To Be There for a Friend
Atlas: Schnee Mansion Main Hall
The sun had gotten much lower with the passing of a few hours, and normally at this time things would be winding down slightly at the Schnee mansion. But this evening was different, as much of the staff had been called from their usual duties to the main hall. What was even stranger was that they had been asked to ignore any oddities on the way there as the meeting was of the utmost importance. Many of the staff stood whispering amongst themselves until Weiss Schnee walked out and stood at the top of the stairs, causing all murmuring to cease.
"As many of you are likely aware by now, several strange occurrences have been reported around the mansion," Said Weiss in an informative and fairly authoritative voice, "But there is no cause for alarm, as the perpetrator of these disturbances is right here." Weiss waved her hand, signaling for Wayne to come forward.
"This is our first candidate for the position of my personal body guard," Said Weiss, "For those of you who doubt his abilities, know that he easily snuck into this mansion, out fought a dozen guards using only wires and his bare hands, and has continually managed to keep from raising a full scale alarm while he was here, so I suggest you pay attention to what he has to say." Weiss stepped back and let Wayne have the floor, as he cleared his throat to speak.
"Alright listen up everyone," said Wayne as he paced back and forth across the stairs with his hands behind his back, looking out at the guards, maids, and butlers who'd assembled thanks to Klein, "None of you know me and until stated otherwise there's no point for any of you to come to know me, so for now just call me Guardsman, and I am here on behalf of the young Miss Schnee to improve the security of this mansion and, should it be approved, serve as a personal bodyguard to the young mistress."
Wayne paused to take a breath before continuing. "Now for those of you who don't know, Mr. Schnee, not being present at the moment, has not yet approved of my being here, however, until such a time as I am personally dismissed by him, your instructions as laid down by Miss Schnee are to act as though I already hold the position, any questions?"
"Uh yeah," said one of the guards, "How exactly will you be improving security around here?" "Drills for starters," replied Wayne, "lots and lots of drills, drills for break-ins, drills for apprehension, drills which won't seem to make any sense at all until later on."
"Anything besides drills," asked another one of the soldiers. "And what exactly will we be doing," asked one of the maids.
"Detail duty," answered Wayne as he stopped pacing, "Everyone here, maids, butlers, and soldiers alike need to be on the lookout for details, like previously looked doors suddenly being unlocked, scuff marks on the floors or walls, strange and unfamiliar sounds in the hallways, and even alterations to what should be immovable and unmarked art work."
"How is that supposed to help," asked the impatient guard captain. "How," Wayne questioned back as he started down the stairs a little ways, "Let me ask you something, how long did it take you and the rest of your men to notice that a dozen of you had been taken out, when I wasn't even trying to kill any of you, but I've seen fighters out there with abilities to create portals, morph their bodies, create illusions and even enter your very minds."
Wayne stopped at the bottom of the stairs next to a bust of Jacque Schnee. "But if you're able to notice certain things out of place, things that shouldn't be out of place, then you could possibly save the lives of the whole Schnee family, but let's start off simple." Wayne turned the bust around to reveal a black painted smiley face with its tongue sticking out. "If none of you noticed something like this I worry for the future of the Schnee family, now onto apprehension."
Almost as soon as Wayne said it, a white flash occurred as a glowing white and blue Beowulf went running by on the stairs up above, causing all the guards to pull out their weapons as the rest of the staff took cover where ever they could. "Well go after it!" exclaimed Wayne, "It'll only disappear once you catch it." Wayne's words seemed to help the guards overcome their surprise as they went running up the stairs.
"As for everyone else," said Wayne as he started back up the stairs, "Start looking for out of place details." The maids and butlers peered up after Wayne, looking at him as if he'd gone crazy for a moment before they slowly moved out of the room, not currently in the mood to argue with a glowing Beowulf on the loose.
As Wayne reached the top of the stairs, out of sight of the rest of the staff, he bent over and exhaled as he tried to stop his knees from shaking. "Whew, I really don't like public speaking," said Wayne.
"Not a half-bad speech," said Weiss, "I haven't seen the staff that attentive or lively in quite some time." "The real motivator was your summon," Said Wayne, "But I appreciate the compliment, you don't think they saw my knees shaking do you?"
"No," replied Weiss with a slight smile, "The shaking was only noticeable from back here, but don't worry, I won't tell." Wayne could only shake his head at that, but he smirked a little none the less.
