Chapter 7: Contact
The moment he woke up, he knew it wasn't going to be a good day. For one, he had been forced to wake up before sunrise due to the roars of a Boarbatusk. He and Neo had been forced to react, almost being severely injured by the Grimm. That had been the least of their worries, they had to grab their things in a hurry and leave. In the process abandoning their sleeping bags, some of their cooking utensils, and a bit of their food. What was worse was that they had lost their map as well.
That had been the least of their worries, the worst of it was that they had been forced to run into the forest, meaning they had lost their way back to the main path. So now, they were moving around without a map, without their sleeping gear, and with half of their cooking utensils. Neo had, of course, been extremely angry about this, judging by how hard she was squeezing her parasol. He had tried calming her down but he knew she wasn't going to be calm any time soon. He kept his grip on Shiva tight as he walked, constantly scanning his surroundings for potential threats.
"Suddenly, I am very glad that I'm a faunus. I can't exactly hear anything around us, aside from the birds, but the hair on the back of my neck is standing up. That's usually a bad sign." he thought, as he looked around, seeing nothing but trees as far as the eye could see. "What the hell. I should have put the map back in my holster, why the hell did I feel the need to pull it out last night?"
He remembered what the Bartender at the Just Rite had told them the day before, about the bandits in the area. He didn't know how dangerous those people were but he really didn't want to have a run-in with them. He was already low on ammunition and his dust supply was slowly decreasing as well. He only had enough to create the next city before having to restock everything.
He had also been thinking a lot about what Neo had told him the night before. About his choice of weapon. Most of the night while he had been on watch, he had been recalling all of the weapons he had seen at Beacon and Signal. He noticed how most if not all of them correlated with the person's style and their semblance. He even remembered one girl had a hoverboard that could turn into pistols. He had started questioning his design choice and had decided then and there he would redesign his weapon. Just another step in his journey to better himself.
"Maybe when we make it to the next town, I can talk to the blacksmith or something. I have a few ideas on what I want, I just have to finalize everything. Hopefully when we're not being chased by Grimm or lost in the woods." the faunus thought, glancing up at the sky. They had been walking around for hours by now, but they hadn't seen any landmarks or found the path, making their search that much more desperate. "God, I can't believe this shit. It just had to happen when we were asleep. Why couldn't those Grimm have waited until after we had eaten breakfast or something?"
Neo glanced at him, giving him an incredulous look. Her body language screamed annoyance, she had been stomping forward, her heels leaving deep holes in the soft ground. He had rapidly learned that a Neo that didn't get her full eight hours was an angry Neo. But he couldn't exactly fault her either. The pair were tired, annoyed, hungry, and lost, and it was his fault for losing the map.
"I know I haven't asked but… this contact of yours, what kind of person are they?" he asked, causing the young woman to glance up at him. "Are they… well…"
She flicked her scroll, mashing the letters hard before holding it out to him. "A criminal? No. Well, she's a bandit but that's about it. She's a former Beacon Graduate."
"A Beacon Graduate?" Levi cried in surprise, his ears standing up a bit. "Well I'll be damned, I wasn't expecting to meet up with someone who's from my school. But… why the hell would a Beacon Graduate choose to become a bandit?"
"Hell if I know. My friend was the one who made deals with her, they met briefly in Vale and exchanged information. Whenever we needed more, we would come to Mistral. We usually let her find us. This is the first time I'm actually looking for her."
"I see," he said, rather stiffly as he walked. "Well, I guess it isn't that bad. I kind of made peace with what I'm doing. You sort of have to if you are planning to kill someone."
She said nothing, shoving her scroll in her blouse pocket. She continued on walking, keeping her eyes peeled for any sort of movement.
He didn't know how long he had been walking for, but after a while, he saw a break in the trees. The young man quickened his pace, moving toward the edge of the tree line, moving straight through it, only to force himself to stop. He blinked a few times his eyes adjusted to the light, seeing the breathtaking view in front of them.
"Wow," he said, barely above a whisper. Neo stood behind him, a similar look on her face.
They had made it out of the woods and had found themselves at the southern shore of Lake Matsu. The sun was shining brightly, reflecting over the water's surface. It was crystal blue in color, reminding him of the ocean. In fact, Lake Matsu was so big that some even confused it for the Mistralian shoreline. He could see the large floating islands in the distance, black gravity dust crystals stuck out of them. The islands were bumping against each other, causing sparks between them before being repelled away. Levi held his hand over his eyes, trying to spot the northern shore but the lake was just too enormous.
He shifted his gaze toward the shoreline, spotting a path that led down to the beach, which extended outward at either side for what he assumed were kilometers. He took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts before speaking. "Alright, we made it to Lake Matsu, that's a good thing. This is the largest landmark on this side of Mistral. If we walk down the beach for a few kilometers, we'll likely be able to find the path leading back to the road. That'll be our ticket to Mistral."
"Who said anything about letting you make it to the main path?"
Levi whirled around, aiming his gun back at the treeline. Neo had spun her parasol around, resting it on her shoulder, her eyes scanning their surroundings. Levi looked around, having already located there would be assaulters. He shifted his aim toward the tree closest to them, resting his finger on the trigger.
"Why don't you step out from behind that tree. I know you are hiding there, and I know how many of you there are. So just step out, make it easier on us." he demanded, causing the man to laugh.
He stepped out from behind the tree, a grin on his face. He had sandy blond hair and a tanned complexion. He was wearing a gray shirt with a black vest over it, a crimson red scarf around his neck. He had a pair of worn-looking jeans and boots. Strapped to his leg was a dust revolver, a rather basic weapon, unlike the many he had seen before. It wasn't long before he was joined by several others, men and women dressed similarly, along with a pair of girls who were dressed in kimonos of all things.
"Hmm… 8 of you, I thought there would be more," Levi said with a shrug, standing up as straight as possible. "I'm assuming you've been following us for a while, meaning you also lead those Boarbatusks to our camp, thus making us lose our way. If that's the case, I'd like to know who is in charge, so I can give them a good kick in the balls."
"Ha, get a look at this kid." the blond-haired man said, earning laughs from the others. He reached for his revolver, drawing it from his holster. "You two are outnumbered, do you actually think you can take all of us on?"
"Won't know until we try, right?" the miqo'te said, flicking his wrist, shifting Shiva into its sword form. All of them looked closely at the weapon, impressed by how it worked. Levi was about to jump into the fray when Neo stepped in front of him. She held her hand up, a single finger raised. "What? You want me to wait? Why?"
She didn't reply, rather she reached inside her shirt, pulling something out. It was a card, which had an odd symbol on it he had never seen. She held it out to the blond man, whose eyes widened a bit when he saw it. "This is… the mark of our leader. Are you a friend of hers?"
