"Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception"
- Niccolo Machiavelli
"I'm not taking you."
"What?!"
That could have been smoother, Percy admitted. But he didn't have much time to make small talk.
"I'm not taking you with me." Percy repeated patiently, though he knew Pyrrha had heard him perfectly well. "You asked how you could help, and I answered you. Stay here. Be safe. It's clear they know they can get to me through you. You're recognizable, Pyr. If they spot you there's a real chance they focus on capturing you, and at that point I'd have no choice but to surrender Mistral. I can't risk that, so I can't take you." Percy lied through his teeth. Sure that was a consideration, but mainly he refused to run even a minute risk he'd lose her. Percy had seen all too often how cruel fate was, how often things had a penchant to go wrong. It was all too fitting for his life and had happened too many times before; he'd give in, let her come so long as she stayed safe, and then she'd die in a horrible twist of circumstance. Sure, this way he was controlling, restrictive, and probably not being fair from an objective point of view. She was right that he'd gone through much worse at her age, but he'd had a lot of friends who had gone through the same and not made it out the other end. He'd rather be a hypocrite with Pyrrha alive to hate him for it than fair and attend her funeral.
"You don't have the right-"
"Don't I?" He cut her off. "Do I have the right to decide what you can do? Maybe not. But I can definitely decide what you can't do. And you can't use my bullhead running on my dust to go to my country. I'm sorry Pyrrha, but I don't have time to discuss this." That wasn't a lie. Realistically he knew Atlas wouldn't be able to get their entire fleet to Mistral or even Argus before he got to Mistral, but every second going by was one less second he had to prepare. To overlook defenses, to be briefed on exactly what the situation was — this was it, and he knew every minute would count.
"I refuse to sit here and do nothing while a war is waged on my home! You- you can't do this!"
Percy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the corners of his mouth dipping a bit further. He remembered the anxiety he'd felt knowing Atlantis was under siege, and he'd only so much as visited the place a handful of times. Seeing his home reduced to the state it had been during the siege of Manhattan had also been heart-wrenching, and he had been there to do something about it. He tried to imagine the gods ordering him to stay on Olympus or in Camp Half-Blood because he was too important to risk. And he understood. He understood what Pyrrha was feeling perfectly.
But while he understood, he also remembered. Bianca, running to shut off Talos from the inside. Zoe, clutching to her goddess, the light leaving her eyes. Silena as she stared down the Draken that had taken her life. Michael Yew sending one last salute before going down with the Williamsburg. Annabeth yelping as a thread of web yanked at her ankle, pulling her towards eternal damnation.
All of them had promised they'd be safe. Fate was cruel. Percy had learnt his lesson. Pyrrha wouldn't join them.
"I'm sorry Pyrrha, but I've made my decision."
Percy turned his back on her, knowing full well the agony he was causing her. Knowing full well things might never be the same between them.
So be it. He had another war to win.
Several hours later Percy was on solid land once more, the fresh grass crunching under his shoes as he stepped off the bullhead. He was anxious to get back to Mistral city itself, but he had one more stop before that.
Thankfully, it seemed the information was accurate.
The group of bandits that had gathered to see what a bullhead was doing coming to their camp muttered angrily as they were dispersed by Raven, a couple no doubt recognizing him from all that time ago. The camp was smaller than he remembered it had been, for certain, but he guessed that that might have been — at least in part — due to the lack of slaves to haul around.
"I hope you're not here for the reason I think you are." Raven called out as soon as Percy was in earshot.
It only took a second to put together what she meant. Her hand was clenched around her blade, and he noticed the beginnings of her knuckles turning white.
"I'm not." he assured her, raising his hands placatingly as he came to a stop several feet before her. "I'm here on friendly terms."
"You want something from me, then." she guessed, shifting her posture to one only slightly less ready to disembowel him.
"Oh? And how do you figure that?" he deflected.
