A Crash Course in Atlas (New)
A Crash Course in Atlas
Blake’s eyes snapped open as she heard footsteps on the floor. She didn’t need her faunus night-vision to see the crack of light that began to yawn into the room as the door swung open and then was closed again.
But it did help her to see in the renewed darkness into which the room was plunged once the door closed.
Blake rolled out of bed. Twilight, Ciel, Sun, and Penny were all asleep in their bunks – or at least, she presumed that Penny was asleep, although she seemed to have fallen asleep sitting upright in a manner that Blake had never come across before.
But at the moment, she was more interested in the fact that Rainbow Dash’s bunk was empty.
Clad in her black pyjamas, with her belladonna flower symbol branded on the shoulder and the sash bound around her waist, Blake padded barefoot out of the room and into the corridor.
She saw Rainbow Dash, also barefoot, walking away in the direction of the exit.
“Rainbow Dash?” Blake murmured as she let the door swing shut after her.
Rainbow stopped, half turning towards Blake. She was dressed in a purple tank top and knee-length blue pants, with rainbow-coloured sweat bands around her wrists. “Hey, Blake,” she said quietly. “Did I wake you? Sorry about that.”
“A little bit, but it’s okay,” Blake replied, taking a few steps towards her. “Where are you going?” The showers were in the other direction, if that was Rainbow’s intent.
“I’m going to start my wake-up routine,” Rainbow said. She paused for a moment. “You want to come?”
“I…” Blake hesitated, but she was honestly a little intrigued at this point, and she was already awake. “Sure,” she said. She would have gone back for boots, but the fact that Rainbow was likewise barefoot suggested that that wouldn’t be necessary. She began to walk briskly towards Rainbow, who mostly waited for her and then set off again when she was only a couple of steps away.
Blake followed her through a base that was quiet at this time in the morning; in fact, apart from the sentries at the door when they finally reached it, the two of them didn’t see anyone else upon their travels. Blake thought there must have been someone else awake – wasn’t there an officer who had to stay on watch or something like that? – but they were not in the corridors that Rainbow led Blake through, until they exited the doors and stood at the top of the steps, looking down at the docking pads where they had landed their Skyray yesterday. It was still dark – the dawn was less eager to wake up than either Rainbow or Blake – but she didn’t need the light of sun or moon to see all the Atlesian airships parked before the base, although she thought that Rainbow Dash might have more difficulty, depending on what she intended.
She thought that perhaps Rainbow meant to go for a morning run, the way that Jaune and Pyrrha started almost every morning, but although she descended the metal steps down from the entrance, Rainbow only rounded the building to another set of metal steps, this time leading all the way up onto the flat roof of the base complex. There, she padded briskly across the slightly rough, black surface until she was standing on the eastern edge of the rooftop, looking outwards beyond the walls and the barren landscape that lay around Cold Harbour.
“Can you see anything?” Blake asked as she joined Rainbow there. She was of the opinion there was not a lot worth seeing, but she was uncertain whether Rainbow Dash could see anything at all.
“Not yet,” Rainbow admitted, “but I don’t need to.”
“No?” Blake asked.
“Not yet,” Rainbow repeated.
Blake frowned. “What are we doing up here?”
“I told you, waking up Rainbow Dash style,” Rainbow said as she clasped her palms together and brought her left leg up to rest upon her right knee.
Blake’s eyebrows rose. “You’re… doing yoga?”
“You sound surprised,” Rainbow said, not even wobbling.
“We’re about to fly into battle, and you’re doing yoga?”
“I’m limbering up my body,” Rainbow replied. “Can you think of a better time to do that than before we fly into battle?”
“I… guess not,” Blake murmured.
Rainbow looked at her. “Well?” she demanded.
“'Well' what?”
“Are you going to join in or what?”
“Oh, right,” Blake said and hastily mimicked Rainbow’s actions, putting her palms together and balancing like a stork or a crane upon one leg, bracing her other leg against her knee.
Rainbow breathed in and then breathed out again. “Okay,” she said, looking away from Blake. “Let’s just take this nice and easy. Just do what I do.” She raised both hands above her head and lowered her other foot to the ground at the same time, making an X with her body for a moment before bending over, making an arch with her form as she touched the ground with her fingertips. Blake mimicked her, although since her hair was quite a bit longer than Rainbow Dash's, it flopped over rather more of her face than the Atlesian had to deal with, and she had difficulty seeing Rainbow through the wild black waves that deluged upon her.
She took one hand off the surface to brush her hair out of her eyes in time to see Rainbow shift to a sitting position, legs crossed, like her parents at tea on Menagerie. Blake adopted a similar position, hands resting upon her knees.
Rainbow breathed deeply, in and out, and Blake found herself following the other girl’s breathing patterns.
“Okay,” Rainbow declared. “Let’s start with a Downward Dog.”
What followed consisted mainly of Blake trying – rather more vainly than not – to match the impressive elasticity of Rainbow Dash as she moved her body fluidly through an array of colourfully and animalistically named postures like Cat Pose, Coiled Snake, or Trained Llama, often shifting on to the next before Blake had quite gotten the hang of the last. It was not quite the gentle exercise that she had seemed to promise, and by the time Rainbow got to Horse on a Bike – which involved lying on her belly, with her hands to the floor as though she were about to start doing push ups, but with her legs up and twisted around each other at right angles – Blake was about ready to give up.
“If posing like animals doing things is how you spend your mornings, then I can see why you spend them alone,” she muttered, climbing to her feet and trying to ignore the creaking of her joints as they protested all that stretching that she had tried to do.
Rainbow laughed nervously. “Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away from ‘nice and easy’ didn’t I?”
“Yes,” Blake said bluntly.
Rainbow resumed the cross-legged sitting posture, patting the ground beside her. “Stick around a little while, or you’ll miss the good part.”
“There’s a good part?”
“Just sit down,” Rainbow said with a good-natured scowl.
Blake hesitated a moment before she did so, once more mirroring Rainbow’s posture.
Rainbow was silent a moment, peering out into the darkness with eyes that could not penetrate it, before she said, “I’m sorry if Ciel gave you a hard time last night.”
“It’s fine,” Blake murmured. “I deserved it.”
“Well… you didn’t mean to worry Penny.”
