The military vehicle rumbled along the country road leading to Vale City, kicking up dust as it went. Things were incredibly quiet in the back of the truck for the first several minutes, though the tension in the air was thick. Sage looked back and forth between the expressions of his teammates and the man in the black uniform sitting up against the wall on the opposite side of the truck bed. Everyone present looked ready to leap into action at a moment's notice, and most of them had a hand on their weapons, just in case.
"So… aren't you a criminal, or something?"
Roman snorted in amusement and cracked his neck, his fringe shifting with the movement. For a brief moment, the discolored flesh hidden by his orange curtain of hair became visible, as did the long scar across the man's missing right eye. Immediately afterward, the hair fell back into place, hiding the obvious wound.
"Kid… I'm the criminal."
"He's the one responsible for letting a flood of grimm into Beacon by crashing that train," Ruby spat. "And Neopolitan's employer… maybe the only one who can call her off."
Roman blinked, and his expression shifted from one of contempt to surprise.
"Neo's… alive? Her scroll's had no signal since I…" Roman trailed off. He whipped out his scroll without another word and began to write out a text, his face full of nervousness. A moment later, a vibration buzzed from Ruby's pocket, and she withdrew the scroll to read his message.
Neo? Are you safe? Talk to me, girl.
"She can't," Ruby said simply before snapping the device shut.
"Why do you have that?" Roman seethed, looking furious.
"Because she's been chasing us since we left Mistral," Ruby replied angrily. "Specifically, chasing me. She blames me for your supposed death."
"…fuck," Roman cursed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Then I hope she makes it through The Badlands and finds us. I'll talk her down."
"The Badlands…?" Sage asked.
"…look around," Roman gestured with a sweeping hand. "The grimm have already spewed enough shit over this area that we barely have roads anymore. Half the forests of Vale are smoking ruins. Lakes dried up. Infrastructure infested or knocked down, usually by those big ugly fucks with three heads. There are grimm pits all over the damned place, almost up to the city limits."
"Never mind that, for now," Nora interrupted, her tone full of venom. "First- how are you even alive? And why are you working with Professor Goodwitch? You expect us to just trust you, now? What's going on!?"
Roman merely laughed, though the sound came out cold and humorless as he folded his arms across his chest.
"I took care of your chimera problem, didn't I? You might want to do some thinking about who you can and can't trust. Everything's turned on its ass, kid."
Oscar shifted uncomfortably in his place sitting next to Ruby.
"That… didn't answer the question," Ren pointed out.
"Because it's a stupid question," Roman countered. "Does it matter what happened, or why I'm here? I'm here, and for now, it looks like we're on the same side. If you absolutely must have details to fill your hollow little heads… you're a grade-A moron if you think getting shoved into a gryphon's throat would be enough to kill me. Uncomfortable? Maybe. Fatal? I didn't make it through a huntsman's academy to just gurgle a bit and die after being swallowed whole."
"And Professor Goodwitch?" Ruby demanded.
"That's… that is a long answer," Roman deflected as he looked over at the silhouette of Beacon Tower, which was growing larger by the second. The entombed dragon grimm was still coiled around the top of the structure, its general shape barely discernable in the distance. "Let's just leave it at 'she saved my ass, so I'll protect hers', for now. I didn't want any part of this, since the beginning."
"That's convenient," Sage scoffed. "You expect us to just buy into the fact that you're one of the good ones, now that the world's gone to shit?"
"Believe what you want, I don't really care," Roman replied with a shrug. "And gimme that scroll. It's not yours."
"…said the dust thief," Nora accused.
"Hey. I'm a changed man," Roman reminded with a cocky grin. "I've got a chip on my shoulder, and at least one of our enemies is a common one. Hundreds, or probably thousands, if you count each individual grimm."
"And who might that 'one' be?" Ruby asked as she turned Neopolitan's scroll in her fingers.
"Isn't it obvious? Cinder," Roman replied. "She screwed me over. Practically got me killed, with that little stunt of hers at the Vytal Tournament. She stopped feeding me long ago, and I'm in the mood to bite a hand or two."
"Ruby…" Oscar warned as he watched the girl lift Neopolitan's scroll.
"…even if you're helping us… I don't take orders from you," Ruby insisted. "I can make my own decisions, and if Professor Goodwitch trusts him, then we should at least hear him out once we get to Beacon. Neo's a big problem. If he'll stop her for us, that's one less thing we have to worry about."