"It's been three years since we had our run-in. If you were interested in a round two, you would've been back a lot sooner than that. So, what is it you want and how much of it do I have to pretend to listen to before you'll take no for an answer?"
Percy scowled. He hadn't remembered her being this difficult to deal with, and he certainly wasn't in the mood for it now. Maybe how agreeable she'd been last time had been a result of the implicit threat on her life if she didn't do as he asked, but going that route wouldn't earn him any favors here.
"I did come here to ask for your help." Percy admitted. "Things are at a… bit of a tipping point for me. I'm confident I can take whatever's thrown at me, but I can't be everywhere at once."
Raven stared at him blankly. "Are you done?"
Percy sighed exasperatedly. "Generally in a conversation this is the part where the other person responds."
Raven nodded that she understood. "No."
Percy blinked and Raven had turned, walking back to her camp.
"That's it?" He asked Raven's retreating back incredulously. "Just a 'no'? No 'who are you fighting?' or 'what's in it for me?' Just no?"
"Yes." she quipped, pausing for a moment. "I want nothing to do with whoever you're fighting or whatever your goals are. There's no reward you can give me I care enough about, and I have no incentive to hear any more. Remnant's a dangerous place for people like me," Maidens, Percy guessed she meant, "And I've survived this long by sticking to my own business. I'll continue to do so, if you don't mind."
"And if I could make it less dangerous?" Percy challenged. "If I could protect you?"
Raven snorted her amusement. "You might think you're strong, but you're no match for the entire Grimm species, and you won't be around forever. You can die. Not like Salem. Not like Ozpin."
Percy tried not to let his surprise show. He'd been near certain, but for Raven to refer to Ozpin in Ozma's place… now he was sure. They were one and the same.
"How do you know that?" he asked out of curiosity, moving on quickly. Obviously he could die, and he wasn't immortal, and he wasn't going to claim the contrary, but as far as Raven knew someone having his powers as a male was impossible in the first place.
"Ozpin and Salem have been fighting over this planet for longer than history goes back. You haven't. With how active you're being, if you were immortal I'd have heard of you."
Shrugging, Percy accepted her answer. This was a lost cause. She wouldn't be helping him, and he couldn't force her to. Not in any way that he could trust, at least. He didn't have time for this.
"Who knows." he quipped, turning and beginning the short walk back to the bullhead which had dropped him off. "Maybe I'm just new in town."
Percy heard Raven's muted chuckle behind him, getting quieter as the distance widened.
"Oh, and Percy!" Raven called as he neared the bullhead. "A word of advice — when you're traveling as the crow flies, stay aware of your surroundings. You don't seem like the type to enjoy being followed."
Percy turned back to look at Raven, confused by her cryptic message. He only had time to see her trekking her way back to camp before the bullhead's engines spooled up, drowning out any other sounds in the clearing.
Traveling as the crow flies? Being followed?
Taking a moment to scan the trees, Percy cautiously hopped onto the bullhead. This was a wasted trip and Raven was being infuriating to deal with, but she was right about one thing.
He did not enjoy being followed.
Mistral was a hive of activity.
Percy was currently on the bottom floor, where Mistral's main military base was. It helped to tear down the idea that everything important happened at the top while the bottom was left to rot. Or, that was the idea at least. Plus, the land higher up was coveted and smaller — it was a waste of space to use it for something as large and purely functional as a military base. And lastly it was just more stable. A military base half-way up the mountain was in the open and could be struck at with impunity by any bullhead or airship that felt like it. At the base of the mountain? It was a bit trickier. And with the need to make Mistral's militarization mostly secret… Not only were they at the base of the mountain, most of the base was inside it. Highly defensible, highly concealed, and without taking up civilian space. It had been… less than practical to excavate, but it had gotten done. And the result was an enormous military base on the inside of Mistral's mountain, housing hundreds of thousands. It helped with the crowding problem, and the money all the soldiers injected into Mistral's economy helped as well. The construction of this base had been going on for years, but the military had really been ramped up in the last year or so. In all that time, nearly everything Percy made from every one of his operations across Remnant had been funneled into the bottom floors of Mistral. The result was that Mistrals' poor had truly seen a shift. The jobs created weren't great jobs — digging out mountains, working in a factory, enlisting as a soldier — but everyone had one. It almost reminded Percy of the New Deal back on Earth, and then America entering World War Two. The first part of the comparison gave Percy hope for the future. The second… not as much.
