Hello and welcome to the next chapter. I hope you read and enjoy 'cause after this one we are going to start dipping into spoiler territory.
After the entire show at the quarry Miss Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin left to return to Beacon, meanwhile I stayed to wait the arrival of the... No, my new crew. It felt strange to wander the quarry alone. It felt... empty, which it was, but it was strange to have this large space with nothing in it. Luckily it wasn't empty for long since the foreman I appointed was a real go-getter and arrived 5 days early. She was a tanned skin resident of Vacuo with pitch black hair and hazel eyes. She was, like most people, taller than me by at least a head, but she was very petite unlike Aurel or Medusa. She wore a simple brown sleeve-less shirt and a denim under the standardized overalls I sent out to everyone.
"Hey, Sandra, I swear I'm not being weird but do you have the recent image of where you live?"
"Why did you ask for these anyway?"
"Follow me and I'll show you."
She followed me to a room carved into the quarry wall near the mouth of the mountain. I pushed open the door, coughing at the sheer amount of dust within, the amount of cobwebs in the room also showed how long ago the room was used. In the room were 40 indents in the wall with some scratches on the floor to give a hint of the room's purpose.
"Give me the photo." I asked with my hand outstretched
"You still haven't told me why every worker has to have a recent photo of open space near our home."
"This is why." I said as I focused on the photo. I took my low stance and with the shred of silk, a portal ripped open in the indent directly in front of me. "Enter the portal and verify that it was opened in the spot you wished."
As with every person I tell to walk through a portal, she just looked at me with a raised brow.
"The portals close behind me, but they stay open indefinitely as long as no outside force acts on them, so I open a portal to each workers home so the can come and go as they please. Before we discovered my semblance half the workers would live here for a month and then they'll be swapped with the other half who flew in with the airship that came in to pick up the shipment." I smiled thinking back at how the quarry was ran in my infant years. "After we discovered my semblance we could convert the old dorms into this portal room, with all the workers here for the month our efficiency doubled."
"That... Actually makes sense. I'll go see if it is in the right place and I'll be right back." Sandra cautiously stepped through the portal, at a painfully slow pace I might add, when she finally stepped through she was gone for a minute. When she reappeared she stepped through with more confidence but her hair was a bit disheveled.
"What happened with your hair?"
"It's a bit windy back home, that and the vertigo of the sudden change in location had me a bit woozy."
"You get used to it after about a week or so."
"I hope so 'cause I stumbled into my front door face first and scared my parents shitless. They thought I had been fired for being reckless and arriving early, I had to explain what happened and why but they seem cool with it."
"Sorry for putting you through that, but I'm glad they understand."
"Boss, I never asked, but what happened to your hand?"
She was referring to the hand wrapped in gauze and bandages hanging at my side.
"Oh, I got in a heated argument with the SDC representative when they tried to steal the quarry from me again. It got me so worked up I smashed my hand into the stone desk and broke my skin."
"Again?"
I looked at her with a raised brow, silently stating my question.
"You said 'again'."
With a heavy sigh, I realized my mistake. I never told any of the new workers the quarries past, I refused to tell them.
"Boss, what are you hiding?"
"I didn't want to tell anyone this, but this quarry was open a year ago and it was ran by my parents. The SDC tried everything they could to take ownership of the quarry and one day they decided..." I took a deep, shuddering breath calming myself as effectively as I could "They decided that if they can't have the quarry, no one can. They asked for double the normal quota and when they came to pick it up they hired someone to detonate the Dust shipment, killing everyone in the quarry. I only servived because my father could pick up on it quickly and have me sent away with my semblance."
Sandra put her hand on my shoulder, I didn't turn to face her but kept my eyes on the portal in front of me. I refused to cry in front of my new college but that didn't stop my vision from becoming foggy.
"Your father sounds like a great man, you should honour him. Don't hide his memory. He is the reason why you stand here today, he would be proud of what you have become."
I failed to notice her turning me around and leading me to the balcony to look down into the quarry. From here I saw the entrance to the home I now lived in alone and the giant crystal sticking out of the quarry wall.
"Hey Boss, I have an idea?"
"Yes?"
"Do you remember what my semblance does?"
"You change the consistency of material you touch. It's honestly a big factor in why you were hired in the position that you have." I smiled at my own silly reasoning while leaning down on the railing that separated the pathway from the drop into the quarry. "My father had a similar semblance."
She joined me on the railing while we continued our conversation.
"Well, my idea is that we cut off a section of that giant crystal and make a statue to honor them."
"If it were anyone else suggested that I would just laugh at them but since it's us I think we can do it."
"Then let's do it!"
What followed was an entire day of cutting and dropping a section of the crystal into the largest portal I have ever created by leaping from the crystal with a rope attached to it and making the portal along the arc of the swing. We then took the large section of crystal and had Sandra lower the consistency to that of clay. With the help of my trained photographic memory, we were able to sculpt the crystal into an accurate representation of my parents, we then used the pulley system to place the statue just next to the exit of the quarry. The final touch was engraving their names into the foot of the statue.
I had to wipe my tears multiple times during the activity but standing before the recreation of my parents brought me to my knees. I silently wept at my parent's feet for what felt like ages until I felt a hand land on my shoulder.
"I'm going to go home Boss, don't stay out too long."
"Thank you, Sandra, I really appreciate what you did. Let me walk you to the portal room." I wiped my face with my sleeve and got to my feet. I could see stars through the mouth of the quarry and realized how late it was.
"Goodnight Sandra, see you tomorrow."
"See ya tomorrow Boss."
"Échelle is fine."
Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and to those who don't know I used two songs in the last chapter namely Heroes by Pegboardnerds and Stronger by The Score. Go listen to the actual songs and I'll see you in the next one.