Chapter 2 - The Story Moves Forward
"Heart palpitations." Perl thought to herself nervously, shrinking down as she hid underneath her sky blue hood. She felt like everyone was staring at her. Was she doing something wrong? Was it her hair? Or was there something on her face?
"Heart palpitations are a common symptom of many things. Given my age and medical history, and the fact that I am not under the influence of any substance it's likely a mental issue. I'm nervous and under a great deal of stress, that's probably it. I definitely don't have any heart condition that will kill me. Probably. Hopefully." Perl began walking faster, trying to get back to her room as fast as possible. She was terrified, her heart was pounding, her breath was short, and she was struggling to cope.
She had only been at Beacon for two days and she was already miserable. She knew that people were talking about her. Everyone was theorizing why she was put into the Ward Program.
The program was difficult to get into so it was understandable that they were curious, but the constant glances and whispers were stressful. She didn't need, nor did she want to hear made up tales about how she arrived here.
"People are whispering," Perl began walking at a quicker pace, desperate to get out of the halls. She didn't like it here. Maybe she should count, that always calmed her down.
"—oof!" Perl fell to the ground, landing on her back. "Crap!"
She groaned as she sat up, still in a daze. She had run into someone. Of course she did, just perfect! What would people say about her now…
"A-Are you alright?" A worried voice asked with a strange accent. It sounded like she was… actually she wasn't sure. It wasn't any of the primary kingdoms, nor was it an outlying city that she was aware of. It definitely wasn't southern. She couldn't place the accent.
Perl groaned softly, looking up at whoever she had run into. The girl was a faunus, a rabbit one to be specific. Based on her ears she would guess a Coney rabbit. With long brown hair that matched her floppy ears and pale skin, she had an innocent air around her.
Like all Beacon Students she wore the standard uniform, a white top with a vest and a reddish brown coat and a plaid skirt. It was a simple and formal uniform but, unfortunately, it had a skirt. She didn't like skirts.
"Hey kid, you sure you're alright? My pal here asked you a question." A different, much more confident girl asked. She had a rich and smooth voice, it was a warm and friendly tone.
The new girl was a lot different from the rabbit Faunus, wearing the same uniform with a pair of sunglasses. With Smooth fair skin and a well developed form, her confidence was not without reason. Her hair was a warm brown with a curled caramel streak. It was… interesting. She had a strong cool aura about her.
Perl turned to the new speaker quickly, her palms growing sweaty with each passing moment. She spoke quickly with a weak voice that was barely a whisper. "U-Uh, y-ye-yeah th-that w-was m-my fault, I uh- I'm sorry?"
The second girl laughed, chuckling softly as she held out a hand to help her up. "Guess that fall was worse than it looked, she asked you if you were alright."
Perl took the arm, brushing herself off as she took a deep breath. She refused to make eye contact, and sometimes she was so quiet she was practically mouthing the words. So yeah, she was just a little bit nervous. "O-oh, I uh— I'm f-fine."
While the first girl giggled at her nervousness, the second girl wiped the sweat off of her hands. "Well that's good, the name's Coco, this here is my friend Velvet, you?"
Coco, huh, she seemed interesting, if that was the word. While confident, she seemed friendly enough. Then again, who knows. "I'm uh- I'm Perl. It's n-nice to m-meet you?" Her voice could barely even be considered a whisper.
Once again, she was certain the weird looks she was probably getting were because of the fact that whenever she's around people she can barely speak for some reason! It made no sense! Why would people affect the way her vocal cords vibrate?
Well, now that she thought about it, it was probably psychological rather than biological but that's besides the point.
"Nice to meetcha, I heard about you, the Ward kid right?" She slid her sunglasses down as she appraised Perl with a smirk. As she noted earlier, brimming with confidence.
"Coco! Don't be insensitive! Wards are usually orphans!" The faunus girl, now named Velvet, told her.
She seemed nice, clearly aware of other people. Though it wasn't quite necessary as she knew Coco wasn't trying to be rude, she was just talking. Or at least, she thought so. She was pretty bad at the whole social thing.
"Oops, sorry… Perl, was it?" Coco rubbed her neck with a sheepish grin. "Didn't mean to be mean or anything like that."
"It's uh, It's f-fine." She said meekly, refusing to meet their eyes. It was mainly out of embarrassment but also because… actually, no. It was just embarrassment. Maybe a little anxiety as well.
"Uh, are you sure you're alright?" Velvet asked, seemingly concerned for her, despite them just having met.
