Episode: Atlesian Revolution: Chapter 4: Brother Mine

Chapter 4 of the Atlesian Revolution.

The Day Weiss Left for Beacon Academy

Schnee Manor

 

 

 

            Weiss looked on as the servants continued to finish packing her items to take her down to Vale.  She looked around the room one last time, taking in what she could of the drab cold interior.  The Schnee family was never one for decorating extravagantly or colorfully, choosing instead to keep a simple color palate that emulated the colors of the company.  But not always.  Weiss and Winter would often do fun colorful drawings together and their mother always loved hanging them up around the manor halls.  Despite her father scolding her mother for it, claiming it was not professional, her mother would always bring up the fact that their father was not a true Schnee, he only married into the name.  Meaning he had little power.  But after her passing in a tragic accident, their father was both stricken with grief and consumed by greed.  He now had all the power he desired, and he used it in ways he couldn’t when her mother was still alive.  Despite the will of her mother declaring that the succession would fall in the order of oldest child, Jaques believed he could manipulate that by coercing both Weiss and Winter to leave, leaving Whitley to be molded into the person Jaques wanted to have as his true successor.  And even though his greed was plain for all to see, Winter still left, and Weiss in this moment was not feeling a sense of fear or regret for leaving as well, but a feeling of relief.  She felt that she was finally breaking free of the strings that had been guiding her since birth.  As the servants took another load of stuff down to the airship, she saw a small piece of paper sticking out beneath her bed.  She walked over, pulled it out, and almost started crying when she saw it.  It was a drawing that she had made when she was little.  A crude drawing of herself, her mother, and Winter all holding hands together.  And in her mother’s arms was a tiny baby Whitley.  Weiss folded the picture up and placed it in one of her pockets.  As she turned to leave, she saw Whitley standing right by the door, watching the servants take boxes out of her room.

            “So you’re really leaving?” Whitley said not averting his gaze, not wanting to look directly at his sister.  “And you won’t even be close by like Winter?”

            “I can do more elsewhere” Weiss said walking towards the door.  “And besides, I want to prove I can do this on my own merits, not because my sister’s reputation with the military would have helped me catapult most others my age.”

            “No, it’s just father’s money bankrolling Beacon for your tuition and to get his name on a classroom or something that will get you started.”

            “That’s father’s agenda.  Mine is to prove myself with my actions on the field of battle.”

            “Battle…. seems so exhausting…”

            “That’s father talking Whitley.”

            “Maybe he’s right.  Maybe I should take him up on his offer to go to business school here in Atlas and begin taking steps in order to learn how to run this company.”

            “What do you want to do Whitley?”

            “What?”

            “You are listing what father wants you to do.  I’m asking what do you want to do?”

            “I…….” Whitley turned and looked at his sister finally, a few tears rolling down his eyes.  “I want things to be the way they were when mom was alive.  I felt like…..I felt like I could do anything and she would just smile and not yell at me because of it.”  Weiss smiled, then went over and hugged Whitley.

            “It can still be that way.  Don’t let father change who you are.  I promise, I’ll visit you whenever I can.”  Whitley smiled, failing to hold back tears and returned the hug.

            “I love you sister.”

 

 

 

The Third Day of Battle

Schnee Manor

 

 

 

            Whitley paced back and forth in his father’s study.  He was losing everything.  Everything was falling apart.  The machines were scattered around the city, unable to reinforce any of the remaining strongholds that Whitley still controlled, Mantle was cut off, and he still couldn’t hope to attempt to flee with the blockade still soaring around the entirety of Atlas.  He then looked over a large map and realized he was going to have to cut his losses.  He walked into the main computer room, typed in a few commands, then returned to his father’s study.  On his way there, he passed the portrait of his family.  All of them sitting together.  He looked right at the picture of Weiss, his rage growing more and more.  Energy began to form around his fists.  Wind kicked up around him and snow began to materialize.  He then punched the painting, hitting Weiss’ face and putting his fist right through the painting.  He then pulled his hand back, his fist slightly bloody having hit the wood of the back of the portrait frame.  He wiped his hand off and made his way into his father’s office.  From the main desk, he pressed a button, and two large armor sleeves rose from the floor, both having multiple Dust crystals embedded into the armor.  Whitley looked at the sleeves, then started laughing manically.

