"Hey, kid. Wake up."
I open my eyes, and the first thing I see is Doug's bald head.
"Ugh."
His head is reflecting the sunlight straight into my eyes…
Doug frowns at me.
"I suddenly feel like punching you," he says. "Is that normal?"
I blink a few times, still trying to wake up properly.
"My sister says that all the time."
Doug lets out a small hm through his nose, as if seriously considering the answer.
"Good to know."
Then he gestures forward with his chin.
"Now look."
I rub my eyes and sit up a little in the cart to get a better view.
That's when I see it.
Between two enormous mountains, the city finally appears.
Houses and buildings climb up the slope as if stacked on top of each other, curved rooftops spreading across the stone of the mountain. Bridges connect different parts of the city, and tall towers rise above the rest of the structures.
The capital.
Damn… the TV documentaries really don't do it justice.
It's incredible. Strange. Beautiful and kind of ugly at the same time.
Gods… there are so many colors.
The lowest part of the city looks like a mess of narrow streets and rooftops piled on top of each other. Stalls, markets, people walking everywhere, carts passing by, voices blending together into a constant noise.
But as the city climbs higher up the mountain, things start to change.
The streets get wider. The houses bigger. The rooftops more elegant.
Up there, some of the buildings even look like mansions.
Good old social inequality.
Almost like standing in Atlas and looking down at Mantle again.
"AHHH! How much longer until this line ends?!" Josh complains. "My legs already forgot how walking works!"
I look at the line of carts in front of us.
There are at least twenty.
"About five minutes," I say.
"Shut up, Whitley!"
"Josh!" Margaret exclaims.
"He started it!" Josh immediately defends himself. "He's using that sarcastic tone again just to annoy me!"
"He's a child!"
I roll my eyes and go back to looking at the line.
With nothing better to do, I end up thinking about Atlas again.
I've been thinking a lot about not going back to Atlas, and every time the idea seems more appealing for one simple reason:
I'm bored.
Even if I went back, there would be nothing for me to do. It would literally be the same as always — me eating dinner alone at a huge table while everyone else has something better to do.
I'm also afraid I might end up strangling Jacques in his sleep.
I spent my whole life trying to get that bastard to acknowledge me, just for him to treat my death like… I don't know. Something mildly inconvenient.
But anyway…
As badly as everything started — with a few terrorists, some bandits, a couple of explosions and a few dead people — maybe this is actually a great opportunity.
Maybe this is my chance to live for myself… maybe even have a big adventure like the anime Big Piece.
I might even write my own book.
I already have a title.
The Adventures of the Great Whitley Schnee.
"Kid."
Doug's voice pulls me back to reality.
"What?"
"Wipe that fox grin off your face," he says. "You look like you're planning to kill someone."
He tilts his head slightly toward the road.
"And pay attention. It's almost our turn."
I look ahead.
The cart in front of us starts moving.
The guards are already stopping the next one.
"Identification, please."
Oh…
Shit.
My stomach sinks a little.
Not again.
My Scroll was destroyed when the ship crashed. Even if I still had it, it wouldn't help much, considering I'm technically "dead."
And unlike Roca Town, I'm pretty sure if I tried to climb over a wall here I'd be greeted with bullets.
The cart in front of us finally moves.
Doug snaps the reins and we roll forward a few meters.
"Identification, please," says the older guard.
Doug pulls a card out of his pocket — who even still uses cards? — and shows it to him.
"Retired Huntsman."
The guard takes the card, looks at it for a second, and nods.
The other guard walks closer, looking at me, Josh and Margaret.
"And the others—"
"They're fine," the older one interrupts, handing the card back to Doug. "He's a Huntsman."
The other guard just shrugs and steps back.
"You may enter."
Thank the Two Brothers — if they even exist — that the guards in Anima are incompetent.
Doug snaps the reins and the cart finally passes through the city gate.
Mistral swallows us along with the noise, the colors and the smell of the harbor.
A new adventure begins.
.---.---.---. 3º POV .---.---.---.
Beacon Academy – Vale – Team RWBY Dorm
Weiss had been having a terrible month.
Ever since she left the mansion and came to Vale, everything seemed to have turned upside down.
Everything was so different from Atlas. People talked too much, laughed too loudly, and seemed completely unconcerned with basic rules of organization.
At the Academy, the situation was even worse. No one seemed to take things with the seriousness she expected from future Huntsmen.
Her own team was the best example of that.
Ruby Rose was… enthusiastic, but clearly still learning how to lead.
Yang Xiao Long seemed to treat half of every situation like a joke.
And Blake Belladonna spent most of her time silently reading in the corner of the room.
Normally, Weiss would have had something to say about that.
But lately, she hadn't said much of anything.
In fact… she had barely done anything at all. She had even skipped a few classes.
Can you imagine the famous Weiss Schnee skipping classes?
Whitley certainly would have laughed at that. He probably would have mocked her for weeks.
He would have laughed about the Dust incident that happened on the day she arrived at Beacon, too.
He would have given her that fox-like smile and said, "I told you."
Weiss could almost hear his voice saying it.
She grimaces.
It was strange to think about it now.
For years, most of their conversations had been exactly like that — small jabs, sarcastic comments, and arguments that never really went anywhere.
Nothing truly important.
Nothing… memorable.
Weiss tries to think of a different memory.
A serious conversation.
A moment when they simply talked like brother and sister.
But nothing comes to mind.
It leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. During the first few days, she hadn't even thought about calling Whitley. In fact… she had barely thought about him at all.
There were classes, training, arguments with her team, the constant chaos of Beacon. There was always something occupying her mind.
Always some convenient excuse.
But now she was spending most of her time thinking about him.
Thinking about the things she could have said.
Or the things she never even tried to ask.
She tries to remember a normal conversation between them — something beyond sarcasm echoing through the halls of the Schnee mansion in Atlas.
Nothing comes.
And that's when the thought truly hits her.
Weiss realizes that during all those years living in the same house…
She never actually got to know her own brother.
"You gonna keep staring at the wall, or are you going to talk to someone?"
Yang's voice cuts through the silence of the room.
Weiss blinks and finally looks at her.
Yang is leaning against the desk, arms crossed, watching her carefully.
"Because seriously," Yang continues, tilting her head, "this is starting to get a little creepy."
She steps a little closer.
"Look… I'm not really good at these serious talks," Yang admits. "Usually I leave that to Ruby."
At the sound of her name, Ruby Rose looks up from her Scroll.
Yang ignores her.
"But I do know what it's like to lose someone."
The room grows a little quieter.
Yang rubs the back of her neck before continuing.
"If something ever happened to Ruby… I honestly have no idea what I'd do."
She shrugs.
"I'd probably go around breaking things."
Weiss watches her for a moment.
Yang tilts her head.
"What was he like?"
Weiss blinks.
"Who?"
Yang looks at her like the answer is obvious.
"Your brother."
The silence returns.
Weiss opens her mouth to answer, but only a quiet murmur escapes.
"I don't know…"