"I uh- I mean Yeah, I'm f-fine. I s-swear..." Perl argued, surprisingly adamant about it despite her quietness. Okay maybe she was just bad at everything that didn't require her intelligence.
"Calm down kid, I know you're fine. I guess the rumors were true, huh." Coco assured her, chuckling softly as she walked along.
Wait, when had they started walking? Oh yeah, approximately one minute and forty five seconds ago. She also needed to get better about paying attention to her surroundings. Otherwise she would keep on falling into people. Wait— rumors?
"Ru- wh- I mean uh- wha- wh- what r-ru-rumors!?" Perl exclaimed, doing that weird whisper yelling thing. She was terrified by the idea that people were talking about her.
Velvet giggled, shaking her head as she reassured the panicking girl. "No, no, nothing like that. Everyone is just curious because you're so shy, you won't talk to anyone."
Perl let out a sigh of relief, letting go of the tension she hadn't even realized she had. "O-oh…"
"Yeah, don't worry kid. You'll be fine." Coco snickered, amused by her general paranoia.
Which was fair because Perl was constantly looking around her shoulder, glancing around as if she would be attacked at any moment. Seriously, from an outside perspective it looked like she had drunk fifteen gallons of espresso and then watched horror movies.
Okay maybe that was an exaggeration, but the point was made.
"I-I kn-know." Perl sighed heavily. "I-I just c-constantly worry. I f-feel l-like I'm n-not good enough."
Velvet smiled sympathetically, "Don't worry Perl, that's an everyone problem. Some people just have it worse than others."
"But not me! I know I'm perfect! I mean, c'mon, look at this." Coco declared confidently, joking for the most part as she gestured to herself.
Perl giggled softly, surprising even herself. She wished she could have confidence like that, even just a fragment of it. But maybe, just maybe, if she spent time with friends like these, she could become a little bit more confident.
Uh… they did want to be her friends, right?
The Emerald Forest. The large woods just outside of Beacon Academy, one that was filled to the brim with the Creatures of Grimm. As so, it often needed routine… cleaning, if that was the word.
Why was she assigned this job? As if she knew, it was ridiculous! She was the least qualified, she wasn't even a student!
Perl sighed as her hands shook nervously, Tick and Tock held at the ready as she walked through the dark woods. She was frightened and scared, but she signed up for this. Well she didn't sign up for it but that didn't matter.
The rustling of bushes distracted her from her own thoughts. A small tuft of black fur could be seen through the gaps of the underbrush. "Grimm!"
In the blink of an eye a battle began, bloodlust began emanating from the creatures of darkness. A Beowulf burst free from the bushes, lunging towards her with outstretched claws.
In less than a second, several bullets found their way into it's skull, smoke exiting the wounds as it collapsed. The body would dissolve in roughly ten minutes, like all Grimm.
The fight was over as soon as it began. Luckily for Perl the beast was small and weak for it's kind. She wasn't sure she would've been able to handle it otherwise. She wasn't exactly the best fighter.
She wasn't belittling herself either, the beast looked like it was the runt of the pack. It was the size of a large dog at best. In fact… it was a little strange. Grimm rarely varied, they were almost always the same as the rest of their kind. So why was this one shrimpy?
Perl sighed softly. As much as she wanted to inspect the dark corpse she was a bit busy struggling to survive. The Emerald Forest wasn't exactly the safest place to research Grimm anatomy.
She ran her fingers through her long platinum blonde hair, taking deep breaths to soothe her nerves.
She needed to get back to Beacon Cliff, if only to punch Coco in her stupid face. Well she wouldn't actually hit Coco, she was far too shy to actually do anything.
She was just annoyed at the fashionista for making her participate in this ridiculous training mission.
Sighing softly, Perl pushed forward and continued her journey back to Beacon. "I mean seriously! I'm not even a student, why do I have to do these dumb missions!" She complained to herself, frustrated with her situation.
She would much rather be back in her room, working on her projects. She had an identity to keep up after all. Well actually it was more like— "Oof!"
Perl groaned as she tripped over a rock, landing on the ground. She was such a clutz… this is why she didn't want to go on the mission.
She pouted softly as she slowly sat up, only to freeze in place as a large burst of almost painfully hot air flew into her face. The ground shook as hoof stamped into the earth loudly.
"Crap baskets."
"I kn-knew I should've trained more!" Perl cried out, attached to the Grimm's large white horn by the hood of her light blue jacket.
The bull Grimm ran around wildly, trying to get her, but its horns kept her just out of reach as she was dragged through the Emerald Forest. Of course she just had to meet a Tauran.
