Ohhey He Said Brightly the Art of Racing in the Rain

Deviation Actions

Published: Jun 1, 2017

Literature Text

Chapter 22 – Derelictport

            Natalia sat hunched over, with her elbows on her knees and her chin on her crossed fingers. She was staring intently across the rocking airship at Lucian. Around xvi hours had passed, and Lucian had not rejoined his teammates. He was only sitting on a seat ledge at the back of the ship, staring at a wall. It was not until forty minutes before that Natalia realized he was staring at it; she had assumed that he was sleeping. Ignia had told her that information technology was best not to disturb him, every bit he was going through a lot of things.

            Suddenly, a loud "Hey, this isn't the way to Ranslate!" from Ignia brought Natalia out of her reverie. She turned her head to the airplane pilot'southward cockpit where Ignia was examining a map on a roll.

            "I'thousand sorry, but this is the direction sent to us," the tawny skinned pilot named Alani said. "I'm merely the pilot, I don't decide where we become."

            "So, if we're not going to Ranslate," Ignia began, "then where are we going?"

            "Nosotros're going to home base of operations," Alani replied.

            "But didn't Maruna say Ranslate was the home base?" Ignia insisted.

            "I don't know where you heard that from, but this Bullhead's home base in in Derelictport," Alani responded irritably. "Then that's where nosotros're going."

            "What is Derelictport?" Ignia asked.

            "Will you please sit downwards!?" Alani snapped. Natalia could see she had dark rings around her optics. "You're gonna wake up my copilot, and she needs all the sleep she can get!"

            "Fine!" Ignia stomped off back to the passenger'south expanse of the hull.

            Natalia turned to the crimson-hooded mass reclined on the seats opposite her. "Hey, Krysten," Natalia asked. "What's Derelictport?"

            "Heck if I know," Krysten answered, getting up from her comfy reclined position. She sat direct up, stretched her arms, and looked over to Viridia, who was fast asleep. She turned back to Natalia. "Hey, Ignia," she said. "Where in Vacuo are we going?"

            "That desert region," Ignia muttered, sitting dorsum down. "Y'know, correct outside the Maginot Woodlands."

            "Well, desert's as practiced a identify as any for a secret HQ," Krysten said wearily, reclining again."

            Natalia sighed, and looked over at Lucian. He had not moved i fleck, nevertheless staring at the wall with a blank, pallid expression. Natalia wanted to stand up, to walk over to him, and to talk, but every bit if by telepathy, Ignia placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her caput. Eventually, Lucian closed his eyes to sleep, and reluctantly, Natalia did too.

     ________________________________________________________________________________________

"Your pilus is so nice and silky… Stand up for yourself, Lucian. Don't let anyone always tell y'all that you lot're bad or that you're a mistake… they're not allowed to make fun of yous as long as big sis is hither… This is about changing things, Lucian. Y'all're too young to sympathize… Yous're spineless. You're all spineless! If y'all won't follow me, you might too lick those humans' boots like the mutts you lot are… He's gone insane, mom. He's insane! We can't stay here… I just want you home. Please, but give up this stupid rebellion. It's going to be the end of usa all… Where is she!?.... No… No! VELVELA!!"

Lucian'southward eyes snapped open up. Echoing voices had flooded his head while he was dreaming of zero but a nighttime lightless place. A immature teenager'southward voice, a adult female'due south voice, the demonic voice of Adam Taurus, the voice of Pullus Caesar, the immature vox again but louder, his ain voice, and finally the haunting scream of his mother. It took him a moment to realize that the liquid in his eyes were tears, not sweat. He wiped them off and blinked. Out of nowhere, some other lurch from the balloon rocked him, similar to the one that had woken him up originally. He gazed out at his surroundings.

            A bluish sky devoid of clouds was shining through the windows lining the hull, illuminating strips of dirt flying in the air. Through the bars of lite, he saw his teammates and Viridia, buckling their belts. He predicted that the ship was about to land, and grabbed on to one of the handrails on the walls of the ship which were meant for stability when standing. He straightened himself, and a few minutes afterward, the transport tilted, signifying their descent. As information technology did, Lucian saw through the window several structures. He tried to get a closer look, simply the sun was vivid and the windows were too grimy and croaky to see through properly.

