Fallout: Remnant

by The Snow Mage

The world has been torn asunder by the war to end all wars, the only survivors sheltered in Vaults beneath the surface of Remnant. Two hundred years later, seven old souls return to force a change upon the desecrated world, though not all seek the same change. Will the descendants of Team RWBY survive the trials to come, or will they be just another set of corpses?

3. Chapter 2

This chapter has been rewritten.

And we're back. For today's opening spiel, let's start talking about the organizations in this story.

Specifically: The Brotherhood of Dust.

The Brotherhood is an odd organization: to be quite honest, it's actually a poor introduction to the various states and organizations, due to the oddities surrounding its founding. The Brotherhood was made when a few Vaults began failing only twenty years after the bombs dropped due to issues that Vault-Tec never discovered, such as one Vault's proximity to a vein of Fire Dust that wound off contaminating their water supply after an earthquake; due to their close proximity to each other, they wound up banding together and sharing their resources to survive in a world that was still heavily irradiated.

Unfortunately for them, there wasn't enough to go around. Medical supplies started dwindling rapidly as people grew sick from radiation poisoning, tainted water, unsanitary cookware, and all sorts of other natural and unnatural calamities; clean water was a precious resource that was typically reserved for children and the sickly; and the multiple Overseers had a hard time agreeing on anything in that time of crisis. By the time the world became less hazardous to live on, more than two-thirds of the Vaults' populations had died from disease, radiation, and Grimm attacks.

Only one Overseer survived what became known to them as "the culling", despite her advanced age and crippled leg. Blake Belladonna, who'd been chosen by Vault-Tec to be the first Overseer of Vault 37, pulled the surviving remnants of their Vaults together and all but forced them into cooperating. Working together, they were able to settle the part of the world they found themselves in: farms were established by transplanting the various crops from the underground fields in the Vaults, irrigation accomplished thanks to their intact water purifiers and lots of hard work, and homes built from scrap metal and the few trees they'd been able to find in the plains they now lived in.

As time passed, the Brotherhood began to flourish in every way except one: population. Despite their success in colonizing the plains, many of the survivors from the Vaults had coincidentally been homosexual, which Blake found rather alarming; the future of both humanity, both of Humans and Faunus, was dependent on repopulation, and Blake had to make a hard decision about how to handle this issue.

The answer that she found kindest was to establish a selective breeding program. Everyone, upon turning sixteen, would be obligated to finding a partner to reproduce with, no matter their sexuality. If they had not found a partner by the time they turned eighteen, one would be chosen for them based on genetic compatibility, as determined by examining their meticulously recorded family trees and medical records. Most in the Brotherhood found it harsh, but acceptable, with only a few people leaving over it.

Nearly a hundred years had passed before the breeding laws were examined again. Those who had been born and raised after they'd been implemented had been willing to live under them, just accepting them as a fact of life, but there were a few who saw them as far too lenient.

Unfortunately for the homosexuals who had until then lived peacefully within the Brotherhood, their next leader was Elder Cybele Winters. Thanks to the pull she held with the Brotherhood's military police, Cybele was able to implement and enact laws that resulted in the exile of any homosexuals, whether they were willing to contribute to the growth of the population or not, as well as laws to keep outsiders from joining the Brotherhood for any reason. Under her rule, and later her son's, the Brotherhood became drastically more militaristic, and only in the last decade have those laws begun to be unraveled by dissidents unhappy with them.

Well, that's enough of that. Let's get to the story!

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Welcome to Yang's Rest!" Volka said, spreading both arms wide as she, Summer, and Rhonwen made their way through one of the gates in the broad wooden walls reinforced with bands of assorted metals. "Friendliest town in the Wasteland!"

"There's no need to oversell it, Volka," Rhonwen said, rolling her eyes at the blonde's enthusiasm as Summer stared at the town around them.

Summer was both awestruck and underwhelmed by what she saw: streets paved with worked stones of varying size wound between buildings that had been patched up somewhat sloppily after the centuries of degradation; towers more than forty feet tall and made from the same metal-banded wood of the walls jutted out from among the shorter buildings, several of them bearing a man or woman with a rifle slung over their back and a pair of binoculars in their hands; and, most importantly, people.

People, Human and Faunus alike, just milling about, talking among themselves and carrying on with their lives. It was something that Summer hadn't thought existed beyond the Vault she'd lived in, and even through the exhaustion from walking more miles than she'd ever gone in her entire life, she was stunned by the sight of them. Even her tail had stilled, no longer swaying idly like it had been for much of their journey.

"I know how you feel," Rhonwen said, wrapping an arm around Summer's shoulders and walking with her after Volka. "At least this isn't much of a change, right?"

Summer swallowed, meekly nodding her head. Despite how tired she felt, Summer felt her sorrow surging within her, bringing fresh tears to her eyes and threatening to overwhelm her again, but she forced herself to focus on more positive things, like the people she'd already met.

"So!" Volka said suddenly, turning on her heel and walking backwards through the town. "I'll bet you're pretty tired, huh, Summer? Why don't we get you set up with a hot meal and a bed for the night, okay?"

Summer stared at her a bit blankly, then nodded her head again.

"We don't have any empty houses right now, since Asra brought some people in the other day, but the common house still has plenty of beds in it," Volka said, smiling brightly at the Faunus. "You should be fine there for as long as you want to stay, okay?"

Rhonwen sighed at the blank look on Summer's face, shaking her head. "Not in the state she's in," Rhonwen said, gesturing to the shoulder she'd patched up earlier. "I want to keep an eye on her, and the house Ferrer gave me still has two empty bedrooms in it."

Volka raised an eyebrow at Rhonwen, saying, "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Her frown, as well as her tone, said more than her words, and Rhonwen bristled at the implication, her eyes flashing with outrage.

"Yes, I'm sure," the Schnee said, her voice absolutely dripping with sweetness, so much so that it was impossible not to notice the edge buried beneath it. "I'm not much of a cook, though," Rhonwen continued bitterly after a moment, much of her fervor having left her. "I assume you have an idea for that, as well?"

Volka rolled her shoulders awkwardly, not sure if she should apologize or not after such a blatant attempt to move the conversation along, then said, "I'm a decent cook. Not the best there is, but I can get the job done." She turned back around to face the road, adding, "Come on, we'll go to my place. We can get you some clothes, too, Summer, while we're there."

"I doubt your clothes would fit her," Rhonwen said snarkily.

"Yeah, me too, but my roommate's about the same size as her," Volka said, glancing over her shoulder and giving both of them a smile. "She's got a similar figure, too, though you'll probably find the shirt a bit loose in the chest."

"I thought you lived with Ferrer?" Rhonwen asked, frowning at the blonde.

"So does Asra," Volka said. "She's out of town about as much as I am, since she's a courier and all. And even when we're both in town, I still barely ever see her, since her Semblance relies on moonlight–" Summer blinked at the word Semblance, confused, only for Volka to continue as if she'd said something mundane, "–so she sleeps during the day, most days," Volka finished, letting out a deep sigh, slowly losing herself in her thoughts, only to be startled out of them by a shrill beep coming from her PIP-Boy.

You back yet? Ferrer wants to take a look at the parts you brought back. Something about the H2O purifier?

"Uh," Volka said, a light blush forming on her cheeks as she smiled sheepishly down at the device. "Oops."

Be there in a bit, Volka replied, her fingers all but dancing across the simulated keyboard on the PIP-Boy's touch sensitive screen. I'll explain then.

"Well, I'm about to get the mother of all chewing-outs," Volka said, chuckling as she stretched her arms over her head. "So it looks like you'll be getting a show along with dinner, huh?"

"Why?" Rhonwen asked, once again frowning at the blonde.

"You'll see soon enough," Volka said with a sigh, shaking her head. She made a turn down another street, and as Summer and Rhonwen followed they saw the comparatively large house she was heading towards. It wasn't in the best shape, made from unpainted wood and bits of scrap metal, but the rest of the houses in Yang's Rest were no better. Two stories tall and twice as broad as some of the other homes they'd passed by, it had likely belonged to a rather wealthy family before the bombs dropped. "Home sweet home," Volka said, the smile on her face disappearing when she saw the door fly open.

"What the hell did you mean by 'you'll explain'?" Ferrer growled at Volka, making her scratch the back of her neck sheepishly as she grinned at him.

"Well, uh, we kinda got distracted by–" Volka began to explain, only for Ferrer to interrupt her.

"What do you mean, you got distracted?" Ferrer asked, his growl deepening. "What the hell could possibly–"

"Shut up," Rhonwen cut in firmly, only barely raising her voice. Coming from a woman he only knew as being rather subdued and depressed, Ferrer blinked in surprise at the ferocity in her voice. "We found an injured girl who needs something good in her life after all the shit she's just gone through," Rhonwen said, gently placing a hand on Summer's uninjured shoulder. "And right now, a half-decent meal. So," Rhonwen said, pushing past Ferrer into the house and pulling Summer along with her.

It took Ferrer a moment to fully process what had happened. He'd opened the door to give Volka a piece of his mind, asking how she'd managed to forget to even look for the parts she'd been asked to gather, and was thoroughly surprised by the rock-hard tone of voice that the town's new doctor had used, as well as the young, barely-there woman who she was dragging behind her into his home.

"What just happened?" Ferrer asked when he had finally regained his voice, prompting a somewhat fearful giggle from Volka. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, further bewildering him, and guided him back inside.

"Yeah, she can be forceful when she's got her mind set on something," Volka said, smiling after the two young women as she closed the door behind them. Once she'd noticed Rhonwen had paused only a few feet in, not seeming sure of where to go from there, Volka said, "Kitchen's through that door."

Rhonwen glanced back at her and sighed in relief. "Thanks, Volka," she said, offering a smile to the blonde woman.

"Hey, start boiling a couple pots of water for me, would you?" Volka asked just before Rhonwen walked through the door, making the younger-yet-taller woman pause and raise an eyebrow at her. "What? I can cook. I just need to talk to Ferrer real quick, okay?"

Rhonwen glanced between the two of them, having to swallow a giggle at the confused state the town's mayor was still in, and nodded at her. "Consider it done," Rhonwen said, stepping through the door to the combined kitchen and dining room. After pulling a chair out from the large oak table and coaxing Summer into sitting down at it, she started searching through the cabinets for a pot, only barely noticing the large metal device that sat next to the table, a hatch open on its side that revealed its internal mechanisms.

Volka pulled Ferrer through a different door, her heart sinking when she noticed her other roommate lounging on one of the two couches it held, her eyes locked to the PIP-Boy she was wearing as she read the eBook displayed on its screen. "Sorry about all that, but..." Volka trailed off with a sigh, shaking her head as Ferrer scowled at her expectantly.

