Ch. 9
The next day, Abaddon and his friends were having lunch with teams RWBY and JNPR in the school cafeteria. Everyone was talking about studying for the upcoming midterm exams. Professors Port and Goodwitch were the least of their worries, but Oobleck was top priority as he had a habit of assigning massive amounts of homework.
"Ugghh, this exam is gonna be the death of me," Jurano whined.
"That's because you don't study since you've been hanging out with Velvet most of the time," Emma teased.
Jurano flicked her off while she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Oooooo, JJ has the lucky rabbit's foot," Yang mused, wiggling her eyebrows at him.
"Well, we have started dating. So you could think of it that way," Jurano replied.
"And maybe in return, she'll want a bite of your big juicy carrot, if you know what I mean," Yang said.
Everyone groaned at Yang's joke. Blake merely shook her head. Out of the whole group, Abaddon and Jurano were the only ones laughing.
"Yang, could you not!" Weiss screamed.
Ruby looked confused. "Wait, I don't understand why it's so funny?
"You'll understand in a few years," Yang told Ruby as she patted her younger sibling's head.
"And who would you be interested in Yang?" Pyrrha asked.
"Hmmm," Yang looked around at the boys currently sitting at their table. She decided she would just have some fun and tease a few of them.
"Maybe I like the silent type who can cook," she said, earning a raised eyebrow from Ren.
"Maybe I like the valiant blonde," she said, causing Jaune to look around before he figured out she was talking about him.
"Or maybe I like the alpha wolf," she said last as Abaddon smiled and winked at her.
"Just kidding guys! I don't have anyone in mind at the moment," she laughed.
Just then, Mercury approached the table behind Abaddon.
"Hey chief," Mercury said to Abaddon.
"Hey dude. How's it goin?" he responded, giving Mercury a fist bump.
"Nothing much. Just tryin to find Neo," Mercury said. "Her semblance makes it hard to find her."
"This is how she plays with her friends. Don't worry, she'll surprise you when you least expect it. In the meantime, let me introduce you to my friends. This is Kathleen, Emma, and Jurano; my team," Abaddon said introducing each of his teammates.
"Hey," greeted Mercury, "And I recognize RWBY and JNPR from initiation, when your teams were announced."
"Mercury right? Where's your team?" Ruby asked.
"I'm looking for one of them. Her name's Neopolitan, but we call her Neo. The other two are in the school gardens on the other side of campus," Mercury answered.
"Abaddon, from what you said earlier it sounds you know Neo," Kathleen stated.
"Yeah, she used to live on Marrowshin a while back, but she moved here to Vale. She's a lot like Emma, but quiet and smaller," Abaddon told them.
"Ooo, I wanna meet her!" Emma cheered.
And right when she said that, a small girl with brown and pink hair jumped on Abaddon's back.
"See what I mean! Just like Emma," Abaddon said
Emma then rushed over and joined Neo by jumping on Abaddon's chest, almost knocking him off balance. Everyone laughed at the trio.
"You're both 17, and yet you act like little kids," Abaddon laughed.
"Hey Neo. Since you remind him of me, do you also call him by his nickname?" Emma asked.
"Yeah, and he's told me a lot about you Emma. It's nice to finally meet you," Neo replied as they still clung on to the boy.
"Usually Neo stays mute around new people, but since she knows all about Emma through me, she'll have no problem getting along with her," Abaddon explained to the others.
"Oh really?" Nora mused. "Hey Neo! How do you spell your full name?"
Neo looked back at Nora and merely shrugged.
"Like Abaddon said, Neo won't answer you verbally. She'll only use physical gestures. By the way Neo, where were you?" Mercury asked.
"I was following you the whole time," Neo giggled.
"I should've known," he said shaking his head. "I'm gonna go check on the others. You coming Neo?"
"Go ahead, I'm gonna stay with Abby a little while longer," she said.
"Alright, if that's what you want," he replied as he prepared to leave.
"It was nice seeing ya Merc," Abaddon said.
"Nice seeing all of you too," Mercury said as he walked out of the cafeteria.
"I hope he comes back, he's cute," Yang added.
"Only you would want him back for that reason," Blake said.
After Mercury left, Neo climbed up Abaddon's back and sat on his shoulders. "So what do you wanna do today?"
XXXXXXX
A slight breeze blew through the flora of the Beacon gardens, causing the many rows of flowers to sway back and forth. Butterflies flew about on colorful fragile wings, landing on a flower every now and then. Amidst all of them, one butterfly chose to flutter deeper into the garden and through the flower arch tunnels until it came to the large domed center. This walk in greenhouse carried many delicate plants from the different kingdoms, from the snow white roses of Atlas to the golden daffodils of Vacuo. There were four open entrances into the dome, each with a grey cobblestone path that stopped at the flowing fountain that stood in the center of the four way intersection and a large opening in the dome's ceiling for the sunshine to go through. It was here that the butterfly landed on the head of Cinder, who had been in the garden since her class ended. She was happy to get some fresh air. As she sat on a bench near the fountain, Cinder picked up a red rose and marveled at its beauty as she sniffed it. The rose's scent was clean and vibrant to her senses. She held on to the rose as she looked up through the dome at the blue sky.
"You don't always get a chance to see nature at its utmost beauty like this," she thought.
"Hey Cinder," said Emerald as she entered the greenhouse dome.
She had been outside the garden the whole time after a couple of birds decided to use her for target practice. They narrowly missed their mark and Emerald scurried away, with no intention of getting bird poo on her clothes.
"Hey, I'm surprised you made it in here without getting targeted by more birds," Cinder chuckled.