Taurans were strong, large, and fast. Which was everything Perl wasn't.
She groaned as she reached around her back and grasped her weapon. It was a foot long staff made of several small segments that seemed detachable, Cyan energy was flowing out, revealing the dust working within it.
While she would much prefer to Dust Cast, she didn't feel comfortable doing so while riding a Grimm. She didn't want to hurt herself after all.
Her weapon was a multi-tool called Genesis, and it was a series of custom made hard light projectors. In layman's terms, it was pretty much whatever weapon she wanted it to be, bar some ranged weapons.
All it took was a twist of the segments and a pulse of aura, the hard light began to grow into a rather peculiar form. With Genesis itself as the center of the staff, hard light extended and warped into a giant wrench.
It was the first thing that she thought of.
Perl could've sworn that even the Grimm seemed confused at her choice in weapons, so she simply frowned. "D-Don't judge me!"
She swung Genesis back into the giant bull's jaw, using some Force Dust to enhance the impact.
She used the brief moment in which the Tauran was stunned to kick off of it, rolling across the ground into a new clearing. Surrounded by trees and at the cliff's edge, she had a nice open space to fight… except that she was now cornered. Lovely.
She let off shot after shot with her pistols Tick and Tock, slowly pushing the Grimm back. Except it didn't exactly work. The shots seemed to do nothing but infuriate the bull.
"Dust!" She swore, scowling as she tapped the sides of her pearly blue thin rimmed glasses, causing them to light up.
"Yes Perl?" Eve asked, her voice calm and almost melodic.
"Eve! I c-could use some back up!" Perl yelled out, narrowly avoiding the Tauran's charge.
The bull kicked up rocks and even knocked down trees with its raw strength. It was understandable that she was nervous, so she was calling in backup because she didn't think she could handle the Grimm.
"Of course, I assume you would like Adel's assistance?" Eve asked, as calm as ever. Which was fair, especially since she wasn't designed for emotional responses.
Perl sighed, bashing the Tauran's head with the massive hard light wrench that was Genesis. "Of course! She has a f-freaking m-minigun! Who else w-would be a better backup?!"
"Okay, I sent her a message. She's on her way." The AI stated blandly.
"Dust, I swear you're useless s-sometimes!" Perl pouted, unloading a clip of energy rounds into the Grimm to no avail. If anything, it seemed to just make it mad.
"I apologize but that's not exactly my fault."
Perl nodded, "I know, I know… I programmed you after all…" She muttered as she dodged another charge, swinging at it with the wrench as it ran by.
"If it makes you feel any better, Coco Adel has an ETA of six minutes." Eve told her calmly, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that Perl was struggling to fight for her lie. Though she knew that wasn't true. Eve just wasn't able to express panic all too well.
It showed that Eve was constantly working as whenever she looked at the Tauran weak points would be highlighted. Sometimes advice or ammo warnings would be given if Eve wasn't busy doing the hundreds of other tasks Perl gave her.
She also had to prohibit Her from hacking droids to assist her. Seriously she woke up one day to have a platoon of robots outside her room.
"Besides, the Tauran you are facing is below average size and seems to be acting irregularly. I have noted in Apocrypha the total of seventeen Variants we have seen today. " Eve noted as Perl dodged another charge.
"G-good." Perl nodded nervously, panting out of exhaustion.
The Tauran stared her down, stomping its hooves into the ground. It let out another burst of scalding hot steam as it let out a bellowing moo.
Perl sighed, deactivating her glasses as she adjusted the settings of Genesis, causing the head of the hard light staff to change from a wrench to an axe.
The Grimm snorted, charging towards her. She once again narrowly dodged the attack, but not without consequence.
The razor sharp horns of the Tauran ripped through her aura, dropping her down to a whopping twenty seven percent. She was already past the point of dangerously low Aura in her opinion.
Though Perl did manage to tear into the side of the Grimm with the battle axe, causing ichor and ash to pour out of its side.
"C-calm down Perl, you c-can do this…" She whispered to herself reassuringly.
The Tauran stomped its hooves, flailing around in a mad rage. It tried to kick at her with its hooves but Perl dodged out of the way using Wind Dust.
She repeated the process several times, stalling until Coco got here. She actually winced at the thought. She would be disappointed in her, she couldn't even fight off a single Tauran. They weren't that different than the average Ursa.
The only difference is that Taurans focus on defense, while Ursai focus on strength.
Yeah, she told Ozpin she wasn't suited for being a huntress, but nooo, she needed to use her talents to help people. Not that there was anything wrong with that, she just… didn't want to die.
