19Team RWBY's pov :
Ruby woke up in her home for the first time in months. The bed was still the same, as was her room below the layer of dust. The first thing that hit her however, was the birds, or the lack thereof. Usually one could always trust them to wake you up in the morning. But now, not a single one could be heard singing.
Ruby could no longer sleep now. Without yesterday's fatigue her mind kept going back to unpleasant thoughts, and the complete lack of sound made her uncomfortable.
She groggily got out of her bed, and briefly looked out of the window. There wasn't much to see, as the morning dew covered everything. Somewhat paradoxically, the first thing Ruby noticed was a tiny column of smoke slowly creeping through and above the dew.
Ruby's initial assumption was that some small fire had started, but she soon noticed that the smoke's base moved back and forth. The more likely answer was that someone was simply having a smoke in the garden, even if no one she knew had that habit. However, no one had taken these last months well, especially her father. Smoking was probably his way of coping with all of it.
Nonetheless Ruby decided to go down and try to talk him out of it. She had memories of her childhood, when her mother's loss was still an open wound. Her father had become a shell of his former self, often failing to find the will to get up in the morning. That wound had taken years to close, and even Ruby realized that he was no longer the same. If there was a way to raise his spirit and get him out of that state, she would attempt it.
Ruby quickly walked through the living room, receiving a brief nod of acknowledgement from the only person in the room, her teammate Weiss. Ruby soon opened the door leading to their garden, yet was surprised when Taiyang wasn't there. Instead, facing her while holding something that definitely wasn't just a cigarette, was Blake.
"Hi Ruby." Blake greeted with some vague hand gesture.
Ruby automatically greeted her teammate back. She then wandered next to the faunus while wondering what she should do.
"You're doing okay ? You look like shit." Blake asked with some amount of concern apparent on her face.
"Me ? I'm f… like usual, I suppose. But what about you ? Where did you even get that thing ?"
"I guess I've known worse. As for this piece of shit," Blake moved her not-cigarette around. "I've always kept a few on myself, the rest is a trade secret I'm afraid."
Ruby didn't really know what to answer to this, and an awkward silence rose between the two of them. Ruby's mind told her that she had to do something, drugs were bad after all. But as she turned to Blake she saw how the faunus reacted to each puff. Her muscles relaxed,
eyes became distant and calm. It looked like a real weight had been lifted from her friend's shoulders. Thus the words that finally came out of Ruby's mouth were very different.
"How does it feel ? Does it help ?"
Blake raised an eyebrow and froze for a short moment. Then, as if looking for inspiration, she closed her eyes and took another puff.
"It's… distant, like my problems are all just dreams."
Blake took another puff.
"It's calm. Certainty, that's the word. Of what, I don't know, but it's the same feeling."
And another.
"It's hard to think, hard to remember. It's great."
Once again silence fell, though not for long.
"Can I try ?" Ruby asked.
Blake seemingly hesitated for a few seconds, but eventually just shrugged and agreed.
Without a word Ruby took the offered drug. She put it to her lips and took a respectably sized puff from it. It didn't take long for the effects to start appearing. She felt her muscles relax and she even struggled to stay standing for an instant. A frown she didn't realize was there quickly disappeared. Ruby's lips began to curl upwards as her thoughts slowed down.
"Good…" She unconsciously mumbled.
That beautiful moment was soon interrupted however, when a very angry Weiss practically smashed the garden door open.
She immediately grabbed the drug out of Ruby's hand, threw it down on the wet grass, and smashed it under her shoes.
"I can't believe it ! I leave you alone for a moment and that happens !" Weiss started yelling. She soon tried to regain her composure however, but failed to completely hide the anger on her face.
"That thing wasn't exactly cheap you know ?" Blake unapologetically stated, though she didn't look that concerned. Weiss however let her full emotions re-emerge for a brief, before visibly giving up on the faunus. Instead her ire was redirected towards Ruby.
"On one hand Blake isn't really a surprise," The faunus in question furrowed her brows. "What's that sup…" Yet Weiss promptly ignored her. "... But to have you partaking in such
debauchery is very disappointing. Not only are you the youngest amongst us, but you are also our team leader. You're supposed to show an example, and a good one."
"Cut her some slack." Blake intervened once the Schnee had used her breath. "Being serious all the time won't help her right now."
Ruby's foggy mind struggled to keep up with the conversation. By the time she understood what someone said, another one was already talking.
