Dear Tai,
How's Vacuo? I wish you could have stayed in Vale like Qrow and Raven did. I get that you had to go home to see your mother, but it would have been nice if you stayed. My parents wouldn't have minded.
Speaking of, I sent a picture of them so you know who's who. My father's name is Raleigh and he runs the Rose bakery here in Patch. Not to brag, but it's the best bakery in Remnant! Him and my mom, Marina run it. Everyone says I look like her, dad says I'm the only one of us kids who got her eyes, but I don't really see it. She used to be a famous Atlas ballerina but now she helps dad make cinnamon buns and stuff. Beside them are my older sisters, Sable and Selena, they're pretty cool.
Anyway, I'm the only Huntress in the family, or I will be. If mom ever lets me go back to Beacon after we got arrested. Dad found it hilarious. He's terrible, you'd love him. You can have a pun war. He knows all the good bread ones.
I think Raven and Qrow seem to like it here. Sometimes really simple things seem so new to them, that's the only way I can describe it. Like, when dad made fresh pancakes for breakfast one day they acted like they'd never even had pancakes before. It was weird.
I'll write more later, hopefully this makes it through. I know that CCT is the faster way to communicate but there's something charming about the idea of sending letters, even though handwritten stuff isn't that reliable. Although you did say that the signal in Vacuo isn't the best, so who knows?
Wish you were here, Tai. I'll make sure to send photos with this letter so you know who's who.
Love, Summer.
PS. I'll try to make sure Raven and Qrow write you letters too. Promise!
Summer threw Meteora Bloom to hook around the top of the ship's mast, jumping off the edge of the boat and swinging herself around in time to grab Qrow's hand and prevent him from hitting the water, or worse.
Worse in this case being the tentacles attached to the Kraken currently wrapped around the entire front half of the S.S Journey, with even more of the horrible limbs swirling in the waters below, stirring up eddies and waves as they moved towards the ship's hull.
She let go of Qrow as they reached the back of the ship, landing beside him in a hand spring as she retracted her weapon's chain. She could hear the booming of Taiyang's new dust rounds, blooms of light from his fire dust telling her exactly where he was. Raven was harder to find, until a rip in space opened beside Qrow and out she stepped, bringing a wave of sea water with her.
Summer covered her smile with her hand when she saw how bedraggled Raven looked, rubbing her eyes and flicking the water off her hands. Qrow snickered beside Summer and they were both levelled with a scarlet glare.
"One word, Qrow, and I'll shove you off the boat myself."
"I think you left some ocean behind, want to go back and get it?" Qrow propped the bottom of Harbinger against the ground, leaning against his scythe as he grinned mischievously at his twin.
Raven started trying to wring out the sodden mass of her curls, failing miserably at actually getting drier. "Damn Grimm knocked me off the edge. Where's Taiyang?"
Something crashed into the deck beside Summer, creating a sizable dent and a loud crash.
"Eep!" Summer flickered out of view for a moment at the shock before she pushed her hair out of her eyes. "Tai?"
He grinned up at them, looking rather merry despite the wooden shrapnel he was covered in. "Told you the Grimm in Vacuo were way more fun than the Vale ones!"
Qrow rolled his eyes and offered Tai a hand up, lifting the blond to his feet before Taiyang began plucking wood bits out of his hair. "You're an idiot."
"Yep." He punched his fists together as they stood together, ready to fight as another tentacle started winding around the sails. "What's the plan, Summer?"
Taiyang
Well then. I am not good at writing letters. In fact, I don't recall writing a letter before this. Ever. But Qrow said he'd only write one if I did, so now I get to see him panicking over his birdscratch handwriting.
So, it's 2:15 in the afternoon. Weather is fair, a bit cloudy. Chance of showers later today. Patch is pleasant. The town is small but sickeningly lively, and Signal is only a short walk away. Summer points it out to Qrow and I every time she takes us to her favourite cliff. The rest of the island is quiet and far superior to the town.
Summer, with enough nagging, has gotten Qrow and I to name our weapons. Qrow's decided to call his Harbinger, like the unimaginative edgelord he is. He told me I should call mine Omen, but that's stupid. Instead I'm calling it Midnight Drear. It's much better.
