"Anything else I can get you?" Sun asked as he passed a mug of hot chocolate over to Ilia.
"Sun, just… stop," Ilia insisted with a blush as she gratefully accepted the drink. She pulled her blanket closer around herself and adjusted her positioning upon the couch cushions, where Jaune and Yang had sandwiched her on either side. "Guys, I'm fine…"
"Maybe when it comes to warmth, you are," Yang pointed out. "But emotionally? I doubt it."
Ilia took a long, slow sip. She kept her eyes on Corsac, who sat across from her on the opposite couch.
"…just… I'm not ready to talk about it. Not yet."
"When you are ready, sister Ilia," Corsac began, "All you need to do is ask."
Ilia set her drink down upon the coffee table and bent over, cupping her forehead with her palms.
"Guys… it's not going to be some big, emotional outpouring. I'm not like that. I'm not about to just unload on everyone. I just… I just need time, alright? I appreciate you being there for me, but I'm not used to it. It's… weird. I feel like I barely know most of you."
"Maybe," Sun agreed as he took a seat next to Corsac. "But you also barely knew me, a few months ago. Look at us now, and how far you've come from that one connection alone."
Ilia slowly lowered her hands and gave Sun an expressionless look. He simply nodded, and she returned the gesture with a shallow dip of her head.
"…maybe you're right…"
"Still, though- move at your own pace," Sun suggested as he crossed a leg horizontally atop the other and began to bounce his foot. "We won't pressure you. If you want to just get away for a while, I'm game to go for a walk, or whatever."
"We won't judge you, if you do," Jaune added as he gently placed a hand upon Ilia's shoulder. "We do care about you, Ilia. No matter what you think of yourself. If you want to just go and talk to Sun, that's cool. We get it."
Ilia looked over to Jaune with a wry smirk, her raw, bloodshot eyes transfixed upon the sodden, hanging strands of his ruined arrangement of deflated balloon-like hair stalks.
"…right back at ya. We're all a little… fucked up, I guess. Except Yang."
"Pff," Yang replied as she placed her heel upon the coffee table and crossed her legs. "I've got my own issues. I've just stayed quiet about most of them, so far. It'll be my turn to ruin the atmosphere if and when we run into Raven again."
"Eugh, the maidens," Jaune added with a scowl. "Don't even remind me. Here's hoping the one for this vault is as far away from Atlas as possible."
"With our luck?" Sun asked. "She's probably standing at the door with one hand on it."
"Speaking of doors," Ilia chimed in. "I'll… take that walk, if it's still on offer."
"Sure!" Sun replied as he stood up off the couch. "C'mon- let's get some fresh air. Maybe loop around and check on some of the others once we get back?"
"…yeah," Ilia agreed as she stood along with Sun. "I'm worried about Marrow and Harriet. I can become fire, so I'm good on the frostbite front. But those two… I could only warm them so fast…"
"Still, you did an amazing job, Ils," Yang praised. "Harriet would probably be dead if you hadn't been there today."
"Don't tell her that," Ilia grumbled as she and Sun headed for the door. "Things can only get so awkward before we all die from exposure."
Ilia reached toward the button to pull back the sliding metal, only to freeze just as she opened her mouth to start speaking again. There on the other side of the door, her own finger hovering over the intercom button on the other side, stood Harriet. The woman's usually fiery eyes were instead lifeless and dull, and her expression was one of sheer misery. She trembled in place despite being wrapped in a thick robe with a blanket draped around her shoulders, and her dark skin looked pale and waxy.
"Harriet?" Sun asked as he blinked in surprise, his tail twisting behind him in surprise. "Shouldn't you be down in the infir-"
"Yes," Harriet seethed before walking forward between Sun and Ilia, toward the center of the room. "Don't start with me. I can make my own decisions, and discharge myself if I want to."
The metal door slid closed once again with a soft shff, and Sun and Ilia exchanged a nervous glance before moving to follow Harriet.
