Chapter Eighteen

Enemy Within

/-\ Blake Belladonna /-\

The waves of the pool sloshed back and forth in rhythmic harmony.

I'd long since put my book down, simply opting to turn my brain off and lounge around for a few hours – maybe take a nap somewhere in there. Every time I closed my eyes, though, I heard Yang's words. You're not a bad person, she'd said. Whatever those mistakes were? They don't matter now.

If only it were so simple.

I thought back to all the raids I'd been on. Though I had never purposefully killed anyone, I'd definitely made lots of people's lives worse. Slashed tendons, broken bones, head trauma… and that leaves out the fact that I often worked with people who had no such qualms about killing. At the time, I'd looked away, pretended to not notice, told myself it was necessary. At any point, I could've taken a step back and realized just how much evil I was doing; just how little we were actually affecting our own oppression. But I didn't; not until Adam dropped all pretenses and wanted to blow up the train. Though I'd been having doubts by then, it took an act of such extreme callousness for me to finally see.

The worst part was that I had to tell this to Yang. Every fiber of my being reviled the idea, just as I knew it would make her revile me. The other Yang didn't, a traitorous voice in my head said. She didn't know the extent of my crimes, just that I was with the White Fang, once. She thought the worst I'd done was run when they found me out. I wasn't even sure Weiss knew what I did, despite her extensive experience with them.

"Oh, there you are!" a voice shouted. I jumped a foot in the air, heart skipping a beat. "Woah, woah! Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." My head whipped to the side and saw Yang of all people, just standing there in her fatigues. Without thinking, my eyes glanced up to her scalp, where a pair of cat ears sat. She smirked. "Eyes are down here, Blakey."

It was really hard to stop my gaze from going any lower than her eyes, but I just about managed it. "I…" I hummed. "What do you need, Yang?" Right after the words left my mouth, I remembered what I needed to tell her. Of course, I knew I wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise until after she was done.

"So… I've been thinking…" she started. "I actually kinda liked hearing about Remnant. That was pretty surprising, if I'm being honest, and I'd really like to hear more about it – not just the Faunus-centric stuff. But it doesn't seem fair that you're telling me all this stuff and you don't get to hear about our history. So, uhh, I was kinda wondering if you wanted to go hunt down Weiss for some storytime?"

I blinked. "That… was not what I expected you to suggest," I said. "I mean, I'm glad you had fun, but I really don't mind if-"

"No, Blake, we should at least ask her," she interrupted. "I know you kinda got into the World War Two books before we joined up… she'd probably know a lot more about it than I would. Not that that's a high bar – I don't even know who was all involved, other than the really obvious. But she was smart enough to get into one of the best colleges in the world! Plus, she uhh… kinda has a German name, so… there's that."

"I really would rather know as little as possible about that subject," I said. "It's already caused enough problems, don't you think?"

"Jaune wouldn't want that," she said. "I might not know history, but I do know that gun of his was involved somehow. He knew a lot about the war, more than I ever really could. At the cabin… the fight wasn't about what happened, Blake, it was about what could happen. If he was here, he'd probably love to fill you in."

I thought over her words for a few moments; turning them in my mind, reflecting on that day… The Jaune I knew had a similar knowledge of our Great War; it was just about the only thing he actively excelled in. Of course, he didn't know any other history, but at least he had his strength. With a sigh, I swung my feet over the edge of the lounge chair and stood up. "Fine. We'll go see what Weiss has to say about all this."

She did a little fist pump. "Yes! I know exactly where she is, c'mon!"

As I followed her, I half-wondered if I'd awakened something in her. She was never this enthusiastic before about 'people who were dead long before either of us were born' – her words, not mine.

It didn't take long for us to arrive at the library. Just like Yang said, she knew right where Weiss was – in this case, she sat alone at one of the round tables, a singular textbook sprawled out in front of her while her left hand wrote in a notebook off to the side. With zero preamble, Yang plopped down across from her. "Hey!"

Weiss jerked back, pen leaving a long blue streak on the notebook (and a bit of the table). "Ugh, really? Would it kill you to not scare people like that?"

