They were still flying as the sun set. As the sky slowly filled with stars, Aster playfully ordered them to turn in. She waved off any offers to stay up with her, promising to stay steady at the wheel through the night.
"I've stayed up all night on many a smuggling run. This won't be so tough," she'd said with a wink before sending them all to bed.
At present, Roy was lying on his bunk, trying to catch at least a few hours of sleep. Ebony's revelation had caused him to review everything he thought he knew about her. Meticulously combing through memories to see if he'd missed any major clues.
To be fair, I never asked her about her family, he thought, so I guess that one's on me.
Resolving to learn as much as he could about Ebony's family in the morning, he finally shut his eyes and tried to sleep. After fifteen minutes of tossing and turning, he finally managed to doze off. About an hour later, something pulled Roy awake and he sat up. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something felt off. His ears swiveled to and fro as he realized what was missing.
What happened to the engines?
The normal soft rumbling of the dust powered propulsion system was indeed eerily silent. Suddenly a red light began to flash and an alarm sounded through the crew quarters Roy rolled out of his bunk and dropped to the floor, preparing to bolt to the cockpit. The nose of the ship suddenly dipped forward, sending him skidding down into the hold. The dive got steeper and a massive crate narrowly missed Roy's head, thudding into the wall beside him. Roy grabbed a pipe hanging from the ceiling and dragged himself to his feet.
Just as he regained his footing, a hatch cover detached from farther up the ship's hold and whizzed toward him. The sheet metal caught him in the head, sending him tumbling back down. A sharp impact caused his head to bounce off of the metal floor and the ship tipped onto its side, tossing Roy into the wall of the bow.
Everything suddenly came to a stop and silence descended over the ship. The red light was still pulsing, throwing everything sharp relief every couple seconds. Roy sat up with a groan, feeling something sticky drip down his face. Pain was slowly pulsing in the back of his head and he gingerly touched the spot, wincing as his fingers found a slowly swelling welt there. Dragging himself to his feet, Roy awkwardly clambered across the ship's walls which were now its floor.
"Ebony!...Dahlia!" he called out, a desperate edge creeping into his voice.
"We're here!" a voice answered back, and Roy saw a silhouette rise up from inside one of the bunks.
"Are you okay?" he called.
"Yes," Ebony responded, "a little banged up, but nothing horrible. You?"
Roy spat out some blood as it dripped into his mouth. "Same, I just took something to the head."
Ebony and Dahlia clambered out of their bunks and made their way toward the hatch. Just as they were about to reach it, Roy heard male voices from outside the ship,
"Wait!" He hissed, grasping Ebony's hand, "There's someone out there!"
The three of them stayed quiet, Roy pressing his ear to the ship's floor to better hear the men outside. As far as he could tell from the number of footsteps, there were about four of them. As he strained his ears to catch more details he heard something that made his body tense; the slight metallic rattle of multiple firearms. Last he'd checked, the airship had been soaring over the wilds of Mistral. The only people who lived out there were...Bandits.
"Stay here," he growled to Ebony before silently sliding to the hatch, now looking more like a small door, and peering through a hole in the grating.
The four people were moving closer, weapons held lazily at their sides. The first was a tall handsome warrior, carrying a mace and chain over his shoulder. He had greying, black hair that partially obscured a heavily scarred face. The second was a short, grizzled man who carried no discernable weapons. A dusting of blonde stubble clung to his square jaw, framing his ruddy face. The third was no more than a boy, his black hair sticking up at odd angles as if he'd just gotten up. Roy figured the youth was the first man's son, several of his more distinguishing features having carried through the bloodline. The last person, who hadn't spoken, was a woman of average height. She had sharp silver eyes that gleamed from behind dark red hair that faded to purple at the tips.
The first man's eyes narrowed as he reached out and grasped the grate, "Hey...I think there's someone…"
Roy threw his body against the grate, sending it swinging into the man's face. The bandit crumpled backwards with a yell as Roy shot like a bolt of lightning from the ship's hold. He landed next to the second man and swung his fist into his chest. The man barely moved; his stocky frame practically negating the force of Roy's blow. The faunus spun a roundhouse kick into the side of the man's head, finally sending him sprawling.