Sighing softly, Perl brushed her thoughts aside as she swung her battle axe down upon the Grimm. However she was way off target, causing her to bite her lip in frustration.
"Come on Coco! Where are you!" Perl dived out of the way as the Tauran charged at her once again, not very creative in its applications of strength.
She did retaliate by blasting it with shards of ice, but it didn't do much. If it did anything at all. She could barely scratch the thing because nearly the entire thing was coated in bone plates.
If what she remembered was correct, which it was, Taurans are dumb. It's their only weakness. If you're fighting one alone; you either outsmart it or over power it. And since she was, well, herself, overpowering it wasn't really an option.
So, she really only had one choice. To use her brain. She glanced at her surroundings, trying to use the terrain to her advantage. But what she found resting behind her caused her to smirk slightly.
She turned to face the Tauran, "C-come and g-get me f-fatty!" She taunted, which somehow worked, if only because her negativity lured it in.
Perl dodged the bull Grimm causing it to ram headfirst into an iron vein in the cliff, it's large drill-like horns stuck in the rock. It wouldn't be trapped for long so she had to act quickly.
She leapt into the air, not so gracefully, and landed on the bull's back. She struggled to keep steady as it tried to buck her off, still struggling to get out of the boulder as well.
She placed her gloves hand against its head and channeled what little aura she had left. The machinery and piping on her gloves glowed brightly as a strange purple-gray dust came flowing into her palm.
Dust Casting: The art of utilizing Aura and Dust hand in hand.
The Dust was manipulated using her aura, creating a field around the Grimm's head. The Tauran roared in pain, buckling wildly as the pressure increased drastically.
It would keep on increasing the pressure until she halted the flow of dust, which would eventually cause some serious damage, especially with how… much Dust… she was using... Wait— this was a bad—splat!
It was too late, by using all of her Dust, of those types, she had created a bubble of pressure that caused the beast's skull to pop. Her entire face was splattered with Grimm guts.
She had literally made its head explode under the pressure. "Note to self: Avoid using both Force and Gravity Dust together in close quarters combat. Really should've seen that one coming…"
"Lovely," Perl sighed, placing her glasses into her pocket until she could sterilize them. She didn't really need them to see, they were purely for displaying information. "Now I need a shower."
"Damn Girl! What happened here?" A familiar rich and smooth voice asked, causing Perl to quickly turn around.
Coco Adel, in her usual fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, had to come to the rescue… approximately seven minutes and twenty five seconds late.
Perl simply pouted, turning away from her while mumbling under her breath. "Oh n-now you d-decide to come h-here…"
"Aw, don't look at me like that!" Coco joked, twirling her warm brown hair around her finger. She leaned in, her sunglasses sliding down her nose. "Seriously Though, what happened?"
Perl sighed, turning to face the fashionista. Though she refused to make eye contact, she explained her situation shyly. "I r-ran into a T-Tauran and in an act of d-desperation I… I made its head e-explode."
"Remind me not to get on your bad side." She joked, slinging her purse over her shoulders as she kneeled down next to Perl, sighing as she thought about her next words. "Look, I'm sorry I'm late, but look how far you've come. You just killed a Tauran, all by yourself. You really need to stop doubting yourself. Got that?"
Perl sighed, nodding softly. "Okay, I-I'll f-forgive you, If! If you p-promise to keep in t-touch over the break!"
Coco chuckled, "I was going to do that anyway, now let's get back to Beacon."
Perl smiled weakly, following Coco through the woods. It was a strange thought, that, in just a few months, she would be an official student of Beacon Academy, kinda.
"I have deemed this fight unsatisfactory and have altered your training regimen and diet accordingly. This is for your own good."
Dammit.
They were all lined up in a dark room. As usual, none of them knew where they were, but they all knew why they were there. It was the same reason why they all had strange mechanical collars around their neck.
They were prisoners. They were slaves. They had a job to do.
The only time they were all lined up in this room was when they were being briefed for a mission. Usually a week or two in advance.
"When I say your designation and your code sit down." A man spoke from the darkness, his thin and tall figure barely visible in the darkness. His voice was modulated so it wasn't recognizable, but it wasn't very deep.
"Copy-Cat: SP-FA-S04." He said calmly. A Faunus with short prismatic white hair and fluffy cat ears sat down.
She seemed strangely excited to be here despite her situation, her rainbow eyes seemed distracted and confused if anything. Her white scaled outfit was strangely tight and reflective, and covered her entire body. It seemed to be some strange jumpsuit, why she wore it, the other prisoners weren't sure..
