Mirage
"I swear," Roman said, as he propped his feet up on his foot rest, lighting another cigar, "That bald fool'll be the death of me."
With his meeting with the king over for a while now, Roman had made it back to his penthouse atop his business. It was as ornate as a man of his status deserved, considering how unlike the monarchy, Roman didn't bother with illusions of modesty. He was currently sitting by the fire, having a drink while Neo leaned on the wall nearby. Said girl glowered slightly, before she used her Semblance to manifest as an image of the king, as she mimed shooting "himself" in the head.
"Were it so easy," Roman answered, as he took a long puff, "Besides, you really want that animal-loving princess on the throne?" Neo just scowled as she changed back. Roman certainly wished he could simply take the king out of the picture, but unfortunately, not only was that man guarded 24 hours a day, it would just leave one of his (even more) idealistic daughters in power, which would put the throne one step closer to being ruled by an octopus; Roman would have to take out the entire House of D'Arc.
"We need to be smart about this," Roman said, "With the SDC's heiress now on the same team as the king's brat, we need to watch our step. The last thing we need is a Schnee-in-law for the D'Arcs." Neo narrowed her eyes, before she then shifted into an imagoes Prince Jaune.
"Tempting, but he's not worth the trouble," Roman answered, as he spun his cigar through his fingers. It was true that he once attempted to set Neo up with the prince, but that obviously didn't work. Neo pouted before she paused and reached into her pocket. Narrowing her eyes, she handed it over to Roman, who took it and quickly read it.
"Going back to the animals," he said, with a slight grin, as he took another puff, "Something tells me this is going to be a busy next few weeks." He took one last, longer puff, before tossing his cigar into the fireplace.
"Come on," he said, as he rose to his feet, "We've got work to do."
(I) (I) (I)
Velvet hummed to herself, as she cheerily made her way down the hall. Though this day wasn't the best, she doubted she'd ever forget the other thing that happened to her that day. She all but skipped up to her dorm's door, where her teammate Coco was already sitting on one of the beds, sketching something on her pad.
"You look happy," she said, upon looking up.
I am happy," Velvet answered as she came in, closing the door behind her.
"Care to tell me why?" Coco asked with a smirk as she sat up on her bed.
"It's kind of a long story," the bunny answered, as she sat across on her own bed.
"Then it sounds like a good one, tell me everything," Coco answered, leaning forward. Velvet pursed her lips, as she tried to think of the best way of telling it. She honestly didn't want Coco, or really any member of her team, going after Cardin or his team at this point, but knowing her teammates, that may have been hard.
"Well, I was going to put my stuff away in the dining hall," she said, "However, along the way, a few first years called me over and…" She trailed off slightly, as she involuntarily rubbed one of her ears. Coco looked at her, frowning behind her shades, apparently putting the pieces together.
"Who did it?" she asked cooly.
"It's really no problem," Velvet said, holding up her hands, "I don't think they're going to do it again."
"Who. Did. It?" The bunny winced slightly, before she sighed.
"Team CRDL," she finally said. There was a period of silence, before Coco rose to her feet.
"Coco," Velvet said slowly, "Please don't do anything rash."
"You said they're first years right?" Coco asked icily. She didn't wait for an answer, before she started making her way for the door.
"You really don't need to do any of this," Velvet said, as she quickly positioned herself in front of the door, 'Again, I'm sure they are going to do it again."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Well, that's the other part of the story," Velvet said, as she rubbed the back of her neck, "You know how the Prince of Vale is attending Beacon now?"
"Yeah, why?" Coco asked. There was a silence, as Velvet looked away, twisting on her feet slightly, as her leader started putting it together again.
"The prince helped you?" Coco asked.
"Yeah," Velvet said, as she smiled slightly, "It was actually kind of cool, the way he came up the way he did, and made them all stop."
"Oh?" Coco said, as she peered down her glasses, "Don't tell me you've been swept off your feet."
"Oh no!" Velvet said, holding up her hands, as she flushed red, "I'm just thankful he did something."
