(Ten minutes after Chapter 12)
The door to Team HAVC's dorm slammed open as Haiiden stomped inside. His fists were tightened and he was holding his breath as he waited for the rest of his team to enter, waiting so that they could have privacy behind closed doors. For the first time since the semester began, Cecilia actually felt trepidation as she entered the dorm, as she noticed how he was acting. Vaughn was following behind his sister and they both sat down on her bed, watching their Captain. Finally, Zed entered the dorm and closed the door behind him quietly. He looked up at Haiiden as the door shut, and he stood tall, waiting for something to inevitably happen.
Haiiden finally exhaled after holding his breath for a long moment, but that only added to the growing tension in the room. Cecilia and Vaughn were eyeing both Haiiden and Zed, their attention switching back and forth between them as they waited to see who would speak first. Haiiden covered his face with his hands and held them there while he tried to find the right words to begin with. Zed stood with his arms crossed but with a look of concern on his face, waiting for someone to break the ice.
"Zed. What-?" was all Haiiden could manage. Zed merely shrugged in response and stood firmly in place. "This raises so many questions that I don't even know where to begin," Haiiden pointed out as he turned around to face him. "You've been acting differently lately, and now you bring us into a conflict that has absolutely nothing to do with us. Why?"
This was one of those moments where Zed didn't know how to respond. He was wondering if he should lie again, or try to tell the truth, one piece at a time. "They need us, Team HAVC, to bail them out of trouble," he told Haiiden with a fake smirk, to try and play at Haiiden's sense of confidence and duty, but Haiiden only responded with a shake of his head.
"No. You see how Ironwood acts in his interviews: always showing off the Atlesian Military as if it will one day replace the Huntsmen and Huntresses," Haiiden interjected.
"Psh. That will never happen," Zed replied, again with his smirk as he tried to play that off like he normally would.
"That's not the point. Let the military deal with this. I won't be doing that man any favors." Haiiden responded.
"C'mon man—"
"NO! You know how much I hate him!" Haiiden took a step forward as he cut off Zed. Zed looked up at him with his eyes narrowed, but then it changed as he noticed that Haiiden's eyes began to turn red.
"I know, mate," Zed responded and lowered his gaze to avoid Haiiden's glowing, crimson eyes.
"Is this how it was with me?" Cecilia whispered to her brother, while keeping her eyes on her arguing teammates; the conflict made her genuinely curious.
"Nah. It was worse. More punches were thrown," Vaughn replied with a straight face while Cecilia punched him in the shoulder.
"I remember you making a jab at him before. How do you know him?" Vaughn asked as he reeled away from his sister after being struck. Haiiden turned and was at a loss for words as he tried to think for a bit. As he thought, his face turned blank for a few moments, the red in his eyes becoming more intense and Vaughn could feel a strange chill in the air.
"We- we have a history. That's all I will say," Haiiden replied as he suddenly snapped back into the conversation. Vaughn nodded and looked down as well, unable to hold his gaze. Haiiden took a deep breath and put his palm to his forehead as he began to pace back and forth in the dorm. His team silently watched while Zed still stood with his arms crossed, noticing the mix of emotions in his friend, ranging from anger to confusion.
"But if you knew, then why did you still agree to the mission?" Haiiden asked as he turned his attention back to Zed.
"Roman might be there," Zed said with a quiet sigh, deciding that trying to divert the conversation was no longer going to work. Haiiden looked at him, stunned, and began to sputter as he tried to speak.
"Roman? This is to find Roman?" Haiiden asked in disbelief.
"Who's 'Roman'?" Cecilia and Vaughn asked in unison. Zed wanted to speak, but Haiiden replied before he could.
"About three years back, Zed went on a trip with his dad. He is a businessman working for the Schnee Company," Haiiden answered.
"But isn't your dad a Faunus?" Cecilia asked, interrupting Haiiden in her curiosity. "You don't see many Faunus working for the Schnee's, at least, not outside of the Dust mines." As she asked, she noticed that Zed was now gritting his teeth angrily.
