Saladin's POV
I stayed awake long enough to see the Young Wolf and his friend separate from us. Knowing what he was going to do, I decided to not intervene. It'd be weird to anyways. I went inside our tent and looked over an old map of the planet.
Gonna have to thank Taiyang for this.
Saladin: Ghost. Distance from Patch to New Haven.
Ghost: Approximate distance: 500 miles.
500 miles? A bit shorter than I imagined for a planet.
Saladin: Hmmmm... Length of time?
Ghost: 19 Hours by Sparrow.
My ghost went back inside my head, coming up with a direct route. I exited the tent to see Lady Efrideet waiting for me.
Efrideet: Just waiting on you old man.
Saladin: Last I heard, you aren't so young yourself.
Efrideet: What? Can't take a joke?
Saladin: It sounds like something Cayde would say.
Efrideet: And that's a bad thing?
I paused and shook my head in disbelief.
Did you really just say that?
She must've thought about her comment as she took it back.
Efrideet: Ok. That is a bad thing.
Saladin: Let's go.
As I began to walk into the woods, she remained still.
Efrideet: Where are we going?
Saladin: We're going to wake up the Young Wolf.
The two of us walked away from the others and into the woods. I took a moment to admire it's beauty, something I hadn't done since my rebirth.
Efrideet: Something wrong?
Saladin: No. Just admiring the land.
I could hear that smirk from under her helm.
Efrideet: Didn't really take you as a nature kind of guy.
Saladin: If you were to be as busy as I was, you too would start to appreciate the change of land as well.
We both remained silent as we continued on through the woods, approaching a makeshift bed in the middle of a plain open area, two human shaped figures lied within.
It's the Young Wolf.
That I was certain of. As the two of us circled around the bed, we noticed a few pieces of clothing tossed around.
No undergarments. Hopefully they're wearing some.
Saladin: Lady Efrideet.
I turned around and looked away out of respect as she turned the blanket over.
Efrideet: They have their undergarments on Lord Saladin, but you may not want to see him like this.
I exhaled out of relief as I turned back around to see the Young Wolf. His face and upper body had lipstick all over the place as well as a few....
Claw marks....recent too. I don't even want to know.
It was like looking at a man with a hangover. I crouched down near his head as I spoke.
Saladin: Young Wolf...........Wake up.
Nothing.
Saladin: Young Wolf!.....Wake up!
I stood up and gently kicked his side, causing him to turn and mumble as he hugged the one he called Yang's hair.
Austin: No more Yang....too tired...
What?
Efrideet: What?
Saladin: Ugh... Imbecile.....Ask Taiyang for a pot and a wooden spoon. He's going to get up.
She nodded as she headed back to the house. As I waited, Yang began to open her eyes, stretching her arms as she saw me. She moved back in shock as I made a gesture for her to be quiet. She whispered to me in a stern tone.
Yang: What are you doing here!?
Saladin: Just be quiet. It's time to wake him up.
Lady Efrideet returned with a pot and a wooden spoon.
Saladin: Now cover your ears.....now.
Lady Efrideet bashed the pot with the spoon, creating a super loud noise. The Young Wolf jumped out of the bed, wide eyed and fully alert.
Austin: AHH! What's going on!?
Saladin: Time to wake up.
Austin: You asshole!
Saladin: Good to see you're alert.
Efrideet: I've never seen a Titan jump up that fast before.
She chuckled as the Young Wolf's face went deadpanned.
Austin: You're still an ass.
Saladin: Prepare the Sparrows. We leave as soon as we take down the tents.
Austin's POV
Dick move Saladin. Dick move.
Ghost: At least you're wide awake.
Don't you start with me Ghost.
I grabbed the pieces of armor that was scattered around the blanket and put them back on.
Ghost: What's with all the lipstick marks?
What?
Ghost: The hell did Yang do to you dumbass!?
Oh....let's not get into that. I'll shower when we get to Haven.
Ghost: Good luck with that.
Why?
Ghost: Haven Academy is about a 18-19 hour drive.
Walking?
Ghost: Sparrows.
Great.
Ghost: We should probably start waking everyone up and show them the basics.
Probably should.
Yang got up and got dressed, grabbing the blankets as she approached me.
Yang: What was that about?
Austin: No idea, but we need to wake up the others. Get them ready to drive the Sparrows.
