"Man, I did not miss this kingdom." I said aloud as the bullhead landed on one of the landing pads.
"You and me both, I'm already getting cold just by looking outside." Blake shivered, leaning closer to my side.
I had one of my tails coil around her to give her a bit of warmth, and it was enough to have her smile.
Though to the humans, they only saw Blake leaning into me. With both of us looking like twins.
"Aiko, I told you you'll end up spoiling her." Sienna scolded, staring at me with annoyance.
"He's not, and you know it." Blake replied, and the two of them glared at one another.
"Okay, that's enough, you two." I sighed while stepping in between them. The two of them then gave one last glare before looking away.
"Good, we're here to create peace, not cause a war before we speak to the Atlas council." I reminded them that the second I finished, the doors and a blast of cold air hit all of us.
'I want to go home already.' I thought, staring at the black and blue building in front of us.
'I'm sorry to hear that, dear, but you don't get that privilege.' Said my mother with a gentle voice.
'Aiko, it's best if you listen, not just for your sake, but for your people as well.' Gramps spoke, and his tone was serious, no jokes, no insults.
'Right now, your words are a double-edged sword, so if you try to lighten the mood, they'll see it as weakness. If you try to insult them, do so in a subtle manner.' Every word he spoke was heavy, because it was the truth.
This battle isn't something I can fight through; this is a battle of words, and I'd be damned if I was going to let the Atlas council have their way with my people.
"Aiko, are you alright?" Sienna asked, noticing how silent I was as we made our way through the halls.
"Yeah, just had a bit of a pep talk with my family." Knowing what I meant, Sienna only nodded and kept walking by my side, while Blake held my hand.
"Don't worry, you won't be the only one talking." Blake spoke, placing her hand in mine.
The three of us kept talking until we saw someone walking in the opposite direction. And the three of us immediately knew who it was.
"Weiss Schnee, a pleasure." I greeted her with a smile, and Blake soon did the same. Sienna, on the other hand, chose to stay silent, displaying her role as our guard.
"The pleasure is mine, thank you for taking the time to visit Atlas." As Weiss greeted us, she did a curtsy.
"I'm curious about one thing: why are you here?" Hearing my question, Weiss smiled and stood up straighter.
"As the heir to the SDC, it was in my best interest to show you the way, and also give you a small tour." As she spoke, she slowly turned her gaze away. and also mumbled something.
"... Get to..... well." That was all I heard, since the Bull head was still loud. But I didn't push her to speak again.
"Anyways. Allow me to give you all a tour, the council is still discussing other matters." She said and began to lead us.
'Most likely planning to cause problems.' Snorted Gramps. 'Let me scout out the problem, I may have strength, but we'll need every advantage we can get.'
'Fine by me.' That was all I thought and felt gramps leave. Once that happened, we followed Wiess.
Gramps, any
During the tour, my mind was more focused on the council members. Though, I would occasionally focus on Weiss, asking her how she's been, and if she had any hobbies.
"Well, I've taken an interest in swordsmanship." she replied, twirling a part of her hair.
"What kind of sword are you using?" Weiss then grabbed what looked like a handle, pressing a button, the blade soon extended, revealing it to be a raipier.
"This is my weapon of choice, it even includes this as well." She then motioned what looked like a revolver chamber.
"I see, you're using an odd version of a mecha shift weapon." I commented, staring at the empty chamber.
"Yes, the other mecha shift weapons have more complicated components, and are most likely to break." She then drew her weapon, letting us all observe it.
"I however chose to go for something simpler, not only is the cost cheaper for repairs, but it's less of a hassle to remember what I have." She said while rotating the chamber.
I had to admit, I was impressed with the design she made. "Is it all right if I hold it?" I asked, holding out my hands to carry it.
"You may, but be careful." She said while hesitating to hand me her weapon. The second my hand held it, I felt my weapon react.
It rippled for a few seconds, but it soon stopped. 'A new weapon for my growing arsenal.'
'I must admit, it is far better than most, it's not hard to understand the mechanism.' Said my mother.
'On that we can agree on.' I replied and gave the rapier a few swings. Even though the weapon is small, it felt balanced, light, and precise.
I soon began to thrust the weapon forward, imagining that I was facing someone. Once done, I smiled and handed the weapon back.
"It's well made, and I do like how you went for something small." I said, staring at the chamber.
"Thank you." Her face soon gained a red hue, but she didn't look away. Instead, she smiled with pride.
She looked like she was going to say more, but we were interrupted when a pair of guards approached us.
"The council is ready to speak with you." Hearing this, I turned to Weiss and gave a small bow.
"Thank you for the small tour, and I hope you have a lovely day." Blake and Sienna then did the same, while Weiss gave us a curtsy in return.
"It was my pleasure, I hope we can meet again in the future."Before leaving, I smiled and pulled out my scroll.
"Is it all right if we exchange numbers?" Weiss, Blake, and Sienna all looked surprised. However, Weiss snapped out of her shock and nodded.
"O-of course, it would be my pleasure." Her voice was a pitch higher, but she soon added her number to my scroll.
And I did the same, once finished, I gave one last bow before leaving. "Take care, Lady Schnee."
However, I barely took a few steps before hearing her speak. "Weiss." I turned back and saw that she wore a small smile.
