I'm still very lost on the monkeys. And the whole lab experiments that the monkeys being sent to, along with the domestication eerily reminds me the "planet of the apes" scenario.
I imagine it was open warfare in the first centuries then as it went on and on, the two eventually lost interest in fighting and are just doing the bare minimum to keep each other in check.
I imagine it was open warfare in the first centuries then as it went on and on, the two eventually lost interest in fighting and are just doing the bare minimum to keep each other in check.
Hopefully it's not like that. Really takes the wind out of the whole must-kill-them-both mission the gods gave the main character, especially if the two immortal targets are just bored immortals. The story loses some of it's gravitas if Salem is not taking this conquer Remnant thing as seriously.
Does she? Conquering means leaving something existing to gain after the conquest, but she's not really doing that.
What she wants is to gather the Relics, summon the Brothers and get wiped along with the rest of humanity. That or stop humanity from being united and thus giving way for the Brothers to return.
But I think she's mistaken they would wipe her out...
Especially in this story, where there's already a new agent of the Brothers in play.
Weiss wasn't one to swear like a plebe but she felt borrowing an expression of theirs was the perfect way to respond to her experiences in thus far.
It was official. Beacon can go bite her ass.
Beacon was supposed to be a fresh new start for her. It was a chance to make something out of her life without the assistance of others. Sure she had an allowance with multiple zeroes in it, had a famous family name to move socially, and could also count on her own personal fame as an opera singer but the fact of the matter here was that she was well truly on her own to carve out a kingdom in Beacon.
There were no more servants to direct, no assistants to boss, and no Alex to bake her cakes. It was just her wits and skills.
These such thoughts were circulating in Weiss's head when her airship neared the famous Hunstman school. She remembered the feeling of awe and wonder as she spied the tall spires of Beacon from her airship. She imagined bright and confident students strutting around immersing themselves in fine academia and sharpening their combat skills in duels and the like. She imagined a teaching staff that was the best of the best with a heart to educate the next generation.
And then, she actually took a step inside the school and quickly understood why Winter referred to it as wild and insane.
There were the monkeys lying about and students walking around them as if they were part of the decorations and that avant-garde giant golden lemur statue that was seated on a marble column, it had one arm bent at an angle across its chest while the other was fully extended parallel to the first arm, the face turned toward the bent elbow.
And then, there were the new arrivals like her. There was that girl with red-tipped hair and her crabby blonde-haired sister. Weiss rolled her eyes and glanced at the siblings. The youngest one, Ruby, was walking ahead of them with a skip to her step, happily humming a tune while her sister, Yang, followed closely behind, her hands folded behind her head.
Inside of her, Weiss couldn't help but feel cheated. This girl with the upbeat act somehow managed to become the team leader for their team. The honorable Headmaster of Beacon had chosen this underaged airhead over her, Weiss Schnee. to lead.
Apparently, the girl that had almost blown up a part of Beacon was qualified to lead a team of aspiring hunstmen rather than an heiress to a multi-billion lien company who had been taught to lead and fight by the best tutors that money could buy.
"Do you realize how much danger you could have caused!?" Weiss screeched, her fingers pointing towards the multiple vials of dust now lying about the ground. Her irritation was increased when the girl had the gall to look confused.
"Whuut?" the girl squeaked, silver-eyes blinking.
Weiss resisted the urge to facepalm at her obliviousness. Her mind urged her to scold the girl some more but she forced herself to calm down. Alex had once told her that she was just like dust, a little spark and then suddenly, an explosion would happen.
Of course, she was offended at Alex poking at her character but a upon reflecting on it further, she had to admit he had a point. Mother and Winter never lost their composure, even at the most terrible of times. She had to do them proud and screeching like an harpy would only tarnish her and the family name.
Weiss sighed.
Well. There was no point in sweating out over something so petty. What would Alex think of her if she went off on Ruby? Oh well. The least she could do was to reign in Ruby towards a direction that wouldn't get them all killed. She figured that it was still leading the team from a certain point of view.
At least she wasn't alone to face the insanity. She took a quick glance at her companion and partner for the next four years and was heartened to find her sporting the same look of trauma she had worn a few hours ago.
Weiss was surprised to find Alex's personal maid in Beacon and the girl was quick to explain her presence there. Apparently, she was to go undercover as a student to be her own personal bodyguard.
It was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Belle was the perfect partner that she could've asked for; quiet, mature, understanding of personal space and there was no slack to be picked up from her way in combat. Her earlier view of her as a corporate flunkie was quickly thrown out of the window immediately when she displayed her competency during their artifact hunt in the Emerald Forest.
