Chapter 13: Exchange of Silence
First Year Dorms, Beacon Academy, Vale
*"Led by… Leif Circinus," what. Did he just. why* The ding of the elevator doors sliding open snapped the memory out of Leif's mind. His semblance had been replaying that moment almost constantly since they left the stage. A waking nightmare that he couldn't escape. The tense silence around him was a constant reminder, deafening all other noises leaving him alone with his memory. As the four walked down the hall, Leif chanced a glance at his new teammates, hoping half-heartedly that a change in their demeanor might have happened since the ceremony.
In just one glance, that hope was snuffed out.
A barely readable mixture of suspicion and weariness on Murasaki's face, as her eyes darted between him and the rest of the team. Umbra by contrast wore a perfectly readable expression of barely controlled fury. Even Luna looked off, no smile or kind expression, her yellow eyes cast downwards away from the team, despondent.
They were a team only on paper. In reality, they were anything but.
After another few minutes of painful silence, they found the door leading to their new home. Inside the dark room was a fairly plain set up; four beds, two on either side of a window in the center. Their bags, illuminated only by the moonlight streaming through the window, had already been moved in, ready to be unpacked though it was doubtful anyone was in the mood to do so. As Umbra began to move towards the farthest bed on the right, Leif took a deep breath and decided to break the silence.
"I-well-I mean since we're a team now, maybe we should, you know, get to know each other better?" Mura just scoffed at the attempt, rolling her eyes, as she moved off to the bed on the left near the middle. Umbra didn't even bother to look back as he fell into his chosen sleeping place. Looking for Luna, hoping she would at least be willing to bail him out, Leif found more disappoint as she moved past him without a word. The wolf Faunus merely closed the blinds, darkening the room further, before heading to bed on the other side of Mura, while averting her gaze from everyone in the room. He didn't blame her; if he had wanted to be a huntsman his whole life just to wind up on a team like this…he would want to just look away and hope it was all just a bad dream.
Leif sighed as he climbed into the remaining bed, like the others, not even bothering to change. His body ached from today's events, but not nearly as much as his mind did now. Had he made the right choice, coming here when he could have done anything else with his life? Should he just quit, go back home to his parents, study for a different job?
Pulling the covers over him, he closed his eyes, trying to push out the storm of doubts now raging in his mind. Yet, even with his eyes shut, his semblance continued to show him that this was no dream.
*"Led by… Leif Circinus,"*
It was reality.
Authors Note: "Wow it's been almost three months since the last update and this is all he has?" is what I'm sure you all might be thinking. Don't worry; the next update is almost done, but this chapter was pretty much there and was written in hindsight to bridge to the gap between the last chapter and the beginning of the next arc, so figured why not post it. About 70% of the way through the next update, looking to be about another 6-7 chapters, hoping to have it done by the end of the month, so fingers crossed!
To any who followed and favorited, new and old alike, thank you so much for wanting to stick with the story, and shout out to the two guest reviewers, don't know who you are, but thanks for the kind words! :D
Thank you all for reading! If you feel like sparing a minute or two, it would be awesome if you could leave some feedback as I'm always trying to improve as a writer and you all are a huge part in making that happen! :)