Hello everyone and welcome to chapter 19 of Team BAWM! Here once again is your host RebelKira! We'd like to make sure everyone knows we haven't abandoned this story. Three writers on one story with our own awesome other stories (That you should totally check out by the way), occasional bouts of writer's block, and the glory that is life can make it a bit difficult at times. We're still loving working on this story and loving all of you for enjoying it. Anyway, on with the show!
Chapter 19 – Silver and Blue
Previously on Team BAWM (Third person POV):
"Yo, Where's the fire?!" Crys yelled waking up Falcon and Alicia.
"Huh, yes mom, I'm ready for school." Falcon said in a haze.
"Slater was spotted near a warehouse, so I'm going after him." Carnel said as he finished equipping himself.
"If you leave now, then we are THROUGH!" Alicia yelled with tears streaming down her face as she blocked the door to the room.
"I guess we are." Carnel said solemnly as he moved her aside and walked out the door.
"Go kill that mother fucker." Falcon said handing Carnel his mask.
Currently but also somewhat in the past on team BAWM (Crys POV):
"He just took off. Shouldn't he have taken some backup?" Jaune asked.
"This is Carnel we're talking about, the guy is a walking armory. Plus, he like runs a mob or something. There's no way he's going there alone." Nora said.
"Still we could have helped him." Yang said.
"You don't really think we're standing by, do you?" Falcon said.
"What do you mean?" Alicia asked.
"We made a promise that Team BAWM sticks together. Although some of us have made that a little difficult." Falcon said looking at me. "We're not gonna break that if I have anything to say about it."
"We don't even know where he went." Alicia said.
"Nora did mention that he's a walking armory. I mean all we really need to do is walk around the city for a bit and wait for an explosion of some sort. Plus, he mentioned a warehouse. I can't imagine there are too many warehouses near the city." I said.
"So, who's ready to raid a warehouse?" Falcon asked.
"Hell Yeah!" Nora said.
"Ruby it's your call." Yang said.
"Of course, we're going. He's one of our friends. We can't just let him go alone." Ruby said.
"We're going too." Jaune said.
"Should we let team CFVY know?" I asked.
"No. Coco and her team are trying to hide it, but their last mission is still bothering them quite a bit. While they could probably use a distraction, I don't think this is the kind they need." Jaune said.
"She and Velvet are gonna kill us." I said.
"Probably." Jaune said.
"Alright then. If we're all in agreement, grab your gear and we'll meet in front of the dorms." Falcon said.
With that the teams dispersed to grab their gear. Falcon stopped Alicia before she could leave the room.
"We'll get him back. I promise." Falcon said.
Alicia nodded and the two headed out.
Once everyone had grabbed their gear they met outside and started heading for the airships.
"How are we even going to get to the city? The last airship departed a while ago." Weiss said.
"Crys Winters, pilot extraordinaire at your service." I said.
"We are not stealing an airship." Weiss said.
(Ten minutes later)
"I can not believe we stole an airship." Weiss said.
"Oh, come on Weiss. It's not like we're gonna make this a habit or anything." Ruby said.
"You could have stayed back at Beacon." Alicia said.
"Ruby would have dragged me along anyway." Weiss said.
"Team RWBY together forever no matter how long!" Ruby said.
"This is your captain speaking. If everyone would kindly shut their mouths until the vehicle has reached its destination the pilot would greatly appreciate it. While she does have experience, the added cargo is making her a tad nervous. So, if everyone would like a safe trip back as well silence would be greatly appreciated. As an added safety precaution, it is recommended that everyone buckle up in case of emergency. We know you had limited options for your flight this evening and we greatly appreciate your continued support. Thank you for flying Winter Storm Airlines." I said.
Almost everyone began strapping themselves in save for Nora and Falcon. Falcon made his way to the cockpit.
"You could have mentioned that you didn't have a lot of experience flying with extra passengers." Falcon said.
"Yeah I was I was mostly lying. It was just an easy way to stop Weiss from complaining and prevent everyone from going crazy. Second while I do have some experience flying with passengers, it's not them I'm worried about. We don't know exactly where we're going yet. Not to mention how dangerous the people Carnel usually deals with are. If I fly in the wrong place, we could easily get shot out of the sky. I'd rather not be responsible for having to pay for a stolen airship. I'm pretty sure Ozpin is the only thing preventing me from going to jail for the first one I stole." I said.
As if on cue, in the distance a warehouse was being lit up with fire from another airship. Creating multiple explosions.
"Told you all we had to do was wait for explosions." I said.
