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(Weiss PoV)
It was a cold long ride to Atlas. Cold. And long. I said nothing to the pilot and he said nothing to me. I just sat with my luggage on my lap in the back of the plane. I had nothing but my thoughts to keep me company as I got closer and closer to my home kingdom.
I sat and worried. What if the General didn't let Ruby and the others join Ozpin? My fears weren't as dissuaded as I wanted them to be.
The worst part was I was an overthinker. I over-thought about it the whole way there. It was an eight hour flight, no less. And I had nothing but depressing thoughts to keep me awake and aware.
"Atlas ground control to unidentified vessel. Please identify," came through the radio.
"This is XTR-niner-niner-ought-two. Callsign ought-five-six-six-niner-eight. We've got Weiss Schnee onboard. Requesting permission to land."
"Granted. Did you say Weiss Schnee?"
"Affirmative."
"We roger that XTR. We'll have company waiting for you."
We came in low over the floating city and swept in for a landing near Atlas Academy.
The plane hovered to a stop and descended. With it descended my stomach. I was alone and hundreds of miles from Ruby.
The back of the ship opened. I stood with my things and departed at once.
"Weiss? You're alright." An even voice availed me.
It was my sister surrounded by armed robots and waiting near the airstrip. She was as tall as ever with crystal blue eyes and snow-white hair.
My sister sounded relieved.
"Winter," I acknowledged. "It's good to see you again. I've got a special message for General Ironwood. It's urgent."
"For Ironwood?" She asked. "What could you possibly need to talk to him about? Weiss the general is a busy man-"
"It's about the maidens. And the relics. He'll make time for it. I am sure," I hedged a working bet. My sister was in a position to know about Ozpin's secrets. I was willing to bet that she did, now that I knew myself.
The only beings within earshot were machines and they'd never tattle on us to anyone. Winter's eyes widened with something like shock.
"Oh. Then you must come with me immediately." She led the way into the academy. "How do you know about the relics Weiss? And the maidens?"
"Ozpin told me. But like I said I have to talk to Ironwood. I have a message for him. It's the only reason I took the ship ride here."
She swiped a key card on one of the doors and led me all the way to the headmaster's office. I'd been there before. I knew the way. It was back from when I considered Atlas Academy as an alternative to Beacon and I was given a tour of the place.
"General, my sister says she has an urgent message for you. It's why she came. It's about the relics and maidens."
The general turned to look at me. He looked as I remembered. Maybe a bit more grey hair. The stress of Beacon afflicted him, giving him a bit of Marie Antoinette syndrome. He was tall and half metal with a long sleeve over his metal side.
He was sharply dressed as I'd ever seen him. His arms were crossed behind his back, looking crisp.
"I'm supposed to tell you the 'king has castled,'" I told him. His face shifted. Growing at once more interested from confused.
"What? Where?" He demanded.
"Back in Argus with Qrow."
"Ozpin and Qrow…" he murmured. "I'll send a ship there immediately. What's the status of the relic of knowledge?"
"We don't know. We think Salem has it," I answered. "Leonardo Lionheart turned on us. He betrayed Ozpin to Salem."
"That's terrible news." The general steepled his fingers.
"The relic here is safe though, isn't it? Ozpin was worried about this one next."
"It's secure," he said it so quietly I had to strain to hear him. "What about the spring maiden?"
"She fell. Cinder Fall, the new fall maiden became the new spring maiden. She's very powerful now."
"That's even worse news."
"Yes… sir, about my friends with Ozpin… will you allow them into the country?"
"They know about the relics and maidens as well?"
I nodded crisply. I felt almost like I was a young girl talking to my father. It was frightening.
"Then it can't be helped." He nodded. Lights on his implant flickered. "You did well to bring me this information. We'll see about getting you set up in a room within the academy. You should rest easy, now. I'll handle things from here."
I exhaled a sigh of relief.
"There's more, sir," I began. He'd begun to turn his attention away from me and hesitated. "We were betrayed by a student too. Ozpin suspected he was a sleeper agent. A man named Jaune Arc. I'm not sure if that matters to you but it's something to be aware of. He's the one with the relic of knowledge. We think he's bringing it to Salem. He's very dangerous. I also have the identities of two more of Salem's agents. A Tyrian Callows and Hazel Rainart, I have their fighting styles, weapons, and a description of them both."
"You've been through a great deal…"
"No more than anyone else since Beacon's fall and Black-Out day," I dismissed.
