#also ''when atlas shrugs whose back is breaking''

[sunburstsandmoonshadows]

im finally getting around to listening to the oh hellos new music (its all good) and my god im obsessed with "a kindling, of sorts". usually im ambivalent at best about instrumentals in albums of any genre but something about the plucking strings at the start and the percussion and how it ramps up and up and up just exhilarates me. so good. just a perfect start of the album. all of the actually sung songs after are fantastic too

[danidoesathing]

NUMBER 22!!!! :D

22. A song that moves you forward

Glowing by the Oh Hellos. im not sure what it means by "more forward" but if it means more to motivation to keep pushing forward in life then its ABSOLUTELY Glowing. like the whole theme of how heavy shit can get in life and it's hard to keep going but you can do it!! it'll feel impossible but it's not!!!

also I go crazy over the line "When Atlas shrugs / Whose back is breaking?" like GIRL!!

[thebigqueer]

👉👈 if you wrote the whole I just delivered a baby feel my hands interaction from Will's perspective I would love you forever

okay, i specifically had to read this scene again and let me tell you, i high key cringed because i just remembered how kinda bad the ending of blood of olympus was alskjskfdkfsd

anyway, i hope you love me forever because i will definitely be granting your wish. thanks for the prompt, and i hope you like this! 

and, as always: i usually do minimal editing on these, so please don’t judge my writing too much alskjjlkdf

Will will admit, the morning has been quite an adventure in itself. 

It started when his cabin awoke with the cries of a distressed Clarisse, who slammed open the door of the Apollo cabin at exactly 3:43 AM and screamed at the top of her lungs, while also banging pots and pans, “THE BABY IS COMING! THE BABY IS COMING! William Andrew Solace, GET your ass over here!” 

In all his life, Will’s cured lots of sicknesses and injuries. But never has he had to take care of a woman giving birth. 

All in all, he thinks he did pretty well. Save for the almost-fainting part of the birth, he got the baby delivered perfectly healthy and relatively easily (although he’s sure Mellie would disagree), and Coach Hedge was there to even see it. 

After handing over the child, the exhausted son of Apollo, savoring the sweetness of the new family’s moment, smiles and excuses himself. He's sure he is going to pass out any moment from both tiredness and excitement, and he is ready to recount all of the past two and a half hours to Cecil and Lou Ellen. 

He steps out of the infirmary, surprised by how much lighter the sky has become. The sun rises, spreading its golden glow over the camp, and he has to shield his eyes from the brightness. Despite the beauty, though, there’s a dread that’s settled over the camp, a nervous electricity that has demigods buzzing left and right.

Demigods trudge to Half-Blood Hill, decorated with armor over their bodies. Will frowns, his own heart thudding faster. He can’t quite believe there’s another war about to happen, in just a little bit, after just barely surviving one last summer. 

With a jolt, Will remembers the lives lost, the people who’ve slipped from his grasp in the last battle. His face burns with the shame of losing them, of failing them. Why couldn’t I have done better? he scolds himself. 

With the prospective battle, he feels an even larger weight on his shoulders, the mass of stress crushing him. He feels as if he is Atlas, carrying the bulk of the universe on his body, doomed to serve this job for the rest of eternity.

The pressure of tears and anger presses against his throat, threatening to let loose. He swallows, trying to suppress it, but he can feel himself failing at doing so; his body shudders, his fists clench. He wants to drop to his knees and sob right here, right now. He’s so useless to everyone here. He’s failed so many people. How many will he fail today? 

A voice calls his name from the distance, and for a second, Will stops thinking about all the horrors he’s seen. He turns his head in the direction that he heard the voice, but he can’t seem to find it. He frowns. 

“Psst!” the voice calls again, and this time Will realizes it is clearly feminine. He swivels his head to the bushes in front of him, and almost screams when he sees eyes peering at him through the leaves.

For a second, he doesn’t recognize the faces that stare back at him. Only after he rubs his eyes does he realize that it’s Lou Ellen and Cecil. A shaky smile wavers on his lips. “Hey, guys. What are you doing?”

The two wrestle out of the bushes, shoving twigs aside. They rush over to the son of Apollo, excitement plastered over their faces. “Wanna help us scout the enemy?” Lou Ellen asks, her voice rising with enthusiasm. A mischievous sparkle twinkles in her eyes. “I’m practicing my Mist-controlling powers, and I think I’m getting pretty good.” 

Will looks at Cecil, who nods in encouragement. “Come on, dude. You’ve been in the infirmary all day. I’m sure delivering a baby is probably more exciting than us, but...” He shrugs, and a sadness envelops his face. “I guess we just don’t know how much longer we have. Don’t you wanna spend it together?”

Will’s heart clutches and his skin prickles with goosebumps. He looks at his two friends, people he’s known for so long. He realizes that Cecil’s right; they don’t know how much longer they have with each other. The realization hits Will right where it hurts. 

