Hey, everybody. WaterDragonMaverick here with the next chapter of "Sideline: Another Story". Last time, Fragment Hunter and their allies made it to the village of Notremodo and decided to help set up for a festival while they're staying in town. When investigating rumors of a monster living in the church bell tower, Azalea and Celadon encounter Pierre Laiton, Cereza's childhood friend and the deformed bell ringer of the church. At the same time, a cult gathers and plans for something to happen during the festival. Can our heroes learn about the cult in time to stop them? How will the Bat Faunus interact with the rest of Fragment Hunter after his rocky start with Celadon? Find out in this new chapter, "The Hunchback of Notremodo".

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum

I only own my Original Characters featured in this story.

After the encounter with Pierre Laiton in the church's bell tower, the members of Fragment Hunter and Smoke Shadow's gang reunited at the airship in the afternoon to talk about what they did. Soon, the topic changed to the 'monster' and everyone listened to Cereza about everything. "So, the monster that everyone thought lived in the church is just a Faunus with an ugly face," Kun Agate questioned. "That's kind of rude of them to say."

"They don't know he's a Faunus," Cereza said. "The only ones that know he even exists are the ones that go to the church."

"It's probably better that way," Celadon remarked as she looked at her reflection in a compact. "I'm sure everyone in town wouldn't take kindly to his looks. After all, first impressions are everything."

"True, but it's best to not judge a book by its cover," Ivy voiced with a slightly annoyed tone.

Azalea listened to her mother, remembering a few things that she knew happened at Beacon and during her childhood because of her own appearance. After thinking about it, Azalea got up and began to leave the airship. "I'm going for a walk," Azalea said as she left with Dante and Drei following her after they heard her say 'walk'. As Azalea made her way into town, she began to talk to her dogs as they were the only company she had at the moment. "There's something I just understand about Pierre. He's a lonely Faunus who only had a few friends growing up. He wants to help people, but he's nervous about how the world will see him," Azalea stated. Drei whined as he looked up at Azalea before Dante lowered his head and let the corgi climb onto his back for a ride. Seeing the dogs looking at her with concern, she gave a small smile and pet them. "Don't worry, boys. I'm okay. It's just that I see a bit of myself in Pierre. If I could talk to him, maybe he'd become better. That's what my friends did for me."

While Azalea walked toward the church, she was unaware that she was being followed since leaving the airship. Sunset, Rebecca, and Smoke were all keeping an eye on the Cow Faunus after what they heard from Cereza and Celadon. "Do you always stalk your best friend," Smoke asked with a sneaky grin on his face.

"Do you always stalk girls that you flirt with," Sunset retorted with an annoyed look on her face.

"Fair enough," Smoke said before the three tailed Azalea more. "It's a good thing I used that scent eliminator on us. Otherwise, her dogs would have noticed us," he remarked as he held a small bottle in his hands.

"Yeah. But I'd say they're more concerned with Azalea at the moment," Rebecca noted as she watched the horned girl and her canine companions.

"So am I," Sunset voiced. "We don't know about Pierre ourselves, so we should see him and learn what he's like."

"Yeah, there can be more to a person than meets the eye," Smoke agreed. "You know, why is it that the cowboy isn't with us?"

"Because Slate respects Azalea and knows she can take care of herself," Sunset answered. "Did you expect him to cling onto her all the time after the Vytal Festival?"

"With what happened after the end of the fight with Team JADE, I'd say it would have been the other way around," Smoke said with an amused laugh.

"She's never going to let us forget that," Rebecca remarked while hiding a snicker.

