CHAPTER X

Childhood Dreams

Ingrid and Yuan sat with Xanthus and Perseus as they ate lunch. Athena and Echo had spent all day apart from each other and away from the team.

"This really sucks," Perseus said.

"I agree," Xanthus said.

"I mean, it's good that she's alive and all, but damn. Shit."

They all turned to where Echo and Nerida ate with their fellow villagers. They sat so close as to touch with nearly every movement.

"Dude," Perseus said. "I mean, seriously."

"You can't blame Echo either," Yuan said. "Nerida was, for all intents and purposes, her childhood sweetheart. There's something about that that just can't be replaced."

"I know, but dammit."

Xanthus turned to Penny as she sat down beside him.

"Hey, guys," she said with a sigh.

The others figured if anyone here would be brought down by what was going on, it would be Penny, thanks to her empathy Semblance. Most of the lunch was spent in silence with little stirring among the group until Ingrid stood up and threw away her trash, taking a seat with Athena instead.

"Hey," Ingrid said, sitting beside her old friend.

"Oh, what's up, pussycat?" Athena said.

"Clearly you're in high spirits. And you got the lyrics wrong."

Athena chuckled.

"Anyway, how are you doing?"

She shrugged. "How are you doing?"

"You can't just turn the question around on me, dude!"

"I'm team leader. I can do whatever the fuck I want."

Ingrid sighed. "I can't tell if you're just being you or this is your way of coping."

"Coping with what?"

"You know!"

"What? You mean Echo?"

Ingrid nodded.

"Look, I appreciate what you're doing, Ingrid, but Echo's a big girl. She can make her own decisions. She doesn't need me to tell her what to do. And she certainly doesn't need the rest of you guys butting into her business, okay?"

Ingrid was taken aback by her response, but she shouldn't have been surprised. Athena had always been the strongest of their group, unfazed by anything life had to throw at her. At least, that's what it looked like on the surface. Ingrid could never be sure whether she really took everything in stride or if she was falling apart underneath and just never let it show because of the fact that she was always in a leadership position.

"Athena, you don't have to put up a front, you know."

Athena turned to Ingrid, her midnight blues locking with amber eyes. "You think I'm putting up a front?" The cat Faunus nodded. Athena looked up at her ears. "You mind if I play with them?"

Ingrid frowned.

"In a non-gay, totally platonic way."

"What is with you guys and my ears!"

"They're cute!"

"C'mon!"

"Please?"

Ingrid crossed her arms.

"Pretty please, pretty kitty?"

She let out a sigh before leaning toward her old friend, who promptly proceeded to reach up and play with her cat ears, grinning and snickering all the while.

"Okay, that's enough!" Ingrid said, pulling away.

"You're no fun!" Athena whined.

"Hey, be honest, though. You're not worried or anything?"

"About Echo?"

She nodded.

"Look, I told you already. Echo is her own person. She knows how I feel about her. She has to figure out for herself what she feels."

"Still, though. It's gotta sting a little bit seeing your girl with your only romantic rival like that."

Athena sighed before standing up and taking a few steps away. Ingrid got up and joined her, keeping her distance to give her friend space.

"I'd be lying if I said I felt nothing," Athena said. "Because, yeah, I do care about her and I'm scared I might lose her. But I'm not gonna be the one to force her to choose between the girl she grew up with and her combat partner."

Ingrid looked at the ground.

"Do you mind if we drop this? Cuz I'm trying not to dwell on it so much. We have a battle to plan out."

Without a word, Ingrid walked up to her best friend, embracing her tightly.

"Great. You do know this is turning me on, right?"

"My goodness," Ingrid said. "Since when you become such a horndog?"

Athena chuckled. "I'm just messing with you. Seriously, Ingrid. Thanks. I mean it."

—

"Ohmygosh I wish you were there to see us on our first day at Beacon we were flying and holy crap it was so awesome I didn't know if I was gonna land it or not cuz they didn't even tell us what we were doing we just launched in the air and then—"

"Echo!" Nerida said. "Do you even punctuate?"

"Crap. My bad."

Nerida couldn't help but laugh. "You know I've missed you, right?"

