The Wilted Rose Book 2: Outlaws

Chapter 16: Bad Memories (Vol. 5 Prologue)

Weiss Pov

Mistral Airspace

10:44 AM

I sat in the cockpit of the airship, watching the view go by. After last night, the further from Atlas I got, the better. Despite how he originally came off back in the hanger, the pilot was a rather nice person. We had been talking for the last two hours since I had woken up. 

Pilot: Got to say, this was a longer trip then I thought it would be. There was a lot of comms traffic coming though from Atlas. Heard your name mentioned a few times. 

Weiss: I'm not surprised. Didn't really have the time to tell people where I was going. 

Pilot: I can imagine. Say, why did you need to leave like this? Surely you could have done so legally?

Weiss: If that was a option, I would have done so....

The pilot looked over, seeing that I was uncomfortable. Even with his visor down, I could see that he felt bad asking. I didn't mind that he did, but this was far from ideal. Who I am was a dead giveaway because of my hair, so he could probably put the pieces together on his own. 

Pilot: ....Sorry for prying....

Weiss: It's fine. I just hope I haven't been a burden....

Pilot: Kid, your paying me to get you somewhere. Not so much a burden as.... Unlisted cargo.

Weiss: Gee, thanks....

Pilot: I'm kidding. I'm more than happy to take you where you need to go if I can make a little more scratch. Living isn't cheap in Atlas.

I wouldn't know.... My family never had to scrape money together just to survive. I looked back out over the horizon. Thinking about it left a bad taste in my mouth. I had more bad memories of Atlas than good. Before I could think on it more, the radio crackled to life.

The signal was weak and jumbled. The pilot started to adjust the knobs, trying to get the sound in clearer. I listened closely, trying to pick out what was being said. After a minute of adjustment, the sound started to clear up. 

???: Mayday! Mayday! We're a small passenger freighter and our Huntress is down! We aren't equipped to deal with this! 

Pilot: *Sigh* ....Shit....

???: The Grimm hit us four hundred klicks north of the southern shoreline- *Bang* ARGH! GET THEM OFF US! If anyone can hear this-

The transmission didn't finish. There was a loud bang and the signal went dead. The pilot changed the channel on the transceiver to cut off the static and started adjusting course away from where the transmission said they were. 

Weiss: We're not going to help them? 

Pilot: No.

Weiss: Why not!?

Pilot: The way that transmission ended. It most likely means that the ship went down. The only thing we'd be saving is their bodies and I'm not about to face down Grimm for that. 

Weiss: What if there are survivors!? 

Pilot: Schnee....

The pilot reached down and rolled up his right pants leg, showing off a prosthetic limb. 

Pilot: The last time I played hero, I lost my leg for it. Was lucky to make it out alive. I'm not a Huntsman. I'm not a hero, and I'm certainly not the Red Hood. I just want to get you where your going, finish my drop and get back home. Preferably with my remaining limbs attached. 

Weiss: But-

Pilot: I'm sorry, but my ship, my rules. 

I closed my mouth and stood up. I couldn't blame him for refusing, but at the same time, I couldn't help but hate that there was nothing that could be done. He was probably right about the ship having went down. Hearing it cut off the way it did was hard to listen to. How many people were on board when it went down.

Walking out of the cockpit, I wandered back to my case and sat near the window. I didn't want to look out just in case I saw the ship, or what remained of it in the distance. Y/n would have done whatever he could to get to them, regardless of if they were alive or not. I closed my eyes, pushing out the radio call and wishing that Y/n was here with me....

(A/n: Ok, I'm not going to be uploading for a bit. I currently have flu and all I've done was write this little bit. Once I'm over it, then I'll go back to a regular upload sceduale but until then, stay awesome and enjoy the story.)