Yo! Back from break!
Not a ton to say. Xenoblade Chronicles X DE came out yesterday, and I played it for eight and a half hours. The original might legitimately be in my top 5 games all time. Soooo good. You should play it. Yes, you!
Start Chapter 39
It's been a few days by the time Blake and the others are finally on board the flight that's going to be taking them back to Menagerie. At this point, she's jumping at every shadow, and searching every nook and cranny for Atlesian agents, expecting them to come out of the woodwork and attack their group.
And yet… each and every time she expects them to be set upon, nothing happens at all.
Despite the fact that Hawthorne knows assuredly who Eve is, what had happened to her, and, likely, that they would be leaving back to Menagerie, he has not seen fit to act to stop them.
To Blake, it feels almost like Hawthorne's letting them go.
And she doesn't like that. Not one bit.
The man is a racist bastard; the kind who truly believes the drivel he spouts as well. Not just someone who cons idiots in an effort to profit off of them, but a fanatic in the same way they are.
But he's also intelligent, if not unafraid to show how little he cares for affairs of statecraft. He'd shown that when he'd forsaken meeting with all of the other dignitaries on the day of the Vytal Festival's kickoff in favor of apprehending Blake himself.
He'd failed, and that is Blake's sole solace.
As the members of the White Fang load into the aircraft, Blake hangs back purposefully, taking one last look at the barren roads of Mantle beyond them. There's nothing. No one. Or, well, of course there are people, but Blake would recognize someone actually there for them.
And she sees no one.
So, it is with a great, horrible swallow of the fear at the back of her throat that she, too, follows the rest of the group, and steps inside of the aircraft that will be flying them back to Menagerie. It's a decently long flight, but Blake's planning on finally getting some sleep – not that it will be easy to come by – during the trip.
She'll have little else to do.
They take off quickly; no one wanting to stick around, it seems. Safety measures that would be partaken of aboard an actually official flight out of Atlas are skipped, on account of them not being aboard the flight on paper.
Once they're in the air, and a few kilometers from Atlas, Blake lets loose a breath she'd been holding for what feels like days.
"Blake?"
She turns, and sees Sienna, of all people, having crawled over to her. Given they're currently all scattered about the cargo hold of a shipping bullhead, there are no seats to speak of for them to sit in.
…Well, Blake's still slept with worse accommodations than this. Far worse.
"Hey." She nods to her student. One of two. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm…" Sienna sighs, shaking her head as she sits cross-legged on the cold metal beneath. "I don't know, I guess? I'm still… I can't get it out of my head. All the blood, and the screaming, and…"
Blake had expected as much, but it still pains her to hear. "That's normal."
"Is it?" Sienna breathes out a mirthless laugh. "Here I was hoping it might go away sometime soon."
Blake's… not entirely sure if she should tell Sienna what she actually knows, or if she should simply try and assuage her. She's never been all that good at this. At comforting people when they're down. The best she'd been able to do for Yang after Adam had cut off her arm had been to get her to safety…
And then to abandon her.
Blake feels a familiar guilt squirm within her stomach, but shakes the feeling off. She can flagellate herself later if she wants, but Sienna needs her.
"It will grow less pronounced with time." Blake tells her, deciding to just be honest. "You'll never forget it, but… the pain will dull."
"Have you… seen people die?"
It's a question that Blake's almost sure Sienna suspects the answer to. "I have."
"How many?"
Blake just shakes her head. "Too high a number. More than I could reasonably count. I've lost comrades, killed enemies, and stood helplessly while civilians lost their lives."
Sienna pushes out a breath between her teeth. "I just… I want to help our people. I want to help the faunus. Things in Mantle were bad, and they're supposed to be worse in Atlas. But I don't see how I can do that without… without hurting people."
"Why is that?"
"It's what you've been doing." Sienna states simply, and Blake is entirely caught. "Every single problem that's come up for the people you've been trying to protect, you've solved it by being stronger; by defeating anyone in your path."
It's true. Blake's been teaching Sienna all the wrong lessons.
…No. Not truly. Violence is, after all, a means to an end as sure as any other. A revolution against tyranny, for instance, will almost always require violence to truly be heard and felt. Such is the only thing a tyrant, who cares naught for words, will feel.
And whether the faunus of this time like it or not, they will soon have a revolution on their hands.
The White Fang as she'd once known it needs to exist. Blake had seen that as clear as day back in Atlas. She had heard from Hawthorne's own lips that he has no intention to stop here. Not until he's removed the faunus from Atlas altogether will it be enough.
