"Hatred of the invading enemy is the most sacred and humane feeling. But it is born with such a pain of heart and torment of the soul that God forbid anyone to experience it."
- Pavel Batov
When Yang agreed to follow Pyrrha to help Mistral, she hadn't known there would be so much running involved.
When they'd reached the shore they'd begun running the miles north to the base of the city. Yang had to convince Pyrrha to save her energy, but otherwise everything was calm, until shortly after they set off and it began raining. Yang was no complainer, but running through the dirt slowly turning to mud was not a fun experience.
When they got to the perimeter of the city, Yang was surprised to see it heavily defended by more soldiers than she could even guess the number of, all heavily entrenched. Luckily enough after a few bullets which Pyrrha deflected with her shield — while still running, mind you — , someone must have recognized her (or at least her armor) and they were escorted through.
As they passed through the defensive lines that Yang realized must have gone all the way around the city, Yang voiced her confusion. "I get having someone watching the flank, but if all the fighting's happening in the north why are there so many of you here?"
She got a few weird looks and poorly hidden eye rolls, but one of the many soldiers jogging alongside them decided to answer. "Millions enlisted in the city, and millions more have been brought in to help defend. Can't exactly fit everyone on one battlefield." he said, and that was that.
The soldiers didn't stop following alongside them once they cleared the initial defenses, and Yang was about to ask why when she remembered what Pyrrha had mentioned once or twice about her family being important in Mistral. Important was one thing, but Yang was looking at a dozen soldiers who had dropped what they were doing to help keep them (Pyrrha) safe, no questions asked. Yang was beginning to think that important may have been an understatement.
It was only when they had gone through a tunnel leading into the mountain (out of the rain, which was by now a downpour) and to a weird looking elevator hub that Yang could finally rest. They were let through the rather large level of security with no questions, and came to a stop just inside one of the elevators. Looking at Pyrrha, Yang began to feel a bit self conscious about her slightly labored breathing until she noticed the other soldiers who poured in with them. They were breathing as hard as she was, and they'd run a fifth of the distance. Granted they wore dozens of pounds of equipment and had been out here all day, but Yang would take it either way.
"Which floor is Perseus on?" Pyrrha asked someone standing by the controls outside once they were all stood in the elevator.
"Sorry, my Lady," the operator apologized. "We've been ordered to keep anyone from his position. The top three floors have been cordoned off. Access has been restricted even beyond what it normally is. I couldn't send the elevator there even if you were allowed. Order of General Wan"
"We don't have time for this." Pyrrha muttered to herself before the man had even finished speaking, snatching a small black box from her left hip and tapping it once. It slid open to reveal a handful of items Yang couldn't quite get a good look at stacked on top of one another. Pyrrha took out a thin black card and held it up to one side of the elevator.
Executive Override Authorized a soft robotic voice announced. The next moment a large digital panel of buttons appeared where there hadn't been one seconds before. Apparently deciding he was on the first floor, Pyrrha selected the 'one' button without hesitation and before anyone — including Yang — could react the doors slid shut and they were moving upwards.
Yang just barely got a glimpse of the operator's dumbfounded look through the closing doors, and then there was nothing but the awkward silence of two teenage girls crammed into an elevator with a dozen soldiers who weren't quite sure if they were disobeying orders by letting them continue.
That lasted for longer than Yang would've liked, and she couldn't even busy herself by looking out of the glass elevator because it was so crowded with uniformed men. Though from the looks of it there wasn't much of a view — what Yang was pretty sure was a monsoon was doing its worst outside, and from the foot or so of glass near the top of the elevator she could see out of the only thing visible through the floods of water was an intermittent flash of lightning.
Pyrrha was out the doors the instant they were open, and Yang raced to keep up with her through the storm. More than once she lost track of her friend in the dense rain, but she managed to stay close enough to keep sight of her in the darkness.
Every now and then a pile of scrap that Yang assumed used to be one of the Atlesian robots got in the way, and she had to watch her footing carefully to avoid tripping on one. If anyone asked, that's why she only barely managed to stop herself from bowling into Pyrrha from behind when she suddenly skidded to a halt.
And when she was no longer concentrated on her balance, Yang could see why.