I can't think of anything else to say here. Mostly, I'm just trying to write enough to make Qrow feel like he has to overcompensate and write something dumb. I'm ending this. See you when you come back to Vale, unless you die or something.
Raven.
"So, we'll go with sundrop as a move, you guys ready?" Summer grinned at all of them, lighting up the cyan energy dust that glowed along the edge of her axe blade.
Raven cycled through her swords and got some ice dust ready. "I'll be ready. Wait 'til I'm in position and I'll signal you."
"Okay." Summer nodded, "Taiyang and I will try get some of these tentacles off the side while you do that. See if you can find a good weak point, we want to kill this thing for good, team."
Raven nodded and glanced at her brother. "Want to be my distraction?"
Qrow gestured grandiosely. "Ladies first."
"Funny, I was about to say the same to you." Raven smirked at him and ran towards the front of the ship, where the crew members used cannons and swords to try get the tentacles off the ship. From here the Kraken looked massive, its bulbous black head covered with white bone plating and the red markings all Grimm had. The eyes were giant, yellow pupils showing where the monster's attention was as its tentacles flopped about to try grab humans or the integral parts of the ship.
As she and Qrow rounded the mast, the Grimm lifted its head enough that it could open its beak, a strange tongue-like appendage shooting out like a dart and locking onto a crew member, retracting quickly to try swallow him.
Raven stabbed her sword into the deck, a line of frost shooting towards the creature before a spike of jagged ice shot up in front of the sailor, catching the monster's hooked tongue and preventing it from eating the man.
Two more sailors hurriedly grabbed their colleague to freedom as Qrow rolled one of the cannons over, slicing off the gun barrel and stowing Harbinger on his back. The ice Raven had created shattered as the Kraken got its tongue back, one of the chunks flying directly at Raven.
She raised a hand to catch it, glancing over at her brother. "What are you doing?"
"Improvising, I guess." Qrow cracked his knuckles before he activated the dust in the cannon, hefting it with both hands and flinging what had to be a makeshift explosive at the Kraken. "Blowing up an engine in the mouth worked on the Bone-tip."
Raven watched as that strange hooked tongue shot out and caught the cannon with pinpoint accuracy, pulling it into the Grimm's mouth. "I'll almost be sad if that works, Summer was so excited to try out sundrop on the field."
"People could die, Raven. Stand by for sushi." Qrow put his hands proudly on his hips, watching as a muffled explosion sounded from within the Grimm's throat, the black flesh bulging before a plume of smoke rolled out of the Grimm's beak, followed by a spray of electric green Grimm ichor. It splattered over the deck, and, unfortunately, all over the twins.
Raven glared viciously at Qrow. "Any more brilliant ideas?"
"Instead of sushi, we make fish stew? We got the goop for it," Qrow chuckled, Raven's temper spiking at his indolence.
"Qrow!" Luckily, like all things Grimm, the ichor was evaporating, but it didn't make the experience any better.
"Well, what's your bright idea?" He quirked a brow at her.
"We need to hold its head still enough so I can get up there. If it senses danger it might retreat."
Qrow nodded and put his fingers in his mouth, letting out a piping whistle. "Hey! Fishface! Over here!" He waved, the yellow pupils of those massive eyes fixating on the twins.
The barbed appendage shot out, Raven dodging enough to get a close view of the bone pieces on the red flesh, while Qrow pulled Harbinger from his back and stabbed the broadsword through the beast's tongue, pinning it to the deck.
She grinned and did the same with her ice blade, leaving it to encase the two swords and the tongue in ice, keeping the Grimm trapped. "Good plan." Now she just needed to get close.
She elbowed her brother, handing him the hilt of her weapon with a red blade attached. "Keep playing bait while I get close."
Qrow gave her a lazy salute and took the blade, running off to stab a tentacle and get the Kraken's attention on him.
Raven smirked and went for the mast, quickly scaling it and jumping to the next, looking down at the creature's head from where she was. Between the eyes would be the best spot. She looked at Summer and gave her the signal whistle she that Qrow used to use when on sentry duty, getting ready to one-shot the sea monster.
