Neela looked back at her three teammates. They were all looking at her for direction, it almost felt strange. She knew that they were all the survival types, it was in their blood, with Eliana possibly being the only exception, but if she needed to, she could be. She could and would take charge, delegating duties would be a breeze, and she already had a pretty good idea of what to have each person do so that they took on an equal portion of the setup allowing them to be done in half of the time that Coco would most likely be gone for.
"Now what?" Eliana asked happily. Neela smiled at her, Eliana was the only one of them that hadn't really struggled to survive at any point. Sure they had gone camping a lot when they were younger, but Violet or Blake and Yang were always with them, and they were essentially alone at this point. Neela was sure that Eliana couldn't think of a more exciting and terrifying scenario. She looked at each of them, they looked on with bored eyes, the exception was Eliana.
"Titus, go collect some firewood." Neela instructed him. He nodded. "Ilia, maybe you can get us something to eat?" Ilia removed her butterfly knife again and smirked, nodding and leaving with Titus. "Elli, you're coming with me."
"Where are we going?" Eliana asked her as Neela started making her way towards the mountains.
"We're going to secure the area," Neela told her. Eliana and Neela walked side by side, through the dense woods, navigating brush and fallen trees until they reached a meadow that was filled with flowers. Further out was a field that hadn't been as well kept, unruly grass and other plants grew well past the height of Neela's hips. As Eliana stepped past Neela she threw her arms open, running through the clearing and causing butterflies to scatter in every direction.
"Neela, look at this place!" Eliana yelled back and giggled. She chased after a few of them with glee, she was a free spirit, there was no doubting it, and it was what caught Neela's eye every time. That innocence, that naivety.
Neela was captivated by Eliana, watching her enjoy herself, she could be so carefree at times, there wasn't a single thing that weighed on her at that moment. Neela looked down at her hands, they were shaking, and she found that she could feel her heart pounding against her chest, harder than it ever had when she was with Eliana. They weren't any more alone than they'd been when they were in Eliana's cave, so what was it? Was it the idea of being hundreds of miles from home, her teammates preoccupied, a simple yet true kind of solidarity blanketing the two of them.
There had been similar opportunities like this that had arisen back at home, but something about this one felt different, everything about it just felt right. They were in the middle of a strange and amazing land, captivated by everything around them. So much beauty, yet the only thing that had truly caught Neela's eye at that moment was Eliana. They lost track of time, Titus and Ilia never came to bother them as they knew how Neela felt. They talked for a while, a long while, the day slipped away as Neela and Eliana enjoyed the time to relax. Neela laughed as Eliana fell into the tall grass, remaining motionless so that Neela would have to come and get her. Neela activated her semblance, watching her friend through the tall grass. She was just lying there, her hands out to her sides, hair a mess. Eliana chuckled, gasping for air as she looked at the grass that surrounded her. She propped herself up on her elbows, leaning to one side.
"Neela!" She called out. "I think it's safe to say this area is secure." Neela shook her head with a stupid smirk on her face, walking out to meet Eliana. She placed her hands out, reaching for the top of the grass and let it brush along the bottoms of her arms. It pricked and tickled slightly, but it was a great and new sensation, to say the least. Neela reached her best friend, standing above her and looking down at her, her mind locking up. They were alone, and Eliana was unknowingly doing everything possible to break Neela's resolve. The huntress was beginning to find it unbearable.
Neela had faced many of the problems that life had thrown her way head on, it was what Yang and Blake had taught her was the best to do. She struggled at first but was able to put the death of her parents in the past. She was excited and destroyed every test of strength that her mothers could throw at her. She had even led her team during the initiation to their first victory together against a Geist and it was the most amazing battle she had ever fought. This girl in front of her though… That's what scared her. Eliana wasn't just another girl to Neela. No, Neela wanted them to be together forever, but not just as friends. It was the most terrifying thing that Neela could think of. She reached down to pull Eliana up, but Eliana pulled her down on top of her.