Neo gave him a nod, taking the card back and flipping it around, pointing to the words written on it. "Neopolitan… oh shit… you're Rome's girl, the one our boss hired to get rid of those border guards back in Kushieda."
The man turned back to the others, holstering his gun. "Lower your weapons, this girl is a friend of our boss. She has business with her, so let us guide her back."
The ice creamed themed woman pointed her thumb at Levi, making a few gestures with her hands. He briefly understood what she was getting at, chuckling to himself. "Right, the kid comes with us too."
Levi didn't bother sheathing his weapon, keeping it tight in his grasp in case he needed it. Neo walked closely beside him, leaving the bandits to lead them back to their leader. He took a deep slow breath, gathering his thoughts before speaking. "Hey, Neo. That guy said you were Rome's girl, who might that be?"
She gave him a firm look, shaking her head no. It was clear she didn't want to speak about that. In fact, she walked ahead of him, scroll in her hand, typing something out. She held it out to the blond man, who looked at her words before giving her a nod. Levi strained to read the message, but even his good eyesight couldn't help him see those tiny letters. He frowned, his curiosity skyrocketing. "I guess she'll tell me when she's ready. Just another secret she's going to keep from me."
They walked in silence for what seemed like an hour. Levi made sure to memorize the path, just in case he and Neo needed to make a break for it, but she seemed to trust these people. He wasn't so sure. After all, they had faced bandits in Vale, and they had managed on their own. He didn't know if he could get out of an entire camp without making a ruckus. He just hoped this contact of hers had information on Cinder, or else this would be a big waste of time.
The group slowly approached the large wooden gates of the camp. Large trees had been cut down and turned into logs, tied together with thick bindings to keep them together. They had all been sharpened to a point, likely to deter people from scaling the wall. He could see a pair of men standing at the top of the wall, on specially made perches, dust-powered hunting rifles in their grasp. The moment they saw the group, they started pulling on some ropes, which served to open the gates.
"This place seems nice," Levi said, sounding rather sarcastic. "Must be prime real estate."
"Real funny kid, you clearly don't know about us or how we function. We move from place to place, so it's likely this camp isn't gonna last long." the blond man said, swiftly turning around, giving him a grin. "Which reminds me, I agreed to bring Neo here because she has business with our boss. You however don't, so you'll have to wait out here."
Levi tilted his head, ears wiggling a bit as he crossed his arms. "Uh yeah, no. That's not gonna work, you see, I have business with your boss too. Neo here happens to be my partner, I hired her for something important and your boss happens to be her contact. So I'm going in with her."
"That ain't how it works kid." one of the women said, aiming her hunting rifle at the faunus. He didn't even bother acknowledging him. Neo hastily typed something on her scroll, holding it out to the leader.
"What he's saying is true. He's with me and we have need to speak with your Boss. It's like you said, she owes me one and I'm choosing to collect now." the message said, causing the man to chuckle.
"Sorry kid, I don't make the rules, even if you are Rome's girl. But tell ya what, you can come into the camp with us. But you have to surrender your weapons." he said, glancing at Levi's gunblade.
"I ain't surrendering shit."
"Well what if we want your shit?" a new voice said, causing Levi to glance over his shoulder. A young woman stood behind him, holding her weapon up at him. He grit his teeth, not having sensed her behind him. He narrowed his eyes, curling his finger around Shiva's trigger. "I wouldn't try anything if I were you. We have you surrounded and there are more people inside. Even if you take us down, you won't be able to get away."
Levi looked back at Neo, who sported an apologetic look. It seemed as if even she had been taken by surprise by this. The young man relented, flicking his wrist. He methodically slid Shiva into his holster, unbuckling it from his hips. He tossed the weapon to the blond man, giving him a firm look.
"If something happens to my gunblade, I will beat you so hard you'll be drinking soup through a sippy cup."
"Just for that, you'll be waiting for your partner in our waiting room." the woman behind him said, placing her gun at his neck. "Don't try anything, faunus. We have plenty of your kind in our ranks, men and women who can easily bring you down."
He laced his hands behind his head, walking forward. Despite his calm look, his mind was racing. He didn't know what was going on or if Neo could actually speak with the leader without any issues. She kept glancing back at him every other second, the same apologetic look on her face. He forced a smile onto his face, letting her know he didn't blame her for what was going on. While the large group led Neo toward the center of the camp, the woman behind him led him away, toward the other side of the camp. He could see exactly where he was going to be placed.
"Welcome to our waiting room, sadly we don't offer refreshments." the woman said, driving her gun into his back, as two others opened the gate. "Get in."
"Fantastic," he muttered, as he stepped into the cage, the door slamming hard behind him. The woman finally lowered her weapon, a sneer on her face. "Oh, enjoying yourself? I didn't think humans found caging animals to be such an interesting sport."
"What? Can't I have a hobby?" she asked curiously. She gave him a once over, taking in his entire appearance, down to his ears and his tail. "What the hell kind of faunus are you? I've never seen one with ears or a tail."
"Sorry, I don't talk with my captors. Just call me when Neo gets back."
"Hmm… if you say so," she said with a shrug. She glanced over at the other men, a firm look on her face. "Keep an eye on him, no funny business."
"Yes Vernal," he replied, rather fearfully. Vernal glared at the man for a moment, before heading off, presumably toward the center tent. Levi leaned back against the other side of the cage, arms crossed as he locked eyes with his guard.
"So, they pay you to keep watch here, or do you suck so bad as a bandit that this is your punishment?"
"Shut up kid, I don't need any sass from you!"
"Hey, I'm just making an observation bro. It isn't my fault if it's true, but if that's the case then man do you have a sorry life ahead of ya," he said with a chuckle.
The man growled as he jumped onto the crate, reaching for a bottle of sake. He took a swig from it, grumbling under his breath about something. Levi closed his eyes for a moment, a frown appearing on his face.
"Well, since I got a lot of time on my hands, I may as well put it to good use. I'll get to designing my new weapon. Thankfully I still have paper with me." he thought to himself, as he reached inside his cloak. He pulled out a black notebook, which had a familiar symbol on the front. A wolf howling at the moon. His frown deepened when he looked at the cover. "Professor Goodwitch gave me this before I left Beacon. She said Aria had written something for me…"
He flipped to the last page that had writing on it, seeing "Dear Levi" written at the top. He looked away after a second, finding a clean page in the little book, pulling the attached pen from the side of it. "Alright, let's get to designing."
Meanwhile, in the main tent, Neo had been led toward the center of the room. She noticed several things around the room, the most prominent being the large throne placed at the back of the tent. She saw a map of Remnant tacked to a corkboard, along with a map of Mistral, several villages and towns had been marked with a red X. She saw crates filled with dust, all bearing the Schnee Dust Company logo on it. There were various other prizes, likely things that had interested her contact. She stiffened a bit when she saw the flap on the other end of the tent move.