"Call me Weiss." She then walked away, not looking back. I couldn't help but chuckle at what had happened.
"Oh no, I know that look." Turning to Blake, I saw her eyes were narrowed.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I said with a smile on my face, only for Blake and Sienna to roll their eyes.
"Sure you don't." Sienna said before all of us went silent, it didn't take us long to arrive at the meeting room, but we didn't enter.
'Gramps, anything?' I asked the second he dove into my soul.
'Good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?' Interesting, but I do want to have the advantage.
'Hit me with the bad news.' I only heard a scoff from Gramps, but I could tell he was smiling.
'The good news, they don't have any evidence to try and accuse you of making an army and trying to control the world.' I understood the situation at hand.
'Let me guess, they're going to say it either way?' I asked, and I only received a grunt.
"Blake, Sienna." I said aloud. "When they speak, don't answer." Was all I said before the doors opened.
And in front of us was the council of Atlas, in the past, I expected to see five members, but from what I was told, James held two spots.
One of two spots he holds is the military, while the other is the headmaster for huntsmen.
It surprised me, if he chose to have the seat for the military, I would understand. His semblance allowed him to keep calm under pressure, very useful if you think about it, emphasis on thinking mind you.
But if he chose to be the headmaster of Atlas Academy, I could somewhat see it. He would struggle at first, dealing with elitists trying to bribe him to look the other way, but he'd eventually shut it down.
Blake and I soon sat down, while Sienna herself stood behind us. "Council members of Atlas, it is an honor to meet you." I said and bowed.
'First rule when it comes to speaking to arrogant people, lower their guard.' I heard my mother speak.
'If you want to strike their pride, have them blind themselves from their pride.' She continued. 'People who flaunt it are the ones who have a quick temper.'
'No kidding, people will always insult other people to make themselves feel better, but others just do it for fun.' I mentally sighed.
"The same could be said for us, thank you for accepting our invitation." Said one of the council members.
'Welp, they're doing the same.' I thought and saw that the members, except James, wore a polite smile.
'They're underestimating you,' Said my mother and she leaned close to my ear.
"Though, I thought we would be seeing your father, it's a shame." One of the members said with a frown and placed her head in the palm of her hand.
"But it is good for them, after all if one of them plans to become the heir to their village, they have to be mentally prepared for the challenges ahead." Said another.
"While I agree with your statement, you don't have to worry much, our father taught us at a young age." I stated and placed my hands together.
This caught them off guard, they thought they could use big words to scare me, but I lived in a home that houses many books.
"Now then, may i know why you invited us?" I asked staring at each of them for a second or two.
With my question hanging in the air, the councilmen looked at one another, for a second before speaking up.
"You may have heard from your father, but we are concerned at seeing your home show progress." They said, I snuck a glance at James, and saw him silently scoff.
"And why does that concern you?" I asked. "Is it a leader's duty to improve the people's lives?"
"It is, but we couldn't help but notice how fast you are progressing." I could see that some of them were clenching their hands tightly.
"We only want to make sure that you do not plan on expanding your territory, after all, you could be unsatisfied with your home." Hearing the subtle jab, my face showed no reaction.
But underneath the table, one of my legs began to lightly bounce. "We couldn't be any more satisfied, the weather in Menagerie is wonderful all year round."
"Though, I couldn't say the same for Atlas, constantly using fire dust to warm the cities and to face the cold weather when one of them fails." I sighed and acted empathetic, the subtle jab caused a few of them to react.
"Yes, it is hard to maintain them. But it is a wonderful invention for the people, if we didn't have them, we wouldn't be here." Trying to save face? Then let's try this.
"But we are not here to talk about Atlas, tell us, what about your security. We noticed that you've been improving in many areas." They said and soon showed multiple pictures.
'Damm, they're good.' I thought and saw how they took photos of the guards, showing the improved armor they have.
"Even their weapons seem to have improved as well." They pointed at the new rifles they carried, while some carried mechashift weapons.
"We couldn't rely on spears and swords forever, it would be difficult for us to face the Grimm that try to invade our homes." I said and then pointed at another picture.
"We even started building a wall around our home, though it's not finished, it wouldn't hurt to be safe." The councilmen remained silent at my explanation, while James himself nodded in approval.
"Then what about this?" Instead of a photo they showed a video of a few guards surrounding a Beowulf.
It lunged at one of the guards, but they retaliated by punching it on the snout, as it yelped in pain, one of the guards tossed a net over it and watched as it tried to escape.
After a few minutes, it soon stopped, which gave the guards the chance to kill it. As the video showed one of the guards firing a shot to the head, they all turned to me.
"I see no problem here, all I see is a squad eliminating a threat in an efficient manner." I replied and showed a proud smile
"Unless, your soldiers are inefficient to take out a single Grimm?" This caused all of them to flinch at my question, and I knew I had struck a nerve.
"T-that is not relevant to the conversation." One of them said, trying to keep face. "We are just concerned-."
"That we might expand the territory of our home, yes you made that very clear already." I said in a drawl manner.
"And I clearly stated that we just want to keep our home safe." I then leaned forward staring at each and every one of them. "Besides, it's not like you're worried that you'll lose, right?"
[A/N I'M BACK MY READERS!! Sorry it took me so long to update, but I promise I'll try to do better! For now, peace!]