KEY
"Normal Speech"
"Sign Language"
'Thought '
- 'Scroll Message'
Morning came all too soon for the students. Whilst the vast majority wouldn't be up for at least another hour or so, there were some who had a meeting to go to before the majority of their peers stirred.
Coco stirred from her sleep feeling much better than she did before she had dozed off. The Aura shot she was given when she got here really helped to get her system working properly again, but one glance to her side revealed the real reason she felt right as rain this morning. Her girlfriend was sleeping beside her, on top of the covers of course so that Infirmary staff wouldn't complain, but still snuggling close and pooling her Aura into her all night long. Honestly, she felt she may have overdone it a bit, as the cute little bunny sleeping next to her started to look a little pale from doing so. Whilst reluctant to do so, she needed to make sure Velvet didn't harm herself trying to protect her. Coco shook her partner by the shoulders as gently and as firmly as she dared, bringing her round from her sleep gently rather than shaking her violently out of it. She spoke softly into her girlfriend's ears, the acute hearing not needed masses of volume to be impactful.
"Velves, hunny, time to get up." Brown eyes fluttered open, the owner letting their gaze settle on the beautiful woman lying next to her. Her eyes shut again and she smiled, leaning forward for a kiss. 'Not gonna say no to that.' There was nothing overly passionate or romantic about the kiss, just a simple 'Good Morning' peck on the lips.
"Mm... morning Coco..."
"Morning Velv. You smell like morning breath."
"And your bed sucks; I'm pretty sure a spring popped in the night and jammed itself up my ass."
"Damn springs, getting all the fun before I do."
"Shut up and..." she was going to say sleep, but the yawn made her thoughts clear. A knock on the door broke both of their concentrations and cut the yawn off dead. The Faunus bounded off the bed, landing in the chair on the far side of the room. The girls relaxed when their team walked in, but that was only the calm before the storm.
"Oh my Oum, Fox!" Velvet was up straight away, staring into his face. Her eyes scanned, trying to process what she was seeing. Milky irises and greyed out pupils. "Fox..."
"Surprise" he deadpanned "I'm blind again."
"What?" This was news to Coco, who hadn't really woken up properly yet and also had her view of the boy obstructed by a pair of rather large rabbit ears. Even though her Mark was screaming Loss at her, she didn't listen and focussed instead on the thoughts that flooded her own mind. "How the hell did that happen?" Wanting to offer an explanation, but not having the means to do so, Fox simply held his arms out to the side in an ever so slightly overzealous shrug.
"Your guess Coco. All I know is that it's got something to do with whatever's happening with Neo. It's breaking our link that the Parchment of Volentes made, and thus destroying the wish." Coco was going to ask what he knew about Neo, but decided against it - she'd had enough of an information overload this early in the morning to last at least until dinner. The four spoke idly for a few minutes before there was more knocking. Before anyone had a chance to speak, Fox dashed over to the bedside table and took Coco's slightly scratched, but otherwise intact sunglasses and threw them over her face. In stepped four Third Years, all of whom Coco and Velvet had no idea why they were there.
"Good morning all" Ren greeted, already looking eager for the day despite the fact the digital clock on the wall still had a 6 at the start of it. This was evidently a displeasure shared by at least one of the younger team as he carefully moved further into the room clasping the hand of one ginger haired powerhouse who was there with eyes firmly shut and a very obvious snoring sound coming from her mouth. Pyrrha and Jaune, whilst falling nearer Ren's side of the awake spectrum, still landed in 'not completely awake' category, slowly walked in after them, gently shutting the door and standing around with their team, eyelids still a little heavy. "Please do not draw any attention to the fact that she is still asleep, we will deal with that when Ozpin arrives. Also, say nothing about..." to emphasise his point of not even mentioning what he asked them not to mention, the silent ninja nodded his head down towards their hands. "We will not hear the end of it otherwise."
"Sorry, back up a bit; Ozpin? Why would he be coming here?" The blond looked at the senior team leader, then at the boy with her sunglasses on in the corner.
"You didn't tell them Fox?" he questioned, finding the sentence hard to believe even as he said it.
