The sky is blue and so is the Fall (2)

"Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be DELICIOUS!" – Ruby Rose, she is not a crook.

Chapter 15: Where the sky is blue and so is the Fall(2)

I think I've not stressed well enough my rational phobia about dangerous situations that saw me quite close to either be stabbed, cut or shot at.

When the Airship landed by the small hangar pad provided by the flight controller, I had expected just a handful of soldiers, mixing with the already well-guarded entourage which I was part of for this occasion.

Much to my chagrin and surprise, the welcome greeting was much bigger and more patriotic than I had initially expected.

Actually, why didn't I expect Atlas to parade its full military glory in front of the small envoy from Menagerie? Was I that much detached from the overall situation to forget about the Kingdom's strong and trustworthy appearance?

I wasn't much intrigued nor interested by the little march song used to flaunt and flex their muscles with the two lines of men armored and ready to make some warring.

What truly caught my attention was the lack of any robotic units there for me to see. Either it was too early in the past to see some of the modern anti-Grimm robots or maybe the budget wasn't allowing for the full introduction of the expensive replacements for the soldiers I was looking at.

All of them seemed to be upholding some legitimate military discipline, I could see honest and undeniable warriors that could really make this kingdom truly the greatest around.

Then I imagined how they would end up being slowly replaced by robots, devices that can't learn anything from experience (yet) and could easily compromise a mission because of some malfunction.

Flesh worked better than metal, that is why, despite the advanced technology the nation had, I couldn't help but facepalm at how they were blatantly ignoring the flaws of their 'ultra-modern' doctrine of warfare.

But I was digressing, my eyes fixed on the man that stood out from the mass of soldiers.

General James Ironwood was wearing something similar to his original uniform, but instead of a single glove to hide his cybernetic prosthesis he was wearing a pair.

His posture was much less rigorous than how I remembered it to be in the series. He blinked, noticing my stare, but his attention was briefly on me as someone else managed to catch his attention.

While I was an oddity to what other past envoys had been made by, someone that many of the soldiers were looking in quiet surprise and limited shock, their focus was suddenly directed at the sole individual beside me.

Donning a uniform similar to the one I was provided to make use of for the entire duration of the trip, Sienna was visibly tense and miffed at the little welcome greeting made by the troops there.

The Tiger Faunus looked ready to jump in action, but what kind of action was difficult to predict.

It was a violent one, that was a sure thing, but her attention wasn't channeled on someone in particular. The entire hangar felt the anger exuding from the woman and I glanced at it with silent curiosity.

I've seen Sienna getting angry at people before, with me being the prime subject of the episodes most of the time I had been at Kuo Kuana, but the current display she was giving off was actually beyond anything I had seen until now.

Gone was the intelligence, gone was the logical predatorial glint in her eyes. I could see a rabid and furious animal ready to lash out at the closest living being for even breathing a little too loud for her tastes.

If this had been a normal situation back home, I would have let her cool down on her own, knowing perfectly that the young woman was smart enough to realize if she is exaggerating or not.

But knowing the importance of the current predicament, I decided to intervene before things escalated to an unfortunate point.

Sienna stopped and tensed a little more, growing quiet and surprise as she felt my hand squeezing at her arm. Her attention shifted at me and she noticed almost too suddenly the little stern glare I was directing at her.

Chiding her by using words would have been a mistake for me since the circumstances would have turned me to be the issue for this little diplomatic endeavor. That is why I settled for a quick and easy to understand glance that settled things up for the woman.

Don't mess things up.

The message seemed to reach deep in her brain, her breathing slowing to a normal rate and she finally threw a quick nod my way before we continued to walk towards Ironwood.

The General looked incredibly curious, maybe it was my presence here or maybe it was the dynamics behind the relation I had with Sienna.

I wasn't in the mood to play the part of the sociopath, thus I merely shrugged at the present surprise.

He tensed up, aligning to a military salute before introducing himself. "General James Ironwood of the Atlesian Military, I welcome you to the Kingdom of Atlas, Diplomat Khan and Consultant Bukharin."

