Alright! Welcome to another week of this story!
Not a ton to say, though I will have more after the chapter!
Start Chapter 18
She comes at him fast, and Jaune's mind catches in on itself.
The first of her blades comes down at his left arm, and he parries it. The second attempts to cut at his neck, though he evades that strike, too. He sees an opening, and, knowing that she has overextended herself, decides to treat this as a learning opportunity.
So, Jaune leans back, and then headbutts Cinder hard enough to send her toppling to the floor.
His own forehead stings rather harshly, though that's probably nothing compared to what Cinder is going through. He'd have been less willing to do that to someone in a training match if his semblance hadn't had the capabilities to fix concussions – which is something he and his team had discovered in Atlas, and never really had much of a chance to utilize – but since he does have that…
Well, he's not opposed to teaching Cinder a rather painful lesson.
"Be careful," He winces, channeling his semblance on himself and Cinder as he kneels down and places a hand on her shoulder. He can utilize his semblance without touching someone, but it's far more trouble than it's worth. "Not to overextend yourself. You attacked me with everything you had, fully showing your hand. When both of your attacks missed, I struck out at you with one of the weapons I still had remaining."
Cinder nods her head, groaning out under her breath as she massages her skull. Jaune feels a little bad, honestly.
"Sorry for that." He rubs at the back of his neck once his semblance has finished healing the damage some few minutes later. "I kind of got carried away."
It's hard for Jaune to admit, but…
He'd seen Cinder coming at him, her blades drawn, her eyes glowing not with the Maiden's fire, but with that sunset orange they always had, and…
And he'd seen the Cinder he knows. He'd seen the Cinder who'd broken Vale, and Beacon, and Atlas. He'd seen the Cinder that had killed Pyrrha, and Penny.
This isn't her, but…
In the heat of the moment, he'd mistaken the Cinder of the present for her.
Cinder isn't saying anything. Jaune… well, he's pretty sure that Cinder doesn't think she's allowed to comment on anything that he's doing. In all fairness, a month ago that would have likely gotten her shocked fairly badly if the scar around her neck is anything to go by.
But still, Jaune does want to hear her opinion, and so…
"You can tell me what you're thinking, you know."
Cinder's eyes widen as she looks over at him. She's still not saying anything.
"I'm not going to get angry to hear what you have to say. In fact, I'd prefer it if you talked with me. I know you've not had great experiences with authority figures in the past, but… if you're not understanding some parts of the training, or if you are understanding certain parts but think I'm harping on them too long, I want you to tell me, alright?"
Cinder looks down and away, her face somewhat hot. Probably embarrassment and the heat of battle wearing off.
"I… I don't have any problems with what you've taught me thus far."
"That's good."
Cinder nods her head. She still seems… perhaps not uncertain, but hesitant.
"I…" She looks over at Jaune, opens her mouth to speak, and then closes it. "I am thankful."
"Hm?"
"You are taking the time to train me, even when I am sure you have other things you would rather be doing." Cinder explains, twiddling her thumbs. "Thank you."
"Oh." He laughs. "Don't worry. I don't really have anything else to be doing here at Evernight, so taking time to train you isn't a problem at all. If anything, I'm glad I get to be the one to do it, and that I'm not leaving you to Tyrian or Salem."
Cinder shivers, likely at the thought of being left to train under Tyrian. He can't blame her for being glad that's not the case.
"…Thank you for getting me out of the Glass Unicorn." She says, and Jaune's eyes widen, but when he makes to interrupt, she continues. "Thank you for not leaving me behind."
"Well… I wasn't just going to let Rhodes take you away when I heard what happened. I didn't think it would be right."
Cinder's not meeting his eyes.
"Most people wouldn't care." She says, and while Jaune can't find fault in that…
"Well… I did."
Cinder doesn't seem to know how to respond to that. There is no ambient noise in Evernight; no crickets, or bugs, or people walking around or talking. It's just silent.
But after a long while of that silence, Cinder speaks again.
"Thank you for caring."
And Jaune… he thinks that that's probably enough.
/
Blake stands off to Eve's side as she slashes down with the wooden training sword in her hands. Sweat is beating down her brow, and dripping from her face as she pants for breath. Even still, for her first week of training, she's holding on a lot better than Blake had thought she would.
She's already been training for two hours. Most newbies would have called it quits an hour ago.
But Eve, it seems, doesn't know when to quit.
She needs to take a break, though, but Blake doesn't want to make it seem like her effort is unappreciated, either. So, she takes a page out of Adam's book back from when he'd been training her.
She distracts her.
"How's Adam been doing here in Kuo Kuana?"
That's enough to get Evelynn to lower her blade, turn back towards Blake, and wipe the sweat from off her face.
"Oh." She smiles at Blake as she hands her a water bottle, and then downs the entire thing in one go. "He's been doing well. The other children haven't exactly taken to him as much as I'd hoped; he's a bit of a loner, but even so, the teachers say he's an attentive student."
Blake smiles at that as well. Adam had enrolled in a civilian school, one of the only ones present on all of Menagerie. The class sizes are, for that reason, a bit out of control, but it's better than doing nothing at all.
…Maybe Blake can try and make a difference there? She's already made the decision to stay in one place and try and hear news about the others, especially when someone with her figure and fighting style is probably a wanted woman in Atlas, and thereby the world over.
