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knox-knocks · 4 years

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This is my gift to @yeahboiislay / @bhenchod for the @aftgexchange ! I really hope you enjoy, i had so much fun with the prompts you gave!

Having the evening to themselves, Matt and Neil plan an awesome Boys' Night that consists of movies, a surplus amount of food, and maybe a bit too much alcohol. Everything starts of great, but when they wake up the next morning with no memories, no money, and no eyebrows, they try to retrace their steps to figure out what the hell happened last night and run into a few problems.

~ ~

“Neeeeeeeiiiiiiil," Matt sings as he sails through the door to the suite, arms laden with a mountain of food. He grins at Neil and drops the snacks – seven different boxes of candy, two large bags of M&Ms, a six pack of soda, a bowl of popcorn, and a rather large bottle of rum – onto the table where they skitter to the sides and would have fallen if Neil hadn’t caught them in time. “Are you ready?”

Neil bounces around his friend, cradling one of the bags of M&Ms to his chest. He raises it above his head in triumphant glory at not letting it fall to the floor and meets Matt’s full-wattage smile with one of his own. Despite his hesitation at the amount of junk food and alcohol Matt had proposed for tonight, he could feel a current of excitement coursing through him. “I’m ready,” he declares.

“Do you mind?”

Neil’s attention is pulled to the couch, where an irate Aaron is stationed. He looks a little rumbled with his glasses askew on his nose and at least three different textbooks spread out on the coffee table in front of him. He frowns at the pair. “Not that I care, but what are you two yahoos up to anyway?”

“Boys’ night!” Matt and Neil answer in unison. They share an uncoordinated fist bump, difficult because Matt is a foot taller and Neil is still holding the bag of M&Ms over his head.

“Dan and the girls are doing their own thing and Nicky has a skype date with Erik,” Matt explains.

“And Andrew and Kevin are in Michigan trying to recruit more players for next year,” Neil adds, eyeing the precariously leaning tower of food behind Matt.

“You can join us if you’d like,” Matt says before Neil can protest. Neil shoots him a look just as the pile of snacks topples over and Matt dives for it, successfully avoiding Neil’s scornful expression.

“No thanks,” Aaron says. He regards the snacks and Matt trying to push them back into order with more than a little disdain. “I’ll just go to Katelyn’s. Don’t make too much of a mess, and have fun I guess.”

The bottle of rum rolls past Neil’s feet in a haphazard escape, and Matt darts after it on his hands and knees.

“We’re just gonna watch some movies and eat junk food,” Neil says. “How big of a mess can we make?”

_ _

Neil wakes some indeterminable time later with the worst headache he’s ever had in his entire life. His first thought as he comes slowly back to awareness is

ow, fuck

, and the second is

why is the ceiling so close to my face?

He blinks blearily at the too-close ceiling and wills the pain throbbing in his temples to go away. When his vision clears and Neil feels like he can move without keeling over, he realizes that’s he’s not staring at the ceiling at all, but at the underside of the coffee table in Matt’s suite.

Neil groans, clutching his head, and wiggles out from under the table. One of his shoes is missing, but it’s probably the least of Neil’s problems, because the room is an utter disaster.

It looks like a warzone, popcorn strewn across the room and smashed into the carpet, and a section near the television has a suspicious and atrociously orange stain that is half-heartedly covered by a couch cushion that does not belong to anyone Neil knows. Neil gapes at the carnage for one, stunned second and fumbles for the TV remote to turn it off, powering it down in the middle of an informercial about a magic towel that can clean any mess that inexplicably seems to be playing on repeat.

Silence rings in Neil’s ears, blotted out only by the blood rushing to his head. He briefly wonders what the hell happened last night, but trying to think back makes his head hurt worse, so he decides to go seek out Matt. Neil doubts Matt is in any better shape that Neil is, but maybe he remembers a bit of what they did to get in this situation.

The person he finds passed out in the kitchen is not Matt at all. For one, they are about six inches too short and their skin is three shades too pale. Secondly, they are dressed in nothing but shorts and the grinning head of Palmetto’s mascot, Foxy Roxy. Neil blinks in surprise at the half-naked stranger slumped on the floor before making sure they’re still breathing. When Neil is satisfied that he didn’t accidentally stumble across a body, he continues his search for Matt.

Neil finds him face-down on the floor behind the couch, snoring soundly and cradling a bottle of vodka, dyed an electric shade of orange. That, Neil supposes, would explain the stain by the TV. At least Matt is mostly dressed.

“Matt,” Neil hisses and nudges him lightly in the ribs. When he doesn’t stir, he kicks him a little harder. “Wake up,”

“Allison leave those gnomes alone,” Matt mutters incoherently. He turns over in his sleep and the vodka rolls away from him. Arms now empty, Matt wraps his arms around himself and hugs his chest. Neil isn’t paying attention to any of that though, his eyes are glued to Matt’s face, still slack with sleep.

Mostly, he looks normal. Except he doesn’t have any eyebrows, and what looks to be a single fake mustache from Party City is clinging for dear life where his left brow should be.

Neil presses a hand to his mouth, not sure whether the look on his face is one of horror and shock, or of laughter. He kicks Matt again.

“Ow, fuck,” Matt groans and opens his eyes. He says nothing at first, squinting up at Neil with a look that says he has the worst hangover ever. Then his eyes widen and his mouth falls open into a comical little o.

“Neil,” he says, hushed. “Your face.”

Neil’s hands fly to his face, scared of what he might find, but instead of the eyebrow’s he expects, his fingers meet smooth, freshly shaved skin.

“No,” he whispers.

Matt cackles, still staring at the unfortunate lack of facial hair on Neil’s face.

“Don’t laugh,” gripes Neil, covering the place where his eyebrows used to be with his hands. “Yours are gone too.”

The humor drains out of Matt’s face and he gasps, clutching his forehead. His clumsy hands dislodge the fake mustache and he watches it flutter to the floor with something like horror on his face. “No,” he mourns, picking it up and cradling it in his hands.

“What the hell happened?” Neil demands.

Matt is still staring at the faux-facial hair, mouth opening and closing in shock. Neil grabs his face and forces him to focus. “Matty,” he says, “we’re in deep shit.”

“The last thing I remember is walking to the liquor store for more alcohol,” Matt says, coming back to his senses. “This was before…” Matt spots the guy passed out in the kitchen. His eyebrows would have furrowed in confusion if he still had any. “That,” he says. “But after we had a popcorn fight.”

“I don’t remember any of that,” Neil admits. “Hang on, where’s my phone?”

“Why?” Matt asks. “You never use your phone.”

“Unless I’m drunk.” Neil ducks his head under the couch, looking for anything that looks vaguely like his outdated cellphone. He only finds more popcorn. He gives up his search when he swipes his hand along the kitchen counter and it comes away sticky.

“Maybe you left it outside?” Matt suggests. “I think you tried to call Andrew right before we came back in.”

“Great,” Neil says. He makes for the door, but Matt’s arm shooting out in front of him stop him in his tracks.

“We can’t go out like this,” he says, motioning to his face. He casts his gaze around the destruction in the room and his eyes light up when they fall on the coffee table. He lunges, knocking various bottles of soda and a sock away in his haste to get whatever it is he’s scrounging for.

He holds it up for Neil to inspect. It’s the remaining fake mustaches, tucked safely inside a plastic packet that is indeed from Party City.

“This could work?” he says. He glances from the mustaches to Neil, considering. He hold it up to Neil’s face. “I think this might actually be your shade.”

“I’m not putting that on my face,” Neil says, nonplussed and at awe that Matt would suggest such a thing.

“Go and be eyebrow-less then,” Matt sniffs. “Release your inhibitions.”

Scowling, Neil snatches the mustaches from his hands and fishes out them out. He shakes them out on to his hand. Two fall out, only enough for one.

There’s a beat of silence. Matt and Neil look at each other, and then at the fake mustaches.

“You can – ” Neil starts but Matt interrupts.

“No, no. You take them, buddy,” he says tearfully. He takes the mustaches from Neil and peels the paper off the sticky backing and carefully presses each one into their proper places.

They stare at each other for a long moment; Matt, eyebrow-less. Neil, clinging onto the last vestiges of his dignity. Matt is the one to break the silence.

“Neil,” he says, “you’re going to need to put your shoes on.”

After Neil locates his other shoe and he and Matt leave to find Neil’s phone, their search is interrupted by a large man angrily shouting in their direction. He storms over, red-faced and spitting out a stream of explicatives that would have any southerner clutching their pearls.

“Is he talking to us?” Matt asks. He’s still quite hungover; a pair of sunglasses shades his eyes from the afternoon sun and he wipes away the damp sheen of sweat clinging to his forehead with the back of his hand.

Neil, equally as hungover, squints at the man approaching. Upon further inspection, Neil recognizes him as the pitcher from Palmetto’s baseball team, Ricky Mercado. As far as Neil knows, they have never interacted.

“Nah,” he says. “He must be after someone else.”

“Neil Josten!” Ricky screams and too late Neil notices that he and Matt are the only other people in sight.

“Oh shit,” Neil says.

“What did you do?” Matt whispers, voice pitched furiously low.

“You better watch it, Josten,” Ricky says, close enough that Neil can see how truly mad he is. He reminds Neil of a bull, nostrils flaring, eyes wide enough to see the ring of white around the iris. Ready to charge. “I’ll fuck you up.”

Neil’s eyes narrow. Ricky is a lot taller than Neil and sure, he’s muscular, but Neil has survived all attempts on his life thus far in his twenty-year old life and he is not about to get taken out by some dumb baseball player who isn’t good enough to play the most important sport in the world, exy.

Slowed by the hangover, his brain doesn’t catch up to his mouth before he shoots back, “I’d like to see you try.”

Ricky seethes, and for a moment he does look like he’s about to charge. Neil braces himself but Matt scoops him up and throws him over his shoulder before Ricky can take even a step closer.

“No he would not!” says Matt over his shoulder as he books it back to the safety of Fox Tower.

Or, it would be safety if Ricky Mercado wasn’t a baseball player, and therefore didn’t have access to the building Matt was currently seeking for refuge. He stayed on their tail, shouting, gesticulating wildly, and occasionally throwing in some uncreative death threats. Neil has heard better and more convincing.

Actually, Neil thought Ricky might be acting out whatever Neil had done to piss him off, but Neil was either too hungover or Ricky too bad an actor for him to really understand what had happened.

They make it back in the building and up the stairs still intact, and soon enough they return to Matt’s suite. The mess is still there, the half-dressed mascot is not, and a new figure stands in the kitchen, surveying the damage. There’s a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and he looks rumpled in the way that spending a few hours on a plane would do to a person. He turns around, face unimpressed and arms folded across his chest.

“Andrew,” Neil says the same moment Matt sags with relief and whispers, “thank God.”

“Boyd,” Andrew acknowledges him. “Why are you carrying Neil over your shoulder?”

“Your boyfriend.” Matt jostles Neil as he says this and Neil wiggles until Matt lets him down. “Almost got us killed. He pissed off one of the baseball players and now he’s hunting us down. Please save us.”

As if on cue, there’s a loud banging on the door and Neil thanks whatever deity above that Matt had thought to lock the door. The person on the other side yells in frustration and begins to slam against the door. Neil is starting to think Andrew had a point when he said Neil has a way of making people want to kill him.

“Hmm,” Andrew says noncommittally and looks around Matt to where Neil is attempting to hide behind his large body, covering his forehead so Andrew doesn’t see the fake eyebrows. Then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a familiar gray cell phone.

“Oh!” Matt exclaims. “Where did you find it?”

“Nicky. He said he confiscated it last night,” Andrew says, eyes never straying from Neil’s face.

“We got a little drunk last night,” Neil admits, inching toward the door. He thinks death by angry baseball player is preferable to Andrew seeing what he had done to his face.

“That explains these,” says Andrew. He tossed the phone to Neil, opened up to their thread of messages.

It starts off normal, but at around midnight, Neil sent a video of himself dancing on the coffee table while someone off-screen throws popcorn at him. It’s far from what Neil thinks a person drunkenly dancing on the table should look like. The lighting is bad and so is Neil’s dancing, arms thrown in every which way and hips doing a little too much. It appears he’s attempting the macarena with a few added steps.

The second message is from an hour later and reads, would yoi still loveme if I ddni’t have eyebrows :(

So the jig is up.

Neil cringes and drops his hands. Andrew, privileged to have eyebrows fully intact, raises them at the sight of the ginger mustaches stuck to Neil’s face, and reaches up to peel them off. Neil thinks he sees a flash of amusement in his eyes before Andrew lets the mustaches drop to the floor. Neil is too embarrassed to say anything, but Andrew doesn’t notice. He looks around the room before grabbing a disemboweled lamp and weighing it in his hand.

“Get this mess cleaned up,” he says. “I’ll be right back.”

Then he leaves, and Matt and Neil stare after him.

“Is he going to – ” Matt starts but Neil interrupts.

“Not important,” he says, waving his hand to get Matt’s attention. “We need trash bags and a vacuum cleaner.”

“And the will of God,” Matt nods as he begins to pick up cans and boxes of candy from the floor.

It takes an hour, three large black trash bags, and some duct tape to get the mess cleaned up. By now Andrew has returned, and is idly watching them from his perch on the arm of the couch. He offers no help, instead he slowly and methodically eats through a pint of ice cream, digging out the chunks of chocolate to eat first. When asked, he does not explain what he did with the lamp.

“You missed a spot,” he says and points to the large orange stain on the carpet with his spoon.

Matt pushes the entertainment center three feet to the right, where it covers the majority of the orange carpet. “No we didn’t,” he replies.

When they’re finished, Matt collapses at the kitchen table over a bowl of cereal and begins to snore. Neil wanders over to Andrew, head ducked to his chest and hood pulled over his eyes. Andrew pulls the hood down, eyes trailing up to the empty spaces where Neil’s eyebrows had been just last night.

“Do you think I can draw them on?” Neil asks. He’s seen Allison touch up her eyebrows with a brow pencil, so he should be able to draw in what he was missing, right?

Andrew huffs and curls his fingers in the collar of Neil’s hoodie. “Idiot,” he says softly, and presses a kiss to Neil’s forehead. Neil melts into his embrace, relieved that the whole fiasco is finally over and he can relax in Andrew’s arms with Andrew’s lips pressed against his.

“I hope you didn’t throw those mustaches away,” Andrew says once he pulls away, and Neil laughs.

“Too late,” he says and decides that he’s never drinking that much alcohol ever again.

#aftg #neil josten #matt boyd #andreil #mine #my writing #aftgfallexchange #yeahboiislay

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rwbyvein · 3 years

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Firen Lhain: Chapter 610: Bonds: Part II/III

Jaune and Ren turned down a small, narrow alley when a robed figure stood in front of them.

"You're not getting our money." Jaune said to him.

The man pulled back the robe, revealing Mercury, "I'm not after your money, but I will take it when I'm done with you."

Jaune had pulled his shield out and tapped on the back of it a few times, before looking up at him. "Ren?" Jaune asked, "Behind."

"Indeed." Ren said, as he turned around to see Emerald behind him. "She appears to be concentrating."

"Then stop her." Jaune said, as he drew his sword. Before Emerald could react, Ren had lunged forward, making a ridge strike to her neck with his right hand. She barely moved to avoid it, only for Ren's left palm to strike her stomach. She was momentarily winded, and the fading illusion revealed Cinder behind Mercury. "Can't you stay dead?," Jaune asked, "for like a month?"

"We just need to have a little chat." Cinder stated.

"Uh-huh?" Jaune asked, raising his shield as Mercury lunged forward with a kick. Jaune pushed Mercury's kick back and pushed forward, striking him with his shield. He ran over Mercury, charging at Cinder. An explosion appeared in front of him. He was caught between his own momentum and the force of the explosion, the two holding him in place. When the explosion ended, he fell down, recovering to his left foot and right knee. Mercury recovered behind him and swept out his left leg, causing Jaune to crash forward, only for a another explosion to happen just outside his armour. The explosion held him up for a moment, but he collapsed a momment later.

Ren tried to look back, but was barely keeping Emerald at bay.

Mercury took a moment to get back to his feet, and then moved forward to grab Jaune. "Holy fuck is he heavy?"

"We can worry about that, later." Cinder stated, "Now we need to get him moving."

"Lift!," Emerald shouted, "with the legs!"

Ren once again tried to look back, only to narrowly avoid the blades from Emerald's weapons. He saw something above him. Nora landed behind Emerald. "Jaune!" Ren shouted, and then vaguely nodded toward the alley. Nora stood on her hammer, launching herself into the air. When she glided over to the other side of the alley she saw Jaune on Mercury's back as he tried to run away. As she dove, she found herself struck with a fireball. This knocked her off her path, causing her to crash into the ground. She tried to look at Mercury running away with Jaune only to be hit by another fireball. She looked over to Cinder. Behind her, out of nowhere appeared Ilia, who wrapped her with her Thunder Lash, stunning Cinder. Nora stood on her hammer and launched herself once again, but as she increased in altitude, she could not see any alleys. They were in the tangled mess of lower Mistral, and she could not see hide nor hair of them.

Cinder exploded, launching Ilia away from her. When Ilia turned back around, Cinder had disappeared.

Ren saw Emerald concentrating, but as he struck at her, the illusion was broken, as she was no longer there. He looked over as Weiss landed beside him. "The alley!" Ren shouted, fear, hatred, and tears in his eyes, and Weiss used her Glyph to launch herself down the alley. When she got to the other side, she looked around. She saw signs of battle, but no sign of Jaune or Cinder. She looked Ilia in the eyes as she struggled to her feet, and Ilia pointed at an alleyway. Weiss launched herself into the alley, and landed, running until she got to the first crossroards. She looked around, unable to find him... them... anyone...

"Fucking Faunus." a passerby stated, and she glared at him before remembering why she was there. She looked around, not seeing anything. She looked back at the passerby, "Did you see?"

"I didn't see anything for a Faunus..." the man snidely replied, and turned to walk away

* * *

Yang and Ruby landed next to Ren, who again pointed down the alleyway. Ilia, barely standing, again pointed down the next one. The two ran up behind Weiss.

"What the hell?.."

"I am uncertain..." Weiss's musine voice quietly said.

"Did anyone see anything?!" Yang shouted.

"Possibly," Weiss voiced, "but not... for a Faunus."

"Oh, hell, nah." Yang said. "Which way did he go?" Weiss delicatedly pointed and Yang quickly ran down the alleyway. The man turned to look at her and sneered before turning to look away. "What did you see?!" she asked, and he tried his best to ignore her, until he found himself pinned up against a wall with a knee putting pressure on his balls. "Didn't you know you should answer when a lady asks you something?" Yang asked.

"You are hardly a..."

"No." Yang said, and put the slightest bit more pressure on him, shutting him up, "You can call me Sir. Weiss, didn't you have something to ask him?"