            Several more minutes subsequently, they touched downwardly. The doors opened, flooding the send'due south interior with calorie-free, absurd wind, and fresh air. Lucian was and so dazed that he couldn't quite understand what was going on. All he knew was that he stood upwardly, brushed the dirt off his pants, and followed his teammates out of the balloon. All of a sudden, his senses were assaulted by a disorderly symphony of the sounds of a armed services base. After being temporarily blinded by the dominicus, he opened his optics and saw that they were in a decadent boondocks, in the center of what looked to exist like a pocket-sized basin-shaped valley in the centre of an expansive desert. Around him, he heard the whirring of the Bullhead's engines, and the yelling of engineers.

            "Where are we?" Viridia's vocalism came, seemingly from far away. It took a second for Lucian to process a response.

            "I think we're in… a desert… But why?" Lucian muttered. He lowered his gaze from the rim of the valley to the architecture surrounding him. It looked like the remains of an sometime oil or Dust refinery, refurbished into a makeshift armed forces base of operations. They were on a wide rectangular landing pad next to a big complex of buildings, only he could see that ventilation pipes had been torn from the concrete to let space for the ships. Foursquare patches of fresh cement stood out against the blackened concrete, indicating this.

            "Yous five!" came a vocalisation of ane of the engineers budgeted them. He was wearing what seemed to exist a mix of Black Fang robes and a structure worker's outfit. A black mask was tied to his chugalug. "Come with me, nosotros've been waiting for you."

            Lucian straggled at the back of the grouping, unable to pay heed to his teammates' chatter and constant pestering of the engineer with questions. They entered one of the buildings, and the engineer led them through metal sliding doors into a cafeteria room.

            "Await hither," he said. "Someone will come up to address you before long. We have food, drinks, and sleeping bags for anyone who needs them. If yous need annihilation, inquire i of the helpers." With that, he left before anyone could ask annihilation else.

            Lucian turned back to the room. Information technology seemed like it was supposed to be a workshop filled with private machines, just instead it was filled with a variety of mismatched nutrient court tables and benches. It was at to the lowest degree two floors high, and a platform fabricated of metal grills and railings lined the wall at the height of the second floor, as if it were some observation deck. At the side, there were people dressed in Black Fang garb, handing out wrapped packages of food, bottles of water, and sleeping bags. In that location were already 30 people present who were dressed like Huntsmen-in-preparation, and 50 more than who were but Vale civilians or Vytal Tournament spectators who had been evacuated from the city. A tap on his shoulder fabricated him turn effectually.

            "Over here, Lucian," said Krysten, pointing. "I saw Team VSVS over in that location."

            Lucian looked over to where she was pointing to and saw, indeed, that Shu, Vulcania, Vamei, and Sanriku were sitting on a table, and across them were the members of Team MDAS. He walked over with his companions blankly, not paying attention to the other refugees in the room.

            "Lucian…" came a soft vocalisation. "Are you okay?"

            That vocalization came from Ignia. Lucian turned to look at her, and was shocked to see that her face was filled with concern. "Ah—what?"

            "You lot haven't said annihilation for the by thirty minutes, you're spacing out…" Ignia enumerated. "Expect, I know information technology'due south been a rough day and all, simply you need to relax."

            "Is this well-nigh your mom?" Natalia asked perceptively. Lucian looked up, but she got her answer before he could respond. She turned to call for an bellboy. I approached her, a mouse Faunus with a beard.

            "Anything you need, miss?" he asked.

            "Do you know where Maruna Bianc is?" Natalia inquired. "Do you know where she is? Can nosotros contact her?"

            Lucian opened his mouth to say something. He didn't exactly know what he wanted to say, only he didn't need to do it; the mouse Faunus nodded.

            "Y'all could visit her. She's hither, in the hospital ward on the second floor, southward wing," the attendant said. "I'll have yous there."

            Lucian nodded agreeably, his heart pounding. Hearing that his mother was on the premises and was getting medical attention filled him with seemingly new life. He turned to his teammates and said, "Y'all 3, stay here. I'll be back shortly. I just need some questions answered, I'll make full you guys in on the details."

            The attendant led Lucian out of the room, across the hallway, up a flight of stairs, and then down two more hallways until they reached a room labeled 'Medical Ward'.

            "Alright, enquire the nurse in at that place if Lieutenant Bianc is fit to have visitors," the bellboy said, earlier leaving downwardly the way they came.

Lucian turned to the door and entered the room. Immediately, the pungent odour of antiseptic and rubbing alcohol pierced his nose. A row of curtains was lined up on each side of the room. On his right, as he entered the door, was a desk with an empty chair behind it. He walked over to the desk and checked the listing of people who had been checked in. To his relief, there was only i: 'Maruna B.'

