I see that my little surprise last chapter has been well received. I am happy with that; my on-the-spot ideas usually are met with mixed reactions. Maybe it was, idk. Anyhow, now we get to see how everyone responses to Amber, making a very shocking and sudden. Y' know, I always wondered why my fellow authors never went this route. Of course, personally, I have never seen it done before. Then again, it has been a long time since I've read another RWBY story that wasn't Couer Al'Aran's. But either way, I am sure that Amber returning in a fashion like this hasn't been done before.
Bah, this chapter corrupted, and I had to rewrite the second half all over again. I have no idea how that happened but mark my words. I will not let it happen ever again. If you were wondering why this took so long, now you know.
Beta: CrowSkull
The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 85
Volume 3, Episode 4
"Qrow!?" Sienna's mouth replied with just as much shock as the man in question was feeling. It didn't sound like Sienna's voice, however. It was much more innocent, much more confused, and much less ferocious than how Sienna Khan usually spoke. Qrow recognized that tone of voice.
At the raw realization of who this woman was, Qrow raised a hand and cupped it over his mouth, feeling the guilt that he had swallowed up long ago come back up and try to make him throw up with how stressed out he suddenly became. This wasn't Sienna anymore. This was Amber. The same woman that he swore to protect with his life, and the woman that he let down when he couldn't keep track of her for just a few days. He was always told that he didn't have to feel bad for her, he kept warning her they said. She knew the risks, they insisted. Amber knew that she had a target on her back, and yet she was still adamant in going out traveling, alone, with no communication devices of any kind on her person.
And those yellow eyes that weren't hers. Qrow looked over her body once again; it wasn't her body, to begin with. That body belonged to a terrorist, and she's been ripped from the dead and thrown back into life with a body that wasn't even hers.
"Wait, are you not Sienna Khan?" Ironwood asked the only person in the room that had any ability to speak and ask the vital question. "Tell us, what is your name?"
"It's Amber!" Sienna… no, Ozpin didn't think it proper to refer to her as Sienna anymore. She may have been in control of Sienna's body, but the person who was born with it was no longer there. "I'm Amber Gwynt! That's my name… not Sienna, no, not that." Amber seemed to be pleading with herself. She pushed off of Ozpin and stumbled backward, using the monitor that Ozpin was controlling earlier as support to help her stay on her feet. She looked down at her body, down at her arms, legs, chest, and at the streaks of hair that fell in front of her eyes. Her skin was still dark, but it was more of the tan variety. And the stripes… she's never had tiger stripes before! Her chest was smaller than before, and her entire body felt entirely different! This body wasn't hers, the extra appendages she felt twitching violently on the top of her head only exemplified that. This body wasn't hers! Where was her body, where was it!?
"Where is it…?" She mumbled to herself as she looked around the room. She remembered being down there years ago when she was still a student. She always wondered how she was so powerful ever since she unlocked what she thought was her semblance. Only to find out that it wasn't a semblance at all. It was magic, the magic of the Fall Maiden. This was where Ozpin first had that conversation with her, along with Qrow, Ironwood, and one other that she couldn't quite remember.
Her now yellow eyes stared back at her as she stumbled across to the other pod adjacent from the one that she was helped out from before. She fell deeper into it, clutching the sides of it and wiping at the built-up steam on the front of the glass.
A pair of hands were placed on her shoulders. "A-Amber," she heard Ozpin's voice call to her. "Don't; you don't want to see what's in there."
"Away!" Amber screamed as she weakly pushed at him with her elbow. "Let me see! What are you hiding from me!? What's happening!?"
"Just let me explain, and we can figure this all out," Ozpin said as he backed away calmly and slowly, raising his hands in surrender and making himself look as little as a threat as possible. "Please, just back away from that pod, let's go get you some food and drink, and we can sort this all out. I promise."
Amber's eyes shook as she looked back at the crowd before her. She recognized a few of them, Qrow, General Ironwood, Ozpin, and even Glynda. But the boy… The boy who looks so confused to be there that he didn't look that he belonged with them in the first place. He was young. He had to be a first or second-year student at most. But there was something familiar about him: the way his body was shaped, his hair, his face. In the end, it was the eyes that gave him away completely.
