Chapter 6: The Emerald Forest Pt. 1
After her Puddin went his way into the woods, Circe went looking for him, but so far wasn't able to find him. Stupid forest, hiding her man from her. She trudged on through the underbrush, stomping on any leafy green obstacle that stood in her way with a gold-toed high-heel boot.
"Here kitty kitty kitty!" she cat-called, snickering internally at her own joke. The snapping of fallen twigs interrupted her musings, "Puddin?" she brandished her axe and used it to push aside the pesky branches that impaired her line of vision, "That you?"
Unfortunately for Circe, the only response she received was an inhuman growl and the flashing of wild red eyes. Grimm, of course, it would be Grimm. "Hmm… an oldie but a goody." As predicted, four beowolves emerged from the foliage, all looking vicious in one way or the other. She pointed to one of them, "Eenie…" and to another, "Meenie…" her tongue traced the curves and bumps of her teeth, "Minie…" as if preparing for a meal.
Baring it's surprisingly white teeth, the Grimm lunged for the girl, only to fall short and trip over its own paws. Axe raised over her shoulders in trembling excitement cut short when she noticed the strong yet delicate metal ropes coiled around the wolf's legs and jaw, preventing much movement other than it's vicious growls. Circe made a teasing gesture with her tongue stuck out with a chirping giggle.
The remaining wolves scattered into the forest, avoiding their demise after not sensing negativity nearby. Circe moaned in disappointment, "That was way too boring! What gives?!"
The underbrush rustled some more, parting to reveal the leopard Faunus in question, a bit out of breath Danny wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, mussing up the white skunk-stripe that ran through his gingersnap locks. Circe would even compare him to one of those glistening shampoo models who did everything in drooling slow motion. She was definitely drooling.
"Sorry I ran off before…" his cheeks reddened as he looked down at his boots. Danny wasn't looking directly at her, but he could picture her grinning red lips and the small green light in the corner of his vision that blinked alive whenever he met her lovely gaze. He'd suspected since the night at the club; her plump lips were too red, her teeth too white, her hair appeared too soft, and her skin too perfect… That little green dot had become the third wheel between the two that only Danny was aware of. He had learned years ago that whenever it appeared, someone was not being truthful with him.
It told him whether someone was lying to him or not.
However, when he met her eyes, her smile was surprisingly understanding. "Don't worry about it, you'll have plenty of time to make it up to me… I hear the team dorms are co-ed." Danny's complexion in that moment rivaled Circe's own ruby red lips when she giggled and winked at him. "I'm just pullin' your tail Puddin! Let's just go find those relics everyone won't shut up about!" she took his hand in hers, and Danny felt her warmth seep through both their gloves and into his metal hand. Often the only time he felt warmth like hers in his cyborg limbs was when he rarely took his gloves off and left them in the sun for a long time before putting them back on.
The two stepped cautiously past the still bound beowolf and continued through the Emerald Forest.
Wanda pressed her hand against the earth, feeling the depth of the Ursa prints she and her new partner were tracking. They were only about a centimeter into the dirt so it had been moving rather quickly, probably sensing more initiates. Not too difficult to follow, it was more than likely that the Grimm would be drawn to the areas with more people, and almost everyone in the forest was trying to find the so-called ruins they were all supposed to make their way towards. Follow the Grimm, and find their relics, or in her case, track the Grimm and go the opposite direction towards Vale.
Now if only her partner wasn't such a crybaby.
"I hope we find the others soon, although I'd hate to have to fight anybody…" she whimpered, still holding her cat. Wanda had to say, for being thrown like a ragdoll by a beowolf, Persephone was being an incredibly good sport about it. She was contently purring in Kaia's arms, having molded herself to her owner's hold as to rest more comfortably.
Rather than snap about being a Huntress in training who doesn't like fighting and who brings a cat onto a battlefield, Wanda settled for rolling her eyes and continuing to track the Ursa paw prints.
Curious about what her new partner was doing other than clearly tracking prints in the ground, Kaia knelt down next to her and blinked sheepishly, "What are you doing there?" she asked. Wanda audibly sighed and pointed to the other tracks ahead of them leading deeper into the forest.
"See those tracks? If a bunch of teenagers are running around in an unfamiliar environment then it'll attract Grimm, and since everyone is traveling closer to the relics…" she left the end of her explanation open for Kaia to piece together on her own.
"Then if we follow the Grimm it'll lead us to our relic!" she chirped excitedly. The whitette gave her a forced smile, a pat on the back with a prompt praise before her face fell back into its disinterested scowl, and she began to trudge off in the opposite direction of the Ursa tracks. Kaia's gaze flitted back and forth between her partner and the path to the relics with obvious confusion. "W-wait, I thought you said we'd find the relics in that direction."
Wanda paused to turn to look her partner in the eye, "No… you will be finding the relics in that direction, I will be exiting this forest and getting back to Vale before that big-boobed teacher and Ozpin find out I ever even left," she brushed aside a branch and continued on before Kaia could reply, leaving the blue-haired girl confused and rather frightened at being left alone in a dangerous place she was not familiar with.
"Wait! You can't leave me here!" Kaia lunged and grabbed Wanda around her arm, stopping her from taking another step. How was she supposed to make it through the woods alone?! Her swamp never had a Grimm problem, at least not any she had ever seen, the thick plant cover that surrounded her home had always protected her.
