Chapter 31: Strange BEDfellows
BRAZEN
Thursday
He had had hopes and dreams. He'd wanted justice and happiness. He had made friends - including Blake, even - that he felt understood him. Appreciated him. Besides that, they hadn't seen him in the mines, at his worst. He had been given a fresh start, free, minus his brand, of a humiliating past.
He'd wanted to kill humans for his own sake. He hadn't agreed to become some sort of glorified babysitter for an errant teenager.
Years of my life, devoted to a lie. Chained by an intangible leash.
The worst part of it all was that he knew that he hadn't even gotten the worst of it. Bedlam, poor, poor Bedlam, held that distinction. Distinction. A fine word to describe the differences between the trio. They were so similar to one another, that each distinction became so relevant to individuality. Individually, Bedlam was nothing more than Ghira's abuse made manifest, individually taking that burden from their core self. Bedlam's single-minded obsession with taking care of Blake was nothing more than a hypnotic instruction forced upon him. Brazen considered how liberated he, and certainly Dominic as well, had felt after the initial Choice had been made. For the first time in nearly a decade, his thoughts had been his own. And whenever I looked at Bedlam, and heard him talk about Blake, I was slightly revolted. On several occasions, Dominic and he had gone so far as to playfully mock Bedlam for his obsession with Blake. He'd chalked it up to just having different priorities, to finding it strange to see himself from another eye's perspective, but he'd never felt like that about Dominic. He'd made fun of Dominic's name and outfit, but never his mission. He'd rationalized that the Blake problem was relevant, that it warranted one of the trio's personal involvement, but perhaps he and Dom had just been too stubborn to admit that there was something stupid about wasting so much effort on Blake Belladonna.
He remembered being Adam, the one-and-only. He remembered how Purrsuasion had made Blake important to him. It must have been even worse for Bedlam. Bedlam had been half of the original, while he and Dominic had been a split of a split. It had seemed reasonable that Bedlam's priorities just seemed stranger to them than one another's. The assumption was that it was just a side-effect of the magic of the Relic of Choice, and that, despite their feelings about whatever Bedlam was doing with his choice, they were free to pursue theirs.
Free. Brazen laughed, the sound a stark contrast to the sloppy mess his face had become. His nurses and legal advocate gave him concerned looks, but kept their distance. Brazen might not be a slave to Ghira's semblance, but he was sitting in the man's chains. I can't even wipe my face clear. He was a long way from being free. But he could change that. He hadn't done anything earlier, not wanting to fight his own people, but now he had to wonder if he actually had any people to call his own - other than his own clones.
Why do I want to be responsible for keeping up an alliance with Cinder, Hazel, and Salem? Brazen asked himself. He'd nearly convinced himself that it was an act of altruism - that only he had established a strong enough relationship with their faction to continue building it. Now he wondered how much of it was motivated by self-interest. Self-preservation. If he protected the faunus by allying them to Salem's grimm against humanity, then he was invaluable. Irreplaceable.
He didn't want to be betrayed anymore. If his own people were just going to use and discard him, why should he not just focus on himself? Throw in with Salem and keep himself alive.
He silently pondered the question for several minutes, until he came upon his answer.
Because of faunus like Salt. Even Shelly and Eileen. Faunus who just want to live good, honest lives. He remembered that there were more good faunus than bad ones, more faunus deserving of a just world than there were that were deserving of justice.
Yes, Ghira hurt me, but I can't let him destroy who I am. He was Brazen. He had a mission. He had a trial to win and a human to track down.
"You seem pretty upset. I know, the trial isn't looking very good. Maybe we should just change the plea to guilty? If we do that, we can probably argue for some leniency." Stela said, finally daring to approach him after Shelly and Eileen had decided to busy themselves somewhere else on the ship. "It would spare us from having to listen to the testimony of your followers about how you killed Leader Khan and your assault on Haven Academy. The Belladonnas seemed to imply that the court would be partial to mercy."
Brazen shook his head and choked out "...won't give them the satisfaction of hearing me beg." Stela's words made him suspicious. She sounded just like Kali. Pressuring him to plead guilty. It made him wonder whose side his advocate served.
Stupid question, he berated himself. She served herself. And her interests were best served by ingratiating herself with the current authority - Ghira and Kali. She wasn't here to win his case. She was just here to make it look like he was fairly represented. She was just here to make it a good show.
He strained his arm, trying to move it despite the shackle, the inch-thick bandage wrapping, and whatever shape his tired flesh was in. Pain lanced up through the nerves, a bitter reward for his effort. It reminded him that he really didn't have too much choice in the proceedings or outcome of the trial. Even with his triple-charged aura, he'd still need more time to heal after being thoroughly seared in that explosion.
Well, if he was going to lose anyways, he would at least take Ghira down with him. A plan formed in his mind: once his followers were done tarnishing his good name with their biased memories of Sienna's death and the attack on Haven, it would be his turn to go on the attack. His turn to speak in his own defense. He would reveal to all of these people the sort of monster Ghira was. He might not know much about the law, but he was pretty sure Ghira's hypnosis all those years ago was some sort of crime. It would feel good to give the people a target that wasn't him. Let the court of public opinion tar someone who deserves it for once!
The only flaw in his plan, insofar as he could see, was the strong possibility that he'd spend the next several decades afterwards in a cell with Ghira. Until one of his clones could break him out. Which they'd certainly do. Eventually.
