Alright, chapter 21! Might be moving back to a more normal weekly schedule sometime here soon, but I am actually going on vacation a few weeks from now for a week, so I won't be posting anything then. Got really cheap airfare so kind of had to jump on the opportunity!

Start Chapter 21

All in all, the Grimm attack wasn't difficult to deal with.

That mostly came down to the fact that they had about ten incredibly skilled fighters, including Weiss herself, Cinder, Cheshire, Robyn, her Happy Huntresses, and Penny.

Jasmine was also present, although she mostly preferred to keep to the rear, and utilize her semblance and magic to support the others. Weiss didn't expressly blame her, although she couldn't help but feel like she wasn't going to get any better at using Crocea Mors just sitting there in the background.

Once they'd cleaned up the Grimm, Weiss and the others walked back inside the wall, and a few of the Happy Huntresses began to diagnose the damage the Grimm had caused before they had been able to stop them, seeing if it couldn't be repaired quickly and efficiently.

In the end, they determined that it would need a longer repair, taking half a day, and that they'd need people outside the wall, willing to wait in the cold snow to keep Grimm off the engineers. Weiss hated the fact that she volunteered for that almost as much as she hated the fact that she was now stuck standing in a half-meter of snow.

She understood that she was doing a good thing, and that the good thing she was doing needed done. That did not make her feel better in the moment, however.

"Chin up." Jaune spoke to her. "I shall keep thee stocked up on joy."

Ah, right. Jaune's method for making these things a little less painful. He was pumping joy via a magical spell directly into her brain. Weiss wondered, idly, if that was really screwing with her serotonin levels, and if she was going to have a major crash at some point because of it, but she hoped the fact that this was all being done by magic meant that that wouldn't be an issue.

…With her luck, though?

"Uhm…" Jasmine raised a hand beside them, because she, too, had chosen to come and guard the outside of the wall along with them. "So… Mr. D'Arc?"

"Do not call me that." Jaune shivered audibly. "Jaune is more than sufficient. Thou art my brother's descendant, after all."

"Er… alright. Jaune then." Jasmine clearly did not like calling him that. "Now that we've got some time… would you teach me magic?"

Ah, that explained why Jasmine had sprung to come with them once Jaune and Weiss – really just Weiss – had volunteered. It was, in all fairness, the entire reason she had decided to journey along with them in the first place, so Weiss didn't think that Jaune would be upset that she wanted him to fulfill his end of the bargain.

"I suppose now is as good a time as any." Jaune hummed out. "Come over here, so that I might see thee."

Jasmine did just that, and Weiss now had to play the very awkward game of trying to line up the mirror on her back with Jasmine.

…Actually, scratch that. She took the mirror off her back, and turned, so that they were both facing Jasmine.

"Now, Jasmine," Jaune cleared his throat. "Tell me all that thou know of magic. I wish to know of the foundation that thou standest upon."

"Alright, well… my father was the one who taught me magic. He taught all of his daughters who had the potential."

"Thou hath siblings?"

"Seven of them. Two others could use it. My older sister Saphron, and my second oldest sister, Marigold."

"Hm." Jaune sounded surprised, but he wasn't giving voice to that emotion. Weiss had long since known this fact. Well, not the magic part. The seven sisters part. "I see. And what did he teach thee?"

"Well, we learned to center our basin,"

"Basic but important. Good."

"Then we learned to move our magic from parts of our bodies to others."

"Mm."

"We learned to expel magic from our hands first, then other places as exercises in control."

"I see."

"And then we learned about our specialty's. The thing I had a talent for was healing magic."

"Quite a rare power." Jaune spoke. "In my time, it was thought to be the domain of the gods themselves to be able to heal another with magic."

"My father said the same." Jasmine nodded her head. "Well, not exactly that, but that it was a very rare ability. But because it was so rare, he didn't quite know how to teach it to me. He did his best, but it took me probably five times as long to master even the most basic aspects of my power than it did for my siblings to finish getting their entire styles figured out. We were simply walking upon an untreaded path."

"Mm. I can understand why that might have been a problem." Jaune frowned. "Unfortunately, things will be much the same for myself in terms of thy healing abilities. Although, seemingly, thou hath more than mastered them at this point, given that thou were able to bring Pyrrha back from the dead."

"That…" Jasmine sighed. "I put everything I had into mastering my healing magic because I was told it was so rare. Because of that, yes, I can heal almost any injury if given enough time… even reconstitute someone who's been disintegrated, but… I can't do anything to protect them before that. And I got lucky. Cinder and her cronies fled the tower by the time I arrived. I had to stay there, stationary, for a good six or seven hours to fully reconstitute Pyrrha. If anyone had interrupted… she would have been gone for good."

