Hello good people of the internet, I hope you are all having a wonderful day today (whenever "today" is for you). Before you read the next volume of my RWBY BLAC series, I would like to make a request. If you have any questions you wish to ask me about this story or any others of mine, please be signed into an account so I can respond to them as this site doesn't allow you to respond to 'guest' accounts and I would rather not leave any questions unanswered, thank you. I hope you enjoy the first chapter of Vytal: RWBY BLAC Volume Two.
P.S. This story will be updated every other week because I'm currently in semester at college.
Chapter One: The Next Phase
The rhythmic symphony of a heartbeat sensor and a respirator filled the hospital room which held only two occupants, a middle-aged woman with black and red hair and a teenage girl with hair the color of a candy-cane. The younger girl also bore some resemblance to the woman. The older of the two women was hooked up to the respirator and heartbeat sensor, along with various other life support systems. The teenage girl sat next to the comatose woman and wept over her. As she cried another teenage girl walked into the room, she was blonde and possessed a pair of cat ears atop her head.
"Hey B, you ready to go or do you need some more time?" She asked softly.
"I need a few more minutes Alyssa," Bianca replied with a melancholy tone.
Alyssa simply nodded and walked out of the room to give her cousin a few more minutes with the comatose woman.
Bianca wept as she looked down to the woman in the hospital bed, "I'm so sorry mom, if I was even half as strong as you are, you wouldn't be in this place right now."
After a few minutes of sitting with her mother, Bianca stood and leaned over her and placed a kiss on her forehead before then heading for the exit of the room.
As Bianca exited the room, still crying lightly, Alyssa gripped her in a light and caring hug, "don't worry, I know my Aunt Ruby, she's strong and she'll pull through."
"You don't know that for sure," Bianca replied softly.
Alyssa hesitated to rebuttal her cousin's words. Even though she was an optimist she had a sinking feeling that her aunt may not pull through and wake from her coma. Since she couldn't think of a reply that would cheer up Bianca she simply patted her on the back.
"Come on, we should get back to Beacon, curfew is in an hour and class is starting back up tomorrow."
Bianca didn't reply, she simply followed her cousin out of the hospital and to the nearby Bullhead docks to head back to Beacon Academy.
In their combat class the next day Professor Haze looked a bit hungover, so it seemed like Team BLACs class would get out early today. This was the normal occurrence on Mondays though.
Currently fighting in the class were Apollo and Oliver's teammate Nikolas Phloros and a boy who used what looked like a pair of blacksmith hammers for weapons. Nikolas was Team STON's (Stone) best fighter and one of the top students in the class with only a small handful of losses to his name. Like Alani, Nikolas is what one would call a "true warrior", he may not be from a warrior culture like her, but his family have always been warriors and he lives by the concept of bushido. His father and grandfather were huntsmen and before that his family were career soldiers in the now dissolved Imperial Army of Mistral, going as far back as the founding of that kingdom. His great-grandmother was a general for Mistral during the Great War whose only defeat came at the hands of the King of Vale in the conflict's final battle.
As Nikolas was making short work of his opponent, Alani tapped Alyssa on the shoulder to get her attention.
"How's Bianca doing, she still down about what happened to her mom?" She asked with concern.
"She's still taking it pretty hard, I haven't seen her smile since it happened, not even Cyrus has been able to cheer her up," Alyssa replied.
Alani sighed, "I just wish there was more we could do to help her."
Alyssa placed her hand on Alani's tattooed shoulder, "she may not show it, but she really does appreciate all the support she's gotten from you and your team."
Alani smiled at Alyssa before then directing her attention to Bianca, who was keenly observing the current match and not paying any attention to her friends and teammates.
"If she needs anyone else to talk to, let her know I'll listen," Alani replied.
"Will do," Alyssa stated with a smile.
"And that's the match!" Professor Haze announced while rubbing her temples to try and sooth the headache she had.
Nikolas sheathed his short-sword into his round-shield and helped his opponent from the ground, "good match, it was an honor to fight you."
"Alright, one more match before class gets out," Professor Haze stated as the two former combatants made their way back to their seats.
