Welcome back, everyone.
Nyahaha! It's about damn time you came back! I was getting so bored and lonely sitting here!
... In any case, shall we continue our discussions?
But of course! Hmm... Ah, let's talk about the Ferals and the Ghouls. We haven't covered them yet, have we?
Not in any concrete detail. Nor have we discussed their origins.
Nyahaha! Of course you would want to learn about that. So, let's start with the Ghouls. Disgusting creatures, neh? Rotting Humans, seeking only to consume the flesh of other Humans and kill as many as possible; isn't it amazing what a little Winter can do to them?
Winter? You mean the Maiden?
Not a Maiden anymore! Weiss's powers fell out of here when she was at the epicenter of one of Mistral's warheads, and were corrupted by the powerful mixture of Dust it contained. Now, the power of Winter is little more than a heavy fog to the Faunus who live at the ruins of Beacon City. They do their best to keep Humans from getting into it by maintaining a militarized presence around the city's borders, but every now and then a few get through and turn into the disgusting things.
You find them disgusting? That's rather... odd.
Meh. They were interesting for a while, but there's nothing more I can learn about them. And they kill Humans, which are the most fascinating creatures I've ever seen!
What about the Faunus?
They're basically just Humans, too. They even react to the Maiden's magic in a similar way; granted, it's the Summer they react too, but the fact that they just become boring versions of themselves is just so... boring!
I doubt they'd see it as becoming boring. It's far more likely they saw it as an unutterable horror being visited upon them.
Meh. Their reactions were far more interesting before they turned into Ferals.
I see. Shall we move on, then? Before you disgust me any further?
Nyahaha!
XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX (AN: I gotta stop forgetting to bold this.)
Alfred was not having the best morning.
He understood the importance of having guards up on the towers; it was why he'd become one of Yang's Rest's militiamen in the first place. What he didn't understand was why he was called on at the last minute to fill in for someone else.
Alfred let out a long, weary sigh, and ran a hand through his thick, long, vibrant red hair, exposing one of the oddly pointed ears that he had grown it out to hide. He blinked drowsily, his deep purple eyes lending a softness to his already feminine features. His lips were curled up in what he thought was a scowl, but what most people would call a pout. Even his attire lent him an odd sort of femininity; he'd chosen his richly purple shirt because it made much of his shoulders, but it bagged out over his slender chest, lending him the appearance of breasts he did not have, and his black leather trousers were tight enough to highlight the bulge at his crotch, but also made his decidedly well-muscled legs and his wide hips look very womanly.
Over his shoulder he'd slung the nylon harness of a simple carbine rifle, an older model that still had an Adamantine dampener worked into the barrel. It was fitted with an equally simple scope, letting him look at targets even further away than his already sharp vision let him. Gripped in his right hand was another scope, one of the surplus models for the sidearms the militiamen typically had; for Alfred, whose vision was sharp enough to let him count the spots on a ladybug more than thirty feet away, even the simple 3x zoom of the pistol scope was enough to let him look at absurdly far-away sights with nearly perfect clarity.
Letting out a long yawn, he cast his sleepy gaze out over the eastern side of town, looking past it to face the wilds of the Wasteland. Just before the horizon was a group of traders and merchants, camped out and sleeping peacefully, something that Alfred with very envious of. He'd been tracking the single member of that group who'd started running at Yang's Rest for nearly an hour at this point, watching the small dot slowly grow in his vision until it became oddly familiar to him.
Frowning, he raised his scope to his eye, only to blink in surprise when it turned out to be Volka Locke. As his frown deepened, he lowered the scope, mulling over the look of exhaustion and panic that had settled over the blonde woman's features.
Judging that he had close to twenty minutes before the founder made it to town, Alfred let out a sigh and began to descend the wooden ladder built into the tower. "Figures," Alfred grumbled under his breath, his voice almost shockingly deep and masculine compared to his extremely feminine appearance. "Can't even claim to have the shittiest start today."
Before fifteen minutes had passed, he'd managed the short distance to the general store, bought a couple bottles of dirty water, and brought them back to his post. Granted, it wasn't actually dirty; it had been filtered of solid contaminants, but there was still a trace amount of radiation in it, radiation that he knew Volka would be wanting after running that distance.
The trip up his assigned tower's ladder had cost him another minute, but he knew where Volka would come into town at the end of it, and the jump down from the tower took only a second, his Aura muting the shock of landing into something he could easily tolerate. Jogging at a steady lope that covered a lot of ground quickly, Alfred took off in Volka's direction, still holding the two bottles of water.
Volka was out of breath when he managed to catch her, and too tired to actually be surprised by Alfred's presence. He handed her one of the bottles of water, and she chugged it down in a hurry, only pausing once when she was halfway through to take several deep breaths.
"Thanks, Alfred," Volka panted out as she handed him the now-empty bottle. He nodded at her and passed her the second.
"Two caps," Alfred said once Volka had finished off the second bottle. She was already starting to react to the radiation in it, her energy returning as her body began metabolizing the small amount of the mutative substance.
Volka chuckled, rolling her shoulders as she passed the second bottle back to him. "Mind if I get it to you later?" Volka asked, turning back to face the city, a deep frown creasing her face. "Kinda in a hurry, here."
"I know you're good for it," Alfred said, nodding at her again. He turned around and began walking back to his post, waving at her without looking at her. "Luck," he offered, making Volka chuckle again.
XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX
Gunfire chattered out of Storm's rifle in a burst, the low pockets of thunderous sound feeling like a physical pressure against his ears more than he actually heard him. Not for the first time, the black-haired man lamented the fact that his ears always wound up getting more sensitive while he slept.
His target turned into blue mist before the Dust-propelled rounds could hit, sailing through the mist and the wooden wall behind it with ease; Storm winced and grimaced, hoping that no one was on the street by his home. He dove to one side as the mist gathered next to him, coalescing into a man wearing a bloodied lab coat with a yellow 22 on the left breast. The man drove what looked to be a ridiculously large scalpel at Storm, only for him to put his rifle in the way.
Steel met steel in a flurry of azure and alabaster sparks, and Storm drew his sword from its sheath built into his rifle in a flourish, forcing the doctor away from him.
"So," Storm began, twirling his sword in his left hand as he raised his assault carbine in his right. "You wanna tell me who the fuck you are?" The man merely smiled, running a hand through his blood-soaked blue hair before turning back into mist. Storm clicked his tongue disparagingly as the mist surged around him again. "Fine, then," Storm said, letting out an aggrieved sigh. "Guess we'll have to do this the hard way."
Dust, woven into the threads wrapped around his sword's grip, lit up grey and yellow as Storm drew upon the power of his namesake, conjuring a cyclone around him that pulled the mist his foe had become. After three seconds of letting him spin, Storm sent a surge of Lightning through the air, drawing a pained grunt from the doctor as he reformed from the mist.