But the final reason they were located at the bottom was the naval projects he had going on which couldn't exactly deploy from half-way up the mountain. Their dockyards needed to be nestled right up against the water, obviously, which meant no elevation.
Speaking of which…
Percy walked up to Shiro, who quickly took notice and waved off the engineer he was talking to.
"Are they ready?" Percy asked, nodding to show exactly what he was talking about. Three enormous ships sat in each of the empty slots in their dockyards, two floating in water. They pointed towards large, metal doors which hid the ocean that laid beyond.
Sighing, Shiro waved back over the officer he'd just sent away. The man quickly made his way back, standing attentively once he'd reached them.
"What you just told me." Shiro told him, gesturing to Percy.
The man nodded, pulling up his clipboard and glancing over it once before letting it rest at his side.
"The three flagships are in three different states of use, contingent on when we started their construction. The Neptune — the first one on the far right, that is — is close to fully operational. It'll take a few more hours of the crew combing over it before it's ready to launch, but afterwards it'll be everything it was designed to be."
Percy nodded, that was good news. He'd actually had no influence in the name, but was certainly quite pleased when he'd heard of it. He didn't doubt that and Percy's hellenic heritage had been a consideration.
"And the others?"
The man grimaced. "Well, the second, unnamed ship in the middle, is semi-operational. It'll be able to float out to the shores here and its guns will fire, but that's about it. I would strongly recommend against sending it into any deeper waters. The chances it sinks are…"
"Got it." Percy nodded. "And the last?"
"Kaput." the officer shrugged. "Some of the smaller guns are technically operational, but it won't even float." he said, waving a hand towards where it sat to highlight his point. And sure enough, Percy could see several large holes in the side of the ship where the steel hull hadn't been added yet. Even now dozens of men were in the drydock attempting to seal one to the rest of the vessel, but Percy knew in his gut that they wouldn't be able to get it done in time.
"Forget that one." Percy ordered, "Focus on the other two, and the defenses around the city."
Helplessly, the officer looked to Shiro for confirmation. Percy huffed, but couldn't exactly blame the man. From what Percy had heard he'd been exposed as Perseus, but that news also came with a large handful of… other information about him. Information which was mostly true, but certainly manipulated to paint him in a certain light. He had to admit that objectively he'd been doing some pretty shady things, but the way those things were portrayed were… one sided, to say the least. So, the CCT had to be filtered. It hadn't been designed with the intention of making something like that possible, but it had been a long time since then, and his engineers were nothing if not innovative.
Speaking of which, Percy turned his attention back to Shiro, who had nodded his assent to carry out Percy's orders.
As the military engineer ran to go relay said orders, Percy jerked his head away from the ships. "Let's walk and talk."
"Walk where?" Shiro asked, quickly moving to walk alongside him.
"The tanks."
Shiro nodded, "Got it. Give me one second." he paused and jogged a few feet away to a nearby circle of soldiers, rattling off orders unintelligible to Percy through the loud noises of the bay. A few moments later he was done, jogging back over to Percy and keeping up their previous pace.
Percy didn't bother asking what that was about, staying on task. If it was something important, Shiro would tell him.
"Who do I talk to about getting news stories published?" Percy asked, pushing through a door to the side of the room and leading them through a narrow hallway. They stacked up into one file to avoid running into anyone, the dozens of soldiers who jogged past them barely stopping to give Shiro a quick salute before continuing to their destination.
"Propaganda, you mean?" he asked incredulously, and Percy could imagine the expression he wore.