But Blake's worried, mostly, about who will be caught in the cross fire.
She looks back, towards the back of the cargo bay. There, sat beside her son, is Eve. Adam's already asleep, but she's not. Instead, she's staring down at the floor below her, unblinking.
In her eyes… Blake can already see a flame starting to flicker to life.
It is the beginnings of a hate that she had already seen wreak havoc upon a kind young man, who'd once been there for her through thick and thin.
And if it's the last thing Blake does…
She'll stop that hate from consuming his mother.
She owes him, long lost to the same conflagration, that much.
/
Despite that she's had a few days to cool down, Yang's still running on overdrive.
She can't really help it, given the plethora of things going on.
Jaune's with Salem, Atlas is only growing worse with its treatment of faunus, her mother and Blake both have been implicated in breaking out an Atlesian prison from their very headquarters, and a breakdown of the alliance between Vale and Atlas might very well be on the horizon.
So, yes, forgive Yang for being somewhat concerned.
It's not helping that Raven can't stop asking her to elaborate more on what they'd talked about the other day. It had been a stressful few days since then, and Yang's honestly started to forget exactly what she'd said.
So, covering for herself, and keeping Raven from stabbing her, has made for a helluva combination.
"So, the agent of Salem's who knew Atlesian Technology–"
"Arthur Watts." Yang sighs. "I've told you this."
"I was confirming the facts of the situation." Raven spoke, rifling through what seems to be a notepad, of all things. "I checked some records in the library nearby; according to them–"
"Hold that thought; are you allowed to just… wander about?" Yang questions. "Given the whole… y'know, abetted a criminal thing?"
"Technically, it could've been someone else with a teleportation semblance. I was never seen." Raven speaks. "Ozpin gave the world leaders a general description of my semblance when I went AWOL, but he can play dumb now and say that what Hawthorne saw wasn't my semblance. Guy's an asshole, but I'll give him that he's crafty. He's not about to lose one of his 'strongest pieces'." Raven makes air-quotes. "To something like this."
"Alright, sure. Continue, then."
"I checked the records at the library. Arthur Watts, unfortunately, disappeared from Atlas around a decade ago. He was presumed dead, given his laboratory went up in an explosion, and bits of charred flesh were uncovered."
"Was it his flesh?"
"Too charred to tell." Raven shrugs. "Plus, it wasn't like it was suspected to be foul play. Apparently, this Watts guy had made a point of mentioning that he was going to working with explosive elements, but would be taking the upmost precautions. Everyone simply assumed he'd failed to do so."
"So, he covered his tracks by making everyone assume he was dead, and that there was no reason to look for him." Yang hums. "Guy's an asshole, but I'll give him that he's clever."
Raven coughs out under her breath, then, and Yang shoots her a look.
"What?"
"I simply…" She looks away. "It's nothing."
It's clearly not nothing. Does Yang care to figure out what it is that Raven's suddenly on about?
…Eh.
"Just tell me."
Raven looks away, but does, eventually, click her tongue.
"I thought that our methods of speaking were similar is all."
It's such an odd thing to hear out of Raven that, for a moment, Yang's simply positive she'd not heard her correctly. And yet… no.
Yang looks away. An ugly feeling, one which seems to surface whenever she and Raven talk about things like this, without their relationship simply being transactional, whirls into being within her gut.
"Yeah." She says after a few seconds, trying to change the subject. "Well, the other guy was Hazel Rainhart."
Raven grimaces. "Yes. I… I still can't quite wrap my head around that one."
"Why?"
"Because I knew Hazel." Raven says simply. "Or, well, I knew him tangentially, at least. His older sister was a fourth year during our first year. Gretchen Rainhart. Strong motherfucker. Me and Qrow used to challenge her to try and make it to the top of the pecking order, but she would bat us down like it was nothing every time."
Raven's actually smiling.
"But she was kind about it. Always sparred with us when we asked, despite the fact that we were so far below her level that she wasn't gaining anything from it. We'd have called it weakness if she couldn't have kicked our asses all the way to next week if she wanted to. When she graduated, I just kind of assumed she'd go off and become some kind of hero."
"And instead…" Yang murmurs, knowing how this ends.
"She was killed during a mission gone wrong." Raven nods her head. "Her very first mission, even. The situation spiraled out of control, according to Ozpin. We asked about it later. Qrow and I both quite liked Gretchen. Not like I'd have ever admitted it. Qrow had the world's most obvious puppy crush, though, so he was a lot worse off to hear she'd died."
