Raven didn't hesitate. Before anyone could answer Summer's question, the armored Maiden found herself being shoved through a portal and whisked away from the desert sun. The unfamiliar faunus boy picked up Yang in a bridal carry and dashed through the portal as well, while Raven yelled something that Summer didn't quite catch. She was too busy staring at the two men mere feet away from her, standing before a long series of windows curving into a gentle semicircle and showing a view of Atlas far below. One of the men was General James Ironwood, who she had only seen in pictures or on the news.
The other was her husband, Taiyang Xiao Long.
He had been mid-sentence, saying something to the military man when Summer appeared through the dimensional door. Whatever it was no longer mattered as he and Summer locked eyes… and then Sun broke them both from the moment as he entered in a panic.
"We need Marrow!" Sun called breathlessly as he ran to the center of the room, depositing Yang on James' desk. "O-or a medic, or… just get somebody! Now!"
James didn't hesitate, rushing to his desk and slamming down on a button before speaking into the intercom and calling for medical aid. Taiyang was equally quick to move, running to Yang and offering his hand as the portal to Vacuo closed.
"Yang, what happened!?" the man asked, squeezing Yang's hand tightly the second she offered it. "Where's Raven? Why…?"
"Fucked up," Yang said simply as she kept her other hand on the blood-soaked shirt tied around her side. "Got sloppy. She got me with an axe."
Summer moved to try to reach Yang, only for Sun to move and stand between them. The shirtless faunus was furious and shook his head as the Maiden stopped before him.
"Don't," Sun warned. "You've caused enough trouble already…"
Summer balked at the accusation, her expression a mixture of regret and anger.
"I don't know who you think you are, but you're not keeping me from Yang…"
"Then I will."
Summer froze up at Taiyang's words. Sun stepped aside to offer the man a clear view, and suddenly, his bewilderment at seeing the woman was gone. In its place was a deep, barely restrained fury that Summer didn't recognize.
"Tai? I-I…"
"Don't," Taiyang warned. "Listen to Sun, and just… don't. Once Yang is being tended to, we'll talk. Until then, stay out of our way."
"Like you've been doing for years," Sun spat, giving the woman a venomous look.
Summer let out a frustrated noise, but said nothing more as she walked off to the side of the room to prevent herself from obstructing the entranceway. James was quick to move past her, throwing open the doors to his office and looking down the hall for any sign of incoming medical aid.
"Should be a minute or two at most," the man said over his shoulder to Taiyang. "Sun, don't add fuel to the fire. Now is not the time."
"Sorry, Sir…" the faunus replied, shivering with adrenaline as he clutched his side with a hiss.
James turned fully, keeping the door held open as he looked the faunus over.
"… you're going with Yang. You're hurt, too. What happened…?"
"We were shot down," Sun said angrily, nodding his head in Summer's direction. "By her. I don't know where the others are. I don't even know if they're alive."
Summer watched as James' hand twitched quite close to his holstered firearm. Suddenly, her face paled as she looked to Taiyang with desperation.
"Call Raven! I can't call off the clan without being there! She has to send me back to Vacuo, I can stop them from attacking!"
"The clan?" Taiyang asked as he pulled out his scroll. "Summer what the hell have you been…"
"It doesn't matter right now!" the Maiden replied. "Let me just… let me help make this right! You and I will have to… later. Taiyang, I'm so sorry…"
"Save it," Taiyang said icily as the call connected. "Raven! We need a portal, now!"
The glowing gateway opened once again as a team of medics rushed into the office. Summer ran straight into the swirling Semblance, immediately finding herself back out within the sands of Vacuo. As the portal closed behind her, her eyes began to ignite with a silver glow and she raised a hand, firing off a glittering bolt of silver magic into the sky.
"Stay in my line of sight," Raven ordered from behind Summer as she pocketed her scroll. "Otherwise, I'll kill you myself. We need to find the rest of Sun's squad. There should be five of them."
"The Opalines should stop attacking after seeing that signal," Summer reassured as she lowered her arm. "We need to get moving- it'll be obvious who doesn't belong in Vacuo. Is one of them a Maiden? I can feel their aura nearby…"
"Yeah, one of th-"
As if on cue, a brilliant, shimmering spike of ice erected from over the dunes not terribly far from where the huntresses were standing. The two looked at each other and then both took off, flying over the desert while propelled by raw magic.
"You run a bandit clan, now?" Raven questioned as she stuck close to her former teammate. "The nerve. The irony. When you visited my encampment, I never would've guessed that your plan w-"
"I never visited your encampment," Summer interrupted. "I intentionally distanced myself from all of you, after inheriting this power. I never would have put you in danger like that!"
Raven narrowed her eyes, the obvious answer tearing into the forefront of her mind like a bullet.
"…shit. What else has she been doing, while we've had no idea all this time…"
"She?" Summer asked as another, wider pillar of ice surged up from the sand, just ahead. "Who is 'she'?"
"Not now," Raven denied as she drew Omen and began to ascend. "I'm not sparing your people if they're attacking mine!"
Upon rising over the dunes, Raven found an entirely new barrier encircling a small group of familiar faces. Jagged walls of magical ice surrounded Corsac and Jaune, both looking exhausted and injured as they stood over the corpses of three people in armor similar to Summer's own. Hovering above them was Harriet, summoning up more icy barriers, spikes, and projectiles to ward off the four remaining attackers that remained. Summer quickly sped up and gained altitude, rushing to meet the Ace in midair and holding out a hand as she used the other to fire off another signal spark.
"Stop! They've been called off! No one else here will harm you!"
