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"G-General?!" Someone shouted, and it took a while for her to realize it was her, to whose the shouting voice belonged.
"Specialist Schnee." He nodded at her, but the more she watched him, the more alien he seemed to her.
And yet the same...
"W-was it truly necessary, general?" Winter asked, she still couldn't believe it, she just spoke that grievance before him in self-deprecating when he told her of her new duty as his own right hand...
She, Winter Schnee, freshly graduated from Atlas military at twenty-one, yes, she was the first of her year, but she managed to become one of the top ten in Atlas Academy's entire history with her high scores on both written and practical exams.
But to actually go around the entire process of claiming success and ranks, she was immediately summoned to the general's office, where he told her that she would serve him as his right hand.
At first, Winter was surprised, but then...
Something ugly in her woke up, something she tried to push down, thinking she could live with her own achievements, just for her to be immediately promoted without doing anything too note worthy...
The name Schnee came to her mind, a name she had, and one that always followed her, making all her interactions a living nightmare, as she needed to look at all the false pleasantries and praises she received just because she had that blasted name...
And that time, something broke in her, as she thought that her idol, the man she had idolized all these years, was no other than all these men who tried to get favor from her father...
And when she said that in a moment of vulnerability...
She saw something that surprised her...
In general's face lost its calmness and strictness as a dumbfounded expression found its way to his face...
Even if she tried to stop it, the thing that broke inside her seemed to mend little...
So when he asked her, what she thought he was doing, she answered him honestly.
With each word, the general's face cracked, and not in a way that she called out to his lies, and Winter was already familiar with these faces, the times she called out on these men, and sometimes even women who tried to befriend her just because she was Schnee...
She saw all manners of these faces, faces where their secrets were loudly laid out.
But generals Ironwood's face...
It didn't show any similarity to these faces, no, rather what Winter could see...
She saw...
A disgust...
Anger, and then...
Acceptance...
So when she told the general of it all, the general just nodded and after a moment of thinking, told her to watch something...
So she watched, and her face grew paler as her eyes widened with each second of the video general showed her...
Making her call out his title in surprise...
"Is... Was..." Winter couldn't find words to say, for what she saw was just too...
Too unreal...
"Specialist, I do understand that your... Family name and situation could complicate your life, but that wasn't a reason I picked you, even if yes, I do admit that your name made you already very noteworthy, but that wasn't the reason..."
General motioned for her to relax, making Winter realize she was until now in a stiff position...
Winter relaxed and noticed how some parts of the general's eyes softened.
"You scored records in both written and practical exams, with praise from all your teachers and combat tutors, even from the ones whose loyalty couldn't be brought, but..."
But? Winter so wished the general wouldn't delay, but she held herself from speaking.
"But all they said, something all they agreed on, is that you lack a practice, in both real-life combat situations and human connections, something that is flawed, alas, it isn't your mistake, but Academy way of teaching, and so, I chose to give you actually chance, one I was once given too, and chose you as my right hand, to teach you anything you would need."
What, what, did the general say what she thought he said?
But why, he was still in his prime, the general was young for him to seek a successor...
"I know what do you now think, it's too soon to seek a replacement for myself, right? Well, it isn't, and I find myself agreeing with the saying that it is good to strike the iron when it is still hot, and what better way to make sure my position one day falls into the right hands than to make sure that you learn everything you need?"
When the general said it like that, she could see the logic in it, and yet it still somehow felt strange to her...
But, at least she knew he didn't do it just because she was Schnee...
For what general showed her was his conversation with her father...
One where her father demanded the general to release her, the nerve!
Even after she made him promise her that he wouldn't meddle in her life!
At the start of the video call recording, Winter worried that once again, someone would give himself to her father's whims, just to realize that, that someone is general James Ironwood...
And it showed as she was almost left slack-jawed at what the general said to her father once he was finished with his rant and threats...
"Jacques, I think you do not realize your position, you hold a monopoly over the Dust trade, that is true, and your playing or pricing up could hurt the economy or even collapse it, but..."
The way the general's eyes steeled, and his eyes became colder, almost made Winter...
Feel something, something she never felt...
"You realize that the moment you follow up with any of your threats, I will storm your company and take you as the terrorist you are, for your machinations would hurt Atlas and Atlas's interests, you made yourself into Atlas' lifeblood so that you will work for Atlas interest, and the moment you stop... Will by the moment Atlas gets a new blood infusion, do you understand what I mean? You have a responsibility, and you better do what you positioned yourself to do?"
Winter did, and she almost smiled, for all her father's claims and wishes, he was still a businessman, even if the biggest and most important, he lacked power.
A power that the general held in his hands, and her father knew it, and from the way he paled and his eyes widened as his hands clenched in rage, he understood it too.
It wasn't wise to threaten the man who controlled the entire kingdom's military force.
Something general showed.
In truth, Winter thought this was the first time ever that her father's threats had such a result, and it made her feel.
Good...
"Your father... It is a problematic man, Specialist, but I wasn't lying that I would hold him a terrorist the moment he tried to compel me to do something against my will, I do need an SDC, I don't need Jacques Schnee, and I wish him to remember such fact."
Winter nodded her head. General words rang true and a good tune to her heart...
And when she looked at the way general sized her up, something inside her...
Felt strange.
"Then let me ask you once again, Specialist, do you wish to become my right hand?" General asked, and she straightened up as she saluted.
"Yes, sir! It will be an honor!"
"Good, then let's get to the work, and I will not hear any complaints, for you just now chosen to become introduced into the bad side of the military."
"-Bad side, sir?"
Winter asked, ideas of secret missions or dark secrets jumped into her mind.
"Yes, the worst..."
The way the general looked at her, Winter expected she would learn one of the worst secrets in her life.
"The worst enemy of any highly positioned personnel, the enemy called."
Winter held her breath.
"Paperwork."
What?
"Good luck." General smiled as he finished up.
What?