Author's Note: Before we get to the chapter, I just want to address something, namely, the sudden disappearance.

Between some work stuff that came out of nowhere, a poorly timed case of writer's block, and general dissatisfaction with the state of the story, I had real issues putting pen to paper. I haven't given up, nor will I be dropping the story, but I won't commit to weekly uploads either, at least not for now.

I have been working on a few other projects, some that might make an appearance before too long, but I will be finishing this story. It just might be a bit slow going.

Other than that, I hope you enjoy the chapter and be sure to let me know your thoughts in the reviews.

"War?" Winter asked skeptically. "You're sure that's what he said?" Pyrrha nodded. The words had stuck with her, and it hadn't been more than an hour since she heard them. Winter shook her head. "It's politics, nothing more. They would not risk open war with Atlas."

Qrow didn't seem so easily convinced. She had found the two of them at a café located on school grounds. It served the same food as the cafeteria, but it was brought to you and located outside, giving people the chance to enjoy the air. The two had looked a little annoyed to have their date interrupted, even if neither of them would call it that, but their opinions had changed as she recounted what the Colonel had told her.

"I don't think war is too far off," Qrow grumbled. "The Council feels backed into a corner here."

"That may be so," Winter conceded. "But war is a step too far, sanctions? Perhaps, or maybe a public declaration of their disapproval, but war? Vale would never make the first move."

"In their eyes they aren't." Qrow responded. "Atlas has effectively blockaded Vale. That would be an act of war in any other circumstances."

"The General is trying to curb White Fang activity in the city." Winter looked back towards Qrow. "He was tasked with that by the Council."

"Only after he brought the fleet here." Qrow didn't look happy to be shooting Winter down, and his wince at her glare only supported that, but it was also proof that Pyrrha's fears weren't unfounded, that the Colonel's words were not entirely without merit. "Atlesian Troops in Vale, Specialist Teams conducting military operations in the city, doubling the guard of Amity without even consulting them? It looks like an invasion, Winter. You know that."

"The General wouldn't do that." Winter shook her head. "He is a good man, he… he's just doing what he thinks is right."

"And so is Mistral and Vale." Qrow replied.

Those weren't the words Pyrrha wanted to hear, given everything that had led to now. They had an advantage on Salem's forces for now, the White Fang was on the run and Cinder was a known quantity, now was not the time to turn against one another. That was exactly what Cinder had done when she attacked Beacon before. She had used Atlas' robots against them, making it seem like Atlas was the aggressor while in reality they had been trying to help.

"What do we do?" Pyrrha wasn't one for politics, but she knew this wasn't something that could be easily solved by the three of them sitting around a table. Despite that, she dared to hope.

Qrow couldn't meet her eyes, and Winter seemed to be looking straight through her when she tried.

"We have to talk with Ironwood. I-we might be able to convince him to stand down." Winter finally said.

"Do you really think that will work? James hasn't exactly been taking advice lately." Qrow asked. Winter didn't seem to hear him however, and he sighed before placing a hand on her shoulder. "What is it? You aren't usually like this."

Winter's eyes shifted for a moment between the two of them, before she looked around the deserted area that they sat in. She took a deep breath before looking back to them.

"Do you know what his Semblance is?" Winter asked suddenly, earning a shake of her head from Pyrrha, but a confused nod from Qrow.

"Pain suppression, right? Or something like that…" Qrow asked, though he clearly doubted that now that she was bringing it up.

"That is an effect of it, but not the primary purpose." Winter shook her head. "His Semblance… it allows him to hyper focus on something, on one task, and ignore all other distractions."

"Okay?" Qrow looked towards Pyrrha, but she was just as lost as he was.

"All distractions, Qrow." Winter reiterated. "Noise, lights, sleep, food… even emotion. He blocks it all out and focuses on one task."

"Lets him focus on the task at hand, I get that, but-"

"He can't tell when he's gone too far." Pyrrha realized. "Can he shut it off?"

Winter nodded. "If he thinks it's necessary, yes, but that is where the difficulty comes in. How do you convince him if he feels justified?"

"He can't tell what he's doing is wrong?" Qrow asked.

