"False tears bring pain to those around you, while a false smile brings pain to one's self"
- C.C.
"Thank you!" Pyrrha smiled at the cook handing her a bowl of stew, filled to the brim with beef and vegetables. Balancing her tray, Pyrrha made her way to the table where they always ate, Jaune noticing her a few feet away and waving her over.
She smiled happily, stopping herself from waving back for the affect it'd have on her dinner.
"Hello!" she greeted once she was close enough, sitting next to Jaune where he'd saved a seat for her. Not that anyone would've taken it had he not — it was a couple weeks into the semester, and everyone had already started to settle into simple habits like seating arrangements.
"Hey Pyrrha," Jaune shot her a quick smile, one that had caused a heat to rise to her cheeks the first few times she'd received it. By now she'd managed to get used to it enough to stop her cheeks from obviously tinting, but it didn't stop the flutter in her stomach that she had a sneaking suspicion would never go away.
She preferred it that way.
"Grats on the fight Pyr, you kicked ass out there." Yang greeted her from across the table as Jaune went back to his conversation with Ruby.
"An incredible performance indeed. I'd expect nothing less from Mistral's record-breaking champion." Weiss agreed, nodding matter-of-factly.
"Geeze, you're really hung up on that huh?" Yang asked, leaning an elbow on the table to address the girl sitting next to her.
"It's a monumental achievement!" Weiss protested, exasperated. "She's the most prodigious fighter in Mistral's history — everyone knows that."
Yang raised an eyebrow, "Maybe, but you're the only one making a big deal out of it."
Weiss threw her hands in the air. "That's because you and Ruby knew her before she became the record-holder, Blake and Ren hardly ever talk anyway," she gestured to where they both sat silently, Blake barely shooting a glance over her book while Ren stared back passively. "Nora's… Nora, and the blonde idiot is the only one on Remnant too oblivious to know in the first place."
Pyrrha winced, which quickly turned to a frown when she noticed Jaune's flinch at the comment. No doubt pretending not to hear her, he continued listening to Ruby going on about a comic Jaune had recommended she read.
Pyrrha sat her spoon down on her tray, her appetite gone.
"Nah, everyone else just doesn't care about that. Pyrrha's cool cause she's Pyrrha." Yang seemed unbothered by Weiss apparently dismantling her argument, pushing through with the unique mix of stubbornness and confidence that made Yang who she was. "That said," she angled herself back towards Pyrrha, lifting her arm to point accusingly at the girl. "If you think you're gonna get away without teaching me how you jumped over Sky's halberd and deflected Cardin's mace at the same time, and then managed to stick the landing while knocking Sky over, you've got another thing comin'." she faux-threatened. "Rubes, Blake and I have a practice arena reserved to train tonight. You wanna come with?"
Pyrrha didn't miss how Blake, sitting two seats over on the other side suddenly looked up from her book, muscles subtly tensing.
Pyrrha smiled apologetically at her friend. "Sorry, I wish I could, but I'm busy all night tonight."
Yang pouted, but the ravenette on the far side of their group relaxed and went back to reading. Pyrrha's smile wavered. For some reason, Blake disliked her.
Jaune must have heard their conversation and spoke up. "You should join them." he said, "You only get so long to spend time with friends."
Pyrrha shot him a glowing smile. He was giving her an out from their nightly training sessions so that she could help others. He truly was selfless. But as much as Pyrrha would have loved to, training with Jaune wasn't the only conflict she had.
"I can't," she said apologetically, turning back to Yang. "I have to meet with someone tonight."
"Ooohh, a meeting, huh? Have a secret lover you wanna tell us about, Pyr?" Yang leaned forwards, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Wha- no!" she objected harshly, sending a quick glance at Jaune to make sure he wasn't taking Yang seriously. "It's just a virtual meeting! It's… about Argus. The chairman will be calling me to keep me informed on the settlement."
Yang rolled her eyes, slouching forwards onto the table.
"Booooring~!" Nora exclaimed, summarizing Yang's thoughts on the matter.
Yang nodded, "Percy's great and all, but you gotta admit that a city is maybe the worst gift anyone has ever given. Ever."
Nora nodded enthusiastically, standing up from her seat. "If someone gave me a city as a birthday present, I'd break their legs!"