"It was to build a better image for the company. Diversity, you know," Zed responded with disgust and turned away for a moment. "Affirmative action."
Cecilia paused for a moment as she processed this information and nodded.
"Anyway, Roman was some crook that they were going to make an arrangement with. He ended up scamming them out of the deal which resulted in a lot of money and Dust being lost," as Haiiden continued to speak for Zed, he began to shift awkwardly in position and avoided eye contact with everyone.
"This, in turn, got his dad into a lot of trouble. If it weren't for the fact that he was such a good businessman, he would have surely been fired," Vaughn nodded slowly as he began to understand the situation, but then his expression changed as he realized something, something that Haiiden was also wondering about when Zed mentioned Roman.
"But why would he be in Mistral?" Cecilia asked, apparently wondering the same thing. Zed's gaze switched between everyone on his team, feeling pressed for an answer.
"I have friends who think he might be there," he said sheepishly and looked away as he spoke.
"So you don't even know that he's there?" Haiiden responded with a look of skepticism, and stepped closer. "In the end, I have to help Ironwood since you 'think' that Roman might be there?"
"Forget about Ironwood!" Zed snapped. The sudden outburst made Haiiden freeze, but as he regained composure he stared back at Zed, his eyes still red. Zed looked back with an equally intense stare, but his eyes still remained their usual green. This signaled to Haiiden that he wasn't angry. "Help me instead."
Haiiden staggered in position, the sudden outburst and request for help had left him speechless.
"Don't do this for Ironwood or Mistral. Do it for me, as your friend," Zed continued and lowered his gaze as he finished. Haiiden's eyes reverted from red to silver almost instantly. He stood for a moment and swung his arms back and forth as he tried to find the right words to respond.
"I always thought of you more as a brother," he finally responded and when Zed heard this, his fox ears popped from out of his hair. His signature grin reappeared again, this time it wasn't forced or faked and he jumped to embrace his friend.
"You are right. Screw Ironwood," Haiiden said with a half-smile, feeling ashamed that he would take out his hate on his friend. Vaughn and his sister watched quietly, but something was still bugging Cecilia, as it did Vaughn.
"The White Fang is made up of all Faunus," Zed's smile disappeared as he turned to face Cecilia, curious as to what her point was. "Don't you feel uncomfortable fighting your own kind?"
"My kind? You make it sound like you and I are different," Zed replied.
"N-No, th-that's not what I meant," Cecilia stammered as she tried to reword what she had just said.
"Don't worry. I get it," Zed took a deep breath and sat down on the chair next to the desk in the corner of the room. Haiiden turned on the lights as the last glimmer of sunlight finally disappeared.
"The White Fang has done more against the Faunus than they have to actually help them." Zed crossed his arms and stared into the distance, realizing that perhaps he had said too much, he decided to roll with it anyways. "They claim that they fight for Faunus rights, but instead it makes the racism worse, as fear and mistrust of the Faunus spreads through the human population."
The room went quiet as everyone began to think about their conversation. Cecilia's expression went blank as she began to remember the mission with her adopted father; how the White Fang soldiers were murdered in front of her and how much she didn't want to experience that again.
"Well," Haiiden said, standing up and pulling a duffle bag from under his bed then dropping the bag on top of it. "Let's pack up and get some rest. I don't want to waste time tomorrow."
Team CNBR left their dorm and waited for Raine to slowly step out; he almost fell over as Byeli lunged quickly and caught him. He looked up hazily and gave a thumbs-up to signal that he was okay. As they started to walk down the hall, they turned the corner to see that HAVC had just left their dorm, and noticed that they all had bags slung over their shoulders. Curious on what was up with the team, they began to walk faster in order to catch up to them. As they reached HAVC, Celise stepped in front of them, and HAVC stopped. Turning around, Zed saw the rest of CNBR catch up and stepped next to Celise.
"Where are you guys going?" Celise asked with a grin that was eerily similar to Zed's. Team HAVC then looked back to one another, with Haiiden wondering if it was alright to share information about the mission. They weren't told that it was to be kept a secret, but he didn't feel comfortable lying to them.
