Breathe Chapter 53: Midnight Respite

A few hours had passed since we’d killed the Grimm that had been the cause for the town's demise. We’d spent that time searching the remainder of the town, making sure that we didn’t miss anything. Ensuring that there wasn’t anything remaining that could cause another incident like this.

Once that was done, all that remained was the cleanup.

It wasn’t exactly necessary, but it did seem like the right thing to do. It also helped to give Pyrrha a little closure. Unlike Winter and myself, she’d never truly seen what happens to some of the more unlucky towns out there. Putting the people to rest here would help her move past this.

So we’d constructed a pyre, using a few of the more broken buildings to build it and set it ablaze, putting the lost residents to rest and making it impossible for their remains to be used for anything else.

Between Winter using her Semblance to help gather the remains and the Dust we’d brought with us. It didn’t take long at all. We’d spent a little over an hour collecting bodies and adding them to the pyre. Once it was clear that we’d cremated the last body, the fire was extinguished and we’d left for the airship.

“Is it always like this?” Pyrrha asked softly, shooting a quick glance back towards the town. “Is it normal for an entire town to just… Disappear overnight?”

“It does happen,” Winter admitted. “But not quite on this scale. It usually happens to the smaller, newer settlements that aren’t able to protect themselves and even then there’s generally a few people that survive. What happened here was a special case.”

“Winter’s right,” I added, placing a comforting hand on Pyrrha’s shoulder. “The Grimm we’re facing and the circumstances around them are rare. Some towns might be lost, but never like this. I’m sorry that you had to experience it like this, but it was bound to happen eventually.”

“I suppose I’m just unused to it then,” Pyrrha sighed, grabbing my hand. “I’m sorry.”

“Pyrrha,” Winter began. “An apology should only be made for when you make a mistake, not for how you feel. You did an admirable job today, hold your head up high knowing that you completed a mission others deemed too dangerous and helped put this town to rest.”

“But…” Pyrrha started. Pausing, she nodded slowly. “Thank you. That means a lot.”

“It was simply the truth,” Winter replied.

From the looks of it, Pyrrha would still need a little time to come to terms with seeing a town wiped out like this, but she did appear a little more relaxed. We still had more than a few of Ozpin’s missions left, but we weren’t in any rush to complete them. Most of them had been on hold for a number of years at this point with some even exceeding the thirty year mark.

I still had a few other things to focus on, like mentoring Team RWBY and keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

Although the Vytal tournament was still a good few months away, it wouldn’t be long before the other Academies started sending their students to Beacon in order to give them an edge when the tournament began.

I wouldn’t put it past Cinder to try something once the Vytal festival was in full swing. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up. If she was smart, she’d put two and two together and figure out that Raven was the Spring Maiden. Once she realized that, all she’d need to do is find where Raven was hiding, something that shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out.

She’d make an attempt and while Raven was by no means a pushover, that didn’t mean she couldn’t be caught off guard. I was going to have to talk to Ozpin about this sometime after I got back and make sure that both Amber and Raven were safe.

Brushing a hand through my hair, I took a slow breath. I was getting a little ahead of myself. I’d deal with Cinder when she became an issue, but until then, I’d be better off focusing my attention on what was directly in front of me.

Getting everyone ready for the Vytal festival being my first priority… Not the tournament itself, but whatever it was that Salem was cooking up.

Reaching the wall that surrounded the town, I shot a glance to Pyrrha and Winter, before kicking off the ground, launching myself over it.

Landing on the other side with Pyrrha and Winter following closely behind, we continued to make our way toward the airship Ozpin had let us borrow. That did bring up something else I’d been thinking about.

“Hey, Winter,” I hummed. “I’ve been wondering, how exactly does one buy an airship for themselves?”

Getting my own airship, while not at the top of the list, would be nice. I had more than enough money to afford one thanks to the mine in Mistral becoming operational and it’d be handy having one of my own.

“Outside of being assigned one by the Atlesian Military,” Winter began, considering my question. “I suppose you could go to a dealership and buy one. Since you’re a licensed Huntsman, you should be able to buy a military grade airship. All you should need is your Huntsman and pilot’s license.”

“And, uh… What if I don’t have a pilot’s license?” I asked. “Could I put it under your name and get my license later?”

Winter raised an eyebrow at that. “You could,” She nodded slowly. “But you could also simply get a license of your own. If you want, I could help you with that.”

Was she offering to teach me? “Sure. I’d appreciate the help.”