Maybe?
He did not share his brilliant legal strategy with Stela. She'd only warn Ghira of his plan. He couldn't trust anyone on the ship - except, perhaps, Salt and Lichen. Wherever they were. He found it odd that they hadn't come to see him. Was Ghira sequestering them, as evidence that Adam Taurus helped faunus? Were they injured, like he was, after the fight in the sky?
His concerns were interrupted by the arrival of Ilia. Followed quickly by Kali, Ilia made to hold his limbs down against his bed - as if he could fight back - while Kali forced his mouth open and shoved in a wad of cloth.
"Mmmmph!" Brazen tried to shout, Ilia's face set in a vicious snarl as she looked directly down into his face.
Kali looked at Stela. "Your client is relying on you to speak on his behalf." She produced a syringe, gave it a tap, and deftly injected it into Brazen's arm. "This will help ease the pain from his injuries. We don't want any undue suffering."
"MMMMPH!"
He saw Kali begin wrapping a fresh roll of bandages around his neck, working its way up to cover his gagged mouth. Then everything began to blur. He thought he would lose consciousness, but Kali seemed to want him awake for his trial. She just didn't want him to have any capacity to denounce her husband. She leaned in close and whispered in his ear. His hearing, unlike his sight, was still flawless. "She was like a sister to me." Then, to the rest, "it's a shame Adam scalded his mouth eating his breakfast. Fortunately, he is in good hands with Ms. Day. I think the recess is nearly concluded, so I'll send the guards down here to get him back up on deck to continue."
Brazen heard Ilia and Kali walk out of the room, leaving Stela to remark, "what a nice, thoughtful lady."
DOMINIC
Tuesday
"So what have we learned from reading 'The Warrior in the Woods'?"
"I liked 'The Story of the Seasons' more. It had a happy ending." Dominic replied, though Neptune patiently waited upon a better answer. Or maybe he just had that look of patient expectation because he was restrained. "How about 'testing me on what I read is annoying and stupid?'"
"That in the time it takes for me to have a sleep and fully wake back up, Dominic can read two children's stories?" Sun chirped.
Neptune rounded - as best as a restrained man could - on his partner as he spoke up. "I thought I noticed you start listening in. How about you, Sun? What is your take-away from 'The Warrior'?"
"Ummm, don't live out in the woods by yourself or you'll get ate?" Sun shrugged. "You know my motto."
"Always drag Neptune into your schemes?" Neptune shot back. "I guess that is one rational moral from the story. The woman probably would have lived longer if she'd lived among the villagers."
"No, she wouldn't have." Dominic said. "She was right to live out in the woods."
"I don't know about that. Until the village boy brought her the gift, she only had one set of clothes. She clearly wasn't living well out there." Sun pointed out. "Society is all about working together towards common interests, constantly building towards something better."
Dominic disagreed. "No, you're ignoring what she said! The humans would kill her because she was different. The warrior was a faunus." It had not been written anywhere, but Dominic had quickly made the link that only a faunus could have the strength to do what the warrior had done in the story. It just made sense.
Neptune nodded. "Dominic is on to something. Yes, she might have lived longer if she'd lived in the village, but one of the points of her character is that she couldn't. If her people were killed by other humans, why would the villagers be any different? The author of the story likely didn't say she was faunus because this is a Mistral book." He pointed to the bookshelf aboard Mistral's royal yacht from which they'd gotten the text, indicating its bias. "Probably wouldn't be popular if it hit the nail on the head like that. So it just portrays her as a loner who doesn't fit into society - people can relate to that easier. As for your initial response, Dom, I'd disagree about 'Warrior' having an unhappy ending; it doesn't really have an ending. It is just a slice of a continuous cycle, fighting and living. The boy becomes the new warrior, replacing the one in the woods. Sun might like that the new iteration of the role is more accepted by society, but in the end the cycle of violence that perpetuates the need for the warrior continues. Just like how faunus-human relations ebb and fade from benign coexistence to… let's call it malicious struggling over resources, the outcome of battles and conflicts do not change the fundamental strictures of existence."
Dominic nodded, catching at least a third of what Neptune was saying. Probably.
"This sort of thing wouldn't have happened in Vacuo." Sun pouted as he heard more evidence of underlying racism in the world.
"You're right." Neptune nodded. "Vacuo doesn't have woods."
Dominic stifled a chuckle. At least that he'd understood.
Sun harrumphed and rolled his eyes. "Anyways! I'm awake. Dom, you kept Neptune's aura down?"
Dom nodded. "Yeah. Can't say having to sucker-punch a human noble every ten minutes was much of a chore for me."
"I think we should find a better way of negating my aura. Sun, there's got to be some sort of medicines or tranquilizers aboard the ship. I told Dom to check but-"
"But I couldn't risk leaving him unattended to go search." Dom finished.
Neptune continued talking after Dominic's interruption. "- BUT he clearly thought it was more fun to just keep randomly hitting me."
Dom had made a game of it. Every time he finished a paragraph, another random punch. It had made the lesson somewhat bearable. He wished he'd been allowed to punch teachers like this when he'd been in the SDC camps. More than Neptune, the cruel taskmasters had definitely deserved a dose of retribution.
"Well, you've been awake for a while now Dom. I'll have a look for meds, but then you should probably get some sleep."
"I'm not tired." Dom replied. "You should go up and check on the other two members of your team."
