The sun had risen hours ago. Midmorning had come and gone, with noon creeping in at a steady pace… and still Harriet stood alone in the kitchen of Qrow's previously abandoned summer home. With the sole exception of Neopolitan, who had left an hour ago, none of the rest of the party had stirred from their various rooms around the house. The Winter Maiden hadn't slept so well herself, and so, as loathe as she was to admit it… she knew in her heart that they wouldn't be heading out to Vacuo before the following morning at the absolute earliest. None of them were ready. None of them were even functional.
Harriet had managed to snag a guest bedroom for herself across from the one that Jaune had taken for the night. She had every intention of simply falling asleep- after all, it wouldn't have been the first time she'd forced herself to block out an ongoing mission and capitalize on what little opportunity she had to rest and recover. For all of her Ace Ops training, though, nothing seemed to work. All Harriet could do was stare at the ceiling, change sides within the bed and instead study the wall, and eventually turn back over to look at the bedside alarm clock. Minutes felt like hours. There was no way she could sleep with so much on her mind, and every technique she had learned to quiet her mind had failed. It was around two in the morning that Harriet had decided to simply crawl out of bed and be practical. Even if she couldn't rest, she could at least concentrate on making everyone's lives earlier.
Fortunately, a 24-hour supermarket wasn't far from the house and quite easy to find. Harriet didn't know exactly how long their stopover would be, but found herself suddenly no longer caring, either. Perhaps it was her exhaustion meddling with her thoughts. Perhaps it was the overall hopelessness of the situation. Either way, she couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling that it didn't matter when they left for Vacuo, no matter how foolish the notion seemed. The Headmaster of Shade Academy may or may not have sent a legitimate distress call… but realistically, what could they even do?
In the end, Harriet made her way through the checkout in a semi-zombified state. She had procured enough food for almost a week, making sure to focus primarily on non-perishables that they could take with them if they did manage to leave in a timely manner.
The following hours were once again uneventful. With Neopolitan asleep on the couch, Harriet couldn't go about unpacking groceries. Instead, she simply sat in the guest bedroom, flicking through her scroll. People were rapidly realizing that global communications had come back up, leading to the resurgence of message boards, community hubs, and social media that had been absent for nearly a year. The vast majority of messages that Harriet managed to read through were positive. There was so much hope… but Harriet knew what was coming.
Sometime in the morning, or by afternoon at the latest, General Ironwood would address Remnant. The truth would come out, and suddenly, the tone of those messages would change.
Maybe everyone in Remnant would feel like she did.
Harriet waited until 10 A.M. to make her way back downstairs and begin unpacking. Much to her surprise, everyone but Neopolitan was still asleep. The two women had had a 'conversation' via scroll while Harriet went about making breakfast for the two of them. All things considered, Neopolitan seemed somewhat put together- more so than Harriet herself, as much as the older woman hated to admit it. The topic of discussion eventually shifted to what could be done while the others were asleep, and eventually, Harriet gave Neopolitan temporary access to her Ace Ops charge account via scroll. With virtually unlimited funds, Neopolitan set out to go shopping for clothing and supplies for the group while Harriet waited for the rest to wake up. The Winter Maiden took to sitting on the couch next to Neopolitan's blanket and pillow as she went back to her scroll, waiting for General Ironwood's inevitable address. She didn't have to wait long for the next person to finally awaken.
The sound of the sliding glass door to the back yard shifting open drew Harriet's attention immediately. Corsac Albain pulled the object shut behind himself while rubbing at his forehead with his other hand. The faunus looked miserable, and not just for the bandages wrapped around his chest and shoulder. Harriet could tell they were feeling similarly, at least from a physical standpoint, and she offered the man the softest tone she could manage as she stashed away her scroll.
"Hey. You good?"
"…perhaps sleeping atop an uneven wooden picnic table was an… unfortunate choice," Corsac let on as his hand transitioned to rubbing the side of his neck. "I feel awful, cold, and somewhat sick. I'll endeavor not to slow us down as soon as the others are awake. My apologies."
"We're not going anywhere today," Harriet replied as she stood up into a stretch. "I get the feeling we're all miserable right now, and I don't think any of us are fit to fly a plane with so little sleep. We'll take at least a day. You a tea or coffee person?"
"Tea," Corsac said with conviction. "My thanks."
"All good," Harriet reassured as she made her way back into the kitchen for what felt like the hundredth time in the past 24 hours. "Can I ask you something and ask you to answer honestly?"
"I see no reason why not," Corsac answered as he took his place atop a stool beneath the marble countertop. "We're going to need to trust each other implicitly for any of this to work, after all."
"Did I come across as a total bitch yesterday?" Harriet asked, focusing on preparing the tea kettle rather than Corsac. "Or, you know, have I since your whole crew arrived in Atlas?"
"You've come across as a person under incredible pressure without the necessary accompanying support network in place," Corsac said without hesitation. "I do not believe any of us think of you in such a way, Harriet. Let us become that network for you on this journey. Sun, Jaune, Yang, Weiss, and Ilia made doing so a priority for each other up in Atlas, and it greatly benefitted me despite my initial doubts."
