//------------------------------//
// Overwatch 
// Story: SAPR 
// by Scipio Smith 
//------------------------------//


Overwatch


One Month Earlier…
The Chapel of Our Lady of the North was not immune from the architectural styles of Atlas merely on account of its religious nature, or even the archaic nature of the faith it served. It was a building in Atlas, and it looked as though it belonged in Atlas; although it had a vaguely sepulchral shape, the fact that it was built of glass and steel marked it clearly as a modern and distinctively Atlesian interpretation of the design. In daylight, the walls could be seen through, with only the metal beams and support struts interrupting the continuous clear material that separated the interior from the outside world – although when a degree of separation from the world was called for, the glass could be darkened until it was opaque – while the pews that cascaded forwards in rows from the centre of the building were fashioned out of shining metal, bolted to the floor. 
Ciel had no objections to this modernity. This was Atlas, after all; it would have been a bizarre sight to have seen an old-fashioned church of rough-hewn stone in the middle of the most advanced city in all of Remnant. And besides, the Lady of the North could be found wherever a true believer might be found; if it were not so, then it would be very hard indeed to find her anywhere within the Kingdom  of Atlas these days. 
It was night now, and through the high glass ceiling, she could have seen the moon and the stars illuminating the sky above if she had turned her eyes to heaven. She did not, but kept her eyes fixed upon the statue of the Lady herself that sat at the very forefront of the chapel. Alone in the whole building, this statue possessed a traditional look, although Ciel had no doubt that it was as modern as the building itself, but it had been fashioned out of alabaster stone, giving it a pale glow in the darkness that engulfed the largely unlit chapel, and in consequence, it seemed as though it could or might have graced somewhere much older than this place. The Lady was depicted hooded and swathed in a shawl, her face obscured from view. She held out one hand, palm facing towards the ground, as if she were offering a blessing or a benediction to a supplicant. 
Candles burned low around the base of the statue, flickering occasionally, although there was no breeze here to make them so, unless they were so sensitive that the breath of those within the room could disturb the firelight thus. Only Ciel and old Father Browne were present here; Ciel’s parents were waiting outside, and when she was finished here, then they would go to dinner to celebrate Ciel’s graduation, the first of her family to ever pass through Atlas  Academy, but that was for later. For now, it was not meet that they should be here for this. This was a sacred thing, between her and Atlas and the Lady of the North. 
General Ironwood had accorded her a great honour by offering to swear her in as an Atlesian huntress personally, along with Rainbow Dash and Penny and Blake, a great honour that she had nevertheless had to decline. She had come here instead, her beret rolled up and clutched in one hand, to take her oath before the Lady of the North, as was permitted by the regulations on religious freedom. This was an extraordinary moment in her life, when she would give herself to Atlas and to mankind as their light in darkness, and it was fitting that she should do so in a sacred space. 
Father Browne had been a soldier himself, once, before he had turned to faith; his round and kindly face was marked by slashing scars across it, and he moved a little stiffly at times, as though his joints creaked beneath his pristine robe of pale blue. Candlelight glinted off his small, round spectacles. 
He smiled encouragingly at her. “Kneel before the Lady.”
Ciel knelt, her head beneath the statue’s outstretched hand which hovered above her. She looked up, and from this angle, she could better see the statue’s face: ageless, soft yet strong-seeming in equal measure, sightless eyes staring down at her and seeming to perceive her nevertheless. 
“The greatest treasure of the north,” Father Browne said, “is its fighters of valour unsurpassed; do you swear before the Lady that you will be brave of heart in the face of all dangers?”
“I swear on my life that I will be brave,” Ciel said, “though a thousand fates of death surround me.” She spoke quickly and easily. She had never had any difficulty in being brave; she had never known herself to hesitate in the face of danger. She did not anticipate any difficulties in that regard arising now.
Especially not now, when so many comrades - amongst them sisters of the faith like Neon Katt - had gone before to show her the way.
Father Browne nodded. “The flowers of the north bloom in the harshest of winters, bearing the frost, the darkness, and the cold. Do you swear before the Lady that you will be strong and bear all the malice of the winters to come?”
“I swear upon my honour that I will be strong and hardy,” Ciel said, “and all the frosts will neither harm nor move me.” She spoke these words more slowly; it was as though her tongue had swollen somewhat and made it harder to form the words than it had been before, and as she spoke, she felt a weight settle upon her shoulders, pressing down upon her.
“The Lady of the North protected all these lands and all who dwelled within them, and her example teaches us to do likewise with what little power we possess,” Father Browne declared. “Do you swear to protect the innocent, whatever the cost to yourself?”
“I swear upon my faith that I will protect the innocent,” Ciel said. “I shall value each drop of innocent blood as more precious than a gallon of my own.” She took a deep breath, for she was breathless. The weight upon her shoulders grew heavier still. 
“The Lady is not only our protector but our guide,” Father Browne said. “She inspires us, and she teaches us by her example. In a world in which darkness abounds, she is our light. Do you swear that you will live without sin and walk in the light, never straying into darkness?”
Ciel swallowed. She felt a lump in her throat. She felt almost as though she would not be able to get to her feet when the moment came, there was so much pressure on her. “I swear upon my soul,” Ciel whispered. “And that I shall live without sin and walk in the light; the darkness shall have no claim on me.”
A breeze seemed to blow through the chapel, causing the candles burning around the base of the statue to flicker so violently that Ciel feared they might be snuffed out. 
“Your service is accepted,” Father Browne said softly. “Rise, Ciel Soleil, rise a huntress of the north.”



