What's this? A chapter released within a reasonable timeframe of around a month and a half? That's what I like to see.
Oh, and I found Ilia. Turns out she was lost in the transition back when I had to evacuate my flooded apartment, silly Ilia.
Ilia: "You shoved me into a box and forgot me in storage."
Silly Ilia.
Ilia: sigh… "I hate you. Let's just get on with the reviews. First there's vastoisshin, who is happy to see the story is back, but sad that I'm not here."
Well, she is now. I hope that makes vastoisshin happy.
Ilia: "Unfortunately, I still have to deal with you, yes."
I certainly hope I won't have another writer block anytime soon. I'll never finish this story if I take 6 months for each chapter…
Ilia: "Then there is Singular Ash, who criticized the previous chapter and expressed disappointment that nobody tried to rip the soul fragment out of Augur's chest to finish him off for good, and that it feels like Gemini and Ozpin were dumbed down for the plot."
I'll be honest, when I first read that review, it threw me off. I didn't even think of making them try to rip the soul fragment off, most likely because I've been treating of the soul fragment as a, well… soul, and the only instance we have of ripping someone's soul of their body is the aura extracting machine Ozpin and his circle had under Beacon in canon.
The soul fragments aren't physical objects. Yes, Gemini, Ozpin, and Salem can touch them, but that's due to their unique situation and the fragments not being anchored to anything. Which isn't the case with Augur and Sibyl because Salem anchored these to the Shrine of Darkness. There is no ending Augur by ripping the soul fragment out of him unless the Shrine of Darkness itself and every other pool of Grimm tar are wiped off Remnant.
That being said, Ozpin doesn't know that, so I suppose you have a point that he should have tried it. Except for the fact he has no idea that killing Augur once doesn't end him for good, and no idea that the soul fragment would have disappeared along with his body either.
This is all stuff I was trying to find a place in the story for the good guys to discover it and thus having it explained to the readers, because having Salem monologue unprompted about it would have made for poor writing, but apparently not having the finer details of how Augur's immortality works is causing misunderstandings to my readers because they make assumptions on how it works that are to me completely unintuitive. Although that also means that the rules I made for how it works aren't intuitive to them either…
So yeah, maybe you had a point in your criticism, Singular Ash. There's one point I sternly disagree with however and it's when you say it feels like Gemini and Ozpin were dumbed down for the plot. Even if it was possible to rip the soul fragment out of Augur's chest with their bare hands (which it isn't), all that would have happened is that the soul fragment would have still dissipated along with Augur's body and he would have respawn at the Shrine of Darkness with the soul fragment still in his chest, because the bond linking Augur and the soul fragment is a metaphysical one. Physically separating it from him does nothing. So you can continue to hold the opinion that Ozpin should have tried it if you want, but the plot would have remained completely unchanged regardless.
I hope that clears things up.
Ilia, next review.
Ilia: "The last review is from Yog-sothsoth, who left quite a large, critical praise of the fic, including both what he finds great, and what he finds bad about it."
Yes, and I was quite happy to read it, so thank you for your review Yog. You're the second reviewer to compare me to Coeur, and that's not the kind of praise I ever expected to hear in the first place.
I'm happy to hear you enjoyed my fic more on the second read, and that you find that I handled so many aspects of writing well. As for making the trashy tropes good, I think I've mentioned it before, but since it's my first time writing a story, I'm pretty much using it as training to learn how to make a story, and taking the 'junk foods' of fanfiction tropes and trying my best to write something good with them is a sort of self-imposed challenge. Basically I'm experimenting with things I probably wouldn't have dared doing otherwise.
I'm also not unaware of the flaws you pointed out either. The more I gain experience as a writer, the more there are scenes I cringe back on. I've been tempted to rewrite some of the chapters I've written, especially in the early chapters, but if I start doing that then I'll never finish the fic, so I've decided to just press through and continue in spite of the writing mistakes made along the way.
… Did I really write "enemy" with two "n" though. If so damn, that's embarrassing.
Anyway, I hope you'll continue to enjoy the fic.
Disclaimer: RWBY is the legal property of Roo- what now? Not anymore? Uh… RWBY is the legal property of VIZ Media. Yu-Gi-Oh is the legal property of Shueisha
Robyn, Fiona, Joana and I were in the waiting room of a SDC private medical facility in Vale, holding our breath - metaphorically speaking - as we waited for news on Marigold's condition.
The door of the surgery room eventually opened, after several long hours, and they all perked up to attention as the surgeon walked out, holding a notepad..
"How is she?" Robyn immediately asked in a bated breath.
"The patient suffered from heavy damage to the lower part of her spine. Frankly, she's lucky to not have died from whatever hurt her." The doctor said calmly. "The good news is that the surgery went as well as it could have, and despite having a 50% of leaving her legs paralyzed, she will be able to walk and run again after a period of convalescence and reeducation. Although the jury is still out on whether she'll be able to fight again."
Sighs of relief accompanied the doctor's news. Then he handed the notepad to Robyn, who gave it a confused look.
"What is- Oh right. The cost." She said, realizing that yeah, this wasn't a public hospital, so the service wasn't paid by taxes. She winced at the number on the bill.
Yeah, I brought Marigold here because while public healthcare on Remnant was far from bad, the rich still had the means to buy cutting edge medical tech. Sure, public hospitals didn't have the overly clogged waiting lines problems Canada had, and the quality of the services were actually pretty good, only a little bit below what the SDC had. So the demand for private medical services was small, limited only to those who had enough money to not care about how much a slightly better quality cost, but that demand still existed.
Honestly, it wasn't a surprise that Remnant's public healthcare was about as good as public healthcare could be. Again it was the Grimm serving as an evolutionary pressure of sorts. A nation whose healthcare let people die from blood loss in the waiting lines, recommended euthanasia who wanted actual help, severely underpaid doctors and staff, or excluded people of the service depending on race simply would be a nation with a deeply frustrated population, and a nation with a deeply frustrated population was a nation that didn't survived the Grimm.
As it was, the public hospitals could have dealt with Marigold's surgery, but the odds of her being fine was just a bit higher - roughly 60% to 55% - with the best the SDC could provide than she would have been with the tax paid hospitals. Plus, if she did lose use of her legs anyway, the cybernetic technologies were also a cut above what was available to the public. It seemed those wouldn't be needed, though.
