AWWWWW YEEEEEEE another chapter during the weekend! BOOYA! (I'm never saying that again)
Yes, I was able to finish this chapter tonight, and I am proud of myself for doing so. This chapter serves more as a setup for next chapter, which will definitely be fun to write.
You know what? Screw this author's notes shit! Let's just get straight to the chapter dammit!
(But real quick, fun fact time! This chapter is literally just 20 words longer than last chapter! CONSISTENCY!)
"So… Alexandrite," Marriott started as they were currently on their way to their mission. "What was your team when you were at Beacon?"
They had been in flight on the bullhead for a few minutes, and were told that the flight to their destination shouldn't take too long, gods bless them, because they couldn't stand it if Marriott started getting impatient like she did earlier.
Which is actually one of the reasons she asked her leader's and partner's older sister about her time at Beacon, just to take her mind off of things for a while, but she was also genuinely curious about their instructor's involvement at the academy, after hearing a few times before that Alexandrite was one of the best to graduate from Beacon, where just getting IN to Beacon is a big deal by itself, so she genuinely wanted to know more about her.
Marriott did kind of think of herself as a bit of a historian sometimes.
Alexandrite smiled nostalgically. "My team was called team LLAC." (Lilac)
"Were you leader?"
"Where do you think Silver got her leadership skills from?" Alexandrite smirked smugly as she looked over at her youngest sister.
Silver rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She said, but smiled fondly. She couldn't help it when it came to Alex.
The older faunus smiled too, before looking back at the redheaded warrior. "But yes indeed, I was leader."
"What were you teammates like?"
Alexandrite waited a second, looking as if she was trying to find the right words. "They were… very interesting for lack of a better term. My partners name was Lilo, and she… wasn't too fond of faunus', lets say that."
Olivia, who had been simply looking blindly out the window, visibly tensed at that, while Silver groaned a little. Alexandrite raised an eyebrow at them. "Did you two have some issues at first as well?"
The two in question looked uncertainly at each other. They really didn't want to talk about anything having to do with it for a while. "We could say that," Silver answered. "And we could also leave it at that for now too."
The brunette furrowed her brows at that, but decided to indeed leave it there for the time being, and returned to answering Marriott's latest question. "But anyway, Lilo and me had difficulty at first, but we got over it after a while, even though we never were truly comfortable with each other until probably our third year. She also tended to be pretty serious, she was definitely the no nonsense type of person." She chuckled at what she was about to say next. "The other two on the other hand were complete idiots, and really clashed with Lilo sometimes. Their names were Lec and Cooper, and they… loved to have fun, so to say. They were very easy going about a lot of things, and Lilo didn't like that at times, she would even yell at me sometimes because she felt like I wasn't doing a good enough job as leader to 'control them'. But they all were good people when I get right down to it, and I'm glad they were my teammates." She smiled, silently reminiscing in the memories her and her team shared.
Marriott smiled as well. "Do you still go on missions with them."
Alexandrite nodded. "Sometimes, yes. And we still stay in touch very much so." She then looked at the other three girls. "And that's something I hope you all do when you graduate. Make sure to stay in touch with each other, there's no reason why you shouldn't."
They smiled at her quick advice, nodding, and after a few minutes of silence now that Marriott's questions had come to an end, Silver felt it was time to learn anything more about their mission. "So Alex, this village we're going to, what is it called?"
"Rosemead I believe." She answered. "It was attacked and destroyed to the ground by Grimm a little over a week ago."
"What are the chances of finding anybody alive around there?"
Alexandrite winced a bit. "Definitely not high, but I'm sure Ozpin already told you that they also want to know if anything can be recovered from the desolation."
"And the Grimm were cleared out by other hunters, right?"
"Yes, they went in a few days ago, so there should be none around the immediate area, which is really great, 'cause I really don't want any Grimm of any kind to interfere with the mission."
Silver smirked at her. "Afraid that the first years will need to save you?" She teased.
The older girl smirked back. "No, I'm afraid the first-years will need saving."
The banter between the two sisters continued on for a little while afterward, every once in a while dragging the other three into their conversations, until they got the word that they were about to arrive at their landing point, to which Marriott loudly cheered. Alexandrite told them to make sure that they had everything they needed, and after confirming they were ready, they anxiously waited for landing.
"We're going to go to the village first and check it out," Alexandrite informed the first-year team. "Then we'll check out the area around the village and see if there's anything. Got it?" The four girls nodded.
They had landed a few minutes ago, and they were currently making their way into a forest trail that, supposedly, would lead them straight to the village in question. The reason why the bullhead didn't land closer to the village was that the forest surrounding it was surprisingly dense, and their weren't really any safe landing spots, so they had no choice but to land just outside of the forest, and walk down the trail until they arrived at Rosemead.
