What Happens Next (Slay The Princess/RWBY)

Well then, let's do this:


No changes since last time, everyone agrees to let Weiss take point (want to point out, technically this isn't part of the mission, but only the biggest rule lover would find anything problematic to say about that).

Let's go for what was always intended to be the difficult part of the mission: you took the manager out of the picture… did you really remove all the potential problems the protesters had?

Weiss is only the (potential) heiress, not the CEO, and she's going to see the difference between the two right now.

As promised, here is the chapter with some advance, vote will run for two or three days then I'll begin writing the next update so as to return to our normal schedule:


While beginning to approach, you discreetly let yourself fall behind team PRNS instead of in front of them. Penny stays level with Weiss at the front in support and Nora and Ren stay a little behind.

As a result, when you get close enough to the protesters to talk, their attention is one your daughter and her partner. Their gaze is not as welcoming as Weiss anticipated judging by her slight hesitation before talking, but after a look at Penny and an encouraging nod from her, she squares her shoulder and open her mouth:

"Hello…." Which is as far as she goes before one of the protesters, one of the oldest faunus with black and grey hair, some dusty and mostly black clothes and a pair of wolf ears on his head interrupts her with his gruff voice. The man is towering over Weiss' petite frame:

"What do you want?"

She is taken aback for a moment but manages to rally herself and continue:

"We are Team PRNS from Beacon, with professor Panoply." You nod as Weiss' interlocutor send a gaze to you for a moment. "We came for a simple Grimm extermination mission but it seems that there was a case of corruption going on, we would like to talk to you in search of further evidence for the case." Not a bad beginning, she managed to obscure her identity, and didn't phrase it as an interrogation. Even if the look the protesters around give shows they do see it partially that way.

"Sif Artoriasson." The apparent leader of the movement answers. "And of course there's corruption, it's a Schnee mine." He says as if she just told him the sky was blue and expected him to be surprised.

Weiss doesn't seem happy about the accusations, for a moment you fear she is going to defend her family's honor and anger the crowd, but a hand on her shoulder from Ren stops her. She visibly deflates at that. All the while, Sif appraises her and doesn't seem that happy about what he sees.

"But I guess a rich girl like you wouldn't know. Not like you would care much about all the Faunus your father tramples under the gears of the administration for *a better future*, right, little miss heiress?" He continues.

His words change the atmosphere quite a lot, where before the crowd was only looking, now they are borderline hostile. You begin to uncross your arms, but are stopped from taking a step forward by Sif bellowing:

"Calm down you idiots, you want a team of huntsmen to have a reason to fight you?" At the very visible wave of unease that follows he just snorts while adding. "Didn't think so." Then he refocuses on Weiss and looks at her with what seems to be quite a mix of emotions. There is mostly long seated resignation, anger, tiredness, but you can see a slight, almost invisible, spark of… hope? "Did you think you could walk here and not have at least one person recognize the future head of the Schnee company? Forget about the manager, what do you want?" He gestures to the entire site around you. "What would push the heiress to want to talk with the poor Faunus workers after she finished a little publicity stunt to show that her company doesn't abhor corruption."

"Mister Gwynsun is on his way to prison…" *Oh, so that's what the manager's name was* you think, while Sif cuts Weiss' retort with a snort.

"Ah! Bet you the guy is out by the end of the month."

"The charges on him have a longer potential sentence than that." Penny quickly remarks with a frown on her face. "Why would he be out that soon? Just the duration of the case should cover more than a single month."

"Penny, dear." You decide to interrupt. "I think that what mister Artoriasson is saying is that there won't be a case at all. At his nod, you continue. "However, Headmaster Ozpin has a direct interest in this particular one, so it is likely to go through."

"You're their teacher? You look different than when you got in the office. Strange that, you looked the perfect picture of ignorant noble and now you actually look like a huntress. Care to explain that mystery?" Sif finally put his full attention on you, he clearly has ideas, but is keeping an open mind. Interesting, this man seems to be quite sharp.

"Semblance." Is all you offer. Contrary to what a pure civilian would do, namely ask other questions, the man simply nods with understanding.

"I see. Took that form to fool our dear manager then?" He affirms more than question.

You look at him some more now that your curiosity's been piqued. There is a high chance the man has Aura, and he probably knows how to fight from his posture and mannerisms. Is he a Red Fang agent here on some mission? You doubt he would reveal it, so you do not ask. Simply continue on the previous train of thoughts.