"And Cammy." Sun added. "She's part of my team now, too, I guess." Sun gave Dom an appraising scan. "Ya sure you're not tired?"
"I… don't need much sleep these days."
"Alright. I'll go check on the others, look for some meds for Neptune, then I'll come back." Sun got up, stretched, and exited the room.
Once he was gone, Neptune shifted his body to lean the book of fairytales back towards Dominic. "Okay, we may as well start on the next story. Which one is it?"
Dominic sighed. These reading lessons were painful (even with the intermittent joy of punching a human), but at least he could see the possibility of it benefitting him later on. "Why is this so hard?"
"It's just a matter of familiarity, of practice. Once you get used to words, you can read them easier. Faster." Neptune replied. "Or… it might just be because you're half-blind. Hmmm. Maybe we should be teaching you to read braille, instead."
"What's that?"
"It is a writing system of raised dots on pages, rather than ink markings, that people that cannot see can read with their fingers. It was quite popular before scroll technology, and scrolls in general, made text-to-speech applications more prevalent."
"So it's like hand-signs, just another way to communicate? How can I learn to read braille?"
"Same way you'd learn to read any language." Neptune said. "Option three: when was the last time you visited an optometrist? Maybe your vision is just bad."
"I can see fine!"
"I'm not saying your vision is bad, but maybe you're dyslexic or have a reading disorder."
"We didn't really… I mean, I never really made time to see an optometrist before. Ever." Dominic said carefully, delicately avoiding mentioning anything that would contradict his fake backstory of humble carpentry. "They weren't really a common sight where I hail from."
"Nice." Neptune said, appreciating the pun, "but maybe we can get you to see an eye-doctor in Vacuo."
Dominic snickered. He hated to admit it, but some humans were almost entertaining. Possibly even undeserving of sporadic punches. It was times like this that reinforced his commitment to his vision for Remnant: the humans would live beneath the faunus, the faunus would rule, but humanity was necessary to keep around. They just shouldn't be left in charge, lest the world stay stuck in its cycle of misery.
I might be a warrior, but my selves and I will fight to ensure we are the last ones this world needs. It was a good thought, an ambitious, virtuous goal. Fighting to stop the fighting, that's what made him the hero his people needed. That's why they rallied to him, why they would fall in line behind him in Vale and help him re-establish his authority.
"Anyways, I think that book with the spine covered in little bumpy dots is braille. Grab it and we can start on that." Neptune pointed at the bookshelf with his nose. "People say that text-to-speech is easier, but there are benefits to knowing braille. It let me read well past bedtime every night as a child, for example."
Why would I want to read MORE? Neptune was a strange person, but Dominic had naught much better to do than entertain his new captive human's whims for the duration of the lengthy voyage.
As Dominic rose to get the book, Sun returned. Shaking a bottle of pills, he smiled. "Found something that might help."
"How is everyone else?"
"Sage is complaining about the beating you gave him when you woke up, but I'm pretty sure he's still mostly just sore from falling off the mountain and getting caught in that explosion."
"Consider us even, since I'm guessing he's the one steering us so that we rock with every wave in the ocean." Neptune, the human with the watery semblance, had of course never gotten his sea-legs. Even Dominic had more experience on boats.
Sun lay down on the bed, taking Dom's vacated spot, silently permitting Dominic to go roam the rest of the ship if he so wanted. Dom smiled, put the braille book back on the shelf, and went out to see what else was going on.
I need to confirm what Cammy's video from the train fight against the Nevermores shows. I need to return to Vale, to my loyal followers. But Vale was a long way off, so for now he'd see what he could do with team SSSNC.
He stopped suddenly in the hallway as he made his way up to the deck. He hadn't thought about it before, but did he actually get himself on a boat with a team whose name was phonetically identical to 'sink'?
One had to wonder how much the universe conspired to taunt him.
His aura shattered.
He pulled out his scroll and felt his middle finger. Did Brazen manage to succeed? It wasn't like Dom could do anything about it, now. But if Mistral killed a piece of me, I'll make sure to come back with an army of my loyal followers to kill a piece of Mistral. It didn't matter if he wasn't sure if saving Ghira was in his interest or not. Dominic liked having his clones, more than he detested Ghira's weakness.
He took a deep breath. He had to have faith in himselves.
Knock, knock. He tapped his knuckles on Cammy's door.
"Eeep!" Came her reply, a squeak, from inside. "Wait! Give me a moment! I'm… changing!"
Dominic's keen faunus ears heard the shuffling of feet from inside. He scowled.
Either Cammy was a quadruped or…
"Hide in the closet!" He heard Cammy whisper. A human probably wouldn't have heard her desperately trying to shove Scarlet into the - if her room was anything like the one Dominic had enjoyed earlier - spacious walk-in-closet.
Dominic heard, though. Dominic heard, and his mind quickly formulated a way to turn it to his advantage. A little harmless blackmail material was a good thing to have when going into an investigation of just how much Cammy knew about his secret multiplicity.
"Oh. Mister Taurus!" The door opened and Cammy seemed surprised to see him there, like he was the last person on Remnant she'd expected to visit her, despite there being a solid one-in-three chance of it being him. "Um… how can I help you?" Her face was flushed, and her loose-fitting nightgown, which she must have found in the large armoire, was askew on her shoulders.