Oscar deflated with a sigh as he watched Neo's scroll fly through the air and into Roman's hand.
"Ruby, it's… me. Not Ozpin. I just wanted to say we should be careful, but I trust you to make the right call."
Ruby slumped slightly as she looked away from the boy beside her.
"…oh. I… sorry, Oscar…"
"It's… okay. I get it," Oscar mumbled as he began to fidget with his hands. "Not your fault…"
"…so, what's his deal, anyway?" Roman asked with a nod toward Oscar. "Glynda mentioned something about good ol' Ozpin reincarnating? I'm guessing you're the new model?"
Oscar shuffled uncomfortably, and then again as the dirt and gravel road suddenly became pavement. He looked away from Roman to see the ruined buildings that made up the outskirts of Vale City all around them as the vehicle continued to trundle along.
"…yeah. I guess I am."
"…you poor little bastard," Roman offered with a hint of amusement. "Gotta suck to have some ancient wizard living in your head. Probably can't even shit in peace."
"He's… furious right now," Oscar said slowly as he focused within his own mind. "Furious that his reincarnation is apparently now an open secret."
"Oh, yeah, everyone here knows, now," Roman confirmed. "Glynda's been waiting for him to come back. It's one of the few things giving the defenders here hope."
Ren lowered his gaze to the bed of the truck and furrowed his brows.
"…maybe that's why he was so insistent that we didn't come back here."
"We already know he's hiding things," Ruby added. "Big things. I guess it's just a matter of how much Professor Goodwitch knows, at this point. I… think we're going to learn a lot that he'd rather keep secret."
Roman grinned and rubbed his hands together as the vehicle made a turn deeper into the city, where the buildings still appeared to be mostly intact.
"So the man in charge of the goody-goody Hunter's academy has a whole pile of skeletons in his closet? Oh, this is gonna be good…"
Blake pulled Sun's dress shirt more closely around herself as the wind whipped through the partially broken walls of the upstairs hallway. Though the path through her former home was one that she could have navigated in the dark even without night vision, Blake found herself tense and feeling very much in unfamiliar territory. The cold air had rendered her exposed legs totally numb, and the girl had to put some actual effort into leaping the gap between the former guest room and where the staircase to the ground floor had once stood. She landed upon the dirty floor on the other side with a loud noise, her nightie fluttering up around her waist. Blake paused for a moment to listen for any sign that she had been heard but received only the groan of some far-off floorboards and the whistling wind in response.
Satisfied that she was still alone, Blake began a hasty trek down the upper hallways of the manor once again. Bright shafts of moonlight filtered in through the occasional hole in the roof, and she could feel slippery soot sliding beneath her bare feet as she walked. With every room she passed, some memory from her time on the island with Sun invaded her thoughts, and she found herself growing more and more frustrated. Blake paused as she passed the junction that would lead to her bedroom, where she could so clearly visualize Sun talking Ghira down the night Ilia had sent her lewd texts. She shook her head clear of such thoughts before continuing onward, shivering slightly. As she walked, she brought the sleeve of Sun's shirt up to her nose and drew in a long breath, only to smell nothing but fabric softener. The scent only made her more frustrated.
It wasn't long before Blake's destination came into view, and the sight of the door caused her to pause. The massive wooden door with the Belladonna emblem upon the front was partially open, and light spilled out into the hallway from beyond it. Blake steeled herself and took a deep breath before creeping toward the door and pressing her face to the frame. She could see nothing amiss upon the couches or near the window, and so, she slowly and carefully widened the opening before craning her neck around the doorframe.
At the far end of the room, leaning back against the desk was Kali Belladonna, with a glass of wine in hand. She was wearing an outfit of white leathers that very much suggested she hadn't changed for bed, and the usually immaculate desk behind her instead had papers strewn across the surface. The woman paid them no mind as she continued to stare up at Ghira's larger than life portrait upon the wall.
"…Mom?" Blake asked as she stepped into the room. "It's… two in the morning…"
"So, you should be asleep," Kali answered without looking back. "Lots to do, tomorrow."
"I'm not turning in until you do," Blake said confidently as she strode across the carpeted floor. "You're overworking yourself."
