Author's Notes
Read, review, follow, fav, review. In that order. Seriously. Reviews help this story and me as a writer.
Chapter 33: Her past to tell
Once more GV wasn't here. He was in another raid. It was less than a week since the last one. And that one happened merely two days after the one before. So on, so forth.
I sighed, continuing peeling potatoes for today's meal. In retrospect, I should have known that an organization like the White Fang couldn't subsist exclusively on fighters. They needed people willing to do all kind of jobs. Cooking, cleaning, medicine, logistics. I'm not much good in a fight. I proved that much after that ill-thought appearance in the battlefield. So, helping with cooking it was.
I threw the peeled tuber on the pot collecting them. When was the last time I had GV all for myself? Not that I had any claim on him, but still… I wish I could have just one day where he wasn't training, raiding, or running some errand. Nowadays it felt like all he thought about was White Fang this, White Fang that. His single-mindedness would be admirable, even endearing, if he applied it to something less distasteful.
Like myself.
Then I felt somebody poking my antennae.
"Fascinating cocktail of pride and frustration you have going there."
Recoiling, I scowled at the interloper. "Stop touching my feelers!"
"Ahhh," the brown-haired woman in front me lamented. However, her smile never left her face. "But they're so cute!" Against my will, I felt my cheeks heat up at the compliment. "Frankly, it is criminal of you to keep your cute little feelers all for yourself."
Criminal. That was laughable coming from Moniqa. Wasn't she an on-the-rise big shot among the White Fang? Well, something about her was big alright.
Something must have shown on my face, or my mind, because Moniqa defensively crossed her arms over her chest and muttered "Not you too," to no one in particular.
I felt no sympathy for the well-endowed woman. I wasn't blind to how many of the men discreetly peeked at Moniqa whenever she walked by, to varying degrees of success. I don't know where GV fell in that camp, but I wasn't keen on Moniqa being in his general proximity.
"Jealousy is not a pretty emotion, Cyan."
Then there was her Semblance. For someone who on more than one occasion lamented the trepidation people felt towards it, she sure loved to remind people that, yes, she can read your emotions. Always.
Stomping the temptation to fluster and pout, I opted to be polite and neutral – or as much as you can in front of Moniqa's relentless teasing. "Can I help you?"
"You can!" She said excitedly, extending her hand, asking for the peeler. After I handed it over, she reached for her pocket. "Catch!"
As told, I caught the object. My eyes widened and I screeched. "DO NOT THROW A DUST CRYSTAL!"
The nerves on this woman! She just giggled and sat down, picking up where I left in my potato peeling. "Relax. You of all people should know refined Dust crystals are sturdier than that. Even if you had let it fall to the ground, there's hardly enough force to set it off."
"Not the point! Aren't you supposed to be a responsible adult?"
"Being a 'responsible adult' makes me feel old." Moniqa mock pouted, before breaking character and rolling her eyes at me. "It's a water crystal. At worst, you'll get a little wetter."
I didn't miss the '-ter' tacked at the end of 'wet'. Instead of commenting, I just narrowed my eyes into what I hoped was a scathing glare. I held no hopes about the final results.
"Anyhow, can you use your Semblance on it? GV gave us the cliff notes version, but I want to confirm some things."
I blinked. GV told the top brass about my Semblance? What for? Curiosity trumping my contrarianism, I did as told and concentrated on pushing my Aura into the crystal. Soon, the blue crystal became dotted with cyan specks. An interesting detail I discovered shortly after we joined the Fang and got easier access to Dust. While empty Dust crystals became a deep cyan with glistening white specks, using my Semblance on actual Dust crystal had them retain their color and gain cyan spots instead.
With the deed done, I handed the crystal back to Moniqa, who raised it to the sky and inspected it carefully. Without warning, she lowered it and proceeded to strike the nearby table with it.
I didn't flinch. I was confident enough in my Semblance preventing the detonation. As expected, a cyan glow emanated from the crystal with each strike, reminiscing of how Aura manifested upon impact.
Satisfied with her unprovoked attack against the poor and deadly crystal, Moniqa held it at eye level. "Like GV said… it's like it has Aura of its own… can you use it on other objects? What about people?"
I shrugged. "Objects? Sure, though the forcefield breaks more easily than when I used it on Dust. And it doesn't regenerate like it does with Dust. As for other people, no luck. It doesn't stick. Why are you asking about my Semblance, anyways?"
Nodding, she threw the crystal at me. Again. At least this time it wouldn't potentially detonate. "You can keep that. We need to transport a shipment of raw Dust from the mines we recently raided to a safehouse quite some distance from here, but we cannot afford the detour. We got some info of a fresh batch of 'fairly-compensated' faunus worker being shipped from Atlas to a mine south of Vacuo and we want to intercept the transport en-route.
"We cannot use the normal routes without the authorities finding and confiscating it, so we're left with… less than legal means."
"You are transporting stolen goods," I muttered. Not quiet enough to prevent Moniqa from hearing, based on her chuckle.
"You think the transport companies care about legality in Vacuo? It's not the shipment, it's us" – I frowned at the not-so-hidden meaning behind her words – "the options available to us work for most contraband, but Dust, even in crystalline form, is a bit too volatile to safely transport. But if we can coat it with some Aura…"
"…we can secure its safety." Huh… I guess that's one practical use for my Semblance.
"Bingo! You have seen our haul, right?" – I nodded – "Can we count on you, Cyan?"
My reluctance to actively aid an extremist organization aside, I made a quick mental tally of how much crystal that was and how quickly I could go through all of it.
I nodded. "I think I can." I paused, then added, "And even if I couldn't, some crystals having protection should be better than none."
"Atta girl!" She shot me a beaming smile that, as much as I hated to admit, had me flushing. In the end, it was hard to stay mad at Moniqa with her big sis vibes.
Big.
"Stop it!" She wailed, flicking my antennae in retaliation. Naturally, I flinched. Why people insist on doing that!?
This meant war. "You're lucky the only thing I can flick to retaliate are," I lowered my eyes, "those things."
Moniqa gave me a flat look. "Wow, I don't need my Semblance to choke on the envy on display."
I stuck out my tongue. Then broke into laughter as the absurdity of the situation caught up with me. Apparently, it also caught with Moniqa as she joined in the laughter.
"Seriously, Cyan," Moniqa managed to say between chuckles. "I have no idea why you're jealous about anything. You're cute. I can assure you a few of our younger recruits spend one or two glances whenever you enter a room."
Heat flowed to my cheeks. "T-thanks… is there any chance a certain blond, accident-prone boy figured among those recruits?"
The knowing smile Moniqa gave me made my stomach flutter. "A certain blond boy? Geez, I wonder who that could it be…" My pout made her laugh. "Sorry, couldn't help it. Unfortunately, GV is pretty single-minded."
"You don't have to tell me that," I said with clear disappointment.
