CHAPTER 9: Castle in the Sky.
A/N: I need feedback people. It's really hard to know if you really like the story if you don't say anything. Please even just a "Good job" or "Maybe fix this" anything. Thanks.
I stepped out of the warden's office and into the arms of Blake, Yang, Ruby and Weiss. They squeezed me and cheered.
"Ok now are any of you going to tell me how you convinced them to let me out?" I said as I escaped their death grip. They all hushed Weiss stepped forward.
"Icarrus please don't be mad but I kinda told my dad about you and the whole test subject thing and well he sorta maybe gave some anonymous donations to the school and the warden so you could get out." She said in a whisper-like tone. I threw my head back and sighed. "I know I'm stupid, I'm sorry-"
"Thank you Weiss." I scooped her up and held her close for a second. "You can tell me the catch later, for now let's get something to eat the food they serve here is horrible." I laughed and set her down. She smiled sweetly and grabbed my hand.
"If we hurry we can get breakfast!" Ruby shouted as she ran towards the door.
I could stop myself from smiling the whole day, the girls took the day off from school and we ran around town. Sun, Pyrrha and Jaune met us at the gate of the academy as we headed back to our dorms.
"Icarrus we are going to head to our rooms real quick we'll meet you at yours." Ruby's shouted as the girls ran ahead.
I looked at Sun and we made eye contact then both looked away. Pyrrha walked up to me and put her hand on my shoulder.
"Icarrus, my friend, it's good to have you back."
"Hi Pyrrha, it's good to be back." I smiled and looked beyond her.
"Hey Jaune how's it going. Hey Sun, sorry you had to see me like that I uh tried not to let my mind slip but it didn't work out so well." I scratched my neck and nervously chuckled.
Sun walked over and kicked at the ground. "Sorry I had to knock you out. I had to hit you twice; it was like you didn't even feel the first one and I swung pretty damn hard. The second one was a lot harder though, hell I dented my staff on your head." He tried to ease the air by joking about it but I could tell he was serious.
"Thanks Sun you stopped me from doing any more damage." I offered my hand to him. He took it limply then tightened his grip and pulled me closer.
"If you ever hurt any of them especially Blake or Yang I will make sure you can never hurt anyone ever again." He whispered in my ear then backed away; I started to walk past him but stopped at his side.
"I will do everything in my power and more to prevent that. I never want to hurt them but if the worst should happen please do." I placed my hand on his shoulder and moved on. I walked the halls and found my door. I took a deep breath and opened the door.
"No one? That's weird I figured someone would be here waiting to surprise me." I looked back out the door down the hall and still saw no one. "Huh, strange, I wonder where they're all at."
I walked over to my bed and sat down on it. It felt like the whole thing had just been washed. I laid face down and smiled remembering that I had been sleeping on a cot and how much I missed this bed.
I felt so comfortable and at peace I found myself growing tired. Eventually I could feel sleep and just relaxed into it.
I found myself in my dream world again but this time the figure of me was replaced by a figure of Weiss. She smiled sweetly and I waved her over. She walked up and embraced me; I held her close as she cried into my chest.
"Weiss what's wrong?" I asked even though I already knew the answer.
"It's my father, no, my whole life it's all lies. The horrible things that they have done. They supplied the Dust they used to experiment on you." She cried even harder. "I'm so sorry! I would understand if you blamed me after all it's my family's fault that your life has been a living hell." I thought about what I could say to make her stop crying.
"Weiss you have to calm down. You need to wake up it'll be fine you're just dreaming right now." I whispered in her ear. She sniffled and wiped her eyes.
"That it, I'm going to tell you the truth when I wake up because this is all a dream and- I just don't know how to tell you." She clutched my shirt tighter.
"Well I think you did a pretty good job just now." I tried to reassure her.
"Oh come on now Icarrus this is my dream for all I know that could be how I hope you'll react but I don't know how you really will." She let go of my shirt and wrapped her arms around me. "I just don't want you to leave me and I really don't want you to hate me."