“No,” Blake agreed, “but that doesn’t change the fact that I did it.”
“I gotta say,” Rainbow said, “that if I’d known then what I know now, I never would have mentioned the whole thing about the commanding officer to you.”
“I bet you wouldn’t,” Blake said, half under her breath, “but I’m glad you did. I’d rather be pleasantly surprised by a good man than shocked by a bigot.”
“The bigots get all the attention,” Rainbow sighed, “but there are a lot more good men wearing the white.”
Blake frowned. “Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“It’s like… you’re trying to convince me that Atlas is a good place, that the Atlesians are good people,” Blake said.
“Because Atlas is a good place, and Atlesians are good people,” Rainbow replied. “Good people like the General, like Twilight, like the rest of our friends-”
“Like you?”
Rainbow shrugged. “I… have my moments of awesome, I suppose.”
Blake snorted. “But what I don’t understand is why you care? I’m pretty sure Ciel doesn’t care what I think of your kingdom, and I don’t think even Twilight is concerned by it. Why does it matter to you what I think of Atlas, provided I work for you?”
Rainbow closed her eyes, breathing in and out. “When you first met me, you thought that I had to be in some kind of trouble, that I must hate Atlas and be looking for an out, right?”
“Yes,” Blake murmured. She wasn’t particularly proud of the way she’d acted then and didn’t relish being reminded of it.
“Because of your friend.”
“Because of Ilia, sure,” Blake agreed, still speaking softly.
“Well,” Rainbow said, “I had a friend once too; we grew up together in Low Town. We grew up looking up at Atlas, wondering what it was like up there. Gilda, she… didn’t get the breaks that I did. It made her… one day, I was over at her place, and I found these White Fang recruiting pamphlets in a shoebox under her bed.”
Blake’s brow furrowed. “What happened? Did she-?”
“I don’t know,” Rainbow admitted. “We… had a big fight, I stormed out, and I never spoke to her again. Her parents and mine are neighbours on Menagerie; apparently, she moved to Vale and started working construction or something.”
“Have you thought about trying to track her down?”
“No,” Rainbow said. “I’m still not ready to accept her apology yet.”
“Whatever she said, it must have been quite hurtful,” Blake observed.
“It was,” Rainbow declared. “I guess… maybe I’d like to prove to you what I couldn’t prove to her: that Atlas isn’t a bad place, and it certainly isn’t full of bad people. The opposite. Atlas is full of great people doing the best they can.”
“Hmm,” Blake murmured. “I… I wouldn’t have believed that, not so long ago, but now… at least judging by the Atlesians I’ve met… it seems like it might be true.”
“It is true,” Rainbow insisted. “Oh, here comes the good part!”
"'The-'" Blake's words were snatched away from her by the coming of the dawn, her rosy fingers emerging over the far-off mountains to the east like a child's hand reaching up to grab the surface of a table too tall for them. Golden light began to bathe the world, banishing the dull gloom in which it had lain enshrouded and spreading a soft, renewing light over the landscape. It was the same world that it had been a moment before, and yet, by just a little touch of light falling from the east, it seemed transformed, less barren and more alive than it had been. That sense of life and sudden, transformed vitality was only increased as, out beyond the walls but still quite audible to Blake's four ears, a chorus of birds began to greet the dawn as it made its westward way across Cold Harbour and the sea beyond.
A slight smile broke out on Blake's face as the dawn song touched her ears. "Thank you," she said softly.
Rainbow sat, still and motionless. "I fight for a lot of reasons: for my friends, for my kingdom, for my own self-respect. Some of my reasons for fighting depend on who it is I'm fighting, but as far as fighting the grimm goes, one of my reasons is… it's a wonderful world, don't you think?"
Blake could have disputed that. In another time, another place, she probably would have disputed, but at this time and in this place, it would have seemed purely wilful on her part to do so.
She got up. "I'm ready to hit the shower," she announced.
"Go ahead," Rainbow replied. "I'm not quite done here yet."
"Suit yourself," Blake said, and she left Rainbow Dash there, sitting cross-legged on the roof, watching the sunrise bathe the world in gold, the light breaking upon her like a golden statue set for such a purpose. And as the rays of morning fell upon her, the many colours of Rainbow's hair seemed to glow brighter than Blake had ever seen them glow before.
For her own part, Blake descended the steps lightly and made her way back into the Atlesian base which, in spite of the morning, had yet to truly begin to stir to life; as she walked back through the corridors, she found it every bit as empty and deserted-seeming as it had been when she and Rainbow Dash had come the other way.
Nor was there any sign of stirring to life in the room where her companions were sleeping, all save Ciel whose bunk was now as empty as those of Blake or Rainbow. Either she had decided to grab an early shower, or she, too, had an esoteric morning routine just like her team leader. In any case, Blake grabbed her clothes, her shower gel, shampoo, and towel and once more headed out of the room and down towards the showers. She wasn't sure exactly how long the journey back to Beacon would take, but she was unlikely to get the chance to wash while stowed away aboard a cargo train, so best make the most of the Atlesian facilities while she had access to them.
The shower consisted of two rooms: a dry room, where Blake noticed that Ciel's clothes were neatly folded on one of the wooden benches that ran down the side of the room, and a wet room beyond, with a curtain to cover up the doorway and a lip of wall to prevent water spillage. Blake could hear running water on the other side of the curtain and see steam rising from it.
She took off her pyjamas quickly, folding them up and putting them next to her clothes, before – naked, with her shower gel in one hand and her shampoo in the other – she brushed aside the curtain and stepped into the communal shower proper.
And as the curtain fell back across the doorway behind her, Blake stopped, her eyes widening. Ciel was already in the shower as her clothes indicated. She had her back to Blake, and all the steam rising from the shower could not conceal the fact that her back was scarred, and badly so, by two lines of puncture marks, which Blake could only guess were made by fangs, one running just beneath her waistline and the other about halfway up her back. They looked like more than just bite marks, although if they were not bite marks, then Blake couldn't say exactly what they were, but it looked as though stakes had been driven through her body, deep into her flesh. Rows of keloids like mountain ranges rose across her body.
Ciel became aware of Blake's presence in the shower; she turned towards her, eyes flashing, and in the process revealed that she had similar scars across her front too; they crossed her belly and just beneath her breasts.