"M-Matsuoka," Amber stammered, backing away with shock in her eyes. "You're one of them, aren't you?"
"What?" Kai replied after shaking his head. Only just now coming back into reality as he noticed the maiden now staring at him with a strange emotion filling her up from the inside. "I am one, yes. Why does that-"
"He is no threat, I assure you." Ozpin cut him off, even going as far as to stand in front of him as if hiding him from view. "He is an ally, a friend; he will not hurt you."
"I-I…" Amber didn't look like she believed him. But she did look at least calmed down if even a little. Kai became even more confused at that. How and why was this woman afraid of him? Either way, he let Ozpin hide him behind his body. If that worked, then so be it. He wasn't sure what was going on himself. Only that the woman who was once Sienna was acting very differently than she was before. It was like she wasn't Sienna at all anymore.
Amber turned her back to them and violently swiped away at the glass, using claws that she didn't know she had and scratching a hole into the visor. Ozpin yelled at her to stop, but it was too late, the steam burst out from within the pod, and she saw it. Her own body. It was a feeling that she didn't know how to describe. Seeing her own body from the eyes of someone else, and yet still being alive. Her old body slumped to the side, mouth hung open, and her eyes shut half-way. It was clear that there was no longer any sign of life.
Amber screamed. Her hands grabbed her scalp, and she gripped her hair tightly on the verge of ripping it out, looked around, and began to hyperventilate. Finding out the answer to her question in the worst way possible, she screamed again and turned back around. Ozpin was slowly moving toward her, beckoning her to come closer and calm down. Qrow was as well, slowly moving in from behind him. Her yellow eyes darted around, and she felt her heart beating loudly up into her ears. It was deafening. Amber wanted no part in it. She closed her eyes, fell down to her knees, felt hot tears stream down her face, and just remembered.
Who am I? What am I? Am I alive? Dead? Is this real? I am Amber, but they called me Sienna, who is Sienna!? Her eyes scrunched down even tighter as she remembered memories that were hers, and memories that weren't hers. She remembered her old team from her time in Beacon; she also remembered childhood on the hot summer isles of Menagerie. She remembered graduating Beacon after four long hard years of work, and then she also remembered escaping the SDC mines in Atlas after. She remembered becoming the maiden, remembered taking her first life, remembered helping people around the world, becoming the leader of the White Fang, riding her horse in the dense forests of Vale. Invading Mistral with an army of terrorists at her back, helping her worst enemy kill someone else, only to regret it quickly after.
It was too much at once; it all came back to her at once the moment she tried. She let out another powerful scream that had her throat feeling pain so intense that she didn't know was possible. A force of wind blew out from her body, and she felt a warm flame burst out of one of her eyes. She was so used to it, and yet she was not. She forced her eyes open again, and she saw him. The Matsuoka, standing before her and absorbing the flames that she had accidentally let out. He almost seemed to be glaring at her with those milky white pupils of his. She also remembered-
Kai roared when he pushed through the flames and clasped a hand over the upper half of her face and slammed her head into the monitor behind. She was out cold in an instant. She had no aura to protect herself, Kai quickly realized. It was all spent up after the process finished. He let her down gently, yet kept her head resting on his leg as he dropped down to one knee. He placed two fingers on Sienna's neck- or whoever this woman was now - and made sure that she was still alive and sighed. He had no idea what to make of this.
"Mister Matsuoka, is she alright?" Ozpin asked as he caught up.
"Alive," Kai said with a shake of his head. He turned to Ozpin and made sure his discontent was known. "What was that? Just what did you do to her?"
Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware you were concerned for the woman that was Sienna Khan."
"You and I both know that wasn't Sienna just then," Kai pointed out. "She could be dead for all I care, and I would be happy about that. But this woman, if she really is Amber, what the hell are we meant to do about that?"
"Good question," Qrow said as he bent down and picked up what used to be Sienna. "Let's answer it later. Right now, we need to make sure that our fall maiden is alive, and when she wakes up, she doesn't have another outburst like that."
"Agreed," Ironwood said, far from it for him to disagree with Qrow at a time like this. "Clearly, she displays the power that is on par with that of Cinder Fall. We cannot afford for her to wake up and do something like that again. If it weren't for Mister Matsuoka here, I fear that she would have been quite the pain to get under control."