"Just charge the bill to my account. I'll pay." I said.
At my word, Fiona jumped into my arms and hugged tight. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" The sheep girl said.
"Hey now, May got hurt helping me with my fight. It's only fair that I pay for the resulting medical expense." I say. The unexpected hug left me somewhat awkward.
"Eh." Robyn chuckled, before ruffling my hair. "Sometimes I'm not sure what to think of you, kid, but I guess you're alright."
I recoiled from the touch, and pushed her hand away. "Hey now, watch it." I pouted, struggling to put my hair back how it was.
"So, what now? The enemy's not going to stay idle, but we have our own plans, don't we?" Joanna asked.
"It's fine. We just had a big fight, so you can take the next couple of days to rest." I shrug. "The next few things I gotta do are things I can do alone anyway. Business stuff."
Robyn nodded, before asking in a concerned tone. "And the Lamp? You told us this thing attracts Grimm, right? What are we going to do with it?"
"Nah, don't worry." I say, waving her concern away. "Whatever causes Grimm to be attracted to the relics, there's a range limit. It's only if we travel in the wilds with it that it'll be a problem, in the middle of Vale we're in the clear."
After all, even in canon, Argus didn't get any Grimm problems from the relic, and they only came when the population at large got scared. If nothing else, I reckon that the background negativity of Vale would serve as noise interference. Either way, Vale was already a Grimm magnet due to how many people lived in it, and had the defense to deal with them.
Couldn't have a safer place to keep a relic. Well, other than the vaults themselves.
"Anyway, I'm off to give this to the research lab." I said. "We'll see if the SDC can't learn anything about this magic mcguffin that could be of use." I added, after noticing the quizzical stares my decision elicited.
"... Well damn, now I'm curious what they might find out about it." Robyn muttered.
"Not sure how I feel about the SDC getting to study a magical relic from literal gods." Fiona said with a concerned frown.
"Meh, Jacques won't care outside of how it can make money for him." I grinned. "On this, I will be going. We'll talk again soon."
"Alright then." Robyn sighed, before giving me a small smile. "At the very least, I'm curious to see what you'll come up with next." She told me as I walked out of the room.
Well, now I just had to not disappoint.
/-/
"I see. Well, I'm glad to hear they will be fine." Ozpin breathed a sigh of relief as the school's nurse announced that all eight of the students would be fine. Including Miss Valkyrie, even though she would face a short period of convalescence. 2 weeks, to which the girl was already complaining about, but that was much shorter than the couple of months someone without aura would need. "Now, I apologize for asking you to leave the infirmary, but I need to speak to the students in private."
After Beacon's nurse left, Ozpin turned to his new students. "Before we start, I must warn you that, as much as you are owed some answers after the danger you've faced, pretty much all of these answers are highly confidential matters. I cannot tell you everything, and what I will tell you must not, under any circumstances, be spoken off where others may hear you. I hope I am properly understood?"
Jaune gulped at his words, intimidated by the weight of the implications. Despite his nervousness, he raised a hand, earning a chuckle from the headmaster.
"This isn't a classroom lecture, Mister Arc. You don't need to raise your hand."
"Ah, sorry." Jaune said, lowering his hand. "So, uh, I thought the Grimm were mindless monsters? Since when are they people?"
"Since never. Make no mistake, Mister Arc, that Grimm you fought may have had the appearance and intellect of a human, but it remained a monster, not a person. It was mere mimicry, aimed at sowing doubts and confusion to better kill people." Ozpin answered. "But to answer the rest of your question, we aren't sure of the 'when', and only have conjectures. We believe it to be a recent phenomenon, and thankfully, there appear to only be two of them, and one died today."
"Isn't it a bit naive to not expect more than that to exist?" Adam said gruffly.
"It would be, except that these Grimm are not a natural occurrence." Ozpin said, and the students gave him a confused look. "You've no doubt noticed the glowing crystal in the Grimm's chest, haven't you? This is some sort of artificial soul, or aura. As risky as it is, there are quite a few people who study the Grimm and run experiments on them, and not all are overseen by one of the kingdoms. That crystal seems to have been used as a base for the Grimm you fought, but these themselves exist in very limited numbers, most of which are already accounted for and safeguarded, so we're not going to see any more human Grimm than the two that are already known quantities, and one of them is already dealt with."
"... Meaning there's still one of those monsters out there." Ren said grimly.
"Yes, rest assured, you won't have to face the other." Ozpin said with a reassuring smile. "It cannot reach you within Beacon's walls, and the initiation was likely the only opening they had against you. You can trust us adults to keep you safe while you focus on your training. By the time you graduate, either it will have been eliminated, or you will be more than able to handle it yourselves."
Or at least, he hoped so. At the minimum he knew Salem didn't have any other aura fragments to create more of her newest abominations, and since the one from the Grimm who attacked his students has dissipated along with its body, the only one who should remain was the female one.
The same Grimm girl who stole the Winter Maiden's powers and was now a Grimm Maiden… Yes, that… would be a problem. A problem he wasn't sure how to fix, but hoped it would be by a fight his students would be nowhere near.
"But who would create Grimm like that? What do they have to gain from creating monsters that would surely kill them too?" Pyrrha asked. The Mistrali champion looked perturbed by the notion. The kind of perturbed someone good had when unable to understand evil's motives.
"It is as of yet unknown, but I can assure you I have been working with my colleagues to investigate the matter." Ozpin answered curtly.
"Meaning for now, you're just as much in the dark as us." Adam scoffed.
There was a pregnant silence after Adam's words, before Weiss spoke up.
"Professor? There's something else that bothers me." She said. "The Grimm we fought, he… he looked like Gemini, and had the same voice as well. Was… was that him?"
Ah, that's right. Ozpin knew from Qrow that Weiss and Gemini's betrothal was something Jacques had forced on them, and that the two didn't actually get along. Even so, it made sense that the Schnee girl would be concerned by a connection between Gemini and human Grimm running around. Sadly, he couldn't fully assuage her worries.
