Ilia watched in silence as her breath formed a cool, ephemeral mist every time she exhaled, clouding her view of the device before her. In her left hand, she held a small pocket knife. In her right, her scroll, which she used as a makeshift light. Before her, an open bomb, and three wires- blue, red, and green- visible within the circuitry.
A groan echoed from the wooden boards of the ship above Ilia's head, and she tensed as her hand shook, jittering the light all around the cargo hold. Countless shadows from stacked ammunition crates, weaponry, and other bombs danced along the wooden walls before she managed to steady her hand with a calming breath. More creaking rang out as crew members walked about on the floor above her, and Ilia closed her eyes for a moment to focus on her breathing.
"Come on. Hold it together…"
The floor of the hold shifted slightly as the vessel rocked gently in the water, and Ilia opened her eyes just in time to catch faint murmurings above as two members of the White Fang began a conversation. She strained her ears as she rose from her crouched position, and climbed atop an ammo crate. Carefully, she placed her palms and an ear against the ceiling, and tried to listen in.
"…never made it back to Mistral. Word is, there are pieces of the ship washing ashore, and splintered wood on the rocks not far from this encampment."
"Really?" asked a second, deeper voice in disbelief. "Sienna Khan, dead? I don't believe it."
"You can believe it. Heard Adam discussing it with one of the Albain twins through the tent flaps while I was on patrol. Apparently, her ship was ambushed by a human vessel when she tried to head back and got caught in the storm. I think they're trying to keep it under wraps, but word is starting to spread through the camp. It probably won't be long until they send out a crew to try to verify it."
"Then… what's going to happen, if she really is gone? Adam's going to take over the entirety of the Fang?"
"Looks that way. I don't kn-"
Ilia pulled back from the wood in shock and hopped from the crate back down to the wooden planks of the bottom of the ship as she felt pins and needles rushing through her body. She shook her head as she cursed to herself, and looked down at her scroll. Cinnamon's signal was strong enough to make a call, though Blake and Sun were both unavailable. Ilia hovered her finger over Cinnamon's number, and then lowered it again as she thought better of it.
"…she was right. She's absolutely right… and no humans got the jump on her," Ilia concluded as spoke in a low whisper to herself. With a shiver, she looked back over to the waiting bomb, and approached the device once again. Ilia crouched low, and looked over the wires with narrowed eyes.
"…cut the green out. Keep blue and red in mind, but leave them well enough alone," Ilia repeated as she furrowed her brow. Slowly, she reached into her pocket, and withdrew the bundle of wires that Blake had taken from Cinnamon's home. The shapes and colors matched, and Ilia stuffed them back into her pocket as she swallowed hard. "Well… I really hope you're actually a friend, Cin. Here goes everything," she mused as she spun her pocket knife in hand.
With careful precision, Ilia leveled the blade at the top of the green wire and slowly sawed through the casing. She repeated the motion at the base of the wire, and cleaved cleanly through the thin metal before extracting the length entirely. Ilia held it up to her face and squinted in the light of her scroll, before pocketing the insulated thread and pulling the cover of the bomb closed to leave it looking untampered with.
"One bomb defused, and about twenty more to go," Ilia recited to herself as she moved to the next dormant explosive. Without hesitation, she got to work disarming the bomb in exactly the same way, and once again pocketed the wire. The process repeated in near silence as Ilia continued her work until all of the green wires were cut, and she closed the final outer shell with a heavy sigh.
"There. Done… unless I've just done something horrible. I really hope he doesn't intend to use these against Blake…"
With one final, unsure look at her handiwork, Ilia turned and made her way up and out of the cargo hold to the second level of the ship. She closed the trapdoor behind herself as she walked into the hallway lit by wall-mounted candles, and passed a White Fang guard standing in front of a door. Ilia paused, and turned to face him.
"…recruit. Do you have the keys to the cargo hold?"
"Yes, ma'am. Of course," he replied stoically as he shifted his gun within his grip.
"Lock it up. I just did a thorough inspection, and I don't want anyone down there without direct approval from me. Your new orders are to stand guard over the hatch, until further notice. Is that understood?" Ilia commanded with an edge to her voice.
"Yes, ma'am. I will guard it with my life," he replied before turning to walk toward the hatch. Ilia watched him go, before slipping into the unguarded room and withdrawing her scroll once again as she closed the door behind herself.
Ilia spared the small space a cursory glance and found nothing but a few crates and some netting affixed to the wall by several nails. She leapt up to sit upon a crate as she dialed Cinnamon's number, and cleared her throat to prepare for the conversation.
"Come on… please pick up…"
"What, Amitola?" came the harsh reply from the other side of the line. "I'm a little… busyright now."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry, Cin, but… I cut green out of my wardrobe entirely," Ilia informed as she idly twirled her pocket knife in her free hand.