"That is not a strategy that we can rely upon forever," Glynda warned. "If that really is Amber, then we are going to have to regain our trust. Every time she gets out of control, we can't just send someone to knock her out like we did this time. We've lost her trust, and we can't blame her, she has already lost her life once after entrusting it to us…"
"We can hardly get blamed for that," Ironwood said. "She was the one who insisted on traveling the outskirts of Vale by herself even after we warned her of the risks of it. She made her own choices, and this is where she ended up."
"Do you think that is going to matter to her, Jimmy?" Qrow barked. The General raised an eyebrow at the usually drunken huntsman. "She didn't want to feel trapped by us, and we respected that on the condition that I keep an eye on her. She agreed, and that was that. No problems came up for months afterward, and it was just one time, one time when I wasn't paying attention, and it all went to shit." He looked down and shook his head. Amber's new face stared back up at him, eyelids closed, and passed out uncomfortably. "And now she is back, somehow some way, she is back and in the body of the most renowned terrorist on Remnant. She isn't going to like that, would you? Would any of you?"
No one replied.
"Then I suggest that we take a slightly less tense hand on her when she wakes up," Qrow continued. "Keeping things from her and lying to her face isn't going to work anymore. When she wakes up, we'll explain how the way things are going and catch her up."
"And me?" Kai piped up. "What am I going to do? If she really is Amber, then she wouldn't need any training."
Ozpin shook his head. "No, she will need some. She may have been the fall maiden, but she never had a natural talent for it. I never had the will to continue learning. And after that most recent display, I fear that she has lost a lot of that muscle memory, so to speak. But as of now, your task is going to be postponed. What you do with your new free time is up to you, though I'd advise against rejoining your teammates just yet."
Kai shut his mouth before he could speak. Ozpin knew what he was going to ask before he even managed to ask it. It has been a few weeks since he was arrested, which was long enough for a short mission, but not long enough for this supposed special training mission that Ozpin has told the world he was on at the moment. In the end, he chose to remain silent. His mother and sister would visit him if he called for them if he wanted company. Maybe…
He shook his head at the thought and stepped away from Qrow as he stepped down from the machine. What was going to happen to him now could wait. As far as he knew, this was good news.
Sienna was dead. If Amber returning had anything to say about it. Kai felt right about that, and even if he wasn't the one to end her life, her very soul seems to have been erased from her body and replaced with Amber's. He was much more willing to train Amber than he was Sienna. It seemed that this was meant to be, Amber returns, now she's is going to be a new ally. This means that once Kai whips her back into shape, she can help him take down Cinder. He was sure that she would be vengeful after what she did to her. All he had to do now was wait and see what happens. With the Vytal Festival so close, he was sure he didn't have to wait too long.
Ruby huffed and rubbed her tummy as she let out a long burp. The gases that came back up tasted like the food she just ate, which strangely made it a little yummy. Beside her, Blake was still digging vigorously on her bowl of fish. She didn't know how she did it. It wasn't just any bowl of fish either; it was literally a bowl of whole fish. As in the fish wasn't cut up at all. It was just dead and seasoned. Apparently, that was more than enough for Blake. She never thought that she could be as messy as she could when eating. She must have loved fish.
Almost as much as Orchid loved to let out exaggerated cries as she clung to Weiss' side. "Waaaah, Weiss! Thank you so much for paying! I'm so happy you are here with us!" She exclaimed as raw tears of joy streamed down her face. "I love you!"
"G-get off me!" Weiss shouted as she patted Orchid on the head. Face red from embarrassment. Despite her cry for her to get away, she returned the affection, if only awkwardly. "It was the least I could do to try and cheer you guys up! You're lucky too. My sister tells me that my father was on the border of locking me out of my account, so if I even said one thing wrong after calling him, I would not have been able to do this for you guys."
"Which is why I love you!" Orchid cried, burying her face into Weiss' shoulder even more than before. "I appreciate you! I am so glad I can rely on your money!"
Yang let out a chuckle. "You mean her, right?"
"Well," Orchid leaned away to think for a moment, bringing one hand up to cup her chin. "Yeah, the money comes with her as a package, so of course!"