Present Day…
Beacon Academy might have been esteemed the most prestigious of the four academies before its ruin, and the new academy that would soon be founded on Menagerie would have a hard time living up the reputation of its illustrious predecessor, but nevertheless, it could not be doubted in Ciel’s mind that many of the facilities available at Atlas were vastly superior to what had been on offer at the other school. Take, for example, the facilities for combat training. Atlas did not make do with a raised stage in the midst of an auditorium such as might be found in a minor Mistralian town serving as the arena for their games; in Atlas, the sparring chambers dispensed with a large audience space – leaving only a small observation deck looking down upon the room from above – in favour of a wider space for the two combatants itself; neon blue lines formed a perfect grid along the walls, floor and ceiling, channelling the hard light dust that was used to generate the walls and towers that dotted the chamber.
Walls like the one across the top of which Ciel was running now, back bent, body hunched over her weapon. 
She didn’t need her semblance to predict that Penny was about to fire at her with at least one of her lasers, and so Ciel chose to leap first before she was hurled with a great force – if she was going to fall anyway, then at least she wouldn’t get hit in the chest by a laser beam first – landing feet first on the other side of the wall of black cubes. She felt her aura drop from the force of the impact, but she ignored it – and the aching in the soles of her feet – for a moment as she began to run. She was out of Penny’s vision for a moment, but that didn’t mean that she could afford to stand still. 
Penny started blasting the wall apart, green lasers shredding the hard light constructs and reducing them to quickly disappearing shards. Ciel reached another pillar of cubes, kneeling behind it and bringing Distant Thunder to her shoulder, bending her head to look down the scope at the swiftly disappearing wall. Penny was focussing her fire upon the blocks at the base of said wall, destroying them to topple the entire wall. That was a reasonable approach, although it had to be noted that in the case of a real wall, there would have been a pile of rubble left behind for her to navigate. Still, it was a reasonable approach and more sensible than charging around the wall into who knew what ambush. 
Of course, until the wall was finally brought down, there was the issue that she couldn’t see what was around the other side. Like Ciel, setting up for the moment when the wall came down. 
As it did at just that moment, exposing Penny to Ciel’s view. 
Ciel pulled the trigger. Distant Thunder roared. She didn’t wait to see the impact of the shot before she worked the bolt handle, discharging the spent cartridge that thudded onto the ground beside her and chambering a new round. Ciel looked up to see that Penny had blocked the shot with one of her swords, which had been tossed away and buried in the wall of the combat chamber just beside the door. 
Some things were easier when you had wired swords. The worldwide revelations about Penny’s robotic nature meant that some changes had been able to be made to her design: since they no longer had to pretend that Penny was human, they no longer had to worry about the extra space involved in making her swords wireless; she simply wore them in a bundle on her back for all to see. And it didn’t matter if one of them was knocked aside, because it wasn’t even attached to her in any way. 
Penny grinned as the points of her remaining swords swung towards Ciel. 
Ciel fired again, not aiming to hit so much as to distract Penny while she broke cover, darting for another-
A spectral white sword slammed point first into the ground in front of her, glowing with a phantasmal energy as Ciel swerved to avoid it. 
Precognition on!
The blue of Ciel’s eyes burned brighter than before. If Penny was about to do what Ciel thought she was about to do, then her own semblance would be a necessary counter. 
The future echoes of Penny’s spectral blades were faint, but Ciel could see them nevertheless, white swords falling from the sky, swords striking the ground, swords that she could avoid because her own semblance let her see them coming. 
But Penny knows what my semblance is, so why is she attacking me in a way that I can predict and avoid?
The answer struck Ciel like a thunderbolt – a mental thunderbolt that helped Ciel to roll away from and avoid the turbo-charged laser beam that blasted through the combat area exactly where Ciel would have been standing if, as Penny had planned, she had been driven by the need to avoid Penny’s blades right into the killzone. 
Ciel rolled upright, Distant Thunder rising to her shoulder, to see all of Penny’s physical swords pointed right at her.
Ciel fired with the loud roar of Distant Thunder.
Penny fired with the shrill whooping of her lasers.
Ciel just caught a glimpse of Penny being knocked off her feet before she was struck by the laser beams and hurled backwards, turning in the air, smashing through a hard-light pillar before hitting the floor. A klaxon sounded, and a quick glance at the board above her confirmed that it was Ciel’s aura that had just passed into the red. 
Mind you, she had managed to take Penny’s aura into the yellow. Ciel was not dissatisfied with that accomplishment. 
Ciel picked herself up off the floor. “Congratulations,” she said, as she turned to Penny.
Penny leapt to her feet easily. “You too, Ciel! Well fought.” She bowed, but did not even try to compose her expression as she did so.
“Hmm,” Ciel murmured. “To clarify: you knew that my semblance meant I would avoid your first shot, yes?”
Penny nodded. “But even with your semblance, you can only concentrate on so many things at once. I used my semblance to give you a lot to think about.”
Ciel nodded. “But how did you know where I would end up to set up your shot?”
“I guessed,” Penny said cheerfully.
Ciel’s eyes narrowed. “You guessed?”
“And rightly, too,” Penny reminded her.
“Indeed,” Ciel said, her tone even. “But nevertheless…what would you have done if your guess had been incorrect?”
“A lot worse than I did,” Penny said, and the fact that this was probably the true answer didn’t make it better to hear.
“You were lucky,” Ciel informed her. “You cannot afford to rely on good fortune.”
“But I won,” insisted the coppertopped gynoid with due cheer.
