Remnant - XXII

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Requested By : Gib

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Two days…

Kali had spent two entire days getting up with the sun itself to get to her table and process the incoming Faunuse from Vale until the sun went back down. On the second day, Ghira had shown up with a pair of Insecticons and erected a large tarp over their heads to give them all shade. Another four of them had arrived later that afternoon, each carrying a pallet of barrels roped together that they set out so that the Faunus could get water, while more laid out barrels of salted fish, dried eels and baked, peppered kelp for everyone to eat.

It wasn't exactly a kingly feast, but it did the job.

By the third day's end, it felt like the same sentence, over and over, had deformed her jaw to their shape - 'Name, Age, Gender of designation, career at expulsion, educational level'. An obvious tweak on what they'd used before, but one Ghira had convinced her they needed. Or, well, Shockwave maybe. But Ghira had seemed to agree, and Kali didn't really have a reason not to make the change.

What was she supposed to do, appeal to tradition?

They'd only been using her original system for a few years, and even then, she wasn't a 'traditional' person.

Those tended to be the ones pointing guns at her people, after all…

"Kali." The man at the desk next to her, Keith… Something, she couldn't remember, now, said as she came and sat down.

"Keith." She smiled and accepted the thermos of coffee he sat in front of her. He was dressed in what passed for the uniform of Sienna's raiders, a short white tabard over simple clothes, so she could guess where he got all the coffee from.

"Still a crowd today." He grunted and Kali nodded, accepting the lidded bowl of soup he made her to help settle her morning stomach with an embarrassed little grimace. There were at least a couple hundred left, mostly just waking up from whenever they'd fuound to curl up on the ground and turning to crowd around the barrels of food and water the Insecticons were already dropping off.

"Yeah…" Sea and stars, it hurt, seeing kids getting up off the ground, but they just didn't have anywhere else to put them.

Damn Atlas straight to the Grimm…

"This is it, though." Keith added, earning a raised eyebrow from her. He smirked and jerked his head out towards the harbor, "No more ships. And the Khan sent word and had a few of us 'borrow' some of the better ones that hauled our people in. They're out there, watching for more."

"Huh…" That would be useful. Hopefully they'd send a few around to Harmonex, so Menagerie wouldn't be so swamped. That would mean more people set up over there to process everyone, but even so, they would be able to do it quicker. More importantly, though, "The Khan? Really, that's what she's calling herself?"

"S'what we've taken to calling her." Keith shrugged. When she snorted, he chuckled and pointed at the thermos he'd handed her, "Sass me 'bout it, I dare ya."

"I-I think it's time to get started." She chuckled, sliding the thermos over and uncapping it while the older man snorted and laughed. While others ate, a few more eager to get going came sauntering up to the tables and Kali smiled, "Name, Age, Gender of designation, career at expulsion, educational level, please."

Cooks, maids, miners, construction workers, fishers, farmers, low-end clerks, sales-people, teachers- Most of the Faunus were various kinds of lower-end, civilian workers. That was most of what they'd gotten together, and finding work for them all would definitely be a challenge. But she already knew Shockwave and Ghira had plans for some of them. Schools had been planned for Menagerie and Harmonex both, and Shockwave had floated a few locations for mines they could set up.

But she doubted many would volunteer for work in the Dark Mountains…

Still, there were a few veins Shockwave had managed to find between Menagerie and Harmonex, along the mountainous coastline. A dozen deposits of iron, some aluminium,a tiny bit of tin, and a particularly heavy deposit of copper up in one of the taller mountains, all along the coast. In much easier to reach locations.

Well, except for the copper.

That was at the top of one of Menagerie's taller mountains…

'Useful, without a doubt', according to her mountainous friend.

But honestly, Kali didn't know anything about any of that. Her expertise just lay elsewhere, and she was far from ashamed of the fact.

Smiling, she stole a drink from the water she'd been brought and turned to the large man htat stepped up to her next, "Name, Age, Gender of designation, career at expulsion, educational level, please."

"Leonardo Lionheart, twenty nine, uh, male, I suppose. And I'm a hunter." He finished quietly, "From, ah, Mistral. Graduated a high school out there, too."