"Though I am curious about one thing," said Weiss as she raised her hands to make air quotes, "How much 'decorating' did you?" "Oh just a bit here and there," said Wayne as he pulled out his scroll and opened one of the picture files, "Wanna see a few?"
Weiss looked unsure for a moment. On the one hand she never liked seeing the desecration of art, even if it was for a good cause, but on the other hand she wanted to see how much of her father's favorite art had been 'spruced' up. In the end, curiosity won out as Weiss accepted Wayne's scroll and began sifting through the photos while they walked back towards her room. "Oh no," said Weiss as she covered her mouth with one hand to stifle a laugh, "You are out of your mind you know that."
"I'm no artist," replied Wayne, "But I gave it my best shot." Weiss flipped through the pictures, still not quite believing what she was seeing. The first picture was one of their sculptures of a boarbatusk, only now it sported a funky monobrow, with glasses drawn around 'all' of the eyes, and an extra couple of lines to make it look like it was smiling. The next photo, was of one of the two suits of armor from the mansion's main hall, only now it had a thin, curly mustache drawn on the helmet, and some wording saying 'This space for rent.'
Flipping to the next picture, Weiss simply shook her head at the photo of a King Taijitu with two different mustaches on each face, eyebrows which made one look inquisitive and the other look angry, and the rest of the body was covered in smiley faces, each with a different emotional expression. Weiss flipped through a few more pictures, either laughing or shaking her head at the newly added details to her family's art collection.
There were vases with butt prints and drawings of # ##s on them, statues with different types of squiggly lines and faces, serious paintings which not only looked absolutely laughable thanks to a few added marks, like the painting of her grandfather which now looked like he was flipping the bird. "How often have you vandalized someone's property like this?" questioned Weiss.
"Oh, I learned most of these tricks by watching Aegis, though it's a great way to prank bullies and folks full of, ahem, hot air." Once more, Weiss could only shake her head as she scrolled to the last picture. The final one, though not the best still turned out to be the funniest to Weiss, it was her Father's favorite self-portrait, now with a few extra touch ups.
The large, ornate painting of her father now had black lines drawn around the eyes, a salt and pepper hair color, a tongue drawn on the mouth, black monster horns on his head and a word bubble that said 'The new face of the SDC' and to top it all off, on the suit was an inscription simply reading 'Aegis was here.'
"Aegis made me promise to deface at least one thing while I was here, kind of his way of saying 'screw you' to your dad and his little isolation policy," explained Wayne.
"Well it certainly explains why you brought a marker and spray paint with you," said Weiss, "You're sure none of the ink or paint is permanent?" "Aegis can be a troublemaker when he wants to be," replied Wayne, "But he's learned that it's a lot easier to clean up a mess when it wipes off easily."
"Well it'll at least keep the guards and staff busy, while slowly moving them from one side of the mansion to the other," said Weiss. "And if your father is following his schedule to the letter," said Wayne, "He'll have to get ready for his meeting with some extra important guest when he gets back, which hopefully means he'll have no time to deal with me and just tell Klein or someone to show me out."
"Which reminds me," said Weiss as she pulled out Myternaster and stabbed the weapon into the ground, conjuring another white glyph which produced a white, glowing griffon Grimm. "The next little specimen for the guards to chase," said Weiss, "Remember I can only conjure so many summons at once, and only for a short time, so make them count."
"Well in that case," said Wayne with a smirk as he hopped onto the Griffon, "May as well have some fun." Wayne kicked his heels into the Griffons hindquarters, causing it to rear up and screech before it went running down the hallway. "Gangway," yelled Wayne, "Griffon coming through!"
Weiss simply shook her head as a small smile played across her lips. Even if it was part of an escape plan, she hadn't had this much fun in months, making her realize once more how much she'd changed since she'd started at Beacon. She also realized something else, how much Wayne had done for her since they'd met, and how rarely she had actually thanked him. I'd better do something about that, thought Weiss, I at least owe him that much.
Menagerie: Kuo Kuana
Aegis sat thinking to himself as he finished up a good meal at a local café-type place. He knew he should be continuing the search for Blake and her family's house, especially considering the amount of time he lost chasing down that Ilia girl, but he also knew that him searching on an empty stomach wasn't so productive either. Especially considering the fact that, thanks to that little chameleon girl, he'd gotten lost, and missed lunch. And yes, there was no way he could resist a place which served honey as part of its menu.
