Like all the cities on Remnant, Mistral had places that time had forgotten. Places progress and the march of time had left behind in their quest for the future. In addition to old castles that dotted the periphery of the borders, where the man-made defenses and natural obstacles protected the city from the Grimm, elements of the city itself had been lost in the ever-ongoing passage of history.
One of these areas was the Works.
In ages past, when Mistral had to rely solely on its own means to sustain itself, vast factory complexes dotted with towering cranes and titanic smokestacks had provided for the wants and needs of the people. Mistralian craftsmanship had provided the nation, and for a time the world, with quality goods of every flavor, from furniture and clothing to electronics and automobiles. Day and night, on 24-hour shifts, the red glow of the Mills had lit up the horizon, the blare of train whistles and the bleat of ship foghorns a constant song, the strength of the nation ringing out from the thundering of trip-hammers and steel-forges and the constant rumble of assembly lines. The giant shells of the buildings, veined with moving cranes, rail lines, conveyor belts and transfer chutes, had breathed life into the nation in the years before the Great War, as industry and commercialism began to replace the nation's feudal past. The weapons churned out by the Works had kept Mistral alive and strong in the dark days of the war itself, both used against and provided to the other major kingdoms as alliances shifted and battlefields changed.
But as the Vytal Treaty took hold, and Atlas's robotics technology advanced, cheap Atlesian automated labor had caught up with, matched, and finally surpassed the efficiency of Mistral's industrial complexes. Workers that did not need to be paid at all were by far cheaper than workers who would toil for even slave wages, and were easier to replace. Robots didn't need vacations, or retirement, or benefits. In the face of dirt-cheap products coming out of the north, one by one, the old factories had gone bankrupt, workers laid off and mills shut down. A few manufacturers of heavy machine parts and some of the largest steel mills still soldiered on, but even these were rumored to have numbered days.
As the trip-hammer of industry had died in Mistral, the vast factories were abandoned, machinery sold for scrap or sometimes left where it had been, incomplete goods still sitting on assembly lines, awaiting the next shift that would never come. Slag heaps cooled to permanent mountains, lime piles slowly weathered away, coke piles and stacks of steel beams were slowly returned to nature. A low shroud of dust seemed to permanently cover the mass of buildings near the edge of the inland sea. Like the dying coals of cigarettes, the smokestacks had, one by one, ceased belching their constant streams of ashes and soot. They now stood, empty and lifeless like headstones for their forgotten past.
But these abandoned mills, once full of life and sound, were by no means empty and still.
Besides the rats that scurried from hole to hole, the owls that made roosts in the darkened cavities of the cranes, the families of foxes and raccoons that huddled under the slowly collapsing piles of brickwork and stone…
Sentient life still lingered.
[=]
In the dark interior of a mill that had once manufactured furniture and housewares, a trio of youthful figures huddled around a heating coil salvaged from one of the Mill's incinerators. Safely elevated off the floor, the coil provided more than enough heat for the three: a necessity, as winter encroached upon the Kingdom.
One of the figures stood up, a head of silver hair shining in the amber glow of the coil, holding a tin ration tray in each hand. A third sizzled on a smaller heating surface: one of several Survival packs they still carefully hoarded. As he turned to his two companions, he looked down to the first, who was curled into an Easy chair.
"Here."
The smallest of the three figures accepted the tray with a silent nod of thanks. Her pink and brown hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail, allowing a few bangs to spill about her deceptively cute face, only slightly marred with deep bags under her eyes. Her mismatched irises barely glanced down at the chunky beef stew that sat in the tray as she grabbed the attached fork and tucked into the gooey vittles.
Her almost fanciful clothes were torn and dirty, and a once-fancy pair of spat-boots had been replaced with a pair of Atlesian Combat boots: more efficient, considering the situation. A ragged parasol leaned on the chair beside her, and a Cigar sat on the armrest: she never smoked the stogie, but refused to let it out of her sight.
