The Burning Rose

Chapter 27: A historic lesson

"The Great War is the poster example of a modern tragedy. Not only did it cause untold numbers of casualties, but also left hundreds if not thousands of small villages destroyed or abandoned. In light of this, the two kingdoms most involved, Vale and Atlas, launched the joint rescue plan to ensure all people in need of huntsmen support regardless of their income. That's why you'll see more Atlas huntsmen in Vale than any other kingdom. And of course the same goes on their side. Furthermore, the two kingdoms banded together with the others to form a new celebration in honor of the peace. Now, who can tell me why the Vytal festival is a combat tournament?"
Beside Cinder, Amber immediately stood up to answer the question. She nailed it on her first try as she expected, but she still struggled to suppress a giggle as she watched Amber's head follow professor Oobleck around the room.

It had been a few days after the event the media was calling the Angel attack, and due to Adam's and Eric's weapons, semblances, and fighting styles being seen, they were lying low until the heat cooled down.
It had been tortured for Cinder to have to suck up and deal with the people who constantly got in her way, but unfortunately, there was evidence to convict all of them if found. So she bit her tongue whenever some loser bumped into her and gave a half ass apology.
Fortunately, word of her battle with Callum had gotten around school. And as a result, the other students made a point of steering clear of her and giving her the respect she deserved. It might just be out of fear, but she was fine with that. Less people to annoy her.
But more importantly, the weekend was tomorrow! So she could finally go to Vale and call her family. Something she'd been to for a while now. She wanted to tell Ruby and Yang about her crazy first week! They would have kittens when they heard about her fight in the entrance exam!
Sure, she could go down after classes, but Cinder had always found herself swamped with homework and the like. Apparently, one of her old teachers had recommended she have to double down on teamwork studies and now she was bogged down with lectures and tests on her worst subject even if she managed to dodge taking the actual class.

"If I ever find the idiot who dumped all this extra work on me, I'm sooo going to rip his head off!" Cinder thought to herself as she turned her attention back to history.
"And what's more, even though we have entered this era of peace, war crimes are still running rampant throughout the kingdom. For example, who has heard of the Black charge, or its more common name, Stampeding, before?" The caffeine obsessed professor came to a stop in front of his whiteboard as he scanned among his students.
"Come, come, don't be shy. We're all here to learn, and everyone starts somewhere. And this isn't exactly something Atlas likes talking about." Cinder shot a glance sideways and saw Amber just sitting there unmoving, which was weird for the history nerd. Normally Amber had the answer for everything in this class.
Immediately she sat up a little straighter, her attention peeked. If this was some dirty little secret Atlas had hidden from even Amber, she wanted to know all about it.
Oobleck looked over his class, then stopped when he saw one single hand raised in the air.

"Ahh! Yes! Mr. Obsidian, I shouldn't be surprised you've heard about this. Now, how much do you know about Stampeding?"
"Stampeding, or the Blacken charge, was a military move developed by General Ivan Oris. A elite soldier in their military and the prominent reason why the war dragged on for decades." Fang said as he stood. "It's a move where a person or group leads Grimm to settlements or other large gathering, then either let's them destroy it or makes them pay several times the actual fee for the extermination."
"You are correct!" Oobleck said, clapping his hands before taking another swig of his coffee. "When Atlas and Minstrel attacked Vacuo, Vale came to the kingdom's defense. The king led the army himself and due to their opponents lack of desert combat experience, defeat seemed inevitable." While taking, Oobleck began to draw in the white board a diagram of a battlefield.
"If things had gone the king's way in that battle field, the war would be ancient history, but as you all know, that wasn't the case." Oobleck took a moment to chug another cup of coffee before continuing. "That's where General Oris, who was an unknown mercenary at the time, led an army of Grimm against the king's weakened right flank."
