The following evening, high in the sky, a girl closed her umbrella and safely landed on the rooftops. She closed her parasol and put it away. She collapsed to her knees, trying not to succumb to fatigue.
Okay... Now that I'm finally out of the sky, I can focus on trying to find Roman.
Neopolitan quickly whipped out her scroll and texted him,
Hey Roman. I hope you managed to defeat that puny little girl. I managed to land on one of the rooftops in Vale. Problem is I'm stuck on top of the Robin EM Casino. Can you please pick me up from here? Thanks.
As time passed by, she looked at the sky and all its treasures; the twinkling stars, the moon and the natural beauty of it all. She stared at the sky for some time. Ten minutes had passed. She sent him another message.
Roman?
She counted the stars to try and occupy her time. After counting to at least 30, she got bored.
Roman?
What is taking him so long? Neo thought to herself.
She texted him, Rooooomannnnn? Answer me, please!
The young criminal arose from the ground and replayed the events in her head. Ruby was fighting against her and Roman. The last thing she remembered before being swept away with the wind was Roman calling out her name, or her nickname.
"Neo!"
She had been stuck in the air for hours afterward. She hadn't slept and hardly ate. But she felt no hunger. She felt exhaustion and fear more than anything else.
Oh, where is he?!
After realizing that he wasn't coming, she had to search for him herself. She looked around and saw an entrance to the building down below. She went through the door and ran down the stairs. She found herself on the tenth floor, which looked like a small narrow hallway with several doors leading to separate rooms. She then recalled that in addition to being a casino, this building was also a hotel, shopping center and had a really nice high-end restaurant located on the third floor.
She continued to descend the stairway, hoping that she wouldn't be seen by anyone. Worst case scenario, she could disguise herself as a bellhop or some other employee. As she made it to the third floor, she was seen by a chef who gasped and tried to make a run for it. She ran after him, knocked out the man with her umbrella, then pulled her hidden blade out of her parasol and stabbed him right in the chest, ending his life then and there. After doing this, she noticed the hidden cameras, so she swiftly destroyed them. Then she proceeded to hide the dead chef's body by dragging it into the kitchen. She stole his wallet before turning her attention to the ingredients and kitchen utensils. Since she was there, she grabbed a big sack and filled it up with as much non-perishable food as she could, as well as grabbing a few other supplies. Then she found some rope, tape and turned it into a makeshift backpack.
Once she made it to the ground floor, she stuck out through the back entrance. She saw a fire in the distance. While dodging Grimm and running across collapsed rooftops and ruins, she tried desperately to find Roman. Then she stopped in her tracks, her blood turning to ice, her inner fire snuffing out and tears coming to her eyes.
No... Roman...
She laid her eyes upon the site of the plane crash. Neopolitan fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands.
I can't believe you're gone.
Nothing was there in the crash. His cane, his hat, everything disappeared with him. She hid herself in the ruins, trying to avoid being seen by the police, who had arrived. She quickly ran away to avoid being seen by them and to try and outrun the Grimm. Much to her surprise, she wasn't followed by the creatures of darkness.
She heaved for breath and planned her next move.
Where do I go now?
Later that evening, Blake was still searching for Roman. She had been searching for the last day, with no luck. Her sleep schedule and internal clock were extremely messed up, but to be honest, she didn't even care at this point.
I've been searching for a day. So far, I've gotten... nothing. Hopefully here I can get some answers.
She arrived at the port warehouse, where she had seen Roman ally himself with White Fang agents. She remembered her and Sun being on a stakeout here.
"Did I miss anything?" Sun asked as he arrived.
Blake looked at him. "Not really. They've offloaded the crates from the boat. Now they're just sitting there."
"Cool." He extended his palm, giving her a green apple. "I stole you some food!"
Blake gave him a skeptical look. "Do you always break the law without giving a second thought?"
Sun countered, "Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?" She glared at him angrily. "Okay, too soon!"
The wind blew all around them, and they saw the searchlights of Bullhead, which was this huge plane, looking for a landing spot before descending in the midst of the cargo containers. Once the plane landed, a ramp was extended for a black hooded individual wearing a metallic fanged mask and a red emblem on the back of his vest.
