-grace

I didn't mean for this to take so long but it got really busy at work with everything going on and took awhile to write due to me being exhausted most of the time. But here's the second chapter, finally. So enjoy and tell me what you think!

And mild trigger warning: for ptsd.

"Do you want to come with me, Ruby?" Penny's eyes were bright and shining even in the fluorescent light: not the sort of thing you could say no to. With an apologetic look at Weiss Ruby agreed, immediately getting a bear hug in return.

A few of her teammates and JNR laughed at seeing something they hadn't expected to ever see again: Penny and her antics. Weiss smiled as well, saying more with her eyes than anything that it was fine. It's not like her and Ruby had been going to hang out anyway, they would have just been doing a mission together and to be frank she was happy to not be pulled onto theirs. Transport missions were the worst, especially if it was protecting supplies destined for Amity Tower.

"Alright then, who's next?" Clover asked.

Blake and Yang paired up next, not something she wanted to tag along with considering how close they were. It would have felt like she was intruding. The same went with Ren and Nora.

Jaune was already out in the streets of Mistral helping children to 'fearlessly' cross the road.

Finally most of everyone else had left, leaving... "Weiss, Marrow, you two will be dealing with some grimm. The mission was fast-tracked this morning by the Schnee Dust Company, but it should be a simple search and destroy."

"Why did they want priority?" Marrow asked, still sipping on his coffee, though it looked to have gone cold.

"Apparently the grimm are horded up in some cave that they wish to excavate for dust. Even if they're not making a ton of deliveries with the embargo it would seem they want to stockpile as much dust for when it gets lifted."

"And turn a quick profit to make up for lost time?"

"Precisely," Clover said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. The leader of the Ace Ops had glanced at her, almost as if in apology for his subordinate's lack of tact. Not that she could blame Marrow, and he was right about their intentions: in that regard her father was easy to read.

"Figures," Marrow muttered under his breath before downing the rest of his coffee and turning to Weiss. He opened his mouth to speak - paused as if just realizing who he had been sitting next to when he had been speaking earlier - then parted his lips once more, "Uh, sorry. Shall we go? Or I can probably do this myself-"

"It's fine. I'll accompany you," Weiss said with a smile, to make sure he knew her feelings weren't hurt. She turned to Clover. "They didn't say what kind of grimm it was, did they?"

"No. They gave us just enough information to make a mission out of it."

"Alright, then." Marrow got up a little too quickly, probably still embarrassed from his slip-up. "Ready to go?" he asked Weiss as Clover shut off the mission board before heading out himself to meet up with Qrow.

"Yes." she said, unsure if he had been hoping for the opposite or not.

It was quiet on their walk out and the initial bullhead ride down to Mantle to grab a vehicle to head out into the frozen tundra. All in relative silence. The standard military bot was in the driver's seat, Marrow sat in the middle, leaving Weiss with the 'shotgun' seat... or a rather uncomfortable floor in the back and that would just be awkward if she sat back there.

The atmosphere had been awkward enough getting here so she might as well clear it rather than robotically doing the mission and wondering if she needed to go out of her way so she didn't get paired with Marrow again. Not a pleasant thought considering how she avoided getting paired with half the people in those mission briefings as it was.

"I was thinking... I wouldn't just want to raise the wages of the faunus that work for me," Weiss began, glancing at Marrow to see if he was still pretending he didn't exist before continuing at the interested twitch of his tail. "I would like to raise all of them and the easiest way to do that would be to raise the wages in all of Mantle. That way it would be helping everyone, human and faunus that are subjected to poverty."

"But that just might increase the cost of living and other expenses."

"I know." She turned to him, meeting his crystal blue gaze. "It would have to be a slow increase over a couple years, a few more lien here and there. But if I was on the council or Robyn was... I think it would be more plausible than my father reinstating me as the heiress."

"So you're hoping Robyn will win the council seat?"

Obviously Weiss couldn't run now, she didn't meet the requirements and even if she did dealing with Salem was the top priority. Still... there had been a slight clip in his voice. "Don't you want her to win? She wants equality for everyone down in Mantle and that's what we have been talking about-"

"Yes, it's her selling point to the people and I don't dislike her, but the methods her group uses sometimes... aren't the best. Even if the faunus get on more equal ground with just the humans down in Mantle... it won't mean anything if they don't go through the proper channels. It'll just be like another White Fang movement."

Well, that made a lot more sense now. She had been wondering why a faunus would be against such promises. "But if she is on the Council that wouldn't be an issue, would it? There would be no reason for her to try anything even moderately illegal."

"I'm not worried about if she's elected. I'm worried about what lengths she'll go to if she isn't. I don't want her to be an enemy, so it would be best if she stayed on the right side of the law."

"You really think she would turn criminal for her cause?" Weiss asked, brow raised.