He bowed a little, prompting us to return the favor, with Sienna being a little slow with bending her head a little for the sake of mere courtesy.

"General Ironwood," Sienna replied with a soft and restrained voice. "We accept Atlas' welcome."

Simple and perfectly curt for the Faunus to avoid giving too much of her attention to the high officer. The General blinked but nodded, possibly aware of the possible tension between the two diverse groups and… he turned to glance at me.

I blinked back at him. "Something's wrong, General?" I asked carefully, gaining a surprised look out of him.

"Just… curiosity, Consultant Bukharin," The Atlesian admitted with a neutral tone. "Still, I believe it would be best for us to make way to the current setting of the committee."

He gestured for us to follow him, the lines of soldiers parting and forming two different columns as they covered our flanks while we proceeded out of the hangar and towards the convoy of cars and trucks waiting outside the military installment.

We entered the vehicle where the General was going and Sienna almost squished me to death while she furiously sat down on the comfy seat.

It wasn't her weight, I was perfectly aware that she was slim and athletic, but the intensity which she used to descend upon the cushioned seat ended up partly rubbing on my leg and… giving me a sudden but moderate bout of burning pain.

I flinched, my brain giving the utmost to keep my mouth from giving out some foul word, even whispered, at that unplanned suffering.

The Faunus did notice the flinch, but she didn't seem apologetic about my current plight. Rather she looked to be enjoying the little payback for being 'chided' before the General.

In a normal case, I would have let go, but considering that it was Sienna and I wasn't technically a normal human being, I decided to keep count of this little slight.

I was a man with common sense and a fair degree of maturity, but pettiness was something included in the overall package and thus my revenge will manifest in utter childishness and dumb.

I managed to keep quiet, or at least I didn't let out any compromising noises that would have highlighted my temporary pain as Ironwood decided to finally speak up.

"Consultant Bukharin, may I ask you a question?" The man inquired with a formal tone, once again sporting his professionalism even in that close setting.

Sienna glared at him briefly, then she looked with some curiosity right at me, intrigued by what I could do now that I was being called to reply.

As a Diplomat, the Tiger Faunus should have been the one to answer questions and, if someone had tried to divert the attention to another individual of the entourage, to remind said 'someone' that she should be the only one to answer to stuff.

She was still angry, I could sense that in the For- Actually no, that would lame.

"Sure thing, General," I replied calmly and the man nodded.

"If it isn't too much personal or direct to ask," He continued with a cautious voice. "I was interested to know… how did you end up living in Menagerie and working for the local bank?"

The woman tensed visibly at that probing query, her eyes widening as I sighed and frowned.

"Gratitude," I merely replied, letting the world roll off my tongue as slowly as humanly acceptable.

There was some silence, the Atlesian officer looking perplexed at the curt response, but noting the little smugness coming off from my little smirk.

"I suppose I had been… far too blunt with my inquire," He promptly countered at the sudden realization of what I just did. "My apologies."

"Apologies accepted and..." I hummed quietly as my smirk fell. "I reckon that I shouldn't have been that much blunt with my distress."

It was a competition of sort between me and the General, a challenge to see whom was able to discover more of the other by keeping the situation as civil and polite as possible.

Was it correct for me to advance such a situation? Maybe no, but I could also see some interesting rewards in coaxing the man to indulge with his curiosity.

In for a penny- Nevermind, my PTSD can't allow even that saying to even go through without getting some Volume 3 memories scrambling my brain.

Oh, the horror and the inhumanity!

"I suppose we are both at fault," The man agreed almost instantly. "But I think I should explain that this is out of my personal curiosity. The Council hardly requested for some inquiry about your origins, Consultant Bukharin-"

"Please, call me 'John'," I interjected with a sigh. "I understand that the full formality might be mouthful and I think it's for the best to… reduce some silly obstacles."

But while I was keeping up with this little act of probing around the General, my mind was also playing around the idea that the Council actually did try to study my curious case.

I had expected it, but until now it had been but just a baseless assumption of mine.

