We're back! Why so soon? It's a funny story actually. I've been sitting on this chapter for a bit, looking and re-looking it over. Eventually, with the help of my beta Swag, we ironed out all the kinks. Hope you like it!
"But... what if I'm a failure at being a leader?" Jaune asked with a sad tone.
Ruby thought for a second, "Nope!"
Jaune had been sitting up against his door in the hall. She now slid down the wall to join him. "You know, you're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff."
"Nope!" Jaune leaned harder against the door. "Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid..." The man in question slouched a bit. "... and you might've even been a failure the first day we met!" He slouched even farther. "But, you can't be one now. You know why?"
There was a pause while Jaune waited for the answer. "Uhhh...because?"
"Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do! And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us." Ruby got up from the floor and stood confidently above him. "We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune. And I think that can be you." She placed her hands on her hips and seemed to strike a heroic pose before walking over to her own dorm. "Have a good night, Jaune!" With that, Ruby rose retreated into her room.
Jaune received a second wind from that little speech. With a look of renewed purpose, he got up and almost opened the door before his scroll went off. He stared at it for a second, uttered a terrified gasp, and set off into the night on the task he was given.
Luka had to admit, it was pretty satisfying to see Jaune squirm. He was working for the most detestable person in school. She had seen the entire exchange between Ruby and Jaune from a crack in her team's door. The short of it was that he wasn't very fond of his choices up to this point. Cardin had him on a leash, and his team was none the wiser. What a shame.
"Luka!" Yossif called from behind him. She let out a low growl and closed the door. Luka noted the changes to the room as she turned. Actually, only one thing had changed. Rexus' bed was a disaster upon first glance. It was covered in papers, trash, and the sheets were thrown off to the side. But as Luka walked closer, everything made sense once again. The papers, or more accurately maps, showed the entirety of the Forever Fall forest. The trash consisted almost entirely of cans that were being used as hills and landmarks. And the sheets were being used as a border for it all.
Yossif and Anna stood over the maps, and Rexus sat cross-legged on his bed behind it. They were all preoccupied with something other than her. Yossif peered over the maps with interest, Anna did something on her scroll, and Rexus happily ate one of his food bars.
"You ready to go over this?" Yossif asked as she got to the bed. All she gave was a quiet and affirmative grunt.
Rexus placed his food on his lap and pointed at the map. The entire thing had been inked up by markers that really only made sense to him. "Alright, thanks to Anna's charm," The girl looked pleased with herself and nodded, "We know about where the teachers will be posted." He pointed towards a high ridge overlooking most of the forest. "Good news is, they're all in the same place. For those of you who have a hard time thinking, that means they'll have a rather hard time seeing what we want to do. Bad news is…" He pointed to a place circled in ink. It was right next to where the teachers were. "We can't use this spot. They overlook it." He grabbed a marker from his pocket and crossed out the location.
"So what if the teachers see?" Luka asked with a hint of anger. The entire team ignored her.
"Never fear, though. I have a second location. Here" He circled another place. It was an entirely tree'd in area. "Now, granted, this place is a bit enclosed. We won't have any real space for flare. But if we play our cards right, we can kick the entirety of CRDL's ass and never even let them see our faces." Rexus slammed the marker into the middle of the circle to add a bit of dramatic flare, and then continued to eat.
Both Yossif and Anna contemplated the location in silence. They found no problems with the plan.
Luka did. "No."
Rexus stopped eating and looked at her. "Whut." He said through a mouth of food.
Luka pointed to a small clearing, "Here. We're going to do it here."
Both Yossif and Anna looked at her in confusion and concern. The reason was simple. The place she picked was a few hundred feet away from the teachers. Just far enough for them to be blind, but not deafened. It was risky. "If I may, " Anna began, "This looks more like the set up for a grudge match than swift judgement." She replied in a soft tone in an attempt not to set anything off.
Luka looked at her coldy. "What's it to you?"
"Luka," Yossif called out, "You could be nicer, you know."
"Yeah, you've been pissy all week. You could take it easy for a day." Rexus replied with his usual lack of tact.
"Whatever." She replied. Luka walked towards the door and out of the room. She was gonna go get a soda.
"Good going, genius." Yossif said as he whacked Rexus on the head.
"What did I do?" Rexus asked, confused.
