A Third Rose
Chapter 8
The Search Part 1
A/N: Goddamn I didn't think that this story would take off like this, thank you all for your continued support and please leave feedback as I enjoy reading what I might be able to do better.
Just a quick FYI I've never read any of the RWBY novels so what I'm putting in of Headmaster Theodore, is going to be off of what I've seen on the wiki.
Also some reviewers are still asking me why I made Summer's weapon a sword, as I have stated before: I started writing this story BEFORE we got definitive word on what Summer's weapon actually was and I didn't want to go back and retcon everything I had already written. Besides I still think that a sword would suit Summer's personality better than an axe.
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-Vacuo, Just Outside of the Vacuan Intl. Airport-
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Nix had done it, it had taken nearly a week's worth of travel with the trading convoys that went to and from the oasis town but he finally managed to make it to Vacuo's Capitol. He hadn't been in this place in almost three years and it was amazing at just how much things remained exactly the same. The streets, the shops, the back alleys, all of it. Nothing had truly changed. The only things that were slightly more different were some of the people that wandered the streets but that wasn't as important.
Then of course there were the police. Nix wasn't stupid, if they saw him with Summer's weapon they'd try to arrest him for possession of an illegal weapon. He wasn't a Huntsman nor was he in one of the schools. He didn't think that they'd listen to him if he told them what he'd seen anyways and they probably would have thought he stole it or something like that.
So he stuck to the back alleys as he made his way towards the airport. While there was more than one occasion that he had to walk relatively in the open he did his best to stick to areas that he thought might not draw too much attention. Of course he would only spend a few seconds out in those spots and no longer wherever possible.
As he continued through the alleyways he went back over his plan in his head. He knew that he couldn't just waltz through the front doors and into the airport with a weapon; as the only ones who were allowed to do so were either hunters, security or other authorized personnel. If he tried doing so he'd get spotted for sure and then he'd have to deal with being thrown into prison for quite some time. Therefore he had to go about getting on one of the airships heading to Vale in a less…conventional way.
The first order of business was to figure out which airship was heading to Vale, the next was getting on board. One of the older tricks he heard about was to get in via one of the wells of the landing gear but, well Nix didn't like the idea of holding onto a piece of landing gear for dear life for several hours. On the opposite end of the spectrum was to get in posing as a passenger. But again that would mean that he would somehow have to get past several layers of security and make sure no one noticed the sword he had strapped to his back. In other words, a fool's errand at best.
The third and final idea was probably the most likely to work, getting into the cargo compartment of the craft.
It took Nix another half hour but he finally managed to make it to the airport. Well not completely, it was less a manned portion of the airport and a more deserted spot that was blocked off by a chain linked fence and barbed wire that lined the top. It wasn't something he could just break into but at least he could see the docking areas. What he saw made his heart plummet. There was a large open space between the fence and the airships in dock that he would have absolutely no hope of crossing without being spotted.
Nix had more than a feeling that this would be the case but he had to at the very least see if it was possible to try and sneak in. And of course the security was even worse than he thought it would be. He cursed to himself as he started step away from the chain linked fence and was about to try and leave when he heard someone shout "Hey! Who are you and what are you doing here with that?!"
Nix all but jumped and turned in the direction of the voice and saw a pair of security guards that were making their way towards him from 'oh shit!' He screamed in his head. They must have spotted him but h-
Something caught Nix's eye. There were cameras, he had been so focused on figuring out a way in that he must have missed those! Whoever was watching must have spotted him and sent security after him. Nix turned tail and ran as fast as he could, with the security guards in hot pursuit.
Fortunately when they called out to him he was more than a fair distance away from them, which gave him more than enough of a head start. The security guards shouted at him to stop when they took off after him. Of course Nix didn't comply with the demand nor did he have any intention of doing so. He still had to return the sword and clasp and he couldn't do that from inside a cell.
He kept running back through the alleyways, weaving in or around whatever obstacles or people he came across with the timing, precision and speed only someone who was used to running away from others could do. Nix lost track of how long he kept running for but when he started to feel more than a little tired he ducked behind a nearby dumpster and stayed as quiet as he possibly could.
After a few minutes of hearing nothing but his own pounding heart, Nix poked his head out and had a look back down the alley he had been running down. To his immense relief there was nobody there. Letting out the air he had been holding in, Nix crawled out from his hiding spot and slowly got back up.
