Argus Schnee

"Date... one-fifteen, third strike... the fourteenth... Ok, First question..." Mismatched eyes glanced up from the paper, setting his sights almost immediately on the only other person in the room. The target of his attention was hunched over a desk, as opposed to his own position layed down on an admittedly comfy couch... she was looking at a paper too, though leagues more intensly. It was as if whatever was written on it had personally offended her... or maybe it was the paper itself. Argus knew he himself would get angry at a bit of paper if it gave him a paper cut... not that they really could anymore.

No, his body was too strong for that now, as it would be for a while longer before it began to develop once more. Thinking about these things was distracting... some would say unhelpful for his work, but right now quite a few people would call any and all distractions for the young prince good. Which was precisely why he could stare out the window of his mother's office without having her get angry at him for not studying. And what a window it was to stare out of.

A perfectly nice and calm night, gentle breezes that surely flowed throughout the lands, only a few clouds in the sky to block the lovely view of the stars and the fractured moon... and thanks to his night vision, the world outside almost had a blue glow rather then a deep black colour. Inside however, the office was lit with lamps instead of the overhead lighting, his mother having turned it off earlier as to make the room more calming to exist in... not that it helped at all with her stress.

Even the prince could see it clear as day. The Queen of Vale, the mighty Frost Dragon... she was worried out of her mind. From the way she concentrated so heavily on every piece of paper put in front of her these days, to how tired she looked whenever her feet carried her out of that war-room... His mum, the Queen Consort, she was doing her best. Trying anything and everything to make things easier for her wife... yet nothing seemed to be working. Only her and Argus's own presence seemed to alleviate any of her stress... but they couldn't be around her twenty-four seven... well, Ruby would often try.

Eventually, gazing out of the window became to boring for the boy, and his eyes set back onto the paper laying on the couch in front of him. The first question of twenty - well, the first twenty - was one he had answered before. Argus was sure that he could breeze through all of this without a single worry, but to the prince that just meant that he could waste more time before starting it. So, with an almost lazy energy, he rolled over and layed on his back, the red cloak he constantly wore wrapping around him slightly and almost resembling a blanket.

"Is it too difficult?" His mother's voice was the same as ever, full of concern and worry, like she was simultaneously stressing about anything that might be wrong for him, and also stressing about doing something wrong. Still, it was nice to hear her talk instead of just watching her stress.

"No... just taking a break." His lazy answer matched his earlier roll, but the Queen wasn't impressed.

"You haven't even started." He cursed their amazing eyesight, and quickly sat up to defend himself... only for her to speak first. "I'm confident you know everything you need to answer those questions, Argus."

"Maybe I'm just not smart enough to apply my knowledge." A smug grin completed his comeback, but it did nothing to stall his mother's words.

"You're my son, which means you definitely are." He wasn't sure if that was arrogance or confidence... but knowing his mother, it was probably both.

"I'm also mums son though!" He smiled with his retort, but the expression she gave after was no smiling matter.

"Ruby is a lot smarter then you give her credit for." The way she defended his mum so quick, plus the fact that she called her by her first name while talking to him... his smile changed to a softer one, she was used to having to say that to other people.

"Mother-"

"Don't worry, Argus... I'm not mad." He knew she was... just, not at him.

He considered continuing the conversation for a moment... but it was clear that his mother was done talking for now, going back to that paper and continuing to stare at it as if it had offended her... it made him curious about what was written on it, but it was probably just the same thing as usual these days... a report about the war.

The war was... difficult to say the least. By all means, Vale and Atlas should put up a force more then potent enough to deal with Vacuo and Mistral, between the Harbingers, the Dragons, and of course the fleet, they should have stood no chance. But, Vacuo apparently had a secret weapon. If they actually had moved their city, then they must have someone on their side leagues more powerful then expected. Powering the ritual to move the city would take much more mana then Carmine herself could summon, and even Qrow would fail at such a task. But, even for as powerful as this individual was, there had to be a reason as to why they hadn't just ended the war already. A reason as to why they didn't single-handedly storm Vale or Atlas... which meant their power had a limit. They were weaker then the Atlas fleet in its entirety, and they had to be weaker then Death, Conquest, and three Dragons all together. Not a comforting limit to place on their power, but a limit nonetheless.

Mistral was the more straight forward of the two. Its defence was its location, somewhere in the middle of a range of mountains that was completely covered in a magic mist that prevented itself from being revealed. It was potent enough to have stopped the Atlas fleet when Jacques Schnee tried to wage war with the nation, resulting in a mutual agreement of cease-fire... or to put it more bluntly, both sides surrendered. Of course, that hadn't stopped the arrogant human king, so Atlas had continued its research into a method of breaking the illusion cast on the mountains. Luckily that had continued up until the new King of Atlas had been crowned, so they still had research to fall back on.

Added onto the fact that Atlas had cut off Dust trade with both nations, and this war was clearly a battle against time. Vacuo and Mistral could maybe last four to five years if they rationed their Dust... but after that? Well, the fleet would be able to find Mistral no problem without the illusion spell, and Vacuo would surely cease to function properly as well.

They couldn't just mine Dust themselves either... Sure, there were deposits of Dust scattered all across the world, but the Dust-Spike in Atlas had more of it in one spot then was located all across the rest of the world. One giant ore deposit that stood high into the sky like a gigantic cut crystal. Mining Dust wasn't an easy process, even after thousands of years of constant mining they had barely made a dent in the Dust-Spike... any attempts at fishing tiny deposits from the ground would be more wasteful then beneficial.

Not that Atlas had an infinite supply anyway... mining was slower then one would expect, and certain types of Dust were a lot rarer then others... a specific kind of it being incredibly important. Spatial Dust. The ability to open portals for the fleet between the border barriers was incredibly powerful... but also incredibly wasteful. Atlas barely had enough Spatial Dust ready to do only two more round trips for the fleet, which was safely back in Atlas after the start of the war. If there was a way to get incredibly large amounts of Spatial Dust quickly... then this war would be over much faster...

And Argus knew of only one method to do so.

"Mother... I... I wanted to offer a suggestion." He had never made Spatial Dust before... but if he talked it through with her... if he underwent training and practice... then surely it would be possible. Argus might even be able to figure out how to do it faster!

So... he explained his plan to her. Her eyes were calm as she took it all in, as he layed out his idea for her. Yes, it might take a year or two... but surely he'd be able to learn how to produce the Dust, and hopefully at a faster rate.

She disagreed.

"Argus... you're my son, the Prince... for godsakes, you're only six. I'm not going to involve you in this war, especially not as a Dust farm." She spoke as if it was already a resolved issue... but how could it be resolved already...?

"But... I could help end this war faster...! I could...-!" His words were interrupted by a weight on the couch behind him, his body turning in its seated position as arms wrapped around him and dragged him in close. The warmth she produced was always way too comforting... and he would recognise his mums scent anywhere... which was less weird then it sounded for a Dragon.

"I didn't even hear her enter the office..."

"Argus. You deserve a childhood. No one's going to take that away from you, not while we're here." They were both so confident about this... and he couldn't help but relent after their words. Sure, he wanted to help... but Argus knew better then to question his parents. His mother... Weiss Schnee... she was one of the smartest people he knew! And his mum... for as silly and goofy as she seemed sometimes... she figured out the Dragon Formula! Something Wizards hadn't been able to do for centuries, she did in less then a decade!

The Prince let out a sigh as he gave up, barely putting up a fight before conceding that they were right. He wanted to be good afterall, he wanted to listen...

"And... besides... what's the worst that can happen if we run out of Spatial Dust?"

He asked that question to himself... while still in Ruby's arms.

2115 PE