"Mostly. You do not think the manager leaving will change much, do you?" You ask. Weiss looks at you with surprise, surprise that only increase when Sif begins to laugh.

"No, not really." He manages to say once calming down. "Though Ozpin did do much for the Faunus' cause so I can dream." He takes a moment to think. "You're there to teach the young'uns, yeah?" You nod. "Good, let me help a little then." He then redirects his attention to Weiss and the rest of her team, studying them with a gaze so intense they almost flinch away. "Do you know why we are protesting?"

Everyone hesitates, except for Nora that promptly answer with an earnest:

"The poor conditions?"

"If it was only that, it would be too easy. No girl, we are protesting because we want to be seen, we want those *poor conditions* to be known. Right now, removing the guy in charge is likely to only lead to the replacement being a little more cautious, at best." He takes a long look at Weiss. "Girl, if you want to change anything about your father's company and make Faunus lives better, you're going to have a long fight ahead of you and the others in charge will fight you every step on the way, you think you ready for that?"

For a single moment, it seems that Weiss is about to break under the weight of both his gaze and the ones from the rest of the protesters, all of them looking intently at her in wait for her answer. Then, a fire seems to take her and she proudly answer.

"I swear I will. Not only to restore the good name the Schnee had under my grandfather that my father destroyed, but for all that are suffering under unfair conditions. I know this won't help now, but I will do my best, for the future of all of us that live on Remnant."

Something in what she says get stuck in your head, an annoying little intrusive thought you cannot identify entirely. Before you can get too pensive, Sif almost floor Weiss with a pat on her shoulder.

"You better. If you don't, you'll have lots of enemies ready to continue fighting for the cause. Now, I believe you have Grimm to take care of, we'll give our testimony to your colleagues."

…This man definitely is Red Fang, and he also probably has access to some knowledge from the organization about Weiss, you doubt most Faunus would have reacted as he did. As evidenced by the slightly incredulous looks from the rest of the crowd, only tempered by what you know to be trust in their apparent leader.

With a distracted goodbye, you leave to kill the pack of young Grimm that are the source of this entire series of events. They do nothing to distract you from your musings, not even the lucky Beowulf that your students say spent a whole minute trying to gnaw on your arm while his packmates were getting annihilated by you and team PRNS.

During the trip, Penny clearly wants to help. Fidgeting and looking at you, even beginning to open her mouth once or twice before rethinking on it.

"Do not worry dear, I just have a lot on my mind, nothing to worry about." You answer the unasked question in her eyes.

She looks you in the eyes.

"You know you can talk to me Mom. I am ready to help just as you helped me when I had a problem." Is her earnest response.

This brings a smile to your face.

"As I said, just a thought stuck in my head, thanks." You reassure her.

"You are welcome!" Is her final answer, apparently convinced enough whatever plagues you is not grave enough to warrant further inquiry, trusting you to be truthful.

When you arrive at Beacon, Sable is waiting for you on the landing site, having divined that something was happening. You wordlessly hug him, still unable to convey what has you so pensive in words. Pushed by some inspiration, you call Glynda:

"Hello Glynda, you asked me to tell you in advance when I wanted to talk to Ozpin, so…."

"Stella? Are you alright?" Apparently your tone is off if this is her first reaction.

"Yes, only a thought that doesn't want to leave and I can't put words on, I don't know why, but I think talking with Ozpin will help me articulate it better." You assure for the third time of the day.

"If you say so." Glynda says with a very hesitant tone. "I'll see when he can meet you, I'll call you back. Sable?" She looks at him from the Scroll. "Take good care of her." She sternly asks before cutting the call, no doubts contacting Ozpin right away.

It seems you were right about her contacting him, as not two minutes later she recalls you to tell that he can meet you and Sable in his office right away. Some people would think the man has nothing to do to be able to accept that fast, you are pretty sure that this is more related to what you are and represent.

A hope for Remnant… just being on the way makes the idea congeal, Weiss talked about helping for the future, doing her best.

Are you doing your best?

The entire way to the office is silent, Sable content in letting you think, no doubt analyzing the situation with his sharp mind, waiting for a prompt to act.

The soft *ding* of the elevator marks the end of your small journey, Ozpin is waiting behind his desk, a frown marking his features.