Weiss sighed as she once more cast a look at the path ahead of them. She could only hope the teachers were as good as they were claimed. At least they would break the cycle of nonsense she would have to deal with.
Speaking about teachers, classes were going to start tomorrow. Right now, they were free to do as they wish. Weiss had suggested that the team spar so that they would get to know about their fighting styles more. That way, she could formulate tactics and strategies for them to use.
Then her suggestion was thrown out of the window when Ruby decided that they had to get back to their dorms for an impromptu slumber party. Judging from the look the girl sported a few minutes ago, there was going to be no argument.
And so, slumber party it was.
Their footsteps echoed as they traversed the stone pathways of Beacon. At this point in time, the senior students were in their classes which kept the school eerily quiet. The first years were few in number but from what Weiss had seen, it didn't really matter if they were a hundred or a thousand as they were all boisterous and rowdy.
Luckily, the rest of the first years had wandered off to explore which allowed Team RYWB and by extension, her, some peace and quiet.
Her precious peace and quiet was then thrown out a window when Ruby stopped in her tracks, a excited squeal leaving her lips. Weiss rolled her eyes at the younger girl's antics. What? Had she found a new monkey to fawn over?
Ruby turned around, her eyes glittering with excitement. "He's here!" she exclaimed. Yang raised an eyebrow at her sister's sudden outburst. "Who's here?" asked the blonde, taking steps forward to see what exactly gotten her sister in such a craze.
Sure enough, she saw it or rather, him.
"Oh my gods..." snickered Yang, her eyes returning back to Ruby who looked like she was about to explode from sheer excitement. Weiss and Blake glanced at each other, quite lost on what was happening. Weiss took the imitative to find out first and walked over to Yang's side to see what the fuss was about
"Alexander?" she gasped.
Sure enough, her fiancee was a few feet away from them in deep conversation with the Headmaster of Beacon while his escorts, a single Artemesia and Mr Gutsy robot stood a few feet away from them. She couldn't quite place what they were talking about but she could catch snippets of 'Roman' and 'Criminals" being discussed.
As eyes of silver and lilac fell on her, further away two others caught notice. A wise man's unhurried shift of attention and a young one's snap-to in precision found more in soldiers than business executives.
"What?" she said aloud.
"How'd ya know him? Where you like, childhood friends or something?" asked Yang. Weiss considered about telling her the truth, but decided to reveal it only when it suited her.
"If you haven't noticed it Xiao Long, I happen to be Weiss Schnee..." emphasized Weiss sarcastically."...the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. I may or may not know my future colleagues in the industry."
"Yup. Childhood friends alright." chuckled Yang, mouthing the p with an audible pop and eliciting a glare from Weiss . She then turned towards Ruby and gave her a pat on the back. "Sorry Rubes. Looks like your Jack Frost already had an Ice Princess back home."
Alarmed, Weiss turned towards the girl. Did she harbor any feelings for Alex? Had they met before? Fortunately for Weiss, Ruby was turning beet red out of embarrassment rather than any actual attraction.
"Yang. I admire him, not like him!" protested Ruby, her cheeks turning red. Her protests were duly ignored however as the blonde ruffled her hair.
"Sure you do." teased Yang.
"They're coming here." deadpanned Blake. Sure enough, the Headmaster was striding towards them, Alexander and his escorts following closely behind.
"Girls, were you not told that eavesdropping is rude?" started Headmaster Ozpin. The teens, sans Weiss and Blake, grimaced.
"It's fine Headmaster. I know them." chimed in Alexander as he regarded them with a smile. His eyes shone in recognition as he locked eyes with Ruby who smiled back, to Yang who winked at him, towards Blake who shared a conspiratorial nod then finally, to her.
Weiss felt gentle twinges in her heart when he smiled... seeing it again made it easier to return it.
"So Weiss, this is your team?" he asked. She nodded and was about to introduce them when Yang beat her to the punch. The blonde strutted forward and wiggled her eyebrows at him.
"Hey Aleeex~!" Yang must have decided her kick right now was to make Ruby crave death by becoming a crimson cocoon, because in one motion she sashayed an obviously exaggerated step forward, arched in a upwards stretch and grinned like she caught a canary bigger than her own head. Even the words were twisted, exiting as a throaty purr rather than anything decent. But lilacs were atwinkling - no foul intended. Ozpin and Blake looking on seemingly entertained. Weiss might've chuckled behind a covered mouth had the target of the act not been her Alex.