"Ah, I see." Jaune nodded his head. "So, you are not coming to me to learn how to heal. You are coming to me to learn how to fight back with the magics that lurk within thee?"

"I am. I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines, being unable to offer anything but my meagre sword skills."

"Before you two start," Weiss butted in, "Aren't we technically putting all of Mantle at risk right now by doing this when we're supposed to be guarding the engineers on the wall?"

"Nonsense." Jaune scoffed. "I have activated a sensory magic that will alert me to any Grimm coming within a quarter kilometer of us. And I don't know what you mean by 'you two', as if this does not involve you. You are the Fall Maiden now, are you not?"

Oh. Right. She was.

She supposed she would be quiet, then.

"Right." Jaune hummed. "In that case, we will start with the most basic of all combat magics; the ward."

"A… shield?"

"In essence, yes. But a ward can become something far more powerful than a mere shield. It is an extension of oneself; a coat on thy skin that protects from all harm. A way of forcing your magic to the forefront, becoming a bastion of defense against–"

"Uhm…" Jasmine interrupted. "Isn't that just aura?"

Jaune was quiet a long time.

"…We will start with the second most basic of all combat magics; the firebolt!"

Weiss just sighed.

/

The training was, in a word, boring.

That wasn't really a slight against Jaune, or his teaching style. It was just very clear that he was going to go over the most basic of basics, first and foremost.

Jasmine's training was more advanced than her own. That was largely due to the fact that Weiss knew next to nothing about the Maiden's fire, given she'd gained it all of a week ago. Maybe less, honestly. Time was just kind of difficult to keep track of these days.

He set up Jasmine first, having her working on gathering her magic in her palms, and superheating it, so that it could be used to conjure forth a firebolt, a very basic elemental spell. With Weiss, he had an easier time.

"The Maiden's power is, from what I can tell, essentially a basin of magic that has already been elementally charged. You will, thusly, not need to learn to superheat it. It is already of a fire element. However, if you wish to diversify the means with which you use your power, you will need to learn to affect its element."

So it was that Weiss spent the next two or three hours trying to cool down the magic in her breast. That… was far more easily said than done, given that she quite liked it being hot. They were, after all, in the middle of a snowy tundra.

And it was frigid.

She struggled to freeze the fire in her breast, and because of that, Jaune grew somewhat impatient.

"Imagine a depressive memory from thy past." He told her. "It needn't be world ending, but something that will lower thy mood."

"Gee, Jaune, sounds great." She bit out, but she did as he said.

Her past was so full of bitter memories that it was difficult to really conjure up any one in particular. In the end, she settled on the first time that Winter had ever taken her anger about mother and father out on her.

Weiss had gone to Winter's room to try and play with her, as they used to all the time. She had been… eight years old, perhaps? Winter had been visibly aggravated, but she'd not been able to realize that at the time. She'd been a child, unconcerned with anyone but herself.

Winter had snapped at her. Not even harshly, something light and ineffectual.

But as a child, it had been enough to send her heart crashing down, her mind reeling. She'd screamed and cried for so long that night; utterly inconsolable. The maids had had such a difficult time calming her down.

Hah. She'd been dramatic.

Still, the memory was enough for her to feel the flames in her chest flicker a little less prominently; to cause them to begin to dim. She forced herself to relive more of her childhood; her parents fighting, her older sister growing more distant, feeling more and more alone, and the fire went out entirely.

"Ah, I see you've managed to get your basin to neutral." Jaune spoke, and Weiss bristled.

"Neutral!?"

"Indeed. You will need to do far more to utilize cold itself as an element."

"That…" Weiss growled below her breath, but ultimately let it go. "Fine. Let's just… keep training."

In the end, she didn't last too much longer. As much as the Maiden's power was hers now, she was not at all used to using it. Because of that, she flailed about with it carelessly, and exhausted the basin of magic within her far too quickly.

Jaune called her training there for the day, and told her that they could continue later.

Jasmine's basin, on the other hand, was apparently several times larger than her own, which meant that while Weiss had to go off and find something to do, Jaune continued to train with her, teaching her more and more.

So it was that Weiss ambled about, kicking her feet. Eventually, she settled on propping up Jaune's mirror in the snow so that she could at least move a distance away and occupy herself training with her summons.