"I said earlier I'd be interested in seeing that video from the train your semblance made." Dominic let his eye scan the room. The bed was a tangle of sheets, and clothes that he doubted belonged to Cammy had been rudely shoved under the bedframe. "Is this a bad time for that?"
"You want to see my semblance?" Cammy's face changed from awkward worry to eagerness.
Everyone on Remnant who had one, without fail, loved to gush about their semblances and show them off. Whether a person's personality determined their power or vice-versa, the end result was that there was generally nothing they held more interest in. Dominic should know - he loved his semblance. Getting to talk about it with Brazen and Bedlam had been amazing. Even the fact that having three of himself diluted his own unique power couldn't stop him from enjoying talking about Moonslice, theorizing about Moonbright, and everything else. Cammy was no different. She'd just discovered hers, too, so Dominic expected she'd love a chance to test her special ability out.
"Yes," Dominic said. "Adam said it was a good kill. I just want to make sure that your video adequately captures the epic-ness of the moment. You know. For later generations. Maybe a statue?"
"I don't think they'd make you a statue for it, but whatever floats the boat." Cammy moved to her bed, flopped down on it, and rummaged around on the other side. After several moments she pulled her scroll out of her pants and began swiping around through its menu screens. "Here it is."
The hologram of his nevermore slaying played through. Dominic was happy to hear that the audio was mostly garbled screams and cries of the humans Cammy had been surrounded by; if she or anyone else in the train had heard what he and the other hims had said, it hadn't been captured by Cammy's semblance. All she remembered was the panic, the fear. Panic, fear, and the visual splendour of Dominic Taurus flying through the air on a cable, slashing through an alpha nevermore.
He let out a small chuckle as he saw himself springing back towards the train, noticing the small bird-like monster that had clung to his head that had been responsible for him being mistaken for that human bandit woman. He patted his head. Long black hair didn't look terrible on him. Maybe I should grow mine out? It had always been a bit of a chore to chop at his own locks with Wilt every month or so. He was a changed faunus: didn't that deserve a new style beyond his simple disguise?
Thinking of his disguise, he realized that it would not hold up forever without some maintenance. The black dye would eventually grow out, and he hadn't exactly packed for the sudden trip.
He put on his nicest fake smile, the one he tended to use when trying to assure a human that they would live through an interaction with him. "Thanks. That was a good recording. Congratulations on unlocking your semblance." Congratulations on not being a threat to faunus supremacy. "But I don't want to bother you all… morning? I'm going to go check out the rest of the ship, then maybe I should get some sleep, too."
Cammy nodded. "Good idea!" Her eyes darted to her closet for a moment. "Thanks for stopping by, Mr Taurus! Thanks for… you know, the help and such."
Dominic walked up to the main deck of the ship, intent on looking around to see what the horizon had to offer and who was currently steering the yacht. As he did he checked his scroll. His aura had begun to regenerate, and there was no ring on his finger. At least one of his clones was alive, but there were no new messages to let him know what was going on elsewhere.
My first order of business when I reclaim leadership of the White Fang will be to assign people to my clones, responsible for updating me on their statuses.
Then he noticed that there were new messages, but they'd been marked as read already. He put the scroll to his ear and used the text-to-speech on the softest volume to have it read them to him. He'd had quite enough of reading all morning, and pressing the speaker to his ear he was confident that even if Sun was beside him the message would not be overheard.
Sounds like Brazen got to Hazel. The fact that the messages were already read meant that Bedlam was included in their scroll chats, too. Bedlam's own contributions were… interesting, but not relevant to anything Dominic was in pursuit of. More concerningly, he seemed to think that the Relic granted him power over the creatures of grimm, but it was certainly just something to do with the grimm monster Brazen had inadvertently stowed in the pocket of Bedlam's (Brazen's) outfit jacket.
The messages didn't really give him any comfort or insight about why his aura had shattered. All he had were his original assumptions: one of himselves was fighting out there, getting hurt.
There wasn't anything he could do but trust them to handle themselves.
Sage gave him a cordial wave from the helm, which Dom haltingly returned. The yacht sailed cleanly through the smooth ocean waters towards the rising sun.
He'd forsworn sleep earlier, partially from lingering suspicions about Sun's motives but mostly due to the adrenaline pulsing through him from the fight. Now as he watched the sky brighten, he still did not feel like sleeping. He might not wish to make use of human nobility's beds, but he'd certainly not scoff to scarf down their provisions; he started searching for food aboard the yacht.
The Olympic might be put to shame by the extravagance and size of the airship Dominic had sent burning to the ground, but it was still a rather impressive place to wander around. He wondered how many faunus children could have been fed in place of constructing the yacht, but this thought was countered by the extravagance of Sienna's throne room. My throne room. Had that been necessary in their struggle against human oppression?
Safehouses like Lichen's were left to fall into disrepair and neglect. If Sienna had refused to fight humanity like Adam had done, why had she eschewed taking care of their people's basic needs, too?
At least I had the excuse of being focused on fighting humans. What kept her from doing her job?