A soft muttering was so brought to his attention. Information technology was present when he had entered the room, simply he had assumed it was another patient in one of the fourteen beds. Nonetheless, he realized that it must have come from his mother'south bed at the finish of the room. He walked over to it.

"Lucian?" came Maruna's vox of a sudden, communicable him off guard. "Lucian, is that you?"

Lucian hastened to the stop of the room where in that location was an open curtain, entering into a pocket-size space partially occupied by a bed. On the bed was Maruna, with a thick strap of bandages effectually her left leg and a cast on her correct arm. On the one chair was another woman who Lucian did not recognize. She had long black braided pilus reaching downward to her thigh (or, since she was sitting down, the floor.) She was dressed in a Mistral-similar sleeveless belong with ane one-half white and the other grey. Her one visible eye was emerald green and the other was blocked off with a crimson center patch, revealing only deep diagonal scars nether it. A pair of gray panda ears indicated that she was a Faunus.

"Kiddo, I'm so glad to encounter yous!" Maruna exclaimed, sitting upward and dangling her legs off the edge. Lucian approached her quickly and she wrapped her arm around him in a tight cover.

"Well, I suppose this is a good plenty excuse to become back to work," the guest said, standing up.

"No, Sidian, wait!" Maruna said, releasing Lucian. "I wanna introduce you to my son! You two haven't formally met, accept you?"

            "A pleasance to meet you, Lucian," the adult female named Sidian said, bowing her caput. "Maruna, I really must go dorsum to work."

            Maruna harrumphed, and Sidian left. As soon as the echo of the door endmost rang through the room, she turned to Lucian with a bright smile. "I'm glad you're okay!"

            "I'k glad yous are likewise!" Lucian replied joyfully, his smile as as jovial. "I heard your leg got injured, what happened? Are you lot okay? Can y'all walk?"

            "Calm down, kiddo," Maruna said soothingly. "I'grand fine. I just got a bad wound on my leg but it'll heal somewhen. I also got a cleaved arm, then I accept to vesture this cast." She raised her right arm slightly. "Simply enough about that, I want to know if you're okay as well! When I didn't hear from you or Krysten that night, I couldn't sleep! I was then happy when I heard from Alani that you guys were safe. What happened? Did the White Fang chase you? Were you lot held up by Grimm?"

            "I'thousand fine, mom!" Lucian tried to assuage her. "We but had to hide out in an empty building for the night, and and then Natalia called usa. Nosotros met somebody who helped me recover, she'due south with the others downstairs correct at present."

            "And…" Maruna began. Lucian could see the elation in her face fade away, replaced by a dawning mix of grief and horror. She looked downward.

            "Mom, it's…" Lucian stammered, his attention to his missing tail brought up again. His expression turned downcast and he looked downwardly to his side where his tail would have usually been wagging. "It's gone."

            "Oh…" Maruna whispered solemnly. "Lucian… I'm sorry…"

            "It's okay," Lucian said unconvincingly. He had trouble saying information technology as a lump had formed in his pharynx.

            "No, it's non," Maruna said firmly. "You tin can admit if information technology's not. I know you're used to bottling everything up, but please. This isn't like the other times, just let information technology out."

            The lump in Lucian's throat swelled, and his clenched fist trembled. And and then, all his emotion burst out similar a bomb. Everything he had tried to comprise, all his acrimony, sadness, and fearfulness, had been forced downwards deep inside him. He had vowed to command them, to remain stoic and unfazed, for the sake of his friends. But they finally reached a tipping indicate, and he let information technology all out. He wept openly into his mother's shoulder, with her soothing vocalism whispering words of consolation and empathy into his ears. He was forever grateful that he notwithstanding had someone in his life that he could open up to when it all boils over.

            "It's simply… Information technology's so difficult to go along it all up… There's no… fourth dimension to stop… no ane waits… I pr- I promised… I'd protect the ones closest… for her sake… but I can't…I keep failing…" Lucian could barely speak through his soft sobs. He of a sudden realized that he had mentioned her. Velvela. His sis. This filled him with fifty-fifty more anguish.

            "Shhhh… Information technology'south not the end of the earth," Maruna said gently. "Your tail is gone, it's true. Just you lot're alive. Nosotros're alive. Your friends… they're alive. They're safety because of y'all, too. Y'all didn't neglect."

            Lucian looked up slowly. With the white fluorescent light shining above her, his female parent looked almost like an angel.

