The alarm blares. "Ugh..." Garnet groans as he awakens to the light coming through the window. He rolls over to see his fiancée sleeping next to him. No matter how many times I wake up like this, I can never get tired of it, he thinks with a smile. He sits up and nudges her. "Hey, Neo. Neeeoooo..." she shifts as she opens her mismatched eyes. "It's time to get up~." He says in a singsong voice. She nods and pulls him into a kiss. He pulls back after a minute. "As much as I'd love to, we have lunch with my parents." She sighs. "Hey, we can continue after lunch." She nods.
They pull up in his car and walk into the restaurant. They approach the hostess. "Um, hi. We have a reservation under Branwen."
"Oh yes, right this way." She takes them to a table and they see Garnet's parents and sister.
"Mom, Dad, Yang!" He says as said people wave from their booth.
"Hi, Garnet," says his mother, Summer, as she gets up from the booth. He gives her a hug. "How are you?"
"I'm good, mom, how are you?" Garnet chokes out as Summer crushes his bones. She releases him and he take a breath of air.
"Sorry, sorry. Well to answer your question I'm alright," she turns to Neo. "And how is my future daughter-in-law?" Neo gives a thumbs up before she was caught in a bone crushing hug. After she lets go, we sit down.
"So how are you, Dad? Yang?" His father, Qrow, is the first to speak up.
"Well, I'm doing pretty good. Life is pretty boring nowadays."
"Really, dad? Not having much business?"
"No, not much. It's not like making swords and medieval stuff is an essential business, but we're getting by."
"Well, if you hadn't quit your job at the factory you'd be making more money." Yang adds passive-aggressively.
"Hey, he's doing what he loves, don't bash him for that. He doesn't have to support us anymore." Garnet tries to defend him.
"Oh, she's just angry for some reason this morning." Qrow says passively.
"You wanna know why I'm angry? Ozpin is only getting a life sentence!" They all gasp.
"Oh, my god." Gernet is the first to speak up. "After what he did..."
"That monster needs to pay with his life." Qrow finishes.
"Well, it's out of our hands, but I'm just pissed. I considered not coming today. Didn't wanna ruin Lunch for you guys." Neo reaches over to Yang and pokes her arm. When Yang looks to her, she pulls out a pen and begins writing on a napkin.
'You're not gonna ruin Lunch, we know what happened and we are here for you.' Is written on the napkin she shows to Yang.
"...thanks, Neo. It means a lot...geez Garn, how'd you get someone so out of your league?" She asked, her frown changing into a smirk. He shoves her and continued the small talk.
As they finish their meals, Neo tugs on Gernet's sleeve. "Hm?" She gestures to the family. "Oh, right." He speaks up. "Now that we have finished our meals, um, Neo and I have some news to share. Neo?" They all look to the couple. Neo brings out a piece of paper and writes down the two words that made Garnet incredibly happy all over again. She flipped over the paper and looked to him. He nodded and she nodded back. She then flips over the paper to show them and they all gape.
'I'm pregnant!' Is written on the paper.
"Oh, my god!" My mom is the first to speak up. "Congratulations!" She pulls me up and gives me another hug. She then does the same for Neo as Dad and Yang get up to congratulate us. After they are done, we sit back down. "So how long have you known?" My mom asks.
"Uh, we've only known for two weeks, but we went to the doctor to get it checked out, y'know, make sure it wasn't a fluke. Needless to say, they confirmed it." Garnet says with a smile. He sees Summer begin to tear up.
"I can't believe I'm gonna be a grandmother!" She says as the tears fall from her eyes. Qrow brings her into a hug.
"You know what, dinner is on us." He says with a smile.
"No, no, dad, we got it."
"Garn, you're gonna need as much money as you can get."
"...okay. Thanks."
Garnet, Yang and Neo waves to they older couple as they drive away. Garnet turns to Yang as their parents leave their sight.
"You know, Yang, if you ever need to talk, we are here for you." He puts his hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah I know." She says with a small smile. Neo pulls out her phone and her lightning fast hands type out a text and she turns it to us,
'Well, I'm not so good with the talking thing, Lol.' She and Yang snicker at this. Yang mounts her motorcycle.
"Congrats again, guys. I think you're gonna be great parents." She says with a smile.