"Oh no..." Blake whispered.
Sun blinked. "Is that them?"
Blake stared closely at the blood red wolf emblem on the back of the man's outfit. The symbol of the White Fang. "Yes... It's them."
A White Fang Soldier motioned with his rifle to the other White Fang members to get them hurry up. "All right, grab the tow cables!"
"You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?" he inquired.
Blake stared down sadly, surveying the scene below. "No. I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to be right." She closed her eyes in despair and opened them when she heard Roman's voice for the first time.
"Hey! What's the holdup!?" The soldiers looked at Roman Torchwick, gesturing them to hurry up as he came down the ramp. "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"
Blake was in complete shock. "This isn't right. The White Fang would never work with a Human." She stood up and began to unsheathe the katana of her weapon, Gambol Shroud. "Especially not one like that."
Sun raised in eyebrows in alarm. "Hey, what are you doing?!"
She ran off edge of the roof, fell to the ground in a couch, then hid behind one of the containers, and as she returned to the present, she was doing the same once again. She checked to be sure the coast was clear and then carefully entered the warehouse, examining her surroundings. There was no one here. She thoroughly examined the warehouse for any clues as to where they might have went. There were several boxes of Dust containers there, all stacked on top of each other, forming a row of ten boxes with one on the top and to the side, a four by four box grid. Amidst the many boxes, she saw a note on top of the four by four box. She gingerly climbed up the wooden crates and retrieved the note.
It read, Go to Warehouse 2 when Dust is retrieved. Cinder and her allies await me there. Take everything with you.
Cinder... Who is she? A member of the White Fang perhaps?
She pocketed the note. She then saw a tiny white slip of paper that was miniature version of a map of the city. The map was marked with red circles and red X's. She tried to figure out what they meant, but she had no clue. The only way to find out was to go to a circle or X. She chose to go to one of the X's.
This could be a trap, she reminded herself. but if it'll help me find answers, I don't have much choice.
Meanwhile, back in Atlas, a plane landed in a small area of blue stone adjacent to a large mansion. Two servants opened the silver gates and then stood by as the plane landed. The doors opened as the plane formed a ramp. Jacques Schnee stepped out, breathed in the cold air and smiled without a trace of warmth in his stare.
"Finally, we have arrived back home." Weiss rolled along her big square suitcase off the ramp and onto the good. "It feels good to be back, doesn't it Weiss?" The snow angel didn't answer. She turned away sadly, leaving to drag her suitcase to her room. "Now then, Blanche." He turned to one of the servants in the house. "Get Weiss's remaining luggage from the cargo hold and bring it to her room."
She respectfully bowed to him before carrying out her task. As Weiss rolled along one of her suitcases to her room, Blanche followed behind her, carrying both her duffel bags, one in each hand. Weiss looked at the white walls, this particular hallway being lined with paintings of snowflakes falling, rampaging blizzards or one showing a snow capped evergreen forest. She turned away and continued walking along the dark blue carpet until she reached her room. After opening the door and entering her chambers, the two gently set her bags down in front of her bed. The only light in the room came from the moon shining its light through the window. In spite of the little light present, Blanche saw the tormented look on the young girl's face.
"Are you alright, petite snowflake?" Blanche asked in a kind, warming voice.
Estelle Blanche was an older woman in her mid 60's with silvery white hair in a bun and snow blue eyes. She wore an ankle length white dress that covered her arms with snow blue lace around the hem and shoulders. Although they couldn't be seen most of the time black flats on her small feet. She was one of the few employees left who worked under Nicholas Schnee and completely remembered what it was like during those days. Everyone else had either retired, lost part or all of their memory or had passed on from this world.
Weiss folded her arms and turned away. Blanche knew that Weiss didn't want to be disturbed, so she left the young huntress to her thoughts. The ice queen started to unpack and gently put her clothes away. As she went through her dresses, she gasped when she came across a white, double-breasted jacket with black piping, cuffs and buttons clipped to a white, pleated full skirt with black lace trim. She then remembered wearing this outfit with a pair of white, thigh high boots with black heels and lace-topped black stockings.