Her appearance began to change slightly as she swung her legs back and forth, acting strangely chipper. Though she was probably just acting her age, as she couldn't be older than fifteen.
"Vampire: SP-RA-S05." The tall man frowned at the young faunus who was practically glaring daggers.
He was a bat faunus with two pointed bat ears on top of his head. "That's not my name…" He grumbled softly, just quiet enough so that he couldn't hear.
He brushed his messy black hair out of his face revealing slitted purple eyes, though his left eye was covered with a streak of silver hair. He reluctantly sat down, dusting off his black and purple suit.
"If you keep that attitude up I can, and will, shock you. Now, Gemini: SP-SA-S07."
The prisoner named 'Vampire' flinched at the idea of being shocked so he straightened up and glanced at 'Gemini.'
Unlike the previous two, Gemini was actually a pair of ten year old twins. While Vampire hadn't ever met Copycat, he had been on training missions with Gemini. Though they went by Castor and Polly, as far as he knew at least.
They both had the same short shoulder length hair that was a strange pale whitish blue hue, though it darkened at the end. The only difference between them was that Castor had a gold streak above his left eye, while Polly had a gold streak above her right eye. This was because they were mirrored twins. If you didn't know them it would be extremely difficult to tell the difference.
The thin man stepped into view and began pacing back and forth, his face covered by a thin white mask with the number one on the front of it. His messy black hair was visible from behind his mask but he didn't have any recognizable traits.
"You three have been selected for a long term mission in Vale, you will be working with an associate of mine. He has been granted access to your collars so do not disobey." He explained, glaring daggers at them.
"Question." Copycat said calmly, looking, and acting, completely different from earlier. It was a disturbing sight. Seeing pasty white skin and messy black hair, her faunus ears became larger and more pointed. With large bags and empty purple eyes, she held a dead stare. She looked exactly like Vampire.
"Guess I know where she gets her codename…" Vampire thought to himself, slightly disturbed by the resemblance between them. They even sounded the same. Also, how did her outfit change?
Polly and Castor didn't seem to react, they were simply staring at each other and doing that strange mental communication thing they did. Either they've worked with Copycat before or they simply didn't care.
"Copycat, please revert back to your original form, then you may speak." The masked man told her, his voice deep because of the modulator.
The strange girl obeyed, returning to her normal appearance with a smile. "What are we doing in Vale?"
"You will be doing a variety of tasks during your stay, though I don't know the specifics, Two will explain the actual details when you arrive. You will obey any order given to you and complete your tasks to the best of your abilities. The only thing that I was told was that there is another one like you all in Vale that you'll be working with. She is a… new… project named Marionette: MP-FM-S03, She is a little different so keep an eye on her, we don't want her getting into any trouble." The masked man explained, "Any other questions?"
Castor and Polly turned to each other, then to the man. They spoke in perfect unison, it was kinda creepy actually, ""Can we have snacks?""
Vampire had to stop himself from chuckling, he should've guessed they would ask something like that. They were children after all. Though he often felt bad for the twins. They weren't like anyone else under the masked men's control. They had been here their entire life.
Everyone with a collar around their neck had a life before all of this. They would be kidnapped, tortured, experimented on, and put to work.
However Gemini was different. While he had been here since he was eight, they had been here since they were babies, he remembered the time when he was assigned to take care of them while the masked men were away on business. This mission would be their first time in one of the kingdoms. They had only ever been on training missions before… in fact, they hadn't even been outside until a year ago.
"No, besides the meals you normally have, snacks will not be provided. You will be given whatever you need for the mission though." He answered, glancing at Vampire briefly.
Vampire sighed, knowing what he meant by that. "Fine, when do we begin?"
"Like I said, not only do you need a haircut, you also need to get yourself a real combat outfit." Coco told her adamantly.
"B-But I like my hair long!" Perl argued quietly, glancing at the large thick braid going down past her knees, hooking at the end. Her golden blonde hair was ridiculously long, it was silky smooth and took time to maintain. She did like her long hair, but it was a partial habit that she didn't cut it.
She wasn't allowed to do so when she was imprisoned, and it was engraved into her mind that holding anything sharp near her face was bad. Which was true, but that didn't make it a bad thing to cut your hair. So she supposed she just… liked long hair?
"And what's wr-wrong with my hoodie!?" She exclaimed shyly, glancing down at her casual attire. She wore a simple white t-shirt with a large light blue hoodie and skinny jeans. As she said, simple and casual.
"Your hair is stupid long and impractical, and you have no sense of fashion." Coco said bluntly, honest as always.