Oobleck began drawing arrows on the board illustrating where the army were moving, including the Grimm. "This gave the Atlesian army a chance to retreat and regroup, stopping the king's charge. As a thanks for his service, the king of Atlas gave him the title of lord and made him a general. And he went on to prolong the war until his death at the hands of the king of Vale right hand. However, the Black charge is still used today, despite the fact it's viewed as a war crime if used under any circumstance."
Cinder clicked her tongue as she leaned back in her seat. "Typical Atlesians." She muttered under her breath. "Rewarding the brainless lap dogs so the rich can stay in power. If they had their way, we'd stay in the dark age."
"Now, now. It wasn't that bad." Amber reasoned. "Even before the new republic took over, Atlas was still years ahead of the other kingdoms in technology. If it wasn't for General Ironwood, that tech would have never left the kingdom."
"Or Vale could have just taken it after grinding Atlas into pulp." Cinder countered. "They didn't have to give the kingdom to the general after the war. Could have easily kept it as a colony of the kingdom. Or even split it's restores between the remaining kingdoms."

"You shouldn't say things like that." Amber chastised as she looked at Cinder with concern. "You're beginning to sound a lot like one of the members of the Enlightened Seraphim."
Cinder stared blankly at Amber for a few seconds, then threw her head back with a laugh.
"Oh yeah right! Like I'd ever see those losers as anything but a bunch of dumb ass idiots! They're as bad as those blind loyalists from Atlas! They can't do ANYTHING, so they band together to attempt to feel relevant despite the fact nobody is going to remember them! They-!"
"Ahhh! You seem to be enjoying yourself mr. Rose!" Cinder gave a start as professor Oobleck spoke right behind her. "Perhaps you can entertain the class by reviewing the battle of Herakles peak?"
Cinder grinned her teeth and clenched her fist at the question. She hated having to bring up that battle.
"Umm, Dr. Oobleck?" Amber said timidly as she caught Cinder apprehension. "I was the one who started it. I should be the one to speak in front of class, not Cinder."
"I am well aware of the two of you talking about Atlas beforehand, but it's one thing to explain something or offer an opinion to someone else. It's a completely different matter to disrupt the class with a loud volley of profanity. So, come, come, Mrs. Rose. The sooner you start, the sooner it'll be over."
Cinder let out an annoyed snarl and shot Amber a death glare (making the girl clasp her hands in apology.) as she stood up. Oobleck zoomed back to his desk, quickly erasing the original diagram and drawing a new one as Cinder spoke.
"The battle of Herakles peak was the final battle in the war where the forces of Vale, Vacuo, and the new republic of Atlas launched their final assault against the king of Atlas." For some reason, Cinder could feel Fang's gaze on her, but she ignored it and pressed on.
"The king's plan was to use stronghold Artemis, which at that point had never been breached due to its location being near impossible to reach as well as the defenses set up around it, to hold the armies until winter when he would be able to drive them out with his knowledge of wintertime warfare. To this point, the opposing alliance had constructed a simple, but effective plan."
"The plan was to have the armies outside draw out the loyalists so a small team could sneak inside and assassinate the king. They assigned the best of the best to this mission, and to ensure effective communication, they only picked three huntsmen and a single huntress." Cinder paused for a second as she took a deep breath. Next was the part she hated about the battle.

"The first was from Atlas. A man named Clover… Evi? Whatever. The next two were from Vale. Qrow Branwen and Isaac Howard. Both made quite a name during the war for very different reasons. And last but not least, Summer Rose, the leader of the team."
All around her Cinder could hear the whispers and feel stares. She knew what they were all thinking. Rose. The same as her own last name. If there was any doubt that she was Summer's daughter, those were thrown out the window now. Meaning she'd probably be getting weird looks for the rest of the semester.
"Despite the team's effort, only Summer actually made it to the king and his retainers." Cinder pressed on as she felt herself being to blush as the not so quietly whispers reached her ears. Many about how kids live off their parents name. "There she took down not only king Reginald and his guards, but also the queen, who was of Minstrel decent, Aka, the prince, Shiroi, and the young princess, Snow, all at once. Ending his line permanently."