Ren gently pulled her back down.
"He did kinda just give you a job." Ruby spoke up softly, fingers nervously poking each other.
Pyrrha looked around as her friends criticized the gift, and felt a weird sense of defensiveness surge in her. She felt much the same way they did, but still… it was a gift from Percy. Hearing her friends speak about it that way reared an ugly feeling in her.
"I, for one, think it's an magnificent gift." Weiss spoke up. "To be in charge of an entire settlement at her age is nothing short of amazing, and a great honor. Over half a million people live in her jurisdiction — more people than have ever been through all of the huntsman academies combined, by far."
Despite wanting to defend Percy's gift to her, she found she disliked Weiss' input just as much. She really just wished she hadn't been prompted to bring it up in the first place.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Jaune interjected, "Something about you and a settlement, Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha winced, avoiding his gaze. "I-it's nothing."
Weiss rolled her eyes dismissively. "Of course the dunce wouldn't know. Perseus recently made Pyrrha the baroness of Argus — she holds ownership over the settlement and its people, and is responsible for its administration."
"Wait, so you really own a whole settlement with that many people?" Jaune asked her, eyes wide.
"That's what I just said." Weiss looked away, meeting Pyrrha's eyes as if to say 'can you believe this idiot?'
Pyrrha looked down to avoid his disbelieving eyes, grabbing her spoon and nudging around the cooling stew in her bowl. "I don't really do anything. The council and the government runs it all, I'm just told what's going on by the chairman."
Weiss crossed her arms with a huff. "You mean it's just ceremonial?"
"Well, no…? The position is real, I can run Argus as I wish, it's just that I'm not experienced enough to run the settlement myself, is all. I'm still learning, and I'm happy to let it function on its own."
"That's cool," Jaune remarked, and Pyrrha looked up timidly to see him grinning widely. "You can help way more people than any huntsman, just by ordering someone around. That's awesome Pyrrha, congrats."
Pyrrha's sullen expression was replaced with a radiant smile, and she suddenly felt much better about it. As usual, Jaune right.
"Though, one question." he continued, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, an adorable blush rising to his cheeks. "Who's Perseus?"
"How are you so calm?" Percy asked, tossing down the tablet containing Atlas' general orders. He, for one, felt sick.
"They're just words." Winter shrugged, reaching over to flick the tablet back onto her terminal and then close it entirely. "Understand that it is not possible for anything objectionable you read to come to pass unless I should order it. And clearly, they were not created with malicious intent; General Ironwood could have usurped power from the council at any point. That he did not speaks as to the intentions behind such preparations, and the man's character. General Ironwood's semblance, mettle, allowed him to remove all emotion from his strategic process. This list of orders was clearly the result."
Percy scowled. "That he can ignore his morality doesn't make it alright. Putting aside the orders themselves, the biochips alone are immoral."
Winter blinked. "Why?"
He stared back at her. "What do you mean why? It's basically stripping someone of their free will! How can you not see that?!"
"It is not an inhibition of free will." she disagreed. "Mantle's soldiers — or at least the ones who were formerly Atlesian military — for instance, all still possess these chips which I can trigger at any moment. And yet, I could not make them follow my orders more than they would any other. It is a manipulation of psychology, as much of our doctrine is designed to do — uniforms, basic training, parade formations, cadence, military tradition, much of these are dedicated to psychologically preparing soldiers to follow orders. These people swore to uphold the orders they are given; the chips are simply an assurance."
"You had one used on you." Percy pointed out. "Though it didn't end up working, you went through a lot of strife. What if it had forced you to follow through with your mission?"
Winter frowned, sending him a harsh glance. "Were I in Ironwood's position, I would not have issued the order. I am now in his position. It is the order to murder a hundred million innocents to obtain a pyrrhic victory I objected to more than the methods through which they attempted to execute it."
Percy scowled. "Then you're just a hypocrite. You fought the biochip to disobey an order as someone under its affect, and now that you're the one giving the orders you don't have a problem with it."
"My rejection of the biochip was never on a moral basis." she countered, "Only the way in which it was used. I do not object to the existence of swords, and yet I would take exception to a murder with one." she said, brandishing her saber.
