The heat of Tatooine's twin suns rose over the walls of the canyon, sending streaks of light down onto the semi-conscious pair. Ruby was the first to awaken properly, stretching quickly before going to check the status of the signal emitter. Weiss rolled onto her side, her back incredibly sore and stiff from having spent the night on the hard rock of the canyon. "Ah bantha dung, the emitters busted!" Ruby kicked the antenna and sighed in dismay.
"Here we see the wonders of the fearsome Rebel Alliance's technology," Weiss stated sardonically as she stretched out her aching back.
"Yeah, yeah it's not like your life also depends on this thing working," Ruby's tone laced with irritation.
"Do you know if anyone picked up the signal?" Weiss said as she moved over to inspect the broken machine. Ruby shrugged,
"No idea, looks like the thing busted sometime in the night, I doubt anyone picked up our signal."
"Fantastic," Weiss said coldly as she crossed her arms and looked expectantly at Ruby.
"What?" Ruby said as she raised an eyebrow in question.
"Well, you know more about this backwater planet then I do, what's our next move?" Ruby smiled slyly,
"Well I need to find something to eat, and well…" Ruby eyed Weiss. Weiss looked at her in confusion before getting her hint,
"You barbarian! You wouldn't dare, that's, that's, insane!" She shouted in panic as she took a few cautious steps back from Ruby. Ruby laughed,
"I'm joking! Trust me last thing I would want to eat would be blaster fried Imperial." Weiss stared at her flabbergasted,
"That is not funny! This is a survival situation, there is no time for jokes, especially when we need to find food," Weiss straightened herself as she spoke, resuming a more postured stance. Hands behind her back, looking thoughtfully into the distance, trying to devise a plan. She was abruptly interrupted by a projectile hitting her. Brought out of her trance she looked down at the ration bar that Ruby had thrown at her, frown firmly in place she looked back up to Ruby, who once again simply shrugged, her smile only widening at Weiss' expression. "Had some in the survival kit, should keep us going for a while."
Weiss grumbled as she started chomping down the ration bar. All in all she had eaten much worse, Imperial rations were not one would call a delicacy. Ruby slung the heavy pack over her shoulder and strapped on her blaster pistol holster. Picking up the stolen stormtrooper blaster she passed it over to Weiss, who took it cautiously. "Why are you giving me this?" Weiss questioned,
"Thought you might want to be able to defend yourself, no idea what could be out here with us." Ruby said as she turned her back on Weiss and started walking. For a moment Weiss thought of the easy shot it would be to eradicate the rebel. Shaking the thoughts away she began walking after Ruby. While yesterday Ruby Rose had started as her enemy, now she was likely the only reason that Weiss was alive today, and possibly the only thing that would keep her alive tomorrow.
"Scanners are picking something up," Ren studied the screen near the co-pilots chair intensely. Yang spun her chair to look over his shoulder,
"What is it?"
"Looks like a ship of some sort, though it's not in any working order. It might well be your sisters X-Wing." Ren nodded thoughtfully as he read the readouts of the scans. Yang smiled and turned the ship towards the wreck. "Wait shouldn't we be a little more careful about this, perhaps do a more complete area scan?"
"Nope, that's it, that's Ruby's X-Wing, trust me," Yang said with a confident smile. Ren shrugged and kept scanning.
Blake sat in her 'room', more of an abandoned cargo compartment fitted with a bed. This was definitely not a luxury cruiser. The hallways of the ship had several open panels filled with exposed wires, occasionally there was the odd connecting wire draping down from the roof. While it wasn't pretty, at least it didn't smell. Her Faunus senses would give her hell if the ship had a foul smell.
Sitting on the bed with legs crossed, Blake relaxed. She needed to figure out what to do, and she needed to figure out what to do with Yang, and possibly her sister. Blake needed to help them, whether it was to help them hide, or to learn how to properly control their abilities. Yang needed to learn how to control her anger, lest she fall and end up serving the Emperor like Blake had.
Suddenly she felt the ship touch down, the bed shifting suddenly as the landing gear sunk into the sand. Blake slunk up off the bed and moved towards the ramp. Yang came rushing down the opposite hallway, an excited look on her face. "Why have we stopped?"
"We found Ruby's X-Wing," Yang said enthusiastically as she opened the ramp with the controls near the door. Yang rushed down the ramp before it even finished lowering, Blake following down after Yang stepped off the ramp. Ren walked over to Blake, both watching Yang rush over to the half-submerged, scorched X-Wing. "This does not bode well," Blake murmured to Ren,
"Well Yang seems confident, she is rather adamant that Ruby is perfectly fine." Ren replied before walking out into the sun. Blake pulled her hood up and followed, stretching her sense to feel for any danger as she did so.