"It was on the list. As is another thing, but I'm not saying that now. This time, they know and you don't." Fox was confrontational when he was irritated, stressed or tired. Right now, he was all three. His irritation was gone by the time more bodies showed up. Weiss was there, as was Team HLQN.
"No Rubes this morning Weiss? I thought she was the one pulling the strings on your team, not you" the fashionista joked. Much to her annoyance, the platinum haired girl flicked her hair back over her shoulder (she always seemed to do that when inconvenienced) and crossed her arms.
"Oh please. If it wasn't for me, Ruby would have failed every test we've had since starting here. She may be a good team leader, but she can be a poor student. I see it as my duty to make her better." The black and white haired girl from the Second Year team grinned and 'whispered' to her partner, even though she fully intended for all party's present to hear her comment.
"Well, at least we know who's the Dom in that relationship." The shade of red Weiss turned at the comment almost made up for the fact that Ruby wasn't currently present, her cheeks stained a glorious and vibrant crimson. The three full teams all laughed, leaving the odd one out standing like a glowing beacon of red in the middle of them all. Another knock focussed their attention away from what caused Weiss to freeze up in embarrassment to the grey haired gentleman that walked in the room, mug in hand and looking no different to when else he was seen.
"Good morning to you all. I am glad you are all enjoying yourself, but please be thoughtful of your surroundings; this is an Infirmary and I'm not sure other in-patients would be best pleased to be woken to the sound of laughter before 7:00am." Everyone tried to remain as silent as they could for as long as possible." Ms. Schnee, I know my eyesight may be fading slightly, but I don't seem to see any of your teammates around. I assume Fox gave you the information to be here at 7:00 as a matter of importance as you are here, but why aren't the rest of RWBY?"
"Ruby was insistent that she'd get Blake and Yang here, even if she had to carry them. Well, they didn't know about this before they went out last night - what with it being the last night they could go out before our semester starts - and they came back late and a little bit tipsy. I tried telling Ruby that we could tell them when they wake up, but she wasn't having it. They are all on their way here; Ruby's making good of her promise." The Headmaster took a sip as he responded with scepticism.
"I see." Velvet's head turned towards a faint grunting and panting noise coming from down the hall - inaudible for humans at present, but not for long. Nylan's head followed soon after; she didn't have the acute hearing of Velvet, but hers was still a darn sight better than her non-Faunus friends and teammates. Ozpin's attention was then drawn to Team HLQN, who were all sitting to one side of the room directly opposite the door. "And may I ask why you four are here? I'm sure I recalled asking for only Team's JNPR and RWBY to be here." Before any of the Second Years could speak, Fox answered.
"That was on me, sir. I couldn't send a message so I asked Yatsuhashi to send it to them. Whilst there, I requested that he send it to Team HLQN as well. They're good friends of ours, they're very close to Neo." Not even speaking, the green clad man looked over at the youngest team, waiting for their response.
"I did ask everyone first sir," Viola started, feeling a little nervous at the confrontational look the normally very calm and non-confrontational Ozpin was giving her. "I said that if one of us didn't want to go through with this, then we wouldn't pressure them and we'd stay away from it all. The agreement was unanimous."
"Very well, but you realise that this task may be way above your level of skill and experience, alright? I asked for these three teams as they are some of the best - if not, the best - teams I have at my school at this moment in time in their respective years, and they are close enough to Ms. Russet that I consider their-"
"Sir, we are close to Neo as well!" Lulu snapped back, a move she would most likely reserve for other students who irked her, but never a teacher. "Without her, lots of aspects of our team wouldn't be here. We owe her a lot, this would be the least we would do for her." He sighed, taking another loud sip.
"I do not appreciate the fact you spoke back at me, but I do appreciate your enthusiasm and willingness. I will allow it, but I'd like to see you in my office after it is all done Ms. Persimmon, understood?" She nodded, but her ears were drawn to the sound of panting nearby, something very much more noticeable than before. As the blinds in the room were drawn, all those in the room could see was a large mass of shadow moving across the window with grunts and strains. Weiss rolled her eyes and opened the door, letting Ruby in - the young girl carrying her sister and her sister's girlfriend and Mate on her shoulders.
