Chapter 16: But MAN am I Bad at Math.
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Character Change: Ifiral Phenrix - Viralious
Location Atlas Academy: Team VIEW's Dorm room: Common area
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Viralious sat on the couch slowly scrolling through the news on his scroll. Showering and changing out of their combat outfits only took about 40 minutes which left them still 75 minutes before him and his team were going to go over the fight and come up with a new strategy. He tried to fill the gap with Dust theory homework, but it was over diffusion of fire and Ice dust… Something two of his teammates were VERY familiar with. That left him with 60 minutes of nothing to do. He originally started by trying to summon his mother's lemure but it ended how it always did. Giving up on that dead end he figured he would try to reach out to his family and catch up… No one picked up, Zeliska must have been busy, and Tai was probably out with Ruby and Yang. This left him to be bored, so he decided to scroll through the news.
Faunus Rights Organization the White Fang Blamed for Violent Riots in Mantle. Ghira Belladonna Responds, Claiming No Wrongdoing.
Mistral Passes the SLT Act: Gambling Officially Legal.
Vale Pulls Funding from the Patch Restoration Act: Signal Students Protest.
Sherfira Industries CEO Announces Engagement
There was nothing that caught his eye. Letting out a long sigh, he closes his news app and opens the calendar, checking the date again.
September 9th 67 AGW (After Great War)
Silently thinking, he pulls up his list of gift ideas for Ruby's birthday not looking too seriously since he's still got well over a month to get something together and shipped.
What could I possibly get a 3-year-old?
His thought process is interrupted by Winter taking a seat next to him and letting out a long-drawn-out sigh. Viralious turns his head and looks at his partner closing his scroll, "I've got a feeling that sigh isn't from having to deal with Russet, so what's up?" He says in a slight smirk.
Winter side eyes him for a second before leaning back, "My Father wants me to attend a Gala on Wednesday and I am not excited at the prospect of going there for five hours and just standing around doing nothing."
Viralious raised an eyebrow before speaking, "Why would you do nothing? I mean, I figured if your father wanted you to attend there has to be a reason." He says in a simple tone.
Winter rolled her eyes, "One would think, but no. This is just a simple gala to listen to Shiva Slate sing a little and donate some money to charity, I get to stand and look pretty."
"Shiva Slate… I'm not familiar with her music… Where have I heard that name before though?" Viralious says placing a hand on his chin.
Winter lets out a small laugh, "Well, she's an opera singer so don't think it's really your style, and I would hope you heard of Slate considering It's Eckhart's mother."
Viralious' Eyes bug out at this comment "Wait, What?!"
Winter chuckles slightly, "Yeah, Eckhart is the son of one of Atlas' top opera singers, though he takes after his uncle Ironwood… er uncle in name only."
Viralious stares stock still as Eckhart enters the common area and walks towards the minifridge. He then begins to root around in the minifridge for something. Pulling a water bottle out, he closes the fridge and walks towards the area where Viralious and Winter are currently seated. Giving Viralious a side eye, he sits down in the faded arm chair across from them. He coughs before speaking, "Yes, Shiva is my mother. Not that I'm surprised that you are too uncultured to recognize it Viralious." Eckhart says in a smug tone.
Viralious rolls his eyes, "Does everything have to be a fight, Eckhart? Seriously, opera isn't that popular outside of Atlas. How do you expect me to know who's who in that scene?" he says in an annoyed tone.
Eckhart raises an eyebrow, "No, not everything has to be a fight, Viralious. It's just you're simply uncultured. You recycle your dust cartridges, spending at least an extra hour each time you have to refill them to clean them. Your hair is longer than Makoto's and gets in the way of your vision. I mean seriously you have what? Five outfits including your uniform?"
"Hey, I'll have you know I have six outfits." Viralious retorts half joking half seething with rage.
Eckhart rolls his eyes, "That's exactly what I mean, Viralious, you should just go and get some new clothes. Didn't your mother teach you-"
"I grew up moving from town to town around Mistral or occasionally visiting Patch and Vacuo. There were nights where me and my mother were unsure if there would be food on the table the next day, Eckhart. I didn't have a permanent home until five years ago, my schooling was learned on the road and through hard work to catch up when I got to Signal. Long nights studying and practicing until I got to where I am. So yes, Eckhart my mother did teach me, she taught me to only buy what is necessary and to make things last as long as possible, it's why my hair is as long as it is. Why spend money on a haircut when I can just grow it out? Besides, I like it longer. It's why I keep my clothes until they fall apart, if I stretch them out, I don't have to spend money on new pairs and can put that money towards food or supplies for school. It's why I recycle my Dust cartridges since not everyone has the luxury of paying 5 lien for a new one each time they need to reload their Dust." Viralious says in a cold tone staring straight into Eckhart's eyes.