"I was told you had come to pay me a visit, Miss Neopolitan. It has been quite a long time, hasn't it?"
Neo gave the woman a nod. She was very tall, with long spiky black hair tied up into a ponytail, she was also hiding her face behind a large, stylized Grimm mask, her crimson eyes glowing beneath it. She was wearing mostly black clothing, with striking red armor on her arms and legs. Her weapon was strapped to her hip, her hand resting over the handle of her katana.
"I would like to give my condolences. No one was expecting Roman to be killed during that invasion. But I also gave him a fair warning. I told him who he was messing with and he didn't listen. Perhaps this was fate?"
Neo narrowed her eyes but said nothing as the woman stood before her. "Do not take offense, young lady. I am just letting you know that you chose poorly. But that is all water under the bridge. I was told you decided to cash in your favor, what may I do for you?"
The ice-cream-themed woman reached into her blouse for her scroll, hastily typing out a message. Once she was done she held the device out to the woman, who read it. Her eyes scanned each word, a chuckle erupting from the back of her throat.
"So, you are searching for Cinder, are you?" she said, causing Neo to nod. The woman reached behind her head, unclasping the Grimm mask she was wearing, setting it down on the table. Neo noticed the woman looked rather tired, she had visible bags beneath her eyes, expertly hidden with makeup, but still visible enough for her to notice. "I'll have you know, she's been rather quiet."
"Oh?" Neo's message read, causing the woman to nod.
"Indeed, there were rumors circling in Haven about her, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai and their apparent connection to the school. Professor Lionheart came out to dismiss the claims that they were students of Haven, and even showed proof that their presence at the school had been faked. That appeased the Mistral Council, but the Underground had a different story."
She walked around Neo, who slowly turned around to face her. "It seems her benefactor is planning an attack on Haven Academy. The Mistral Brotherhood of the White Fang has been preparing for this for weeks. Adam Taurus has been on the move, recruiting new gullible members to join his militia. Their aim is to bring down Mistral's CCT."
"Why?"
"Because Neo. That's what she wants. Have you ever heard the phrase, "United we stand, divided we fall?" the woman asked, causing Neo to nod. "Then you understand that this is ultimately what Cinder's benefactor wants. She wants the kingdoms to be at each other's throats. That's how she wins."
She paused for a moment, glancing at the other end of the tent. "The Grimm have gotten stronger, Vale is struggling to push them back. Atlas has an embargo placed on all dust and is slowly recalling their troops. And Vacuo is…"
"Vacuo?" the scroll chirped, earning a laugh from the woman.
"Yes, Vacuo has become more dangerous, but it's nothing they can't handle. Regardless of that, the tides are beginning to change. Heed my warning, girl. Don't bother going after Cinder, not if you wanna die."
"That isn't going to be possible, Raven. Me and my friend have to find her, we need to kill her for what she did to us. It's because of her that Roman is dead. It's because of her that my friend lost his team and his mother. We need to do this, we've come this far, we can't quit now."
Raven remained silent, proceeding with what the young woman had said. She shrugged her shoulders, leaning back slightly. "Your funeral kid. It's like I said before, Haven Academy is going to be a hotbed in a few months. I'm not sure when this attack will go down, but I do expect Cinder to be there. If you want to get your revenge, then that's where I'd go."
"Thank you, Raven. I very much appreciate this," she said, reaching inside her blouse for her wallet. She pulled out some Lien, tossing it her way. Raven caught it with ease, glancing at the card for a moment.
"35 grand, just for a little bit of information? Where did you get this money?"
"Now now, that's not part of our agreement, is it?" she asked, a coy smile on her face. The tent flap suddenly opened, causing Neo to turn around. Raven placed a hand on her hip, a firm look on her face.
"Is something wrong, Vernal?"
"Not particularly. But I just wanted to share something with you. That faunus that came with Miss Neopolitan has some interesting traits." she said firmly. Raven gestured for her to keep talking. She cleared her throat, leaning forward a bit. "He has ears and a tail."
"Ears and a tail?" the woman asked, glancing down at Neo. "You met a miqo'te?"
"Yes, he sought out my services. He and I have struck a partnership of sorts and wish to destroy Cinder together. Is there a problem?" Neo's scroll asked.
"No, there isn't a problem, except faunus of his kind are rather rare. We don't exactly traffic people, but I can't exactly pass something like this up. If we contact the right buyer, then we can double our haul. Shion Village didn't even make us break even." the woman said, turning away from the pair. "Yes… I believe this is an interesting piece of information. How about you leave him here with us and head to Mistral? We'll take good care of him."
Neo's eyes widened in shock. She adopted a look of anger, hastily typing out her message. "No. I am not going to abandon my friend here. He's the reason I got this far, and he's going to help me bring down Cinder. So I apologize, but I will be going, with my friend in tow."
"Think about the money. There aren't a lot of his kind left in the world anymore, in fact, I'm sure less than 100 miqo'te exist. He's a rare specimen, and I'm certain someone will purchase him for quite a hefty amount. We'll give you a cut, for old time sakes. You know me and Roman did a lot of dealings while he was alive."
She took a deep breath, pretending to consider her options, slowly reaching for Hush. All she managed to grab was air, causing her to look down. She looked over her shoulder, seeing Vernal holding her weapon. She flicked it open, spinning around for a few seconds. "You know, I quite like this parasol. I think I might keep it for myself."
"I apologize, Neo. But I can't exactly let this opportunity pass, you understand right?"
Neo spat on the ground, angrily typing out a message, holding it out to the woman. "This isn't like you. You don't know who you are messing with, Raven. That boy happens to be the son of Terra Athan."
"Terra?" the woman mumbled, being taken aback by this piece of information. She closed her eyes briefly, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter, I'm not going to let people of a bygone era cloud my judgment. Vernal, tie her up. We'll cut her lose when we find a buyer for her little friend."
"Yes ma'am. Come along, you," she said, reaching for the girl. Neo gave her a smile and a wink, shattering into a million pieces the second Vernal grabbed her. The pair looked around for a few seconds, trying to find her, to no avail. "What do we do now? I didn't know she could do this!"
"It's just her semblance. Clearly, she's trying to free her friend, tighten security around that cage, and don't let that parasol out of your sight. It's her only means of fighting."
"Of course ma'am. I apologize for my ineptness."
"It isn't your fault, Vernal. Neo is a resourceful young woman, but once her aura is diminished, she is a scared little girl, just like her friend was. Just keep an eye out, you never know when she could strike." Raven said, grabbing ahold of her mask. Neither noticed the bright green pair of eyes watching them from the other side of the room.
