As Opal finished up the latest entry of her journal and snapped it shut as she had so many times before, somehow the familiar click it let out as she closed it felt as though it possessed more finality than any of the previous times she had done so before. Granted, with the completion of the entry she had just written, she'd completely chronicled the horrors she'd gone through when she had elected to face Adam Taurus alone to buy Blake time to deactivate Argus' communications tower, but she felt… off, somehow. Perhaps it was due to how no mere journal entry could suffice to convey the discomfort she felt as her Aura worked to make the pain in the scar Adam had given her fade away, though it was equally as likely that the completion of the entry carried with it no small amount of catharsis now that she'd been able to write the burden of recent events out of her mind.
Not that the memories would ever truly fade. Life on Remnant would be far too easy if such traumatizing events were so easily forgotten by those who managed to live through them.
The thin few sheets of steel separating Opal from the cold ocean below lurched somewhat as Maria adjusted the gang's 'borrowed' Atlesian airship into cruising speed. Her feline ears twitched as they picked up on the minute sound of the flow of dust powering the airship's engines intensify to meet the demands of the craft's pilot and took in a deep breath shortly thereafter. It was then that she turned her attention away from the well-worn leather of her journal back up toward the rest of the craft.
It appeared as though each of the three teams contained in their group had taken to their own corners of the ship while her attention had been elsewhere. It may not have been all that large of a craft – one big room in the center, a cockpit in the front, and a cargo bay in the back which anyone could use to change in privacy if need be – but it was big enough. With how many people had been crammed inside the airship, and with her ears, Opal was almost shocked at how quiet the airship was aside from the constant hum of its engines all around them. With nothing better to do with her time as they flew over an ocean, she decided to give everyone she'd spent the last few months with nonstop the once-over.
JNPR was further toward the cargo bay than anyone else and, surprisingly, the only real source of any sound stemming from any individual's activity on the ship. Jaune and Pyrrha were sequestered to Nora's right and directly next to the thin steel wall that separated the main portion of the ship from the cargo bay, and both were sound asleep as they leaned up against one another's shoulders for support. Nora had her knees tucked up to her chest and had whipped out her scroll to play some kind of game to pass the time, causing an only slightly distracting amount of noise every now and again as she presumably ran into some difficulty in whatever it was she was playing. Ren was the only one of their group that remained on his feet, though he leaned up against the wall of the ship to relax as he silently looked down upon his team with an appreciative, yet almost invisible smile on his face.
Oscar was in the corner across from them. Opal didn't have much of a mind to try and analyze what was going through the head of the boy who served as Ozma's latest host, but she thought it was worth noticing that he didn't look particularly perturbed. Rather, he merely appeared to be in a thoughtful state of mind, Ozpin's collapsed cane in his lap as he stared neutrally at it.
RWBY could be found in the middle of the ship, nearby the sliding doors but still far enough ahead of them so that they could take advantage of the seats the ship provided. There weren't many, and most of them were attached from in front of the sliding doors on toward the cockpit, but there were enough. Ruby wasn't present to make any use of the seats at the moment though, as she was currently in the cockpit with Qrow and Maria discussing something Opal didn't want to train her ears to eavesdrop on. Yang and Blake were sitting sideways in their seats so that they could lean up against each other's backs, and both of them had their eyes focused blankly on the sky outside through their respective windows. Weiss had perhaps the pronounced air about her out of anyone on their team, with her typical perfect posture having been replaced by an almost demure and depressed slouch mounting in her shoulders.
With the destination they were headed for in mind, Opal couldn't help but feel for her unfortunate situation. Weiss had fought desperately to escape her father's iron grip again after he'd come to take her home when Beacon fell, and not even a few months later she was on her way back there – all for the sake of a surreal war that she hadn't even known existed up until long after she'd escaped in the first place. Sometimes Opal couldn't believe it herself, the vast secrets and scale of Remnant's state of being that no one but their group had been made aware of, but she needed only to think of all she'd been through to convince herself that it all was real. For better or for worse.
Mostly worse, though.
Nevertheless, with two teams, Oscar, and a pair of adults accounted for, Opal was left with only one more group to look over – her team, Iridescence. She had sat herself down in the corner of the ship nearest to the cockpit on the floor for the sake of privacy as she wrote in her journal. Lux was in the seat nearest to her with a gap between him and Tenebris, who then in turn was right next to Aurora. Tenebris was merely lounging back using Boomstick as a footrest while he stared off blankly in thought while Aurora had rested her forehead on the shaft of Sapphire, her closed eyes indicating that she was either merely resting or in the middle of prayer while she had a quiet moment to do so.
She'd only known two of her teammates since the start of her brief time spent at Beacon, but she couldn't deny that to call them anything less than family at this point would be an outright lie. The number of times they'd made her laugh, acted as an outlet for her frustrations, or worked to help her cry in catharsis after her parents' untimely deaths in of itself would have been enough for Opal to have called them family even if they weren't on the same team. But as fate would have it, they were, and Opal found herself indescribably grateful that they'd all come into her life. Aurora had been her only companion and sparring partner her age before they left for Vale, Tenebris was larger-than-life with a heart to match, and Lux was simultaneously the love of her life and the bane of her existence insofar as his and his twin brother's Vacuan sense of humor was concerned.
Each of their personalities and her own combined, and although Opal may have wanted to tear out her hair when they had first been put on the same team, she wouldn't give up the dynamic they shared now for the world.
"So, do you mind explaining to me why you feel the need to sit on the floor after you were slashed in the side, like, an hour ago?" Lux asked.
Opal felt her lips tug up into a smile. Lux may have been the most concerned out of anyone on her team as to her health when Jaune had started working to save her, but that certainly didn't stop him from regaining his former composure before long. An absentminded hand of hers wandered to the bandages around where her new scar was bound to form, and she looked up at him to respond.
"Well, you've read my journal, so I think you'd probably be able to understand why I'd want a modicum of privacy while I wrote my thoughts down on paper," she answered, and she held her journal a bit closer to her chest. "Not everything I have to put in my journal is sunshine and roses. Or… clean, in some regards."
"Fair point, fair point…" Lux conceded, and he extended a hand, which Opal quickly took to hoist herself to her feet and sit down in the seat separating him from his brother. "But about your journal not being 'clean' – what, have you gone ahead and written some mushy poems or some smut about me after I got into it?"
She snorted and rolled her eyes. "You wish."
It was as Opal bent over to grab the bag beneath her seat and was stuffing her journal back amongst her other things that Tenebris joined the conversation. "Yeah, not gonna lie Lux, I don't think you should be expecting Opal to be doing that kind of stuff. Keeping a journal in the first place is probably about as close to 'girly' as she's ever gonna get."
He didn't even need to look at her to catch the punch Opal aimed at his face in indignant retribution. When he released her hand after a moment of halfhearted struggle on her part, Opal tried and failed to feign anger as Tenebris chuckled. "What do you mean by that? I wore a dress to the Beacon Dance, you jerk! If I didn't have a feminine bone in my body, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be caught dead doing that sort of thing, first date with Lux or not."
Aurora tilted her head in their direction, and she opened her eyes out of her prior peaceful state to throw her hat into the ring. "Besides, I do remember you and Lux both mentioning that Opal and I looked good in our dresses, too."
Tenebris huffed in mock irritation. "Okay, literally one time aside, my point still stands. I think the girliest this team gets is from Aurora, and that's all because she's acts like a mom to the rest of us sometimes."
"Be that as it may – which, for the record, I don't think is quite the case – your definition of what 'girly' means might be in need of an update," Opal argued. "All because I don't run into battle wearing a skirt, high heels, and tons of makeup doesn't mean I'm not feminine, just like how you being good at cooking doesn't make you any less masculine as a result."
