Team Glacier and Pomegranate stand in the sparring gym, a large open space with benches scattered for bystanders to sit at. The gym is clearly worn down from the spars it has hosted, with scorch marks and cracks in the floor and decorating the exceedingly high ceiling. There is a pile of broken benches in the far corner, and the remaining seats look just as beaten up as furniture from a two year old's dollhouse.
Most of the assembled students are gathered at one end among the remaining benches. Pixie and Narcissa sat silently, watching the ongoing fight intensely, with Clover seated a few feet away and Cerna close by. He has a textbook resting on his lap, and is much more engrossed with that. Randy and Mayumi have chosen to stand off to the side.
A streak of blue flashes across the training gym, heading straight for a dark-haired girl who was wildly throwing blades his way. Mayumi watches with wide eyes, silently cheering Vira, the dark smudge, on. Randy shouts Gabriel's name, and nudges Mayumi's shoulder with a chuckle.
"Oh come on, cheer Gabriel on. Even if he's losing," Randy jokes, turning his gaze back to the fight. A glint of silver catches Mayumi's eyes, and she watches it strike Gabriel in the chest. He falls backwards, caught off balance, and then several more swords pin him to the wall behind him. Mayumi feels her heart flutter. Vira is such a graceful fighter! Even if watching Vira fight never truly puts Mayumi's worries about her friend to rest, she can't help but feel something within her stir at the sight. The years of rigorous training in Chaos reflect in every fluid movement of Vira's wrist as she throws her daggers, every perfect placement of her feet as she keeps herself out of Gabriel's comfort zone. How could she not cheer?
"Vira's my friend," Mayumi states firmly, then she hesitates. "Well, so is Gabriel, but Vira has been my friend for a lot longer. Of course I'm going to cheer for her, even if we couldn't be on the same team," Mayumi explains. Her attention is torn back to the fight as Vira closes the distance. Swiftly, she pulls one of the daggers pinning Gabriel from the wall, presses her small form against him, and pushes the blade against his throat.
"Match! Good job Vira," Narcissa calls out sharply. Narcissa glances at Pixie with a sneer.
"Your team isn't doing so good, hm?" Narcissa teases. Pixie shoves her, cackling.
"Oh that's not fair, you put your best against Gabriel. That's like...Mayumi against Clover! Unfair from the beginning," Pixie shoots back in response, her hands busily gesturing as she speaks.
"Fine! We'll do that matchup next. You know, Clover has been doing really well in training. Right Clover!" Narcissa snaps hotly at the challenge. Clover looks up from the textbook he had been reading on the sideline, obviously not paying attention to the girls' conversation.
"Oh, yeah. Totally. Whatever she said…" he mumbles, clearly still interested in whatever it was he was reading. Narcissa balls her hands into fists and snarls.
"Clover! It's your turn, you're fighting Mayumi. Pay attention! You're supposed to be learning right now! By watching," Narcissa shouts.
Clover slams his book shut and jumps up, snagging his weapons all in one motion.
"Great!" he says cheerfully, heading towards the center of the arena.
Mayumi doesn't need to be told to get ready to fight, she's already strutting into the arena after Clover. Her weapons sit easily in her grip. The image of Clover saving her from the King Taijitu during initiation flashes in her mind and she feels a shame burning in her stomach. Now was her chance to prove that she didn't need to be helped!
The two face each other and exchange polite nods as signs of good faith. Adrenaline starts to pump through Mayumi's veins. It shoots through her like horses out of the racing gates with heat on their breath and hooves pounding against the floor of her blood vessels.
Mayumi shifts her weight back, and at the sound of Narcissa's voice she's gone and Clover's first attack strikes dead space. As she comes back down from above, she relishes in the feeling of the air against her skin, streaming through the loose hairs that frame her face. Before Clover has even realized where she went, she's on his back, swords clashing against him.
As soon as the action starts, it's as if a switch is flipped: she is focused. She finds her muscles relaxing so that each strike is effortless. A fight is simply a dance with an uncooperative partner, an exchange of elegant movements with someone who wants to sabotage the act. Each blow must be countered, and each strike placed in order to force her partner to move the way she wanted: the way she needed them to move to complete the dance.