The soft mechanism of Shiva's transformation gear filled Levi's ear as he continued sketching in his notebook. He didn't know how long it had been since arriving at the bandit camp. He had tried looking for his scroll but remembered he had placed it inside Shiva's holster, meaning his captors currently had it. He could only assume Neo was either talking business with the leader of this camp, or something had happened.
He figured it was the latter.
The blond man, who he had learned was named Shay, continued to taunt him with his gunblade. He kept running his fingers over the blade, before shifting it back into gunform. He took aim with it for a few seconds before shifting it back and repeating the process. Levi tried to ignore him, but when he kept cycling between his weapons forms, that's when he had a problem. It had been a while since he had oiled it, and the grinding of gears was starting to concern him. He was growing angry with each flick of the wrist, his ears twitching with every single shift.
"God, I wish Shiva would misfire and chop his hand off." he thought, as he continued drawing. He had come up with a rough design for a new weapon, basing it on one of the rifles that he had seen a few bandits using. He didn't know what it was called, but it was a short-barreled lever-action rifle.
He had added a blade to the design, making a few notes and basing it off of the rapier his underclassmen, Weiss Schnee, used. She used an interesting system, using a dust revolver to shift between dust types. He wanted something similar but also wanted to keep the gun action. After all, he couldn't always rely on his semblance. He had been taught to fight up close and that wasn't going to change.
"You know kid, this is a sweet piece of metal. A gun that turns into a sword at the flick of the wrist, it reminds me of that gun that was in that Atlassian movie a few years ago."
"That's probably because I based my design on that gun," Levi replied, not bothering to take his eyes off his notebook. He continued jotting down notes, slowly drawing out a cylinder, along with the etchings where Dust Crystals would be installed. "I thought it was cool and I went for it. I forged it myself, and her blade is really sharp."
Shay laughed as he flicked his wrist, returning Shiva to her gun form. "You actually call it a her? Dude that's so dumb. It's just a weapon, or did you give it a girl name because you felt lonely?"
"I named it after the goddess of ice and snow. You know, the one said to have formed Solitas?" he asked, brow quirked as he looked at the man, who was taking aim with Shiva again. This time he had his finger on the trigger.
"Pfft, ain't no such thing as god. If there was then why would he make those creatures of Grimm, eh? To tear us all apart?"
"Maybe he has a sick sense of humor." the faunus said with a shrug, returning to his sketch. He jotted a few more notes, clearing his throat. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Do what? Wrap my finger around the trigger? Are you jealous? Do you wanna hit me in the face for fingering your girl?" he taunted with a laugh.
"Nah man, I'm just giving you a warning in case you decide to pull it. She's got a hell of a kickback."
"I doubt it, I've handled worse," Shay said, squeezing the trigger. He let out a scream of surprise and pain as the gunshot out of his hand. The gravity bullet struck the far wall, leaving a gaping hole in the wood.
"Told you."
The man rubbed his arm as he forced himself to a standing position, going to retrieve the weapon that had flown from his grasp. It wasn't long before Vernal had shown up, looking around for a moment, only to see Shay picking Shiva off the ground. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Nothing, just taunting the kid with his own weapon."
"Well don't, you just blew a hole in the north wall. Do you know how long it takes to cut down a tree, and prepare it to make said wall?" the woman asked, clearly angry with him. "Our boss can't just snap her fingers and replace it."
"I know, I know. It was an accident. I'll have some of my boys patch the hole until we can get some replacement logs. Happy?"
"Not really, but do be careful with that thing," she said, shifting her gaze toward Levi, who wasn't even acknowledging her. "As for you, you might as well make yourself comfortable, because you are going to be there for a long time."
"Oh, lovely. Mind telling me when tea time is? I'd like my tea to arrive piping hot and with two sugars. Also, would you let me know what part of the cage I can piss in? I wouldn't want it to go rusty."
"This isn't a joke, asshole." Vernal cried, slamming her fist into the cage. He looked up at her, a look of seriousness on his face.
"Who said I was joking? I dunno what happened between your Boss and Neo, but I just want you to know that getting on her bad side isn't wise."
Vernal laughed, reaching behind her back. She spun Hush's hook around her hand before opening it, shielding herself from the sun. "What's the little girl going to do? Beat me up with her umbrella? I doubt she can do that. She abandoned you kid, she up and left."
"Doubtful. Also, that's not an umbrella, it's a parasol."
The black-haired woman turned away from him, closing the weapon with a snap of her wrist. "Whatever, it doesn't matter what it is. What does matter is that she doesn't have this to defend herself. So make yourself comfortable, we're likely going to be moving you away soon. A young man of your breed will net us quite a lot of money."
"Whoa, we're gonna sell him?" Shay asked, looking rather surprised. Vernal gave him a nod of approval, his expression changing into a smug smile. "Shit… haven't done any of that since our old boss was still around."
"Just keep an eye on him, and for the love of god, make sure you don't blow another hole in the fucking wall? That's all I'm asking." Vernal said, taking her leave. Shay laughed as he turned back to the faunus, who didn't at all seem bothered by the sudden turn of events.
"Looks like you are going to be meeting your new owner soon. So whatever life you lead before, you best kiss it goodbye. Because you are not getting out of this one," he said, grinning. Levi looked up from his notebook, lips pressed into a thin line.
"I seriously hope someone knocks your teeth out."
xxx
Weiss looked up from her scroll, having finally connected to Mistral's network. The signal had kept cutting in and out at parts, but that was due to how far from the Kingdom they were. She had connected to the captain's headset, just in case something happened. She was kind of hoping something interesting did happen, but a quiet trip was better than anything bad happening.
She noticed all of the landmasses starting to enter her field of view. Standing up from her crate, she looked out through the window, seeing the large floating islands that drifted above Lake Matsu. This was where the SDC normally mined their Gravity Dust, but the operation had been shut down recently, not just because of the embargo, but because of raising concerns for the workers. Grimm had started moving into this area, making it a lot harder to mine the dust crystals. She started walking toward the cockpit, the door automatically opening as she walked up.
"Where are we?"
"Eh? Oh, we're about 300 km from Lake Matsu's southern shore. I'd hang on if I were you, these floating islands cause a lot of turbulence for ships. We wouldn't want you to get hurt, would we?" he asked. She shook her head, about to return when the radio crackled to life.
"Mayday, Mayday! We are in need of assistance, we are currently 400 km away from Lake Matsu's southern shore. We're being attacked by Grimm and our Huntress is down. We're not equipped to deal with this! We have taken heavy damage to our starboard engine and are in need of immediate assistance. If there's anyone out there, please! Help us!"
The pilot hissed as he turned the radio off, hitting a few switches and buttons. He changed course, flying toward the west. Weiss stepped forward, glancing out the window for a moment, noticing the change of direction. "We're going to help them, right?"
