Chapter 2: Destiny
Ember's POV
So. Much. Space!
The sleeping arrangements of this first night are awesome. I think tomorrow we get sorted into teams and we then have a collective dorm. But for now, we're in the ballroom, as Glynda said. All of us freshmen, sleeping on mats on the floor. It's sociable but not cramped, still leaving me lots of space to dash and dart and flip through the masses of people.
Aurora and I set up our mats next to each other, and she's on hers now reading a thick and well-worn book. She doesn't even flinch as I cartwheel over her body and drop onto my own mat.
"It's like a giant slumber party!" I exclaim cheerfully.
She smiles but doesn't look up from her book. "The openness is strangely nice for tonight, but I'll be happy for the proper beds and peace and quiet tomorrow."
"Yeah, me too."
That makes her look up, eyebrow raised. "I would have thought you'd hate the peace and quiet."
I shrug casually. "I need time by myself to recharge, too. I'm often really tired by the end of the day."
She laughs. "Maybe it wouldn't exhaust you so much if you didn't put so much energy into every aspect of it." Her expression and tone, though marginally bemused, make it clear that she definitely doesn't consider this a flaw, so I stick my tongue out at her before we laugh together.
As we both calm down, I rest my chin on my folded arms, smiling at my friend before glancing at her book. "Whatcha reading?"
"It's about a huntress from long ago, fighting all kinds of dangerous beasts for the king's court. She and the prince fall in love, but their romance is forbidden in their culture. It's about them both trying to stay alive and hopefully marry each other eventually."
"That sounds amazing!" I say excitedly.
She grins, thrilled to have someone share in a story she obviously enjoys. "You can borrow it once I'm done if you want."
I make a face. "No thanks; I love stories, so what you've described sounds amazing. But any time I've tried to sit down and read, no matter whether the story appeals to me, I just got bored. I wish I didn't because reading seems awesome."
"It is very enjoyable," she agrees, "I can pretend I'm in another world, that I'm somebody else." She suddenly stops and looks away, no longer smiling. She probably just wants to be left alone to read again, so I flip myself to my feet.
"I saw a balcony over there, and I bet there are some great views from up here. Could you let me know when they're calling for lights out?"
"Sure," she mutters, not looking up.
I skip over to the slightly open door, spinning to open and close it again once I'm outside. The light of the full moon shines on my face as warming as if it were sunlight, and I smile in contentment as I drag the fresh air deep into my soul. The cool air sooths my skin and muscles, moving through and around my baggy black pyjama bottoms and strappy purple top. The peace of the night echoes around Beacon, wrapping me in a blanket of tranquillity and muting the constant electrifying but tiring buzz I feel by default. The rustling of paper draws my attention to my right, on the far edge of the balcony.
There's a brooding bad boy if I've ever seen one.
He's sat on a chair with his heavy black combat boots resting casually on the balcony railing. Silver chains glint as they hang and sway lightly from thick dark jeans. His half-length black jacket lies open, revealing the only attire on his person that isn't black: a plain white T-shirt. His wayward long black hair flows onto the top of his jacket, almost like a fluffy hood. And a book sits in his hand, his gaze firmly on the pages.
Well, at least he suits the monochrome look.
He must know I'm here, but doesn't acknowledge my presence. So I do what any normal person would do; I move closer to stand right by him at the railing.
He still doesn't respond, so I take another look at him to confirm something I thought I'd seen before. Yep, there they are; two small dark grey ears almost lost among his hair.
My faunus instincts perk up. Wolf, they smile. Pack-brother.
Turning my eyes back to the sky, I smirk as an idea pops into my head.
"You're not going to start howling, are you?" I tease the badass.
I'd pinned him more of a 'too cool for conversation' type, so I'm surprised when a gravelly voice replies drily:
"Your originality astounds me."
He can't see my smile deepen as I stand further forward than him, and I doubt he's looked away from his book anyway. Given that he hasn't looked at me yet, he thinks I'm like those punks I saw on the airship; humans that despise faunus and consider them lesser beings.
So, very deliberately, I swish my tail forward to knock into the back of his head, gently enough not to hurt him but firmly enough to push his head forwards. He spits out an enraged and indignant sound, lowering his book harshly and twisting in his seat to look at me and at what I might have hit him with. Any protest and insult dies on his lips though, vanishing as he sees my unique eyes glowing faintly, and finally my tail as it curves between us. After studying it as if to determine that it's real, his wide pale grey eyes flick up to meet mine. A few seconds of genuine connection sparks between us before I grin in open friendliness and warmth. His eyebrow rises but luckily the corner of his mouth follows suit, just slightly.
"I'm Ember," I offer.
He nods in greeting, but gives nothing else in return.
I feel he's waiting for some kind of explanation, so I shrug. "That's the best response I've found to hateful bullying from any lowlife humans you encounter."
"By repeating it to other faunus?" he frowns.
"By making fun of the teasing itself," I correct. "People like that think that faunus are hurt by that stuff, which is true in general. But if I use it myself, and in a comical and affectionate way, and show that I'm not hurt by it, they'll stop."
His head bobs as he takes that in. A short pause passes before he speaks again, meeting my eyes.
"Admirable," he admits, poignantly.
