Chapter Three: Departure
The world only gave me a single night to mourn before others began to plant themselves into my life. The police arrived early in the morning to question me. Asking pointless questions that I had no way of answering. Stupid things like if my mom had any enemies? If she had any connections with the White Fang before? Why I was unconscious outside the apartment?
They grew more and more frustrated at my lack of answers, acting as if I was part of the attack on the SDC myself, that I wasn't the victim, but the criminal. They told me to stay in town, and that I wasn't allowed to leave before their investigation was closed. That if I left Atlas I would become a wanted criminal. It would be a few months before the investigation would close officially. There was a lot of pressure from the higher-ups to make an arrest on this case.
The attack on the SDC office was the boldest that the White Fang had ever been, at least within Atlas. Train transports, warehouses, and dockyards are all typical targets for the Faunus organization. A main office within the capital city of Atlas floating above the heart of Mantle? Unheard of.
Though the police were nothing compared to the frustration and contempt that the SDC showed him.
"This is ridiculous!" I shouted, slamming my hands on the dining room table. My outburst caused the two bodyguards of the SDC ambassador to stiffen, one even starting to reach into his vest.
The slimy man's hand raised the bodyguards slowly relaxing as he seemed to tell them silently to back down. The man was a typical lawyer. Scrawny and greasy in an expensive suit that screamed importance, yet he filled it out like a child trying on their father's work clothes. All fake, all condescending, and all meant to provide an air of classist elite bullshit that the blue bloods of Remnant always wore.
The man cleared his throat, Adams-apple bobbing as he sighed. "Mr. Thorne, I realize you are upset. I do not envy you, what you are going through is not easy. However, The Schnee Dust Company is more than adequately compensated for the death of your adoptive mother, who mind you, never signed up for the company's more lucrative life insurance."
"This is barely enough to cover her cremation and you know that faunus don't qualify for your life insurance policies due to the policies eliminating people from signing up with pre-existing conditions that all just so happen to be exclusive to faunus." I snarl, the man's eye twitching in response. He apparently didn't expect me to have read and understood their policies.
Policies that targeted faunus as a whole. The pre-existing conditions that disqualified people from signing up for their insurance were equivalent to human chicken pox. Illnesses and diseases that would show up at some point through a faunus's early childhood and be treated and forgotten as just a sucky week in that person's life.
"Mr. Thorne, while I am empathetic to your situation, I would caution you against saying such slanderous things about the Schnee Dust Company. The Schnee Dust Company cares about all of its employees and customers regardless of species, race, or gender. religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. I can assure you that your mother will be remembered as a hero who protected her coworker, fighting against the vile terrorists that tried to harm the Schnee Dust Corporation."
"You can take that check you are pushing and shove it up your ass you racist, bigoted, vile leech." I hiss pointing towards the door to my apartment. "Get out before I call the cops."
The man sighed, sliding the check he had laid on the dining room table to the center of the table, closing his briefcase with a click, and standing. He didn't even bother to look at me again as he turned to leave.
"Mr. Thorne, I advise you to keep your opinions of the Schnee Dust Corporation to yourself. If you try to smear the good name of the Schnee family or the name of the company, then you will find yourself destitute and broke before you even realize what's happened. Though with the way you act, it doesn't surprise me that you were raised by an animal." The man sneered before the door to my apartment slammed shut.
I screamed in anger, the chair I was sitting in sent flying across the space of the apartment before shattering against the brick back wall of the living room, splinters and wood shrapnel flying everywhere.
"I hate them. Those stupid racists should have been the ones to die, not Mom." I growl out, hands clenched tightly across Mr. Meyamas countertop. His stand was empty save for one lone faunus eating quietly on the opposite side of the food stand.
"They wouldn't have defended and protected innocent civilians like your mom did Little Cub." Mr. Meyama spoke, placing his wrinkled and calloused hand on top of mine. I looked up at him, the old faunus adorning a pained smile, his eyes showing me that he knew all too well the pain I was going through.
Mr. Meyama was right. If mom hadn't been there then the body count would have been much higher. CCTV footage inside the building showed her going toe to toe with the Fang before the feed cut. She held them off long enough for nearly the entire building to be evacuated save for her and a few workers in the upper levels who became trapped in an explosion that was set off by the White Fang.