"She did the same thing to me, so apparently it would," I said, taking the seat to her right.

"Oh, lovely." She rolled her eyes, jotting down the page number in her notes before closing the textbook. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of company with the blonde buffoon and her fe-" she pursed her lips. "I choose not to finish that sentence, what do you want?"

"We want you to teach us about history!" Yang said. "We were kinda thinking… World War Two?"

Suddenly, Weiss's expression darkened. In a flash, she'd gone from mild annoyance to outright hostility. "And why would you ask me specifically?"

"Uhh, cause you're smart? Plus I really don't know this stuff? And, well, it kinda caused an argument… so…"

"So this isn't about my heritage?"

"I mean, your name kinda sounds German?"

"Not what I was talking about," she waved her off. "Do you… follow the rumors surrounding the Family?"

She blinked. "The Schnees? Eh, not really, I'm more interested in the trucks they used to make than what you guys're up to."

She let out a sigh. "So you don't know our history, then?"

My own eyes narrowed. "Is there something to know, Weiss?"

"Not in the way you're likely thinking," she said. "My Great Grandfather was half-Jewish."

"Say what?!" Yang shouted.

"Keep your voice down, you brute, we're in a library," she said. "But yes, he was. And he loved his country, just like we love ours. He loved it so much, in fact, that only a day after his seventeenth birthday, he lied about his age and signed up for the army. In the year nineteen-sixteen."

"Wait, he was Jewish and a Nazi?"

"You will NOT call him as such again," Weiss growled. I only had the vaguest idea of what was going on – both groups sounded familiar, but I hadn't done enough research to know what they were definitively. "That party was not even founded until nineteen-twenty. He served in the first World War, not the second. Where I'm going with all this… is that my family have history with that specific time period. The Schnees are fortunate enough that Otto left Europe before those monsters came to power. Six million of my people were not. Still, some of the tabloids conveniently forget his mother's religion and our heritage." Taking a deep breath, she continued. "If you want to know what those animals did, then I'll tell-"

"They're not animals!" I shouted, the words reflexively slipping out. The moment they did, I realized what happened and covered my mouth.

Instantly, her fists clenched. She opened her mouth, eyes filled with pure rage, and pointed directly at my face. Even after a moment, though, no words came; no shouts, no vitriol. Her pointed finger curled back up into a fist as she retracted it. "They certainly aren't fucking people," she said, packing up her things, arms shaking. As she stood up, she looked me in the eye. "You will not speak to me again until you have educated yourself, Belladonna. The librarian will be more than happy to show you everything you could possibly need about those bastards."

Before I could blink, she was gone. She hadn't run out of the library, but she certainly didn't walk either.

I… looked to Yang, who stared after her fleeing form. The only thought in my head was just how badly I'd fucked up. A single reflex borne from so many years of hearing that word… now it had driven off one of the few friends I'd made in this world. Was there any way to make it right? Make her understand I didn't mean it?

I started to stand up, but felt a hand grab my arm. Looking at its source, I saw Yang, shaking her head. "She needs space," she said. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…"

In the end, there really wasn't anything to do but agree with her.

/-\ Ruby Xiao Long /-\

Today was quiet.

I didn't much care for the quiet anymore; any time I had to think was time that my mind could dredge things up. So I busied myself. I watched movies, played Minecraft, and just generally tried to keep my mind occupied.. I had mixed success. Sometimes my mind would start to wander. When that happened, I'd switch activities, bouncing all over the place just to try and keep my mind from spiraling.

As the hours wore on, I noticed Yang wasn't really anywhere to be seen either; at least, she hadn't stopped by the room for a good while. I still wasn't used to her new look. While it was cute, I honestly couldn't say I agreed with her decision. She'd changed her entire genome just to get better hearing, nightvision, and those ears. She'd changed her very being just to fight that little bit better. Sure, I knew Vahlen went over every possibility with her, but XCOM still had a vested interest in making better soldiers. Even though they said safety was their top priority… well, I knew they did sketchy stuff for the greater good; just look at what happened to Mom.

