AN: Hey, everyone. Sorry about the month or so gap. I was thinking long and hard because a couple recent reviews got me thinking about mistakes I've made in this story. Namely, I think the biggest mistake that's causing some people to lose this story is that they're all still working with Ironwood despite them knowing what he did to Aqua. Of course, the easiest fix would have been simply not have them learn that he was responsible when Aqua and Weiss were still in Atlas, but I wasn't thinking ahead. But at the same time, it leads to one of my favorite changes to the status quo, which is Yang leaving Team RWBY.

Now, I know that there are some mental gymnastics going on, so I'm going to try to do my best to explain the logic.

First off, Atlas is the most secure Kingdom, so Oz thought the Lamp would be safest there. Now, when they finally arrive, the original plan was for them to bring the Lamp to Ironwood, while Ruby, Riku, Yang, and Weiss stayed in Mantle so he didn't know they were there. When the group originally decided to tell him the whole truth, it was also under the assumption that he wouldn't know there were two Keyblades in the Kingdom. But then the Ace Ops tried to arrest them, which alerted him to their presence. Now, it's important that they keep him at least somewhat stable since they don't know what he'll do to Ruby and Riku if he panics.

After lying to him, the reason why Ruby is still working with him is because she knows that Ironwood won't let her leave. But she wants to help Mantle, and the only way to do that is to work with Ironwood. She'll be on a leash, sure, but it's better than a cage. Yang left because she knows she'll eventually snap and attack Ironwood, so she eliminated herself as a obstacle, and doesn't know that Ruby wasn't paying attention when they voted to tell the truth, and currently thinks he knows everything. As for the others, yes, they hate Ironwood, to, but they know that they need to be there to protect Ruby and Riku from him.

I really hope that this logic makes sense.

Anyway, onwards.

Chapter 137

Ruby was happy to see the sun again, now that they had finally stepped out of the Dust mine. She saw that some trucks had already arrived to begin moving supplies into and out of the area, surprising her at the efficiency.

Though, considering that the only nice thing anyone had to say about Ironwood is that he ran a tight ship, she really shouldn't have been so surprised.

As soon as it was evident that the mission was over, and thus, all of the danger had passed, Nora and Jaune immediately began fawning over the Ace Ops.

"You guys were incredible!" Jaune yelled excitedly at Clover. "Oh, the way you took down that Geist without needing to plan your tactics out, you just knew exactly what to do!"

"Well, Ace Ops are hand-picked to perfectly compliment one another," Clover said. "So we can focus on our assets and leave our liabilities behind."

"Some of us are all asset, zero liability," Marrow said confidently, prompting Elm to scoff. "Wha—Yeah? Think I've got some liabilities, Elm?"

"Your brains, for one," Elm said, making Clover and Harriet laugh.

"You did ask," Vine said when Marrow visibly deflated.

Nora ran up to Elm. "Hi. Do you need a new best friend? Out pair name can be Thunder Thighs!" Elm blinked owlishly at her, prompting Pyrrha to rub the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Sorry about her," the redhead said. "She can be a bit much."

"She's perfectly harmless, I assure you," Ren said.

"Thunder Thighs," Nora said quietly. Ruby ignored whatever Team JNPR were doing and looked at her fellow speedster.

"Perfect complimentary teamwork," she said. "Oh, yeah, I want to have my friends' backs just like that."

"Friends?" Harriet asked in probably the most judgmental tone Ruby had ever heard.

"This isn't a schoolyard, kid," Elm said.

"I'm confused," Tifa said. "Wouldn't you become closer after going to battle together?"

"We get along well enough, sure," Harriet said. "I count on them to keep me alive. They do the same. But that's the job. We don't confuse the two."

"That's dumb," Riku said, drawing everyone's attention. "If I'm going into battle with someone, I want it to be someone I care about. Why would you not want to be friends with the people you risk your life with?"

"It's better to not let emotions get involved," Elm said.