Weiss stepped up behind them, "Which way?.."

"The left." the man said.

"What was that?" Yang asked.

"The left, Sir." he stated, and Yang punched him in the back, letting him go. She looked Weiss in the eyes, "Didn't you have some place to be?"

Weiss' eyes widened with shock, and she turned. She used her Glyph to launch herself, and another to catapult her around the corner. Ruby turned into rose petals to follow her.

"You have no idea how badly you just fucked up." Yang said to him.

"How bad could a Faunus?.." the man asked.

"He... we..." Yang voiced, "might the ones to save the world. We did save Haven." She turned, and used her gauntlets to launch herself into the air, and the man turned with utter shock.

* * *

Nora fell to her knees on the rooftops and shouted, "LEEAADDEERR!!" Blake quietly walked up beside her and squatted down. "WE HAVE TO FIND HIM!" Nora exclaimed.

"We... will..." Blake voiced.

"How can you... how can we?..." a panicked Nora said to her with tears falling from her eyes.

"Because," Blake voiced, "we have to. But right now, we're surrounded by enemies. We can't stay here."

"But?!" Nora exclaimed.

"How well did running around in a blind panic work?" Blake asked, forcefully evening out her breath; desperately trying her best not to join Nora in her panic. Nora looked up at her fearfully. "I promise you - we're - NOT - abandoning him."

"You... you promise?" Nora asked as the tears flowed from her eyes.

"On - my life." Blake slowly and steadily replied, and Nora tearfully nodded.

* * *

Ren walked out of the narrow alley, and up to Ilia. "You... were stalking us."

"I'm so sorry." she voiced, and Ren raised his hand, stopping her.

"You mistake my meaning." Ren said and bowed. As he bowed, a few tears visibly fell from his face. "You have my most sincerest thanks."

* * *

Yang's eyes and hair glew as she started randomly punching through walls. In a blink of her Glyph, Weiss had pulled Yang into a hug, burrowing her face in Yang's breasts. A shockwave of Aura erupted from Yang, damaging more of the nearby structures as they stood in a narrow alleyway. Ruby was on all fours, looking between the different directions, unable to focus, unable to think.

* * *

Aurora walked into the jewellery store and up to the jeweller. "Strange?" she asked, leaning forward, "how they knew exactly where to find us, when we would be most vulnerable?"

"What do you?.." the jeweller asked.

"I believe the jewellery should be gratuis." Aurora voiced, and he looked at her nervously, "Or, I'm sure the Huntsmen and Huntresses would just LOVE to know what happened here?"

The jeweller hung his head forward with a sigh.

* * *

"Break his antlers." Cinder ordered.

"Gladly." Mercury replied, and raised his leg. A crow on nearby rooftop watched the leg crash down through the antlers, shattering them.

"Remove his armour." Cinder added, "He should be a LOT easier to carry."

* * *

The group, sans Jaune, stood in the house's lounge, nervously, angrily looking at each other.

Yang tried to say something, but was on the verge of tears, so instead it just came out as an angry burst.

"We CAN find him." Blake uncertainly voiced.

"You make it sound so easy!" Yang shouted.

"What about Junior's club?" Blake asked.

"What?!.." Yang asked.

"I believe..." Weiss nervously voiced, fighting back tears, "that she means, you were quite skilled at this, before, yes?"

"Yang was always good at finding things in Vale." Ruby added.

"But, this?!.." Yang shouted.

"The stakes are more personal." Ren added, "As such she has trouble finding clarity."

"How can you stay so calm!," Yang shouted, "at a time like this?!"

"Because..." Ren nervously voiced, "enforcing calmness is... the only way that this can work." He pulled out his flute and started to play, and the group started to calm down as his Semblane touched them.

"Leader!" Nora cried.

"We..." Weiss voiced, "we can contact the kingdom's authorities!"

"What the hell was he even doing there?!" Yang asked, and all eyes were immediately on Ren.

"I have taken an oath of secrecy." Ren stated.

"Well," Aurora voiced, and walked up, "I have not." She placed four small jewellery boxes on the coffee table, and all air from the room seemed to disappear. RWBY silently looked at each other, completely unable to say anything.

Ren looked at Aurora nervously, who just gave him a wicked smile in reply.

"Why?.." Blake asked her, "Why are you showing us?.."

"Motivation." Aurora said with a bright smile. RWBY all looked at each other, and seemed to have renewed confidence.

"Alright," Yang eagerly said, "I'll go knock on some doors."

"Ilia and I," Blake stated, "can go talk to the disaffected Faunus. Mistral certainly has enough of them."

"I will speak with the kingdom's authorities." Weiss stated.

"Nora and I," Ren added, "can remain here, to act as soon as we gain any information."

Nora wiped her eyes and proudly stepped up next to Ren.

"And what about me?" Ruby asked.

"Whatever you like, sis." Yang said to her, "Why don't you join Linnet?"

A quick burst of rose petals had Ruby appear next to Weiss.

#rwby #firen lhain #faunus au #pollinated knight

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carbrakes-and-stakes · 4 years

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Soup in Genovia | Jared & Alain

TIMING: A week ago LOCATION: Alain’s home PARTIES: @carbrakes-and-stakes and @themidnightfarmer SUMMARY: No palates were harmed in the making of this chatzy.

Backpack on and a smile on his face Jared made his way right to the door and raised his hand to knock. He had soup - or rather his attempt at soup-, a DVD of the princess diaries (just in case), and a winning attitude. He hoped for the best at least, they’d only spoken a couple of times but the nymph had hopes that he could win a new friend in Alain. The man seemed like he could be a laugh when he wanted to be, and someone with a little logic never went amiss when you felt you had very little yourself. Jared was even willing to look past the karkanoid eating, a one time event, clearly the man was simply a food enthusiast after all. Above all these thoughts however lingered the knowledge that no matter if Alain wanted a friend in Jared, he had suggested he wanted some company while he recovered from losing his leg. And who was he to deny the man that?

There was enough energy in Jared's attitude to fuel power plants from a small country for a few months. At least, this was Alain's first thought when he opened the door and glanced at his visitor. If he wasn't really counting on Jared, it was because they got their heads on a karkanoid that Alain might or might not have killed. Jared suspected that Alain had eaten it, and Alain, while he was disgusted by the thought of ever eating something that must have had the most elastic and rubbery flesh, was not about to contradict him about this. Walking toward the kitchen, Alain who was still struggling with his new leg, was helping himself with a cane, and while that instantly gave him the look of a lame old man, this was better than what would have happened without this kind of support. His eyes went to what Jared carried with him, and the man wondered what it was that he had brought over. It did not smell like much, but the French man had enough spices and aromatics around to turn it around. “What did you cook?” He asked, looking forward to it.

Jared followed Alain, being very careful to not seem like he was snooping too much as they went. He was a bit of a nosy guy, so it was taking a ton of willpower not to glance at every door they passed or squint at every picture. Distraction came at last and Jared beamed shrugging off his backpack. “Soup bud! I figured people always make soup in the movies when someone is recovering from something, so soup was the top choice. Never made soup before but I heard it wasn’t too hard?” Jared produced the container of liquid and pushed it towards Alain. Inside was a pretty grim sight, uncoloured water with partially uncooked and hastily chopped vegetables floating inside. “It smells okay right?” The nymph asked the other curiously. To Jared it smelt just how most of his cooking smelt…. Not like anything from the store but not overly terrible.

Alain’s eyebrows raised. Sure, soup did not smell like much in the first place, but this smelled an awful lot like the kind they served at the hospital, which was a shame as he assumed the vegetables came from Jared’s farm. “That’s a broth,” he observed, reaching over his head for the cupboards. Pulling a cast iron casserole out, he picked up the soup and poured it in there, searching around for the hand blender. Perks of moving somewhere knew : not knowing where a damn thing had been put. “It does smell okay, but I think we might be able to do better,” it did not seem seasoned and Alain knew that he’d rather lose his second leg than be forced to eat something that had no flavor. Or perhaps was this an exaggeration. “Wait, you’ve never made soup?” He did not say those words with any trace of judgement. Instead he was genuinely surprised, as well as touched, that Jared had been so thoughtful to try something new to make him feel better. Moved by this revelation, the hunter fell quiet, although his tight lipped smile revealed that he was pleased by the kind gesture. “Alright, let’s take this soup to the next level then. Let me show you,” first they’d have to turn broth into soup. Then, well, depending on what Jared had put in there, perhaps something could be done to save it. Alain grabbed a spoon to have a taste and gave him a shrug. “It’s not too bad, although it doesn’t taste like much,” handing the spoon over, he smiled. A bit of cumin, perhaps some carvi, a touch of butter and tabasco, and this soup would gain a lot more flavor, he thought to himself. “What do you think we should add?”

“A broth isn’t soup?! Jared wondered curiously. The nymph spent such little focus on feeding himself that all his meals blended together, he usually had much more important meals to be served to his kids after all. False blue eyes followed Alain as he moved around the kitchen to seemingly cook the soup again, for a reason that completely escaped Jared. “It still needs cooked? I thought I’d done okay?” He wasn’t overly upset to know that he hadn’t done a great job, he was told an awful lot that he tended not to make anything very good. “See this is why I stick to tinned food, it’s all there in the tin no messing around.” Jared leaned on the counter and smiled “Nah, never had the motivation to really try before. But soup is a movie staple, I had to give it a go!” Taking the offered spoon Jared dipped it into the pot and tasted it for himself. He had to admit it was a little bland. “Probably some of that powder garlic that I’ve seen people put in everything? But I don’t know, I don’t know a ton about cooking and all that… “

“No. Otherwise a sauce could be called soup by some too,” Alain was concerned as to how the young farmer was eating, especially since he seemed to be living on his own. Perhaps Alain would show him a few more things later on, but for now Cooking 101 would do. “It’s cooked, but… well you’ll understand when you taste it,” he leaned against the counter to give his leg some rest and smiled back. “And I commend you for trying. That’s more than some people do,” he patted the man’s arm and nodded at his suggestion. “Or, you know, we could use some proper garlic instead,” Alain didn’t have something against the powdered kind, but it did not replace the actual condiment. Reaching in a jar for cloves, he peeled a couple and pushed them toward Jared so he could crush them in a mortar. Rather than cumin, he opted for a bit of curry paste, mixing it in. “Alright, add the garlic and then we should be good to go,” the point was showing Jared that sometimes all it took was seasoning. Alain thought then, of what Alcher had told him in that waiting room, and let his guard down, “thank you, for being here,” he looked away and added, “it means a lot.”

“I’d happily call sauce a soup.” Jared laughed a little at the idea. “God people would hate that wouldn’t they?” It made his little fae heart flutter, he hadn’t yet fully embraced how much fae thrive on chaos of some kind, but he could relish in the small bits and pieces every now and then. “I mean I won’t lie bud, I usually eat tinned beans or pie or whatever, but it seemed like the moment to try harder than tinned soup.” Proper garlic just made Jared think of the entire thing like some sort of vampire movie, it didn’t seem too appetizing until Alain had peeled and crushed it in front of him. It made a LOT more sense in pieces he could admit. Smelling the soup as it progressed with so little added had Jared understanding that he definitely needed to be trying harder, but that’d come in time he hoped. “Oh hey don’t worry about it bud,” he wanted to add something like I like to be helpful, or You sounded like you needed the company but he wasn’t sure the reception that would have so instead he straightened up and leaned over to point at the soup. “So it’s edible now yeah? Got bowls around or you wanna save it for laters?” The nymph smiling warmly back at Alain.

“Jared…” The hunter looked at him then shook his head. He looked like he didn't really know whether he should be amused or bewildered, but, when in doubt, he preferred to be amused. “I think people would hate that very much, yes,” he admitted with a bit of laughter. He shook his head again, and you could see the amusement in his features: a rare smile, which made him close his eyes almost entirely. Jared must have been one of the most caring people the hunter knew. He reminded him a little of Nora, and it was with a twinge of heart that Alain wondered if he would eventually lose sight of Jared, if his new friend was to discover the true nature of his host.

“Tinned pie? Is that an actual thing?” Concern and disgust swept over him. With a scowl, Alain, apparently personally offended, could not restrain a gasp. “I’m glad you tried something new, that’s what’s most important here,” he felt a bit bad for having to tell Jared that his broth was far from edible as is. A viable option would have been to take everything out of the water and mash it together, but this was meant to be a soup, and Alain wanted to help Jared with that. “It was edible when you brought it, but edible is not the best you can get from these,” he pointed to the inside of the pot. “As you like. Didn’t you say you wanted to force me into watching a … movie,” the thing looked like it was targeted at teenagers and Alain had a bad feeling about it, but he had decided that he would not be grumpy with someone trying their best to help.

It was already cemented in Jareds mind. He wondered how much chaos he could elicit and how far he could go with it as well. Could pasta be a soup with enough sauce? Could alcohol be a soup? It would be from now on. The nymph grinned back at Alain, pleased that he’d managed to coax a laugh out of the man at least. “Tinned pie is a thing, it’s like a treat for the weekends sometimes if I can get it. Basically you use a can opener on the top and the entire thing just needs warmed up, the crust and all that are in there and it just has to rise on the top and it’s good to go!” Jared described it to Alain as if it was a magical event, which -despite the nymph knowing true magic first hand- felt like it sort of was.

Bringing up the movie was arguably a bad move on the hunters part, Jared was likely to be content and forget all about why he’d come had it not come up in conversation, however as soon as the words left Alains lips Jared had perked right up again and started to wiggle as if he were an excited puppy. He reached back into his backpack and pulled the DVD out and then also produced a VHS tape as well. “I didn’t know which you’d have, can never be sure in this place whether DVD players even work.” Jared laughed lightly before pushing them across the counter towards Alain. “We could soup and video at the same time maybe? I won’t be offended if the running commentary is criticism, I just do feel like it’s an essential watch even if you don’t like it!” The nymph looked at Alain expectantly for comment and first impression of the box covers.

The description of that pie that must have been summoned from a foreign inferno called capitalism brought a dramatic blink out of Alain. "What in the culinary hell is that? Cake mixes I can tolerate, but this sounds atrocious," the hunter told himself that he no longer just feared bugbears. He now feared bugbears and tinned pies. Shaking his head, he frowned once again and grimaced. What felt like magic to Jared felt like the 7th circle of Hell to the hunter.

He would have been offended about being treated like a dinosaur by Jared had it not been for the fact that he kept a VHS player somewhere, just in case. Of course Netflix was a thing, but there was something nostalgic about those grainy tapes. Still, he had not reinstalled it, and the thing sat in a box in the attic, between the hunting gear and the rock climbing equipment. The latter he knew that he would use in perhaps a couple years, but the former, he intended to keep upstairs. "We can have dinner and watch all at once, sure," although Alain intended to eat on the dinner table. Soup and couches sounded like a bad, perilous match. As much as he did not care much for danger, he knew what a pain it would be to clean that mess up. "Why don't you pick up the pot and bring it on the dinner table? I'll get some plates out," he picked a bottle of white wine as well, and headed there. Another trip to the kitchen later, and Alain was back with spoons and glasses. He kept his mouth shut about the box covers. The main character made him feel uneasy although he was unable to pinpoint why. "I cannot believe I agreed to watch something The Princess Diaries. Look what you make me do," his eyes grew bigger. Jared was too kind and innocent for the hunter to be annoyed at him, and Alain did have a soft spot for these sorts of personalities.

“It tastes good bud, you gotta trust the process.” It was very clear that they were on completely different levels with their food tastes, whilst Alain seemed to have a refined palate….Jared seemed to not have any taste at all. “And I’ve never tried box cake mix so I suppose I’ll leave that one for you to make the choice for us with.” he laughed at the expression on Alains face, it was good humoured, the nymph definitely had failed to notice how serious the other was about his disgust and was definitely not acting. In dopey indifference to Alains reaction to being asked about a VHS, instead the nymph was excited to see what the other would say about the movie as a whole, he was interested to see what Alain would criticise and what he’d stay silent on. Especially considering the man had already expressed his disgust with the concept. Accepting the offer to serve up at the table Jared lifted his soup with a bit of pride. He may not have been the one to make it enjoyable, but it was still his base ingredients so he was going to take what he could get. “Oh come on, surely a movie hasn’t made you spin into disbelief? Surely your friends have gotten you to watch weird stuff before.” Jared laughed. He set up the pot and looked around for where to put the movie on. It hadn’t even really considered the fact that the movie might be on netflix or some streaming site. He didn’t have anything like that at his home after all. “You’ve got to have one other movie under your belt that wasn’t what anyone would expect right?”

“They have. One of them forced me into watching this show about very rich highschoolers in New York who were stalked by a blogger,” Alain couldn’t remember the name of the show, but he remembered feeling little empathy for these people. He didn’t watch television for a good reason, but Alain felt like there was something nice about watching terrible tv with someone else, not because the show instantly became excellent, but rather for the opportunity to complain about how terrible it was. A dramatic blink welcomed the opening scene of the movie. He looked at Jared and deadpanned. “This looks great,” his shoulders shot up with amusement. Grabbing his spoon, he tasted the soup and glanced again at Jared. “Again, I’m repeating myself, but thanks for being here.” The former hunter looked around the room. The house still was foreign to him, and it didn’t help that he hadn’t unpacked most of the boxes there. Perhaps it was better that way. Ever since he had decided to quit his former life, he felt less and less anchored to this town.

The nymph paused a moment and then cottoned on “Oh gossip girl? It was gossip girl right? That’s full of rich people's nonsense.” Jared agreed with that at least. He’d attempted that show one afternoon of boredom, and was put right off by how lavish they were all acting. Seemed the farm boy couldn’t relate one bit. Completely in a different headspace than Alain, the blond was watching with rapt attention as the opening scene began. His attention only drew away when Alain addressed him. “Oh bud, wouldn’t dream of watching this with anyone else.” he joked lightly, finally lifting his own spoon to have some of the soup himself. “I have a pretty wild schedule on the farm, so I can always make some time if you’re wanting to hang out or watch shitty movies, or… well anything really.” Jared followed the hunters eyes and looked around the room also. “Unpacking party or whatever.” he tacked on the end helpfully.

“Yeah, that.” It was rich people's nonsense, although he did not recall his sisters ever acting so vainly. His eyes were drawn to the boxes that hadn’t been opened. Nostalgia hit him as he thought of his former house, where he had been spending a good bit of his life. There were things that you simply could not move around, and memories were included in that category. He never had liked keeping trinkets and knick knacks, but in times where he was feeling sentimental, he regretted it. Oh well, this would make moving abroad easier. He would not be able to take all his belongings with him overseas. “How kind of you,” he stood up to get bread from the kitchen, served himself another plate of soup and sighed as Jared offered help. “That won’t be necessary,” rather than to be unnecessarily mysterious, he gave him a tightlipped smile that wrinkled the corner of his eyes, and explained, “I intend to leave town for a little while. I’m moving abroad.”

