Chapter 4

Sea of Patch

60 Nautical Miles from Vale

0500 Hours

On another one of her early morning 'walks', Ruby decided that some sailing was required in order to break her current state of thoughts. The conversation she had with her father was enlightening, and yet there still remained questions that could not be answered. Not for a lack of trying of course, but rather because Tai simply did not know the answers to them. Summer was famously quiet to a fault about her past, and he saw no reason to bug her about it, unfortunately, that didn't help Ruby's thoughts about her right now.

In truth, she was conflicted. The image that her mother had in her mind of a kind and caring person that held no faults or lies showed signs of cracking. In other words, she also had her own faults, just like a regular person, and Ruby didn't know how to feel about it. So, she took the chance after verifying that Yang was also asleep to sneak out towards the sea.

Now on her front deck, she visually inspected the medal carefully once more, as if staring at it could enable her to glean long-forgotten secrets. Nothing happened, much to her disappointment.

"Von…Rosen…"

In Ironblood lands, those of aristocratic descent had a 'Von' added to it, similar to how the Iris Libre and Vichiya Dominion sometimes had 'De' added to some of their aristocrats' names. It symbolized the status that they held in those societies, even if most of their 'power' was just for show at that point. Remnant seemed to have a similar situation, the aristocracy of old still existed, but their powers have been relegated to being mere figureheads at best, most lost their stations of power entirely such as the Kaiser of Mantle. Of course, the Nobles still remained in government most of the time; and still held varying levels of power if what Molly ranted on regarding Atlas was correct.

"Ruby…Von Rosen?"

If going by traditional laws of descent, Ruby could have been known as that instead. However, after thinking about it for a bit more, she sighed and put the medal back into her pocket.

"Hmph. I'm not fit for something like that, best to forget about it."

Checking the time on her watch, sunrise was in an hour or so, and she wanted to make her way back before the light made it easier to spot her-

PING

Her radar returned a contact at that moment. Ever since the close call with the fishing boat, she kept her own surface radar set turned on just in case small boats were in her way. Normally she was able to see everything around her quite well, but the insistence on only sailing during the early morning didn't help at all. Running over a small boat only a couple dozen tons heavy with her near sixty-thousand-ton displacement was not on the list of things she wanted to do. Making preparations to set sail again, her speed may not be as fast as some destroyers were capable of, but she was capable of keeping up with the latest fast battleships from any faction.

As she began turning around, however, she noticed that the radar ping multiplied, and kept multiplying, until nearly two dozen contacts were shown to be making a beeline right towards her position. Using her rangefinder and optics, a swarm of Blackjaws, or 'Shark Grimm' was seen moving as a hunting pack toward her, their bone-white casings reflecting off of the full moon's light. Their sizes were sometimes on par with some torpedo boats or escort destroyers, thus being big enough to return a ping on her radar.

Ruby considered her options, she could definitely outrun them without any issue, but that may mean leading them back into the strait of Patch, where many early-morning fishermen were harvesting for the day. A decision had to be made quickly, and after some more consideration, she decided to load HE shells into her main batteries.

Twenty-two kilometres out, twenty-two seconds of travel time. All four main batteries traversed into position, at this angle she was able to shoot a full broadside at the incoming swarm. Aiming slightly ahead of the pack, Ruby realized that ever since manifesting her rigging right after her mother's funeral, she had never fired her cannons in anger. That was going to change right now.

"Feuer."

KA-BOOM

"...and in other news, officials say that the loud noise heard in the small hours of this morning is still being investigated. Currently, the VPD has issued a statement that they do not believe it originated in Vale itself. That's all the time we have for today, I'm Lisa Lavender…"

As the newscaster droned on aimlessly, Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck continued grading the final essays of his outgoing students. Despite it only being a month before the new term at Beacon began, the grading policy at Beacon meant that he could technically get away with submitting everything at the last minute. The registrar and Glynda were probably going to be mad at him for it, but he had other more pressing matters such as documenting first-hand accounts of those in the former faunus quarter. His new book wasn't going to write itself, and he as any self-respecting historian should, had to find his own primary sources!

