FOOOOK, this chapter took a while to put out! I knew 7-8k was gonna take a while for a noob like me, but damn.
Admittedly though, it took a while to put out for other reasons in addition, the two biggest ones being being school and oneshots.
School's pretty self-explanatory: exams, homework, the works.
As for oneshots, I've been writing a few and hopefully they'll be put out soon. I'm not highly anticipating people to like them enough that they'd become full blown stories, but I'll write 'em out if they do.
To be more specific, they are:
A Nanatsu no Taizai/ BnHA crossover oneshot
and
A RWBY oneshot
The combo on the first one may be off-putting for some people, but meh.
With all that said, onward with the chapter!
A mechanical hum filled the air as they all remained silent, with tension maintained almost solely by the scowl on her face as she watched the green trees pass by down below, the speed of the Bullhead making them seem almost like a blur.
And the whispers behind her back weren't doing anything to calm her down either.
"Should we say something...?"
"Nope. We're better off leaving her to calm down on her own."
"I dunno, man. I think I'm with Sum on this one. I feel like we should at least try talking to her."
"Hey, don't blame me if she clocks you after you offer to help her."
"Keep whispering about me behind my back and I'm punching all four of you." Raven snapped, her stern warning eliciting a small "eep" from Summer before the silence returned, bringing as much peace to Raven's mind as possible.
In other words, not much.
'Damn Ozpin...' She cursed the Headmaster with narrowed eyes that threatened to set the forest below ablaze with her anger-fueled gaze. Her hand clenched into a fist, hard enough that it began to shake for a moment before she relaxed it, though her bitter glare remained, an indignant feeling burning within them as she thought back to Ozpin's "proposition".
"A proposition, Professor?" Raven asked, her stomach turning a bit as she grew more tense, and even the slightest bit nervous. The Professor simply nodded calmly in response.
"Indeed. Once the mission is over, I would like to you to spend more time with young Matthew."
A silent curse rang through Raven's mind as she heard Ozpin's request, as a possibility that she'd hesitantly anticipated was coming to fruition. Willpower alone kept her from gritting her teeth in frustration, though it did little to extinguish the flickering flame of anger burning within her, deeply hidden behind a slightly surprised mask.
"I see.." She began, "may I ask why exactly I must be the one to do it, Professor?"
"Well, from what you have told me, you seem to be the most distant from young Matthew, compared to the rest of your teammates. This lack of communication between you two could potentially inhibit the training process, considering that you yourself may end up training him in the future, depending on how much of his memory he's regained up until such a point." Ozpin clasped his hands together, gently placing them on the table, "Therefore, in order to prevent such a restraint, I would like you to spend more time with him, preferably communicating with him, if possible."
She held back a scowl at the chuckle he'd had, red eyes just barely narrowing as she processed Ozpin's "proposition".
She supposed it had its ups and downs. Watching him up close more often could work in her favor, as, assuming her suspicions turned out to be true, she could put him down as soon as they were confirmed. Then, a nuisance which had been gnawing at the back of her mind would go away. Simple as that.
Yet, at the same time, that wasn't the case.
Despite such a potential outcome being something that could completely erase the knots in her mind, that was all it was: Hypothetical. There was no guarantee that her suspicions were true, though her adamant belief in them said otherwise.
Plus, whether or not her suspicions were confirmed, it didn't change the fact that she would have to spend time with the enigma clouding her mind in order to find out.
Exactly what she was hoping wouldn't happen.
"..." Raven hesitated to answer at first, soon slightly biting her lip at her hesitation, "..Understood, Professor."
"Are you certain?" Ozpin asked, "As I said, this is only a proposition. You are free to refuse, if you'd like."
The female Branwen sat in silence for a few more moments, her thoughts going back and forth on the matter, though the internal conflict only just barely showed itself on her face with a flinch as her eyebrows briefly furrowed before relaxing.
A few seconds passed before Raven finally made up her mind.
Her silent nod was all the Headmaster needed.
"..Raven?"
