A/N: Heyo everyone! After completing two major stories, starting two new ones with one of them having a good stopping point for the time, I am back to work on this story again. This arc will be quite dramatic. So very very dramatic indeed! Let's just say that and I have a few surprises in store as well. With that said, let us start the next arc! The Painful Reunion Arc!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the anime, manga and games they are from. They all belong to their rightful creators. The OCs that appears in this story belongs to me.
Seven Heroines
Chapter Fifty One: Faunus and Humans
A caw of a crow could be heard as the sun was beginning to set. Our group of seven were making way to one of the ferry services that would help them cross a river to travel to the other side of it. The thought of going to a new land called Flognarde excited most of the group and meeting its people known as Faunus. "Are we there yet?" As said before, most of the group. Sora let out a groan as they were walking quite a lot since from Bodum. "We've been walking all day."
Erza wasn't pleased with her whining. "It shouldn't be too far now." Traveling in a group like this makes her miss all of the stuff she used to carry around with her when she traveled.
IF agreed with Erza. "Fang did say the closest service would take half a day. Since we've been walking from the morning, we should be pretty close now."
That was enough for the young knight in training to keep going. Truth be told she couldn't wait to meet those Faunus girls again. After a little more walking, the forest started to clear. Aisha started to hear something. "What is that?" She ran over to the end and exited out of the forest. The rest did the same. What they saw before them amazed the whole group. Indeed what laid before them was a river but… "Where's the other side!"
All they saw was just the water. There was no sign of the side of the river. It was much bigger than expected. "So who's up for a swim?" Jo joked.
The others didn't laugh at the joke. Raidy looked to the side and another surprise awaited for them. "Uh…look over there." She pointed out.
Everyone looked at the direction and once again was surprised at what they were seeing. "That's the ferry?!" IF exclaimed.
Along to the side laid a very large ship floating the in water. Raidy and Aisha couldn't decide whether to be impressed or intimated by the size of the ferry. "I guess if you need to cross a river this large, you need a ship that large." Raidy pointed out.
They all heard the horn of the ferry go off. That was when Erza realized something about it. "Quick hurry!" She started to run off to the service office.
The others didn't understand why she was in a hurry for. That is until Sora figured it out. "Wait that boat is about to take off!" The rest of the girls just looked at her for a few seconds and then screamed. Most of them. Rock didn't. The rest of them started to run after Erza in hopes of making it in time.
The woman in the service office who was a dog Faunus rang a bell. "Last warning!" It wasn't the most glamourous job but she did enjoy helping others trying to cross to the other side.
"Just hold on a minute!" The woman looked ahead to see Erza and the rest of the group running up to her. She was quite surprised to see them in a panic. The leader of the group arrived just in time. "Seven tickets please and hurry!"
As the rest arrived, the woman cleared her throat. "Yes of course. That'll be ten Zena each please."
Erza had a much better payment plan. "How's this for compensation?!" She slammed down her card on the desk.
The woman looked closely and gasped. "T-That's the queen's mark!" If the woman before her has such an important item, then she really couldn't refuse her service. "One moment ma'am." She took out a ticket and gave it to Erza. "Here you go."
Erza didn't waste any time grabbing the ticket. "Thank you!" She dashed to the boarding stairs.
The Faunus woman sighed but her relief was cut short when Sora and the others came up to her demanding the same ticket. They flashed their cards and received their tickets. They left quickly as they came. The woman sighed and looked at them as they went on the boarding stairs as well. "Humans are always in such a rush." She just remembered something important. "Ah! I forgot to give them a translation book!"
At the end of the boarding stairs, two more Faunus women were waiting for any more arrivals before they departed to the other side of the river. Well, it was hard not miss a scarlet haired woman was quickly approaching them. "Don't leave just yet!" She just stopped in front of them. "I have a ticket right he-"
"Erza watch out!" The sword master turned around to see IF and the others running up to her. A little too fast for her since all of them crashed into the Erza which lead to all of them landing on top of the deck of the boat.
One of the women laughed nervously at the sight. "Well if all you are here now, please present your tickets." After everyone had settled in straight, they showed their tickets and the other woman punched holes in them. "I must say we don't usually have humans hop aboard quite often."
After Sora's ticket was punched, the rest of them looked at the captain. "Humans?" Aisha wondered.
The captain chuckled and removed her hat to reveal a set of dog ears that sat on top her hair. Sora gasped in surprise. "You're a Faunus?!" Erza thought the ears looked adorable.