Harriet whirled in midair, extending a hand radiating with pulsating white energy. Upon spotting Summer, she let the limb drop by only a few inches. When Raven made herself known just behind Summer, Harriet turned her attention down to the Opalines below.
"Stand down! Now!" the Maiden roared, lowering herself to the sands to stand between Jaune and Corsac. "If anyone makes a move, I won't hold back!"
"Listen to her!" Summer ordered from on high. "These people aren't our targets!"
Gradually, the ice walls began to melt down into the sand, dispelling the barrier between the Opalines and the injured huntsmen. Raven landed close by and opened a portal once again, ushering the two men through as she kept her sword trained on the bandits.
"Go! Get treated, and I'll bring you back to Vacuo later!"
Corsac gave the woman a small bow of his head as he kept Jaune supported with an arm around his shoulder.
"My thanks, Raven. You are an invaluable ally."
Raven said nothing as the portal closed, leaving the three Maidens standing together amid a crowd of armored locals. All of the bandits kept their weapons drawn, though they remained at a distance as a staredown began.
"You said there were five," Summer reminded. "Who are the other two?"
"Blake and Neopolitan," Raven answered. "And they had better be alive, for your sake…"
Every fiber of Blake's being was telling her to run. After she and Neopolitan had leapt from the plane, the smaller girl had kept a tight grip upon her and guided them both to the ground using her weaponized parasol. The trip took long enough that Blake was able to watch their transport explode in midair high above them, raining debris down over the desert… but she couldn't tell if anyone else had escaped. There was a high probability in her mind that some of her friends were dead. It was entirely possible that Sun was dead… and he wasn't answering any of her texts.
Upon landing, Neopolitan had constructed an illusory rock formation around them, matching the other large, reddish brown boulders sticking up out of the desert. Unfamiliar armored scavengers stalked past the construct as giant walls of sand were erected all around them, and the two huntresses stayed silent and hidden. Blake had immediately taken out her scroll and begun trying to contact the others to get confirmation that someone from the group was alive… but no one was answering.
Once again, she had been spared while watching her friends get hurt or potentially killed. The notion brought her back to a night over a year ago, the first time she had chosen to just run. Had Sun not chased her, and had she not spent so much time among her friends new and old in Kuo Kuana and Atlas, things would have played out terribly as she tried to flee across the desert to save herself.
But Blake was a different person from who she had been that night. Sun, Yang, Jaune, Corsac, and even Harriet all needed her, just as much as she needed them… and giving up was no longer an option. There was too much at stake both personally, and for all of Remnant. She had something to fight for bigger than herself, and Blake Belladonna wasn't about to let fear become bigger tha what mattered so much to her. Never again.
"…they're fighting off these bandits," Blake concluded in a low whisper. "They're not answering because they're busy fighting, or they lost their scrolls on the way down."
Neopolitan looked back at Blake from where she stood near the edge of the phantasmal rock, watching their pursuers search the area. Blake's first words came minutes after they had landed and the Opalines had paused their search of the area, seemingly confused. Neopolitan took the opportunity to take out her scroll and send a message Blake's way while giving her a stern look.
Don't even think about them until we're safe. Don't get distracted by what might or might not be happening to the people you care about. That almost got me killed at Beacon while I was searching for Roman.
"Yeah, and doing the opposite almost ruined everything for me and all of them," Blake pointed out. "We have to get moving. We have to find them before these marauders do. Sun told us about this clan, and if they're out in numbers… Neo, we're going to have to fight, precisely for the people we care about. I can't do this alone. None of us can. I'm… I'm going to need you to have my back, and I'm going to need you to trust me to have yours. Can you do that?"
Neopolitan made a face, tapping out another quick message.
You trust me to have your back when it's down to life and death? You're not obligated to give a shit about whatever happens to me right now, especially after Beacon and what went down at Qrow's house. We can drop the façade if you want to run in opposite directions and just give up on trying to make this work. I wouldn't blame you.
"That's not happening," Blake said firmly as she stood up to her full height and drew Gambol Shroud from her side. She looked at her available targets, the first Opaline standing a good twenty feet away with their back turned. "This is it, Neo. Everything you've done, everything that's happened between us… everything unsaid between us about Beacon, about you and Sun… even how you've been playing along and helping us out so far, none of that matters as much as what you do right now. I'm choosing to fight and believe in the others, as well as the cause. It's time to choose who you want to be from this point forward. If you stay hidden, or if you run… I'll understand. There's no reason for us to be anything to you outside of the mutual goal of stopping Salem and bringing down Cinder. You have no real reason to stick with us other than the moral obligation… but you can choose to make one, right now. I was in that place, once, where I had to make that call… and I chose badly. I'd be pissed if this is where we part ways, but I'd also understand."
Neopolitan hesitated as she put her scroll away. By her estimation, there were maybe eight Opalines in the immediate area, all looking to kill them and well-trained enough for Sun to speak of them in a sort of fearful reverence. With a long, deep breath, Neopolitan drew her hidden blade and walked forward to stand next to Blake. She offered a quick nod to the faunus, who followed up by mirroring Neopolitan's sharp inhale.
"…Thank you, Neo. We're going to make it through this, we're going to find the others, and afterward… things are going to be different between us. Welcome to our weird, fucked up little family. Let's go!"
As soon as she said it, the illusion of the rock formation shattered into triangular fragments, scattering across the sand as the two huntresses charged into the fray side by side, weapons at the ready.
Author's Note:
Expect a few weeks of chaos as things slowly get sorted out.
-RD