“This time,” Ciel corrected. “If I had hit you, and you had missed me, then you would have been in serious trouble.”
“I suppose,” Penny allowed, and then her expression shifted. “Ciel?”
“Yes?”
“Why do we train by ourselves?” Penny asked. “In a real battle, I’d have a team supporting me. So even if you’d hit me and I’d have missed, then my team would have covered for me.”
“As would mine,” Ciel replied, countering her point. “Not that it necessarily follows that you will always be fighting alongside support.”
“It doesn’t?”
“You are the Dragonslayer now, the hero of Atlas,” Ciel reminded her. “There is a non-negligible chance that you may be tasked with completing high-risk missions single-handedly, on the basis of your reputation won at Vale.”
Penny’s brow furrowed a little. “But I had help at Vale.”
“A fact which is not universally understood,” Ciel said. “A single hero is easier for the public to comprehend than a joint effort.” A very slight smile tugged at one corner of her lip. “You wanted glory; that may come with some negative consequences.”
Penny pouted, a glum look coming across her face. “Hey, Ciel?”
“Yes?”
“How do you think they’re all doing?”
Ciel folded her arms. “That depends very much on who ‘they’ are.”
“Ruby, Pyrrha,” Penny said. “Our friends.”
Ciel was silent for a moment. “I have no information on that, Penny. With the CCT network down, it is impossible to ascertain their statuses.”
“I know that,” Penny said. “That’s why I asked you what you thought.”
Ciel considered that for a moment. A part of her considered baseless speculation to be pointless…but that would not be a helpful thing to say to Penny. “Reports out of Vale are troubling, and out of Mistral…incomprehensible,” she confessed. They had only rumours coming out of both kingdoms, but at least the rumours coming of Vale all pointed in the same direction – a grim direction, but a consistent one nevertheless – whereas those from Mistral were hopelessly garbled. “But Ruby and Pyrrha are both highly skilled huntresses; I am as sure as can be in the circumstances that they are both still alive, although I would not like to speculate upon the comfort of their existences at present.”
Penny nodded. “I…I think so too,” she said. “Or at least I’d like to. It…it doesn’t feel right that I should be here in Atlas about to start raising money while my friends are fighting out there in the world.”
“I would have thought that being the centre of attention would appeal to you,” Ciel remarked dryly.
“Not while other people are in trouble!” Penny cried.
Ciel felt that she probably ought to do something, so she awkwardly gave Penny a pat on the shoulder. “I understand that propaganda performances are not what any huntress dreams of,” she conceded, “but that does not make them any less necessary. At present, it is the best way that you can help our friends.”
“It is?” Penny asked, a look of confusion upon her face. “Are you just saying that?”
“Have I ever lied to you, Penny?” Ciel asked, a touch of reproach entering her voice.
“No.”
“There are some within this Kingdom who would prefer that we look inwards at this time, or at least look no further than our own borders and the defence of the same,” Ciel said. “There are some who would rather that the CCT network was not restored and our fleets never again depart out of sight of Atlas or Mantle. There are some who say we were defeated at Vale, and that our losses there demonstrate the folly of our policies and the hollowness of all our pride. Your upcoming tour is not just about raising money; it is about reminding people of the best of Atlas and what we stand for: how our forces stood against the dark at Vale and triumphed, saving both the Kingdom and the day. To remind people that while our victory was not without sacrifice it was a victory nonetheless: a city saved, a horde of grimm defeated.” It was true that Professor Ozpin had been killed and one of the four relics taken, but first of all that was only known to a handful, second the relic had not been defended by Atlesian forces and third Ciel was inclined to be sanguine about the loss of the relic in any event. Their enemy possessed a gift from the gods; but they had the favour of the divine upon their side also, and what was a trinket that had once known the touch of godhead when set against the Lady’s grace allied to Atlas’ might and majesty? “Our light has not gone out of the world, the spark remains that shall be rekindled into an inferno to burn away all darkness. When the construction of the Menagerie tower is completed and worldwide communications are restored, then we will step forth into the world once more, and you can rescue our friends and anyone else who is in need.”
“Really?”
“Indeed,” Ciel said. “If they are in need of rescuing.”
Penny grinned. “I’d like that. To drop from the sky and give them a big surprise.”
“In time,” Ciel said. “If we do our part to stand firm against the doubters, and inspire anew those who may feel their faith wavering.”
“There are really people who want us to turn our back on everyone else?”
“Small minds are ever present, Penny,” Ciel declared, “and in times of crisis it is easier to lose hope, and those who lose hope give ear to those who shout. Your task is to sound louder, as loud as a trumpet, and in the sounding restore hope to those who have none.”
“By summer, I swear I shall be a light in dark places, when all other lights go out,” Penny said, her voice quiet as she quoted the oath that she had sworn.”
“Precisely,” Ciel acknowledged. She checked the time again. “I have to head back to our room now.”
“Why?” Penny asked.
Ciel drew in a sharp intake of breath. “I…need to get ready.”
“Ready for what?” Penny demanded. “What are we doing tonight?”
“You are having a nice, quiet evening at home,” Ciel informed her. “I need to get ready because I…” – she coughed into her fist – “I have a date tonight.”
Penny gasped. She clasped her hands together underneath her chin, her face seeming to distort momentarily as she bounced across the chamber towards Ciel. “A date? Who is it? Do I know them? Where did you meet? How long has this been going on, and why didn’t you tell me already?”