An Hour Later... 3rd Person POV
Lord Saladin and Lady Efrideet finished tearing down the smaller tents, keeping the massive one up as a personal base of operations. The Young Wolf taught the group the basics of driving a Sparrow. They were all ready to embark.
The Young Wolf lined up the Sparrows in pairs, letting Qrow and Lord Saladin up front and Yang, with her bumblebee, and himself in the back. The group, more particularly Ruby and Yang, said their goodbyes to Taiyang. The two Beacon teachers wished everyone good luck on their adventure as Qrow and Lord Saladin got on their Sparrows, everyone else following them. They took off pair by pair, leaving the safest place on Remnant and headed back into the fight.
18 More Hours Later... Austin's POV
Yang: I'm running out of gas.
She spoke to me using her Ghost through a private channel as we all drove through a giant dirt path in the middle of the night. The only people who could hear was Ruby and the Iron Lords.
Saladin: The map says there's a fueling station up ahead. We'll all stop there.
Austin: No, keep going.
Saladin: Excuse me?
Austin: I'll stay with Yang. You guys keep going. We'll catch up with you guys. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes anyways.
Saladin: I suppose.
We approached a fueling station and slowed down, letting Yang and her vehicle go in. Ruby must've looked back as she spoke through the channel.
Ruby: What's going on?
Efrideet: Were you paying attention?
Ruby: .....no not really.
Efrideet: It's alright Ms Rose. Just keep driving. They'll catch up.
I got off the Sparrow and walked towards Yang and her bike, the Sparrow itself was being transported back to Ghost. She took off her helmet and looked at me as she opened the fuel tank and inserted the nozzle.
Yang: You know how to fuel this up?
It wasn't anything I had done before in.....well....ever.
Austin: Nope.
Yang: I'm gonna get a drink. Just squeeze this till the gauge goes to F. Simple enough, right?
Austin: Yeah. Totally.
She walked away from me into the place. I placed my hand on the pump and squeezed the handle as she told me to. I stood there like an idiot, waiting as a random person went into the place as well.
Ghost: You notice the air feels much heavier than usual?
Not really. Why?
Ghost: I dunno. It seems daylight is a lot lighter than usual and night time is darker than usual.
You're probably just trying to get used to this place again.
Ghost: For once, I hope I'm wrong. By the way, fuel is leaking.
I looked down to see gas pouring down the bike and let go.
Austin: Ah! Dammit Ghost!
I grabbed what looked like a wipe from one of the pumps and began to wipe the area down.
Dammit! Now my gauntlets smell of gasoline.
Ghost: You still have Doomfang Pauldrons.
Switch em then.
As Ghost switched out gauntlets, I heard the sound of the door being smashed open, the stranger from before tumbling towards me. The man stopped short at my feet, landing on his back. Upon closer inspection, I noticed a tooth missing.
Ghost and Austin: Yang.
Go see what happened.
Ghost jumped out of my head and into the store. After a few seconds, he came back, entering my mind once more.
Ghost: The man was flirting with her.
She didn't exactly give him a love tap.
Ghost: And you're not worried about that?
Looking at this guy, not one bit.
Yang finally came out of the place a bit irritated.
Austin: Finally.
Yang: Let's just go.
I raised my hands in defense.
Austin: All right. Fine. I'm going. Ghost.
Ghost brought the Sparrow back up as the two us got on our vehicles, the stranger got up and yelled before we could take off.
Stranger: Hey girlie!
We may have to beat him down.
Yang: Seriously? This isn't over?
Stranger: I heard you're...looking for someone. Heh.
He gave us a toothless grin as Ghost spoke.
Ghost: I don't like this one bit.
Same here.
Austin: No thanks. We're heading out now, right Yang?
She didn't respond.
Austin: ........Yang?
Saladin's POV
Qrow: We're here. Mistral.
Finally.
We approached a massive stone gate, I assumed Mistral was through these walls. As we all got off, the Sparrows disappeared into Lady Efrideet's ghost. We noticed a small tunnelway on our left and proceeded towards it. As we entered, I noticed the walls were barely tall enough for me to stand with the axe. Using a small torch, I lit the axe in flames and used it as my own massive torch as the one they called Qrow guided us through the tunnels.
Where the hell is he?
Nora: Whose idea was it to put him in front anyways? I can't see anything ahead through his massive butt.
>:(
Efrideet: His massive butt also has the light Miss Valkyrie.
Ren: After facing many obstacles, it's hard to believe were here. Broken airships, destroyed settlements, different planets.
