𝐈𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 (English)

Chapter 70

Two nights, two dreams, two dangerous people.

Jaune reported the dream to Oswald, of course, but it only served to confirm a suspicion that Atlas apparently already had as to who was working with Salem. On the subject matter, Oswald only said that "everyone considers themselves a tragic victim in their own minds, Mr Arc. But it is the choices we make in life that define us."

It felt like an easy way to write off what had happened in Atlas, and to this man who now followed Salem. Jaune would be the first to admit turning to evil after losing a science fair was a little ridiculous, but that didn't mean the content in the dream was any less troubling. He spent the evening in the library the following day looking up these alleged war crimes by Atlas and, after working past many patriotic news stations decrying them as "Atlas-hating nonsense" he found them.

By the looks of it, they were very, very real. Massacres, cover-ups, and mass civilian casualties typically blamed on the people hiding behind them – as if faunus at the start of the uprising with no military structure and no real army were meant to do anything but hide in their homes. A lot of Atlas' actions had apparently served to kickstart an uprising into a full-blown rebellion. They'd sown the seeds of their own defeat.

There weren't any recent controversies, thankfully, but that only made Jaune wonder if they were keeping a tighter lid on them. Finding articles on Arthur Watts was easy, most labelling him as a traitor to Atlas who was presumed dead. There was little mention of his research or life before becoming a traitor, but there were a lot of articles about the trial. Behind closed doors, apparently, on account of it involving military secrets. Watts had been found guilty of treason and sentenced to a staggering 425 years in prison.

A stark warning to anyone who might think of revealing Atlas' dirty laundry in the future.

"Would that have been my fate if Ironwood had succeeded in deporting me for entering their dreams? Slapped with unreasonable charges, found guilty by a biased judge, and then locked away forever or forced to serve?"

He'd heard that Atlas could be harsh, but this was ridiculous.

"The faunus massacres?" Blake leaned over to nosily poke at what he was reading. "What are you reading up on those for?"

"Just curious. News like this never made it to Ansel."

"Hm. It was before our time anyway. Mom and dad talked about them, though. Said it sent a shock through every faunus on Remnant."

"I can imagine..."

Blake sneered. "Atlas had the gall to act like they didn't have a choice because the faunus were hiding behind civilians, but you have to keep in mind they weren't a real army back then. A popular uprising won't have barracks or a military base to sleep at. They'll live at their homes with their families. And they called the faunus cowardly, too. Cowardly because they hid in the shadows and conducted guerilla warfare rather than fight Atlas in the open. But who could? Atlas was a superpower. Fighting them in the open would have been suicide. It's like calling a huntress a coward for using a weapon to fight the Grimm. Or calling civilians cowards for calling on huntsmen in the first place and not just fighting the Grimm off themselves."

It was propaganda is what it was; Jaune could see that as well as anyone. The faunus uprising before the rebellion hadn't been popular, and Atlas had thought they could control the narrative no matter what tactics they used.

They had been wrong.

In a sense, it could be argued that Arthur Watts had done the world a service in exposing all this. He'd certainly done the White Fang a service, and probably given peace to a lot of families who lost loved ones to crimes Atlas brushed under the rug. And then the victims of predatory military officers could also free themselves as a result of this. Watts' actions had led to good but... well... that hadn't been his intention. He'd just wanted to get back at them for not taking his science fair project seriously.