Taking a deep breath, he nods. “Alright, I could use a break. Let’s do it.”

~~~

Fifteen minutes later, Will, Cecil, and Lou Ellen are clad in black clothing, giggling in the bushes on the outskirts of camp. They watch the enemy wander around, setting up their equipment, shouting to one another. Peering at them, a spark of confusion consumes Will. They look like normal demigods; why are they warring, anyway? Who decided on this? Why can’t they just get along, share their similar stories? The entire thing is pretty pointless and sad, Will thinks, since they could have been friends. But instead, the two camps decided only on warring, setting their differences first and foremost. 

It’s a little disheartening, to say the least. Will knows that this is the nature of humankind, that people tend to only see differences. But they are demigods; aren’t they a little above humans? Shouldn’t they know better?

But even then, they still have humanity in them. And as ugly as humanity can be, it’s still humanity. This is what humans are like. People must learn to accept. Will only sighs at this thought.

As he mulls this thought over, Will, Cecil, and Lou Ellen skitter over to Thalia’s pine tree, hoping to get a better view of the Roman demigods. Their faces brighten under the rising sun, illuminating their faces. The warmth seeps through Will’s skin, sinking into his bones. He want to keep that warmth there, absorb the light. He’s afraid of the darkness that might come after the war. 

As they reach the tree, Will almost stops in astonishment. Because standing righ there, in a ridiculously bright Hawaiian T-shrit and black jeans, a Stygian sword at his side, stands Nico di Angelo. Will almost trips over himself. 

For a second, Will stumbles. What on earth is he doing here? Didn’t he leave camp? Didn’t he go rogue? Didn’t he leave Will here, in the very same place, on a morning much like this one, just a year ago? 

Cecil and Lou Ellen stop with him, confusion spilling over their features. “What’s wrong?” Cecil asks, nudging Will. “Dude, we’re in the light. Let’s go.” 

Will only shakes his head in response and hurries over to the son of Hades, a strange feeling sparking in his blood. Is it resentment? Is it relief? He’s not quite sure. All he knows is that he never thought he’d see Nico again, and especially not dressed like that.

When Will reaches him, the son of Hades doesn’t seem to notice he’s right there. His dark eyes are also focused on the Roman demigods, peering over them, oozing hatred.

“Nico?” Will whispers, his voice quiet in the morning. Lou Ellen and Cecil crouch by Will, peering over at him in surprise. 

Nico whirls suddenly, a look of fear in his eyes. He snaps his sword in their direction, just barely missing Will. The son of Apollo stumbles a bit, trying to jump past it. 

The son of Hades’ eyes focus, clearing up as he stares at the three demigods. His face betrays a series of emotions: first confusion, then shock, and finally irritation. He opens his mouth to speak, but Will snaps first. Gesturing to the sword, he hisses, “Put that down! What are you doing here?”

Nico blinks, surprise written over his face. Then he shakes his head and frowns at Will. “Me?” he asks, eyebrows furrowing. “What are you doing here? Getting yourselves killed?”

Will’s blood boils with Nico’s tone. Their first time meeting in over a year, and that’s how he’s going to talk to Will? The son of Apollo scowls. “Hey, we’re scouting the enemy.” Spreading his palms, he assures, “We took precautions.”

A dark eyebrow rises on Nico’s face, a look of doubt painting his face. “You dressed in black with the sun coming up. You painted your face but didn’t cover that mop of blond hair. You might as well be waving a yellow flag.” He rolls his eyes. 

Will’s face feels warm, the heat of humiliation coursing through his nerves. “Lou Ellen wrapped some Mist around us, too.” 

The two looked over at the girl, whose eyes were widened in surprise. Suddenly put on spot, her own face turns as red as Will’s. She greets Nico and tells him that the demigod next to her is Cecil, a son of Hermes. 

A moment of hesitation burns between the four demigods, waiting for the next move. Nico’s eyes switch over the three of them, deciding what to do, testing how great they are. Will puffs out his chest, a look of determination in his eyes. You know me, he wants to say. Don’t play this way. 

Finally, Nico kneels and asks about Coach Hedge and his arrival at camp, whether he got here safely. Despite his irritation earlier, Will allows a smile to come over his face at the mention of the satyr. Lou Ellen giggles, and Will nudges her, though a bout of elation envelops him, too. He smiles at Nico, assuring him that the satyr is fine. 

Nico asks about the child, a look of momentary excitement passing over his face. The smile on Will’s face widens despite himself, elated to talk about the new baby. “He’s fine, too,” Will promises. “A very cute little satyr boy.” His skin crawls again, but this time with the memory of the birth. He’d never seen such terrifying yet beautiful scenes in his life. A shudder echoes through him. “But I delivered it,” informs the son of Apollo, grimacing. “Have you ever delivered a baby?”

Nico frowns, a look of confusion and disgust rolling over his face. “Um, no.” 

Will shrugs and tells him that he just needed the fresh air; the mission with Lou Ellen and Cecil would help him. A grin takes over his face again as he announces, “My hands are still shaking.” He holds out his palms and blinks at them. “See?”

Without thinking, Will takes Nico’s hand. In hindsight, he probably should have considered how Nico would react, and how strange this interaction might be after not seeing each other in months, but he isn’t quite thinking. With the baby’s birth, the potential battle, and with Nico’s sudden appearance, can anyone blame him for feeling frenzied and dazed, with having practically no brain functionality at such an early time in the morning? 

A buzz echoes through Will’s palms, electrifying his nerves. His bones resonate, hum, emanate energy. He isn’t sure why this is happening; it’s as if being with Nico again, feeling his fingers in his, he’s unlocked something. For a second, Will sees and feels and hears nothing but the son of Hades. But then, just a split second later, he feels it: a cold, empty darkness, seeping from Nico’s hands. Will’s not sure anyone can quite feel darkness, so this is quite the strange interaction for him. He feels void, alone, as if no one is around. He almost pulls away when Nico does it first. 

“Whatever,” he grumbles. “We don’t have time for chitchat. The Romans are attacking at dawn, and I’ve got to-” 

Will frowns, but what else did he expect? Of course Nico’s going to want to move straight ahead. A buzz of annoyance echoes in him. He doesn’t like that he’s talking to them as if they don’t understand the seriousness of the situation. Before Nico can continue, he snaps back, explaining that they know what’s going on. He raises an eyebrow at Nico. “But if you’re planning to shadow-travel to that command tent, forget it.” 

A look of rage passes over Nico, darkness roiling in his irises. “Excuse me?” he growls, eyes glaring. Will feels that he’s pushed too far, too much, but he stands his ground. Nico just got back to camp; he’s not going to risk his life just for this. 

Will holds his chin high. With a look of determination, and as much bravery as he can master in front of the son of Hades, he informs him that Coach Hedge was very descriptive in his warnings of Nico and his shadow-travelling. “You can’t try that again.”

Nico’s jaw clamps hard, anger pouring in bouts. He watches Will daringly, as if saying, Watch me. “I just did try it again, Solace. I’m fine.” 

Will almost scoffs. If that darkness he felt just moments ago was any indication, the son of Hades is not fine. Rage boils over in Will’s body; why can’t he just understand that maybe there are people here who actually care that he doesn’t risk himself again? Why is he always the one to put himself in danger? 

And yet, he feels a connection to Nico. He knows what it’s like to want to push yourself to the extreme, especially if it means that you save the ones you love. And for this reason, he finds himself even more irritated in Nico. If they’re so alike, then Will finds him just as equally annoying as he finds himself. 

He rambles to Nico about how he can feel the darkness oozing from him, the risk he’d be making if he makes that jump one more time. As he does, he watches the son of Hades raise his eyebrow, not surprised, as if he knows what this jump could mean. With a jolt, Will realizes that maybe that’s what Nico wants - to not exist anymore. Red hot tears push against his throat, but he grounds himself. “You are not shadow-traveling. Doctor’s orders.” 

Nico opens his mouth and starts streaming excuses about the Romans, but Will won’t have it. He’s not losing Nico after only just now seeing him again. The son of Apollo assures Nico that they’ll take care of them, that it’ll be fine. Lou Ellen even has the Mist to control; they don’t need Nico risking his life. 

Nico looks as though he wants to argue, say something, but he chooses wisely to keep his lips sealed. Instead, he stares at Will, dark eyes bearing into blue ones. There’s a depth to them, Will realizes. It’s as if he’s seen terrible, dark things. He looks shattered; broken; cracked. Will’s body relaxes with pity, with remorse, but he stands his ground. 

Will’s been begging the gods for Nico to come back for months. He left with barely an explanation, leaving Will at the summit of Half-Blood Hill so many months ago, wallowing in his confusion. He won’t let Nico escape his grasp again, not when he’s only now returned. 

A fiery hot tension stretches between the boys as they stare each other down. Will knows Cecil and Lou Ellen are watching them, surprised. The boys hold each other in this strange staring competition, trying to get the other to relent. 

But Will’s stubborn, just like Nico is. There will only be one winner in this battle. 

Will won’t let Nico slip away again.

Nico sighs in exasperation, throwing his hands up. “Whatever,” he grumbles, and a wave of white hot elation washes over Will. Relief consumes him. He won’t be shadow-traveling, Will thinks, relaxation taking over his body. 

Nico continues glaring at Will, but the son of Apollo doesn’t even care. Nico juts his chin forward, and dark wisps of hair fall into his eyes, fluttering over the dark brown irises. “You’ll follow my lead.” 

Will smiles, relishing the win of the silent argument. He spreads his hands in a placating gesture. “Fine. Just don’t ask me to deliver any more satyr babies, and we’ll get along great.”

[itsclydebitches]

Hacked penny isn't over yet I think. Juan did say he can't keep boosting her aura forever, so its more like a bandaid on a stabwound. Is it better than nothing for the situation? Sure, but it's not fixed.

I don’t think it’s over either based on that dialogue, but at this point, no matter what happens in the next few episodes, the arc is ruined for me. Like taking “Salem is attacking Atlas with an unstoppable whale grimm. However will our heroes combat it?” and reducing the outcome to “Ruby’s group did nothing, Yang’s group chose their friend over the safety of the kingdom, and Oscar destroyed it with a weapon no one knew he had before the actual plan we’d been building up could be implemented,” you can’t erase how the show raised the stakes and then shrugged them off, even if we do get something good in the final hour. The damage is done. So how has Penny been treated the same way? 

Penny is hacked right when she’s holding up Amity. Will this mean Ruby’s message won’t get out to the world? No, Penny stays herself just long enough to complete it. 

We see Penny fall, unconscious, as a cliffhanger. Will she be damaged/killed by that fall? Will the Ace Ops be able to snatch her up while unguarded in the tundra? No, sometime off screen Penny apparently woke up again and flew herself to Ruby. 

Penny crash lands among the group, clearly hurt and apologizing for something she doesn’t explain before passing out again. Will the group finally leave to discover whether Pietro and Maria are okay? Find out what happened to cause this? No, they turn on the power so that Klein, the butler-doctor, can do something unnamed to help Penny, since he’s also a scientist, I guess. 

Penny wakes up again and the hack continues. Will she unwillingly use her Maiden powers to hurt someone in the mansion? Like Klein, the very minor character few care about and whose injury/death would provide a distinct consequence to all this? No, Nora calms Penny down by reminding her that she’s... multifaceted? 

Penny is overtaken again and starts to leave, revealing that she is to open the vault and self destruct. Will she succeed in escaping? No, the Hound stops her, knocking her unconscious again (third time, folks!), even though it makes no sense why he’s trying to bring her back. Watts hacked Penny to open the vault for Salem. Salem knows he did this because Watts contacted them. So why is Salem sending the Hound to stop Penny from doing what Salem wants? Why the attempted detour to the whale when Penny is already on track to the end goal? The Hound should have been focused on the group, giving Penny the means to escape. 

So Penny has demonstrated how dangerous she is in this state, has revealed she’s after the Relic, and that she’ll self-destruct upon getting it. Will the group try desperately to find a way to fix or contain her? At least put up a guard to watch over her? No, they’re more focused on Emerald and Summer angst. Jaune seems to just conveniently spot Penny escaping again. 

The group captures Penny and is faced with a (stupid) choice: let her go, or kill her. Will they make that choice in a volume where they continually refuse to make choices? No, Ruby comes up with the nonsensical solution of, “We can combat the technological virus by having Jaune boost what supposedly makes Penny human.” Okay. 

Except Jaune shouldn’t have even been able to do that. Putting aside the growing list of convenient things his semblance can apparently do, he was just as exhausted as Ren back in the whale. They both needed a break and then Ren’s aura broke immediately afterwards. So Jaune should be at the end of his rope, right? No, just a short time later he has enough aura to try to heal Nora and boost Weiss and fix Penny long enough for the group to focus on other concerns. 

With the added issue that that’s still not how Jaune’s semblance works. Every time he uses it  — to boost someone’s aura to heal, to boost a semblance, etc.  — he has to keep doing that for the person in question to experience the benefits. We see it on screen, via the aura itself or just by having Jaune touching them. The moment he removes his hand that boost is lost... yet now, suddenly, Jaune touches Penny for a second and she remains in a boosted state? She’s not completely fixed, no, but they came up with a short-term solution that is illogical on its own while simultaneously ignoring two of Jaune’s limitations: being low on aura and the need to continue boosting someone in order to create that benefit. To justify Penny not returning to the state she was in when everyone was piled on top of her, Jaune should be glued to her side and amplifying her aura constantly  — a far, far shorter solution than what the episode actually gave us. 

There’s no consistency here. There’s no meaning. When Jaune warns that he can’t “keep this up forever” I have no emotional investment in that because this entire arc has been dodging consequences, most recently ignoring established facts to do so. That line is meant to make us worried  — “What happens when Jaune can’t boost Penny anymore??”  — but like “What happens when Penny wakes up??” or “What happens when she attacks??” we already know that there’s no actual danger here. There won’t be any consequences. The show has pulled back too many times before. For the entire second half of the volume the show has gone, “Omg Penny is in danger/is dangerous!” and then undermining those stakes in the most frustrating way possible. Something happened off screen. The butler can fix her. Nora held her hand for a second. She’s knocked unconscious again and no steps are taken to prevent the next escape attempt. Jaune’s semblance bends the rules of this world to implement a temporary fix that doesn’t really add up. 

At this point, the claim of, “Penny is still in danger!” has lost all impact because the show has refused to commit to that danger for seven episodes in a row. 

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Motion Sickness Chapter 49

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We left Wutai behind weeks ago and sold the horse in Shumi at the same vendor that I'd bought it from with a considerable mark down.

I didn't really care much about that.

Instead I cared about securing an airship in Mistral. Which we did after the train ride from Shumi.

"You're going to be able to fly this thing?"

Neo nodded. Our relationship changed slightly after Wutai. She knew that I wasn't blowing smoke about my origins. She knew I wasn't lying about Mother's control over my mind.

She knew how dead serious I was and a bit more about how fucking crazy I really could be.  

Good.

Don't cross me, Neo. I'm not a man whose bad side you want to be on. Don't believe me, just watch.

We walked out on an air-pad together in Mistral. We climbed aboard our small military freighter together. It was a small ship with the Mistrali cockpit to it and a bit of Atlas inspiration in the geometry of the wings.

She strapped herself into the pilot's seat and bit back a bit of yawn.

I sat back in the cabin and kicked my legs up. I pulled out the little black book we'd gotten from Merlot's laboratory and began to read through it. My new favorite pastime.

There I was, notes on me and how my skeletal structure was forming. Sketches of me at different stages of my development. It was the closest thing I had to a family picture book.

"You know where to be able to land this thing in Solitas?"

She shrugged at the same time she nodded.

"Good. We'll get there and the first thing we'll need is data, not money." This plane had run me a few hundred grand but I still had a few million Lien. A small fortune.

Neo still had all of her money from the last one. I'd run the lion's share of our expenses out of my pockets.

"That means heists regarding the most valuable of commodities."

She gave me a backwards glance as she started the plane up.

"No, not water Neo. Don't be ridiculous."

She rolled her eyes at me.

"Its information. Unfortunately my semblance doesn't give me a million eyes and the ability to hear and see shit across the city. I'm just good at smashing kneecaps. So that's what we'll have to do."

"I want to know what Ironwood is up to. I want to know if there is a maiden in Solitas. I want to know where she is, if she's there. I want to know how she takes her tea or if she drinks coffee. She'll either be summer or winter, because Cinder is fall and spring."

I read through a few notes of how my musculature was tested through dance while I was in the tube. My father hadn't wanted me to know how to fight but needed a way to test my movement. Dancing was good for that while floating in embryonic liquid.

It also gave my nervous system the tests he felt it needed.

The fucking sicko.

Neo held up her scroll at me with some typed words.

"Ice-cream?" I asked, reading aloud. "Sure we can get some when we land. You've more than earned it. We'll find a cafe, get you a sunday if you want."

She gave me a glittering smile and ran through some preflight checks. She flipped a few switches I could only guess the purposes of.

"Yeah yeah you're an old fashioned ice-cream girl. I should have guessed."

I pulled out my pipe. I started to pack it and my mouth watered slightly. Neo turned on the no smoking light in response. I grumbled and stowed the pipe in my pocket again. She just gave me a smug grin.

"This is how you repay me?"

She held her nose.

"Yeah I guess. A bit stuffy in here. Can't exactly open a window, either. I have to wait to smoke and you've got to wait on that ice-cream. Is that it? Fair enough, I suppose."

The bullhead took off with a hovering heave.

I read a little more out of my little black book in Merlot's tight scrawl.

Subject has been implanted with memories of living in the areas surrounding Vale. I avoided giving him memories of nearby locations in the event that he escapes.

That cruel son of a bitch.

He spasms and calls out for his mother. I can only assume he means Salem. It appears she is imparting him with some memories of her own, she does so even as I write and sleep. I should like to find out more. What all she leaves him with in addition to my own vat training creates an unpredictable specimen, however. I fear letting him out of the tank and it's doubtful we could have a reasonable dialogue. I wonder if Salem would pay a price to have him.

It may be a method to acquire more of her cells. A trade of sorts, for this son. She already gave up some cells for inferior Grimm specimens I created. It may just be possible.

At some point the text just ended. With no mention of how I ended up in Vale with a sword or even the falsified huntsman records. I could only guess at how that happened. Salem claimed to have had a bit of role in that. Making sure I infiltrated Beacon and was on my way with Ozpin none the wiser but I was no closer to figuring out how she'd done it.

Perhaps she took Merlot up when he tried to sell me back to her and used yet another of her agents. It was unclear.

What was clear was that I was a bit of a mess. A bunch of accidents had created me and left me in the state that Merlot had dubbed a partial failure. Salem had been poisoning my mind before I left the womb, so to speak. It was possible she continued to poison me in my dreams now.

And with that terrifying thought I closed the book and tried to get some shut-eye as the plane flew.

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We landed in Solitas in the depths of a pine subarctic forest. Neo put us down in a clearing and the plan was to hitch a short ride to Mantle by train or car in a nearby township.

It was the borders of Solitas that were closed so now that we were on the northern continent I didn't expect that we'd encounter resistance to our arrival.

"You're not wanted here, are you?"

Neo shrugged.

I took that as meaning, 'if anyone recognizes me.' So probably no more than in Mistral. We'd walked around pretty freely down there so, again, I didn't expect much trouble.

"You've got disguises on you, too, though." She rolled her eyes and they turned green and her hair switched to black before they all shifted back to their natural colors.

I nodded and set about unfolding a tarp over the top of the airship to protect it from the elements. We couldn't exactly get it close to the city without alerting Atlesian air-control to our presence.

Neo was mute and couldn't respond to air traffic controllers and we didn't know the appropriate communication codes to fly into the airspace, besides.

The whole place was in a state of lockdown, unlike Mistral and Vale, and they'd probably shoot us down if we didn't skirt the edges. I'd been worried a patrol might head us off and start shooting at us even as far away as we'd flown.

I tied the tarp tight over the ship with bungee-cords and refueled it from the dust supply we'd brought in the back of the ship. It took powdered burn, and a hefty amount of it too but we couldn't exactly refuel around here.

It took us a bit of a hike to get to the nearest township, Senew, we'd had to land far enough away that no one could have seen us.

I marked the place we landed on the map on my scroll so we wouldn't lose the airship. It would be hard to find again unless we knew where to look. And that's assuming it didn't get buried under snow in the meantime.

I marched through the snow drifts. My clothes which had been a stray too hot down in Mistral under all my armor were more at home here. The thick cape didn't help with getting through the drifts but my boots were key.

Neo had to step along through my foot prints, following me. She was short enough that I was worried I might lose her if she had to mark her own trail. I had to resist the urge to laugh at her tiny form as she struggled through the snow, something I knew she wouldn't take well.

I lit my pipe and eventually we made our way to Senew.

I found a small cafe and ordered Neo ice-cream, just as I'd promised her. I wasn't sure if she'd change her mind because of the cold weather but she seemed content with her selection. It couldn't have been a popular order in this cold. She deserved a treat after flying all the way here and then hiking a few kilometers in the snow, though. I ordered a hot coffee and we sat together in the cafe.

"Are you sure you won't be cold?"

She nodded.

"It's just that you're so small. And your ice-cream is so large." It was a decently sized sunday topped with a banana and hot fudge. I suppose that the hot fudge might help with the cold.

She kicked me under the table.

"It's adorable."

She kicked me again.

"Alright, alright. It's not adorable."

She glowered.

"I just can't win with you, can I, Neo?"

She gave me a look that said 'you're not even trying to win with me.'

"Fair enough. So this is Solitas. Looks bleak."

I listened to the wind through the window of the cafe. It was howling. It might whip itself up into a blizzard and I didn't want to be caught up in that.

"Do you think things will be better in Mantle?"

Neo shook her head.

"So it's pretty desolate there, too."

Neo nodded.

"You've been? Well once we're there we'll need to narrow down our search for the maiden. Probably in Atlas, at a guess. Probably in a bunker if Ironwood has his way."

Neo nodded and took a bite of ice-cream.

"But bunkers don't much matter to you, do they Neo? We'll find her. Even if we have to break into every bunker in Atlas."

I was tempted to light my pipe again but there was a man near the Cafe's bar wiping down tables and I didn't want to do anything noticeably illegal within the first few hours of landing here. Mary Jane was a prohibited substance all across Remnant and the cafe probably had rules about smoking and I didn't want to be thrown out, at least not before Neo had finished her ice-cream.

“Come to me, child…”

The wind whispered and with it came a cruel voice.

“My child. My little puppet. You will bring me the relic.”

My hand fell to my side and patted the relic where it hung. It still had two questions left. I considered using them on Cinder's whereabouts. Or that of the remaining maidens.

I had so many options. So many questions. I'd only ever get two more answered. There were so many secrets about my own life I'd never get answers to if only due to the opportunity cost of only getting any two answered.

And that was if I didn't ask about the maidens. Or Cinder. Or Ozma. I knew so little. Perhaps I was just a puppet with Salem pulling the strings.

The hidden truths about how I came to be in Vale alone held a dozen questions. Why had she sent me to Vale. How had she done so? Where was Merlot now? Where were my sisters? How had they come to be?

On instinct I'd burned one of my questions because I needed to know how to deal with Salem. I had a loose plan for that. Destroy her body so completely that she could never reform. Scatter her remains across this world such that she'd never take possession with her feet ever again, let alone her mind. The relic had indicated that such a thing was indeed possible. I just needed to get close enough to do it.

It took me forever to muscle up the courage to use the thing. Even looking at it reminded me of Ren and Nora and what I'd done to them. It felt wrong for me to be the one using the questions for that reason. Once I'd cleared my mind of the bloodlust I had only one choice in moving forward. To use the relic. So I did. And I'd burnt one of my valuable questions.

I could ask how to resist her commands so that I could actually strike at her without her dominating my mind. I could ask how else I might be able to defeat her. There were so many options. So many choices. I found myself paralyzed by the sheer number of them.

And I had only two left.

Finding out Salem was immortal had been a kick in the gut. But it wasn't so bad knowing that she could still be stopped. Still be delayed. I could still shut her down. She could be wounded.

And like a god of a myth of old, if I scattered her pieces fine enough, she would never return to power. It was just a question of breaking her hold over me. I couldn't cut her into bits if she controlled my thoughts.

So what questions should I ask the relic? Should I even ask it anything? A good question, one I'd ironically like the relic to answer.

I could also ask about the other donor who'd created me. My surrogate. It was a mystery I may never have the answer to any other way.

I sighed and stood up, I slammed back my coffee. Neo was finished eating and I had a train to catch.

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

We took the train ride into the city. I watched Atlas loom overhead. A giant rock with engines dangling beneath. The gondolas and their cables stretched to the upper city like a spider's web. Hovercraft swarmed the floating rock. All in Atlesian design and bearing Atlas' colors.

I knew a little of the place's history. How Atlas had been set up above the city of Mantle. I know about how some had been left behind.

The lower city was dirty. It was mostly a giant slum with buildings pacted too close together for comfort. I looked out the window as we rode in on the place. I imagined a lot of people worked in the upper city and commuted there each day from down here.

The cobbled streets were packed with vendors in a way that reminded me a little of Mistral's middle and lower levels.

It must be hard to see such affluence then to come back down here day in and day out.

