Alright, so while writing this chapter, I was trying to put in a dash (—) with alt code and I mashed a bunch of keys and ACCIDENTALLY MADE A RACECAR. AND NOW I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW I DID IT! :(

63. Lost and Found

The sky had never felt so empty. Nimbus flapped his wings, not because he needed to—there were plenty of warm air currents for him to coast on—but because he wanted something to fill the silence besides the screaming wind.

Still no sign of the others. Or the pit dragons. Or anything except trees. Very blurry trees that kept getting blurrier the longer Nimbus flew without seeing a single other soul. He warbled nervously, and Scarlet ran a soothing hand over his shoulders.

They passed over a low ridge. Scarlet stiffened, and his hand on Zircon's back went still. "Dragons!" he shouted. "Two. I think I see Granite."

Nimbus was almost as relieved as he was disappointed. Even mind-controlled pit dragons seemed like a better option than silence, right now. He glanced down, and saw two blobs moving up out of the trees. Fairly close... for now. Granite wouldn't last long in a chase.

His wings flared, catching an updraft and sending him spiraling even higher. He closed his wandering eye and squinted, and thought he could make out the other, smaller dot. Riptide, if he had to guess—it looked kind of blue-grayish. They were both flapping hard to try and keep up.

He hadn't even stopped gliding yet.

Nimbus poured on a burst of speed. Scarlet let out a yelp that turned into a startled laugh. "Yeah!" he whooped. "Eat our dust!"

His last glimpse of the pit dragons below was of Riptide catching the same air current he'd been riding. Then she, and just about everything else, vanished into a haze of white. Scarlet's hands clenched on the reins, but he relaxed when a few moments passed and they didn't crash into anything.

Nimbus flew straight ahead. He could only see a few feet in front of him in any direction, but he thought he was getting better at this whole trusting his strengths business. Every so often they would pass out of the cloud and into brilliant blue sky, and he would use that instant to memorize the mountains and particularly tall trees that might be a hazard if he got too close. Then he would vanish back into the fog. He was already used to navigating when he couldn't see very well—this was worse than usual, but that was alright.

He'd outflown Dusk, a wind dragon with almost twice his wingspan—and better yet, he'd outmaneuvered her in the air. He'd even managed to fly through the trees with his eye acting up, though he hadn't done it very long before he hit something. It wasn't just Professor Oobleck's class—he really was good at flying.

They popped out of the clouds again, and Nimbus scanned the horizon. No sign of either of the pit dragons. A sheer cliff loomed uncomfortably close, but if he kept going in a straight line he wouldn't risk knocking into it. A massive waterfall tumbled down it, audible even over the wind, and dredging up a bittersweet memory of their secret place just outside Beacon.

Nimbus slipped back into the clouds. He'd find the others—even if he had to fly circles around every single pit dragon that was chasing them.

Zircon sniffed the air. There was the scent of his rider beside him, warm and soothing—though now tinged with soot and sweat. Pine needles underfoot. A rabbit somewhere nearby. Nothing threatening. He poked his head around the tumble of boulders they'd hidden behind, his ears twitching at the sound of the waterfall thundering down a few dozen feet away.

Nothing. He sniffed again, then cautiously stuck his neck out a little further. "It looks like they're gone," Sage murmured.

They hadn't been chased far—Nymph had told him to hide while the pit dragons were distracted. He'd frozen for an instant, terrified but dreading what it would feel like to obey. Then she tossed her head and said, "Go. We have a plan!" and he went.

That was hours ago, now, and he hadn't seen another dragon since. Zircon shivered. What if he couldn't find the others, and he got stuck here with the pit dragons? Worse, what if he had to leave the woods alone?

"Hey." Sage ran a thumb along one of his ears. "It's alright. We'll wait a few more minutes, then head out." Zircon relaxed—it had been silly to worry about being alone when his rider was right there.

Still. It would be nice to have Huo around if they ran into any Grimm. He wanted to ask Nymph what her plan had been, and Nimbus—

A winged shape slipped out of a cloud high overhead. Zircon's ears perked up. Nimbus?

