As is tradition, I missed the anniversary of GVLP again. Yeah, the story is two years old now. If I hadn't had my several month long 'burnout' in 2020, I'd say we would be well on our way past the midpoint of V4. But, better to look forward than back, right?
If anyone has been here since day one...first, I commend your patience. And second, I apologize for how things have gone for this story. But now, I have found my pace again and have no other writing to do but GVLP, beyond planning out stories (whether in RWBY's universe or otherwise), so I say we can finally get this story going once more. I've had a lot planned for the future of this story for a long while now, and the itch to see it through has always been in the back of my mind.
With that said, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 47: Movie Date
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.(Chapter Start)
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October 5th
Saturday
Cloudy
Azura entered Junior's Club with a slight distaste of the loud music that was always playing. He couldn't understand how Faunus who had enhanced hearing to any capacity could stand it, but he pushed around the dance floor towards his destination. There were a lot of people tonight, so he had to get pushy to get to the backside of the club. As he made his way towards Junior, who he still couldn't find through the crowd, he thought over Blake's words before they had left for the city.
"I can only consistently keep an eye on you for a few more days with the festival coming up. I can't no show if I am required to be there." Summer muttered, echoing the girls' words.
He could admit that he had liked knowing that Blake was watching over him while doing this, but he was lucky enough to have Luna at his side if he truly needed a second person. He glanced at his mother from the side, who kept a hand against her side, where her blade originally rested in life, then shook his head slightly. She was growing more defensive recently, though he wished he knew why specifically.
"Either way, not having Blake's eyes on you doesn't make it impossible for you to be safe." Summer said, bringing him back around to his original thought. "Now, enough of this, we need to speak to Junior."
Just as she says the words, he reaches the bar that Junior was typically found at, only for it to be empty of the man. There was a suited man there, but clearly not tall or muscled enough to be him. All he got was a glance from the bartender before he was left alone to stand there and consider his next move. He knew Neo was here, but he was going to see Junior before that.
"Well, look at who finally came in after all that talk of helping out if possible." A voice said, ever so familiar to the boy.
He looked over to find Militia looking at him with the also familiar sharp green color of her eyes, finding that looking at her felt more awkward than usual for him. "I'm sorry, for what it's worth. It's just been-"
"Busy?" She asks, crossing her arms and exposing her claw weapons. "Yeah, we've all been busy since that breach. You, more so than usual, double life."
He opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped when she held a hand up to him.
"Look, let's just get going. She's in the back, under watch." She said, emphasizing the word. "I was sent to get you once you came in."
She turned around and walked off without another word, and Azura followed after in silence. The music faded as the door to the back of the building closed behind him, the only noise coming from the sound of heels and boots stepping on the floor. They walked in silence through the halls he hadn't been in since he had brought Blake and Sun here, turning around some corners before coming to a stop before a door on the right side of the hall. Militia hovered a hand over the doorknob, the sound of Junior and Melanie talking coming from the other side, before turning to Azura.
She steps up to him, while Azura backed up before hitting the wall opposite of the door, letting Militia point a finger in his face as she stared him down with a frown.
"I swear that you never fucking think." She hissed, keeping her voice down as she pushed a hand onto his chest and into the wall. "Don't you realize that she's trying to keep you on a leash?"
"At least someone else says it."
Azura ignored Summer and held a hand up to Luna to give her pause, looking at Militia. "It's under my control. She needs help and...I mean, she came to me to get that help."
"It's never crossed your mind that maybe, just maybe, she's luring you into some trap?"
"If she was doing that, I would be well protected enough." Azura answered. "But I think she's being genuine in wanting help."
"How do you know that?" Militia asked next.
"How do you know that she wants me for something, either to kill me or to do something else?" He countered.
"She certainly suggested that when I confronted her about it a few days ago." Militia answered, waving her free hand. "And did you forget that she tried to kill you?!"
"Yes, she did try that." He said, admitting the fault. "But, everyone deserves a second chance."