He swore to himself quietly. Those security guards were probably going to call the cops and when that happened everyone in the city was going to be on the lookout for him. Sure the cops probably wouldn't hurt him unless he tried to do something utterly stupid but he had to make it to Vale. Dammit! He didn't have time for any of this shit!
Nix took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down as he tried to come up with a new plan. 'Okay, okay let's calm down and think this through. The cops probably still have a lot on their plate, it's not like they can just throw every single officer after one single guy because he has a weapon on him. Worst case scenario I get my face plastered on the news but that won't happen until later, they can't just do all that instantly. So I've got a few hours before they start to really look for me. I have to be out of the city by then or it's going to get much harder. What can I do to-'
The young pickpocket was broken from his thoughts by a loud blaring horn of a train. The instant he heard that noise his thoughts turned to it as the gears in his mind began to turn. He knew that there were many trains that made trips to Vale from Vacuo, it wouldn't be a comfy ride but neither was hiding in the cargo compartment of an airship. Not only that but from what he had heard; trains weren't nearly as well guarded as airships.
A plan started to form in Nix's mind as he began making his way to the train station. It would definitely take a hell of a lot longer than taking an airship and he'd have to sneak onto different several different trains. But it sure beat walking all the way to Vale.
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-Patch Island, Rose/Xiao-Long Household-
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Things were tense to say the absolute least at their home. Cinder had noticed it almost immediately when no one had heard anything from mom for the past few days. The first day that mom hadn't called to let them know that everything was all-right, was a little worrying to everyone. They had figured that she would call them the following day but when that never happened but after dad tried calling her numerous times throughout the second day and never received any sort of a response that everyone started to worry.
Taiyang contacted Ozpin almost immediately and told him that they hadn't heard anything from Summer in two days. The Headmaster spoke with Taiyang at length and he knew just as well as Cinder's father that this wasn't normal for Summer, even when she was only gone for missions around Vale, she always called. Cinder almost breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that Drunkle Qrow was being recalled from the mission he was on and back to Vale to start a search for her.
At the moment though Cinder was racing out of the school bus and towards the front door of the home. She'd still had to go to school every day of course and do her best. The instant Cinder was done however, she'd make a beeline for home, hoping against hope that they had some kind of news, despite having been told that the instant that they had something they would pull her out of class to tell her.
She climbed up the steps and slammed the door open and immediately saw her sisters and father, all of whom were gathered in the entryway and blurted out "Has she called us back yet?!" Hope and fear laced every word.
There was a look of reluctance on dad's face that all but told Cinder how this was going to go, not to mention that her sisters were still crestfallen, and sad. Her father looked to the ground and shook his head. Cinder felt herself become saddened as well, as her hopes were dashed once again. Though her worries became secondary as she made her way over to her sisters and took a seat beside them on the steps that lead upstairs and pulled them in close. It wasn't much but it they did seem to get slightly better, so Cinder would say that it was better than nothing.
Cinder wanted to say something, anything! But what could she possibly say? What could she do that could help them? She promised mom that she'd look after Ruby and Yang, and she had to do something!
The eldest daughter of the household was broken out of her thoughts when she heard Yang whisper, "Please stay big sister, please don't ever leave." Cinder pulled Yang closer and fighting back the tears said "I promise I'll always be here for you both. No matter what."
At that Yang and Ruby tightened their grips around their big sister's body and Cinder felt her shirt start to dampen as Yang and Ruby both began silently crying. At that Cinder closed her eyes and felt the sting of tears at the corner of her own eyes but she forced it back. She had to be strong for Ruby and Yang, they needed her and she couldn't fall to pieces on them, no matter how bad things got. She would always be there for them.
It was only a few more minutes of waiting until the last member of the family showed up, Uncle Qrow. In all the time that Cinder had known the man, she'd never once seen him look as haggard as he did at that moment. Everyone looked up at him and for once, Qrow didn't have a witty comment or that same friendly grin as he walked into the house. The only thing he tried was a half-hearted smile and a "Hey guys."
It didn't fool anyone. But Ruby and Yang both went up to their uncle and embraced him as tightly as they could, with Cinder following close behind. Qrow didn't make any quips or jokes or anything like he normally would have at that point. Instead he just returned the hug in relative silence. This continued for a while until the trio finally let Qrow out of their grasp.