The Silver-haired young man looked at his tiny companion for a moment, before he sighed and turned to the other figure that sat, her legs pulled up to her chest, on one of the couches the three had dragged from the Mill's storage rooms: the dryness of the air had kept the furniture from giving over to rot. The seating also served as their beds, thanks to the blankets they'd recovered from bedding mill nearby.
There was a surprisingly great deal of material goods left over in the old mills, the young man thought to himself for the hundredth time.
Crossing over to the other couch, he held out the second tray to the other girl.
The Green-haired girl barely acknowledged the plate the silver-haired young man offered her. She kept her eyes firmly locked on the small black item, wrapped in a ragged piece of canvas, that she had clung to ever since that dark day over a year ago. Her face was gaunt, her eyes sunken and bloodshot: her hair was ragged and roughly tended to, her bangs hanging over her face.
"c'mon Em." Mercury Black said, shaking the tray slightly "you gotta eat something."
His partner didn't reply as she stared down at the crystal in her hands, still replaying the events of that night over and over in her mind…
[=]
"We can't leave her!" Emerald cried as Mercury dragged her towards the camouflaged Bullhead near the edge of the Beacon Campus. Here and there, gunshots could still be heard, punctuating the roar of airships taking off full of evacuees and the screams of Grimm.
The two had, per Cinder's instructions, continued the broadcast of the attack on Beacon via their hacked CCTS connection. Mercury had focused on Atlesian droids attacking the people until the loss of Ironwood's battleship had caused them to shut down. Torchwick's scroll signal remained resolutely silent, despite repeated attempts to contact him. That had been the first sign something had gone wrong.
Adam Taurus and his White Fang minions had, as per the deal, stormed the school and raised havoc, though Taurus himself had apparently gone off chasing one student in particular, Blake from Team RWBY, apparently. Cinder had found no issue with that: the Faunus had served his purpose to their plans, and she had been preparing to dispose of him, replace him with someone more…reliable. She herself had undertaken the climax of her mission, leaving the two to carry on with her drive to discredit the leaders of the Kingdoms. Emerald still remembered her disappearing into Beacon tower after Ozpin and two of his students.
Overhead, the roar of the Grimm dragon had gone silent all of a sudden, and remained so ever since. That also was by no means a good sign, especially coupled with the strange, unexplained burst of silver light that had suddenly encompassed the top of Beacon Tower. Emerald had tried to contact Cinder to make sure she was alright…and had been met with a silence that chilled her to her core.
"It's all gone south, Em!" Mercury replied as he forcibly pulled her up to the vessel. The tiny figure of Neo peered out from the cockpit as she started the craft's engines: neither of the two noticed the tears that fell from her eyes as she flipped switches and gripped the vessel's control stick. Overhead, Nevermores and Griffons still circled the school in swarms, their shrieking cries only adding to the noise around the three. Emerald tried to pull herself from Mercury's grasp, as she stared helplessly up at Beacon tower.
"She needs our help! Something's happened, we need to-"
"Taurus' goons have already bugged out, and the Grimm are starting to swarm this place! Even the Hunters are pulling out! We stay any longer, we're Grimm feed, nothing else but!"
"But…But-!" Emerald stammered as Mercury all but threw her into the transport's passenger bay. As he crawled in himself, he shot a glare at Beacon tower for a moment, before shaking his head.
"Get us out of here!" Mercury called up to the cockpit as he shoved Emerald into one of the seats and buckled her in.
The Green-haired thief hadn't taken her eyes off the top of Beacon Tower, not caring about the sudden appearance of a pack of Beowolves charging towards the now active and moving Bullhead. As Mercury cursed profoundly and drove the creatures off with a fusillade from his boot-guns, Neo adding to the fire with the craft's mounted cannon, Emerald kept her gaze firmly fixed on the ruins of Professor Ozpin's office, hoping for some sign of life, hoping the inexplicably frozen form of the Grimm Dragon wasn't an indicator of the worst. As the Ship had accelerated away, she'd just barely made out two figures…and something that looked like a statue…
[=]
"We just have to FIND her, Em." Mercury said as he sat down beside her, setting the ration tray he'd offered her on the floor "once we do, we can use the rock we got from…what's her name, and we can get her back."