In total seven people lost their lives but hundreds were saved by my mom. I didn't even know she could fight, but the footage was proof enough that she was a beast of a fighter. She did the right thing. Even though it cost her her life, even though it left me all alone with only an old noodle stand owner to talk to. It was selfish of me to want her back…but by the brothers, I just couldn't care. I wanted her back all the same.
"I just…can't believe she's gone. I still always feel like she's just around the corner from me. That I'm going to go home and find her there, making dinner and wanting to watch TV with me."
"You know, I felt that way for a long time when my beautiful Ellenore passed away. I always expected that when I came home late at night after closing up the noodle shop I would find her asleep in our bed. It took me a long time to accept that she would never come home. That she had gone to a better place." Mr. Meyama spoke, voice somber as he finished up my 2nd bowl of noodles, placing them in front of me.
"What's worse. According to the SDC, my mom's life is only worth one hundred thousand Lien. Her entire life is worth not even half of the apartment's monthly rent." I growl, feeling that energy inside me from the night mom died well up again. My skin started to feel warm and like my entire body was buzzing.
"The Schnees are all stuck up snobby assholes. There's a special place in the afterlife for them. a cold dark pit they will never crawl out of." The man across the booth spoke. Tossing lien on the counter to pay for his food. He gave a small nod to Mr. Meyama, his eyes glancing over to me for a moment. His face was cold but I could see pity in his eyes for me. He looked like a nobody, the only identifier that made him stand out was the massive sword on his back and that he reeked of alcohol. "My advice, kid. Get the hell out of Atlas, this place will never change, so get out before you become bitter."
I hadn't encountered many of them, but I could tell that this man was a huntsman. He just had this feeling to him. The way he moved, the way he felt. It all screamed dangerous. There was also the odd feeling of this energy around him, inside him. It felt a little like the buzzing energy that I felt under my own skin, but larger. So much larger that it felt nearly overwhelming now that I was paying attention to him. It felt like I was nothing more than a puddle, and he was an entire lake.
"Are you a faunus?"I ask, the man shaking his head.
"No, I'm just a bitter old crow." He sighed as he ducked out of the stand.
"Weird." I murmur.
I had a feeling that the man was right though. Before Mom died, I had reservations about leaving Atlas. I wanted to stick close by. Now, with Mom gone, there was no reason to stay.
I turned back to my untouched food. Wordlessly I began to eat. The food didn't taste the same. It's not that Mr. Meyama had suddenly lost his touch, but all food began to just taste so bland and dull. There was no joy in it anymore. Food was something that me and mom bonded over constantly. she would always have us try new foods and restaurants whenever she could. Without her, it just wasn't the same.
I wonder what kind of food I could eat in Mistril, or maybe Vacoe, or hell, even Vale. More and more it seemed like leaving was the best option. I had no motivation to finish school here either. I just didn't know what that meant for me. what my goal was. Did I want to be a rights activist? I saw how protests and rights activists in Atlas were treated, who knows if it was the same elsewhere. After meeting that soulless corporate scumbag lawyer from the SDC I felt nauseous at the idea of studying law like him.
I sigh, setting down the bowl, now empty. I just didn't know what to do. It made me want to scream, and the buzzing under my skin was not helping. I had felt so on edge, and like I just had this pure energy running under me, scratching and clawing to get out.
"You know it's ok to be angry right? You can let it out and nothing will change about what's happened, but you might just feel a bit better." Mr. Meyama offered.
"If it changes nothing how would it make me feel better?"
Mr. Meyama smirked like I was asking the most obvious question in the entire world. "Because it's fun."
"So what, I just scream?" I ask receiving a nod in return.
"You just scream." He said simply, holding up a finger as he turned and rummaged for something beneath the counter before turning back around holding a bundle of clean rags out for me to take. "Try screaming into this like it's a pillow. A very lemony-smelling pillow."
I quirked an eyebrow, the whole thing seemed overly silly, but I guess I had nothing to lose besides making myself look like a crazy person. Though with me being at a Faunus-run food stand as a human most people in Atlas already thought I was crazy. Nothing to lose really.
