I'm hoping that everyone enjoyed the last chapter and will have fun reading this one. I made the outline for most of this story a few months ago after I finished up HtH. That means that I had the designs for every kingdom done ages ago and most aren't in line with what people would refer to as cannon now. I for one, don't really care because I love my interpretations of the other three kingdoms. Writing for Atlas and Vacou were quite enjoyable when I was planning this series out. For how this series will work, we'll get about 2-4 chapters with a character from here on out. Typically ending their run on either a revelation or achieving a goal of some kind. From there we jump to another character for a few chapters. This continues until we get back to Ruby to start the cycle over again. Good news is that each arc will likely be 3-4 chapters with a decent ending to top them off. Bad news is that it could take a few chapters to get back to a certain character you particularly enjoyed reading about.
Now that you are all caught up, let's go see how a certain pair are fairing without their illustrious leader around.
Beta reader: Poliamida
An Atlas ship flew high in the sky over the ocean. The white ship was nearly impossible to see from below as it skirted under the clouds. The craft was on the smaller side when it came to transports, but it could have easily fitted a small team of 4 and the pilot. Even the Grimm that patrolled the skies didn't seem interested in the lone ship. Though it was likely due to how fast it was zipping across the sky. Very few Grimm could even hope to keep up with the ship and even less would have a means of engaging it.
Lilac eyes stared out of the viewing window and took in the sight of the vast sea. As far as her eyes could see, there was nothing but water in every direction. Blonde hair trailed down all the way to the base of her back. A pair of golden metallic bracelets hung off of her wrists and wore an open black jacket over her top. Stepping back from the window, the blonde woman walked up to the cockpit.
The door opened upon her approach and revealed a nearly identical sight from her window. The pilot was a shorter woman with white hair and a scar over her left eye. The scared tissue was a vertical line that started under her eye and reached a bit above her eyebrow. She sported an off-center pony tail that was bound by a small tiara. She was fully focused on piloting the craft and didn't try to acknowledge her passenger's intrusion.
"Weiss, how much further?" The blonde whined as she threw her arms over Weiss.
"I will turn this plane around, Yang!" Weiss yelled at the brute as she tightened her grip on the wheel.
"We both know you don't have the fuel to make it back to Vale. Now where's our next stop? I doubt we'll make it to Atlas without a pit stop." Yang bumped her fist against the metal frame.
"For your information this is one of Atlas' newest models in terms of small transports. We could fly between two kingdoms easily before needing to refuel. Built for squads and VIPs to cross borders undetected. With the CCT down, Atlas won't even be able to see us unless we cross one of their military installations," Weiss said with confidence.
"So which city are we setting this girl down in?" Yang could see the silhouette of land coming into view across the horizon.
"We're not landing anywhere near a city or settlement. Atlas has one of the most advanced and paranoid militaries on the planet, so we'll be setting down away from anything that could ID this ship. Not to mention the fact that this is stolen property being commandeered by two students. I doubt they'd be to accepting of the matter."
"It can't be that bad. From what Blake told me, your father's company basically owns half the kingdom and supplies the military with nearly all of its ammunition." Yang mentioned, causing Weiss to flinch.
"Which is precisely why we can't risk being ID'd. They'd take me back to him and you'd be interrogated then thrown in a cell for the rest of your life."
"Didn't know Atlas was such a downer of a place to be. Thought all that tech would have people living the luxurious life."
"Citizens are already forced to have identifications tags somewhere on their person for security droids to remotely scan. Even then, it isn't uncommon for outspoken citizens to have a 'malfunction' in their tags and be 'accidently' killed by security robots. The concept of citizen elected council members is merely to appease the rest of the other kingdoms views. You can't live a free life in Atlas when your every choice and conversation is tracked." Weiss said with venom in her words to show displeasure with the kingdom and the unsavory laws in place to keep the populace under council control.
"If that's the case why are we heading to the same continent they control? Shouldn't we go to a place with less fearful people in power that have access to a disposable army?"