"What, Volka?" Ferrer asked, his voice much less heated than it had been only a few moments ago, surprising and worrying her. He even drew Asra's attention, not that either of them noticed. "What, exactly, was so damn important that you completely forgot about the fact that we don't have clean water?"

Volka frowned at him, though she was inwardly relieved that he was raising his voice again. "That girl that Rhonwen was dragging along? She's from a Vault," Rhonwen began, drawing a nod from Ferrer; he had seen Summer's jumpsuit, after all, including the bloodstained gunshot wound in her shoulder. "Well, uh... she's the only person from her Vault who's still alive."

Ferrer recoiled, rocking back on his heels as he stared wide-eyed at her. "What?"

"Yeah, uh... as far as we can tell, all the robots in her Vault went rogue and just... started killing everyone," Volka said, swallowing at the lump in her throat as she remembered how hard it had been for Summer to tell them anything. "She got out, and managed to shut them down, but... I think she knows – I mean, for certain – That everyone's gone."

Ferrer shook his head, clenching his jaw as he processed what Volka had just said. "Damn," he finally said, letting out a long breath through his nose. "I'm sorry for acting like an ass about those parts, V. Just... damn."

"We can help her out, right?" Volka asked, one hand gripping her other arm timidly. "I know that it might take some time, and that... that it wouldn't be ideal from a, uh, logistical standpoint, but we can help her, right? Keep her alive long enough that she can survive on her own, if she wants to?"

"Count me in," Asra said, startling Volka enough to make the blonde let out a squeaky yelp. The black-haired Faunus rose to her feet, shifting her head to one side to pop some tension from the joints in her neck; she stretched her arms as well, her tank top riding up far enough to reveal the toned muscles of her abdomen.

"Oh, Asra," Volka said, letting out a sigh of relief and offering her a shaky smile. "Sorry. You were so quiet I, uh, must have forgotten you were there?"

Asra laughed, rolling her eyes as she returned the blonde's smile. "If she's fresh from a Vault, then odds are she needs to learn everything there is to know about the Wasteland. Like that Rhonwen girl does, right?"

"I think she'd say she knows enough, but yeah, basically," Ferrer said.

"So, since Ferrer's busy most of the time, and I think you've got a caravan you need to guard in a couple days," Asra said, making Volka grimace and nod, "I could teach her. Rhonwen could stand to learn a few things from me, too, and I don't think I've actually had a conversation with her yet."

"Don't you need to leave for Sanctum soon?" Ferrer asked, making Asra sigh, her shoulders slumping.

"When don't I?" Asra asked, smiling weakly at both him and Volka. "Given how little rain we've been getting the last few weeks, I think I can put off leaving for a week or so, if I need to." Asra yawned, then added, "Plus, my sleep schedule's been screwed up for a while now. Moon's setting before the sun rises and rising again around noon, so right now I'm as close to diurnal as I can be."

"Diurnal?" Volka asked.

"The opposite of nocturnal: awake in the day and asleep at night," Ferrer explained, making Volka sigh and rub at her cheek bashfully. "Anyway, Asra," he said, turning his attention back to the black-haired Faunus, "even though we have that decided, where's the newcomer going to sleep tonight? I'd say that the common room's out, since it's only halfway built right now."

"Huh? Since when?" Volka asked, surprised.

"Since Storm and I decided it was too much of a fire hazard and started rebuilding it with fresher wood," Ferrer said. Volka flinched at the name Storm, the grimaced and sighed.

"Anyway, it's not an issue," she said, shaking her head to clear it of the thoughts gathering within. "Rhonwen already volunteered one of the rooms in her house."

"Good," Asra said. "Having a doctor keeping an eye on her should make it a lot easier for her to get better."

A knock sounded on the wall next to the doorway, making Asra jump, startled, as she and her roommates turned to face Rhonwen. "Uh, sorry to interrupt," Rhonwen said, smiling somewhat timidly at the three.

"I'll be right back!" Asra squeaked out, hurrying to the nearby staircase that lead to the house's second floor. Rhonwen raised an eyebrow at the sight, though she paid more attention to the way Asra's rear bounced and jiggled beneath the tight shorts she was wearing than the haste of her retreat.

"Was that–" Rhonwen began, only to be cut off by Volka laughing hard enough to make her double over.

"Asra wasn't expecting company," Ferrer said, letting out a chuckle of his own. "Is there something you need, Rhonwen?"

"Uh, yeah. Right," she said, watching with some amusement as Volka's laughter wound down and turned into a fit of giggling. "One of those pots of water you wanted started boiling, Volka."

"Great. Thanks, Rhonwen," she said, swallowing another giggle as she glanced at the staircase again.

"There's one other thing, though," Rhonwen said, shifting on her feet uncomfortably. "Um... that thing sitting on the floor next to the table... what is it?"

"A water purifier," Ferrer said, raising an eyebrow at the white-haired young woman. "But it's broken. Might be little more than salvage at this point, if I'm being honest with myself," he added with a sigh.

"Well, uh... I think Summer might have fixed it?" Rhonwen said, turning the statement into a question at the last moment. "I... couldn't get her to stop fiddling with it, and, uh... she stopped just before I came to get you, but I don't know if it was because I asked her or because she was finished."

"What?" Ferrer asked, walking passed her and clearing the short distance between the living room and the kitchen, Rhonwen and Volka trailing behind him.

Summer sat quietly, tiredly watching the machine beside the kitchen table as it hummed and vibrated, then leaned over to flip a switch on its side. Only after she turned the purifier off did she see that the others were watching her; she let out a near-silent yelp and nearly fell out of her chair at the surprise, her eyes wide with tired fear.

"I don't believe it," Ferrer said, his voice soft as he walked over to the water purifier and knelt beside it. "It's never hummed like that before. It was always..."

"Clunking about like a toddler with a wrench?" Volka offered helpfully, drawing a brief disapproving look from the mayor before he grunted concedingly.

"Basically," he said, turning his white eyes to Summer, who swallowed nervously at the attention. "You... you don't even know what this means to us, do you? How important this could be, now that you've fixed it?"

"I..." Summer began, trailing off as she seemed to shrink into herself, her tail hanging limply behind her.

"This could get us through the drought Ajax thinks is coming," Ferrer said, smiling up at her. "Thank you, Summer."

Volka chuckled softly, leaning over to Rhonwen and conspiratorially whispering, "I think I'm off the hook now. Right?" Rhonwen had to hold a hand over her mouth to keep her giggling inaudible, though it couldn't hide the smile she bore at the sight of Summer awkwardly smiling back at Ferrer.

"Uh... okay?" Summer's voice turned the statement into a question. She glanced over at the two women, hoping for something – she wasn't quite sure what – only to blush and stammer awkwardly as she saw the two of them silently laughing at the scene.

"Okay, okay," Rhonwen said, shaking her head as she took another few steps into the kitchen. "Volka, didn't you say you were going to cook something?"

"Oh, right!" Volka exclaimed, letting out another laugh as she scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "I'll get right on that. Pasta and peafowl okay with everyone?"

"Peafowl?" Summer asked under her breath, confusion lacing her tone.

"It's a type of bird common in the nearby forest," Ferrer explained as he stood back up. "The males are called peacocks, which you might be more familiar with. They're not the best tasting poultry, but they're still good enough when Volka's cooking."

"Especially when she uses that spice mix she hoards," Asra said as she walked back into the room, startling Summer. She'd added a long black coat to her ensemble, one that buckled tightly over her chest and covered her legs nearly to the ankle with its girth. "It could make anything taste good."

"Oh, hi," Rhonwen said, smiling at her. "I don't think we've met yet. I'm–"

"Rhonwen Schnee," Asra said, extending a hand to her. "I've heard a bit about you. I'm Asra Belmont."

"One of the other founders," Rhonwen said, taking Asra's hand in her own and shaking it. "I've heard a bit about you, too. Namely that we have something in common."

"Don't make it weird," Asra said, drawing a laugh from Rhonwen as she pulled her hand back. Turning to Summer, she said, "Hello. It's nice to meet you, too."

"H-hi," Summer said awkwardly, flinching when Asra raised her hand to her the same way she did to Rhonwen. "I-I'm Summer Dream," she mumbled, timidly shaking Asra's hand as well. "Uh... when she said you had something in common..." Summer said, biting her lip as she looked over to Rhonwen for a moment, "wha-what did she mean?"

"I meant that we're both descended from a specific group of people," Rhonwen said, smiling patiently at Summer. "I'm sure you heard stories about the Huntsmen and Huntresses, right? Well, did you ever hear about Team RWBY?"

"Y-yeah," Summer said, swallowing nervously again. "My... my ancestor was on it. Ruby."

"Wait, what?!" Volka asked loudly, overhearing them. Her surprise resulted in a yelp of surprise and pain from her as she dropped the pasta she was holding into the pot of boiling water in a single lump, splashing her with the aforementioned water. "Ow!... Wait, you're descended from Ruby Rose?" she asked once she'd recovered, her eyes wide.

"U-um, yes?" Summer said, shrinking in her seat once more.

"I... I didn't... holy shit," Volka finally said, staring wide-eyed at the canine Faunus. "We're family. I mean, distant cousins, but... family."

"Huh?" Summer asked, blinking at her in return.

"Volka's descended from Yang Xiao Long," Asra explained, unable to keep herself from smiling at the two of them. "Yang and Ruby were half-sisters, so you're... really only barely related at all, but you're still related."

"Huh?" Summer repeated, her eyes going wide as she glanced over at Asra. "What?!"

"Holy shit," Volka repeated, biting her lower lip as she stared at Summer. "I... I..."

"You need to get back to cooking," Ferrer said, grabbing Volka's shoulders and forcibly turning her around to face the stove. "There'll be plenty of time to talk over dinner, V. Weren't you the one who said she could use a decent meal?"

"But I... oh, fine!" Volka huffed out, returning to her preparations with a furious vigor in a futile attempt to finish more quickly.

Rhonwen giggled at the display, only to look at Summer again and frown at the confused and somewhat sad expression she wore. "Hey, Asra," Rhonwen said as she realized something, drawing the feline Faunus's attention, "you and Summer are about the same size, right?"

"What?" Asra asked, blinking at her. It wasn't until she looked over at Summer again that she understood what Rhonwen meant. "Oh, you want me to loan her some of my clothes? Sure, I can do that."

"Great!" Rhonwen said cheerily, smiling over at the nearly overwhelmed survivor of Vault 4. "How's that sound, Summer? I need to look at your shoulder again anyway, so you might as well put something clean on before we eat."

"I... okay," Summer said, shifting uncomfortably as she rose to her feet. "I can... I can keep this, right? My jumpsuit?"

