Chapter 27

Silver woke when he heard a loud thud and a yell. He sat up and saw Sun on the floor, clutching his backside. He then saw Blake, who was glaring at Sun, holding his tail in her closed fist with enraged eyes.

"Sun?" She slowly crushed his tail in her grip, and Sun yelled out in pain. "What. Were. You. Doing. To. Me?"

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" He yelled. "WHY ARE YOU CRUSHING MY TAIL?!"

Yang groaned, covering her ears. "I forgot Blake was a light sleeper."

Someone in the next room pounded on the wall. "SHUT UP!"

Silver chuckled. "Well, now everyone in this train's awake."


Breakfast was a sombre affair. Sun had to sit next to Silver to avoid Blake, who was still pissed off and had to be held back by Yang, who explained what happened. But what interrupted the tension was when Silver looked out the window. "Look."

They all followed his eyes and they also heard the other diner's conversations cease. Outside was the border between the two kingdoms. Stretching to the horizon was a large wall topped with barbed wire, with endless amounts of heavily-armed soldiers guarding it, most from Vacuo but a few Atlesian Paladins mixed in. As they crossed via a bridge that went over the wall, they saw their first look at the Steel army.

Large Mechs patrolled the other side, and robot soldier resembling Atlas Knights stood in formation along the wall, some marching, others standing still, all heavily armed with rifles. There were also armoured vehicles driving through with machine guns and cannons attached, all driven by soldiers. The train continued, but the sight made the passengers all nervous.

"We're going to have one stop here, in the territory." Blake broke the silence. "They'll be checking identification papers."

"In around two hours. Should we stick it out, or…" Sun trailed off.

Silver sighed. "We can't risk it. Besides, we're not staying in their territory, we're just passing through."

"Very well, then."


Two hours later, the train pulled to a stop in the station. Silver, Yang, Blake and Sun all waited in their room.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. "Excuse me? Open up!"

Sun answered the door, and a Steel soldier walked in and saluted.

He was surprisingly young, his face not even having a single facial hair yet. He had brown hair and brown eyes, and he was around Blake's height. He wore the uniform of the Allegiance of Steel. All his clothes and armour were a bronze colour. His helmet was a bronze-colored standard metal one, and he wore protective goggles that were blacked out and covered his eyes. He wore a long jacket with a bronze-colored camo and a bronze metal chest piece over it. His combat trousers were also with a bronze pattern with knee pads, and he wore black boots. His assault rifle was a bullpup design with a large magazine and grip. He held out his hand. "Identification papers, please."

They all handed them to him, and he proceeded to look over them. He paused on Silver's papers. He whistled slightly. "So you're a snow wolf?"

"Umm… yeah?"

"Sweet." He grinned. "My dad used to tell me stories about them all the time. So do you have any business here?"

Blake spoke up. "We're huntsmen heading to Shade academy in Vacuo."

"Ah… so you're not stepping off?"

"Nope."

He sighed with relief. "That's good. Because I sure as hell don't want to shoot you all."

Sun laughed nervously. "What does that mean?"

"Well, we've been ordered to shoot any huntsman or huntress without a license or legitimate reason to be within our borders. Something I, and a lot of others, personally don't like."

"Well, how should WE feel about this?" asked Yang sarcastically. The soldier laughed.

"You're all clear, it's all in order. Have a good day." He handed back the papers, saluted, then left the room. They then all noticed the lizard tail producing from his backside.

"He was a local." Sun leaned back slightly. "I'd recognise the accent, as well as his tanned skin. Probably doing it for the pay, if not being forced to."

"So they're recruiting… this just made things a lot harder." Silver sighed. "How good are your skills at knocking out, not killing?"

"Good." Sun replied. Blake nodded, while Yang shrugged.

"Alright. That's good enough." He leaned back slightly. "So now what?"

"We wait. At this rate, we'll be there in another four hours."

"I'm going to take a nap." Sun yawned, before leaping onto his bunk. "Wake me up when we arrive."

Blake laid down on her bed and pulled out a book.

"You're all so boring." Yang complained.

"Well, Sunflower, when the train starts moving, let's see if we can get to the train and blow the whistle, ok? I've always wanted to do that."

Yang now grinned and kissed him on the cheek. "You speak my language."

"I change my mind, can I join?" Sun sat up, eyes full of mischief.

"You're all idiots…" Blake shook her head and put down the book. Someone would have to keep them out of trouble.


The train finally pulled into the station in Vacuo. The four all stepped off.

Sun stretched. "Ahh. I missed the sun here."

"Easy for you two say." Silver was immediately sweating and wiped his brow. "How hot does it get here?"

"Eh, I like it." Yang shrugged. Blake was also sweating like Silver, though.

They made it to the street and stared at the square.