"We're going there because Atlas was just as quick to throw away settlements and cities that no longer prove to be useful to them. It's much easier to press a button to pull the automated defenses away than it is to order people to abandon their posts. Swaths of villages across the continent vanish with the flip of a switch and no one inside the kingdom cares."
"Not really inspiring faith in your home kingdom there Wiess."
"Which is why we are going to take these abandoned settlements and start building on the other end of the continent. Away from the kingdom's prying eyes. Places that were abandoned during the kingdoms infancy and serve as little more than markers across the tundra."
"Is that why we've been flying around for so long? You were circling the entire continent," Yang said in annoyance.
"Unlike you, I rather not be shot out of the sky. We are taking the safest route available without any guidance from the CCT. You should feel lucky that I know how to operate these things." Weiss smiled while Yang felt the sudden urge to pester the heiress.
As Yang was about to shake Weiss' seat, a red light began flashing on the overhead console. "Is that supposed to be blinking?"
"Give me a second." Weiss reached under her seat and pulled out a large book. The cover was plain with only the title stenciled onto the cover. Atlesian Hawk T206, was the title of the book Weiss was franticly scanning through.
"You've been using a book to help pilot this thing!" Yang yelled in anger as she quickly jumped into the copilot seat and strapped herself in.
"I just needed it to know how to start the ship up and which switch controlled the landing gear. It's not my fault I was taught with a civilian model Bullhead. Now be quite so I can focus on finding the cheat sheet for this consol." Weiss began fanning through the pages until she came across a picture of the controls. After scanning the page for information, Wiess threw the book behind herself and began working the consol.
Yang could feel panic setting in as Weiss flipped switches and turned knobs on the complex console before her. Even after Weiss stopped fiddling with the console the orange light continued to blink. "Is everything alright?"
"Yep, everything is fine." Weiss unbuckled herself and walked over to a cabinet on the wall. The plane tilted slightly forward and began it's very slow decent. Opening the cabinet revealed a backpack of some kind with a harness attached to it.
Weiss was attaching the pack to herself when Yang began unbuckling herself from the seat. "No you don't Ice Queen." Yang got out of her seat as Weiss walked out of the cockpit.
When Yang opened the door, she saw Weiss near the back ramp of the transport. "Here, take this." Weiss grabbed their survival pack with both hands and threw it at Yang. The moment the blonde caught it, she nearly toppled over due to the unexpected weight of the pack.
"What did you pack in here? I swear, if this bag is full of clothes I am going to use them as fuel for the fire."
"It's everything we need to survive for a month in Atlas. Besides, we aren't even crashing yet."
"You say that, but your actions aren't exactly filling me with confidence."
"We are just a tad low on fuel, so I put us on a slow decent. We should be able to sustain a soft glide for a few more minutes before we lose all thrust. This craft is going to veer right and should crash towards the east coast, so we are going to have to leave soon."
"Can't we just land this thing and walk from there?"
"If we had more fuel, then yes. Right now, it would be best to ditch the highly valuable and stolen military vehicle. With the snowstorms in Atlas, our trail will be gone within a day. Now get over here so I can strap you up to this." Weiss patted the extra harness that hanged off of her front.
"Wow, you are way shorter than I remember." Yang said as she brought her hand atop Weiss head. "Did you shrink while I wasn't looking?"
"I can't wear heels while trekking through the snow you brute. I had to get some boots, pants, and this stupid jacket."
Yang pulled the hand back and found it barely reaching the bridge of her nose. "I think you're actually shorter than Ruby without those stilts of yours. Ruby is going to love hearing about this when we see each other again. You're barely five foot one with those boots on."
"I can just jump out here and leave you, you know?" Weiss threatened Yang.
"You wouldn't leave me. I know you would be devastated once Ruby found out I didn't survive." Yang did her best imitation of Ruby's puppy dog eyes.
"Doesn't really work when you're a towering oaf," Weiss chided the blonde.
Yang raised her hands to show she didn't mean any hostilities Weiss was picking up on. "Okay, fine. This is just going to be a bit awkward with the setup we have. I don't remember seeing to many videos of paired jumpers with the main being so much shorter than the partner."
