A day after the last chapter was posted, my grandmother passed away. I wasn't in the right mind to start writing their first job, which would of been ruined by the mood I am in right now, so I decided to vent those emotions into this chapter and provide some insights to some of characters. So this is a very character development focused chapter. The next chapter will be out sometime next week.

Dreams, Desires, and Friendship

Celia

If you were to ask Celia what she thought about kids, she would say that they were irrational at times, and that they would cry whenever she tried to speak to them. Overall, she didn't care for them.

Of course, back in her younger years, when she first set out into world as a young, naive, but sarcastic teen, she would be lying if she said that she never thought about finding that special someone and having children of her own. To find that one person who completes your very being.

She wasn't a romantic like Lana, but that didn't mean she couldn't like the sappy stuff sometimes. When she was younger, when hormones were driving her crazy, she would watch those sappy romantic movies with Lana. While Lana would outwardly show her romantic hopes of meeting her soul mate like in the movies, Celia would outwardly scoff at those ideas. Nothing happens like it did in those movies.

Inwardly though, deep inside her heart, she would too have those very same romantic hopes as well. She would act on those hidden desires, and she would always turn up short of filling them. Every partner she got into a relationship with, always came to end one way or another. Whether it ended by her not liking the person, mutual agreement to break up, or even getting cheated on a few times. Her relationships never lasted. She just couldn't find the man that was right for her.

So she tried the other side of the spectrum as well, but she had no luck at that as well. So she eventually gave up at trying to find that special someone, and just focused on living her life as it was.

And live it she did. She managed to establish a guild that has steadily growed over the years. When Lana asked her why she made it female only, she responded that there were tons of guilds that were just for men, but very few guilds that were just for women. She also said that she found most men perverted and wanted a space where that wouldn't be an issue.

The guild grew, and most of the members were in their early twenties like Celia and Lana. Some members had young children, and some members where even children themselves. Whenever Celia would see them, those deep desires of wanting to find her soulmate and have children of her own returned. But she managed to squash those feelings, because the children that were already in guild or hanging around the guild already had parents, so they weren't hers.

She wouldn't admit it, but she would get a little jealous at some of the members when they would bring their significant other to festivals, or special events. She wouldn't outwardly show it, but under the facade of a cocky smirk and blunt attitude, she would internally wish that it was her with someone that she could express her inner emotions with. To have someone that she could trust with everything. Someone who she could show all her weaknesses to and be fine with them.

Those feelings were never stronger than when Lana found a man that she loved and got pregnant with a child. While she didn't show it outwardly, she was internally depressed. That depression soon turned into righteous anger when that bastard ran away one night, and abandoned Lana and her child. She didn't know where that jerk fled to, but when she found him, she was going drag him back and have Lana serve justice.

When Araña was born, she couldn't be any happier for her friend. She considered Araña like a niece, and treated her as such. Of course, with her children skills, she always ended up making her upset somehow.

When she thought her desires for having children of her own all but died, she found Kagura and Rubina.

Two girls who lost everything in a fiery blaze and a cloud of ashes. When she first took them in, she treated them like she treated other kids. With blunt words and very little nuance. She cared for their well being like every normal adult who finds injured children, but over a span of four years, those feelings became something… more.

She didn't where it started, but as time went on, she found herself getting more and more protective of them and genuinely caring about them. Whenever they accomplished something new, or did something amazing, she felt a sense of pride swell within in her. When they seemed to get hurt, she would get small feelings of worry within her, before being relieved when they popped back up like nothing happened. These feelings did nothing to soften her treatment of them. In fact, these feelings made her push them even more, to make them the best they could be.

Of course, she didn't outwardly show these emotions in public, but when she was alone in her office, or in her home, she would let her facade drop and genuinely smile to herself. She never felt this good or satisfied in years. She spent some nights wondering if this what having kids was like.

Now that Rubina was ten, and Kagura almost that age as well, she couldn't be more excited and nervous at the same time. She was excited that they will be starting their careers and getting out into the world, but also nervous for the same reasons. These contradictory feelings frustrated her to no end.

