As promised, here's the second chapter of the day!
I do not own RWBY. I'm just having some fun and practicing my writing by playing around with the characters.
Back to School
Jade waited near the airship docks. She wasn't entirely sure that Yang would be arriving this afternoon, or from this direction—the text she'd sent Jade this morning had been frustratingly vague—but Jade knew that her mom had been doing some work outside the kingdom of Mistral most recently, and so traveling by air seemed more likely than traveling by sea or by ground.
Her stomach growled—she'd skipped lunch to be here. Checking the time on her scroll, she decided to allow herself another fifteen minutes before she'd go in to the café and find herself some food.
She only lasted ten. Breakfast had been a long time ago. Her sparring matches against Skye and Rue earlier certainly didn't help her appetite. When her stomach growled again, loudly enough for her to duck in embarrassment as one of the pilots passing by looked around as though expecting to see a Grimm, she decided enough was enough and headed for the academics building.
Being adventurous and ordering a turkey club sandwich rather than her usual grilled ham and cheese, she settled into one of the corner tables to eat her meal by herself.
The sandwich was gone and she'd started on her chips when a shadow fell over her table. Glancing up, she nearly choked on her food, then winced as a sharp corner of one chip caught her in the throat, prompting a coughing fit.
Indie tried to pound her on the back, but Jade waved her off as the snack dislodged itself and she managed to swallow, her eyes watering.
"Well." Yang looked highly amused. "I can't say this is what I was expecting to happen today."
Jade quickly took a big sip of her juice to try and soothe the soreness in her throat where the chip had stabbed her. "I—Mom, how'd you get here without me seeing you? I've only been in here for a few minutes; an airship couldn't possibly have landed so soon!"
Yang grinned. "Didn't come on the airship. I just drove up the cliff." Then her cheerful expression shifted into one somewhere between shock and horror. "Did I forget to mention I've been back from Mistral for a week now?! I've been on Patch, visiting Dad and Ruby. I got to meet the kiddoes while I was there too." Tilting her head toward Indie, she added, "This one's been asking me questions about them the entire way over here from the dorm."
"Hey, come on! I haven't even met them yet!" Indie protested. "I barely know what they look like, and only 'cause I had my parents send me a photo!"
"Yeah, I know." And Jade did know. She wouldn't admit it to anyone but herself, but she was burning with curiosity about her new cousins. It was undoubtedly worse for Indie, since they were technically her brother and sister now. Due to the team's schoolwork and missions during last semester, and babysitting Lian and Citrine over the break, she still hadn't gotten the chance to get over to Patch for a couple days to meet them.
Yang stole a couple of Jade's chips off her plate. Jade halfheartedly swatted at her, but Yang snaked her hand around her daughter's and popped the stolen snack into her mouth with a wink, then plunked herself into the other chair at the table. Looking up at Indie, she grinned and teased, "Get lost, kid. Me and my baby girl have some serious catching up to do. We haven't seen each other since the Vytal Festival!"
Indie scrammed quickly, probably off to do some more homework or something. Yang tried to steal another chip, but was foiled when Jade decided to pick up her entire plate and held it off to the side, out of her mother's reach. "No, get out of here! I paid for this! If you want to eat something, go order yourself a sandwich from the counter!"
"Aww, you're no fun today." Despite Yang's teasing tone, she did get up and order a burger with fries and a large chicken salad from the counter. Jade cringed a little at that: the school café served excellent food for the most part—they had to; this was a combat school, and students typically burned a lot of calories just in their everyday activities, so they were pretty much always hungry—but the burgers were… not great. She'd ordered them a couple times her first year, but had very quickly learned that the sandwiches, salads, wraps, and soups on the menu were much more appetizing.
Yang didn't seem to mind the mediocre quality, though. She tore into her food, pausing only briefly to comment, "I haven't had anything to eat since I left Patch at dawn this morning, I could eat ten of these!" Jade continued eating her chips at a more normal pace, and they finished at around the same time.