"I…"

            "Listen to me, Lucian," said Maruna. "She would have wanted you to live. She wouldn't accept cared if you lot lost a tail or an ear, she would have wanted yous to stay potent. What was that she always said to you lot?"

            "…Stand up," Lucian mumbled.

            "I tin't hear you," Maruna said encouragingly.

            "Stand up for myself," Lucian repeated, stronger this time.

            "Proficient," said Maruna.

            "Mom…" Lucian muttered, his eyes still blurry. "What did Taurus hateful when he said I was a 'mutant'?"

            Maruna suddenly straightened up, and it was as if her animate tightened. Her optics travelled away from him.

            "Mom…" said Lucian again. "What did it hateful?"

            "…Sit down down, Lucian," said Maruna after a interruption. She gestured to the chair formerly occupied past Sidian Ivory. "It'south a long story."

            Lucian sat himself downwards on the rickety metal chair.

            "Lucian…" Maruna began. "Do yous know what your semblance is?"

            He was taken aback, and he was sure his expression showed it. "What do you mean? It's Foresight, isn't information technology?"

            "No it isn't," said Maruna. "Practise you recollect what happened to my old city, Lovestead? What happened in its history?"

            "It was…" Lucian muttered, trying to recall the thin history that Maruna had passed on to him. "It was taken over by some political dynasty, right? They airtight the city off, and just opened it twenty years ago later an insurgence?"

            "That's but half of it," Maruna said. "The dynasty I told you nigh, information technology was a dynasty of White Wolf Faunus."

White Wolf… that can't mean— Lucian thought.

            "It was our family," Maruna said. "The Biancs. My grandfather, Asura Bianc, took over Lovestead. He and his family ruled over it, and forbade anyone from leaving, and and then passed it downwardly to his children afterward him. I was the one who liberated Lovestead. Me, Sidian, the Rosenqueens, and Guld's father Oro."

            Lucian found it extremely hard to take in what he had heard. His family was a dynasty of dictators? It seemed incommunicable. Notwithstanding, he focused on his question at mitt.

            "What does this have to do with what Taurus meant, though?" he said.

            "I'm telling this to you considering Adam Taurus was right," Maruna said, with bang-up hesitation. "Our family… has a history of inbreeding. Asura Bianc and his sis were my grandparents, and my parents… my father and his sister. That is why I take different colored eyes. They're a mutation. You and your sis were lucky enough to have a father who wasn't in the Bianc line. Still, it couldn't be helped. Your tail… your ears… they're mutations."

            Lucian felt numb. It was bad plenty that he had discovered he was descended from dictators, but the fact that he and his sister were products of inbreeding. He looked down at his palms, which were shaking slightly.

            "Why?" he whispered disbelievingly later a long silence.

            "It was because of our semblance," Maruna connected. "It's one of those rare hereditary semblances, and Asura's father took it as a sign of divine right to rule. A gift from god, or something. I don't know why, no one does. But, he decided that he didn't want foreign blood intermingling and possibly wiping out the semblance, so he made it a family tradition to marry cousins. Almost people say it was considering we were descended from dignity in pre-modernistic times. No, Asura just used that as an alibi. We were, only they didn't care almost that at all. It was considering of the semblance."

            Lucian couldn't think direct. This was then much for him to procedure, that he couldn't speak either.

            "Yous and your sister got off easy," Maruna said sorrowfully. "You only got the concrete part. Your sister got my eyes. But others… they didn't end up equally well off. They brought their own terminate. All for some measly semblance."

            "Our semblance…" said Lucian softly.

            "Let me tell you this, though, Lucian," said Maruna sternly. She stood up slowly. "Don't permit anyone e'er tell you y'all're a error, or that yous're inbred, or a mutant. You're and then much meliorate than Adam Taurus, or anybody else for that matter." She grasped his face up with her complimentary hand. "You are so unique, so good… You aren't divers by what my parents and grandparents did. You're defined by what you practice. Don't permit anyone ever tell you lot otherwise. Don't allow the cruel world break you downwardly."

            He held his mother's hand grasping his face, and he led her back to the bed. Sitting down abreast her, he stared at the floor.

            "I know I am," he said. "You've e'er told me that. Yous and Velvela both. I just… this is a lot to have in."

            "I never wanted you to find out like this. I wanted to protect you lot, just we can't modify what'south happened," said Maruna. "But, it's best you know the truth, so you can accept information technology."

