Yo! Some updates on the update schedule at the end. For now, let's get into it.

Start Chapter 20

Jaune caught them all with some kind of gravity spell, which slowed their descent enough that they could tank the fall from there thanks to their lowered weight. Jasmine was still hyperventilating, seemingly having flashbacks to initiation, where she'd not had a landing strategy to speak of.

"Who just launches someone into a deadly forest while they're still asking questions!?" Weiss could remember Jasmine going on and on about in the days following initiation.

…Despite herself, thinking back on that had her smiling.

"Let's move." Cinder fired off quickly, already standing up. "We need to be as far away from here as possible when they catch up."

Weiss' brow furrowed. "You think they're going to chase us after that!?"

"You don't?" Cinder scoffed. "Did your sister seem like she was willing to let you get away, and potentially continue endangering yourself?"

It was almost funny how quickly she reconsidered what she'd just been thinking. Cinder had a habit of striking right at the heart of the matter when she wanted to.

"They'll be on our heels quickly, and our best bet of escaping is not being here when that happens." She wrenched Jasmine off of the ground – she was still hyperventilating – and glared back at Weiss. "Unless you have any objections to that plan?"

Weiss didn't, and so they went along with what Cinder had suggested.

They were being looked at like they'd all grown second heads as they hurried along away from that initial drop position. That was mostly because they'd hurtled from Atlas above, and had landed down on a random street in Mantle without any trouble in front of a good three or four dozen people.

In their defense, Weiss probably would've been staring, too.

As they walked, Weiss took note of a few things. The first of which was the massive crater in Mantle where Atlas had once rested. It had risen into the sky at some point, and was connected to the ground only through a collection of pneumatic tubes, which likely ferried goods to and from the surface.

The second thing Weiss noticed about Mantle was…

Well, it was the fact that everything down here was so much worse off than it had been above. The people down here walked along without light in their eyes. Without energy in their steps. Many were huddled around the heaters that were keeping the entirety of Mantle from freezing to death, but they didn't seem to be working all that terribly well judging by the fact that quite a few people were pressed up against them, literally flush against them to try and conserve as much heat as possible.

Unrest was evident, and it was only made worse by the fact that General Ironwood's voice was booming across the entirety of Mantle, telling them that this was all for the greater good.

Several people were glaring up at his picture, and no matter how much faith Weiss held in General Ironwood, she couldn't entirely blame them.

"This place…" Jaune suddenly called out from her back, and Weiss pulled him around so that they could speak face to face as they continued walking. "It reminds me somewhat of some of the poorer towns I bore witness to in and around the Lands of Light, before our revolution. The kinds of places that went largely ignored by the so called 'leaders' of the time. It was from these places that I gained some of my strongest soldiers, among some of whom carried the harshest of grudges upon my brother's crown."

Weiss did not at all like that comparison. Half of that was because she didn't have any counter to what Jaune was saying.

But she knew the General. She knew how kind he was.

…She also knew that he would do anything if it meant that he could, in his own mind, guarantee the safety of Atlas. Was that what this was? So far, she'd seen so few Atlesian soldiers. There used to be so many more. On the walls, protecting Mantle from the Grimm.

But as they made it to the very outskirts of Mantle, they found the walls rickety, with several large sections taken out, and no guards in sight. There were people atop them, but they looked to be volunteers more than anything, judging by their rag-tag weapons, and different outfits.

Weiss felt her stomach tying itself into knots inside her chest. She didn't like this one bit.

Unfortunately, before she could give word to her feelings, a great bang echoed out from behind them, and a voice cried out, "Freeze, evildoers!"

All of them turned at once – albiet Cinder drew her weapons, basically proving the point of whoever had just spoke – and…

Weiss' eyes widened. Jasmine and Cinder were much the same.

Cheshire might've also done the same, but given they were still wearing that old knight's mask, Weiss couldn't actually tell.

"Penny!?"