"Thank you." Garnet hugs her. "See you later, Yang!" He says as Neo waves. Yang starts her motorcycle and drives away. As the couple walks over to their car, Neo types out another text.
'I can't get over how sweet your mother is!'
"I know, right? Well, I'll drop you off at home, and I gotta get to work." She nods and they get in the car.
As he walks up to the entrance, he looks up at the sign above the door.
Schnee Dimensional Research Lab
He smiles and walks into the building. On his way in, he walks past the receptionist. "Good evening Mr. Branwen!" She says.
"Evening, Velvet. How are you doing?" He asks as he walks up to her.
"Great, actually. Coco proposed!" She said, showing off the ring on her finger.
"Congratulations, Velv!" He says. "Well, see you later. The ice queen will get pissed if I'm late again." They both chuckle at this and he goes on his way. As he reaches the lab, he is greeted by his boss, Winter.
"Garnet, you're late again!" She yells, grabbing him by the collar. "We have work to do, so put your lab coat on, and GET IN THERE." She releases him.
"Well, good to see you, too, Win. Yes, I did have a good day, how was yours?" He says, brushing off his suit.
"Oh, I've been waiting for my employee to get in so we can finish the project!" She yells, getting the attention of some of the other scientists in the room.
"So, it's almost done?"
"Yeah, hopefully this time, it won't explode."
"Don't worry, I think I have it right this time." He says as they walk into the elevator. They get to the basement floor and the door opens. "So, it's ready for testing, right, Apollo?" He says to the scientist that was there before them.
"Yeah, boss." Apollo says, giving a thumbs up and never looking away from his computer.
"Alright, so what are we gonna send through first?" Says Garnet as he looks at the giant circular machine on the far side of the room.
"Well, I got this apple I was gonna eat." Apollo says, throwing the apple to Garnet.
"Cool. I'm just gonna check all the physical aspects of the machine, make sure it doesn't fall apart. No one's coming in here, right?" The two other scientist nod. "Alright!" He begins stretching. "Ok, make sure there are no loose papers lying around. Don't wanna have to pick that up!" He says as he begins emitting lightning from all over his body. He then begins running toward the machine. He picks up speed as he approaches the circular machine. He becomes a blur as he runs around the machine, over and over.
"It's still amazing. How did he get that power, again?" Apollo says, loading up the program for the machine.
"He says he was born with it. It is amazing. And it saves us time on building stuff." She says with a chuckle. He approaches the desk in the back of the room, where Winter and Apollo are.
"Everything seems to be fine, I put the apple in position."
"Good. Apollo, fire it up!" Winter says as they all put their goggles on. Apollo begins the program. The circular machine begins to whir and the lights on it light up. After a few seconds, a purple light begins to glow inside the circle.
"It's working. Oh my god, it's working!" Garnet says as the light becomes more pronounced.
"It is! After all our hard work!" Winter says as the light begins to look substantial and almost like a liquid. Suddenly, the light disappears. "What happened?"
"Damn it, I think it's a bust." Garnet says, hanging his head. After a few moments of silence, Apollo speaks up.
"I don't mean to sound insensitive, but could you get the apple? I'm kinda hungry." Garnet glares at him, before walking toward the machine. Winter walks over to the computer.
"What went wrong?" She asks. She notices that the program is still running. "It's still running..." she says. She looks up to see the lights on the machine are still on as Garnet grabs the apple. Suddenly, the light returns. "Garnet, run!" And he does. He runs as fast as he can, but it's not enough. He is sucked off of his feet and begins flying toward the light.
"Help!" He yells.
"Garnet!" The two at the computer yell as he is sucked into the portal.
"Shut it down!" Winter yells. Apollo shuts the program down and all lights begin to turn off. All noise in the room stops, except for the breathing of the two remaining scientists. After five full minutes, Apollo speaks up once more.
"Well, I think we have a few bugs to work out." Winter promptly slaps him.
Garnet wakes up to the sound of birds cawing. "Neo, could ya close the window? The birds are being loud." No response. "Neo?" He asks again. No response. He finally opens his eyes to see the sky. "What the...?" He sits up and looks around. He sees trees surrounding him. "Where the hell am I?"
To be continued in Stories From Beacon Academy Chapter 6
-Gildarts Clive