"That…" Weiss sighed and finally shoved her gently away. "Whatever, thank you for the compliment anyhow. I am thankful that you are so filled with joy because of what I've done for you."
"Woah," Brick's grin was a little too teasing for her liking. "Was that my partner being nice and not snapping for once? Geez, that is a sight to behold. Rick, quick! Get my camera!"
"I'm always nice, you dolt!" Weiss screamed as she glared at her partner, sitting at her other side. Brick only laughed, and as a good brother should, Rick too a picture of what happened next. As Brick turned away, Weiss summoned a glyph underneath his stool, and with a wave of her hand, weaved it into slippery ice. Brick's weight, however little, pushed down on the stool and caused it to slip and tip over, which in turn caused him to tip over as well onto the nice, damp grass. At least Rick managed to get a good shot of it. In the picture Brick's face was in the perfect frame right between laughing and panicked.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Brick whined as he rubbed his butt and rolled around on the floor. "That hurt, Weiss!"
"Oh, don't be such a big baby," Weiss said with a roll of her eyes, finding this hilarious and barely able to hold back her own laughter.
Nora didn't even bother to try. "Yeah, don't be such a big baby, Brick! You're the one who said that your team would be the one to win against ours, that means that you have to be better than Rick, right?"
"Ergh," Brick growled as he climbed back into his seat, though he noticeably kept his feet on the ground this time just in case Weiss got any more funny ideas. He didn't respond to Nora's challenge. It was well known that no matter what they did, how differently they changed, Brick and Rick were never able to surpass each other. They were always equal even though Rick trained with the likes of Pyrrha while Brick trained with Weiss most of the time.
"Whatever," He said instead, sighing as he dropped his head into his hand.
"Jokes aside, I really do wonder how the tournament is going to work," Jaune said with a thoughtful shrug. "I thought it was going to be schools against schools, but from what I learned from the past tournaments, they are always randomized. We could go up against each other or some random team that came from across the world."
"It is an interesting dilemma," Ren agreed. "Though we'll just have to see what happens. The tournament is going to be filled to the brim with potentially hundreds of teams from all four academies. Even if we are able to go against our own teams, I doubt our teams would be pitted against each other so soon. Perhaps in the later rounds but… not in the early ones."
"Yeah… say," Yang draped an arm over her sister's shoulders. "Do you know if you're going to be part of the tournament? Kai can't be gone forever, right?"
"We don't know yet," Blake answered for her as she wiped her mouth of fish oil. Ruby was grateful that she finished her meal right on time. "Since the tournament starts in literally a few minutes, I doubt that we'd be able to participate as a three-person team. Perhaps later in the rounds… it all depends on when Kai gets back and even if we can join the tournament that late."
"Here's hoping," Orchid said with a soft huff. She shook her head and looked down at her food. Her giddiness faded, but it came back quickly with a shake of her shoulders. Her eyes flashed and a new personality burst forth. "Well let's not dwell on the past yeah?" She said in a new, interesting accent. It sounded like Velvet's, but more exaggerated. "We got a future ahead of us!"
"Orchid's right," Ruby said with a nod. "Or whoever this one is called. It doesn't matter. Whether or not we are participating in it, we'll make sure to be there cheering you guys on! Win it for us, win it for Beacon."
"Awe, you know I will sis!" Yang cheered happily.
"Yeah, Pyrrha will make sure that she wins it all for us," Rick said as he patted the girl in question on her shoulder. She was too distracted with her own food and had been zoned out for the last ten minutes, but at the moment of contact, she lurched forward and nodded her head, agreeing to something she wasn't aware of.
"See? Pyrrha says she's got this!"
"Wait, what?" Pyrrha widened her eyes with a sudden realization. "Wait, no, I didn't mean it like that!" She cried.
"We know, we know," Weiss said with a polite nod. "You're too kind to speak badly about anything, even about things you don't like."
Nora scoffed. "Yeah, except Cardin."
"There's a good reason for that!" Pyrrha pouted. "He is a bully and made life difficult for Jaune!"