Eckhart stands taken aback at a loss for words for what Viralious had just told him. From the doorway to his suite he can see Ifiral glaring at him listening to the conversation and he can feel Winter's piercing gaze. He lowers his head and tries to think of something to say before he hears Viralious speak again.
"Eckhart, I get it. You believe because I'm not Atleasian that I'm a savage, and I doubt me telling you about my upbringing will change that. But I honestly don't care, I've worked hard to get where I am and I'm not going to stop simply because of your words. Same thing for being a leader, If Winter and Ifiral decide you're the better leader I'll go along no questions asked. That being said, I'm asking you as a teammate, stop. I know you wanted to be the leader of the team and that you think I'm not qualified. But I'm as much a human being as you are, I've put in the work to be here and I don't think a savage could get that far." Viralious says in a quiet tone closing his eyes as he finishes.
Eckhart blinks twice and glances around the room, he sees Winter alternating between glaring at him and giving a sympathetic look to Viralious. Ifiral was staring daggers at him and looked like he was about to cross the distance and punch him. Breathing in he thinks to himself,
So I'm the villain in this story… I never wanted them to hate me… I… I just wanted to lead them… Some leader I am. Not understanding the morale of my team and practically pushing one of the key members to tears…
"I'm sorry, I…..." Eckhart starts before losing the words.
Viralious opens one eye and glances to Eckhart seeing his conflicted emotions on his face. He sits quietly knowing that Eckhart is at a loss of what to say, precisely what he felt talking to his sister and Tai.
"Look Viralious I… I didn't know. I… I'll… You're not a savage, I just feel that Ironwood made a mistake and I've been taking it out on you. I'll admit I am in the wrong and will do my best to drop it." Eckhart finishes in a tone somewhere between sincerity and his normal simple tone.
Viralious looks him straight in the eye before responding, "Alright Eckhart, thank you, I'm still going through with our deal. That being said, I think Ifiral has been trying to say something to you for the past few weeks."
"What? What could he possibly want to say to me?" Eckhart says, puzzled.
Ifiral closes the distance between the doorway and the common area, taking a seat on the other empty armchair and looking Eckhart straight in the eyes.
"For punching you in the face on the first day, you never wanted to hear the apology." Ifiral says deadpan.
"Oh right… that." Eckhart says completely forgetting that it had happened.
"Well seems you're willing to actually listen, so Eckhart, I'm sorry for punching you in the face. As you know, my scars are a sore spot for me and when you insulted them, I saw red and acted without thinking. There's no excuse and I hope we can move past this incident." Ifiral says in a serious tone.
"I believe we can, Ifiral… Now then if we can move away from the sap hour and go over the strategy for tomorrow that would be great." Eckhart says quietly.
Viralious rolls his eyes, "I mean we still technically have another fifty odd minutes before the time I said but we can if everyone else wants to." He glances at the rest of his team.
"I've got nothing better to do. Also, Murt's homework for this week is bullshit." Ifiral says.
"I am also fine with starting early. I will say I disagree with you Ifiral, Murt's homework was quite simple." Winter says scholarly.
"You call having to color each individual weak spot on a nevermore simple? I mean it kind of is but it's useless busy work. Meant simply to make sure we didn't have time to study for the exam in First Aid on Tuesday." Eckhart says
Viralious gives a little bit of a laugh before speaking, "If I'll throw my two cents in on the homework it's both busy work and useful as it does get you familiar with the nevermore especially considering that lecture was more fiction than fact I'm pretty sure. I mean come on, riding on a nevermore to reach his destination then jumping from it seriously there is no way that's true. That being said we're already getting off topic already, so I'll open the floor for discussion of their thoughts of their fight today with Team CARD." He finishes with a commanding tone.
Ifiral is the first to speak up, "Well for starters Delphi is pure fucking defense. She's able to block everything which is quite annoying. Only time I was able to deal any real damage was detonating a fire dust cartridge behind her shield… Something she only let me do once."
Viralious nods before speaking, "I noticed she was extremely defensive but had a harder time blocking faster opponents. Sure, she could block some of my strikes but more of my attacks landed than yours Ifrial. I hypothesize it's due to her semblance. Your attacks are slower, giving her time to use her prayer to try and cover her bases."
Ifiral thinks on this for a moment before nodding, "It makes sense as whenever I tried something rash, I could break through. It also explains why she rarely attacked, she needed her arm with her halberd to pray and with that she really could do more than a basic thrust or stab."
"Okay then, I think I have an idea for going against Delphi, but I would like to hear about other combatants first. I'll continue by talking about Celica's fighting style. Her semblance actually has nothing to do with her dances, shocker, I know. Her semblance seems to work by storing the kinetic energy from objects she throws and she can unleash it at a later point. So that's the reason she's throwing the chakrams constantly and while dancing she's moving her chakrams with small throws around charging them more." Viralious says in a scholarly tone before looking at Winter, "She however has issues using this style if she only has one pair of her chakrams so that's why I ended up throwing my weapon and using a pair of her chakrams. I think if we could keep her from throwing her chakrams or moving we should be able to easily take her out." he finishes by punching his fist into his hand.
