Episode 1: Chapter 11: Flames

Chapter 11 of Episode 1 of Order of Seasons

Natalie could hear nothing but chaos as she closed her eyes as she tried to get a quick nap alongside Ruby, Nora and Christy. There was a lot of noise as there was a bit of turbulence as soon as the airship began travelling outside the borders of Vale. There was also this flashing red light that was flashing right in front of where Natalie was sitting, and was doing so in a slow rhythm.

            “Hey, Natalie, you doing okay? Natalie?”

 

 

 

 

            “Natalie!” Natalie looked up and saw that she had fallen off the side of the field. A few of her friends were looking over the side of the hill to make sure she was all right.

            “I’m okay. Just took a bad tumble, that’s all.” She quickly got back up and grabbed the ball that had rolled right next to her. As she got back onto the field, she handed it to another kid on the other team. That kid then threw the ball back into play and the game resumed. They kicked the ball around some more until somebody scored a goal for the other team. All the kids for that team started cheering while the other team hung their heads. Natalie just simply stomped her feet on the ground.

            “Dang it!”

            “Natalie!” Everybody looked up to where the new voice came from. As Natalie looked up, she recognized the new person immediately.

            “Ember!”

            “Your mom sent me to come get you. It’s almost time for dinner.” Natalie immediately started grinning from ear to ear and started running to where Ember was standing.

            “Wait Natalie! What about the game?” one of the kids yelled from the field.

            “Get Sapphire to take my place. I’ve got to go now. See you guys tomorrow!” With that said, Natalie quickly joined the cat Faunus. The two of them shared a hug and started walking away from the fields. The sun was starting to set, and was creating a huge shadow from the western mountains.

            “So, why did you come and get me Ember? What’s my mom doing?”

            “Well, she’s getting dinner ready because your dad went to go pick up your brother from the bus stop and I’m actually going to be joining you all tonight!”

            “Yay!” Natalie said as she gave Ember a hug. “I always love it when you hang out with us!” Ember smiled, and returned her hug.

            “I do too. Now let’s get back home and have a fun evening!”

            “Yeah!”

 

 

 

 

As they all sat around the dinner table, everybody was having a good time. The food was still warm fresh off the stove, and everything was set on the table with great care. As soon as everybody sat down, they all began eating. Natalie quickly started wolfing down her food while her father tried to keep her younger brother Matthew from making a mess with his own food. Ember and Natalie’s mother simply smiled and enjoyed themselves. Everybody seemed to be happy, but then Natalie looked over and noticed Nathan was just simply fiddling with his food, not taking any bites.

            “Something wrong Nathan? You’ve hardly touched your food.”

            “Yeah, I’m fine mom. It’s just, I’m not that hungry.”

            “But you love pasta night! Plus, it’s been almost half a year since you’ve been home! I figured a good home cooked meal would be good for you!”

            “Yeah, it’s great. Look, I have something I need to talk to you guys about after dinner.” As soon as Nathan said this, both her mom and her dad gave each other concerned looks.

            “Okay Nathan. Let’s just get your sister and brother to bed and then we can talk about what it is you’ve got on your mind.” After that little incident, not much else was said during the rest of the dinner.

 

 

 

 

As Natalie tried to fall asleep, she heard some yelling from downstairs. She sat up and realized that all the yelling hadn’t waked Matthew up, so she got up and snuck down the stairs. As she got down to the first floor, she remained behind the corner, but peeked out into the living room to see what was going on. Her father was sitting on the couch across from Nathan, and standing over to the side was Ember. Meanwhile, her mother was pacing about in the center of the room in a fury.

            “…you can’t just give up that easily Nathan!”

            “But I’m not good at it! I hate fighting! I don’t want to do this anymore!”

            “Nathan, you have potential! You have what it takes to be a great Huntsman, but it won’t come to you naturally and immediately! It comes with training and discipline and…”

            “WILL YOU SHUT UP MOM? I’m not cut out to be a Huntsman! I want to go with Ember and the Violet Troupe!”