My mind started going down different avenues of existential horror after that thought. What if my sister was slowly being overridden by something they'd hidden in the mods? What if something unexpected happened, like her bones started to liquefy and she just turned into a giant blob of genetically unstable meat? What if- what if she was being controlled by XCOM and she was just acting mostly like her normal self to lull us into a false sense of security? What if this mind control amplified her aggression and she decided to take revenge for what I did to Jaune?

"Ruby?"

All in the sudden, the horrors dropped away. I took a shuddering breath, tearing my eyes away from the death screen which certainly hadn't been there a minute ago. I looked behind me and saw Mom just standing there in her coveralls, just having entered our room.

"Ruby, can you hear me?"

Silently, I nodded. The motion was jerky and my hands shook as I fiddled with the hem of my shirt.

Mom slowly approached, kneeling down to be eye level with me as I sat. "Ruby, just… focus on breathing, okay? C'mon, in… and out. In… and out." I did as she asked, breathing in and out. Gradually, the thumping in my chest slowed and the shaking came under control. "Goooooood. That's it. Come back to us, Ruby."

"Mommy!" I squeaked, lunging forward into her embrace.

She caught me with a grunt, but quickly adapted and enveloped me in her warm arms. "I'm here, sweetie. I'm here."

I don't really know how long we stayed like that, her gently holding me while I helplessly sobbed into her shoulder. I didn't let go even after I'd stopped crying. I just clung to her, letting my mother rock me back and forth. For the first time in almost a week, my head became pleasantly empty. I was here in the now, nowhere else. Still, there was a vague awareness of the events that lead here. They seemed distant, now; only tangentially important. But still…

"I hate this," I muttered.

Mom shifted slightly. "We can move if you want."

I nestled in closer. "No, I- I mean… this is nice. I just-" I groaned. "I hate what made this necessary. Getting trapped in my head. And I've been having good days, too; I- I just-"

"And I hate seeing you like that," she interrupted. "I know I've said it before, Ruby, but… I really am sorry I left. I love you; I want you to know that."

"I love you too," I whispered. Again, we lapsed into silence, simply embracing for a while. Eventually, I did pull back; things were starting to go numb or even sore from the awkward positioning. I crawled back to the table, pulling myself up onto the chair and hugging my knees to my chest.

Mom stood up and walked over to the opposite side of the table like a normal Human being, a pair of waters in hand. She slid one over to me before taking a swig from hers. After setting it back down, however, she looked at me with a sad gaze. "I think you should go to therapy, Ruby," she said. "This isn't really getting better on its own. I can set you up with one of the base's people, but I'm not going to force you to. You have to be ready."

I thought over her suggestion for a long time, not really responding verbally in the meantime. After it became clear I was thinking about it, she went off to do other things in the room – mainly on one of the two computers. I sipped at my drink, draining the thing entirely before I was done turning over the idea in my head. As I did so, the thoughts started to wander again. In that moment, I made my decision.

"I want to be better," I said, standing up.

In a flash, Mom was right in front of me again with a gentle smile. "I'm proud of you," she said, whipping out her phone. She tapped away at it for a few moments before locking it again. It wasn't even back in her pocket when it buzzed; quickly glancing at the screen, she nodded. "You're all set up. Tomorrow at one o'clock, Doctor Stevens's office."

"I don't know where that is," I said.

"I'll walk you there after lunch," she said. "You made the right choice. Things will get better, Ruby, I promise."

I nearly broke down crying again right there. For all that had happened, I believed her. I truly did.

/-\ Weiss Schnee /-\

In the two weeks since my decision to join XCOM's ground forces, I've almost come to regret it.

Almost.

Even the easier exercises were pushing me to my limit – past it on the first day, actually. Some days, I'd be put through my paces by Sergeant Ozga herself – those were the hard days – but others, I was allowed to join for parts of Yang and Blake's routine. Oftentimes, after I'd been thoroughly worn out, all three of us would head to the office for instruction.

At least, that had been the status quo until yesterday.