As Roy turned to face the remaining foes, he felt something scrape his ribs as the youth lunged at him with a knife. He spun to the side to avoid the blade and grabbed the youth's knife hand as his momentum carried him past Roy. Briskly swinging his elbow into the youth's face, Roy experienced a slight thrill as he felt the boy's nose snap. The boy let out a muffled yelp and the faunus relieved him of the weapon. Roy heard someone running at him from behind and he spun, flinging the youth bodily into the woman as she charged.
The woman gave a surprised cry as the boy collided with her and sent both of them to the ground. Something suddenly hit Roy from behind, sending him staggering to his hands and knees. The first man had gotten back up and landed a solid blow on Roy with his mace. Roy quickly rolled back to his feet, thanking the gods that his aura had been up and quickly took stock of his surroundings.
The Dusty Daydream had crashed in a wooded glade, several trees meeting their end under the ship's prow. It was twilight; the only lights in the clearing were from the Daydream's floodlights and the silvery glow of the moon above them. The bandits had all recovered their footing, nursing the bruises and cuts he'd given them.
"Come on, kid!" The tall man shouted, "We-!"
Roy didn't let him finish. He bull rushed the man, slamming into him elbow first and knocking him into a girthy tree. He spun quickly, headbutting the shorter man with a crack that made all four of his ears buzz. Pooling the residual kinetic energy from the mace blow into his feet, Roy blasted toward the youth and knocked him off of his feet. He forcefully held the boy up against the Dusty Daydream's side and pressed the dagger to the boy's throat.
"Don't come any closer!" Roy shouted at the woman.
The woman clenched her hands into fists as her eyes began to glow. "let him go...NOW!" she screamed, her voice echoing through the woods.
A flash of white light seemed to emanate from the woman and Roy was temporarily blinded. His eye stung and watered furiously as he desperately tried to block out the light with his arm. He felt something collide with his head and he flew backwards, landing on the ground with a dull thud. The air flew from his lungs with a whoosh, leaving him gasping for air on the ground. He blinked his eye furiously, trying to clear the tears away as the after image of the woman danced before him like a spectre.
The tip of a blade, cold as Ice, pressed against his throat and the woman's voice reached his ears, "If you value your life and the lives of your companions, I suggest you stay down."
The woman, her blade still at Roy's neck, took several steps closer to her downed opponent. Unfortunately for her, she took one step too many and the faunus capitalized on her mistake by swinging his legs around, knocking her to the ground. Roy was on top of her in an instant, holding the youth's knife to the woman's throat,
"It's your turn to stay down," he said, his voice going deathly quiet.
The woman's silver eyes flickered with rage, "we weren't going to hurt you. But you hurt my son, and I can't forgive that."
Roy scoffed, tapping the blade against the woman's cheek, "As if I need your forgiveness."
He heard the hatch creak open behind him and heard Ebony's voice, "Everyone stop!"
Roy turned to see her hurrying toward them, Archimedes at the ready, "I thought I told you to-" He began to say.
The female bandit suddenly grabbed his collar, pulling him down into a devastating headbutt. Colored stars danced across his vision and he fell backwards, freeing the woman. The female bandit snatched up her sword and charged towards him with a yell.
"I said STOP!" Ebony cried, swinging Archimedes down and freezing the woman's feet to the ground. "Okay…" the female faunus continued, "Let's all just settle down and talk for a minute!" She turned to Roy and held her hand out, "Weapon please."
Roy stood indecisively for several seconds before handing the dagger over.
"Okay, So first things first, let's introduce ourselves," Ebony began.
Behind her, the rest of the bandits had recovered and were watching warily from the shadows.
The female bandit jerked at the ice holding her feet several times, "Are you serious? We came to check on you, he attacks us and you expect us to just talk it out?!"
Ebony crossed her arms, regarding the bandits with an even stare, "Yes I do. We're all adults here."
The female bandit finally gave up struggling, gesturing to herself and the other bandits, "We are the Viess Tribe, My husband and I are acting Chief and Chieftess. We act as the defensive force for a nearby village."
Ebony's eyes narrowed, "What's the name of the village?"
The taller man cleared his throat, "It's Akichi."
Ebony's eyes widened in horror and she quickly melted the ice around the bandit matriarch's feet. Quickly moving to Roy, she bent into a bow and forced him down with her, "Madam Veiss please accept our sincerest apologies. Roy has no knowledge of who you are or the agreement you have with my village."
