"So, here's the plan," Cobalt began as he walked down the old and worn dirt road with his teammates, Nora leading them out in front as she frequently checked her scroll to see if they reached the location yet. "We are going to take care of whatever it is we're here to take care of, without a hitch, mind you, and secure first place once and for all. Team NITE will never overtake us again after that. Say hello to being certified huntsmen and huntresses by the end of our third year!" Cobalt puffed out his chest and took long strides as he walked faster to catch up to Nora, peeking at her scroll before leaning over to her. "Uh, why are we out here again?"
"You're really inattentive at briefings, aren't you?" Nora asked.
"I like to focus on morale first before I begin worrying about what the mission is going to bring. This morning was for the mental health of my team," Cobalt insisted.
"Which would be a great excuse if you weren't the only one who doesn't know what's going on," Lykos explained.
"There are rumors of strange activities going on in this forest community, and their local huntsman called us in to investigate what's going on," Bái detailed. "It also coincides with the location of a Dread dealer and distributor as noted by Raven's target book. Nora will be doing most of the leg work and we're supposed to stay busy so if they figure out why we're here, we can throw them off of Nora's scent."
"See, if anything you should thank me for not paying attention," Cobalt noted.
"And why's that?" Nora questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"My team becomes hyper-attentive to make up for my lack of attentiveness," Cobalt offered. Tawney slugged him hard in the shoulder and he yelped.
"You're such a dumb ass," Tawney growled as Nora stopped and they all nearly piled into her. "Uh, Mrs. Ren?"
"This is the place," she informed them.
"Surely you mean down this path," Lykos said, taking a step forward and examining the grass. "If you can even call it that anymore." It was apparent that at one time a barren dirt path led even deeper into the woods from the dirt road they were already walking on, but it was heavily grown over, flowers and weeds sprouting up in the free spaces wherever they could force themselves through.
"She probably did, but don't call her Shirley," Cobalt added, stepping off of the road and leading them.
"Does he ever take anything seriously?" Nora inquired. Bái shook her head.
"No, but if he ever does, we'll let you know," Tawney assured her. They followed after him and after another hour they reached the edge of a surreal-looking settlement that they first wondered if it was an illusion or some kind of semblance cloaking the actual settlement. A chill washed over Cobalt as he opened the gate and stepped onto the well-worn gravel road, the sun shining down through the trees and scattering about, shedding light onto them as the rest of them entered. Children walked across the street, noticing them before approaching them calmly.
"Are you here to help Samson?" One of them asked calmly, her body swaying back and forth ever so slightly.
"He called for help, right?" A boy added.
"We're glad you're here to help," another girl noted. Cobalt took a step back so that Nora was in the front again and leaned over to her.
"Anyone else getting like a western Stepford Wives vibe here?" Cobalt asked.
"Why is she so much older than the rest of you?" The first pried.
"I'm their teacher," Nora explained as she smiled and crouched.
"We have a teacher," the boy pointed out. "But she's much younger than you." Nora winced and stood, composing herself as her eye twitched.
"Let's find Samson, shall we?" Nora suggested. She patted the kid on the head more roughly than she should have and continued on her way down the path, finding the community to be eerier than they first perceived. All of the log cabins were nearly identical, the people that lived in them had sunken faces and stared out of the windows, watching them as they passed by, every single last one of them looked sickly. Nora's eyes met theirs and she restrained herself from shuddering. Something was definitely wrong here. "Stay close."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Cobalt replied. The houses went on for far longer than was necessary, and when they finally reached the end roughly half a mile away, they were greeted by what felt more like a movie set. There was a mercantile, a church, a small hotel that doubled as a saloon, and an old-style jail that doubled as a visitor center of sorts.
"What is this?" Bái asked.
"It's like we stepped into one of Cobalt's dreams," Tawney said.
"Oh no, this is much worse," Cobalt pointed out. A few wagons pulled by horses sat idle in the middle of the 'town', their owners more than likely within one of the buildings, but word was traveling fast with more and more people peering outside at the team and their instructor. "Is this hell!?"
"Not exactly," a voice came from behind them. They turned around to find a young man, most likely in his late twenties, dressed in traditional cowboy garb. Black pants and black boots with spurs. Black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up ever so slightly. Stetson on his head, also black, tying all of it together paired with the belt buckle he wore that said "Dust" and was somehow the most comical item of his look. Cobalt slapped himself in the face a few times.
"I have to be asleep," Cobalt muttered under his breath. "I have to be!"