            Nothing was said for a while. Lucian kept staring at the floor, questions flooding his listen. What was and then special nigh his semblance? Did… A lump swelled up in his throat again. Did Velvela know?

            Maruna's caput jerked up all of a sudden, her ears perking out like a radar dish. She turned back to Lucian with a sort of restrained smirk.

            "Kiddo… are you going to tell your friends virtually this?" she asked slyly.

            "Well… If necessary," Lucian replied reasonably. "Why are you asking?"

            "Considering I think one of them already knows."

     ________________________________________________________________________________________

            Natalia'due south heart nearly stopped. WHAT!? HOW COULD SHE HAVE KNOWN!? She thought desperately. It'southward not like she can sense me! Expect… didn't she say her semblance was hereditary? Which means… she has the same semblance as Lucian… GODDAMMIT!

Reluctantly, she walked through the mantle behind which she was hiding, merely i division ahead of Maruna's.

            "H—hi…" she said sheepishly.

            "Natalia?" Lucian asked incredulously, standing upwardly. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be downstairs with them?"

            Natalia sighed. Deciding to tell the truth, she spoke. "I wanted to make sure you lot were okay, alright?" she blurted out. "You were acting weird the entire flight here, I but wanted to make sure!"

            "How much did you hear?" Maruna inquired.

            At this bespeak, Natalia tensed upward. "From the part about him and his sister getting off easy from something unlike other people…"

            "Hm… Then, kiddo?" Maruna asked Lucian. "Yous're the squad leader, so I'll leave this to you."

            "Simply—" Lucian began, but Maruna raised a hand.

"I advise you and Natalia head back downstairs now," she said. "You both look hungry."

Lucian looked at Natalia, then back to his female parent. "Alright," he said. "You merely rest. Don't exert yourself. I'll see you later."

"It's not like I tin can practice much here," Maruna said snarkily, waving her cast. "But don't worry. I might build a better chair while you're gone."

Lucian laughed, and went to exit the room. Natalia followed close behind.

"So, what's happening downstairs?" Lucian asked as they were walking towards the stairs.

This trivial question was the last thing that Natalia expected Lucian to enquire. She was prepared for him to be fifty-fifty but a little chip upset that she had eavesdropped, but for him to castor it off altogether… And so again, it was like him. She had never known him to be someone who holds a grudge, and she hoped that this example was a sign that he was auspicious up.

"I call up they were getting themselves some nutrient," said Natalia. "I left to follow you early on, but I passed Marigold on the way, so I wouldn't be surprised if they caused trouble while I was gone."

"Oh gods, please, no," Lucian pleaded to any gods might be listening. "I'grand not ready for another nutrient fight."

They re-entered the deli area and, to Natalia's relief, there was no nutrient fight to be establish. However, there was a scene which she did non await: Krysten and Marigold sitting on one side of a bench, and on the other side of the table, was Vulcania Xaga. The Viridia and the remainders of teams LUNA, MDAS, and VSVS were watching them.

"Is this some kind of union counselling meeting?" Lucian asked jokingly.

"Pfft," Marigold huffed. "More than like a therapy session. That's what this is."

"Come on, now," said Vulcania. "Focus! You were talking about your rivalries?"

"What's happening?" Natalia asked the group at big.

"Xaga's tryin' to settle Marigold and Krissy'south differences without fighting," said a vocalization from behind them. It was Diamant, conveying two wrapped sandwiches in her hands. "Yo, Lucian. Want i?" she offered, extending one to him. "Florence, yours is with Amberstay."

"Huh? Oh, thanks, Diamant," said Lucian, accepting it.

Meanwhile, Natalia defenseless the sandwich Ignia tossed at her. "Since when have you and Lucian been on first proper noun ground?" she asked Diamant.

"Well, he'due south the one person on your team I similar the most," Diamant said honestly.

Natalia turned to Lucian for an explanation.

Lucian merely shrugged. "Hey, she apologized once," he said, taking a bite off of his sandwich.  "Unorthodoxly, but she apologized."

"Don't remind me," said Diamant, take a seize with teeth out of hers.

Without warning, a shrill microphone feedback noise caught the attention of anybody in the room. Lucian even had to cover his wolf ears with his hands. Natalia, along with the residuum of the refugees, turned to the source. A woman, a Panda Faunus with black pilus and a Black Fang mask, was standing on the center of one of the platforms that lined the wall. She was holding a microphone, and standing beside her was—

"Is that… Guld Garrison?" Natalia asked, tapping Lucian with the dorsum of her mitt. Lucian looked up at where Natalia was pointing. Indeed, the nighttime-haired Lion Faunus was standing in that location beside her with his own Black Fang mask.