Winter ponders for a moment but picks up on what Viralious is saying "So a gravity glyph would be a quick and easy way to do it. I think I'm following what you're putting down." She says simply.
Viralious nods, "Alright, anything you want to add about Russet?"
Winter's smirk drops, "I think I'm the worst possible person to go against him. His axe gives him more range than me and his rocket launcher makes sure I cannot get a solid opening to use my glyphs. Only time I could actually get a strong hit in was when you threw your weapon at him Viralious." Winter says in a defeated tone.
Viralious places a hand on her shoulder before looking her in her eyes and speaking "Alright, if it makes you feel any better I'm thinking of having you handle Celica while Ifiral tackles Russet. You still did great with a bad situation. I'm sure your family would be proud." He says in a comforting voice.
Winter blushes slightly before looking away, not catching that Viralious had taken his hand off her shoulder and was currently facepalming at actually saying that last bit out loud. This gets Eckhart and Ifiral to give a wayward glance before Eckhart rolled his eyes and spoke up, "As for Ariel, I can manage her just fine but in case you want someone else to go up against her, she can use her aura to temporarily create extra armor or a blade. As long as you can fight smart about it you'll break through." he says in a simple tone.
Viralious refocuses and thinks about what Eckhart actually had just said. "Do you know if she can apply it to other combatants or just herself? Truth be told, I've never really seen her fight with it before."
Eckhart thinks for a second before shrugging, "Your guess is as good as mine, unfortunately I've never seen her use it until her fight with us today."
"It's because she just unlocked it last week. She was raving about it at dinner the day Eckhart went to sulk and play with his drones and You two ended up practicing who can make the other nauseous faster with those glyphs." Ifiral says in a joking tone.
"So why didn't you mention it beforehand?" Winter says, raising an eyebrow.
"I did… Eckhart here didn't want to listen while he was giving out the plan. So I figured he already knew." Ifiral responds.
"Alright the past is in the past now, but did she mention if she could give it to other people?" Viralious says rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"No, honestly I think she's still a little green with it so having her go against Eckhart again will probably be fine." Ifiral responds.
Viralious sat for a moment letting the information he had received sink in but there was some piece to the puzzle turning to the IE part of his team he spoke up, "What do both of you think about Russet's fighting style… I'm also questioning how he could have used his semblance during battle."
"I don't know about his semblance, but I can say that I can take him. His style is bulky and similar to my own. I believe that I can use my semblance to get an upper hand. Besides, I was actually able to push him back when I fought him compared to Delphi." Ifiral says in a boasting tone
"What is Russet's semblance?" Eckhart says, raising an eyebrow.
"Technopathy, or the ability to communicate and control electronic devices." Winter responds before Viralious could.
Eckhart's eyes bug out upon hearing this, "Why didn't any of you tell me?"
"I tried to, but you told me that it didn't matter and shut that down real quick." Viralious says shrugging.
This got Eckhart to rub the bridge of his nose and let out a small groan, "Well then, I think I know how he used his semblance in the fight. My drones relay optical data to my headset and are controlled using a simple device attached to my gloves. So, what I think he did was use my drones to predict and see where my attacks were coming from and plan ahead. He also made them not follow some of my commands such as fire and then had one barrel into me."
Viralious places two fingers on his chin and thinks before turning to Eckhart and asking, "Can you fight without your drones?"
Eckhart looks at him for a second before nodding "Yes, but I will be a little bit slower on finding openings with my gates."
"Alright then. Give me a moment." Viralious says getting up and walking towards him and Winter's suite. Inside he moves to his desk and picks up a loose sheet of paper and a pen before walking back to the common area and setting it on the coffee table. "So, here's my current plan for this. Winter, I want you to fight Celica and focus on using gravity glyphs to keep her from throwing her chakrams. If she can break out, use the glyphs to stop the ones flying around and pick them up. I don't expect you to have to use them but keep all options open." He says looking at Winter waiting on her to give him a nod before continuing. "Next, I'll fight Delphi. I think I can use my speed to make her bleed small bits of aura. I also think I could use Winter's semblance to get a few potshots in with my SMGs. Next, Eckhart, I want you to continue focusing on Ariel. You should continue to use your drones to get openings with your semblance, but I want you to run some commands to make sure they are constantly in your control. The minute you feel that they are not following your commands and Russet might be controlling them, do what you can to disable them and yell my name." Viralious says looking towards Eckhart.
Eckhart raises an eyebrow at this before asking the obvious question, "Why would I call your name Viralious?"
Viralious beamed at this question before responding curtly, "Simple, give me time to jump to the left where you should open a gate leading to above Ariel, then I want you to open another one behind Delphi and jump through shooting her in the process."
