Chapter Nine
Facades
Beacon - Room 2117 - 1900
Neo jerked awake when Summer's chair scraped across floor as she push out from her desk and stood up.
She had fallen into a limbo state, not fully awake, but lost so entirely in thought she wasn't acutely aware of her surroundings. Kara hadn't minded sharing the bed or her blanket with the comatose mercenary; she made good company.
Bianca had somehow slipped from her place on her bed, her upper half dangling off the edge of her bed as she read her book while upside-down. Nova kept her anchored with her legs as she intermittently jotted pieces of information in a manila folder.
Seeing her leader work out the kinks in her body prompted Nova to move her own legs, letting Bianca slump onto her shoulders, no longer having the leverage necessary to remain on the bed. She had had a helluva ab workout.
Rolling backwards with as much grace as she could in her situation, she fixed her unruffled appearance and whacked Nova over her head with her book, expressing her displeasure. Nova didn't react at all, smiling back cheekily as she finished making notes and annotations for Serenity.
"Ready?" Summer asked Neo, who was still somewhat lost in her own world, staring through Summer, not a single thought passing through her mind. Summer could make out traces of apprehension and fear on the usually blank or mischievous assassin's face.
Whether or not these were real, Summer couldn't tell. Neo had had a much longer time to practice copying expressions than she had had.
Neo nodded, untangling herself from the mass of blanket draped on her, affixing it back around her bedmate. Kara wiggled her shoulders and head, her part of the blanket pooling around her, as she saved her progress on her work and closed her laptop.
Where are we going?
"We'll go a few clicks east to ease Ozpin's nerves and prevent any interference." Summer removed her long sleeved tee and replaced it with a crimson tank top, letting the scars along her arm show.
Hunters usually didn't need to wear armoured clothing. Jaune and Team CRDL were the only first year Hunters who wore armour when not wearing their uniforms, but even graduates refused to wear armour, citing it hindered movement while providing less pdsrotection than Aura could.
She refastened her vambraces back onto her forearms, sliding her now one blade into her left one, the other currently in the possession of Pyrrha. Her blades were only used whenever she couldn't use Crescent Rose, and barring any skirmishes in enclosed spaces, they almost never got used.
She had tried dual wielding Crescent Rose and one of her blades before, but any advantage gained from having a knife in her off hand was lost when the immense weight of the scythe couldn't be handled properly in one hand.
Everyone else coming too?
"An unannounced guest is coming with us." Summer opened the door before the person on the other side could knock. "Qrow."
"Summer." The spymaster stood with his broadsword attached to his back. "Where you going?"
"You know where. Here to satisfy your curiosity?"
"More like supervise." Qrow shrugged. Bianca and Nova derisively laughed at him. "What's so funny?"
"The lowly A-rank spymaster who hasn't seen active combat in several months is going to supervise two S-rank psychopaths in their prime?" Qrow shuffled uncomfortably, not realizing his folly. "You're here to watch? Then say so."
"Fine. I'm here to watch." Bianca and Nova shared another laugh at his expense. "Okay, now what?"
"There isn't going to be much to see. You're talking about a spar between the High Commander of Vale, the Hunter who regularly breaks the sound barrier, and a master illusionist. It'll be over in seconds."
"They why are you all going?"
"I'm going to mitigate the environmental damage and Nova and Kara are going to make sure there's someone to carry them back afterwards. I'm predicting a mutual knockout within three seconds."
Don't worry. I have plans to make it last much longer.
Qrow was the only one who couldn't understand the ice cream addict.
"I wasn't planning on a workout." Summer stood next to Neo, resting her elbow on her head.
You wound me. Only the best for a kindred soul.
"Let's go then." Summer palmed a few of her shells into her leg pouches and attached her folded scythe to her back. Even in its collapsed state, the body of the scythe covered her entire back. Neo simply held onto her rapier, playing with the grip in apprehension. She rarely had the chance to test herself, the last real test she had had been fifteen years previous.
Qrow was the odd man out now as Summer wrapped her Semblance around her team and her guests. His Aura reacted violently to having hers drape itself around him, his Semblance activating to cause him to slip on an imaginary banana peel and fall to the floor.
"How did you even manage to become a Hunter with your Semblance?" Nova pulled her uncle up from the floor.
"It was all Raven's idea." Qrow groaned out as his Semblance released its grip on him. "She was the one who dragged me along to get stronger."
"Funny how it was her who left the Hunters and you who stayed then." Nova supplied.
Raven Branwen? Summer nodded. I met her on the train the White Fang rigged to transport Grimm into the districts. She prevented me from killing Yang.
"What'd she say?"
"She said she met Raven before and was prevented from killing Yang."
"And I'm supposed to trust this psychopath?" Neo smiled creepily back at him. "She tried to kill you/Yang and she's working with you now?"
Nothing personal; it was a job. And you survived. Brownie points to you.
"Only because my mother deemed it necessary to interfere." Nova mumbled under her breath. "Some redemption points for her. She says it was nothing personal."
"Uh uh. Right. Alright little psychopaths, show me what you can do."
"Is your Semblance going to freak out again or will you force us to run unassisted?" Summer let her Semblance envelope Qrow at a much slower pace, letting him get used to the feeling of a foreign presence assisting, rather than harming him.
Qrow never had the best of luck using his Semblance, which spoke to the sheer level of talent he possessed to have clawed his way to the top of the hierarchy using only pure Aura usage. If he could just harness his volatile Semblance, then he'd easily sit next to them as a proper A-rank, rather than the augmented role he received as a master of information. His knowledge made him dangerous.
"I think I can suppress my Semblance enough to get where we need to." Summer, instead of letting her Semblance blanket her team autonomously, paid careful attention to how it interacted with Qrow's. His Semblance didn't like constraint and lived off chaos. It didn't matter who it affected, just that it could affect someone. Qrow had an uphill battle to fight if he ever was going to learn to control it.
Summer pressed open the window, leaping off an already prepared glyph, courtesy of Bianca. Her Semblance guided everyone else to follow her, pulling them along or be forced to escape the slipstream.
Everyone followed as Summer cleared the precipice of the roof and briefly waited for them before launching forward towards the east, bouncing off Bianca's glyphs as she accelerated their group.
Neo hadn't even needed to cast an illusory body around her as they easily reached the speed of sound, sufficiently blurring her enough to not get noticed by anyone on the ground. Oddly enough, their vision was perfect while they were inside Summer's deflection shield, with only a slight shimmer marking the boundary between safety and devastatingly sharp wind.
Moving at such a speed exponentially shortened their travel time. What would have taken civilians several days of slogging through the the immense deciduous trees and their undergrowth, was cut down to seconds with the liberal use of Bianca's and Summer's Semblances.
Their bounds covered hundred of meters and kilometers flew by them before Summer slowly retracted her Semblance back, slowing them.
A vast clearing, bare of even the smallest rock, sat cramped between the start of the Northern Sanus Mountains and the Redwood Forests that encapsulated Vale. It was far enough from Beacon to not attract any attention from the massive Aura output that would soon be going through the area.
The petite assassin disengaged from her group and took a stand across the clearing, brandishing her rapier and bowing in her usual manner. This wasn't a fight for her. Nothing was. Everything was a dance and Summer was her partner for this act.
The rest of the group hung back as Summer met her on the battlefield, standing on a glyph at half the height of the redwoods. At this height, they were spots of red and pink standing out against the evergreen grass in the coming dusk. At the perfect height to observe the battle, but far enough to where handsigns could be misconstrued.
You ready? Neo didn't look ready as she stood nonchalantly, twirling and playing with her rapier. Distinctive patterns of banding and mottling, reminiscent of flowing water, shimmered in the sunlight as she cut the air around her. A technique of forging steel long lost.
I'll be ready when you tell me why you looked at me with fear and apprehension back in the room. Summer switched to handsigns, scythe still stowed on her back, keeping her team in the dark about their exchange. You know enough about my abilities from Ruby to form a strategy against me, just as I know enough about you to form my own. What's on your mind?