"Stella, Sable, what can I do for you?" He asks, full of concerns.

"You could have asked us to remove the Grimm at any time, why didn't you?" you leave aside all notion of small talk to instantly cover the subject that troubles you. "I can understand the first time we met, we were an unknown, you couldn't predict how we would do it, but you had more than enough time to learn. If your goal is to see humanity prosper, why didn't you ask us?" Yes, this is why Weiss promise hit you that much, why it left you listless and full of self-recrimination.

Here is a man that was offered a perfect solution to his biggest problem, one he only had to ask for, even if it meant treating you not as the mortals you wanted to act as, but as the gods you were. Why didn't he? And why didn't you even propose at least once?

Sable squeezes you against him while Ozpin takes his time to formulate a proper answer.

"Because I do not wish to treat you as miracles machines, ready to answer all prayers. You said you wanted to be treated as humans, and I respect this. But also…" He struggles for a moment then seems to resign himself. "There is someone at the head of all Grimm, she is named Salem and is completely immortal. I'll admit that I did think of simply asking you to kill her, remove the risk she poses and considerably reducing the Grimm's danger to the world. I wanted to talk about her when presenting you in truth to Ironwood."

[x] Then this is settled, you will go and kill Salem right now….

"There is more to this." Sable simply affirms, absolutely certain of this fact and cutting through your thoughts like a pristine blade would through your flesh.

"I sometimes ask myself if you the reason you are so silent is because you have too much going on in your head." Ozpin chuckles darkly. "Yes, there is more. What I said is about all that my most trusted advisors know. What I am going to reveal is a thing that I have not told to anyone in centuries or more." He gives a longing look to the picture of Dorothy happily hugging him that stands on his desk. "Salem… was my wife, and she's the mother of my children. Long, long ago, before I was afflicted with this curse of reincarnation, I saved her from her tyrannical father and we fell in love. I died shortly after and in her grief, she asked the gods that were still walking the world to bring me back. As a punishment for her audacity, the brother of light gave her immortality and told her she would stay stuck on this earth, unable to see me again, until she learned the sanctity of life and death." He shakes his head. "He completely missed the fact that the way he had changed her would keep her mostly static, including her beliefs. She stayed stuck in the mindset she had at the time, firmly angry against the gods and determined to make them pay." He stops for a moment.

"This managed to get worse somehow, didn't it?" You ask, beginning to paint a picture in your mind of the tragedy that could have followed.

"She convinced most of humanity to rebel against their cruel gods, walked on their doorstep with an army… an army the brother of Darkness annihilated on the spot alongside the rest of humanity for daring this, before the two left to try and create another world as if this one had just been a broken toy. Desperate, alone, Salem tried everything to kill herself, finally culminating by jumping headfirst into a fount of power the Brother of Darkness had carelessly left, connecting her to all Grimm and crystallizing her hate of the gods further." The man sits heavily on his chair, seeming to let the weight of his countless years catch with him all at once. "Then the brothers decided to make a new humanity in Remnant, though they didn't stay long enough for Salem to do anything about it. She was happy to stay out of everyone's way, not having a direct objective due to the gods being inaccessible, during this period, Grimm were attacking people but didn't have her moving the pieces. A good thing, as I am not sure the new people could even have survived if not for this."

"And then you got reincarnated? By the gods to bout, so much for preserving the sanctity of life and death." Sable asks.

Ozpin grows even more grim.

"Yes." For seconds, this word is the only thing on everyone's mind, none of you daring to speak. Ozpin breaks the moment by continuing: "They didn't tell me most of this, I learnt most from Salem later and the rest from the relic of knowledge. What they told me was that they were giving me a mission to guide people, I had to create a united world and call them back using four relics. If I had been victorious, they would bless us, if not, they would destroy this world. Ignorant of their true faces and happy to serve, I immediately accepted, finding myself in the body of a man I didn't know, in a world completely foreign to me. I spent years working slowly without much direction, before a miracle happened." There is wonder in his eyes for a moment here. "I found Salem, hidden in some woods and doing no harms to anyone. She recognized me despite the new body, and we…" He grows slightly red. "Celebrated the occasion with much vigor. For a time, all seemed good, we made strides towards our objective of uniting the world in peace, she gave me four beautiful daughters. She told me about the gods treachery and given my own condition, I trusted her and vowed not to call them back…." He stops once again. This talk really is taking all the poor man has.