            “Nathan, this isn’t what your mother and I agreed on with you." Nathan's father said putting down his tea cup.  "We said you would finish a year at combat school BEFORE we could consider letting you join the Violet Troupe. Besides, you’re only nine right now, and you’ll be ten before you finish this next semester. You won’t even be a legal adult until you reach 15 anyways. Don’t you think you should take some time to think this over? You still have your whole life ahead of you.”

            “Dad, seriously, why are you taking her side? Weren’t you the one who told me that I should do whatever makes me feel happy? Well I’m not happy at combat school. Heck, my grades aren’t even that good. Just look at my report card!” Nathan then slapped a piece of paper onto the coffee table, which his mother picked up and looked over.

            “Nathan, these grades are fine. They can be fixed next semester. But you can’t do it unless you try. I mean, let’s say that you do find yourself still wanting to join the Violet Troupe after this next semester. If you do join, it’s going to be harder than anything that Ember has ever taught you so far! And who’s to say that you won’t want to give up on that after a while?”

            “I won’t! I’m actually good at something like that!”

            “And you’re good at being a Huntsman! I’ve seen it! Not just when I trained you, but also when Ember trained you! You have this amazing gift to see things in rhythm without the use of Aura or Semblance! You have a good heart that cares about people! These things could make you one of the greatest warriors to walk the face of Remnant, but you won’t get there unless you try!”

            “I don’t want to try! I know what I want, and I know I want to go with Ember and the Violet Troupe!”

            “UGH! RIGHT BACK TO SQUARE ONE!”

            “Traci, let me talk to him.”

            “Fine. Go ahead Ember.” Traci then sat down next to her husband while Ember walked over to Nathan and got down on one knee.

            “Ember, I want to go with you and join the Violet Troupe.”

            “Nathan, you made a promise to your parents. You promised a full year before making a final decision.”

            “Yeah but….”

            “No buts mister. Look, wait outside for me. I’m going to talk to your parents for a little bit, and then I’m going to talk to you in private away from them. Is that good with you?” Nathan crossed his arms in anger, and then got up and went outside without saying a word, slamming the door behind him. Natalie tried to get a better look as to what was going on, and saw her mother trying to hold back tears while her father comforted her.

            “I’m sorry you had to see that Ember.”

            “It’s all right Traci. Nathan is a good kid. He just doesn’t really know what direction he wants to take his life right now.”

            “I know you care about him as much as I do, but tell me honestly. Do you think he should go with you and join the Violet Troupe?”

            “No. He shouldn’t. He’s somebody who cares deeply about people like you said. But there’s something even bigger than that that I think is why Nathan shouldn’t follow my path.”

            “And what’s that?”

            “I joined the Violet Troupe because I believed that it would make a better difference regarding how the world viewed my people in contrast to being a Huntress and being judged by society no matter what I did. I joined the Troupe because I believed that I was and still am making a difference in Faunus rights. But with Nathan, not only is he human, but he also thinks that he has to follow me to the ends of Remnant. He looks up to me as a performer, as I think he does also to you as a Huntress. And I think he’s so afraid of failing you, that he thinks he can fall back to me and still be loved and accepted.”

            “Yeah, Nathan has always tried to find the easy path to anything. But do you really think that he can find his own path on his own?”

            “Not without help from his friends. Besides, he can’t rely on you forever, and he can’t rely on me forever. He has to learn how to grow up sometime, and in this world, the sooner the better. And I think being a Huntsman is what he will end up doing. He needs to do something where he can truly make a difference. He can’t do that while travelling the world with the Violet Troupe and me. So I’m going to try and convince him, and maybe this next semester we can both go see him some more times to train him. Plus, I think I know the perfect way to get him to try again.”

            “You do that Ember. He doesn’t listen to me anymore.”

            “He loves you Traci. He just has to understand that you love him too even when he thinks he’s failing you.” With that said, Ember started walking outside, and Natalie quickly headed back upstairs and snuck through the bathroom window and onto the porch roof to listen in on the conversation.