Riku stood there silently for a second. "…You know, considering how soulless Atlas has been so far, this really shouldn't surprise me."

Harriet growled in anger at what Riku said, until Elm put a hand on her shoulder. "Whatever. I wouldn't expect a child to understand." Riku crossed his arms and glared at her.

"Cut the chatter," Clover said, indicating with his head that Ironwood was waiting for them. "You all hang back a second." He and the rest of the Ace Ops walked towards the general, leaving the teens alone. They all looked at Riku.

"Was antagonizing them really necessary?" Pyrrha asked.

"What do you mean?" Riku asked.

"You called them dumb and soulless," Weiss said, prompting Riku's face to flush slightly in shame.

"Oh, yeah, I did," he said sheepishly. "Sorry about that. It's just, this place feels so…wrong. And the way they were talking to Ruby, like we were all childish for being friends with each other instead of just co-workers. We Keyblade wielders know more than anyone the importance of forming strong bonds with your Heart, so to hear them talking about it like it was worthless, just… made me mad."

"I get it," Ruby said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"But in the future, let's try to remember that the Ace Ops had nothing to do with what happened to Aqua," Tifa said. "Atlas and Ironwood both rub me the wrong way, too, but let's not take it out on them."

"Yeah," Riku said.

"But to be fair to Riku, Harriet is quite rude," Weiss said, prompting the others to chuckle.

"Can I get the team leaders over here?" Ironwood called out to them. "There's something I'd like to discuss with you. You too, Riku." Ruby, Riku, and Jaune broke off from the rest of the group and headed towards the general, who was wrapping up his conversation with Clover. "I need you on the ground, but be subtle. If people see too many Huntsmen milling around, they'll get nervous." Clover saluted, and turned to walk away. "And Clover? Don't take Marrow." Clover looked over at Marrow and saw that he was animatedly regaling a poor soldier with a re-enactment of how the mission in the mine went. Clover chuckled before taking his leave.

"What are you sending Clover to work on?" Riku asked. "New problem?"

Ironwood sighed. "More of the same, unfortunately." He pulled out his Scroll and projected a holographic display. It showed a mugshot of a man with dark hair pulled into a ponytail and a chin strap beard. Next to it was a picture of the man's corpse lying in a trash heap in a Mantle alleyway. "Someone in Mantle is taking out public leaders who speak out against Atlas. Specifically, people who speak out against me. It didn't look like a pattern at first. But this is the third murder of its kind in the last week."

"Yeah, I can see why that's a problem," Riku said. "Really doesn't look good for you if people criticizing you are being silenced."

Ironwood turned off the hologram and put his Scroll away. "Not really worried about my public image, but it's causing unrest. I think someone's trying to frame me and, by extension, Atlas. And it's working."

"Well, if it wasn't for the embargo making everybody so mad, people probably wouldn't be so quick to blame you for everything else," Jaune said, causing Ironwood to frown at him. Jaune stood his ground under the weight of Ironwood's glare, since they all knew he had a point.

Eventually, the general rubbed the bridge of his nose. "No. No, you're right. Things in Mantle have been… hard to manage lately. I'm not blind to its issues. In fact, that's what I want to talk to you about." He looked up longingly at Amity Colosseum floating above them. "With the launch of this mobile communications tower and tensions down in Mantle, I think there's a lot of good your teams can do here." His communicator beeped, and he put his finger to his ear to listen to it. "What?" he asked in surprise. "Already? Here? No, it's fine. Let her land. I'll deal with her myself."

"Did something else happen in Mantle?" Riku asked. Ironwood looked up to watch an airship quickly approaching the nearby landing pad.

"No. This one's an Atlas problem."

Weiss watched the SDC airship descend onto the landing pad with no small amount of trepidation. She knew this meeting was going to happen sooner or later, but she much rather would have preferred later.

Well, actually, she would have preferred to see her father never, but she rarely seemed to get what she wanted these days.