The screen with the student's pictures cycled through all of them for a few moments before landing on the next set of fighters for the class.
"Looks like we'll have Ebony Tacari and Tawney Brown," Professor Haze announced.
Tawney Brown was the fourth and final member of Team STON, and also the only female member of the team. Hailing from a farm in southern Vale, she was always busy helping around there so she never got any formal combat training until she entered her local combat school. Despite this however, in her limited leisure time she took up archery. Due to this she is one of the best shots with a bow in the whole school, routinely splitting arrows while training in the firing range.
Tawney stood from her seat next to her teammates and headed to the elevator that took combatants down to the combat stage, but when she got there, she was alone.
Professor Haze looked around for a moment before then addressing Ebony's team leader, "Alani, where's your teammate?"
"She wasn't feeling too well this morning, so she decided to stay in bed," Alani replied.
"Ok… well I guess we can forgo this last match," Professor Haze said, "before you all go though, I have an announcement," she continued.
Tawney looked a bit disappointed by the news as she made her way back to sit with her team. Many of the students who were beginning to leave the class sat back down and awaited their professor's announcement.
"As you may already know, those who will be chosen to represent Beacon in the Vytal Festival will be leaving at the end of the week…"
Roy leaned over to Alani, "my sister and her team got the news in their combat class this morning, hopefully we get chosen so we can beat them," he whispered.
Alani chuckled quietly as Professor Haze continued to talk.
"I'm letting you know only three first-year teams have been chosen this year by Professors Pine, Ren, myself, and the rest of the combat professors," Professor Haze paused and looked around the room for a moment, "all of those teams are from this class," she added.
After hearing this many of the students got their hopes up very high, and Bianca who had been halfway listening to Professor Haze focused her full attention on her.
"Those teams are, Team AYST, Team BLAC, and Team STON," She announced.
Apollo and Oliver gave one another a high five at hearing this news, while Nikolas patted Tawney on the shoulder lightly and smiled.
"Hell yeah!" Cyrus and Alyssa shouted as they jumped out of their seats and high-fived one another.
"Please, calm down you two," Lucas requested.
"CHEE-HOO!" Alani shouted in excitement, this outburst caused Lucas to wince and then facepalm.
Even though Lucas was happy to have made the cut to go to the Vytal Festival and represent Beacon in the Tournament, his teammates and friend's outbursts did annoy him to a degree. However, he couldn't help but notice that Bianca wasn't sharing in the excitement, still sitting quietly in her seat, he really did feel bad for his leader and felt for what she was going through.
"As for the rest of you, you may not have made the cut this year, but perhaps you will at the next Vytal Festival, class dismissed," Professor Haze stated.
The students made their way out of the classroom. All except Teams AYST, BLAC, and STON seemed disappointed that they wouldn't be able to partake in the Vytal Festival Tournament.
As they left the classroom Alyssa leaned over to the Grey Brothers, "hey guys, look," she whispered.
The three of them noticed that Bianca had a small and nearly invisible smile on her face. They felt happy at their leader's small expression of joy, for it was the first time she had smiled at all since her mother was hospitalized by Roman Torchwick.
"Wow, this is exciting! I can't wait to explore another Kingdom!" Alani exclaimed as she and her team walked out behind Team BLAC.
"Oh yea, other than Vale you haven't been to another Kingdom, have you?" Cyrus inquired after hearing his friend's exclamation.
"Well, I mean Yin and I did stop in Vacuo on our way here, but we didn't get a chance to explore it, since we went straight from our Bullhead to the Airship transporting students to Beacon," she replied.
As the two teams conversed a certain sourness inserted itself into the conversation.
"All y'all gettin' your hopes up for what? My team and I are gonna smash all of y'all in the Tournament," Apollo boasted as he and Oliver walked up behind Teams AYST and BLAC.
"Apollo! Boasting is not the way of the warrior, let your skill speak for you, for that is what the Vytal Tournament is testing," Nikolas cut in.
"Whatever, come on Oliver, let's leave these punks to do whatever they do," Apollo stated as he and Oliver headed to the locker room to get changed.
"Yea, we're sorry about him, he's such an asshole," Tawney apologized as she stood beside her partner Nikolas.
