20
"How did they take it?" Came the question from Headmaster Ozpin.
"Uhhh…" Carmine thought back to having to tackle Blake to the ground and needing both Ruby and Yang to drag her back to their dorm, "Well."
"Really? Miss Schnee had no objections?" He asked.
"Oh!" She snapped her fingers, "She did but I put her at ease."
"Stange." Oz gave a small smile that he hid behind taking a sip from his mug, "That's not what General Ironwood told me?"
"What does he have to do with this?"
Ozpin set his mug down and steepled his fingers, "Well once Specialist Schnee heard about the excursion she went to the General and he came to me, with some concerns. He stated that since Miss Schnee was a citizen of Atlas that her safety was his concern."
"More like what would Jacques do if his heiress got hurt in Menagerie." Carmine rolled her eye, "Weiss has chosen her career and shouldn't be shown any preferential treatment."
"Which I explained to him." He filled in, "But they wanted to speak with the one in charge of the mission."
Carmine felt her heart sink, knowing what Ozpin was getting at, "No Oz."
"You are a professor, Rose." The old man smiled indulgently, "Time to do your job."
She scowled at him, feeling that it had to be some vindictiveness on his part. The elevator door dinged and opened, letting two figures into the room. One was James Ironwood calm and collected. The other was her main concern, however, as a very angry looking Winter Schnee stalked towards her with intention. Not wanting to chance it she got up from her seat and moved the chair between the two of them.
"Hey Winter!" She chirped. "Gosh you look pretty today!"
"I am livid, Rose!" Winter churned through gritted teeth and an icy glare.
"And you are hot when you're angry."
"Rose!" She roared.
"Alright, alright geez, no need to shout, I'm right here." She wiggled her pinky in her ear, then looked up at the woman, "Well? What do you want?"
There was a dangerous twitch in the woman's eye, "You are taking my sister to Menagerie."
"What's better than fun in the sun?"
When Winter opened her mouth to shout again the General gave a cough and she stopped with a glance back at him before she composed herself, deciding not to let Carmine antagonize her further.
"And why," She seethed, "Are you taking my sister, a Schnee and target of the White Fang, to Menagerie?"
Carmine gasped in shock, clutching an imaginary necklace, "Winter! Just because Menagerie is a nation of faunus doesn't mean they are beholden to the White Fang!"
"That is not what I mean!" She glared, "Only that Menagerie is not known to police the White Fang that that many faunus who reside there are either a part of the organization or sympathizers."
"I get it, Winter, I really do." Raising her hands in a placating manner, she replied, "You have my personal assurance that nothing bad will happen to Weiss. To any of them in fact. We have spoken with Ghira, the Chieftain of Menagerie, and we have his assurance that we will be welcome. He has even been informed as to who will be coming so there will be no surprise."
"The White Fang will try regardless of any assurance that can be made."
"And if they do try then I will take the appropriate actions in response." Replied evenly.
Winter stood there and eyed her for a long moment, arms crossed and her gaze slowly assessing the sincerity of her words. The woman would find no lie in them, Carmine knew, because if the White Fang did make an attempt on team RWBY they would see just what a huntress in her prime could do.
"I will accompany you." Winter finally said in a matter of fact tone.
"Absolutely not!" Carmine refused instantly, making an x with her forearms, "Weiss and her team are one thing but you are a soldier of Atlas. That's an incident waiting to happen."
"Specialist." Ironwood finally spoke up from his place towards the back of the room, content to watch, most likely knowing what the outcome would be in the first place. He must have been doing it all for Winter's sake, "The professor is right. You are a soldier of our nation. Even if there wasn't this kind of tension between Atlas and Menagerie, you are too close to the matter for me to permit you to go."
Slowly the white-haired woman closed her eyes drawing in a deep breath before opening them, "Yes, Sir." She looked into Carmine's eye, "Weiss had better return."
With her piece said she promptly did a heel-turn with a salute to the General and strode out of the room, letting the elevator's door close on the scowl she leveled at Carmine. Ironwood stepped forwards once she was gone, his hands clasped behind his back and he gave her a considering look.