She may not have given birth to them, or raised them for the first few years of their lives, but that didn't make the feelings she was feeling any less strong. Despite her attempts to deny these feelings, she couldn't help but consider them like daughters.

And she was perfectly fine with that.

XXX

Lana

Lana was like every other young girl her age. Well, she wouldn't say that she was quite like every other girl. She like the things most girls screamed at and ran from. Most notably, was her love of spiders. They always fascinated her, and she liked studying them.

Unfortunately, this fondness for spiders made the other children avoid her, and more often than not, tease and bully her relentlessly. That's how she meet her best friend Celia actually. She was being picked on one day, and she was eventually pushed to the ground. Then suddenly, the bullies were washed away by a small flood of water.

Her rescuer was a girl with shoulder length sea foam colored hair, and had a very large sarcastic smirk on her face. She extended her hand and said "Hey, don't let those jerks get ya down. I think spiders are pretty cool too…. The names Celia Marea."

She smiled for the first time in a long while and extended her own hand.

"I'm Alana Webb, but you can call me Lana for short." She said as she was pulled up.

That was the start of a lifelong friendship. As they got older, Lana became the more gentle and approachable one, while Celia became even more sarcastic and blunt, but never lost that sense of honor she exhibited on the day they met.

They were always there for each other. She was there whenever Celia failed at a relationship and tried to hide her true feelings, and Celia was there for when Araña's father suddenly left and she had to raise her daughter by herself.

So when Celia came back with two little girls who went through something that no person should ever go through back to the guild, Lana was there to help.

She handled giving them a proper education, and Celia handled their physical training. Right away, she noted that the girls where more mature for their age. They were both determined to get stronger, and determined to do it fast.

They were learning at rate that was twice as fast as she would expect a normal kid would learn at. They also progressed in physical training at impressive rate. Same could be said about their progress in the magic arts. They were both prodigies no matter what way you looked at it.

Lana was excited to see how high they could go in the future.

But there was one thing that baffled Lana, which was Rubina. She said that she was an orphan, but yet, she was incredibly book smart. Whenever she was teaching the two girls math, Rubina would always have a pained look on her face. At first, Lana thought she was struggling, but once she looked at all of her math work, she couldn't have been more wrong.

She never got an answer wrong, and there were some problems that she didn't even write out her work, but still got it right. It seems like she wasn't struggling with the math itself, but instead she was struggling with holding herself back. It baffled her as to why she would hold herself back, other than to make sure Kagura didn't feel left behind.

Lana just thought that she was just good at math, until she caught her sneaking out of the library with an arcane engineering book that had math in it that she couldn't even understand. Being good at algebra is one thing, but going straight to advanced calculus is another matter entirely. Lana didn't know if she truly understood what was in that book, but if she did, she truly was a genius.

There was also the way she acted. She could easily speak on an adult level since the day she woke up from her mini-coma. She could use adult words, and pronounce them correctly. Lana once saw Rubi blush from a dirty joke she overheard from one of the guild members, even though a young child should have no knowledge of those sort of matters. She acted like a child sometimes, but that was mostly when she around Kagura.

Rubina was an enigma.

But that was ok. That's what made her Rubina.

What Lana like most about the two girls, however, was the effect they had on Celia. Her friend was a very hard person to read. She always hid her true emotions behind sarcasm and a blunt attitude. But being friends with the woman for over twenty years has allowed her to be able read the emotions behind that smirking facade.

It was a pretty strong one too. In the many years Lana has known Celia, she has only seen the facade truly crack a handful of times. The first time was when they were teenagers and Celia found out that her boyfriend cheated on her. The second time was when Araña's father abandoned her and she swore to find him and bring him back. The last time she saw the facade break was when she talked about what she saw at Rosemary. How brutally slaughtered the civilians were, and how she only found two girls covered in the ashes of their home, with one bleeding heavily from a head injury.

Despite Celia's facade being so strong, Lana could sense what emotions her friend was feeling. As time went on, she sensed that her friend was happier with herself, and she had a strong suspicion that it was because of Kagura and Rubina. Despite her not outwardly showing it, Lana could tell that Celia has been affected by the two girls.

