บท 46: Explanations
A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my P atreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!
In which Weiss and Ciel are roped in.
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As Weiss and Ciel both begin to wake up, Jaune has his Grimm Mask back on. Winter had told him that it would be better to ease her sister and her sister's girlfriend into things. Apparently, pretending that he was White Fang for a few moments longer was the best way to do that, rather than having his Grimmified features staring at them both from the moment they woke up.
Jaune wasn't entirely convinced by that logic, but it was Winter's sister they were talking about, so he figured at the very least he could follow Winter's lead for the time being. And so he stands there at the entrance of the room, arms crossed over his chest and true identity concealed.
As Weiss and Ciel open their eyes, Winter begins moving forward. Jaune watches the older Schnee move to her sister's side, even as Weiss stares uncomprehendingly at the fancy ceiling of the fancy guest bedroom she finds herself in. No doubt she was expecting a dark, dank cell inside of some White Fang hideout, so ending up in the Palace of the Grimm Queen instead was probably going to throw her for quite the loop, even if she didn't know this WAS the Palace of the Grimm Queen just yet.
Regardless, the moment Winter's face enters Weiss' field of view, the Schnee girl jolts up, her eyes widening in shock.
"W-Winter! You're alive!"
Smiling softly, Winter nods as she takes Weiss' arms in her own. For a moment, Weiss looks like she's at a loss for what to do. Clearly, she's fighting with herself. Does she exercise some modicum or propriety, or does she throw herself into her big sister's arms? Winter had told Jaune what their relationship was like. How she'd probably been too hard on Weiss, and how she'd probably acted too coldly towards her younger sister.
… He's happy to see that apparently hasn't had an everlasting effect, because in the end Weiss throws caution and propriety to the wind and yanks Winter into a hug, tossing her arms around the older woman's neck and pulling her down with bone-crushing force. Winter bites her lower lip before ultimately returning the embrace, something that seems to take Weiss by surprise though it doesn't stop the younger woman from fully taking advantage of Winter's affection.
Of course, while Weiss is positively overflowing with happiness over Winter's survival, her girlfriend has sat up and noticed him… but also their surroundings. Ciel looks objectively baffled by the well-furnished, albeit antiquated bedroom they find themselves in. Combined with his presence, she doesn't seem to know what to do. They've 'clearly' been captured by the White Fang, but not only is this not a prison cell, Weiss' sister is here and unharmed as well.
He can see the young woman putting two and two together, before finally reaching out and tugging on Weiss' shoulder.
"Weiss…"
To her credit, Weiss doesn't completely ignore her lover in favor of her sister. Slowly, reluctantly, she finally lets Winter go… only to stiffen up as her gaze follows Ciel's finger to him. As soon as she sees him, Weiss' hackles are raised and she's up on her feet on the bed, making Jaune raise a brow as she balls her hands into fists.
"You! I won't let you hurt them!"
He's half-tempted to make a comment about maybe finding better footing first. Bobbing up and down on a soft mattress does not make for the best place to start a fight from, even if it does afford you the high ground. Still, Jaune has let Winter call the shots so far, so he remains quiet and continues to let her lead this rodeo.
"Weiss! Get down… he's not going to hurt you. He's not going to hurt any of us."
Weiss blinks… and slowly turns to her sister. After a long moment, the younger Schnee seems to have an epiphany of sorts, likely realizing at long last that it had been Winter she'd fought on the train.
"W-Winter… you've… joined the White Fang?"
Huh. You know what? Fair assumption on Weiss' part, Jaune has to admit. All things considered, that's one of the possible options, though it seems a little out there. Winter Schnee wanting to join the White Fang? Maybe. Improbable, but possible given she'd already run away from their father to join Atlas' Military. But the White Fang LETTING Winter join? That was a hell of a lot less likely, at least as Jaune understood it.
"Err… no Weiss. I'm not a part of the White Fang. Neither is he. The mask was just… well, it was to throw Ironwood and the Specialists off our trail. To make them THINK you were taken by White Fang so they wouldn't know the right places to look."
As Weiss takes this in, Ciel looks around for a moment, taking in their surroundings again and narrowing her eyes as she voices the obvious question.