"Hmm," Coco said, as she pushed her shades back up and shrugged, "Whatever you say." With that, she went back to her sketches, as Velvet sighed, thankful her team wasn't going on a quest of vengeance. However, her brain wandered back to the prince, deciding that she should thank him again if she ever got the chance.
(I) (I) (I)
One thing Jaune knew going into Beacon was that while he did receive top notch training from some of the best teachers in Remnant, that wasn't much compared to actual experience. One thing he didn't know going in was just how much experience some of his teammates would have. That always became particularly apparent when he would spar with them, like he was doing with Pyrrha at the time on the Beacon roof.
Quickly raising his shield in defense, he managed to block Pyrrha's attack, as he swung his own sword, which the red-head easily evaded. She then switched her sword to spear mode, and thrust at Jaune, who parried it without much issue, but Pyrrha quickly followed up by bringing her shield around, which crashed into Jaune's. The two clashed briefly, before Pyrrha used her Semblance to repel Jaune away. While he managed to keep his feet, he only had just enough time to parry another strike from Pyrrha's sword. With that done, Pyrrha called it quits, as she took a breath, and sheathed her weapon.
"I know," the prince answered, before she could say anything, "I need to get better."
"Actually, I was going to say that you were good," Pyrrha said, "You just need a bit more real world experience."
"Yeah, it's not the same when most of your trainers are the same people who take a sacred oath to keep you safe," Jaune said, "I think the only real training I got was in Atlas, and that was because the trainer was a friend of my sister."
"Well, I guess one good thing about being royalty is you don't have to worry too much about your safety," Pyrrha said with a smile. Jaune returned it, but he then frowned, not so sure about it now, as his mind went back to what happened earlier today during lunch.
"I wish I can do some things on my own, though," he said, "Like what happened at the dining hall today."
"What do you mean? You did help that Faunus girl."
"Yeah, but honestly, and I know this may sound ungrateful, but I feel bad that I needed Ilia there," Jaune said.
"What makes you say that?"
"I know it's Ilia's job to keep me safe, and I'm thankful for that, but…." Jaune trailed off as he rubbed the back of his head, and looked over Beacon. He sighed, as he looked back at his teammate.
"I don't know," he said, "I just want to be able to help people myself." Pyrrha was quiet for a time, before she came over to him.
"If it's worth anything, I just think she was grateful you stopped it," she said. Jaune sighed, as he nodded slightly.
"Well, I'm going back, you coming?"
"I would, but Ruby said she wanted to compare weapon designs with me," Pyrrha answered, "So I'll see you in the room."
"Okay then," Jaune said, waving as he left.
As he descended the stairs, he checked his Scroll, noting in the news how his dad had met with Roman Torchwick. He sighed, feeling bad for his dad; he'd met Torchwick himself, with the businessman trying to set Jaune up with his daughter. Needless to say, it hadn't panned out, but that didn't stop Torchwick from trying. Jaune just sighed as he came into the hall.
Soon enough, he came up to JWPB's room, and to his surprise, the door was open. That was strange, as Weiss was generally pretty stringent on making sure their room was secure. Jaune just shrugged, as he stepped in… only to step right into the door. Stumbling back, rubbing his nose, Jaune noticed that there was now door there.
"Okay," he muttered, rationalizing that the door must've swung closed when he tried to come in. He then opened the door… only to be greeted by an image of Weiss naked. She screamed, as Jaune cried out, leaping back, but then he paused; there was an understanding that if the girls were changing in their room, they would leave a sign on the door. Jaune had grown up with seven sisters, so he was smart enough oblige by that, and so far, JWPB had been pretty good on keeping to it.
"Wait a minute," he said, as he started to put to realize what was going on, as he sighed, and pulled himself to his feet, "Alright, you had your fun." With that, there was some light laughing, as someone appeared from around the corner. It was a girl about Jaune's age with dark skin and red eyes, marked by short, mint green hair with two long strands.
"Seriously, you are way too easy to trick," she said, folding her arms at him.