"Would it pain you to just use a nicer tone when speaking to her? She hasn't exactly been calm and collected as of late." Anna asked. He shrugged.
"Yeah, and now we have to go get her, again!" Yossif said with a shake of his head.
Rexus grabbed his right forearm defensively and immediately scooted back. "Nuh uh, there's no way I'm going after her again. She might actually take my arm off this time.
Anna corrected his attitude with a hard smack.
"OOOOWWWW!"
Maybe it was a little too hard.
Whoops.
"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." Three members of LYAR grouped up and listened to the teacher, their leader was absent. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!" The teacher finished and set off towards the ridge just as Anna had said.
"Yeah, great. I love how she left out the instructions for how to tap the damn trees." Rexus sarcastically said.
Yossif pulled out his weapon and shook it a bit for emphasis.
Rexus looked at the halberd skeptically. "Ok, Mr. lumberjack." Yossif just shrugged.
"Has anyone seen…" Anna was about to ask about their leader until CRDL and Jaune walked by. Behind them by about fifty paces was Luka, wearing a very vindictive look.
"Yeah… so me and Yossif will go get the sap. It's a grade." Both of the boys turned on their heels and walked towards the trees. "Hey!" Anna called out, which only caused them to burst into a sprint and jump into the foliage. "I swear." Anna shook her head. She'd get back at them later. For now, she'd have to make sure Luka didn't do anything she'd regret.
Anna walked over to an opening in the trees and waited with crossed arms. CRDL walked by her, and Cardin gave an arrogant smirk. She paid him no mind, much to his annoyance. Jaune stopped for a second to sadly look back at his team, who were entering the other side of the forest. He then followed in his master's footsteps. All that left was Luka, who was walking a bit behind them. As she passed Anna, she didn't even look at her teammate. Anna just sighed and grabbed her by the shoulder. With a one hard yank, she pulled both of them into the foliage.
Both Anna and Luka skulked about in the branches of trees as they followed CRDL and Jaune. Well, they only really followed Jaune. CRDL had taken up residence in a shaded area while Jaune collected all the sap by himself. And after almost half an hour he returned with six jars overflowing with sap, and more on his clothes. Anna felt bad for him. Not just because he was a lapdog for a rather cruel master, but because she knew that jam wasn't going to come out of any piece of clothing easily.
"Hey, great work, Jauney boy! Now that wasn't too hard, was it?" Cardin asked in mock friendliness.
Jaune fell on the ground, suddenly looking a lot worse for wear. "I think I'm allergic to this stuff..."
"Greeeeat, great, great. So, Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself, 'Why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect six jars of tree sap when there's only five of us?'" Cardin totally ignored Jaune.
"That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes." Jaune got himself half composed and sat up.
Cardin got off the tree he was leaning on and walked away from the group. His henchmen followed closely. "Well, come with me, and you'll find out." Jaune gulped, collected everything, and followed.
Anna and Luka shared a quick glance before following the group from above. The trees they walked on were old and large. So old and large that their branches formed an almost solid lattice pattern for them to walk over. They didn't bend or give under the weight the two put on them. If she was blindfolded, Anna might think she was walking over a particularly bumpy floor. They seemed so solid that Anna had some pretty serious doubts that anything could draw sap from them.
She was brought out of her thoughts by a sudden stoppage of tree. They gave way to a large clearing with a few trees standing alone against the sun. That and JNPR, minus the J. CRDL and the J walked up to a small ridge overlooking the entire clearing.
Of course, Anna was having a hard time really thinking critically about the situation, what with her dangling from the edge of a tree. Yes, when she had said "brought out of her thoughts by a sudden stoppage of tree," she had meant it literally. Now she was dangling from a branch and barely hidden by a thin sheath of leaves. "Luka," She urgently whispered, "Help me!" Her teammate crouched a few feet away, looking around for something for a few seconds before coming over. She got close to her and…
She just walked past her.
Anna was completely floored. So much so that she nearly lost her grip. But with a deep breath, she hoisted herself up and back onto the semi-solid layer of wood. And there she lay for a minute, trying to understand the cold indifference her leader had just displayed. Anna understood Luka was currently running with a one track mind, but the fact that she'd just ignore her, a friend?
Some friend.
Anna got up and slowly made her way over to where Luka was. The spot she was in now was better, with a more complete view of the area and better concealment. That didn't excuse Luka's actions, however. But Anna knew complaining about it wouldn't help. Luka wasn't herself right now.
