RWBY

Origins Of LUNR

Chapter 45: I Got The Answers

Deep in the streets of Mistral's rain fell on the head of those who walked through the roads. None seemed to be bothered by this fact, as if it was common in that area. This area of Mistral was known for people that didn't care about life or goals. Walking through these streets were Ryder and Senka. Ryder was holding an umbrella while Senka stood beside him protecting herself from the rain.

"This is the place."

Senka pointed to a tavern to the left of them. Ryder looked at her and then towards the tavern. "You're sure she'll have answers for us?" He asked.

Senka smiled at him and gently held onto his arm. "I never said it was guaranteed, but I'm sure she does. She's a good friend of mine so I know she'll help."

Ryder sighed and then smiled before walking inside with Senka. The tavern is situated in the lower parts of the city of Mistral, where its entrance is marked by engravings of a spider emblem on the exterior of the building.

Inside the tavern, there are two floors, where the first floor has a bar and several tables around it. The walls are made of discolored bricks and the floors are made of stone.

"Well if it isn't Senka, it's been a while, my old friend."

Senka and Ryder turned their heads to see a heavy-set middle-aged woman with light skin and short blonde hair kept in a bob haircut. She has a spider in its web tattooed on her left shoulder, a beauty mark under her right eye, lipstick on her upper lip, and purple nail polish on her fingernails. The top of her dress is white and backless, with long sleeves and details, such as beads and straps, in purple. Below is a purple corset, and a long pleated skirt that is yellow on its top layer, purple in the middle one, and white in the lower layer. Her shoes are brown and decorated with a green ribbon.

"Lil' Miss"

Senka greeted as she walked over to the woman who was sitting at one of the tables in the back. Lil' Miss smiled as she motioned for them to come closer and sit with her. "Senka, who is this fine man you brought with you?" She asked.

Senka smiled as the two walked over and sat down across from the woman. "This is my partner Ryder. Ryder, this is my good friend Lil' Miss Malachite. She's the owner of this bar and the head of her organization." Senka explained.

"You know you had a hand in making this possible." Lil' Miss said.

Senka smiled while Ryder reached out his hand respectfully "It's a pleasure to meet you Lil' Miss Malachite." He said

Lil Miss took his hand and gave him a slight seductive look. "The pleasure is all mine, and please just call me Lil' Miss."

Ryder nodded as she turned her attention back to Senka "So, what brings you two here? Last I heard you had a little situation going on at Beacon."

Senka nodded at her statement and spoke "Yes and that's exactly why I'm here."

She paused as she pulled out two pictures from her pocket and put them on the table and slid them over to Lil' Miss.

"I'm looking for these two people. They are partners of ours and they're missing. I came here to see if you would have any intel. I'll pay you for it of course."

Lil' Miss shook her hand dismissing the matter "No need for payment. I'll give you any information free of charge. Besides, someone has already paid me for the same information. They should be arriving right about now."

As if on cue the doors opened behind them which made them turn their heads to see who had entered the tavern. Senka's eyes widened as they set on the pink and brown hair color that she knew all too well.

"NEO!"

She quickly got up from her chair and ran over to Neo and embraced her. Neo who was just as shocked hugged her tight and smiled as she buried her face into Senka's chest.

Ryder stood up and walked over to the two women and gave Neo a small smile for just a moment. His face then turned serious as he noticed that Neo was wearing a certain someone's hat. He noticed her clothing was shown to have been torn up over the time since her last appearance, especially on her jacket's left shoulder, her coattail, and leggings."Neo, where's Roman?" He asked.

Senka let Neo go who gave Ryder a sad look and looked down as she reached for Roman's hat and handed it to him. Ryder took it and looked at it for a moment.

"Neo, use your mind to speak. Tell me everything that happened." He said as he looked back at her.

Neo nodded as she closed her eyes and focused on her thoughts. Lil' Miss gave a look that showed that she was impressed as she heard him speak.

"Oh wow! He can read minds? Remind me to call them when I'm in negotiations." She said to one of her henchmen.

Moments later, Neo opened her eyes and looked at him. "What did she say?" Senka asked.

"She said that Roman is gone, they had a battle on an airship with Ruby Rose. Neo got knocked off the airship and when she went to search for him, only his hat was found." He explained.

Senka looked down as she didn't want to believe that Roman was gone. Ryder gritted his teeth and balled his fist as he thought about Roman. "What do you want to do Neo, I know you were very close to him." He said.

Neo's face turned serious as her body started to transform. Soon she took on the appearance of Cinder which took Senka and Ryder by surprise but they understood clearly what she wanted.

"Well if that's what you want! Then I think I can make that happen." Lil' Miss said with a smirk on her face.