"Set us down in as soon as possible. With all that fire it'll be better to go in on foot from here." Falcon said.
"Got it." I said grabbing the radio again. "We will be making our decent now. The area is hot so be prepared for anything. Let's give them hell!"
Once I'd landed the airship, we made our way into the fray. After a few firefights we'd managed to a locked metal door.
"Well if video games have taught me anything, this is probably the door we want. Nora open this jar of pickles for us?" I asked.
Nora shifted her hammer to its grenade launcher mode and began firing at the door. Eventually sending it flying to the other side of the room. We entered the room to see Carnel and multiple video screens.
"There you are, we were… looking… for… you." Falcon said as anger filled his voice.
"What the fuck?" I said.
"I think I'm gonna be sick." Weiss said.
Refer to the previous chapter for the battle. Nightmare wrote it in a better way than I could give justice to. Plus, most of the characters helped about as much as Yamcha.
"Alright so, I have to go back to Atlas. So, y'all go back to Beacon and I'll be back in time for the Vytal Festival." Carnel said before he kissed Alicia on the lips.
"Wait! You can't just…" Falcon started to say before Carnel, Diam, Harlequin, Bones and Barney disappeared out of the hole in the wall.
"What the hell was that about? Weiss, do you have any idea?" I asked.
Weiss shrugged her shoulders. "I couldn't tell you." She said crossing her arms.
"Nothing we can do about it. Let's just head back. Its been a long day." Falcon said.
With that we headed back to the airship and started back to Beacon. The ride back was incredibly quiet with everyone trying to sort out what we'd just seen. I'm sure it was going to be difficult for some of them to get to sleep tonight. When we arrived at Beacon each of the teams went back to their room with very few words exchanged.
"We should probably get some rest. We'll need all we can get for the tournament." Falcon said.
"Do you think Carnel will be okay?" Alicia asked.
"He's dealt with stuff like this his whole life. I think as long as he's got someone he can come back to, he'll be fine. At this point it would probably take you dying for him to actually go off the deep end. Even then it wouldn't be until after he's made sure your killer got what he deserved." I said.
"I hope you're right. With everything he's dealt with and who knows what's going on at that meeting. I just hope he comes back." Alicia said.
"If anything happens, I'm sure Redeye or Ghost would let us know somehow." I said.
"I'm sure by tomorrow he'll be back, and we'll be moving one step closer to winning the tournament." Falcon said.
Alicia gave a weak smile. "Yeah, you're right."
"We need to get some sleep if we wanna be ready though." Falcon said.
"Right, good night." Alicia said.
"Good night." I said.
With that the three of us passed out. The next morning, we woke up and got ready for the opening ceremony.
"It's way too early for this." I said.
"Well we did have a pretty late night." Alicia said.
"Couple cups of coffee maybe an energy drink or five and we'll be fine." Falcon said.
We met up with teams JNPR and RWBY in the cafeteria who seemed to have the same idea as us save for Nora. Who looked to be perfectly fine.
"Good to see everyone else had a great night sleep too." I said.
"I wanna go back to bed." Ruby said.
"Ditto." Blake said.
We joined the table with Falcon and Alicia sitting next to Blake and Yang respectively.
"I'm sure once we get to the arena you'll be pumped up in no time." Pyrrha said.
"If we don't pass out before then." Jaune said.
"Wow you guys look like a wreck." Coco said as her team walked up.
"Did you guys have trouble sleeping?" Velvet asked.
"You could say that." I said
"Probably nerves. This is one of the biggest things you guys have done since coming to this school that doesn't involve grimm." Fox said.
Team CFVY joined our table with Velvet sitting next to me and Coco sitting next to Jaune. I leaned over and put my head on Velvet's shoulder.
"By the way aren't you guys missing someone?" Yatsuhashi asked.
"He had to take care of some business and left early this morning. He'll be back before we have to fight." Falcon said.
"I hope so. It'd be a shame if you guys got disqualified so early." Coco said.
"Not like it matters, we're gonna win the whole thing anyway." Nora said.
"You'd have to get though us first gingersnap." Fox said.
"Please, you may be second years, but we've got a four-time champ on our side." Nora said.
"You forget we have a mafia boss and highly trained former enemy scout and was able to take Yang out with no problem. I don't think any of you have a chance of beating us." Falcon said.
"I just underestimated her. No way it would have the same outcome next time." Yang said.
"Yeah team RWBY is gonna beat all of you!" Ruby yelled.
"If fatigue doesn't take all of you out in the first round." Fox said.