 

 

 

 

 

The Command Ship

The Barracks

 

            

            Weiss looked down at her childhood home from the sky above, looking over the old childhood drawing.  She had kept it with her after all these years.  She didn’t always remember to take it with her on missions, especially if the mission was sprung upon her at the last moment.  But when she heard the news, she actively searched for it.  A few tears rolled down her face, Ruby noticing her walked over and gave her a tight hug.  Both of them didn’t say anything, they simply stayed there.  Not knowing what to say.

 

 

 

The Command Bridge

 

 

 

            Ironwood pulled up a large holo-map of Schnee manor and zoomed in on two highlighted buildings.

            “The computer room and the main study” Ironwood said pointing at the two targets.  “These are going to be our main objectives.”

            “Charging head first into the horde of machines isn’t exactly going to end as well as it did with the Academy Ironwood” Jacob said as he highlighted the massive horde of machines guarding the entire estate.  “Whitley knows he’s on his last legs.  Even though we cut him off from a massive number of machines yesterday, he managed to pull enough back to mean we are going to be fighting a wall of these things.  And unless you have a secret stash of machines that he can’t control lying around somewhere, I don’t think we’re going to pull this off without massive casualties.”

            “Why not just bomb the place?” Evan asked looking over the estate map.  “The civilians are evacuated, it’s only one small part of Atlas, we could blow the manor sky high along with all the robots.”
            “Not that easy” Weiss said pushing a few buttons causing a force field to now be displayed over the manor.  “Father was paranoid about people coming for his wealth, so he installed several military grade heavy weapons shields around the property.  Individuals can pass through fine enough but bombs and massive ships, that’s not quite as easy.”

            “What about one-man fighters?” Evan asked looking over the schematics.

            “Not likely.  Unless we take over the computer room, we can’t get anything larger than a person through.”

            “So we start there” Pyrrha said pointing at the computer room.  “We launch two offenses.  One on the main gate, try to goad Whitley into making a mistake.  Pull his forces in one direction.  Then, a small team goes for the computer room, takes command, lowers the field generators, then that opens the door for a quick small bombing run.  Hopefully that creates enough of an opening for the soldiers already on the ground to lead the charge in and capture Whitley.”

            “All right” Ty said cracking his knuckles.  “Who’s going where then?”

            “I know the computer system like the back of my hand” Weiss said stepping forward.  “I should be on the computer room scene.”

            “First off,” Derrick said stepping forward, “I know way more about tech than you do.  Not for nothing, but I helped develop a lot of different programs that are still being used to this day.  Second, if you are at the front of the charge at the main gate, that might goad Whitley into being more willing to throw everything he has at the main force, meaning there will be even less security around the computer room for the team to deal with.  I’ll go on that mission.”

            “All right, who else are we sending in?” Ironwood asked.

            “My team will go” Jacob said motioning towards Team JCTB.

            “We’ll go with you” Jaune and Pyrrha said in unison.

            “I’ll join you as well” Sage said with a smile.  “The more the merrier, right?”

            “A team of eight.  I’d say that’s a good solid number” Jacob said with a smile.

            “Mind if it’s ten?” a new voice cut in.  Everybody turned to see Ren and Nora standing at the entrance to the bridge, their weapons at the ready.  Everybody jumped in a bit of excitement, having not seen them in a while.  A few quick hugs were shared, then the two of them were brought up to speed.  As soon as everything was understood, the final preparations were made.