"You want us to switch targets in the middle of the fight? I don't think that's the greatest idea as it only gives them more time to regroup and frankly, I doubt Impartial Amends could pierce Delphi's defenses." Eckhart deadpans
"Yes, I do want us to switch targets in the middle of the fight. No, it's not my greatest idea, but it should confuse them for a moment giving us an opening. Lastly, about your weapon not being able to pierce through, yes that is probably correct, but you need to think with portals. She can only block from one direction at a time. Fire two shots; one straight on and one going through a gate shortly afterwards that hits her from behind. She has to eat one of them." Viralious says slipping into a leader's tone.
Eckhart thinks it over for a minute before sighing, "Alright I'll go along with that plan, but let the record show I still think it's half-baked."
Viralious gives a small laugh before responding, "Eckhart when is a plan ever not half-baked?" He then turns to Ifiral and slips back into his leader's tone, "Alright back to the plan. Lastly, I want Ifiral to handle Russet. Try to keep him from assisting the rest of his team. I think you might want to stick to melee as that rocket launcher out ranges you and can cause issues for the rest of the fights going on."
Ifiral cracks his knuckles before nodding, "I mean I was planning on it. I'm wondering how much force it takes to knock those tacky headphones off his face." he says jokingly
"While you're at it try to burn off some of the camo… Seriously, I think every outfit except his uniform has Camo on it." Winter says in a similarly joking tone.
"What's that Winter? You want me to burn his clothes off? I'm honestly surprised it's you that's asking me to do that. I mean it tracks for Celica but not 'nearly having a heart attack at the concept of learning sex ed in first aid class Winter Schnee.'" Ifiral says in a tone that is a mix between mocking and sarcasm.
Winter eyebrows visibly twitch and the tension in the air could be cut with a butter knife. Slowly, Winter breathes in once before looking at Ifiral, "No, I don't believe I said that I wanted his clothes burned off, but I'm not going to stop you from indulging your fantasies, Ifiral." She speaks as calm and collected as possible.
All three other members of her team just stare at her in shock. Ifiral is the first to break the silence going into a full-blown laugh before looking Viralious dead in the eye. "Damn Viralious, I think you're starting to rub off on Winter. No way an heiress would come up with something like that on her own."
Viralious quickly hides the blush creeping up his neck at this comment and throws one of the tacky pillows at Ifiral. It strikes him in the face earning a new round of laughter to emanate from Ifiral.
Winter rolls her eyes at Ifiral's comment before clearing her throat. "Is there anything else about the plan we should know Viralious?" Her tone is simple.
"Not right now. I think we've got a solid plan. We can iron out any kinks in the morning. For now, I'm going to see what 'food' Lute and Murt decided to cook for dinner tonight." Viralious says while getting up. He then turns to his team and asks, "Anyone want to come with?"
Winter stands following behind, Ifiral shrugs slightly before stepping to follow. Eckhart stares for a minute before placing his water bottle down on the coffee table and getting up following them out the door.
The dinner honestly was about what one would have expected. Food was shit, conversations were brief and mostly revolved around schoolwork or combat strategies. The only difference was that Eckhart had actually stayed the whole time, the first time since they became a team that had happened.
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Character Change: Viralious - ?
Location: Mantle: Industrial Sector
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Footsteps clicked on the damaged tiling of the warehouse. It was drab, weary and abandoned to the naked eye. However, inside there was a small group preparing the interior for a showing. A mysterious figure with long black hair is walking through. His attire is a simple black shirt, pants, and a basic armor on his right hand. Adorning his belt is a long hilt where a 2-meter-long katana lays folded within a plain sheathe.
"Sephirot, I'm surprised to see you here. I expected you to be on the hunt for your new prey." A charismatic voice rang out to the mysterious figure walking through the warehouse. The source of the voice is a tall older man wearing nice looking clothes that have nearly torn to rags. Covering one of his green eyes is a medical bandage, atop his head is a simple feathered cap with ice blue accents.
Sephirot turned and shrugged at the owner of the voice, "She's currently turtling up in Atlas Academy so I can't exactly get a great reading on her without getting the General to crack down on us before we're ready. That being said, Thordan, my mistress is getting annoyed with your constant setbacks." he says in a harsh tone
Thordan's smirk fell hard "I understand your mistress is a temperamental woman, but we are on the same side here. In fact, Meteion can be so much more useful to her than Bozja ever would have been. After all, I owe my life to her." he responds curtly.
"I believe she understands that Thordan, but without your wife's concerts funding you, there are not quite as many reasons to keep you around anymore." Sephirot smirks slowly, starting to unsheathe his katana from his waist.
Thordan looks scared for a minute and moves his hand to his hip before suddenly Sephirot's blade slams back into the sheathe hard. This causes Sephirot to grit his teeth and turns to his right. Seeing a man dressed in all white, with a white lab coat flowing behind him.