Your name. There was once a Hunter with the same name. Same hair, similar color scheme and exotic silver eyes. Summer let her continue, not saying a word. I killed her.
Why do you remember her name? Summer didn't visibly react to her confession.
You're not mad, or vengeful?
You know we can't get mad. Summer's team and father started wondering what the holdup was, but they were too far to read their conversation and dropping in altitude would make their eavesdropping obvious. Why do you remember her name?
The mission was out of the ordinary from my usual assignments which varied from political assassinations to forgeries. I don't question contracts, especially when the bounty is in the several millions, but Summer Rose was an oddity. She had no ties to the council, no leverage over Ozpin and wasn't privy to sensitive information. The client wanted her alive, but her death faked as an attack from Grimm. Neo monologued, voice losing her cadence to copy Summer's. I ambushed her while she was hunting for food, using my illusions to fool her into thinking she was being attacked by Grimm while I slipped my rapier into her shoulder, disabling her weapon arm and then knocked her out. I manipulated the scene to show claw marks and skids, tearing her cloak to shreds and scattering her blood around.
Why do you remember her name? Summer repeated for the third time. Neo was dancing around the point. Fifteen years is a long time to remember a dead woman's name, but you remember.
I remember because she was wanted alive, because there was nothing remotely extraordinary in her file, because the client refused to tell me their reasons and I haven't found a single scrap of information since.
Summer smiled.
I'll tell you why after our spar. It was for the same reason why I was captured and brainwashed for six months, leaving me as I am.
Summer… Neo's confident smirk tore her face in half. The battle started the very moment we entered this clearing.
A burst of blood appeared from Summer's thigh, drenching her leg muscles with a thick flow of crimson. Nothing around the clearing suggested Neo had moved; no rustled grass, no soft footfalls, no air displacement, no ring of steel. She remained in her spot, the tip of her blade now gleaming red.
Summer seared the thin but deep wound shut with Aura, adding another mark to her body. Pain was nothing new to her and was welcome as it let her feel. It was the easiest foreign stimulus available in any environment and she enjoyed the rush of endorphins compared to the endless nothing.
"Harvest." Neo recoiled as a scythe ruptured her shoulder. It had been so long since anyone had truly managed to injure her beyond simple bruises and scratches. The injury sent ripples of illusion careening across her form as she struggled to reassert enough control for it to stabilize. She sealed her wound similarly and blanketed it with her Semblance, revealing a torn top and uninjured skin. Only she knew how many scars laced her body.
I liked my top. She inspected the fabric briefly before the air around the clearing shimmered, saturated by her Aura. Qrow was forced to his knees as it washed over him, the oppressive amount invading his Aura network, causing it to fluctuate. An ancient redwood fell a hundred meters away.
The High Commander joined her in her display of power, matching it easily. While the clearing looked unchanged from the moment they walked onto it, every bit of wildlife scattered away from it, including a nest of Grimm fifty clicks away. Their survival instincts kicked in, screaming at them to escape and never return to the area.
The combined output crashed into Beacon, hundreds of kilometers away, causing everyone to jump at the oppressive presence coming from the east. A single, combined presence of two indistinguishable Auras struck terror into everyone.
"This... is the power… of an S-rank?" Qrow choked out, struggling back to his feet, unable to tear his gaze away from the two titans facing off.
Before Glynda could call a state of emergency and dial for Ozpin and Summer, the Aura vanished. She chalked it up to the stress of paperwork and scrubbed her memories of the feeling, nudging James to continue his shoulder rub.
An enormous sonic boom blasted through the clearing, stripping the redwoods of their leafs and sending dirt, grass and chunks of earth flying. Bianca protected her group from the worst of it, diverting the shockwave and debris away.
Bianca was wrong in her prediction of the fight lasting three seconds.
Summer tore through illusion after illusion, covering herself with reflective fragments of faux environments as she zeroed in on her opponent. Neo knew it was pointless trying to terrify Summer with images of conventional horror and resorted to subtly shifting trees, slightly raising ground, and adding false copies of herself. Anything to throw Summer off from her perceived environment.
It worked long enough. She only needed a scant few milliseconds to pierce her abdomen and leave a gaping wound trailing across her back.
In retaliation, Summer raked Neo across her front and slammed her brutally into the ground, only to watch as her form shattered. She had definitely drawn blood as a fine mist caked her weapon.
Neo's advantage with her illusions was stripped away against an opponent who could react and move faster than she could. She couldn't do damage through her illusions and had to rely on her physical form, letting Summer use the brief moment of true appearance to return every blow dealt.
For every hit Neo landed, Summer would land one before the two disengaged, only to clash again in the next few milliseconds.
The cost of maintaining such a speed to counter Neo's illusionary prowess wore Summer down, but the cost of creating illusions to defend and attack from did the same to Neo.
300 milliseconds; Bianca was off by a factor of ten.
The smoke and mirrors from the battlefield cleared to reveal the two fighters with satisfied smiles plastered across their faces, locked in combat.
They were both passed out, keeping each other standing.
Neo had her rapier driven through Summer's right palm, a feat no one else had ever accomplished. Summer boasted several more holes in her body and limbs, each slowly sealing shut as her body worked overtime.
Neo wasn't in any better condition. Summer's previous slash against her midsection reopened, soaking her slacks a deeper brown. Her arms had slashes going down them as well and Shadow's twin was lodged in her shoulder.
A silence descended around them, prompting their audience to descend from their perch and run damage control.
"What the fuck was that?"
"Were you expecting anything else? We warned you it would be fast, explosive and anticlimactic." Nova gently pulled the dueling pair apart, noting most of their wounds had sealed shut already, their critical reserves working overtime. Summer curled into Nova, latching onto her sister, recognizing her presence.
Kara caught Neo on her way down and the tiny woman grabbed onto her, feeling comfortable enough to rest in her arms.
"I couldn't see any bit of the fight. All I saw was debris and shattered glass." Qrow wanted to fawn over Summer's injuries, but nothing was bleeding anymore. "It was over when I blinked my eyes."
"We could barely keep track of them." Bianca inspected the two for any life threatening injuries, but found none. "Summer broke the sound barrier and Neo wasn't even visible for most of it."
Considering it lasted less than a second, it was impressive they saw anything.
"They held back against each other." Bianca noticed, counting the injuries each had placed on the other. Neo had aimed for non-vitals, piercing Summer in her intestines, appendix, spleen, kidney, under her lung and liver.
Summer hadn't bothered with where her strikes landed, aiming in the vague direction of anywhere except for her body, making sure to hold her scythe back from bisecting Neo.
"That was them holding back?" Qrow's eyes widened.
"Now you know the difference between an A-rank and an S-rank." Bianca scooped up Summer and Neo's weapons, attaching the two to following glyphs. "Do you know the worst part about Summer losing consciousness?"
Qrow shook his head before a chilling thought passed through his mind. These five girls had lost their war, and he couldn't even stand in their presence.
"We now have to run to Beacon." Qrow blinked back. "Which is approximately 600 kilometers in that direction."
Bianca pointed vaguely west towards the setting sun. Nothing but trees were visible on the horizon.
"But we only traveled for half an hour." Qrow ran some quick calculations in his head. The landscape had blurred by incredibly quickly on their way here but he paid no attention to the distance they covered. "Which means we were traveling just under the speed of sound."
"Just about." Bianca confirmed his calculations. "I hope you're ready for a nice long run back because it'll take about four hours."
"She couldn't have chosen a closer spot?" Qrow whined, detesting the idea of a four hour jog.
"And risk their combined Aura ripping Beacon and parts of Vale apart?" Nova rhetorically asked as she prepared herself for the long haul home. Qrow grumbled away. "Now shut up and start running."
The three Hunters jumped into the bare tree canopies, bouncing off a glyph, only to land on another as they continued home.
Bianca was kind enough to leave the glyphs up long enough for Qrow to catch up to them.
Beacon - 0000
They had been forced to stop once on their return trip on account of Qrow lacking Aura to continue at the pressing pace the team set. A five minute breather and a quick recharge from Nova had him back on his feet to continue onwards. She was a godsend for endurance assignments and held the record for longest time spent in active combat at 34 hours. She had stretched herself thin that day, digging deep into her reserves. It took weeks to regain all of her Aura.
