Okay, just a few things before you start reading that I need to get out of the way so it'd be really cool if you could just bare with me briefly. First of all, this one-shot is a spin off of Kurt the Mortician's upcoming (well technically started but that's only the prologue) story "The Second and Third Years", which I am assisting in the writing of. You should check it out, it's going to be good. Plus it'll add more context to this, as will the one-shots by him "Lunchtime with team ANCY" and "The First Night Away", which are both also based within the same storyline. Secondly, I would like to thank Larn555 for submitting to Kurt the entirety of Team VIPR. Larn, if you're reading this, huge thanks for the characters. They were really fun to write and I hope I did them justice. Finally, this story jumps around in time frame quite a lot. I hope I did an okay job of handling it, but I'm really sorry if not. This is my first every fanfic, so all feedback is welcome. Enjoy.
-Lilo
Silence fell on the hall as yet another group appeared on the stage. Their pictures, as well as initials, faded in onto the board, allowing students near the back a better look at their future classmates. Once all four were all stood before him, Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon academy began the same short speech he had given countless times before throughout the last hour.
"Citri Andesine, Rain Nocturn, Phoenix Carson and Celeste Yancy. You each retrieved the red stones. Henceforth, you will be team ANarChY. Led, by Citri Andesine." Professor Ozpin gestured to the four new students stood on stage before him, who all gave a brief celebration before walking off and allowing the next group to be presented.
As the four students' pictures faded from the screen overhead, another four faded in to take their place. The subjects of said pictures slowly entering the stage overlooking the entire school year, although they were the last team, it was still a fairly daunting experience.
"And finally," Ozpin continued, "Victor Gale, Ilayda Yilmaz and Piao and Ru Zhu. You each retrieved the green stones. From now on, you are team VIPeR, led by Victor Gale." As all the previous teams had before them, VIPR exchanged a short round of congratulations amongst themselves before exiting the stage and joining the rest of the year group. Once everyone had settled down, Ozpin addressed the sea of students before him.
"Now that teams are assigned the staff will show you to dormitories. These will be your homes for the rest of your school career. Enjoy your time here at this academy, but remember that you are here with responsibility. I have no doubt that each of you is capable of great things. Whether you reach this potential depends entirely upon your own resolve. Each of you is in need of direction, and purpose. It is up to you, and the help of your teammates, for you to find it. But for the time being, students, welcome to Beacon."
The students gave their headmaster a respectful applause before being led from the room by various teachers. Whist this was happening, Glynda Goodwitch followed Ozpin over to the staff room, where she found he was pouring himself a fresh cup of coffee.
"An impressive speech as always, headmaster." Goodwitch started, waiting for some kind of acknowledgment from Ozpin. When all he offered was a small smile, and a look that politely asked her to get to the point, she continued. "I have to say though, coloured stones might not be the best artefacts to use for initiation. Many groups almost overlooked them."
Lowering the mug from his lips, Ozpin gave another light smile at Goodwitch. "And what, my dear Ms Goodwitch, would you prefer?" He gave a small pause to look around the room, looking for inspiration as to a humorous example. Not a half second later his eyes rested upon a black and white checked board. "Perhaps chess pieces?"
"Very funny, Ozpin." Goodwitch briefly averted her gaze, slightly unsure as to how she would continue. "What I really wanted to talk about, headmaster, was a student." Ozpin raised an eyebrow at this, curious as to what trouble could have started on the very first day of a new school year. "A first year." Ozpin's interest was piqued further. "Victor 'Gale'."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the school, that same student found himself in an oddly profound thought. Before him was a door. His door. Or, rather, their door. The team's door. On the other side was the dorm of the twenty minute old Team VIPR. What was also on the other side, as cliché as it sounded, even in Vic's head, was the rest of his life. As soon as that door, his door…their door, opened, their life as hunters began. This was it. The threshold to his career, to his future, to the real him…and in a less symbolic sense to his bedroom, but that didn't sound quite as grand. Vic's hand rested on the doorknob for a few seconds as he silently basked in deeper meaning behind what turning it would hold for him and his team.
"I call top bunk!"
Well. It was nice while it lasted.