Ironwood stood at attention in the middle of the landing platform to greet Jacques, with Weiss and her team standing a distance behind him. Technically speaking, the general could have met Jacques alone, but Weiss knew that she shouldn't put off this meeting any longer. If she was still too afraid of him to even see him, then that meant he still had some degree of control over her. Granted, she was still scared, which is why her team came with her to provide moral support without question.

The gangplank on the ship lowered.

"I must admit, I'm a little surprised to see you so soon," Ironwood said.

"Of course," a voice said. A voice that very much shocked Weiss to hear, mostly because it didn't belong to her father. Instead, the person walking down the ramp was a woman, with hair and eyes the same color as Weiss, only much older. Weiss instantly took notice of the fact that the bags underneath her eyes seemed to have diminished since the last time she saw her. "The SDC has been—"

"Mom?" Weiss asked, surprising her team and drawing her mother's attention to her. Her mother's eyes widened, and all conversation with Ironwood was forgotten so she could instead run towards Weiss and wrap her arms around her.

"Weiss!" her mother said happily as she hugged her. It took a moment for Weiss to register that she was actually receiving affection from her, but then she returned the hug. "Oh, I missed you so much!"

"I, uh, I missed you, too," Weiss said. They ended the hug, though her mother kept her hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. But while she was clearly happy to see her, there was also a sadness about her.

"I, I was hoping…"

"You were hoping I wouldn't come back," Weiss said. Her mother looked shameful. "I understand. I fought tooth-and-nail to leave."

"I don't want you to think I'm not happy to see you," Mom said. "Because I am. I was just hoping that the next time we met, neither of us would be in Atlas."

"I know," Weiss said. "But my friends needed me."

Mom's smile grew brighter. "I'm proud of you for that."

"Thank you," Weiss said, surprised at how much hearing her mother say that meant to her. "But, what are you doing here? I was expecting to see…"

"Jacques?" Ironwood asked, stepping up to them. "He was forced to step down as CEO of the SDC after the injuries he sustained when you and Aqua attacked him."

"The Board of Directors requested that I step in to act as interim CEO until he recovered since Whitley is still too young, but then it was determined that Jacques needed to step down permanently. He's focusing entirely on his campaign for the Council," Mom said. "I'm now acting as CEO until Whitley is old enough to inherit the company."

"You…You are?" Weiss asked, unable to keep the shock from her voice. "But…"

"But you thought I was too much of a useless drunk to handle that much responsibility?" Mom asked. Weiss tried to deny it, but her mother held up a hand. "It's okay. That's exactly what I was. But I've had a lot of help from Klein."

Weiss didn't really know what to say, but she figured the wide smile that now adorned her face conveyed how she happy she was to hear that her mother was doing so well.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" her mother asked.

"Of course," Weiss said. "This is Ruby Rose, our team leader, my partner Blake, and Tifa Lockhart. She's a new addition. Girls, this is my mother, Willow Schnee." They exchanged pleasantries. "We're Team RWBL."

"RWBL?" Mom asked. "I thought your team was called Team RWBY?" Everyone's faces fell.

"Our fourth member was originally my sister," Ruby said. "But, she left because she…" She looked up to meet the general's eyes. "She refused to work with the general."

"Personal problem," Weiss said when her mother looked confused, and decided to leave it at that.

"Regardless," Ironwood said, clearly trying to change the subject. "I assume you're here for a reason, Willow."

Weiss watched her mother breathe deeply, clearly trying to steel her nerves. "Yes, I'm here to question exactly why you've seized private SDC property."

"That's classified," Ironwood said dispassionately.

"Classified?" Mom asked. She tried to sound authoritative, though Weiss noticed the slight trembling. She gave her mother a reassuring smile and a thumbs-up, which seemed to help. "I'm not sure you're aware of the situation I'm in. After you enacted the embargo, it became much more difficult to pay our employees. I have people counting on me to help them keep the lights on. You've finally cleared out this Dust Mine, and instead of allowing me to use it to for them, you close it off, commandeer it, and can't even tell me why? What will the Council say when they hear about this?"