She sighs then, tapping her fingers on his chest. "I don't know why I thought I could persuade you out of this...it didn't work the first time, I don't know why I thought it would now."
"For what it's worth, I really appreciate that you want to keep me safe...or, at least, keep myself safe." Azura said, trying to placate her. "I do try to keep myself safe, though. I know Neo is dangerous."
"You might know how dangerous she is, but you can't possibly imagine how dangerous the world she lives in is." Militia responds, pushing her hand off of him. "And I don't want to hear the 'Huntsmen already do that'...you're seventeen, kid."
"Okay." He says softly, placing a hand on her arm and getting little resistance. "I won't."
The door opens for Melanie to exit, Junior in tow just behind her. Azura drops his hand, unsure of what exactly to say. Junior does little but nod at Azura, then begins to walk down the hall that Azura and Militia had just come from. Melanie stops before them, eyeing the two of them.
"Getting all buddy buddy with the minor, Militia?"
The girl in question sighs, stepping away from him. "Shut up, Melanie."
Melanie laughs as her sister turns and walks away, but it dies off quickly as she eyes Azura. "Good luck, kid. You'll need it."
Azura watches her walk off, Militia just ahead of her. They turn around the corner and vanish from sight, breaking out of his reverie.
"Thanks." He whispered, shaking his head and looking at Luna. "Ready?"
Luna had been watching him the entire time, head tilting as her yellow eyes narrowed.
"I'm still safer than some think I am. I mean, I have you...and Summer."
The woman rolls her eyes, but nods. She flashes a smile, giving him all of the answers that he could need. He nods in return with his own smile, then moves to the door. He relaxes himself and sighs quietly, then opens the door to the room.
Neo was within, sitting in a chair with one leg over the other. She looked up as he entered the room, an ever so smug smile crossing her face. At this point, Azura just assumed that her natural looks were boredom and smug. They were certainly the most common expressions on her face, or at least the expressions he personally saw the most.
"You certainly found a home here, huh?" He asked, initiating the normally one-sided conversation. "Minus the fact that Junior and the twins seem to not like you."
She rolls her eyes as they swapped their color, shrugging afterward. She uncrossed her legs, then waved him towards her as she pulled her scroll out. Her eye color swapped back without any warning, and he moved forward to see what she wanted to show him.
He wondered if she had always done that and if he had just never actually noticed. It made him want to know what other minor changes she had always temporarily done with her semblance. He pushed the thoughts out of his head as Neo stood up and placed a finger on the scroll, back facing him.
She was showing him a digital map of the city, zoomed in on the local area surrounding Junior's club. Her fingers traced the streets, flicking her finger to move the map as she showed the rest of the route to the theater. It was rather close, as she had said.
"Well, that's simple enough. You know what we're looking for there?"
She nods, closing the map on her scroll and pulling up the app she uses to write her responses. There was already a message there, clearly expecting him to have asked that question first.
"The main thing that we want is evidence. I have reason to believe that this theater is being used as some form of a storage, so the idea is that we find out what sort of storage it's being used for, then see if we can find out why no one was told about it."
Azura nods slowly. "Never told about it? You think that boss of yours would like that?"
Neo shakes her head to say no, typing another response. "She'd kill them on the spot if she knew."
"But you know. You aren't the only ones trying to get out, then!"
His words cause Neo to shake her head once more.
Azura blinks as he watches her, then thinks his words over. "Not breaking out...but not fully loyal. They're planning things without her?"
She nods in return, typing this time and showing him her scroll. "It's always been a very loose alliance, if at all. Enough talk, we need to move."
He nods, but can't help the worry whispering in his ear over what could be happening. If he and team Ruby had to deal with two groups with similar goals, that would be a lot of trouble on their hands.
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.(Line Break)
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The streets were dark as they walked down them, hiding their figures as they closed in on the theater. They were on the same side of the street from the theater as it came into view, pulling off into an alley and sliding against the brick wall of the building hiding them. Neo peeked out from around the corner, staying that way for a few moments before turning back to him. She nods, pink covering her body before revealing a brown-haired and blue-eyed girl to him. She also wore pure black clothing, a hooded jacket and pants and all.
