(Adam, Mistral)
Inside the White Fang HQ's throne room, Adam kneels before Sienna, who is sitting on the throne flanked by two guards on either side of her. Enraged, Sienna slam a fist on the throne's armrest.
Sienna: "Adam, I'm not going to repeat myself, so I want you to listen when I tell you that the White Fang will not attack Haven Academy and Mistral as a whole!"
Adam: "I am begging you. Please-"
Sienna: "No! You should beg for forgiveness and nothing else! The assault you led on Beacon was not the great victory you clearly think it was, and you should be more grateful your punishment was not more severe. You are a symbol for many in our organization, but that doesn't make you infallible. Do you even comprehend what you have done?"
Adam: "Yes, I do. I was merely trying to follow your example, High Leader."
Sienna: "And what example might that be?"
Adam: "Strength. Strength and unwavering conviction. The humans have seen that strength now."
Sienna: "I was one of the first to suggest violence where violence was necessary. Me and Kin Onrio. Peace bred complacency and acceptance of our place in the world. I will not allow humanity to push us down without pushing them back. But the destruction of the Huntsman Academies crosses a line! The loss of Vale CCT! And the White Fang is more of a target now than ever before! You have justified humanity's campaign against us, and for what?! Empty promises from a group of humans? Humans we still know nothing about and come and go as they please! These are not examples of strength, Adam. They are examples of your talents being diminished by shortsightedness!"
Adam: "High Leader Khan, do not believe that I have not thought this through."
Sienna: "Clearly you-"
Adam: "Because I have. For too long, they have lived in determined ignorance of what our people suffered through all so they could live in their comfortable dream that all is right between our kinds... as if they haven't wronged us."
Sienna sighs as she responds.
Sienna: "Adam... my hear still pains for what they did to you."
Adam goes to touch his mask a little bit before putting his hand away as he continues.
Adam: "I can and have burden my own pain, High Leader Khan. But I cannot and will not live with is the pain of countless others who are still being used and abused by these animals. You took control of the White Fang to put an end to that."
Sienna: "So that they would fear us, to respect us, to know that we could tear down mountains for our place in this world. Not to destroy them, not to strike at those that have done us no harm and certainly not to start a war we cannot win."
Adam: "THAT is where you are wrong. They did wrong us, and we can win this war because they are fragmented, and we are united. They are alone and we are not. And if you want to know more about this group of humans, then why not talk to one of them yourself?"
Adam rises from his spot and turns toward the entrance to the room.
Adam: "Hazel!"
The entrance doors to the throne room, revealing Hazel to be the one who's opening them.
Hazel: "Took you long enough."
As Hazel enters the room, the surprised Sienna rises from her seat and her guards all point their spears toward Hazel.
Sienna: "What's the meaning of this?!"
Hazel: "Apologies. I don't aim to cause any trouble."
Adam: "He is a representative of our allies. You should hear what he has to say."
Sienna: "The ones that tricked you."
Adam: "They are the ones that have offered their support to our cause. They will help us create our own place in this world once and for all."
Sienna: "This is grounds for execution!"
Hazel then goes to kneel down before Sienna.
Hazel: "Ma'am, please. Nobody needs to die today. I'm just asking for a moment of your time and-"
Sienna: "I have permitted you to be in my presence, human. Pray that I do not change my mind."
Sienna then sits back down, her guards return to their neutral position and Hazel rises again before continuing to speak.
Hazel: "You don't like me. You have no reason to like me. But you don't have to like me to get the results you want."
Sienna: "I'm starting to doubt either of you fully comprehend what it is that I want. I want humanity to fear the Faunus, to know that we demand respect! I do not want to start a war with the humans that we cannot win! And I think I have heard enough."
Adam: "Well I have more to say!"
Sienna and Hazel focus on Adam who begins to advance toward Sienna while continuing to speak.
Adam: "We have seen and felt what they have done to our people, and we know that they will not change easily. They already fear us and for good reason. We are better than them. We can live on land as well as the water. We are stronger, faster, and closer to nature. We have everything humans have and more."
