Chapter 9 Lost
I ran through the streets keeping an eye out for our little farm boy, I kept quiet, my hood had been flipped up as my ears were getting way too cold for comfort. I ran around dodging people and any guards from the Atlas base.
Due to muscle memory I wanted nothing more than to slip into the back streets and climb up something to get onto the rooftops an outdoor fire exit on a block of flats would be perfect. I sighed, rubbing my hands together to try and get my fingers to warm up.
Looking around I took a deep breath trying to find Oscar's scent but there were far too many, the people around here wore so much perfume and cologne it stung my senses. I looked around then checked my pockets for some Lien, I had spotted a café earlier that I might go and grab a snack.
As I slowed to a jog I decided to go through the nearby park as there didn't seem to be many people going through it. It was nice and quiet, easy to sprint through.
After grabbing a snack and a warm drink I went back to the park as something had caught my eye prior. As I came back to the park, I had finished the small pastry I had picked up and had thrown away the napkin I got with it. As I jogged back to the centre of the park, I suddenly bumped into someone.
I had spilt the hot chocolate all over myself. I growled brushing as much off of myself as possible.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" The person I had bumped into cried.
"No, it's okay, I should have been looking where I was going." I sighed looking up my heart stopped.
Red hair, emerald green eyes...
Pyrrha Nikos...
I knew she wouldn't recognise me especially with my hood up.
"Are you alright? That looks hot." She asked.
"Don't worry it hasn't gone through the overshirt." I told her.
"I should introduce myself. I'm Pyrrha Ni-"
"Nikos, I know, a lot of people know about you and your achievements." I told her keeping myself quiet.
"Yes... of course." She chuckled nervously.
"I'm... Cole, Cole Sapphire." I lied. "Mind if we sit down to talk?" I asked.
"Of course, I'm guessing you've heard about me hanging up my sword for good then." She told me.
"No, I haven't, you were an amazing fighter and I was one of the few who dreamt of having skill like yours." I spoke the truth to her, seeing a sad smile form on her face.
"Yes, many did, I just wish I could have protected my friends at Beacon better, to live up to the expectations." She sighed pointing to the statue.
The statue was of a girl, I had seen her at Beacon before but never talked to her. She was wearing a shirt with an eagle silhouette, a baseball cap worn backwards, medium length hair that covered one eye, she wore shorts and simple designer trainers, she had a large snowboard stood next to her with her holding onto it, the detail of the statue was impressive.
The plaque on the front read "IN HONOR OF SAM DAISY, ONE OF MANY STUDENTS WHO FOUGHT VALIANTLY AT THE FALL OF BEACON".
"I tried hard to convince the council to have the statue of one of my friends, the one who saved my life but. No one knew where she came from so the Council chose another student from the area and only had the names of those from Argus who died." She told me pointing to the stone monolith behind the statue.
"Looks like someone's vandalised it." I said getting up to take a closer look.
The name at the bottom had been carved in with a knife or something.
"Someone did..." Pyrrha noted coming up behind me.
"Silver Charcoal... You knew them?" I asked tracing the scratches.
"Yes they... She saved my life. I don't know who added her name there though." She answered I stood straight.
"You best get someone to get rid of it because this is wrong." I told her staring down at my own name.
"What do you mean?"
"Silver Charcoal isn't dead." I told her deciding to go for the more direct approach.
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha repeated giving me a bit of an aggressive tone.
I pulled down my hood and messed up my hair a little bit.
"She can't be dead... Cause I'm still here." I smiled turning to face her.
"Surprise... I'm still alive." I chuckled.
I froze up as Pyrrha hugged me, tears falling from her eyes.
"Look, I'm not staying long, I've got an appointment with Ironwood and I'm missing a friend, he's short, dark brown hair greenish brown eyes, looks like a farmhand, smells like one too." I told her as we broke the hug.
"I'm sorry, I haven't seen anyone like that." She told me smiling as she wiped her eyes.
"It's good to see you're okay, how's your team?" I asked gripping her shoulder.
"They're fine, Jaune is getting really good with his sword, Ren and Nora seem to be getting closer, if that's even possible." She smiled as we sat down again.
"What about you, where have you been this entire time?" She asked, I only sighed.
"For the most part, I'd rather not remember but let's just say, I've seen the true face of the enemy and the forces following them."
We chatted for a few more minutes, she told me about Jaune's sister and wife who worked at the relay tower, that info might come in useful later. She got a message from her mother and had to leave. She wished me well and gave me an address and her scroll number so that I could send her letters and messages to keep her updated.
As we split ways, I got a message on my new scroll. Checking it Neo had messaged me, Oscar was back at the warehouse.
I took off back weaving through the people nearly crashing into a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes holding her son.
"Sorry!" I called as I brushed by them.
I slammed into the door expecting it to be open but I ran head first into a locked door.
As I got up and rubbed my head, I spotted Qrow asleep in the snow pretty much hidden by the shrubbery he had collapsed in.
"Come on, you'll freeze to death out here." I sighed picking him up.
"Why am I laid in some bushes?" He groaned.
"Maybe cause, everyone has been looking for Oscar come on, your legs aren't broken you can stand." I told him as he steadied himself.
The door then opened to reveal Oscar in a new fancy looking coat.
"Well, well, well, look at you mister fancy." I chuckled as I walked in.
"What's cooking?" I asked.
"Casserole, so go clean yourself up." A masked stranger told me, that must be Fenrir.
"Anyone got an idea on how we're going to get to Atlas?" Sky asked.
"I've got one, but it's kinda of a "no going back" deal." Jet said.
"With Cordo on watch, only Atlas airships have the clearance to leave for Solitas. So... we... steal an Atlas airship." Jet smiled.
"That's not just breaking the law. That's... that's definitely worse." Weiss murmured.
"How would we even get onto the airfield?" Yang asked.
"That part I haven't quite figured out yet. But I-"
"Okay, stop. Just... stop! Look, if this thing goes south, it's not something we can just fight our way out of. This is the Atlas Military we're talking about." Qrow interrupted then sighed. "For your sake, just drop this."
"No." I growled watching Qrow try to sneak away.
"I want to hear him out." Ruby said backing me up.
"He has part of a plan, that's good, we have something to work with, something to work around, we just have to figure out everything in between." I told him.
"Well, you have three people here of Atlas origin so we could easily get back and hijack an airship." It was Fenrir who spoke up.
"That's right, Fenrir and I will go with Weiss to hijack an airship." Cole smiled, it was odd how quiet he could randomly become.
"Also, I think I might have a friend who can probably help us out." I smiled dialling up a number.