Eclipse - Act 2 - Of Blood and Truth

Chapter 53 - The Foundations of Sovereignty

Robyn

There was a feeling in the air, a cold dread that was never fading no matter what they did.

Robyn, Fiona, May and Joanna moved through the streets of Atlas. The situation up here in the Floating City was not much different to what it was like down below on Mantle. There was a constant military presence here, armed to the teeth and constantly patrolling. Robyn kept her head down because these soldiers were constantly on the lookout. They still had targets on their heads for their actions against the Schnee Dust Company, by freeing so many of Jacques Schnee's slaves? That didn't just make them criminals, but terrorists in his eyes.

But in the eyes of people like Ilia? Velvet? Blake? She was a hero.

They ducked down as a massive Atlesian Paladin marched down the streets, with a patrol of soldiers behind it, Assault Rifles loaded as they looked around. Civilians up here looked concerned, but it was honestly harder to feel bad for them. Unlike the people below, the Atlesians were richer and far more privileged. They were not being treated like trash, or in the Faunus' case, like slaves. There was a massive difference already when you looked around and could count how many Faunus you could see. Up here in the city it was very few, and most of them were still more like slaves than actual free people.

Servants working in houses for richer families or in the restaurants behind the scenes whilst they had Humans be the waiters. It was disgusting how the Northern Society treated the Faunus, it was one of many changes that Robyn Hill wanted to enact, but that kind of way of thinking? It was systemic to its core... not something that can be changed quickly.

Not unless you ripped it out, root and stem, but that method would be bloody. Not the method Robyn wanted... and at first not what Killian wanted.

But now?

It was hard to be sure, it had seemed like Killian had finally snapped.

"I've never been up here before, in Atlas." May whispered as she looked around.

"I was." Joanna answered. "I used to fight in the Illegal Fighting Rings here."

Robyn knew all their stories, but that one always made her laugh at the hypocrisy of the Atlesians and their culture. "The Shining Light of Remnant, huh? Still has its criminal enterprises though, doesn't it?" Robyn scoffed as she walked with them, using the shadows to their advantage.

"The amount of Rich Noblemen I saw betting there was ridiculous. I had enough of fighting in those rings and when I met you... you gave me a way out." Joanna said to Robyn, the Leader of the Happy Huntresses smiled at her, gently squeezing her shoulder.

All of the Happy Huntresses hailed from Atlas.

As Joanna said, she was a Former Pit Fighter, like Eryka Vasillias once was. Sadly as a Faunus, Fiona was once one of the Slaves owned by the Schnee Dust Company, forced to work down in the dangerous Dust Mines. May on the other hand found Robyn after she transitioned and wanted to help the Faunus after a close friend of hers was killed in a Mining Accident. All of them wanted the Kingdom of Atlas to be better than the hand they were dealt, which meant they had to fight for it.

They waited for the Paladin to clear the street, and when nobody was looking the four of them quickly moved through. May was saving her semblance for the right moment, it consumed a lot of Aura to keep them all cloaked. Robyn ducked down when a Drone hovered across the street, it was constantly scanning people, nobody realised that they were being scanned for their identities.

"And I always thought the Atlesians were paranoid before Ironwood was killed. I actually kinda miss him." May admitted as she carefully moved forward.