Neela froze, a cold sweat covering her body as she was but inches away from Eliana's smiling face. What was she doing? Was this really happening? Eliana had never seemed to take notice of her advances, but now she was on top of her, their breasts pressed against each other, faces close. Eliana's breath was hot on her face, and she trembled with a feeling of anxiety, it was as though her chest was literally going to explode. Neela blushed. Eliana, have you finally noticed? Do you know that I want you more than anyone else? Neela wanted desperately to tell her.
She couldn't risk it though. If she was wrong, and Eliana was just being her normal goofy self and didn't feel the same at all, would it drive her best friend away? That wasn't something she could chance, Neela would rather be crushed by a Beringel than to live the rest of her life without Eliana. She didn't want things to be awkward between them, and if that meant that they'd only be friends, then Neela would gladly remain in the friend zone. And yet… Somehow it didn't feel like it was good enough. She wanted Eliana to know how much she loved her. She wouldn't have a better time to tell her than now, but it was the matter of her fear.
"Neela?" Eliana asked looking into her eyes. Never had Neela been more aware of every nerve in her body than when Eliana spoke her name. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way…" Neela's mind stopped, everything around them stopped. There was only the two of them, Neela lying on top of her in an endless void. What was Eliana about to tell her? Is it something that's going to devastate me? Oh no, what if she says she's not that into me. "I think you have beautiful eyes." Neela smiled, her body on the verge of a complete meltdown. This couldn't be happening! Instead of shutting Neela down, she complimented her, and Neela wasn't sure that she could take it much longer. She had to let Eliana know how she really felt inside.
"Elli… Elli, I…" Eliana reached up and ran her finger under Neela's braids.
"You what, Neela?" Neela swallowed hard, this had to be the moment. If it wasn't now, it never would be!
"Elli, I lo-" A roar filled the immediate area and Neela rolled off of Eliana, leaping to her feet and helping her up.
"Beowolves!" Eliana exclaimed as she took off running back towards the camp. Neela stood for a long moment, allowing the wind to sweep over her and cool her nerves, her body was on the verge of overheating. She looked at her hands, they were shaking profusely. DAMMIT! Neela ran back to the camp, catching up to Eliana and grabbing her around the waist, grappling into a tree as two Beowolves ran past below them. Neela watched as they tracked towards the smoke, coming from the camp. It was starting to become dark, which meant that Eliana's vision would be limited, unlike her own. "We have to get over there, Titus and Ilia are probably overrun by now!"
"They can handle themselves, just give me a second!" She told Eliana in a rush. Neela leapt across the treetops towards the camp, removing an arrow from her quiver and slamming it into the trunk beside her. The lightning Dust exploded, giving off light to the immediate area as Neela shielded her eyes.
"Now!" She yelled. Elliana quickly made her way through the treetops, perching herself beside Neela as she arrived.
"Now what?" Eliana asked. Neela glanced below her at the rushing Beowolves. She formed her weapon into its sword form and glanced up at Eliana.
"When I give the word, jump!" Eliana nodded and Neela waited for another second or two, calculating the optimal moment. "Now!" Neela dropped off of the tree onto the Beowolf, her sword sinking deep in its back. It attempted to throw her off but had no luck as Eliana landed behind her.
"How does this help!?" Eliana demanded.
"Use the stun rods on your guns to direct this guy towards camp!" Neela yelled. Eliana gave an evil smile as she beat the creature on the shoulders.
"You got it!" Eliana yelled. The Beowolf charged towards the camp, bringing them quickly to their destination as Neela ran her sword the rest of the way through the beast, killing it. It dissolved beneath them and the two of them fought their way to the middle of the fray.
"You in there, Titus?" Neela asked. Neela planted her sword in the ground, keeping herself in place as a wave of gravity dust tore through the mass. Eliana managed to avoid it.
"Yes, Neela!" He called back. They met up in the middle, their backs to one another. Neela shook her head.
"What's the plan Neela?" Ilia asked, her fingers lightly gripping the triggers on her guns, ready to attack as soon as Neela gave the word. Neela stood motionless for a long moment, her eyes lighting up as she could see the entire area around here. There were at least 30 Beowolves, possibly more on the way, and Neela figured out her plan. Neela handed the end of her grapple hook to Eliana.