"We are heading to Mistral," He replied, and just as he said that Byeli clasped her hands together and hopped with joy.
"Why Mistral?" Celise asked, leaning closer to Haiiden, their faces just inches away from each other, which made him feel uncomfortable.
"There is a security issue that the Council wants us to deal with," Cecilia quickly responded and this quick response made Zed ease up a little. He didn't want to tell them that they were going on a mission against the White Fang, however, he couldn't help but feel impressed by how Cecilia told them the truth without revealing much.
"She's a lot better at this than I am," he thought.
Celise backed away and raised a brow, while the grin turned more into a soft smile. After a few seconds, she shrugged and turned to walk to the dining hall. While still excited, Byeli jumped in between Haiiden and Zed and locked their arms with hers.
"Even though it's for a mission, you should still enjoy yourselves! Mistral is well known for its art and culture!" she said with a skip as she continued to pull Haiiden and Zed along with her. Cecilia rolled her eyes then watched with a smile as Byeli began to rant about possible tourist spots. Vaughn was taking notes as he listened to Byeli speak, and on a piece of paper, he began jotting down attractions that sounded interesting to him.
"I know a spot you might like, Haiiden," She said quietly as she leaned in closer to him while. He responded with a chuckle and looked down at her.
"Oh?" he replied.
"Mhm. It's a nice place in the central piazza. During most days of the week, dancing classes take place there," she replied with a smile that beamed brightly as she waited for a response. Haiiden, however, looked at her with a quirked brow and glanced up at Zed, then back to her. She noticed this, and the smile faded and began to express worry. "What is it? You don't like dancing?"
"It's not that, it is just- of all things to suggest, you suggest I take lessons?" he asked, almost unsure himself if that was what she was implying.
"No! No, I wasn't suggesting that. Zed told me that you would often stop to watch people dance when you were little," when she said that, Haiiden looked up with curiosity as he wondered what she was talking about.
"I did?" he asked.
"Yeah, you would space out while watching," Zed replied with a smile, finding amusement in it as he began to imagine it in his head, but then he frowned slightly in thought. "But now that I think about it, it was always to one particular dance and song."
"Oh! Tell me what it is!" she asked excitedly as she became curious as sh imagined Haiiden being lost while watching the couples dance. The two groups stopped walking, however, as Haiiden's arm broke away from Byeli. As she looked back, she noticed that he was just standing there and was staring into nothingness. Watching this began to make Byeli feel uneasy until Zed began to laugh.
"That's the look he would have!" he exclaimed and moved to slam a hand onto his back. The impact made Haiiden lose his breath and he began to sputter as he tried to regain it.
"My bad." Zed told him and put a hand on his shoulder. He led Haiiden along with everyone else towards the school's loading zone. As they walked, the smile on Zed's face began to fade as he kept thinking about Haiiden's momentary blankness. "My bad."
As they reached the school's landing pads, the teams waved their goodbyes and Team HAVC stepped on to the VTOL. From there, it would take them to Vale's central landing area, which in turn would transport them across the continent to Mistral. After they watched the VTOL vanish from sight, CNBR then walked back into the school and made their way to the dining hall. Raine had already beaten them there and was sitting by himself, eating alone. As the rest of the team got their morning meals and sat with their teammate, Yang and Ruby came by.
"Hey girl!" Yang yelled before sitting in front of Celise and both extending their fists to bump them together in greeting. Ruby sat next to Celise and hugged her from the side, then Celise chuckled to herself while reaching out to pull her close.
"Hey you two; how are you?" She asked them quietly while Byeli watched silently, and couldn't help but smile as she took notice of Celise's change in attitude. She always found it nice that despite Celise's tough girl attitude, the fact that it had changed so drastically whenever these two came by, made Byeli realize that Celise did indeed hide a tender side.
"Eh. Could be better," Yang replied, and then looked back down at Ruby as if she was waiting for something. Ruby looked up with a half-smile and tilted her head a little as if she was expecting something from Celise.
