A/N at the end
Night.
An unchanging darkness that all people must know. And by its daily presence, none are to forget what it is, and what it brings.
These days, the night seems longer and longer, and the days seem ever shorter by comparison. The world teeters on the edge of a precipice, threatening to succumb to the eternal darkness below. Under this threat of endless night, a sole airship breaks through the matte blackness of the sky. Beneath the pale moon, this silver dart travels swiftly across the lightless sea bearing its quarry. Within sat its sole passenger, a traveler cloaked in red.
Her hood was up obscuring her face and her hands were folded in contemplation. She looks down at them again, dirty and dusty from the events that have transpired of late, events that have been transpiring for years.
She sighs.
This meeting had been a long time coming and she knew it, but still dreaded what it meant. Dread? Maybe that is the wrong word to describe it. Apprehensive? Absolutely. No one could be calm if they were to be in her position right now. Had she a choice, she would have chosen not to be here but she was pressed for options. As she sits and thinks about her next move, she feels the airship bank and begin to descend. Looking out of a porthole, she sees the black sky replaced with a thick gray fog.
Clouds
She stands up, walking to the cockpit entrance and looks out of the canopy, staring into the dense clouds, waiting. Then slowly an enormous shadow begins to come into view, like a great beast coming to devour them all. The ship continued forward, breaking out of the cloud cover and the enormous structure loomed suddenly into her vision; A towering bastion of metal whose size defied description and imagination. She had seen this sight before, but each time she was taken aback by its presence and authority. Much has changed since she last came here but it was unmistakably the same.
Atlas
A city in the clouds turned now into a fortress of a scale unimaginable. From his seat the pilot opened comms to Atlas air traffic control. As he's reading off their callsign and clearance, she watches as turrets along the outer walls of the city turn and train upon their craft. At the same time, she tenses up slightly. Even though she felt deep down she would not be harmed, she knew better than to assume that was a guarantee. Afterall, she doubted how much she was actually welcomed here.
After the pilot finished relaying his message, there was a pause before the turrets disengaged and returned to their default positions. She gives an inaudible sigh of relief. At least she knew that she would make it to the city. How she would leave though was a whole other matter entirely.
Upon disembarking, she was greeted by an emissary, a hooded man in a white robe uniform. His face was concealed behind a featureless perfectly smooth white mask. However what drew her attention were the four armored guards flanking the emissary. The soldiers' faces were hidden under austere white helmets, save for two blue lights behind their visor where their eyes would have been. Their armor was form fitting and angular, and embellished with fins and ridges that gave off the impression of jagged ice. Each of them were standing at attention with a light halberd in hand. She frowns slightly at the sight of them.
Chamber Guards? Guess this is about as warm as a welcome as I'm going to get
The emissary bowed to her when she approached.
"Greetings. We bid you welcome to Atlas and have been instructed to escort you to the White Tower at once.
The traveler fixes her hood slightly and nods.
"Let's not delay."
The emissary begins leading her out of the hanger. The fact the guards were arranged around her was not lost to her. Two to the side and two to the back. The emissary may have been a gesture of courtesy but it was for little more than appearances sake. The presence of the soldiers said enough about her position here. As they exited out to the streets of Atlas proper, the emissary gestured to a luxurious white limo waiting out front, the door already open.
"If you would," he gestured.
A brief moment of hesitation grips her before walking to the car and taking a seat inside. Now was not the time to be indecisive. Two more doors to the front open as well and the guards pile in, and finally the emissary himself. The moment the door shut, the limo began to move.
As tense as she was, the traveler could not help but look out the windows at the sights. Once Atlas may have just been a city floating above Mantle. Now it housed Mantle entirely, the two cities fusing into a supercity that now held silent vigil high within the clouds. It had only grown since the last she had seen it, now with great spires of metal and glass jutting out towards the sky, as if blades of grass all scrambling to grow the tallest in a garden. Yet despite the grandeur, it could not help but feel dispassionate and lifeless. Even with the impressiveness of the architecture, every single facet of their design reflected what the city truly was. A fortress. Every now and then she'd catch a glimpse of batteries stationed above some skyscraper, or patrol craft carrying soldiers flying by. Roads were clearly designed to be as difficult for an invading force to navigate as possible with needlessly winding highways, and an almost maze-like arrangement of the streets. As they left the highway and went onto these roads, the traveler noticed there seemed to be a lookout tower around every corner, manned with armed soldiers and a large caliber gun turret.