"Not as such." Percy denied. "Less to give to our people, more for Vale. Atlas is flooding the CCT with the stuff, we have to counter."
"Foreign intelligence, then." Shiro quipped.
Percy rolled his eyes. "Something like that. As much as I wish we could deal with this later, if Atlas is the only one pushing out propaganda while we do nothing, they control the narrative. If they push propaganda while we push things closer to the truth, then people either believe that I'm the worst person to ever walk this planet and a grimm in human form, or they believe that we kinda had it coming. If we launch our own propaganda, then most people will realize we're both talking out of our asses and wait for some actual investigation. Hopefully, some will even believe us on account of 'Ironwood's' stunt almost a year ago. After the war, we can handle it."
"What makes you think after the war will be any easier?" Shiro asked as Percy pushed through another metal door, leading them out into another large room. Though this one wasn't as tall, it was certainly no smaller, and what it contained was no less impressive.
"History is written by the victor." Percy replied absentmindedly, looking over the massive bay. Unlike the dockyards, this room's blast doors were open. Thousands of tanks were sprawled from the back wall all the way outside, where a large tent stood extended out from the base of the mountain to give them concealment from any prying eyes.
"You think we can win?" Shiro asked suddenly as he arrived by Percy's shoulder, turning to look him in the eye.
Percy hesitated. That was more complex a question than Shiro might've realized.
"I think we won't lose," he said finally. "The defenses of the city have been a focus for forever now, and Atlas won't know how to respond to anything new we have. We focused heavily on anti-air and the losses Atlas will take won't be sustainable for long. They'll be forced to pull back and land, to siege us out. If they don't they might have a chance at winning, but whatever force they send will be reduced to nothing. It won't be worth sacrificing their entire military to win one battle. Once they do settle in to siege, I'm confident that the tanks will be enough to completely route them. If that happens, they won't have it in them to try again. Considering we're the ones who made the airships for them, they'll be incapable of rearming even long-term. Invading Anima would be impossible."
Shiro nodded. "That… makes sense, assuming your predictions are correct. But how would we invade them?"
"Exactly." Percy agreed. "How? Their defenses make most of ours look cheap. We might be able to take Mantle after literally years of preparations, but Atlas is… it would take a generation to build up the kind of airforce that would be able to take it by force, and even then they could just go higher until we couldn't reach them. Invading Atlas then includes a timetable decades into the future, and a laughable amount of energy invested."
Shiro scowled. "So… what's the plan? Negotiate peace the second we repel them? I don't think they'll be content with that, and after their homes are attacked I don't think our people will be either."
Percy shook his head, letting his scowl transition into the smallest of smiles. "It's no guarantee, but I have some plans in place. Some plans that, with any luck, will let us not just stalemate, but win."
Winter placed a hand against the wall, taking a moment to calm the ringing in her ears. Soldiers raced past her every which way in the airship hallway, racing to complete a myriad of final preparations before their fleet would launch in mere minutes. Most of them had been told they'd be briefed on the way there and that they shouldn't waste any time doing anything other than their jobs. Winter, however, had just finished being briefed on what exactly it was they would be doing along with the rest of the Ace-ops.
"Hey,"
Winter jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, shoving it off and spinning on the spot to see who had grabbed her.
Clover winced, raising his hands in surrender. "Sorry! That was my bad. Forgot everyone's kinda jumpy right now."
Winter's eyes widened once she saw who it was and exhaled, squaring her shoulders before settling her arms at her side and straightening her back.
"At ease." Clover said instinctively. "I just wanted to talk about… you know," he raised a hand to scratch the back of his head, "I heard you were friends. This can't be easy, to have a bombshell dropped on you like this. I tried to ask for you to be given a warning beforehand, but the general insisted-. Anyway, if you don't want to be a part of the strike force, I understand completely. I can convince General Ironwood to keep you in fleet command, if you'd like."
