"So, yeah, my day was actually pretty okay, all things considered. Harriet and I have a bit of an understanding, now. How about you two?"
Ilia stared across at the opposite couch, where Jaune was awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact with anyone in the room. Yang had plopped the back of her head directly into the center of his stomach and effectively pinned the boy to the furniture. Try as he might, he couldn't quite hide the fact that one of his hands was playing with Yang's hair from Ilia's line of sight.
"It was… well, it was… I don't know," Ilia admitted with a noncommittal shrug. "In some ways, it wasn't so different from Sun's experience, what with the news spouting off about Marrow and Jacques and a tense conversation in the back of our truck, but… once we got going on site, the three of us just… we make a good team?"
"We do," Corsac agreed, his bushy tail twitching slightly behind himself as he leaned against a wall. "I suppose the best way to put it is… there is a certain satisfaction in knowing that our efforts as a team of faunus are actively contributing to a tangible greater good. We cleared a path safe dust transport and greatly sped up production by cleaning grimm from the mines."
"You went into the mines?" Sun asked warily as he looked sideways at Ilia, who sat right next to him on the loveseat.
"…yeah," Ilia said as she returned the look with a sorrowful one of her own. "It was actually my idea."
"…are you okay?" Yang asked as she leaned upward, finally giving Jaune a bit of relief. He let out a sigh and shifted beneath her, only to make a pained noise as Yang pinned him back to the couch with her elbow instead of her head. "You've been a mess ever since the first time…"
"Yeah, I know," Ilia admitted. "But we had work to do, and I kinda just thought… maybe facing it would make it a little easier to cope."
"We did try to stop her," Corsac added as he shook his head. "Marrow and I offered to go in while she patrolled the perimeter, but Ilia would have none of it."
"…since when do you just call her 'Ilia'?" Jaune asked as he squirmed beneath Yang's elbow. "Isn't it usually 'sister Ilia', or 'sister Amitola'?"
Corsac blinked and gave Ilia a curious look, which the girl returned. For once, he was the first to look away.
"I… don't know. That honorific is more of a White Fang term. I suppose it is because our relationship has… changed. Perhaps it's a sign of letting go of the past. I didn't do it consciously."
"You've actually been doing it all day, but I wasn't going to say anything," the girl insisted. "Oddly enough, it feels more like family without the 'sister' part added on."
"…hm," Corsac considered, his tail swishing a bit more forcefully.
"And family ties are what keep us going," Sun insisted as he wrapped his tail around Ilia's waist. "I think I get it, the whole wanting to go back down into the mines thing. Once you've experienced the worst possible scenario and start to recover, everything else just doesn't seem as bad anymore. You kinda become… numb to some stuff. Desensitizing yourself definitely works. One of the ways I deal with the rougher stuff is by thinking about how nothing we encounter in Atlas is ever going to make me feel worse than what happened in Kuo Kuana…"
"That… I'm not sure if that's the healthiest approach?" Jaune said cautiously, only to earn a frustrated look from Sun.
The faunus squirmed in his seat a bit and wrung his hands before heaving a sigh.
"…yeah. I know. Especially considering that it might not be true. I'm just doing the best I can, right now…"
"We need to start meditating again," Yang said flatly. "Things have just been so busy lately…"
"Yeah," Sun deadpanned. "But we do have to make time. It was helping, honestly. Maybe some better advice would be to find something that makes you happy to look forward to, up here in Atlas? Probably easier said than done… I'm tired, alright? Being a leader is hard."
"Don't beat yourself up," Ilia accused as she gave Sun's shoulder a playful punch. "That's my job."
"…beating yourself up, or me?" Sun asked with a raised brow.
"…yes."
"In all seriousness, that is a much better idea, Sun," Jaune encouraged. "Little things can add up to a lot, both positive and negative. Some of us are doing pretty okay, given everything, but I think we could all benefit from something to look forward to that's more immediate than seeing Blake again."
"That… would certainly be nice," Sun admitted. "She's been keeping me going, but without knowing when that's gonna happen, it's been getting harder and harder. I definitely need something else to focus on."