Weiss liked to think that she wasn't prone to jealousy. To be insecure was for lesser women. She was Weiss Schnee for goodness sakes! She was an opera singer, an heiress and a fencing expert! Despite her long list of accomplishments, she still just couldn't help but feel jealous towards her team leader.
Ruby on the other hand felt like she was going to die. Being told on your idol was perhaps, one of the very worst things she could imagine. I mean, what was one supposed to feel if their secrets were laid bare before he one they idolized?
Weiss understood about him that Alex's response to deep offense to his sensibilities was to spring back and return the blow. Nothing physical, or at least it couldn't be told outside of the angles of his face and the look in his eyes. Few could tell this - or perhaps even notice, finding it easy to call it a trick of the light - but in that silent click of all of a heartbeat, where his instincts were doused like a lamp, he may as well have been kiln-fired brick for how hard-faced he would be afterwards.
He kind of looked like his father when he did that. A Mistrali legionnaire would've recognized the state of mind, and obeyed him.
Except... he scratched the back of his head.
Quietly happy, Weiss found it in herself to look on. Mercifully nobody seemed to have noticed.
He smiled sheepishly as he regarded Yang. "I am rather flattered and honored that Miss Rose still views me in a positive light. I shall continue to do my best to be worthy of that praise."
"You still remember my name?" gasped Ruby. Alexander nodded at her. "Well, it is rather hard to forget you and your cheerful personality Miss Rose." He then turned back towards Yang.
"Ruby never mentioned you when we last spoke. Miss...?" he let on. Yang flashed him a smile and leaned ever so slightly to give him a view of her generous tracts of land. "The name's Yang Xiao Long but you can call me Yang. You've earned it." she added with a titter.
Yang must have felt like she was getting lasered by a Friedlich designator at that point, because Alex hadn't once dropped his gaze from the horizon to the bountiful hills, to Weiss's secret delight.
"I'd tell you my name but I feel Miss Rose has told you that a dozen times already. It's a pleasure to meet you, Yang." He nodded at her. He then moved his attention towards Blake
Blake, who unsubtly straightened up at the sudden attention.
"And you are?" Alex asked.
"Belle Donnabella" she replied.
Weiss wondered why the two were acting why they didn't know one another but then she remembered that Belle was here in secret and no one needed to know that she was in fact a skilled huntress pretending to be a student.
"I see that you are faunus and proud of it." He started. To be sure, nothing adorned Blake's head, displaying a pair of cat ears for the world to see. "No concern expended for bigotry?"
questioned the Friedlich heir. Her jealousy spiked when the faunus smiled a little bit too warmly.
"I met someone that taught me a valuable lesson." said Belle.
"And that lesson was?"
"Dream on until death." she said with a warmer smile. With their talk finished, Alexander finally turned towards her.
Weiss made a mental note to have a long talk with Belle. There was something about her talk with Alex that was a little off.
"Weiss." he said simply. Weiss's emotions were struggling. She was happy that Alexander was here but at the same time, conflicted about the sudden show of warmth that he and his assistant shared.
"Alexander." she replied.
"I would love to stay here and chat but I still have a long discussion with Headmaster Ozpin..." Said Headmaster was standing by, his earlier confronting personality long gone and replaced with...amusement? "...and by the time we are finished, it would be rather late. What do you say I take you and your team out for dinner this Saturday?"
"That would be grand." she said graciously. Already, she could feel the excitement emanating from Yang and Ruby, no doubt excited at the thought of free food and drink.
"You already know my scroll number so we can catch up later. Now, would you excuse me?"
"Go..." was all Weiss found strength to say - it suddenly felt like she'd hauled the team on her back all day long. Alex met the world with pain a mirror of her own... And from a vest pocket over his heart produced something he clasped hands over and handed to her.
"I'm sorry, I can't stay to speak more. Can this be enough, just for today? Duty calls to both of us, I'm quite short on time now."
Weiss felt heat creep towards her cheeks and the worries she had harbored a scant few minutes ago were gone in an instant. In his gloved hand was a small flower with white woolly leaves and petals.
An edelweiss.
She accepted it gracefully and held it in her hand. Her teammates glanced at the flower curiously and she could feel the questions forming in their heads. She on the other hand understood what the flower was speaking.
She forced herself to calm down and curtsied, her hands reaching out and visibly grasping the blue crystal necklace that he had given her a long time.
"Until then, Alexander."
A flash of emotion flashed in his eyes as he saw her touch the necklace, a pained smile on his lips.
"Until then, Weiss."