"I wasn't going to," Sun started. "I only wanted t-"
"Just… save it," Harriet ordered as she raised a hand while looking around the couches. "Is everyone here? Where's Weiss?"
"With Marrow," everyone in the room answered at once. Harriet brought her palm up swiftly to her face, where she rubbed against it in circular motions.
"That one's… kinda my fault," Ilia chimed in as she approached Harriet with an apologetic look. "I don't think she wants to be around me right now, considering what happened down in the mines. It's probably for the best, since I have no idea what to say to her, either."
Harriet gave Ilia a tense look before taking a step back and moving to where she could see everyone at once.
"Ilia… about that. I came here to apologize…"
"Don't," Ilia said with a sigh. "I'll sort out my baggage on my own, over time. You aren't the one who put my parents in the mines, Harriet."
"Not just that," Harriet denied with a shake of her head. "Though, I do want you to know that… just… look, we're here for you, too, alright? The Aces. I suck at this kind of thing, but if there's anything I can do…"
"It's okay," Ilia reassured. "Well… it's not okay, but you know what I mean. What else did you come here for?"
Harriet took a deep, sobering breath as she looked around at the gathered teens, all of whom were looking back at her with confusion clear upon their faces. She let out a small grumble and shifted from side to side briefly, before pulling her blanket tighter around her shoulders as she stared at Ilia's abandoned drink.
"I… fucked up, today. It almost cost us the mission, and several lives."
"…you fell and missed a last-second platform that appeared in midair," Yang said flatly as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking unimpressed. "That's not on you."
"That is on me!" Harriet replied angrily through clenched teeth.
"How?" Jaune asked as he quirked a brow. "It was a chaotic situation, and we all did the best w-"
"Why do you think that wall of dust just spontaneously detonated?" Harriet interrupted with a disgusted glare. "Do you think it blew randomly? Did anyone see what set that off?"
No one said anything as they paused to consider the question. After several seconds of silent staring, it became obvious that the answer was a negative. Harriet pulled in another breath through her nose, before shaking her head and clenching a fist around the shoulder of her robe.
"…I set it off."
"What?" Yang asked immediately. "Why?"
"Not intentionally," Harriet clarified as she began to pace. "But… still. When you and I were fighting over by the wall… I didn't trust you to be able to handle yourself against that many grimm, Yang. I overextended myself to compensate for having you there, and I got… sloppy. I wasn't watching where I was flinging bodies. I kicked a beowulf into that wall using a lightning-boosted roundhouse, and that's why it went off and the floor caved in. I did that."
"These things happen," Sun pointed out as he began a slow approach. "We've all made mistakes in fights, Harriet, especially when emotions run high..."
"It was a mistake borne out of lack of trust and arrogance," Harriet corrected as she emphatically thumped a hand upon her chest. "That is 100% on me. I endangered all of you and almost got myself killed by being an asshole! Don't make excuses for me! Back off!"
"Still," Yang started. "We've all lost our shit during fights. You don't have to beat yourself up over it. We got you out of there, didn't we? We're all still standing here. That's a win, in my books."
"I'm an Ace Op!" Harriet roared, showing her teeth. "Maybe you kids don't know what that's really supposed to mean, but I do. We're the best of the best. Elite among General Ironwood's army- his special operative unit, and the four most trusted hunters in all of Atlas. We get things done. We don't make stupid mistakes like this, and if I hadn't been here for literal years, I'd be out on my ass for this stunt the second Clover finds out the truth. I'm still considering just bowing out for letting myself fuck it all up this badly!"
Again, no one else in the room dared to say anything as Harriet worked herself into a rage, her footfalls heavy upon the plush carpet as she paced back and forth.
"You can preach your 'everybody makes mistakes, Harriet' narrative at me all you want, but the fact is… I should be better than that. I shouldn't owe my life to someone I barely even know as a result of my own stupidity. I'm not okay with that notion, and I know I brought all of this upon myself by doubting you people since you arrived here in Atlas!" Harriet finally paused her pacing, taking her deepest breath yet as her shoulders visibly rose and tensed up. "So… I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry, I don't know if you'll be seeing me again, and… thank you, Ilia. I'm leaving. That's all. Have a good night."