            “My mom finish ranting about why I should go back to school and shouldn’t join you in the Violet Troupe? I hope you convinced her I’m in the right on this one.”

            “Nathan, I agree with your mom. You should continue to try and be a Huntsman.”

            “WHAT? WHY? I don’t care about being a Huntsman! I’m ready to just travel the world with you and do what I’m actually good at! I’ve gotten the best training from you to do so, and I’m only getting better!”

            “Nathan, calm down. Drumming is important to you, I get that. But this is something I have seen in you since the night I met you. You have tried to find something you’re good at so people will give you attention and love for it. And while it is true I get a lot of praise for what I do, the praise is not why I joined the Violet Troupe.”

            “It isn’t?”

            “Given my heritage, I have had to spend a good portion of my life dealing with racism and hatred. I joined the troupe as a means of giving people a better understanding and good role models of what the Faunus can do when working together with the human society. And I did it in artistic ways, not by just simply waving signs around like the White Fang does all the time. And that’s why I keep doing this. This isn’t your fight.”

            “But Ember, I’m no good at fighting. I’m no good at being a Huntsman. My mom’s a legendary fighter. If I keep failing, how can I make her proud of me?”

            “You already have.”

            “How do you know?”

            “She tells me about it all the time whenever we talk over the CCT while I’m on tour. She talks about how she’s so happy that you’ve gone to combat school and how you’ve been constantly getting up no matter how hard it got at times.”

            “Yeah, but it didn’t do me any good. I have some of the lowest grades in my class, I stink at close quarters combat, and I don’t have any friends there!”

            “What about Evan?”

            “He was given the privilege of higher level classes a few weeks in after initiation, so I didn’t really get to see him at all this semester.”

            “Aha. So, what are Jacob and Beanie doing right now?”

            “Beanie is off doing something with some internship, and I think Jacob’s family moved away to Mistral for some reason. Our core group of friends are just scattered all over the place right now. And I feel like, if I can’t make any friends doing something I’m not good at, then at least I can try again doing something I love doing.”

            “Nathan, one of the wonders of the human heart is that when friends go far away, they’ll never truly be gone forever, and the heart always has room for new friends. Besides, the grades can be fixed with some practice and training.”

            “But I haven’t even discovered my semblance yet. And I don’t even have a weapon I prefer to use.”

            “Actually, I think I have just the thing for you.” As she said this, there was a clicking sound like Ember was opening a case. Natalie couldn’t see what it was, and she didn’t dare move not wanting to risk letting them know she was up there.

            “Ember, I….”

            “Nathan, give combat school one more chance. And when you use these weapons, I hope you won’t just think of them as mere tools. But rather, as a reminder.”

            “Reminder? Of what?”

            “That no matter what happens in life, whether you become a Huntsman or find a different path in life, whenever you feel alone and you miss me, your parents, your sister, your brother, your friends, that they will always be with you. And even if one of them goes away…” as she said this, Natalie saw a purple stick fly out towards the nearby tree, then bounce off it and back towards the porch. “…it will come back to you if you let it.”

            “WHOA! Ember, how did you do that?!”

            “Well, I’ve got a few days before I leave with the troupe on our next tour, and you have a few weeks before you go back to school. I figured I could train you in how to use these.”

            “THANK YOU!”

            “You’re welcome Nathan. But remember, you have to give combat school at least one more semester.”

            “All right Ember.”

            “Good. Now, I think you should go apologize to your mother. You really hurt her feelings with that explosion.”

            “Okay.” Natalie remained perfectly still as she heard her brother walk back into the house, but didn’t hear Ember leave.

            “You know, you aren’t very good at hiding little one.” Natalie almost jumped when she heard this, and then before she could blink, Ember had jumped up on the roof next to her.

            “How did you…”

            “You can’t fool these ears Natls.” Ember said wiggling her cat ears. Natalie giggled as Ember did so, and the two of them stood up.

            “Your brother is a good kid Natalie. He needs everybody in his life to help make him a good man.”

            “And what about me Ember? What am I going to become?”