"Cyan… you should be open and direct with GV. Men like him… they tend to hyper focus on the bigger picture and miss the small things. They spend so much energy in their own goals and ambitions that they forget there's more to life than their vocation. They forget why they fight in the first place. And is up to people like us to remind them and keep them grounded. But wait until it's too late and you run the risk of them succumbing to sunk-cost fallacy; they have spent so much already…. stopping would be madness."
My heart clenched. It sounded like Moniqa was talking from experience and this gut-wrenching feeling told me I knew who she was talking about.
"What should I do?" I meekly asked.
Moniqa took my hands in hers and looked directly into my eyes. "Like I said. Talk to him. GV is young. There's still time for you to guide him down a happier path. He doesn't have to forsake his dreams to take one step back and smell the flowers and admire fluttering butterflies along the way. And you have dreams of your own. Reach out, grab them, and never let go."
I squeezed Moniqa's hands, seeking comfort in them. "Thanks…"
"You're welcome!" She said chirpily, before pushing the potato peeler onto my palms. "I should let you go back to peeling. They do say the fastest way to a man's heart is through their stomach."
I groaned. If that was the case, it was the long way for me. Moniqa's laughter seem to indicate she knew where my mind went, as she walked pass me and patted my head comfortingly.
"Good luck," I heard her say as she stopped some distance away. "When you're ready, come and see me to deal with our Dust problem. In the meantime, try to gather your courage. I believe in you!
"Oh, and before I forget. You haven't named your Semblance, right?"
I shook my head.
Moniqa gave me a gentle smile. "You should. Individuality is one of our most cherished traits. An entire war was fought to protect it. It's easy to lose oneself in our shared goals and ambitions. And it's foolish to presume safeguarding someone else's when you cannot even define your own. Food for thought."
With a wink, she finally left.
Left alone once more, I looked at the peeler. Through the stomach, huh? Well, if nothing else it will give me an excuse to drag him to the side and talk. For all his dedication to the cause, GV had problems saying 'no' to me and food. I was basically guaranteed to keep his attention for at least fifteen minutes. Like Moniqa said, I just need to gather my courage and talk.
I can do this. I will protect GV, even if it is from himself.
-o-
"Miss? We arrived at our destination."
Opening her eyes, Mytyl muttered a thanks to the Bullhead's pilot. Looking out through the window, the sheer number of people taking Bullheads from and to Beacon was dizzying. With the influx of students from across the world and the general busyness of a Saturday, the aircraft transit between Beacon and Vale was running at maximum capacity. And she had the bad luck of having to wait for a quick routine maintenance when she arrived. Enough time to catch some shuteye.
After the café, she had aimlessly wandered Vale, jumping from place to place until late. Or early, if you decided a clock was the arbiter of time. Unsurprisingly, late to sleep meant late to wake up. By the time she woke up on her hotel room – she was rich, and she was going to squeeze it for all its worth – the entirety of Vale had a head start on her.
Including her team.
Copen had sent her what she was supposed to do to help in the so-called Operation: Hunt the Fang. Her first course of action was to dump that garbage title and get to working on a new one. 'Operation: Blake's Obsession' was currently winning.
Then she has to meet with Weiss, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Pantera. Go to the CCT. Something, something, something. Profit.
She got this.
Exiting the Bullhead with a short hop, Lumen hovering dutifully behind her, her thoughts strayed towards her secondary goal for the day. Her late start meant she couldn't work on apologizing to Ruby. Or meeting up with her team. By the time she arrived at Beacon, they would be on their way out to Vale, if not in the city proper already. She has plans of meeting with Copen after their investigation, but that was still hours away.
With a good night sleep and time to think things through, she felt more confident. While still averse to opening the can of worms that is her past, she decided some pieces she was willing to share could be revealed to a few people. Everything else… she preferred for it to remained buried for a myriad of reasons.
The oddity of her disease effectively made her a guinea pig. A case study; a tale to be told in any education and medical institution worth its salt. Even her father, regardless of his best intentions, had more than once allowed his passion for his work to get the best of him and devolved into looking at her like a science experiment.
To speak nothing of the ominous warnings against revealing her Semblance.
A familiar, foreign ache wormed its way into her chest. That was another thing; just thinking about her past long enough made her feel ill. Physically, mentally, psychosomatically – she didn't know. The surgery that had… fixed her, was arcane to her. Oh, her dad explained it at some point. Intellectually, she understood it. It's just his solution was so bizarre she had trouble wrapping her head around it.
Personally? She thought it was a bit of a hack job. A patchwork. A gauze over an open wound that needed stitches, but the stitches hadn't been invented yet.
But it worked well enough. She was at Beacon. She had proven capable of fighting. Outside of a phantom emotional pain, she felt great. Healthy. Ready to take on the world.
And lose control of her Semblance.
"Hey! Mytyl!"
Her musings were interrupted as she approached the entrance to Beacon's dorms. She was greeted by her four points of contact. Jaune had been the one to call for her. The blond boy took great strides to approach her, his goofy smile sweeping her dark thoughts away and bringing her own brand of goofy lip curls to her face.
"Glad you could make it," Jaune said, stopping awkwardly in front of her, unsure of what to do now. He defaulted to his trademark head scratch. "You looked a bit down back there. Everything ok?"
She eagerly nodded, her half-truth excuse ready to go. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I was just fretting over how to apologize to Ruby." She brought a hand to her chest, stood straight, and recited. "I solemnly swear I will never get on GV's case over his faux pas ever again."
"He's not that bad," Jaune felt the need to defend his fellow blond. Then blinked and narrowed his eyes. "You got into a fight with Ruby?"
'Jaune didn't know? Ooops.'
"N-nevermind," she hastily deflected.
"You know what they say," Pantera joined them as she, Pyrrha, and Weiss caught up, deciding matching Jaune's pace was hardly worth it. "Us blonds must stick together. In a world that consider us bimbos, we can only depend on each other."
"Not in Domremy," Jaune said. "Nobody messes with an Arc. I swear mom and dad run the mafia in that town."
Before anyone could react, Pantera was invading Jaune's personal space, hands clasped around his, staring with wide starry eyes. "Domremy-la-Pucelle? The maiden village? The most romantic town in Mistral?" Jaune, spooked into stiffness by the overwhelming intensity of Pantera's approach, nodded short and quickly.
Pantera theatrically turned around and fell backward, leaving Jaune to catch her as she brought her hand to her forehead dramatically. "Your mere presence makes me swoon, Jaune Arc!"
The other three girls blinked at Pantera's histrionics and Jaune's sheepish and nervous laugh.
"The most romantic town in Mistral?" Weiss asked skeptically.
"Mistral?" Pyrrha canted her head. "I didn't know you were from Mistral."
"You didn't ask," Jaune said offhandedly while pushing Pantera into an upright position.
He wasn't wrong. Mytyl hadn't asked either. And she hated to admit it, but it bothered her immensely. She was annoyed. And it wasn't even directed at Jaune, just at the circumstances in general.
