Atlas, the Kingdom of many names: The technological capital of the world; The floating city; The shining city. Even with how famous the Kingdom of Atlas was, barely anyone mentioned Mantle; The city in the shadow.

Blake could feel the despair, the helplessness in the streets. The lights bathing the roads in a depressing shade. Sunlight was a commodity in the city; when the sun could break through the clouds, it had to contend with the smog pumped out by all the factories. Even then, most of the city was held captive by Atlas, casting its massive shadow across the city.

The streets had piles of trash building up in the corners and blocking the storm drains. Everywhere Blake looked, she could see droves of the poor, the homeless and the hungry, all bundled together to try and survive. She could feel the stares coming from the people she passed. From inside boarded-up buildings and shop windows.

For one, she was walking down the street with a small escort of Atleisan knight mechs with supplies for the refugee camp being set up on the far side of the city. She could understand their resentment towards her; Atlas was just as much as an enemy to the people of Mantle as to the rest of the world. Resources were drained to supply the war effort. Families have been torn apart for the promise of food and water, never to be whole again.

Secondly, she was being stared at because Blake was a Faunus.

Despite needing to band together to help each other, the Faunus was still the second-class citizen in Mantle. Blake had never seen so many anti-Faunus signs in her life, and it only got worse the closer she was to the main elevator that ferried supplies and people between the two cities.

Typically, a Specialist would not be needed to escort building supplies to the Copper district of Mantle, but with the last caravan being attacked by protestors, Ironwood did not want to chance it this time. From Blake's understanding, the Copper District was supposed to be the newest and greatest district to be entirely renovated to help with living conditions in Mantle. Squished between the slums in the crater and the southern protection wall, it was supposed to be the first in a series of renovations, but it never got farther than demolishing the old buildings when the war began.

The only good thing about the Copper district that Blake could find was that it was one of the few places in Mantle that were not directly under Atlas. Passing the invisible border that marked the beginning of the District, Blake finally felt the warmth of the sun on her skin as her eyes adjusted to natural light and not the dim orange glow that covered the rest of the city.

The deeper into the district Blake went, the worst it got. Near the edge of the district boundaries, what buildings remained were crammed full of people with only the necessary repairs. But, then, tents are all neatly lined in rows with larger, temporary housing is in the process of being built. Blake was glad the supplies made it in one piece and hoped more houses could be built faster.

Reaching the designated staging area for the supplies, Blake watched as the trucks all lined up and opened their canopies. One of the trucks opened up, and a dozen more Atlas robots were placed onto the ground and unloaded the supplies from the rest of the convoy. Metal beams, prefabricated components and bags of other stores are all being carried with efficiency. While Blake watched the machines do their work, she noticed a woman heading towards her and Blake mentally prepared herself to deal with the de facto leader of the refugees.

"Specialist Belladonna, I assume," The woman said when she got close enough to Blake.

"Ms. Hill," Blake replied with a handshake.

"Please, that makes me sound old. Call my Robyn,"

"You can call me Blake then," Blake said with a smile. It was refreshing to talk to someone that can drop formalities so quickly.

"I'm just glad the next shipment got here without any damages," Robyn commented as she looked over the trucks. "Do you have the manifest on you?"

Blake quickly pulled out a Scroll tablet and opened it before handing it over to Robyn. The older woman quickly read through the list of all the supplies brought to the camp but deflated when she got to the end of it. "While I appreciate the tools needed to get rid of these tents and get people into something warmer, we need more food and potable water for everyone," Robyn collapsed the Scroll and handed Blake another one. "This one is for you," Robyn said in a more sombre note.

When Blake opened the tablet, she was quickly met with a list of at least twenty people. Unfortunately, most of the people who passed away yesterday went unnamed, only description and where they probably came from. Blake sighed as she closed the device and slipped it into her pocket with a nod in thanks.

A quick shrill of alarms echoed through the air, cutting through the noise around them. Both Blake and Robyn looked towards the wall and saw three of the large turrets that lined the wall all activate and open up with flashing red lights. The alarm continued as the weapons all took aim and unloaded their cannons at the Grimm heading towards the wall. Blake could not see what they were shooting at but slowly began to reach over her shoulder and grip her own weapon, just in case as the turrets continued to fire.

Just as quickly as everything started, it all stopped. The alarm died, and the silence echoed in Blake's ears as the turrets turned off their flashing lights and folded up again. Blake let her breath out and let her arm fall to her side as Robyn only sighed and scratched at her head. "While we're at it, repairs and upgrades to this portion of the wall would be nice as well,"

"I'll make sure to pass it along," Blake said as she looked around the camp around her. "Is there anything I can help with while I'm here?"

"No one will say no to an extra pair of hands around here, but I need to get a move on." They shook hands once more before Robyn made her way back into the camp, off to organize whatever supplies they had left. Blake looked around in her immediate area and decided to walk off in a random direction to find something to help with.