Echo nodded before leaning her head against her shoulder. "I thought I'd never see you again. I went off to Beacon mostly because I wanted to make sure what happened to you would never happen to anyone else. But, well, you're alive. How are you alive anyway?"

"Luck, mostly. That patrol I went out on, we all should've died. The Grimm were all around us and, well, that was it. We all knew to lead them as far away from the village as we could. The wall wasn't finished yet, so yeah. Not that it seems to even make a difference. Anyway, the last thing I remember was one of those big wolf things—"

"An Alpha Beowolf?"

"Yeah, that piece of turd. Those claws hurt like heck. Anyway, that's what I remember. And the next thing I know, I'm waking up in some hut downriver."

"Wait a minute..."

"Yup. The hut. The one we've all heard stories of since we were kids."

"The Hermit is real?" Echo all but yelled.

Nerida nodded. "And he saved my life. Says I floated all the way down to where he was fishing."

"Wait, he didn't, like, chop you up into tiny pieces and then eat you?"

Nerida shook her head with a chuckle. "He was a pretty normal guy. I actually got to know him a little bit while he nursed me back to health. He's from Vale, one of the outlying towns. A Grimm attack took his whole family, so he decided to move out to the woods. Our woods. And that's that."

"How has he kept away from the Grimm for so long?"

She shrugged. "I mean, he's out in the middle of nowhere, so yeah."

"True. Still, though. He's probably got some pretty good control over his emotions not to attract them all to his hut."

"He does seem pretty peaceful. I gotta admit, it was pretty contagious."

"So, when did you come back to the village?"

"I think it was just before the Vytal Festival that I was strong enough to make the hike back home. Got back right in the middle of a Grimm attack."

"It was because of sis that we survived," Joel said, sitting beside Nerida, who wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "I'm learning how to fight the Grimm, too, so I can help protect our village!"

"High five," Echo said, which the boy accepted.

"But first," Nerida began, "you have to eat right so you can build your muscles. Hey, tell Echo what kind of weapon you wanna build for yourself."

"I wanna make a bow combined with a spear so it's like I have both your weapons together!"

"You better get started early, then," Echo said. "I could teach you how to string your own bow and put together your own arrows, too."

"Cool!"

"Speaking of training," Nerida began, turning to Echo, "let's sit down with your team so we can put together a strategy."

—

"So we're only addressing Team APEX, is that it?" Nerida said to the group of Huntsmen from Beacon Academy.

"That is correct," Penny said. "I am here strictly as an evaluator. This is their show to run. Of course, I will intervene should the need arise, but such a scenario would not be favorable for the students."

"Right. If they need your help, their grade suffers."

"Yes."

"Then, we'll plan around the assumption that you aren't even here with us today."

"You said earlier that that was the largest Grimm attack you've ever seen," Athena began.

"That's right," Nerida said. "It was larger than all of the other attacks combined. Much more severe, too. Before, we'd be able to repel the attacks without any casualties. Today, we lost five of our best hunters. Probably would've been the whole village if you guys hadn't arrived when you did."

"The gods haven't forsaken us just yet," Perseus said. "Aside from the wall, do you have any other defenses in place?"

"We did, but they're all gone. The last wave wiped out our traps. And I don't think they even helped."

"Attacks have been increasing in frequency," Xanthus began, pushing up his glasses, "and intensity. I think this is a simple matter for us."

"Simple, you say?"

"Yes. In a situation such as this, our main objective is to search and destroy every single Grimm within the area. It is likely that they have gathered somewhere away from here, possibly even at the command of an Omega Grimm, though that isn't likely given the strategic unimportance of such a faraway village. No offense intended to your people."

"None taken. You got my attention at 'Omega Grimm', though."

"It's a special kind of Grimm that appeared twenty years ago," Yuan said, "during the Labyrinth War. It's an incredibly rare type of Grimm that is capable of complex thought and also possesses a soul, and thus, aura, and the ability to use Dust."

"And this Grimm might be what's causing these attacks?"

"It's possible," Ingrid said. "It's difficult to know the intention of the Omega Grimm. It's not random, but at the same time it's impossible to interrogate them, so we make deductions based on patterns they leave behind. Assuming there's a pattern to begin with."