Blake turned away, facing the other wall.
"There is no need for that," Ciel said, and though the shower was full of steam, Blake felt the chill in her words regardless. "I am not ashamed."
Blake was not entirely sure of that, but she didn't want to offend Ciel further by questioning her sincerity; she turned back towards the other girl. "How?" she asked.
Ciel was silent for a moment. "An ice ursa, when I was seventeen."
'When I was'? "How old are you now?"
"Eighteen," Ciel replied. She resumed washing, lathering her body in shower gel as though she hoped to cover up her scars with it. "During the summer break, after I had graduated combat school but before I was due to start at Atlas in the fall, I volunteered to help out at a camp for the younger children, twelve- and thirteen-year olds, run by my combat school."
"A sort of teaching assistant," Blake said.
"Quite," Ciel said, her voice brittle, like glass. "One day, one of the children got separated from the group on a hike. I was one of those who volunteered to go and look for him, and I found him: lost, scared, alone. All very natural, but at the same time-"
"All the things that draw the grimm," Blake murmured.
"Quite," Ciel repeated. "A pack of sabyrs cornered us at the edge of a cliff. I fought them off, with only some difficulty, but just as I thought we were safe, an ursa, perhaps a major, climbed up the cliff behind us, and… it was all I could do to put myself between the boy and the grimm. I am… an indifferent fighter at close quarters. It got me in its jaws. My aura broke. It would have bitten me clean in two if an instructor, drawn by the sound of gunfire, hadn't reached us just in time. Instead… the beast left me with a permanent reminder of our encounter. It ensured that, no matter how many grimm I slay, there is one, at least, that I will not forget." She took a deep breath, standing beneath the shower and letting the water flow down her body onto the floor. "But the boy lived; that is the important thing."
"And you lived too," Blake said. "That's equally important."
Ciel snorted. "How very kind of you to say so."
Blake turned on her own shower. The water was cold for a moment, but it began to warm up rapidly as it ran through her hair and down her body. "Does… does it hurt?"
"Upon occasion," Ciel admitted. "Less so now than at one time."
"I see," Blake murmured. "So… your injuries held you back a year?"
Ciel nodded. "I required… treatment on my back," she said, explaining while at the same time giving little away. "It was not possible for me to attend Atlas in my condition after the attack, and by the time my rehabilitation was complete, first semester had already concluded." She paused. "However, it appeared that I had come to the attention of General Ironwood regardless; he was kind enough to arrange private tuition for me while I waited to try again for Atlas the next year."
"He probably respected the fact that you were willing to sacrifice yourself to save a child," Blake said. "Not everyone would have."
"Every son and daughter of Atlas would have," Ciel replied. "We are a sacrificing nation; that is our way."
Blake was by no means convinced of that, by no means so certain that the virtues that Ciel ascribed to her fellow Atlesians were so widespread as she believed or, perhaps, would like to think. But she fell silent as she shampooed her hair, building up a lather and letting the water wash it away along with any grime. "I understand," she said after a moment.
"Do you?" Ciel asked sceptically.
"You don't think I'm ready to sacrifice?" Blake demanded. "You think that I don't understand sacrifice?"
"I think that you are willing to sacrifice your life," Ciel admitted. "I am less certain that you understand what is worth sacrificing for and what is not."
"I don't understand what you mean by that," Blake conceded.
Ciel was silent for a moment. "I was ready to give my life to save that child," she said. "I would have done the same to protect a civilian or even a comrade. But if I had been all alone, with no child or civilian or comrade to protect, I should have run from the ursa, having nothing to lose in doing so but my pride, a thing of no worth to anyone else and of little account even to myself."
"You mean to tell me Atlas has no concept of pride?"
"We are proud of what we do," Ciel corrected her, "but what we do must make sense. A fruitless victory is not worth a single life spent to attain, and a glorious defeat is worth less than that if glory and honour be the only attainments of the battle. We must risk our lives upon an object, or we risk them for nothing."
"And you think I'd risk my life for nothing," Blake said.
Ciel did not meet her gaze. "I fear that you would get yourself killed simply to prove – if only to your own satisfaction – that you were brave enough to put your life at hazard," she said. Now, she looked at Blake, as the steam rose around them. "Am I wrong?"
Blake did not reply. She felt as if there was nothing she could say.
Rainbow returned to find that Blake and Ciel were absent – presumably still in the shower – and the rest of the group was starting to wake up: Penny had turned herself back on from her stand-by cycle, Twilight's hair was perfect as ever – Rainbow could never work out how she managed that – and Sun was yawning as he rolled out of bed.
"Good, you're awake," Rainbow said. "Step outside with me for a second; I want to talk to you."
"Me?" Sun asked, pointing at himself.
"Yes, you, come on."
"Like this?" Sun gestured to himself; he was completely naked apart from a pair of boxer shorts which concealed his modesty but allowed his tail to droop down to the floor behind him.
Rainbow smirked. "It's not much worse than the way you usually dress, is it?"
Sun took that in stride. "Okay. Lead the way, I guess."
Rainbow only led the way out of the room and a few feet up the corridor before she turned to face the taller faunus. "I hear Ciel gave you a hard time last night?"
Sun shrugged. "I've had worse. And… I guess I can't say she doesn't have a point."
"Still, I don't want you to think that it was anything personal or because Ciel hates faunus or anything like that. It's just that nothing means more to Ciel – at least not right now – than the wellbeing of this team. And this team is a lot bigger than Blake."
Sun scratched the back of his head. "You too, huh?"
Rainbow leaned against the wall. "There's a voice in my head that sounds like my friend Rarity that is telling me that what you did was really romantic, that Blake should think herself lucky to have a guy willing to do dumbass stuff like that to be with her; and you know… I can see that. There's a voice in my head that sounds like Fluttershy, telling me that you didn't mean any harm and that I should go easy on you, and you… I can see that too. But then there's another part of me, the part that thinks that loyalty matters, and that part – the part that sounds most like me – is asking what you're loyal to."
"You think you can't trust me because Blake's the only one I care about," Sun said.
"Is Blake the only one you care about?" Rainbow asked.