So, she'll hunker down, stay quiet, and absorb as much information from the outside world as she can.
But she's getting off topic.
"That's good. I'm glad to hear it. How about you? How have you been handling moving here to Menagerie?"
Eve takes a moment to think about that. "Better than most people, I'd assume. I didn't have anything that I was leaving behind; no family or friends back in Atlas. I know there are quite a few who are trying to work out how to get their families here in Menagerie. Apparently… the Atlas government is going to be helping with that."
To Blake, it makes sense why they'd do such a thing. Sweep the entire event under the rug without anyone making a fuss, and they can pretend like nothing had ever happened. That's better for the SDC – a wealthy business within Atlas – than having their wrongs exposed from the mining camp Blake had hit, and so they'll go out of their way to allow this to all silently fade away.
That's just business, unfortunately; albeit in this case it happens to aid them.
"But I've been doing well." Eve states. "I wasn't sure what we were going to do in terms of housing, but Ghira Belladonna… I don't know if you've met him?"
Blake finds some small amusement in the question. "We've run into one another once or twice."
"Ah, good. So Ghira Belladonna decided to give each one of us an apartment in a complex that's being built. It's supposed to finish construction a month or two from now. Until then, we're all staying in the hotels on the coast here, free of charge."
That sounds like her father. It has Blake smiling. She knows, of course, that said decisions, such niceties, had been a part of the strategy that Sienna had instilled in him to recruit people into the White Fang, even when she'd only been his right-hand woman. Sienna had always had such a knack for those kinds of things; recruitment, raising and keeping morale high.
Treat the people well, and they'll be more willing to give back when things are asked of them.
Still, her father had only ever used such methods without any thought of getting anything in return. Sienna had at the time never mentioned recruiting from those assisted people, and perhaps, in the beginning, she too had only done it to be kind.
Blake can't say she knows exactly what Sienna Khan had once thought when she'd been a young woman, only seventeen or eighteen years of age.
It is as she's thinking about Sienna that someone clears their throat from behind Blake. She turns around, curious, and her eyes widen when she finds…
Well, the woman herself, standing right before her.
It's incredibly nostalgic to see Sienna like this. This… is almost exactly how she'd looked when Blake had been growing up. She'd been like a big sister to Blake; a calming, reassuring presence, and someone who genuinely believed in the righteousness of the White Fang's cause.
Bitterness and failure had sunk their fangs into her eventually, but here and now, the woman standing there, smiling at Blake, looks almost awkward.
"Hello, there." Blake does her best to pretend like she doesn't know precisely who this is. "May I help you?"
"Ah, right, my apologies," Sienna bows – bows, which is so unlike her that Blake instantly realizes she must want something. "My name is Sienna. Sienna Khan. I'm a… well, I guess I'm not really much of anything at the moment."
"Don't you work for Ghira Belladonna?"
"Oh. I guess I do that, yes." Sienna responds a bit awkwardly. It's clear her ability to give grand speeches and inspire hundreds of White Fang soldiers has not yet developed. "I didn't expect you would have heard of me."
"Your name came up when I was speaking with him." She lies, and she does it so casually that Sienna doesn't pick up on it at all. "Did you need me for something, Ms. Khan?"
Sienna goes red again, clearly having forgotten she'd been asking for something. "R-Right, so, the thing is, uhm…"
She steps up towards Blake, rubs at the back of her neck, and then, bows so that her front half is almost perpendicular with her legs.
"Please, train me!"
Really, looking back on it, given that she'd been in the middle of training Evelynn when Sienna had walked up, she perhaps should have expected her to say as much. Still, the very thought of her training Sienna, the woman who'd been a big sister to her for most of her life, is just…
Well, it's a bit hard to comprehend.
Her mouth is hanging open a little dumbly, and Sienna seems to think she's going to say no, because her expression drops.
"I think that's a wonderful idea."
Blake turns around to see Eve smiling over at her, seeming quite confident in her words. "You've been teaching me, after all, and I think Sienna's probably a bit better than I am, right?"
Sienna, sensing the opportunity, speaks up. "I have prior training, and am decently skilled with a whip."
Decently skilled is perhaps an understatement. Sienna had mostly retired from the battlefield once being made leader of the White Fang, but at the height of her ability, she'd been able to match Adam evenly, and occasionally even defeat him in straight up one-on-one's.
She's not quite as good as someone like Cinder, or Qrow, but in just a few years she would be a significant jump up from a hunter-in-training like they had been during their time at Beacon.
It feels like an easy yes, at least separated from what Blake knows. Sienna's a good fighter already, and, while likely unable to measure up to Blake in her current state, probably could make it to where she's at within a few years.
Blake's not entirely sure what to think, however, when she does factor in what she knows. Training Eve… it's different from offering those same services to Sienna. Eve isn't going to grow up to be the leader of a terrorist group in a few short years. She isn't going to grow up to be a woman whose actions – whether justified or unjustified – will lead to the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands of humans and faunus alike.
Sienna will. If history goes unchanged – and in all fairness, it might very well not, given their presence in the past…
Training her, making her better…
Is that the right thing to do?