Even come morning, those three simple words made me so angry. The rational part of my brain knew that she had no idea what she was talking about; that she'd clearly realized she did something wrong the second the words slipped out. But that doesn't change the fact that I'd heard such words before from much worse people. It took all of my strength not to lash out in the moment.

But that was yesterday. Today, I wanted to hit something – or shoot something. Fortunately, my schedule said that was what today was for. I headed down to the Security Armory – kept completely separate from the Strike Team Armory by the hangar – to get my gear. I'd be running around in full kit today, doing training on the initiation course. I wouldn't be actually doing initiation, as just about everyone agreed that I was not ready yet, but I still needed to get a feel for the gear I'd be working in for a solid month yet.

On the way, I paused at one of the many coffee nooks. There was a warm cup of joe just sitting there with a note.

Pvt. Schnee,

If you can Lift this, you can have it

-Sgt. Durand

My first thought was to just take the damn thing and drink it, but knowing my Psionics tutor, she was watching me right now. The next thought was that I wouldn't have time, but Durand would have also told Ozga what she was up to. So, with a tired sigh, I approached, held out my hand, and concentrated.

I focused on my hand and for the longest time, nothing happened. After seemingly gesturing at the coffee cup forever, though, the air around my hand took on a purple hue. I focused on that feeling and made a small tendril reach out to the coffee cup. Ever so slowly, the purple air became more and more colored until it had the opacity of stained glass. It was still quite see-through, but it was something.

However, by the time it reached the coffee, my head had begun to ache. An attempt at lifting the liquid gold only caused the pain to spike. I gasped, the field dissipating completely. With a grunt of frustration, I repeated the process, only to be met with the same stab of pain. This time, I didn't completely drop the field, but it still weakened significantly. I dialed up the power, the headache increasing just as quickly.

But I didn't let it get in the way. I will get this coffee, goddamnit! And so, a minute later, I snatched it out of the air with my free hand, letting the field collapse. I'd only managed to raise it an inch or so off the counter, but I'd Lifted the coffee. It counted.

The warm liquid reached my lips as I was walking away, and it tasted so good. I jerked my head away in satisfied disgust. It was black; tart enough to kick even comatose patients awake. Just the way I liked it. The drink was gone by the time I reached the armory and I threw the styrofoam cup into the trash with nary a second thought.

It was time to start the day; I just hoped Ozga wouldn't be too angry I was late. Nodding to the quartermaster as he went about his duties, I opened my locker and began donning my armor over my fatigues. I'd gotten my vest, boots, and one of my braces on when the base suddenly shook beneath my feet. The power even flickered once! I looked to the quartermaster, who seemed just as confused as I was.

The base shook again and several muffled explosions thrummed through the metal corridors. "This is Central!" The intercom blared. "Security status RED! Repeat, sec-" A loud metal clank cut him off, but his message was clear.

Sergeant Ozga burst into the armory along with several others, only one of them fully kitted up. She immediately looked at me. "Schnee! Good, you're here. Go with Corporal Parks and Private Sanchez, Engineering needs back-up now!"

It took only a moment of hesitation before I nodded, but that moment was enough to see one of the unarmored officers raise his pistol to the Sergeant's head. Without thinking, I dove at him, knocking the gun off-aim just enough to save her life. It was all the time she needed, swiftly pinning the man with her legs and single arm as he thrashed on the ground. "Go! Go! We've got this!"

Others were already scrambling to gear-up as the three of us sprinted towards the stairs, rifles in our hands. As my boots pounded into the concrete over and over again, I couldn't help but mentally chuckle.

You wanted to shoot something, Weiss. Be careful what you wish for.

(A/N) And here. We. Go! There's a couple more chapters in Act Two, both of them being the Base Defense mission. Also, fun fact: this chapter used to not exist; it was around the time I was writing Chapter 22 that I was sitting in a Discord call with a couple friends and one of us had the idea of her ancestry, so Weiss's scene in this chapter was sliced off of last chapter and Blake's scene was added on. In the process, I also found a way to expound upon Ruby's condition, so all in all, it was a good one. At least I think so. Even if it's a short chapter.

Anyways, that's about it for this week; tune in next time for some good ole not-so-diplomatic solutions to problems!