"So." Yang leaned back in her seat and gave her daughter an intense look. "Any news you feel like sharing? Nora mentioned you had something pretty important you needed to talk to me about."
Jade scowled. "Nora needs to learn to keep her big mouth shut."
Yang quirked an eyebrow, grinning crookedly. "Nora knows perfectly well how to keep her mouth shut. Considering how much she loves to talk, she's like a clam when it comes to other people's secrets. All she said was you had something big you needed to tell me."
Still a little disgruntled that Nora had decided to blab, Jade wondered how to start. "I… Well…" She hesitated, then sighed and slumped back in her chair when Yang shot her an I'm-waiting look. Casting a quick glance around the café to ensure that nobody could hear her next words, she quietly said, "Raven visited me here at Beacon."
Yang's eyes flickered red for a brief moment before she closed them, clenching her fists and taking a long, deep breath. Jade watched, fascinated, as Yang reined her temper back in. When her mother opened her eyes again, they were back to their normal amethyst coloration.
"You… I'm glad you told me." Yang squeezed Jade's hand—not with the metal arm, that would have hurt—in a comforting way. "What did she want from you?"
"Wait… what makes you think she wanted something from me?" Jade questioned, somewhat taken aback that her mother already knew.
Yang snorted. "Because Raven never does anything unless there's something in it for her. She wouldn't have come to see you just to say hi."
Jade noted the use of Raven. Yang typically reserved the title of Mom for Summer Rose and very pointedly referred to Raven by her first name, but sometimes she slipped and used Mom when she was talking about Raven. It could get a little confusing.
"Well, she tried to… recruit me, I guess. Said her tribe could use someone with my fighting skills and who can turn invisible." Jade caught Yang's alarmed expression, and hurried to add, "I turned her down flat. After I shot her out of a tree. She won't be trying that again anytime soon."
"You… shot her out of a tree?" Yang repeated, incredulous.
Jade nodded.
Yang let out a bark of laughter. "Oh, I wish I could have been there to see the look on her face!" After a moment of grinning to herself, her smile faded, her expression becoming serious once again. "When did this happen?"
"Umm… a few weeks into the first semester," Jade answered.
"And you didn't tell me any sooner?" Yang demanded, suddenly looking hurt. Jade didn't have the chance to say anything before Yang shook her head. "No, I guess that's not the kind of thing you can say in a text, or even over a video call." She slumped back in her seat again. "I guess I can't really blame you… although I wish you'd told me to come to Beacon earlier."
"Wha—Mom, I wouldn't interrupt your mission for something like that!" Jade protested.
Yang fixed her with a dead serious expression. "Jade Xiao Long, if you ever, ever call me and say you need me, I will be there as soon as I can, no questions asked. There is nothing in all of Remnant more important to me than you are." A moment later, in a much quieter voice, she added, "Calling your mother for something important like this… It's not an option I ever had."
There was a quiet fierceness in her mother's eyes as Jade took in her words. She looked down, a little ashamed that she hadn't thought about it in those terms. It took her a minute to be able to speak. "She mentioned my semblance, but other than that, I… I don't even know why she would have wanted me."
"Oh, I have a pretty good idea," Yang replied. She sounded mad, but her eyes hadn't gone red, at least not yet, so that was probably a good sign. "You are on the team that just won the single biggest fighting competition in all of Remnant. If it was just about having a stealth semblance… well, you unlocked it when you were twelve. Raven's had plenty of time to make her sales pitch—and don't even try to tell me she didn't know about it earlier; she clearly keeps tabs on you—so if she never made herself known to you before this… I'm almost certain that's the reason she decided to approach you now."
It made a twisted kind of sense, Jade realized. A bandit tribe that existed on the very fringes of society? Yes, they could definitely have benefited from a powerful fighter like her. While a small part of her mind questioned the likelihood of bandits having the time or the means to watch the tournament, mostly what she felt was relief at turning down Raven's offer.
