(A/N) So…. been a bit. I've said elsewhere that I was moving, and that's true, but the house needed a LOT more work than I previously thought. Also, the previous owners left so much shit. So. Much. SHIT. I think we're at 8 or 9 truck/trailer loads to the dump and we're not done yet.

So yeah, I've been busy. But this is here now. One more downer before the actual chapter, though, the fic will be going on hiatus for a few months while I rebuild my backlog, so expect the next one around either Halloween or Thanksgiving, one of those.

Anyways, with that out of the way, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Twenty-Two

Missing In Action

Earlier

/-\ Blake Belladonna /-\

My side still stung with every movement, even after escaping the confines of the base's ventilation system. It made every breath a laborious exercise, even moreso when I had to purposefully measure each one. Only a few dozen paces away, a pair of Mutons thundered through the forest.

The icy chill of the twilight air pierced through my wound, the bleeding not quite staunched by what little aura I could dredge up. It crackled at my fingertips as I lay prone under a bush, one shaking hand training the laser shatterray on an alien skull and the other doing its best to prevent any dirt or grime from entering my wound.

The Mutons stopped, looking around with their angry yellow eyes. One even stared right at me and my trigger finger tensed just a fraction of an inch. But just as soon as its gaze met mine, those eyes kept sweeping the brush. I relaxed again when they continued walking. As their bootfalls faded into the background noise of the nighttime forest, I silently slipped out from under the brush and staggered off in another direction.

This wasn't the first patrol I'd avoided, but hopefully it'd be the last. I was already at least three miles out from the base, hopefully more. I'd come across a set of tiretracks not long ago and was currently travelling parallel to them. Whoever made the tracks wasn't following any sort of road and had blazed their own trail through the underbrush. No matter how tempting it was to follow in their footsteps, though, I knew that would make it infinitely easier to spot me. I could, however, follow them from the unbroken forest and use its cover whenever necessary while still hopefully meeting up with friendly forces.

And so that's what I did, walking for miles upon miles more.

By now, it was well after dark and I was dead tired. Still, I forced myself to dress my wound, cutting off a couple squares of cloth from my undershirt to hopefully keep anything too nasty from getting inside while my aura – still depleted – gradually patched it up. I bound the makeshift bandage by wrapping Gambol Shroud's ribbon around it and then synching down my armor atop that. My task finished, I moved to follow the trail once more, but soon after, found myself at a crossroads. The path had met up with a dirt road at exactly the right bend, masking their tracks into preexisting ruts made by others.

Letting out a sigh of disappointment, I decided that I was hopefully far enough away from the base for now and climbed into one of the many pines a dozen meters back from the roadside. It was a long and cold night. Despite my exhaustion, I only managed a few minutes' sleep at any one time, spooked by the noises of the forest, the occasional insect, and, about half-way through, the pitter-patter of rain. With a sigh, I nestled deeper into the crook of the tree I'd chosen. To my relief, I finally fell asleep for a little longer.

It didn't last. Some hours later – still before dawn – I awoke to the sound of heavy stomping; far off, but slowly approaching. It only took a moment of getting my bearings before I was down the tree and running once more. After a mile on foot, I took to the trees and began jumping between them using the dregs of the aura I'd regenerated during my sleep, avoiding leaving any tracks they could follow. I didn't stop again, too worried I'd fall asleep for too long and test my luck. Adam was here, and I definitely could not allow him to catch up.

It was over an hour of tree-hopping before my boots touched the Earth once more, confident I'd left no trail whatsoever. Even then, I purposefully obscured my path, doubling back a few times after walking straight for a while, walking along hard ground whenever possible, and many other tricks I'd picked up over my years on the run. Eventually, the sun rose and I took a short break, resting near a big boulder I'd found out in the forest.

As I sat, catching my breath, I remembered that I hadn't eaten in a good while. I checked my pouches, but all I found were power cells for the laser shatterray on my back. No food, no water. My aura flashed over my skin, angry at my empty stomach despite my demands on it. For just a moment, I started spiraling. I'd lost the road when I'd fled from the Mutons and I hadn't come across another yet. I was without food, water, shelter, or even backup.

All I had was my armor and my weapons.