And whatever was happening with J CRDL was far more interesting than any talk Anna could have with Luka. That group's conversation was getting rather heated. Cardin was attempting to order Jaune to do something, and Jaune looked about ready to pop. He had a jar of sap in his hands, and said hands shook violently.
Almost without warning, Jaune wound up his arm and threw the jar at Cardin with a force she never would've thought he'd be able to muster. Of course, Jaune hadn't ever been to combat school, so he was probably never taught about planning out a fight. He almost certainly didn't think past his first action in this situation. And that was unfortunate for the poor boy. Jaune would almost certainly agree with her when she said his little display of confidence was not worth the broken bones he'd receive from the mace wielding barbarian. But that was his choice.
Luka became furious and attempted to jump out of the tree. She was stopped by Anna, barely restraining her. "Stop stop stop. This wasn't the plan."
Luka said something loudly in Menagin, before stopping her struggle to break free. Anna did hate it when her teammates spoke in their native tongues. But it was the worst with Luka. The language of Menagerie was impossible to decipher. Even though she had grown used to hearing it by this point, it was still a source of annoyance when you can't understand something in a stressful situation.
Luka's eyes lit up a brighter blue than usual. Ah, her semblance was coming on. Perhaps she'd calm down now.
Anna felt an emotion building up inside of her. It was… pure anger. Anger against everything in front of her. She wanted to let go of higher thinking and just go. The emotion was almost dictatorial in its ability to influence her. Anna half realized that it wasn't her own emotion. The half that realized, her own emotions that currently wished for her to stay in the tree and not risk anything, were locked in battle with this new foregin invader into her mind. The battle was so fierce that her whole body locked up. She sat paralyzed, completely trapping Luka in her arms.
And the worst part, she was terrified. Not of anything in particular, but she felt parlyzed in fear.
And that was before the Ursa showed up.
That Ursa scared the shit outta Rexus, and nearly caused Yossif to drop all the sap. It just barreled out of the damn trees and plowed through the one they were tapping. It even knocked Rexus over. "Holy Shit!" He said as he laid on his back. "You alright dude?"
Yossif sat against a tree and wore a very surprised expression. He held both the sap and his weapon tightly. "Uhhhh." He said very cautiously.
But before they could speak anymore, they heard a very loud roar followed by a girly scream. Rexus and Yossif cocked their heads sideways at the sound. "Was that…" Rexus slowly said.
"...Cardin." Yossif finished for them. Both students took a deep breath as they computed the recent events and established cause and effect. The quiet between them was then suddenly broken as Rexus broke into a heavy laugh. Yossif couldn't help but join in a little before he rose from his spot. With intent to come back for them, Yossif hid the sap and placed his weapon squarely on his back. "Come on, let's go see what's happening." Rexus put his hand up in "wait a minute" motion as he laughed uncontrollably. After a minute or so of laughter, Yossif grew tired of waiting and just dragged a laughing Rexus to his feet.
Yossif had underestimated how close everyone else was to their little planned spot. Thankfully, the trees were too thick for them to be spotted coming from that way. To be safe though, Rexus and him were standing in the trees and observing the situation. Currently, Jaune was staring at his own weapons and standing still. Cardin was being used as a scratching post for a big and angry grimm. Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha sat above the little tussle, watching the event unfold. Some teammate Pyrrha was watching her leader have a mental breakdown and be seconds away from being turned into a very red piece of meat.
But as Yossif looked closely at Jaune, he saw a flicker of defiance in the kid's eyes. That flicker then grew larger, brighter, more angry. Yossif's semblance allowed him to see father and clearer than even most bird fanus, and that allowed him to see Jaune close up. He was racked by shakes. To another person, it'd look like fear. But Yossif understood what they really were. These shakes were of pure anger.
"Oi-." Rexus tapped Yossif on the shoulder and quickly burst into a fit of giggles. "You… hah… You gotta look over there." He pointed at a rustling tree before he lost all his composure again. Yossif just shook his head and focused on what his laughing teammate had pointed out.
Something was in the tree, that much was certain. Probably a bird or beowulf. But as his eyes focused, he was surprised. It was Luka and Anna. Well, not in that order. Anna was tightly holding onto Luka from behind, and Luka was struggling something fierce in an attempt to escape. She wasn't anywhere close to succeeding.