"Stupid animals," Emerald cursed, eyeing the two robins that were sitting nearby on the fountain.
As she sat down next to Cinder, Mercury entered the greenhouse, wiping a small bit of poo off his right shoulder.
"Hey girls," he said as he threw the napkin he was using into a nearby trashcan. "I didn't know the birds were dropping bombs today. I came to check on you."
"We're fine. Cinder's taking in the scenery while I just wanna get away from Port and his irritating tales of youth," Emerald replied.
"I don't like his stories either," Cinder added.
"I don't listen to that old ass man. I've slept through all his babbling so far and he has yet to notice me," Mercury chuckled.
Emerald smiled, then gazed behind Mercury. "Hey, where's Neo? Did you find her yet?" she asked.
"Yeah, I found her. That toddler was following me the whole time. I left her with the wolf faunus, Abaddon," Mercury replied.
At the mention of Abaddon's name, Cinder smiled and gazed back at her rose with a small chuckle. Emerald and Mercury noticed this and exchanged confused looks. They knew Cinder had a great deal of things she had yet to tell them after she took them on as her teammates. She was always a mystery, but now they wanted to know what she knew.
"How do you know that faunus Cinder? You've never told us anything about him except his reputation with the White Fang and as far as we can tell, only you and Neo have history with him," Emerald said.
"We were just acquaintances back then, working to achieve a …..similar goal. I met both Abaddon and Neo when I was in Vacuo. They were on some quest to stop a rouge group of White Fang, the extremist ones, not the peaceful protest kind. We traveled around Remnant for about 3 years, and after that Abaddon just vanished, taking Neo with him," Cinder explained gracefully. She didn't look like she was upset at all, only amused. She continued to marvel at the rose, as if it was the most beautiful one she had ever seen.
"And that's it?" Mercury asked.
"Yes, just poof, and they were gone. Then a few months afterwards I found you two," Cinder replied.
Mercury and Emerald were still unconvinced, they knew there were some holes in Cinder's story. It was too plain and simple. Plus she didn't have any other reaction besides that amusing smile she kept on her face when she spoke.
"But what about the way you and he, Abaddon, were…..ya'know? In the library?" Emerald asked.
"Yeah, it seems to me that you guys were more than just 'acquaintances,'" Mercury added.
"Oh, I forgot about that. Well, you could say that during those years Abaddon and I were kind of a couple," Cinder chuckled. She didn't mind telling them this. It was one of the few subjects she liked to share, just to see the look on Emerald and Mercury's faces.
Emerald was wide eyed for a minute. "I don't believe this." She couldn't take in what Cinder said. She had known their leader as a strong, collected, and intelligent woman in the few years they had been with her. In Emerald's mind, there was no way in hell Cinder could've had any interest in a guy like Abaddon. Just by looking at him, she could tell that he wasn't the kind of person that Cinder would fall for.
Mercury wasn't as shocked as Emerald was, but did have an eyebrow raised. "Whoa, didn't see that comin." He never expected Cinder to actually be interested in someone, thinking she had high standards due to past rejections to men that had tried to talk to her. "I wonder…," he said aloud.
"What?" both Cinder and Emerald asked simultaneously.
"Three years is a long time." Mercury waggled his eyebrows and smiled as he asked his next question. "Did you two ever….get busy?"
XXXXXXX
"It's about time I close up shop," said the old gray haired owner of From Dust Till Dawn.
He had been working at his shop since 8 in the morning, something he had been doing for years now since he lived in the city. He closed the cash register and locked it, then proceeded towards the front door. He had already cleaned, checked stock, and everything else he was supposed to do. The old man turned off the lights and exited the door. He turned, and with his key, locked the door behind him. After that, he pocketed his keys and casually strolled down the street towards his home.
Although, he failed to notice a Grimm masked figure in a hooded black cloak sitting on the roof above.
"Humans are so predictable," said the perpetrator as he silently landed on the street in front of the shop.
He waited until the old man was out of earshot to signal for his allies. Out of an alley next to the building came three others who were also wearing the same hooded black cloak and mask but lacking the red designs that their ally had, which marked him as the leader. They assembled in front of the shop waiting for their leader's signal. He nodded, and the biggest of the four broke the windows with his bare hands. All of them jumped through into the shop.
"Alright, gather all the dust you can and load it into the truck in the alley. We have to work quickly before any civilians see us," the leader demanded.
The others nodded and began going through the entirety of the shop, stealing all the dust and dust crystals they could grab. Every handful was brought into the alley they came out of and placed into the back of a concealed dark grey truck. After almost an hour, they managed to pick the shop clean of its merchandise.
"Can I take the cash?" one of them asked.
"No, we don't need the cash. We only need the dust," their leader replied. "Let's wrap it up guys. Get in the truck."
Everyone exited the shop and sprinted into the alley. While two of them piled into the back with the dust and closed the door, the leader and the big guy went into the front seats. The leader took the driver's side while his ally sat in the passenger's seat. He started the truck, then backed out of the alley and down the road. They drove through the city until they reached its slums, were they were safe to take of their masks. The big guy in the passenger seat took off his mask and hood, revealing a pale skinned boy with orange eyes, a strong set jaw, and short straight brown hair.
"What do the White Fang need all this dust for anyway Desmond?" he asked.
Desmond took off his mask and hood as well. He had a fair complexion with dark red eyes and medium length spiky red hair.
"I don't know Coreg," Desmond replied, "but I do know that my older brother needs it for something. Something that will allow faunus to surpass humans in every way possible. We've got a lot of things ahead of us. I just hope that our efforts will pay off and maybe he'll congratulate us personally."
Then Desmond thought, "And maybe I'll finally make you proud for once big brother."