"Of course, Summer," Rhonwen said as Asra started guiding them through the house to her bedroom. "I still have mine in my house. I don't really wear it anymore – I like wearing these clothes a bit too much, I think – but I like to have it. It helps me sleep, sometimes, and I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Summer let out a small, shaky laugh at that, and she gave Rhonwen a small smile – the first she'd worn since the massacre in her Vault.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Dinner wound up being a somewhat bizarre affair. Asra and Rhonwen had wound up dressing Summer in a white tank top and black leggings, which were a bit loose in the chest and tight in the hips, respectively, and left her injured shoulder free for the Schnee to keep her eye on during dinner. Ferrer wound up reigning in Volka's curiosity a bit while they were eating, as Volka's questions tended to lead back to Vault 4, a place which no one else at the table wanted her thinking about. And, although Rhonwen encouraged her to eat a second plate of food to help her recover, Summer ate slowly, as if lacking an appetite, and didn't ask any questions, or even participate in conversations that she wasn't dragged into.

Much to Volka's dislike, Rhonwen bid the three founding members of the town farewell after dinner and took Summer home with her, hoping that a good night of sleep after a meal spent with friendly people would help her recover at least somewhat. However, much to Rhonwen's confusion, Asra decided to accompany them on their walk to Rhonwen's house.

Accompany might have been a strong word. After all, she was a good ten feet behind them.

"So, why did you decide to tag along?" Rhonwen asked, unable to keep quiet for long as she glanced back at the feline Faunus. "If anything, I'd have thought Volka would have."

Asra shrugged, her hands in the outer pockets of her coat. "I like to walk after I eat." The flimsy excuse had Rhonwen rolling her eyes, and Asra added, "What? The moon's out, so I'm going for a walk. It's not like I'm following you or anything."

"What's the deal with you and the moon, anyway?" Rhonwen asked, making Asra frown. "I've heard a whole bunch of rumors about you, but the moon thing is something I haven't been able to figure out. What, is it your Semblance or something?"

Neither Rhonwen nor Asra noticed the confused look that Summer had as she glanced between the two of them, though her mounting exhaustion caused her to just shake her head and make a note of it for later. She still payed as much attention to their conversation as she could muster, though, in an attempt to keep her mind off of the dark thoughts that always circled back to the Vault.

"Yes," Asra said, quickening her pace a little bit to catch up to them. "Moonlight makes me faster, stronger, recover more quickly, think more quickly – just makes me better at doing everything I can already do."

"Well, in that case," Rhonwen said, rolling her eyes again, "why are you walking with us, and not, say, a few streets over?"

Asra grimaced, looking up at the sky as the moonlight was hidden behind a thin cloud. Her thoughts clouded, as if suddenly thinking through molasses, but she had enough presence of mind to realize that she'd still be basking in moonlight if she was just a few blocks north. Or south, given the small size of the cloud. "Alright, you caught me," Asra half-mumbled, turning her gaze down to the ground as a light blush settled on her cheeks. It only grew once she realized she was blushing, thinking that Rhonwen would say something to embarrass her without realizing that Rhonwen, as a Human, wouldn't be able to see in the dark as well as Summer.

"Are you gonna answer my question?" Rhonwen asked, raising an eyebrow at the Faunus after a few moments of walking in silence.

"Oh! Uh, sorry," Asra said, chuckling more because of her embarrassment than despite it. "Well, it's, uh... I want to learn more about you two. I-I mean, you know, since we're all, uh..."

"Descendants of a group of legendary heroes?" Rhonwen finished for her, a smile etching itself onto her features. "Yeah, that's... something worth talking about, I guess. Shouldn't it wait until morning, though?"

"I, uh... I'm not exactly... awake, for most of the day. My Semblance makes me..." Asra trailed off, trying to find the words. Neither she nor Rhonwen noticed Summer's tired frown at the word "Semblance." "Well, better, I guess. As long as I'm in the moonlight, I'm stronger, faster, smarter, more alert, heal faster... you know, things like that. I tend to sleep whenever the moon's not up, so, uh, I'll probably be going to bed a couple hours before you get up. Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, making Rhonwen's eyebrow lift again. "We can have lunch together tomorrow. I'll buy."

"Well, how can I say no to a free meal?" Rhonwen asked, half-sarcastically, drawing a nervous giggle from Asra. "Sounds like fun."

"Great!" Asra said happily, smiling brightly at the two of them, even though Summer hadn't said a word for the whole conversation. "I'll see you two then!" She left them after that, walking off with a bounce in her step that made Rhonwen's eyes follow the sway of her hips for a long moment.

"Oh, that's my house right there," Rhonwen said once she'd turned her attention back to the road, pointing at a two-story townhouse on the upcoming block. With wooden walls and only two windows visible, it wasn't much to look at, but much like the rest of the recently built homes in Yang's Rest, it had been built for function rather than style; though unpainted, the wooden walls and roof were covered in a weather-proofing resin that would prevent water damage and help insulate the building, keeping its temperature more constant throughout the passing seasons. "It's cozier on the inside, I promise."

Summer's lips twitched slightly, but she didn't quite smile, something Rhonwen noticed as she looked back at the Faunus. Of course, Rhonwen was more focused on how tired Summer seemed to be, with her shoulders slumped and her tail hanging limply behind her.

"Let's get you in bed, shall we?" Rhonwen asked as she pulled a key ring out from an inner pocket in her coat, her own lips forming a smile that Summer couldn't quite comprehend in her tired state.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Blood seeped from the steel walls as Summer ran between them, her panting gaining a frantic, almost terrified tone as she made another turn. Decaying corpses shambled along after her, somehow managing to keep up with her frenzied pace no matter how slowly they seemed to move; every time she looked behind herself, Summer's eyes widened again, but not at them having come yet another foot closer.

Each and every one of the things following her wore a blue jumpsuit, marked at the left breast with a yellow 4.

"Come back to us," Summer heard behind her, and her head turned jerkily to look at the one that had spoken, her breath catching in her throat even as she kept running. "Come back to me, Summer," Myst said, blood oozing from the bullet-sized hole in his forehead.

Summer gaped at him for a moment that stretched into eternity, but turned her head and kept running, trying to ignore his increasingly insistent pleas and demands.

Eventually, Summer was forced to a stop as the hallway came to an abrupt end. A hole stretched before her, a yawning chasm that seemed to tug at her, begging her to fall into its depths and be swallowed whole by the darkness within it. She took a step back from it, only to suddenly remember the horde of dead that had been chasing her and whirl on her feet.

Her eyes widened again at what she saw. The animated corpses that had been chasing her were gone, save for one. Myst stood alone in the hall, staring at her until he started walking – but not towards her.

When he stepped through a door with the name "Layla" engraved on a plate above it, Summer followed him without thinking.

Within the room, she saw her cousin once more, bound hand and foot as she had been the last time they'd met. Myst stood above her, his head tilted at an odd angle as he stared unblinkingly at Summer. It wasn't until he turned his gaze back to Layla that Summer dared break eye contact, and when she did she gasped at what she saw.

Blood welled from Layla's neck as she gasped for breath, her panting wet and frantic. She weakly reached for Summer, her hand suddenly free of the restraints binding it, only for it to fall limp before Summer could reach her.

"You did this," Myst said simply. His tone wasn't accusing; it was nearly apologetic.

Before Summer could blink, the scene changed. The steel walls were nearly identical, but a bookshelf of preserved wood and a centrally placed computer terminal had replaced the furnishings of her cousin's bedroom. On the terminal's screen was a single image, of a vaguely humanoid robot with an X etched over its form.

"You could have saved us all," Myst said; again, his tone was almost apologetic, which only served to further horrify Summer. "But you failed to save anyone."

It wasn't until she felt their hands on her shoulders that Summer realized the dead hadn't stopped following her. Her eyes widened once more, and she let loose a scream as they tore at her with their teeth and exposed finger bones. She kept screaming, even as they dragged her from Layla's side and pulled her down into the ground with them.

When Summer woke, she was screaming, and for a moment the sound tricked her into thinking that she was still in her nightmare. When she realized where she was, the dream already fading from her memory, she started shaking, both from remembered fear and from the realization that Myst – the Myst in her dream – had been right.

When Rhonwen, having been woken by Summer's scream, opened her door to check on her, she found Summer sitting on the edge of her bed, her knees curled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. "Summer?" Rhonwen asked, seating herself next to the lupine Faunus. "What's wrong?"

"I... I..." Summer couldn't bring herself to say the words, and instead pressed her head into her legs and started to cry.

"Hey, hey," Rhonwen said soothingly, wrapping an arm around Summer's shoulders and pulling her into a gentle hug. "You can talk to me, Summer. Just tell me what's wrong. Please?"

Summer shook her head, sniffling, and then giggled, suddenly struck by the fact that a woman a year younger than her (as she had learned during one of the many conversations that had taken place during dinner at the founders') was acting the way she thought an older sister would have. "I... it was a nightmare," Summer managed to say, not noticing how worried her bout of giggling had made Rhonwen. "I was... I was back there, but... I could have saved them."

"Summer," Rhonwen began, only to be cut off by Summer shaking her head stiffly.

"I could've... if I hadn't been... I should've gone straight for the Overseer's office," Summer mumbled, shutting her eyes tightly as she buried her face in her thighs again. "If I hadn't tried to save her first, she wouldn't have... Layla would be..."

Rhonwen didn't say anything; she couldn't. She didn't know for sure what had happened in Vault 4, or even who Layla was. So, she just held Summer more tightly, trying to reassure her through her simple presence.

"I could've saved her," Summer kept mumbling, her sobs shaking her whole body. "I could've saved her."

"Summer, stop," Rhonwen said, wincing at how stern she sounded. "You shouldn't... there's no point on dwelling on what you could have done differently."

Summer froze, then turned to look at the white-haired woman. Her face was nearly devoid of emotion, save for the tears still rolling down her cheeks and the mucus dripping from her nose. "What?" she asked, her voice so small and weak that Rhonwen nearly couldn't bring herself to speak.

"You know what you should have done now, right?" Rhonwen asked, drawing a small nod from the distraught Faunus. "But you didn't then, right?"

"I..." Summer began, only to shake her head again. "I don't..."

"Then you did the best you could with what you knew at the time, right?" Rhonwen asked, swallowing at the lump in her throat when she saw Summer's eyes shut tightly. "That's what we all do. Just... We just have to do what we can with what we have, and hope for the best. And sometimes it doesn't... work out," Rhonwen finished lamely, realizing how much of an understatement that was right before she said it.

Summer just shook her head again, still crying into the pajama bottoms Asra had let her borrow. Rhonwen stared at her for a moment longer, then let out a quiet sigh as she realized something she could do to help take her mind off of everything.