There was much more to the ship than the stately bedrooms the group of renegades had claimed for their use. The ship also boasted a clean looking medical bay, from which Dom assumed Sun had found the pills to help Neptune relax. There was an exercise room, replete with weights, treadmills, and other toys that people who trained their bodies in leisure made use of. Dominic had some pride in the fact that his muscles were grown from necessity rather than idle desire, but it would be nice to be able to stay in shape until he could find something meaningful to fight; the lack of local hostile humans, grimm, or other training dummies meant that he was in danger of letting his sword skills stagnate. As Dominic finally found the galley he was relieved - and somewhat jealous - to see the sheer quantity of delicacies kept aboard a vessel the nobles had for casual trips of fancy. Dust-powered iceboxes kept fresh produce and delicate pastries. Ripe fruit in baskets decorated the large counters. Every cabinet he opened revealed a bounty of sustenance.
Taking a quick inventory of the space and what he'd seen, it was evident that this ship had more food aboard than the entire Vale branch of the White Fang had had when he'd first been assigned there. At first he thought there must be some explanation. Had the Prince been preparing the ship for an expedition around the world? Were they making use of the generous amount of space on the ship to use it, when not taken out by nobility, for transporting foodstuffs to coastal outposts?
"No, this is just what they like to keep in stock at all times, so that the chef can make whatever the nobles feel like eating." Scarlet's voice echoed across the large kitchen's preparation area. Dominic hadn't even heard him approaching. "I mean, I'm guessing that's what you're thinking. 'Why is there so much food here'? I thought the same thing back when I was pirating about. You take the ship and start looking for treasure, but you end up astounded by just how much food the nobles have. Worse, how much they waste. The crew probably stocked the ship yesterday afternoon, going through everything and chucking what had spoiled. Just in case Jupiter felt like going for a sailing trip. That's their job. Keep the ship stocked at all times, no matter what."
Dominic stared at him, incredulous.
"Jupiter meant to send Neptune north to convince his family, to ensure that they enacted war measures in Argus, via this yacht, but I can almost guarantee that he said that knowing that the ship would be ready." Scarlet gave a little laugh, "it's funny, the stupid git probably meant the offer of Olympic as a means of enticing Neptune. Lucky for us his family kept their mouths shut about his little problem. Family shame can be a lovely thing. 'Course, with a brother like yours, I bet you can relate."
"My brother is fighting for what's right."
Scarlet shrugged. "I ain't saying human society's any good. Just sayin' that the way he goes about it doesn't exactly make humanity look at itself in the mirror. Come on. The mask alone is a bad look." Scarlet drew his sword, taking a moment to admire its gleam in the bright kitchen lights. "I suppose we're not ones to really talk when it comes to that. Rogues. Outcasts. Rebels. We've got all sorts to keep even Adam Taurus in good company. And that's not even starting to touch on what Sage has going on."
Dominic's entire body tensed up at the sight of the blade, but Scarlet didn't seem to be preparing to attack. Rogues, outcasts, rebels… is that the lot I've thrown in with today? He hadn't even been too concerned with the secrets of Sage, but perhaps he should not have so quickly elevated the decency of SSSN-C in his mind in comparison to the likes of the Prince. With the exception of Sun, they were all still very much human. Dominic, unaware that Scarlet had only made Sage out as the worst of their team for comedic effect, watched warily as Scarlet moved languidly to a basket of fruit so as to use his weapon to slice a melon into quarters.
"I guess I never got a chance to thank you for coming to help us against Prince Jupiter. Or for not killing me old mates that he's done brainwashed and such. It was right decent of you, that was." Scarlet said quickly.
Dominic looked away. He wasn't proud of having let those humans live, but it had ingratiated him to Sun and, apparently, Scarlet, so hopefully it was worth it. The memory of finding Salt was still vivid in his mind, and it disgusted him to think that he'd stayed his blade for any reason. Hopefully they'd all died in the explosion. Though it would seem counter-productive to give that thought voice in front of Scarlet.
Scarlet held up the melon slice on his sword. "You want a piece? Or did you already eat?"
Dominic swallowed his suspicions, presuming Scarlet's act to be a test; he managed to, nonchalantly, stride over to grab a quarter of melon for himself. After watching him take a couple of small bites of the fruit, Scarlet turned away and opened a nearby cupboard.
"Geeze. That's a lot of tea." Scarlet remarked, stepping a bit to the side so that they could both look at dozens and dozens of little boxes of tea packets, then stepping back in to shuffle through them. "Man. Hope you like… tatarian honeywood. Must be the Prince's favourite flavour of tea. That's all it is. Must be enough tea here to… I don't even know how many people this amount of tea would cover."
"I'm not a big tea drinker. That sort of thing was always more of a Mistralian human tradition." Dominic said, then added, "which I never really adopted. I always leaned more towards coffee when I was working and light ale when I had a day off." His mind retreated, with no small fondness, to the memory of having a day off for the first time in years and getting to spend it with his selves, drinking in an Ilhari bar. Terrorism had been a fine career, but the working hours were terrible, the commutes were worse, and vacations? Unheard of.
He yearned for a time, hopefully soon in an approaching future place, where he and his selves would have achieved all of their goals. In such an idyll, they could sit for hours together, regaling one another with tales of their exploits and victories, getting totally drunk without worry of revealing secrets to the enemy or being taken unaware by their (by then exterminated) foes.
It would be bliss.
Scarlet shrugged and closed the tea cabinet, then stood still for a pause. Finally, he turned and with a conspiratorial look, asked, "I mean, you're totally Adam Taurus, though, right? All this stuff about twins and such, that's just some malarky you came up with to mess with Sun, eh? I mean, you can tell me - I don't care, since it ain't like we'll get any reward for you in Vacuo."