"Hmph, whatever," Weiss scoffed, just about done with the sidetracking. "We are supposed to conduct our investigation at the CCT. Stop loitering and let's get to it."
"Wait!" Mytyl suddenly spouted, stopping her four companions in their track. In an attempt to retract her sudden burst, she retracted into a nervous laugh. She took in the appearance of each of her friends. Jaune and Pyrrha wore their armors, while Weiss and Pantera their combat dresses.
All of them were armed, even Pantera. Now that she thought about it, Mytyl didn't recall ever seeing the leader of Team Phantasmagoria with her weapons until now. Hanging from the left side of her belt was a thick, coiled black, segmented metal whip with magenta highlights in the inner segments between the plates. A sharp magenta-colored spike rested on its tip, with a handle close to the pike itself. On the other end, the hilt of the whip became the traditional slanted gun-shaped grip commonly associated with gunblades. Hanging on the other side of her belt was a magenta cylinder. If Mytyl had to guess, some type of blade or lance that collapsed on itself, although she couldn't spot a hilt to hold it. Finally, a satchel that probably contained ammunition for the weapon's gun mechanism hung on the back.
All in all, they were ready to go to Vale and assist the rest of their teams if needed. And she…
"Could I… change clothes? Take a bath? Get my equipment?"
Four set of eyes roved over Mytyl… and the school uniform she had undoubtedly been wearing since yesterday morning.
"Right…" Weiss sighed. "You three go ahead. I'll accompany Mytyl to the dorms."
Pyrrha eyes met Weiss's. The champion nodded, understanding the heiress's intentions. "We'll go ahead." She turned to where Jaune was still struggling with keeping Pantera on her own two feet. "We should get going. Weiss and Mytyl we'll catch up with us later."
Jaune nodded. Pantera didn't. Time for a new approach. A new embarrassing approach.
"A-and maybe Jaune can teach us a bit about his native language of l-love?" Pyrrha couldn't believe she just said that. But it seems to have done the trick.
"YES!" That got the Haven's team leader to react, quickly turning around to drag Jaune by his arm. "Teach me your secrets of love, Jaune Arc!"
"NO!"
Mytyl forced herself not to immediately cover her mouth and incriminate herself as Pyrrha's eyes snapped to hers, wide yet focused. Pantera also looked towards her, but her expression more confused than Pyrrha's knowing one. Even Weiss was looking at her with an odd mix of emotions Mytyl couldn't pinpoint.
Ruby's teammates. It was foolish of her to believe Ruby hadn't given them at least a cliff notes version of yesterday's events.
"Pyrrha," Weiss spoke up before Mytyl could gather her thoughts, the Schnee's heiress's voice carefully even, "you, Jaune, and Pantera go ahead. We'll catch up." A repeat of her previous words, but this time an order devoid of room for discussion.
Sensing the shift in dynamics, Jaune opted to follow orders. "Yes ma'am," he said, quick to drag Pantera with him by her forearm.
Pantera waved her free hand. "See you later, my lovelies! I'll be sure to send your regards to Tenji."
Pyrrha's nodded at Weiss, I silent understanding exchanged between them. The champion was quick to catch up to the retreating knight and whimsical blond-pinkette.
"Have you met Pantera's brother?" Mytyl asked in an attempt to brush off her little slip. "Kind of weird of her to send our regards when we don't know the guy, right?"
She wilted at the critical neutral look Weiss gave her. The Dust heiress's effortless artic gaze snuffed any hope to avoid the conversation she knew was coming.
-o-
The sound of the shower made Weiss anxious. At any moment, it would stop, signifying that the time to confront Mytyl was nigh. Mytyl hadn't been lying when she said she needed a bath. The stench of an entire day without a shower, while still faint, was beginning to settle in. Weiss was willing to let the girl have that small mercy and clean herself before they talked. And truth be told, after her little show moments ago, Weiss's reluctance came back full force. She was happy to drag her feet a little if it meant delaying the conversation.
She thought back at what just happened. It revealed a couple of things. Whatever Mytyl was doing, was targeted. Now that she knew there was something to look for, she felt whatever she did to Pyrrha and Pantera. She could tell it wasn't directed at her, but there was no doubt something happened and Pyrrha and Pantera received the full brunt of it. It had to be her Semblance. There really wasn't any other explanation, though Weiss would have liked to be able to take a peek at Mytyl's scroll and confirm her friend's Aura levels.
Friend… she really hoped that was still the case and not simply a lie. An uneasy feeling coiled inside of her. She wasn't a stranger to people putting on fake smiles and trying to worm their way to her and her family's good grace. Finally, in Beacon, away from Atlas and her life as virtually nobility, she had made friends. Real friends. And Mytyl, despite coming from the same social strata in the same continent, was the first. Weiss had approached the girl and her twin brother with less than benevolent goals. She knew there was a good chance they were at the very least wealthy if they were in that flight. Knowing they were attending Beacon; it was a chance to start making powerful connections in her new life.
A chance to fall back into the same trap she had been trying to escape. She was beyond grateful Mytyl and Copen were characters in their own right, beyond what their family's history would suggest. Copen, the socially apathetic heir that had somehow managed to fly under both hers and her father's radar and was more interested in his engineering projects than even Beacon itself. And Mytyl, by unfortunate circumstances, free from the tainting influence of Atlas's elite. But to think the girl that was in the shower right now might not be as genuine as she appeared.
The thought had her scrunching her nose, remembering a passing comment Copen made the morning of Initiation. Mytyl had been in the shower for a while now.
"Mytyl," she shouted as she approached the door and cupped her ear against it, "are you alright in there?"
"Y-yeah!" the muffled sound of Mytyl's voice was heard through the racket made by the shower. "I'll be done soon."
Good. That meant she hadn't fainted and cracked her skull against the bathtub. Honestly? She wouldn't put it beyond the lavender-haired wannabe idol to do it on purpose to avoid their talk. The darkly humorous thought made her chuckle a bit. Beacon was a bad influence and she wouldn't have it any other way.
Returning to the spot she occupied on Mytyl's bed, she decided to take in the rest of the room. It was obvious the two middle beds, and the space in between, belonged to the twins. Copen had all but made the sole desk in the room his workshop, the organized mess of his projects populating it, a medley of papers and half-finished gadgets covering every bit of surface. Mytyl's stuff was more compact, but even then, she noticed how she claimed a small spot on the desk for her music notebooks, as well as having her synth proudly standing next to the bed's feet. Music sheets were strewn across the mattress. Half-finished compositions that Mytyl had probably left in disarray after not returning the night before.
The other two beds and the surrounding spaces also showed signs of being lived in by their respective owners. GV's was almost spartan. 'Almost' being the operative word. He owned a few oddities that Weiss intellectually knew he possessed, but every time she was shown the evidence left her dumbfounded and with an itch to pinch herself to check if she was dreaming. A video game console. A box that undoubtedly contained personal stuff. Some plushies, of all things. Reading material consisting of books, comics, and weapon magazines – she couldn't help but smile a bit when her mind drifted towards the three individuals GV seemed to have made the best rapport with. Weirdos love company, it seems.