"This won't help her either ! You're only pushing these problems back. It's only gonna make it harder to confront them once you're unable to run away from them. Weiss threw at Blake.
"Well at least she had a good time ! Until you interrupted it of course." The faunus retorted.
"Can you stop talking like I'm not even here ?" Ruby calmly asked, too far gone to really feel angry.
"And Weiss, I thought that I already said I didn't want to be your leader anymore. Feel free to be as perfect and exemplary as you wish, but leave me out of it."
Weiss was taken aback by those words, yet she couldn't simply give up and fold on this.
"You can't be serious ? It only was a temporary whim. I get that you were having a very bad day, but you can't just give up your duties like that. You have an obligation towards the Headmaster, Beacon, Vale, and everyone you swore to protect."
"I get it, Weiss. I won't stop being a Huntress, but I won't risk leading anyone to their death anymore. I have failed, and I refuse to be relied upon by others after this. Can you at least understand that ?"
"Argh !" The Schnee very unelegently groaned. "Why I are you so childish… nevermind, I forgot you're still one. But think about Blake and me at least, our future as Huntresses will be gone if you run away. Team RWBY will be gone forever. What will we become if that happens ?"
"I don't know ! Go back to your dad or whatever. You're your own person, and an adult. You can make your own decisions for once."
"How dare you ! You little sh.."
At this point Blake intervened in the increasingly heated discussion.
"Let's stop now, before things break down forever between us. We can't force this team to work, and we're supposed to be four anyways. It's only a matter of time before some random person gets assigned to our team. I doubt that's gonna work out."
Ruby stopped talking and leaned back, as if wanting to drop out of the conversation. Weiss remained quiet and slightly panting in the meantime, trying to assimilate Blake's words and come up with a reasonable count.
"You … might have a point. I don't think I would accept anyone being inserted in team RWBY. To let a stranger stand where she stood…" Weiss reluctantly admitted.
"I think we all need time to ourselves. We've already checked on Ruby's family, but I would like to go back to Menagerie for a while. Brothers know what's happening to my parents, having them be at the White Fang's mercy leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
"Yes, I should probably go back to Atlas. My responsibilities have been piling up since the fall. We can always meet afterwards, right ?" Weiss asked with some amount of fear.
"Of course." Ruby stated like it was an obvious fact. "Team RWBY is no longer a thing, but we will always remain friends." She started stammering around the end. "If… if either of you needs my help in the future, I will be there."
"And we will be there for our friend too." Blake said right before Weiss was going too. The Schnee nodded along somewhat awkwardly instead.
Roman's POV
Neo and himself were currently walking through Argus' snowy streets, as he tried to remember the location of his contact's house. They were under Neo's semblance, of course. The only option was to change their appearance however, as hiding the deep trail left in the snow behind them would be way too taxing for Neo.
They met a few Atlesian patrols along the way, but managed to avoid attention every time by going to the side of the street and pretending to be two homeless beggars. This saved them from being discovered, as the army was evidently under high alert and looking for them. They witnessed a few locals getting questioned by those patrols.
Three atlesian soldiers suddenly entered the street. At first Roman and Neo planned to simply walk by and avoid attention, but the patrol soon stopped a nearby civilian. They apparently began questioning the man in the middle of the street. Roman realized that one of the soldier was actually a robot, when it made a hand gesture and said something Roman couldn't make out. This seemed to clear the civilian however, as the patrol let him go and headed towards the next civilian.
"Shit ! They're probably using that robot for voice recognition or checking their database for id. Either way, we're fucked." Roman angrily voiced while trying to keep his voice down.
There were still a few people between the soldiers and the thieves, but the former would still notice if the duo tried to run away. Disappearing completely or making a fake distraction
might also reveal the presence of someone with an illusion semblance, and Neo was quite infamous for hers.
Neo seemed to share that train of thought, but apparently managed to come up with a plan. The illusion around them shimmered, changing to something Roman couldn't see from inside of it. The mute then grabbed Roman's arm and dragged him to the side of the street, where they leaned against a wall.
While Roman wished to know what was happening, he refrained himself. Neo was onto something, and making unwanted noise might cause it to fail.
Thus they waited in silence as the soldiers slowly walked down the street, continuing their regular controls. Soon no one was left between the patrol and the criminals. The three atlesians were practically next to the duo now. One of the soldiers turned his head towards the criminals and locked eyes with Roman.
