Chapter 5: Arin's Awkward Accounts
Arin tried to pry his eyes open, but his lingering tiredness kept them closed. Also, his hangover made it hard to wake up. After a few minutes of wrestling with his urge to stay in bed, he managed to rise up from his resting place. With his vision still blurry, he held his watch in front his face for a few seconds, waiting for his view to focus. It read 1:17 p.m.. 'Thank God we got Friday off...' He thought before flopping his body back onto his bed. Though his better judgement got the better of him and he finally threw his legs over the side of his bed and shifted his body to make him sit on the bed. As he sighed, he noticed his partner/leader was sitting in a similar position. Though, Drew seemed to be a bit strange... He was sitting up straight and was staring at the wall with a blank expression. Too blank, in Arin's opinion. It was as if he trying to look inconspicuous, but ended up looking too obvious. "Hey Drew, you okay?" Arin asked.
"Y-yeah! Fine!" Drew replied, almost too quickly. He still kept staring at the wall, as if he was trying to avoid eye contact with Arin.
"Okay, what's up?" Arin inquired.
"W-w-what are you talking about?" Drew turned his head to the left. Again, avoiding eye contact.
"Jeez, whatever. You're probably up to something stupid anyway." Arin sighed as he got up and walked to the fridge to get some breakfast. He opened it and crouched down to peer inside. "Alright, let's see here... wait." Arin studied the contents. There was milk, an oven-ready pizza, orange juice, stale take-away from a couple of nights before, (Richard's) protein drinks, half-melted ice cream, but one vital thing was missing. "Drew..." Arin called out to his friend calmly, trying not to let any of his rage out. "Where... where are my cans of beer?"
"What are you talking about..." Drew replied, but still didn't make eye contact.
"Drew..." Arin stood up from his crouched position, but still hung his head low. "Where are my cans of beer..." Drew began sweating rapidly due to pressure. In the team it was Nina who had the 'Rage mode', but Arin seemed to be doing a very good in her stead. His eyes were black with rage, but focused eerily on Drew.
"... Arin, this is for your own good!" Drew finally admitted as he slumped from his tensed up state.
"You sonuvabitch!" Arin yelled as he leaped across the couch and lunged at his leader on the bed, wrapping his hands around his neck and flailing him about like a rag doll. "You have no idea what you've done! You have no idea how much I need that shit! You're-"
Arin's ranting was interrupted when the door of their dormitory swung open. "Leader! Disposal of the alcoholic beverages has been complete!" Richard announced.
"Yay! Arin's gonna stop doing night-time drinking stuff!" Nina cheered behind him.
Arin stopped shaking Drew, letting his head hang lifelessly, and slowly turned his head to the other two. "You too?..." He let go of Drew and made a lunge at his other teammates.
Arin sat on the couch, his arms and legs folded judgmentally and his stared down st the other three members of his team, who were kneeling obediently on the ground, defeated. "Alright... Anyone of you morons wanna explain to me what you did?"
"We disposed of all your alcoholic beverages!" Richard declared.
"I know that! I'm askin' why you did it!" Arin yelled back.
"Well, we..." Drew rubbed the back of his head, picking his words carefully. "Arin, we're... concerned."
"Concerned? The heck are yous talkin' about?" Arin asked, resting his elbow on the couch's arm rest and his chin on his hand.
"You're a hazard to our health, and your own..." Drew said.
" 'Hazard to my own health'? How so?"
"Let's put it this way: Arin, you came home at half 2 in the morning last night."
"Yeah, so? I do that every Friday."
"That's the point!" Drew yelled, now standing. "Arin, we all talked about this, and we think you have a serious drinking problem." Drew explained, with Nina and Richard nodding in agreement.
"Oh, don't start this shit with me!" Arin huffed as he lay back on the couch and folded his arms. "Don't you think that perhaps I might need that stuff? Who the hell are you to decide what I do?!"
"I'm your leader!" Drew yelled back. Arin grunted in response. "Well, Richard threw all away anyway, so you'll have to just deal with it."
"Tch, whatever." Richard lifted his legs onto the couch and lay down with his back to his team.
Silence fell in the room and no one was willing to break it. "So... Who wants to go down to Vale? They're making preparations for the Vytal festival!" Nina chirped.
"Y-yeah! Let's do that!" Drew agreed, not wanting to pass off the opportunity to bring Arin out of his huff.
"...Jeez, whatever." Arin sighed before rolling off the couch.
"Thank you for your business!" The owner of the weapons shop cried as Drew leaped out the doors with a childish smile on his face and a new sword in his arms.
