Yo! Been a while. Xenoblade X Definitive Edition came out today, and while I am going to be doing nothing but that for a week, I at least wanted to upload this beforehand. Update schedule on this story is still biweekly for the time being, but expect next chapter (or the one after) to be the last on that before going back to weekly.

Alright, let's get into it!

Start Chapter 22

Ruby Rose was in a bit of a pickle.

This pickle, of course, was standing next to one Oscar Pine, who was currently being piloted by the ancient magic warrior in his brain, as he nodded along with everything that General Ironwood was saying, despite the fact that a lot of it was sounding a bit…

Uhm…

Fascist-y? was that a word?

Ruby was pretty sure that it wasn't a word. It got her point across pretty well, though.

"For the time being, I've instituted a curfew in Mantle. That way, we should be able to control the movements of the citizens below. That will allow us to flush out those not following the curfew, which should, hopefully, be the members of the Dread King's entourage."

"And you know for a fact that they're still in Mantle?"

"For one, there's nowhere else they could go." Ironwood stated simply. "The tundra this time of year is cold enough to chill out even the most prepared of adventurers in mere days. The villages in and around Mantle are still a hundred kilometers out, and that distance would take weeks to cover with this weather."

"What about magic?"

"We cannot expressly say that they have not used magic to escape," Ironwood admitted. "But then, if they have, then there's not much we can do in the first place."

Ozpin sighed. "I suppose you're not incorrect. I simply wish we could do more; flood Mantle with Atlesian forces and flush them out."

"Be that as it may, I don't currently have the manpower to divert a significant portion of my armies to Mantle. Not when Atlas could come under attack at any moment."

"You almost certainly have some sort of advanced warning set up, my friend, do you not?" Ozpin – Ozma? Oscar? Ugh – countered. "Could you not send soldiers down into Mantle, and then pull them out if your advanced warning signals detected an enemy?"

"That…" Ironwood paused a moment. "Perhaps you are right. I have been playing things safe, lately. But in this case, it may be right to push the envelope a tad."

Ozpin nodded. "Then…"

"I'll have two members of the Ace-Ops – Winter and Marrow – down in Mantle. They will assist Ms. Polendina in locating the Dread King's entourage."

Ozpin seemed rather perturbed by something that had been said. "Has Penny located nothing thus far?"

"According to her, they have been abnormally elusive."

"Hm. Troubling." Ozpin rubbed at his chin. "I assumed they would be quite easily tracked."

"As did I. Penny, of all people, should've had little issue with such an effort. That she has not been able to locate them suggests some manner of magic is at work."

Ozpin flinched. "And every time he uses magic, the Dread King grows closer to casting off his bonds, and walking amongst us once again. That cannot be allowed to happen. As of yet, I do not believe he has become aware of the limitations of his prison, but if he were to…"

"You believe him to be as deadly a foe as Salem?"

"Not in the same way. Not with Salem's raw power. But in cunning, yes, I believe he poses as equal a threat to the people of Remnant as she does."

"Very well." Ironwood nodded his head, "I will contact Winter and Marrow with haste, then. Would you wish to lead that team, old friend?"

"If you'd have me, then I would, indeed." Ozpin nodded his head. "I've sat back and allowed them to roam free for too long. It's time I took action."

"Would that I could go with you," Ironwood sighed. "Unfortunately, with things as they are, I'm needed here."

"I more than understand."

"Very well, then." Ironwood cleared his throat before looking towards them. "The rest of you, take the remainder of the day off. I will speak more with Ozpin alone."

Ruby and the others – Blake and Yang, alongside Adam and a few other members of the White Fang – made their way out of the room, and back into the halls of Atlas HQ. Somehow, no one had yet commented on the fact that Adam Taurus was walking around unmasked and entirely casually in the home of what had once been his most hated enemy.

But… eh. Ruby wasn't going to go starting anything.

"So…" Ruby proceeded to start something. "Did that give any of you guys the heebie-jeebies, or was that just me?"

"I am likely rather biased." Adam said with a small shrug. "So, I will refrain from commenting."

"Nah," Yang nudged Adam's arm. "Tell us."

"…Well, if you're certain. I believe that Ozpin and Ironwood both are terrified. Not necessarily of the same things, mind, but they are both clearly affected by something. They are not entirely in their right minds."