Yang climbed onto the hull of the ship, inspecting the remnants of the astromech droid. "Yup this looks like a proper crash landing," Yang's hand drifted over the blackened hull.
"Isn't the nature of crash landings 'improper'" Blake asked as she looked up to Yang, arm raised to block the suns.
"Ooh Kitty-cat has a sense of humour," Yang called back, before leaping down off the burnt up ship, Blake's feline ears twitching in self-consciousness. "Found tracks too, little faded but I think we might be close," Yang beamed with eagerness.
"How can you be sure she is still alive, the Empire will come looking for both of us it might be best if we-"
"No, we are finding my sister, she is alive." Yang's smile disappeared, replaced with a look of grim determination. The corners of Blake's lips twinged,
"Your certainty; I think you know where you're getting that from," Yang walked away eyes tracking the subtle markings in the sand.
"Sisterly intuition?" Yang answered offhandedly, Blake followed behind her slowly,
"You are force sensitive, a fairly powerful one at that, you can feel that your sister is alive. If you relax for a moment and listen to me perhaps we can hone in that sense and more easily locate your sister."
"Why would I do that, I have two sets of perfectly traceable tracks," Yang turned her head back to Blake, waiting for the answer. Blake opened her mouth to reply, but had nothing to say, Yang smiled and turned back to her work. "The Force hasn't done me any favours, but my tracking skills have got me plenty of bounties."
"It would be a lot easier to use the Force, and you might learn something," Blake said quickly, her confidence building as she spoke. Yang didn't look back this time, "Just help me follow these tracks, if you can help me find Ruby then I will listen to whatever you have to say about all that stuff."
"I'll hold you to that," Blake said confidently, now stepping to walk beside Yang. Yang stopped eventually and turned back to the X-wing site, looking to Ren who was busy trying to get information off the remains of the ships computer. "Ren take Ember and fly ahead, see if you can spot anything, Blake and I will follow the tracks!" Yang shouting over the distance, Ren nodded in return, sliding down the nose of the X-wing and heading back inside the Ember. Yang turned back to Blake with a smile, "Hope you don't mind the heat." Slapping Blake on the shoulder Yang continued her search.
"So you have no idea where we are going? We are literally wandering aimlessly through a desert." Weiss complained, huffing with exhaustion as she climbed up the lip of the small canyon wall. "Ugh, of course I have no idea where we are going! I have never been here before!" Ruby shouted back. "How about you carry the pack now, maybe if I had less strain on my back I might suddenly remember where the luxury spa is on this planet,"
"If it stops you complaining then fine!" Weiss bellowed as she wiped the sweat from her brow. Ruby dropped the bag, placing her hands on her hips as she watched Weiss awkwardly slung the heavy pack over her shoulder. "Look at that I suddenly know which direction to walk," Ruby said with a smile as she turned and continued walking down the same route in the canyons, "That's the same way we have been going for hours!" Weiss called out as she followed along begrudgingly.
The two fell silent, unhappily trudging along in the shaded canyons. Unbeknownst to them, along the tops of the canyons, several sets of shielded eyes watched intently.
Ruby felt like she was being watched. She scanned around her quickly, her hand gripping her blaster. "What?" Weiss asked as she caught up to Ruby.
"I dunno, just a feeling," Ruby replied in a hushed tone. Weiss raised her blaster rifle slightly, now joining in on Ruby's nervous scanning. Something shifted in the peripheral of Ruby's vision and she spun to focus on it, raising her pistol in the direction of the movement. From behind a series of rocks Ruby spied a robed figure aiming some sort of weapon at them. "Down!" Ruby shouted as she pulled Weiss to the ground with her. From all around them robed figures started appearing, weapons raised. Bestial cries echoed through the canyon as the figures attacked. Ruby fired up at the gun wielding figures, her bolts going wide and shattering the rocks above. "We need to find cover!" Weiss yelled as she quickly pulled Ruby up and behind cover. Back against the wall of the boulder the pair took turns turning to fire at the surrounding enemies. They ducked and dodged the series of slug rounds that the Sandpeople fired. "At least they don't have blasters," Weiss commented as she ducked back behind cover.