Emerald's only response to his words was to squeeze the black object tighter in her hands… it had come out of the blue, along with a message, in the terrifying days in the aftermath of the attack…
[=]
The three had holed up in one of the late Roman Torchwick's safe houses in Vale: the Bullhead had been ditched in the harbor, and a swarm of Ursa's had ensured nothing would be left to tie it to them.
For several days, the three had just…laid there.
Neo had stripped out of her sweat-soaked clothes, and, not caring she was naked, had thrown herself into one of the beds and sobbed silently. Mercury wasn't sure, but he thought he'd heard a ragged, barely-perceptible "…Daddy…" escape from her lips as she'd curled into a fetal position and buried her head in her pillows.
Emerald had locked herself in one of the other bedrooms and, in contrast to Neo, sobbed loudly and cursed profusely. Mercury found himself occasionally making sure the air wasn't turning blue, as the sounds of grief-and property damage- echoed from the sealed door of the bedroom. One of Emerald's blade-equipped pistols embedding itself in the door was his only response to an offer of food.
The Silver-haired teen himself had settled down one the small apartment's couch and kept an eye on the news…what little there was. The Safe house was, thankfully, in the area of Vale designated the "safe zone" and carefully patrolled by Huntsmen and the police. A double-edged sword, to be sure: he kept the curtains closed, lest anyone spot his suddenly famous face, but for the moment it at least ensured they wouldn't have to worry about the Grimm.
Like his dad had said in those few moments when he was sober enough to speak clearly, the best thing to do in a bad situation is keep your head and get info.
If that meant taking charge while the two women collectively mourned their lost superiors, so be it.
Letting the repeated News stories-with the tower down, only Vale news was being broadcast-give some background noise, he'd wracked his brain for answers as to "what next?" Cinder's infuriating tight-lip-ness about just WHAT her final plan was after she acquired her super-powers naturally left her followers somewhat lost when she was abruptly removed from the picture.
For several long hours that first day, Mercury had contemplated just up and ditching the two distraught girls: they were clearly too torn up to be any use.
But, upon reflection, they were also the only allies he had in the world, at the moment. He was unlikely to be welcomed by the Huntsmen who were now unwittingly protecting him, Taurus was gone, off screwing around with his pack of furries, and Torchwick…
He couldn't fathom the depths of Neo's relationship with Torchwick: it was clearly more than a partnership, though just what THAT meant he couldn't say. The little mute could still be eminently useful, provided she could be snapped out of her funk.
Mercury scowled, somewhat mournfully, as he thought of the red-headed crook who had provided them with so many resources: the guy was a prick, to be sure, but he was a prick after Merc's own empty heart. He had a head for numbers, planning, and patience, as well as a pragmatic streak that made him…surprisingly trustworthy, all things considered.
As for Cinder…
He'd followed the dark-haired woman out of intrigue at her goals, a slight sense of attraction to the woman (and WHAT a woman, woof…) and a personal delight in raising hell. He still smiled as he recalled Yang's face as she'd stared, helpless and confused, as her "brutal" leg shot was broadcast to the whole world. He smirked wider still as he remembered Ruby's face, realization dawning before Nikos' and the Robot girl's fight, and the subsequent beating he'd foisted upon the kid. The sight of her on her knees, weeping like a child, still brought laughter to his black heart.
But that was still self-serving: Cinder's plans had merely allowed him to exercise his own sadistic nature. A part of him, the careful, logical part, had always kept an "out" at the back of his mind, if he ever suspected Cinder was planning to dispose of him: break away, run to Ironwood or Ozpin or whomever with the data on his scroll, and tell them everything in exchange for amnesty or something to that end.
Heh, maybe get himself a medal for "uncovering" the nefarious "plot."
Emerald…her devotion to Cinder was something more. Compared to his lackadaisical manner, she'd always spoken to their leader with a tone of respect and submission, even referring to her as "ma'am."