"Ilia, take Elli's body. Titus, move out a little bit, I'm going to try for a wide arc," She told him. He smiled as he stepped to the edge of the horde, slamming his kopides into the ground and throwing the beowolves back from the shockwave that coursed through the earth. Ilia grabbed Eliana, jumping into her body. "Ready?"
"Sure!" Eliana replied. Eliana stepped towards the edge of the mob, the beowolves still looking for the right moment to strike.
"Now!" Neela yelled firing a gravity arrow a few steps in front of Eliana. Eliana took off running, the arrow exploding as she passed it and giving her a boost of speed. She was screaming around the edge of their campsite, Neela pulling as hard as she could to keep up their momentum, and after one full revolution, Titus stepped in the way and bent his legs, firmly planting his feet and crossing his kopides. Eliana leapt of off the ground, her feet planting on Titus's kopides for only a split second before Titus swung both of the kopides out, launching Eliana into the air. Ilia leapt from Eliana's body, loading gravity magazines into her SMGs.
"You're up!" Ilia yelled. Eliana adjusted the chambers quickly with her thumbs to earth Dust and opened fire quickly. Twelve of the Grimm were turned to stone before Eliana even hit her arc and Ilia opened fire, blasting them all to pieces. Titus sliced through several Beowolfs before they began closing in on him. He stood back to back with Neela.
"That should take care of about half of them!" Titus exclaimed. He smirked looking back at her. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" She nodded. Titus laid his swords on top of each other as he gripped them tight and Neela spun around quickly, bringing her sword down over her head and striking his own, sliding her weapon all the way down to the end. A concentrated blast of gravity shot off the end of his kopides, slamming through two of the beowolves that were lined up and leaving holes in their chests. "Piece of cake."
"Beowolves are almost too easy at this point," she replied in agreement.
Meanwhile, Ilia and Eliana fought their way back through on the opposite side. Ilia extended her blade through the creature's jaw, holding it above her head as Eliana ran in, hitting it several times with her tasers before placing both of her pistols together and blasting it away with fire Dust. She saw another charging her out of the corner of her eye at the last second, throwing up a kinetic barrier which the creature bounced off of. Ilia leapt through the air, knocking it onto its back and sticking her blades in its chest, firing until it disappeared. Eliana helped her up.
"Ilia!" Neela yelled. Ilia snatched her hook out of the air as it flew towards her and pulled the line tight.
"Ready!" Ilia yelled. Titus and Eliana met in the middle of the rope, he pulled it back and held it to the ground as she stepped on. He grabbed her feet, pulling back slightly further until he held her like a slingshot, his arms slightly trembling.
"She's going to have you use that new Dust, isn't she?" Titus asked. Eliana nodded. He cast a glance over at Neela who also nodded and he shook his head. "I strongly recommend against this idea!"
"Just launch her before I lose my grip!" Ilia demanded. Eliana slammed the specialized moon clip into her gun and Titus gave her a nod before launching her. As he let go, he slammed his kopides into the ground, forming a wall between the Grimm and the three members still on the ground. Eliana fired once and the bullet hit the wall, dying in silence. Confused that it didn't work, Eliana tumbled as she landed, coming to a stop after several yards. She looked back and covered her eyes as the Dust finally activated. A shockwave of energy ripped through the Beowolves, cracking Titus's wall, and slicing open Eliana's left arm as she covered her face.
"Ahhhhhh!" She screamed and hit the ground in pain. Neela spotted her first as she ran around the edge of the barrier. Panic set in quickly and she sprinted to Eliana. What… What had happened?
"Elli! Oum, are you okay?" Neela asked. Eliana nodded through the pain, seething as she tried to keep from screaming again, her eyes brimming with tears. "Titus! Ilia!" The other two joined them shortly and Titus gingerly took her arm.
"Damn, her aura is struggling with this. What the hell is that ammo anyways?" Titus asked.
"They found a safe way to concentrate Dust. That was a Specialized Gravity Dust Moon Clip: Level 1. It's about five times as powerful as normal gravity Dust," Neela explained. Titus pointed back towards their bags.
