Mistral wasn't as... 'lively' as Ruby had been expecting. Sure everyone seemed fine enough, but as the crew passed down the street there was this 'off' sense to everything. They drew several odd looks with Pyrrha flung over her uncle Qrow's back, but even so the crowds seemed to ignore it rather quickly.
What particularly rubbed her wrong was the dense air of tension that drowned out the streets. Everyone went about their day, but it was done so in an unusually quiet manner, as if everyone was actively trying to avoid any sort of commotion. Ruby herself had grown up in a small village, but since her time at Beacon she'd started to grow used to the commotions of the city and more densely packed areas as well.
The fact that everyone was so quiet had her instinctively raise her guard.
"So... when are we going to reach the inn?" Jaune asked awkwardly as they shifted through the crowds; most of which actively strode away from them quickly as if they were contagious.
"Couple more minutes." Qrow spoke as he nodded ahead. "Just down the road some ways and we'll be right there."
"Good." Sighed Yang as she let out an uneasy look. "This place is starting to creep me out a bit."
"We should try not to be rude." Ren piped up. "Perhaps news of the attack has caused everyone to be more cautious as of late."
"Yeah, but still." Yang looked around as the people waddled from place to place. "It's a bit too quiet if you catch my drift."
Yang was right for the most part. It wasn't downright silent as the sounds of work littered the air, but Ruby along with the others immediately noticed the lack of gossip or talk of any sort. This was heavily unnerving for her especially as even at Beacon most of the students and staff had shared stories and such among one another. It felt especially creepy the way everyone seemed to wear an almost frightened look whenever something they did made a particularly loud noise; eyes jittering about in a pseudo-panicked frenzy.
"Not what I was expecting from a kingdom of all things." Even Nora was slightly tense with her words, which had Ruby even more suspicious of everything; when even Nora felt something was strange she knew there had to be something wrong.
"For now let's just get to the inn." Qrow said in a hushed tone. "I'll do some digging once we're away from prying ears."
"Right." Ruby said as they cut their chatter and focused on the path ahead.
It wasn't too long before they reached the place. With a few more stray glances to the girl on his back and a quick exchange of lien they found themselves behind the closed doors of their room. Gently Pyrrha was laid to rest on the bed as the others gathered in a circle on the floor. Qrow was the first to break the silence as he crossed his arms.
"Right, so I think we can all tell something wasn't exactly right with everyone on the way up."
"They were scared." Ruby commented as she fought back an unsettled scowl. "The way they kept looking around, it was as if they were afraid someone might have seen them."
"But why?" Ren asked. "Mistral is recognised as having a greater level of crime compared to the other kingdoms, but that's never stopped people before... has it?"
"No." Qrow clarified. "Most people just keep a tighter grip on their wallets here, this level of unease is a first. I've been here plenty of times before, but I've never seen anything like this before."
"You think it's the Grimm?" Yang asked as Qrow looked to think about it.
"No. Almost everyone here is armed with some sort of weapon; half the time the smaller Grimm that manage to get in are cut down in seconds."
"Then maybe it is the crime." Ruby suggested. "There might be an increase since the attack on Beacon."
"Could the gangs around here be trying to take control?" Nora asked as Qrow hummed.
"Most of the big names in Mistral tend to leave the little guys alone and focus more on large game such as company shipments." Qrow pointed out. "Plus there are plenty of large families that have a sort of truce with one another, heck, a few of them often help with local law enforcement under the guise of smaller private militia groups. If someone is responsible for all this then they'd need to be incredibly wealthy... or heavily dangerous."
"So big time criminals?" Yang asked as Qrow sighed.
"Who knows, we just got here so we can't assume anything right yet. I'll go visit that contact I told you about first; they should know at least something. In the mean time I want you all to stay here." Qrow's face took on a darker look. "Do not leave this room under any circumstance, understand?"
"Worried we'll cause trouble?" Yang quipped as Qrow shook his head.
"No... I'm worried we're not alone."
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked as he stood.
"Someone's been following us the moment we stepped into the city gates." Qrow slowly walked to the window and pressed himself against the side, just barely pulling a crack open from the curtains to peek through. "I'm going to wring some answers from them."
The others were naturally on guard after the statement, yet they stayed composed as Qrow slowly moved to the door. He gave them one last look as he stepped out, and a lingering doubt filled their collective minds as the film of safety tore away from the room. All of a sudden they felt just how quiet everything was, and Ruby in particular began to wonder if their mysterious stalker was listening in on their conversation.
"Should we go after him?" Nora asked as Ren crossed his arms.
"He specifically said to stay in the room."
"I know that, but do you think he can handle this on his own? What if there's more than one stalker?"
"He'll be fine." Yang spoke up as Nora focused on her." He's probably done this hundreds of times, and besides, we need to keep ourselves ready anyway."
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Ruby asked as her sister sent a nod.
"Yeah, whoever's watching might make a move on us, and to be perfectly clear I'm going to beat the ever-loving daylights out of them when they show their face."
