"Rosy! Have you seen my other shoe?" Sonara asked her partner while messing with her uniform's collar. Team AMBR had just got out of Glynda's class and were in the armory, changing back into their school uniforms. The four girls were worked to the bone during class (as the professor always had done in her classroom) and were about to go to lunch break. However, the youngest of the team had misplaced her left shoe, keeping the rest of them.
"Seriously? You lost it? *sigh*...How on earth did you make it into this school…" Kyra muttered to herself, quiet enough so no one else could hear. It could've been the fact that she was hungry at that moment, but that small brunette had always given her a serious headache since the day they met, which was only a small handful of months ago.
"Did you check your locker again?" Rosalie asked calmly, patient with her friend.
"Uh-huh! But I can't find it!" Sonara pouted. The energetic girl did another quick sweep of her personal container, the clanking and rattling of various other things inside shifting about. After a minute or so, Sonara retracted back, shrugging in defeat.
"Hold on, lemme see..." Rosalie responded, her motherly tone strong. It wasn't long before the girl with the braid reappeared from her partner's locker, a single black shoe in one hand and a warm smile gracing her face.
"This it?" She inquired, a playful undertone in her soft voice.
Eyes wide and grin blinding, Sonara merrily retrieved her lost footwear and shoved it onto her left foot, catching her partner in one of her signature bear hugs afterwards. "Yes! That's it! Oh, you're amazing Rosy! And I'm soooo sorry I took so long!" The girl then apologized (or rather, 'quietly shouted') to her teammates.
"It's no problem, Sonara." Valerie dismissed happily. While she loved her team all equally, Sonara could always perk someone up with her overabundance of untamed energy. Something that she had really come to like about the short statured girl.
"Yeah, sure." Kyra grumbled, brushing off the apology. "Can we go now? I need food." She stated flatly, her fatigue making her really impatient.
Nodding to her partner, Valerie lead her team in the direction of the mess hall, their smallest and youngest member humming contently to herself. The four girls hurried through the expansive corridors of the academy, the occasional growling from a empty stomach sounding off every so often. Whilst speed walking, Sonara had gone off on telling one of the many 'grand' adventures that her and Rosalie had gone through when they were little, even if the details were a bit...exaggerated. Rosalie, as usual, would contently listen to the 'Sonara version' of the story, while Kyra couldn't bear to hear another one of these grating works of hyperactive fiction. Valerie, to no one's surprise, was wrapped in one of her many daydreams, her fantasies all concerning a certain spiky haired boy.
"Ehehe...Ehehehehehe..."
"Hey, who-oh..." Kyra began to ask, but soon stopped. She had thought she heard someone chuckling to themselves, but was predictably unsurprised when she saw her partner completely zoned out, the girl's red eyes glassed over while she wore a droopy smile. Grabbing the back of her partner's shirt, Kyra held their team leader in place so she would stop her mindless shuffle forward.
"Uh...Val?" Kyra asked. No reply was made from the absent minded human, 'cept for what appeared to be drool escaping her mouth. "Earth to Valerie! Anyone home?!" Kyra shouted, getting right into her partner's ear.
"B-Bwah?!" Valerie jumped, snapping back to reality. "What is it?! What's wrong?" The bluish-silver haired girl asked in alarm, reflexively taking a defensive stance like in a kung fu movie.
"Uhh...nothing." Kyra stated flatly, raising an eyebrow. "Unless you think that arriving at the cafeteria is bad..." She said sarcastically, pointing weakly to the expansive room in front of them.
Her cheeks tinting pink, Valerie scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "Oh...Heh heh." She replied, grinning sheepishly. Clearing her throat, she led her team through the maze of students, each of them grabbing their dishes of choice as they went through.
"So are we going to sit with Azure's group again, Val-Val? I wanna talk with the fox lady and hat man!" Sonara asked. Since they arrived at this school, it was noticed that most teams had one or two other teams that they hung out with, with few individual members of others joining them occasionally. This was true with RWBY and JNPR, KRME and AMBR, and so on.
"Why wouldn't we?" Kyra bluntly asked her upbeat teammate. "They're some of the only people we know at this school."
Interjecting, Valerie answered, "Sure thing! It's nice to have the company." She said, spotting team KRME by themselves at a table.