Jared felt a small stab of loss when Alain explained his intention to move out of town. It seemed a lot of his new friends tended to not last so long in this place. But the Nymph smiled back nevertheless. It wasn’t up to him, and likely it was already all set up and sorted out. “That sounds exciting, where do you think you’ll be going or have you already got it all set up for yourself?” He asked politely, looking away from the boxes and intending on making the very most of this movie and dinner with his newfound and newly lost friend. Jared supposed a turnaround like this really stopped him from getting too attached, like he had with so many before the other man. “But hey shh shhh this is a good part.” He cut in with a small forced laugh trying to focus back in on the movie. He was going to make the most of this.

If he was left perplexed by the suggestion that one could leave to another place without a single bit of planning, he tried to shrug that off. Jared clearly was a lot more spontaneous than Alain had ever been. Always planning, always trying to have control. It was a shame, in the end, that he did not seem to have any control on his own life. Leaving town would give him the chance to finally do something with his life without a single thought going to his sense of duty. The code, the rules, the duty : a lot of words to describe not having the right to do as you please. Perhaps it was time to write his own rules, ones that he would be comfortable with or perhaps was it not too late to start over, and rather was it time to turn this heavy page of his life. He didn’t want to burn the whole book. There were good moments in the life that he was living. There was a lot of pain there too, for certain, and a good dose of tragedy here and there.

The man found himself brought back years back, back when he had had a chance to build a family. He heard Jared, and if he had a smile on his face while he looked at that crucial scene of the movie, his mind was somewhere else. Nostalgia had flown in like a peaceful summer breeze, and the fond memories felt like a warm embrace. It was true that he would miss this place very much, and Alain certainly regretted leaving all these people he cared for behind. He gave Jared a fond look. He hoped that he would be okay, and that the forever gargantuesque town of White Crest would not end up eating alive the poor innocent soul that he was. He didn’t have such worries for Erin, or Kaden, or even Jasmine. The three of them were tougher than stones, in their own ways. Stubbornness, bravery and determination. Perhaps was it why he instantly liked these people so much. Of all the things he was leaving behind, they had to be the toughest part. Finding people you could count on, and who could understand you might have been the hardest task for him. Sometimes he blamed it on being a hunter, one that did not stray away from duty (after all, it was this that had scared Evelyn away from him), sometimes he just figured that perhaps he was just not good at this. A mix of the two might have been the proper answer to that transparent mystery. It was easier to move on after being used to loss like he had been. After a certain age, you developed a certain craving for new adventures, and the fear of having wasted your time crept in. He would be alright, in very normal and very away from here Provence.

#wickedswriting #soup in genovia #para #chatzy #para jared

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mwokozi369 · 4 years

Text

I get almost no questions so there is no FAQ yet I will make one if I do get questions on my AUs and will make one for each AU if I do have questions.

All stories are under rewriting in AO3 so don’t look there yet.

Here are the summaries.

Diamond Bound leads to Diamond Bound: Diamond kids, they are the same universe.

The background summary for Diamond Bound and Homeworldwashed:

This is if Pink came clean to the Crystal Gems while in canon I see why she didn’t, she was afraid that her being a Diamond would ruin the message behind their movement and also she hated herself and wanted to be someone else, to run away from who she was, while it was childish and wrong I cannot fault her, her beliefs go against her purpose, everything she stands for is not what she should stand for, she hates being a Diamond and being a Diamond is like a prison to her, being Rose was a release. Her whole existence is a Diamond is like a prison to her, one she can’t escape but tries whatever she could think of, Pink had traumas and issues she was never able to receive help for. In this AU she actually decides to tell all the Crystal Gems in the beginning. I will make a mini comic on this, Pink makes a speech of her not being the leader but just a friend. Still she is a Diamond and I do believe the Crystal Gems would be unsure about this revelation and Pink was work to earn their trust just because she is a Diamond.

Pink does earn their trust and they work together. She does get Spinel and bring her back towards the beginning too and comes clean to Spinel, apologizing and instead helping Spinel find new friends, again this will be made into a chapter in the written and comic versions. There will be many chapters about Pink’s past on Homeworld and as a Crystal Gem.

Every plan Pink comes up with she tells the trusted Crystal Gems, only the trusted ones also know that she is Pink Diamond, this is so Homeworld spies don’t find out about anything. Pink gets feedback and listens to everyone. She does realize Bismuth has feelings with Pearl, again another chapter this one with Pink getting Bismuth to open up to her and it ends with Bismuth says how much of a coward she is for not being able to tell Pearl and begs Pink not to tell Pearl. Pink tells Bismuth that she isn’t a coward and tells her that her secret is safe with her but tells Bismuth to go for it once she feels ready and instead offers to help whenever Bismuth wants and would put in a good word for her. It’s a sweet scene and Pink even talks about her past with Bismuth and her regrets, her many regrets as she admits she was not the best person on Homeworld.

Pearl knows Pink’s feelings for her is of a close friend, Pink makes it clear that she loves Pearl as her best friend and her closest ally, the gem she trusts with her life. There is a scene with Pink telling Pearl that she loves her but not in a romantic way and that Pearl deserves to be with someone who returns her feelings and that she couldn’t find that if she is to be in a relationship with Pink. The two just sit there is silence and after awhile Pink goes on adding that Pearl deserves the best, that she matters and deserves to be happy, that Pearl should focus on herself above all.

Every plan Pink has goes through the Crystal Gems and it’s run as a democracy. Pink’s fake shattering is run through Garnet who predicts the attack, though no one knows about corruption so Garnet predicts that it will destroy all gems like it was purposed to do.

Pink asks if there is anything they can do protect themselves and then looks to Pearl, she doesn’t have Lion at this time and she knows she could shield herself and a few close gems. She then decides that the best course of action would be to bubble everyone besides herself and Pearl. This plan is agreed to and put in motion, the Crystal Gems are bubbled and stored in Pearl’s gem.

The stage shattering happens, Pink shields Pearl doing the last stretch when the attack happens then they release the other Crystal Gems. They soon realize the attack corrupted the Homeworld soldiers who were unable to leave in time and they bubble them.

Pink goes on to live a life similar to canon but everyone knows she’s Pink Diamond, Pearl has no gag order and the Crystal Gems are around. She has who own adventures, helps Bismuth open up to Pearl about her feelings and Pearl gets together with Bismuth. Pink gets Lion but does tell Pearl about him and later meets Greg and they have Steven.

However in the two AUs Pink is able to live inside of Steven’s gem. Steven has her memories, she watches his life through the gem and is sometimes visits him through dreams to help him.

The Two AUs split up now. Homeworldwashed Steven is found as a baby and taken.

Diamond Bound’s Break:

Events are extremely similar to canon up to Steven’s Dream. Steven does keep his heritage different from Homeworld gems like Peridot and Jasper so those arcs stay the same up to after Peridot becomes a Crystal Gem and the Cluster is dealt with when she is told everything and she gets to have a little comic of her processing everything. Jasper later is told this and Steven has his gem rotate to its Diamond shape and she later becomes a Crystal Gem but first tries to get Steven to join you with the Diamonds but later gives up and decides to protect her Diamond.

Now comes Steven’s big mistake. He does start to think hiding his identity as Pink Diamond as unnecessary as it helped get through to Jasper so he believes it can help him get through to other gems. Steven shows Eyeball his Diamond and flashes her Diamond eyes. Eyeball believes the best course of action it to poof Pink Diamond and bring her back to the Diamonds but Steven flings her away in space.

Steven’s Dream is when it starts to change. When Blue Diamond takes Greg Steven releases his aura and gets her to stop. Blue turns to Steven and drops Greg but Steven manages to catch Greg and once setting his father down is snatched by Blue Diamond who takes him away.

When they arrive to Homeworld Steven is brought to White where he tells her he is not his mom and she takes out his gem. Pink’s coding is still there and she reforms. Once seeing her dying son she scoops him up and uses her tears to heal him. He needs a gem, his DNA has Diamond code in it so a new Diamond form’s within Steven.

Steven is unconscious at this time. When he wakes up Pink has to take him back to White, it was White’s orders. At this time Steven is confused and doesn’t know what’s going on. This is where we are at in the comic, the background will be covered in the comic. Soon everything will become clear, this is Steven’s perspective right now but it will be clearer once we switch to Pink’s perspective.

Homeworldwashed:

Same background, same reason Steven is alive with Pink’s tears making him his own Diamond. Steven grows up on Homeworld as a baby. White Diamond is more cruel in this AU. Yes it follows more Diamond Bound’s story but with a different twist.

Two Rebel Leaders:

Rose and Pink are two different people, Pink hated what was going on and purposely made a defective Rose Quartz to try and get the Earth to be abandoned but it doesn’t work. Rose Quartz then convinces Pink to join her side completely and shows Pink the beauties of gems because at this time Pink was just fighting for Earth. Pink joins as a spy and they later stage the shattering, Garnet perdicts an attack and so most gems were bubbled for their safety but not all as some were unable to do so in time. Rose Quartz shields a few Crystal Gems and Pink shields her close friends, Spinel, Garnet and Pearl.

They live life like normal but with more Crystal Gems, Pink is a little more reserved and prefers just to hang out with her small circle of friends and organic life. She meets Greg and has Steven, she was able to make a copy of her Diamond and give it to Steven which drained her and made her weak for awhile be she did recover and survived to raise Steven, both with their own intact gems.

Rose later has a child, only Pink Diamond and Rose Quartzes are able to have hybrid children with organic life since they have a special connection with organic life however Rose can’t make a copy and gives up her physical form to have her child. Rose has a baby girl, Nora and her father leaves so Pink and Greg are left to raise her themselves.

Nora messes up one day as a little kid, pressing random buttons in Pink’s Leg Ship and ends up calling Yellow Diamond. Yellow answers because she is utterly confused why she is recieving a call from Pink’s Leg Ship since only Pink could power it on and Pink was shattered. She sees a human toddler, another human child who has pink diamond eyes and then spots Pink who rushes to turn it off. Yellow tries to message and call Pink back but Pink ignores her so she gets Blue and even White to help her.

Pink gets threatening messages and Yellow tells her about the Cluster, Pink begs her to shut it down and leave the Earth alone and Yellow, Blue and White agree if Pink come back. With no other choice Pink agrees but then takes it back saying she has to raise her hybrid son. The three order Pink to bring him and that they’ll have a base that she can warp to from her room whenever they wish. Pink agrees and has to bring Nora too.

Once settled in Nora is brushed off by everyone as they all focus on Pink and Steven and Pink, though she tries her best to be there for both of them is focused more on Steven since he is not just her son but also the one the other Diamonds are trying to sway to be more like them. Pink tries to make sure Steven doesn’t turn out like them and argues a lot with the other Diamonds.

Steven and Nora must adjust to life on Homeworld, Pink must protect them and they all have to find a way to free themselves from The Great Diamond Authority.

Also Asks are always welcomed and appreciated.

Want to start reading?

Diamondbound’s first page is https://mwokozi369.tumblr.com/post/640316884201422848/intro-part-1

or first

#revived steven #steven universe #steven universe au #diamond steven #pink diamond #yellow diamond #diamond bound au #white diamond #diamond au #blue diamond #homeworld washed steven au alternate universes #homeworld washed steven au #Homeworld #great diamond authority

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galaxy-parker · 5 years

Text

incomplete [1]

Pairing: Peter Parker x Female!Reader ( a hate-to-love soulmate au)

Summary: Where you hate Peter Parker and you hate soulmates but maybe those two themes have more in common than you thought

Warnings: some bad words but that almost always happens

Word count: 4.5k A/N: here! it! is! my first multi chap, i am very excited about it and pretty hecking happy w the result :) i’m gonna try and keep to posting incomplete on thursdays! <3

series masterlist // prologue // chapter 1 // chapter 2

The sound of chatter presses against your mind, trying to force its way inside, but you’re preoccupied.

The soulmark on the back of your neck has been itching since the night before, a soft and irritating pulse that you can barely ignore, and your skin is nearly raw to the touch.

Absentmindedly, you let your fingers dance across it, across the tiny black words that foresee your future. The ones holding the key to finding your perfect match.

You can’t help but wonder if there’s a part of this that isn’t entirely true. How can someone have a perfect match? How can your perfect match be someone you’ve never met?

“-that your tattoo isn’t the first thing your soulmate says to you,” Liz is shaking her head and your eyes snap to hers, trying to focus your mind on the subject at hand but she isn’t looking at you. You push around your milk carton, eyes finding a white spot on your perfectly blue lunch tray. “She said it’s the first thing your soulmate says when you’re ready to find them.”

Her voice holds an excitement on the subject you couldn’t fake if you tried, but your eyebrows pinch at the words. The topic of soulmates isn’t exactly rare in your group of friends, but this theory is one that you’ve never heard and you can’t help it when you intervene.

“That can’t be right.”

Suddenly every pair of eyes at your table lands on you, and you find yourself wishing you’d said nothing at all.

Your gaze finds Nora’s, who’s sitting in front of you with a curious smile. She tucks a lock of blonde hair behind her ear before crossing her arms over the table. “What do you mean?”

There’s a tiny red line marking the inside skin of her elbow, the only proof that she had a tattoo to begin with. It’s rare for a teenager to find their soulmate, but she was over the moon once she got over the initial pain and shock of finding them so soon.

You were happy for her, of course, but something about soulmates made your skin crawl. The sheer powerlessness of it all.

“It just seems weird,” you shake your head. “How can you be ready? How do you know?”

“You ask way too many questions,” Liam buds in from beside Nora. There’s a crooked smile resting against his lips, suggesting the words a mere joke but you can feel the irritation beginning to course through your veins.

“Maybe you don’t ask enough,” you say. He shrugs and takes a long swig of his coke.

“Whatever you say,” he laughs around the can of sticky sugar.

“It’s an automatic thing,” Nora explains, something happy dancing in her green eyes. “It’s all predetermined.”

“Predetermined by who?” you ask, swiping your plastic fork from your plate and nibbling on the ends of it. The plastic bends easily beneath your teeth. “Isn’t it weird that you’re just supposed meet some random person who says the words you’ve been assigned and bam, you’re practically married?”

“Okay, you know that’s not how it works,” Nora says, shaking her head.

“Maybe it’s an exaggeration,” you admit, throwing down your plastic tupperware again. “But now, apparently, I might already know them? Am I the only one who thinks that’s weird?”

“Uh,” Liam shakes his head, a crooked smile on his face, and shoves a burnt french fry in his mouth. His expression twists into one of disgust a second later, but he swallows it down nonetheless. “Yeah, you are.”

Liz leans closer to you and nudges your arm softly. “Why is this so important to you?” she asks.

“I don’t know,” you say honestly. Nora furrows her brows and though it seems as if Liam is preoccupied with the manufactured food on his tray, you know his ears are trained on your words. “Don’t you want to be able to choose who you fall in love with?”

You watch their faces with a sudden desperation you didn’t know you possessed. Desperation to be heard, desperation to be understood. The crease between Nora’s brows deepens as she takes in your inquiry, Liam shakes his head and Liz just stares at you, as if you started spewing sentences in Dothraki.

“No,” she finally says. Her head tilts to the side, causing her midnight curls to fall over her shoulders in an ocean of black. “Not really.”

You suck on your teeth and push your greens around your tray with a plastic fork. “Just forget I said anything.”

“You’ll see it’s better this way,” Nora says, her voice soft as if she’s trying not to spook you. “When you meet your soulmate.”

You know she’s only trying to reassure you of your doubts, but her words stir something strange in your chest. You feel like you’re being brainwashed.

“Right,” you breathe out a laugh.

“I think it’s exciting,” Liz exclaims, clasping her hands together atop the table. “What if your soulmate is here right now?’

Her eyes shimmer with something hopeful, you can’t help but store away your own reservations, at least for the time being.

“Knowing you, you have at least thirty options as to who it could be,” Liam says with a smirk, once again an active participant of the conversation.

“Maybe Alex Smith?” she wonders, resting her chin on her palm. You snort, turning away when she shoots you a questioning glance. “What?”

“No, nothing,” you shake your head, worrying your bottom lip between your teeth.

“Alex Smith wears the same shirt, like, four out of five school days,” Liam reaches over Nora’s arms to snatch up her untouched bowl of fruit. She barely puts up a fight, knowing full well she’ll only pick at it until the bell rings, but doesn’t hesitate to clip him over his ear.

“You know you could ask,” she jokes, while Liz starts to sputter with protests.

“That is so not true,” she says, eyes already searching the crowded cafeteria to fact check her friend’s accusation. Her face falls when she does but she quickly recovers, flashing Liam a sarcastic smile and flicking a lock of hair behind her shoulder. “Okay well what do you think?”

“For you or for me?” he cards a hand through his dark hair, quirking an eyebrow when she shrugs. “I don’t think you’ve met yours yet,” he supplies.

Liz’s face morphs into an adorable pout before switching to a smirk just as easily. “What if one of your exes is your soulmate?”

He scoffs, eyes rolling upward and you share a knowing glance with Nora.

Although most seem to wait for their soulmate to start dating, it’s not uncommon for romantic relationships to develop outside of the chosen, and Liam is no stranger to that way of living.

It seems he has a new significant other every week, and you can’t help but feel sorry for the poor hearts he often breaks. Then again, he can’t be bothered to change and the boys and girls who are victim to his fleeting love seem to come out okay on the other side.

He shakes his head. “That’s never gonna happen,” he says, and then “I hope mine is Peter Parker.”

Your spine snaps into a rigid straight line and you reel back at the words like you’ve been slapped. Nora and Liz begin to laugh.

“Peter Parker?” you question. “Why on earth-?”

“He’s cute,” Liam laughs. “And he’s got a six pack you know.”

“Because that totally makes up for being an ass.”

“He’s got one of those too,” He shrugs with a smile when you screw up your face, then shakes his head. “I’m messing with you.”

“Thank go-”

“I think he’s yours.”

Nora laughs vehemently, throwing her head back and slapping the table with an open palm. Liz has the decency to try and hide her laughter between her fingers, but her giggles still slip through her skin and seep into your own.

“What the fuck,” you deadpan, unable to supress the curse from your lips and suddenly Liam is joining in on the snickers. You think you might explode.

“Wouldn’t that be something,” Nora licks her lips, trying to regain her composure.

“Yeah, I think I’d jump off of a cliff.”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Liz pokes your cheek, just two short jabs, but your skin stings at her touch.

“It’s what I’m known for,” you say, rising from the rickety bench you’ve been uncomfortably perched on for twenty minutes. Liam and Nora watch you stand languidly, but Liz pushes herself up from the seat a moment later.

“Bathroom?” she asks and you nod, slinging your bag over your shoulder.