"U-Uhm…" Sienna seems quite nervous, evidently seeing Blake's hesitance. "I promise, ma'am, I won't shirk my training, and I won't give up if I don't see immediate results. I've been trained by some of the best here in Menagerie, and while that probably doesn't measure up to your own training, I–"
"Enough." Blake sighs out, even as Sienna does just that, standing ramrod straight as she awaits Blake's words.
"…We'll start with sword forms. I'm not as familiar with the whip, and learning something as basic as a blade is never bad for your overall skill."
Sienna's eyes practically light up, her smile beaming.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Blake sighs, shaking her head, even as Sienna runs over to the rack of training weapons, and draws one from off of it. Evelynn smiles as she sees that, chuckling under her breath at Blake's somewhat haggard expression.
"If it matters, I think you're doing the right thing." Eve tells her.
And Blake…
She can only laugh weakly.
"I certainly hope I am."
/
Yang isn't going to say her life is simple at the moment, mostly because that would be completely false, but things have… calmed down, if that makes sense?
She's with Raven, as she has been for the last little while, chilling out in Patch. At the moment, she's looking into a mirror, trying to decide if she should stick with her current short hair, or go through the pains of allowing it to grow out over the course of the next year or so's time.
She decides that she's not going to decide, and steps away from the mirror. The outfit she has on is nothing special – just a crop-top with a jacket overtop, and jeans. It looks good without taking any actual effort, which is Yang's favorite kind of outfit.
She exits out of her hotel room to see Raven waiting for her.
"So?" She questions as her mother starts for the door. "Nervous?"
Raven glares back at her, but she doesn't say anything to the contrary. Yang allows her some time to speak if she wants to, and sure enough, five or so seconds later, Raven replies.
"Yes."
It's more honesty than she'd anticipated, but then, she and her mother have become… not quite close, but they've started to understand one another. Raven understands that Yang's the type to needle without meaning any harm, and Yang understands that Raven's the type to bury her true feelings underneath a few layers of cynicism and snappiness.
They're making it work, despite how difficult it can sometimes be.
"Well… I'm happy for you." Yang states as she pushes herself to catch up with her mother, so that they're walking side-by-side on their way to the Xiao-Long cabin. "I know how terrifying this all is for you. Or, well, I can guess."
Raven nods her head, again not denying the truth.
"Have they told uncle Qrow yet?"
"No." Raven sighs. "Although I'm sure knowing him, he'll decide to show up the moment I get any foothold in here and totally ruin everything."
"That does sound like him." Yang says fondly.
Silence stretches between them for the next little while. Yang is… well, admittedly, she's curious about a certain something, and she feels like she might as well ask.
"So… what do I do?"
"Hm?"
"I just…" Yang scratches at the back of her head. "You're trying to live with Mom and Dad again, yeah?"
Raven eyes her, and after a moment, she gives an affirmative hum.
"So… what do I do, then?"
"Ah." Raven seems to understand her line of questioning now. "You're asking where you're supposed to live."
"Yeah, I mean, I'd normally find a place to stay, but I've got about fifteen lien to my name at the moment."
She really wishes she'd been kidding, but honestly, fifteen's probably a bit high of an estimate.
"And you don't think Summer and Tai are going to suddenly invite you to live with them." Raven summarizes her thoughts rather aptly. "Given to them, you're just some random huntress. Right. That… is somewhat troubling."
"I mean, I am a huntress, so it's not like I can't find work. I just didn't really intend to be randomly traveling around, killing Grimm like some kind of lone wanderer."
Raven snorts. "I can tell you from experience that it sucks quite a bit. We had a year or so long period during our last year at Beacon where we were sent on a mission to north Vacuo. Long story short, we were looking for someone, but that ended up dragging us the whole way across the Kingdom. We basically became local legends, but despite the stories they tell of us, I can guarantee you we were having an awful lot less fun than they thought we were."
"I mean, I'll do it, I'd just rather not."
"I can just ask if you can stay."
"Yeah, I don't really want to… impose?" Yang feels weird saying that she'd be imposing in her own home. "Ugh. Why does my life have to be this complicated?"
"I can't tell you the answer to that one, unfortunately." Raven smiles. "…I could probably convince Tai to make you a small place."
Yang looked down at Raven with one eyebrow raised rather highly on her forehead. Raven just shrugs. "He built the cabin, after all. Took him no time at all, either."
"All by himself?"
"Nah, me and Summer helped, but I found out I was pregnant about a month into the building, and so they both refused to let me do anymore work after that." Raven has a gentle smile on her face. Yang gathers that those are good memories, despite everything. "Put in a little elbow grease, and he'd probably let you build it not too far away."
"Eh."
"Don't just say 'eh', like I'm supposed to be able to decipher what that means."
They bicker for a while, even as they approach the Xiao-Long cabin proper. They step up towards the door, but it opens before they can knock, and standing there in the doorway is mini-Yang.
"Auntie!" She rushes forward, and wraps her arms around Raven's waist. "You're back!"
Yang looks over to see her mother with a complicated expression on her face.
"It's… good to see you as well, little one." Raven pats the top of mini's head awkwardly, and Yang has to fight back a snort. "Where are your mother and father?"
"Upstairs!"
"I see." Raven is clearly waiting for mini-Yang to stop hugging her. This has not yet happened. "Er… don't you want to go see what they're up to?"
"Nope. I want to hug you!"