Which brings up another issue, thought Aegis, I'd best get out of here before they run out of-. "Hey we're out of honey in the back," Aegis heard one of the chefs say, "How the heck is that even possible?"
Time to go, thought Aegis as he laid some lien down on the check and discreetly, well as discreetly as he could, slipped out of the restaurant. As he exited the restaurant, he noticed that night was falling as he stepped back out onto the street, trying once again to get his bearings.
Ordinarily his sense of direction was pretty good, but so many of the buildings around here looked the same, and the number of people walking around made it tricky for him to pick up a positive scent, especially considering several of them were also cat Faunus.
Guess there's only one thing to do, thought Aegis, so much for not drawing attention. Proceeding to a less crowded section, between two buildings, Aegis again climbed upwards and began hopping from roof top to roof top, his night vision allowing him a good view of the city, even despite the slowly disappearing light.
After several minutes, he arrived at a place he recognized from when he first entered the town. Crouching down, Aegis jumped upward to the top of a large pagoda-like structure which stood at the top of a very long, white stairway.
"There you are," Aegis thought aloud as he spotted the large structure that was the Belladona household. You'd think it'd be easy to find such a big building in a place like this, he thought as he dropped down onto the stairs and began making his way towards the mansion.
It was of course, slow going. Even despite the lateness of the hour, the crowd was still pretty thick, only now everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get home, making it difficult for Aegis to move very quickly. I've about had enough of this, thought Aegis as he moved into an alley and climbed up onto a nearby roof, been trying to squeeze through this cramped town for hours now and progress has not been great, you'd think by now I'd know to get on the roofs and stay on them.
Keeping his destination in sight, Aegis quickly moved along the roof tops, making much better time now that a mob of people weren't in his way. Or at least he was until he noticed three figures on another roof top a short distance away from the Belladona household. Upon closer inspection, Aegis noticed that one of the figures had a long white coat, the other had a white jacket and a monkey tail, and the third, who was in some kind of stand-off with the other two, was wielding a familiar whip-like weapon.
Oh crap, thought Aegis as he picked up his pace a bit, I think I know who that is. As he jumped to the next roof top, the girl with the whip struck at the figure with the white jacket, knocking him over with an electrified strike to his heart.
"NOOO," yelled the girl in the white coat as she moved to her friend's aid, while the girl with the whip turned and ran. No you don't, thought Aegis as he moved to head her off. Aegis landed on the roof of the next building just as the fleeing girl was running to the other end and knocked her back.
"Remember me," said Aegis as he pulled his weapon out, noting that his quarry had lost her White Fang mask, revealing her natural freckled face. "You again," said Ilia angrily as she lashed out with her weapon, "Out of my way!" Aegis knocked the first couple of strikes away with his weapon as he quickly closed the gap between them.
Ilia tried to avoid Aegis's charge by spinning to the right and striking towards his shoulder, but Aegis managed to counter attack by hitting her weapon hand with Ursus Cleaver, causing her to nearly drop her weapon as Aegis kicked her over. As Ilia hit the ground, Aegis pinned her down with his weapon, preventing her from rolling away as she tried pushing back against Aegis's raw strength with her arms.
"Mind telling me how you gave our robed friends the slip," grunted Aegis as he pushed down even harder with his weapon. "I think you've got bigger things to worry about," grunted Ilia in response, "Like where your current priorities lie."
Aegis was confused for a moment, until his sensitive ears picked up the distant sound of a panicked voice yelling for someone, anyone to help. The voice belonged to Blake. Looking back up, Aegis saw that she was trying to cover what looked like a wound on the guy's chest.
If that's Blake, then the guy right there is. Aegis's gaze darted from Ilia to Blake and back again until, with an irritated sigh, he holstered his weapon and leapt off the roof, leaving Ilia to quickly retreat into the night. Next time, thought Aegis, next time.
"Please Sun just hang on," pleaded Blake, not noticing Aegis's arrival in her distressed state. "Here use this," said Aegis as he pulled out some gauze covering and medical tape from the bag he'd brought with him. "Aegis," said a surprised Blake, unable to get any other words out for a moment, "What, what are you doing here, how?"