"Makes sense to hide your identity." He says quietly before returning to the topic at hand. "No one there?"
She nods, a victorious smile coming to her face. She pushes past the corner, and Azura follows after her closely. The theater had a powered down vertical sign saying 'theater', reminding him of an old dilapidated warehouse. They both raise their hoods up, walking up the few steps to the theater's doors, and place their hands on the old and broken down doors to open them. They resist for a moment before giving way and opening up, the two of them entering as a breeze runs through the location.
Azura looks to Luna, waving a hand forward for her to move ahead of him and take a look at the location. Neo had made the precaution to hide her identity, but if they could find out if anyone was within the building before seeing them, that would be nice to know. He takes a look at the main lobby of the theater, finding fallen poles, a crumbling roof, and peeling wallpaper greeting him. The place smelled of dust and dirt, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary right off the bat.
A light flicks on as Neo turns her scroll light on, the makeshift flashlight shining for her to be able to see. She took in the same sights that he saw before turning to look at him.
"Guess we just move on." He says in a quiet tone, near to Neo as he looks around. "But where?"
There was a hall to the left and right of the lobby, as well as an entrance in the back, behind the short wall before them. A sign hung loosely on that wall, the faded words saying 'Employees Only'. They looked to both sides, the back, then turned to each other.
Neo points to him, then points to the hall on the right. She then did the same with herself, pointing to the employee only area and hall in the back of the lobby. Azura nods as she tilts her head at him to confirm that was fine with him. As she moved off, waving playfully at him, he moved towards the hall on the right. Her scroll light faded as their distance grew, leaving him with only his night vision as he walked down the hall.
Luna was still not back, causing him to wonder how big the theater was. Given where it was built in the city, as well as its age, he would assume that it wasn't too large. There were opened boxes lingering in the hall, but when he inspected them, he found out that they were empty. For supposedly having something that Neo found important, there was nothing that suggested the White Fang was or had even been here.
"We either find something...or we need to think about if Neo was wrong or if the White Fang cleared the entire building out of what they had here."
Summer's voice felt loud within the echoing silence of the theater. Unusable lights hung overhead as empty poster holders struggled to reflect his movement past the heavy layers of dust. Azura sniffed at the air, cringing at the musty and likely moldy smell.
He checked door after door, and side hall after side hall, as they came, finding them full of random assortments of theater tech or props. He sighs as he exits the last room in the hall before a set of stairs, only seeing costumes and other clothing.
"All I've learned is that the plays that were shown off here were about two decades old." He mutters to himself, shaking his head. "Anything seem off to you, Summer?"
"Not in terms of White Fang activity here." She answers. "You think she was wrong?"
"She seemed informed…" He whispers, looking up the staircase and finding nothing in the way. "I don't want to discount it just yet, but it's possible."
Summer hums in response, but keeps her silence as he goes up the stairs. The second floor didn't look too different from the ground floor, but he did find Luna on her way back to him. When she reached his side, he looked at her questioningly. She shook her head, having seemed to not find anyone within the building. He frowned at the information, but pressed on within the building. He could only hope that this wasn't going to be a cold trail that told them nothing.
Doors lined up along the wall on his right while box seats were on his left. As each door showed nothing of importance to the room it opened to, Azura eventually stopped in his process to step out onto one of the box seats and take a look out into the open seating and main stage.
He counted his blessings of night vision, taking in the overturned chairs and littered boxes scattered throughout the main section of the theater. There was a broken chandelier shattered on the ground in the center of the central walkway that paved a path made of old and faded rug Curtains hung from the front of the stage, leaving very little of the stage left to be visible to his eyes. He jumped down from the box seat he was in down to the general seating, landing in a crouch with one hand pressed to the ground before standing back up.