Her eyes gained a confused look as the Professor addressed her by her first name.
"Raven.."
"...Ra--"
"--ven!!"
A female voice, one which Raven automatically recognized to be Summer's, snapped her out of her flashback, the silver eyed leader having placed a hand on Raven's shoulder.
"..What..?"
"You zoned out for a while there...Qrow may or may not have said something about you 'burning down the forest with heat vision'.." Summer admitted with a light laugh, Raven, oddly enough, smiling.
It was nice to have stress relief nearby, she thought.
"I see.." Raven muttered, wanting to brush the flashback off to the back of her mind with a light shake of her head, "..how much time do we have until we arrive at the village?"
"Actually we're almost there. About..." Summer carefully leaned outward, looking to the right for a second before returning to where she'd been before, "10 minutes away...ish?"
Raven's eyes widened as a surprised expression instantly appeared on the rest of her features. Had she really been dozing off for that long? It rarely ever happened outside of times where she'd been either reading, training, or sitting in Professor Port's class, the last being the only one where it was due to boredom.
'All because of him..' An image of him came to her mind as she thought of the amnesiac with a grimace. Messy black hair with gray strands framing dark brown eyes, slightly tanned skin, wearing a white hoodie with rolled-up black sleeves, gray pants, and black high top shoes.
Truthfully, he didn't look like anyone special, at least not to her. He seemed like an everyday civilian, overlooking his messy black hair, which seemed like it had never come into the slightest contact with a comb.
All things considered, if not for the circumstances through which he'd appeared in her life, along with the his current state of mind, Raven considered him a presence that was, overall, very easy to forget.
But no, of course it couldn't be that simple.
He just had to be an amnesiac with enough negativity to almost flood a forest, previously almost void of any Grimm, with a wave of the dark creatures. And, in addition to that, he just had to get enough of the Headmaster's attention to the point where he allowed him to remain at Beacon Academy, for reasons which still escaped her, considering that he was well aware that the boy was most likely, if not certainly, the cause of the Grimm infestation. Of course, for the sake of not forcing him to meet suddenly new people, it made sense that the Headmaster to have the team that rescued him train him.
And of course, it had to be her team.
Sometimes, she could've sworn that, if there was a god, they were laughing at her.
"Tsssssssss.." Her eyebrow twitched angrily as she heard someone behind her deliberately making a sound intent of resembling the sound of something sizzling.
She didn't even have to hear the voice. She knew damn well who it was, a dark smirk eventually gracing her face as she thought of all the "misfortune" he'd come across.
And the best part? She could blame it all on his Semblance.
That knowledge alone was enough to make her let out a sigh of satisfaction, as she watched the trees go by down below, the Earthling almost completely gone from her thoughts.
..Almost...
"Thanks for doing this for me, Scarlet." Matthew began, as they walked down the hall to her team's dorm, the Earthling continuing with a laugh "Not gonna lie, I was kinda banking on you saying yes, so I really appreciate it."
Scarlet shrugged casually, "Eh, don't sweat it. Besides, a friend of Team STRQ's is a friend of mine!" She cheerfully declared with a fist to her heart.
'I'm still having a hard time believing that she's Pyrrha's mother..' He mentally muttered while deadpanning on the inside, 'It feels so weird seeing someone who looks like Pyrrha talk so..casually. I guess the way Pyrrha talks probably came her father?'
With a light shake of his head, Matthew brushed off the train of thought, deciding to focus back on the conversation at hand.
"Glad to hear it." He said before going silent, "..so...does your team know I'm coming?"
"Not in the slightest!"
Matthew couldn't help but sweatdrop, an action which he seemed to take a surprising amount of joy in doing. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that, now in a world he had thought to be fictional, committing the act here felt..complete, in some odd way.
His train of thought, for what must've felt like the tenth time, was interrupted by the sound of a beep, followed by that of a door swinging open.
"Agh! What the--?!" was all a female voice managed to get out before the sound of a chair hitting the floor was heard, "Ugh, my head..!" She groaned.