"You know what today is?" Ruby asked, which made Celise stop chewing on her meal and look back between Ruby and Yang, wondering if this was some kind of trick question.
"Ummm, I don't, sis. What is today?" She asked Ruby softly.
"You remember Sarrah?" Ruby asked Celise again, this time the smile fading completely.
"Sarrah?" Celise narrowed her eyes as she spoke the name, trying her hardest to remember the significance of the name.
"Yeah. She was our friend back at Signal, or at least she was my friend," she said with a forced smile, before her expression changed to a more somber one. "Today is the anniversary of her death."
Celise flinched in her seat as she remembered who Ruby was talking about, and lowered her head to avoid eye contact.
"Yeah, I'm not surprised that you would forget. It was pretty messed up," Yang said quietly as she leaned on the table. The rest of Team RWBY came by but had heard what Ruby had mentioned and quickly sat down. This topic also drew the attention of the rest of Team CNBR as they began to slide closer so as to listen. Even Nadira seemed interested, as she lightly pulled the hood up to take a peek.
"Wait, someone died at Signal?" Blake asked quietly, looking around to make sure that there were no eavesdroppers.
"Yeah, the authorities ruled it as a murder. There were scorch marks everywhere," Yang winced as she explained the details, which made Blake and Weiss look to each other in horror. Celise sat quietly, frozen still as the details were being discussed.
"How did that happen?" Weiss asked, seemingly worried since it was a school for Hunters in training. It made her wonder if something like that could happen at Beacon.
"No idea. It happened so fast, like I am guessing in a matter of seconds; fast," Yang continued.
"There were no witnesses."
"Yeah," Celise finally said as she looked back up to Yang and then to Ruby.
"I remember how Qrow started to patrol the hallways after that," Yang added with a slight chuckle.
Celise looked up with a raised brow after the mention of this added security. "Wait, Professor Branwen was watching the halls?" she asked in disbelief. "I don't remember seeing him anywhere near my dorm."
Yang looked up in confusion at Celise's question, so the girl decided to elaborate.
"Really?" Yang tilted her head then looked down as she thought for a bit. "Huh. I guess it might have just been around ours then," Yang thought out loud while Ruby nodded in agreement.
"Well, he is our uncle. He might have been worried about us," Ruby responded. At which point Celise tightened her fists and looked to Ruby and then to Yang. "I would never let anything like that happen to you guys," she said suddenly, her eyes clearly burning with determination, but quickly disappeared as Yang began to laugh.
"Awww. You do care," she said to her, and reached across the table to lightly push her against the shoulder.
"And we got your back, Celise," Ruby replied, however her words were genuine and weren't sarcastic like her sister's. The response made Celise feel better on the inside, but she still had an intense feeling inside her, one that she could only describe as guilt. However, something caught their attention when they heard a commotion behind them. Celise looked behind Yang, while she turned to see that CRDL was pushing down another student. As they watched, they thought it was one of their usual targets, a Faunus, but they realized it was just another poor girl.
"You know? Byeli and I were planning to double team them," she said in an attempt to change the subject, grinning all the while. "I am sure you'd like some payback huh?"
Byeli thought to herself for bit then caught herself playing with her thumbs.
"I am not used to fighting other people. I mostly fought Grimm during my shows," she responded quietly, so much so that some had to lean in to hear her.
"Well, I'm sure that's all that matters, right?" Weiss responded to Byeli's discomfort, but then narrowed her eyes at Team CRDL. "However, they do need to be knocked down a peg or two."
"I would like a rematch, but mostly to show that I've earned my place here," Byeli concluded while taking a deep breath, trying to think about something else. At that moment, Yang and Celise looked at each other and grinned.