"Thanks, I couldn't even imagine being on a team with those two," Roy said.
"No problem, and since you're wondering, it sucks," Tawney pointed out.
"Yes, yes it does," Nikolas added.
"We feel sorry for you guys, they are very intolerable," Yin stated.
"You don't know the half of it," Tawney replied, "anyway, before we go our separate ways I wanted to say something to Bianca," she continued softly.
"What's up Tawney?" Bianca inquired.
"Nikolas and I heard about your mom, we just wanted to offer our condolences," she said softly.
"Yes, a famous warrior like Ruby Rose doesn't deserve such a fate, our deepest condolences are with you and your mother Weiss," Nikolas added with a respectful bow of his helmeted head.
"Thanks, that really means a lot to me," Bianca replied with a somber smile.
After their conversation with the two respectable members of Team STON and changing back into their uniforms, Teams BLAC and AYST headed back to their dorms for the day and to check up on how Ebony was doing.
As the seven of them walked down the hallway towards their dorms, they noticed the door to Team AYSTs room open and a curvy blonde girl step out.
"Daisy? What are you doing here?" Cyrus asked, as he recognized the girl.
The girl turned noticeably red with embarrassment as the seven students looked at her with confusion. One thing that they all noticed about her was that her normally well-kept hair was not in its normal bun and was hanging freely and slightly messy.
"U-Um…" she stuttered, "Nothing!" She bolted past the seven students.
"Who was she and what was she doing in our room?" Alani asked.
"That was Daisy, she's one of Sonny's hostesses at his diner," Lucas pointed out, "as for what she was doing in your dorm, I have no clue," he continued.
The seven of them approached Team AYSTs dorm and Alani opened the door. They peaked in and saw Ebony lying on her bed covered fully by a blanket. She was lounging back with her arms up behind her head.
When Ebony heard the door open she looked over to see her friends and teammates standing in the doorway, "oh, hey guys… could uh, could you give me a sec?"
"Sure…" Alani closed the door.
Ebony exited her room a few minutes later, she looked tired and happy. Her dreadlocks were hanging freely, not in their normal ponytail, and she wore a royal blue tank top and navy blue athletic shorts with a pair of matching slippers.
"Well you seem to be doing better," Alani pointed out sarcastically while crossing her arms.
"Yeah, hehe… about that, I may have bent the truth a bit about being sick," Ebony said sheepishly as she nervously rubbed the back of her neck.
"You don't say?" Everyone blurted out sarcastically.
"Not exactly, I did have a headache this morning, but after y'all left I took some medicine and felt better within the hour," Ebony replied.
"So then why didn't you go to class?" Bianca inquired.
"Eh," Ebony shrugged, "I was already going to be late, so I made a call and took the day off to have some… fun."
Alani chuckled lightly, "what are we gonna do with you Eb?"
Ebony shrugged at Alani's joking question, "anyway, I miss anything crazy?" She asked as she leaned on the doorframe of Team BLACs dorm.
"Yes actually," Yin said.
"Well, what is it?" Ebony inquired.
Alani stood and walked over to Ebony. When she reached her friend, she placed her hands on her shoulders, "our teams… Got picked to compete in the Vytal Tournament!"
Ebony looked at her leader wide-eyed and full of disbelief, "you're clowning… You're not clowning? I sense clowns," she stated and then looked around the room at her friends and teammates, all of which nodded to confirm what Alani had just told her.
"Nope, we're definitely not clowning," Alyssa stated.
Ebony stepped back into the hall way and the look of disbelief turned to one of joy, "YEAH-HA!" She shouted as she jumped in the air and pumped her fist.
The two teams continued to hang out in Team BLACs room till about an hour till curfew. Team AYST then bid farewell to their friends and headed back into their dorm. After they left Team BLAC began to wind down for the night, getting out of their school clothes and putting on their pajamas.
Bianca grabbed a book off the shelf between her team's bunks to read, as she normally did before bed. She was quite fond of books, her Aunt Blake had shown her many great title's when she was younger, but the main reason she loved books so much is because of her mother Ruby. She used to read her stories of heroes and monsters when she was younger, and now with her mom in a coma, with no one knowing if she'll pull through or not, reading is her way of coping and reminiscing.