I grin. "Thanks, Fido."
His eyebrows twitch. "Dysmas."
"Cool name."
He huffs out a surprised laugh, seeming to struggle with such a thing as a compliment. "Thanks." His smile widens minutely, exposing some of his teeth. I try not to let my surprise, fascination and slight fear show on my face as I can now see that his teeth are pointed more than typically. I don't think it works because his lip quickly lowers to cover them again. But at least his lips are still smiling.
"Hey."
We both turn to face the new voice. Another guy pushes himself through the balcony door, his teeth glinting in the moonlight, his dark hair fluffing up briefly with the draft of the door closing and his similarly coloured eyes twinkling as they focus on Dysmas.
"You're actually engaging in conversation, Dys?" his exaggerated surprise makes me stifle a laugh.
"Not entirely voluntarily," Dysmas quips, humour in his voice nonetheless.
"Still," the guy puts his hand on his heart, a suitably moved expression on his smooth and happy face. "I'm proud of you, bro."
"Thanks," he says drily.
The newcomer, apparently Dysmas's brother, looks at me next, his casual wink making my heart stutter at how surprisingly cute yet sexy it is. "Well done for not being put off by him yet. He doesn't mean to be so standoffish –"
"Yeah, I do," Dys interrupts, back to reading.
"But," the guy insists, glaring at Dys as I laugh, "he appreciates someone who sticks beside him despite his personality, even if he'll never admit it. I'm Raven, by the way, and Tall, Dark and Brooding over there is my big step-bro."
"Hey," I give my best smile to Raven. "I'm Ember. And don't worry, I've dealt with worse than prickly puppies."
Dys lowers his book again to glare at me while Raven's eyes widen, probably expecting some sort of explosive retaliation. When none comes in addition to said glare, Raven chuckles breathlessly.
"Anyone else would have been ripped apart," he says, shaking his head at me and Dys. "What black magic did you work on him?"
I shrug proudly. "I told him before that, as a fellow faunus, I use the insults we usually get as affectionate terms so they lose their sting. That's the best way I've found that disarms losers like the ones that usually dish them out."
Raven simply stares at me, his beautiful dark eyes wide and shining in wonder, his jaw slack and his teeth glistening in the moonlight through his unconscious smile. The silence continues for long enough that I start to get self-conscious, ducking my head a little and smiling shyly, my tail twitching behind me once in nervousness.
Eventually Raven breathes out his reply. "What kind of miracle are you?"
My eyes widen at his remark, and I'm glad the shadows of the night hide my burning face. Raven isn't so lucky; as the one facing the moonlight, his mortification is clear in his expression and the coloration of his cheeks. Sounds trip over each other as they leave his mouth, taking multiple attempts before they're able to make actual words, and even then they lack sentences. As my cheeks still glow and butterflies have a rave in my chest, he stutters out something about going to bed to Dysmas, deliberately not meeting my eyes. The faunus continues to read, seemingly ignoring his brother's predicament until the door has closed behind him. Then he turns his head to the direction of his exit and half-smiles, laughing through his nose twice and shaking his head.
"Smooth, bro, smooth."
Only seconds later, a knock sounds at the door, luckily after I feel my face cool down again. It's odd that someone's knocking on the door; I mean, they're coming from an open public space to another open public space, it's not like they're entering a private room. But then the door opens slowly and Aurora peeks her head out before stepping onto the balcony, and suddenly it makes sense.
"Hey," she smiles at me, speaking softly. "Just so you know, they're going to call lights-out in a few minutes."
"Oh, great," I grin at her. "Thanks for letting me know."
She smiles at me once more before her eyes flick to my left, and her face slackens in surprise. I turn to Dys just to introduce them, but I manage to catch my words before they leave my mouth as I see his expression. He's actually looking at Aurora when I expected him to be reading again. But he's not just looking; his pale eyes are wide and his mouth is open slightly. It's hard to keep the smirk off my face so I don't distract him, but he seems pretty engrossed anyway. I mean, I can't blame him. With her hair out of the braid, it now flows down Aurora's back even further in a river of gold and silver in the moonlight. Her simple yet elegant nightdress is the same midnight blue as the sky behind me, and the motif on the front is stunning; a rainbow light-burst – a mimic of her name – folds out into a flower that fills the entire front of the material. Combine all this together, and she looks like a princess.
I can't blame her similar reaction either. Dys may be a little prickly, but the bad-boy act definitely works for him, especially with his handsome features.
A few seconds pass, and Aurora blinks, turning back to me again. "Um, so I'll see you in there." She shoots a shy smile at Dys – does she even realise how charming it was? – before going back into the makeshift bedroom. Dys's eyes never leave her.
Taking this opportunity, I carefully take a few steps closer to him and lean my head next to him. He jumps as I start to speak.
"You're not going into heat, are you?"
His eyes flash as he growls out curses that Glynda would definitely not approve of, pushing my head away and punching me a few times in the arm for good measure when I continue laughing.
Done! I've had this meeting in my head for ages! I'm so glad I've got it on paper now. This chapter is shorter than what I usually aim for, but it just wouldn't seem right to include the next content in this chapter, too.
Enjoy, and please leave a review :)
Fly on,
NitnatRide