"I could never hate you Weiss." I pulled her back and looked into her eyes. "Now just wake up." I drew her in and kissed her.
I opened my eyes and looked at my ceiling. "So it really was just a dream huh?" I felt something to my left move and looked down at the sleeping form of Weiss. She looked so happy even with the dried up tears in the corners of her eyes. I slipped out of bed and pulled the covers back over her.
I walked over to my dresser and pulled out a new change of clothes. "Maybe a quick walk to clear the mind." I thought aloud as I donned a black tank top and white basketball shorts. I walked over to my door and opened it only to see Ruby standing there.
"Oh uh I just uh um Hi Icarrus?" She said nervously.
"Hey Ruby I was just about to go for a walk care to join me?" I said not making a big deal of her being nervous.
"Uh yeah that sounds fun." She shook her self and we walked down the halls.
"Hey Ruby has Weiss said anything to you about how you guys got me out of there?" I figured now is as good a time as any to find out the whole truth. She froze and took a second to resume walking.
"Nope, not a thing yet why do you ask?" She said quickly.
"Well because I have a rough guess and because she told me last night in my dream world." I held a door open and we stepped into the cafeteria. "I guess subconsciously I was craving food and I led us here. Well now that we are here let's eat." I hurried to the line and waited for my turn to grab my food.
"Hey Icarrus what did she tell you exactly and what do you already know?" Ruby said quietly as she took the spot next to me. I moved with the line and started filling my plate.
"I'm not stupid Ruby and I'm not deaf either. I could always hear the doctors talking about how much the Dust really costs and how it was almost a steal to get it for what they were paying. They always mentioned one name I heard it repeatedly. Schnee." I finished stacking my plate and walked over to an empty table on the far side of the room.
"So you always knew that Weiss' family was responsible for all the Dust they used on you." She stated it more than asked.
"Yeah and for a long time I held a grudge against them but Doctor Serena taught me that it's not right to judge an individual based on their family's actions and only to judge them by their actions alone." I stuffed a couple of pieces of bacon into my mouth.
"So when we first told you our names, you already knew that Weiss was the Schnee Company's heir?" Ruby's eyes watered up. "And you still let us all get close to you and you didn't blame her?"
"Don't, never have and never will." I said pointing a piece of toast at her. "It's not her fault and besides now that I escaped and the facility has been shut down once her father heard about me again her made it so I was free so I could be around and easily accessible. I even can guess the conditions of my release. One, I need to get blood drawn every month or so. Two, all my grades and combat are to be recorded and sent to him. Three, I'm not too sure about. Could be anything."
Ruby's jaw dropped and she stared at me stunned.
"Surprised? It's all obvious stuff that he would want done after all I have now become his out-in-the-real-world test subject, right?" I found myself getting angry and saw that I had clenched my fist completely bending the metal fork I had in my hand. I set it to the side and took some deep breathes to calm myself.
"Don't worry Ruby you can take your hand off of your weapon. I won't ever hurt any of you." I relaxed and I could see Ruby move her hands back onto the table.
"Sorry Icarrus it's just that what Sun told us-"
"Is true and you should always be ready to protect yourself. Just in case I don't manage to calm down quick enough." I pushed my plate away. "I've lost my appetite." I said grumpily.
"Hey Icarrus just promise me that you will always be there with us no matter what and even if you lose your way we will be right there to pull you back." Ruby stood and walked over to my side of the table and leaned into me.
"Hey suddenly I feel like eating again, thanks little red." I poked her side and reached for my plate again.
She squirmed and leaned up against me again. "Thanks Icarrus I needed to be cheered up again." She reached up and swiped a piece of my bacon and ate it quickly. "We had better eat quickly so we can go have a talk with Weiss, Blake and Yang."
"Yeah in time Ruby I'm pretty sure Weiss is still trying to find out when she should tell me herself. Until then not a word about it OK? Our little secret." I said holding my pinky out to her.
"I promise." She wrapped hers around it and smiled.