Matthew heard another voice sigh lightly amongst the roaring laughter coming from another voice, the latter being a female, "Scarlet, we've already talked about you swinging open the door like that. You almost broke it last time." A female voice said, the only reason that Matthew was able to tell the two apart being that he could still hear the other one seemingly bursting with laughter.
Matthew hadn't even looked inside yet, but was already considering turning around and dashing off into the distance.
"True, T-Money, you are indeed correct." Scarlet replied while mocking her voice, Matthew almost letting out a laugh upon hearing the nickname.
"Please stop calling me that."
"Not a chance. Besides, more importantly--"
Matthew felt Scarlet's hand grab his arm and drag him closer to her, allowing for her teammates to see him and the surprised expression on his face.
"We have ourselves a newcomer!" She cheerfully announced, Matthew slightly questioning her identity more and more as he saw her smile cheerfully. He couldn't help but let out a sigh before turning his attention to the rest of her team.
He heard one of them groan with a slight growl. It was the female who'd fallen off of what he now saw was a black chair with wheels on the bottom. She had ashy blue eyes, framed on a face with a fair complexion by black hair, which would have likely gone a bit past her shoulders if not for the fact that it was tied into a short ponytail with the red ribbon which should have been tied around her collar like every other female student, her dress shirt also having one button undone
She soon took notice of Matthew's gaze and gave him a look that sent a shiver down his spine, as if he could mentally hear her asking what he was looking at.
Feeling nervous, Matthew quickly redirected his gaze to the floor, though to some extent, he felt a bit frustrated. A part of him wanted to introduce himself...but something else was telling him not to. It told him to keep his mouth shut and avoid eye contact, to hope that they'd forget he was even there, for whatever reason, out of some delusional sense of desperation.
"Raine, stop glaring. You're making him feel nervous." Matthew snapped out of it as he heard the female voice who'd talked to Scarlet, the one known as T-Money, say.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Forgive me for being a little ticked that our team leader's SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME FOR THE 5TH GODDAMN TIME!!!" Raine shouted, the girl behind T-Money snorting slightly, causing Raine's glare to quickly snap towards her, "SHUT IT, LAUREL!!"
Matthew was left mentally questioning his decision to come with Scarlet, sweatdropping slightly at what could only be described as the most dysfunctional group he'd ever seen.
Granted, such a thought may not have meant much from an alien with amnesia, but it was impossible not to see anyways.
A sigh escaped T-Money's lips as her shoulders as she briefly massaged her temple before turning her attention to silent newcomer.
"I'm sorry for Raine's behavior. She's" T-Money paused for a moment, glancing at the girl in question before continuing, "a bit short tempered."
"The hell is that supposed to mean?!"
"That you're quick to snap at people." Scarlet replied casually in a smooth entrance into the conversation, "Now, how about we move on to some more level-headed introductions?"
"I'll go first, since I'm assuming that you've likely been mentally referring to me as T-Money up until now." The girl from befoe responded quickly, "My actual name is Teal Gerbera, and I'd prefer it if you please refrained from calling me 'T-Money'..I get enough headaches from her already..." Matthew couldn't help but gain a smile at the glimmer of normalcy amongst what seemed to be a chaotic relationship.
She had short teal hair and ironically soft steel eyes.
"..Okay, guess I'm next." The girl behind Teal noted casually with a matching shrug, "Nice to meet you, whatever your name is. I'm Laurel, as the ticking time bomb mentioned." Said bomb growled at her, though she payed it no mind, "Laurel Pardus."
It was then that Matthew unconsciously gained a surprised expression as a dirty blonde tail, matching her hair color which framed ashy green eyes, like that of a leopard, moved gently from behind her. Seemingly taking note of this expression, Laurel's eyes hardened a bit.
Realization dawned his features as he took note of a factor that he hadn't really considered since arriving on Remnant, oddly enough.
The Faunus.
