[X] Mistral
"It's been four months since the destruction of Mistral's Regional Tournament Colosseum." The person at the news desk spoke softly, sadly.
Yang had to admit, she hadn't been paying too much attention to the passage of time. Four months already? That...
Well, yeah, the Mistral Regional Tournament ended halfway through February, and it was halfway through June now, so that lined up. But still, that was forever ago.
Back when Yang was still opposing Five, she realised. Or was that what was happening there? She wasn't too sure on the exact date. It was at least after she got home from the airship, but was it after fighting Melanie? She was fairly sure it was before she met Torchwick and Neo, but she did spend a lot of the end of the month unconscious. And a lot of the beginning of the month unconscious.
She spent too much time unconscious, come to think about it.
"The tragic accident has been unexplained for these last four months, despite active investigative efforts to determine the cause. The death toll remains unknown, due to the damaged state of some of the bodies, and the current location of both champion and second place fighters, Mordred Gwynarian and Pyrrha Nikos, remains unknown. The official numbers recorded at this point include at least fifty people who are missing and presumed dead."
Shit, that sounded bad. Yang probably should have looked into the news before now. Fifty people dead at such a well-known tournament?
"For the last four months, Mistral has held onto the hope of finding the missing tournament participants. Pyrrha Nikos has participated in the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row, and until the final round of the most recent tournament, was not only undefeated, but untouched without a display of Semblance."
"Hailed as the 'Invincible Girl' until that final round, Pyrrha Nikos was an enigma to the people. An unparalleled warrior of skill comparable to trained Hunters, Pyrrha Nikos was a celebrate not just in Mistral, but in Remnant as a whole. Used in marketing of everything from weapon brands to cereal boxes, the world was hanging on the edge of it's seats to see what Pyrrha Nikos would do next. But who was Pyrrha Nikos, really? Her goals, her dreams, are all a mystery. Pyrrha Nikos was a symbol to many, and her mysterious nature only further drove home the question that caused her fame to skyrocket."
So in other words, people knew Pyrrha Nikos the symbol, and nobody knew Pyrrha Nikos the girl. Man, that was sad.
"Meanwhile, Mordred Gwynarian's history is lesser known, but to forget her role in this tragedy would be to overlook such beautiful potential ripped away. Unknown until the tournament began, Mordred quickly proved herself to be an amazing combatant as she tore through the rounds, eventually dethroning Pyrrha Nikos in an exciting and close battle that was a borderline draw and involved both combatants pushed to their limits. Her mother, a land owner by the border of the Kingdom, has expressed the deepest regrets as to her daughter's disappearance, and has been using political influence to force the investigation to continue as long as possible, claiming that until she is found, dead or alive, then there is more work to be done."
It occurred to Yang that she didn't know very much about the political situation in Mistral. Or, well, any Kingdom, for that matter. She knew the basics, and how the Headmasters of each of the Academies in the Four Kingdoms were often the most powerful men in the politics of their Kingdoms- And in the case of Vacuo, the Headmaster was just outright the leader of the land by virtue of being the only authority with enough power to be acknowledged outside Vacuo- But Yang didn't know if being a land owner in Mistral was enough to make you a politician, or if this woman's political influence was unrelated.
"For the last four months, the recovered bodies were studied intensively in order to try and identify them, as well as matching up potential alterations to the bodies to known Semblances among the confirmed missing."
"However, it wasn't until last night that a potential lead was found."
Looking away from her suitcases packed with everything she'd need for the trip to Atlas, Yang started paying more attention.
"Richard Lionheart, a well respected teacher at Haven academy, earlier contacted authorities in order to make a report regarding the investigation. However, when the authorities went to investigate, he was found dead."
Oh, well that wasn't suspicious at all.
"The Headmaster of Haven Academy, Knight Commander Arthur, has taken charge of the investigation, turning towards the death of Richard Lionheart. His claims are that Sir Lionheart's death proves that there is information that people do not want brought before the public, and he has ordered that Sir Lionheart's correspondents and belongings be investigated to determine any potential leads."
"Richard Lionheart is known, amongst other things, for owning the Colosseum that was used for the Mistral Regional Tournament, and as such had not been part of the investigation, as per the standing policy in Mistral."
There was sudden bounding down the stairs, and Yang looked away from the television to look at the stairs, as a red blur on it suddenly started transporting bags and suitcases up and down the floors.