Yang smiles at her mother's obvious distress, and it is made all the better because Raven can't snap back at her. After all, mini-Yang's sensitive ears are right there.
Eventually, some thirty seconds later, mini-Yang pulls back, and lets them come in.
The house is… well, it's the house she'd spent the majority of her life in. The same cabinets in the kitchen that had been built way too high. The same stairs that had been built just a little bit crooked. The same television that had, when Yang had been a teenager, stopped showing color on the right half of the screen, something that none of them had ever been able to figure out the reason or remedy for.
Yang is smiling, and Raven…
Well, she looks a bit lost.
"It's…" Raven opens her mouth, and then closes it. "It looks the same."
"Yeah. It does." Yang notes. "C'mon, you wanted to go see them, right?"
They ascend the stairs, and find Summer and Taiyang discussing something in their bedroom. Luckily for Yang's sanity, they're fully clothed, and they look up when Raven and Yang enter into sight.
"Oh." Summer stands. "I didn't… I'd have come down to greet you if I knew you were coming."
"It's fine. Yang let us in." Raven speaks, before clearing her throat and asking, "What were you discussing?"
"Ozpin wanted me to come by Beacon to investigate a student he thought might be suspicious, but he called me just a little while ago to let me know that that's apparently not as much of an immediate concern." Summer states. "He still wants me to drop by when I have the time, but I told him I might be busy for a while, and he said that was fine."
Yang's happy to hear that Summer's willing to put time aside for her family. She supposes this isn't quite the same as shelving them to go off and fight against Salem. Checking to see if a student is… actually, Yang doesn't know why Summer, of all people, would be called in, but eh, that's not really her business.
Whatever. What Yang is saying is she's glad Summer isn't going off and getting herself killed.
That… she doesn't quite remember when that happens, but she is very, very intent on not allowing it to happen in the first place.
It's a part of the reason, though she hadn't been able to say it to Raven without revealing the future, that she'd not wanted to go too far away from Patch. If Summer goes off on that mission without Yang realizing it…
…She's not going to let that happen. She refuses.
Even if she has to build a house for herself here just like her dad had so that she can keep an eye on them all… she'll do it.
"Oh," Summer looks over at Yang, and she smiles. "I've only just realized that I never got your name."
"That's right." Taiyang, her father, does the same, his smile just as sunny as it's always been. "You helped Raven to get her head on straight, didn't you?"
"Oi." Raven hisses out.
"Yeah, uh, I did." Yang chuckles. "It's… it's kind of funny, actually."
And yet, despite all of what she's said, she doesn't want to lie to them. She doesn't want to lie to her mom and dad. She's lying enough already.
She can't tell them everything, of course, or even most of what she knows, but…
She can give them one single, solitary truth.
"My name's Yang, too."
/
It's been about a week since they'd finished processing the paperwork on the Marcus Black case, and Weiss is, officially, done.
Her body is tired. Her mind is tired. Her emotions are tired. Her spirit is tired.
She wants a break.
She is not being given one.
"So, I figured I'd cordially invite you to investigate Mistral's seedy underbelly with me, in the hopes we catch the bastards who called in this hit on Lionheart's guard." Qrow finishes, crossing his arms, and tilting his head to one side. "Well?"
Weiss groans. "Why me, exactly?"
"Mostly, if I'm being honest, because I want to vet you a little further. You're good; damned good."
Weiss is flattered, but… "I set off that bomb in Marcus' place and nearly got killed."
Qrow nods.
"I nearly killed Mercury, I exploded at that family the other day, I'm someone you've fully admitted you can't actually trust… what makes you think I'm… what even is this?"
"I'm vetting you."
"For what!?"
"Because I think you might have what it takes to join a…" Qrow purses his lips. "Rather exclusive club, so t' speak."
Oh.
Weiss put the pieces together admittedly a lot later than she probably should've.
Qrow thinks she's good enough to join Ozma's – or at this point Ozpin's – inner circle.
Which…
Well, she's having a hard time believing that, truth be told.
"And what about all of what I just said?"
"I can go through point by point, if you'd like?"
Weiss nods, and so Qrow does.
"That first thing's inconsequential." Qrow starts. "Sure, you fell for that trap when you saw the kid tied up, but that's not the kind of thing you're going to fall for a second time. In the future, I'd bet you're going to be twice as careful in a place like that, and you're not going to buy the sympathy card a second time, am I right?"
Weiss… can't actually deny that.
"The second one isn't your fault." Qrow continues. "Kid running at your sword mid-swing is in no way on you. You were doing what had to be done. Even if he'd died – as fucked up as it is to say it – that would not have been your fault."
Weiss doesn't like Qrow's tone very much, but she begrudgingly nods her head, allowing him to keep dissecting what she'd considered 'failures'.
"I don't think anyone on the planet is gonna' get mad at you for being upset some parents were abusing their daughter, kid. That had me mad as well, I was just hidin' it." Qrow tells her. "And before you go saying that the fact you exploded is a problem, yeah, it is, but you were working off of, what, a day's rest after a double-all-nighter?"
Weiss, again, can't actually argue against that.
"And as for me not being able to fully trust you… yeah. That's why I'm vetting you." Qrow says this like she's an idiot, and honestly, she feels like one. "Kid, I'm not saying you have to. Go off on your own if you want, I know you've got people you're looking for. But I will say that the guy I work for has got quite the information network. He can probably find those people you're looking for."