Jaune: Oh, and you know, the massive amount of people and monsters that tried to murder us.
Ruby: Pfft. We're fine. Only one of us almost died.
Qrow: Last I remember pipsqueak, we found your Guardian friend without an arm and bleeding to death.
Ruby: Oh yeah, that's right.
Jaune: How much farther to Haven Academy?
Qrow: Not much, but I figure I take you kids on the scenic route.
We approached a wooden door as I called him out on his comment.
Saladin: We Iron Lords are much older than you think.
Weiss: How much older?
Efrideet: A few centuries older, give or take.
Everyone except Ruby: Whaaa?
Ruby: Century?
Blake: It means a hundred.
Ruby: Whaaaa?
Efrideet: Lord Saladin himself is about a century older than me.
Qrow: Geez, you people are old.
Saladin: Again, I'm not that old. There's still a bit of fight left in me.
Qrow opened the door, letting the sunlight of a new day flood our eyes. The youngest of the group ran towards a platform as the rest of us followed. The platform began to rise as we looked forward, witnessing a normal day in this mountaintop community.
Ruby: Wow....this is amazing.....
Qrow: It certainly is something.
I noticed a weapon ship below and attempted to look but we were already too far away. Ruby seemed to have noticed them as well.
Ruby: Oh my gosh, look at all those weapons!
Huh. Didn't take her for a weapons enthusiast. Though I do wonder how they compare to ours.
Efrideet: I think the Guardians would get a kick out of it if we sold such weapons in the Iron Banner.
Saladin: There wouldn't be enough anyways.
Qrow: Vendors here will sell you anything....whether or not they should.
Jaune: They made the most of this mountain.
Qrow: Every inch. Stay away from the lower levels. The higher up, the nicer it gets.
Unfortunately, that sounds like the Last City.
Nora: And up we go!
We rose up to the highest levels of the mountain and exited the elevator towards a school. As we entered, the young one sighed.
Ruby: We made it.
Weiss: It's marvelous.
Blake: Yeah but....where's the students?
Ruby: Hello?
We followed Qrow into a hallway as the rest of us glanced around the place. The young one continued to call out for anyone.
Ruby: Hello!?
Nora: Maybe try louder?
Weiss: That won't help. Besides someone would have heard us by now.
Jaune: Maybe class isn't really in session
Qrow: No. This isn't right.
Saladin: And that's our queue.
I gripped the axe tighter as Qrow began to run. Lady Efrideet twirled her handcannon as she prepared for combat.
Qrow: Come on.
The three of us ran as the rest eventually followed.
Ruby: Wait for us!
We ran towards a set of wooden doors as Qrow spoke.
Qrow: There could be trouble.
Saladin: Efrideet. Right side. I have the left.
Efrideet: Finally, some action. On you old man.
As the others readied their weapons, I charged through the doors, bashing them down with my shoulder. Efrideet followed as we looked around to see nothing but a man panicking.
???: AAAAHHHH!!!
He fell off his chair as Qrow looked at the man, irritated as could be.
Ruby: Umm. Professor Lionheart?
Who?
Lionheart: Qrow! For crying out loud, you and your guards have scared me half to death!?
Qrow: Me? Why weren't you waiting for us at the entrance?
Lionheart: Huh?
The man pulled a pocket watch from his coat and checked on the time.
Lionheart: Oh, right. Apologies. I guess time slipped away from me.
Qrow: You’re joking.
While Lionheart stands up and RNJR put their weapons away, Nora asked him a question.
Nora: Where is everybody?
Lionheart: Ah, you must be the students Qrow mentioned.
Ruby: Yes, sir. Ruby Rose.
Jaune: Jaune Arc.
Nora: Nora Valkyrie.
Ren: Lie Ren.
Blake: Blake Belladonna.
Sun: Sun Wukong.
Weiss: Weiss Schnee.
Saladin: That information is confidential for now.
Lionheart: Well then....its a pleasure to meet you all. Leonardo Lionheart, at your service, though I’m afraid most of my staff is currently away until classes resume, but-.
Hearing this, Qrow briefly clenched his fists and leaned in toward Lionheart.
Qrow: What? Leo, you can’t be serious. Who’s guarding the Relic?
Lionheart: Qrow, the people.
Qrow: Already know. I filled them in. What do you mean your staff is away?
Lionheart: You… filled them in?
Nora: So, is this not going at all like anyone thought it would?
Saladin: Nothing will ever go like it should Miss Valkyrie.