"Percy!"
His head snapped around, and for the briefest moment his glowing eyes met Yang's.
Yang had known Percy since she was a kid — she'd basically grown up with him poking around every couple months, give or take. He was practically family. If she didn't have the tiniest of crushes on him since she was old enough to pretend the age difference was small enough, she thought she might have considered him a cool — if distant — cousin.
But whether he was a crush, a cool cousin, a family friend, or her friend's surrogate older brother, Yang could never remember a time where she'd been scared of him.
In the moment those glowing eyes met hers and she was sure he was about to tear her limb from limb, Yang had never felt more terrified. They glowed a deep, dark blue so unlike his regular carefree sea-green shade, it was like Yang was staring into an abyss.
And then it was over. His eyes moved over her to Pyrrha who seemed to not even notice, instead rushing forward after her moment of hesitation and fussing over him, speaking words too quiet for Yang to hear over the wind.
But now that she could get a good look at him without him looking back at her, Yang could confidently say she had never seen him looking so much like shit. His pants were close to being more ripped than not and she doubted what clung to his torso even qualified as a shirt anymore, though for once in her life Yang was too cold, soaked, tired, and scared to even pretend to appreciate it. He was bleeding from multiple places on his torso — had his aura broken? — where Yang swore she could spot several bright-red scars and welts that looked a bit too fresh, despite being entirely closed. As if to confirm her crazy suspicion, Yang watched as some of the still-open cuts and grazes dotting his chest visibly healed in front of her.
And to boot, his breathing was the most labored Yang could remember hearing it. She'd seen him take on two veteran huntsmen and three huntsmen in training at the same time only to come out looking like he'd just finished a light jog. Whatever had happened here…
Moving past Percy, Yang's eyes found someone in an Atlesian uniform laying sideways on the grass behind him, a stream of blood where his head should have been.
Yang's gaze hastened back to Pyrrha and Percy. She didn't need to see more.
Thankfully Percy wasn't in quite as violent a mood as Yang had feared, his only visible reaction to Pyrrha at first was for the light in his eyes to slowly dim, and Yang could swear the wind began to die down at the same time. Only when the maelstrom around them had finally stopped entirely did he open his eyes, which had ceased their glowing.
Yang would never see those startlingly sea-green eyes of his the same way again.
"Percy, what happened? How'd you get hurt?" Pyrrha grilled him, her questions audible now that the wind had died down. Category five hurricane to peaceful summer day in a minute flat. Something was definitely up with that and Yang had an idea who was causing it, if not necessarily how.
Instead of answering Pyrrha, Percy just hugged her. Yang diverted her gaze, feeling like she was intruding on a personal moment. She spotted the soldiers that had come up with them fanning out around the grass, wisely deciding to keep their distance.
"You shouldn't have come." were the first words out of his mouth, prompting Yang to look back and see he'd released his embrace with Pyrrha, now holding her at arms-length. His voice came out raw, like he either hadn't spoken in a while or had just finished screaming himself hoarse. Yang wasn't sure which. "I told you to stay on Patch. It was reckless to leave."
"You've lost the right to call me reckless. Look at yourself!" Pyrrha snapped, "You're at death's door!"
Percy snorted, "If only."
Pyrrha, Yang guessed, did not find as much humor in the situation.
"Come on, we need to get to an infirmary." Pyrrha said, dislodging Percy's hands from her shoulders and grabbing him by the upper arm. "Who's commanding the battle? I don't care what you say, I'm going to help."
"I'm fine." he said, making a loose attempt to jerk out of her grip to no avail, before giving up with a heavy sigh. "It doesn't look like there's much of a battle left to fight." he jerked his head to the north.
Yang and Pyrrha both followed the motion.
"What do you mean?" Yang spoke for the first time since they'd left the elevator. "The ground is blocking our view of the battle, I don't see anything from here."
"And what's in the sky?" he asked, a sardonic smile on his lips.
Yang blinked, looked back north to confirm she hadn't missed anything, and turned back. "Nothing."
He nodded. "Nothing."
Yang opened her mouth to ask if she was having a conniption when Pyrrha perked up. "The Atlesian fleet."