There was a quiet resentment to the place. Angry about the rock that hung above. A constant reminder of haves and have-nots.

We shuttled past a dust mine in the middle of the city. A large open-pit thing that seemed to threaten hunger. As though on a bad day it might stretch it's maw wide and swallow the place whole.

I only caught a narrow look as we bulleted past the famous dust mines of Mantle. It looked like the kind of place no one would choose to work in. It was about needs.

There were faunus every which way you looked. The racial segregation couldn't have been more prominent any where else in the world. The upper city, that's for humans, the lower city, that's for faunus. A clear dividing marker to segregate the two based on economic strata now, and social strata in the past.

My life might be a total piece of shit but hey, at least I wasn't a dust miner.

"Come on Neo. Let's find a place to stay."

We found a small motel willing to put up with us. They managed to keep it clear of the soot of the mines. There was a grime to the air which only heavy machinery spinning into the earth could throw up. I imagined how clean and fresh the air in the city above must feel. I imagined trying to raise children in a place like this. I promptly stopped.

I was just making myself depressed and pointlessly. There were real things in my life about this city that should make me depressed. I needed to find a branch of the Malachite or a rival gang organization.  

It was at times like these that, let me tell you, I got the White Fang. Their purpose was a noble one from the sight of the Mantle slums. I could see how and why the Fang were born when I looked out a window here.

"Let's take a tram up."

The upper city couldn't have been more different. It was also built down into the rock it floated on. Atlas Academy, I could see it from our gondola, had windows looking down and out over the wastes. They were dug into the mountainous slab.

There were also taller buildings which stretched upwards. Giving the illusion of some sort of man-made crystal, hewn from a different kind of rock. The city was a geode. Building upwards and downwards into the dull mound.

We landed and made our way off the gondola. We were surrounded by Mantleans working clerking jobs in the upper city. We stood out a little as hunters but only a little. We were given second glances but they were only that.

"I'm not sure I like it here. I think I prefer Mistral to Atlas." I told Neo. I watched busybodies bustle. "At least in Mistral they don't pretend that the lower floors are part of a different city."

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

-WG

[teacupfulofstarshine]

the crossroad of our destinies book one: earth

summary: virgil isn't sure how he got roped into this crazy adventure. somehow, he's traveling around with the avatar, his blind earth bending younger brother, a chipper air bender, and a banished fire bender prince, and they're supposed to save the world? virgil can't even tell them he's a water bender. he's not cut out to save anyone. little did he know, they're cut out to save each other - and maybe the whole world in the process. 

(OR: an avatar the last airbender!au, centering around a water bender virgil)

a/n: i . . . wrote the entire first chapter in one day . . . how i still do not know . . . the confusion is real. huge, huge, HUGE amounts of thanks goes to @lovelylogans for cheerleading me through this and also beta reading the first chapter. this wouldn't exist without her, and i love her, and i am so eternally grateful 

CW: atla-typical fantasy violence, brief nonspecific allusions to child abuse, angst, background death of minor unnamed OCs, family angst, mentions of burns

wordcount: 5882

read it on ao3! 

“This is gonna be so interesting!” Patton says, draping himself on his belly over the ball of air beneath him. “I’ve never seen real earth bending before!”

“That would imply that there’s such a thing as fake earth bending, which there decidedly is not,” Logan says, adjusting his shirt with a huff. Virgil glances up from where he’s sharpening his knife next to the fire, raising an eyebrow. 

“I’ve done all kinds of reading about earth bending!” Patton says, seemingly oblivious to Logan’s indignation. “There are scrolls about it all over the Air Nation temples, but I’ve obviously never seen one! Earth benders went extinct so long ago that -”

“What?” Thomas says, lifting his head to stare up at Patton. 

“The Fire Nation desecration reaches beyond our home?” Logan asks, one hand curling into a fist at his side. “They have burned more villages to the ground than ours?” 

Roman pokes at the campfire with a stick, keeping his eyes cast to the ground. “The Fire Nation is trying to wipe out all other benders. They don’t want anyone left but us. Why do you think I ran away from home? My father told me that the other nations attacked us first, but . . .” 

“Falsehood,” Logan snaps. The earth begins to shake beneath him. “We would never do something so horrendous! The Earth Kingdom is a peaceful settlement, we - we would never -”

“Calm down, Rocky, I’m not accusing you,” Roman says. The campfire flares up, and Virgil’s eyes flicker to the waterskin at his side. His hands won’t move fast enough if Roman’s temper causes him to lose control. Something else might, but he refuses. “I’m just saying, there’s a lot of propaganda in the Fire Nation. We’re not all heartless evil bastards. Some of us are just trying to protect our homes. I abandoned a lot when I saved you and your brother from my father’s army.”

“Oh, yes, like what?” Logan snaps. “Like a cushy life in the palace? Like your status as the next in line for overlord of us all and destroyer of my people? Like -”

“Like my twin brother,” Roman says coolly, tone betraying the way the fire surges and sinks in time with his heavy breathing. “Like my best friend, the boy I was to marry. I loved him so much, and he helped me escape, and - and my father probably killed him for his insubordination. I’ll never see him again, and whose fault is that? Mine!” 

The fire surges up in a pillar. Before anyone can react in a meaningful way, a vortex spirals to life around the flames. In a flash, all the oxygen is sucked out of the fire. It dies instantly, leaving a pile of half-charred twigs. Patton lets his bending stance drop, and the vortex falls away. 

“Everyone,” he says quietly, “needs to take some deep breaths. It’s going to be okay. Everyone here has suffered at the hands of the Fire Nation. Everyone here has lost something. It’s okay to acknowledge that pain, and hurt, but it’s not okay to blame each other or ourselves. Roman, you can’t control what your father did to you any more than Thomas and Logan can control the fact that they’re earth benders.” 

“I am an earth bender,” Logan says quietly. “Thomas is -”

“The Avatar,” Thomas says. He studies his hands in silence, and Virgil slides his knife into his boot. 

“Yeah, well, Avatar or not, you were born an earth bender,” he says. Everyone looks at him in a surprise that he mirrors internally; he’s not really one for speaking up during moments like this. There have been plenty since they all started traveling together, but Virgil typically keeps his mouth shut. 

“What?” Thomas asks. Logan turns his head towards Virgil’s voice. His unseeing eyes bore right through Virgil, as though they’re peering into his soul. 

“You were born an earth bender,” Virgil repeats. “That’s the whole damn point of the Avatar cycle, isn’t it? The Avatar spirit gets cycled through all the nations so that each Avatar gets a new and different experience to the one before. No matter what anyone says, you’re an earth bender. Just ‘cause you’re the Avatar too, that doesn’t change your birthright.”

His voice slips away from him, falling into the familiar cadence of his grandmother telling him stories as a young child. “You are an earth bender. You were born with the pull of Mother Earth in your bones. The Lion-Turtles have gifted you with an awareness of what is beneath us, always, a firm and unyielding constant in a world too fluid to appreciate it. You must hold steadfast to what is right and true, because no one else will do it for you. Air, flighty and fluid; fire, scorching and shifting; water, rapid and raging; all these will move from one form to the next as it suits their needs. You must anchor them, or no one will.” 

He blinks, snapping himself out of the strange trance he lulled himself into, and becomes aware of the other three staring at him. “What?” he snaps defensively. 

“That was . . . something,” Thomas says. “Where’d you get a story like that?”

“My grandmother,” Virgil says, pulling a knife from inside his robe. He makes sure that everyone catches the sharpness of its edge glinting under the half-full moon before he goes back to sharpening it. “She would tell me stories of the other benders all the time, how every element has its strengths and drawbacks. She told me that every element plays a role in keeping the world balanced, and that someone would have to repair what the Fire Nation was breaking without destroying the Fire Nation in the process.”

“And why not?” Logan asks - not accusing, genuinely curious. He shifts one foot a couple of inches and a rock springs from the ground next to Thomas, allowing Logan to sit down. 

“Because if we lose fire benders completely, we lose everything we worked to rebuild. We need harmony between all four elements. That includes Princey and his fire bending.” 

Roman thrusts a fist forward, and the campfire reignites itself as a small fireball bursts from his fist. “Thanks, Waterboy.” Virgil flinches a little. “What? You’re from the Southern Water Tribe, aren’t you?”

“What? Yeah. What about it?” 

Roman just shrugs and goes back to the campfire. 

*~*~*~*~*

Logan is amazing at earth bending. 

Granted, Virgil knows next to nothing about the techniques, other than the fact that they involve a lot of foot movements and heavy grounding. It seems to be the complete antithesis of Patton’s air bending and Roman’s fire bending, both of which appear to center heavily on movement. Still, it’s plain to see that Logan is something of a prodigy. He moves as though the earth he bends is an extension of his own body, controlling it with an easy, fluid grace that belies his solid stances. 

It’s hard to believe, watching him, that he’s the younger brother. It’s hard to believe that he can’t see anything. Roman comments as much, and Logan sends him flying with a blunted earth spike without so much as turning to face him. 

“Ow!” Roman shrieks. He’s unharmed, of course; Patton had swiftly leapt into the air to catch him and return him to the ground. “What was that for?” 

“I can so see,” Logan retorts. He barely comes up to Roman’s shoulder, but he’s solidly built, despite his young age. 

“I thought you were blind!” 

“I am. My eyes have never seen a day of my life. That does not mean I cannot see, you moron. I simply do not see with my eyes. I use my feet to see. The ground tells me everything I need to know. You, for example, are currently clinging to Patton like a terrified lemur, and he is hovering approximately as far above the ground as my forearm is long.” 

“How do you do that?!” Roman says, dropping from Patton’s arms to land on the ground. “Also, there’s no way that you’re strong enough to take me down.” 

“And why not?” Logan asks. “I could so take you down.” 

“This is a bad idea,” Virgil says. 

“You could not!” Roman boasts. 

“This is a bad idea,” Virgil repeats. 

“That sounds like a challenge,” Logan says, turning in Roman’s direction and tilting his head in a clear act of dismissal. “Unless you are afraid to face a young, blind earth bender, Prince Roman?”

Roman’s face changes from pride to ice in a split-second. He’ll tolerate Virgil’s “Princey” jabs, but he hates being called by his proper title. “You’re on.”

“Not here!” Thomas yelps. “We are standing in a very flammable forest, and none of us can water bend!” 

“Aren’t you the Avatar, master of all elements?” Roman says testily.

“Only in the Avatar state, at the moment, which I cannot trigger on my own! If you guys set the whole forest on fire, people will come and investigate! We can’t risk being found - I can’t risk being found!” 

The sound of his older brother’s voice seems to snap Logan out of it, at the very least. He shifts his left foot, and Virgil shivers as a small earthquake rumbles through the ground. It’s low-scale enough that anyone else who notices it will pass it off as normal seismic activity. For their little group, however, it’s much more than that; it’s Logan checking the nearby terrain. 

If that isn’t enough to terrify Roman into surrender, Virgil seriously worries about the state of his brain. 

“There is an isolated rocky plain not far from here,” Logan says. “I suggest that we have our battle there. Will tomorrow suffice?”

“Fine by me,” Roman spits, stalking away. Patton drops to the ground and begins to croon to his giant sky bison Remy, stroking his nose. Remy huffs out a breath that rustles the trees around them. Virgil is inclined to agree. 

*~*~*~*~*

“I have said it before, and I will say it again. This is a BAD idea.” 

Virgil tugs his thick jacket on over his loose tunic and pants. Logan sits next to him, controlling a small mound of earth like it’s wet clay. With every shift of his perpetually-bare feet, he changes its shape. 

“I will not be injured,” Logan says. “Roman will not intentionally injure me. He considers me an opponent beneath him, and he is too gallant to harm a child.” 

“How old are you, anyway? Not judging or anything, I’m just . . . curious.” 

Logan’s earth mound trembles. “I am . . . twelve years and six months old.” 

Virgil just blinks at him. He’d thought that Patton, newly fourteen, was the youngest member of their crew; he and Roman are both sixteen, and Thomas is seventeen. He’s assumed this whole time that Logan is around Patton’s age, maybe a few months older, despite his slight stature. “That’s . . . younger than I was expecting.” 

“Are you going to remove me from your expedition?” Logan challenges. He clenches his fist, and the earth mound shatters into dust. “I will not abandon Thomas. He is my brother, the only remnant I have of my family. Of my village, my people, my culture. He is everything to me. I will not return to an ashen husk of my home because you do not consider me mature enough for this journey.” 

“You’re the most mature person here, and anyone who says otherwise is an idiot,” Virgil says, holding up his hands in an “I-mean-no-harm” gesture. He says it because it’s true, because he believes it, but he also says it because he can see the way the earth trembles below Logan. It reminds him of the sea, in a way - calm and quiet, but constantly roiling beneath the glassy surface. 

Logan takes a deep breath, air in and out, and the earth calms to stillness on his exhale. 

“Thank you, Virgil.”

“You’re welcome. Now that the mushy shit’s out of the way - this is a terrible idea and you shouldn’t fight Roman. Not because you’re young or weak or anything like that, but because if one of you gets seriously injured, it’s not like we can waltz into the nearest village and ask for help.” 

Logan shakes his head, smiling. He looks much older than twelve and a half. 

“Trust me, Virgil. This will not be much of a fight.” 

*~*~*~*~*

“If I could talk him out of this, I would,” Thomas tells Virgil. They’re sitting on a tall mound of earth that Thomas had bended up from the plain. Patton hovers casually behind them, sitting cross-legged on a ball of air. Logan and Roman stand facing each other, arms at their sides. 

“The duel will end when one of the participants is unable to bend, or when one participant cedes to the other,” Virgil announces. He’s still not sure how he got roped into refereeing this crazy death match. Patton bends the wind so that his voice carries down to Logan and Roman, but he doesn’t have to. It’s so silent that Virgil could hear for miles. “No attacks shall be permitted which may result in death or grievous bodily harm. Are these rules understood by the participants?” 

“They are,” Roman says. They’re different than the rules to a Fire Nation duel, Virgil thinks, judging by the slight confusion that crosses Roman’s face before he settles back to cool indifference. 

“They are,” Logan says. He and Roman are an arm’s-length apart. 

“Bow!” Virgil calls. Logan and Roman each take a step backward and bow from the waist, a sign of respect between duel participants. Despite their bickering, they do respect each other. (Virgil thinks.) 

“Turn and walk! Ten or fifteen paces!” The traditional standard is ten paces, but Logan’s legs are much shorter than Roman’s, so he has to walk fifteen paces to cross the same amount of ground that Roman does in ten. They turn around and walk, and once they’ve made it the designated distance they turn back to each other. 

“Ready your bending stances!” Roman squares his shoulders and lifts his hands, curling them into fists. Logan spreads his feet apart, planting them shoulder-width apart. Virgil raises a hand up high, bringing it down sharply to connect with his palm like a knife slicing through a fresh kill. 

“Begin!” 

Roman immediately launches a huge fireball at Logan. It’s red, the lowest intensity Roman is capable of producing. Virgil laughs internally; Logan was right. Roman is holding back. Thomas makes a worried noise, but Logan is unaffected. He shifts one foot, thrusts his hands out and flicks them up, and suddenly a massive wall of earth rises in front of him. Roman’s fireball slams harmlessly into it, singing the upper layer of dust but otherwise having no effect. 

“I knew you would temper your attacks for me!” Logan shouts, dropping his wall. “If that had been your usual strength, my wall would have disintegrated!” 

“And you took that risk?!” Roman says. 

“Because I knew you would go easy on me! That is not the point of this duel, Roman! Fight me like you mean it!” Logan stamps his foot, and two massive pillars of earth rise up beside him, one on either side. Another stamp, and the pillars segment into disks. Logan begins to move, still between the pillars as he hurls the disks of earth at Roman. 

Roman dodges the first few disks easily, but Logan is relentless. For every few disks he throws, he stamps his food again, and the pillars rise up again. He draws more and more earth up from beneath him, and it’s all Roman can do to keep himself from being crushed. 

“Are you trying to kill me?!” 

“I thought you were a prince! You should be stronger than this!” 

Roman stands perfectly still, and Logan sends a disk hurtling towards him. Roman screams and throws his hands forwards, and a massive burst of golden-orange fire roars out. It engulfs the disk, pushing it backwards and melting it. Molten rock splashes to the ground, and Roman runs forward. He has twin flames clenched in his fists, like knives, and Logan grins wildly. 

“Finally!” 

The ground grows soft beneath his feet. Roman yells, thrusts a fire-knife forward like he’s going to stab Logan in the head, and Logan vanishes. He drops down, sinking below the earth, and Roman whirls around, confused. The pillars sink down into the ground, and Roman growls. 

“Get up here and fight like a man!” 

The ground rumbles beneath him, almost like Logan is laughing, and then a pillar of earth bursts up beneath Roman and sends him flying into the air. As he falls, another pillar flies up, smashing into him, and then another and another and another. Roman is knocked around like a ragdoll; he fire bends in the air, hurling jets of flame at the earth, but Logan is apparently so far underground that he is unaffected. 

Finally, he slams onto the earth, flat on his back. Logan pops up from underground, covered in a layer of dust, breathing heavily. He takes a single step towards Roman and collapses. 

“Logan!” Thomas shouts. Roman pushes himself to sit up, placing a hand along Logan’s neck. The earth bender doesn’t stir. Roman says something, but it’s inaudible. “Patton, please!” 

“On it,” Patton says, bending Roman’s words toward them. 

“He’s alive,” Roman rasps in their ears. Thomas stands, slamming his foot into the ground, and a curved chute carves itself into their observation mound. Another stamp, and a flat piece of earth appears at the mouth of the chute. Thomas leaps onto it and begins to surf down towards Roman and Logan. 

“A little help?” Virgil asks Patton dryly. Patton offers his hand, pulling Virgil up into his arms, and then they’re flying.

*~*~*~*~*

Logan sleeps for about six hours before sitting up, rubbing at his eyes. “What hit me?” he groans. “Did I lose the duel?”

“You both lost, morons,” Virgil says shortly. 

“You and I are the only ones here - no, wait, someone else is laying by the fire. Roman?” 

“Yeah. He’s sleeping off what you two did to each other. Patton and Thomas are off by the river getting water, because if I have to watch Thomas mother-hen over you two anymore I’m gonna lose my fucking mind.” He stabs angrily at the fire. “You over-exerted yourself with that crazy tunneling move.” 

“I . . . have never tried it on that large a scale before,” Logan admits, shakily sitting up. “Even now, my bending feels . . . exhausted. My vision is foggy. I - for the first time since I learned to bend, I feel truly blind.” He sounds like a scared kid, and it’s enough to evaporate what’s left of Virgil’s anger. 

“Hey, you’re alright,” he says gruffly. “No one’s dead, and you two hopefully have a better understanding of each other’s power now, right?” Logan nods, silent. “Good. Just know that if you ever scare your brother and Patton -” ( and me, he doesn’t say) “- again, I’ll drown you in the fucking river.” 

Logan cracks a smile at that, and it doesn’t fade, even when Thomas returns from the river and practically tackles him into a tearful hug.

*~*~*~*~*

Sometimes, Virgil has regrets. 

Remy coasts through the sky, Patton seated on his head with a loose grip on the reins. Logan, Thomas, and Roman all huddle together, Roman in the middle so that his warmth exudes out to encompass them like a bubble. Virgil is starfished on his back, staring up at the sky. It’s so different to the one that he’s used to seeing over the Southern Pole. 

He misses home. 

He misses the familiar sting of ice and snow against his skin. He misses the scent of seal jerky drying out next to the campfires. He misses packing down the firm snow to create walls for the igloo, misses hunting with his friends and family. 

He misses bending. 

The Fire Nation thinks that they have eradicated water benders from the Southern Pole. They believe that Virgil’s father, whom they cruelly killed on their last raid, was the final water bender. 

They think incorrectly. 

Virgil’s father sacrificed himself to save his son. The pendant Virgil wears around his neck, carved from the rib bone of an ancient and mighty Lion-Turtle, was the only thing he was allowed to keep when his father’s body was prepared for burial. His mother gave it to his father when they were married. She died bringing him into the world, and the Fire Nation made him an orphan. 

“Virgil?” Thomas asks, shifting on Roman’s chest. “Are you okay?” 

Virgil exhales, rolling over so that he’s facing his sleepy friends. “Yeah, Thomas, I’m okay. Just homesick, you know?” 

“I get that,” Thomas says. He reaches over and gently touches his sleeping brother. “At least I have Lo with me, to remind me of home. You don’t even have that. I’m so sorry.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Virgil says easily. “It’s not like I have a family to go back to, anyway.”

A sad look crosses Thomas’s face, but he doesn’t push. Virgil can’t decide if he’s grateful or disappointed. 

*~*~*~*~*

It’s amusing to watch Logan drill Thomas in earth bending. Every time Thomas messes up, Logan throws a pebble at him, and not with his earth bending, either. He will literally pick up the nearest chunk of rock and throw it at Thomas. He hits him in the arm without fail. 

Virgil snickers from where he’s darning a tear in his pants. He has a bone needle in his pack, and it doesn’t take a lot of skill to find plants that he can twist into sturdy fiber thread. He’s already got a pretty sizable ball of thread rolled up beside him. 

“You can sew?” Roman asks. 

Virgil flinches at the sudden noise, nearly pricking his finger with the needle. “Don’t scare a guy like that, Princey!” 

An upset expression crosses Roman’s face, but he brushes it off. “Still!”

“Yeah, I can sew. In the Water Tribe, you have to learn to do stuff for yourself.” Especially when the Fire Nation kills your parents, he doesn’t say. 

Roman bounces eagerly. “Do you think you could teach me to do that?”

“Why the hell do you wanna know how to sew?”

“If something rips, I have to be able to fix it myself,” Roman says firmly. “Teach me, please?” 

Virgil sighs. “I only have one needle, so you have to wait until I’m done with this actual work before I start teaching you. You will prick your fingers a lot, and you are not allowed to bitch at me for this. You brought this upon yourself.” 

Roman just grins, sharp and wild. It’s the grin of a Fire Nation child, and it should strike terror into Virgil’s heart. He’s almost more terrified by the fact that it doesn’t.

*~*~*~*~*

Virgil quietly creeps away, after ensuring that everyone else is soundly asleep. They’re fortunate enough to have camped near a river this time, despite the fact that they’re still in the middle of the woods as they travel. What their endgame is, Virgil doesn’t know. For now, they’re just traveling so that the Fire Nation doesn’t catch them off guard, complacent in one place. 

He steps into the river, and the feeling of water around his ankles is soothing. “Hello,” he breathes. 

Virgil knows that his father wasn’t a water bender. He doesn’t think his mother was a water bender, either, although it’s impossible to say. The pendant that she gave his father was carved by water bending, tiny thin streams of water manipulated skillfully along the surface until they etched grooves. It doesn’t make sense that she would have trusted its creation to someone else, but if she had no choice . . .

Despite his insecurities, being in the water always makes him feel closer to both of them. 

He slowly lifts a hand, and a stream of water coils up to meet him. It wraps around his wrist, like a vine, like a friend, coiling up towards his neck. Virgil exhales, tips backwards, and lets himself fall into the water. He moves his hands as he falls, bending the river water so that it flows around his head. The water rushes through his ears, and Virgil is at peace. 

He stares up at the full moon, pretending he can see his father’s smile staring back at him in the craters on its surface.

*~*~*~*~*

“There are spirits in this place,” Thomas says. His eyes aren’t glowing the way they do when the Avatar State overtakes him, but there is an unnatural shine to his irises. “They are here, and they are angry.”

“Why?” the village leader asks. Thomas turns his head towards the village leader’s young daughter, sees the way she cowers away from her father. Virgil doesn’t have whatever supernatural perception Thomas does, but he doesn’t need Avatar State eyes (or whatever the fuck is going on) to see the bruises that litter her arms under her tight sleeves. 

Thomas takes a step forward. The earth shakes beneath him. Logan shifts to a bending stance in a single breath, but Thomas puts a hand out to stop him. Ice-blue wisps of fog coil up around him, and Virgil takes a step backwards as a massive spirit-dragon appears in the village square. 

“They are angry,” Thomas repeats, and his voice reverberates with a power well beyond his years.  

Yeah. Virgil’s pretty angry, too.

*~*~*~*~*

“I didn’t know you could do that,” Logan comments idly, as they fly away from the village. He’s holding tightly to his brother; without the ground to, well, ground him, he tends to cling to Thomas. “With the spirits.” 

“You could sense them?”

“Not with my earth bending. They’re not solid. But I could feel them. I knew they were there, and . . . and once you spoke, I knew they were angry.” 

“No child should be hurt,” Roman says darkly. He’s slumped over the side of the saddle, watching the ground pass by below him. “No - no child. No child should be hurt.” 

Patton is silent, clutching Remy’s reins with white knuckles. He’s been silent since they left, but Virgil is too attentive to miss the tears streaming down his face. They’d saved the day, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a pit in all their stomachs.

*~*~*~*~*

When the Fire Nation soldier bursts through the bushes, everyone moves in an instant. 

Patton and Logan spring in front of Thomas immediately; Logan is in an earth bending stance and Patton has wind spiraling around his fingertips. Virgil draws a knife from his sleeves and grips it tightly. The soldier looks to be in his mid-sixties or so, with gray-white hair pulled back in a topknot and a beard flowing down his front. He has a round potbelly, but there is something sharp and militant in his eyes. 

Roman is the only one who hasn’t moved. “U - uncle?!” 

Everyone stops and stares at him. “Uncle?” Patton echoes. The Fire Nation soldier blinks at Roman, and his entire face softens. 

“My beloved nephew.” 

Roman throws himself at the strange soldier, and the soldier catches him, hugging him and holding him close. “Uncle! Uncle, you - what happened?! After I left, Remus, Dee - what happened to them?!” 

“I will explain all in time,” the soldier (Uncle?) says. “But first, perhaps you should tell your new friends that I am not a threat before they kill me?” There’s a wry smile on his lips as he looks at them all, a bedraggled group of teenagers ready to fight and kill. 

Roman just hugs the strange man tighter, and Virgil sheaths the knife when he hears Roman’s muffled sobs. Despite their constant bickering, he knows that Roman really, truly does miss his home, and now he has a small piece of it back. Virgil imagines he’d react in a similar way if a member of his family showed up right now (even though he has no one to show up). He can’t begrudge Roman this little scrap of comfort.