Percy looked away. "Even then, a soldier's ability to disobey orders is a failsafe all its own. It's the conscience of soldiers that helps to prevent one person from using an army to act blatantly against humanity."
"In that case, the biochip is a preferable alternative to an automaton. Automatons which you yourself developed, built, and distributed. They will never refuse an order." she pointed out, and Percy winced.
She… well, she had a point. It didn't mean that he was wrong or she was right, but it did mean he was either wrong or a massive hypocrite. Whichever it was, it was clear he'd lost the right to argue the point.
But he didn't need to argue his point.
"Will you force me to abolish the orders?" she asked, reading his mind.
"Will you let me?"
"No."
He flinched.
He could force her to, but their friendship was still something he valued — more than Atlas, even. He could push her, but cross a line and he'd lose his friend — the one friend he had who he could really, truly confide in.
Qrow, Tai, Shiro, even the Belladonnas — they were all friends, but he wasn't as close with any of them as he was with Winter. Don't get him wrong — with Tai, Kali, and Ghira (okay, more Kali than Ghira) he could have serious, meaningful discussions about things he cared about. With Shiro and Qrow he felt comfortable being open with them. He could express his unfiltered opinions, strongest emotions, and he'd even shared some of the more personal events of his past, when there had been reason to — he felt comfortable being real with them.
But with Winter, he felt comfortable saying and doing things that he didn't have reason to. Not only to tell her about the things that came up in conversation, but the things that didn't.
Decisions he regretted more than any others, his most embarrassing moments, his deepest fears and insecurities, even the most treasured memories of the people he'd lost.
He was close with Qrow and Shiro, but he could confide in Winter. He wanted to confide in her. To have someone to talk to about the fucked up mess that was his life, and someone who felt comfortable telling him about the deepest, most intimate parts of theirs.
It was rare, but it wasn't once in a lifetime and it wasn't love — if it were, she'd have been willing to sacrifice Atlas for him, and he Mistral for her — he'd had a few people he'd been that comfortable with back on earth. Annabeth came to mind, as did Nico, and even Chiron and Grover to an extent.
But they were gone, and Winter was all he had left.
Even Pyrrha, for all he loved her — and he did love her — couldn't fill that void. She was a teenager, barely seventeen. How could he confide in her about lost lovers, unfulfilled dreams, and deep-seeded fears when she had never loved, never experienced loss firsthand, when she had never fought for her life when she was all but certain of her death?
He was glad that Pyrrha hadn't been forced to experience those things — he would kill to make sure she never had to. He didn't want her life to go anything like his, but that didn't change the fact that Winter was the only person he'd had in the last five years who he could be vulnerable around — who reassured him that someone was there for him on the nights he couldn't escape his own head.
He'd been without someone like that for the first few years he'd been here, and the thought of going back to that scared him far more than he was ready to admit. He wouldn't be alone, but… it'd feel like it all over again.
"Well then there's your answer." he finally said, an odd mix of tension, resignation, and anger coating his voice.
She must have known what he was thinking, because he could see her posture shift out of the corner of his eye, and when she next spoke her tone was far softer.
"The threats that Atlas — no, that Remnant — must face are too great to throw away such a tool. Imagine, Percy, if a siege of Grimm were to beset Atlas. There would not be hesitation, there would not be treason, or lazy incompetence, or petty objections to the sacrifices that have to be made while the fate of humanity hangs in the balance. There would not be protests in the streets as civilians became discontent and foolishly lashed out, there would not be thievery and hoarding in our most dire moment, the people would not avoid their duty, but rise to it. Imagine it. Imagine if every man, woman, and child in Atlas took up arms or tools in our fight against the Grimm, was willing to make every sacrifice necessary to win. If tens of millions stood ready to do what was needed for our future. Even in a war for your survival in a time of unprecedented mobilization, Mistral brought two million soldiers to war. I would have Atlas, a fifth of its population, bring to bear twenty."
Percy paled, turning quickly to find Winter's eyes looking directly into his own, cold as ice.
"You can't be saying what I think you're saying," Percy begged, more wishing than believing.
"I am." her gaze didn't waver, but she turned back to the window. "The general orders are not the only secrets passed from general to general. I know now what you have doubtless known since the beginning — about Ozpin, Salem, and the Grimm."