"Down!" Sage hissed, crouching behind the boulder. "I think I see—"

"Nim!" Zircon said. He squinted up at the sky, but the silhouette was gone.

Sage glanced up. "Are you sure?"

"Sssoar."

His rider hesitated, and glanced longingly at the sky. "Okay," he decided. "We'll try and get a better look, but stay low."

Zircon was happy to stay low. He darted from tree to tree, sticking close to their trunks so that the leaves would hide him. It was hard to see much of the sky that way, though. He thought he caught another glimpse of Nimbus, but it might have been a bird for all he knew.

They came to a small ridge. Zircon glanced at Sage, who nodded and vaulted into the saddle. Once his rider had adjusted the straps, he took off at a gallop and launched himself into the air. The ridge was a little too low for comfort, and he almost hit a tree before he got himself up above the canopy, but soon enough he could finally see into the sky. It was empty.

He skimmed the undersides of the clouds and called, "Nimbus?"

Something massive streaked towards him. His panicked instinct to freeze saved him—Zircon slipped just under Dusk's outstretched claws and plummeted a hundred feet straight down. When he finally caught the air again she was already diving towards him.

He let out a shriek of alarm and flapped madly towards the forest, scanning the trees for someplace he might hide. Dusk would catch him if he landed, but she would catch him if he kept flying, too. She was already gaining on him.

Zircon started to dive towards the trees—and somewhere above him a voice shouted, "No!"

He pulled up sharply. Nimbus circled above and in front of him, Scarlet waving energetically from his back. "Up! Follow me!"

Zircon tried—but Dusk got above him, and it was all he could do to keep her from attacking Sage. Nimbus dive-bombed her, then got him to turn directly towards the sheer cliff where the waterfall was.

"Um... Nimbus?" Zircon's ears went back. "Are you sure—"

"When I count to three, go up!"

Nimbus' wandering eye was closed, so Zircon wasn't totally sure how he would know when it was time to turn... but he followed his brother anyway. "One!" The rock face loomed towards them. "Two!" Closer and closer... "Three!" They skimmed the surface of the cliff while, a few yards below them, Dusk slammed into it shoulder first and fell halfway down before she managed to steady herself in the air.

Zircon's yelp was drowned out by Nimbus crowing triumphantly, "See? She can eat our dust!"

"She's coming back around!" Zircon wailed.

Nimbus flicked his tail at Zircon. "Grab on!" Zircon did so, and an instant later they swerved upwards. He had just enough time to realize what his brother was planning, and make sure he had a good grip so they wouldn't get separated again, before he was almost completely blind. He could sort of make out Nimbus' hind legs, but he couldn't see Scarlet at all through the gray haze.

Nimbus veered left, and squeaked when Zircon caught on a second too late and yanked on his tail. A few more unpleasant turns later, they started to fly in a straight line. Zircon kept hold of his brother, because he wasn't sure Nimbus would realize if he fell behind otherwise.

When they finally dropped out of the clouds again, the sun had disappeared behind the mountains. Zircon didn't recognize any of the landscape underneath them—and the sky was totally clear of pit dragons. His heart, which had been thundering since Dusk had almost dropped on his head, slowed.

"There you are!" Scarlet shouted. "It's about time you two caught up!"

Only Zircon was close enough to hear Sage's sigh of relief.

"Okay, so I know you're gonna say that was dumb—"

"Which part?" Yang asked, putting her chin in her hand and giving Sun a skeptical look. Or at least aiming a skeptical look in his general direction—it was almost full dark, with very little moonlight peeking through the clouds. She could barely tell where Fang was, and that only because she was leaning up against him for warmth.

Still. Sun could maybe see her face, and he needed someone to look at him like he was an idiot. Because... "The one where it was Nymph who finally made you think about this, or how you said maybe like an ass and then immediately got separated?"

"Hey!" He said that a bit too loud and froze, waiting to make sure Winter wasn't about to descend on the pair of them. Then, in an urgent whisper, "Last time, Sage told me to wait and see if I was sure about what I was feeling, and it turned out I wasn't."

"Last time it was you who was feeling things."