"Well, with a name like Happy Huntresses it seems like a ridiculous notion, doesn't it?" He smiled at her, but it was brief. "I just worry about the future. I'm lucky I'm skilled enough to be a huntsman and got the proper training, but not every faunus even has the option or will to drag themselves out. There's plenty of people down in Mantle who refuse to go to the academy or join the military for a better life simply because they would be working with humans." That sounded just like the sect of the White Fang her team had fought in Vale, led by Adam who had made sure to feed their hatred. Which just led into an endless cycle of racism.

She wasn't sure what to say. "I'm sorry." Didn't seem to cut it, though she tried.

"It's not your fault. When you're raised as a minority all you hear is how you and your people are treated and who's at fault. They either want to band together and fight that enemy or carry on in life hoping not to be noticed. Its just sometimes they take it too far."

A rather consistent problem in their world, at least it seemed like it... The topic at hand was getting a bit depressing, as nice as it was to have someone to talk to about bettering the world. There was too much to do in the present to worry about the future right now. First they had to secure a future for everyone before thinking so far ahead.

"How much longer is it suppose to be before we reach the cave?" Weiss paused in her questioning, wondering for a moment... "Is it further than Amity Tower?"

"No. It's not that far out, we should reach it in another fifteen minutes or so."

"Thank god." Weiss sighed. "I always want to fall asleep when making a supply run to the tower. It takes forever to get there and there's really not that much grimm or bandits on the path usually."

Marrow chuckled. "Well, if you get sleepy you can just use me as a body pillow."

The tips of her ears went red before she felt the burn in her cheeks, not that Marrow noticed, looking out at the landscape around them, being much more dutiful than her in keeping an eye out for the grimm they were trying to track down. Though, there hadn't been enough information to determine if it was the type of grimm that needed to leave its place of residence.

Weiss still wasn't sure how to respond to his comment, if he even realized what he had said. From what she had observed of him so far he seemed to talk without thinking more often than not.

Marrow caught her gaze a second later though, unblinking before his gaze fell on the light tinge across her cheeks. He shifted in his seat, gaze snapping back to the 'path' in front of them. "I didn't mean it that way-" What other way was there? "Just... if you get tired it's okay to rest up. I'll keep an eye on you- damn it."

Her cheeks felt like they were on fire before he even finished the sentence. She could already feel another awkward silence ready to descend on them. Well, he clearly wasn't going to reverse uno himself out of this. She knew what he had meant of course, but the implication beyond that was... unprofessional to say the least. And the idea of resting her cheek on his shoulder while she dozed off or even resting her head against his thigh were... the only images that currently floated in her head.

It was the sole reason the burn in her cheeks wasn't going away.

"I know." Weiss finally got her lips to move.

Marrow hung his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." If he had dog ears instead of a tail she was sure they would be drooping right about now.

"It's fine, really."

The car slowed to a crawl before stopping completely and Weiss hesitantly opened the door before slipping out of the vehicle, glancing around as soon as her boots touched the snow. It wasn't anything special, the cave looked like all the others they had passed on their way here, nothing to indicate grimm lay inside: like human bones at the entrance for instance.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" she asked, trying to break the silence as Marrow slipped out of the van after her.

He glanced down at the scroll in his hand, after closing the door. The robot inside shut off the engine for now, the rumblings slowing to a halt. "Yep. It says this is it."

She wasn't sure what it was, but... something felt off about this place. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, goosebumps forming along her arms. "Do you think they lied about it being a grimm?"

Marrow frowned. "Well, it doesn't look like bandits live here. So there's not much else it could be."

"A wild animal, then?" she asked, glancing to him, already knowing what was wrong with her hypothesis: no bones, of any kind.

He met her gaze, the earlier embarrassment gone, the blue orbs only filled with concern. "Your intuition tipping you off?"

That wasn't the word she would have used. "This place feels wrong."

"The air is different," he agreed, tail swishing slowly behind him. "Come on." Without a glance back at her he started forward.

Weiss waited a few seconds before following him, expecting something to jump out of the black maw of the cave. But nothing happened when she stepped forward, pulling up the flashlight app on her scroll and letting it hang on her hip as they crossed the threshold.

Marrow was a few steps ahead of her, eyes roaming back and forth along the tunnel, tail twitching behind him when the ground sloped down. There weren't going to find a nest down there, were they? Weiss stopped at the lip, prompting Marrow to glance back over his shoulder. "Do you... want to wait at the entrance?"

That was the last thing she wanted: to flee like a little girl from the monster beneath her bed. Marrow had been right earlier: the air was different. It felt like there was a weight pressing down on her shoulders the further they went it... It sent alarm bells ringing in her head, but she couldn't figure out why for the life of her. She wanted to suggest that they come back later with more huntsmen or not at all.

A chill had started to crawl down her spine. "No. Just... don't go far."

Weiss walked softly down the slope to his side, feeling a little silly from her actions but her pride was slipping away. As they moved deeper she could see the soft glow of dust embedded in the walls: the reason for the Schnee Dust Company's interest. The rock was rough, untouched, a few jagged sections lay scattered about the tunnel, like chipped teeth.