"Sephirot. For shame for shame. Thordan is still useful to us currently so there is no need to threaten him. In fact, he's doing more for this project than you are. So then why is he the one who's to die?" The man says with a cheshire grin.
"Juno, you know I'm not one to kill those with value… Besides, some fear is a great motivator. Besides, I have my own methods of helping." Sephirot responds, gaining a grin mirroring Juno's.
"Ah yes, referring to your bastard children are you. Tell me again? How many have actually served your mistress's plans?" Juno muses with a smirk.
Sephirot's grin falls, "That is none of your concern. I don't criticize your methods and you don't criticize mine."
Juno scoffs at this, "Really, Sephirot you cannot even begin to compare our methods. Last I checked your mistress doesn't want more silver eyed children yet, how many have you nearly brought into this world? 5? Really wasn't the huntress from Vacuo who fled with the son your wakeup call? Or how about when the twin sister was stolen from you by that tribe of ruffians?" Juno's tone is purely mocking as if trying to get a rise out of Sephirot.
"Ahem." Thordan coughed out trying to break the tension, "As much fun as it is seeing the two of you come closer to ripping each other's throats out we do have work to do. Which reminds me, Juno, what are you doing here? Imagine what would happen if your boss found o-"
"He's too busy getting hitched to that pink trollop. Besides, I'm just giving back to the less fortunate. Which of course brings me to the reason for my presence. I need more test subjects." Juno coughs out with a roll of his eyes.
"That's going to be difficult, after all, Meteion is bleeding after the loss of Dree and Drum. They were prized children." Thordan responds.
"Then simply find more saps willing to follow you. Go to the dust mines and sell your better world to the animals. Hell, make connections with the critters for all I care! Just to get me more test subjects." Juno responds in a rough voice.
Sephirot gives a short laugh, "Well then Thordan, you have a lot of work to do." he says while turning away and walking towards the exit of the warehouse. Once outside he looks at the broken moon and smiles. He's got his mark and he knows it's only a matter of time before he sinks his teeth into it.
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Character Change: Sephirot - Viralious
Location:Atlas Academy: Team VIEW's Dorm room: VW suite
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The rest of the day had gone by smoothly. Some light semblance training with Winter, a short stint in the massive library studying for a First Aid exam and an easy stop to the forge to do light weapon repairs. After all of this, Viralious stood in front of the mirror inside his suite's bathroom brushing his teeth. Winter had already gotten showered and was currently looking through her closet for something to lay out for Wednesday. He had taken this as a chance to take his shower and prepare for bed. Glancing into his eyes in the mirror he thinks for a moment. Pondering why he can only use Winter's semblance…
I mean we are partners and we're relatively close, but me and my sister are closer. Sure, we're half a world apart but I knew that if I asked, she would drag her team kicking and screaming to Atlas just to help me with whatever my issue is… I know I would do the same. Then there's Mom, my role model, and the person I've always looked up to. I'd already copied her semblance once, but why can't I do it on command like Winter's!?"
Suddenly the foam in his mouth becomes more than he can bear, forcing him from his thoughts and urging him to spit into the sink. Doing just that he looks back into the mirror and stares himself directly in the eyes before saying.
"What's wrong with me?" he says in a wavering voice.
Quickly coming to his senses, he rinses out his mouth and toothbrush with the running water and finishes up his nightly routine. Climbing into bed he moves to push that thought from his mind as he drifts into the station of Sleepytime Junction.
A/N+short story
That chapter actually had ended completely differently than I originally planned. In fact, only the part of them talking about what they are going to do the next day during the fight was in my notes. The rest was just things that popped into my head. So then, in the words of Lúcio, LET'S BREAK IT DOWN.
Starting off with Viralious being bored its mostly world building and getting into the headspace of him more and more. It also sets up some small fluff things and bleeds nicely into the next portion. Eckhart has been an asshole so far and I think that's the reason I've struggled to write him. The moments where I dial that back I can knock out his sections out a lot quicker. So fun fact, with my work load I've normally only been able to do about a chapter a week. So far, I've been able to knock out two of them and it's still pretty early in the week. Onto the next part of that conversation. The characters are straight up giving you my thought processes when I examined the abilities of each member of Team CARD with Team VIEW's skill set. Do I expect each plan to go off without a hitch… who's to say. But it should give you an idea of where the next chapter is going.
Up next is the Villains introducing themselves. Full disclosure, the main reason that this happened is I got tired of writing my pre-chapter notes having them b or W followed by three question marks so now I can actually use their names in those notes. (Reason it is written like that is I have it using the information that was set up in the previous chapters/ what the characters would know at that time) We get to see a bit about each of them and do a little bit of foreshadowing. I'm going to guess everyone knows who the mysterious mistress is so no need to reveal it. Now on to Pronunciations.