Aurora sat up a bit straighter. "I second that notion."
"Consider me a third, then," Lux added. "Traditional ideas of gender roles are bullshit, anyway."
"Fair enough… I concede," Tenebris admitted.
With little more than a wave of his hand after that, the team's conversation appeared to have ended. Opal didn't pay much attention to what Lux and Tenebris decided to talk about after that point, since she sort of tuned them out entirely when she realized they were about to enter another endless debate between each other over the practicality of the 'combat skirts.' Many Huntresses-in-training seemed to favor them in Vale for some reason or another, and one needed only look so far as RWBY or JNPR to see that it was a trend that even their gang wasn't immune to. At least Opal was able to find solace in the fact that she and Aurora were proud enough of their bodies that they decided to wear pants and armor instead of skirts and… short shorts, in Yang's case, way back in Vale. Maybe it was the fact that Aurora and Opal had been raised in Mistral, but Opal could never quite wrap her head around why some people seemed so averse to wearing practical outfits where their fighting ability was concerned.
Then again, Aura existed, so what people decided to wear into combat was somewhat of a moot point… up until their protective barrier broke, and they were left open to very-lethal levels of harm if they ended up getting hit again. Aurora had only survived at the battle of Haven in part because she wore armor, and Tenebris probably would've blown himself up ten times by now if his armor wasn't as robust as it turned out to be.
Before Opal could find herself accidentally plummeting any further down the rabbit hole she found herself in though, she thankfully spotted something that drew her attention outward again. The twins were still in the midst of their discussion about combat skirts when she noticed Aurora look away from them and back to Sapphire. Her expression turned pensive, as if she had something on her mind but had decided to hold in whatever it was that was bothering her rather than sully the mood with whatever she had to say.
Seeing as she had nothing to do now that she'd finished writing in her journal, Opal saw fit to investigate the issue.
"Aurora?" she gently asked.
Her blue hair fell slightly in front of her face as Aurora turned to face her. She then brushed it back behind her ear with one hand while her other remained firm on her weapon. "Yeah?"
"Is there something bothering you?" Opal added.
She pursed her lip a little before answering. "Yeah… a little bit."
The twins' conversation came to a sudden end and both their attention fell on Aurora. Lux was the first to speak, then. "Then what's up? Stressed?"
"That much is obvious," Aurora said with a joyless smirk. "I am though, yeah. More specifically, I'm worried. About you. About Opal. Blake, too."
"Because we're going to Atlas, and they're faunus," Tenebris guessed.
Aurora nodded solemnly. "I don't know if everything I've ever heard about what a lot of people in Atlas think of faunus is true or not, but I don't want to get there and see any of my friends suffer because of the circumstances of their birth."
"Not like open discrimination would be anything new to us, though." Opal sat back in her seat and stared at the ceiling emptily. "I might have avoided the worst of it in Mistral growing up because of my clan's prestige and place in society, but that doesn't mean I was entirely unaffected by people who hate faunus in the past. Then when we got to Vale…"
"It was like a whole different ball game, yeah," Lux finished. "Back in Vacuo, it's the rule of cool and the strength to survive that makes the world go 'round, so people don't care if you're faunus or not. In Vale, though… everyone likes to pretend it's all sunshine and rainbows with the faunus back there, but there were still more than enough douchebags back there that you'd lose track if you tried to count them all. Cardin's an obvious example since we had classes with the guy, but there were others, too. Thankfully we didn't run into too many of them when we went out sometimes, but still."
"Which is why I'm worried about Atlas," Aurora murmured. "Vacuo's rough-and-tumble and barely qualifies as a kingdom in some ways, but from what I understand, the faunus that manage to live there are at least treated with respect. Vale tries to be the most gallant and 'good' of the three more civil kingdoms, but so often turns a blind eye to inflammatory insults and other mild displays of hatred. Mistral's perception of faunus may have improved after the battle at Haven, but that doesn't instantly erase the centuries of financial and social oppression they placed upon anyone with even so much as a pair of fangs. Atlas… I've heard that faunus can be detained or even beaten for the most minor of infractions, and yet here we are in a stolen Atlesian airship, about to break the law again to cross their borders. Even if we're doing it for a good reason, if anyone sees that we have faunus among us… I don't know if they'd be willing to hear out our reasoning for doing what we did, at that point."
"Well, if anyone tries anything while we're down there, we'll have each other's backs," Tenebris firmly stated. "We always have, and we always will. Some anti-faunus assholes who think they can screw with a bunch of Huntsmen-in-training because their friends have cat ears and eagle eyes might have to learn the hard way that their bullshit won't fly with us."
"Tenebris." Lux reached slightly over Opal to place his hand on his shoulder. "I get where you're coming from, and I appreciate it, but you might want to dial it back before you do something you'll regret. I don't like bigots who hate faunus as much as the next guy, but I don't think we should have that kind of attitude going into Atlas. They're still citizens of a sovereign kingdom we have no right to dole out justice to all because we don't like what they think of faunus. We agreed to protect people even as arrogant as them when we signed up to become Huntsmen."
"Yeah… I guess you're right," Tenebris admitted. "I'll try not to beat any assholes to a pulp if we come across them, but I'm not going to go ahead and take things sitting down if they decide to pick on you guys. That's not me."
"We know, and we appreciate that. You've got a big heart under all that armor and muscle of yours, and it's something that I think everyone here finds more than a little endearing about you," Opal complimented, and she tapped her knuckles against the armor over Tenebris' chest as if to emphasize her point. She then lowered her hand and looked at Aurora again, a small smile on her face to try and reassure her teammate that she was in high spirits despite the topic of their current discussion. "So while we're not going to head into Atlas and pretend that everything's fine for the faunus there and we won't be bothered if we are picked on, what we will do is deal with whatever we have to if and when we have to deal with it. Sound good?"
Aurora sighed in relief. "As long as you and Lux are okay with what we're going to be walking into, I'll try my best to be okay with it too."
Tenebris shrugged. "I think I already made my stance on the matter clear."
"That you did," Lux said. "And I'm with Opal on this one. Big shocker, I know."
From the other side of the airship, Oscar's eyes finally rose from his collapsed cane up to Iridescence. Having caught their attention, he hesitated to say anything only briefly before he placed his hand absentmindedly on his collapsed cane and appeared to calm down enough to speak shortly thereafter. "If it makes any of you guys feel better about any of this, as the next Ozpin, I do want to apologize on his behalf for what the faunus have had to go through. No one should ever have to face what the faunus have because of the things they could never hope to control about themselves, and your people deserve much better than what they've been able to fight for in recent times."
Blake stirred next. "Well, things could get better now if Ozpin just came back."
Yang stiffened from her position pressed up against Blake's back, but didn't move. Her features scrunched up slightly in an odd mix of confusion and frustration. "Why would you want Oz to come back? I thought that you'd be the angriest out of anyone here at him because of how he did jack squat for the faunus when he totally had the power to – sorry, Weiss."
Somehow, it looked like Weiss managed to shrink in on herself even further. "None taken…"
"But there's no denying that he's aware of the issue now," Blake calmly argued. "Indirectly he might be responsible for… for how Adam turned out, but none of us have the right to say that if we get him on our side that we can't-"
"Change things for the faunus?" Tenebris guessed. "Honestly, Blake, your parents and their little part of the White Fang they rallied together changed things for the faunus just fine back in Mistral – without Ozpin's help. If he wants to help us out when it comes to Salem, great. The faunus…?" he looked at Lux.
Lux nodded in silent agreement. "Not so much. We can do that ourselves."