Sienna: "And those attacks in Vale? The Fall of Beacon?"
Adam: "Our first move in achieving true equality. We will decimate their kingdoms as they laid waste to our families and as they scramble to regain their power, our kind would have already risen to claim for ourselves."
Sienna: "Is that what you truly desire?"
Adam remains quiet for a bit before a small smirk.
Adam: "Yes."
Sienna narrows her eyes, still staring at Adam.
Sienna: "If you think that I am simply going to stand by as you damned us all, you are wrong."
The woman then turns to her guards.
Sienna: "Guards! Take Adam and his 'friend' and take them away."
Her guards, who were standing side-by-side with her, doesn't move an inch, much to her confusion and frustration.
Sienna: "Did you not hear me?! I said take them away!"
Adam: "I will admit, Sienna, you were right about my popularity. My followers in Vale already see me as the true High Leader. And many here in Mistral feel the same. And as much as we are thankful for what you have done and sacrifice for your people... the White Fang can no longer have a leader who simply reacts. They need a leader who will take action."
Four-armed White Fang soldiers enter through the main doors and stop, pointing their weapons into the room as Sienna rises to her feet and Hazel being surprised by this.
Hazel: "What are you doing?"
Adam: "What's right for the Faunus. From this day forward, I will be the one to lead the White Fang."
Sienna: "You really believe that you can be the leader?"
Adam: "No. But they do..."
Four more soldiers reveal themselves with their weapons drawn, two on each side of the room, as Sienna's guards point their weapons at her.
Adam: "And so did Blake."
Sienna: "And that's why she left you?"
Adam: "Blake... wasn't strong enough... even if she did desert the White Fang, I'm willing to give her a second chance. If she still resists our way of doing things, then I'll cut her down for not having the iron will to do what needed to be done."
Sienna: "Well, I am!"
Sienna quickly judges the situation, though still quite surprise by this. Her eyes narrow darkly.
Sienna: "And if you think I'll just step aside and follow beneath you, you're wrong."
As she turns toward him, Adam delivers a quick and large slash across Sienna's chest, which breaks her aura. This caught Sienna off-guard as Adam swiftly impaled her with his katana, Wilt.
Adam: "I know."
He lifts the blade, making it slide deeper into Sienna's body and lifting it off the ground. Fists clenched, her body shakes from the damage and Adam takes advantage of her closer proximity to rest a hand on her shoulder and speak into her ear.
Adam: "Thank you, Sienna. You were there when our people needed you, but they need me now. I'm sorry you couldn't see this through to the end."
Sienna growls at this and lifts her hand to claw at Adam's neck.
Sienna: "Y-You won't... you won't get a-away with t-this."
Adam just smirks at this.
Adam: "You took your throne, Sienna. They gave me mine."
Adam then swiftly removes his weapon from Sienna, causing her body to fall to the ground and roll to the bottom of the steps leading up to her throne. The White Fang soldiers begin to withdraw their weapons as Hazel looks down upon her body before returning his sight back to Adam with an annoyed look.
Adam: "Give our former leader a proper burial. All who were here tonight will claim that Sienna was murdered by a human Rogue Huntsman. Sienna Khan will become a martyr for our cause, her final act as High Leader."
All of the White Fang soldiers leave the room, with two of them carrying Sienna's body with them on a stretcher, leaving Adam and Hazel the only ones remaining in the throne room.
Hazel: "When were you planning on telling me about that?"
Adam withdraws a cloth from his back pocket and slides it across Wilt's blade, cleaning it of Sienna's blood.
Adam: "This was my business, not yours."
Hazel: "It's our business now, and I don't appreciate you withholding things like that, Adam."
Adam: "Your master was concerned with Sienna's willingness to cooperate. Now she doesn't have to be."
Hazel: "Nobody needed to die today. I thought this would be a bloodless coup."
Hazel leaves the room as Adam sits down on the throne.
