Chapter 12

Ruby remembered the first time she met Valéan. Still fresh from news of her mother's disappearance, her father sought to distract the family from it by taking them to Vale. By that point, she had been entirely raised in Patch, only very rarely venturing out. However it was also after she had just 'awakened', meaning that Ruby was still adjusting to her new rigging and memories. Shoving an entire Kansen's worth of memories and powers apparently could actually induce an existential crisis in a five-year-old.

Though her father never brought it up afterwards, at the time he was seriously considering taking Ruby to see a therapist or a psychiatrist due to her sudden 180 change in mood. As per an eavesdropped conversation, she heard while he was on the scroll with Uncle Qrow. Instead, the trip to Vale was meant to see if it could make Ruby revert herself back to her prior, much more 'cheery' self.

Obviously, that didn't work, as evidenced by her current personality. However, that trip wasn't completely worthless, for one of the attractions that her father brought her and Yang to was Valéan, which was a popular tourist attraction. Truth be told, it worked somewhat in distracting her, as she was at least seeing something familiar to her, in some weird feeling of Deja Vu.

As young Ruby walked up the steps to Valéan's deck, that was when the two first met. The Battleship stood on top of the steps, looking down in naked confusion at the five-year-old she felt was a ship as well, and Ruby returned a wide-eyed stare.

Since then, as they say, was history.

"...and that's it." Ruby leaned back on a sofa in the officer's lounge exhibit.

"I must say, you seem to find yourself in extraordinary situations all the time these days. Have you ever considered just being a normal girl?" Valéan had an uncharacteristic unimpressed expression on her face as she finished hearing Ruby's explanation of what had happened so far. She knew of her exploits as a smuggler, but now that she involved herself in things far beyond, a new perspective on things was welcome.

"You know that isn't possible, not for someone like me." She wasn't exactly human, besides, what even counted as 'normal' for Kansen?

"Hm. And the 'Kansen' in the world where you say your powers were inherited from? Did they not have the same hopes and dreams as any other? What of Ulrich, the Ironblood Kansen you have memories of?" There was that question again. For a while, especially after the awakening, she thought of herself as Ulrich von Hutten over being Ruby Rose. Perhaps it was simply a way for her to handle those memories at the time, and she eventually moved on from it. Though the question she avoided for most of her life since then remained.

Why did she gain the memories of Ulrich von Hutten? Reincarnation? Impossible, as she did not believe the divines existed, unlike the Iris Orthodoxy or the Sakura Empire.

Siren manipulation? In a world where there was no trace of them or any existence of Kansen along with Wisdom Cubes, that was highly unlikely. Though the two were common in that Humanity was under siege, only that the Grimm were thankfully not technologically adept.

Years of thinking and exploring Ulrich's memories revealed nothing. At some point, it simply faded into the background, not really affecting her life, until now that was.

"Fine, it seems that you need more time to give me an answer. Moving on, I am not surprised about your Mantellian links, though I did not expect you to be a noble." Ruby chuckled mirthfully upon hearing her finish.

"Nobles don't exist anymore."

"Do they not? I get visits from those who express a very different sentiment all the time." She was referring to the monarchists that many kingdoms still had. They were the kind of people who blamed modern problems on the new, and wished to revert back to some nostalgic ideal of the past. When Vale was a true kingdom and whatnot.

"A prodigal daughter, the last heir of a noble house once great, but has now mysteriously fallen." The tone that Valéan used to describe her situation caused a shiver to run down Ruby's back. When she was younger Ruby used to sneak out and sail to see Valéan at night, who would often tell her stories from her glory days. That was probably when she started calling her grandmother, and kept it even now for the sentimentality. And also to mess with her of course.

"You make it sound like I'm a fairy tale princess."

"Who is to say you are not? You said it yourself, the Von Rosen family was once the most influential in all of Mantle. But you do not care for such things, do you?"

