As it turned out, moving a little under eighty people was rather difficult. Hardly even a day after she had last spoken to the White Fang engineer, one of his fellows had come up to Weiss as she and Jaune were sharing a meal. He said that the Bullhead was as ready as it was ever going to be, and that they needed to start preparing people for the move.

Weiss had expected a lot more grumbling, honestly. The idea that the reasonably healthy survivors would have to walk should have caused a lot of grumbling and even a few vocal dissenters, but it didn't. Instead, she got a few sighs of resignation, but mostly there were nods of approval.

"Is there a chance of multiple flights for some of the less fit, ma'am?" asked one of the Valeans, staring attentively despite his missing eye.

"We're lucky enough that we found a transport in the first place, much less one we could get airborne. We don't want to push it with back to back flights like that. This is the best option for everyone," Weiss answered, standing on a small rock outcropping.

There was a brief muttering among the assembled forces, and Weiss felt no small amount of pride that even old rivals like Atlas and Vacuo had seemingly crossed off old threats and grudges. This was it.

This was what peace should look like. A bunch of people coming together to choose the most sensible solution for everyone.

One of the women, practically a giant, spoke up. The broad cleaver's on her hips denoted her as a huntress.

"Can't the less fit ride instead of me? Both of my feet work. Mostly." She added with a wince as she shifted from one foot to another.

Surprisingly, it was the pilot who spoke up, agitation clear in his voice. "We need anyone with experience piecing things together to get the ships ready, and we need some of the larger guys to help load the wounded in the first place. And if worst comes to worst, they'll stand the best chance of carrying anyone out of a crash. People, we don't have the time to argue every part of this plan."

Weiss glared at the faunus, but he made no note of having noticing. She eventually just sighed and looked out among the survivors.

"Does anyone have any suggestions we haven't considered? I am open to any you may have, truly," Weiss said, trying to keep her tone friendly.

Whether it was out of agreement with the plan or resignation, the crowd was silent aside from a few muttered words of approval.

Weiss nodded, "No? Good. Break camp and get the wounded ready for transport. We'll try and be out of here in the next couple of hours."

The crowd broke off, and while none looked too happy they all seemed livelier than they had in days. Well, aside from the Vacuoans who always seemed to be in high spirits, joking about how the wastes were 'just like home.' Grau's Atlesians, who seemed to defer to her orders, simply nodded and began to shift supplies towards the Bullhead.

Weiss ran a hand down her face, unsurprised to see it come away covered in sweat and grime. She hopped off the outcropping, to where the White Fang engineer was talking to his two associates, both in Fang regalia.

"-sure that we don't have anyone pretending to be sick to get out of walking," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"Aye, you got it Lode," a woman nodded, before looking past the man Weiss now knew as Lode. "You've got a visitor."

Lode turned and gave her a look of irritation, before flicking his head at his two subordinates. The two walked past her, glaring at Weiss behind their masks as they went.

"Lode, was it?" Weiss said, trying to wipe the frown off her face. By the huff on his face, she could guess she had failed.

"Surprise-surprise Schnee, I have a name. Was just telling them to make sure no one gets any funny ideas about gettin' lazy," Lode said, crossing his arms. He still had the gall to wear that tasteless Grimm mask, even after all these years. Weiss was willing to bet it was attachment more than anything else.

"You know, they came all this way to save the world. I don't think cutting in line is going to be a top priority right now."

"If you say so. I know I would." Lode shrugged. "Look, I need you guys to help us get on a boat, then we can all go our separate ways, simple as that."

"Fair enough. In the mean time, though, I'll have to ask you to be less aggressive, it's no-" Weiss cut off as Grau jogged up to them.

"Ma'am," Grau nodded as he snapped off a quick salute to Weiss, who internally cringed at the deference. "The men were wondering what we should prioritize for transport. Won't be a lot of room."

"I don't think we'll need a lot of Dust, with the Grimm all gone, and our medical supplies are already pretty low. We can make two trips though, so food followed by the medicine. Any extra space we have can go to Dust."

Grau nodded, and was about to jog off before Lode spoke up. "Why not just bring it all?"