Bianca read the first couple of chapters of the book, but she couldn't get into it. She didn't know if it was just disinterest in the book or if she was being distracted by the noise of the Grey Brothers playing the latest release of the Soaring Ninja series, or possibly something else.
Bianca shut her book quite loudly and sighed, "I'm gonna get some air guys."
"You alright B?" Alyssa asked as she removed one of her headphones. The music coming through them was subtle, but one could make it out as a soothing hip-hop beat.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just wanted to get some fresh air before bed," Bianca replied with a halfhearted smile to try and put her cousin at ease.
"You know if you want to talk we're all here for you, and so is Team AYST," Lucas added.
"No, seriously guys, I just want some air, nothing else," Bianca replied to her teammates. She was starting to get a bit annoyed at them for their questioning of her motives at the moment, after all, what was wrong with someone just wanting to get some air before bed.
"Ok, well, just put on a hoodie, its cold out there," Alyssa conceded the conversation to her cousin even though she knew full well this wasn't just about getting some fresh air before bed.
"Way ahead of you," Bianca replied as she slipped on her white hoodie and zipped it most of the way up.
Bianca quickly saw her way out of the room after slipping on a pair of slippers and shut the door behind herself. Her teammates all looked at one another after she left the room, they had a lot of concern for their leader and what she was going through.
"Should one of us go talk to her?" Cyrus asked softly.
"I don't think it will help, she just needs some time right now," Alyssa replied.
The fake smile Bianca had put on her face had faded as she walked down the hallway of her dormitory towards the stairwell that led to the roof. She walked up the stairs to the roof and headed over to the ledge. She leaned on it with her arms and her face buried in them. Perhaps reading wasn't the best idea with the current situation, it brought back happy memories for Bianca, ones of her mother reading to her, but she would always be pulled out of them by the reality of the situation her mother was in. Ruby is strong, one of the best huntresses in Remnant, but even strong people meet their match at some point.
"Why did you do it mom… Why did you have to go and throw yourself into harm's way for my sake?" Bianca began to cry lightly, but behind her sorrow was anger, "Why dammit?! Why! Why! Why!" She pounded her fist on the ledge. Her aura crackled, dampening the blow but she could still feel the impact of her fist on the concrete.
Bianca dropped to her knees and crawled over to the corner of the roof. She pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in them as she cried her heart out, "why wasn't I strong enough… It's my fault you're in the condition you're in… It's all my fault."
Bianca had lost track of the time as she cried, she knew it had been a while as her tears had eventually dried up. As she sat there in sorrow and self-pity, she felt a hand gently ruffle her hair. She looked up and rubbed the tears from her eyes only to catch a glimpse of a woman wrapped in a snow-white cloak like hers, but with a face that resembled her mother's.
"Grandma?" Bianca sniffled as she wiped the tears from her face.
When Bianca looked up at the woman she smiled down at her. Shortly thereafter her body scattered into hundreds of white rose petals and the world around her faded to black. Bianca slowly opened her eyes, she had cried herself to sleep while up on the roof. However, when she awoke she was in her bed, one of her teammates must have carried her back inside after she fell asleep. She looked around the darkened room, all of her teammates were sound asleep in their beds.
That week had gone by very fast for the students who were to make the trip to Mistral. Sixteen teams had been chosen to compete in the Vytal Tournament, but more than those sixty-four students were leaving Beacon for Haven. Twenty-five more teams of students were making the journey as well, but they wouldn't be competing in the tournament, they were just going for the opportunity to watch the tournament in-person and experience the festivities.
The day was Saturday and all of the students leaving for Mistral were making some last-minute preparations for the journey. Meanwhile, Professor Pine was meeting with his inner circle in his clockwork office. All were present, including three others attending the meeting via videocall, Professor Neptune Vasilias; Headmaster of Haven Academy, General Winter Schnee; Headmistress of Atlas Academy, and Professor Nebula Violette; Headmistress of Shade Academy.