"I've already informed them," Ironwood said. "As this is now the site of a classified military operation, it didn't require a vote."

Mom swallowed nervously. "The Board has already empowered me to inform you that if this keeps up, we're going to have to start charging the military triple the going rate for all this Dust you've been scooping up."

"Oh, really?" he asked challengingly. Weiss saw her mother falter slightly, but she gave her another reassuring look.

"Y-Yes," Mom said. "The Military taking every last scrap of Dust in the Kingdom and the loss of international trade means that everyone else has to go without. I'd really rather not have to lay people off, and they decided that the best compromise if you won't lift the embargo is to simply charge you more for it."

"I understand the position that you're in, Willow," the general said. "I really do. However, that Dust is too valuable to our operations. Triple is unacceptable, but I'm certain we could negotiate a different rate."

"I don't—"

"Need I remind you, Willow," Ironwood said sternly, his tone of voice making her wilt slightly. "That this Dust is needed for a military operation. I would be well within my authority as a General in the Atlas Military to simply commandeer the Dust. I've been paying for it to ensure that people don't go hungry, and out of respect for the friendship I've enjoyed with your family for years, now."

"Don't speak to my mother that way," Weiss couldn't help herself from saying.

Ironwood turned his gaze to look at her for several seconds, and she leveled her fiercest glare at him. Mom was finally, finally trying to get better, and Weiss wasn't about to let Ironwood ruin it by being too forceful with her before she could handle it.

"My apologies," he said. "It wasn't my intention to cause distress. I'd be willing to pay double the rate I've been paying for the Dust. Would that be acceptable?"

Mom let out a shaky breath as she composed herself. "That…That might be acceptable. I'll have to speak with the Board about it."

"Let me know what they say," Ironwood said, walking with her back to the airship. "And, I apologize again for any… unpleasantness earlier."

"Um, It-It's okay," Mom said. "I'll keep in touch."

"Thank you. And have a wonderful evening, Willow."

Weiss watched her mother ascend the boarding ramp, which then closed behind her, and the airship took off. Tifa gave Weiss a pat on the shoulder, and the rest of the team gave her proud smiles. As the airship left, a truck pulled up onto the landing pad, and Winter hopped out, looking up curiously at the ship.

"You just missed Mom," Weiss said.

"Did I?" Winter asked. "How was she?"

"She was… actually really good," Weiss said with a smile.

"I see," Winter said, a ghost of a smile appearing on her face. "I'm… happy to hear that."

Penny suddenly dropped from the sky, a green hologram that read "CONGRATULATIONS!" appearing above her head with the sounds of celebrations, and scaring the wits out of everyone.

"Surprise!" Penny said cheerfully. When she noticed how confused everyone was, her smile disappeared. "Uh, did we not start yet?"

Winter sighed. "Apparently, we haven't."

"Start what?" Ruby asked.

Later that night…

Teams RWBL and JNPRR stood in a line in the center of Amity's arena, with Ironwood, Winter, and Penny standing opposite them. Uncle Qrow had some time before he officially started his rehab treatment, so he had also come and stood off to the side.

"It goes without saying that this arena holds a significance to all of us," Ironwood said, before directing his attention to Tifa and Riku. "Or, most of us. It's only fitting that we should be able to reconvene here. Now. When the world needs to be brought together more than ever. The road you traveled from out first meeting hasn't been easy. You fought for your school and your friends at Beacon. You fought for the world and the innocent at Haven Academy and beyond. You faced down terrors people can't even fathom. That's not the behavior od students. It's the behavior… of Huntsmen and Huntresses." He nodded to Penny, who nodded happily and walked past each member of the group, tapping a button on her Scroll as she did.

