A/N: Hey ya'll, how's it going? I gotta say, this chapter was SO much fun to write. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Happy reading!
-Ren
Ember, Clara, and Kiara leaderlessy made their way to their Grimm studies class. River had woken up, but the infirmary had made her stay for the day just to be safe.
It had been a challenge to make up a story for the nurses, and to get them to keep away from River's temples, but they had managed it.
"Now to deal with that jerkface, Professor Dante." Clara grumbled. She opened the classroom door for her teammates.
"Decided to join us this time? Where is Miss Bay?" Their teacher immediately began to interrogate them the minute they stepped foot through the door. He seemed to especially hate their team.
"She's in the infirmary." Ember told him, her ears flattened. She hated this man but he never ceased to intimidate her.
"A likely story. I have heard a million excuses for tardiness but this is crossing the line. If you four can not seem to pull yourselves together I will have to expel you from this classroom." He swiftly turned on his heel and strode away.
Ember's mouth opened in exasperated shock. "We haven't done anything that any other student hasn't done! I swear he's trying to get us kicked out of this school."
"Whatever, let's get this class over with" Clara lead her teammates to their seats. Finn was waving at them.
Ember smiled at him and slipped into the seat next to him. If anything, Finn would be able to brighten her mood.
"Where's River?" He gave her an encouraging shoulder nudge. He knew this was her least favorite class. Well, more like everyone's least favorite class.
She shushed him before whispering, "She's in the infirmary. I'll explain later."
"Infirmary?" Finn's eyes widened.
But just then the Professor began his lecture."Vacuo, having the most rugged land of the four kingdoms, has some of the most savage grimm ever found…"
"Later." Clara repeated.
R…..E…..C…..K
"We have history next. Professor Scarlatina is the best; complete opposite of Dante." Ember was walking backwards down the hallway, facing her friends. They had just finished their 10 a.m. class.
"Ya, I love her. History has never been more interesting." Kiara agreed.
"And she's the first Faunus teacher at Beacon. That's a huge step for us. It shows that the Faunus are finally getting some respect, and it makes me feel wonderful." Ember said happily.
"I think she's the youngest teacher too. I heard that her team graduated just two years ago."
They entered the classroom and found where the rest of team RYFL was already sitting.
"Hi!" Lola waved excitedly. "We're all together in this class! Wait, where's Riv?"
"Infirmary. She's okay, but I think she should tell you what happened; If she's comfortable with it that is." Clara told them.
Finn frowned, "Geez! Something big must have happened to her. You guys really won't let up."
"Miss Scarlatina, were we supposed to do that dust history essay this week or next?" A boy from the row in front of them asked.
The two teams turned their attention to their professor, who had just walked into the door.
The tall brunette blushed and flattened her long rabbit ears. "I told you guys, just call me Velvet. And the essay is due next week." She said in her cute accent.
"Oh, thank goodness." The boy responded.
"Hey, are you dating anyone Velvet?" a boy yelled from the back. He looked like a senior.
Velvet blushed harder. "A-alright, It's time to start class now..." She avoided the question. "Today we'll be talking about Atlas and Mistral's relationship during the Great War."
Suddenly a young woman in expensive badass clothing and dark sunglasses walked through the door. "Seriously Velvs? That's sooo boring. I expected more from you."
"Coco!" Velvet cried in surprise. "W-what are you doing here? I thought you were in Vacuo for some fashion show."
"I got back early because I am here to help with the missions. And I'm also here to help with the V-" She stopped herself "Top secret awesome thing that is going to happen in a couple months."
"Oh, okay." Velvet sighed. She turned to the class. "Everyone, I would like you of meet Coco Adel. She was the leader of my team when we were in Beacon."
The whole room was suddenly filled with the whispers of curious students, and they were all talking about the same thing "Coco Adel? The famous fashion designer?"
Coco spoke up. "Okay everyone, we are gonna learn something even more interesting than… umm what were you gonna teach them again?" The fashionista asked, looking at her friend.
"The relationship between Atlas and Mistral in the time of the Great War." The brunette answered.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter, you can teach them that tomorrow. Today we are gonna talk about... umm, fashion!" Coco made jazz hands. "Because I'm stupid and I don't remember any of the stuff they teach in here."
"Why would we learn about fashion?" Yatsohide asked, clearly annoyed at the young woman for interrupting his studies (He was probably the only one), "This is history class."
"Hey, don't sass me child. Besides, everything has history. Even fashion. So.. why not learn the history of fashion." Coco said shrugging and walking up to the chalkboard behind Velvet.
"Coco, this is a real class!" Velvet tried to argue with her teammate and best friend. "You can't just come in here and fool around. These kids need to learn. This is my class."
"Exactly, Hun-Bun. Where you rule, I rule. We're a team." Coco slapped the frustrated bunny girl on the butt as she made her way to her way to the chalkboard.
Velvet squealed in surprise but sat down in her chair. She was used to her leader's antics. She would just have to sit through this until Coco got bored.