 

 

 

Schnee Manor

 

 

 

            Whitley paced back and forth in the main study, his rage growing moment by moment.  His mind was racing.  Throbbing.  As if ideas and thoughts were bouncing around like pinballs.  He kept thinking of memories of this place.  His father yelling at him, then it would suddenly bounce to his sisters loving him.  Then to his sisters yelling, then his father loving, so much at one time.  He couldn’t keep his head straight.  He screamed at the top of his lungs and fired an Ice Dust charge into one of the bookshelves, causing pages to fly everywhere.  Suddenly, an alarm went off on the central console.  He walked over, tapped the icon and saw a massive army standing right outside the manor grounds.  And at the front, was Weiss.

            “Whitley?” Weiss said looking straight at the camera.  “I saw the light turn on.  I know you can hear me.  Please, what’s wrong?”

            “Nothing’s wrong!” Whitley yelled at the top of his lungs.  “Nothing!  Everything!  My name will be remembered!  Never forgotten!  Restoration!  My birthright!  No, what am I saying?  My destiny!  Yes, that is what she told me.  That is what she made me realize.”

            “Who made you realize?”

            “The truth.  She was the truth.  She was…..” before Whitley could continue, the audio crackled and cut out for a brief moment.  After a few minutes of static, Whitley came back on, still rambling.  “I don’t care what you think of me sister!  I do not care!  My destiny is at hand!  It is mine!  Now, bear witness to my power!”  And with that, the machines started marching straight towards the army.  Weiss wiped away a tear, then drew her weapon, firing several glyphs into the oncoming horde, sparking the other soldiers and her friends to open fire as well. The battle was joined.  It was just like Jacob speculated.  The ordeal was like trying to fight a wall, and it was far from easy.  And yet, just as they thought, the plan worked.  The machines were grouping up, trying to come together to face the perceived individual threat at the gates.  After a few more minutes like this, Teams JCTB and JNPR alongside Sage and Derrick leapt from one of the airships and angled their trajectory towards the main hangar that was attached to the computer room.  As Weiss had told them, several weapons projects that were developed used the hangar for combat exercises.  It was even where she got her famous scar while training/testing one of the newer android Arma Gigas models that didn’t get picked up by the military.  There was a single skylight on the roof, and Nora went crashing through it like a cannonball.  The glass shattered, and everybody else followed right behind her, landing and then getting out of the way as quickly as possible as to allow their friend right behind them to have a clear landing zone.  Pyrrha was the last to land, and then everybody quickly got their bearings.  They saw the lights of the control room off to the side just as Weiss had described, and they slowly started making their way there.

            “Did they draw every single machine away from their post?” Christy wondered aloud.  And just as she said that, five Arma Gigas’ came to life, and each picked up their own giant swords.

            “You had to say something…..” Ty said with an annoyed groan as he drew his own sword.  Everybody else as well drew their weapons and prepared for battle.  Sage and Jacob charged one of the machines near the back, Ty and Nora took on another, Derrick and Brooklyn charged at the nearest one, Jaune and Ren got ready to face their machine, while Christy and Pyrrha took up battle stances as the final machine charged right towards them.  The nearest machine brought its sword down and Brooklyn morphed her blade to shield form and took the full force of the attack.  The ground buckled beneath her, but she refused to give any quarter in her defense.  From there, Derrick leapt up and stabbed his trident into the machine’s face, causing it to reel backwards but not deactivate.

            “They must have moved the core to the chest area since I last saw the schematics” Derrick said as he switched to rifle form and opened fire on the wounded machine.

            “So it’s not dead?”  Brooklyn asked as she slowly stood up, morphing her weapon to scimitar form.

            “It’s blind, but it can still cause some major problems if we leave it be.  And of course, it’s probably the most fortified part of the machine.”

            “Can’t you just toss them aside?” Jacob yelled across the room at Pyrrha as they continued to spar with the other machines.

            “Ironwood’s been working on different metals over the last several years” Pyrrha replied as she hurled her shield at the machine she was fighting to try and slow it down.  “I could move them, but they’ve become so dense that moving even just one of these monstrosities would take just about everything out of me.”