"Or he think's the ends justify the means." Winter replied, and those words were concerning.

Pyrrha had heard them before, people who liked to say that they would achieve something, no matter the cost. It was usually a line that belonged to an action movie villain, but it wasn't so black and white. Everything was a contest between cost and reward. People could ignore the pain of exercise if they knew they would get better or that they would get the body they always wanted. For the average person, those costs would never amount to something beyond reasons.

For General Ironwood of Atlas? The highest ranking General in Atlas, head of Atlas Academy, who held two seats on the Council? His decisions had the possibility of coming at too high a cost, and his Semblance compromised his ability to do the one thing that held most people back from being monsters. He couldn't empathize with people.

"That raises the question of how we stop him then." Qrow sighed. "James and I haven't always gotten along, but I know he wouldn't normally do this… what changed? How is this different?"

"He's been using his Semblance more." Winter replied quietly. "He… Mettle was a large factor in his early career, when he had to lead men into situations most people couldn't crawl back from, and he used it to push on past his own limits for his men, but after a while… this isn't the first time his Semblance has gone too far. He swore off using it until…" Winter likely didn't mean too, but her eyes drifted towards Pyrrha for the briefest of moments. It was enough to horrify her.

"I caused this?" Pyrrha whispered.

"No." Winter and Qrow stated simultaneously. They shared a look between one another before Qrow nodded and let Winter continue. "He made this choice, it's not you that forced his hand. It is the situation we find ourselves in. Our enemy… we need every edge, that was likely what caused him to use it at first, from there…"

It was a cascade failure. He would use it, then continue using it because he couldn't see the issue using it. He was trapped in a loop, all because he was trying to defend the people of Atlas and Vale.

"How do we get through to him?"

"We make an argument." Winter said but didn't sound even slightly pleased with the idea. "We appeal to logic and convince him what he is doing is wrong."

"Is there another way?" Qrow didn't sound like he had much faith in the plan, and in truth Pyrrha didn't either. The General was strong willed at the best of times, now?

"We deplete his Aura and hope his Semblance breaks in the process." Winter reported grimly.

"Attack a General in the heart of his ship, when he is surrounded by loyal soldiers?" Qrow rolled his eyes. "Why don't we just save everyone the time and shoot ourselves for him?"

It was meant to be a joke, but given the mood, Pyrrha wasn't surprised when nobody laughed. Attacking the General… she didn't want to do that. He was an ally, someone she trusted, and he had been kind to her, the last thing she wanted to do to repay all of that was attack him. If his Semblance was holding him hostage though? He had helped her, now she hoped they could help him.

General Ironwood's ship was a bustle of activity by the time they arrived, soldiers rushing around the Atlesian flagship in an organized chaos. That didn't help calm Pyrrha's nerves, if anything, it made her panic even more. The question of what they were in such a hurry for plagued her mind, even if she had seen the same actions several times before. The men and women of Atlas took their jobs seriously, settling into their task with a determined focus, barely paying a second thought to the three Atlesian Specialists that stalked the halls.

They had been forced to wait a few hours until the General had finished his meeting with the Council. Pyrrha had desperately wanted to ask about what had happened, but there simply hadn't been time. Winter had received orders to return to the ship as soon as possible, and that could only really mean one thing. The General was preparing to take his ship away from Beacon.

What exactly did that mean? He had left one there since discovering the truth about Salem, and when he brought his fleet from Atlas he had parked his command ship down at Beacon to coordinate with the local garrison he had established under Winter and Qrow. Now he was moving it, after a relatively short conversation with the Council of Vale, and the head of the Mistralian Military. She desperately wanted to believe that meant he was trying to downplay his involvement, to step back and show that he wasn't trying to start a war. Winter had killed that thought easily, informing her of the tactical implications.

The ship parked at Beacon was more vulnerable than in the air. Atlesian point-defense systems were unrivaled on the world stage, so by pulling his ship back up, it was the equivalent of drawing your weapon, or perhaps grabbing the hilt. It was a telling sign, and Pyrrha desperately hoped they were reading into it too much.

Winter didn't seem to think so.