They also have affected the guild's ace, Maribelle as well. She seems to be happier as well. Even her own daughter has taken a liking to them, by considering them her sisters. Lana didn't know how just two girls could affect the people she cared about so much.

But she did know that she liked it.

XXX

Maribelle

Maribelle Lockhart was born into a wealthy family in the Kingdom of Minstrel. She was the youngest child, and she had two older brothers. The youngest one was ten years older, and the oldest was twelve years older. Ever since she was young, she was given everything she ever wanted. She was drilled in proper etiquette, posture, and what her role would be in serving the House of Lockhart.

At the young age of six, she discovered that she had inherited the Lockhart's gift of magic. Unfortunately for her, in the Lockhart household and in most affluent families in Minstrel, women were expected to be obedient wives.

Her fate was to be married off at the age of sixteen.

When she showed her father her gift, she was swiftly, and harshly reprimanded. She was forbidden to practice her gift, and forced to take even more etiquette lessons. Her mother was no help either, as she was already resigned to her fate, and could only watch as her daughter would follow the same path.

It was that day, only six years old, that Maribelle realized she was in a gilded cage. That she had no future in Minstrel, and she was destined to follow the same pitiful existence as her mother, her mother's mother, and every woman before her. It was that day she realized that she was not the master of her fate. That she was not the captain of her soul.

And she hated it.

But fortune shined upon her in the form of her family's butler, who was a mage and master swordsmen, before retiring and serving under the Lockhart family. It was her butler, who was named Alexander that saw her father's treatment of her, and saw where her future was heading. He did not like the tremendous waste of talent and potential that he saw, and he sympathized with the young girl whose dreams were seemingly crushed.

So in defiance of his employer, he trained the young girl in secret. Maribelle proved to be even better than her older brothers, and even her father at magic, and she quickly excelled. It was thanks to Alexander, that she was able to take control of her life. It was thanks to Alexander, that she was able to obtain freedom in her life. It was thanks to Alexander, that everything would be the result of her choices, and she would lead her own existence towards the future.

And not her father

So determined to escape her cage, she pushed herself to get stronger, and was able to learn everything Alexander knew by the age of thirteen. It was also at the age of thirteen that her father finally gave her enough attention to finally notice what his butler was teaching his daughter. To say he was furious would be an understatement. Unfortunately for him though, he was too late stop Maribelle, and she ran away as soon as she was discovered.

Of course, her father sent men after her, but they couldn't catch her even if they tried. Not many people were able to keep up with Maribelle Lockhart.

So she ran a far as she could. She worked hard to be able to achieve her freedom, and nothing would stop her. She eventually ended up in Fiore, and joined Mermaid Heel at the age of fourteen.

She rose up the ranks of the guild and established a reputation around the country. And when her father eventually found her, he could do nothing, because Maribelle already surpassed him, and her brothers. They did not have the strength to take her back, and she was a legal resident of Fiore, thus she could not be dragged against her will back to southern Minstrel. Grudgingly, her father gave up and officially disowned her. She had never been happier in her entire life.

At the age of sixteen, she escaped her fate and won her freedom. No longer would she live in a gilded cage. No longer would she live in silent contempt, as her future was decided for her. She now owned her soul. She was the captain of her fate.

She thought after earning her freedom that her life would be done changing, but she was proven wrong when two girls were brought to the guild. At first, she didn't pay them any mind. That was until she heard from Celia about what happened to them, and saw herself in them.

They too had their dreams crushed at six years old, and they too were determined to get stronger and take control of their lives. So she started watching them, and would often ask Celia about their progress. She knew that they would someday ask her to make them stronger, and when a nervous red haired girl dragged a petrified purple-nette up to her, and asked for an apprenticeship. She accepted.

That decision proved to be the best one since deciding to escape the hellhole known as Minstrel. Over time, she saw them as something more than just her students. She started seeing them as little sisters. While she has denied it many times, Celia was partially correct about her filling inner desires of having a little sister. And she did in fact get a little too intoxicated one day and expressed those desires openly.