"Speaking of which. Not to be a downer, but has anyone heard any word on Cinder or her group? Ozpin said he was gonna get in touch with Ironwood, but if they would have done something there should have been some commotion right?" Blake asked.
"Carnel upgraded the schools computer systems and got rid of the virus she planted. I'm sure she's caught on by now and formulating a new plan. They're probably hoping it'll be enough to hold her off until the tournament is over to alert as few people as possible." I said.
"They didn't get to be headmasters for nothing. I'm sure they've got things under control for now." Coco said.
"She's right. Everything will be fine. We should focus on our matches." Pyrrha said.
"Speaking of which we should start heading to the arena." Coco said.
We all got up headed to the arena. We took our place in the stands and waited. It wasn't long before Ozpin and Ironwood started giving their opening speeches and wishing all the competitors luck.
Team RWBY ended up being the first of our group to fight. Taking on team ABRN from Haven. With no surprise Team RWBY ended up winning.
We watched the screen as our team appeared next along with team CNMN.
"Our next match will be team BAWM led by Falcon Bliss from Beacon vs team CNMN, led by Cian Riley of Atlas. Both teams please approach the field, thank you." Professor Port announced.
"He's on his way, right?" I asked.
"He said he was." Alicia said.
Velvet hugged me and the three of us headed down to the arena. Once we were in the locker room, we congratulated team RWBY. As they went to take their seats.
"God, where is Carnel at? I swear to god, if he's late, I'll kick his ass." I said readying my pistol.
"Oh, you will, now will you?" Carnel said snapping his fingers. He pulled out some grenades and an assault rifle. He pressed a button on it, and it changed into a double headed battle axe.
"Dude, what happened? You just disappeared." Falcon said as we started heading to the battlefield.
"Eh… I can't explain, I can say just say don't go to Vega anytime soon." Carnel said. He leaned over and kissed Alicia. "Good luck, sweetheart."
"Ladies and gentlemen! Please put… uh… someone seems to be at the door. Hey, you can't be in here." Professor Port said before a scuffle could be heard over the speakers.
"Sorry ladies and gents, put your hands together for team BAWM with the baddest mother fucker this side of Atlas, Carnel Melone!" Red yelled over the speakers.
'Yeah, should have expected this.' I thought with a smile.
Music started blaring though the speakers and we started heading out to the battlefield.
(Again, refer to the previous chapter. Not much I could add to the fight.)
"Oh no! Friendly fire! Crys Winters has been eliminated." Professor Port announced over the speakers.
"What just happened?" I asked as I started heading back to the locker rooms.
I continued to watch from the locker room paying close attention to the remaining member of the opposite team. It wasn't long before she was taken out by the remaining members of my team in amazing fashion.
"Wow, that was something else." I said as my team came back.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. That was a total accident." Alicia said.
I started laughing. "Nah, it's fine. I wanna know what her semblance is."
We started walking back and came across team CRDL getting ready for their match.
"Wow Carnel I expected more form you." Cardin said.
Carnel stopped and turned back towards him. "Well Cardin, I'm better at fighting with lethal intent, not just sparring."
Cardin turned to respond but stopped when he saw all of us along with Red and Diam. "Whatever." He said before him and his team stormed off.
'You'd think he'd have learned not to pick fights with us anymore.' I thought.
"So, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving." Carnel said taking off his mask and throwing it in his rift.
"I think the Fairgrounds has some vendors." I said messing with the burned holes on my sweatshirt. 'Maybe I'll see if Velvet wants to head to town with me after her match.'
"Sounds good, I'm hungry." Diam said.
"Didn't you just kill a bowl of nachos?" Carnel asked.
Diam started laughing. "I'm high as fuck."
The six of us boarded an airship and headed down to the fairgrounds. We started walking around and I started looking around at the different vendors. This being the first time I've been able to actually enjoy something like this instead of having to focus on some operation with Cinder or Roman.
I heard a couple guns cocking behind me and turned to see Carnel and his crew replacing the readied pistols. I looked around to see what they would be worried about when I saw Emerald talking with team RWBY.
"No, not here." I said quietly.
"Hey Crys! Let's go!" Falcon yelled snapping me out of my trance.
"Yeah, be there in a minute!" I yelled back as I started running after them. I looked back and saw Mercury had turned his attention towards me. The last thing I saw before turning back was a small smirk on his face. 'Calm down. He wouldn't try anything with all these people around. Especially without Cinder's permission.' I finally caught up with the group and Falcon could tell something was up.
"Everything alright? You look like you've seen a ghost or something." Falcon said.
