This is my first chapter of my first published fanfiction. Thank you for taking the time to read my story and I hope you enjoy it.
"Hurry the hell up." I shouted at the orange haired girl behind me, my friend Serena Leonhardt.
"But come on Verdant, we didn't even get to eat breakfast." Serena complained as her cat ears drooped. She was standing in front of a cafe looking over the menu.
"Too bad, we don't have time for this crap. If you don't hurry up we're gonna miss the airship to Beacon."
She sighed and turned away from the menu. "Fine, but you're buying lunch." Serena gave a mischievous smile.
"Fine, fine, let's just get going." I started walking and Serena walked alongside me. Looking around at the buildings and people in the city.
"This place is pretty different from Mistral huh?" She told me with bright eyes. "I kinda like it, the buildings all have their own style. I wish Mistral was as diverse as this place."
Well, it certainly IS much different, that much is true. "There's too many back alleys and the roads make no sense." I replied. "At least Mistral was straightforward in design."
"Heheh, come on, you're just sour because you have a horrible sense of direction." She chuckled slightly before talking. She wasn't wrong of course, I have an atrocious sense of direction. My first time in a city I was lost for the entire day before I finally found the place I was looking for… which turned out to be straight down the road from where I started.
"Oh ha ha, poke fun all you want, but at least when I cook people don't pass out from the smell alone." I said as I poked her in her side. She gave me a sour look and stuck out her tongue. After her little display I continued. "But anyway, guess this city isn't so bad. Much as I complain it really is a nice place."
"Right? I'd wanna see the other two kingdoms before making a decision, but I think I'd wanna live here over anyplace else." Serena's smile beamed as we entered town square, where the loading dock for the airship was. It was a really impressive scene.
"Hard to argue when we just walk into this." I said as I took in the surroundings. The streets were a brilliant almost-white cobblestone, with a fountain made of the same stone in its center. The buildings lining the circular opening were considerably more showy than the buildings we passed previously. I saw a few different stores, one selling electronics, another selling clothes, and even a few restaurants. The airship dock was up ahead to our right.
I looked at my companion to see her ears were perked at the sight of a restaurant. "...Are you gonna make me drag you onto the airship?" I asked, half serious.
"But… come on! There's a stand selling fruit, at least let me buy some snacks for the trip. Please?" She looked at me with her orange ears drooping and her purple eyes looking up at me. I know this look, and on anyone else I'd probably be swayed, but I've become immune to her begging and pouting over the years. However, it's not like we didn't have enough time to grab a fruit or two.
I sighed before replying. "Fine, but lets make it fast, we've only got about ten minutes before the ship leaves.
After Serena went to the food stand we boarded the ship with a few minutes to spare before it took off. As for food, well…
"So," I began. "Wanna tell me why you decided to buy THIRTY APPLES?!" I asked Serena as she took a bite of her third.
"I was hungry." She mumbled through her chewing. She swallowed before continuing. "Besides, I figure we could eat them over the next few days."
"You honestly think we're gonna go through thirty apples before they turn rotten…?" I was at a loss for words.
"Why can't we? I'm already on my third." She replied in an all too serious tone. "Here, take one already, you can thank me later." With a smile, she threw me an apple.
I really shouldn't be so surprised, I never was able to understand what's running through that head of hers. As I lifted the apple to try and take a bite, a faunus girl grabbed it from my hands as she walked by, taking a bite as she continued on. "Excuse me." I said as I stood up and turned to her. "You mind telling me why you thought you could just take an apple right out of my hand?"
She stopped and turned around with a surprised look on her face. Serena, looked around with a puzzled expression. "Uh, Verdant…" She started. "Who are you talking too?"
"What? you can't see her huh?" I replied. "Guess she's using some kind of illusion." It must be due to my semblance that I could see her.
The faunus was even more surprised after hearing me say that, staring at me with her crimson eyes. "How did you…?" She started to ask.
"You can't fool these eyes." I told her, activating my semblance for a moment to make my eyes glow. "I'm guessing your semblance has something to do with why my friend can't see or hear you?"
When she saw my eyes glow she understood that it was part of my semblance that allowed me to see her. Now able to understand the situation better, she rubbed the back of her head.
"S-sorry about that." She said with an apologetic look on her face. "I haven't eaten since yesterday morning, so I really just needed something to hold me over until we get to eat at the school. Again, I'm really sorry about that."
"Damn right you should apologize." I told her with a ticked off expression. "But it's not like I don't know things can be rough sometimes, especially for a faunus. Just from now on, if you want something from us just ask alright?"
"Alright…" She replied, clearly surprised that I didn't get very angry at her, and a bit suspicious.
"Good, now that we're done with that why don't you stop with that semblance of yours and come sit down with us? We've got more apples than the two of us can eat so help yourself."