It’s a stringy grey thing given to you by your dad when you started middle school and despite the pleas of your friends to invest in a new one, and the fact that one Peter Parker teases you about it any chance he gets, you find comfort in the packet. Especially when your dad is away on work trips, which you find that he is more often than not.

“Yeah,” you step away from the stained lunch table, offering Nora and Liam a two fingered salute before Liz grabs your hand and pulls you from the cafeteria, but not before dragging you past Peter’s lunch table.

You stumble behind your friend, senselessly letting your eyes skitter over his figure- slouched over, smiling brightly at something his friends are saying- but his gaze meets your when you don’t turn away quick enough, and the fragile piece of Peter Parker that you’ve never known shatters before your eyes.

He glares at you, blankly somehow and the indifference harborded in your gut burns into a raging fury.

When you finally fall through the cafeteria doors, leading to a near empty hallway, you whirl around to face a simpering Liz.

“We could have used the other doors,” you say, arching a brow. “You know, the ones that were closer to our table and not in the direction of Parker’s.”

She bats her eyelashes to feign innocence, but her shit-eating grin and the glimmer in her eyes betray her too quickly. “Whatever do you mean?”

You groan, setting course for the bathroom again. “Why?”

“I like watching the sexual tension between the two of you,” she shrugs and you stick out your tongue in disgust. “Oh my god, imagine if the two of you were, like, actually soulmates.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to despise your soulmate, Lizzy,” you roll your eyes, watching a few of your peers mull around the halls. A few of them smile as you pass, and you return the gesture before focusing on the girl next to you again. She tucks a dark lock of hair behind her ear, the straightened piece losing its heat and starting to frizz again on the end.

“Don’t worry,” she says, cocking her head. “The odds are like, one-in-a-zillion.”

“That’s not a real number, how’d you get into this school again?”

She twists her face, her nose wrinkling at the words as she pushes open the grey bathroom door. It squeaks on its hinges, the sound echoing across tiled walls.

Liz walks in a straight line towards the dirty mirrors, running her delicate fingers through her hair while you walk into one of the empty, and horribly smelly, stalls.

When you step out again, Liz is still admiring her reflection, this time reapplying her lip balm and you can’t help the smile that eases onto your face. Even in the dingy bathroom mirrors she’s gorgeous, and she holds herself with a confidence you can only hope to one day possess.

She grins when she catches sight of you in the mirror, a pearly white smile lined with full lips.

You step forward, running your hands underneath the faucet and shaking your skin dry before nodding your head to the door again. Liz taps the back of your bag.

“Ready?” she asks.

You nod, sliding forwards on the damp tiled floor- no doubt from students opting to shake the drops of water from their hands rather than dry them on the less than sanitary towels, like you- and shove open the door again.

The hall is still halfway empty, and a quick glance at the clock on a far wall tells you that there are twenty minutes left until your lunch break ends.

You make a beeline for the cafeteria, and Liz trails behind you for a moment before her long legs are catching up to yours in easy strides.

Neither of you speaks for a moment, and you let your hand travel to your mark as you walk. It doesn’t take Liz long to catch on to the movement and she swipes up your hand as you let it fall, one of her perfectly manicured eyebrows arched.

“Okay, you’ve been messing with your tattoo all day. What’s up?”

She tries to turn you away from her, no doubt to inspect it, but you step out of her reach and pull away from her touch. “Nothing.”

“Oh please,” she rolls her eyes and takes a step forward just as easily as you took one back. Her dark eyes glimmer with curiosity, and you decide that she’ll never stop pressing if you don’t just tell her now. “Don’t lie.”

You shake your head, clenching your fist to keep yourself from reaching upwards again. “It just itches a little, it’s fine,” she’s staring at you like she doesn’t believe you, and you can’t exactly say that you blame her between your wincing and the redness of the skin around your mark. But she doesn’t need to know the extent of it, telling her the problem and detailing it are two very different things. “Probably just a mosquito bite.”

“Doesn’t look like one,” she sing-songs, but starts her trek through the school halls again.

That was close, you think to yourself.

You’re not sure why you’re lying to her. Maybe it’s your own concern taking the wheel, or the fact that you know she’ll make a bigger deal of it than it should be, but it’s too late to turn back now.

She’s a few steps ahead of you when a new thought pops into your head, this one more urgent.

“Oh wait,” your steps halt suddenly, and Liz shoots farther ahead before she turns her head and stops.

“What?” she asks, wearing a quizzical expression.

“I need to grab some books out of my locker,” you nod in the opposite direction, back down the way you came. “I’ll meet up with you in a second.”

She dips her head, a nod yes, before pushing through the cafeteria doors and leaving you to yourself. You start your trek towards your locker, nothing on your mind but seemingly useless things- the weather, your friends, your soulmark.

Your hand travels to the bumpy tattoo on your neck once more, as if called there and in the privacy of the empty halls you let your fingers roam the irritated skin. You know what it says, you’ve known since it appeared, but what it means… what elicits it is what confuses you, intrigues you and pisses you off.

You turn the corner, still lost in thought, but when you finally notice Peter Parker leaning against your locker, a smile pressed on his lips, your arm falls in surprise.

He isn’t looking at you; he probably doesn’t even know that yours is the locker he’s decided to block, but it is, leaving you in an uncomfortable situation that will surely end in a verbal brawl.

Ned is standing in front of him, animatedly telling a story that you know you’ll never hear— not that you’d want to— and you steel yourself at the sight of them before marching over to the pair, your shoulders set back in determination.

As if sensing your presence, Peter’s eyes dart from Ned’s face to yours. Just like every time he sees you, the smile that he was wearing vanishes from his lips. You think that in another world, it would hurt that you’re able to bring such displeasure to someone just by being in their line of sight, but with him it twists something like satisfaction in your gut.

Ned picks up on his sudden change of demeanor, but unlike Peter, when his eyes meet yours his face splits into an even bigger grin.

You’ve always liked Ned. He was always kind to you, even when Peter was cruel.

“Y/N!” he calls, and a smile pulls at your lips.

“Hey, Ned.”

Peter crosses his arms as you approach, head tilting upwards. You wouldn’t be surprised if the motion is only so that he can say that he’s literally looking down on you. You try not to laugh.

“You’re just who I was looking for,” Ned says, pulling your attention to him once more. You slow your pace, cocking your head in confusion.

“Oh?” you question, trying to block Peter in your peripheral, trying to block the stupid smirk that’s now replaced his frown.

“Liam said you needed the notes that we got in History?” your eyes flit to the notebook that Ned’s grasping in a hand, and to the letters adorning it. The words he’s written in a playful scrawl are highlighted with a spectrum of colors.

“Right,” you tuck a lock of hair behind your ear and roll your eyes. “Of course he couldn’t be bothered to do it himself. Sorry, Ned.”

Peter lets out a scoff at that, small and easy to miss, but you turn to him anyways.

“If you have something to say,” you press the heels of your hands into your hips. “Then say it.”

He shakes his head, eyeing you up and down. “I wouldn’t dare.”

Your stomach twists with irritation and you try not to fume as Ned takes a step forward, his smile pinched. “It’s no big deal, Y/N,” he says, tearing the papers from his book and handing them to you gently.

You turn away from Peter, letting the anger ease from your face when your eyes focus on Ned once more. “I owe you one.”

“We’re square,” he steps back again, cocking his head. “Last year, Physics?”

Your mind shoots back to the year prior, when both Ned and Peter were out sick and you took notes for the former unbeknownst that they would be passed on to the ladder afterwards. But you’re square.

“Right,” you nod. “Thanks.”

You take a new step forward, almost directly in front of Peter but all he does is stare at you, a single eyebrow arched. You tense your jaw.

“Can I help you?” to anybody who doesn’t know him, his voice would sound sincere and concerned, but you’ve learned to uncover the underlying sarcasm and bite of irritation that accompany the words.

You cross your arms, letting your eyes dart across his face. “You’re leaning against my locker.”

He grins, sarcastic and so obviously an attempt to rile you up that you can’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that it really does. “Sorry,” he says, sounding anything but sincere.

“I’m sure,” He doesn’t make any attempt to move, and you can see Ned fidgeting nervously next to you at his friends defiance. “I’d,” you breathe, clenching your teeth so hard you’re afraid they’ll shatter. “Appreciate it if you would get out of the way.”

Still, he doesn’t budge, but a new condescending smile pulls at his lips and he hums. “Would you?”

The expression he wears takes you back to when you were young and in elementary school. He used to stand behind you when you walked in straight lines around the school and he’d always pull at the end of your ponytail. Any time you’d turn to glare at him, to yell at him to stop he’d wear this same expression. Even years later it makes you want to break his jaw.

“I hate you,” your voice is set in a deadpan when the words leave your lips and your face is wiped of any emotion, but you’re quite sure you’ve never spoken a heavier truth.

He laughs at that, a silly and boyish thing but there’s an underlying harshness that tangles into the sound. “I’m flattered.”

Ned steps forward as Peter talks, and grabs his arm tightly. “Come on, man,” he pleads.

Peter glances at Ned and the cocky expression laid out on his face flickers for a moment, then he turns to you again, his face wiped completely. You cross your arms and wait.

It takes him a few seconds to heed Ned’s request, but when he does you don’t hesitate to occupy the spot where he stood and shove open your locker door.

Your fingers grapple for your textbooks, but when you turn around after cramming them into your bag, Peter is still standing behind you, something mischievous in his eyes.

“Don’t you have anyone else to piss off?” you ask, slinging your backpack over your shoulder again and closing your locker door. Peter cocks his head.

“I’m literally just standing here.”

“Your presence is more than enough,” you shift in place and suck on your teeth. A soft pressure begins to set on the back of your neck, but you write it off as nothing. It has to be. “Did you need something?”

He shakes his head, and a dark lock of hair falls away from its peers and curls over his forehead. If you didn’t hate him so much you’d think it might be beautiful.

“Why don’t you get a new bag?” he asks. There’s honest curiosity in his voice, and he looks like a child asking why the sky is blue, but the question stirs something deep inside of you.

Maybe you’re too protective over it, maybe the anger boiling in your gut is irrational and reckless but you can’t help it when the feeling transforms into words spilling over your lips.

“Why don’t you get a new personality?”

He purses his lips and releases the air lodged in his lungs, but his eyes hold his humor. It does nothing but anger you more.

Your skin itches and the hair on the back of your neck rises, and the pressure is on your tattoo, you realize.

“You thought hard on that one didn’t you?” he says, shoving his hands in his pockets. His tone has changed from curious to halfway cruel.

Ned takes a step back now, his eyebrows still bumped together. For a moment you forgot he was even there to begin with, and though it does nothing to change the situation, you feel almost disappointed with his choice to stay out of the argument.

“Can you just leave me alone?” you bark, turning your gaze back to Peter. “Just once, mind your own buisness and fuck off?”

With every passing second the pressure on your soulmark grows more and more until you’re afraid it might burst, but you blame it on your anger rather than anything else. You blame it on the adrenaline coursing through your veins.

“You’re one to talk!” he yells, brandishing his hands in anger. You balk at his sudden change of tone.

“You don’t know anything about me!”

“Oh, you wanna bet?”

“What?” Your body goes rigid the second the words leave his lips, and suddenly you feel as if you’ve been dipped in liquid fire and thrown into an icy bath all at once. You’re left blubbering in confusion and for a second you think you’re going through early menopause- very early menopause- that it’s merely a coincidence that his question is the same one that’s printed on your skin; but then a searing pain shoots up your spine.

“Wait,” you gasp, right before your legs give out underneath you.

Peter’s arms are outstretched and he darts forwards to keep you from hitting the ground, but you yank your arm away before he can touch it, and your knees hit the tiled ground a moment later.

There’s no doubt in your mind that they’ll be colored with bruises in time, but that’s almost the least of your concerns.

You cup the back of your neck, as if you can shield it from the pain, but it only burns hotter. Tears gather in the corners of your eyes and Peter’s face begins to blur into an unrecognizable blob.

He doesn’t touch you, like he’s afraid you’ll crumble at the first brush of his fingers, but he does inch closer, hands hovering halfway through the air.

And then, as suddenly as it happened to you, he gasps and his face drains of color.

Maybe the same thing is happening to him, but what on earth is it?

He grapples for his ribs, keeling forward and bracing his hand on the tile next to yours. There’s sweat collecting on his brow and he’s close enough that you can make out every detail of his face as you blink away your tears.

“What’s going on?” he asks, panic lacing his gaze. You almost find it in yourself to roll your eyes.

“I don’t know,” you snap, squeezing your eyes shut to try and brave the sting, but it’s fading just as fast as it arrived.

The sound of Ned’s shuffling feet fills your ears, next to his mumbling and that of someone else. When you look up again, peeling your eyes open, you see Michelle Jones with a rare startled look on her face mirroring Ned’s surprise.

“Oh my god,” you hear her mumble, and then Peter’s sitting up and blocking her from view.

His face has regained its color, now a bright red and his brows are bumped together in a mix of confusion and concern. You stand up at the same time, but when you stumble and he doesn’t, he grabs your forearms to steady you.

His skin presses against yours, hard and soft and suddenly you find that you’re feeling better, you feel like nothing ever happened at all, so you pull away from him and throw up a shield.

“Uh,” his voice is low and timid. “You okay?”

Like you care, you want to say.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you say instead, trying to ignore the way your stomach drops at the complete lack of him. Of his skin against yours, because you’re not supposed to feel that at all. “Are you?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he scratches the back of his neck, but his eyes are foggy and it almost seems like he’s looking through you rather than at you. “I’m good.”

A cough sounds behind him, and when you glance over your shoulder you see his friends, fidgeting nervously. Ned’s face is twisted into pity and concern, but MJ is smirking devilishly.

“Uh, guys,” Ned stutters weakly, scratching the back of his neck.

“What the hell was that?” Peter asks, his hand drifting to his ribs again, you wonder if that’s where his tattoo hides. And then you find yourself wondering why he would be reaching for it at all.

MJ huffs out a laugh, then smothers it with her palm and shakes her head. “You’re not gonna like it,” she says.

“Just say it,” you press. Your hand begins to drift upwards automatically, searching for the bumpy mark on your neck, but when your fingers brush over the surface you find nothing but smooth skin. Your blood runs cold.

“I think,” Ned swallows, visibly hesitant and MJ nudges his shoulder, prompting him to continue. “I think you guys are soulmates.” he finally says. It sounds forced and meek and he winces after the words clear the air. You think you might faint.

You don’t.

You want to scream and yell and curse at the sky, but when you open your mouth no words aid you. So Peter yells instead.

“What?”

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strikethrough means i couldn’t tag you <3

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ayellowcurtain · 5 years

Note

Could you please write some Viri and Alejandro content. Whatever you want to write because I just need some content with them.

I mean…you didn’t exactly ask for this, but I wrote a huge, messy thingy for you, hope you like it!!

They weren’t looking for each other. Viri had way too many things to worry about to remember Alejandro and he was still very bitter about Nora already being with somebody else to remember any other girl existed, but it happens.

Alejandro needed to get some groceries and he stopped at the first one he could find. He didn’t look up, Viri was busy with her work too. They only saw each other when he went to her to ask where the tomato sauce was.

It was very awkward. They stuttered a little, but she finally showed him where it was and he grabbed two and put inside his basket. She looked like a scared animal, with her head always down, whispering instead of talking and he knew this was a secret. He didn’t care enough to go around telling her friends about it either, but she rushed to him on his way out and asked anyway for him not to tell anyone about it.

When he went outside to get back on his bike that Alejandro saw his surroundings, he’s never been to this neighboorhood before, just passes by every few days.

As he’s watching Nora the next morning, he also notices how he can’t hear Viri’s voice. She’s usually very loud and obnoxious, but she’s clearly uncomfortable on her group today, eyeing him every few seconds and he realizes that not even Viri, the girl that has a huge crush on him, believes his word that he wasn’t going to say anything about what he saw at the grocery store.

So a few days later, when he’s passing by Viri’s work again, he stops and goes inside, finding her putting somethings on the shelves.

“I’m not going to tell your friends about this. I told you. I’m not with Nora, there’s no reason for me to tell anyone about it so stop worrying.” She nearly drops the bag of chips she was holding when she hears him talk so close to her, trying not to make a scene.

“O-ok. Thank you.” And he leaves without buying anything this time.

It’s not a relationship yet, but they acknowledge each other when passing by each other at school or at Viri’s work. She’s still too worried about her finances, but every once in a while she daydreams about being with Alejandro, him being in love with her and not with Nora.

He invites Viri to go to his party after a few weeks. He’s not in the mood to make a mess again, but he’s just being selfish, inviting someone he knows might give him some attention. He invited Nora too just to play the adult for once, acting like he doesn’t care if she brings her asshole of a boyfriend.

“You can’t do this.” Viri shows up right in his face and Alejandro needs to step back to be able to focus his eyes on her face. Her cheeks are very red, her hair a little messy in the usual ponytail. She’s clearly drunk and none of her friends are around, checking on her.

“Do what…?” He tries not to sound rude, seeing Nora getting back inside his house with her boyfriend.

“I know you invited me out of pity. I don’t need you to feel sorry for me. You like Nora, she moved on, you don’t need to use me to get to her. I can’t have that right now.” Viri is talking too fast, mixing all the words, but Alejandro gets the message. She’s clearly not used to being this drunk and he feels bad for thinking she might be drunk because of him.

“I’m not…I won’t use you, don’t worry. I’m sorry if it felt like that.”

“It did!”

“I’m sorry! What do you want me to say?” He talks loudly over the music, opening his arms, suddenly feeling impatient.

Alejandro looks around, trying to think about which girl he should be looking for. Amira is his safest bet. Eva is too close to Nora, Cris has too much of a big fucking mouth. He grabs Viri’s wrist and walks her to Amira. She complains but walks with him anyway.

“She’s very drunk. We should get her a cab.”

And they get a cab for Viri, but Amira thinks it’s best to go with her and somehow, Alejandro goes with them, leaving Viri and Amira at Viri’s house and then going back to his. He doesn’t care about Viri, she’s too much in every way possible, but he can’t help but worry about her drunk words.

Now Viri is back to not even acknowledging his existence in school, clearly embarrassed about the scene she made at his party.

It takes weeks for them to start talking again. Alejandro doesn’t know why, he can’t find a reason inside himself, but he goes back to her work again and after that, they hang out sometimes when her shift is done. He even takes her home a few times, but she never invites him in. He’s not thinking about getting inside to do anything, it’s just weird how she always rushes inside and slams the door in his face.

Alejandro starts to actually notice Viri. How she dressed, how she’s always in a rush to do something, how she’s the impersonation of insecurity and he feels actually bad for treating her like shit before. Maybe a few words could hurt more than he imagined at the time.

He can’t ask her out, there’s no way he could do that and not give her hopes that something could happen between them. So he doesn’t ask her out, but in one of their “hangouts”, he takes her to eat at those food trucks close to the grocery she works at. Alejandro doesn’t have feelings for her, but he cares about her.

