Coffee Break
A fight to the death, an odd phone call, and it ends with cuddles.
[Author's note: This story follows the story Your Ears Are Tickling Me!; which in turn follows the story Ice Queen to Snow Bunny.]
"Some fun, eh?" said Coco Adel.
"I have never understood your sense of humour," said Yatuhashi Daichi.
The four members of Team Coffee looked around. They were in the central square of the town of Sheroda – or, rather, what was left of the town – behind an improvised barricade. Behind them, a crowd of refugees were boarding airships, under the supervision of a dozen soldiers.
What was supposed to be a quiet mission helping with the evacuation had become a pitched battle, as hundreds of Grimm creatures had descended on the town. The team had beaten back three attacks but another one, a big one, was forming. The four of them had to hold back the flood so the airships could take off. The evacuation process was nearly complete; there were only three airships still to load.
The army of Grimm creatures began to charge. Yatuhashi drew his sword. "I will cover the left flank," he said.
"Fox," said Coco, "how is the arm?"
"Still broken," said Fox Alistair, as he adjusted the make-do sling that Velvet had made from the sleeve of her outfit. "But I can hold the right flank."
"Uh-oh," said Velvet. She pointed. Three Gryphons were sweeping in, heading for the airships that were taking off.
Coco hefted her mini-gun. Velvet created a copy of it, and together they fired. Their streams of bullets took down the ones on either side, and then converged on the middle one. It gave a howl as it evaporated.
Coco and Velvet turned their guns and fired into the pack of advancing Ursas, Beowolfs and Deathstalkers. The bullets cut through the front ranks of the crowd, sending creatures down. But more were coming.
"Like I said, fun," said Coco.
At that moment, Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna were practising backflips and somersaults in the gym of Beacon Academy. They were working on their collaborative moves, for when they fought as a pair – what Ruby had designated 'checkerboard', presumably meaning black and white.
They both flipped onto the higher of the parallel bars, and sat there to rest.
"So," said Blake. "How are things with Velvet?"
Weiss smiled. "This is my first relationship, so I have no basis for comparison," she said. "But that girl ... " She put her knuckle into her mouth and pretended to bite it as an illustration.
Blake laughed. "Glad to hear it," she said. "Rabbit women are considered to be pretty sexy in the faunus community. It's an animal thing. My mother says that that's why they breed like, well, rabbits."
"Anything happening for you in the romance department?" said Weiss.
"After the Breakup From Hell, I've sworn off manhandling. Wouldn't mind taking a page from your book, though. Wouldn't be the first time I played for the home team. Do you happen to know if Coco Adel is seeing anyone?"
"Fox. Sorry. On both counts."
Blake sighed. "When are you seeing Velvet again?" she said.
"We have a date planned for tonight. But I haven't heard from her. I might give her a call and see if she's still available." She took her scroll from her pocket and pressed the button.
The wireframe version of the mini-gun was fading when Velvet's scroll buzzed. As she was creating a copy of Neptune's energy weapon, she put the plug into her ear.
"Hi, honey," said Weiss. "What's happening with you?"
"Oh, you know, this and that, stuff," said Velvet. She began to fire.
"What!?" said Coco. She gestured at the waves of charging Grimm.
Velvet covered the mouthpiece. "I don't want to alarm her," she said. "She worries a bit."
"Don't want to ... !? Let me tell you, V, this is a good time to be alarmed!" said Coco. She put a long burst into a Deathstalker, cutting it in half. But two more came up behind it.
"Hey, is that Coco?" said Weiss. "Say hello to her for me."
"Weiss says hello," said Velvet to Coco.
A Beowolf leaped at Coco, but Velvet converted the gun into its guandao form and took its head off.
"Velvet!" shouted Yatuhashi. "Help!" He was surrounded by Ursas, fighting hard but in danger of going down.
Velvet made a running leap. She landed in the middle of the Beowolf pack and swung a copy of Nora's hammer, taking out three of the creatures at once. She fired a volley of missiles. The surviving creatures fell back.
She saw that Yatuhashi had been injured, a shoulder wound where a claw had pierced his armour. She tore off her remaining sleeve and tied it over the wound to stop the bleeding.
"Are the guys there too?" said Weiss in her ear.
"Yeah, Yatu is right next to me. Shall I give him a kiss for you?"
"A pretend one, maybe. My real kisses are only for you."
"Weiss sends you a pretend kiss," said Velvet to Yatuhashi.
"Uh, what?" he said.
"The last airship is ready!" shouted Coco. "Team, fall back and get on board!" Helping the injured Fox and firing her gun one-handed, she began to back up.
"Er, Velvet," said Weiss. "Is there something going on I should know about? Where are you?"
"A town called Sheroda. Nice place."
"Is this a mission?"
"More like an excursion."
"Huh?" said Yatuhashi.
The four of them made it to the airship, which was loaded – in fact, overloaded – with the last of the refugees. They jumped on, and it lurched into the air and began to climb.
And then a Gryphon smashed into the front. The windscreen shattered and the pilot cried out, falling out of his seat. The airship yawed sideways. With a shout, Coco fell backwards through the open door.
"Fox, the controls!" shouted Velvet. "Yatu, get ready to catch what I throw!" She leaped though the door after Coco.
Fox took the pilot's seat. One-armed, he steadied the craft.
"Honey, is there something you're not telling me?" said Weiss.
Velvet was spiralling through the air, creating Blake's Gambol Shroud as she fell. She threw the anchor end back to Yatuhashi, who caught it.
She could see that Coco had landed on her feet. But she was surrounded by Grimm creatures. She fired as she spun around, keeping them back. Then the gun clicked on empty. Coco turned it into its bag form to use as a club. But there were many, many Grimm. It was a question of seconds, no more.
"Coco!" shouted Velvet as she swung towards her.
Coco saw her coming and put her hand up.
"Velvet – " said Weiss.
"Gotcha!" said Velvet as she grabbed Coco. And then Yatuhashi was pulling them out of the pack of Grimm, and Fox was turning the airship towards safety.
" – what are you really doing?" said Weiss.
"Uh, er, I guess you could say that I'm just hanging around at the moment."
Coco rolled her eyes. Yatuhashi hauled them aboard.
"Is Blake with you?" said Velvet.
"Yes, right here. We're practising flips."
"Please thank her for letting me take the photo of her ribbon thing. Came in handy."
"Certainly did," said Coco.
"Are we still on for tonight?" said Weiss. "I'm thinking dinner at the place near that other place where we went that time, and then some cuddles."
"Sounds great," said Velvet. "Well, I probably should go now. You know, team things. But I look forward to seeing you later."
They both signed off.
Blake looked at Weiss and laughed. " 'Cuddles'?" she said.
"Sure," said Weiss. "Cuddles."
END