Author's Note: This week we get a little bit more information about Grayson, though of course its always important to remember to consider your sources...

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its associated characters. The characters in this writing so far are mostly original characters, but I make no claim over the existing characters.

Chapter 27

Atlas

So, what did you guys talk about?

LIWI asked. It was early the next morning, and he and I were working on fixing and upgrading the suit of powered armor I had commandeered from Helios.

"Nothing crazy." I told him as I worked on moving the spider step enchantment to the new suit of armor. "Mostly just talking about the differences between Gary and I. It's weird to talk to someone who knows you when you don't know them."

That does seem strange. He commented. But at least it means you already have a friend! All the hard work of getting to know somebody and becoming friends with them is halfway done!

I paused with a piece of the armored boot in my hand, thinking about his comment. It was a characteristically optimistic way of looking at the situation, but it wasn't technically wrong.

"I hope you're right about that." I replied, slipping the enchanted disk of ancient metal under the armored plating and securing it to the heel of the boot. After a few minutes I had finished the second boot, and slipped them on to test them, walking up the wall of the cave and standing on the ceiling. Satisfied that they were working correctly I moved to the much more complicated task of rebuilding the connection points between the new armor and my old helmet.

As I was working to repair one of the latches, with LIWI providing aid using a myriad of spells to compensate for the lack of industrial scale tools, Sergeant Green entered the cave with a glum look on his face.

"I just decrypted a message from the Captain." He began. "It looks like Major Fin got Triple L's notes from your interrogation of Thanatos, and he's using them to make you his scapegoat."

I set the helmet on the ground for the moment.

"What does that mean for us?" I asked. He grimaced.

"It means he's got enough to summon us back to Atlas for an investigation. You're probably going to be confined to quarters, and only allowed out with supervision from a higher ranked operative from another team."

I blew out a breath, swearing quietly. Gary had predicted something like this would happen, and it seemed like Cole had been successful in his smear campaign during our conversation. I debated my options, if I stayed here I would have to take my chances with whatever the investigation turned up, but if I ran I would either be completely on my own or forced to return to Gary. If I went back to him then I would be essentially complicit in his actions, and even if I didn't contribute to their cause directly I would no longer be able to actively fight against them.

Randall crouched down to where I sat, looking around at the scattered armor and tools in my work space.

"Look," he said quietly. "I don't know how an investigation into you and your past is going to go, but I can't say it will be good. What I can say is that the Bullhead that's supposed to pick us up won't be here for at least three more hours, and nobody in this camp is going to be paying that much attention to whether or not you decide to go for a walk in the woods." He gave me a knowing look, nodding his head to the exit of the cave. "Since they're coming to pick us up, I figure I might as well get all of our gear packed up. Yours will be outside the cave so that you can grab it when you are ready to go, wherever that may be."

With that he stood and exited the cave, leaving LIWI and I alone to decide what to do. I picked up the helmet again, setting to work fixing the fastenings with a renewed energy. The tactile process of working on the armor also helped me think as I tried to puzzle out what our next move should be.

Why would we go for a walk in the woods? LIWI asked.

"He means that if we decided to run away then he would cover for us until the Bullhead gets here. So he'll help us escape if we don't want to risk the investigation."

Oh. Why didn't he just say that?

I shrugged.

"There's a subtle difference between telling your teammate you have their back and openly admitting to potentially committing treason. The way he says it tells us how much he is willing to do to help us. Because he only hinted at it, that tells us that he will only help us if we can give him plausible deniability, he won't get thrown in jail on our behalf."

So, what are we going to do?

I thought for a long moment, repeatedly attaching and detaching a servo on the helmet mount to test the repair.

"I don't know," I finally replied. "What do you think we should do?"

You're asking me? He asked, confused, You always make the decisions, you always know what to do.

I shook my head.

"I know perfectly fine what we 'can' do, and what we should do based on what we want, but I don't know what we want yet. That's why I'm asking you, what do you want?"

He was quiet for a moment.

Does that matter? His voice was quiet, almost timid. I looked up, confused.

"Of course it matters what you want, why wouldn't it?"

Well... You never do things you want to do. You always say you do things because you have to, because it's the 'right thing to do.' So I'm wondering why this should be different.

"That's not always true." I tried to counter.

Did you want to go out and get shot at the first time you woke up without your memories? He asked pointendy.

"Well," I replied, "No, but I needed to help the people outside."