I caught myself, forcing myself to do breathing exercises and stop the panic. Slowly, I tried to work out a plan. While I'd been without supplies at times when I ran with the Fang, I'd always had at least a few Brothers or Sisters by my side. I ran through the checklist in my head; the one that was drilled into us during both Survival Training in the Fang and also during Professor Peach's Plant Sciences course at Beacon.

The most immediate concern was water. Normal people could live two to three months without food; aura users had less time due to the additional energy requirements, but I'd be mostly fine for a week or two before the annoying physical effects set in. Under normal circumstances, at least. Normal, not wounded circumstances.

With that, I set out to find a stream or something. For once, I was glad for the rain that was still falling. That meant that even temporary streams would be fed, at least for a while. A couple hours later, I came across one. It was little more than a puddle running downhill, but it was clear and running across the grass. With a sigh, I knelt in the path of the stream, drinking as much of the cold water as I could. It tasted very plant-y, like I'd just decided to go gnaw on one of the pines around here. As I got back up, shivering and mouth numb, I hoped I didn't just poison myself with some otherworldly toxin in the plants here. Not like I can do anything about it now, I thought. And with that, I set out again, destination unknown.

As the day wore on, I found my mind wandering. Did Yang and Weiss make it? What about Ruby and Summer? Bradford? Vahlen? Shen? I ran through many of the other names I knew and where I'd last seen them. Right at that moment, I remembered those that died so I could escape Adam. I remembered the sound of his katana rending through their armor and then their flesh. I remembered their screams, silenced in an instant one by one.

I gasped, coming back to awareness to find my hands shaking at my side, one gripping my tender but no longer raw wound. Slowly, the thumping in my chest was brought down back to near normal. I decided to take another break after that incident – try and plan my next move. I'd found water, and even if I hadn't stayed with the water, I wouldn't need to find another source for at least another day – two if I didn't find any meaningful source of food, though that would present another problem.

That problem was a little trickier. Sure, I knew for a fact that I could hunt something, but given lighting a fire was likely to attract any aliens which may or may not be searching from the air, I had no way to actually cook the meat. Unless I was starving to death and had literally no other option, eating raw meat was a bad idea. So that left plants… of which I had zero clue what was and wasn't poisonous.

My aura danced across my skin once more, despite me not using it hardly at all in the past few hours.

There wasn't anything I could do but continue on my journey, destination unknown. I'd overheard people from the base say we were in Colorado, but the name meant very little to me. I'd looked at a map of the Earth a few times, but I couldn't say I ever remembered a kingdom going by that name. From there, my mind wandered just as much as my feet did. For the life of me, I couldn't stop it from wandering into dark corners. The only thing that distracted me from current events were the affairs I'd left back home.

Yang, without an arm – hopefully alive. Beacon, shattered with hundreds of students dead; thousands of civilians, too. All caused by the very same man that was now here, hunting me and my new life. With a sigh, I realized that I never got to tell my parents just how right they were about the White Fang. I should never have stuck with them. Maybe Adam wouldn't be as determined to hunt me down if I didn't. Maybe he wouldn't feel the need to follow me like a demented shadow and kill everyone I cared about.

Whenever I closed my eyes, I could see Yang's pained face – both of them. I saw the one from my home, infuriated as she saw me get stabbed. I saw the one from here, anguished as I told her to leave – told her to save herself. As night fell and I settled into another tree, I thought of her. Both were just out of reach; one by worlds, and the other by death. I fell asleep with tears forming in my eyes.

By the time I'd awoken, the sun was already above the horizon.

I pulled myself out of the melancholy of my half-remembered dreams – something about… yellow? Gold? I shook my head, taking stock of the situation. Below, I saw a pair of deer gathering below my tree, munching on the foliage. In that moment, I was acutely aware of just how empty my stomach was. Just as I drew my sword, however, a flicker of light caught my eye from up high. There, dancing amongst the mountaintops, was a Scout-class UFO. It made absolutely no indication that it'd spotted me, simply continuing on its way. But it did serve to remind me of why making a fire was infeasible.

My aura flickered again and with a snarl, I sheathed Gambol Shroud once more. A low growl echoed out from my stomach and the deer jerked away from the tree, bounding away like their lives depended on it.

If I hadn't seen that UFO, they would have.

With a sigh, I climbed upwards to get a better view of my surroundings. I was near the top of one of the mountains, and that's really all the terrain looked like for miles upon miles around. Mountains; some with forest, some without. However, there was also a sign off in the distance, in the one valley I could see. It reminded me of the signs I'd seen on the road trip all those months ago – the one that brought us to Qrow's cabin after they'd found me.