Her swords find the places Clover leaves unguarded. Weak points stand out to her, things she can latch onto and focus on - no matter how small. Unlike the jumbled words on the pages of a textbook, a fight was clear. Like scattered puzzle pieces falling into place and connecting with a click of satisfaction, a picture is built. His legs, she found, were the most vulnerable spots. He holds his shields just slightly too high, and with how thin her swords are, she is able to easily exploit this.
Within minutes the fight is over. Mayumi finds herself placed perfectly behind him. With her blades taking the form of a whip, she wraps her weapon around one of his ankles and pulls back, and he tumbles head over heels. Before he can get up, she has a foot on his shoulder blade and there's cold steel against the back of his neck.
Pixie punches Narcissa's arm, flashing sharp teeth as she laughs. Narcissa's arms are folded over her chest, her foot tapping restlessly on the gym floor.
"Match over! Good job Mayumi!" Pixie shouts, hopping in place with excitement. "That's my girl!" she adds, shooting Narcissa a flamboyant grin.
As soon as Pixie calls the match, Mayumi quickly shuffles off of Clover and extends a hand to help him. He takes it, his grip strong, and pulls himself up, using Mayumi as an anchor.
"That was some nice work. You know, the way that your swords work is really amazing...is that gravity dust that holds them together? Well, of course it is. It's purple, gravity dust is the only purple dust out there," he says with a chuckle. It's clear that his focus is on her weapons. His fingers twitch, as if he's trying to keep himself from reaching out and grabbing them.
"It's gravity dust. Here, I can show you up close if you'd like…" Mayumi starts, when suddenly Clover shakes his head.
"No! Don't show me! I mean, not here. Uh- well, what I meant to say was that you should show me in my pocket! While I'm helping you study. That's what I was going to ask," he says, shoving his hands behind his back with a grimace.
Mayumi blinks, confusion welling up within her. She quickly sheaths her swords and nods slowly, taking a step back. Clover is acting awfully strange. Is he scared of her weapon? That would be silly, but perhaps understandable if she just beat him with them.
"O-oh ok! Yeah, sounds like a great idea! We have our...punishment mission tomorrow, but it shouldn't be late. It's just a day mission right outside of Vale," Mayumi offers, ending her words with a smile. Spending time with Clover had been fun thus far, with the exception of a single moment, and she's sure it will be nice to be able to get a better look at his semblance. Her heart flutters thinking of how warm it had been when she had first wandered into the pocket, like a nice bath one could sink into.
"Yeah! Yeah, that's great. Tomorrow, I will show you the pocket. Awesome!" he says, rubbing his hands together, as though he were rolling out dough.
"Mayumi!" Pixie shouts, catching the young girl's attention. "Get over here. We have to head out, we have to leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow and we still have to get that presentation about dust types done for Professor Dimitri's class. I don't want to be up late," Pixie says, ushering Mayumi with wide, swooping motions of her arms. Mayumi quickly abandons Clover, rushing over to her team leader. Pixie places a hand on Mayumi's shoulder, shooting a glare towards Clover. Mayumi's stomach drops to her feet. Was it wrong of her to take Clover's offer? Had she talked to him for too long after the fight? Her cheeks flush as she realizes how stupid she had been, accepting an offer to spend time with someone without Pixie: a boy of all people! Pixie hated any involvement Mayumi had with men or boys alike. Mayumi knew this, but Clover seemed so nice, and the thought of being able to relax in the pocket brings her a lovely feeling of soft joy, akin to the sensation that comes with running one's hand through a bird's feathered breast. The kind of gleeful anticipation that made her feel weightless.
Her head spins. How could she be excited for something that felt so inexplicably dirty, something that would only insight Pixie's anger?
With one glance back at Clover, she feels her heart beat faster. A dangerous thought slips into her brain, crawling through the folds of her grey matter.
So what if it makes Pixie angry?
~Scene Break~
The team get to their watchtower early the next morning, the sun streaming in through the thin windows that wrap around the length of the tower. Kept relatively clean for a good viewing experience, it was clear that these windows were important to the tower. As Gabriel approaches these windows, he stares out into the wilderness that surrounded Vale. The tree line is pushed back, leaving swathes of ragged grassland outside the city's walls. If the treeline was too close to the wall, it would make sighting approaching Grimm, or an army, harder to spot.