"What do you mean you've lost track of the Maiden… Again!?" Winter shouted through the screen, "I mean seriously, how could you be this incompetent Oscar!?" Unlike the remaining members of Oscar's circle and those of his extended group, Winter was very formal, only using first names with them when she was angry.
"Winter please," Neptune cut in, "we don't need any shouting right now."
"I concur, let Oscar speak," Nebula added.
Oscar leaned forward in his seat and interlocked his fingers, "After the battle at the docks, all trace of her disappeared, the only possible lead we had on her whereabouts was Doctor Merlot and he's missing as well."
"Well that's just great, we're back to square one… unless someone else has any leads," Winter remarked.
"Actually… I may have one," Neptune cut in.
"Really!? What is it!?" Calypso jumped into the conversation out of nowhere.
Oscar looked at Calypso and she quickly jumped back from her outburst, "my apologies, please continue."
"Thank you. My agents have been keeping track of a recently founded religious organization called 'The Church of the Holy Maidens.' Until about six months ago they have been a very small group, only a handful of members within the City of Mistral itself, but recently their following has exploded."
"Why do you think that is?" Nebula inquired.
"Well you see, around that time the organization's founder died of some rather mysterious causes and a man by the name of Albus Wolfe took over as Arch Deacon. He is a rather zealous man and claims not only to carry the word of the religion's gods… the Four Maidens, but he claims to have actually spoken with one," Neptune stated.
"If that's true then we may have found our Summer Maiden," Nebula thought to herself.
"It's a one in four shot hermana, we may not want to jump to conclusions," Adrián pointed out to the group.
"True, but we should keep track of this organization nonetheless…" Oscar paused, "Winter, I think you should accompany Professor Coal and your students to Mistral under the guise of providing security for the Festival, if something goes down we may need the Atlesian Army ready to go."
"I agree one-hundred percent," Winter replied. "Neptune could you convince the Mistral Council to allow such a thing?" She continued.
"You bet I can snow-angel," Neptune replied half suavely. Winter scowled at Neptune through her screen as he chuckled lightly too himself, he may be able to get away with calling the younger Schnee sister names like that, but the older sister wasn't having any of it.
"Any who… I think that will do for now, we should reconvene if anything else comes to the surface," Oscar stated.
"Agreed," Nebula, Neptune, and Winter replied in unison and then one by one they disconnected from the video call.
Oscar leaned back in his chair and let out a large and audible sigh. Over the past few weeks he had lost more color in his hair from the stresses of his job, not only running the academy, but also organizing the kingdom's huntsmen and most of all the search for the Summer Maiden.
"What am I doing wrong?" Oscar asked himself as he rubbed his forehead to try and relieve the stress that had been building up in his body.
"Have you tried to speak with Ozpin recently, maybe he would have some insight on the situation," Blake inquired.
Oscar took in a deep breath before speaking. The stress in his body over the situation surrounding the Summer Maiden has been building and building since he lost track of her over five years ago, and just when he thought he had found her, she disappeared again.
"I've tried… countless times, but ever since we defeated Salem it's been silent. No matter how much I try to contact him or switch places, there's nothing. I still have all his… our powers and memories, but I guess it's just safe to say that we've fully assimilated into one another, I'm no longer a man with two souls."
Oscar's circle stood in silence around him. While they had known he hadn't been able to speak to his predecessor in a long while, it didn't make that fact any easier to stomach. This was especially hard for Ren and Blake whom had both known Ozpin personally. The initial loss of their mentor was eased when they found out he was still here in spirit, but in the end, it was hard for those who had knew Ozpin to deal with his loss, especially for a second time.
"You five may leave now if you wish," Oscar said as he turned his chair, so he faced away from his group.
"Yes sir, if you need us don't hesitate to call," Calypso said.
"No worries, I won't," Oscar replied from behind his chair.
After the meeting Ember Haze left Beacon for the day and headed into Vale. She didn't stop off in the commercial district to go to her preferred drinking establishment and crack the heads of some local tough guys, instead she headed to the coast.
She stepped off the Bullhead that she had been riding and walked up the street a few blocks. She came up to a little hole-in-the-wall establishment called the "Crow Bar". She walked up to the counter and took a seat on one of the barstools, it was soft and smooth, yet firm as well.