"Yay!" Sonara cheered, and the four girls moved on. Weaving their way through, AMBR placed their trays at KRME's table, taking the bench at the opposing side of the co-ed team.
"Hiya, guys!" Sonara beamed to KRME as she took her seat, placing herself between Rosalie and Kyra. "Howya doin?"
Rember was the first to answer. "We're doing good!" She said, smiling. "Just got out of Professor Peach's class. You?"
"Came from Goodwitch's." Rosalie replied, finishing a sip of her orange juice. "Oh! She said that there's going to be a big tournament against all the schools at the end of the year during the Vytal Festival. Have you heard about that yet?" She inquired.
All four of team KRME nodded, Jad chomping down a strip of bacon. "Yep!" The boy in the fedora stated, swallowing his mouthful. "We were told yesterday. But for now, time to rejoice that spring break is almost upon us!"
"We'll start training when it comes closer." Azure spoke up. "But for now, it's not a big deal." He added nonchalantly.
"That makes sense. Oh, by the way Azure..." Valerie began, looking at the green eyed boy. "I was wondering, are you free later?" She asked, inwardly crossing her fingers. Hopefully, this time he'd say yes...
To the girl's dismay, Azure shook his head.
"Sorry," he replied, "I'm busy."
"Oh..." Valerie said, her heart sinking a bit. She never seemed to catch a break with him. "What are you doing?" She asked, trying to sound upbeat to hide her disappointment.
Azure paused for a moment, almost as if he were choosing his words. "Gayle and I have plans for after school." He responded, looking over to his youngest teammate. "Something we decided on recently after we got out of detention after Jad sent CRDL through a few walls." He finished, his gaze flicking over to his partner for a moment before turning back to Valerie. Beside him, Rember tried to hide a smirk while Gayle was positively glowing with excitement.
"Oh...okay." Valerie said, nodding whilst returning to her food. It wasn't really any of her business anyway. After that, all forms of talking died down, everyone in favor of eating. Eventually, the bell that signaled the end of the break rang, all the students cleaning up.
With a spring in her step and a rekindled fire in her belly, Sonara shot into action. "Awright! Imma go on ahead, okay Rosy? See you in class!" She exclaimed to her partner energetically, speeding off on her own and leaving the rest of her friends in the dust.
Back in the mess hall, Kyra sighed while applying pressure to one of her temples. "Honestly, Rosalie..." she addressed to the pink haired girl. "I have no idea how you can deal with that girl the way you do. Everything she does eventually gives me a headache."
"Hee hee. Yes, her overabundance of enthusiasm can do that to people." Rosalie giggled, smiling warmly. "But it's never bothered me. After all, we did grow up together." She reminded in a playful tone.
Fair point. Kyra admitted. Still... she continued in her head, I don't think I can hold out for much longer if she can't tone it down a few notches...
Gathering their respective food trays, the rest of AMBR and KRME said their goodbyes and parted ways, much to Valerie's chagrin, as the young teenager wanted to spend more time with her crush.
"Whew...another day finished..." Valerie exhaled as she and her team entered their dorm. The afternoon half of school had been filled to the brim of lectures. Half of them from the bombastic Professor Port, whilst the other half from the ever exuberant Dr. Oobleck. Valerie had made a habit of making sure to add the 'Dr.' suffix whenever speaking to the teacher, as he seemed quite adamant to be addressed as such.
"Yeah, yippee..." Kyra grumbled, sarcasm potent. "Can't wait to do it aaaall over again tomorrow."
"Aww muffin," Valerie quipped, grinning lopsidedly. "Do you need a hug? I bet Sonara would be more than willing to make you feel better."
"Pass." The girl with white hair declined, tearing off her uniform to get into something she was more comfortable in. "I...really don't need her touching me."
Smile widening, Valerie dropped her teasing and followed her partner's example. In minutes, the four girls were in very basic casual wear, each individual now passing the evening in their own way. Rosalie took the liberty of unbraiding her hair, running a hairbrush to her rose colored locks to straighten them out. Sonara was coloring in a picture book, not bothering to follow any sense of color scheming. Kyra sat on the side of her bunk, flipping through the pages of one of her favorite novels. And Valerie, as per the usual when she had time, was sprawled across her bedsheets, her head flowing with sugary thoughts.