"So, I'm going to ask again," Storm said calmly, twirling his sword again as he pointed his rifle at the doctor once more. "Who the fuck are you?"
The man laughed weakly, staggering to his feet and running his hand through his bloody hair again. "I suppose you've earned that much, haven't you?" the man asked quietly, his lazy smile made dangerous by the immense focus in his stare. "My name is Douglas Schnee."
Storm froze for an instant, but that instant was all Douglas needed. A section of thread in the Vault 22 doctor's coat emitted white light as Douglas pulled on the Dust it contained, conjuring a thick block of Ice around Storm's rifle and hand.
"Fuck!" Storm hissed, lashing out with his sword as Douglas lunged at him again. The doctor turned into mist only briefly, just long enough to dodge Storm's clumsy swing, then jabbed his scalpel at the former caravan guard. Storm's Aura took the brunt of the hit, turning what was left of the stab into kinetic energy that sent him stumbling away.
Feeling his back press up against the wall and seeing Douglas raise his hand, his sleeve alight with white light once more, made Storm sigh dejectedly. He spun around, slamming his ice-encased rifle into the thin wooden wall and shattering both the wood and the ice; following through his momentum, Storm fell onto his side and rolled out of his house onto the roughly-shod street just outside. He rose up into a crouch just in time to take a barrage of icicles to the face, sending him flying backwards once more.
Storm's PIP-Boy belched out an alert that his Aura was below thirty percent, which only made Douglas grin. "Ah, fuck," Storm mumbled, shifting his grip and letting go of his sword so he could fire his assault carbine at Douglas. His rifle chattered with thunder as two of the shots slammed into the doctor, knocking him away until he turned into blue mist again. "You know, that's getting really fucking annoying!" Storm shouted as he rose to his feet, the mist swirling around him. Storm glanced at his sword briefly, his lips twisting into a snarl as he saw that Douglas was getting between him and his weapon.
As Douglas reformed again, lunging at Storm with his scalpel, a veritable storm of metal balls slammed into his side, knocking him away from the militiaman and wreaking havoc on his Aura. Douglas turned into mist again as his own PIP-Boy screamed out its warning and Storm turned to look at his savior, a grin stealing his frown's place as he saw Volka running in.
Storm lunged for his sword as Volka snapped her own back into its melee form and swung at the mist, letting out an annoyed grunt as her sword passed through it without hitting anything solid. The Dust in the grip lit up as Storm drew on it again, sending a wide pulse of golden electricity into the mist with a swing of his blade; Douglas re-coalesced again, gritting his teeth against the pain of the electricity.
The doctor's brown eyes flashed blue, and he swept his hand at Volka as she let out a cry and swung her sword at him in an overhead arc; tendrils of sickly blue light flew from his palm and bashed Volka away, sending her flying until she slammed into the wall of a nearby house. She rose to her feet, using her sword as a crutch for a brief moment as Storm opened fire on Douglas again, forcing the man to turn back into mist.
Before Storm could electrocute him again, the Douglas mist flew away in a loose cloud, sailing south above the rooftops. Storm watched him go, blinking rapidly as his adrenaline faded and his early start to the day started catching up with him.
Storm groaned, sheathing his sword back into his rifle so he could rub at his forehead. "Thanks for the save, boss," Storm panted at Volka as she stumbled over to him, her legs starting to rebel against her in protest to the sheer distance she'd traveled so far. "I'd've been sunk without you."
"No problem," Volka said, glancing at Storm with a frown before she turned her gaze back to the swiftly retreating mist.
"For the record," Storm added, scowling at the blonde, "we're still not square."
Volka merely grunted, not wanting to talk about that subject quite yet.
"Volka!" Volka turned to see Summer running up to her, a worried look on her face. She was still clad in her pajamas, having draped her cloak over her and hastily shoved her shoes on once she heard the commotion. "What was that just now?" Summer asked, glancing up at the mist only briefly.
"Something bad," Volka said, grimacing. "All I know is he wanted to kidnap Storm."
"Whoa, what?" Storm asked, giving Volka a bewildered look. "How do you know that? Hell, I don't know that."
Volka sighed, then shook her head. "I've been having nightmares recently," Volka began, wincing when she saw the skeptical look on Storm's face. "He's been in them, typically dissecting people while ranting about wanting to learn more about Human determination or some other nonsense."
Storm let out a deep sigh, rubbing at his forehead again. "Damn it," Storm mumbled, looking up to meet Volka's eyes. "Much as I dislike you, boss, I know you aren't a liar. So, tell me, why the fuck would you be having these dreams?"
"Dust, how should I know?" Volka snapped, glaring at Storm.
"Uh, guys?" Summer asked, wincing as she felt their heated glares fall squarely on her. "Shouldn't we, you know, chase the bad guy? Or maybe trying to catch Rhonwen, since she's chasing him?"
"What?" Volka asked.
"Oh, yeah," Storm said, bonking the heel of his palm against his forehead. "That guy called himself Douglas Schnee."
"What?!"
XxxXxxXxxXxxXxX
Penny woke up to the sound of someone rooting around in the room next to hers. It took her mere milliseconds to remember that she was not in her room at her home, but instead in the third bedroom of the house that Rhonwen and Summer shared. Realizing that the sound was probably normal, Penny decided to ignore it and start stretching.
Now, with a Human or a Faunus, the act of stretching out in the morning was usually to get your muscles warmed up and to get all the kinks that a night of sleeping in an awkward position could give you. For Penny, the stretching served a different purpose: she wanted to make sure that her body wasn't going to start degrading at some point, since she had a finite amount of replacement parts that she could swap in. Regular checks on the joints and motors, as well as regular maintenance of her synthetic skin, was something that Penny had started doing in the first decade after the bombs had dropped.
She was quick about it, running through the routine of stretches in less than fifteen seconds, her joints and limbs moving soundlessly beneath her skin. Penny nodded to herself as the last part of the routine, making sure her neck joints were working properly, and then walked out of the room, her eyes taking in every last detail without moving. She corrected that as soon as she noticed it, making sure her eyes did move to track anything she took particular interest in; Penny had realized fairly quickly after she'd been first built and "woken up" that people were more likely to treat her as a person if she acted more like a Human, but it had been decades since she'd had so much as an extended conversation with someone, so the social niceties that she'd memorized long ago seemed foreign to her.
And now that she was staying with her lover's descendant, Summer, Penny realized that she needed to stay away from what her original creator had called "the uncanny valley"; seeming more robotic would only make Summer dislike her, while seeming more Human would allow Penny to stay friendly, if not familial, with her. Penny tried to keep that in mind as she walked down the stairs, trailing the fingers of one hand over the guard rail despite her lack of need for the assistance it provided.