He looked left and then right, confirming what he saw up above, then began to move towards the fallen chandelier. He looked up and to his left, watching the box seats for Neo and catching just a glimpse of the girl over the railing. She had definitely heard him land down below, and the casual nature of her lack of checking made him believe that she had also not seen a single person within the theater.
Returning back to his search, he began to sift through the boxes that were littered around him. They all held no labels that could even give a hint of where they had gotten them, or what the items within might have been. There was nothing but empty boxes all around him, which caused him to stop in his search and run a hand through his hair as he sighs.
"We're missing something." He thinks, sharing the words to Summer.
"Each box we've searched was found empty...no sign of anyone here…" The woman mutters within his head, and he could feel the gears turning in her metaphorical head. "Wait."
Azura waited momentarily, then spoke when the silence continued. "Summer?"
"I don't think this place was evacuated, Azura." She grows quiet. "It seems abandoned, don't you think?"
"Yet," He said in a whisper, looking at the boxes around him as he spoke to himself. "Everything is empty, as if it was taken with them. Or maybe the boxes were empty before then?"
Summer's silence told him that she wasn't sure either. A frown comes across his face as he looks to the shrouded stage, turning to move himself towards it. The opened boxes that lingered to either side of him were empty, as expected, moving his body into action as he came up to the stage and slowly made his way to the set of stairs on the edge of the stage.
Azura moves to the curtain holding the rest of the stage secret from him, then pushes them aside to let himself through. He finds Neo crouched near the back wall, light shining down towards the ground. Once he approaches her, he sees that she was looking down into a small crawl space that had a staircase that led to concrete.
"I could drop a pin in there and probably hear it…" He says quietly, looking over at Neo as he looks down the stairs. "I guess you didn't find anything so far either, huh?"
She shakes her head, then nods towards the stairs.
"Right. Then, this is the last place that we would have a chance to find anything."
With that said, Azura shifted to the stairs and walked down and into the crawl space. He stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking around the area he was now in. The place was about the size of the stage, holding theater equipment and toppled over mannequins. He wasn't a fan of the objects, but he kept the feeling of discomfort to himself. His eyes caught something beyond the mannequins, but he couldn't tell what exactly it was beyond a light emitting from the ground in a blue shimmer. He shares a look with Luna, who moves off to check what exactly was there.
He then looks back at Neo, waving a hand for her to come down the stairs. She descends down them, stopping beside him for a moment before trying to take a look. He grabbed her scroll, holding her hand in place and shaking his head as his eyes met hers. They narrow at him, but she lets him hold on to it. Luna floats back to him with a curious look, but no worry. She shakes her head, motioning a zero number with her hand, signaling that no one was here.
Azura moves his hand off of Neo's scroll, speaking with a more normal tone. "Place was completely abandoned...at least, I think."
Neo shrugs, moving ahead of him with her light to make her way towards the blue light. He follows after her, with Luna just behind him, walking through the pile of mannequins with nothing more than a distasteful look at them. He stopped by Neo's side once more, looking at what she was looking down to the ground for.
"It's a scroll."
He bends down to grab it, careful to be gentle as he took in the cracked technology. He looked it over, appreciating the light that Neo was shining on despite not needing it, then pressed the golden diamond to try and pull the holographic screen up as he saw the blue blinking on the scroll. It flickered as it powered up, opening up to a screen that was purely black. It took a moment for him to even realize that it was the camera function, which brought up the question of why it was opened up on it.
After messing with it for a moment and fighting the struggling holographic menu, he pulled up the camera roll and found a video there dated from yesterday. He lowered his arm slightly as Neo looked on from the side, then pressed the play button. A masked face shows up on the screen as static comes from the scroll, the screen flickering for a moment as the older looking person sighs and removes the mask, revealing dark bags under her green eyes. From what he could see, she had fear written all over her face.
"To whoever finds this scroll first, I have to apologize for trying to search for me. They're starting to suspect me because of my connection to someone who had escaped their clutches before…they've already gotten Tukson, and now…"
She pauses, running a hand down her face. The seconds ticked down on the short video.