Sun mimicked Rainbow in leaning against the wall. His tail fell, motionless, down to the ground, resting still upon the floor. "Is it true that Atlas flies?" he asked.
It was a weird question, but Rainbow answered it anyway. "Atlas floats," she corrected him.
"What's the difference?"
"It's in the sky, but it doesn't move anywhere," Rainbow said. "Like a balloon tied to a chair at a party. Airships fly; they go places. Atlas sticks around."
Sun nodded. "Do you ever feel like it won't?"
"Huh?"
"Come on, dude, you live on a flying rock-"
"Floating rock."
"Whatever," Sun replied. "Don't you ever worry that you'll just… blow away?"
"No."
"No?"
"No," Rainbow repeated a little incredulously. "Why would I worry about that? I said Atlas was like a balloon; I didn't say it was a balloon. Atlas might be a floating rock, but although the 'floating' part matters, so does the 'rock' part, as in 'rock steady'. And that goes not just for Atlas, but for me too. I always know where Atlas is, and I always know where I am." Standing between Atlas and danger. Standing between my friends and danger.
"Lucky you, I guess," Sun muttered. "I… I'm not from Atlas; I'm from Vacuo, and even though I never lived in a flying – sorry, floating – city, I never lived anywhere that felt as steady as a rock. I don't remember my parents much; I just remember that we were always moving around, heading from place to place, never stopping in any one place for too long. It's been like that my whole life, and honestly, I'm fine with that. Neptune's a cool guy, like really cool, about everything, but… I always knew I'd leave him behind someday. I'd leave them all behind someday. And that… was fine. I'd miss Neptune more than Sage or Scarlet, but if you'd asked me if I could stick around for them, I would have told you 'no, that's just not the kind of guy I am.' I would have told you I was born to move around; that's why I wanted to become a huntsman in the first place, so I could travel around the kingdoms as much as I wanted and do some good at the same time instead of just being a drifter or a burden folks weren't glad to see.
"And then I met Blake."
Rainbow found herself grinning in spite of herself. "And her, you can stick around for, huh?"
"Have you ever met someone who, like, blows your mind?" Sun asked. "Have you ever met someone who changes your life completely, in a single moment?"
The smile remained on Rainbow's face; in fact, it got a little broader and more fond. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean."
"She… Blake… she is…"
"Your rock?" Rainbow suggested. "When you're with her, you know exactly where you are. 'Cause it's where you're meant to be."
Sun nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Look, I'm sorry that I can't say I'm here because I want to fight for Atlas or because I believe in what you're doing, but… so long as this is Blake's fight, then I'll fight it too; I'll fight with everything I've got. You don't have to worry about me."
"What worries me," Rainbow said, "is that you'll ignore anyone, anything, any part of the plan that isn't Blake… but I guess all that means is that I have to plan around that, since I know about it."
Sun blinked. "You mean…"
"My friend Applejack said once 'don't drop an apple and then complain when it hits the ground.' Maybe you're not the most reliable guy – and you're not, I'll be honest – but we'll make it work."
"And… that's it?"
"What do you want?" Rainbow demanded. "There's a voice in my head that sounds a little like Twilight telling me I ought to teach you a lesson about appreciating your teammates, but… I don't know how I'd even start on that, and I don't have time, and… I'm not that great at that stuff anyway. Twilight can teach you a lesson if she wants to. Right now: get showered, get dressed, let's get some food in us, and let's head out. And Sun?"
Sun peeled himself off the wall. "Yeah?"
"Blake's lucky to have you," Rainbow said.
Sun grinned. "Nah, I'm lucky to have her."
"Of course," Rainbow agreed. "That too."
The mess started serving breakfast early for any troops who might have early shifts or the like, and so, the expanded team was able to grab something to eat before, fed and washed, embarking upon a different Skyray than the one which had carried them to Cold Harbour the prior night. Blake knew it was different because their Skyray was still sitting where Rainbow had landed it last night, while this morning, a deck officer directed them to a different airship which was, functionally, identical to the last, inside and out.
Twilight took the pilot's seat – something which surprised Blake for a moment until she thought about it and realised that Rainbow would want to be free to join the fighting – with a sleek, slender white metallic android with a black, Y-shaped faceplate sitting in the co-pilot's seat. In shape, it was recognisably of a type with the Atlesian androids that Blake had fought against in the past, but at the same time was – if nothing else – better-looking than those grey, functional, rather ugly things.
"Is that a new model?" Blake asked, as she stepped into the cockpit.
"Yep," Twilight agreed. "Meet the Atlesian Knight 200."
"Or Otto, apparently," Blake said, noticing that someone had written the name in blue upon the android's head.
Twilight groaned. "Really? Of all the puns."
"I don't get it," Penny said from where she stood in the main compartment behind them.
Twilight looked over her shoulder. "Otto the Autopilot, Penny."
Penny blinked. "I still don't get it."
"Don't worry, Penny; you're not missing anything," Twilight assured her.
"So," Blake murmured. "They're an improvement over the 130s?"
Twilight nodded. "They're smarter, more versatile – hence they can drive trucks and fly airships on simple, predetermined routes or flight patterns – and they don't look as scary."
"I always thought you wanted your androids to scare people," Blake said sincerely.
"What? No!" Twilight cried, her head whipping around to look back. "We don't want to scare people; we want to help them feel safe!"
"Because you're protectors, not conquerors or oppressors," Blake murmured.
"Yes," Twilight replied. "I mean, don't expect me to be as eloquent as Ciel upon the subject, but… I understand the way that you feel about Atlas, and I understand that you come by those feelings honestly, but… for what it's worth, I've grown up with soldiers and huntsmen all my life, and I've never known any of them who weren't earnestly committed to the defence of humanity and the survival of all four kingdoms." She paused and smiled up at Blake. "So if you ever find yourself wondering if Rainbow Dash is sincere, the answer is always 'yes.'"
The corners of Blake's lips twitched upwards. "I can believe that," she said. "Just like I can believe that you believe what you're saying."
"But you don't believe me?" Twilight assumed.
"I… I must admit, the more Atlesians I meet, the more I'm surprised by the fact that I haven't met anyone particularly… disagreeable," Blake said softly. "You're all much better people than I gave you credit for. So far."
