The sudden thrill of seeing Salem so thoroughly obliterated by the diving plane was fleeting, and Sun's heart sank in his chest almost immediately afterward. Harriet was flying slowly toward the open hatch of his hovering aircraft, carrying Yang along with her as they navigated through the aerial plumes of smoke and ash.

"That was… Ilia…" Blake said, sounding awestruck as she held a pair of binoculars she had retrieved from somewhere in the cockpit up to her eyes. She let the transport simply hover in place as she observed the descent of her friend with a sigh of relief and a sniffle. "She's alright and ejected with a parachute, but… gods, she's going down into Mantle alone with no escape plan…"

"Yeah. She'll… Ilia can take care of herself. She's grown a lot," Sun acknowledged as he stepped closer to the edge of the hatch and extended a hand to receive his friend. "Yang's coming to us. I don't even know what to say…"

"…leave that to me," Blake said as she set the binoculars down. "I don't know either, but… she's going to need me. Ruby is… was our teammate…"

Sun pulled a face as Yang floated close enough that he could reach out and help her board. The huntress was an absolute mess, her hair matted with sweat, blood, and gunpowder while her cheeks were streaked with tears. A line of marred flesh had manifested almost like a twisted necklace around her throat where Salem had grabbed her, scarring her otherwise flawless skin. Jagged fragments of gold-plated metal were fused to the stump of her artificial arm, and the attachment point let out intermittent sparks. Yang said nothing as Sun and Harriet helped her aboard, and the Winter Maiden soon followed.

"Yang… I am so, so sorry…" Sun began as he let go of the girl. "What can we do? Do you need space, or…?"

"…I told Harriet to come to this ship instead of the other one," Yang answered, her voice monotone and defeated. "I can't deal with Jaune and Corsac right now. I don't know what I need. None of this is on any of you."

"And it's not on you, either," Blake chimed in as she stepped forward and opened her arms. "Sit with me. Let me just be here for you. I won't say a word."

"Yeah…" Yang replied absently. "Sure…"

Sun watched as the girls retreated to a corner of the cargo bay and sat down against the wall together. Though he wanted to intervene, he knew that overwhelming Yang with anything more than she needed was a horrible idea. He also knew that he was needed elsewhere as another transport slowly pulled up to hover alongside his own. Sun steeled himself as the hatch opened, and he knew exactly what he was going to see on the other side before it happened.

"Is Yang alright!?" Jaune asked desperately as he leaned forward, ready to transfer to the other ship. Oddly enough, his eyes were on the gap between the transports rather than Sun. "Tell me she's with you!"

"She's with us," Sun reassured as he took a step forward, blocking the other boy's path onto the ship. "But she needs to be alone right now, and we need to coordinate. We have a limited window of opportunity while Salem's down and can't give directions to her grimm, and we can't waste it."

"Sun is right," Harriet echoed as she moved to stand beside him and block off the rest of the entrance. "Salem might be in pieces, but she probably won't be out of commission long. Amity's rising and we've got the clearest skies we're gonna get. We… could land on Amity and tell Ironwood what we're doing, or just get the hell out of Solitas. My vote's with the latter."

Though Sun hadn't even considered making a stop, the idea did give him momentary doubt. With a flick of his tail, he dismissed the notion as quickly as it had arrived.

"…we're leaving. We have to leave. I'll… Jaune, I'm coming aboard with you. Harriet- you fly this craft, and we'll follow you. Lead us out of Mantle, and if comms get re-established, we'll open a line between the planes."

Sun spared a glance back to make sure he had Blake's approval and received a nod for his efforts. Blake had her friend in a tight hug as Yang leaned into her shoulder, face buried within the material of the faunus' borrowed dress shirt.

"It's for the best. I'll take care of her."

"Get moving," Yang added, her voice strained. "Everyone, get moving toward Vacuo. We've… still got a job to do."

"And we'll get it done," Sun confirmed as he hopped over to the other ship. "See you in Vacuo."

Jaune pulled the hatch closed behind Sun, who was taken aback by two things the moment he arrived in the opposite craft. First was the smell- it was as though someone had lit a tire on fire within the cargo hold. Second was the accompanying sight and explanation- Corsac was shirtless and leaning against the wall, holding his left arm as he slouched over. Though Sun couldn't fully see the nature of the wound, it was clear that Corsac was injured. An odd, black discoloration snaked up along his shoulder and spilled over onto his chest, rendering the flesh somewhat ashen and warped.

"Salem…?" Sun asked, though it was already obvious.

"I… do not even know what she did," Corsac said with a nod. "During one of my passes, I landed with this wound and a pain unlike any I've ever felt. It is only now fading…"

"She tagged you moving at those speeds?" Sun said, more to himself than anyone else. "Holy shit…"

"And it was a calculated blow," Corsac added. "Had you not been firing at her and scored a hit upon her arm, I may be dead. She barely missed my heart."

"We're all glad she did," Jaune said solemnly. "Everything just… happened so fast…"

"It did," Sun agreed. "Are you… gonna be okay?"

Jaune finally looked up and met Sun's eyes, and the faunus immediately had his answer. It wasn't the same as the one that was offered.

