Chapter three: Two Months Later

Eclipse had never eaten in the cafeteria. She and her friends had always taken their food to the roof and eaten there. But today the roof was under renovation. Now Eclipse was going to eat in a large room with loud people and no personal space.

"It'll be fine." Crimson assured her. "Doesn't your brother always eat there? When was the last time you actually talked to him?"

"Oh yeah," Said Sapphire next to him. "I kind of forgot you had a brother."

Eclipse hadn't talked to Midnight since she left him standing by the water fountain. She'd only seen him two or three times since then. She'd pointed him out to her friends at an assembly once. That was the only reason they knew about him. "Yeah. Maybe I should find him. I just realized… that I'm actually kind of worried. I don't know how he's been over the past two months. Knowing the kind of person he is, he probably shut everyone out and tried to figure things out on his own. Gosh, does he even have friends?"

Frost shrugged. "No point in just talking about it. I'm starving! Let's get food already!" He reached for the doors but was blown backwards when someone smashed into them from the inside, throwing them open.

Eclipse stared at the mayhem before her. All the kids were cheering "Fight, fight, fight, fight!" And some were throwing food. But most were standing on the tables and chairs and looking to the centre of the cafeteria.

"Hey." Eclipse tapped one of them on the arm. "Have you seen a Faunus with black hair, cat ears and a tail? His name's Midnight."

"Midnight Wukong?" The boy asked.

"Yes, that's him!"

"He's over there." He pointed towards the action.

Eclipse and her friends pushed their way through the crowd. Midnight. She thought, Poor Midnight, some guy's probably beating him up! I must get him out of there! I have to-

Eclipse reached the open space in the centre just in time to see a rather large guy fly into a table from someone's fist! The kid then punched another guy and flung him into the first one. "All right!" He yelled, "Which one of you pea brains is next?" Eclipse's eyes nearly popped out of her head. The kid doing the punching was Midnight.

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Eclipse couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her completely anti-social brother was taking on a gang of the biggest students she had ever seen by himself in front of a crowd!

One of them ran at Midnight and he leaped over his head. The guy stumbled to a stop. Midnight landed and kicked him in the back, sending him flying into the wall!

"Midnight?" Eclipse asked. He looked over at her and the crazy grin vanished from his face. Seeing her must have distracted him because two of the guys tackled him and pinned him on the floor. "Got you now." One of them said. Midnight struggled but their weight must have been too much. "Time to pay." The other big guy growled.

Suddenly some of the kids across the room began yelling, "Look out!" and "Out of the way!" as a girl with dark green hair came running on top of the tables towards Midnight. She leaped off the table and came down on the two big guys. "Two on two!" She yelled, slamming her feet down on their foreheads and pushing them into the floor.

The new girl helped Midnight to his feet. She turned to the big guys and cracked her knuckles. "Now what kind of person picks on an innocent little girl and beats up the guy who's decent enough to stick up for her?" She grinned. "You, huh? Well then, be prepared for my fist to meat your face."

"Wait!" A girl stepped in front of them. She had brown hair that fell down a bit past her shoulders. She had deep brown eyes and had extremely cute, floppy rabbit ears. "It's okay guys." She said, "I think they've had enough. I'm alright." She turned to face the big guys. "Hope you learned your lesson!" She growled, puffing out her cheeks.

The guy in front, who seemed to be the leader, grabbed the Faunus girl's ears and lifted her off the ground. "Hope you did too." He said.

Before Midnight and the other girl could react an angry cry sounded from across the cafeteria. A kid about Midnight's age leaped onto the leader's shoulders and grabbed him by his hair. "You leave Hazel alone!" He yelled. The Faunus girl, who must have been Hazel, was dropped and the big guy grabbed the kid off his shoulders and flung him to the ground. "Flax!" Hazel cried. Eclipse felt someone push past her. Crimson was joining the fight by hammering the big guy in the jaw with his fist!

Crimson turned to the kid. "Flaxen." He said, "You okay?"

The kid shook his head and looked up. "Crimson?" He asked. They knew each other? The kid, Flaxen, had blonde hair and the same vivid-green eyes as Crimson.