"All I care for, is to find out who my mother was." That was the goal, and Ruby had not ever lost sight of it. Valéan did not seem at all pleased with that answer, but she did not pursue it any more. Instead, the topic shifted once more, and to the main reason why Ruby sought her out tonight.

"And this…Faunus, Adam Taurus, he wanted to enlist your services?"

Ruby shifted on her sofa, remembering Valéan's admittedly complicated relationship with the Faunus. She did conduct shore bombardment on many Faunus forts during the war, but she knew there was no lingering animosity, so taking her advice on dealing with something like Taurus if he ever showed up again was something she wanted.

"I am not opposed to the White Fang's ideals, but we both know ideals are different from reality." The largest thing she and Valéan could relate to was serving a nation, no matter in what form. Ulrich served Ironblood, and by proxy to their Kaiser, while Valéan served the King of Vale. Both held ideals unique to them, but at the same time, both also knew that holding them up did not mesh well with the circumstances of reality.

"Be that as it may, a part of me cannot help but think we are the ones responsible for those such as Taurus existing. The Great War ended, but it laid the foundation for the Faunus Rights Revolution, and all that came after…. But I digress, you did not come here for politics, you came here for practical solutions."

"If you are going to suggest I bombard their camp, please don't."

"Har har." It was half a joke, Valéan had some tendencies to suggest solutions that were wholly out of date. Such as suggesting that she challenge a bully at her school to a duel to resolve their 'differences' a few years ago.

"Joking aside, I do not see any need for you to take action as of now. See no evil, speak no evil, as long as you do not seek him out, I do not believe he will bother you again."

Ruby raised an eyebrow, it seemed to good to be true, causing Valéan to elaborate further.

"From what you have described of him, he is a man who takes things to the extreme, sure, but he is not a wild animal-sorry, person either. He is calculative, and you have made it very clear you have no desire to join him in his crusade."

"Just like that? I do nothing and continue on with my business?"

"Just so. Of course, I do recommend you do other things instead and lay low for a while. He only found you out because of the…illicit services you do, so perhaps not doing as many of them will eventually have your name fade from their memory."

In other words, he only found Ruby out because of her reputation, her smuggling reputation that was. What Valéan meant was that if she laid low for a while, the extra attention on her could fade away, leaving her free to continue on at a later time without getting into similar situations. It was…not a bad idea, part of her felt indignant at not having thought of it herself.

"So, I just do something else while I lay low?"

"Well, I would recommend you do things such as seeing friends from school, or other things a fifteen-year-old does in this era. Don't you like to post images of yourself into the air?"

What?

"...Do you mean the scroll-network?"

"Is that what it is called? You use your scroll to send images, and it sends it through the air to other scrolls, right?" Ruby wanted to say something, but she just remembered the Valéan had not received any retrofit or was even in service for many decades now. Best to just nod for now.

"Besides, you have friends at school, yes? I am sure you can spend the time used for smuggling at night to 'hang out', as they say, into the early hours. Is that not something to look forward to?"

Again, Ruby did not say anything, this time unconsciously fidgeting with the sofa while looking away from the older Battleship. Unfortunately for her, Valéan instantly realized why she looked away based on previous conversations.

"...I see. Still having trouble finding friends at school?" Ruby wanted to retort, but the fact that it was true caused any words to die in her throat.

"I have some friends…"

"Two harlot twins at the club you frequent and a midget sociopath criminal are not 'normal' friends, Miss Rose." Okay, it wasn't that bad, Neapolitan wasn't murderous most of the time. At least, not when they take walks at night, the enthusiastic ones.

"We are going to talk about this, and you won't be leaving until you understand why."

Cringing, Ruby had dug herself into the one thing she didn't like about Valéan. She tended to lecture those who did wrong, and the worst part was, every word, sentence or point she made was correct in some way.

It was going to be a while before she could get back to Patch…


As far as nights went in Beacon, Glynda could honestly say there have been worse ones. Sure, the rowdy nature of the academy being one where future Huntsmen and Huntresses were trained caused her hair to fray much earlier than her peers, but that part was nothing compared to the amount of crap she had to deal with in just being an administrator. Though what kind of administrator also had to be a part-time security guard as well?!

