"I'm here!" Eliana announced as she threw the door open to the small apartment. "Where's Shadow!?" Shadow leapt clear over the back of the couch and climbed up Eliana like a tree, hanging from Eliana's shoulders as she refused to offer the child any assistance. "I don't know Neela, I really don't see her anywhere."
"Elli!" Shadow yelled at her. Eliana looked at her and smiled, hugging her tight as she messed up her hair which prompted Shadow to struggle and make an attempt to escape. "Sissy help!"
"How's my favorite little kitty today?" Eliana asked her. Shadow smiled and clambered down.
"Good!" She exclaimed. Blake poked her head out from the kitchen and smiled.
"I didn't expect the two of you to be coming by," Blake told them. "What brings you girls over here so late?" Neela laughed.
"Eliana held her own against me earlier when we were practicing and I told her that I would get her some hot chocolate as a reward. The only problem is that we're out of hot chocolate in the dorm, so I figured you wouldn't mind it too much if we dropped in," Neela explained. Blake laughed and waved them into the small living room.
"I love it when you and Eliana drop by!" Blake exclaimed with a soft smile. "I was just finishing some fish sticks for Shadow but I'll make you girls some hot chocolate as soon as I'm done." She disappeared back into the kitchen to finish her work.
"Really? Fish sticks?" Eliana asked. Neela shrugged.
"Why? It's not that weird," Neela said.
"It is a little bit!" Blake called out from the other room. "I don't normally get them but I made the mistake of letting Yang go shopping." Blake poked her head back in. "She also got Shadow those little fish-shaped cheese crackers." Gone again. This time Neela and Eliana showed themselves to the kitchen and Yang entered from down the hall, drying her hair.
"Come on babe," Yang said. "You know that you eat more of those crackers than Shadow." Blake furrowed her brow and turned away.
"They're convenient and quick for snacking," she mumbled. Eliana and Neela laughed and Yang hugged Neela, nearly lifting her off of her feet.
"Coco says that she and you did quite a bit of mission work these last two weeks," Yang said. "You almost took down Paris, you roughed up Sirius, and you discovered a Stardust hideout which means that they're going to have to do a little regrouping. I gotta say, it's no capturing Roman Torchwick in your first semester of school, but it's something!" Neela faked a smile, knowing that most of her work was thanks to Raven.
"Thanks, mom," Neela said.
"You didn't tell me any of that!" Eliana exclaimed. "Is that why you were busy the last couple of Saturdays?" Neela nodded. "That's a relief, I was starting to think that you had a secret lover that was trying to steal you away from me." Blake spat out the crackers that were in her mouth and she spat the rest into a napkin as Yang checked on her. "Are you okay Ms. Bellabooty?" Neela chuckled as Blake hit Yang in the chest and she nodded as she gasped.
"I'm just fine," Blake replied. "Must have had too many in my mouth and really, Elli, you can just call me Blake."
"She could, but that was a lot funnier," Neela said. Blake gave her a death stare and Neela stuck out her tongue.
"So, hot chocolate, right?" Yang asked. Blake nodded as she finally caught her breath and went back to work. She handed a plate of fish sticks and macaroni to Neela to put on the table. "Oh Neela, I got you something!"
"If it's a bag of bird seed, I'll attack you in your sleep," Neela told her. Yang shook her head.
"Birdseed? That'd just be ridiculous," Yang said. She tossed Neela a pair of aviators and smiled. "Just like mine! I know, you're filled with joy, but I remember how much you loved them when you were little after you finally warmed up to me, you wanted to wear them all the time. I thought that maybe you'd still want a pair." Neela looked them over and smiled at Yang whose eyes were wet.
"They're great, mom, thanks," Neela said. Yang gave her a huge grin with a thumbs up.
"Just in case you ever get that dream motorcycle of yours," Yang said walking down the hall towards the bedroom.
"You mean Bumblebee?" Neela called out. Yang turned the light off and closed the door, returning to them.
"I don't know, it's getting kind of old," Yang told her. "I've thought about trading it in for a while now and getting a new bike, but I can't do it while you're looking. I don't want to suffer your wrath." Neela slugged her in the arm and Yang grimaced.
"You'd better not!" Neela demanded. "Bumblebee's the best."
"You've never driven her, how would you know?" Yang asked as she stared off. "Feeling the wind in my hair. High speeds. Oh, what a rush!" Yang looked at the two girls. "You two can take a seat at the table you know, you don't have to stand the entire time you're here."
"We know," Eliana said.