"Damn Rubes!" Coco said unintentionally but without regret, "that's impressive. Where'd you carry them from?"
"Dorm room..." he puffed, placing them in the nearest chair. "They wouldn't wake, so I carried them. That's the nice part done. Now..." she gave her partner a smirk and nod, who returned the expression. She gestured everyone to step back as she pulled out her rapier and spun the chamber to Ice Dust. With a small thrust into the ground, ice crept its way towards the pair and enveloped them from the chest down in two separate blocks of ice. The girls screamed at the sudden sting of cold that hit them, then promptly stopped and looked around at the many faces staring at them with grins.
"Weiss... explain." The blonde's hair started to glow and the ice started melting, her semblance making quick work of the sculpture she'd involuntarily become.
"Ms. Schnee will not be doing the explaining, Ms. Xiao Long. That honour goes to me." The fire in her eyes was snuffed in an instant as Yang saw Ozpin. It came back slightly as another wave of Ice Dust hit her, re-freezing the ice already around her.
"And that's what you get for having Ruby literally carry your sorry behinds here. Now listen, and I might not keep reapplying the ice after a while." A low growl came from the blonde's lips, but nothing that warranted any further encasing.
"Ms. Russet, Neo to most of you, was recently captured when the attack on the school occurred. The White Fang sent children to storm the school, clearly with the sole purpose of distracting as many people as they could whilst the culprits caught Neo and took her away. According to Mr. Alistair's conversation he managed to have with Neo, she was their main objective that day, which is why the attack never lasted for long - they had what they needed very quickly."
"They have been doing things to Neo" Fox added, standing from his chair. "Things that can only be classed as torture. But it was all in the hopes of achieving their goal. They needed her as a cold-blooded, merciless killer again. One with lots of skill and without remorse. The side effects of this torture are pretty clear to see..." he removed the sunglasses, showing off his milky eyes to those unaware of his current predicament. "Pun not intended" he added with a smirk. There were gasps from nearly everyone present.
"Mr. Alistair made sure to tell Neo that she should try and give in as soon as she possibly could. It may sound ridiculous at first, but in hindsight makes a lot of logical sense. Whatever they have done to her, the longer we leave it the more time it has to settle in and become part of her way of life once more. It does also mean, however, that an attack on the school - or at the very least, on Team CFVY - is imminent. That is why I wanted to speak with you now, so that we had as little time between knowing the plan and enacting it as possible. Now, let's begin."
Neo spent time in the room she had cleaning and sharpening her blade. It had grown dirty from the stains that had accumulated over the past hours on the walk in and she needed to get rid of them. Most of them, at least - battle damage always made a weapon look more intimidating providing it didn't hinder its performance.
The village was quiet.
The room she was in was small and uninteresting, a far cry from the room she'd spent the past 18 days inside - that was large and intimidating AND a torture chamber.
Her bag was all but emptied, her belongings laid out on the bed.
Cleaning and sharpening utensils, as one would expect. Her Scroll. A decent amount of Lien on the off chance she needed to use it. A single polaroid photograph of Team CFVY, back when the brown coloured quartet were still in their first year of Beacon, the blind boy's face circled with a red marker.
He was her target. Neo needed to get to him. Only then would she be appeased.
But first; her Hit List, the penultimate item in her bag. On it, targets. Top of her list, above everyone else - even Fox - wasn't a person, but an order.
Hai-no Hana. Send them a message.
Her irises shifted colour, swapping sides like they always did in combat, as she stared at the final item from her bag. And getting up to stare out of the small window in her room down at the laughing children below with an confident smirk on her face, she knew just who to use this on.
Yeah... that's not good
Things are coming to the forefront now with both Salem's plans for Neo in action, and the four Teams creating the plan to combat it with Ozpin.
I want to take the time to plug myself again... [that sounded a lot better in my head]
My story with DioRezi, 'Kenjutsu - A Winter and Raven Story', is up live now, so check out the first chapter now, and be sure to keep an eye out within the next couple of days for Chapter 2
As always, feedback - good or bad - is most appreciated
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For the astute, you might notice something coming up...