Twilight chuckled. "I hope we can keep that up," she said.
"And while I don't particularly want to see my old comrades indiscriminately slaughtered by your air power, I do respect the fact that Atlas is actually doing something about the White Fang and about the dangers lurking in Vale," Blake went on. "What does it say when Atlas is willing to do more to protect Vale than Vale itself?"
"That Atlas has the means?" Twilight suggested. "Rainbow and Ciel might be inclined to read more into it than that, but-"
"But your patriotism is of a subtler sort?" Blake suggested.
Twilight chuckled. "I'd say it's more that… chest thumping isn't exactly my style," she said apologetically.
While they had been talking, Penny had been waiting patiently in the airship while Sun had been delayed at the instigation of Ciel and Rainbow Dash. Now he appeared, climbing down the steps out of the base with a pair of bulky grey cases in his hands; he looked around, clearly puzzled as to which airship was the right one until Blake leaned out of the Skyray and waved to him. He started towards her at once. Ciel followed, also carrying a similar grey case, although only one, as she needed the other hand for her spare rifle. Rainbow Dash was the last to emerge, and as well as carrying a pair of cases in her own right, she was also speaking to Captain Sandleford, who was gesturing earnestly with one hand as he talked. Blake was too far away to hear what they were saying, but she saw Rainbow nod repeatedly in response to whatever was being said to her.
Sun reached the airship, dumping his load roughly in the back. "Hey," he said.
"Hey," Blake replied, allowing him to give her a kiss on the cheek. "What's in the boxes?"
"Weapons, I guess," Sun replied. "I mean, we went to the armoury to get them, but they'd already been packed up for us, so… I don't know."
Blake frowned. Weapons? Why would they need to bring weapons from the armoury? Everyone was armed already. Was it thought that they would need backup weapons? Was this some Atlesian way of doing things of which she was ignorant?
Ciel was the next to climb into the airship. She let out a loud 'tsk' of disapproval as she saw the way in which Sun had just laid down his burdens haphazardly and set about rearranging them, and her own, in a tidy fashion.
"What's in those?" Blake asked.
"Vital supplies," Ciel said.
Blake raised one eyebrow as Ciel turned to face her.
"Rainbow Dash wants it to be a surprise," Ciel added, slightly apologetically.
Blake frowned as Rainbow became the last to climb into the Skyray. "Okay, Twi, let's go."
"Apparently, you want to surprise me with something?" Blake said as Rainbow laid down her burdens on top of the pile Ciel had made.
"I'm hoping to surprise you with a lot today," Rainbow admitted, grinning as she patted Blake on the shoulder. "'Cause I'm going to give you a crash course in the real Atlas."
The doors shut, enclosing the group inside the Skyray as the airship rose, slowly at first but steadily, into the air. If Twilight was trying to hide her nervousness at being the only organic pilot on board, she was doing a terrible job of it – and Blake meant that with no malice at all – but nevertheless, she got them up into the air without difficulty and flew them out over the walls of Cold Harbour with no problems that Blake noticed. Rainbow was with her in the cockpit, whispering into her ear what might have been instructions or might have been simple encouragement, but either way, it was Twilight's flying that carried them southeast, inland from the port, over the uncultivated pastureland that surrounded the town until it was replaced by a verdant forest. The woods were not so thick as the Emerald or the Forever Fall Forests, nor as some of the wild woods of Mistral; the trees did not grow so close to one another that they blocked out the sky below or the sight of the ground from above. When Blake briefly headed up to the cockpit to look out the window, she could see plenty of sun-dappled ground beneath them through the gaps between the trees. What she could not see was any sign of the grimm.
"Do we have any idea what we're looking for?" Blake asked as she retreated into the main compartment.
"We're going to talk to the faunus first," Rainbow said. "See if they know anything."
"And force them back to work?" Blake asked.
"I'm going to try and persuade them to come back inside the walls," Rainbow replied.
And what if they won't? Blake thought but did not ask, for fear of what the answer would be.
Nobody in the airship was reading now. Penny stood ramrod straight, staring straight ahead, eyes unblinking in a manner that was, honestly, a little disconcerting. Ciel's hands were clasped together, and her eyes were closed as her lips moved silently. It took Blake a moment to realise that she was praying. That wasn't something that you saw much of anymore; prayer and faith had largely fallen by the wayside in the modern world. The faunus told stories of a creator god, whether that was the god of the Shallow Sea or the Judgement of the Faunus, but no one invoked his name, not even amongst the White Fang, where you would have most expected such sentiment to survive. Religion had withered on the vine, although Blake's education, largely self-administered as it was, had not informed her as to precisely how or why. But apparently, it had survived in Ciel Soleil.
It was not what she would have expected of the model Atlesian student.
Ciel stopped praying and opened her eyes. She looked at Blake, almost challenging her to say something.
Blake did not. However Ciel found solace was her concern.
"Are you okay?" Sun asked.
"I'm fine," Blake replied. "You?"
"Yeah," Sun said quickly. "I just…"
Blake's eyes narrowed. "What?"
"After being questioned about whether these guys can trust me to fight beside them," Sun explained. "I just realised I never asked if I could trust them."
Blake chuckled. "I'm afraid you may have left it a little late."
"Such a question," harrumphed Ciel, "is wholly unnecessary."
"Don't worry, Sun," Penny declared. "We'll protect you! Defending life is my primary purpose!"
Sun grinned. "I feel safer already, Penny, even if that isn't what I was worried about."
"We're here," Twilight called from the cockpit as the airship began to descend.
Blake brushed past Sun and Penny to join Twilight and Rainbow in the cockpit. Twilight was bringing them down on the edge of a depression in the middle of the wood, a hollow of grass that the trees all around and up above had declined to venture down into. Instead, clustered around a spring in the very centre of the hollow, some crude huts of sticks and stones had been erected, and about thirty or forty people milled around, looking up at the descending airship. Some backed away from it, retreating to the other end of the hollow, but a few stood their ground as the Skyray dropped to land in their clearing.
"Blake, you're with me; everyone else, stay here," Rainbow said. She patted Twilight on the shoulder. "Nice landing, Twi; keep the engine running."
"You got it," Twilight murmured, still not without nerves in her voice, as the door on the right of the airship opened.