"Awe, thanks Pyrrha," Upon receiving Rick and Nora's glare, Jaune quickly changed pace. "I-I mean you really don't have to. He doesn't even bother me anymore! And hey, the last time we did chat, he was actually a pretty cool dude."
"Jaune, that was you trying to make friends with him as he ignored you." Pyrrha pointed out.
"Hey, that's better than bullying, right?"
"... I suppose," Pyrrha allowed.
"Don't worry, Pyr, I think its really adorable how protective you are of your teammates," Nora commented, rubbing Pyrrha's back as she did so. "I mean, I remember when that one girl called Rick short and you just walked up to her and glared the promise of death into her soul. She never called Rick short again after that, even if it is true."
"I've accepted my role in life," Rick nodded, lips pursed. "I am vertically challenged, as is my brother. It is the curse of all Violets."
"Amen, brother." Brick echoed.
"If it makes you feel any better, I could let you borrow some inches from me," Jaune, the tallest guy in their whole group, offered.
Even if he really was just being polite, neither Violet twin could afford to miss this opportunity. "Oh shut up man of the tall! You may tower over us but we, we shall climb that mountain and topple it!" The twins declared in unison.
"Rick, you're on the same team as him." Ren pointed out.
"You too, semi-tall person!"
"Why do I even bother…"
They all shared a laugh at that. The antics of Rick and Brick always managed that somehow, even when everyone was in a certain mood. It got even better when Yang, once again started to explain what happened during her fight with Vernal in a very overexaggerated and of course, one-sided manner. Everyone knew that she was just bragging, but they let her believe that they believed her anyway. Vernal was still a mystery amongst most of them, but she was a well enough known figure to all of Vale after what she did to assist the huntsman in stopping the Breach before it could spread throughout the entire city.
"Speaking of the festival," Orchid muttered through a mouth full of food. "Isn't Two coming over from Vacuo? She was in one of the last Bullheads to come over here, so she should be here soon or already around here somewhere."
Yang gasped at the memory of her. "Oh yeah, Two! She was cool, I liked her. It's been such a long time since we last saw her. It sucks that she went to Shade instead of Beacon."
"We used to keep in touch with her all the time," Ruby explained. "But I guess we sort of drifted away after a bit… but I'm sure she'd meet up with us if we call?"
"I think she would," Orchid said. "It may have been a while but we're all still friends. She probably has her own team now, but hey, that just means more friends!"
"Yeah, you're right."
"Speaking of people we haven't seen in a while, what about Cyan?" All eyes turned on Rick and Brick. They straightened up at the attention, suddenly nervous. "You two are closest to him, he has to be around here somewhere, right?"
"W-well," Rick scratched his cheek nervously, as did Brick. They looked uncomfortable, clearly. But willing to answer their question before they could say that they didn't have to. "After what happened in Mistral Cyan suffered spinal injuries. He's been learning how to walk again with the help of some family members. He's practically guaranteed a spot in any huntsman academy once he's fully recovered but…" Rick and Brick looked to each other sadly. "We don't know if he'd be able to show up here yet. He doesn't want us to see him in a wheelchair again since he promised us that the next time we'd see him he'd be walking on his own two feet."
"I'm sorry," Pyrrha spat out suddenly. "If it weren't for me getting caught off guard by that girl… if only I were stronger… I could have prevented that injury. Cyan saved my life, if it weren't for him I would have surely fallen in Mistral."
"Pft," Rick smacked Pyrrha's back. Cutting her off before she could continue. "Don't be so harsh on yourself Pyrrha, we don't blame you for what happened and he definitely doesn't blame you for that."
"Yeah, he actually brags about that. He's the girl who saved Pyrrha Nikos after all," Brick laughed. "He wears that scar on his front and back with pride, and I hear it's been helping him get on with the girls. Heh, that guy. Always finding ways to make the best out of anything."
"I look forward to meeting him again soon, then." Pyrrha smiled. "If he does happen to show, do let me know. I owe him a personal thanks at the very least."
"Sure, you'll be the first one we call." Brick and Rick easily agreed.
"Ooo, ooo! Look!" Ruby chirped, pointing at the screen. "The selections are happening finally!"