"I think they are Sandpeople, I heard about them from a friend who lives here, we just have to scare them off," Ruby finished and leapt back up and fired back at their assailants, dropping one with a well-aimed blaster shot. As her head went back below cover she spied several figures moving down on the floor of the canyon. "Uh, bad news,"
"What now?" Weiss asked with a sigh of resignation,
"You know anything about hand to hand combat?" Ruby winced as she finished, Weiss' expression not looking promising. Dropping the pack completely, Weiss held her blaster tightly with both hands and peaked above the cover, just as a shot impacted inches from her face. "You keep the marksmen busy I will deal with the ones coming at us," Weiss said with a calm, commanding tone of voice. Ruby nodded, a subtle smile on her lips,
"Aye aye sir." In unison the two broke cover, opening fire with their weapons. Ruby fired wildly above her, forcing the Sandpeople back behind cover, preventing them from firing any further shots. Weiss' blaster rifle fired a quick succession of shots, the kickback of the heavier rifle cause several bolts to miss, but the first few managed to drop several of the oncoming Sandpeople.
Ruby suddenly stopped firing, the trigger on her pistol jamming. Looking wide eyed at the malfunctioning weapon Ruby cursed. Weiss only noticed the issue as the Sandpeople's covering fire returned, thankfully the solid based projectile weapons proved far more inaccurate than a blaster. The two returned to the relative safety of their cover, "Why did you stop shooting!"
"It's not my fault! The gun jammed!"
"Great! Just great! Now we are going to be killed and eaten by a bunch of sun crazed savages! Just perfect!" Weiss shouted angrily as she haphazardly fired over the lip of their cover without looking. Ruby grabbed a stray rock, holstering her malfunctioning pistol. Panic in their eyes the two prepared for whatever came over their defences.
Ren flew the ship over the canyons that Yang and Blake had found. The scanners had detected the faint traces of some sort of beacon, Yang also having found tracks leading into the canyon meant that somewhere in the labyrinth of red stone they would find Ruby. Ren jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder, spinning and pulling free one of his twin pistols her came face to face with an unexpected sight. "Salutations friend Ren! May I ask what you are looking for?" P3-NY asked with genuine curiosity. Ren let go the breath he hadn't noticed he was holding, "How did you get on board?" Ren enquired, his usual monotone voice broken up with a small element of remaining surprise. "I set myself to re-activate after a small period of time to see if you needed any assistance, but I found that you had left. I simply tracked you down to your ship and before it left I climbed aboard."
"Well then," Ren said as he cautiously spun back to take control of the ship. Ren opened his mouth to continue but was halted by the sight before him. Blaster fire, Sandpeople, and what looked to be a pilot in half of an orange jumpsuit. "Uh P3-NY, are you a good shot?"
Yang dropped the Commlink back into her pocket and ran. Blake rushed after her, having heard what Ren had said. Ruby was in danger. Ahead of them the Ember sat in the air, the ramp hanging open as a droid appeared to be firing down at something. Yang had her blaster carbine in hand, her mind focused on getting to her sister in time. Behind her Blake pulled forth both of her lightsabers, however they remained unignited. Together they came barrelling down the rock chasm, making a sharp turn to see a group of Sandpeople rushing away from the hovering freighter. While their faces were hidden, they sudden jolt and sliding halt revealed their surprise at seeing two more enemies.
Yang levelled her blaster and fired, the pair of red bolts scorching a hole through the leading Sandperson. Blake ran ahead of Yang, igniting her crimson blades and swinging them through the oncoming horde. A blur of black clothing and red light, Blake cut through the Sandpeople with ease, Yang taking out the few she left behind. As quickly as it had started, the battle was over, and eerie silence returned to the valley of red stone.
Yang's eyes immediately landed on the girl with short, red streaked hair. "Ruby!" She cried with joy as she holstered her gun and ran over to her sister. Ruby looked confused and surprised, only able to mutter out a quick "Thanks," before the blonde snatched her up in a tight hug.
Weiss watched in confusion as Ruby was lifted into the air by their surprise saviours. Her eyes meeting the glare of their other saviour, the hooded girl in black. Blake studied Ruby's companion, white hair, cold blue eyes, and an overwhelming sense that somehow she knew who this girl was.
"Uh… Can you let go please… I need to breathe," Ruby managed to grumble out over deep breaths. Yang let go and dropped Ruby back to her feet,
"I'm so glad you're okay I thought you had died." Yang spoke with happiness, fighting back tears of joy and relief.