The soldier turned and raised an eyebrow at the faunus. "Did I stutter? There isn't enough-"

"Yeah, I got that. There's plenty of room on the outside though. If I fly careful enough, we can just load it up and carry it out using the Bullhead. Those things have way more carrying capacity than what you can fit inside."

Weiss nodded, remembering Ruby excitedly telling their team about the raid at the docks in Vale. It all seemed so far away these days. "And you can pull it off?"

Lode smirked, an action Weiss didn't think the dour man was capable of. "Of course. May take us a bit longer to get off the ground and going, but at least we won't have to worry about paddling our way back to civilisation."

"Good. We'll do it that way then, I think." She turned back to Grau. "No sense in bringing it with the first trip, since we'd just be dropping it in the middle of nowhere. Tell your men to prep it with help from Lode's friends. I just hope that it isn't too much weight with the rest of the wounded."

"This can't be all of them."

Jaune sighed and shook his head. He looked more worn out than anyone else still on two feet. "Well, I don't know what else to tell you, Weiss."

Weiss looked on in shock, trying to process the revealed information. Instead of the thirty wounded they had left, only about half of that had held on this long. Already, grim faced medics and volunteers were pulling blankets over the faces of the deceased and carrying them out of the campsite.

"But I thought they were fine last night?" Weiss whispered in disbelief, "How did this…"

"We'd lost a bunch overnight. Not enough meds to treat everyone as much as they should, and I could only keep so many up. Infection, we think. Or disease, we aren't really sure with all this rot going around. Four huntsmen slipped away while I was asleep." Jaune added that last part after a few moments. Weiss looked up and could finally place his exhaustion.

"Jaune… it's not your fault. You know that," Weiss said, giving him a fierce hug. Years ago, she would have been repulsed by the act. But after all they had been through, any bad blood or awkwardness had been burned away.

"Yeah… I know…" Jaune sighed, trying to put on a weak smile.

Weiss pulled away, worry on her face. "And Yang…?"

This time, Jaune's smile was real, if still small. "She's fine. Her Aura has finally started to stabilize, though I still need to keep a close eye on her. Her body is fighting something, and every so often her Aura just snaps. Still, it's a step up from needing to constantly use my Semblance."

Weiss gave a hum of understanding, the relief flowing through her still not washing away the unease Jaune's demeanor had left in her. It was hard to get a read on Jaune's mood, especially after the loss of a comrade. He always buried it, deeper than even she did. The loss of Nora and Ren… he hadn't even mentioned it yet. A part of her wanted to dig it out of him, but she knew that this wasn't the time or place for it.

That he hadn't fallen to pieces or gone silent was all she could ask of him right now.

"You'll be going on the second flight, by the way. I'm good enough to walk by now, and I need to make sure someone I can trust get the wounded get loaded safely. A few people here seem a bit callous about them."

"Right, I'll take care of it," Jaune replied. And with that, he stepped away and moved to help gather the rest of the bodies.

Weiss barely had the time to straighten out her tattered outfit before she heard Lode calling out for the first flight. Checking Myrtenaster out of muscle memory, Weiss started off towards the edge of the camp. Already, what passed for engineers were packing all their gear into the Bullhead and getting ready for the ride out, while the rest of the able-bodied were gathering for the long, miserable trek.

Belatedly, Weiss wondered if she could get away with flying away on a summon.

The ragtag group tried to make quick pace, but it was hard to keep going when they knew the only thing waiting for them at the end of the march was more work.

The Vacuoans had helped though, sharing tricks and tips to beat the heat, as well as singing songs as they skipped and scouted ahead. Weiss had grown up hearing about how lazy the citizens of Vacuo had been, though that had long since been pushed out of her mind.

Still, the gusto with which these tribesmen had carried themselves over the past few days was a sight to see. They had led the way in scavenging, rescues and offered tips on how to construct their makeshift shelters. Sadly, there weren't an abundance of them left in the group. Even then, they managed to drown out those who moaned and whined about the heat.

Mercifully, the group seemed to suffer through the march with the kind of stoic camaraderie of people who very simply just want to go home.