"It wasn't Gemini himself, as the two have had their location confirmed at the same time by the Atlesian military, but the exact nature of the link between them is as of yet unclear. In short, Gemini has an alibi." Ozpin said, and saw that his words confused them. "It's obvious to both General Ironwood and myself that it's no coincidence the human Grimm looks like Gemini, but there's too much unknown about the situation. The good news is that the General has decided to send a squad of his best Specialists to investigate Gemini and the remaining human Grimm, and provide further security for the school." Well, okay, reinforcing Beacon's security wasn't part of what James and he discussed, but he was going to inform the General of the changes of plan after he was done with the students. Considering the dramatic attack Beacon just suffered, he doubted James would have an issue with it.
Adam frowned, not liking that piece of news at all. He knew that he'd been pardoned when he 'left' the White Fang, so technically he didn't risk anything, but still… Being around Atlesian Specialists sounded like a nightmare.
The gears were working in Yang's head, and after a bit, she spoke up. "Something sounds way off about this. You said the human Grimm were made from a what, an artificial aura? And they have some kind of relation to Gemini? What's that supposed to mean, that they were created from fake copies of his soul or something?" How the fuck did something like that even happened!?
"I have questions about that, too. Like, what does it mean for a soul to be 'artificial'?" Jaune asked.
"Ah, yes. I suppose that description sounds quite esoteric. My apologies." Ozpin said. He took a moment to think before answering. "I'm quite well familiar with aura, and studying the aura crystals that I acquired and kept under my watch, I noticed… discrepancies, so to speak. Language doesn't really have words to describe the inner workings of the soul, so it's rather difficult to put it in a manner that can be understood, but to be as simple as possible; they… they are too efficient? To use an analogy, it's like comparing a well maintained garden to a wild plot of land. My soul, and yours, and everyone else's, they are… messy, with a certain randomness to their structure. Meanwhile, these aura fragments… It's like they were designed, curated. The usual messiness of a soul's structure is absent, and it is much more robust and efficient than anything I've seen before."
Well, anything except perhaps the spirits of the four relics, but these were beings specifically created by the gods rather than naturally born, hence him calling the aura of these fragments 'artificial'.
"And in practice, that means…?" Yang asked, struggling to wrap her head around such a mystical field of discussion. Her experience with souls amounted to making people take more punches before going down.
"In practical terms, the aura output of Gemini's soul is much higher than a normal person. Each of the fragments, even split from him, hold an aura as large as the average person's full soul, and all the fragments together… According to intel, there are a total of 10 of them, but how much of Gemini's total soul they make up is unknown." Ozpin explained.
Yang nodded. That made sense, after all, Ruby and her both had higher than average aura, yet Gemini's was over three times theirs. At least, by estimating how much damage he could take before his aura went down, compared to what she could. Aura couldn't be quantified in numbers, so such estimations were the best they could have.
… Or were they? Gemini did have a semblance that imitated a video game, including a character sheet with stats and stuff. Yang was pretty sure that included how much aura he had. In numbers.
Come to think of it, that'd be real good intel to have about him right now. A shame he had only shared his stats with Ruby.
Yang ignored the voice inside her asking why had Gemini trusted her little sister to the point of sharing such private information about himself, if she was only a target for him to kill? Whatever discrepancies there may be, the fact remained that she saw him cut Ruby's head off. That was the only thing that mattered.
''Thankfully,'' Ozpin continued, ''Grimm simply cannot be armored with the power of the soul, as that is antithetical to their very nature. These human Grimm, although created by combining both dichotomic essences, are unable to make full use of the soul grafted unto them.''
''In other words, they're sorta glass canons?'' Jaune asked. ''Or maybe not… Even without aura, it could take some hits."
"Yes, well, on the bright side, the Atlesian army had a previous encounter with both human Grimm, and the one remaining caused far less casualties than the one you fought, so it's safe to say the one who is dead was the most dangerous of the duo. And like I said earlier, you students only need to focus on your training. We, the adults, will deal with the creature."
"If we 'only need to focus on our training', then does that mean…"
Ozpin nodded at Adam's words. "Indeed. While initiation was interrupted before its conclusion, I've decided that surviving a foe as dangerous as the Grimm you faced is more than enough to prove you all are qualified to enter Beacon Academy."
The kids let out a sigh of relief, although their enthusiasm was lacking due to the initiation's death toll.
Then, before Ozpin could continue, the door of the infirmary opened and Tai barreled into the room, his eyes looking around frantically until they landed on his daughter. With haste, he moved closer and wrapped her up in his arms.
"Yang! I came as soon as I heard about the attack." Tai said, relieved to see her alive and safe.
''Ugh, dad…'' Yang groaned in embarrassment, before changing attitude and returning the hug. ''I'm okay, dad. I'm okay. I got a bit roughed up, but I'm fine now.''
Tai let go of her, his relief plain to see. "Good, good… I love you, my sunny little dragon." He breathed out, before letting go of her.
Yang's cheeks flushed red. "D-dad, not in front of people! I didn't survive that Gemini Grimm clone to die from embarrassment."
At her words, Tai frowned, and gave Ozpin a quizzical look.
"I'll debrief you in my office. Right now, I was about to announce the teams." Ozpin told him, before turning to the students. "Normally, this would be done in Beacon's amphitheater, but given the circumstances, I'm afraid it may be better to keep things a little more private."
"I doubt anyone is in the mood for a ceremony." Adam scoffed, and was followed by everyone else nodding.
"Yeah, I think we're all fine with keeping things simple." Jaune said.
"Good. In that case; Jaune Arc, Yang Xiao-Long, Weiss Schnee, Adam Taurus. The four of you will make Team JASY, led by Jaune Arc." Ozpin announced, and watched confusion, and shock for Adam and Weiss, spread over their faces.
"Wait, WHAT!?" Adam shouted in shock, his only visible eye widening in horror.
"Err, what's going on? I thought our partner was the first one we made eye contact with?" A very confused Emerald asked.
Ozpin took his tablet and played the footage from initiation, showing the screen to the students as Adam and Weiss met in the woods… before Adam came across Emerald. "You tell me, which of you is Miss Schnee's partner? I do believe I was clear on the rules of initiation. Or did you really believe these rules could be nullified simply by pretending they don't exist." He asked them.
"So Pyrrha isn't my partner then…" Weiss looked down, disappointed.
Pyrrha, on her end, was glad the Schnee heiress wouldn't be her partner. The girl was obviously only interested in her for what benefits she could get from having the 'Invincible Girl' as her partner. It did however leave her wondering who her partner was.