Yang blinked. "The what?"
"The Atlesian fleet." she repeated, "where is it?"
When she received only silence as an answer, Pyrrha — still holding on to Percy — jogged lightly towards the north cliff face. Still a bit confused but beginning to realize what she was getting at, Yang followed.
Yang figured it would be hard to make anything out from miles above ground, but she'd be surprised by how clearly she could make out the battle. Not individual soldiers, of course, but large groups of them that Yang guessed had to be thousands large. Easier to see were the… cars? Heading up their charge. Easier than that, was the wreckage.
Or, well, wreckages. Plural.
Because spread across the plains sprawling north of Mistral, there lay dozens of Atlesian airships. Some were lodged into the ground like they'd been forced into a nosedive, some lay broken in half as if some great giant had taken them in its hands and snapped it in two, and others were smoldering wrecks which were barely identifiable as ships at all, scattered as they were across Mistral's great plains. There were even a few Yang could see sticking half-out of the sea, doubtless lodged in the sand like the ones on the land were lodged in dirt.
"What…" Yang trailed off, looking to Percy.
"What could have done this?" Pyrrha finished for her, looking as astounded as her but eyes still locked on the battlefield.
Percy gently dislodged his arm from Pyrrha's grip, and shot Yang a grin. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."
Yang shivered.
A new age had dawned in Atlas.
The streets were filled with surrendered security and soldiers, marched along in rough lines by police, citizens, faunus — anyone with a gun who didn't identify as Atlesian. The occasional survived politician was drawn to the streets and paraded, only surviving the affair because of the revolution leadership's attempts at discipline; the mayor had been very clear, the occupation of Atlas was to be as peaceful as possible. The courts would decide what happened to them.
Mantelese streamed up from their city by the thousands, partying and celebrating in the streets. Those from Atlas stayed indoors, as far from the crowd as they could get.
It was not enough, for many of them.
Cinder felt a satisfied smirk crawl onto her lips, watching a mob of Mantelese revolutionaries storm into an estate, shattering windows and breaking down doors. The residence of some corrupt politician, bought journalist, or greedy businessman, she was sure.
"Even as they celebrate they tear themselves apart." Cinder mused, "War creates war. The unrest between Mantle and Atlas that Mistress sowed so many years ago has finally erupted. Ozma was there to interfere with the last great war, to try to broker a peace that would leave everyone content. It would seem even the minor changes he made were too much for Mistral and Vacuo. And now that Ozma is not here to interfere, one kingdom subjugates others and the cycle shall begin again."
"Let's get this over with." Hazel grunted.
Cinder's eyes narrowed in annoyance. She turned away from the elevator window, eyes briefly passing over Emerald and Mercury before lingering on Hazel, and then finally landing on the elevator doors.
Cinder readied herself as the elevator neared their destination, and within moments the doors slid silently open.
Cinder strode in confidently, eyes scouring the room for her target.
Suddenly, she extended her right hand and projected a torrent of flames hot enough to melt steel. It met blades of ice and melted them near instantly, evaporating the water quickly after.
"I see my prey found me before I managed to find it." Cinder purred, smile widening. Mercury and Emerald moved to flank the target from her left shoulder. On her right, Hazel did the same.
An old woman wearily studied the group, arm still extended towards Cinder.
"Begone." snapped the woman. "There is nothing for you here."
"On the contrary." Cinder withdrew her own arm, facing her palm upwards just in front of her eyes. A tattoo revealed itself on her hand before beginning to glow a bright gold. From it a small, shadowy hand reached, a dark aura sucking in the light surrounding it.
"You have something that belongs to me, and I intend to collect it."
By the time Percy had negotiated his way out of the infirmary — with strict orders to get plenty of rest, as if there was a chance of that — the battle was as good as over. The last of the automatons were being finished off, and most of the remaining Atlesian soldiers had surrendered, according to a report from the highest ranking officer he could find on hand.
"Where's Shiro?" he asked.
"We recently received word that General Wan was found safe within the main base. He engaged with an Atlesian specialist, but reinforcements arrived to help neutralize the target. I'm not sure his exact status, but if there were anything serious I would have been infor-"
"Just tell him to meet me in the capitol when he can." Percy cut him off, "Where's the nearest CCT terminal?"