            “Then we do this the old-fashioned way” Ty said as he fired several rockets at the machine he and Nora were fighting.  The battle raged on, both sides trading blows.  Neither side truly gaining an advantage in the situation.  But while Aura can tank hits for extended periods of time without damaging or slowing the body, machines do not share that luxury.  Nora kept hitting one of the machines in the legs, until there was enough damage that it finally buckled under its own weight and collapsed, allowing Ty to stab the core of that particular machine with his sword.  Christy fired several rounds to weaken the armor of the machine she was fighting, which created enough of a weak point for Pyrrha to tear a hole in the armor and then throw her spear clean through the core, causing it to finally collapse and die.  Sage used his semblance in a small burst to goad the machine he was fighting to bring its sword down on him believing it had found an opening.  But when Sage’s body shimmered in an instant and appeared on the machine’s left, the sword crashed into the ground, getting stuck in the process.  This gave Jacob an opening to stab a highly explosive Dust kunai into the creature’s chest, blowing it up and exposing the core for Sage to stab.  Jaune distracted his machine while Ren caused it to collapse using the wires of his weapons, giving Nora the opportunity to leap up and smash the core with her hammer.  The blinded machine that Derrick decapitated earlier still lingered, so Derrick decided to take one of the more intact Gigas’ and have it run the other Gigas through the chest with its own sword, causing both of them to collapse in defeat.  The group made sure there were no other machines attempting to attack them, then quickly made their way to the control room.  They reached the control panel and Derrick began typing commands furiously into the system.

            “How much longer?” Pyrrha asked as she watched several computer commands fly past on the screen.

            “Now” Derrick replied as he confidently pressed the enter key.

 

 

 

            Weiss fired a round of Fire dust towards one of the mechs as she and the rest of the ground forces tried to hold the line against Whitley’s onslaught of machines.  Suddenly, there was a crackle in the sky.  As everyone looked up, the shield began to dissipate, fading away like the morning dew.  The armies cheered as the human airships began their bombing run across Schnee Manor, destroying several machines and small structures and walls around the manor.  Weiss felt a twinge of pain.  She didn’t care about the bricks and mortar or any of the countless priceless artifacts her father had bought over the years for the sake of owning them.  But as some of the walls came down, she saw some of the hallways where she and her siblings used to run about while they were growing up.  The family portrait of what was most likely the last time they were all truly happy as a family, a flame began to creep up along the side of the painting.  Weiss shook these feelings aside and instantly began running towards the main study where she knew Whitley would be.  She fought back tears, and gripped her rapier tightly, knowing full well that what was going to come next would destroy her.

 

 

 

            Derrick pressed a few more keystrokes and snapped his fingers in victory.

            “And that’s that!” he exclaimed excitedly.  “Now Whitley no longer has any control of anything related to the robots.  All we need to do is grab that little weasel and this whole thing will be over.”

            “Great” Sage said as he prepared to leave.  “Let’s go join the others and…..” but before Sage could finish that sentence, an alarm went off on the computer screen.  An image popped up of Weiss running through the halls of Schnee manor towards the main study.  Derrick started pressing several buttons as quickly as he could.

            “How did that brat think that far ahead?” Derrick exclaimed as he tried to type faster than the windows popping up in his face.

            “What’s wrong?” Pyrrha asked as the cameras showed Weiss entering the main study.

 

 

            Weiss burst through the main doors, her brother standing there with a sick grin on his face.  He was wearing the two armor sleeves; the Dust energy was emanating off his body almost like a cloud.  He started cackling and slowly walked towards Weiss.  She lowered her rapier and extended her hand.

            “Whitley, please” she said with tears in her eyes.  “You need help.  This battle is finished.  Let me help you….”