"You can't seriously expect me to work, to get along with a Schnee!" Adam pressed his point on Ozpin, his voice growing desperate. And bitter. "You have to know why I can't trust someone like her."
"Excuse me!? How dare-" Weiss' protests were interrupted by a loud sound resonating through the room, as the headmaster slammed his cane on the floor, and the students flinched.
"Enough." Ozpin spoke calmly. "As huntsmen and huntresses, you will not always have the luxury of trusting your life to someone you like. You will have to work and fight alongside people regardless of your opinion of them, unless you wish to see yourselves, or the people you are protecting, ripped apart by Grimm. Mr. Taurus, I know full well the incident from your childhood-"
He did? Adam raised an eyebrow at that. When he said that Ozpin had to know about why he shouldn't be the Schnee's partner, he was talking about his past with the White Fang, not his scar. How did he even know about that?
How much did this man know? Wary, Adam listened as Ozpin continued.
"- but you will have to see for yourself whether Miss Schnee fits the image you have of her. As for you, Miss Schnee, you too will have to get to know Mr. Taurus on a personal level, and not let the bad blood between the SDC and the White Fang determine your relationship with someone else."
"That's- How ridiculous! Just because he's a Faunus doesn't mean I'll associate him with terrorists! It's not like he's some criminal." Weiss protested, feeling insulted by the implications. She missed Adam awkwardly looking away.
"Excellent. Then your partnership is starting on the right foot." Ozpin said with a smug smile.
"Define 'right foot'." Adam thought to himself. Like, seriously, how low was he putting that bar?
''Beyond huntsman work, learning to cohabitate with people despite your differences and hang ups is simply part of life. Beacon and its staff are there to help you become the best person and huntsmen you can be, not to coddle you and curate your life for you.'' Ozpin ended with a stern tone.
As Adam and Weiss weren't sure they found his words convincing, but struggled to think of something to say to that, Jaune stepped up.
"Well, I guess we should just… Take things one day at a time?" He said, hoping to placate his newly acquired teammates. There had to be a way for them to get along, but for now they had to keep things relatively calm.
The two begrudgingly nodded, and with their protests rebuked, Ozpin continued with the announcements.
"Now that Team JASY is officially formed, and Miss Weiss and Mr. Taurus form a partner pair, the two students who didn't actually meet a partner during initiation are Miss Sustrai and Miss Nikos. You two will be partners, and with Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, will make Team PERV, lead by… Pyrrha Nikos."
Pyrrha's face deflated for a moment as she heard herself be declared team leader, but she hid it immediately to show a practiced smile. "Thank you, headmaster. I'll do my best to prove worthy of your trust." She said, keeping her voice even to not show her displeasure.
"Hmm." Ozpin saw through her, but expected as much. It would be up to her to get over her hang ups so that she can fulfill her new responsibilities, as the Grimm didn't care about people's fame. Or that said fame was liked or disliked by the person in question.
"Well, nice to be your partner. I'm Emerald." Emerald, with an equally false smile, offered a handshake to Pyrrha, who politely took it. "You seem more friendly than the other redhead here, so I'm looking forward to our partnership."
"And I'm Nora!" The ginger girl suddenly spoke up from her bed. "Once I'm out of here, we're gonna make Team Perv a legend. Eh eh eh."
Ren facepalmed, while Pyrrha's face matched her hair.
"No. We aren't calling ourselves that." Emerald deadpanned. "That's not even how Ozpin called it. It's Team 'Peru'. The V is just a substitute for the U."
"So? Still not how it's written." Nora grinned.
Pyrrha was mortified at how their team's name could be read, and wished Nora hadn't pointed it out. She hoped this wouldn't become the name they were known for. She could die from embarrassment if she was ever called that in public.
…Even if it was kind of funny.
"Well, I'll leave you kids to your team. You are free to go to your assigned dorms anytime." Ozpin said.
"Heck yeah, our own room!" Nora pumped her fist up, before hopping out of bed. "Let's go, my fellow pervs."
"Not you, Miss Valkyrie. You must wait until the nurse gives you permission to discharge before you can leave." Ozpin reminded her.
"Aww…" Pouting, Nora sat back on the bed.
Ren put a hand on her shoulder, and gave her a small smile. "Don't worry. I'll stay with you for a bit before going to the dorm." In fact, he'd stay with her until she was allowed to leave, if it wasn't for the fact that it would take several days making that infeasible. "And after I leave, I'll make sure to place your things in the dorm as well."
"Thanks Renny, you're the best friend a girl could have." Nora said with a smile so bright, it hurt Emerald's eyes.
"I'll stay too. Our dorm can wait for a couple of hours, so let's get to know each other." Pyrrha said, choosing to keep Nora and Ren company.
"After the day we had, I'm just feeling like going to bed and sleep…" Emerald grumbled. When Pyrrha and Ren gave her a pointed look, and Nora puppy eyes, the street thief raised her hands up. "Alright, fine. I'll stay too." She said.
"Yay! See? We pervs are already tight. Best team of Beacon!" Nora exclaimed happily.
"… Nevermind. I'm leaving." Emerald said with a roll of her eyes. What was wrong with that girl?
Holding a chuckle at the youths' interaction, Ozpin stepped out of the infirmary, making a sign for Tai to follow him as he walked toward his office.
/-/
"I can't believe this!" Ironwood said, seething with anger as his hologram stood over Ozpin's desk. "First Atlas, and now an attack on Beacon!? And by a single one of them? A good thing that child Grimm paid for his brazenness."
Ozpin nodded. "Yes. I saw him die myself, and both his body and the aura fragment embedded in his chest dissipated like any Grimm does upon death. It looks like this one won't trouble us anymore."
"Good." Ironwood grunted.
"I imagine the council won't be too pleased with the damages." Tai said.
"Indeed. I'll have to speak to them later today about this." Ozpin sighed. "Only two teams managed to make it through. The rest are either dead, too injured to start Beacon this year, or traumatized out of the huntsman career path. A disaster without precedent for Beacon Academy. James, please tell me you bring me good news."
"I'm afraid not." The Atlesian General shook his head. "I've had Atlas' secret services investigate Lionheart. Since 8 years ago, Lionheart's handling of Haven shows a marked difference. He's been passing over the best options when hiring teachers, introducing gradual and subtle changes to his school' curriculum that were accompanied by a slow and consistent drop in performance, and the amount of Mistrali huntsmen going MIA or KIA per year has increased significantly."