Once everyone was settled in, Qrow began to explain. "All right, now that everyone's here, I'll tell you what's happening. We still haven't found Summer, but I talked to Ozpin last night and he already has people in Vacuo looking for Summer right now. Mister Silvers and I are going too to help with the search."
Ruby and Yang had both been trying to keep it together and were a chaotic mess of emotions. Cinder could read the signs –as could their father and uncle- and saw that they both wanted their uncle to find their mom but at the same time they were terrified about losing him too. Cinder pulled the pair close "Drunkle Qrow knows what he's doing. He'll find mom and bring her back. You'll see."
There was a part of Cinder though that wondered if she was also trying to convince herself as well as her sisters.
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More than just a few minutes later while Qrow was in a cab on the way to Vale's airport. Normally he would have flown there –and he'd be sorely tempted to do it if there was even the slightest amount of traffic- but he also wanted to keep his strength up. Fact was that flying around as his namesake for long periods of time, while fun and helpful, still tired him out, and Qrow needed to be as alert and as ready as he could for as long as possible. Sure he could rest on the flight but if someone called him with an update, he needed to be at one hundred percent.
For a while the cab continued to drive, with Qrow finding himself tap his foot against the floor of the car as he glanced out at the landscape around them. His thoughts were running miles away though. Qrow's mind started going through all sorts of scenarios in his mind about what had happened and where Summer was. Given the lack of contact and how long it had been, Qrow knew just how bad the situation was. So did Taiyang. The likelihood of them finding Summer alive or even at all was ridiculously low.
Qrow didn't want to think that would happen to Summer. She made it, she always did. She couldn't be dead.
"Qrow, you want to talk?" asked Krim, who was sitting just a few feet away in the back of the cab. Qrow looked over at his friend and sighed "It's that obvious huh?" he asked. Krim nodded "Kind of."
The pale, dark haired man let out a sigh, "I don't really think there's all that much to say, I'm hoping for the best but at the same time I…well you know the stats on a hunter going missing for this long during a mission."
Krim gave what Qrow knew to be a reassuring smile "Summer's beaten the odds before, remember that time back in Anima with that group of terrorists who were trying to start a civil war so they could overthrow the government?" he asked.
Qrow smiled remembering the event "Yeah, I remember." Crazy things happened back then, and it was right before Oz had brought the four of them in on the big secret about the Grimm and the secret war that had apparently been waged against their queen for centuries if not millennia. That had been one hell of a bombshell to drop on the team. He still remembered everyone's faces when they found out and it still threatened to get a chuckle out of him.
"Your sister in-law's a resourceful woman. So don't give up hope but at the same time, fortify yourself for the worst."
Qrow cocked an eyebrow and said "You do realize that you're not very good at pep talks right?" To which the Wolf Faunus gave a mirthless chuckle "My wife's the therapist, not me." Qrow chuckled at that last quip.
There was a few moments of silence after that before Qrow's scroll started to ring. It was Ozpin calling. Qrow answered the phone and kept it in video function "Oz, what's going on? We're already going to the airport."
Ozpin's reply was almost immediate. "I just received a call from Headmaster Theodore in Shade. Apparently a young boy was attempting to sneak into the Vacuo's airport. He apparently had what Summer's sword on his person when security confronted him."
That immediately caught their interest.
"Are you sure it was Summer's?" asked Krim, trying not to get everyone's hopes up and Ozpin nodded "Positive. I saw the images myself, and if it isn't Sundered Rose then it's easily a perfect copy of it."
With that another a pair of images appeared one of the sword, which was slung across the boy's back, while the other image was of the boy in question. The image of the sword was zoomed in and showed the entirety of the hilt, the pommel of which was stylized to look like a rosebud. Both Krim and Qrow had seen the sword on numerous occasions and it was indeed Summer's weapon. The shot of the boy however revealed him to have tanned skin, short messy dark hair and dark brown eyes.
"So what's going on now? I assume that Theodore's talking to him as we speak right?"
At that Ozpin shook his head with a disappointed sigh. "When the security personnel at the airport confronted him, he ran and managed to escape. The police in Vacuo are already keeping an eye out and they've already been instructed in no uncertain terms that they are to take him in alive and unharmed. I would request that the two of you try to find him you can. Theodore already has teams of Huntsman combing the desert looking for Summer, but this boy is our best lead."
Qrow nodded while Krim stroked his chin. "All right, we'll start looking for him as soon as we get there, can you keep us updated if anything changes. Good luck gentlemen."