She was working on adjusting their sizes. She would summon her Arma Gigas so that it was the size of her palm, and then again so that it was as tall as a house. She alternated over and over again, straining her aura, but managing to make it a bit bigger, or smaller, every time. By the time that Jasmine came over, panting, but seemingly reinvigorated, with Jaune held in her hands, she was more than ready to head back.

So, they did. They traded off with some of the others who were still hanging about the wall – mainly the Happy Huntresses, who took up their roles as guards – before making their way into the nearest hotel.

Cinder again paid for them all, which was nice, given that Weiss didn't have the money she once had, and Jasmine clearly didn't either. Cheshire… well, Weiss was beginning to believe that Cheshire was someone for whom money wasn't a concept, since they didn't seem to know what a lien even was.

Weiss wasn't going to call them on it. She just catalogued the information away somewhere in the back of her brain, and carried on.

She and Jaune were, again, sharing a room. It didn't really count, given that Jaune was a mirror, and thus she could hang him on the wall and have the room to herself. But, in terms of sharing the space emotionally, she very much did have a roommate.

"How did Jasmine's training go?"

"Passably." Jaune mustered up as answer after a few moments spent contemplating. "She is eager to learn, albeit she lacks many of the foundational ideas that mages of my time were first trained in. I suppose it only makes sense that certain things would have been lost over the course of more than a hundred thousand years."

Yes, it very much did.

"Do you think she can learn?"

"That is up to her." He remarked simply. "If you asked me to predict whether or not she would get it eventually purely based on her performance today, I would say yes, but then, that is mostly because she does not seem the type to give up. Her natural ability with combative magics is as abysmal as mine own once were. I was half-tempted to try and teach her the dark magics I found some modicum of success with."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because that is not a path that one should tread, if the option is given to them not to." Jaune spoke rather ominously.

"…What do you mean by that?"

"Dark magics…" Jaune paused a moment. "Tis hard to describe them accurately without having used them oneself. I would say that they feel as if they eat away at thy very being. As if one's very soul is disintegrating inside of thee whenever they use them. Every time I relied on that power to substitute for my own lack of strength, I felt less like myself, and more like someone… other."

Weiss met Jaune's eyes, then, and saw the uncertainty that laid within them.

"I believed, at the time, that the effects were not permanent. That over days, weeks, months, if I did not overuse the powers of darkness, then I could stave off any such consequences. But… eventually I was left with little recourse but to use them, and in extremes." Jaune spoke, sighing. "During my battle with Ozma, and Salem, I… overindulged. To the point that I became something beyond human. And now… well, I can only hope that who I am now is who I have always been. That I am a good man."

His worry was palpable, enough so that Weiss could feel his uncertainty hanging in the air. She hadn't realized that such weighed so heavily upon him, but… perhaps he was worried about his own behavior, when he'd first exited the mirror. About how different he'd been then to how he acted now.

…

"…I can't speak to who you might once have been," Weiss turned away from Jaune, unable to look him in the eye as she said this, "But… you are."

"Hm?"

"You're a good person." She communicated without doubt. "You're… aggravating, and a pain in my ass. But you're a good person. A friend, even. Do not doubt yourself on that."

Jaune was actually speechless for a good few seconds after that. Evidently, Weiss' words were not those that he had expected. She turned back to see him looking down and away himself, with a small blush upon his cheeks.

"I… thank thee."

"It's nothing." She stammered out, embarrassed herself.

"No… it very much is not."

Before they could say anything more on the subject, however, there was a mild commotion outside of Weiss' window. It was late, so it surprised her, and for a moment, Weiss assumed the worst; that the Grimm had somehow managed to breach the wall.

That was not what had happened.

No, it was in fact a collection of civilians, all of them throwing bottles or bricks at a drone that was flying on the street just beyond their reach.

From it came a droning voice, delivering a message.

"Citizens of Mantle," the voice of General Ironwood came on over the speaker. "I come to you now bearing important news. There are imposters lurking among us."

She thought she heard Cheshire belt out laughing, although Weiss didn't really know why.

"Right now–" A glass bottle hit the side of the drone, and while it clearly didn't appreciate that, it also wasn't enough to stop it, either. "There are enemies of Atlas lurking within Mantle's walls. One of them is Cinder Fall; the wanted terrorist who nearly brought about the destruction of Beacon Academy. She has used a powerful semblance to ensnare both Weiss Schnee, and Jasmine Arc, two Huntresses in training, to her side."

Weiss just groaned, realizing that this was going to be a headache, regardless of whether or not anything actually came of this particular broadcast.