I grab the bundle and bring it closer to me, taking a deep breath and burying my head into the bundle of rags, letting out a small scream, though closer to a shout. Pulling back to see an unamused Mr. Meyama.
"Try again Little Cub. I've heard you cry louder than that when I'm out of shrimp."
I rolled my eyes, the whole thing made me feel dumb, but I tried again letting out a half-hearted scream into the rags that sounded more like a drawn-out "awwwww," than an actual scream.
Before I could even look up I yelped as I felt the old faunus's spatula smack me over the head. "Again, or are you trying to tell me you aren't upset about your mom dying?"
I glare at him, lips curled up in a sneer at the comment. "Watch it, old man." My growled-out reply caused Mr. Meyama to look at me with mock offense. I might have been bad at facial expressions, but it was easy to tell that he was mocking me.
"I'm sorry I didn't quite hear you over all the screaming you aren't doing." He tutted.
Stupid geriatric senile old cat wanted me to scream. I would give him a scream. How dare he mock me just because I didn't emote right. My grip tightened on the bundle of rags, my bones aching in protest as I practically tried to crush the rags into a single object. I brought the ball of cloth to my face and let out the loudest scream I could. From "awww," to "AHHHHHHHHHH!" in a split second. Letting out every dark and negative thought into my voice. The pitch climbed higher as the buzzing under my skin turned from fuzz to liquid static running through my veins.
It all climbed higher and higher, till the world snapped alongside me.
"My advice, kid. Get the hell out of Atlas, this place will never change, so get out before you become bitter." The dusty old crow spoke, my entire body jolting upright as electricity arced out around me. His eyes narrowed as he looked at me.
I shook my head, what happened? I looked around, the huntsman was back, and I looked down and my food was full again. the once-empty bowl is now full and untouched. "What the fu-" I slur before slumping over, my vision going blurry as I fell out of the stool. I hit the ground with a grunt feeling his hands pulling me up into a sitting position.
"What the hell was that brat?" The huntsman asked hand pressed to my forehead to see if I had a fever.
"Why did you come back?" I mumble out the haze over my eyes passing as quick as it came.
"What are you talking about kid? I just got done drinking."
My eyebrows scrunch, the man making no sense. He had left, I know he did, but then…It was like the night mom died. I was in the apartment talking to the cops and then I was suddenly in front of my apartment door. If he hasn't left yet…had I…
My thoughts were broken up as I felt the huntsman press something cold to my arm, my eyes focused to find him holding his scroll against me. His eyes showing concern?
"Kid your aura is low, and when I say low I mean really low. you need to go to the hospital. Was that electricity your semblance? What were you trying to do?" He asked question after question. Aura? Semblance? What the hell was he talking about? I didn't have my aura unlocked. Wait, the doctors talked to me about that. They said that my aura unlocked somehow, that I had drained it and went into aura shock. What the hell is a semblance though?
He was also looking at me like he couldn't decide if I was dangerous or not. Suddenly this whole situation was not feeling as safe as it did only moments prior. What would he do if I told him what I thought I had just done? It's not like tales of people being able to turn back time with aura was common. Hell, I hadn't even heard of people with their aura having special powers.
Wait…the house was always cold when mom got angry. I knew she had her aura unlocked, she had mentioned it a few times, but she never mentioned having a semblance.
My head was becoming jumbled, thoughts pinging back and forth in my skull as I tried to figure out what the best thing to do was.
"I didn't mean to." I mumble, squirming out of his hold and crawling to my knees, hands using the stool and counter to help me back up to my feet. Mr. Meyama looked at me with thick lines of worry etched into his forehead, his cat ears folded back completely flat.
The world started to spin but the same dizziness and nausea that had sent me to the ground before faded almost as quickly as it came. The world pulled into focus. I still felt tired, but more tired in the same way you would feel after sprinting all out for a few minutes. Something that sucked but would easily fade with a few minutes of rest.
"You should do as the huntsman says and go to a hospital, Little Cub. You don't look well."
I wave him off. "I'm not going to a hospital, if you don't recall my mom just died and I have no money." I turned to the huntsman who was now looking at me like I was being stubborn. "What the hell is a semblance and what does that have to do with me supposedly having aura, which mind you I have never had unlocked before?"