It was one of Salem's last efforts to level Remnant before she brought out her Primordials. Wave after wave of Grimm spilled into Vale from the southeast and Team SKBN had been the last Hunters left standing, sending the more tired Hunters away as they bought time for civilians to evacuate.
All it bought was a few weeks before they were forced to abandon their home.
"I've been thinking." Qrow remarked as they landed outside their room.
"Dangerous pastime." Nova couldn't resist the quip as she placed Summer down onto her bed. She was still smiling contently. Qrow slapped her upside the head.
"Their fight was stupidly short; almost laughingly, unbelievably short."
"It was short to us, but to Summer it was painstakingly slow." Nova tried to free her arm from Summer's iron grip, attempting to pry her fingers from around her neck. "While her Semblance deals with acceleration, it isn't limited to bodily acceleration. She regularly uses it to process information faster, allowing her immense amounts of time to make decisions."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Qrow couldn't help but cringe in the hypocrisy of his own Semblance. He was helping Nova peel Summer from her and place her to bed and even retrieved his crowbar, but nothing they did would tear Summer from Nova.
"She put herself in a coma for a day when she tried it the first time." Bianca was helping Kara with a similar situation; Neo wasn't letting go of Kara. "No permanent damage, but this was while she was younger and before her torture."
"What you didn't see was hundreds of actions performed near simultaneously. Each of their strikes had to be calculated enough to do harm, but not kill. At the speeds they were moving, if either screwed up, the other was dead." Bianca gave up with Neo, taking a seat at their desk, leaving Kara to sit on the bed with Neo in her arms. "Neo had to calculate every action Summer could potentially take and create an illusion for each possibility. Summer had to anticipate hers, but at a lower risk due to her Semblance."
"Summer knew she had to incapacitate Neo quickly. At the level she was moving, every action she took took large amounts of Aura, as not only did she have to concentrate on accelerating her body and limbs individually, but she also had to stop her limbs, pouring equal amounts to reverse course or adjust."
"They wasted themselves on an all or nothing battle. Neo couldn't afford to have Summer tear her apart at lower speeds and forced Summer's hand by trapping her in illusion after illusion, creating them as fast as Summer could destroy them, sapping her Aura. If Neo decided to play slower, Summer would destroy the illusions just as quickly, leading her to lose."
"That's absolutely terrifying." Qrow joined Bianca in abandoning Nova and Kara to their fates. "So why didn't Neo just hide and let Summer exhaust herself searching for her?"
"Summer could canvas that clearing in milliseconds, checking where Neo could be at every spot at once. There was no point and Neo anticipated correctly. While it would have drained Summer, Neo would have been a sitting duck for her. Her only option was to meet her as a equal."
It was exactly what the two wanted. A test against each other to see where they stood. Summer had exhausted herself against her own team, only ever being able to win against Kara, and never being able to beat Nova or Bianca after they had reached mastery over their respective Semblances.
Fighting Grimm wasn't the same.
"If Summer uses her Aura at such a fast pace, only able to fight at such a speed for such a short time, then how was she able to keep us traveling at just under the speed of sound for half an hour?"
"We tried to measure Summer's top velocity once, but we stopped counting once she clocked at mach 9. She wouldn't have used anything less against her fight with Neo. Keeping us traveling at not even mach 1 was more boring than taxing, as, once she reaches a level of speed, she barely has to maintain it."
"I repeat. That's absolutely terrifying." The more terrifying tidbit he wasn't quite aware of yet, was that Bianca and Nova outstripped Summer in power ranking, even when considering they shared nothing in common with their Semblances. "So what're going to do about those two parasites?"
"They'll stay here." Qrow waited for her to elaborate but only felt foolish waiting for her, having to point it out. "Neo seems to be comfortable with Kara and Summer will sleep with Nova. I'll go on night patrol."
"Any orders for me before I commit to my involuntary appointment to liaison with Winter?" He understood well his assignment had nothing to do with dealing with Atlas' council, only having to answer to Summer and work with James and Winter.
Bianca flicked him, causing him to scrunch his forehead in irritation. Weiss was much too reserved to flick an adult, especially if said adult had a relation to her team.
"Try to get along. Treat her like a person and don't judge her because she's from Atlas. You might have disagreed with Atlesian soldiers occupying Vale, but that's in the past. James and Ozpin shared control over their forces, much like Summer will with Winter."
"Budget?" A creeping suspicion of despair set onto him. He wasn't assigned this because he could coordinate his little birds with Winter, but because he would purposefully challenge Winter in everything she did, cross referencing everything with Summer and her team. Summer didn't want a yes-man; she wanted a partnership.
"Discretionary, but Winter is specifically in charge of any and all alcohol purchases. I've already set alerts on your account, and if they're tripped, I'll tell Ruby who her real father is and let her loose on you."
He paled incredibly so, matching Bianca's pallor, exacerbated further by his jet black hair.
"I hate you." He rubbed his eyes and cheeks, chasing away his tiredness and waking himself up. "I'll be with her when she leaves in the morning. My replacement and coordinator?"
Kara waved at him, awkwardly freeing an arm from her predicament.
"I'll key you into the server tomorrow." Kara nodded, happy she didn't have to break into another set of servers. "I'll take my leave."
Bianca let him go, closing the door behind him, and moved over to Kara. She removed Neo's necklaces, bolero, gloves, belts and boots, giving her more comfort in her unconscious state. Kara, having not bothered with her usual accessories, slipped them under the sheets, adjusting their positions and drifted off to sleep.
Nova begged Bianca with her amethyst eyes to help her too. She acquiesced, stripping Summer of her vambraces and boots, taking the silver moon from her as well and attaching it to her arm. She left the four to sleep, turning off the lights and closing the window behind her, remembering to drop off the two extra weapons she was carrying as they clinked against the window frame on her way out.
Almost every Hunter was asleep except for those assigned to night patrol and the requisite two teams on standby for any emergencies coming from the districts Beacon governed over.
The chill of the night air ruffled her hair and raised goosebumps, reminding her of missions past spent in Atlas, where the snow would freeze everyone except for her and the long nights of winter would leave them desperate for sun.
Bounding off into the air, she continued along a path of glyphs, slowly making her way to Beacon's tallest tower. If the light shining in the top office was anything to go by, Glynda was still in the office, dutifully working the night away.
Reaching the precipice of the steeple, Bianca stopped her ascent and took in the districts sprawled out underneath her. No matter the time of day, there were enough lights on the draw a distinctive line where Beacon's districts ended and the start of the agricultural districts.
Beyond those sat hundreds of other districts, each devoted to a different part of keeping Vale stable, and at the center of Vale stood the megacity of the Capital districts, where several millions called home. Due to the curvature of Remnant, even on such a clear night, it couldn't be seen.
As she wasn't part of the actual patrol for the night, she settled into a meditative trance, letting her body and mind achieve partial rest as she stood watch on a glyph, the soft glow standing out against the darkness of the unsettled east.
Beacon - 0530
It was the rising of the sun and the permeation of warmth along her back that told Bianca her watch was over.
All had been quiet during the night except for when a team had been deployed into the districts to deal with Grimm along the border the districts didn't share with Beacon. They had returned within the hour and nothing of note had happened after their return.
Stepping towards the edge of her glyph, she let it disperse, dropping into a freefall past the lip of the tower, the exhilarating feeling of the rushing wind chasing the last of her meditative stillness away. She flipped backwards, smoothly transitioning onto a slide made of her glyphs.
Her slide turned upwards, launching her over the courtyard and towards the canteen. Another set of glyphs carried her further, twisting and curling in creative patterns. Never let it be said she didn't know how to have fun.
Landing outside the kitchens, she was met with the early staff preparing breakfast for the Hunters; the dutiful few who received little to no credit for keeping everyone fed. With Summer's broadcast yesterday, the staff recognized the silver moon attached to her arm, each politely bowing their heads or greeting her with a few words as she passed by them.