"Ilia! I'm sure one of you ladies brought towels to dry off with after we swim tomorrow," Titus told her. Ilia nodded and sprinted for the sacks. "When I say that something is a bad idea, maybe give it a second thought next time, huh?" Neela trembled as she backed away slightly. Oh, Oum. Did I do this? We didn't need to attack the Grimm with so much force. Is it my fault that Elli is hurt? Eliana's voice cut through Neela's thoughts and she turned, her body rigid.
"Hey, Neela. That was pretty… Nngh… Awesome, wasn't it?" Eliana asked. Neela ran over to Eliana, holding back tears and laughing all at the same time. She got down on her knees and leaned over Eliana so that she could see her face. There was that same smile as always. "I almost ended up like your mom." Neela did laugh at that and she shook her head.
"That's awful. Don't scare me like that again. Why didn't you use a force field to try and block it?" Neela asked. Eliana groaned as Titus grabbed her arm as Ilia arrived with the towel.
"Rip it into strips!" He told her. Eliana smirked.
"I did use a force field." She replied. Neela's eyes grew wide as she reached into Eliana's pocket and removed the rest of the ammo, looking it over.
"We have to give this back to Aunt Weiss and tell her it's too powerful," Neela told her. Neela leapt to her feet and began heading for her bag.
"Neela!" Eliana called again. Neela stopped short and looked back at her. Titus looked up at Neela before looking back at Eliana and beginning to wrap her arm.
"What is it, Elli?" Neela asked her. Eliana grunted and squirmed as Titus worked.
"Will you hold my hand? At least until the pain is gone?" Neela stood motionless for a moment. Her mind wanted her to convince herself that Eliana knew without a doubt that she had feelings for her, and that this was Elli's subtle way of letting her know that she wanted it too. But Neela's heart told her that this was just her carefree friend, wanting her to hold her hand until it didn't hurt anymore. For now, Neela had to be okay with the ladder.
Coco opened the doors to the church and stepped inside, the stained glass at the end of the sanctuary showed a man slaying Grimm and a light emitting from him, either one of the gods themselves, or one of those chosen to protect the people by the gods. She wasn't sure that she bought into any of it beyond what she knew for sure, there were once brothers, Ozpin and Salem had used their powers, there had been Maidens, and that Salem wasn't truly gone. Anything beyond that was speculation and she failed to believe that there was a deity out there that could save them. She felt that it was solely up to them to fix what had been broken, and sometimes it was more than they should have to handle.
She moved slowly between the pews and stopped at the altar at the end, looking up at the faceless statue before her and peering around the room for the priest who she had hoped to find there.
"Do you hear them?" A man wearing robes asked as he entered the room from the back and Coco was unsure how she had passed by him on her way in without noticing. He slowly made his way to her, he almost seemed as though he was floating as he made his way to the front of the church and stood behind her, bowing his head to the statue as he knelt before standing a moment later. "They are crying out in pain and the sobbing is only getting louder with every second that passes. The people are in grave danger of being consumed by their own fears, and once that happens, there will no longer be any hope that can save them. That's why you exist, the huntsmen and huntresses, but I can tell that something weighs on you heavily and you can't seem to cast it off. You want to shed this skin and become new but you don't know how to begin, you need a guiding hand to help you along."
It was all a ruse, she knew that it was. He was speaking metaphorically, and typically anyone that stepped into one of these places of worship was seeking to right their wrongs, but Coco was only here for information. She sighed, taking a seat in one of the front pews and kicked her feet out in front of her, leaning back with her hands on the back of her head.
"Father Rivers," Coco stated. "Garnet told me that I'd be able to find you here. He said that you were the one to find if I needed to know about someone with a troubled past." He nodded and stood in front of her.
"He's right, I am. But the price to pay might be more than you're willing to give up to find Emerald," Rivers told her. She looked at him with a tinge of confusion, everything else he had said up to that point was generic and could be extrapolated if a person was the over examining type, but there was no way that he could have known that she was looking for Emerald without asking, and Garnet hadn't known either until that morning. Maybe he had told the priest she was coming, it was the only thing that made sense. She shifted in her seat, leaning forward and looking up into his eyes with steely resolve.