"I agree." Blake chimed in. "Ironwood's less obvious than Ozpin, but even so, the fact that he's holed up the entire Atlesian army in Atlas for the last two months, without a single sign of Salem's appearance, says enough on its own. The people of Mantle are being left out to dry, and he's doing nothing."

Ruby hummed out under her breath, even as they rounded a corner towards their own rooms. Thinking about Mantle had her feeling rather down, because while they were up here twiddling their thumbs, apparently the walls were being constantly attacked, and volunteer Huntsman and Huntresses were being called on to defend them.

Ruby would've liked to be among them. Except Ironwood was convinced that Salem would attack any day now, and had them sequestered away here in case they were needed.

And while he might be right, Ruby wasn't alright with allowing people to die out of fear.

They pushed their way into their shared room with Team JNPR – or, well, NPR – and found what was fast becoming the usual scene of late.

Ren and Nora trying to urge Pyrrha out of bed, where she had been laying all morning, entirely out of it.

Ruby couldn't really blame her. After all, she loved Weiss, but in a sisterly way. Knowing she was being controlled by that Jaune guy hurt, but she knew that she hadn't chosen it.

Jasmine, on the other hand…

Well, they'd gotten her letter. The letter where she'd told them, in no uncertain terms, that she was going to go and learn magic from the Dread King.

Pyrrha had been despondent.

And yeah. Ruby got why. It very much sucked. She had, seemingly, been placed under his spell as well.

…Except…

"Hey, Pyrrha." Yang waved, and she looked up from her bed to nod weakly towards Yang. "Still feeling crappy?"

"I… have been better."

"Yeah, I getcha."

"I just wish she would've confided in me." Pyrrha muttered out.

…Ruby supposed there was no time like the present to bring up what was on her mind.

"I was just thinking something." Ruby spoke, looking up at the others as they turned to her. "Is it really a spell that's causing them all to travel with him?"

"Huh?"

"I just… I'm getting this weird feeling all of a sudden."

"Yeah, it certainly seems sudden; you were convinced as of three hours ago that Weiss was under the control of the Demon King, or whatever he's called." Yang raised an eyebrow. "What happened to change that?"

"Yeah, but then I heard that Weiss said, like actually admitted, that she was under his control."

The others stared at her blankly.

"And that… convinced you that she wasn't?"

Ruby nodded her head.

"Okay." Yang shrugged. "Fuck it, sure. Let's consider this line of conversation, then. Do we have more evidence to suggest that maybe Weiss has been telling the truth this whole time, and that she's not under anyone's control?"

"Actually," Ren was the one to speak up. "I had been keeping quiet on this because I was not certain it would help, but… to me, it seemed odd that Jasmine, who knows quite a bit about magic, would go to the Dread King purposefully is she thought she would just be controlled. In her note, she stated that she wished to learn magic from him. Would she learn much of anything as a thrall?"

"Couldn't the note have been fabricated by him?" Nora argued.

"It could've." Ren admitted. "I've nothing to contest that."

"No, I agree." Pyrrha suddenly seemed a lot livelier. "It does seem odd. Jasmine told me while we were traveling to Argus that she was resistant to most forms of magic. She sparred against her siblings enough that her aura became able to reflect some of it. Unless she was beaten, first, she wouldn't have fallen under his control."

"And the plot thickens." Blake murmured out. "So, what about Cinder, and that other person?"

"That's honestly a good question," Yang admitted. "But one with an obvious explanation; couldn't he have just used that ability he did on Adam to change her and make her good?"

Adam hummed. "I see no reason why not. We know not the limitations of the spell. Perhaps he couldn't have, but if he could…"

"Then yes, that would explain her traveling with them." Blake said. "And we know absolutely nothing about this fourth person. They wear a black cloak and a mask. Hard to pick up on anything. Apparently, one of the Ace-Ops heard them called 'Cheshire' by one of the others."

"Not particularly helpful."

"No, it isn't. Unfortunately, I can't see us gaining anything else out of this topic of conversation unless we're willing to come to a decision as a group. To do that…" Blake looked over at Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha. "We should fill you all in on what happened."

They ran down the general points that Ironwood and Ozpin had been making during their meeting, and Nora then proceeded to join them in the camp of 'this all feels a bit wrong'.