Ozpin closed his eyes, taking in a breath as deep as his disappointment in Leonardo. He had hoped that his betrayal would only go as far as leaking information to Salem, in which case he would have pretended to not know about it while feeding false intel to the man.
But instead, the man spent the last few years actively sabotaging the students in his care and having them killed.
"So be it. Leo dug his own grave." Ozpin decided. "His treasonous actions cannot be tolerated. He must be taken out, although without knowledge of the truth behind this matter reaching the public. The duplicity of the only Faunus headmaster in all four kingdoms, if known, would cause an increase in racial tensions the world simply does not need."
"We could have him assassinated and frame the White Fang. Make it believed that they killed him because he refused to work with them." Ironwood proposed after a pause, albeit with a displeased frown in his face.
Tai made a face. "I know this is the kind of cloak and dagger stuff every government does and all that, but that does not mean I'm okay with being part of this. Guys, do me a favor and keep me out of it."
"I don't like it either." Ironwood said. "I'd much rather go to Haven and arrest that traitor myself, but Salem is a threat to our very species' survival, and every means are justified to fight her off."
"Ahem." Ozpin cleared his throat. "Thankfully, we don't need to dirty our hands this time, so let's calm down a bit."
"We don't? Then how are we dealing with this?" Ironwood asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's simple. Lionheart is useful to Salem mostly because our ignorance of his treason allowed him to act freely. The moment Salem learns that we now know, he'll be a liability in her eyes, and she'll get rid of him." Ozpin answered. "Like I said earlier, Leo dug his own grave."
"And if she doesn't kill him? What happens if she decides that she can keep using him to sabotage Haven even if we know about it as long as we do nothing about it?" Tai asked.
"Because we won't be doing nothing." Ozpin said with a small, dark smile. "After this meeting, I'll be calling Leo to tell him we know, and give him the ultimatum to surrender himself to Ironwood's custody, who'll be coming to arrest him, or be captured by force. Either Salem will kill him in response to the warning, or she will do so in response to Ironwood moving to arrest him because she will not tolerate us getting knowledge of her plans from the man."
"And if she doesn't, I can always capture him for real and see what we can learn from him. We'd have to come up with a narrative to give to the public, but the main issue would be taken care of and we'd still get something out of the fiasco." Ironwood mused. "Very well. I'll accept this plan of action."
Tai nodded in agreement. It seemed reasonable to him as well.
"Excellent. Now that we have this matter settled, Tai, if you could please give your report?" Ozpin asked.
The huntsman took a USB key from his pocket and put it on the desk. "I've gone around in Vale and asked various information brokers, both legal and… less legal. The details are in this, but to summarize; ever since Gemini came back to Vale, he's been spending every day and night in different places in the city. His money moved around a lot too. Not only did he increase his wealth by a massive amount after Slifer's appearance in Atlas, but he's been spending it on various things as well. A private island not far from Vale's coast, a manor in Vacuo and another one in Atlas, a large number of engineers specialized in robotics who've been working on some project of his on his island, 10 factories in Vale's Industrial District, all specialized in the production of combat androids, and warehouses."
"He's building an army." Ironwood said with his eyebrows creased.
"A small one, at any rate." Ozpin mused. What could Gemini possibly be planning with this? "Perhaps a force to attack Beacon with? A distraction while he goes after the Crown of Choice?"
"It might be. Do you want me to transfer some men over to Beacon?" Ironwood offered.
Ozpin chuckled, before answering. "I was actually planning to ask for the squad of Specialists you'll send to track down and capture Gemini to be doubling as security for the academy. I suppose I wouldn't mind a few more soldiers stationed at the CCT as well, just in case." He said, before thinking of a potential problem. "Just make sure to bring a small force, please. I do not want an entire flagship hanging above my school."
"Don't worry, Oz." Ironwood chuckled. "I know how to be reasonable. I'll only bring the appropriate forces."
Tai gave the hologram a look, an eyebrow raised. Reasonable? Was James serious here, or making a joke?
The huntsman had a feeling James had a different idea what 'appropriate forces' meant than they did.
"Well that's solved. What are you going to do about the council? I can't imagine they'll be pleased by the news." Tai asked Ozpin, who let out a long, exasperated sigh.
"No, they won't. I expect they'll put into question my ability to defend the school, hence why I asked James to lend a few men to help protect it while we deal with the upcoming threats. That should mollify them until we get rid of Salem's plans for Vale." Ozpin replied. He needed to protect not just the CCT and the relics, but his students as well, and he'll be damned if he let some self-serving politicians take away his authority to do so. "They will likely threaten Beacon's funding or my position as headmaster, but if I show proactivity in dealing with the problem, they won't act on it."
"I see, and what else?"
"... Considering this year has a very small batch of new students, and that some of these students are potential targets for future attacks, I was thinking of giving them extra lessons, to give them all the chances they can have." Ozpin said, surprising both of the other men.
"You mean, teaching them yourself?" Ironwood said. ''I suppose it makes sense to give them special training. They did see more of the war against Salem than any students since Team STRQ.''
''Speaking of Team STRQ, Oz…'' Tai hesitated to finish his query, fearing his intuition was right.
''I'm sorry, Tai.'' Ozpin shook his head, his mouth forming a grim line. ''The team I hired to search for Qrow reported just 3 days ago. They found his body in the countryside, along with clear traces of a fight.''
''… Damnit, Qrow.'' Tai breathed out. After so long, he was expecting as much, but it didn't hurt any less to have it confirmed. Qrow was his brother, and they've been sticking together for the last 22 years.
Tai felt drained, but it was out of the question he shut down like how he did when Summer died. If he did, then he'd have learned nothing from the mistake he made a decade ago.
He wasn't going to let Yang deal with all this on her own. Not again.
"Did they find anything more?" He forced himself to ask, despite part of him not wanting to know. He already knew no information Ozpin could give him would make him feel better.
"There were two other corpses found. One being Amber, the Fall Maiden, and the other a huntsman named Onyx." Ozpin said. "We don't know what this man was doing here, but since he was killed by a chainsaw, which is neither Qrow's nor Amber's weapon, it is believed he fought alongside them, rather than against."