Her face was about an inch away from Ciel’s at this point, eyes gleaming eagerly. Ciel pressed two fingers against Penny’s forehead and firmly pushed her away, the other girl’s feet scraping upon the floor as she slid backwards until she was an arm’s length away. “Curb your enthusiasm,” Ciel told her. “Yes, a date. A blind date, so I don’t know who he is, and we have never met. An old friend of mine, Cloudchaser – we lived next door to each other on the base in Granite in Vacuo for two years when I was a child – set me up. She says that I will like him, and I trust her enough to meet him.”
“It seems a little strange, dating a guy you’ve never met,” Penny said.
“I am not marrying him,” Ciel replied. “It’s only one date. If we are not compatible, there need not be a second.”
Ciel and Penny shared a room together in Atlas Academy – at least they would until they set off across the Kingdom together – and so it was to that room that they returned, together, for Ciel to get ready. Ciel chose a dress to wear, a cocktail dress of midnight blue, backless and strapless and fastening around a collar at her neck, long and elegant but not difficult to walk in, something that indicated what kind of a person she was and what kind of things that she liked to wear without being too ridiculous for a first date – and laid it out on her bed before she got a hot shower. 
She would not admit this to Penny, but she was, as she let the water fall down upon her, a little nervous. It might not ultimately matter, but at the same time, that didn’t alter the fact that Ciel would rather get this right, if at all possible. 
Not at the expense of being herself, of course, but at the same time, if being herself meant that she didn’t get a second date, then what did that say about her? She would rather things worked out, if possible. She would like them to work out better than they had with Scarlet, at any rate. 
She would also like to think that Cloudchaser still knew her well enough not to set her up with anyone that she would find completely detestable. To be proved wrong about that would also be disappointing. 
When she came out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, she found Penny sorting through her wardrobe. 
Ciel stared at her for a moment. “Penny,” she said, her voice as sharp as any of Floating Array’s blades, “what are you doing?”
“I don’t think you’ve made the best choice,” Penny said, as she held up a white gown with a high collar and a ruffled skirt and neckline both alike. “I think this looks better.”
“No,” Ciel said.
“No?” Penny asked.
“No,” Ciel repeated.
“Why not?” Penny inquired.
“It’s too much for a first date,” Ciel informed her.
Penny’s eyes narrowed. “You got a fur trimmed cape out,” she pointed out to Ciel.
“Faux fur,” Ciel corrected.
“My point stands regardless,” Penny replied.
“Just because it is only a first date doesn’t mean that I can’t look nice,” Ciel said, a slight touch of defensiveness entering her voice. “I have made my decision, put those- actually, I will put those back later.”
She got dressed, politely but firmly rebuffing Penny’s offer to help in that regard; the blue of her dress was interrupted by a silver sash around the waist, and filmy, nearly transparent peplum just beneath it; a pair of long white gloves concealed the bulk of her arms from view, even as the cut of the dress – narrowing in a lambda towards the clasp where it reached the collar around her neck – left her shoulders completely visible. 
“You look nice.”
“Thank you, Penny,” Ciel said, as she checked that her pistol was loaded before she put it into her purse.
“Do you think you’ll need that?” Penny asked.
“It never hurts to be prepared,” Ciel replied, her tone even.
“Do you know where you’re going?”
“Yes, I’ve chosen that,” Ciel said softly. “We’re going to dinner at The Celtic Phoenix.” She’d chosen it because it was a place she was familiar with – she’d gone there a few times before, including recently to celebrate her graduation – because it wasn’t too expensive or intimidating, and because, in the worst case scenario, even if she didn’t like the boy, at least she knew that she would like the food.
She sat down at a little dressing table, propping up a mirror in front of it to do her make-up. Penny, as it turned out, had suggestions for that too, which Ciel had to decline just as she had declined Penny’s help with choosing a dress. 
“Thank you, Penny,” Ciel said, as she applied some dark, smokey grey eyeshadow.
Penny blinked. “For what?”
“I have seven younger brothers, but I always wondered what it would have been like to have a little sister,” Ciel said. “And now I know.”
“You’re welcome,” Penny said cheerfully, and then her face changed as if she had realized something unpleasant. “Wait, did you just insult me?”
“From a certain point of view, I might have paid you a compliment,” Ciel replied. She glanced at Penny. “I appreciate your desire to help me. I just don’t trust your judgment in these matters.” She finished rouging her lips, and about time too as there was a knock at the door. 
“Is that him?” Penny asked.
Ciel checked her watch. It was eight o’clock. “It could be,” she said.
Penny beamed. “Good luck.”
Ciel took a breath and nodded silently in acknowledgement of Penny’s good wishes. Her roommate bounced up and down on the balls of her feet as Ciel got up, smoothing out her skirt with both white-gloved hands as she did so, and made her way over to the door. 
Said door slid open, revealing a tall, young faunus with black wings jutting out from the back of his all white – except for the black bow tie – suit. Blue silver hair styled into a mohawk stuck up atop his head like the crest of an antique-style helmet. He had a square jaw and strong, solid cheekbones; he stared down with amber eyes at Ciel, who considered that it was probably not the worst start that the first word out of his mouth was, “Whoa.” 
Ciel curtsied, before realising a moment later that that might have been a mistake. But it was a bit late by then, so there was nothing to do but plough on regardless. “Good evening,” she greeted. “My name is-“
“Ciel Soleil,” he finished. “Before I make a complete idiot of myself, you are Cloudchaser’s friend, right?”
“That is correct,” Ciel replied, with a degree of surprise in her voice. “And you are?”