"Yer welcome~!" he cried back. He ran back over to his team who were waiting patiently outside the store. "D'ya see, guys? I finally got a replacement for the sword I lost a couple of weeks ago!" he beamed as he partially removed the blade from his scabbard and held up so as the shiny new blade reflected a beam of light.
"You mean to replace the one that you literally threw away?" Arin jabbed, obviously not sharing the same enthusiasm.
Drew carefully rested his hand on the top of his forehead, closing his eyes and slanting his stance in an attempt to look 'cool' and 'distant', according to his dictionary. "Drew Strazor... It is indeed a dangerous technique... In exchange for such a strong attack, I must lose my own weapon."
"Strong my ass! You just fucking flailed it around! It didn't even hit the Beowolves!" Arin yelled as he grabbed Drew by the collar of and shook him furiously.
He eventually dropped Drew and marched off, leaving Drew on his hands and knees, panting. Richard and Nina helped Drew get to his feet and they followed Arin. Normally, Arin would've just made a snide remark at Drew. But Drew put up with the abuse. It was his fault he was mad, after all.
"Hey Arin!" he called out as he caught up with him. "What do you think of the festival? Isn't it just awesome?" Drew commented as they passed by people pulling up banners and tying flags and balloons to lamp posts.
"Tch! What's so good about it?" Arin grunted as a response.
"Well, there's... parades... dances..." Drew searched his mind for answers.
"Not to mention all the planning and organization that goes into it!" Richard butted in, his cheeks flushing at the prospect.
"Is he seriously getting excited over planning?" Arin mumbled.
"Well, whatever floats his boat, I guess." Drew shrugged.
Arin rubbed his eyes, which had distinctive dark circles underneath them, and yawned. "Okay Drew, you got your stupid sword, let's just get back home..." Arin marched around a corner to the next street.
"H-hey Arin wait! I said wai- oof!" Drew ran around the corner after him, but ran into his back. Drew fell down and saw that he was staring down the road. "H-hey. Why'd you stop?" Arin didn't respond. Richard and Nina caught up with him and the three popped their heads out the side from behind Arin. They could see several trucks coloured army green surrounding an alleyway, yellow tape surrounding the area around the alleyway and some lightly armed guards outside the tape.
"Oh hey, it's the military." Nina shrugged.
"Hehe, I love the fact that I live in a world where we can so casually say 'Oh hey, it's the military'." Drew chuckled to himself. Arin turned around and began walking away, only to be caught by the hood of his jacket by Drew and Nina. "What's wrong~?" Drew questioned in a teasing voice.
"N-Nothing! I just wanna get home quicker!" Arin tried to walk friskily away, but due to Drew and Nina dragging him back, he was just walking in place.
"Aw~ He's too shy to show his face to his old army buds!" Nina squealed.
"N-No I'm not! I-I'm just tired!" Arin nervously blurted out.
"Too bad, we're going!" Drew and Nina dragged him down the street to the scene. Arin gave up and slumped down, letting them drag him.
There were a few civilians standing in front of the tape, asking various questions, to which the guards remained silent. "Soldiers! Report!" Richard cried out as he and the others arrived.
The guards flinched at his booming voice. "Um, excuse me?" One of them asked, confused.
"I demand to know what has happened here!" Richard yelled, boomingly.
"Ricchy! Calm down!" Nina whispered.
One of the guards was about to respond when another voice boomed from inside one of the trucks, albeit less properly mannered. "Who the fuck is it?!" The back door of the truck violently swung open and a dark skinned, afro haired girl dressed a military uniform hopped out. She frowned as she saw a group of four teenagers standing outside their boundary tape. "Oh! Woopdy-fuckin'-doo! Looks like we got some fuckin' wannabe Hunters poppin' their heads around!" she sarcastically yelled. "What's the matter? You comin' along tryin' to play 'Hero' at the crime-scene?!"
"HOW DARE YOU ACT LIKE THAT! DON'T YOU KNOW THE PROPER MANNER ONE OF THE MILITARY MUST FOLLOW?!" Richard bellowed back.
"Listen here, you little shit! First off, we're the Military Police, get it right! Second, we don't need to do that 'protect and serve' bullshit for you or anyone!" she yelled back, growing angrier by the second. Her fellow guards backed off, not wanting to see their boss get too enraged.
"MIND YOUR LANGUAGE YOU FOOL! DON'T YOU REALISE THAT YOU'RE SPEAKING WITH?! I AM RICHARD ROLAND, THE SON OF THE FAMOUS GENERAL ROLAND!"
"AND I'M MASTER SERGEANT ROSALIND MILTON, AND I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK WHO YOU ARE!" The two bantered back and forth. Arin flinched when he heard the girl say her name, an act that didn't go unnoticed by Drew.
