The sound of powerful engines filled the air, accompanied by the screeching of a hundred guns getting ready to fire. This was an hour of dust, steel and blood. This was an hour of war.

What could men do against such primordial fear ? This wasn't something that could be suppressed, but it could be transformed, remolded. And soon fear became hate, hate became words, and words became acts.

And as General Ironwood observed the threat far under himself, he was ready to do whatever was necessary to end this fear.

"Wait a moment James. It seems he has an hostage."

The person who just spoke next to him was Ozpin. What could be said of their relationship ? They were able to work together at least, but little more than that. Even in this restricted field of cooperation there was many disagreements between them.

"With all respect Ozpin, we cannot afford to fail this mission because of a few innocents in the..."

"It's Qrow, and one of my students."

The general was hesitant for a moment, but soon doubled down.

"They're not worth the risk, we need to strike while he's still there."

Further argumentation was interrupted when a ringing sound began echoing in the room. Ozpin quickly reacted by reaching in his pocket and pulling a scroll out of it.

"...What ? Are you sure ?... And she's injured ? How badly ?... I see, tell him that we're willing to negotiate, if he lets my student go."

He closed his scroll, ending the call. A visible wince shortly adorned his face, before returning to his usual impassible self.

"So I have a bad new and a good new, which first."

Ironwood clasped his tongue, but waved his hand in the air in dismissal.

"Whatever, start with the bad new I guess. Get it over with."

"Three of my students are dead, one of them has become a puppet. The last one is currently bleeding out and won't survive for long without medical assistance."

"Mmm, better than what I expected. And what about the good new ?"

"He's willing to negotiate. I accepted on the condition that he releases my student."

"I've got a bad feeling about this. It looks a lot like a trap to me. Do we know how many enemies are down here ?"

"Remember, I'm not even sure if he's linked with Salem. And if something goes wrong it will be easy for Qrow to flee by transforming himself."

"You're too confident Ozpin, it will come to bite you in the..."

"Look ! He's letting her go. Once she's been secured he essentially will be without hostage. The negotiation is basically a formality at this point."

Far below, they could soon see a bullhead landing next to the now unconscious girl. Out of it came a couple Atlesian soldiers, who escorted her and dragged the deceased bodies of her two teammates into the vehicle.

"I will stay here anyway, if anything goes wrong I will send backup. But if it's a lost cause, I hope you know what awaits you and everyone else on the ground."

Ozpin replied with a quick nod, before heading towards the airship's bullhead. A few minutes was all it took for the transport vehicle to reach the ground. When he exited his bullhead, Ozpin noticed the abandoned remains of the one used by his students. The one transporting the hostage was now high in the sky, soon to reach their capital ship.

The next thing he noticed was the corpse of one of his students, Yatsuhashi if he recalled correctly, currently holding its blade on a gagged Qrow's throat. After looking around for a moment, Ozpin addressed to the undead.

"So that's how it is ? You won't even face us in person."

For a few seconds nothing happened, then a disgusting sound, akin to a gurgle for than any real speech, came out of Yatsuhashi's mouth.

"Everyone... has his shield. Some have a fleet of war machines... other have their undeads."

"A fair point I suppose. So what are you terms of surrender ?"

It was at this moment that Qrow began frantically moving his head around. This obviously worried Ozpin, but he couldn't risk the negotiations over this. Ignoring his hostage, the corpse replied in a manner very unlike of Yatsuhashi.

"Wow wow, let's not start throwing around words like surrender."

"I beg you pardon ?"

"Did you really think I would accept to negotiate as anything less than an equal ? I guess you don't know me well enough."

As if on cue, Ozpin's scroll rang once again. His face drained of all color and without breaking eye contact with his interlocutor, he picked up the device, and answered the call.

"Ozpin, we've got a problem. It looks like those two dead students weren't so dead after all... They are threatening to blow up the entire ship."

Anger was visibly starting to get a hold on the Headmaster. Despite his attempts to remain calm, he was betrayed by his trembling voice and clenched fists when he confronted the necromancer's puppet.

"You... Weren't the lives of my students enough ? With those underhanded means, I hope you know you're only given a chance because I don't have a choice."

"You attacked me first, remember ? And if you don't stop, many more will die."

Ozpin was still seething, but he didn't say a word.

"Good... So let me reiterate, what are the terms of your surrender ?"

