AN: Sorry for a late upload, busy week for N204.
Richard was in the interior of the tugboat getting his arm wrapped. He was assisted by one of the group members, a young woman with a slim cat tail. Their confrontation was mostly silent as she only gave short stares towards Richard as she wrapped his arm. Richard paid no attention to this; his main focus was getting to Vale. Unknowingly though, Richard was giving her a blank stare.
"My name is Jade, Jade Mitchel, if you were wondering," she said shyly as she continued wrapping.
Richard snapping out of it replied, "sorry if I was making you uncomfortable." An awkward pause followed the small exchange of dialog.
"I was wondering…" Jade began, but seemed to stop herself.
"Go on," Richard said coaxing her.
"Why are you trying to get to Vale so badly, that you helped us?" she asked.
Richard thought for a moment before answering, "There's someone that's been waiting for me for 3 years, it's time I said hi." Jade seemed accepting of the answer. Richard thought for a second. "What about you?" Jade looked up from her work as she finished tying the last knot. "Why are you and your family heading to Vale?" Richard asked again.
"Vale's the safest place to be, with Vacuo in ruins and Mistral at war-"
"Wai-wai-wait, go back a bit, Vacuo in ruins?" Richard questioned.
"About two years ago the White Fang attacked the provinces of Vacuo, and sacked the city and towns. Now it's nothing more than a hiding place for rats," Jade explained.
"And Mistral? What's going on there?" Richard continued.
"Mistral has become the main battleground for the White Fang and remaining council of Remnant, but with so much fighting, the cities have been placed under martial law, and they're not really welcoming to run away Faunus like us."
"So, Vale is the safest place to be?"
"If you're not a huntsman that can survive the wilderness, Vale is where you wanna be."
"And what about the huntsmen, are they still around?"
"Most have become generals for the army; they're the most talented fighters, so they easily outrank a normal soldier."
"Ironwood's Atlesian army? Doesn't it consist of robot knights?"
"Not after the malfunction they had after the earthquake of Atlas, they targeted and killed hundreds of Faunus, everywhere. Also Ironwood doesn't command the army now, he stepped down after the incident."
"Then who's the commander of the army?"
"Ozpin: the previous headmaster of beacon academy."
Richard leaned back in his seat; he had to let all this information process. "Excuse me, I need some fresh air," he said getting up and walking out of the interior of the tug boat.
Outside the sun had already set and the moon shined in the distance. So much had happened in the past three years and Richard was clueless. Huntsmen as generals? Vacuo sacked? Ozpin...commander. Richard was even more unsure of what to do. What could he do? Besides, return to her. Richard leaned on the railing at the front of the boat; he took out the coin Arno had given him. He stared at the assassin's symbol, though it seemed almost meaningless to him now. Should he even consider himself still part of a forgotten creed? Richard still remembered Altair's teaching 'nothing is true, everything is permitted' it's what changed the creed according to Connor. This teaching didn't have much meaning to Richard. He wondered for a moment, a new creed would be possible if he could find people. The only problem is who and if any random person could be trusted at all. Richard let out a yawn, he was certainly tired. He put the coin back in his pocket and went back inside. The first room was empty, Jade had left. Richard lied down on one of the benches inside; he put his bag under his head and tried to sleep.
The trip took some time. It took a week to get to open ocean. Richard found himself interacting more with the people that were running away from Atlas. He talked to them and learned their names, George's Wife was Jennifer, and George had gone against the norm in their marriage, he had Jennifer's family name passed on rather than his own, he didn't tell Richard what it was. Their son was Jarred Maron, he was nice and always helping his father. Richard met Jade's parents, Carol and Jack, as well as her brother, Sapphire. A weird name at first, but it was defiantly unique. Jade's grandmother, Scarlet, also accompanied them. Richard passed the trip time by talking to them, asking questions about what has happened, and what is being done to fix it. They were open to Richard, he was treated as family, almost naturally.
One day George was outside looking at the sea alone, Richard decided to join the aging man. He walked up next to him and leaned on the rail as he did.
George taking notice asked, "Nice weather today, don't ch'a think?"
"Yes, its nice and clear, not a cloud in site," Richard replied.
The two stared quietly at the horizon. After some time Richard kick-started a conversation.
"George, do you have any brothers?" Richard asked.
"Oh ya, a sister and a brother, my brother was Ruben and my sister is Scarlet."
"Scarlet, as in, Jade's grandmother Scarlet?"
"Yup, she and I have been stuck together in Atlas as long as we can remember."
"What about Ruben, where is he?"
"Ruben, eh, he disappeared one day, all he left my mother was a note that said he would be in Vale, but we never knew where he went exactly."
Richard looked down to think. "That was until he had a son," George stated.
"A son?"
"When my mother died, Ruben returned with a child by his side, his name was…Xavier, I think, I'm not quite sure, as soon as he was here, he left."
"Xavier," Richard mumbled to himself quietly. Just then Jarred came out with what seemed to be a shorten cloak in his hands.
"What's that Jarred?" George asked.
"An old cloak I found before we left, I thought it would be good to have, I was thinking maybe we would give this to Richard as a token of thanks."
"I'd say that's a great idea," George responded.
"No, no it's fine," Richard declining the offer as respectfully as he could.
"Come on, take it," George insisted.
Jarred handed over the black cloak to Richard. The first notable feature was a howling wolf in front of the moon printed on in white. Richard swung it around himself, he connected the straps in the front and then let his arms fall back to his sides to let the cloak cover him.
"Say, isn't that your Uncle Ruben's cloak he wore when he visited?" George asked Jarred.
"I think so; I found it in an old box in your closet."
"I'm guessing this was his symbol then," Richard intervened pointing at the wolf on the side of his left elbow.
"Oh ya, Ruben was a Huntsmen, I'm guessing that's why he left so quickly." George answered. "But, if I remember correctly his son had a paw as his symbol, I think."
"You're not losing your memory are you pa?" Jarred asked in a joking manner.
"Oh if only you knew your mother when she was young, she had the memory of an elephant I tell ya."
"Not to break the mood or anything, but could you tell me more about Ruben's son possibly, were there any other features on his symbol." Richard once again interrupted.
"Eh, some lines surrounded the paw I believe," George said scratching his head.
"Wait a moment," Richard told the two before reentering the boat's interior. He looked around and went to his bag on the bench. He took out the jacket with his symbol on the back. If what Richard believed was true then he had found out something huge. He came back outside, jacket in hand, and approached Jarred and George.
"Was his symbol something like this?" Richard asked extending his jacket to show his symbol.
"Oh, that's it, a wolf paw with some lines on the side and one at the bottom," George pointed out.
"Where did you get this?" Jarred asked.
"It's my father's symbol, it was passed to me when he died," Richard explained.
"Wait, if this is your symbol now, then…"
"Xavier Wulf was my father," Richard stated.
"Wulf…" George stated, causing Jarred and Richard to turn to him. "Wulf was supposed to be the name I kept, but instead, as you know, I had Jennifer's family name passed on…"