Vignette 1
The Secret Rose Garden
The sound of birds chirping as the dawn light touched her eyes was enough to rouse Athena Rose, who was sleeping in today, contrary to the usual routine of her being awake before her brother. She looked over to the other bed in the room. Leon was nowhere to be found, but his bed was as much of a mess as it always was. She shook her head with a sigh before getting up and stretching. She made her bed before doing the same with his. The door opened to reveal Leon standing in the doorway.
"Damn it, you got up already!" he said.
"What the heck are you so excited about?" Athena asked dryly.
"Great, you got to my bed, too."
"I'm always making your bed in the morning, you doof."
"That's not very nice!"
She sighed heavily, giving him a slap on the forehead as she walked past him to the door.
"Hey! That's not very nice, either!"
"Yeah, yeah."
She ignored his mumbling as she grabbed her things from her armoire, heading straight to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her golden hair went in all directions, midnight blue eyes accompanied by dark circles.
Why am I so tired right now?
She recalled the hunting assignment yesterday. Grandpa Tai was the headmaster of Signal Academy, which meant that she and her team had the privilege of getting the most difficult tasks in the entire school. Leon had accused him once of trying to overcompensate so as to deflect any accusations of favoritism, but Tai had countered that it was, as a matter of fact, because of favoritism that he regularly gave them the toughest assignments. As his favorites, the Rose-Arc twins always got the jobs that would make them stand out among the other students.
Athena rolled her eyes as she recalled berating Leon for making things even worse for them. And then she recalled Grandpa Tai's huge grin. Even worse was their parents' failure to override Grandpa Tai's judgment. All her mother could do was smile and dad wouldn't even make eye contact with anyone.
"Ugh, you guys all suck," she grumbled as she took off her clothes and stepped into the shower.
The water was already warm, catching her off-guard. She realized that Leon must have already taken a shower. She wouldn't have to deal with the cold water today. She stopped mid-thought as the water drenched her hair, washing over her entire body.
Huh? she pondered. No, it couldn't be.
She closed her eyes as the warmth continued to envelop her, washing away the grime from yesterday. She had gone straight to bed without even changing her clothes because of how exhausted she had been. Having to cover her entire team all at once at some point during their near-disastrous hunting assignment took its toll on her physically.
Great. I'm gonna have to change my sheets. Probably all gross and crap.
She turned off the water, watching as the last of it swirled down the drain at her feet. She stared at the metal strainer for some time before letting out a heavy sigh and reaching for her towel. She took her time drying off today. Usually, she had the most energy out of everyone in the house, even more so than their mother. It was different today, though.
I can't believe how tiring that was.
Once she was dried off, she changed into her new clothes, a pair of black jeans and a white t-shirt, topping the look with a red windbreaker that she left unzipped. She headed out of the bathroom to the hallway closet to grab a new set of bed sheets, but she stopped at the bedroom doorway. Her sheets had already been changed.
She looked around. No one was nearby. Just to be sure, she headed into the room she shared with her brother, standing right in front of her bed to stare at it for a moment. Puzzled, she reached out with both hands. The sheets felt clean. She leaned forward to sniff it.
What the hell? she thought. "Hey, did you change my sheets?" When there was no reply, she stepped out into the hallway. "Leon?"
"Sis! Are you done showering yet?" his voice sounded in the distance.
She headed over to the front door and opened it. The bright morning sunlight blinded her for a moment and she shielded her eyes, spotting Leon, Ingrid, and Astor standing in the middle of the dirt road at the edge of the small field their home sat in.
"Oh, hey, sleeping beauty's awake!" Astor said, giving her his signature gleaming smile.
"We thought you were gonna sleep until tomorrow," Ingrid said.
"What the hell are you two doing here?" Athena said, crossing her arms without leaving the patio.
The trio exchanged glances.
"It's a weekend," Leon said. "Let's go hit the town or something."
"I'm way too friggin' tired to go out right now," Athena sighed.
"Is that why you're already dressed to go out?" Astor chuckled.
"Shut up," she said before tying her hair up into a ponytail.
"I guess we're going?" Ingrid said.
"Yeah, whatever."
The town was just a little over a half hour's walk from their house. Ruby and Jaune had stayed overnight at Signal Academy to do some work with the other instructors.
"Mom and dad say they'll meet us for lunch," Leon said, reading text messages on his scroll. "Where do you guys wanna go to?"
"Hang on," Astor said, making a detour. "Let's go stop by the dorms first."
The others followed after him, loitering outside. Signal Academy was mostly empty for the weekend. Everyone, students and faculty alike, was probably with their families, either scattered around the island of Patch or back in Vale, on the mainland.
"You think she's figured it out yet?" Leon whispered to Ingrid as they spied on Athena, who was tucking a lock of gold behind her ear as the wind blew her hair around.
"I dunno," Ingrid whispered back. "She's not dumb, so she's probably picked up on it by now, but then again, how the heck do we surprise her if it's not even a surprise anymore?"