Richard was about to yell at the sergeant until he was shoved out of the way by Drew. "Hey Rosalind, do you recognise this guy? He was in the army at one point." Drew lifted Arin off the ground to present him to her.
"Listen kid, I don't know every single person who..." she was about to go off on another rant, until she had a good look at his face. He was looking down to the ground and avoiding eye contact with her, but she could plainly see him. From the course details on his face, to the his lanky figure, she recognised him instantly. "Well I'll be damned..." Rosalind's mouth widened into a cheesy grin. "Arin Heartly."
"Uh... hi, Rosalind..." Arin mumbled.
"How long has it been, ya sonuvabitch?!" she grinned in joy as she lifted Arin over the tape, pulled him into a headlock and began nuggy-ing him affectionately.
"Wait, you two actually know each other?" Drew asked, shocked.
"Hell yeah! We were in the same squad back in the day!" Rosalind answered.
"Rosalind, can you stop... this is really embarrassing..." Arin mumbled, trying to break free of the girl's surprisingly tight grip.
"Ah, quit bein' a wuss!" She dropped Arin to the ground and turned back to one of the guards. "Leave this guy to me, you go help in clean-up." They saluted before running down the alleyway. "HEY YO, JEAN! GET THE HELL OUT HERE!" she yelled loudly at one of the trucks. The back door of them opened and out came a man with a somewhat wrinkled face, despite being rather young, short blonde hair, and dark circles under his eyes. "Look who I dragged outta the gutter!" she declared as she lifted Arin up by his collar.
"Don't treat me like some fish you just caught!" Arin yelled.
"Oh? It's just the dropout?" Jean droned as he raised an eyebrow. "I'm leaving..." He began to climb back into the truck.
"Ah-ah-ah! Get back here!" Rosalind ran over and dragged him back out.
Drew and the others climbed over the tape to join Arin, who was recovering from the attack on his skull. Rosalind arrived back with Jean. "Jeez... Everything was running smoothly until we got some spectators. And it's him of all people. What a pain..." Jean sighed.
"Hello to you too, Jean... It's been too long..." Arin grumbled, trying to hold back his obvious frustration.
"Arin, won't you introduce us?" Drew interrupted the reunion.
"Yes. I wish to know her name for future purposes..." Richard added as shot death glares at Rosalind, who returned them.
"Right. Guys, this is my team at Beacon." Arin explained to his former comrades. He gestured to Drew first. "This is-"
"The Fiery Hero: Team DARN's-" Drew declared with poses, but was cut off by Arin smacking him on the back of the head.
"This is Drew. The bumbling geek who I have to call a leader."
"H-hey..." he greeted, fighting back his pain.
"This is Nina, and you already know Richard." Arin gestured to his other two teammates. "And these are my old friends from the squad I was in, back in the Military." he explained to his current team. "Rosalind Milton."
"Yo!" Rosalind greeted.
"And Jean Lector."
"Hey, I guess..." Jean sighed as he stared at the ground.
"Say, is Arin still as much of a drunken hobo as he was when he left?" Rosalind joked.
"Haha, unbelievably so!" Nina and Drew laughed with her. A vein popped in Arin's head.
"Well, he he still a big Glory Hunter?" Rosalind continued her nostalgic laughing.
Drew and Nina stopped their laughing. "Glory Hunter?" Drew questioned.
"Oh you know, trying to steal your kills, trying to prove that he's the best, like whenever you're training he'll join you and do what you're doing, but harder!" Rosalind continued to laugh, hoping that they'd laugh along.
"No..." Drew answered. An awkward silence fell on the group. "We don't really train anyway, but still..."
"A-anyway, you guys seem to be doing well for yourselves!" Arin tried to make small talk. "Master Sergeant, did I hear you say, Rosalind?"
"Heck yeah! Just don't expect much from lazy-ass over here!" she motioned towards Jean. "Only a Corporal!"
"Hey!" Jean barked back. "At least I'm still not a Private like R-" He was cut off by Rosalind elbowing him in the ribs.
"Dude..." she angrily whispered then gestured her head towards Arin.
"Oh, yeah. Right..."
"So... why are you guys here?" Drew decided to make some small talk. "Seems like a big coincidence to meet Arin's old friends here!"
The smile faded from Rosalind's face. "Well... there's been a killing in the ranks..." she admitted.
"Someone's... dead?" Arin asked, scared.
"Yeah, and..." Rosalind awkwardly shifted, debating whether or not to tell them the details. "It... It looks like an assassination..."
Team DARN all gasped. "W-WHO WAS IT?!" Richard yelled, trying to cover up his fear.