Viri is finally starting to settle, she finally got the hang of her tasks at the grocery store, nobody from her school comes here except for Alejandro so she stops worrying about that and starts to enjoy her time while working, trying to be the best employee she can be. She even got a raise a month ago and now she’s able to save some money to use with herself.

She still daydreams about Alejandro, but that’s it, a daydream. As far from reality as it can be. The night at the food truck is one of the best of her life. He’s acting a little less and Viri thinks she might be seeing a little bit of the actual Alejandro and not the fuck boy.

When he walks her home, it feels like a little bit more, but Viri stops herself from thinking that, remembering what Nora told her months ago. Alejandro was always interested in her and she made a huge effort of not making out with him for months. All because of Viri’s fragility of not handling the truth.

“What are you so afraid of?” He asks when she’s running inside like she always does, afraid that he might see the inside of her building and how everything is falling apart.

“…What?” She looks inside and lets the door close behind her, curious about what he’s talking about.

“You’re always hiding, running away. I’m almost sure you’re constantly shaking, afraid that at some point you won’t have control over everything and you might combust when that happens.”

He’s not wrong and that leaves Viri without an answer to give it to him. So she just gets inside and he turns back around and leaves.

And after that, their relationship changes a little more. Viri can’t stop thinking about what he said and he can’t believe he’s starting to be constantly thinking about a girl that’s not Nora.

But there’s still Nora. He sees when she starts missing classes and when the gossip starts to spread weeks later. Alejandro doesn’t think it’s his right to go asking her if what people are saying it’s the truth, but he’s obviously worried. Whatever was happening with Viri is put to the side when he finally talks to Nora and she tells him about what happened. They’re not as close anymore, but he feels horrible for not being there to help her go to the police or talk to the piece of shit her ex-boyfriend is.

Nora is doing a lot better, but Alejandro can only imagine how traumatic it can be and how much time she’ll need to heal.

Almost three weeks have passed since he last actually talked to Viri, too busy with Nora again, but he misses her company and maybe he’s starting to accept that he might think she’s an ok girl. It’s been three weeks and he’s still thinking about her, that must mean something.

When things are starting to get blurry with Nora again, he ends up at the grocery store, looking inside. Viri is still there, she has a different job now, a better one if Alejandro had to guess.

He texts her, asking if she’s free after work today to go eat something at that food truck again. Alejandro watches as she grabs her phone, reads his message and shoves her phone back inside her pocket.

The answer doesn’t come for an entire week. Alejandro always checks their conversation and there’s nothing. It’s a Friday night, he’s lying on his couch, trying to find something to watch as he waits for his friends when the answer finally comes.

“I get that it’s not the time for drama. Nora needs all the help and support she can have, but I can’t pretend we are friends. You’re doing what you said you wouldn’t do. Don’t use me to get over her. If one day you make up your mind, text me.”

Alejandro sits up at the couch, reading again the message, checking if it’s really from Viri.

Shit.

He doesn’t really have time to think, does he? So he rushes out of the house, getting on his bike and crossing the city as fast as he can. Viri never lets him in and he’s thinking tonight won’t be different, but he calls her anyway when he gets there.

She doesn’t pick up at first so he tries again and she picks up right away.

“Alejandro?”

“Yeah. I’m outside, can you come down so we can talk?” He has no idea what he’s doing there, but he’s here anyway. They’ll figure it out.

“I…I can’t, but you can come up if you want…The door is not locked, you just…push hard and it’ll probably open.”

“Oh…Okay.” He turns on his heels, looking at the old wooden door in front of him. It’s very old and clearly not safe, but he does as he was told, pushing the heavy door. It’s a pain in the ass, but he manages to open enough to get inside. The door drags against the old tile.

“I’m in. Ok.” They finally hang up and Alejandro tries to look around, find an elevator, but there’s no light. He turns his phone up and finds the stairs, running up.

He sees a light turning on underneath one door and he checks the number. He turns back around, thinking about just going home, explaining himself some other time, but he thinks about Viri waiting for him inside, probably ridiculously nervous, shaking even and he turns back around, cursing inside his own head when he knocks on the door.

She opens the door right away, everything else is dark except the tiny hall they’re in.

It’s too late to think about what he’s doing, kissing Viri like his life depends on it, putting one arm around her waist to give her some balance and with his other hand at the side of her side, carefully walking her back inside.

“My…my parents are at home.” She whispers against his lips when they stop for a second to breathe.

“You wanna go to your bedroom?” He asks before he can talk himself out of it and she nods her head, uncertain, but she holds his hand and leads him to the last door, gently it closing and locking.

#skam españa #viri gomez #alejandro beltrán

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bronzeflower · 4 years

Text

Just a Little Heartbreak :)

Also on ao3

-----

Arlo was on duty for patrolling out to the Eufaula desert, looking out for any larger threats that could infringe upon Portia or Southblock when he reached the cave at the very edge of it.

Professional speaking, Arlo would say that he entered the cave to leave no stone unturned, but, realistically, there hadn't been any monsters in the cave for a while now. It was perfectly safe, and there was no reason to check it.

But Arlo wanted to. Maybe he was feeling sappy, but the cave was special.

As he walked through it, his heart filled with warmth. He couldn't stop himself from smiling at the thought of Victor gleefully fighting the monsters that once resided here, looking back at Arlo with a proud grin once he finished.

And then when Victor fell while they were climbing up the cliff and Arlo caught him. Victor got so flustered by that, especially as Arlo offered to carry him the rest of the way up.

Arlo's stomach filled with butterflies and he let out a sigh, thinking about Victor. Kind, hardworking, a little blunt at times, but the honesty was appreciated. As Arlo’s thoughts wandered, he found himself thinking about kissing Victor.

He wanted to kiss Victor in the way that made Victor the most flustered. Something soft and careful and tender never failed to make Victor’s cheeks flare up as he asked for another kiss.

The cave was actually where they had their first kiss, and it was exactly the kind of kiss that Arlo was imagining at the moment.

Arlo got to the top of the cliff face, excited to see the beautiful scenery that he knew resided just a bit further in.

But, when he reached there, every ounce of warmth slipped out of him as he froze dead in his tracks, attempting to decipher what he was seeing.

Because, because that couldn't be Victor kissing Oaks. Not in the same exact place Arlo shared his first kiss with Victor. It couldn't. It was impossible. It was a trick of the light.

But no one else had hair that bright of a red. And no one else quite smiled like that, gentle and soft and ethereal. The smile that never failed to make Arlo's knees to jelly and make his heart race. The smile that made Arlo feel like the most loved person in the world. The smile that Arlo had thought was only for him.

That smile. That perfect, beautiful, lovely smile. That wonderful, amazing, heartstopping smile. Was being directed towards Oaks.

Arlo’s stomach started to churn with something ugly, and it quickly slithered up to his throat, suffocating him and making his throat scratchy and dry. His heart collapsed in upon itself, and his lungs burned.

He had to get out of here. He couldn’t stand here and watch them. He couldn’t stand to look at that smile for a second longer.

Arlo shoved down the emotion that kept crawling and climbing through his chest with reckless abandon. He forced it down into his core and mustered up the strength to turn around.

He bolted.

Once he started moving, he couldn’t stop, and his emotions broke free from their weak chamber and clamored about through his chest as his mind played the scene he had witnessed on repeat. He must have gone through it a hundred times before accepting the truth of the situation.

It wasn’t Oaks who initiated the kiss.

Arlo ran past Southblock, but he slowed as he approached the Portia Bridge. He breathed in and out. In. And. Out.

He started doing the breathing exercise wherein he breathed in for as long as he could, holding it for a few seconds before finally breathing out slowly and carefully.

He didn’t want anyone to think he was running due to an emergency. And, no matter how much it felt like it, this was not an emergency.

Arlo walked, focusing his eyes one every little thing to distract himself from his thoughts.

There was the wishing tree, grand as it watched over the Central Plaza, bringing shade to the benches it grew beside. He listened to his footsteps, each step making a satisfying thump against the ground.

He put a hand on the railing as he ascended the stairs between Total Tools and the school, taking a glance towards the Mysterious Man’s eternally closed shop.

Why did the Mysterious Man even set up a shop here if he was going to be gone most of the time? Arlo could recall when he opened up the store every morning and cheerfully greeted customers who came by. Arlo never learned why he left, only knowing that the Mysterious Man always said that Portia felt like home to him.

Those thoughts weren’t important at the moment, but they gave Arlo something to think about other than, well...

“Good evening, Arlo,” Ginger said as Arlo started to pass by.

“Good evening, anything I can help you with?”

The words were automatic, firing off as Arlo put on his Captain’s mask.

"Have you seen Victor around?" Ginger asked, and the question immediately prompted a replay of the scene Arlo had the misfortune of seeing. "He said he would tell me about some of his adventures in the mines when he had the time."

"I haven't seen him," Arlo lied.

"If you do, could you tell him I've been looking for him?" Ginger requested.

"Yeah, of course," Arlo managed to dredge out. "I'll see you around."

They went their separate ways, and Arlo kept up his mask. He was so close to the Civil Corps. He could handle himself for the few minutes it would take to get there. Just a little further.

Arlo placed a hand on the railings to steady himself as he went up the ramps leading to the Civil Corps.

He was almost there. He was so close. He just had to focus on his footsteps. Keep up the mask.

"Oh! Arlo!" A voice greeted, and it broke Arlo's concentration, especially as he looked up to find it was Nora, and he saw how her cheerful expression shifted into worry. "Are...you okay?"

"I'm fine," Arlo ground out, and he hated how curt his voice sounded.

"I don't think you are," Nora insisted, and while, usually, Arlo would be grateful for her concern, this wasn't something he wanted to burden her with. This was something he couldn't burden her with.

"It's not something I want to talk about," Arlo said, and the words felt like sandpaper on his tongue. His throat had begun to clog, and he feared he wouldn't be able to hold himself together for much longer. "Not right now."

Nora went silent for a moment before looking solemn.

"Oh. Okay," Nora accepted. "Perhaps later then."

Arlo nodded stiffly and took the last few steps up to the Civil Corps building. As Arlo reached out to open the door, he noticed his hand was shaking.

He made it inside and rushed to his own bedroom, swiftly opening the door and closing it behind him.

He took a breath, and his face felt hot. He braced himself against the closed door, and he broke.

Arlo slid down to the ground, finding himself sitting on the stairs leading down to his bedroom as painful tears started to force their way out of him.

Once the tears started coming out, he couldn't stop them, and they rushed down until all Arlo could taste was salt and all he could think about was Victor kissing Oaks.

Why? Arlo thought, he thought Victor loved him.

Arlo thought that cave was special to the both of them. He thought that Victor's soft, loving smile was reserved for only him. He thought that he was the only one Victor wanted to kiss.

Arlo guessed that he was wrong.

It took a long time for him to stop crying. The tears kept flowing until his body couldn’t physically produce any more, and once he had exhausted himself of the tears, he stared down at the Flying Pigs rug at the end of the stairs, hardly registering much of anything.

He didn’t know how long he stayed there. It felt like time wasn’t passing, as if he were in his own separate bubble away from everything else. Realistically, however, Arlo knew that time didn’t stop just because he had a little crying session, which is why he eventually forced himself to move.

He started with moving individual fingers before making sure his arms were functioning as well, a task that was somehow both simple and almost insurmountable. He raised his hand up to grasp at the railing and used it as a brace to slowly bring himself up to standing height.

Arlo became dizzy as he stood, which told him that he’d been frozen on the ground for probably too long, and it took a minute for the dizziness to subside.

His chest still felt like it was on fire, but they were embers compared to the burning blaze of hurt from earlier.

Arlo held onto the railing as he descended into the bedroom. Once he reached level ground, he found himself reluctant to let go of the railing. It was something solid, real. Arlo had the feeling that, if he didn’t continue to hold on to it, he’d just fall apart again.

But, eventually, Arlo had to let go of the railing, and he stumbled over to the bed, practically collapsing onto it and passing out almost instantly.

In the morning, Arlo woke up. He tore himself out of bed and prepared for work.

He was captain of the Civil Corps. He had a duty to fulfill, and he couldn’t allow a little heartbreak to affect that duty.

And, well, as much as Arlo hated to admit it, he hoped what he saw at the cave was just a mistake.

He knew it was stupid to rationalize such a thing. He really shouldn’t be giving Victor a second chance at all, but Arlo couldn't help but feel hopeful that Victor would gift him an apology bear, and they could work things out, and Victor would smile lovingly at Arlo and get flustered whenever Arlo kissed him softly, and everything would be okay.

Huh.

He...really had fallen hard, hadn’t he?

A few days later, Victor brought Arlo to a private area, and Arlo tried to push down the hope rising up inside him.

"So, um," Victor started, bringing a hand up and tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear, an action that never failed to make Arlo’s heart race. "I need to tell you something."

"Go ahead," Arlo stated, crossing his arms in front of himself, as if that would protect him from whatever Victor might say.

"Let's break up."

Arlo felt like he'd just swallowed glass.

"Wh-what? Why?" Arlo asked even though he knew why. He knew exactly why, but he couldn't stop the words from escaping out of him.

"I just...I don't have...I don't love you like that. Not anymore."

Arlo watched as Victor reached into his bag and pulled out - he pulled out a, a withered branch. Victor held out the hand holding the branch towards Arlo, and Arlo felt his chest caving in on itself as he forced himself to take it, pricking himself on it’s thorns in the process.

"I, I understand," Arlo said, but he didn't. He really didn't. He just clutched at the handle of the withered branch as his heart became torn to shreds.

Victor left, and Arlo made his way to the Civil Corps building. The path felt familiar in a way that had nothing to do with Arlo taking the route every day. This time though, he ran into no one.

The door to the Civil Corps building, and, somehow, the door to his room was heavier, but he went inside, and he sat down at his desk. He looked over the paperwork he had yet to finish and the mugs that he had yet to clean up.

Instead of working or picking up the mugs, Arlo brought out the withered branch.

He stared at it as if it would suddenly disappear. It was light, so light that Arlo could almost forget that it was there, but, as he ran his fingers over it, the thorns still very much hurt him.

“Ow!” Arlo vocalized as he pricked himself particularly hard against one of the thorns, the sharp pain violently jolted Arlo back into reality.

The branch was a physical reminder of what just occurred. It gave Arlo no sweet nothings, no appealing lies, just harsh, unrelenting truth.

And it was a truth Arlo had to accept. Arlo had to respect Victor’s decision, and he had to accept that Victor just didn’t love him anymore.

Victor didn’t love him anymore.

Arlo started crying. He dropped the withered branch, and it fell to the floor with a soft thump, and Arlo couldn’t even bring himself to care as he buried his face into his hands and sobbed.

Time seemed to reach a standstill as Arlo sat there, expelling all the hurt and despair that had built up inside of him.

He didn’t know how long he spent crying, but he eventually stopped. He wiped away the remnants of his tears and stared down at the paperwork at his desk.

He couldn't just stop doing his duties because of a little heartbreak.

And he reminded himself of that every time he spotted Victor and Oaks out on a date with each other, laughing and smiling and kissing.

Arlo tried not to think about old times whenever he caught sight of the two of them, but, sometimes, he couldn’t help it.

His heart ached.

#mtap #my time at portia #mtap arlo #mtap builder #mtap ginger #mtap nora #builder victor

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littlemisssquiggles · 6 years

Note

The time has come. The time for oscar development is on the horizon! And we have seen it! Now we have to hope the crwby wont fumble.

Aye matey! I share the same sentiment Key.Now that Oscar’s arc has started, as a Pinehead all I can hope for is that theygive us something that’s beyond satisfactory for the precious freckled farm boy. Something I found noteworthy and important is how the CRWBY Writers chose to focus on Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ren’s reactions to learning that Oscar has gone missing more than anyone else’s.

I love this since it’s a nice tie back to V5.Last season, RNJR were the first group that Oscar met and interacted after hefirst arrived at Mistral. Not to mention that Oscar lived with RNJR for a few weeksbefore the arrival of Yang and Weiss and the return of Qrow since he had leftto go scout huntsmen.

Out of everyone on the hero group, you can saythat RNJR have known Oscar the longest since he lived in the same house as all of them and it’s mostly theirfaces he saw and trained with during those first few weeks in Mistral.

It’s one of the reasons why I want more Mistral flashbacks because I’d love to see what it was like from RNJR’s perspective engaging with Oscar all those times before the others arrived. Though Icouldn’t capture it on picture, I loved how Ruby’s eyes literally shook as the news ofOscar’s disappearance hit her. As a matter of fact, I loved all of RNJR’sreactions.

Ruby’s devastastion. Jaune’s guilt and Renand Nora’s shared expressions of worry. Also this is excellent because I thinkthe Missing Farm Boy Arc could lead into Oscar joining up with JNR to revive JNPR. I feel likethere are memories that RNJR all individually shared with Oscar that helpedthem get to know him personally outside of Ozpin. We never got to see Oscarinteract much with the group with Ozpin around which led me to believe at firstthat it never happened. But…what if…there are four unseen moments during the farm boy’s first few weeks with RNJR that highlights himbonding with those four the most.

After all, Oscar was alone with Ruby, Jaune,Ren and Nora for the span of a few weeks. He trained with them. Had dinner withthem. Lived with them. I want to see those flashbacks and I feel like C9 willgive us those RNJR MistralDays flashbacks with Oscar while C10 may be Oscar’sbackstory in the event that C9 isn’t another long episode like C3.

That’s my hunch. Either way, I’m so excitedfor next week’s episode. I think this is the most excited I’ve been for anepisode whole season especially since next week will be the last episode beforethe 2 week Christmas hiatus.

So whatever the CRWBY has in store for us inC9, one thing I’ll bet is it probably going to be another long 26+ episodefeaturing lots of RNJR flashbacks with Oscar all wrapped up in chapter thathighlights Oscar’s past. It’d be amazing if we got a before and after. Like wegot flashbacks of Oscar’s past back on his farm before cutting to moreflashbacks of his time with RNJR all mixed up in the present as the group lookfor him. That’s what I want.

But we shall see. I am so EXCITED!

LittleMissSquiggles (2018)

#squiggles answers: rwby #oscar pine #ruby rose #jaune arc #nora valykerie #lie ren #rwby volume 6 spoilers #keyenuta

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drunkdragondoes · 6 years

Text

Summoner AU #5

A/N: Oh man, who remembers this lol

Summary: A summon is almost always a form of expression of who the hunter is. But for a Schnee, there are three unbreakable rules. Do not use summons for menial tasks. Do not summon them meaninglessly. And if your summon looks remotely human, do not fall in love with them.

