They headed out of the school down a long winding path that turned into nothing more than a field with a dirt trail leading beyond a hill that jutted up off on the horizon. A meadow separated the city of Haven itself from its most prestigious and expensive neighborhood, in which Sterling Stratford owned the largest home that sat right in the midst of it. They said that he was well deserving of such things, he had saved Haven from a strange mass of Grimm that were being drawn to the area in an unnatural manner, carrying back two of his teammates that had been knocked out during the mission. He then made proposals for military reform to protect the kingdom, unlike anything they'd ever heard before. He was an instant celebrity and shoo-in for Mistral's council head.
"It's beautiful out here, isn't it?" Eliana asked. It was warm out, much too warm to feel like the fall season that Eliana had grown used to back in Vale, but winter was different here too. Unless you traveled up north out of Haven and were making your way towards Argus, there wasn't much snow to be found during any season of the year, Mistral was comfortably warm unlike Vacuo which was always hot, and Atlas, which was just hell frozen over. Eliana ran out ahead of Fade and ran her fingers through the tall grass, it was a feeling that she never got sick of. She looked back to make sure that Fade was still keeping up with her, but noted that she had been given a sizable lead. "You're going to have to move a little faster if you want to match my pace!"
"Do you ever take your time doing anything?" Fade questioned as she made a poor attempt at closing the gap between them. Eliana rolled her eyes and folded her arms.
"Sometimes," Eliana insisted. "So, I'm guessing that you live out here too?" Fade's eyes lit up and she nodded.
"I do!" She exclaimed. "I could take you by the house if you'd like! Oh, you could meet the maid and butler, assuming that he hasn't already left for the day. I could even show you my room! It's so clean and tidy right now and it's been some time since the last time Des came over for a visit. We'd be able to put the hot tub in my bathroom to good use. My room's bigger than daddy's, but he says that he doesn't mind." Eliana watched her list off even more things about the house in a flurry of excitement. She was usually proper, but when she talked about her life she seemed even more so.
"If we have time," Eliana replied without thinking.
"Really?!" Fade asked, grabbing her hands.
"Maybe…" Eliana stuttered. "Maybe…"
"If we have time," Fade repeated. "That's what you said."
"Right, but I still need to get back to the school to study for our test tomorrow on Grimm Habitats and Behavior, and that's probably going to take me quite some time," Eliana explained. Fade looked dejected for a few seconds and Eliana felt something drop in the pit of her stomach. What would it hurt to stop by her house? Except… I still remember the way that she looked at me in the shower the other day… The same way that...
BESIDES, ALL I DO IS HURT PEOPLE! Eliana shook her head and inhaled. They were coming back. Her thoughts. She knew they weren't true, but she couldn't shake them and the more that she thought about Neela, the louder they came back. She managed a smile again and continued on her way.
"So… is that a no then?" Fade inquired.
"I'll give it some thought," Eliana informed her. Fade nodded and smirked.
"Great," Fade said. Eliana gradually grew further ahead from her teammate, gradually stopping and bending down to pick something up that Fade couldn't see before throwing it and watching it with intent. "What are you doing?"
"Playing with Spot," Eliana told her. Fade stared at her for a couple of minutes, looking back out into the grass towards the direction she was looking before continuing past her.
"You worry me sometimes," Fade noted.
"He's an invisible dog!" Eliana yelled. Fade waved her off and Eliana looked up and sighed. "Nobody understands us, dad."
"Come on, you have to get a glimpse of this view," Fade called to her. Eliana followed her up and stood on the precipice, looking out over the rest of the meadow that naturally blended into the high-end neighborhood. "Isn't it amazing?"
"Looks like a lot of lien to me," Eliana said with a shrug. Fade shoved her and Eliana laughed. "I'm kidding. It's nice, though I've always preferred something a little more secluded and away from other people. Something with like… a tire swing or a treehouse. Or both! Or a tree fort with a tire swing inside of it, that would be awesome! Neela had a treehouse, it was the best, we used to sleep out there during the summer because it made her feel more at ease and…" Eliana stopped herself. Why can't I forgive myself? Why can't I bring myself to talk to you?
"You want to talk about it?" Fade asked.
"No, I'm fine," Eliana insisted.
"Are you sure?" Fade persisted. "I know this Neela girl means the world to you, but I think I'd better understand how to help if you just explain what happened."