I wasn't sure that the sign meant there was some kind of store there, but I thought it was at least worth checking out. I plotted its location in my mental map, using the sun as the only relevant reference point, and slid down the tree trunk. My side throbbed in pain when I did land, but it had dulled significantly. I pressed a few fingers into the hole in my flesh and found that it no longer went all the way through, nor was it even wet anymore. What little aura I could muster was doing its job. So I set off in the direction of the sign. I just hoped that I wasn't wasting my energy.

An hour or two of walking proved my hopes correct. There, at the bottom of the valley, was one of those weird Terran fuel stations. However, my joy was quickly overshadowed by the realization that I had no money with which to actually buy food. As my stomach grumbled, I already knew what I had to do. I hated every single step of the approach. I knew it was necessary, but it just felt like so many steps backwards. I was a huntress, damnit! We weren't supposed to commit petty theft just for food!

But just before I stepped out of the woods, I was met with a familiar sight. A small pickup-truck; black with a yellow racing stripe. I'd recognize that truck anywhere. "Y- Yang?" I muttered.

But it was Weiss who stood at the fuel pump, lazily watching the screen. A pit formed in my stomach; did she have to take the truck to get away, leaving Yang and the others behind?

"Hey! Stop her!"

Weiss quickly shoved the fuel nozzle back into the machine, eyes darting towards the voice just as mine did. Summer Xiao Long ran out of the store, arms full of groceries. In a flash, Weiss pulled out her pistol and pointed it at the woman.

My eyes widened. Never in a million years did I think I'd witness Weiss Schnee of all people holding someone at gunpoint. But at the same time… I understood. It was hard not to, when I'd had the same plan.

"I'm sorry, but we need this."

"Is not easy for us either! Fuel truck hasn't come in three days!"

"I'm sorry. I really am."

Summer was loading the groceries; almost finished by now. This was my one chance to link up with them again – maybe any friendlies at all. Without thinking, I staggered out of the treeline. In an instant, Weiss's gun was trained on me, but it soon faltered. "Blake?!"

"Got room… for one more?" I asked. Suddenly, I felt exhausted, as if every ounce of energy that had kept me going until now just vanished into the breeze. I stumbled and nearly collapsed, only barely catching myself.

In the time it took me to blink, Summer was there, throwing one of my arms around her shoulder and supporting me. I clung on as she practically dragged me to the truck, aura sparking on my skin all the while. Summer practically threw me into the back, between the seats while the others mounted up.

"Yang, wake up! Blake needs help!"

"B- Blake?" Yang muttered. Her eyes were wide in disbelief, their sheer hope contrasting with the streak of dried blood that ran between them. Her hair was matted down with dirt as well; at least I hoped it was all dirt. "You're… you're alive?"

I slumped against the back of the cab with a groan. "Jury's… out on that one."

Her eyes trailed down my body, settling on the blood-smeared hole in my armor as my aura flickered across it.

"Holy shit," she muttered. "Was that- did that bull guy…?"

"A- Adam did this, yeah," I said with a sigh. "I just… I need rest. And food. Aura needs... fuel, to heal things like this."

"But you're gonna be okay?" She asked, already tearing open a bag of raw hot dogs for me.

"Yeah…" I said, taking a bite. It was slimy, nearly bland, unpleasant, and simultaneously the best food I'd ever had. "He's done this before."

"Jesus Christ," she muttered. "Next time, we're fighting that bastard together."

"I'd… really rather there not be a next time," I said. "He's… he's a monster."

"You survived him, though. Twice, it sounds like." Letting out a sigh, she leaned in towards me. "I'm just… I'm so glad you're okay." I leaned in too, content to feel the warmth of her offered embrac-

Wetness. Wetness on my cheek. I blinked. I wasn't crying. No, the wetness came from a pair of soft lips.

Yang darted backwards. "Oh my God, I'm- I'm so sorry!" she shouted. "I was- I was just so happy to see you alive and I totally misread the situation and I'm just happy I don't have to bury another person I love and-" Her face turned beat red the second that last word left her mouth. "Ah! No, I mean- FUCK! I just-" she cut herself off, helplessly gesturing as her mouth opened and closed repeatedly. After the shock to my own system wore off, I had to admit, it was entertaining to watch her flail about. For a moment, I flashed back to a very different scenario – one where I could barely keep awake from working myself half to death over the White Fang. Now she was the one with bags under her eyes. It was a weird feeling, being on the other side.