*~*~*~*~*

The Fire Nation soldier is revealed to be Roman’s Uncle Emile, brother of the current Fire Lord. “My brother,” Emile says, stroking his beard slightly, “can only be described as . . . a little bitch.” 

“Remus,” Roman repeats, sitting next to his Uncle and gripping his hand. “My brother, Uncle, what happened to him? What happened to Dolos?” 

“Your father was furious at them for letting you and the young earth benders escape the capital,” Emile says. “He dared not wound Prince Remus, but Dolos is only a noble’s son. He was spared no such courtesy.” 

“Is he dead?” Roman whispers. He’s shaking; Virgil wonders if he should attempt to offer some sort of comfort. 

“He is not dead,” Emile says. “Your father challenged him to an Agni Kai - a traditional fire bending duel. Dolos barely fought back. He knelt, prostrated himself, begged for forgiveness. The Fire Lord did not grant it. The left side of his face and torso are badly burned. But he will survive.” 

Roman blinks, and tears pour down his face. 

“Your father banished him, and you as well,” Emile says. “Remus has been sent on a mission to capture the Avatar - to capture you.”

“Where is Dolos?” Roman rasps. 

“Remus insisted on taking him with him. He told your father that he would leave Dolos in an outlying colony somewhere, but he remains below deck on the ship. He is healing from his wounds. He will be scarred for life, but he will still have a life.” 

“I want to see them,” Roman says. 

Emile shakes his head. “Prince Roman, no. It is a bad idea.”

“Why?” 

“If you are spotted on board the Fire Nation ship, the crew will have no choice but to take you back to the Fire Nation as a prisoner. You are a fugitive. It cannot be risked.”

“I’ll risk my own safety if I damn well please!” Patton flinches at Roman’s shout, but Emile remains calm. 

“I will not risk your safety, Nephew. Will you risk the safety of your twin? Your betrothed? Your new friends?” 

Roman’s fire-angry glare shifts to them, to Virgil, who meets his eyes coolly even despite his terror. He won’t let Roman know that he’s afraid. He knows how much Roman hates it when they look at him as though he’s a fire bender to be afraid of. Roman exhales, and the campfire flares but he remains calm. 

“I . . . I won’t. But I miss them, Uncle.”

“I know you do,” Emile says. “My status as a disgraced general has finally come in handy, for I have been assigned as your brother’s advisor on this so-called fool’s errand. I will do my best to keep him safe and out of trouble.”

Roman fidgets with his hands. “Could . . . could I write them a letter?” 

Emile hums, considering. “I suppose that could be arranged.” 

Roman scribbles down two scrolls and passes them to his uncle. “Please take care of them for me, until - until I can come back and take care of them myself.” Emile nods, kissing his forehead. 

“I am proud of you, my nephew.” 

He disappears back through the bushes he came from, and Roman stares longingly after him. “Roman?” Patton asks. “Would - do you want a hug?” Roman stands stiff, back straight, shoulders pushed back. For a moment, he doesn’t look like their friend. He looks like a soldier. 

Then he turns around, and his eyes are wide and wet, and there’s snot dribbling down one corner of his face. “ Yeeeeeeeees,” he wails. Patton smiles, opens his arms, and lets Roman come crashing into them. 

*~*~*~*~*

Before they head out the next morning, a bird flutters down to land in front of Roman. He gasps when he realizes what it is, gathering the sharp-taloned bird into his arms and crooning over it. He showers its head in kisses. Virgil is lost. 

“This is Dragon! He was my pet back home, he’s a messenger hawk!” The bird chirps, nibbles on Roman’s ear lobe, and presents him with the parchment tied to his leg. Roman snatches the scroll, unrolling it eagerly, and Virgil peers over his shoulder. 

The upper half of the scroll is a near-illegible scrawl, with a splotched signature that Virgil can barely make out as “Prince Remus” accompanying some doodles and a splatter that looks almost like blood. The lower half is in shaky but beautiful calligraphy. The opening address is “My darling flower,” and the ending signature reads “Yours forever, Dolos.” 

“My love,” Roman whispers, tracing his fingers over Dolos’s signature. “And my brother . . . I love them . . . so much.”

“You gave up a lot to be with us,” Thomas says. “I appreciate everything that you’ve sacrificed. Logan and I would be dead without you.” 

“I’m glad no one is dead,” Roman says softly, voice wavering. “I just . . .”

“You love them,” Patton says. “We understand.” 

Roman strokes the parchment. His fingers come away slightly black with ink from the upper portion that his brother scrawled, and he exhales. “I am going to write them back. I’ll send Dragon to them. I’m not losing touch with my family, not again. Not this time. Remus and Dolos aren’t going to leave my life, not this time. They’ve got just as big a bone to pick with my father as we do. They can give us usable information.” 

“Will that endanger them?” Logan asks. 

“Uncle Emile is there, too. He can help them be discreet. I’m not abandoning my old family for this one, but - but I won’t betray you to my father, either. That’s not what a prince does.” Roman squares his shoulders again, and Virgil blinks in surprise. Roman doesn’t look ridiculous, like a child-soldier, or militant, like an enemy. He looks proud and strong and regal.

He looks like a real prince.

“I support you,” Logan says, startling all of them. “You are a prince, even if you are not our prince. I trust your judgement.” Roman seems the most shocked of all of them by Logan’s bold proclamation, especially considering the heated duel they’d had just three weeks ago, but Logan’s milky grey eyes look like they’re staring into Roman’s soul. 

Virgil is familiar with that look. 

“If Lo trusts you, I trust you,” Thomas says, and he smiles widely. Patton nods, smile bright and bubbly, and Roman looks to Virgil. He offers a thumbs-up and ruffles Roman’s hair. Roman squawks and bats at him, pushing him away. Virgil laughs and falls over easily into a back-bend. 

“Once you’re sure Thomas is solid on his earth-bending, we’re going to a sacred Fire Nation site on the fringes of the empire,” Roman tells Logan. “Fire comes next in the Avatar cycle, right? After earth?” 

“I think so?” Thomas says. 

“I know so,” Logan confirms. “And I think he’s ready.”

Roman nods, and the fire blazing in his eyes is the most reassuring thing Virgil’s seen in quite a while. (It’s strange to say, considering Roman is a Fire Nation prince, but Virgil’s used to people judging him by appearances. He’s learning to reconsider his assumptions.) 

“Alright then,” Roman says. “I’ll write back to my brother, try and find out what sites might be relatively empty so that we can camp ourselves out there. Fire Nation, here we come.” 

[miss-smrxtiee]

-Forgetfulness-

Ch.2- The Forgotten and the Lost.

The Elementalists AU

Beckett Harrington x f!MC (Ellie Valentine)

Summary: An incident causes Ellie to loose her memory, what lengths will Beckett and the Pend Pals go to to ensure her saftey?

Warnings: none really, memory loss and “kidnappin’”

A/N: Memory loss AU

Tag list:

@vampireblissblog @fluffy-marshmallow-heart @holystxne @oofchoices @kinkypot @choicesstan1 @sophie-and-shizuku @herarmoredheart if you would like to be added just lmk!

I unfortunately do not own these characters I only own Ellie, my MC.

Masterlist -series masterlist there as well.

——————————————-

Beckett’s POV.

Panic settles as Beckett frantically searches the room, not even Alma and/or The Dean are here.

W-what?!? Where did she go? Did they take her? They promised not to keep secrets but this doesn’t seem okay...

Becket speed walks to the desk and asks the nurse about the situation.

“I’m sorry sir but we can’t give out information unless you are specifically in her emergency contact list.” The nurse replied. Beckett sighed, running a hand through his hair before nodding and going back to the lounge room where the Pend Pals where waiting for updates.

“Sh-she’s gone.” Beckett says, panting from running up the stairs. They all look at him with confused looks.

“Whose gone?” Atlas asks standing up narrowing her eyes.

“...Ellie?” She guessed. Beckett could only nod.

“Where the hell is she?!?” Zeph said, putting the ping pong paddles that he and Griffin where playing with away.

“I just knocked on the door and I heard nothing and walked in to absolutely nobody there, the lights where on and the covers where thrown over so something must’ve taken her.” Beckett explained, still in shock himself. He ran a hand through his hair again before speaking.

“I asked the nurse and she said only emergency contacts could be given information.” He explained further while Atlas perked up.

“I’m on the list, she had me put on during the summer.” Atlas quickly said before walking out to the stairwell. The others just shrug and follow behind.

They reach the desk and the nurse turns her attention to the group.

“Hello, how can I help you?” The nurse politely asked.

“Can you tell me any news on my sister? I’m on the emergency list.” Atlas said briefly before the nurse checked and nodded.

“It looks like Ms. Valentine was admitted roughly an hour and a half ago and the Dean requested the equipment for their procedure” the nurse flipped the chart, her eyes scanning over the page before continuing. “And ithe Dean requested more equipment once again about 10 minutes before she was discharged. but it’s strange, it’s not the equipment they would use for the spell the Dean informed us on. They had no help from the nurses per request.”

That’s not strange at all.... Beckett sarcastically said in his head.

“Did they say where they where going?” Atlas’ brows furrowed and you could tell she was starting to get worried.

“I’m afraid not, they didn’t leave through the doors though, they walked to our mirror room down the hall with her over that strange ladies’ shoulder. They also called a code Blue. During that 10 minutes before hand but it seems as though they had it under control.”The nurse answered before resting the chart down.

Wait... code blue? Beckett thought back to that chart in the hallway.

Life Threatening?!?!?

“Did that lady have a red cloak and short brown hair?” Atlas asked tapping her fingers against the flat surface of the front desk.

The nurse nodded and Atlas thanked her before walking away, clearly lost in thought.

“Should we go to the mirror room? Surly you know a spell that could track their magick.” Griffin said while walking up next to her.

“Usually I would say yes but these mirrors are more commonly used by doctors and paitents and it would be harder to track because the magick would be drowned out.” Atlas answered tapping her chin in thought.

Everyone looked up at Beckett who was practically shaking from worry.

“Man, you okay?” Zeph asked clapping his hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, you look like you need a spa day.” Shreya said checking her nails.

Beckett couldn’t believe how calm they where about everything. “Code blue means life threatening! Something could’ve happened to her!” Beckett said. They all looked at him with worried expressions.

“ Alma and Swan rolled her out and discharged her then that means she’s okay.” Griffin stated gesturing to the mirror room.

“How are you guys not worried about this?!? Ellie could be in danger! And how could we trust Sawn after last years ‘incident’ where she didn’t tell us anything for our ‘saftey’” Beckett wasn’t pleased with his friends way of looking at the situation.

“Swan promised us she wouldn’t play anymore games since the whole Raife thing, and she wouldn’t let Alma do anything.” Atlas says back.

“Well wouldn’t they tell us that they where taking us?”

Before any of them could respond...

“ribbit.”

“What was that?”

“blorg.”

Suddenly, Zeph feels a cold goo settle into is scalp and they look to find Tim contently lying atop his head.

“Wait... why isn’t Tim with Ellie?”Shreya asked walking over to stroke the frogs back.

“I’m not sure...” Atlas said deep in thought.

“Maybe Tim can bring us to Ellie!” Beckett said and walked up lifting the slimey pet into his hand

“hey bud, can you find Ellie for us?” Beckett asked the Gorge.

“blug” the frog blinked slowly at the student and looked at him with confusion.

“Here lemmie try and get him to go to the either to find her.” Griffin replied taking Beckett’s place with the frog in his own hand this time.

“Come on little guy, can you go to the either to check on Ellie for us?” Griffin asked

The only response they got was...

“Blurged” Tim’s eyes slowly flutter asleep and they all sigh.

Every instinct in Beckett’s body told him something was wrong but he couldn’t tell what. Ellie was with Alma and the Dean and they all knew they could trust them.

They where on her side after all.

Atlas takes Tim in her hand and starts to examine him and Beckett notices Tim isn’t like himself. He’s more stoic and he’s usually very cheery and bubbly like Ellie but something was off.

“We should go to Professor Kontos...” She says briefly, only to be met by confused faces.

“Why? Professor Kontos doesn’t have anything to do with this.” Shreya exclaimed, clearly starting to worry more.

“Professor Kontos’ class is where Ellie got Tim, right?”

They all nod.

“Well Tim isn’t being himself and if anyone knows how to figure out what’s wrong, it’s him.”

“She has a point” Beckett said tapping his chin and the others agree it was a solid plan and walk towards his office.

Atlas frantically knocks on the greenhouse door to the Professor’s office and the door swings open.

“What on earth is wrong here Ms. Erndhart?” He looks around at your group before turning back to Atlas.

“I need you to check on Tim, he doesn’t seem like himself and I’m worried.” Atlas replied.

“Where is Ellie? It’s her Familiar after al-“

A gasp escapes his mouth before he could finish his sentence.

“What?” They all say in usion as he continues to search the small animal.

He motions you with his finger to join him inside, not breaking his gaze from the frog.

You all walk inside to the various plants and herbs growing inside.

“...Do you mind telling me where Ellie is.”

“She’s uh... with the Dean right now.” Shreya replied trying to avoid the plant that’s attempting to sniff her hair.

“That’s strange...”

“What?”

“It seems as though Ellie has completely lost her emotional and spiritual connection to Tim.”

What??!! Beckett’s confusion and worry skyrocket as he explains.

“This sort of thing only happens if the Owner loses any recognition of the familiar or...”

“Or what?” Griffin demands.

“...or the owner is dead.” He finishes.

“Are you kidding me?!? Ellie isn’t dead, we know that much.” Zeph said walking up and taking Tim to pet his cold skin.

“I’m terribly sorry, but if you so desire, one of you can take Tim as your own until if or when Ellie is able to regain her connection with him.”

“I will.” Beckett said without hesitation.

I will?!

Zeph hands Tim to Beckett and he just stares up at him.

“Blurh.”

Don’t worry buddy, we’ll get Ellie back very soon.

A few minutes prior

Alma & Swan

“Hurry!”

“I’m trying!!”

Alma rushes The Dean to carry Ellie out of her room. Ellie was still unconscious and was completely limp as Swan struggled to carry her.

“Oh here I’ll do it.” Alma doesn’t wait for a response and picks up Ellie and lifts her over her shoulder and starts walking towards the mirror room of the hospital.

“Ok then..” Swan follows, still nervous and clammy. She didn’t know how the Pend Pals would react to this. Alma had convinced her this was for her safety but she didn’t know how this would effect her happiness. The amount of growth she saw in Ellie from the first day to now was a sight for sore eyes. She watched Ellie make wonderful friends and save the world, she didn’t want to make Ellie leave that all but Alma said otherwise. They had preformed that spell last minute and quickly rushed to cover it up. Alma apparently had a plan and now Swan would have to tell everyone a lie to also cover it up.

And who am I to go up against the source of all Blood Magick...

“Evelyn? Did you hear me?” Alma said quirking an eyebrow at her as they stood in front of the mirror.

“Huh?!” She snapped her head towards Alma. “Oh sorry, can you repeat that?”

She sighed.

“I need you to use metal magick to open this to Ellie’s childhood home, I know you’ve been there to check on her as a kid so you should have no problem.” She said.

“Oh, okay.” She answered, to afraid to go against her orders.

Swan walks up to the mirror and starts making small hand gestures to conjure the metal magick into the mirror. Her hands softly glow with a faint grey shine to them as the mirror starts to turn into a picture of Ellie’s bedroom. Swan tests the mirror by placing her index finger on the surface of it. Her finger slightly sinks into it and she nods at Alma before walking through.

The room was quite nice, it had fairy lights hung around the room and the bed laid neatly made in the center of the room with a nice window and desk off to the side. The walls where a pale yellow and there where several pictures and plants decorated around the room. Alma swiftly walks over to the bed and lays Ellie down while Swan closes the mirror.

“Whose there?!” They heard Ellie’s foster mother, Mrs. Valentine calling from outside her door.

“It’s Evelyn.” She answered not wanting to scare her. Swan and Ellie’s foster mother where mutual friends through Theia during their college years and became closer when she and her husband took Ellie in. “We have Ellie in here on her bed and her, uh... friend accompanied us.” She added as Ellie’s foster mother walked in.

“Oh my!” She said at the sight of Ellie. “What happened?!”

“Well, you see Ellie was at a tea par-“

“She got hurt during battle and lost her memory, we need you to keep her here and treat her as if she never went to Pendergast. If she starts to remember things, tell Evelyn.” Alma briefly said.

“Way to be subtle about it...” Swan murmured to Alma while Ms. Valentine looks sadly at her daughter.

“What? She’ll remember us right?” They nodded. “Why can’t you retrieve her memories?? There has to be something!” Mrs. Valentine said walking over to sit on the bed and stroke Ellie’s hair.

“We could, but it would take a week or so for her to fully recover from the side effects and the effects of the spell she was attacked with. That’s why I need her here to heal.” She replied.

“Evelyn?” Her mother quirked a brow at her trying to get a second opinion.

“Uh. Yes, she’s right. It’s for the best.”

The group goes over more details of what she needs to do while Ellie is there and to contact them when she wakes up and how she is feeling. Ms. Valentine nods sadly and they open the mirror to walk back to the hospital.

“What will we tell Atlas and the rest of the group?” Swan questions trying to keep up with Alma’s brisk pace.

“Simply tell them she’s recovering and that they don’t need to worry, it’s none of their business anyway.”

“No you don’t understand, Atlas especially won’t stop there. The rest of her friends are just as concerned to and they won’t stop at ‘it’s not their business.’”

Alma sighed.

“Just figure it out, I blocked the mirrors in Ellie’s house and area after we left so they can’t find her, just tell them she’s safe and don’t say another word.” Alma replied.

Guess I can do that.

“Even though I won’t tell them anything I’m going to avoid them so I-“

“Swan!!” She heard Atlas yell from behind her.

Just lovely...

Beckett, Zeph, And Atlas jog up to the pair with worried expressions.

“Where’s Ellie?” Zeph asked.

“Yeah, you left!” Atlas added.

“Is Ellie safe?” Beckett’s forehead creased as he looked at them.

“I’m uh- I just- she!- I mean.” Swan stutterd

Oh boy, this is gonna be a lot harder than I thought...

Phew! Thank you for reading this weeks chapter, I was in writers block for a few days but it’s here and I’ve started on the next chapter for my mini series Vacationing With Distance so I hope you guys enjoy that as well!

-Sol💖

[sustraiii]

TEAM ZRCN ARC 3 - CHAPTER 9

You’re a mean one Miss Rossi.

Many thanks to @jaguar-knight who let me reference his character again in this chapter!

Slight warning towards the end as this chapter gets a little dark,

WISTERIA

For better or worse, Calantha Rossi had left the group. Wisteria couldn’t say she was surprised, she always expected the girl would wind up leaving them some day, either by her own volition or by Belleza’s hand. She was glad it was not the latter. Wisteria had little love for the Rossi’s and their allies, but Calantha was a sweet girl, and she had a certain naivety about her that reminded Wisteria of Nieve. There was also the fact that Wisteria felt some pity for the younger girl; seeing how Belleza belittled forcefully pulled her along at times reminded her all too well of her own experiences with her so-called “caregivers” growing up.

Shortly after arriving at the Rossi’s hideout for that day, it was Bianca who gave her a rundown of events that had transpired a few nights before, informing her of the attack on Cordovan Radcliff’s home, and the disappearance of Calantha. Bianca was clearly stressed at the disappearance of her younger sister, something which Wisteria doubted was helped by the conflicting stories given by Miho and Uriah.

The way Uriah told it, Calantha had betrayed them, and had retaliated in attacking Uriah, Miho, and Sparrow. He claimed he had tried to talk her out of it but that she had proceeded to shove him away and threaten him with the Sentinel that had been with them. Miho painted a more believable story overall, which Bianca herself seemed to agree with. Wisteria however was more cautious. Of all the people the Rossi’s had working for them, Miho and Uriah were by far the ones who were most loyal to Belleza, and would have done anything to curry her favour. It truly wouldn’t have surprised Wisteria if the pair of them were lying through their teeth and the poor girl had wound up killed in the crossfire.

What they really needed was Sparrow’s version of events. Wisteria didn’t trust them that well either but she knew them to be a more impartial voice when it came to certain matters within the group. Unfortunately, as was usually the case with Sparrow, they had since gone back immediately to their work, likely to only pop their head up once they had some useful information or if they were needed for a mission.

“So if you don’t mind me asking where is Belleza today?” Wisteria asked idly. Personally, she didn’t really care where the older Rossi sister was, she just found it odd not pacing around the place, gloating about how she always knew Calantha was a weak link.

Bianca was currently looking at a computer screen, entering some information into asset files. “I’ve sent her to look for, Cala,” She answered without looking up.

“Huh,” Wisteria said, blinking in surprise. “Not who I would have suspected you’d send to do that, given their relationship.”

“I needed her out of my hair,” Bianca admitted. “I know too well Belleza won’t bother looking for her, despite assuring me she would. With Belle out of the way it means I can focus on using our various hacks and access codes to the Atlas CCTV network to track her down. And then when I do find her, I can send someone I trust to retrieve her, such as you or Laurel for example.”

Wisteria’s scroll buzzed in her pocket but she ignored it. “I thought Laurel was off schmoozing some rich guy for you.”

“She is,” Bianca confirmed. “But Maxem Wulfric is still a low risk target for us, and should I need her, I can pull her out of her mission.”

Wisteria was about to say something when her scroll buzzed again - not just once but twice. Deciding she couldn’t ignore it any longer, she quickly pulled it out of her pocket and frowned at what she saw. There were three messages from Nieve glaring back at her. What was strange about these messages were that they looked as though they were responses to a conversation agreeing to meet up with someone in the back alley of the apartment building where she was currently staying. What was troubling, and somewhat concerning for Wisteria, was the fact that they had previously been communicating via a spare scroll Wisteria had bought, fearing that her own had been compromised.

“Something wrong?” Bianca asked, turning around in her chair to look at Wisteria with a raised brow.

“It’s nothing,” Wisteria was quick to say, hoping that would be the end of it. But the longer she looked at the message the more troubled she felt. “Actually, there’s something I need to take care of. Do you mind if I call it quits for today?”

Bianca held her gaze for a moment, as if trying to decide whether to let her go or not before shrugging. “You may,” She said with a flick of her hand. The Rossi woman was quick to swivel around in her chair and return to her previous work. “I won’t ask where you’re going, but if you are able, please keep an eye out for Calantha.”

Wisteria didn’t hesitate to try and call Nieve upon leaving the hideout. In fact, she wound up trying three times whilst she made her way to the apartment block. As she walked, her confusion and concern began to give way to annoyance, annoyed that after all these months of precaution her friend had been so reckless. Especially more so given that these messages implied she had been talking to someone other than Wisteria, which they had both agreed to be cautious about given the potential compromise of their scrolls.

Approaching the apartment building, Wisteria would continue to make her way up the street, before making a left turn and heading down a path between two houses, which looped around to the alleyway Nieve had mentioned in her message.

As Wisteria made her way down the alley, she was both pleased and annoyed to see Nieve already waiting outside, propped against the wall of the building. When she heard footsteps approaching, she turned to look in Wisteria’s direction, but upon realising who was coming towards her, her expression changed considerably.

“Wisteria?” Nieve blinked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t ‘Wisteria’ me!” Wisteria yelled, coming towards Nieve and giving her a sharp prod in the shoulder. “What do you think you’re doing messaging me out of the blue like that? What happened to us being careful, Nieve?”

“I didn’t message you!” She protested, rubbing her shoulder quickly. 

“Then explain this!” Wisteria argued, pulling out her scroll for Nieve to see the messages. Nieve came forward to read them,  squinting at the screen as she did so. When she pulled away she seemed genuinely surprised. “Those are my messages,” Nieve confirmed before shaking her head. “But I didn’t send them to you.”

“Then who did you send them to?” Wisteria pressed, gripping Nieve’s shoulders tightly.

Before Nieve could respond, their argument was interrupted by what sounded like a photograph had just been taken. Both Wisteria and Nieve turned in the direction of the sound, and Wisteria felt her heart sink when she saw Belleza and Miho standing opposite them.

“Catch, Miho,” Belleza said, tossing her scroll at the larger woman. “Once we’re done here, send that picture to Bianca and tell her to file it under times I was right and she was wrong.” Belleza proceeded to burst out into laughter at this, holding on to her weapon with her free hand as she creased with laughter. When she straightened, she looked Nieve straight in the eye. “So are you going to tell her about your secret conversations with Theo or should I?”

“Theo?” Wisteria frowned as she said the name. It took her a moment to piece it together. “Theo as in Theodora? Ulysses’s sister?”

Nieve tensed, and looked nervously between Wisteria and Belleza. “I’ll explain later!”

“Hah! You won’t,” Belleza taunted from the opposite side of the alleyway. Wisteria noted that she was gripping her weapon in more of an attacking stance, and Miho was also beginning to move into a fighting stance. “You’re not going to be leaving this alleyway.”

And then Belleza ran for them, her weapon held out in front of her, as through ready to run them through. Although neither Wisteria and Nieve could reach for their weapons immediately, Nieve was quick to deploy her webs, shooting a small one at Belleza’s legs, entangling her feet and causing her to trip and hit the floor hard. 

Belleza was already beginning to work at freeing her feet when Wisteria and Nieve charged Miho. Miho was a strong and heavy hitting opponent, and could have easily gotten the upper hand on Wisteria had she been alone, but with two opponents that were light on their feet she seemed to be struggling to keep up.

Wisteria and Nieve were able to get a few solid hits on her, before a sharp swing sent Nieve staggering back and breaking apart the duo. Unfortunately, by that point, Belleza had also freed herself and had reentered the fight, now having shifted her spear into its more compact form, allowing her to more effectively slash and parry with Nieve.

With Nieve left to deal with Belleza for the, Wisteria knew she was the only one who could weaken Miho. Punching her would be useless, and her gauntlets seemed to deflect her bullets easy enough, so she would have to rely on her semblance to distract the bigger woman momentarily. It worked, if only for a moment, allowing Wisteria the chance to get in close and try and weaken her aura. Her downfall came when she aimed a high kick at the woman’s torso, but Miho quickly recovered from the initial blast of Wisteria’s semblance, for she caught her foot and then forcefully pushed her away.

Wisteria skidded backwards but was otherwise unhurt. She was about to ready her gun to shoot at Miho, when a sudden cry from behind, stopped them both, and they turned to see Belleza and Nieve falling away from each other.

As Nieve stepped back, her aura flickered around her, clearly weakened from whatever attack Belleza had landed on her. But there was one small victory in that Nieve had landed a more harmful blow on Belleza, whose lack of aura meant she had easily been cut across her right shoulder. She seemed to be bleeding quite badly, and was using a hand to stem the blood while leaning on her weapon - once again in its spear form - for support.