"We will be looking to apprehend this criminal, and save these two Huntresses in training. We believe that their goal will ultimately be to return to Atlas, and because of this, we will be requiring all travel into and out of Atlas to be done with an Atlas ID card, which can–"

The shouts from the people below almost drowned out the sound of the drone, and a particularly well-placed brick did finally end its tirade. The people on the ground cheered as the robot crashed to the ground, even as one particularly gutsy man ran over and kicked the downed bot.

He promptly broke his foot, from the looks of things.

"All of this is beginning to sound rather familiar." Jaune said suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Atlas is using any excuse it can to solidify its borders. Even though it is supposed to protect and serve Mantle as well, it seems perfectly content to leave it out to dry. We can see that by the Grimm attacks earlier. There were no soldiers on the walls, only volunteers."

Weiss felt an ugly feeling well up within her stomach. "That… there could have been soldiers around. Perhaps they just weren't stationed there."

"A possibility, but do you truly believe they would leave an obvious breach in their defenses unguarded?"

…

"Now, they are separating themselves even further from Mantle. They are making it harder for the people of Mantle to integrate with Atlas. I am not going to say that the reasons behind such are as simple as they were in my time; that the nobles want to milk the peasant classes for all that they are worth, and give nothing back… but it has oft been said that while history does not repeat, it often rhymes."

That… was a rather unflattering picture that was being painted of Atlas. The worst part was that Weiss couldn't fully argue against what he was saying, either. From the looks of things, Atlas had all but abandoned Mantle, and people like Robyn and the Happy Huntresses had to pick up the slack.

Penny was the only person that Weiss had met from Atlas who was actively helping to remedy the situation down here.

…She couldn't have been, could she? There had to be more people, there had to be others.

She would ask Penny. That was what she would do.

She told Jaune the same, and she watched as the expression on his face grew doubtful. She almost wanted to shout at him because of that. He could make his assumptions all he wanted, but Weiss knew General Ironwood. She knew that he was not the kind of person to do such a thing without reason.

So, they made their way down and out of the hotel, towards where Penny was still helping out the remaining Happy Huntresses. Robyn and Joanna – she was pretty sure that was the woman's name – had gone up to rest a few hours ago, and the others would follow suit once they returned. Penny, being an android, didn't actually need any rest.

Weiss wished she were the same way. As things were, she was entirely exhausted. It was only eight or nine hours ago that they'd fought against Winter and those other Specialists. She'd pretty much not stopped moving since then.

"Ah, Weiss!" Penny called out to her, apparently having finally gotten the hint to drop the 'friend' part before her name. "It is good to see you."

She'd last seen Penny about two hours ago, but she appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.

"Mm. It is." She decided to cut right to the chase. "Penny, where are the Atlas soldiers that should be stationed down here in Mantle?"

The expression on Penny's face darkened, then. Her lips curled down into a frown, and though she opened her mouth to say something, nothing came out initially.

"That…"

Weiss immediately knew the truth, although she very much wanted to pretend like she didn't.

"General Ironwood has pulled back ninety-five percent of our soldiers to Atlas, preparing for a potential attack by Salem." Penny's voice became almost robotic, and though that would've seemed ironic at another time, she meant it in a less literal sense now. She sounded as if she was reading off of a report, instead of talking to Weiss.

She didn't understand the reasoning behind his decisions either.

"Because of this, Mantle has largely been left understaffed, and holes in the outer wall have become more and more common as Grimm are able to get closer and closer to the city itself. I volunteered to be sent down here in order to assist."

"She's been much appreciated, too," May, one of the Happy Huntresses, spoke out. "Without Penny, I don't doubt we'd be up shit creek without a paddle."

"I have not heard that metaphor before." Jaune noted idly from Weiss' back. "I do not like it."

"Recently, General Ironwood even ordered me to return." Penny spoke, and Weiss bit down on her bottom lip. "I fought back against his judgment, saying that the people of Mantle needed my help. He eventually acquiesced, but he made it clear that I would need to return within the coming weeks."

"That… he said that?"

"He does not want to split forces when Atlas could come under attack at any moment."

"And what of Atlas' other half?" Jaune spoke up, almost sneering. "Is he simply leaving them to the proverbial wolves?"

"I… the general is under a lot of pressure right now." Penny spoke, and even to Weiss, who would've loved to believe that, it sounded like an excuse. "All of Atlas rests on his shoulders."