To hear from the Atlesian liaison that this was actually something that almost happened? A curious detail that would surely help up in the future.

People were noticing my presence and, if Atlas started to question about my existence, so would Vale and Mistral.

And that would be quite a difficult kind of celebrity to face as Salem was always watching for curious individuals to either recruit or kill if those refused her offer.

What a drag, would a certain Jojo say at the cruelty bestowed to my fate.

Ironwood stiffened at the simple request, wasting a moment or two to consider the proposal before letting out a hesitant nod.

"While I can allow such condition to pass in a semi-formal circumstance," He paused to stress up his point. "I'm sure you can understand that I can't extend such thing during the proper meeting scheduled for the hours after lunch."

...After lunch? I thought it would have been before the meal. The first session, I did expect it to be early enough for us to manage through it without having to deal with other problems prior that.

Yet fate screwed me again and I merely accepted the fact that I was going to deal with some hours of boredom to spend Gods know how.

At least I had Sienna to pester around for some time, just enough to not get butchered by anything coming from anger.

"I can see that being a necessity, sir-"

"James," The man interrupted this time, a small smile visible only partially from the way he was now looking at the road. "I think you have raised a fair point, John."

...I could work with that, I guess.

In the end, after almost an hour of speaking and discussing about general topics which barely scraped at more important details, the convoy ended up stopping as we reached the military building set to be used as a temporary 'embassy' for the current visit.

We were given a single room and a pair of guards to keep a look out for us and onto us as we were allowed to wander around the city until lunch-time.

Two hours worth of doing something rather than being stuck indoors without much to do as I was fairly sure a military-owned establishment had anything even remotely close to 'normal' TV.

Atlas military was just far too strict to allow something as 'distracting' as that to even exist within the premises of its discipline-based hierarchy.

Sienna and I decided to go for that promised walk, my interest in seeing the fullest of Atlas being now displayed as the chance to get some answers was here for me to grasp.

The wandering was monitored by three soldiers, their visors hiding their hair, face and expression as those followed us around wherever we went.

It was mostly unnerving, but then the situation changed when we decided to enter the park and… I ended up encountering someone I had but just seen a glimpse off from a portrait in the series.

Nicholas Schnee huffed as he tried and almost failed to keep up with the giggling children playing tags with him.

Weiss was the loudest of the two, little happy tears falling as she was having the one of the best moments of her childhood, Winter sharing the same bright smile as the two girls continued to play around with their grandfather.

The park had been perfectly secured by the family's bodyguards as to avoid any unwanted attention from journalists or worse people, giving them the full chance to fully enjoy the day as a family rather than a picture in a frame.

Willow was sitting by one of the benches, the woman smiling kindly as she shared some time with her youngest child. In a light-blue crib, little Whitley was gurgling happily at the loving care of his mother, the toddler enjoying the affection coming from the beautiful lady.

The former Huntress hummed a little song, playing with her son's little hands and mimicking what seemed to be some little extravagant dance. The child loved the new activity, a little giggle muffled by his pacifier but still reaching out for his mother.

And that reaction was more than enough to lift her hopes of success up.

Without Jacques around, her husband having to prepare his own speeches and possibly to fabricate some proof to add to his credibility, the four Schnees were left to appreciate their free day away from the books and the usual isolation forced by the former Gelé heir.

But that wasn't the only interesting detail of that important day that Willow felt happy to know of.

While the committee had garnered major popular interest for the rarity of the entourage invited for the occasion, the very thing that made it truly unique and crucial for Jacques was that he was implied over a possible scandal, a fraud of non-negligible size that would have easily seen him ousted from the Company if proved to have happened.

The magnitude of the eventual humiliation was extremely high, mostly because the event has happened through the non-developed bank in Menagerie.

Relationships weren't hostile with the Faunus-dominated nation, they were actually the warmest since the last decades spent in efforts to introduce business on the pseudo-kingdom.

Efforts that came directly from the other businessmen that were part of the Council and wished to expand somewhere where the SDC wasn't as prominent as it was in almost all the countries in Remnant.

