Chapter Eleven: New friends and a Rescue

Jezebel made it to the library ten minutes after she'd left her dorm. She hoped that Star and Nova had worked things out. In the library she quickly decided she was done worrying about the missing girl for now; she just wanted to have a little time to herself.

She was so busy looking for a new book to read that she didn't notice anyone else in the library. She hummed softly as she wandered around.

Azure had been sitting at one of the tables staring at the blank page of her sketchbook, trying to figure out what to draw. She was about to give up and pack up her stuff when she heard a soft humming noise. She looked up from her book to see a girl standing at a bookshelf reaching for a book. She quickly got the inspiration she needed, drawing out the scene in front of her, only needing to glance up a couple times to get all she needed for the drawing. Once the drawing was done, Azure sat back to admire her work; the girl was absolutely stunning, and her humming sounded like an angel singing.

"Hey, is that me?" Asked a voice from behind Azure.

Azure jumped, squeaking softly as she closed her book, looking behind her to find the girl she'd just drawn, "I… U-um yeah it is…" she responded softly.

Jezie moved to stand beside her, "That was a pretty good drawing, you are a really good artist."

"U-umm th-thanks," she stuttered nervously, "I'm sorry for drawing you without your permission."

"Don't worry about it, I don't mind at all. I'm Jezie by the way, what's your name?" She held her hand out as she introduced herself.

"A-Azure…... Nice to meet you," she shook the other girl's hand, making sure to use her right hand.

"Do you mind if I sit down?" She asked, pulling her hand away a little.

"No, not at all," she motioned to the seat across from her.

Jezie sat down in the seat Azure motioned to, setting the book she'd grabbed on the table, "So, what made you want to draw me?" She asked curiously, her head tilting to the side a little.

'Oh my gosh that is adorable!' Azure thought to herself. She responded with, "Oh u-umm well I saw you standing there and I couldn't help myself, the way you reached for the book, it painted the perfect scene in my head," her wolf ears twitched nervously as she spoke, she hoped she didn't come off as creepy or anything.

"Huh, fair point… I didn't think I was anything special or worth drawing…" she muttered softly, her own wolf ears twitching as she thought about Azure's words.

"You aren't creeped out?"

"No, why would I be? You are an amazing artist and it boosts my confidence a little knowing that someone thinks I'm worth drawing."

"What do you mean worth drawing? You are really pretty, and anyone would be stupid not to see that."

A light blush colored her cheeks, "Y-You think I'm p-pretty?"

"Y-yeah I do…" she muttered softly, looking down at the table nervously.

"Thanks, that means a lot to me. Anyways I have to go now, my team is short a member, so we are trying to figure out what to about it"

Azure's ears perked up, "Maybe I can help, along with my team"

Jezie thought about this for a couple minutes, "Sure, we could use the extra help, but the thing is, we don't even know where to start looking for her"

She hummed in thought, "that is quite a predicament isn't it? Have you tried visiting the place she was last seen?"

"Now that I think about it, that would be the logical thing to do, but I doubt that there would be anything left there."

"It's worth a shot isn't it? It might give you some clue as to who took her."

"That is very true…. I'll try that, and I'll let you know if I find anything."

"Alright, see you later then."

The two girls exchanged contact information then Jezie left the library to head back to her dorm to get her team.

Azure gathered up her stuff and headed to her dorm as well.

A half hour later, Jezebel and her team were standing in the area where the girl had last been seen. Like Jezie had thought there hadn't been much there. But there had been some claw marks on the ground that looked like they came from an Ursa and some drag marks.

Jezie pulled out her scroll to message Azure, "Hey it's Jezie, we are in the courtyard near the cafeteria which is where the girl was last seen."

A few minutes later Azure replied with, "Is there anything there?"

J: "Yeah, there are scratch marks from an Ursa and it looks like someone was dragged."

A: "Dragged? That's weird, unless she was knocked out and the person wasn't strong or tall enough to carry her…."

J: "That's what I was thinking…. But the marks disappear a few feet away from the path."

A: "Odd…... Stay there, I wanna have a look, I'll bring my team as well."

J: "Alright, see you soon."

Jezie put her scroll away and told her team that Azure, and her team would be there in a bit to have a look themselves. After a few minutes, Azure arrived with three people behind her. There was a boy with orange hair and a lion tail, a girl with the same color hair that was dancing around a little and a lavender haired boy.

"Hey Jezie," Azure walked up to the group.

"Hey Azure," Jezebel waved, "I think some introductions are in order before we get down to business."

"Yeah, I agree. As you guys, know I'm Azure," she introduced herself to Jezie's team.

"H-hi, I'm Lavi, I'm the leader of the t-team, I'm also mute so sign language is how I communicate," the lavender haired boy now known as Lavi signed shyly, Azure translated what Lavi had said.

"I'm Ares," the orange haired lion faunus now known as Ares introduced himself.

"I'm Peach and don't mind the dancing, it's part of my semblance," the orange haired girl now known as Peach introduced herself, winking at one of the the pink haired girls that had been staring at her.

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Jezebel but I prefer Jezie, I'm the leader of this three-person team," Jezie introduced herself to Azure's team.