"So! Blake!" Summer cut in. "How the hell did you end up at the gas station?"

I let out a sigh, acquiescing to her changing of the subject. "That's… a long story."

In reality, my story wasn't really that long, it just felt that way to me. When I actually got down to telling it, there were only a few interesting highlights and the story only took about five minutes to tell. Even so, most of us were way too busy eating to care about its length.

Ruby didn't look good in the slightest. While she did eat, she hadn't said a word to anyone. Yang, meanwhile, was tomato-faced the entire time. Weiss… Weiss didn't talk to me, specifically. She still talked to Yang and to Summer and I'd bet she'd talk to Ruby too, if she said anything. But not to me. And it wasn't like her reason was a mystery, either, though I didn't exactly have a clean way to bring it up and try to clear the air.

So we sat mostly in silence as Summer drove on. I let the bumps and jostles of the truck lull me into a trance after I'd eaten my fill. Though I wanted to, I had troubles falling back asleep, Yang's words ringing in my head. She kissed me, I thought. Did she really mean that? Was that just some stupid impulse that she acted on without thinking or meaning? Even now, some time after the incident, her face was still beet red. Did she think she ruined our friendship? That last word felt a little uneasy; a little wrong to think about. It just didn't quite fit Yang. Even now, with her tarnished armor and bloody face and matted hair, I just couldn't look at her and think "that's my friend". Maybe it was just some bleed-over from My Yang, but partner felt much better.

I felt the truck veer off the road and the ride got much bumpier for a few minutes before we slowly came to a stop. "Alright, girls," Summer called back. "Stretch and bathroom break." She got out and slid her seat forwards, allowing us to exit as well.

Yang bolted outside as if the truck was on fire. Honestly, I couldn't follow if I wanted to; my legs were jelly at this point and the throbbing in my side only intensified whenever I moved too much.

While the other three were outside, however, Ruby still sat in her seat, looking sullen as ever. The image just didn't fit in my mind; I couldn't reconcile this miserable girl with the little red comet of pure hyper that was Ruby Rose. Hell, I had problems reconciling this with the Ruby I'd met when I woke up here!

"Do you… wanna get out of here?" I asked.

"...I don care…"

I sighed. "Ruby-"

"Save it," she interrupted. "Just… just get out of here. I wanna be alone."

"That's probably not the best idea right now."

"Why not? Afraid I'll do something?" She glanced at the rifle laying between the seats. "With my luck, I'd only get the parts of my head I don't need. Take the stupid thing if you want, just go."

I stared at her, mouth agape. If I had any intention of leaving before, I certainly didn't now. "Ruby, what the fuck?! Are you- are you having thoughts of-"

"No!" she shouted. "I just wanna be alone, for crying out loud! Just take the stupid thing and go!"

"I don't think that's going to happen. Ruby, I- I can't say I understand what you're going through, but I'm-"

"Shut. Up." She blinked rapidly, eyes glistening and jaw trembling. "Just take the gun… and leave. Please."

For just a moment, I considered doing as she asked, regardless of my own physical state; ignoring the pain in my side, taking the danger away, and simply leaving. But then I thought back to the time I'd run away from everything; the turmoil of those couple days, not believing I could trust anyone on the team, crying over the life I'd thrown away with a simple slip of the tongue. She needed friends right now; not solitude… And I would help the best I could. "Ruby, I… I won't leave you alone. I'm here to help." Slowly, I reached towards her.

She completely froze for a moment. As my hands neared, her whole body began shaking. My Faunus ears heard her heart start pumping hard; like I was some threat about to slit her throat. I kept pushing; she needed a hug more than anyone else. I knew she'd start calming down, if only she had someone to latch on to. "No!" she shouted, eyes wide.

The moment before I made contact, I heard her breath hitch and her heart seize. Her skin cracked as if it was made of the porcelain it resembled – clothes, too. Before I could even blink, a massive sea of red clouded my vision. I reeled back, flailing my arms and coughing out some flowery-tasting cloth from my lungs as I tried to figure out just what the actual fuck just happened.