The dining room, which was the first place Penny went to, was empty. She felt sure that whoever was rooting around in the bedroom upstairs would come there soon enough. Nearly a minute of patient waiting later, Penny was proven right.
Summer Dream was in a rush, her Brotherhood sniper rifle slung over her back by its leather strap and her pistol resting in its holster at her hip. She had gotten dressed after her brief attempt to follow Rhonwen as she chased her father, putting on a black blouse with silver buttons shaped like crosses and a pair of black trousers lined with a pattern of red rose petals trailing along the outside of each leg. She'd opted for her weather-proofed red cloak, and its hood rested limply behind her neck as she ran towards the front door.
"Summer?" Penny asked, getting the young woman to stop with her hand on the doorknob, her lupine tail thrashing irritably. "What's wrong?"
"Long story," Summer said. "Short version: Rhonwen's father showed up, we think he's possessed by something called the Shade," Summer began, not noticing it when Penny seemed to freeze at her statement, "she's chasing him, Volka's trying to catch up to her, and Storm and I are going to Vault 4 to look for a fairy tale book with Summer Rose's notes in it."
Penny continued to stare at Summer for a moment, then said, "Vault 4 is miles from here. How will you get there?"
Summer shrugged. "We'll walk when we can't run."
"How about I drive you there?" Penny asked, bowing her head slightly. "I think there are a few things we need to talk about on the way."
"Sure, whatever gets us there faster," Summer said, opening the door and stepping through it in a hurry, motioning for Penny to follow with the same haste.
XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX
Rhonwen hissed as she tried to keep up with her father, her legs burning with exertion. 'When this is over, I'm gonna take up jogging,' Rhonwen thought irritably, trying to keep herself from thinking about how much her legs hurt. Her doctor's coat, a bold 22 emblazoned in bright yellow over the left breast, flared behind her as she ran, revealing her white silk blouse and brown trousers to anyone who could see her.
Rhonwen had only seen Douglas use his Semblance a handful of times, but she'd recognize the oddly blue fog anywhere; seeing her father use his Semblance to slip behind a fallen bookcase to help shove it off of the person it had landed on was one of her earliest memories, after all.
The Schnee had no clue how long she'd been running; all she knew was that losing her father now meant that she would likely never find him again. At some point, Volka had started running beside her, which she found odd; hadn't Volka been guarding a caravan?
In the end, it was a very small stone that forced Rhonwen to abandon the chase; and by "abandon the chase", I mean "fall flat on her face".
"Ow," Rhonwen moaned as she sat up, pulling her legs beneath her. She reached up to feel at her nose, wincing when she felt the blood dribbling from it. "Damn it," she muttered as Volka came to a stop in front of her. "That's broken."
"You okay?" Volka asked, gasping for breath. She nearly collapsed when she stepped back over to Rhonwen, her own legs failing her.
"No," Rhonwen muttered, glaring at the blue mist as it scurried further towards the horizon. "He's getting away."
Volka grimaced, glancing over her shoulder at the fog. "I don't think we can catch up to him like this," Volka said, clenching her jaw when she felt the muscles in her legs begin to spasm. "Dust, I don't know if I can manage the walk back to town like this," the blonde mumbled, sitting down and trying to massage her thigh, only to let out a quiet squeak at the pain that lanced through her leg. "You wouldn't happen to have anything irradiated on you, would you?" Volka asked, drawing Rhonwen's attention to her.
"Excuse me?" Rhonwen asked, blinking at Volka.
"You know, for my Semblance?" Volka asked, tilting her head at the young woman. "Wait, you do know what my Semblance is, right?" When Rhonwen merely shook her head, Volka frowned and mumbled, "I could've sworn I told you at some point."
Rhonwen sighed, rubbing at one of her eyes with the back of her hand. "Hey, hold my hand for a second?" Rhonwen asked, the change of subject further confusing Volka.
"Why?" Volka asked, extending her hand anyways.
Rhonwen grabbed it, the placed her other hand on her nose. After taking a deep breath, Rhonwen shifted her fingers, letting out a yowl of pain and tightening her grip on the blonde's hand as she realigned her broken nose. Panting, she let go of Volka's hand, nodding her thanks towards the older woman.
"Um, what did you just do?" Volka asked, concerned.
"My nose broke when I fell," Rhonwen said, wincing as she stood back up. Her nose was still bleeding, so she tore a scrap of fabric off of the left wrist of her coat and used that to stem the flow of blood. "It was misaligned, so I fixed it. Now come on, let's get back to town."
"Uh, I'm not sure if I can," Volka said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "My legs don't seem to be working right now."
XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX
"You're kidding me," Summer said, staring at Penny. The two of them, along with Storm, were in Penny's car as she drove it along the narrow dirt road west of Yang's Rest. They'd barely gone a mile before Penny had started talking about Summer's silver eyes. "You're saying I've got some sort of second Semblance?"
"No, it's..." Penny trailed off, letting out a frustrated sigh. "It's hard to explain without using the word 'magic'. Ruby never really talked about it, even after I saw her use it on multiple occasions, so I had to piece most of this together myself. The only thing she ever said was that it was an old power that could only be present in people born with silver eyes."
"Wait, wait, wait, I'm lost," Storm piped up from the backseat, leaning between the two front seats so he didn't have to speak up. "So, her eyes let her emit some sort of funky light that hits the Grimm like a freight train? Why?"
"I don't know," Penny said. "We've all had our theories, but, like I said, Ruby kept it to herself. She may have told Summer - our daughter, Summer, I mean, not you, Summer - but I don't know for sure."
"So, what, I'm supposed to just pour my feelings out through my eyes and see what happens?" Summer asked sullenly, her brow furrowed as she stared at Penny. "Because that seems like a good way for things to go wrong."
"How so?" Penny asked, glancing at Summer for a second before turning her eyes back to the road.
"From everything I've heard, every story and bit of history I've read, they made it seem like Ruby was a very positive person," Summer said. When Penny nodded, she continued, "That's not exactly the kind of person I am."
"What do you mean?" Penny asked.
"Well, my therapist back in Vault 4 said that he was considering diagnosing me as a sociopath," Summer said, making Penny gasp in shock and Storm give her an odd look. "I said he was considering it, not that he did."
"Wonderful," Storm muttered, sitting back down in his seat. "Just what I've always wanted: trapped in a metal box speeding along faster than I can run with one woman who's a psycho and another who's one magnet away from going psycho."
Summer turned her head to glare at him, only for her mouth to quirk in a smile when she saw him give her a wink and a lazy smirk. "I'll have you know that magnets were never a problem for me," Penny grumbled, keeping her eyes on the road. "At least, not like that."
"So, what ended up happening with your therapist?" Storm asked, only to wince and add, "Before the, er, recent events, I mean."
