What is your purpose?
It is what you will.
What is your purpose?
Is it what you want.
What is your purpose?
It is what you make it.
"My purpose is to get one night of sleep without any weird dreams."
Another night of sleep filled with the strange whispers with no sources. He should have grown accustomed to it by now.
He pushed himself out of his resting place, a small dirt-filled hovel, with a low groan. He would never get used to sleeping on the ground. The slight protest in his limbs while he stretched reminded him of dirt and snow's cruel and unforgiving nature.
"Maybe that's my purpose. Finding an actual bed to sleep in."
The words slipped out of his dry mouth followed by a chuckle. A bed was a luxury he wouldn't be enjoying any time soon. At least as long as he was on this mission.
He sighed at that thought. His mother hadn't made this easy for him. Though, when had she ever done that? This was about on par for the behavior of the enigmatic Raven Branwen.
"Gotta love her." He chuckled once more before giving his body a wild shake. In his little hole, he had some type of protection from the cold. Out in the open woods, that protection did not follow. And the torn bits of his shirt and cloak weren't helping him in his endeavor to stay warm.
"The sooner I finish this the sooner I can get back to sleeping on warm dirt."
A small smile sprung up on his for a brief moment at the words before he began running. He had a bit of a journey until he reached his target. The miles of trees, gray skies and snow covered ground would serve as a nice background to his journey.
At the speed which he was traveling, the twenty hike had been cut down to a simple twenty-minute sprint. He came bursting head first out of the woods in a blur of black and gold before skidding to a stop. His breaths came to him in short gasps as he looked over the city that sat below him.
In his best description of the city, Naruto decided that Atlas would be best described as a bright light in the middle of a landscape of darkness. To say that the city stood out amongst the bleak land of Solitas would be an understatement. During his run, he had been able to spot the bright lights coming from the city. Now still, several miles from the city's border, it glowed like the sun.
"I wish I had something like a sniper. It would make this so much easier."
Maybe he would find something interesting while he made his way through the city. His hand trailed over his mother's sword at the thought. He loved the weapon but it was not his own.
One day he would be returning the sword.
"Today is not that day." Those were his final words before he pushed down his mask and pushed forward. He had only a few more miles to cover yet this leg of the journey would undoubtedly take much longer than the first. With the defenses Atlas had set up, making it to and through the city border without being seen would be hell.
What else was new?
"You're such an idiot."
"Am not!"
"Yes you are, Ruby."
"Am not."
"Yes you are."
"Am not!"
Why was having a sibling so difficult? Yang had to wonder that to herself while she dragged a tired hand over her face. The brief time she had away from the girl had been heaven. Now in their first reunion, her sister had managed to worry and piss her off in one stroke.
"Uncle Qrow told dad what you did. You can't be mad at me for doing the exact same thing that you did."
She wanted to strangle that drunkard. Of course, the one time he wanted to act like a responsible adult it would mess with her. The next time she saw that man she was going to happily punch him back into sobriety.
"If you do that then you're a hypocrite."
"It's not being a hypocrite, it's being smart!" Yang barked out at the younger girl. "I wasn't in any danger. I could've handled myself. Those people were known criminals. You almost got blasted off a roof! You could've gotten hurt."
"Nuh-uh." There were very few times that Yang got so angry that she wanted to punch her little sister in her cute, pudgy face.
This was one of those times.
"Listen here, you little br-"
"I'm not some little girl anymore, Yang." Ruby shouted, silencing the older girl. "I've grown up. I've learned, I've trained and I'm ready. You always said that you were ready to set out in the world, right? Well, so am I!"
She hated what Qrow had done to the girl. She remembered the days when Ruby was afraid of her own shadow. Then that drunk shell of a man came through shaking his scythe like a madman and the young, impressionable girl so happened to be watching. Now she was swinging around that giant hunk of metal she called a weapon and back talking her older sister.
"And I'm not going home. So, we can help each other or you can keep calling me an idiot."
When did her idiotic little sister stop talking like she was an idiot? The blonde couldn't help but sigh at the question. She had been wrapped up in her own matters that she had missed out on Ruby growing up. Now the results sat directly in front of her in the form of a stubborn and incessant teenage girl.
"Fine." She knew this was a decision that was going to bite her in the ass. But she couldn't help it. She couldn't deny her little sister.
Family was everything to her, after all.
"The things I do for family."
The thought came to him while he stood waist deep in a mix of liquid and solid sewage, his arms holding him up from slipping any further down. Covering his blond hair was his tattered cloak which remained held together by his sword.
He wanted to plug his nose so badly yet the fear of him slipping down into the filth kept him still. He would endure the smell for now. The last thing he needed was for all of his body to smell like trash for weeks.
With that thought, he pushed forward. It was a slow journey, one filled with constant fear of getting soaked. The slippery walls of the sewer didn't make his endeavor easy on him.
The random spouts of liquid was just a slap to his face.