"And yet, he has already shucked off the weight of Mantle, has he not? He has already abandoned half or more of his people." Jaune spat out. "Forgive me if I am not feeling particularly understanding of a leader who would do such a thing."

"I just… what reason could there be for that?" Weiss stressed, trying to figure it out.

"He is afraid." Jaune spoke, and the words rang true. "He may not wish to admit it, but it is the truth. And fear makes fools of even the strongest. Those who are charged with command cannot afford to be afraid. That is something that I myself learned once upon a time. A leader must be a bastion, a stalwart beacon that one's people can look to for guidance. They cannot make decisions ruled by fear."

No one spoke in response to that. It wasn't like Weiss really could. What Jaune was saying made sense. It was the exactly same thing that had happened at Haven. Leonardo Lionheart had been afraid for his life, and because of that, he'd sold out his students, his faculty, and his Kingdom to Salem.

It had resulted in the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands over the years.

All because he'd been afraid.

Ozpin was, in his own way, also experiencing the same. He was allowing his judgement to be clouded by his emotions. His fear of what Jaune might be capable of was causing him to shun both Weiss and Jaune, who could've been valuable allies in the fight against Salem. Perhaps it could be said he was simply cautious, but Weiss was not so sure.

In the end… fear, it seemed, was the thing that ultimately ruled over all.

It was quite the bleak thought to have.

"That's why we're doing the things we're doing," A voice suddenly called out, and Weiss turned to see Robyn stepping up, a hand on her hip. "We're not going to abandon Mantle just because we're afraid. And we are afraid. Doesn't take a genius to know that Ironwood's not being this paranoid for nothing. Something's coming. Might not even be something we can handle."

Robyn shook her head, even as she stood the tiniest bit taller.

"But that doesn't mean we can just abandon the people here, either. Someone has to do something."

Jaune hummed out in agreement. "And that is leadership. The courage to, even though we are afraid, do that which must be done."

Robyn chuckled. "Ah, well… we do our best."

It was at that moment, as Weiss was left with Jaune's words to think on, that the giant bulletins that were normally used for broadcasting General Ironwood's messages to the people of Mantle lit up, and on the screen…

Weiss' eyes widened.

"Good evening, everyone." Her father, Jacques Schnee, orated. "I hope you all are having a splendid evening. As many of you know, I will be running for a position on the Atlas Council in the coming months. My campaign is strong, and I plan on tackling many of the issues that the people of Atlas, and Mantle as well, face in their day to day lives."

An obvious lie, but then, her father had always been quite skilled with those.

"I come before you today, however, not as a potential candidate for the council of Atlas, but as a father."

Huh. An even more obvious lie.

"As of a few days ago, I was informed that my daughter, Weiss Schnee, had become involved with something far beyond the scope of what I initially assumed her to be. She has been away from home for quite a while without my knowing her location, and during that time, I did not inform the authorities, for I was confident she could handle herself."

More like he didn't care enough to make a scene.

"But I have been informed by General Ironwood that the situation is far worse than I initially suspected. Weiss has been put under the control of the criminal Cinder Fall by means of a powerful semblance. Because of this, she is not herself, and even fought back against the Specialists of Atlas, including her own sister, when they tried to save her."

"So, as of this moment, I am going to be taking proactive measures to ensure the safety of my daughter. To any and all who might hear this; I offer a reward for my daughter's safe return to the Schnee manse. Five hundred million lien."

Weiss' eyes widened.

Robyn and the Happy Huntresses gaped.

Penny smiled. "It's good to hear that he cares so much about you!"

Weiss was not going to rise to that. She refused.

"Once she is returned, I will personally hand the one, or ones, who return her their reward money. I beseech you to listen to my plea. Thank you, and goodnight."

The bulletin boards flicked off, and Weiss was left staring at the now black screens with her mouth agape.

She… couldn't believe that she'd just heard.

Yet whether or not she believed it, she was now the public's number one concern. She looked over to her left, where a couple of Mantle citizens who had been up until then minding their own business suddenly walked over, looking nervous. Evidently, they had heard what had just been said…

But that money was more than life changing.

And some people were going to be reeeeeaally stupid to try and get it.

"Hey, why don't you come with us, ma'am?"

"Yeah, we'll bring you back to your father safe and sound!"

Excellent. Just peachy.

Somehow, this was all Jaune's fault.

End Chapter 21

What a loving father Jacques Schnee is. He is definitely not only doing this because Watts is blackmailing him. Definitely not.

Anyways, something something, see you all in two (actually maybe three) weeks.

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