Just after dawn, not long after Greyson and Azure had settled in and fallen asleep together, Rusty and Raven both woke up. As the morning had come, the two both decided to go about exploring their new home. Hand in hand, they walked around Lago Del Sol Park. The very first campers were beginning to wake up, some casting friendly waves at the couple and bids of good morning as they walked by. Everyone seemed to be in a pleasant mood.
Lago Del Sol Park was an oasis in the middle of the arid, remote, Vacuo desert. The park was located near the middle of a long, thin canyon. The canyon walls rose several hundred feet in every direction, the sheer cliff becoming steep, rocky hills decorated with desert scrub about halfway down. They seemed to protect the entire park, preventing any harm from finding its way into a family's Summer Vacation. A lake sat in the middle of the canyon, interrupted by several small, rocky islands. All campsites were clustered on one side of the lake; a long, wide hill sloping down gently to a beach area, complete with docks and a small restaurant. Rough, narrow concrete streets crisscrossed the hill, separated by small plots of grass, trees, and dirt. Nearly all of these squares of land were filled by campers. The main road in was newly paved, and seemingly separated the campground into two halves. To the right was an area of surprisingly green grass, creating a barrier between campsites and the road. On the left was a parking lot, then a small mini-golf course, and a souvenir shop.
The main road continued until it wrapped around a large cove on the lake's left side. On the other side of the cove was a rather spacious grassy area shaded by huge oak trees, a large children's playground, and several small, rocky beaches separated by tufts of trees and tall grasses.
Rusty watched from a swing with a loving smile on his face as Raven scampered around the playground, sliding down the slides and climbing across the monkey bars. She seemed to be reliving her childhood with a kind of gleeful innocence Rusty had never seen before from her.
After several minutes, Raven slid down a slide one final time, and made her way over to Rusty. She sat on the swing next to him, pushed herself backwards, and began lazily rocking forward and backward.
"You looked like you were having fun," Rusty noted, smiling slightly.
"It's just h-how I remember it here," Raven said happily. "Th-The only times I was really happy were when I would come here. Th-The people from my hometown didn't like faunus, b-but the families on vacation were so nice to me. But then, my 'dad' stopped taking my mother and I..."
"Just hearing about your stepdad pisses me off," Rusty replied angrily. "It's like he went out of his way to make your life hell. I'm so sorry about that."
"W-Well, it's over now, I-I think. I wish I could see my mom again though, I-I haven't talked to her in forever..." Raven reflected.
"If we talk to Greyson, I'm sure he could pull something off. Dude's a genius. Thing is, we'll probably have to take her far away from here," Rusty contemplated.
Raven nodded. "B-But, since we're here, I'd rather talk about happier things," she reasoned. "I-I love you!"
Rusty smiled. "I love you too. You're actually, like, my idea of a perfect girlfriend..." he admitted with a nervous laugh.
After the rest of Twilight Crusade had woken up, Azure showered in the bathroom-building in the middle of the campground, then made her way down to the front office. After a bit of negotiation, it was decided Twilight Crusade could stay inside the park boundaries if they protected the grounds from Grimm. Greyson was delighted.
After everyone had showered, Greyson once again climbed into the driver's seat of the airship, then flew to the nearest town, situated just downriver from the massively wide Great Canyon Dam. The team got some startled looks as their airship landed in an empty section of a grocery store's parking lot. As Greyson left the vehicle, he figured out the true reason. A makeshift White Fang symbol was still painted on the side opposite the driver's side door.
"Hey, uh... you guys go on in. Azure has the list of stuff we need. I think I should start scraping this off," Greyson said, pointing to the White Fang symbol that had already started attracting an angry audience.
"Then I shall stay here and protect you," Kita valiantly replied, grabbing the handle of Kenakuma.
"Kita. Take the mask off. Keep your sword sheathed," Greyson ordered. "I just need some help with scraping this off."
Kita nodded. "As you wish," she responded. She returned to the airship to search for a tool to help remove the symbol. Greyson stayed outside, calmly explaining his situation to the angry citizens.
As Azure lead the rest of Twilight Crusade into the grocery store, Greyson and Kita got to work peeling off the paint. The early afternoon heat made the job easier, and the crowd began to dissipate, believing the strange group of people who had just landed to be relatively harmless huntsmen.
Just under an hour later, Azure returned with two boxed tents, a cartful of food, some swimwear, and the rest of Twilight Crusade. Greyson and Kita had just finished scraping away the last of the White Fang's paint, leaving a large section of the airship scratched and scuffed. The crew returned to Lago Del Sol Park, where they were given a plot of land large enough for their needs.
The campsite was on the end of one of the rows, and was semicircular in shape. On the flat end of the semicircle, Greyson parked the airship. Next to it was a concrete slab with a picnic table, a small, flat area of yellow-green grass, then four evenly spaced trees around the site's perimeter. Just before the four trees, Greyson decided, was where the two tents were to be set up. Two could sleep in each comfortably, and the airship held room for four to lay.
