Author's Notes:
-Hey guys, hope you're enjoying the fall season (or spring if you're in the southern hemisphere). Since I got done with this chapter early, you guys get a double update. Two in one week! Man, I've come far. Fifty five chapters of romance, angst, hurt, comfort, swashbuckling action, adventure and even small bits of humor and horror with over 200,000 words.
-Also, I've toyed with the idea of changing the hurt/comfort genre to angst. What do you guys think?
Anyway, let's get this show on the road!
In the Schnee family manor, a young man stood in a room with white walls, a blue reflective tile floor, and at the top of the walls there was a thick silver border around the entire room. The white ceiling held a small chandelier in its center.
To the left of the room, in the upper corner against the wall, was a queen sized bed. The bed was lined with a white sheet and blue velvet fleece blanket and had three pillows, two large white ones and a smaller square blue one. In the lower right corner was a small wooden table in front of two blue armchairs. A drawer and a locked square trunk chest rested in between the bed and the blue chairs.
To the right side, there were two bookcases built into the wall side by side. Further down on the right side was a set of white closet doors, currently closed. To the right of those doors was a rectangular full body mirror. In the lower right corner was a black office chair and a wooden desk with three built in drawers on the right side of it. On the left side of the desk was a stack of three textbooks and next to it was a packet of papers and worksheets.
In the center of the wall opposite to the door was a glass door that lead to a small balcony. Whitley Schnee stood nearby the dark blue entrance door with a list of names on a notepad with a pen in his left hand. Many of the names had already been crossed out.
Crud. This isn't going well. He crossed out the last two names on the list. Everyone's already working on something or have already contributed. He put the notepad down, placing the front cover of it back so that it covered the list.
Now where am I going to find someone to take my request?
He looked for something in his right pocket, only to not find what he was looking for. He raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked in the other one. He sighed aloud to empty air. Aw man, I lost it. Hopefully, if anyone found it, they would not understand the significance behind it.
The teenage boy went to his desk and opened the top drawer, pulling out a packet of purple post-it notes. Whitley took one of the notes, the same pen he used earlier, and wrote something down. As he wrote, his bent down posture was seen from the left, obscuring the words written in black ink. He took the note, folded it in half and put it in his right pocket.
Who will I turn to now?
A knock on the door was heard, interrupting his thoughts. He asked, "Who is it?"
"It's me, Irving." the voice answered from the other side. "I just came by to tell you that lunch is ready and waiting for you down in the dining hall."
"Thank you for notifying me. I'll be right there."
He heard the servant walk away and the youngest Schnee sighed to himself. Looks like revising is going to have to wait. Mustn't keep my family waiting. Without further hesitation, he left the room unseen, the sound of a closing the door behind him heard.
Meanwhile, Athena stood on the mountain top behind the semi-destroyed Sanctum Academy. She saw the smoke rising from the city below and the camera panned to show three bullheads where the freed recruits and the new recruits waited for their leader inside the ship. The camera panned to show Tawny, still in her Maura disguise, along with Gilford, Cola, Aoi and Marrok. Ares stood by the side of the 'war goddess'.
"Well ladies and gentlemen, I'd call today an unqualified success."
The 'war god' smirked. "Everything seems to be going to plan. It's going even better than I could have imagined."
Athena smiled in agreement. "With the blame pinned on Maura for attack on Sanctum Academy and the destruction of Argus Harbor Max Security Prison, the bounty on her head will increase dramatically and she'll have nowhere to hide. Not to mention that we have more men to counter Maura's loyal followers, which are dwindling by the day. Pretty soon, Maura and her followers will be no more."
Tawny scratched at her skin in irritation, trying to get the scales off. "Can I please take a shower and get out of this ridiculous disguise?"
"Hey, it does not look ridiculous. You did a very good job of impersonating Maura. And yes, Tawny, you can take a shower."
"Woohoo!" She took off the derby hat and ribbon as she ran off into the first bullhead to the nearest lavatory to cleanse herself and shed the other parts her disguise.
Athena picked up the hat and ribbon. "Almost all the pieces have been set in place."