“Then we can begin immediately,” Winter announced, walking briskly towards the borrowed airship.

Glancing at Pyrrha, she gave a comforting smile and shrugged. “May as well.”

Well okay then. Heading into the airship, I made my way into the cockpit alongside Pyrrha only to find Winter waiting for me. This was a relatively small airship, so there wasn’t much space to fit the three of us.

“Come take a seat and we can get started,” Winter said, patting the lone chair in the cockpit.

I wasn’t exactly sure about this, but sat down anyway while Pyrrha shuffled a little to the side, making a little more room for Winter.

“So, what do I do?”

“You’ll want to start by checking these gauges,” Winter replied, tapping the control panel in front of me. “You’ll need to check them to ensure that there isn’t anything wrong with the airship. It wouldn’t do to crash shortly after takeoff. Now pay special attention to these…”

Nodding along, I followed Winter’s instructions. There were more than a few things that I didn’t understand, but she made sure to explain it again. After going through a laundry list of things that I should always keep in mind while flying, it finally came time to attempt it.

“Now, what you’ll want to do is flick these switches up here,” Winter continued, pointing towards the switches. “And then push your feet down on the pedals.”

Doing as she said, the airship suddenly hummed to life.

“Alright, so what’s next?”

“All that remains is for you to gently tug on the wheel while releasing the pressure on the pedals,” Winter explained.

That seemed easy enough. Taking a slow breath, I pulled the wheel back and let the pedals out. A few moments passed as the engines began to rev, but other than that, nothing happened.

“Strange, we should be hovering above the treetops by now,” Winter commented. Looking up at the controls, her eyes widened in understanding. “Ah, that would do it. You missed one of the switches. It’s no big issue. All you need to do is turn it on.”

“…Okay,” I hummed.

Reaching up, I flicked the switch and the airship suddenly jerked backwards. Grabbing the steering wheel with both hands, I pushed it forward in an attempt to even things out, I failed to account for the speed at which the airship could maneuver.

I might be able to change my momentum at a moment’s notice, but the airship certainly proved that it couldn’t when it backed up through several trees.

Attempting to steer it into a clearing, I suddenly found Winter’s hands wrapped around mine, taking control of the airship… Not that it was needed. A single moment later, the airship jerked to a sudden stop, causing Winter to stumble and fall on top of me.

Holding a single hand out, Pyrrha forced the airship to land. Seeing that she now had a moment, Winter sat up and flicked several switches, turning the airship off.

“Those trees came out of nowhere,” I muttered.

“Indeed,” Winter hummed. Leaning back, she jumped when she realized that she was pretty much fully seated on my lap and had pressed her back fully into my chest.

Sitting on the floor next to the pilot chair, Pyrrha let out a snort of laughter. “I’m sorry,” She said, giggling softly at the whole situation.

Letting out a short chuckle, I glanced at Winter who relaxed, cracking a small smile of her own. It might be better if I learnt how to fly an airship in a more… Controlled environment.

“Let’s try that again,” Winter announced, glancing over her shoulder at me.

Looking at Pyrrha who smiled, I decided to just go with it. We’d already taken care of the threat here, so there was no real danger if we stuck around a while longer. It’s not like we were needed in Beacon right now anyway.

…Breathe…

Hearing a knock at their room door, Yang, being the most extraverted of her teammates, opted to answer it. At least, that’s the reason they gave her. It wasn’t because they couldn’t be bothered… No, that wasn’t it.

I mean, of course Weiss needed to draw up her study guide and Blake obviously needed to read her meditation guide that looked suspiciously like one of those ‘Ninja’s of Love’ books and Ruby obviously needed to play video games… Hey!

“Hellooo, HOLY CRAP!” She jumped as Nora fell through the doorway, hitting the ground with a solid thud. “Nora, what’s–“

“Need help,” Nora muttered, appearing exhausted beyond all belief. “Can’t move limbs… Poisoned… Bleh…” Opening her mouth, a small amount of green sludge leaked from it.

How did it come to this? This was just supposed to be a fun get together between teams and now Nora appeared on her door, looking like she was a few moments from death.

Grabbing her Scroll, Yang had just been about to call for help when Ren appeared in the doorway with a deadpan, holding a container filled with an unknown fluid.

“Hello, Yang. Thanks for having us over,” Ren nodded. Stepping over Nora, he dragged her further into the room and propped her up against the wall. “Nora, you need to finish your smoothie, it’s good for you.”