They pulled up to the front of an enormous tower that stood out amongst the dark steel and metal construction of its brethren. This one almost glowed white against its surroundings. It was as if a beacon that stood defiant against the darkness around it, a challenge to try to snuff it out.
"We have arrived." the emissary said as the car slowed to a stop.
The sound of footsteps echoed through the long hallway as the entourage approached the enormous white double doors. Each echo made her realize just how empty and cold it was as if the place was trying to drain the life out of those who dared to enter. The temperature seemed to drop as they got closer, whether or not it was or was just in her mind she couldn't say. If it was and the emissary and guards were feeling it too, they certainly didn't react. Once they were in front of the doors the emissary spoke again.
"Please wait for a moment."
The great white doors seemed to grow taller with each passing second as they waited. As if they were able to look down in judgment on those who would dare show their presence before them. Featureless and inanimate as they are, there was a certain pressure of just being in their presence.
Finally they opened.
The doors parted to reveal a great hall of ice.
At least that's what it appeared as.
White and bare all around save for a circle of banners that hung from the ceiling, each one a cold blue. Beneath each banner stood more guards. Their armor even more embellished than the ones that escorted her, with cloths of blue and white draped about them. But the traveler knew better than to assume they were just there for show. You wouldn't be here if you couldn't prove you were worth at least ten men in a battle. At least that's how the stories went. But the soldiers were the least of her concerns right now. Her attention was completely taken by what laid in the back of the great hall. A towering dais that stretched nearly to the roof, upon which sat a white marble throne, and its sole occupant.
The emissary continues to the center of the room and bows.
"My mistress. May I present-"
"Leave us."
The voice from the throne washed over the room like a winter wind and the emissary seemed all but froze in his place. Remarkably, he quickly recomposed himself as he gave another bow.
"As you wish." There was a hint of trembling in his voice as he said that. Not that it was unexpected. Few could stand tall against the power and authority that radiated from that simple command, words that seem to be able to kill with little more than a whisper. He turns and begins walking out of the hall. As he walks past the traveler, to her hidden surprise, the guards they were escorted by turned on their heels and began leaving as well. Surprise quickly turned to understanding as she heard their footsteps fade and the sound of the doors closing. This isn't a meeting, it's chess and the first move was made when she was granted this audience. When the room fell silent again, she turned her gaze upwards, at the white throne, at the fractured snowflake symbol carved above it, at,
"Weiss."
"Ruby."
At one point, Ruby may have been elated to see Weiss after such a long time apart. Those days are now long past. Before her now sat not the teammate or friend, but a queen of ice and snow.
"Why have you come here. I thought my response was clear was it not?" Weiss asked, as she leaned her face on her closed fist over an arm of the throne.
"It was, but I wanted to hear it from you." Ruby replied. Her past self may have trembled or panicked in the face of such authority but that Ruby was no more.
"For what reason? Do you hope to change my mind? No matter what you bring to the table my answer remains the same."
"Mistral has fallen." There was a pause as if the entire room was holding its breath. Steel met ice as Ruby locked eyes with Weiss from beneath her hood. Even from where she was sitting, Weiss could see the look in Ruby's eyes.
"I know." Weiss replied flatly, breaking the building tension.
"You knew." Ruby replied with a slight accusatory tone.
"I am not blind to what is occurring beneath me." Weiss sits up and folds her hands. "If that is all you have come to say, then you may leave now."
"You knew, and yet you were still content to sit by and do nothing?" Ruby accused, dropping the pretense of diplomacy and letting her anger start to seep through.
"You think I have sat idle? I have already taken the necessary measures for my people, or have you forgotten where my duty lies." Ruby recomposes herself, having been down this path many times already.