When Azalea made it to the church, she looked up at the bell tower and soon made her way up the stairwell with her dogs following behind. When they made it to Pierre's room, they looked around and didn't see him immediately. However, Drei caught the scent of somebody unfamiliar and Azalea looked in the same direction to see Pierre on the balcony. "Hello, there. Will today be the day," Pierre said to a statue, confusing Azalea before she heard the chirping of a bird. "Are you sure, little guy? Because something great is happening soon," Pierre said as he reached into the statue's mouth and gently took a young bird into his hands. "Look down there. The town is setting up for the annual Snow Spirit Festival. There's going to be all kinds of games, food, and performances. And you'd be able to see them all if you could fly that day," he said to the bird. As Pierre spoke, the bird flapped its wings and managed to lift itself out of his hands. Seeing that the bird was attempting to fly, Pierre carefully moved his hands away and showed the bird that it was flying on its own. "See? You're doing great. Now, go enjoy yourself. Nobody wants to be cooped up forever," Pierre told the bird as he watched it fly off.

Azalea looked at the scene with wide eyes and slowly made her way over to Pierre as he spoke to the bird. When she reached the balcony, she spoke to the deformed Faunus. "That was so sweet of you," she said, surprising Pierre and making him turn himself to stone. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," Azalea apologized.

"Y-you didn't," Pierre asked as he turned back to normal.

"I just wanted to talk with you after what happened earlier. I'm Azalea," she explained and introduced herself.

Pierre was surprised by Azalea and wasn't sure what to say. "Um, uh... I, uh... This is just... i-it's just... I don't know what to say," Pierre stammered as he tried to talk.

"Cereza's my teammate from when we were at Beacon, so why not talk about her to start," Azalea suggested as she picked up the wooden doll of Cereza on the table.

"Oh, she's great! She's like a sister to me," Pierre said as a smile appeared on his face. "She's really skilled and I've seen pictures of her mother before. They look so much like each other."

"I know that feeling. I look a lot like my mom, too," Azalea mentioned as she looked at the doll and put it down.

"Both of them were supportive of my hobbies," Pierre explained as he gestured to the table. "I made all of this by myself."

"It's amazing," Azalea remarked. "I guess seeing things from the bell tower really helps with making a scale model of the area."

"It helps a little," Pierre agreed.

"My dad and boyfriend both like woodworking and model trains. I think that if they took the time to talk with you, the three of you could make a great railroad set," Azalea said.

"That would be amazing," Pierre exclaimed before he frowned. "But I don't think they'd like to see me. The blonde girl didn't really like me. Nobody in town really does either. They're all scared of my face."

Azalea watched as Pierre turned to stone again and crouched into a fetal position, staying as still as a statue. She immediately noticed that the pose was the same as the one she usually took after a bad day at Sanctuary Academy. Sitting down next to Pierre with her dogs joining them, Azalea spoke to the Bat Faunus again. "You know, people usually judged me by my looks, too," she explained as she looked at the glass shards hanging on strings, hearing the sound of stones moving when Pierre looked at her. "I may not have a face like you, but people still teased me for my horns and my figure. Some days when it got really bad, I just wished that I could hide from them. That's how I eventually unlocked my Semblance," she elaborated and demonstrated her Semblance, 'Refraction'. Turning invisible for a few seconds, Azalea showed Pierre what she meant before appearing again. "You turn to stone and blend in with the church to hide or let harsh words bounce off of your skin. You feel like you might scare people, but want to show you're not a threat. At the same time, you want to help them by being a guardian of sorts. You can be loved, Pierre. You just need to show people that you're a gentle person and not the monster they think you are," Azalea said to him.

"How would I do that," Pierre asked as he deactivated his Semblance.

"Why not go to the Snow Spirit Festival with me and my friends," the Cow Faunus suggested.

"What?!"

"It would show the town that you aren't a monster. If you spend time at the festival with a bunch of Huntsmen and Huntresses, then they'll know you aren't a threat," Azalea explained.

Pierre thought over Azalea's suggestion, but was hesitant to give a real answer. "I... I just don't know," he said.

As Azalea saw Pierre look unsure of what to do, she turned her attention to the numerous bells above them. "Do you really ring all these bells by yourself," she asked, changing the subject.