"Of course not. I'm not getting anywhere near them, especially if they're being followed by Grimm. The last thing I need is for my life to end because of a suicide mission. We'll be in Mistral in a few hours. Just a little westbound orientation."
"But… but you can't just leave them!"
"My ship, my rules. I told you, kid, we're not playing hero, not today," he said, earning a sigh from the former heiress. He was right, it was far too risky to go after them. "I'm sorry, alright? If there are any other ships in the area they likely picked up that distress signal and are coming to help them. Don't worry yourself, okay?"
"Okay, I understand."
"Oh dear god, they got them! The grimm got-" the radio cut out, causing the pilot to grit his teeth. He looked at his radar, searching for the blip on their screen.
"Shit, I didn't know those guys were that close to us. We're gonna have to change our course even more just to avoid them!"
A loud screeching sound echoed over them, causing the pair to look up briefly, spotting a flaming ship, currently losing altitude. The radio crackled again, as the screams of the ship's crew kept begging for help. They didn't make it far, as their ship ended up slamming into one of the floating islands, being engulfed in flames. Pieces of metal and rocks fell to the waters below, a thick cloud of smoke towering above them.
"Oh no… those poor people!" Weiss muttered, holding her hand over her mouth, eyes widened in shock. Alarms started blaring loudly in the cockpit, causing her to look back at the console. The pilot let out a growl of anger as several dots filled his radar.
"Oh great, they brought the Grimm toward us," he said, glancing out the window. The buzzing of wings cut over the ship's engines, making him gulp. Several medium-sized Grimm filled his vision, all of them black in color, with red wings and thick bone plates over their backs and bodies. Their crimson eyes were glowing, as they started shooting their hooked stingers at them. "Hang on kid!"
He pushed the wheel forward, causing Weiss to scream as she hung on for dear life. The Grimm started following them, causing the pilot to quickly pull up, inches from striking the water. He pushed the sticks forward, pulling back on the wheel as hard as he could, sending them flying straight up.
"We have to fight them! Or else they'll bring us down!"
"How do you propose we do that? This isn't a military ship, we don't have any weapons!" the pilot cried. Weiss glanced over her shoulder at the cargo, a small smile appearing on her face.
"You're carrying dust, right?"
"Officially no, unofficially, yes."
She gave him a nod, placing her earpiece into her ear, turning her scroll's Bluetooth on, syncing it with the ship's signal. "Alright, when I give you the go-ahead, you open the cargo bay door. I'll fight these things off."
"Tch… you're insane kid, but sure. I'll focus on the flying, you focus on keeping us from not dying," he said, brushing her off. The girl raced forward, grabbing a hold of her suitcase. She flicked it open, pulling her rapier, Myrtenaster from within. She slid the dust canisters into the revolver, moving toward the edge of the ship. She closed her eyes, pointing her fingers at the ground, forming a black glyph at her feet.
"Hey, are you ready kid?" she heard the pilot cry. She grabbed her rapier tightly in her grasp, taking a deep breath.
"Ready!"
The ship hissed and groaned loudly as the cargo doors slowly began opening. Weiss channeled her aura through Myrtenaster, spinning on her heel. She sent out a wave of hard light at the Grimm, pushing them back with ease.
"Speed up!" she called, as she formed several glyphs in front of her. She squeezed the trigger of her rapier, channeling fire dust into her glyphs. She flung balls of fire at the lancers, striking a few of them, bringing them down instantly.
The few that were defeated were quickly replaced. She bit her lip, summoning a row of ice glyphs before her, shooting shards out at them. The ship ducked and weaved through the floating islands, making it a lot harder for her to aim, but thankfully she had struck down several of the giant hornets. She let out a sigh as the ship leveled out, only for her vision to be filled with more Grimm.
"Did they send the entire colony at us? What did those other pilots do to piss these things off?" she thought, as the ship jerked, hard. She planted her feet firmly on the ground, making sure her black glyph kept her in place. "What was that?" she cried into her comm.
"We're hooked!" the pilot cried back, causing her to look up seeing the hooks that had pierced the hull of the ship. She shifted to her lightning dust, her blade sparking yellow as she sent a wave of lightning outward, striking several more Lancers, severing their hooks.
"Hey kid, I have an idea, you better hang on, literally." the man said, as he squeezed his wheel tightly. He narrowed his eyes as he approached the second largest island floating above the lake. He waited until the last moment, putting the engines on full, pushing the wheel forward sending them into a nosedive.
The lancers crashed into the island, fading into nothingness from the heavy hit. But they weren't out of the woods yet. Weiss looked around for a moment, placing her hand over her ear. "Hey, are there any islands we can fly between?"
"Kid you are reading my mind! Get ready!"
The man sped up, ducking through the islands, avoiding all of the large gravity dust crystals and Lancers flying around them. He spotted the perfect islands ahead, and quickly turned sideways, flying straight through them. At the same time, Weiss fired a series of fireballs at the strip of earth joining the two islands together. The chunks rained down on the lancers, killing the last of them. She let out a sigh, a look of relief on her face.
"I think that's the last of them."
"Nice going kid, we are in the clear! Man, am I glad you boarded my ship, I would have been toast without you!" the pilot said cheerfully. She was about to reply when a loud buzzing filled her ears, her jaw dropping at the sight before her.
The Grimm flying behind the ship was three times as big as the lancers, with the same body shape, only this one had more bones protecting every single bit of flesh that was exposed. The exoskeleton had a few chips and scratches from previous battles, giving Weiss an idea of how long this one had been alive. She swallowed the lump in her throat finally closing her mouth. She took a deep breath, pressing her finger to her earpiece.
"It's a Queen Lancer!"
"What? Oh shit!"
Weiss spun around, sending a wave of hard light at the queen lancer, stunning it for a few moments. The creature screeched loudly as it moved forward, large pieces of bone shooting from its body. She angled her blade, creating a shield with some hard-light dust, causing the lances to bounce off, striking the walls at either side of the ship. She heard an explosion, the ship rocking slightly.
"We lost engine three!" the pilot cried. Weiss forced herself to stand up, glancing over her shoulder. She smirked, forming a glyph in front of herself. She jumped up, tucking her feet in before launching herself forward, slashing the belts holding the cargo in place apart.
With a gravity glyph, she caused them to start floating. She angled her sword downward, spinning around. With a slight flick, she sent the crates flying forward, striking the queen lancer with them. An explosion of fire, ice, lightning, and smoke filled the air, engulfing the creature entirely. The ship jerked back, almost tossing her to the ground, her hair whipping in all directions.
"Did you kill it?" the pilot cried. Weiss remained silent for a moment, seeing the massive Lancer burst through the dust cloud.
"Son of a bitch!"
"I'll take that as a no. What do you want me to do?!"