"I'm only staying for a day or two," Yang began, after a couple minutes of silence. "So… how about we put the time to good use?" She cocked her wrist, activating her Ember Celica weapon, and grinned in a clear challenge. "It has been way too long since we've gotten to face each other."
xxxxx
"Ugh, how much farther to Vale?" Aurum whined.
Jade consulted her scroll. "About four more miles. So we should make it back today, as long as we stay on this road."
Calling the dirt track they were on a road was a bit generous, Indie thought. Trail might have been more accurate. It was unpaved, and barely wide enough for a medium-sized vehicle to pass through.
Indie turned her head halfway to check on her passenger. "You still doing okay, Ivy?"
"Uh-huh," the little girl riding piggyback answered. "You're sure my aunt's waiting for me in Vale?"
Indie gave her a squeeze. "Positive. You talked to her yesterday, remember?"
Ivy nodded into the back of her neck, and Indie smiled to herself. Their Search and Destroy mission had quickly morphed into Search and Rescue when they'd heard screams in the distance two days ago. Running toward the source of the noise, they'd happened across a pretty sizable pack of Beowolves swarming the base of a large maple tree, trying to get their claws on the little girl sheltering among its limbs. Team SAIJ had immediately leapt into action, dispatching the Grimm horde until there was nothing left but smoke. Indie had then swung herself into the branches to retrieve the terrified child.
Her story was surprisingly simple. Ivy told them that she was eleven years old and that she lived with her aunt, who was a trader. Two days ago, she had gotten separated from the caravan they were traveling with. She told them that she hadn't panicked, not then, figuring she could just follow the track back to Vale and meet back up with the caravan there, but had been unlucky enough to stumble onto a few Beowolves along the way. They had chased her, forcing her up the tree for safety. Ivy had forced herself to try and stay calm, and the pack had appeared to lose interest, but when she tried to descend the tree to continue her trek, they'd returned. She'd been in the tree for over a day when another pack decided to join the party, prompting her to lose her grip on calm, and starting to shriek.
It was a good thing they'd been there, Indie decided. Ivy had had no food or water since breakfast the day she'd lost her caravan; she probably wouldn't have lasted much longer out here. Upon finding her, Skye had immediately shoved her canteen at the girl, and not budged until Ivy had drained the whole thing.
All had gone fine until Ivy had tripped over a tree root this morning and sprained her ankle. Not badly, according to Jade, but enough so that she couldn't walk very well. Indie had never been so grateful that medical training was part of the standard curriculum at Beacon than she had been in that moment. They were only about ten miles out from Vale at that point, so rather than calling the situation in and waiting around for reinforcements to arrive, Indie had offered to carry the girl in order for the team to make it back to the main kingdom today. Since she was more of a support specialist than a front-line fighter, she figured it would create less of an issue than if Aurum or Jade had done the same. Now the others surrounded them like a sort of honor guard, as they trekked back toward Vale.
Indie didn't mind the extra weight. Ivy was small for her age.
"Heads up!" Aurum suddenly called. "Big old King Taijitu coming this way!"
Indie muttered a cuss word under her breath, one that she'd picked up from Jade and that she sincerely hoped the girl dangling from her neck hadn't caught. The rude word had barely escaped her lips when Skye shot forward using one of her speed glyphs, and landed on the giant snake's white head. She thrust her sword into the creature, right between its eyes, and made a gesture with her other hand. A series of black glyphs rose into being, pinning the snake's entire body to the ground, while at the same time allowing Skye to accelerate and propel herself along the thing's body like a roller coaster. With her sword firmly lodged in its black head, the monster was neatly cut in half lengthwise before Indie had blinked.
She felt Ivy's weight shift on her back, and wasn't surprised when the girl let out a soft "Wow…" of admiration. Indie was impressed with the stunt herself; she had never seen Skye do that before.