"What if he did come back, though? Someday?" Oscar asked.
"Then that's another ally we have back on our side in the fight ahead," Opal said.
Off to the side, Ren's voice drew everyone's attention momentarily to the back of the airship. "I agree with Opal on this matter. When united, a team of trained fighters is much more effective with all of its members included than it is with one they merely dislike. So long as that lost ally isn't one with malicious intent, in a battle with stakes as high as the war we find ourselves involved in, we need all the help we can get."
Aurora collapsed Sapphire from its naginata form back into an assault rifle and sighed in relief as she set it on the floor. "I'll stay on the same page as you guys when it comes to the faunus then, Opal. Whatever happens, know that I'll have your back, as always."
A warm smile in thanks acted as Opal's initial response. "And I thank you for being willing to do that, Aurora. Really."
"Both of us do," Lux added.
With no further topic of conversation in particular at hand and the minor unease Aurora's concerns had placed upon everyone who overheard what was said, a companionable silence settled over the airship. Tenebris, Lux, and Aurora all relaxed in their seats in their respective ways, and Opal lost track of time as she leaned her head back against the wall and stare up at the ceiling to follow their example. That said, she knew that she couldn't have been in any sort of meditative bliss for too long though, since Weiss breaking said silence didn't startle her in the slightest.
"So…" Weiss idly started. "Qrow – when do you think we'll arrive in Atlas?"
Before any response could come out of the cockpit, Ruby emerged with Qrow's signature emblem-emblazoned flask in her hands and a smile on her face. She threw a small thumbs up over at her partner and happily made her way over to her bag to stuff it in with the rest of her belongings when Weiss spoke up again.
"Ruby, would you mind explaining to me why you have your hands on your uncle's flask, perchance?" she questioned. "I know for a fact that you're not even close to drinking age, yet."
RWBY's leader plopped down next to Weiss after she finished re-zipping up her bag. "Oh, Uncle Qrow decided to stop drinking! Finally."
"That doesn't explain why you didn't just throw it out of the ship, then…"
"Hey, it's none of your business!" Qrow halfheartedly chastised. "But for the record, that thing's a family heirloom."
"After less than a generation?" Weiss deadpanned.
"Well, it'll be a family heirloom someday. Besides, I spent good lien on that thing – I'd much rather prefer that it doesn't end up a rusted piece of scrap at the bottom of the ocean," he explained. "And hey! Maybe someday Ruby or Yang will get a use out of it. You never know."
Weiss remained unconvinced, but Ruby shrugged noncommittally to bring her attention back to her. "He does have a point."
Weiss scoffed. "No, he doesn't! But… Qrow, would you please answer my question, at least?"
"Sure! I dunno. I've always had a habit of uh… flying alone."
Opal could almost hear the grin in his voice with that response. At least he had a sense of humor about having an unquantifiable amount of Ozpin's magic shoved into him at some point.
"Well, that was…" Weiss paused. "A completely useless answer…"
"Probably shoulda seen it coming, though," Yang argued.
"Don't encourage him!"
"If you're looking for a serious answer, think about six hours!" Maria hollered back at them. "If there's one thing I know, it's that this airship's engine is a study marvel of engineering. Doesn't matter if we got off to a rough start when we hijacked the thing – an entire ocean won't be an issue for a craft like this! If you want to catch some shuteye before we arrive in Atlas and are possibly shot down on sight, I recommend you do so now."
Not a single pair of eyes out of everyone awake in the main room of the airship didn't slowly pivot toward the cockpit after that last comment. Sometimes it was hard to tell when Maria was joking… or if she ever joked around, to begin with.
"Well that's one way to wish everyone sweet dreams," Nora quipped.
For someone who possessed eagle eyes as their faunus trait, one would be surprised to hear that Lux liked to close them whenever he had the chance. Indeed, the superb vision his eyes endowed him with was a blessing on and off the battlefield – there was no denying that – but at times, the ability to discern every detail of one's environment and companions' facial expressions at any given moment was somewhat draining. Lux had always heard from people with 'normal' vision that they envied him, and as a matter of fact, he felt the same toward them on occasion. He would never forfeit his faunus trait, of course, but sometimes he dreamt of what it would be like not to sometimes feel as though he could peer into someone's very soul if he stared at them hard enough. Tenebris, Opal, and Aurora often offered insightful perspectives into the simplicity of their vision in comparison to his, and so Lux spent their group's flight to Solitas with his eyes shut as he daydreamt of what their world looked like. Compared to the tumultuous time they all suffered through simply getting to Argus, let alone escaping the place, the lack of any visual stimuli in favor of the feeling of Opal lightly resting beside him was bliss.
But of course, that bliss had to end at some point.
"Alright everyone," Qrow called from the cockpit. "If you've never seen Atlas before, you might wanna come look at this."
Lux opened his eyes and looked to his left at Opal, whose feline ears' perceptiveness of sound had shaken her awake from her on his shoulder. Her eyes blearily blinked open, and she groggily shoved herself into sitting upright, not even needing to exchange words with Lux to know what he was about to say next.
"Go ahead…" She rubbed her eyes. "I know you want a good look."
"Thanks," Lux whispered in response. He placed a kiss beside one of Opal's fuzzy ears, ignoring the smug looks his brother and Aurora gave him as he did so. "Love you."
"You too," Opal returned, and then he stood.
His faunus trait was mentally taxing at times, yes, but it also offered him an appreciation for grand scale and beauty that no one that didn't have a similar trait to his could comprehend. He may have hated Atlas on principle due to its treatment of faunus, but it wasn't every day that he got to see the place that inspired Tenebris' armor in full view. As a result, it wasn't long before he found himself in the cockpit slightly behind Team RWBY, who'd gotten there before him.
"Is it weird that I'm sorta nervous?" Ruby asked.
"We're flying a hijacked airship into the single greatest military nation on Remnant's airspace, Ruby," Lux responded. "If you weren't, I'd be concerned."
"Yeah… I'll believe that we made it there when I see it," Yang mentioned.
Weiss smirked. "Well… believe it."
Clouds parted from in front of their line of sight as Maria steered the airship through the floating balls of cotton, and what Lux saw nearly took his breath away.
Perhaps a few miles away was the greatest technological marvel known to all of mankind. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions upon millions of tons of stone and steel in the shape of an island sat suspended in the air, and atop the artificial sky island sat the city of Atlas. Divided into several districts therein with small lakes and technologically augmented farmland, the place was self-sufficient and housed a population in the millions. Monolithic shield generating spires sat intermittently in progressively tighter rings throughout the blue and white districts of the city, mountain ranges at its back offered the island an almost picturesque look, and high-speed bullet trains encased in tubes of hard light added all the more credibility to the majesty of it all. On account of his eagle eyes, Lux could even make out the vague shapes of large advertising signs and some bullet trains in motion. The city of Atlas was alive, and beyond even Amity Colosseum in its technological grace.
If it didn't serve as the seat of power and capital of the kingdom that repressed and ravaged the lives of faunus so flagrantly, Lux would've been inclined to stare at it for an eternity as they drew closer – the smog of Mantle below be damned.
"Y'know… you make the trip up to Atlas over and over… but you never get used to that view," Maria fondly stated, only for her eyes to go haywire as she stared at the city. "Oh, come on!"
On a whim, Lux looked up. "Wait… uh, Weiss?"
"I see it too," she said.
Ruby glanced at each of them. "What? What's going on- oh…"
All eyes in the cockpit drifted upward. There laid the sole reason that Atlas was known as the sole military superpower on the planet.
The Atlas air fleet.