They trudged through the forest, and they could easily tell that the place was ravaged by Grimm; everything, even the very air around them, just felt… dead.
It wasn't a very welcome feeling.
They of course didn't expect anything different, but that didn't help the ominous feeling that accompanied them as they walked. They had the feeling that they weren't going to be finding many survivors anywhere.
They went on in relative silence, a very uncomfortable silence at that. They knew that there was almost no chance of any Grimm coming around after the hunters that took care of them a few days ago, but they couldn't help but feel very uneasy. They passed by some trees that had a few claw marks on them, or other trees that were straight up knocked over, and they figured that the sight of these trees meant that they were getting closer and closer to the village.
The forest and trail came to an abrupt end, and as soon as it did, they could see some buildings in the distance. "That's Rosemead, isn't it?" Silver asked.
Alexandrite nodded. "I do believe it is." She said darkly. "I'm going to tell you one more thing before we continue into there; considering this is the sight of a major Grimm attack, and very recently at that, you will see some things that… might stay with you forever." She turned around to face the four. "I know that up until now, I've been making sure you are physically ready, but I need to make sure right now that you are mentally ready. There are things that some people should not see, if they can't handle it. So, are you mentally ready?"
Silver firmly nodded. "Yeah."
Olivia followed suit. "Of course."
Marriott gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up. "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't ready!"
Koel only weakly nodded. "Y-yeah, I-I'm ready."
She didn't exactly sound to convincing, but they knew she wasn't about to run away from them. Koel might be painfully shy and timorous, but she was a deceptively tough girl, and they knew she wasn't going to chicken out on them. This is what she signed up to do, so she was going to will herself to do it, no matter what.
Alexandrite smiled encouragingly. "Alright then, let's go."
As soon as they passed by a sign that said "Welcome to Rosemead!", their eyes laid upon the true work of Grimm. Collapsed buildings, or buildings that are in the process of collapsing, complete abandonment, no sign of life anywhere. Everything was just… desolated.
They started walking through the barren roads of the once-upon-a-time village. "This is…" Olivia started then stopped, unable to find the proper words.
"Horrible." Marriott finished as best she could.
"The sad part about this is," Alexandrite started gloomily. "As your careers go on, you'll learn to get used to sights like this. I've been to many villages before that had been attacked by Grimm, but never have I been to one like this, one that looks so… devoid of any life."
"Kinda makes you wonder how many Grimm were here." Silver said, looking around at the utter devastation before them.
The brunette sighed. "Anyway, we don't have time to dwell on it, we're here for a mission, so let's get to work." She then took on her leader attitude again. "Silver, Olivia, you two can go search around that side of the street," She pointed over to the left side specifically. "Just go from building to building, and see if you can find anything that is of note, but be careful going in the places that are still standing, some of which look just about ready to fall. Come back to me when you are done, or if you have found anything."
The two partners nodded, and went to their side of the street to start looking for anything. Alexandrite then turned to face the other two. "The three of us will go search this side in the meantime. Just choose a building, or what used to be, and start scanning." Marriott and Koel nodded as well.
It was amazing to the first years the amount of destruction that a single place could go through in but a short time. Ozpin was right when he said that this village was a rather large one, and they could tell that the place was probably pretty active, but this is what could happen when you decide to live outside of the walls, there's virtually no protection whatsoever living out here, so while it must be a nice and simple life for a time, it could turnout like this in the end, and very sudden as well.
The signs of death in the buildings were plainly visible, there was dried blood on the walls, floor, or anything else, and it made their stomachs churn, there were dead bodies every so often that they would come across, but try their hardest to stay away from, and it was especially bad for the faunus' of the group because of their sense of smell, they could easily smell the blood, or the reek of the deceased bodies. The sights of the broken, almost dilapidated buildings and structures made the first year team think about what Alexandrite had said earlier; that they'll learn to get used to sights like this.
They went on searching for anything worthwhile for a bit, but there didn't seem to be anything that could be salvaged from this place. They started to genuinely wonder how many Grimm attacked, just like how Silver mentioned earlier, because to do this kind of damage, and leave nothing alive, it must have been a lot to say the least.
As they went on searching, they were growing used to the grueling surroundings, and things started to get pretty simple… until they heard a high-pitched shriek.
They turned to the source of the shriek to see Koel in the collapsed ruins of a house, staring down wide-eyed at something, a terrified look in her misty eyes, her hands over her mouth, and slowly backing away from whatever scared her. Alexandrite went over to her and looked at what gave her adopted sister such a scare, and she found it in the form of a dismembered forearm, probably one of the… things left behind by the previous owners of the house.