The thief's blood froze. That man could clearly see them. Roman's hand went to his weapon. Two men and one robot, nothing he wasn't able to deal with. It would alert the authorities however, and he could only fight off so many soldiers before being overrun or shelled into non-existence.
Yet after barely a second, the soldier broke eye contact and looked away. He did not spare a single glance at them afterwards.
Roman was bewildered, but also greatly relieved. He watched the patrol slowly walk away. When it finally turned around a corner and left his field of view, Roman let out a sigh and his muscles relaxed.
Neo suddenly grabbed his arm, to which he almost jerked back in surprise. The girl gently smiled at Roman, before nodding towards the other end of the street.
"Right… let's get going."
As he led the way to his contact, he looked back in time to catch a glance of Neo's illusion right before it dissolved. On the side of the street, sitting in the snow with his back against a hard wall, laid the form of a dead beggar.
The soldier's behavior made sense now, and it gave a good explanation for the track in the snow. And yet Neo had come up with this idea on the spot.
Roman decided to put those thoughts aside as he reached his contact's doorstep. The doorstep in question belonged to a completely unremarkable house. It was identical to all others on the street, except for the paint job and number.
Roman knocked on the door a few times, and waited. The thief hadn't been there in years. He could only hope that his contact hadn't been arrested, or simply moved elsewhere.
"Who's there ?" Came a voice from the other side.
"Is there a badger inside ? The fox is looking for him." Roman replied, using their old aliases.
The door opened, revealing a heavily built man on the other side. The man squinted his eyes upon seeing Roman, the latter still transformed by Neo's semblance.
"You don't really look like a fox to me." The man bluntly stated.
"But you're the right badger. Neo, he's clear." Roman said, upon which Neo modified her illusions in a way to make Roman's face recognizable, while remaining hidden to any onlookers on the street.
The man grunted before opening the door wide for them and letting them in. He led the way to an inexpensive yet comfortable living room. It was furnished with a small fireplace and a few used armchairs, while the walls were adorned by a mix of cheap paintings and family portraits. All in all, not exactly what one would expect from a criminal.
The host gestured for the duo to take a seat, while keeping one for himself. He took out a box of cigars.
"Your favorite, or at least they were at some point." The badger said while offering a cigar to Roman.
"You shouldn't have, friend." Roman politely said, while happily taking the offered cigar.
"I've had them laying around for a while. They're no fun to smoke alone."
"You want one too, Lady ?" He then asked Neo. The girl dispassionately refused with a head gesture.
"Don't speak much huh." He stated with a shrug.
"As a matter of fact, she's mute." Roman added with some cold in his voice.
"What a shame. At least you get to keep the spotlight that way, right ?"
"Oh, I wouldn't underestimate her if I were you. Those who do tend to pay a heavy price for it."
"Right, right. But I suppose you're not here simply to catch up with an old friend. Your visit wouldn't happen to have something to do with the Atlesian fleet right over our heads ?"
"Well, they didn't come here because of us if that's what you're worried about. As for the reason for my presence, I was actually wondering if you could arrange a way of traveling for me, as I'm looking to go to Mistral."
"Ah, we've barely met again and you're already trying to run away." The badger chuckled on his own words.
"I'm afraid I can't afford to remain in Argus for long. The city is basically a military fortress at this point. I would rather not let my career end with a particularly loud bang."
"That's understandable. It's certainly doable, but not for cheap."
"Of course, of course…" Roman groaned.
"Do you remember the eastern coast ?" The badger nodded. "Right, there's a lone pine there, not far from the city. We used to hang out near it back in the day. Well, after our last heist together, I buried most of my share near it."
"That's… a lot of money. More than what I need, certainly." The badger muttered while rubbing his chin.
"It's not like I can carry it with me anyway. Just see it as a confidentiality bonus." Roman admitted with a nonchalant handwave.
"Then so be it." The badger went for a handshake. "Let it not be said that I refuse free cash. But still, I'll owe you one."
Roman took the offered hand and shook it, sealing the deal.
"Tell you what, I heard some very interesting rumors. A reliable friend of mine, back in Mistral, told me that their Headmaster has been behaving strangely recently. Apparently he keeps disappearing for hours. The thing is, he never left the Academy, and he always reappeared very quickly when needed."
"I see where you're going…" Roman muttered.
