A/N:

*Deep Breath* I'm back

I know it has been a long time

A very long time but I'm back on track

School is hard work

Sooooo anyway, flashback time!

Chapter 10

Ice Cream

v-v

Three Year Ago

The Slums of Atlas

In the city of Atlas, there are three classes of people. The rich, the middle, and the poor. The rich are people who are the nobles and high-class businessmen of Atlas, the middle class, are people who the small business owners and blue collar workers. And the poor are the factory workers in the production factories, making the basic needs of the people. One such girl was Neo.

Neo never knew her parents or anything about her childhood. The only things that she knows are: her name is Neo, she was born into a society of working every day to get by, and she couldn't speak. She knew words, but she couldn't talk. Maybe she was born with it; maybe her voice was damaged in the childhood that she could not remember, but one thing was for sure, she can't speak. She was also the only kid there with pink and brown hair and eyes. In the slums of Atlas, no one cared for the people there, only profit. Those types of people are the district bosses. There are five district bosses, and they all hated each other, but of course, all for profit. A certain boss that Neo was working for was called Mister Charles, or, at least, that's what Neo called him. He was directly contracted by the Atlas government to construct Atlesion dropships for the military, but there was one problem. Since all the district bosses were competing for workers, Mister Charles had the minimum amount of workers. Due to that, he treated his workers as harsh as possible to meet his quota. Among the dozens of factories Mister Charles owned, Neo was working in one of them.

"Hey, Neo," the floor boss yelled. Neo looked up at the metal scaffolding that she was standing on. "Stop daydreaming and get back to work!"

'Yes, ma'am,' Neo responded in her head but nodded in acknowledgment. She was working on the main conveyor line where she put the electronic into the various compartments in the cockpit of an Atlesion Dropship. All Neo knew was that the military used these ships to help defend the nation. Given the multiple ships that she built, Neo had developed a liking to seeing one of the dropships fly or even fly one. Sadly, those dreams where overshadowed by the yells of the floor boss that made Neo question if she was going to.

One day, one of the children that were working a few stations down got caught in the machine that they were manning. This was normal because of the dangerous working conditions, but this "mistake" was terrible. The child got utterly stuck in the machine and jammed it, which halted the line. The floor boss, not expecting this predicament, called an early lunch break, so Neo just wandered around the factory.

Neo didn't have any friends due to her being mute, so that was the only thing she liked to do. Since this was a factory for building military goods, there was a surplus of guards that patrol around. Luckily for her, the guards were too busy tending to the accident, so there was nobody in the halls. As she wandered around, she noticed that there was a big difference to what the inside of the factory looked like than to the outskirts. It was very white and pristine, rather than the gray and grimy workplace, but she was a worker with barely enough money to get by. When she spotted an open doorway, she decided to check it out. That doorway led to, what Neo believed to be, a junkyard. 'So this where all the broken planes go.' She hopped around all the parts, making sure not to step on anything sharp until she saw something odd. There was a half-broken dropship with a glowing light radiating from the cockpit. 'Huh, is something there?'

Confused, Neo rushed towards the dropship until she got to the cockpit. Inside, it was very dusty so she had to cover her mouth, but she found what the light was coming from: a slightly-cracked console in the pilot seat. With excitement, she jumped into the seat, the impact making the dust fly from the surrounding area of the seat. She used her sleeve to wipe away the dust on the screen which, to her surprise, was a touchscreen. At the top of the screen read "Atlas Military Dropship Training Program." 'Ooh, is this a flight sim? Does this mean I can fly?' Neo was giddy with excitement. For the first time in forever, Neo felt genuinely happy. Though, this feeling was short due to the sound of the lunch bell signaling to get back to work. She jumped out of the dropship and went back to the white hallway.

Every day since then, Neo went back and forth during every lunch period. Each day, learning more and more from the simulations. She repeated each level over and over again until she got it down. As the days continued, she saved enough money to buy herself a second notebook. Neo was going to use this one for a backup book to talk with, but now she has another purpose for it. Since she was friends with the shopkeeper that she buys the notepads from; the shopkeeper lets Neo stay in a closet upstairs for one Lien a day. Neo showed a note saying thanks and ran upstairs to go to bed giddy with excitement.

The next morning, she woke up as normal and went to the breakfast table where one piece of bread and a hard-boiled egg was waiting for her every day. She swiftly ate and headed out the window to the back of the room leading onto the roof, leaving a note of thanks. She had to do this because the shopkeeper told her to, so she didn't question it. When she arrived at the factory, Neo went straight to work as usual. When lunchtime hit she shuffled down to the same white hallway to the same junkyard that she enjoyed so much, however when she walked through the white hallway it was very quiet. As she walked into the dusty dropship a wave of darkness enveloped her vision.

At the writing shop around the same time:

Current Weather: heavy rain

Marilyn blew a longing sigh for another day at work. Living in Atlas was hard enough, but working in Atlas was another story. Thankfully, she has a shop in between the slums and the middle class so she can boss herself around, but sales in that area were sadly low. The reason being, selling outdated writing utensils and paper. Of all the things, she was selling paper that was twenty-three years old. However the customers she does get pay very well. With thoughts racing in her head, she didn't notice that someone at the door.

