I'm officially unemployed now… sigh. Really not what I'd imagined for myself when I accepted my job back in December. I'm doing a lot more writing than I have in the past—I know from experience that boredom is a terrible enemy, so I'm doing my best to stave it off. So far, it's working—all this free time is doing good things for my productivity. I'd still rather have a job, though. Filed for unemployment the other day (first time ever) and it took ages because the system kept crashing. It wasn't designed to handle so many people on the website at once.
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and not me.
Unexpected
Skye growled under her breath as she slashed at the ugly monster in front of her. It snarled at her, snapping its teeth and growling back.
Why'd it have to be Scavengers?!
Skye had never liked the rat-shaped Grimm, that occasionally swarmed into cities, even making it into the elite streets of Atlas on occasion. They were possibly the ugliest Grimm in existence, with their spiky, matted-looking bodies giving the illusion of real rat fur, their three eyes, their curving yellow claws, and their tails… which unlike regular rat tails, were barbed at the end and the beasts could use them like whips.
One of the few Grimm species that didn't avoid urban areas, young Scavengers weren't much larger than regular rats and were regarded as nuisances more than any real threat. Like their mortal brethren, they were found in nearly every kind of habitat on Remnant. They often coexisted alongside mortal animals in the cities, living in cracks and crevices.
Older, larger Scavengers couldn't get away with living in populated areas. Once they reached a certain size, they became an actual threat and had to be dealt with, usually dying at the hands of a trained Huntsman. But occasionally one would flee civilization before it could be killed, and meet up with others, forming packs and making it harder to defeat them. An invasion of this size wasn't unusual. Skye had counted at least twenty of them roaming the streets, ranging from about the size of a wheelbarrow to that of a small car.
The only good thing about Scavengers was that they typically had very few of the bony spikes that acted like armor for Grimm, so it was fairly easy to defeat them simply by slicing them apart. Skye and Aurum were doing their best at that, while Jade was using brute strength to attack a few on her own several feet away.
Where the hell is Indie?!
Seriously, Skye was going to murder her teammate for ditching them like this. Indie would have been a real help in this fight, sniping from the high ground with her arrows that literally couldn't miss their targets, and now she was nowhere to be seen.
As if merely thinking her name had summoned her to the fight, the monster that Skye had been prepared to freeze to the ground suddenly lurched back, a blue arrow lodged firmly in its flank, before it exploded into a shower of shadowy mist. Indie's voice sounded from above. "Sorry I'm late!" Her apology was punctuated by a series of thunks as more arrows rained down on the horde of Grimm.
Skye vowed that she was absolutely going to have words with the hooded girl once this battle was over, but for now there were more important things to focus on. Like making sure nobody died. Shoving her irritation down, she switched her Dust supply to fire and aimed at two larger Scavengers that were trying to attack Aurum from behind, before switching again, to lightning this time, and swinging a bolt of electricity like a whip to take out another one of the monsters. Using a whip to take down a Scavenger seemed appropriate; despite her irritation, Skye couldn't quite suppress a smirk at the irony.
Finally, most of the pack looked like they were defeated. Only three or four remained in the square, but Aurum and Jade had both vanished, presumably hunting down any stragglers. Skye dispatched the few remaining Grimm, then allowed herself a moment to breathe deeply as she looked up at Indie perched on the rooftop. Where was she when the Grimm first started attacking? What was she doing, and why wasn't she close enough by to hear us yelling? Skye wouldn't have been surprised if Aurum had done that, but Indie was so down-to-earth…
An odd thumping sound entered Skye's consciousness. That… couldn't mean anything good. A split second later, a shadow sped around the corner ahead and made a beeline for Skye, stopping in front of the heiress and resolving into her missing teammates. Aurum was out of breath—from the fight, the use of her semblance, or from carrying Jade along with her, Skye wasn't sure. Maybe all three. They didn't have the chance to say a word before the source of the noise barreled around the corner, revealing itself as the thing they'd been running from.
Skye found her voice first. "A King Scavenger?" Despite her best effort, she couldn't keep a slight tremor out of her words.
Regular, garden variety Scavengers were bad enough, but a King… It was the size of a large truck, and its three yellow eyes burned with hatred as it regarded the team in front of it. There were a number of small bone spikes on top of its head, a crude mockery of a crown. Skye had been relieved that most of the pack hadn't had much in the way of armor, and had been easy enough to defeat, but this King Scavenger was absolutely covered in the bony white spikes typical on mammalian Grimm. Their job had just gotten a lot harder.