He stood to attention, slamming. “Second Lieutenant Thunderlane, Thirty-Second Squadron!” His face, although it was as dark as Ciel’s, nevertheless reddened visibly as he realised what he’d just done. “I mean I’m Thunderlane, it’s an honour- I mean it’s a pleasure to-“ He tried to offer her his hand, but there was a bouquet of roses already in it. “Would you mind closing that door and giving me a chance to start over?”
Ciel looked at him, and a smile graced her lips. “I don’t believe that’s necessary.”
“No?” Thunderlane asked, sounding disappointed.
“No,” Ciel repeated. “I think you’re doing okay so far.”
“He is?” Penny asked sceptically, and unfortunately, loudly.
Ciel ignored her, although Thunderlane looked as if he was having a little trouble doing the same. Nevertheless, he offered her the six red roses. 
“These are for you,” he said.
“Thank you,” Ciel said as she took the flowers. “Please give me a second.”
“Of course.”
Fortunately, there was already a vase in the room in which she could quickly place the flowers; she would take them out of the plastic later. Right now, she picked up her cape with its faux-fur lining and fastened it around her throat. “I’m ready to move out,” she reported, and after a sudden blink, she corrected herself. “I mean I’m ready to go, if you are.” She picked up her purse.
“Sure,” Thunderlane said, sounding as if he still couldn’t quite believe that she hadn’t slammed the door on him already. “Oh, actually there is one thing.” He stood to attention once again. “Miss Dragonslayer?”
Penny pointed to herself. “Me?”
“Thank you,” Thunderlane said. “On behalf of the entire Thirty-Second. There’s a lot of guys who might not have made it back home if you hadn’t taken that thing out when you did.”
Penny’s mouth opened, but she seemed at a loss for words. “You’re welcome,” she murmured.
Thunderlane nodded, before returning his attention to Ciel. “Sorry, now I’m ready.”
“Don’t apologise,” Ciel said softly. “There is absolutely no need.”
He offered her his arm, which was a minor point in his favour as they cleared the dorm room – the door closed behind them automatically – and the two of them began to make their way down the corridor.
“I’m sorry about before,” he said.
“As I said, an apology is unnecessary,” Ciel said.
“No, the other stuff,” Thunderlane said. “I was not prepared for the fact that Cloudchaser was going to set me up with Ciel Soleil, hero of Atlas.”
Ciel’s eyebrows rose. “Are you certain that you don’t have me confused with someone else? I am not a hero of Atlas.”
“You were at ground zero in the Breach,” Thunderlane said. “You helped evacuate the Amity Arena and defend Beacon. You fought in the front line at the Battle of Vale. Sounds pretty heroic to me.”
“A lot of people helped evacuate the Amity Arena,” Ciel replied. “Even more defended Beacon, and even more than that fought in the Battle of Vale.”
“Then they’re all heroes,” Thunderlane allowed. “But you’re one of them.”
“So are you, apparently,” Ciel observed. “You were there, in the skies over Vale?”
“I…” Thunderlane looked uncomfortable. “I was just trying to stay alive.”
Modest, I see. “Everyone was just trying to stay alive,” Ciel said. “But you don’t need to be nervous.”
“No?”
“Since we’ve established there are so many heroes of Atlas, then the idea that you might meet one has been rendered commonplace and unremarkable.”
Thunderlane snorted. “I will try and keep that in mind, thanks. Although I still kind of wish Cloudchaser had given me a heads up first.”
Ciel smiled. “Understandable.”
“But she did tell me that you wanted to pick the place, so where are we going?”
“Have you ever eaten at the Celtic Phoenix?”



“I’m sorry, but that can’t come in here.”
Ciel had eaten at The Celtic Phoenix more than once in the past, and never once had she noticed that there were never any faunus patrons in the restaurant. It wasn’t even as though she had noticed without giving it a second thought. She had just…failed to notice. 
Right now, that felt like an unforgivable lapse. 
“’That’?” Ciel repeated. “Second Lieutenant Thunderlane is an Atlesian officer-“
“And we have the right to refuse service to anyone, for any reason,” the maitre’d said, as he stood behind a glass table not far from the door.
“It’s fine,” Thunderlane said.
“It is most certainly not fine,” Ciel growled.
“Maybe not,” Thunderlane acknowledged, “but it is what it is.” He turned away, and the doors slid open for him as he walked out into the street.
“If you would like to convert the Soleil reservation into a table for one?” the maitre’d suggested.
Ciel glared at him. “I have sworn an oath to defend this kingdom and its people,” she snapped. “You should be grateful that I did not swear to defend only those I thought deserving of protection.” 
She turned on her heel and stamped out into the cold air that slapped her suddenly as she emerged out of the restaurant. Her face felt so hot with shame that it was a wonder that she didn’t start to steam off in the sudden burst of cold. However much he had avoided making a scene in the restaurant itself, Thunderlane must be absolutely furious with her for putting him through that. She was furious with herself for putting him through that, and putting herself through that as well. He was a pilot, an officer, someone who had fought in the same battles that she had, and she had set him up to be humiliated by a petty little man who had never put anything on the line to defend the realms of men. 
Thunderlane was waiting for her outside, his hands thrust into his suit pockets and his wings flapping lazily behind him. He didn’t look in the least bit upset with her. 
That made her feel much worse. 
“I had no idea that that would happen,” Ciel apologized. “As much as I know that that is no excuse for the fact that it did. I am sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Thunderlane repeated. 
“No, it isn’t,” Ciel insisted. “You have just been insulted by a lesser man than you in every respect; how can that be called okay?”