"You're going to find more of those Grimm, yes?" He asked as he took the seat next to her.
It was with a bit of hesitation, and a glance at Ozpin, that she took to her seat once again, "Yeah. There are two of them on Menagerie, but first I'mn going to contact the one known as Bast. I'll decide where or not to go find Cusith after that."
The man shook his head, "I can't say I agree with taking this kind of risk. Should we really be working with the Grimm?"
"It is a difficult decision." Ozpin offered, "Never before have we encountered Grimm that could think for themselves or make their own choices. At the very least we should not drive them to Salem's side."
"Then why not kill them?" Ironwood made a fist before him, If we find their locations we could bombard them with the might of Atlas' fleet from the air, nothing could stand a chance against that."
Carmine snorted, she couldn't help it. The idea was ridiculous to her and the sound earned her a sharp glare from James, "Listen, General, you didn't see Jormungandr. That thing could wrap itself around Atlas, and blast a hole clean through it. You might kill one or two of the Primordials but that won't save us from the rest of them."
The stern man looked at her hard, then at Ozpin and he saw that they were in agreement. Instead of arguing he stood up, buttoning his coat once more as he did, "Very well then, Ozpin. I will defer to you in this matter. WEe should catch up sometime. In private. Good day, Ozpin. Miss Rose."
She touched a finger to her temple in a mock salute as he strode out, following his specialist out the door. Carmine waited for a few seconds before turning back to Ozpin, "Watch out for himn, Oz."
"Really, Carmine?" The old man asked, "I thought you of all people would know that his intentions are pure."
"Yeah." She acknowledged, "But that won't stop him from doing the wrong thing if he thinks it will get the job done."
After a long look the wizard sighed, shoulders sagging as he looked a little older in her eyes, "You said something like this before. Will he really betray me?"
"That depends." The young professor shrugged, "Ironwood does what he thinks is right for Atlas and damn anyone and everyone else. So will he betray you? I don't think so. But nevertheless, you should keep an eye on him for everyone's safety. If it hadn't been for us getting the Winter Maiden on our side, he would have killed a lot of innocent people in order to save Atlas. Maybe he can justify that kind of brutal economics but I sure as hell couldn't."
"A part of me understands the idea of sacrificing the few for the many." Ozpin admitted quietly, "It is difficult for most to grasp, especially those who are empathetic."
"You saying you don't have empathy, Oz?"
"No. I am saying that the passage of time has a way of wearing it down." His fingers tapped on the desktop as he was deep in thought, "As a king and a knight I have had to send men to their deaths countless times in the name of peace. No victory is without sacrifice. But one thing my long life has taught me is that striving to sacrifice no one is an important step to maintaining your humanity. The moment you believe you cannot save everyone is when you cannot save anyone."
-SY-
"Let me go!" Blake complained, her hands tied together behind her back by a towel from their dorm's bathroom.
"No." Yang said, bored of having the demand made every few minutes.
"I'm not going to run!"
"Sure you aren't, Blake." Yang absentmindedly patted Blake's face, too busy paying attention to the other spectacle going on.
Weiss paced in the middle of the room, a bundle of anxiousness and worry. Both Weiss and Blake had had the strongest reactions to being told they were going to Menagerie, both reacting with visible fear but for vastly different reasons. In the team's eyes, Weiss' was valid, Blake was just being dramatic.
"Carmine said she'd protect me." Weiss bit the inside of her lip lightly, "Can she?"
"She's pretty strong." Ruby replied from atop her bunk, legs dangling over the edge as she swung them back and forth.
"I'm not questioning her strength." The girl turned to face her leader, "Even the strongest have to sleep, and who will watch her back?"
"We will." Yang said as if it was obvious.
"Oh?" She turned incredulously, "Are we even qualified?!"
"Woah there, Weiss-cream." The blonde put up her hands, "We can all take shifts and stick together. It'll be fine."
"You cannot guarantee that!" She shrieked.
"We can't guarantee anything, Weiss." Ruby added quietly, "No one can. But that won't stop us from trying."