"Samson Tanzanite," he introduced himself. He shook hands with all of them, his dark bluish-purple eyes seeding into Cobalt's as he gave a genuine smile that Cobalt found unsettling for some reason. A small scar that was hard to spot right away traced along his neck where it met his torso. "I'm glad you're here, I wasn't sure what I was going to do if this went on for too much longer."
"Our pleasure," Nora insisted. "I'm Nora Ren and these students are some of the best that Beacon has to offer."
"Beacon," he parroted. He nodded and chuckled. "I graduated at the top of my class nearly thirty years ago." Cobalt blinked a few times, tilting his head.
"What?" Tawney blurted out.
"Did you say thirteen?" Lykos questioned for clarification.
"No," Samson replied. "Thirty. My semblance is an accelerated healing of sorts, keeps me spry and looking pretty damn good if I say so myself."
"I'd say so," Bái added.
"Well, we've got a few rooms at the hotel reserved for the five of you, but I'd venture to guess that y'all won't be sleeping too much while you're here with us," Samson explained. "That road that you came into town down is one of four that branch out from our hub here. They're all equally as long, so you can imagine that it's hard for one man to keep tabs on the entire town whenever we're attacked by Grimm, which is starting to turn into a nightly event."
"Has this been happening for some time now?" Nora questioned. He shook his head.
"I've only been back in town for about a month, but this started two weeks ago," he clarified. "About the same time that all the people in town started acting so lethargic and the like."
"We noticed," Tawney stated.
"We think it might be related to the production of a drug known as Dread," Nora explained. "Familiar with it?" He rubbed his chin and stared at the ground.
"Not sure that I heard the name while I was out traveling the country," he informed her. "If that's the case, my best guess where they might be set up would be the only abandoned Dust mine down the east road."
"Is it the old town road?" Cobalt questioned. They all looked at him. Samson nodded.
"All the roads in this town are old, so yes, you could say that," Samson said. "Do you know if the production of the drug could be causing the town to be acting like the undead?"
"We're not overly familiar with it yet, but we're hoping our trip here will shed some more light on it," Nora detailed. "Though you don't seem affected by it." He nodded.
"My best guess would be it doesn't affect people with aura," Samson surmised. "I'm the only one in this town who has one, and the five of you aren't acting strange either, so it might have to do with that." Nora shrugged.
"Sorry, didn't want to sound like I was accusing you of anything, just have to cover all of our bases," Nora apologized. He laughed hard.
"It's fine. Glad to have you all. If you need anything I'll be at the jail. Otherwise, you're free to have a look around but it'll be dark soon, so maybe you'll want to prepare for tonight's attacks," he offered, walking away from them. They stood in silence for a few seconds.
"It's like a Red Dead game with really poor level design," Cobalt pointed out exasperatedly.
"Again, nobody understands what you're saying," Tawney grumbled.
"Alright, you kids can take your stuff to your rooms at the hotel. Hopefully, we aren't out here for more than a day or two," Nora explained. "Once you get unpacked feel free to explore and find out what the hell is going on here."
"Say no more!" Cobalt declared. "Team CBLT out!" Cobalt headed the opposite direction of his teammates, prompting Nora to watch him for a long moment.
"Cobalt!" She shouted.
"What?" He answered standing beside her. She did a double-take. "My clone can go do what he wants, he doesn't need to unpack anything." They headed off to the saloon, Lykos stepped in first, the swinging doors clattering behind him and nearly taking out Bái who was closer to him than he realized. It was empty for the most part, save the bartender and one man at the end of the bar closest to the wall. He looked back at them with the same tired and dead expression that all of the people shared before turning back to his drink. He stared at the glass stein longingly for an uncomfortable passing moment before taking a long drink, setting it down loudly as he swallowed.
"Hey!" Yelled the bartender grabbing their attention. "You must be them kids the academy sent to help. Oum bless you." He didn't sound excited about them being there, mad, upset, worried… just tired. Cobalt hesitated before approaching the bar for the rest of his team. It almost sounded like the effect that the Apathy had on people, but that also affected people with aura, so it couldn't be that. He nodded.
"We're here to help any way that we can," Cobalt assured him.
"Sure, whatever," the man dismissed him, setting their keys on the counter. Cobalt picked them up and prepared to step away from the counter when he thought of something.
"Can I ask you something?" Cobalt requested. The man shrugged.
"Sure," he replied.
"Is there a lot of Grimm's Bane around here?" Cobalt questioned.
"There was," he noted. "All went missing a couple of months ago."