"And where exactly IS here?"
Biting her lower lip, Winter wrings her hands for a moment. She shoots him a glance, but Jaune has nothing for her. This was all her.
"… You're in a guest bedroom of a palace located within the Land of Darkness."
Both Weiss and Ciel's eyes damn near bulge out of their skull at that reveal. Certainly, to find out that they've completely left civilization behind is likely a shock to them.
"A-A palace… why is there a palace out in the middle of a barren wasteland, Winter?!"
Weiss' incredulity is understandable. And at this point, Jaune feels like disguising his true identity has just about run its course. Luckily, Winter seems to decide the same and looks over at him, beckoning him forward.
"As I said before, this is not a member of the White Fang. This is Jaune Arc and he… well, it's better if he shows you. Seeing is believing, after all."
Winter gives him a nod, and so Jaune reaches up and takes off his mask. To their credit, neither Weiss nor Ciel scream at the sight of his stark-white skin, his red and black eyes, or his veins standing out against his flesh. He's very clearly a Grimm-Human Hybrid, and while they both freeze at the sight of him, they don't flip out at least.
"Jaune here… is the King of the Grimm."
He's half-expecting one of them to faint at that reveal. But no, Weiss Schnee and Ciel Soleil are both made of tougher stuff than that. Obviously, his appearance frightens them. Disturbs them, even. But in the end… Weiss gets this look on her face, the sort of look only a younger sibling can possibly get. Crossing her arms over her chest, the Schnee girl looks at her sister with a piercing gaze and one word on her lips.
"Explain."
And so… Winter does.
It takes about an hour to go through it all. Weiss and Ciel interrupt a few times, and there are points where Jaune has to fill in his side of things. But eventually, they've given the two young women all of the information pertinent to their situation. Weiss and Ciel both seem to be rolling with it for the time being as well, though they also look somewhat withdrawn and weary by the time it's over.
Still, that weariness is easily matched or even overcome by determination and resolve.
"So then, let me see if I have this straight. Basically, Jaune here became King of the Grimm and made the Queen of the Grimm, this Salem woman, pull back all Grimm. To avoid causing a panic or a war, he kept his and his Queen's existence secret and just… left the Human Kingdoms to our own devices. But because Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon is somehow a reincarnating wizard that's thousands of years old, he already knew about Salem and is afraid that this is all some sort of gambit she's pulling. And because General Ironwood is on his side, they're working together to try and get rid of Salem, even though she hasn't actually done anything in over two years now."
Jaune tilts his head to the side as Weiss directs this little tirade in his direction. Once she's done, he finally nods.
"That's about the gist of it, yes."
Weiss frowns and looks to Winter.
"So then General Ironwood sent you, Penny, and two other girls on a suicide mission to try and kill Salem, not even knowing that there WAS a King of the Grimm. And the mission failed. Completely."
Winter hangs her head but nods as well.
"Yes. Thankfully. If it had succeeded, Ruby Rose would be dead. Even if I had survived, I would have the blood of a little girl on my hands all the same…"
Weiss scowls at that, and it's clear to Jaune that some parts of this story have definitely challenged the younger Schnee's hero worship of her sister quite a bit. Weiss adores Winter, positively idolizes her… but finding out everything that's happened so far has been a blow to her opinion of her big sister, that's for sure.
As Weiss wrestles with this fact, Ciel pipes up from her side. At some point, the two girls had taken each other's hands and not let go. They're still holding hands even now, even as Ciel speaks.
"So… Penny is offline right now? She's been completely disabled?"
There's a tone of true, honest worry in Ciel's voice. The dark-skinned girl considered Penny Polendina a friend, despite the latter's inhuman status. Inclining his head, Jaune sighs.
"Yes. I wish I had been there when Winter and her group made their attempt… I might have been able to end things more peacefully. But frankly, the restraint Salem showed to people sent to kill her was admirable enough as it is."
Ciel looks a little mulish at that, but doesn't try and argue with him, even if she might want to. Instead, she moves the conversation along.
"You want to kidnap Penny's creator, to make him fix her?"
Jaune and Winter exchange a glance at that, with Jaune sighing.