"I'm on the run in a city where White Fang infest it, but I cannot leave yet." She looks to her side, possibly in the direction of the stairs. "I need to expose them...spread word of the danger. Those two wanted to start a new life, but they were killed in cold blood."
The screen flickers again, the final seconds of the video coming a moment later as she looks back to the screen and lets out a shuddering sigh.
"If you're in the White Fang and see this...I hope your hatred consumes you." Her gaze hardens. "And if you're not...if you see this and are trying to help…the mother bird covers the tracks of the whistleblowers."
The video ends, leaving the two of them with more questions than answers. They had come here for answers, for evidence, and found something that could mean more. Azura flicks through the semi-functioning scroll and finds nothing after a few moments. He powers it off, offering it to Neo to take, which she did after a questioning look.
"You'll have more time to find something in it without drawing suspicion." He explained. "You recognize her?"
Neo shook her head to tell him no.
"Hm." He hums for a moment before shaking his own head. "Let's get out of here, to a safer location."
Neo smirks at his words, moving ahead of him and waving for him to follow. She had somewhere in mind, and Azura found himself following her a moment later.
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.(Line Break)
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They entered a small building about four blocks away from the theater that they had searched, and the place was about as barren and empty as one could imagine. Azura looked around the single room building, the rundown and lightless condition of the place giving off the impression that it was an abandoned location.
"Yet another area of Vale's city going unused."
"At least someone is using it."
Neo flashed back to her natural tri-colored hair and pink and brown eyes and moved off to a corner, messing with what looked like a mobile heater to turn on within the cool building, so Azura took to sitting on the ground and sighed to himself. He was eventually joined by Neo a moment later with the heater, the crackling of fire Dust giving background noise as she sat next to him. She took the broken scroll out, powering it on again and beginning to flip through the different tabs on it.
He watched her passively in silence, letting her do her work as he checked the time. It was getting late, likely late enough that he'd have to speed through Vale and back to Beacon for tonight. As he put his scroll down, he saw that Neo had found the messages app on the phone and was currently scrolling through them.
Eventually, she pauses and clicks on one of them. It was a series of messages between whoever the owner of the scroll was and an unknown person who had nothing to suggest who they were. The exchanges were brief and almost always in three messages at a time, and the messages were short.
"Trouble, stay away. Them? Yes." Azura read one of them when Neo paused. "That message was from about a month ago, before the…"
Neo looked at him, an awkward atmosphere falling on them for a moment before he cleared his throat and spoke again.
"Before the breach. Who is this 'them', though?"
The response he got was a disappointed shake of a head. She didn't know either, it seemed. He takes a glance to Luna, receiving the same motion, and then hangs his head with a sigh.
"We have to find her." He said, thinking over the possibility of succeeding in that task. "Thoughts?"
This time, Neo set the broken scroll down and pulled out her own scroll to actually respond. She flipped it to him to read once she was finished.
"While it would be nice, I don't want to count on it. Not only do I not trust it, but it's also too early to call for certain." It read. "Until I can go through the scroll in its entirety, I say we stick with what we were doing. I certainly trust my knowledge more than what could be a trap."
Azura nods. "I'll trust your judgement on that." He looks over and makes contact with her eyes. "So, theater ended up not having much of use for us as far as we know...know where to go next?"
Neo's next response took only a few moments. "It'll take a bit more investigation, since it could likely have actual people there. We'll need to wait for a good day, I think."
"Dangerous. I suppose that's what I signed up for when I agreed to help you." Azura says, chuckling.
All he gets in response is a shrug before they simply sit in silence. The flickering dull light of the heater between them was all they had, as fire Dust decayed slowly with a crackling noise. Across from them, Luna was sitting for once, tail wrapped around herself and watching them with a slight tilt of her head.
"Neo." Azura said, waiting for her eyes to flick to him to know he had her attention. "You have a plan for what we're doing...do you have one for after we hopefully beat the White Fang back and free Torchwick?"