The heiress turned back to Ruby, looking at her for a moment before sighing, "I need some air."
They all watched as Weiss slipped out the door, looking at each other as Blake shrugged off her towel-y bonds. Ruby looked worried about her partner and looked to the rest of her team.
"You think she'll be okay?" The leader voiced her concern, debating whether or not to go after her partner.
"It's hard to say." Blake's ears flattened underneath her bow, "You guys know that she's a target but it's hard to grasp unless you're a part of it. I know how the White Fang and the faunus in general feel about the Schnee family. We're talking about going to an island where almost everyone hates her."
"But that's not right." Ruby protested, "She can't help who her family is."
"It's hypocritical." Yang growled, got up, pacing in the middle of the room.
"You're right." Blake admitted with a reluctant nod, "Although their anger should be directed at those who have made the decisions, but it wasn't enough for them… for us. Our anger bled to those around it. From the top down to those uninvolved, then eventually to humanity."
"Tch." Yang clicked her tongue, "Some righteous cause that is." She opened the door and walked out, slamming it shut and causing the two left to wince at the force.
"Is she going to be okay?" Blake asked her leader.
"Yang will be fine." Ruby answered, hopping down to sit next to her teammate, "What about you? You were freaking out earlier."
Blake bit her lip and weighed her options while sizing up Ruby. Normally she would deflect or ignore it, it was her personal business and the others didn't need to know, but now? With everything that was going on she was starting to feel very childish in the first place, the words of Carmine echoing in her head.
"I was." Blake reluctantly admitted, "I, uh, didn't leave on the best of terms. My parents were the founders of the White Fang, the peaceful protest group one at least. I was practically born into the movement."
She pulled her legs up onto the bed and hugged her knees to her chest, "My childhood was spent going from place to place waving a sign around with my mom and dad, trying to make a difference but it never worked. Humans would gather and hurl abuse, and sometimes rocks, at us. The police would watch us like hawks and ignore any violence from the humans, but come down on us for so much as defending ourselves."
"That… is horrible." Ruby was aghast, she looked disgusted and it made Blake feel a little better. Of course she knew her leader was a good person but it gave her a warm feeling in her chest to see the visceral reaction.
"Years of protesting and no change." She continued the story, "Some of us started to think that if words couldn't solve our problem then maybe we needed to try a different approach. A more violent one. Sienna was the one who rallied us, it started with a group to defend protestors. They got in a lot of trouble but they unlocked their aura and learned how to fight. They'd protect us from Grimm and people alike. I looked up to her, and Adam."
"Over time things changed, people saw how effective Sienna was and they… we pushed my parents out of leadership. I remember how confident I was, telling them I knew what was right and that we would solve it ourselves."
"So you're afraid of what they think of you?" Ruby asked and she chuckled bitterly at how accurate her leader had nailed her inner thoughts. Naive and young she may be, and idiot Ruby Rose was not. It was sometimes hard to remember that though the young woman was socially inept, she had a kind of emotional insight that went beyond her years.
"What if they hate me?" She quietly asked, "What if they're disappointed in me?"
"So what if they are?" Ruby asked her, causing her to jolt her head up and look at her teammate, "They are yur parents and it sounds like they love you. Well I'm no expert but I know Dad, even when he was disappointed in us, mainly Yang, still loved both of us. I know that if Mom was still alive she would be the same way. So I think that even if they are mad or disappointed they won't hate you."
"You think so?" Blake hoped it was true, she missed them so much, even if she could never admit it aloud.
"I do." She smiled sadly, "You're lucky enough to still have both of your parents, Blake. I think you should talk to them."
It struck her then, how lucky she probably was. Both Ruby and Yang only had their father and Weiss never talked about her parents. From the sounds of what she had said, however,m it did not sound like a very loving household. With the amount that the heiress talked about her, one could think of her older sister as her only living family. Blake knew that wasn't true, the infamy of Jacques was widely known. If he was dead she would have heard it, and probably celebrated, as cruel as that sounded.