"I... you know I'm from a Vault, too, right?" Rhonwen began. Summer didn't appear to react, but Rhonwen continued after a moment anyway. "Vault 22. It was... it was a pretty decent place to live." Rhonwen giggled, somewhat awkwardly, as she admitted, "I didn't really have many people I could call friends. I was... I was either too busy studying medicine, or too busy having sex with people."

That drew Summer's attention, almost startling her with the abruptness Rhonwen had said it. "What?" Summer asked, staring at her wide-eyed.

Rhonwen's cheeks warmed at the attention, but she admitted to herself that it was better than letting her cry. "Yeah. I, uh... I might have a problem. Don't worry, I'm in control of it," she quickly reassured Summer, who had paled considerably. "I only sleep with people who actually want me to. But, I... well, I might be a bit of a nymphomaniac. I have a hard time thinking straight if I go more than a few days without... a little something. Preferably a few little somethings. And I try to, uh, take care of it myself, but–"

"R-Rhonwen!" Summer stammered out, making the younger woman giggle from embarrassment. "Y-you don't have to... have to tell me that!"

"Yeah, I kinda got a bit off topic, didn't I?" Rhonwen asked, scratching at one of her reddening cheeks. "So, uh, yeah, I didn't have many friends in my Vault. Well, not real friends, anyway: I had people who I was... who I was with, more often than others, but, uh, didn't really like to talk to. Really, other than my dad and my master – like, 'master and apprentice', not anything else – I really only had two people I talked to."

"Who were they?" Summer asked, eager to move on to a topic that wasn't so inherently sexual. Rhonwen noticed how much more attentive Summer seemed, how much more vocal she was being compared to earlier, and smiled at her, both in appreciation of what she saw as an improvement and at the memories her question dredged up.

"Lyon Creed and Lilac Shah. Lyon's being groomed by our resident radio host to take her spot in a few years, since he has a great voice for it," Rhonwen began. "She's been teaching him to compose his own music, and they – oh! I might actually have a couple of their duets on my PIP-Boy, come to think of it," she said, grinning at Summer. "Want to hear one? Or something else? I've got a pretty big selection: I've even got a bunch of songs by Weiss Schnee on here, if you're interested."

"Can you... Can you tell me more about Lyon, and Lilac, too, please?" Summer asked, making Rhonwen blush and chuckle sheepishly.

"Right, sorry. Uh... Lyon's a Faunus, like you, though he's got a big mane on his neck instead of something more common. It made him hate taking showers when he was young 'cause it would always get soaking wet and stay that way for a long time." Rhonwen paused when she saw Summer smile and glance over at her tail, only to continue again at the older woman's nod. "And Lilac... she's as much of a nerd about pen-and-paper RPGs as I am about music," she admitted with a blush. "I swear, the number of times we all stayed up late playing through one of the campaigns she designed... If only there was room for people to write books in our Vault, she wouldn't be stuck in Maintenance."

"What's wrong with Maintenance?" Summer asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Other than washing floors and cleaning toilets?" Rhonwen asked, feeling her eyebrow lift when she saw Summer's head cock to one side. "Why? What did the Maintenance crews do in your Vault?"

"We kept the oxygen recyclers working and the lights on," Summer said, making Rhonwen blink at her. "Who did that stuff in your Vault?"

"The Engineering team," Rhonwen said, slowly realizing where the conversation was going. "Did you call your version of my Vault's Maintenance crew something different?"

"We... we had robots for that," Summer said, her shoulders slumping as darkness took root in her thoughts again.

"Hey," Rhonwen said, draping her arm over Summer's shoulders to force her to focus on her. "I... I can't even pretend to know what you're going through right now," Rhonwen admitted as tears started to roll down Summer's cheeks again. "Just... try to focus on the people you have now, okay? We're here for you, Summer. For as long as you need us."

Summer clenched her eyes tightly shut and leaned over, resting her head on Rhonwen's shoulder as she cried. "I..." Summer croaked out. "I don't want to... to be alone again. Like I was before... Like I was before you and Volka found me."

"You won't be, Summer," Rhonwen said, lightly petting the older girl's hair as she held her more tightly to herself. "Would it... would you mind terribly much if I slept in here with you tonight?" she asked suddenly, making Summer stiffen in her grasp. "I know what we talked about earlier, but I'm not going to try anything while you're asleep, Summer," Rhonwen added, rolling her eyes. "I have a rule about not starting anything like that with my patients unless I've already been with them before."

"O-okay," Summer said, relaxing in Rhonwen's hold again.

It didn't take long for her to fall back asleep. Rhonwen couldn't help but smile at the sight, despite the puffy red skin beneath Summer's eyes and the mucus still dripping from her nose. She got Summer settled with her head against a pillow, then left for a brief moment to grab a washcloth from the bathroom.

When she got back, Summer was shifting in her sleep, letting out frightened, wordless murmurs. Once Rhonwen sat down beside her, she stilled, making Rhonwen's smile turn sad as she began cleaning the Faunus's cheeks and nose. Once she'd finished, she put the washcloth to one side, checked to make sure Summer hadn't reopened the wound on her shoulder at any point during the night, then settled herself down next to Summer on the bed.

Summer let out another murmur, this one seeming more like mild discontent, and rolled onto her side, freeing up a bit of the pillow for Rhonwen. For her part, the younger woman just smiled once more and shifted slightly, wrapping an arm around Summer's midsection as she placed her head on the pillow.

Before long, she had joined her patient in the land of dreams.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"You're going to love the diner," Rhonwen said enthusiastically as she and Summer walked along the worked stone streets of Yang's Rest. They were headed to the sole restaurant in the town, a diner that had been mostly intact when Ferrer and the others had decided to turn the ruins into something that people could live in again, where they'd agreed to have breakfast with Volka and Ferrer.

"Why's that?" Summer asked, giving a subdued smile to the white-haired woman. She had been nearly happy when she'd woken up, and had just lounged in her bed for quite some time before Rhonwen woke up as well... and swiftly subjected Summer to a series of medical examinations that had left her feeling somewhat violated. Rhonwen had been gentle and respectful the entire time, and had patiently explained everything she'd done beforehand in ways that Summer understood, but the combination of all of them at once had almost led to her enjoying her shower, despite how much she hated having a wet tail. She'd even had Summer strip completely naked to make sure she didn't have any injuries she hadn't thought to check for, though the critical way Rhonwen looked her over made Summer question how much of what Rhonwen had told her the night before was true.

"Well, the food, for one thing," Rhonwen said, giving her a wide grin. "Last night was your first time having meat, but it was just poultry. Wait until you've had something like pork or venison!" From the confused look Summer had, Rhonwen decided to say, "Pork is pig meat – mostly wild boars, around here – and venison is deer meat. Though I think I heard someone say that the deer around here might actually be elk, so it might not be venison."

"Okay?"

"Plus, there's also all the various herbs and spices that get grown around here, too. And milk, and eggs, and – ooh, I'll bet you've never had chocolate before, have you?" Rhonwen asked, making Summer shake her head. "Well, there's a lot of things with chocolate in them at the diner, and they're all delicious," Rhonwen said, somewhat lamely in Summer's opinion. "I don't know if they serve it this early in the day, though. It's more of a dessert thing."

"Okay," Summer said again.

"Oh, there it is now," Rhonwen said, pointing out the rather simple building. Despite being only a single story of wood, metal, and glass, it was more than broad enough to hold nearly half the town comfortably, even from what little of it Summer could see through the broad windows. Within were a great deal of wooden tables and chairs, as well as a dozen wide booths set up against the walls and cushioned with leather and fur. Almost ruining the nearly pristine look, however, was the crude sign nailed just above the broad glass doors; it appeared to be made from driftwood, and the words "Sunset Diner" had been poorly painted on it in red letters.

What made Summer feel a bit hesitant was the sheer number of people within it. Dozens of people were seated, either at a table or at the broad, glass-and-stone counter along one edge of the diner, and many of them were talking loudly enough that Summer could almost make out what they were saying from outside.

"Hey," Rhonwen said, smiling at Summer encouragingly once she'd gotten her attention back on her. "You've got a thing with crowds?"

"I... I've never really thought about it," Summer admitted timidly. "Maybe a little?"

"It's okay if you do. We're not here for all of them, anyway," Rhonwen said, pointing at booth the where she saw a certain blonde was sitting. "Just for them."

"O-okay," Summer said, swallowing. Somehow, she felt even more nervous now that she realized she could see her; nevertheless, she followed Rhonwen into the diner and to the booth her cousin was sitting at.

"Summer!" Volka exclaimed excitedly once she saw the Faunus, rising a few inches out of her seat before seeming to force herself back down. "How are you? Did you sleep well? Rhonwen didn't do anything suspicious to you, did she?"

As Summer cowed beneath the sudden litany of questions, Rhonwen glowered at Volka and said, "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I, uh, I mean... I've heard a few rumors from Ferrer?" Volka said, her questioning tone meshing poorly with her embarrassed grin as she glanced at her roommate, who was sitting next to her. It was enough to make Rhonwen turn her ire on him, which made Volka sigh in relief.

"She asked if I'd heard any 'juicy gossip', I believe was her phrasing," Ferrer said with a shrug. "The Doc told me a few things about you the day before, so I told her."

"What things?" Rhonwen asked, forcing herself to calm down at least a little as she and Summer slid into the booth next to them.

"Storm, Felix, and Shula, to name a few," Ferrer said, pointedly ignoring the way Volka's smile disappeared at the first name. "Should I go on?"

"Yes: tell me how me having some fun makes you think I'd do something like that to Summer after what she's been through?" Rhonwen asked indignantly, changing the target of her accusation less than halfway through it.

Volka just sighed and shook her head, which confused Rhonwen enough to take some of the heat out of her. "Sorry, it's just... Storm and I used to be..." she trailed off with another sigh and shake of her head.

Rhonwen grimaced, then sighed as well. "Thank you. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry, too," she said, making Volka blink at her. "I can get a bit defensive when it comes to people thinking... well, thinking like that about me. And I totally understand being jealous or envious if you used to be with someone I spent a night with; believe me, you're not the first I've accidentally put through that," she admitted, her cheeks coloring.

Volka laughed awkwardly, smiling at her as she shook her head again. "Thanks, Rhonwen," Volka said.

Before Volka could even look at Summer again, a waitress appeared next to their booth abruptly enough to startle them. "Hi there," she said, giving Summer a small smile before she turned it on everyone else in turn. "Sorry for the wait. We're a bit busier than we usually are this time of day." As she spoke, Summer couldn't help but stare at her: from the fiery red hair just barely long enough to frame her heart-shaped face, with three locks of its original blonde dangling in between her soft green eyes, to the way the white apron she wore over her sand-colored T-shirt and slacks emphasized the swell of her breasts and hips, she looked positively enthralling to the young Faunus. "I'm guessing these are the friends you've been waiting for, Ferrer, V?" she asked, turning her smile on Summer and Rhonwen once more. "I remember you, Rhonwen, but who's the newcomer?"