With that both parties said their good-byes and the scroll call ended. Now though both were starting to ponder just what was going on.
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-Vacuo, Intl. Airport-
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Several hours later the duo had finally set down at the Vacuo Intl. airport and surprisingly enough were relatively well rested given how both had done what they could to rest as much as they could during the long flight. While they were more than just a little bit tired, it wasn't nearly as bad if they had stayed up the entire time. Both were more than ready to get to work on finding the boy.
The second they exited the airship though they found Theodore himself waiting for them. Both Huntsman had met the headmaster on several occasions and each time the man was nothing if not jovial and more than just a little bit hammy. What they saw here, was anything but that. In fact if they were to compare him to anyone, they'd say he was doing a near perfect Ironwood impression.
"Hey Theo," Qrow greeted casually, like he always did. Theo gave a small, sad smile and said "Hey Qrow." It wasn't the same boisterous and friendly Theo that he normally knew -and occasionally drank with- but was someone who knew how serious the situation and that a friend of his was now missing. Now wasn't the time for being jovial.
"Headmaster Theodore. I, have to say that we weren't expecting you out here to greet us in person."
The Headmaster gave a small smile that while genuine wasn't as big and toothy as it normally was "Well I'm glad that I was able to surprise you two that much at least."
He led them out of the airport proper and to a nearby car. Once they were inside they didn't waste any time getting down to business "So how has the search been going?"
Theodore gave a sigh and shook his head "So far none of the search teams have reported any sign of Summer. However shortly before you landed we were able to get some information on the boy we got on the security camera footage. His name is Nix Malachi, and apparently he was a runaway from an orphanage a couple of years back."
At that Qrow looked more than just a little bit taken aback by that "He just 'ran away' from the orphanage, and what? Did no one try to find him?"
Theodore sighed "The orphanage contacted the police and filed a missing persons' report and the cops did try to look for him but they couldn't find any hide or hair of him anywhere. The boy's a slippery one to say the least; the police are combing through the city and checking everything, but they haven't made any progress."
At that both Huntsman became frustrated and scowled. They had been raveling to Vacuo for hours and the fact that the cops hadn't managed to find a single kid was well and truly beyond frustrating. Still though it had only been a day, so it wasn't entirely unfeasible that the cops wouldn't have something, and it wasn't like Qrow or Krim could truly complain, they had difficulties tracking down people on occasion as well.
"The police and some of my own Hunters have already started keeping a close watch on every way in and out of the city they could think of. I'm reasonably confident that we'll find him soon," Theodore assured. Krim and Qrow looked at one another and hoped that the Headmaster was right.
It wasn't until much later in the day that the group learned that the boy had already slipped through their net by sneaking aboard a train heading out of Vacuo. And it would take some time before they managed to figure out which one it was.
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-Train, outbound from Vacuo, Cargo Compartment, Several Days Later-
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Nix felt the compartment he was in rumble constantly and the section in between the cargo crates he was currently nestled in was especially uncomfortable. He could barely fall asleep much less stay asleep at this point but he still managed to get at least some rest in. It wasn't much but he at least had something.
While he would normally stay in the cargo compartments he did occasionally sneak out and pretend to be a passenger when he was hungry enough. He'd have to leave the sword hidden behind in the cargo hold in his hiding area and quickly sneak back in when he got what food he needed before one of the attendants thought he didn't belong or asked him for his ticket.
It worked, thank the gods, but that was only because they didn't want to think that a kid was a stowaway. But Nix was smart enough to know that he couldn't rely on this forever. The police in Vacuo had probably long since figured out by now that he had already escaped the city and that he probably did so by stowing away on a train. The only question now was how long before they had figured out which one. Nix's plan was to continue stowing away on trains until he finally managed to make it to Vale.
It would be difficult and he'd need to keep changing trains every couple of days at least due to how the train lines worked. It wasn't completely difficult for him to get a map of the train lines, as almost every station had for passengers and those thinking of traveling along the rail lines to another area. It had proven exceptionally useful for him to plan out his route.
Granted it wasn't the entire map of the rail lines and he had to get off each train at a certain stop, as there weren't many trains that went straight to Vale and at the time he didn't have the luxury of picking and choosing at the time. He needed to get out of the city quickly and he couldn't wait for a train that headed straight to Vale, so he picked the next best option. Still though, by now though he was past the border between Vale and Vacuo.
