Episode Beanie: Chapter 2: Footnote

Chapter 2 of Beanie's story.

Two Years Before the Fall of Aequo

The Cliffs looking out beyond the Village

 

 

 

            Beanie sat on the edge of the cliffs looking out over the expanse before him still coming to terms with what had just happened.  He had run home expecting to find his parents to tell him it was all a big joke, or some terrible prank.  Or that he still had some power of choice in the matter.  Instead he found moving vehicles and his mother barking at the movers while they were loading the living room furniture onto one of the airships.  He didn’t even try to argue or talk to them then and there, he just ran down to this spot and wanted to be alone. After a few minutes of this, Beanie’s father walked down and sat next to him.

            “I know this is a lot champ.  But it is important.”

            “Nobody asked what I wanted” Beanie said burying his face in his arms.  “It all happened so fast.”

            “I know it’s tough, but this could actually turn out to be a great opportunity if you put your mind to it.”

            “But I don’t want to do this.  I want to stay here.  All my friends are here.  All the places I like are here.  I want to do what I can to help the people here when I grow up.”

            “And that’s a noble pursuit son.  But if you only stay here, you won’t get to see the rest of the world.  And possibly how it can change you.”

            “Change me?”

            “If you always go for what is known, for what is safe, you won’t grow as tall as you can.  You would still grow, but if there’s an opportunity you can push yourself even further by going elsewhere?  Then you should take the chance.  There isn’t any harm by taking the safe route, but the reward is far greater if you take the scarier route.”

            “But everything I know is here.”

            “And that’s why you will grow so much more by going down this path.  And even then, you’ll still have people standing by you no matter what happens.  Even if you leave here, you have made some great friends.  They might not always be there in person, but in spirit, they’ll never leave you.  And the same for me and your mom.  We’ll be there for you if you ever need us.”

            “Thanks dad.”

            “And who knows?  You might end up finding yourself back here again.  Or in a place you never once dreamed of being possible in the past.”

 

 

 

7 Years Later

Sanctum Academy

Hangar Bay 13

 

 

 

            Beanie ran through the doors into the main hangar and saw several of his classmates standing at attention with their bags packed already.  Beanie quickly fell in behind everybody, and straightened himself out.

            “Took you long enough dingus” one of the kids said with a snicker.  “Let me guess, your maps told you to go the right way and you immediately decided to go the other way?”           

            “Unlike you, I have a job” Beanie snapped back.  “So instead of getting off my butt from playing video games like you were, I was trying to get somebody to cover my shift.”  Everybody else seemed to laugh at Beanies comment, but they all died down super quickly when Winter Schnee, one of the top graduates from Atlas Academy appeared and stood right in front of the group.

            “Listen up people” Winter said with a stern and cold voice.  “The Argus Limited never arrived in Mistral.  Any attempts we have made to find out what happened via drones has been met with failure.  The Atlas military is spread thin with the recent surge of Grimm activity around the Kingdom of Atlas.  So we are sending you, the best that Argus has to offer, out into the field to investigate.  This is to be a scouting and rescue mission.  If it seems apparent this is a kidnaping or hostage situation or any opportunity to rescue the hostages would result in open combat, do not engage.  Atlas wishes to keep its relationship with Mistral in good health, so we can’t make it look like we are sending an invading army.  Teams will fly in overhead via dropships, and from there they will jump from their ships and land about ten clicks from where the Argus Limited was last seen.  Understood?”  Everybody saluted and gave a resounding “yes ma’am” as soon as Winter finished.  With that, everybody pulled out their Scrolls to determine their assignment.  Beanie found his dropship and quickly got on board and strapped himself into his seat.  A few other classmates of his joined the dropship, a few of whom he actually recognized.  Auburn, one of the leading members of the student council and wielded a giant crossbow.  She also wore an outfit akin to that of the wilder bandit tribes of the region, as she allegedly used to be a part of the Branwen tribe.  Alongside her that Beanie recognized was Viridian, a pompous kid who basically had everything handed to him on a plate since birth, even enrollment at Sanctum Academy and gave Beanie no ends of grief for his slip ups while nobody called him out on his own.  He wielded guns on his wrists with a targeting system on his right eye, and his outfit was nothing more than a combat vest with a pair of cargo pants and an Atlas hat.  The two of them also recognized Beanie, but while Auburn continued making sure she was prepared for takeoff, Viridian decided to take an open opportunity.

“Why are you here gas-master?” Viridian said mockingly.  “This mission is for the top students.  You’re barely surviving.  You’re just a footnote compared to me.”

“Better a footnote than a bully” Beanie said with a sigh.

“I’m the greatest hero that Sanctum will ever know!” Viridian said while doing a goofy pose.  “And once I knock off the Nikos girl before she graduates, I’ll show everybody why I am superior!”

