"Would you just relax? We're going to be fine."
"Coco, I don't think you should be so confident. I heard about this Mercury's fight against Pyrrha. Something's off about this guy."
The leader of team CFVY scowled, turning to face Fox. Placing her hands firmly on his shoulders, she spoke, "I know, Fox. Listen to me, though. Doesn't matter what's off. We still have to fight them and give it all we got. And you can't be tense to do that. Got it?"
He stared at her aura, sensing the suppressed fear in it. Fox knew she was putting on a front, but she pulled it off well, "Fine. Got it." He replied, just as the doors opened, prompting them to walk outside.
"Great. We can't keep the crowd waiting, so let's go!" One of her hands drifted down his arm, gripping his fingers ever so slightly before dropping to her sides.
As soon as the sun hit their bodies, the audience began to scream, cheering loudly for the members of team CFVY. For second years, they'd been on many away missions, and had gained a bit of popularity outside of Vale. Coco ate it up, waving at the crowd, and blowing kisses to those lucky enough to catch her eyes.
The two slowly meandered to the middle, the opposing team already there, "What are our surroundings?" Fox asked, even though he already knew. It might throw off the other team.
"Looks like we've got a forest, some geysers, an old city, and a prairie." Coco responded.
Fox nodded, but Coco spoke again, "Hey! Love the outfit, kid!"
"Oh my god," Fox muttered under his breath.
"I'll try not to get blood on it." Emerald replied, clearly confident.
Fox smirked, "We'll try not to scratch you up too much, then."
"I won't be the one bleeding."
"Oh, I like her!"
Fox glared in Coco's direction, but by then, Professor Port was counting down the start of the match. Though as soon as he bellowed "Begin!", Fox didn't hear the usual sounds of their opponents launching towards them. Instead, he heard feet crunching on grass, "Are they… hiding in the prairie?"
"Seems so." said Coco.
He could feel her turning to look at him. He gave her a smile, "What are you waiting for?"
Fox could feel the mega watt smile radiating off of his partner as the sounds of her gatling gun mowing down the grass echoed across the cheering stadium. The gunfire stopped, though, and Fox tensed, "Huh?" Coco asked.
But then he felt Mercury's aura come barreling from the sky. Fox dashed towards Coco, shoving her out of the way and intercepting the man's heavy kick with his arm blade. He managed to push him away, but the next bit of fighting was a blur. Coco started firing at him, meaning Fox couldn't get close without risk of being hit.
Mercury was lightning fast, dodging Coco and eventually running up to kick her gun out of place. Fox intercepted him before he could do more damage, but it didn't go well for him. Two expertly placed kicks, to the gut and to his face had him staggering backwards. He moved back to Coco, though, and Fox took action. Punching the man in the face, Mercury used her shoulder to wheel her around, shoving the end of her barrel into Fox's gut.
"Excuse you," She said, but Fox couldn't tell if it was to him or to Mercury. He heard her gun become compact again, the purse swing through the air without making contact. She snarled loudly as he flipped away, shooting a couple bullets their way, "Stupid can opener."
Fox chuckled, but the sound melted in the air as they suddenly found themselves surrounded by explosions, "What's happening?" He asked, knowing his leader would hear him.
"I can't see!" The blind man didn't have time to make a joke as he suddenly felt their opponent grab his wrist, kicking both of them in a clinical manner. Fox managed to get a couple of hits in, but not before he heard his partner's body hit the floor. The sounds of a chain could be heard, along with a soft grunt from her.
Her aura was getting further and further away from him, "Coco!" He cried out, prepping to follow after her. He took two steps in her direction, but a boot to the side of the head stopped him.
"You're not going to leave me alone, are you?"
Fox snarled at the aspect of leaving Coco to deal with Mercury's mysterious partner, but he had no choice. The blind man sharpened his focus just in time to intercept a kick directed towards his stomach.
"What's this, blind man can see after all?" said Mercury.