It did not take long for Blake to stumble onto a situation where she could help. From helping a family hammer spikes into the cold ground to secure their tent to carrying a bucket of water to another tent for another family to have some semblance of cleanliness. Most welcomed her help; others simply allowed her to help and, when she was finished, gave her the cold shoulder so she would move on.

Atleisan Specialist and Faunus were not exactly a winning combination for the stripped people of their homes. Nevertheless, Blake pushed past the whispered slurs and the heated looks until a board caught her attention.

Walking up to the free-standing wall, Blake's eyes were assaulted by hundreds of pictures of people. People with families and loved ones. Pieces of the past before the war. Pictures with a repeated message scrawled across them.

"Have you seen me?"

"Missing"

"Last seen in Mistral."

Blake scanned the pictures, trying desperately to recall any of the faces from her memories, anything that matches anyone from the board. She could see evidence of pictures torn off before they were found, or the family was told that their fate was beyond her.

"Blake?"

Blake's attention was pulled when she heard her name and saw Ren sitting next to her.

"Ren!" Blake turned and rushed to embrace her friend. She lowered herself down to his level and squeezed him as tightly as she could, only to realize he felt so thin in her arms. Pulling away from him, she finally noticed that he was not sitting normally; he was in a wheelchair. Blake felt her heart drop as she looked him over and could hardly comprehend what she was looking at. "Ren! What happened?"

Ren offered her a small smile and shook his head. "It's a long story; I'm just glad to see you're doing well,"

"As well as I can be, I suppose," Blake said while looking around. "I'm just trying to help out as best as I can around here,"

"Oh, well, if you're not too busy, I could use some help," He said, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to Blake. Immediately, Blake took the paper and examined it, only for her to freeze at what she saw.

It was an old photo from Beacon. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren were being pulled into an aggressive hug from Nora, who just grinned with enough energy that could outshine the sun. Everyone looked so young and carefree back then. Not at all like the last time Blake had seen them.

"I don't suppose you've seen them, have you?" Ren's voice was quiet as she looked down at his feet.

"Not recently," Blake admitted slowly as she stared at the picture. It felt like she was looking into a twisted mirror version of what she knew. Pyrrha had died in Beacon, but here she was, smiling and looking at her friends. Jaune looked so thin and awkward in the picture. Now, she knew Jaune as the Champion of Mistal, a man consumed by grief and hate. The last time Blake had seen Nora, she felt so wrong without a smile on her face and darkness in her eyes.

Turning to the board, Blake managed to find a few tacks left in the board and stuck the picture in the middle. Blake took a step back and stood next to Ren as the image melted into the collage of the missing, just another few faces to match the ones around them. Blake stood with Ren as they both looked at the board, unsure what to say to the man.

"She went to Mistral," His strained voice cut through the silence between them. "I heard what happened there, the city is gone, and lots of people were evacuated by Atlas, but I still haven't seen her yet,"

"Anima is a big continent," Blake placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. She felt his hand gently lay on top of hers and squeeze. "Atlas is still searching for Mistrali enclaves to tell them that Atlas had surrendered. She's probably got onto one of their ships."

"Yeah," Blake was not sure if he believed his own words.

"How are you doing?" He asked finally.

That was a loaded question, one she had no idea how to properly answer. "Honestly, better knowing that you're here. Where are you staying? would you like me to push you?" She asked as they finally took their leave of the missing people board. He nodded and placed his hands in his lap while Blake grabbed the handles and began to gently walk down the row of tents. "Ruby is not going well; we're waiting on a specialist before knowing exactly what we're dealing with,"

"Be gentle with her," Ren said, "She's been through a lot,"

"I think we all have,"

Blake continued to push Ren down the path, past the refugees and the occasional Atleasian robot that had been sent to help. One of them had been defaced with a monocle and twirly mustache with "Fuck Atlas" painted on its chest. Finally, Blake could not stop the question that was bubbling in her mind.

"What happened to you, Ren?" She asked again.

From behind, she saw the man deflate slightly but answered anyway. "Jaune did this,"

"What!" Blake stopped and quickly moved in front of Ren and knelt down so she could look into his face. "Jaune did this?!"

Ren merely nodded as he avoided her gaze. "After the fall, Ruby, Jaune, Nora and myself went back to Beacon to collect whatever we could find of Pyrrha's so we can bring them to her family,"

Blake could not believe they managed to get through the Grimm-infested city, let alone all the way back to Beacon. "When we got there, Jaune… Broke," his voice trailed off as he recounted the events. "He could not handle the grief and blamed Ruby for Pyrrha's death, for letting her die, and attacked her. Nora and I tried to stop him, but he stabbed me and separated my spine, and I can't use my legs now,"

"But, we're in Atlas, Ironwood is forty-five percent metal; we can get you some prosthetics,"

Ren shook his head. "I don't want it, maybe in the future, but not now." She could see the fear in his eyes, it was very slight, but she could feel the panic at the thought of getting prosthetics for his legs.