Thunderlane was silent for a moment. He kept his hands in his pockets. “Maybe it’s not okay,” he conceded. “But that doesn’t mean that I have to get mad about it.”
“Doesn't it? Shouldn’t you?” Ciel asked. She turned away from him and crossed the street – looking both ways as she did – to reach the other side, where a white stone fake marble balcony looked over a lower level of the city. The lights of Atlas illuminated the darkness, glimmering in every conceivable colour, obscuring all detail of what lay beneath those lights. Obscuring the flaws that marred the greatest kingdom in Remnant. 
And it was the greatest kingdom, Ciel believed that wholeheartedly; Atlas was a shining kingdom in the clouds…which meant that she didn’t like to be reminded of the fact that for all its greatness, it did remain flawed, like any human work. 
She felt Thunderlane coming to stand beside her. 
“Why does this not bother you?” Ciel asked.
Thunderlane was quiet for a moment. Then he put his right foot on the balcony, and lifted up the leg of his trousers to reveal that his leg was actually a prosthetic, the metal gleaming under the moonlight. 
Ciel looked at it for a moment. “You lost it at Vale?” she said, her voice soft and barely asking the question at all.
“Not just this one,” Thunderlane muttered.
Ciel sucked in a sharp intake of breath. “Both of them?”
Thunderlane nodded.
Ciel didn’t ask how. She sensed that was not something that he wished to talk about. “I’m sorry.”
Thunderlane covered his prosthetic up with his trousers once more and lowered his foot to the ground. “I could be dead right now,” he said. “So I suppose the reason that I’m not upset is that…the fact that I can’t go into one restaurant doesn’t really matter that much in the grand scheme of things. I think I’ve got a lot more to be thankful for than I have to complain about, if you stop to think about it: I’m alive, I can walk…and I’m out with a beautiful girl.”
Ciel stared at him. Thunderlane grinned.
Ciel found herself smiling back at him. “Thank you,” she said, “but I am sorry, nevertheless. It shouldn’t be this way.”
“And it won’t always,” Thunderlane said, “but for now…is it too much to hope that we can still salvage something out of his night, rather than destroy everything that’s left of it with a tantrum?”
Ciel’s smile remained upon her face. “No, I think the night is young enough that we might yet make something of it,” she said. “So, where are we going now?”
Thunderlane’s amber eyes widened. “You’re asking me?”
“My choice did not work out so well,” Ciel reminded him. 
“Yeah, but…” Thunderlane hesitated. “When Cloudchaser told me you wanted to pick the place, I was happy enough to do it because…I don’t really know any classy places.”
Ciel’s eyebrow rose slightly. “You have just been more generous than I had any right to expect, and you think that I’m going to turn my nose up at your choice?”
Thunderlane reached up and scratched the back of his neck. “It’s not that, it’s…I’d hate to take you somewhere…and you’d think that I thought that was all you were worth, you know?”
“In the circumstances, I will understand,” Ciel said. “Besides, it isn’t as though we could get a table at any ‘classy’ establishment without reservations in any case.”
“I guess not,” Thunderlane replied. He hesitated. He looked around. “Okay. I might know a place. It isn’t even that far from here.”
“What kind of place?” Ciel asked.
“Oh, that’s a surprise,” Thunderlane said. “You’ll have to wait and see for yourself.”
Ciel stared at him, before a soft chuckle escaped her lips. “Very well,” she said. “Lead-“ she was interrupted by the buzzing of her scroll from within her purse. “Excuse me a moment, this might be important.”
“Go ahead,” Thunderlane replied.
Ciel nodded and walked away from him a few feet as she opened up her purse and took out her scroll. It was Penny, calling on voice only. 
Ciel opened up the device. “Penny, is something wrong?”
“A little bit,” Penny replied. “Why haven’t you gone into the restaurant?”
Ciel froze for a second. “Penny,” she said, her voice slower and just a little colder. “Where are you?”
“I’m watching you from the roof of the Atlas Recursive Insurance corporate headquarters,” Penny said cheerfully. “Don’t worry, Ciel, I’ve got you covered. I’m just a little confused about what’s going on. You went into the restaurant and then you came straight out again. Didn’t you have a reservation?”
“The restaurant doesn’t serve faunus, apparently,” Ciel murmured, speaking very quietly so that Thunderlane couldn’t hear any of this, “but that is not the point, Penny. Why are you following me?”
“Ruby told me that whenever Yang has a date, she follows them and provides overwatch,” Penny answered. “Or at least, she used to before Yang died.” Her voice, which had dipped a little into melancholy, recovered its prior bonhomie. “So here I am, doing my part like a good friend.”
Ciel rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised that Ruby Rose is at the bottom of this?”
“Did I do something wrong?” Penny asked.
“Yes,” Ciel declared firmly. “I know that you mean well, Penny, but the fact remains that this is not normal, and I do not need you to provide covering fire.”
“But what if he tries anything inappropriate?”
Would you even be able to recognise inappropriate behaviour in this context? “What does Ruby do in that circumstance?” she asked, leaving aside the fact that the late Miss Xiao-Long had probably been perfectly capable of dealing with such situations without support.
“She said she loaded Crescent Rose with tranquiliser rounds.”
Ciel nodded, for all that Penny couldn’t see it – or perhaps she could. “Penny, you have lasers.”
“That…is an excellent point well made,” Penny admitted. “Do you…want me to go?”
“I would prefer it, yes,” Ciel said. She glanced back at Thunderlane, waiting patiently for her to finish. “Besides, I don’t believe I’m going to have any trouble with him.” She paused for a moment. “Oh, Penny, one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“The roof of the Atlas Re building was an excellent choice of position,” Ciel praised her. “Well done.” She snapped her scroll shut and put it back in her purse. “My apologies for that,” she said, as she turned around and walked back towards Thunderlane.