"A secret area, that's what my friend is starting to suspect. Just imagine what juicy stuff you could find in a place like that. Secrets, treasures, cash…"
"Or nothing at all. For all we know the Headmaster is just slipping away to meet a secret lover or something like that."
"Maybe, but I think it's worth the risk. Especially for someone as skilled as you. You won't be risking that much. But I just thought you might want to know."
Roman rubbed his chin for a while.
"Sure, that's useful information I suppose. I will see when we get there. Doing some scouting of my own shouldn't be too hard. When should everything be ready on your side ?"
"Getting all the necessary paperwork out of the way will take a few days, you got a place to stay at, in the meantime ? You can use my guest room if you need to, just don't draw attention."
"That would be perfect."
"Good. I'm gonna head out for a few hours. Put yourselves at ease in the meantime."
Roman simply nodded in agreement and rose up from his armchair. He quickly glanced at Neo, after which a scowl suddenly found its way on his face. He waved a hand in front of the girl's eyes. When she failed to react in any way, the thief let out a sigh. He then slapped Neo's illusion, shattering it in a thousand pieces.
"Don't worry." Roman told his friend.
"...She probably didn't break anything important yet"
Team JNPR's POV
Pyrrha was currently sitting on an unremarkable Mistrali rock, while observing Jaune as he fought against a Beringel in a clearing. The massive gorilla Grimm was putting heavy pressure on Jaune, and he rarely had the opportunity to do more than block or dodge attacks.
"Stop giving ground Jaune, I know you can do it." Pyrrha calmly yelled over the sound of a tree being broken in two.
"That's ea… Argh" Jaune tried to answer but got too distracted to avoid a punch to his ribs. The boy's powerful aura held, but didn't save Jaune from being propelled to the other side of the clearing.
As the Grimm moved to press its advantage on the downed Huntsman, Pyrrha finally intervened. She first used her weapon's rifle form to get the Beringel's attention, before turning her rifle into a javelin. She took her time to aim, even as the Grimm charged towards her. When she finally threw her weapon, it flew perfectly to find its way into the Beringel's left eye.
The beast roared in pain and confusion, but Pyrrha ignored it in favor of helping her teammate.
"I'm so sorry Jaune… Are you alright ?" She said while offering a hand to help him get up.
"I don't think anything's broken at least." Jaune groaned, taking Pyrrha's hand.
"I'm sorry. I'm not very good at explaining this stuff. It's practically muscle memory to me."
The Beringel had now managed to cope with its lost eye, and focused on the two Huntsmen once again.
"How about I show you instead ?" Pyrrha asked.
Jaune noticed the quickly approaching Beringel behind Pyrrha.
"Errr… Sure, sure."
"Great ! Just don't resist, please."
"Sur… Wait what ?!"
Jaune did in fact resist, when his armor suddenly started moving on its own. His body was quickly molded into adopting Pyrrha's stance.
His shield raised itself to meet the Beringel's incoming punch. He wouldn't even dare to block such a strike until then. Yet now, in this manipulated stance, instead of being thrown away by the blow, Jaune's heels dug into the dirt as he was only slightly pushed back.
Jaune's armor moved before he thought of doing so himself. His sword managed to land a light cut on the Beringel's arm as it pulled back.
"Try to relax, Jaune. I'll handle everything, just follow my lead." Pyrrha calmly told him.
He did his best to relax and let his armor pull him along. Jaune's hand moved and struck his sword into the Beringel's leg. The Grimm counter attacked, Jaune blocked.
This dance continued for a few minutes as the Huntsman fell into the rythm. He tried to put his own muscles to work whenever he could guess what Pyrrha planned to do. Eventually she came to only lightly tug his armor to correct his moves.
More minutes passed, but Jaune was slowly gaining the upper hand. His strong defense helped to save aura, of which he already had a lot. On the other hand, cuts of varying sizes were getting more and more numerous on the Grimm's body. Even if the beast seemed to be raging through its pain at that point, it was becoming slower and clumsier.
Despite his remarkable endurance, Jaune was still starting to tire. His muscles were beginning to hurt. He would surely have a hard time tomorrow even if he stopped right now.
The Beringel was so slow by that point that Jaune had more than enough time to think about how to fight. The Grimm stumbled under the weight of its wounds, as most were on its legs and hips.
