RWBY Through Worlds

46: Innocence is Gone

That first full day in Vacuo wasn't much better than the one before it. Grimm attacks kept coming at the edge of the city, but for at least a full 5 hours none of them came inside it... No one knew why this was (outside the main group).

Wally's barriers worked--but at a cost. He felt really drained after putting them up, and sluggish and just tired on the inside.

Shine worried he might have gone too far after all, trying to do a whole city, and she tried to help him with her methods of prayer/singing praise, which seemed to charge their powers up again.

Oscar was the only one who knew why it worked that way, and he did mention it to the others, who thought it was weird--but then, they thought team FNKI was weird too.

That team did work with CVFY and them to do what they could to keep the peace in the new group of people.

Robyn successfully kept Qrow closer to the rest of the group but could do nothing to cheer him up. In fact, he seemed worse the longer he had time to let it sink in.

Getting more temporary housing up for the refugees was the first order of business, but Winter did not forget that they also needed to find the Summer Maiden before Tyrian did.

In fact, they needed to find Tyrian also.

What to do there...

Pietro gathered a lot of the currently unemployed technicians to discuss the potential of getting the tower set up from here, and they argued for hours about how much harder it would be in Vacuo's climate to pull this off, though some said it wasn't really worse than icy tundra and water particles interfering, but they were used to shielding from that, not sand and heat.

Probably they'd find a way sooner or later, they had nothing else to do, but tempers were short in light of the tragedy of the day before, and families were also not enjoying being separated. Not all of them had made it into the same kingdoms.

And some children and parents were separated in the confusion, and this was causing distress--not knowing if they were alive or dead or safe or in trouble, a kingdom away...and no method of ready communication.

Winter, after listening to problem after problem like this all day from Atlas, began to wonder if she really was qualified to handle the situation.

To make matters worse still, Theo, while doing nothing to help them, was watching her.

Not openly, but from a distance.

It didn't seem like a friendly "I have your back, Maiden" watching either.

At least Whitley was enjoying himself. He and Oscar were working on the plan to get dust shipped around once they got the tower up, and signing papers that Willow was helping them get. Luckily she'd found their lawyer in the hubbub.

Jacques and Ironwood were being held in Shade's holding area--which it had, luckily--and it was pretty secure, not as good as Atlas, but where would they go even if they got out? Everyone knew who they were.

But the students guarding them told Winter that both of them wanted to talk to her.

Winter had no desire whatsoever to talk to either of them and declined.

She was then told they said it was important.

Resigning herself to it, she headed down there.

"Winter!" Jacques said. "Finally! You have to get me out of here--it's not safe at all. These ruffians hate me."

"You're safer in here than you are out there," Winter said coldly, "if we owed you any such courtesy. Is this all you want to talk about?"

"Nevermind him." Ironwood was at the end of his cell. "Listen, Winter--"