It was completely different from Vale. Cars jammed in the streets mixed with pedestrians who just walked between them like it was nothing. Several dozen soldiers were marching in formation, with a tent set up for recruitment. A line stretched across the whole square, showing how the war was affecting the lives of so many people. The megaphone from several officers, as well as the horns of the cars and the yelling of shopkeepers nearby all pounded against their ears.

"Sun? Is it… always this loud?" Silver looked around, ears flattened to the top of his head.

"Eh, this can be considered around average. Let's get a cab." He walked to the street and raised his hand. Immediately a van pulled up, and the driver got out. He was a small man with an old trench coat with the sleeves ripped off and sandals. Small antlers stuck from the top of his head.

"Where to, sir?"

"Shade academy." He handed him a bunch of lien. "Just to ensure our safety and quality of the ride."

He thumbed through the bills before sticking it in his pocket. "Well? C'mon, time doesn't wait for those left behind."


As the four Beacon students stepped out of the car (Blake almost vomited from the trip), they immediately headed into Shade academy.

The school vaguely resembled that of Beacon, except for the sand-colored buildings and palm trees. But just like Beacon, a CCTS tower rose from the center of the school.

As the four walked in, the first thing they noticed were the students. Shade had no uniform, so most students were wearing casual clothes. The second was their mood.

There was a sense of tension and anger in the school, with a lot of students practicing in the courtyards their fighting, sparring with each other for practice. Already there were several bullet holes and craters littered around the courtyard.

That didn't mean that they were hostile with the visitors. In fact, several students rushed to them to greet them, especially Silver.

"It's an honour to meet you, Silver."

"How are you even alive?"

"I told you that he'd make it."

"Snow wolf! I can't believe it!"

Sun, Blake and Yang watched the crowd surround Silver, who shook all of their hands. Yang leaned in to Sun. "I heard that Vacuo students don't treat visitors this way."

Sun shrugged. "In Vacuo, there's basically one rule. If you have what it takes to survive, you're an accepted member of society. So since Silver has fought Bronze and received such an injury, as well as surviving it, makes him worthy of being respected in Vacuo. That, and the whole OMA thing, of course."

They waited for a few minutes while Silver talked to the crowd. They had in fact been expecting them and several students led them to the teacher's quarters. The four then waited at the entrance to the CCTS tower.

"So… Is the situation that bad?" Silver turned to one of the students, a man by the name of Ross. His weapon of choice were two blades that could be hooked together with his two wooden sheaths to turn it into a dust-infused crossbow.

"We're pissed off. We've seen almost no action, and there's also the fact that several of our brothers and sisters were in the territories when the Steel invaded. Those who didn't leave were either killed or have gone missing."

Silver nodded, but at that moment the door opened and a man stepped in. "You can leave now, Ross. We've got… private matters to attend to."

Ross nodded and left the room. The man then turned to the four.

He was heavily tanned with black hair pulled back in a ponytail. He also wore combat clothes similar to those from Mistral, but they were the color of sand. He had the looks of someone who had years of experience under his belt.

"You four have guts, I'll tell you that. I've been debriefed on your mission, so I just want to check with you some things. First, will you need reinforcements? Any one of these students will follow you to battle should you just ask."

Silver looked at his friends, before turning to the man. "We're not interested in bringing in anyone else into this conflict."

"This war is ours as much as it is yours. Hundreds of men have sacrificed their lives for this war, and many huntsmen as well. Give us the word, and we'll make it happen."

"We won't be needing anyone else, but if you can, could you collect a possible strike team to get us out when we've completed our mission? Not too many, we don't want anyone else harmed, just your fastest bullhead with some students for possible medical help."

"You'll have the best students at your disposal, I can assure you. We will have to discuss the plan more thoroughly, though."

"Of course." Silver nodded, and Yang, Sun and Blake stepped forward as the man unfurled a map of the Steel territory on a table.


"You heard?"

"What?"

The two Steel guards stood at the door to the weapon's workshop, both holding assault rifles in their hands. One had the uniform of a Lieutenant, the other of a regular Private, both wearing armbands with their colors - Maroon and Orange.

"I heard that we're about to have company."

"Who?"

"Couple of huntsmen and huntresses on old Hermes in there." The first guard was barely an adult, around twenty, with a pair of glasses on.

The second guard was a younger kid, barely seventeen, with an orange fox tail producing from the plates of his armour. He was chewing on a chocolate bar. "I know he's a great guy, and he makes great weapons, but why would they want to kill him? Seems pretty harmless to me, all things considered."

"Kill? No, they want to kidnap him."

"Again, what? And again, why?"

"They have the secret to killing the General."

"Really? What is it? I'm sick of not knowing while everyone else in base seems to know!"

"If I tell you about it, we're both facing the firing squad! You remember what happened to that sergeant?"

"That old guy who yelled that the Steel army would soon be launched into chaos and destruction?"

"Yup."

"Ok then."

They fell silent.

"Soooo... Richard." The young faunus began, leaning against the wall.

"Yeah, Dexter?"

"You ever wonder why we're here?"