It was a few hours into the march that some of the Mistrali started to get antsy, chattering about how close they were getting. How they could recognize anything in this blasted terrain was beyond Weiss, but she had a feeling it was a mixture of hope and restlessness more than anything else.

The atmosphere was an odd one, the kind you get when everyone has already said goodbye to one another then moved down the same street. People made small conversations all around, though it was so audibly non-committal that it made Weiss wince. Still, she couldn't help but agree. Everyone was exhausted, not to mention still processing the… loss they had all experienced.

No one was really ready to make new friends, and old friends didn't have anything to say to each other. Still, it wasn't as though they disliked each other, but rather than there was nothing that anyone could casually chat about. Everything felt so far away, after a war.

Any mirth there may have been was silenced by the ominous black pools that dotted the landscape. As they approached Evernight, the army had been harried at every step by Grimm spawning from these bubbling pools. And now, it was almost more disturbing to see them completely still and unmoving. Weiss tried not to look at them for too long, and the group gave them a wide birth where they could

After nearly a day of marching in silence, the weathered group crested a hilltop and saw, off in the distance, a cluster of ships landed on a large, rough beach head. A ragged cheer went up, and Weiss found herself re-energized at the sight.

With newfound speed, they made their way to the shoreline, chattering loudly the distance seemed to roll away underneath them. Weiss couldn't help but notice how volatile morale seemed to be. Give people nothing to do, and they fester quickly with irritation and frustration. It seemed like it hardly took much to get the survivors into a pessimistic slump, but dragging them out took a lot of effort.

Though, for the moment, Weiss was just glad that a good mood seemed to hold.

It didn't take long for the ships to become clearly visible. There were plenty of small ships moored on the sand, tipped over and torn apart in their hulls as they were sailed straight into the beach. Those were hardly usable now, though at the time it made sense. They couldn't leave people behind to keep the boats out in the open water, and building a dock was just foolish.

All over the beach, engineers dragged and shouted at each other, already calling to the group as it approached. Weiss saw some of them clambering up the sides of vessels, in particular what appeared at first glance to be a wall of steel.

Where Atlas had invested in airships, Mistral had focused on creating the toughest vessels they could. The product of that investment was evident in the veritable wall of steel sitting in the shallows on the water.

Nearly a thousand feet long, and almost a dozen stories tall, the Mistrali Corsair-class Battleship was the jewel of Mistral's crown. Weiss had never seen one up close, but couldn't help but gawk at the bristling guns adorning its hull. She could see the heavy deck guns peeking out over the lip of the ship, and Weiss could only wonder how much firepower the whole vessel could bring to bear.

There were at least half a dozen all parked in the water, though two of them were considerably lower than the others, adorned in holes and at a precarious angle. How they were able to stay in the shallows without cutting into the sand and falling over confused Weiss until, upon closer inspection, she noticed small buoys of Gravity Dust glowing softly in the water.

"Why isn't there anyone here?" Weiss asked, looking at the completely abandoned warships.

"We couldn't bring em' to the fight, and every man was needed." answered one of the Mistrali, who was looking mournfully at the ships, "No chance of us being able to get these back home just yet. Hopefully, they'll hold up and not get dragged out.

Weiss turned to ask him another question when the group was approached by a man, one she recognized from the camp. He was wearing a torn green jacket, his face covered in sweat and his hands covered in grease. He stalked over, his toolbelt clanging loudly.

"It's about damn time!" He shouted, "I need ten men in each Corsair, grabbing all the medical supplies and tools you can find, now!"

Weiss looked back at the haggard group, making eye contact with Grau, in the middle, who shrugged.

"Ah, some of our group alre-" Weiss began, before the engineer waved his hands frantically.

"Now! Unless you want to stay on this sun-blasted rock forever!

Weiss stared at him, her mind whirring. Sending exhausted men to hard labour seemed a notoriously foolish task. On the other hand, they'd probably jump at the chance to be out of this heat.

