RWBY: Origins of a Dragon

Chapter 12: Reignited

        "Sean... Sean!!!!!"  Sean opened his eyes and looked down from the tree he was in, and smiled as he saw Kara's younger brother Isaac walking towards him from below.
"What's up, Isaac?" he called out, and his friend looked up, his gray eyes searching and locking on to him.
"There you are. Sky's looking for you back in the village." Isaac declared, but then he scowled as he saw Sean hook both legs on the branch and hang upside down, before starting to do pull-ups from the branch using his legs.
"What does she want? She knows I spend time here during the day after I help out with the village. Besides, I need to get back in shape as fast as I can for when I get back to Beacon." Sean replied as he finished his first set.
"Um, that's great and all, and you know I'm not trying to get in the way of you training, but something came for you, from Atlas..." uttered Isaac, the last word barely being a whisper. Sean stopped mid pull-up and hung there, looking his best friend's brother directly in the eye.
"Whatever it is...I don't want it. They can all kiss my-" he growled, but he was cut off by his younger friend as he flicked him on the nose.
"I know, I know. But Sky just wants you to come back, she wasn't gonna open it without you there. None of us know what it is...but maybe they're trying to help us...and if it's...got something to do with Colt...then maybe it'll help you too..." Isaac responded softly. The eldest Hawthorne sighed and grabbed onto the branch, then unhooked his legs from the branch and flipped over as he let go of the branch, landing on his feet with his right foot first. He winced slightly as his left foot landed on the ground, feeling slight pain in his leg as he stood up straight.
"Dude, you know you should've waited the extra week before taking the cast off..." exclaimed a worried Isaac, but Sean shook it off.
"And lose a chance to train early before going back and getting some payback? No chance." growled Sean as he ruffled Isaac's hair and began walking back along the path back to the village. Isaac laughed as he playfully shoved his friend, the two of them walking side by side. But deep down, Isaac was worried about his friend. He knew that Sean was taking Colton's death hard, even if he repeatedly told everyone he was fine. And while Isaac held no grudge against Atlas for what happened, he knew as sure as his heart beat that Sean didn't feel the same.
           "Sean...I know how...I know how you feel about Atlas...but maybe, you could let this one go, just to see what they sent us...?" he asked in a gentle voice, and he walked past his friend as Sean stopped in his tracks. Isaac turned back and looked his friend in the eyes, his gray eyes clashing with Sean's blue ones.
           "Isaac, why should we accept anything from Atlas after what they did...?" he answered with a question of his own. Isaac was surprised at how calm and gentle his friend's voice was.
             "What do you mean? What did they do to us...?" he asked, confused at what Sean was saying.
            "They let us die. They let half of our village die..." Sean growled. Isaac let out a soft sigh, before returning his gaze to meet Sean's.
           "Sean...what happened to our village...that wasn't Atlas' fault. It was no one's fault...it just happened. Why have bad blood when there doesn't need to be any? Doesn't seem to make sense to me." Isaac pointed out.
           "No, but they still sat back, and did nothing! Our people suffered and died while they sat back and threw parties and galas as they gorged themselves. They claim to have the best medicine, the best tech, the best doctors, the best of everything. So then why do they hide behind their walls, and hog it all for themselves when they could've helped the rest of the world, when they could've helped us?! My brother might still be here if any of them had a spine!" Sean shouted, and Isaac couldn't help but flinch at how quickly the tone in Sean's voice had changed. Sean noticed this, and let out a sigh as he calmed himself down.
            "I know that many people in our village don't hate Atlas like I do. And many of them have asked me to let it go...but I can't. I just can't Isaac..." he uttered, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket and walking past him. Isaac watched him go solemnly, now more concerned for his friend than before.
            "Gods...Sean why can't you see what this is doing to you...? He wouldn't want to see you like this at all..." he thought to himself as he continued to walk back to the village.