While she ran through the forest, there was only one thought on her mind, and looking back, it was foolish and out of place.
Had she been reasonable, she might have paid special attention to each step she took, weary that from any direction a wild Grimm could appear and engage her in a fight without warning. She was not foolish enough to believe that she was immortal and could handle everything this forest threw at her with ease, but still, she could not bring herself to fear the depths of the forest. She would scold herself for her carelessness eventually, but there was a more pressing matter at hand.
Ozpin had made it very clear that her future at the academy was predetermined by the moment she laid eyes upon a fellow student. Not the "love at first sight"-kind. She did not worry about that, anyway. She was still in school, love would come and go like one switched their favourite colour. From a lifelong commitment to an hourly change, everything would be possible. To be honest, she was even excited to find out which tendency it was for her. Though truth to be told, she was not too thrilled about it after the last time.
When she spotted the person in front of her, she had to blink twice. She did not trust her vision enough to believe that she had just stumbled upon the girl she had been looking for since the moment this crazy initiation had begun.
Her unsuspecting prey was wandering around the forest unsuspectingly, looking around for something only she knew. Despite being launched into the air and falling from the sky, her hair was still perfect with her barret neatly sitting on top, stylishly pulled to the right. It had been easier to find her than she had expected, despite the brown-black outfit camouflaging her among the trees.
And, the best of it all, she was alone. As the girl turned towards her, the other took her chance.
"You're going to be my teammate," Raspberry announced, a finger stretched out at Coco Adel.
"And why would that be?" The other girl angled her head, curious.
"Because I chose you. You heard what Ozpin said: 'The first one you look into the eyes will be your teammate'."
Coco smirked, her slight dimples disappearing behind her dark sunglasses. "That's hardly a choice on my part. Not very fair, if you ask me."
Raspberry shrugged. "It hasn't been much of a choice for most of us. It's out of your hand the second you run into someone in the forest—unless you're playing it smart, that is."
At that, Coco's smile widened. "Sorry to disappoint you, but you're not the only tactician around. So you'll excuse me now, I've to find someone."
"Wait!" Raspberry shouted after her. "What do you mean? Our gaze met. You can't undo that and choose someone else!"
Coco did not turn around as she said: "Yes, I did. And you're not the person I'm looking for."
Raspberry crossed her arms in defiance as she stalked after her. If this girl did not want to listen to reason, she would have to try harder. "You know, I thought you'd be flattered that I picked you out."
"Flattered?" Coco replied with a lazy gaze back at her. "Don't make me laugh. I know I'm a damn competent fighter, but I'd never go on a team with someone who has the nerve to claim me." Coco shook her head dismissively and pointed at her sunglasses. "That's why I'm wearing these—so it's impossible for anyone to look me in the eyes. I've already made my decision with whom I'll team up." And at that, she gripped her handbag and punched the nearest tree. It shook with the impact and Raspberry let out a short shriek as something fell down. Something too big and massive to live up in a tree. A Grimm?
No, not something—someone!
He was a mixture of dark red and brown, almost invisible among the maple leaves and branches. Coco knelt beside him, so close that it spoke of intimacy and trust. She lifted his chin with two fingers and leaned in closer. The boy was too confused to react, his white eyes darting everywhere. He did not close them as Raspberry had expected of him. It was what happened in movies, after all.
Then again, the girls in them rarely lifted their sunglasses and remarked: "And you doubted that I'd find you. I'm rather glad I did, though. Imitating animal noises is a horrible plan."
The boy laughed, letting her pull him up. "No, it isn't. I told you I'd make a brilliant fox."
At that, she ruffled his hair, putting her sunglasses back in place. "Too bad we'll never find out what they say. Alas, let's find the relics."
"What about the other one?" he asked, eyes looking towards Raspberry's direction. "Who is she, anyway?"
"Beats me. Some sort of fangirl of mine. I didn't expect to have such a reputation, to be honest."
"I'm not a fangirl!" Raspberry protested with more emotion than she had anticipated. "I just thought you'd make a good teammate, that's all. I wouldn't have thought you'd be so antisocial, though."
Coco sighed. "It's nothing personal. If it makes you feel any better, I would have turned anyone down but Fox—but if you insist, you can come with us. It's dangerous to go alone."
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll manage on my own. Just you wait. I'll find someone better!" At that, she tramped off, deeper into the forest.
"Worse people have been killed during initiation," Coco observed, calling after her. The girl turned her head away but did not respond otherwise as she marched deeper into the woods. Coco sighed. "And here I was, thinking we've found our third teammate. It would've been nice to have someone worshipping me."