The officer blinked. "Ah- about two hundred meters that way, and another hundred down the street to the right. But the CCT is turned off to prevent hostile espionage, my lord."
Percy gave him a flat look. "Then we'll turn it on."
Half an hour later Percy found himself at a working CCT terminal, watching a loading screen that read 'awaiting response to connection request'. He waited anxiously for what he could only describe as an agonizingly long time. Pyrrha and Yang — how the Hades had they gotten here, anyway? — were off helping with… things. He supposed there was a lot of search and rescue to do, of both their citizens and the Atlesian airships. He couldn't help but worry for Pyrrha, but he knew he couldn't baby her. She was probably the most dangerous person in the city now, besides him, and had a friend with her. She'd be fine.
He let his thoughts drift over the battle, the upcoming peace, and its implications. What… what now? What did he do?
Before he could fully explore that question, the screen in front of him changed from a waiting screen to a loading screen. Percy sat up, tensely.
Well, his next move depended on what he was about to see, he supposed.
Percy exhaled a sigh of relief at the sight of Mantle's mayor on the other end of the call. From the look on the mayor's face, Percy guessed they were in quite similar states at the moment.
"Atlas is defeated at Mistral." Percy cut to the chase. "How did your end go?"
"The island of Atlas is under the occupation of Mantlese liberation forces." The mayor had a wide grin on his face that Percy was sure he was matching. Percy leaned back into his seat and just let out a deep breath, letting much of the tension he'd been holding onto dissipate. They'd won. They'd actually won. He wanted to leap up and shout the news, but restrained himself. He needed to get a couple things sorted, first.
"How's the occupation going?" he asked.
That dimmed the mayor's mood, it turned out. "It's better than it could be, but there's looting and violence. The commissioner is currently trying to stop that."
Percy grimaced, but it didn't completely wipe the grin off his face. He didn't know what was going to happen to Atlas yet, but whatever it was, looting and pillaging wasn't going to help. Neither would hurting their elected officials.
"The council?" Percy asked.
"The kingdom councilors from Mantle were executed in prison on grounds of treason." the mayor reported grimly. "Of the remaining nine — err, eight that is — Ironwood is- well, you'd know better than I. Chairman Feuer is in the general's bunker. We have it completely cut off, but we can't even come close to breaking in. I agreed with the commissioner's recommendation to leave it with a heavy guard, and deal with him later." Percy nodded, they'd want the chairman eventually to truly solidify that Atlas had been defeated and officially surrendered, but that could wait until the chaos had calmed somewhat.
"Two of the remaining six were killed in the fighting, and one more is injured — We did get him to a hospital. They think he'll make it, but they're not sure. The last three are bruised but safe, in our custody."
That was less than ideal. They'd want a majority of the council at least, and the chairman along with them if possible. Four and the chairman?
The vote to declare war had only been one more vote. It could work.
But either way, those were details. They were insignificant compared to the ecstatic knowledge that they won.
"Ironwood is dead." Percy stated bluntly, lips finally turning downward as he pondered the last situation he needed to check up on. "What's the status of the Schnee?"
"Schnee manor is heavily fortified, and isolated from the city…"
"A challenging target." Percy finished.
"The commissioner decided against it." the mayor confirmed. "Getting so many undersupplied, undertrained fighters that far out, against those defenses… it'd be a bloodbath, I imagine. The commissioner has stationed some of who I've been told are his best men in a loose perimeter around it, but surrounding the entire thing with anything more is infeasible, at least until things settle down."
Percy nodded. The Schnee estate was miles long. "Leave them. Keep the loose perimeter, even when things do settle down. And tell the commissioner to order the men to only shoot to kill if they're being shot at. I'll handle the Schnee."
The mayor shifted uncomfortably. "As you say."
Percy made a mental note to address that later. Little uncomfortable moments like that could lead to quite big problems.
"Is there anything else?" Percy asked, eager to share the good news with Shiro. They'd need to share a good drink together after this, to celebrate.
Though, that could wait until after Percy got a full night's rest.