/-\ Summer Xiao Long /-\

We were all just standing around, enjoying the fact that we could stretch our muscles after a long ride. Well, those two were enjoying it; Yang especially, given how much she'd just put her foot in her mouth with Blake.

I internally groaned once more; why in the world did she have to like her? Jaune was so nice, why couldn't she have found another guy – or girl, I experimented too when I was her age – like him?

But then there was a thunderclap behind us. All of us whipped around and saw the still-open doors of the truck belching rose petals of all things! I ran ahead, swatting the cloud aside as I peered into the backseat, only to find a single person there instead of the two there should be. "What the hell?!" I shouted. "Blake, where's Ruby?!"

"What?!" she coughed out, gaze darting to her empty seat. Her ears stood up on end before folding back in on themselves. "She… she unlocked her semblance…" she muttered. "Oh my Gods, I made her unlock her semblance…"

"Blake, where is my sister?!" Yang shouted from beside me.

She whipped back around to face us. "Did you see a trail of rose petals leading anywhere?"

"What? No! I just heard her shout and suddenly my truck is filled with red shit! What the fuck is going on?!"

"I- it's her semblance! She has super speed, and we need to track her down before she gets too lost!" She started to pull herself up, trying to exit the truck, but she gasped, hand going to her wound in an instant before she collapsed back onto the floor.

"Stay here," I said. "She… she might come back. We'll go look for her." I pulled back from the truck, though I left the door open. "Weiss, you follow the trail; keep going away from the highway. Yang, me and you are in the forest. I'll go right, you go left."

"That still leaves a direction un-searched," Weiss said.

I shook my head. "We're still really close to the highway, we don't really need to go that way. Let's go, meet back here in half-an-hour."

"What if we don't find her in that time?" Yang asked.

I sighed. "We will, Yang. We will." With no more words exchanged, we headed out.

It was only a few minutes into my walk when I heard the massive and frantic stomping of a large animal. My rifle snapped up just as a mountain lion darted out, changing course as soon as it saw me. I kept my crosshairs trained in its direction as it fled, just in case. After a few moments, I let out a sigh and relaxed.

A thought crossed my mind that the lion could've been spooked by Ruby, but how in the world would a terrified five-foot-two girl who didn't have a mean bone in her body get something as dangerous as a mountain lion to run for the hills?

In the end, it didn't matter. The lion was gone, and so was my daughter. I had to find her. I searched and searched, scouring through the land of pine needles, thorny bushes, and fallen trees, but I found very little. "Ruby?" I tried. "Ruby, where are you?" The forest lay silent for a few moments, but just as I was about to move on, I heard it.

Crying.

Faint, but there, nonetheless. Very slowly, I approached. "Ruby, is that you?". The noise never got above a muffled whisper, like someone was trying to hold it in and failing miserably. However, as I approached the source, I realized it was coming from the treetopsrather than the forest floor.

Sure enough, when I looked up, there she was, clad in her PASGT vest and Engineer's coveralls, huddled into a branch about thirty feet up. "Ruby?" I muttered.

She gasped, only her flailing limbs keeping her from falling out of the tree. As she stabilized herself, I saw red lightning dance across her forearm. "M- Mom?" she muttered. "O- Oh my God, I- I don't know what happened! Just get me down! Please just get me down!"

"Don't worry, Ruby, I'll get you down," I said, projecting as much false confidence as I could into my voice. I had absolutely zero idea how to get her down, but if she knew that, she might slip or something. Her muscles were already shaking like leaves as she clung to the tree. It only took me a moment to realize that I very much needed help, so I turned in the direction of the truck. "Yang! Yang! I found her!" I shouted as loud as I possibly could.

For a heartbeat, the forest was silent again, save for Ruby's crying. But then the forest exploded in noise; heavy crashing through leaves and sticks made my head whip to its source, only to see my other daughter in her tarnished but golden armor sprinting at full tilt towards us. "Ruby!" she shouted, not even the slightest bit winded.

"Y- Yang, help!" she cried, hands still clinging to the tree for dear life.

"Just hold on, I'm coming!" Her head darted around, looking for the best way to scale the massive pine, before she let out a frustrated groan. She patted herself down before pausing on her combat knife. "Mom, do you have a knife?"

My hand instantly shot to my left pocket, where I always kept a shitty folding knife for the little things that popped up once a week or so. "Not a good one," I said, instantly handing the thing to her.