"She's Summer... Dream, right?" Volka asked, drawing a quick, timid nod from her. "It's kind of a long story that's... not really that fun to tell, but we're kind of distantly related cousins, so... yeah. Anyway, Summer," Volka continued, "this is Aina Jay. Believe it or not, she actually owns the whole diner; she just likes to talk to the customers so much that she pulls double duty as a waitress."

"Oh, stop. You know I learn more when I talk to people directly," Aina said, confusing Summer for a moment. "Sorry to cut things short, but I do have some work to get back to. Are you ready to order, or should I give you some more time?"

"Three-stack of hotcakes for each of us," Ferrer said. "Hash browns and sausages as the sides. As for drinks, I'll have peppermint tea, extra sweet."

"Just water for me," Volka said.

"Strawberry lemonade for me and Summer," Rhonwen said, drawing a brief nod from Aina.

"Alrighty then! I'll be back in a minute or two with your drinks!" the waitress/owner said before she left them.

"Strawberry lemonade?" Summer asked, frowning at Rhonwen.

"Lemonade flavored with strawberry juice," Rhonwen explained. "Lemonade is lemon juice mixed with water and sugar. I promise, you'll like it."

"You ordered for them?" Volka asked Ferrer, raising an eyebrow as she tried to keep a smile off of her face.

"Quicker that way," Ferrer said, shrugging a shoulder. "Sorry if it was a bit presumptuous, Rhonwen," he added, catching the white-haired woman's attention. "You're fine with hotcakes and the like, right?"

"Sure, they're fine. But, since you ordered for me, is breakfast on you, too?" Rhonwen asked sweetly, smiling innocently at him.

Ferrer let out a chuckle and rolled his eyes. "Might as well. You are taking care of Summer outside your normal work hours, after all; easy way to pay you for it."

"Thanks, boss!" Rhonwen said, her smile somehow turning even more sweet and innocent.

"So, uh..." Volka said, turning to look at Summer after watching the interaction between the town's mayor and its newest doctor. "Uh... So, Summer, I... Can you tell me a bit about yourself?" she finished lamely, unable to actually come up with something to lead the conversation with. "O-or I could tell you about me, if... if you want."

Summer paled at that, feeling the onus of the already awkward discussion settling squarely on her. "I... uh..." she began, drawing a mostly anxiety-fueled smile from Volka. "I don't know where I'd begin," Summer admitted after a moment, looking down dejectedly.

"You could talk about how much you know your ancestors?" Rhonwen offered, smiling at the relieved look she drew from Volka. "That way we're not just watching you two trade off awkward bouts of stammering," she added, her smile morphing into a grin as the blonde's relief turned into a slighted scowl.

"Well, uh," Summer said, giving Rhonwen a small, nervous smile as she spoke, "I-I know a little bit about Ruby and Yang. They were half-sisters, so we're... we're even more distantly related than we would be," she added, tittering nervously.

"Yeah, I think I remember hearing something about that," Volka said. "But I think Ruby borrowed Yang's husband when she wanted kids, so it's even more complicated than you'd think."

"What?" Summer asked, blinking at Volka. Lifting her arm, she tapped her PIP-Boy to life and started scrolling through the list of read messages. "I don't remember reading anything about that," she mumbled, staring at the device as she opened the oldest message on it.

"Uh, Summer?" Rhonwen asked, making the Faunus look at her. "Don't you think it's a bit rude to be on your PIP-Boy while... well, while we're doing this?"

Summer blinked at her, then let out a squeak of sound and dropped her arm back to her side, staring fearfully at the table. "I'm sorry! I just... I thought..."

"You have something on there that's relevant to this?" Volka asked, sounding more curious than offended.

"I... y-yeah," Summer said, nervously looking at her through the curtain that her bangs made in front of her eyes. "My PIP-Boy used to belong to Ruby's daughter, Summer, a-and, um, it-it's kinda been passed down through my fam-... through my family," she finished, shutting her eyes tightly as she shoved the emotions to one side. It was something she'd taught herself how to do long ago, with the aid of her first therapist, who'd acknowledged that it was a terrible thing to do even as she'd taught her. "S-so, uh... I've gone through some of the older messages," she continued, her cheeks coloring. "They... Summer was only like eight when she got her first PIP-Boy, and she ported almost everything onto here."

"Huh," Volka said, staring at the PIP-Boy in question. "That's one of the SPECIAL models, though, right? Or an offshoot?"

"Huh?" Summer asked, lifting her head back up.

"Most PIP-Boys were tagged with stuff like B-02890," Volka explained – well, "explained" – to her cousin. "The SPECIAL models were made based on certain people. Example: my PIP-Boy, tagged P-089, is a Nikos model, after Pyrrha Nikos," she continued, lifting her own arm to show off her PIP-Boy. Made from polished bronze rather than the steel of most PIP-Boys and with its leather dyed red, it truly looked a bit special, in Summer's eyes. "Apparently, they were made to do something with Semblance, but I've got a hard time remembering that," she admitted, feeling her cheeks heat.

"They're supposed to give you access to the person's their modeled off of," Ferrer interjected, his back straight so he could examine the room more thoroughly for Aina; it had already been several minutes since she'd left.

"Um... Semblance?" Summer asked, her confusion growing into timid fear as Rhonwen frowned and Volka raised an eyebrow at her. "What... what's that?"

"You know, Semblance?" Rhonwen asked, glancing over at Volka before she turned her gaze back to the Faunus. "It's different for everyone, but anyone with an Aura has one. Although, it's not always obvious what it is or how to use it effectively."

"Okay, so, uh... Aura?" Summer asked, shrinking further into her seat as the stares she was receiving grew more intense.

"You don't... oh, gods," Rhonwen mumbled, swallowing at the lump that formed in her throat. "That... that makes some sense," she continued to mumble to herself, shaking her head slowly. "They couldn't... thousands of people, who couldn't..."

"Fuck," Volka hissed, clenching her hands tightly into fists as she realized exactly what Rhonwen had.

"What's... what's wrong?" Summer asked, glancing fearfully between the two women.

"Aura is... something that everyone with a soul can use," Ferrer said, frowning sadly at her; he'd come to the same conclusion as Rhonwen and Volka. "It's like armor, shielding its user from tremendous harm, but it also enables feats of strength beyond the limits of what our Human or Faunus bodies are technically capable of."

Summer blinked at him, her back straightening as she stared into his eyes. "You're... you're lying," she said, much too calmly for anyone at the table to not worry about her. "That can't be the truth."

Instead of answering her, Ferrer picked up one of the butter knives on the table, offered it to her, and laid his other hand down flat between them. "If I'm lying, then I deserve this," he said seriously, never breaking eye contact. "If I'm telling the truth, you'll know for sure."

Summer hesitantly took the knife from him, glancing at Rhonwen, who winced but nodded, and then at Volka, who was scowling at Ferrer. "Are you sure?" she asked, receiving a nod as her only answer from the steel-haired mayor. "I... Okay."

With that said, she clumsily flipped the knife around in her hand so that its blade was pointed down at the table and brought it down on Ferrer's hand with as much strength as she could muster.

So, when a flash of grey light came from his hand at the point of impact and she found her hand bounce back as if repelled by a layer of something rubbery, Summer let out a squeak and stared wide-eyed at Ferrer's hand. She was shaking badly, enough so that the knife slid from her grasp and clattered onto the table.

"That is Aura," Ferrer said softly, never taking his eyes from Summer's. "I don't know what your Vault was like, but... from what little I know from Asra, I know that they weren't just ways to preserve the future of our species: they were social experiments, attempts to determine the cause of the war and find a way to prevent it in the future. If I'm right, then yours was meant to see if lack of such a defensive ability would result in people growing to despise violence to some extent."

On some level, Summer began processing what he was saying, but her conscious mind was too busy running scenarios, something that had made her intensely valuable to the Maintenance crew of her Vault. Her eyes flicked back and forth as she blinked rapidly, her frown one born of intense focus as she worked through multiple paths to the same conclusion, one she would have come to sooner if she hadn't been in such a sorry state; realizing that her Vault, her Layla, could have survived easily if they'd had the ability to manifest an Aura catalyzed her thoughts into flowing smoothly once more.

"The robots didn't malfunction," Summer said softly, staring down at the table again. "It was deliberate."

"Summer?" Rhonwen asked, frowning worriedly at her.

"Someone intentionally modified their programming," Summer continued to mumble, her eyes narrowing. "Someone... someone murdered them." When Summer looked up abruptly, Rhonwen jumped, and Volka and Ferrer stared at her with wide eyes and raised eyebrows, respectively. "Like I'm going to do to them."

"S-Summer?" Rhonwen repeated, stammering.

"That... might not be the best idea," Volka began, drawing a hard look from her cousin. Seeing the only recently timid woman like this left her speechless for a moment, but then she continued, saying, "You don't even know how to use your Aura yet, and that pistol you have isn't going to be of much use against someone who does."

"Plus, there's also issues that you've probably never thought about, like food and water," Ferrer added, almost nonchalantly, as he looked around for Aina again. Unlike Volka, he was actually somewhat relieved that Summer had apparently taken his demonstration so well, in his opinion. "As well as radiation. And how bad weather can make you sick if you get stuck out in it. And–"

"Okay, that's enough," Rhonwen cut in, tossing him a pleading glance before meeting Summer's eyes. "What makes you think that it was deliberate?" she asked, instead of immediately assuming that Summer's idea was even correct to begin with, like Volka and Ferrer had.

"Those robots worked correctly for two hundred years," Summer said. "Part of my learning programming languages was looking at their code and figuring out what it did, just like everyone else in Maintenance did. It'd be possible for one robot to malfunction like that if there was some sort of mechanical error that prevented it from recognizing Vault jumpsuits, but that would only effect that robot, not all of them. For all of them to start acting like that, someone would need to go into their code and remove those lines."

"But why would someone do that?" Rhonwen asked, making Summer frown. "What possible reason could anyone have to do that?"

"At a guess?" Ferrer asked, making Rhonwen direct a harsh glare his way. "It's possible someone found out Ruby's descendants were living in the Vault and wanted to prevent them from potentially becoming an issue. Of course, that would mean things are going to start getting... weird," he finished, frowning pensively down at the table.

"Why would someone want to do that?" Rhonwen asked again, exasperated.

"To negate the threat silver eyed warriors pose to those who can control the Grimm or who have magic, most likely," Ferrer said, as if it was obvious.

"I... you... what?" Rhonwen asked, her eyes going wide as she stared at him. "Magic?"

