I watched as Railen left the room, without any sort of verbal response to Argos's question. I looked to Elysia, who watched the door closed. The Headmaster made some reasonable points, and we had a whole weekend together to talk things out. The only problem was… how do we do that?
"Well, there goes our leader," I spoke up after a minute of awkward silence. I realized we were all staring at the door.
"Did you really think I'd be a better replacement for leader?" Elysia asked, her voice quiet, yet curious.
"Well, Argos would have a great deal of trouble trying to lead the team." I pointed out, before turning to the largest member of RAEN. "No offense, of course."
He shook his head and waved a hand at me dismissively before approaching his bed and sitting down on it. He laid down and closed his eyes. Argos hadn't changed out of his armor, so I assumed he would change later before actually going to sleep.
"And I doubt I would be given any credit as a leader after what everyone saw of me during initiation." I admitted. I had my reasons, but that would come later. My teammates were strangers that had large burdens of their own, and I had no right to try to share yet another heavy burden with them.
"Because you're a Banecraw, correct?" Elysia asked. "Is that why you were determined to lead?"
"At least you understand my motivation for being here, then." I concluded. "I didn't exactly tell you much when we first joined together."
"No," She answered. "But it's not difficult to hear about the rather grisly affairs within one of the more influential Faunus families in Mistral when I'm part of one of the most influential industry families in all of Remnant."
"Then why wouldn't you defend yourself as such and try to be leader?" I asked.
"You heard what Headmaster Watson said, Nero." She said simply. "There's too much at stake if I were put at any sort of position that would leave me easily recognized by anyone on the outside."
"So the fake name, the reluctance to lead, no outward expression of your background whatsoever." I noted the prominent things that I've observed from the past few hours from our Dust specialist. "You ran, and are currently hiding away as a student of Haven."
"That's the simpler way to say it, yes." She alluded to a much more complicated history. Before I could say anything more, she approached her respective dresser, pulled out what appeared to be a nightgown and walked to the door. She turned to me and gave a small smile before continuing. "We may be teammates, but I'd rather not talk about it at the moment. We barely know each other, Nero. Perhaps, another day, when we don't have so many things on our minds."
I watched her forced smile turn into a brooding frown as she turned the doorknob, nightclothes in hand, and left for what I assumed to be a shower. Turning to the only other remaining teammate left in the room, Argos, who I deduced to be our defensive specialist, appeared to be napping. I took out my Scroll to see that it was evening, 8:30 PM to be exact. How time went by so fast, I didn't know. It seemed like a whole day since we were in the forest, and yet that happened earlier today.
"I'm going to go out for a walk too, Argos." I told him as I walked out. He waved an arm lazily and turned over on his bed.
I explored the halls of our end of Haven Academy, where the first and second years shared a whole wing. While the building itself was a simple square around a large courtyard, the building was very tall. The first two floors were reserved for the extremely large lecture and combat halls. The floors above that were reserved for the students' dorms, and above that was faculty offices and domiciles. In all, the height of the building went up to 6 floors. The dorms system was quite different. In the entrance-wise and the parallel parts of the Academy, it was only the one large hall. The entrance-wise door gave opening to the Great Hall, the general entrance area for students and visitors alike. The opposite side of the academy was and large door, granting access to the Grimm-infested forest and helipads. The other two large "walls" of the square academy were the dorms. The third years, while there were many second years and first years combined, stayed in the building parallel to the first and second years.
The halls weren't very decorated. Just bronze sconces and electric lamps lighting the brown and gold patterned corridor, whose pattern stayed the same throughout, except for the addition of red once one would reach the teacher's residency floors. Some students milled about with their friends in the hallway. Many of them sounded excited for what was to come this weekend. It wasn't until a I found a set of double doors, much larger than a normal dorm door, that I decided to stop exploring the halls themselves and take a detour. A plaque on the side said, "Outdoor Lounge." Out of curiosity, I entered the Lounge to see Railen, talking on his Scroll. He sat alone on what looked like a small bench at a coffee table. His eyes met mine, and he hung up.
"Hey Nero." He greeted. He didn't exactly sound enthusiastic to see me. Neither was I to him, though. "Did the rest of the team ask you to look for me?" I shook my head.
"Just… exploring." I answered. I was looking for a better word, but couldn't find one. Railen's blue eyes narrowed. Our team leader originally appeared to be much warmer and open to people in general, but seeing his eyes, I could see coldness in them. "I'm not here to complain."
He looked me up and down. "Are you here to try to ask what I've going on in my life, or…?"
"I've gotten a little out of Elysia," I admitted. "But I'm sure we'll all learn about each other in due time. For right now," I took a seat on a bench opposite him. "I just wish to apologize."
"Really, now?" He smirked. His cold blue eyes still bothered me, I don't know why.
"Yes." I sighed. "I just want you to understand that my ego did, in fact, get the best of me today. I'm not exactly what you would call a 'team player'."
"Well, despite what Headmaster Watson says," He retorted. "I'm not exactly a leader either. So why don't we make a deal?"
"I'm listening."
"I'll take care of the team's strategy for combat," He began. "And you can take care of the more diplomatic situations."
"As in?" I asked.