The bell of the shop door rang with a resounding chime. Marilyn was tending to a shelf when a customer walked through the door she turned to greet them. "Hello, welcome to Stravinsky's Writing Shop, how can I… help... you?", she made a sudden stop to see what looked to be a fourteen-year-old girl that came up to Marilyn's stomach. The girl was dressed in a dark black trench coat, and a black and red military officer hat with a logo that she had never seen before. The girl proceeded to take off her hat and pull the hair out from behind her coat. She had straight long crystal white hair that looked so perfect that Marilyn paused. The girl turned towards Marilyn to reveal a very pale, porcelain-like skin with grey eyes. However, when she looked into her eyes, all she saw was a mysterious pain. Shaking away the thoughts, she focused on the customer in front of her.

The girl cleared her throat, "Yes, I would like to buy your finest stationery and pens."

"Sure, right this way ma'am." Marilyn was surprised at the mannerism of her customer. She thought, 'Wow for a 14-year old, she acts pretty maturely.' They reached the section to what she was looking for, "Here are the finest I have, though these are pretty expensive since they're all hand-made."

"Money will not be a problem," the girl retorted.

"Alright, I get it. When you choose out what you want, come up to the register," Marilyn responded. She was surprised at the stalwart response to her thinking that she was pretending to be fancy. She thought, 'Hmm, I'll have to probe some more to learn anything about her.' After a few minutes, the girl walked in front of the counter which Marilyn was posted at and came to be shoulder height with the counter and placed a stationary, box and a pen. "The total will be 9800 Lien." The girl handed Marilyn a carbon black and white card. "This is…" Marilyn's brain jumped, and she stuttered for a quick second. "A-a-a Schnee Lien card?! How did you...?" The girl interrupted as if she has had to do the multiple times before. "My mentor, Jaune Arc, Captain of the Atlas Royal Guard, let me use this." Marilyn just couldn't believe this kid. Her head was spinning; 'so she has this much money available because Jaune Arc is her mentor!?' "So they let you in the military this young?"

"Yes, and I am here to warn and save you." She suddenly burst out. "Let me introduce myself, I am Specialist Eirwen Roanfaust."

There was an awkward silence between the two of them for a moment.

"Wait! Wait wait, slow down here. Are you trying to tell me I'm being targeted of some sort?" Marilyn said in a confused tone, but then suddenly realized why she was being targeted.

"By my information, you might be harboring something that has you targeted, I'm sure you know what this thing is, correct?" Marilyn knew that Eirwen was on to her and she had to lie to get out of this situation.

"If I said I did, what would you go about doing?" Suddenly, before Marilyn could even react Eirwen moved to a more relaxed posture.

"Look, I know you don't trust me, but you have to in this kind of situation. It's also your only valid option at this point in time unless you would like to die a horribly sad death," Eirwen said in a stern and commanding voice. "I know where Neo is, but she is in a bit of a pinch. I can guarantee both your and her safety if you trust me." She spoke in a calmer and more soothing tone than before.

Marilyn had to think it over for a second. She really didn't have any reason to distrust Eirwen, but it was still all very sudden.

"I guess I have no choice but to accept." A smirk appeared on Eirwen's face as Marilyn said that.

"Excellent, and right on time, as the hitman is coming within the next hour. So you have an hour to clear the entire store of anything that is important or needed."

Marilyn slowly processed that in her mind, "Wait, what!?" she said in an outburst of shock.

"Well, the hitman isn't leaving without a fight, and I don't want any damage done to your handmade goods," Eirwen said

"Well, how do I take an entire store plus a house that's upstairs in an hour?" Marilyn asked, her head still spinning.

"If I wasn't being clear, I meant the store. The upstairs part is where you will be at." Eirwen said

"What will I have for protection?"

"Leave that to me. Now hurry up, we don't have a lot of time."

"Oh, right!" Marilyn rushed around to pick up as much as she could and dumped it upstairs.

"Well, that was quick," Eirwen commented, surprised by Marilyn's efficiency.

"Well, my semblance is being precise."

"Hmm, something to consider..anyway up we go" They both headed upstairs. As they made it to the top Eirwen immediately walked to the single window in the room, shut it, and froze it. "Woah, you can freeze things?"

"Yes, that is my semblance."

"Wow, that cool."

"I guess it is." Eirwen expression changed slightly after saying that. "Well anyway, I'll be downstairs waiting for the hitman. You just stay up here till that is done."

" Alright, stay safe." Eirwen gave her a nod then started down the stairs. Before she opened the door to the shop section, however, Marilyn thought she heard Eirwen mutter something under her breath. That something was," he's weak anyway."

A/N:

End

So the next is coming very shortly because I was working on both chapters at the same time

so yeah the Neo thing

I think this might get confusing

So read the next chapter

That might explain it

If not, I'll reveal it at the end of the next chapter.

Bye for now.