"I think we can see the rest from there: Learning that the mission was for the gods, and since she was still stuck hating them, she reacted extremely harshly. She saw you as complicit and is probably trying to get all relics to call them so that she can have a second round at destroying them. She took active control of the Grimm and worked on making sure humanity couldn't be united in spite, and there we are." Sable continues for him. Ozpin simply nods.

"This is too personal for me to ask you to correct all my mistakes. I wanted… I was going to explain this when you met Ironwood, as well as tell him I have a way of making this war end. Then I wanted to ask you to assist in taking care of Salem after we had all managed to reach her. Close the chapter, but let humanity show they could at least do something."

"You still love her." You affirm. Ozpin falters for a moment. "I…" You look at Sable who simply nods. "We are willing to let it go that way, let you reach the goal and let us finish what you cannot, but there is another possibility than her death." Ozpin seems struck with so much grief you worry he's going to attract a Grimm pack by himself. "I know hope can be a horrible thing, I know you had already resolved yourself to what may come. For now, thank you for telling us, we'll let you grieve in peace."

Adding action to word, you and Sable leave quietly, not even surprised when you see Dorothy running towards you when you get out of the elevator shortly after.

Glynda takes a look at you, one at Dorothy, and let the young girl pass without a word.

You mouth "He's going to need a little time, we're sorry." And she nods, clearly anticipating that the man will explain if needed.

You simply crash into your bed with Sable still close to you, and spend the rest of the day thinking on what happened.

---

The next day sees you come back to your normal responsibilities, a fact highlighted by Velvet waiting for you in front of your office far before she and Yatsuhashi are supposed to come for their lessons.

"Velvet? Do you want something?" You ask.

"Yes, professor Panoply. There is something I want to talk about concerning my Semblance and I thought it better to ask before Yatsu was there." She replies.

Intrigued by her question, you gesture for her to follow you as you enter your office and begin preparing a cup of tea for each of you. Velvet seemingly in no hurry to begin talking before you're both comfortably installed.

"So, something about your Semblance then?" You ask while letting the tea get cold enough to drink. "I assume it's not about how it works, but more about a reading you got from it, you wouldn't have gone to me otherwise."

"You remember my reaction when you first showed your Semblance?" She waits for you to indicate you see what she's talking about then continue. "Well, recently, my Semblance began indicating something… strange about you." She looks at you as if expecting disapproval but you just meet her gaze evenly. "It reads almost as if there was something puppeting you, as if you didn't move by using your muscles but had invisible hands moving you around instead. At first I dismissed it as wrong, especially since it only happened once or twice, but it has been happening more and more as time pass and…." She doesn't really know how to continue apparently.

You take your cup in two hands and begin drinking while scratching your chin with another… and then you stop and realize what just happened, judging by Velvet suddenly looking like a cornered animal, she saw it too.

"I can't suppose you would be willing to pretend this never happened?" You tell while putting your face in yet more hands.

It seems that having more people knowing about how your vessels work led to your true nature being more likely to come out at inopportune times.

She slowly shakes her head. Well, a woman can dream….

How are you taking care of this?

[] May as well call Yatsuhashi. At this point, you are beginning to think you won't be able to hide this for too long.

[] Explain only to Velvet and insist on her not telling to the rest of her team… yet. You have a feeling you will end up revealing it later.

[] You may not know Coco and Fox as much as Yatsuhashi and Velvet, but you do know they are trusted by their teammates, make this an impromptu occasion to break the entire team's minds, the more the merrier.

[] Write-in. (No putting the cat back in the bag, Velvet will not stop asking.)

A/N:

If you want to know what a Red Fang member was doing in the mines:

He was there to protect the miners in case things got out of hand as well as report on if the site would need a more direct action.

Sorry for the long exposition, but it had to happen at some point.

It was supposed to be when you met Ironwood, but Weiss managed to make Stella wonder and there we are.

Here is one of the other AU changes I made, Salem doesn't want to die, she wants to kill the gods and is unable to realize she cannot.

For the end: you spent hours each day right next to a person that has a perfect instinctual read of body language, this was bound to happen at some point. Not helped by some things making your more eldritch side come out a little more lately. The delay is partly due to her not being sure at first, and partly her having to gather to courage needed to ask. The rest is her own impression getting stronger with time and the knowledge about your nature being more spread out coming together.