"Well, yeah..."

"Look, Sun, I know you didn't mean it like that, but being in suspense over this kind of thing... sucks."

"Speaking from personal experience?"

"Nope, just watching the rest of you idiots," she said cheerfully. "Seriously though, I know you don't want to hurt Neptune or anything, but—"

"But what?" Sun grumbled. "It's not like I meant to put a frozen lake and a firestorm between us before I could get my head together."

Yang winced. "True."

"I just wanted some time to think about it without him being right there, you know? To make sure that this is definitely something I want, because if it wasn't and I didn't think first I'd ruin the second-best thing in my life." Huo made a contented sound. Sun had probably given him a pat on the nose or something. "And then there were pit dragons everywhere, and if we can't meet up—"

"We will," Yang said—her confidence edged slightly with desperation. "And... sorry. You weren't being dumb, just super unlucky."

He chuckled. "What else is new?"

They sat for a moment in companionable silence, listening to the droning of distant insects. A familiar itch started in the back of Yang's mind. What were they doing sitting here when Ruby was—

Fine. She had Storm—and Penny, come to think of it—to protect her. She would be fine. And since only Sun could see more than a foot in front of his face right now, and any kind of light might as well be a giant neon sign to the pit dragons, they were stuck.

Talking helped. "So. Now that you've had some time... are you gonna go for it?"

She could hear the fond smile in Sun's voice as he said, "Yeah. Yeah, I think I will."

"Nice." Yang yawned and shifted a little closer to Fang. It was starting to get a bit chilly at night, and... and there was something unnerving about total darkness like this. They physical contact helped fight the sense that she was alone in some vast, empty space.

Yeah, now was not a good time to get into her own head. "So I guess it's a good thing you didn't ask Blake out."

No response. There was a slight shuffling from where Sun was sitting, and somewhere in the distance a twig snapped. Yang's heart jumped into her throat.

"I think there's something out there," Sun whispered. "I saw... I don't know. I don't think anything moved..."

Fang opened one eye. It glowed green, casting one side of Sun's face in a sickly light. He got to his feet—

"Sorry!" a hushed voice called out. "I just needed the bathroom, and I got a bit lost in the dark."

Yang glanced at Sun. He rolled his eyes and said, "We know, Ilia. You don't have to pretend you can't see."

A moment of tense silence. Ilia stepped forward, glancing uneasily from Yang to Sun and back again. "She told you."

"Well, yeah." Yang tried for an easygoing smile, though the whole popping out of the dark routine had rattled her nerves a bit. "She told us you tipped her off about Cinder. We still stuck around longer than we should have, but... thanks. For the heads up."

Fang, apparently satisfied that nothing interesting was about to happen, shut his eyes and put his head down. Yang was back to being completely blind.

"You're, uh... you're not still with the you-know-who, right?" asked Sun.

"...No."

"Okay, cool."

"What, that's it?"

Yang shrugged. "For now... yeah? As long as you don't get in the way of me finding Ruby, I really don't care what you do. We can worry about that stuff after the whole mind controlled pit dragon mess is over with."

"...Right."

"Plus Blake vouched for you," added Sun. "A friend of hers is a friend of ours!"

A pregnant pause.

"Ilia?" Yang prompted, squinting into the darkness.

"She sort of... left." Sun sounded put out. "Was it something I said?"

"Shh..."

Ruby hugged Storm around the neck, pressing her face against her scales. It was as much to comfort herself as her dragon. Darkness pressed against her eyes like a physical force—she could just make out her hands, like pale ghostly afterimages, floating in midair where they poked out of her sleeves. That, and Penny's green light, was all she could see.

Honestly, if it weren't for Penny she'd probably be on nervous breakdown number two-hundred-and-something. And if it weren't for Storm... but she wasn't going to think about that. "Can you do another scan?" she asked.

"Conducting infrared scan," Penny confirmed. Her light blinked yellow, then back to green. "No hostiles detected."

A twig snapped. Ruby's heart jumped into her throat. "What was that?!"

"Judging from the scans, it appears to be a rabbit."