All eyes turned onto the TV hanging above the stand-owners head. They all watched and listened as Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port went into detail explaining the rules of the tournament, which was basically the same for the Mistral tournament two years ago, but with a major change to aura declination. Instead of ten percent last time, it was bumped up to forty percent. That meant that if you went to as low as thirty-nine point nine if you were under forty percent, you were eliminated from the match. There was a minor disappointment but considering what happened during the last tournament it was something that they could deal with. No one wanted to be caught off guard again, and a huntsman without enough aura was as useful as a normal athlete against Grimm and terrorists alike.
After the explanation was made the selection dial was finally spun. It was the first match of the tournament, so there were high expectations. Everyone all over the world would be watching this, and hoping to be entertained. Everyone eagerly awaited the dial to come to a slow, painful, stop.
It first stopped on a picture of Team JNPR, which had them all high fiving each other, excited to already get themselves out there.
It then stopped on Team RWBY right afterward, which stunned them all into silence.
"Well," Blake sniggered as she looked toward the shellshocked teams beside her. "What was that about very slim odds?"
Ren sighed. "It should have been nearly impossible but… it seems that I was wrong."
Team's JNPR and RWBY stood up and bowed their heads to each other. Both granting the other team their good wishes before going off in separate directions. Leaving Ruby, Blake, and Orchid behind to eagerly wait for the results of their match. It was surely going to be an even one, considering that while JNPR had Pyrrha, they also had Jaune (bless his soul) and RWBY had Yang, and Weiss. All things considered, it was fairly balanced in either direction.
They'd see just how balanced things were very soon.
"You look stupid with black hair."
"Yeah? Well, you look stupid in general."
Adam hummed looked over the entire set of Amity Colleseum for the second time in his life. The first time being during his time with Cinder in Mistral. Considering the way that turned out, he wasn't at all looking forward to growing attached to the view. From the very high position that he was at - literally standing on the shield that was designed to keep Nevermore out, he was more worried about keeping his footing rather than taking in the view for himself.
"Agh!" Mercury snapped as a shock made him yank his hand away from the box of electronics that he had been instructed to hack into. Adam held the scroll that now controlled the random number generator that Beacon and Atlas had installed into their merged servers. Watts was to thank for that, as it was one of his parting gifts before he started making his way back to where he had once come. "Damnit, why am I the one who has to do this? I said that I have some experience hacking into stuff because of how my Dad forced me to learn it as part of becoming an assassin. Not that I was an expert in hacking whatever the fuck Atlas calls this."
"Quit complaining," Adam said, his eyes rolling underneath his mask. "There is nothing for you to worry about working on. Watts made that scroll with the specific purpose of automatically hacking into Amity's system, not all of the servers or whatever Beacon and Atlas have as security. Cinder wouldn't have sent us up here without some kind of knowing that it'd be worth our time."
"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea of being this damn high off the ground with only an invisible force stopping us from falling to our deaths," Mercury explained something he really didn't think he'd have to explain. Damn Adam and his stupid way of thinking. The guy didn't even look phased from being up this high.
"Afraid of heights, Black?" Adam teased in his only effort to be comedic. "How unexpected of one such as yourself, my men would have a field day with you if they find out that one of Cinder's most prized possessions is afraid of heights."
"Usually, I'd be fine with heights!" Mercury yelled back. They had to scream at each other in order to hear each other because of how high they were. It was annoying and it had their throats start to strain over time, but they didn't have to be up there much longer. Besides, it made them more comfortable and helped them ignore the fact that they were so far up above the ground. Despite Adam's teasing, he was still nervous because of that. "But this is different, look down and tell me that you aren't even a little phased by that."
"We'll be fine," Adam pointedly decided to ignore that challenge. "We are nearly done. The technology has done its work. The first round has just now been selected."
"Yeah? What teams did Cinder want to go against each other so badly that she had to send us all the way up here for it?" Mercury asked.
"Team's JNPR and RWBY of Beacon," Adam replied, turning the scroll and raising the brightness so that Mercury could see it for himself. "Interesting choice, I don't see the appeal of it but if Cinder wanted it so badly that she sent us here than I am sure that there is a reason to it."
"Hmph, does she ever explain her reasoning anymore these days?"