"Oh. Uh, yes. I do," Pierre answered with a surprised tone. "Would you like to meet them," he asked. Azalea nodded as Pierre climbed up the rafters with ease with the Cow Faunus following him. "This is Phoebe," he said as he stood next to one of the bells. "And these are Mabel, Sarah, and Trixie. They're sisters. All made in the same place," he said as he swung from the rafters like a kid on a set of monkey bars.

Azalea enjoyed seeing Pierre perking up and soon stopped when she saw the largest bell in the tower and admired it. "Who's this, Pierre?"

"Marie," the Bat Faunus answered.

"If people just saw you for what's on the inside, they wouldn't care about how you look," Azalea told him. "I'm sure that people would love to see the bell tower like you always do."

As Pierre thought it over, the sound of Dante and Drei barking caught his attention before they heard some shouts of surprise. When he and Azalea got back down to the floor, they saw the dogs piled on top of some familiar faces. "Sunset! Rebecca! Smoke?! What are you three doing here," Azalea asked.

"Right now? Having a corgi's butt ruin my hair while a hunting dog drools on a thief's tail," Sunset said as she looked at her best friend.

"We were concerned about you meeting Pierre at first, but we heard everything from the start," Rebecca said as she attempted to pull herself free.

"Of all the time to have the scent eliminator fade away... Oliver needs to work on that formula now," Smoke muttered to himself before using his Phantasm Semblance to easily escape.

Azalea shook her head at what the three did, but turned to see Pierre assuming a defensive stance in case there was any trouble. "Pierre, these are some other friends of mine. They aren't here to do anything," she told the hunchback. "Isn't that right, Smoke," she added with a warning tone to the Raccoon Faunus.

"Hey, this place is nice. I don't plan on doing anything while I'm here," Smoke explained. "I might even make a safehouse in town or something," he said to himself.

Pierre helped Sunset and Rebecca up to their feet before the leader of Fragment Hunter spoke. "There's no harm in going to the festival with us," Sunset told Pierre. "Besides, Bianca would probably be okay with you coming along."

"She'd definitely want to get to know you," Azalea remarked. "You remember her from earlier, right? The blonde Dove Faunus?"

"I thought she was an angel for a second," Pierre said as he nodded.

"She must get those reactions all the time," Smoke commented.

"Yeah, but she's taken already," Rebecca told the thief as she reminded him of the singer's relationship with Silver Wuruhi.

Pierre was still hesitant about going to the festival, but Smoke stepped in to talk with the Bat Faunus. "Look, there's not going to be a problem, right? You can wear something to disguise yourself and only we'll know about it. Plus, imagine all the benefits of going to enjoy the festival for yourself. Fun, games, food, girls. Not only that, but you'd have a sense of freedom to do what you want outside these stone walls," Smoke listed. "You should try and figure out what's best for yourself. One of the things I figured out when I lived in Mistral was that I wanted to travel Remnant with my friends. I don't exactly want to stay in one place for too long. Because if I did, I'd miss out on what the world has to offer." Pierre listened to what Smoke was saying before he said one final thing. "Nobody wants to be cooped up forever."

Upon hearing what he said to the young bird from before, Pierre smiled as he knew what to do. "You're all right. When the festival is ready, I'll go with all of you. Nobody's stopping me from leaving this tower and enjoying myself," Pierre declared, causing Azalea to smile. "I'll tell everyone in the church after mass. I'm going to the Snow Spirit Festival and nothing will stop me!"

"That's the spirit," Azalea said as she gave Pierre a hug. "I'm sure that the others will agree with this."

"I do not agree to this," Celadon exclaimed.

Sunset and Azalea told the others about their conversation with Pierre when they returned to the airship. While most of Fragment Hunter and their allies were okay about spending time with the Bat Faunus, Celadon was very vocal about her refusal. "What do you mean," Sunset questioned as she and Azalea looked on in surprise.

"I will not go around town with that m-man," Celadon said.

Everyone was wondering why before Terracotta spoke up. "You hesitated," the Bull Faunus noted. "Why?" Looking up at the Huntsman, Celadon was nervous when he saw the suspicious look in his eyes. However, she refused to say anything about the matter. "You do remember that your team leader has the power to read minds, right," Terracotta rhetorically asked.