While attending Compass Academy back in Atlas, Gabriel had learned about the defensive systems of all the kingdoms, reaching beyond Atlas's own borders. Seeing Beacon's defensive wall, sitting within the very towers he had learned about from an attackers perspective, is strange. More than strange, however, Gabriel finds this to be a relief. He is not here to bring harm to another kingdom, but to help protect the people within their walls.
Lost in deep focus, he doesn't notice Pixie approaching until her hand is on his shoulder. She leans forward. Her hand tightens its grip and her breath is warm and rancid on his neck.
"Ain't it beautiful out there?" she asks, giggling and patting his back with a firm hand.
"It's mostly just trees," Gabriel responds dryly. Pixie laughs again, taking her hands off the boy altogether and placing them on her hips instead.
"Trees are beautiful!" she shouts, gesturing to the air above her. "It's too bad Mayumi can't see them properly. She's stuck at the cameras, too short to see out the windows. And of course, Randy couldn't just leave her be," Pixie says with a snort. Pixie sends a disdainful look towards her companion, who is seated across the room at a desk staring into several computer screens. Randy is nearby, keeping his teammate company.
The contempt Pixie holds for her team, most pointedly Mayumi, rubs Gabriel the wrong way. Despite knowing better, he can't help but retort.
"That's really unnecessary."
"Unnecessary? Whaddya mean?" Pixie says, tilting her head. The look in her eyes urges him to reconsider his position. Pixie glowers down at him, her height suddenly foreboding as she leans closer. Her hands find a place to rest on either side of him, trapping him. Gabriel doubts that Pixie would actually lay a hand on any of them, but that didn't stop his heart from rapidly beating in his chest.
"Nothing," he quickly answers. His words are not his own, he speaks them only so that Pixie, and her obnoxiously bad breath, will back off.
It works.
"Then we're good here," she says, her usual perky tone returning as if nothing had happened.
Gabriel turns to look back out the window, crossing his arms over his chest. His mind, however, is not on the view. Instead, his head is filled with thoughts of Pixie. She reminds him of an Atlesian general, ruling with an icy fist and a sharp tongue to match. He can't believe how unlucky he is. Running away from Atlas was supposed to free him from people like her, but somehow he ended up in a team run by a bully with pink hair and a temper that rivals that of his professors back home.
He can't help thinking that there's something else about her. His professors had tempers and would not hesitate to put a student in their place, but Gabriel never feared them. When Pixie snaps, Gabriel is scared. The thought makes him shudder. Something wasn't right with Pixie, and Mayumi seems to be shouldering most of it. Even worse, the young fox faunus remains blissfully unaware.
Pixie sighs heavily behind him. "This place is filthy," she calls out, gesturing to the room around her. "Hey, Gabriel, I'll watch the window for a bit, you go look and see if you can find some cleaning supplies. I thought I saw a closet on the stairs on our way up, see what's in there."
Gabriel glances back at her, hesitating. When she raises a brow and snaps her fingers at him, he rolls his eyes and walks past her towards the stairs. Sure enough, he finds a closet a few steps down, and swings the door open. Inside are some cleaning materials, and a toolbox.
"Found some things!" Gabriel calls out, snagging what he can in his hands. "There's a broom, a mop, some bottles of...stuff. Bleach, window cleaner, whatever," he says, bringing everything to the table with the cameras. Mayumi sneaks a glance towards the supplies only to quickly turn back to the dim screens in front of her.
"What was that about, with Pixie?" Randy whispers. Gabriel brushes it off. Pixie is sauntering her way over, and he doesn't want to risk upsetting her again.
"Ooo! Looks like there was a closet! Wonder why no one ever uses this stuff. This place is filthy," she chirps, grabbing the broom and broom pan. "Gabriel, sweetheart, was there a mop and bucket in there?"
Her words ooze sickly sweet and he has to fight the urge to give a harsh response. Without answering, he only nods.
"Okay, Randy, you go fill that up. Gabriel, I want you to work on sweeping, and I'll get the windows looking all shiny!"
Mayumi turns away from her post, looking up with wide eyes, eager to partake.
"What do you want me to do?" she asks, bouncing in her seat. Pixie dismisses her with a wave of her hand.