With everything that'd happened recently, he didn't have much time to ponder on how he would react to seeing a person with animal parts in front of him once the time came. Now, seeing it up close, it was...surreal, to some extent.
"What is it?" Matthew flinched as a voice asked coldly. Surprisingly enough, it was Raine, who'd been shooting him a glare even more piercing than the one from before.
"O-oh, it's nothing...it's just..well, I've never seen a Faunus before..." Matthew held back the urge to gulp as the atmosphere from within the room grew tense, the dysfunctional family gone and replaced with two wolves baring their fangs in the protection of another, as he could even feel Teal slightly glaring at him.
"What?" Raine questioned venomously, Matthew resisting the urge to gulp as he could feel her ashy blue eyes mentally holding a blade to his throat.
"I-I mean, I probably have! B-but I..uh.." 'Dammit, why am I stutt--?!' A hand gently placed on his shoulder interrupted his train of thought.
"Girls, calm down. He isn't one of those guys, I swear." Scarlet reassured them with her ever-present smile before turning to the nervous Earthling, "I'm willing to bet you most likely have seen one, but you just don't remember it."
"You mind explaining, Scarlet?" Laurel asked, her tail .
"Yeah..truthfully, I guess I should've told you guys a lot sooner." Scarlet noted with a light laugh before lightly slapping Matthew on the back, making him stumble forward just a bit, "Matthew here, that's his name by the way, has amnesia."
"..Oh." was all that left Laurel's and Teal's mouths, though Raine still pursued the route of dead silence for a few more seconds before clicking her tongue.
"If that was it, then you should've said that from the beginning, miss Leader." Her voice oozed with sarcasm as she called Scarlet by a mock title, though the redhead still had a smile on her face.
"I would've, but you screamed, Laurel laughed, I said we had a newcomer, you yelled even mo--"
"OKAY, I GET IT!!"
Scarlet simply giggled at her teammates angry outburst, though Matthew couldn't help but fidget nervously, doing his best to surpress the urge by sticking his hands in his pockets, though he still lightly tapped the tip of his foot a few times on the ground.
A growl escaped Raine's lips before she continued, "So, what exactly are we supposed to do?"
"We" Scarlet emphasized, "are going out to Vale so we can go get him a Scroll."
Looks of confusion crossed Teal's and Laurel's faces as their attention turned to the Earthling, who admittedly jumped a little on the inside once he realized their gazed were on him.
"Why didn't they get one for you sooner?"
He opened his mouth to answer Teal, but found none and kept silent, wondering the exact same question.
Why hadn't they gotten him a Scroll?
It couldn't have been privacy reasons in relation to Team STRQ, since, aside from Raven at least, they didn't seem like the type to object for that sort of reason. Summer likely would have been ecstatic at the opportunity to show Matthew around Vale and get him his own Scroll, and Taiyang would have been been just as cool with the idea.
Meanwhile, Matthew had assumed that Qrow would likely have just cracked a few jokes about searching for porn on the internet, but not really caring too much overall.
But with that out of the picture, what could it have been?
Ozpin?
'He's the only one who knows I'm not from Remnant. Maybe he doesn't fully trust me..? It'd make sense, someone as old as he is having some bad experiences with trusting people...' He thought, but winced internally in doubt, 'but that doesn't--'
"Matthew?"
Laurel's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, the amnesiac blinking rapidly with a quick shake of his head as he gained his bearings.
"Wha?" was all he could say at that moment, the blonde Faunus having already gotten up from her spot on the bed, but not moved away from it, and already having changed her clothes. She wore a pale green t-shirt with the words Ballroom Hysteria placed across the front in thick black, designed to look like paint splatters, along with blue jeans and dark red sneakers. Additionally, she wore a wristband on her left hand with some sort of emblem on it in white, though the lighting of the room kept Matthew from being able to tell what exactly it was.
He also noted that she was the only one there, aside from him.
'I zoned out long enough for them to change, and leave, without me noticing!?' He exclaimed mentally, Laurel raising a brow as she watched him lightly bang his head against the doorframe.