"Anyways, hearing that her younger brother has decided to join up with the woman who probably had a hand in killing her is… surprising, I'd say."
"Well, it's the truth."
"I do believe you. I simply can't wrap my head around it." Raven shrugs. "I just–"
Just then, someone knocks on their door, and Raven walks over and opens it to reveal Summer standing there, smiling.
"Hey."
"Uh, yeah, hey." Raven says, really suave and not at all embarrassingly.
The two talk, briefly, about the fact that they're scheduling their return trip back to Patch. It's got everyone feeling a bit glum, given that the intention behind this trip – from everyone not named Ozpin – had been to give everyone a chance to relax.
And it had very much not been that.
"Ruby and Yang are both disappointed." Summer sighs. "I can't really blame them. The Festival was supposed to be such a big deal, and we had to watch the entire thing on TV in case of an emergency."
Summer and Taiyang, alongside Raven, hadn't wanted to be in or around the stadium. Not when Raven could've, in theory, had the Atlesian Military after her.
And, unfortunately, it had been the kids to pay for that most directly, entirely missing out on the festivities.
It's as Yang's thinking about this that a different thought entirely occurs to her. She has, after all, been looking for any sort of chance to spend more time with Blake, especially now that they're to be separated again. She'd considered just asking Raven to portal her over to Menagerie, but…
"Hey, Raven, Summer,"
The two turn towards her.
"I had an idea just now. Sort of a 'two birds with one stone' thing."
"Hm?" Summer tilts her head to one side.
"Well, Ruby and Yang are still off for a while, right?"
"They're going back to school two weeks from now, yes."
"Then…" Yang clears her throat.
"Why don't we all go on a vacation to Menagerie?"
/
"So, had you seen signs that something like this might be a possibility before the incident itself took place?"
Weiss pauses a moment to truly consider the question. In her lap, Trivia fidgets nervously, trying not to be overly intimidated by the bespectacled psychiatrist sitting on a rolling stool in front of them.
He has a clipboard in one hand, seemingly checking things off on it as he asks them questions. They're fairly deep into the examination at this point, and Trivia has, from what Weiss has seen, been scoring rather well.
Although, that's on a test to confirm she has dissociative identity disorder, so perhaps that's not too good a thing.
"I… There weren't any obvious signs, no." Weiss admits.
"Hm." The doctor hums, before rifling through a few papers. "Well, I will say that Trivia's circumstances during childhood sound pretty typical for someone who might eventually develop DID. She was forced to shut her real feelings away by her parents, and because of that, her mind sought any outlet to be able to properly express her real feelings, even if that meant conjuring an entire other personality, or an Alter."
Weiss doesn't understand all that much about DID, although, from what the doctor's saying, it doesn't sound like there are that many experts on the condition in the world of Remnant at all. He's also, clearly, giving them the short version, telling them what they need to know without overburdening them with information.
"Unfortunately, I'd say that judging based on what happened at the festival, she may also have some form of Psychosis, although that's such a broad thing to say that it might as well be meaningless."
They'd been dancing around the specifics of what happened, not wanting to say anything that might cause Trivia to dissociate. Weiss understands that she'll have to learn to live with both of them – Trivia and Neo – but she'd like to at least comfort Trivia through this ordeal before she has to consider how to handle that.
And it's not just her. Trivia's going to have to deal with an alternate personality for the rest of her life
…It makes Weiss think a little, about how she'd never known Trivia's true name, her birth name, before she'd met her as a young girl. She'd always gone by Neo, or Neopolitan.
Had Trivia herself been entirely forgotten by that point? Had the demure young girl sitting in Weiss' lap been wholly superseded by her alter?
Is something like that even possible?
Unfortunately, Weiss isn't an expert. She has no idea.
"As much as I'd like to say it doesn't matter at all, Trivia not being able to speak does make it more difficult for her to properly express herself as well." The doctor says, looking down at the girl who's been sitting there without moving ever since she'd finished filling out the last few questions on the form they'd given her. "She's not able to communicate at the same rate as the rest of us. Surely, she can write down notes, or text in messages on a scroll, but for humans and faunus both, speech is an evolutionary connection. She likely often feels like she's being left behind in conversations when you have to wait for her to finish writing, then reading what she's written, and can only then respond."