Coco drew a female figure up on the board. She paused for a moment before smirking and adding rabbit ears to it.
"The problem today with fashion is that people are getting too bored, too fast. They get crazier and crazier with their need to stand out. So I like to think of random themes and try to incorporate them into a design. It makes designing a lot of fun too. Now, someone name a kitchen utensil."
Ember's hand shot up. "I know this one! A spatula?" She answered.
Coco clapped her hands together. "Brilliant! Genius! Why didn't I think of that? Ladies and gentlemen we are in the presence of a true designer in training."
Velvet rolled her eyes from where she was sitting. "Enough sarcasm Coco."
Coco lowered her dark sunglasses and winked at her old
teammate. "You're no fun today Velvs." She looked back at the class. "Anyone else have any ideas?
Braxton from team BLCK raised his hand. " 'Scuse me Miss, but are we making a design for human or faunus?" He asked.
"Is there a difference?" The older girl dead-panned at the boy.
"Well, you know." Braxton smirked. "There's just a difference in the qualities of… species and such."
Coco knew what the stuck-up, racist boy was getting at. She squinted at him before smiling back.
"You're right. I've always felt that some of the greatest designs have been from Faunus. They really seem to have a better eye for this kind of work. But, you know, we're all great in different ways."
Braxton scowled at the comeback but chose not to retaliate.
By the time the bell rang five different outfits had been drawn on the board, all with a different type of style and different utensils.
Lola's idea had been an egg-beater as a scepter. No one thought that it counted as an article of clothing, but Coco said that it was an accessory and that 'All outfits need an accessory'.
"Told you so!" Lola said proudly as they all stood up to leave the classroom. "A scepter is an accessory, just as much as earrings are."
"I'll only be convinced of that the day I see everyone walking around with egg-beater scepters." Roxanna said, rolling her eyes.
"Thanks for class Velvet and Coco!" Ember called to the two friends, who were talking and erasing the chalkboard.
"It's time for lunch and study break." Finn stretched his arms above his head and smiled.
"I guess we can go to the library to study, or do whatever." Clara suggested as they were walking.
"Sure! That's a great idea!" Lola answered.
"Cool with me." Roxanna shrugged.
R…..E…..C…..K
Teams RECK and RYFL were sitting around in the library. Roxanna, Kiara, and Lola were on a couch, and Yatso was on a chair beside it. Ember was sitting cross-legged on the floor reading a book and Finn was dozing off, his head in her lap. Clara was sitting at a small table close by. She was drawing something in a notebook, and colored pencils were scattered across the table.
"So did you guys finish the extra homework that you said that you had?" Yatso asked Ember, Kiara, and Clara.
"Yes, we turned it in, but Dante said he was going to doc River's points because she didn't give it to him in person." Clara responded. She added a few angry strokes to her piece of paper "That-" She bit her tongue to keep from cursing.
"I swear! As soon as I get out of this school the first thing I'll do is hunt him down!" Ember growled softly, careful not to wake Finn. She flipped a page of her book.
"Whatcha drawing, Clara?" Lola leaned off the couch and tried to peak over Clara's shoulder.
"Nothing." Clara quickly shut the book she had been sketching in.
"No, I saw it! It looked amazing! Lemme see!" Lola tried to snatch at the book but Clara blocked her.
"Clara, if you want to be an artist you have to show people your work." Roxanna pointed out.
Clara hesitated, but then slowly opened the notebook for them to see. A beautiful and elaborate scene took place on the crisp paper. A small waterfall flowed into a pond. The sun was reflecting off of the water, sending a beautiful rainbow across the page. Trees with golden orange leaves cast light shadows on a small, fresh patch of grass that was seen beside the pond.
"Omigosh! Clara that's so pretty! I didn't know you were that good at drawing." Kiara exclaimed.
"Seriously Clara. How could you keep this from us? You've got mad skills!" Roxanna praised her friend.
"Thanks," an embarrassed Clara mumbled.
Lola successfully snatched the sketchbook from Clara's hands this time and flipped through it.
"Hey! It's me! You made me look super pretty!" Lola fawned over the picture of herself. "Look at my awesome eyeshadow!"
"Am I in there?" Roxanna asked.
"Ya, look" Lola flipped to the next page and showed her friend.
"Awesome! I look so badass! You drew my katana." Roxanna smirked and nodded her head in approval.
"Here's Ember and Finn! You drew them together? Wait where's Yatso?"
"Oh. I still have to draw him and Kiara." Clara said nervously. "I was going to do that next."
"You're seriously a super talented artist, Clara!" Ember complimented.
Her hand absentmindedly made its way to her faunus companion's soft hair.
The half-asleep boy instinctively leaned in to her touch and sighed in content. Ember's tail twitched and she tried to keep a steady breath. She slowly looked around. Her friends were still wrapped up in Clara's sketchbook and hadn't seemed to notice anything.