It made her feel like she was walking into the depths of hell. Her eyes widened a second later, recognizing the feeling in the air that she had first thought to be dread. "Marrow," she hissed under her breath. "We need to go back up, now."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Marrow just beginning to turn to her a screech filled the air, echoing off the walls. Weiss crashed to the ground, hands moving up to cover her ears as little pinpricks of red showed in the darkness below. She felt her body go stone cold. The same little red lights from the well... swimming in the darkness as the grimm shambled forward, mouths gaping right before that harrowing sound bounced off the brick walls, seeping any strength straight from her bones.

The ground seemed to turn to mud, crawling up her knees and sucking her back down whenever she tried to push herself up. Too many, there was too many. Her breathing had increased quickly, her head filled with the panicked sounds of her gasps as she waited for the next scream from below.

Blake's glassy eyes staring back at her as she laid on the dirt floor-

"Stay!" Marrow's shout shattered the memories flickering behind her eyelids. She forced her eyes open, glancing up to see Marrow looking back at her, hand still raised to point below at the pack- no, the horde of Apathy down below. "Are you okay?"

Okay? Okay? She could feel her cheeks burn, this wasn't suppose to happen. She wasn't suppose to be cowering before some grimm in front of one of the Ace Ops, not even able to stand up...

Weiss gritted her teeth, pushing hard at the ground to get up from her hands and knees, stumbling to her feet she almost fell over right back on her ass. With a shaky breath she pointed myrtenaster down, summoning a few glyphs as she spun the chamber to her vial of blue dust. Blue glyphs appeared sporadically beneath the grimm, an icy haze rushing forward to cover the horde directly in front of them. It took a few seconds, but they had all the time in the world thanks to Marrow's semblance for the ice to harden over the black bodies.

I almost died, again.

The thought rung through her mind as she switched the vial in her chamber once more. She knew time was flowing normally, but it felt like it had slowed to a crawl between the silence and her own uninterrupted fumbling. I would've died if I came alone, if it were only Marrow... she wasn't sure what would happen. He could stop them, but he couldn't move while he did it. His weapon could though, as long as nothing stopped it in its tracks.

Her blood felt like ice when she flicked her fingers up, summoning more glyphs, spaced out for each cluster of grimm. It only took a moment before the earth shot up from the ground, protruding in various sized spikes, shattering the ice and the grimm within.

Weiss let out her breath she had been holding, having waited the entire time for another screech to echo up from below and send her crashing back to the floor. But it was quiet.

Marrow lowered his hand after the last grimm had been killed on impact, moving to her side and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked once more.

She could say yes, but it would be a lie. "I'm sorry, I-"

"It's okay. Do you want to head back? I can take care of any stragglers."

"No." She couldn't just leave him to clean up after she had almost gotten the both of them killed, unable to do anything because of their screams. Because she immediately fell into a flashback, panicking. Her hands had formed into fists, nails digging into her skin. He was never going to go on another mission with her after this. How could he possibly trust her to have his back?

She wasn't even sure if it was her current state of mind or the lingering effects of the Apathy that were making her have such negative thoughts.

"No," she repeated, taking in another breath to try and calm herself. "I'll go with you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Though, she understood why he wouldn't want her incompetent ass tagging along. "My team came across a pack on our way to Atlas back on Anima. We had taken shelter on an abandoned farm and the owner had apparently died in his sleep after leading some Apathy to his town to try and control the emotions of the people there: to stop them from alerting nearby grimm. It backfired, obviously since they were just skeletons when we got there. But we didn't know what we were dealing with until it was almost too late, we-" Almost died, gave up hope in their mission for a time; there was too much to say about the whole ordeal and she didn't even know what to begin. "Now that we know what were dealing with here I'll be fine. I just didn't expect to find another pack, a bigger pack." She suppressed the shiver that wanted to crawl down her spine.

There was a frown on Marrow's lips, but he nodded after another second passed. "Alright. But if you need to take a break, just ask."

Weiss nodded her head, letting him lead the way down into the tunnels. They were down there in the darkness for over an hour, looking for every nook and cranny they could find where more Apathy might be hiding. Weiss used her glyphs a few more times, but it was mainly used for a flat surface to bounce Marrow's weapon off of, to keep it spinning after her threw it and used his semblance to keep the grimm from crying out and alerting any in the immediate vicinity to their presence.

Luckily most of them were just stragglers that didn't happen to be with the initial horde. They found less than a dozen scattered in the tunnels before coming up empty after hitting every dead-end they could find. Once Marrow was sure there was none left they made their way back up to the surface. He had been murmuring assurances the whole time: telling her everything was fine, she didn't need to worry so much, that they would finish the mission together.

She wasn't sure how to feel about the whole ordeal, her body feeling heavy and sluggish she let Marrow help her into the van, writing it off as her simply being tired. Weiss let her head fall to the side, cheek brushing against rough fabric, darker-toned hair tickling her forehead as she fell into the murky pits of sleep.