"... Probably a normal huntsman who stumbled upon the fight and tried to help. Poor guy." Tai said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I suppose I'll go pay my respects to his tomb, to thank him for fighting alongside Qrow."
"He was originally from Vacuo, so his body was sent back to his hometown to be buried by his family. You can always pass by, next time you go near Vacuo." Ozpin said with a nod. "Apart from that, while the enemy appears to have cleaned up the area afterward, pieces of White Fang masks were found." He announced to the two men, and Ironwood's hologram immediately showed his displeasure.
"So Salem has allied with the White Fang, then?" The General said. "That makes things easier for us. My men are used to dealing with these terrorists. They only need to crackdown on the right hideout, and we'll be able to collect information on the enemy's plans."
"True. For the most part, the White Fang isn't made up of professional fighters. That Salem has proxy forces to use against us is bad news, but in turn it gives us the opportunity to act against her." Ozpin nodded in agreement with Ironwood.
"Plus, they might have intel of their own on Gemini, which we could use as well." Tai said. With the human Grimm being related to the kid, Salem likely knew more about him than they did.
"Then we're in agreement, and my Specialist squad will go after the White Fang first. Once we've interrogated their cell's leader, we'll see what they have on Salem and Gemini." Ironwood smiled, more than happy to have a clear plan of action.
Ozpin rose from his chair and walked to his office's window, leaning on his cane while looking over Vale's skyline. "... James, I'll have accommodations prepared for your Specialists. How many of them can I expect?"
"About six of them. I picked the best of the best for this mission." Ironwood said proudly.
"Glad to hear it." A pensive Ozpin said. "We must do everything we can to protect this world."
He already knew what Salem's goal was, but Gemini? What evil scheme did he have toward Remnant?
/-/
"What do you mean, 'we're not giving a raise to the card shop employees'?" I complained over my scroll.
I was walking in circles, in the SDC office I used today, as I spoke with the man on the other side of the line
"I mean exactly what I said. Their current minimum wage is perfectly fine, and I'm not handing them more money than necessary." Jacques answered, to my frustration.
"But paying employees more has a proven positive impact on how productive they are. It encourages them to be committed to the company, and results in company growth." I kept insisting, not understanding what problem Jacques had with making more money. "Not to mention that with how everyone is obsessed with Yu-Gi-Oh ever since the Slifer incident, most of the extra money we'd pay them would come back right to us anyway."
That was how Henry Ford had doubled his company's profits in less than two years by paying his employees double the wage they could find in other car companies. And economists and other big companies of the time thought Henry crazy for making that move, they said that it would be impossible for his company to stay profitable by giving his employees so much money, but the results spoke by themselves.
Heck, forget Earth. On Remnant, Jacques himself did the same thing and gave his employees a significant wage increase when he took over the SDC, and brought it back from its indebted state when everyone thought the company was doomed to certain bankruptcy. Only to stop doing that once the SDC became the wealthiest company on Remnant and stick to minimum wage, for some reason.
"That's really not the point…"
"More money in circulation is a good thing in general, too. A stronger economy is beneficial to everyone in the long run, and 'everyone' includes the SDC." I said, unwilling to let this go. "Take the Lien from my own private funds if you don't want to spend your own, I don't care."
A robust economy was a good thing for any merchant who wanted to stay in business long-term, and last I checked, Jacques wasn't intending to go bankrupt tomorrow, so what was his fucking problem with this?
"Enough!" Jacques cut me off as I was about to say more.
I heard the man take a deep breath, before he continued with a calmer tone.
"Your enthusiasm is commendable." He said diplomatically. "But there are some things you still have yet to learn. Notably that while your methods are great at growing a smaller business, they are practically useless for a large company in the SDC's position. Gaining more income makes little difference in widening the gulf between others and ourselves anymore, and due to diminishing returns on that front, is it better accomplished by maintaining the SDC's current wealth and keeping others down."
I stared at my scroll, flabbergasted as I suddenly realized I had read Jacques' character wrong all along.
"The SDC stands at the top, and to maintain and reinforce this position, the most efficient course of action is to take away resources others can use to potentially rise closer to the top. If we need to lose out of some more profits to accomplish that, then it is a small investment. My decision is final, we will not be giving raises to the employees. They will only earn enough to keep on living and working, so that they will never get the means to undermine the SDC." Jacques said, before ending the call.
I glared at my scroll, pissed off at this absolute jackass.
"I see that call didn't go like you wanted it to." Robyn smirked. She was listening to the conversation, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "Honestly, as much as I'd have liked for people to get higher wages, did you really think someone like Jacques would agree to that? He's infamous for his greed after all."
"That wasn't greed." I growled, earning a raised eyebrow from the woman. "Greed is simply wanting to have as much as possible. How much others have doesn't matter to the greedy; if acquiring more money for themselves means someone gains even more. This? Jacques just told us that he's happy to lose out of some cash if it means others lose more. He doesn't care about how much money he makes, he cares about how much more he has than others. That's not greed, that's pride." I finished, my jaw clenched.
Robyn uncrossed her arms, her eyes widening. "Wait, so you mean…"
"Jacques was never a greedy man. He portrays himself as one, as someone motivated by financial ambition, but his real priority is to flatter his ego by 'staying on top'. It's pride masquerading as greed."I resumed.
"Well damn… That's quite the insight into the man's character. One nobody else realized." Robyn said.
Nobody else? I wasn't quite so sure.
Didn't Weiss in the show say that all her father cared about was 'winning'? It was a more mature Weiss than the current one in this world, and I wasn't sure how deeply she had caught on to it, but she was at least consciously aware enough of the real problem with her father to name it in her own words.
"So, what does that mean for our little campaign against Salem?" The Atlesian woman asked.
"Nothing. This was just a work issue, sorry for making you wait while I was dealing with this. Our plans remain unchanged." I said.
"Great. And those plans are.."
"I've bought factories to build me some automated forces to secure the area around Dr Merlot's old headquarters. I don't know the location of his island, but hopefully there's something about it that'd still be in the abandoned computers."
"Wouldn't he have wiped them all clean before fleeing, though?" Robyn raised an eyebrow.