"Let me guess, you noticed your old friends?" Carnel asked.
"Yeah, I know they wouldn't be dumb enough to try something here. It wouldn't make sense. I'm more worried they already know I betrayed them." I said.
"It doesn't matter. We got your back no matter what." Alicia said.
"Thanks. Just still really nervous about all of this." I said.
"You know I'm really surprised you were able to keep your act up this long with how emotional you get sometimes." Carnel said.
"Fuck off. I never had people who really cared about me before. Best way to explain what I had before was tough love. Even then there wasn't much love after the first couple years." I said.
"You'd think that would have hardened you more." Diam said.
"Yeah well when the nightmares still haunt you it doesn't make things easier. Had to get good at acting like nothing was wrong. Now that I have people who actually care about me, and that I know I can really trust. I've let my guard down a lot. Probably more than I should have." I said.
(Flashback five years ago)
"Get up." Salem ordered.
"I-I'm trying." I said straining myself to get back to my feet.
"If you do not learn to push yourself. Then you'll have no chance of getting your revenge for what Ozpin did to your family." Salem said calmly.
"Perhaps we should…" Hazel started to say.
Salem glared at him and he immediately froze.
"If she cannot get up. She is of no use to us." Salem said.
I propped my axe up and slowly started standing up. Once I got to my feet, I immediately collapsed to my knees again.
"If you are not on your feet in thirty seconds, I shall dispose of you myself." Salem said.
I once again struggled to my feet breathing heavily. Once I was balanced enough, I held my axe in my hands again.
"Let's… go…" I said switching to my pistol.
Tyrian started laughing as he entered the room.
"Aww, is it too much for the little girl? Perhaps I should…" He started to say before I cut him off with a shot that grazed his ear.
"Fuck… OFF!" I yelled charging at Tyrian.
I threw a punch that completely missed. He kicked me down to the floor and began laughing maniacally again. I switched back to my axe and started propping myself up again. He kicked the axe out from under me and pinned me to the ground.
"This little twerp isn't worthy of our power your grace. Allow me to finish the job." He said readying his stinger. "If there's any solace. At least you'll be reunited with your parents."
I headbutted him causing my forehead to start bleeding. I kicked him back and started laying into him with weak punches. Until he caught both my fists. He started laughing again. "A valiant effort kid, but too little too late."
"That's enough Tyrian." Salem said.
He scowled before throwing me away.
"Hazel patch her up." Salem ordered.
"Yes mistress." Hazel said walking over to me.
"You will continue your training tomorrow. I expect you to last longer." Salem said leaving the room.
(End of flashback)
"I did have at least one person who kept me on the edge of the abyss. I can only imagine what he'll be thinking when he hears I betrayed her." I said. 'Then again, is she lying to him as well and he doesn't know it?'
We stumbled across a booth set up that sold all sorts of fried food.
"Looks perfect to me." Diam said.
"I think I'm just gonna grab something and head back to the stadium to try to find Velvet. Kinda hard to know when she'd gonna be fighting when I don't have a scroll." I said.
"I'll message Coco and have her let us know. We gotta celebrate our victory!" Carnel said.
"Alright, but if I miss her fight, I'm kicking your ass." I said.
"Sure, you will flashlight." Carnel said laughing.
We all ordered and walked around the fairgrounds checking out everything available. After about a half hour Coco messaged back that they were up next, and we headed back to the stadium. We made it just in time for their match to start. Team CFVY was put up against some team from Shade Academy. Velvet and her team proved why they are one of the best teams at Beacon by making quick work of their opponents.
"And in astounding fashion, team CFVY has performed flawlessly with not one member losing a single percent of Aura." Dr. Oobleck announced.
"Proving why they are some of Beacon's best." Professor Port said.
As son as they started heading back to the locker room I jumped up and headed down to wait for them.
(With the remaining members of team BAWM)
"Well at least she's back to being in a good mood." Alicia said.
"I swear that girl's emotions are on a damn switch. Depressed one minute and happy the next." Carnel said.
'Carnel's mental health might not be the only ones we need to worry about.' Falcon thought as Crys rushed off.
(Back to Crys)
Shortly after I arrived at the locker rooms team CFVY emerged.
"That was amazing guys, great job!"
"Thanks, not to sound rude, but don't you think you should have changed out of that?" Coco said pointing to my sweatshirt.
"Probably, but I didn't wanna miss your fight. Plus, with my team's celebration I didn't think I'd have had enough time." I said.
"I think it looks fine." Fox said.
"See he doesn't see… Very funny." I said.
