XV

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The skirmish lasted mere minutes after his arrival, and when it ended, Cerulean let out a sigh and took a knee in the sparse clearing. His side was aching and sore from the scant moments his Light had faltered, exhausted by the fall and the fighting after, and he'd had to eat the Grimm's blows with his bare armor. It had held, though, and even as his side smarted and stung as he ran his hand up along it, he didn't find any blood. And he didn't think anything was broken, either- That would have hurt a lot more.

"Cerulean…?" He turned, looking up into Winchester's confused face, and cocked his head. The man grimaced and grunted, "Are you… Alright?"

"M'Fine." He answered shortly, leaning on his rifle to help him stand and then slinging it as he turned to look at the other three students, scattered across the clearing and watching the woods warily. Nodding, he said, "Good of you to keep watch."

"First thing you learn in entry courses." The big man shrugged, "Aura doesn't matter very much if you get surprised and pinned down by something."

"Mhm." He'd seen that back in the mines, and the same applied to his Light, too, more or less. Once the Delver had it in his hands, its limited protection wasn't exactly worth much. Changing topics, he asked, "Where are we?"

"You didn't see when you were falling?" Winchester snorted.

"I was a bit busy." He deadpanned, turning back to him, "Saving your lives."

"We would've been-"

"Then why didn't you jump out to save the Bullhead?" He asked quietly, taking some small amount of satisfaction from the way Cardin's jaw snapped shut and his brows knit together. Nodding, he said, "Exactly. Now, where are we?"

"Right about the center of the vale." Cardin grunted around an exasperated, resigned sigh, "Pinewood is probably a couple hours rooooughly North."

"It's the closest?"

"No, but-"

"How far is the closest?" Cerulean asked, turning to him and cocking his head. "We need to get our bearings, and fast. For all we know, the Beowolves that we fought her were the ones we were sent to. Hopefully, at least."

"Doubtful." Lark muttered under his breath as he came towards them, walking backwards and sideways while he worriedly watched the woods. "There were only three of 'em. Pinewood wouldn't hire out for that."

"There were other Grimm too, though." Cerulean murmured, "What does that mean?"

"You don't know?"

"I'm not the student." He countered, playing into the role he'd been signed up for and using it to dig for more information. "You are. Call it a quiz."

"Fine, damn it…" Winchester sighed, shaking his head as he thought. A few moments later, he answered, sounding as bored as he did annoyed. "Grimm are everywhere. The ones we're after are probably close to Pinewood itself, near the road, where they'd attack anyone they saw. Out here, that means Pinewood's supplies get strained, since they probably depend on and ship out produce from the rest of the vale."

"Means they're either tight on supplies," Lark added, "or burning Lien flying things around. Since we didn't see any-"

"And given what attacked us." Winchester cut in, shaking his head, "They aren't doing that. So, we should head there, like we're supposed to."

"Are we?"

"Look, Cerulean, none of us want to go traipsing about towards some little zoo out in the middle of nowhere." Cardin snapped, shaking his head and stomping away, "You head that way if you want to, but we're headed to Pinewood."

He watched the man go, followed quickly by a team that didn't so much as look back his way, and sighed. "This is not turning out great…"

"No, it truly is not." Guiding Light agreed quietly, flashing out and around to his side, casting short, muted strands of light along his ribs and down to his hip. Immediately the pain eased and his Ghost slipped back, close around his hip to try and avoid being spotted, and went on. "But as unfortunate as our company may be, I feel we've got an obligation, now. Don't you?"

"Mhm." He shrugged his rifle more comfortably onto his shoulder and took a step, following the team, with a little sigh. "Better to get it over with…"

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Pinewood itself, when they reached it as the sun began to set, was more or less what he'd seen from afar. Tall walls, patrolled by metal men Guiding Light told him were called 'Knight Security Drones' painted a dark black with blue highlights. Little lights had been affixed to the sides of their heads, with power cables and fasteners protruding out a bit under a small panel of armor that had pulled back over top of them to let them hook into it. In the late afternoon gloom, and the shadow the mountain overhead cast, their lights were on, splashing long trails of faux-sunlight out across the open ground, all the way to the tree-line. Some carried long-barreled rifles not unlike his own, before Guiding Light's modifications at least, but many carried long, dual pronged spears and simple rectangular shields instead. A cheaper alternative, he supposed, for a cheap security force.

But, curiously, he didn't see any sign of any people… Just drones and lights, running along the wall just under the walkway and washing the very base of the wall and the ground just around it in bright white.

Even without any people, though, the gate groaned and shuddered open as they approached, admitting them in before once again groaning and shuddering behind them. It let them out onto a wide, stone-paved road that ran to either side of them, seemingly from one end of the settlement to the other, with large streetlights opposite the wall. Behind them were the large warehouses, shipping centers and, just up the road, the Bullhead docks they'd seen from the air. The complexes stretched along the wider road where incoming freight could be moved around more easily. It was so obviously a thriving community, with trucks and transports still parked on the street, ready for work, but…

"It's quiet." Cerulean murmured quietly, standing off to the side while his project team meandered off to the side.