Adam: "Well, you thought wrong. Sacrifices must be made to achieve true equality."
_________________________________________________________________________________________
(Ruby)
Y/N, who has his left arm bandaged up, tries to carry the poisoned Qrow on his back as the group walked down the path hurriedly, much to Ruby and the others' concern.
Ruby: "Y/N, you can't actually expect yourself to carry him all the way."
Y/N #1: "I do and I will."
Despite the pain he's feeling in his left arm, Y/N does his best to carry the unconscious Qrow on his back as he slowly walks forward.
Jaune: "Y/N, you're injured too. You can't keep carrying him for that long."
Y/N just answered rather coldly without looking back at Jaune.
Y/N #1: "Watch me."
He tightened his hold on Qrow's limp body and began to pick up the pace.
Nora: "Come on, Y/N! Be reasonable."
Ren: "Let us help you."
Hearing their remarks makes Y/N stop and turn around to glare at them.
Y/N #1: "Why do you guys care? You're better off without him anyway, right? Nobody wants his bad luck around. I'm the only one who's not affected by it. So, you guys can go on ahead and we'll catch up."
Ruby suddenly steps in front of Y/N.
Ruby: "That's not fair, Y/N. He's my uncle too."
Her remark startles Y/N, making him take a small step back as Ruby step closer to him, giving him her concerned look, and placing a hand on his non-bandaged arm.
Ruby: "Look, I don't want anything to happen to him either. None of us do. And we don't anything happen to you too. So, please..."
She stares directly at him in the eye before repeating Ren's words.
Ruby: "Let us help you."
Y/N broke eye contact with Ruby and stare at the ground before letting out a sigh.
Y/N #1: "Fine... but I'm not leaving his side, okay?"
Ruby gives him a warm smile.
Ruby: "Got it."
In a few minutes, they had constructed a makeshift stretcher and carried Qrow on it as they continued down the path, with Ruby carrying the stretcher at the front and Jaune supporting from behind. Y/N is walking beside the unconscious Qrow as Ren walks at the front of the group and Nora walks from behind, providing cover for them. Y/N turns his head to Qrow as he begins groaning in pain and a bit delirious.
Qrow: "Tai..."
He starts coughing severely and continues his mumbling.
Qrow: "She's not... coming... Tai..."
The man starts coughing again.
Jaune: "He's getting worse."
Y/N whisper under his breath.
Y/N #1: "Just hang in there, Qrow..."
Ruby: "How much farther?"
Nora: "We've gotta be close."
Ren: "Without the map, there's no way of knowing. But I feel like we're close to something."
Y/N #1: "Oh, I got my map and we'll-"
His words stop once he slowly takes out his map only to find it torn in pieces and with bullet holes from his fight with Tyrian.
Y/N #1: "No... no..."
They all turn to see in complete surprise at the state his map is in.
Jaune: "D-Don't worry, Y/N. Like Ren said, I'm sure we're close."
Y/N snarls at this, turning to glare at Jaune.
Y/N #1: "Well then, someone shouldn't have dropped the map in the first place."
Jaune gives a small scowl expression.
Jaune: "Well sorry if I was too busy checking the village for signs of life."
Y/N #1: "Yeah, well look how 'that' turn out?"
Ruby: "Guys stop! Y/N, why are being like this?"
Y/N doesn't respond, instead he just kept moving forward while clutching his left arm. Everyone exchanged glances before they continue walking with Ruby glancing over to her uncle.
Ruby: "Just another day's walk and we'll be in Sakuraso. That's where the airship Headmaster Lionheart called for will meet us with some doctors."
Nora let out a small groan.
Nora: "Can't believe it took mentioning Qrow that Lionheart was willing to pull the extra strings. If he had done this earlier, then we wouldn't be in this situation."
Ruby glances over to Nora.
Ruby: "What's done is done. Complaining about it now won't do much."
Jaune: "Why don't we call the airship directly to Sakuraso and have someone meet us halfway?"