A single one of Atlas' airships was a sight that would make all but the strongest of souls quake in fear. Every one of the flying death machines was the size of skyscrapers placed on their sides and built for the singular purpose of war. Their crew numbered in the tens of thousands, fighters in the hundreds, and cannons and turrets of all kinds – each designed to swiftly dispatch the largest Grimm on the planet – numbered in the dozens. Add on layers of armor several meters thick and a propulsion system that allowed them to even outpace some of their seafaring equivalents of yesteryear and they were the stuff of nightmares for those who made an enemy of the city that had perched itself in the heavens.
One airship was enough to tear down small cities. Dozens hovered over Atlas.
"I knew our ships were all called back, but…" Weiss trailed off. "It looks like they're expecting an attack."
"Manta 5-1. Welcome Home," an official-sounding yet feminine voice stated through the ship's radio. "Please continue to Atlas docking bay Omega-12. A security team will meet you there for inspection and summary debriefing. Over."
"I don't understand. What's happening here?" Ruby asked.
Qrow's inflection turned grim, his expression cautious. "I don't know."
"But we are here," Jaune mentioned from the rear. "We got the lamp to Atlas, so… I guess we land and get some answers."
Lux turned around slightly. "I don't think so."
Aurora blinked. "Lux?"
"If they're positioned this aggressively, then I don't think they're going to take too kindly to us when they see us land in a stolen ship."
"Yeah…" Tenebris drawled out. "This isn't Vacuo, where getting your ride stolen is a daily thing. We need to be careful."
"Agreed," Maria quickly concurred. "We've been lucky enough not to get shot down as it is. I say we put some distance between us and them! At least thisway we'll be able to see our imminent deaths coming if they do decide to open fire on us!"
Weiss sighed and pulled out her scroll. "Not quite the reasoning I was looking for, but okay. It keeps me away from my father and gives me time to call Winter – maybe that'll help."
As she and the rest of RWBY walked back into the main area of the ship, Opal shrugged. "It's worth a shot."
With a sudden lurch, Maria piloted the ship into a rapid descent that brought the city of Mantle below Atlas into full view. Lux held onto the back of her chair for security until the ship slowed back down into a more tolerable cruising speed, though he couldn't manage to tear his eyes away from the city they now found themselves about to enter. He wanted to return to his team, but…
Mantle was something else. Even from a glance so far away, Lux could tell it was the polar opposite of the capital of the kingdom it was a part of. If Atlas was sophisticated, respectable, and affluent, Mantle was technologically backward, socially seedy, and broken. It wasn't like home, though. It wasn't like Vacuo – that was a different kind of brokenness. Whatever Mantle was going through, a cold sense of suffering seemed to seep so deeply into the very foundations of the city in such a way that words couldn't describe. With eyes such as his own, it was well and truly a sad sight to behold. The worst part?
None of it was unexpected.
Lux was jerked out of his silent staring when a familiar feminine hand clasped itself onto his shoulder. "Lux. I know what you're doing, and I'm not going to stop you, but come back to the rest of us. You don't have to look at everything that's going on alone."
Opal's hand slipped from his shoulder, and he sighed. "Right."
The pair then rejoined the other two members of Iridescence at their previous seats, though all their focus rested almost exclusively on the streets and signs all across Mantle as they cruised through the city. Lux felt Tenebris' eyes land on him for a moment, but his twin brother quickly decided to leave him well enough alone. Given their shared origins and opinions, both of them were bound to have strong feelings about Mantle right about now.
"I cannot express our appreciation enough," a massive display with an announcement from Ironwood played out. "Many have described these as uncertain times, and while that may be the case for the rest of the world, I can tell you what is certain. The Kingdom of Atlas will remain strong, and it will remain safe. That is my promise."
"That's the general," Tenebris pointed out. "What happened to him?"
Lux gave the display another look before it flickered to another image. Ironwood's once well-maintained and proud appearance was a thing of the past. Whereas before he hadn't even any stubble to speak of, now he sported a full beard, and his typically perfectly professional hairstyle had degraded into a disheveled mockery of its former self. His outfit had changed and somehow it managed to save a great deal of face at a glance, but there was a look in Ironwood's eyes that bespoke of an untold amount of strain hidden beneath the surface of his skin.
The twins had admired him in some capacity in the past – the great general of the Atlesian military who doubled as the headmaster of Atlas Academy. Now, though… he looked like a shadow of the man that had once carried himself with confidence and purpose in every step.
"Months and months of stress after the fall of Beacon probably happened to him," Lux solemnly guessed.
"No arguments there, but…" Qrow stopped. "James… what've you been doing?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Lux noticed Weiss fiddling with her scroll to try and call her sister, only to meet no answer if the tension on her face was any indicator. In the streets of Mantle below, more details continued to reveal themselves to everyone in the airship. Civilians walked the streets in heavy clothing to shield them from the cold of Solitas due to lack of any better protection, but so too did several patrols of Atlesian Knights make themselves known every few blocks or so. Floating camera drones fluttered along the sidewalk to add yet another level of unease and unspoken intimidation to the denizens of Mantle's lives, and it didn't take anyone long to conclude that something had to be amiss. Be it due to some newfound malevolence on Ironwood's part or something else, no one knew, but Lux was far from pleased to see a stray faunus or two out on the street as their airship coasted along.
The radio crackled to life again. "Manta 5-1, we've noticed a deviation in your angle of approach," she said, her tone much more forceful than before. "You are to make your way to docking bay Omega-12 immediately, do you copy? Over."
"Hey, kids?" Maria questioned. "If you're all done taking in the sights and sounds of Mantle, I'd like to go ahead and mention that we're clearly running out of time. What's our next move?"
"We should ditch the ship," Yang suggested.
"Agreed." Qrow stood and moved to the doorway separating the main cabin from the cockpit to nod at Yang. "We can get lost in Mantle and buy ourselves some time."
"But I'm telling you, my sister can take us to Ironwood," Weiss protested.
Blake tapped on her shoulder. "Uh, Weiss?"
On either side of the airship, the chime of a mechanical bell punctuated the activation of two more massive holographic screens on the few skyscrapers that stood tall above the smaller brick buildings all beneath it. None other than Winter Schnee herself appeared on the projections, and she looked completely at ease with what she said next.
"A reminder – failure to comply with Atlas military personnel is a punishable offense. If your sector is under lockdown, please ask your local officials…"
The airship continued on, and the rest of the message thereafter faded into obscurity. Lux and the rest of Iridescence exchanged uneasy looks at one another before their attention fell back on the ex-heiress of the SDC herself. JNPR and Qrow mimicked the gesture, and the confusion on Weiss' face became clear when she turned away from the shrinking image of her elder sister behind them. Lux could only guess what would be going through her head right now.
"No offense, but I don't think that's a good idea anymore," Qrow gently advised.
Weiss stood. "Look, there's obviously something very wrong, here. If we could just talk to her, then-"
"Listen, I don't even think we should be talking to Ironwood until we understand exactly what's going on in Mantle," Qrow countered. "It's in our best interest if we don't do something that we might end up regretting five minutes from now. I'm not saying that we can't trust your sister, but I am saying that we can't assume she's trustworthy. Haven taught us better than that."
"But-"
"Everyone calm down," Maria intruded. "I know someone who can help us with both."
"Manta-5-1, you are to make your way-"
Tenebris straightened in his seat. "And that's our cue to get the hell out of dodge."
Opal nodded. "Right. Maria? Take us down."