Earlier he could answer, however, the adult female spoke.

"Skilful forenoon," she said over the microphone in a slightly hoarse voice. "My proper noun is Sidian Ivory. You must all be wondering who nosotros are, or where you lot are now, or how yous will get dwelling. Let me explain to you lot." She began pacing a few steps left and right. "Nosotros are the Blackness Fang, an organization dedicated to the resisting of the efforts and endeavors of the trigger-happy terrorist grouping, the White Fang. I am its electric current Commander-in-Principal. This collective is comprised of both Faunus and Humans from Sanus and Anima, volunteers to this army. We grow every day, and we have all devoted ourselves to protect any and all civilians, no affair what race or kingdom of origin, from the actions of the White Fang."

"I idea as much," Lucian muttered. Natalia turned to him but he was silent again.

"You are in Derelictport, at our Sanus training facility", Sidian connected. "We cannot reveal the exact location of this facility for security purposes. We are currently in the kingdom of Vacuo. For those of you who wish to render home, and I know many of y'all practice, in a few minutes, you'll exist escorted to our dropships. We have thirteen bachelor to spare, three for each kingdom, and i for Menagerie. Co-ordinate to your desired destination, we will assign you lot to dropships, and deliver yous to a safe location in your corresponding kingdom."

A cheerful murmur broke through the crowd at this news.

"All the same, I accept one more affair to say," Sidian connected on. "Every bit yous may know, Beacon Academy has fallen, and is at present overrun by Grimm." The wave of whispers turned from elated to anxious. "I know near of you would desire to go domicile and be with your families. And to that, I have one request; Do not speak of the Black Fang to anyone you do not believe is confronting the White Fang. But, to anyone who wishes vengeance on the White Fang, I say this. I would like to ask y'all to join usa and our collective."

Then, came more whispers, this fourth dimension contemplative and pondering.

"We will provide shelter and resources for yous, and nosotros volition train you. We volition equip you. Nosotros volition protect yous. Exist warned. This is non a decision to exist taken lightly. If y'all bring together u.s., y'all will be considered by the statutes and laws of all 4 kingdoms as a Vigilante. We will care for you and train you like an army volunteer, not every bit a student, nor equally a noncombatant. At that place is a very high chance that yous may not see your friends or family again for a very long time. You will not be able to render home until your preparation has been completed. You will exist sent to fight, and there is a gamble that you will die. Only, there are things in this globe worth dying for. They take already begun falling, Beacon was one of them. But others are yet hither. Your families, families of people yous don't even know, information technology doesn't matter. They are all worth fighting for. And I know there are ones who will fight for them and dice for them. We at the Black Fang are. To those of you who are ready, willing, and able to fight, I ask you to stay. The choice is up to yous."

Natalia turned to Lucian and the others, her face stoic. She had already made upwardly her mind, and shockingly, information technology was not a difficult choice to brand.

"Natalia, what are you thinking?" Krysten asked.

"I want to enlist."

This was met with Ignia'due south incredulous face. "What do you mean!?" She stood upwards hastily. "Natalia, think well-nigh this. Y'all've got a dwelling! You've got a family unit! You could be prophylactic back in Atlas!"

"You heard her," said Natalia. "Nowhere is rubber now. If Buoy could autumn, annihilation can. Do yous remember what happened to those Atlesian robots? Non even Atlas is safe."

"She's right," Vamei said. "Back in the Buoy courtyard, Atlas' mechs began attacking students. They were supposed to be the ones protecting us."

"No," Marigold interjected. "Information technology was our fault that we depended on others to help us. Nosotros were supposed to be defending ourselves."

"Just because we tin can fight, doesn't mean nosotros should, though," Sanriku said hesitantly.

"Sanriku, we have nowhere else to go now," said Shu. "Beacon has been taken over, and Mistral is probably the same."

"I'one thousand with Natalia," Viridia said unexpectedly. This was the get-go time she had spoken to the residual of them in hours. "This is why I wanted to become a Huntress, I wanted to protect people. I couldn't protect my team at Buoy. They're all gone now. I won't allow that happen once again."

The throng looked at her silently, in both empathy and agreement. Others around them shared hushed conversations. All of a sudden, the metallic doors slid open, and a Ram Faunus chosen out that the dropships were ready.