Fox just smirked.
"Anyway, I figured I'd head into town and get a new one anyway. I was gonna see if Velvet wanted to come with." I said.
"So, in other words you wanna take our Velvet out on a date." Coco said.
"I-I suppose that's one way of l-looking at it." I said with a slight blush.
"Coco…" Velvet started to say.
"Be at our dorm in one hour. Preferably not in this. Gotta look nice for your first date." Coco said as her team walked away. With Velvet mouthing 'I'm sorry.'
With that I made my way back to my dorm and detached my weapon from under my sweatshirt and placed it off to the side. I took the sweatshirt off and tossed it in the garbage. I put on a white tank top and reattached my weapon. I put a light blue jacket overtop making sure that it concealed my weapon.
Falcon returned a couple minutes later.
"Nice to see you finally got out of that singed thing." He said.
"Well Coco insisted I change before Velvet and I go into town." I said.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think the two of you were going out on a date with that outfit." He said with a slight laugh.
"That's what Coco seems to think it is." I said a little dejected.
"Is it not supposed to be one?" He asked confused.
"I don't know. I didn't think so." I said.
"Then go with that. I doubt she'd be against it." He said.
"I don't know the first thing about going on a date." I said.
"So? As long the two of you have fun with whatever you do it shouldn't matter." He said.
"I guess…" I said.
"You'll be fine. When are you two supposed to meet up?" He asked.
"Honestly I'm not sure. Coco said an hour after I met up with her. I'm guessing she doesn't remember I broke my scroll. I figured I'd just wait a few minutes and head over." I said.
"Alright. Just try not to stay out too late. I don't think you'll be able to jack another airship if you're late. Plus, I can't Imagine Ozpin putting up with that too many more times. I'm sure you'll hear this from her team too but remember both our teams are gonna be in the tournament tomorrow. I know we decided Carnel and Alicia would be going on, but we don't know who CFVY is selecting. We can't afford another all-nighter if you guys get in some sort of trouble." He said.
"Yes, oh glorious leader." I said smiling. "I think I'm gonna head over. Thanks for the advice."
"Anytime." He said.
I headed over to team CFVY's dorm and ended up walking past Emerald and Mercury.
"Not bad out there Crys. Sad to see your outfit wasn't as lucky as your team though." Emerald said.
"Yeah, but I was thinking about changing my look up a bit anyway." I said.
"We were starting to worry something had happened to you. Cinder was trying to get ahold of you the other day, but nothing was getting though." Mercury said.
"Oh, right. I'd been meaning to tell her. It broke during a training accident. I haven't had a lot of extra time lately to get a new one." I said.
"I suppose not with all the extra preparations for the tournament." Emerald said.
"Here I was starting to think you didn't like us anymore." Mercury said with a chuckle.
"Don't worry we'll let her know." Emerald said.
"Thanks, I gotta get going though. I'll catch you later." I said walking away from them. 'Maybe they don't know, either way I need to tread lightly with them.'
I arrived at team CFVY's dorm and knocked on the door. Coco opened it and shoved me back a bit before closing the door behind her.
"You're early." She said crossing her arms.
"I don't have a scroll anymore. I wasn't really sure what time it was when we last met up." I said.
"Here's the deal. Its clear Velvet likes you, however the rest of us still aren't sure how to feel about you. I'm sure you'll understand if we're hesitant to trust you." She said.
"I understand. I'm sure Yang doesn't trust me either still and who knows how many of the others still don't. I know I probably can't say anything to change your mind right now either." I said.
"No, but we're willing to give you a chance." She said.
"What do I have to do?" I asked.
She sighed and leaned against the wall. "Look, Fox and Yatsu are the most apprehensive to believe you. I wanna believe you because I want Velvet to be happy. She seems to be the happiest when she's been around you. We're letting the two of you go out alone tonight. Make sure she has a good time and comes back unharmed. Understand?" She said.
"I got it." I said.
"Also, if I were you, I'd stop and get a new scroll while you're out. That way the two of you can actually talk when you're not together." She said opening the door to her dorm. "Velvet your date's here!"
"I'll be out in a minute." Velvet called from the bathroom.
Velvet soon came out wearing a black shirt with a light brown jacket overtop and blue jeans.
"Don't have too much fun tonight kids." Coco said smiling.
With that Velvet and I headed for the airships.
"I'm guessing you didn't mean for this to be date?" Velvet asked.
"N-not really… Sorry." I said.
"No, its fine. I didn't figure you did. I should be the one apologizing for Coco." She said.