As she put on the hat and held the ribbon in her left hand, Marrok asked, "So, Lieutenant, I mean, Lady Athena, what is our next move?"
"Well first we should get out of here before the police or military find us. Back to the main ship!" she commanded.
The remaining faunus got on the first bullhead and the airships took off. As the three airships flew off, Athena and Ares looked at their loyal agents; Cola was sitting in a chair as he took out a newspaper of Nina News. Aoi leaned back as she sharpened her sword with a whetstone. Gilford taped his fingers along the chair beside him and Marrok sat down on the ground without his mask, wearing his hood up to try and hide his sheep ears.
"So, when are we going to tell them about the end of the first plan?" Ares asked her.
"We'll wait until Tawny gets back." She tied the green ribbon around her left wrist. "Since she and these other four are our best recruits that managed to escape being arrested at Sanctum, I feel that it is fair that they are the first to hear the full plan."
"Fair enough."
Aoi looked up in surprise. "You're going to tell us the plan?"
"Yes." Athena nodded in the affirmative. "I didn't want too many people to know, so I only told Ares."
"You mean your lover?" Marrok asked.
She frowned at the sheep-eared faunus. "Oh stop that. He is my boyfriend, my significant other. The way you say that makes it sound like I meet with him only for sex."
"Well, don't you?" He gave the winged faunus a questioning look. "I mean, I've heard the two of you doing it."
Athena gave him a mean glare as her face turned red. "Marrok, I highly suggest you shut up." Cola advised.
"Uh, what's taking so long?" Gilford asked.
"Patience, Gilford." Athena ordered. "Tawny deserves to know this."
He sighed. "Okay..."
Roughly forty-five minutes later, Tawny stepped out of the shower and walked back to the main room with the others. Her skin was now back to it's original pale after having washed the paint off, the snake scales were gone, but her hair was still black. She wore a brown tank top with a black vest and black cargo pants along with black and white tennis shoes. She was also carrying a pink towel with a red floral pattern in her hands.
Marrok was the first to notice her entering the room. "Ah, Tawny, you're here!"
She used the towel to wrap up her wet hair. "Were you waiting on me?"
"We were. Athena wishes to share her plan with us." Gilford said smiling before turning to the owl winged faunus. "So, Lady Athena, what is your plan?"
"As you already know, by mentioning Maura Celandine at the Storming of Sanctum, and having Tawny impersonate her at Argus Harbor Prison, Maura is being blamed for both of these crimes. With the first crime, Maura has been forced to flee from Mistral's primary White Fang headquarters because of the price on her head. With the second crime, everyone's hatred of her intensifies and the bounty will no doubt increase dramatically. Eventually, she will have nowhere to hide. One way or another, the authorities will find her. And when they do capture her and put her on trial, she will be executed for her crimes. Once she is done with, I'll sweep in and take over the Mistralian Branch of the White Fang. She has no descendants or known successors and I can easily claim that she chose me to take her place in case something were to happen to her. And the rest of the world will be none the wiser. That is when the real change can truly begin."
"You really do have a plan for everything, don't you?" Ares asked her.
The wise woman laughed for two seconds. "Come now Ares, don't you know me by now?"
"I have to admit," Gilford said with a smile. "this is a good plan. But are you sure that this will work?"
"It will work. As long as every single tiny microscopic little thing goes according to plan."
"It seems that it has the potential to go awry."
"You could make that argument, but most of the pieces have been set in place. With the destruction of Argus's most secure prison, the price on her head will increase. Anyone want to take any guesses as to what the new bounty will be?"
Cola shrugged.
"I'd say 250,000 Lien." Gilford guessed.
"Probably 300,000 Lien." Tawny estimated.
Marrok nodded in agreement. "Ditto."
"I think it'll be higher. Probably double the price of her current bounty." Aoi predicted.
"Well, whatever the bounty is, once it increases, the hunt will increase along with it." She took off the ribbon and held it by the tip in her right hand. "And Maura's days will be over." She tore the ribbon in half, then into quarters, eighths, and continued ripping at it until it was nothing more than several tiny pieces. She placed her left hand to her ear with a sense of smiling curiosity. "Maura Celandine, do you hear the bells tolling?" The wise woman took her hand away and smirked evilly. "They toll for thee."