She gathered enough ingredients for thirteen servings of smoothies, snatching bananas, strawberries, yogurt, and throwing them into a blender, pureeing one batch before moving onto another. She threw the smoothies into three quart containers, snapping them shut and attaching them to a floating glyph behind her, snagging an entire box of granola bars, and doing the same.
It made for an odd sight as the petite Hunter exited the kitchens with containers of food stuck to glyphs trailing behind her. It was only after she had left, the kitchen staff had realized their High Commander was a Schnee none of them had seen before, but strongly resembled the heiress, Weiss Schnee.
The last task before Bianca returned to her room was to dip into the storeroom and grab a toiletry bag and towel. While it didn't contain much more than the barest essentials, it sure made a Hunter's day when they trudged into base after a grueling mission.
It was the job of the Hunter on night duty to wake up the rest of her team, and there always was at least one member of the High Commander's team on duty, but everyone seemed to already be going through the motions of waking up, years of sunrise wake up calls dredging them from their dreams. Her presence in the room, however, snapped everyone awake.
Summer's eyes met Nova's and Neo's eyes met Kara's.
"Morning" Nova whispered before Summer could question her. "Been awhile since we woke up like this."
"Couple weeks." Summer released her hold, light purple bruises forming from where her arms and hands were placed. "Anything untoward?"
"Like you'd have complained." Nova threw the sheets off, revealing they were both properly clothed. With the sheets no longer constraining her, Summer planted a kiss on Nova's forehead, thanking her for taking care of her in her exhausted state.
Neo lay nestled comfortably under Kara's chin. They stared at each other, neither deeming it necessary to move, their previous experience of sharing a bed removing any awkward moments. As if any existed to begin with as Kara was a seasoned Hunter and Neo couldn't bring herself to care.
Using handsigns, Kara told Neo of her simultaneous knockout with Summer and their return to their room, only to find her inseparable from her carrier and forced to share a bed. She added a small caveat where she hadn't minded too much as she had been comatose for the entire night.
Neo would have a much easier time bonding with Ladybug over Freezerburn. When push came to shove, they couldn't afford not to have Neo on their side.
Thank you. Neo pressed a kiss to Kara's lips, smiling mischievously as she pulled away from her.
"That's the second time you've kissed my wife." Summer ruffled Kara's ears, giving Kara another kiss. "Should I be afraid of you trying to steal her from me, or are you trying to get my attention?" She pushed them further down the bed, sandwiching Neo between them.
A muffled memory resounded in Neo's mind as she remembered when she was a child, crawling into her parent's bed for safety and comfort during a severe thunderstorm. She would have fallen back asleep again if Nova hadn't ripped the sheets from their bed.
"Time to get up." Summer released Neo from one side, standing up. "Unless you don't want us to tell you why you were sent to capture my mother?"
Neo was up faster than Summer, giving her full attention to the High Commander.
"Are you aware at all what happened to Summer after you kidnapped her?" Summer took a seat next to her.
No. I delivered her and took my money.
"Summer Rose was a test subject in Salem's bid to cripple humanity's abilities to fight against her Grimm. My eyes, and her eyes, are manifestations of our abilities to push our Semblances past limits." Neo was on the correct side to see her silver one and not the missing one. "At the cost of an eye, I was able to annihilate monstrous Grimm with impunity."
"Her eyes were taken from her by Salem in an attempt to use them against humanity, but they refused to work once taken out of a host. Implanting them back into Summer didn't work and stealing her DNA didn't work either, and as a failed experiment, she was eliminated." Neither Summer nor Nova remembered enough about their mother to feel any hatred against Neo or sorrow at their mother's loss. "I was captured as the next test subject, the last human who carried the genetic code, but instead of trying extract and manipulate the DNA, I was tortured and brainwashed."
Instead of giving in to their demands, your mind snapped, regressing you back to your base instincts. You refused to work against your people, to turn your Semblance against humanity, and when your team rescued you, you became the paragon of your thoughts, the perfect Hunter.
"One of the many problems we ran into with her rehabilitation was her inability to tell how to be the perfect Hunter. She understood who she was meant to protect and what she was meant to kill, but there was a cold utilitarianism to her methods." Bianca added on. "She was terrifying to the White Fang, tearing them apart as they posed a threat to her Hunters and her people. She even struck down her own military for those same reasons."
Still a better story than mine. There wasn't any torture for me except for the training I was put through to be the perfect assassin. Who I was before my training didn't matter; it only mattered I was no one afterwards. I chose my predicament because I had people I needed to kill; a King, his mother, his dog, his executioner, a mountain of a man, and so many others. I regret nothing.
"I don't regret my transformation either. We became what we needed to become because we were strong, because we knew what we had to do." Summer nudged her companion playfully. "When my team leaves for morning practice, shower and bandage yourself properly before returning to Salem. Tell her you know the name of the Hunter who downed her Dragon and take a photo of me. I'm sure you can figure out where I'm going with this."
Aye. Neo caught the towel and toiletries thrown her way, making her way to the bathroom. Message me when you need me and try not to have too much fun without me.
"Qrow, Ruby and Yang can never know about her part in Summer's death." Nova handed a roll of bandages to Summer, who lightly wrapped her hand where Neo pierced her palm, having shifted the metacarpus back into place.
"Information is a delicate game." Summer swapped her shirts out and attached her scythe to her back, not bothered by the soft sheen of blood on the blade. "Neo's alliance with us isn't guaranteed to remain a secret, and Salem will use her past against us. My capacity as a High Commander will come into question when I start protecting a known criminal. It would also destroy our relationship with Atlas."
"We can't alienate her because we can't afford fighting against her." Bianca repeatedly tapped her rapier against her forehead, facilitating thought.
I want little Red to fight me when we eventually get to telling her. We need a rematch. Their conversation must've drifted into the shower and Neo was throwing her two Lien in by text to Summer's scroll. Ozpin had documents ready for such occasions where I'd have to work in the light.
"Except those documents do nothing to protect you from someone who knows more about your past than those documents can cover. Simply telling my Hunters to ignore her 'lies' will only make them more curious and suspicious she's telling the truth."
How'd you secure your Hunters in your original dimension?
"People hated Salem and the White Fang more than they hated you. You'd already established yourself as willing to help from previous missions under disguises. We'll have to do the same here. Your involvement with the camps will be hidden but known to Qrow and perhaps Glynda, and we'll work our way from there."
Neo's lack of response prompted them to start their morning, passing through the door and leaving their guest to her devices.
Rather than the harsh wake up Summer and Nova delivered to the teams yesterday, they opted for a more casual approach, knocking on the doors and waiting half a minute.
Yang and Nora were the only ones to answer their calls, drowsily opening their doors and staring at them through sleep bogged eyes.
"You have thirty seconds to wake up your teams or we're throwing them into the showers." The two students snapped to, shaking awake their teammates and throwing pillows around. "Ruby, the faster you and your team get ready, the faster you'll be able to test fire my scythe."
In a rush a red petals, Ruby pulled her team behind her, depositing them in a large lump at the feet of Team SKBN. None of them looked close to ready, each one of them still in their night wear. Blake was still clutching her book, having evidently fallen asleep while reading it.
"When I said get ready, I meant get dressed first and then greet us out here." Ruby sheepishly left her team to disentangle themselves as she disappeared into her room to get changed.
In varying states of armour and clothing, Team JNPR tumbled out of their room before the three members of Team RWBY could get themselves off the floor properly.
It was going to be a painful few weeks before they got used to these wake up calls. Nora and Yang less so than everyone else as they actually went to the gym around this time. At least their regimen only included gym time every other day.
Arena Five - 0730
Team SKBN looked incredibly relaxed after their sixteen kilometer run, even after having to juggle the weight of Pyrrha. Blake's abdomen had healed enough for her to run and another day would have Pyrrha able to keep up with them. Team RWBY and JNPR, however, were covered in thin films of sweat. Nova couldn't wait to introduce them to marathons.
"Had fun?" Bianca's runner high had her smiling as she wiped sweat from her forehead and flicked it off. The students all gave her stink eyes, except of course, each team's masochist, who looked at the older team with adoration.