Without warning, an arrow came sailing down from the roof, but the beast somehow turned and moved out of the way just in time for the arrow to be deflected off one of its spines. Indie screamed a curse word from the rooftop at her bad luck, but the arrow, sunk deep into the ground a few feet away from the thing, exploded a second later, releasing a fiery wave that noticeably scorched the monster's hide. Not a total loss, then.
Skye switched back to lightning, calling up the power of her semblance to try and slow the thing down so her teammates would have an easier time taking it out. Another arrow launched, but the monster twitched its tail almost lazily, knocking the projectile away and causing it to ricochet into a tree. The bark froze over an instant later—Indie must have decided to change tactics and save her explosive arrows. Or… she could have used them all. Skye had never before in her life seen Indie's arrows get deflected. This thing was fast.
Aurum was swinging Aurora Blaze, the twin fans glowing light blue. Was she trying to freeze it to the ground? Whatever she was doing, it didn't seem to be having any effect whatsoever on the monster. Jade, her weapons in their gun form, was shooting at it, but that wasn't very effective either.
The time dilation ran out, and the Grimm snarled victoriously before starting to advance on them once again. Without pausing to think her next move through, Skye formed a series of glyph platforms and launched herself at it. She swung between a few of them before sinking Gladiola into the beast's left eye.
With a roar that sounded more angry than pained, the giant rat began shaking its head madly. With a loud yelp, Skye lost her grip and went flying, her sword still lodged firmly in the monster's eye. Idiot! You know better than to lose hold of your weapon! she mentally berated herself as she soared through the air. Even worse, without her sword to act as a focus, she couldn't even call up a glyph to break her fall; twisting her body in an attempt to land in a way that would cause the least amount of damage to her aura possible, she had to resort to an extremely painful back handspring that still sent her skidding back, landing heavily on her side in the dirt.
"Eat this!" Jade yelled at the Grimm, smashing at it with her weapons. Both of the green tonfa were crackling with electricity. Aurum was still trying to use her Dust attacks, fire this time, but the creature seemed completely unfazed.
From up on the roof, Indie shouted, "I'm out of arrows!" Her voice held the slightest tinge of fear. Skye fought down a shiver—they were not going to lose the fight to this overgrown rodent!
A cool feeling suddenly washed over her. Her field of vision narrowed to just the Grimm and her teammates, and everything suddenly seemed to be happening in slow motion—her teammates' attacks, the movement of the Grimm, even the tree branches directly overhead. Her eyes zeroed in on her sword, still lodged firmly in the monster's eye, not that it did much good. It wasn't even like the monster was blinded now, since Grimm "saw" by sensing emotions from people and not with actual vision.
Still viewing the fight in slow-mo, a plan suddenly sprang fully formed into Skye's mind. She didn't take the time to think it over, just went for it with the kind of reckless abandon she usually associated with Aurum. The heiress rushed the monster, ducking a swipe of its claws and leaping, to land on its face. It shook its head again, and tried to paw her off when that didn't work, but Skye desperately held on, reaching out for her sword hilt. She grunted with effort, and gained another inch… Just… a little… more… yes!
Her hand grasped the weapon which was as familiar to her as her own reflection, then let out a scream of pain as a set of extremely sharp teeth closed around her ankle. She could feel her aura straining, flickering as it tried to protect her. So far it was holding, but she could tell she was very nearly out.
Only gonna get one shot at this…
With a last burst of effort, Skye managed to pull the trigger on her sword hilt. The sword, still set to lightning mode, lit up in a bright yellow flash, and a split second later, the beast simply disintegrated, as arcs of electricity tore it apart from the inside.
The force of the explosion launched Skye through the air like a rag doll. Through the haze of shadow and residual electricity sparking here and there, she could see that Aurum and Jade, caught in the midst of the explosion, had covered their faces. She landed heavily in the dirt once again, knocking the wind out of her in a sharp "Oof!" Her aura finally gave out, and she bounced a few times before coming to a halt against a low building, maybe a shed of sorts. Dazed, she could only groan. She was almost certain the cartoon-y looking Beowolves chasing each other around her head weren't real…
Her partner was immediately at her side. "Don't move," Jade ordered. "You might be injured." She reached for Skye's foot. The heiress managed to shake her head, and regretted it as her vision went gray and fuzzy for a moment.
"No, my aura didn't break until I hit the ground. My ankle's fine." Snapping out of her little hallucination, Skye moved her arms experimentally, one at a time, before moving on to do the same thing with her legs. Nothing bent the wrong way, which was shocking considering how gracelessly she'd landed on the ground, but she wasn't about to complain about being uninjured.
Jade looked skeptical, but moved on to running her hands gently over Skye's head to double check for any injuries. Skye was still wheezing a little from her hard landing, but managed to wave Aurum over to them. "Are there any more? Grimm, I mean?"