The headmaster tried it best to calm down, taking deep breaths and temporarily closing his eyes. A few seconds later and he had gone back to his usual impassible self.

"Show yourself." Ozpin asked. When it became clear that nothing was happening, he continued. "We won't be able to kill you anyway without risking our airship being destroyed. You can at least give us this."

Just when it looked like the puppeteer definitely wouldn't show itself, a figure emerged from a nearby building. It was a sickly young man, pale and scrawny. He lacked a left arm and was holding a white wooden staff in the remaining one.

Right next to him stood a massive undead, clad in a black armor from head to toes and wielded a two handed sword of similar caliber.

Yatsuhashi's corpse also choose this moment to un-gag Qrow. A serie of violent coughs followed before he was able to say anything.

"You have no idea how repugnant chewing this rag is. Argh, there's still a bit in inside..."

Ignoring the agent's antics, the necromancer restarted the conversation.

"I suggest we continue this in more suitable place. I have a nice house nearby, I will show you the way."

As he walked with his undeads and Qrow, Ozpin saw no other option but to follow them. A couple minutes laters and they had arrived in front of the town hall. The necromancer passed through the gardens like it was his own, and entered the small mansion with a sigh of relief.

"To my greatest regret I lack any Tea or sweets to offer you, but feel free to chose a seat and make yourself at ease."

A comfy couch in the corner proved itself fitting, and soon enough his host joined in, sitting down on an old armchair in front of his interlocutor.

It was a very delicate situation, a single wrong move could bring the death of everyone involved. This is why Ozpin began by trying to defuse the situation with small talks.

"I suppose I should start by introducing myself, if you don't know me already. I am Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon academy and councilman of Vale. May I know who you are ?"

For a moment his interlocutor remained silent, apparently in deep thoughts. Eventually he slowly began to speak.

"My name... my name is Kieffner Flemming, and as you can see..." He pointed the undead next to him. "... I am a necromancer."

"So Mister Flemming, what are you doing in life ? What is your story ?"

Kieffner frowned upon hearing this question, but answered nonetheless.

"When I was a kid, my parents died. I learned necromancy to try to bring them back, it didn't worked. I then aimlessly wandered the world and eventually ended up here."

There was some truth in those words, but it was so simplified that it could mean anything really.

"And who taught you this magecraft ?"

"I was born with it."

Another lie.

"Do you have any superior ? Any collaborator, who may share your field of magic ?"

"I'm getting tired of your questions. Do I have to remind you that I have a literal ticking bomb near your friends up there ?"

"Yes of course, we should go back to the negotiations."

"Good. For my conditions... There's a few, I suggest you take notes. First I want to keep your airship and your student as hostage, in the form of always having an undead nearby. They will also serve as my representatives, my diplomats you could say."

"That may cause a few problems, but it should be doable."

"Secondly if you ever bring military forces to the surroundings of this city without my approval, I will see this as an act of war. This treaty will thus be invalidated and the hostages will be killed. The borders of this zone can be determined later."

"Without your approval you say ? What about unaffiliated fighters ?"

"They will be dealt with preemptively, and I expect your cooperation if they end up fleeing into your territory."

"Are you suggesting that you will also demand permission before sending troops in our territory ?"

Kieffner winced at this question, before audibly clasping his tongue.

"Yes, that is correct. I won't send any of my undeads into your territory unless given the authorization to do so."

"Well everything seems pretty fair for now, is there anything else ?"

"There is. I demand a monthly payment of 50 standard sized crates of fire dust, for at least one year."

"And here it is, the bad side. What do you mean by 'at least' ?"

"That I may chose to pursue a delivery of similar quantity, in exchange for something of our arrangement. This just means that you won't be able to refuse this trade without a valid reason."

"I see, this will prove quite costly. May I add a request on my part ?"

"I will listen to it, but I promise nothing."

"I would greatly appreciate it if you refrained from bringing my students back from the death. This also includes Mister Yatsuhashi present here, as well as the two others."

"You're asking a lot from me Ozpin. I mean I could do most of it, but do you know how hard it is to find a corpse with an intact throat ? I want my diplomats to be able to speak something intelligible."

"But surely you don't need three of those ? Wouldn't one of them be enough ?"

"This seems reasonable to me, do you want to add anything before ratification ?"

"I do not."

Yatsuhashi's corpse handed the necromancer a piece of paper, on which something had already been written. Kieffner hurriedly wrote a few lines more, before showing its content to the headmaster.