Percy's eyes widened, on the backfoot before but now finding himself blindsided completely. "Wha-"
"I was alerted to you entering the vault a month ago." she cut him off, suddenly glaring at him, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Though you withheld information before you did not lie to me, so I will give you this one chance to tell me the truth. Do you have the relic of creation?"
Percy swallowed, and shook his head. "No. No, Winter, I don't."
She relaxed, exhaling in relief.
"I don't have the Winter maiden." he said carefully, edging around the elephant in the room.
"I had hoped not." Winter said carefully.
Percy's eyebrows furrowed. She… hoped he didn't have the maiden?
Noticing his confusion, Winter elaborated. "The Winter Maiden was in the possession of Atlas for as long as the kingdom has existed." She explained, her suspicious glower lessened but not gone in its entirety. "That changed during the war, when forces under your command seized Atlas' tower. At its peak, the Winter Maiden was found dead."
Yang reached her arms above her head and felt the heights of satisfaction as her back and joints popped.
"See somethin' ya like, vomit boy?" she teased, catching Jaune's eyes not quite meeting her own. She let her arms fall to her side with a grin, ignoring the boy's spluttered denials and twisting her back with a pleasing cacophony of cracks. He could look if he wanted, she didn't mind. Though, she'd best make sure Pyr didn't catch wind of it.
Speaking of…
"Congrats on your win guys." she raised her voice to reach all of team JNPR, from where Jaune lay panting in the grass next to her all the way to where Pyrrha was bent over removing a piece of her armor. Said girl looked over with a smile and a friendly wave.
"Thanks," Jaune spoke for the rest of his team between pants, Ren silently sitting on the hill that constituted their rest area, while Nora cradled her hammer to her chest, pouting. JNPR had won their little intra-team spar, but Ren, Nora, and Jaune had all been knocked out, something Nora wasn't feeling to good about by the looks of it.
Ruby would've congratulated them, Yang was sure, except for the fact that she looked more worn out than even Jaune. She laid motionless on her back on the grassy field, panting having long faded into the occasional whimper. Weiss sat next to her trying to prod her into sitting up, but it was clear the ice queen wasn't doing all that much better.
Except for Pyrrha they were all exhausted. Even Nora, with her incredible stamina, looked flushed and tired.
Well, there was one other exception.
Yang's eyes fell onto her partner all the way on the other side of team RWBY, looking calm as can be. She was hardly fresh, but it was clear she'd not exerted herself half as much as her teammates. Or anyone else, for that matter. She sat with one leg out on the grass, but where Yang had sweat pouring off her in droves, Ruby was half comatose, Jaune was panting like a dog, and Weiss looked like she was trying to replace Ruby as team leader by emulating her namesake, Blake had taken out a book and was enjoying the breeze.
Yang clenched her fists and looked away. She was normally fine. What was her problem whenever JNPR became involved?
Yang knew the answer. She just didn't want to admit it, because that meant she'd have to deal with it.
"Well, I'm heading back to our dorm to shower." Yang announced. "Anyone comin' with?" She winked at Jaune, who flushed to his roots. That wasn't what she meant and they both knew it, but Ren was impervious to teasing and Jaune was the only other guy around. Oh well, poor him.
One by one everyone picked themselves up and began to meander back to the dorms.
"Pyr, you comin'?" well, almost everyone.
Pyrrha waved her off with a cheerful smile. "I was going to stick around for a bit and try to get a run in. Don't wait up!"
Yang waved to show she understood and turned back to the dorms, shaking her head. That girl was something else.
Speaking of which…
Yang jogged lightly to catch up with Blake at the back of the pack, reading as she walked. Yang rolled her eyes, it was downright worrying how anti-social the girl could be at times.
Coming up alongside her, Yang reached out to touch the girl's arm lightly. She looked over, saw the look on Yang's face, and snapped the book shut with a sigh. Gesturing for Blake to slow to a halt and let the others go ahead, the ravenette reluctantly did so.
Yang turned on her, arms crossed.
"Do you have a problem with Pyrrha?"
The girl flinched and looked off to the side, but Yang stood there tapping her foot impatiently.
"I don't have a problem with her, no…" she said slowly. Yang waited for more, but her partner didn't continue.