That was it for Fox. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was people underestimating him. Faster than the eye could see, the fighter began assaulting him, hit after hit just barely being blocked by his opponent. He could feel a hint of panic tinge Mercury's aura, and he found his opening. With a smile, Fox hammered both fists into the man's gut, sending him flying meters away, into what he assumed was the geyser section of the arena.
The blind fighter leapt after his opponent, both fists aiming straight at Mercury as he activated his semblance. However, he wasn't met with the soft muscle of Mercury's stomach. His gloved fingers were pressed against the hard metal of the kicker's boots, which promptly released bullets that sent him flying into the air. Not without causing the arena's geysers to bust, though. Fox could hear the ground still rumbling from his hit.
As he came charging back to the ground, Fox picked up Mercury's voice, "You're fun to play with." Before the blind man could make contact with the craggy floor, Mercury's foot made contact with his chest, sending him backwards as his body dragged on the ground. Fox started to flip himself back onto his feet, but didn't realize what was underneath him. Before he knew what was happening, hot and forceful steam had again sent him towards the sky, and he crashed painfully on the ground.
He was about to get up again, when a loud buzzer sounded. Oobleck announced that Fox's aura had gone below the recommended amount, and he was out. With a scowl, he began to make his way off the arena, when a suddenly approaching aura had his senses on end. However, Oobleck had been right. His aura was low, and he hadn't expected Coco to be so close when she came crashing into him. They both rolled across the floor as Port announced the fight being over.
"I told you we should have worried more," said Fox with a smirk, before the scent of blood reached his nose, "Oh no." He snarled, pulling the girl to his chest. She was unconscious, barely breathing by the sounds of it. His hand reached up to hold her head, feeling the enormous gash that was gushing her vibrant blood. He didn't know what happened to her, but it was clear neither of them had enough aura to mend this wound.
"We need a medic!" Fox yelled as loudly as his broken voice could. Though he was barely paying attention to them anymore, he could feel Emerald and Mercury's retreating aura's - they didn't care about his leader's condition.
"Fox," Her voice was as soft as field heather, tickling his ears like the setting sun, "'m sorry…"
With her head in his lap, the blind man used his other hand to brush away the tears that had started rolling down her cheeks, "Don't be sorry. They're older students; we should've known they'd be a tougher fight."
The laughter that came out of her was nothing like what he was used to. Coco's real laughter, the one that came out of her accidentally, when the snarky facade had dropped, when Yatsuhashi caught her off guard with a joke, was nothing short of beautiful. It was the first waterfall after the harsh winter, the low chimes of wedding bells on a Sunday afternoon. Not this weak, regretful, sorrowful chuckle that escaped her lips now, "You did try to tell me."
He heard a sigh escape her lips, and her eyelashes fluttered shut against his thumb, "No, Coco, stay awake. You can't go to sleep just yet, remember? You told me the same thing when we were on the away mission, stay awake."
"I'll do my best, but this time… this time's different, Fox," She said, and he could feel her smile, "Don't leave my side."
"I won't." He promised, eyes stinging. His palm had just reached down to hold her chin, his head descending when he was violently pulled away from her. A protest was on his lips not a second later, having forgotten they were in the middle of a huge stadium, not a broken city full of vicious Grimm.
Oh, he screamed. He screamed her name, but all of his senses were muted, by anger, by the overwhelming sounds. Dozens of hands kept pushing him away from his leader, his voice howling her name in agony as he felt her aura, her life force dwindle. His head snapped to the side as he felt arms wrap around him, something warm and soft pressing into his back. Fox was fed up, and had this person not pinned his arms to his body, would have swiped at them, "Let me go!" He snarled, trying to work up the energy to fight, but he was too exhausted.
"Fox, let them do their job. We will take you to get treated," His anger washed away from him as soon as he recognized Yatsuhashi's voice. Just as a bunny ear tickled his neck, he felt the sobs wracking Velvet's body. He knew it must have been painful to watch the fight, and delicate Velvet hated when Fox had outbursts of anger.
