"Alright keep your eyes on the ball, sweetheart" chimed Cye Lureri as he swept three different cups around on a table on the sidewalk of a street at blinding speed.
"Oh my" blushed a middle aged woman at his comment.
Cye Lureri is a 17 year old teenager who dons a blue button up shirt, that opens up to reveal the top of his chest. He also wears a black vest around it with brown pants. He has a medium build with defined facial features. His medium length sky blue hair was parted in the middle displaying usual treatment. Cye often wore a smirk on his face, displaying much confidence, which was important in his "profession".
"Now, which one has the ball?" asked Cye as he finished shuffling and put his hands on the table.
"Uhhhh, that one?" guessed the woman pointing to the cup on the right.
"Ahhhh, sorry about that" said Cye as he raised the cup to reveal nothing. "How about another round?"
"I'm afraid that's all the money I have" the woman said, surprised at the fact.
"Welp, better luck next time" Cye said as he waved to the woman walking away. He turned towards the table and grabbed the lien that the woman had wagered.
"Looks like no food tonight" he stated disappointedly as he slid the lien cards into his back pocket.
"Oh! I almost forgot" Cye said as he pulled the ball out of his other back pocket and immediately dropped it.
"Darn it" he said as he watched the ball hit the ground with a *clink* and roll over to a sewer grate and then fall in. Cye sighed as he closed his eyes, held his breath, and concentrated. He then felt the hard exterior of the ball materialize in his hand. Exhaling, he looked at the ball, now with a new crack across it, and placed it back into his vest pocket.
"Suckers fall for it all the time" he chuckled to himself as he began to fold up his performing table which doubled as briefcase. Once finished, he placed the cups into it, along with various other items like a deck of cards, another pair of similar clothes, and his weapons, a pair of sky blue crescent knives.
"Is that so?" came an unknown female voice behind him.
Cye immediately stopped his packing up and turned to face the unknown person. Standing in front of him was a girl, possibly a bit older than him. She had a purple mohawk and piercing blue eyes. She wore a light gray shirt with a tattered vest around it. She also wore faded and ripped pants.
"Uhhh" Cye said hesitantly for he previously thought he was alone.
"I'm Vi" the girl stated, extending her hand to shake. "and I couldn't help but overhear you".
"Well I'm sure you would never fall for it, you look like you're too smart honey" Cye answered as he shook her hand smirking while raising an eyebrow.
"Yeahhhhh, no. That's not what I meant." Vi said slightly disgusted at his advances. "I meant your food situation."
"Oh yeah, I didn't do as well as I could have today, cause I was lost in your eyes" Cye said while still smirking.
"Okay now, I want to help you, but if I'm going to, you need to stop...that" she said clearly irritated.
"Alright, so what is this about helping me?" Cye said leaning against a wall of a building.
"Well, I recently learned a little bit of information that might be useful to you." Vi said as she leaned against the wall next to him. "You see, there is a shipment of dust coming in tonight to a warehouse about a mile away from here, from the Schnee Dust Company."
"Listen girlie, I'm no crook. I'm not gonna steal some dust from someone, let alone the Schnee's!" Cye said walking away from Vi and resumed packing things away back into his briefcase.
"Are you kidding me? That family is loaded! They won't even notice if one or two crates of dust went missing! Do you have any idea how much you can sell it for?! You wouldn't have to work another day in your life!" Vi stated obviously frustrated.
"I'm not scared of stealing from some big shots in Atlas, I'm scared of what they'll do to me if I get caught! Why are you even telling me this? We just met!" Cye said stopping his task to turn around and speak to her face to face.
Vi sighed heavily, and began to walk away before stopping herself and turning her head back to him "Do what you want with the information" she said "just consider it…an act of good will."
Cye looked down, pondering what she just said "What do you mea-…."he stopped himself when he realized that the girl had disappeared.
Cye decided to finish packing up his things and began to walk down to the street, gazing at the street lamps lighting up as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. He eventually made his way to an alley which he called home. Tossing his briefcase to the side, he threw himself onto various cardboard boxes, disturbing various rodents nearby in the process.