Ruby's Scroll beeped, and she pulled it out to look at the screen. The display showed her student license, but it morphed before her eyes into an official Huntress License.

"Wait, what is this?" Ren asked.

"You are being granted your Huntsman licenses, today," Winter said.

"I know this is coming a little ahead of schedule. But Brothers know you deserve it after everything you've been through," Ironwood said. "Besides, having your official licenses should make operating within the Kingdom that much easier."

"Thank you," Ruby said. "Can I make a request?"

"What is it?" Ironwood asked.

"Can you give my sister and Cloud licenses, too?" she asked. "They've been through just as much as us. Sure, they left, but they're in Mantle right now, and they need to be able to work. Since it's illegal for unlicensed Huntsmen to carry weapons, I figured you could at least give them theirs so they can get jobs."

Ironwood was silent for a few seconds. "Very well. I will have them registered."

"Thank you," Ruby said.

"Now, if there are no more questions, I had a cake ordered to celebrate the occasion," Ironwood said. "But first, I have one more announcement to make. Since I can't be everywhere at once, and there's a lot of work to be done, I have taken the liberty of assigning handlers to both your teams to help facilitate receiving orders."

Whatever excitement the group felt at being given their licenses faded at this announcement. Whatever his stated reasons were, they all knew the real reason they were being assigned handlers.

He needed someone to keep an eye on them.

"Team JNPRR, you'll be assigned to Specialist Winter Schnee," Ironwood said, surprising Ruby. She would have expected that Winter would be assigned to Weiss's team, considering that they were sisters. The fact that she wasn't further supported the idea that these handlers were just to keep them in line. After all, it would be easier for Winter to act against them if her sister wasn't on the team. "As for Team RWBL, well, I've hand-picked a Specialist for her valor, loyalty, and skill. I have also already informed her of Salem. I'll let her introduce herself. You may enter!"

Both teams turned around and saw a woman enter the arena. She looked to be about the same age as Winter. She had light pink hair that she wore swept over her left shoulder. She wore the standard white military jacket of Atlas, but without sleeves and only cinched closed just below her bust by a thick belt, along with a metal pauldron on her left shoulder with a red cape hanging from it. A brown turtleneck was worn underneath her jacket, but if one looked closely, the jacket being open at the bottom also revealed a belly button piercing. She also wore a very short brown skirt, knee-high boots with shin guards, and a pouch on her left leg. Dangling behind her was a rectangular case that presumably held her folded-up weapon.

The woman saluted as she walked up to the general. "Specialist Lightning Farron, reporting for duty."

"At ease," Ironwood said. "Specialist Farron, I would like to introduce you to Team RWBL. They're the team you've been assigned to."

Lightning turned and gave the four girls a scrutinizing look. "I was hoping that the general was kidding when he said you were a bunch of kids," she said. "Listen up, brats. I've been assigned to you, but that doesn't make us friends. When I speak, you can take my words as carrying the authority of General Ironwood himself. As long as you do what you're told and stay out of my way, we won't have any problems. Am I clear?"

Team RWBL said nothing, instead just looking at her with disapproving glances.

"I said, 'Am I clear?'"

"Yeah, we heard you," Weiss said. "We just don't like your attitude."

"Is that insubordination I hear?" Lightning asked, getting up in Weiss's face.

"We aren't soldiers," Riku spoke up from the other end of the line. "We're just Huntsmen and Huntresses helping out with Amity."

"What did you just say?" Lightning snapped. "Schnee, control your squad!" he yelled at Winter.

"Actually, Specialist Farron, Riku is correct," the general said, stopping Lightning in her tracks. "They aren't officially joining the Atlas Military. They know about Salem and Amity, and they're assisting us in that mission. They're less your subordinates, and more your equals. You were simply assigned to them to pass along orders and accompany them on missions as support."

While Lightning's back was turned, Nora stuck her tongue out at her.

"…Very well. My apologies," she said, though it took a visible effort.