Aurum hurriedly shook her head. "No, we dealt with the small fry before the King showed up. That was the last one."
"Good. Then sound the all clear." Skye's head was getting clearer by the minute. She knew that each building in this town had two alarm buttons inside the door, and a loudspeaker on the roof. The first person to spot any Grimm would sound the alarm, which was loud enough to be heard throughout the village, and the other button was the all clear signal. It was a very efficient system. Aurum nodded, and sped across the street to the general store to inform them that the danger had passed.
xxxxx
The bells were ringing through the town, sounding out the rhythm that indicated the danger was over. Jade wasn't sure how, but her team leader had somehow escaped her reckless assault on the King Scavenger without so much as a scratch. Indie had shimmied down from her rooftop as soon as Aurum had pressed the button, retrieving her arrows from where they lay scattered around the battle site, then joining the rest of her team.
"Indigo! Are you all right?"
Jade turned, eyeing the newcomer who had just frantically rushed onto the scene. He was standing much too close to Indie for Jade's liking, and her eyes narrowed, wondering who the hell this guy was and what he wanted with her cousin.
Indie was brushing off his concern, a smile on her face. "I'm fine. My aura didn't even come close to breaking, see? Besides, I was up on the roof the whole time. They didn't come near me." She held up her scroll. Even from here, Jade could see her team's aura meters displayed. She narrowed her eyes even further. The fact that Indie didn't seem bothered by the stranger's presence was a good sign, but even so…
Aurum not-so-subtly inserted herself between Indie and the man. Jade sidled a bit closer, ready to act as backup if necessary. Not that Indie needed backup—she'd gotten much more proficient at hand-to-hand combat in the last couple years, she'd recently started carrying small knives in her boots, and she'd become far more comfortable with speaking her mind than she used to be. Unless the stranger had his aura unlocked, which seemed unlikely, Jade was confident that Indie could handle herself in a fight. But it couldn't hurt to let him know that Indie's teammates had her back.
"Err…" The man looked around at them. "This… this must be your team, yes?"
Skye very deliberately rested her hand on her sword hilt, the threat behind the motion louder than any words. "I think the better question here is… Who are you?"
Indie pushed her hood back, running her fingers through her hair nervously. Jade was still skeptical, but she could see that her cousin wasn't showing any signs of hostility toward the man. That was good, that meant she'd already met him and he probably wasn't a creep or anything like that. Still… she wanted to know who he was.
"Um… guys?" Indie was looking between her three teammates, who were now all pointedly standing in front of her, weapons ready to be drawn at any moment. "It's… it's all right. You can put your weapons away."
"So, you know this guy?" Skye asked in a very cool tone, looking him up and down, clearly not in any hurry to remove her hand from her sword. Jade couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Skye adopt the "perfect heiress" face—she'd dropped the act around Beacon about two days into their first year—but the expression was locked into place right now.
Indie sighed, her shoulders slumping. "This is… Savu Knight." She hesitated another moment. "He… He's my father."
Skye looked him up and down for a moment. "You sure about that?"
"Skye!" Jade yelled, momentarily startled out of protective mode by her most proper teammate's sudden and complete lack of tact. "What the hell is the matter with you?!"
"Where do you want me to start?" Aurum muttered. Jade groaned as Skye and Aurum began glaring at each other.
Indie, now extremely red-faced, made a valiant effort to continue with the introductions. "I… yes, they're my teammates. Skye, Aurum, and Jade," she added, indicating each one as she said their names.
Thankfully, Indie's words were enough to snap Skye and Aurum out of their little glaring match. Both turned back to the conversation, at nearly the same instant. Jade could see the man—Savu—looking them over and sizing them up one by one, before turning to Aurum, who was standing closest to him, and saying, "You… I know you. Tournament Champion, Aurum Belladonna?"
Aurum flicked her ears, possibly trying to emphasize their presence, before coolly replying, "Yes, I am." She said nothing else.
"And you…" Savu continued, now looking at Skye, "I know you as well. There aren't many people in Remnant who don't know about you, Miss Schnee."
Skye gave him an obligatory-looking inclination of her head.
"I did watch the tournament," Savu added, "so I recognize you as well." Jade frowned; the words had been directed at her. "Team… SAIJ, I believe?"
Jade nodded, finally relaxing a bit. This close, she could see that Skye was right, although she could have said it a little more delicately. There was no resemblance between Savu and Indie, but she knew her teammate. Indie would never have introduced him as her father if she wasn't completely, one hundred percent certain of it. Although Jade was still very interested to know how Indie had known how to find him. Had she… secretly been researching her birth family?