"No!" Eliana asserted, making herself jump. The two of them looked at each other, making eye contact that made Eliana feel awkward and she looked away. "I don't want to talk about it. I know you're just trying to help and I appreciate that, but I don't want to talk about it. It's not… what happened between us…" Fade grabbed her hands again.
"Whenever you want to talk about it, I'll be here," Fade assured her.
"Okay," Eliana nodded. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," Fade dismissed her and continued walking. "We wouldn't want to keep Stratford waiting, would we?" Eliana chuckled sheepishly.
"Probably not," she replied.
"Then let's go," Fade laughed, shaking her head. "Sometimes, I swear…" They reached the outskirts, many of the people were out on their lawns visiting with each other or had their hired help mowing for them, a lot of which seemed to be Faunus, but Eliana had no doubt that they were being paid and weren't there against their wills, so she wasn't too concerned over the fact. A few of them watched Eliana and Fade, murmuring to each other as they called to Fade and she'd reply with a smile and a wave that seemed relatively rehearsed.
"So, Stratford's place?" Eliana asked.
"In the middle," she answered pointing down the street. "A few more blocks and we'll be there." Eliana nodded. She knew that they weren't talking about her, but she couldn't help but feel that way. Look, it's that girl who set up the events at Beacon. How could she do such a thing? Why didn't she tell her teachers? Nobody had to die! "This one's mine, just in case you were wondering." Eliana looked up, her breath catching as she stared at the small wonder. "It's one of the smaller ones."
"Smaller ones?!" Eliana stammered. This was one of the smaller ones? Was there a swimming pool in the living room? Was her room the entire size of Eliana's house on Patch? Was there a ballroom, or bowling alley, or something outrageous and absurd to justify the size?
"You're falling behind again," Fade informed her a few houses down. "I can always bring you back later for a tour!" Eliana nodded, looking one last time before following again.
"Have you ever been inside of Stratford's house?" Eliana pried.
"Yes! It's such a lovely estate! My father is his top supporter, so we're often invited over for his socials," Fade began droning on. "I've been there for many elegant occasions, whether it be ballroom dances, political debates in the foyer, or on rare occasions, wine tastings."
"Where's the wine from?" Eliana inquired trying to sound interested.
"There's a small vineyard contained within his backyard," she explained. You've got to be kidding!
"That's crazy!" Eliana declared.
"It seems rather normal to me," Fade shrugged. Eliana nodded and rolled her eyes. "Here's the place!" Eliana glanced up from looking at Fade, noting that this building looked like it could for at least one of Beacon's dorms inside of it. It had a helicopter landing pad, because of course, and in front of the building was a garden that Eliana immediately recognized. She gasped and entered through the gate without permission or Fade. "Hey!"
"I don't believe it! This is an exact replica of the Spring Maiden's Garden at Haven!" Eliana exclaimed. "Only this one is much more alive for obvious reasons."
"I've never been to the other one," Fade informed her.
"What!?" Eliana proclaimed. "I guess I'll give you the rundown for now and we'll go visit the other one later!" Eliana smiled and Fade shrugged. She nodded and looked at Eliana, smiling back. Her smile is just so contagious! "So, anyway, back when Lionheart was the Headmaster, the Spring Maiden was one of the students at the school. Apparently, the burden of being a Maiden was a bit too much for her to handle and she didn't deal with it well. Leo built the garden near the school so she could visit it whenever she liked to help calm her nerves. It wasn't enough to get her to stay, sadly, but before she left she planted a single lily in the middle of their garden. They say that when she died, so did all of the flowers, except for the one she planted."
"Sounds like someone knows her stuff," Stratford chuckled as he came down the stoop of the mansion with Olesia to greet his guests. "As you could probably guess, I'm a bit of a history buff myself."
"It's beautiful!" Eliana insisted. Olesia laughed and Stratford nodded.
"I have to agree," Stratford noted. "And I omitted the Maiden's Lily as a sign of respect for the girl." He sighed. "It's a shame that none of you kids will ever get to meet the maidens. Their power was something to behold. How long ago was it now that they gave up their power, ten years or thereabouts?" Eliana nodded.
"Yeah, but it was for a good cause," Eliana said.
"Is this the friend that wanted to speak with me, Fade?" Stratford asked. Fade grabbed Eliana's arm unexpectedly and clung to it.
"Yep, this is the one," Fade excitedly declared. Eliana looked at her for a second. This girl ran hot or cold at a moment's notice. Sometimes she was proper, and other times she was girly, and Eliana was having the worst time reading her. "She said that she wanted to talk to you about something that happened outside of the city the other day."
