Chapter 2
"You were the last person I expected to see." Jaune broke the silence as the two sat. Yang plopped her shotgun in the corner, and took the spot opposite her new companion.
Yang grunted. "You ought to be more careful. You'd be dead had I not been here."
He nodded, running a hand through his shaggy hair. It'd grown longer since she'd seen him last. Now his blond locks touched his shoulders.
"Where have you been these four years?" Yang asked, scooting over to the radio. With daylight on her side, her luck ought to fare better.
"Atlas. I joined the Resistance," Jaune supplied.
The brawler looked him dead in the eye. "Never took you for a fool, Jaune Arc."
The man cocked his head, and Yang continued. "There's no fighting them. We've lost. All we can do is try to survive."
Jaune frowned, "You've changed, Yang."
"I know."
"Not for the better."
Yang sighed. "I've been on my own for four years. It'd be hard not to change."
"Yang…where's Ruby?"
Her fingers stopped fussing with the wires. The very air itself stopped. Everything for Yang Xaio Long stopped.
Turning minutely towards her old friend, Yang whispered, "Not here."
Blinking, she looked back at the radio. "So Jaune, Atlas?"
Understanding, Jaune began his narrative. "After the Vytal Festival, Nora, Ren and I caught one of the last ships north. Ren reasoned that we might find the source of the problem there," Jaune recounted.
"They say Atlas betrayed us," Yang murmured.
Jaune vehemently shook his head. "They're wrong. I saw Atlas with my own eyes. I fought there for three years. Knights were a part of their society there. I've never seen so much chaos."
Yang nodded. "It'd make too much sense if Atlas were responsible. This is reality, after all."
Jaune chuckled. He pulled down the fabric of his shirt, exposing a tattoo. "I joined the resistance there. We did some good. Saved a lot of people." The white crest of Atlas blended in with Jaune's skin.
"Until?"
"Nora died."
Yang blinked. "How?"
"A raid. We needed weapons, so we raided one of the factories. Nora was the distraction, and she got killed." Jaune's words were clipped. The understanding passed between the two again.
"Is that why you left Atlas?"
He nodded. "Too many memories. Nora wasn't the first friend we lost, but she was the oldest. Ren and I left…and then parted ways."
Yang frowned. "How did you stay alive this long? In the first year I almost died. Vale is a wasteland with Knights crawling everywhere."
"I joined a few other wayward souls." Jaune smiled a wistful smile. "They taught me how to not get killed out here."
"Where are they?"
"Dead."
"I'm sorry."
"Enough about me," Jaune smiled. It was faker than the idea of safety in Vale. "When you left, where did you go?"
"After Blake."
"And?"
"It didn't work out. The White Fang got decimated, didn't you hear?" Yang asked.
Jaune shook his head. "There were rumors, but no confirmation."
"Ten thousand Knights flew in and completely annihilated the entirety of them. One way or another, Blake is dead," Yang said.
Jaune scooted towards her, and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Yang, I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Yang replied automatically.
"He doesn't care!" she hissed.
"Shut up!" Yang nearly yelled.
The brawler looked up at Jaune, and saw him slowly pulling his hand back. His expression looked of friendly concern, with lingering disgust.
Yang felt ashamed.
"Do you think you could guide me to the nearest hub?" Jaune asked, passing over what he had witnessed.
"Why?" croaked Yang.
"Because I haven't given up. This whole mess started in Vale. Maybe it can end here too."
"Didn't that line of thinking get Nora killed?" she muttered.
Jaune's face turned flashed white hot anger. It quickly cooled, and he replied, "I'll never know unless I try. Giving up is what the enemy wants. I refuse to give in."
The radio sputtered to life.
"…zzzt…Mistral has fallen. The last…zzzt…destroyed. No new government has formed except for a resistance similar to the Atlesian…zzzt…Vacuo going dark…zzzt…"
Yang nodded. "I'll take you to the nearest settlement. I owe that much to your team and what they did for my team."
"Thank you, Yang."