And with this little issue, with this blatant attempt to 'undermine' a nation's economic sovereignty, the relations between Atlas and Menagerie were surely going to suffer a major blow.

A blow so big that some heads would have to roll for the sake of making up the damage caused to the 'Grand Kingdom'.

It had been utter and pure dumb luck that had seen this opportunity to rise to the attention to the council, the Chieftain of the island himself had barged in with these news through some heated messages.

Angry demands, questions and a call for proper justice.

Something that was difficult to stomach for many individuals here in Atlas, but also something far more hideous to ignore out of the reputation the Kingdom in the North still had with the other nations.

If Menagerie could have been violated in that manner, then why wouldn't be the case for Vacuo or Mistral.

Vale had already gone through some investigations, the results having been yielded mere days ago and showing no sign of foul play…

But how would Mistral and Vacuo do the same with their current plights. With Mistral having bandits and a government that barely worked and with Vacuo existing only nominally in the map of Remnant, it was impossible for similar cases to be opened up by their respective councils and…

International outcry was just starting to reach out Atlas.

Mantle was tensing up at the growing dissent, the local administrations trying its best to appease the worries of the population but what really caused some serious possibility of real justice to be brought out was the ire of the various men scorned by what Jacques had done behind their back.

In a single discovery, everything the man that she had married had created was sent to shake and soon crumble if some major intervention wasn't approved by the military.

A difficult possibility considering the fact that the SDC had always been at odds with the Atlesian military, mostly because the high leaders believed that the company had to be nationalized by the government to unleash its full potential.

That was never going to happen, of course, and it was all thanks to some legal contracts set up by her father.

The company was secured from nationalization and… her husband was soon to face quite the hostile jury since the committee was made by men and women loyal to Menagerie and the Army.

Something that was actually having Jacques worried if not scared of losing the position acquired as a 'gift' of an arranged marriage.

Willow smiled as her ears were endeared by hearing another happy gurgle from Whitley.

The toddler was truly showing to be turning just like her daughters, her baby boy being as bright as possible under her caring ministrations and hopefully he wouldn't take none of his father's foolish ambition.

There was barely any cloud in the sky and the sun was easy to spot up in the sky, it was truly a good day to spend outdoors rather than to freeze at the horrible cold place that was their mansion.

Yet it was about the time it was starting to get close to lunch that something started to just feel odd over some of the bodyguards.

Having been present when her father had picked up those man to work for them a decade or so ago, Willow knew most of them by mere looks and could easily remember their names.

Yet some of the guards just looked new and too young to be among those her father had picked years ago.

Her intuition was honed by experience from Atlas Academy and Beacon Academy, her senses sharp enough to understand that something was incredibly wrong about the situation.

There was no interest in giving out their element of surprise and, given the fact that she had left her weapon back home…

This wasn't a good situation, truly not the best possible.

Gritting her teeth behind her lips, her eyes fixed on her father, Nicholas still unaware of the problematic issue at hand and that meant that he wouldn't be able to help if the escalation came to happen.

It was an uneasy peace that followed the next fifteen minutes and then-

"For the White Fang!" One of the impostors yelled as he deployed an electric staff, but instead of attacking the woman and the toddler, the assaulting group rushed towards… her father and her daughters.

A shriek formed in her throat, but the utter shock prevented her from releasing it. It's been just too long since she had last took part to some serious action and… it was as horrible as she remembered it to be.

But differently from back to her prime self, Willow was just too rusty to keep up with the sudden development.

Time seemed to slow down as the attackers were close to reach the unaware old man, the Schnee patriarch turning around barely in time to see the Anti-Aura blade approaching his neck and-

Schlink!

Blood was spilled, red liquid falling to the ground, but no head was rolling off her father's body.

Nicholas Schnee looked shocked, his reactivity allowing him to properly dodge in time the strike just as it was deflected by a now bleeding knuckle that had uppercut the sword away.

The owner of the now-damaged hand was sporting a major flinch on his face, the pain surely being considerable enough to halt many normal individuals but-

Crack!