She followed the Woman around like a devoted puppy, obeying every and any command directed towards her without question, no matter how distasteful.
And then there was the way she simply…looked, at their leader. Mercury had pondered as to just WHAT Cinder had promised the green-haired thief: he'd never been told and had frankly never thought to ask.
Well, whatever her mood was, Em clearly didn't feel like sharing now. Nor did Neo, even if she at least occasionally crawled out of her bed (still undressed, not that Mercury was interested in moping chicks who looked like they could be his little sister) to numbly consume some of the canned goods Torchwick had stashed in the small kitchenette.
It was on one of those days, a few weeks after they'd arrived in the city, that everything had changed.
[=]
The slight buzz of fruit flies emanated from the rough stack of Beef stew cans, Spam tins and Soda cans that sat next to the couch. All of which were contributing to a growing odor that was starting the fill the small apartment: the tang of rotting food and unwashed bodies, sweat and mold and the deceptively sweet smell of decomposing fruit.
Mercury had long-since gotten used to the scent, and only barely reacted to the insects that landed on him as he slouched on the apartment's couch. He'd idly wondered for a time how long the food was going to hold out, but at this point, he'd simply stopped caring.
Nothing really mattered now.
In the Week since they'd holed up here, the three members of Cinder's faction had slowly slipped into a state of apathy. On those few moments Neo had slumped out of her bedroom, wrapped in a stained bedsheet and nothing else, to numbly eat something, Mercury had looked her over in an analytical manner.
She wasn't-quite-gone. Losing Torchwick had clearly unhinged her…but not broken her. Given enough time, she might be able to function as she once had.
And she'd dared a few quick gazes at himself, he'd noticed.
as for their other companion…
Emerald's emotional tirade had long since given way to silence, a stony silence that made Merc wonder if she'd killed herself. He wouldn't be shocked.
As the News repeated the same line about the Fall of Beacon for the Hundredth time, he heard a door open within the apartment.
Mercury, not caring that if he sat on the couch any longer he'd likely be absorbed into it, barely reacted as Neo, still clad only in a bedsheet, appeared, her hair matted and her face red and puffy, and slumped down next to him, curling her legs up underneath her and, to his surprise, resting her head on his shoulder. She cocked an eyebrow at the TV, which was playing, surprise, surprise, an actually NEW story.
Mercury cocked an eyebrow at the sight of Jaune Arc, leader of Team JNPR, single-handedly beheading one of the last Goliaths that had infiltrated the city's walls, to the adulation of the Huntsmen and Atlesian troops around him. The Blonde had been low on the group's radar: indeed, he was only on it at all due to his connection to Nikos…wherever she was now.
"huh." The Silver-haired teen muttered, "guess he had some fight in him after all. Who'da thunk."
Neo, as usual, said nothing, though Merc thought he heard a bemused "uh" of agreement.
And it was then that Emerald had tugged her ransacked door open and stepped into the living room.
Mercury DID react to this: Emerald hadn't come out of her room once since she'd locked herself in days before.
"So you're still alive, eh?" He quipped halfheartedly.
Emerald didn't reply. She simply stared at the silver-haired teen and the ice-cream girl for a long moment, before looking around. Her gaze was red as Cinder's dress, bloodshot and wide: a "thousand yard stare" his Dad had called it. Her face was puffy and her lips were dry and cracked.
She seemed to fall deeper into despair as she noticed the squalor of the apartment: it hadn't exactly been "clean" before, but to try and make it livable was clearly a forlorn hope now. Mercury idly wondered if THAT was what Cinder had promised her: a home, a place where she could-
"What now?"
Mercury jumped at the unfamiliar voice that suddenly came to his ears and, for a wonder, Emerald seemed to snap out of her funk for a moment out of sheer incredulity. Both turned their heads to stare at the tiny girl who was curled up on the couch.
Neo, her head still on Merc's shoulder, reached over to one of the side tables surrounding the couch and, opening the drawer, pulled out a familiar-looking black cigar. The smell of tobacco briefly overpowered the background stench, before it was swallowed up and consumed by the odor.