"Hmph! I don't take orders from kids, you know," Maria argued with an audible smirk in her voice. "But seeing as I was about to do that anyway…"
The airship's engines whined to shift gears, and they picked up speed to find a suitable landing spot to ditch their stolen mode of transport. All members of their group save for Maria grabbed their few belongings, secured their weapons someplace on their bodies, and with a preparatory projection of their Auras to shield them from the cold, were ready to go. Opal, Tenebris, and Aurora all exuded some amount of unease each while Lux tried to hide his as the ground pulled up to meet them. He'd be lying if he said he felt anything but dread for their imminent introduction to the streets of Mantle.
After all, there was a world of a difference between observance of oppression from on high and walking through the very streets of the city where your kind was implicitly viewed by millions as the inferior race of Remnant.
There were a great many things that someone could learn about their sibling throughout the years. By the very nature of genetics and a typically shared household, one could see some modicum of themselves in their older or younger sibling – faults, aspirations, idiosyncrasies no one else would pick up on. Down to the very fiber of a set of siblings' being, there would be some constants that always stood out among the equal number of variables that separated any given member of a family apart from the others. No two people would ever be exact copies of one another, even when shared blood bound them together forever as being cut from the same cloth, but there was an anomaly among family units that amplified the connection any given set siblings would already share by merely being born.
Twins. To those intrigued enough to investigate the genetic rarity, twins could often be found to share fashion sense, hobbies, dreams for the future and more even if they were separated for what could be forever mere moments after their birth. Even in a world so strange and seemingly destined for destruction as Remnant, it didn't matter what combination of races the couple that brought said twins into the world was, the rule would remain true. Thus, even distinguished from one another by their very race, Tenebris' innate link to Lux provided him better insight into the thoughts of his brother than anyone could even fathom.
From the moment they landed in Mantle, that same link allowed Tenebris to tell that no small number of uncomfortable thoughts lingered in the back of Lux's mind. His brother's adulation of Atlesian tech and professional Huntsmen had died down over time, but he knew that it was all but impossible for the dark haze that hovered over the city they'd landed in to not affect Lux in some way. From the run-down nature of Mantle to the stray faunus on the streets to General Ironwood's seeming shift from being an unwavering bastion of light to one of moral greyness, all of it had to be taking its toll on him. He hid it well behind the thoughtful look he often had on his face whenever he was looking a new locale over, but Tenebris could see his stress as clear as day. He was sure that Lux could see that stress in him if he dared look away from the brick cityscape before them for even a second.
Not that Tenebris could blame him for engaging in his habitual analysis of his surroundings. It'd saved their group's lives several times over when they traveled to Mistral on foot, and it wasn't like Mantle wasn't a marvel to look at in its own right. It was run-down and dismal, yes, but it was still an interesting new place to experience, in its own twisted way. The very city felt dark despite the light of the broken moon and lamplights combined, and it fundamentally lacked any spark of liveliness or life one would expect of a city. People could be found idly making their way through the streets, but even that wasn't enough to convince anyone in their party that the atmosphere they found the city in possession of was anything short of depressing, at best.
Compared to the technological and shining megalith that was Atlas overhead, the existence of a city in a state such as this felt like some kind of sick joke. Given the presence of so many homeless faunus hiding in the heated alleyways of Mantle for warmth, though, it wasn't one that had anyone other than the Atlesian elites laughing.
A truck filled with people passing by caught Tenebris and others' attention. The truck bed was filled past capacity with faunus, all caked in dirt and sweat. Most of them were quite obviously miners, given their miner's caps, but many others were mere craftsmen, construction workers, and other varieties of physical laborers. Not a single one of their expressions were anything other than both dreary and fatigued at the same time, making it clear that none of them had lived a life being seen as anything other than another disposable worker.
The sight made Tenebris' blood boil.
"This is wrong…" Opal murmured as the truck shrank into the distance. "In so many ways."
Aurora placed a hand on her shoulder while they continued to follow Maria forward. "Well, maybe if we can get to the bottom of what's going on here, we can try and help in the future. I do hope that future's sooner rather than later, though…"
Lux's fist clenched, his expression dark. "Five minutes in Mantle and I'm starting to understand why the White Fang exists. Those faunus were being carted around like livestock."
"To see it up close…" Blake trailed off, carefully slowing down to hide among her teammates. "It's disturbing."
"It's sick," Tenebris bit out. "No one should have to live like that."
The sound of an array of footsteps too heavy and swift to be anything other than Atlesian soldiers stopped any further conversation from going down. Tenebris could hear shouts to the effect of 'find the airship' – though he knew no one other than Blake or Opal could've been able to discern what exactly had been said, he didn't need to have heard the exact letter of the orders that had been barked out to know they needed to keep moving. After he sent an empathetic look Lux's way that it seemed no one else picked up on, and his brother returned a nod, the twins made sure to stick close together at the back of the group. The less either of them had to worry about their negative emotions infecting everyone else, the better.
Only a handful of seconds passed before Maria broke the silence with a few words tossed over her shoulder. "Come on now, kids, it's not too much farther! Shouldn't be much of a walk if we keep up the pace."
Pyrrha glanced at an Atlesian Knight down the street. "Is this many soldiers' deployment on the streets… normal, by any chance?"
"No," Weiss answered distantly. "Or at least… I didn't think so."
"Hmm…" Maria's grip on her cane shifted a bit toward the center of it. "Well, as to avoid any added risk of attracting attention due to stress, allow me to take your minds off of our current mission with a little history lesson, eh?"
"Is now truly a good time for such a thing?" Pyrrha asked.
"Listen closely and maybe it might have a good point mixed in somewhere," Maria responded, a cheeky smirk appearing on her face. "Now, you all have to remember, back in the days just after the Great War ended, the kingdom of Mantle entered a heavy recession. Given the monetary costs of the war effort itself and their reparations, the economy simply couldn't withstand the strain. The people needed jobs. They needed hope. For the people in this city, that sign was the project that became Atlas. After all, as impossible a feat as it may have sounded like at the time, a potential home in the clouds was about as bright a future as they could ever hope for."
Another two trucks crammed with faunus drove by when the group reached an intersection. Maria's mechanical eyes followed the trucks as they continued along, barely moving at a crawl when they had to turn down the street. She continued moving. "Though that isn't to say life became sunshine and rainbows for everybody. In light of the economic boom that followed the completion of the efforts to make Atlas, many of the families that had spearheaded the efforts wished to consolidate their power. Given the remaining reservoir of supreme military technology the kingdom possessed at the time, they fought for a new, more militaristic style of governance over the kingdom. That shift marked the end of Mantle and the rise of Atlas as we know it today. Perhaps this level of military presence isn't normal, but the very origins of this kingdom have made such potential pressures on the lives of the less fortunate possible. Remember that."
Pyrrha nodded solemnly. "Yes, ma'am."
"This whole city…" Blake's ears wilted against her head. "It just seems awful. Rotten, even."
An unsteady shuffle of fabric and footwear against the pavement stopped everyone in their tracks. Tenebris was among one of the first to turn around to find none other than an incredibly intoxicated man standing unsteadily a few feet away from him. Judging by the obnoxious pout on his face and the flask in his hand, he probably wasn't in the most upbeat of moods, nor was his friend on the steps of a building next to him.
"Oh yeah, is that right!?" He slurred. "There's plenty of space out in the tundra for ya! Go on, scram if you don't like it here! More dust n' shit for the rest of us!"
With a weary sigh, Blake stepped forward to address the man. "Listen, I didn't mean to-"
"Atlas is the greatest kingdom in the world, alright!?"
His friend cut in before any more damage could be done. Judging by his inability to stand up in a timely fashion, though, he wasn't in any sober state of mind either. "Listen, lady, the embargo Ironwood put up to 'protect us' has put us in a bit of a rough patch, but it'll blow over, you'll see. No need to worry about a thing. Hey, Oak? Can I get another sip of that?"