The girl in front of them looked shocked to be recognized, and only grew more so as she did some recognizing of her own. Her hair had grown down to around the middle of her back –although grown might not have been the right word – and she did appear to be a few years older, even if Weiss knew that all of that was artificial.

"Friend Weiss!?" Penny called out, taking a step forward before manually stopping herself. "What are you doing here? Why are you holding that mirror!?"

Of course, that was the thing everyone always focused on. Look, Weiss liked Jaune, she really did, but she really wished that anybody would actually acknowledge her these days, instead of just focusing on the thing she was carrying around. Still, what really mattered to Weiss, separate from all the rest, was…

"I thought your partner killed her." Cinder muttered under her breath towards Jasmine.

The girl herself just glared back.

Yeah. That had been the thing Weiss was thinking about, too.

/

All in all, Penny took that comment about her own death pretty well.

She was, however, taking Weiss' insistence that she could not take the mirror to General Ironwood… less well.

"You must understand, friend Weiss," Penny called her friend, despite the fact that they'd shared a few sentences during the entire time they'd known one another. Still, Weiss was a friend of Ruby's, and that meant quite a bit to Penny, it seemed. "That mirror on your back houses a dangerous lord of dark power. Someone from the days of the ancients, who is capable of bringing doom to the entire world!"

"I am truly not. World ending power really isn't within my purview" Jaune sighed out from where Weiss was holding him, so that he could talk to Penny. "And please, could you at least acknowledge my existence if you're going to be trying to steal me away?"

Penny ignored him, instead only looking at Weiss.

"It is important that you not fall for his schemes."

"Penny…" She sighed. Why could no one ever believe her when she stated that she wasn't under Jaune's control? She was very sure she wasn't acting any different! Gods forbid she didn't want a friend of hers to be sealed away for all eternity. "It's not a scheme. Jaune talks a big game, and he is strong, but he has no desire to end the world, or any such thing."

"I admit that I did at one point say such things," Jaune spoke, and Weiss wanted to smack him and tell him to shut up, but unfortunately, he just kept going. "But I have since come to realize the error of my ways. Or perhaps I should say that I have come to realize that when I was making such comments, I was lost in the throes of anger and rage at having been sealed away by the Gods, and overthrown by both Ozma and Salem themselves. From my perspective, this had happened mere moments before I awoke."

Penny's eyes widened. "You know of the existence of Salem?"

Weiss nodded, before her eyes narrowed. "You do, too?"

"General Ironwood has informed all those in his closest circles about the danger that may yet be ahead of us." Penny looked up towards her left, past the wall, and at a mountain to the northeast. "Salem could come at any time. That is why we must be ready."

Weiss… she could see the reasoning behind what Ironwood was doing. Hell, she couldn't much judge the man for wanting to be able to do everything in his power to help Atlas.

But still…

"I received a report no more than ten minutes ago that fugitives carrying the mirror of the Dread King had dropped into Mantle from Atlas." Penny spoke. "And those fugitives are none other than your group. I need you to come with me to see General Ironwood."

Weiss bit down on her bottom lip. "Penny, you know I can't do that."

"I do not know." Penny tilted her head to one side. "I have been provided with General Ironwood's reasoning; that it is too dangerous to allow someone like this dread king to run rampant when Salem is at our doorstep, but you have yet to provide me with a reason of your own. If you wish for me to know, then inform me as to why you cannot acquiesce to the general's request."

Weiss had her answer right off the cuff.

"You just said that Salem is coming. Jaune isn't exactly her biggest fan."

She looked down at Jaune, and he hummed out in agreement. "She is not wrong."

"Jaune can offer you assistance. As can all of us."

Jaune stayed silent, although on his face was a small frown.

"And how am I to trust your words?" Penny asked. "Your vocal patterns are indeed similar to those utilized by Weiss Schnee herself, but General Ironwood and Lieutenant Winter both believed you to be under this 'Jaune D'Arc's' control."