“Work?” Thunderlane said. “Do you have to go?”
“You could call it work,” Ciel admitted, “but no, I don’t have to go anywhere.”
Thunderlane grinned. “So, which of your friends is on overwatch waiting to shoot me if I don’t treat you right?”
Ciel felt her cheeks redden a little. “How did you-“
“Her voice carries,” Thunderlane said.
Ciel let out a little sigh. “It’s Penny Dragonslayer.”
Thunderlane’s eyebrows rose. “Wow. I don’t know whether to be flattered or alarmed.”
“Personally, I feel somewhat embarrassed,” Ciel muttered. “I did not ask her to do this.”
“No, she did it anyway because she cares about you,” Thunderlane replied. “That’s…I think it’s nice.”
“Really?” Ciel murmured. “Does that mean that you have a comrade covering you in case I misbehave?”
“Oh, no,” Thunderlane said. “I asked the duty officer to do me a favour and confine all my friends to base for the night so that they couldn’t follow me out here.”
Ciel laughed, covering her mouth with one white-gloved hand as the sound escaped her lips. “Clearly, you are more prescient than I am,” she said. “Or at least you know your friends better.”
“They weren’t very subtle about it,” Thunderlane said. “Anyway, now that you know that you don’t have to worry about that and I know exactly who I have to worry about, shall we go?” He offered her his arm.
Ciel slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, and the two of them set off down the street, passing in and out of the cold, pale patches of light cast by the streetlamps and the intermittent darkness that gathered between them. 
“Can I ask you a question?” Ciel requested, as she placed both hands upon his arm. She could feel the muscles underneath.
“Go ahead.”
“What made you want to become a pilot?”
Thunderlane looked down at her. “What made you want to become a huntress?”
“I asked first,” Ciel pointed out.
“Yeah, I guess you did,” Thunderlane admitted. Nevertheless he didn’t answer for a moment. “Are you really asking me why I fly or why I’m in the military?”
Ciel pursed her lips together for a moment. “Both,” she said.
Thunderlane chuckled. “The first part’s easy,” he said. “I fly because it’s cool. I mean, what little kid doesn’t want to be a pilot?”
“Guilty as charged,” Ciel murmured. “My mother was a pilot. When I was a little girl, I wanted to be just like her.”
“Was?” Thunderlane asked, his voice gentle. “Is she-“
“No, thank the Lady,” Ciel replied. “She’s still alive, just not on active duty any more.”
“I’m glad,” Thunderlane said. “And not just because that would have been very uncomfortable.”
Ciel snorted. “You were saying?”
“When I’m in the air,” Thunderlane began, moving his wings in concert with what he was saying. “Even when I’m flying with these, but even moreso when I’m in a plane going at speeds that I could never reach with just the wings that nature gave me…there’s no limits, you know? Nothing to hold me down, nothing to stop me. I think that might be another reason why places like that restaurant don’t bother me much; they can stop me from getting a table, but they can’t take the sky from me. So long as I can fly…” he looked at Ciel. “So why didn’t you?”
“Excuse me?”
“You just said that you wanted to be a pilot like your mother,” Thunderlane said. “So why didn’t you?”
Ciel hesitated, not replying for a moment. Indeed, she didn’t reply for longer than a moment, saying nothing as the two of them walked down the street, passing between light and shadow. “It is…a little embarrassing.”
“Airsick?” Thunderlane suggested jokingly.
“No!” Ciel said firmly. “I spent some time on flight simulators; I went up in a trainer, and I…I did not enjoy it. It turns out that I like having limits, and something to hold me down.”
“Maybe...” Thunderlane murmured, trailing off.
“Maybe?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Forget I said that.”
Ciel’s brow furrowed momentarily. “Of course, you could have become a civilian pilot.”
“Yeah, I could,” Thunderlane admitted. “But then, people wouldn’t look up into the sky and feel hope whenever they saw me flying overhead.”
“Is that what you want?” Ciel asked. “To be a symbol of hope?”
“Does that sound really pretentious?”
“No,” Ciel said. “Not to me. I think it sounds…very admirable.”
“I think that what you specialists do is really awesome,” Thunderlane said. “I don’t want you to think that I don’t. Like I told your friend, all us pilots have cause to thank the Dragonslayer for taking that monster out before it swatted us all out of the skies. But the thing about it is…when you’re doing your jobs, nobody knows that you’re doing them half the time. But when people see me flying overhead, they know that Atlas has them covered, and when our soldiers see me coming, they know that somebody is looking out for them. We’re the comfort blanket for this whole kingdom, and- that came out wrong, didn’t it?”
Ciel chuckled softly. “The imagery is…not perfect,” she admitted, “but I understand what you mean. May I make a confession that would harm my reputation if any one of my comrades were near enough to hear it?”
“Well now you’ve intrigued me so much that I might have to insist you say it,” Thunderlane said.
“I know exactly what you mean,” Ciel said. “Because I feel the same way. When I see our fleet in the skies above, it feels…when my mother tucked me into bed, she told me that the Lady of the North would send a guardian angel to watch over me while I slept. I told the same thing to my little brothers when I tucked them into bed. I…don’t know if that’s true, but when I see our fleet in the skies above, I know that I have a whole sky full of guardian angels watching me, whether I’m awake or sleeping.”
“Well, we are pretty awesome,” Thunderlane said faux-boastfully.