You intentionally broke your arm fighting Gary yesterday. You could have just let him capture you, nobody would have judged you for losing to him. Did you want to do that?

I frowned,

"Look." I said, "I have to do those things, I have the ability to help, that means I have the responsibility to do so."

I can help too! He said in a high pitched tone, almost angry. I have magic, I can do more than you can! You don't have any powers, you're just a normal person. If anyone has a responsibility to help, it's me! Why should you have to do everything?

I set my tools down and took LIWI off my waist, gesturing for him to transform into his human form. With a flare of magic he was sitting in the chair beside me, and I reached out to put my hand on his shoulder.

"I appreciate everything you've done to help me LIWI, and I'm overjoyed that you've stayed with me. But." I held up a finger, "You aren't a full adult, you shouldn't have to risk yourself just because I do. The last mission we went on showed that you aren't safe from harm, even if nobody can directly target you under my armor. It's not fair of me to ask you to fight with me, and it definitely isn't fair of me to ask you to stay if Atlas is going to investigate us. If they find out about you then they'll want to pull you apart to study you."

LIWI frowned angrily.

"And if they find out about you then they'll lock you in a cell forever, and you can't break out without me. But you're still thinking about staying, I can tell."

I released his shoulder, hanging my head down and looking at my feet.

"I can't go back to Gary" I said quietly, "No matter what, it would be the wrong thing for me to do. But you don't have that responsibility, you don't have to stay with me." This time LIWI reached out his hand and placed it on my shoulder.

"Even if it isn't my responsibility" he said "It's what I want to do. I want to keep you safe. It's what I was designed to do." I looked up, studying his face. He was rarely serious, but I could see a fierceness in his eyes that belied his usual positive attitude.

"Alright then." I said firmly, "We stay." I turned back to the armor, "But we need to finish this first, I don't know if we'll have the opportunity to do it later." He nodded firmly, and we set to work.

-/-

Three hours later I stood in the new suit of armor, now fully painted in Atlesian white and gold with 'S.G.G.E.' stenciled on the shoulder to show my team affiliations. Randall spotted me as I stepped out into the sunlight, noting my declaration of allegiance from the paint I had chosen to apply. He pointed to my backpack, which sat near the mouth of the cave filled with all of my equipment, including my sword strapped to the side.

"Last chance." He said quietly. I shook my head.

"No thanks. I appreciate it, but we've decided to see how this plays out."

He extended his hand, and I shook it as the incoming Bullhead's engines grew louder in the distance.

"Listen," I told him, speaking quietly enough that no one else would be able to overhear us. "I want you to take LIWI for a while, they're probably going to confiscate my gear, and I don't want him to be alone."

Wait what? LIWI said into my mind. Absolutely not, I'm not leaving you.

"It's the best move" I explained, "If you're with Randall then he can still bring you around to visit. Otherwise they'll stick you in a locker somewhere at best."

I sensed grumbling from him, but he acquiesced. I handed him over to Randall, who blinked as he presumably suddenly heard the young belt's voice in his head.

"That's a strange feeling." He remarked, then slipped the belt around his waist. "No." He said a moment later, then facepalmed and said "Look, I'll do my best okay? But Grayson is right."

It felt weird not being part of the conversation, but I supposed it must be how the others normally saw me when I openly interacted with LIWI.

Within a few minutes the Bullhead arrived. Lieutenant Sky, who had been grounded along with Lieutenant Cloud after our aircraft had been destroyed, strode over to greet the incoming pilots. I could see them discussing something, and Sky looked upset, but couldn't hear them over the sound of the engines whirring down. Finally, Sky approached Randall and I.

"Sergeant," he began, "I have bad news for you again." I gave him a half hearted smile.

"Lay it on me, Lieutenant."

He grimaced, then pointed at the Bullhead.

"The pilots have orders from Major Fin to have you arrested pending an investigation for 'treason against the state' 'collaborating with the enemy' and 'sabotage of military equipment.'"

I nodded.

"Anything else?" I asked, and he frowned.

"You're taking this oddly well."

I held my hands out in a helpless gesture.

"He needs his scapegoat. And it looks like it's me again."

Captain Hill and Lieutenant Lilac approached as well, Lilac looking regretful while Hill looked very nearly giddy.

"Sergeant Phoenix" Captain Hill announced, "You are under arrest, remove your armor and weapons."