Oh great. This again. And this time, she couldn't even be all that mad at the world, since it had very much been her own fault. She'd been the one to fool Winter into believing that she was Jaune to keep her distracted.

Now, she had to face the consequences of her own actions.

Delightful.

"Penny, you have to believe me; I'm my own self. I lied to Winter earlier to distract her so that we could get down here safely." Perhaps it wasn't wise to lay out what her entire plan had been, but she really wanted Penny to come around. They did not need to be making anymore enemies here. They had enough up top already.

"I would like to believe you." Penny stated, frowning. A moment later, her eyes lit up. "And perhaps, there exists a way that I can prove whether or not you are telling the truth!

Weiss wasn't really sure what Penny was talking about, even if it did sound really great in theory. Was she going to grab a polygraph machine, or something? Weiss couldn't help but feel like that wouldn't be all that great a strategy, given that Jaune could manipulate things like gravity, and thusly could probably make a needle move or not move when he wanted it to, but Weiss wasn't going to point that out.

Instead, however, Penny returned some five minutes later not with a machine, but with a human being.

She was a tall woman – but then, most people were tall when compared to Weiss – with pale blonde hair and a tan complexion. She was dressed similarly to the other volunteers on the wall, which told Weiss they were probably related in some way.

"Everyone," Penny smiled. "This is Robyn Hill. She's the leader of the Happy Huntresses, who are currently helping us to reinforce Mantle's defenses!"

Robyn looked them all over with an appraising eye. She struck Weiss as someone tough, probably a fighter of some kind, but whether or not she was able to compete with the likes of Cinder of her sister remained to be seen.

"Nice to meet you all." She stated, and Weiss responded in kind. "So, I'm here to use my semblance, right?"

"That is correct." Penny nodded, before looking towards Weiss. "Please step towards Ms. Hill, and hold out your right hand, Weiss."

She wasn't entirely certain that that was a good idea, but when she hesitated a moment, Jaune spoke with her.

"If they try anything, you have allies at your back."

His words proved true, for Jasmine was looking at her with a supportive smile.

Cinder and Cheshire were also present. They weren't being supportive at all, but they were undeniably… there.

She sighed, before taking a step forward and offering out her hand. Robyn Hill took it in her own, and along their hands, a bit of aura began to glow a faint white color.

"Alright," Robyn coughed. "What am I asking here, Penny?"

"Ask her if she is Jaune D'Arc."

Weiss wasn't really sure what this was about, but instead of allowing Robyn Hill to ask the question, she simply confirmed that herself. "I am not Jaune. I am Weiss Schnee."

Weiss waited a moment, before the aura circling around the both of their hands glowed green.

"She's telling the truth." Robyn confirmed, and Weiss' eyes widened. That… was a powerful ability. The ability to tell truth from lie.

"I see." Penny nodded her head. "That is good."

Weiss let out a breath of relief.

Unfortunately for her, a few people nearby moved towards them.

"What's going on, Robyn?" One of them asked.

"Ah, May," Robyn turned towards her. "Currently, confirming something with my semblance."

"Yeah, I gathered that." The new arrival rolled her eyes. "I meant more 'what is it you're confirming'?"

"Uh…" Robyn looked to Penny.

"You are confirming whether or not the evil sorcerer from the dawn of time that Weiss carries around with her inside of that mirror has taken over control of her body, and is now essentially puppeteering her around, or not."

Robyn's eyebrows, understandably, rose a bit.

"Uh… okay. Well… he isn't."

May seemed to take some issue with that. "Couldn't some evil sorcerer from the dawn of time fake your semblance out?"

"I could." Jaune answered, and Weiss threw the mirror on the ground, and then stomped on it a few times for good measure.

It wasn't like it was going to actually do anything. The mirror was quite literally unbreakable. From what she'd seen, it couldn't even collect dirt or dust.

Weiss could swing at it with her Arma Gigas and nothing would happen.

…Hm. Tempting.