Glynda's class had recently been moved to a larger stadium, due to the fights damaging the stage in the assembly hall, with the students seated in a circle surrounding the sparring arena. On one end, Byeli could be seen twirling a set of rods in her hands. She spun around to accumulate speed, and would occasionally stop to perform a strike from the inertia she had built up, the rod hissing through the air as she swung it. She took a deep breath and would nervously twirl the rods in her hands. She turned to see that Celise had joined up with her, and that she had rolled up her sleeve to reveal a chain that was coiled around her arm. She then loosened it a little and the metallic sound of the links clicking against each other echoed through the stadium.
"So, Cardin won't be fighting this time," Celise remarked with a disappointed sigh and Byeli turned to look at her.
"Says that he has already beaten you once, so he's not going to waste his time," Byeli then responded by stomping her foot in frustration and turned to face the opponents who did agree to fight. Their opponents were two of the other team members from CRDL: Russel Thrush and Dove Bronzewing.
"Well, I can still prove myself here," Byeli said to Celise, hopping in place as she began to get a little excited.
"Yeah, still practice against real people," Celise responded as she quietly stepped forward and allowed some of the chain to slide down her arm. She picked it back up again, but she coiled it into two loops and held it in her fist. They both watched as their opponents stepped forward on to the ring as they both prepared themselves. Dove pulled out his sword and stood ready next to Russel, while his teammate pulled out two knives and placed a foot behind him, ready to kick himself forward.
Byeli stood ready with her eyes narrowed at her opponents. Celise looked from the corner of her eye and smiled when she saw Byeli's tail wagging from side to side.
"Calm down, 'Warrior Princess,'" Celise joked, but right as she said that, Byeli was the first to launch her attack. Charging at her opponent, she used her Faunus agility to jump at Russel. He quickly dodged and tried to counter by swinging at where she would have landed. Just as she made contact with the floor, she quickly turned her body and deflected the attack with one of the rods. Meanwhile, Dove swung his sword to try and hit Byeli, and she quickly jumped out of the way. As Dove's sword crashed into the ground, Russel pulled his arm back for another swing, when something caught his arm. He turned to see that a chain had coiled around it, and at the other end of the chain was Celise. She grinned as she began to pull him back, with Russel resisting all the while.
"Ooooh! I love it when she pulls out the chains," Yang exclaimed as she watched the start of the match with a grin.
"I honestly don't know how to respond to that." Blake muttered with a blank face, while Yang seemed oblivious as to how the comment was interpreted.
"Come here, boy," Celise said to Russel with a wink. Russel scowled at her when she called him a boy and charged at her. He swung his dagger, but she grabbed him by the wrist and guided the attack away. As he missed, she kicked him in the back, forcing him to stagger forward and pulled on the chain again to yank him back, forcefully. Byeli ran forward and stepped onto Dove's sword, running up the blade and using her tail as a counter weight to quickly turn and kick him. As the foot connected onto his face, she changed the direction of her tail's swing to quickly change momentum and finished by pushing him away. As she flipped in the air, Dove had quickly regained his footing and was already charging her for a counter attack.
When she landed, she looked up and saw that he had already closed the distance, and he was already bringing his sword down. She brought up her rods to block the attack, and the force of the attack made her stagger back. Russel had been able to break away from Celise's chain and rushed past her to jump and kick Byeli in the back of the head. Celise held her breath as she rushed forward to defend Byeli. She let out some slack on the chain and whipped it into Dove's cheek. As Russel attacked to defend his teammate, Celise again caught his wrist, but this time she twisted it and ducked under his arm.
Russel grunted and reeled forward in an attempt to fight through the pain. She then rolled over his back which forced him to spin to his left. As she landed, she let go of the arm so that she could jump and kick him into Dove. As the two opponents collided, they fell to the ground and scrambled to get up. Celise then bent down and reached out to help Byeli get up while she sighed to herself in disappointment while Celise lifted her to her feet.
"Don't worry, girl. I am sure we got this locked up already," Celise assured her as she patted her on the back. Byeli looked up at her and took a deep breath before looking back at her opponents. She placed both ends of her rods together and a discharge of electricity pulsed through them, connecting them both together with a blue arc of energy. She stood ready, holding her staff with both hands while pointing one end at Dove. Russel was beginning to show signs of frustration, breathing heavily through his nose and tightening the grip on his blades, while Dove observed silently and raised his sword, poised to attack.