Meanwhile, somewhere in Mistral, Adam and his entourage were back in the skies.
"Well, we didn't find Maura in Wind Path... What's our next stop?" the pilot asked.
"The next stop is Kunchinashi." Douglas, Adam's lieutenant, told him. "It's an even bigger city than Wind Path, and they've got some more security. We'll need to exercise more caution than we did previously."
Adam looked over a piece of paper in his hands. "Do you really think that Maura will aid you in your goal?" one of the White Fang goons asked.
He folded the paper and pocketed it. "I think we can convince her. If bribery won't work, then blackmailing will. Hopefully, it won't come down to that."
If we even find Maura. Adam began thinking to himself. This civil war is getting crazier by the day. If she dies before I can find her, this plan will be ruined! No! You will find her, and you will be able to attack Haven Academy. And no one will stop me!
Elsewhere, Ilia and her associate were setting up camp.
"So, how are we going to find Adam?" he asked his boss.
"If be completely honest, I don't even know." She sighed, throwing another log onto the fire and draping a blanket over her shoulders. "I wish the Albain brothers had given me more to work with. All we've got so far is the status of Maura's whereabouts, but I can't even tell what this keyword is supposed to be."
She showed her associate the message. He answered, "It seems like you're suppose to unscramble the letters here to determine her location."
"I've never been good at unscrambling words."
"Can I see your Scroll for a moment?" She handed her scroll to him and he looked at the picture of Maura's message to Sienna. He stared at the message in contemplation for a few minutes, and after holding the scroll away from him, he blinked his eyes in realization and smiled genuinely. "I know where she is. She's in Kunchinashi."
As Ilia got her Scroll back, she said smiling, "Wow, Hector, you're really smart."
Hector smiled. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. At least now we know where we can go. Tomorrow, we make our way to Kunchinashi."
Back in the bullhead, Athena and Ares were in their private quarters, with the latter's back to the wall as Athena looked over a blueprint of Haven Academy.
"Everything is going according to plan."
She put the blueprint away in a desk drawer as Ares responded, "Indeed it is. Sometimes I just can't believe how incredible you are."
The 'war goddess' came over to him. "Never say such things, Ares." She fiercely placed her lips upon his, taking one hand to tug at his collar. He responded to her motion by deepening the kiss and setting his foot down. Using her other hand, she held and pinned his right hand against the wall, their fingers entwined as his knuckle met the metal surface. He dragged her closer to him by using his free arm to wrap it around her waist and pull her towards him. Athena wanted him, and Ares wanted her. Athena broke the kiss and cupped his face with both of her hands. "You know how amazing I am in more ways than one."
"I do. You're amazing, incredible. Of all the guys you could have chosen to be by your side- why choose me?"
"Well, let's see." She kissed him. "You're witty." She kissed him again. "You're strong." Another kiss. "You're loyal." Yet another kiss. "And you're devilishly handsome." She stroked his cheek with her finger while looking into his red eyes. "So tell me... of all the women you could have chosen to pursue- why choose me?"
"You're smart." He began as he kissed her. "You're wise." He gave her another kiss. "You're gorgeous." He kissed her once more. "And you're ambitious."
She smirked. "You're damn right I am." Proceeding to put her right arm around his neck, she added, "And to think that this is only the beginning..."
The ram-horned faunus looked at her curiously. "The beginning of our relationship, or your master plans?"
The winged faunus gave him a devilish smirk. "What do you think?"
He didn't answer as he tackled her to the ground and continued making out with her. As his tongue forced its way into her mouth, she responded by snaking her tongue towards him. As Athena did this, she put her hands, slowly and gently gliding them on his head, trying not to touch his horns. Ares placed his hands on her back, placing one arm in between her wings and the other on her left side.
"Sweet victory is so close, I can practically taste it."
The wise woman kissed him again. "We're close." She bucked her hips towards him, the smirk even more smug than before. "So very close."