Qrow had remained silent as well, hands shoved into his pockets as he hunched over and walked beside Winter. Pyrrha had wanted to fall behind them, but the closer they got to the command deck, the more Winter seemed to almost drag her feet. The usually confident woman seemed… afraid wasn't the right word, but she clearly doubted herself. Qrow's silence didn't help, and Pyrrha was forced to push on. She was grateful for that at least.

The command deck was equally as busy as the rest of the ship, though notably not as loud. The various technicians and analysts were silent as they worked, the joking and conversation that Pyrrha had seen in the past noticeably absent, it wasn't hard to tell why.

Stood in the center of the room, hunched over the command control center, was General Ironwood. There was an air of something around him that seemed to suffocate all conversation. Distantly, it reminded her of when her parents would be mad about something but wouldn't say what or why because they wanted to ignore it. With his Semblance, it wouldn't have surprised her if that was his plan. It might have worked for him as well, but he wasn't the one who had to deal with the consequences.

"General Ironwood." Pyrrha addressed him, stopping a few feet behind as she tried to force a neutral smile onto her face. She had once been good at that, but something about the way her muscles moved now was just different enough that people saw through the cracks.

The general didn't turn, but he did incline his head towards her for a moment to show that he had heard her.

"W-we hoped to speak with you." If he noticed the stutter in her words, he didn't show it.

"What seems to be the problem?" He kept his back to them, interacting with something on the console as he spoke. "We are currently preparing to be underway, so you'll have to forgive me if I can't give you my full attention."

His reason made sense, but it was also cold. She was sure that, normally, he would have made the time. It was difficult to say if that was his Semblance at work or just the recent events. Winter insisted it was the former, but as Pyrrha thought about it, she realized just how little she actually knew the man. He had helped her fight back against Cinder's plans, allowed her to take to the field rather than be kept on the sidelines, but she had only known him for a matter of months. Winter had known him for years, and yet seemed unsure whether or not they would be able to talk him down. That painted a worrying picture of the likelihood of their success.

The silence continued as Pyrrha wasn't sure what to say, and that indecision finally seemed to grab the General's attention. He turned to look at her, and the neutral expression on his face unsettled her. His eyes were cold, but beyond that it was clear there was a buried rage that he was trying to conceal. She was sure that anger was directed at the Council, but the fact he directed it at her caused her to flinch.

"Can this wait unti-"

"No." Qrow stepped forward to stand between Pyrrha and the General. "It can't wait, James."

The general regarded him for a moment before his eyes shifted towards Pyrrha. She couldn't quite meet them.

"Very well." The General turned to regard them. "You have my full attention."

"This is a conversation better had in private, Sir." Winter added, sending a meaningful look around the room and the various Soldiers that tried their hardest to look like they hadn't been listening.

The General nodded once, before moving towards the door. They followed closely behind, exiting the command suite of the ship before taking a sharp turn towards the nearby conference room. The door shut softly behind Pyrrha, clicking in a way that her mind couldn't help but compare to priming a weapon.

"Tell me what this is about." The General stated, leaving no room for either pleasantries or patience.

None of them spoke for a moment, even Winter remaining silent.

"What did the council want?" Qrow finally asked.

"Atlas to vacate Valean soil." The General answered simply.

"And will you?" Qrow spoke again. The silence from the General was enough of an answer. "James, that's an act of war."

"Don't be so dramatic." The General shook his head. "Vale needs my men, whether they want them or not is irrelevant."

"Do you have the authority to do that?" Pyrrha finally asked, though the answer was obvious. He didn't and was no doubt breaking several laws by refusing to.

"They will change their mind once our enemy strikes." The General sounded sure of himself, and Pyrrha could understand why. The Council wouldn't care once Cinder, the White Fang, and the Grimm descended on them, until then though?

"That is still months away." Pyrrha said softly.

The General didn't respond for a moment, considering the information as if he hadn't thought of it, before shaking his head. "Irrelevant, there is still the matter of the Breach to worry about."

"Something that took one ship last time, not a fleet." Qrow looked towards Pyrrha, waiting for her nod before continuing. "In the meantime, Atlas looks like it's trying to annex Vale, you have to be able to see that, Jimmy."