            “NO MORE TALKING!” Whitley screamed as he waved his right arm.  As he did so, a burst of Wind energy from a Dust Crystal knocked Weiss back a few paces.  She stabbed the ground with her rapier to stop her skid, as she watched as Whitley continued to conjure energy like he was an evil sorcerer from the fairy tales.  She looked back out the main door and saw the rest of her friends charging down the hallway.  But Whitley saw them as well. With a quick wave of his fingers, a small private force field engulfed the study.  The entryway to the outside was blocked by the forcefield.  One of the Atlesian soldiers ran into the shield at full speed, believing it would be similar to the one that was used to protect the manor: individuals could still pass through.  But as soon as his skin came into contact with the hard light shield, he bounced off it like a bug on a windshield.  It was just Weiss and Whitley, alone in the study.  At first, people on the outside could see through the broken door into the study, but Whitley waved his arms again and sealed off the entrance with bookshelves.  He then laughed some more and slowly approached Weiss.  Still fighting back tears, Weiss pulled her rapier out of the ground and prepared for battle.

 

 

 

            Derrick continued to type away as fast as he could while Sage and the rest of Team JNPR watched on in horror as Weiss and Whitley stared each other down through the video cameras.

            “A personal force field?” Ren asked leaning in to study the force field on the screen.  “Why would the Schnee Dust Company have one inside an office and not the armory?”

            “Who knows what these Schnee’s are thinking” Sage said with a sigh.  “Take these last few days for example.”

            “Can you disable it?” Jaune asked looking over at Derrick.

            “Maybe, but it could take a few minutes” Derrick said still typing like a madman.   “And I don’t know how long either of them have in there.”

            “They might not have a few minutes” Nora said as she pulled out her hammer.  “Couldn’t we just smash this thing and shut it down?”

            “A personal force field will be operating on an independent power system, not on the primary system.  But the power source might come from the same place.  Destroy the main power source and you might be able to shut the field down.”

            “Are you certain of that?” Jaune asked.

            “I’m busy trying to do the hacking solution, so go find out for yourself if you want to!” Derrick snapped back.  Jaune stepped back a little bit at this but nodded his head in agreement.

            “We should send two teams just to be safe.  Sage, do you mind sticking around here just in case more machines pop up?”

            “Not at all” Sage said twirling his short sword.  With that, after a quick reaffirmation on the map, the members of Team JNPR and JCTB ran off towards the main generator to try and see if that would help while Derrick continued to type away furiously while Sage kept his eyes peeled for anything.

 

 

 

            Weiss slowly walked towards Whitley, struggling to keep her balance as he continued to expel Dust energy from his body, trying to keep her from moving.

            “Whitley…. please…..”

            “I want I wish I am I will I desire I kill I……” Whitley continued to ramble on while pouring more and more of his own Aura into his Dust abilities.  Weiss reached her hand out, but then Whitley summoned a glyph and fired an ice share right through it, causing Weiss to reel back in pain.  This step caused her to lose her balance and be thrown against the wall, causing several books to fall to the floor.  Weiss fought back a few more tears, slowly stood up, and summoned glyphs of her own, returning fire at Whitley.

 

 

            Ruby kept slicing at the force field, but to no avail.  Nathan and Yang caused the force field to bend a little by hitting it as hard as they could, but it stood firm.

            “We need to get in there!” Yang yelled at the top of her lungs.

            “What do you think I’ve been trying for the past few minutes?” Nathan yelled back.

            “Do we know what’s powering this thing?” Ruby yelled as another swing did nothing to break through.

            “The soldiers are doing a sweep around the mansion grounds to see if they can find an external power source” Evan yelled as he furiously pushed buttons on his Scroll trying to keep himself appraised of everything that was happening.

            “Hang in there Weiss…..” Ruby said fighting back tears as she took another swing at the force field.

 

 

 

            Derrick continued to type, and then suddenly a big screen with a “shut down” command appeared.