"I'm, uh, willing to let bygones be bygones," Ruby said. "You didn't know."

Lightning exhaled through her nose. "Whatever." She turned on her heel, and left the arena, though Ruby noticed an embarrassed blush adorning her face. She exchanged looks with the others, but they only shrugged.

"I'm sorry if she didn't seem apologetic," Ironwood said. "She truly was sorry. She just doesn't know how to express it."

"I think we can let it go," Tifa said.

"Great," he said, before awkwardly adjusting his tie. "If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to running this operation. Um…" he turned away from them. "Well, then, Enjoy the cake."

Ruby sat alone on the bleachers as the rest of her friends all gathered around the cake, hanging out and having a good time. Oscar had also come up and brought Achilles, and he had been glued to Nora's side the whole time, while Jaune and Pyrrha were playing with their son.

"Big day for you, huh, kiddo?" Uncle Qrow asked as he walked up and sat next to her.

"It's… definitely a lot to take in," she said.

"Which part? The finally-getting-to-Atlas part, Yang-leaving-the-team part, getting-your-license part, or the not-quite-disclosing-everything-to-Ironwood part? Or… all of the above?"

"All of the above," Ruby said. "I promised Mom I'd always try to do what I think is right, but I can't tell if what I think is right is really what's best, or if I'm no different from Oz."

"Ruby, Oz only trusted himself with the whole truth," Uncle Qrow said. "You're trusting others, but you're making sure they prove themselves first. I think that's a pretty big difference."

"I hope so," she said, before taking out her scroll and looking at her license. "This says I'm a Huntress now. But I don't feel like I know much more than I did at Beacon."

Uncle Qrow chuckled. "That feeling never goes away. Your mom would've been proud of you. Hell, both of them would've been. Just like I am."

"Thanks," she said resting her head on his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her. "What do you think Mom would've done if she learned the truth about Salem? That she can't be destroyed."

"Pressed on, I think. Like you. You had to learn it from somewhere." She heard a melancholic exhale come from her uncle. "She was always more resilient than I am."

Ruby perked up when she saw Riku walking up towards them. "What's up?" she asked.

"I need to talk to you about something," he said, sitting on Ruby's other side. "I have a plan for what we should do next, but I want to run it by you, first."

"Go ahead," she said, sitting up.

"I think after Amity is finished, we should head to Vacuo and Vale and get the other Relics," Riku said, surprising Ruby and Uncle Qrow.

"Hold on, you want to just go ahead and summon the Keyhole?" Uncle Qrow asked. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," Riku said.

"What about Salem?" Ruby asked. "Remnant being sealed off is what's keeping her trapped here. If we seal the Keyhole while she's still alive, she'll be able to spread her Darkness to other worlds."

"I don't think we have the time to figure out how we're gonna destroy her first before Xehanort destroys everything," Riku countered. "If we don't get back to the Realm of Light and stop him from summoning Kingdom Hearts, then Salem or no, everything will be destroyed."

"That's all well and good, but I doubt Ironwood will just let us go to the other Kingdoms," Uncle Qrow said. "Besides, how are you gonna convince him to let you go get the Relics without revealing why you need them?"

"We'll deal with Ironwood later," Riku said. "I don't really have a concrete plan yet for how we're actually going to accomplish this. I just wanted you to know where I think we should go after this."

"Like you said, we'll think about it later," Ruby said. "For now, we need to focus on finishing Amity Tower and getting global communications back up. Regardless of how we all feel about Ironwood, I think we can all agree that that's important."

"Agreed," Riku said. "And thanks for listening."

"Hey, guys, come check this out!" Jaune called up to them, standing in front of a large screen. Ruby and Riku got up and ran towards the others, who were crowded around that same screen.

Ruby gasped excitedly when she realized what she was looking at. "Oh my gosh, is that a mission board?" she asked. "It's an app now?!" She excitedly started scrolling through the missions. "Can we ride a Megoliath? Stop an underground crime ring? Do I get to go undercover?"