"Ugh, thanks for the rescue?" Ruby was thoroughly confused. Yang was taken aback by her sister's lack of emotion, "Do… You don't remember me?" Yang said with a pained expression. Ruby studied her closely, mind racing as too who she was. Slowly she started to remember, "Y-yang? Yang!" Ruby said eyes wide with shock. Yang beamed and brought her sister in for another hug. Ruby was too shocked to return the hug, "You're alive! I thought you and dad…"
"Alive and kicking sis, I have been looking for you for a while now," Yang let her sister go, a soft smile on her face. "I made friends with Ren, one of your Rebel buddies, we managed to track you down. For a while we thought you were taken out by the Empire, reports of a failed attack or something."
"Haha, yeah something like that," Ruby said awkwardly, her eyes drifting over to a nervous Weiss. Noticing Weiss' focused stare Ruby followed her gaze, "Who's your friend?" Ruby asked, nodding in Blake's direction, Yang shrugged,
"Long story, but for the moment I think she is a friend, what about you?" Yang now looking to Weiss. Ruby smiled,
"Yeah long story, and yeah, I think she's a friend."
"A friend of my little sisters is a friend of mine. Oh we have so much to talk about!" Yang squealed with excitement as she led her sister back to the ship.
Blake watched as Ruby and Yang exchanged a lifetime of stories. They had spent the last few hours catching up, Yang letting Ren drive the ship back to Mos Eisley. It was heart-warming to watch the two reminisce about their short childhood together, and then tell their extravagant tales of their lives while separated. Yet, even when Blake should have been in a good mood, all she could feel was anger.
Not towards the sisters, not towards the surprising assassin droid that snuck onto the ship without her knowing. White hair, cold blue eyes. It hadn't taken Blake long to remember seeing those features, and feeling a similar presence. Admiral Schnee, now Grand Moff Schnee, was the leading officer who had led the attack on her home planet. Of course the girl that had crash landed with Ruby was not the Grand Moff, Blake was certain however that Weiss was his daughter.
Blake fought down the anger, trying to keep calm and remember the lessons she had learnt from the holocron. "Hey what's got you in such a mood," Yang said as she leant against the wall of the ship near Blake. Blake shook herself out of her thoughts, not having noticed the face she had been making, or that Ruby had left the room. "N-nothing, just… well we need to talk," Blake trying to bite back her anger.
"I did promise that we could have a talk about all the force mumbo jumbo," Yang said reluctantly.
"Not about that, there is something else I have to tell you ," Blake leaned in close, keeping her voice hushed. Yang looked intrigued,
"Sounds serious,"
"Yeah it is, Weiss is an Imperial." Blake looked seriously into Yang's eyes. Yang chuckled,
"Yeah Ruby told me, Imperial captain at that,"
"And you're fine with her being on the ship?!" Blake breaking her hushed tone. Yang shrugged,
"Ruby says that she's alright. Apparently there was a mutiny on her ship, Ruby saved her and then they had a nice walk in the sand."
"Yang, trust me, she is bad news," Blake's tone taking a dark turn. Yang frowned, placing her hands on her hips.
"I trust Ruby, my sister. Newsflash, I still don't know what to make of you. If I remember correctly weren't you working for the Empire only a few days ago?" Yang said matter-of-factly. Blake groaned with annoyance, "That's different,"
"Is it? Just don't worry about it, she's probably going to hop off at Mos Eisley anyway, then she is out of your hair."
"What about me? You're not kicking me off?" Blake said nervously, her frustration disappearing in an instant. Yang rolled her eyes,
"Why would I do that, you paid for a proper trip and that usually means somewhere off planet. So until you come up with a destination, and my money of course, you're a permanent resident." With another slap on the shoulder Yang headed off down the hallway, stopping after a few steps and turning back. "You comin or what? We still have to have that talk I promised you."
"Yeah, sure," Blake pushed her anxiety away and followed Yang.
Ruby walked into the room Weiss had been given to rest. Like most of the private rooms aboard Yang's ship it was a chaotic mess. Ruby knocked on the metal door before keying the controls to open it. "Weiss? I have a change of clothes for you, Yang had some spares lying around." Ruby's head swivelled around the room looking for Weiss. Stepping inside she could hear the sound of a shower coming from a door across the room. "Just leave them on the bed, I will be out in a second!" Weiss called out from the shower, the sound of running water stopping as she finished. Ruby rested the clothes on the sheet less mattress, a simple black jacket with a white shirt and dark green pants. Ruby was about to close the door behind her when she heard Weiss call out, "Wait a second! We need to talk," Ruby stopped, awkwardly deciding whether or not to leave the room and wait for Weiss to get dressed or not. As the door to the shower began to open Ruby quickly stepped out of the room and up against the wall of the corridor. "Where did you go?" Weiss asked as she stepped out of the shower, old towel wrapped around her body.