Back at the White Fang base

Adam was sitting on the throne rubbing his chin. Damien was standing across from him looking at him with a serious expression.

"So what do you plan to do Adam? Are you going to let this defeat sway you from your goal?"

Adam stood up and looked at the ground "The Belladonna girl... Blake… Lance…."

Suddenly, Adam uses his Semblance to slash at the throne. He grits his teeth and lets out a loud yell of rage. Damien smirked as he folded his arms knowing he just manipulated Adam into another scheme.

Damien put his finger to his lip as he paced back and forth thinking. "Let's assess the situation. They have the relic and I'm sure right now they're on their way to bring it to that fool Ironwood."

Adam looked at Damien, listening to every word. "I need to get that relic from them and you want Blake and Lance. I think we can make both of our goals happen if we work together. What do you say?"

A busy train station in Mistral is shown. People go about their business whether they be buying a train ticket, going shopping, eating food, and more. Holographic screens show different locations, amongst them are Argus, Wind Path, Kuchinashi, Shion, and Vale, the latter shown to be crossed out with an "Out of Service" message next to it. Qrow Branwen can be heard narrating a letter he wrote to James Ironwood, detailing recent events:

'The letter had said It's been two weeks since the attack on Haven. The official report states that the plot to destroy Mistral's CCT Tower was thwarted by Ghira Belladonna and the Faunus militia group from Menagerie. A Huntsman and some students coincidentally visiting the headmaster were also able to lend some assistance.

Unfortunately, Leonardo Lionheart lost his life while trying to defend his school. And those responsible for organizing the attack managed to escape. As I'm sure you can guess, there's a lot more to this report than I'm willing to say in this letter.

Bayne and Flash had to make a detour but they will be in Atlas soon. They might make it there before us knowing them.

But for now, what I'm trying to say is that we're on our way to Atlas, James. There's a good chance we'll get there before this letter does, but in case we don't, I need you to know that we're bringing a lot more than bad news with us. See you soon, Qrow.'

Qrow places the letter in a mailbox. Suddenly, his niece runs by and bumps into him.

"Hey, what's with the running?"

"And what's with the standing? It's almost time!" Ruby exclaimed.

Ruby sees the people chattering in the station lobby. She uses her Semblance to get something and fly through the gate. She then emerges smiling and humming, approaching the benches where her companions, minus Blake, are waiting.

Yang raised an eyebrow as she looked at her "And?"

Ruby shows them a bag and smiles "Ahh!" She squealed.

Weiss who was sitting next to Uzziel shook her head "What an absolute waste of time—"

"What did you get me?" Yang asked, cutting off Weiss.

Ruby started to hum a tune while rocking side to side with a warm, beautiful smile on her face "You'll have to wait and see!"

"No fair!" Yang complained.

After Ruby sticks her tongue, Yang attempts to snatch the bag from Ruby, who recoils; then Nora jumps from between them

"Oh, I can't believe we're taking the train to Argus! The beautiful northern coastline... You think it's too early for beach season?" She asked.

A daydream of a shirtless Ren holding a beach ball by the sea... which as it pans down, turns out to be by Ren himself. The imaginary ball in his hands pops.

"Unfortunately, but we will be one step closer to Atlas," Reb stated.

Weiss looked at Uzziel who was having a conversation with Regulus. His fingers were tangled with hers as they were holding hands. She looked at Ruby and sighed "Well, I'm glad you're all excited. But I don't think you appreciate the trouble I went through to leave Atlas."

"I know you're worried, Weiss, but trust us. Team RWBY won't leave your side for a second! I promise."

"No one's gotta be worried with us around."

A pair of Huntsmen, confront Ruby and her friends with proud looks on their faces, holding their weapons.

"Aaaand you are?" Arrietty asked.

"Why Dee and Dudley of course. The Argus Limited's very own Huntsmen. We'll be keeping everyone safe as we pass through Grimm territory." Dee said.

"But for a generous tip, we can make sure your passenger car gets extra special attention should things get dangerous."

Dudley winks as Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Nora give unamused looks; Nora has her arms crossed and Weiss rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, I got a tip for ya."

Dee and Dudley turned as they heard the unknown voice. "Huh?"

Dee and Dudley turn to see Jarvin confronting them with Qrow, Miyabi, Dyna, and Estelle following. Jarvin has his hands in his pockets and gives Dee and Dudly a frown.

"Buzz off." Qrow finishes for Jarvin as he stands between Ruby and Yang as they make faces, mocking Dee and Dudly in the background.

"Looks like Mistral's scraping the bottom of the barrel these days," Miyabi added.

