Yay more chapter!

~Angel and Hel~

Chapter Twenty Five: Strife Part II

-.-.-

It's not what it looks like.

I/you/we swear.

Isn't that why you cover up everything? Dark hair. It used to be white. Tattoos to cover the pale skin. Torn and ripped, never immaculate.

The attitude. The poor food, the poor streets, the 'loser' friends.

Is it working too well, or not enough?

-.-.-

Well. She'd expected the Schnees to be kinky - they were filthy rich, and there was a reason that adjective was used with the word - but domination play in a kitchen involving a burning toaster was...

She hadn't ever encountered anything that extreme on her net searches, she'd put it that way.

Also, Winter was clearly an awful domme. The poor girl - Helia, that was her name - was starving.

Though - she had - she had hurt Apep. And Winter -

No, she wouldn't fight. And in the Dream - in the Dream Winter was arguing like an idiot with Maverick, but she was clearly a human being, as hard as that was to remember after years and years.

"Heyyyyyy, foodies!"

Oh, and Aphoth had her own bundle of joy to deal with.

Apep stirred around her neck at the noise. She raised a hand to stroke him, while also reaching out to grab Ash's shirt collar and pull her back from the fridge where she was trying to -

"That bacon's uncooked. We can cook it then you can have it." Apep's friendly hissing at the idea of raw bacon wasn't helping - why couldn't he have gone off and hunted some rats while she was asleep?

Oh. Right. Because his fangs had been cut out. Because of her mistake. By the Schnee's sub.

"Don't want bacon."

"Okay. What do you want to eat then, Ash?" Aphoth carefully pried the packet from Ash's hands. If she didn't want it, then maybe Apep could have a treat…

"Baaaaaaaaaconnnnnnnnnnnnn." Ash moaned liked a zombie.

Aphoth blinked, then sighed.

"What about this thing?" Helia asked, pulling a block of cheese out by the tips of her fingers and accidentally letting it drop of Ash's face.

"Eep!" Ash yelped, dodging just in time. "... cheese is nice."

Winter made a face. "It's processed cheese."

Aphoth made a face at her. Stuck up bitch. "It's cheap, and is going to fry nicely. Doesn't something fried sound good, Ash?"

"YES!" Ash jumped to her feet with a stupid grin on her face. And she was still holding the partially unwrapped block of dented cheese. "Uhh… pan. Needa pan," she mumbled, and started pulling open every cupboard she could without even looking in them.

"Ash. Ash!" Goddamn it, she'd forgotten what she was like with any alcohol in her system at all and oh god that alcoholic giant wouldn't know and Ash would try and steal from her why had she thought coming here with Ash was a good idea again? "Ash, they have an industrial fryer here, we don't need a pan."

"But - awwww…" she slumped down to the floor. Helia crawled over and started braiding her hair. Winter rushed after her.

"No, Helia, your hands are still greasy from the cheese, you don't want to get that in Ash's hair. Your toast's all ready, don't you want to have some of that?"

"But the cheese was wrapped and - oh, right. Toast." Helia mumbled, climbing away. She seemed rather… childish. Even more-so than Ash. Which was a pretty impressive feat.

"Here we go. All buttered, with just a pinch of salt - no, Helia, don't use your fingers, use the knife and fork." Winter gave Aphoth a look. She recognised this one. It meant something like can you believe this shit and, for once, Aphoth felt real sympathy for her.

"But it's toast." Helia frowned. "Toast is finger food."

"If you're an uncivilised animal, maybe it is."

Helia unflinchingly took the toast in her fingers and took a long, slow, bite, letting the crunching sound fill the air. The tension was almost palpable. Like the crunch of biting into a strawberry.

Winter sighed, heavily. "Wash your hands afterwards."

Meanwhile, Ash was still struggling with the concept of hot oil.

"Hey… I'm kinda thirsty." Ash mumbled, draping herself over Aphoth. "Where'd you stick that thing, I know you had that thing somewhere." And now she was getting very handsy.

"How about I get you a glass of water? Or a bottle of, um, Dust cola?" Aphoth ducked a slight spray of crumbs as Winter patted Helia firmly on the back to dislodge the large bite of toast she'd taken.

"Dust cola makes me sick…" Ash sighed, moving behind Aphoth and nibbling at her neck. "Remember… whatwasit… that concert we went to? The White Roses?"

Aphoth gently tried to pry Ash off her. "Yes, I remember." You got drunk there too, and then vomited on my shoes for the next three days. Oh god, please let this not last three days.

If only Apep could still bite her. A good dose of his venom usually sent her straight to sleep.