Summer held her scythe out to Ruby who instantly forgot about her exhaustion and floated over to the weapon, hearts streaming out behind her and replacing the pupils of her eyes. Summer ripped her scythe away before Ruby could touch it, causing her to collapse to the ground.
"This is not a toy Ruby, no matter what you may think about weapons. You carry a High Caliber Sniper-Scythe, but I carry a Portable Artillery Scythe, so there are a few conditions before I let you fire this." Ruby nodded her head so fast everyone assumed it'd go flying off at any point. "You only get one shell." She removed one round from her leg pouch and held it in front of Ruby's face. "This shell costs enough to buy one of your cases and the recoil on it is enough to rip your arms from their sockets if you're not safe."
Rather than shy away from the awesome destructive capabilities of Summer's scythe, she made a pass for the weapon. She unsurprisingly failed.
"Pick a target." Summer had led them out to the northern forests during the course of their short conversation. There were trees no less thicker than a meter and outcrops of boulders casting beautifully intricate shadows along the the unending carpet of moss.
Ruby picked out a sizable tree some fifty meters away.
"This is a high explosive incendiary/armor-piercing round." Summer unfolded the scythe before embedding the blade deep into the ground. She loaded one round into the chamber and removed the magazine from the action, preventing Ruby from firing any more. "You'll plant your feet firmly on the ground when you fire and make sure you protect your ears with your Aura. That last bit goes for all of us."
Ruby quickly leapt to her instructions, plugging her ears shut and setting her stance. She briefly fumbled for the trigger of Summer's modified weapon, not used to the increased proportions, before depressing the hidden trigger.
A shockwave resounded through the audience, shaking off the morning dew from the grass.
The part of the poor tree's trunk Ruby had aimed at disintegrated in a shower of sawdust and flames. The tree dangerously listed towards them as its support was blown away, collapsing directly on its offenders. Bianca redirected it away from them and it impacted a few meters to their side, its fight lost.
"Holy shit." The unanimous and simultaneous reaction came from Team RWBY and JNPR.
Summer hadn't been kidding about the recoil. A meter long trench was carved out from where the blade was originally embedded to where it ended up after the shot.
Ruby was unsuccessful in her efforts to pull the scythe from its confines, so Summer stepped in and ripped it up without a hint of effort.
"Why is there blood on your scythe?" Blake immediately noticed the red tinge on the blade, out of place among the grey steel.
"I was sparring." Summer wiped the blade with a rag from her pouch, folded her weapon, and stowed it on her back.
"You call drawing blood a 'spar'?" Blake retorted. "You probably went out and killed a civilian."
"My team can testify I was on campus all afternoon, evening, and night. Blood is a common occurrence among spars with Hunters."
Blake scoffed at the thought of injuring another Hunter in a practice duel.
"Training is to be taken up at all times and sparring is one of the best ways to do so. It's rarely ever sanctioned and goes until knockout, not until Professor Goodwitch calls it or your Aura meter drops to critical."
"Sparring without using Aura to shield yourself is a common practice among senior Huntsmen who enjoy the challenge it brings them and is similar to training with weights."
Bianca failed to mentions the times where Aura shielding was ineffective, or where Hunters specifically choose to take injuries to conserve Aura. Nova was the only Hunter alive who had never yet had to make that choice, her reserves able to tank shots from Summer's Crescent Rose.
"Those practice duels you fight in class are nothing compared to a live fight between two Hunters or a Hunter and Grimm. What you learn in class is showmanship and flair used in the Vytal Tournament to gain sponsors and clientele. The more the competing Hunters bring in, the better the country does and the more funding we get along with more missions coming our way."
Nova explained the rather simplistic idea of tournaments to them. It wasn't a measure used to test Hunters, but entertainment for the civilians, and as much as the Hunter Commanders hated it, it brought in funds.
"A live fight between Hunters last seconds. There's no flair, no boasting, no extravagant maneuvers, no waiting for your opponent to make his move. There's you and the person who wants you to lose. We'll train you to fight to survive, not to impress your family and friends."
"You're training us for war." Yang narrowed her eyes, voice rumbling with deep emotion as she make the connection. The trainees stopped all of their side conversations and paid strict attention to Team SKBN.
"Yes." Summer admitted. "Against who, I don't know. We've minimised any potential war with Atlas, but against the White Fang, against Mistral or Vacuo, I can't guarantee. What the White Fang threw against Beacon was nothing but their vanguard."
"I won't fight against them." Blake whispered, hand gripping Gambol Shroud intensely.
"Not yet, but eventually you'll be at an impasse. Do you abandon your team and leave them to fight the Fang alone? It isn't about taking a side anymore, Blake, it's about defending what you have." Yang slipped her hand into Blake's during Summer's wise words. "You won't have to kill if you don't want to, but you must defend your family."
Blake said nothing in reply, letting Yang comfort her.
"You have time to ponder your dilemma, but for now you're dismissed to shower. Team JNPR is free for the day, but if I don't receive a training log for today then you'll regret tomorrow. Team RWBY will meet us at Hanger Two at 0830. Dismissed."
Team SKBN disappeared in their usual trails of multicoloured petals, leaving the two teams to trudge back to their dorms. Yang pulled a semi-comatose Blake behind her, taking upon the duty to lead her team back to their room, seemingly the only Hunter not lost in thought.
Perhaps Bianca and Nova had been right about her being the most levelheaded as she already knew her answer.
She'd stand by her team, just as she had sacrificed herself for Blake. They came first, regardless of orders from Summer or Ozpin. She had learned the lesson they wanted drummed into her head.
Arriving at their rooms didn't pull Blake from her thoughts so Ruby and Weiss took their showers first, separately, no matter how much Yang wanted to shove the two in together and watch the repercussions from the uptight heiress and her sister.
Though with the way Blake continued to not response to the outside world, she'd probably have to pull her with her and somehow wash them both with one arm. She couldn't help the excited shiver that passed through her body at the thought. Maybe a cold shower would shock her from her thinking conundrum.
Pulling out a desk chair, she pushed the Faunus onto it.
Still no response.
She scratched her feline ears, but received nothing more than a twitch of them in return.
She needed to take some more extreme measures, but Weiss was still in the room, having given the shower first to Ruby.
"If you're going to make out with her, you might as well get it over with. Ruby and I will have to eventually get used to your relationship with her, so go on and kiss her, tickle her, fondle her, or slap her."
"And you accuse us of being perverts." Yang sat down on Blake's lap, lifting up her girlfriend's chin and placing a kiss on the corner of her lips.
Blake finally responded, eyes dilating to stare up at a very close and grinning Yang who pressed a more firm kiss against her, creeping more closely to the center of her lips. Blake closed her eyes, sinking into repressed instincts, threading fingers into golden locks.
Then she realised there was another in the room with them. Someone who was heavily blushing while watching them.
"Weiss!?" Blake scrambled to push Yang off her.
"Enjoying the show?" Yang picked herself up and rushed over to Weiss, shoving aside her toiletries and towel and getting right up in her face. "By your face, you are."
"It was...hot." Weiss gulped down her shame, forcing her blush down but unable to meet her friends' gazes.
"Weiss!" Blake snapped, standing from her seat and marching over to her.
"Blake!?" Weiss mimicked mockingly. "Are you going to kick me and Ruby out everything you and Yang want to share a kiss, or get more intimate? We are your team and we are your family. I'm happy for you two so don't hide it."
"When did you get so smart?" Yang got a low five when she offered her hand. "You wanna have a threesome?"
"Yang!" Blake admonished but Weiss didn't. She was contemplating it but knew it wasn't a serious offer.
"That's the second threesome I've been invited to since Team SKBN arrived. I might consider it again." Yang and Blake were the ones blushing and staring at her agape. "Did you know Bianca and Nova offered me your place when you declined their offer for one?"
"She was mine before they offered." Blake growled and Weiss patted her thigh.
"You'll recall I returned from their room an hour or so after you and Yang left with my hair and dress more...ruffled than usual." Weiss was smirking at their faces.