"A Hunter…" She gave the man a look and raised her eyebrow, "Keither could turn you towards our fighters,if you're interested."

"Ah, no." The bearded man, a Lion from his flicking tail, smiled apologetically and explained, quickly, "I-I don't want to hurt anyone, you understand? I don't judge anyone, of course, for fighting, but… It's just not in me. I became a Huntsman to fight Grimm, not people."

"I understand completely." She smiled, making a note at the bottom of her form and then pausing for a moment as an idea occurred. Looking up, she asked, "Have you considered teaching?"

"Once or twice…"

"We are planning to open some schools soon." She grinned excitedly, "We could add a combat school to those plans."

"Ah…" She saw the man's eyes light up, just a bit, and then he smiled. "That would be… Menagerie's first combat course…"

Kali's grin turned almost feral in spite of herself, "Yes, yes it would be."

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Scramble stepped around the crowd of Faunus looking at the drawing for the building they were at and knelt, laying out the ton of lumber he carried and using his claws to cut the ropes that bound it all together. Still kneeling, he turned to accept another stack handed to him by Sever and turned to stack it on top of the first, cutting its bindings as well before he stood up. The head of the project thanked him and he nodded and turned to make his way back to the coast, where other Insecticons were already loading more bundles of fresh planks on the coast-line.

But… A flash of motion and color caught his eye and he turned, just as something ducked into an alley further up the street, where a habitation unit's exterior had been finished, though its innard still required work.

Curious, he lumbered up the street and knelt, peering up the alley to its dead end.

The alleyway was crowded by stacks of thinner wood panels, pipes, and wiring for internal work from the front to the rear, but even so, he could spot the little form huddling in the rear. Hiding, just out of view behind some pipes. A thin frame, and a long mop of bright violet hair that did nothing to help the little flesh thing hide among the pale white walls and dull gray pipes and wires.

Straightening, he turned to look around him, but no one was near, beyond the construction workers. And they had been told not to interrupt their work. But he couldn't just leave the small one alone. Surely that would be unacceptable. And if Master found out…

He knelt back down and, quietly, called out, "Little… Meat thing. What are you doing here?"

It flinched and ducked lower, trying to hide, and Sever sighed and reached in to drag the pallet of supplies forward to expose the little Faunus. The surprised creature was small, as he'd seen, and thin enough that he could make out its bones. Its hands were webbed and tipped by black claws that looked like they could hurt something. Caught out, the little creature froze.

So, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I-I…" It blinked, shook, and then its face scrunched up as water began to… Leak from its eyes. "I can't find my daaaaaddy!"

"You can't-" He flinched as the girl screamed, bawling now, and raised his hand, waving desperately to cool it off before he realized that wouldn't work. When he did, he said, "Hush, child! Do not scream."

It flinched, eyes wide and frightened, and turned to him and he frowned. He hadn't meant to frighten it…

More gently, he asked, "You lost your father?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Where?"

"H-He was on another boat…" She sniffled, eyes leaking a bit, "They s-split us up."

"I see." And they hadn't found each other. An idea that made Sever feel… Something that he did not like. Something that made him want to find something to rip apart. He growled for it and laid his hand on the ground, palm up. "Come, we look."

"We'll… Look?" He nodded and, nervous, the girl in the back skirt crawled onto his hand. She squawked in surprise as he lifted her up, over the building, and stood.

Carefully, he let her step onto his head and growled, "Hold onto my horns. They are not sharp."

"O-Okay…" He could just barely see her feet, dirty and webbed and clawed like her hands, hanging above his eyes as he turned, lumbering towards the coast. After a second, the little creature called out, "Daddy! Where are you!?"

Cupping his hands to his mouth, he bellowed, "Daddy! Where are you!"

"Hey!" The kid squawked, tapping the top of his head, "It's my daddy, not yours, metal man!"

"My name is Sever…"

"It's my daddy, Sever!"

"Ah." He blinked, "What is his name?"

"I dunno…"

"What is yours?"

"Aqua!"

"Aqua's daddy!" He bellowed, "Where are you!"

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"And you couldn't find him…?"

"No, Lady Kali." Sever rumbled, lit from behind by the setting sun and cradling the little girl, Aqua, in one of his hands. While he rocked her gently, he said, "I believe that she said the ship was something Mirage."