Luka's eyes were lit up in a bright, glowing blue. Her semblance was on. It was weird though, usually she was more composed when that happened. Now she seemed like a rabid dog.
Anna seemed to be paralyzed in a horrible fear. She just stared hopelessly at the scene in front of her, barely even breathing. "Didn't know she had a fear of Ursa." Yossif said to himself with a small portion of surprise.
An angry roar was once again heard, but this time it came from Jaune. Yossif tore his eyes away from his teammates and refocused on the blonde. He'd engaged the Ursa since Yossif had looked away. Now he was locked in a contest of strength against the creature. Yossif noted the very uncharacteristic and hateful look plastered over Jaune's face, and the terrified one on Cardin's face. He hoped Luka was seeing this.
Jaune got smacked by the monster and flew a few feet away. Rexus had regained his senses by this point and was now giving a loud "ohhh" for everytime any hit connected on both parties. Jaune wasn't stopped by one strike, however, and charged the beast again. He was promptly smacked and thrown again. "This is kinda sad." Rexus said with a little discomfort in his voice. Yossif just shook his head and brought out his own scroll. He searched for other active scrolls in the area and found Jaune's. His aura was red and nearly depleted. About that same time, Jaune also looked at his own scroll. He didn't seem very happy about his current health. With an angry yell and a pound of the grown, Jaune charged down the Ursa for a third time while the monster did the same. Anyone who's ever fought anything would bet on Jaune needing two coffins. His shield was down, leaving his midsection exposed. He'd be bisected by the grimm. Yossif grimaced, and he had a feeling everyone else around was also doing the same.
Jaune's shield arm suddenly jerked up and deflected the Ursa's paw. In one move, Jaune freed the grimm's head from its shoulders. There was a deafening silence. Everyone was in shock over the boy's survival. "Holy shit." Rexus simply said. Yossif saw a barely visible mirage in the air surrounding Jaune's shield. He painstakingly traced it back to Weiss, Ruby, and Pyrrha. More specifically, Pyrrha's hand. He smiled, "Interesting."
"I know right! If I had bet on this fight, I'd be broke right now." Rexus said, mistaking Yossif's word. Yossif looked at his friend with confusion and a little bit of disgust. "What, don't tell me you thought Jaune was gonna win?" Yossif just shook his head and looked back towards the scene.
Jaune was standing above Cardin, offering a hand. When Cardin took it, Jaune pulled him close and stared him dead in the eye, "Don't ever mess with my team, my friends, ever again. Got it?" With his piece said, Jaune left. Cardin followed suit shortly after, and walked the other way. He was going straight towards the place they wanted him.
"Rexus, go get everyone else. I'll preoccupy our friend for a bit." Rexus nodded and took off without a word. As for Yossif, he moved into position right over where Cardin was walking and drew his weapon, Baneshot. He waited until Cardin had walked under him and made his move. Yossif cut a branch off the tree behind Cardin, which caused the schmuck to bolt forward in terror. He started to crash through the brush with great difficulty. Yossif continued to control his path with more cut branches and made an effort to both get Cardin where he needed to be while tiring him out. And after a few minutes of serpentining the leader of CRDL through the forest, Yossif finally let the poor idiot into the clearing Luka had picked out. He ran into the middle and collapsed. And from his place in the trees, Yossif could see how hard he was breathing.
"Cardin!" Rexus walked out through the brush. "Thank the Brothers we found you! Grimm are in this forest, you know!" Anna and Luka walked out of two other spots, the latter wearing a sadistic smile. To finish it off the little perimeter they were forming around Cardin, Yossif jumped down from his spot.
"You guys gotta help me! There's something in the forest!" Cardin pleaded. The group all started to close in on him at once.
"Sure, sure, we'll help you. Hey Luka, why don't you get your buddy Cardin on his feet?" Rexus asked.
"With pleasure." She stated darkly. Luka got behind him, roughly jerked him to his feet, turned him around to face her, and delivered one hell of a sucker punch to his face.
This caused the source of Luka's hate to stumble back and right into the path of Anna. "Oh, my bad, I didn't specify how long you needed to be on your feet. Anna, you mind giving Luka a hand?" Rexus asked very politely.