“No, keep it away,” Nora mumbled weakly. “Don’t want anymore.”

“…What?!” Yang muttered softly.

“It’s… It’s a long story,” Jaune said, appearing in the doorway. “We’ve sorta been doing this intense training and Ren’s been making us smoothies. They taste terrible, but they’re super healthy. He finally got Nora to try one today by saying that it was syrup and she didn’t take to it well when she realized that it wasn’t.”

And here she thought that Nora had really been poisoned when really she’d just been forced to drink something healthy. Sighing, Yang slapped a palm to her head. “Right… Just Nora stuff then.”

“Pretty much,” Jaune nodded. “So, can I come in or…”

“Yeah, sure. Come on in, vomit boy,” Yang said, stepping to the side.

“Thanks,” Jaune said, stepping through.

Peeking her head out into the hallway, Yang glanced around, making sure that Cardin was nowhere to be seen. Upon seeing that it was empty, she closed the door behind her.

The last thing she wanted was for him to barge his way in and start a fight. It wasn’t necessarily the fight that bothered her, but the fact that she kept all of her stuff here.

“Oh, hey, Team… ACRN’s here,” Ruby noticed, struggling to remember their name as she looked up from her game. “Minus Cardin. What brings you guys here?”

“We were, ah, invited,” Jaune said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “You didn’t know that we were coming?”

“She did,” Blake commented, not looking up from her book. “Yang told us that she invited the three of you.”

“Ah, right. That’s tonight,” Ruby laughed awkwardly. “I must have forgotten. It’s not that big of an issue. We still have some snacks. There’s half a bag of cookies and some soda…” Pausing, she looked towards the crumpled up bag of cookies. “Well, the kitchen should still be open until… Ten minutes ago,” She squeaked, staring at the time on her Scroll.

Grinning at her sister’s awkward fumbling Yang reached under her bed and procured a few bags of chips. “I figured something like this might happen, so I hid a few things for tonight.” Grabbing a can of soda, she tossed it to Nora who, upon seeing the unhealthy snacks, hit her second wind.

“Nora, you should really finish your smoothie before you drink that,” Ren said. “It’s got all the necessary ingredients to help your body recover. Algae, collagen and–“

“Gah, no! Don’t tell me, that makes it so much worse,” Nora cried, shoving her fingers in her ears.

“Nora…” Ren muttered, exasperated.

“Lalala, can’t hear you.”

“If the two of you could just,” Weiss snapped. She glared at the duo from her desk, before calming down. “Please keep it down for a few more moments. I’m almost finished with my work.”

“Sorry, we’ll be on our best behavior,” Ren apologized.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Weiss sighed. “No… I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I’m sorry.”

Watching the scene unfold with a sense of envy, Jaune smiled bitterly. “It must be nice to have a team that gets on,” He muttered softly.

“Yeah, it is pretty great,” Yang agreed. “But that’s probably because we met each other before even coming to Beacon. We do still step on each other’s toes... Especially when we have such a small room.” She nodded towards the bunk beds.

“At this point, I’d take a room the size of a broom closet if it meant my team got along with one another,” Jaune replied.

Sighing, Blake snapped her book shut. “Unfortunately, that isn’t something that I think is possible,” She muttered. “People like Cardin and…” Her gaze briefly flickered to Weiss before returning to Jaune. Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply. “People like him don’t change.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that,” Yang said. “People can change if they really want to.”

Her dad had been a perfect example of that. The memory of how he’d reacted when she took Ruby and tried to find Raven still caused her to wince, but ultimately, it was the thing that forced him out of his funk after Summer’s death.

“I suppose we’ll just have to agree to disagree,” Blake droned. Placing her book on the shelf next to her bed, she stood and stretched. “I think I’m going to go take a nighttime walk. I’ll see you guys later.”

“But,” Ruby began, holding a disk in her hand. “We were going to watch a Spruce Willis movie together and play video games.”

“I’m much more of a book person, Ruby,” Blake replied. Wincing at the look Ruby was giving her, she sighed. “I’ll be back a little later.”

Ruby nodded cheerfully. “Okay then. Enjoy your walk and be sure to wear warm clothing. You don’t want to catch a cold.”

Watching as all this went down, Yang smirked. She and her dad had long since grown immune to Ruby’s puppy eyes, Blake on the other hand folded like a house of cards.

“…Sure thing, Ruby,” Blake hummed.