Coco didn't lie, not that often at least, she was usually fairly honest, bluntfully so. Oftentimes she wondered if the fashionista even knew what a white lie was.
"And you wonder why she has less self confidence than Vel." Fox said telepathically as he sat down next to them, making Perl jump. She hadn't even noticed him approaching, he was as silent as always.
Fox was a strange man, being blind and all. His milky white eyes always seemed to stare into your soul, adding to his mysteriousness. Being almost one meter and eighty eight centimeters tall made him rather intimidating, especially with his muscular tan form.
People always assumed the tall man was just quiet, but the truth was far stranger. He actually was pretty open, and had an… interesting sense of humor. He just preferred to communicate with his semblance; Telepathy.
"If she doesn't get a better outfit how will she attract all the guys?" Coco joked, teasing the young girl.
"I don't w-want to a-attract all the guys!" Perl was red with embarrassment, hiding underneath her hoodie.
"Oh so you play for the other team then, eh?" Fox added, amused at her nervousness. He wasn't one to miss an opportunity for a joke.
"T-t-That's n-not w-what I m-me-m-meant and y-you know it!" She exclaimed, her heart rate rising as she began to hyperventilate. She was telling the truth though, she had never even considered romance with either gender. So she supposed she was unsure.
She didn't like being unsure but that was one thing she had no desire to figure out. Besides, she was far too busy freaking out!
"I'd recommend you stop the teasing there, you'll give her an anxiety attack." A deep and calm voice spoke, Yatsuhashi sitting down at the table.
Perl was always grateful for Yatsuhashi to be around, he often stopped Fox and Coco's teasing when they began to go overboard. It's not like they did it intentionally though.
Yatsuhashi was somehow even more imposing than Fox, being a whopping two meters and thirteen centimeters tall and covered in scars. Not to mention the fact that he was even more muscular than his blind teammate.
Despite his intimidating appearance Yatsuhashi was a gentle giant, making him very easy to hang out with.
Though she could still remember when she couldn't even be near the man without freaking out. It actually took quite awhile for Perl to be comfortable around him.
"Yatsuhashi!" Perl exclaimed quietly, already calming down. The gentle giant was arguably her favorite member of Team CFVY, though she could also say the same for Velvet.
"Hello there Perl, are you alright?" He asked, showing concern. Like she said, gentle giant.
"Y-yeah, just… a little nervous." She admitted, quickly glancing at both Coco and Fox. Both seemed regretful that they forgot about how easily she panicked.
"Yeah… sorry about that. Didn't mean to spook ya." Coco apologized sheepishly, leaning back in her chair.
"I-it's Fine…" Perl took her head out of her hoodie and smiled weakly, "You didn't mean anything bad by it."
"That doesn't make it okay." Fox added, clearly upset with himself as well.
"A-as I said. It's fine…" Perl said meekly, creating an awkward silence. However it didn't last long, as a young rabbit faunus broke the silence.
"Hello, did I miss anything?" An accented voice asked, a pale girl joining them at the table.
Velvet Scarlatina, the only member of Team CFVY she shared anything in common with. She was much smaller than the others, being closer to Perl's own height.
With rabbit ears that matched her long dark brown hair and a strange outfit, she was easily the most approachable of The four members. Though that might've been because of her timid presence.
However what really interested Perl was her weapon. Anesidora, a camera that creates weapon replicas made of Hard Light and Energy Dust. It was a unique and fascinating weapon, one that she would love to examine… if she wasn't hiding her intelligence.
Yeah… her life was a lie. She knew she was being paranoid… but that didn't help at all. So she just pretended to be normal. Besides, revealing her identity might make her a target.
No one besides a few select people knew about her real identity, which was just how she liked it. If everyone knew who she was… well that would be absolutely terrifying. She supposed it would take a while to gain people's trust if she kept secrets but she couldn't help it… it was difficult to explain.
But everyone kept secrets right? She didn't know everything about her friends, and she might not until she gets to know them more.
"Not really, Coco and Fox were teasing again, Perl blew up a Tauran earlier." Yatsuhashi said simply, having heard the news from Coco already.
Velvet turned to face her with surprise, which was fair because she wasn't the greatest fighter. In fact, she was probably the worst in the entire school. That didn't mean it didn't hurt a little though.
"That's awesome!" Velvet smiles softly, being supportive as always. "Not the teasing part, I mean, the Grimm."
"N-not really." Perl shrunk down, she was never fond of attention. "It w-wasn't anything special. Just a l-little bit of Dust."
Or rather a lot of Dust.