            “Natls, nobody can decide that but you. People might give you suggestions and advice, but ultimately, it’s your choice.” Ember smiled, and messed up Natalie’s hair, inciting some laughter. “Now get to bed you crazy girl. I would hate to see your mother in more of a fit than she already was tonight.” With that said, Natalie quickly jumped back into the bathroom, and quickly made her way back to her room. As she jumped in bed, she heard a bit of a quiet discussion between her brother and her mother, but toned it out as she focused on the flashing red light of the support tower for the CCT, and just focused in on its repetitive and hypnotic flashing.

 

 

 

 

            “Natalie! Are you even paying attention?” Natalie shot her attention from the flashing red light and looked up to see that her teacher was standing right above her with a menacing look in his eyes.

            “Sorry Mr. Luthy. Just uh…was trying to figure out the equation that’s all!”

            “Young lady, this is history class.”

            “Well…of course! I was trying to figure out…the equation where…. the Schnee Company figured out how to….”

            “Just see me after class please.” Natalie groaned and laid her head on her desk in disappointment.

 

 

 

 

As class ended and everybody started pouring out of the classroom, Natalie just continued to sit there. Mr. Luthy made sure everybody was gone, then got up and walked over to Natalie, with a file in his hand.

            “This has happened pretty much every year since you started the general education program Natalie. Every time the Violet Troupe comes back to town, you space out and neglect almost all your studies. I’m not saying this surprises me, but I do want to know, why? I mean, nobody ever asked why in the past, but since this is your next to last year before being eligible to go off to combat school or other forms of education, I want to know.”

            “Do you really need a reason other than a kid being excited that school’s almost over Mr. Luthy?”

            “Fair enough, but even the most troublesome of your classmates are still able to not be as easily distracted in the final days of the year.” He placed the file down on her desk and opened it up. “You have some of the highest grades I’ve ever seen in this school. You could do anything with your life, and yet you haven’t declared anything either Huntress related or otherwise. Personally, I think you would make a great politician.”

            “No, I hate being around big crowds of people.”

            “But you are great when with your friends. And you have quite a few of those. Besides, your heart and ambitions stand for the same ideals that Aequo stands for. We need people like that to take charge and help change the world to make it a better place.”

            “I’m only eight years old. I still have seven years before I even become an adult.”

            “That may be so, but in this world, you have to start thinking like an adult at a young age. I’ve set up a meeting with your parents in two days time. We will discuss what we think is the best course of action and go from there. You may go now.” Natalie quickly got up, grabbed her things, and ran out the door before Mr. Luthy could even say anything else.

            “Just like her mother…”

 

 

 

 

As Natalie continued to head back home, she quickly jumped out of the way of the oncoming traffic for the police escort of the Violet Troupe through the town square. As the troupe passed, there were a ton of cheers from the crowd that had gathered to welcome them back to Aequo. The performers who had much more complicated acts were standing on top of the tour busses and just simply waving to the crowd, while the gymnasts and dancers lead the way giving the traditional return show before the big show they would have the following night. Natalie weaved her way through the crowd, pulling up the hood on her jacket as she did so. As soon as she got through the crazy group, she looked back and saw Ember playing on the drums at the very back of the parade. Ember turned and waved to Natalie, and Natalie waved back with a huge smile on her face. She continued down the sidewalk backwards as she did so, and ran into somebody and fell over.

            “Oh gosh Natalie, I’m sorry. Are you okay?” Natalie collected herself, and saw one of her classmates standing right above her.

            “I’m fine.” She said as she got back up. “Uh, remind me again who you are?”

            “Trevor. I live across from the cliffside, remember?”

            “Oh yeah. How’s life been?”

            “Eh, hit or miss. I’m personally doing great. All the teachers are saying I could be one of the worlds leading scientists and suggest I go to Atlas to study.”

            “So, how does that create a hit or miss situation?”

            “My older brother is still trying to figure out what to do with his life. He’s ten now, and still hasn’t left for any form of school.”

            “Well that stinks. Does he want to be a Huntsman? Or something else?”