"A semblance is something unique to you. Many people have their auras unlocked and that's it, they don't get anything special, just the same shielding capabilities as everyone else. However, some people are special and have a unique power just for them. My niece has super speed for example."
"Let's say I believe you. Are you saying that the electricity was my semblance?"
The man nodded, his face cast into a frown. "Yeah and for the few seconds you used it accidentally, it sapped nearly all of your available aura. if you really didn't have it unlocked before. then maybe you unlocked it recently because of all this stress with your mom. Whatever the case is, your reserves are ridiculously low. You need huntsman training if you want to grow them and not pass out for two seconds of use."
"Wait, can I grow my aura?"
"Yeah, with training."
My eyes widened, if I was right, and I had just rewound time back to before the man left and Mr. Meyama encouraged me to scream into the rags. then that meant I could try and grow my reserves. If I could grow my reserves, then maybe…
"Kid you ok? you keep spacing out?" The huntsman's hand grasped onto my shoulder, shaking me slightly, and making me flinch.
"I'm fine, just got a lot on my mind," I mutter pushing his hand away. "Please stop touching me."
He threw his hands up in surrender, a small smirk on his lips. "Sorry, but I keep thinking you're a moment away from collapsing to the floor again."
"Say I wanted to get trained. How would I do that in as fast a way as possible?" I ask, ignoring his concern.
The question seemed to catch him off guard, his concern turning to confusion. "I mean, I guess you would go to a school like Beacon. That's where I did most of my training." He shrugged.
"And if I went there I could grow my aura? By how much?"
"I don't know, kid, it will just grow. I know my aura is way bigger than it was before I went through huntsman's school. Auras are like a muscle, the more you use it, the more you have to use. There's an upper limit and that has more to do with genetics and shit that goes over my head, but yeah. Train your aura, your aura gets bigger. Pretty simple."
I nod, a plan is starting to take shape in my head. First, I needed to figure out how to activate this semblance, and I needed to prove that I in fact could rewind time. If I could, then I need to figure out a way to get out of Atlas. Finally, I needed to get into Beacon. If this crow guy went there then I wanted to go there. He felt like an ocean to me, and if I wanted to turn back time to save Mom, then I would need to be an ocean too.
"I have to go!" I shout, mind racing as I just realized that I had a chance. My shift in attitude got protests from Mr. Meyama and the odd crow man, both shouting at me to come back as I broke off into a sprint. I needed to get away from the crow man and figure this out. I don't know why but he did not feel safe. Then again nobody felt safe right now. Mom was what made me feel safe and without her, nothing felt safe.
I needed to get home, and I needed to figure out the best way to get into a huntsman's school. If the crow said that I could grow my aura from huntsman training then I needed to get into a school as soon as possible.
This was it, this was the plan.
I made it home in record time, my chest heaving as I ran up the stairs of the apartment complex. Making it to my door I noticed a medium-sized box sat in front of my door, my heart aching cause I knew what it was.
"Mom," I whisper, picking up the box, the SDC logo stamped all over it, alongside the stamp of the cremation company. My excitement practically bleeds out of my body. This was all I had left of her.
I open the door and step inside of the apartment. making my way to the dining table and setting the box down. I grab a knife, easily slicing through all the tape.
Inside the box was another box, this one sealed with locks and latches, a receipt placed underneath the smaller box. I'd look at it in a second.
Opening up the box, I flip it open, my breath catching as I realize what this is. Instead of an urn, or any other receptacle for my mother's ashes to be placed in. I was instead staring at an ice dust crystal.
"what?"
The Dust crystal was nearly three inches long, the bright blue body obscured by a layer of frost that the crystal seemed to emit, and at the center, the very core of the crystal was a deep gray line.
My lips turned into a sneer when I noticed the SDC logo stamped into one of the faces of the dust crystal that now housed what remained of my mother's ashes.
"Mom."
I gently picked up the crystal, simply touching it burned in the way extreme cold always did. It reminded me of her, how even though she was always so cold, she was warm to me. The crystal was attached to a small gold chain, turning it into a necklace.
I push the box away, hand scrambling to grab the receipt. This wasn't what I had agreed to. My eyes scanned the receipt, turns out it also had a small letter attached to it.