"Either you get in this harness or I leave you here." Weiss' hand inched towards the button that controlled the ship's rear ramp.
"Alright, alright," Yang raised her arms in defeat and walked towards Weiss.
Weiss quickly helped Yang get prepared for the tandem jump. With her teammate strapped in and ready to go Weiss tried to stand up along with Yang, only to realize her feet could no longer touch the ground. Even trying to get the tips of her boots to touch the floor proved impossible due the several inches of height that Yang had over her. She struggled for a minute on Yang's back to only receive laughter from her teammate.
"We will never speak of this again. Now press that button and let's get out of here." Weiss pointed to the red button that was installed on the wall.
Yang bent forward slightly to take Weiss even further from the ground and pressed the button. With a hiss, the back of the plane began to open and snow rushed into the space. The cold gusts nipping at their faces forcing the both girls to pull their hoods up. Taking a breath to calm down, Yang walked out the back and let gravity take hold. The fall wasn't as fun as Yang had initially anticipated once she realized that there was nothing but white snow stretching out in every direction. If it wasn't for the fact that wind was rushing past her face, she would have thought they weren't even moving.
Yang held the heavy pack in her arms as they continued to fall. Tightening her grip on the object when Weiss yelled something and tapped her on the shoulder. Before Yang could even respond, they were suddenly yanked back as the chute opened and quickly slowed their decent. With their decent slowed, Yang could actually hear Weiss.
"Don't you dare let go of our supplies Yang."
"I wasn't going to drop it. Why couldn't you just use glyph to get us to the ground? I'm not complaining, but this is a bit slower than I'm used to."
"We can't waste aura to cushion our landing with the weather this cold. It's more valuable as a way to maintain our body temperature. I also couldn't risk you damaging our supplies with the way you typically land. I still remember what Ruby told us about initiation." Weiss laughed as snow fell around them.
"Hey, I stuck that landing perfectly. It just took me a moment to pass through a few branches." Yang countered.
It only took a few minutes for Yang and Weiss to get close enough to the ground to see it approaching. Yang brought her legs up as they were about to touch down and let Weiss nearly collapse from trying to hold up both Yang and their supplies. With a flick of Weiss' hands, she disconnected their harness dropping Yang to the ground.
Yang stood up and began dusting the snow off of her outfit when Weiss was dragged past her by the parachute. The brawler quickly reached out and grabbed Weiss by her arm. With the added weight, Weiss stopped moving and began collapsing the chute. After a few minutes, Weiss had packed the chute into their backpack. Yang looked up into the sky to try and spy their airship, but it was wither too far away or masked by the falling snow. With everything they needed packed and ready to move Yang threw the pack on as Weiss pulled out a paper map.
"We have to head north east for a bit up to the base of a mountain range. If we get lucky, we'll be at our destination within a week." Weiss said proudly as she struggled to refold the barbaric form used to store information.
"Well we better get started then. I'd like to make some progress before we have to hunker down for the night." Yang threw the survival pack on and pulled a compass out of her pocket to check her heading. After a moment, she set off in a direction with Weiss following behind in the path being carved through the foot and a half of snow.
The Schnee line always had a natural affinity with ice and the cold, but what protection Weiss' soul provided couldn't keep the chilling Atlas' winds at bay forever. She tightened the hood on her winter jacket to help trap her body's heat. The landscape remained mostly unchanged spare for a few hills that they had to cross over. After a few hours of travel Weiss turned around for a moment and saw just how small the trail they were leaving behind was on the vast snowscape. If anyone did want to find them, they would need to discover their tracks within a day or two. What surprised Weiss was the lack of Grimm so far into their journey. Atlas may have been known for its chilling landscapes and insurmountable cliffs, but out on the frozen plains nothing was truly detouring the Grimm.
Yang stopped hearing the shuffle of Weiss' footsteps behind her and paused to see what was wrong. "Do you need a break?"
"I'm fine, just wondering where all the Grimm are. We should have encountered something by now."
"We should count ourselves lucky then, though I wouldn't mind a fight to help warm us up a bit." Yang stretched out her arms to help relieve some of the tension.