Oak threw his flask into the other man's hands. He pointed angrily at Blake. "We try to help the other kingdoms protect themselves from the Grimm and this is what happens? I say we let 'em all rot! And if you're from one of 'em, you can rot, too!"
Blake tensed. "I am sorry. I didn't intend-"
"Okay, no, don't apologize," Tenebris interrupted.
"What? You a faunus-lover or something?" Oak confusedly asked.
Tenebris moved in front of him, an icy calm look on his face. The drunkard barely reached up to his shoulders, revealing both how imposing Tenebris himself was and how diminutive in comparison the Atlesian citizen was simultaneously. "No. I'm the twin brother of one, and you have five seconds to either walk away or apologize to my friend for being an ass. Clock's ticking, so… take your pick."
"Ohhhh dear…" Aurora murmured.
"Wait, what's happening?" Jaune asked, dumbfounded.
"You'll see," Lux answered. "There won't be a scene, at least."
At the very moment he finished off the flask, his unnamed friend turned to Tenebris slowly, as if incredulous at the implications of his tone. "You know, if you're trying to be funny, you didn't make a good joke outta that line."
"Oh, come on, Elm! Don't play along!" Oak exclaimed. "This guy's just trying to cover for his stupid little faunus fuckt-"
Given his passive strength-augmenting semblance, it took almost no effort at all for Tenebris to bonk the two drunkards' heads together. Lacking in unlocked Auras, like most civilians in the handful of cities across the world, the pair dropped like stones onto the pavement. With how suddenly their skulls had met one another, they didn't even have time to feel any pain.
Tenebris couldn't help but let a sigh of relief heave from his chest. "Complete and utter catharsis, oh my gods, you have no idea how much they were pissing me off. Shall we move along, then?"
He turned around, and the first thing he saw was Opal. One of her ears were up, the other down as she gave him an utterly exasperated look. "As much as I appreciate that, Tenebris, please refrain from openly assaulting random people on the street again."
"That's what's actually called a 'Vacuan hello,' but point taken."
Only sticking around for as long as it took for Maria to clamber onto Qrow's back as to act as everyone's guide while he took lead up front, the group set off once again in the direction of their unknown ally. They all picked up speed to the point that people on the street might've thought that they were a group of particularly well-armed travelers being taught by some eccentric elderly woman, but Tenebris couldn't keep a slight smirk from appearing on his face as he continued to jog alongside his team.
"Tenebris?" Aurora caught his attention. "Was that really worth it?"
"Is that a question?" Tenebris quipped.
The only response Aurora had to him at that point was to roll her eyes, which earned a grin and a laugh from Tenebris ask their jog brought them ever closer to their destination. If those two drunk guys could remember anything of what happened, he'd probably be branded a petty criminal in the eyes of the authorities, but Tenebris couldn't quite compel himself to care. After all, anyone who was raised in Vacuo knew swift justice was one hell of a way to relieve stress in day-to-day life.
'Mom, Dad… you guys taught us well.'
It was more than once that Aurora wondered what values being raised in Vacuo taught her teammates about how to act. Rowdy though he could when he was in a particularly energetic mood, Lux was by and far more reserved than Tenebris when it came to the exhibition of his Vacuan sensibilities. Perhaps that reserved nature came part in parcel with his comparatively more thoughtful and intellectual nature than his brother's, but Tenebris always struck Aurora as someone who never lacked intelligence himself. He simply exuded a more laid-back attitude in most situations, but on those rare occasions something did manage to get under his skin, Aurora could say for certain that the fiery temper he could exude made many kinds of Grimm seem docile by comparison. That same tempter concerned and frustrated Aurora in almost equal amounts, at times.
Given the nature of the confrontation everyone had to flee from as a consequence of Tenebris' actions, though, Aurora couldn't say that it was an incident that'd cling to her mind forever. If Lux and Opal didn't seem as though they were going to latch onto the incident, she'd follow her faunus friends' lead and let the memory of Tenebris' casual assault fall by the wayside. For now.
At that moment, Maria must've indicated their arrival at her unknown contact was imminent, as Qrow slowed down and set her down to take the lead once again. The rest of the group followed suit, and after turning one last corner, the warm glow of green lights from a building down the street stood out from all the others nearby – it had to be their destination. Maria guided them ever closer, and more details as to the purpose of the building became clear. Judging by the green plus-sign that hovered over the small sloped canopy of the place, it was a clinic. That suspicion was then confirmed when a red panda-eared faunus girl with a robotic arm jumped out of the building, a merry skip in her step. She looked at her more primitive prosthetic in awe, testing it out for a moment when an elderly man's voice emerged from within.
"Now, no more heavy lifting, ya hear?" he called.
She turned around. "Of course, sir! Thank you!"
"Not a problem! Come back anytime for a free tune-up!"
The girl nodded and continued on her way. Maria's attention only lingered on the girl for as long as it took for the stranger to disappear around a corner, at which point she stepped into the clinic herself. Given the small size of the door and the building it belonged to, everyone else had to funnel themselves in after her.
Aurora didn't know what she expected to see inside, but the large and homely study she found herself stepping into alongside Iridescence wasn't it. Stuffed bookshelves lined a good two-thirds of the walls inside, masking the faded green wallpaper behind each piece of furniture, but each of them also had the occasional knick-knack or other such personal touches amidst the innocuous mass of books nearby. The floors were hardwood, but scratched and aged, similar to the frames of many paintings and charts that hung on the walls. The only thing in the room that wasn't in disrepair – aside from a high-tech clinical corner of the room that felt oddly out of place amongst so much wood – was a rather expensive-looking large work desk. Hidden behind an absolute mountain of books, papers, and hard-light displays, Aurora almost missed the man who'd called out to the faunus girl only a few moments ago.
Not very surprising, given how he was currently bent over and busy rummaging around in some drawer or other nearby. Even Maria's approach and their group's entrance wasn't enough to catch the elderly man's attention.
Maria tapped her cane distinctly against the floor, clearing her throat. "Excuse me, old friend. A moment of your time?"
Suddenly, the man rose to sit upright, revealing with clarity his dark skin and the short, balding white hair that remained on his head, somewhat hidden by the green cap he wore alongside a pair of oval-shaped glasses. He was dressed in a red vest over a cream shirt and pink bowtie, and from her angle, Aurora could make out dark mustard pants on his legs, but not much else. The man idly reached down to close the drawer he'd been rifling through and tilted his head up a bit even though his confused gaze on Maria forced his eyes to look down.
"Erh… forgive me, but have we met?" he asked.
Aurora's shoulders slumped. "This bodes well."
"Cybernetic optical implants?" Maria pointed at her eyes, and the motion somehow caused them to twitch uneasily. "You adjust them every ten years or so?"
He stared at her for another few seconds before abruptly throwing his hands cheerfully into the air. "Maria! Yes, with the cybernetic optical implants! I adjust them every ten years or so. Wow, had it been that long already? Oh, nevermind that, come on over to the examination table."
His white and green chair started to move on four mechanical legs, revealing itself to be of a far higher level of technology than most of what could be found in the rest of Mantle. He extended a hand to Maria, who took it, and slowly led her over to the white-tiled clinical portion of the room. Aurora hardly had time to process the reveal of the elderly man's evident lack of unassisted mobility before Maria spoke again.
"Yes, yes, I know. I age like a fine wine," Maria said while she used a step-stood to sit atop the sterile, cushioned table. "Would've been here sooner if I hadn't run into these jokers. At the time, I thought they might've needed my guidance dealing with a few nasty little Manticores led by one nasty old Sphinx."
"Oh, and did they?" the man asked, steering his chair back a step.
"No, no. They had much more… shall we say, complicated issues," Maria answered.