"Things that don't ask for fighting." He explained. "From the minor leadership experience I had, I was responsible for both uh… execution of projects and dealing with authorities. It'd be easier if you and Elysia could handle that."
"Because of our names." I concluded for him. The way he said "execution" stuck with me longer than I thought it would. He's hiding something. I wagered inwardly. Then again, so are Elysia and I, so I can't exactly say anything to provoke it.
"If you've got it, use it to your advantage." He shrugged.
"I don't know how I feel about that." I said. "It still puts a target on me and Elysia, and if you remember, we can't have any focus on her and I would appreciate the focus away from me."
He sighed at this and took a minute of silence. Suddenly, his blue eyes flashed, causing me to instinctively get up and prepare for an attack. When I calmed down, I saw that he was laughing and his blue eyes were no longer as cold.
"You're very on edge, Nero." Railen said. "Calm down, we're pretty much protected here at Haven."
"You seem very confident of your safety here." I countered. "Why is that?"
"One, our professors and Headmaster are experienced Hunters." He answered. "Two, I was promised that we'd be safe before I was even 'recommended' here."
"Why the air quotes?" I asked.
"Rama and I have some history." He explained. "He trained in my last two years at Sanctum, helping me out with tournaments and helping my family with financial issues."
"Financial issues?" I repeated. "And really, Professor Apochrypha?"
"Yeah, him." He smirked. "That's why he keeps telling me he's 'gonna give me hell' and all that down talk."
"I'll have to think this 'deal' over, Railen." I admitted. I didn't like it, but the way he brought it up so confidently made me want to go through with it. That didn't feel right, but he just seemed to exude a feeling of absolution that the deal would happen. I resisted the feeling to say yes immediately. "There's a lot at stake if we put me and Elysia in more recognizable positions."
"Right, of course." Railen nodded, not upset with my answer in any way. "That's perfectly fine. I'm sure we'll come up with something that benefits all of us in the end." He flashed a quick smile that told me he wasn't mad. My tail was twitching a bit against the bench under me; my Faunus instincts were keeping me wary.
In the end, all this meeting ended up being was a bunch of small talk. We went back and forth about general things about Haven and each other, not really going in depth or anything, but we at least scratched the surface. I could still tell that he was hiding things, though.
"If you don't mind me asking," I asked, following the nonchalant tone of our conversation. "Who were you talking to earlier?"
"My sister." He said casually. "Younger. Goes to Sanctum at the moment, and we like to keep in touch from time to time."
"That's… nice." I nodded in acknowledgement. "Giving her the rundown of Haven?"
"Yeah." Railen said, his eyes now looked very tired. "Listen, Nero. I'm glad we had this talk, but I think it's getting late. We should be getting ready for bed. They're giving us a tour of the building and stuff tomorrow."
Taking out and checking my ow Scroll, I saw that he was correct. It was already 9:45 PM, with lights out around 11. With everything said and done, I got up, turned and walked over to the way back into the hallway. Before I left the Lounge, I looked back and saw Railen staring at his own Scroll apparently examining it carefully.
"Railen," I called out to him, and thankfully caught his attention. "I don't fully trust you yet but…" I sighed. "I'll have to trust your ability as a strategist for now as our leader."
"Thanks, Nero." He responded. His blue no longer shone coldly, which calmed me down a little. "You go on ahead. I still gotta think things over before I turn in for the night."
I nodded and left. When I entered our room, the light was dimmed enough to allow myself and Railen enough visibility to change quickly and lay in our own beds. Checking the room, I saw that both Elysia and Argos had already fallen asleep; the latter had apparently changed out of his armor for tan pajama pants and a white t-shirt. I quickly changed into my own nightclothes and lay down on my bed, which shared a side with Elysia.
I felt a little awkward having to share a room that was only 25% female, and felt some pity for her. I shook my head and dispelled such thoughts, because it just felt like I was making her a smaller bit of the team that she really is; she really did manage to literally propel things into motion during initiation. Somehow, Railen saw that much faster than I've ever even tried to think. I guess that's why he's the leader, just on strategic prowess alone. Suddenly, my Scroll buzzed with a notification: I received a text message from Railen himself. It read:
"I didn't really want to be a team leader in the first place."
I heard our door open once more, but immediately closed my Scroll and feigned sleep. In the darkness, I heard Railen change from armor to nightclothes, sigh, and get into bed. Tomorrow was supposed to be a jovial day of sorts, yet I couldn't feel anything except anxious at the moment.
A/N: Eyo, BleachCadelina here with another short chapter for y'all. Sorry about the length, I just wanted to get this out before I forgot it. Whatcha think of Nero's POV? Leave any and all criticisms and advice in the reviews/comments! I'm still trying to improve my writing, so let me know what to work on!
Review Responses:
Maebird: I'm doing my best to make Ronan Watson a damn good Headmaster. He'll show up more in the future, and I hope you like him then, too!
MysteryAgain: Well, I hope this helped the "fleshing out" a bit.
Also, just because the two of them have come to a resolution in terms of leadership, doesn't mean they'll still work well together in the end. This is all still beginning, and I'm glad to have y'all for the ride!
Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!
If you're interested in a small, somewhat comedic RWBY story, check out my OC-centric story "Nobody's Tale in Vale." I hope more people will pick that up and enjoy that too.
