Chapter Text
Weiss frowned at the thoughts she found coming to mind as the ground dropped away below her. She allowed herself to find no reason why she should, but she found her mind drifting to her lover. No, she reminded herself, your former lover.
Why was it so hard to think of her like that? Weiss had a magnificent view spreading out before her, and here she was, recalling her lover’s face. Her hands weren’t registering the cold, shapeless railing they held. They were remembering her lover’s lean muscles, her lover’s sweeping curves. Her heart ached remembering the last time they’d shared this view, taking off from this same port hand in hand.
She cursed. She should be planning, and here she was pining instead. When had she gotten this weak? How had she allowed it to take ahold of her? She shook the memories from her mind as best she could and reached in her purse for a towelette. The future won’t wait, she told herself as she began to wipe the makeup from her face, and you have to be ready for it.
Roland looked nervously out from the crow's nest of the MMS Ruppell onto the clouds below. They made him uneasy in a way the sea didn't. It was easy to tell if the seas were clear or not. There was either something on the water or there wasn't. Even if it was just a garbage patch, you always knew if something was there. Clouds felt like another matter. They shifted, changing shape and texture all the time on their own. Looking out over them, knowing he would be in charge of telling whether something was just clouds being clouds or something more, something worse, made his stomach clench.
He did his best to hide his unease from Bertrand, one of The Ruppell's 3rd mates and the man in charge of his training. His best didn't seem to make a difference, but Bertrand didn't seem bothered by his unease. Instead, Bertrand reached out and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"You'll do fine, Roland." Bertrand said amiably. “Little enough can get this high anyway, and anything that does is going to be transmitting, else their crew’s suicidal.”
“I’m-I’m alright, sir.” Roland said nervously. “It’s just the air.” Bertrand laughed.
“Aye. Even with the dust field it’s a bit thin this high, eh? But yer not foolin me lad.”
Roland shifted uncomfortably.
“Everyone gets nervous the first time on their own, Roland, but you’ve sharper eyes than most and a good head. Just relax. I won't be gone long.”
Roland took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Just relax.” He said to himself quietly.
“There’s a good lad.”
Roland smiled at him weakly. “You stand relieved, sir.”
Bertrand chuckled and began making his way down the deck. “I’ll be back later with some warm-”
“Sir!” Roland called out nervously, interrupting.
“Lad? Breath. Everything’s going to be-”
“No, Sir! I...I think I see something!” Bertrand paused and looked up into Roland’s face. It wasn’t nervousness he saw there now. It was alarm. He scrambled back up and took the binoculars.
“Where?” Roland grabbed the binoculars and pointed them instead of answering. Bertrand stared a moment, squinted, looked with his naked eyes, then looked through the binoculars again.
“Sound the alarm, lad!” He shouted as he saw what Roland had meant. The clouds were moving too fast nearby, alarmingly nearby. They were dense, but growing thin and rising. “They’re coming up right on top of us!”
Roland pulled open the cover of the alarm box, hammered the red button with his fist and called into the intercom. “All hands! All hands! Large foreign vessel rising 200 meters off starboard! All hands!”
Alert lights flashed and warning sirens sounded throughout the ship as sailors scrambled to their stations. They were too late. The foreign vessel rose, revealing itself to be a lean frigate, its frighteningly absurd number of sky gems glowing brilliantly as they burned the water vapor it had been hiding in away. The Ruppell rocked in its wake.
To come up on us like that...it must have been slowly creeping up in the clouds for hours. Bertrand thought as a heavy barrage was fired from the foreign vessel’s gems, rocking the Rummel and sending energy chafe radiating into the airspace around them. The Rummel's shields shuddered, and it lurched, its navigations systems slowing them automatically in response to its sudden inability to read its surroundings.
The foreign vessel approached at speed, continuing the barrage, chafe flooding the air. From it's decks came wild screams and hoots. A moment later it glided to a stop, close enough for boarding. The entire assault so far had taken no more than a few minutes. They’re lucky or mad. He thought, when he finally looked to their standard gem. It was dense and brown at its core with a bright yellow shell and seemed to be ablaze. The Ember Celica, he realized. They were being attacked by Pirate Queen Yang Xiao Long herself.