"I am Nova, and this is my twin Star," the other pink haired girl now known as Nova introduced herself and her sister.

Star blushed when Peach caught her staring and instantly looked away.

"Alrighty, now that introductions are out of the way, let's get to why we are all here," Jezie said, not liking the awkward silence that had fallen over the group.

They all wandered the area a little, looking for anything that might help them find the missing girl. Jezie had shown Azure the marks she had been talking about, so they were discussing why they ended so abruptly.

Tiana finally woke up from whatever that crazy chick Aria had given her. She had no idea how long she'd been out or what had been done to her while she was out. Her body felt fine, no pain or anything, which at the moment was a good thing; it meant that they didn't want to harm her…. or so she thought….

Tia sat up slowly, looking around the room, noticing that she was still in the room where she had met doctor Aria, except no one seemed to be here, "yay, I'm alone in the creepy room with no idea what's happened to me…" she thought and said to herself, shock rushing over her when the words didn't actually leave her mouth. Tears welled up her eyes as she came to the realization that all the tests they'd done on her had left her mute. She pulled herself together and clapped her hands together softly to see if she still had her hearing, her stomach dropped when she heard nothing.

She decided then and there that she was going to find a way to get herself out of here before they did anything else to her, the only thing was that now that she'd lost her hearing, she wouldn't be able to tell how much noise she was making. 'How exactly am I going to get out of here when I don't know my way around and I can't tell how much noise I'm making?' She thought to herself, 'well, I guess I'll just have to wait for someone to save me and hope that it's soon.'

"Hey guys, I think I found something!" Peach called out to the others that were all scattered around the area.

Everyone ran over to see what Peach had found. It was an odd rectangular line in the ground a few feet from where the claw marks ended.

"What is it?" Jezie asked the question that was on everyone's minds.

"I think it's a hatch of some sort; maybe the people who kidnapped the girl used this to get away," Azure thought out loud.

"I think I found how to open it…." Ares chimed in as he pushed in part of a rock nearby.

The hatch proceeded to drop down slowly, making a soft mechanical noise as it moved. There were soft gasps all around when the group noticed that the girl had been kept in the expanse of tunnels the hatch lead to.

"All this time and she's been right under our noses…." Jezie muttered softly, looking to the ground in shame.

Azure placed her hand on Jezie's shoulder gently, "there is no way you could have known this was here," she tried to reassure her friend.

"Yeah… I guess you're right…." Jezie muttered back.

"Alright, enough moping or whatever it is you're doing, there is a girl that needs our help and standing here ain't doing shit," Ares said, brushing past the group and walking further into the expanse of tunnels.

"Ares, wait, you don't even know where you're going," Peach called out to Ares as she jogged after him.

"Peach is right… we can't just wander off on our own," Nova spoke up for the first time since she introduced herself, "it's best if we exchange contact info and split off into groups," she added.

"I think that's a good idea, except there is an uneven number of people so how would we split up?" Lavi signed to the group, knowing that only his team would know what he said.

"Well there are only three entrances to the tunnels…." Jezie thought out loud, partly answering Lavi, "We split into groups of two and Lavi can pick which team he'd like to be on," she continued.

Everyone let out a surprised gasp at the fact that Jezebel knew sign language.

"Since when did you know how to sign?" Star asked.

"I taught myself how to use sign language. I thought it might be a useful skill to have," Jezie blushed a little, scratching the back of her head sheepishly, "sorry, I thought I told you guys that I knew how to use it…."

"Yippee she knows sign language; now can we get to saving the girl…" Ares said impatiently.

"What is your rush? Is there something else you'd rather be doing?" Jezie asked.

"I am not in a rush. She's been missing for a month, who knows what she's gone through or if she's even still alive," Ares replied, his lion tail swishing impatiently.

"You have a point…... "she muttered softly, "let's get going, I'll pair up with Azure."

Azure moved to stand beside Jezie, "I don't have a problem with that," she agreed.

"I'll take Star," Peach piped up, twirling as she walked over to a now blushing Star.

"I guess that leaves me with either Lavi or…. Nova..." Ares muttered softly as he checked out Nova subtly, "I'll go with Nova."

"I'll go with Azure and Jezie," Lavi signed, walking over to the two girls he'd mentioned.

The three groups all chose an entrance and went through it after exchanging contact information.

An hour and a half later

In the tunnel Azure, Jezie and Lavi had chosen, there was a door that lead to the room where they were initially keeping the girl. They could tell that she'd been in the room because they found the jacket she'd been wearing when she went missing and someone had carved a message into the wall, which read;

'To whoever finds this,

My name is Tiana Gryffin, I went missing from Beacon academy. If you're reading this, you've most likely come looking for me or you were kidnapped too. Please, help me!'

"Wow…. So, they were keeping her right beneath the school the whole time…." Jezie stated the obvious after she'd finished reading the note out loud.

The other two remained silent as they processed the information they had just learned. All three left the room, continuing down the corridor until it let out into a bigger room with a door at the other end.

In the tunnel Star and Peach chose, they found a door that lead to a room where a different girl was being kept, and by the looks of things, she was never found.