What's up ner-
Hey sunflowe-
Yo-
Tai
Fuck I don't know how to start this. Besides, postal's shit anyway so you'll never get it. Especially not with my luck. This is stupid. Hope you're not dead or eaten by a grimm or something. Vacuo's got like, crazy non-grimm sand monsters, right?
I'm tired as shit. Summer's family lives above their bakery, which is both awesome because it smells fucking delicious literally all the time but the worst thing is how early everyone gets up. Dawn can go fuck itself, it's been having a longer sleep then me most nights.
They've got dogs though. I've never been around dogs before. The dogs are cool. Do you like dogs?
This is so dumb. You're never even gonna read this. I still can't believe Raven said she'd write one- So the Vytal festival's gonna be in Vacuo next. Summer's excited. She's been showing me and Raven all her recordings of the matches. I've never seen a tournament. It looks cool. Summer wants us to qualify. There's no way I'm doing the doubles round though. Not with my semblance.
I miss y- Yeah. I can't think of anything else to write. I mean, I named my weapon. Summer says she's got some weapon upgrade specs she wants you to approve and build with her. That's cool, I guess. Get a long range option already, Tai.
See you soon.
Qrow.
Taiyang slammed his palm into one of the tentacles, using the fire dust chamber on the underside of his wrist to shoot heat into the limb until it exploded into smoke and dust, flipping up to use one of the little fire dust shooters Summer had made that could clip to the heel of his boot.
Best birthday present ever, he would love Summer forever for that.
He kicked a thin arc of flames into a tentacle, finishing his cartwheel to come back up to a standing position beside a sailor with a tentacle around him. He dug his hands into the tentacle's grip and pulled, forcing the constricting grasp to ease as the sailor managed to slip out.
He let go and shoved the tentacle away, driving another punch into it and knocking it off the ship. He grinned and looked over to see Summer's chain flying around her, arcs of cyan energy flying off her and slicing through black flesh.
He spotted a tentacle coming towards him and let it crash into him, knocking him hard against the railings of the ship. Golden fire erupted along his aura as he breathed smoke, taking in the damage and storing it up. His own claws popped out as he drove them deep into the tentacle as it came back around, cleaving it into pieces as he heard a piping two-tone whistle. Raven's signal. He looked over at Summer. "Ready?"
She gave him the thumbs up and threw Meteora Bloom's axe head at him. He caught it in his gauntlets and bounded forward, Summer using his momentum and her own strength to whip him around in a full circle. Golden flames trailed off him as he built up speed, and when the red portal appeared in front of him, he didn't hesitate, letting go of Summer's weapon and diving through.
He readied a palm strike, activating the fire dust cartridge under each palm as he found himself face to face with the Kraken's skull. He slammed the heels of both palms into the bony plating, putting all the charge in his semblance behind it as he emptied his dust cartridges, the bone armour cracking as his hands went into the black mass.
The fire burst out the other side of the Kraken's skull, the beast letting out a death knell before it began to fall apart around Taiyang and Raven. He glanced at her beside him and smiled brightly.
"Well, I guess it works."
"I still can't believe that one of the finishing moves Summer came up with was throwing you at the enemy through a portal." She rolled her eyes at him and stood, hopping off the Grimm as it dissolved to dust.
"I can't believe you were originally going to throw me into the air and let gravity do it instead of just swinging me around," he retorted, jumping after her. "What is that, Grimm mucus?"
"One of Qrow's ideas." Raven flicked the green goop off her with a disgusted expression, the slime evaporating before it hit the deck. "Mind breaking that ice so he can get his sword and I can get mine back?"
He shattered it with a punch. "Anything for you, Raven." It was so nice to not constantly be fighting with her.
She plucked Harbinger out of the wood and twirled it in her grip. "Vacuo better be worth it."
"Well, at least it was just a Kraken," Taiyang tried. "Imagine if we went through the Dragon's Teeth and had to deal with the Grimm in there. That would be a real nightmare." People just didn't go through that part of the sea. It was one of the places where Here Be Monsters was noted on the map with 'warning: death' beside it.