Weiss was about to respond when a small explosion of snow erupted behind Yang. Weiss was the first to respond by drawing her rapier and stabbing into the cloud. As the powdered snow began to dissipate they could see a mole like Grimm the size of a medium dog impaled on the steel blade. Large jagged teeth were seen in its mouth along with razor sharp claws coming out of the two front paws. The most noticeable thing about the Grimm was that its coat was black, but the snow packed onto its skin managed to camouflage most of it to match the snowy environment.
"You just had to say something, didn't you?" Weiss knew her team had stupid amounts of bad luck, but nothing compared to their ability to attract trouble once it was mentioned.
"What the heck was that thing?" Yang asked as the body began to dissolve into a black smoke.
"That would be a Cloacina. They live underground and use snow banks as cover when people are near. They typically hunt in large packs so whatever you do don't-" Yang shifted her left foot as she got into a boxing stance- "move."
The effect was immediate as a chain of small eruptions happened around them. Snow was kicked up to form a smoke screen that encircled them. Weiss remained still and waited for the enemy to reveal itself. Fighting in snow wasn't something everyone was trained for. Each step was slowed down and muscles typically stiffened in the cold impeding movement even further. It made dexterous fighters fumble their weapons or fail to reload them in the heat of battle. A deadly combination for anyone not used fighting in such conditions. Weiss however grew up and trained in that type of environment. She had memorized nearly all of the native species that plagued her home continent and how they fought.
The cylinder in Weiss' rapier spun as she stabbed the tip into the ground. A glyph appeared beneath them generating a mighty gust of wind that blew the screen of snow away. Without anywhere to hide the Cloacina were ready forced to lunge forward in an attempt to overwhelm the Huntresses. Two leaped forward at Yang as she brought her left arm forward. Her jab smashing into the side of one's head and forcing it into the other. As they began to fall to the ground Yang brought her right arm back and slammed her fist into the other while firing the shotgun housed in her gauntlet. The shot easily pierced the first Cloacina and went into the second one, killing them both.
The remaining eight were quick to charge now that the element of surprise was gone. Weiss kept three at bay by striking at them with her rapier. While Weiss dealt with three Cloacinas, the others circled around and lunged at her. Two glyphs appeared on either side of Weiss. An arm reached out of each one with a rapier in hand. The arm on the left impaled one of the attackers and threw it at the three attacking Weiss from the front. The other arm pulled the trigger on the rapier's handle and fired the gun built into the blade. A splatter of black ichor exploded out of the Cloacina's head as the glyphs faded from existence.
Weiss stabbed at the three Cloacinas and managed to kill one while the other two leaped out of the way. Yang launched herself forward and grabbed a Cloacina out of the air and punched it into the ground. With no other Grimm left, Weiss brought her weapon up and summoned a glyph behind herself. With a flash of light, she was thrown at the last Grimm and speared it through the gut as she drove it into the ground.
With the battle over Weiss could see that the bodies were rapidly dissolving into a black mist. Their survival pack seemed unharmed thanks to Yang managing to keep the Grimm in front of herself and avoiding any attacks from behind. The fighting managed to alter the once pristine field of snow enough that it could be noticeable once stumbled upon. Dirt was kicked up atop the snow from the Cloacinas' attack and the ground was damaged from some of Yang's shots. If their trail wasn't noticeable before, it was now.
"Well at least I'm not cold anymore." Yang remarked as she brought an arm up to wipe the sweat off her face.
"You haven't been out in a blizzard before, have you?" Weiss could see the confusion forming on Yang's face from trying to find the meaning behind the question.
"It does snow in Patch during the winter so I'm no stranger to snow."
"That's not what I meant, Yang. Sweating can lead to hypothermia out here in the cold. You need to take care not to overexert yourself out here. Can't have you dying when we have all this heavy gear to carry. Someone has to be a pack mule for this journey and it isn't going to be me."
"Why don't you tell me how you really feel Weiss?" Yang sarcastically remarked as she grabbed the pack and threw it on.