"Oh my gosh," Star let out a gasp, covering her nose and mouth to guard against the horrible smell.

"I hope that isn't the girl we are looking for…." Peach said solemnly, also covering her nose.

"I don't think it is, she's been here a lot longer than the girl we are looking for has been," Star replied, backing out of the room and shutting the door once Peach was out too.

"I hope you're right," she responded, walking down the corridor, "come on, let's go"

Star nodded and followed Peach, the corridor let out to the same place as the corridor Azure, Jezie and Lavi had took. The five of them recounted what they'd found and decided to wait for Ares and Nova before continuing. They showed up a few minutes later, having found nothing in the tunnel they went through. Once everyone was all caught up, they walked across the room towards the door. They were all surprised when they didn't run into anyone on the other side of the door.

The door lead to another big room with several other rooms branching off it, the group decided to split off and check all the rooms at once. Almost all the rooms were empty except some equipment that looked like it had been used recently. As everyone finished checking the rooms, there was one left and Lavi decided to check it.

In the remaining room, it looked like no one was in the room at first. Lavi had made sure to remember the girl's scent so he lifted his head to sniff the air, his fox ears twitching a little as he wandered the room a bit. After a few minutes, his ears drooped a bit when he didn't find anything, he was about to leave the room when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye.

Tiana had decided to hide when the door opened in case it was Roman coming to take her somewhere for more tests. She'd grabbed a pitcher to throw at whoever came through the door. She hesitated when she saw that the person had ears sticking out of the hat on his head. Tia quickly regained her composure and as he was leaving the room she got into position to throw the pitcher at the person's head.

Lavi just barely dodged the pitcher that was thrown at his head, he turned to face the direction the pitcher was thrown from and that's when his eyes collided with the most beautiful blue eyes he'd ever seen. He raised his hands up to let her know that he meant no harm towards her, he kneeled, so they were eye level with each other. He slowly slid closer to her, using one hand to pull out his scroll so that he could speak with her.

"It's alright, I'm not going to harm you, I'm here to rescue you, I have others with me, but they won't hurt you," he typed out then passed the scroll to her.

Tia read the scroll, glancing up at him before typing out a response, "how do I know you are telling the truth?"

He read her question, thinking for a moment before responding, "Well for starters, I wouldn't have given you a form of communication if I planned on hurting you, also if I wanted to hurt you don't you think I would have done so already?"

She read his response, thinking it over before typing back, "yeah I guess you're right," she paused her typing for a moment, trying to decide if she should introduce herself or not, going with yes, she continued typing, "my name is Tia, what's yours?"

"My name is Lavi, it's nice to meet you Tia, though I wish it were under better circumstances," he replied to her, giving her a gentle smile.

"Yeah me too, but can we get out of here please? I think I've been down here long enough," she typed back, standing up slowly, her legs a little wobbly, she hadn't realized that her tail was still visible.

"Yes, of course, I apologize, I just wanted to make sure that you weren't going to attack anyone," he also stood, he held his hand out to her, noticing that she was a bit unsteady, he noticed her tail but chose not to comment on it until they were out of the underground area.

Tia cautiously took his hand, taking a few steps towards him before collapsing, her energy running out.

Lavi caught her before she hit the ground and carried her out of the room to the others.

Everyone was waiting for Lavi to return to the group, they were all talking amongst themselves, so no one noticed him come out of the room at first. Lavi tapped the toe of his boot on the ground to get everyone's attention then he started walking towards the exit, his team and team JSTS followed him, figuring he'd explain once he could put the girl down.

Once outside, Lavi kneeled, gently setting the girl down, making sure that her head was supported by his lap, he then looked to his team, "her name is Tia, she collapsed shortly after telling me her name, I think it was due to exhaustion," he signed to the group, Azure having translated what he said.

"Even with all the dirt and everything, she's still extremely pretty," Star muttered mostly to herself.

Peach kept what she wanted to say in response to Star's comment to herself, deciding that now was not the time to be flirting with the girl that had captured her eye since they'd first met.

"Let's get her to the infirmary," Jezie piped up, "hopefully they didn't do anything too serious to her while they had her."

"Yeah, hopefully, let's go so that she can begin the healing process as fast as possible," Azure chimed in, looking at the girl Lavi had cradled in his lap.

Lavi nodded in agreement with Azure and Jezie, he gently picked Tia up, standing slowly as he did so, he lead the way to the infirmary, everyone following behind him.

In the infirmary, Lavi passed Tia off to the doctors so that they could start helping her recover. The doctor said that she'd be in the no visitors area for a while so they were free to go and get some rest if they wanted to. Ares left to go let off some steam in one of the nearby training rooms, Nova followed him, wanting to talk to him about something. Azure stayed with Jezie, trying to help her calm down from panicking that they hadn't made it in time. Lavi sat in one of the chairs close to the door they'd taken Tia through, even though he'd just met her, he felt like he was responsible for taking care of her. Star had left to head back to her dorm so that she could process everything that had happened over the past few hours, she didn't mind that Peach was stealthily trying to follow her.