“Miho,” Her voice called out, more strained than usual. “Break her aura.” And she pointed a bloody finger in Wisteria’s direction.

“As you wish,” Miho said, dipping her head in acknowledgement. She cracked her neck before punching the air with both of her fists at the same time, combining their power into a stronger blast of energy. It was all Wisteria could do to throw her hands up and try and shield herself.

The blast hit her hard, and whilst that hadn’t broken her aura entirely, getting knocked back into the wall behind her finished it off. As she slid down the wall, she was aware of the ache in her neck flaring up from getting flung backwards. Still disoriented from the attack, it took Wisteria a moment to regain her bearings, but hearing Nieve cry out in pain stirred her into action.

Watching as Nieve was thrown to the floor by Miho, Wisteria shakily raised her gun trying her hardest to stop her hands from shaking and aim towards the larger woman. Just as she got a good angle, Belleza interrupted her, kicking her arm just as she squeezed the trigger. Rather than hitting Miho the bullet struck the ground harmlessly.

Wisteria grunted in annoyance, and attempted to aim her gun at Belleza, only for the woman to preempt her attack, and wrestle the gun from her hand and throw it to the side.

“Come here!” She growled in a commanding voice, before grabbing at Wisteria’s hair and half yanked half dragged her away from the wall. Belleza threw her to the floor opposite Nieve, who made a pitiful attempt to try and reach out to her, before Belleza yanked her up into a kneeling position.

“Nie-” But before Wisteria could even finish saying Nieve’s name, she was aware of a gun being pressed against the back of her head, presumably her own as neither Belleza nor Miho typically used a gun.

“It would be so easy to kill you right now,” Belleza mused from behind. “One small squeeze would be all it takes to end your pathetic little life.” She inhaled deeply. “Unfortunately for me, my family still has a use for you and your semblance. We can’t rough you up too much, but as for our friend Nieve, well let’s just say she’s fair game.”

Wisteria’s eyes widened when she realised what was going on and tried to turn away as Miho began to punch and kick Nieve. However, Belleza was quick to grip her head and prevent her from moving. “Ah,ah, ah, Wisteria, this is your punishment. You don’t get to look away,” Belleza cooed, leaning in close and digging her nails into Wisteria’s skull. “You'll want to watch this.”

[raccoonwwx]

This song? Is a Lan Zhan song. It’s a Lan Zhan song and if I’m running with this, it’s also a Lan Zhan’s feelings about Wei Ying song. I’m 100% going to get back into making edits due to this b/c somebody has to draw this comparison to this character and his relationships visually: 

They’re hoarse from speaking of our studied hesitation To shoulder the weight of our bad-bеhaving When Atlas shrugs, whose back is breaking?

And I know how it feels to thе hands Heavy as the heavens A weight that could fold you To keep holding

[the--regenerating--degenerate]

Sol Invictus

Chapter Three: Escape From the Muninn

Blake didn’t know what she expected when she saw the Muninn from the viewing screen on the bridge of the shuttle as it traveled between the Red Claw and the Muninn. Maybe, she thought, the Muninn would be like the Union ships, haphazardly built with garishly painted markings from whatever world she had came from. 

Maybe the Muninn would be like the Atlassians: clean, hard lines; polished until they gleamed in the void, their overly pompous commanders’ House sigils proudly displayed on their bows, next to the sigil of the Protectorate. 

The Muninn, however, was none of those. 

She hung there like a shadow in the void, a black specter. No lights other than the brief flash of landing guides. The hard projected lines of her railguns could only be seen in the flashes of passing starlight, which made the Muninn all the more intimidating.

Knowing those guns were there, but only seeing them for small flashes in the darkness of the void. 

And inside that sleek shadow were dozens of pirates. Standing between her and a single Atlassian officer, who Blake had to rescue. 

Well… just my luck. Blake sighed, as she schooled her emotions, creating a mask of stoic indifference, even as worry and nerves plagued at her. She needed to be calm. She needed to be collected. 

“I can’t believe we are actually negotiating with these, humans,” the pilot, a tall Faunus with goat horns curling around his ears, bitterly grumbled from beneath his pale white Grimm Ursa mask. “We should wait for Brother-Commander Taurus Adam then take the ship and the prize for ourselves.” 

“And risk it being shot,” the co-pilot, flattening her feathered plum, shot back. “I agree with you brother. It is humiliating, but we have very few other options.” 

The pilot growled, but let the subject drop and soon the shuttle was drifting towards the hanger of the black ship. 

“Muninn. This is the shuttle of the Red Claw. May we land?” The co-pilot radioed. 

Several seconds passed. Blake forced down her panic, taking deep breaths. She would need to play her part flawlessly. Any hint that something was amiss, the pirates would stop the deal and her chance of avoiding war would have slipped through her fingers. 

Even if the pirates tried to run, Adam would be arriving with the frigate Wilt and several more Raiders, nearly two hundred more White Fang in total. Not even a pirate such as Raven Branwen would want to face against those numbers. 

And if Adam got a hold of the Schnee… Then war was inevitable. 

Menagerie wouldn’t survive against Atlas. Blake’s mood was turning dark just at the thought of it, and that was before Blake even considered what she had seen at the very edge of Wild Space.  

What she had seen of Adam’s newest ‘ally.’

She shuddered as though a cold wind had blown through the cockpit of the shuttle. No, Blake could not fail. She steeled her spine and donned the white Grimm mask that all White Fang wore. 

“No answer Sister-Lieutenant,” The co-pilot reported. “Should I hail them again?”

“Hail them again,” Blake ordered, “If they don’t answer… Well… Then we are going to board them.”

The pilot turned in seat. “There’s only six of us the shuttle…” 

Blake cut him off. 

“We have the Red Claw who will be able to fire on the Muninn and keep them off-balance, as well as the element of surprise. We’re not going to try and take the ship, just get the Schnee and get out.” Blake allowed a savage smile to cross her lips. “Are you telling me that the White Fang aren’t worth a dozen pirates each? They’re used to fighting against the unarmed, the weak and defenseless.”

Both the pilot and copilot barked a harsh laugh at that, though it was cut short as the comms buzzed. 

“Shuttle.” The voice was slightly distorted and crackled with static, but was clear enough. “This is the Muninn. You are allowed to land.”

“Finally,” the copilot scoffed as the pilot turned the shuttle towards the open hanger door.  

The shuttle landed with a heavy thud, the void door slamming shut behind them as the hangar was quickly repressurized.

Blake had taken five of her White Fang aboard the shuttle with her, leaving only a bare skeleton crew aboard the Red Claw and all of them, including the pilot and co-pilot, stood lined up at the ramp. Blake wanted to make an impression.

The ramp lowered with a hiss from the hydraulics as Blake stepped onto the armoured plated deck of the Muninn, her security following after, weapons low, but readied. 

Just in case.

Well, this is sure to build trust with our new partners, she pessimistically mulled as she entered the dimly lit hangar bay. There was no way in the Green Hell she was going anywhere aboard Branwen’s ship without some measure of protection. 

To do otherwise was just asking for a knife in the back from these voidscum.

Speaking of Branwen, the Dread Pirate-Queen had come down to meet her guests personally. 

Branwen was a tall woman, with dark, almost blood-red eyes and long black hair hanging down past her thin waist. She wore a short dark, crimson, almost blood red overcoat with a thin leather belt. Sheathed at her side was a short gladius sword. Perfectly suited for cutting and stabbing in an enclosed space.

And she had brought her own two tagalongs. Beside her was a short woman, her hair cropped close to her skull, with several tattoos and kill markings decorating her upper arms. The woman wore an arrogant smirk as she took in the sight of the White Fang. The woman’s arrogant, smug demeanor immediately invoked a healthy distaste in Blake.

The last, much to Blake’s surprise, was also a Faunus. A lizard? Maybe snake Faunus? Blake wasn’t exactly sure. The Faunus was almost the spitting image of Branwen, save for the scale ridges on her forehead, the slitted pupil lilac eyes and the long, lush, but wild blonde hair which also hung down past her waist. 

“Captain Branwen Raven Ist Muninn,” Blake greeted the Pirate Queen with a respectful nod of her head, as she and her White Fang escort approached the three other women. She hesitated, “It is… A pleasure to finally meet you.”

Branwen smiled a little at that and returned the nod. 

“Belladonna Blake I presume? You do not have to greet me like that. I’m just a pirate. We don’t tend to stand too much on ceremony.” Branwen was patronizingly polite. 

The smug woman seemed to muffle a chuckle at that, while the blonde Faunus rolled her eyes in obvious boredom. 

“I suppose you wish to see the prisoner? See that I’m not leading you on?”

Blake nodded. “I will need to send something back to my leader as proof. He will trust my word.”

Branwen raised a hand, indicating the blonde Faunus next to her. “Yang will take you to see her; however, I’m not going to allow more than one of you to leave this hanger. You must understand.”

Blake figured this was going to be an issue. Branwen was flexing; she wanted Blake and her White Fang escorted to understand who was in charge. Whose ship they were on. Which was fine, Blake had no desire to play the game of who was top dog.

Or top cat in Blake’s case. 

All Blake wanted to do was get the prisoner and get out. And hopefully stop a full out war from breaking out in the Galaxy. 

Simple desires really.

“That’s fine.” Blake shrugged, as she turned to Yang. “Lead the way,”

The Faunus woman hesitated for a second, as she seemed to wish to argue with Branwen but evidently decided it would have been a waste, as she gestured with a nod of her head for Blake to follow her.

The two travelled in relative silence for moments, through the narrow corridors, turning this way and that around the many sharp corners and turns. The Muninn, Blake, realised was not some repurposed freighter like Red Claw; she was a warship through and through. 

The corners made excellent defensive positions, funnelling boarders into kill zones, and they also had the added bonus of confusing the enemy as they made their way past the critical locations;  the engine room, the power generators, and the bridge. Blake considered herself to have a very good memory and an excellent sense of direction, but even she was having a difficult time remembering where they were going.

“How much longer?” Blake finally asked as she followed her guide down another short hall. 

“Soon.” Yang answered in a flat monotone, turning down another corner. 

“I didn’t know that Branwen had Faunus amongst her crew. What clan?” Blake asked her, curiosity finally getting the better of her.

"I’m not a Faunus,” Yang answered, voice dripping with bitterness without looking back. 

“You are not? But you look like one.” 

“Gene-tailoring.” Yang suddenly stopped and turned to face her, a sardonic smile on her lips, her hands waving in the air. “Vat edited and genefucked.”  

Blake felt her temper rise. “Gene tailoring? So what are we now? Just a cast-off? A fashion statement?”

“Leave it, White Fang,” Yang warned, her hands clenched into fists.

“Why? Angry that some Faunus is annoyed because you thought of us as some fetish you could imitate,” Blake snapped back. 

“Because it's none of your business. You really think I want to look like this?” There was a dull echoing thud, as Yang punched the armoured wall of the corridor. “Raven never really gave me much of a choice.  And guess what? It turns out, screwing with someone’s as an adult has some pretty significant side effects.”

Yang jabbed her finger at Blake’s chest. “So don’t talk about what you don’t know White Fang.”

Blake hesitated and then nodded, dropping the subject.

Yang held her stare for a second longer, before turning on her heel. “This way.”

Blake followed her through several more turns before the came to a door flanked by two pirates armed with heavy shotguns.

The blonde punched in a code and the door slid open with a hiss. 

Blake nearly gasped. Sitting there in her stained and tattered white uniform, was Weiss Schnee, The Heir Apparent of the Protectorate of Atlas. 

The Schnee looked up as the light poured in. Though Blake’s eyes were hidden beneath her small white Grimm Mask, the two locked eyes. The prisoner’s eyes were a pale ice blue, filled with defiance, with hints of fear around their edges… Those eyes were almost enough for Blake to feel pity for her. 

Almost. 

The Schnee was still an Atlassian. And the scars they had left on Menagerie and the Faunus still ran deep. 

No, Blake would not pity her. This wasn’t about pity. Or Atlas, or even completely about Menagerie. This was about the galaxy and the danger that was threatening to drown it in a tide of darkness. 

“Well, there you go. One Heir Apparent of blah-blah, caged up and ready to go.” Yang’s tone dripped sarcasm as she shut the door. “Satisfied?”

Blake nodded. “So your captain was telling the truth.”

“Raven never lies.” Yang was bitter as she led Blake back to the hanger. 

The trip back was just as disorienting as it had been on the way there.

Well… looks like I’m going to need the other White Fang. Blake silently cursed. She had been hoping for a quick infiltration and extraction. Now she was going to have to conduct a full boarding exercise with the five of her White Fang… Who she would then also have to get rid of.

Her plan was turning into a messy quagmire which she had little control over. True her original plan of infiltration did not offer a great deal more control. But it offered more than a running gunfight down those tight, maze-like corridors.

“Satisfied?” Branwen asked as Yang led Blake back into the hanger. 

“I will confirm with Brother-Commander Taurus Adam, that you have Weiss Schnee,” Blake said, giving her a nod. “However… I must insist that myself and the White Fang I have with me, remain on this ship.” 

“Not very trusting are you,” Branwen goaded, crossing her arms. 

“No more than you are,” Blake replied evenly, her eyes catching sight of a dozen well-armed pirates emerging from the gloom in the hangar.  “We will remain in our shuttle, until the rest of the White Fang arrive.” 

Branwen smiled a viper’s grin. “Of course you are. But I’m going to keep the hangar guarded. For your own safety. You are after all my guests.” 

Blake paused at that. Her stomach coiled. Raven had to suspected something. Had she seen through her already? 

Blake took a breath. She needed to keep cool. Keep calm. 

“Thank you Captain Branwen Raven Ist Muninn.” Blake bowed her head, inwardly cursing her rotten luck. 

----------

Ruby nearly jumped in surprise as the door banged opened and Yang stormed into the room. Her features were pulled into a thunderous scowl and Ruby could have sworn she could feel the heat of her rage radiating off her sister.

"Yang?"

“The White Fang is here, Rubes. You ready?” Yang asked after she had taken a moment to calm herself. 

Ruby glanced over at Crescent Rose now fully assembled. Several magazines, fully loaded, were laid out in neat order beside her precious rifle.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Ruby answered with a nod to her backpack by the door. Everything she had brought with her from the academy was packed away and ready to go. 

“Good.” Yang seemed to hesitate as she looked over at Crescent Rose. “Ruby…” 

Ruby smiled as she patted Yang’s shoulder. “Yang… I’ve travelled all over with dad on his old freighter. We lived on the edge of the frontier. I’m no stranger to gunfights. I can handle myself. I’m not a little girl anymore.” 

The: I don’t need you to look out for me like you used to, went unsaid; but Ruby could tell Yang had heard it as clear as a thunderclap. There was a brief flash of pain in Yang’s eyes, which much to Ruby’s joy, quickly turned into a burning sisterly pride.

“Alright then. Let’s go over your plan one last time,” Yang said as she took a seat on her cot. 

Ruby rolled her silver eyes but smiled. “Okay step one: Get the prisoner her weapons back. You will head down to the armoury, subdue the guard there, then come back here for me. Step two, we head down to the brig… fighting our way down there if we have to.” 

“Getting the weapons shouldn’t be much of a problem. Gris, the armourer, likes me. A lot. If I can, I’ll try and get the explosives too… though no promises. If I do, I’ll plant some charges throughout the ship,” Yang added.

Ruby nodded. “Step three, rescue the ‘princess’ and book it to the hanger. Step four, take care of the White Fang.” 

“That’s when I’ll detonate the explosives if we have ‘em,” Yang chimed in as she stood up and went to her locker, sliding several magazines for her pistol into belt. 

Ruby nodded again, “Step five, take the White Fang shuttle back to the White Fang ship.” 

“I’ve seen the readout on it. It looks like a small freighter. There shouldn’t be more than a dozen on her. Including the six on-board the Muninn right now,” Yang added, as she closed her now empty locker and slipped on her brown leather jacket.

“Which leads us to step six, we take the ship then Fold out of here,” Ruby finished as she picked up her loaded magazines and clipped them to her belt. “ You ready?” 

Yang looked over at her sister, then gave a single nod, before punching her fist together. “ Always. Let’s do this.” 

----------

The door to the armoury hissed open as Yang stepped inside. Rifles, shotguns, pistols and various blades decorated the inside of the locked cage. The smell of gun oil, the click of parts being taken apart, cleaned, then reassembled filled the still air. An older man, grey with age, heavyset, dressed in clothes stained with years of grease and cleaning lubes barely looked up to acknowledge her as Yang walked in. 

“Yang.” The man grunted before turning back to his work. 

“Hey Gris. You still got that Schnee’s weapon?” Yang asked as she approached the cage. 

The man gestured with a grunt and a sideways nod of his head to the far table. Laying there was the rapier with basket hilt. Beside it was a slim, beautifully decorated pistol still in its white leather holster.

“Beautiful isn’t she.” Gris said admiringly, as he picked up the rapier and held it up to the light. “Vinbranium micro woven with nerosteel. Strong, supple, light as a feather. But capable of piercing anything short of full Atlassian Marine boarding plate and shield.” 

Yang rolled her eyes, but kept quiet. She knew better than to interrupt Gris when it came to weapons. The old man could wax poetic for hours at a time, his eyes lighting up with pure joy as he rattled off calibres, stopping power, rates of fire, explosives, blade lengths, metal alloys and cutting potential. 

If his poetics were interrupted, the stubborn old man would become sour and ill-tempered, which would make it that much more difficult to get anything out of him. So even though Yang was now on a schedule, it was easier just to let him talk. 

“And this… Never in all my days did I think I would ever see one with my own eyes.”  He pulled the slim pistol from its holster. “An Arma Gigas. Handcrafted by the pinnacle of Atlassian gunsmiths. Small, you wouldn’t think this thing was more than an over-engineered pea-shooter. But let me tell you, if less than half of the things I have heard about these are true… This is a man stopper. Not a great many things alive this piece couldn’t put down.”  

Gris looked over at Yang and grinned at her bored expression; as he placed the pistol back into its holster. “I mean… Not as well as that cannon on your hip. But still she’ll do her job. And do it well.”

“Interesting and all.” Yang tried not to let urgency colour her tone, “but I’m not interested in a weapons lesson. I’m just here because I want them.” 

Gris eyed her carefully as he leaned back. “Is that so? Well… I’m sorry to tell you that Vernal already claimed the rapier. The pistol is going to Raven. She wants it as a trophy."

"Well… I don't really care. I want them." Yang lowered her tone to a near whisper. Gris was probably the only friend Yang had on this ship, outside of her sister. She hoped he would catch her meaning.

"Vernal wanted the pistol too. Before Raven claimed it as a trophy.”  Gris continued as though he hadn’t heard her, “Wanted it bad. Lucky for her I was here to set her straight. You see the Arma Gigas are gene-coded for the one she’s made for. If anyone else then the Schnee was to pull the trigger… well… they would have to get used to wiping their ass with the other hand.” 

“Gris…” Yang warned, her temper slowly getting the better of her. “I need those weapons.” 

Gris eyed her dispassionately. “And I can’t allow you to take them.” 

“You aren’t going to be able to stop me.” 

The man shrugged. “You can’t shoot me. If you do, everyone is going to know about it.” 

Yang’s eyes widened as she caught his meaning. “So I am going to have to hit you. Put you down hard.” 

“Probably break a few bones in the process.” Gris agreed. 

“I… I’m sorry Gris.”

“Tear the cage door open when you do it,” he continued as though he hadn’t heard her. Shuffling tools around, placing them almost delicately back into the various toolboxes stacked around the armoury cage. “You’re more than strong enough.”

He paused, looked up at Yang. “Your sister... always gave me the creeps… Something’s not right about her, be careful. I’m sticking my head out for you with the Captain. I won't be around to help with her.” 

“Ruby’s all I got left Gris.” Yang almost snarled, but managed to choke it back. “I burned too many bridges back home… And I’m nuking the ones here with an orbital strike.” 

Yang reached up and grabbed the cage door, then ripped it from its hinges in one savage pull.

She looked down at Gris as he turned his back on her. “I’m sorry about this… I really am.” 

Then Yang threw a haymaker into the side of his head. Gris did not even try to defend himself, merely curling up into a ball, as Yang rained heavy blows into his body. 

-----

Bile rose up in Yang’s throat as she and Ruby raced down the claustrophobic corridor. She tried to drive the feeling of her fists smashing into a defenseless Gris, of bones snapping and the muffled screams of pain from her mind. 

Gris was tough. He would be okay, she told herself; as the two sisters with Yang in the lead, charged down another hallway.

She began to slow down. They had been lucky so far, the two of them managing to avoid wandering pirates, but now they were coming up onto the brig. There would be guards and they were going to have to be dealt with. 

As soon as Ruby or Yang fired, the ship would be alerted that something was happening in the lower decks. Yang guessed they would have only have a couple of minutes before Raven sent every pirate she could down there. 

Probably less. 

Raven was a suspicious woman. She’d probably think the White Fang was going to make a play of their own. 

Getting to the hangar… That was going to be the interesting part. 

Yang came to a stop, just before the corner to the brig. Ruby almost slammed into Yang as she too skidded to a halt, pressing her back against the wall. 

“Alright… Just around here is the brig. Should only be two guards.” Yang whispered as she pulled Ember Celica from her holster. “I’ll move first to draw their fire. You cover me, got it?” 

“Got it,” Ruby whispered back, as she brought Crescent Rose to a ready position, then tapped Yang on the shoulder to let her know she was ready.

Yang turned the corner, levelling her pistol as she did. The two guards looked up, eyes widening in surprise as they did. Ember Celica roared once, catching the first in the chest with a large, heavy slug. 

The man’s chest exploded open, dropping to the ground in a wet splatter of meat and viscera. The second guard was fumbling to raise his shotgun when a three-round burst from Ruby, who must have stepped out with her, caught him the chest. 

The guard collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut. 

“Thought I said I would move first?” Yang asked as the two rushed to the door. 

“You also said to cover you,” Ruby replied sweetly as she kicked the shotguns away from the guards’ bodies. 

“Fair,” Yang grinned, as the door to the brig opened shedding light into the dark prison. 

The Schnee glanced up as the light stung her eyes. Yang was already moving and with a powerful tug, she ripped the bars from the cell. 

“Well… as promised here we are. Ruby give the Heir her weapons,” Yang said as she took cover inside the door. “Sorry princess we got to move, and move quick. Think you can keep up?” 

“I can handle myself,” The Schnee snapped.

Yang risked a glance back, frowning slightly as the Schnee flinched when Ruby offered her the rapier and pistol, slapping Ruby’s hand away as she climbed to her feet. 

Ruby for her part seemed unaffected by the rude gesture and merely shrugged.

“Alright we ready?” Ruby asked as she took cover across from Yang. 

“Yeah…” Yang nodded, as she gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. 

The Schnee glared at Ruby as she tested the draw in her rapier. “Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Ruby apologised, as she held out her hand again. “I’m Ruby Rose. I’m here to rescue you.” 

The Schnee looked down at the hand and shuddered slightly as though someone had offered something rather unrecognizable and offensive on a stick. Yang frowned and was about to reprimand the Schnee, when she caught Ruby’s eye and gentle shake of her head. 

Time and place, Yang. 

“Ahhh no worries.” Ruby giggled, “not everyone has an appreciation for the classics.”

Yang snorted. “You mean ancient vids that no one understands anymore.”

Ruby nodded as she led the way out of the brig. “That too.” 

----------  

“What is that?” One of the White Fang asked as klaxon alarms began to blast throughout the hanger.

A second later Blake’s sensitive ears picked up another sound. One she had sadly become very accustomed to over the past few years. 

Gunfire.

“Someone’s shooting,” Blake answered as she grabbed her weapons from the locker. “Quick, get your weapons and get to cover. The pirates might think it’s us behind this and I don’t want unwelcome visitors thinking they can come and take our shuttle.” 

While the other White Fang got to cover in the hold, Blake took a chance and ducked out from the shuttle. Keeping down and to the shadows, she made her way behind a large stack of crates. 

She took a peek and cursed.

A dozen or so heavily armed pirates had gathered in the hangar, in preparation to storm and take the shuttle.   

Suddenly the shipped bucked. The power died and red lights flashed as emergency lighting and secondary power sources came alive. The pirates scattered for the most part. Running to their station, to bring systems back online, preparing for what could be a boarding action. 

And in doing so, only leaving a token force to watch the hanger and the White Fang.

If they do that could work out in my favour. Blake thought to herself as she kept herself low and made her way back to the shuttle hold. We kill enough of them here, we could make a break for the Schnee’s cell.

“Lights went out. What’s happening?” One of her Sister’s whispered from across the hold. 

“Maybe Brother-Commander Taurus has arrived? Maybe he is leading a boarding party.” 

Blake didn’t think so. 

“Brother-Commander Taurus would have told me if he was planning something like this.” Blake whispered back, “now keep quiet and-” 

The sound of gunfire outside interpreted Blake and the next thing she heard was booted feet running across the armoured decking of the black ship.

“Quick, let’s move. Come on princess keep up!” Someone loud and boisterous called. 

Blake thought she recognised the voice of that not-Faunus vat freak, Tang, or Jang, whatever her name was, as she stormed up the shuttle ramp.

Behind her, two other pairs of feet followed close behind as three humans charged into the hold. One of whom was the Heir Apparent. 

Blake leapt up, pistol levelled. Her five kin joining her. The three intruders, the blonde not-Faunus, a small brunette with red highlights and a long scarlet cape and of course, Weiss Schnee, the Heir Apparent, were surrounded and outgunned.

“Well… Shit.” The blonde grimaced as the three humans found themselves surrounded. 

“Wonderful, from pirates to White Fang all in the span of less than ten minutes.” The Schnee complained as her pistol bounced from kin to kin. “Great job.” 

“I should thank you for bringing us Weiss Schnee.” Blake smiled coldly beneath her mask as she stepped from cover. “You have done the White Fang a great service.”

Then she turned on her heel, levelling her pistol at one of her Brothers. The pistol barked, striking the White Fang in the head, sending him crashing down. 

The White Fang sat there, stunned, as they struggled to process what had happened. Blake gunned down another, then another. 

The three humans, not looking a gift horse in its mouth, raised their own weapons. In less than five seconds, all the White Fang lay dead, and three armed women were now pointing their weapons at Blake. 