"We can play twenty questions in a bit," said Aegis as he moved Blake's hands away to place the gauze on Sun's wound, "But right now we need to get this wound closed up or we're gonna lose your favorite monkey boy." "R-right," said Blake as she went to work helping Aegis bandage the bloody hole in Sun's chest. In another minute, Sun's wound was covered as he laid unconscious but breathing steadily.
"Thank you Aegis," said Blake as they both sat back, relieved that Sun was alive, "I'm not sure how you got here, but thank you." "Always happy to help," said Aegis with a tired smile, "Though I think it'd be best if we discuss anything else back at your place, this roof ain't much of a place for a reunion." "No it isn't," said Blake as she grabbed Sun and looped his arm over her shoulders, "Come on, let's get this knucklehead out of here."
Atlas: Schnee Mansion Late Hours
Who in this giant mansion drinks this much alcohol, thought Wayne as he searched the Schnee family's incredibly large fridge for something else to drink, I mean seriously, are some of these labels even in English? After another few moments of searching, Wayne found a bottle of something that at least looked carbonated and didn't smell like alcohol. To be honest I really don't need another drink, but I can't think of a better way to deal with being nervous right now.
Wayne unscrewed the cap on the glass bottle and took a swig as his thoughts continued to race. It had been difficult, but after a few hours of marking up art for the staff to clean and sending the guards on wild goose chases, he and Weiss had finally managed to lead a majority of the staff to one side of the mansion, away from the library.
Wayne took a moment to savor the taste of the beverage as he went over the plan in his head one more time. Right about now the staff should be going through shift change, and the ones who were coming in would have to clean up what was left of his funny little drawings on the far side of the mansion.
While Weiss should be leaving her room with all of her stuff packed and meeting Klein right about now, thought Wayne as he finished up the drink. Not bad, he noted, it's got a good gingery taste to it with just enough carbonation to keep it interesting. As he was about to throw the glass away, the sound of footsteps caught his attention as he turned to see who had entered the kitchen.
"And what are you still doing here?" questioned Whitley Schnee, none too politely. "Well last I checked I was just getting a little bit to drink," replied Wayne, "For the road and all that." "A little," said Whitley as he saw an entire drained two-liter on the table, "One of those usually lasts my family three to four days." "It wouldn't if you got rid of all that alcohol," said Wayne, "Who in this household is drinking all that ## anyhow?"
"My mother," replied Whitley. "Oh," said Wayne, trying to decide how embarrassed he should be, "She might wanna take up a different hobby." "You still haven't answered my first question, why are you still here, I thought Father would've gotten rid of you by now," Whitley questioned once more.
"Well from what I've heard," said Wayne, "Weiss did try to have a talk with him about it, but he was too busy getting ready for some extra important meeting and was supposed to send that butler Klein to show me out, but by the looks of things he still needs to get the ball rolling on that." "Oh please," said Whitley with a sigh as he pulled out his scroll, "Allow me."
Wayne simply crossed his arms and waited as patiently as he could while Whitley called Klein and told him about the situation. "There we are," said Whitley as he ended the call on his scroll, "Now do me and the rest of my family a tremendous favor, leave and never come back."
"Believe me I'm ready to get out of here," said Wayne as he went to exit the kitchen, stopping just in the doorway, "But just so we're clear, I only do favors for one member of your family at the moment, keep that in mind."
Without another word, Wayne went out the doorway and scanned the hall until he found who he was looking for. "Ah there you are Mr. Ursario," said Klein as he came around the corner "You'll find the way out this way, ACHOO."
Klein's eyes shifted to blue as he sneezed, "We'd better hurry," said Klein in a suddenly higher-pitched voice, "We'll be in all sorts of trouble if they catch us."
"Eh, yeah," said Wayne, still not used to Klein's changes in personality, "Let's do that." "This way," said Klein as he led Wayne down the hall for a ways before stopping at a book case. "This better not be what I think it is," said Wayne as he watched Klein fiddle with one of the books.
"If you mean a faster way," replied Klein as a click sounded and he pulled back the book case to reveal a secret passage way, "It most certainly is." "The secret door behind the book case," said Wayne as he followed after Klein, closing it behind him, "Shoulda seen that one coming."