The thought made her realize how much the White Fang demonized the Schnee family. To them they weren't a rich family, they were inhuman monsters of unspeakable cruelty and the face of all of their injustice. When she had first met Weiss she had decided to let her prove herself though had prepared to be disappointed. Instead the one who had been surprised was Blake, with the girl being far kinder than she had imagined. Still frosty, however, especially earlier on.
Despite everything, however, Weiss had chosen to accept her. Her, an enemy who had at one point fantasized about killing her family. The thought made her queasy, that she could ever even entertain a thought like that and it was hard to imagine her parents weren't disappointed in her.
But Ruby was right. She had two parents and they had been right about her choices, if Blake wanted to call herself an adult she had to face them. And she had to apologize.
-SY-
Yang found herself wandering for a while. She had stormed out because she had felt constricted in the dorm room and much like Weiss had needed some air. Of course she was angry, it wasn't fair to Weiss to make her life so hard just for being born but it wasn't like she could blame many people in particular. It wasn't Blake's fault, she, at least, had been open to learning who the heiress was as a person before completely judging her.
Her father had raised her to hold individuals responsible for their own actions and not let the blame lay on someone by association, though he had also warned that standing by and doing nothing was also a form of action and approval. If you had the power to stop something and let it happen, then you at least showed some approval, or at least didn't disapprove enough to stop it.
It was all far too complicated for her liking, she preferred to punch her problems.
As it turned out, Weiss had not gone far from their dorm. Yang found her outside, sitting on a nearby bench lost in thought as she stared into space.
"Hey." Yang said as she walked up. As irritated as she was by the whole situation it was her teammate would be in the most danger, "You doing okay?"
"Am I?" Weiss asked as Yang sat down on the bench next to her, "I never in my life imagined I would go to Menagerie. I never even considered it and now here comes your sister telling me things will be just fine."
"I think we can trust Carmine." Yang said, and she actually believed it. It wasn't just that Carmine was her sister, but that the woman obviously had a protective streak a mile wide for them.
"It really is not her intention that I question." She shook her head, ponytail swaying wildly, "It is the soundness of her decision. I am seen as the enemy to all faunuskind. I would not be surprised if they tried to lynch me the second I stepped onto their soil."
"And that's wrong." Yang replied, growing more irritated, "You have done nothing to deserve that hate. And I won't let anyone touch you. None of us will."
"Thank you, Yang." She said softly with a slight smile.
Yang could tell she was still worried about it, she needed a distraction. She wracked her brain for a moment before an idea came to her.
"Hey, how about we change the subject?" Yang continued when Weiss looked at her with brows stitched together, "Hear me out. See I hear CFVY isn't back from their mission yet, right?" The heiress nodded, "Right so I also heard that they were supposed to plan the upcoming dance. Or at least Coco was."
"Where are you going with this?" Weiss asked with some suspicion.
"I said hear me out." The blond defended, "I was thinking that we could volunteer to plan it!"
"You have got to be joking." Her expression was flat.
"Look." Yang took her by the shoulders and ignored the eyeroll, "I know my way around a party, I've been clubbing and dancing. I love it. And you, I'm sure you've been to a few balls or galas, right? Well between the to of us we could absolutely plan a dance for the school."
By then Weiss had gone from unimpressed to thoughtful, "Why would they let us plan it, though?"
"They wer going to let Coco."
Weiss sighed, "Okay, I see your point. But why do you even want to do it?"
The blond shrugged and got up to face Weiss, "Eh, well it sounds like fun and it'd be something to do until we go on our mission."
The heiress searched Yang's face long and hard before standing up, "Very well, Yang, I will agree. This will be a good boost to our reputation and maybe we can haggle some extra credit from the teachers as well."
"That's the spirit, Weiss-cream!"
"Don't call me that!" Weiss replied automatically, scowling and poking her finger into Yang's collarbone, "And don't think I don't know you are trying to distract me."
"But is it working?" She replied cheekily with a broad smile.
The white haired girl simply rolled her eyes and muttered 'idiot' at her, but she couldn't help the small smile she allowed take over her features as she turned away and began walking to the dorm.