Dear Mr. Thorn,
We hope this letter finds you in good spirits. We at the Schnee Dust Corporation were touched by the act of bravery your mother Maria Thorne showed in both protecting the innocent SDC workers inside of our main branch office and also in her devout defense of the Schnee Dust Corporation's assets. We understand that you are indisposed currently and recovering in the hospital. We want you to not worry about the handling of your mother's remains and have gone ahead and taken care of it for you.
Inside is a rechargeable ice dust crystal that has been infused with the remains of your late mother. This is a new technology that will allow the spirit of your mother to live on, as it is her very essence that gives the crystal its rechargeable properties. Your mother will always be with you.
We are excited to tell you that we have cut the cost of this service by a total of fifty percent. This is to ease the financial stress on you as you transition into this new chapter of your life.
Finally, we are proud to tell you that we would like to extend a hand and offer you a job to further ease your financial burden. We understand that you are not legally an adult yet, but we have plenty of lawyers who will fill out the paperwork for you required for your state emancipation.
From the desk of Jacques Schnee
My eyes bulged as I finally saw the receipt for the service the SDC proudly told me they discounted. The amount of zeros on the paper made me want to vomit. The discounted price would leave me in debt to the SDC for life. This was their version of gratitude.
A scream of rage tore from me as I threw the SDC box across the apartment, much like I had done to the chair earlier in the day. Tears freely flowed as I clutched to the crystal, pressing it as close to my chest as possible.
Heartless bastards, all of them. Atlas, SDC, the White Fang. I hated them all.
It didn't matter though. I could fix this. I just had to prove I could rewind time. I groaned, trying to focus on that electric feeling. The liquid static had flowed directly under my skin on two different occasions. Yet try as I might, I just couldn't get that same feeling to come.
"Come on," I mutter, my body straining as I try to force the feeling to return. My body gave out as all the tension released, no hint of static to be found. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," I repeat over and over. Of course, I couldn't do it when I wanted to, it had to happen when I was upset. It could never be as simple as wanting it.
My hand clutched the dust crystal, the cold warmth offering me a bit of comfort, but it also hurt in a more intimate way. The crystal was a reminder, a reminder of Mom's death, a reminder that in my final moments with her, we had been fighting. That I didn't tell her that 'I loved her'. It was a reminder of how awful of a son I was to her when all she wanted to do was to help me.
"I don't know what to do Mom." I mutter, getting up from the dining room table and walking through the apartment. As I walked, my foot accidentally kicked a piece of the chair that I had thrown earlier, the wood sliding across the floor.
I grimace, I should probably pick up, Mom would hate to see me trash the place just cause I was sad. I turn around and grab a garbage bag out of the kitchen, and quickly return to the broken chair, picking up the pieces. As I picked them up though I noticed a floorboard was loose, a piece of broken chair not quite sitting flush with the floor, as the floorboard was lifting off the foundation.
"What?" my hand pulled the piece of the chair away, fingers giving the floorboard a small tug as it popped free with minimal effort. My eyes widen as the sun from the curtains glints off of what is unmistakably metal. Shiny cobalt blue and sun yellow metal. I reach in and pull free the piece of metal.
"No way." It was a gun, more than that it was a huntsman's weapon. Or at least that's what it looked like. Some kind of gun blade, a short stocked automatic rifle with a lever on the side, the barrel ending in a dangerously sharp point. I carefully flip the lever with my thumb, the rifle shifting with the action before turning into a short three-foot blade, the casing of the gun covering and protecting the base of the blade and the hilt. I could make out slots for dust crystals to be slotted in, four separate chambers with etched symbol markings. One symbol for fire, one for ice, one for lightning, and one with the symbol scratched out.
I thumb the lever again, shifting the blade back into its rifle state. "Mom…who were you?" I mumble peering into the floorboard again, only to find a note.
"Bathroom tile, bedroom dresser, kitchen light, your hole." These were instructions on where more caches were. I set the rifle down on the dining room table, and quickly start checking the light fixtures in the kitchen. I was right, another stash was there, this time filled with lien.
I ran through the apartment, checking the other stashes. I found a stash of dust crystals in Mom's room, and even more money in the bathroom, though I was stuck on what the hell 'your hole' meant.