Waiting for Blake to leave, Ruby held the disk up once the door closed behind her. “So, Spruce Willis anyone? It’s a good one. Hardly Dying with Avengement.”

“Okay,” Jaune replied. “You know, I’m not sure that I’ve seen that one bef–“

“Dibs on Blake’s bed,” Nora called out, launching herself onto the mattress. “Ooh, this is pretty comfy. Come and try it out, Ren.”

“I think I’d rather sit on the floor,” Ren said, eyeing the bed that was held up by several stacks of books.

“Suit yourself,” Nora shrugged. Rolling over, she kicked her legs in a carefree manner. “More room for Nora. You know, we should do the same for our beds as well. With the size of our room, there’ll be so much extra space for activities.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Ren commented. “These beds don’t look structurally sound.”

“Eh, you worry too much,” Nora replied. “Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.“ Kicking one of the book stacks, the bed above came tumbling down, crushing her beneath it.

“Ah, crud!” Rushing towards the bed, Jaune attempted to lift it, but ultimately failed. His arms were still tired from trying to move the boulder earlier. “Nora, can you hear me? Kick your legs if you can.” He paused as Nora flailed about under the bed. “Don’t worry, we’re going to get you out of there, you hear me?”

Watching as the two members of Team ACRN attempted to move the bed off their third member, Yang wasn’t sure if she should laugh or offer to help them.

This wasn’t quite what she had in mind when she invited the team over, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t enjoy the chaos of it all, especially when it wasn’t her that was being crushed this time.

“Um, guys? A little help here,” Jaune asked, looking towards the three remaining members of Team RWBY.

“Right, um… Sorry. Let’s get that bed off Nora,” Ruby announced, striking a heroic pose. “Team RWBY, assemble.”

“If we must,” Weiss sighed.

…Breathe…

“Easy,” Winter said, her face directly next to mine. “Slowly push the pedals in and gently pull back on the steering wheel.”

Following her instruction, I brought the airship down to the landing zone, inching my way towards the ground. Glancing at the gauge that measured the distance between the land and the ground, I found Winter’s hand grabbing mine, pulling back on the steering wheel.

“Just a little more and…” She continued. The airship jerked as it touched down on the ground. “There, we’ve landed.”

Breathing easily, I flicked the switches overhead, turning the airship off before I allowed myself to finally relax. That was by far the most stressful thing I’d done in a long while. Flying in itself was fairly easy once you were in the air, but taking off and landing was a whole other thing entirely.

“That was an experience,” I muttered, feeling a little tired from the flight even though I didn’t do anything that was physically taxing.

“You’ll get better with time,” Winter replied. Releasing my hand, she flipped a few more switches. “But you did fairly well for your first flight. I’ve seen some recruits that have had months running simulations make simple mistakes and crash after a few moments.”

I couldn’t imagine why.

Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I looked up to see Pyrrha’s face smiling down at me. Patting it lightly, I smiled.

“That’s probably because they didn’t have you to help walk them through it,” I hummed.

“No, they did. I was the observing officer at the time,” Winter replied.

Well that shot down my entire argument. I wasn’t sure what to say to that.

Seeing my dilemma, Pyrrha stepped in. “It’s fairly late, we should probably head in.”

“That’s a fair idea,” Winter nodded. “I am in desperate need of a shower, especially after the day we’ve had.”

Climbing out of the pilots chair, I followed Pyrrha as she led us off of the airship, only to come to a stop when we found a large chunk of a tree shoved in the small loading bay in the back. No doubt from me accidentally backing up into them earlier.

It seemed that since none of us sat in the back, we’d forgotten to close the back of the airship.

“If anyone asks, it was like this when we got it,” I suggested.

Hearing a snort of laughter, I was surprised to see that it came from Winter instead of Pyrrha.

Coughing lightly, Winter hid her smile behind her fist. “Yes, of course.”

Hacking a path through the tree, I glanced over it, making sure we didn’t accidentally bring any Grimm with us, before stepping off the airship into the cool night air.

Despite it being a night without a moon, Beacon was still fairly well lit with several lampposts that illuminated the pathways and a border of light that shone down on the emerald forest, ensuring that no Grimm would be able to pass into the school undetected.

Making my way to the Academy alongside Pyrrha and Winter, I began to slow down upon approaching the main building.

“Is everything alright?” Pyrrha asked, noticing that I’d now come to a stop.

“Yeah,” I hummed. “You two go ahead, there’s something that I want to check out first.”

“If you’re sure,” Pyrrha said.