"Well… after Harriet and I spoke today, it sounds like all of the Aces are becoming more open to us," Yang pointed out. "Why don't we try for some kind of… loud, stupid group hangout right before the shit hits the fan with this stupid election? Put a solid date on it for a few days before, and then we all have something to look forward to and keep us going for a little bit. We can worry about what comes after… you know, after."
"You're suggesting we throw a party?" Corsac asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"…none of the Aces know we can't drink," Ilia said hopefully.
"All of the Aces know we can't drink," Jaune said flatly. "They have our info from Beacon…"
"But do the Aces care that we can't drink?" Yang pointed out. "I bet Elm would do a keg stand, given the opportunity."
"This is a terrible idea," Sun accused. "Let's do it."
Neopolitan crept through the darkened hallway as quietly as she could, her umbrella held closely at her side. The plushy carpet of the luxury hotel did wonders to muffle her footsteps as she slinked along. A singular thought was on her mind as she checked over her shoulder once again and froze in place. She was alone and unfollowed, but despite the late hour, she couldn't bring herself to rest.
Not with that noise.
Something about it was wrong and stirred her stomach in a sort of primal fear. During the day while patrolling the halls and carrying out menial tasks for her new employer, she heard nothing from within the walls but the sounds of the others talking. As she was bedding down in her room upon the bottom floor, however, it would start up without fail. Something like insects chittering and crawling through the walls, as though the monument to indulgence that was the lakeside resort was secretly infested behind the chandeliers and statues. She had to know what was making the noise.
It was coming from somewhere below.
Neopolitan took a sobering breath as she reached the steel door marked MAINTENANCE in big red letters. With a gentle shiver, she reached out and turned the knob as slowly as she could. The resulting creak made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, and she visibly flinched as she checked both ends of the hallway over her shoulders once again.
The noise had gotten louder as it echoed up from the darkened staircase before her.
There was a part of her that wanted to close the door and head immediately back to bed as she stared down into the yawning depths. She couldn't see to the bottom of the flight of stairs, but the longer she looked, the more sure she was that she could see a pair of glittering eyes staring back up at her from somewhere down in the darkness. Suddenly, a bright light shined up from below, and Neopolitan had to raise her arm to shield her eyes from the source.
"…Neo?" a familiar voice called in a near whisper.
The girl blinked several times and lowered her arm, her heart pounding hard in her chest as she squinted through the light. Shortly thereafter, the light redirected itself vertically to spotlight Mercury's face from below, giving him the appearance of a floating head in the otherwise darkened shaft.
"Just me," Mercury clarified as he pulled a face. "What are you doing out of… actually, never mind. Pointless to ask," he muttered with a shrug as he shone the light back up at his colleague.
Neopolitan rolled her eyes and leaned forward, cupping an ear toward him before pointing emphatically down the staircase.
"…so, you hear it, too?" Mercury asked, only to receive a nod in return. "It's my turn to patrol right now, so I'm already in the process of checking it out. Go back to bed, a-"
Neopolitan didn't let the man finish as she descended the stairs and drew the sword from within her umbrella. The girl looked up at her partner as she stood next to Mercury with a quizzical brow raised, only for him to look away as he shook his head.
"…alright, fine," Mercury acquiesced as he held his scroll aloft and began to walk slowly through the hall. "Safer together, anyway. It's probably just rats, or something. Maybe a stray dog or two. Whatever it is, we'll kill it and head back upstairs."
Neopolitan moved ahead of Mercury to take the lead, letting the man's lit scroll guide her from behind. The maintenance tunnel seemed to stretch on forever as they walked in silence until something below her let out an uncomfortable squish.
"What the hell was that?" Mercury asked, not bothering to lower his voice. "Did you step in a puddle of water, or…?"
Neopolitan's eyes followed the beam from Mercury's scroll as it shifted downward, only to find her boot entrapped in a tangle of creeping black tendrils. All along the floor ahead of her was a thick, oily substance that she could only describe as a living carpet. Without warning, the tendrils gripping her boot snaked upward and seized her leg, yanking her down to the floor and dragging her into the darkness as she lost her grip upon her weapon.
"Neo!" Mercury called as he began to run, his footfalls muffled by the substance.
