the code to unlock the door and pushed it open where she was greeted with a surprising sight.

"Well, look who's the last one here." Eric teased as he sat on his bed, shield lying in his lap as he polished it. "About time, thought we'd finish the conversation before you got back. Kinda wish we had cause leaving you in the dark until we depart would have been pretty funny."

Cinder responded by flipping the knight off, turning instead to her other two teammates, Adam, who was sitting at the desk, going over some papers while Amber sat cross legged on her bed, Scroll laying next to her on the pillow.

"So, what'd I miss?" She asked, addressing her team leader. "I figured if there was anything else important you'd just send it over the group chat, but the fact you're all having some really important conversation on the topic, I'm guessing there's more going on then a simple escort mission."

Amber nodded at the question, calmly picking up her Scroll, opening it where she began tapping away on the buttons.

"Yeah, you could say that." She replied. "Basically, we're escorting a peace advocate speaker to several small towns on the edge of the kingdom territory where he'll be speaking on the importance of forgiveness and racial equality. And how we can help fight it every day by doing a couple small things."

"And?" Cinder asked, placing her hands on her hips. "Sounds like your usual dickless spokesperson. All talk, no action. What's the catch? I doubt he could be any worse than Booby. No way we get a second criminal as a client this soon after our first."

Suddenly, a loud slam from her side made Cinder jump, turning to see Adam on his feet glaring at her, hands on the desk, the source of the sound.

"Hey, I'll have you know that Mr. Naabhi isn't some toothless diplomat!" He snapped. "He's a proud speaker for Faunus rights, as well as someone who pushed for nonviolent protest and helped get Faunus out of Atlas after their branch of the White Fang was shut down. Saving countless lives by bringing them to Menagerie. He might not be a fighter, but he's a hero and someone you'd do well to respect!"

Flinching at the volume of his voice, Cinder stuck a finger into her ear, cleaning it out as she shut one eye, letting out a grunt in response to her teammate.

"Geez, well excuse me for never having heard of him or knowing he was our client." She grumbled irritatedly. "Go figure you'd know him. Let me guess, you have a picture of him hanging above your bed back home? You his number one fan or something? Cause that sounds exactly like something you'd do."

Adam took an aggressive step toward the girl, his teeth bared as he approached.

"Look here, respecting someone who's dedicated his life to a noble cause is-!"

Adam was cut off by Amber letting out a loud cough, immediately silencing the two's bickering. Drawing both their attention to the dark skinned leader who was still sitting on her bed.

"As I was saying, we'll be touring the edges of the kingdom's borders before traveling into no man's land to reach the port on Vale's most northern side where Mr. Naabhi will board a ship to Menagerie. Completing our mission with the caravan and letting us call an airship to take us back to Beacon. It'll be a long trip and I expect you all to…" Amber suddenly broke off, letting out a deep sigh as she rested her head in her hand.

"You know what? I'm just gonna rip the bandage off. Here's the organization we'll be working with." With that, she quickly typed something on her Scroll, hitting the send button before the dark haired girl could ask what she was talking about.

The collective ding from all their Scrolls informed them that their new mission orders had arrived, prompting the dark haired girl to dig hers out of her pocket, completely confused as to why her entire team was behaving so weirdly.

But the moment she saw the mission statement, any confusion was immediately replaced with disbelief and rage. Hell no! They were not serious. No way were they their next client. This had to be a prank by Adam to piss her off!

But as she stared at the screen, the statement above the accepted status remained unchanging, her mind was forced to accept that this was real and they were dead serious. For the next few months, she'd be out in the wilderness with these bunch of snowflakes, turning what should have been a peaceful getaway into a nightmare Hellscape with only a few simple words.

Mission. Escort high priority target Aabharan Naabhi and his personal cargo on his tour of the Vale kingdom under the White Fang's supervision.

"Oh mother fuc-!"