"Huh," Cobalt said. "Alright, thanks for your time!" Cobalt headed upstairs leaving his teammates behind. They all glanced at each other and shrugged before following him up. "Okay, we've got three keys, one for Nora, and the other two are for us to fight over. Here's to hoping that there are two beds in each room and not a queen that we're going to have to share." Cobalt unlocked the door and peered in before closing it quickly. "Lykos. Buddy. Friend."
"I think not," Lykos replied. Cobalt hit his knees.
"Please! Please! You can't let me room with Tawney, she's crazy!" Cobalt exclaimed. He could hear her breathing heavily behind him and he turned slowly to look up at her. "Hi…"
"Get over yourself, you're not that much better. Always going on about this show and that movie. Welcome to reality, Cobalt, it's about time that you joined us!" Tawney shouted at him.
"See what I mean?!" Cobalt announced. Lykos pried a key away from him and showed Bái into their room, closing the door in Cobalt's face as the boy groveled in the hallway.
"I swear to Oum, if you touch me in my sleep, I will put my fist through your face," Tawney informed him. He nodded.
"Yeah, okay," he noted. He opened the door and let them in, the room had a bed and small end table of sorts, with a room attached that was separated by a curtain, leading to a bathroom with a single tub and washbasin. "Huh. This is cute…"
"I would hardly call this bed a queen size," Tawney groaned. She tossed her bag against the wall by the door. "There's not even room to lie on the floor in here, I'll have to sleep in the tub…"
"I don't bite," Cobalt told her. Tawney ignored him and turned to hide her red face.
"I'm not worried about you biting!" She declared. "Remember the last time we stayed in a house together? Alone?"
"We're not doing that again," Cobalt insisted. "I'm a man of my word, you don't have to worry about it. Besides, it's only fair to let you have the bed, I can sleep on the bathroom floor."
"You trying to one-up me!?" She bit.
"No! I'm trying to be chivalrous!" He shouted back. The door was thrown open and Lykos stood in it, eyes glaring through them.
"We can hear everything… across the hall! You might want to quiet down!" He scolded. Tawney and Cobalt both looked away from each other.
"He started it," Tawney insisted, folding her arms.
"Seriously?" Cobalt asked.
"Yes!" Tawney fired back.
"Why don't we go get ready for this Grimm attack before we get thrown out of the inn," Bái suggested.
"Great idea," Lykos agreed, heading down the hall towards the stairs. Cobalt looked back at Tawney once more before leaving with the couple. As the door closed Tawney exhaled.
"WHY THE HELL DO WE HAVE TO ROOM TOGETHER!?" She blurted out. "Worried about him doing something? I'm worried about me doing something!" She composed herself and leapt down the stairs, nearly crashing into Bái who was frozen at the bottom, with Lykos and Cobalt standing at the door. "Guys?"
"I'm starting to think you might have been right about this being hell," Lykos noted to Cobalt. Droves of Grimm stormed into the city, Beowulves, Ursas, Nevermores, Creeps, and possibly more, storming the area in unimaginable numbers. Tawney shoved past the two of them and headed out.
"We can't just watch!" She shouted slamming into the mob and blasting several away. "We should regroup with Nora for now, wherever she is!"
"Probably over there where the lightning is streaking from the ground up into the sky," Cobalt suggested activating his sword. He looked back at Bái and motioned with his hand for her to follow them out. "Time for us to get this party started!" He began charging his sword's laser. "Lykos, you want to give me a few?"
"Not sure how many I can fool in a crowd this large, but here goes nothing!" He shouted, creating a fake Beringel that leapt over the building behind them and landed in the middle of the square, roaring and asserting dominance over the other Grimm. "It's working for now… but I can only keep something that big formed for a short time."
"I know, but I still need a moment," Cobalt replied. "Bái, the lens attack." She nodded and formed a large one in front of him.
"That good?" She asked.
"Yes," he grunted.
*LASER IS AT 50%*
"Probably overkill, but here goes nothing!" Cobalt declared. He fired, taking out Grimm further that he could see even, lucky that the lens was well built or several homes would have been taken out in the process.
"You want to warn me next time?" Tawney asked as she batted back a remaining Beowulf. "More that way to the east, something tells me we might be out here for a while." Two Grimm flew past them and dissipated upon hitting the ground, Nora laughing loudly as she tumbled through the air and landed beside her students.
"I don't remember the last time I had this much fun fighting Grimm!" Nora exclaimed. "But we have to keep it up! I'm baffled at how Samson is able to deal with this much by himself every night!"