The female bandit's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean your village?"
Ebony straightened up, allowing Roy to straighten up as well, "My name is Ebony Der Riese, My parents are the village leaders of Akichi."
The shorter man let out a grunt, "If that's true, then you've broken the standing agreement we have with your family. We will need to discuss this infringement with your parents."
Ebony nodded, "I understand. Again, we are deeply sorry."
Roy watched the exchange feeling confused and guilty. It was clear that he'd upset a balance, but he wasn't sure how bad it was. "Ebony…?" he began, but Ebony held her hand up, "I'll explain later, go check on Aster."
Roy's heart dropped as he realized he hadn't heard anything from Aster since they'd crashed. He quickly clambered up to the cockpit and shined his scroll light down into the darkened interior. Aster sat slumped in the captain's chair, blood visible on her forehead. The faint blue lights of her control panels cast a faint blue light over her, making her appear ghostly. Roy pried the cockpit window open and extracted the pilot.
"Come on Aster, Don't you die on me." he whispered as he lowered her to the grass a few seconds later.
Aster's eyes fluttered open and she groaned, hand automatically going to her temple, "Shit...My head feels like an Atlesian marching band. What happened?"
Roy sat next to her and sighed, "We crashed. Some bandits found us and they're taking us to a village..."
Ebony chose that moment to walk over, "Roy, I'd like to have a word with you."
Roy followed behind her like a guilty puppy until they were a couple feet into the woodland fringe. "Eb...I'm really sorry," he began.
His girlfriend turned to face him her arms crossed, "Roy...what's wrong?"
He blinked in surprise, "Wrong? I'm not sure I follow."
Ebony sighed, "You just...rushed in again. Like you did back in the grimm infested village. I asked you to be more careful."
Roy looked at the ground, "I...I don't know. I just...have to protect you guys."
Ebony gripped his shoulder, "I understand that, but we can take care of ourselves Roy. You can't just jump into fights, you can get yourself or other people hurt."
Roy grunted and kicked at a loose patch of moss, his hands clenched at his sides.
Ebony's hand slid down to grip his, "don't you see? Not everyone in this world is your enemy! You can avoid unnecessary bloodshed by talking to people. If you would have just talked to these people, all of this could've been avoided."
Roy slid his hand out of hers and turned away, "these bandits you mean. How was I supposed to know they were friendly? I've been a bandit's slave before. I have no intention of letting it happen again."
Ebony sighed, "you of all people should know that not all bandits are evil. Your own mother is living proof of that!"
"I can't take that chance every time!" Roy said shortly, "my mother is the exception, not the rule."
Ebony ran her fingers through her hair, "But don't we also need to be the exception, give people chances and not immediately resort to violence? It's what makes us different!"
Roy refused to meet her eyes, "This isn't school anymore, Eb! We can't always be that exception!"
Ebony scoffed, "We lost friends before Beacon. Hell, we lost friends while we were at Beacon. The only thing that's changed is your outlook."
Roy threw up his hands, "Of course my outlooks changed, losing people does that!"
Ebony gently touched his face, "But you haven't lost us yet."
Roy suddenly gripped Ebony's arms, "And how long will that last? How long until something happens to you...or Dahlia? I can't lose you again!"
Ebony's eyes widened and she suddenly shoved Roy away, taking several panicked steps backwards. He realized he'd been gripping her too hard and took a step toward her, "Ebony…"
She retreated away from him, gripping her arm where Roy had grabbed her, "I...I'm sorry, the way you were talking and...how you grabbed me." she took a shaky breath, "It reminded me of Ronin."
Roy's blood ran cold at the mention of the name and he staggered backwards as if he'd been struck. Ebony gripped her own arms as if a sudden chill had swept through the woods.
"Roy...I...I." She seemingly couldn't find anything to say and the attempt died in her throat. Sighing, she brushed past Roy and headed back towards the crash site.
I think it's safe to say that Roy has a bit of a grudge against Raven. Also I cannot wait for you guys to meet Ebony's parents! I hope the Dusty Daydream is okay. In other news, Finals are in full swing here at Stout and I can actually say I feel ready, (Wow, what a miracle right?) I hope all of you are healthy and happy.
Until next we meet!
-Ar3mRising.