"Are you sure you want me with you?" Blake asked softly.
"I'm sure," Rainbow said. "That's why I said it."
"Okay," Blake murmured. If you're certain.
Rainbow dismounted first, leaping down out of the airship and leaving Blake to follow a second behind, and then a step behind once she got on the ground alongside the Atlesian leader. The occupants of the hollow, some facing them, others cowering before them, were all faunus: some had had ram horns, some had cat or dog ears, some had horse tails, one or two even had bird wings. There were men and women and more than a few children; the younger children clung to their parents while the older ones looked braver than some of the adults.
None of their clothes had been made to stand the rigours of the outdoors. It was working wear, overalls and steel toe-capped boots, all of it filthy and some of it falling apart. Beards were very much in fashion amongst the men.
Their looks were wary, verging upon and even becoming hostile in some cases, but Rainbow seemed not to notice – or perhaps she just didn't care – as she strode towards them. "Hey there!" she said. "I hear you might have a grimm problem. Anybody want to tell me about it?"
Silence greeted her, broken only by the chirping of birds in the trees. A man stepped forward, a broad-shouldered fellow with long dark hair, an untidy beard and a donkey's tail drooping towards the ground. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What do you want?"
"My name's Rainbow Dash; this is Blake Belladonna. We're huntresses in training," Rainbow said.
"Huntresses? On an Atlesian airship?"
Rainbow shrugged. "We're Atlesian huntresses."
"Some of us," Blake murmured.
"Atlas," the man spat. "Are you here to drag us back to town?"
"No," Rainbow said, which surprised and gladdened Blake. "Although, is it really so much better living here in the middle of the woods?"
"We're not stopping here," the man replied. "This place is only temporary."
"Until what?" Rainbow asked.
"Until they're sure no one else is going to join them," Blake guessed as she took a step forward. "That's what you're doing, isn't it? You're waiting to see if anyone else will leave town to come and join you here."
The man hesitated for a moment before he nodded. "It wouldn't feel right to leave before we knew that no one else wanted to follow. Is that a problem?"
"Not for me," Blake said, glancing at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow said, "I talked to Captain Sandleford; he thinks you'll be safer in town."
The man nodded. "He came to talk to us himself. I'll tell you what I told him: we might be in danger here, but at least we're free."
"Oh, come on!" Rainbow said. "Don't act like you were slaves at Cold Harbour-"
"Wage slaves, maybe," someone called out from amongst the crowd.
The donkey faunus nodded. "The law says that any employee who works for more than six months is granted certain protections and benefits, like healthcare. But what they do is, they take us on six month contracts, then terminate those contracts for a day or a week, and then rehire us on another six month contract so they never have to give us a thing but the pittance they call our wages. Our children get sick, and no one can afford a doctor; a man gets too old to work, and he has nothing to live on, no savings or pension or nothing."
"And they're all in on it?" Rainbow asked.
"Every place except the Atlesian base, and there's only many janitors they need there," the donkey faunus replied.
"That can't be legal,” Rainbow said.
The man laughed. "Kid, around here nobody cares about legal, especially not where faunus are concerned."
Blake frowned. "So where will you go?"
"Vale, maybe?" the donkey faunus suggested. "Or maybe we'll head east, see what's over the mountains, or maybe we'll start a commune out here and become farmers."
"Not if you get eaten by the grimm, you won't," Rainbow said. "Listen, I don't know what your lives were like back in Cold Harbour, and if you don't want to go back there, then that's fine, but there are grimm around, and anything you can tell me to help us take them out will help you too."
The man was silent for a moment before he nodded in acknowledgement of what Rainbow had said. "There's a hill to the south of here," he said. "I was out foraging when I found a cave… with claw marks on the stone. I think that's where they make their nest or den or whatever you call it. But I didn't stick around to say for sure."
"A hill?"
"The bald hill, there," the donkey faunus said, pointing to a green-brown hill erupting out of the cover of the trees some distance to the south.
Rainbow nodded. "Thanks," she said. "We'll be back to tell you the job is done and you can rest easy." Nobody looked particularly enthusiastic about that, but Rainbow once more either didn't notice or pretended she didn't notice or just didn't care as she turned back towards the airship. Blake, once more, was left to follow.
"We should do something for those people," she said as they both leapt back inside the Skyray.
"We are doing something; we're saving them from the grimm," Rainbow said. "We're huntsmen; that's our job as far as helping people goes. Twilight, take us up and head for that hill, but leave the door open this time."
"Okay," Twilight said.
"It's not enough!" Blake cried as the airship began to rise out of the hollow. "It isn't right that their choices boil down to put up with exploitation or go live in the woods!"
"No, it isn't, but what are we supposed to do about it?" Rainbow demanded. "We can't give them healthcare; we can't give them better jobs. This isn't even Atlas. These are Valish companies-"
"Working for the Atlas military and the SDC and probably other Atlesian organisations too," Blake replied. "What if Atlas refused to deal with any company that wasn't treating its employees with the dignity that they deserve?"
"That… is actually a pretty good idea," Rainbow admitted. "Hey, Twilight, why don't you suggest that to Cadance?"
"I'll bring it up next time I see her," Twilight promised, her voice calling out from the cockpit.
"There? You see?" Rainbow smiled briefly. "Listen, Blake, what's going on there isn't great, but we're just huntsmen; we can't fix the whole world's problems. Right now, all we can do is save lives."
"I know," Blake murmured, "but I want so much more than that."
"I know that too," Rainbow replied. "That's why I said 'right now.'"
Blake's eyes narrowed. "What do you-?"
"We're coming up on the hill now," Twilight called.
Rainbow pushed Blake back a couple of steps. "Ciel, get into position."
"Understood," Ciel said, stepping forward until she was standing on the edge of the airship looking out. Over her right eye, she was wearing some kind of visor with an electric blue glow and symbols of some kind flashing across it. She knelt, raising her monstrous rifle to her shoulder, looking down the scope.
The Skyray circled the hill. Blake peered down into the woods that surrounded it but saw nothing.
There was no sound but the droning of the airship's engines as they circled. The woods below seemed placid, calm and quiet, devoid even of normal woodland life, never mind the grimm.