"Not working another day in my life does sound appealing" Cye said as he turned to lay on his back and look up at the stars.
"I mean what is the worst they could do to me? Lock me up? Torture me? End me? Actually those are pretty bad" he said having the sudden realization.
"But it's not like I would get caught…right?" Running his hands through his hair he whispered "Cye, you're an idiot, you're a complete moron. Don't listen to her; she's just some crazy girl….I hope." Quietly he sat up and reached for his weapon. "Well, it's not like things could get worse."
Cye stood up and looked towards the shattered moon "Please let her be right" he prayed. Walking out of the alley, he noticed the silent streets, barely any people occupied it.
Making his way towards the warehouse, he noticed several guards lining the streets. In an attempt to not look suspicious, he whistled jovially and waved at the guards who maintained apathetic expressions.
The warehouse had at least thirty giant crates filled with dust just outside of the entrance. Unfortunately for Cye, for every crate there were at least three guards. Turning his attention away from the entrance, he made his way around to the back of warehouse, where windows were placed about fifteen feet up. Cye closed his eyes and began to concentrate hard. He felt his body dematerialize and rematerialize on the other side of the wall. Cye collapsed exhausted, not cautious of the sound he would make. After a few minutes of resting and catching his breath, Cye looked up and saw endless shelves of dust crates. Fortunately for him, only the lights in front of the warehouse were lit, leaving him safely surrounded in darkness behind a shelf of dust. Various voices of workers and guards filled the room, creating an unintelligible ocean of noise. Silently waiting in the back, Cye heard the loud shutter of the door to the warehouse close and the lights turn off. Still hearing muffled voices outside, he waited until they became faint and then eventually disappeared.
Carefully he maneuvered himself around the shelf that had previously been his hiding spot. He gazed up in awe of the magnificence of the entire scene. Sure, he enjoyed dust, but the profit he could make off of just a single shelf was what truly filled him with joy. No more worrying about rationing half a slice of bread. No more angry participants in his game of deception. No more anything.
Walking over to a shelf, Cye pulled a crate down to the floor and opened it up. Completely filled to the brim with dust, the sight was breathtaking. Suddenly the windows on the side of the building broke open as various guards repelled into the warehouse. Cye looked around as he saw an innumerable number of guards wearing clean white uniforms with white body armor with the Schnee family logo emblazoned on the back.
"Put your hands up and step away from the dust!" commanded a rather large guard.
"What?! How did you know I was here? I didn't set off an alarm!" Cye demanded.
The guard laughed arrogantly. "A little birdie told us" he answered boastfully.
Cye sighed heavily as he raised his hands in the air, surrendering himself to the Schnee guards.
"It'll only cost you a bit of lien! How about you sir? Madame?" Cye shouted as he hopelessly attempted to market his business.
"I take it that it didn't go well" said a familiar voice. Cye immediately turned around to be greeted by the face of a traitor.
"You! You set me up! What is your problem?!" He cried as he ran over to Vi full of hate.
"Me? I had no idea that that would happen." Vi said in a mocking tone, filling Cye with even more rage.
"You knew this would happen! You called the guards on me!" He accused.
"How dare you make such a claim. Besides, what happened to you?" Vi said.
Feeling the tight pull of handcuffs, Cye cursed himself under his breath. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted her!"
A guard walked over holding a larger sized Scroll displaying a connecting video call. It eventually connected and showed a very clean cut man, in a white suit. He had slicked back white hair and a bushy white moustache. After a moment of silence the man on the screen cleared his throat and said "So this is the thief that I was informed of?"
Cye decided to stay silent, as he did not want to get himself into more trouble by threatening the unknown man before him.
"Young man, we here at Schnee Dust Company have a reputation to uphold; and we can't very well let you go and tarnish that. You see, people are doubting us and our methods, but these are troubling times. We have been victims of attacks and theft and in the process, are forced to follow some less than desirable paths" the man said.
"Why are you even telling me this? You already caught me, just get on with it" replied Cye bluntly.