The captain put the hat back on. "Indeed I am. Everyone on this ferry is a Faunus. We have many departing to this side of the river but as I've said before, we seldom have humans come over to Flognarde so suddenly having you all was quite the surprise. Just in time too as we were about to depart. Speaking of which…" She looked upper deck of the boat. "Sail off!" The captain called off. The horn sounded off in response and the whole boat started to move. Soon it departed from the mainland and started to sail to the other side of the river. The captain looked at the group. "Enjoy the ride ladies."
As she walked past them, Aisha had a question. "Uh excuse me but how long will it take to reach over to the other side of the lake."
The captain stopped walking and turned around to look at the group once again. "Oh, so this is your first time traveling. Well if you must know, at this time it is going to be a full night trip."
A full night trip. Some of the group couldn't believe that. "Hold on one minute." Aisha spoke up. "If it is going to take a full night to arrive, how will you be able to see when it's going to be dark soon?"
The captain giggled at the question. "It's quite simple really. You see we Faunus can see quite clear in the dark as if it is still day to us. Rest assure all of you have nothing to worry about. Now if you would excuse me…." She left as did the other woman closely behind her.
When she was out of sight, some of the group sighed. "Man did we cut it close there. I'd hate to wait for the ferry ride." IF stated.
"It is quite impressive they can see through the dark clearly. I guess that makes navigating through this river a bit easier." Raidy pointed out.
Well now that the whole group was on, Erza had a bit of a plan. "Since we're not arriving until tomorrow; I say we should use this time to relax a bit." There wasn't much to do on a ferry anyway.
Sora liked the idea. "Hey, great idea!" She grabbed BRS' hand. "Come on Rock! Let's check the ship out!" The young knight in training dragged the other girl off.
IF chased after them. "Hey slow down! Don't blame us when you trip and fall off the boat!"
As for the other four older girls, Erza, Aisha, and Raidy smiled at the other three. "Do you think they'll be okay?" Aisha asked.
Jo rolled her eyes on the question. "How much trouble they'll be on a boat?" She brought up a good point. With nothing else to do, the other decided to explore the interior of the ferry.
B
Sora giggled as she looked at the water down below. "Wow, the water is so clear. You can practically see the fish swimming in it." She was having fun on the ferry so far. Only in a short time, the young knight in training saw the other passengers of the ferry and they were Faunus. They were surprised to see a couple of humans traveling to the other side of the river. Rock was enjoying the ride in her own way. She didn't know why but the silent girl of the group enjoyed watching Sora smile.
Suddenly Rock heard the bouncing of a ball. Sora heard it too and turned around to see the ball coming their way. Sora picked up the up the looked it at before she saw a young Faunus child running up to the two girls. The young knight in training saw the child and smiled at her. As the child ran up to them, Sora crouched down and handed the ball back to the younger girl. "Does this belong to you?" The young child nodded. Sora giggled quietly at her. "Here you go." She handed the ball back to the child.
Before the child could say anything, another voice rang out. "There you are." A woman approached the child and the two girls. Sora and Rock saw that she didn't look pleased. They figured it was the young girl's mother or anmother. It was difficult to tell. "What did I tell you about them?" She picked up the child quickly and walked away from the two girls. Sora tried to say something but the woman looked back them with a displeased look on her face. "Stay away from us." The mother walked away hastily from them. While she was walking away, the young girl smiled and waved at them.
Sora had no idea what happened. All she did was return a ball to a kid. Why did she get yelled at all of sudden? "Jeez. What the hell was her deal?" The two saw IF walking to them. She saw the scene as she was walking to the other two girls.
The young knight in training shrugged. "I don't know. I'll I did was just hand her daughter back her ball."
"It seems even in a time of peace and understanding; some seeds will grow with displeasure for humans." All three girls looked to the side to see a much older woman walking toward them. An obvious feature she was that she had wing-like features where a human's ears would've been. The woman wore a something like a nomadic tan jacket and underneath a mix of a blue and white outfit with a purple sash wrapped around the waist. Her hair was long and purple as well put up in a ponytail.
IF raised an eyebrow. "And who are you? On top of that, what did you mean by that?"
The woman smiled and chuckled. "My apologies. Allow to introduce myself. My name is Touka and I am from the Evenkurugan clan."
And already Sora didn't understand. "Evenku-what now?"
Touka thought they might not understand at first. "Evenkurugan. You can say it is what my kind is back in Flognarde. As for why that woman lashed out at you, well you can see that some Faunus do not like humans very much despite the harmony both human and Faunus have had for over one hundred years."
Now IF had another question. "You say that as if there was a war between the two."