Realizing he was right, Celadon fumed in annoyance and frustration before she finally spoke up. "He's hideous! Okay!? Are you all happy," Celadon exclaimed.

The group was shocked to hear what Celadon said. "How can you say that," Azalea shouted. "Pierre's a nice man. You just need to give him a chance. Why are you treating him like this?"

"When I grew up in Mistral, you could usually tell who is who by how they look," Celadon stated. "Pristine dresses, ornate jewelry, and elaborate hairstyles usually said that the woman wearing them is of high society in the Kingdom. Average people wear clothes like mine," she said as she gestured to her own outfit. "While the people most involved in the black market of Mistral and its territories have scars, torn clothes, ugly faces, and even sinister tattoos like this one criminal organization ran by a woman named Lil' Miss Malachite. If they look like they're trouble, they usually are."

Azalea began to grind her teeth as she listened to Celadon and her eyes turned red. "I thought that when we first met, you saw me for what was on the inside! Did you really judge me back then, too," she angrily questioned.

"What?! Absolutely not," Celadon replied as she took offense to wait Azalea said.

"And don't even get me started on what you thought about my dad when you first met him," Azalea stated, reminding Celadon of when Terracotta showed up at Beacon as an instructor to help with the Vytal Festival bringing more students. "Did you see him as a monster because of his looks?"

"N-no! I don't see him like that," Celadon said with a little hesitation.

"You're acting just like Team JADE, Celadon," Azalea yelled. "I guess that everyone from Mistral is like you!"

"I am nothing like those girls on Team JADE, you cow," Celadon shouted in frustration and anger, not paying attention to what she was saying.

Everyone gasped as they heard what Celadon said to Azalea. After she realized what she said, Celadon covered her mouth with her hands just before Azalea threw a punch at the blonde girl's face and sent her flying back a few feet. "Never call me that," Azalea bitterly said as she watched Celadon pick herself up and brought a few fingers to her lip.

Seeing that she was bleeding before her Aura healed the damage, Celadon glared at her before she charged up her Semblance and fired a large number of gemstones. Azalea was quick to use her vambraces to make a hard-light shield, but the stones began to bounce around the airship like pinballs. While everyone managed to avoid the jewels, the attack caused some collateral damage when the projectiles ricocheted into the ship's controls. "Oh no, this fight could destroy the airship," Oliver Electrum exclaimed as he inspected the damage to the cabin.

"It won't take long," Azalea said as she rushed toward Celadon with her shield still up and pushed her out the exit. After Celadon recovered from the attack, the two fighters stood their ground in the moonlit clearing outside of Notremodo as the rest of Fragment Hunter watched on. The girls circled each other as they listened to the snow crunching beneath their feet. Soon, the two approached each other and began to trade blows in hand-to-hand combat.

Azalea went in for a punch, but Celadon was quick enough to deflect the attack before landing her own at the Faunus girl. When Azalea stumbled back from the blow, Celadon followed through with a kick to Azalea's unarmored leg to try forcing her down. However, Azalea was able to keep standing and stomped her armored foot to eject her Gladion batons from her greave. When Azalea went in for an attack with her batons, Celadon used her Semblance to create gem-like armor around her hands to catch the weapon before twisting Azalea around and disarming her with a wristlock and kicking her aside. Wielding one of Azalea's weapons for herself, Celadon changed the setting of the Multi-Action Dust Baton to use Electric Dust before using her Semblance once more. When she did, the projectiles that she normally fired became yellow and sparked with electricity. Azalea saw this and quickly switched the baton she still had to use the same type of Dust and took the attack head-on.

"Azalea," Slate shouted as he and the rest of Fragment Hunter saw the attack coming at her. However, the electric jewels harmlessly bounced off of Azalea and confused most of the group, including Celadon.

