Chapter 26: Roundabout
The smell of the salty sea air hung in her mind –now interlaced with an all too familiar scent– as she opened her eyes. She exhaled her lengthy sigh, looking at the port before her. "Whoa," Sun said, excitement tinting his voice, "So that's Menagerie?" Blake nodded, turning to him; his eyes full of wonder. Catching her gaze, Sun snapped into a big grin, slipping his hand behind his head. She smiled and turned back, feeling a little shy, "It's my Home."
After watching the ship dock, a small delay involving an argument between the dockhands and the crew making the wait longer than usual, they finally disembarked. They both tried to catch their balance as they met solid ground, having been on a ship for weeks. Nevertheless, Sun's spirits were as high as the burning globe above them. Blake, on the other hand, held herself in a shy and uncomfortable demeanor. The memories of her childhood added to her knowledge of what this island was to her.
"Ugh, it's so crowded!" Sun said as they headed into Kuo Kuana. "Well," Blake replied, "this place is where we're free to be ourselves, even though two-thirds is a desert, you don't mind being crowded." "WHAT?!" Sun exclaimed, catching the eyes of many onlookers, "You guy's have tons of space! The desert's not that bad!" Blake, now even more self-conscious, retorted, "There are many more very dangerous creatures besides Grimm out there. That's not the point!" She breathed a sigh of frustration. "All we wanted was to be Equal, to have a seat at the table," she said, "after the Great War, all they did was give us an island and told us to make due."
Blake turned away, looking over the city. Many faunas walked on, now seemingly oblivious to the pair. Are we really free? Can we even be free, She thought, when we're so suppressed from the world?
"Ah, Mr. Branwren."
The two detectives lowered their iconic weapons, turning them into their case forms. Ruby and Weiss stood there for a moment, completely stunned. "U-uncle Qrow?!" Ruby exclaimed in disbelief, "What are you doing here?!"
"Did you… were you…?!" Weiss stammered, "How did you find us?!" She slightly drew Myrtenaster, more from insecurity than from threat. Qrow sighed, "You know, you raised quite an alarm back in Atlas." He looked at Ruby, a question in his eyes. She returned his gaze, silver eyes resolute. He chuckled, stepping in and leaning against the wall. Weiss followed him with her eyes, glaring. Ruby turned to her, putting her hand on her arm. "So, what's the plan, Kiddo?" Qrow asked. Ruby looked to him, then back to Weiss and prompted, "Weiss?" Weiss calmed herself, sliding Myrtenaster back into it's sheath. "Well," she said, ice-blue eyes closed, "Firstly I believe I should meet with Mr. Thomson's mysterious employer." She opened her eyes, meeting the silver eyes of her adopted sister, "then we go to Mistral." Ruby squeezed Weiss' arm. "I'll be right behind you," she said in a low voice. Weiss softly smiled.
"About that," Thompson piped in, "there are no flights or ships to Mistral." The trio turned to the pair, as she explained, "Atlas is under lockdown; no one is going to Mistral from here." "To be precise," Thomson added, "Mistral is unavailable to us at the moment." Qrow made a double take at Thomson and Thompson. "However," Thomson continued, "We have a friend who's shipping out in the morning; a captain of the merchant vessel, Unicorn III." Weiss narrowed her eyes and queried, "What's the destination?" The two detectives glanced at each other, uneasy and uncomfortable. "Menagerie," Thomson said.
Weiss felt her heart sink to the floor, everything around her becoming dull and incoherent. Menagerie is the last place I should be, she thought, no wonder they were so hesitant to tell us… I won't be safe there… But then again, it's the last place anyone would look. If I –er, we– can keep our heads down and not get noticed, maybe we can get to Mistral soon after.
"Weiss!"
Weiss focused on Ruby, seeing her concerned face looking back. "Are you ok?" Ruby asked, "What's wrong?" Weiss sighed, "Ruby, you know that my Family hasn't had the best history; especially with our treatment of the faunas." Ruby looked at her quizzically; then widened her eyes as realization dawned on her.
"Oh."
Weiss sighed, stiffening her upper lip for what she was about to say. "Mr. Thomson," she looked at the pinstripe attired man, "where are we to meet this client of yours?" He cleared his throat and replied, "Old Sanctuary Park."
…
She stayed near the lamppost, both for the light and the warmth of its built-in space heater. The park –if you could call a refurbished courtyard one– was amazingly empty at this late hour; except, she knew, for her group. Ruby was off in the bushes, keeping out of sight. Her distasteful uncle was perched on top of one of the buildings.
Weiss breathed a sigh, feeling the crisp air in her nose. Thomson and Thompson had better be right about this. I for one don't care to stand here all night and look like a fool! She shivered and rubbed her arms, thinking, I don't think Ruby could stand the cold for much longer… Weiss pondered on Ruby's behavior these past few days. Is this really how sister's treat each other? It's almost no different than how she treated me before. She reflected on their time at Beacon; times they laughed and times they cried. But now we're almost all split up. Yang ran off with Nicholas, and Blake's gone who knows where. I wonder how She'd take our news… probably will show surprise but in her subdued way. She glanced over at the bushes, catching the faintest glimmer of silver eyes, but stiffened at the sound of a voice so familiar she barely believed it was real.
"Oh, my dear Weiss!"
"…Mother?!"
Audio transcription of [REDACTED] office **/**/**72 event. G.I.S. surveillance
(0312.38 Z) *Door opens*
[Female P.O.I.]: I want to talk to you about the program.
[Male P.O.I.]: Is this Business or…?
[Female P.O.I.]: No.
[Male P.O.I.]: I see.
(0313.01 Z) *liquid pouring*
[Female P.O.I.]: Daunschee
[Male P.O.I.]: What's on your mind, Vic?
[Female P.O.I.]: They're taking Group Twelve.
(0313.49 Z) [Male P.O.I.]: Oh, that.
[Female P.O.I.]: You knew?
[Male P.O.I.]: Victoria, they're not your pets, they're soldiers! No I didn't know, but we can't keep any group from them. Not even Group Twelve.
[Female P.O.I.]: Gott! If they ever find out what we did to them…
(0315.27 Z) *glass clinking*
{Female P.O.I.]: We better go into hiding after this.
[Male P.O.I.]: *indistinct mumble*
(0321.58 Z) [Female P.O.I.]: Fennigor, is your Terminal still online?!
[Male P.O.I.]: Uh…
[Female P.O.I.]: Shut it off! We don't know who's list–
**end of event**
**transcription archived**
To be continued…
A/N: Still Alive!
Finally, after a two year hiatus, I've posted here again.
I might explain my impromptu hiatus later. but right now I'm still not yet comfortable.
But now, the Reviews... from two years ago:
Phalanx30: I would have to say that for me it's more like I have a bunch of big events planned, but smaller incidental stuff in between is the issue. for instance: event A happens in Atlas, and Event B in Mistral, but I don't exactly know what happens in between.
also, don't worry about that "self-promotion" honestly it didn't come across as blatant advertising anyway.
merendinoemiliano: Thanks, hope you enjoyed this one!
KnightSpark: Yep.
Lt.38: (from chapter 8) You know, At the time I hadn't read the book, and you'd think after all this time I would've. But I haven't just yet. (It's on my reading list, though.)