"Good, but is that all you called me for?" Cinnamon paused as an indecipherable mumble echoed in the background of the call. "No, nothing's wrong, she just finished inspecting the ship, and wanted to apologize for being so unprofessional, earlier." Another round of mumbles and an annoyed grunt filtered into Ilia's ear through the speaker, and she bit her lip as she lowered the volume of her voice.
"…Cinnamon, I think Sienna's dead. I overheard some men talking about her ship being scuttled on the way back to Mistral. I… I think you're right. About everything."
Another pause brought a deafening silence that lasted just long enough to become uncomfortable into the conversation, and Ilia closed her eyes as she awaited a response.
"…yes, I think two should be fine. I don't see why the color matters at all, but stick with black and gold. We'll talk again when I'm not so busy… but I'll try to do some digging, and see what I can come up with before we leave tomorrow morning." One final stretch of indecipherable, distinctly male noises from the other side of the line came over the call, and Ilia pinched the bridge of her nose as she felt an errant tear slip down her cheek.
"Yes, we're talking fashion. It's important! She's trying to find a hook up before we leave, and I'm trying to help a girl out, alright?" Cinnamon's tone became more direct as she spoke to Ilia once again. "I'm sorry, Ilia. He's not cooperating, and I'm sure you'll find your answers soon enough. Just keep going, and things will work out. Go with black and gold. Trust me."
"…black and gold. I… thanks, Cin. I'll let you go," Ilia replied as she pushed her thumb into the screen to end the call. She leaned backward and rested her head against the cool surface of the wooden wall behind her as the ship continued to gently rock and sway. Without thinking, she brought a hand up into her hair and smoothed it back, her chest aching as she thought of the implications that Sienna's supposed death brought with it.
"This is all for a brighter future. It has to be for a brighter future," Ilia said to herself as she closed her eyes. "I can't let this all be for nothing."
Sun squinted as he read over the parchment, his hands keeping a light grip on the stacks of paper as Ghira sat across from him in silence. Kali continued to gently rub a green salve onto Sun's right arm as he read in silence. Suddenly, he looked up at Ghira, and tilted his head.
"So, what is the history of the White Fang in Kuo Kuana? Why do the people trust them so much?"
"At this point, I'm not sure I know, myself," Ghira admitted as he crossed his arms. "They've been incredibly helpful for years, now, before you and Blake arrived. They act as a sort of guardian force against the grimm on the island, and oversee the majority of construction projects in town. They also provide ammunition and goods from other places for trade in the market… and so, they are seen as essential, here."
"Don't forget that several of the people living here are likely in the White Fang, themselves… and we may not even know it," Kali added as she gently patted Sun's arm, before moving to apply the ointment to the opposite one. "Their influence in Kuo Kuana may extend further than we previously thought."
"So, you're sayin' this speech needs to not only inspire, but potentially change a lot of minds," Sun said as he ran a hand through his hair. "And we've got no concrete proof that they're planning to attack Haven Academy."
"That is correct… and so, we need to get a head start on making the people stand with me. Then, we can focus on finding hard evidence and swaying them to help us defend the school," Ghira replied.
"Well… as far as a rallying cry, I think this is great. Really!" Sun said enthusiastically as he handed the papers back over to Ghira. The larger male accepted the pile, and worked to organize it back into a neat stack. "It's from the heart, it speaks the truth, and… it's something that I think people need to hear. As far as that one sticking point… let me talk to her. I think, if I play my cards right, I can get her to share her story in public."
Kali rubbed Sun's arm in a circular motion as she continued to work the lotion into his wounds, and fixed him with an encouraging smile. "Sun, I have a feeling that if you put your mind to it, and your mouth to hers… you can convince Blake to do anything."
"Kali, please," Ghira begged. "He may have won us over, but Blake is still our daughter. I don't need to hear the details."
Sun laughed nervously as Kali got to work on the cuts upon his chest, and he leaned back into the couch cushions to grant her easier access. "I'll do my best… but there are some things even I can't pull out of her. I think the key this time is going to be talking to her about Beacon, and her team. It's something that she's kinda made… off-limits, until now."
"Team RWBY, was it?" Kali inquired. "She's been incredibly tight-lipped about them since she got here. All I know is what you've told me."
Sun raised a brow in confusion at the statement, and idly swished his tail as he tried to keep his eyes off of Kali as she rubbed his chest. "What? You guys didn't even see them fight in the Vytal Tournament, before the tower went down?"
Ghira shook his head. "We were unaware that she was even attending Beacon, before the pair of you arrived at our doorstep. After Kali and I left the White Fang, and Blake decided to stay behind… we barely spoke, and eventually, all communication ceased."