There was all of the necromancer's original demands, with his own added at the end. After a moment Kieffner put the paper down on the table between them, and added his signature on it.

Then it was Ozpin's turn to sign the treaty, which he hesitated to do for a few seconds. In all honesty this was but a formality, the real bind behind this new relationship was mutual benefit. Or more precisely both sides' ability to inflict consequent damage to the other.

Despite this, he ended up ratifying the treaty.

"Now that this is over with, you and your friends have half an hour to leave my city before this treaty becomes active."

An awkward silence settled between them, while Ozpin stared at Kieffner. After some time the necromancer sighed, before snapping his fingers. Yatsuhashi instantly released Qrow, and walked next to the door. Qrow used this opportunity to take a gulp of his flask, before starting to leave on his own.

"This undead will follow you. In around half an hour I will severe his bindings, and he will go back to being dead. Was there anything else ?"

Ozpin nodded his head in negation, got up, and began to leave. Just as he was going to close the building's door behind him, he felt a hand close on his arm.

"Just a moment Sir. I... I wanted it to be clear that there's nothing personal about this. I'm just trying to make my way through life, and I'm sure you're a good man. Don't let this encounter shape your view of me."

Ozpin gave a look to the undead beside him, before retiring his arm from the necromancer's hold. He then used this arm to shake Kieffner's hanging hand.

"I hope we can meet again, and under better circumstances."

A timid smile was the last picture he had of the necromancer before the door closed behind him. Going back to the airship took an eternity in Ozpin's mind, but was only a dozen minutes long in reality.

Was that it ? Could the deaths of his students have been avoided if he hadn't reacted as aggressively ? In retrospect it really looked like an overreaction, he had rushed to conclusions and let fear control his decisions.

It was quite funny in a way, he had lived for so long, yet there were still things for him to learn. When he reached the command room of their main airship, he was met with an unreadable Ironwood anxiously walking around.

"Ozpin, I was listening all along. You actually made it."

"That's all ? I was expecting some anger, some grand speech about being willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary. Are you alright ?"

"To be honest I don't really know what to think. If this kid really isn't affiliated with Salem, then he's certainly not worth you, Qrow, me, this airship, and half of my army."

"I believe that he has nothing to do with her. When looking under the surface, it becomes apparent that he's too good willed to be one of her paws. He also seems too proud to submit to anyone else."

"Perhaps... perhaps... I hope it's clear between us that we will have to keep an eye on him."

"Obviously. We still have to draw the borders of his personal fiefdom, send him his dust, and other small things like that. Plenty of opportunities to keep tab of what he's doing."

"Mmm... Yes yes. I also plan to slowly get rid of everything valuable in this airship. We have to reduce his negotiating power as much as possible."

"You shouldn't do that, not yet at least. The day may come when this young man becomes an ally. It would be unwise to ruin this eventual relationship with hasty action."

"I guess you are right, I should give him a chance." Ironwood grabbed a piece of paper resuming the negotiations and sighed. "Getting this amount of dust is going to be such a pain. I hope Jacques will give me a discount. Either way, you will owe me one Ozpin."

Ozpin simply smiled at this, before staring through the glass in front of him. The top of his tower could already be seen and he could almost smell the coffee that awaited him there. And Brothers knew he would need it. There was still much work to do, he had to announce the sad new to the team's families, organize a burial, and also find an excuse for all of this.

A few people had seen the undeads already, it couldn't simply be pushed under the carpet anymore. Perhaps just say it was a semblance, or a new Grimm. So much work to do, but for now, it could wait a little longer.

//

Hello everyone, I hope you liked this chapter. To be fully honest it was essentially complete since a few days ago, but I was hesitant on posting it.

This feels like an important step for this story, one that cannot be undone. And just to be clear, even if the MC cooperated with the "good guys", this doesn't mean that he joined them or anything like that.

In case you hadn't noticed this fic won't follow canon, even if I want to avoid reinventing the universe or anything like that. I just want to show that the MC has an effect on the world around him, and changes it little by little, kinda like a butterfly effect.

You probably noticed but I'm doing my best to update this story on a weekly basis. I hope my motivation will remain high enough for this to continue like that. Also would you prefer longer chapters further apart from each others in time, or for me to continue like that ?

I think that's everything, please leave a comment like usual, I read them all and usually answers them indirectly in author's note like this one or in the chapter directly.