The 'Snowpea' outfit. From when we were fighting Roman Torchwick and trying to figure out the connection between him and the White Fang. I can't believe three days ago was the last time I ever saw my all my friends together. The last time we all smiled. The last time Yang had both of her arms.
The young Schnee wanted to cry, but she couldn't, as if someone had stolen her tears. She continued sorting her clothing until it was all in her closet. After putting away her last dress, the young girl yawned, suddenly feeling very tired. She took out her tiara and white hair bow, letting her hair tumble down to her waist. She undressed herself, stripping herself to her bra and underwear. She unclipped her bra and caught it in her hand before tossing it aside with her other clothes. Then she slipped into her faded blue nightgown with the Schnee crest on the upper right corner. She lifted the covers and put them down over herself. The young woman tried to sleep, but she didn't fall asleep easily.
Where did all of the light and joy in this world go? Where did the good times run off to?
Weiss tossed and turned. Despite being physically and emotionally drained, her mind was active, keeping her awake. She turned on her left side, looking out the window. She saw the moon and its pieces floating in the sky, illuminating the sky, so she turned onto her other side. Eventually, she fell asleep, although she didn't remember how or when it happened. She also had a dreamless sleep that night.
The sun arose, signaling the beginning of a new day. Weiss got dressed and into her normal outfit then was about to start brushing her hair. She searched for her bag and found a white hairbrush with a circular design with silvery white bristles. As she got out her white hairbrush from her first duffel bag, she was reminded of the time Zwei picked up Weiss's hairbrush with his mouth and started running through the halls with it. Weiss's hair was loose and flew wildly as she and her teammates pursued the mutt.
"Come back here!" Weiss commanded. "That's my hairbrush, you silly mutt!"
"Zwei, you bad dog!" Ruby exclaimed.
"How did I get talked into this?" Blake mumbled to herself, still heard by her teammates.
"Zwei, come back here!" Yang exclaimed.
They eventually got the hairbrush. Weiss was really annoyed at the time, but looking back on it, it was one of her happier memories. She would go through chasing a dog to get her hairbrush back a hundred times if it meant reversing time and making the events that happened four days ago never happen. She took her hair and divided it into two sections, then moved one section to her right shoulder then her left. She slowly went through her hair, trying not to pull out too many strands. She felt at least three nasty knots in her hair, two on the right and one on the left.
Why is my hair such a mess? Then she remembered.. Oh right. I haven't brushed my hair in several days. I also haven't spoken, but... How... how can I speak of the horrors that occurred?
She tried to dismiss those thoughts. After close to an hour of hair brushing and pulling out more hairs than she wanted, her hair was finally tangle-free. She got her hair bow, tied her hair into a ponytail and donned her mini-tiara with it. She looked at herself in the mirror; she was the ice queen, and she looked beautiful. She tried to smile so she could see her reflection in a happier state of mind.
Well, that certainly took a while. But it helps to distract me. What else can I do to avoid thinking of the problem at hand?
She put the brush down and went up the steps, grabbed a book on bookshelf, sat down in her white and silver throne-like chair and began to read. As she read The Third Crusade, she tried to drown her sorrows or forget about her troubles. Sometimes reading helped. Other times it didn't. In a few rare cases, reading a book made her feel even worse, but after finishing the book she read all afternoon, she actually felt a little better.
For a while, she was able to forget about her sorrows. Unfortunately, it only lasted a few moments as Blanche brought her dinner, since she had forgotten about it.
"Your dinner, ma'm." she said, setting it on the table. Weiss's appetite was gone. "Weiss, are you okay?" The female servant looked at her, her eyes pleading her to say something. "Talk to me, please." Weiss Schnee turned away and said nothing. The servant sighed. Blanche shut the door as Weiss placed her back to the wall and slowly slid to the ground.
You don't understand. I can't speak of what happened. How can I tell anyone?
Pyrrha Nikos sat down on the couch, trying to recover from her battle as she took her medicine. As much as she wanted to get a new weapon and retrieve the remains of Milo and Akouo, she had to rest and give herself time to recover. After swallowing the pill and drinking some water, she looked around the room; Ren and Nora sat a table, each holding a few cards in their hand, while Jaune Arc was in his quarters, writing a letter to his parents. The red-headed warrior put the glass down on the coaster and mused to herself.