"Oh stop doubting yourself," Coco told her, smiling brightly. "You and Vel need some more self confidence, next year you're going to be a student."
"N-next year huh…" Perl muttered softly, darkening as a sad frown made its way onto her face. She didn't like to think about that, for various reasons.
"Is something wrong?" Fox asked, taking note of the tone she held. Perl, while usually a hyperactive mess, wasn't one to sulk. When she was sad about something she usually studied or trained to distract herself.
That or she counted in her head. She was a nerd, so what?
"Yeah." Coco said simply, answering for her. "She's upset that we're leaving in a few weeks, that we won't see her until the next school year. That sound about right, kid?"
Perl didn't answer, she simply nodded and looked away. Coco was spot on, well, she was also nervous about actually participating in classes even if she wouldn't be an actual student.
"It's not even two months, and we'll stay in contact, I promise." Velvet tried to cheer her up, but it didn't exactly work.
"That's what I told her, not sure why she's still upset."
"I-I know that you will keep in touch… but that's not the same. I'll still be alone. Not to mention the fact that I'll be a student next year, in a different grade…" Perl's knuckles were white as she clenched her fists in frustration.
"Come on kid, You know it'll be fine. We can even come and visit over the break if you want." Coco told her reassuringly.
"Y-You would do th-that?" Perl's eyes were wide with confusion and hope. She had entertained the idea but she assumed that they would be too busy to come.
She really needed to stop assuming things. As it turned out, she was kinda bad at it.
"Of course." Yatsuhashi said simply, being as calm as ever. "Why wouldn't we?"
Perl paused, she felt kinda stupid for not realizing that. She was supposed to be smart yet her emotions had convinced her that her friends wouldn't visit her. "Damn electrochemical signals! Chemical imbalances are the worst!"
"Th-thanks…" She said meekly, embarrassed by the sappy moment. She was a nerd! She wasn't cut out for moments like these! Emotions were a pain in her butt!
"No problem kid," Coco smirked, amused at how red Perl was. She looked like a tomato. She was just easy to tease, it was as simple as that.
Velvet smiled, "See? Everything works out in the end. You really worry too much."
Perl looked away, knowing that she had a point. She did tend to overthink things, especially when it came to more emotional matters.
"You're one to t-talk…" She muttered softly, frowning slightly.
"And you don't, Vel?" Fox added, turning the attention to Velvet.
"They both have a point, Bunbun." Coco nodded, smirking slightly. "You can barely confront anything because you're too worried about the results."
"Yeah… you have a point. I just don't want to make it any worse, you know?" Velvet sighed softly, knowing what they said was true. She did have a confrontation problem, when it came to things outside of her friend group, she was often far too timid.
"I kn-know what you mean." Perl nodded, "Even knowing the f-fact that I'm over thinking things or being p-paranoid doesn't help. The thoughts are just… there."
"Exactly, everything you do will have some sort of result so you should always choose your actions carefully." Velvet agreed, nodding as she went along.
Velvet and Perl weren't so different. They both had anxiety issues and a problem with confrontation, Perl just had it far worse.
"Aww, they're bonding! They grow up so fast!" Fox joked, wiping an imaginary tear from his face.
"F-Fox!" Perl pouted, she didn't like being teased. Though she supposed not many people did. Then again, she wasn't good with people, so what did she know?
"I still think that you two could both use some confidence." Coco pointed out, shrugging nonchalantly.
"It's good to be cautious, but Coco has a point. There will be a day when you have to confront your problems." Yatsuhashi commented, being wise as always.
"Ha! Th-that'll n-never happen!" Perl argued, though the idea lingered in her mind. Her problems… she wasn't sure whether or not she could confront Voltz or not if the situation arised.
That thought led to another, which led to another, and so on. Eventually leading her to wonder something. "Who was Voltz, and where is he now?"
Zero frowned as he read the file, while he was originally pleased with the assignment when he first heard about it eleven years ago. He still was pleased actually, he was just a little surprised about the unorthodox method that was used.
"I still can't believe they used Voltz as their alias. Real creative." Zero smirked slightly, scrolling through the document. He was excited about the possibilities of such a project, he was exhilarated at the time.
He had to admit, he was disappointed when he discovered that the subject had escaped. He made sure everyone that worked on the project was severely punished. It was such a waste of resources. He wasn't sure why some people were so adamant about keeping tabs on it.
He was constantly berated with ideas, the people working under him constantly trying to curry favor. Most ideas just weren't realistic or simply inefficient.
Though reading the latest reports from everyone, he was pleased with this "new" project.