"No need to be so crass darling, I can guarantee you are in no danger." Everyone shot to their feet with weapons drawn as the woman spoke from the door. She wore a cocky smile as she did so, and yet she made no direct moves towards them.
"So our stalker has finally shown herself." Nora commented as she growled slightly.
"Now I wouldn't say that." The woman spoke as she looked over them all. "You have myself to thank that it was only one fool who followed you, of course Qrow has already gone to take care of that particular bit of rubbish, and I suspect we may soon have some answers."
"Wait, do you know our uncle?" Ruby asked as the woman gave a curt smile.
"As a matter of fact I do. I suppose you can say we're business partners of a sort. He comes to me for information from time to time, and often he pays me back by doing some of the dirty work I'd rather not stain my hands with. You can consider me an ally for the time being."
"Really?" Yang gave with a skeptical look. "An ally? And you just so happen to be passing by our room door just as we're having this conversation; right when we're all alone?"
"No." The woman stated. "I was actually here to see Qrow himself. I got word he was in the kingdom and decided to pay him a visit."
"Wait, are you the contact he talked about?" Ruby asked as the woman shook her head.
"No, I've had no prior plans to meet with him beforehand, however it is interesting to learn he'd been planning to meet with another." Ruby cringed at the sound of that, realising she may have let something slip that she probably shouldn't have.
"Oh don't hold that look, I'm not going to hold it against you. In fact I believe we all might be able to come to an understanding of sorts."
"What kind of 'understanding'?" Ren asked as the woman stepped in and shut the door.
"The kind that benefits all of us." She spoke so surely even as they tensed. "I'm unarmed if it'll calm you down a bit."
"But not alone." Ruby let out as the woman smirked.
"You have keen senses I see; yes, it's true I have a few guards here with me, but they're looking over my room at the moment and will not be bothering us. I believe we can get to business don't you think?"
"Who are you?" Yang challenged as the woman smirked before offering a polite bow.
"You may refer to me as Lil'Miss."
"Well then Lil'Miss I have another question: What type of business do you want with us? We're headed to the academy soon, and who knows what'll happen then. I don't believe we'll have time to hold any deals." Yang's tone was sly and venomous, however the woman only seemed to sigh.
"You have a healthy dose of paranoia at least, but I highly doubt you'll get entrance to the school. You wouldn't happen to have been hoping to see the headmaster there, were you?"
"And if we were?" Ren said as the woman only shook her head.
"You won't get that meeting I'm afraid."
"Why not?" Ruby asked cautiously as the woman held a straight yet stunted look.
"Because headmaster Lionheart is dead."
.
.
Ruby got a myriad of looks as she showed herself into the room almost forcefully. Several of the others faced her wearily, however she didn't care about them. Her focus was instead set solely on the small boy who'd just managed to crack his eyes open. He murmured a bit with small movements here and there as he looked to try and sit up. His body refused and he quickly plopped back into place.
"Just who do you think you are barging in he- mother?!" The girl's eyes settled on the queen at her side, Ruby paid it no mind however as she quickly made her way over shoving past several who surrounded the small bed. Carefully she knelt down and ran her hand across the boy's cheek.
"Pebble... can you hear me?" Her question was answered with more mumbles and it was clear to Ruby that the boy wasn't fully aware of his surroundings just yet. Ruby overheard the small conversation behind her as the shuffling continued.
"Mother, who is this?"
"You remember Ms. Scarlet surely." The sound of a slight gasp was followed by the drawing of weapons.
"Then she's with Mobius!"
"Calm yourself child." The queen commanded. "She is no enemy of ours."
"Mother?! You say that after all of this?!"
"If she were truly out to harm us she would have done so already. Besides, it is thanks to her we no longer need to deal with the seal." The elder royal sounded relieved.
"And yet the tower is gone, our people frightened, and our future uncertain." The young princess shot back. "There is a massive gaping hole we'll need to repair, and we have no land mark for potential traders to spot.
"Our only trade came from Mobius, and I was under the impression you believed us at odds." The queen questioned as Ruby heard the princess grumble.
"Be that as it may we'd scarcely be able to afford cutting off trade entirely. We'd need to hold a meeting between us both and discuss a way to repair or circumvent any lost bonds, and potentially come to an agreement."
"Diplomacy is often a more effective solution than outright war; it's good to see you remember that, however I must insist you remain calm for now. We may deal with the coming issues as they present themselves, right now we need only allow our friend here time to rest." Ruby could almost feel the rebellion in the girl's final words, but knew she'd seen reason from her mother.
"As you say."
"Ruby..." The woman in question felt a soft smile overtake her features as the weight was lifted from her chest. Pebble stirred some more before he managed to direct his eyes hazily towards her. He looked tired still, and yet she watched as he reached his small hand out to her.
"Good morning." She gave as her own hands engulfed his. The boy's eyes wandered around as he tried to gauge himself, only to give up and fall back into the warmth of the pillow below his head.