You can click to see more on tumblr, or if you prefer:

Fanfiction.net

Ao3

Upon notifying Ozpin of her choice, Winter received an email on her scroll that asked her to begin to gather materials. It was creatively titled as an outdoor exercise, perhaps to try to evade any monitoring from her father. If he noticed anything strange, he made no show of it and she was free to begin packing.

Two changes of clothes. Everything was going to feel soiled and dirty after a while.

Survival “kit”. Food and water was expected to be provided, but expect the unexpected. Three days worth of MREs, water, and small camping tools were recommended, though she had the freedom to add whatever she wished. Winter found herself packing additional fire-making tools, a tent for one, and a small knife. Actual MREs were out of the question, however - it would be too easy for her father or someone else in the household to spot. And being a unique product, it would be easy for him to view her financial transactions and see purchases from a specialty store. She decided upon granola bars instead, settling on the fancier, overpriced brands to throw her father off a little further.

And finally personal effects - the fancy term for weapons and armaments. She took her sword, fire dust, and nothing else.

Two days later, when it was finally time to leave, she watched the gateway entrance into the Schnee Manor from one of the windows. A simple black jeep - the color of choice for the Vale-Atlas Military when it came to civilian conduct - made its way up the road. Making sure that no one was watching, she took a deep breath as Qrow perched himself on her shoulders, his ever-presence taking form in small and tiny talons lightly poking against her clothes.

Whoosh

“The time has come. Are you prepared?”

Winter didn’t answer and merely began to walk to the wall. The ash gray mist settled around her once more and she passed through, unfazed by the material. With a hurried step, she made her way down to the curb, and the vehicle pulled up.

She tried not to look back as she got into the vehicle, but as she did she saw her father standing at the front door. He looked tall, shoulders raised and spread back. He blinked, and did nothing else as he watched the car drive away.

You will be participating as a specialist in a one-day march to the northeast through Forever Fall Forest. You will then spend two days at the target location investigating the area to try and learn more about the recent disturbance. Intel is unable to provide additional information about the source and thus remains at large. Regardless of the outcome, you are expected to return to Vale at the end of the fourth day.

For this mission, the Vale-Atlas Military has employed a squad consisting of Hunters:

Blake Belladonna Jaune Arc Lie Ren Nora Valkyrie Pyrrha Nikos Winter Schnee Yang Xiao Long

These hunters will be assisting with the defense of the military’s investigation in the area.

Any questions should be directed at your immediate superior officer, Sergeant Cinder Fall.

They took the first day to explain things to her. Winter’s role was primarily to observe. She was to see if this type of field work was cut out for her before making any final decisions. Should she choose to accept, she would attend basic training before being put on a fasttrack to be a specialist.

Of course, she wouldn’t be doing the actual investigating. It was supposed to be a watch and learn opportunity, but that still left a sour spot for her. If they encountered any Grimm, though, she was free to act and assist with disposal, something she found herself looking forward to. She had fought Grimm before in a few situations, but this would be the first time Qrow would be at her side for it.

The next day they began to march. The site was off the beaten road, so early into the expedition they were already out of the transport and on their feet. Every tree looked the same, its red leaves cascading and falling through the air and crumpling beneath her boots. Sometimes there was a brief halt, where the one with the dark hair with a stroke of pink would bring out his summon. It was a vined plant with a single blooming flower, and from within its was a woman - eyes closed, serene and peaceful. The growth around them would flutter and shimmer, and then she would disappear.

The sergeant had her hands on her hips, heads constantly turning and craning around. “Our status?”

“All clear.”

According to the dossier on him, he was searching for the presence of Grimm around them. Winter didn’t spend much time going through it, only skimming through the most important details and forgetting the rest of them. And in the end, none of them seemed to be similar to what Qrow could do for her. That, or the dossier wasn’t allowed to list everyone’s skills to the fullest.

Interestingly enough, though, the sergeant’s bio remained the most cryptic. Not all hunters worked closely with the military, instead opting to take the freedom their license provided to see and travel the world. Perhaps there was no immediately available information because she was a hunter under the direct employ of the military. She was allowed to withhold what she wanted, including the summon she had.

So far, this was turning into an enticing offer. All she had to do was perform well, ‘observe’, and then make it back to the safety to Vale.

The real chatter between the group started on the second day. Winter picked up that the hunters she was working with were familiar with each other, perhaps even good friends. Naturally, however, this led to the conversation being driven to her.

Who was she, exactly? Was she really one of the daughters of the head of the Schnee Dust Company? Unavoidable, she lamented, but she did her best to keep the answers informative but also succinct - just enough to satisfy their curiosity.

Not all of them, however, seemed entirely interested in learning more about her. The faunus in their group, Blake, had kept herself separate from Winter as much as possible. No doubt there was some prejudice behind it - her father’s company wasn’t known for having the best practices. The other, Yang, just seemed to be in a dour mood constantly. But that was not from any fault of her own, to the best of Winter’s knowledge. For the most part, the investigation seemed to be going well so far and nothing happened so far.

That was, at least, until the one with the hammer spoke up. Nora. “Hey, so you’re a hunter too, right? What’s your summon?”

She froze like a deer in headlights. It was something that she hesitated to answer because while she still didn’t want anyone to know about Qrow, if she remained silent they would immediately know that something was off. And the longer she dawdled, the longer their stares would bore into her form.

Besides, it would be good for all of them to know what they were working with. And it’s not like they knew him to be Death. Rather, they would only see him as a simple bird. She sighed, letting her shoulders rise and settle down on her frame. “Come on out, Qrow.” As she extended her hand forward, there was a glimmer of light as her white glyph came into focus. In the next breath Qrow had come out from within, his feet sending light pinpricks through her uniform as his wings steadied himself.

“Oh, so it’s a bird!” Nora leaned forward, “Kinda small like mine, too. What’s it do?”

“I’m...” she trailed off, “I’m afraid I can’t answer that. I’ve only recently acquired my summon, so my knowledge is limited as well.” It wasn’t the entire truth, but it was also the best way to put it at the time.

“Hey, we have a job to finish here and we only have two days,” finally after not having said a word, Yang spoke up. As Winter’s eyes traced to hers, she had already turned away and was walking through the forest, blond mane standing out among the sea of red. “Let’s stay on topic.” Her voice was snappy, and Winter entertained a brief thought of saying something

In the end she let it go - Nora’s had already squared her shoulders, stomping her way after her. The one with black-and-pink hair though, Ren, softly grasped her shoulder and she stopped. Whatever had risen to her throat had settled down and died as quickly as it was born, and she and everyone followed in Yang’s footsteps. Only the sergeant remained at ease.

Winter, on the other, hand, felt Qrow prick his way onto her shoulder. His feathers ruffled, red eyes locked on Yang. But he blinked and turned away, to the leader of the troop. He whispered into her ear, “I’m surprised you didn’t summon me earlier. Not curious about your peers?”

She was curious, always curious. To see the flames again, to know who was beholden to what fate. But it was unnecessary. “There was no need for it. Besides, they’d probably think I was being suspicious if I brought out my summon for no reason.”

“Hm, very well then.” He ruffled his feathers. “Still, be alert, especially of the blond one. Her sister died here.”

She stopped mid-step and her head snapped to him. Her mind ground away at his claim - how credible was it? But if he was death, that all pass.through his gates as he so claimed, who was she to not believe him.

And yet she still did. “How do you know that?”

“Simple,” his feathers ruffled, as if it was the simplest, most regular truth, and Winter felt like she knew what would come out of his beak. “I met her, and so have you.”

#summoner au #rwby #qrow branwen #winter schnee #qrowin #fanfiction #fan fiction #writing #the call

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mewmewchann · 6 years

Text

RWBY: Y.v.S - Harmonic Convergence

While the search for Ruby continues in Mistral, Crimson decides to take the helm for the day in Vale. As well as that, a mysterious someone arrives in the destroyed city, and he’s looking for someone...

(Once again, I’m sorry that this took so long! But I’m really glad as to how it eventually turned out. And I’ve been waiting to introduce [SPOILERS] for a long time. XD) (Hopefully you guys like it!)

If you have any questions about my RWBY fic, feel free to ask! If you want to read the story so far, click here.

“Okay, we’re here.” The female pilot said, as the airship slowly landed. “I hope that...The small amount of you enjoy your stay in Vale.”

“Great.” One of the passengers said, standing up and picking up his violet-coloured suitcase from the seat next to him. After making sure that the crossbow tied to the suitcase was secure, he walked nonchalantly to the front entrance of the airship before stopping where the pilots were.

One of them had a chance to briefly examine the weapon tied to his luggage.

It was an intricate and complex design; made of a lightweight dark steel with eight cylindrical cartridges on either side of it’s body filled with brightly coloured dust. The crossbow’s complicated design almost looked even better than anything Atlas specialists could make.

And if you looked closely at the cylindrical area where the weapon’s bolts would be stored, you could see the words “Melodias Symphony” engraved in neat writing on the metal.

The stranger smirked and gave the pilots a finger-gun sign with his free hand.

“Thanks for the flight.”

“Uh...No problem. Enjoy your stay.”

He swiftly turned around and got off the airship.

The airship had landed in one of the few recaptured areas of Vale. There were barely any people there; mostly people who had survived the attack and their friends and family coming to pick them up and take them somewhere safer.

None of the people here were the one he was looking for.

He took out his scroll again and checked his messages.

Damn...He still hasn’t replied yet? He thought, sighing and putting the device back.

“Okay...” He said to himself, slowly untying the crossbow from his suitcase.

“If I was an aquaphobe trying to save a destroyed city, where would I hide?”

“Neptune, have you ever thought you’re going a bit far with this?”

“A bit far with what?” Neptune asked, checking over Melodias Vanguard in it’s gun form and adjusting some areas of it’s intricate framework with a screwdriver.

Blake raised an eyebrow. “Your teammate.”

“How am I going too far?”

“It’s all you’ve been thinking about for the last few days.”

“What, are you some kind of mindreader?”

“No, but I can tell when someone’s going too far.”

Neptune didn’t respond and continued working on his weapon with the screwdriver.

“Whatever he doesn’t want to say must be important to him.” Blake continued. “Trying to pry it out will only make things worse.”

“I know that, but...” He started, lifting the screwdriver off of his weapon. “I’m just worried that it may be a threat to the team.”

“How would Scarlet be a threat to the team!?”

“Well, whatever he’s hiding is pretty big! And him and Sage are the only people who actually know what it is! It could be something like...I don’t know, some kind of curse? That, uh, while giving him some kind of power, it makes it uncontrollable!” “A curse?” Blake rolled her eyes. “Curses don’t exist. You’re definitely going too far.”

“You have a good point, but you get my point, right? If whatever he’s hiding is something like that, then he could be a threat to the team!” He paused. “I...Just don’t want a repeat of what happened with Weiss and Sun...”

Blake was about to say something when Neptune continued.

“Because...What if he ends up trying to hurt someone? What if he ends up trying to hurt all of us? He won’t be able to keep this for long, and when he eventually snaps, the fall of Beacon could happen all over again...”

Blake started to try and get through to him. “Neptune, are you-”

“SHUT UP!” He screamed as he slammed the screwdriver into the table.

Both of them were silent for a bit.

Neptune sighed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

Before he could finish, the door opened and Crimson casually strolled in.

“Hey, what’s going on in he-” She stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed that the screwdriver had penetrated halfway through the table. “...Oh. Is this a bad time?”

“No.” Neptune said bluntly, while getting up and picking up his weapon. “I’d better head off.”

“Wait, head off for what-” Blake started.

“So I could lead the group again? I kind-of need to do that!”

“You don’t really seem in a fit state of mind to lead the group right now...”

“I’m fi-” Neptune started, before trailing off into silence.

Before he could say anything else, Crimson suddenly interjected.

“If you want, I could fill that post.”

Neptune stopped. “Huh?” “From what I heard, Blake kinda has a point. I could do the leader thing for you until you feel up to doing it. Does that sound cool with you?”

Neptune was just about to say “no” when Blake lightly elbowed him in the side.

“This could be good for you, you know.” She said quietly. “You could do with a break so you can calm down.”

He stopped to think.

Maybe a break is a good idea…

“...Are you sure you want to-”

“Is that a yes or a no?” Crimson asked.

“But are you SURE-”

“Simple question: yes or no?”

“But-”

“Do you want me to do this or not?”

“Okay, okay! Yes!...I’ll let you know when I’m able to do it again.”

Crimson gave him a casual wink. “No prob. Let’s get this party started, shall we?”

“Wait, I don’t think this is what Neptune meant-”

“OKAY YOU IDIOTS LISTEN UP!”

“...Never mind.”

It had only been a few minutes after Crimson had been tasked with taking charge of the group, and she had already managed to get everyone’s attention.

Specifically by standing on a tall building and screaming at all of them. (Blake was beside her trying to calm her down.)

“I am Crimson Foxx, leader of team CLMR of Shade Academy of the kingdom of Vacuo and I would like yoUR ATTENTION PLEASE!!!” Crimson shouted, before turning and pacing slowly in a circle on the building’s roof for dramatic effect. “The task to announce today's potential Grimm-based events has fallen onto me, so SHUT THE HELL UP AND LISTEN CAREFULLY!”

Velvet piped up from the cluster on the street below. “Doesn't...Neptune usually do that?”

Crimson stopped pacing and turned back around, her hand pointed at Velvet. “Neptune is feeling too wussy to do it right now, so I'm doing it for him!” She put her hand down, but continued to face the group. “So until he states otherwise, I WILL BE GIVING THE ORDERS AROUND HERE UNTIL NEPTUNE DECIDES TO MAN UP AND GROW A PAIR! CAPICHE!?!?”

“That’s...” Blake started. “Not why he decided to-”

Crimson turned over and cut her off, lowering her voice for the first time since she had accepted the offer. “I know. I’m just saying that to make sure they listen. People do it in movies literally all the time.”

She turned back around and continued shouting. “And before any of you ask, NO! That doesn’t mean he won’t be fighting!...Probably!” She turned back over to Blake. “...Will he be fighting?”

She shrugged. “Most likely. He just doesn’t feel up to doing the leader thing.”

“Okay, okay.” She turned back around again. “He WILL still be fighting, but I’M doing the leading right now! SO LISTEN UP, ANIMALS!...No offence, Velvet.”

“None taken!” Velvet piped up again.

“ANYWAY LISTEN UP! Most areas are clear Grimm wise at the moment compared to what we had a while ago, but things will most likely heat up later on tonight! But there are still Grimm on the area, so be on your guard and kill every last one you find! But a quick reminder that we are on limited dust at the moment, so try not to use too much! We will have to find more dust at some point after today!”

“I can take care of that-” Fox suggested, but he was quickly cut of by Velvet.

“You mean ‘we’, right? I’m going with you.”

“Come on, it’s not like I’m going into a Grimm infested city.”

“WE’RE ALREADY IN A GRIMM INFESTED CITY!” Coco shouted from the back.

“Ha ha, very funny. Either way-”

“You’re going into a dark cave filled with potential explosives with the hope of ripping them out of the earth with a sharp object.” Velvet said, raising an eyebrow. “Need I remind you that you can’t actually see?”

“...Good point. You’re coming.”

“GOOD!” Crimson shouted from the top of the building. “But like I said, we’ll have to take care of that after today. What we need to focus on is killing as many Grimm as we can at the moment before we get overrun later tonight! Ready? Break!”

Nothing happened.

“...Break!”

Nothing happened.

“...BREAK!”

Velvet piped up again. “...What does ‘break’ mea-”

“IT MEANS LET’S GO! MOVE OUT!”

At that, the cluster of students split off into different directions.

Crimson turned around to Blake with a smirk on her face. “Think I handled that pretty well.”

Blake shrugged. “You sure did. I’m just going to check on Neptune.”

“Have fun with that. I’ll see you in the heat of battle.” She headed over to the building’s edge.

“I’ll be back.” She said in a low voice, before jumping off.

Blake slowly scaled down the building, before walking back to the building she was in earlier.

She opened the door. “You okay?”

Neptune was already prepping his weapon. “Mostly.”

“Were you able to hear everything?”

“She was screaming most of it. It was hard not to.”

“Good point.”

Suddenly his scroll on the table buzzed, and he picked it up.

“What was that?” Blake asked.

Neptune paused. “...Nothing.” He said, slipping the device into his pocket.

“It didn’t sound like nothing.”

“Well, let’s just say, you’ll see soon enough.”

“Ominous. Shall we get goi-”

Before Blake could finish, a portal opened behind her.

Neptune smirked. “Way ahead of you.”

“WE. HAVE. BEEN. SEARCHING. FOR. LITERAL. HOURS!!!”

“Nora, we have to keep searching. She could still be around here.”

Qrow, Jaune, Nora, Ren and Yang had initially wanted to go to Mistral to speak with Professor Lionheart.

But because of Ruby’s sudden disappearance the night before, they had to take a detour to try and find her.

None of them had said a word to Yang after last night.

“But my feet are killing me!” Nora complained.

“I’m sorry, but Ruby is a lot more important right now.” Jaune asserted, before turning over to Qrow. “Speaking of which, any ideas on where she could be?”

Qrow, who had a map out, screwed the lid back onto his flask. “No idea. Raven coulda taken her anywhere-”

“What about there?” Jaune said, pointing over to one of the areas on the map. However, whatever was there was crossed out multiple times.

Qrow shook his head. “No. That city was destroyed years ago.”

“I doubt that. There are loads of cities on this map that have been destroyed – this one, this one and this one for example – but that’s the only one that’s been crossed out.”

“What’s that one called?” Nora asked.

Jaune shrugged. “Can’t say. It’s been crossed out. A lot, apparently.” He looked at the map again. “Though I think it says that it starts with ‘S’-”

“Ruby isn’t gonna be there.” Qrow repeated bluntly.

Jaune gave him a suspicious glance. “How can you be so sure of that?”

Qrow sighed angrily.

“Are there any other cities on the map nearby it?” Ren asked. “We could check in one of those areas.”

“Let me see...” Jaune looked at the map again. “Well, there’s one. It’s...Uh...It might take me a while to see if I can pronounce this...On...Igh...Your-”

“Oniyuri.”

“Yeah, there’s that- wait.” He stopped. “How do you know about that?”

“It’s basically Mistral’s equivalent of Mountain Glenn.” Ren explained calmly. “People were unhappy with the way the kingdom was run, so they tried to build a city of their own. Keyword being ‘tried’; it was overrun by Grimm practically moments after it opened.”

“I see...But there is another one, and it’s a little closer to the main city of Mistral. Let’s see if I can...Kurr...Oh...Your...Ee? Kuroyuri?”

Ren froze.

“Yeah, I think that’s how it’s pronounced...” He noticed that Ren hadn’t replied and turned around. “Hey, are you okay?”

Ren didn’t say anything, prompting Nora to immediately run over.

“Ren, are you-” she started, before he cut her off.