…Shit, Qrow's right on that front, too. If she could get access to Ozpin's surveillance, or Ironwood's through Ozpin…
Yes, that would likely make finding her allies much easier.
Her leg raises and falls in a staccato rhythm as she thinks things over. It… has all the hallmarks of a good plan, and yet she'd really not wanted to get involved with Ozpin so early on. She'd held no delusions she could hold out forever, but…
…But when she thinks about it, does she have any better options?
That's the thought that pops back up in her head over and over again. Does she have a better option. She can't help but feel that no, she doesn't.
And if she doesn't…
Weiss Schnee takes a breath, and then, with a beleaguered sigh, looks Qrow in the eye.
"Where do we start?"
/
"So?"
Ruby looks excitedly at Roman, who's holding his new weapon, Melodic Foil, in his hands. It's evolved somewhat from the design stages – as all weapons do – but it is, still, the same cane/staff/sword combination they'd been planning on creating from the start.
And from the giddy grin on Roman's face, Ruby thinks he's very much a fan.
"Holy crap, Ruby!" He laughs heartily. "This is incredible!"
"I'm glad you like it." Ruby states, before turning to the third member present within the forge. "Amber, your thoughts?"
"It's…" She hesitates a moment. "Intricate. Well designed."
"I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
"Bug off." Amber rolls her eyes, and both Roman and Ruby laugh at that.
Things have been looking up in the week or so since Ruby had her serious talk with Amber. They've been… not exactly a team, but they've started in that general direction. Ruby is quite pleased, all things considered.
"So," Amber clears her throat. "Now that you have an actual weapon, Roman, you will need to learn to utilize it. Tell me, what former experience do you have with a foil, staff, or cane?"
"Uh…" Roman thinks for a moment too long.
"Oh, gods." Amber groans. "You really are hopeless, aren't you?"
"Hey, I'll have you know Ruby thinks I'm improving by leaps and bounds!" He turns to her. "Tell her I'm right!"
He is right, just… not as right as he thinks he is.
He has been improving, and quicker than Ruby had expected. But she'd also been hyping him up a bit to keep him motivated, pretending like his rise has been meteoric, and not just… good.
Still, she'll play along. There's no harm in it. "Roman has been doing quite well, Amber. Perhaps you can join us for our training sessions?"
"I…" Amber ponders a moment. "I suppose I can do that."
It's good to see Amber being truer to herself, even if it's probably against the advice of Ozpin. She seems to be uncertain about what she's doing, but doing it anyways.
Ruby's proud of her, even if she's not sure she should be.
She knows she's not on Salem's side, but another person in her same scenario very well could've been.
She can't argue with what Ozpin says, even if in this case he'd been wrong.
Still, Ruby does her best to focus on her plan.
For the moment, her primary goal is raising her team up to be strong enough to qualify for the Vytal Festival. It's being held in Atlas this year, which means that there will be fewer teams chosen from Vale, given the hosting Kingdom has a much larger percentage of their own teams, mostly down to budgetary restrictions.
And given they're first years, and Roman is akin to where Jaune had been around this same point in his first year…
Yeah, it's not going to be an easy task.
Still, Ruby's confident she can win the whole thing is she can make it to the Vytal Festival itself, and winning the Vytal Festival is bound to draw enough eyes onto her to get people talking.
And hopefully, by getting them talking, she can get her allies to hear about her.
It's risky, of course. It's taken her this long to realize it, but one of the other things that had probably prevented Ozpin from just having her arrested had almost certainly been her Silver Eyes.
And Salem, who will certainly have someone watching news of the outside world, will most likely spot her as well.
And while that's worrying…
Well, it's a price she's willing to pay to meet up with Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Jaune once again.
So, she takes a breath, claps her hands together to draw her team's attention, and lays out her plan.
"Alright, Team Rarity!" She starts. "Over the course of the next seven or eight months, I plan on making us the best of the best here at Beacon Academy! We're going to get selected to go to the Vytal Festival, and we're going to strut our stuff on the world stage!"
Roman raises his hand. "Question."
"What's up?"
"Uh… what's a Vytal Festival?"
Amber smacks her forehead with her hand, and lets out a beleaguered sigh.
/
It is an auspicious day in the Kingdom of Atlas, inside Atlas Military Headquarters, within the confines of the court stationed there. Today, a hearing will be held that will determine the future direction of Atlas.
And Elm Ederne isn't really sure why she's here.
Of course, she's been brought along as aid to General– er, Captain Ironwood – but it's going to be General in like three hours, so eh – and to serve as a witness to some of the abuses that the current Admiral – Admiral Browning – has been continuously allowing to occur under his command.
But she's an Ensign. Or, well, she had been, until she'd been taken in as a candidate to make Specialist. She's in her first few weeks of training still. She doesn't think she should be present at one of the biggest events in modern Atlesian history.
Today is the day that Atlas' current general, General Hawthorne, is going to have his title stripped away from him, and given to Ironwood.
The writing has been on the wall for a while now. General Hawthorne is an old and bitter man, with graying hairs on his face and an attitude that had really only flown during wartime. He'd been Atlas' General for going on thirty or so years now, and had primarily earned that position due to his accolades during the Faunus Right Revolution.