"Excuse me, Kyra," Rosalie suddenly spoke up, looking over to her teammate. "But I have a question that's been gnawing at me."
Kyra folded a small crease in a page of her book before putting it down. "What?" She asked nonchalantly.
"Well, I have a weird feeling that I've heard your name somewhere before. More specifically, the 'Miste' part.
"So?"
"Well, I don't want to assume anything, but are you perchance related to Titania Miste?" Rosalie asked delicately, an air of curiosity around her.
Hearing that name seized everyone's attention. Valerie and Sonara dropped their activities and gazed intensely at the M of AMBR, while Kyra's bright green eyes flickered with emotion for a split second before returning to their original, uninterested look.
"Oh wow Kyra! Are you really from that Miste family?" Valerie asked, filled with awe. She grew up on the tales of the famed Huntress, and was one of her favorite heroes when she was a little girl. So if Kyra was a part of that family...that would be amazing beyond words to her!
"...So what if I am?" Kyra replied curtly, seeming not to care.
"Well I don't know about you, but I would be honored!" The blueish-silver haired girl exclaimed, gushing over the possibility. "To be related to the prodigy that was Titania Miste! I mean, she was amazing!"
"Is it true?" Sonara inquired seriously, closing in on her older teammate as close as she could. Kyra slowly moved away, but couldn't avoid the questioning eyes that were her team. Especially in Sonara's case.
Breathing out a long sigh, Kyra ran a hand through her hair before letting it flop back down onto her head. "...We weren't only just related." She replied, sounding like she was reciting something that was incredibly boring. "She was my mother."
"...WHAAAAAAAAT?!"
Kyra winced at the volume of screams from her teammates. "You heard me. Also, oww." The albino mumbled, returning to her book.
"Bu-bubu-bu-but that means..." Valerie stuttered, completely shocked. "One of the greatest Huntresses of our time is your MOM!" She shouted, her hair drills bouncing around. "How could you not tell us, Kyra?!"
Kyra wasn't fazed. "I don't see how telling you that is of any benefit. In all honesty, I'd rather avoid any attention if is was because of her." The girl said plainly, not looking at the others.
Valerie and the others couldn't believe it. How could Kyra be so...cold about this? It was as if she didn't care.
"But why?" Sonara asked, utterly confused with how Kyra was acting. "Don't you care about your momma?"
"*sigh* No, I don't. And quite frankly, she didn't care about me either." the young girl said, annoyance written all over her body language. "And please don't say 'momma'. It hurts my head every time you talk like that." She added coldly to the team's youngest member.
Sonara ground her teeth in frustration. "You...you're wrong! Of course she did!" She protested fiercely, fiery anger in her cobalt eyes.
Kyra's gaze hardened ."...Why are you fighting against me so hard?" she growled at the small brunette, her own emerald eyes heating up with temper. "What business is it to you if I don't care about someone?"
"But she isn't just someone! She is YOUR MOM!"
Suddenly, Kyra snapped. "Shut up! You don't know ANYTHING about her!" She shouted in a foreign tone of anger.
The three teammates let out a startled squeak. They were caught off guard by Kyra's raise in volume. She was usually quiet when talking, even when she was being cynical and condescending. But before them was not the Kyra they knew. Not at all.
"C'mon guys, you need to-" Valerie began to say before Rosalie put a hand on her shoulder. The team leader looked back to see the pink haired girl frowning, slowly shaking her head, and the bluenette withdrew.
"...Let me ask you something," Kyra leered, fronting Sonara. "Do you know what it's like? To be the daughter of someone so revered? It's the worst. Everything you do isn't good enough, because it wasn't as how she would've done it. How she did it better!" The girl was practically shaking as she spoke. "And what do I get if I try something? Nothing, save looks of disappointment."
Kyra paused before continuing, her voice more controlled, yet still bitter. "Titania...my mother...she was never there for me. She never could take the time to spend it on her only child. There was always somewhere else she had to be. Something important that only she could do. Even when I asked her to stay, she ignored me. Heck, even my father is just as ignorant."
Sonara and the others could only listen with wide eyes as Kyra vented, water threatening to fall from her green eyes. They had no idea about any of this, and it saddened them.