"We prefer standing," Neela said.
"Cause we're cool like that," Eliana added.
"The coolest," Neela replied.
"We make the winter maiden look warm," Eliana stated.
"We make Aunt Weiss look warm," Neela furthered. Yang looked at the two of them.
"Are you two okay?" Yang asked.
"We're exhausted from our training earlier and whoever sits first, loses," Neela explained.
"What's at stake?" Blake asked.
"Bragging rights!" Eliana declared. Blake and Yang looked at them. "That's it."
"This is like the time we all tried to pull an all-nighter," Yang reminded Blake.
"It's pretty similar, but when you stay up all night you usually try to make sure you aren't the first asleep so that your face isn't written on," Blake told them.
"Or your boobs," Yang said. They all three looked at her. "It was Ruby's idea."
"What?!" Neela asked.
"Hey, hold up! It was Weiss! Weiss fell asleep first, not me! Ruby thought it would be funny if we wrote on her breasts!" Yang defended. Neela stared at Yang for a long couple of seconds.
"What breasts?" Neela asked.
"Neela!" Blake scolded.
"Exactly what I said!" Yang laughed. "Ruby insisted though and the rest of us enjoyed peaceful slumber."
"Until Weiss started screaming in the morning when she saw herself in the mirror before getting into the shower," Blake said jogging Yang's memory.
"You would have thought she was dying," Yang told them. "Nora kicked in the door wielding her hammer. 'What's going on?!' Meanwhile, Weiss is still just screaming Ruby's name at the top of her lungs." They all laughed and Blake handed them their mugs. "Seems silly now, but that's what we did for fun."
"That sounds fun!" Eliana exclaimed. Neela looked at her.
"Titus would never go for that," Neela said. Eliana giggled and snorted at her idea.
"You're right. We'd draw on his chest while he's asleep," Eliana stated, bursting into laughter. Neela shook her head as they all shared another laugh. Oh, Elli, what am I going to do with you? Neela took a long drink from her mug and smiled at Eliana who had a mustache made from whipped cream.
"Can I declare a tie so the two of you can sit?" Yang asked. Eliana shrugged with a nod at Neela.
"Sounds fair to me," Neela agreed.
"Actually, I need Neela's help for just a minute in the other room," Blake said dragging her down the hall by the arm. Eliana watched them disappear and glanced at Yang with a cocked eyebrow.
"What are they up to?" Eliana asked. Yang looked in their direction.
"Not a clue," Yang answered. Meanwhile, Neela was sitting on Blake and Yang's bed as Blake made sure that the door was locked.
"I think I know why you pulled me in here…" Neela started but was cut off.
"Stardust!? Did you go after Stardust with Raven!? I'd strangle you just for going after criminals on your own, but Yang might finish you off if she hears you've been with Raven," Blake informed her.
"She's trying to change," Neela told Blake. Her mother sighed as she flopped down onto the bed next to her.
"That's what Coco told me that you said in the report," Blake told her. She groaned and placed her hands on her head, massaging her temples. "I don't know what we can do though. Yang doesn't seem any more willing to try and work it out than the last time they almost destroyed the yard in Patch."
"We should probably just tell Raven that she and mom will just have to hash it out," Neela told Blake. Blake nodded and stood, helping Neela up and walking back to the kitchen with her. Eliana had already finished her drink and was asleep on the couch, Shadow asleep on top of her.
"How hard did you two train today?" Yang asked.
"I've actually never seen Eliana fight as hard as she did today," Neela replied. She brushed Eliana's hair out of her face and looked up at Blake.
"Think she was showing off for you?" Blake asked. Neela smirked, watching Eliana sleep for a couple of fleeting seconds.
"It's a nice thought," Neela said brushing Eliana's cheek lightly.
"You're going to tell her someday, right?" Yang asked wrapping her arms around Blake. Neela stared at her best friend and sighed.
"Someday," Neela said. Neela stood up and stretched, yawning slightly and looking at her mothers. She walked around the couch, hugging Yang and Blake before moving to pick up Eliana. Blake took Shadow, carrying her to her bedroom as Neela lifted Eliana by the legs and back.
"What's going on?" Eliana asked groggily.
"You can sleep Elli, I'm just carrying you back to the dorm," Neela told her. Eliana's head lulled.
"Okay," she sighed before falling asleep again. Neela smiled thoughtfully as she let Yang open the door for her and she headed out into the hallway, bumping into Coco at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hey Coco, where are you headed to?" Neela asked. Coco held the door for her and they both left the building, the still air of winter chilling them.