Finally, Kohaku's bed, which was so normal and stereotypically girly it hurts looking at when compared to the oddball team she belonged to. She even had an Achieve Men poster, because of course she did. Weiss suspected either Yang or Mytyl gifted it to the brunette after their talk about Jaune and his suspicious skills with the guitar. Just to prove a point that even Kohaku, who could most likely pick up and eat the dish that was Sun Wukong and his abs – if she so desired whenever she desired – liked boys who played instruments.
The sudden silence coming from the bathroom snapped her out of her musings. The sound of a curtain being pulled brought back all her misgivings about the upcoming conversation.
'It is all misunderstanding. I just need to talk to her,' Weiss repeated her mantra. Kohaku assured her and her team as much. And Copen, while bias, hadn't contradicted his partner. She likes to think the boy was above telling easy to debunk lies for the sake of his sister. If anything, he was more likely to actively sabotage their friendship just to save Mytyl the trouble of doing it personally.
The seconds stretched into minutes and Weiss had to actively remind herself it didn't mean anything. She herself could spend quite some time in the bathroom after showering, making sure she was beyond presentable. And Yang was worst.
Trying to calm her nerves, she took one of the music sheets lying around.
'A duet?' She thought after a quick glance at the writings on the margin. It was obviously a pop song based on the musical notes and the lyrics. Had Mytyl been working on this throughout the week? Weiss had thought it was Mytyl's way to deal with the trial that has been their first week back from summer break. But if each sheet was related to this, the work involved suggested it went beyond just that. She couldn't help but smile. Mytyl was really going through with her crazy idea. It could still be a coping mechanism to be forgotten comes the month's end, but something told her that wasn't the case.
The door to the bathroom opened.
"You know, Mytyl," the mechanical voice of Lumen said as the pod hovered next to her owner, "when I said you should strategically come out of the bathroom in only your underwear, Weiss wasn't my first thought when it came to the intended target. She doesn't even figure in my top five."
Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You should really do something about your habit of prancing naked, even if it is in the privacy of your room."
Mytyl, towel hanging from her shoulder, clad only in her underwear, and finishing brushing her hair, rolled her eyes. "Stop being a prude, Weiss. I'm not prancing. And not even GV or Kohaku, who I shared a room with, mind you, have seen me in this state."
Her eyes focused on Weiss. "Unless I'm misreading you and there's something you want to tell me? In which case, I'm flattered, but… it's not you, it's me. Sorry."
Weiss sent her a flat look. "Charming."
The snickering that followed from Mytyl had Weiss relaxing. Small talk like this couldn't be faked, right? Throwing her towel on top of her bed, Mytyl walked to the closet in search for her combat outfit.
No more postponing. "Mytyl… we need to talk…"
Weiss's words trailed to a whisper. In turn, Mytyl turned her neck backward and look at the heiress, eyebrow arching in question.
"Everything alright?"
Weiss blinked. "Mytyl… what's that on your back?"
Mytyl scowled and futilely attempted to look at her back. "Is it a spider? Because if it is a spider, I have to warn you, I'm about to scream so loud I'll wake up whatever vengeful spirit lies beneath the catacombs Beacon was built upon…"
It wasn't a spider. When Mytyl's head moved, her loose hair provided some cover, but Weiss could still see the delicate white line that traced her spine across her upper torso, right below the nape of the neck. A scar, its uniformity suggesting a surgical origin. Now that she thought about it, the only other time she has seen Mytyl without a shirt covering the incision was when she pranced around naked – and she was going to continue using that terminology if only to mess with Mytyl – back at the hotel during summer break. And back then she had been too flustered to notice. Even her swimwuit covered her back.
Unconsciously, Weiss hand rose to trace her own scar over her left eyes. A motion that didn't went unnoticed.
"Oh…" Mytyl hand reached behind her back, also feeling her scar. "It's… from a surgery." She bit her lower lip, clearly undecided on how much to reveal.
Weiss was not going to push the issue, but she couldn't help the feeling of hurt that came from not being trusted. Mytyl had revealed nothing she couldn't see with her own eyes. She was entitled to keeping her secrets, but when they kept compounding and affecting others…
Something must has shown on her face, because Mytyl winced when their eyes met, her internal conflict worsening. "It's… it's… from the surgery… that helped overcome my illness." She smiled. "Turns out Dad is also a surgeon. Here I thought Copen was a prodigy but turns out he just takes after our Dad." The joke fell flat, her wooden smile failing to be convincing. She was clearly not comfortable revealing this.
"You don't have to continue," Weiss said. Mytyl had already said more than she initially intended. Or even wanted. That was enough to quell Weiss's curiosity and some of her doubts. But only some. She still needed to push on with the topic that brought her here.
As Mytyl carried on getting dressed, Weiss silently mulled upon the best way to approach the subject.
"Mytyl?" she prompted. The lavender-haired girl – sitting on her brother's bed, facing Weiss – looked up from where she was working on putting her mechanical boots. "About what happened yesterday, with Ruby-"
She was interrupted by a sigh. "I will apologize to Ruby. Couldn't live with myself if I didn't. Or GV for that matter," she muttered the last sentence.
"…but it's not only Ruby, is it?"
Mytyl broke eye contact. Weiss pushed forward. "You did the same to Pyrrha and Pantera when we met earlier, right?"
Silence.
"And they're not the only one. I bet if we ask her, Blake can attest to the same." More silence. "And probably Yang too if I ask her to think back to any time she has called Jaune 'lover boy' or 'lady killer' in your presence."
The sudden pink on Mytyl's cheeks at least revealed what Weiss already suspected for a while now. Something to file away for a future, less serious occasion.
"And… me?"
A sudden thought came to her. One she really, really hoped wasn't the case. It made her even more sick than thinking Mytyl had done… whatever she does, to her.
"Jaune?"
That got Mytyl's full, undivided attention, eyes wide and full of confusion. "What? What… do you mean? You and Jaune?"
She and Jaune. Not the others. Weiss carefully scrutinized Mytyl's face. Her expression, her words, her tone. Everything. Put into good use all those business and negotiations lessons her father crammed into her mind. Discounting the possibility that Mytyl might be a good actress, Weiss concluded she was genuinely blindsided by the suggestion Jaune and herself were victims.
"I don't know," Weiss threaded carefully. She recognized she was dangerously close to territory that Mytyl avoided walking. "I… honestly don't know. I have no idea what you are doing, so I can only hypothesize and make educated guesses. And I don't like the conclusions I'm reaching."
She leaned forward, reaching to hold Mytyl's hand and comfort the clearly distraught girl. "I don't want to believe this," she gestured at their hands, "is a lie. But I need more than just 'I don't want or can't tell you'. And you owe at least that much to Ruby."
Seconds passed and silence was all that was spoken between them as Mytyl visibly struggled to reach a decision.
"Anything…" Weiss pleaded.