Of course, such accolades only continued to look worse as the years went by.
Where once the Faunus Rights Revolution had been a bitter topic, something seen as a failure of Atlas, it was now being looked at as a major win in the world's history; the challenging of bigotry, and the victory of the oppressed. Those who had fought in that war against the faunus were being looked at far more negatively.
And General Hawthorne was, in those ways, just about the worst of the worst.
He took a firmly anti-faunus stance on almost all matters, only supporting their presence in the workforce where the SDC and its partners were concerned. He had been in favor of discriminatory laws, fought hard to keep faunus children from having places in Atlesian schools, and was, just in general, pretty much regarded as a huge piece of shit.
Hey, that wasn't just Elm's opinion. The people around the barracks were very much not fans of the guy.
His hardline approach had begun to seem more and more hairbrained in a society where the greatest threat the Faunus truly posed was wanting to be paid equally to humans, and wanting to be allowed the same freedoms as humans were. To Elm, at least, those seemed like pretty easy asks.
To people like Hawthorne, they were genuinely problematic requests.
Elm didn't understand that; but then, she didn't understand bigotry at all. If someone else wanted to do something that wasn't hurting anyone else, then frankly, they could do it as much as they damn well pleased in Elm's eyes.
Some people just had nothing better to do with their lives. It was kind of sad.
It had been, up until a few weeks ago, an almost surefire thing that Ironwood would be taking over for Hawthorne, and ousting the man from his position entirely.
And then the 'Black Fang' incidents had occurred.
That woman who'd attacked the SDC's mining camp, and then subsequently fought Elm and her crew aboard the Divinity, had given Hawthorne and the other anti-faunus councilmembers ammunition when it was most needed. Had such not happened, their chances of emerging from out of this hearing with their jobs would have been zero.
Now…
As much as Elm doesn't want to admit it, the chance existed.
Finally, after what has been a nearly thirty-minute wait, the people who will be officiating the hearing – five of Atlas' councilmembers – enter into the room. The soldiers within the hall all rise, Elm included, and sit back down once they've been dismissed.
"Right." Councilor Sleet, who's been in his position for nearly fifteen years already, and is seen as both a moderate and the de facto leader of the council, clears his throat. "We are gathered here today to review the conduct of those holding both of the Atlas' Militaries top positions; General Hawthorne, and Admiral Browning."
Both men stay seated at the front of the room. General Hawthorne is under review for more general matters, and his overall conduct. His views are seen as backwards, and behind the times.
Admiral Browning, on the other hand, is under review for heinous misuse of the Atlas Navy's forces. Multiple officers now have been caught committing the same offenses that Elm's own captain and crew had been, and because of that, it's suspected that he himself has been allowing these behaviors to go unchecked.
"To begin with, we'll allow Admiral Browning to take the stand in his defense."
The man does, but over the course of the next twenty or so minutes, Elm hears very little of actual substance. Admiral Browning is unable to more than make excuses, and many figures around the room seem to already be making their minds up on him.
Elm knows then and there that Admiral Browning will not be leaving the room with his title.
The next person to go up is General Hawthorne, and unlike Admiral Browning, there is a certain… sureness to the man's gait. He walks to the stand, lays out a few pieces of paper, and begins to orate.
"Ladies and gentleman of the council; and distinguished guests who have come here today. I thank you for being here on this historic eve."
He gives a short introduction. He even personally addresses Captain Ironwood, nodding his head to him, and saying it's a pleasure to see him here.
Elm doesn't like it. The man seems much more… confident than Elm had expected.
"Now, allow me to set the record straight." General Hawthorne clears his throat. "I am, by many members of the council, seen as a war hawk. Someone unwilling to let go of the past; someone unwilling to allow those demons of yesteryear to disappear back from whence they came."
"But I come before you all today with the knowledge that the warnings that I have continuously espoused have been confirmed."
Elm's brow furrows. Beside her, Ironwood's does much the same.
"I have spent the last three decades of my life decrying the modern movement to allow the faunus into our fair city, and many have called me a bigot for such. A racist. A dogmatic mad man. And yet, I ask each and every one of you to look at the facts of the situation; to look at what occurred within one of the SDC's mining camps just a few weeks ago."
So, that's his play. Elm thinks, build fear of the faunus in the council, and then try and keep his position off of that.
It is, unfortunately, not the worst idea. Two members of Atlas' council are known to be… while Elm can't call them racist, she can at the very least call them opinionated in terms of the faunus. They are the kinds of people that could be easily swayed to Hawthorne's side.
He'll have to do very little to convince them, and the other two members of the council that aren't councilman Sleet aren't exactly paragons of virtue, either.
Suddenly, Elm's an awful lot less sure of things than she'd been at the start of the day.
"Three weeks ago, a faunus woman, codenamed 'Black Fang', attacked and assaulted the C-14 mining camp owned by the SDC. The actions she took led to multiple members of the guardian force there being heavily injured, and one even developed an infection that led to his limb having to be amputated."
There's a muttering at that which Elm doesn't like at all. Especially given that Hawthorne isn't mentioning the fact that the soldiers at C-14 had been found guilty of many, many offenses by the SDC, who are famously… lax when it comes to enforcing the law.