"Alright, you heard him. Grab some friends and let's make this quick!" Weiss said, nodding at Grau. The more seasoned veterans jumped to it, clambering up loose rigging right away. The more independent huntsmen and soldiers dragged their feet, but were quickly corralled and paired off by Grau and some of the other like minded survivors.

Weiss turned back, only to find that the engineer had begun to march swiftly back up the beach. With an irritated sigh, Weiss jogged up alongside him.

"What's wrong?" She asked, getting straight to the point.

"What's wrong is that the only damn ship we could find is currently pushing out enough smoke to make the Brother's cough! And before you ask, no, we don't have the crew to sail any of these larger ships! We'd been hoping we could find a large transport, but the best we can do is the nautical equivalent of a school bus."

"Will it get us to Argus?" Weiss said.

The man stopped and turned to face her, confusion replacing his frustration, "What? Why Argus?"

"It's closer to us than Vale or Mistral, that's for sure."

"Yes, but it'll be like sailing a fridge to get there. Are you sure we ca-"

Weiss sighed and raised a hand to cut him off, "If you can think of somewhere we can go that won't cost us half the crew, do tell. But right now, we don't have enough food or water for a protracted voyage. I've been thinking about it for the whole walk here, and I believe it to be the best course."

The engineer shrugged, and they started to walk again. "If you say so. Look, Miss Schnee, was it?" Weiss could hardly resist rolling her eyes, "All I know is that people are going to be miserable in that thing already, and then telling them we've got to go north on top of that is going to raise some hackles."

"If you worry about making sure we don't sink, I'll keep a mutiny out of your hair… I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name Mister…?"

"Hayham. And whatever you say. Word to the wise, though. We aren't exactly shipwrights. This job won't last us too long once we're out on the ocean, though we can probably plug any problems we get." Hayham rubbed his eyes in his sleeve, spreading some of the grease. "God's, I just want to go home, collect my nice, fat, early retirement and pass out in my own damn bed."

"Soon, I should hope we all get that chance." Weiss said, "Though I doubt there'll be much rest on that ship." Weiss grimaced. I told them they'd have a chance to rest. I guess that was a lie.

Up ahead was a comparatively small vessel, its cannons shorn off and pockmarked with rust and barnacles. Workers clambered over the vessel like ants, patching what they could and shouting orders at each other.

Weiss watched on, as Hayman patted his pockets down and swore under his breath. Weiss raised an eyebrow, but the low thrum of an engine made her eyes swivel back to the badlands, where the large troop transport was making its way over to the beachhead, a net full of supplies hanging from its belly.

Cheers sounded out across the beach as the last of the party came in for a landing, but died an ugly death as black smoke belched out from the surface below, scattering upwards like dust in the wind. All around the countryside, Weiss could see the faint pillars of black smoke rising, all scattering and fading away in the air.

The dust covered the Bullhead for a heart stopping moment, before the airship burst out and hurtled towards the survivors. People started to panic, but Weiss just readied her glyphs, prepared to break their fall.

Thankfully, at the last second the Bullhead pulled up and spun twice towards the beach, before losing its momentum and coming to rest in the air. Hovering in the air a few feet off the ground as two of the workers jumped off and quickly untied the supplies from the airship as its engines coughed pitifully.

All around, people abandoned their work and dashed towards the Bullhead, unloading the wounded. Jaune leapt out of the Bullhead and scrambled towards Weiss, his face pale, though this time it was clearly not from any air sickness.

"Jaune, what's happening?" Weiss asked eyes darting to the growing pillars of black, as Hayham made a grunt.

"It's the pools, Weiss. They're evaporating." Jaune said, his face flush with a canvas of emotions..

Behind her, Hayham popped his last cigarette in his mouth and lit it with a long pull.

"Ah, now that" Hayham sighed, "looks like overtime, I think."

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry this took so long to get out, school has been brutal. But yeah, here we see some of the effects and character dynamics beginning to build up. This is probably the before last set-up chapter for the main story, and I'm really excited for you guys to see where I want to take this story. Some may have noticed I'm changing up the description of the story every now and then, and that's because I'm really trying to get something I think is perfect up there, so don't give it any mind!

Thanks again for all the favs, follows and reviews!