"Certainly." She cordially replied back. Walking right behind him, she grabbed his shoulder and hoisted him up only to deliver a precise punch to his left kidney, augmented to horrible strength by her aura. They all heard the metal armor crack from the strike. But she wasn't quite finished. As Cardin fell to his knees, she kicked him right into Yossif's path.
"Awww. Seems she has the same problem. Let's see if Yossif's learned anything from them." Rexus commented with a small laugh.
At this point, Cardin knew that they weren't there to help him. He decided that it'd be less painful to run and risk a grimm attack than to be here. As he came to a stop after being kicked, he got up and bolted in a random direction. Sadly for him, that direction was straight at Yossif. Said man stopped Cardin dead in his tracks with a very nice talk and tea.
Well, that's what Cardin would've preferred. Yossif really stopped him by clamping a hand around his neck and lifting him from the ground. Cardin watched as Yossif inspected him for a moment, turning his head in different ways almost in an effort to find something. He must've not found anything of note, because he pushed Cardin away and smacked him in the side with his weapon. The armor Cardin wore fractured in several spots as he flew right into Rexus' path.
"Oh, that's tough guy. Seems my friends are having a tough time helping you. Don't worry though, I'll go easy on you." Rexus smiled down at a laid out Cardin before quickly slamming his foot down into his chest. "I won't get you up first." Rexus stared down at Cardin coldy before beginning to curb stomp the helpless moron. After a bit, Luka and Yossif joined in. Anna gave a few light stomps before she stopped to re-compose herself. Yossif delivered some pain, but not as much as he could've. Rexus gave Cardin's ribs a bit of a flexing, but left the man very much alive. Luka, on the other hand, gave all she had to Cardin. It was so brutal that she had a new coat of red on her shoe and a bit of broken armor on her shin.
After that little reverse collective punishment, Rexus brushed some bigger armor chunks off of Cardins chest and sat on him. He made sure Cardin was looking right at him. "You alright buddy? That grimm got you pretty good, didn't it?"
"You...you… yo-." Cardin tried to get out through his beat up body. Rexus just sighed and gave a signal to Luka. She didn't know what he exactly wanted, but she could guess. Luka stomped Cardin's thigh with all her strength.
Said man tried to scream, only to be stopped by Rexus covering his mouth. "Be quiet." He said forcefully. Cardin made no more noise. "Good, now why don't we have a look at you. Your actions, I mean, I'd never want to look at you."
Rexus sat up and put a hand to his own chin, "Let's see, you abuse Fanus. Usually it's verbal, but sometimes you add in the odd assault just to spice things up. You're stupid. That makes sense. You just recently assaulted your peer, right after trying to get him to assault his own team. You also cheated your way into beacon. Am I missing anything?" Rexus asked rhetorically. Cardin made a sound that could be interpreted as confusion. "Well, that's a bit diegenous. Your father cheated you into beacon. I shouldn't give you credit for something you aren't smart enough to do." Cardin again made a louder sound of confusion, this time mixed with anger.
"Oh, our friend is getting a bit belligerent. You mind cooling him down, Luka?" Rexus got off of Cardin and made way for Luka. She didn't respond and immediately jumped onto him and started just punching the skin off of his everything.
Rexus stood by his other two teammates and pulled out his scroll. Yossif also had his out. "Shouldn't you guys be a bit more...concerned?" Anna asked with clear discomfort in her voice.
"Why should we?" Rexus asked, scrolling through some notes.
"Luka has made it very clear that she wouldn't mind...turning Cardin off, permanently." Anna danced around saying exactly what she was thinking.
Yossif walked around Rexus and showed Anna his scroll. It displayed all of their aura's, including Cardin's. He was approaching the red. "He's fine. We can let Luka go for a bit."
"Yeah, it'll tire her out." Rexus stated as he scrolled back and forth on his device.
"Oh, are you also watching his health?" She asked with a slightly smaller amount of discomfort in her voice.
"Nah, just looking at some notes I took on Mr. Winchester over there." Anna looked at him with a confused gaze. "Just watch." He slid his scroll back into one of his vest pockets and strutted back over to Luka and her punching bag. "Can you give me and this piece of meat a moment, Luka?" She looked over her shoulder, gave Cardin one more punch, and then got off him. Rexus looked at the sorry sight in front of him. Cardin was in absolute shambles. His armor was falling apart. Half of his body was blackened with bruises, and the other half was covered in blood. His face was, ohh his face. What they had done to it was almost indescribable. Just know that he no longer had a complete smile.