"Somehow I'm not reassured." She smirked and tied her hair up in a ponytail. "Let's go tell Summer her idea worked. She'll be jazzed."
Qrow walked down the gangplank and onto Vacuan soil for the first time, shoving his way through the crowd as he followed Taiyang and his team. "Is it always so crowded?"
"This is one of Vacuo's main ports, and it's coastal, which is pretty good for dealing with the climate," Taiyang called over his shoulder. "But it's also the Vytal festival, which means there's a massive upswing in tourism. Every nomad in Vacuo is gonna be converging on either the coast or the main city to try make money off visitors."
"So, no, not always. I didn't need the cultural studies lesson with it, Tai." He dodged around a guy carrying a barrel of fish. He could smell them. Smelt like the docks in Vale. Gross.
Summer stood out, her white cloak practically glowing in the sunlight. It felt way too noticeable. Tai had the walk and look of a local to help him blend in while Qrow and Raven were naturally shifty-looking enough to ward off other shifty people, but Summer always looked like a little lost lamb. Small, sweet and doe-eyed, someone easy to take advantage of. He knew it wasn't true, and those eyes were actually cold iron. But it was still a worry, especially in a place like this.
Summer, oblivious to Qrow's inner musings, spun around, looking at everything with a soft innocence that prevented her from seeing the cloud against the silver lining. "It's really cool. So how do we get to the city? Is there an airship?"
"This kingdom isn't civilised enough for airships," Raven scowled, sticking close to their leader and glaring at anyone who might think of trying to pickpocket Summer. Qrow could see the eyes, feel them focusing on his belt and pockets and then on Harbinger. Tai had said it was good to keep their wits about them here.
Tai was also waving cheerfully at everyone in sight like he knew them all. "Thanks, Raven. There's some airships, but those are Shade Academy use only. There horses, camels, cars, but sand skimmers are one of the best ways to get around and save on dust. There's usually plenty that run between here and shade to ferry huntsmen and tourists, we can catch a good one."
"I thought you said your mom was meeting us here," Qrow slouched beside Tai, hands in his pockets. The sun was already relentless and it was still mid-morning. He should have picked up a hat or something before leaving Vale. Or maybe try haggle a good price for one in the Shade Bazaar.
"She was gonna, but she's changed it to Shade. Maybe she wanted to catch up with the headmaster or something, they go back."
"Seriously?" Raven raised a brow. "And you didn't go to Shade Academy because…?"
"Initiation." Taiyang shuddered.
"I guess Vacuo doesn't play," Qrow grinned.
"Nope. Come on, let's try catch a skimmer before the heat hits." Taiyang led them through the small settlement, at one point taking a backroad off the main street that was way less crowded and also had colourful fabrics stretched above the narrow alleyway, blocking out the worst of the sun's heat.
"I thought Vacuo didn't have permanent settlements," Summer quickened her steps to catch up with Tai, who slowed down for her.
"Most settlements are easy to take down and move because of Grimm or lack of supplies, but along the coast or in some of the ruins you can find permanent stuff." Taiyang seemed to be having the time of his life being the Group Encyclopedia.
Raven was less enthused. "Fascinating. If Vacuo's such a shithole, why do people even stay here?"
"Why do people in Mistral live outside the main kingdom?" Tai retorted. "Pride, dislike of the other kingdoms, freedom, take your pick. For a lot of people, this is just their life."
"The weak die, the strong live," Qrow muttered.
Taiyang scratched the back of his neck. "I wouldn't put it that coldly…"
"Well, that's what Huntsmen like us are for," Summer piped up. "To protect those who can't protect themselves."
Raven glanced at Qrow, red eyes boring into him. He shrugged back at her. Forget the tribe. They had people to rely on now. The tribe's mentality seemed Vacuan at first glance, but so did Tai and he had the biggest heart there was, second to Summer.
So… screw it. The Huntsmen idea was an okay one to follow, if it meant sticking around with his friends. He caught up and clapped Tai on the shoulder. "Don't worry your pretty blond head about it, Tai."
"Aw, you think I'm pretty?" Taiyang put his hand over his heart. "You flatter me, Branwen, really."