Touka nodded at the statement. "Indeed there was. You see over one hundred years ago, the humans and Faunus were at war with each other. At the time it was the humans that crossed over to our side claiming it to be theirs. Our Faunus kind took that as ludicrous and started to fight back. It was a war between claiming our land and protecting it. It went on for years until one queen from the other side had enough of the bloodshed. She traveled over to our land unprotected and requested to meet one our queens. The Faunus thought she was entirely arrogant and foolish but they allowed her anyway. The queen was not allowed to speak her mind, saying that she had enough of the blood spilled over the water and the land and was sure the other queens of the land were too. She proposed a peace treaty saying that we should stop this war and try to understand one another. To that queen, her people were more important than land and would gladly give up this conquest for both sides. Our Faunus queen gladly accepted and peace between the two was formed. However, there was some Faunus that will never forgive the humans of what they did and that still true to this day." After that lengthy speech, Touka realized something. "Oh. My apologies once again. I seemed to have rambled on."
Well, she wasn't the strangest person they met so far. IF smiled at her. "No need to say sorry. In fact thanks for telling us something like that. Guess we should've expected some Faunus not taking a liking to us. I mean we are going to the main homeland after all."
The older felt grateful they took her words seriously. "Well if that's how you feel then I feel humbled. I don't believe I had the courtesy of hearing your names."
Sora was wondering when they were going to get to that. "My name is Sora Himoto." She gestured at the other two girls. "This is IF and that's Black Rock Shooter but we call her Rock for short."
Touka looked at BRS with confusion on her face. "Black Rock Shooter? That's a strange name for a human. In fact, she looks strange for a human as well." She's never seen a young girl with such pale skin before.
IF thought she should explain. "Maybe this will clear things up. You may have heard about our exploits about Alfnia."
That clicked something inside Touka's mind. "Are you saying you three are part of the seven chosen that managed to thwart the invasion in Alfnia?" She heard about the news but didn't dream of meeting the very same people. She also didn't expect three of the seven to be a bit younger than she thought.
Sora smiled and threw a peace sign at the older woman. "That's us and boy was that something else." It was still one of the most powerful memories the young knight in training had.
Touka looked at the three and wondered about something. "Then I assume the other four are aboard the ferry then?"
IF nodded at the question. "Yeah, they're off doing their own thing. We're just passing time until we arrive at Flognarde."
That was one question answered but there was another Touka had to ask. "Are you traveling to Flognarde to partake in the festivities?"
Now all three girls looked confused. "Festivities?" IF and Sora asked at the same time.
B
The other four heroines were in the interior of the ferry and were quite impressed at what they were seeing. Faunus women everywhere sitting around or standing up talking to each other while their kids were playing around. In a separate room was a bar. Aisha laughed nervously. "I feel so out of place here." As far as they know, they were the only humans in the room.
Raidy had to agree what the other girl said. "Yes and there's so many. What do you think the occasion is?" There had to be a reason why there were so many Faunus traveling together. Some of them were even looking at them.
Erza had an idea. She looked at the bar. "Follow me." The sword master walked toward the bar. The rest of the group followed.
Jo knew what she was thinking. A bar is an excellent place to obtain information. The bar scene seemed to be a bit quieter with slightly less few woman. There were several bartenders doing business with the customers. All four walked up to one of the bartenders. She could instantly tell what age Aisha and Jo were. "I'm sorry but we're not allowed to serve minors."
Erza held up her hand. "We're not here for a drink. We're just looking for some information."
The bartender leaned in close. "What kind are looking for then?"
"What's with all animal girls here?" Jo asked bluntly. Aisha wished she didn't ask that so straight forward.
However, the bartender didn't seem to mind the question. "Oh, why are they so many Faunus on board? Yeah, it tends to be a bit packed around this time of year."
"This time of year?" Raidy wondered what the bartender said that.
"She means that everyone is getting ready for the festival that's about to start." All four turned to the side were surprised to see so many beer mugs and shot glasses placed in front of this woman. Even the bartender serving her seemed impressed. The woman was indeed a Faunus. The tiger ears and tail were a dead giveaway but that was not the most obvious feature. The most obvious thing about the woman was that she was wearing a very large collar around her neck with a piece of a chain still attached. Other than that, her outfit consisted of a red kimono with two different shades of red, one lighter and one darker being half worn with another outfit underneath that has a white line going down the middle of her breasts and darker shade of maroon on either side of the white line and shorts of the same color. Her hair was long and black put into a twisted braid. She downed another shot glass.
