As Professor Goodwitch announced the names of the other new teams, Lily had to fight the urge to run off with each passing minute. She got the feeling her new 'teammate' Cobalt didn't know who she was, nor did the hyperactive girl or that damned Xiao Long girl.
Gods, of all the people here, one of the first she'd interacted with had to have been one of Team RWBY's offspring. How completely and utterly awkward. Hadn't helped that Coablt and Luna had specifically chosen the same relic, each taking a silver coin, just to be placed on the same team together. Which meant Lily would be sharing a team with her too.
And it was only about to get worse. The moment Goodwitch announced her name, she was done for. If everyone in the school didn't already know who she was, they'd know then. And Lily would have nowhere to go to escape it. She'd trapped herself here, doomed to four years of judgement.
She listened to the names as they were read out.
Team SRBY (strawberry), consisting of Storm Hunter, Rowan Coldstone, Birch Aster and Yarrow Cypress.
CDMM (cadmium), consisting of June Celadon, Dodger Blu, Madder Lake and Maisie Goldenrod.
And then, it was her turn.
"Luna Xiao Long, Cobalt Scarlatina, Astra Katt, Lily Sustrai,"
Lily wanted to shrink into the ground as she stepped forward with the others and the eye of every person in the room seemed to turn on her. She wanted to sink into the ground. Luna and Cobalt were both staring at her, recognition flooding into their eyes.
Yeah, yeah, I'm the daughter of a famous criminal, She thought bitterly, you can stop pretending to like me now.
"The four of you chose the silver-coated coin," Glynda continued. "From this day forward, you will work together as Team LLAC. Led by Luna Xiao Long."
Of course. Lily almost groaned out loud.
Claps and cheers arose from their audience, but Lily knew they weren't for her.
Beside her, Luna was almost frozen stiff, her eyes wide. What, like she was surprised? Of course, someone like her would get the privilege of deciding what everyone else did.
On her other side, Cobalt passed her to wrap Luna in a hug. Astra did too, with a squeal of excitement. Lily stood alone, hands shoved into her pockets.
It wasn't as if she was jealous of Luna's position. The last thing she'd have wanted was even more attention. So why, then, did she have a such a hollow feeling in her gut?
Without waiting for the others, Lily turned and walked off the stage, though footsteps gave away that her new 'teammates' had followed her anyway. She pulled her hood over her head, wishing she could pull it over her entire body and disappear into it.
With her hood obscuring the top half of her vision, she almost walked right into Coco Adel, Glynda's right hand. Thankfully, she walked right past her and swept Cobalt into a hug instead.
Lily watched them, suddenly missing her mother. How long would it be before she got another hug? How long would it be before she could even see her in person again?
"I'm so proud of you." Coco told Cobalt warmly. "You did great out there."
"Aw, hey, it wasn't just me," Cobalt insisted, pulling away from her with a look of embarrassment. "These guys were great too."
Coco put her hands on her hips and grinned at Luna and Astra. "Of course! You've got the makings of a great team in you," She lowered her sunglasses and winked. "Not as great as mine, though."
Lily almost turned away in exasperation, but then Coco turned to look at her. "You did great too," She commented. "Love your weapon."
Lily's discomfort grew. "Uh…thanks." What is she being so nice for? Her mother had fought Coco in the Vytal Festival back in the day and won with the use of her Semblance. After the fall of Beacon, many had concluded that Emerald and her partner must have used some dirty trick to do it, not to mention how embarrassing the loss had been for Coco and her team. So, why bother being polite? Why couldn't anyone here just be honest about their feelings instead of feigning friendliness? All that did was make it hurt all the more when Lily knew what they really thought.
Coco chuckled. "Sorry, I'm probably embarrassing you all. I'll let you get to your dorms and have a rest." She gave Cobalt a kiss on the head. "Have fun kiddo."
Cobalt grinned. "I will." Coco headed off to talk to the other teams, leaving the four teenagers alone together.
"So, are we going to our dorms, or what?" Astra chirped.
Lily wished she could go there alone.
Cobalt nudged Luna. "What does our leader think?"