"What in the world," the blonde questioned before Azalea charged at her. With both batons sparking with electricity as they clashed, the clanging of metal and zapping noises filled the air when the two Huntresses fought each other with Azalea's signature weapons. With Azalea's strength beginning to overpower Celadon, the latter used her martial arts skills to deflect Azalea's next blow before kicking her down into the snow with her Aura enhancing the attack for extra strength. As she got back to her feet, Azalea switched the setting of Gladion to use Wind Dust and waved the baton around like a magic wand. A gust of wind kicked up the loose snow and swirled around Azalea. When it stopped, Azalea was nowhere to be found and Celadon looked around frantically. "There's no use hiding, Azalea! I'd be able to find you with all this snow on the ground."

As everyone looked for any sign of the Cow Faunus, Terracotta chuckled as he knew what was happening. "She's not on the ground," he stated.

Hearing what the Huntsman said, everyone looked up to the sky and watched as Azalea reappeared to deliver a powerful flying kick to Celadon's stomach. When her foot made contact, Azalea grabbed the baton Celadon had and held onto it while standing on top of her. "Had enough," Azalea asked Celadon as she put her weapons away.

"Why are you defending him, anyway," Celadon questioned as she returned to the topic of Pierre.

"Because he's the same as me," Azalea said. "He's a scared Faunus who hides from anyone that treats him like he isn't a real person. He wants to do good for people, but can't if anybody he meets won't be good to him. You're not acting like a Huntress, Celadon. You're acting like the people he's afraid of. Like the people I was afraid of when I first got to Beacon," she told the blonde before heading back to the airship. "What do you think Pierre sees you as if you keep seeing him as a monster?"

Celadon listened to what Azalea said and had no idea of how to answer. Instead, she stayed lying in the snow, contemplating what the Faunus meant. Eventually, the rest of Team SAFR brought her inside to warm her up, but her thoughts were still focused on Azalea's words.

"How's the damage that Celadon did," Rua asked as she walked over to Oliver and Kun.

"It's not that bad," Oliver answered. "The main visible damage is to the steering, so that'll need to be fixed up before we even attempt to fly anywhere else. I'll need to do a full inspection with Kun in the morning, though."

"Looks like we'll need to take a boat to Anima now," Rua commented.

Azalea was helping herself to a cup of hot chocolate before Bianca asked her about the fight. "How did you do that with the gems earlier," the Dove Faunus questioned.

"My Semblance already lets me deflect light, so I did some testing before the Vytal Festival and found out that I could deflect elemental attacks with Dust powering up my defenses," Azalea explained. "It has to be the same type, though. So, I can only defend against what I can match against."

"And with your batons, that means you can prevent two different types of elemental damage at a time," Lapis noted from what she heard. "That's pretty cool."

"Yeah. If you had that power, you would be able to defend yourself with whatever is in your trident," Azalea stated.

"Looks like we have something to test out when you can see again," Sunset commented as she sat next to Lapis. Soon, the leader of Fragment Hunter looked at Celadon and saw she was still thinking about what Azalea said. "I have a feeling that things won't be so easy later."

In the graveyard's mausoleum, the cult leader was speaking to a member about what they saw a few moments ago. "Thank you, Brother. This information shall help our upcoming plans quite well," he said before the cultist left a secret room that only the high-ranking members could access, which led to a series of underground catacombs. "A fight between those new arrivals has caused more activity among the Grimm. This will be of great use to us, Brother Dracule."

Standing next to Fandango was a tall and pale man that stood at 6'5" with a menacing look in his blood-red eyes and neatly kept black hair. "It shall be a great opportunity. But I'd love the chance to take one of them on for myself," Dracule said as he looked in a mirror and inspected his scarred face. Aside from a large scar across the bridge of his nose, he also had a small one near his left eye. Seeing his dark red robe was sloppy, he began to adjust it and reveal his body was covered in a variety of different scars. As he finished fixing his robe, it fell to cover the buckles that were on the thighs of his black pants. "It would be a pleasure to add a few new pieces to my collection," Dracule said as he smoothed down his robe and smiled to show he had fangs like a vampire.