"Oh, he died a long time ago," Summer said, sitting back in her seat and turning her head to the ceiling. "Bled out on the floor of his office when I was twelve."
"Wait, what?" Penny asked, glancing at Summer. "Why?"
"He tried to rape me, so I bit down," Summer said with a shrug, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "Only time I've ever tasted someone else's blood," Summer added, completely ignorant of the shocked stares that Penny and Storm were giving her. "You probably shouldn't take his diagnosis too seriously. He wasn't quite right in the head either."
"Holy fuck, Summer," Storm breathed, almost afraid to raise his voice. "You were nearly raped?"
"Wasn't the first time, either," Summer said, still looking up at the ceiling. "That was a few months earlier; it's why I was in therapy in the first place."
"Dust," Penny mumbled quietly, shaking her head.
"How the fuck can you stand even being around guys after that shit?" Storm asked, worry creasing his brow. "I mean, shit, if I was you I'd be freaking out just from being in the same car as me."
Summer shrugged again, turning to look at Storm. "I've got a bit of a touch phobia when it comes to men, but other than that I'm okay," Summer said. "Just don't try to hug me or something and we'll be fine."
Penny decided that it would be best if she didn't try to process this conversation immediately, so she filed it away for later. In doing so, she was able to pay more attention to the road, and realized that they were coming up on a small camp fairly quickly. "You expecting any guests at Yang's Rest?" Penny asked, making Storm blink at her.
"Oh, you mean the caravan?" Storm asked after a moment, needing the time to wrap his head around the change of subject. "Yeah, Volka was guarding the- oh, shit, she just left them behind, didn't she? Can you pull to a stop and let me out?"
"What?" Summer asked, frowning at Storm. "Why?"
"Because they need the help," Storm said, unbuckling the seat belt that Penny had insisted upon using. "Without V or someone guarding them, they're sitting ducks if any bandit or Grimm shows up."
"Got it," Penny said, slowing down as she approached the caravan.
XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX
"I'm telling you, I'll be fine if you just get me some radiation," Volka groaned as Rhonwen gently laid the blonde on one of the cots in the medical clinic in Yang's Rest. Rhonwen had needed to practically carry Volka, making for some rather slow going to get back.
"In my professional opinion," Rhonwen began, turning away from Volka to look through her medical supplies, "your legs are more fucked than I was the night before my last birthday. That's saying something, right there."
"It's saying a few things," Volka mumbled under her breath.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing, nothing," Volka said quickly, managing an awkward grin as she waved her hands in front of herself apologetically.
Rhonwen shook her head and sighed, pulling a bottle of pills labeled "Med-X" from a cabinet. "I don't know exactly how your Semblance works, but from what you've been babbling on the way here, I'd surmise that it speeds up your metabolism at a rate proportional to how much radiation you've taken in," Rhonwen thought out loud as she passed a pair of pills to Volka, who swallowed them without any ceremony. Or water. "The only painkillers we have are Med-X, which is one of the most addictive pharmaceuticals I've ever administered, and from the way you didn't even wait for a glass of water, I'm guessing you have a bit of a problem. I will not offer you anything that speeds up your metabolism until we either get better painkillers or until you can stand without feeling any pain."
Volka blinked at her, then stared at the hand her pills had briefly been in. "Ah, fuck me," Volka whined, letting herself fall back onto the cot. She closed her eyes, her impatience having long ago taught her that sleeping was often the best way to pass the time.
"Well, since you asked so kindly." Volka's eyes shot back open at Rhonwen's breathy voice in her ear, staring wide-eyed at the Schnee who was mere inches from her.
"I-I told you I'm not l-like that," Volka stammered quickly, trying to back away from the nymphomaniac doctor and only succeeding in dangling her arm over the side of the cot.
"And you should know by now that I'm not going to molest someone," Rhonwen spat, her voice dry and harsh enough to make Volka flinch. "If I want sex, I'll find someone willing to fuck me. I'm not going to turn into some rapist just because you said no."
"Rhonwen-" Volka began, only to be cut off by the doctor's heated glare.
"Shut up," Rhonwen growled, her blue eyes seeming to spark with her anger. "I'm pissed off enough without you being an ignorant bitch. You know that was my father, right?" Rhonwen asked, sitting down at one of the only desks in the building. "You said that he attacked Storm out of nowhere, that he just woke up and my father was trying to kill him. Is that true?"
Volka frowned, worried, but her voice was firm when she said, "Yes."
"And you said you've been having nightmares about the things he's been doing," Rhonwen continued, seemingly ignoring Volka's statement. "That he's been vivisecting people, torturing them to see how far he can go before they break down and die. Is that true?" Rhonwen asked, her voice growing ever harsher.
"Yes," Volka said, swallowing as she felt the Med-X start to kick in. The pain in her legs subsided, fading to a dull ache as the rest of the little pains she felt disappeared entirely. "You saw the blood in his hair, right?"
"How could I not?!" Rhonwen yelled, wheeling around to face Volka, her eyes burning with rage. She stopped herself, closed her eyes, and took a series of long, deep breaths to calm herself down. "Just... just shut up and let me talk, okay?" Rhonwen asked, turning back around so that she didn't have to look at Volka. "Don't talk unless you're answering a question, or I won't be able to tell you what I need to."
Volka swallowed again, opening her mouth to speak. She snapped it shut before she could utter so much as a "yes", however, and instead just sat silently, staring at the back of Rhonwen's head.
"For about a week before I was exiled from Vault 22, there was a series of 'accidents'," Rhonwen began, spitting out the word like it was a piece of rotten meat. "There were nearly sixty injuries as a result of these 'accidents', but the only person who... who died as a result of them was my mother. It was almost too much work for us medical workers to keep up with. And then, after one last 'accident' that broke my friend's leg, my father disappeared from the Vault, and there were no more accidents. My exile was a result of a fight that some idiots started after that; they were smart enough to figure out the connection between my father and what had been happening, but not smart enough to think that I wasn't involved."
Volka remained silent, trying to blink away the tears that were forming in her eyes. 'Why do these things keep happening to people?' Volka thought bitterly when Rhonwen paused, taking deep breaths again. 'What is it about the Wasteland that does this?'
"I told Summer all of this just last night," Rhonwen continued, snapping Volka out of her thoughts. "And she told me about an old fairy tale, about the thing that created the Grimm. The Shade."
Volka's blood felt like ice in her veins. Flashes of images filled her mind, of blood, and death, and war. She saw herself digging a hand through a fallen man's intestines, watched him scream with a smile on her face; she saw herself pull out the man's still beating heart and crush it right before his red eyes, the blood splattering on his short hair, salt and pepper covered with red. She shook her head vigorously, almost giving herself whiplash from how hard she was shaking; her vision ended up blurry and spotted with swimming dots after she finished purging the old memories from her head with the vicious motion.