Fox huffed. "No, it wouldn't. She would've annoyed you to no end before we'd made it out of these woods."
"I suppose you're right. Well then, let's find those relics—and the other half of our team."
Rajah had never been so glad to have no one around for miles as he beheld the sniveling, crying mess in front of him that used to be his childhood friend. "I'm so sorry I couldn't keep my promise," she cried out, her words barely intelligible.
"Don't worry, Yotsuba. I'm not mad at you," he assured her with the most soothing voice possible. "I guess that's what they intended. If they'd wanted us to choose, they would've let us vote or whatever. Cheer up, everything will be fine. Besides, a team consists of two pairs, right? We could still end up together."
That cheered her up alright. "I bet we will. After all, I haven't been lucky with my teammate, so that should work out to even the odds!" She smiled and gave him a thumbs up.
"Sure, why not." He didn't feel as convinced as his friend, but then again, Yotsuba's life had always played out like she was the embodiment of the goddess of luck. It had started when her parents had finally been able to have a child despite all the miscarriages, which was why they had named her after the 4-leaf clover.
For as long as they had known each other, Yotsuba had always been convinced that there were only two consistencies in the world: Either you were lucky, or you were not. And, a more recent correction, shaped by the wisdom she had acquired over the years: You could never really be sure which one was truly the case.
"Speaking of which, what's your teammate like?" Rajah felt slightly bad for talking about but not to her. Then again, Yotsuba had not bothered to introduce her and the girl did not seem eager to go first, either.
"Weird," she confessed, glaring at her sideways. The stranger sat on a stump, legs dangling slightly over the edge, hands hanging down at her side. She was slightly slumped, but it might have been the dress. Out of all the outfits he had seen this day, hers was truly the most outstanding. Where most girls their age tried to catch someone else's gaze with too little clothing, her dress must weigh several kilos. It was layer upon layer of brown and white cloth, clearly a girl's definition of fancy and festive, but just as much out of place in a forest.
It made him remember the movies he had watched with Yotsuba when they had been little, all those adaptations of 'prince meets princess' cloaked in fairy tales. Perhaps that was just what she was, a little girl lost in the forest, waiting for her destined other to save her. If that was the case, she must have deemed this outcome of pairs just as unfavourable as Yotsuba.
He resented to gain something out of someone's misery, but if he happened to stumble upon the right partner, they might form a contract to become a group of four – or two times two, given that it would be hard to get the girls together. Plus, as history had proven, his relationships with boys had always been … complex, to say the least.
Rayfa chuckled and gave Yotsuba a sideways look. "Weirs as opposed to …?" he teased her, getting an adorable pout as an answer.
"Me, for instance. You can't possibly compare us. I'm way more agreeable."
And far more eccentric, he thought to himself but was wise enough not to say it out loud. Still, it had some truth to it. The other girl seemed like someone who would leave you alone when she had no business with you, while Yotsuba would engage exactly half of the strangers in a conversation as that was the amount she deemed worthy. Whether or not this had happened to the other girl and may even be the cause of her silence was impossible to tell. Still, ignoring her was one way to scatter Yotsuba's interest in you.
"Can't deny that," he answered, slightly uncomfortable where the conversation headed. Yotsuba would not pursue any relationship when she felt that it was going nowhere, but Rajah still could not bring himself to talk about someone else in a criticising way when the person in question was so close—although he tended to forget the small girl occasionally as she seemed to blend into the background like banal furniture. Then he realized what he had just compared her to and shot her an apologetic look.
If this out of the blue reaction surprised her at all, she did not show it. She just kept glancing straight ahead, like her world was reduced down to her imagination of it.
Rajah sighed. Dealing with them would be harder than he had expected. "Well, for the time being, it can't hurt to work together. Guess we'll have to get along somehow."
"Really? I was considering to let nature run its cause." Whether or not Yotsuba was joking, he could not tell but decided not to take any chances. He walked up to where the girl was sitting and was surprised to see that her eyes did follow him, though she did not turn her head. He supposed he was lucky that he got to meet her in broad daylight, for he would already be backing off had it been in a dark corridor at school. He made a mental note to himself to consider sleeping with his weapon under the pillow, just in case.
Salutations, everyone. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my fanfiction. Please let me know of any criticism you have, as well as any mistakes or messed-up phrases (I know you're out there *squints into the darkness*). Since I don't like randomly messaging people, it would be nice if anyone could recommend a good betareader (or themselves) to me. Help will be rewarded with digital cookies.
I hope you're excited for the next chapter. There are more OCs to come (in fact, as this story is one year prior to the show, you'll have a lot of them to look forward to).
DITL