"I don't know, May." Robyn pulled her hand back, laughing under her breath. "That was pretty convincing to me."

The woman named May snorted. "Same. So, Penny, mind filling us in on what's actually going on here?"

Penny explained the situation as best she could. Weiss occasionally interjected when the story wasn't true – which was unfortunately quite often, given that Ironwood was apparently getting his intel straight from Ozpin – which resulted in… an interesting tale for the Happy Huntresses to hear.

"So, Ironwood says that this Jaune guy," one of the newer arrivals, Joanna, another member of the Happy Huntresses, starts to summarize with a confused expression on her face, "Is going to try and destroy the world."

"Mhm."

"But Jaune's actual goal is just to get out of that mirror?"

"That is correct."

"And also, apparently you were a dark and evil king at one point, who overthrew the Kingdom that this Salem person used to have?"

"It was her father's kingdom. He was my brother."

"Okay, sure." Joanna cleared her throat. "So… do we believe that, or?"

The other Happy Huntresses, Robyn, May, and Fiona – another new arrival – shrugged.

"It's a bit hard to believe given that's Cinder Fall." Fiona pointed out a bit sheepishly – which Weiss swore was not a racist pun, regardless of the fact that Fiona was a sheep faunus. "Who, y'know, kind of blew up Beacon?"

Cinder whistled faux-casually, doing her best to not meet anyone's eyes.

Jasmine ran a hand down her face in exasperation.

It was in that moment that Weiss actually remembered that Cheshire existed. She was fairly certain that they hadn't spoken a word in two hours. Actually, scratch that, Cheshire was currently chasing a leaf down the side of the road a few meters behind them.

Good for them, honestly. They were accomplishing a lot more in life that Weiss was.

"Okay, whatever," May sighed out. "Back on the evil warlock thing."

"I prefer sorcerer."

"Fine, back on the evil sorcerer thing."

"You're not going to dispute the evil part?" Weiss turned to Jaune.

Jaune shrugged. "I kind of like the sound of it?"

"You are infuriating."

"Well, we can just confirm that first and foremost." Robyn said, kneeling in front of Jaune's mirror and placing her hand upon the glass. "Can you connect my aura to yours somehow?"

"I do not possess aura, but I can connect thy rudimentary magics to mine own, yes." Jaune answered, seemingly focusing before placing his own hand against the glass.

Robyn allowed Jaune's rudeness to slide, which Weiss was very grateful for. He could be… prickly around new people.

Weiss would know. He'd been more than prickly during their time together in the Schnee manor.

"Okay, you mind answering some questions?"

"Art thou giving me a choice?"

"I mean, I can't actually force you to do anything."

"Then I'd prefer to not answer–"

"Answer the gods damned question, Jaune!" Weiss hissed out.

"I would be delighted to answer any questions you have."

Robyn nodded, and Weiss tried to ignore the way the Happy Huntresses were all snickering in the background.

"Let's start with an easy one; do you want to destroy the world?"

That was an easy one?

"I hold no designs against this world." Jaune confirmed, and Robyn's aura glowed green. "Well, perhaps I could rule over it–"

Weiss smacked the mirror.

"But from a benevolent position!" Jaune shot back at her. "Thou never let me finish!"

"Ruling over the world at all sounds evil, Jaune, I don't care how you plan on doing it!"

"It sounds very fanciful, though."

Weiss wondered, idly, if she'd been a terrible person in a past life, and having to carry Jaune around was some form of divine punishment for that.

"Alright, well, I guess I'll just have to accept that. Not like I can do anything else." Robyn shrugged, before looking between the two of them. "Anything else you guys want to confirm?"

Weiss didn't have anything, but Jaune, apparently, did.

"All that I have told thee is true, Weiss."

Her eyes widened minutely, even as Robyn's aura did glow a pale green.

"It says he's telling the truth." Fiona hummed.

"He literally just admitted he could fake Robyn's semblance out."