She rolled it in her hands as she drew it close, taking a long sniff of the tobacco. Her eyes seemed to glaze over as she stared at Torchwick's stogie.
"Roman would have thought of something." She continued.
Mercury, still boggled that the small girl could actually, well, TALK, gaped for a few seconds more, as Neo adjusted the bedsheet she was wrapped in to better hide her surprisingly expansive chest. She seemed to nuzzle deeper into the silver-haired teen, as though trying to find solace….
"ah…well, we…huh." He stammered, even as Emerald slowly slipped back into her shell-shocked state…though still cocking an eyebrow at the fanciful criminal-ette.
Looking between the two women, who he noticed had their attention on him, he sighed, before attempting to express the plan he had been forming. Sitting up straighter, he began to speak.
"well…I was thinking we could at least-"
There was a sudden knock at the door.
[=]
The Silver-haired teen thought back to that knock…everything about it felt off.
For all his aloofness and carefree nature, Mercury Black, like his father, knew when to keep his ear to the ground, and did it more often than one might think.
No footsteps had approached the door. The knocks had sounded…strangely hollow, like something that...wasn't there, had rapped its hand on the wood. No footsteps had, in turn, fled the doorway, leaving the strange package behind…and the letter attached to it.
As he'd stepped back inside, Emerald covering the door with one of her pistols as Neo held her sword-parasol, stark naked after the sheet slipped from her lithe body, ready to deal with whomever was out there, Mercury had examined the strange object left behind.
But there hadn't been anyone out there. Just a small package, wrapped in canvas, with a note on a piece of parchment paper attached to it.
For the thousandth time, Mercury drew that piece of parchment out of his shirt: the edges were worn, ragged with constant folding and unfolding, but the paper itself refused to die.
Unfolding it, he read the letters carefully scribed onto it, a delicate handwriting that always seemed ever so slightly different every time he read the graceful curves of the letters, as he had over a year prior, with Neo and Emerald looking over his shoulder after they'd verified the package wasn't a bomb.
My friends.
No doubt you are confused as to what all this is, and why I have chosen to contact you. Allow me to explain.
I am Cinder Fall's benefactor. My name is unimportant for now, as is my location. But what I have to offer will no doubt peak your interest.
As you know, Cinder was pursuing the powers of the Fall Maiden. She achieved this, and acquired the powers for herself. However, something…unforeseen, intervened to undo her plans.
Even I was surprised by the intervention of this energy, this force of light. I could not predict fate placing this energy at that location at that time. But what is done is done.
And, if you wish to attain everything you were promised, to put things back on course, and to avenge your fallen comrades, you will keep reading.
Cinder Fall was but one of many of my agents working on Remnant. While her task was important to my plans, her unfortunate loss may yet prove to be a new opening. This crystal is key: protect it at all costs. It is vital to retrieving the power Cinder was pursuing…and to retrieving Cinder herself. For now, stalk the one called Pyrrha Nikos: she is the second key.
And now, children, away to Mistral: that is where the next stage shall begin.
When the time is right…I will contact you again.
[=]
And away to Mistral they had went, at Emerald's quite enraged insistence. Any authority Mercury had possessed had vanished in an instant.
Using most of what remained of their lien (another problem of Torchwick's loss: he took most of the locations of his squirreled away cash deposits with him) and one of Torchwick's contacts, a new Bullhead had been procured, along with a few month's supplies. Getting the ship into and subsequently out of Vale, even with the heightened state of security, had been surprisingly easy.
Deciding to hole up in the abandoned complexes of the Works had likewise been easy: for one, it allowed them to hide the Bullhead, lest they have to procure another.
for another, they were hardly alone out here…and that worked to their advantage. It was generally live-and-let-live amongst the squatters, drug addicts and criminals.
And a few well-placed beatings hadn't hurt either. They were generally unbothered.
Mercury had idly wondered why he was even bothering himself, to go along with all this: his role was done, and Cinder's promises, while enticing, weren't anything he couldn't live without. He Suspected Neo simply wanted revenge for losing Torchwick.