            “Jackpot!” Derrick cheered triumphantly.  “This should do it!”  But then, just as he began to move the cursor towards the command, Sage felt something.  An energy forming behind him.  He turned around, and standing behind him was a man wearing a black coat.  The Lost Master.  Sage reached for his sword, but in an instant, the Lost Master raised his hand, and both Sage and Derrick were launched out the window and back into the room where they had just fought the Arma Gigas’.  The two of them crashed into the ground and slowly got up to see the Lost Master floating down from the command room, arms crossed.

            “Wow Sage,” the Lost Master said in an annoyed voice, “this is the thanks I get for helping you avoid your original fated injury back at Perdita.  You and your new friend here almost go and ruin the course of events.”

            “Pardon me for trying to help save lives” Sage said drawing his weapons, Derrick following suit with his trident.

            “Your being here didn’t save any extra lives than were already slated to die during this conflict” the Lost Master chuckled.  “But you did almost alter the final death of this entire ordeal, derailing everything that would come after the fact.”

            “Gee,” Derrick said firing a few rounds towards the Lost Master, “sounds like we need to stop talking and focus on beating you so that we can make sure this last life is saved.”

            “So much for just talking my way though stalling you two” the Lost Master groaned as he pulled out a small wooden dowel rod covered in small markings.  He then rushed forward, and in an instant, a blade made of pure energy formed around the dowel rod.  It was shaped like the buster sword once wielded by Zenoma Mortem.  Sage quickly reacted and blocked the attack while Derrick attempted to stab the Lost Master with his Trident.  But in that instant, the Lost Master took the energy and morphed it from the sword to match the shield of Brooklyn and block Derrick’s attack.  From there he morphed the weapon to the rifle form of that same weapon.  But not in the same mechanical way that Brooklyn’s weapon did such a transition, but rather morphing like water.  And it happened so quickly that Derrick didn’t even get a chance to try and block the shot, it simply hit him square in the chest, sending him flying into the wall.  With that, the Lost Master switched his weapons to mirror the chakrams of Lord Aeris as he traded blows with Sage as the battle continued on.  Derrick slowly got up and poured what Aura he had left into his Semblance to raise the destroyed Arma Gigas’ and use them as puppets against the Lost Master.

            “Ah, the abilities of the Birthright have really come a long way since their inception” the Lost Master said looking on at Derrick’s new puppets with a smile.

            “The what now?” Sage asked as he continued to fight.

            “That’s right, you kids are a few generations removed from back then, only two people still remember when it was called that.  Well, one person still kicking anyways.”

            “Do you always have your own little conversations when fighting people?” Derrick mocked as he brought down the swords of the Gigas’ down on the Lost Master, as to which Sage quickly leapt out of the way while the Lost Master morphed his weapon from the chakrams to a giant wall as a shield.

            “Given what I’ve seen of the people you fight, both sides would be best suited just arguing over a cup of tea instead of throwing verbal and physical attacks at one another at the same time.”

            “How much have you seen?” Derrick asked as he prepared another attack.  The Lost Master simply looked down at his wrist condescendingly.

            “Not sure, I never get my watch calibrated for these excursions.”

 

 

 

 

            Weiss and Whitley traded blows using their glyphs.  Weiss firing less powerful attacks to try and stun and detain while Whitley was pouring every ounce of his being into every single attack he tried to muster.  He waved his arms, combining several different Dust crystals and glyphs and using them to try and overwhelm Weiss.  But Whitley was used to practice against machines, not a trained Huntress.  His attacks were telegraphed, giving Weiss more than enough time to react and prepare a defense or counter attack.  But no matter how many times she managed to deal damage to Whitley, his Aura seemed like it refused to go down.  She then activated her Time Glyph, and used it to launch a series of rush attacks with her rapier on Whitley directly to try and reduce his Aura that way.  And it seemed to work.  Whitley had no answer for Weiss’ attack, and she managed to reduce his Aura a great deal.  His attacks suddenly became far weaker, his movements a bit more sluggish.  Weiss saw an opening.  She charged her blade with Ice Dust and aimed it directly at Whitley, freezing him in a large block of ice.  And it worked.  For a moment.  Whitley was frozen and Weiss collapsed on the ground, just about out of breath with little Aura remaining.  But then she felt a heat emanating from the block of ice.  Whitley was channeling Fire Dust to melt his way out of the ice block.  And as he broke the ice, he screamed at the top of his lungs.  His eyes filled with a fiery rage, one that scared Weiss when she saw it.  She watched as Whitley began hurling even more attacks towards her even as he was still trying to break free from the rest of the ice block.  She checked her Aura levels, looked at Whitley, and closed her eyes as she activated her time dilation glyph again, and did one last rush attack to lower his aura.  Only this time instead of stopping at trying to contain him, she ran him through the chest.  Whitley’s eyes shone bright for a brief moment, then began to fade.  His body slumped over, collapsed on the ground.  Weiss crying uncontrollably as she held her brother and she said over and over,