"Even still I had hoped to keep people as young as you out of the conflict. I wasn't so successful myself. You know Penny Polendina."
"It became a necessity. Ozpin was out of options after he died. He's in a body called Oscar now. And yes sir, I know her. She's alive?"
He smiled and nodded. "You can tell Winter about Salem's agents. It's good to hear from Ozpin. I'd been worried. I must arrange for his and Qrow's extraction," he phrased it like a kind of order and I had to resist the urge to give some kind of salute. My own military background having been raised in Atlas at the forefront of my mind.
"And my friends," I interrupted. It was a bit of a sticking point for me, I overcame my desire to salute and intruded anyways.
"Yes, of course," Ironwood agreed. He seemed to sense my anxiety about it. His voice was unusually gentle.
"Come with me Weiss," Winter said. "I'll tell you about the winter maiden and the staff of creation, if that's alright, sir?"
Ironwood dismissed us with a curt nod and Winter snapped off a salute before gently pulling me away.
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Winter led me beneath the school to the vault. There the staff of creation hung and suspended with it was the massive chunk of earth and ice the city floated on top of. "So the staff is what keeps the city floating? I always thought it was dust."
"That's the official story. But Ozpin showed the previous headmaster how to use the staff to levitate the city."
"How's this possible?" I was still tired from the flight but I had energy enough to be amazed at one of the relics in action.
"The staff is an unlimited source of power. Although it's limited to one task at a time. It and it's vault are set up in a circuit with the engines to help the city hover."
"That's amazing. It costs nothing and keeps the city safe. The relic of knowledge was similarly incredible."
I was able to look out and see gondolas on guide wires to the lower city.
"Oh?"
"It allows the user to ask any question of the lamp. Only three questions every one hundred years. We're afraid of what Jaune will do with it."
"Your friend who turned on you?"
"Yes," I breathed. "It's been hard."
"How are you holding up with that knowledge?"
"It's been difficult. My best friend was in love with him. Is in love with him. His betrayal came out of nowhere."
"Are you sure the rest of your friends can be trusted? You were rather insistent that your teammates join us here."
"I trust my teammates with my life."
"As you trusted this Jaune?"
"As Ozpin trusted Leonardo. Mistakes happen," I defended.
"Leonardo was a coward." Winter turned her nose up. "You could smell it on him."
I walked up and pressed a hand against the vault. The staff of creation was a beautiful object. A blue crystal wreathed in gold and mounted on a pillar of bronze, it was gorgeous. I'd only gotten a glimpse at the relic of knowledge but it was similarly intriguing.
"My teammates aren't cowards. And neither was Jaune. He was obsessive. That was his downfall."
"You defend him in this?"
"My partner and I think Salem did something to him." I stepped away from the crystal of the vault.
"Your partner who is in love with him?"
"That's right." I was adamant. "I know it sounds crazy. I know it sounds like an entangled mess of emotions but there are things about it that don't add up. Inconsistencies in his betrayal and personality which make no sense. I believe in her. I believe in him."
"You're right. It does sound like an entangled mess."
I glared at my sister. "Jaune was obsessive and one day he was killing and dying for us and the next he was turncoat."
"Traitorousness is the hardest to wrap our minds around because it often comes from those we least suspect. Betrayal is by its very nature unexpected."
"Maybe. Do you want to hear about Salem's other agents?"
"You've yet to give me a description of Jaune Arc."
"Tall, blonde, and muscular, blue eyes and about six-foot-one, maybe six-foot-two. He uses a broadsword that can turn into a shield with a longsword."
Winter sighed. "Weiss…"
"His semblance is called Limit Breaker. It's a charge which lets him elevate to a form where he is stronger and faster. He can do all manner of things with the charge. Fly, for example. And spend it on an attack or movement."
"Weiss, it sounds like you, too, are muddled in this."
"I'm doing alright."
"Are you?"
"I-" I hesitated. "I liked him. As a person. The personality he developed. Who he became. The sacrifices he was willing to make for us. I got comfortable. It took me by surprise. Caught me off guard. He used to fancy me and I always felt like a good judge of character. He changed between Beacon and when I saw him again. I liked what I saw in him."
"And your friend?"
"She's hurting but we can get through it together."
"It's as I said. You're ensnared. You're too close to the issue. You need to look at things dispassionately."
"I don't know if I can do that with this. Could you do it if it was someone you cared about?"