“It’s fine.” He said bluntly. “How close is that city to the one you mentioned earlier?” “Um...” He leaned over to check the map again for a few seconds before turning over to his teammate. “Relatively. And it’s pretty close to Mistral, so that’s a plus.”

Ren thought for a moment.

By this point Nora had suspected what he was thinking.

She put her arm on his shoulder gently. “Ren…?”

“If Jaune’s assumption is right, then Kuroyuri is worth checking.” Ren said, still maintaining a serious tone in his voice. “And if Ruby isn’t there, then it’s close enough to the city so we can let Mistral’s authorities know of her disappearance.”

Jaune looked over to Qrow, who shrugged.

“Sounds like a plan.”

Nora gave Ren an uneasy glance. “Are you...SURE this is a good idea?”

Ren paused for a moment. “Admittedly not so much, but it’s the strongest lead we have.”

Nora’s hand moved from Ren’s shoulder to hold his hand.

Jaune stared for a moment. “Is...Something wrong?”

Ren shook his head. “No. You don’t have to worry.”

Yang, who was at the back of the group, still hadn’t said anything and was eyeing the group with a hot glare.

So now we’re all thinking of the happy couple. She thought. Get a room, you two.

Ren, who had practically sensed Yang’s negativity, turned around to face her, causing Nora to follow suit.

After Yang noticed this, she tutted angrily and looked away.

Ren sighed. “She’s still giving us the silent treatment...”

“Jeez!” Nora said angrily. “It’s like she doesn’t even care about what happened to Ruby! Can you at least show SOME sign of emotion or something!?”

“Guys,” Jaune started, attempting to cool off an argument before it heated up. “I’m pretty sure she does care about what happened. She just has a very...”

He looked over to Yang for a moment. She shot a red-eyed glare back at him.

Jaune flinched back a little and continued. “...Unusual way of showing it.”

“Either way,” Ren said, turning back over to Jaune. “We need to get Ruby back.”

Jaune nodded slowly. “Agreed.”

“Then we should best set off.” Qrow started, as him and Jaune were starting to walk again. “Kuroyuri’s still a pretty long way on foot.”

Ren tensed up a little at the mention of the city’s name, prompting Nora to once again take his hand.

“Ren...” She said, with a comforting gaze. “Are you sure you’re gonna be okay with going back?”

Ren calmed down a little and sighed, before turning to Nora with a smile.

“Well, I have you here, don’t I?”

“I thought you said the areas were clear!”

“I said MOST areas were clear! I didn’t say all of them!”

It had been a while since Crimson had sent the group to battle, and the dark sky was lightly tinged with a fiery colour as if to forewarn the impending sunrise.

Neptune was in a group with Crimson, Marina, Scarlet and Coco, and the five of them were fighting a number of Grimm.

“Okay, okay, good point.” Neptune said, twirling Melodias Vanguard around in his hand.

“And besides, there aren’t even that many!” Crimson replied. “The five of us are handling just fine right now!”

“We won’t be when more inevitably show up.” Scarlet said bitterly.

“Unnecessary!”

“Yeah, but he kinda has a point!” Neptune said. “More Grimm might show up.”

“Your word choice is off.” Scarlet said bluntly, as he finished off the Grimm he was dealing with. “More Grimm will eventually show up. There’s no other possibility.”

“Okay, I see Crimson’s point now, that was unnecessary.”

“Unnecessary or not, he’s right.” Coco added from nearby. “Try looking ahead.”

“What do you mean, ‘try looking ahead’?”

Coco rolled her eyes. “I mean turn around.”

He turned around, and saw what Coco was trying to get him to look at. There were three of Beowolves up front, as well two Grimm that he didn’t recognise.

This new Grimm was a large butterfly that had a black body and white wings with a red eye-like pattern, and suspended below the body was a crescent-shaped blade.

“Okay, the Beowolves I understand, but what the hell are THOSE!?”

“Pendulums.” Marina replied calmly.

“Pendu-what?”

“Pendulum Grimm, but people call them Pendulums for short.” She continued. “There were a lot of them in Vacuo, but they’re pretty rare in Vale.”

“Oh COME ON! REALLY!? Whatever the hell’s attracting Grimm to this city is even attracting RARE Grimm!?”

“Thankfully they’re pretty easy to defeat. They are the speedy types, but their bodies are fragile, so cutting off the blade at the bottom is usually enough to kill them.”

“Wow.” Coco said, impressed. “You really know your stuff when it comes to Grimm.”

“I grew up in the desert, Coco. I spent most of my life fighting Grimm.”

“Hey, so did I!” Crimson seconded.

“Then why didn’t you explain what they were?” Coco asked with a raised eyebrow.

Crimson shrugged. “Meh, Marina’s a lot better at explaining this kinda thing than I am.”

“So all we have to do is separate the blade from the body to kill them?” Scarlet asked.

“Pretty much yeah-” Marina started.

But before she could finish, Scarlet had darted forward towards the pack of Grimm in front.

“Hey, wait a second-!” Crimson started to call out, but to no avail.

Scarlet flipped forwards – using the grappling hook on his flintlock to pull himself closer to the nearest Pendulum Grimm – and slashed off it’s blade with his cutlass, before grabbing the falling blade before it disintegrated and threw it at the remaining Pendulum’s blade, hitting it directly and slicing it off.

One of the three Beowolves leapt up to try and attack him, but it burst into flame (courtesy of Scarlet’s semblance) almost as soon as it left the ground, as Scarlet landed in front of it soon afterwards.

The second Beowolf was already preparing to charge. Scarlet flipped the flintlock in his hand, as the engraved patterns on it’s surface began to glow a neon-yellow colour, and pulled the trigger. The electric-charged bullet struck the Grimm directly. It was almost as if the bullet had paralysed it, as it didn’t react when the student calmly walked up to it.

“Wait, what are you doing-!?” Neptune started.

Scarlet wasn’t listening. He walked straight up to the Grimm and placed his right foot on it’s exposed chest.

“Scarlet, get back!” Neptune tried again. “Getting too close could be dangerous!”

He still didn’t listen. He moved his cutlass into his other hand, and grabbed one of the Beowolf’s arms with his free hand. The Beowolf growled angrily and struggled, but was unable to break free.

After letting the Grimm struggle for a while with a confident smirk, Scarlet twisted the Beowolf’s arm in his hand and pulled, ripping it off completely and tossing it aside. As the Grimm’s arm began to disintegrate, he grabbed his cutlass from his other hand and plunged it into it’s chest.

The others were silently looking on in awe.

“WHOA.” Crimson exclaimed, with an ecstatic smile. “THAT. WAS. AWESOME!!!”

Scarlet turned around. “Oh, that?”

“Yeah! You ripped it’s fuckin’ arm off! HOW IS THAT NOT COOL!?”

“It could’ve been dangerous-” Neptune started.

“Calm down, rulebook! You have to admit, that looked cool as hell.”

Scarlet smirked, and was just about to head back over.

He had completely forgotten about the third Grimm.

Almost immediately as he had begun to walk over to the others, the remaining Beowolf growled and charged directly towards him.

And before he could react, the Beowolf clawed him directly on the right side of his face, and hit him into a nearby wall.

Before the Grimm could do anything else, Coco took out her gatling gun and shredded the Grimm to pieces with a number of rapidfire bullets.

“Scarlet, are you okay?” She said, as her weapon folded back into it’s handbag form.

He didn’t seem okay. He had his hand over the right side of his face, as if where the Beowolf struck him hurt a lot.

“I’m fine...” He asserted, almost breathlessly. “You don’t have to worry about it.”

Neptune looked over suspiciously as Coco ran over to his seemingly injured teammate. He’s usually able to brush off a hit like that, but he seems a lot more affected by it this time...What’s going on?

“That Beowolf must’ve hurt you pretty bad,” Coco said, as she knelt down beside him. “I could check to see if that attack did anything-”

“N-no! It’s fine!” Scarlet replied quickly, recoiling away from her a little.

“Don’t worry,” She started to reach her hand over. “All I’m gonna do is just move your hair out of the way so I can-”

“Y-you don’t have to do that!” Scarlet said, an edge appearing in his voice. “I-it’s fine! Trust me!”

Coco paused, giving him an incredulous look, before she reluctantly put her hand down.

“Well, as long as you’re sure...” She said with a sigh, as she started to get back up. “Do you need me to help you up?”

Scarlet shook his head and used the wall to pull himself back on his feet.

“...Huh.” Coco said, smiling a little. “Even a direct Beowolf strike isn’t enough to keep you down, huh?”

Neptune was still looking over suspiciously. What the heck was that?

“Okay, if you guys are done here,” Crimson said. “I’m pretty sure there’s something bigger on it’s way!”

“And by ‘something bigger’, you mean…?” Neptune asked.

“You know EXACTLY what I mean!”

As soon as Neptune was about to respond, the sound of a larger Grimm’s thudding footsteps echoed behind them.

“...Oh.” Neptune said. “THAT’S what you meant.”

“Uh, yeah.” Crimson said with a sarcastic look. “No shit, Sherlock.”

The Grimm that appeared was huge, and it looked like two Grimm merged together. The lower Grimm was almost equine, but with a small snout and ears and a long tail with a bladed hook at the end, and was covered in thick bone-like armour. A humanoid Grimm was fused to the top of it – looking like it was riding it – and also had thick armour covering it, but in place of it’s right hand was a long blade.

“Okay, I think you already know what I’m going to ask.” Neptune said, prepping his weapon.

“That’s a Jouster.” Marina explained. “It’s similar in build to a rare Grimm in Mistral who’s name I can’t remember, but it’s covered in plated armour and is obviously armed. It’ll die if you take out either the horse or the guy on top, but doing that is a lot easier said than done.”

“So we don’t have to take out both of them to kill it?” Coco asked.

Crimson shrugged. “Yeah, taking out one of ‘em will do the trick.”

Neptune switched Melodias Vanguard into it’s gun mode and both him and Coco fired at the Grimm with their weapons, only for it to be protected by it’s armour.

“Damn!” Coco said angrily.

“Like I said,” Marina continued. “A lot easier said than done.”

“Then all we need is more firepower.” Neptune said, turning towards his teammate. “Scarlet, do you mind using your semblance?”

“Didn’t have to ask.” Scarlet responded, as a fireball appeared in his hand. He threw it at the Grimm, and it exploded in a burning blast.

However, the Jouster still seemed unaffected, and attacked the group with it’s blade, only for Marina to use her semblance to block the Grimm’s blade with water from her gourd.

“Okay, what is that thing’s armour made of!?”

“Like I said,” Marina continued explaining, as she pushed the blade away with the water. “It’s got pretty heavy armour. It’ll take a while to wear it down, but every little helps.”

“Hold on, I have an idea.” Crimson said.

Marina nodded. “Fire away.”

“If one of us gets the Grimm’s attention, the others could stick behind and fire at it’s armour while it’s distracted.”

“That’s actually a good idea.” Coco said.

“But we need a pretty good distraction in order to divert it’s attention from rapid gunfire.” Scarlet pointed out.

“Actually,” Crimson said, turning over to look at Neptune with a devious smirk on her face. “I know just the thing.”

Neptune looked at her nervously. “...Why are you staring at me like that?”

Crimson shot a knowing look towards Marina.

“Ohh.” Marina said, with another devious smile beginning on her face. “I see what you want me to do.”

“What are you talking about!? What does she want to do!?”

Marina looked towards him with an innocent smile, as she directed a large amount of water from her gourd to nearby her outstretched right hand.

“You’d better start running.”

“Dammit, why hasn’t he responded to any of my messages!?”

A younger looking huntsman (who looked like he was just starting at one of the academies) was waiting impatiently on the roof of one of the buildings in Vale. He was carrying an intricately built crossbow in his right hand and a small violet-coloured suitcase in his left.

“You could’ve at least given me a good idea as to where you are, but no.” He sighed. “Spending too much time in this city has blunted your edge of rational thought.”

He tapped the end of the crossbow on the building’s smooth roof.

“Okay, I gotta calm down...” He said with an impatient edge. “But it would’ve been so much easier if you had given me some kind of calling card to tell me where you were, like a dust flare, or-”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!”

He stopped and turned around to the source of the scream.

“Or a cry for help.”

A smile began to form on his face.

“I’d recognise those water-induced screams anywhere.”

“I don’t think that’s all of them.”

“You don’t think so?” Blake asked.

Lucifer was standing on the side of a building. “Nope. I’m pretty sure that there’s either a couple of Grimm left or a big one headed over.”

“How do you know that?”

The sound of someone screaming nearby sounded almost immediately after Blake’s response.

“That.” Lucifer said, pointing in that direction with his bat. “That’s how.”

“...Isn’t that Neptune?”

Lucifer shrugged. “Probably.”

Neptune suddenly ran over from the direction Lucifer pointed out. He looked out of breath, as if he had been running for a while.

He turned backwards to call out “WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARY!?”

Crimson quickly joined him, not looking breathless at all. “C’mon, lighten up a little! Coco and Scarlet managed to wear down it’s armour a little while you were distracting it. And besides,” She gave him a wink. “It was hilarious to watch.”

Scarlet, who had walked over to join them, added his opinion. “I second on that.”

Blake was looking at the three of them incredulously. “...What the hell is going on?”

Neptune stopped, as he had just noticed Blake and Lucifer’s presence. “Please don’t tell me you saw that.”

“Saw what?”

“Oh thank god...”

“Trust me, Blake.” Scarlet said with a condescending smirk. “You wanted to see this.”

“Shut up.” Neptune said with a glare.

“Okay,” Blake said, confused. “Can someone fill me in?”

“A Jouster’s on the way.” Crimson said.

“A Jouster?” Lucifer jumped off of the side of the building. “Aren’t those extremely rare in Vale?” “What’s a Jouster?” Blake asked.

“You’ll know when you see it. Anyway,” Crimson continued. “We managed to wear down it’s armour a little, but Marina and Coco got caught up with other Grimm on the way.”

“How did you get it’s attention away from you?” Blake asked.

“A distraction.”

“That explains the screaming.” Lucifer said with a raised eyebrow.

“Yup.”

The thundering footsteps of the Jouster Grimm got closer and closer, until it finally reappeared and charged at the group with it’s blade at the ready.

But before the blade could hit them, a small portal opened right in front of it and swallowed the tip of it’s blade, and another portal opened near the Grimm’s bladeless arm, and the blade point went through it. The portals disappeared and the blade quickly returned to where it was.

Crimson looked impressed. “Whoa.”

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to learn how to do that for ages now.” Neptune responded. “It takes a lot of energy to pull off, but it’s probably worth it.”

“Well, you managed to take out it’s left arm. But unfortunately, it’ll take a lot more than that to take it out.”

“And as if that wasn’t enough,” Lucifer pointed behind the Grimm with his bat. “Looks like it brought friends.”

A small number of Grimm had started to gather behind the Jouster where Lucifer was pointing.

“Aw, dammit!” Neptune exclaimed angrily.

“I’ll take care of them.” Scarlet said.

“Huh?”

“Someone needs to get those other Grimm’s attention and divert them away from here. I’ll take care of that.”

“Hold on,” Neptune objected. “That could be dangerous-!”

Before he could finish, Blake grabbed him by the arm.

“Huh? What the heck are you-”

He stopped when he noticed Blake’s look.

She was giving him a look as if to say: “don’t object. Some space between you too will be good for you.”

Neptune stopped reluctantly and sighed. “Go ahead.”

Scarlet gave the two of them a suspicious look, before turning around and running towards the other pack of Grimm, the patterns on his two weapons glowing in various colours.

“He’ll be able to keep them busy.” Neptune said, as Scarlet and the other Grimm disappeared from sight.

“Good.” Lucifer said, switching his bat into sniper mode. “Let’s take this thing out.”

Both him and Neptune fired at the Jouster, but with little affect against the Grimm’s heavy armour.

Blake used this as an opportunity, throwing her weapon at the Grimm’s blade and wrapping the cord tied to it around it. Using it as a swing, she swung closer to it, unravelled the ribbon from the blade and stabbed through it’s now weakened armour on it’s lower body.

However, her weapon wouldn’t budge when she tried to pull it back out, leaving her stuck on the Grimm’s body.

“Blake!” Neptune called out.

Blake tried desperately to pull out her weapon, but before she could, a sudden gust of steam swept over the area, and she felt someone grab her from behind and pull her off, finally dislodging the weapon from the Grimm’s armour.

“That was pretty reckless.” She heard Crimson say behind her, as she put her back down and the steam began to clear. “I had to use my semblance before that thing could get you.”

“...Sorry...”

“Hey, no need to apologise!” She gestured over to where Blake was hanging off of the Grimm earlier. “You made a dent in it’s armour.”

“But I think it’ll take more than a dent to make a fatal hit.”

“Well, every little helps.”

“Unfortunately,” Lucifer said. “Now that you’ve penetrated some of it’s armour, it’s gonna be a lot more protective of that area.”

“So we just do the same thing?” Neptune asked.

Lucifer shook his head. “Bad idea. It’ll be able to tell that we’re repeating our strategy after a while.”

“Well, what are we supposed to do!?”

“For now…” Crimson said. “Dodge.”

“What do you mean, do-”

The Jouster suddenly charged forwards with it’s blade at the ready.

“GAH!” Neptune managed to forward-flip out of the way just in time, and attempted to make some shots at the Grimm while he was still in the air, which all struck it’s armour.

“Is that what you meant-” He started as he landed.

“NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!”

The Grimm slashed at them with it’s blade again.

But before it could hit them, Lucifer blocked the strike with his bat and flipped backwards.

And before the Grimm could do anything else, a bright blue flash struck it’s blade.

When the light subsided, the point of the Grimm’s blade was covered in ice.

The group of students looked on in awe.

“Okay,” Crimson said. “What the hell was that!?”

“How am I supposed to know!?” Blake asked.

“Well,” Neptune said. “Scarlet isn’t here, so my first guess would be-”

“There you are!”

Neptune stopped, and the group of them turned towards the source of the new voice.

Someone was standing on top of a nearby building. He looked about the age of someone who was just starting at one of the academies. He had dark purple hair, light lavender coloured eyes and light tan coloured skin. He was wearing a vest styled tailed coat over a dark blue shirt with a purple bow tie, as well as grey trousers and shoes. He had a violet-coloured suitcase in his left hand, and an intricately constructed crossbow in his hand.

He was looking directly at Neptune with a smile. “It’s good to see you again, Neptune.”

Neptune looked at him in awe for a while, before smiling back.

“It’s about damn time you got here!”

“You didn’t give me any specific directions as to where you were.”

“Good point.”

The new arrival jumped off the building to join the group. “I presume this is the group you mentioned?”

Neptune shrugged. “Some of them.”

The others looked on, dumbfounded.

“Um...Neptune?” Blake asked. “Who is this?”

“I’ll save the formal introductions until after we take care of this Grimm.” The stranger replied casually, before turning around to face it.