"No…" Blake and Yang shared wide eyes. "Tell us you didn't."
"Didn't what?" Ruby had finished her shower and was draped in her relaxation clothes, toweling off her hair.
"She had a threesome with Bianca and Nova." Ruby eeped and flushed the colour of her cloak.
"I'm not saying anything." Weiss locked her mouth shut and threw the key away, grabbing her essentials and fled into the bathroom, leaving her team to deliberate.
"Do you really think she did it?" Yang pulled Ruby onto Weiss' vacated spot.
"Wouldn't that be a little weird?" Ruby prodded. "It'd be a like doing it with your older sister."
Yang poked Ruby in her stomach, causing her to giggle.
"Been thinking about me?" Yang grasped Ruby's chin, bringing her face rather close to hers, causing her sister to flush again. "Or been thinking about Summer?"
"She's my- mom-" Ruby wrenched her face from her sister's hand and bit it. "And you're my sister."
"Didn't stop Weiss apparently." Yang mumbled, shaking off Ruby's attack on her hand.
"I'm not even sure if they're married." Blake added. "Have you ever seen them kiss, hug each other and even hold hands."
"Maybe we just haven't noticed it." Ruby thought out loud. "Maybe they like to use whips and chains when we're not looking."
Yang and Blake slowly tilted their heads to look at an innocent Ruby.
"What is that book teaching you?" Yang left her sister alone, leaning away. "Maybe Blake was right in telling you not to read it."
"I'm not giving you it to you." Blake's smile turned into a frown.
"No, please. Keep reading it. Nice to not have to step around certain topics with you anymore."
"I don't think we should be corrupting your sister anymore than those books are going to."
"You call the natural attraction between two people 'corruption'? Weiss gave me her leave to kiss you while she's in the room and I don't think Ruby minds either." Ruby gave her two thumbs up and Yang crawled over her and pressed Blake down by her shoulder onto the bed. "Do you know what I planned to do to break you from your thinking stupor?"
"No…" Yang wasn't sure if it was protest to her actions or an answer. Blake didn't know how to react with Yang looming over her, keeping her in place, her blonde curls obscuring her vision of everything but her face.
"If kissing you didn't work, then I was going to drag you into the shower." Yang placed her lips next to her lover's ears. "With me."
Blake swallowed her embarrassment, whispering back into Yang's ear.
"Join me." Blake prevented Yang from pulling away with a hand on the back of her head.
"You two would be saving water." Ruby was close enough to hear their whispers so Blake threw a pillow at her for the comment. "I don't care what you two do, just be done in time to meet Team SKBN at the hangars at 0830."
Ruby hopped off of Blake's bed, toweling her hair off and then tossing the towel aside, settling down onto Weiss' bed. She reached up to her bed's side and removed her book, falling down and settling in to read while Yang and Blake argued.
"Let's say we each have the time for a shower. Still going to shower with me?" Blake could feel Yang shifting uncomfortably on top of her and refusing to meet her eyes.
"Afraid I'll say no, or take Ruby with me instead?" Blake played around with Yang and her hair. "Faunus make a very important choice when they choose their lovers and we don't make it lightly. You're mine, do you understand?"
Yang nodded, pressing her forehead against hers, intertwining their fingers.
"Ruby has a crush on Weiss. She wouldn't accept anyways."
"No I don't." Ruby hide her face behind her book, unwilling to let them see her blush.
"Uh huh." Yang left her spot from atop of Blake, grabbed black and yellow towels from their dresser and marched past the soaking wet heiress. Her hair was absolutely drenched, dripping water everywhere as she desperately tried to dry her hair in time for their meet. "You can discuss your crush on Weiss while you dry her hair."
Blake disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Ruby stuck behind her book. Just like Yang to throw Ruby under the bus and leave her to fend for herself.
Weiss made her way to her bed, sitting by Ruby's feet as her leader curled in on herself, effectively putting a wall of legs and book between them.
"Ruby." Weiss pulled the book down but Ruby wasn't meeting her eyes. "Do you have a crush on me?"
"I think so." Ruby mumbled.
"Why?" Weiss spent the time Ruby was think drying her hair. Drying and maintenance were the few constant reasons nagging her to cut her hair like Bianca did. Maybe not as short, just to her shoulders.
"Why?" Ruby snapped up to meet her eyes, causing Weiss to stop drying her hair and stare back wide eyed. "You're the first friend I had in Beacon who wasn't Yang. You're much smarter than me but arrogant about your knowledge. You can be such a bitch sometimes, but you care in your own way. You're supremely confident in the field and you know how to be a Hunter."
Weiss fidgeted uncomfortably while Ruby ranted at her. When she was done with her rant, Weiss wrapped her towel around her neck and shuffled to sit neck to Ruby.
"All good reasons for a crush, but everything you said was superficial." Regardless, Weiss slipped her hand into Ruby's. "You'll always be my partner and my friend, but I've never looked at you as a potential love interest." Ruby tried to wrench her hand free at Weiss' words, but she held on tight. "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was afraid of pushing you away, of losing you as a friend. Afraid you're too young, or you didn't feel the same."
"Was?" Ruby didn't dare look up from their intertwined hands, only returning an affectionate squeeze.
"Was." Weiss confirmed, handing over a comb. "Now help me fix my hair or we'll never make it."
"What are we?" Ruby began the laborious task of untassling Weiss' hair, putting aside her book. "I like you and you like me."
"Partners and friends. We'll see where we go from there."
"But that does mean I get to hug you whenever I want, right?" Ruby pulled Weiss backwards by her hair, causing her to release a sharp squeal of surprise and fall onto Ruby's lap. "And eventually kiss you."
"Let's see where we go first before you start assaulting me with kisses." Weiss was remarkably able to keep her face devoid of crimson. "Now get back to combing."
"Tell me first if had that threesome with Bianca and Nova."
"Envious?" Weiss couldn't turn her head to face Ruby. "I only said it to screw with Blake and Yang."
"Do you want to screw with them further? They're screwing with us right now with their shared shower."
"They're our sisters, they're supposed to screw with us." Weiss pulled her hair from Ruby's grasp, giving up having it in any manageable state, turning to face Ruby. "Your proposal?"
Ruby didn't say anything but a large grin on her face bellied her actions. She grabbed Weiss by the hem of her shirt, pulling her off balance and into her embrace, simultaneously shifting from her seat to lay down on Weiss' bed. Weiss followed obediently, ending up straddling Ruby's leg.
"My hair's never going to dry at this rate." Weiss struggled with her words, unsure of where Ruby had learned any of this from. Her hair spilled over her shoulder, slightly draping Ruby in wet grey. "It's getting in the way too."
Ruby blew a few strands out of her mouth.
"Are we going to discuss your hair or are you going to kiss me?" As much as Ruby was trying to sound confident, Weiss could see she was afraid of pushing too far, throwing the ball to her part of the court.
"Stop trying to be someone you're not." Weiss lay her head on Ruby's chest. "We'll see where we go." She did, however, move Ruby's hand to rest on her ass and crept a hand under Ruby's shirt, probing the hints of abs to come. "Right now, we're screwing with Blake and Yang."
It was funny seeing Ruby turn from knowing what she wanted, to fumbling around with her hands, unsure of where to put them, even after Weiss placed them there. The other hand, she decided, would mirror Weiss, sneaking underneath her shirt, lifting it to show the small of her back.
Weiss lay in comfortable silence, closing her eyes as she listened to the comforting beat of Ruby's heart. Their hands made ever small movements and twitches, letting the other know they weren't alone, having more meaning than any kiss could.
Zwei decided he had had enough of being ignored and curled up next to his master, basking in their warmth.
Though Ruby had hugged Weiss before and the latter sometimes responded, when she wasn't being tackled or struggling to regain her footing from her flying partner. This meant much more for them as each got used to the other's presence, hands probing and scratching, palming and tickling.
It was how Blake and Yang found them as they stumbled out of the bathroom; Ruby petting her partner and Weiss enjoying it, eyes closed without a care in the world.