"I don't like it." She bit out, causing Ren to lean over and place a hand on her shoulder supportively. "I just…"

"And they didn't so much as consider whether or not Jacques Schnee's broadcast is going to be putting civilians all over Mantle in danger." Blake crossed her arms over her chest. "If people see Weiss, they're going to try and apprehend her, instead of running like they should. That's going to get people hurt, one-hundred percent."

"And they really didn't say anything about it?" Ren leaned forward.

"Not a word."

"How could they be so blind?"

Silence fell over their group of seven, then. Ruby, Yang, Blake, Adam, Ren, Pyrrha, and Nora. Now, both of their teams were down a man.

"To me, this feels like an obvious case." Adam eventually spoke out. "Our supposed leaders are failing us. Both of them are missing the forest for the trees. In trying to protect people from Salem in the future, they are doing nothing to protect people who need help now."

There was a general chorus of agreement at that. Ruby didn't exactly want to admit that both Ozpin – who they'd been following along and trusting for the last while – and Ironwood – who'd done so much for them back during the Battle of Beacon – were untrustworthy, but…

"At the very least," Blake spoke up. "If they're going to make no moves to protect Mantle, then a select few of us should. I say we ask for forgiveness rather than permission, and send half of our number down to Mantle. Help out around the gates, and making sure everyone down there is safe."

"I agree with your assessment." Adam nodded. "There are people here, both human and faunus, being left to the proverbial wolves."

It was always a bit odd to hear Adam Taurus, of all people, worrying about random humans, but then, Ruby had started to grow a bit used to that.

He was actually a really nice guy now that the whole… terrible racism thing had been taken from him.

"Okay, so, how do we get down to Mantle?" Ruby asked.

"That's actually fairly easy." Blake spoke. "It's getting back up afterwards that's the kicker."

"Well…" Ruby pursed her lips. "We could always worry about that when the time comes?"

Everyone was silent a moment after that.

"…Yeah sure."

"I don't see why not."

"A great plan, Ruby!"

And somewhere, without even really knowing why, Weiss Schnee ran a hand down her face in exasperation.

/

Ruby wasn't entirely sure what she'd expected to find as she and the small cohort of people with her – namely Yang, Blake, Adam, and a few of the White Fang that had once been local – stepped out onto the streets of Mantle.

It uh… it really hadn't been this.

"So…" Ruby muttered a bit helplessly. "What's going on?"

There were people up in arms all around them. Several people were holding makeshift weapons; things like baseball bats, golf clubs, or lead pipes. Others, the luckier or wealthier ones, had blades or light firearms.

And they were just kind of… roaming about.

"Spread out!" One of the leaders of a small band of people, numbering six or seven strong, called out. "We find Weiss Schnee, and that bounty is ours!"

"Someone said they saw her on 3rd street!" A member of another group shouted out.

"And we're just going to believe your ass? Yeah, right. I say we check 7th, call that asshole's bluff."

"Hey, you better not be thinking about muscling in on our turf!" Another member of that second group threatened, stepping up and smacking his pipe into his open palm over and over again.

"Your turf!? This is a fuckin' street, dipshit! It's no one's turf!"

"Oh, them's are fightin' words!"

Ruby and the others just sort of watched, enthralled, as the different men and women in those two groups ran at each other, fists and weapons flying. The fight was not at all a well-organized thing, and it was akin more to a knockdown brawl than anything else.

Adam just sighed. "I'll go stop them from killing each other."

"Yeah." Blake muttered. "You uh… you do that."

Adam nodded his head, before looking back to a few of his people and nodding towards them. They moved in step with him as their group, half the size of either of the groups they were going to apprehend, made their way over to the tussle.

"Okay, I'm gonna' ask again," Ruby followed up as Adam and the White Fang stopped the fight before the makeshift weapons being employed could strike more vulnerable areas. "What exactly is going on right now?"

"Y'know what?" Yang muttered.

"I don't think I want to know."

End Chapter 22

Welp, Mantle has descended into absolute anarchy thanks to Jacques Schnee's message. Everyone and their mother wants that reward money. I'm sure that's totally fine.

Still on a biweekly schedule like I said. See you in two weeks!

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