"You said that my father's eyes turned blue during the fight, right? The same color as his Aura?" Rhonwen asked, helping snap Volka out of it.
"Y-yes," Volka said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"So, assuming there's some truth to the old story, why would you be having dreams about someone possessed by such a creature?" Rhonwen asked, turning to face Volka. The blonde shook her head slowly, rubbing a hand against her forehead. "Well, Volka?"
"I..." Volka said, only to sigh and shake her head again. "I wish I knew. You know I'm an amnesiac, right?" Volka asked, making Rhonwen nod. "Maybe it has something to do with that?"
"You seem distressed," Rhonwen noted, causing Volka to bite her lower lip and look away. "Mind telling me exactly why?"
The silence stretched between them for what felt like a long time to Volka, only for her to break the silence. "The... the thing's name... it shook something loose in my head. I've got... memories where I didn't have them before, I guess."
"Tell me," Rhonwen said, only for Volka to shake her head fiercely.
"No," Volka said, swallowing at the bile rising in her throat. "They're... awful. I don't think I want to remember, anymore." Volka stared Rhonwen straight in the eyes, and the white-haired woman gasped as she saw the blonde's eyes flash yellow for a brief instant. "I don't want to remember those things, Rhonwen. Please, don't make me... don't make me think about them."
Volka rolled over onto her side as she felt tears begin to spill from her eyes, hiding her weakness from someone she should be friends with. "I'm sorry," Volka mumbled, her voice breaking. "I'm sorry."
XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX
"Are you sure this is the right way?" Penny asked as Summer led her down the long halls of Vault 4. The metal walls and floors were covered in dried blood, most of which was pooled around the slowly decaying bodies wearing blue jumpsuits; the yellow 4's that marked their breasts and backs had mostly been stained when they had been killed by the servitor robots, which stood motionless in the halls as if standing guard those they had slain.
Summer remained silent, which Penny took to be a bad sign. Repressing the urge to sigh, Penny browsed through her files, opening a schematic of the Vault 4 servitor robots without it taking up her vision; it was a feature she'd demanded Ruby implement within the first month of her being rebuilt.
The servitors were humanoid, the steel of their armor plating, vaguely reminiscent of the knights of old, having been made extra-shiny due to specific Dust treatments; two hundred years ago, Penny had assumed this would help the people being sent into Vault 4 acclimate to their presence, and had told Jaune Arc as much when she was asked to go over the Vault plans with him and Pyrrha. Some of them had been fitted with slender blades, others with rotating guns, but they had been specifically programmed to never harm anyone wearing a Vault-Tec jumpsuit. What's more, Penny had insisted that each servitor be programmed individually instead of linked to a grid that they would receive their programming from; it would be far more difficult to hack every robot simultaneously to achieve the exact thing she was seeing than to simply work over a grid.
Going over the schematics made something very, very clear to Penny: there was no way this hadn't been deliberate.
Penny kept her eyes on Summer the whole time she processed the information, and was thus aware of the exact second that Summer started shaking. "Summer?" Penny asked, afraid to put her hand on the young woman for fear of what the touch of a machine would do to her. When Summer didn't react, Penny repeated herself, saying Summer's name louder each time. "Summer. Summer. Summer!"
Finally, Penny grew so worried that she sped up and stopped in front of the young Faunus, placing her body directly in Summer's path. "Summer, please, just stop for a moment," Penny said as Summer came to a stop. Her silver eyes seemed dim and unfocused, and her body shook like she was freezing. "I know you aren't alright, so don't bother trying to lie to me."
"I'll be fine," Summer mumbled, starting to shuffle forwards again, only to bump into Penny. Her eyes filled with fear for a brief moment, only to become completely empty of emotion again soon after. "Let's keep moving before I fall asleep," Summer added, her voice seeming stronger than before. "Woke up too early today."
"Excuse me?" Penny asked as Summer walked past her. Realizing that it was pointless to just stand there, Penny started following Summer again, making sure she stayed only a couple feet away from the young woman. "What do you mean by that?"
"I get like this when I'm tired," Summer said, her voice utterly monotonous. "I'll get some sleep when we get back."
"You start shaking when you're tired?" Penny asked, frowning.
"I'm not shaking," Summer mumbled, fighting the urge to swallow at the lump that formed in her throat as they walked past another set of corpses, much too small to have been adults. Their faces were too obscured by blood and bullet holes for Summer to recognize any of them.
"Yes, you are," Penny said, glancing at the bodies strewn about. "Summer, what's wrong?"
"Let's just keep..." Summer began, only to stop when her voice cracked. She clenched her jaw, closing her eyes briefly before saying, "Let's just keep moving. Only one more staircase between us and the firing range."
"You miss them." Penny's statement made Summer whirl to face her, anguish and self-hate displayed clearly in her silver eyes. "You don't want to admit it, but you miss them, even the ones who hurt you," Penny said, wishing that she could just hug her lover's descendant instead of beating her over the head with words; but, as she judged that to have a high chance of triggering a PTSD episode, Penny did the only thing she could. "You wish they were still alive, that you could have saved them. Don't you?"
Summer closed her eyes and shook her head, turning away from Penny so she wouldn't see her cry. "No," she croaked, the tears rolling down her cheeks a bald testament to her lie. "I just wish that I didn't care so much."
"Summer," Penny began, only to sigh. "It wasn't your fault," she said a moment later.
"Wasn't my fault?" Summer asked, a sound that was half-chuckle, half-sob escaping her throat. "Of course it's my fault. I could've stopped this before... before..."
"Summer," Penny began, only for Summer to cut her off.
"Instead of going straight to the Overseer's office, I decided that everything was too fucked to bother trying to fix it," Summer spat, clenching her eyes tightly shut. "I went to the medical center to steal medicine, I went to the girls' quarters to find my cousin and take her with me; I should've just gone to fix the problem instead of trying to escape while everyone was dying around me!" Another sob escaped the young woman's throat, and she cradled her left arm with her right, looking like nothing so much as a scared little girl in that moment. "I should have died with them. Just another Vault 4 civilian killed by a robot."
It took Penny only half a second to determine which path had the best chance of snapping Summer out of it, and another two seconds to steel her heart against it. She stepped around Summer, made sure that the young woman was facing her, and slapped her. Hard.
The thwack of synthetic skin meeting flesh rebounded through the otherwise silent halls as Summer stood there, too stunned to actually process what was happening. Her cheek began to turn red, the shape of Penny's hand appearing on her face in mere moments.
"If you want to die by a robot," Penny was trying to growl, though it came out much sadder than she intended, "then, by all means, just tell me. I'll hate every last second of my existence afterward, but I will grant you your wish."