"Mmmm… you're nyummy…" Ash murmured, nibbling at her earlobe now as her hands started running up Aphoth's shirt. Her hands were very very warm.

"Ash, now is not the time. You can't have your bacon if you do that." Apep was uncurled at the invasion of his resting spot and hissing in her ear and could Winter help or do something other than carefully watching Helia like she was going to shove the whole piece of toast into her mouth at once - wait, that was a possibility, wasn't it.

Ash licked her.

Aphoth was ninety percent sure she was purple now. Which would have matched her dress if she'd still had it - and hadn't Helia taken it? Where was it? "Oh look Ash, your food's ready!"

"Oooh, smells nummy." Ash leaned away - oh god she was going to fall - and tripped on Aphoth's ankle, tumbling to the floor for the ninth time in the last hour. "Ouchies."

-.-.-

Some time later, half the kitchen was covered in fire extinguisher foam, there was a small pile of vomit in one corner from where Helia had tried fried chicken, and the two little brats were curled up in a corner braiding feathers into each other's hair.

Aphoth sat slumped against the far wall, breathing heavily. At least Winter was in equally disheveled condition.

"I'm never having children."

Winter nodded. "Me neither."

Aphoth laughed. "Our only point of agreement."

-.-.-

Fury. Rage.

Do you know anything else?

Love. Compassion.

They were lost.

Caring. Selflessness.

You're struggling to hold on to them. You're struggling to hold on to their memories.

Your reminders won't last forever. Your anchors will rust. Your chains will break.

And you will be free.

Free. To be by yourself. Until the end of your days.

-.-.-.-

Punch. Another robot flew away in a spray of limbs. Yolona had to admit, they were built tough. Or at least were fairly well braced internally. This particular one had survived twelve full-on punches to the chestpiece without a dent.

The limbs kept falling off, though. As though they were designed to fall apart instead of crumple.

It was a nice idea, a reusable, animated training dummy.

But it wasn't doing much for Yolona right now.

She stood her ground, waited for it to reassemble itself, and launched another 'Spartan' kick into it's chest. It went flying with a satisfying crunch.

For all its toughness, it wasn't a very smart fighter. But maybe that was a good thing, for now. She didn't want to fight. She wanted to hurt something.

Clapclapclapclap - The silent one with the crossbows froze as she turned to glare at him. At least, they looked like a him. She couldn't be sure from this distance and couldn't care less, so to her, at least, the mute was a him.

On one hand, the clapping annoyed her. On the other, that meant she'd gotten a new furthest distance on the corpse in a single strike.

The tall one - Titian - was there too. And the cat faunus. They were both quiet.

She wished they'd come down and fight her. The irritatingly stupid robot was beginning to get boring.

Speaking of which, it was swinging at her again. Slow, predictable. Dumb.

She sidestepped the strike, grabbed the head, and simply yanked it free from the rest of the bot, before throwing it to the far wall. The body collapsed to the ground and started skittering away.

Yolona growled and started pacing. She'd been so close to Promethium.

The woman, Myrrha, had talked to her about that. "Promethium will come in its own time. But now you know how you'll face it when that time comes; you know how to improve, so you arrive there with highest honours, to make the battle last forever and a day."

It stung though. She'd almost made it. She'd almost been there. No amount of preparation or 'Let Promethium come to you' bullshit would make up for that.

The bot was coming back again.

She stood there and let it hit her.

She barely felt it. This thing was a training dummy. It wasn't even capable of scratching her armour, which she had left set up on a stand in the corner of the Atrium. Probably should return to it, clean it. But her mind was still reeling from the Dream.

The cat had died outside the doors with the bloodied one. Torn in two by the same Manticore that had torn Yolona's arm off. The bloodied one had… exploded. Crossbows had died to… she wasn't actually sure. He'd been grabbed by a Beowulf and dragged silently into the raging ball of black fur and white boneplates to be devoured. Her attempts to avenge him had ended with… heat. Blinding, searing heat.

The Dream was different. Not a single urge to submit to the rage. A semblance that acted all wrong.

Yolona clenched her fist, watched the muscles of her arm move. She was strong. Her semblance made her stronger.

In the Dream it had removed resistance. Instead of punching and sending something flying, she punched something and her fist punctured it's flesh.

She backhanded the bot and sent it flying into the… she didn't really care. "I'm done," she announced. Whoever turned on the bot in the first place would probably turn it off for her now. Yolona climbed up the stairs, going down the rows of… seats? They were simply giant slabs of stone cut out from the wall. She sat down heavily behind Titian and the cat. They were glaring at one another.