"Maybe," Penny said happily.

"Hey, do you guys smell that?" Marrow asked, walking into the room with Elm and Vine. He dramatically sniffed the air. "Smells like… fresh meat."

Vine sniffed. "That's odd. I don't smell meat."

"Neither do I," Ren said.

Marrow groaned. "You know what? Nevermind."

"Let me get this straight," Elm said. "You've only been official for an hour now and you're already looking for Huntsman work?"

Weiss checked her Scroll. "To be fair, we've been official for a whole… fifty-seven minutes."

"I'd like to remind you all that the real mission here is ensuring the successful launch of the communications tower," Vine said.

"True," Ren said. "But we can also keep training and improving by helping where we can."

"The enthusiasm of youths!" Elm sighed happily.

"Well, it's hard to argue with that," Marrow said. "Okay, let me show you how it works." He walked over to the board and started scrolling through the missions. "Oh, here's an important one. Who wants to volunteer?" Everyone raised their hands. "We need someone to escort children to pre-primary school down in Mantle. There's not actually any danger, but the parents fret, and that attracts Grimm." Everyone but Jaune and Pyrrha put their hands down. "Perfect! Thanks Pyrrha and… Juan…Jwan… Jim?"

"Close enough, I guess," Jaune said. "Wow, our first Hunstman mission."

"Next!" Elm yelled, shoving Marrow aside. "A massive Sabyr is loose in the Mantle sewers! We need two brave warriors to flush it out!"

Everyone but Jaune and Pyrrha raised their hands excitedly for this mission, but Jaune just shrugged. "Eh, you can keep the Sabyrs."

Jacques sat in his favorite lounge chair in his study, nursing a whiskey on the rocks. He put his glass down, and firmly rubbed the skin around his right knee, trying to massage away the pain. He looked down scornfully at the cane resting against arm of the chair.

He had lost everything because of that bitch. Aqua Branwen. And that insubordinate daughter of hers.

When he saw Weiss again, she was going to wish she had never been born as much as he wished she had never been born.

And as for Aqua…

…Well, he had ample time to think of a suitable punishment for such a disobedient maid. He wondered if he could have some straps installed under his desk…

He was taking out of his thoughts when the door opened partway.

"Father," Whitley said as he poked his head in. "You, um… have a visitor."

Jacques slammed his fist down on the arm of the chair, almost knocking his cane over. "I told you I didn't want to be disturbed. Why did you let them in?"

"I didn't. He… let himself in."

A long, lanky arm opened the door the rest of the way, and a tall, thin man with a thick black moustache walked into the room. "A spitting of you, this lad, Jacques," the man said. "Creepily so, I might add. He's definitely inherited your… affect."

"Arthur," Jacques said, shocked. Last he heard, Arthur Watts had died. He quickly composed himself. "Whitley, leave us. And shut the door." Whitley looked confused for a second, and then looked at Arthur suspiciously. "I said shut the door!" Whitley quickly obeyed this time, leaving Jacques alone with the scientist. "I—You're supposed to be dead."

"That is what I wanted people to think," Arthur said. "You're right. However, I've heard things about you, Jacques. Namely, that you have an Ironwood problem."

"That bastard is costing me more money every day with this embargo," Jacques said. "After he brought Aqua Branwen into this Kingdom and she crippled me, one would think he would feel sympathetic enough of my plight. But no. Now my only hope is to win this Council seat."

Watts sat down on the chair next to Jacques.

"What if I said I could provide you with some… assistance?"

AN: Nice to see Willow doing well. And Lightning will be the last Final Fantasy character added to this story.

I hope I conveyed that there's a lot more hostility towards Ironwood coming from the team this time around.

There was also a scene I wanted to do here but I'll save til later.

And yes, Jacques has to walk with a cane now after what Aqua and Weiss did to him.

I want to remind everyone that this story has a Tv Tropes page!

As always, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!