The rest of the trek back was more of the same. Grimm would emerge from cover every few minutes, and Indie would hang back while her teammates quickly dispatched them. Luckily, Huntsman training included ways to keep cool heads, and they never attracted more than a few at a time. Indie kept a tally of how many they'd defeated since encountering Ivy. Seven Taijitus, thirty-six Beowolves, fourteen Ursai, five Beringels, that one Deathstalker that was practically small enough to squish under a foot… am I forgetting any? Oh yeah, that Boarbatusk that I made crash into a tree. That was fun.
The memory put a small smirk on Indie's face for the rest of the hike. Her semblance did work on Grimm, if they happened to end up in the air. That silly pig had rolled into a ball and tried to launch itself at them, and had wound up bouncing off of a stone that had shot it into the air. It had been child's play for Indie to redirect the airborne Grimm into a large, solid oak tree. The monster had lain there, dazed, for a few seconds until Aurum sliced it into paste with Aurora Blaze.
Finally, the trees seemed to thin, and Aurum let out an excited yell. "I can see lights ahead!"
Aurum's shout was unnecessary, since Indie had also spotted the soft glow of lamps ahead. Only a few more minutes passed before they emerged from the forest onto a much more well-traveled lane. This was the main land route that linked the main kingdom of Vale to the southern villages. There were far fewer settlements to the north, which explained why the road they'd been traveling was in such a rough condition.
A merchant caravan was waiting near the city gates as they approached, and a figure detached itself from the milling crowd, rushing toward them. "Ivy!"
"Aunt Ashe!" Ivy yelled back, sliding down to the ground. Indie winced as the little girl's weight pulled her cape back, and the clasp in front dug painfully into her neck. She reached for her throat and straightened the accessory as soon as Ivy had let go of her.
The woman, whose voice Indie recognized from speaking with her on their call earlier, was hugging the little girl fiercely. "You are incredibly lucky to have survived out there, Ivy. Only think of what might have happened to you if these nice Huntresses hadn't been nearby! Don't ever wander off from the caravan again, understand?"
Ivy nodded sheepishly. "I understand, Aunt Ashe. I won't do it again. Not ever."
Ashe hugged her niece for another minute, then turned her attention to SAIJ. "I can't thank you enough for saving my Ivy. She's the only family I have left after my sister died last year. Please, take this." She tried to shove a handful of Lien at Skye, who crossed her arms and shook her head.
"We can't accept your money, ma'am. We're Huntresses; it's what we do." Skye looked a little uncomfortable, but Indie recognized the stubborn set to her leader's shoulders. There was no way Skye would be changing her mind on this.
She glanced over at Aurum, suddenly very aware of being unarmed. "Hey, give me my weapons back!"
Aurum passed the bow and quiver back to her partner. Indie carefully slid them back into place, noticing as she did that Ashe still had her money out. "Are you sure?" the trader woman insisted. When Skye emphatically shook her head again, closely followed by equally vehement head shakes from both Indie and Jade, she hesitated another moment before nodding reluctantly and putting the money back into her pocket. "What can I do to repay you, if you won't take my money?"
Indie spoke up. "Use your money to hire a Huntsman to escort your caravan, so this doesn't happen again. Grimm are much less likely to attack travelers who are under the protection of an armed guard."
Skye, Jade, and Aurum all nodded in agreement. Small, young Grimm tended to rush people and usually ended up dying for their troubles, and older Grimm were better at recognizing threats to themselves. Simple self-preservation usually kept away any beasts that might pose a threat to an experienced Huntsman.
Ashe pursed her lips for a moment. "You're sure you won't take—"
"Yes, we're sure," Aurum interrupted her. "Taking money from people… that's not the kind of Huntresses we were raised to be."
xxxxx
Team SAIJ had been back from their unexpected Search and Rescue mission for two days, and Skye was concerned about the fact that they had technically abandoned their Search and Destroy mission. It had obviously been the right thing to do—Ivy had no combat training, and it was extremely unlikely that she would have survived the trip back to the kingdom in her weakened state without being protected—but Skye felt it was best to check in with Goodwitch and make absolutely sure that they wouldn't suffer any consequences for it.