"Speak," she growled. "Something is bothering you both. What is it." Yolona nudged them lightly with her toes. Maybe lightly wasn't the best descriptor. Gently kicked them? They needed prodding if they were ever going to get on with it.

"None of your business, giantess." The cat stuck her tongue out at her. "Still bullshit they wouldn't let me call Neon by the way."

"Krypton is upset because I led to her sister's demise in the Dream. She feels that, despite my death, I haven't atoned fully for my fictitious mistake."

Yolona groaned. Of all the things they could be…

She pointed at Titian. "You could have done better." She shifted to the cat. "You should be glad it wasn't your real sister. Now both of you will know not to let this happen again or continue to be upset about it. Mistakes are opportunities to do better. Be thankful we have the opportunity to learn from the biggest mistakes without actual loss."

She… hadn't strung that many words together for a long time. If it weren't for her usual battle roars she suspected she would have had a sore throat by now.

The cat made a sulky face. "Eh, I guess. And Neon's alive. And relatively okay. She skinned her knee."

Titian blinked. "That sounds counterproductive. Wouldn't that merely hurt without any benefit?"

"What? She - oh no, she fell over and grazed it. She didn't take a peeler to it or anything. Gross. Do you not know what a skinned knee is?"

"A knee without skin. It seems self evident."

"You're fucking impossible to talk to."

"You two are a pain." Yolona rumbled.

Crossbows poked Titian's shoulder, tried to start a game of paper, scissors, rock.

"I do not know what you're attempting."

"Yeah Avos. Titian here doesn't know about fun. It's outlawed in the loser tooth."

Avos. So that was his name. Yolona nudged the cat again. "You will not find peace if you provoke at every opportunity."

"I don't want peace. I want fun. I want - I dunno. I think I'm going to go speak to one of those doctors they mentioned. Get it out the way." She stood, stretched, then hopped up the benches towards the door.

"Good riddance." Titian muttered under her breath. Yolona couldn't blame her. The cat was… catty.

"Hey weirdo. Bye weirdo." Cat waved to the coated hunter as she passed him.

The scent of iron approached, sat itself behind them. His breaths were heavy, and had the same rich stink of blood about them, his floppy hat covering his face. "You smell of them, of the beasts, the Grimm." His voice was heavy, accented. "Are you cursed, then?"

Yolona frowned. Thought about it. She was many things, a survivor, a Huntress, a Berserker… but she did not recall 'cursed' being one of those things. She grunted something noncommittally.

"Yes, I am cursed. And my curse is my own." Titian's claws were out. Hm.

"I didn't speak to you, wolfwoman. I spoke to the rage-tainted." He exhaled another heavy breath reeking of blood.

"I am not tainted." Yolona growled.

"You are a berserker. Their strength flows through your soul. We all bear mark of Grimm, one way or another. Yours is simply - stronger." He chuckled. "Can you hear the blood sing to you?"

Titian stood and loomed over him, a low snarl audible, but he simply chuckled more. His clothes were bloodstained, even outside the dream. The blood was fresh too, red and oxygenated and glistening.

"Hmph. One way of interpreting it." Yolona muttered to herself. "Where did that come from?" she asked, gesturing vaguely at his coat. "Too fresh to be from anything but an ally."

He laughed. "There are no allies. Only those who haven't turned yet."

"Who did you kill." She could feel herself tensing. She should have gotten her armour back on as soon as the Dream had ended. Inside it she was safe, secure, and unstoppable.

He exhaled again. "I killed no-one. The blood came from my arteries, once. I kept it." He reached inside his coat with the clinking of glass and withdrew something that looked like a bottled syringe. "Do you want a taste?" The stench of it was thick, and powdered heavily with Dust and drugs. More than just blood then.

"No. Do not offer again." Yolona growled. She was more than ready to attack this… this madman.

"Oh, you'll change your tune soon enough. All come to the truth of Dust eventually." He closed his coat. "Fear the old, wolfwoman. It remembers your intrusion." He stood, then walked away, taking the smell of iron with him.

Titian was shaking with rage. Her hands were reaching for her sword - for where it would be holstered. She was left grasping at thin air. "I will kill him. I will kill him."

Another huntsman, older, brushed past the retreating lunatic. Also wearing a heavy coat, this one in brown rather than grey, and more redolent of a waterproof than anything else. He wore thick glasses. "Ah. I see our new prospective students have already discovered the sparring area." He extended a gloved and ringed hand. "Professor Shroud. Grimm studies."