"..What're you doing?"
"Taking a mental note." He answered simply.
'I really need to stop zoning out so often, or at least shorten the amount of time that I do!!'
Laurel observed in deadpanned silence for a few more moments before speaking, "Well, we should get going. They said they'd wait for us by the Snakeway."
Silence filled the room as Matthew gained a surprised expression and confusion flooded his mind.
'The Snakeway?' He wondered.
Laurel noted the surprise on his face and her brows rose
"..Do you not know what a Snakeway is?"
Matthew paused, taking a moment to search what little memory he had of the web series for what a "Snakeway" was. A few seconds passed in total silence before he finally admitted defeat with a shake of his head.
"It's a subway." Trains were the furthest thing from his mind, the memory at the forefront being that of an orange-and-blue-clad hero sprinting on a very longpathway with a dragon-like design.
"Huh.." He began as clogs turned in his mind, "like..um..." His brows furrowed as he tried to remember the name of the story, though any time he thought he'd gotten it, its identity seemed to elude him to frustrating degrees.
A slightly concerned look crossed Laurel's face as she saw Matthew glaring at the floor, his thumb below his chin and a moderately bent finger atop his lips, likely wondering if he was trying to burn a hole through the floor.
Her mouth opened briefly, though closed after she opted not to speak and instead let out a brief sigh, before taking her tail and gently passing it through the openings on the waist of her pants where one would expect a belt to go.
The sound of Laurel lightly tugging her shirt down seemed to bring Matthew back to reality as his brown eyes widened with a few blinks.
Laurel looked at him for a few seconds, and he looked at her, slightly nervous, before he finally broke the silence.
"W-what..?"
"...You really have a problem with dozing off."
"I--!" He began, but reluctantly admitted defeat with a drop of his shoulders, "..yeah..."
"Wonder what's taking them so long?" Scarlet wondered aloud, now wearing a black and red camouflage t-shirt, black jeans, and sneakers the color of her hair, which had been tied into a high ponytail.
A feeling akin to curiosity filled her mind as she waited with the rest of her teammates by a round, dark green sign that read "Snakeway" with a small black train shape above the word and a black arrow pointing to left.
"Who knows? Maybe the little shit fell asleep on his feet?" Scarlet frowned slightly at her partner's venomous tone. She wore a black leather jacket, a midnight blue shirt, matching jeans, and black boots with blue soles.
"Raine, c'mon, you don't have to be so harsh on him." She simply clicked her tongue at Scarlet's request, the refusal plenty present in both the action itself and her elsewhere-aimed glare. Scarlet couldn't help let out a light sigh, despite how familiar she already was with her partner's attitude.
"While I'm not exactly filled with the urge to tear him apart like she is," Raine gained a tick on her forehead at Teal's not-too-subtle jab at her, "I'm not feeling any trust towards him either."
"What? You too?" Scarlet whined with slightly wider eyes, "Come on guys, give him a chance! So what if he didn't make the best of first impressions?"
"I feel like you're undermining the fact that, according to him, he's never seen a Faunus before." Teal noted a bit coldly.
"And I feel like you're forgetting that he has amnesia. Maybe he actually used to live somewhere full of Faunus, but just doesn't remember it."
"What, like Menagerie?" Raine reentered the conversation. Scarlet searched her mind for if her kind was even allowed on the landmass in the southeast of Remnant, though her thoughts came up blank.
"Mm...well, I wouldn't go that far. I'm not even sure if humans are allowed to live in Menagerie."
"We are." Teal cut in, "It's just that it depends on the person. Only humans with specific circumstances can even enter Menagerie, let alone live there." The bespectacled member of Team SRLT ignored her leader's "Oooh", opting to move on, "Anyways, there's still the possibility that you're wrong and that he might be a racist."
"But there's also the possibility that I'm right and he's just a sweet guy who likes the Faunus and happened hit his head too hard at some point." Scarlet added with a cheeky grin.