One of these days, she should demand a raise and more vacation days from Ozpin, secret magical group be damned.

As she prepared to head back into her own quarters, she noticed that Ozpin's office still had its lights on even this late into the night. Odd, for he almost never worked this late, and even if he was around, he would not be in his office. Deciding to sate her curiosity, Glynda made her way to the office.

Stepping out of the elevator as it reached the top floor, she saw that Ozpin was not at his desk, but instead overlooking the academy grounds below, two hands gripping his signature cane behind his back. This meant only one thing, he was concerned.

"Glynda, working late I presume?"

"I was just about to retire, but I saw your office lights were still on. Anything I should know?"

Ozpin had many secrets, some not even Glynda was privy to for the sake of safety. There was a good chance asking him would result in vague, cryptic answers, but this time he gave simple answers, much to her relief. It saved her the headaches of figuring out what he meant at least.

"I have just gotten off a meeting with Admiral Louverture. I wager we have another lead to our mysterious Hutten. This image is from a Coast Guard patrol some time ago…"

Walking back to his desk, Ozpin tapped a few buttons on his desk, bringing up a holographic image for her to see. As she got closer, the dark, blurry image became ever clearer. Despite the background being pitch black, what she presumed were searchlights illuminated an enormous steel structure, the closest thing she could describe it as being similar to Valéan, the museum ship in central Vale's waterfront. She could hazard a guess that it was similar, being a Battleship as well, only that the one in the image seemed larger, much larger than Valéan.

"It appears that rumours of a Ghost Battleship are much more substantiated than initially thought." Ozpin quipped, causing Glynda to rub her head in an attempt to make sense of it.

"What…but…how…? I don't even…"

"What is even more interesting is that the Coast Guard has poured over all Battleships that were built in Remnant's history, and it resembles none of them."

Grasping at straws, Glynda proposed an idea randomly, though it was the only one that made any sense to her. "Do you think she is responsible?"

Ozpin shook his head immediately, clearly having considered the possibility already. "No, this does not fit with her methods, nor does it benefit her in any meaningful capacity. Unless the Grimm have suddenly become adept with naval technology and shipbuilding."

The thought of Grimm manning ships and acting like pirates in the seas of Remnant aside meant that there was an unknown third party with enough resources to build and maintain a Battleship like that, with the possibility for more.

"I believe it is time we included James in this investigation. Despite what you think of him, he is the most familiar with these matters, and his resources may be needed if we ever want to solve this mystery."

Truth be told, Glynda wanted to object. While James could bring to bear the resources of the Atlas military into their investigation, there was also the fact he was James Ironwood. Discreet was something he did not believe in, or at the very least, did not like to practice. Of course, he was not always like that, but that was so long ago now…

"I thought you wanted to talk with whoever this 'Hutten' is, bringing James into this may-"

"I understand, Glynda. I will make sure he knows that we need allies, not enemies."

What was left unsaid was how they could convince Hutten to be an ally in the first place. With James involved, however, the only thing she was certain of was that it could either end amicably or in a naval battle not seen since the Great War.


AN:

Heyo, kept you waiting, huh?

So I've been busy for the past month or so, went home and spent some time with my family and all so that killed my writing mood for a while. Though here we are, and boy the new Sakura Empire ships look damn neat. Unzen and Owari are my top picks from that roster, since I love Asuna from BA I think Owari will be my secretary for quite some time when they release.

Anyhow, I've been getting requests to do a Kancolle fic from a particularly insistent fellow. I'm just gonna state here that I will not do any Kancolle fics solely because I prefer AL. I don't have malice toward it, I just prefer AL overall, and also because I am not too familiar with Kancolle. End of story, stop dming me, I don't like to block people but I will exercise that right if you continue.

Be civil in the comments below.