“We have a job to do” Auburn said smacking Viridian in the back of the head.  “So if you’re done trying to convince yourself you can actually fight, let’s focus on doing our job.”  Finally, the airship lifted into the air and flew out into the wilderness beyond the walls of Argus.  Even though flight was the faster route from Argus to anywhere in Mistral, given the high number of bandits and Grimm, it was considered safer to travel via train since the train itself was fortified far more than most airships can be for the sake of maintaining flight.  After a few hours in the air, they reached a point where the transmissions from the Argus seemed to come to a stop.  The airships turned on a bright light to signal to everybody it was time to get off.  Beanie unstrapped himself, walked over to the opening jump doors, and leapt out into the world below.  He pulled out his whistle, gave it a blow and the snow on the ground started to swirl around creating a gigantic pile of snow in which he caught himself to land safely on the ground.  A few other students followed suit after Beanie jumped out.  Auburn fired one arrow into the side of the top of a tree, then another into the ground below with a rope connected between the two of them then slid down the line and landed perfectly in the snow.  Viridian pulled a grappling hook out of his vest, and hooked it around a tree branch which he swung around to land safely on the ground.

            “Holy crud it’s freezing” Beanie said shivering as everybody else touched down.  “Summer is about to start, why the flip is it colder further inland?”

            “We’re closer to the mountains out here” Auburn said preparing her weapons.  “The summer winds we normally get on the coast aren’t going to help this far in.”

            “Also,” Viridian said with a mocking chuckle, “It would probably help if you didn’t wear sandals in the middle of the snow.”  Beanie looked down at his sandaled feet as the snow started to flow between his toes.

            “Shoes are too confining!” Beanie snapped back.  Viridian just laughed, and the rest of the group along with him.  But once it was apparent they had everybody, they started to get organized and look over their Scrolls to figure out where they were assigned to investigate.

            “All right,” Beanie said as he looked over the report.  “We’ve got to check out this farm area that’s…”

            “I’m sorry, who put you in charge?” Viridian said cutting Beanie off and shoving him aside.  “Just follow me and we’ll get this over with as quickly as possible.”

            “We’re looking for a missing train.  I don’t think quick should be in our vocabulary for this mission.”

            “Well unlike you, I actually try to enjoy my summers by relaxing, so let’s just get this over with.”

            “All you ever do is relax” Beanie muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Viridian snapped?  He seemed like he was about to charge Beanie, but just then, Auburn fired a crossbow bolt between the two of them.

“If you read your dossier Viridian,” she said holding up her own Scroll mockingly, “Beanie and I have been placed the leaders of this task force.”

“What?” Viridian huffed.  He kept looking like he was trying to say something to the effect of trying to put Beanie down more, but Auburn simply walked past them and motioned to Beanie.

“What do you suggest?” Auburn asked as she shared a map of the region with Beanie.

“There’s not a lot of people living out here,” Beanie said going over the map, “the few who do live out here are mostly farm folk.  There’s not one far from here, so we can scout the woods for clues and information, and then ask the folks at the farm if they have seen anything.  Who knows?  If we’re lucky, this was a bad train derailment, and the farmers took everybody in until help arrived.”  Auburn nodded her head in agreement, and then started barking out orders to the other students to fan out and start searching the woods.  The forest was dense with trees, but there was a nearby trail that was close to the rail lines.  Everybody started looking for signs of an accident or an attack, but nothing visible to the naked eye at a first glance.  Beanie was walking along the side of the path closest to the train tracks, and was looking along the rail lines themselves trying to see any signs of derailment or re-routing of the tracks.  But everything appeared to be in order.  Just then however, Beanie was walking along with his focus fixated on the tracks when he tripped and landed face first in the snow.  Initially grumbling and cursing the ground, he looked back and saw what he tripped over.  It wasn’t a tree branch or a rock, but rather a destroyed cannon with the current Argus logo emblazoned on it.  And given the lack of corrosion or rusting on the metal, this seemed fairly new.  He started clearing the snow off the turret and began looking it over as Auburn walked over noticing he had fallen behind the rest of the group.

            “I’ve heard stories about incidents like this when the train is attacked” she said looking over the destroyed cannon.  “The Grimm are vicious and destroy at least five turrets each attack.  So that means we’re on the right track trying to find out what happened.”

            “But look at the damage this turret suffered” Beanie said pointing out the broken base.  “Grimm attacks usually leave things mangled and torn.  This looks like it was sliced clean off.  Not even the oldest Grimm known to man have this level of control or intelligence.”

            “Then who could have done this?”  Before Beanie could try to formulate an answer, several shots rang out from the trees further on ahead where the rest of the group was still patrolling.  Auburn and Beanie quickly jumped back up and started running as fast as they could towards the action, and suddenly saw what was happening.  White Fang soldiers opening fire on their classmates from the trees.  Beanie and Auburn prepared to help their friends, and found two straggler White Fang soldiers and knocked them out with powerful strikes before they even knew they were there.  But then they quickly hid behind some of the trees as they saw even more White Fang members pouring out of the forest and closing in on their friends.

            “What should we do?” Auburn said preparing her crossbow.

            “In all honesty?” Beanie said tugging on his collar, “I wish I knew.”

Author's Note

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