For the most part, Leon knew his sister quite well. They were born on the same day, after all, only two minutes apart. But there were some days when he could not get a read on her at all. It was a rarity since she was quite expressive, something both siblings got from both of their parents, but ever since they started their fourth year at Signal Academy, she started to turn more and more inward.
"I bet it's all the pressure," Ingrid said. "It can't be easy being the Golden Girl of Vale."
Leon sighed. Ingrid had a point. After all, there were a lot of people looking up to Athena now, especially after she proved herself in matches against all sorts of competitors from around the island and even from the mainland. At first, it was just their local town that cheered her on, but as her fame spread, the entire Kingdom of Vale laid claim to her.
In contrast, Leon was really nothing more than her shadow. He, too, was quite talented in combat, whether against other warriors or against hordes of Grimm, but despite being ranked among the top five at Signal, he was still nothing in comparison to his big sister, the one who was capable of taking down an entire team of huntsmen-in-training all by herself.
"Hey, you all right?"
Leon turned to Ingrid, who was staring right at him. He gazed deeply into her amber-colored eyes for a moment, momentarily forgetting everything he had just been pondering. He failed to notice his Faunus companion's reddening cheeks.
"Hey!" Ingrid yelled. "Would you stop staring at me like that?"
He blinked several times. "What? You're the one staring at me!"
She turned even redder. "I'm not!"
"Yes, you are!"
"Heck you!"
"What?"
"You two are fighting again?" Astor chuckled as he rejoined them.
"We're not fighting!" the two said simultaneously before turning toward each other and growling and then turning their backs toward each other.
Athena pinched Ingrid on the side as she walked by, making the cat Faunus squeak.
"Athena!" she yelled.
"Leon, you idiot, you left your guitar in Astor's dorm," Athena said to her brother.
"Oh, sick," the younger twin said as he accepted his guitar from Astor, who also carried his own guitar-axe with him. The two boys plucked a few strings in harmony, tuning their instruments before beginning a song and stopping abruptly.
"Park?" Astor suggested.
Athena shrugged and Ingrid checked her scroll.
"I think there's some stuff going on there right now," Ingrid said, scrolling down. "Looks like...yeah. I thought it was a bit louder today than usual."
"What is it?" Athena said.
She shrugged. "I dunno, you guys are the ones that live here, not me. I'm just an import."
"My favorite import," Leon said, wrapping his arms around her from behind, but she disappeared and he looked to the side. "Ugh, fooled by a shadow clone again."
"You're so predictable," she said with an eye-roll.
"I guess we could go," Athena said. "Nothing else to do, right?"
The quartet headed to the town's big park, where a huge crowd of people gathered for games and picnics, apparently a planned town event that the four of them had completely missed information about. Astor picked a spot underneath a tree that hadn't been claimed yet, sitting against the trunk with his guitar-axe.
"There's no ants and stuff, are there?" Ingrid said, squatting on the grass to inspect the ground before seating herself with her team. Leon and Astor began to play soft music together while the girls listened.
Ingrid continued to watch Athena. She was much more pensive today than normal, though any explanation eluded even the cat Faunus's keen senses. She looked over at Leon. His mood and facial expressions didn't betray any pranks he might have pulled at home. Perhaps it was just one of those days for Athena Rose.
It wasn't long before Jaune and Ruby found the quartet, joining them for a picnic that Jaune had prepared.
"Everybody's happy with sandwiches, right?" he asked the kids.
"Heck yeah, Mr. Arc-Rose," Astor said. "Always down for free food!"
"It must be different without your mom's cooking, though," Ruby said.
"I mean, nothing beats mom's Stoplight Chicken, but I ain't no snob."
"Oh, that's right, dad just released your progress report for yesterday's assignment. Looks like your team's still at the top."
"By a lot," Jaune added.
"Of course we are," Leon said, bumping fists with Ingrid and Astor. "Cuz we're the best team in all of Signal, right sis?"
They all looked over to Athena, who hadn't said a word since her parents joined the group.
"Sis?" Leon repeated.
She snapped out of her reverie before turning to her brother. "Hmm? Did you say something?"
"Mom and dad were just saying that Grandpa Tai says we're still getting perfect scores for our assignments."
"And you did particularly well," Ingrid said. "No surprise there, really."
"Oh," Athena said before turning back to the horizon, staring off into space.
"Is your sister okay?" Ruby asked Leon.
"She was just fine this morning," he said. "She even slapped me on the forehead and everything."
"I guess she's really tired from yesterday," Jaune said.
"I don't blame her," Astor said. "Yesterday almost turned into a disaster."
"I'll, uh, try and convince dad not to put you guys through that again," Ruby chuckled nervously.
While the rest of the group chattered and ate, Athena remained silent, having eaten the smallest half-sandwich available. After a while, she let out a heavy sigh and stood up. The group went quiet as she began marching off into the distance.
Leon turned to Ingrid and quickly handed her his guitar for safekeeping before springing up and following after his sister.
"Sis! Wait up!" he panted as he ran after her, slowing to match her pace when he caught up. "Hey, you okay?"