"Excellent work Mrs. Rose! Spot on! Only thing needing correction was that the Atlas huntsman's name was Ebi, not Evi." Oobleck quickly erased the diagram of the battlefield as Cinder sat back down. Beside her, Amber gave the girl a thumbs up.
Cinder rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep a smile off her face. Maybe Amber was starting to rub off on her.
"Now, seeing as at least seven of you couldn't stop yourself from poking fun at Mrs. Rose's expanse, how about you inform me about the means and location of the peace treaty that gave Atlas it's new republic."
There was a collective groan from the class and Cinder felt a wave of righteous justice wash over her. Revenge was so sweet.
She turned in her seat, scanning the class for the students who mocked her. She wanted to remember their suffering and embarrassment as they were forced into topics they didn't know about or like talking about. And she would be sure to make fun of them when the teacher couldn't hear her.
But as she did, her gaze stopped on Fang, who was looking down at her with a strange look in his eyes.
He was still wearing his scarf with his school uniform so his low face was covered, but Cinder got the impression he didn't like her answer for some reason.
Resisting the urge to flip him off, Cinder turned back to the blackboard as Oobleck began writing once again as another student began explaining the peace treaty that ended the war.
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"Sorry about that. I promise to be more careful from now on." Amber said, hands clasped together in apology.
It was right after the bell rang and students were packing up to head to their next class. Cinder and her team were no exceptions as they quickly packed things up. Nobody wanted to be late in their first week.
"Whatever, I should have been more careful." Cinder said with a dismissive wave. "I was the one who blurted out laughing. You just said something really stupid. I'm the one at fault. So just forget it and move on. Seriously, watching you grovel is embarrassing."
Cinder swung her bag over her shoulder and stood up, ignoring Amber's protest of, "I didn't grovel!" as she made her way to the door. Her team quickly finished packing up not long after and followed her out.
"Still, that was kinda mean making you talk about your mother." Eric said as they caught up to the dark haired girl. "Must feel really weird to have a war hero as a mom. That couldn't have been easy on you growing up. All that pressure and expeditions that you'd live up to her legacy. I bet you've heard so many of her war stories you could repeat them by heart. Which honestly would explain a lot about you now that I think of it."

Cinder let out an annoyed grunt and swatted at Eric, but he simply sidestepped dodging it.

"For your information, I grew up living up to every expectation set on me." She said proudly. "I was the top of every important class in Signal, trained with my parents in the summer and even went on some professional hunting jobs. I'm more upholding my parents legacy!"
"Wow. Someone takes things really seriously, don't ya?" Eric said with a low whistle. "You sure you're not Atlesian? With a study ethic like that, you could probably put some of their elites to shame."
"Don't compare me to those idiots!" Cinder snapped, causing Eric to take a step back, hands raised in surrender. "I'm not some useless bitch who looks down on everyone else from ivory towers while not knowing anything about the outside world! Unlike them, I've earned my power, not inherited it."
"Okay, that was meant as a compliment, but never mind. Sorry I brought it up. Geez, you need to learn to lighten up." Eric said half apologetically, half sarcastic. "But you know, not all Atlesians are like that. Some of us happen to work twice as hard because of people like you who constantly lump us together with the aristocrats."
Cinder shot a glare at Eric, who ignored it and leaned back with his hands on his head. Calm as could be.
"So, Cinder! I bet your mother must have told you loads of stories from her time in the war!" Amber said, sensing the tension beginning to build. "I would love to hear the first hand account of some of those legendary battles. Like what the final battle was really like. And how she got separated from her team in the first place."
Cinder stopped mid step, scratching the back of her head sheepishly. "Actually, Summer never told me much of her war stories no matter how many times I asked." She confessed. "And if I so much as brought up the battle of Herakles peak, she'd shut down faster than faster than a government before an election."