"…you know how Pyrrha hides her Semblance, fearing people would think she's a fake?" Mytyl didn't need to wait for Weiss to confirm this. "To have everything you have worked so hard crumble because people would attribute everything you do to sheer, dumb luck in the Semblance lottery… I wish my problem was that simple."
Crimson eyes met icy blue. "I trust you Weiss, but the wrong words in presence of the wrong ears... it's a new world of trouble if people found out my Semblance right now." She chuckled mirthlessly. "And the worst of all is I cannot even use the damn thing."
If Weiss was understanding this right… "You fear if people knew about your Semblance, they would try and use you to abuse it?"
Mytyl shrugged. "Dad thinks so. And I'm inclined to believe the man who spent the better part of three decades studying them and their history."
Weiss could also believe it. While people looking to garner favors with the Schnee did it for the money and influence, it wasn't unheard for some of the affluent families with a history of Huntsmen and Huntresses to bring up the hereditary Glyphs as a plus in any potential marriage proposal. She could easily see a powerful Semblance garnering unwanted attention.
Still… something didn't add up…
"Not like it matters," Mytyl added bitterly, "you probably noticed using it even a little takes a toll on my body." She reached to the scar on her back. "Thinking about it makes me body ache, losing control makes me dizzy." Her eyes glistened with unshed tears as her voice cracked a bit. "Did you know my mother was perfectly healthy right before I was born? Copen and I are twins. He's the older twin. His birth was effortless and mine almost killed both me and my mom. I was pretty much hit and run for most of my early childhood, never knowing if I would live through the night. Even after it stabilized somewhat, my birth had already taken its toll on my mother and I was too weak to do much of anything other than stay alive."
The more Mytyl revealed, the less sense everything made. Weiss said as much. "I don't understand. How does your Semblance and your birth relate?"
"Weiss, civilians don't unlock their Aura because having your soul on display like that attracts Grimm."
Weiss nodded. That was common knowledge among Hunters. Unlocking Aura to civilians was always a last resort to save the person's life. The dangers of attracting Grimm dissuaded people from unlocking it. And the logistic nightmare of having an entire population with Aura and Semblances pushed governments to disincentivize people from unlocking Aura frivolously.
"A little less known fact is that you don't unlock the Aura of young children. There isn't a specific minimum age, but a young child's body is not equipped for the burst of power Aura grants. Now imagine a newborn burdened with that power. Worst, given a powerful Semblance that activated the second she started crying."
Weiss eyes widened in understanding. Thinking back to the Kamizono's family photo, that was definitely something that could be considered an unnatural condition.
"You were born with your Aura unlocked?" Weiss asked for confirmation. It just sounded to unreal.
Mytyl nodded, her face twisted into a self-deprecating scowl. "Needless to say, I am the prime case study for why it's a terrible idea to unlock an infant's Aura. Or I would be if Dad hadn't pushed the entire weight of our family's name to cover it up. It pains me to say this… but I wouldn't be surprised if the doctors and nurses involved met an untimely series of accidents that law enforcement just couldn't bother to solve."
"Just for being born with Aura?" Weiss asked, scandalized that such extreme actions would be used to cover up an unfortunate – but innocent in the grand scheme of things – accident.
"I activated my Semblance when I was born," Mytyl clarified. "Everyone in that room learned what it does."
"No offense, Mytyl, but controlling emotions is not that useful if, once you know what to look out for, you know it's happening."
…
"Well…" Lumen, who has been quietly listening, decided to chime in, "that explains the misunderstanding about Jaune and Weiss."
Mytyl gave a quiet snort, feeling some relief towards the misunderstanding that she had no qualm clearing up. "That's not my Semblance. It's a side effect. Or to be more precise, an effect I can decouple from the rest. And even then, controlling emotions is not accurate. I amplify them."
Weiss blinked. With that new tidbit of information, she started recontextualizing her fears. If Mytyl amplifies emotions, the emotions have to be there to begin with. So that means…
"You feared I was messing with yours and Jaune's emotions, making you believe we were friends, right?" Mytyl asked. Weiss's miniscule flinch confirmed it. "It's ok, Weiss. Our friendship is real… though I'll admit I might have accidentally amplified those feelings. I don't have the best control over my powers. For that I'm sorry."
"And what about the fear Ruby felt?"
Mytyl's cheeks heated up. "You all but confirmed I'm not the most subtle of admirers. If Ruby felt even a bit of apprehension when interacting with Jaune in my presence, I would have amplified that fear. Some of those times I might have even done it on purpose. I am not completely hopeless in my control. Though lately I've been misfiring more frequently. I'm being careless."
Weiss felt a weight lift off her shoulders. She was still worried about Mytyl, both as a friend and on her friend's behalf, since everything she has seen so far pointed to the girl being too blasé for her own good. Mytyl was worried about the harm she did to others and keeping her secrets more than the damage she was causing to herself. Nonetheless, Weiss was happy she could still call her a friend.
"You know," Weiss said, "you manage to spin all that backstory without revealing what exactly is your Semblance."
"You know," Mytyl shot back with a sly smirk, "I haven't asked you why the only thing you have summoned so far are glyphs."
Ouch. Touché. Weiss had to put some effort not to react to the jab at her skills.
"Fair enough. I suppose we ladies must keep some secrets," Weiss deflected diplomatically. "Just promise me you are not going to be reckless and hurt yourself."
"Sure. I promise."
"Great!" Lumen shouted. Or spoke with her volume turned up. Kind of hard to tell with her. "Now kiss, invite Jaune, and have a good time!"
Both heiresses just looked at the pod, Weiss gaping as her cheeks flushed and Mytyl blinking owlishly. They just looked, incapable of forming a single word. After one minute of just looking, Mytyl finally found the words they had lost.
"She did something similar yesterday. I think my pod is a nymphomaniac. And I am pretty sure Copen put us on the timeline with the machines' uprising."
Weiss look up from the pod to Mytyl, not quite understanding how what was happening could be real.
"~We did warn you~" Lumen singsong.
Mytyl looked at nothing in contemplation. Lumen did say something along those lines ages ago, didn't she?
"Huh…" she expressed in recognition, before standing from the bed and working to put on her armor. Satisfied with her preparation, she made to the door. "Welp, the impending apocalypse is a problem for future me." She turned to Weiss. "We should catch up with the others. They're probably wondering what's taking us so long."
"Yeah, let's…" Weiss said, happy to leave the last few minutes behind to the annals of history.
"Yeah, let's. Jaune is waiting for us. He's still my second favorite!" Lumen chirped.
Neither Mytyl nor Weiss acknowledged Lumen's words.
-o-
"Darlings! You just missed our phone call with Tenji. He sends you both hugs and kisses."
Weiss narrowed her eyes at Pantera in suspicion. "Does your brother even know us?"
"He knows of you," Pantera shrugged. "You are the Dust and Arms Princesses."
"It's Dust Heiress, thank you very much," Weiss huffed and corrected in annoyance.