It wasn't that shocking to find out—Indie liked knowing things, and Jade was maybe a tiny bit surprised that Indie hadn't looked into it until now—but how long had she been at it? And why hadn't she deigned to share the search with her teammates? That hurt a little, knowing that Indie had deliberately kept all knowledge of her quest from them. They were supposed to be her best friends, and yet she'd hidden this.
Still, watching Indie with her father—and there was no doubt in her mind that these two were related, despite their physical differences—kindled something… unfamiliar in Jade's heart. It took her a moment to put her finger on it: envy.
Maybe… maybe it was time Jade found out something about her own father.
xxxxx
Aurum hadn't been sure why Indie so vehemently turned down Savu's offer to stay with him for the remainder of the team's time in Northingham, until they'd settled into the barn that night. "His house is tiny," Indie was saying. "We wouldn't all fit, and we'd be loud. We're better off staying here."
Skye, lying on her stomach with her chin propped on one hand, reached for her scroll. As she flicked through something, she slyly remarked, "How long have you been planning this?"
Indie looked perplexed. "Planning what?"
"This." Skye waved one hand through the air, indicating the surrounding area. "This mission. Or are you trying to tell me that us ending up here was a total coincidence, that you didn't choose it so you could sneak off and visit your… father? How long have you known about him?"
Aurum didn't care for the accusing note she could hear in Skye's voice. Based on Indie's face, neither did she. "It was a total coincidence, or are you forgetting that coming here was your idea, not mine? I didn't want to come here, because this was listed as the last known address for Savu Knight, and I didn't think I was ready to see him yet. I wanted to contact him before I just showed up on his doorstep, but when you all agreed to taking this mission, I figured it was a sign that I needed to get off my ass and actually do something. And to answer your other question, I've been researching my birth parents since the beginning of the school year." She paused a minute to take a breath, while Aurum tried to absorb that information.
Indie continued a minute later, in a quieter tone, "I felt like this was something I had to do by myself. Maybe I should have told you, but… I didn't trust you not to butt in and try to take over the whole thing from me. This was something I needed to do."
Aurum flinched.
Skye frowned at her teammate. "I can understand that, but you should at least have told us where you were going before you left this morning."
"And that wouldn't have brought up a whole bunch of other questions I didn't want to answer?" Indie shot back. "I wasn't ready for this, but the opportunity fell into my lap, and I felt like I had to go for it! I totally would've lost my nerve and wimped out if I didn't do it right away."
"Indie…" Jade didn't say anything else, but the sympathy on her face was obvious as she gently patted Indie on the shoulder.
Skye's expression softened a bit. "I'm not saying you should have told us exactly where you were going and why. But a simple 'Hey, I have an errand to run, I'll be back in an hour' would have been appreciated. At least then we wouldn't have panicked, not knowing where you were, and maybe making the Grimm attack even worse than it was. I was worried about you, Indie. We all were. When the bells started up and you were nowhere in sight, I was mad, but then when more Grimm appeared and you still weren't there, I started to think…"
"I get it." Indie's voice was shaky. "I'll tell you if I ever have to do something like this again." She turned away, and after making an attempt to discreetly wipe her eyes, faced her teammates once again. "I know the work's almost done and we're leaving on Tuesday, but can we take one night off? He's invited us all over for dinner."
Aurum didn't know why Savu had invited all of Team SAIJ and not just his daughter, but she was glad he had. It meant she could watch him and make sure he didn't have any major flaws, like, say, a prejudice against Faunus. Her ears were on full display the entire time, and she was making every attempt she could to highlight them, but he was never anything less than polite and respectful of her, which she appreciated.
If anything, Savu was much more uncomfortable with having a Schnee at his table. After Skye "accidentally" knocked over her water glass (which Aurum had a sneaking suspicion had been a ruse to try and make Savu realize she wasn't perfect), she hurriedly asked, "Is there a rag I can wipe this up with?"
"N-no, I'll take care of it," Savu stammered, standing up.
Skye scowled grumpily at his back.
Aurum suddenly wondered if the extreme awkwardness that Savu was exuding could be hereditary. Indie had never been very socially competent; she understood books and weapons and Dust better than she did other people. Aurum had always assumed it was a learned behavior, since Ruby was the same way and so was Ilia to a lesser extent, but she supposed it could have something to do with genetics too.
Savu returned with a cloth in hand and quickly mopped up the small puddle on the table. Luckily, Skye's glass had been nearly empty when she'd overturned it, so the water hadn't spread very far.
"You are… all in your third year at Beacon?" Savu asked as he wiped.