"Really?" Her three teams lean in closer, eyes wide with curiosity. That wasn't what any of them had expected from one of the most famous war heroes.
"That was the mission that made her known to everyone in the world." Adam said. "I don't see how she wouldn't want to talk about her most triumphant moment. You sure you're not just holding out on us?"
Cinder pointedly rolled her eyes. This was the reason she hated talking about it.
"I'm sure." She said forcefully. "She won't speak a word on it, not even when it came up on my history test. TaI says there's more to it then black and white, but even he doesn't know all the details! I don't get why she wouldn't want to talk about her greatest achievement. If it were me I'd be more then happy to talk about it."
"We know." Her teammates said in unison.
Cinder shot an annoyed look over his shoulder at them. Since when was she the butt of most of their jokes? (Since day one.) However, as she turned back around, she caught a glimpse of someone very familiar staring at her again.
Finally deciding enough was enough, Cinder quickly made her way across the hall and right in front of Fang.
"Mind telling me what your problem is?" She snapped. "You've been sneaking glances at me when you think nobody's looking and it's starting to piss me off. If you've got an issue with me then hurry up and spit it out. I can't stand people who just stand around and do nothing but complain."
Fang stared at her, mouth hanging open for a few seconds as her teammates approached from behind. Then he closed his eyes and let out a smirk.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about how glad I am not to have ended up with you as my teammate."
Immediately Cinder eyebrow twitched and her face turned into a snarl. "You trying to pick a fight, asswipe?! Cause if so, I've got no problem pounding you into the dust!" She took a step back into a fighting stance, hands resting on her blades.
But Fang just stood there, hands in his pockets unfazed by her threats.
"That's your problem." He said calmly. "You don't think, you just act. And normally, your go-to plan is a fight. How long do you think you'll be able to act so immaturely? Violence and power will only leave death and pain in your wake. And there's already more than enough of that in this world."
Cinder let out a scoff and rolled her eyes. "Not this talk of ideology again! Don't you ever get tired of perching the same nonsense everyday?" She said mockingly. "When it comes down to it, ideology isn't worth anything if you don't have the power to make it reality. Nobody cares what the weak think or want, it's only the strongest who make the rules."
"Then prey tell, what is the ideology you will make reality with all your power, oh great champion?"
"I! What?" Cinder took a step back as she struggled to find her answer. Funnily enough, she had never thought about it. She had always been so focused on acquiring power, she had never stopped to think about what she would make reality.
Sure, there was the obvious. Pay her family back for adopting her, protect Yang from anything that would try to hurt her more, go wherever she wanted doing whatever she wanted, becoming the hero Ruby looked up to. But beyond that? Never.
What would she follow when she was exploring the world? What would guide her actions? A whim? Just how she felt at the moment? She had always had something to strive for, freedom, getting into school, protecting those close to her, but what would she do when she had no more goals laid before her? Just wonder the world? She didn't want that. But she also didn't want to just stay in Patch her whole life. But with any ideology, she lacked any real direction.
Fang let out a grunt as he turned away from Cinder. "That's what I thought." He said as he began walking away. "You don't have any star to follow, goals beyond your own glorification. Somebody like you, will NEVER be remembered for anything, but you own selfishness." With that, he disappeared into their next classroom, leaving the girl flustered and stuttering.
There was a king pause, then. "And that's Fang one, Cinder zero." Eric said from behind, causing the girl to let out a snarl.
"Stuff it, you ponytailed pawn!" She snapped, shooting him a glare. "I don't want to hear that after the stunt you and Adam pulled." With that she stormed down the hall towards her next class, well aware that Fang had made a complete fool of her.
She was looking forward to Glynda's class as she had some steam to burn.
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"The nerve of that guy!" Cinder raged to Amber in the courtyard. She had gone up against one of the weakest students she had ever seen and unfortunately, had finished him before she could really let out her anger.