"There is the matter of ah… Mantle's government." the mayor said carefully. "I wouldn't want to presume to approve anything without you here, but this sort of thing needs to be officialized quickly-"
"On the contrary, you need to take your time." Percy stood. "You're laying the foundations of a nation which could last for thousands of years, mayor. Don't just revive Mantle; make it better. Declare independence, but that's it. Everything else can wait a day or two."
"I suppose. I'll let the others know. Are you… planning on visiting?"
"We'll have to see." Percy shot him a tired — but no less elated — grin, moving his hand over the pad to end the connection.
Stretching, Percy turned and exited the CCT to head to the elevators. Now he just needed to meet with Shiro and dump everything on him before taking a nap. They'd both been well rested at the start of the battle, but Percy was willing to wager only one of them had hurricaned a fleet to death in the last few hours.
As Percy walked to the elevators, he got a lot of weird looks. Now notoriety to some degree he'd expected; he was pretty central to a lot of people's lives in Mistral, and his identity had just been revealed. Since the information quarantine was lifted now that Atlas' journalists had other things to worry about, he had no doubt that a lot of people will have wanted to see what the closest thing they had to a leader looked like. With all the eyes on him, he was beginning to feel a bit self-conscious about his state of dress.
But still, the way they looked at him was full-on reverent. He supposed he was the head of a great family. There were only what — a dozen of those in the hundred and forty-odd million people in Mistral? He was also pretty well known beyond that, but he just hadn't expected his reputation to be this strong.
When Percy walked into the elevator terminal, the sudden silence of the squad which had stayed there to guard it was telling. Soldiers Percy knew would recognize him from the drills he'd run them through stared back silently. Nervously. Waiting.
For what, Percy had no idea.
Percy found his way to an elevator and entered, the still silence of the room behind him creating an awkward atmosphere.
"First floor, please."
"Of course, my lord." the operator hastened to press the button, putting in some access code or the other.
Slowly, one by one, the soldiers saluted. It was uncoordinated and sloppy, but Percy forgave them it. They might not have been through combat today, but they had been ready to lay down their lives to protect Mistral all the same.
As the doors began sliding closed, Percy saluted them back. It felt… weird.
And then the doors were closed, and he was left alone with his thoughts again.
He almost fell asleep leaning against the elevator window.
He was torn between wanting to pass out at the nearest opportunity, and wanting to stay awake another three days to see everything through. Thankfully he managed to stay conscious throughout the trip up, and made his way to the capitol building with no problems.
Though, looking around, there wasn't much of a capitol building left. Or much of any of the first floor, really. Some of the more sturdy Haven buildings had survived and a good amount of the center of the capitol seemed alright, but otherwise the entire level had been wiped clean. Art, sculptures, fountains, pavilions, benches and trees were all missing, broken into dozens of pieces, or unrecognizable entirely.
He knew he'd be paying for that, one way or another.
"Percy!" Shiro called to him from the steps of the capitol, making his way down one step at a time.
Percy quickly noticed the way he used his sheathed sword on the pavement to hold part of his weight as he walked.
"Shiro, what the hell happened to you?"
"Forget about me, look at yourself!" Shiro waved a hand in his general direction, as if Percy's mere presence proved his point.
To be fair, it kind of did.
"Aren't you supposed to have superhuman senses or something? I've never spotted you before you spot me. What the hell is that?"
Percy brought a hand up to massage his eyes briefly. "Tired. Hungry. How many calories do you think a cat 4 hurricane is worth?"
Shiro sighed and rolled his eyes, apparently deciding this wasn't a productive line of inquiry.
"Seriously though." Percy resumed. "What's up with your leg? Has someone looked at it?"
Shiro waved him off. "Someone looked at it, it's sprained. I'm fine with this as a cane for now." he brandished his sheathed sword. "Always the fucking leg." he muttered to himself.
"How did this even happen?" Percy asked, "you should've been in the command center the entire time."
"I was." Shiro agreed. "There were some specialists sent to infiltrate the command center, though. Cut the head off the snake as it were." his face fell into a grimm frown. "It seems they succeeded. I managed to stall one, but the other got through. The one I kept occupied got my leg, but trust me, I got the better deal."