Rexus chose to not sit on Cardin this time since his chest had been splattered with blood and saliva. He just kneeled down next to the broken form. "So, Cardin, your father's a big shot right?" Cardin didn't respond because he couldn't feel his face. It was fine enough that he didn't, Rexus wasn't looking to have a conversation. "Yeah, he is. He's so much of a big shot that he has some extra money to throw around. That was how you got into the school, afterall. Your combat skills are up to par, on paper, but your smarts aren't very good. So your dad paid for you with some very charitable donations. And plus a little extra so you wouldn't be expelled." Cardin slowly reached for his own scroll. He was stopped by Yossif's boot coming down on his hand. "Mmhm. You got a pretty good gig, man. Free room and board, free reign to insult every fanus you see. It seems the only rule you have is to not permanently hurt someone, at least not physically. But what do you think would happen if dear old dad suddenly got less charitable with his money?" Cardin's eyes were nearly swollen shut, but you could still see them widen with surprise. "That's right my friend, no more good times. You're smarter than you look." Rexus stood up and walked out of Cardin's view. "You may be wondering how imma get your pa to stop with his donations? Well it's simple…" Rexus crouched down and grabbed Cardin by the collar, "You." He let Cardin fall back flat again. "You are my bargaining chip. You see, dear old dad will stop sending the school extra money, and send it to a little PMC called ARES Group. And if he doesn't, the next grimm attack won't leave you alive, you understand?" Cardin furiously nodded his head. "Well good, it's always nice to have a civil chat with someone you dislike. Anyone else wanna throw in their two cents?" Rexus stood and walked away from cardin.
Yossif walked over to Cardin and placed a hand on his chin in thought. "How about… you pay us."
Rexus laughed and nodded in agreement. "Yes, we're being so nice that CRDL must be in our debt. Each man on the team must contribute money to our pockets. Anyone else?"
Anna looked uncomfortable, but decided to chip in for the good of the school. "You must sit in the front row of every class you enter."
Rexus looked at her with a bit of confusion at her choice, "Alright. You guys are going to the front. Make sure you pay attention. Luka?"
Said girl strutted forward with a smile and brighter disposition then she'd had for a week. "Cardin, I hate you. On any other day, I'd ask for you to crawl back to whatever hole you came out of and never come back." She stopped right at Cardin's feet and crouched down to his level. "But...Your little thing with Jaune gave me an idea." Luka turned to face the rest of her team, the smile she wore pulled tightly at her lips. "I think it's only fair you do the same for us."
The rest of the team stood awestruck for a second. Here was Luka, an adamant hater of CRDL, not wanting them to all jump off a bridge. They had all bet on Luka pretty much telling them that if she saw them again she'd kill 'em. But She didn't do that. She just told Cardin that she wanted to see him again. She just told him that he'd be seeing her again.
By the brothers, Luka just made Cardin her personal servant.
She grabbed the man by his collar and lifted his terrified face to hers and gave the same speech to him that he gave to Jaune, "We're friends now, Cardy boy! And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time." And on cue, Cardin passed out from one of his many injuries.
Rexus rushed up to Luka as she stood and pulled her into an embrace, "By the Gods that was so evil! I've never been so proud!" Rexus let go of her and jokingly wiped a tear from his eye before breaking into a hearty laugh.
Yossif also came up from behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Well, you handled that better than I thought you would. I figured you'd...Let's not dwell on that." Yossif avoided mentioning Cardin's possible death.
Luka turned to face Yossif, "It's fine if you say it. Believe me, I thought about just doing him in on the spot." She looked around to her team and let a frown take over her face. "But then I thought about you guys. I'm sorry for dragging you guys into this, and I'm sorry for how I've been the last week. I haven't been a good friend, or leader."
Rexus looked around to see if anyone else was gonna say something. After a few seconds of a very painful silence, he opened his mouth, and…
"So what?" Rexus groaned as Yossif beat him to the punch. "You were a little edgy for a week." Yossif once again walked up to his partner and placed a hand upon her shoulder. "But that was then. All that matters is what you act like now. And in the face of your evil…" He looked past her and at an unconscious Cardin, "...You acted with surprising temperance." Yossif placed both his hands on her shoulders and gave her a kind smile. "I'm proud of you."