"Where does he get off lecturing me like that?! I'd like to see him face the Werewolf of Patch and see how far that stupid ideology care gets him!" She let out a furious cry as she punched her fist into a tree, burning a hole into it.
"You need to find better coping methods." Amber said as she watched Cinder pull her fist back, then punch the tree again. "And maybe instead of cursing him, you should thank him for giving you something to think about."
Cinder let out a quiet snarl, but didn't have anything to counter with. As much as she hated it, Fang had a point. Without any ideology to guide her, she was basically floating along with whatever the world decided to throw at her.
But the fact that he had one upped her was far more upsetting.
After their combat class, Eric and Adam both had other classes to attend, whereas Amber had a free period and Cinder had two. Meaning she had nothing to distract her from her frustration.
"I can't stand that guy." She muttered under her breath. "Talking like he has all the answers. It piss's me off. Who died and made him king?! Little bastard hasn't got a clue how the world works!"
"Well, if you really want to understand him, try looking at things from his perspective." Amber suggested absentmindedly. "I mean, he's probably the last of his line. It must be pretty difficult for him."
Cinder turned to Amber and raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" Her question caused Amber to turn, eyes wide in shock.
"Oh! You don't know." She said, suddenly much less confident as before. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. Just forget it. Me and my big mouth." She muttered the last part quickly, irritating the dark haired girl.
"Amber, spit it out or I'll just look it up in the library. I'm guessing this is some history nerd thing, but that just means I can find it on my own. So you can save me a couple hours by telling me now, or just wait for me to find it on my own."
Amber shifted uncomfortably, trying to find a way out, but eventually she let out a sigh of defeat.
"Okay, I'll tell you. But please try to be tactful. This isn't a pleasant story." She pleaded with Cinder, who just rolled her eyes.
"Fine! Just hurry up. I need to make some new arrows later today. I used most of mine already, both in the exam and saving the boys."
"Okay, here I go." Amber said, trying to psych herself up. However, Cinder had no idea why. How hard was it to explain one kid's background?
"The Obsidians we're a noble family in Atlas. They were fiercely loyal to the king and unlike Eric's family, they chose to fight on the king's side." Amber said in a much more serious tone. One Cinder would almost call unusual for the normally bubbly girl.
"Don't get me wrong, a lot of other nobles were like them, but they made a name for themselves by their skill as warriors, not politicians. If they had been around during the battle of Herakles peak, things might have gone very differently that day."
Cinder did a double take. What?! Fang's family was really that strong?! Then where the hell did he pick up the stupid ideology crap he was spotting?! And more importantly, if they were that strong, what happened to them?!
"Pride." Amber said, answering Cinder unasked question. "You see, they believed that their bloodline should be pure Atlesians to ensure there were no traitors among them. So they only married into other rich families. Think Schnees, Marigolds, that kind of thing. Eventually, they only had cousins and nephews left to marry to keep their precious bloodline pure. I think you can guess how that went."
Cinder could, and just picturing it made her feel ill.
"Time passed them by and eventually, the war took almost their entire line. I heard a few survived by abandoning their family name and pride, but I'm very surprised that one is attending school with us. It takes a lot of courage to pick up a name like that, knowing full well you're only making life harder on yourself. That alone takes some serious guts."
"So, his entire family is gone, huh." Cinder said, more to herself than anyone, but Amber still heard her. "I wonder what he plans on doing after graduation. He must know with his family name, he'll have a much harder life. Why not just discard it and move forward on his own instead?"
Amber stared at Cinder for a few seconds, then turned away to look out towards the rest of the campus, eyes fixing on some students feeding the birds.
"Have you discarded the trauma from your past?" She asked quietly, causing Cinder to freeze. Her tension gave the dark skinned girl her answer.
"Sometimes, no matter how much we wish it wasn't so, our past can chain us, making us willing to throw away our future. Logic and facts tell us it's not worth it, but that doesn't always matter. Sometimes, the past will haunt us till the day we die. And no amount of trying to forget will ever make us whole again."