"Work hours are over." Cardin grunted, "Early, but… Probably slow days anyway, with the Grimm out there."

"Mhm." He nodded, "Makes sense."

"Come on." Winchester grunted, "Mayor should be higher up."

"Safer up there, right?"

"Yep." Winchester nodded, "Better sight-lines, too."

"Wise design choices." Guiding Light chirped in his ear, "From there it would be far easier to coordinate work 'round the vale, and even defense if it comes to it. Setting aside the older, more simplistic, philosophies around 'those at the top' and rulership and so on. Interesting design philosophies, of course, but… For another time."

"Mhm." He nodded, "Lead the way, Winchester."

"Yeah, yeah…"

The man lead them up, along the stone-paved roads through the band of shipping and freight areas, and past the little clusters around the Bullhead docks scattered along the band. Above it was a thin band of shopping buildings, grocery stores and bars, only the latter of which had any sound or light to them. And, past that, a wider band of residential buildings. Apartment towers that stood tall came first, all grey and dark with squat windows that spilled light out into the street and which he could see shapes moving through. Past them were nicer houses, more 'single unit' than the apartments, stacked up against each other like building blocks. Some of these had little gardens, no more than a few feet of dirt and flowers, in front of them or little planters hanging in the windows, with stairs and walkways meandering around its shape to get to the ground. It was as if someone had seen the houses in the other towns he'd been in and then squashed them together into puzzle pieces, and forced those to fit in amongst each other even when they ought not have.

All to pack more people in…

Finally, above that, was a huge building that crawled up the mountain and, from the way it vanished into parts of the mountain above only to reappear as the mountain's face withdrew, through it. It had another wide road running its perimeter, like at the wall, with half a dozen stairways scattered along its length, leading to as many little landings with wide doors into the complex.

"Administrative center." Winchester grunted as they reached the wider steps up to the central entrance. He waved a hand around them as his team started to head up and added, "Probably for the whole-"

"No Faunus." Cerulean cut him off, reading the words on the heavy metal plaque stood on a wrought iron leg right in the center of the bottom landing of the stairwell. Turning, he looked up and down the gently curved road and added, "Same signs at all of them."

"Yeah." Russel sighed, crossing his arms and turning to face him from a few steps up. "No Faunus are allowed into the admin block. Pretty normal, out on the front."

"Why?"

"Security." Winchester sighed, running his hand through his hair and leaning on his mace, its heavy head resting on the ground. Shaking his head he asked, almost imploringly, "Can we not do this?"

"What if I'm a Faunus?" He asked quietly, cocking his head, "What then?"

"You ain't."

"How do you know?"

"Because Cardin lodged an Article Eight request when he was admitted to Beacon." Dove grunted sharply, clearly annoyed at him.

"And that is…?"

"Man, where the fuck did you study?" Cardin snapped hotly, shaking his head and waving him off when he turned to him. Sighing tiredly, seemingly finally drained by the long day, he said, "Frontier Hunter, I know, forgot for a second… Article Eight means I have a 'deeply held belief' regarding what sorts of people I'm willing to work with in the field. If you were a Faunus, you wouldn't be allowed to lead my team out here. Simple as."

"That's… Not-"

"We don't care and we didn't ask." Cardin grunted, turning and heading up the stairs. "Come, don't, I don't care. We have to check in, though."

He didn't respond, watching Cardinal head up the stairs to where a pair of sentry droids were waiting, standing to either side of it. As they reached it one stepped over, opening the door to let them in and then shutting it behind them. When they were gone, he finally turned, looking up and down the road, before holding a hand out.

"It's troublesome…" Guiding Light murmured, only barely visible by the faintest shimmer in the air above his palm. "But this isn't something we can affect, Guardian. We're just one - well, two - people. We can't change the way an entire society functions. At least, not right away."

"No." He agreed, "But is coming here and helping them a good thing?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Doesn't it enable the bad things being done here?" He asked, gesturing the way they had come. "Some of the stores and bars had signs on them, too. I didn't get close enough to read any, but… I'd wager they say the same."

"But who knows why?" Guiding Light hummed, "If the mayor is hate-filled, then for all we know they have to have those signs. He could be forcing them."

"True…"

"It's better, I believe, to do our jobs than not." Guiding Light went on, "I know what bothers you here, and why. But we don't know enough to do anything so, in my opinion, it would be better to simply move on. Worst case, we save some lives and get to leave sooner. And give that dusty old Hunter an earful for sending us out here. Right?"

"Mhm." He nodded and dropped his hand, and somehow, the Ghost understood the gesture and melted away completely once more.

Left alone in the brightly lit night, he turned and made his way up the stairs with a frown hidden behind his helmet.