Sephirot (Sef-er-rot)
Thordan(Thor-don)
Juno(U-no)
And in case it wasn't obvious Meteion(Mee-TEE-on)
Hopefully that will help everyone going forward. Now, their designs are kind of skimmed over, but don't worry you'll get more as the story goes on. They gave a good look into each of their personalities and lets you know that Juno is a terrible person. There are some simple hints about how they will fit into the story and the pieces are placed to lead to confrontations.
AmoebaHewdraw's NOTE: I hope Juno dies. Horribly. Also, I call Sephirot " Sephiroth" so you can too.
This leads us back to Viralious in the bathroom… That sounds dirty without context. It's continuing the lingering plot detail about his mother's lemure and letting a little bit of the vestige crack. Before quickly reforming and going into a Game Grumps reference.
Overall, I think this was a pretty good chapter and I'm glad I decided to split it and the next. Originally the Villain's portion wasn't going to occur, and it would go straight into the fight the next day, but this gives us a bit more breathing room and fleshes the world out a little bit more.
Now then, let's take a look at this short story where the focus is on the members of Team CARD after the fight. (Content Warning: Self Harm)
Team CARD's dorm was a mess. Scattered on the ground were multiple papers, electronic doodads, spent dust cartridges, dirty clothes, and food wrappers… That being said that only applied to half of the dorm the other side was a mess for a completely different reason… that fact being that Russet had multiple scattered music albums around.
Team CARD had decided to split their suites based on human and faunus as Ariel said she was used to sleeping with boys… considering she shared a room with her younger brother.
Currently the team was gathered in their common room and were locked in a discussion about their fight with Team VIEW. This was after a long delay as Delphi took an unusually long time in the bathroom after they got back from dinner.
"If…Ifiral he's a monster. I could barely block his attacks and when he did attack, he didn't leave a lot of room for me to retaliate… He's also a little crazy." Delphi squeaks out.
"Crazy how?" Ariel asks, looking up from her scroll. She was currently texting some third year named Opal.
"Crazy by he first detonated a full magazine of fire dust in his hand and then the fact that he basically turned himself into a bomb at the end of the match." Delphi says waving her arms
"Honestly, that sounds normal. I mean it's basically the Martyrdom skill from Grimm Warfare 2 but in real life." Russet says adjusting his headphones.
Ariel rolls her eyes, "Russet not everything is a video game."
"Yeah, I know, but honestly, I'm not that worried about tomorrow. I mean look at it from my perspective I was able to knock 3 out of the 4 of them out. Schnee was simple as she really couldn't hit me. Eckhart honestly was an idiot for using his drones with me there, and Viralious didn't watch his left. After that we were able to keep the fights dragging on until another could come and help." Russet says leaning back in his chair.
"Yeah, not all of us have a fucking rocket launcher for a weapon, Russet." Ariel says rolling her eyes, "Eckhart didn't give me a ton of openings; his gates give him too much range. I think that we should play defensive tomorrow." She finishes
"Or you actually use your head and not blindly rush the gates." Russet says.
"What do you mean by that?" Ariel spits back.
"I mean you simply chased after where he was and never where he was going. I'm sure if you were thinking more with your brain, you could have actually landed a hit on him. I guess what I'm saying is don't just rush without a plan." Russet scoffs out.
"I'm the one without a plan? Mister I don't know what fantasy world you are living in but-"
"ENOUGH!" Delphi yells, catching everyone off guard even getting Celica to raise an eyebrow. All eyes turn to the deer faunus.
"Look, I understand that you have issues about how Ariel handled Eckhart, but truth be told she did fine with the hand she was dealt, Russet. Not everyone can look through the eyes of drones while fighting. Some of us have to focus more on what's in front of us. Now then Celica, you've been oddly silent, anything you would like to say about Viralious' fighting style?" Delphi says in surprising anger.
Celica thinks to herself for a minute before looking her leader in the eye, "Delphi, does this have something to do with what Kris said as we were walking back?" She says in pure sympathy.
Delphi's eyes betray her and flash a small tear before she looks away and says, "N…no I'm… I'm fine." her voice gets lower as she speaks. Celica balls her fist as she gets up walking towards her leader, the encounter echoing in her mind.
They had just finished eating and were walking back to their dorms when they were stopped by Team KNGT. Kris flashed the small deer faunus a toothy smile before placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Delphi, I was hoping you would be able to help us tonight." Kris says in a slimy tone.
"I…I c..can't I've… got to study … for the first aid exam… and I've… still got the homework for… Grimm Studies." Delphi says while sinking into herself.
Behind her, the rest of Team CARD is about to jump into action before she flashes them a look that says, "please don't."
"Ahh well, you might as well forget that stuff. Honestly, we have a much better option for you. See since you're a faunus I figured it would be great to have you clean our room today. After all, I've got a girl coming later and I think having it cleaned will help a lot with moving to the next base."