"Uh… yeah," Aurum answered, when it looked like no one else was going to.
Savu smiled at them. "You'll be graduating in a year, then."
"Will you come?" Indie asked suddenly. "To my graduation, I mean."
"Oh, please do," Jade added, before Savu could respond. "It'll be good for you two to spend some time together when we're not on business. Plus it would be the perfect chance for you to meet Ruby and Ilia!"
"I… will have to think about it," Savu replied, after a moment's hesitation. "I do have a job, you know."
"You're a schoolteacher," Aurum pointed out. "Your school year will be over by then. There won't be any reason for you to miss it."
Savu looked surprised. "When is it?"
"October seventeenth this year," Skye answered immediately. Aurum stared; how was Skye so sure of the date, when SAIJ wasn't even graduating this year? Seriously, she had no reason to know that. Skye went on, "It'll probably be in November next year though, because of the Vytal Festival. It's always later in Festival years than it is in the off years."
"Then… I will plan to be there." Savu looked completely at ease for the first time since Team SAIJ had entered his home tonight. Aurum smiled in satisfaction. He would probably be just as awkward meeting the rest of the family… but it was nice to see him becoming more comfortable around them all.
xxxxx
Indie hopped down from the branches of the tree where she'd been sitting, landing gracefully on her feet. She turned to look at her partner. "Looks like that's it. The walls are back up; no Grimm's getting in here anytime soon."
Aurum nodded. "Yeah." She suddenly pricked up her ears, catching the sound of something beyond Indie's ability to hear. "Perfect timing, too; sounds like our ride's just about here."
It took a few more minutes as they trudged back to the center of town, but Indie soon heard the roar of an aircraft approaching.
Skye and Jade were already waiting for them, Skye looking perfectly composed while Jade brushed some leaves out of her hair. The team stood well back, off to the side, so the bullhead would have a clear landing zone. Indie wondered if it was the same pilot that had brought them out here a week ago; they'd sent him back to Vale after he'd unloaded the supplies, so others could make use of his aircraft if necessary, assuring him that they would fill out the appropriate requisition form online when it came time for them to be picked up.
While the aircraft performed its landing maneuvers, Indie's attention was caught by a slight movement, down another street. Suspecting she knew what it was, she started heading in that direction, only to be stopped as Aurum tugged on her cape. "Where are you going? We need to leave now so we can be back at Beacon before dark."
"I know," Indie hurried to reassure her partner. "I'll just… be a few minutes."
Aurum followed her gaze, and understanding blossomed on her face a moment later. "Okay, just… make sure you don't take too long."
Indie nodded, her attention still on the figure ahead. She knew Aurum had seen them too. Savu was still waiting when she got there a minute later. He searched her face wordlessly for a moment.
"I was afraid you were going to leave without saying good-bye."
"I wouldn't do that to you," Indie replied. "This was… maybe a little strange, and not at all how I planned it, but… I'm glad I was able to spend some time with you this week."
"And I am glad as well." Savu held something out to her. "Here, please take this with you. I can have another copy made, but… you should have this one."
Indie looked down at what he'd given her: a small framed photo, a family portrait. Her fingers closed tightly around the frame, as her eyes greedily scoured the image of her birth mother, Delphine Petros, smiling happily as she stood next to her husband with a tiny baby in her arms. This had been the last photo taken of them as a family, before Delphine's illness and Savu's spiral into depression, and his subsequent realization that he could barely take care of himself, let alone an infant, that had prompted his decision to bring her to the orphanage in Vale. It was an incredibly meaningful gift.
Savu was quiet as Indie stared at the photo for several long moments. He slowly reached out one hand and rested it on her shoulder. Indie didn't mind; it felt… nice. "If you don't mind…"
Indie looked up quickly.
"… could I hug you? I haven't gotten to hold you in twenty years, and—"
Savu didn't get to finish whatever he'd been about to say; Indie had flung herself at him and was hugging him tightly. His arms tightened around her as she buried her face in his shoulder. Indie knew she gave good hugs; she wasn't sure it would be possible to live in the proximity of Ruby Rose for any significant length of time and not develop an appreciation for hugging. But Savu pulled back after a minute, smiling sadly at her.
"I think… your friends are waiting."
Indie turned to see her teammates waving their arms in the air, obviously trying to get her attention. The bullhead had landed, and the aircraft was ready to board. Indie turned back to Savu and, pretending not to notice the tears forming at the corners of his eyes, hurriedly said what she needed to. "I'll come back sometime. I promise, this isn't the last you'll see of me."
Some feels for you all on this fine day… I actually teared up a little while writing that last scene.
Please leave a review to let me know what you think!