His journey came to somewhat of a climatic end with him almost falling into the semi-caustic river of liquid. Luckily, he managed to grab onto an adjacent ladder to pull himself out of the sewage. The bottom half of his body was caked in the black filth and waste of the Schnee Dust Company while his top half remained mostly untouched. He looked down at his dirtied pants before sighing while moving the sword to his teeth. He bit down on its sheath while ascending up the rusted ladder.
"The things I do for family."
"You're up rather late."
Yang didn't get frightened easily. After living in a cabin that seemed to attract erratic strangers and grim alike, she had grown somewhat of a thick skin to common fights. This tolerance didn't stop her from yelling and jumping at the voice coming from behind her.
"It's not nice to sneak up on people, old creep." The glare she sent the man was ignored as he laughed. Her anger was forced away as the sound of his joy carried through the air.
"It's also not nice to break rules before you're officially accepted into the school. I thought I made it clear that students were supposed to stay in the specified areas."
The gravity of the man's words and the situation she had found herself in settled upon Yang's shoulder. Here she was, caught red-handed breaking the rules by the headmaster of the school she was trying to get into.
And, she just called him an old creep.
"You're aren't the most tact. Though, what else should I expect from Taiyang's daughter?"
He knew her father. That was it. She was done for. Her father was going to literally tear her apart. With Qrow's input and now this, she was screwed.
"L-look, I'm sorry. I'll head back right n-" Her words died in her mouth when the man raised his cane into the air. Her heart sunk into her chest at the sight. With the raising of that cane, her career as a huntsman was going to end before it even began.
"There's no need to apologize." The man started while setting down his cane. He raised his free hand up to his lips to reveal a mug with the symbol of beacon printed on it. He took a long sip from the mug before pulling it away from his lips with a content sigh.
"I had to deal with much worse when your father was in school."
That made Yang raise an eyebrow. Her father could be a bit rambunctious around the house but she never took him for the troublemaking type.
"Really? Was he that bad?" The words flew out of her mouth with unhidden excitement. Any opportunity to learn more about her father was an opportunity she would be glad to take.
"Oh yes. Him and your uncle were a pair of nuisances in the past."
Her eyes lit up at his words. The perfect opportunity to get back at her uncle, and possibly build a good enough case against her dad, had fallen right in her lap.
And she definitely planned on taking on it.
"Please tell me more, Professor."
"Call me Oz. That's what most of your family members tend to do."
"Inform father that I have retreated to my room for the day."
He didn't bother waiting for a response from the Schnee servant before closing the door to his room. He stripped himself of his vest, throwing the article of clothing onto his pristine bed while he made his way to the sole desk in the room.
"I should've asked for a refreshment first." He grunted out as he loosened his tie. "I'll ring for some later."
His descent into the seat of his desk was not a pleasant one. He flopped into the chair, shaking the desk and the floor beneath him on impact. He let loose a loud sound while pushing his chair in a circle with his leg. After a few revolutions, he came to a stop facing the desk. He paused for a brief moment before reaching out and grabbing at a stack of papers on his desk.
"This world is filled with nothing but savages and barbarians." The boy muttered to himself while reaching over to grab a pen. His hand would never make it there. He stopped himself before he could pick up the object. His face sat scrunched in a disgusted mask while his hand hovered over the pen.
"What is that horrid smell?" He thought as his mouth scrunched up to his nose. The smell of raw sewage hit him like a truck. It was overpowering and ultimately distracting.
He couldn't work in these conditions.
"When I find the person that caused this…" He mumbled to himself while rising up to his feet and turning toward the door. He was stopped in his tracks when he took notice of the figure in his room.
It was obvious to the boy that the person he was staring at was the source of the horrid smell in his room. The dripping water from the figure's black pants gave him a hint to just what was the origin of the smell. The tattered black cloak hanging off its upper body made for an intimidating sight. The jagged mask obscuring the intruder's face only made it worse.
"I would've never thought that the White Fang would lower themselves to petty intimidation tactics against my family like this."
The figure didn't respond. At least, not verbally. Instead, it reached for the sword at its side, causing the white-haired boy to tense up.
"You're are surrounded by at least a hundred Atlesian soldiers in this building alone. Do not be stupid."
This man was going to kill him. He hoped his words would dissuade the masked man. When he heard the soft click of a gun go off, he knew he was failing.
"Leave now. This is your last chance to get away with no consequences."
For once in his life, he cursed himself for not taking any self-defense lesson while he inched toward his desk. His father had been so adamant on him learning but he refused. Not even his family's glyphs would help him at the moment. The alarm and gun hidden in the drawer of his desk were his only hope.
"I will not report you. You have my word as a Schnee. Simply lea-"
Whitley Schnee would never be able to finish that statement because at the moment the figure struck. The boy was defenseless, utterly powerless when the orange blade flew across his vision. His last sight would be the glowing red eyes of his murderer's eyes before death overcame him.
"For the family."
AN: Well, there goes another chapter. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Review or PM me with any questions, concerns, comments, etc. A lot of stuff happened this chapter so feel free to question.
Enjoy the rest of your day! Peace!