"I half expected you to have ran and instead I find you acting as a pillow." Ruby stuck her tongue out back at her sister.
"Go away." Weiss mumbled and shooed them away.
"Can't." Yang threw herself down besides them. "We need to get to the Hangar Two."
They groaned at their predicament, but knew better than to disobey orders from a superior. Nova had been kind enough to leave them their Aura for their run today, a gift to help them complete the workout. Summer would extend it and order Nova to take their Aura if they didn't show up.
"Where do you think we're going?" Blake joined them on the bed, laying at the foot on the bed. She'd rather ruin Weiss' bed than her own as they'd all decided it would suit their needs.
"I don't know, but orders are orders." Ruby wiggled, prompting Weiss sit up, but she just fell back to rest against Blake. A dozen or more months ago, Weiss wouldn't have dared even look at a Faunus, but cold logic denied her the ability to discriminate against them.
Blake briefly played with the former heiress' hair before pushing her roughly up.
"Come on." Blake stood and began to rummage about their dresser, pulling out her usual blouse and assortment of leg wear. "Get dressed or we'll never make it on time."
They had long gotten used to having to change in front of each other, though they continued to do so turned away from each other. Each day they wondered how Team JNPR got through their mornings with their mixed sex room.
They rushed through dressing, tossing clothes, plates, scabbards and weapons left and right to their correct recipients. Zwei watched the proceedings, barking at them to hurry up and scaring the Faunus when he brushed up against her.
Silly cat.
The team got ready with minutes to spare, sprinting towards the north side of campus with towels draped around everyone but Ruby's neck. They'd have to dry their hair during their trip to an undisclosed location.
The door to the hangar opened for Ruby's scroll and they were met with three bullheads, two of which were in the process of disassembly and one where Team SKBN milled out, checking the various components of the craft. Performing a check meant they'd be traveling a considerable distance.
At their entrance, Team SKBN briefly paused their actions, returning to their duties. Except for Summer. She beckoned them forwards, inspecting them as they stood before her. She made them feel inadequate; as if they had done something wrong.
"Where are your bags?" Summer's question had them exchanging looks of confusion. There hadn't been explicit orders to pack, only to show up at the hangar at the given time.
"Have you learned the concept of a go-bag?" Summer tutted as all of them shook their heads no. "Every team member needs a bag stocked with seven days worth of clothing including rain gear, and a clear zippered bag containing oils, rags, a whetstone if you need one, a spare scroll, lien, ration bars and other equipment you may need. You're to keep it maintained and ready to be grabbed at a moment's notice. Our trip isn't meant to last more than a day, so you get off with a warning. Understood?"
They chanted an affirmative.
"Make sure they make their packs when we return, or you'll be running until you pass out." Ruby gulped at her mother's threat. At least she cared enough to make sure they were prepared for the future. "Now get on, or we're going to be late."
"Where are we going?" Weiss asked as Kara slammed the door shut and disappeared into the cockpit, joining Nova. Bianca joined Summer in leaning against one of the doors. Bullheads weren't meant for long distance travel or comfort, but could travel much faster than any Air Bus.
"That's a surprise, but you're welcome to guess." Bianca curled into Summer's side, submitting to her ministrations.
Blake was the first to guess, peering through the cockpit window, squinting as the morning sun scorched her face.
"East." She declared. "We're going east."
"That's not a guess."
"We're going hunting." Ruby added. "You said we'd get to go hunting with you eventually."
"Good guess, but no. This is a purely diplomatic mission." Yang relaxed, satisfied she wouldn't have to fight disadvantaged.
"There are only two states east of Vale: Mistral and Menagerie." Blake's hand tightened around Yang's. "Please tell me we're not going to Menagerie."
"That'd be a lie." Zwei nuzzled into Summer's side, having snuck onto the craft when no one was looking.
Blake leapt to a standing, towering over Summer before anyone could ask why they were going. She didn't raise her voice; whispering in a hoarse voice. A tear streamed down her cheek, falling from her chin. "Let me off this ship."
"No." Summer's tone was final, bordering on cold.
"I'm not going home. I'm not ready to go home!" Blake's team stared in shock as Blake lost her composure and was near yelling at their superior. Kara stepped into the fuselage, smiling infuriatingly at the scene, taking the girl's face into her hands and wiping away the tears falling from her eyes. "I'm not ready to go. Please, don't make me go."
Blake fell into Kara's hold, relishing the feeling of an older women in the face of her mother hugging her. She was lead into her lap, resting against Kara. Yang joined them, comforting her girlfriend through her troubles and Ruby and Weiss crowded around them.
"Why don't you want to go home?" Yang ran her thumb over the back of Blake's hand.
Blake wasn't answering, content with Kara caring for her much like her mother had done before she joined the White Fang. They looked for answers from Summer and Bianca instead.
"We could tell you, but it's not our story to tell. Kara told us her story and Blake will tell hers."
"You think you're so smug and smart, forcing my hand in this confined area where I can't escape?" Blake wiped her tears away, revealing righteous anger directed at Summer. "You pull me out of my element, forcing me to reveal my ears and now forcing me to tell my team about my past. What do you gain from this?"
"It took two years before my team started operating at full capacity; before Nova revealed her secrets, before Bianca revealed her secrets, before I revealed my secrets and before Kara revealed her secrets." Nova leaned against the cockpit door, listening to Summer dictate a therapy session and mold the team. "I could reveal all of Team RWBY's secrets to you right now, but it wouldn't forge the team you eventually become. You have to trust them and they'll trust you, and when you all do, a true Hunter team is created."
"Why don't you want to go home?" Yang prodded, not wanting to see her partner cry and aching to have her trust her.
"I'm afraid." Blake peeled off of Kara, sliding down to sit next to her. Yang nudged her, telling her to continue. "I'm afraid, because I haven't seen my home, or my parents, for six years."
Kara pressed a kiss to her head, praising her for the courage she had and Nova and Bianca beamed at her. They knew the story well.
"Why?" Weiss sat across from her.
"Back before the White Fang became a terrorist organization, my dad was in charge of it. He wasn't the first and neither was he the last, but he believed the Fang could usher in equality for the Faunus through peaceful demonstrations and petitions." Blake took a deep breath, steadying herself. "Six years ago, my father was forced out as leader as he didn't condone the violent tactics the Fang was starting to take and Adam was chosen to lead in his stead. I chose to follow Adam, leaving Menagerie, and my family."
"I spent four years learning under him. He taught me everything I knew, from how Dust works to how to wield Gambol Shroud. I stayed with him for four years, where we raided Schnee Dust convoys and trains, organised armed protests for equality and terrified the population of Vale."
"But fear didn't lead to equality. It ostracised you further, branding all Faunus as they branded the White Fang." Blake nodded at Bianca's words.
"One night, Adam and I were tasked with destroying a shipment of Dust carried by train traveling from North Sanus Port to Vale. It was defended by several Atlesian droids and a squad of Vale infantry." Everyone leaned in for the next words. "He killed them all, including the train conductor. I left before the mission was complete."
"What'd you do for the year before you came to Beacon?" That year was yet to be accounted for and Yang was dying to know. "You said you didn't go home and you left the Fang."
"I stayed in Vale, moving whenever I heard whispers of the White Fang in the vicinity. Some Faunus sheltered me, knowing it was hard in this world, but most of the time I drifted from shelter to shelter, until Qrow found me."
"You were homeless for a year!?" Ruby exclaimed. "Why didn't you go home?"
"To the family I abandoned?" Blake answered, silencing their questions. "Now I guess I'm being taken there regardless if I want to or not."
"So you're afraid your parents don't love you and will disown you?" Weiss gave nothing away from her clipped tone, but upon Blake nodding, she moved swiftly, delivering an open palmed slap, stunning the compartment. "You're a miserable little fuck."
Nova, of course, had her scroll out and was recording this moment for reasons of blackmail.
"You have a home and two parents who are probably beyond their wits terrified and worried about you, and you say you're afraid of going home." Weiss spat at her teammate, surprising her team at the venom in her voice. "I would've killed for at least one parent who loved me, regardless if I had a home or not."