He held a pair of aura blocking handcuffs in one hand, and I smirked internally at the concept of trying to block the aura of a soulless being. I tapped a few keys on my left wrist, and the back of my armor opened up to allow me to step out of it and into the crisp winter air. The armor closed automatically after I exited, then the operating system engaged a command I had entered to seal itself, the joints stiffening and the control panel locking until it was presented with the correct password. My pistol and ammunition were still attached to the outside of the armor, as was most of my gear in various pouches or mounts. I reached out and removed the scroll from its place on the belt of the armor, handing it to Randall, then approached the members of Team FRIL.

"Alright" I said calmly, not wanting to give Hill the satisfaction of angering me, "Let's get going."

He placed the cuffs onto my wrists, noting that the light switched to green to indicate they were active, but missing the fact that it blinked twice to indicate that it was not detecting an aura to suppress. Internally, I rolled my eyes at his characteristic incompetence.

The officers led me away, leaving Sergeant Green to handle packing the rest of my gear into the Bullhead. Lilac secured me into one of the seats, buckling the five point harness onto me. I was glad that they had cuffed me in the front, as it would have been a very uncomfortable ride to Atlas with my shoulders strained behind me in the seat. Some of the Ace Operatives and Lieutenants Sky and Cloud began loading the rest of the camp gear as well, corralling the interrogators into helping out. Once everyone was aboard, the aircraft was uncomfortably cramped, but otherwise acceptable.

Sergeant Green sat on my right, staring down Captain Hill who was positioned across from me. Winter sat towards the front of the Bullhead with the rest of the Ace Ops, looking irritated. She was typing frustratedly on her scroll, though I couldn't tell what she was doing from where I sat.

Resolved to make the best of my situation, I closed my eyes and did my best to catch up on sleep while the Bullhead made the several hour flight back to Atlesian military command.

-/-

It was nearing evening as the pilots finally landed the Bullhead on one of the landing pads outside the command building. Military Police armed with stun batons were waiting as the Bullhead unloaded its passengers and equipment. They directed Sergeant Green to check my equipment into the armory, then escorted me through the military compound to the same habitation building that Team SGGE had stayed in the last time we were in Atlas proper.

Once we were inside, the guards replaced the aura blocking handcuffs with a simpler and less aggressive wristband. The wrist band was still made of earth dust infused titanium, and could only be removed with a digital key, but it at least would allow me to live in the dorm room I was assigned without being chained up the entire time. The accusation against me hadn't warranted anything beyond a formal investigation yet, and my cooperation so far entitled me to effectively only be placed on house arrest. I couldn't have access to any technology that wasn't monitored, nor could I leave the room without supervision, but other than that I was only under minimal guard.

The guards gave me a cursory search, and upon finding nothing bid me goodnight. I sat alone in the room, trying to find something to do. I hadn't had any real form of downtime since getting out of the hospital. Even when we were waiting on delays in an operation or letting command decide what to do next I had constantly been busy tweaking and adjusting my armor and the few magic items I had to try and get better performance out of them. Now though, I was alone, without any of my equipment, in a dormitory room that had been stripped of nearly all of its furnishings. Even the stove looked like it had been manually disconnected, I guessed in case I decided to try and escape by starting a fire.

After sitting on the bed for almost fifteen minutes I finally gave in to the mounting pressure building in my mind that was telling me to act, to do something productive. I stood up, and began searching the room for monitoring devices. After almost thirty painstaking minutes I located two. One was a listening device planted in a light fixture, another was a microcamera that had been installed in place of a screw on a power outlet. Both were rush jobs, and were honestly embarrassing compared to the standards that I was used to from working with Gary. Still, there was a subtle itch in my mind that demanded I not be spied on. There was a reason that Gary's semblance had manifested itself the way it had.

I walked back to the lone chair in the room, then slid it up against the power outlet that contained the camera under the pretext of better positioning it to see out the armored window opposite it. In order to sell the cover I actually had to stare out the window, so I resolved myself to watching the comings and goings of troops in the courtyard below. After an unclear length of time that felt like roughly an hour I decided that the people monitoring me weren't going to risk pointing the camera out to me by asking me to move the chair, so I stood and resumed my search. After a few more minutes I was able to confirm that no more devices had been planted, and sat back on the bed. I sighed quietly, wondering how LIWI was doing without me.