"Why–"
"Because such is not the case for anyone else." The doctor clarifies, before shaking his head. "Of course, this isn't true. You do not mind waiting for her, I assume?"
"Of course not."
"But Ms. Trivia," The doctor addresses her daughter directly. "Do you feel as I described before?"
Trivia, for the first time in a while, looks up. She doesn't move for a few seconds, but, eventually, she nods her head.
Weiss feels crestfallen, although the doctor doesn't seem nearly as much so.
"I see. Then, in that case, there are a few other things I'd like to discuss with you alone, Ms. Weiss. Trivia, if you would, perhaps head out to your other guardian in the waiting room?"
Trivia's other guardian being Qrow, in this case, who'd come along with Weiss when she'd asked him to. She's… a bit surprised that Qrow had been so willing to go out of his way to help her. Not that she's at all upset by it, because she very much isn't.
It's just…
…She'd thought badly of Qrow, before. He'd not made a good first impression on her; at least this version of him. But he'd gradually shown his true colors over time – shown himself to be the kind, if somewhat boorish, man that Ruby had always claimed him to be.
Qrow had even come to the door to get her, not making her have to walk back to the waiting room alone.
Trivia's… begun to develop a bit of a complex about that; about being by herself without anyone watching her. It's gotten to the point that Weiss often has to stand at the bathroom door and talk to her while she uses the restroom to keep her from panicking.
Not that Weiss can blame her. The last time she'd done so unattended, she'd been kidnapped, and then rather brutally freed herself from that captivity.
"You wrote on one of Trivia's forms that she came from a rough upbringing, correct?" The doctor begins once Trivia has left. Weiss snaps back to the present, and answers.
"She did."
"You adopted her rather recently, then?"
"A few weeks ago."
"Only that long?" The doctor's eyes are wide behind his spectacles. "She trusts you almost implicitly. I'm shocked you haven't known her longer."
"Is that… good?"
"For her?" The man shakes his head. "No. It isn't. The fact that she's already so attached to you after only a few weeks likely says something quite negative about how she was brought up. I would advise that you do your best to spend time with her, but slowly ween her off of your presence."
Weiss bristles. "I'm not going to abandon her!"
"I'm not asking you to abandon her." The doctor chuckles. "But I'd imagine there will be some times where you will want to do something alone, without her by your side?"
…Yes, Weiss can imagine that as well.
"I apologize for snapping."
"It's fine. That you did speaks to your own character." The man clears his throat, before taking a sheet of paper out. "Here, this is your slip. Bring it to the receptionist, and she'll send those prescriptions into your local pharmacy."
"We're not local to Atlas."
"Ah. Well, we'll send them someplace close to wherever you're staying at the moment, unless you plan on leaving Atlas within the next day or so?"
No, Weiss doesn't really harbor any such delusions. Not with her newfound fame as the 'White Lady', and her mother's interest in her. That's not even counting the fact that she's still being investigated by law enforcement for property damage.
Which is almost ridiculous enough to have her groaning, but instead, she just accepts the fact that she's likely confined to Atlas for quite a while.
"Alright, good." The doctor responds when she tells him. "In that case, you can pick those up. A few of them are twice a day, most are only once. Also, if you'd like to move to make things a bit easier for Trivia on the communications front?"
Weiss nods to him.
"Try learning ASL. Atlesian Sign Language. It's become the standard form of sign language the world over. Do you know if Trivia has any knowledge of it?"
"I don't think she does. She's never done it in my presence."
"That doesn't mean she knows nothing. She could simply be shy about opening up to others, which wouldn't much surprise me. Still, if she doesn't, then the two of you can share the experience of learning it together. Her other guardian, or guardians, should be doing the same. Any efforts to include her will likely mean the world to her."
That… the thought of that has a smile forming on Weiss' face. Making up for some of the terrible things that have befallen Trivia in her life.
She wants to be able to make a difference for her.
So, as she steps out of the examination room, she turns towards the doctor one last time.
"Thank you, sir. For your guidance."
"Think nothing of it." The doctor smiles.
"I wish you luck, Ms. Weiss. Yours and your daughter's journey is only just beginning."
"Yes…" Weiss hums out a laugh.
"I had the sneaking suspicion myself."
End Chapter 39
Next chapter will be the final one of Part 2! Then we're on to Part 3!
Like I said, expect this story to be 6 or 7 parts, so we're not anywhere close to the end.
Alright, that's all from me. See you all next week!
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