"I'll… I-I'll be alright," Jaune said with a firm nod. Despite his attempt at stoicism, the boy's fingers were trembling slightly as he held his arms at his sides. "Let me tend to Corsac with my Semblance. Fill Neopolitan in on the plan, and… I'll be ready for anything when you need me. We're all looking to you for direction."

"No pressure…" Sun said to himself as he turned toward the cockpit and began to walk.

Much to his surprise, he found Neopolitan hanging over the back of the pilot's seat and looking uncharacteristically shaken. He had expected something entirely different from her based solely on what he had heard about the vigilante's relationship with Ruby. There was nothing smug in Neopolitan's expression, not any sort of satisfaction. All Sun could see was fear intermingled with something else he couldn't put his finger on.

"Uh… are you alright…?" the faunus tried, knowing full-well that he wouldn't receive a reply. "That's… probably a stupid question, all things considered, but… you did well flying Corsac in to help, and I'm glad you didn't just take off for Vacuo. I don't even know why I'm rambling right now…"

The corner of Neopolitan's mouth twitched as she reached down for her scroll and began to type away. Within seconds, she had a message ready for Sun and turned the screen toward him.

I'm not alright, and neither are you. Why are you here?

Sun stared at the text for quite a while until Neopolitan finally pulled it away from him and tilted her head, clearly expecting an answer.

"…Yang needs Blake right now," Sun explained. "And I need to not be in the way. She's the only one who can even begin to understand what Yang is feeling. I'm also here to coordinate between ships. We're following Harriet."

Neopolitan nodded and turned around in her seat, once again strapping herself in and taking the control stick. With a few flicks of switches on the command console, she once again put her scroll in her free hand and began to tap out a new message. Sun eased himself into the co-pilot's seat, patiently waiting for the next message. He only had to wait a few seconds before catching the device as it was tossed his way.

I'll stick close. What about what you need right now? You knew Ruby pretty well, didn't you?

Sun let out a sigh and rubbed at his forehead. The transport began to accelerate behind Harriet's ship, and Sun kept his eyes trained on the plane to try to force himself to focus. He handed the scroll back, hoping that Neopolitan would be willing to continue the conversation as a distraction.

"I… yeah, I just… none of this feels real at all. I can't be concerned with myself right now, not when this is hitting Yang, Blake, and even Jaune so hard. Can I ask why you seem to care at all? I mean, with everything I've heard… don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that you're with us, but I just… I don't get it."

Neopolitan heaved a sigh, mirroring Sun's focus on the ship ahead as they passed by Amity. The coliseum was rising almost to the level of Atlas, and the transports moved quickly beneath its massive underbelly together. The scroll was passed back after she finished her one-handed typing without bothering to look it over. Neopolitan was somewhat afraid that if she did, she might erase some of what had been written.

Roman insisted Ruby wasn't the one responsible for what happened to us. I care because I'm going to have to be the one to explain what just happened to him, and I hate seeing him upset. Something changed between those two, and Roman gets attached easily once he gets to know someone. You people have also been just as welcoming as your heroic reputations would imply, and I don't know how to handle that. I guess I'm just trying to get into the spirit to keep myself from wavering.

Sun couldn't help but let out a humorless chuckle at the message before passing the scroll back once again.

"…and what is Roman Torchwick to you, anyway?"

The reply was immediate, and Sun was taken aback by how quickly he found himself holding the scroll once again.

Everything.

"…yeah, I should've seen that coming," Sun considered as he held the scroll sideways for Neopolitan to take once again. "You're not going to elaborate on that, are you?"

Neopolitan didn't take the scroll back, instead moving her other hand to the control stick as she focused on her flight path.

"…gotcha…"

Ilia dropped from her parachute onto a patch of charred grass within Frostflow Park, tucking into a somersault as she landed. The faunus drew her weapon and pointed it outward as she rose to one knee, scanning the area around herself as her skin shifted colors to better blend in with the vegetation in the area. While there were no grimm in close proximity, evidence of their presence was all around Ilia in the form of patches of black ooze. Odd bones were already beginning to erupt from the ground amid the trees, as though Mantle itself was changing to suit its invader.

"Shit…" Ilia cursed softly to herself as she rose into a crouched walk and moved for the nearest cluster of trees in the opposite direction of where her parachute had fallen. "Already? We've got to get out of here fast…"

As Ilia slipped through the trees and reached the edge of the patchwork forest, she heard a scream from an alleyway just beyond the limits of the park. The sound gave her pause as she eyed the path to Robyn's tavern, where she suspected she would find her targets. Months ago, Ilia wouldn't have hesitated to start running toward the objective, thankful for the distraction. As another yell came from the alley in the opposite direction of her goal, however, Ilia couldn't help but consider her options. The faunus closed her eyes in frustration over the internal conflict and found herself annoyed as her first instinct was to ask what Sun would do in her situation.

"…what the hell have you done to me? This had better only take a few minutes," Ilia muttered as she turned toward the alleyway and began to run. "I'm a godsdamned idiot, going to get everyone killed…"

And yet Ilia didn't stop as she sprinted full-tilt, her mind perfectly clear and her leg aching as she went.

Author's Note:

New directions for several characters. None of them will be simple…

-RD