A small smirk played fondly on Vic's face at this memory, in a very rare display of emotion. His brown eyes dancing as the memories played in his mind. That very same door that had held so much metaphorical weight stood before him now. Scratched. Stained. Lived in. Each mar on the once pristine surface told part of the six month long story of team VIPR, and how they got to where they were now. Allowing nostalgia to wash over him as he remembered those countless moments of the school year, Vic opened the door.
"No bunks? No fair!" Ilayda complained as the four entered their brand new dorm, looking at the four large, but definitely not bunk, beds laid out evenly across the room.
"It's only one room." Piao noted, shyness evident in his voice. Despite this, if he was in any way embarrassed, it didn't show.
Almost as if finishing off his thought process, Ru chipped in, "Though there is a separate bathroom."
"We could hang up a curtain?" Vic offered to his team
"What, afraid you'll like what you see?" Ilayda replied with a rather daring wink. It was admittedly a bit inappropriate, but they'd only finished initiation an hour or so ago, and Ilayda felt she deserved a bit of fun.
Turns out, 'a bit of fun' over six months had taken the form of what some may call a relationship. As Vic scanned the room he saw possessions of his navy haired partner come girlfriend all around the room, and with each another memory of the brash girl pushed its way into his mind. Not that he cared.
"Are you trying to ask me on a date?" Ilayda asked, forcing herself to keep the irritation out her voice. The last thing she wanted was to upset Vic. That said, she did have her arms crossed in a somewhat aggressive manner. Checking herself, she slowly unfolded her arms, and her charcoal eyes softened as she waited for his reply.
Right now, Ilayda was in a Combat Practice class, and so her school uniform lay partially crumpled in a hasty pile on her bed as she would be wearing her brown and blue combat gear. The dark haired leader gave another fond twitch of his lips at the sight of his emerald armour next to it, before being pulled into the reality of what it meant. What worried Vic was that she didn't have Combat Practice at this time; she had a free period like the rest of her team. Ilayda had purposefully booked a training room in order to get in more practice. He couldn't help but feel that she was working herself too hard.
It was all because of the rumours about the end of year test. Graduation. The one thing that all first years feared on some level. It didn't help that the other students weren't allowed to tell the first years anything about their test, and so all the younger pupils had to go on were vague answers and wild speculation. Naturally, Ilayda was preparing for the worst. She always did.
"Vic, we've got to train more." Ilayda insisted, pushing back a loose blue strand which had found its way into her line of sight, greatly distracting her from the search for her leader and quelling any attempt she was making at looking around their dorm for him. She didn't need to, in the end, as Vic appeared next to her. Somehow.
Vic winced at the yell of surprise that Ilayda gave, before wincing again after she hit him over the head.
"I told you not to do that!"
"Sorry," Vic rubbed the back of his neck, though his face was deadpan. "You were saying…?"
"I was saying, we need to train more."Ilayda continued, face like thunder.
"Why? Top of the leaderboard for our year." Vic said, wanting nothing more than to stay sat on the bed. Port's lectures did that to the best of students.
"In team rankings, maybe." his girlfriend of two weeks pointed out.
"Nuh-uh. Paio and Ru are top in the doubles as well."
"And what about singles?"
Vic audibly sighed, "What about them?" He just wanted this conversation over. And a nap. A nap would be good. He liked Ilayda. Obviously. They were dating after all. But she cared about training just a bit too much at times. At times, mainly meaning mid-day Friday, just after Port's morning lecture. Morning. Friday morning. Truly there was no crueller mistress than Vic's timetable. Unfortunately, this inner monologue caused Vic to miss what Ilayda had been saying.
"Uhhh?"
"You weren't listening, were you?" Black eyes narrowed at the question, daring him to answer.
Vic began to mumble some incoherent apology, but an almost feral snarl from Ilayda shut him up far quicker than he would ever admit to. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Vic metaphorically retrieved his retreating testicles and worked up the courage to respond.
"Maybe we're just better together?" He offered a weak grin, something Ilayda had rarely ever seen.
Realising the potential double meaning behind Vic's words, Ilayda's face exploded in a fierce blush. Despite her forwardness with him at times, they had only been together a few weeks, and that cheesy stuff still got to her. What annoyed her, though, was that it worked. Her steel resolve shattered by a sub-par line. Now pacified, somewhat, Ilayda took a seat on the bed across from where Vic was sitting. Giving a resigned sigh she laid back, briefly catching the smug look that played for a microsecond on his face.