"Uh, I'm just out here, thought you might want some privacy."
"Oh, it's no issue. They kind of drill privacy and modesty out of you at the academy," Weiss mumbled as she looked through her new clothes.
"Oh, haha," Ruby laughed uncomfortably "do the, uh clothes fit?"
"A little big, but should be comfortable." Weiss lifting the clothes to examine, dusting off the dark leather jacket. "Fairly reasonable clothes for a prisoner, Imperial standards usually only include a simple identifiable jumpsuit."
"Prisoner?" Ruby sounding confused. Weiss slipped on the clothes quickly,
"Well yes, I imagine that I am now your prisoner in a more official capacity. I am an Imperial officer, you are a Rebel officer. The way things play out are pretty clear," Weiss sounding oddly content with the situation.
"Um, well you are not really an Imperial officer, and you're not my prisoner." Ruby still slightly confused. Weiss slipped on her second boot, stopping halfway as Ruby finished speaking. "What do you mean I'm not an officer?"
"I'm just saying that, well, since your crew led a mutiny against you…" Ruby cutting herself off, knowing she had said something she wasn't supposed too. Weiss strutted out of the room to face Ruby, wearing everything but her jacket, arms crossed and angry frown on her face. "That was a simple… Misunderstanding that I had with my second in command."
"Well, I mean, it wasn't just him… there were a few others," Ruby remembering the two of them rushing down the hallways of the star destroyer surrounded by stormtrooper fire. "W-well, there may have been a f-few…" Weiss trailing off as she ran out of excuses. Shutting her eyes she slumped against the wall of the corridor. Ruby winced, resting a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "Well things are going to get better now, the Rebel Alliance would welcome such a proficient commander, you probably have plenty of vital information too." Ruby suggested hopefully and smiling cheerfully. Weiss opened her eyes and stared into Ruby's, "I don't want to join the Rebel's, they have killed people I considered friends, they are terrorists!"
"We are not!" Ruby's hand snapped to her side off of Weiss' shoulder. Weiss stood straight now head raised in defiance. "Whatever! All that matters is that I don't have anywhere to go! So just lock me up or kick me out!" Ruby just stood there, unable to respond. After a few seconds of silence Ruby's angry demeanour broke, shoulders slumping in defeat. "Fine, you can leave. As I said, your not a prisoner here. No one is going to stop you form leaving." Ruby turned and walked away, leaving Weiss alone with her thoughts.
"So…" Yang breaking the silence as Blake sat nervously opposite her.
"Well," Blake took a deep breath, "I want to train you, I don't know much, but I know enough to help you deal with your power."
"Why are you so set on this, I was kinda hoping you got the picture that I'm not really into the whole Force thing."
"It's not about whether you want to or not. You have this power; nothing you can do will change that. If you don't learn to control it, you risk being consumed by it." Blake's eyes drifted away from Yang's, memories flashing before her. Yang didn't smile, she didn't frown, she simply stared. "When we fought, you lost control. I doubt you would ever admit it, but I felt your fear, and even though I have only known you for this short time, it's fairly easy to see you don't like not being in control."
"Yeah well sometimes you have to lose control," Blake met Yang's eyes again.
"If you keep going down this path, either the Empire will find you and kill you, or worse. With your gift you can't hide forever."
"I made it this far," Yang said quietly. Blake nodded slowly,
"You have, you're resourceful, quick on your feet, tough." Yang smirked at the praise, her cockiness forcing Yang to roll her eyes. "But you're also brash, quick to anger, reckless. You are the daughter of a Jedi, which paints a target on your back. You have to learn control otherwise you endanger everyone you care about." Blake watched the smile fade from Yang's face, her eyes slowly coming to an understanding. "Fine, teach me, on one condition."
"Yes?"
"You leave Ruby alone. She is not part of any training, she doesn't hear about any of this." Yang met Blake's stare, face taught with resolve.
"But, she is very likely-"
"No, just… no." Yang broke the glare, casting her eyes down. Blake sighed but nodded,
"Very well." The two sat in silence for a moment, both contemplating the commitment they had both just made. Before either could say anything to break the silence, the ship jolted. Yang breathed a sigh of relief and got up, "Ship's landed, grab whatever you have to. The Imperials are still looking for Ruby and Weiss so it's probably best if we made a hasty exit."
Author's note: Thanks for reading, really enjoying this project, hope you are too!
Next time: Betrayl! Escape! And the Grand Moff!