Blake shook her head. Taking off her mask she allowed amber eyes to meet silver, lilac and ice blue. “We don’t have time. Assuming you are responsible for those explosions, it won't take them long to get the ship back up to full power.”

“She’s right.” The silver-eyed girl with the red cape spoke up. Blake felt herself shivering uncomfortably as the girl got closer. There was something… off about the girl. Something Blake could not put a finger on.

Just a general feeling of offness.

"What do you suggest then?" The girl asked, lowering her rifle.

Blake shook off the feeling. "You were going to try and take Red Claw weren't you?"

All three nodded.

"Let me join you." Blake pushed, "you can tell them you took me hostage. There’s only four of them on board. We can take them, then escape.”

“Why should we trust you?” The Schnee interrupted. “You just murdered your friends, Faunus. Why?” 

“We don’t have time for this.” Blake snapped back. “Either trust me or don’t. But I can help you.”

The Schnee opened her mouth to interject but was cut off by red cape.

“She’s right. We don’t have a choice. I can fly us.”

“Well… That went simpler than planned.” The blonde grinned cheekily as she pushed passed her to join the red-caped girl in the cockpit, leaving Blake alone with the Schnee. 

“I don’t know what your plan is White Fang. But for now, it doesn’t matter. I will be watching you though.” The Schnee hissed as she went to join her allies.

The shuttle roared to life. A second later, the hanger boomed as the small railguns underneath it blasted open the void doors, shredding them like paper before the engines ignited and the shuttle blasted out into the void. 

----------

Ruby grimaced as the last of the remaining White Fang was nearly blasted apart by a close-range shot from Yang’s pistol. It hadn’t taken much to get them to cooperate. The cat Faunus had told the truth., They now had a ship, courtesy of the White Fang. 

Ruby ran to the cockpit and jumped into the pilot’s seat… And then froze. 

She had never seen anything like this before. The shuttle was simple enough. Though somewhat unfamiliar, the controls were simple enough to figure out. These… These were a mess.

“What’s wrong Ruby?” Yang asked as she jumped into the co-pilot chair beside her. 

Ruby looked up, panic welling in her chest. “Uhhh… Well… I think I found the flaw in our plan. I’m not entirely sure on how to fly this thing.”

“What!” the white-haired girl screeched behind them. “You can’t fly this?” 

“I didn’t say that!” Ruby shot back defensively. “I said I’m not entirely sure on how to. I thought that after flying my dad’s old freighter and the fighter sims at the academy that this piece of junk would be similar, but…” 

“My Gods… I’m going to die here,” Ms. Schnee loudly whispered to herself as she collapsed into another chair. “I’m going to die being blown to bits because some frontier bumpkin thought too much of herself.”

“Hey!”

“I don’t want to interrupt,” the Faunus called out. “But the Muninn is coming around on us. I got energy signatures spiking. She’s readying her main guns.”

“Aw...Fucking Void…”  Yang snapped. “Where are the shields on this thing?”

Yang fumbled with several switches. While Ruby frantically pushed several more, suddenly the ship shook, tossing the four around as the Red Claw buckled from a heavy hit. 

“Muninn just hit us!” The Faunus girl called from a screen in front of her. “Port side aft.” 

“Never mind the shields, Yang. Just punch in the Fold coordinates!” Ruby yelled as she grabbed the control stick and opened the accelerator.

The White Fang ship hummed as the engines roared into life. The Red Claw took off, but the Muninn followed close behind.

“Muninn steadily gaining. Energy spiking. She’s going to fire,” The Faunus girl reported, fear slowly growing more apparent in her voice. 

The Red Claw shook violently again. The four women could hear the hull twisting and groaning as the shot sheared the armoured plating. 

“Grazing shot. Top deck. Port side.”

The ship shook again with another devastating blow. “Direct hit. Port side. Aft.” 

Ruby’s eyes went wide as she realised what that meant. “They’re aiming for the Fold drive. Yang! We need those coordinates now!” 

“I’m trying, I’m trying!” Yang yelled back, “I need some time!” 

“We don’t have time you blonde brute!” Ms. Schnee snarled, “White Fang, does this ship have a torpedo?” 

Behind Ruby the cat Faunus looked up from her screen and nodded. “Several but only one loaded in a tube.”

“Dolt!” Ms. Schnee kicked Ruby’s chair to indicate that she was talking to her. “Get some distance, then bring us around. I was top in my torpedo class. I can hit Muninn.”

Ruby shook her head. “Muninn’s too fast. We won’t get enough space. Besides one torpedo? It would get picked off by the point defence before it came within a hundred kilometres... But we can buy us some time.” 

She pulled the stick hard and Red Claw turned. Right into the teeth of Muninn. “Ms. Schnee get ready.”

“We’re little more than a dozen kilometres. It’s too short for an effective torpedo shot.” Ms. Schee snapped. 

“We don’t need an effective shot. All we need is the radiation blindness.” Ruby shot back.

The Schnee paused. Then grinned. “A good plan. The name is Weiss by the way.”   

“Ruby… But I already told you that…” Ruby grinned back, as she pushed Red Claw into her attack run.    

Radiation blindness could happen rather often in space. It was when a burst of radiation hit your ship’s sensors; which would cause them to malfunction for a brief periods of time, leaving nothing but static and white noise on the viewing screens. It was something that could happen a number of ways: a bad solar wind, a nebula, a passing bit of space junk. 

Or in the case of the Muninn when a fifty kiloton nuclear warhead got swatted out of space by numerous point defence weapons. Then detonated less than a few kilometres in front of your ship.

The effect would be like a flash-bang going off in a small room, as opposed to a steady degradation of system at war with constant reboots and scrubs. The sensors of Muninn would be flooded by dirty, polluted light and a backwash of harsh radiation, rendering her blind for several precious seconds.   

The Red Claw did not escape through the maneuver unscathed, however. One last shot smashed into her prow; the spine of the ship rocked and cracked. Sparks jumped, fires were started and Ruby knew that the last shot had been a near fatal one. But they had blasted through and the Muninn was still blind.

“Yang! Please tell me you got something,” Ruby pleaded as the precious seconds her maneuver had bought them were spent. 

“Yeah! Got it! Were good now! Ready to Fold on your mark!”

Ruby looked down at her watch. “All aboard Air Ruby. Folding in three, two, one. Mark.”

Space, time, gravity. Billions upon billions of kilometres were pulled into a singularity of space and time. Red Claw shot forward, bearing her precious cargo. 

They were safe. 

For now.

[writingfortoomanyfandoms]

Watch It Burn - Part One

Pairing: Undecided x Mob!Reader

Requested: No

Summary: Olympus and the Horsemen have to unite but more than one secret is uncovered

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of drinking/alcohol use etc

A/N: Okay so this is the first official part of my new mob!AU series! I’m still not sure who to write it with so the pairing is undecided but let me know who you’d like to see it written with!! Either Famine, War or Conquest (lowkey leaning towards Conquest though...)

Athena’s first impression of the meeting room of the Speakeasy was that it was surprisingly clean. And that the security was worryingly lax.

She took in her surroundings passively, making a note of everything but not noticing anything in particular. The wooden table in the middle of the room was large, with eight seats around it and Athena briefly wondered who the other three seats were for. There was a bottle of whiskey set in the middle with four glasses by it and even now her hands itched to pick it up.

There were two filing cabinets in both corners of the room opposite the door in. A breath of laughter escaped her as she wandered over and tried to open one, surprised that it followed her actions easily. A part of her wondered what Atlas had been so worried about - the Horsemen hadn’t exactly proved competent since she had arrived at the Speakeasy.

It had been pathetically easy for her to sneak into the back room. There had been two guards posted at the door to the back of the Speakeasy and yet distracting them long enough to slip away had proved to be simple. 

As it turned out, being female was a positive attribute for her.

Athena closed the filing cabinet. She had no use for what was stored inside at the moment. That wasn’t what she was here for.

She was examining the walls when the door swung open. They were covered in newspaper clippings that had been pinned up with faces of the Horsemen on. She recognised most of the articles.

The four men standing in the doorway were quick to draw their weapons and point them to Athena, clearly thrown by her presence. Athena only had a little bit of gratitude that they hadn’t fired upon sight. 

“Who are you?” The tall man - Athena could tell he was the leader just by the way he held himself - held his gun pointed levelly at her face. Athena cocked an eyebrow, leaning back easily against the wall behind her, folding her arms.

“He knows,” she said simply, nodding at the only one of the Horsemen she knew.

The man with auburn hair tore his gaze away from the woman standing in their meeting room in the back room of their Speakeasy to look at Death. His face remained neutral, giving away no emotion as he looked at her, but he never did.

“Hey Death, lovely to see you again, you look well,” Athena beamed. Death sighed and lowered his gun, looking at the other Horsemen whose gazes flickered between him and the mysterious woman, obviously trying to piece the situation together.

“She’s always this… infuriating yes,” Death responded, as though that was the question on their tongues.

“So… we’re just meant to not shoot her for sneaking into the back of our Speakeasy where we keep all our files?” The blond man asked.

“Oh, I’m glad you understand, letting me live would be much more convenient for all parties involved,” Athena beamed, it seemed innocent but there was a coldness, an exhaustion behind it that couldn’t be explained in words.

“Who are you?” The tallest one asked - Athena knew him to be Conquest, she knew all their names, Olympus had done their homework before sending her to speak to the Horsemen.

“Take a seat,” she said, gesturing at the table. The four men looked between one another, unsure of their course of action. Death, the only one who already knew the idenity of the woman in front of them, took a seat. The three men exchanged wary glances before following suit, all of them keeping a hand on their weapons.

“You are aware that this is our Speakeasy, we’re meant to ask you to sit,” the auburn haired man asked - his name was Famine, Athena knew all about him.

“Well I guess I’m just a better hostess than you,” she said, her tone icy as she took a seat at the head of the table - a seat reserved for Conquest or, when he was around, Ares. Conquests jaw tensed at her sitting there but he didn’t make a sound, watching her levelly, awaiting her next move. “I’m Athena, I was sent by Atlas - Olympus has a proposal for you.”

“Atlas sent you?” War repeated, sharing a long look with Conquest. 

“That’s right,” Athena nodded. She brought one of her legs up so it was flat on her chair, her knee bent and leaning against her chest. Her hand hung down so it was resting on her calf, easy access to the knife she had hidden in her shoe in case she couldn’t get to the gun strapped to her back in time.

“Most people call ahead to arrange a meeting,” Conquest said icily. Athena shrugged, raising her eyebrows, a smirk on her lips.

“But this way is much more fun,” she lent forwards, her elbows resting on the wooden table in front of her. “Besides, if we had tried to arrange a meeting ahead of time, do you really think we’d actually follow through with it?” She asked with a pointed look directed towards each of the Horsemen in turn.

“What if we had killed you?” 

“Bold of you to assume you could,” Athena said easily. Looking at the mobsters in front of her she could have sworn she saw her words caused a smile to twitch at the corner of Famine’s mouth. “By sending me in person Atlas thought you’d take us seriously - the hope was that Death would recognise me and not shoot me at first sight,” the woman gave a wry smile. “Guess we’re smarter than you thought, too, seeing as though it worked out how we wanted it,”

“You’ve certainly got our attention,” Conquest conceded and Athena nodded.

“We were also aiming for that - though, I’ll admit, Atlas didn’t tell me to break into your meeting room,”

“That was all improvisation?” Famine questioned and there was a definite smile twitching on his lips as he spoke the words.

“What can I say, I have a flare for the dramatics,” 

“What was your preposition?” Death asked, not sidetracked from the reason Athena was sat in front of them.

“The Disciples are rising,” Athena said, pushing her hair back from where it fell into her face and clouded her vision. The men exchanged glances and nodded.

“We’re aware of their threat,”

“The Disciples go against everything we stand for-”

“Oh, so Olympus has morals, does it?” War cut in and Athena glared at him.

“Of course we do and so do you - we keep tabs on you Horsemen. We know there are some things that you just don’t go for and that’s why we’re able to coexist - because we both know what’s too far,” she hissed. “The Disciples have no idea about any of that. They sell children as slaves, encourage sex trafficking amongst kids and purposefully sell drugs that have been mixed to be lethal so that they can rob the people they sell them to,” Athena locked eyes with each man in turn. “As they rise they pose more and more of a threat and it’s only a matter of time until allegiances have to be pledged so wars can be won,” she sat back in her seat.

“How do you know all this about them?” Conquest asked.

“We spent spies once we started to understand just how big of a threat they were becoming,” it wasn’t a full truth but Athena couldn’t afford to tell the truth at this stage. “Atlas and Ares may not see eye to eye on everything but I’m sure they’ll agree on this,” Athena stood from the table. “We need to stop The Disciples before the whole of London is affected by them - and neither one of us can do it alone,” she made a move to the door. “Consider our offer or we’ll go elsewhere,” 

Her hand was on the door handle when Conquest called for her to stop.

“Athena,” she turned around and nodded. “We’ll need to discuss it. Where can we find you?” Athena mulled over his question.

“In two days time someone will come to the Speakeasy. You’ll know they’re from us, give them your answer,” she decided. 

“How will we know who?” War asked and Athena gave a wry smile.

“Trust me, they won’t fit in with your crowd,”

[tenjouu]

mulan-esque (3. mousse atlas // 1.36k) 

“And here I thought you genuinely enjoyed my company,” Mousse says with faint petulance. He lowers his teacup, and with it, his saddened gaze. “You were just after my position all this time.”

In the most literal sense. Ranks are hereditary in the Red Army. For a man to depart from his family tradition is practically unheard of. Mousse was born to be the Red Ace. You weren’t born to be in the army at all.

“Don’t say it like that, old friend,” you say placatingly. “I’ve never enjoyed your company.”

Mousse gives you a hurt look, but breaks character immediately after to chortle. “I’m sure that’s why you’ve hung around me this entire time. Too bad for you. I like you too much to give you this position.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” you protest.

“Which part? Me liking you?”

“I’m qualified,” you say, ignoring his persistence.

He knows you are. That’s why he likes you. Because you’re one of the strongest people he’s ever seen—determined to serve your country and protect the people. You remind him so much of the old Red King. 

And you keep the greatest secret—a biological truth buried so deep that sometimes, he wonders if you ever think of yourself that way. You probably don’t know that he knows. You’ve worked so hard that he wouldn’t have known—if not for the night he finally got you to drink with him as a friend. 

But he supposes it doesn’t matter. He would’ve liked you for your charm and ambition regardless of gender.

And he really just likes you too much. He never held any genuine love for the army, but your firm ideals convince him that the country is in good hands, and that maybe, sometimes, the army is worth serving. But the title of Ace is far too red for someone so brilliant like you. You would be taking on centuries of bloodstains. No noble family is free from skeletons in their wardrobes.

You fight in the rawest, purest form, for the most upright reasons. Being Ace doesn’t suit you.

“It’s barely my decision to make,” Mousse confesses. “The most I can do is commend you to the stuffy old men on the council. And they’re already infuriated with me.”

Pretty true. Jonah threatened to flay Mousse next time he stepped foot in the barracks, which is exactly why he invited you to Blanc’s house, under the pretense of final farewells—but also, he just wanted to see you one last time before crossing the sea.

“And by extension, they’re infuriated with me,” you sigh in understanding. You’re far too intelligent for him to slip anything by you. “And the hearing would be a nightmare for your public image.”

For a number of reasons. 

It’s clear that through your five years of both riding and dying together that if he were to pass the position to you now, there would be questions asked. Favoritism. Old kings would honorarily knight their male lovers. That sort of thing.

It would make people wonder, especially since you present as male. Mousse doesn’t have too many problems with that. He knows old noblemen will be as close-minded as they are wont to be. He’s just not sure what would befall you in the barracks if the men came upon such gossip. He doesn’t want to find out. 

And Edgar has him convinced that there’s someone else equally eager to prove himself out there—a so-called protege of Edgar’s, so to speak. He has the same wildness in his swordsmanship as you.

“I thought I would ask,” you say with a shrug. “It was worth a shot.” You offer him a tired smile.

“I’ll offer you a onetime deal,” Mousse says. “Being Ace is boring. And you like political matters, for some godforsaken reason. Why not join me as a diplomat? There are other governing bodies in this world whose institutions are vastly different from Cradle’s. You could take inspiration from them and pass it on to the King. I’d adopt you as my protege. Just say the word.”

“No,” you reply, lips quirking up mischievously. “You’re already a protege yourself. I’m not demoting myself to the student of a student when I’ve already worked this hard.”

He knows it would be selfish to ask you to leave this place when you’ve given over everything—even the basis of your identity. You’re already doing well as one of the thirteen anyway.

“I thought I would ask,” he sighs, parroting your words back. “It was worth a shot.” He gets to his feet. It’s time for you both to get back.

“It would’ve hit true in another world,” you reply, standing too.

For a moment, he thinks it might be your wit telling him to keep dreaming. But when he registers the wistfulness in your tone, he blinks at you. Does that mean...?

“I wouldn’t wish to presume,” Mousse begins casually, keeping in step with you to the door.

“Don’t presume then,” you answer him, eyes glittering in amusement. You at last give him a warm grin. “I’ll miss you, old friend.”

“I really do like you, you know. It would be a shame for us to let this chemistry go to was—“ He leans in close, but you place your palm on his face and shove him away.

You truly have the strength of a man. It’s actually devastatingly attractive.

“You’re weird,” you say, but you’re still smiling at him from what he can see between your fingers so that’s one thing. “Always saying that you really like me, that you’d court me if I were a woman.”

You remove your hand from his face. He’s acutely aware that you’re taller than him. And when you pin him with your thoughtful gaze, he stays spellbound. He knows your hands are calloused like any soldier’s hands are. Sometimes, he wonders if you were meant to be a man after all—and wow, right now is not the time to be questioning his sexual orientation.

You give him a soft laugh. “That’s a good look,” you say.

“What look?” he asks.

“Your dazed expression,” you say. “Like the dimwitted look you get on your face when you’ve just woken up after napping irresponsibly.”

“Dimwitted,” he splutters, taken aback. And here he thought you’d finally realized that he was actually objectively and conventionally attractive. “You’re talking about someone’s face here, you know—!“

“If you come back as an accomplished diplomat, maybe I’ll be the one to court you,” you interrupt him. “You’re the shorter one, after all.”

Mousse groans, for lack of a better response. He doesn’t care who does the courting. He’s not averse to being courted, but he’s also not here to get teased by you. He wants to be the one doing the teasing here.

“You’d look good in a dress,” you continue, “though loathe I am to admit that I’ve thought about this at all.”

He gives you an annoyed huff. “Don’t underestimate me. I’d wear one for you,” he retorts. “I’ll become the best diplomat you’ve ever seen. You better keep your promise. Else may glory run sable through your treacherous veins!”

Surprised by his sudden vehemence—you blink at him. And then you give him a smile that he’s never seen before.

“Okay,” you tell him fondly. “When that day comes, I want to tell you something then.”

“You don’t have to wait. Feel free to say you’re in love with me any time.”

“No,” you deadpan. “Something more important than that, dormouse.”

“What could be more important than love?” he asks you earnestly. (And in his tone—he’s so serious about it that you wonder if he already knows. Mousse is the type to surpass boundaries and convention anyway.)

“Evidently to you it’s sleep,” you reply, and the moment’s over.

“First my face, now slandering my good character,” he says. “See if I want to be courted when I come back!”

“I’m confident,” you say simply, and with a strong arm slung around his shoulders, you pull him out the door.

[calliecat93]

RWBY V6 CH6 Review: Alone in the Woods

Have you ever felt terrified of an episode? Well, that’s a silly question! We’re watching RWBY! Of course we have! But man this may be the most worried about what’s going to happen that I’ve been for a long while. I could say that about the whole volume so far tbf, but MAN have been concerned. So after the outright uncomfortable atmosphere that the last episode presented, what does this one have in store for us? Lets find out.

Overview

Night has come, and our heroes aren't doing great. WBY looks outright ready to pass out as they sit infront of the fire as Ruby checks in on Qrow, whose mood is no better. The good news is that the storm is clearing up and all should be clear by morning. Ruby however is more concerned about if Qrow is doing okay, especially since she sees that he's found a bottle of alcohol. But Qrow shrugs it off, telling her to get everyone to sleep and that he'll wake them up in the morning. During this, Maria is reading the owners journals and as with all the other places, the Brunswick Farm owners were people trying to make a life for themselves, but they didn't make it. Everyone goes to bed... well except Maria who refuses to follow Qrow's orders. Maria is such a blessing.

Morning soon arrives, Ruby being awakened when she hears a bottle that Qrow had shatter. She realizes that they overslept and goes to get up her uncle... who now has a couple more bottles than eh previously had. She isn't happy about this. She looks outright... frustrated tbh. She can't shake him awake so, clearly mad, she simply tosses a bottle at the wall and that wakes Qrow up. It's... an interesting reaction. IDK any alcoholics or had family or friends who became alcoholics, an Thank God for it. But this felt... real. Lie this is how it is when someone you care about is too deep in their alcoholism. Ruby's clearly seen this before, as V5 also hinted. Only this time instead of being annoyed,s he's frustrated and tired of it. But as Qrow comes to, she calms down and hugs him, telling him that he can talk to her or Yang if anything is wrong. Qrow again just brushes it off, wanting to get out of the place. It's such a small, but impactful scene that really amps up the concern for Qrow.

The group gets ready to connect the wagon (I know there's a name for those things but I can't thin of it) to Yang's bike and get out, though all of them are clearly tired. It's not made any better when Qrow's bad luck hits and causes a flat tire. This seems to be the last straw for him as he goes off in a huff. Ruby seems to be the only one not delirious aside form Maria, saying that they can find a spare. But Yang isn't keen on it, pointing out their bad luck. Crashes, storms, monsters, it just looks like something doesn't want them to get to Atlas. It feels like no matter what, they always have to fight in order to pull through. When Ruby says that this is what they signed up for, Oscar makes a very strong point. They signed up to save the world, not to delay the inevitable.

Weiss brings back up the point that she brought up last time, why are they even going to Atlas? Ruby is again shocked that this is even a consideration, but Yang and Blake agree. The Relics may be in vaults currently, so why not just leave the lamp where they are? It could take her who knows how long ti find it if they just drop it down the well. I'd argue that since the Grimm re attracted to them, it wouldn't be too long, but then again she hasn't found the Beacon Relic, so... and even then,t hat's not the point. It's pretty clear that all that the others want to do is just give up on this whole thing and be done with it. Their eyes are lifeless. Their talk is in complete monotone. They look outright lifeless as they tell Ruby to just drop the Relic, all of them tired...

Throughout this, Ruby just looks outright horrified at what she's hearing... but soon she starts to think about this. She walks towards the well, also admitting that she herself is also tired. She takes off the Relic, holding it above the well with trembling hands. Her eyes too look lifeless and her expression emotionless... before she lets out a sigh. She slowly pulls back her hand, seeming to decide that no matter how tired she is, she can't just abandon the Relic until it's safe in Atlas. Unfortunately, she gets startled by a pair of glowing red eyes and that is enough to snap her out of her tired state... but also drop the Relic. She panics, even as the others say that it's fine and that her exhaustion is making her see things. Qrow starts to have Oscar work to fix the tire, but Ruby finally realizes that something is wrong and puts her foot down. She angrily refuses to go anywhere without the Relic. The girls, while still emotionless, agree to go down with her as Qrow angrily goes back into the house, ordering Oscar to fix the tire.

As the girls go through the caverns below, Maria continues to read through the journals. As she reads on, there is clear tension as the girls turn off their Scroll lights to find the lamp glow. Ruby outright even gets Crescent Rose out. SH finally finds the glow of the lamp and runs to grab it... as Maria stumbles upon a page titled The Apathy. One that clearly startles her. Why? Well when Ruby gets the Relic, she also finds the source of the glowing eyes... a horde of Grimm. But not like an that we've seen before. These look humanoid, kinda like the rider part of the Nuckalavee, and... it is creepy. Really, REALLY creepy. Ruby screams as she runs out, which snaps the other three out of their trances. Thy get ready to fight... but their weapons suddenly feel heavy and they once again start feeling tired.

Maria appears, telling them that they have to run. They do so, The Apathy giving chase. They are slow, heck it feels a LOT like a zombie horde. Considering their skeleton-like designs, I imagine that it was intentional. It doesn't help that throughout, all the girls keep feeling the same exhausted feeling. They finally make it into the same cellar that was locked before, but the feeling finally get the better of them. Only Ruby and Maria seem to have any kind of will left and worst, Blake is the farthest back and seems to resign herself to being killed as the Grimm close in. Ruby tries to crawl over to her, and the scene is just... creepy. In her state, Blake already looks lie she's dead. Motionless, wide but empty eyed, her weapon discarded as the horde start to close in on her. Poor Ruby can't get over to her and the others are in no state to help, so all that she can do is scream out Blake's name... and that is enough to activate her eyes for a brief moment. It kills a couple of the Grimm and again breaks everyone out of their daze. Ruby gets Blake and all that they have to do now is get out.

Unfortunately if you recall, the cellar is locked. Yang gets ready to go and break it open... but The Apathy still has plenty of numbers as they again cast their spell. Everyone but Maria goes down, Yang outright panicking ad she screams no while just steps away from the door. But Maria seems to realize something as she crawls over to Ruby. She asks her what her eye color is, to which Ruby replies silver. This makes Maria outright happy as she asks Ruby if she has a family and loved ones. Why? She tells her to focus on the way that they make her feel To focus those feelings as she speaks of how life is a beautiful thing. How life is precious. And how it must be protected. With all of that in mind, Ruby regains her resolve, her eyes flashing. She gets back up and this time, without and provicaiton from trauma or fear, unleashes her Silver Eyes power.