"Fair enough." Percy grinned. "I have news for you."
"I have news for you too." Shiro said, "But let's walk and talk. Here, take these."
Blinking, Percy noticed for the first time that in Shiro's left hand was a change of clothes. Percy didn't need to look down at himself to take them.
Percy filled Shiro in on the situation in Atlas while they ascended the steps slowly, one bone-tired and the other injured.
"I see." said Shiro, as they entered the main building. "That explains the other developments quite conveniently, then."
Percy quirked an eyebrow curiously, but Shiro ushered him into a nearby bathroom to change. Percy rolled his eyes, but did so quickly.
"About a half hour ago I received word that Atlas' garrison at Argus had surrendered. Just a couple minutes ago, I was speaking with Gillian on the CCT. Atlas' forces have routed in Vacuo. A sparse few are still fighting, but most of them have surrendered, and requested to be treated as prisoners of war under the Vytal accords. The Vacuan government is still trying to fight, but they're crumbling quickly. The Atlesian blockade broke, too. It's no longer a matter of if Vacuo will collapse, only when. It's not a question of months anymore either, but days. Maybe hours."
Percy finished buckling the belt around his jeans and then took the pin out of his old jeans, shoving them in his new pockets. Coming out of the stall, Percy couldn't hide his grin. "Today sucked, but gods am I glad it turned out alright. As well as could be hoped for, at least."
"About that…" Shiro trailed off. "The other specialist sent to the command center was Winter. Luckily by the time we found her the fighting was already over and she surrendered voluntarily. Unluckily, she'd already taken the command center by force."
Percy cursed. "You said she surrendered? We have her?"
"We do." Shiro confirmed. "But you shouldn't see her yet. There are some people you need to talk to first."
Percy bit his lip until he drew blood, but nodded once curtly. Winter was safe, and she wasn't going anywhere. She could wait.
"Who?" Percy asked, following Shiro further into the capitol.
"The people of Mistral, of course." Shiro quipped. When Percy just stared at him, he dropped the smile. "I'm serious. People need to hear what's happened, and they need to know it for sure. I know you've piled all this work on me the last few years, but the cat's out of the bag now. You're their leader, and people know it. Or at least, we better make sure they know it."
Percy muffled a sigh, but nodded.
"What do I even say? I don't really do this sorta thing."
Shiro waved a hand carelessly. "Just pretend you're addressing a room of soldiers, which is not inaccurate because all of the remaining highest ranking officers in the city are here to be briefed on the situation."
Shiro paused just outside the door.
"There is one final thing I should mention. The media bullheads saw most of your fight with that specialist squad and Ironwood. They put vids of it up as soon as the CCT went back online."
Percy closed his eyes to take a moment before reopening them.
"Is that a joke?"
"Not telling you until right now? Yeah, that was a joke. The whole bit about the entire world seeing you wield the elements? That's all real."
Percy's lack of response must have been telling, because Shiro filled the silence.
"We couldn't have stopped it, Percy." he said. "Even if they didn't catch you on camera, everyone's been talking about what you did to the fleet. I'd bet there's more than one scroll that has that on video. But they did catch you on camera, and now it's public. Unless you have a way out of this somehow, the secret's out. People don't know what they saw exactly, but I'm sure there are no shortage of theories. That you commanded both the sea and sky isn't lost on me, and I can guarantee it won't be lost on anyone else, either."
Percy was expecting to be shocked at the news. Terrified that his secret had gotten out. And in a way, he was shocked. He was shocked by how little he found he genuinely cared. He was a demigod. He wasn't lying, or putting up a front, or manipulating anyone. It's what he was. And however people reacted to that, he'd have to deal with it.
Suddenly, Percy recalled the strange looks he'd been getting since leaving the CCT. That explained it.
After taking a moment to gather his bearings Percy led the way into the council chambers, prompting everyone inside to leap to their feet.
There were a lot of soldiers there like Shiro had mentioned, but they were far from the only ones.
"You seem to have neglected to mention a few people." Percy muttered.