+++
A/N: Edited with Krasnogvardiech. May he live long and prosper.
Anyway, aren't they two sappy little cretins. May they enjoy their precious moments because soon, they gonna have a bad time.
In other news, the reason why Weiss is touched at Alex giving her an Edelweiss because the Edelweiss symbolizes deep devotion and love. In this sense, Alex is using to signify his deep devotion and yadda yadda to Weiss cream.
And as for why they aren't being overtly displaying of their relationship, they are distinctively upper class and overt displays of affection are considered poor form.
Good chapter, but I think it needs a once-over by a beta-reader. A few perspective shifts were somewhat confusing, some minor grammar and punctuation mistakes were made, and there was a paragraph or two that could have been better formulated.
There were the monkeys lying about and students walking around them as if they were part of the decorations and that avant-garde giant golden lemur statue that was seated on a marble column, it had one arm bent at an angle across its chest while the other was fully extended parallel to the first arm, the face turned toward the bent elbow.
Some time after returning to my office, my eyes were fixed on the fireplace, a glass of Mistrali red wine in my hand.
Visiting Beacon hadn't been unproductive, and yet I hadn't completed what I had set out for.
While I'd secured a core of loyal customers and no-pay-needed testers for weapons too crazy to hand to sensible men, this meaning essentially free advertising as Huntsmen basically couldn't help but tell everyone about what they did when they did it, that benefit was mitigated by the fact that Ozpin was as helpful as a slippery rope. Meeting the Beacon dream team in full was nice, but that was a band-aid over a stuctural collapse.
After I had made Beacon a little richer than before, I immediately spoke to him regarding Torchwick's activities and hinted a desire to combine our forces to stop Torchwick which would then lead us towards Cinder then eventually, Big Mommy Salami herself.
Due to events outside of our control however, there was nothing he could do in an official capacity. Most of his experienced hunstmen and huntresses were preoccupied with defending Vale both from the Grimm and the Red Fang. The latter was proving to be quite more problematic of late despite Atlas increasing efforts to combat them.
I took a quick sip of my wine and began twirling it gently, my mind running.
Ozpin was however willing to share whatever information he had or would discover. Already, he had given me a sizable file that I would read later on.
With that squared away, I could fully return into building my forces.
When I had returned to the Foundry, I was hit both with good news and bad news.
The good news was that Steuben was already getting started in whipping the men and women we had into shape and my foremen reported they would meet the deadlines under budget and ahead of schedule so that meant once their training was over, they could expect the right and proper equipment for them to use.
But when it rains, does it ever pour. My request for blueprints for the advanced manufacturing equipment was returned to me with what may as well have been a fat, sloppy, steaming mass of 'DENIED'. God, a septic tank was less full of shit than that e-mail.
Of course, I had a mild freak out over that because I was not keen in getting my people killed by literal ubermensch and abruptly phoned my parents as soon as I could.
And the reason for their refusal?
"Do you remember the Paladins that old Jacques wanted to produce?"
I struggled to suppress a snort. "Who couldn't? You complained to me, mother, the dogs and anyone who would listen that the overhyped wearable forklift got approval rather than the Guardian tank."
Father grunted in the other line. "Well, a shipment of Paladins that was supposed to be delivered to the military was intercepted mid-delivery. The attack footage revealed no distinguishing features about the attackers - aside from their numbers and their damnably good execution of the train raid, they gave nothing away before popping an EMP that fried the shipment's transmitters. From what I could gather from my contacts in the military, they were intercepted and stolen by the Red Fang."
Silence reigned in our call.
"Son?"
"So what you are telling me...is that the Red Fang have with them not one, but shipment of Atlesian war machines with enough firepower to level a city block?"
"There were five Paladins stolen to be exact." he informed me. I failed to suppress a sigh.
"And how does this relate to your refusal to send me better manufacturing equipment?" I questioned.
"Alexander. This isn't just mere machinery." Father said flatly. "What you are asking for are machines that can enable anyone to make weapons that are far deadlier and dangerous than anything that we have produced. There is a real risk that the Red Fang might try and intercept them if we ship parts to you."
I stayed silent for a moment, thinking of a solution.
The White Fang hadn't laid down their arms, but I remember being humbled by seeing the goodness of them in various videos broadcast on media - they'd consolidated themselves into an effective militia focused on aiding the settlements far from big cities.
From that, there was no doubt the Red Fang was going to be taking their place as Cinder's goons. Considering that they want to remodel Remnant from top to bottom, it would have been relatively easy for Cinder to spin a tale of how she wants the same thing as them and play them like a fiddle.