Dominic gave an exasperated sigh. "As much as I'd like to be able to claim the mantle of Adam Taurus, no, I am not."
Scarlet seemed annoyed. "So this isn't just a big prank at Sun's expense? Damn. I mean, sorry for bugging ya about it again but I was hoping… the git has it coming after what he did."
"You're still upset he left you to pursue a girl?" Dominic recalled his discussion with Sage and Scarlet at the train station, when he'd bid farewell to Bedlam. "I thought you'd be over that, by now, especially given your own… dalliance."
Scarlet went still. "You ain't planning to run 'round telling everyone about us, are you?"
"Maybe. I just don't keep secrets very well." Lies!
"Bloody faunus senses - I told her, I knew you'd know. Sun was always the same in the dorms. He always knew. Got me in the habit of sneaking around so that he didn't hear me coming or going."
"I could keep your little relationship with the girl quiet, if you promise to stop bothering me about my identity." Dominic said. "Is this how Sun kept you all under his control? Blackmail?"
"What?" Scarlet started, "no, no. He just used it to ensure he always was able to prank us. Like, he'd always know when we were about to enter a room, always knew when we were trying to prank him in retaliation, stuff like that. We did what he said because he was the leader and made good calls. With Sun, if he told you to jump into a burning building you know it'd be for a good reason - one that he'd know we would agree with."
"You trust him because… he knows what you want and tells you to do it?"
Scarlet nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. We're huntsmen, after all. We chose this life. I'm thinking your brother ain't so good a leader, seeing how he lost all his followers."
"Maybe a good leader is able to convince you to do what is necessary, even when it is difficult. Maybe my… my brother's followers were just too weak to see that. Maybe they couldn't make the choices they needed to." Weak and selfish, too long oppressed by Mistral to have any strength left in them. "The best leaders lead by example." Dominic had strength enough to make the hard choices. He had the determination to see his mission through to the end.
"Sun's many things, but his example is always good. Strange, perhaps illegal, but firmly rooted in goodness. Sometimes with a dash o' fun and adventure."
Scarlet didn't say it, but it was clear that his opinion was that Adam Taurus' actions had not been as good-intentioned. Dominic grabbed another melon quarter, bit into it, and stormed out of the kitchen to find his way back to his claimed bedroom.
I know what the faunus want. I just wasn't able to deliver it. They want to be liberated, but they can't liberate themselves. That's why I have to keep fighting, keep working to liberate them. For the little ones, like Rothy, that can't stand up against tyrants on their own. For dreamers, like Salt, who want to live in a better world.
Lost all my followers? Dominic made a derisive snort. What did Scarlet know? He didn't know squat! I still have two followers. And the White Fang in Vale (at least until word of the failure at Haven reaches them). Also, Neo sort-of. I'm not out of the game, yet!
BRAZEN
His head was propped up so that his vision, while blurry, was directed towards the renewed proceedings. If he had motor control and could look to his side, certainly Ilia would be there desperately suppressing a smirk.
The trial, as much as the farce could be called a trial, continued without Brazen's interest. It seemed quite certain now how it would all play out. Witness after witness took the stand to testify about how he'd plotted to depose Sienna and his promises to bring about a terrific change once he was in charge. Stela didn't ever object to the testimonies when they veered wildly away from what he'd been charged with, letting the audience hear a much broader depiction of his character flaws.
Brazen's tongue flailed against the gag in his mouth, but it was useless. The sedative was too strong, and his shattered aura hadn't recovered enough to enhance the muscle.
All he could do was distract himself with thoughts of how an aura-empowered tongue muscle could be otherwise put to use. He missed the cold TorchQuik warehouse and the company he'd kept there. Hopefully being delayed by a lengthy prison sentence wouldn't put a strain on Neo's trust in him, on his promise to return and help her find Cinder.
Neo didn't seem like the type that liked being kept waiting.
The judge waved the next witness up to the stand. Another one of Taurus' friends who'd turned against him. Stabbing me in the back, kicking me when I'm down. It was an odd world. The faunus, who he'd fought for all his life, wanted him dead. The humans and monsters, meanwhile, wanted him alive. That was a bit of an exaggeration - there were still many humans and grimm that would rip him to shreds without hesitation - but the fact that there were any that proved to be an exception to the expectation was unnerving. Neo. Salem. Cinder.
His hearing must have started to be muddled by the sedative, too. He could hear the clear voices of the witnesses and the prosecutor as he asked them leading questions, but the crowd around him was a low mumbling he couldn't make out anything from.
He could make out his name.
"Taurus", they said, but with how much hatred in their tone he could not determine.
Ilia came into view, waved up to the witness stand. Beyond providing the video recording of his orders to kill the Belladonnas and abduct Blake, now she was going to join the rest and testify against him herself. And testify she did, for some time, about every kill Adam Taurus had claimed, about every interaction she'd spied him having with Blake, and the rift that had grown between him and Blake's parents. To his torpid fury, she even spent several minutes describing numerous instances of his jaywalking. When that was finished, Stela stood up to cross-examine her, placing herself between Brazen and Ilia, so he could not see either of their faces.
"Ilia Amitola. How long have you known the defendant?"
"Thirteen years or so, we were introduced while leaving Solitas."
"How would you describe Adam?"
"Spiteful. Definitely spiteful. Feels like the world has done him wrong and he owes it revenge."
"Would you say that he was a prime candidate for the role of High Leader of the White Fang?"