"Well, then thou will simply have to trust me, won't thee?" Jaune looked up at Weiss, and though she groaned…

Well, annoyingly enough, she already did trust Jaune.

"Cinder," Jasmine called out to the woman who had been backing away from this conversation very slowly for the last few minutes. "Why don't you answer some questions?"

"Er…" Cinder coughed. "I have no idea why you'd want me to do that."

Jasmine raised a single eyebrow. That was apparently enough for Cinder.

"I have no intentions of betraying Weiss."

"Uh-huh." Jasmine crossed her arms over her breasts. "Want to shake the nice lady's hand to prove that?"

Cinder coughed into one hand, before pointing at the wall that protected Mantle from the elements outside of it. "Oh, look, it's a Grimm attack!"

Weiss was not fooled. No one was, in fact.

And then someone on the wall shouted out, "GRIMM INCOMING!"

Weiss' eyes widened, even as the entire camp sprang into action, immediately preparing for battle. Robyn and the other Happy Huntresses drew weapons, and Penny herself allowed her blades to emerge from out of her back, and hover behind her.

"Wow. There actually was a Grimm attack." Cinder muttered, and Jasmine just groaned.

For the time being, Weiss was going to choose to ignore that.

They had a Kingdom to defend, after all.

/

Winter Schnee stood within General Ironwood's office alongside the other members of the Ace-Ops. To her right was Clover, and behind them were the other four members of the group; Elm, Harriet, Vine, and Marrow.

She had just finished giving their report.

She had not been kind. Not to her teammates, for they had done no wrong.

No. She had not been kind to herself.

"I was an idiot!" She lambasted herself yet again. "I fell for his manipulation, and–"

"Winter. Calm." Ironwood ordered her, and she forced herself to take a breath as he gave a small nod. "No one is blaming you. I can't honestly expect you to see your sister under the control of some dark sorcerer and not be affected. I was hoping that you being there would be enough to wrest her from whatever control this demon has over her, but from what you say…"

"She is in there." Winter confirmed. "I spoke of my love for her, and she reacted. A tear slid down her cheek, despite that infernal man's words continuing to spill from her lips."

"I'm inclined to believe you." The general nodded. "As for what we can do about that, our options are limited. I was willing to make a play on the mirror whilst it was still here in Atlas, but splitting the Ace-Ops up when Salem could be at our throats any day now is risky."

"I wish to go and look for her." Winter stated plainly. "Even if I must go alone."

"I had a feeling you might say that, yes." Ironwood chuckled. "I will allow it, but in a few days' time. For now, we will wait until Ozpin and others arrive from Argus."

Winter sighed out, unsatisfied, but she knew that the general was right. Waiting for reinforcements who knew more about the situation – and some of whom might've known more about Weiss – than she did was simply the smart thing to do.

It didn't mean that Winter had to like it.

"I've heard from the both of you," Ironwood gestured towards herself and Clover. "Now, I'd like to hear from the others. Harriet, I'm told you were placed under the effect of some kind of immobilizing spell?"

Winter stepped back as Harriet stepped forward, allowing her a turn to speak. "Yes, sir. I was."

"What can you tell me about it?"

"Not as much as I'd like." Harriet hissed out between her teeth. "His magic… it made me feel like an alien in my own body. I couldn't move at all. My semblance was completely useless, too. I felt helpless. Like… like anything could've taken me out. A random mugger on the street wouldn't have had any trouble at that point."

"And you were like that for how long?"

"Four or five hours." Harriet stated. "Elm ultimately had to carry me to somewhere more easily defensible, given that I'd been left inside an alleyway while the others chased the suspects. I asked them to do so, to be clear."

Ironwood nodded. Harriet had made the right call, choosing to allow herself to sit there in an alley on the cold floor for the chance of possibly saving Weiss. She'd done that for her, Winter knew, and she was grateful for it.

"Ms. Ederne," Ironwood addressed Elm now. "Harriet says you carried her. I am told that her weight was essentially doubled, or tripled, by the spell cast upon her. How heavy would you estimate Ms. Bree was at that point?"