The ability by that was used on me... To trick me into thinking Penny multiplied her swords tenfold. Was it an illusion? No wait. No one else saw how many swords she had. Or was it just stress? A moment of silence passed before she asked herself, Have I lost my mind?
She recalled what happened to Yang during the singles round. After her victory against Mercury, the young man approached her only for her to attack him in cold-blooded spite. Yet when the Atlas military personnel surrounded her, she had claimed that she saw Mercury attempt an attack on her.
If it was an illusion, everyone would have seen it and Yang wouldn't have been disqualified. Yang's attack on Mercury was passed as induced by stress by those who defended her, while everyone else claimed it was an act of malevolence. But if Yang 'saw' Mercury attack her when no one else did, and I 'saw' Penny with hundreds of swords when nobody else saw it, then...
Pyrrha gasped quietly to herself.
No... it can't be...
Jaune entered the room and grabbed an envelope, tape dispenser, pen and a stamp. He grabbed a pen and wrote the sending and recipient addresses in the right place before putting the stamp in the upper right corner. Folding the letter hotdog style twice, he placed it into the envelope and sealed it with a piece of tape. "Alright. Now to find a messenger who hopefully, won't charge a fortune to deliver a message."
"Yeah, good luck with that." Ren grimaced. "I hear the lower end of hiring messengers starts at 100 Lien per message."
"Oh great." he sarcastically groaned.
"Yeah. Not exactly good for a bunch of poor, close to broke former students."
"We're not all broke." Nora remarked.
"But we're not exactly rich like Weiss." Ren responded.
"Speaking of Weiss," Pyrrha began. "what happened to her?"
Five days since the Fall of Beacon. It was late afternoon, and time seemed to be moving slowly in the Schnee Family manor. As she finished emptying her second duffel bag, she found a picture of herself and her friends. It was a picture of them taken shortly after first became a team. The photo was taken in front of the large statue/fountain of a Huntsman and Huntress standing atop a rock, beneath a cowering Beowolf. Ruby was on the far left, smiling and holding up a peace sign with her right index and middle finger. Weiss smiled slightly, Blake smiled with her arms folded into each other, and Yang was on the right side, smirking and wearing a pair of sunglasses. Pyrrha held up one their scrolls.
"Alright, everyone get in there!" She adjusted the scroll's camera to fit them all in the lens. "Smile!"
She took some pictures, with and without flash, and did that four times, one for each their scrolls so that by the time she was done, they all got some really good photos.
"Thank you so much!" Ruby cheered.
"No sweat." Pyrrha smiled and laughed.
Weiss stared at the picture of her teammates.
Ruby... Blake... Yang... I miss you. I miss you guys so much. Words can't even begin to describe my loneliness.
Then her thoughts turned to girl she tried so hard to save and had no idea whether or not her efforts that drained almost all of her aura worked or not.
Pyrrha... I know you'll never hear this, but... If you're alive, send me a sign.
She sighed as her prayer went unheard. Nothing really happened that day, or the sixth day. Most of the sixth day, she slept, napped or daydreamed, trying to forget about her woes and what happened at Beacon Academy. The sixth day was slow and painful.
It had been seven days since the Fall of Beacon. Weiss had stood at the window, looking at the world, but never being able to touch it. A knock on her door was heard. She didn't answer. The door slightly creaked as it opened was heard as Klein Sieben entered the room, Weiss slowly turning to the butler as he entered her chambers. He slowly approached her and walked up the steps.
He asked, "Are you alright? Estelle tells me you won't speak to her." Weiss didn't turn away but she still remained silent. "Please. Weiss. Say something..."
"Klein..." Weiss said, speaking for the first time in several days. After staying silent, speaking felt strange to her. Suddenly, overwhelming grief came over her and she began to cry. "Everything has fallen apart." She dropped to her knees, burying her eyes into her fists. "Everything's gone wrong..."
Klein gently embraced her. "I know you may not wish to speak about what happened at Beacon, but I'm always here for you."
Weiss threw her arms around him. "Thank you... I'll tell you everything. Estelle too." She breathed in. "I promise."