Alexandrite sighed. "That's what I meant earlier." She said, seeming to be unfazed by the sight, and placing a comforting hand on Koel's shoulder.
Koel nodded, slightly leaning into the older faunus' side. "I-I know, i-it's just, I wasn't e-expecting it to be u-under that piece of wood."
Apparently, while Koel was searching the ruins of this house, she had kicked a plank of wood, revealing the dismembered body part. 'Poor girl.' Alexandrite thought. "It's okay Koel, let's move on to another house." Koel feebly nodded, and they walked away from the scene.
Meanwhile, Silver and Olivia were trudging through what felt like the hundredth house that was torn to the ground. "This is all so… terrible." Olivia sighed. "Seriously, what are the chances of finding anybody alive here, or around? It feels as though this place has become the very definition of death." She said, then finding a broken picture frame, the picture showing a father, mother, and two kids, all smiling brightly, and it broke Olivia's heart to look back up, and see what has become of the place this family once called home.
Silver nodded. "I know. It's a good thing those hunters took care of the Grimm, or else this place probably would have turned into a nest." Silver didn't like being here, and she knew she wanted to get out of this village as fast as she could, but she also was aware that they still had a lot of ground to cover before they could stop. "Hey Olivia," She called out to the orange-haired knight, who looked over at her with curiosity. "I'm going to go further down the street, try to cover more ground faster."
Olivia nodded. "Alright, I'll continue searching around here."
The pale-haired girl nodded back, and started walking down the road, making sure to alert Alexandrite of what she was doing before she did so, to which her oldest sister approved of, claiming that she wanted to get out of the village as much as she did, and Silver wasn't going to deny that.
She walked down, glancing at the various different buildings, or what used to be, and as she rounded a corner of the road, she started to… hear voices?
Silver stopped where she was, trying to focus on the unfamiliar voices, wherever they were coming from, and after a few seconds, she was sure that she wasn't just hearing things, there were actual voices! 'That's impossible, did someone really survive here!?'
She jogged down the street, trying to be as quick but quiet as she could, she didn't want to startle whoever was here into running away from her. She got down to the end of the street, and she realized that the voices were coming from around another corner to her left, and she once more focused her hearing on the sounds, this time barely managing a small conversation between what sounded like two people.
"Man, this place was hit really hard, wasn't it? A male voice said.
"Yeah it was, I knew Grimm could do some serious damage obviously, but this is completely off the charts!" Another male voice exclaimed.
'Well okay, I guess it's safe to say that they aren't survivors from this place, so why are they here?' Silver thought, puzzled. There was no way someone would just walk into a place like this on accident, or so she thought at least.
"Opens your eyes doesn't it?"
"Hell yeah, almost makes me feel bad for some of the humans that might have lived here."
"Alright, let's not take it that far."
That bit only served to feed Silver's puzzlement.
"Whatever. But seeing how this place is, I guess it's no wonder Coleen called us in to help out."
Silver's eyes widened considerably. 'Coleen!?'
Silver swiftly dashed over to the side of a crumpled building that was miraculously still standing, and pinned herself up flat against it, and looked around the corner at the bearers of the voices, and her eyes widened even more if you could believe that.
"Yeah, I guess she and her crew need some help getting the place cleaned up huh?"
"I just wish she didn't want us to be here, I hate it here. But then again, I don't want to be facing the end of her whip, so whatever."
This couldn't be real. How could Coleen be here, and why? But then another question started burning in Silver's mind.
"What are the White Fang doing here!?" She harshly whispered to herself, and much louder than she intended.
"Hold up, did you just here a voice?"
'Ohhh you GOT to be kidding me right now!'
"HEY, WHO'S OVER THERE!?" One of the men demanded.
Silver flinched at the shout
"Let's go check it out real quick."
'Shit!'Silver thought to herself, and she took off running back down the street to her team and Alexandrite. 'Why does trouble always follow wherever I go?'
Shit is right Silver.
And yes, why does trouble seem to always follow you?
Ohhh man guys, it is about to go down next chapter in so many different ways! I can already tell that next chapter is going to be hell to write, but it will be a lot of fun too! I'm so FIRED UP, we're getting close to the end of the story guys! I'm planning on getting the story done by the end of the month, but we'll see how that goes.
But seriously guys, I've had this part of the story planned out since November, and now I FINALLY get to write it instead of just keeping it bottled up in my head! EEEEE CIRCUIT OVERLOAD!
Alright whatever, enough getting overexcited about it. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please follow and favorite if you did, and leave a review if you have something to say. Talk to you guys next chapter!