"So, you're not disappointed?" I asked.
"Of course not." She said putting her arm around me.
"Well that definitely takes a lot of stress off." I said.
"Good." She said smiling.
Once we got to town, Velvet led me to a clothing store her and Coco liked. We walked in and I immediately started looking at the different sweatshirts. I eventually settled on a zipped hoodie that was mostly white with light blue on the end of the sleeves and on the hood. Velvet ended up getting a similar one that was mostly dark brown with light brown trim.
Once we were finished, we headed to an electronics store so I could get a new scroll. Once everything was squared away Velvet immediately stole my scroll from and put her number in it.
We were starting to get hungry, so Velvet led me once again though the city to a restaurant on the edge of town.
"There is one condition with this restaurant though. They normally refuse to serve humans. Since most of the restaurants in town refuse to serve faunus." She said.
"Isn't there any that will serve both?" I asked.
"Yes, however the owner's rule is that if a human is accompanied by a faunus they are allowed to be served. They know not all humans are the same so if you are shown to be friends with one, they are happy to serve you. Whereas most of the places that don't accept faunus won't accept them under any circumstances. Coco and I have eaten here before and its by far one of the best places in town." She said.
"If there shouldn't be a problem, then why did you bring it up?" I asked.
"It was more of a warning in case you ever tried to bring your team here or come on your own and got a different response." She said.
"Yeah, that makes sense." I said.
We were about couple blocks when our path was blocked.
"Hate to spoil your dinner plans girls, but Crys and I have some business to go over first." Mercury said.
"Velvet, stand back." I said stepping in front of her.
"Why the hostility? You act like I'm the bad guy here." He said.
"You know I never trusted you." I said.
"Is that why you lied about what happened to your scroll?" He said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I saw you burst out of Oz's office and shoot it. Right before you ran off. Now normally I would have thought he found you out and you were aborting the mission. I couldn't understand why you would need to destroy your scroll if that were true though. Not only that, but in any normal circumstance your friend there should be asking what I'm talking about by now, or at least how you know me." He said.
"Why does any of this matter?" I asked.
"Well you know I'm not one to leave loose ends. Now if it makes you feel any better, I haven't told Em or Cinder any of this yet." He said.
"Which I assume you're lying about." I said.
"You should know a lot about lying, shouldn't you? Well this time I'm not. I wanted to find out for myself if my assumptions were true before I told them anything." He said.
"Why do you even care?" I asked.
"Because I wanna know how much you screwed us over, so I know what to prepare for. Now I have this guess that Oz said or did something that made you spill the beans about our plans. What that would be I have no clue, but it must have been pretty good for you to blast out his window. While I may not know I'm guessing the rabbit bitch does. Since she hasn't questioned anything yet. Which means she knows about our plans to take over the school and that you're actually working for Ozpin's biggest enemy, or at least that you were working for her." He said.
"First off if you ever call her a bitch again, I'll come over there and beat you with your own leg. Second you don't know what you're getting into Mercury. If you were smart you and Emerald would get out now while you can. I was shown a memory of the day my parents were killed. There were grimm remnants everywhere and its way to convenient that Salem was there within minutes afterward. I don't know for sure which side is lying to me whether it's Ozpin or Salem. Either way I don't want any part of it anymore. I have people who I know care about me here even after finding out the truth about me. This war we've been involved in won't benefit anyone. We'll all be the losers by the time it's over." I said.
Mercury gave a small chuckle. "And here I thought Emerald would get cold feet first. It's a shame really, I think you're the only one she genuinely liked other than Cinder. Granted she'll die for Cinder if she asked. I can't see her having the same thoughts for you. Especially when they find out about this. I'm guessing you're also the reason Cinders little bug she uploaded to the school mysteriously vanished as well. Considering all my guesses have been right so far I'm probably not far off."
"First time for everything. Here I didn't think you even had a brain. Although I'll admit I've been looking for a good reason to shut you up for a while." I said. I turned and handed Velvet my bag. "Run back to Beacon and get my team down here. I'll buy you some time. As soon as you turn around close your eyes for about ten seconds." I whispered.
"I'm not letting you go again." She whispered back.
"I'll be fine. If something changes, I'll message you. Now go please I'm begging you." I whispered.
Just as we both turned around Mercury fired a shot at me and Velvet.
"Now, now can't have you making more plans behind our backs." He said.
I looked back to see velvet getting off the ground. I turned back and shot a bright light towards Mercury.
"Velvet go!" I yelled.
Velvet picked up the bags and started running away.