Byeli was the one to rush forward again, and Russel jumped in just as she began to charge. Swinging his dagger as he was expecting an attack but instead she swung the end of her staff downward. As she swung, she knocked his attack toward the floor, forcing him to lower his body. To avoid a strike, he quickly rolled forward, but didn't expect that Byeli to ignore him and jump over him. As Russel got up, he saw that Celise was already in mid-punch. He quickly reacted and spun to the right, making her attack miss. As she failed to connect, he brought his right arm and swung back as he completed the spin. The counter went low, so Celise quickly stepped back and leaned forward so that her lower body was able to get out of the way. She brought her arms back to change the energy in her form, allowing her to stand upright as Russel attacked again, this time swinging his left arm up. The swing only managed to cut off a lock of Celise's hair. After jumping back again to avoid another attack, she then grabbed Russel's arm, pulling it back while pushing a hand into his shoulder blade to lock it in that position.
He desperately tried to counter by driving his elbow back into her head, but she saw the blow as it was coming, and used her left arm to block it. After blocking, she punched Russel brutally in the back of the head, then spun to his left and kicked him in the back of the knee. On one foot now, she completed her attack by swinging her chain and coiled it around his leg. As the chain tightened, she pulled up on it and forced Russel on his back. His body landed with a loud thud and a grunt as all air escaped his lungs and the wind was knocked out of him. She grinned as she started to cartwheel away from him, her body gaining energy which she then transferred to her arm, allowing her to lift his body in the air, and since he was still tied to the chain, she flipped him high into the air, then slammed him down onto the ground. Russel was gasping for air while trying to get up, but was instead forced back down as Celise placed a knee onto his back, and wrapped the chain around his throat. "Say 'Uncle!'"
Meanwhile, Dove swung his blade, which scraped down against Byeli's staff and caused sparks to fly from both of their weapons; as they made contact, Byeli pushed her staff to the right to guide his attack away and to leave an opening. It did give her a brief window, but Dove charged his shoulder at Byeli before she could take advantage of it. Their bodies collided, and Byeli fell on to her back but brought her staff up instinctively. She was dazed, and for a moment wasn't sure what was going on until she felt pressure on her hands. As she regained focus, she saw that her staff had blocked an attack by Dove. She immediately took a chance and swung her legs to the right and twisted her body to perform a windmill. Her legs swung underneath his, which tripped him and caused him to fall over onto his back. As she gained energy from the windmill, she quickly forced herself up and backed away from Dove. He got up, now was expressing the same frustration that Russel had felt before.
Byeli didn't notice that she was wearing a slight smirk as she started to have a bit of fun. He charged and swung at her again, only for her to bring up the right end of her staff to deflect it. Quickly spinning to her left, she then used the left end of her staff and caught Dove's left foot. She swept it so that he was on one leg now, and continued the spin so that she was able to use the right end of her staff again; she swept it against his right leg. As he fell onto his back, Byeli stopped her spin and performed a split.
As her body dropped, she swung her staff down while her left hand slid down the shaft and slammed the end of it at Dove's stomach, then swung the staff with both hands and brought it crashing into the back of his head, dazing him and leaving him nearly unconscious. Just for flair, she rolled back and threw her staff into the air while performing a cartwheel. When she fell back on her hands she used her feet to catch the staff and kicked it up in the air again. When her feet touched the ground, she then leapt into the air and performed a backflip. The staff fell to the ground and landed on its end, but was still standing straight. Byeli landed on the end that was sticking up and balanced herself on one foot. Dove rolled over, still dazed, and looked groggily up to see that she was staring down at him, but with a smile.
Without saying a word, she closed her eyes, placed a hand behind her back while the other rested over her chest and bowed as the observing students cheered and applauded, rising to their feet as one, with the exception of Cardin and Sky, both of whom glared furiously at the arena below.
"Winner!" declared Glynda, ending the match.