            “I’m sorry.”  Nobody else could confirm this in the moment, but Weiss heard it all too well.  As the light left Whitley’s eyes for the last time, he uttered the words,

            “I’m……sorry…...I love you…….” and then passed.  The clarity of death, and the words that would stay with Weiss for years to come.

 

 

 

            The Lost Master swung a sword shaped like a giant katana at the Gigas’ again, and cut two of them down into scrap.  Derrick was starting to run low on Aura, so he didn’t bother to try and recreate those two puppets but rather focused on using the ones he still had to try and do some damage while Sage tried to use his Semblance to speed around the Lost Master and land a hit, but the Lost Master reacted to Sage’s attacks as if they were happening in real time and knocked him back next to Derrick.  Suddenly, as they prepared for another bout, a portal opened out of nowhere and another person walked out wearing a black coat just like the Lost Master.

            “Master,” the new figure said holding a small contraption that looked like a Scroll, but not as technologically advanced, “it’s done.  The loop is secure.”

            “Excellent” the Lost Master said with a smile.  “This is the last stop, I promise.”

            “I will serve no matter how long it takes.”

            “Good to know, because after this it’s going to be a while before you see me again.”

            “Excuse me?” Sage said tilting his head in confusion.  “We’re still here.”

            “Oh right” the Lost Master said.  He waved his hand in the general direction of Sage and Derrick, and all of a sudden it felt like their bodies were carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, making them unable to move.

            “What…..” Derrick said trying to command his puppets, but they fell to the ground lifeless.

            “This won’t hurt, I promise” The Lost Master said as he motioned for his accomplice to walk towards them.  The stranger in the coat walked towards the two of them, his hands glowing, and then the last thing Sage saw was the Lost Master morphing his energy weapon into Ty’s bazooka and firing a rocket into the control room, the explosion and sounds of shattering glass as the stranger’s hands covered their eyes, then nothing.

 

 

 

            As Whitley’s heartbeat finally gave out, the personal force shield gave way, and everybody rushed in.  Nathan was one of the first in, bursting through the bookshelves, and he saw Weiss cradling her brother, tears rolling down her face.  He was petrified, not sure how to respond.  Ruby and Yang ran over to hold their teammate in her grief, while medical professionals started pouring in to see how they could help and Evan standing guard outside to make sure nobody else got in.  It was loud yet quiet.  Most of the general Atlesian soldiers would tell you that there was so much noise trying to make sure it was finally over.  Trying to ensure that Whitley didn’t have any more surprise traps or anything of that sort in his death.  But ask anybody who knew Weiss, they would tell you it was silent.  Not a sound but for Weiss’ grief and pain.  Time at a standstill, no other thoughts or actions.  Only loss.