"Oh no you don't." Mercury said as he fired another shot towards Velvet. I jumped and took the shot.
"Crys!" Velvet yelled.
"I'm fine, Go!" I yelled.
I got up and pulled out my axe.
"One shall stand. One shall fall." I said.
"Some things don't change at least. You still never go anywhere without your weapon on you. Why throw your life away helping the wrong people?" He asked walking up to me.
"You should be asking yourself that." I said.
"If your performance today is any indication, I'll crush you in a matter of minutes." He said.
"How about we find out then?" I asked.
I threw my axe in front of him and started running towards him. He began firing shots at me as I approached. I dodged them and ducked under to grab one of his legs before slamming him to the ground. He quickly recovered and started sending kicks at me. I blocked each of them and fired back with a few punches of my own. I ducked one of his kicks and responded with an uppercut sending him staggering back a bit. I flipped back and grabbed my axe changing it back to its pistol mode.
I fired a few shots at him with varying degrees of success. He managed to knock the pistol out of my hand and started laying into me. I blocked most of his hits but just as many were getting though. I managed to knock him off balance by sweeping one of his legs. I pinned him down and stomped on his right leg breaking it. I picked him up by his good leg and threw him into the wall of the building. He slowly sat up clutching his stomach.
"Alright, alright I give. Grant me mercy I beg of you." He said.
"You, who are without mercy. Now plead for it. No, I'm ending this." I said running up to him.
He moved his hand to reveal that he'd grabbed my pistol and shot at me. I had no time to react. The shot knocked me back and caused me to fall to the ground. I put my hand to where I'd been shot and felt something wasn't right. I pulled my hand away and saw it was now covered in blood. I replaced it and tried to put pressure on it. Mercury stood up and started limping towards me.
"You know how long it's gonna take me to repair this?! It's over Crys. If it's any solace, I'll make sure that little bitch dies next so you can spend eternity together. That is, if you end up in the same place." He said holding my pistol to my head.
"I'll never let you hurt her." I said.
Before I could do anything, something hit Mercury knocking him to the side.
(Velvet's POV)
I started running away like Crys had told me. I got a couple blocks away before I'd stopped. I looked back to where I'd left her.
"I can't leave her." I said.
I pulled out my scroll and started a message to Coco.
'Get Crys' team and head to Sal's restaurant. ASAP'
I started running back to where I'd left her. When I'd finally gotten back to her, she had stomped on his leg and threw him into a wall. She ran up to him and he fired her own weapon at her.
"No…" I whispered.
I grabbed a slab of broken concrete and ran up to them. I slammed the slab across his head knocking him unconscious.
"Crys please tell me you're okay." I said putting my arms around her.
"I've been better." She said.
She pulled her hand away and I finally noticed the blood pouring from her side.
"No. no. no. You're gonna be okay. Coco's bringing our teams. We just need to get to a place they'll find us easier." I said. I slowly helped her to her feet and grabbed her weapon. I started walking her towards Sal's. Luckily a couple were walking out as we came up.
One of them ran back in and yelled for help as the other came up and helped me walk Crys inside. One of the workers came out holding a first-aid kit. And we laid Crys on the floor. I took the first-aid kit and immediately started bandaging Crys' wound hoping it would be enough until help arrived.
"I'm sorry Velvet." Crys said.
"It's alright. You couldn't have known this would happened. Besides you're gonna be fine." I said tears falling from my eyes.
"I trust you. Just in case though. I want you to know I love you." Crys said.
"I love you too, but don't act like this is the last time you'll be able to tell me that." I said.
A few minutes later mine and Crys' teams showed up at the restaurant as well as the paramedics. The paramedics attended to Crys while I stood back with my team
"What the fuck happened?" Carnel asked.
"We were coming here for dinner and some guy with silver hair ambushed us. I think Crys said his name was…" I started saying.
"Mercury. Where is he. If he's not dead, I'm gonna fucking end him." Carnel said.
"First, are you hurt Velvet?" Coco asked.
"I'm fine. I got hit once but my aura took it." I said.
"Is Mercury still alive?" Coco asked.
"I don't know, I knocked him out and brought Crys here." I said.
"Show us where you left him." Coco said.
I looked over to Crys.
"We'll stay with her. You go with them." Alicia said.
I nodded and led Carnel, Coco and Yatsu to where Crys and Mercury had fought. When we got there the area was empty.
"You sure this is where you left him?" Coco asked.
"I thought so…" I said unsure if I was right.
"The blood trail leads here. This should be where they were. He must have recovered quick." Yatsuhashi said.