"I've got more money than should be sufficient," Coco told him. He chuckled and shook his head, waving her off as he took a few steps around the altar and relit several of the candles, blowing out the match as he glided past her and opened the confession box, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. There was a long silence, Coco had a good idea of what he wanted, but she was in no mood to mess around and she leapt to her feet, marching over to the extension and knocking hard on the door. "Listen here, I'm in no mood for these religious games of yours, okay?"
"Then I will not give you the information that you seek and you will have failed your mission," the father explained. "Now, which is more important?" Coco groaned, moving quickly to the other side and throwing the door open, leaving her purse outside and sitting down. She stared blankly at the wooden panel before her, Rivers clearing his throat before taking a sip of water and letting out a content noise. "It is a small price and you'll be better off if you do as I ask of you."
"You sound pretty demanding," Coco told him. He laughed.
"The gods of remnant wish only to take your stress and anxiety far away so that they never return to you. You simply need to believe and confess," he said.
"Confess to what?" She asked. She glanced through the lattice iron bars at him and his face was dark and unforgiving.
"You know," he replied. "Once you ask for forgiveness, I can tell you what you need to know." Coco's fists balled and her body trembled as she recalled the moment, they had spent countless hours fighting through the Grimm, she had finally reached Watts and the child in the middle of Salem's Lair, she had defeated Watts by the skin of her teeth, and with no way for her to reach Ruby and being out of time the way she was made a gut-wrenching, split-second decision to kill the child under the assumption that he would inherit Salem's power and wreak havoc upon the world again. Had it been the right choice? "The gods will forgive you."
"I don't think I need their forgiveness," Coco stated plainly.
"Beg pardon," the priest asked.
"Maybe this is a sick joke and you don't actually believe a single thing that's come out of your mouth since meeting me. Maybe you like helping people feel better and you're willing to give up whatever semblance of sanity that you had and invest it in gods that either don't exist or don't care anymore, just for the sake of making people feel like what they've done in the past, however evil it may be, is okay. Maybe you do believe this nonsense, and you truly believe that some weight will be lifted from my soul if I confess to you exactly what I've done, so that the gods can forgive me. What I did doesn't deserve the forgiveness of anyone, not even the gods. I've made it right with my wife and my son, and anything beyond that doesn't really bother me," Coco told him as she threw the door to the booth open and grabbed up her purse.
"Mrs. Adel," the priest said as he chased after her for a moment, though she had no intention of stopping to listen. "If you confess you can finally let this go, your sin will finally be able to stop eating you alive!"
"There is no forgiving what I've done!" Coco yelled as she stopped dead in her tracks and grappled him by the lapel. "Imagine, if you can, looking a scared child in the face and knowing that you have to make the hardest decision of your life, a decision that was made on nothing more than instinct! We were fairly certain about him being the new host for Salem's power, but when it came time to pull the trigger there was nothing but doubt in my mind. I would have no way of knowing if I was right or wrong, but if I was wrong, I deserve to die as much as Watts did!" The door creaked open behind Coco and she glanced back, the figure was wearing white pants and a green top which was covered up by a cropped white track jacket that was zipped up. Coco met her red eyes, dropping the priest and moving to the door quickly as Emerald turned to flee.
"Leave me alone Coco!" Emerald demanded as she walked away quickly, Coco had no trouble reaching her and she grabbed for the girl's arm, only to have her disappear and leave Coco standing in the middle of the street by herself. It was getting dark, she shouldn't have stayed so late at the bar, and on top of being worried about her students, she also had to worry about losing her only chance at bringing Emerald back. Coco scanned the area, changing the filter on her sunglass lenses to night vision as she slowly circled the street light beside her.
"Em! Please! I have a proposition for you!" Coco shouted out.
"Finally here to take me in?" Emerald's voice asked though it seemed Coco was swimming in her presence. Would she be able to see past her illusions? "I know that it's what I deserve, but I don't want to rot away in jail! So please, leave me here in peace."