Kyra wiped at her eyes before looking back at a dumbfounded Sonara. "In the end, that woman got herself killed on a mission that even she couldn't do. Nevermind that I naively begged her to stay. So, in the end, I helped myself grow up. I made myself into who I am now. I didn't need anyone before, and as far as I'm concerned I don't now."
The albino's eyes were hard, her body stiff with rage. "So now what, Sonara? What can you possibly say that can convince me otherwise?!"
The brunette was speechless. She wanted to lash out. To kick and shout with all her might. But that didn't happen. All Sonara could do was clench her fists in barely controlled frustration, muttering quietly, "I...I..."
Kyra let a huff escape her mouth. She'd won. "That's what I thought..." she stated, turning away from her team.
Valerie bit her lip anxiously. She had no idea how bad wanting to know more about her partner would turn out. While they had been together for a few months now, she really didn't know much about their backgrounds. And though she wanted to step in and fix the issue, there wasn't anything she could really do. Slowly, she looked over at Sonara with worried eyes. The small girl's hands were trembling, and her head was downcast, eyes hidden beneath her muted brown hair. Valerie took a cautious step forward. "Hey...Sonara? Are you..."
It happened incredibly fast. Sonara robotically strode up to Kyra, forcibly turned the girl back around, and gripped her teammate's shirt collar with both hands, the young girl shaking all over. It could've been her imagination, but Kyra also could've sworn she felt the ground shaking under her feet.
While Valerie and Kyra froze in shock, all the alarms in Rosalie's head went off. "No! Sonara, Stop!" The girl warned her partner. She knew this Sonara. She'd had met this version of her a long, long time ago. "Don't do this! You need to calm down!" Rosalie shouted, fearing for her two friends.
Numb and scared, Kyra didn't move. Her mouth was slightly agape, and all she could do was try and process exactly what was happening with bewildered eyes.
"...You...whiny...bitch..." Sonara hissed, a venomous bite in her words. She kept her head down as she continued. "You think you've had it so rough...? That just because mommy and daddy didn't spend as much time with you as you wanted, you can cry about it? Let me tell you something..." the small girl now looked up, right into Kyra's eyes. She herself looked ready to seriously hurt her teammate, but was betrayed by the dew forming around her sapphire orbs. "...You should be grateful for having any parents at all. For that love and attention you received, however small it was. Not everyone gets the luxuries you got, and you going around being ungrateful about it...seriously pisses me off..." Sonara concluded coldly, tightening her grip.
"Sonara! That's enough!" Rosalie scolded firmly, grabbing one of her partner's arms as she figuratively put her foot down. "Let her go..."
The brunette slowly looked at her friend with damp eyes, but did as she was told, her arms falling to her sides weakly.
"...I...I'm so sorry..." Sonara apologized, quiet as a mouse as hot tears fell from her cheeks. Her body still trembled from adrenaline, and unconsciously backed towards their room door. "I-I didn't m-m-mean to..." She squeaked, mortified at what she almost did. The girl then ran towards the door, opening it and bolting away with surprising speed.
"Wait! Sonara!" Valerie called out, but nothing happened.
The remaining three girls stared blankly at where their last teammate ran off, all of their faces frozen in shock.
Suddenly, Rosalie spoke up. "...We have to go after her." She stated, "Right. Now."
"Wait, what?" Kyra replied in disbelief. "You can't be serious."
"I am." Rosalie said firmly, frowning. "She needs all of us right now. Even you, Kyra. Whether you think so or not."
Kyra grimaced to herself quietly. She seriously doubted that.
"She's right." Valerie agreed. "We're a team after all, and as it's leader, I say we're all going." The girl stated, unmoving.
Kyra let out a quiet sigh. Guess there was nothing else for it. "But where should we start? We don't have any clue as to where she's going." She inquired.
Rosalie furrowed her brow. "That's true. She's actually a really good hider when she wants to, so this could take unnecessarily long..." she admitted.
For a while, the girls just stood there, thinking. And as the trio contemplated, Valerie got an idea. "...Go on ahead without me." She replied, briskly exiting. "I'm going to get some help..."
Both remaining members nodded as their leader quickly left. Then, wasting no more time, Rosalie led Kyra out, making sure that the girl would help look for her...no, their friend.