This is when Y/N chimes in, not facing them.
Y/N #1: "That won't work. All of our scrolls are dead after a week straight without charging."
Ruby: "Our last bit of power was used for Qrow's scroll to make that call to Lionheart."
As they continue walking, Ren suddenly stop for a bit, holstering his StormFlower before racing towards a signpost which stood in the middle of a fork in the path.
Ruby: "What is it?"
Nora then raced up beside Ren, pointing at one of the arms on the signpost pointing to the right.
Nora: "Hey, Mistral! We're on the right path!"
Seeing the grim look on Ren's face, she turned back to look at another on the signpost which pointed Kuroyuri to the left.
Nora: "Oh..."
The rest approach the signpost as it shows Higanbana, Kuchinashi, Mistral, and Sakuraso to the right, and Kuroyuri to the left. As they look at it, Y/N can see both Ren and Nora staring dreadfully at Kuroyuri.
Ruby: "Does it say how close?"
Ren: "No. And it looks like the paths takes up through the mountains."
Ruby and Jaune put down the stretcher gently.
Jaune: "Guys... I don't know if all of us can make that climb."
After seeing Ren and Nora's expressions towards Kuroyuri, Y/N goes to kneel down beside the unconscious Qrow as Ruby and Jaune get a better look at the signpost.
Ruby: "Okay... what about this place?"
She pointed to the left sign, which was scratched out with an X, but the writing was still visible.
Ruby: "Kuro... Kuroyuri. Can we get help there?"
Ren: "That village was destroyed years ago."
Jaune: "But, if it takes us around the mountains, it's the best bet we've got."
Ren: "It'll take too long."
Ruby: "The town would have had a doctor, right? Or maybe we can scavenge for medicine."
Jaune: "Right!"
Ren: "We're not going to find anything! We just have to press on and make it up the mountains!"
Jaune: "But Ren, Qrow is in no condition for the climb."
Before they knew it, Jaune and Ren start debating whether to make it up the mountains to cut the distance and beeline for Sakuraso or got around the mountains through Kuroyuri. Nora, Ruby, and Y/N just watch this scene unfold before them.
Ren: "I'm telling you! Kuroyuri was destroyed years ago. It isn't safe. It'd be wasting time we didn't have."
Jaune: "And I'm telling you that Qrow's aura isn't recharging like it should be and Y/N can't climb with an injured arm. One bad step could send them to their death, bringing any one of us with them, right Y/N?"
Y/N #1: "I don't care. I just want Qrow to be safe and well."
Still beside Qrow, Y/N turn his attention to Ren, staring at him down.
Y/N #1: "What I do want to know is why you don't want to go to Kuroyuri so badly?"
Ren takes one step back, hesitating for a moment before responding.
Ren: "Because it's not safe and we be wasting our time going there."
Y/N #1: "Are those the only reasons?"
Ruby looks between them, being indecisive about which path to take and as the argument fades to a dull ringing noise. She slowly starts to hear Pyrrha's whispering voice behind her thoughts as she stares at Qrow with Y/N beside him. Finally, Nora bursts in, quickly stepping in between Jaune and Ren.
Nora: "That's enough! We're getting nowhere by arguing. We can just split up!"
Ruby: "Huh?"
Y/N #1: "Split up?"
Nora: "Yeah! Ren and I can cut through the mountain path and meet the airship at Sakuraso and lead the rescue crew right to you guys while you hunker down in Kuroyuri. There might even be able to scour for supplies while you're there."
Ren just clenches his teeth and growls.
Ren: "Anything there would have rotted away years ago and-"
His words are stopped when Nora rest a hand on his shoulder to quiet him down.
Y/N #1: "I get what you're saying, Nora... but splitting up is..."
Jaune: "No, we're supposed to stick together. We keep each other safe and not split up. The last time they did... well... Pyrrha happened..."
That sends the group into silence as they all contemplate over the decision. Once again, Nora steps in.