The girl looked back at her...friend? She became overwhelmed by his adorable, sleepy, happy-looking (did she mention adorable?) presence. How could one person be so cute? He made her stomach flutter. He made her feel happy, nervous, and excited all at the same time. She felt her face begin to burn and tried to calm down. But all seemed lost when a deep rumbling sound escaped the boy's chest.
I-is he? She listened again and noticed the boy's happily twitching tail. Ember squeaked and immediately buried her face bright red face in her book.
Finn was purring. It was very rare that a cat faunus purred past a young age. It was immensely looked down upon by racist humans. But besides that, it showed that the faunus was very relaxed, very trustful (Or too sleepy to care), and very happy. In other words, it didn't happen often.
Ember cautiously ran her fingers through his hair again. Finn rubbed against her hand and purred louder. Ember's heart skipped a beat. She completely forgot about her teammates, lost in the boy's cuteness. She grinned a mile wide and gently scratched his head.
"More…." The sleeping boy mumbled happily.
"Umm...Ember?" River said walking up behind them.
Ember snapped her head up.
"River!" Everyone else said at the same time.
"Hi. They discharged me from the infirmary." River looked at her friends cautiously. "Did you tell them what happened?" she asked, nervously.
"No, we thought it would be better if you did." Ember was now sitting very rigid, completely conscious of Finn who had just woken up.
The boy yawned and accidently rolled out of Ember's lap and onto her tail. "Your tail is so fluffy!" He wrapped his arms around it and buried his face into it.
"Yeees! It's so soft!" Kiara exclaimed.
"Oh, yeah, I guess it pretty cool." Ember said smiling shyly at him.
Finn seemed to realize what he was doing and lifted his head. "S-sorry! Is this weird? I can stop. Are you okay with this?"
Both of their faces burned red. "M-my tail is your pillow anytime." Ember responded awkwardly.
Finn grinned and rubbed his face against her tail again.
River interrupted their moment. "Okay, can you do that another time, maybe?"
"Uh, sorry." Ember blushed.
"Can someone tell us what happened to River? Because I've been waiting and no one will talk." Yatsohide said.
Everyone looked at River expectantly.
River sighed, "I...we tried to remove the gems on my forehead. We thought that, maybe, if we got rid of them I would remember my past. Yeah, well that was a terrible idea. They obviously were made so that I'll probably get killed trying to remove them. " River tried to explain. She looked at her teammates. "When you touch the gems it hurts like hell. It feels like someone is smashing my skull. "
"Ingenious! I would love to meet the inventor." Yatsohide gripped his chin in thought. "But I don't understand how these crystals work. They must be dust influenced. Is this all the information you have for us? Do you remember any other details?"
River closed her eyes. "Before I passed out from pain, I… I saw a glimpse of what I think was a memory from my past."
"What!?" Everyone exclaimed staring at her.
"What did you see?" Clara asked.
"I was standing on top of a building. I felt a hand take mine and I looked over to see a boy. He looked about my age. He was a wolf Faunus." River frowned. "I don't know why but he smiled at me. And he seemed so familiar. I must have been super close to him. "
Everyone stayed quiet. River looked at the ground, "Um… that's all I remember."
"You got a glimpse of your memory back from the scratch I gave you? If we can find a way to get rid of the pain we could find a way to handle the gems better." Clara suggested.
"I think that the way you handled this was very stupid." Yatsohide crossed his arms. "Something this big shouldn't be taken care of in such a light manner. What if you had killed her?"
The others were silent. They hadn't thought of that.
Yatsohide continued, "We should take this matter to professionals. There has to be some sort of information on this."
"Are you kidding me?" River cried. "What do you expect me to tell them? 'Hey there! I ran away from my home and became a juvenile delinquent, and now I have these rocks on my head that keeping me from remembering the last six years of my life, but don't question any of it'. That sounds like an excellent conversation starter."
"I don't think that it would be a good idea to tell them that." Yatsohide furrowed his brows
"She was being sarcastic you idiot." Roxanna hit him in the back of the head.
"Besides, I'm not going to have my brain picked apart for 'science'." River scowled.
"Okay. So cross that idea off the list. But what else can we do?" Kiara asked.
"There's nothing to do. We'll just have to find out about River's past in another way." Ember said.
"What are you talking about?" Lola asked. She had stayed surprisingly silent up until then.
"I mean that instead waiting for River to remember her past, why don't we go looking for it ourselves.".
"How? We can't just leave Beacon and go on a journey through all of Vale asking 'Hey, have you ever seen this girl before, perhaps stealing from you?'" Finn pointed out.
Right then a voice said: "Would all students please report to the main hall? All students report to the main hall. Thank you."
Everyone in the library looked around before packing up and making their way out of the door and down to the main hall.
"Umm, okay then? Let's go." Roxanna stood up, quickly followed by the rest of her friends (And River).
"Looks like we'll have to figure this out later." Clara mumbled.
A/N: I guess we're leaving you guys on a cliffhanger, huh? Sorry about that. ...Well, not really. I guess you'll just have to wait until next week to find out what happens next! ;) See you then!
Jay, Ren, Em, and Mau