Yolona turned her attention away from the pair, putting a hand on Titian's shoulder. "He will meet his own careless end soon enough," she tried to reassure her fellow warrior.

There was a thump from behind them. "Excuse me young man. I did hear that you know, and an apology would be appreciated."

"Like so." Yolona couldn't help but grin as she sat down again to watch the show.

The professor had the boy in an arm lock, pressed against one of the benches. "I am sorry about this, but this is a military institution, and as unsavoury as I find the whole affair, discipline must be encouraged."

The blood hunter snarled. "I - owe - you - nothing."

The man - Shroud - sighed. "As you insist. Please leave the room immediately, then." He released him, stood and stepped back, waving absent mindedly. "Go on then, get out of here."

The boy ran. Yolona tried not to let her disappointment show. She was quite… eager to see what a fully fledged Hunter was capable of. "At least he has some sense of self-preservation." She shook her head and got up to greet the professor.

"Oh, hello there miss!" The professor waved. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Professor Shroud, Grimm studies."

"Yolona. Berserker." She smiled. Grimm studies… She knew a lot about fighting them from first-hand experience, but she was quite happy to fill in any gaps in her knowledge.

"Interesting, interesting. There aren't many Berserkers left, are there - I'd have to speak to Professor Myrrha if I wanted a more detailed history, but it's a pleasure to meet another of you. A pleasure."

Titian made a noise that might have been a cough.

"And you too of course! A faunus, with traits of - ah, canis lupus occidentalis, judging by the claws. Always a pleasure. A pleasure!"

Shroud was quite… enthusiastic.

Avos hopped down the seats and stairs to the floor, waving to Shroud and bowing slightly. He was still wearing that odd smiling mask, even if his crossbows were not by his side.

"And you too - er - you! Yes. Your outfit style is very unique. A pleasure to meet all of you!"

Yolona was starting to get the feeling she would have been better off in the wilds, away from this mountain of madmen.

-.-.-

You know everything that goes on in these halls. You know everything. You cannot hear what they say but you can lipread, can't you? You know everything. You stand by and watch. You don't tell them you know. You just stand by. You just watch.

Oh the secrets you could share. The burdens you could relieve. The stresses you could reassure.

You stand by.

You watch.

Because you do not care.

Because it is not your place.

It is not your place to care.

And you call yourself a good witch.

-.-.-

Ironwood pressed his hand to his jaw. Glynda was - she was angry alright.

"Unacceptable, verging on torture of your students!"

"Glynda, please. I explained my reasons - "

"And that's even before I begin to discuss with you how you run this - this Dream." She'd actually drawn her weapon on him, which was - perhaps unexpected, but valid. Though it was only a riding crop, her terrifying proficiency with her semblance made the act of drawing it a formal declaration of how pissed off she was.

"The Dreamweaver was a consenting subject. While the effects of the - overstimulation of their semblance have left them unable to form long term memories, and have blurred what ones they have, I can show you multiple forms of written and video proof of consent."

"Consent the students didn't give."

"Of course they didn't, Glynda! Did you or I ever give consent to watch our students killed in the line of duty, to watch them break under the weight of it, to run, or die, or fall into drugs and alcohol and depression. They need to know what it is they're getting into, and I found that way, a way to make them face that terror when they could still recover from it, when they would still have a chance not to be scarred forever by it. A way to let them know without killing them in the process."

"This experience will change them, James!" Glynda snapped. "You've shown them what will happen if they fail and now every time they do something that will be there, hiding in the back of their mind, reminding them what will happen if they are anything less than absolute perfection!"

"It's better than it happening on the field of battle, than them learning that experience when they already think they know it all and have nothing to fear. Do you know why I and the headmasters of Shade and Haven do not speak? It's because they swallow Ozpin's - deception, that it is better for them to be children than to be ready for what's out there and I will not follow that path!"

"Our Kingdoms - our world is built on individuality, and art, and you are turning these children into child soldiers! You are forcing them to fall in line and act like a puppet on your strings! To give up everything that makes them - them for some nebulous - greater good!"

"I ask nothing I would not sacrifice myself."

"You and I have been through this ourselves. We are willing to sacrifice more than they have to offer."

Ironwood sighed. "Glynda - you seem to think that I believe this won't hurt them. Of course it will. Of course it does. But I still believe it's better for them to be hurt now, than to be hurt later, and risk every part of our world. Especially when the hurt isn't even real."

"They thought it was real. You know full well how hard it is to tell the difference between reality and - and those Dreams."

He sighed again. "Scar tissue makes the strongest leather, and they're going to need every piece of armour they can get."

-.-.-

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~Angel and Hel~