"Perhaps, perhaps not. But it's one of only two potential ways to find him, and since he had to evacuate in the emergency of Glenn's fall, there's no telling if he actually took measures to erase the data kept there, so it's worth checking out at least." I said, acknowledging the chance that I'd find nothing. "I'd rather avoid putting all my eggs in the same basket, though, and since we need to keep you and your Happy Huntresses out of Salem's notice and she'll be keeping a close eye on me, I'd like if you girls could search the coast north of Vale, on the other side of Forever Fall, or perhaps a bit higher in the North-East of it?"
"Uh?" Robyn cocked her head to the side. "I don't mind playing scout, especially since we can't do much else without ending up on Salem's radar, but what will we be looking for?"
"Dr Merlot has a hidden port through which he smuggles goods from Vale to his secret island. If we can find it, that's another thing which could lead us to him." I said.
"Hmm, Alright. That sounds like a pretty solid plan of action." Robyn nodded. "My girls and I will be dealing with the search of the coast, while you focus on Glenn."
"Yes, but… apart from that… I'd also like to try using your semblance to confirm to Ozpin that I'm not an enemy." I said, somewhat hesitantly. While there would be great benefits from succeeding…
"Not having to fight against the 'good guys' while we're trying to fight against the McBaddies would be pretty neat." Robyn snorted. "... But there are complications to that idea, isn't there? For one, we can't tell them over scroll, or go to Beacon directly. Salem might know thanks to that Watts guy. And if Salem knows you made peace with Ozpin…"
"If Salem learns of it, then she'll kill either my father or sister, while holding the other one's life over me." I finished.
I could feel a headache coming, and rubbed my eyes.
"And that could happen regardless of whether convincing Ozpin or not works. Are you sure you're willing to take that risk?" The woman asked me.
"Shit. Damnit. I don't know!" I said with a pained expression.
Let's think about this rationally. It's a matter of comparing the risk of losing either my father or my sister, and the risks of Ozpin's circle coming after me.
In canon, Ozpin was pretty passive at this point in time, and the bulk of his side coming after the bad guys was from Team RWBY. That being said there was no guarantee he would be as inactive this time around. In fact, if Ironwood's Specialist squad was anything to go by, it was confirmed the adults were indeed being more proactive than in canon.
Just my luck…
But as long as they couldn't pinpoint my location, meaning as long as I didn't stay in one place long enough for them to catch me, then them pursuing me was just that, them pursuing me. As long as it didn't come down to a fight, I was fine.
It wasn't like Ozpin knew my true goals, so they wouldn't be able to predict me accurately. My only worry was Yang, but in her case I was more worried about her own safety if we had to fight than I was worried about myself.
Not that I had a chance of beating Yang, not alone. But so wasn't alone, and I needed to beat her even less. I was confident I could escape her, though.
"... Fuck me." I groaned. "Making peace with Ozpin without Salem realizing it would be ideal, but you're right. It's way more likely that Salem would catch me in the act, especially after initiation."
"So I take it we're not doing it, then." Robyn said.
"Probably not. Using your semblance on me in front of Ozpin is the easy part. The hard part is actually getting to meet Ozpin in person without Cinder noticing…" I click my tongue, not liking my prospects. "We might have a window of opportunity if we act during a day when Cinder is occupied. I'll try to think of something, but I don't know if I can make any promises."
"I guess we'll take things one step at a time then." Robyn sighed. "In the meantime, I'll go prepare a bullhead for me and my girls to scout the coast. See ya later, kiddo." She said before leaving the SDC office."
/-/
"... And Headmaster Ozpin is here to address the citizens' concerns concerning the tragedy that struck Beacon Academy two days ago." Lavender finished, before the camera cut to Ozpin.
"Thank you, Miss Lavender." The man nodded, before starting on his speech. "As you've no doubt heard, there was an unusual Grimm incursion in the Emerald Forest, which resulted in the death of the majority of the participants. I regret to announce that this wasn't a mere unfortunate happening. Beacon always makes sure these woods are safe for the young men and women taking its test, but this was a targeted attack led by a small group of anarchists, who aren't too dissimilar to the occasional Grimm worshiping cults you might have read about as a footnote in history books. Rest assured, however, that there is no cause for panic. The main perpetrator lost his life in his attempt to wipe out this year's students, and Ironwood and I are working together to bolster Beacon's security and track down what little allies the enemy has, and our measures have been reviewed and approved as sufficient by the Council of Vale…"
"Are you okay, boss? You look pissed." A member of the White Fang asked Blake, as she watched the news from one of her hideouts. "Why though, isn't it good that a human institution got attacked?"
"Beacon might be a Valean institution, but its huntsmen protect everyone, human or Faunus." Blake said, giving her subordinate an annoyed look. "An attack on one of the four academies isn't an attack on the humans, but on both humans and Faunus. And do I need to remind you that the students also include Faunus?"
"Oh, uh… I think I'll just get back to work." The grunt said, embarrassed to have needed to have it pointed out.
As he left, Blake turned toward another member, who was on break. "And excuse me, but what do you think you're doing?"
The man turned away from the cards in his hands, startled. "What? The game is fun." He said in a somewhat defensive tone.
"That's not what I meant." Blake's eye ticked. While she was a bit iffy about her subordinate playing Gemini's card game, she had a much more important concern at the moment. "I meant: What is he doing out of his cell?" She said, pointing at Mercury, who was playing against the White Fang grunt.
"... What? The game is fun." Mercury shrugged nonchalantly.
"This isn't about that stupid game! You're our prisoner, what are you doing out of your cell and playing cards?" Blake asked him.
"Yeah, but I was bored in there. You don't even interrogate me, so how am I supposed to pass the time?" Mercury whined. "At least this nerd game gives me something to do. Plus I'm sorta winning with my zombie army…"
"Like hell you are. Just wait, I'm gonna draw something good next turn and wreck your monsters." The grunt growled.
"Sure, keep telling yourself that. You and your… 200 remaining Life Points." Mercury said with a smug grin.
"Ahem." Blake cleared her throat, glaring at the two. "I'm not done with you two." She said, and the grunt sighed.
"Boss, it's not like the guy's a threat. We took away his legs and he's stuck in a wheelchair." The man said. "What's he gonna do? Fight us? Roll away? He's as imprisoned in our makeshift break area as he is in that empty room we call a 'cell'."
"I… Urgh. You should take this more seriously." Blake groaned. "Whatever. Mercury, are you going to tell us anything about Cinder?"
Mercury hummed, faking to think about it. "Emerald has an obvious crush mixed with mommy issues toward Cinder."