"She's right," said Lucian, breaking the silence. "This is why nosotros chose this life. We can't depend on others to defend usa anymore. Nosotros all wanted to become Huntsmen and Huntresses, and now here nosotros are. We shouldn't fifty-fifty be here correct at present, only nosotros are. This isn't school anymore; this is war. Everything we knew, everything we've learned… it'southward gone. Simply now we accept a chance again. A adventure of fighting for the good in the world. And I volition fight for it."

Even Natalia was shocked to see Lucian agreeing with her; he had e'er been and so reserved, always waiting for the opportune moment instead of taking a chance. All around them, people began turning to walk out the doors; the elderly, the children, and the civilians. Still, the students remained. They were all looking at Lucian; his words seemed to accept reached more than just their group of thirteen teenagers. Natalia glanced back at the door, and the sunlight that shone through. The longer they stood here, the further their gamble at escaping went. The hall was growing emptier.

"Yes, I'm with him," said Vulcania.

"Me too," Krysten added.

"And me," Diamant said.

One by one, members from all teams voiced their agreement. Eventually, the ones that initially hesitated joined in. Ignia looked around at them, and then finally, to Lucian.

"You tin go home if you want," said Lucian, "simply I'yard staying. I've spent as well much fourth dimension waiting. I have the opportunity to have my shot, and I'm taking it now."

Ignia closed her eyes for a moment, and and then opened them again. As she did, Natalia saw them filled with a peppery resilience. "I'm with you," she said merely.

That was good enough. Natalia turned to where Sidian Ivory was, and stood her ground. The rest of them mimicked her.

Finally, but around twenty v people were left in the hall, all of them students from various academies. Natalia looked around at them; they all had the same fire in their optics that Ignia had. They had heard Lucian, and found truth in his words; this was the life they chose. She looked back to Sidian.

"Very well, then," Sidian said, this time with her normal voice, as at that place was no chatter in the room and everyone was deathly silent. "You've all made your choices, and I hope none of yous regret it. Welcome to the Black Fang."

     ________________________________________________________________________________________

A knock came at Lucian's door.

He and the other volunteers had been given carve up rooms in some other edifice; one that seemed like a cramped apartment building with eight foot by twelve foot rooms than annihilation else. The rooms weren't fancily busy, just the blank necessities were in that location. He had a simple bed at the end of the rectangular, a desk and chair, a storage locker with nothing but a few coat hangers, and block on the corner which was a simple sink above a nutrient closet. On the desk-bound was a small screen for viewing news stations across all four kingdoms. The but thing on the bed when he entered was a uncomplicated pillow on pinnacle of a folded blanket.

Lucian got off his desk where he had emptied his pocket of his now-powerless scroll and some spare Lien. Opening the door, he saw Natalia standing here.

"Oh- Hey, Nat," said Lucian. "Something you need?"

"Lucian…" Natalia muttered softly, entering the room. "I wanted to apologize for earlier."

Lucian sighed and airtight the door. "Yous really don't have to…" He had hoped that she would merely let it all blow over, or that she might take fifty-fifty forgotten it.

"Look, but—I experience really bad for spying on you, okay!?" Natalia interrupted indignantly.

"It'due south no trouble to me," said Lucian, walking towards his chair again.

Still, Natalia looked somewhat fretful. "I shouldn't have heard what I did."

"Mind," Lucian began. "What yous said you heard was nothing of whatever importance." He then saw Natalia'southward expression, and his heart cruel. She looked guilty, and he knew exactly the reason why, even though he had firmly tried to deny it. "Y'all weren't telling the truth, were you?" he asked slowly.

Natalia bit her lip. "I'm lamentable…"

"How much did you hear?"

"A lot. All the mode from the beginning, from the part about Lovestead."

Lucian walked slowly to his bed and sat downward on the stiff mattress mechanically. He stared at the floor, not meeting Natalia's optics. "You must recall pretty lowly of me now, huh?"

"What?" Natalia breathed incredulously. "No! That's non it at all!"

"It's okay," Lucian muttered, smiling softly at the floor. "Just tell me how you feel, it doesn't matter. Allow it out at present, and we tin can both forget it later."

He felt Natalia sit on the bed to his left.

"Lucian, no…" said Natalia persistently. "I don't remember that fashion at all."

He turned to her and virtually jumped when he saw her face up and then shut to his, and so filled with conclusion.

"You don't?" he asked.

"Yes," Natalia replied. "I don't care what your family may or may non have done. They're non you. You're you. You're Lucian Bianc, leader of Squad LUNA. You lot're my partner, and my friend. And…"

Lucian leaned back a bit as Natalia drew fifty-fifty closer.