She was startled to see Zelty coming out of the Headmistress's office. Was he in trouble? She didn't see how he could be—he was a model student. Something was up.
Skye ran to catch up with him, shocked to see his eyes filling with tears. "Zel, what's going on?" she quietly asked, using her own private nickname for him.
Evidently, her boyfriend had been only barely holding in his tears, because he flung his arms around her and began sobbing into her shoulder. Skye staggered a bit, but managed to keep her balance, and guided him over to a wall so he could lean some of his weight on it instead of her. Not that he was heavy, exactly, but he was essentially deadweight right now. She slid her body down the wall and seated herself at least semi-comfortably, taking him with her and wrapping her arms around him in an attempt to try and calm him down.
Skye wasn't sure how long they sat there, but she was pretty sure it was only a few minutes. Eventually, his sobs tapered off into soft hiccups. She still didn't know what had set this off; Zelty was usually pretty optimistic, and breaking down and crying in public like this wasn't like him.
"I'll take care of him."
Huh? Skye looked up, startled that she hadn't heard another person approaching. Rue stood a couple steps away from the pair, and as Skye watched, the lancer of Team AZSR closed the remaining distance and laid a soft hand on her partner's shoulder. Her mint-colored aura flickered over both of them, and Skye saw Zelty's gray eyes seem to… unfocus, become blank.
Rue gently tugged on his arm. To Skye's surprise, he went with it, slowly rising up from the floor. The brunette began gently leading him down the corridor.
Skye tagged along, unsure of what had just happened. "Was… was that your semblance, just now?"
"Yeah." Rue spared a brief glance at her partner before elaborating. "I call it 'Night's Bane.' It makes people a little… sleepy? Confused? Whatever you want to call it, most people become a little more… docile… after I use it on them. I don't like to; it feels wrong to impose my will on someone that way, but…" She cast another glance at her compliant charge. "…I think right now, it was the only way to get him back to our dorm."
Skye tried to think of potential uses for a semblance like that. "That seems like it would be useful in the wake of some kind of disaster, during relief efforts when people are scared and confused." A moment later, she added, "You… you knew to come here. So… does that mean you know why he's like this? All I know is he started sobbing into my shoulder and never said anything."
"Yeah, I think I do." With her free hand, Rue fished her scroll out of her pocket and tossed it underhand at Skye, who caught it, a little bit startled. "Open up the News app, it's the last article I read."
A bit apprehensive, Skye did as she was told. The headline of the article jumped out at her.
Body Found Identified as Missing Atlesian Reporter
Skye put her hand over her mouth, her heart sinking. This couldn't be what she thought it was. Skimming the article, she found the name she'd been dreading. "Oh no…"
Rue let out a small breath. "Yeah. His father's dead; it looked like a mugging. I saw the article about five minutes after Goodwitch summoned him to her office, so I came looking for him. I was really hoping he wasn't in trouble, but I didn't want this." She looked back at Skye. "You should go on back and see Goodwitch for whatever it was you needed to. I promise, he'll be fine. I'm just taking him back to our dorm and he'll probably sleep for a few hours."
"I—Okay." Skye trusted Rue to look after Zelty; she was his partner, and she was also the kindest person Skye had ever met. She just… didn't want to leave him when he was so vulnerable. "Do me one favor?"
Rue looked over at her expectantly.
"After he wakes up… will you tell him to call my mom?"
Rue looked blank. "I mean, I can do that, but… why?"
"Because…I know he was estranged from his father," Skye answered. "Mom had… a very similar relationship with her own father, and he died recently too."
"Oh, right. I remember hearing about that a while ago." Skye blinked at Rue for a minute, until the other girl shrugged one shoulder. "What? I'm from Atlas, I still pay attention to the local news."