This gentleman in particular seemed to not be like many others. His undamaged fist slammed squarely on the shocked assailant's face, shattering his sunglasses and his jaws by the sound of it.

Crumpling on the floor, the attacker was the first of many to be targeted by the new arrivals.

Two of them were engaged by a… Feline Faunus at first sight, the ears were difficult to properly describe with the way the woman moved, a tanned blur that savagely attacked the impostors with a whip-like weapon.

Three soldiers arrived too and started to target the other lone aggressors while making sure to not hit any of the real bodyguards.

The whole engagement lasted about five minutes, the fighting terrorizing her children as Whitley started to cry in his crib at the loud noises while Winter and Weiss kept close to their grandfather as the conflict persisted while the elder went to check at the groaning young man that had intervened and saved his life.

The brunet was half-crouched, now the pain perfectly visible from her perspective as Willow had a clear path to the specific wound.

Blood was still spilling and some of the knuckled had been halved, sparing just the bones from the horrible strike much to the stranger's dumb luck.

It was in that moment that the mother saw the Faunus rush towards the two men, her eyes narrowed on the wounded one and she had that familiar worried-angry kind of look only women were mostly aware of how to use it so well.

What followed next could only be described as the perfect comedy… ignoring the previous exchange of attacks between aggressors and guards.

A slap echoed through the area as the Tiger Faunus hand slammed strongly on the young man's exposed face drawing a surprise yelp while also getting him to focus on her.

"What was that?!" She shrieked angrily. "'I have a plan'? Did you seriously thought even for a moment that the blade could have done much worse by punching its edged side?!"

The human blinked. "I'm sorr-"

Another slap, this time less powerful than the first one but the effect was just as similar as the previous one. "Don't apologize for me, John. That was dumb, stupid and-" The Faunus stopped, her glare persisting for a little while more before she glanced with a furious look at the wound. "We need to see that wound checked by some medic."

"S-Sienna, it's not that ba-" Before John could finish, Sienna's hands went underneath his armpit and… she lifted him off the ground.

"That is not negotiable." The demand was clear and the young man seemed shocked by the development itself as much as the others at the park were.

"Ugh- Am I just a little to he-" The human shut down quiet as the woman glared at him with an intense glare.

"Your privilege to talk has been rescinded until you are looked up by some doctor," She turned at the three soldiers, the men looking fairly surprised by the outburst but hardly displaying any of the inner shock within themselves. "We need to return back to the embassy- he is bleeding profusely-"

They nodded and, without giving a chance for the others to react, the group that had helped them to survive that assassination attempt.

There was silence at first as they disappeared from sight, the surreal scene leaving everyone confused, quiet and incredibly confused. Did Willow mention confused?

But the silence was then broken by the snort and hack coming from Nicholas Schnee, the man looking fairly elated despite the recent horrible ordeal and close-up encounter with death itself.

"To think that someone like him would be more brazen than expected!" He replied loudly, ignoring the eyes on him. "Now I'm sure of it, Jacques' days are numbered now that this youngster is going against him."

The proclamation didn't give any familiar hint to whatever had just happened, yet the mentioning of her husband and the fact that this young man, this foolish individual that had punched a blade without Aura, was someone that was meant to be part of what would end her marriage-

Her eyes widened, her mind flashing in realization as the name used to depict that pained face now matched with the full identity of this little vigilante.

Willow couldn't believe but, now she could see why her husband was going to have serious trouble with John Bukharin and why this individual looked so much interesting like her father had told her.

The blunt but unexpected reaction, it was effective but put on his body a little handicap in the form of a painful gash that almost hindered any further action.

It was difficult to predict, incredibly unorthodox in his ways and… the woman couldn't help but want to know more about this mysterious player in this final chessboard for her hopes away from this unhappy marriage.

Minutes passed but the police and some more soldiers arrived to arrest and remove the assassins off the park's ground, the family given the opportunity to retreat back to their mansion.

But while they were on their back home, Willow continued to think about this new element in the game and, for some reason, she felt taken back to the wacky days spent at Beacon.

It was just like… back in that school.