Rexus came up beside Yossif and used a fist to bat his friends hands away in order to free Luka. "Yeah, I'm proud too." He gave a joking salute. "I'd follow you anywhere, Ma'am."
"Be a little serious, would you?" Yossif delivered a smack to Rexus' head, which caused Rexus to strike back both verbally and physically, and that caused another strike from Yossif. Pretty soon they were locked in a little comedic battle.
Anna took this time to walk up and give Luka a small pat on the shoulder. She smiled at her leader, and Luka smiled back. But soon the sound of Rexus' and Yossif's battle ruined the little moment. Luka shared a tired look with her friend and took off to intervene.
And as Anna watched her friend step in front of two raging idiots, her smile began to fade. What she had witnessed today. What she witnessed today…
What did she witness?
Luka had been cold for a week. She barely spoke to them, ate with them, looked at them. But now she was a great example of temperance and teamwork? It was confusing, frustratingly so. They'd assaulted another student, and were now celebrating like their favorite team just won a game. And the person who most likely caused the most damage, the person who basically enslaved the student, was being held up like a hero. Anna disliked Cardin as much as any other. She hated how he treated people. But to stoop down to his level and do the same thing to him? Were they in the right to do this?
Anna looked at Luka, who had managed to put both of her teammates into a headlock. All three of them laughed with amusement, even as they struggled.
And then she looked back at a broken and bloodied Cardin, whose ragged breathing could barely be heard.
Was this the right thing to do?
LYAR waited patiently in their dorm. All the work for the day was done, so they preoccupied themselves with something else. Rexus and Yossif played cards on the floor, speaking brokenly in the other's native tongue and laughing at the utter failure of each attempt. Luka was sitting on her bed and occasionally laughing at the screen of her scroll. And Anna sat at the little desk near the door of the room, working on her homework. Well, she was trying to work. What she was really doing was having a mental war with herself. It was over the last few days. She should be completely satisfied with what had come of this situation. Luka was friendly again and no longer out for blood. They wouldn't have to worry about getting called to the headmasters office to be informed of her expulsion anymore. They could all rest easy now.
But she couldn't. Anna just couldn't. And the fact that everyone else could just served to un-nerve her. The fact that they could do the same as Cardin did with zero worries was-.
Knock knock knock. Someone was at the door. Annal immediately knew who it was, and she sighed with sadness.
It was an action hardly noticed by the rest of her team.
Luka jumped up with excitement and rushed towards the door. With a single quick motion, she threw it open and smiled deviously at the person on the other side. "Look who's out of the infirmary. How's it been, Mr. Bleeder?" Luka spoke in a half interested tone and instead focused on the plastic bag Cardin was carrying.
It was about that time when Rexus and Yossif broke from their card game to see what was going on. "Cardin, good buddy, how's the stitches from that...heh...grimm attack?" Rexus asked.
Cardin gave a low, "Fine," while looking down at his feet.
Luka quickly ripped the bag from his hands and peered inside, and so did Yossif and Rexus once they reached their leader. No sound came from any of them as they stared into the bag of goodies. They stared for so long, so quietly, that even Cardin looked up in anxious confusion. Rexus stuck his hand in the bag and screwed around with the contents for a bit. They sounded like cans and crisps.
Luka also stuck her hand in and slowly pulled out a can of off brand soda, "What's this? I asked for Roller Cola, not…," She stopped to read the brown aluminum can, "Hunter Root Beer."
"Yeah, and where's my Rip It's?" Rexus picked up another can of off brand soda and tossed it at Cardin, who didn't have enough time to catch it and watched helplessly as it bounced off his stomach. "What's with all this off brand pop?"
"Yes, and you also forgot my chips." Yossif grabbed a bag of… "Healthy Grimm Smashers" apple chips.
Cardin looked down once again, "That's all the school shop had." He said quietly.
Luka looked at him with an annoyed glare, "And you didn't go to Vale in order to get what we asked?"
"I didn't have time." Cardin said with a louder, but still timid, voice.
"Well you should've made some time." Luka stepped forward threateningly. Cardin immediately took a step back, remembering how hard she had beaten him.
But Yossif and Rexus stepped forward in order to stop another beatdown. "Now wait a second. We can't beat him again just after he got out of the infirmary. That'd be a little suspicious, don't you think?" Rexus asked.
Luka took a few seconds of deliberation before asking, "Well, we can't just not teach him a lesson."