"For what we're discussing, it's just a theory," Ferrer said, looking around for Aina again, only to seem to perk up when he saw her. "Ah, finally."

"Sorry it took me so long with your drinks!" the waitress-slash-owner said as she started setting ceramic cups down in front of them. "Your food should be coming out in a few minutes, too," she added once she'd finished, shifting her grip on the plastic tray she held so it was pressed up against her chest. "Oh, and Ferrer?"

"Yes, Aina?"

"If you're going to tell them about magic, you should at least tell them about everything else, too," she scolded him, meeting his eyes. "Yes, you probably should have thought about talking about this stuff with a telepath nearby, but you didn't."

"Telepath?" Summer asked.

"My Semblance lets me read minds," Aina said brightly as she turned her focus onto Summer. "And before you go out on any revenge-based snipe hunts, Summer, you should probably think about getting some clothes of your own. I don't think Asra would be very happy to learn that you took off without returning hers, and it sort of makes you lack credibility if you don't even own your own clothes."

"O-okay," Summer stammered out, blinking repeatedly as Aina made her realize just how unprepared she was. "I... I'll do that."

"Great!" Aina said happily, giving Summer a bright smile before she turned and walked away.

"Well, uh," Volka began, "you know, Summer, if you want, I can take you shopping after this. I know a good tailor."

"No, hold on a minute," Rhonwen interrupted before Summer could speak. "What did she mean by everything?"

Ferrer sighed, took a sip of his tea, and said, "Magic is real, for starters. Silver eyes are just part of it," he gestured to Summer, who frowned and shrank in her seat a little at the attention. "I don't know all that much, though. I still have questions of my own that I'd like to find answers to, but I'll tell you what I do know.

"A long time ago," he began, "centuries, if not millennia, before the First Great War, a woman was born with a heart full of hatred, of destruction, and a god who embodied those qualities granted her the power to make and control the creatures of Grimm. She wrought havoc wherever she went, until a wizard managed to seal off her direct influence to a certain region of the world, locking her onto a single continent. But she found ways around this: she gathered Human and Faunus minions to accomplish her objectives for her, and she made Grimm designed to be messengers in order to communicate with them.

"For centuries, she worked behind the scenes, until one day she decided it was time to act. She sent one of her followers to infiltrate some sporting event in Vale, and managed to collapse it completely, but nearly lost her follower in the process, thanks to a young Ruby Rose." Ferrer paused to sip at his tea again, then added, "You two likely know better than me what happened after that."

"The fall of the White Fang, the reassessment of Atlas as a kingdom, the destruction of southern Sanus, and the Growth period after a significant drop in the Grimm population," Rhonwen listed off, treated to an unwelcome flashback of some of her early schooling. "But you're telling us magic was involved in all of this?"

"Is magic really so out there, Rhonwen? You know how Aura and Semblance and Dust work, right?" Volka asked, only to blink and then turn to Summer. "You know how Dust works, right?" she asked her distant cousin.

"Yes," Summer said with a slight nod of her head. "It's where all of my Vault's power, heat, and clean water came from."

"Wait, how? Dust takes Aura to work," Volka said, frowning at her.

Summer shrugged, saying, "It just worked. A couple of the machines we used broke down and needed repairs, but they worked again once we fixed them."

"Certain devices can draw on Aura to activate Dust without the user being aware of it," Ferrer explained once he'd taken another sip of his tea.

"How do we keep getting off topic when we're talking about freaking magic?" Rhonwen grumbled, folding her arms on the table and leaning down to rest her forehead on them. "What can it do?" she asked after a moment, giving Ferrer an annoyed look.

"As far as I know, anything," Ferrer said, shrugging a shoulder. "It can replicate the effects of Dust, for sure; I learned that much from my time with the Brotherhood."

"The Brotherhood?" Summer asked, making Rhonwen sigh. "Sorry, but... I'm starting to get a bit overwhelmed," she admitted, frowning apologetically at the white-haired woman.

"I'll explain everything – in due time," Ferrer said, glancing over at Aina's returning figure. "But for now, I think it'd be best if we started eating before our breakfast gets cold."

Summer frowned at him, suspecting he was withholding information in an attempt to keep her from leaving as soon as she could, but wasn't willing to voice her thoughts with Aina around.

"That's probably the case, Summer," Aina said, making Summer blush; she'd already forgotten the diner's owner was telepathic.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Welcome!" exclaimed the almost absurdly muscular man as Summer and Volka stepped into his store. Mummy's Wrappings, one of the few functional clothing stores in the whole world at this point, was one of the things that Volka had boasted of when describing Yang's Rest. Though it had been established in what used to be a single-story home, the tailor's store had a professional feel to it that Summer couldn't quite place; after all, she'd never been in a clothing store before, much like most of the world. Though she assumed that most Pre-War clothing stores had more on display than a handful of unisex outfits worn by slapped together mannequins, and that they hadn't had an area with a single footstool surrounded by thin white cloth. It reminded her of a spiderweb.

"Morning, Tailor!" Volka replied cheerily, grinning back at him. "Tailor, this is Summer Dream, my cousin. Well, kinda distant cousin, but still. Anyway, Summer, this is Taylor Jay, but most people around town call him Tailor," she added, her grin growing only wider at the utterly confused look on Summer's face.

"What?" she asked, glancing at Volka before looking back at Tailor. He was tall and tan, and his muscles were so large that his pale pink T-shirt looked oddly misshapen and stretched, as did his black trousers. Despite that, when he walked over to one of the mannequins on display, his clothes didn't tear or seem to restrict his movements in any way. His shoulder-length hair was light blue, a sharp contrast to his bright orange eyes.

"And that's why I tell people to introduce me like that," Tailor said, grinning at Volka. "Now, it's been a while since you've been in here, V. Do you want something other than those bells on your legs?" he asked, making the blonde shake her head.

"Nah. We're here for Summer," Volka said, patting the Faunus's shoulder affectionately. "She's borrowing some of Asra's clothes right now. Could use some of her own."

"Aha," Tailor said, looking over Summer with a critical eye that made her shrink back towards Volka. "How are they on you? Bit tight in the waist, loose in the chest?" Tailor half-asked, half-observed, making Summer blush and pale simultaneously.

"I, uh, I guess," she said timidly, glancing back at Volka, who merely gave her a comforting smile before leading her toward the footstool she'd noticed earlier. "Wh-what's going on?" Summer asked fearfully, looking between the two of them and the web-like cloth.

"I'm making rice," Tailor said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Oddly, Summer found the sense of confusion it gave her somewhat comforting, as if it pushed aside some of her fears. "The white background helps me determine what's a good look for people, and the stool's so I can get a decent look from a different angle," he explained, collecting a selection of differently colored lengths of cloth wrapped around three-feet-tall wooden spools. "Now, if you'd be so kind as to take off all your clothes, we can get started," he said, making Summer pale again.

"Wh-what?!" she exclaimed, looking at Volka fearfully again, only to receive yet another comforting smile from her.

"His Semblance lets him manipulate cloth," Volka explained, not helping Summer in the slightest. "You won't be naked for long, Summer. I promise."

"If it helps, if you don't want any underwear, you don't need to take that off," Tailor said, shrugging a shoulder as he set down yet another massive spool of cloth.

"I... I don't know if I..." Summer stammered, only for Volka to sigh and shake her head.

"You remember how Aina, from the diner, can read people's minds?" Volka asked, drawing a nod from Summer. "Well, she's his wife," Volka said, drawing a broad grin from Tailor. "He won't do anything you're not comfortable with, I promise. Otherwise, his wife will find out and cut off his balls." At that, Tailor winced and gave Volka an odd look.

"You know I respect the sanctity of marriage, right?" he asked, making Volka wince. "Anyway, Summer," he said, grimacing as he looked away from Volka, "any preference for what clothes or style you want? Coloration, designs, any of that?"

"U-uh," Summer said, looking between the two of them yet again. "I... I've kinda wondered what a skirt would be like," she admitted timidly, feeling her cheeks heat again. Maybe something dark?" she added, shrugging a shoulder.

"Hmm," Tailor grunted, looking her over again before he nodded. "Okay, I've got an idea. Now, strip."

Summer did, though only after another turning her back to him. Her borrowed tank top and slacks came off easily, as did her boots, revealing her tan bra and panties, as well as considerably more pale skin than she was comfortable with.

"You'll need to turn around for me to see what I'm doing," Tailor said, somewhat gently.

Summer closed her eyes, chewed on her lip for a moment, and then sighed before following his instructions. She kept her eyes closed, not quite willing to look at the man who could see her while she was nearly naked, nor at the cousin she'd only met the day before.

So, when she felt something tickling across her body at a rapid pace and something cold and hard press against her skin in a number of places only a few moments later, Summer let out a surprised, fearful squeak and her eyes flew open. Just a second too late, though; Tailor had already finished.

When Summer looked down at herself, she didn't see pale skin and tan underwear. Instead, she saw a sweater made from red cotton hanging modestly from her shoulders, baring only a couple of inches of skin around her neck and adorned with a pair of cross-stitched white crosses. Below, she saw a black pleated skirt with similar cross-shaped patterns adorning it, as well as a pair of light grey tights that she hadn't been wearing before. He'd even touched up her boots, exchanging the time-worn laces for new ones and thoroughly repairing the sloppy patch in the side of the left one.

Summer swallowed as she stared down at the new clothes, her eyes wide. "Well, I think you've impressed her," Volka said, attempting to suppress a chuckle with a grin when Summer let out another timid squeak and blushed brightly at the reminder that Volka was in the room. "How much'll this run me?"

"Call it thirty caps," Tailor said, making Volka nod her head and reach for her belt, only to pause at the last second.

"Wait, something's... missing?" Volka asked, frowning as she stared at Summer and slowly cocked her head sideways. "I think?"

"What?" Tailor asked, raising an eyebrow at the blonde. "What makes you think that?"

"I don't know, I just..." Volka mumbled, trailing off. After a moment of frowning at her Faunus cousin, she seemed to reach a realization, her cheeks coloring and her eyes widening as she lifted her arm and started tapping away at her PIP-Boy. "Oh, I think I've got it," Volka muttered, embarrassed as she scrolled to one of the older images on her PIP-Boy. "You look a bit too much like your ancestor for my brain to handle, Summer." With that said, Volka twisted her arm to show the image to Summer.

It was a picture of a park, taken in the middle of a rather sunny day. In it, two women and three children stood staring at the camera that had taken the picture. The first woman bore a positively radiant smile that showed even in her deep purple eyes, and was only accentuated by the waist-length shower of blonde hair trailing from her head. She was amply endowed, Summer easily noted, though the yellow dress she wore made less of her assets – as did her metallic right arm. At her side was a woman Summer recognized instantly, from the various pictures she'd seen of her growing up: Ruby Rose. From the shoulder-length black hair accented with red along the right side to the silver hue of her eyes, she was quite the pretty woman, even dressed in a featureless black T-shirt and slacks as she was.