"Arin, do you remember our old Drill Sergeant?" Jean asked Arin.
"Old man Grants, yeah? Wait..." Arin's eyes widened in fear.
"Yeah..." Jean confirmed and hung his head low. The three friends all shared a moment of grief.
"Th-that's why we have to find out who did it! The three of us are working hard to find out who did it!" Rosalind punched the air enthusiastically.
"Wait, did you just say 'the three of us'?" Arin's breathing quickened in anger. "You don't mean he's here, is he?!" he asked as his eyes burned in hate.
"Okay, I've examined the body..." Everyone heard a voice from the alleyway call out. They all turned to see a guy walk out, wearing a uniform similar to Rosalind and Jean's, but less decorated, with pale skin and long, black hair. The boy stopped in his tracks after seeing who his comrades were talking to. "Oh... hey, Arin..." he greeted, dazed at the sight of him.
"Raito. It's been too long." Arin returned without a hint of friendliness in his voice
"Um..." Raito avoided eye contact in shame. "How have you bee-"
"Rosalind. Jean. It's been nice catching up with you." Arin quickly farewelled and walked away, stepping under the yellow tape.
"H-hey, Arin!" Drew chased after him.
"Bye~ See ya later, Rosa!" Nina cheered to Rosalind in a cheerfulness not suited for the situation, before running after the other two.
"You haven't heard the last of me..." Richard threatened to Rosalind.
The three were running after Arin, who was marching down the street in a huff. "Arin wait!" Drew called out.
"I'm not in the God damned mood right now!" Arin grunted furiously, not turning around to answer them
"Is there something between you and Raito?" Nina question directly.
Arin spun around and faced his team. "What do you know about it?! What do any of you know?!" Arin yelled. "It's because of him..." Arin clenched his right shoulder. "Because of him..." His eyes began to well up.
"Oh my, isn't this an odd coincidence?" The team heard a voice interrupt their conversation. They turned their heads to the sidewalk to see Professor Ozpin looking at them with a mug of coffee in his hand.
"P-professor!" Drew and Richard yelled simultaneously.
" 'Sup Ozzy?" Nina greeted.
"What are you doing here?" Arin cautiously asked, surprised to see him here.
"Why, I was simply walking around Vale, checking out all the preparations for the festival. What are you doing? Sounded like you were in the middle of something." Ozpin casually asked.
"Well..." Nina pondered before answering. "First we took away Arin's beer and other drinks because he was going overboard with it, then he got mad, so in order to cheer him up we took him down to Vale, and then we met up with some old friends of his from the army, and he was getting along well with them until this one guy name 'Raito' showed up, then Arin got all pissy and left." Nina panted for air after her explanation.
"For anyone who wants just skip this chapter but still know what happened in it, please read the line above." Drew explained to no one in particular.
"Oh, so you met the guy responsible for you... situation?" Ozpin questioned Arin.
"I'm not gonna act shocked that you know." Arin glared at his principal. "You probably just read up some stupid file in your office..."
"Perhaps I did... but they certainly don't know." Ozpin gestured towards his teammates, who seemed confused.
"Then they'll stay not knowing." Arin huffed and marched away.
"Hey professor, do you mind telling us what happened to Arin specifically?" Drew asked his principal.
"Well, you see-" Ozpin began to explained, but was cut off when Arin side tackling Drew to the ground.
"What the hell are you telling them for?!" Arin yelled at Ozpin.
"Arin. They're your teammates. They have a right to know." Ozpin explained, turning serious. "And if you won't tell them then I will."
"Yeah! And I wanna know your tragic backstory!" Drew added.
Arin looked at Ozpin who returned a knowing look. He then looked down at Drew. "Jeez, fine..." He helped Drew back to his feet.
"Now explain your reasoning to us at once!" Richard demanded.
"Alright, but if I'm gonna explain it to yous, I'll do it my way. I'll show it to you. Follow me." Ain began walking down the street.
"Aww, can't we get the flashback right now?" Drew moaned.
"Dude, what are you talking about?" Arin questioned.
"I'm talking about all the clichés of people with tragic pasts."
"Drew! This isn't one of your stupid TV shows right now!"
"No! You don't understand! Practically everyone in this damn school has some tragic backstory!" Drew explained. "It's as if we exist in some Limbo where all the characters from other people's fanfiction end up..." Drew shivered, afraid of his own conspiracy theory.
"Drew, I request that you stop talking for the rest of the day..." Arin asked, concerned over his partner's mental health.
AN: So, I started to write Arin's arc first. Someone suggested that I do the arcs in the order Arin- Richard- Nina- Drew. I've decided to do that, but I'm planning on having something in between Richard and Nina's arc, hehehe...