Suddenly, Ciel's rifle jerked to the left before she fired with a roar. "Got one!" she said.
Blake looked again. There… yes, in the shadow of the trees; it was faint, but she could make it out, dark shadows moving around the base of the hill.
Ciel fired again, and the air began to fill with the howling of beowolves as they raged impotently against the Atlesian airship.
"Should we jump 'em?" Sun asked.
"Not yet," Rainbow muttered from where she stood, one hand resting upon the airship door. "Twilight, stay on them."
"I can't see them very well," Twilight said.
"Head south!" Ciel barked, just before her rifle thundered forth again.
The airship banked south. Blake couldn't blame Twilight for not being to see the grimm very well; she couldn't see them too well either. They were only shadows, darting across the gaps between the trees, vague black shapes that she could only just make out in the forest shade. It was a miracle – or a tribute to the technology in her visor – that Ciel was able to hit them so consistently. Or at least, Blake thought she was hitting them consistently; she wasn't showing the kind of irritation that would suggest she was missing.
"They're turning to the right," she said, and Twilight turned the Skyray in turn, the airship tilting slightly on its axis to keep pace with their prey, the prey Blake might not have known were there if it weren't for the howls of outrage issuing from their mouths.
"Ciel, how many of them left?" Rainbow asked.
Ciel fired again. "Thirty at an estimate, including their alpha."
"Okay," Rainbow said, looking at a map on her scroll. "There's a clearing to the south. I'm going to get out on the other side of them, and we're going to drive them that way; once they reach the clearing, Twilight, let them have it with the missiles, then Penny, Blake, Sun, get out, and we'll finish them off." She grinned at Blake as she pulled her crimson goggles down over her eyes. "You won't hunt like this outside of Atlas, I promise."
She didn't give Blake time to respond before she leapt out of the airship, her Wings of Harmony unfurling on either side of her as she soared over the treetops, Plain Awesome in one hand and Brutal Honesty in the other, both machine guns blazing with fire as she spat bullets down at the unseen grimm below.
Blake couldn't see the beowolves, but as Ciel barked out instructions for Twilight to turn this way or that, as Rainbow kept pace with the Skyray from some distance away, Blake found that she could imagine what was happening down in the forest: the grimm were the flock, and the Skyray and Rainbow Dash were the sheepdogs, herding them south. South, away from the faunus camped in the woods, and whilst not long ago, Blake would have assumed that was a happy accident, now… now, she was far less certain.
The crack of Ciel's rifle was the constant accompaniment of their flight, a counterpoint to the droning of the engine, interrupting the howling of the beowolves as they tried to flee from a foe they could not reach. The staccato rattle of Rainbow's submachine guns were farther off and dimmed by distance, but Blake hoped they were no less effective for being quieter.
She could not see the grimm, but she could see the clearing to which they were driving the grimm: an open, roughly oval shape where the trees had receded and the sunlight suffused the area. Once the grimm broke into that clearing, then Blake would be able to see them.
Then they would all be able to see them.
Ciel fired again. "Twilight, fire the missiles."
Twilight squeaked in alarm. "Uh, this is… whatever, firing starboard missiles!"
The airship's nose appeared to explode with flame as the firing ports opened and missiles streaked out, trailing flame and white vapour as they swept like thunderbolts down into the clearing, exploding across the open ground, turning trees on the edge of the wood to splinters, churning up the ground, kicking up grass and soil and consuming the meadow in fire for a brief, brilliant moment.
Blake saw Rainbow Dash drop to the ground a moment before the Skyray soared over the clearing, and she could see the surviving beowolves – perhaps a score in all – milling around their great alpha as Rainbow Dash landed on the ground and blew the head off a grimm with Unfailing Loyalty.
Blake leapt out the Skyray, throwing her hook to catch upon a tree and ease her landing at the edge of the meadow. A grimm pounced upon her but found only a shadow clone before the real Blake leapt upon it from behind and sliced it in half with her cleaver. Penny landed in the centre of the clearing, her Floating Array out in carbine mode, green laser beams striking out in all directions. Sun clubbed a beowolf over the head and then shot it twice in the chest to finish it off with Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang.
The alpha beowolf roared, dropping to all fours so as to present to its enemies a back covered in armour plates and spines of bone, covering its vulnerable black underbelly. A shot from Ciel's rifle ricocheted off it. The alpha let out a huff that sounded almost like laughter.
Blake dashed across the eaves of the forest, cutting down another beowolf with Gambol Shroud as she did so, and threw her hook towards the alpha. With luck – and not inconsiderable skill – she buried it in a chink of black flash between two plates of bleached white armour. The alpha howled in pain as Blake hauled back upon the silken thread, pulling so hard that the alpha beowolf reared up, baring its chest to the world.
"Rainbow Dash, now!" Blake yelled.
Rainbow didn't need telling twice. She ran forward, trailing a rainbow behind her as she leapt, fist drawn back, speeding towards the alpha faster than its paw could swipe towards her.
She punched the alpha square in the chest, and as she struck, there was a booming sound like thunder as the alpha beowolf's chest exploded. Moments later, the rest of it began to follow suit, turning to ashes before their eyes.
And then it was all over, bar the mopping up.
By the time they returned to the camp in the hollow, Twilight setting the airship down exactly where she had before. Some of the faunus were a little less wary of the Skyray this second time, but most still seemed keen to keep their distance.
"Okay, everyone out this time," Rainbow said.
"'Everyone'?" Penny gasped eagerly.
"Everyone," Rainbow confirmed. "And help me get this stuff out," she added, gesturing to the 'vital supplies' that she, Ciel, and Sun had carried out of the armoury.
Blake picked up a case; it was heavy, but that still wasn't much help in working out what was inside as she climbed out alongside the other members of the extended team.
Once more, they were met by the donkey faunus, who seemed to be the leader of the group, officially or otherwise.
"The grimm are taken care of?" he asked.
"Yep," Rainbow declared. "You won't have to worry about them any more. At least… as long as you stay around here."
The leader of the camp nodded gravely. "Indeed. Once we move on, there will be other grimm to worry about."
"Unless you don't move on," Rainbow suggested.
The donkey faunus shook his head. "We will not go back. Now that we've walked away… we cannot crawl back and admit we were wrong. We have drunk of the waters of freedom; it is not so easy to go back to drinking tainted water after that."