"She illegally extradited one hundred and three faunus who'd been working in the camp to Menagerie by hijacking a civilian ship, the 'Divinity', and got into a skirmish with members of the Atlesian Navy. Of course, had the Navy's standards been up to snuff, I've no doubt they could have captured the terrorist before she could do further damage. Unfortunately, my comrade here, Admiral Browning, has been quite lax in enforcing military doctrine upon his own soldiers."
Ah. He also means to put blame on Admiral Browning as well. It's underhanded, and judging by the way that Browning is looking up at Hawthorne with a shocked expression, unanticipated, but it does make him look better by proxy.
He's a shrewd man, Hawthorne, but he's defending himself an awful lot better than Elm had initially suspected.
"But I feel the need to ask, my fellows; how long will it be before such a thing repeats itself?"
There's a general murmur, then, that spreads about the room.
"Black Fang went uncaptured, and these sorts of incidents are rarely one-off events. How long will it be before Black Fang reappears, and takes out another mining camp? How long will it be before the price of Dust, unable to be mined safely, increases? How long will it be before we have to raise our prices, and our foreign allies are suddenly much less keen to work alongside us?"
It's catastrophizing at its purest. Black Fang hasn't been seen or heard from since the initial attack, and from what Ironwood tells her, he's not expecting that to change.
Yet Hawthorne is attempting to drum up fear of the faunus in order to justify his own views.
The unfortunate thing, however…
Is that it's working.
All around the room, Elm can see people beginning to whisper amongst themselves. Looking left, then right, communicating in hushed tones.
This…
Elm hadn't at all anticipated this.
"Many people see me as a racist. As a bigot. Someone who has allowed dogma to dictate his senses." Hawthorne echoes his own words from earlier. "But I am here to remind you all of a simple truth; it was not thirty years ago that the faunus were considered enemies of mankind. While so many of today's youth have ignored this, and while so many of you seem to have forgotten… it is my job, as someone who works to protect and safeguard the citizens of Atlas, not to forget the grave threat that the faunus can, and will, cause."
"Black Fang will only be the first. Mark my words, the faunus will only grow more and more restless, more and more daring. In but a few years–"
And beside her, in a move that completely shocks Elm, Captain James Ironwood shoots to his feet.
"It is the very policies you have instituted as both General, and a member of Atlas' council, that have led to the faunus of Atlas growing more and more fevered, Hawthorne!"
There is a brief uproar as the entire room swivels to watch Ironwood. He's leaning forward with his arms on the table underneath him, glaring across the room at Hawthorne, who looks, in a way, almost smug.
Elm doesn't like that. Not one bit.
"Captain Ironwood," Councilman Sleet clears his throat. "You have not yet been called upon to speak."
"No, it's fine, councilman." General Hawthorne, in a move that only makes him look steadier, raises a hand to wave off the council. "If James has something he wishes to say, then I shall allow him to do so."
Captain Ironwood has always been unwilling to sit back and allow bad things to happen. It's normally a very good character trait, but in this singular instance, it's making him look unofficial, and it's only reinforcing Hawthorne's own image.
"Members of the council, I urge you not to listen to what General Hawthorne is saying." Ironwood straightens his posture, standing at attention. "He is doing his best to influence you by telling you only the facts that will enhance his position, but the truth of the matter was that the conduct undertaken by the members of the SDC C-14 mining colony were abhorrent. From what was caught on camera, they had been about to brand a young faunus child with a hot iron before Black Fang stepped in."
There are multiple gasps, and other such reactions, around the room. General Hawthorne, even, seems shocked.
Or at the very least, he's quite good at pretending to be shocked.
"Then I am glad that she succeeded in stopping them. I do not hate the faunus. I am merely cautious of them." Hawthorne claims. "But do you not think that the things she saw there might lead her to believe that all of the SDC's camps might be doing such things under the surface?"
It's… an annoyingly good point. If one camp had been like that, could others? Elm herself has doubts that there aren't other mining camps doing the same things, abusing their authority in a place without any.
"And do you not think your conduct as General of Atlas has brought about such behavior?"
"I fail to understand your line of questioning, James." Hawthorne raises his head, almost looking down at Ironwood. "I have only ever adjusted my conduct and policies to account for the threats the world will face."
"A ridiculous notion, and you know it, General. The faunus are people like you or I. They simply wish to be treated with the same respect that you or I are. And for the last ten years, it has been your policies continuously stirring unrest amongst the faunus populations here in Atlas. The White Fang, a peaceful activist group, has seen more and more of its members come under attack during their protests. Rocks are thrown. Slurs are hurled. And nothing is done to combat this. Even the guards sent to, ostensibly, police such things more often than not only seem to be there to prevent the faunus from fighting back against such treatment."
"Such are the risks of protesting. I myself have attended many protests in my time, and I have the scars to prove it." Hawthorne probably had; he might've even been protesting against faunus rights. That sounded like something he'd do. "Do you believe we can police the beliefs of everyone in Atlas, James?"
"No, but we can police those who go out of their way to antagonize ordinary men and women, just trying to improve the quality of their own lives. Those who throw stones, those who assault the faunus in the streets. They should be dragged off to jail, not allowed to walk away without anything happening to them!"
"I don't disagree. In fact, I'll look into implementing such laws in the near future."
"You've had years to do so! And yet conditions for the faunus in Atlas have only grown worse under your tenure! Half of the shops in Atlas refuse to serve the faunus!"