There were one or two reporters, but that's not what caught Percy's eye. There were nobility in a section to the right of the room — those that had stayed in the city, anyway, meaning it was about a dozen or so mostly young (at least as far as nobility was concerned) men. Percy noted that the oldest of them was the head of a great family himself. Something norse? He couldn't remember. Several of them, though they were clearly nobility and standing besides the other nobility, were in officers' uniforms. Percy was impressed to see they were dirty. They had fought, then, not taken a job in the rear. Well, if they wanted to be away from combat, Percy supposed they would have fled with their families and the rest of the nobility. But, there was one member of nobility who didn't fit the same general description as the others; Pyrrha sat at the far left of the nobility section, closest to the center. Their eyes met, and Percy wished he knew how to decipher what hers were saying in that moment.
He'd wanted to be the one to tell her. Maybe she thought it was some sort of extension of his water semblance, or dust use, or maybe she believed whatever story was being spun, but no matter what she thought it still felt like he'd betrayed her, just a bit. He hadn't lied, but…
But nothing. He had to deal with that after. He'd explain everything, but first he had a brief to give.
Continuing the long trek over the carpeted floor, Percy noticed more unexpected faces.
The Chairwoman of Mistral — the official one, that is — and the members of the council around her, sitting on a spectator bench, waiting for his update.
And then, perhaps most surprising of all, was Heather Shields. Percy was tempted to go over and ask what she was doing here, but kept himself on track. The big podium at the front of the room was a good clue as to where he was meant to give his speech from.
Percy ascended the steps, Shiro just a step behind him. When Percy reached the podium he had to admit, he felt out of place. He considered himself a pretty confident person, but standing before all of these people in uniform and opulent clothes and combat gear in jeans and a t-shirt? He just wasn't in his element.
Looking over the faces arrayed before him, Percy noticed a characteristic they all shared. Nerves. They were all nervous. Pale faces, clenched hands, tensed muscles, sweat covering their foreheads where it hadn't been soaked by rain.
They had no idea what the situation was anywhere else on Remnant. The Asturias' could have been defeated with the White Fang, and Atlas was getting ready to launch another attack. In fact, they didn't even know that Mantle had revolted in the first place. How could they? As far as Percy knew, the mayor was the only one in Mantle with a CCT connection right now. The people in this room were preparing for a drawn out war of attrition, and a potentially disadvantageous peace. They'd be waiting for him to give them the tough love they needed to make it through the coming years of hardship.
Doubtless, anyone watching from elsewhere in Mistral expected something similar.
Percy couldn't help but feel that it was a bit cruel that the idea relaxed him immensely. He had good news. Great news. Even he who had orchestrated each aspect of these plans had been ecstatic at hearing everything had gone — more or less — as well as could be hoped. No matter how he might screw up, it couldn't be below their expectations.
Suddenly at ease, he addressed the room.
"Just over one hour ago, Atlas' attack on our city was repelled. All Atlesian forces were captured, killed, or destroyed." Percy began, pausing for a handful of long moments. He wasn't intentionally dragging it out, just… thinking about how to phrase this next part.
"Just under one year ago, when Atlas betrayed our trust in Argus and a full scale invasion began to seem like an inevitability, I began coordinating with the local leadership in the city of Mantle. In the last year, we have been providing Mantle with weapons, training, intelligence, and funding. When Atlas suddenly and deliberately attacked our home for a second time a few weeks ago, in the execution of a plan created a year prior the people of Mantle revolted. This revolt aimed to accomplish two things. The first was to free Mantle from the tyranny of their oppressors, and to establish them as an independent city." He might have been laying on the whole 'Atlas is evil' thing a bit thick, but he'd created the narrative. If he didn't stick with it, who would?
"The second goal was to infiltrate and seize the island of Atlas while their main forces were occupied in Mistral, to remove any chance of continued war. Roughly twenty minutes ago, I spoke with the mayor of Mantle, who informed me that both objectives have been accomplished. Atlas has been captured."
As he was speaking, Percy had felt the tension building. Nobody was quite sure where it was going, but they were professional enough to keep silent.
No amount of professionalism kept the room silent now.
It erupted into commotion. Cheers, hails, hugs, whooping, just purely astonished celebration, from a room of the most professional looking people Percy had ever seen.