"Good morning Ruby." Yang noted, as the red blur disappeared into a trail of red flower petals, before reappearing to put Zwei on top of the pile of suitcases as if it was his throne.
"Morning Yang!" Ruby replied, before disappearing and reappearing to put Crescent Rose next to Zwei. The dog, for his part, was looking around in confusion, before deciding it was comfortable and laying down to go back to sleep. "Dad sent a text a minute ago. He's out to go borrow a truck to move all the stuff to the airship where everyone is moving."
"In other news." The television called. "The various students of the various Kingdoms who won the contest held by the Schnee will today be going to Atlas. Three students from Vale, three from Mistral, and a student from Vacuo were pulled from the lottery, while two students in Atlas were selected at random to join the students from the other Kingdoms, to make them feel welcome and join them on various tours. Not all of these students have made their identity available in advance, but of those confirmed, Sun-"
Yang pressed a button on the remote to turn the television off, before throwing it on the couch. "I suppose we should move everything outside for when dad gets back, then I know he's got all his stuff stored up in his room, so let's bother him by being ready to go and complain about him making us late."
Ruby seemed to consider it for a moment. "Won't he be more likely to pun at me if I do that?"
"Yeah, but if you don't, I'll pun at you. And he won't be here for a while so that's a few extra minutes without punning if you give me the victory here."
Ruby quickly disappeared into a shower of rose petals, and the door slammed open. "Okay let's do this so I can enjoy the pun-free space for as long as I can."
Sitting in the heated room in the airship docks, Yang sighed.
"At least it's warmer up in Atlas." She mused. "Best part of the trip, we get to remember what the heat is for a bit longer before we have it cruelly ripped away from us again.
"Wouldn't it be colder in Atlas?" Ruby asked. "I mean, it snows a lot more up there."
"I don't know." Yang shrugged. "I think the city of Atlas is low enough in the Kingdom of Atlas that it's summer heat is enough to not be colder than we are here. But on the other hand, we are going to visit the Schnee home at some point, so it's entirely possible that it's always winter where we're going."
Yang paused.
"Dad, write that down in case we run into Winter while we're up there."
Taiyang smiled, pulled out his scroll, and started tapping buttons.
Ruby did her best to ignore him, as she looked out the window. "Oh hey, the airships here."
Looking out the window as well, Yang noticed that there was a large, luxurious looking airship approaching the runway, before noticing a small figure jump out and hit the ground a good minute before the rest of the airship. Said figure quickly turned towards the building and started running, before a second smaller figure quickly followed it.
Well, we should go." Yang noted, stretching. "Did they have our luggage ready for boarding yet?"
"They should be done with that." Taiyang replied.
"Zwei'll be alright, right?" Ruby asked.
"He should be in a cage ready to be let go after being boarded." Her father replied.
"Cage, or small pipe?" Yang asked.
"Same thing." Taiyang shrugged. "Dogs fit in both if you try hard enough."
"I'm fairly sure they only belong in one." Yang pointed out.
Taiyang shrugged.
The three of them walked towards the door for a moment, before it suddenly shook violently, almost ripping off it's hinges. Then it stopped, hung for a moment, before being pushed open by someone else.
Cent walked through the door as he held it to the side, looking at the door and wincing in the process. "I'll just start writing a cheque now, I guess."
He moved out of the way, revealing a vaguely sad looking Two behind him.
"I was doing so well..." She sighed. Then, looking up, she seemed to notice Yang, and instantly started smiling again.
"Yang!" She declared, leaping forward and grabbing Yang's hand, shaking it vigorously. Pulled up and then down with sudden immense force, Yang stumbled forward, before Two pulled her up and to her feet again. "It's been, like, ages!"
"I know." Yang nodded, as she pulled her hand free from the vice that was Two's grip and rubbed it.
"I can't believe how long it's been!" Two continued, seemingly vibrating. "How have you been? How's your sister been? Your dad? Bird man? I've been good, One's been good too even though she's always working and busy and Three's usually asleep but when she's awake she's been helpful a lot and Four's going to be heading back to Atlas a bit after we go and I'm not sure what's going on with Five but she's been behaving despite being under house arrest basically and it's been sad about Weiss' dad dying and all but One's been talking about how to make the best of it and-"
"How big are your lungs?" Yang asked.
"I don't know. Four says my heart must be big because there's a lot of room there but she also said Five has more room and less of a heart so it can't be anything along those lines and Three was asleep when I asked her so I never found out if I'm average or-"
She paused. "This isn't relevant. How are you?"