            “Well he claims he wants to be a Huntsman, but he still hasn’t left home yet to go to combat school. I think he just wants to live an easy life and doesn’t realize yet that to get anywhere requires hard work.”

            “Well, that’s a bummer I guess. But at least you’re doing well!

            “Yeah. Well, I’ve gotta go. Me and my brother are supposed to be grabbing dinner from the chicken place, but he got a head start on me.”

            “Well don’t let me hold you back any longer! I’ll see you around!”

            “Yeah, see you!”

 

 

 

 

As Natalie walked into her house, she saw both her mom and her dad getting dinner ready.

            “I thought dad was going to get Nathan from the bus stop?”

            “He was, but then Nathan called ahead and said since it was such a nice day, he was going to walk home. The bus won’t reach the stop for about an hour, and it will take him another hour to get here, perfect timing for when Ember will probably be joining us as soon as she finished her parade.”

            “Neat! Hey mom, do you think we can do some training while we wait for the two drummers to get here?”

            “I don’t see why not. You good doing the cooking while I do this hon?” she asked her husband.

            “I’ve got this sweetheart.” He said tying an apron around his waist.  “You just worry about training the next hero in the family.” The two smiled, and gave each other a quick smooch, and her mom grabbed the 3D hologram training module. The two of them walked outside and her mom turned it on, creating a plethora of weapons just floating in the air. Natalie grabbed the scythe, while her mother grabbed a sword and held it in reverse.

            “Trying the scythe again Natalie? You sure you don’t want to try any other weapons?”

            “One, I like it. Two, I’m good at using it. And three, I like it.”

            “All right little lady. I’ll set the parameters to the usual levels. You get 200 HP while I get 50 and I go all out. Fair?”

            “Actually, give me 100 HP this time.”

            “Oho, a bit of a risky move, don’t you think?”

            “I only took 147 damage last time, and that was when I was a bit tired after school. I think even if I don’t win, I can at least last five minutes against you.”

            “All right then Natls, bring it on!” With that said, their weapons flashed a bright blue, signifying the start of the match. Natalie charged forward quickly, trying to catch her mother off guard. But she was able to see it coming rather quickly and parry her blows with relative ease.

            “Faster. Destroy my focus.” Natalie continued to try and get a hit on her mother, but she was always a step ahead. All of a sudden, her mom did a spin move and sliced her blade right through Natalie’s chest and out the back. Suddenly a buzzer sounded on their weapons as they faded from existence.

            “Ugh, stupid critical points.”

            “Not bad Natalie. But it was clear as day that you were trying to use a more power-centric type of movement. Not bad to practice with it when in basic training, but when you are trying to challenge me, I would suggest going with something you are more familiar with.”

            “Yeah, okay mom.” Natalie said as she collapsed on the ground.

            “You want to go another round or two? Or maybe let me help you train with that new style you were trying?”

            “Nah, I think I’m just going to lie here for a while. It is such a beautiful night.”

            “Now don’t lie down there for too long. Ember should be getting here in about half an hour, and once Nathan gets here, I expect you to be cleaned up and ready to eat with the rest of the family.”

            “Okay mom.” With that said, her mom went back in the house with the module in hand, while Natalie continued to look upwards to the sky. She looked up to the top of the western mountain and got entranced once again by the flashing of the red light on the CCT support tower.

 

 

 

 

            “Are you even awake Natls?” Natalie jumped up from her seat on the porch and saw Ember standing right next to her. They both giggled and sat back down.

            “I guess your brother is still running a bit behind.”

            “Meh. It’s a nice night. Can you really blame him?”

            “I guess not. He has always loved the outdoors. Heh, even when I was just simply teaching him percussion, on warm nights like this one, he would beg me if we could practice outside. It’s a good thing, wanting to be out in the sun.”

            “Yeah, I love it too!”

            “It’s so easy to forget how young you two are, and yet how old you’re getting. And by gosh, your brother is just shooting right up, isn’t he?”

            “Yeah. He’ll turn four this next month.”

            “Wow. Time sure does fly, doesn’t it?”