"Harriet."
Harriet paused as the calm, unfamiliar voice called out, somehow both authoritative and gentle at the same time in its measured tone. She paused her furious stomping toward the door to look over at Corsac, who regarded her curiously from his seated position.
"Please. May I say something, before you leave?"
Harriet bit her lip and let out a snort before turning to face Corsac, her arms folded defensively across her chest.
"…say your piece, but I don't think it's going to do much to make me feel like less of a shitty person. I don't even remember your name."
"Corsac," the faunus reminded as he stood and cupped his hands before himself. "That's quite alright, and unimportant, at the moment. Perhaps 'everyone makes mistakes' is not the truth you need to hear at the moment… but what of its opposite? Not everyone is willing to recognize them, or do so in such a public setting among those that their mistakes impacted. Many of us have seen you fight, both in the training room and down in the mines. We have witnessed your skill in battle and quick thinking at the docks, down in Mantle. Though admittedly I have not spoken much to the majority of the people in this room, I have heard them speak of you, today. They have great concern for your wellbeing, and they have had nothing but praise for you otherwise, regardless of how you may think they see you. We all see value in you, Harriet, and it would be a shame to lose one so talented from our ranks after a single misstep."
Harriet closed her eyes, simply listening as Corsac continued to speak.
"I, too, once felt similarly to you about my mistakes. I questioned the point in continuing upon my path, or any path after allowing myself to be blinded, and blindsided by my own anger, guilt, and shame. Someone in this very room, Jaune, was willing to pull me back from that precipice despite the fact that we had never truly spoken before that point… and he did so without judgment for my failures. I would wager that anyone here in this room, or Weiss… or your team would be willing to do much the same. Your burdens need not be yours alone… emotional, or otherwise."
"And what if that's just not how I 'work' at all?" Harriet asked as she finally met Corsac's eyes. "What if that kind of coddling would only make me feel worse right now?"
Sun took another step toward Harriet, putting her at arm's length as he offered her a hand.
"Then start small, and just keep us in the back of your mind. Give us the opportunity to move at your pace and give you what you need. You've seen how we operate, and you said yourself that it definitely works. Nobody's asking for you to totally change yourself, or even the way you interact with us. But we are asking you to consider the possibility that maybe you need to take another look at what's really going on around you. If you want to talk about it later, then we'll be here."
"Any of us," Yang agreed. "That's just how we are."
"And you don't owe me anything for saving you," Ilia added. "I would've done it for anyone here. I know you're one of the good ones, Harriet, even if you might not feel like it right now."
Harriet gave Sun's hand a hard stare, before suddenly seizing it in a vicelike grip.
"I don't know. I don't know anything for certain, right now," she began. "Just… keep your distance, all of you, and I'll probably come back and speak to everyone again soon."
"That's totally fine," Sun reassured as he gave Harriet's hand a shake. "We'll be waiting."
"Yeah," Harriet agreed as she pulled back her hand. Without another word, she nodded toward Ilia and made her way for the exit of the room.
"…you know… as fucked up as I am right now, I feel bad for her," Ilia said softly after Harriet had disappeared into the hall.
"I think we all do," Sun reassured as he looped his arm around Ilia's shoulder. "I know what she's going through. I'll talk to her alone later, but first… let's go for that walk, and focus on you."
"Please," Ilia replied. "I've got a lot on my mind…"
Author's Note:
More focus on Sun's crew next time. Turns out they'll be getting a few more chapters than the others after all… with some Blacksun sooner than you might expect...
Also, I am now running a Discord server aimed at fanfiction authors and fan artists! If you write or draw for RWBY or any other fandom, feel free to join up. I'm aiming to build a support network, connect people for commissions, and just generally create a cool place to hang out. Even if you don't create fanworks, you're welcome to join up to connect with writers/artists and just chill together. The link is in my profile!
-RD