"Behind you!" Samson shouted as he appeared from the church. A Geist was inches from Nora and about to wrench her weapon away when Samson shot it through the mask, shattering it instantly.
"Geists too? This is insane!" Nora shouted.
"They seem more aggressive tonight and I assure you, it's not normally this many," Samson clarified. "It's the first time I've seen a geist in this area."
"Reminds me of that first mission we had this year at that lookout point close to Vale," Cobalt noted.
"I remember that!" Bái added. "It does feel kind of similar, but we never found the source of what caused that." More Grimm began replacing the ones they'd already killed and they heard the familiar screech of a Camazotz overhead.
"No way!" Lykos declared.
"I didn't sign up to die like this!" Cobalt panicked.
"Then don't!" Nora yelled. "Fight! I know you kids have it in you! Samson and I will take the Camazotz, you kids work on ground control." They nodded at her.
"Right!" Tawney agreed. She slugged an Ursa in the jaw, her eyes flickering as she tore through the masses. "Bái!"
"On it!" Bái replied. She slid in with her ice, firing pikes into the Grimm and killing a score of them before a creep nearly broke through them but she formed an ice dagger and stabbed it in the neck, throwing it to the ground with her free hand. Cobalt watched her fight in awe.
"You two have really been practicing, huh?" Cobalt inquired.
"She's gotten crazy with her abilities," Lykos admitted, whipping through a Nevermore and taking out another that was still airborne, throwing his shuriken at it and watching it fall to Cobalt who cut it in half.
"Camazotz is coming in close!" Tawney declared, her eyes igniting as she bashed an Alpha Beowulf away, her second blow paired with a shot from her tonfas took its head clean off.
"Can you shoot it down?" Nora asked.
"That much bone plating on its head? Odds aren't great, it would probably just piss him off, but I can pull him in close for you," Samson noted. He removed a lasso from his hip and activated it, the rope glowing with hard light Dust as he spun it above his head and gave it a toss, catching its leg. "You ready?" Nora smirked and planted her legs, lightning coursing through her.
"Let's do it!" Nora screamed. Samson pulled the beast down and slammed the monster into the earth, narrowly missing the mercantile. It screeched at Nora who smirked and brought her hammer completely around, shattering its facial bone plate, effectively finishing it. As it faded into smoke the other Grimm stopped and took notice, some of them fleeing as the larger one's stuck around and kept trying to get at the houses. "That makes things a bit easier."
"Clear them out!" Cobalt shouted. Tawney took off on her own, Lykos and Bái took their own route and Cobalt pulled his sword apart, dual-wielding as he charged in. Nora nodded to Samson, the two of them heading for the fourth road. The night would be a bit shorter now, but their work in the woodland town was just beginning.
"Sore!" Cobalt yelped as he opened the door to their room and flopped down onto the bed. "I don't remember the last time we had to fight for that long. Actually, I don't think that we ever have."
"That was nothing compared to my days back in Mistral," Tawney bragged, sitting on the bed next to him and reaching down to take her top off. She tossed it into the corner, reaching back to take off her sports bra before she glanced over at Cobalt who was still face down in the pillow, mumbling about something. Normally she'd take her bra off and let the girls breathe, but with Cobalt there she thought better of it. "I've never seen anything like that before."
"I have a theory, but it's never been proven so I don't know how true it can be," Cobalt groaned as he rolled over and stared up at the ceiling, paying her no mind. "Allegedly Grimm's Bane is great at keeping Grimm away as odd as that sounds. Sure the flowers and their pollen cause nightmares and the like, but the Grimm see it as some kind of mark of Salem's sacred territory. I'm not completely sure what's up with this town yet, but if they built this place out here and then had Grimm's Bane just everywhere, not only would they have built up an immunity, but it would've served as an invisibility cloak of sorts. The Grimm probably never considered attacking until someone took the flowers for the drug."
"Is that why you asked the barkeeper about them?" Tawney asked. Cobalt nodded.
"Part of the reason, yes," Cobalt admitted. "I have plans for tomorrow already, but I think that you and the lovebirds should talk to the people in town and see what you can find out." He removed his scroll from his pocket, staring at it for a few minutes before sighing and placing it back in his pocket.
"What was that all about?" Tawney pried.
"Nothing," he insisted, chuckling, but it was forced. "Everything is great, the best really. We finally got our mission and can gain some ground on NITE, maybe even pass them. That's all we've wanted for some time now, so how could anything be wrong?"