Unless.
"Mom please don't tell me."
"You know, I don't think you won the fight with the wall." Mom teased, my face flushed red with embarrassment. I clutched my bleeding hand close to my chest, nose tipped towards the ground as I tried to not look at the hole I just put into my bedroom wall.
"Want to tell me what's got you so frustrated little one?" She asked softly, gently taking my hand and inspecting it.
I shake my head, already knowing that my voice is gone.
Mom sighed, her eyes looking at me with the same care she always showed me when I was upset. "Does it have anything to do with this?" She asked softly, letting my hand go as she walked over and picked up my school history textbook that was laying on the floor. The cover was destroyed with a permanent marker the words 'ANIMAL FUCKER' scrawled over it in big bold letters.
I nod, the confirmation making her sigh again before she pulls me into a hug. "Don't listen to them, baby. You just keep doing what you're doing and you will find your group to belong in."
Mom held me for a little while before pulling away. She smiled looking at the hole in the wall I had made before giggling. "You know, it's ok to be angry, to let all that emotion out sometimes. If you don't, then it will bottle up and instead of you making a hole in the wall, you might hurt someone you care about, or even yourself."
I nod, Mom gets up before looking at the hole, her hand on her chin in thought. "I guess we can keep your hole a secret from the landlord. Just try to not make any more of them." she spoke before taking a poster of my favorite band off of the opposite wall and pinning it over the hole, covering it from sight. "I don't think you have enough posters to go around covering any more holes without it looking weird."
I pulled the poster away, the small fist-sized hole I had made when I was thirteen sitting there the same as ever, though this time I could tell that something was inside of it. I reached in, grabbing onto whatever mom had placed in the stash and pulling it out.
"A scroll?" The older model scroll felt heavy in my hand. Why would Mom want me to have this? I thumbed the power button, hoping the thing still had some juice. I really didn't want to have to wait for it to charge. The screen flickered to life, and a battery icon in the top corner of the screen showed the scroll had fifteen percent battery. The home screen was completely empty save for a single app titled 'play me'. I sat down on my bed, laying back before pressing the app. When I did, the app opened and I was brought to a long list of messages. All of them were titled various things, though the very first message was what caught my eye. The message was titled 'Watch me first Ryker'.
I pressed it. the screen flickering before a video loaded up, mom sitting in her recliner, her smile warm as she looked into the camera. my eyes checked the top corner of the scroll to see that the battery had gone down to fourteen percent.
"Hi, Ryker. If you are watching this then chances are good that I am dead. If I'm not dead and you just found this, then put it back and come talk to me. I won't be surprised if you find these before you meant too, I didn't want them to be impossible to find, or else all of this effort I'm going th-"
Mom sighed, cutting herself off.
"Anyways, I guess I wanted to make this for you in case I die before you're ready. I have always hoped to make it long enough for you to graduate, or fingers crossed, get you out of Atlas and away from danger. If you haven't already found them I have hidden other stashes like this around the house, inside should be my weapon Fools Folly, and enough lien and dust for you to get as far away from Atlas as possible."
"My instructions for you, my sweet child, is to find a home outside of Atlas. I have enemies that would wish you harm and if I'm no longer there to protect you then you are no longer safe in Atlas. Leave the city, and leave the continent. Go anywhere else, and make something of yourself. I have always known you would be something special. You just have to show the world that I was right."
"Finally, I want you to know how much I love you, and how proud of you I am. I know yo-"
I turn the video off, a sob escaping my chest as the pain of my mother's voice utterly breaks me. I didn't deserve to hear her tell me she was proud. I was an awful son and I don't deserve to be told otherwise.
I wipe my eyes, feeling the emotions spill out of me again. The familiar feeling of liquid static is starting to make itself known. I froze, this was my chance. I gently pulled at the feeling that was starting to well up inside me. Unlike last time, instead of trying to force it, I instead tried to coax it out. To gently guide the energy up and out of me.
It climbed, and then the world snapped.
I stare down at the scroll, my thumb hovering over the file titled 'Watch Me First Ryker', the battery at fifteen percent once more. I had done it, I had rewound time. I wasn't crazy.
This meant only one thing.
"I have to go to Beacon."