"It ain't no secret if you don't keep your voice down," said Klein, as his eyes turned red and his personality changed again. "Right got it," said Wayne, somewhat apologetically as they made their way through the twists and turns of the passageway.
After a couple minutes of walking, they arrived at another door, the one to the first floor library, Wayne guessed. Before opening the door, they both listened for a moment, making sure the way was clear, when a whisper cut through the silence of the library.
"Klein," said Weiss, a note of worry in her voice, "Where are you?" In answer, Klein pushed the door open and beckoned Weiss over. "Keep your voice down, we're here alright," said Klein as Wayne stood against the wall and waved. Instead of answering, Weiss dropped her suit case and Myternaster as she ran over and hugged Klein, who shifted back to his normal personality and hugged Weiss back.
"Are you sure Mistral is safe," asked Klein as they took a step back from each other. Wayne had to stop himself from laughing at the question as he moved further into the passage way, not wanting to spoil the moment.
"No," Weiss answered, "But Winter will be there." "After tonight, she may be the only family you have," said Klein. "I'll still have you," said Weiss.
"You most certainly will," agreed Klein before the loud crash of a door being busted open was heard. "KLEIN," called the voice of Jacque Schnee, "KLEIN GET DOWN HERE!"
"Go," urged Klein as Weiss picked up her bag and weapon and entered the passageway next to Wayne. Before Klein closed the passageway, Weiss turned back to thank Klein one more time.
Klein simply nodded with a sad smile as he closed the door behind them. For a moment, Weiss simply stood there, staring at the wall until Wayne put a hand on her shoulder. "We have to go Weiss," he said softly. Weiss simply nodded her head as she slowly turned and began making her way down the stairs with Wayne right behind her.
For the first several minutes they said nothing, as Weiss seemed to move almost mechanically, just one foot in front of the other while she stared straight ahead with Wayne following close behind.
"It's going to be a bit difficult at first," said Wayne finally, trying to break the silence, "Leaving the place you've called home your whole life, it hurts the most when you're just starting out."
"How long does it take to stop hurting," asked Weiss, in a somewhat sad voice. "I don't think anyone ever truly stops missing home," said Wayne as they took another couple of turns down the stairs and into an underground tunnel lit with some kind of emergency lights, "I just know it becomes manageable after a while."
"What was it like for you," asked Weiss, "Leaving home behind." "Well I had Aegis along for the ride like always," said Wayne, "And our Grandparents understood why we felt we had to go, so that helped, but the two things that really kept me going on the worst days was knowing that at the end of the journey, I'd see my friends again, and that some way somehow, I'd also make it back home."
"It is a reassuring thought," said Weiss as they stepped out into a large cavern-like area. "Still," said Wayne, "You've got it a little rougher, I mean me, Aegis, Ruby and the others have got some sort of home to go back to, but you, you're leaving a home which may never welcome you back and striking out on your own. To be honest I'd be almost scared out of my mind to do what you're doing right now."
"I am a bit scared," said Weiss as she turned towards Wayne, "But you're wrong about one thing." "What's that," asked Wayne.
"I'm not on my own," Said Weiss as she holstered Myternaster and put her hand on Wayne's arm, "Because I have you here." Wayne stood silently for a moment, wondering for a second if his friend's head was on straight.
In the end, however, Wayne simply smiled as he spoke. "You give me too much credit," said Wayne as he took Weiss's hand in both of his, "But alright, let's-." The rest of his sentence was interrupted, though, as a pair of heavy, clanking foot-steps sounded within the cavern as a pair of giant, walking armored suits stepped out of the shadows, each one wielding an enormous broadsword.
"I guess I shouldn't have expected it to be so easy," said Weiss as she and Wayne both dropped their bags and drew their weapons, "Just in case, what was it you wanted to say." Wayne smirked before answering, "Let's take on the world together." Weiss smiled in response as the battle with the Giant Armors began.
Aegis has made contact and Wayne and Weiss's escape has begun, with only two large, metal obstacles standing between them and freedom. And once again, I'd like to say hello and thank you to all my reviewers, followers, and viewers for all your patience, support, and suggestions as I've try to think up the next crazy and/or heart warming ideas for this little story. Be sure to stop in next time as Wayne helps Weiss fight for her freedom, and Aegis meets the parents of everyone's favorite cat Faunus, and I guess Sun's there too. 'Til next time.