All Neopolitan could see was blackness as she was dragged, the gooey substance creeping into her mouth and soiling her clothing as she tried desperately to thrash against its hold. She felt herself going around a corner and into deeper darkness, moving at speeds that made her feel like she was a passenger in a car. After about ten seconds of being pulled along, she suddenly came to a stop, the tendrils wrapping around her limbs and holding her aloft before a wall of sheer, writhing black. A dim orange glow began to protrude from the living wall bit by bit until an orb the size of Neopolitan's head surfaced, surrounded by curved teeth. Over time, a hazy image began to form within the orb until the girl found herself staring into a bone-white face she had never seen before but recognized immediately.
"…oh?" Salem cooed as she cupped her chin in her hand. "A little girl, caught in the spider's web. How unfortunate for you. Are you a thief, looking to pilfer whatever was left behind by the huntsmen that abandoned this place? A holdout looking to strike back, perhaps? Tell me your name."
Neopolitan was breathing hard as she clenched her teeth, unable to answer. She tried against all odds to make her throat simply work, only to let out a pathetic, barely audible noise as she strained.
"Come now, your restraints aren't that tight," Salem teased. "Nor is there one around your throat. Yet. My patience wears thin. All I've been doing for quite some time now is waiting, and I don't feel particularly inclined to wait for you."
Out of options, Neopolitan briefly closed her eyes. Upon opening them again, she gave the witch a hard glare before she felt her entire body collapse in upon itself and burst into a rain of glittering shards. The tendrils that had been holding her reached inwards as if to try to catch the fragments, only for Neopolitan to reappear several feet away, crouching with her hand pressed down into the goop. The very second she materialized, she had already been seized by another tendril and held aloft, upside-down. A sinewy shape arose from the floor above her with a scythe-like bone emerging from its tip as it reared back, aimed directly for her face.
"Wait!"
Sloshing footfalls echoed behind Neopolitan as she closed her eyes. What sounded like a small rocket went off behind her, followed by some sort of impact at her front. As she opened her eyes once again, she found Mercury desperately gripping the weaponized bone, the heels of his mechanical feet smoking as he tried to collect himself.
"Salem… she's with us," Mercury said breathlessly as he released his grip upon the deadly weapon. "She can't speak. Her name's Neopolitan- she used to work for Roman Torchwick, and she ran into us here a few days ago. Hazel took her in."
"Did he?" Salem asked, sounding almost bored as she turned her gaze back to the upside-down girl. "Then I would suggest she does not wander alone within my domain."
"Your domain? Aren't you heading for Atlas?" Mercury asked curiously.
"Indeed," Salem answered as she rose from her throne within the image, carrying her orb along with her. "We're already en route. That being said, Hazel has done the groundwork to allow for a grimm network beneath Solitas. What you're seeing before you is the beginning of a series of tunnels, capable of transporting my army wherever I need them at a moment's notice. Keep clear of the area, lest you disturb me again while I'm working to finish it."
Neopolitan kept her eyes on Salem as she was slowly lowered back down to the floor. With a huff, she brushed off her clothing and sank into a bow, hoping to avoid more of Salem's ire. The witch looked somewhat amused as she continued to walk through the halls of her castle.
"Obedient, and with a powerful semblance. I like that," Salem mused. "Remain loyal, and you will be rewarded."
"We'll get the job done, and leave the basement alone t-"
Mercury stopped mid-sentence as he saw something within the view of Salem's castle through the orb. Standing up against a wall as Salem passed by was a creature of grimm unlike any he had ever seen before. Though humanoid in shape, its knees bent the wrong way, and its skeletal appendages ended in claws the size of its forearms. Translucent wings with veiny, orange membranes between black fingers sprouted from its back, spanning longer than the creature was tall. Its face was full of hatred, with its split lower jaw oozing black liquid as it stared directly into the orb. Somehow, Mercury found its shimmering amber eyes looked incredibly familiar, and the living tissue hanging messily around its face reminded him of hair.
"…is something wrong?" Salem asked as she tilted her head curiously. "You seem… unsettled."
"N-no," Mercury replied as he briefly looked away. By the time he returned his attention to the orb before him, the creature was no longer within view. "Not a thing."
Salem smirked, her expression one of satisfaction.
"As I said- remain loyal."
Author's Note:
Prepare for a lot of Blake focus coming up… and for some big things to happen very rapidly…
-RD