            “Yeah, it sure does.”

            “Hey, Natls…” all of a sudden, there was a rumbling within the earth. It caused Natalie to fall onto one knee, and Ember had to grab one of the support beams on the porch to keep her footing.

            “What was that?” As soon as Natalie asked this, the CCT support tower started falling down the side of the mountain, with a lot of debris falling off the tower and spreading out across the width of the mountain. Before it reached the base of the mountain and the houses it was rumbling right towards, a few of the closest Huntsmen jumped up to the falling tower and blocked it with their weaponry, slowing its descent. While Natalie and Ember looked on in confusion, both Traci and her husband ran out with weapons in hand.

            “Ember, we’re going to make sure this wasn’t the result of a Grimm attack with the rest of the Huntsmen. You stay here and keep an eye on our children. With the tower down, there will be no way we can get in touch with Nathan and vice versa. So for the time being, we will do what we can. If we come back and there’s no problem, we’ll go look for Nathan together.”

            “Smart. I’m not going anywhere unless I absolutely have to. Be safe you two.”

            “Matthew is upstairs taking a nap; make sure you wake him up. Take care of our kids Ember.”

            “I will.” With that said, they took off to where the tower had collapsed, and Ember lead Natalie back inside.

            “Is everything all right Ember?”

            “Well, I’m not sure yet. If there is a Grimm attack imminent, then there could be a potential problem. But it’s probably just the fact that the tower has been sitting up there for so long without people making sure the base wasn’t eroding away because of the weather. I think….” All of a sudden, a loud explosion was heard from the direction of the city square. The two of them ran back outside to the porch to see smoke rising from the square. Then, several more explosions went off, each one from a different house in both directions from the square. And they were getting closer to their house.

            “NATALIE! GRAB YOUR BROTHER AND GET TO THE BASEMENT! NOW!” Natalie didn’t waste any time at all. She turned and started running up the stairs to her brother’s room. As she reached the top, and turned down the hall to their room, a giant explosion went off and knocked Natalie on her back. For a while, all she could hear was a ringing in her ears. When she finally got her bearings back, she realized the explosion had come from her room, and the fire was growing even stronger. She rushed forward and tried to run into the blaze, but all of a sudden, the ceiling collapsed and blocked the path to the room. Natalie fell to her knees and started crying, not sure how else to respond. Then it became like a blur. She went downstairs and ran outside, trying to escape from the fire. As she made her way outside, she realized that she hadn’t seen Ember since the room exploded. She looked all around and saw everything was on fire. Not seeing anybody else, she started running towards the town square, not sure what she would find. But as she reached the square, what she saw horrified her. She saw all her family and friends rounded up in a makeshift cage, with soldiers wearing Grimm Masks pointing guns right at them. She also saw members of the Violet Troupe on their knees, with another young man with red hair, somebody who looked not that much older than Nathan, yelling at the troupe members.

            “…you have been nothing but slaves to a system that prefers humans to your own brothers and sisters! Wake up! The Violet Troupe is not creating peace! They are making a mockery of our proud Faunus heritage! We in the White Fang are actually changing the world! Now I offer each of you a choice, a choice I will ask you one by one.” As soon as he said this, he drew his sword and walked over to the troupe member on the far left. Natalie couldn’t hear what he said next, but she clearly saw it. In an instant, the stranger’s sword took the troupe member’s head clean off, sending it rolling in the dirt away from the now limp body. Natalie almost screamed, but managed to keep quiet so she wouldn’t be noticed. The stranger in the mask continued this trend down the line of troupe members. Some stood up and then got on one knee before him, while others met the same fate as the first troupe member. Natalie scanned the lineup to see if Ember was amongst their number, but she wasn’t. She sighed in relief as soon as she realized Ember was safe, but that relief quickly turned to distress as soon as she saw a few other guards leading her parents into the cage, with her father’s eye gouged out and her mother missing a hand. She initially considered trying to rescue them, but stayed back realizing that not only did she not have a weapon, but she was also vastly outnumbered. She decided to wait and see what would happen. Then, out of nowhere, a kid wielding a white sword rushed right into the middle of the soldiers.