"What'd you mean?" Weiss' ire lessened at Ruby's pouting look as she begged for information from her partner.
"Well, we're sharing pasts so let's get mine out of the way." Blake recovered enough from her slap to glare at the heiress, but listened astutely. "You said you haven't been home since you were twelve, but I haven't had a home since I was old enough to walk and talk."
Yang made to interrupt, but Kara stopped her, eyes communicating to let her finish talking before questions went flying. It was remarkable enough they'd managed to get Blake's past out of her, but now Weiss was in the mood for sharing.
"Everyone assumes, as the heiress to the Schnee Dust Corporation, I had everything I ever wanted growing up. Yes, that's true. I had everything I wanted of monetary value, all at the cost of Jacques Schnee's racist Dust mining policies." No one asked who Jacques was, deducing he was her estranged father if she was on a first name basis. "All the dresses, all the weapons, all the training I wanted was mine, as long as I was the daughter he wanted."
"I wouldn't even be here it it wasn't for me playing to his ego, proposing I act as a representative of the company in Vale. I wasn't a daughter to him; I was an asset to be used to extend the reach of the company and gain influence. I was treated with indifference from him at best and stern reprimand if I screwed up my lessons. My mother neglected me, preferring the bottom of a bottle over caring for me, and after Winter left for the military, she wasn't allowed to see me. You don't get to complain about a family who loves you, when I haven't had to chance to experience one."
Weiss hadn't cried at all during her tirade, carefully schooling her features to hide every bit of pain within her. She wasn't expecting a return slap from Blake. Her eyes held no malice, only retribution.
"What're we then, chopped liver?" Blake shuffled over to hug the heiress. It wasn't one of Ruby's or Yang's over enthusiastic hugs. It was more akin to the hug she had shared with Ruby before hopping onto the bullhead. "We are your family now, understand?"
Weiss nodded her head against Blake's.
"What happens when you have to go home?" Ruby broached the subject, afraid Weiss would have to go home for the summer and be without her team for the next few weeks, stuck in a loveless castle.
"I'm not going home, ever." Weiss impishly smiled at them. "I'm not a Schnee anymore, and thanks to Bianca and Nova's help, I'm also a citizen of Vale. I can never be forced to go back to Atlas."
"If you're not a Schnee, then what are you?"
"She's an Ironwood, which helps out immensely because we'd have been shot out of the sky if I put a Schnee on the passenger manifest." Nova ruffled Weiss' hair affectionately, causing her to scowl. "She's also my sister."
"What?" This was the cumulative thought process of Team RWBY.
"Schnees aren't allowed on the island of Menagerie and are summarily turned away by the state's air forces.
"No, not that part. Why am I your sister?"
"When Bianca and I got married, we asked James if we could use his last name instead of having to decide between the names of Schnee and Xiao-Long. Not adopted by him by any stretch, but it prevents us from using the combination of our last names. Schnee-Xiao-Long is a bit of a mouthful."
"We're still not convinced you're married. You've told us you're married, but Bianca seems to be much more comfortable in mom's arms. None of you have kissed your partners or even hugged them." Ruby pointed to the other White Rose pairing on the ship.
"And what does married life entail?" Summer asked, hand still petting Bianca, adding fuel to Ruby's accusations. "The book you read is a perverse pleasure where we get ideas to use in bed. Just because we're not kissing in front of you, doesn't mean we're not married."
"For all we know, Summer's actually married to Bianca and Nova's married to Kara and you're having a massive joke on us." Yang pointed out.
"Why can't I be married to Summer, or Bianca married to Kara?" Ruby and Yang shared looks of uncertainty and disgust at Nova's proposition. "Wouldn't that'd be a better joke on you?"
"We wouldn't believe it." Weiss scoffed. "Bianca and Kara I can believe, but you two are sisters."
"And?" Nova challenged them, disturbing Bianca's rest by abruptly pulling Summer to her feet and dipping her, face poised directly above hers. Bianca just shuffled over to the next heat source in line; Kara, andwatched the ensuing chaos.
"But you won't." Blake knew Yang, and subsequently Nova, loved to push buttons and leave people uncomfortable.
In response, Summer wrapped her arms around Nova's neck, acquiescing to her demand to screw with the psyche of Team RWBY. You could hear jaws drop, but neither Bianca or Kara seemed to care. Even Zwei had a dumbfounded look on his face.
They weren't quite sure of how to react. Summer and Nova were supposed to be sisters, half sisters at least, but the kiss they were sharing was beyond any friendly kiss Yang had ever bestowed on Ruby.
Nova graciously stopped her actions, letting Summer down onto the floor on the bullhead, acting as a pillow for her head. If there was one thing Summer truly enjoyed, it was the altruistic action of someone running their fingers through her hair.
"Let that be a lesson to you; never challenge Nova to a dare. You'll lose." To be fair, they'd all abandoned trivial moral inhibitions, preferring the company of each other, regardless of societal pressures or standards.
"And you two don't care your supposed spouses just kissed each other?" Weiss questioned wasn't posed against their relationship to each each other, but against their adultery, understanding Nova and Summer had done it to screw with them more than anything.
"You four are very hard to please it seems." Bianca relented, leaving her spot next to Blake to hungrily devour Nova's lips in a violent display of passion, leaving the younger team hot and bothered. "Is that enough proof for you?"
Instead of being satisfied, Ruby poked Kara and Summer, wanting some proof they weren't lying to her, not forgetting Summer ordered her away when she started asking questions about a lie back at the bar.
Kara knew Ruby wouldn't stop unless Summer ordered it, and if the order was given, Ruby would obey, but it would foster distrust within her and have her pressure them for answers further. She alleviated some of their distrust by curling next to Summer and giving her a kiss.
"Satisfied we're not pranking you or will we need to have a foursome to convince you?" Team SKBN sat across the fuselage from Team RWBY, so tightly intertwined with one another they couldn't make out who began and ended where. They quickly nodded. "Good, now there are a few items of importance we need to go over."
"First, you're all Hunters under my command for this mission and you'll follow my orders and portray yourselves within reason." Summer got another round of nods. "Secondly, Weiss, you're going to be held at gunpoint the moment you step off this craft. You're not to retaliate at all nor defend yourself in any way. You'll stand next to Blake as protection as they won't risk shooting her by accident."
As much as Weiss tried to not convey fear, being told not the defend herself against an island of Faunus who hated her family name shook her up. Blake rubbed her shoulder compassionately. They'd have to trust Summer and her team to protect them during this diplomatic mission.
"Other than those two items, Blake is returning to a home she hasn't seen in six years, and while it isn't our Menagerie, it's Kara's home too, so remember to have some fun at least." Nova added.
"What's this diplomatic mission for?" Weiss had to ask.
"Classified for now, but behave and maybe I'll tell you." Summer told her. The mission would be declassified to their forces in two weeks time either way. Any information leaked after the mission would do the SDC no good as their camps were bordering on illegal in the first place and couldn't raise a legal fuss. "And specific note to Ruby, do not randomly accost Faunus and ask to pet their ears. It's usually a gesture done between parent and child, lovers, or close friends."
Ruby flushed at her previous blunder when forcing Blake to submit to her petting, but Blake wasn't having any of that. She pulled her leader in a half hug, telling her it was all right. Team SKBN shared smiles.
"I have one request before we land." Weiss got their attention. They still had an hour or two to go. "Do any of you know how to cut hair?"
Without missing a beat, Summer unsheathed Shadow's twin and handed to Nova. As much as she prized her hair, she had seen Ruby towel off her hair in minutes while hers was still wet, regularly got in the way, and could be turned against her, as demonstrated by Pyrrha.
She only hoped Nova knew what she was doing.
AN: Finally got this out after my writer's block and my finals week. Mostly filler and some character development for Team RWBY and some exposition to Team SKBN's relationship with Neo, and their pasts. I aim to have the next chapter out by New Years, but I'm not too good with schedules. I've been rereading the first few chapters and I cringe at them, but they'll stay the same as a testament to progress. And to the few who've stayed to read this far, congratulations and thank you.