"I'll take it back, just you watch." He elbowed his friend's side.
"No retractions!" Tai slung an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a gentle headlock.
Qrow squirmed free. "You always gotta be a weirdo, Tai."
"Says the guy who got a poster of the Grimm Reaper."
"Hey," Qrow warned him at the same time as Summer chirped, "But she's so cool!"
Taiyang held up his hands. "I retract that."
"I thought you said 'no retractions'," Raven smirked and ruffled Tai's hair as she walked by, pausing at the crossroads for barely a moment before picking a direction and getting ready to bulldoze her way along it.
"Well, I retract that too. Also, wrong way. We're going to the right." Tai pointed. Raven barely hesitated before setting off like she'd known the way all along.
Qrow shook his head. "Can we just let her get lost here and pick her up after the tournament?"
"Qrow!" Summer pouted at him.
"I'm kidding, I know you two wanna go doubles together." And good riddance. His semblance was too wild and uncontrolled. Unpredictable. Dangerous.
Same with Tai's. So the two of them had decided to gracefully bow out of the doubles round and let Summer and Raven kick ass for collective glory. Qrow figured they'd win. What mattered right now was getting through the second year mission and the dance.
Ugh.
Maybe they could take another mission to avoid that, apparently Vacuo students took missions all the time here. Way different to Beacon. They could skip it then come back and win the tournament.
He followed them out of the alley and raised his arm, shielding his eyes from the glaring sun as they adjusted to the sight before him. Sand, as far as the eye could see. Bright, burning orange to contrast an azure sky. Qrow suddenly felt very small. There was something about this desert. It felt old. Ancient. He'd almost have said 'alive', but that was stupid. It was stupid, right?
A warm hand clapped on his shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned to blink at Taiyang, raising a brow. "What?"
"I guess it's pretty wild, seeing it for the first time." Taiyang smiled gently at him before looking out at the dunes. "It changes, you know. What you see right now? Tomorrow it'll look like something totally different. The sands shift and move, never the same desert twice."
Qrow looked back out, that oppressive weight on his senses again. "Why? What causes that?"
"No one knows." Taiyang wrapped his arm around Qrow's shoulder and pointed straight into the horizon. "They say that if you go west, beyond Shade, beyond the coastal settlements to the south, eventually you hit the jungles along the western edge and to the north. When people really want to disappear, that's where they go."
"Getting there sounds like the problem." He could feel sand being carried on the breeze and brushing against his aura, enough that it might sting if he wasn't protected. It was already coating his tongue. "So. Shade Academy. What is the initiation anyway?"
"Tell ya on the skimmer," Taiyang ruffled his hair and walked off to the guys waiting on what were basically wooden docks, built over the sand. It really was like a second sea, if Qrow thought about it. Just as vicious and unforgiving and untameable as the waves, only people lived here. Thrived here.
He watched Taiyang haggle a price with one of the women, lien furtively exchanging hands so discretely that Qrow had to look hard at it, and they were being waved onto the skimmer. As they sat down, Summer fumbling with her scroll so she could take pictures along the way, the lady with the eyepatch grinned at them from behind her veil and headdress.
"First time?" She revved up the skimmer's engine, without the usual hum of dust, weirdly enough. Qrow plopped himself down next to Taiyang, wishing he had a hat to deal with the sun's heat.
Raven raised a brow. "How'd you know?"
"You ain't tanned yet," she laughed, tugging the rope attached to the sails of the sand skimmer as they took off. Qrow studied the contraption. Was it powered by wind? Sorta, but then she'd also turned on the engine. Dust? He couldn't hear any.
He elbowed Taiyang. "How's this thing work?"
Tai grinned. "Dust here in Vacuo doesn't get wasted easily. While the people who work for the mining companies use it in their engines, skimmers like this are designed to run off one vial of air dust for months, though some people use combustion dust. The panels on the back, around the driver? Solar panels, they augment the dust with extra energy so it lasts. We use what we can here, make it last."
Qrow whistled. "Guess that's a piece of technology that Atlas doesn't use."