"...Oh." She had no idea what she'd do right about now if she couldn't just ask. Probably assume every weird noise was Crucible sneaking up on her. Or maybe a different dragon... she couldn't really picture him sneaking anywhere.

"Penny, where are we?"

"I don't currently have access to the CCT system, but we are at approximately forty degrees, forty-four minutes north, and seventy degrees, fifty-two minutes west."

"Can you check for signals?"

"Ruby..." Penny hesitated, her light blinking yellow. "We are out of range of the CCT system. It's unlikely—"

"Can you just check? Please?"

"I will have to disable power saver to do so. Is that alright?"

It was Ruby's turn to hesitate. "Can you turn it off and on again really quick?"

"I can."

"And... how much power do you have left?"

"At current usage... approximately seventy-five hours before I need to power down."

Ruby's breathing hitched—she wasn't sure she could survive a whole night out here without Penny telling her that nothing was sneaking up on them in the dark. But... "Can you just check really quick? I promise I won't ask again until tomorrow."

"Acknowledged."

There was a brief silence. Ruby squirmed in sickly anticipation until Storm started to purr, and the vibration soothed her.

Penny's light flashed red, then green. "Atlesian military equipment detected."

"What?" Ruby blurted. Since when was Atlas chasing them?!

"A pistol, to be precise," Penny added. "This is... strange. Side-arms of this make are usually issued to members of the flight squad, but there should be more than one—"

Ruby's eyes went wide. "Winter!"

"I don't understand."

"Weiss' sister! She's in the flight squad. I can't think of any other reason there'd be just one soldier from Atlas out here." Ruby shot to her feet. "And the only way she'd be here is if Uncle Qrow got our message! He might be with her!"

Penny thought that over for a moment. "Would you like me to direct you towards the signal?"

"Yes!"

Another yellow flash. "I believe the source is stationary at this time. I will begin checking its location hourly at sunrise."

"Okay, yeah," Ruby said impatiently. "But which way is it?"

Storm got to her feet. Penny's light swung off to one side as the dragon pointed with her nose. "I can light the way," Penny said, a bit reluctantly, "but we would risk detection by the pit dragons."

Ruby bit her lip. "How close is the signal?"

"Forty-four point three six kilometers."

"Um...?"

"Twenty-seven point five six miles."

"Thanks." Ruby fidgeted as she thought. That would take a long time to walk at night. She'd be wandering around with a light on for hours. But if she didn't go after it... Winter probably had Steele with her. Which meant that if she waited until morning to start moving, she and Uncle Qrow would be long gone by the time she got there. If it was actually them...

"Light me up," she decided, squaring her shoulders. Penny's light turned white and brightened just enough for Ruby to make out where the ground was. Shadows still hung thickly from the trees... but she felt better instantly. She grinned at Storm and said, "Let's do this."

So she wandered into every scary video game she and Yang had ever played when their dad was asleep, with only a dim flashlight and seemingly endless creepy shapes in the trees that turned out to be hanging moss or birds' nests or clumps of leaves when she got closer.

A twig snapped. Penny's light flicked off in a heartbeat. In the next, an eerie cry split the silence of the night.

"Urr-WAH!"

Trembling, Ruby inched towards the noise as silently as she could. That hadn't been a dragon... or any animal she'd ever heard of. Was it some kind of mountain lion? An injured fox? A Grimm?

Another noise—this one coming from only feet away. A groan. A human groan. A very familiar human groan. Ruby put a hand out—and her fingers brushed against a shoulder. There was a startled squeak. Then, "Ren?"

Ruby's shoulders slumped in relief. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "Just me."

Nora seized her around the middle, squeezed all the air out of her lungs, spun her around, and deposited her back on the ground. "Freya!" she whisper-shouted. "I found Ruby!"

A lot more twigs snapped as the dragon galloped towards them, often knocking into trees as she went. There was a confused minute where they all went in for hugs or nuzzles or friendly licks without really knowing where anyone was, and Ruby ended up with half her hair sticking up from Freya's enthusiastic greeting.

Even before Penny's flashlight turned back on, it felt like the darkness had retreated just a little further.