"Okay!" She said with glee. She quickly walked over and sat down next to Serena. Apparently only just then stopping her semblance, she startled Serena quite a bit, making her ears and tail stand straight up. Guess her hunger was more important than her suspicion.
"Woah! Where did you come from?!" Serena shouted in surprise.
"Never mind that." I told her as I sat back down across from the two. "Toss me another another apple." She grabbed another apple out of the bag and threw it to me, still clearly wanting to know what happened. I turned back to the red-eyed girl. "So, wanna tell us your name since we're gonna let you eat with us?"
She looked back in my direction and smiled before replying. "Oh, right my name is Kalena. Once again, thank you for letting me join in."
"That's better," I said nodding approvingly. "Name's Verdant, and the airhead over here who decided to buy 30 damn apples name's Serena, so thank her." I pointed to my companion.
Serena looked towards Kalena and extended her hand. "Hey there!" She said happily. Kalena met her hand and gave a friendly handshake. "Don't mind Verdant, he talks like an ass but he's a good guy."
I threw my half-eaten apple at Serena's head, knocking her back. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here." I caught my apple and continued eating.
Serena sat back up with her ears drooping and rubbed her forehead. "Geez, that hurt!" She picked up an apple as she stared me down with a pissed off look. So transparent.
I activate my semblance, allowing me to see a few seconds into the future. I see that she tried to throw it at my face, but aims too far to my right, nailing a dude who's vomiting into a trash can right in the side of the head. Meh, I'll let it happen. I sit there, unmoving as she whips her arm and throws the apple. It flies right past me and hits the guy's head just like I saw. I couldn't help but laugh slightly, apparently neither could Kalena.
Serena covered her mouth initially out of surprise, but then tried to cover her chuckling with it. "Woops." She said between laughing. Once she managed to calmed down, she turned back to Kalena. "So what kind of faunus are you? I don't think I've seen your type before."
"Huh?" The question seemed to take Kalena by surprise . "Oh uhm, yeah I guess there really aren't a lot of us left, but I'm a fox faunus." I couldn't quite tell, but something was definitely off about her when she said that, maybe it was something with her eyes.
"Wow! That's awesome, I've never met a fox faunus!" Serena shouted excitedly. She turns towards me with a gleam in her eyes. "How about you Verdant? You ever seen a fox faunus before?"
I think for a moment, but I couldn't recall ever even hearing about a fox faunus prior to right now. "No, can't say I have. You from Vale?"
Kalena looked in my direction and smiled. Seems like whatever was bothering her is no longer on her mind. "Yeah, I've lived here my whole life, in the city. How about you two? Verdant, you at least doesn't look like he's from around here, I've never seen that hair color before."
Neither have I, periwinkle isn't exactly a common hair color anywhere. "We're from Mistral, I applied here cause there were too many assholes at Haven." I pointed at Serena. "My faithful companion here decided to follow me."
"Since Haven already had assholes he came here to even out the average." Serena said, throwing a sideways glance in my direction while grinning. She was obviously looking to get a rise out of me.
I decided to ignore her last comment and continue the conversation. "So that was a pretty interesting semblance you got." I said as I looked towards Kalena. "So how's it work? You don't just straight up go invisible because she couldn't hear you either." I pointed at Serena.
She seemed a bit uncomfortable at my question, and fidgeted a bit before replying. "I uh, call it 'Vanish.' I can uhm…" She took a long pause.
"If you don't wanna talk about don't feel obligated just cuz we're giving you food." I assured her before biting into a second apple.
She smiled and nodded, but replied anyway. "Thanks, but it's not that, I'm just not really used to talking about myself." She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly before continuing. "I also don't totally understand my semblance, only that people don't seem to notice me when I have it activated. That is, aside from you." I could tell from the glint in her crimson eyes that she's hoping I would explain my semblance.
Taking her cue I sighed before replying in order to satiate her curiosity. "My eyes are perfect, I see through any illusion, and I see through any unclear conditions, like a smoke screen."
Her ears were perked and her eyes were focused, she was apparently quite interested in my ability. As she was about to say something, Serena jumped in. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about how arrogant he is." She said with a smug look. "Even going as far as labeling his semblance 'perfect' like that."
"You're just pissed cause your semblance has no effect on me." I jabbed back at her. She clearly got annoyed by my reply.
"Oh?" Kalena started. "So you have an illusion power then?" She was talking to Serena.
"No," I replied in Serena's place. "Her power's a mental thing when it's used on something with a soul." Serena stuck her tongue out at me as I said that, so I made a face back. "Anyway, that's only a passive effect of my semblance, when I activate it-" I was cut off by the ring of the announcement bell.
"Attention all new students, we have now arrived at Beacon academy, please gather your belongings and exit the airship." It was an automated message from the ship.
"Ah, I guess we should be getting off now." I said before taking one last bite of my apple.