"I'm doing good." Yang nodded." Everyone else is good, too. Have you talked with Ruby before? I don't think you have, but I did spend a long while unconscious after saving her so I'm not sure."
"We met once." Ruby confirmed, stepping forward to shake Two's hands.
Two looked at Ruby for a bit longer, observing carefully.
"...Two?" Ruby asked.
The blue haired Intoner sighed. "I'm still not seeing it! Five said I'd notice if I cared but I do care and I'm still not seeing it."
"See what?" Yang asked.
"I don't know." Two sighed. "I tried talking with Five again about why she kidnapped your sister and she just said something about it being something anyone who cared would notice immediately. Am I just dumb?"
Yang took a moment to think about the kinder answer to that.
"I wouldn't listen to something Five says." Yang decided, eventually. "If she cared, she'd just come out and say whatever her reasons were. Either she doesn't care, or she'd just trying to distract people from noticing she did it on a whim."
That came out a tad more bitter than Yang had intended, but she really didn't care enough to stop.
"Don't be like that, Yang." Two said, frowning. "I know you have the right to be upset, but Five has to have a reason. One said she had a theory she was looking into, and One is One so if she doesn't think it was a whim then it wasn't a whim."
Yang nearly replied, but then her eyes flickered over to Ruby, who was looking down and not talking.
"...Now's not a good time." Yang decided. "Let's just get ready to get going."
Two nodded vigorously for a moment. "Come on, the airship should've landed by now so you can come on and meet with everyone who got a place."
"Who are we going to be seeing, anyway?" Yang asked. "I forgot to check the news to see who won the raffle."
"Oh, I know you know the first person!" Two declared. "She was technically a student because she signed up for the entrance exams at Beacon and has remedial not-from-the-Kingdoms lessons, but Nora won and decided Ren was close enough to family that he got to come along."
"Huh." Yang noted. "Ren and Nora again, then?"
"And also another guy from the group who was in the town." Two continued. "Remember Piran? The kid who did the spinny thing to make things get bigger or smaller? He also won. And someone I'd never heard of. Someone Flowers?"
"Hey." Ruby spoke up suddenly. "What's it like in Atlas, anyway?"
"A bit cold." Two replied. "Though it's colder here right now, I think."
"Hold on a moment." Cent called out from behind the group. "I'm... Never mind, this is going to take a bit to get sorted. I'll board before you leave, don't wait for me Two."
"Okay, Cent!" Two called, before turning back to Ruby. "Oh hey, I should probably let you know It takes a while to get from here to Atlas, and there's a bit of a timezone difference, too. One told me I should probably sleep on the way back so that my body doesn't think it's the middle of the day when it's early morning there still, and I thought I'd tell you guys as well. Or you could stay up I guess, I dunno."
"That's probably a good idea, actually." Taiyang noted. "I know I got up early for this. I'll be going to sleep as soon as I'm given a room, if you'll excuse me."
"No problem, Yang's Dad." Two nodded.
Taiyang frowned. "Okay, it always makes me feel old when people call me that, but you're not exactly a teenager yourself. Can you just call me Taiyang? Or at least Tai?"
...It was kind of hard to remember, at times, that Two was older than she acted.
"How old are you anyway, Two?" Yang asked. "I mean, I know you're older than me, but I don't think you gave an exact date."
Two froze, put a hand on her chin, and mused on it for a bit. "I dunno. Me and my sisters grew up alone and we didn't keep track of time much for a while because Zero was the only one who knew what a year was and she didn't care. I'm younger than Two but older than Three, Five claims to have kept track and says she's about twenty two, and Zero was like eighteen when the rest of us were eight, so..."
She shrugged. "I don't think about it much. I mean, I guess it might be important, but there's a lot of important things you don't really think about and it doesn't matter how old I am really."
"Some people have differing opinions on that." Taiyang noted.
Two shrugged, then realised she was standing still.
"Ah! We should hurry to the airship, before the pilots get annoyed at me."
And with that, everyone ran off.
Yang's going to have to take a bit of a rest at some point on the trip before arriving at Atlas. But does she interact with other people in the process?
[X] Nah, she should just take a nap.
[X] Hang out with Ren and Nora, can't be worse than last time they met.
[X] Talk with Piran, she hasn't interacted with him in a while.
[X] Go see who the third person Two was talking about was.
[X] Talking to one person was boring. Find a board game, invite everyone to play, forget about resting.