"Anything useful?" Blake deadpanned, unimpressed by his games.
"No thanks, I choose life." Mercury huffed. "I'm not stupid enough to get myself burned alive by Cinder. Anyway, wanna try a duel after I'm done with this guy?"
Blake took a deep breath, and decided to ignore Mercury for the rest of the day. Looking back at the news, she thought about the headmaster's statement from earlier.
Ozpin had said that the one who attacked the students during initiation died, but if the unusual Grimm activity in the Emerald Forest was anything to go by, then the perpetrator was either Augur or Sibyl, and it seemed nobody from the huntsmen academies were aware that these two were immortal and revived whenever killed.
That… That was bad news. It meant they had no idea the threat was still out there, and in no way diminished. Should she warn them?
She shook her head. No, there was no reason to expect they'd believe the word of terrorists. Besides, even if she was believed, with Atlas in the picture, they would still try to attack and capture her and her men.
And it's not like the kingdoms' authorities were ever quick to address problems in the first place anyway. If they were, they would have acted to solve the discrimination the Faunus faced long before the White Fang had to take action themselves.
/-/
Salem lazily rested her head on her hand as she stared into the Seer in front of her and watched Lionheart's life being choked out of him by the one hidden in his office's secret room.
Really, this was a foregone conclusion. While she rewarded those loyal to her, what Lionheart had wasn't loyalty. A coward who only followed out of fear for their own life couldn't be trusted, nor did they deserve any respect from either side.
When the Faunus' body went limp and stopped breathing, the Seer released his body and let it drop on the ground. An unimpressive end for an unimpressive man.
Then the dead man's scroll rang, and Salem raised an eyebrow.
It was probably Ozpin, and it was quite the coincidence he'd call right at the moment she was done getting rid of the worthless man, but eh… She had lost count of how many such coincidences happened over the millenia.
She had the Seer slip a tentacle in the corpse's pocket, and retrieved his scroll to confirm it was indeed Ozpin. As she saw his name as the caller, the woman smirked before making the Grimm accept the call with a tap of its limb.
"Why, hello Ozpin. If you wanted to speak to dear Leonardo, I'm afraid you're a couple minutes late." She said, delighting in the surprise on her nemesis' face.
It didn't last long before Ozpin's expression faded, and he let out a tired sigh.
"Well, I suppose that resolves the issue." He said, somewhat disappointed as he would have liked to speak to Leo himself, to confront him over his treason. "So, what do you want, Salem?"
"Oh, you know, destroying everything you built, being worshiped by Mankind, humiliating the Two Brothers. The usual." The Queen of the Grimm said. "But I'm more than willing to leave your current kingdoms alone for a century or two, if you relinquish the fragments of Gemini's soul you keep in Beacon."
Ozpin's gaze sharpened. "Never. These Grimm copies of him you make are an unholy menace, and I will not allow you to make more. Especially not now that we managed to get rid of one of them at the price of many young men and women." He said, unwilling to even entertain the notion of giving Salem anything she wanted so much that she'd be willing to put her plans on hold in exchange of having them.
"A pity." She shrugged. "Then I'll just have to destroy your school and slaughter your students to take them. You always manipulate children to fight your wars, keeping them in the dark as you use them as pawns."
"Spare me the hypocrisy, Salem." Ozpin snapped at her. "You are the one who's schemes indiscriminately kill people. The one conspiring to ruin everyone's life by destroying their kingdoms and homes."
Salem snorted at the accusation. "Oh please, as if you weren't the one playing the anarchist rebel in the eras I ruled Remnant. You've destroyed just as many kingdoms, and ruined just as many lives as I have. You don't have any right to lecture me."
"You know perfectly well that this isn't comparable. Mankind is meant to carve their own path and decide for themselves, not being enslaved under your tyranny." Ozpin retorted, only for Salem to wave a dismissive hand at him.
"You only call it 'enslavement' and 'tyranny' because you can't stand Mankind following me. Unless you want to argue that the current state of affairs is better off as it is? With you allowing corrupt oligarchs to run rampant in Vale, Ironwood holding disproportionate power in Atlas through having two seats - unelected seats, by the way - for a single person, Vacuo and its lawlessness, and to say nothing of the depravity of the old Mistrali nobility?" Salem sneered at him.
Ozpin's eyes narrowed at the accusations. "Like I said, Mankind chooses its own path. They will inevitably make mistakes and handle things poorly at times, but my role is to protect them until they learn from them, not to control them."
"Ah! Because you leave them to their own devices, without holding positions of power among them and imposing changes when you wish to? Must I remind you that the present political order of the kingdoms was created by you, 'King Ozias'!?" Salem snapped at him.
"I expanded the power to choose their nation's destiny to all citizens instead of keeping it limited to a monarch's decision. I might nudge things in a favorable direction from time to time, but that's not the same thing and you-"
"Enough!" She cut him off. "You are the hypocrite, Ozpin. With Lionheart's fall, the system you champion draws ever closer to collapse, and while you scramble to explain his demise to the population… My grasp over Mankind's fate grows ever tighter." She said, before having the Seer on the other side kill itself to leave no evidence of a Grimm's presence in the dead headmaster's office.
And that's a wrap. Still have no idea what I'll name the next chapter, but I guess I'll figure that one out once the chapter will be written… as it has become common for a while.
Oh, and guess what? My apartment flooded. Again. All because when the landlady renovated after the first flood, she renovated everything except the water drain that we told her was broken. Ah ah…
And she also told me that she wasn't renovating the apartment this time, and that I can either "live with the mold or go find a place elsewhere."
So anyway, I'm planning to sue her, because both her negligence and her response put her as breaking her legal obligations as landowner. If she wants to play like that… Then no more nice Peon.
In the meantime, I've had to evacuate again and put most of my stuff in storage. Ilia, you know what that means.
Ilia: "No."
Yes.
Ilia, pulling out a gun: "Screw you, I'm not going back in the box."
Yes, you are. I've got no other place to put you.
Ilia: *BANG*
Ouch! You shot me!? You fucking shot me!
Where did you even find a gun? This is Canada, not the US!
Ilia: "I'm not telling!" *Runs away*
Damnit. Now I'll have to go chase her. Can't just let her run around everywhere.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please, don't hesitate to leave a review.