"No. People were just afraid of him after the Fall of Beacon, where he turned the Vale Branch into something scarier than the grimm that swarmed the Kingdoms."
"What was his relationship with Sienna Khan like?"
"They were close. She supported him, encouraging his violent actions, sort of in the same way one would promote viciousness in a guard dog. Yeah, she treated him like a prized attack dog."
Brazen found himself unintentionally listening to Ilia's responses, which were provoking some introspection on his part. In hindsight, it might be plausible to say that Sienna had never been grooming him to take over the White Fang. She had never spoken about a future where she would retire or step down…
"Having said that, were you surprised when you heard the news that she had died?"
"No. I had been made aware of the plan to remove her from power, though I'd held onto hope that she would move aside without blood being shed. Adam isn't one to take kindly to people obstructing his authority."
"So Adam was not alone in being responsible for Sienna's death?"
Ilia took a bit more time before responding. "It was his decision, his choice, to kill her. The White Fang decided to support him becoming High Leader, but Sienna's fate was left in his hands."
'Nobody needed to die', Hazel had said. Brazen thought about it. People seemed to see him a lot differently than he thought they had. It seemed that, with Sienna, perhaps that was just as true. Had he been nothing more than a weapon to her, something to point at her problems?
In a way, Cinder and the Fall of Beacon had freed him of that.
After everything he'd been through, he was a changed man. Changed men? He had grown. Multiplied in quantity and quality.
"Her throne room guards, though, turned on her and gave my client a clear path to the former High Leader. Is this court going to ignore the complicity of witnesses that are testifying in order to assuage and diminish their own guilt in the matter? Would it not be fairer to say that the organizational culture of the White Fang, under Sienna Khan, made the environment ripe for physical violence and strife?"
The kangaroo judge banged his gavel on his bench. "The defense is reminded that it is her client's guilt that is on trial here, not anyone else's."
Stela deflated a bit, stepped away from Ilia and sighed. "No further questions, your honour." She came and sat back next to Brazen, who would congratulate her on a fine performance if it wasn't all a mockery of justice designed to have him incarcerated or executed without risk of becoming a martyr.
The prosecutor stood to introduce the next witness, but halted as a voice shouted over the din, "STOP THIS TRIAL!"
It was none other than Ghira Belladonna. He politely excused himself as he passed through the crowd towards the stage, onlookers granting him passage in awe of the man.
"You have the wrong man on trial here." Ghira announced. His face seemed pale, hollow, but his expression was resolute.
Brazen, still pretty doped up on the sedatives Kali had injected into him, wasn't sure what was happening. Was he imagining this? Was Ghira finally willing to admit that it was he, rather than Taurus, who should be tried for putting so many faunus in danger with his errant philosophy?
"That man… is NOT Adam Taurus!" Ghira declared, pointing towards Brazen.
Oh shit.
"At first I believed him to be, too, as we all did. However, the evidence and clues began to clump together. Those he had rescued from Mistral's law enforcement told me that Adam Taurus has recently made contact with a long-lost twin brother - one Dominic Taurus. The brothers split up in Mistral, one coming to intervene against the airships that waylaid us, whilst the other remained behind to deal with the situation in the city. It was Lichen's belief that it was Dominic who had stayed behind, but she had doubts. Things that 'Dominic' had said to her that only Adam would have known. Mannerisms and memories that he would have had no reason to share with Dominic. But we ignored these inconsistencies, because this man appeared to us to be Adam as we know him."
The kangaroo judge looked like he wanted to bang his gavel, but thought better of it.
"The truth, I'm sorry to say, took extraordinary circumstances for me to see. I don't tell many people about my semblance. It is not a pleasant thing. However, for the sake of an innocent man, what bearing does my personal shame have in forestalling truth? I have the ability, the curse, I could say, to impose upon another a suggestion. When I was a slave to Mistral's elite in my distant youth, they called my semblance 'Purrsuasion'. I swore off its use as I swore off my bondage to human masters, but was tempted to use it once since that time. Not as a faunus, not as a leader, but as a father. I ensured that my daughter, Blake, would be supervised by Adam Taurus during her time in the White Fang after I stepped down to let Sienna Khan's era begin."
Yes, and in so doing are partly responsible for everything I did - everything I'm on trial for! Brazen shouted through his gag and drugged state, but all that actually came out was a bit of drool. Admit you are the real criminal! Admit that you wronged me greater and more wholly than I could ever have harmed you and your wretched family!
"Today, in the presence of the man I mistook for the one I'd burdened so heavily all those years ago, I attempted to remove my influence from his mind - ONLY TO FIND IT WASN'T THERE!"
There were shocked gasps from the crowd.
"I felt the presence of my semblance adjacent to him, but not in him. I felt my semblance effecting his brother, like an echo through his DNA, perhaps from their brief re-acquaintance, but it was not in Dominic - which is who I believe this man to be. In Mistral, he and his brother pulled the ol' switcheroo and traded places. Adam Taurus stayed behind in Mistral, continuing to try to be close to my daughter, while Dominic saw fit to come to our aid. I apologize for my absence after the recess; it took me some time to find clarity in these discoveries." Ghira looked towards Brazen, then. "I sincerely apologize for what I did to your brother, and hope that somehow, perhaps through your twinned blood, that my semblance's hold on him has been loosened, but… wait a moment, why is he gagged?"