The Jouster was still reeling from the previous attack, but managed to charge forward.

The stranger remained unfazed.

A portal suddenly opened between him and the jouster, and a small tornado-like blizzard erupted from the portal and towards the Grimm.

The Jouster was hit directly by the storm and was slowed down by the cold.

As the portal closed, the stranger pointed his crossbow at it, as it was loaded with a bolt made of ice dust.

He fired the bolt at the Grimm, followed by another dust bolt of the same type.

Both hit the Grimm directly, freezing a lot of it’s armour.

“That would’ve weakened it enough...” He said to himself, before turning around. “Neptune, now!”

“O-oh! Got it!” Neptune flipped Melodias Vanguard into it’s glaive mode, charged towards the incapacitated Jouster, and stabbed through one of the ice-covered armour plates on the neck of the Grimm’s upper body, and managed to pull the armour right off as he flipped off of the Grimm’s body.

Almost as if on cue, the stranger prepped his crossbow with a fire dust bolt, but instead of firing it, he flipped the weapon into a form resembling a pike.

He ran towards where the armour was ripped off, and stabbed the exposed neck area directly.

After a while of holding the weapon there, the Grimm stopped moving and began to disintegrate.

He sighed, flipped the weapon back into it’s crossbow form and leapt off.

“You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Uh, thanks.” Crimson said. “By the way, who are you?”

“Oh yeah, I still need to introduce myself.” He said with a smile.

“Well, you and Neptune managed to defeat that Grimm, so...” Blake said.

The stranger laughed, before offering a handshake to Blake with his free hand.

“Uranus Vasilias. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Okay, mister Vasil-” Blake suddenly realised the significance of his last name. “Wait, what?”

Uranus paused, as if waiting for something. “...Aren’t you going to return the favour?”

Blake looked over to Neptune, then back to Uranus, then back to Neptune again.

“...You’re related!?”

Uranus sighed, before putting his hand back down and looking over to Neptune. “Do I have to explain everything?”

Neptune shrugged with a smile. “By the looks of things, yes.”

Uranus sighed angrily. “Dammit, bro...”

“Wait, ‘bro’?” Blake asked, before the pieces flew together in her mind.

“HE’S YOUR BROTHER!?”

“Looks like I don’t have to explain it, you just figured it out.” Uranus said. “Yes. I’m his brother.”

“Don’t act all mature, you’re still a year younger than me!” Neptune said.

“Now isn’t the time, she’s still confused. Your turn in the hot seat now.”

“Oh, right. Well, remember how I mentioned a while ago that I was getting backup?”

“...Yeah?” Blake said.

“Well, what I really meant was that he sent me a message asking what was going on, I told him about the Vale thing, and he managed to convince me it was a good idea for him to come here.”

“And if she found out the stunt you’re pulling,” Uranus said. “You’d never hear the end of it from Athena.”

“But you’re here too.”

“But she likes me better than you.”

“Touché.”

“Oookaaay...” Crimson said. “Also, what’s with the case?” She asked, pointing towards the violet-coloured suitcase that he had put down earlier.

Uranus smiled, picking it back up. “You’ll see eventually, miss…?”

“Uh, Crimson. Crimson Foxx.”

“I think that’s my cue to introduce myself too.” Lucifer added. “Lucifer Graye.”

“And, Blake. Blake Belladonna. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Uranus turned back over to Neptune. “Anyway, do you have somewhere I can set up?”

“Wait, set up what?” Blake asked.

“You’ll see eventually.” He turned back over to Neptune again. “Do you?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Let’s head over.”

“Hold on,” Blake said. “Is it...Okay if I check how Scarlet’s doing? I mean, he had to deal with a number of Grimm, so...”

Neptune paused, then nodded. “Go ahead.”

Blake nodded, then ran off.

“I guess that just leaves the four of us.” Crimson said.

“Well then,” Uranus said. “Should we head over?”

Neptune nodded. “Good idea.”

“Really? Was ‘Shield City’ the best name you could come up with?”

“Look, I was short on time, okay!?” Neptune defended.

The four of them were walking through a recaptured area of Vale.

“Either way,” Neptune continued. “It’s a safe area of recaptured blocks in the city.”

“It’s basically our base.” Crimson added.

“I figured.” Uranus replied, studying the nearby buildings with curiosity. “Is there a specific one I can use?”

Neptune shrugged. “There’s plenty. Make your choice.”

Uranus looked at the abandoned buildings for a while, before pointing towards a desolate ‘From Dust ‘til Dawn’ shop. “What about that one?”

“Okay, that actually works.” Neptune said, as they stopped walking and headed inside.

It’s normally stacked shelves were completely empty, aside from a dust-powered lamp lighting the inside, and the counter and chair where the cashier would serve remained intact.

“We’ve already taken the dust, if that’s what you’re looking for.” Crimson added.

“Not what I’m looking for,” Uranus said, walking over behind the counter, sitting down on the chair, and putting his suitcase on the countertop. “But it’s perfect for what I am looking for.”

He clicked the button on the front of the suitcase. But rather than opening, the suitcase folded out into a set of shelves, lined with different types of metals and paint, fine tools, small tubes of powdered and crystal dust and the kind of thing you would find in a weapon builder’s toolbox.

Crimson, Lucifer and Neptune were impressed.

“Whoa!” Crimson exclaimed.

“Whoa indeed.” Uranus replied.

“You made your armoury portable?” Neptune asked.

“Wait, armoury?” Lucifer asked.

Uranus sighed angrily. “Let me guess. You didn’t explain that either?”

“Explain what?” Crimson asked.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Uranus said. “Well...Does the name Jupiter Vasilias ring a bell to you?”

“Well...” Lucifer said. “Other than the fact that it’s your and Neptune’s last name, no.”

“They aren’t from Mistral, I don’t think they’ll know who he is.” Neptune said discreetly.

Uranus nodded. “Got it. Well, he’s a weapon builder. And he’s our father.”

“Your father is a weapon builder?” Crimson asked.

“Yup.” Neptune answered. “He runs a weapon-making shop in Blaze.”

“Blaze?”

“City in Mistral.”

“Oh, right.”

“Anyway,” Uranus continued. “Let’s just say I inherited his skill.”

“Hey, so did I!” Neptune argued.

“Yes, but you spent too much time at Haven to properly hone it. Melodias Vanguard is the best – and only – thing you’ve made, but it has it’s problems.”

“Oh, yeah? Like wh-”

“The only dust type it actually uses is electric.”

“I-it can use other dust types! I just...Haven’t tried it yet.”

Crimson laughed a little. “Hah, sibling rivalry!”

“What about your weapon?” Lucifer asked.

“Oh, this?” Uranus asked, showing him his weapon.

The crossbow looked like it had taken near years to make, and had a sense of true craftsmanship and skill.

Lucifer looked closely to read the cursive writing engraved on where the bolts were fired from. “Melodias...Symphony?”

Uranus nodded, as he politely took it back. “Yup. Melodias Symphony. It’s able to create crossbow bolts from pure dust. All handmade by yours truly.”

Lucifer was impressed. “Wow. Now THAT’S awesome.”

“Anyway,” Uranus set Melodias Symphony down on the countertop. “Do any of your weapons need fixing, or…?”

“As a matter of fact...” Lucifer took out his bat to show him. It had a large gash across it. “It had taken a pretty bad hit when I blocked that Grimm’s attack before you showed up.”

Uranus took the bat to look at it closer. “Hm...The craftsmanship is very impressive...” He looked back up at Lucifer. “Did you make it yourself?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I can patch it up myself, you don’t have to-”

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Uranus said, setting the bat down in front of his miniature armoury. He took out a small welding torch and some kind of metal from one of it’s shelves and started to repair the bat.

Lucifer looked on in amazement. “You’re...Really good at this.”

“Thanks.” Uranus responded, not looking up from his work. “Like I said, I get it from my father.”

He continued to carefully weld the metal back in place for a while, before handing the weapon back over.

“There. Good as new.”

Lucifer looked over the bat. It was like the gash was never there.

“Whoa...Thanks a lot.”

Uranus smiled. “Don’t mention it. Come back if there are any other problems.”

Lucifer nodded.

“Well, looks like we’re done here.” Crimson said, stretching her arms a little. “Luce and I should go.”

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Please don’t call me that...See you guys later.” He said, as him and Crimson headed off, leaving Uranus and Neptune alone.

“I presume that I have to introduce myself to everyone else?” Uranus asked.

“Yeah...” Neptune said. He looked deep in thought.

“...Something wrong?”

“Well...Uh...I do need you to check something with my weapon.” He answered, handing Melodias Vanguard in it’s gun mode over.

“What is it?” Uranus asked as he took the weapon.

“Well...The trigger has a habit of...” Neptune paused with a sad expression, as if remembering something. “...Jamming...At important moments.”

“A constantly jamming trigger, huh?”

Neptune, still looking sorrowful for a brief moment, nodded.

Uranus smiled. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Blake was running through the streets. The sky was starting to become a more vibrant fiery colour due to the sun slowly rising.

She still hadn’t found Scarlet yet.

Blake was partially lying when she said why she wanted to leave. She did want to check if he was okay, but it was mostly for another reason.

Neptune had been telling her about everything he’s found out about him and why he’s so suspicious of him for a while now, and she had only heard his side of the story.

And now, she wanted to hear Scarlet’s side of the story.

She eventually found him in one of the city streets. It wasn’t long since he defeated the rest of the Grimm, as there were remnants still disintegrating. He had his back to her, so he didn’t notice her arrive.

Blake was about to say something, when she noticed something that made her stop in her tracks.

When she was starting to walk over, Scarlet had moved his right hand away from the lower area of his face.

And part of his hand was covered in blood.

Blake’s eyes widened a little, as she tried to figure out why.

Has...He been coughing up blood!?

She forced that thought out of her mind and tried to get his attention.

“Uh...Hey.”

Scarlet stopped, quickly flicked the blood off of his hand and turned around.

“Sorry if I, uh, startled you.” Blake continued. “I just wanted to check if you were-”

“I’m fine.” He said.

“O-oh. That’s...Good.”

“Doesn’t Neptune want you to stay with the others?”

“Well, yeah, but he said it was fine for me to...”

There was a short awkward silence.

Blake decided to be upfront. “Can we talk?”

Scarlet gave her a sarcastic look. “...Really?”

“Well, now that Neptune’s off doing who-knows-what, and it’s just the two of us, maybe it’s a cue for us to just...I don’t know...Talk.”

Scarlet continued giving her a sarcastic look, but sighed and started to walk towards one of the buildings, while giving Blake a hand signal to follow him.

She followed him to the side of the building (probably a small apartment complex), where a fire escape ladder lead to a platform nearby the topmost window. Scarlet quickly climbed up the ladder and lifted himself onto the roof as if it was nothing.

He looked down to where Blake was watching.

“...Are you going to follow or what?”

“Oh! Of course!” Blake walked up to the ladder, carefully climbing up to the platform and tried to lift herself onto the roof. After a few seconds of struggling to get up, Scarlet grabbed her by the hand and helped her onto the roof.

“Thanks.” She said. “You’re...Uh...Really good at climbing onto buildings.”

He shrugged. “I’ve been doing it a lot recently.” He walked over to the edge and sat down. “It’s a good way to get some space from everything.”

Blake paused. “...Is...Me being here a problem?”

“No, it’s not.”

There was another pause, then Blake walked over and sat next to him on the edge.

“Are you okay?”

Scarlet gave her another sarcastic look. “I already told you. I’m fine.”

“No, I mean...How do I put this?...Well...I don’t know if it was because of what happened with that Deathstalker, or what happened at the tournament, but...You don’t seem fine.”

Scarlet didn’t say anything.

“Oh...” Blake said. “Is...What happened at the tournament still a sore topic?”

“...A little, yeah.”

“...Sorry.”

There was another silence.

Blake was about to say something else, but Scarlet said something first.

“Blake...Can I ask you something?”

Blake was slightly stunned that he broke the silence first. “Sure. Go ahead.”

“Do you...Ever feel like an outsider sometimes?”

“Huh?” She was surprised more by his question. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, just...Sometimes, does it ever feel like you’re the odd one out, or...That you just don’t belong with the others?”

Blake was in stunned silence.

Because of course she felt like that.

He already knew that she was a faunus, but that wasn’t the reason.

She had been in the White Fang for years. She had been working with people actively trying to disrupt the peace while fighting for a once pure, now corrupted cause for years. She used to try to hurt people, and now she was trying to save them.

But the only people who actually knew that was the rest of her team, and Sun.

One is dead, one is in a coma, and the other two are at the other side of the world. So she was the only person here that actually knew that.

That was the reason.

“Y-yeah, sometimes...” Blake answered. She wasn’t lying, but she wasn’t telling the whole truth either. “Why do you ask?”

Scarlet looked away from her, and after a brief pause, replied.

“...I feel like that a lot.”

Blake was taken aback a little. “What? Why?”

“...Also a pretty sore topic.”

“Oh, right. Sorry...But I mean, you still have most of your team. As for me...I’m the only member of team RWBY here. So you still have people you know you can talk to about this kind of thing.”

He didn’t say anything for a bit, and shrugged. “...I guess...But I don’t like talking about it.”

“Well...I guess we’re both in the same sinking ship.”

“Huh?” He turned over to face her.

“I don’t really like talking about my reason either. I’ve barely brought it up with anyone besides Sun, and even then I barely talk about it. So, even though our reasons are most likely completely different, well...” She turned to face Scarlet with a smile. “You’re not alone.”

Scarlet looked at her in mild amazement, before smiling himself. “I guess we are.”

“Okay, what is taking her so long!?”

“Now isn’t the time for your complaining, Lazuli.” Ashe said, as she twirled her scythe in her hand.

“Well, she doesn’t usually take THIS long!” Lazuli argued impatiently.

“She must’ve gotten caught up with other Grimm on the way.”

“Either way, she should at least TRY to hurry up!”

“Now, now. This isn’t the time for arguing.” Fuchsia said calmly. “We’ll be able to take these Grimm out before Lillian gets here.”

There were three Griffons and two Beowolves in front of the three huntresses, preparing to attack them.

Fuchsia was carrying a large fuchsia-coloured sheath with rose-coloured swirl patterns on her back, and out of the sheath she pulled a massive cutlass-style sword. The blade was rose-coloured and the hilt was a dark plum colour, and the handle was decorated with bright coloured fake thorns and a metal rose on the end.

Fuschia darted towards one of the Griffons and sliced it’s head off with relative ease, before removing the sheath from her back with her other hand as it folded into a massive blunderbuss, which she used to shoot the other two.

One was taken out, but another still remained, so Lazuli readied her two sais and ran towards it, slicing the Griffon’s wings off and finishing it off with a stab in the neck.

“Well,” Ashe said with a smirk. “You’re certainly competent when you aren’t complaining.”

Lazuli stuck her tongue out playfully.

Ashe laughed, and started to fight one of the two Beowolves with her scythe, but it was able to block her swipes and slashes easily with it’s claws.

In response, Fuchsia readied her blunderbuss and Lazuli readied her sais.

But before either of them could intervene, a number of small flying blades shot through the air right through the Beowolf’s head.

Lazuli sighed and relaxed her posture. “Freakin’ FINALLY!”

The blades flew back towards another huntress who had joined them.

She had dark skin, gold coloured eyes and long dark brown hair in a fringe over her left eye which had the end dyed dark green. She was wearing a long dark green coat and a white top with a design of a broken clock, as well as beige trousers and dark coloured shoes.

She had a chunky dark gold-coloured bracelet that had a button with an Aquarius symbol on her right hand.

“Impatient and immature as always.”

Lazuli rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Lillian, what took so long?”

“If you must know,” Lillian replied. “There were a couple of Boarbatusks on the way here that I had to take out.”

Ashe gave Lazuli a look as if to say “I told you so”.

“Anyway, did I miss out?” Lillian asked.

“Nope.” Ashe replied, gesturing towards the remaining Beowolf, which was sharpening it’s claws on the ground. “There’s still one more with your name on it.”

Lillian smiled and clicked the button on her bracelet.

The bracelet folded out into a massive sword’s hilt, and the thousands of blades assembled on top of it to form a blade. The Aquarius symbol extended below the blade into a clock face-like array of star sign symbols, which automatically spun to the Leo symbol as the weapon reassembled into a giant sword.

Lillian wielded the massive sword with ease in her right hand, charged towards the remaining Beowolf and, before it could react, sliced the Grimm in half.

As the Grimm disintegrated, she turned back to the rest of her team.

“Will that do?”

“Perfect.” Ashe said with a smile.

“I still don’t get how you’re able to use the flying blade mode-” Lazuli started.

“Aquarius mode.” Lillian corrected.

“Yeah, Aquarius mode. I still don’t get how you’re able to use that with such little gravity dust!”

Lillian tapped the blade of her sword. “It’s all in the craftsmanship, my friend.”

Fuchsia laughed. “On that note, it’ll be best for us to head back to the city.”

“Yeah.” Lillian said with a smile. “Good idea.”

It was taking a lot longer than usual for Ruby to wake up. Usually she would jump out, put her hood on and she’d be ready for the day ahead.

But when she tried to wake up, it took longer.

Because she felt she was in an unfamiliar environment.

First off, she wasn’t in the sleeping bag that she took with her on her journey to Mistral. She was actually on some kind of bed. A comfortable one with a blanket made of some kind of fabric she didn’t recognise.

Second off, it didn’t feel like she was in her usual battle outfit. What she was wearing had the unfamiliar feeling of new clothes, but felt like some kind of linen.

Having enough of this unfamiliar feeling and wanting to see what was going on, Ruby eventually shot awake with a start.

“What th- huh?” She started in confusion.

This definitely wasn’t the forests of Mistral.

She was in a makeshift bed made of some kind of bamboo wood inside a large tent-like structure. She was wearing a basic shirt and trousers made of some kind of linen, as her regular outfit – which had three claw-shaped rips right through it – was hanging on a peg in the corner of the room.

It took Ruby a while to remember what happened the previous day.

“Gah-!” She hurriedly started to lift part of her shirt up to check if she had any scars, but someone said something that made her stop.

“Don’t worry, I already bandaged that up.”

“Huh?” Ruby turned around to the source of the voice.

She wasn’t alone in the room. There was someone making some kind of tea at a nearby dust stove. She was wearing a shallow cut black and red dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads, a red girdle-belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets with fingerless gloves. A decoration that looked like it was made of Nevermore feathers hung from the right side of her skirt. She also wore detached black leggings and black boots with red high heels and soles.

She turned around to look at Ruby. She had red eyes, long black hair and light-coloured skin.

Ruby recognised her, as she had seen her in a photo that Qrow had shown her once, but it took longer for her to realise who she was.

Raven smiled warmly. “You’re finally awake. Welcome, Ruby.”

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