She raised an eyebrow, an expression he had grown used to from Luna. She wanted to know why he was asking now.
"Just a curious thought, is all. I chose to help you, and I won't doubt that, but you are also…"
Neo gestured with her hand for him to continue.
"Criminals. You leave the danger of whatever this whole thing with the White Fang is, and go where?"
She blinks in response, lips thinning momentarily before returning to a resting position. She wasn't making any motion to convey herself or write up a response for him, leaving him to believe she either wasn't telling him or didn't know the answer. Azura leaned towards the latter, but he could tell Summer leaned towards the former.
"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter to me." He says with a sigh.
"Right now."
Azura let the woman's words breeze through as he spoke. "The agreement is for you to help me and for me to help you, nothing more."
He feels a hand touch his arm, grabbing his attention as he swings his head to look at Neo, who was looking at him with a semi-open mouth. Her weapon was nowhere near her, so he pulled a hand up to let Luna know to stay where she was, now floating back up.
"Neo?"
Her eyes held his vision for several seconds as silence filled the air between them, causing Azura's breath to feel short as he remained in place, as if rooted to the ground. He had never seen her look so vulnerable since their original encounter at Beacon, pulling at his heart to be kind.
When she smirked playfully and pulled back, the moment shattered and left Azura in a confused state. He shook his head, moving his vision to look over at Luna. Her eyes were narrowed slightly, shrugging when she caught his eyes. She moved to his side, floating behind him and to his side as he stood up and shook his head again.
"I should get back to Beacon." He said, looking down at Neo. "Unless you need me for anything?"
Neo shook her head in response.
"Right. Just, keep me informed on what you're planning, as well as what is on the scroll."
She waves towards him to signal that she heard him, letting him leave without even a look back.
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.(Line Break)
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"What's wrong, Pyra?"
The girl was broken out of her thoughts by the voice and nudge from someone talking to her. Her blue eyes flick up as she turns to the side in the desk chair to see the much taller Pyrrha Nikos looking at her with the signature worry and concern she normally wore on her face. It reminded her of a mother to their child.
Her eyes looked down to her hands resting in her lap as she answered. "It's nothing important."
"Is this about Azura?" The girl asked, hand remaining on Pyra's shoulder. "You do worry about him a lot."
"That sounds weird coming from you. You're rather motherly with all of us...especially Jaune." Pyra replies, glancing up to catch the small blush on her face.
"That's neither here nor there right now." Pyrrha says, sitting down on the bed next to the desk. "This isn't the first time he's been out of the dorm late into the night, you know that. He even has a Huntress ghost beside him and in his head, so it's not like he wouldn't be safe if he ended up in a dangerous scenario."
"I know that." She said, looking at her scroll on the desk. "Hey, Pyrrha…"
"Hm?" Pyrrha hummed, red ponytail shifting as she tilted her head.
Did she tell her about what Azura told her about? She had been told to keep it secret, and he had seemed reluctant enough to tell even her. It would be a betrayal of his trust if she did, but she felt that everyone else had a right to know. Why was it okay for him and team RWBY to be involved in such things, but not for her and team JNPR? How would she explain it to Pyrrha without spurring her into action?
Pyra sighs, then smiles weakly at Pyrrha. "Never mind, it's nothing."
"Are you sure? I don't mind lending an ear to you."
"Yeah, I'm sure." Her smile turns more genuine. "Thanks for checking on me, Pyrrha."
"Of course. That's what friends are for."
As Pyrrha gets up, calling that she was going to go find Jaune for training, Pyra nods absently as she thinks about the situation of hiding information from their team. Of Azura hiding information from her. Would he have told anyone on his own terms? The thoughts plagued her, stirring her curiosity over her partner. She wondered if she even knew her partner as well as she thought she did. Did others know him better than she did?
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.(Chapter End)
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Pretty terrible movie date if you're asking me, but hey, I won't judge them. Jokes aside, this chapter felt really good to write without writer's block or other projects interfering with GVLP.
Have a great day/evening!