Luna looked around to where the new students' luggage was piled in the corner of the room. "Well uh…we should probably grab our bags first."
"Oh, right!" Astra bounced on the spot. "Good instincts, team leader!"
Luna looked embarrassed and Lily almost felt sorry for her. Almost. Being socially anxious didn't mean this girl wouldn't still hate her.
As the group headed to grab their bags, Astra continued rambling on about how 'great' and 'amazing' this school was. As if. Lily couldn't even imagine having the energy this crazy girl had. She was beginning to get a headache from the noise, even despite the fact her hood helped block some of it.
She grabbed her suitcase and followed the rest of the team to the dorms, trailing behind them and trying to tune out their conversation. This place wasn't 'great'. It wasn't 'amazing'. This was a nightmare disguised as a school, filled with bigots and people who would judge others for things they had no control over. It was the opposite of 'great'.
Astra was the first to burst into their shared room. "OOH, bunk beds!" She squealed. "Aaahhh, I'm always wanted to sleep in one!" She bounded over and climbed onto the top of one, jumping on with enough force to make the whole structure wobble. "This is so cool!"
"Neat." Cobalt walked past Lily into the room, dropping his bag beside a shelf. He glanced back at Lily. "Mind if I take the top?" It was the first thing any of the team had said to her since before the ceremony.
"Whatever." Lily dragged her suitcase to the other set of bunk beds and slumped onto the bottom bed, leaving the suitcase beside it and rolling over so that she faced the wall. She wished she could go to sleep and wake up again for this all to be a dream. Above her, Cobalt had jumped up, the bed creaking slightly under his weight. Lily's annoyance grew.
"Sticker time!" Astra announced. A thump on the floor suggested she'd jumped straight down from her bed without using the ladder. Next thing she heard was the zipping open of a bag and the faint noise of paper piling into the ground.
"Are those pride stickers?"
Luna's inquiry caught Lily's attention and she couldn't resist rolling over to look. Astra had dumped the contents of a small bag onto the floor and there were indeed pride flag stickers among the mess. Specifically, the lesbian and transgender flags.
"Yeah!" Astra replied with a grin, sitting down and sifting through the pile. "I printed them for myself a few days before packing, but you guys can use some if it'd be appropriate."
Lily almost asked for a trans sticker on the spot, but snapped her mouth shut. As if these people needed one more thing to judge her for.
"I-I'll take a lesbian sticker." Luna reached forward and grabbed one. "It'd look nice on my scroll."
"I'll have to pass," Cobalt commented from above Lily. "Unless you have a bi flag hidden in that pile somewhere."
Astra gasped. "I don't, but I would love to make you some. I brought my printer!" She dove into her suitcase and pulled out a small machine. Lily stared at her. This girl had brought an entire sticker printer to a school? Who did that?
Cobalt grinned down at the energetic girl. "Sounds great. You can do it later though, I don't mind waiting."
"Yeah, I think we should all maybe try to get some rest," Luna piped up. "It's been a pretty tiring day so far."
"You guys are tired already?" Astra asked incredulously. "I could go on for hours yet!"
Of course you could. Lily rolled back over.
"I'm sure you could," Luna replied to Astra. "But could you maybe calm down a little so the rest of us can rest? Just a bit?"
This girl really needed to learn to be more assertive if she wanted to make it as a team leader. Or a Huntress, for that matter.
"Oh…right!" Astra sounded apologetic. "Sorry. I'll tone it down a bit."
"Thank you," Luna replied warmly. "Maybe have a look around and start picking where you want your stuff to go?"
Lily heard Astra bounce to her feet. "Ooh, great idea!" She fell quiet, aside from her excited footsteps around the room.
In that moment, Lily almost felt grateful for Luna. But that didn't change anything. It didn't change the fact her parents had done nothing to help Emerald after Lily had been born. It didn't change the fact that Luna's head had probably been filled with stories of Emerald's crimes. It didn't help that she and all of the others probably still placed blame on Lily as well.
One thing was for sure. In four years, Lily would be out of here. And she'd been happy to never see these people or this place again.