"You should ask if she wants to join. I mean think about it, those antlers must be great to grab onto while hitting it from behind. Too bad you have to look at her mangy hair to do so." The N of team KNGT says in while drawing out a catcall.
This gets Celica to walk right up to the boy and deck him right in the face. He falls to the ground, trying to block Celica's flurry of punches. After a few moments his aura shatters and Celica's hits are drawing blood only stopping when she's dragged off by Russet and Ariel. She continues to scream obscenities at the boy on the ground who is now in tears. He's eventually helped up by the rest of his team and dragged away. The T of the team looks back at Delphi with sympathy.
Kris looks at Celica then back to Delphi, "Put your dog on a leash. You animals know nothing and you don't deserve to be here. That's all you are: animals, and don't forget your place." He finishes by spitting on Delphi before walking away.
Team CARD is left there in the hallway Celica barely being held back from murdering Kris by Ariel and Russet and Delphi standing there on the verge of tears.
Celica closes the distance and wraps an arm around the deer faunus and pulls her into a tight hug patting her hair as she says. "You shouldn't pay him any mind Delphi… Some people are just fucked in the head." Her tone is soft and caring.
Delphi tries to push Celica off but when she can't the dam breaks loose. Burying her head in Celica's shoulder she just cries. Tears flow freely and she's unable to form a coherent sentence. During this Celica is just hugging her tightly saying,"It's okay, I'm here for you, I'm here." She then glances down at her leader's arm and catches something underneath her gloved hand. Discreetly slipping it off she sees long red streaks showing newish small cuts. She then understands why Delphi took so long in the bathroom before this meeting. Cursing the brothers, she sends Ariel a look of please help and mouths the words first aid kit to her.
Picking up on Celica's meaning Ariel quickly gets up and moves to her suite's bathroom grabbing a small well stocked first aid kit. Placing it next to Celica, Ariel sits on the floor next to the two and simply makes it known that she's here for her leader.
Russet looks a little squeamish at what's going on but eventually joins Ariel on the floor. No one talks, the only sound that can be heard is the muffled cries of their leader and the occasional comforting words of Celica. No one knows how long they actually sat there on the ground, but they were there the whole time.
Eventually even the worst cries fade away and Delphi's tears slowly dry. She eventually pushes off of Celica and looks at her team with puffy eyes, "... I'm-"
"It's okay Delphi. Kris has been putting you through a lot and it's not fair. No one deserves to be treated like you do." Ariel says, giving a sympathetic smile.
"I… I know… it's just-"
"You really should go to the professors about this. Or at least let us help you. You always seem to push us away." Russet says, rubbing the back of his head.
Delphi takes a deep breath before sighing, "My father says the best way to deal with bullies is to face them head on. My mother said that I should try to be wallpaper… just not visible."
"And how fucking well is that working for you?" Celica says in a harsher tone than she meant.
"What?" Delphi says confused.
"Think about it, you're his number one target. You take it like a punching bag and let him get away with it. Worse is whenever someone stands up for you, you tell them not to and the cycle continues." Celica says in conviction.
"I can fight my own battles Celica; I don't need others putting themselves in harm's way for me. It's just a few harsh words, nothing too serious." Delphi responds in wavering conviction
"If it's nothing too serious, why are you cutting yourself?" Celica says with tears forming in her eyes.
Delphi is taken aback before she notices that her glove has slipped off revealing the fresh wounds to the world to see. "I…I-"
This time it's Celica that hugs Delphi and cries into her shoulder. Delphi lightly wraps her arm around the fox faunus. Celica cries for less time but she looks Delphi straight in the eyes and asks, "Why? *sniff* Why do this to yourself?"
Delphi closes her eyes before saying in a low voice nearly a whimper,"I… I do it as it gives me something to distract me from their words."
Celica pulls Delphi into a closer hug and squeezes hard, "You don't have to do that Delphi, I'm here for you. Please, I've seen someone go down this rabbit hole before… It is something that leaves you hollow and hurts those who care for you."
Celica pulls back and looks at Delphi, the image shifts for a moment showing her friend and honorary sister Zeliska this time hiding a host of cuts on her arm… a mirror image of when she thought she was going to lose her.
"We're all here for you Delphi, next time someone says anything that hurts you please tell us… we're your team and it hurts to see you hurting like this. "Ariel says, placing an arm on her shoulder.
"Yeah, everyone needs someone to lean on from time-to-time Delphi, let your team be that person." Russet says.
Delphi gives a small laugh at Russet's poor attempt at an analogy and gives a small smile to Ariel. She feels a stirring from her arms and Celica pulls back and looks her in the eyes, still small tears hanging from them.
"Promise me Delphi that you'll talk to me instead of doing this." Celica sputters out while moving her hand and locking it with Delphi's. Lifting it up so it's eye level.
"I… I promise" Delphi says.
With that Celica gives a small smile before grabbing the first aid kit. She then lightly wraps the wounds.