“Go on ahead,” I replied. “I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

Giving me a quizzical look, Pyrrha nodded slowly. “Alright then. I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Save some hot water for me,” I hummed. Watching as they left, I waited a handful of moments before addressing the elephant in the room. “Any reason for why you were watching us, Blake?”

Several seconds passed, before Blake stepped out of one of the few spots that wasn’t bathed entirely in light. “I noticed the airship and wanted to see who’d arrived.”

That was a fair answer, but it didn’t really explain why she was out here to begin with. “Is everything alright?” We’d only been gone for a day, but a lot could happen in that timeframe.

“I’m fine.” Her bow twitched. “I just thought I’d get some fresh air. Three members of Team ACRN are visiting and our room’s feeling a little claustrophobic.”

I nodded along. Yang had complained about their room size a few times, but I’d never really given it any thought until now. “I could probably ask Ozpin about getting you guys a bigger room if it bugs you guys that much,” I said.

“That would be appreciated,” Blake hummed. Crossing her arms, she looked to the side. “There is actually something that I would like to ask you.”

“…Sure.”

“It’s concerning the fourth member of Team ACRN,” Blake continued. “Cardin Winchester. I wanted to know why someone like him is allowed here. Why he’s allowed to become a Huntsman despite his… Ideals.”

Ah, that would be a tough one to explain.

“I suppose it would be because the world could always use more Huntsmen,” I mused, rubbing my chin. “Cardin may be a massive asshole, but he’s also someone that voluntarily chose to push back against the Grimm. There’s also still time for him to grow out of his old ideals and become a better person.”

Blake’s bow pressed tightly against her head. “I’ve heard a lot of that tonight, but I’m not quite sure that I believe it.”

I exhaled slowly. This next part might be a little risky, but she needed to hear it.

“You did, didn’t you?” I asked.

“What?!” Blake asked, looking up suddenly. Her entire body tensed in preparation to flee. “What’re you talking about?”

“Back when Ozpin gave me the chance to mentor a team, he did a background check on everyone involved,” I said, holding my hands up, trying to calm her down. “Him and I… We’ve both known about your history with a certain organization since you started here in Beacon.”

“So you’ve just kept me under observation? You’re making sure that I wasn’t planning on killing Weiss, is that it?”

“You think too little of yourself,” I sighed. “If Ozpin thought that was a possibility, he’d have pulled you from Beacon before initiation. You’re here, Blake, because you’ve earned your spot.”

Relaxing, Blake breathed a little easier. “Then I’m not going to be locked up for…” She swallowed heavily, “For being a former member of the White Fang?”

If this had been a lighter topic, I’d have been tempted to mess with her and say I was referring to something else entirely. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but no… You don’t have to worry about being arrested for that.”

For the first time since I’d known her, Blake seemed well and truly stumped. “Huh… Just like that.”

“Yep,” I hummed. “So, you wanna go back to your room now? I’ll walk you there.”

“No, that’s alright,” Blake replied. “I can find my own way back.”

Well… It didn’t look like she was going to run off anytime soon.

“Then, if it’s alright with you, I think I’m going to head in,” I said. “Between you and me, it’s been a pretty long day. I’ll see you again sometime tomorrow,” I yawned.

I hadn’t even had the chance to sit down and read through what I’d gained from my Aura. I could see there was an extra status effect and something else entirely that looked suspiciously like an inventory, but between dealing with the bodies and Winter teaching me how to fly an airship, I just didn’t have a moment to myself.

Blake nodded her acceptance. “Good night then and… Thank you for the conversation.”

“Good night,” I hummed.

Waving a short goodbye as I entered Beacon, I slowly made my way through the building, down several corridors, before finally coming to a stop at my room.

Entering, I found Maria asleep in her armchair. Sighing, I covered her with a Blanket I’d gotten from her room.

Grabbing a change of clothes from my room, I found Pyrrha already asleep in our bed, cuddling a pillow. Chuckling, I made my way towards the bathroom and opened the door only to be met with Winter with her hair down. Having just finished showering, the only article of clothing she wore was a towel.

“Crap, sorry. I wasn’t thinking when I opened the door,” I apologized. Stepping back, I closed the door again.

“It’s quite alright. In fact, you’ve caught me in quite an opportune time,” Winter said, opening the door once more. “My neck feels a little stiff and I was hoping that you would help me loosen it.”

I took a slow breath.

“Alright.”

My Semblance was just going to have to wait until tomorrow.