"For what it's worth," Blake said, "I think that the Atlesians who advise you to return within the walls really do have your safety at heart." That's not something I thought I'd ever say, but that doesn't make it any less true.
"I believe it too," the leader of the camp replied, "but that does not change our answer. We will not go back."
"Then at least let Captain Sandleford give you a going away present," Rainbow said as she put her case down on the ground and opened it up, revealing a pair of grey metallic long-barrelled rifles topped with scopes.
"This," Rainbow said, pulling one of the guns out of its case, "is a Designated Marksman Rifle: semi-automatic, twelve round magazine; you can use it to hunt for food or to keep grimm away. There are also a couple of shotguns and four pistols. Not a whole lot of ammunition for them, but it should be enough to get you someplace where you can trade for more or rely on someone like us to protect you."
The faunus' eyes widened. "Guns? For us?"
"Captain Sandleford was worried you had no way of protecting yourself if you wouldn't come back to town," Rainbow explained. "So here they are, with his compliments. Also some MREs in one of these cases, because the captain also wants to poison you before you get wherever you're going."
The camp leader chuckled. "Tell Captain Sandleford that we have eaten much worse than his field rations and will not grumble about them as his soldiers do." He stepped forward, holding out his hand. "Thank you."
Rainbow was still holding the DMR in one hand as she clasped the leader's hand with her other. "Good luck out there," she said, handing over the rifle. "Ciel, show these people how to use their new weapons. Penny, Sun, start distributing the rations."
"Affirmative!"
Rainbow turned to Blake, holding her arms out on either side of her. "Surprise!"
Blake folded her arms. "You… you're arming and feeding these people."
"Yep."
"Why?" Blake asked. "I thought that you'd-"
"They're not slaves; they don't have to work anywhere they don't want to," Rainbow said with a shrug. "Captain Sandleford understands that, and so do I."
"How is he going to get away with giving them guns?"
"He'll just mark them damaged beyond repair, say that they broke in a training exercise or something and get new guns shipped in from Atlas," Rainbow explained. "Stuff breaks all the time on a base like this."
Blake bit her lip. “And what… what if…?” What if they turn these weapons against you?
“They won’t,” Rainbow said, reading her mind.
“How can you be so sure?” Blake asked. “How can you be sure that this isn’t exactly how the White Fang got some of their weapons?”
“Because the White Fang don’t take charity; they steal stuff,” Rainbow replied. “Look, I know that the White Fang end up with ex-Atlesian gear sometimes, but I also know that the stuff they end up with isn’t the stuff that we’re giving out to the needy. Besides, do you think that we issue guns to just anybody? We’re better judges of character than that.”
“But-”
“No buts; just stop worrying so much,” Rainbow said. She walked towards Blake, a smile playing across her face. "We killed some grimm, helped some people, and all's right with the world."
Blake's eyebrows rose. "'All's right with the world'?"
"Okay, maybe not the whole world," Rainbow acknowledged, "but this little bit of the world? I think it's doing pretty good. Today was a good day."
Blake held her gaze. Whoever would have thought that I would be in this position?
Whoever would have thought it wouldn't bother me that much?
"Today," she agreed, "was a good day."
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By the way, I love the name 'Brutal Honesty' for a weapon. It makes me think more an antique Gatling artillery piece than a submachine gun, but still. Good name.
Did no one get the "Airplane" reference? At least he didn't start to deflate!
Great chapter to flesh out the many sides of atlas. Blake, you may be monochrome, but the world is grey and complex. Also, wish it was sunset, but the yoga scene was excellently brought over, and remains one of my favorite EG segments (although Blake’s reaction to tech savvy donkey would have been priceless)
With current Volume it's quite ironic. But it's still a giant rock floating above the City. Is no one even remotely worried it might fall?
This is indeed a very good day, Blake. You and RSPT helped a lot of good people today, gave them a real chance at living. And by helping someone, you can help everyone. We may not be able to help everyone, but we must still help as many as we can. Always, as many as we can. But tragically, this still does not change the fact that healing a few symptoms does not cure the source of the disease.
I have to ask, how is that not already a law? That right there is proof of the greater problem that comes from the choice of ignorance or inaction. Even more so, Rainbow Dash, the rest of RSPT, and even Cadance wouldn't have addressed this issue if Blake hadn't brought it up, which Ciel and even Rainbow have criticized her for. They must remember that singing praises about Atlas' glorious strength, independence, justice, and political freedom is an insult to those who are denied it. Almost criminal. It's even worse when you expect the others to rejoice and even automatically respect you for having it, or to condemn them for speaking up about it. There is still a long way to go. Just look at James Earl Jones here:
Wonder if Dash also has some apologising to do? Things are not always so one-sided.
Ironically I think Blake would agree with the running away idea. Most of her character development was to stop thinking of herself as a coward that always runs away from her problems. The other half was to open up for help of others.
Question to the author:
At this point of the story, which episode of Vol 2 does this chapter and future chapter correlate with, I can tell this is somewhere around Vol 2, but is it when the students are sent out to do missions, specifically around the end of Vol 2 where team RWBY in the series goes on their missions, or is this before that and actual in-episode content doesn't happen yet?
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This story gets further and further from canon as it advances, and while the structure of Volume 2 and 3 is still somewhat followed, it is highly expanded and many canon events had their situations changed, even if they end in similar outcomes.
There is no explicit equivalence to this chapters in canon. And timeline-wise it would be after "Painting the Town..." but before "Burning the Candle"
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Adser is pretty much right here, although I might say it happens at the same time as Painting the Town; either way it definitely happens before Burning the Candle, and certainly before Field Trip and the Mountain Glenn arc, which
Honestly, that kind of belief is equally as ignorant as the belief that Atlesians a bad people. People are people, as good or bad as any other. Dash seems to believe that Atlesians are on average morally superior to everyone else, and that is a road that leads invariably to bigotry. I really hope Scipio doesn’t have it where that is the case, one nation being the moral center of thing. It would be… distasteful.
On reread, was just thinking how great it would be for ciel and tempest to get a dramatic scene together way down the line. With such a similar history, it could be a very dramatic moment.