One of the other big guys slammed his palm down on Crimson's shoulder. There was a clear thunk sound and Crimson cried out in pain. A whistle blew from across the cafeteria. The teachers had finally come to break up the fight.

"Time to split!" The green haired girl yelped. She grabbed Hazel and Flaxen and sped out of the room with Midnight right behind her. Once they were gone a crowd of Crimson's fan girls began swarming him. Eclipse, Sapphire and Frost couldn't do much but watch as the teachers tried to straighten things out.

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"This might hurt." Mrs Mogoose said. She was Sanctum's nurse. Eclipse looked down at Crimson and let him grip her hand. He took a deep breath. "I'm ready." He said. Mrs Mogoose gently placed her hand on his dislocated shoulder. "On three." She said. "One, THREE!" She shoved Crimson's shoulder back into its socket. "AUGH!" He yelled squeezing Eclipse's hand so hard it might have cut off her circulation. "What about two?" He asked loudly.

"Sorry. It worked better that way."

Mrs Mogoose gave Crimson a sling for his arm so he could keep his shoulder steady and a note excusing him from almost every physical activity for the next few days.

He sighed. "It could have been worse." He said to Eclipse. Eclipse didn't answer. She felt her face turn red with the realization that he was still holding her hand.

She quickly pulled away. "Let's get back to the others." Eclipse opened the door and found herself facing a horde of screaming fan girls. Crimson darted forward and slammed the door shut. "How do you feel about jumping out a window?" He asked.

"Cats always land on their feet." Eclipse reminded him. They quickly made their way to the window and leaped into the branches of the tree below. As luck would have it, Eclipse lost her balance and tumbled to the ground, pulling Crimson with her.

They had a soft landing. Eclipse looked down at the kid she was sitting on. "Thanks." She said.

"My back." He groaned. Eclipse stood and helped him get up. "Hey!" She exclaimed, recognizing him. "You're-"

"Flax!" Cried Crimson, gripping him by the shoulder. "Where have you been all this time? How am I supposed to tell Mom how you're doing if I can't even find you?"

"Mom?" Eclipse wondered out loud.

"Oh yeah." Grinned Crimson, snapping his fingers. "Guess I didn't tell you. Eclipse, this is my little brother, Flaxen. Flax, this is my friend Eclipse."

Eclipse felt her heart sink at the way he said 'friend'. He said it so easily, like he didn't picture her as anything else.

"Flax!" Called a familiar voice. Hazel came running from across the field. "Flax! There you are!" She hugged him and his face went red. Eclipse didn't need any more signs. Flaxen obviously liked Hazel more than he could say. When Hazel let go of him she looked up at Crimson. "Ohmygosh!" She cried, her cheeks turning an alarming shade of pink. "You're Crimson!" She took his free hand in both of hers. "You're so much more gorgeous up close!" Crimson's face went as pink as hers.

An expression of jealousy flashed across Flaxen's face. The first thought that popped into Eclipse's mind was oh, great. Flaxen was in love with Hazel, who had a crush on his brother. This was going to get really annoying really fast.

"Flax, Hazel!" The girl with green hair was standing across the field with Midnight. She honestly didn't look good in the school uniform. It didn't suit her. And Midnight obviously didn't like the uniform. His tie was loose, his jacket was rumpled and undone and his shirt was un-tucked.

Hazel let go of Crimson and took hold of Flaxen's arm. Pulling him along, she skipped over to them. Eclipse followed, eager to talk to Midnight. She ran over to him and reached to grab hold of his arms. He stepped to the side and she tripped, landing on her face. "Class is going to start soon." He said to Flaxen and Hazel. "We should get going."

Crimson bent down to help Eclipse to her feet as they walked away. "Midnight!" She called. He ignored her. "Midnight!" She repeated jogging after them. He responded by glaring at her and she stopped. Was he mad at her? Eclipse hadn't done anything. What was his problem? It was like he was a completely different person.

"Midnight?" Eclipse whispered. "Why…" She watched him walk away. And she suddenly felt very alone.