Winter let herself relax, just minutely. He wasn't here for… that reason, then. He must've thought her current state was from figuring out her best friend was evil incarnate. Of course, why wouldn't he think that? Quickly, Winter shook her head. "I can do this." she told him. "I… my duty to Atlas comes first."
Clover nodded, "I know it does. Trust me, nobody believed otherwise for even a second. General Ironwood's cleared you of suspicion. But fighting for Atlas is one thing. Fighting against him is another. You heard yourself that we think he has aura, the strike force shouldn't have a problem but there'll be a fight."
Clover must have seen something in her expression hinting to him that she wasn't enjoying the conversation so far, because he quickly moved along.
"Anyways, just… let me know if you need anything, alright? And take it easy while we lift off, that's an order. There's nothing for you to do right now, so go to your room and just… relax."
Winter just nodded distractedly. Part of her wanted to keep herself occupied and her mind busy, but her head was spinning and honestly, she needed some time to think.
Giving her commander a quick salute and waiting for it to be returned, Winter spun on her heel and began the short walk back to her quarters.
Her head was a jumble of thoughts on information overload. So much had happened this morning that she could hardly keep it all straight. There were the things the news had said about Percy, which she packed and labeled in a box called 'conjecture'. She'd known he was Perseus for a long time, and she'd known Perseus was in charge of Mistral and the White Fang for just as long. Percy had been honest with her, she'd give him the benefit of the doubt.
Then, there was what she'd been told in the briefing. That she was on the strike force meant to kill or capture Perseus himself. The General had apparently paid little to no thought to it, but that was one hell of a job to task her with, considering that they had very publicly been friends for years now, and in the minds of most of the general populace set to be engaged.
Though, Winter Realized, he'd likely just wanted to use the Ace-ops, as they were by far the best suited to this sort of thing out of any of the specialist teams. And excluding her from that operation while at the same time clearing her of all suspicion, would not serve morale the best.
Then, lastly, there was what else she'd heard from the news. Not from Atlesian news, but those in Mantle. Papers which were run by locals there and distributed by hand or on the internet. Papers Atlas didn't write themselves. She'd asked Percy if she could get some sent to her scroll some months ago, and since then she'd been keeping up with what the discontent underbelly of Mantle was saying. And what they were saying today was concerning. That Mantle's council members had been excluded — not even told about the meeting — and were now suspended with no charges against them. Winter had had her doubts, but she'd done some surface-level digging and confirmed what she'd feared. The paper wasn't making things up to make people upset at Atlas, or printing some propaganda. The vote had been called, 6-2-1. Nine of the twelve council members present, and just half of the council voting for war. A vote that ordinarily would have failed by a wide margin even in their own system passed with flying colors because four fifths of their population had been ignored.
The time where Winter would have to choose her loyalties was rapidly approaching. Yesterday, Winter would've chosen the army and her loyalty to General Ironwood in a moment. Atlas could be changed from the inside. Had to be. Regardless of how dysfunctional the system was, it could be fixed. Atlas was still Atlas — it was what she'd signed up to protect.
Today, she wasn't so sure.
Commissioner York massaged his eyes, leaning his head forward into his fingers. It was only noon and already he felt exhausted. He was used to high stress situations, but this was something else altogether.
"Do we have any word from The Hall?" York asked his assistant, Allie, who had been waiting patiently as he thought through their current dilemma.
She pursed her lips. "I've called. I was told the director is unavailable, and they don't know when he will be."
York grunted. "Well, I can understand why. At least he didn't leave us out to dry before disappearing."
His assistant remained silent.
"Our leaders need to meet." he finally decided. "Of the city. The Halls' not around to call our shots for us, but I think it's pretty clear what we need to do. Can you contact the Mayor, Councilman Alan, and Councilwoman Janette, please?"
York's assistant bit her lip. "That's the other thing, sir. The council members are currently being detained in Atlas. The Mayor is free, but indicated that there's a military presence at the city hall."
York cursed.
It was worse than he'd feared. He'd thought that the kid had been too paranoid when they were going over their contingency plans. Now, the only reason their plans could still be considered intact was because of that paranoia.