"Emerald, when we cut that deal for you helping us take down Salem, we had no intention of going back on it, you are a free woman," Coco reminded her. "But I need your help back at Beacon and I think that you would be a real asset to the team!"
"What little I did to help take Her down doesn't justify all of the evil things that I did leading up to that point," Emerald said. "They don't make it right. You should know better than anyone how that feels." Coco gritted her teeth together, Emerald must have heard her yelling at Rivers but it begs the question why she would have still entered the church if she knew it was Coco making the ruckus.
"You don't have to live like this!" Coco shouted. "Everyone has forgiven you, and we need help taking down Mercury." With his name, the empty street flickered before her, revealing Emerald who was standing only a few feet away. "You can come back with me, I can offer you protection and you can finish making things right. You can be a force for good! Dedicate your life to making those wrongs right, even if it doesn't seem like a possibility, Oum knows I've been trying." Coco reached for her again and she slapped Coco's hand away, taking a few steps back.
"You can't protect me from Her," Emerald said. "I've seen Salem's full ability on display, it's like nothing I'll ever see again, and if the Neo-Salems discover that I betrayed her again, they'll put an end to my life as quickly as possible."
"They're nothing without her!" Coco shouted. "I took on several of them today. Without their precious mistress, they turn and run with their tails between their legs! Emerald, I'm begging you to come back to Vale with me. You can help us finish this once and for all. You'll never have to live in fear again." Emerald shook her head and slowly walked away, Coco watched her for a long moment. "Emerald, don't run!"
"Running is all that I've ever done," Emerald told her. "I'll take care of myself the best way that I know how. Goodbye Coco." Coco ran down the street for her, swinging her gun out and placing it in Emerald's back and the girl became rigid as she glanced back at Coco.
"I won't let you run away Emerald," Coco said. "If no one else cares about you, I do! I know exactly how your pain feels. So let me help you. And if you won't let me help, I'll bring you back however I need to." Emerald disappeared, Coco felt both of the girl's guns hook her shoulders and drag her back until she slammed into the light post.
"You'd bring me back against my will?" Emerald asked. "How would you like it if I locked you back in that confession box and covered the walls with pictures of that boy? The people I hurt in Vale considered me a friend, and you'd have me live a nightmare every day just because you think that if you can fix me, there must be a way to fix you?" Coco swung back as she broke free of the hooks, smashing the pole in two and opening fire at Emerald who had already disappeared.
"It's not like that! I don't know how to make you understand, but I need you to come back! We all need you! You'd more or less be serving the council directly, can a person be any safer?" Coco asked. "I need you to take down Mercury, you're the only person I know that can think like him."
"Any safer? If I work for the council the Neo-Salems will know exactly where I am!" Emerald shouted from the roof of the church. Her body trembled, Coco couldn't understand the terror in Emerald's eyes. "If you really care about me as much as you say you do, you'll leave me here!"
"Okay," Coco called out in defeat. She removed a marker from her pocket, scrawling on the fallen lamppost and setting her purse down, staring up at the moon and exhaling sharply. "Just… hear me out. Maybe you're right, maybe I'm trying to fix you in order to give myself hope, but I'm not trying for that to be my intention. Mercury will soon escape from prison, we're already counting on it and when he does we know he has something big planned and a lot of people are going to get hurt. I know that you can stop him, and you alone. If you ever decide that you're ready to come back to Vale and help us out one last time, please call me." Coco walked away with her weapon back through the town and Emerald leapt down, looking at the number for a long moment before taking a picture of it with her scroll and heading into the church.
"What do you think I should do Father?" Emerald asked him as she closed the doors behind her.
"You have been forgiven my child," he told her. "If you think that finding Mercury will bring you the closure that you've been yearning for these last fifteen years, then I feel that you should go back to Vale. They will not abandon you, and your heart is in the right place. Coco is well aware of that fact." He rubbed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Will you put an end to what you helped create?"
Will Emerald return, or stay in Mistral? Next week: Chapter 75 - Grimm Sundries!
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!