He heard Taiyang snort beside him. "Well, yeah, from what I hear they don't get sun." Taiyang had pulled his neckerchief up to cover his nose and mouth, making him look almost like an outlaw or something.
Qrow chuckled and looked out over the sand as they went by. "You know, Tai? It'll be cool to see your old stomping grounds."
Tai's eyes sparkled at him. "Maybe. But I didn't spend too much time in Vacuo City. My stomping grounds are this." He pointed at the desert. "We had a caravan, we'd pull it behind us together, mom and I. On days when there were good winds we'd let out the sail and let the desert take us wherever it wanted us to go."
"Aren't there Grimm?"
"Always. Sometimes you can see them coming, but those Grimm are easy to deal with. The ones that are more dangerous?" He pointed down. "Under the sands. Not just Grimm too. We got our share of native wildlife that are just as bad and harder to clean up. Good eating though."
Qrow stared at him, well aware that Raven and Summer were also staring. "You Vacuans are a special kind of crazy."
Taiyang winked. "You ain't seen nothing yet. I'm going for a nap, anyway. We probably won't hit Vacuo 'til the evening, and its way better to just sleep through the middle of the day. Dodge the heat."
Qrow shrugged and linked his hands behind his head, flipping his cape up over his face and arms so he didn't get roasted by the sun. "If you say so."
The shattered moon hung big and bright in the sky, turning the desert sands the same midnight blue as the star-filled sky. The stars looked like a dusty curtain had been shaken out, the particles spilling through a sunbeam and catching the light.
The man sighed and looked at the small fire burning just in front of him, the hilt of his broadsword resting beside him and well within reach as he rubbed his right wrist. "Not much longer, madame. We'll reach Vacuo soon."
A pair of bright violet eyes looked at him as the little girl shrugged, no older then eleven. Her eyes reflected the light of the fire and turning into twin ghostly discs in her face in a way no human eyes could. Truthfully, she didn't need the light. The fox brush peeking out under the hem of her coat was proof, but they both needed the warmth.
Even to an Atlas native like himself, the desert cold was cutting. He couldn't imagine what it was like for a Mistrali lass like her.
He ran his hand through his white hair, pulling a few strands loose from the tie of his ponytail for a more ruggedly dashing look. A thin scar on his cheekbone accentuated his handsome features as he looked around, checking for any threats in close proximity
"Did you get a few hours rest?" He got a nod in return and clenched his fist, the small glyph the fire was burning over flickering away. The flame died with it, and it still surprised him how much light the moon cast out here. Every time he did that he expected darkness.
"Alright, Inari," he tossed her a careless smile and stood, ineffectually brushing sand off his clothes before affixing his broadsword to his back. He held out his left hand. "Ready to go?"
Her tiny hand slipped into his and he was reminded of his baby niece. He really should visit Willow after this mission, surely his big sister was wondering how he was.
"William?" A small voice broke through his wistful musings of home and he looked down at the little faunus girl he was charged with protecting. "Do you really think Vacuo will be safe?"
His ice blue eyes warmed. "You bet it will be. The headmaster himself wants to meet you. He's the one who wanted me to bring you here, after all."
"But what if Bai catches me?" Inari's hand fell to the little slingshot in her pocket and he reached over to ruffle her hair with his right hand, the white glove glowing in the moonbeams.
"She won't," he promised, a glyph forming in front of them and a snow white Sphinx clawing its way out of the snowflake. He gently seated Inari between the beast's shoulders and got on himself, his summons shaking out its wings with a silent roar as the snakehead tail whipped. "Just a few more days of travel, okay? Then you'll be in Vacuo."
He looked around again, scanning the dunes with a piercing stare, and saw no movement. Okay. Safe for another flight. The Sphinx summons coiled up before pouncing into the air, great wings flapping as it clawed for height, each movement powerful and focused, reflecting its creator as he urged his summons onwards.
He looked behind him again, just to make sure, using the height to see further, and his blood chilled when he saw moonlight glint on metal, only an hour's trek away from the small campsite he and Inari had set up to let them both rest and recover. Inari simply didn't have the stamina a Huntsman did, and using a summons like this took a slow toll.
So close. Too close. They were catching up again.