Qrow cleared his throat. "And this is…?"
Maria scoffed softly. "So impatient! I didn't think I'd need to introduce one of Atlas' finest minds."
Yang gave her an incredulous look. "Working in a place like this…?"
The ceiling creaked, and a single flimsy tile fell to the floor in an explosion of dust and rubble. Either the universe had some wicked sense of humor, or Qrow's semblance seemed as though it was dead set on ruining Maria's attempts to introduce her friend. At this point, Aurora was convinced that those scenarios were equally likely.
"He likes to keep a low profile," Maria countered. "Something that I've come to realize none of you know anything about."
The man set a hand over his heart. "You can call me Pietro."
"Finest heart, too. This clinic is just where he volunteers when he's not building the future of Atlas alongside Ironwood, up in the clouds."
Pietro waved dismissively at her. "Oh, it's just stuffy up there. Down here, I get to help the locals and have a little fun while I'm at it! I'm currently working on shoes that make you dance! Wanna try 'em on?"
"Yes!" Nora exclaimed.
Pyrrha's attention turned inward. "Such an invention seems like it'd remove all the practice that it takes to become talented at dancing…"
"Y'know, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that," Jaune mentioned.
Ren's head scanned over his teammates, obviously not sharing in their relative interest. "You all do recognize how extremely absurd it is that you're taking his implication of such a device's development seriously, right?"
"But before we get to that…" Yang intruded, stepping in front of everyone. "We were wondering if you could help us. We came to Atlas hoping to talk to General Ironwood, but um…"
"What exactly has been happening here?" Blake finished.
Pietro let out a series of coughs. "Well, the fall of Beacon took a toll on all of us. James was no different. I couldn't tell you exactly what it was that he saw there, but it changed him – down to the core of his being. He's…"
"He's scared," Qrow said.
"Paranoid would be the more appropriate term," Pietro corrected. "You have to understand, it wasn't just the Grimm or the White Fang's attack that caused him so much stress. Someone completely dismantled Atlas security code, made it their plaything, and made us look like traitors to some and buffoons to everyone else. Whoever managed to do that must either be a genius or one of our own. I fear that the answer may be both, and so does the general."
"Maybe Atlas isn't as safe as we thought," Lux whispered, his eyes darting along the floor.
"After we came all this way, we can't just leave, can we?" Oscar questioned uncertainly.
Weiss stepped forth next. "How does the council feel about all of this? Or Winter Schnee? Do you know anything about her?"
Pietro's lips tightened. "Well, the council's so scared, they'll agree to whatever he wants at this point. Some representatives from Mantle would beg to differ as to how he's set his priorities lately, but I'm afraid that with the previous council member from Mantle unexpectedly stepping down after the fall of Beacon, they won't have enough of a voice to make any meaningful change until after the upcoming election's outcome has been decided. But all of you must have traveled far to reach Atlas though the embargo, yes? B-Bot!"
His chair turned around, and from behind the examination table, a previously hidden humanoid robot rose from its collapsed position on the floor. Unlike an Atlesian Knight, the machine before them looked much more like a robotic butler than any kind of engine of war. It even had a corny metallic mustache and monocle where the slits that were its 'eyes' would be.
"B-Bot, go on upstairs into the old kitchen and get these folks some refreshments," Pietro commanded. The machine's eyes flickered with a green light for a moment, and it left the room out another door near where it had been stirred from its hibernation.
"Listen, I don't know if refreshments are what we…" Ruby trailed off.
Pietro's attention wasn't on the bot he'd sent away anymore, nor was it on Ruby either. Instead, his gaze was firmly fixed on Yang's prosthetic arm. "You… painted it. That arm. I remember making it like it was just yesterday, and-" he took in a sharp breath. "You four must be Team RWBY!"
"Sir?" Ruby questioned as the elderly genius pointed at Jaune.
"Your little group has to be Team JNPR then! And…" Pietro looked deep into Opal's eyes and took his mouth fell agape. "Opal Malachite? Of Team Iridescence? Can that really be you? Why it's been so long…"
Opal's brow furrowed slightly. "You know me?"
"Of course!" he happily exclaimed. "I made that prosthetic arm your friend has and your eye! I had business dealings in Mistral solely through the Malachite Clan once upon a time, but… life got busy for me after I was raised up as Atlas' top mind. I suppose it's quite possible that Peridot and Beryl didn't tell you much about me, though – the last time we saw each other in the flesh, you were still too young to remember!" Pietro paused, a wistful smile tugging on the corner of his lips. "But enough about me! How're your old folks doing? They were obviously busy raising you right, I see!"
As he finished, Pietro laughed before descending into another coughing fit. The 'B-Bot' he'd sent to gather refreshments returned, then, wide plates of snacks and drinks balanced perfectly on its arms and further secured by thin metal rods that sprouted out to expand the surface area it had to work with. Given the topic Pietro had brought up, however, no one in the room dared even look at what the robot had set down on its master's desk.
Pietro quickly caught on to the unease in the air. "What? Did I… say something wrong?"
All eyes landed on Opal, and Aurora put a hand on her shoulder to provide her best friend what little comfort she could. Opal stared down long and hard at the floor for a few seconds that stretched on into eternity before she regarded Pietro again.
Her voice came out soft and mournful. "They're dead."
"I… no, that's…" Pietro's composure crumbled, and his expression became crestfallen as tears started spilling down his cheeks. "No… haven't I lost enough already?"
"Pietro, sir? What do you mean?" Pyrrha gently inquired.
He looked at her with a slight shake of his head. "I introduced myself to you all as Pietro, but I didn't inform you all of my full name. My name is Pietro Polendina, and the girl I was told you all knew – Penny? She was my masterpiece. For all intents and purposes… she was my daughter, too. After I found out what happened to her… that alone almost threatened to break my spirits forever."
Pyrrha's eyes widened. "Sir, I am so-"
"Don't be sorry. I… I was also informed about the circumstances and the foul series of events that led to her demise. I don't blame you."
"That doesn't bring her back, though…" Pyrrha held herself close, earning her a reassuring squeeze on the bicep by Jaune.
"No. No, it doesn't, but we can't change the past. I've had to come to terms with the loss of the remarkable, one-of-a-kind girl I came to know as my daughter, but…" Pietro signaled his chair to take another few steps toward Opal. "To lose one's parents at such a young age... I can't fathom the pain and torment you must've gone through, Opal, and for that I apologize. I'd also like to apologize for my reaction to the news – it must've seemed quite rude given what you've probably had to go through over these past few months."
"It's okay. I've had a lot of time to mourn their loss too, and it's not like I'm alone." Opal looked at Aurora, then to the twins. "I still have my family. At home, and right here with me."
Pietro wiped his eyes. "Why that's a rather strong sentiment if I do say so myself, and one I think you should be proud to possess. But what about the Malachite Clan now? Have they been able to cope? I know your parents treated practically everyone who even married into the clan as though they were true family. They were the salvation of quite a few of your people, even as far back as my day."
With a nod assuring her that she was okay, Aurora let her light grip on Opal's shoulder go and allowed her to walk slowly over to Pietro's desk alongside him. Everyone ignored Maria's rumble of elderly displeasure at having her tune-up delayed a little while longer.
"I won't lie, from what Sandy told me, it was tough. The clan fell into a depression like the one that followed the attack that made me lose my eye, and it was only because my death was never confirmed that the inner council was able to inspire any hope at all in everyone while they waited to see if I'd ever turn up again," Opal explained. "Long story short, when all of us reached Mistral, I was made the leader of the clan and shifted everyone's focus from artisan work to the assistance of anyone who wanted to be a Huntsmen in the future. Inside and out of the clan."