Before the two half-sisters were three young girls, one of whom was a practically a younger version of Ruby. Summer Rose, Summer recalled, was wearing a dress, much like her aunt, though hers was pink rather than yellow. She was also the only person in the picture who wasn't smiling, instead staring distrustfully at the camera as if she thought it would steal her soul, which was a rather odd look for someone less than ten years old. Next to her were her cousins, who Summer couldn't recall the names of: from their short-for-a-girl, long-for-a-boy long hair to the grey shirts and shorts they were wearing, the two were pretty much identical. The only difference between Yang's twin children was a pink ribbon tied into her daughter's hair (at least, Summer assumed the be-ribboned child was the girl).

"Ah, I see now," Tailor said, lifting a hand again as he glanced at the screen. "You think she looks too much like Ruby to not wear a cloak?"

"I, uh... I guess?" Volka asked, blushing again.

"You probably should have chosen a picture where Ruby was actually wearing a cloak, then," Tailor said, making Volka's blush deepen further. "But I suppose it could work," he added after a moment, turning back to Summer to hide his smirk from her cousin.

At a twitch of his lifted hand, white cloth spilled from one of the spools of cloth next to him, floating over to Summer and sliding onto her shoulders smoothly. The length of cloth unraveled once the cloak fell down to her ankles, effectively shearing from the rest of the pristine roll of cotton, and then re-raveled itself into a smooth hemline. Simultaneously, more white cloth was stripped from the spool and molded itself behind Summer's neck, swiftly forming a hood.

Summer swallowed again when she felt the rapid movements of the sewing needles stitching her clothes together again, this time made even more disconcerting due to the fact that she could see them flash through the air in front of her before disappearing behind her back.

"You know, Ruby's cloak was red," Volka pointed out to Tailor, who merely raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, but shouldn't she be her own person?" Tailor asked, making Volka cock her head sideways at him. "Besides, she's got enough red on her. Any more and she'd look a bit off, don't you think?"

"Yeah, that makes sense," Volka said after a moment, looking Summer over again. "The white cloak seems... odd, though. I don't know why."

"You want a black one?" Tailor asked, making Summer freeze for a moment.

"I, uh... this isn't... waterproof, is it?" Summer asked tentatively. When Tailor shook his head, she asked, "What would it take to get one that is?"

"A few days, and some more caps," Tailor said, shrugging a shoulder. "I can work cloth in a lot of ways, but weather-proofing is beyond my Semblance. Assuming I've already got all the materials I'd need, treating the fabric and then letting everything settle in would take time. If I don't have it, well, Volka knows the caravans' habits better than me," Tailor added, glancing pointedly at Volka.

"It'd be a month, at least," she said, grimacing.

"I... I think I'll want one, uh, weather-proofed," Summer said, shifting her shoulders and feeling the cloak shift easily along with her. It was lightweight enough that she could only barely tell that she was wearing it, and oddly stretchy, she felt was the word for it: it didn't constrict her shoulders or arms at all. "A, uh, a red one, please," she added, the corner of her mouth twitching up in a small smile when she saw the triumphant grin stretch her cousin's features.

"Of course you do," Tailor said, sighing over-dramatically enough that the two women could easily tell it was faked. "Well, my earlier point still stands. You'll want to pair it with something other than that sweater if you want to wear a red cloak, or you'll look like a raspberry."

"Huh?" Summer mumbled, frowning at him; she hadn't recognized the word.

"I'd pair it with something black," Tailor continued, not noticing her question. "Probably a tunic or something. But we don't need to deal with that now if you don't want to," he added, glancing between Summer and Volka. "Of course, I don't know how long you're planning on staying, but if you're staying at least a few days and have been borrowing Asra's clothes, I'm gonna guess you'll want something of your own to sleep in."

"Yeah, that's on the list," Volka said, scratching at the bridge of her nose somewhat sheepishly as she faced Summer again. "I think you'll have to take your clothes off again, Summer. Sorry."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Why bottle caps?" Summer asked as she and Volka left Mummy's Wrappings nearly half an hour later, a canvas bag draped over her shoulder and bulging with the clothes that Volka had bought for her, as well as the clothes she'd borrowed from Asra.

"Huh?" Volka asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Why do you use bottle caps as money?" Summer asked.

"Well, uh... you know, I've never really thought about it," Volka said, tapping a finger to her chin. "It's been this way for as long as I've been alive, so... I don't know. Why? What'd you use in your Vault?"

"We didn't have money," Summer said with a shrug – and then immediately checked to make sure she hadn't knocked her cloak off her shoulders. "Whenever we actually needed to ask someone for something, we'd just agree to trade favors or, on rare occasions, rations."

"Huh," Volka said, smiling at her cousin. "Well, that's something you'll need to get used to out here, Summer. Caps are... basically the same thing, honestly: they're a promise of goods or favors in the future that can be fulfilled by just about anyone. That's what money is, really."

"Huh," Summer said. The two continued walking along, in a silence that steadily grew more awkward as they both felt that they should talk about something, but weren't sure quite what to say. "Uh..." Summer began, rolling her shoulders uncomfortably. "Where are we going?"

"Oh, uh... I'm not sure," Volka admitted, her cheeks reddening as she came to a stop. "We could... uh... how good are you with that pistol of yours?" she asked, glancing roughly in the direction of Rhonwen's home.

"Good," Summer said, shifting again. "Better than anyone else I know... knew."

Volka winced at the correction, then shook her head fiercely and said, "Well, uh, do you know how to fight? Like, up close and personal?" Summer shook her head, frowning at the blonde as she continued, saying, "Well, that might be a good thing to learn. I could teach you a thing or two about how to fight with your fists, if you want. Or at least help you start exercising in preparation for it," Volka added, awkwardly clenching and unclenching her hands at her sides.

"I, uh... okay?" Summer asked, frowning at Volka.

"Okay!" she exclaimed, happy to finally have something to talk about for more than a minute.

"But, uh... shouldn't I learn about... all that other stuff you and Ferrer mentioned earlier?" Summer asked, making Volka's enthusiasm waver. "The, uh, stuff like finding food and water, and dealing with radiation, and all that stuff?"

"Right," Volka said, grimacing. "I, uh... don't actually know a whole lot about that stuff. I was lucky enough to have a decent quality Dust crystal for water, and my Semblance lets me metabolize radiation and use it to heal myself, which made starvation and malnutrition less of an issue than they could've been. Uh... Oh, I know. We'll ask Asra," she said, smiling once more. "I'm sure she'll be happy to help you, Summer. Plus, it'll give you another excuse to keep coming back to us while you're... while you're out looking for revenge," she added, grimacing again.

"Okay," Summer said, forcing herself to smile at her cousin. "Thanks, Volka."

"No problem," Volka said, returning the smile until she realized something else. "Oh, do you want to see more of the town? Maybe the farm?"

"... Sure? I guess?" Summer asked, tilting her head to one side. "Why?"

"Well, uh, there's a place near the farm that's good to do any training," Volka said, somewhat awkwardly. "An old barn, I think, but it's in good shape. The wood didn't rot, somehow, and most of the metal bits are rust-free. Good place to do pull-ups and stuff."

"Okay?" Summer said, once again turning the statement into a question.

"Great! Let's, uh, let's try to time it so we can go back to my place for lunch afterward, okay? That way we can just rope Asra into it while we're there."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Volka's version of a "basic" workout was far more intensive than Summer had thought possible. By the end of it, her clothes were drenched in sweat and her body was aching in places that Summer hadn't thought could hurt. Volka let her use their shower while she made lunch, which they shared with Asra, who seemed to wake up when she smelled the mix of vegetables and leftover venison that Volka managed to scrounge out of their freezer.

By the time they had finished eating, Asra had agreed to teaching Summer how to survive in the wilderness with a level of enthusiasm that made Volka feel a bit suspicious of her longtime friend. She just chalked it up to an instinctual desire to protect her family and ignored it, and watched the two Faunus leave her home with a mix of worry and anticipation.

"So, the first thing we'll need to do is find a decent source of water," Asra began as she walked Summer in a straight line out of town. The two of them had been let through the gates without more than a few exchanged words with the militiaman on duty, though he had given Summer an odd look, as he'd seen her leave and then return with Volka not long ago. "Clean water is hardest to find, unless you've got a decent piece of Dust, so we're going to focus on how to purify water once we find it, too."

"Why wouldn't I have Dust?" Summer asked, already frowning at the feline Faunus.

"Well, there's a whole bunch of reasons why you might not always have access to Dust to make your water," Asra said. "If you bought a lower-quality crystal, for example, it might crumble to bits while you're halfway between settlements. High-quality Dust doesn't have that problem, of course, but if you get attacked by bandits and somehow managed to get away, you might have to leave most of your gear behind. Or maybe they'd steal it and leave you alive, for some reason."

"F-for some reason?" Summer repeated, fear plain in her voice.

Asra grimaced, shook her head, and said, "Sorry, but there's not a lot of people in this world who'd rob you and then let you live. The ones who do are typically slavers, too, so that doesn't really solve your problem. Pieces of shit." she added, her jaw tightening. She shook her head again, forcing herself to relax when she saw how Summer's eyes had widened at her outburst, and said, "Sorry. Anyway, water. You might've learned this at some point in one of your science classes in your Vault, but there's water in the air around you pretty much all the time. It takes certain devices to actually make much use of it, though, and something like a working vaporator is even more rare than a high-quality crystal of water Dust."

"Really?" Summer asked.

"Yeah. Even one would be enough to solve a lot of our problems with the ground water around here," Asra said, letting out a small sigh. "Whoever settled here before the war made a pretty efficient reservoir about a quarter mile over that way," she added, pointing southwest – at least, Summer thought it was southwest – before continuing, "but it probably wasn't designed to go hundreds of years without maintenance. Rust, mold, dirt, and occasionally drowned animals wind up in the damn thing all the time, so we really need a working purifier to get clean water from it. Thanks again, by the way," she added, making Summer blush and look down at the ground as they kept walking.

"Anyway," Asra continued, shaking her head again. "So, the easiest way to get water out in the wilderness is to just find a stagnant pool of it and scoop some out to boil, but where water is won't always be immediately obvious. There isn't always a lake, or even a pond, so you'll need to be willing to do a bit of digging sometimes."

"If I'm thirsty enough to want to dig for ground water, wouldn't I already be too far gone to get any?" Summer pointed out, drawing a tentative nod from Asra.

"Yes and no. If you're talking about digging for a big source of water, then yeah, you'll be fucked," Asra said, making Summer frown at the utterance. "But you probably won't be needing enough to start a well: you'll just want enough to last before you get moving again. So, that said, look down," Asra said, coming to a sudden stop that made Summer freeze.