"Very well. It's a full-on foreign occupation, then. We have no representatives, and they're garrisoning our city. Declare preliminary alerts, get the men we need onto Atlas, and alert the militia leaders that they need to be ready, but not strike yet. We can't raise suspicion before everything is in place."
She nodded quickly, jotting something down. "There is one more thing, sir. There's someone in your waiting room, requesting to speak to you personally. They refuse to leave, and they have aura. They don't come up on any of the huntsman registries, but…
York took a deep breath, and reassured himself that if a huntsman wanted him dead, they'd hardly have waited in his lobby.
He nodded. "Very well. Let them in."
Allie nodded she understood and darted out of the room. When the door opened a few minutes later, it was another woman who stood there. She was alluring, York had to admit, but the stakes were far too high to let himself act a fool. Long, long legs led to a crimson red dress embroidered with glowing gold patterns weaving through each other along her side.
"You certainly kept me waiting," she started, her voice low and smooth. York unconsciously adjusted his clothing. "But I suppose I'll let it go, as a favor." the woman continued, sauntering to the seat across from York and gracefully lowering herself into the seat, crossing one leg over the other.
York's gaze was drawn to her eyes, where he could swear small, red flames lit her irises. He swallowed.
She smiled sharply. "I was told to find you. I'm here to help."
That night, Percy leaned out the balcony at his villa in Mistral. He never really liked it here, on account of the fact that it was the same estate the family which had tried to have him killed had. When he was in the area he usually stayed at his place in Windpath, but tonight he needed to be here just in case something happened. The view was…
Well, Percy had never much been one particularly for scenery or anything like that, but he had to admit that it was an incredible sight. Even so late at night Mistral's valley was full of light, especially the further down you went. Seeing it echoing up the surrounding mountain range to illuminate caves, cliffs, waterfalls, and forests was a magical sight. It almost reminded him of New York, if Manhattan was nestled in-between mountains instead of rivers.
Percy continued looking out over the city even as the door to the balcony opened behind him and Shiro stepped out. He was nursing a mug of coffee, but Percy was just getting ready for bed. He'd likely be up for days on end during the battle, and he'd learned the value of entering a battle rested long ago.
But alas, Shiro's responsibilities were heavier on him in the days leading up to the battle rather than the battle itself. Percy would have no such luxury.
"Vacuo is being blockaded." Shiro told him bluntly.
Percy just sighed, letting himself lean further onto the rail.
"Atlas are sending bullheads and some lighter airships off its coast, intercepting anything heading there. We've only had a food shipment and an ammo shipment intercepted so far, but from our intel we think it'll only get worse."
"So basically, if we don't clean this up soon, the White Fang and Asturias' will be starved out." Percy summarized.
"We could try to intercept them." Shiro suggested half-heartedly. "Contest the airspace."
Percy closed his eyes. "Air power is one thing Atlas has us beaten in with their hands tied behind their back. We couldn't contest their air supremacy even if this wasn't happening half a planet away. As is, we have no choice but to hope they can hold out until this is over."
"And if they don't?"
"If they don't then there's nothing that we can damn well do about it, is there?" he bit, straightening and turning to shoot Shiro a glare before stopping himself.
They stood in silence.
"I'm sorry, I-"
"I get it." Shiro interrupted. "Trust me, I get it."
They stood in silence again.
"Will you… do it?" it was Shiro who spoke this time. "Reveal yourself, I mean. That part. If you need to, to… win."
Percy sighed, turning to Shiro and leaning back against the railing. "I don't know," he admitted, "If the decision was as simple as reveal that I have more powers and win or don't and lose, the answer would be yes, but there's a lot more to it. Who will know and how many will know? Am I really not able to win with my limited abilities, or do I just think the odds won't be very good? Which powers would help? If I have to make an earthquake to win, the result could be disastrous for the city. If I have to make a hurricane, I have to consider how many people will be hurt or killed because of it."