"Cobalt," Tawney spoke. "You're not acting like an idiot, I know something has to be wrong."
"I…" Cobalt started. He sighed again and forced himself up off of the bed. He pulled his shirt off, tossing it to the corner and unbuckling his pants. "I'm gonna go lie down now. I won't come back out of the bathroom, so you're free to sleep however you'd like." Tawney nodded without looking up at him. He was so damn fit for a nerd…
"What's going on?" She questioned again. "I know that I'm not always the easiest to talk to, but you can talk to me, you know?" Cobalt looked at her for a couple of seconds.
"Yvonne has another play date tonight," Cobalt admitted. "I told her when I first started seeing her that I'd be fine with just sleeping with her if she got bored every few months, but it's been a while and… and I messed up…" He rubbed his face. "I can't be that shallow. I need intimacy and love. Guess I'm not the hot-blooded high school hormone monster that I thought I was. I think I'm gonna call it quits with her when we get back but the funny thing is… the anxiety is driving me crazy but she probably won't even care!" Cobalt laughed, trying not to become emotional.
"You've got to do what's best for you," Tawney told him. Secretly it was what she wanted but she couldn't tell him that. She wasn't sure she would ever tell him. "You still plan on going to the dance then?"
"Yeah, but I'll just go stag and bum with… Eren?... Rowan?... Somebody, I'll figure it out," he replied. It wasn't like Cobalt not to make quips, and it was even harder to see him distraught.
"You want to talk for a while?" Tawney asked after a long silence.
"Sure," he shrugged, sitting on the edge of the bed. "What about?"
"How crazy it is that we got chosen for a mission over NITE? How we might pass them soon? Anything?" She overstated. He chuckled.
"Getting any closer to Neela in fourth place?" Cobalt inquired.
"No!" Tawney exclaimed groaning and she threw herself back on the bed. "Ilia is currently between Neela and me." Tawney looked at her hands. "It seems like the harder I try to beat her, the further I get from her rank. And it feels like that's all I do too…" Tawney propped herself up on her elbows. "I'm always chasing her, it's like I don't do anything else."
"What are you planning on doing after we graduate?" Cobalt asked her. She thought about it for a long moment.
"I feel like I should ask you that," she countered.
"I asked you first," he reminded her. She shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"I think I want to go back to Haven and straighten out everything on the lower levels. Stratford is doing the best he can for that kingdom, but I know for a fact that the slums are still as shitty as ever," she informed him. He nodded as she sat back up completely. "Your turn."
"I don't know," he told her. She shoved him.
"Bull!" She shouted.
"I don't!" He defended himself.
"And why not?" She inquired. Cobalt looked out the room's small window and gazed at the stars.
"I prefer to focus on the in-between, so I'm not big on setting strict goals for myself, not that I don't think they're not important. Just imagine, and I apologize in advance but I'm going to use you as an example, that all you ever want is to beat Neela, and then you do it. Great! But does that define you? Should it? And what comes next? Yeah, we saved Beacon, that was no small feat, but if I do nothing but hyper-focus on our next major fight, I don't leave myself any room to enjoy the here and now, you know?" He rattled off. Her face flushed as she watched him light up. "Listen to me being all existential."
"Why are you never like this normally?" She pried. He thought it over and raised a finger.
"The same reason you act so extreme all the time," Cobalt offered. "We're just vying for attention. I do it because I feel like the boring one in the group. You do it because you grew used to always having the limelight in Haven." She wanted to yell at him and tell him he was wrong, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. She had always been the best in Mistral… was she a somebody or a nobody here? "But at the end of the day, the attention doesn't matter, as long as we did everything in our power to protect the people of Remnant."
"That's true," she nodded in agreement. She stood slowly. "You can… sleep on the bed with me…" He quickly leapt up and waved his hands.
"It's okay, really! I can sleep in the bathroom, it's no sweat!" He protested.
"Really, it's fine," she insisted. "Just don't do anything weird and don't touch me, got it!?" He smirked and nodded
"Sure," he replied. "Thanks, Tawney." She shook her head and rolled her eyes with a smirk.
"Yeah, whatever," she said moving into the bathroom to change out of her pants and into pajama shorts. "Cobalt… where's the toilet!?"
"There's an outhouse out back," he pointed out.
"Tell me that's a joke!" She called back to him.
"Sadly it's not!" He informed her.
CBLT finally got their first field mission, but is it more than they can handle? Next week, Chapter 22: Substitute!
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!