"I promised Winter I would do so at some point, yes. Just as I promised her that I would protect her sister from Ironwood's machinations. I have fulfilled the latter obligation by bringing you here, Weiss. However, before I fulfill the obligation regarding Penny… Winter must fulfill her obligation to me."
Weiss' eyes flash at that and she bites out her response.
"The SDC. Through my mother."
Having already explained that part, Jaune just smiles and nods.
"Quite right. Winter has promised to help me take control of the SDC through your mother. I should point out that I have done everything in my power to try and stay out of your politics. I tried simply vanishing without a trace and making it so you all never saw a Grimm again for the rest of your lives. But Ozma will never stop. First it was Glynda Goodwitch. Then it was Winter Schnee, Penny Polendina, Ruby Rose, and Yang Xiao-Long."
Jaune pauses for a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing.
"… For the time being at least, he has reason to believe his gambit worked. However, his paranoia will not allow him to accept that for very long. I doubt Ozma will be happy just hoping that turning Ruby Rose into a living bomb finally killed Salem. No, eventually he'll talk himself into thinking that it failed and he'll go off and do something else crazy."
Meeting Weiss Schnee's eyes, Jaune knows his voice is filled with conviction. He feels every bit of it.
"That's why I'm going to use Winter and your mother to take control of the SDC. That's why I'm going to use the SDC's influence to end this war with Mistral and cut General Ironwood's legs out from under him. I already promised a woman that she was allowed to kill Ironwood once all is said and done. Until their support structures are removed however, we cannot move on Ozma or his toady. But once they are… the two of them will be removed from the board, so that the attempts on my Queen's life stop happening."
Jaune doesn't mind telling them all this. After all, they're not going to be able to tell anyone else anyways. To that end, he smiles and clasps his hands together, preparing to tell Weiss and Ciel that they'll be spending their time as his guests and not to worry, that all of their needs will be seen to. However, before he can say any of that…
"I'm in."
Jaune blinks at Weiss' sudden response. And a moment later, Ciel squeezes her girlfriend's hand and corrects her.
"We're in."
Weiss looks to her lover in surprise and then appreciation, giving her a soft smile that Ciel returns. Then, they both look at him with nothing but determination and resolve in their eyes. In response, Jaune stares blankly for a moment.
"… Excuse me?"
The two of them are quick to explain.
"Winter isn't wrong. My mother would do a lot for her. But you know what would get her moving her ass even faster? If you had BOTH of her daughters in your power."
Meanwhile, Ciel has a different explanation.
"Penny didn't deserve to be treated like nothing more than a weapon. Sure, maybe that's all we huntresses are to men like Ironwood or Ozpin, but Penny… Penny isn't just a tool. She's a person with a soul, capable of feelings and emotions regardless of what her physical body is made of. I think… I think once you explain to her creator what you've taken him for, he'll be fully on board. But in the event that he's not, I'll happily make sure he does everything in his power to fix Penny and bring her back online."
Jaune… believes her. He can see it in Ciel's eyes. If she has to torture Penny's creator to make him do what she wants, she'd do it. Well now. He supposed he really shouldn't have been surprised by this. After all, Weiss and Ciel had both stood by their convictions enough that they'd gone ahead and willingly joined the Atlesian Military to fight on the frontlines against Mistral.
Ultimately… they were two very stalwart young women, weren't they? For a brief moment, he feared that they might be trying to deceive him… but Jaune didn't think so. His senses were telling them that they were both telling the truth. Unless they were very, VERY good liars, then this wasn't a deception. No, this was full-blown resolve manifesting itself in an unexpected way.
Chuckling softly to himself, Jaune inclines his head in Weiss and Ciel's direction.
"Very well. Then welcome aboard, you two."
They nod back at him, still holding hands. Jaune can't help but be a little amused by them. Still, with this taken care of… it was time to move on Atlas. Time to move on the SDC and Willow Schnee at long last.
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The P atreon Vote:
[ ] Send Willow Schnee a message ahead of time, meet her outside of her home - 22%
[X] Infiltrate the Schnee Estate as a servant to deliver it personally - 78%
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