"Okay," Blake nodded as she held his hands and squeezed them, "If you ever want to talk, we're all here for you," Ren only nodded, and Blake took her spot behind him and continued their walk through the camp. Finally, with his guidance, she brought him to where his tent was. Just outside of it, several children were all playing, and when they spotted him, they all charged towards him.

"Mister Ren!" they cried out with smile and laughter. Each of them trying to get his attention. Asking him for a story, to teach them about flowers or play a game with them. Blake could not help but smile as Ren calmed them down with just a single gesture and calmly spoke to them. He decided to tell them a story after they all moved out of the main path.

Blake recognized the story he was telling; it was about how Nora managed to steal Goodwitch's crop somehow and was being chased around the school campus. The whole team was in trouble, and not even RWBY was free from Goodwitch's wrath.

While Ren was telling the story, Blake could feel a pair of eyes staring at her. With a quick glance, Blake saw a girl that was standing away from the group. She recognized the girl who was staring at her and felt her stomach drop. The last time Blake had seen her, she was pulling her off of her dead father. She was still wearing the same clothes, now stained with her father's dried blood. In her hands was a piece of paper. Blake did not need to see it to know it was the photo Blake forced her to take.

Before Blake could do anything, she heard a chime from her Scroll. Taking it out, she saw a notification that the supplies had been unloaded and the swap of Atleisan mechs had been completed. When she looked back up, the girl was gone, and Blake could only deflate a little. She left Ren with his audience and gave him her scroll ID to call her if he needed anything. Making her way back to the trucks, she double-checked to ensure it was in order before escorting the caravan back through Mantle.

The loss of sunlight hit her immediately; the warmth that came from the large heaters that covered the city could never compare that to the sun. Blake eyed down a few people who looked like trouble and kept them from getting too close to the trucks. It took the better part of an hour to take the trucks back to the massive elevator that connected the two cities, even longer before it was her turn on the enormous platform.

"ID," The guard demanded as he blocked her path. Presenting her identification and assignment, she could tell that he was doing everything he could to deny her entry back up to Atlas. Blake was starting to get pissed off at the amount of Atlesian soldiers that were all staring at her while she waited for the go-ahead.

Racist assholes.

"Go ahead, Specialist," the guard finally said as he returned her card. "Welcome back to Atlas,"

Blake stood next to her convoy on the massive platform as several other trucks and people all came on as well. Soldiers all stood neatly in the corner while a truck filled with people was carefully parked in the middle. Empty construction vehicles filled the rest of the space before alarms began to blare, and everyone began to back away from the large gates. The whole floor shook and began to ascend up to Atlas.

The minutes ticked by while they went up. Of course, it would have been easier to just take a Bullhead back up to the Mantle of Responsibility. Still, there were no spare ships for her, so she needed to go back to Atlas, then to the military base and get on a supplying Bullhead from there, which meant at least two more checkpoints and even more waiting.

When Blake arrived in Atlas, she noticed several teams of engineers all around the elevator. All of them were looking at the connections between the floating city and the elevator shaft itself. Blake had overheard people talking about changing power over to a different generator to better support Mantle's increased power demand. Blake did not realize it might lower the city in the air if that were to happen.

Blake suddenly felt that she did not like being on Atlas anymore. Although being trapped on a ship in the middle of the ocean was terrible enough, Blake did not want to imagine what being trapped in a city would feel like if it began to sink.

By the time Blake managed to get back on board the Mantle of Responsibility, she was exhausted. The sun was beginning to set, and she really needed to get out of her boots. Walking through the Dreadnaught, Blake made her way towards the medical ward where she knew Yang would be. But, instead, she saw Neo standing at the viewing window, staring into the room. The hat she always wore in her hands, her fingers tracing the brim absently.

"Neo?" The more petite woman seemed to be pulled from her trance as Blake approached. Looking inside, she saw Weiss with Ruby, trying to get her to eat the food on a tray. At least Ruby was not alone. Neo gave Blake a small smile as she took a few steps and put the hat back onto her head. "How did you even get over here?" Blake asked her. The only people who had access to this corridor were the officers, the doctors and her team.

Neo only gave her a shrug and a wink as an answer.

"I know Ironwood and Ozpin are letting you stay on here with us, but that doesn't mean you can just teleport yourself into secure areas looking for Yang," Blake warned her as she began to walk past her towards the door on the other side of the corridor. "Come on, let's go find Yang and get something to eat. If Yang isn't here, I know where she'll be." Neo happily agreed and spun on her heel to walk towards the door, letting Blake lead the way.

With Blake in front, she could not see the last glance she made towards Ruby or the hidden blade slipping up inside her sleeve.

A/N: I've got nothing for you. I'm sorry. It's just the same shit flying from a different direction. I hope you enjoy this chapter and hopefully, it won't be too long until the next update.

Beta Read by StreetAngelJ

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