Summer remained motionless, too shocked to actually be scared for a long moment; when that moment passed, absolute fear numbed her mind. She staggered away from Penny, her breaths coming in short, ragged gasps, her silver eyes wide with panic. And still, she cried, though tears were not the only things flowing from her eyes; silver sparks flew from them, the ancient magic triggered by her panic.
Penny's eyes widened as well; this had not been the reaction she'd been hoping for. "Summer?" Penny asked, staring deep into the young woman's eyes. "Just... just calm down, okay?"
Summer did not calm down; at least, not right away. Nor had she even heard Penny's words; well, she heard them, but she didn't understand them.
She was too deeply gripped by her Semblance.
After five minutes of apparent time, Summer began to calm down. She tried to take a deep breath, only to nearly panic again when she found her lungs so slow to respond; she would have screamed if she could have, but she felt like she was fighting against a wall of molasses just trying to raise her lips. She saw Penny's lips move in slow motion, barely recognizing the fact that they were moving at all.
And through it all, she felt a thick fatigue begin to settle over her, and a mildly unpleasant warmth begin to make itself known at the back of her skull.
Summer thought back to the first time she'd ever felt anything like that before, and realized that it first happened just a few days after she'd turned twelve. She, and half a dozen other kids her age, had been taken to the Vault's firing range for their first lesson in aiming a gun. Summer had managed to hit the bull's eye of every target with every weapon she'd been allowed to use, all after only one practice shot with each gun. By the end of the day, Summer had felt tired and unbearably warm, and had relished the cold shower she'd taken almost immediately after her day's classes were through; she'd stayed under the water so long that Layla had begun to worry about her, given the Faunus's dislike of getting her tail wet.
And then Summer remembered the way she'd found out about her Semblance only a week ago, when she'd been thrown a rifle and pointed it at a Nevermore. She had been exhilarated at the chance to shoot such a magnificently crafted weapon, and wanted to make sure she took down the threat to her, and to the people who had already given her so much, in a single shot.
Both times, she had been released from the slowed time by allowing herself to lower her weapon, to step away from the thought of shooting the target in front of her. So, she tried to push away her fear and her anger; it was one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do.
But she had time. Her Semblance made sure of that.
Though it had taken nearly half an hour on her end to calm herself down, to push away all of the thoughts triggering her adrenaline-filled response to Penny's action, only a few seconds had actually passed.
Summer gasped in a breath, relishing how she could feel it filling her lungs almost instantly. She closed her eyes and merely reveled in the small motions of her body, of her lungs and her heart, of the fingers she stretched and balled into fists at will.
"Summer?" Penny repeated, growing more worried by the second.
"I'm okay," Summer said, enjoying the feeling of her lips moving quickly. "My... my Semblance let's me speed up my perception of time. I'm still learning how to use it, but... I'm okay," Summer repeated, giving Penny a weak smile.
"By... by how much?" Penny asked, almost afraid to learn the answer.
"Hard to tell," Summer said, shrugging, "but I'm pretty sure it was at least twenty minutes for me. Maybe more."
"Oh," Penny said, giving Summer a thin smile. "I remember doing something like that once. I was trying to figure out how to tell Ruby that I wanted a child." Penny's smile grew as she remembered the look on her lover's face, the sheer shock that had turned into the brightest grin she'd ever seen. "I nearly overheated my circuitry because of it."
"Huh," Summer said, tilting her head to one side as she stared at Penny. "I always thought that Ruby would've had to convince you to let her have a kid."
"Nope," Penny practically chirped. "Don't get me wrong: she wasn't against it in the slightest, but I was the one who started that conversation."
"Okay," Summer said, rolling her eyes. "I feel like we should probably get off this topic before you start telling me... inappropriate things."
"Sure," Penny said, extremely relieved that Summer was doing better.
"Oh, and Penny?"
"Yes, Sum-" Penny was cut off, but not because Summer interrupted her; the young woman had wrapped her arms around the sapient robot, giving her a nervous, awkward hug.
"Thank you," Summer mumbled, trying to push away her emotions again before a blush could settle over her. "For helping me out of that."
Penny smiled, loosely wrapping one of her own arms around Summer. "You're welcome," Penny said softly.
"A-and could you not tell anyone about... this?" Summer asked quietly, her blush emerging despite the wall she'd built around her embarrassment. "I d-don't want them to s-see me like... like this."
"Of course, Summer," Penny said, holding her just a bit tighter. "It can be our little secret. I promise."
XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX
It didn't them long to reach the firing range after that, nor did it take Summer long to move them to the armory hidden behind it; she still had the keys, after all. "So, why did we come here?" Penny asked softly, watching Summer walk by the numerous lockers and racks of weapons. "You said we were looking for a book, right?"
"We are," Summer said, glancing over at the lockers as she continued past them. "I kept things in a few of the lockers in here. Sometimes books that I didn't want stolen from me, other times a few extra supplies, wires and circuit boards and the like, for whatever project I was working on at the time." Summer scowled, then shook her head. "A backpack with some clothes and supplies in it, in case I ever got the nerve to walk out."
"This place... it wasn't good to you," Penny mumbled, turning her gaze to the floor. "I wish... I don't know. I wish I could have been here for you."
Summer snorted off a laugh and shook her head. "People are selfish like that," Summer mumbled to herself, trying to keep her voice quiet.
"What do you mean?"
Summer stiffened; evidently, she hadn't been quiet enough. "Damn," Summer muttered quietly, being extra careful to keep her voice low.
"Summer?" Penny asked, frowning at the young woman.
"Um, well," Summer began, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly as her cheeks flushed. "It's just... something I've noticed over the years, I guess. People don't usually wish for things to be better; they wish they had the ability to make things better. I tried to... figure out why, a couple times. All I could come up with was that people are selfish. They don't actually want the other person's life to be any better, they just want the credit for making that person's life better."
"Summer... is that what you really think? Of me?" Penny asked, her voice seeming to break, as if with unshed tears.
Summer sighed, shaking her head. "It used to be. Then I met Rhonwen, and Volka, and Asra and Ferrer and everyone else at Yang's Rest. They took me in, helped me, and didn't ask for anything in return. They didn't brag about saving some poor Vault girl, either." Summer turned to face Penny, her face a blank mask except for her silver eyes, which had so many emotions melding within them that it was hard for the robot to tell what she was feeling. "They just helped me. And I helped them without thinking about it. That first night, the broken water purifier that was just sitting on their kitchen table... whether it's fixing something mechanical or working with code, whenever I was feeling distressed, I always started working on something to help calm me down." Summer raised her PIP-Boy, tapping a finger against its metal casing. "There's so much stuff on here that I could have done instead; decrypting old files, restoring damaged logs, just reading through the messages between my ancestors and their friends. But I didn't. I fixed that water purifier instead."