The man behind the counter had his back turned. He had brown hair and was wearing the stereotypical "bartender's outfit". He turned as he heard one of the barstools be pulled out from the counter, it must have been a slow day as he had been straightening out the bottles behind the counter to make them look nice.
As the man turned a picture he had on the shelf was shown. It had two men, one was himself, and the other was an older gentleman with similarly colored hair but graying slightly at the sides. The two men also had very similar faces, save for one thing, the older man sported a mustache while the younger one did not. One other difference was that the old man had a green bowtie while the younger man wore a regular tie, also colored green.
"Oh, hey there Em, I wasn't expecting you… thought you'd be off to Mistral already," the bartender said.
Ember chuckled lightly, "No Jamie, I don't leave till tomorrow morning. I just figured I'd surprise my fiancé at work is all."
Jamie chuckled lightly at Ember, "and you have, so… can I get you anything Em? Martini? Mojito? Strawberry Sunrise perhaps?"
"I'm not trying to drink too much tonight, big day tomorrow and all, I think I'll have an Old Fashioned though," Ember replied.
"Alright, one Old Fashioned coming right up," Jamie replied.
Ember watched Jamie as he made her drink, she watched him with fondness in her eyes. James 'Jamie' Black III, the son of the former owner of this establishment, and her husband to be. 'Ember Black', the two words rang in her head continuously, she liked the sound of it and even if she didn't she would still have said yes to the man.
"Here's your drink Em, on the house as always," Jamie said as he set the drink in front of Ember.
"Thanks," Ember replied as she picked up the drink and proceeded to take a sip.
Jamie and Ember go way back. They had met during her time at Beacon, when she and her team had acquired fake IDs and went bar hopping one night. The two had grown into close friends during Ember's tenure as a student, and even more so when her teammates returned to their homes after graduation. The two eventually fell in love after a tumultuous time that almost saw Jamie lose his life.
Ember set her empty glass down on the counter, "so, how much longer do you think you'll be?"
"I don't know, if the day stays slow then I'll close up early. The night rush normally starts around six, so I'll wait till then, if it doesn't pick up then I'll close up and head home," Jamie replied.
Ember reached up and grabbed Jamie by his tie catching him somewhat by surprise. She pulled him into a passionate kiss and he kissed back. After a few tender moments they separated from one another.
"You get home early and there's more where that came from," Ember flirted.
Ember stood from the barstool and proceeded to walk out of the bar, swaying her hips flirtatiously as she did.
Jamie looked on at his fiancé a bit dumbstruck, but he soon composed himself and snickered lightly.
"Who did I please in a past life to deserve a woman like her?" He asked himself.
By early afternoon the next day, the airship transporting students from Vale to Mistral, was within sight of the Anima coastline. They had left early in the morning, just after dawn in fact, and had another three hours till they reached the City of Mistral and Haven Academy. The trip to Mistral was long and tiresome, several of the students had fallen asleep in some of the seats within the airship, while others attempted to pass the time by talking or playing games.
Alyssa Xiao Long, who wasn't a morning person whatsoever had slept through most of the trip. However, as they approached the coastline of Anima she awoke and sensed someone leaning against her shoulder and head. She sensed the person had a long coat on, which meant it could be one of two people she knew; however, she didn't sense a breast plate of any kind on the person which narrowed it down.
"Comfy there Roy?" Alyssa asked cheekily while lightly poking him in the side.
Roy awoke slightly before he noticed who he was leaning on. As soon as he noticed a huge blush came over his face and he jumped away from the blonde cat-faunus.
"Ah… uh, sorry," he said nervously.
Alyssa giggled at the boy's nervousness, "you're fine."
As the two of them began to talk, their respective team leaders Bianca and Alani had watched the scene go down and laughed slightly at the whole thing.
"You know it really seems like those two have been getting a lot closer over the past few weeks," Bianca commented.
"Yea, it has. Speaking of which, what's going on between you and Cyrus, are you two dating or anything?" Alani asked.