"..Either way, I'm still not thrilled about this whole thing." Raine commented with narrowed eyes focused on the concrete floor. The bond they had not only as teammates, but also as partners, left Scarlet almost instantly knowing what she was thinking about.
"..You're worried about her..aren't you?"
Raine hesitated to answer at first before simply nodding, Scarlet letting out an exhale and crossing her arms.
"It's just..." Raine began, "..you know what they're like in the city..there's still a lot of them that'll give her a shitty time if they see it..."
Scarlet's heart ached a bit as she remembered the one time it'd slipped out. It was their first year at Beacon, and her team had decided to go and relax in the park.
Laurel had gotten tired of walking and sat down on a bench, but was too tired to remember not to lean too far back. The metal bench dealt her a slight electric shock, by no means anything harmful, but it was just enough to make her accidentally let her tail jolt a bit.
Unfortunately, a child nearby had absentmindedly pointed out the appendage as it twitched once beneath her shirt, and saying that she'd gotten different looks from before would be far to kind an understatement.
It was as if they'd suddenly seen a girl turn into a hideous beast, with a nasty look in their eyes appearing, and friendly shops she'd visited prior to the incident suddenly denying her access, upon the policy that they "didn't serve animals".
Not many of them went undamaged however, courtesy of one very livid Raine.
"Indeed, they will." Teal began before walking next to Raine and lightly placing a hand on her shoulder, "but that's what we're here for."
Raine's eyes widened for a moment, before briefly softening as she smiled, a rare sight witnessed solely by her teammates and her family. Though, after coming to know Raine through their years at Beacon, she'd come to learn that, to her partner, the two were also the other to her.
Nevertheless, teasing was unavoidable, shown by Scarlet's exaggerated gasp.
"My word! Is that a smile is see~?"
"Fuck off!"
"Ah, it's you guys!"
Summer turned her head to the side, a smile gracing her features as she saw a familiar face running toward her. It was a boy, who looked like he'd be around 7 or 8 years old, with spiky honey blond hair and light orange eyes, wearing a plain blue shirt and white shorts, along with a pair of black sandals.
"Mel!" She exclaimed happily, crouching down to the boy's height, "It's good to see you again. How's Miss Yulda doing?"
"Grandma's fine!" Mel exclaimed happily, though his eyes seemed to soon gain a sadder light in them, "Luckily for us, the Grimm haven't attacked our village...but the hunters who went to get food.."
'Mel...' Pain twinged in Summer's heart as she saw the water building in the boy's eyes, a hand automatically reaching over and lightly rubbing Mel's head, slightly disheveling his honey blond hair in the process.
"I'm sorry we were took so long..." Summer began, silver eyes dimming sadly before regaining their light with a determined glow, "but we're here now, and we'll get rid of the Grimm in the forest. I promise."
Mel nodded weakly and smiled with just as much strength, worried silver eyes watching as he turned and ran back to wherever he'd came from. Summer's gaze remained glued to him as far as her eyes could see before they eventually reached their limit as he went far enough. Air escaped her lips heavily as she stood back up.
She was worried. She knew she would be. From the moment they'd gotten the mission, she knew she would be. Her teammates knew it too, Taiyang and Qrow havig done their best to reassure her and make her feel better while Raven had simply walked ahead of them in silence with a scowl that was a bit darker than usual, but the reason why eluded the silver eyed Huntress in Training.
Another matter which worried her, as if the concern she'd held for Matthew, and now Mel and his village, wasn't enough to deal with before.
"Sum," She heard Taiyang softly call out to her just a few feet behind her, "you alright?"
"..yeah.." She lied, "..I'm alright. Let's get started.." She said firmly before walking forward.
While normally, she would have been all for exploring, not only had she already done that, but she also wasn't in the mood to do so, hence why she simply walked directly into the wooden cabin, out of one of many, with a light green flag atop the roof, the only additional design on the flag being the dark green leaf in the center.
She could hear the voices of several men discussing, though the details of their discussion eluded her since the voices were muffled on her end.