Besides, where else was he going to visit an old friend in the process? Downing his sixth cup of Vacuoan espresso, Molly finally decided to cut him off.

"Alright Barty, I know you're a fiend for this stuff but I worry about yer heart sometimes. I'm cuttin ya off."

"NONSENSE! I am perfectly fine consuming more!"

"Of course you are. If you drop dead one day after drinking your tenth cup don't bloody blame me yea?"

Ever since he knew her back at the Royal Valean University, she's always remained the same person. Crass, but she knew how to get her point across.

"Ruby! Order's up!"

"Coming."

Oobleck had noticed Molly's newest waitress with some familiarity. It didn't occur to him at first, but he eventually realized that she was probably Tai and Summer's daughter. A faint memory surfaced, about meeting a girl who had eyes devoid of meaning and purpose during the funeral…

Someone that young shouldn't have those eyes.

Regardless, he was glad that she appeared to be doing much better now, actually, he remembered Tai mentioning that his daughter had found employment some months ago during a class reunion-

"Pfffft! MY WORD WHAT IS THAT?!"

A tiny glint from her hands caught his attention. A split second later, the familiar shape of the medal clued him into a very interesting item that she currently held, and he was at her side instantly.

SHING

Despite the girl in question holding a table knife up to his throat, he still glued his gaze onto the medal that she gripped tightly.

"Back. Away."

He pretended to not hear her whatsoever, instead he just pointed toward her balled-up hand. "My dear, may I see that medal in your hands?! I believe it is of much historical importance!"

Evidently, the waitress didn't believe him, as he felt the blade of the table knife pressing further onto his neck, luckily he had the foresight to activate his aura in time so that didn't bother him whatsoever. What was the threat of death overseeing something this rare?

Slowly, with the knife still pressed on his neck, she unfurled her hands only to reveal-

"I was right! It is a Pour le Merite! I have never seen one in person, you must let me examine it-"

He was cut off by the knife digging further into his aura, and he suddenly remembered that his overbearing attitude sometimes caused some people to be unnerved. Something as delicate as this needed to be handled carefully, lest this chance of study was lost to him, maybe forever!

"Ah, where are my manners? My name is Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, Head of History at Beacon Academy. Your medal is something very few have ever held, let alone possess, so please, may I inspect it?"

He didn't remember how long she kept up the stare, but as his archaeologist friends said, if you aren't in danger while researching, are you really doing your job correctly? Indeed, now was a great time to put that saying to the test…

"Oh…I see…so the design is like that…but wait…why…?"

Ruby kept a watchful gaze over this…professor who had appeared right next to her in a near instant. More out of reflex than anything, the fact that she managed to grab a nearby table knife in time was commendable. Still, now she had to watch as her mother's possession was being drooled over by some quack historian.

"…Professor Ooble-"

"Doctor!"

"...Doctor Oobleck, are you done with it? I would like it back soon."

A part of her felt reassured that the medal was indeed authentic, judging by his reactions. But she still wanted the damn thing back from his clutches, as right now he seemed to not want to let it go.

"Yes, yes…it's just that reading about it and seeing a picture is much different from holding one in person…"

The fact that he even had plastic gloves on while inspecting made Ruby feel a bit off-put. Should she also have used plastic gloves when holding it? Metal had an annoying tendency to rust after all, and her abilities as a Kansen made things extra fragile with all of the engine power she could call upon.

"Well, from what I can tell it was definitely issued during the Great War. To a very high-ranking officer if I may add…but unfortunately it seems that the recipient's name was scratched off. Still, a fascinating thing, and even more so considering that it was in your mother's possession. I never knew she was actually from a Mantellian Ducal family back when I was at Beacon."

Now that he mentioned it, Ruby did remember seeing a similar man with green hair some years ago, the fact that he knew Summer was a surprise as well.