Weiss looked around for a moment, a small smile appearing on her face. She glanced over her shoulder, finger on her earpiece. "Pull up when I say!"
"Huh? Alright then!"
Weiss traced her fingers over Myrtenaster's blade, flinging her aura upward. She spun around, stabbing the tip of her sword into the ground. She looked up, seeing her ever-faithful Armor Gigas slowly emerging from her glyph. She gave the construct a nod, closing her eyes. "Now!"
The pilot pulled up, sending them into a bit of a tailspin. The Armor Gigas raced forward, diving out of the ship as if it was a professional swimmer. The knight drew its giant sword, sending a slash at the Queen Lancer, only for it to fade away, leaving the giant Grimm confused.
With a flick of her sword, Weiss formed several glyphs around the Lancer. Her Armor Gigas leaped upward, delivering a strong slash at the creature's back. It jumped overhead, using a glyph as a platform sending itself downward, delivering another powerful strike. The armor groaned loudly as it hefted its sword in an upward slash. It jumped past the creature, bringing its sword over its head.
"Give it all you've got!" Weiss cried out, encouraging the knight. It brought the sword down with all of its strength, slicing the Queen Lancer clean in half with a blast of hard light. Both faded away into nothingness, allowing Weiss to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The engine suddenly coughed, a blast of fire, smoke, and metal erupting from it, sending the ship tumbling forward. "Shit, shit, shit! We're going down kid!"
The former heiress spun around on her heel, casting a black glyph in front of the ship, hoping to at least slow it down. The glyph broke, forcing her to cast a second and a third. No matter what she did, the ship wasn't slowing down. She spun around, driving her sword into the ground, casting another black glyph around herself, just as the ship slammed into the ground. She let out a scream as she was sent flying forward, striking one of the creates. Her aura sparked from the hit, leaving her a bit stunned.
The ship stopped moving after a few seconds, finally coming to a stop. She groaned in pain as she forced herself to her knees. She felt a twinge of pain on her hand, seeing a piece of metal had pierced clean through her hand. She grit her teeth, pulling it out with all her strength, screaming in pain as blood shot out from the wound.
"Ah… well, that could have been worse," she mumbled, as she stood up, grabbing ahold of Myrtenaster, sliding it through the metal loop around her waist. She stumbled forward, grabbing a hold of the first aid kit on the other side of the ship, flicking it open. "Hello? Captain?"
Earning no reply, the young woman moved toward the cockpit, noticing the forward incline the ship was taking. She pressed the emergency button, causing the door to fling open. She let out a scream as she saw the pilot's mangled corpse on the other side of the room. The entire front of the ship was bent inward, and taking in water as part of it had landed in the lake. Weiss turned away as fast as possible, struggling to contain her lunch in her stomach.
"Dear God, that poor man. He's… he's…" she took a deep breath, focusing on dressing her wound. Her aura was slowly sealing the cut up, but due to how much of it she had spent, it would take a while for it to fully heal. She finished wrapping the gauze around her hand, looking around for her suitcase. "I gotta get out of here. Maybe the Mistral Military saw this ship go down, and rescue will come soon. I just hope Winter is nearby."
Finding her things, Weiss started moving toward the side door, pressing the emergency release. She stumbled a bit as she jumped down, groaning a bit as her feet sunk into the mud. "Fantastic."
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
Weiss stiffened a bit, quickly drawing her rapier. She cried in pain as the weapon was shot out of her hand, sent flying back into the mud. She looked around for a moment spotting a few men surrounding her and the ship. All of them had smirks on their faces, eyeing her as if she were a piece of meat. The rifleman fixed his aim, pointing his rifle directly at her forehead.
"Well isn't this just a treat, I wasn't expecting a Schnee to come falling out of the sky. It must be my lucky day."
"You don't have any idea who you are messing with," she said, standing firm before the bandits. She felt something strike the back of her head, sending her tumbling to the ground. Her ears were ringing, vision swirling a bit as she looked up.
"I think we do." a red-clad woman said, smirking as she stood above the teenager. "You know what boys, I think we just hit the jackpot."
The last thing Weiss saw was the woman raising her foot before everything went black.
xxx
Levi looked up at the sky, seeing the sun was beginning to set. Had an entire day passed already? The bandits had started moving out when the sounds of an airship echoed through the camp. It had been followed by an explosion and a giant smoke cloud visible from where they were. He could only assume a military ship had gone down fighting some Grimm. Shay had been relieved, being replaced by two mooks who were trading stories and drinking sake. Neo was nowhere to be found, and he didn't know when or if he was going to see her again.
Knowing he couldn't stick around here, he started formulating a plan. The bandits hadn't been smart enough to check him over for extra weapons. He could do without Shiva, especially since he still had Glyph on him. His dust-infused gloves, which allowed him to change the elemental properties of his glyphs. He had been busy doing some calculations, something the two guards didn't even notice him doing.
"It's been a long time since I've written a new glyph. Honestly, I should have worked on this more back in Beacon. I had all the resources available including a professor who taught Dust Chem. I'm sure with her help I could have improved my Semblance. I'm an idiot."
He narrowed his eyes as he kept writing inside his notebook. Thankfully he had plenty of pages left for him to work with. Drawing a perfect circle had been easy, he had been doing it for so long that it was almost muscle memory. He had drawn a circle with the rough outline of a mountain in the center, jotting down various runes around the edges, connecting them all with thin lines. With each one he had written a new rune, making sure everything was well written without any issues.
He still didn't know why he used these runes. When he had unlocked his semblance, he had written them all down on a piece of paper. There were 42 different runes each meaning something different, and when combined, certain effects were triggered. It had taken him a lot of math and practice to write the perfect glyph with the right combination of runes to ensure the desired effect was achieved. As long as his calculations were correct, it worked 99% of the time.
With this one, he would be combining rock dust with wind dust, melding their properties together to create sand. Adding a bit of lightning dust would bind the circle together, hopefully getting a sandstorm effect. He would use this to blind the bandits and slow them down, giving him a chance to escape.
"Alright, if I divide 144 by 12 then add 189 to that total, I'll get 201, multiply that by 345, and I get… no, I must have messed up. It shouldn't be that high. Okay, back to the beginning. Subtract this by this, then add that, divide this by that, add this 23 here."
"What the hell do you think he's doing?" one of the goons asked, earning a shrug from his friend, who downed a shot of sake.
"Sounds like math to me, certainly an interesting hobby for someone like him. The fuck does an animal need to know math for?"
"You know you shouldn't call him that, you know how Momoko gets." the first said, earning a groan from the second.
"Like I give a fuck what Momoko says. What's she gonna do, go full tigress on me? Get real, she's all bark and no bite." the man said, brushing his friend off.