Beyond that, I had to worry about myself. I hadn't seen Evelynn when we landed, and I had no clue if that was because she had been too busy or if he simply hadn't cared to see me being carted off. Winter had promised to speak with her about me, as had Randall, but there was a lingering hatred there that I couldn't do anything about. If I was being completely honest with myself, I didn't know if I even deserved anything other than hate from her. I was still somewhat shocked that Randall had been able to forgive me so easily. He was incredibly pragmatic, simply brushing past everything I did before I joined SGGE and judging me only based on what he had seen. I would have liked to do the same, but I had lingering memories from Gary that showed who I had been before, and I didn't like what I remembered.

I sat quietly for a long time, willing my body to sleep, but getting nowhere. Eventually I got up off the bed and placed a pillow over the listening device. I walked into the bathroom and closed the door, turning on the sink to further obscure sounds. I reached out in my mind to Gary, feeling his much larger soul latch onto the flow of memories that came from the sliver that resided in me. Confident he was now watching, I looked into the mirror and spoke quietly.

"I want to talk." I announced. Then I waited. A moment later I felt something pressing in the back of my mind. I opened myself to it, and what he saw overlaid itself in my vision. I could feel that he was standing still, though he had apparently blacked out his own vision with his semblance to block my sight of his surroundings. It felt sort of like covering one eye with a hand, in that I could forcibly ignore it to focus on my surroundings if I so chose.

"Finally come around?" He asked, "I'm guessing by those accommodations that Atlas hasn't taken your relation to me very well." I shook my head, and I could feel the curiosity radiating from him.

"No, my teammates are actually decent people, they'll get me through this. What I want to talk about is why you're still doing this. If there's one thing that should be evident by now it's that you don't really think what you're doing is justified. Because if you did, then I would too. Beyond that, why reveal yourself to Evelynn? You've put incredible amounts of work into staying anonymous. Why throw that away just to try to turn her against me? If you were really that desperate to have me back then you would have shown up in the middle of the night to kidnap me. It's not like I would have a good chance of stopping you."

He shrugged to himself, and I could feel the familiar movement play out.

"The reason you don't understand why I'm fighting this war is the same reason I haven't just grabbed you and been done with it."

I frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he began. "Let me ask you a question first that will help you understand." He sensed my confusion growing and continued. "What's your favorite color?"

I didn't see where he could possibly be going with this.

"I don't know," I replied, "I haven't really given it much thought." I could feel him nodding, as if that's what he expected me to say.

"Sure," he continued. "But if you had to pick, what comes to mind?" I thought for a moment then finally settled on an answer.

"Purple" I declared.

"Interesting," he replied. "You see, mine is blue, specifically Cherenkov Blue. That's part of the reason why my aura is that color I suspect, since it's supposed to be a manifestation of your soul." I shook my head in the mirror.

"I don't have an aura." I pointed out. He tapped the front of his forehead, miming as if he was tapping me instead.

"Exactly, you don't. So why do you think you picked purple?"

I shrugged, still not understanding.

"Alright" he said, "Another question then. When was the last time you had a dream?" I thought back, the last dream I remembered was when I had seen a vision of him on the Bullhead speaking to me. He sensed where my memories had gone and continued speaking.

"You don't actually have dreams Grayson. That's a memory, my memory. You're incapable of dreaming on your own." I went to speak but he cut me off. "One last question, when was the last time you did something for fun? When was the last time you took a break from work and decided to relax with a hobby or just mindless fun?"

My frown deepened.

"I went bowling with SGGE. That was fun."

He shook his head in dissapointment.

"That's the last thing you did that was fun? You haven't read a book? Watched a movie? Played with some app on your scroll to kill time?"

I shook my head, mildly irritated.

"No, I'm busy. I have actual work to do, you know."

He held up his hands in a gesture for peace.

"Listen," he said in a soothing tone. "I'm only bringing this up to help you understand. You don't have hobbies, you don't have dreams, your moral framework is now radically different than what it used to be, and your favorite color is now purple. All of that is related."

I pointed to my temple.

"Yeah, I got shot in the head, brain injuries tend to do that."

He shook his head.

"I think it goes beyond that. The reason you don't have any hobbies or dreams is because you literally lack the capacity to have them. You don't have a soul to drive your desires."

Pointing out my lack of soul brought up painful insecurities.