Raven looked in back of the airship, where the groceries sat. She grabbed black and yellow paint from a bag, then two large brushes. She placed them on the table, then grabbed a folded piece of paper from her pocket. She shyly walked over to Greyson, who was busy attempting to set up a tent with Rusty and Ember.
"E-Excuse me," Raven said, holding out the paper. "I-I... was thinking, maybe, we would want a symbol of some kind. So... I, I made this."
Greyson looked over Raven's sketch. The symbol was circular, depicting an ethereal wolf, with an arrow stuck through its gut, seemingly surrounding the Sun.
"Honestly..." Greyson began intently. Raven shifted nervously, averting her gaze to the ground. "... I love it. Go ahead and paint it on where the White Fang symbol was, if you'd please."
Raven smiled and nodded. She almost instantly got to work, Azure helping out.
"This heat is going to kill me," Ember bitterly remarked, painstakingly driving a tent stake into the cracked, parched dirt. "It has to be at least a hundred degrees, right?"
Greyson checked his scroll. "One hundred and five," he reported. As soon as we're done here, I'm loading up the ice chest and heading down to the lake."
Half an hour of tent wrangling, icebox-filling, and changing later, Twilight Crusade was ready to swim. Greyson wore grey board shorts to match his hair, and a black tank top. Azure wore a blue two-piece, with a flap down over the scar crossing her ribs. She and Greyson walked hand-in-hand in front of the others. Greyson was more than a little disconcerted by the amount of amount of gawking stares directed Azure's way, and jealous glares shot at him. However, Azure's eyes remained fixed on either Greyson, or the road to the lake. Raven dressed almost exactly like Greyson, far too shy to show anything more than swim trunks and a tanktop would allow. Kita had to be told by Ember, Raven, Azure, and Ezelia that clothes must be worn swimming at this park.
Azure seemed as if she had grown up in water. She swam, dove, and twisted around effortlessly as Greyson watched from the shore, occasionally splashing some of the refreshing lake water on his arms and face.
"Come on, don't you want to join me?" Azure asked as she swam closer to shore.
"Well, no. Not a big fan of water," Greyson admitted.
"You're telling me, the fearless, physically perfect, soon to be legendary Greyson Skye is afraid of water?" Azure teased.
"No!" Greyson insisted. "I'm not any of those things. I'm afraid of drowning!"
"Hey, that's actually reasonable!" Dustyn cut in. "Drowning is one of the biggest causes of death for people our age. And how sure are we that there are no aquatic grimm in this lake?"
Greyson took a single deep breath. "Dustyn, I know you're trying to help, but, that really doesn't make it any better."
After a bit more encouragement, aided by the blistering heat, Greyson worked his way into waist-high water. Azure never left his side, dutifully making sure Greyson was not fearful of the lake. Raven waded around, until noticing Ember far off to her left, sitting alone under the shade of a small tree, the branches of which dipped into the water. Raven swam over.
"H-Hey... i-is everything alright?" Raven gently asked.
"I'm... sure I'll be fine, eventually..." Ember replied. She sighed, glancing down to the water near her feet. "Part of me wants to believe Pierce is still out there somewhere, but before he disappeared, he wanted to fight the White Fang's leader alone. The other part of me knows he's probably not coming back."
"W-Well, we don't know that for sure," Raven attempted to assure. "M-Maybe he's still somewhere in Vale, a-and he'll eventually find his way back, right?"
"I guess it's a possibility," Ember admitted, voice failing to mask just how little she believed in Pierce's well-being. "That's just how I look at things. If you're pessimistic, you're either right, or pleasantly surprised."
"B-But looking at it like that, it's a little bit ironic, i-isn't it?" Raven replied. "That's an optimistic view of pessimism."
Ember chuckled in amusement. "I guess you're right," she acknowledged. Her brief moment of happiness faded. "I don't admit things like this, but... I'm a little scared. Other than you guys, I've lost everyone I've ever been close to. That's why I act the way I do. I've always been selective about who I grow to like, but... I figured if no one wanted to get close to me, then I wouldn't have to suffer through more loss."
Raven paused at Ember's sudden confession, looking up to the canyon walls as if searching for something to say.
"Still, I've acted like this for so long, and it helped me survive years on the streets," Ember continued. "I don't think it's an act anymore."
"W-Well, I... I like it," Raven admitted. "I really like you, a-as a person. I think everyone does, now. And, I don't think you need to worry about it. We like you, a-and you don't need to change."
"Thanks," Ember sincerely responded. She looked to Greyson and Azure, then to the others closer to shore. "Anyway, you should go back and have fun. It looked like you were enjoying yourself."
"O-Okay," Raven responded. She turned around to return to the rest of her friends, feet sloshing in the ankle-deep water with every step. She turned around to face Ember once again. "Um, h-hang in there," she said with a slight nod, before turning back around.
That night, Greyson and Azure made dinner for Twilight Crusade on a small gas stove. Twilight Crusade lounged around on camp chairs and the picnic table well into the night, telling stories, discussing a multitude of topics, and becoming even closer than ever before, until one by one they retired to the tents and the airship. For most, their troubles seemed years behind them.