"I have my duty," Winter insisted.
"Easy for you to say now." I sounded tired to my own ears. I didn't believe Winter. Maybe she never let herself get close to someone. It would be easy to do if you never had to try, I suppose. "I thought I'd be able to do it too. Now that it's happened to me it's clear that I can't. I have to stand with my partner."
"You're in pain."
"That's life." I pulled at my ponytail and tightened it.
"I hate seeing you like this. It sounds like you're not letting it go."
"I can't release it that easily. Jaune had a partner who died. He talked about getting revenge for her against the agents of Salem. We even talked about how he wanted to be able to let go for her. I think I understand what he meant now."
"I see. You're unwilling to compromise on this issue?"
"I am." I agreed. "If time heals all wounds then I need more time."
"Tell me about the other agents of Salem."
"You already know of Cinder, the spring and fall maiden. She fights with glass and dust woven into her clothes. She's incredibly dangerous. Even before she added the spring maiden's power to her own. Jaune fought her before then. His power made him nearly as lethal."
"We have records of her. You keep coming back to Jaune."
"He's intertwined in my story," I dismissed easily. "Tyrian Callows is a scorpion Faunus. He fights with clawed submachine guns. His aura is purple. I fought him at Haven. His eyes are gold and his hair is brown. Hazel Rainart is eight-foot, maybe taller. He fights with his fist and by infusing himself with dust. He has brown hair and brown eyes."
"Do you know either's semblance."
"When I fought Tyrian I didn't catch it. Ozpin said Hazel's was a pain-numbing agent. It allowed him to infuse himself with more dust than your average person could tolerate."
"You've been through a lot since you left father's estate."
"You have no idea. You mentioned the winter maiden."
"I did."
Winter led me back through the Atlas Academy. We arrived at a medical facility. We passed armed guards, security cameras, and robots. A door slid open before us and she gestured inside. I followed her direction and looked down through what I could only assume was a one-way mirror.
"This is Fria."
She pointed down at a woman in a cot. There was a sink and kitchenette in the room as well as two tubes with cables between them.
"She's the winter maiden." I identified.
"She is. She could pass any day now. Until that happens I'm the only person she's allowed to see."
"Then Ironwood's chosen you. You'll be the new winter maiden. Cinder will come after you."
"You believe she won't stop at two?"
"She didn't stop at one. Why would she slow down now?"
"I suppose…" Winter mulled that over.
"How long have you known?"
"Since Beacon fell."
"And that doesn't bother you? Ironwood groomed your entire military career just for the purpose of becoming a maiden. Don't you feel like you never had any choice? And you want to lecture me about things getting muddled? Jaune mentioned to me that Ozpin was probably looking at me and my team to be maidens and it set off red flags for me. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right. My team and I are ideal candidates. Powerful, talented, and already armed with knowledge."
"It did bother me at first. But the more I thought about it, the more I saw it as a privilege. It's a chance for me to do some real good for Atlas, for Remnant."
"I think you're ensnared by the general. Closing the borders down rather than helping the rest of the world, what is he thinking?"
"I-I'm not sure if I'll be allowed to tell you. There is a greater plan in play, I assure you, Weiss. Things are not as short-sighted as they may seem."
"I should hope not. Ozpin said he was worried for Ironwood next. If Ironwood starts going against Ozpin's orders things will be bad to say the least. Closing the borders is only frustrating things between Atlas and the rest of the world. Ironwood had better have a plan, and it had better be a damn good one."
"I'll see about getting clearance to talk about it with you."
"Thank you."
"I agree with the general's plan. I hope that you will too. Now I must ask what you intend to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're in Atlas. You're a huntress and from the sound of things you're never going back to live under father."
"Never again. No," I said, quiet but sure.
"So what will you do?"
"I'll do what my team and I have been doing. Protecting and serving the people of Remnant."
"How?"
"There's bound to be no shortage of jobs for those of us in the know. The Grimm are always coming. Salem's agents are at the gates at all times. My team and I have seen them. Those real monsters of humanity."
"You won't go back to school?"
"If I went back to school it would only be to teach. And even then…" It wouldn't be anytime soon. I wanted to fight.
"That would be a good career choice for you." Winter smirked.
I nodded. "For now, though, I just don't see it."
"Very well. I'm sure the general will be happy to have you and your team aboard."
"I'm sure he will be. Team RWBY is a force to be reckoned with."
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-WG