"I left something back in my office," Coco said. "I think that if my head wasn't attached I probably would have forgotten that as well today." Coco looked at Eliana who was fast asleep and then up at Neela. "I have a question for you Neela."
"Go ahead," Neela replied.
"Why did you give up at the end of your fight earlier today?" Coco asked. Neela glanced away.
"What do you mean?" Neela asked. Coco let out a chuckle.
"Neela, I have been watching you fight for a long time, longer than anyone but Blake and Yang, I know what it looks like when you stop trying," Coco explained. Neela looked at Eliana and then back at Coco.
"I was going all out, and you're right, that last move that she tried left her extremely open, not to mention I saw it coming, she'd tried it earlier in the week and failed," Neela said. "But it's not always about winning. I want Elli to feel accomplished too. Not to say that she isn't, she nearly had me." Coco gave a single nod to her.
"Think you're ready?" Coco asked. Neela laughed.
"I sure hope so," Neela replied. Eliana mumbled, stirring slightly before calming once more.
"I swear to Salem when I figure out how to get out of here, all of you are screwed," the man yelled out of the bars of the cage that had been set up in the middle of the small village in the midst of the woods. The prison was bad enough but they fed him much better than this place did, and even that simple fact made him wish that they had never freed him. These people had helped him escape and then knocked him out. They didn't even bother giving him a change of clothes. A woman wearing chain mail came by every couple of hours to let him out for the bathroom and another woman with tight leather pants and a lace top came by with food on occasion, but that was the extent of his human interaction. Or… Faunus interaction rather. Women… nothing but women and none of them looked like Salem.
"Screwed?" Asked a new voice from behind him with a tinge of amusement in her tone. The well-built man with orange eyes and messy green hair turned to face her. Her extravagant black and red outfit that was complete with a cape was quite the contrast against his orange prison jumpsuit. "Not so much in the literal sense, because something tells me that you're extremely well versed with men, better so than women anyway. I mean, you did murder twenty-three people before you were finally put to a stop, but all of them were women. Why's that?" He stared hard at her. She was easily the most attractive of the three.
"They were imperfect beings," he told her. "Some of them weren't tall enough. Some too tall. Some of them were flat in the chest, and some of them required a lift. I wanted to help all of them to become the perfect specimen."
"So you killed them all when you couldn't fix them. Seems rational," she replied. They both stood unmoving for several seconds before he opted for sitting cross-legged on the floor of his cage.
"Imagine that you're sleeping in your home one night and you see an angel appear to you, telling you that you can make a difference, that you can change the world for the better! She said something about there being another that would be just like her someday. I didn't understand at first, but after some time, I knew what she wanted. Can you imagine that?" He asked.
"So you think that she wanted you to make these women look like her?" She offered, cutting him off. He cleared his throat.
"Are you saying I was wrong?" he asked her. He stood once more and gripped the bars, smirking as he reached out towards Athena. "I think you'd enjoy such a transformation. You're already beautiful as it is…" He shuddered and licked his fingertips. "Imagine it."
"I had a dream as well Mr. Meller," Athena explained. "A safer world for both Faunus and humans, and I think you're going to play a vital role in it. Do you think I don't know what you really want?"
"What is it that I want?" he asked.
"Salem herself, all for yourself. You think that if you can replicate her beauty that you'll be doing her a service, and perhaps you would be," she explained as she began to circle the cage. "But you can't tell me that you're unaware of the plan being formed to bring her back to life, can you?"
"Oh I'm fully aware, but she'd still want me to fix them all," he told her overwhelmed by the thought. "Even the Faunus." She laughed.
"You have a problem with Faunus?" She asked. She moved closer, just out of his reach. "Aside from not meeting the beauty standards of your beloved Queen?"
"No," he said quietly. "It's just something that I noted. Everyone I've seen here so far is Faunus." He moved to the side of the cage she was on and gripped the bars. "I'm not."
"You're right. Irving 'The Chameleon' Meller. Male. Close to forty years of age. Human," Athena said as though she was reminding him of who he was. "It's against my better judgment to work with a human, but I was willing to make a compromise on the recommendation of one of my closest fighters. She said that you were once involved with a Mr. Alexander Latherus, is that true?"
"He's the man that put me away," Irving told her with a frown. "Not to mention we were told he died while we were on the inside. So much lost time."
"You're right, he is dead now," Athena agreed. "Would you have killed Mr. Latherus if you'd been given the chance?" Irving nodded, not sure where she was going with all of this.