From canon, I could remember that Roman Torchwick had something to do in the Paladin thievery. Perhaps if I could get to Roman and immobilize him from taking action...
"What if I lower the heat that is happening? What if I calm down the rocking seas?" I asked my father who replied. "Then maybe we can work something out."
He paused as my words finally hit him clear. "Are you planning on doing something dangerous, Alex?"
I stayed silent, not able to answer his question.
Ever since I had grown up, Gerard Friedlich striked me as the type of man who enjoyed a good laugh and easy times. He was never the type to yell or get angry, always keeping his cool and collected. I had never seen him angry nor had I done much things to get him angry.
And so when I heard him talk again, I swear I felt my bones shiver.
"Alexander Friedlich. You were sent to Vale to head our branch, not to go around town hunting extremists. You will NOT do anything dangerous do you understand me?"
He didn't need to so much as raise his voice to get it across to me that doing anything other than exactly what he wanted was a bad idea. Aside from being my dad, this man was also my boss.
My mind jumped to detailings of the Kingdom of Mantle's forces in the War of Expression. Our family records listed three generations of men being known as Wulfaufstandiche. The most common name for them today was the Werewolf Guerillas. Father right now looked like he'd fit seamlessly into the groups that fought hard enough that Grimm were secondary and everyday - all he did was look at me, through the video link, and I felt like he could've Force Choked me if I talked shit at that point.
"Father. I never said I was going to do anything myself. We hire people for a reason." I reminded him. "I am increasing our security forces to shore up our defenses as well as to act as mercenaries for hire. The best of them shall also act as my own personal force, to do things that are far too dangerous for me to do. I'm not stupid."
"If that is what you wish then I will not intrude on it. I'll support you even. But Alex please, don't do anything stupid." he all but pleaded me.
"I won't." I swore.
As I did that, my fingers unconsciously crossed themselves.
I downed the last dregs of Chozzowick's merlot and glanced at a painting on the nearby wall.
It was an oil painting of my family depicting my father seated on a sofachair, dressed in the Friedlich uniform. Mother was behind him looking radiantly immaculate in a green dress, a little pearl tiara on her blonde hair. I on the other hand was at his left, standing with my hands folded behind my back and clad in a uniform similar to father's.
I sighed as I laid the glass of wine I held aside.
Okay dad. I won't do anything stupid against the Red Fang.
Too bad you never mentioned anything about self-defense.
+++
A/N: This update was edited by Krasnogvardiech. May he live long and prosper.
A heads up to everyone. I'll be changing my update schedule from one update a day to a strict Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule to to irl stuff. So only expect updates on those days.
"Alexander. This isn't just mere machinery." Father said flatly. "What you are asking for are machines that can enable anyone to make weapons that are far deadlier and dangerous than anything that we have produced. There is a real risk that the Red Fang might try and intercept them if we ship parts to you."
I mean, for one, why aren't they making things deadlier and more dangerous? They are a weapons company, that's their one job.
Second, unless it's some "feed generic materials, push a button and watch the end product come out of the DAoT Fabricator" tier bullshit, you need an entire fucking team of engineers to come up with designs, prototype, test, design and assemble the appropriate assembly lines, secure resources of all kinds, from raw materials to things you don't bother or don't know how to make yourself, and then try and manufacture stuff.
And even if it is something like "push a button and it comes out", then just send files over your satellite network and ship the machines without files, and utilize the arcane arts of "having a password". Set the machine to slag itself if tampered with.
You have a hidden satellite network, install trackers on shit. Hell, bait them with a fake shipment, and reveal that instead of CNCs, it's full of tanks. Manned tanks.
And even if it is something like "push a button and it comes out", then just send files over your satellite network and ship the machines without files, and utilize the arcane arts of "having a password". Set the machine to slag itself if tampered with.
I imagine his version of remnant staged rocket should incorporate a dust-fuel stage (gravity dust?) that works before exiting atmo, and the rest is plain old rocket fuel once the dust runs out just before it gets rendered inert by the whole (dust is useless in outer space) issue.
Eventually, he can have an entire mobile factory built up there and just titanfall the shit out of everything, but that is just wishful thinking.
Umm, yes? A leading theory about dust is that it's the ashes of the previous magic-wielding humanity.
And it's been soaking up aura... Aka the soul of countless people since then...
Umm, yes? A leading theory about dust is that it's the ashes of the previous magic-wielding humanity.
And it's been soaking up aura... Aka the soul of countless people since then...