"Yeah, and you only say that because she's scouting for our future targets. You wouldn't say half the racist shit you say if she was here, man. Don't you think it's about time we stopped treating people like this like fucking animals?"
"I mean, they have animal traits. If it waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck, right?"
"You know, you are everything that's wrong with our society," Levi suddenly said, perking up a bit as he looked away from his notebook. "You think it's all fun and games, but then when we get pissed off, oh now that's when you suddenly start giving a shit. Because humans are getting hurt, but where are our goddamned rights?"
"Where the fuck do you get off talking to me like that huh?"
"I can talk to you however I want, you racist piece of shit." the miqo'te said, glaring at the man. He forced himself to stand up, snapping his notebook closed. "Maybe the faunus wouldn't be so fucking pissed off if you didn't treat us like animals. Maybe there would be fewer protests and people dying if your kind didn't give us a chunk of land that's half desert and told to deal with it. So keep your damn mouth shut."
"Pfft, get a load of this kid? You think you are in any position to tell me what to do, kid?" the man asked, slamming his arm into the bars. Levi didn't even look intimidated. "You are trapped inside a cage and are likely going to be sold off to some subsidiary of the S.D.C. where you will be turned into slave labor. No one gives a shit about you or your people, so sit down, relax and wait for your new slave driver to get here."
Levi flipped him off, deciding to ignore the man. He wasn't going to keep the conversation going if he could help it. He had heard tons of racist remarks during his entire life, and Mistral seemed chockful of a lot of it. He wasn't going to waste his breath on an ignorant idiot out in the middle of the sticks. He reopened his notebook, going back to his calculation. "God, the faster I get away from these fucks, the better."
"Hey! Open the gate, the Boss is back!" someone shouted, causing Levi to glance back. The two men rose to their feet, setting aside their shot glasses. The front gate creaked open, a large group of men and women entering the camp, all led by a red-clad woman, wearing a Grimm mask on her face.
"What the hell… that armor looks familiar." the miqo'te thought to himself. He spotted Vernal heading toward the cage, dragging someone with her. She gestured for the two men to open the cage, one of them drawing their gun, aiming it at him.
"Step back, I won't hesitate to shoot you."
"Do it, dickwad, no balls." he taunted, holding his hands up in the air. Vernal clicked her tongue, glaring at the gun-toting man.
"Are you scared of a defenseless kitty cat?" she said, voice laced with sarcasm. She threw her captive inside the cage, causing her to slam into the bars. She cried in pain as she slid to the ground, her striking blue eyes glaring at Vernal.
"Do you have any idea who you are messing with?" she cried, forcing herself to her knees. Vernal let out a chuckle, holding her hand out. Someone placed the girl's weapon in her hand. She traced her fingers over it, admiring all of the embellishments on the blade.
"I think I have a solid idea who I am messing with," she said in a rather taunting manner. She slammed the cage closed, stabbing the blade into the ground. "You my dear, look like a runaway. If that's the case then I'm certain daddy dearest will pay quite handsomely for your return."
"Tch." the girl spat, looking away from Vernal. "If you think I'm going back to Atlas, you've got another thing coming. I spent the last few weeks trying to get out of that place. Besides, I'm not alone."
"Oh? You aren't?"
"Of course I'm not. My sister, Special Operative Winter Schnee, is located in Mistral. And once she finds out my ship didn't make it here, she'll start searching for me. She won't stop until she finds me." the girl said, a smirk on her face. Vernal rested her rapier on her shoulder, glancing at the two goons before laughing. "What… what's so funny?"
"Didn't you hear? General Ironwood recalled all active personnel in Mistral several days ago. Your sister is no longer here. No one is coming to look for you." she said, causing the white-haired girl to gasp in surprise. She backed away from the cage, glancing down at her binded hands.
"No, that can't be."
"But it is, heard through the grapevine that Atlas has officially closed its borders. No one gets in and no one gets out without Council approval. You are shit out of luck my dear. But don't you worry, we'll make sure you get to ride on the finest Atlas ship money can buy. You know, after your father gives us 100 million lien." she said, turning away from her. "Until then, enjoy your stay, feel free to pet the cat while you are at it."
"Hey fuck you!" Levi shouted, slamming his fists into the bars. "Who the fuck do you think you are huh? It's bad enough I gotta sit here with my fingers up my ass, but how dare you treat this girl like that, huh?"
"Aw lookie here, the cat is defending the princess, how adorable. Maybe you'll become her knight in shining armor. You know, if you can figure out how to fight back before you are sold off."
Levi growled under his breath, his ears standing up straight. Anger filled his body, he wanted to bend those bars, and punch that smirk off that woman's face. But without Shiva he wouldn't get far. He was weaponless with only his Semblance and his martial arts. He kept squeezing with all of his strength, feeling the bars bend a bit before finally letting go, turning away from the goons, crossing his arms.
"I'm not a fucking cat faunus, I'm a miqo'te!" he shouted, though it fell on deaf ears. "God… what a shitty turn of events."
"Um, excuse me?" a soft voice said, causing him to glance over his shoulder. He would have been surprised, had he not recognized her the moment she had been brought into the cage. She however seemed rather surprised to see him. "Levi Athan? What are you doing here?"
"Oh you know, hanging out, getting used to our gracious accommodations. What about you? Felt like taking a stroll through Mistral's Bandit District?" he asked, causing her to sigh.
"No… the ship I was on was attacked by Grimm and brought down. I managed to get out but then I was caught. That red armored woman knocked me out and brought me here. Now I'm going to be held at ransom and likely returned to Atlas."
Levi took hold of her bound hands, looking them over for a moment. He started tugging on the rope until he loosened the knot. He undid her bindings, tossing the rope aside. She rubbed her wrists, which had been raw from rope burn. "Thank you."
"Don't worry about it," he said with a shrug. He leaned back against the back of the cage, glancing up at the rapidly darkening sky. "So… ran away from Atlas, huh? Was it that bad?"
"You wouldn't believe it. It was so choking, all of those idiots up there take everything for granted. My father forced me to sing at a concert, one of his ploys to make the Schnee Family seem like they care about what happened. The after-party was terrible, all of the people just talked about how Vale deserved what happened when it didn't."
He watched her closely, seeing the look of anger on her face. Her body virtually screamed it, she looked like she was a second away from exploding. "I just couldn't take it anymore. I wanted so much to wipe that woman's smirk off her face… but all I got was disowned from the company."
"I'm… sorry to hear that, Weiss," he said, rubbing his arm. She looked up at him, shaking her head.
"You don't have to apologize. I'm just ranting, the last few months have been terrible for me. They amounted to the same routine every day, and now that I'm finally out of Atlas, I get kidnapped by bandits." she said, glancing away from the young man. "So what did you do to get captured?"