"It's not your fault," he continued, sensing my emotions on the subject through our bond. "But our individuality, our ambitions, our aspirations, all of that is driven by our souls. Without one of your own, I believe you're forced to latch onto someone else. Before you were injured and our bond was severed, you had latched onto me. It was the perfect working relationship, we wanted the same things, and you were never distracted by low level personal desires like recreation or hobbies. I could task you with something and not only were you excited to do it, you would focus all your energy on it without complaining, because it was all you wanted."

"So what?" I demanded angrily, "You want your good little worker drone back?" He shook his head.

"There's more to it. Without me, you would be ambitionless. From the memories you shared with me on the roof of the hospital I can literally see it. All you thought about was finding other people. You were in a uniform, so you latched onto Sergeant Helmsman, the first authority figure you saw. Then Evelynn arrived, a huntress with strong ambitions, and more importantly a strong soul. You say your favorite color is purple? Well so is her aura. I think your morality shifted until you aligned with what she wants, which is to protect people and to win the war. Hell, the only reason you even want me dead is because she does."

My mind was reeling, the idea that nothing I did was based on my own desires, that I would be a completely different person if I had met someone else, was devastating.

"Wait, wait!" I said, scrambling for a flaw in his argument. "But I'm talking to you right now, I had that idea. And Evelynn didn't know about magic, so she couldn't have wanted me to work with it."

He clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

"Not quite. I didn't say you didn't have ideas on your own, you just don't have desires. You took the initiative to contact me because you know Evelynn would want to know the same things you asked me. Evelynn also wanted you to be a huntsman on her team, the only way to do that is to use magic to mimic a semblance."

I held my head in my palms, feeling my world shatter even more than I thought possible.

"I'm only the person I am because I imprinted on someone else?"

He grimaced.

"As far as I can tell, yes. You woke up with no memories, and thus no context, so you did the best with what little context you had. If you're dressed as a soldier then you must fight. If a huntress says you're a huntsmen, then you must be on a team. I think the tipping point was when you met Evelynn. She kept you and the rest of the squad alive as best she could. Honestly her commitment is legitimately admirable, I've seen a lot of huntsmen fight, and very few of them are as good about protecting their unpowered allies. When you saw her fighting you subconsciously tried to match her. I know that you've been trying to protect soldiers you fight with, you even healed a few of mine. That's because your initial impression of her was her protecting people. But let me ask you this? What did you do to Argon Flynt the moment you found him again in Argus?"

"You seem to have given this a lot of thought." I commented.

He smiled wryly.

"Hey, I spent a lot of time trying to track you down when you were missing, I kind of obsessed over it actually. I've been told that I didn't take you refusing to come back very well."

I nodded, I felt the same way when I didn't understand something.

"That's also why I didn't kill Evelynn." He added quietly, and my attention snapped back to him.

"What?" I asked.

"I think if I kill her then you'll either blank out or become unchanging. Neither one is what I want for you. If I can convince Evelynn to let you go somehow though then you'll be more amenable to listening to me again."

I stared into the mirror in horror, considering his statement. It certainly explained why he had revealed himself to Evelynn. If his theory about my lack of autonomy was correct, and ff he was able to convince her to reject me, then theoretically it might break the imprint I had formed, since her desire would no longer be for me to be like her. That would leave me open to imprinting on another person, whereupon Gary could swoop in to whisk me away.

The idea that I could be taken away from SGGE, forced to fight against my friends, was terrifying. Even more so was the idea that I would enjoy doing it. If Gary was right, and I began mirroring him, then I would feel like I was justified in my actions. My mind raced as I considered the implications. Did I even really believe I was doing the right thing now? Was I just a product of my environment and the people around me?

"Listen" Gary resumed speaking, "I want you to think about coming back anyways. It would be best for Evelynn. You would be ending the war earlier by helping us, leading to less overall killing of Atlas troops. Plus, you being on our side would help me convince the rest of The Pantheon to go easy on SGGE. It took a lot of convincing to keep Cole and Thomas from killing Green and Rivers in that fight, it would be nice to have something to show for it."

Suddenly I heard someone call out Gary's name. He held up a finger to silence them.

"Just think about it." He told me, then a moment later the connection cut out, leaving me in a dark bathroom with nothing but dread and anxiety.

The two emotions wrenched at my stomach, twisting and turning it until I felt like I was going to vomit. I staggered out of the bathroom, collapsing onto the bed and staring up at the ceiling as I pondered my existence.