"Well?" she demanded, "What is the problem then? Whenever you're invited to join us in something you're suddenly sick or busy, and you come up with every excuse under the sun not to be there when she's invited to something we're doing. You wouldn't have even been here today if Ruby didn't guilt you into it, and you as good as gave up the moment it was just Pyrrha left. So what the hell's the issue?"
Blake winced, but Yang wasn't having it. "You don't get to play victim here, Pyr's nice but she isn't stupid, and even Jaune is beginning to catch on to the fact that you're avoiding her. It's causing issues between our teams, it's hurting Pyrrha, and frankly at this point it's hurting me to see my friend hurt like that because of my partner. So I'll ask one more time. What. Is. The. Problem?"
Blake still wouldn't meet her eyes, but Yang was beginning to pick up on some mannerisms. The way the girls' eyes wouldn't stop darting over the ground meant she was going to say something, she was just thinking over her answer.
"I… didn't want to risk hurting her."
Yang's arms came down to her hips and her eyebrows drew together, suddenly confused. "Ruby has the least aura out of any of us and Jaune is the worst fighter by far, but you've never had any problems with them. That also doesn't explain why you refuse to so much as get lunch with Pyrrha present unless half the team is there as a buffer."
Blake's eyes met hers for a second before flickering away again. "It's not that I think I can hurt her easier, but if I do accidentally hurt her, I know she would never do anything, but…" she trailed off.
It took Yang several long moments to realize what she was getting at.
"Percy!?"
Blake flinched as if the name brought her physical pain, confirming Yang's theory.
"Seriously? You're afraid that you'll accidentally hit Pyrrha in a freak accident and Perseus is gonna come for you or something?" Yang guffawed, the very real fear on Blake's face equal parts sobering and hilarious.
"Yang!" Blake hissed, glancing around them. "I'm serious!"
Yang laughed and slugged her lightly on the upper arm. "You've got nothin' to worry about, trust me — Percy's just a big teddy bear, same as Pyr."
Eyes filled with rage shone with the bottomless blue of the abyss.
The less said about the single exception to that theory, the better.
"You've met him?" Blake almost choked.
Yang nodded, much more at ease now that she at least knew what the issue was. Now they could fix it. "Yeah, he used to stop by and play with Ruby and I when we were young. He still comes by to spar with us every now and then — I met Pyrrha through him, actually." Yang smiled fondly. She remembered the first time she'd watched Percy, dad, and Uncle Qrow spar. She wouldn't let the two huntsmen live down their defeat for months. That only changed when Yang was old enough to join them in their spars and found that she made absolutely no difference. Percy was in a league of his own.
Something akin to a dying keel echoed from the back of Blake's throat, and Yang turned her attention back to her partner only to find her face even paler than it normally was.
"Blake, something wrong?"
"You… know Perseus." she near whimpered.
The beginnings of understanding flashed in Yang's eyes. "It's not like we're involved in anything he does — he makes sure to keep politics out of it when we're around, where he can. Pyrrha too. My uncle introduced us to him before any of that stuff with Mistral or Atlas, so he's always just been Percy to us. We don't have anything to do with any decisions he makes — avoiding Pyrrha because you don't like what Percy does is like disliking Weiss because of her dad." she explained, watching the girl carefully.
It was because of that that she took note of the way she shifted uncomfortably when Weiss' name was brought up.
"Oh my gods, that's why you're so cagey with Weiss." Yang's jaw went slack as realization dawned on her. "It's not that you don't like her because of something she's done, you don't like her because of the SDC!"
Blake looked around rapidly as if to make sure no one had heard, shooting Yang a heated glare. "Her family's company has abused thousands of workers, and… I'm not- it's not-…. Argh!" Blake struggled to find the words.
Yang's surprised expression morphed into a small scowl as she took a step back, crossing her arms standoffishly. "Well I'd try and help you two sort this out or suggest we ask Ruby to as team leader, but Ruby and I are just as guilty as Pyrrha so I'm sure you have a problem with us too. In fact, Ren and Nora are both from Mistral — they probably have some strong opinions about Perseus. You should talk to them, see what their opinion is about someone half a world away to decide if you should be friends with them or not. And hey, Jaune hadn't even heard of him until recently so worst case scenario you still have someone you can be friends with."