Nerida put a hand to her chin. "What are the odds that one of these Omega Grimm are actually involved here?"

"Unlikely, as Xanthus has concluded," Athena said. "However, we always plan with the assumption that one might be present. This team alone has dealt with at least two such instances in our careers at Beacon. No other Huntsmen-in-training have even seen an Omega."

"Sounds like you guys are trouble magnets," an older villager said.

"Funny you use the word 'magnet'," Athena said before levitating her shield with her Semblance. "We're going to form a search and destroy team. At first light, Team APEX will go off into the woods and annihilate as many of them as we can find. Ingrid, Yuan, I want the two of you to remain here just in case the village comes under attack while we're gone."

"Think you can handle a huge swarm just the four of you?" Ingrid asked her.

"Who do you think you're talking to, Ingrid?"

"My bad, champ."

They shared a chuckle.

"I'll be joining you," Nerida said.

"While I don't doubt your ability to battle those bastards," Athena said, "I also don't want you putting your life on the line when you've hired us to do a job."

"Echo is going out there as well, isn't she? I'm not letting her go alone."

"I won't be alone, though," Echo said. "I've got my team."

"You've also got your brothers," said her eldest sibling, Aspen, who walked into the hut alongside the middle child, Brook.

"Been a long time, Echo," Brook said to her before giving her a hug. "How's life in the big city?"

"Crowded," Echo said as her brothers took a seat on either side of her. "Not as crowded as this, though."

The brothers chuckled.

"If you all insist on joining us on the hunt," Athena began, "I won't stop you. I will advise strongly against it, but I don't think that's gonna matter, is it?"

"Not a bit," Nerida said.

"A seven-man team is going to be odd," Xanthus said, pushing up his glasses. "Add to that the fact that we don't know your fighting styles and it's going to be a challenge to put together any viable battle tactics."

"I specialize in heavy hits," Aspen said, standing up. He was the larger of the two brothers, easily more than six feet in height and large in build. His weapon was a massive war hammer.

"And I'm handy with a rifle and an axe," Brook said, standing beside his brother. He was just about six feet in height with a build more suited for technical fighting rather than the strength of the elder brother.

"And you won't have to deal with a seven-man team," another man said as he entered. Echo leaped out of her chair and gave him a tight embrace.

"Dad," she said, burying her head into his chest.

"I saw you doing battle against the Grimm," he said. "I must say that I am very much impressed. Beacon Academy has certainly done its part in growing you as a Huntress."

"Are you going to fight with us, too?"

"Of course." He turned to Athena. "My name is Zenith. I am Echo's father. My sons and I will be joining you on your hunt tomorrow."

"You look like a heavy attacker as well," Xanthus said. "But something tells me you are a bit quicker than you let on."

"You have a sharp eye, young man. Yes, between myself and my sons, I am actually the quickest, but I do not sacrifice strength as a result."

"There he goes," Aspen said.

"He always has to remind everyone that he's still our dad," Brook said.

"Well, who else did you learn from, hmm?" Zenith said.

"Yeah, yeah," the brothers said at the same time.

Echo smiled. Watching her family interact again after such a long time warmed her heart, but she could not prepare herself for the arrival of the last member of her family. She walked into the hut, unassuming as always, but majestic in the eyes of Echo, who loved her mother more than words could describe. It was always mom that she could rely on whenever Aspen and Brook went a little too rough on her and whenever dad refused to take her side, insisting on never babying his little girl.

"Indra, my darling," Zenith said as he embraced his wife.

"Echo, sweetie, how have you been?" Indra said to her daughter, who silently walked to her before giving her a tight embrace.

"We're been doing great, actually," Echo said. "Did you guys get to watch the tournament?"

"Unfortunately not," her mother said. "We've been quite busy with the Grimm attacks."

"Echo did great," Athena said with a grin as she joined them. "Wouldn't've made it as far as we did without her."

"We actually have video on our scrolls if you guys wanna watch later," Perseus said.

"That will most definitely do," Zenith said. "We will have to save it for after our task, however. Our focus must be on our job."

