"Another Day"
Maron awoke to a throbbing headache and the sun blinding her eyes with its shining light peeking through the window. Sitting herself up, she leaned against the wall and sleepily rested her head against it too, her eyes unwilling to stay open long enough to stay awake.
That was until she saw her surroundings: A table broken in half, her unstrapped weapon thrown to the ground, and traces of dried blood visible on the wooden floors. Was it hers? No, it looked too far away from where she woke up and when she checked herself for wounds there was nothing major except aching muscles and a few bruises.
Slowly, Maron started to recall what happened during the night and it was only then that she became wide awake. The body was missing with the only indication that it had been there at all were the few drops of blood left behind. Maron looked around to find the one responsible, but the feline Faunus was nowhere to be found either. She checked herself first, surprised that she still had all of her belongings on her, but that didn't mean she would just let this incident slide if she had anything to say about it!
With a new goal in mind and confidence in her steps, Maron took up her weapon, secured it on her back, and made way for the front door. It might seem a little suspicious coming out of an abandoned building this early in the morning, but nevertheless there was the curious case of the cat-eared Faunus to solve one way or another.
Just as she reached for the door, the door opened and smacked her in the face and making her trip to the floor. "Why is it always me?" She muttered while rubbing her nose. The student looked up at the wooden assailant however, from behind the door was Steele not looking too pleased at finding out that one of his students resided inside. "The hell you doing waiting outside?" She asked the man, not necessarily in the best of moods thanks to a forced and poor night's sleep; there was also the fact that she had once again been another enemy's warm up session which didn't help.
"I could ask you the same, but inside." Steele retorted, sliding himself inside and shutting the door. "In the interest of time and that I'd rather be kicking back and enjoying the weekend, so I'll just go ahead and answer first," He began, "After receiving a tip of a- and I quote- 'A student breaking into a building looking for fun and valuables', I decided to stake out the place."
"Shouldn't you have gone inside to check then?" Questioned Maron with arms crossed over her chest.
"I get tired too you know! Besides, the only places to exit are breaking the windows which I'll hear, going through the side exit, which I barricaded with empty barrels and crates so I'll also hear, and the front door where I sat and took a little rest. All if that and the culprit being a mere student meant that they'd be lucky to be fast enough to get away."
"Well, uh, I'll be going then!" Maron tried to force a laugh.
"Not happening." Steele denied.
"What? Why?"
"I don't get to rest 'cause of you, you don't get to rest cause of me."
"But I should get home and so no one's worried."
"They won't be." The Huntsman said, pulling out his scroll and giving it a little shake, which was more than enough to tell Maron what he had done. Only question now was:
"How?"
"The tip came with a detailed report." Steele started, "Picture included."
"Don't you think that's just a little bit suspicious and creepy?"
"I don't think you have the right to say that when you stalked a woman down the street, into an alley, and then into an abandoned building. She may have been a wanted for theft and assault among other things, but the fact still remains."
"In the report?" Maron asked.
"In the report." Steele confirmed.
Silence filled the space between them.
"Alright, that's enough standing around here." Steele said, turning on his heels to open the door again as he pulled Maron up by the wrist.
"So, what now, another mission?"
"We won't have time, and exploiting the loophole would only make it useless in the future. Besides, it's not me you have to impress, it's the professors at Shade- Actually, I guess that does mean me too doesn't it?"
"Then let's get this over with."
"That's good to hear. Now, do you have any Dust on you?"
- (-) -
The two walked the streets side-by-side enroute to Shade while the rest of the city was just beginning to rise up from their sleep. Unable to shake off the sleep that beckoned to her, Maron slowly and quietly started to envy the sun's ability to rise every day without flaw or fail. Despite wishing for the dawn to stay back behind the buildings and horizon, it wasn't long before the sun started to shine bright overhead and with it came the grueling heat. No one could escape it forever, only delay it one way or another whether it's through a refreshing, ice-cold drink, shade and shelter, or for the lucky ones: an aura to protect them.
Maron only had one of those and she was quite vocal about it. "Where are we going exactly?" The girl asked.
"Studying." Steele said, "First will be the dust and while I know that you don't use it for one reason or another, it'll be good to give it a shot just to see what you know and can improve on."
"Shouldn't the others be here too?"
"You're the weakest link right now and aside from a few other 'incidents', the others are managing on their own just fine enough." The man explained to Maron.
It was a little reassuring yet odd to hear that the others were doing just fine. Maron couldn't recall any of them actually changing their habits nor was she sure about what they were up to, but it wasn't like they were particularly inclined to get together. On top of that, it was doubtful that any of them would talk about personal stuff so chances piecing it together were none at all.