"Doesn't matter, it'll do." She unfolded it and grabbed her combat knife with her other hand. Closing her eyes, I saw the yellow lightning of her aura flash over the blades. Her eyes shot back open and she lunged at the tree, sinking them both into the wood down to the hilt. With groans of exertion, she began climbing the tree, stabbing the thing repeatedly as she ascended and using the knives as handholds. Her aura flashed with every stab and as she neared the top, it was visibly dimmer than it had been when she'd started.

The second she was situated, Ruby lunged for her sister, burying her head in the crook of her neck as Yang wrapped her arms around her. They sat there for a while as Ruby simply sobbed, her sister gently rubbing her back. The sight made my heart drop; I should be up there, comforting her too. But I couldn't do what Yang did. I never would be able to do that, either. So here I stood, at the base of the tree with no one to hold but myself.

Eventually, they broke, having a hushed conversation before Yang turned around. Ruby started to reach for her, but then paused. Yang looked back at her, surprise clearly written on her face. Ruby shook her head, unable to meet her sister's eyes. After a moment, Yang took the scatter laser off her back, unloaded it, and looked down. "Hey Mom, can you catch this?" she asked, holding the gun off to the side of the tree.

"W- what?" I said, unsure I'd heard her correctly.

"It's… in the way," Yang said. "And we can't exactly leave it up here, so uhh…?"

"Okay, fine, toss it down!" I said back, readying to catch the laser gun. Only a few heartbeats after she'd let it go, it was in my grasp… for all of two seconds. Though it was light, it still picked up quite the momentum and I was never known for my ability to catch things. I swore, digging the thing out of the pine needles and underbrush and giving it as thorough an examination as I could without any tools. Thankfully, it was designed well enough to be manhandled by grunts, so nothing was out of place on the weapon.

Ruby then clambered onto her sister's back, holding on tight as she shimmied down the tree using the same knife-holds she'd made on the way up. After what felt like an hour, their boots finally touched the soil once more.

I immediately snatched her into the tightest hug I could manage while she simply buried her head into my neck. "I'm sor- ry," Ruby slurred, snot and tears still bubbling out from her face. "I- I don't kn- know what hap- pened. I just- I just- I was back in the ba- ase a- and there was a Chryssalid and-" she shivered. "A- and then I was-"

"Shhhh…" I said. "You don't have to tell us. I'm just glad you're al-" I cut myself off. Alright was the last thing my baby girl was. "I'm just glad you're safe."

I don't even know how long we just stood there, like that. Eventually, Weiss found us and we all headed back to the truck, though Ruby refused to move without holding on to at least one of us. As we approached the truck, though, I couldn't help but have a single thought.

Blake was in there with her. Blake did this to my daughter.

On A Planet Far, Far Away

/-\ Weiss Schnee /-\

"Name, identification, and reason for visiting," the gate guard asked.

I reached into my pocket and withdrew several thousand Lien. Internally, I grumbled – I didn't exactly have a way to replace that anymore, I was just lucky those stupid barbarians hadn't already spent some of it by the time I broke out. "Ann Onymous, just visiting family," I lied.

He swiped the cards from my hands, checked them over, and then nodded. "Welcome to Mistral, Miss Onymous, enjoy your stay." Without another word, he stood aside and opened the gate. It wasn't some grand affair like it would be at one of the main gates, this one being barely bigger than a man. I'd chosen one of the side entrances for a reason – the guards here made markedly less money, given they had so few opportunities for extortion, plus the fewer the people, the longer it would be until word got back to father that I was here specifically.

Still, this was where my knowledge of the criminal underworld ended. I'd only had enough time to do the most barebones of research on entering the city overland on the off chance something untoward happened with the cargo ship. I was glad I did, but now I felt completely out of my depth in the section of the city I walked into. It wasn't quite as bad as the sob-story posts about Mantle Charities that were clearly hand-picked to be the absolute worst and most dilapidated parts of the city, but it wasn't too far off from that level either.

The architecture may be wooden instead of brick, but graffiti and gang signs were everywhere. The very air was different the second I stepped through as well; everything smelled of smoke and mildew as opposed to the freshness of the countryside just a few feet away. On top of that, the streets were very crowded and due to my… stature, I was essentially blind as soon as I stepped into the mass of people headed in one direction. I could only pull at the hood I'd stolen from the bandits in hopes no one would sense what they perceived as wealth and try to cause a scene.