She didn't answer for a moment, turning to him when she realized he was talking to her.
"Hmm?" she said.
He chuckled. "You've been spacing out all day, you know."
"Dude, I told you, I'm fuckin' tired. Grandpa Tai worked the shit out of us yesterday."
"Well, yeah, he did." He paused as they continued to walk in no particular direction. "Thanks, though."
"For what?"
"For carrying the team. As always."
She chuckled. "Seems like that's all I'm good for anymore."
He turned to her. She was looking straight ahead. Again, he couldn't get a read on her facial expression, but that short sentence told him more than he needed to know. He pondered what to say to try and get the mood up, but he was mostly bad at this kind of thing. Making other people laugh was easy. Lifting up Athena's mood was an entirely different matter. She was mostly independent, after all, regulating her own emotions without need of any outside intervention. In truth, Leon understood that she was likely to get over whatever this was in due time, but he didn't want to just let it play out the way it usually did. It was about time he did something for her after all those times she carried the team in school.
He opened his mouth to say something, but she beat him to it.
"Do you feel like you're living in my shadow?" Athena said.
The words shook him to his core. He had intended on making this about her and trying to lift her spirits. He hadn't anticipated that the tables would get turned so abruptly.
"No, not really," he lied through his teeth.
"Tell me the truth, Leon," Athena said, stopping and turning to face him.
He thought about it for some time before shaking his head. "You should know me better than anyone else. Spotlight's not what I care about."
"I'm not talking about the stupid spotlight. I'm talking about what's in here." She poked him on the chest, right over his heart. "Is what I do making you feel like you're second-rate?"
He didn't answer for some time, though he did not break eye contact with her.
"Like I said," he sighed, "I don't do what I do for fame or anything. And if you're thinking that I feel like maybe mom and dad are more proud of you than they are of me, stop. They've never even once hinted anything like that. And no, I don't act all laid back and shit just to cover up some hole in my heart or something like that. I'm happy where I am." He paused for a moment before concluding with, "Are you?"
Two words. That was all it took to make Athena's heart stop beating for a moment.
Am I? Am I really happy where I am?
She turned to walk away from her brother, but he took her by the hand, stopping her movement. She turned to him. His lavender eyes betrayed an intensity she had never seen in him before.
"What are you doing?" she said as he let go of her hand.
He turned and gestured with his head. "C'mon. I have something to show you."
"I don't trust that smirk on your face."
"You never trust the smirk on my face."
She sighed, shaking her head as she followed him through the woods. They had been walking for some time when she addressed him once more.
"Where the hell are we going?" she said.
"Not that much further," he said.
She let out another sigh, continuing to push the brush out of her face as they traversed this unbeaten path.
"Dammit, my jacket just got torn by this stupid bush," Athena grumbled.
"Okay, here we are," Leon said.
"Here we are what...?"
Her eyes widened as the sight took her breath away. As far as the eye could see was a vast field of wild roses of all colors, each one in full bloom. She took a few steps forward, standing right at the edge of the untamed garden. Leon couldn't see her face, but he figured she was in shock from the way she had reacted just now.
"Happy birthday, sis," he said.
She turned to him, mild annoyance on her face. "What do you mean 'happy birthday'? It's your birthday, too, dumbass!"
He chuckled, teleporting to a small clearing out in the field, careful to make sure he wasn't trampling anything. He plucked the best white rose and red rose he could find before teleporting to his sister's side, holding them both out for her.
"You're as cheesy as dad is, you know that?" she said, wryly accepting the two roses from her brother.
Without a word, he turned back out to the flower field, watching as the leaves and petals swayed with a gentle breeze that engulfed the meadow. Meanwhile, Athena closed her eyes as she breathed in the sweet, floral scent of the entire field, carried to her by the wind. The twins spent several minutes in silence, reflecting as they looked out to the distance.
"How did you find this place?" Athena broke the silence.
"I figured you didn't notice it," Leon said.
She looked at him.
"On our way back to Signal yesterday, we passed by here. On the other side of the field, those trees over there. You were so focused on the path ahead of us that you didn't realize this was even here."
It was strange. In some ways, she and her brother complemented each other perfectly. He was correct in his assessment that she was always focused on the path ahead. It wasn't just yesterday. On the contrary, because of their differing stations in life, he had the luxury to turn his attention elsewhere. She would never have seen this flower field, never in a million years. And he would never miss it, never in a million years.
"Wanna head back?" he asked her.
She breathed in deeply, letting it all out slowly. "Let's stay here for a little longer."
He smiled, standing at his big sister's side. He would never leave her. This was his place in life, to be her support. The rest of the world, all of the fans who chanted the name Golden Girl of Vale, could not possibly know the person behind that mask, a young woman who also bled and ached and grew tired and hungry and cold.
As far as he was concerned, he wasn't in her shadow. He was the pillar she could count on if the going got too tough.
"Hey, sis?" he said.
She looked at him without a word.
"You know I've always got your back, right?"
She smiled before turning to gaze back out at the endless field of roses.