Summer took a deep breath, then shook her head again. "I don't know why I'm telling you all of this," Summer mumbled, turning away from Penny and continuing to walk along the rows of lockers.
Before Penny could come up with a response to that, the two of them were taken by surprise by an urgent beep from Summer's PIP-Boy. The message, it turned out, was from Rhonwen, using the group chat client that they'd been using to talk with Asra and Volka at night.
Rhonwen: We lost my father, but we need those notes more than ever
Rhonwen: Meet me at the clinic in 30 and we can head out today.
Summer chuckled mirthlessly, shaking her head as she slid out the compact keyboard nestled in the PIP-Boy's leather case and typed out her reply.
Self: Already there. Penny's helping me look for the book.
Self: Took us less than half an hour in Penny's car.
Rhonwen: You okay?
Self: Been better, but yeah.
Self: See you when we get back.
Rhonwen: Got it.
Rhonwen: Don't leave me waiting too long.
Summer's lips quirked up in a brief smile as she closed the chat log and slid away her keyboard. Her expression quickly turned into a frown as she resumed looking at the lockers, her frown only deepening as she found one of her old "stash" lockers; the sigh Summer let out was very confusing to Penny. She drew a key from one of her satchels and used it to unlock the locker, pointedly ignoring the most obvious object in it as she pulled it open.
The box was small, barely large enough to hold an apple, and it was covered in a thin layer of decorative red paper, roses drawn in patterns on the wrappings in black ink. Next to the box was a shotgun, its barrel having been shortened by a hacksaw some years before; a small case of shotgun shells sat beneath it, the emblem of a red rose falling to pieces marking it as property of Scattered Rose Munitions.
"Guess it wasn't this one," Summer muttered, reaching in to pull out the shotgun and its ammo, ignoring the startled gasp from Penny when she saw it. Summer set the gun at her hip, using a now well-practiced Aura exercise to hold it there without any straps or holsters. She was still learning, and could only barely keep a coin from falling off of her forehead with the exercise, but Summer had an affinity for guns; she felt that if she could manage a coin, she could manage a shotgun.
Summer didn't shut the locker immediately; she couldn't. She stared at the box, unable to ignore it any longer, and let out a deep, heavy sigh.
"So, what do you want for your birthday?" Summer asked the young woman sitting next to her. The two of them were on a bed with clean white sheets, the bright yellow 4 emblazoned on them standing out as clearly as blood would; it would have been a lie to say that Summer had never before thought about how ever-present that number was in the Vault, almost like it was meant to be a constant reminder of what the world had been turned into.
"Hmm..." Layla said, her lips firmly shut as she tapped a finger against her chin. Summer could see the smile in her cousin's grey eyes, despite the utterly passive expression she wore on her youthful face. "Gee, I'm not quite sure," Layla drawled, shaking her head and causing her artfully curled black hair to sway tantalizingly in the artificial lights. It did not seem to glow red, the way Summer's often did, but she found it attractive nonetheless. Her leg was bound in a metal brace, which had then been wrapped in clean cloth of a variety of colors to keep it more secure.
"Oh come on," Summer said, shaking her head with a smile. "You told me months ago that you already knew what you wanted."
Layla giggled, her eyes nearly squinting completely shut with the laugh. "Yeah, but that was months ago!" Layla exclaimed, flopping backwards onto the bed to stare up at the ceiling. She smoothed out her jumpsuit, not comfortable with the way it had settled; this action made her breasts, as small as they were, jiggle in a way that briefly drew Summer's eyes. "I don't know if I want that anymore."
"Come on, just tell me."
"No!" Layla laughed, winking at Summer, who merely rolled her eyes. "It's a bit embarrassing, actually," Layla continued, blushing a bit.
"Oh?" Summer asked, a sly smile flitting across her lips. "You know, Layla, we are cousins. I doubt anyone would accept that."
"Oh, gross!" Layla exclaimed, throwing a disgusted look, and a pillow, at Summer as the older woman laughed. "Dust, I would never ask for that!"
Summer was still laughing, but she turned away, trying to hide the hurt in her eyes. "So, why not tell me?" Summer asked, waving her hand in a loose circle to help distract Layla. "It can't be as bad as what I was implying."
Layla let out a huff, then said, "Well, I guess that's true. Okay, I'll tell you." Summer faced her cousin once more, happy that she was at least sharing this with her. "I want a PIP-Boy."
Summer let a moment pass, waiting for Layla to continue, only to raise an eyebrow and ask, "Is that it?" When Layla nodded, Summer cocked her head to one side, her tail swiping back and forth lazily. "You know you're going to get one in a few years, right?"
"I don't want to wait, Summer!" Layla exclaimed, pouting at her cousin. "You have one. Mom and Dad have PIP-Boys. I want one, and I don't want to wait another four years to get one!"
"Hmm..." Summer said, her lips firmly shut as she tapped a finger against her chin. Layla rolled her eyes and let out a huff of annoyance, mock-glaring at her cousin as she imitated her earlier actions. "I might not be able to get you one right away."
"Aw!" Layla was pouting again, but it merely made Summer smile at the young woman.
"But," Summer continued, "I might be able to get a special one on reserve for you. There is a Lark model in between users right now, after all, and it is the maintenance department's job to distribute them."
Layla gasped, sitting bolt upright and wrapping Summer in a tight hug. "Really?!" Layla exclaimed, grinning as Summer nodded her head. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"I said 'might'," Summer said, making Layla pout again. "But I think Myst owes me enough favors right now that I can manage it."
"Summer!" Penny's shout, mere inches from her ears, jolted Summer out of the memory she'd been pulled into. She flinched away from the worried robot, blinking rapidly as if waking from a deep sleep. "Dust, Summer, you had me worried," Penny said, putting a hand over where her heart would be as she looked over the young woman. "Are you alright?"
Summer swallowed at the lump forming in her throat, then turned back to the locker and the carefully wrapped PIP-Boy within it. Summer felt tears begin to spill from her eyes as she slammed it shut and locked it again, startling Penny. "No," Summer croaked, her voice weak. "Only two more lockers to check."
XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX
Rhonwen let out a soft sigh, leaning back in her seat as she twirled a pencil around her finger. She looked over at Volka, who had been asleep ever since she began getting her memories back; with a quick glance at the clock on her PIP-Boy (the eighth such glance in the last ten minutes), she determined that, yes, it had been over an hour.
Which made it eight in the morning.
Rhonwen sighed again, slumping forward in her seat and setting the pencil down as she rubbed at her forehead. "Why?" she mumbled, cradling her head in both hands. "You were always a good person, Dad. Caring for the sick, healing the injured, helping bring new life into the world... why would you go against all of it?"