I spent hours wandering the city like that, constantly being on-guard and looking for any possible way to climb out of the lowest reaches of MIstral's spire. As I struggled to navigate the crowds, I passed several things I wouldn't even dream of back in Atlas; train lines running straight through the road, making everyone jump into a stranger's home to wait for it to pass, people dumping their waste out their windows and onto the street, and on top of all that, there wasn't a single guard or policeman in sight. If I wasn't a huntress, I would honestly fear for my life here.

Finally, after several hours, I found a way upwards out of the lowest level. Even after bribing my way up a single level, the crowds became less dense and I was able to have more situational awareness. The effect only magnified when I found the next staircase up. As I ascended, the buildings started to approach a reasonable standard and people even began to openly wear jewelry! Also the city didn't stink as much, but I didn't know if that was simply my nose having completely died or the sanitation office actually doing their job.

That was how my first day in Mistral went. I found lodgings for the night, grabbed some food, and then headed out after breakfast to search once more. I was well aware that the bandits had claimed Atlas had retreated in on itself – that Winter was no longer here – but I couldn't believe them. They had ample motivation to lie about that particular subject. If she was still here, she'd be on or near the upper levels, as befit her station as a high-ranking Atlesian Officer on a diplomatic mission.

However, as I ascended, I noticed someone… familiar. He carried himself with a hunched-over walk, wore a moderately nice shirt, and had an enormous sword folded up on his back. After a moment, I couldn't place him, but he at least was a huntsman – the first I'd seen since entering this place. That's… odd, come to think of it. Still, this was in the upper half of the city, and he didn't look too disreputable, so I figured it would be worth it to approach him.

The second I turned towards him, he seemingly randomly stumbled into an alleyway. I only paused for a moment before following, but it quickly became evident that the alley was a dead end. Before I could turn around to exit, however, I felt the pinprick of a sword blade gently nudging my back. "Bad idea, stalking a huntsman," a gruff voice said.

I froze. "I- I wasn't stalking!" I shouted.

"Sure, sure, sure," he said. "Well, you've got my attention, how's about you answer me this: you behind all the missing huntsmen, girlie?"

"Missing hunts- What?! No, I just got here yesterday! I'm looking for the Atlesian diplomatic mission and I thought you might know about them!"

The pressure on my back lessened. "Atlesians? Hah! They packed up their bags when Jimmy recalled 'em a few weeks ago."

"...what…" I muttered. "So this really was all a waste of time…"

Finally, the sword withdrew fully. "Ah, shit, this was just a big misunderstanding wasn't it? Look, if that's all you were here for, I'd skip town as soon as possible. Something ain't right in this city."

I frowned, slowly turning around. "I… might be able to help," I said, opening my robe just enough to expose the hilt of Myrtenaster. "I went to Beacon. I was only starting my second year, but… you said something about missing huntsmen?"

He paused, then squinted, peering under my hood. After a moment, he jerked back in shock. "Holy shit, you're Weiss Schnee," he muttered.

"I would appreciate it if you don't spread that around."

That drew a barking chuckle from the man. "No, no, you were on the same team as my nieces! Oh, this is just funny and cruel at the same time."

Now that he mentioned it, I finally could place him – he was the rapscallion that smashed the drones when my sister had just landed! Wait… funny and cruel? "I suppose they're not here either, then."

"Oh no, they absolutely are and they would probably suffocate you to death in a hug if they knew you were on the same continent as them, but, well… I've gotta ask a favor."

My eyes narrowed – he was already using his family as leverage. However, it's not like I had anywhere else to go with the Atlesians being gone already. "Name it," I spat.

"Now I think we've got another miscommunication going on here. Whatever you think I'm gonna say? Drop it. I don't like that look on your face," he said. "Now, I'm here on a mission. Yes, it's related to the missing huntsmen. No, it's not what I came here for in the first place, it kinda just came up. But there is something going on here, and I need every able-bodied huntsman and huntress I can find. I can't go into details in public, but I can tomorrow, after you've all had your little reunion. So the favor's this: stick around for a bit and hear us out." He extended a hand. "Sound good?"

As his rant went on, I couldn't help but compare it to the ones my own father would've made to me. Whereas he'd be condescending and manipulative, this man seemed… different. And he was offering a chance to see my two remaining teammates with no strings attached. In the end, I shook his hand – I'd be an idiot not to.