Lightly pushing open the door, she, along with the rest of her team, entered the cabin. Upon entering, the first detail that registered in Summer's mind was the people, or rather, the small amount of which.
Aside from Team STRQ, only 6 other people stood in the cabin, 4 men and 2 women, all gathered around a table, with most of their heads having turned to see who'd just walked in. Whatever was on the table, Summer couldn't tell due to the men standing around it, though glimpse of its legs led her to believe it was made of wood.
With their entrance into the cabin, whispers almost immediately flooded the enclosed space.
"So that's them, huh.."
"Beacon Academy's finest.."
"Not what I was expecting, but beggars can't be choosers.."
"I feel like the red eyed chick is trying to use heat vision. Is that just me?" A dull smack was heard, "Ow!"
"Zip it, jackass, they're here to help." The lack of any intent to whisper let Summer finally hear what one of them actually sounded like, the voice she heard sounding rather gruff.
"...So," One of them finally began, the men standing on the side of the table near Team STRQ spreading apart so that the Hunters in Training could see who was speaking, "I take it you're the team sent from Beacon to help us?"
It was an older man, with black hair and a beard, both graying, and dark green eyes, wearing a forest green hunter's jacket with a camouflage pattern, a black shirt, black pants, and black boots.
"Yes, sir. My name is Summer."
"My name's Taiyang."
"Qrow."
"Raven."
Aside from the slight creekings of wood Summer heard as some of the men shifted their weight, the only noise present was the man's hum, which lasted for a few seconds before he eventually went silent.
"..Got it. Thanks for coming here. I'm Basil, Basil Curtis. These guys--" A forced cough interrupted him, one of the women, one with short dark orange hair, raising a brow at him before he sighed and apologized before continuing, "and gals," She rolled her eyes but he continued anyways, "in addition to myself, are the hunters in this village. We may not be able to contribute as much to the fight, but we'll do as much as we can to help."
Summer remained silent for a moment, uncertainty swimming in her mind. She didn't think they could handle the Grimm. The creatures of darkness weren't what they were trained to hunt, after all.
Worry built up more in her heart as she considered the danger they'd be in by taking part in the mission along side them, the emotion manifesting itself just slightly as she gently bit her lower lip with a lowered gaze.
"..I--"
"Well, who are we to turn down a helping hand?"
To Summer's surprise, Qrow had cut in before she could continue, a lazy smile on his face as he stuck his hands in his pockets, "We'll need all the help we can get, after all."
"Qro--"
"Agreed."
To even more of her surprise, Raven, of all people, was the one who cut in next, "Strength in numbers will give us an advantage, even if not much of one."
"Oh? You're agreeing with me this time? Pretty unexpected, sis~." Qrow teased, his older sister, even if by only a few minutes, glaring at him to the side for a few moments before averting her gaze and scoffing.
'Will those two ever get along like normal siblings..?' Summer mentally asked with a sweatdrop as Qrow chuckled while she could have sworn she could hear Raven's blood pressure rising.
"Thank you." Taiyang finally spoke up, "We'd be honored to have you fight with us."
"Are you kidding? We should be the ones voicing our gratitude," A new voice commented, the same woman with dark orange hair who'd faked a cough. She wore a black t-shirt and dark green fatigues when it came to her pants and boots, along with a pair of fingerless green gloves, "especially considering the increase this morning."
The detail caught Summer's, as well as the rest of her team's, attention almost instantly, silver eyes widening slight with a wary glint.
"..Increase?" She asked with furrowed brows, a fearful feeling building up in her gut. The orange haired woman gained a slightly confused look.
"Yeah..the Grimm population in the Forest of Life shot up yesterday, in the evening...didn't you guys know that already..?" Summer's stomach turned just a bit at the hint of worry she could detect in the woman's voice.
She nearly opened her mouth to simply reply that they didn't, but had a feeling that simple denial with a worried look in her eye, which she had a feeling they'd noticed, would only make them worry.