Blake looked physically pained at her words, and Yang suppressed a flinch. She wanted to help her partner, but if she was just going to judge people based on who they knew then there wasn't much she could do about that.
"Yang, no- I- it's not like that."
"Then what's it like?" she asked, looking at Blake expectantly.
Her eyes darted every which way, thinking of an answer for some time. "I don't hate Pyrrha, and Weiss can be alright, it's just… it's different. Weiss clearly agrees with her father on a lot of things, and Pyrrha is just… very tied to Perseus's image. They're clearly fond of one another."
"I like Percy too." Yang admitted unapologetically. "So does Ruby. He usually comes by on her birthday with a giant bowl of these blue candies for all of us. Dad always says it's too much, so my uncle and I always convince him to help us eat them so there's less for us." Yang recalled with a wistful smile. It was three years going, and practically tradition at this point — even Pyrrha had been there the last time. Yang took a moment to wonder if he might continue the tradition while they were at Beacon this year. She'd need to warn him about feeding eight people — it was just a couple weeks away.
Yang studied Blake. She hoped he would have to feed eight people. She really did.
"That's different." Blake protested weakly. "Weiss stands by what her family did, and Pyrrha is part of Mistral's government. She's a part of what Perseus and Mistral do, she has an active hand in things. At least you and Ruby aren't involved…"
Yang almost told her about how Pyrrha really felt about the sorts of things Percy had done, about the nights spent crying herself to sleep while Yang gave her someone to vent to, about the days spent avoiding him, and the words she'd wanted to say to him in the fallout of their fight but never did.
"I'd talk to Pyrrha." she said eventually. The things Pyrrha had told her were the kinds of things that didn't leave a room, the kinds of things a friend took to their grave. Those were her secrets to tell — if she wanted to tell Blake, great. If she didn't, that meant it was none of her business. "You might be surprised. And I'm sure Weiss has her own reasons." Yang shrugged, still frustrated, but anger having faded. "You really should try talking to them. Weiss is on our team, it's not like she's just gonna go away. And even if we didn't know Pyrrha before Beacon Ruby and Jaune are best buds now, so team JNPR is around to stay."
Blake bit her lip, refusing to meet her eyes.
"Hey, let's just talk it out, alright?" Yang's remaining anger melted and she softened, resting a hand on her partner's upper arm. "Nobody's forcing you to do anything, but we're a team, and if we wanna stay that way then we're gonna have to sort out the issues we have sooner or later. And we are gonna stay a team, right?"
Blake nodded once.
A bright smile worked it's way onto Yang's face as she looped her arm through her partner's, pulling her down Beacon's walkway. "Glad to hear it Blakey, now let's go steal the hot water before Weiss can."
"Don't call me that." she protested softly, tugging at her arm but giving up when Yang didn't budge.
Blake looked away from the blonde brawler just long enough to conceal the small smile that fought its way onto her lips.
Damn it, Yang…
Now she'd have to try and make this whole thing work.
Hope you all enjoyed!
Completely forgot to mention last time but i absolutely goofed and made beacon start a month early. This will affect literally nothing, except that it's directly after pyrrha's birthday instead of ruby's, and ruby is technically 14 for the first month of it. I would retcon, except by the time i realized I'd already written & storyboarded a ton of stuff involving ruby's birthday being a month into beacon.
once again, everything else stays the same, just there's an extra month of time at beacon.
on second thought, the semester has been moved up a month for just this year because of uh... global warming caused by percys dust use! this is all very intentional!
on a slightly less important note just wanted to point out that i realized recently the 'general orders' & biochips are the first thing I've added to Remnant to make it a bit of an AU. You could argue there's a lot of other worldbuilding we don't see, but technically everything is still 100% canon compliant (except probably population figures)
the general orders, while it's
possible they exist, were never mentioned or anything, and we'd probably have heard about them, so it's safe to say they're ruled out as canon. All (some) of the things the general orders do are canon such as lifting atlas into the atmosphere and couping the council, but the biochips definitely aren't... or maybe we just never learned about them ;)
anyway, just thought that was interesting. if there's anything else you've noticed you think isn't strictly canon lmk, cause I can't think of any.
Anyway, let me know what you thought!
See you all April 1 ;)