"Mistral has plenty of earthquakes of its own." Shiro snorted. "And plenty of monsoons, too. We're on the coast of the largest ocean Remnant has and inside of the largest fault line on the continent, Percy. If we hadn't learned how to earthquake-proof our city a long, long time ago, we wouldn't be around. To a lesser extent, monsoons too. You know yourself we're protected from the winds by the mountains, and have drainage to protect from storms worse than we've ever had. That's been around for centuries. The bottom floors drowning aren't something the city can just recover from, and as much as it's hard to see it today Mistral used to be the richest empire Remnant had ever seen, by far. The infrastructure is there."
Percy shifted uncomfortably, "I get there's protection against this stuff, but if I have to hold back, I may as well just use water. There's a huge difference between being careful and going full-out. If I decide to employ everything I have, no holds barred, I can fight. If I'm still holding myself back I'll be second guessing every instinct, having to think about every action and its potential consequences. If I lose myself in battle and create a magnitude nine earthquake with Mistral as its epicenter, the damage would be catastrophic."
"Maybe a few people would die." Shiro admitted. "But Mistral would be better prepared for something like that than anywhere on Remnant. Most of the devastation would be mitigated. And if a magnitude nine earthquake or an enormous monsoon is the difference between Mistral surviving or falling to foreign conquerors, I think you know what most people would choose as well as I do. If your judgment of Ironwood is right and he'll order the airships to fire into the valley, then thousands will be dying even as you fight. That'll be on nobody's head but Ironwood's, but if you can stop it just a few minutes early? You could save hundreds of lives. Not just of our soldiers, but our people. It's cold, callous, and it's not right to attempt to calculate the loss of human life in numbers. But just know if you do decide not to hold back, even in the unlikely event you end up using such incredible force to end the battle in your favor, you'll be saving lives. Not Taking them."
Shiro turned back into the house, walking in and turning to slide the glass door shut.
"All those years ago, when I tried to convince you that taking over Windpath's underworld was for the greater good, you agreed with me. You just lacked the conviction to go through with it. The conviction you gained when you learned about the relics. That same conviction drives you now. Don't lose hold of it. Don't make a mistake because you doubt what you know is true."
Percy didn't acknowledge he'd heard, lost in his thoughts.
"Goodnight, Percy." Shiro slid the door shut, leaving Percy alone on the balcony.
"I've really fucked up this world of yours, haven't I?" he asked the air. "Ozpin was right. Before I was here, there was peace. Literal world peace. Things weren't perfect, but I thought I could make them better. I resolved not to start war, not to begin conflicts I couldn't resolve, not to endanger the innocent. I'd ask where that went wrong, but I'm pretty sure it started as soon as I decided that I could make life better for people by taking Aspro's place."
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Monty was next to him. It wasn't correct to say he appeared, because Percy had seen gods appear and this wasn't it. It was like he'd been there the entire time, but Percy had simply failed to notice him until now.
Percy narrowed his eyes, focusing on what he'd said. Wasn't that… a quote on Earth? He couldn't remember for the life of him who'd said it, but for that to be present on Earth and for Monty to know it… had he plucked the information from Percy's brain, or was it something else?
"That being said," Monty continued, apparently oblivious or uncaring of Percy's thoughts. "I won't say much, but… things would not have remained peaceful, if you never arrived. They wouldn't have gone wrong here, now, like this, but things would have gone horribly wrong all the same. After all, things going wrong is what makes a story interesting."
Percy tried to hold back his wince. Oum reminded him of the fates sometimes. A story. That's all Remnant was to Oum. That's all Percy was to the fates. He wasn't sure he could blame Oum for thinking of Remnant that way — Percy wouldn't feel remorseful if he imagined people that didn't exist going through strife — but it was a stark reminder of the difference between them all the same.