Zero chuckled as he approved the project. "Don't disappoint me this time… Voltz."
Perl let out a sad sigh, smiling weakly as she reminisced on her short time at Beacon. It was the end of the school year and she would be sixteen soon.
Even though she had only been here for a little over a month, she still enjoyed the time she spent with Team CFVY. They practically took care of her during her stay.
They promised they would come and visit her, and she was going to hold them up to that. If they didn't she would give them like fifty viruses or something like that. Okay she probably wouldn't do that, but she would be very upset!
They had all passed their exams, somehow, and finished their first year at Beacon. She would miss them…
Yeah okay, maybe she was a little dependent on them but they were her only friends! Don't judge her!
Perl sighed softly as the wind blew across the yard. It was a sad day for her, but a happy sad day. It was only goodbye for now.
Coco pulled her in for a one-armed hug, smiling as she tucked her sunglasses in her pocket, revealing dark brown eyes. "It'll be quiet without ya kid, I'll miss ya, I really will."
"Y-You too, Coco." Perl smiles weakly, she was sad but they had thoroughly convinced her that things would be alright. Though she still worried a little.
"We will see you soon, Perl." Yatsuhashi told her, resting a large hand on her shoulder with a gentle smile.
"Yeah, just remember, it's only two months." Velvet reassured her, trying to be supportive. Vel was always sweet like that.
"I-I kn-know!" Perl pouted, looking away in embarrassment. She could deal with it, probably…
"Aw, someone's embarrassed." Coco ruffled Perl's hair, much to her chagrin. "But don't worry kid, you'll be fine."
Perl huffed at her, annoyed by the teasing. "You s-suck, Coco."
Coco let out a faux gasp, leaning back dramatically only to be caught by Fox. "You have wounded her! She shall never recover!"
Fox had his usual sly grin, chuckling softly at his own joke. He then winked in Perl's general direction before letting Coco drop to the ground.
Perl giggled softly, laughing at their antics. Fox was always the jokester, even if it got him in trouble at times.
"Hey!" Coco complained, sitting up as she frowned at her teammate. "How could you damage a fair maiden, such as I?"
"I think out of all of the 'maidens' here, you're the least fair. " Fox retorted, smirking as usual.
Velvet smiled weakly, upset to intervene. "As much as I'm enjoying the show, the bullheads are leaving soon." She pointed out, albeit reluctantly.
"Sorry Perl, Velvet has a point." Yatsuhashi sat up with a sigh, frowning as he grabbed his bags.
"Oh, that's unfortunate."
"Oh, I guess Bunbun is right. Sorry Kid, looks like now's the time." Coco told her apologetically, smiling as she grabbed her large suitcase. "See ya soon?"
Perl smiled, "Y-Yeah, see y-you soon."
While saddened, Perl was still happy. She knew that she would see them soon. And to think, just a little over a few months ago she was locked away in her apartment pretending that she was better off alone.
She liked having friends, she just hated making them. But maybe the result was worth it.
Perl waved to her friends as they began to step onto the bullhead, smiling brightly as they waved back. They were friends, and she would see them soon.
"Goodbye… for now."
AN: That, my friends, was a happy chapter about Perl's brief month at Beacon. There's a small part of me that wants to write more of this, turns out I like writing sentimental scenes, but I also want to get things rolling.
So… I'll probably write flashback scenes…
Team Coffee is based off of what I learned from the book, After the Fall so I hope I'm writing them well.
Also, about the giant wrench. When thinking of ideas for Perl's weapons, I remembered reading something, though I'm not sure where. It was talking about how people aren't very creative with weapon designs, how they are always simple melee/gun hybrids. This is RWBY! We can make whatever weapons we want! There are already massive sniper scythes and chainsaw boomerangs so why can't Perl have a giant wrench? Well it's a hard light staff but she'll mainly use its wrench form. It adds some pizazz.
Okay that's enough of me ranting.
There was also a bit of world building and a hint of misdirection somewhere in the chapter. Or is there? Who knows maybe I'm just fooling around! Maybe this entire chapter was a lie! Nah, I'm just kidding.
I dunno, but I think I've improved greatly. At least, since my first story. Oh I was so bad at the start, but I did get better.
I somehow managed to convince people that my other story wasn't crap.
Anyways… I had a good time writing this, let me know of any advice, semblance or pairing preferences, or anything like that. Oh! Semblance note, a reviewer of mine suggested just weak/basic spatial manipulation as an idea. I'm hesitant about it but I will of course take it into consideration.
That's all for now folks
See ya later, Void Out!