"Arms… Princess…" Mytyl slowly and painfully repeated that title, flinching with every syllable.
"Pantera mentioned you both and forced her brother to send hugs and kisses," Jaune explained, seeing both heiresses' apprehension at a random older man they don't even know sending his regards.
"I must admit, Mr. Frost was kind of cool… pun not intended," Pyrrha was quick to add.
"I agree," Jaune said. "There is something about him though…"
Weiss's eyes flicked between Jaune – who, after his explanation, was just looking at her (and not at Mytyl) – and Pyrrha, who remained silence but was eyeing her with unwarranted intensity.
She shrank into her shoulders at the attention. "Why are both of you looking at me like I'm being compared, judged and coming woefully short?"
Pyrrha snapped out of her trance and averted her sight in embarrassment, while Jaune laughed sheepishly, doing his head scratch thing.
"Don't worry about it, Weiss. It's nothing important."
She wasn't convinced but decided to let it go. As long as the looks didn't resume.
"So, found anything with your call?" Mytyl asked.
"Not much, unfortunately," Pantera explained. "Atlas's Fang faction has been laying low, but since the peak of their activity was when Adam Taurus was with them, that doesn't mean much if Blake is correct about his presence in Vale. As for Mistral's, Tenjian says they are as active as ever with Sienna Khan still in the lead. And Vacuo's is as mysterious as ever, but there has been a slight decrease in activity according to Tenji's contacts, nothing out of the ordinary and still a net increase from years ago.
"There have been talks about placing an embargo on Dust until the robbery spree is dealt with, but you can imagine how well that is going over with… everyone, really. Nothing short of a declaration of war establishing martial law will make that embargo go anywhere."
Weiss snorted. "Father would use every dirty trick on the book to have Ironwood sacked if that were to happen. I'll go ahead and get those SDC reports."
Mytyl hummed, mulling over the information Pantera gathered. "I say there's a good chance this is a Vale's White Fang thing and the organization as a whole is not involved. At least hands-on."
"Or at least wasn't involved," Jaune said, getting everyone's attention but Weiss, who was busy using the terminal. "GV revealed himself to the Fang during the docks. If words of that got back to Vacuo, they might have sent someone to deal with him."
"Let's hope not," Mytyl responded. The idea of her partner being hunted was a scary thought on many levels. With how strong GV is, anyone sent would have to be able to subdue GV and she didn't fancy facing such an opponent.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Well, then… Have a nice day!"
The groups attention shifted towards Weiss as the call ended. The heiress was looking at her scroll, giving a quick glimpse at the data sent to her. She sighed. "This is going to take forever…"
"Yoink!"
Mytyl plucked the scroll from Weiss's hand, earning an indignant yelp from the white-haired Huntress. After a quick set of swipes and presses, she returned the scroll.
"Data received," Lumen droned. "Analyzing. Should I put elevator music?"
"Nope," Mytyl said as she took a seat in front of the terminal.
"Next time, please ask," Weiss reprimanded, but relieved she wasn't going to have to manually inspect the reports.
"Did your father say anything?" Jaune asked.
"I didn't talk to him," Weiss responded with a frown. "And even if I did, he wouldn't have humored me."
"Your sister?" Mytyl asked as she entered the scroll number into the terminal. "She's military, right?"
"Exactly," Weiss responded. "So, anything she knows would be considered a matter of national security and therefore 'confidential'," she air-quoted, the excuse being rote by now.
"Luckily my contact lies on the chaotic end of the law-chaos spectrum," Mytyl happily informed as the call patched through. "Hi Nori!"
Everyone took a look at the screen. A redhaired woman in a maid outfit appeared. Her face would have won poker tournaments across all four kingdoms and then some.
"Good day to you too, Lady Mytyl," she politely returned the greeting. "I am glad to hear from you. Your brother mentioned you might be calling. Everything is fine, I hope?"
"I would say it averages out to good. How's everyone there?"
The maid shrugged. "The staff competes to see who is more incompetent, but that's nothing new. Your aunt dragged your father to a meeting with the board of directors, so I imagine at the moment they are both weighing the pros and cons of poisoning their own lunches to get out. Last I heard of your cousins, they were gallivanting across the Mistrali countryside hunting a Chill or another. But other than that? We are doing fine. Oh, your instructor visited us a while ago. Told me to ask you, and I quote, 'are you still a brat?'"
Mytyl snorted. "If you see him, tell him not as much as him."
Nori smirked. "I can find a way to relay that message. But on to other topics." Her eyes veered off from the center of the screen. "I see you have company."
Mytyl looked behind her. Unbeknown to her, the group had taken to watching the conversation over her shoulders. She didn't mind, but still; rude.
"Right, guys, this is Nori."
"My pleasure," the maid said evenly with a little bow.
"Nori, these are-"
"The Dust Princess, Weiss Schnee; The Scion of the Prestigious House of Arc, Jaune Arc; The Invincible Girl, Pyrrha Nikos; and I couldn't think of a fancy title for you, so I'll tie you to the one I have for your brother: The Sister of the Frozen Glaive of Atlas, Tenjian Frost, Pantera Zonda."
"Dust Heiress!" Weiss insisted on the terminology.
"House of Arc?" Jaune asked in utter bafflement.
"You ran a background check on all my friends, didn't you?" Mytyl accused.
"Lady Mytyl, I'm hurt you think so little of me and my faith in you."
"You didn't deny it…"
"I didn't. I'm still hurt."
Mytyl sighed while Nori retained her unapologetic poker face.
"You can call me The Lustful Mirage. Or The Oracle! Or perhaps The Reverie Mirror. I like that one," Pantera chimed in excitedly.
"I'll consider all of them for future encounters."
"Don't humor her!" Mytyl chastised Pantera while sending a pout at Nori. "I'm glad you, dad, and aunt Aoi are fine. But that's not the reason I'm calling."
Nori narrowed her eyes. "You choose business then. I miss the innocent girl I met all those years ago."
Mytyl couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You know about the recent streak of robberies perpetrated by the White Fang, right? What can you tell me about it?"
"You're playing with fire, Mytyl," Nori warned, her voice somehow managing to lose what little trace of humor it had before. "Isn't your brother harassing Hei? Why do you need me?"
"Who says he isn't harassing someone and I'm not here covering all our bases?"
"…I don't know much about the robberies themselves. Other than the lip service the SDC pays to their clients about the already stolen Dust. Since it doesn't really affect Atlas, I've been worried with other matters. As for the White Fang... I have good news and bad news."
All the students froze at that. That didn't sound promising.
"Good news?" Mytyl prompted.
"Adam Taurus was sighted in Mistral. It's rumored he will be going to Vale, but the transfer seems to still be in progress."
"Bad news?" Jaune asked.
"I did some quick digging after I received your brother's text. My sources informed me that the second-in-command of the Vacuo branch is currently unaccounted for. And with Gun Volt in your team…"
Jaune clenched his mouth shut. He jinxed it, didn't he?