A mix of dread and relief washed over him as he understood their situation. He patted Roland's shoulder reassuringly.
“Hang tight, lad. This shouldn’t be long.” He said, and slid down the ladder to join the rest of the crew. The battle cries of the women from the Ember Celica seemed to echo around him as their boarding platforms locked in. They would take the ship, he knew, but the crew would do its best to make them earn it.
Captain Wei paced back and forth in his cabin, fuming. He had been trying to work out the math of what being completely looted might mean for him and his crew's fortunes. He didn’t care for the results.
“Xiao Long!” He muttered loudly, saying the name as a curse. “It would have to be Xiao Long!” His pace quickened even as he gestured wildly, his portly frame gliding with familiar ease around the small spaces in his cabin not dominated by charts, books, contracts and other assorted paperwork. "Anyone else we would have been safe from, unless it were maybe The Mercury, but if that beast somehow showed up here piracy would be the least of our worries. At least with her if the stories are true..." If the stories were true, they would be safe. Only if. He paused and took a deep breath, turning to face his personal guards.
"You should be out there with the other men, not locked up in here with me." His guards looked at each other, concerned.
"Captain, we can't-"
“Don’t captain me!” He barked back. "'Captain!' Pah! I'm just one man! I-" He paused, interrupted by clanging in the vent. "What the-"
"Someone's in the vents!" One of his guards shouted.
"Don’t be an idiot.” The squad chief said. “Vents are too light to hold anyone," she said, but began shouldering her energy rifle anyway. The others all knew what she was thinking. Vents shouldn’t be able to hold anyone, but who knows what someone’s semblance could make possible, and these madwomen of Xiao Long's, grim take them, they actually used theirs.
One by one they all began to line up facing the exhaust grate. A few moments later, the vents fell silent. They looked at each other again. The chief nodded, and one of them began cautiously approaching the exhaust when it flew open with a resounding clang, and a small figure in a long hooded cloak dropped out, landing gracefully with a roll. The guards levelled their energy rifles.
The figure stood and pushed their hood back revealing a young woman with short, dark hair. “Hi! I’m-” she began, then paused on seeing the weapons leveled at her. “Wait, okay, there’s no need for those. Let’s just-”
“Fire!” The chief shouted. The guards opened fire, loud pops from the rifle’s energy discharges filled the filled the air followed by the dull sounds of the charges dissipating as they failed to find a target. Nervously, they began to turn to their right, following the streak of color they had barely seen from where it had zipped away just below the vent exhaust to where the young woman now stood holding a large scythe.
“Okay, you can really put those down. I just want to talk.” The guards turned, reaiming, but before they could fire again, the young woman zipped down their line. They staggered, then collapsed to the floor, their auras drained protecting them from the sweep of her scythe.
“Sorry about that.” She said sheepishly to the guards, then turned to face Captain Wei. His hand hovered uncertainly over his holster.
“Right, so as I was saying, I’m Ruby Rose. You probably haven’t heard of me, but that’s okay. I’m here to help.”
“Help?” The captain asked warily. “S-so you mean you’re not a pirate?”
“Not exactly.”
“'Not exactly?' You’re not part of my crew! If you’re not with them, then what are you doing here?!”
“Oh, no I came here with them, but I’m more of a diplomat.”
“Diplomat? What’s a diplomat doing on a pirate ship?”
“Well, we are a band of pirates, after all. Misunderstandings can happen.”
“‘We?!’ I thought you weren’t a pirate!”
“I’m not! I mean, I’m not here to beat up your guards and take your riches...eeeven though I did just beat up your guards...aaand I probably will get a share of your riches. Sorry about that.” She said, somehow managing to sound highly embarrassed about the fact. “I’m here to help everyone as much as possible.”
“Then help us stop the pirates!” The captain yelled in a panic.
“No, see, that would only help you.” She sighed and put a hand to her head. “Okay, let’s try this again.”