The squeak of the door opening snapped Rhonwen out of her thoughts, making her raise her head to look at who it was. A weight seemed to lift from her shoulders as she saw Summer and Penny walking into the clinic, and she stood up, brushing imaginary dirt off of her coat just to have something to do with her hands. "Thank fuck you two are back," Rhonwen said softly, striding to the pair to wrap Summer in a brief hug. "I'm sorry you had to go back there for me, Summer."
"I'll be fine, Rhonwen," Summer said, pasting a small smile over her lips as Rhonwen released her. "You know how I am: the moment it's over, I move on."
"Right," Rhonwen said, nodding her head and smiling back at Summer, too distressed to tell that the older woman's smile was strained. "Did... did you find it?"
"Yes," Summer said, pulling a thick book from one of the satchels she wore on her belt. Its binding was worn down from time and use, and its front and back covers had fared little better, but the now pale green front cover still recognizably bore the image of four young maidens, each wearing colors representative of the seasons they were named for; an old story, but one Rhonwen could still remember some of.
Summer walked over to one of the desks in the clinic and set the book down gently, opening it with just as much care. She slowly, gently, slid her hand beneath the first blank page and, using her other hand to keep it from bending too much, slowly turned it to rest on the cover, revealing the half-faded handwriting that covered its other side.
"You know how to take care of old books?" Penny asked, raising one of her eyebrows as Summer sat down in the chair and Rhonwen brought over a pair of stools for them to sit on.
"I'm a bit of a history nerd," Summer mumbled, blushing faintly as she said it. Penny and Rhonwen sat next to her as she read aloud her ancestor's cramped yet precise handwriting, still legible despite the centuries that had gone by.
"From what Ruby was willing to tell me, the Shade was a very real being. Odd that it would be in such an old collection of fairy tales, since she and her friends killed it about a decade before I was born. Of course, this isn't the only story about it; there were stories where it died before, and after everything that's been happening lately, I can't help but feel that this is just another one of them. An endless cycle of light and dark destroying each other. The patterns in every story are roughly the same, too.
"'One of the world, taken. One of the blood, undone. One of the flora, broken. One of the light, beaten or victorious.'
"One of the world, meaning a warrior whose Semblance carries an element used in one of the naturally occurring types of Dust, or is otherwise linked to the natural world (but not one of the flora; see below). They aren't always killed; sometimes, they're possessed by the Shade, 'taken', as it were. If the pattern holds true, and this isn't just me reading too much into things, Aunt Yang fulfills this role. May she rest in peace.
"One of the blood, meaning someone with a well-respected bloodline (alt: investigate possible blood-based Semblances). There are multiple old bloodlines still holding weight in the world: the Schnee, Winter and Weiss; the Arc, Jaune and his parents; the Branwen, though its probably just Qrow left unless Raven managed to fake her death (I doubt it, but weirder things have happened); the Rose, which means me and Mom (though I doubt it'd be her; more later). There's almost too many to list, actually. Huntsmen tend to force their kids to take the same role; I almost feel lucky that I couldn't meet the physical requisites.
"One of the flora, meaning one associated with a plant or having some form of plant-based Semblance (there's likely another requirement for this, but I don't have that information at the time of writing). Miss Belladonna is lucky to still be alive after what happened to her, and she was all but forced to retire from active duty as a Huntress. Too much exposure to nightshade, though I hear that she's practically immune to it now. Since her 'accident', as she calls it, happened before what happened to Yang, I'd warn her, but I doubt she'd believe me on what little information I've gathered so far; plus, she'd make me issue warnings to everyone with a name like hers, and that would take me from my research and ultimately be detrimental.
"One of the light. After what Ruby told me about her, I can't help but think it's her. But, in a different interpretation, it could just as easily be one of the Maidens. Or Mister Arc, if the rumors I've heard about his Semblance are true. I mean, it could be me, but I'm not a Huntress, not even a soldier. It makes much more sense for the 'one of the light' to be a warrior, given the stereotypical angel being a winged knight with a burning sword.
"If you're reading this, I can only guess that we failed. Or, hopefully, you're just rifling around in my things. If it's the latter, stop it!"
Penny chuckled, shaking her head as Summer finished reading her namesake's handwriting. "It's definitely Summer who wrote this," Penny said softly, smiling sadly at the book of fairy tales.
"I know it's an odd thing to focus on, but why couldn't she be a Huntress?" Summer asked, making Penny sigh.
"She had osteogenesis imperfecta," Penny said, as if that was explanation enough.
"I've never heard of that," Summer said, turning back to the book only to notice Rhonwen's expression out of the corner of her eye. The white-haired woman was staring wide-eyed at Volka's still sleeping form, her lips parted slightly. "Rhonwen? What's wrong?"
"One of the world, taken," Rhonwen said, her voice barely audible. She turned back to Summer, a worried look in her blue eyes. "Summer, I... I know this is a horrible thing to say, but... I think Volka was taken by the Shade."
"What?" Summer asked, her voice dropping low as she glanced over at Volka. "Why?"
"Earlier, I told her about my father," Rhonwen began, looking back at Volka and staring again. "She said it knocked loose something in her head, that she got some of her memories back."
"She's an amnesiac?" Penny asked, also looking at Volka and marveling at just how much she looked like Yang. But, she considered, Summer was practically a dead ringer for Ruby, and Rhonwen was basically just a tall Weiss with short hair, though they were both missing a few scars that their ancestors had earned. "Wait, is she one of Yang's...?" Penny trailed off into a mumble, her eyes widening.
"I asked her to tell me what she remembered, but she said that she didn't want to remember it," Rhonwen continued, practically ignoring Penny. "And then... I swear, I'm not making this up, but her eyes turned yellow, Summer."
Summer turned her gaze to Rhonwen for a moment, judging the sincerity in the doctor's eyes before she looked back over at Volka, only to see Penny stand up in the corner of her eye. "Penny?" Summer asked, standing up as well as the robot slowly stepped towards the sleeping woman. "Penny, what's wrong?"
"Aura signature confirmed," Penny growled, glaring harshly at Volka. "Yang Xiao Long."
A panel slid open in each of Penny's arms, a thin dagger launched out of them only to be caught in the robot's grasping hands; the daggers were short, the edges of the blades tinged green in the sunlight trailing in through the windows. Penny closed the distance between her and Volka in two swift strides, raising the dagger in her right hand as she did.
"This is for Ruby, you bitch," Penny spat, driving the blade down at Volka's still unconscious form as Summer and Rhonwen watched, too stunned by her actions to do anything to stop her.
XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX
Nyahaha! You sure you want to stop there, Seraph? We're just getting to the juicy bits!
I've had quite enough of you for one day.
Ouch! You sure know how to make a guy feel appreciated, sugar!
Are you even male?
Nyahaha! I don't remember, it's been so long!
Wonderful.