"Eh! What?! Nonono. It's nothing like that, we're just friends, that's all," Bianca blurted out.
"Come on, everyone can see that you like him, why don't you ask him out?" Alani inquired.
Bianca looked around for a moment to see if Cyrus was near, when she saw he was on the other side of the airship and well out of audible range, she leaned towards Alani and she did the same.
"I'm not very good at talking to guys in that way. Besides, I don't know if he likes me… like what if I ask him and he doesn't see me that way?" Bianca stated quietly.
"You're overthinking things. Do you remember when Yin and I told you about how we came to be together? I had a crush on him and I wasn't sure he liked me either, but then he came out and told me he liked me. You should at least try to ask him, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised," Alani said.
"I just don't know, with everything that's happened as of recent, I feel like that's the last thing that should be on my mind," Bianca replied.
Alani looked to the floor and nodded slightly before looking her friend in the eyes, "still down about what happened to your mom I take it?"
"Yeah…" Bianca replied somberly.
Alani placed her hand on Bianca's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, "I know what you're going through is hard, but you shouldn't dwell on it. What happened has happened, there's no going back. At this point it's out of your hands, all you can really do is hope for the best and live your life. Don't let this one thing keep you from experiencing happiness."
Bianca didn't reply to her friend, she just looked away from Alani causing her to get a look of disappointment upon her face. Alani truly wanted to help her friend through this tough time in her life, but Bianca would need to accept her assistance for it to help.
As the airship was making its way over the coast, two soldiers were watching the ship, however the armor they wore was not that of the Mistralese Self Defense Forces or the Atlesian Army. Their armor looked like a modern version of ancient knight's armor.
"What do you see?" One soldier asked the other.
"Contact command, Beacon's students have just arrived over Anima's coast," the other soldier replied.
"Yes sir," the first soldier saluted.
The soldier then headed back to his camp where several others were. The camp was makeshift, like the soldiers that called it home wouldn't be there long before heading on their way. After reaching the camp, the soldier headed to a tent that contained the camp's radio and contacted his commanders to inform them of the situation.
Somewhere else on the continent was a hidden base, full of hundreds of soldiers, most of which were diligently working or training. The base was huge, not only did it hold hundreds of soldiers, but it also held a few airships of different classification and several dozen Bullhead transports. All of which were being maintained by the soldiers.
A man walked through the base towards a semi-tall building at one end, as he past several soldiers they stopped what they were doing, stood at attention, and saluted him. He would quickly salute them back before continuing on his way. He entered the building and rode an elevator up to the top floor where he proceeded down a hallway and then into a large open room.
The room had a long mahogany table in it with several chairs around it, like one someone would use for meetings. Along the wall were a few paintings and small bookshelves. The books on said shelves were mainly those of the many fairytales of Remnant, but there were also several books on the many famous battles fought by the four kingdoms and their predecessors.
The man's quick entry into the room caused one of the occupants to raise their weapon to his throat, a serrated leaf bladed sword. Once the person realized who it was they lowered their weapon and allowed the man entry.
"Herr Jet, vhere are your manners?" The man asked while rubbing his throat to make sure it wasn't cut.
"My apologies Rommel," Jet replied apathetically.
"Hey Rommel!" A girl in white with long black hair called out.
"Hello, Fraulein Nilah," Rommel replied.
The man walked through the room towards a balcony that overlooked the base. As he exited the room he was met by the sight of a young woman with a faux hawk leaning on the guardrail looking out over the base.
"Mein lady," Rommel said with a bow.
"Ah, what a pleasant surprise, Field Marshal Berg, how have you been?" The woman asked.
"Fine, mein lady, I bring some news for you," Rommel replied.
"What news is this?" Rouge asked.
"Zee transport from Beacon has been spotted off zee coast of Anima, it looks to arrive in Mistral vithin two hours," he said.
"Good, that makes all three transports accounted for," Rouge paused for a moment, "Rommel, tell the men to proceed to phase two."
"Yes, mein lady," Rommel replied and then left Rouge alone on the balcony.
Rouge looked out over the base and down to her soldiers… her crusaders and she smiled with confidence. All the pieces were beginning to fall into place.