It was a hard day for them all. With a heavy sigh, Fox nodded his head, letting the partners guide him out of the arena. Velvet had both of her hands gripped on his forearm, and he could feel Yatsuhashi glaring at the crowd.
Just before the elevator doors closed, Fox sent a silent prayer, to whomever was listening to him.
Please let her be okay.
She was falling.
The darkness engulfed her as she went, and she could only tell she was going down because of the one bright light she was heading towards. She was numb, ice cold as the wind brushed her hair in every direction.
An ill feeling overtook her as she continued downward, seemingly getting no closer to hitting the floor than before. How long has she been falling? When did it start? Where was she? Who was she?
Just as she felt as if she would burst if she had to continue like this any longer, a small warmth grew at her hands. Another graced her shoulder. Confused, she whipped her head side to side, "W-Who's there?"
There were whispers, but nothing solidly responded to her. She was about to snap out at them again, but the warmth left her right hand and shoulder. Wiggling her fingers, she stretched to try and grasp the heat, but nothing was there.
"Promise me you'll wake up."
"What?" She turned her head to look, but was only greeted with the same darkness she'd been in the whole time. When she looked back at the white dot, it wasn't so small anymore. Her head started pounding when she realized how quickly she was approaching it.
"Help me!" She cried out, to the whispers, to the warmth, to the voice, anything, "I can't do this!"
"I'm here."
"Eh?" She looked around as the details on the ground began to make sense, an enormous courtyard, a fountain a few meters away from where she was headed. A man was standing there, in a red vest and black pants, "Fox?" His hand reached out to her. On instinct, her fingers reacted. The warmth in her hand was like a magnet to his palm, and when their hands touched -
Suddenly, she wasn't falling. The courtyard was gone, the man was gone, everything was dark.
"...Coco?"
Her eyelids felt glued together, but her mouth wasn't. Her lips opened like a fish, unable to produce a sound other than a low moan.
"Hey, hey, hey," Fox said, rough fingers stroking the palm of her hand, "Can you hear me?"
The leader swallowed thickly, working her throat up to talking, "Yea- Yeah, but you can't see me."
His laughter rang out, even though her joke was overused and old. She could practically feel the relief radiating off of him, "This is true. How are you feeling?"
"Like I got my ass kicked. Help me up," He did so, hands on her waist as he pressed the small of her back against a pillow. She finally opened her eyes, "How long have I been out?"
She watched him as he cringed, "Almost two weeks now. You've missed a few matches. I hear that team RWBY won against some team from Atlas. I think they're sending Yang ahead."
"Damn," She muttered. Another thought struck her, and she shot him a sharp glance, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Healed up pretty quickly. I let my semblance get out of hand, and my aura dropped below the line pretty easily. Not too many scratches."
The bitter tone in his voice left Coco frowning. Pulling her hand out of his grasp, she took the collar of his shirt and tugged him towards her, "Listen, Fox. Better to make mistakes in practice then in reality. Yeah, we took a hard loss. That just means we get to learn from it, so we can beat their asses in, eventually," Craning her neck slightly, she let their lips meet in a soft, sweet kiss. Fox's hand reached up to cup her cheek, as her hand reached around to -
"Are you serious?" Fox asked, jumping in surprise after his leader's had swatted his bum.
Coco's laughter pealed out into the room, and the blind fighter couldn't help but smile at the genuine sound, "I was worried I'd never get to do that again. Now, go get Velvet and Yatsu, I'm sure they're worried sick."
Fox scowled, and after a quick kiss to her forehead, got up and went outside to call the rest of his team. He had barely opened his scroll when he caught the sound of her sob. It was quiet, but he had heard her. Shoving his scroll back into his pocket. he returned to the room.
Silently, he held his leader as she lulled herself back to sleep with her tears.