Ciel shook her head. “And here I thought you were modest.”
“I’m personally modest,” Thunderlane said. “I’m not modest at all about the group.”
“Ah, an important distinction,” Ciel replied.
“I think so,” Thunderlane said. “So, why did you decide to become a huntress? I answered; it must be your turn by now.”
Ciel exhaled, and for a moment there was only the sound of their footsteps on the street. “My family has always served this kingdom, whether it was called Atlas or Mantle before it. My great-grandfather fought in the Great War, my father is the chief of the deck on board the Fearless, my mother was a pilot. It…it would have been a great shame if someone in my family hadn’t followed in their footsteps. And besides, as strange as it might seem, I truly believe that this is a kingdom worth defending with our lives.”
“As strange as it may seem?”
“A kingdom that won’t let you eat wherever you choose,” Ciel admitted.
“A kingdom that gave me two new legs after I lost the old ones,” Thunderlane countered. “You don’t have to be ashamed of loving this country in front of me. I love it too.”
“It isn’t perfect,” Ciel said, “but I would like to think that in the military at least, whether in the specialists or the regular infantry or the fleet or the air corps…there is no human or faunus but only soldiers, all bound together in a common cause.”
“Yeah,” Thunderlane replied. “I think that’s true. And as for the rest…the good way outweighs the bad. This is the Kingdom that raised me. This is the Kingdom that keeps my family safe. The least that I can do is repay the favour.”
She believed him. Looking into his eyes it was impossible not to. “I feel the same way,” she murmured. Her lips twitched. “Does it feel to you as though Cloudchaser knew what she was doing when she set us up?”
“Kind of, yeah,” Thunderlane said. “Although…maybe hold off until you see where we’re going.”
The place they were going turned out to be a doughnut shop, Joe’s, judging by the name above the door, where a few tables sat atop a chequered floor on the other side of a glass door.
Thunderlane looked embarrassed. He scratched the back of his head. “I told you that I didn’t know any classy places,” he said.
“And I believe I told you that I wasn’t concerned,” Ciel replied, as they crossed the street. Thunderlane opened the door, a bell tinkled above them as they walked in. There were a few other people already in there, sitting around the round wooden tables, and they looked up and stared at Ciel and Thunderlane as they entered. Ciel couldn’t help but feel that they were staring rather more at her, in her cocktail dress and evening gloves and fur-lined cape, than at Thunderlane.
She paid them no mind. As the saying went, no one is ever embarrassed by being too well-dressed. She wasn’t sure that it was applicable in all circumstances, but in the present circumstance, it made her feel much less self-conscious. 
Behind the counter stood a heavyset middle-aged man dressed in white, with his brown hair almost but not quite obscured by his hat. “Hey, Thunderlane!”
“Hey, Joe,” Thunderlane replied, raising one hand in greeting.
Joe looked from Thunderlane to Ciel, a frown crossing his face. “Gods, Thunderlane, what are you thinking, bringing a real classy lady into a joint like this?”
“You’re the best we can do at short notice, Joe,” Thunderlane said, without a trace of shame on his face.
“Oh, thanks, that makes me feel great,” Joe replied. “What’s your name, Miss?”
“Ciel Soleil, sir.”
“Please, no need to call me sir, just…Ciel Soleil? I thought I recognised you from somewhere, the Vytal Festival! You were on the team with the Dragonslayer, right?”
“That is correct,” Ciel replied.
“Well, I’ll be,” Joe muttered. “So how did you end up in a place like this?”
Ciel looked down at the floor. “The place that I had chosen…was not as suitable as I thought.”
She thought that Joe understood what she was trying to say. “That’s…a bad break,” he said. “Well, sit down and see if there’s anything here that you like.”
They took a seat near the window. Ciel opened one of the menus, pleasantly surprised to find that while everything on the menu was a doughnut, not everything was a dessert. “What is a cheese doughnut?”
“It’s what it sounds like: a doughnut filled with grilled cheese,” Thunderlane said.
Ciel blinked. “Is it good?”
“You’d be better off with the doughnut rings,” Thunderlane said. “They’re like bagels…but doughnuts.”
The corner of Ciel’s lip twitched upwards. “I think my youngest brothers would like it here. I might bring them…only rarely of course. Perhaps as a treat.”
“You’ve mentioned brothers before,” Thunderlane said. “How many?”
“Seven,” Ciel replied.
Thunderlane’s eyes widened. “Seven younger brothers? Gods, your mom really is a warrior, isn’t she?”
“There is a reason why she quit the military,” Ciel replied. “Especially after I went to Combat  School and there was nobody to help her with the younger children.”
“Let me guess,” Thunderlane said. “Before that happened, you were stuck raising the little ones while your parents were away.”
“From time to time,” Ciel allowed.
“Yeah, it was the same with me and Rumble,” Thunderlane revealed. “Rumble’s my little brother, my only little brother. My mom wasn’t as heroic as yours.”
“Heroic? I’ll be sure to tell her you said that.”
“You’re going to tell your mother about me?”
“I…am strongly considering it,” Ciel said. “You did, after all, take me to a doughnut shop for our first date.”
Thunderlane let out a bark of laughter. “Yeah, I guess that warrants a mention, doesn’t it?”
“Although of course the real question is…where are we going to go for our second date?”
Thunderlane stared at her for a moment. His mouth hung open a little. “There…there’s going to be a second date?”
“Isn’t there?” Ciel asked, hoping that she had done a good enough job of covering up her nervousness as she asked it.
Thunderlane smiled. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I think there will be.”