"Mirage…" Kali murmured, turning in her seat at her table to call out, "Kieth! Alphonse! Have either of you heard of a ship with Mirage in its name?"

"No!" Alphonse called back, turning to Kieth, who was helping clean up trash around the refugee site, and asking, "You?"

Kieth grimaced, looked at the ground, then met Sever's gaze and shook his head, "Only one. The Amber Mirage. It went down just off Vale. Grimm attacked, and it was… It was slower, and Atlas left it behind to protect the main fleet until it was close enough to Menagerie."

"Oh…" Sever blinked, then turned and masked, "Lady Kali, would you take the child?"

"I can…" She cocked her head, "Why?"

"I must go look for her daddy." He answered simply, tilting his hand to let the woman take Aqua from him. When she didn't, he growled, "Please, take the child."

"Sever, you can't fly there."

"Why not?"

"It's hours away." She explained, "And Atlas would shoot you down if they saw you."

"They can try!" The child squirmed and he flinched, eyes widening as he watched her roll over and curl up into a ball in his palm. Satisfied she wouldn't wake up, he said, quieter, "I will be fine. Atlas can't defeat me."

"Sever, Insecticons have been killed by Atlas." Lady Kali argued, shaking her head and holding up a hand when he opened his mouth to argue, "And besides, if the Grimm sank it, then… Then he's dead."

"But… Aqua…" He blinked, something fowl churning in his innards. Frowning, he rumbled, "Then I will kill those Grimm!"

"Sever…" Lady Kali sighed and shook her head, then paused for a moment and asked, "What if you die?"

"I will not!"

"But what if you do?" She pressed, pointing at the girl, "She just lost her father. You want her to lose her new friend, too?"

"But-"

"Her only friend on the entire island?" Lady Kali pressed sharply, eyebrows raised. "Because, Sever, if you go out there, you will die. Atlas will shoot you down, or the Grimm will swarm you, or you'll just run out of Energon. Something will happen to you out there and you'll be gone and she will be alone, again. Is that what you want?"

"No…"

"Then stay." She sighed, shaking her head. "I'll find someone to take her in. But for now, just… Take her to the beach and sit with her. Okay?"

"Yes, Lady Kali…" Slowly, he stood and turned away, heading for the beach. Along the way, he bent down to pluck a handful of roasted fish wrapped in edible kelp from an outdoor grill whose cook watched him with wide eyes until he left, and dropped them into his palm with the girl. Eventually, he found a nice spot on the beach and lowered himself down on a hand, sitting softly to let her sleep.

After a while, he felt her stir and looked down as she sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

She blinked up at him, eyes bright and blue, and slurred, "S'ver."

"Hello."

"Did you find my daddy?"

"Your daddy is dead." He said, "His ship sank. Lady Kali-"

"No!" He flinched and watched her scramble out of his hand and onto the sand, stumbling away and turning to point up at him. "You're lying!"

"I am not…"

"But… But you are!" She choked and sank to the sand, tucking her knees up to her chest, and hacked out, "Daddy… Where's my daddy!?"

"He is-"

"I want my Daddy!" She screamed, cutting him off and leaking water from her eyes again.

Sever watched her sit and cry for a moment before, on its own, seemingly, he reached out and gently wrapped his fingers around her. She turned and threw herself onto one of his fingers, hugging it and screaming, and he felt something twist in the back of his head. Wrapping her up more tightly, he lifted her and held her to his shoulder. She screamed into his shoulder, and drew more than a few gazes from Faunus around her, but they looked away when he growled at them, and he let her cry as they shuffled away.

After a while, she calmed down and he picked up some of the kelp-wrapped fish to offer to her, "Do you hunger?"

"No…"

"You have not eaten all day." He pressed unsurely, "Eat."

"Don't wanna."

"Eat." He grunted, "Or I shall dump you in the ocean."

"You wouldn't…"

"I would." He rumbled and, after a second, a hand snaked out from between the fingers holding her to his shoulder to take the fish and draw it back in. Satisfied, he leaned back to watch the sunset while she ate.

Soon, he detected her breathing evening out as she fell asleep and found himself smiling.

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