Skye nodded in understanding. "Yeah. Well, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it—we were never close—but I think… I think she could help. At the very least, she's someone he can talk to, who can probably relate to what he's going through better than anyone here at Beacon."
xxxxx
"I'll take a tuna sandwich with fries and a strawberry smoothie," Aurum told the café attendant. The man nodded at her and relayed her order to one of the other employees on duty. She grabbed a couple napkins and took a seat near the window.
Maybe she was procrastinating. No, there was no maybe about it. She was definitely putting off starting work on her latest DustApps assignment. Why, why did she have to talk about the uses of Dust in civilian society?
The class was called Practical Applications of Dust for a reason. Obviously there were plenty of civilian uses for Dust. Life wouldn't be possible without it. But at the best combat academy in Remnant, why were they studying everyday uses instead of potential combat uses? It was annoying.
Realistically, Aurum knew that the world would grind to a screeching halt if it wasn't for Dust being used in mundane ways. Ice Dust was essential to refrigeration, earth Dust in building and construction, and fire and steam Dust were used to power nearly every vehicle on Remnant's surface. Gravity Dust was needed for airships, while lightning Dust provided electricity. Even Huntsmen who primarily used Dust in combat couldn't survive without food and shelter, and if they didn't have access to transportation or information, they wouldn't be able to do their jobs as well as they needed to. So she could admit, very reluctantly, that she understood why they'd been given an assignment like this.
Aurum sighed in a mix of exasperation and disgust and checked over her notes.
Ice Dust is essential to the smooth operation of dining establishments…
Only a moment later, she was shaken out of her concentration by the arrival of her lunch. She absently nodded her thanks to the attendant who set the plate down on her table. Picking up half of her sandwich and taking a bite, she regarded the smoothie in the cup. I bet this was made with ice created by ice Dust…
Despite her best efforts, she was only able to write down a few possibilities. She didn't want to be completely boring and talk about some Dust-powered device that could be found in any household, like lighting or heating, but she also didn't want to try and delve into an obscure topic that she might have difficulty finding any research on. Indie, always the overachiever, had chosen to research solar power and how the Dust required would only be needed to start the process, after which point the energy collected would power the device on its own. Aurum had only understood half the words her partner had used to describe the topic, but if anybody could do it, Indie could.
She was incredibly tempted to call her brother and beg for his help on this. Aqua had never had an interest in combat, but Dust and all it could do had fascinated him for as long as she could remember. The lab he worked in at Vale Tech had to have plenty of research on various Dust uses, right? Her fingers inched toward her scroll… but she stopped herself. If you call him for help on this assignment… he'll never let you live it down. With a heavy sigh—the little voice in her head was right—she shoved her scroll into her bag so she wouldn't be tempted again.
Aurum finished the last of her sandwich in two bites, returned her plate to the counter, and left the café, nearly bumping into her mom on the way out. Blake spared a moment to hug her. "How's your day going?"
"It's… well, not great," Aurum admitted. "It's this Dust assignment that's giving me trouble." She wrinkled her nose as she looked over her notes again.
Blake sighed and gave her daughter's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. You've always been a smart kid. You won't let a little ten-point assignment keep you from getting your Huntress license, right?"
"It's a twenty-point assignment," Aurum pointed out.
"My point remains the same," Blake replied dryly. "Just do your best. That's all anyone can ask." She hugged Aurum one more time before stepping into the café.
Aurum looked down at her notes again. No, she wasn't going to let one difficult assignment keep her from graduating. Whatever grade she got on this project, it would be better than the zero she'd get if she ignored it. Her fingers tightened on her scroll. She would finish this assignment, and she was going to start working on it today.
Stay tuned for the next chapter; I've been planning it for ages and I'm really happy with it turned out. Muhahaha…
Please leave a review to let me know what you thought of this chapter!