"Exist, apparently," he replied. Weiss giggled, rolling her eyes. "In all seriousness, I came here for information. Me and a friend of mine have been traveling through Mistral on our way to Haven Academy."
"Haven Academy? Did you transfer there or something?"
"No. I'm looking for the bitch who attacked Beacon and got my friends and my mom killed," he said, rather seriously as he spoke. "Cinder Fall and her cronies all said they were from Haven, so I figured I would search there. But things in Mistral haven't been sunshine and rainbows. Every town we stopped at mentioned how the world blames Mistral for what happened to Vale since the ones responsible came from there."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? Going after that woman, I mean. You might get yourself killed."
"Doesn't matter if I do or not. She needs to pay for what she did, my friends are gone, my mother is gone. Pyrrha Nikos died because of that bitch. She needs to pay, and I will make her pay for that." he said firmly, balling his fist.
Weiss said nothing, tearing her eyes away from the young man. She could see the hurt in his eyes and on his face. He had lost people close to him, people, that had mattered to him. It was normal to react that way. She had lost Pyrrha and was still grieving her. There was nothing to fill the void of someone passing away, it was just something you needed to learn to accept. It seemed as if Levi had turned down a different path, choosing to avenge the fallen rather than accept what happened.
She let out a sigh, the air slowly leaving her lips as she glanced around the compound, seeing nothing but bandits and tents. The torches were slowly being lit, as the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon. "I know it's been months since we've spoken, and before that, we only spoke a handful of times but… do you have a plan?"
"I'm working on something," he said, pulling out his notebook, opening to the glyph he was in the process of writing. "These idiots didn't notice my gloves had dust crystals infused into them. I don't have much left, but I have enough to fight if only to run away. But I can't leave without my friend Neo. She's still somewhere in this camp."
"Neo? That name sounds familiar." the former heiress said, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter, what does matter is that you still have dust. Do you have any ice or fire dust that you can spare? Even a little bit will help."
"I can't really pull these pods out, I can only refill them, and once the dust is in there it's tricky to get out. Our best bet is to figure out where our weapons are being kept. Vernal has your rapier and Neo's parasol, and this guy named Shay has my gunblade. If we can get them back and find Neo, we might be able to get out of here."
"Hmm… okay, I guess I'll leave the planning to you. Once I have my sword, I'll be able to support you as best I can." Weiss said, glancing at his notebook. "Are you writing a new glyph?"
"That's right. I already did the calculations, and am close to getting my answer. Once I do, I'll be able to write the formula in my mind and cast it. This should hopefully allow me to make sandstorms."
The young woman looked his math over for a moment, her eyes tracing every number that had been written down. She was mentally solving the problem, only to hit a snag when she saw a number that didn't belong. "Your math is wrong."
"What? But I rewrote this entire formula already."
"Everything is correct until you get to this part here, you subtracted two when you should have subtracted four. Here, I'll fix it," she said, taking the pen. She turned to a clean page, rewriting everything up to the point he had made his mistake. She continued solving the formula, finally reaching her answer. "Here you go, the answer is 1."
He looked everything over, a smile on his face. He turned around, holding his hand out, making sure no one would see. He memorized the formula that had been written, channeling his aura through his glove, a glyph appeared in the palm of his hand, slowly turning a dark brown color. He channeled more aura into it, slightly moving his fingers, adding more dust into the glyph. It started glowing brightly, a small swirl of sand forming at the center. He let out a laugh, letting the glyph disappear.
"Oh yeah, now we're talking. I'll need to practice it more, while the formula is correct, infusing the right amount of dust into it will take a bit of time."
"Well, we have a lot of it at the moment. I'm actually very impressed, Levi. Have you put my advice into practice?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip. "I'd like to see how much your Semblance has improved."
"We'll have to wait for another time for that. I've improved a lot, but thanks to Neo, I realized several things about my fighting style and my weapon. Things that ended up hindering the growth of my Semblance. I've decided to start fresh, and focus not just on my weapon skills but also practicing my Semblance like I should have been from the start." he said.
"Alright you two, shut the hell up. I won't stand for you two becoming buddies, so don't you even try to grow brains."
"Oh boy, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Fuckface are back. How wonderful." the faunus said, earning a growl from the man. "Careful there, bud. I might mistake you for a dog, and you know what they say about cats and dogs."
"Shut up, before I blow your face off."
"Again, I welcome you to try, I'm a huntsman-in-training. Meaning I've taken bullets to the face before, it's nothing new to me." Levi said, crossing his arms. "But sure, I'll stay silent. I'm content with watching you two get shitfaced on the job. It would make my night a lot better."
"Whatever at least we have a bit of eye candy to stare at." the second man said, taking a swig from his bottle as he looked at Weiss. "The heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, my what a lucky catch."
"Ex-Heiress, actually, and I don't like you. If you could do us all a favor and pour that sake into your eyeballs, that would be great," she said, earning laughs from the goons.
"Behave yourselves, kiddies. Who knows? Maybe our benevolent boss will think about feeding you tonight."
Levi narrowed his eyes, balling his fists. He wanted to punch that man in the face, the thought of him swallowing his teeth was rather appealing. He looked beyond him, spotting a young woman not far from where they were, wearing what looked like a qipao. She paused for a moment, turning to face Levi and Weiss. Her eyes glowed for a brief second, before she gave them a wink, resuming her walk.
"Did...did you see that woman's eyes?" Weiss asked, earning a nod from Levi.
"Yeah I did, let's just say my friend is in deep. Sit back and relax, we'll be out of here soon," he said softly, taking a seat near the corner of the cage. Weiss sighed, deciding to do the same, not like there was much else to do.
"I trust you have a plan?"
"Mhmm… don't worry, we'll be out before you know it!"
She looked away from him, locking herself within her own thoughts. Levi meanwhile started to practice with his semblance, making sure the goons didn't see him. He had to get this glyph down pat if he wanted to use it after all. He smiled, almost bursting out laughing. He couldn't wait to try this new one out. It had been a long time since he had written a new glyph and he was getting giddy at the thought of flinging some idiots around. For now, he would work in silence, biding his time until the right moment presented itself.
A/N: Finally, some exciting things are happening. this was one of the things I was looking forward to the most for this story. Now that Levi has reunited with someone from his past, things are bound to change. Of course, there might be a few issues going forward but nothing they can't handle. Now the middle of the arc has started, and its climax at the battle of Haven is nigh. I'm super excited to get started on that... oh well, I already finished it haha. I'm on Chapter 23 now, writing the beginning of Volume 6's events. This lack of internet has been ass, but it has given me a lot of time to work on shit. No distractions, steady work, and yes, a bit of writer's block, but this story is coming along great. I can't wait for you all to see what's next. See you all when I see ya!