"We both know I'd collapse after the first several miles. I'll provide us with a proper heading and you'll provide the muscles to make it there. The brains and brawns required for this trip, if you would."
"If we're going to be stuck with each other for a few months, we're going to need to lay down some ground rules and where our boundaries lie." Yang's suggestion actually made sense to Weiss.
"Alright, fine. What do you suggest?"
"We ask each other questions as we walk and answer them honestly." Yang looked back and saw Weiss mulling over the possibilities before giving an affirmative nod. "As you can guess, growing up with Ruby can be a bit different. I practically raised her and would be there to comfort her whenever something bad happened. The point is that I grew up in an environment where we'd reassure each other through physical contact like hugs. How okay are you with physical contact like that?" Yang asked nervously, not used to displaying some of her oddities so openly.
"I can handle a few hugs Yang. If it helps you then it's not even a question." Weiss hesitantly brought her arms up in a hugging motion which Yang eagerly replied to. Yang wrapped her arms around the petite Huntresses and began twirling around. Eventually Yang stopped and let Weiss out of her grip. "Now that that's over with I have a question for you."
"Fire away, Weiss."
"This is going to be difficult to say," Weiss mumbled. "So nights are going to be really cold out here and I've heard many stories about how groups of people," Weiss paused as she tried to build up some confidence, "sleep together to conserve body heat."
"Sure, when Dad, Ruby, and I went camping in Patch we'd always share a tent."
Weiss felt her face flush red at the need to elaborate on what she just struggled to say. "We wouldn't just be sharing a tent. We'd have to share a sleeping bag."
"I thought it was going to be something horrible." Yang laughed as Weiss grew frustrated at the brawler's ease.
"Yang, this is a serious matter. We're two girls who are going to be sharing the equivalent of a bed."
"You do realize that we're both grown woman, right? Weiss, nothing between us changes just because we happen to share a bed. There's nothing sexual about it unless you want there to be." Yang gave a wink causing Weiss' face to explode in a bright red blush rivaling Ruby's cape.
Yang continued to tease Weiss over her reaction for the duration of the day since asking anymore questions was no longer possible. Weiss would immediately shut down any attempt to talk about possible situations. Yang figured that once Weiss had a night to calm down they could get back to making the trip more bearable, but for now Yang would tease Weiss.
It was around 4 o'clock when Yang noticed the sun starting to begin its decent towards the horizon. Weiss seemed to notice to since she started looking around for a suitable location to set camp for the night. It was about another hour before they came across a small outcropping of rocks rising from the ground. A few trees had taken up root around the stone providing some protection against the icy wind. Weiss tapped Yang on the shoulder and pointed to the mass in the distance alerting her to the change in course. They easily made it to the rock and Yang set their pack against the stone surface.
Yang fished through the pack and pulled out two short folding shovels. She passed one off to Weiss and they went to work clearing the grounds so they could hammer the tent into the ground. While Yang was starting to finish, Weiss began building up a short wall of snow around them. The wall along with the trees would hopefully keep the wind out. When Weiss turned around she saw that the tent was nearly finished with Yang putting its center support up.
Shelter was honestly Weiss' biggest concern and felt a huge relief wash over her thanks to Yang's outdoor skills. Food and other supplies were easy to gather, but the knowledge to properly use them in the field was something that she had no experience with. While Yang put the finishing touches on their tent, Weiss went to prepare their meals. A crude metal frame that sat about 6 inches off the ground with a burner at its center. Weiss placed a pot on it and began putting snow into it. Their canteens were emptied a few hours ago and needed to be refilled before tomorrow and a clean source of water to rehydrate their meal would be nice.
Weiss was going through the packets of food when she was poked by Yang. A startled scream was the initial response followed by Weiss pounding her fists against Yang for the sudden shock. "Don't scare me like that."
"Relax, Weiss. I didn't even do that on purpose. So, what's on the menu for tonight?"
"Freeze dried beef and a can of green beans. We can splurge on dinner since we aren't on the move. Before you ask, no we can't start getting into the jerky. We need that for when we're moving during the day." Weiss' answer was met with a pout from Yang that was quickly replaced with a grin when she saw the meat starting to remoisten at the bottom of the pot.