"This is just an explanation. You see, some of these less than desirable paths include making deals and alliances with a few questionable organizations and companies" the man answered. "You were just a… test run per say. Just a mere pawn to show that we can trust our new partners, and you played your part perfectly."
"So now what? Are you going to kill me?" Cye asked.
"Kill you? Who do you think we are? The White Fang? No, you will be fined on the grounds of grand theft" the man replied.
"Grand theft? Huh, serious stuff" Vi said as patted Cye on the shoulder.
"Don't pity me! You're the one who set me up!" Cye said jerking away from her.
"It wasn't my doing, they were just orders" she defended. "How much exactly are grand theft charges anyways?"
Cye hesitated before speaking "Couple thousand lien…"
"Wow, how do you plan on obtaining that?" she inquired.
"I don't have a clue" he said bowing his head in shame.
"Well, I might be able to help you out there" Vi said.
"Oh really?! Just like you helped me out last time?!" Cye said standing up in annoyance.
"You see, our deal with the Schnee company is over. This is just another act of good will" Vi stated standing up next to him and looking Cye in the eye. "Besides, I don't think this business alone will get you thousands of lien" She said gesturing to his table, still vacant.
"Fine, what did you have in mind? Hiding me in a box?" Cye replied folding his arms sarcastically.
"No, although that does sound inviting…"Vi whispered under her breath.
"How about we loan you the money, and you pay us back in a while?" She offered while pulling out a large stack of lien from her back pocket.
Cye decided to weigh his options. On one hand, he'll be making the same mistake all over again. On the other hand, if he doesn't accept the offer, he'll get thrown in jail or worse. Suddenly a new idea popped into his head.
"Sure thing, I'll pay you back as soon as possible" he replied with a sudden change of attitude and a smirk on his face.
"Great, now just pay us back as soon as possible" Vi said beginning to walk away.
"Absolutely...absolutely" he said under his breath, clearly plotting something.
Cye made his way back to his alley and gathered the rest of his very few belonging, putting this into his briefcase.
"It's time for the con artist to con the con artist who first conned the con artist" he said slowly, trying to work out the current situation in his head.
"I'm getting out of Vale tomorrow." He said laying down on his cardboard box bed. He picked up the rather large stack of lien and gazed at it. "This'll easily get me to farthest parts of Mistral, and from there on I lay low."
Cye looked up at the night sky, full of stars, and the shattered moon, as he drifted off to sleep for his last night in Vale.
His eyes opened quickly to see an orange sky, slowly transitioning to purple. "Wait WHAT?!" Cye glanced down at his watch to see that it was currently late in the evening. "How did I oversleep?!" He shouted in disbelief.
"I can't miss this!" he said standing up and beginning to sprint to the nearest airship station.
He eventually reached his destination, completely out of breath. He looked up at the enormous two story building, but despite the size, there was a distinct lack of citizens.
(Optional but recommended music here)
Disregarding that fact, Cye made his way up the stairs, two at a time, before he heard a voice that made him freeze.
"What are you doing there, buddy?" called an all too familiar voice.
".…" he hesitated before turning around and coming face to face, again, with Vi. But something was different about her. To her side now swung a solid metal ball, at least twice the size of his head, connected to a chain that wrapped several times around her waist. "Crazy right? I was just here to pick up my parents, they're flying in! Anyways, I should go get them, nice seeing ya!" Cye said with a cheerful demeanor and fake smile.
Cye turned around and took another step towards the door before it was crushed by a thrown metal ball. He turned his head back around to see Vi holding the end of the chain attached to the ball, slowly pulling it back. "I'm not an idiot Cye. You're escaping your problems by leaving Vale. That won't happen." Vi stated flatly. Her previous condescending attitude was gone, replaced by a lifeless expression.
Cye sighed as he unclipped his crescent knives from his belt. "Why can't anything go right for me?"