Which would only attract more Grimm.
"No.." She began and paused for a moment before her lips pursued into a straight line, the glint of worry in her eyes quickly turning into one of determination with a blink, "but, if that's the case, then that's all the more reason for us to help."
Silence hung in the air for a moment before a chuckle came from Basil, closed lips formed into a smile as he shook his head, which bobbed a bit in the beginning due to the chuckle. Basil's head rose, dark green eyes focused directly on Summer.
"Guess the Huntsman academies aren't training wimps after all." His statement left Summer tilting her head to the side slightly, a confused feeling filling her brain as she watched him take a step away from the desk, "More importantly, coming up with an actual plan to take them on should be the top priority."
"Yes, it is." To Summer's surprise--no, to her bafflement-- Raven had spoken up again, "Attacking them during the night wouldn't be wise, since our vision would be reduced, and it would be foolish to expect you all to fight Grimm properly in such a condition."
Summer almost let her partner's name escape from her throat in a scold-like tone, but stopped herself upon seeing the calm nod Basil gave Raven.
"Indeed. But it'll be nightfall soon, so either you four spend the night, or we do this now." Basil said. Silence filled the cabin as Summer tried to make a decision within her mind.
On the one hand, waiting until the next day to clear the forest may not be the wisest choice, with the possibility that even more Grimm could appear in the forest, making their mission all the more difficult.
But on the other hand, just as Basil said, nightfall was approaching quickly, and rushing to make a plan would just have lead to failure, and who knows how many would die as a result.
The hunters?
Or maybe all of Burrow Village, if things got that bad?
"...we should wait until tomorrow." Summer finally broke the silence, "Rushing to make a plan won't do us any good. It's risky, considering that more Grimm might show up overnight, but it's still better than rushing in without thinking of a thorough plan."
Silence followed Summer's speech, not a single presence in the room objecting to her proposal. Said silence was then broken by a clap, courtesy of Basil.
"It's settled then." He stated, "In that case, you four should go rest in one of the guest cabins. And it doesn't seem like you weren't expecting to stay overnight, so I'm guessing none of you brought any clothes to change into." He didn't wait for any real confirmation, but simply briefly paused before continuing, "If that's the case, then you can feel free to ask anyone in the village where to get some."
"Got it." Taiyang said before thanking Basil, the dark green eyed man nodding with a slight smile before Team STRQ left the cabin, the scent of the fresh air flooding their sense of smell.
Silence followed the Hunters in Training before a languid exhale broke it.
"So," Qrow began, "guess we're spending the night. On the plus side, we don't have to do any homework, or at least we don't have to hear Port lecture on his 'adventures'." If not for her state of worry, though much lessened than before, Summer would've giggled at Qrow's air quotes.
But alas, one thought still swirled around in her mind.
'Hopefully Matthew's doing alright...'
-The End
A/N: Sweet baby Jesus, this chapter took a while to write.
Thankfully, I think I might be getting better at writing, but I'm not really all that sure. I've been using Couer Al'Aran as a model when it comes to my writing for this story.
Don't get me wrong: I'm nowhere near that good of a writer. Cooer's one of my favorite authors on this website, and NTTF is still my second favorite RWBY fanfiction, period.
(First place is still Team AMBR: Finding Redemption.)
But, anyways, please leave any thoughts on the chapter and/or the overall story in the reviews, and please tell me if I did anything wrong, just so I can make sure I don't goof up again.
Yeah, that's right, I just said "goof". Cause I'm awesome like that.
Also, p.s., while I never thought of any influences for Scarlet's team, Basil Curtis is based on Sig Curtis from FMA.
Onto the reviews!!!
Review Responses
youngsavage: And this chapter started with Scarlet! And her team! As for the lunch lady, I had a bit of fun writing that scene too, also not entirely sure why. Maybe it was just her personality? Either way, I enjoyed it, and I'm glad you did too!
Dinosaurchicken: Surprised someone actually got that. Props to you.
See you all next chapter!!!