It didn't take long to weave their way through the crowds and back at the foot of Shade Academy. The place was a ghost town with the only exceptions being a handful of students and staff wandering about, making the place look like more like an old library that rarely got visitors than an academic school for a whole kingdom.
"Forgot to ask, but who exactly was it that gave the 'tip' and report?" Maron asked out of the blue. She couldn't believe that such a valuable piece of information had slipped her mind and the one to give her an answer was right in front of her!
"Another Huntress, and out of policy that's all I can say. Why would you be interested? Looking for a round two to lose again?" Steele chuckled.
Harsh, but he wasn't entirely wrong. "It's not a laughing matter, that woman I followed is dead and her body is missing."
"Mhmm. You have more pressing matters though." Steele stated, opening up a large door that was a little heavy from being reinforced, "In."
"Are you sure?" Maron asked, giving up on her failed interrogation and looking inside to see a dark room barely visible with the only light coming in being from the open door, and the few slivers of sunlight that snuck through the window's shutters. She looked up at Steele and with a mischievous smile started a joke, "How ominous, being led into a dark room by teach-"
"Just shut up and get in there," Steele cut her off, rubbing his eyes with two fingers while suppressing a smile that couldn't help but crack through. He knew how it looked, but it wasn't the first time he had been called out on it. He walked in after Maron and switched on the lights. Inside were rows of machines, barrels, and all other assortment of devices and crates scattered about. The stone floor below them had seen its share of scars with little scratches and chips likely caused from students or professors making a mistake or two, but it was still willing to take on more. "Where for Dust refining, remember? Your arrows can do the job well enough but you need an arsenal of weapons and tactics. Dust allows you to do just that in case you weren't paying attention in class." Steele explained, rummaging through empty crate after empty crate trying to find something useful.
"Yeah, yeah, I remember. Not like I skip class!" Maron exclaimed, though the Huntsman shot her a look that knew otherwise, "Ok, well not that often."
Maron stood quietly looking around with a puzzled look as if she were out of place or should be doing something, but soon enough a pair of gloves were thrown at her while other standard pieces of safety wear were laid out on a table.
"What is this 'Workshop 101'?"
"No, it's to keep you from losing a limb."
"What!" Maron exclaimed.
"Never underestimate the power of Dust, especially raw, unrefined Dust." Steele pointed out.
"And you're having me do this?"
"Ah it'll be fine; I'll being working with you too so even if you can't do it, I'll have made plenty to move on."
"I'm starting to doubt your credentials as an instructor…"
"Well it's a good thing only Shade's only qualification is a graduate with a few years of field experience!"
Once everything was set out and ready for use, Maron took a deep breath as if it might be one of her lasts. She took one look at the glowing red Dust in her hand and found it to be far more intimidating than most of the opponents she had to face.
"Shouldn't we ground this into a powder first?" She asked, giving Steele a look of concern.
"The school would say yes, but you're not learning from the school this time." Steele answered, his eyes focused on slowly cutting off pieces of the crystal as effectively as he could, "if you're that worried about it, use this one instead." He said as he slid over a blue crystal.'
"Water?"
"Yes, it is useful despite it sounding useless. Plus, if you mess that one up, the worst it can do is drench us."
"That still doesn't answer the question as to why we're not grounding this into powder. Pretty sure that's what we're supposed to do."
"And here I thought you'd never follow the rules." Steele said to himself, "Now, get to cutting. Use to much force and you'll set it off prematurely, too soft and you'll never get it done. Shape of an arrow head if possible."
Maron went along with the instructions, gently holding the crystal as if it were more fragile than an egg, but with more devastating consequences. Using the tools at hand, the young archer did her best to mimic the movements of the man beside her. Unfortunately, on one of her cuts was just a little too much for the rock to handle and it burst apart, splashing its holder and her neighbor in a few gallons worth of water. Holding her arms up as water dripped from them, she turned to Steele who seemed all but unfazed beside a growing pile of finished arrow tips, "So about that powder." She mentioned.
Steele grabbed another blue crystal for her, sliding it over while scooting his seat a bit further away afterwards. "That powder only works with specialized equipment. Your bow isn't one of them."
"Isn't there an easier way to make these?"
"Yep, but because this place isn't a forge, we're doing it by hand. Besides, you could use this in the future so it's a plus for you if you're ever out in the field."
Letting out a sigh, Maron continued on her second attempt, ending in another failure and the floor all but being flooded thanks to installed drains for this particular reason, but it was on the third try that it didn't explode in her hand. It was a crude creation, rough around the edges, but it was done or at the very least it was acceptable by Steele's standards. It was to be the first of many more to come, but Steele was more than content with the results and told her that there was really only one more thing to do: Test them out.
A.N.: Have fun!
As always, enjoy!
~Firetoast312