"Hey Emerald," Jaune said with a sigh.
"Your Highness," Emerald said with a mock bow. Emerald Sustrai was another one of Jaune's personal guard, though she often did odd jobs for the Royal Family, with her codename in the guard being "Mirage". How they met was a bit of a long story, but it wasn't entirely indifferent to how Jaune and Ilia met. Speaking of which, the chameleon suddenly came racing down the hall.
"I heard you scream!" she said, "Are you…. Emerald?"
"Hey Ills," Emerald said.
"What're you doing here?" Ilia asked, as the guardswoman fist bumped.
"Checking in on our noble prince," Emerald answered jokingly, "So, find any nice girls yet?"
"Not yet," Ilia said, as she gave an embarrassed smile, flashing pink briefly.
"Really?" Emerald asked, cocking her head, "I mean, with Jaune it makes sense, but why you?"
"Hey!" Jaune said, with a frown.
"I tell it like it is, Your Highness," Emerald said, sticking her tongue out slightly. The prince just sighed, as he ran a hand through his hair, not sure why he expected any other answer from her.
"So, what are you actually doing in Beacon?" He asked.
"Well, I wanted to check in on you before I headed out," Emerald said, "I'm being sent on another task."
"Where are you going?" Jaune asked.
"Your father is sending me on an investigation of the Eastern reaches of the kingdom," Emerald said, "There's something he wants me to check."
"What kind of investigation?"
"Sorry, can't tell you," Emerald said with a slight shrug, "Official royal business and what not. Ya' know?"
"Right," Jaune said, frowning slightly, "But yeah, everything's good here."
"You sure? I saw the video of the initiation, and you were very close to being eaten by an Unagi," Emerald said.
"Hey, I figured it out!" Jaune protested.
"Right," Emerald answered, rolling her eyes slightly.
"Hey, give him some credit," Ilia said, "It was his plan that ultimately destroyed the Grimm."
"And his teammates swords that killed it," Emerald said, "But hey, make do with what you've got, right?"
"How do you think my family united this kingdom?" Jaune asked, with his own shrug, to which his guards laughed slightly.
"Anyway, I'll be sticking around for a day or so," Emerald said as she turned to the door, "Just to make sure all's good here."
"What, you don't trust me?" Ilia asked. Jaune figured Ilia meant that as a joke, but was surprised when Emerald's brow furrowed slightly.
"I've seen the kind of team Jaune's got," Emerald said, "It includes a Schnee, and there's something about that Blake girl that doesn't feel right."
"You mean Blake? What about her?" Jaune asked.
"Just a feeling." This time, it was Jaune's turn to furrow his brow. Emerald's hunches often weren't wrong, so he wondered what she was seeing in Blake that Jaune wasn't.
"Well, that's all well and good, but where're you going to stay?" Ilia asked.
"With you, where else?" Emerald answered.
"Say what now?" Jaune took that as an opportunity to retreat; last time an argument like that happened, the two had dragged him into that, and that was another thing that he learned while growing up with seven sisters, ten if you counted Saphron's wife, Ilia, and yes, even Emerald.
Note: Now, I haven't gotten around to reading After The Fall yet, which is the primary work for Team CFVY, so I'm doing my best to develop the characters based on what I do know. I have a plan where to take them, but I won't tell it just yet.
I know this chapter was shorter than my previous ones, but anyone who knows my writing style knows that I approach chapters like they are scenes in a show, rather than episodes. One thing I'm hoping to do starting next chapter is allow Jaune a chance to develop with a few other female characters, including Weiss and Blake. Blake is a little harder to build on than Weiss, in part because her character has had absolutely no meaningful interaction with Jaune in canon.
The decision to make Emerald a part of Jaune's guard coming early in the development for this story. Again, I was looking for points where I can make this story more my own idea, and I thought that much how I was developing Ilia and Hazel, there was opportunity to be had with Emerald. I considered Neo as well, but decided against it.
Please comment. I've also been working on some original works, which I might post on FictionPress.