"So, you would have Atlas keep its counsel while the world is lost to ruin?"
"I would." Weiss replied. "Come what may we will endure. We must."
"Is that all there is to it? Idling away until the end days and Salem consumes us all?" Ruby takes a step forward, Weiss narrows her eyes. "There is a word for that you know."
"Mind what you say next, Ruby Rose."
"You hid behind your walls above the clouds where none could reach you. What word other than coward would you have me use?" As she said that, the memories of her past week flashed back in her mind. The death, the destruction, the carnage, the mountains of bodies.
"I protected my people!" Weiss snapped, her stoic demeanor finally snapping.
"YOU PROTECT NOTHING!" Ruby roared back, her anger becoming too much to bear, and letting it loose at this obstinate monarch before her, her hand flying to her back where it gripped a leather sheathe. She was about to continue but her voice was cut off by a sudden sound of a rush of cloth, and then the feeling of eight speartips pressing against her throat.
"I'd mind your tone. I may know you Ruby Rose. But my guards are not as well versed."
Ruby grits her teeth forcing her rage to go down. As much as she wanted to lash out at Weiss right now, and as confident as she was in her own ability, this was not a fight that she wanted to have. Weiss glances down, seeing where Ruby's hand was.
"So it is true, you do bear it. I should cut you down right now for daring to bring that thing into my domain."
"Would you now?" Ruby goaded, even as she felt the speartips dig deeper into her.
"I told you, I would do anything to protect my people."
"You protect nothing. You're merely buying time. Time that has already run out." If Weiss was content to let her die here, then she would at least lay her thoughts bare to her former friend.
"And what would you offer in return? Virtuous suffering? Futile sacrifice? You may hate me Ruby, but the difference between our paths lies just outside this room. My people are sheltered from Salem's wrath, they still live." Slowly, she raises and extends her hand outwards. "It is not too late for you to be a part of this too. We can live out the rest of our days here. I can offer you and your comrades the sanctuary you all rightfully deserve. Abandon this fight Ruby, don't let more people, more friends, die meaninglessly for a lost cause. Do you not see?"
Staring right in her eyes, Ruby simply says. "All I see is one tyrant traded for another." Weiss frowns and lowers her hand back down.
"And all I see is a little girl still chasing lost hopes." Weiss waves her hand and the guards lift away their halberds. As she rubs her neck where the speartips were, she looks up back to Weiss.
"Winter would have agreed with me."
If the room was cold before it suddenly felt as if the temperature dropped ten degrees. An eerie silence washed over everyone as Ruby could see Weiss tense up at the mention of Winter's name. She could feel the intent of the guards around her, ready to strike her down at their mistress's whim. Still, Ruby was done with the niceties. Whatever happens now, she welcomed it gladly as she was finally able to tell Weiss how she truly felt.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity Weiss spoke.
"Out of respect for our past friendship, Ruby, I will overlook that comment and let you go. But make no mistake, the next time we meet, it will not be under friendly circumstances." The guards surrounding Ruby stepped back, opening a gap right to the great white doors.
"Go. Leave this place, and never return."
Ruby pulls her hood tighter over her head and her arms disappear beneath the red cloak.
"I don't plan to." As she turns and starts walking away, she quietly whispers. "I wish it didn't have to be this way." Once she stepped out of the hall, the doors slowly slammed shut behind her, and she once again found herself in the vast hallway. As she continued forward her hand reached up under her hood and to her ear.
"Ready the ship, we're leaving."
"There's still a war to finish."
Author's Notes:
Yes, this is RWBY but taken down a few shades to just sit above grimdark. We have a team RWBY that has been fractured, stability is almost nonexistent, and each day is a battle to simply hold what little ground they have left. This is gonna be a long one, and it's probably gonna hurt. But hopefully the payoff will be worth it.
Comments, critiques, and suggestions are welcomed and greatly appreciated. I may or may not be kind of making this up as I go along.
And if by some miracle I manage to predict anything in the new RWBY Project, then I offer a thank you in advance to Apollo.