"Okay," Athena began, "for now, let's get acquainted. I'm not taking a team out before we know what we're doing out there."

—

The exercise was short in duration. Aspen and Brook were already familiar with each other's combat styles; they had been fighting as a duo since childhood. Perseus and Xanthus also stuck together, as expected. The monkey wrench was introduced when Nerida insisted on partnering up with Echo, although Zenith, sensing the tension in his daughter, suggested that Nerida partner with Athena instead while he would pair up with Echo.

"I think my little girl and I could use some father-daughter bonding!" Zenith said, grabbing Echo in a tight, one-armed embrace.

"Dad," Echo's muffled voice sounded through his tunic, "I can't breathe."

"Nonsense, Echo! I can hear you just fine!"

"So, I guess it's you and me, then, new partner," Athena said to Nerida.

"Speaking of partners," Nerida began, "I hear that Beacon Academy teaches with a tenure-long partner system. You're stuck with whoever you pair up with until you graduate, right?"

"That's right."

"And, I'm guessing those two boys on your team are partners."

"Yup."

"And Echo's your partner."

"You got it."

Nerida was quiet for a little bit. "I see."

"She's a great partner, too."

"She is. As am I."

"I'll be the judge of that," Athena said before squaring off with her new comrade. "Two-handed spear, huh?"

"Yup. Longer than yours."

Not even half a second after Nerida had made that comment, Athena hit a button on her spear, which lengthened it to just an inch short of Nerida's spear.

"Is that what separates a Huntress from the rest of us normal folk?"

"Huntress isn't in the equipment," Athena said, returning her spear to its normal length. "It's in the mindset."

The leader of Team APEX began the bout, going for a thrust, which Nerida was quick to parry and counter against. Athena blocked the stab with her shield before countering as well, which Nerida dodged before placing some distance between them.

"Yo," Perseus said quietly to the others. "This is pretty intense."

"I don't think I've ever seen Athena this serious," Ingrid said.

"Are you for real?"

She nodded.

They all glanced at Echo, whose eyes were glued to the fight.

"I wonder who she will choose," Xanthus said.

"That's funny," Perseus said. "It wasn't all that long ago we were thinking the same thing about Ingrid."

As soon as he finished his sentence, Ingrid gave him a hard pinch to the side, making him wince as he struggled to keep from screaming out loud.

"I'm glad you chose me," Yuan said, giving her a small smile, making her instantly redden.

"You guys all suck," Ingrid said, crossing her arms.

The short bout between Athena and Nerida ended in a draw, both holding the points of their spears at each other's faces.

"Not bad for a country gal," Athena said with a grin.

"Did I impress the professional Huntress?" Nerida said with her own grin.

"Girl, you had me impressed from the start."

"Wait, what's going on?" Perseus whispered to his partner. "Is Athena flirting with her?"

Xanthus shrugged, holding in his chuckle.

Meanwhile, Echo watched with an anxious heart as Nerida and Athena shook hands before discussing a battle strategy with each other. She knew that Athena had more than what it took to best Nerida in combat. Her Semblance was the most powerful weapon she had at her disposal, though in general she was good enough to not even need it half the time. That match should have been over from the beginning. Why did Athena allow Nerida to win?

Why did you let Ivory win the finals?

Echo recalled the conversation she had had with Athena just after the tournament's end. The answer she had given was because winning wasn't what was important at the time. Of course, Echo had sensed that there was more beneath the surface, but Athena never elaborated, only leaving it at that.

Why did you let Nerida win just now? Echo thought to herself. Was it for me? For her? For yourself? Or are you testing me?

"Echo!" Athena's voice snapped her from her trance. "C'mon! Let's work on battle formations! Your dad doesn't have a partner!"

Echo looked at the team. Athena and Nerida were standing side by side, spears still deployed and resting on the ground. Both women stood tall and strong, though Athena stood maybe two inches taller than Nerida, who was five-foot-eight.

"We don't have all day, you know!" Nerida said. "We've gotta go out and kill some Grimm!"

Smiling, Echo joined her team, standing between both Athena and Nerida. But despite the joy now filling her heart, a sense of dread also loomed over her. Because she knew that the time would come when she would have to choose between these two amazing women.