"Then it's going to be an all-nighter for both us," Kali answered as she turned to look at her daughter with weary eyes. "What can I do for you?"
"I… oh, I actually… wasn't expecting to find you here," Blake admitted. "I came here to read, because I couldn't sleep."
"I came here to continue planning, for the same reason. Sun's dress shirt and a nightgown. That's an… interesting look," Kali commented as she took a sip of wine and moved past her daughter. "Come and sit with me?"
Blake turned and followed her mother to the couches and then took up the one opposite of the elder faunus. She leaned into the armrest and pulled her legs into her side, before beginning to look around the office as Kali watched.
"…I'm sorry if I upset you by telling you that I'm sending you to Atlas," Kali began, "but it's for your own good. You're off balance, overwhelmed, and worried to death for him. I can see it in your eyes… and I knew it would end up this way."
"Then why did you bring me to Kuo Kuana in the first place?" Blake asked, sounding desperate.
"Because it was your idea. Or do you not remember?"
Blake made a frustrated noise and shook her head, only for her mother to continue.
"I've raised you that way all along, you know. If you wanted to do something, I always let you, so that you would learn from it. Call it lazy, call it naïve… but if I had forced you to leave the Fang with Ghira and I, or if I had turned you away when you came back to us, you wouldn't be the woman you are today. Coming here to help me put Kuo Kuana back together, and unexpectedly reintegrate the Fang back into our people… it's a decision that I think will benefit you, in time. Even so, you need Sun, and he needs you. You'll do what you can, here, before returning to him stronger."
"Allowing me to make my own mistakes," Blake observed. "Though… they usually end up setting me on the path I needed to be on, all along."
"Something like that," Kali agreed. "Imagine if you had gone with Sun, and Cinnamon showed up to Atlas with Salem's crew. They would have no idea that she's on our side."
"If she's on our side," Blake replied. "I'm still not convinced, no matter how unhappy she looked when she came by the bar. That being said, I… Daisuke and I talked, a little."
"Oh?" Kali asked. "What about?"
"About her," Blake answered before taking an uncomfortable pause. "About… them. I have a feeling that there's something we're not seeing in Cinnamon. Something familiar, that I don't like."
"I'm not sure I understand," Kali admitted as she drained her glass and set it upon the coffee table. "You're being needlessly vague."
Blake let out a sigh and shook her head.
"…he told me that she keeps her emotions bottled in, and when she's upset, she runs. Makes excuses not to talk, lashes out at people who don't deserve it, and focuses on anything but the problem. From what we saw of her at the bar after she decided to go off after Salem, it sounds like he's right. She was almost an entirely different person. Defeated. At the end of her rope and out of options."
"…with no 'Sun' to save her," Kali added.
Blake looked up and nodded as her mother moved over to join her upon the couch.
"…it was like he held up a mirror when I asked what he sees in her. If that's at all true, then he's been her rock this entire time, like Sun was mine. And now, when she's at her most vulnerable… she's got nothing."
Kali scratched through her hair as she laid her head down upon Blake's hip.
"…I'll be honest- I'm not her biggest fan by any means, but I will give her credit for wading into the fight to buy us time from the inside. She's giving up everything to meddle from within, instead of running and leaving the problem to us."
"I can't really argue with any of that," Blake acknowledged. "I'm not thrilled with her either, but I don't envy her situation."
"Though, if I'm following your thought process, here… what do you think you would've ultimately done if Sun hadn't gone after you?"
Blake paused to consider her answer, walking through the events of her life from the boat to Menagerie onward with Sun out of the picture. The longer her imagined scenario lasted, the more uncomfortable she became with it. Blake realized that no matter what other factors she tweaked aside from Sun's absence, she always arrived at the same result.
"I… I think, eventually, after internalizing everything and getting tired of the threats and pressure from all sides… I would've done something stupid out of desperation. For me, it would probably be going after Adam. I don't know what the equivalent of that would be for Cinnamon, but… if Sun hadn't been there for me, I think I'd probably be dead by now."
Kali kept her eyes on the ceiling as she listened to her daughter's words, lost in thought.
"…I think Sun is the best thing that ever happened to you… and I think you might be right. I have a new job for you, for the next few weeks…"
Author's Note:
Wee two updates in two days. One more chapter to go before the mines. What could it possibly be…
-RD