"There. That should help them heal… Hopefully they won't leave a scar." Celica says in a sympathetic tone looking Delphi in the eyes. "Also, you're officially an honorary sister of the Rhulk tribe. Do you know what that means?"
"N-no?" Delphi says in confusion.
"It means we look out for each other. We're not related by blood but we're family. This means whenever you have a problem it becomes my problem. That means Kris bullying you is now my problem whether you like it or not." Celica says in confidence.
"I… I don't… I don't think that's necessary, Celica." Delphi says.
"Nope, sisterhood in the Rhulk clan is binding. Delphi, you're not the first person I've known who's gone through with this. She's also one of my sisters so please let me help you." Celica says in pure determination.
Eventually Delphi sighs "Fine…. I… I'm glad to be your sister Celica." giving a weak smile.
"Great! Oh, that also means I'm going to be checking you to make sure you're not cutting yourself. If you want, you can check me out too to make it fair." Celica says beaming.
"WHAT!?" Delphi says flustered before being stifled by a yawn.
"Tired, huh?" Russet says
"I'm… fine… we should get back to discussing the fight." Delphi says before yawning again.
"Nope, sleep now, we can discuss it in the morning. A good cry always tires me out, but the nights rest afterward is always great." Celica says pulling Delphi to her feet and lightly dragging her to the door of their shared suite.
The team exchanges short, good nights. Delphi climbs into the shower while Celica sends a text to Zeliska asking if she could send her the name of the book that she had that helped her recover. Once Delphi steps out of the bathroom Celica makes good on her promise and checks her for any new cuts. Finding none she motions her off to bed and goes to take a shower of her own.
Once Celica steps out of the shower she sees Delphi sitting at her desk looking into a mirror at her hair and frowning. Quietly she sneaks up to her and takes a seat at the edge of her desk. She looks Delphi straight in the eyes before speaking. "You know you really shouldn't give his word any thought. Your hair isn't mangy, it's beautiful. Just like the rest of you." Celica says with a smile on her face.
Delphi gets flustered at the comment and dryly speaks, "I…Umm… Celica please don't tease me…" she says deflating.
Celica is taken aback by this, "Delphi I'm not teasing you. I'm speaking the truth. Those guys are making the comments about you as they are jealous that they will never have you." She says with a wink.
Delphi has a deep blush on her face before lightly pawing Celica away. This gets Celica to respond by poking her side, getting a laugh to escape Delphi's lips.
Celica gives a full-blown smile before turning back to Delphi and saying, "I do believe it would be best if you go to bed Delphi… It's been a long day and you'll thank me in the morning."
Delphi silently nods, shuts off the lamp light and climbs into bed. Celica does the same and turns over, opening her scroll and texts Zeliska back and forth for a few minutes before shutting it down and trying to get some sleep.
The night goes by quietly but somewhere around 2 AM Celica is awoken by a sound of small crying. Turning over she sees Delphi crying lightly to herself. Making up her mind she gets out of bed and climbs into Delphi's, hugging her tightly. After 15 minutes the tears stop. And eventually they both fall asleep in each other's arms. Neither having any nightmares and feeling safe.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. Is all that I have to say off of that. This short story is loosely based off of someone that I know. So, I will say this now If you are thinking of self-harm PLEASE seek help. You're not just hurting yourself but those who care for you. I've seen people go through this and it doesn't help it just grinds you down. So once again Please if you are thinking of or actively performing Self harm reach out for help!
I know that this is kind of a heavy topic to place in a short story, but I was originally going to be its own chapter, but I couldn't make it longer without muddying the message and the actual events. Besides, it fits right here as it is technically occurring at the same time as the main chapter. Just as a heads up, this is just a taste of some of the themes we will be moving towards as the story goes on. It's going to get dark; things are going to look hopeless, but like real life there's normally a silver lining. Delphi has a real active support group and to everyone reading this I hope that you can find one too.
Now then onto the actual content of the short story. This is a lot to unpack but most of the problems stem from some members of Team KNGT being shitty people. Comments like that never have any place and remember we are all human. No matter what. It also shows that people often have things going on beyond the surface. Overall, this chapter is building the characters of team CARD and giving some insight into team KNGT and a little bit of Zeliska.
It's a bit of a mood killer and a whole different vibe from the last few short stories but tragedy and comedy often go hand and hand. This broke the record for longest short story in this fanfic by 500 words and is 400 more words than chapter 0. It might honestly be longer than chapter 1 (It is). Which I honestly think is a good thing as it shows that I'm more comfortable letting my ideas go to the page. So, with that I'll leave you all to prepare for the rematch of Team VIEW and Team CARD.
This is where I would like to thank my Editor AmoebaHewdraw. Without him this story would be a lot harder to read and look like an amateur serial killer's letter with the amount of random capital letters.
AmoebaHewdraw's NOTE: Or one of those mocking Spongebob memes.
Until Next Time Xcom Out.