"I am aware of what they are saying." The General sighed in frustration, the first sign of any actual emotion warring on his face for a moment before disappearing entirely. "There was plenty of blame being thrown around in the meeting. I have only ever done what was best for everyone."

"Councilmen Greenwood." Winter responded quietly but offered nothing else.

The look on the General's face was… complicated. His eyes reflected the light and Pyrrha thought she saw a moment of doubt or regret, it was washed away a moment later. Held back once more behind a cold and indifferent glare.

"I have no idea what you are implying, Specialist." The General's eyes were firmly locked on Winter now.

"I am implying you have made a mistake." Winter did not back down. "Are you sure of this course of action, sir?"

"Are you going to try and talk me out of it?"

Winter was silent for a moment, looking back at them from the corner of her eye. She took a deep breath, before fixing her eyes away from her once more.

"Yes, sir. I am." Winter replied. The General seemed surprised, but Winter continued before he had a chance to speak. "You can't see what you are doing, not truly. You are looking at this from a logical standpoint, from a purely tactical level, but you are failing to see the bigger picture. You can't see how you are turning everyone against us, how you are creating more enemies than you are destroying."

"I am thinking clearly."

"Too clearly!" Winter snapped back. "No emotion, no thought or care for how people feel about what it is you are doing, no humanity!" Winter's voice rose in volume. "You are using your Semblance like a crutch, unable to bear the burden of what you have done, or plan to do! That is proof you shouldn't do it." Winter fixed him with a glare, but it was only now that her shoulders stiffened.

"I have a duty." The General's voice didn't rise to match Winter's; it barely changed at all. There was anger there, Pyrrha could tell, but it was subdued and forced aside. "The people under me expect results, they expect me to help them. I have a duty to the people of Remnant to protect them!"

"People follow you, not because of your Semblance, but in spite of it! You are a good man… this isn't you." Winter stressed it, shaking her head softly. "This isn't the man who sent troops to find and rescue two captured agents despite the diplomatic risk involved!" She held one hand to her chest, the other pointed at Qrow. "The man who helped a lost woman out of time!" Winter gestured back towards Pyrrha. "This…" Winter's voice faltered, her anger diminishing as she hesitated briefly. "This isn't the man who took me in after I was disowned."

The General was silent as Winter finished. He watched her closely, but his face was as unreadable as ever. There wasn't any sign that he had deactivated his Semblance and that was sign enough.

"Are you done?"

Pyrrha's heart fell as The General regarded them.

"I believe it is time you all reported to your stations." He nodded towards the door. "We will be leaving shortly, and once we are in formation; I will inform you of our next move."

Winter reached up to her collar for a moment, before her hand came away holding the red gem that sat on her necklace. Every Specialist that Pyrrha had met possessed some kind of red on them, Winter had said it was tradition. A sign of their position as a Huntsmen employed by the military, but also a connection to the past. It was more symbolic than part of a uniform, and Pyrrha had never seen Winter without hers. It fell with a soft sound, landing next to her boot. She was turning towards the door before it even landed, pushing past Qrow and Pyrrha.

"Specialist Schn-" The General went ignored, Winter neither stopping or even acknowledging his words.

Qrow didn't hesitate, following after her in a rush as he tried to catch up. That left Pyrrha alone in the room with the general, and his eyes fell on her. She winced softly, but just as her friends had, she turned to leave.

Pyrrha paused in the door, looking back to the man she had once wanted to follow. "Fria said you were a good man." Pyrrha brought a hand up to grab the small pin on her shirt, the red cloth signifying her own standing within Atlas' military. It had been given to her to help her stay involved, as a sign of trust or so she'd thought. Now, she couldn't help but wonder if it was just a means to try and control her. "She said you just lost sight of that sometimes… was she wrong?"

He didn't respond, watching her with the same empty eyes he had the entire meeting. Sighing, Pyrrha threw her medal beside Winters.

Author's Note: A lot of things with this chapter. First and foremost, this encounter was always planned, from the moment Ironwood appeared in the story. That being said, it did shift around a bit, different lights and different angles to certain things. With all of that being said, how he shall respond has yet to be seen.

I hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to review to let me know your thoughts.

Sincerely, SE