 

 

 

 

3 Days Later

 

 

 

            Weiss sat out in the destroyed gardens alone most days, processing with what had happened.  Winter finally arrived in Atlas and spent all of her time with her sister, much to the annoyance yet acceptance of General Ironwood.  There were several suitors and opportunists trying to take over the Schnee Dust Company in the midst of Weiss and Winter’s grief, but the Kingdom of Atlas and the heroes from the battle of Vytal promised to run things until Weiss was ready to make a decision since Winter was still committed to working with the military.  Everyone still in the region helped with cleanup and restoration of the downtown area of Atlas and Mantle so the refugees could return safely.  Sage and Derrick had been recovered from the facility, unconscious in the training grounds, not sure exactly what had happened.  It was determined that in an effort to ensure nobody interfered, Whitley had booby-trapped the command center so that no one could deactivate his personal force field and get in the way of his battle with his sister.  All the security tapes from that part of Schnee Manor had been destroyed in the blast so it was the most logical conclusion.  Ironwood looked out over Atlas and the husks of machines that had been used to harm others, questioning the security of their programing.  This was the second time, and he had a sinking feeling that unless he took the proper steps it would not be the last.  He returned to his airship, determined to try and find an answer for why he was failing to protect those he cared about most.

 

 

 

 

4 Years Later

An Office Complex in Vale

 

 

 

            Nathan stepped up into the waiting room, not sure what to expect.  Yang had told him that this was the best therapist she could find that their insurance covered.  He sighed as the therapist motioned for him to enter.  Nathan sat down and began pouring everything out.  From his childhood to his time as a student to most recently in Atlas.

            “….and it was scary for me” Nathan said as continued to speak.  “Just seeing Whitley there with Weiss having to do what she did to her own family.  It kind of scared me, made me think about Ember.”  As Lord Imperia fixed her little name tag that said ‘Katie’, she brought her fingers to her temple, looked directly at Nathan and asked him,

            “Which one?”

 

 

 

The Headquarters of The Order

The Monolith Chamber

 

 

 

            Lord Memoriare entered the chamber, carrying a small manilla folder from Lionheart’s office.  He looked around to ensure he was alone, and activated the Monolith.

            “ACTIVE” the Monolith stated in its electronic tone.

            “Tell me,” Lord Memoriare said opening the folder, “what do you have recorded about the Perdita Incident?”

“VERY LITTLE LORD MEMORIARE.  AS INSTRUCTED BY DIRECTIVE 0215 I ONLY HAVE RECORDED WHAT WAS PROVIDED AND HAVE LOCKED IT BEYOND THOSE WITHOUT ACCESS.”

“So why did I find this a few years ago in Mistral?” Memoriare growled.  As he rummaged through the files, he pulled out a dossier for Ember of the Violet Troupe.

 

 

 

The Loss of Life

Creates Discoveries

That Paves the Way

To the War

Actions in the Present

And In the Past
Lead to the Future

Everything Is Connected

 

 

 

 

Retribution.

SAGA OF SEASONS

 

 

 

Author’s Note:

 

            When I originally was working on ideas for this anthology, this story was not one I planned on telling.  But then I figured that now I was no longer on my weekly release schedule, I could do a story that I teased in both the epilogue of “Order” and in the prelude to “War” and take as long as I wanted with it (and boy did this one take me a while).  And by doing so, I could include Derrick and Sage’s characters and give them some more time to shine as well as show off a little bit more of my new antagonist in The Lost Master.  And it was kind of nice to return to a format akin to what I did in the first two books: having a cast of characters for an adventure rather than just one character as the focus (although for how well I succeeded here is debatable).  And since these four chapters were written over the course of just over five months, it was interesting to see how my creative process changes in an environment where I don’t have self-imposed deadlines.  This was originally how I was going to write “War” since I had no plans to release it publicly, but if this episode was anything to go by, I would still be writing it to this day given how long its taken me to write only four chapters.  So perhaps it was for the best.  Now I have a whole new slate of ideas I get to play with.  I do have one more episode for this anthology planned, after that I’ll go back through the whole thing and do a ton of edits, then I’ll begin working on the second anthology.  I won’t be keeping a schedule for either the last episode, the edits nor the second anthology, but I hope you enjoy my increasingly crazy machinations in a fanfiction that I started writing all the way back in the year 2015.

Author's Note

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