The eyes kill the Grimm, allowing everyone to regain their will. Yang breaks open the door and they all find themselves in the bar where Qrow unsurprisingly is. He's clearly drunken himself into a stupor however, grouchy and seeming detached form everything going on. The objective now is to get out of there as Maria, Yang, ad Blake run outside to where Oscar has fixed the tire. But Weiss isn't ready to go yet. She grabs several alcohol bottles and shatter them at the cellar door. The Apathy start to emerge... and Weiss sets everything ablaze. She and Ruby drag Qrow out, who argues and fights back... until he finally sees the burning Grimm. He's shocked into silence seeming to realize how badly he let himself go, as everyone loads up. Yang drives them all away form the Farm, which continues to burn...

Maria reveals what caused the farms downfall. They came upon financial hardships so hoping to save costs on hiring a Huntsman, the owner went and captured two of The Apathy. He locked them into the cellar, hoping that their influence would keep everyone calm and therefore the negative emotions wouldn't draw any further Grimm in. No Grimm, no Huntsmen needed. But unfortunately, the rest of the horde seeked out their own and their presence soon sucked out all of the residents wills to live. Maria just seems sad as she realizes all of this, throwing the book into the snow. Weiss and Yang apologize for how they acted, resolving to not give up until the Relic is safe in Atlas. Maria feels guilty for not realizing what was happening sooner having never seen a settlement die like Brunswick did.

Ruby however has her own questions. She realizes that Maria knows quite a lot about the Grimm an asks how. But that's not all. She remembers how Maria knew exactly what to do in order to get Ruby to release her eyes power. That's right guys, Ruby is finally asking about the Silver Eyes. She ass how Maria knew about this. Maria answers her question, and he gives the answer that we had all been waiting for since this volume began. Yes my friends, our assumptions have finally been confirmed. Maria was indeed a Silver Eyed Warrior.

Review

Damn man, just... DAMN. Okay, we have quite a bit to talk about. So lets keep the scary part out of the way, and then we'll get to the part I REALLY want to talk about.

This episode didn't go the route that I was expecting. I thought that it was going to be some kind of dream Grimm or a Headless Horseman Grimm. I did NOT expect Zombie Horde Grimm. I also thought that this would be some kind of nightmare episode, but nope! And I'm not complaining, in hindsight that would require a LOOOT of time. Having the cast give into apathy and slowly lose their resolve to continue the fight And even the will to live? That is more horrifying then any nightmare could be, especially since none of them even seed aware of it until Ruby snapped out of it. The Apathy may very well be the most terrifying Grimm in the show, They aren't as vicious as say a Beowulf or Ursa, or even as powerful. But they kill you by simply draining your will power, and as this episode demonstrated, that is more lethal than any Grimm attack so far could ever be.

Because of the apathy, the darkest thoughts of the cast really come out. Qrow becomes more drunk than usual and as I already said, it's pretty uncomfortable and realistic. Especially at the end where he's just full out angry and detached, getting angry at Weiss when she breaks the bottles. The look of horror on his face when he finally sees the Grimm and realizes just how badly he let himself slip is... it's shocking. Yang wants to outright quit after all their bad luck and the recent revelations. Weiss gets the idea in everyone's heads after thinking about it last chapter, and this time doesn't snap out of it. Oscar points out that all that they are doing is delaying their inevitable demise since Salem can't die. Everyone is questioning why they should continue the fight at this rate. Even Ruby even if just briefly, gives in and nearly discards the Relic, showing that even she has her limits.

The entire episode is very creepy and outright depressing. The girls emotionless eyes did NOT help. There was no life int hem, or even in their voices. There was just... nothing. They all almost died because of the Grimm making them not care anymore. And all of this happened because one guy wanted to save money. IDK if he did it out of desperation, greed or both but because of it, everyone died. It's a pitiful situation regardless of the motive. I felt like Maria did, just exasperated. It really further demonstrates how hopeless it seems to be for those outside the Kingdoms. Like what we saw with the girls? Imagine that with a small group of people. Imagine that with a whole city. It's a terrifying. Apathy can be a very dangerous thing, for both those who receive it and those who feel it. IDK if I can ever watch RvB, a show that has tons of it, the same way again... God probably none of them would survive The Apathy... well maybe Caboose would. Grif would be a goner though, although maybe already being apathetic would make him immune or... and I'm getting off track XD Sorry!

So yeah creepy as Hell. The atmosphere and acing were just right. It still had some light moments, like Maria refusing to go to bed and both Blake and Oscar being too tired to make food despite wanting it. That is such a mood. But overall the atmosphere was an uncomfortable as last week, only with plenty of fear for our heroes lives sprinkled in. Very, very well done.

But lets get to the real star of this episode: Ruby. In the past, I expressed how I felt that she got the shaft VERY badly in V5. Clearly, CRWBY is fixing that. Throughout these past six chapters, Ruby has been such an amazing character. Still optimistic and good-intention but she's showing much more of her development and growth. She's stepped up as a leader and is keeping alert. She's questioning things and thinking for herself, but still doing her best to take care of her team. She's frustrated at Qrow and upset about the revelations about Ozpin, but she's not letting them control her. She's outright trying her best to get Qrow to open up infact. She's the only one who gave a damn about Oscar and tried to comfort him, even if Qrow shot her efforts down. And in this episode? Despite The Apathy's effects on her, she refuses to give up. Even as she holds the Relic over the well, her hands are trembling in doubt. She was pulling it away from the well, deciding to keep fighting and go to Atlas because it is the right thing to do. But she also put her foot down, showing frustration with Qrow and REFUSING to leave without the Relic despite everyone around her not caring.

Then we have the climax. First, her attempt to save Blake. Weiss and Yang seem to just give up and even Blake resigns herself to death. But Ruby, despite being weighed down, still tries her damnest to save her teammate. And then when she herself is finally brought down, Maria is able to give her the exact encouragement that she needed. Maria got her to think about the happiness and love that her family and friends give her. That life is a precious, beautiful thing. She signed up for this to save lives and make the world better in any way that she can. That is what motivates her. That is why she is where she is. And it is what gave her the strength to break free and use her powers of her own will. And finally at the end, she FINALLY asks about the eyes. Sure it's not to Ozpin, but it IS to someone who clearly knows and can give her at least some kind of answer.

Maria s exactly the kind of character that Ruby NEEDS to help her along. Maria is a sassy old lady, but also wise, knowledgeable, and also seems to care about saving other lives. She seemed just sad when reading about what happened to the farm. Infact that was where her focus was, finding out what happened that cost so many their lives. It seems like, to me, the Silver Eye powers are fulled by the desire to protect and live. It is fulled by positive emotions, which make sense since the Grimm are fueled by negative emotion. It's hwy Maria got on the girls in Chapter  for spewing negativity, It's why she's been so far overall very positive, even though clearly SOMETHING happened that cost her her eyes. She is the wise, but kindly person that Ruby currently needs. Ozpin's shadiness and current broken state can't do that right now. Maria is such a welcome addition to the cast, and so far her inclusion has been so good and looks to be leading to even greater things. I frekain' love her.

Going back to Ruby though.. this is what I have been wanting form her since Volume 3. It feels like the multiple timelines and other characters needing the focus is why Ruby got shafted so badly. There was clearly so much going on that something had to be put on pause, and Ruby ended up being the one to get it. This has everything that I have been wanting to see from her. Her growth as a leader, her encouraging nature in spite of all the bad luck, her questioning things and showing some semblance of frustration and anger, her learning about the Silver Eyes. This is the Ruby Rose that I have been waiting for. I've been incredibly patient with CRWBY getting to this, and it is FINALLY paying off. You guys have no idea how happy I was when Ruby willingly used the eyes. How she refused to give up despite everything and everyone around her trying to provoke her. How she is still resolved to do good no matter what. I'm still hoping for her to open up more about her more negative feelings and have a breakdown so that she can move forward, but right now? This is very much the right direction for her, and I could not be happier about my favorite character right now.

Final Thoughts

This volume continues to give. This chapter was creepy and unsettling, but also tense and impactful. It had an awesome if horrifying Grimm concept that is going to haunt my nightmares. It had one Hell of an end and let us see the true dark feelings of most of the characters. It did wonders for Maria as well. Ut this chapter was especially great because of Ruby. She is truly showing the inspiring figure that she is meant to be as she continues to step up as a leader and try to do what's right. I feel like the missteps with her in V5 have now been amended, and hopefully we'll see things continue to go uphill as we reach the halfway mark. Awesome chapter and I loved every single second of it! Well done CRWBY!

[kuroko26]

WHITE ROSE WEEK 2018-DAY 2

Even though it’s not the first soulamte au fics i’ve written for RWBY, this is the first I actually mange to post here!

-----------------------------

DAY 2: SOULMATE AU

It was known in the word of Remnant that everyone had a soulmate whose name would be written in a person’s wrist whether they were humans or Faunus. When you were near your fated one, the name would glow, signaling they were indeed the one.

Weiss’s childhood was filled with tales from her butler Klein and his soulmate Helga, how they met and how they cherished every moment they spent together and Weiss wanted that for herself. Someone who would love her for who she is and she could love back for who they were.

When her fated person’s name finally appeared on her wrist she was ecstatic, her joy was basically immeasurable at this point. Whoever this “Ruby” person was, she couldn’t wait to meet them in person.

However, not everyone saw things the way she did. When she received her mark, she ran to show it to her family and While Winter’s reaction was puzzled but still feeling happy for her sister, her father basically exploded.

“There’s no way on earth a daughter of mine will be married to someone of lesser status, much less a woman!” he exclaimed and suddenly grabbing Weiss he proceeded to try and burn Weiss’s mark as if thinking it would break the bond but that was when Winter and her mother intervened before he made a permanent damage.

After that episode, the behavior of the patriarch got worse, especially towards his middle child. He said that he would marry her to a man that would benefit the family while Weiss retorted that she would not become like him and would find her soulmate.

That was the one thought that helped her resist all that abuse and work hard towards a way to earn her freedom and fulfill the desires of her heart.

Since nothing in life was easy, her father decided that if she wanted to go to Beacon academy instead of Atlas, she would have to pass a test devised by him and his decrepit, conniving and most of all, ass kissing secretary of this. Said test came in the form of an aberration created in secret by the company. An armor gigas they called it.

Never hesitating, the snow haired huntress to be fought valiantly and was about to win when said creature managed to land a hit on her, leaving a scar on her face and a condescending smirk on her father’s face who was more assured off his victory more than ever but Weiss was not defeated yet. Not by a long shot.

With her determination, the encouragement of Klein and her older sister and the latter’s encounter with her soulmate serving as fuel, Weiss attacked one more time and managed to subdue her enemy, passing the test she was not supposed to pass after all.

She could go to Beacon and while she may not find her soulmate there, it was a step in the right direction to accomplish her goal.

“Wait for me Ruby. I’m coming”

Xxxxxx

When Ruby received her mark, she like Weiss, was more than happy to know what her fate’s name was and showed it to her family who instantly recognized that name but decided to shrug it off and congratulate the little girl anyway. After all, there must be a lot of people with Weiss for a name; what were the odds Ruby’s soulmate would be the one Weiss that was particularly famous? They thought none the wiser.

Many years the read haired girl spent trying to imagine how her soulmate would look like, how they sound and most importantly: if they liked cookies as much as her? Well, even if they didn’t like cookies, she would love them all the same…while educating them about cookies.

Some find it cute that she thought about her soulmate with such warm and enthusiasm and others, especially her classmates find it annoying to the point of trying to bully her because of it claiming that not only it wasn’t obligatory to be with the one fated to be your soulmate, but that the fated one would never like such annoying pest like her.

She never payed them much attention, her sister having her back when it came to dealing with bullies also helped a lot.

One night in Vale, a heist stopped and a conversation with the illustrious headmaster of Beacon and the silver eyes teenager found herself enrolled at beacon academy two years earlier. She could not wait to tell her family about it.

Who knows? There might be a Weiss on the school. Luckily, she had written a letter with everything she wanted to tell them when they finally met.

Xxxxxx

The day finally arrived and all the pieces were joining in one common place: Beacon Academy. Arguing that Ruby needed to learn to socialize on her own, Yang suddenly left with some friends or acquaintances of her and a very dazed Ruby ended up tripping  with the luggage of a very rich looking girl who didn’t take well to her clumsiness.

“Do you have any idea of the damaged you could’ve caused!?”

“Look, I’m sorry but nothing bad happened so you or that dust you’re carrying…aaah, what was your name again?” The silver eyed girl asked annoying the blue eyes recipient of said question once more.

“Weiss Schnee! You must have heard that name at least once in you-“

Weiss mid rant was cut short when she watched the girl’s demeanor changed abruptly, looking elated without apparent reason and just as spontaneously, letting a high pitched squeal out.

“Oh my gods! I can’t believe it’s you! I’m Ruby, Ruby Rose and believe it or not, you’re my soulmate!”

“Ruby!? Did you just say Ruby!?” the crimsonette nodded frantically.

“Yeah! I’ve been dreaming with this moment ever since I received my mark! Oh wait!”

She remembered something was missing and took a letter from her pocket.

“I wrote this just for you for the moment we would finally meet”

Nodding, Weiss took the letter and started to read it:

“Dear Weiss

First of all, I want to thank you for being born and most importantly, for playing the most important role in my life as my soulmate, either platonically or romantically, I am truly grateful for the fact that you are going to be part of my life and I’m going to be part of your from now on.

I also promise that I’ll always, always have your back, love you warts and all and of course, to save some of best cookies for you!

I guess I’ll be seeing you around?

Love

Ruby Rose”

After reading the short but heartfelt letter, Weiss couldn’t help but to wonder if this warm spreading all over her body after reading it was the same kind of feeling Klein and Winter experienced when they found their soulmates but that wasn’t important, not as important as the fact that the moment she had waited her entire life had finally arrived!

Not saying anything else, Weiss wrapped her soulmate in a tight hug while muttering: “everything is okay now that you’re here”

Smiling, Ruby hugged the heiress back and said: “likewise”

[rakuraiwielder]

it was never about that

Nothing could have prepared her for the lurch in her chest when the intercom clicks open with buzzed static and familiar screaming. Post Volume 6 reunion.

RWBY, Blacksun.

Also on A03

Foreword:

breaks my 1 year writing hiatus with the underdog ship ahahah AAA im back bABEYY

go easy on me please I worked on this with only post vol 4 spoiler knowledge and a-not-so-accurate world map so have some au content for events that have yet to transpire(?)

They had barely made it to the command room before the alarms blare again; red and fire illuminating the cold marble of the corridors. Blake stiffens, pushes away the echoing screech of Grimm ringing in her ears as she eyes the ominous lights, frowns minutely as the building gives one ominous shudder. Beside her Yang tenses with teeth clenched, and she drops her shoulder in response to cover her, ignores the throbbing of her knees and wrist as she fingers over Gambol Shroud.

Their ragtag group huddles further into the cold, ruined room amid burning cinders and shocked circuits, but she has little time to make sense of it all before Ruby was calling her name and the screens over the shattered glass overlooking Atlas flares to life.

Nothing could have prepared her for the lurch in her chest when the intercom clicks open with buzzed static and familiar screaming.

“-is a distress call from- cuos, --overru- -e Grimm are- , if anyone can hear me-“

“Neptune!” She wasn’t aware she had waded up to the front of the monitor until she sees Ruby retract her hand from the buttons, shooting her a concerned look. She swallows, feeling pain wreck the expanse of her throat, wasn’t aware of the crack in her voice until the pain persists.

A two-folded attack, and Salem still three steps ahead of them.

Blake’s ears fold back as the roar of cannon fire in the background swallows the muffled sounds of battle, feels anxiety spike when Neptune yells for a Captain to be careful. The bad feeling only pools further when she picks out a pained groan through the static.

Another groan behind her, and Blake tries to close her ears to Weiss’s sob as her father struggles to stand.

“Ru- y? Bla-? W -need reinforcements, please, NDGO and BR- -wn. – is here! Can’t ho-“

“Neptune!” Weiss’s exhausted shout goes unanswered as the feed cuts off, leaving the static screen smoking with fried wires.

No one says a word as dread hangs in the air.

“No..”

Blake can feel her team’s gazes on her as she shuts her eyes, holding the grimace at bay. Panic comes first; springs free from her eyes when she turns to face them. If Neptune was there, then that would mean…

“Blake?” The room was silent, stray sparks crackling as Ruby shuffles closer.

“We have to help them.” She says, feeling helpless even as the words leave her mouth. The threat to Atlas had yet to be fully neutralised; as it were, the ramifications of the destruction must be answered for and the crew were short of hands. The nation of Atlas must know. But more importantly, more importantly…

Blake bites her lips and swallows a curse, clamps down the tremble that runs down her spine as every instinct of her body screams otherwise. Those were her friends out there, comrades who fought beside her as Beacon burned with cinder and ash all those months ago. People she refused to desert again.

Her eyes find Yang unconsciously, sees an unknown emotion flit across the blonde’s face as she presses her lips into a grim line. Guilt stems from her conscience, unconsciously; she hunches her shoulders even as lavender looks steadily at her. This was not her decision to make.

Never again. She had made a promise.

The nauseous feeling persists.

“Then you must go.”

In the hushed silence of the command room Yang’s voice rings clear, her soft grunt of admission that follows carrying a hint of her usual cheer. She levels a look at their leader, who looks equally surprised at the declaration. Blake’s axis stutters to a stop; disbelief clouds her mind, for it was Yang; Yang whom took her departure hardest, whom she strove so hard to mend her relationship with; Yang, whom she blamed herself most over.

Yang, whom was trusting her to leave.

It is relief that hits her first after the shock, and Blake cannot help but feel guilt at that too. She feels wronged somehow, like she had gotten a free pass at something she was never meant to have. So muddled in her thoughts she missed the unspoken exchange that passes between the sisters, darting to attention only when Ruby chuckles and Yang breaks away with a resolute grin.

“Yang,” Weiss sighs tiredly. “you know that’s not possible, there’s still things we have to-”

“I know. Which is why you and I will be staying here. Ruby and Blake will head to Vacuo.”

“Are you sure?” Blake says again, sees the grin curl into a smile as Yang levels her with a stare that spoke volumes.

“Yes, go to them.”

A weight eases off her shoulders even as she tries to smile back, blood rushing through her ears in waves.

Things are a blur after that; from running down the decks of metal grates to the roar of an engine taking them to the skies. (There is an airship bounded for Sasus, I’ll have them adjust coordinates-) There was no time for long goodbyes -the four of them barely had time to trade quiet glances-, and before long the team had split again. (Don’t worry kids, got some unfinished business to do here. But then I’ll be right behind you. We all will.) She doesn’t feel any better when the clouds part and the guilt leaves.

There is an itch under her skin, emphasized by her own worry. It gnaws at her, bit by bit at the crevice of her mind that she actively tried to avoid. It is not long before she cannot close her eyes without seeing a mirage of a dimming tower within the harsh desert smothering with flame and ash.

The memory of a shrug, an easy-going grin, (Me? I’m going back to Vacuo./You are with who you need to be with now./Hey…I’m sure we will see each other again soon.) haunts her behind closed eyelids; grows stronger with each passing day they take to reach the far ends of the sea.

She would be lying if she said she hasn’t thought of him. It had been months long, but in her mind the culmination of her journey to and from Menagerie longer still, and he had been there, every step of the way, wading through the darkness of the White Fang beside her. He had been by her side so long until he wasn’t, and the first few nights after their parting she wakes up disoriented at the absence of an earnest voice and golden hair.

She misses Sun, she thinks, but under no circumstances did she want to see him again this way. The faunus boy who never failed to come to her aid, who offered and offered selflessly and gave himself to see her smile, whose homeland now burned under the eye of the cruel witch. She hopes this time she can be strong enough to return the favour.

Sun and his team were strong, she has no doubt about this, strong enough to give them a run for their money if they so wished. But then she thinks of confident Neptune; voice frantic and laced with pain, of what might have caused him to sound that way, and her instincts continue to spark something unpleasant in her gut.

The nightmare drags on, reveals fallen bodies both civilian and Hunter, a thousand possibilities that led to stark-white skulls glowing within burning destruction. A sinking sense of déjà vu comes over her when a limbless creature emerges from the inky blackness, morphs into tormented human.

Her throat closes with a sickening feeling.

Think positive, Ruby says, but even Blake can see the searing conflict beneath her eyes.

“This time, it won’t be too late.”

She surprises herself by placing a hand over her arm, and the smile that lights Ruby’s face makes her feel better too. She returns it, feeling a twinge of amusement at how hypocritical they both seem to be.

Sun used to do that; ground her back just as her thoughts spiral off into tangents that had her want to pull her hair in blind panic and frustration. She always had a penance for the worse-case scenarios; one would think he would get sick of it. But he had always grasped her shoulder and shot back a what-if, juggled Jingu-bang and Ruyi-bang with a goofy sort of confidence in a way he knew she would rib him for.

She had not realised the first few times, but he had made her forget. Ebbed her stress away until the darkness in her eyes left.

And for just those few moments, Adam’s hold on her was no longer as potent.

Her mouth twitches and furrow. She was thinking of him again.

She would have been blinded not to see it, and that was why she tries not to dwell on it at all. There was something there, small and rooted and growing, distance only putting a temporarily halt to the slow culmination of what she suspects, what she fears, would be a finite end she would have to face. Sun had gave, but he had also taken; nudged and prodded and tagged along with a stubborn refusal to leave her alone until he had cemented himself as a trusted companion.

He had become important to her. Important enough to warrant the odd clench in her chest at the thought of him incapacitated.

But Blake knows herself; knows the gentle inkling festering underneath all those layers of doubt and deceit she placed around her wary nature could possibly be more.

And that, above all, scares her more than anything.

She thinks back to a moonlit night of him lying on a cold concrete roof with a wound through his chest and feels a surge of aching so strong her breath rattles through her lungs. It was no longer just an eye for an eye, of give and take, of being there to catch him the way he had for her.

She gasps, snaps her eyes open and lunges from her seat when Ruby calls for her from the Captain’s bow.

Their ship doesn’t stick the landing, deterred by tumultuous windstorms and cascades of sand. The weather barrier had enclosed much of the inner city, disrupting any radio waves or signals honing out. Their Captain risks it, crash-dives the ship over the rapid beatings of murky black silhouette. The Nevermore plunges to its death, carrying the airship with it as it breaks through the sandstorm.

Ruby draws Crimson Rose just as the shutters shatter and the ship makes its crushing presence known, and then they were off at touchdown, a trail of rose petals and nifty shadows cutting a path to the city centre.

Staggered groups of survivors spot then first. Then the automation soldiers. Then rogue Hunters. Ruby blazes through a pack of smaller beasts in a flurry, throws her scythe open as she starts to fire. Blake darts into an opening she makes, curls Gambol Shroud into whip form and lunges. Her semblance ripples in frozen apparitions, dancing around and leaving the faintest trace of a cat-o-nine-tails.

She snatches the Grimm away from cornered bystanders as she advances further, clicks Gambol Shroud into position as the distorted monster tugs and struggles under her grip. Leaps. Then, a flash of red hair and singed clothes as someone lunges from the air toward her.

Her blade slashes pass the Grimm’s neck just as a cutlass cuts through its opposing side.

Blake lands just as red eyes flicker grey and white skull dissolves, turns back with widened eyes to the sight of Scarlet panting and speechless.

“You came.” He looked weary, but the surprise on his face soon wore off into a pleased grin. “Neptune really pulled it off.”

“Not all of us.” She says just as Ruby runs into view. Relief soothes a little of her rattled heart to see him standing. He was fine. That would mean the rest of SSSN had to be too.

“It’s fine,” he says with bravado as they turn their backs to face three lumbering Deathstalkers. “You two are probably all we need.”

Blake watches him huff at the corner of her eyes, sees him catch her looking and gestures to the path forward. A hand on her elbow; she glances back to see Ruby raise the ends of her rifle, hears the clicking of bullets load in wait even as her leader smiles at her with a wild, determined sort of look that held fire.

“Go. We will take care of this.”

“Be careful.” Her smile does not come fast enough for either of them to see; gone in a flicker as her shadows snaked right into the path of a striking stinger. She twists, and feels Gambol Shroud slice through flesh cleanly, side-steps the creature’s thrash of pain and hurries on deeper into the wreckage.

Fires burned hotter the longer she heads straight, and she pulls a few trapped civilians from smoking debris before her ears pricked at the noises of nearby snarling. Screams. She runs against the rushing crowd, sheathes her blade and flicks out the single leather whip. She emerges into the square to see Grimm breaking out of the back alleys at the other end.