"He couldn't have gotten far. Crys broke one of his legs before she was shot." I said.
"That fucker better hope I don't find him." Carnel said pulling out his scroll.
"We should get back." Coco said putting her arm around me.
I started heading back and turned to look back at where the fight had just taken place.
"Hang on." I said running back to where I'd dropped the bags I dropped. I picked them up and headed back with them.
We got back in time to see the paramedics load Crys on an airship and take off for Beacon.
"Did they say anything?" I asked Falcon and Alicia.
"She's lost a lot of blood. It doesn't look like it's fatal though." Falcon said.
"That's good." I said.
We headed back to the airship and went back to Beacon as well. When we got there Ozpin was waiting and took us to the infirmary. I explained everything that happened on the way. After a few hours a nurse came out and informed us that everything was alright, and that Crys was resting comfortably.
"Now that we know Ms. Winters is alright, I suggest you all head back to your dorms and get some rest. Even though I'm sure that won't be easy for some if not all of you. I'll be they inform you if there are any changes." Ozpin said.
We all agreed and started heading back. I stopped and turned back to Ozpin.
"Sir. I'm not fighting in the tournament tomorrow. Is there any chance I could stay with her? Please." I asked.
"Ms. Adel, is that alright with you?" Ozpin asked.
Coco was silent for a minute. "I'm okay with it but let me know as soon as she wakes up."
"Then I'll allow it. The rest of you I suggest head back. I'm sure Ms. Scarlatina will inform everyone else as well." Ozpin said.
"Thank you, sir." I said.
As the rest of the teams left Ozpin had a nurse escort me to her room as well as handed me an extra blanket.
I set the bags next to the bed and collapsed next to the bed.
"Thank the gods you're okay." I said though my tears.
Eventually I picked myself up and moved the chair right next to her bed. I sat down and held her hand until I passed out.
I woke up to see Crys was awake.
"Morning sleeping beauty." She said with a weak smile.
I wrapped my arms around her and started crying. "I was so worried about you."
"Guess it's a good thing you didn't listen to me, huh." She said putting her free arm around me.
"You should have let me help you from the start. Then you might not be in here." I said.
"No, I knew if you'd have stuck around, he'd have used you to get the better of me. More so than he already did. There's a good chance neither of us would have been alive. Plus, I promised Coco I wouldn't let you get hurt. You didn't, right?" She asked.
"No, I'm fine." I said.
"Good, I told her I'd give her honey badger if that happened. I'd rather not be on the receiving end of that. Especially not from a pissed off Coco." She said.
"Speaking of which. She wanted to know as soon as you woke up." I said a little worried.
"Well better not keep her waiting." She said.
I pulled out my scroll and messaged Coco that Crys was awake.
"You don't think she'd kill me in a hospital, right?" She asked.
"She's not gonna kill you." I said. 'I hope.'
After a few minutes of telling Crys what happened after I came back Coco showed up.
"Well didn't expect to see you awake so soon." Coco said.
"Well considering I didn't think I'd wake up at all for a while I'll take it." Crys said.
"Where's everyone else?" I asked.
"Fox and Yatsu are in the waiting room along with her teammates. I told them I wanted a word with you first." Coco said.
"I had a feeling…" Crys said.
"I wanna know exactly what happened last night." Coco said crossing her arms. "Every detail."
We proceeded to explain everything we did leading up to them finding us at the restaurant.
"You're not holding back any information or lying about anything, correct?" Coco asked.
"I promise." Crys said.
"Good." Coco said turning towards the door.
"Coco?" I asked.
"She did exactly what I asked of her. She knows what she did wrong. There's nothing I can say that will change anything. She's earned my trust back. Just make sure you keep it this time." Coco said walking out the door.
"Well, that went better than I expected." Crys said.
"No kidding." I said.
Soon after Crys' teammates came into the room.
"So, regret blasting your scroll yet?" Carnel said.
"No, I regret letting that bastard trick me like that." Crys said.
"Well at least you had a lucky rabbit's foot to save your ass." Carnel said.
"Fuck off." Crys said laughing.
"The doctor said you'll need to stay another night, but you should be able to leave tomorrow morning." Falcon said.
"I got my boys on search looking for that silver haired fuck. I'll have someone stationed here in case they try attacking you in here." Carnel said.
"We hate to leave right after getting here, but we should probably start getting ready for our match today." Alicia said.
"It's fine. Just make sure you kick whoever's ass is unlucky enough to get paired up against you." Crys said.
"You know we will." Carnel said as they left the room.