Stela stood up. "He scalded his mouth eating his breakfast, sir."
Ghira shot over, towering over Brazen, and plucked out the gag. "You can't have a trial for a person who has been prevented from speaking on his own behalf."
Brazen drooled a bit more as he tried to say what he thought of Kali and Ilia's sense of justice.
"Is he… Kali, what did you do to him?"
Brazen's head flopped to the side, letting him see that Ilia and Kali were staring intently at the planks of the ship's deck, their mouths straight and tight-sealed.
"This is outrageous." Ghira muttered, then returned to addressing the crowd. "Dominic Taurus is a friend to the faunus. I have just come from the helm, and we are nearing the point in our voyage where we must depart the coast of Mistral, crossing the straight to Menagerie. I cannot go with you. Instead, I shall take a small dingy before the ship turns away from the coast. I will go to shore and make my way to the human port of Fort Castle, where I shall entreat with the local governor for assistance in resolving this sudden violent conflict betwixt our happy states. I shall take Dominic with me."
Ilia and Kali chose then to speak up. "Alone?" "Just the two of you?"
Ghira nodded. "This is the way it must be done."
Ilia pounced onto the defendant's desk, glowering at his relaxed visage. "No way. I'm coming, too, to make sure your faith in Taurus doesn't get you killed."
Unlike his faith in you, you failed assassin, which should have gotten him killed a month ago. Drool dripped down onto Brazen's chest, and Stela dutifully dabbed at it with a handkerchief.
Menagerie's hunky chief shrugged. "I suppose, if it would put your mind at ease, I could accept one more person to come along. But the rest of you must all make haste to Menagerie."
In case your negotiations fail.
"The sooner we get all our new residents settled into town, the better!" Ghira finished.
The crowd looked disquieted, mumbling softly to one another, but overall the mood seemed calm. Only Kali seemed to still be upset. Brazen would have expected Ilia to also be unhappy that her plank would not be put to use, until he realized that she planned to kill him at some point during their journey back to the city. He'd be concerned, save for the fact that she was a failed assassin. Her skills had failed to impress him for some time now.
Kali frowned and fretted, wrought with worry and concern for her conscientious husband's daring plan as she hung out at the helm. His little boat had disappeared into the horizon of waves and the reflection of the noon sun well over an hour ago now. She knew she had to stay strong and focus on her own duty: to get these people back to their settlement and integrate the influx of new inhabitants into their rough community. How could she do that, though, not knowing whether her husband was alive or dead, whether they were at war with Mistral or if peace had been restored?
"Once we've finished unloading the passengers and their possessions, we'll make our way to Fort Castle to find out if there has been any change in the political scene. If peace is restored, we'll surely make another trip down to Menagerie, in accordance with the trade agreement your husband signed. If we don't return…"
"Thank you, Captain." Kali nodded. "That eases one of my concerns, at least."
"You husband will be fine, ma'am." Stela consoled her. "He has Ilia and Dominic with him, after all. All in all, he seems much nicer than that brother of his that we thought he was."
That's what frightens me, Kali thought, leaving the helm to return to her quarters. Well, that and the fact that even an intelligent woman like Stela can believe that tripe. Kali didn't buy the Dominic thing for a moment. Ghira must be playing some angle - perhaps trying to use Taurus as a bargaining chip with the Prince? Kali didn't understand it, and Ghira hadn't filled her in on his scheme. As for Ilia… Ilia seemed loyal, but was she really? A short time ago the girl had been ready to kill for her cause.
Kali paused for a moment at her door before entering. She would have had more loyal people go with her husband, but he wasn't willing to make it a larger expedition and, to be frank, few faunus on the boat had much stomach left for adventure and travel. They just wanted to return home and no longer be bothered by the affairs of humanity in Mistral.
Entering the small bedroom her and Ghira had shared aboard the ship, Kali realized one consolation. Even if Taurus did try to kill her husband, he'd have a harder time doing it without this. She drew the red blade from its rifle-sheath. Not Taurus indeed! This sword looks just like the one that was used to kill Sienna.
She looked at the other things they'd recovered from Taurus. A wallet with a surprising amount of lien. She wondered who he'd killed and robbed of their life savings for the tidy sum he'd been casually carrying around. It is a good thing lien is made of plastic, instead of something that would have been ruined in the water like paper. Then there was Taurus' locked scroll that she could busy herself trying to hack into - a pleasant distraction from thoughts of her husband's plight. Finally, there was the disguise he'd carried. Yellow goggles and a greyish scarf. Kali narrowed her eyes at those last items. They closely resembled items that Sun Wukong's human friends had worn. Had Taurus killed them and looted their bodies for fashion? Or did these somehow implicate a deeper mystery, perhaps even conspiracy, involving the Vacuan faunus or his human companions?
Sure, he'd been cute, but what if beneath those desert-toned abs was hidden a darker secret, a malevolent purpose that had centered around precious Blake? What if Sun's friends were as troubled as Blake was? Perhaps Sun was just unlucky in the friends he made.
Kali gripped a nearby railing and sighed deeply. All this stress was just going to give her more wrinkles.
How can I have wrinkles already? I'm not even a grandmother yet!
She missed her husband. She missed her daughter. Damn it all, she even missed Sun and the slim hope that she could gracefully grow into her age, don a nice flowery dress and bake cookies all day as she doted on a clowder of grandchildren.