Returning fire causes her to look up, and in the distance she sees him, a figure restless as he swipes at an offending mouth with his staff. An inaudible click as he knocks the Grimm on its stomach, and Jingu-bang swings free, metal chains leading trajectory as bullets rain from its other end. Ruyi-bang follows its lead, aims at the opposite direction as Sun spins in a wild circle. Blood stains a little of his shirt, but the agile way he moves gives the creatures no quarter to strike at weakness.

It had been months long and they were in the middle of the heat of battle, but to see him now; Blake feels something unravel within her chest. Her mind, usually so full of denial and second-guessing, was suspiciously clear. No growing warmth, but a flood of something tingling down her nerves that made her want to smile in the bleak situation, despite herself. This at least, she knows. She was living a moment.

She does not falter as she leaps down the stairs.

Flashes of semblances leap around the square in golden wisps, illuminating the darkening sky every time one is torn apart. She dashes past them all, gold eyes sharp as she throws Gambol Shroud forward to intercept the downward plummet of a claw. The leather cord catches and holds tight; she slips around its leg, the cock of a revolver as the mechanism shifts into a gun. Blake fires, uses the force of the Grimm’s backward collapse to slide under the group of them, fingers cracking the trigger as bullet lands mark after mark.

Her Semblance makes no lasting illusion as she crotches down and springs forward, and she reaches Sun just as the last bullet leaves its place. A nudge of her elbow against his back pushes him away from immediate range, causes him to lean forward in surprise, tilting his head back with an unsteady hand to see her sink her katana up the lower jaw of a Beowolf in mid-strike.

“Leave him alone!”

Her blade slashes through its mouth as she pulls it free, its howls quick extinguished by a volley of dust-enhanced bullets. Blake struggles to stand upright, brandishing Gambol Shroud as the smaller Grimm start to back away. The moments where she hears nothing but ragged breathing behind her felt like an eternity.

Then, finally-

“Blake?” His voice; wrecked with disbelief.

The feeling comes loose within her, and this time she cannot help the quiet free-fall of her heart as she turns to face him halfway. He looked as rough as that first night back in Menagerie, but no worse for wear. A shallow cut on his chest reveals a scabbing wound, but that was as much she could see before his gaze catches her again.

Shock, swimming in silence from spluttering lips as he remains at a loss for words. But amid it all, a familiar fondness in his eyes as he tries and fails to hide his spreading grin.

It truly feels like they had reversed roles from their meeting on that ship in the distant past. She can’t help it; the slight curling up of her lips.

“It’s nice to see you again, Sun.” Her hand reaches for his shoulder, tries to remember the way he used to hold hers. She only realises she was shaking when her fingers clench his sleeve too tight.

Ragged silence as Sun stares at her almost reverently. She has half a mind to pull away before he laughs, a breathless sound as he shifts Ruyi-bang aside and fumbles to place his hand clumsily over her own.

His smile was radiant when he looks at her, mirrors the relief that reunites them both.

“My hero.”

x

A/N

don’t you just love this pair and their dynamics and how amidst all the divergent story arcs post-pyrrah roosterteeth still managed to craft a fascinating faunus side plotline for blake and have!! sun be a constant presence throughout it all hOO BOY i’ll be damned if I don’t see the reverse happen soon with imminent Vacuo arc

[arse-blathanna]

Evening Report - Chapter 13/?

Chapter 13: black and blues

[Ao3] [FFN] [Fic Tag]

Fic Summary: Blake Belladonna has one job in her life, and its to provide accurate information in a timely manner. A relatively mundane story is all that it takes to throw her into direct contact with Weiss Schnee, whose family secrets could make or break Blake’s career as a journalist.

Word Count: 4,711

Chapter Summary: A quick trip to the airport and a sleepover help clear up a lot of the more fine points of Weiss' current arrangement. 

Author’s Notes: Thank you all for reading! From my end, this story is close to done and I hope you all look forward to where it ends up. But that won’t be for a while, I don’t think. 

For an entire week, Blake didn't hear anything from Weiss. She didn't hear so much as a single whisper or a pin drop- up until she got a call late at night from Weiss. She had been up at her desk, paying attention to her job and doing a final read-over of an article. The work was as dull as ever, but it was something that Blake knew needed to be done. 

Weiss had informed her that her friends were coming from Vale to visit. The length of the visit had gone unspecified.   That had been the night before.

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Blake hadn't exactly had a good way to gauge just how fast the rich and famous could make it from point A to point B. Namely, she hadn't been considering that it was possible that either the Vasilias or the Adel families had their own private planes. In her world, getting a plane ticket at a reasonable price usually meant booking weeks in advance, or keeping airline rewards in her back pocket from the last time that one of her flights out of Atlas had been delayed.  

For that reason, she was slumped in the back of the Schnee Car that she had spent so much time in- also not something she ever would have really expected from her life. Weiss had rolled up in front of her building that morning bearing coffee and looking entirely too ready to be even awake that day. She’d been perfectly groomed and sitting ramrod straight. Ready to make appearances. And yeah, if that hadn't been a bad sign of what was to come, Blake didn't know what was. She'd ended up having to scramble to get dressed before she went out and met Weiss. After that, Klein was driving them straight to the airport with no time for stopping. They pulled up in front of the large building, and Blake found herself feeling more and more unsure of herself with every passing moment. This had the potential to go horribly, horribly wrong, and Blake couldn't shake her own awareness of that fact. Weiss was calm though. She was of course looking down at her phone every couple of minutes before she finally smiled wide, shoved it into her pocket, and moved to climb out of the car. "They're here." She announced all too calmly. "Come on." And there it was, that awareness that if things were going to start falling apart, this was going to be where it happened. Blake grimaced, drank down the rest of her coffee and then climbed out of the car to follow closely after Weiss. The two of them walked inside, and all that Weiss needed to do in order to make sure that she got where she wanted to be was flash an ID card. Klein stopped by the entrance to a small area, and then Weiss and Blake were stepping inside. "So they're here." Blake said, staring out the window at a small plane that had just stopped on the tarmac. "How long before we see them?" "Only a couple of minutes." Weiss said calmly. She was smiling, and Blake couldn't help but think that Weiss looked happier than she had in a long time. It was like she was finally able to relax again. "You're sure that this is a good idea?" Blake prompted, knowing that her worry was getting worse and worse and more and more noticeable. "They'll love you." Weiss answered, smiling up at Blake. "I promise." Despite it all, Blake wasn't convinced. That wasn't a surprise by any means. It was just something that was making things much harder on her. "Right." Blake confirmed, reaching for her pocket and turning off her phone. She didn't want to end up making it look like she was doing any work that day. The door on the other side of the room opened, and in streamed two people, one right after the other. The first was a woman, with short brown hair that was adorned by a long section that was dyed a vibrant shade of vermillion. Behind her, a tall man with tanned skin, shocking blue hair, and a wide smile. Somehow this wasn't what she'd been expecting. She’d been expecting something more… uppity than dyed hair and interesting fashion choices. "Neptune, Coco!" Weiss said, taking a few steps forward in what managed to almost look like a light jog. She opened her arms up and wrapped them around Coco, who stepped right into her grip. "I'm so glad to see you." "Hey, we're glad to see you too." Neptune replied, smiling wide. His eyes fell on Blake then, and Blake took the chance to immediately size the man up. He was handsome, in his own way. Looked a little bit too nice, all things considered. Something about him reminded Blake of a puppy, but she didn’t know what that was exactly. Mostly, Blake didn't think too much of him at first glance. Weiss pulled away from Coco and then gave Neptune a hug hello before finally pulling away and facing Blake. "Oh, Neptune, Coco, this is Blake Belladonna." "Hello." Blake greeted them. "It's nice to meet you."

Coco looked at Blake, and Blake was immediately left feeling like she was being held under a microscope. There was something about Coco Adel that felt dangerous, but Blake wasn't quite able to figure out what that thing might have been. It could have been anything really, the way that she held herself, the high fashion, the way that she slid her glasses down her nose and stared at Blake with narrowed brown eyes. Dangerous. "Right." Coco says, her gaze sliding over towards Weiss. "This is the one you told us about?" "She is." Weiss confirmed, stepping up to Blake's side. Blake didn't think anything of it at first, and then she felt the careful slide of Weiss' hand into her own. "I was hoping that I could introduce all of you." "Well," Neptune stepped forward, putting on a wide grin that only managed to look goofy. He leaned forward slightly into a bow and glanced up at Blake, still smiling. "I am always glad to meet a beautiful woman." Blake didn't know what to say, especially considering that this man was, by many technicalities, her romantic rival. Not that Weiss actually seemed interested in the man, but more because he was just the first person that had come to Weiss' mind when she'd needed an excuse. "Uh... right." Blake responded. There was a careful squeeze of her hand before Weiss pulled away from her. "It's nice to meet you too." Weiss looked from Blake to Neptune, and Blake couldn't help but think that she looked wholly unsure of what to make of things. Maybe Neptune's playful flirting (if it could even be called that) had thrown Weiss off. Maybe there was something else going on. "We should probably get out of here." Weiss said, her gaze flicking back to the door. She was nervous, that much was obvious. "I hear that there are a lot of nice restaurants here in Atlas with nice specials?" "I would like real food." Neptune said, stretching and resting his hands behind his head. "I don't know about Coco, but I just want to sit down, catch up, and meet your new friend." Weiss looked to Blake and smiled. Blake felt a little bit more comfortable, but it wasn't going to be permanent- that much she was sure of. "More than friends, actually." Weiss clarified, though she dropped her volume significantly. "I know that there's a lot that we're going to need to talk about-" "It's fine." Neptune said, and it sounded like he was doing his best to reassure them both. HE dropped his hands back down to his sides and rolled back onto heels just slightly before continuing. "I don't think that there will be too much weird stuff because of this." "I hope so." Blake sighed, deciding that maybe the best way to go about this was to join in on the conversation. "I don't think that anything will be able to work out if we don't take the time to talk it over." "It sounded pretty simple to me." Coco commented, holding her head up high and glancing over at Blake from behind her sunglasses. "You two just need to be able to play along while you need to is all."

And yeah, that was the issue for the most part, but that didn't make the whole thing any less awkward. Instead of getting into it with Coco, Blake bit her tongue and walked along with Weiss and her friends. They climbed into the car that Klein had brought, and it was a little bit more crowded than Blake would have liked. She found herself squeezed into the back against the left window of the car. Coco sat in the middle, and then Neptune took the right. The drive wasn't a long one, but soon they were being brought in front of Schnee Manor and Blake felt her panic begin to rise because that hadn't been a part of this. Of course it was possible that Weiss was hosting her friends, or it was also possible that they were there just for a quick stop. Blake didn't know, and she didn't like any of it. All that she knew was that Schnee Manor was a place where she very distinctly didn’t belong. Weiss turned in her seat and looked back at the rest of them. "We're just stopping so that we can get a better car, is that okay?" "I'd like something with more room." Coco said with a shrug. "That way I don't have to mess around with Neptune." "Hey!" Neptune exclaimed. "I'm a perfectly good travel partner." "Sitting next to you on a plane for three hours says otherwise." Coco responded, smirking. From where she was sitting, Blake just watched the others. A lot of what she was trying to do was figure out the best way to engage the others. She didn't know how she was supposed to interact with them. But they got into the new car, which was, as promised much larger. Much, much, larger than Blake had been thinking it would be. Blake hadn't been expecting a limousine, by any means. She climbed into the back alongside Weiss. Neptune and Coco both took the places to spread out a little bit to make themselves more comfortable too. "So," It was Coco to begin the conversation instead of anyone else, and that had to be expected, Blake thought. Neptune was playful in ways that she'd never really seen working alongside Weiss. And Weiss was probably just trying to keep a cool head so that she would be able to handle everything that came up. "What is it?" Weiss asked, looking Coco in the eyes. "How's dear old dad?" Coco asked, gesturing out the window towards the outline of the hospital. Blake blinked- a part of her told her that she needed to start taking notes so that she could do her job. But it was probably for the best if she didn't tip the others off to what she did for a living. Not when it ran the risk of making things extraordinarily difficult later on. Weiss looked back over her shoulder to see that Klein was still paying attention to the road and sighing. She was looking down at her hands in her lap. "He's... not well." Weiss explained, keeping her voice down. "Winter and I went to see him the other day, and he's just... completely unresponsive. It's looking... better, but it’s still not good." "I'm sorry." Coco sighed. "That's awful. You know that we're here for as long as you need us to be here, right?" "I do." Weiss said, forcing a smile. She looked over at Blake. "I've had help here in the city, but it means a lot."

Blake felt her cheeks flush, but tried hard not to let any of her personal alarm over that show. She hadn't really thought that she had been doing all that much for Weiss, but if Weiss thought as much... Blake didn't know what to feel, and she couldn't exactly go pretending like she did know. "Well," Coco sighed. "We're going to be here for you anyways. Anything you need, you know that you can just call." "I do." Weiss said, smiling slightly. "But I'd like to start with the elephant in the room." Neptune nodded slowly and looked from Weiss and then over to Blake. He looked nervous himself, and Blake couldn't exactly blame him for it. To have to talk about this sort of thing when she and Weiss had barely even just started dating - if it could even be called that, was awkward. There was no avoiding that fact. Blake nodded, and Weiss began to explain.   "As of right now, my family thinks that you have been here in Atlas since I arrived back in the city." Weiss explained, keeping herself as calm and relaxed as possible. "They don't know about Blake's presence aside from Klein, and the same is true with regards to our relationship."   "And Klein won't say anything." Neptune said, smiling softly. "I've got it. Is there anything else-"   Weiss nodded, and Blake looked over at her. She couldn't exactly explain how unsure she was feeling over the whole thing. "Yes." Weiss said finally. "I can't say whether or not we'll have to do anything, but as of right now I wouldn't expect to be brought to anything terribly... public." "Right." Neptune nodded. He looked up at Blake and their eyes met. There was a long beat before Blake finally decided that she wanted to say something for herself. "I'm okay with this." Blake explained calmly. "I don't like it, but I'm okay with it." "Don't like it because of me, or because-" "Because it has to be done in the first place." Blake sighed. "It's... unfortunate. For everyone involved." "Well, yeah, it is." Neptune said with a slight shrug. "But you know Jacques Schnee-" Blake shook her head. "I don't know anyone directly." She sighed. "Weiss is the first member of the family that's been willing to talk to me." "You're a reporter, right?" Coco butts into the conversation. "Writing about SchneeCorp?" And that was really the first question that anyone had bothered to ask her about what she was doing there. Blake didn't quite know how she felt about it all, but she figured the least she could do was explain herself. Preferably without accidentally incriminating herself the entire time. "I do." Blake said, holding her head high. "I know that probably isn't ideal, but I do it for a reason."   "Which is?" Coco asks, leaning in towards Blake just slightly from the other side of the limousine. "To hold people in positions of power accountable for their actions." Blake explained, keeping her voice a little bit quiet. Her eyes flicked up towards where Klein was sitting in the front of the vehicle and couldn't help but feel a little bit of guilt. Why, she wasn't quite sure. Neptune nodded and leaned back in his seat. "I don't see anything wrong with that," he said, shrugging. "I mean, Jacques-"   "My father isn't the kindest of businessmen, I know." Weiss said, and she actually sounded a little bit angry over it. "And that's why I want to be able to be better for my father's company than him or my brother it's just..." All at once Weiss' voice went quiet. Soft and sad, like she didn't know how she was supposed to say or do anything. "It's hard thinking about all of this right now." "Of course." Blake sighed. "I'm sorry." "Me too." Neptune said, looking sheepish. "I didn't mean to-" "I know." Weiss murmured. "It's just... hard." "Which is why we're here for you." Coco said. She looked like she was wishing that she was on the other side of the limo beside Weiss instead of Blake, but she didn't move to get up. She just sat there and watched Weiss from her side of the vehicle. "You don't have to put up with this alone." "I know." Weiss whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. "I know."    Blake didn't know what to say or do, so she just reached over and placed her hand on top of Weiss'. Weiss smiled just slightly and turned her hand under Blake's touch. Blake squeezed gently and said nothing, because that was all that she knew to do. "So how did you two meet, anyways?" Neptune asked, clearly doing his best to break some of the tension. His eyes fell on their hands, and Blake noticed that there was just the slightest smile creasing his expressions. Blake and Weiss looked at each other, both unsure of what they were supposed to say. Finally, Weiss decided to explain. "She gave me her work number so that she could ask me some questions."    And really, Blake couldn't help but think that was a generous way to explain it all. Weiss was very kindly leaving out a few details, and Blake really did appreciate it. "Really?" Neptune asked, wrinkling his nose up just slightly. He looked at Blake with a look of disbelief on his face, and Blake really wished that she could have done something to prove herself against it. Strange situations were strange and all. "That's... explaining it loosely." Blake sighed. "But yes."      And then it was Coco to speak up next, looking Weiss in the eyes and finally taking the moment to remove her sunglasses. "Doesn't exactly seem romantic." "It wasn't." Blake deadpanned. "I was just trying to do my job, really."   Coco's expression sank into a playful sort of smirk. "And you said yes?" She asked, watching the way that Weiss sat up a little straighter. She almost looked predatory, but more in the way that she was looking for some sort of 'gotcha' moment rather than anything else. And more than anything, Coco managed to make it all come off as being playful above all else. That was something that Blake had to admire, at least on some level.

But at her side, Weiss just blushed. “It was more complicated than that, but yes.” Coco stared Weiss down in a way that clearly communicated that she was looking for something, but said nothing. Instead, she just relaxed back into her seat slightly. “You’ve got weird taste, Weiss.” “I know.” Weiss said, sounding almost sheepish. “But I like Blake a lot.” “And that’s what matters.” Coco sighed, looking back over at Neptune.”Be careful, blue.” “I will." Neptune said, looking between Weiss and Blake. "You have my word. I'm here for you two, be sure of it." "Thank you." Weiss said, smiling finally and relaxing again. Blake just bit her tongue and tried not to focus on the vast number of things that were wrong with this situation. It was a half-baked plan, and Blake could only hope that it wouldn't bite any of them later. But for now, she could wait. 

The entire day passed, and eventually Weiss was able to retire to her home. The plan had been simple enough. Coco was going to get a hotel in the city, while she and Neptune were going to be sharing some space to figure out some of the finer details of their current arrangement. Neptune deposited his things in a corner of the room, and Weiss just sat down awkwardly on the side of her bed. Klein had already brought up some things to make sure that Neptune would have a place to sleep that night, and that helped. At the very least, it made things more comfortable for her. Once he was satisfied, Neptune took a seat on the soft cushion and looked up at Weiss with a wide smile. "This is pretty awkward, huh?" He asked, clearly making himself comfortable. "All things considered." "It is." Weiss sighed. She wanted to get down and sit next to Neptune, but that would have to come later. "Thank you for coming up to do this." "I don't mind." Neptune replied, shrugging. "I mean, it's the least that I could do for you, right?" "But you didn't have to." Weiss rebutted. "You could have just stayed in Vale and left me to deal with all of this on my own."   She was sure to keep her voice down, just in case there was someone that would want to overhear. Not that there were many of those, but Weiss didn't trust most of the family staff, and Whitley was usually a bit of a snake. "But that would have been shitty." Neptune said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. He moved then, deciding to stretch his legs out and make himself a little bit more comfortable there. "I know how they are, Weiss." "I know." She sighed. "It's... so exhausting. I've talked to Blake about how they are a little bit, but..."   "Nothing quite describes it?" Neptune asked, staring up at her sympathetically. "Because I could believe that." "I just don't like that this is how things are." Weiss whispered. "A part of me wishes that I could just end up like my sister because at least that way I wouldn't be stuck like this." "Is... that what you really want?" Neptune asked. He looked sad, and for the first time Weiss realized that he looked a little bit exhausted. He had to be at least a little bit jet lagged, Weiss thought. But mostly, Neptune looked worried. And really, Weiss just didn't know whether or not she had a way to actually answer that question. It wasn't anywhere near as simple of an issue as it could be, and Weiss had no way to properly confront that. Not when they were specifically talking about her wanting to estrange herself from her family. "I don't know." She finally admitted. "It would mean that I would get to spend more time with Winter, but..." Weiss shook her head. "I just don't understand what is so wrong with my family. We should be one of the shining lights of society, people that others would want to look up to, but instead..." Weiss took a deep breath. "Instead it's just a mess." "Well," Neptune looked like he was doing his best to pick his words carefully. He shifted his position, craning his neck slightly so that he could look over Weiss' shoulder to get a good view of the door. He was worried about the two of them being overheard then. That was good to know. "I don't know that it's what I should say, but..." "My father?" Weiss asked, looking for that little confirmation that it was indeed what Neptune was thinking about. "Is that it?" "I think so." Neptune said finally. "You've said a lot of things about him since we've known each other, and Weiss-" He paused. "he's a monster. I wished that you didn't have to deal with it." "I know." Weiss groaned. "You know that Blake used to do factory sabotages?" She asked Neptune, because it came to mind as something that was worth talking about. At the very least, Weiss was sure that this was something that she could trust Neptune with. "And it was all because of my father and the way that he ran businesses." Neptune, however, looked a little bit shocked by it all. He leaned back away from her just slightly and blinked twice before allowing himself to say anything else. "Are you..." He hesitated. "Weiss, are you sure that seeing Blake is a good idea in that case?" "I'm sure." Weiss sighed, feeling a weird pang of something akin to guilt she couldn't quite identify. "I like Blake, a lot. I think that she understands that I don't have anything to do with that stuff, but sometimes I have to wonder..."

She looked off to the side, looking for the words that she needed but ultimately found herself reaching for something that she couldn’t quite find.

“You’re just trying to figure it out, aren’t you?” Neptune finished, seemingly doing his best to be supportive for a little while. Weiss definitely appreciated it, if only because Neptune had always been a good confidant for her.

"I am." Weiss finally sighed. "Just because Winter, you and Coco seem to be fine with it doesn't mean that many other people will be. Blake is a lot of things, but I don't know that I'll be able to pass her off as acceptable to the people around me."

She laid down on her bed, flopping down in a way so that she could still stare at her friend. Neptune adjusted how he was resting a little bit to accommodate for the change, and just shrugged.

"You know that me and Coco are going to be there for you no matter what, right?"

"I do." Weiss admitted, feeling a little bit warmer but still unsure of herself. "I'm just worried about what could happen. What if we broke up and she published something? What if she suddenly decides that she doesn't even care about confidentiality anymore?"

Her voice went quiet as one of the absolute worst case scenarios came to Weiss' mind.

"What if I end up getting chased out of the company for choosing to fraternize with her?"

"Fraternize?" Neptune asked, laughing and flopping back into his bedding in a way that was entirely too nonchalant. He was relaxed, and that was a good thing by Weiss' view at least. "Is that what we're calling it?"

"That's what it will be called if they find out." Weiss nearly snaps back. "I'm expecting to end up like Winter no matter what happens. And I still don't know whether or not that's something that I'll want to deal with."

"But you said-"

"You don't have siblings." Weiss said, glancing back over at Neptune. "And you don't have a family that would be happy to punish you for anything that came up."

"I know." Neptune mumbled back, frowning slightly. "I get that I'm lucky. I get that Coco's lucky, I just..." he paused and looked up into Weiss' eyes like he was looking for something. It just made her want to shrink back and out of sight because that would be so much more comfortable. "I just wish that you could be happy."

"I feel the same way." Weiss sighed. "I want to think that Blake might be a chance at that, but it's so complicated."

Neptune nodded and turned, lying back down on his back and staring up at the ceiling. He ended up resting his folded hands on his stomach and breathing deeply as he thought. There was something going on in his head, and Weiss didn't know what.

"Do you want to know what I think?" Neptune asked finally, keeping his voice down and his tone calm. "About all of this?"

"I think that I'd like to know." Weiss said, mimicking him from where she was lying. It reminded her of all of the years of rule breaking back when they'd been in prep school.

"I think you should do it." Neptune finally said with a slight shrug. "If you think it'll make you happy."

Ultimately, that did end up being what Weiss had needed to hear, more or less. That didn't mean that it did anything to calm her down, or to make her feel more relaxed about the situation at hand. Nothing really could. It was late. All that Weiss needed was one look over at the clock to figure out that it was very late, and that the two of them really needed to rest. Weiss sighed and settled back into the bed. "We should sleep." "Yeah," Neptune grumbled. "Probably." "Okay." Weiss said. She got up and went to get her things so that she could get ready for bed while Neptune slipped off to change himself. When he came back in, he closed the door behind her. Weiss found herself texting Blake from under the blankets much later than she should have, if only because she wasn't able to calm down enough to rest. Eventually, she managed to fall asleep.