The vast deserts, mesas, had since given way to literally greener pastures. Now there were forests, grasslands and mountains. It was something that Nix had never once thought he'd see in his life, seeing as how he had only ever been in the vast deserts and oases of Vacuo. It was a beautiful sight and he wondered just how much the Valeans knew just how good they had it. Once this train came to a stop he'd have to ditch the train for another one for a few more days before he ended up in Vale.
Eventually the train came to a stop and Nix gathered the sword and clasp, knowing that he'd have to move quickly if he wanted to avoid too much suspicion.
It was difficult with the sword he carried strapped to his back but Nix managed to slip past the train attendants and managed to get out of the station. The instant he was out he began making his way into the small town he found himself in. The place wasn't really all that much and it was obvious that it was nothing more than a pit-stop for anyone making their way to other parts.
There didn't seem to be that many hotels or places he could sleep at but he realized pretty quickly that the people that worked there would probably end up asking him where he got the weapon or just outright calling the police. Nix sighed. Looks like he'd have to either find a nice cardboard box in an alley somewhere or something similar to that. A glance upwards at the dark clouds that were getting darker by the minute told him that he'd have to find cover soon unless he wanted to get completely soaked.
For a while Nix continued walking, in no direction in particular, looking for somewhere he could either eat at or somewhere he could sleep without being bothered. He still had plenty of cash on him thanks to Summer and could probably more than afford to use it to get a nice meal. However he had more than just a few reservations about doing that yet. The first was once again how people would react to Summer's sword, the second was that if he had to stop using trains to get to Vale then he'd have to find another method of getting to Vale.
Eventually, Nix heard the sound of thunder coming from the dark clouds that had gathered. Just a few seconds later rain started to fall and flashes of lightning and the roar of thunder filled the air. Nix needed to find shelter, now.
He started moving much faster, looking for somewhere or something he could use for shelter. At the edge of the small waystation of a village, there was a single story home –a large cabin really- and nearby there was a small shack just a few dozen meters away. Realizing that this was his only real option for cover, he started to make his way to the shack nearby the cabin. He checked the door that lead into it only for it to, naturally be locked. 'Of course it couldn't be that easy,' he thought.
He went around the side of the shack and when he reached behind it he smiled at what he saw. There was a small windowed hatch that was open in the back and it was large enough that he could crawl inside. To make matters even better there was a small crate that was large enough for him to use to give him enough a boost that he could easily reach the windowed hatch and crawl in.
It took him less than fifteen seconds to make the climb and another ten to crawl in through the small hatch. Unfortunately though there wasn't anything he could hold onto or use to climb down, and it was a good six or seven feet down. The boy impacted the wooden floor on his side with a thud and while it didn't hurt as badly as he thought and he could still move his body just fine, so he considered that a win. Though he knew that he'd probably end up having to deal with some nasty bruises for a couple of weeks.
Now that he was in the shack itself he had a look around. There were some refrigerators, crates and a few random tools hung up on the walls. All in all, not much for him to really look at but there was a small space that was hidden in a corner between a crate and one of the fridges. He could use that as his…hiding/resting spot until the rain died down a little. A loud boom of thunder followed by a bright flash of lightning coming from outside told him that would probably take a while.
Moving to the corner of the room Nix did his best to make himself comfortable.
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"I thought I told you to get me some more of the good stuff boy!" shouted a drunk man with messy grey hair from his seat at the table, empty beer bottles scattered all over it and off it. "I'm celebrating a job well done!"
His son who had equally grey hair had opened the door and was already looking outside at the pouring down rain and then looked back "Dad there's a thunderstorm out there, and don't you think you've had en-"
The boy's father glowered at him in anger "I think that you should be more afraid of what I will do to you rather than what some drops of water will do if you don't go out there and get me what I want."
Mercury Black flinched at the reminder of the pain his father was capable of inflicting and started to make his way out of the house and towards the storage shed.
To be continued.
A/N: Well, was anyone expecting Merc to show up this early into the story?
Also while I will say that it looked like that Merc and his dad were in a cabin out in the wilds like hermits I would be more than a little bit hesitant to say that they were out in the middle of complete nowhere. It would be very unlikely that an assassin like Marcus would be able to get any hit jobs if he lived in a place that was hard to get in or out of. So it's likely that while he lives in a relatively remote area, he still has a reliable form of transportation to get him from one place to another (the train lines).