"Is that so?" Stratford replied. He looked Eliana over before placing a hand on his mouth. "Where do we know her from, she looks familiar…"
"Team NITE!" Olesia exclaimed. Stratford gasped and stepped forward, taking Eliana's hand and shaking it.
"Yes! Of course! That's it!" Stratford exclaimed. "We can talk while Olesia retrieves your medal. Is that alright, darling?" Olesia smiled and nodded.
"Sure!" She answered heading back towards the house.
"You two are so cute together," Fade squealed under her breath.
"So, what seems to be the problem, Ms. Latherus?" Stratford inquired.
"The other night I couldn't sleep and was taking a walkout in the country when I found a woman who had been run off the road and ransacked, a Faunus, to be more specific. She said that ever since my teammates had been there the previous winter that Faunus conditions have gotten even worse outside of the city, even though we took down a rather large anti-Faunus group that was terrorizing the area," Eliana explained.
"Unacceptable," Sterling stated as he stood. "That's something that this kingdom will not abide by! Thank you for sharing this with me, Eliana. I will remove some of my military from Vacuo to work on this right away." Eliana sighed in relief. She could see why Fade thought so highly of him.
"Thank you, sir," Eliana replied.
"No, thank you," he insisted. He took a step back and folded his arms. "Now then, I'd like to ask you a question."
"Sure, what's up?" Eliana questioned. Was your dad that cop? Are you going to become a cop like your dad? I'm so sorry about what happened to your dad. No doubt he'd ask one of the usual questions, it was to be expected.
"Why did you leave your team in Beacon?" He inquired. Well you see, my dad… wait, what?! Eliana looked him in the eyes for a long moment before looking away and rubbing the back of her neck.
"Well you see," Eliana began. "Well… I…"
"She doesn't like talking about it," Fade cut in. Eliana looked at her. Fade was standing up for her? Maybe this girl wasn't as bad as Eliana had come to believe.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Stratford frowned. He shrugged. "I'm sure whatever you did, you put a lot of thought into it and decided it was the best course of action."
"It was a tough choice, but it was something I had to do," Eliana said. Stratford smiled.
"Good enough for me;" he told her. Olesia returned with the medal, handing it to Eliana.
"Thank you so much for what you did at Beacon," Olesia told her. "What a stroke of luck that Sterling had been given the medal to hold on to, but I guess they knew you were here in Mistral after all. I'm sorry that we didn't plan something a little more ceremonious, we've been so busy recently with Strakh and a new threat that's moving into Vale."
"Another Faunus terrorist sect replacing the White Fang?" Eliana pried. Stratford laughed.
"No, this time it's just a scientist creating new Grimm," Stratford offered. Eliana's eyes lit up.
"Like the Camazotz?" She asked. Olesia nodded.
"That one specifically is the only new Grimm we've confirmed so far, but due to her lineage, we're sure there will be more," she explained.
"Thank you again for protecting Beacon," Stratford repeated. Eliana averted her eyes and focused on some of the flowers behind him.
"I didn't do much," Eliana sheepishly admitted. In fact, most of it was my fault…
"Every bit of effort helps," Stratford assured her. "I think that's the thing that scares me the most about Abigor and the Neo-Salem's. They're well aware of that fact, it's why Mercury is always making small moves with the Stardust Gang and why we've seen less of Strakh himself and more of the Dust that he's shifting around. And who knows what Admon is up to."
"Handsome and smart!" Fade blurted out covering her mouth. "Sorry." They all laughed.
"It's true," Olesia chuckled. Suddenly, Stratford and Olesia's scrolls began to ring. He looked at her and headed back towards the house.
"I'm so sorry to have to leave abruptly like this, but we have an important call from the council," Stratford explained. "Feel free to come in if you'd like, I had prepared some desserts to have in the garden, but it appears there won't be time for it."
"Thank you so much for seeing me!" Eliana called after them. "It means a lot to me!" Olesia turned back and gave a wave before following Stratford in. Fade walked past Eliana towards the door, determined to head inside. "Fade!"
"He said we could go in, and come on. Are you telling me you don't want to see what the place looks like?" Fade asked with a smirk as she skipped through the garden and stepped into the stoop. "Come on! Just for a minute anyway!" Eliana sighed and rolled her eyes. She had to be grateful that Fade had deflected Stratford's question about her decision for leaving NITE, so the very least she could do was step into the mansion for a few seconds and humor her.