"Now Jaune." Pyrrha said before chuckling to herself. "To quote Nora : Break his legs."
And as Pyrrha instructed, the legs were broken. The massive creature collapsed under its own weight. Now face first against the ground, it could do nothing to prevent Jaune from slitting its throat. The clearing then stood silent for a moment, only broken by the occasional bird.
"You did it Jaune ! I knew you had it in you." Pyrrha exclaimed.
"I… guess I did." Jaune muttered, as if he couldn't believe it himself. "You've done a lot of the work though. I doubt I could have done it on my own…"
Pyrrha gently took his right hand and looked him in the eyes.
"I only gave you a little push. Everything else is you." She pointed at the quickly dissolving Grimm's wounds. "That's all you."
"Do you remember the times when you couldn't fight anything, or when you didn't have aura ?" Pyrrha continued, as Jaune nodded with some shame.
"Well look at you now. Slaying a Beringel practically by yourself. That's a team-level threat, and at this rate you will soon be able to take one without my support."
A small smile appeared on Jaune's face as he finally realized all the progress he had achieved. Soon he wouldn't be dead weight anymore, soon he would be the one to come save the day.
"We should head back, they're probably worrying about us by now." Pyrrha suggested, and Jaune agreed. It was time to continue their quest.
Atlesian Security Agency report 325 02/23/93 "On the situation in the countryside"
As of the time I am writing this report, there have been 13 confirmed cases of White Fang infiltration in our industrial facilities. They have been systematically spreading confusion and unrest amongst the workers, with the ultimate goal of using the mob to seize the facilities for themselves.
In three of those cases, the facilities had to be temporarily evacuated. The military governors in charge of those areas have been requesting reinforcements. Those messages have since then reached the capital, and are available to any member of the military high command.
Order has been maintained in the other facilities, though eight of them reported an expected loss in productivity. According to those, it will take a few months to get new workforce there if no additional action is taken.
In addition, Specialist Winter Schnee has suggested a partial mobilization of our first class reservists, amounting to approximately 400 000 soldiers. Further details will be made available in a dedicated report.
To quickly summarize its content, those reservists would be used to bring greater security to isolated towns and industrial facilities. They should be used both against Grimms and to maintain public order. Atlas itself is not expected to be under threat in the near future.
This concludes report 325 :
"On the situation in the countryside"
Ironwood shut down the holographic display with a sigh.
"Four hundred thousand…" He turned to Winter with an inquisitive stare.
The Specialist gulped, before bracing herself to answer.
"Considering the situation, that an entire Kingdom has died, that we lost communication with the other two, that Salem has her hand on a relic, that Grimm and rebellious activities are on the rise…"
"I believe this is the least we could do, but the most that we will get out of the council." The Schnee concluded.
James remained thoughtful for a minute or so.
"It is regrettable… that I find myself agreeing with you." The general eventually conceded.
"I would rather the situation had not come to this. But it has. Now the only option I have left is to fulfill my duty to Atlas to the best of my capacity." Ironwood said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"It will work out, general. Atlas is with you, I am with you. We have spent years, decades even, preparing for this storm. When that day finally comes, we will be ready."
"I hope you are right, Winter. I expect you are not."
Autor note
First of all, my current beta reader is now very busy with his studies. So if you're interested in helping me with this story as a beta reader, please dm me.
Now for clarifications about this chapter. The Ruby and Roman parts are pretty self explanatory I think. Don't do drugs obviously, or else I might get in trouble. Don't worry though, this won't be the last time you hear from the girls. Meanwhile team JNPR plus Glynda are more or less following the canon storyline.
The report was ridiculously annoying to write. You have no idea how little data there is about Remnant. World population estimates range anywhere between 10 millions and 200 millions. I had to pull entire numbers out of my ass more than a few times.
After estimating the population of Atlas, I could rely on real world statistics to get a relatively accurate of Atlas' active military personnel, as well as it's different mobilization classes.
The only thing you need to know, is that the mentioned first class includes every military aged man having served in the military at some point, excluding women and faunus for now. (Pretty much every atlesian soldier is a male humain in the show.) And Winter is suggesting mobilizing half of that.
Also, Adam and the White Fang in general haven't actually started anything in Atlas yet. It's more or less business as usual for Atlas.
Now that everything is said, thank you for reading. Don't hesitate to leave a comment if you have additional questions or if you want to tell me what you think of the story.
Until next time.