"I know how much you so hardheadedly refuse to admit it merely… we care for you. You lot might not, just we practice."

"Natalia…" He could almost feel the warmth of her face at present. Or was that emanating from him?

"You put everyone earlier yourself, fifty-fifty to the point that y'all'd step in harm's way for them. Merely you still exist. Sympathize that in that location are those whose hearts break when they see you sacrifice yourself for their sake… I don't desire you to hurt yourself for us…"

Her eyes moved away from him for a 2nd, as if focusing on a nonexistent insect on his shoulder. And then, out of nowhere, her hand moved to his face and drew him in.

Their lips met.

Lucian opened his optics. Natalia was drawing away from him, having left the taste of her lips on his. He didn't know how long it lasted, or if it was even real at all. His heart was chirapsia as if it was intent on exploding. His vision focused on the confront before him, and nothing else.

"You lot have no idea how much of an effect your actions have on people, Lucian," Natalia muttered.

Lucian could not even find any words to say. Cipher except…

"I'm sorry," he said, breathless. In an attempt to pull himself back to his senses, he desperately attempted to do what he did best; analyze. Trying to calm his partner down, he said, "If I knew how much you cared…"

"If you knew?" Natalia repeated. Without warning, she lunged herself into his breast, sending them both backwards onto the solitary pillow on the bed. She had her arms wrapped around his ribs and her face was half-buried into his shirt. Only what was higher up her nose was visible, including half of the diagonal scar, and her emerald eyes glaring at him. "For all your intelligence and perception, you really demand help with the deep stuff, don't yous?"

Lucian, disorientated by the sudden fall back into the pillow, stared only at the cracked off-white concrete ceiling illuminated by a unmarried fluorescent light bulb rod. "Well, information technology doesn't matter how good I am with strategy, emotions will never exist my forte. And so, sorry again." He was beginning to withdraw back into his familiar territory; the realm of exact exchange and reason. Nonetheless, Natalia seemed determined to draw him back out of his element.

The orange-haired daughter released his chest, and began crawling up beside him on her palms until her eyes were directly looking down at his. It bandage his eyes into a shadow the shape of her head. "And then if that'southward the instance, let me put this in terms that fifty-fifty you will be able to understand. I love you lot, and I don't want you lot to hurt yourself for me, or any of our friends."

At that place it was. The 3 words that sent Lucian's heart pounding faster than ever before. He could feel his face blazing into utter scarlet. In a nigh futile effort to keep reason on his side, he spoke, although his swell vocalization gave him away. "Given what y'all did half a minute ago, that first function is glaringly obvious to me now."

Natalia smiled and let her arms give fashion under her; she barbarous onto Lucian'south shoulder and they stayed there together for a moment. "Y'all dumb genius…"

Lucian didn't reply, except to plough his head to where she was resting hers on his left shoulder. He was surprised to run across her optics closed, as if she was asleep.

Her oral cavity moved despite her eyes feigning sleep. "Heed, Lucian," she said in a low vox. "I realize how you experience about things like this, and dealing with them. And I'll say it now: I won't care. If you don't feel ready now, I'll understand. I'll still feel the fashion I do, and I don't care if you don't feel the same manner, considering I'thousand not trying to confess right now. I don't retrieve I always officially will, if you're not ready. I'm telling you this considering I want you to actually, actually consider how other people feel virtually yous earlier you go into another one of your acts of cocky-sacrifice." She opened her eyes slightly. "Promise me, Lucian."

At this, Lucian's mind for the first time that evening began racing faster than his heartbeat. He never really thought about how other people felt well-nigh him sacrificing himself for them. He had put himself at take a chance of existence MDAS' enemy, for Krysten and Ignia's peace of mind. He had vehemently insisted on abstaining from the Beacon trip the light fantastic toe, and then his teammates would have their gratuitous reign over the party, even though Natalia got him to go anyway. He had openly admitted to seeing Natalia as attractive to his teammates and gear up his own condition quo, so that Natalia would not have to endure whatever teasing directed to him she was associated with. He had decided to get into the tournament in Krysten'south identify. He was even willing to sacrifice his life then that his teammates and his mother would achieve condom. Never earlier had he stopped to reverberate on how others would think of him, considering, after all, he never was ane to think of himself.

These thoughts faded away and he was left with Natalia's adamant face up staring at him.

"I hope."

End of Affiliate 22

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