"And you were fine with that?" Sun asked with wide eyes. "You just… let your daughter do whatever on her own, for years?" Sun coughed as he avoided Ghira's eyes, and toned down his surprise as best he could. "I mean, I'm not trying to judge, but…"
Kali dug her nails lightly into Sun's pecs to get him to look at her, and the gambit paid off as he winced. "We're not perfect parents by any means, Sun. That's a conversation that the two of us have had many times, but we decided in the end that it was best to let Blake find herself, and her path, without interfering. She was so driven, so passionate about faunus rights, even at a young age, that we let her choose to remain in the Fang, even when we wanted out."
Ghira nodded, and leaned forward to clasp his hands between his legs. "There is also the matter that… for a time, I trusted Adam to take care of her. Even though I didn't like him, I thought I could rely on him to guard my daughter as she found her way. I chose Sienna as my successor partially to give him the availability to focus on her… and partially because I was worried what he might do, with so much power. In a way, much of what has happened to Blake is my fault."
Sun raised his hands defensively, as Kali turned to face her husband. "Hey, whoa, Ghira, that's not cool. Playing the blame game is gonna get us nowhere, and you did what you thought was best, at the time. Nobody can predict exactly what's going to happen when they make decisions, and you made the most informed decision you could, back then. I'm sure Blake would say the same."
"Besides, we're trying to take back the White Fang. You can't be thinking along the lines that you made a colossal mistake if you're going to inspire the people to rally behind you once again," Kali added.
Ghira inhaled deeply through his nose, and breathed a ragged sigh from his mouth as he stood to tower over his wife and Sun. "You're right, the both of you. All the same… the pressure of everything going on is starting to wear on me. I think, perhaps, I should go and help Blake in the kitchen. I'll meet the pair of you downstairs, soon?"
Kali opened her mouth to protest, but Sun cut her off. "Sure, man. We'll catch up soon."
"…thank you," Ghira replied as he slipped through the door and disappeared from the office. The moment he was gone, Sun let out a weary breath that he wasn't aware he had been holding, and brought a hand up to his forehead.
"Great. Him, too? I thought Ghira was unbreakable!"
Kali echoed Sun's sigh as her ears flattened, and she braced a hand against his chest. "No one is truly unbreakable. Not even him. It seems to me like all three of you are dragging your feet, and I can hardly criticize you for doing so. I just hope that this rally goes well, and brings some invigoration back into your spirits. How are you holding up?"
"I'm…" Sun began, before he paused to reconsider. "…I have no idea. I've never felt so torn, about so many things, at once. Did, uh… did Ghira tell you about my… family situation?"
"He did, yes," Kali admitted. "I couldn't help but pry a bit, after the other day. I'm a little worried about you, to be honest… but I also want you to know that as far as I'm concerned, you are family, here, and always will be. Not just because of Blake, but also because of how you helped Ilia. She's been my second daughter for a decade, now, and having her back is something I never expected."
"Glad I could help," Sun replied with a smile.
"You always are… and that's a big part of why I'm so happy that you swept my daughter off her feet. Please stick around. Having you here is likely the only reason that I'm not feeling more like the three of you," Kali said as she finally rose and capped the jar of ointment. Sun copied her movements, and stood into a stretch as he grabbed his wine red shirt from the back of the couch, before slipping his arms through the short sleeves.
"It really makes you that happy, to see us together?"
Kali offered a nod, and clasped her hands below her waist. "Family is what makes me happy. Ghira, Blake, Ilia, and you. Slowly but surely, everything is coming together. We just have to weather this storm, and reach that brighter future beyond the rally, and beyond Haven. Once we get there, everything will be perfect."
"I hope you're right," Sun agreed as he offered a hand. Kali accepted it, and the pair began to make their way for the door to the office.
"And then you can focus on making me grandchildren."
Sun brought his free hand up to scratch the back of his neck as he entered the hallway, and kept his eyes on the path ahead. "…you just have to go there, every time, don't you?"
"I absolutely do, yes," Kali replied with a wicked grin. "I want at least two."
"Well… you won't hear any complaints from me," Sun admitted as he let his mind begin to wander to a more pleasant place.
Author's Note:
Closer and closer to the big speech… where absolutely nothing could possibly go wrong. Ever.
Happy (early...?) birthday to merendinoemiliano, and a huge thanks again to them and all of the reviewers (and especially Frozenheart7 and Constipated Genius, who have been doing this forever now along with merendinoemiliano). We're finally ramping up to a big turning point in the story with Ghira's speech and the aftermath, and a lot of things people have been waiting for may well happen soon. In addition, I'm glad that Cinnamon is coming through as something more than a stock villain. I'm sure it's hardly shocking to say that she isn't revealing her entire hand... nor will she, for quite a while.
Next update on Tuesday, the 9th.
-RD