Freedom never felt better than it did now.

XXX

Kagura

The first time Kagura saw Rubina, it was back in Rosemary. She didn't think much of her, as she was too busy teasing her brother about staring at Rubi's sister and getting really red as a result.

She would always see the two running around the village together, but never paid them much mind. It wasn't until after her home was burned into the ground, her parents slaughtered, and her brother potentially taken somewhere, that she started paying attention to the girl.

She was the only the thing the she had left. So she latched on to her, despite knowing nothing about her. As time went on, that changed, and she soon wished that she became friends with her sooner.

At first, the girl confused her. She knew a lot of things that Kagura did not understand. She could talk like an adult, but still act like her at the same time. But she was there for her when she needed someone the most, and for that she was forever grateful. Despite going through the same ordeal as her, Rubina almost never showed grief or cried in front her about what happened. She seemed invincible from the grief.

That was until Kagura was awoken by Rubina kicking and screaming from a night terror she was having. When she was awoken by her friend screaming bloody murder in her sleep, she had to wake her and almost got pushed off the bed. She spent the rest of the night embracing her friend as she cried herself back to sleep on her shoulder. That was when Kagura realized that Rubina was not invincible from the grief. She just tried to hide it, and bottled it up until it exploded.

Ever since that night, Rubina was more open about her feelings with her. The nightmares decreased in frequency until they stopped all together. It was after that night, that they truly became friends.

That friendship continued to grow, and as it did, Rubina kept revealing things about herself that always amazed Kagura. Just when Kagura thought she had her friend figured out, she reveals another part of herself, and Kagura has to start over once again.

When she found her reading from a book that was filled with words and math that she had no hope of understanding, Rubina could read like it was a picture book. She said that she was working on a project, and said that it was a secret. Kagura didn't know what she was working on that required a book that not even Lana could understand, but she knew it was going to amazing if she ever completed it. And she would be the first person to see it.

Her friend was open with her, but also did a lot of things when she wasn't around, and was all alone.

When she walked in on her singing a song to herself one Christmas eve, she revealed another thing about herself that forced Kagura to reevaluate her friend. She had a beautiful singing voice. It actually stopped Kagura in her tracks and left her in short stupor. She never expected her friend to able produce such a beautiful melody.

It was too bad she was way too shy to sing in front of others. Whenever she praised her voice and suggested that she perform in front of the guild, Rubina's face would match her hair color, and she would get really embarrassed. It took a lot of effort for her to be comfortable to just sing with just Kagura in the room with her. But one day, she would get her friend to perform in front of the guild.

She already got her going in the right direction with getting her to start learning how to play an instrument to complement her voice. And on her tenth birthday, she told Celia that a guitar would be an amazing gift for her friend. And she was proven correct when her friend was left speechless at the sight of the instrument.

Kagura capitalized on the moment and got everyone to convince her to play one of her songs. And it worked. The song she sang was one she hadn't heard her play before, and it struck something deep within in her heart. It moved her so much, that it brought some tears to her eyes.

And to top it off, her friend did something that left her speechless. She refused to join the guild until Kagura was ten as well. She said that she didn't want to break a pinkie promise that they made on the day she awoke from her mini-coma. A pinkie promise that she almost forgot herself.

She couldn't believe that she would do that for her. She would have been fine with Rubina joining the guild before her. But refusing to join until she was also able to join because a small pinkie promise they made years ago, was perhaps the most touching thing that she ever experienced.

That was the day they truly became sisters.

This was a very satisfying chapter to write. In fact, I wrote it all in one day.

It provided some insight into Celia's character, and revealed that she isn't only always just a very sarcastic person all the time. That she has some inner desires.

Maribelle's back story is inspired by the song "It's My Turn" written by Jeff Williams and sung by Casey Lee Williams. Some of the lines in her back story are inspired by the poem "Invictus". I really like the RWBY soundtrack.

We also got some development for Lana (who I have been neglecting). She actually noticed that Rubi isn't a normal child.

And lastly, we got a bigger insight of what Kagura feels about Rubi at the moment.