"What can you tell me about this second-in-command?"
"Not much," Nori admitted. "I only know she's female and combat isn't her strength, though I wouldn't underestimate her. At the very least she will know how to deal with your teammate."
"Mytyl" – the lavender-haired girl snapped in attention at the change of tone from Nori. Used to the maid's detached and neutral demeanor, Mytyl knew to listen intently when the maid's eyes narrowed, and her voice sharpened and demanded attention – "I'm not going to tell either you or your brother what to do. But if you are actively hunting the White Fang, be aware of what you're getting into. Most of the Fang are not on the level of even a first-year Hunter-in-training, but those who are up to the task are among the most dangerous people around. Do not commit to a fight you cannot win."
"I promise to be careful," Mytyl said.
"I'll take you at your word. I should get going. I fear that if I ignore my duties any longer, the rest of the staff will light the house on fire. I'll visit your father and aunt at the hospital later while they're getting their stomach pumped and tell them you say hi. Send my regards to Copen."
Mytyl smiled and chuckled at the farewell. "I will."
Nodding, Nori shifted her sight to the peanut gallery. "It is a pleasure to meet the rest of you. And Jaune?"
Mytyl froze.
"Yes?" Jaune asked.
"I'm expecting you to take care of Lady Mytyl. If she gets hurt?" Her eyes narrowed. "Let just say I have a very particular set of skills. Skills I haveacquired over a very long career."
Jaune blinked. "Ok. I will make sure to keep her from harm's way. You have my word. And an Arc never goes back on his words."
To everyone's surprised, Nori was visibly taken back by Jaune's earnest words. Then she gave him a genuine smile.
"Good boy," her eyes returned to Mytyl. "I like him."
With that, the scroll call disconnected, leaving the five students staring at the home screen of the terminal.
"That last bit was weird. I guess it's a good thing she likes me. She is a bit scary, though," Jaune said.
Mytyl muffled a scream into her hands while Pyrrha patted her back in an attempt to console the poor girl. Weiss and Pantera tried to discreetly hide their snickering.
-o-
"Junior! I'm home!"
"YANG!? OUT! OUT! OUT!"
"~Hi, Copen~"
"Big sis Penny!"
"Lil' sis Lola!"
It was like she had just walked into a bizarro zone where common sense was left at the door. Those were Ruby's first thoughts regarding The Club. She had never been to a club before, but she was pretty sure being gobsmacked by the recent exchange was not par for the course. Her first instinct was to look at Ren as a mean of explanation, but upon finding the side of Nora devoid of the silent-type Mistrali boy, she was reminded of how their original team had been gutted. Kohaku wasn't here either, or Neptune… they left her with all the crazy ones! Yang and Copen were in the middle of it all, Asroc was just as dramatic as either of those two, and Nora… was Nora!
She sighed. The only sane person in a crowd of madmen. Well, when in Argus, do as the Argonauts do!
Sauntering to the bar and taking a free stool next to white-colored twin – who cooed at her but that was neither here nor there – she addressed the man behind the bar in the poshest accent she could muster.
"Barkeep! A glass of your fruitiest poison. But not too poisonous! I need to go and fisticuff against the disestablishmentarianismby eight!"
The barkeep raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed by her big, eight syllable word. She spent three whole hours working that one out! She deserved the beaming smile that was in full display on her face.
"Doctor Copen! Take my seat. Big Sis Miltia insists!"
Copen dragged himself to the seat between the Malachites twins, resigned to his fate. "Still not a doctor," he greeted Penny. "Why are you here, anyways? Weren't you on house arrest?"
"Big sis Miltia and Melanie broke me out. They say it is what the cool kids call 'being a rebel without a cause'."
Copen slowly turned to face either of the twins. He wasn't picky about which, ending up looking at Miltiades. "You two are horrible influences. How did you even manage to sneak her out?"
Melanie shrugged. "Atlas have their hydra heads so up their collective asses, that they have some very sore blind spots in their day-to-day defenses."
That was reassuring…
"More importantly," Yang spoke as she and the other started populating the bar. "Did you taught Penny to offer her seat to Copen so he can sit between you two?"
"Yes!" Penny said excitedly. "Big sis Miltia says it's an action conductive to being what people call 'wingwoman'."
Yang snorted in amusement, though Copen failed to see what was so funny about it. He wasn't here for this.
"Hei," he tried to catch Junior's attention.
Junior was eyeing Ruby suspiciously, who in turn was channeling her inner-Weiss and looking down at the man. If not physically, metaphorically.
"Who are these other kids?" He asked Copen.
'Kids? Rude,' Ruby thought.
"My posse," Copen answered with a straight face. "Just serve them and put it in my tab while we do business."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not so fast, Tiger. Ruby is underage!"
Ruby pouted. "No, I'm not! I am a Beacon student. See!" She whipped out her ID.
Looking at the identification and verifying its authenticity, Junior shrugged. "Checks out. Old enough to fight and die, old enough to drink. Fine by me."
Gauntleted fists slammed on the bar and red eyes screamed danger. "She's my sister and I say no."
"And I'm your team leader and I say yes. Barkeep! Hit me!"
"Wait," Junior glanced between Yang and Ruby. "You're sisters?" A shit-eating grin appeared on his face. "I have just the drink for you, lil' Red!"
He pulled a laminated flyer from under the counter. Yang groaned.
"Not this shit again…"
"Bitch's Sunset. For the girls bad enough to grab guys by the dick and assert dominance," Ruby read, then grinned. "Sounds great! I'll have one- gaaah"
Ruby was squashed into the counter by Nora, who stood over a flailing Ruby while she read the swiped flyer. "Ooooh this drink speaks to me in ways I didn't thought possible. Barkeep!" Nora boomed while waiving the flyer. "Another for me!"
"Tsk, how uncouth," Asroc said. "How can you ingest such a low-class concoction?"
"Tough customer," Junior said unimpressed, retrieving the flyer from Nora. "I have just the drink for people like you." He presented the flyer to Asroc, who raised an eyebrow in askance. Then flipped the flyer.
"The Courtesan's Twilight?" he read in wonder. "Now we're talking."
"For fuck's sake!"
"Give it up, Yang," Copen said. "This is your legacy to the world. Might as well embrace it." He turned to Junior while the information broker prepared the drinks. "Did you look into what I asked?"
"All work and no fun makes Copen a very dull boy," Melanie teased as she pinched Copen's cheek. The boy ignored it.
"I did. Got more than I expected, less than you want, though. Fang seems to be upping their recruitment. Stake out the sections of the city with high faunus concentration and you're bound to find a meeting in two weeks, tops. That is, if you're not kicked out beforehand. If you ask me, they have been acting more competently in the last few months than they have their entire existence. Beyond that? Not much to report. Faunus sympathizers are a real thing." He began handing the drinks
Copen nodded in understanding. "What about Torchwick?"