"Dick move."
Vic, unlike Ilayda, was confident in his team's ability. He was sure that they could handle anything that Ozpin threw at them, especially if they worked together.
That was actually team VIPR's ace-in-the-hole, as it were. Unlike the other teams, who were only just getting used to one another, maybe not even that, VIPR was very tight knit. Vic had no doubt that this was due to the strong relationship that the four had formed. And he didn't just mean Ilayda and him dating, though it certainly was a plus. No, if anything the most influential factor in their team's bonding was the twins.
His thoughts torn away from the blue girl he cherished so much, Vic began to think about the Zhu duo. He wandered over to the window behind Ilayda's bed, moving his armour into the trunk at the end as he did so. He really needed to start using the lockers. Resting an arm on the windowsill he gazed out to the garden that their room overlooked. Sure enough, his eyes were met with the same sight that they always were on a Wednesday afternoon.
In a small gravelled courtyard towards the front of the garden stood two students. They looked almost identical, save from the distinctly different anatomical traits that come with each gender. Both were dressed in faded yellow robes, and had ponytails of ashen hair down to the middle of their backs. Their eyes underneath the shut lids were the same dark hue as their hair and the two moved through a selection of poses in perfect synchronisation. As usual, the Zhu twins were meditating, practising slowed down movements from a martial art that Victor Gale didn't dare even trying to pronounce.
"Um, what?" Was Vic's only response to the sight before him. Piao and Ru were stood next to one another, fluidly moving in a scarily identical manner.
"Meditation," Ru, being the more outgoing of the two, answered.
"Balance of body and mind." Paio added, given confidence by his sister speaking up.
"For once to achieve true mental balance, the body too must be balanced. Through finding balance within your body, only then can your thoughts be whole." Ru explained, sensing Vic's confusion only growing. At least, Vic assumed that she sensed it, in either case, Ru's eyes remained closed throughout.
How the twins could consider such impressive poses as portraying 'balance', however, was something Vic could not fathom.
In all honestly, he still hadn't gotten his head around it. Snapping out of his flashback, Vic noticed something he was surprised he didn't pick up on before. In between the muted yellow that was Paio and Ru was an unmistakably bright orange figure. Citri. The dreadlocked leader of team ANCY was joining in with the Zhu's meditation, something that had become a regular occurrence about a month or two into the school year. It still caught Vic off guard every time though, seeing the two yellows framing the radiant orange like a kung-fu sunset. Amusing as that thought was, the sight of the three moving in perfect sync was somewhat impressive. Citri did get points deducted for grinning like an idiot though, the stoic faces of Paio and Ru suited the meditation routine much better.
Turning back to the empty dorm room, Vic decided that if his team were preoccupied then there was no harm in taking a little bit of much needed down time. Kicking off his shoes and slumping unceremoniously onto his bed, or at least someone's bed, Vic closed his eyes. In the back of his mind he was vaguely confused as to why he had chosen today to be hit with such waves of nostalgia, but he brushed it off. Probably something to do with Aura, or whatever. He needed to pay more attention in those classes.
As the first haze of sleep began to drift into his mind, profound thoughts once again danced in his mind like they had on the very first day he had become team leader. The first chapter of their new lives was drawing to a close. Soon they would graduate into the second year. Hopefully. No, they would. Definitely. In the six months before the symbolic first chapter of this future had begun a lot had changed, something Vic was only now discovering the full weight of. A friend had become so much more, the almost reclusive twins had begun to socialise outside of their team and the four of them had formed close bonds not just with each other but with their peers as well. Citri joining in the Zhu's meditation was just one of many examples of where teams VIPR and ANCY overlapped and socialised with one another. The two teams had become friends, and in the more practical sense allies. Depending on the rules of graduation, the two teams might even be able to double up. In that case they were bound to pass with flying colours, no doubt. Vic's subconscious giggled at the turn of phrase, noting that the majority of the members of the two teams were known for their highly distinct colour schemes in regards to their choice of combat attire.
As sleep took him further, Vic's deep thoughts faded, being replaced with a dreamless but oddly comforting blackness.
"Honey, I'm home!" Ilayda sang, crashing through the door almost literally and probably adding to the collection of scrapes it had acquired.
Well. it was nice while it lasted.