            “GUARDS! DEAL WITH THIS IMBECILE!” As soon as the stranger yelled this command, the guards immediately rushed towards the attacker, holding him off and keeping him from attacking. Within seconds, he was subdued on the ground, completely unable to move. Then, the man in command drew his sword and walked over to the cage where everybody was captured.

            “This is what happens when you try to be a hero kid. Take it from me, no matter what you do in life, everything you care about will die.” With one swift strike, he sliced right through the cage, immediately killing everybody inside. At that moment, there was a sound that caused an echo loud enough to shake both mountains, as Natalie, the stranger with the white sword, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Nathan screamed in horror. As soon as the moment, passed, Natalie looked over at the stranger with the white sword, who also looked straight back at her. Their eyes met for a few seconds, both not sure how to react. Then, the stranger simply lipped the word “run” to her. She hesitated, but then she saw that Nathan was trying to charge into the crowd of enemy troops, his body covered in this weird flame. She took a few steps backwards, and then ran back towards her own house. As she continued to run, an airship passed overhead, heading straight for the town square. But Natalie didn’t stop running. As soon as she reached her house, she saw Ember clearly wounded, staggering towards the house.

            “Ember!”

            “Natalie!” The two of them gave each other a huge hug.

            “Are you okay?”

            “I’m fine. It’s you I’m glad to see. I thought you were caught in that explosion in your house.”

            “The blast hit me, but I’m okay. But Matthew….” She trailed off at this point, and Ember hugged her even tighter this time.

            “I’m so sorry.”

            “What are we going to do now? They’ve got Nathan. They’ve killed my parents, they’ve killed everybody! I just…I just….”

            “Natalie, listen to me, they are most likely going to do one last sweep for survivors, and I’m not going to let them get you. Let’s get inside your house. The fire hasn’t reached the basement yet, we can hide down there.”

            “Okay….” The two of them quickly then ran downstairs into the basement and found one of the closets. They opened up the door and cleared out anything that would get in their way. Suddenly, the ceiling collapsed above them, revealing the night sky and the dancing flames on the floor above. The two of them then closed the door and began to wait. A few minutes passed, then there were the sounds of footsteps on the floor above.

            “Search every corner of this house. We have direct orders, nobody is allowed to leave this place other than the two that Lord Mortem spared.” The footsteps then started spreading throughout the house, and a few made their way to the basement.

            “Natalie listen to me. You stay here, and you stay hidden. With luck, if they find me, they might not look for you. Now no matter what you hear or what you see, you are not to leave this closet until the sun comes up. You hear me? Until you see the sun, you are not to leave this closet.”

            “Ember, no!”

            “I love you so much Natls. Take care of your brother for me.” She gave Natalie a kiss on the forehead, and then she snuck out of the closet. Natalie huddled herself in a corner in a fetal position, scared beyond belief. She then heard a sword being drawn, and then a lot of yelling. Then, for a split second, silence before a thud, and the unmistakable sound of a sword leaving a human body. Then, a pair of footsteps started moving towards the closet. Natalie backed herself into a corner, knowing that no matter where she hid, they would see her without any problems whatsoever. The door flung open, the stranger with the red hair stood before her, and shone a flashlight into the closet. He looked left, he looked right, and he looked straight at Natalie, but then he turned off the flashlight and turned away from the closet.

            “There’s nobody else here.” Natalie didn’t believe it. How did they not see her? She held her hand up to the moonlight, but she couldn’t see a thing. She couldn’t see herself! She had unlocked her semblance, and right now, she couldn’t have wished more in her life that it was not awakened on this night of all nights. She looked out at the man with red hair, as he stood there under the moonlight.

            “Soldiers, leave me.” There were a bunch of footfalls that went up the stairs and out the main door of the house, leaving only the man with the mask before Natalie. Then, all of a sudden, a man wearing a grey trench coat with a red interior jumped down into the basement. He had flowing silver hair, and stood almost as tall as the man with red hair.