Cinder said nothing, simply looked up at the sky and wondered what Fang could have gone through to be so driven by his ideology, what had made him care so much about his family name, and why he believed power only caused pain. Had he been a slave like her? Or was his suffering like Adam's? Lesser, but still validated.
She still believed power was far more important than ideology. But after her conversation with Amber that night, she understood why a society shouldn't be so directly built around it. People should be given the right amount of time to grow and become strong. Like Ruby, she was still struggling with the most basic training, but she had the heart to press forward anyway. And given time, Cinder knew Ruby would be a power huntress.
But Fang believed that it was once ideology that dictated once strength. If he was right, then it would stand to reason Ruby's ideology was the reason she couldn't get stronger. Or maybe it was the reason she wouldn't give up? What did he mean when he said ideology was power?
Back at the Glass Unicorn, it didn't matter how much Cinder believed her suffering made her strong. It was only after she had awakened her aura, the greatest power known to man, that she was able to obtain her freedom. And ever since then, she had seen how little her beliefs matter when stacked against real power. Rouge, the Werewolf, Rhodes. She had won because she was stronger and smarter, not because she was more ideological than them.
"Gah! This is making my head hurt! Why am I even thinking about this stupid stuff anyway?! It's so obvious he's wrong!" Cinder screamed as she grabbed her head with both hands. "Since when have I ever cared about what idiots like him think?! Why do I even care?! That stupid punk is going to get as soon as I have an excuse!"
Amber gave Cinder a smile as the girl continued to frustrated rant. "Well, try not to lose too much hair over it." She said, her voice returning to it's normal happy tone. "Honestly, only a few history nerds like me would ever know about them. So it's not like he's getting the stink eye from everyone. And besides, a lot of that probably happened before his time. My original point was to try talking to him. Maybe that will shed some light on the subject."
Amber smiled as Cinder turned around. As much of a pain as she could be, the dark skinned girl enjoyed having someone else's company. Especially after…
"Oh! Look at the time!" Amber said as she saw the large clock on the school tower. "I've got to go! Teamwork studies are in fifteen minutes! That's one class I can miss!" Immediately she took off towards the school.
"You were planning on making more arrows, right? You should probably go too! The chem lab closes a few minutes before dinner! Can't mix dust without it!"
Cinder watched Amber retreating as she continued to yell advice until she was out of earshot. The dark haired girl rolled her eyes at the disappearing silhouette.
"Don't tell me what to do." She said quietly, but she headed towards the chem lab regardless. Her mind was still trying to process what her partner had revealed.
After fifteen minutes, Cinder found her in the main building of the school. She made her way through the halls towards the chem lab. Despite her talk with Amber, after the long walk, she found herself getting frustrated again. Go and talk to him?! What a load! Not only did she find him incredibly annoying, how did someone even go about bringing up the topic?! "Hey! I heard your family is all dead! Can you tell me how that shaped your life?"
"Tisk! Yeah right." Cinder muttered to herself as she stopped in front of the lab. "If someone asked me that, I'd break their stupid faces. And besides, Fang's such a pest, he'd probably give me some cryptic answer. Stupid idealist and their stupid metaphors."
She calmly slid the door to the lab and was about to step in when she stopped dead in her tracks.
Sitting on one of the tables, carefully measuring out some finely crushed fire dust was Fang.
Cinder found herself staring blankly at him as he worked, mouth hanging open. This all felt like some cruel joke. Of course she was sharing a room with the one person she couldn't stand.
"You coming in?" Fang asked after a few seconds of stunned silence, not looking up from his work. "If not, close the door. You'll find us stupid idealists prefer not to be bothered when working."

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Anyway, this basically explains were the cannon and au split. Any questions about the timeline, feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer, but the important parts are already covered in this chapter. If this doesn't seem important, don't worry, it is.
oh. And the general mentioned in the chapter was one of Salem's followers. he's long dead, but he still played an important role in this story.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time. Bye!