Eliana's jaw dropped as she stepped into the entryway, a large room that had several doors leading off of it and two staircases that curved up along the walls to the second floor, more or less the opposite design of the Schnee estate. In the middle of the room was a small table with assorted cookies and tea, almost seeming out of place in the grandiose setting. Banners covered the walls with Mistral's emblem, there were statues of Ozma and Salem set towards the back between the stairs, doubling as a water fountain. To say he was a history buff was to say the least! To her right, down the hall, she could see paintings of all of Mistral's Headmasters and Mistresses since the school had been built, to her left were busts on pedestals of the generals of the Great War and Faunus War. This was insane.
"Tea?" Fade asked, snapping her out of it and bringing her a saucer and cup.
"Thanks…" Eliana managed. It was stunning. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a man with white hair and white rabbit ears, his pink eyes lighting up as he noticed her, wearing typical butler attire. He nearly dropped the tray he was carrying as he made his way towards her with an alarming pace.
"Eliana!?" He shouted. "You have to be! You just have to be! I haven't seen you in so long, you've gotten so much bigger! This is crazy! You look just like your dad! Not to say that you aren't attractive, cause you are! But like in a normal way! I mean…" He stopped and tilted his head with a smile. "Long time, no see?"
"Officer Flemish?!" She yelled back at him. She hugged him and nearly picked him up off of his feet. "I haven't seen you since the funeral and I almost didn't recognize you out of your police uniform! This is unreal!"
"You know him?" Fade asked.
"He was my dad's partner at the end of his career," Eliana informed her. He rubbed Eliana's head.
"Same smile as your dad too!" He pointed out. Eliana smiled wider.
"Thanks!" She exclaimed.
"You two a thing?" Flemish inquired. Eliana almost dropped the tea that Fade had handed her, both of the girls blushing and avoiding looking at each other.
"No," Fade quickly spat out.
"She's my new team's leader," Eliana informed him.
"That's awesome too!" Flemish said. "I'd say we should catch up, but I'm a full-time butler slash bodyguard for Stratford now, so I really don't have the time… Hey, I have an idea!"
"What's that?" Eliana asked.
"Anything on your scroll you don't want me to see?" Flemish questioned. She raised an eyebrow. "If you don't mind! I don't want to impose, just wanted to catch up, that's all! Forget that I even mentioned!" He waved her off and she laughed.
"I don't see any harm," Eliana shrugged. She handed it to him and he handed it right back, barely holding it long enough to actually note what her background was. "Weren't you going to take a look at it?"
"Already done," he informed her. "The photos of you and that girl with the beads in her hair are adorable. You two must be dating, right?" Eliana's face turned red as she stared at him for a long couple of seconds. "My semblance lets me see everything on a scroll or computer just by brushing it with my skin. Not a super useful semblance in combat, but great for getting intel. Nice to see that your mom is doing well. And your alarm to study tonight is set to go off in a few hours, right? And I'd ask why you deleted a received call from your history before you headed here, but I guess that's none of my business." Eliana nodded slowly.
"That's awesome," Eliana managed. "And no… we were just friends…"
"Past tense?" He asked, tilting his head. He chuckled nervously and rubbed his neck. "I have to get back to work, but it was so nice talking to you! Stop by again some time if you can, with Stratford's permission, of course." He hugged her tightly again and bounced away, disappearing around a corner.
"He seemed nice," Fade noted. Eliana turned to face her, nodding slowly.
"Yeah," Eliana agreed, shaking off his comment. "A bit overly energetic though." Eliana stopped and looked at her scroll in her hand. "I didn't delete a call on my scroll earlier…"
"Maybe his semblance isn't completely accurate?" Fade suggested.
"Possibly," Eliana concurred. "Oh! I should have asked him about how his sister is doing!"
"He was busy," Fade told her, taking Eliana's cup and saucer, setting them down on the table. "But if you play your cards right I can get us another get together here with Stratford." Fade grinned at Eliana who shook her head.
"We should get back to the school," Eliana said. "I do have quite a bit of studying to get done today." Fade pouted.
"But my house…" she started. Eliana sighed and pulled her towards the door by the hand, causing Fade to gasp and blush. Was this all working? I told Stratford to ask about her old team so I could defend her, but I didn't expect it to work this well. "Elli?"
"Next time, okay?" Eliana inquired with a smile. Fade nodded. That damn smile.
Fade seems to be falling for Elli, but is she falling too hard? Next week, Chapter 21: Samson!
A big thank you to AG_Nonsuch, Helihi, Cadhla182, Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. The artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!