Summer did as Asra asked, only to frown again as she didn't see anything unusual about the tall grass beneath them. At least, not when compared to the grass all around them – she still found it distracting, as it was something she'd only ever read about and never actually seen until recently. "What am I looking for?"

"Right now, color," Asra said, kneeling in the dirt and taking off the simple backpack she'd put on before they left. After a moment, Summer went to her knees as well, thoroughly confused as she looked at the grass around her. "You see how the grass over here has a somewhat darker tint compared to the grass over there? With this species of grass, that means it's getting more water over here. Since it rained not too long ago, that means there's probably still some water within a few feet of the surface. Which means," Asra continued, rooting through her backpack and pulling out a collapsible shovel, "it's time to dig."

Half an hour later, Asra let out a sigh and told Summer to stop. She did, breathlessly thanking Asra as she nearly collapsed in the two-foot-deep and three-foot-wide hole she'd dug.

"I can't tell if this is because of your workout with Volka earlier, or if you really needed to start working out," Asra commented, drawing a pathetic scowl from Summer. "Hey, if you're digging for water, you don't want it to be so tiring that you start sweating. At least, not as much as you are."

Summer groaned, directing a miserable glance down at her clothes. "Second time today," she grumbled to herself, pulling at her shirt to keep it from clinging to her chest and unknowingly giving Asra a brief look at her bra and the sweat-shined breasts they contained. "Least I have more," Summer continued to mumble, not noticing the sudden intensity of Asra's stare.

Another moment passed before Asra realized she'd been staring down Summer's shirt, and she shook her head intensely in an attempt to push her mind away from the lewd thoughts that had filled it. "You'll," Asra began, only to realize how husky her voice was and clear her throat. "You'll get better at it with some practice, Summer. Besides, while water's arguably the most important part of survival – in fact, I'd argue that myself – there's more to it than that. Food, shelter, and the ability to defend yourself from a variety of different threats are all essential in the Wasteland."

Summer, having taken advantage of Asra's speech to get her breathing back under control, asked, "Why do you call it the Wasteland?"

Asra laughed softly, shaking her head. After a moment, though, she stopped laughing, cocked her head to one side, and said, "Huh. I guess you have only seen the best of what we've got to offer, haven't you? Just the fifteen miles between an abandoned factory at the edge of a crater and one of the better towns left in the world, where the rain doesn't burn your skin off."

"What?" Summer asked, alarmed.

"Yeah, that happens in a few parts of the world. Well, Volka says it does, anyway," Asra amended, letting a conspiratorial smirk lift her lips. With a wink, she bent towards Summer and added, "She likes to tell stories, you see. But not everything makes for a good enough story, in her eyes, so she plays things up sometimes."

Summer just stared at her, as if she wondered why Asra had leaned over to tell her that.

"Anyway," Asra said, straightening again, "I think you've had enough of a break for now, but I don't think you're ready to get back into digging quite yet. So, what would you like to learn about next? Hunting is what I'd choose, but I'm just gonna lecture you anyway, so I'll let you pick."

"Uh... okay?" Summer asked, only to notice something out of the corner of her eye and turn to look at it. "Is that normal?" she asked, her brow furrowing as she saw half a dozen different animals emerge from the forest.

"Huh? Oh, shit," Asra hissed under her breath, drawing a box-like pistol from beneath her coat. "Ferals. You've got a gun, right?"

Before Summer could answer, the two wolves in the group tilted their heads back and let out a pair of long, almost sorrowful howls, as did the tiger standing between them. The gorilla huffed out a pair of deep breaths loud enough for the two Faunus to hear despite the hundreds of feet between them, the ram let out a bleating yell, and the elephant at the rear of the pack let loose a trumpeting scream that drowned out everything else and made Summer flinch.

As Asra opened a small compartment in her gun and switched out the length of clear white crystal within it for a similarly-sized crystal of yellow flecked with blue, Summer had already drawn her own pistol and fired two shots at one of the wolves. The bullets struck it right in the throat, cutting off its howl and staggering it for a brief moment, but they'd bounced off of its hide without so much as drawing blood.

"Their skin's too tough for that to work," Asra said, sliding closed the ammunition compartment on her gun. "Unless you can get them in the eye or mouth, you're–"

Before Asra could finish, Summer fired again, cutting her off with the thunderclap of sound her gun spat out with its latest bullet. A spray of blood flew from one of the elephant's eyes, and it let out another trumpeting roar, only to fall silent when Summer fired again, burying her bullet deep through its other eye and sending it straight into its brain. The great beast's legs collapsed beneath it, and it fell onto its side – where the ram had been standing. Crushed under the elephants bulk, it could do little more than let out a panicked bleat as its body was slowly flattened by its ally's weight.

"Okay, nice shot," Asra said, eyes wide as she stared at the havoc Summer had wrought so easily. "I guess you weren't exaggerating how good you were with that thing."

Summer didn't reply; instead, she took a pair of shots at the gorilla, which had already covered half of the distance between them in a loping, diagonal stride. One of the bullets bounced off of its cheek, the other off the bridge of its nose, but neither affected its narrowed, hateful stare.

Until Asra fired her weapon, that is, producing a ball of flickering blue electricity that slammed into the gorilla's chest and made it fall to the ground, convulsing. It raised its head, letting out a snarl that made Summer feel like her whole body was shaking, only for Asra to fire her weapon again and paralyze it with its mouth wide open, something that Summer couldn't help but take advantage of.

Once Summer had executed the gorilla, Asra looked back to the tiger and wolves, which were steadily approaching in alternating serpentine patterns, shielding each others faces with their bodies as they closed the distance between them and the two Faunus. Asra raised her gun and fired a few blasts of electricity at them, but all but one missed thanks to the animals' speed; Summer noticed, and managed to pick off the stunned wolf with a single well-placed shot to the eye.

But then the remaining wolf was upon her. Summer let out a fearful scream as it slammed shoulder-first into her chest, knocking her to the ground.

"Summer!" Asra shouted, already bringing her gun up to fire at the wolf before it could hurt the Aura-less young woman, only for the tiger to jump onto her, knocking the Dust-based energy weapon from her hands and sending her to the ground as well. The tiger's claws raked at her back, its jaws clamped onto her shoulder, but as much as Asra struggled she couldn't get up. Her efforts only redoubled when she heard a gunshot coming from Summer's direction, but the way the tiger had pinned her meant that she couldn't see her.

She stilled once her PIP-Boy beeped out a warning that her Aura was at less than thirty percent of its maximum, a tear rolling down her cheek as she grit her jaw and tried to resign herself to her fate.

So, when Asra heard a gunshot right next to her head and the tiger collapsed lifelessly onto her back, she was understandably startled.

With an unladylike grunt of effort, Summer struggled to move the tiger, but wasn't quite able to do it. Once Asra's still stunned mind managed to put together what had happened, she started pushing as well, helping the physically exhausted younger woman move the three hundred pound feline from her back. The moment she was freed, Asra found herself hauled up onto her knees and wrapped in a tight, tear-soaked hug.

"You're okay," Summer mumbled. "You're okay. You're okay," she continued to mumble, slowly rocking herself back and forth and tightening her grip on Asra.

It took Asra a moment to realize why Summer seemed so distraught. Having just lost everyone, she'd been found by people who'd offered her help, given her food and shelter and medical aid, and treated her kindly and with absolute patience, and then nearly had one of those kind people, those potential friends, taken from her by something she'd never so much as heard about in her entire life.

So, as she returned the hug that Summer was giving her, Asra did the only thing she could think of to help calm her down: arm her with knowledge.

"Ferals," Asra muttered, stopping Summer's frightened mantra mid-sentence. "They look like real animals, except for their eyes, which always look Human, no matter what the real version of that animal's eyes should look like. They attack Faunus, and only Faunus, unless a Human or Grimm attacks them first or they get hungry, at which point they typically go after real animals. Their skin is tough enough to deflect lower caliber bullets," Asra continued, at this point realizing that she was going over the information for her own benefit as well as Summer's. She cleared her throat; then, cheeks turning a bright shade of red, she added, "Thanks, by the way. For, uh, for saving me."

Summer just took a shaky breath, further tightened her hold on Asra, and kept rocking back and forth. They stayed like that for long enough that Asra's leg began to cramp, at which point she forcibly broke the hug.

"Summer," Asra said, standing up and stretching her leg as Summer stared up at her, embarrassment clear in her silver eyes. "Look, I get that you're a bit... distraught, because of what just happened. But this wasn't... this wasn't really anything out of the ordinary for the Wasteland. People get hurt, and even killed, every day out here, and you need to be ready and willing to deal with that if you want to go."

Summer blinked away the lingering tears, swallowed, and stumbled over her words as she shakily asked, "Are... are you... your Aura pro-... protected you, right?"

Asra blinked down at her, then let out a small sigh and let a smile curve her lips. "Yes, Summer. It's one of the reasons I've managed to survive this long."

"Then... then it's true," Summer mumbled, turning her gaze back to the ground. "I... I know that Ferrer showed me this morning, but... why weren't we... who would..." she continued to mumble under her breath, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Hey!" Asra exclaimed loudly, snapping Summer's attention back to her. "I'll help you figure things out, okay? I promise, even if all I can do is just teach you how to survive and let you bounce ideas off me, I'll do what I can to help you," she said, letting herself fall to one knee as she placed a hand on Summer's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Asra, I..." Summer said, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand as tears threatened to spill from them again. "Thank you."

"Now, this is kinda awkward given what I just said, but we should get back inside the walls," Asra said, rising to her feet again. "I, well, we need to tell the militia about what happened. If we're lucky, those were the only Ferals out in the forest, but I doubt it."

With that said, Asra extended a hand to Summer, who hesitantly let Asra haul her back to her feet. On the walk back, Summer couldn't help but sneak glances at the Faunus beside her, at first from a mixture of embarrassment and worry: despite all the evidence she'd been given so far, she still couldn't quite believe that Aura was as remarkable as everyone had said it was.

But, just before they reached the gate, when Summer glanced at Asra again, she realized that Asra looked a great deal like Layla. From the shape of her jaw, to the not-quite-feminine broadness of her shoulders, to the way she kept her hips almost perfectly level as she walked, Summer saw her cousin in nearly every move Asra made.

She couldn't tell if what she was seeing was accurate or if she was just making up connections between one of the few people who'd helped her and the only member of her family who she'd dearly loved, but Summer felt her heart flutter in her chest as she stared at Asra.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

And thus this chapter ends.

Before the rewrite, I had a few things written here, but none of them are particularly relevant or accurate anymore, so let's just call it for the day.

Until next time.