Yang was about to reach for the food when Weiss slapped it away. "You can't eat it yet. Let me add some green beans to the broth so we have the facade of a balanced meal." Weiss opened another package and poured the contents into the pot.
"Do you have some vitamins or something to help us not get scurvy or some other pirate related sickness?"
"We have a bottle in the pack. It's no substitute for actual food, but we aren't going to die of something idiotic at least." Weiss pointed to the pack and Yang began digging through it.
Yang and Weiss traded stories as the food finished cooking. Removing the lid from the pot, Weiss passed Yang a fork and began digging into the meal. It didn't take long for the pair to eat their food and clean the pot out. With that out of the way and the sun beginning to set, all that remained was going to sleep and starting the day again tomorrow.
Snow had continued to fall while they ate and a fresh layer of the white powder had already begun to cover the ground they cleared. The wall of snow that surrounded their camp had even done a fairly good job at keeping the wind out. If a blizzard hit them in the middle of the night, they probably wouldn't even notice thanks to the cover their camp had.
Weiss was already in the sleeping bag when Yang walked into the tent and zipped the entrance shut. Yang took off her jacket and began shifting into the sleeping bag when she realized that Weiss' body had become as stiff as a board.
"Weiss, are you really okay with this?" Yang asked, after seeing the Heiresses response.
It took a moment for Weiss to realize she was asked the question she tried to find an answer, "I'm just having more trouble accepting this than I should. Stuff like this is supposed to be done with people you're intimate with and I've heard sometimes family."
"There's nothing wrong with you, Weiss. I don't expect anyone to suddenly become as open as me in the span of a day. If this makes you uncomfortable we can find something else to do."
"Except we can't. I only packed one sleeping bag to save on space because this shouldn't even be a problem. I'm a Huntress for crying out loud. I fight monsters without flinching and this is what manages to get to me." Weiss was clearly upset by how much this was getting to her.
"If it really bothers you that much we can sleep ass to ass." Weiss was nearly put in shock from the bluntness in Yang's crass statement.
"Isn't that less efficient then the 'other method'." Weiss avoided the proper term out of embarrassment.
"Of course, only you'd be worried about the efficiency of sleeping arrangements and the word you're looking for is spooning. We'll lose more heat since our bodies won't be really touching each other's, but the sleeping bag should do fine enough to trap the heat we generate. Worse comes to worse, we can use the heater to help keep us warm."
"We can't afford to use our leave the Dust heater on through the night. We'd run out of fuel for it in about 6 days and then we'd have nothing for once we actually reach our destination." Weiss conceded as she tucked herself into a ball inside the bag.
"It's really cool that you trying to be brave and work this problem out, but you don't have to be the little spoon if you don't want to be." Weiss poked her head out from her spot and looked at Yang. "Some people don't enjoy being held onto during sleep since it's restricting or it can be a bit intimidating to let someone hold you like that." Yang wiggled further into the sleeping bag and turned away from Wiess.
Weiss hesitantly flipped around and pressed herself up against Yang's back. The heat that the blonde brawler gave off was almost unreal. It was the equivalent of standing next to a camp fire. Within a few minute of resting Weiss put her arm over Yang to keep the source of heat from moving away while she slept. The sound of wind brushing through the trees around them slowly lulled the pair to sleep. Weiss forgetting about any formalities that were drilled into her head as a child and pulling herself tight against her heater.
We're going to be sticking with Weiss and Yang for a bit. Their parts will focus more on the plagues effect on society and the reigning governments in some of the kingdoms. It may take a moment to actually reach the point of governments interacting, but it will happen at some point. As for scheduling, I'm going to be working on my other story for about two chapters. I'm mostly doing this to help with the burnout I experienced when writing HtH and I'm hoping it keeps both series on a certain level of quality. What this means is that there will be four weeks of me writing my other story before coming back to this one. If you want to check it out cool, if you don't that is also cool. I don't really expect too much overlap between my readers, but some of you seem to enjoy JoJo, so you might want to give it a gander.