"Patience, Brother Dracule," Fandango told the man, standing next to him and made his height of 6 feet evident by standing next to his larger associate. "Atlas wasn't built in a day. We'll have our time when the Snow Spirit Festival begins. You can wait a little longer."

"Yes, Mihai," Dracule said, addressing Fandango by his first name. "But I still don't know if the Grimm will be able to wait that long."

"They were able to wait for the Fall of Beacon, weren't they," Fandango rhetorically questioned. "I'm absolutely positive that Brother deVoix will be able to quell the Grimm nearby if they become too anxious. They may be a force that overwhelmed Beacon, but that was because of a large event. The Snow Spirit Festival isn't that big compared to the Vytal Festival Tournament, but there will be enough factors to aid in our plans."

"If you say so," Dracule said before he heard somebody enter the room. As he and Fandango turned around, they saw who it was. "Look who just showed up."

"Brother Pinot deVoix. You've returned," Fandango said as he looked at the lanky man in front of him.

Pinot deVoix had black hair with white streaks, stood at 5'7", and had dark burgundy eyes that made his associates think of wine. He had white makeup on his face that had a black design of two diamonds under his eyes, complete with a teardrop underneath one of the diamonds on each side. He wore a black derby hat, a white long-sleeved shirt with black stripes, a pair of black slacks with suspenders holding them up, a pair of white shoes, and a pair of white gloves on his hands. He silently tipped his hat to the other men in the room as a way of greeting them.

"I take it that you've dealt with any reckless Grimm before our plans can start," Fandango questioned. Pinot nodded before gesturing toward a small area in the room that stored drinks. "I believe that you've deserved a glass of wine, Brother deVoix," Fandango answered.

As deVoix smiled, he selected a bottle of wine and a glass before setting them down. Taking a better hold of the bottle, Pinot began to act as if he had a corkscrew in his hands and tried to open the bottle. Suddenly, the cork was pulled out and it began to levitate while Pinot poured his drink. When he was done, he placed the cork back in the bottle and set it aside before he started to feel the air for something. When he found what he was apparently looking for, he began to float in the middle of the room as if he was sitting on an invisible chair. Enjoying a sip of his wine, Pinot gestured for Fandango and Dracule to speak.

"With your current assignment complete, I'd like you to go undercover at the Snow Spirit Festival for when we put our plan into action," Fandango told the silent man. "When you find something that can be used to our advantage, signal us." Pinot nodded as he enjoyed his drink, then stood up and returned to the bottle he opened. "Yes, you may have the bottle for later, my friend." With the cult leader's permission, deVoix took the bottle for himself and began to leave the room.

"His silent nature and Semblance make him a very effective assassin. If you weren't continuing this cult, we would be some of the most effective men in Remnant's underworld," Dracule told Fandango.

"True," Fandango replied. "However, I'm sure that after our plans here in Notremodo come to an end, we might be able to head off for Mistral's controlled regions," he remarked. "We just have wait and see if those newcomers will be a problem for us. If they do, we'll turn their world upside-down."

Okay, things have been happening in life lately, but I managed to get this chapter done. With that, we have more characterization shown for Pierre. It'll be fun to actually show even more of him later on. We also have a conflict between Azalea and Celadon because of their thoughts on Pierre, mostly because I needed some tension and to show more of Celadon's character off. She'll be learning from this.

We also have the cult shown again with two more important members. With them revealed, we have our main antagonists for the Notremodo storyline. Mihai Fandango the leader, Dracule the second-in-command, and Pinot deVoix the spy. I'm sure several of you can guess Pinot's abilities based on his scene, so fights with him will be entertaining to picture.

Next chapter will the Snow Spirit Festival's start and a number of things will be happening with our characters. Just know that the cultists aren't the only threat I have planned. Fragment Hunter will be facing off against something bigger than them. Just what it is, you'll have to wait and see.

Make sure to leave a review if you liked this update. Until next time, WaterDragonMaverick signing out.