"Eh, hard to say." Elm was honest, making micro expressions with her face as she thought. "I'd estimate around 250 kilos? Give or take 25 in either direction. Harriet's light as a feather normally, so I'd say she was made heavier by four or five times?"

"And he was able to cast that spell with how little time to prepare?"

"We estimate roughly thirty seconds, sir." Clover cut in now. "Maybe less. I'd air on the side of caution and assume he could cast something like that instantly in a pinch."

Ironwood nodded. Assuming one's enemy was more competent than they might be allowed one to prepare for even the worst of scenarios. It was a lot like how a roller coaster was fitted to be able to support multiple times the weight it would ever actually need to.

Sometimes it paid to be cautious, even if such caution would never be necessary.

"I can see why Ozpin has been so worried about him escaping from out of that mirror, then." Ironwood sighed. "If he is currently limited by being trapped within it, and yet he can still do such things, and even protect the four traveling with him from the effects of gravity as they leapt from Atlas, we can assume he would be magnitudes stronger with more direct applications of that magic."

Winter had thought the same. Gravity manipulation was well and good, but she'd seen what a Maiden could do in the right circumstances thanks to the training she'd been undergoing to inherit Fria's power in the near future.

A walking conflagration.

And that was supposed to be a mere fraction of what even modest sorcerers of old were capable of, according to Ozpin.

The thought of that had Winter shivering.

Clover hummed out. "Well, sir, if you'd allow my input?"

"Granted."

"I'd say that for the meantime, we set out a cold trail." Clover laid out a gameplan. "Hopefully, Weiss and the others will do something to reveal themselves to our eyes and ears in Mantle. We know Penny's going to be on the lookout, and we have a few people down there posing as civilians to watch for unrest anyways. Might as well have them keep an eye out for our fugitives."

Winter nodded. He was right.

"For now, we recover, we train, we come up with a gameplan. We work around what we know they're capable of." Clover rallied the troops. "Then, we sit, we wait…"

"And when the time is right, we pounce."

/

In a seemingly barren apartment among the backstreets of Mantle, in a place no one would ever think to look, Arthur Watts took a large bite out of an apple.

It was a particularly delicious apple, and one he would really rather be devoting more time to. It was not local to any particular part of the world. In fact, from what Salem had told him, it had been an extinct species for the last few centuries.

But Salem's magic could be rather utilitarian in terms of use, on occasion. Ranging from growing food and producing clean, drinkable water at the very end of the world, to managing to pluck specially coded scroll calls out of thin air and talk to them as if she had a scroll herself.

Case in point…

He took up his scroll, pressed a button on the front, and waited for Salem to apprehend the signal.

"Watts." Her voice came out through the receiver via some strange magic, the specifics of which he had never been allowed to fully investigate. To Salem, how her powers interacted with Watts' technological abilities was not important, only that they did.

Such was fairly aggravating for him, given that Watts had spent the better part of his entire life focused on helping to pioneer such technological breakthroughs, what with working on some of the earliest prototypes for the modern scrolls alongside Pietro.

And my, what his old rival had been up to. This… Penny project looked quite interesting.

Ah, well. He'd have time to focus on such things later.

"Mistress." He answered, and Salem hummed to let him know she could hear him. "I'm just calling because I thought you'd like to know that I've found them."

On the monitor in front of him, upon Arthur's desk, security footage from the walls of Mantle was playing.

It showed a young blonde girl, who seemed a bit in over her head. It showed a curious masked figure, who Watts knew little about. It showed a traitorous cockroach who Watts had been right about all along.

It showed a girl with white hair fighting against Grimm in the snow just beyond the cities' reach.

And upon her back was a mirror.

"Both the mirror, and its bearer."

End Chapter 20.

I'm sorry to say that this story will be staying on a biweekly schedule for the time being. Time is currently very limited for me. Not much else to say.

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