Dee growled at her "Hey! You're talking to a-"

Qrow holds his huntsman license, showing Dee and Dudley "A professional Huntsman, right. Well, it seems one of you heroes left the staff entrance to the caboose wide open."

Dee and Dudley turn around to the left in surprise at this revelation.

Jarvin crosses his arms and shakes his head "It'd be a shame to lose your job before it even started."

"I... I didn't do it!"

Dee scoffs at Dudley "Come on, dummy."

Dee and Dudley walk away from them. Oscar Pine watches the two leaving.

"Well, I didn't do it either…" Dee argued with Dudley.

"I do hope those weren't Beacon graduates," Ozpin says mentally. "You know sometimes the burden of saving the world feels overwhelming. But then people like that come along and make me grateful that it's our jobs and not theirs." Oscar said added to the prior statement.

Everyone collectively agrees with Oscar as they nod at him together.

"Uh-huh." They said in unison.

"Yeah," Jaune added.

"So, you kids ready to go? Bike all loaded up?" Qrow asked.

"Yep!" Yang responded.

"Just waiting on Blake. As usual." Weiss said as she looked over towards Blake. As she said this Estelle noticed that Weiss was holding Uzziel's hand and let out a squeal that could be heard by everyone around her.

"You guys are just so cute." She said with excitement.

Uzziel gave her a nervous smile as she pulled out her scroll and started snapping pictures of them. "Winter is going to love these pictures!"

"Oh come on Estelle, you're embarrassing me," Uzziel stated.

"But you've become such a man! Big sis is so proud of you." She said in a squeaky tone as if she was talking to a baby.

Uzziel just sighed which made Weiss giggle. Regulus smiled at the three of them as they continued their little scene. It was times like this that put Regulus's mind at ease, times like this are needed.

"Regulus."

Regulus turned his head to see Midori standing across from him. She was holding a white plastic bag in her right hand. "I bought us some snacks." She said with a cheerful smile.

"Did you bring snacks for Krisis?"

Krisis's voice could be heard from Regulus's shoulder as he had shrunk down to a tiny size so that he could be sitting on Regulus's shoulder.

Midori nodded "Yes I bought some for all of us." She responded.

As the train had finally arrived everyone was beginning to board the train one by one. Team ARAM, without Midori who was standing with Regulus, and Team JNPR boarded first. Qrow and Oscar followed right after and then RWBY started to board. As Weiss was the next person to board a ticket holder took her ticket and then stopped Uzziel who was right behind her as Weiss began to board.

"I'm sorry sir but the train has reached its capacity. You'll have to wait for the next train." The man said.

Weiss turned around and looked at the man who had stopped Uzziel. "But he bought a ticket," Weiss stated.

The man scratched his head nervously and looked at Weiss "Yes I understand that, as did everyone else after him but I was just told by the conductor that the train is full. I'm really sorry about this." The next one will be here in an hour." He replied.

Weiss gave Uzziel a sad look while Jarvin and Estelle walked over to the kids "Don't worry we'll get there as soon as possible." Estelle said.

Uzziel nodded and smiled at her as he put a hand on her shoulder "I promise I'll be there as soon as I can."

Weiss smiled and nodded as she hugged him tight "Okay." She replied.

"Weiss let Qrow and Oscar know what happened," Jarvin said.

Weiss nodded as she started to walk into the train "I will." She said before the door closed and the train began to leave. As it started to move Weiss kept her eyes on Uzziel who was looking at her with a smile on his face. The train got further and further away until it was finally out of sight.

Estelle put a hand on her brother's shoulder and smiled at him "Aw don't feel sad, you'll see her soon."

Uzziel smiled and nodded as he looked away from the tracks and looked at his sister "I'm not sad. But you're right, I got nothing to worry about." He responded.

"So what do we do now?" Midori asked as she and Regulus walked over to them. The group walked away from the line and headed over to a few seats. "All we can do is wait," Jarvin replied. Lance and the others walked over to join the collective as they were all conversing trying to pass time.

"Excuse me, but your name is Estelle right?"

Everyone looked to the left to see a young woman standing before them. The woman had pale skin with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a white shirt with a grey vest and pants with black shoes. Estelle raised an eyebrow as she stood up "Who's asking?" She replied rather firmly.

"Probably a secret admirer." Nolo teased but was quickly nudged in the ribs by Midori who shook her head at him.

"I'm just a messenger for my leader. She has a business proposition for you and your family." The woman said.

"Not interested." Estelle quickly replied as she turned around. Jarvin smiled as he knew that Estelle had little patience when it came to people trying to sell her something.

"Oh? Even if it concerns… Cinder?"

Estelle turned back to the woman as everyone's eyes widened. "Oh, it seems I have piqued your interest now." The woman added as she smirked.