"Most likely not," Adam sighed. "I assume its because of Signal's headmaster and his semblance. One look and all of our previous plans were discovered in an instant. Even I don't know the full extent of her plans, and I am the leader of the White Fang."
"Yeah, and your first action is going to be fucking around up here," Mercury laughed. "Funny stuff."
"I don't know what you mean by funny stuff but I am sure you don't mean what I know you don't mean."
"That was a fucked way of saying it and you know it," Mercury said as he shoved the electronics box back to where it once came. "There, mission accomplished. Can we get the fuck out of here now or is there something else you'd like to tell me?"
"We can't leave until it gets dark," Adam said, gesturing up to the sun that has been giving them a nice, red burn on their skin for the past two hours. "We are going to get picked up by a Bullhead, and doing that in broad daylight is bound to get us caught."
"Can't we just climb down?" Mercury asked, pointing to the way that they climbed up.
"Climbing down a mountain is more dangerous than going up it," Adam explained. "We might be able to do it, but we have no safety cords. One slip up, one mistake, and we'd be sent falling down to the ground below. Which is even farther than it is up here. I am sure that we could do it in theory, but the risks far outweigh the reward."
"So we're just going to have to sit up here, in the hot ass sun, waiting for it to go down and do what? Fuck around?"
"To put it as frankly as I can. Yes."
"Well, shit." Mercury sighed as he leaned back down to his resting place. "I'm just going to lie down here for a bit. At least that way I know I won't slip. You can do whatever you want, I don't care. Just don't go on another rant about the faunus, please, I don't think my sanity could take it."
"Noted," Adam stifled a laugh at that. Thanking the wind that it was loud enough to prevent Mercury from hearing it. Being stuck all the way up there as he now gave him time to think. Originally, according to what Watt's scroll told him, the random number generator wasn't a random number generator at all. Every match was set, and while the first round always had a Beacon team against another, it was different. Originally, it was supposed to be Team RWBY against a Team CRDL. Of course, now CRDL was replaced with JNPR. Even Adam himself wasn't sure what Cinder was planning with that. It was still a Beacon team against another, and either way one of them was going to get eliminated. It was just a matter of who at that point.
He remembered those two teams. From the warehouse some time ago. It felt so far away despite it being just barely over or under a month ago. He only got to fight two of them as he was meant to just distract the real huntsmen amongst's them all, but even then he defeated them quite quickly. The others had few names of notable mention. One of them being, of course, Pyrrha Nikos. And the other being Weiss Schnee. Sienna almost got to her that night, but she was never able to capitalize on the kill. That was only mildly disappointing, but he had nothing against the second youngest Schnee. She wasn't responsible for him getting branded as a child, and she certainly wasn't responsible for anything else that happened in his life. He was more concerned with her father and elder sister. The father for obvious reasons and Winter Schnee because even though she knows the things that happen to faunus on a daily basis, she refuses to claim her position as ruler of the SDC. She is just another soldier, another blank face. Other than that, he had no real drive to go after them other than for the sake of the White Fang.
As he thought of the White Fang, his mind of course had to come back to Sienna. What was she going through right now? If Atlas' public new's outlet was to be believed, she was sent to a maximum-security prison hidden deep in the mountains of Atlas. He knew of it, he has been close to it once. But never within it. To his knowledge, it was supposed to be a prison designed to keep aura wielders and those with their semblances unlocked or with prowess on par with that of a huntsman locked away. And Sienna Khan was on her way there now. Just another animal to be locked away, caged, and forgotten to history.
I'll come for you one day, Sienna. Adam swore internally. You have done too much for the faunus to simply be lost so easily. At the very least, I'll personally make sure that you are remembered. I won't let you be forgotten and if I can, I'll come to rescue you. It's the least I can do after you helped me escape that wretched SDC mine.
It was the only thing he could do for her.
Even if it was an empty promise in hindsight, he swore it anyways.
Awe, a little sad at the end there. I'd be sadder if I didn't lose half this document in the middle of writing it. Bah, I don't understand how computers work as much as the next guy, but that was really annoying. I rewrote what I could remember and that is that. I think its relatively the same with just a few changes here and there but man, it still irks me that I lost that much in an instant.
Here's hoping Detective Grimm doesn't go through the same troubles.
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