Nora: "We don't have time for safe. Look... we all know now that Pyrrha made a choice... and all choices have consequences. I have to live with that... and so do the rest of us... no matter what we do."
After saying this, Nora cast her eyes off to the side as a small figment of shame is shown in her face. Ruby actually moves forward, giving them a resolute look and speaks up.
Ruby: "Nora is right. We need to choose a plan and stick to it."
She then turns to Jaune with an apologetic look.
Ruby: "It's probably best if we do split up. Nora and Ren can move faster without us to get help."
Jaune: "Why wouldn't you just rush ahead? You're the fastest of us."
Ruby turns to look at the still unconscious Qrow and the bandaged Y/N.
Ruby: "If anything happened to me, there would be no one to help me."
Y/N #1: "I would help out."
Ruby just shook her head.
Ruby: "No, Y/N. Even if it's just your left arm, you're still poisoned and injured, and I caught you quietly wincing in pain before coming here."
Y/N tries to say something to her to counter her remark only to sigh, yielding to her. Ruby goes to turn her attention to Ren and Nora.
Ruby: "Besides, Nora and Ren are used to moving well together and... I can't just leave my uncle and Y/N behind."
Y/N's eyes widen a bit upon hearing this. They all share short, affectionate smiles before hugging each other. With Nora crying a bit while hugging Ruby, Ren placing a hand on a teary-eyed Jaune's head as Jaune place a hand on Ren's shoulder as a way to say good luck. After that, Y/N gets up from his spot and goes to hug both Ren and Nora together.
Y/N #1: "Just take care of each other."
Nora smile with Ren as she replies.
Nora: "We always have."
On the path to Kuroyuri, Jaune and Ruby lift Qrow with Y/N walking beside him. They turn to Nora and Ren, who are on the path through the mountains to Sakuraso. They nod and Nora waves. Ren starts to turn, looks back one more time, and then runs. Nora follows after him. As they walk down the path, Ruby notices the look on Jaune's face as he stared down at his feet.
Ruby: "They're gonna be fine, Jaune."
Jaune: "You don't know that."
Ruby turns forward, her expression saddening as she let out a sigh before replying.
Ruby: "Yeah, you're right."
This is when Y/N chimes in.
Y/N #1: "They'll be fine. You should worry more about yourself and see if Kuroyuri is safe or not."
His remark makes Jaune halt suddenly, causing Ruby to stop as well, which she and Y/N took notice this.
Y/N #1: "Why the hell did you stop?"
Jaune: "Y/N, what is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?"
Ruby: "Jaune, calm down..."
Jaune: "No, I won't! Why are you acting like you don't care about anything?"
Y/N #1: "Because all I do care about right now is getting Qrow some help."
Jaune: "Doesn't mean you shouldn't care about your friends! Besides, you're injured and poisoned too."
The blonde boy gestures to his bandaged up left arm as Y/N turns to glare at him.
Y/N #1: "I do care, Jaune. But you guys treated Qrow like he was hiding some criminal agenda. Even after he saved us all from Tyrian. In fact, the whole reason he's in this mess right now. So, forgive me if I don't seem too happy about people showing hostility to my family!"
Ruby goes to cut in.
Ruby: "Guys! Please, that's enough."
Y/N turn away from Jaune and face forward as Ruby continues.
Ruby: "We can't keep fighting over this. Y/N, we never doubted Qrow. We just wanted to know all the details. We're all still your friends, nothing has changed about that."
Y/N remains silent for a moment before responding.
Y/N #1: "Sure... let's keep going..." ("All that matters is helping Qrow... I don't give a damn what happens to me...")
He continues walking forward as Jaune scoffed as he and Ruby follow behind. As they do, Y/N notice the giant horseshoe print on the ground, half of it being covered in dirt and gravel, beside them, unbeknownst to Ruby and Jaune.
Y/N #1: ("What the...?")
He shook his head before continuing his walk towards Kuroyuri, wishing that it is safe and that they might find something to help Qrow out.