Pietro smiled slightly. "Now that is a noble goal if I've ever heard one. Your parents would be proud. I thought you'd like to hear that."
"I know they would be." Opal mimicked the gesture and nodded. "Thank you."
"Not a problem. Now, as I do recall, the rest of you were curious about the current state of affairs in the kingdom, yes?" Pietro asked.
"Correct," Ren stated.
"Well, I'll get to all of that in a little bit. For now, all of you can breathe easy knowing that my clinic here will always be available, should you need a place to rest and recuperate after a long day's work. It's the least I can do for friends of Opal's, aside from the snacks. Sound like a good plan to all of you?" Pietro asked.
Everyone present responded in differing ways. Qrow and Oscar seemed hesitant to put their mission and quest for information on pause, Aurora noticed that JNPR and her teammates both looked relieved at the idea of taking a moment to collect themselves, while RWBY seemed as though they teetered somewhere between the two other perspectives present. Aurora looked expectantly at Qrow.
"Yeah, sure," Qrow conceded. "That works for now, I guess."
"Great! Now, if that'll be all, I'll go ahead and give Maria that tune-up she's undoubtedly been waiting for."
As he moved out from his desk again with a toolbox he'd had hidden within one of the drawers in hand, Maria gave him a vaguely amused look. "Oh, me? Please, I have the patience of a saint when it comes to these things, you know."
The elderly pair both let out a set of companionable chuckles, and Pietro arrived at the examination table. He cracked open his toolbox, Maria scooted a little closer to provide Pietro easy access to her prosthetic eyes as his chair raised him higher, and the finest mind in Atlas set to work. Everyone else in the group meandered their way to the refreshments B-Bot had brought after Opal left Pietro's desk, though Aurora noticed that her eyes remained loosely fixed on the master inventor of Atlas as he worked with his latest patient.
"You never realize how much effort and technology goes into Atlesian prosthetics until you see it up-close and personal," Lux mentioned.
Opal had rejoined her team by now, while the rest of their group vaguely crowded around the nearby snacks. Pietro had also already split Maria's prosthesis evenly in half to reveal the rather complex assortment of electronics that had been hidden by the glowing blue circles that acted as her eyes. For Maria's sake, Aurora hoped that the maintenance of the technology wasn't too uncomfortable an ordeal to sit through. Judging by the neutral look on the Grimm Reaper's face, though, it didn't look like she felt much of anything – so at least Aurora had that to smooth away her worries.
"That, and not a lot of people ever realize how far the technology of prosthetic body parts has come in recent years," Opal added. "Compare my eye to Maria's full set and the difference is like night and day. Mine's almost indistinguishable from my normal eye unless you're close-up to me, while Maria's are the size of a clunky visor."
"I wonder why she never had them replaced with a newer model…" Aurora wondered.
Opal shrugged. "Probably because of the surgery involved. My eye is so advanced you can just pull it out to clean it or maintain it so long as you're careful, but there was still some surgery I had to go through to get it installed in the first place – and mine's high-tech. Imagine the surgery Maria would have to go through to replace hers with something like mine. At her age, it'd probably be more trouble than it's worth."
"Probably costs a lot, too," Tenebris chimed in, crossing his arms and leaning up against the wall. "I don't know about you guys, but I don't remember ever hearing about roaming legendary fighters ever having insurance available to them before Huntsmen became a thing. With how she lost her eyes, she was lucky enough to survive, let alone get a new set with whatever Lien she probably had on her back then."
As Tenebris slid down into a seated position on the floor, Lux joined him. "You're not wrong. Of course, it must've helped that Pietro was probably the guy that worked on Maria – I don't get the impression that he'd the kind of person that'd charge someone who just got their eyes slashed out for a new set."
Opal and Aurora followed them onto the floor next, forming a line from where they all sat along the wall of the clinic. Aurora hummed. "He certainly seems like the charitable sort."
"Then let's hope that he'll be able to give us the information we need to make sure our mission gets done," Opal said. "As nice as it is to know there's someone in Mantle we can trust, and that seems to genuinely care about people no matter their race, we came to Atlas for a reason. Once he's done taking care of Maria, we need to learn more about what exactly has the military out in such numbers down here on the streets."
Lux bobbed his head in agreement. "If we're lucky, we'll be able to talk to Ironwood personally to get to the bottom of all this. The last thing we need right now is another Lionheart situation to deal with. If we had to do something like that again… I don't know what we'd do. Haven was one thing – the entire kingdom of Atlas is another."
"So long as we secure the lamp, we'll be off to a good start," Opal continued. "I don't know if we alone can incite meaningful change in the kingdom when it comes to the faunus, but I think that after this whole Relic mission is done, we should try anyway. If we tunnel-vision and focus only on the war with Salem… we'd lose part of what makes us better than her."
"For what it's worth, I wholeheartedly agree," Tenebris said. "We've been here for maybe a few hours and I'm sick of how it seems the faunus are treated. Gods forbid either of you guys get picked on…"
Lux closed his eyes. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we have a chance to calm down and prepare to make our next move. I want to help the faunus too, but I want to see our mission through to the end first, same as Opal."
Collapsing Sapphire from its naginata form into an assault rifle, Aurora set it in her lap and spoke once more. "Then that's what we'll plan on doing, for now. Now that we're even inside the walls of Mantle, we're so much closer to securing the Relic than we were even a few days ago. Once that's done, I'd like to think that we'll be able to spare a little of our time to doing what we want to do – at least so far as the faunus here in Mantle are concerned."
"It's not impossible," Opal agreed.
And with those last few words, while the other two teams and stray members of their party made quiet conversation of their own, Iridescence fell into a peaceful and contemplative silence. The last few hours they had spent in the borders of Atlas had been long and filled with incidents that each of them could digest in vastly different ways, and so, the brief reprieve they had been given by Pietro's generosity was more than appreciated. Even though Aurora was still unsure of how well her teammates, and even herself, would be able to endure the repeated reminders of the harshness the faunus in Atlas suffered through, she tried to remain hopeful.
For without hope, dismay would fill the gaps in one's mind, and the Grimm would inevitably follow not too long after. Even on a continent as cold as Solitas, the Grimm were a threat one simply couldn't ignore – especially with the vast quantities of negative energy Mantle alone had likely been producing, as of late. Add in the presence of the lamp and whatever other Relic was housed up in Atlas, and that dismay would only amplify the likelihood of the Grimm being drawn to the city.
Nevertheless, thanks to the assistance of one deep breath and a shift of her legs into a meditative pose, Aurora made the effort to center herself in the present. No matter what came next, she'd follow her heart and act to protect her friends. It was what she'd always done, even before Beacon fell, and it was what she didn't intend on stopping that habit of hers any time soon.
Of that much, she was certain.
Authors Note: Yep. We're going third person, people! Took me a kajillion years to get back to ToTI and a billion more to force myself to continue planning/writing for it given my love-hate relationship with RWBY, but we're here now, and I got me a plan! Granted, this fic probably won't have as frequent updates as WFAF since that fic is still my priority, and ToTI won't have as broad a scope as that fic either, but I do want to see it through to the end anyway. Point-of-views will vary since Opal is the prime protag, but think of this chapter as a bit of a test-run for me. At the bare minimum, I wanted to give you all a taste of each member of Iridescence's personalities before I possibly honed in the focus on mostly Opal, after all.
Regardless! Iridescence & co. land in Mantle and shit ain't lookin' too hot for the local faunus population. Time will tell how deep the discrimination runs and what that means for the main cast… as well as what constants and variables exist in this timeline now that another writer (guess who? It me!) has some time to make their spin on the events contained in Volume 7.