Percy hated to interrupt, but he held a hand up for silence.
"There is more." he announced once it had toned down to a reasonable level a few seconds later. "Forty five minutes ago, I received word that the Atlesian garrison in Argus has surrendered to us, unconditionally."
The burst of commotion was shorter this time, but the energy was clear.
Percy began to speak once the room was silent again, but paused when he felt Shiro tap his shoulder lightly.
Shiro leaned in to whisper into his ear. "Gillian just sent word. The war isn't quite over in Vacuo, but the Asturias' and White Fang pushed for the throne room and they've just reclaimed it. She wants to report that the throne of Vacuo has been officially restored."
Keeping his face passive, Percy nodded once to show he understood. Turning back to the podium, Percy resumed speaking. "Less than an hour ago, we received word from our allies in Vacuo that Atlas' forces supporting the Vacuan council had offered terms of surrender." Percy raised a hand to calm the room, before continuing. "I had hoped to be able to bring you all news of the civil war coming to an end within the next few days, but I've just received word that the throne of Vacuo has been restored to the Asturias dynasty. The official seat of government has been established, and the only opposition remaining are guerillas and terrorists."
A stretching of the truth by all means, but not a lie. The only difference between a legitimate government and a group of usurpers is that the people believe the legitimate government is the legitimate government. It just so happened that Percy and Gillian agreed; the throne was the seat of the legitimate government, which was now in the hands of the Asturias'.
The energy in the room was still palpable but the childlike joy and excitement had worn off, replaced with relief, hope, and pride.
"In one day, the war is over."
He received applause, but it was the sort of applause politicians got. Genuine, maybe, but organized. Respectful. A standing ovation from the entire room, all celebrating the feats Mistral and its allies had accomplished today.
"Ave!" An officer cheered near the back. Percy couldn't see him, but he did see the second one to follow suit.
"Ave!" an officer towards the middle chanted, pressing his right fist over his heart and folding his left behind his back.
"Ave!" another echoed the chant and the motion both.
Rapidly, the other officers followed suit, and within seconds Percy couldn't spot one without their fist held over their heart.
"Ave!" Cried a noble from Percy's left. Percy quickly looked over, and watched as the noble officer echoed the motion. The other officers in the nobility quickly joined him.
"Ave!" called another noble. Except, the noble didn't have a uniform on. He wasn't a soldier.
Pressing his right hand over his chest in the same way, he placed his left hand behind his back and lowered himself to a knee.
"Ave!" One by one other nobles followed suit. Even the head of the great family present hailed and lowered himself.
"Ave!" the Chairwoman cried out, placing her right hand over her heart in a fist and lowering herself to a knee, left hand sprawled on the floor in front of her. All around the room, others joined ranks.
Percy couldn't keep track of it all. Everywhere he looked, everyone either had a fist over their heart or was moving to do so. Even Heather, by the time Percy's eyes found her, was on a knee with her fist clenched over her chest. Within seconds the room was silent. The soldiers stood at rigid attention. The civilians kept their knee on the ground, and their eyes lowered. Everywhere, everyone held their right hand in a fist over their chest.
"Shiro." Percy turned around to address his friend only to see Shiro lowered onto a knee on the steps behind him. His right hand formed a fist over his heart, while his left held his sheathed blade to the ground in front of him.
"Ave, Perseus."
To answer the question I'm 100% sure I'll get anyway, no this is not an et fide copy lmao, or anywhere close to it.
I hope you all enjoyed, and I hope that gettin multiple ~7k chapters in a row somewhat makes up for the overall pacing in the few chapters before the last. I'll try n keep it sped up, but as you may have noticed by now I tend to set up every payoff with about 10 scenes of buildup. I'll try n cut it to 5 ;)
Thanks so much for all the great reviews last chapter. So many in-depth reviews theorizing and giving feedback, it was a blast goin through them. To quote myself talking about the reviews in discord on the 11th, "Im such a happy boi".
Next chapter may be delayed, as I'll have finals going on. There will definitely still be two updates in December, but the dates are uncertain. I'll post updates in my channel in discord, and I'll try to remember to update it on my profile as well if I decide to postpone.
Next chapter (planned for)December 10
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