            “You have done well Adam Taurus.” As soon as he said this, the man he addressed as Adam fell to one knee.

            “I aim to please, Lord Mortem.”

            “You showed no remorse when it came to killing not only the humans, but your own brethren of the Faunus race. You listened to my command to a point when you spared those two foolish children and let my associate, Vinculum Memoriare do what he needed to do. And when I told you to make sure that other than those two that there were no survivors, you performed exceptionally. I am impressed. But now, tell me what I wish to know.”

            “My lord, I regret to inform you that the scans came back negative. The dragon is not in either of the two mountains.”

            “Such a shame. I’ll have to kill that fool who swore they were here. He was such a good obedient soldier too. Never thought to double-check his information though. That’s why I am naming you the new link between the White Fang and the Order. That fool who runs the White Fang now is soft, and does not fit my goals. But with a man like you helping pull the strings, in time the White Fang will be a force that will rule alongside the Order. But for now, we have no further business here. Tell your troops to burn the remaining buildings, and to leave immediately. Also, send out word of this attack to our contacts in the Atlesian Military at first light. It would seem that Vale still hasn’t noticed what has happened here, which is good for us. Finish what needs to be done Taurus, I’ll be waiting for you on the command ship. And I suggest getting it done quickly. The main floor on this house will soon be engulfed in flames.”

            “Yes my lord.” As soon as he finished, Lord Mortem jumped up to the main floor and left, with Adam right behind him. Natalie continued not to move at all, not even a single inch. She looked up at the moon, and closed her eyes as tears streamed down her face. When she opened them again, she saw the sun glaring right at her. She figured she must have fallen asleep and only now just woke up. She looked at herself, and she was still invisible. But as soon as she started walking out of the closet, she started to re-appear. She looked around, and saw that her house was almost nothing but ashes now, a shade of what was standing there before. She slowly walked up the stairs, not sure what she would see, but knew she would find. She then saw a burned body; the only thing recognizable was a necklace around her neck. It was a purple cymbal, Natalie recognized it as something her mother had given Ember as a thank you gift for helping Nathan get back on track with combat school. Natalie then became overcome with emotion and started weeping over Ember’s body. She didn’t even stop crying when her brother ran up to her and saw the body as well. She then looked up at the sun, tears in her eyes, not sure what else to do, as her brother continued to try and ask her what happened.

            “Tell me Natalie! I need to know! Natalie! Natalie!”

 

 

 

 

            “Natalie!” Natalie shot awake, and saw that the sun was beginning to peek over the edge of the horizon below them. She looked around and saw that Ruby and Christy had already woken up and had gotten their weapons ready, while Nora was still sleeping.

            “How close are we Miles?” Natalie asked as she unbuckled herself and stood up.

            “We are about two minutes out. We had a bit of a problem with a headwind and we are already behind schedule. I’m not even sure what to expect down there. But that doesn’t matter. We aren’t going to leave until we know exactly what has happened to your brother.” Then, all of a sudden a Griffon flew past the airship towards Aequo at a top speed.

            “Shoot, we might be already too late. Get your weapon ready fearless leader. I think we’re going in hot.” Natalie nodded, made sure her weapon was loaded and had plenty of cartridges in case she needed them, and walked over to the open side door and got ready to jump.

            “Hey Natalie,” Christy placed her hand on her shoulder. “You doing okay? Bad dream?” Natalie looked at her confused for a second, then wiped her hand across her face and realized that she was crying. She dried her tears and turned back towards the open door.

            “I’m fine. Not sure where that came from. Maybe it was a bad dream. I don’t remember.” As the airship made their final descent to Aequo, they saw Nathan fighting off a huge horde of Grimm.

            “Don’t worry big bro. I’ll protect you.” Natalie said under her breath.

Author's Note

Please review/enjoy!

Reviews

[Shep]

A bad dream filled with information on the past that has taken place. Loved it it made the story make more sense. love the detail and the flow of the storyline. now I am ready to read another chapter before I quit for tonight. Please be kind and return the love.