"Just sit there, someone's gotta watch the cameras."
Dejected, Mayumi turns around and settles back down.
"I can watch the cameras, I don't really want to help clean, and if Mayumi wants to-" Pixie turns, her lip twitching to reveal her canines.
"Did I ask what either of you wanted? No. I didn't. I told you what to do, and this is the part where you listen. Got it? Good. Great talk," Pixie snaps, her nails digging into the wood of the broom. Gabriel raises his hands in automatic surrender once again, and Pixie rewards him with a smile.
"Thank you. Mayumi, do you have any issues?" she asks, leaning against her broom.
"No. Not at all," Mayumi murmurs softly. The light from the monitors reflect in her blank stare. Gabriel has to force himself to look away from her. With a heavy hand, he grabs a bottle of window cleaner and a soft cloth, heading over to one of the window panes.
Pixie begins chattering immediately.
"You know, I don't mind cleaning that much. Quite like it, actually. I was really hoping we'd get some sort of janitorial duty, but Ozzie had other plans. Whatever, I can always get my cleaning fix here! Nothing wrong with that," she starts, pausing only to bark a command at Randy when he returns with the filled mop bucket.
"Hey, set that over there, and then dust the computer monitors while I finish up sweeping. There's no sense in mopping until I'm done with this."
Randy chuckles, going along with her commands without a second thought. Gabriel didn't understand how Randy put up with her, how he didn't seem to see anything wrong with Pixie. Couldn't he see the venom in her eyes?
"I didn't know you liked cleaning this much," Randy starts, easing into conversation with the pink haired woman. "You'd think you have a cleaning semblance," Randy jokes. Pixie laughs, shaking her head.
"I don't have a cleaning semblance," she responds lightly.
"Oh? What is your semblance?" Randy asks, pausing in his cleaning. Gabriel follows suit. Pixie keeps her semblance under wraps to everyone except Mayumi, and Gabriel is just as curious to hear what it is.
"Ah, you'll find out," Pixie teases, tugging at Randy's ear. Unfazed, he pushes her hand away and goes back to his assigned task.
"I bet you don't even have one. Not like you need one, you fight just fine without," Randy answers. Pixie laughs, shaking her head.
"You really think I don't have one? Come on, I'm not Gabriel," she says, shooting a glance his way. Gabriel turns away, but it's not fast enough. He feels her eyes on him, burning the back of his neck, waiting for him to respond.
"I just haven't unlocked mine yet, I-I'm sure I will," Gabriel answers, though he lacks confidence.
"I'm sure you will, too," Pixie snorts back in response. Randy doesn't laugh, and for that Gabriel is grateful. For how blind he seems, at least Randy knew how to read a room.
"Hey, Mayumi! What's your semblance? It's not a secret, too, is it?" Randy quickly shifts the focus from Gabriel to Mayumi, and the young girl eagerly jumps on the opportunity.
"Oh! It's electricity. Pixie, can I show them real quick? Please?" Mayumi pleads, starting to stand up. Gabriel turns around just in time to see anger flashing in Pixie's eyes, but Pixie doesn't say no.
"Fine, but don't break anything."
"Break anything? Oh, this'll be exciting." Randy chuckles, leaning on one of the monitors.
Mayumi stands up, cracking her knuckles and shaking out her hands. With her brows knotted, she raises a hand. In a flash, the room is filled with a brilliant white light that dies just as soon as it appears.
"Wow, it literally is just electricity," Randy jokes, turning back to dusting. Mayumi beams, only to be cut down by Pixie.
"Cameras?"
"O-oh, sorry Pixie! I'll get right back to it," Mayumi responds, falling back into her seat haphazardly, her cheeks flushed. Gabriel sprays the window, wiping the cleaner away with his cloth. In the glass, he sees that Pixie's gaze is still locked on him, something unreadable swimming in her bright blue eyes.
~Authors note~
Hey! I have not posted the last couple days since I've been busy, but here you are! I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, let me know what you think as a review! I genuinely love feedback, and would love to see some here! Thank you guys for reading 3
This chapter has some more character building, working on building up how the characters interact and exploring the team dynamics. More plot soon, I promise! The next chapter is a bit darker tonally than the rest of the fanfic so far, so warning for that.