He dashed forward hoping to end the fight quickly until he felt himself being picked up by his shirt and thrown into a wall. Shaking away rubble, Cye opened his eyes only to see the metal ball hurling towards his head. At the last moment he dove to the side just missing the lethal shot. "WHAT WAS THAT?! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!" he demanded. Vi did not respond as she pulled back her weapon. "Alright then." He muttered as he clenched his weapon, causing the blades of his crescent knives to shift 90 degrees, now making the weapon a right angle. He held down a button on the handle firing out numerous bullets in rapid succession.
Vi straight up, about ten feet in the air, dodging most of the bullets fired, but Cye noticed and adjusted his fire. However, she also launched her weapon down towards him, forcing Cye to roll to a safe distance. The ball smashed into the ground, reducing several steps of the building to dust and even causing Cye to stumble from the aftershock.
Landing back harshly, Vi created a crater where she stood. She reeled back her grip on the chain, so that only her hands held on to the last few links. With those in hand, she began to spin around, using centrifugal force to increase speed and power. Cye watched her do so and looked for an opening, but it was quite difficult, as the ball just seemed to be an endless gray blur in front of him, moving in a circular pattern. Throwing away any inhibitions, Cye leapt forward realizing that if he could get into Vi's inner circle, she would have no defense against him. Time began to slow down as he jumped forward, and watched the ball come closer and closer until it made contact with his side. Pain shot through his body as he rocketed across the area, crashing to the ground. He struggled to breathe as he felt a foot atop his chest. Cye then felt himself being picked up by the collar and he opened his eyes to see Vi standing there, holding him.
"We tried to help you. But you go and decide to double cross us" she said. Cye could only cough and in the process of doing so, spat on her. Vi frowned a slammed him back into the ground, head first. She began to walk away and Cye saw the days' past few events. He remembered his street show. He remembered that no one could ever figure him out. He remembered his first meeting with Vi. But most importantly, he remembered being set up, and being made a fool of.
Suddenly feeling new energy and power Cye stood up and proclaimed "You deserved it. No one crosses Cye Lureri." Vi turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?" "Yeah." Cye said simply before disappearing.
"What?! Where did you go?" Vi demanded. "Right here" A voice came from behind her. Cye wound back his arm and punched Vi directly in the sternum. She stumbled backwards as he began his next attack and uppercut her chin. She staggered further back, dazed from what just happened. Finally, he placed his hands on her shoulders and leapt forward, with his knee outstretched which connected to her stomach. The sheer force knocked Vi flat on her back, unconscious, with a loud thud from her weapon.
Cye scoffed and fixed his hair "Like I said, no one crosses Cye Lureri." He closed his eyes and lay down, completely exhausted from the battle. Right as he exhaled he felt his shoulder suddenly crush under an unfortunately familiar ball. "AAH!" he screamed as his eyes shot open to see Vi standing above him. "We're not through with you" she said as she began to twirl the sphere in a circular pattern vertically. She wrapped the twirling chain around her neck and flicked her neck quickly in order to maximize the weapon's energy and speed. Cye could not react as the ball smashed into his leg. "AGH!" He cried out, tears beginning to form around his eyes. "Looks like you won't be going anywhere for much longer" she said as she wound up her weapon again.
"Wait! Please! I'm sorry! I'll pay you back! Double!" He shouted, praying that she would listen. Vi stopped her twirling and pondered the thought for a moment. After a bit, she chuckled, "Alright Lureri, you have two weeks." Cye breathed a gigantic sigh of relief. "But, if you don't pay up. I won't be so forgiving next time" she threatened, smirking. "Until then" she said walking away.
As soon as she was out of sight, Cye examined his wounds; nothing seemed to be broken, but seriously sprained. He felt like his world was over, he had two weeks to live. That is, until he felt a paper smack into the side of his face. He peeled it off and studied it. It was a flyer that read "Beacon Academy: Train to fight the creatures of Grimm and become a hunter or huntress! Admissions Now." This was it, his ticket out. He would be safe; the hunters would protect him if he was a student. Vi's organization wouldn't dare challenge an entire academy teeming with skilled hunters and huntresses. Cye picked himself off the ground, with much difficulty, and made his way to the nearest registration building.