Emerald, now…Emerald…
She'd gotten…weird.
Emerald had grabbed up the strange, unshaped crystal that was wrapped in the old, ragged Canvas before either of her companions could touch it, and had cleaved ot it ever since, never letting it leave her person. In those few moments, as now, that he had gotten a chance to see it, it had remained unchanged: a black crystal, looking rather like a Dust shard, but…malformed, rough, like it had simply been pulled out of the ground.
and possessing a slightly purplish glow…
"We'll get Cinder back, Em." Mercury said, as, hesitantly, he placed a hand on the dark-skinned girl's shoulder. She'd remained as silent as Neo more often than not, barely eating, barely sleeping…and more often than not simply staring, enraptured, into the strange crystal…like it was showing her something…
He flinched back almost immediately as Emerald whipped her head around, her bloodshot eyes fixing him with a cruel, hateful glare.
No…it looked more like she was staring THROUGH him…into his very soul….
"It's not just her…" Emerald said, her voice hoarse…and at the same time alive with sudden rage. Mercury stared at her for a moment, before a sizzling POP! From the third tray on the heater drew him away from the green-haired girl, cursing as his own dinner started to burn.
As she had barely reacted to his approach, Emerald did not react to his departure from her side as he rushed back to the heater. She had more important issues on her mind.
She didn't bother to hide the hate in her voice as she recalled the sight of the redheaded figure crawling towards her savior's petrified body as Neo had piloted the ship away. She would never forget…and certainly never forgive…
"…Pyrrha Nikos…I will make you pay…" she hissed, her tone hateful, wrathful…almost inhuman.
Had either of her companions been paying close attention, they might have noticed a slight fiery sheen suddenly course over the girl's eyes as the dark crystal glowed in her hands...
and then, from the freight dock close by the three's temporary home, something Knocked on the door.
[=]
"Ruby, Slow down!" Pyrrha laughed as the shorter girl dragged her across the campus courtyard. The mid fall breeze was crisp without being chilly, and leaves blew about the two girl's legs as they ran, Pyrrha's left hand clasped in Ruby's right.
Fall leaves…fall…
Pyrrha clamped down on the sudden surge of emotions-not now, NOT NOW-as Ruby, huffing slightly, smiled over her shoulder at the taller girl.
"But I'm all fired up though!" Ruby replied as she seemed to go FASTER, almost pulling Pyrrha off her feet.
"There's plenty of time!" the older redhead replied with a laugh as she let her partner drag her along "we'll still be able to eat before class!"
"But I just wanna get there NOOOWWWWWW-!" Ruby moaned as she galloped along, her legs a blur in the morning sunlight. Pyrrha smiled at her young companion, watching the sun glint off her red and black hair as the beams streamed through the trees that lined the campus' central avenue. She'd learned that Ruby was not one for patience. Her semblance alone was evidence enough of that. Despite Pyrrha's best efforts to coach her, it seemed some things were hard-wired.
"If you used your semblance we'd be there already…" Pyrrha muttered idly at the thought of Ruby's special ability.
Not idly enough, it seemed, as Ruby suddenly stopped short, so short that Pyrrha actually ran into her.
"Great idea!" Ruby said excitedly as she whirled, wrapping her arms around Pyrrha's waist and squeezing her tightly, her cape flapping about the pair "why didn't I think of that?"
A sudden surge of apprehension filled Pyrrha as she recognized the fierce expression on Ruby's face, as the smaller girl turned her gaze towards the distant cafeteria. She suddenly stepped into a position like she was about to begin a footrace.
"Wait, Ruby, no, wait-!" Pyrrha yelped nervously.
With a sudden flutter of red rose petals, the two vanished.
[=]
(AN: OKAY we're back.
The Story's gone through a bit of a re-write in the past few weeks. Needless to say, things are about to get interesting for our heroes…but also much, much more difficult for poor Pyrrha….
anyway, stay tuned!)