Yossif threw the bag of health food at Cardin's face and quickly grabbed his shoulder while he was distracted. "Well, Cardin did just save some money by not buying anything good." Yossif was hinting at a very specific action they could take.
Rexus continued the thought, "Oh yeah, he did. Seems his wallet's a bit heavy. It'd be a real helpful thing for our good buddy Cardin if we lightened his load a bit, don't you think?" Rexus directed his question at Luka.
The leader smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I think that'd be a great help."
Cardin immediately protested, "But, my dad already cut most of my allowance. If you take this, I won't have any money left for at least two weeks!" He had a pleading tone and struggled lightly as Yossif reached into his back pocket and fished out a wallet.
"That's too bad. But I bet your team will help you out. Well, after they get done paying us." Luka said with a cold and disconnected tone. Cardin looked shocked, but put his head down again as Yossif drew a wad of Lien from the wallet and passed it to Rexus, who began to divide it up. "Bye, bye, Cardy boy." Luka took a step forward, which made Cardin jump back and out of the doorway. Yossif then threw the wallet at him and closed the door. Leaving a broke and distraught Cardin in the hall.
"Oh, that felt good!" Luka exclaimed as she walked to her bed and grabbed a soda out of the bag. "And as a bonus, I actually like this stuff." She flopped down onto her covers and stretched out, a wide smile plastered over her face.
"Yes, I'd agree. Nothing like a little poetic justice." Yossif walked back to the card game and grabbed a bag of apple chips out of the bag, "Though I can't say the same for the chips." He chucked them over his shoulder.
Rexus, who was standing behind him, doged said chips and continued to count the money. "I'll say. Who knew that Cardin was so stacked?" He waved around four wads of cash for emphasis. "And I'll take a little bit out of your cuts since I'm the accountant." Yossif and Luka immediately glared at him without mercy. "Alright, alright, geez. Even four way cut." He started to recount.
Anna had watched all this and deemed the event to be over. With a taste of disgust in her mouth, she turned back to her work. How they can just drink stolen sodas and enjoy stolen money was a wonder to her. But it'd be best not to think of it.
Rexus placed a stack of lien on the table, "The money was a bit uneven, so I had to give you a bit less than everyone else. Sorry about that, Anna." Rexus walked away and back to Yossif and the card game. With money now in their hands, they immediately started betting.
Anna just sat there, silent and unmoving, staring at the money. Money she had "Earned" by being an accomplice to assault and blackmail.
Anna was scared of her friends. Scared of how easily they took on violence, and how easily they forgot about it. She was scared of her leader, and that semblance of hers. She was scared of how helpless it made her feel. How it turned her own mind against her. She was scared of how casually Yossif just did things. How he beat up Cardin both mentally and Physically. She was scared of Rexus and who he really was. She wondered, with worry, how he was connected to Ares Group. That PMC was basically synonymous with the Atlesian Mob.
And finally, she was scared of herself.
She hated how much she wanted to take that money and forget about all this. She hated how easy it would be to toss away her morals and turn a blind eye. Was this what hunters dealt with everyday? Did they take the money and just do what had to be done? She thought of what they did to Cardin. Sure, like the hunters she strived to be like, they hadn't killed him. But what they did seemed worse. They enslaved him, plain and simple. Was this what Hunters did to bad guys?
She had two choices, do what her family had taught her all her life and take the money. "Funds make the world go round, and extra funds make it go round faster," as her mother had once told her. Or she could not take the money, and maybe even give it back. "Hunters need to be virtuous and live a life of honor," as one of the professors had taught her.
Anna turned in her chair to look at her teammates. Rexus and Yossif laughed and cursed together as they played their game. The money changed hands faster than they could react to it. Both of them wore bright smiles, even as they lost money to the other.
Luka had gone back to looking at her scroll, now occasionally sipping from her drink. And every now and again, she'd look at the stack of lien next to her with a smile.
They were all happy. Maybe if she did as they did, she'd be too. Maybe she'd forget what had happened and join in with everyone else, a smile on her face.
With a trembling hand, Anna took the money and slid it into her pocket.
The taste in her mouth that action granted stayed with her for weeks.
Pretty damn spicy, amirite?
Next chapter we meet monkey man.
I don't know what else to put here, so I'll just leave it at that.
Have a good day!
Don't die!
Peace!