Haven

In the boisterous streets of Minstral was walking tall and bulky man clothed in the black coat with a black hood that hid his head from curious eyes, yet the man didn't seem to care for passerby's that threw curious gazes on him as they heard him mumbling something.

"Do...as...he...says....bro...."

Again and again, the towering man whispered the same thing as he slowly made his way to Haven academy, completely ignoring people who asked if he needed help.

As the stranger closed to the Havens entrance, the security guard came opposite him.

"Sir, can we help you?"

The guard asked as he nervously eyed the tall and masked man.

The masked man slowly put his hand to pocked, making the guards flinch nervously as their hands reached for a weapon.

But eased up when the stranger pulled out an oval symbol that he showed them. Seeing the symbol, one of the guards recognized it and immediately called for his partner.

"That is the symbol headmaster said to us to watch for!"

One of the guards said, and the other nodded in sudden recognition. The guards looked back to the man, now at ease knowing that even if he looked sketchy, it was someone the headmaster Lionheart know.

"This way, sir, the headmaster was already notified of your presence."

Said one of the academy staff members who came after security called for him.

The stranger didn't say a word and just followed the attendant.

"Fuck, there is something wrong with that guy!"

"Shut up, what if he heard you?! Did you see his body? His hands could crush us like twigs!"

The guards said to each other when the stranger was away, still a little trembling from his lingering presence.

The stranger finally reached the headmaster's doors that were opened by the assistant and closed after him.

The headmaster of Haven academy stood from his chair and immediately bowed to a stranger with what could be seen as fear from his trembling.

"Hazel, glad to see you, but can you tell me why did you not use the secret entrance? Do you wish for everybody to know that I meet with masked people?"

Leonardo asks with little bravado in, hoping to show Hazel blunder but stops when Hazel doesn't speak or even move.

"Hazel, what's wrong?"

Leonardo asks again and is now unsettled from the silence, feeling something is terribly wrong.

"L-look H-hazel, I did everything that was asked from me! Even when wh-when Watts stopped responding to my messages, I did what I was told to do, th-there ii-isn't any problem ri-right?"

Leonardo asks in stuttering as the atmosphere makes him more and more afraid.

"J-just l-look! Tell m-me what's wrong, and I will fix it! Do do you need more people to go missing? I will do it! Yes, it would make some people suspicious, but it could be done! J-just tell me what's wrong!"

Leonardo asks, now trembling.

"Im, im more worth living, please, please just tell me what I should do!"

"And that's where you are wrong."

A voice from inside of Hazel's body said, and Leonardo stood in shock as he knew from where he heard that voice.

"S-Schnee!"

Hazel pulled out a scroll from his coat and showed an ongoing video call with Aegis Schnee's face on the other side.

"You see headmaster, tables turned, and the chessboard became a battlefield, now you have chance to prove your worth or."

Aegis said and stopped, but Hazel's dead look made it to Leonardo clear what the or was for.

"Ye-s, yes, wh-what do you mean."

Leonardo said and asked at the same time as he felt the situation turn from worse to bizarre.

There he was, a traitor of one side to another speaking what could be seen as a new side of the thousands-year-old war.

Just what was happening?!

"First, where is spring maiden?"

Aegis asked, and Leonardo got almost stroke but stopped as he realized that Hazel was now probably working for Schnee, so it was no surprise that he knew about it.

"I-I don't know-- BUT I have suspicions!"

Leonardo said but stopped in midsentence when he saw Schnee's eyes narrow and Hazel's fist tighten.

"Well? speak."

Schnee said, and Leonardo just wished for this, for everything to be just a dream.

Just like he betrayed Ozpin and his people because of fear of death, he now betrays another for the same reason.

"Th-there are whispers about girl wielding elemental powers in anima, and she is said to belong to Branwen tribe."

Leonardo said what he knew.

"Branwen, hm?"

Schnee said to himself, and Leonardo could see his eyes glaze in thought.

"No matter, use this scroll and download all the data that you have on your terminal. All. Of. It."

Schnee said, making it clear that he will take no as an answer.

Leonardo tried to fight it. He wanted to fight it, but he just couldn't, and in the end, he has done what he was asked of.

Again.

Downloading the entire database throughout the scroll to the Schnee terminal did take a while, and Leonardo just must asked.

"Hazel, why did you betray Salem?"

Leonardo asked as he knew that the actions they were now doing are not in Salem's interest and when not if but when she finds out not just him but even Hazel would need to pay for their actions.

Hazel just looked at Leonardo with dead eyes that betrayed nothing, but there was a flash of something deep in them.

"As long as I follow orders, he let me meet my sister."

Hazel said, and Leonardo grimaced as he knew that Gretchen was dead, just what Schnee did to Hazel to let him believe she was alive?!

Or did Schnee find a way to revive people?!

Just thinking about reviving the Leonardo's cowardly heart thought of the moment when everything changed, the moment when the brave faunus that wished to lead his people by becoming headmaster became the coward he was now.

Leonardo knew he was a coward, he knew what he was doing was wrong, and he knew that if his past self saw him, his past self would kill him on sight just to cleanse the disgrace he had done.

But, but Leonardo just couldn't stop himself as the incident that changed him in the past made him into a coward.

The day he saw his daughter die was the day when his bravery died with her.

As it was the bravery that cost him his daughter...

So looking at the Hazel, Leonardo hoped that the Schnee could revive people no matter how impossible that sounded.

*bink*

"It, it is done."

Leonardo said in a trembling voice.

"Good, then just one thing remains to be done."

Schnee said, and Leonardo felt a chill ran to his spine.

"Wa-wait! can c-can you revive death?!"

Leonardo asked.

"Hm? No, of course, I cant."

Schnee said dismissively.

"Bu-but what about Gretchen?"

Leonardo asked, and Schnee's eyes widened a little until he let out a sigh.

"It seems you wish to see someone dear to you again, right?"

Schnee asked, and Leonardo noded in hope.

"Then I will fulfill your desire."

Schnee said, and Leonardo wanted to thank him until he found his head in Hazel's arms as he felt his aura tremble under the force as Hazel tried to break his neck.

"There, you can meet them in the afterlife."

Schnee said, and Leonardo tried to fight back but, in the end, give up when he saw he didn't have a chance.

Leonardos Lionheart's last thoughts were those of asking for forgiveness for everything he had done.

*Chrk*

Now the deceased body of Haven academy headmaster lay on the ground like a puppet whose strings were cut.

"Good job Hazel, come back, and you can see your sister again."

Schnee said, and Hazel nodded as he put his hood again but not before destroying any evidence of his presence. Thanks to Leonardo's paranoia about someone spying on him, there weren't any recording devices, so there was no worry about connecting this with Schnee.

As Hazel walked through the doors, already anticipating his dose of hallucinogens that helped him to meet his dead sister again. And after Hazel left there was one thing that wasn't there before.

There on the headmaster's desk was standing a chess piece.

A black queen stood on the desk right above the dead body of the headmaster as if claiming him for herself.