"This... isn't our room." He said tiredly as his voice almost cut out completely.
"No, but you don't seem to mind." Ruby returned as she saw his eyes lazily lose focus on the room around him.
"Then it was real... all of it." She felt him shudder slightly and instinctively her arms pulled him close.
"It was, but you're okay; that's all that matters." Ruby felt him press against her with what little strength he had.
"Are you... okay too?"
"I am." She felt him relax. "And I suppose I have you to thank for that."
"I..." He let out a soft breath as his body slumped. "I did a bad thing though." He shook a little more against her as his voice fell to a whisper. "I killed her."
"But she was bad right?" Ruby didn't quite know who this 'her' was, but from the gruesome displays along the tower and it's rooms she didn't hold a high opinion of whoever 'she' was. "She hurt a lot of people didn't she?"
"She did..." Pebble peeked up at her. "But I still killed her. What if... what if I do it again?" Small tears glossed his eyes. "What if I kill someone else... and they aren't bad?"
"Don't worry yourself about that." Ruby held Pebble tighter as she felt his breathing steady. "You won't need to go that far ever again. I'll be there to protect you always, I promise." Deep in her heart she meant every word of it, she wanted to be there to protect the boy all she could until the day of her dying breath.
However this was a promise Ruby knew she wouldn't keep.
.
.
Sienna never felt so bold in her life as she strut right up towards the gathering with weapon in hand. Several of them turned back to her and a wash of shock spread throughout the crowd. Guards all had eyes on her and even Fennec up on the stage had a curious curl to his lips as she seemingly interrupted his big speech. Sun was there, however he was slumped down near the back as the real attraction of the little show took center stage.
Weiss was there, naked just like Sun and with her neck down against the chopping block. She wore a pained look in her eyes, and yet there was a small smidgen of hope within. Sienna let out a dastardly grin as Fennec addressed her.
"I'll be blunt, I never expected you to so brazenly stroll out here; being so overwhelmingly outnumbered you're either foolishly confident, or just plain foolish." Fennec crossed his arms as a smirk dripped across his face. "I wonder which it is."
"Dust's sake you're always like this." Sienna called letting out an overly animated sigh. "So over the top and showy. Still, you've got balls I'll give you that." A smirk of her own settled as she laid both hands on her hips. "When did you get so cocky as to betray even Adam?"
"Betray, oh whatever do you mean?" His smirk was all telling, he knew she overheard something and was waiting for her to let it slip.
She did so gladly.
"That 'fort' if you can even call it that was shit by the way. I know it was only temporary but come on, at least have a little dignity. Have you ever heard of this thing called 'standards', goes a long way you know."
"And I suppose you know it well, considering how easily we were able to play around your sight." Fennec gave off a small chuckle. "So blind to everything, so focused on your own disappointment and failings that you never saw Adam rising to the top. I suppose that is to be expected however; he knew how to get things done, something you could never quite figure out."
Cheeky little bastard aren't you. Sienna felt the small bit of annoyance tick at the back of her head, however she buried it and instead focused on keeping the conversation going.
"I like to think I was more or less 'cautious' than anything. See I prefer to focus on the future rather than just what's in front of me."
"And so you lose sight of what's happening in the now." Fennec shook his head as Sienna smiled. "In the end you're nothing more than a short sighted little girl thinking she knows what's happening in the world. A child like you has no right being leader if she cannot focus on the world right in front of her." Sienna was outright laughing now, which served to infuriate Fennec. He calmed himself quickly and addressed her once more. "And just what is it you find so humorous about your situation?"
"Oh nothing." Sienna waved it away. "It's just for someone so 'in the now' you sure are blind to it."
"Pardon?"
"You really love hearing yourself talk don't you?" Fennec shot his view behind to the sight of Blake and Ilia, as well as several incapacitated guards and a pair of free - and understandably furious - hunters.
"And that is why you always have someone acting as lookout for whatever event you have planned. But no, you wanted everyone to see your little show." Sienna grinned teasingly as continued in a condescending tone. "Poor poor you."
"Y-you..." Fennec sputtered as Sienna called out.
"Hey, princess, you got any fight in you?" Weiss said nothing, however the deathly twinkle in her eyes told Sienna everything. "I'll take that as a yes. Want the first crack at this asshole?"
"Gladly!" Weiss shot forwards with a vigor Sienna never expected from a woman on the verge of death. Bare, beaten, bloodied and branded; the Schnee held an imposing figure as she shot forward. However something caught Sienna's attention just as the chaos began.
There was a small black mark pulsing along the side of her neck.
Author's note
...
A very late upload this time I'm aware. I had a trip planned this weekend and never got around to editing this. It's up now anyway and as you can tell things are heating up - and Weiss is pissed, but anyone would be after so long in captivity.
I don't have much to offer this time, mainly because next chapter has some things going down that I want to save as a surprise for you all. Get ready, because it gets real next time, and absolute mayhem is just around the corner.
As always feel free to tell me what you think, and see you next time.