"Of course," He replied. "The man deserved worse than the fate he suffered. Were Salem still alive I would have been punished accordingly for failing her." Athena smiled wickedly and approached the cage, wrapping her fingers around the bars.
"I think it might be of interest to you that he had a wife and daughter," She informed him. His eyes lit up, an inexplicable glee filling him.
"Now you have my full and undivided attention," he answered. Athena nodded.
"Good," she told him. She turned away to one of the trees and reached into a hollowed out compartment that appeared to be animal made, but presented a set of keys. "I think it's very interesting to note that Alex never killed anyone. Not once. The man was a prodigy, and he could have done amazing things for Mistral if not for his untimely demise."
"That's all fine and well, but I'm still not sure how I fit into your plans," he stated as she opened the cage and undid his shackles. He reached out attempting to grapple her, his arms empty as a large branch fell to the ground in her place.
"Where are my manners?" She asked stepping out from around a tree. "I am Athena Taurus and this is a camp of the White Fang. There's something I need you to do for me, but first, let's get you washed up and dressed in something a little less… orange." He followed her down a long path that led into a village that seemed to be quite bustling despite being small in size and the people stared daggers at him.
"Mommy, what kind of Faunus is he?" asked a little girl.
"I don't know sweetie, but I'm sure that Athena wouldn't bring a human into our walls," her mother replied. He turned away, though smirking the entire time, glancing up at Athena and walking faster to keep up the pace.
"Can I fix just a couple of them?" He asked. "You'll never notice that they're gone, think of it as population control if I fail."
"You are only allowed to 'fix' who I tell you to," Athena told him. He chuckled.
"Is this a game then?" he asked. "I think I understand, I was a criminal, so killing me is of no consequence. Do you think that you can make an example of humans by killing me in front of all of these people?" She laughed and for a moment he hesitated, debating making a run for it. With his semblance, she'd never be able to find him.
"Now that is an excellent idea. However, that is not what I require from you," she informed him as she turned him to face the village. "These people need and deserve protection. They have done nothing wrong, but the world threatens us even now. Atlas and Mistral, knocking on our door, prepared to wipe us off the face of Remnant instead of sending us back to Menagerie. They think that the only good Faunus is a dead one, but we aren't going to stand for that." He stared out at all of them, they were hesitant over him and they knew nothing about him.
"They'd be more justified in fearing Salem," he said blankly and she turned to look at him.
"Don't make me question my decision to allow you to offer your services to me, it won't end well for either of us" she replied. She showed him to the bathing house where Crimson waited with a bucket of warm water, handing it to him as he stepped inside. "I find it rather coincidental that another man that Latherus took down broke out of prison only a few weeks after you."
"Who was it?" Irving asked. Crimson nodded at Athena with a knowing smile.
"A man that goes by the name of Quake," Athena said. A moment later a hole was punched through the wooden door of the stall and Athena chuckled as Crimson's eyes grew wide.
"Son of a bitch!" Crimson yelled.
"Something wrong?" Athena asked. He threw open the door, a towel wrapped around him as Ebony approached and handed over two hook swords to Athena. She thanked her and Ebony left with Crimson close behind her, trying to convince her to take care of fixing the door, but Ebony ignored her and continued walking.
"I know him," Irving said. She nodded, unimpressed with his sudden outburst as she hands him the weapons.
"They're not the ones that you used back in Mistral, but I'm sure that they'll suffice," she told him. "I expect that Stardust will try and betray me, they're a gang from Vale that doesn't seem to quite have their heads on straight. Quake's working with them and I think that I know where they've been keeping him. We can both benefit from scratching each other's back." He swung the swords and looked them over. "If anything, you'll owe me at the end of this."
"What did you have in mind?" He asked. She smiled and nodded to Crimson.
"Mistress Athena's timing is carefully calculated so that everything is in place once she decides to enact her plan. We'll train for now, but in the coming months, you'll know where you fit into the puzzle," Crimson told him. Irving looked at her.
"I'm not big on waiting," he told Athena. Athena began to walk away. "One of your handmaidens might satiate me in the meantime… Perhaps a new hairstyle?"
"Would you prefer to return to prison?" Athena called back. Irving looked at Crimson who shrugged.
"Show you to your hut?" She asked. He growled and gestured for her to lead the way.
It appears Athena has something sinister in mind. Next week... Wait, this can't be right... Chapter 65 - Cobalt's Date!?
A big thank you to Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!