But focusing on what Oum had actually said, a weight Percy didn't realize he was carrying felt like it had fallen from his shoulders. It didn't mean what he was doing was right, or even that he was justified. But it did mean this wasn't all his fault. It meant he was right that there was something to prepare for, something to preempt. That this hadn't all been for nothing. It meant that there existed a chance that this Remnant was better off than one that didn't have him. Until now he had no reason to believe that Remnant wouldn't have continued to live in peace for generations if it hadn't been for him, as it had for generations before. Thoughts like that didn't make him want to stop — he had to follow through with this now, or else what was all the death and destruction for? — but it had certainly been a crushing weight on his conscience. Now, freed from that weight and left with even the chance that he'd positively affected things? He felt himself breathe easier.
"Almost five years ago you told me about the relics, to give me a hint at what the 'purpose' of this world was." Percy suddenly began, deciding to ask the question that had been burning in his mind since it had occurred to him months ago. "But since then… nothing. I've been on a wild chase for the things, and look at me. I have one. A single relic, and one I don't even know how to use. I have some information about another, but… I'm spinning my wheels here. If not the relics, what is the point of this world, Monty? Why is all of this here?"
Oum hummed, taking a long sip from a mug Percy just realized was in his left hand. He wasn't sure if he actually just hadn't noticed it, or if it had done that strange not-quite-appearing thing that Monty did. Not being able to trust even such a basic sense was… anxiety inducing.
"Well, that's a more complicated question than I think you realize. And I don't believe most answers I could give you would make sense anyway." Oum said, standing quietly for several moments.
"How about this." he drawled. "If you can make it out of this war without messing everything up so that everything still happens as intended — or rather, the main things, everything being the same is already impossible — I'll tell you what all of this is about. It'll be cryptic, of course, but you'll have what you need to know about the very center of all this with time. Until then, don't worry about it. Not like you'd be able to use what I'll give you right now." he shrugged, going back to his drink.
Percy's head was a mess trying to decipher what the Hades Oum meant after such a long day. But he got the summary. Finish the war first. Worry about it later.
Suddenly, Percy noticed that Oum was gone. It wasn't that he'd disappeared, but that he'd been gone, and Percy was only just noticing it.
Sliding open the balcony door, Percy let out an exasperated sigh and drudged inside to make his way to bed.
He had to rest. Tomorrow would be a busy day.
Edit 8/22: So, apologies for the late update. I actually wanted to update on the 18th for Percy's birthday but work delayed me for a day, and since then I've been dealing with some irl stuff in my personal life. This is the second time I've ever woken up the day of the update and gone to bed without posting, and the first ever time I've been this late. I saw a few thousand of you checked in on the 20th and 21st and a few hundred this morning to check for a chapter, so I'm sorry to those people. Hopefully, it won't happen again anytime soon.
8/18 AN:
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! A good bit longer than normal has become the new normal, it looks like. Discord and pat-reon are on my profile. If you join the discord, just look for my name in the list of channels and pop on in :) Thanks to everyone who's swung by the discord to say hi or ask a question or anything. I appreciate it. And just to be clear in case I haven't said this before — I do read every review I get. Most of them are either spoilers to respond to or don't really illicit a response (even if they are interesting) but I enjoy them all the same.
To me, reading people sharing what they think of character motivations, theories, and what they think is gonna happen next is very interesting. If they're right it's nice to know some people have put some pieces together, and if they're wrong generally it's because they looked at things in a way I didn't, and it's pretty interesting to read people interpreting something I wrote differently than intended, or seeing something that wasn't intentional. That's the same reason I tend not to explain my thoughts on the chapter or certain things in these ANs, because I think leaving my thoughts and objectives a mystery and for you all to guess at or interpret is such a better experience.
Once or twice I've actually gotten a review guessing what'll happen next and thought 'that deadass sounds better than what I actually have planned'. Though I've never shifted the story around those reviews, I certainly keep them in mind.
Anyway I've ranted long enough. Once again happy birthday Percy, and I hope ya'll have a fantastic rest of your day.
Next chapter August 30