The bartender serving her laughed nervously. "I think you had enough ma'am."
The other woman smiled at her as she placed the glass down on the bar top. "Oh please. I'm barely getting a buzz. Keep em coming." Erza thought this woman could match up to Cana in terms of drinking.
As the bartender was pouring another shot, Erza had a question for her. "What do you mean that a festival was about to start?"
The Faunus woman downed the shot quickly and slammed it back down. "Guess you humans wouldn't know about it. This festival is the celebration of the joining between Biscotti and Galette. You can say it's one big anniversary celebration for the queen and the archqueen and everyone is invited to the party. That's why there are so many Faunus on the boat more so than usual. They're coming over just for that. Myself included of course. My companion on the other hand, well I dragged her into it."
Aisha also had a question. "When does this festival start?"
The other woman chuckled. "Not for a few more days. I'd say…the day after tomorrow. Now it's my turn to ask a question. What are humans doing on a ferry traveling to Flognarde? Not often Faunus folk get to see that."
Erza crossed her arms. "We're traveling for some business. That's all you need to know."
The Faunus woman laughed. "I'd say that's good enough though I don't why you're coming for business when one of the most fun times is coming up." Well, it did explain a few things for the four girls. An anniversary festival happening and Rias may attack one of them when it begins. The good news is that they have a bit of time before something like that happens. "So where are you four going or you can't say that either?"
Aisha thought it would be best if she answered. "Well, we thought best if we could go both to Biscotti and Galette."
The other woman laughed. "Seriously? Good luck with that. Even though both kingdoms are united, they're still separated. Plus I hear that one of the queens goes to the other kingdom so they could celebrate together."
That posed a problem to the group. "Do you know which queen will go to which kingdom?" Erza asked.
The Faunus woman laughed. "Can't say for sure. They like to make the announcement on the day of the festival."
And yet another problem arises. They wouldn't know which queen would be in which kingdom. It didn't please Erza. "This is very problematic. We wouldn't know where to start and time is of the essence here."
The Faunus woman saw the serious look on the sword master's face. "Hey lighten up. You have until tomorrow to worry about. Why not sit down and have a drink. The other redhead can join too. Not sure about the other two though since they don't look old enough."
Erza held up her hand. "Thank you but I must decline. Thank you for telling us all of this."
The other woman raised another shot glass. "No problem. By the way, I never got all of your names."
That was something the leader of the group didn't mind answering. "My name is Erza Scarlet. The others are Jo, Raidy, and Kan'u." Erza still kept in mind that Aisha only saves her real name for those close to her. No need to tell that to a person they just met.
The Faunus laughed. "Charmed. Karura and here's to when we meet again." She drank another shot. It was incredible that she wasn't drunk yet.
With nothing else to learn, the work for today was done. "Indeed. Farewell."
Before the group could leave, Karura still had one more thing to say to them. "Just a little thing all of you should know." They stopped and looked at her. "When you do arrive at Flognarde or even on this boat, expect some Faunus folk for not liking you. After all, you're heading to our land you know." Well, that was something to be expected. They didn't plan to be welcomed with open arms.
Erza was thankful for that little heads up. "Thank you for telling us that. We'll make sure to be careful." With that said the rest of the group left the bar. There were pros and cons of what happened. Pro was they have more info as to what was going on. The con was figuring out which queen would be in which kingdom. On top of that, the anniversary festival is coming up shortly so there wasn't much time. She had to come up with a plan and quick.
B
Morning came upon the ferry as it blew its horn signaling its arrival to the side of the river. It also served as an alarm for the sleeping heroines. For the rooms, they had to split up into two groups for separate rooms. As they finished preparing for the day ahead, they left their rooms to be welcomed to a most beautiful site. "Oh wow! This is Flognarde!?" Everyone had to agree with Sora. They had a good view and what they saw was a large field of flowers as far as they could see and behind them were thick lush forests. The air also smelled a bit differently. It smelled sweet to the girls.
IF smiled at the site. "Have to say this place isn't half bad. Ah, who am I kidding? This place looks awesome!"
"Don't forget why we're here and what we're supposed to do." Erza reminded them all. Everyone remembered what she meant by that. She explained to the rest of the girls about what was going on. Therefore she had one plan. They had to split up into two groups. One traveling Biscotti and the other to Galette.
As they were walking down the boarding bridge, Aisha still had a question about that plan. "So who are we deciding about who is going where?" That was a question on everyone's mind. They didn't decide from last night but Erza ensured them she thought up a way.