"Roman pays for the same services you do, if you catch my drift. So, I have nothing to report on that front. Not like there would be much to report as of late. Slippery bastard. However, there has been a slight increase in Bullhead's traffic from Vale to the southern regions. Those are normally supply runs to and from settlements. The increase in traffic is small enough that it might mean nothing. However, with the amount of stolen Dust disappearing without reentering the market? It might be worth taking a look."
"That's all?" Yang asked. "You're giving us next to nothing useful here, Junior!"
"Yang! Be nice! He's trying his best."
"Thank you! Someone finally gets it!" Junior said dramatically as he leaned on the counter and pointed at Ruby. "You are my new second favorite, Red. Keep it up and you'll go far in the underworld."
Ruby girlishly waved off Junior's compliment with a shy "aw shucks." Yang rolled her eyes.
"But you are still number one, Copen, so I'll cut you a deal. I have some new info straight out of the oven that you might, and I have to stress the word 'might', be interested in. It falls outside the scope of our original agreement, but I'll sell it to you for half the price. To make up for the less than spectacular results."
Copen silently pondered the offer. Yang was having none of it.
"Hey, why not give it to us for free? All you've said is that the White Fang exists. Really groundbreaking stuff!"
Junior gave her a flat look. "You have no business acumen, do you, Blondie?"
"She did burn a lemonade stand once," Ruby muttered. Not low enough to avoid the slew of snickers that followed, fanning Yang's seething anger towards Junior. How did everyone but her get along with the incompetent broker?
Copen let Yang stew all she wanted. As long as she didn't bite. "Very well. I accept your offer. Add it to the tab."
Junior nodded. With a look, he gave the Malachites a silent order. The twins nodded in response and walked towards the front door, picking any of Junior's employees along the way, to stand guard. While the Club was closed, having one of the grunts overhearing was not something Junior wanted to risk.
"You didn't hear this from me, because if I'm right I want nothing to do with the possible repercussions. Early in the morning a group of faunus sneaked into Vale."
"And you know this… how?" Yang asked skeptically.
"You don't sneak into Vale without some help from inside. Those walls are not for show. And whoever sneaked them in doesn't run as tight a ship as they probably hoped."
"And what makes this group of faunus particularly interesting?"
"From what I'm told, they had swagger."
"…Swagger?" Asroc raised an eyebrow. He wasn't the only one.
"Yeah. The kind associated with Hunters."
Oh.
"I ran a cursory investigation on their physical descriptions. Not much came up. No record from any Academy, so possibly self-taught. However, one of them did a blip on my radar. A bird faunus, with a crest of red feathers among brown hair. The description fits that of a combatant spotted in raids by the Fang's Vacuo branch. A good one, at the very least a match to a third- or fourth-year student. I cannot confirm his identity and I wouldn't go so far as to say he's definitely the same guy. Faunus traits are hardly unique. But if you're messing with the Fang, it is worth keeping in mind that someone fitting that description is running around Vale."
Quiet contemplation spread throughout the group.
"I hope Ren, Blake and GV know what they're doing." Nora said in a soft voice.
Ruby nodded in agreement but tried her best to provide encouraging words. "GV said he was among the best fighters in Vacuo's Fang. That has to count for something, right?"
Asroc set his glass delicately on the counter. "And as much as I loath to say this out loud, Teseo is second only to Pantera in our team, and Gibril is no slouch either."
A symphony of beeps erupted across the group.
"Seems like Weiss's team found something," Ruby said, frowning at her scroll before putting it in her pocket. "Something that can be bad. Hopefully Blake and GV get a chance to look at their scrolls. We should meet with Weiss and the others. Be ready in case Blake's or Kohaku's team call for backup. Something tells me they'll need us."
Author's Notes
I died. Is this the longest chapter so far? Feels like it. Quite a lot of ground covered here: a flashback to Cyan, Mytyl's and Weiss's heart-to-heart, Nori's and Junior's intel, along with interactions sprinkled about.
Let's do a rundown:
Fun fact: Did you know: In Azure Striker Gunvolt 1, each of the Adept bosses has a Glaive; basically, a power limiter in the form a sword. These glaives have names. According to the wiki, Pantera's was Kogarasumaru (localized to "Crow Child"). I mention this because that's the name of Pantera's weapon in this fic. But more importantly, because there are two characters with Glaives that were not bosses in the first game: Tenjian and Mytyl. The name of Mytyl's "glaive"? Apparently, "Singing Fairy's Sword". If that's true… Mytyl's fairy motif in this fic was obviously picked up from the game, but the games were never particularly blatant about the motif, at least in the localization. It was something I did on a whim. I honestly didn't know it was that explicit.
Cyan's Semblance: I could have made Cyan's Semblance the same as Mytyl's, but that's the cowards' way out. It still is inspired by her journey throughout the games. Slowly but surely more information and details will be revealed.
Domremy: Named after Joan d'Arc place of birth, Domrémy-la-Pucelle. Didn't call it Ansel because I wanted to distance myself from Coeur's fics.
Mytyl's sickness: We finally know the cause of Mytyl's sickness. This is not based in any actual RWBY lore, but something created for this fic. When coming up with the sickness, one thing was imperative: it has to do with Aura/Semblance. Her Septima was the reason for Mytyl's suffering in ASG, her Aura/Semblance has to be the reason of her suffering here. There are still a few things to explore, but here we are.
Mythology gag: Care to guess why Pyrrha and Jaune stared at Weiss when she arrived to the CCT?
Mytyl's aunt: Nameless in supplemental material, I opted to name her Aoi in this fic, falling in line with the rest of the Kamizono's 'blue' naming scheme. I also chose Japanese, playing to the original foreigner/pure Japanese dynamic between Dr. Kamizono and his wife, since the aunt would be an aunt from the mother's side.
Nori's sources: Take a wild guess who's feeding information to Nori.
Junior's scene: Too many characters to juggle. Mistakes were made. Actually, that scene having to many characters (and some external inspiration) was what drove me to create temporary team KRVM.
Lil' sis Lola: Technically speaking, in this fic both Lola and Lumen were created using Penny's AI program. So, they would be half-sisters in a sense. Also, would you believe me if I say it only dawned to me now that Lumen, who in the original ASG was believed to be a software until proven otherwise, is actually a program in this fic?
Red-crested faunus: Hmmm, who could that be?
Reviews
Nanairo the Keyblade Samurai: Alas, no. NEXT chapter is the first part of the raid.
As for GV's chick magnet, it's the glasses. They accentuate his baby blues. But seriously, I'm not convinced GV is as clueless as he wants people to think. At least not in canon. Between Joule/Cyan, Lumen, and Ouka/Quinn, there is no such thing as subtlety. I'm convinced GV knows pretty damn well exactly in what gutter the mind of those three lies. He just willfully ignores them since Japanese sensibilities dictate for them to be polite and avoid talking about it.
It's too early in the story to comment on snek girl. Just gonna say that while I joke about the world hating Mytyl, this is a gentler world. It's even part of the fic's synopsis.