"And? If a man owns an establishment, he is allowed to deny service to anyone he wishes."
"Such is only the case in Atlas. In Vale and Vacuo, laws are already being put in place to make such illegal! And the beginnings of such policies are being implemented in Mistral as well!"
"And I see that as a gross misstep of government. Who am I to decide how my citizens live?"
"You are one of the members of the Atlesian Council, and their General! It is to you that they look for example! And the example you've set is that which they have followed for thirty years, now. That of bigotry and hate. That of someone who has been fighting a war that has long since ended. It is for that very reason that Atlas requires new leadership. It needs a new set of eyes. A new core of values."
"And on that, we are in agreement, James." Hawthorne is still smiling. "In fact, given that Admiral Browning has clearly shown himself to be incompetent, I believe there exists a solution to both of our problems; I would propose that James Ironwood take up his place as Admiral of Atlas."
Elm isn't the only one shocked at such a notion. It had been such a poorly kept secret that Ironwood would be given the General position for months now that many had been accidentally referring to him as such in the halls. And yet, now, Hawthorne suggests to keep his own position, and to grant Ironwood Browning's.
The worst part is that several key figures in the room don't seem all that upset about such a plan.
"Hawthorne…" Ironwood grits his teeth. "You are living in the past. This Kingdom needs a future."
"I believe you look too far ahead, James." Hawthorne gazes back at him, an assured expression on his face. "This Kingdom needs someone with their eyes on the here and now."
Councilman Sleet asks for quiet, and the room does, eventually, still once more. The damage has been done, however.
Another twenty or so minutes pass as the councilmen deliberate, and they readjourn to give out the different rulings on the two matters they'd proposed that evening.
"Firstly, on the matter of Admiral Browning being removed from his position as Admiral, effective immediately. Those in favor shall raise their hands."
Normally, there are seven council votes. Five for the regular councilors, and two more for the General and Admiral positions. On account of both being under trial that evening, however, they're both unable to vote.
That means there are only five votes.
And of those five, all of them raise their hands to strip Browning of his position.
Former Admiral Browning leaves the court room, and will likely have another trial set up in the near future focused on the consequences of his continued allowances of breaking military protocol.
"Next, on the matter of General Hawthorne being removed from his position as General, effective immediately. Those in favor shall raise their hands."
Councilman Sleet had always been a done deal. He's a moderate, but he's also someone who expertly reads the shifting of the tides. Someone able to see the way the world is headed.
And he knows the world is moving towards the future. His hand goes up.
One other does the same, belonging to a councilman that Elm doesn't know the name of.
But…
Three people leave their hands down.
Elm's eyes widen, even as Councilman Sleet, despite having been outvoted, clears his throat, and then says, "In that case, General Hawthorne will continue on as General of Atlas."
There's a commotion at that, at least, which tells Elm that not everyone in the room has fallen for Hawthorne's backwards logic. Yet the fact of the matter is that a good many of them are silent, content with Hawthorne keeping his position.
And that…
"I call for an emergency vote, councilman." General Hawthorne raises a hand. "To replace Admiral Browning. After all, the seas around Menagerie may grow far more difficult to maintain in the near future if others like Black Fang show their faces."
"That…" Councilman Sleet sighs. "Very well. All in favor of an emergency vote?"
Four people, the only one abstaining being Sleet himself, raise their hands.
"Would anyone like to nominate a candidate–"
"Captain James Ironwood." General Hawthorne turns back, and the look on his face is…
It's victory in its purest form.
"I think he'd fit perfectly into the role."
Ironwood himself can only glare back at Hawthorne, but he stays silent as the votes are tallied.
"Very well, then, with by the power vested in this council, we promote James Ironwood to the position of Admiral of the Atlesian Navy."
There's a smattering of applause at that, but Ironwood seats himself immediately. There's a look of disgust upon his face. Elm's not entirely certain what it is that he's disgusted with. The system, the people, or Hawthorne himself?
"This…" Ironwood takes a deep, unsteady breath. "This is bad."
"Sir?" Elm can't help but ask.
"I was under the impression that the majority of those serving on the council held more moderate views, and yet… both Dew and Lilac were easy for Hawthorne to sway. Easy enough that I believe they must've been on his side from the beginning, and were only looking for an excuse to back him."
Elm doesn't know who Dew and Lilac are. Obviously council members, she's just not sure who.
"But Dennings… surely, he was a veteran of the Rights Revolution, but… he'd always expressed such regret over his time. I always assumed… but perhaps he was turned as well by Hawthorne's remarks about the future. That utter bastard."
Hearing Ironwood losing his cool like this… it has Elm unnerved, has her swallowing on some spittle.
"Sir… what do we do now?"
"I," Ironwood sighs. "Will likely be sent to the waters just outside Menagerie. No wonder Hawthorne was so keen to see me promoted to Admiral. If I'm not here in Atlas, I can't get in his way to enact more of these racist policies."
Ironwood just shakes his head, running a hand down his face.
"I hesitate to say it, Specialist Cadet, but… The future of Atlas, perhaps the entire world…
"Is now in flux."
End Chapter 18
End Part 1
Alright, that's both Chapter 18, and Part 1 of WYAN in the books! Hope you guys have enjoyed this story so far!
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