They finally went off the walkway to see a board not too far off. From the look of it, it showed the way of the nearby towns. As they walked toward, there was already a problem. It was in a language they haven't seen before. "So can anyone read that?" Raidy asked.
Everyone shook their heads. They guessed that Fang failed to mention the Faunus have a different language. "Well, that's just great. We just got here and our biggest challenge is trying to figure what this says?" IF complained.
"Maybe the souvenir shop sells translation books?" Aisha guessed.
Suddenly they heard laughter from behind. They turned around to see Touka and Karura walking up to them. Karura was the one that was laughing. They must've been the women the two groups told each other last night. There was one thought that crossed in Sora's, IF's, Aisha's, and Raidy's mind when they saw the weapon on Karura's back. "Is that her weapon?" It was an oversized sword unlike they have seen before. It looked like just carrying it seemed challenging enough but she was carrying it like it was no big deal.
Karura giggled at the group. "You mean to tell me that the lot of you came over here without a translation book. The woman back on the other side should've given you one. Welcome to Flognarde girls."So there was one and they were in such a rush to get on the ferry yesterday. "If you're wondering what that says, it says Galette is over to the left and Biscotti is just up ahead." They looked back at the board again. Well, at least they have the general direction of the kingdoms. "So which way are you going to go?"
Everyone looked at each other and then at the other two Faunus women. "We decided to split up. The only trouble is who decides to go where. I have a way but thanks to our haste, we may have a difficult time reading the language of this land." Erza explained.
Touka saw her partner smile. "Karura, what is that smile for?"
She chuckled. "Well as you would put it, maybe the winds of fate have guided us together."
The other Faunus woman almost fell over. "You know as well as I do you don't believe in things called fate!"
Karura waved her hand at her. "But it is something you would say." Touka hated to admit it but she was right. Karura looked at the group. "Tell you what; since we're nice people, we'll split up with one of the two groups to help out with the language barrier. Me going with the group going to Galette, Touka going with the group heading to Biscotti."
Touka was taken aback at what the tiger Faunus just said. "Are you serious? You want us to split up?"
Karura sighed. "Well, it's still the same celebration in either kingdom." She smiled at the other Faunus woman. "Or maybe…" Karura leaned in close to Touka. "You'll be lonely without me." She spoke in a seductive voice.
Touka blushed heavily. "Don't say something like that in such a voice!" Now the group was wondering if these two were together. Touka looked away and crossed her arms. "Fine, I'll help out the other group." She looked at Erza. "So have you decided the method you will use for splitting up?"
The other woman nodded. "Indeed I have." She took out some sticks out from her pocket. "We will decide using these. There are two different colors. Red and blue. Those who pick blue will travel to Galette. Red will go to Biscotti." Simple but effective. It was going to be entirely by chance. "So everyone grab one."
Everyone did just that. They each picked a stick. All of them were ready to pick. "AND DRAW!" They drew all of their sticks.
Erza smiled at the results. "Seems it's decided then." The group going to Galette were Sora, Raidy, and IF. Erza, Jo, Aisha, and BRS were traveling to Biscotti.
Karura was less than happy about this. "Damn. I was hoping Erza would go to Galette. I really wanted to see how she would be in a fight." Well, she couldn't go back on her word now.
With everything set and decided, the group of girls separated into two smaller groups with Karura guiding Sora's and Touka guiding Erza's. They looked at each other. For the first time, they will be separated during their journey. "I wish you luck on your part." Erza spoke.
Sora nodded back. "Same to you."
Before they could go on their separate ways, Karura had one more thing to do. "Hold it." Everyone wondered what was she was going to do now. Simple enough she just walked up to Touka, grabbed the back of her head, and she just kissed her full on the lips while Karura's eyes were closed. Touka's went wide and the rest of the group was taken by surprise to seeing this. Guess they can be sure these two were together then. The tiger Faunus woman broke the kiss off and grinned. "Something to remember me by."
Touka just growled at the other woman. "Karura you indecent-"
Karura just laughed and ran away. She had a running start to where Sora's group was heading. Said girl and the other girls ran as well to catch up with the Karura. The young knight looked back. "We'll see each other later!"
IF did the same. "I'll make sure Sora doesn't get lost!"
Raidy waved goodbye. "And I'll look after these two. Goodbye!"
Erza and Aisha waved backed. Touka quickly calmed down and sighed. "Shall we go now?" Everyone else nodded and they started on their journey toward Biscotti.
A/N: Well that's one hell of a start of getting back to this story. Touka and Karura are from the anime called Utawarerumono.