Inside was a large foyer, with nice stone floors and walls and, overhead, a vaulted, domed ceiling with ensconced lights. The stone was pale grey and white, speckled naturally as if they had carved it out of the mountain itself, and the sound of his steps echoed across the sparsely decorated room as he walked. In the center was a pair of large, dark wooden desks set out in a circle with breaks to the right and left to let the half-dozen clerks come and go as needed.

The women, all human, were dressed in fine silver skirts and black suit-jackets and sat at nearly empty desks, with terminals in front of them. The one his team was speaking to had red hair, and they all fell quiet as he joined them and she smiled politely, "You must be Cerulean! Hi!"

"Uh…" He frowned, put off by the sheer… Cheer in her voice. Finally, he nodded and said, "Hello."

"Decided to join us, huh?" Russel snorted, "Ride on that high horse was preeeetty damn short."

"One day, you'll learn that respect is something worth offering to other people, Thrush." Cerulean finally snapped, his temper finally getting the better of him for long enough for it to speak through him. "Most learn it around the time they learn to walk, but it seems you've not managed to get past the petulant, selfish bit everyone grows through. So for now, why don't you just think on what will be in your personal review when we get to Vale after this."

"Hey-"

"We've a job to do." He grunted, reeling his temper in as he turned to face Winchester, now. "So let's get on with it. Hm?"

"...Fine, whatever." Cardin grunted, with plenty more than that written across his face. Shaking off the scowl, he leaned on the desk and grunted at the woman, "Anyway, as I was saying, we're here about a Beowolf pack your settlement reported to Vale. Had a rough entry, so dropped in the woods and fought a smattering of Grimm further south."

"How many?"

"A bunch, mixed." Dove offered quietly, "Five Beowolves."

"The pack we're worried about is closer and a bit West." The woman explained, typing away on her terminal. "Two dozen, no Alpha, but they took out a small hamlet along the road and haven't moved out."

"How do you know?"

"We still have some security cameras in the area." She answered with a chirp, "The Grimm didn't destroy them, and security has been using them to monitor the situation. For now, they seem content to maraud in the area."

"Any survivors?" Cerulean asked quietly, "You said they took out a hamlet."

"Survivors are unlikely, and not our concern at the moment in lieu of-"

"Why aren't they important?" He cut her off, "Because they're Faunus?"

"Cerulean-"

"They were majority Faunus, but the reason they aren't a concern is because the Mayor is focusing his efforts on relieving the, well, blockade the Grimm have enforced not just on us but on the neighboring settlements." The woman frowned, her voice going cold as she sat up straighter and went on, "And, as you should know, our company follows all Vale's labor laws. Those laborers knew the risks when they signed their contracts, and were reimbursed in legal accord for the hazards."

"Mhm." He nodded, "All the same, we'll look for them when we head out."

"What do you mean we'll-"

"A Huntsman's duty is to protect people." He cut Cardin off, turning and glaring coldly through his helmet's visor. "All people. Even those we dislike. We don't get to pick and choose who is worthy of saving."

"Look, you wanna look for 'em, go ahead." Cardin grunted, shrugging it off. "But you don't get to volunteer my team for extra shit out there, risking our necks. We agreed to run a Hunt, and that's what we're here to do."

"Fine." He shrugged, turning to the woman and asking, "What's the location?"

"I have it marked here on a map-point." She said, flicking him a look and holding out a hand. "If you'll hand me your Scroll…" He did and, after a few moments, she handed it back and said, "There, it's marked and, when you arrive, the map-app will automatically delete the marker. Just follow it and-"

"Understood." He nodded, turning and leaving with a simple grunt of, "I'm going to work. Enjoy your evening, Cardinal."

"You should at least get some rest!" Winchester called after him, "Going out there like this is fucking stupid!"

He ignored him, pushing through the door as it shut, and scowled as he made his way down the stairs. And, from there, back out towards the forest. And, he hoped, the survivors from the Grimm attack. Even with little hope, he had to try.

It was his duty.

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Dino Guy

Yeah, I'm working on THAT choreography lmao

Krestfallen

It's just a slow update story. One of my 'for fun' ones.

Cerulean James

It isn't a set. It's my own design. Sorry, lol.

Sage Leumas

I don't, but my favorite is Titan.

I don't know what 'suppressing' in this context means?

I didn't know what that was BUT- Close, yeah. Kinda wandered into that one. XD

I dunno what that is but if you're asking if he did the 'explodey lightning punch thing Titans do' then…. Yes, kinda, just a bit. XD

As for how I intend to navigate Classes and the way powers work…. Still working on it! Lol.

MM Browsing

Yes, I do!

Cardin was noticing him NOT using Aura. And that he was using something else that was similar, but didn't seem, to him, to behave in quite the same way. Which is his Light, since Light makes shields in Destiny.

He's only got some scraps - and there is no 'how', he just does - but that's all.

There are other Guardians my research told me remember details about their old life, through various means. But why Cerulean does will be explained later - and if you consider Remnant as a whole, itself, you may be able to theorize potential answers as to why he did.