"It does make sense how she would possess this medal, however. Shame that she is…no longer with us, she may have shed some light into why the Von Rosen family disappeared after the Faunus Wars."

Ruby narrowed her eyes at him. "They… disappeared?"

"Ah, right. I realize that you may not know this, but at the height of the Faunus Wars, nearly the entire Von Rosen family disappeared, though they only had a few living members left regardless. It was a huge story at the time, and my colleagues in Atlas still scratch their heads over their disappearance. A great mystery of that age if you will, one that is still nowhere near solved to this day."

"Then why have I not found anything about it online?"

If it was such a mystery, then Ruby should have found something about their disappearance on the internet regarding them. With her mother's family being important nobles apparently, they should have had information freely available regarding them. And yet, all she found was that they were a ducal family, and nothing more. Oobleck paused from inspecting the medal and looked at Ruby dead on.

"Hm. Miss Rose, do you know of the phrase, history is written by the victors?"

"I do, and I don't believe in it."

History was written by whoever writes it, there were no 'victors'. Or rather, if you wanted to be more cynical, it was written by whoever survived, and their words were compiled into this modern age by historians.

"You are right to believe in that, but there is some truth to that statement, not in the way you think, however. What is the difference between a Mistralian history book versus one from Vacuo about the Great War?"

Ruby had a guess as to what he was getting at. "They are centric on their own experiences. Mistral focuses on their alliance with Mantle, and Vacuo focuses on their alliance with Vale."

"Exactly! And in doing so, can you think of any ways in which some of that information…may be interpreted differently?"

"Mistral downplays its role in helping Mantle, while Vacuo emphasizes its own role in helping Vale?"

A smile appeared on Oobleck's face as he nodded in affirmation. "That is certainly an acceptable answer, and indeed, you will see it in many history books from those two regions. If only my students could arrive at the same conclusions as you do in their papers… Regardless, the point I am trying to get to is that history is written by the victors, but then you have to ask whose history is being written."

Oobleck went on to further explain, seeing as how Ruby just blinked at his answer. "A history of the Great War from the perspective of Mantle is as true as one perspective from Vale, neither is wholly correct and neither is wrong either. There is this tendency to think of History as this unchanging monolith as if every piece of recorded information and narrative inside it was the only way in which the past occurred. The Faunus Wars were no different, only that I would argue it caused even more misinformation and falsehoods to arise as a result of wartime propaganda."

That made sense, even in Ironblood lands there were countless forms of propaganda created to help further the war effort, first against the Sirens, and later against Azur Lane. She had an inkling as to how it related to the Rosen family's lack of information, but she let Oobleck continue.

"Now, apply that knowledge to your lack of information. It was the height of the Faunus Wars, and Mantle along with Atlas were seen as the main adversaries in this conflict, how would an entire influential family's disappearance look like to other kingdoms? Let alone their own populace?"

"They suppressed information about it…"

Oobleck downed another cup of espresso before responding. "Indeed. My colleagues in Atlas today still encounter significant interference from the council when researching this topic. Add to that the many decades since the wars, and it is no wonder information regarding them is scarce and only known to those researching them specifically."

It was well known that Atlas retained many of its Great War characteristics even today. If she had to describe the feeling, it was the militarism and technological acumen with none of the arts that Ironblood developed as well.

"So, there is no way to know who this medal belonged to?"

"Not quite, but it will take some time, especially with how the Atlesian council gets sensitive about these topics. I can ask my colleagues about it, but I'm afraid even they will need some time."

Ruby sighed, nothing was ever quite so simple was it? Still, she at least knew more about her mother's side of the family, even if more questions than answers were present now.

"Can you…"

"No need to ask, I am also interested in how your mother relates to them! It's the least I could do anyways. Think of it as a favour to a dear old friend of mine, Miss Rose."

"...Thank you."

History was written by the victors, but who even are the victors anymore?

AN:

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