"Seems that way," Harriet acknowledged as she finally turned back around to face Corsac. She braced herself back against the kitchen countertop, resting her palms atop it as she looked past the faunus and toward the sliding door. A figure was still passed out atop the picnic table outside, their saffron hair splayed out all around them. "She doing alright out there?"
"Better, but not what I would call 'alright' just yet," Corsac answered. "She only fell asleep a few hours ago, and I followed shortly after. We spent much of the night talking about our fallen siblings. There was… more on her mind than just simple loss. Anger, fear, regret… I feel for her. I wish there was more I could do, but I do not think I have the same emotional support capabilities as Jaune."
"…I'll try to pitch in," Harriet offered with a shake of her head. "I don't know what I'll realistically be able to do, but losing Vine… I went about dealing with the fallout completely the wrong way. Marrow had to pry at it carefully until I finally just fucking exploded on him, and then broke down. I don't want to see Yang go that road."
"We cannot let Yang choose that path, for her safety and our own," Corsac agreed. "We all need to be at our best in Vacuo… and I fear you may be correct. One day here may not be enough to get us there."
"Guess it depends on how we spend it," Harriet shrugged as the tea kettle began to whistle. She turned and took it off the heat before beginning to pour. "If Sun's headache is gone, I'm sure he and Blake will spend most of it all over each other. As long as those two are good, Neo seems… tired, but alright. Haven't seen Jaune yet, but he's probably up in his room."
"And what about you?" Corsac asked before Harriet could do the same. "What is it you need right now to help you recover?"
"I wish I had any idea," Harriet said with a sigh. "This whole Maiden thing is just… I'm still getting used to it physically. It feels like there's just ice in my veins, my skin is clammy and a little pale, and my pulse is slower. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it feels like I'm dying… but I don't feel like I'm dying. Does that make any sense?"
"…a little?" Corsac tried. "I believe I understand the sentiment. What about mentally?"
"It's a shitshow," Harriet admitted. "What happened with Operation Snowfall, the abandonment of Mantle, everything about Salem… it's all overwhelming and disheartening. I did leave to protect the vault, but I also had to leave for myself. I just need time. What do you need?"
The answer came to Corsac immediately, though it wasn't so much a comfort as a source of guilt.
"…Jaune."
"…oh," was all Harriet could come up with as she looked the man over in a new light. "Just to clarify…"
"Yes," Corsac answered before she could ask.
"Oh," Harriet echoed, her tone entirely different. "But aren't he and Yang a thing?"
"Apparently not in the way most people think they are, and it's all rather complicated," Corsac explained, fixating his gaze upon the countertop rather than Harriet. "Those two are physically and emotionally entangled, yet not 'an item' as Yang explained it to me. We're… exploring the possibility of something… unconventional. It seems all three of us need each other, especially now. We're due to sit down and talk about it soon."
Harriet offered a nod, trying to sound comforting as she clasped her hands in front of her waist.
"Well… you won't hear judgment from me. I gave Marrow a bit of shit for getting together with Weiss initially, but after seeing how good they are for each other… I hope it all works out for you. Love is weird as hell and also not for me."
"I thought much the same," Corsac said as he finally met Harriet's eyes once again. "I don't know what I'm doing at all."
"That makes three of us."
Harriet and Corsac both turned to look at Blake as she made her way down the hall. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were rumpled, as though she had literally just climbed out of bed. She, too, looked utterly exhausted despite the fact that she had actually gotten a fair bit of sleep.
"Morning, Princess," Corsac said. "How is Sun?"
"Snoring loud enough to wake me up," Blake grumbled as she took a seat next to the other faunus. "He's passed out in his boxers, half-twisted with one leg off the bed and drooling into a pillow. If he wasn't having such a rough time I'd take a pic and use it as blackmail, but that just seems mean right now."
"You probably love it either way," Harriet teased. "Tea?"
"Please," Blake replied. "And I do. I don't know where I'd be without him."
"Doesn't it worry you that so much of who you are is tied up in him?" Harriet asked, only to regret it the second the words had left her mouth. "Sorry, that was…"
"No, it's a fair question," Blake reassured. "If you had asked me a few months ago… I would've said yes. That was a big part of why it took so long for us to 'make it official,' honestly. But who I am now, with him, is infinitely better than who I was. Some things you just can't do on your own."
A muffled noise came from down the hall, back in the direction of Blake's room. It was the unmistakable sound of someone retching into a toilet bowl.
"Shit," Blake cursed as she slipped off the stool and gave the pair in the kitchen an apologetic look. "Forget the tea. Duty calls."
"Anything we can do for you?" Corsac asked as Blake began to hurriedly walk toward the horrid noise.
"Just… leave this to me," Blake asserted. "I have a feeling it won't be pretty…"
Author's Note:
And now, 50 chapters of Sun vomiting in the bathroom.
You people deserve it for making it this far.
For the week of 9/4.
-RD