Wanda rolled her eyes so hard she could feel it in the deepest corners of her skull. Sure it had been easy to ignore how utterly fragile this girl was at first, since she had thought that Kaia at least knew how to fight. But the quirk was, she did not like fighting! Not even Grimm!
"What's your deal anyway?" she turned and looked at the blue-haired girl with contempt. Kaia shrunk slightly and let go of her arm, taking a step back. "You're in a school that trains day and night to fight monsters… and you hate fighting? How does that make any sense?!"
"I was taught the best solved problems were solved without violence… but I can still fight! I've trained in defensive combat since I was little."
"Great!" Wanda cut in. "Then you'll have absolutely no problem finding a way through this forest to your shiny new partner! Who is not me." With that, she turned her back on her partner and tried to continue on her way to Vale and far away from Beacon.
Kaia was quick to let a purring Persephone down gently before rushing Wanda and blocking her path into the woods. "You can't!"
Scoffing in annoyance Wanda took the other girl by the shoulders and moved her aside. "You're in my way."
"If you leave, we can't form a four-person team!" she cried.
"Not. My. Problem!"
Overcome by her partner's unyielding determination to leave and her own nervousness of the unknown that lay ahead of her, Kaia blocked her partner's path again and refused to let her path. "Why are you so adamant on leaving?! Don't you want to be a huntress? This place is the only way to get there and leaving is only going to make things worse! The point of teams and partners is to never fight Grimm alone! Don't you understand?! We have to stick together!"
Wanda glared and grit her teeth, resisting the urge to punch her or just run and hope she was faster. "You think I actually want to be here?!"
She didn't realize her fists were clenched white until she felt a rumbling ball of fur rub against her leg. Wanda looked down to meet Persephone's gaze, somehow calming her down at least a little. Enough for her to remember where she was, and that arguing about nothing would only attract more obstacles. Maybe Kaia's no-violence thing had some ground to it.
Taking a deep breath, she started the conversation over. "Look… this, has nothing to do with you. I'm just… not cut out for being a Huntress… there are people here who I'd rather not run into in the middle of a battle and especially not end up on the same team with." Weiss still thought her sister was dead, and Wanda preferred to keep it that way. If she and her twin ever actually came face-to-face after all these years, it would be a disaster. Weiss would no doubt feel betrayed and try to never speak to her again. Their family would find out and it would become a spectacle cut open and dissected by the media until it sucked the possible happy and relieved reunions from the world.
She could not do that to them. Not to Weiss.
"So I'm leaving while I can and never coming back… I'm sorry."
Not saying another word, Wanda left through the brush and disappeared from Kaia's view, leaving the poor girl confused and slightly afraid. Without a partner, Kaia was all alone in an unfamiliar and rather dangerous environment. She nearly jumped when she felt her feline friend bat at her boot-toe with her paws, looking up into her owner's eyes with a look of resolute certainty.
Understanding what her pet was trying to prove, Kaia sucked in her chest and stared into the woods ahead of her with firmness of her purpose. "We were paired for a reason… and I won't let her quit so easily!" She scooped Persephone into her arms and set off in the same direction Wanda had disappeared. "I'm not afraid!"
After ditching the blue-haired girl and her weird cat, Wanda had wandered through the Emerald Forest for about five minutes before she realized something. In her hurry to put distance between her and Kaia…
She had gotten herself lost.
Groaning and running her hand through her ivory bangs, she propped herself on a tree to get her thoughts in order and get her bearings. "Okay… show me what you've got." She challenged to no one in particular, dragging her hand down her face.
Alright, it was a forest; she'd seen plenty of forests. Lived in them even. She was fully capable of navigating one. She pushed off the tree and trekked onward, unknowingly going deeper into the woods and in the opposite direction she was trying to go.
Letting her thoughts drift, she thought back to Kaia. Maybe she had been a bit harsh snapping at her as she did. After all, she was just like everyone else in the Emerald Forest: trying to make it through alive. It was hardly fair to judge someone for being afraid of things that were put on this earth for the sake of causing fear.
Wanda was pulled from her thoughts when she tripped on something. Glancing down she noticed multiple broken tree branches scattered around her feet, all leading to a massive fallen tree in the middle of her path. Slowly approaching to examine it, as seeing it had no pull roots or any indication of having fallen naturally, she noticed one end cut so cleanly it had to be done recently.
"Probably someone looking for the relics." She concluded. Confirming it was nothing to be cautious of, Wanda climbed over the fallen tree and was about to continue on, when something else caught her eye.
It was long and black, laid gracefully across the ground from when it drifted down from the tree line. When she reached to touch it Wanda quickly pulled her hand back, cursing silently once she realized the large feather was razor sharp.
Which could only mean one thing.
"EEEEEEEEEEERRRRRAAAAAAWWWW!"
"Oh, crapbaskets…"
I Knooooooooooow it's been Waaaaaaaay too long since I've updated. To be honest I've lost a lot of what inspired me, probably having to do with you're regular teenage depression and all that jazz. But I won't bore you. I want you to know that this chapter marks my Return to the Fanfiction! I will try to update regularly as my senior year starts and my routine is reset. But I promise that none of my other fics are discontinued, some are on hiatus until I get my grove back. But RWBY, Ivy, and Descendants are my top priorities! Chao!