Li didn't know why he had asked where Cardin was staying, it was just instinctive.
Li looked out into the white expanse, scanning it for anything irregular. He recognised a pair of connected clouds that he recognised; he couldn't place when he had seen them before, until he got close and felt them.
Li was surprised at how much they had changed, the clouds, originally being a huge black swirl and a small white swirl, mirrored in the other set, now were both large white clouds, connected almost side by side, with tiny orbiting black satellites.
Li quickly realised where he was when he noticed the clouds moving in and around each other, as if they were sparring; he looked straight down; finding exactly what he wanted.
He melted down a few yards, stopping at the largest black cloud in a cluster of four, the three smaller ones being fed by the largest. Li looked for the white clouds accompanying them, finding them all hidden behind the larger black counterparts.
Li moved into the large black cloud, feeling something he had never felt before, pure hatred. All the standard emotions he would often feel were not present, he got some sense of pride, but the hatred quickly overpowered it.
Li phased back out, collecting his thoughts and planning what to do. Li didn't quite know what he was doing, it just felt necessary. Li promised to never leave Velvets side, but here, he could do anything and everything.
Li moved closer to the black cloud and whispered, "They are coming. They are everywhere. They are behind you." The cloud quickly convulsed, Li felt it again, but there was nothing new, still just hatred.
Li was puzzled, he decided to look at the small white cloud behind; upon examination, he could feel duty and pride, admirable emotions, but both were feeding and being fed by the hatred. Tainted emotions.
Li needed to try something new; he traversed the space, nearing the maelstrom. He looked into it, and quickly noticed some frayed points within the black swirls; fear and doubt Li concluded after feeling them. The small frays of black felt loose, Li decided to bring his supposed left hand up, and concentrated.
His eyes opened and he saw two black strands, about a metre in length dangling flimsily in front of him. He looked to the swirl to the east, and moved quickly to its side.
Li laid the long strands of smoke across the length of the black cloud; he rested his left hand over the top, and concentrated. Li kept his eyes open, and saw smoke manifest where he had concentrated and the strands came to life.
The strands wrapped and stretched over the length of the large cloud, Li could see the opposing emotions fighting, and tracked the conflict across all the funnels in the area. He had succeeded. Li floated back to the maelstrom, and spent the rest of his dream staring into the large white cloud that stuck close to the maelstrom every night.
Li's eyes opened slowly; sleep falling off his lashes. Li lay unmoving, not wanting to disturb the beautiful faunus in front of him. It was a few minutes until Velvets alarm started beeping, rousing the bunny eared girl.
Their eyes met and they stared longingly at each other, "Thank you for staying with me last night!" Velvet whispered softly, causing Li to blush. "I know it must have been difficult not to do anything, but I needed you."
Li smiled, and slowly kissed velvets button nose, "Anything for you."
They rose slowly, performing their morning routine, showering and dressing. Both wore their uniforms today, something Velvet was quite pleased with, "You look cute in a uniform!" She smiled and winked at Li. Li only scoffed, not convinced.
Li and Velvet walked hand in hand to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast. They walked in, picked up their food, and sat together chatting. The rest of Velvets team joined them a few moments later. They joked and poked fun at the faunus couple, all in good humour, as they ate their food.
Li spotted the boy, Cardin, when he entered; he was slouched slightly, eyes darting about. Clearly something was bothering the young man.
Li decided to check on him, using the excuse of taking his food to the bin to slip away momentarily. Li moved up behind Cardin, who was lining up for food and whispered, "Hey, Cardin."
The large boy jumped, and made an almost imperceptible squeak. "Not to worry, only me, the freak!" Li spoke slowly and quietly. Li knew what his voice would be doing to the boy, and let it do its work.
As Li left, he dropped his rubbish in the bins, and headed back to Velvet, happy with the outcome of his dream adventure.
Velvet gave him a questioning look when he returned, "Just had an amicable chat with him, I don't think he will bother you again." Li said smiling.
He didn't want to share his dream with Velvet, not until Li fully understood what it meant. Over the years Li had learnt about his abilities, he learnt quickly that it was somewhat related to the real world, and that it was to do with auras. Although the biggest breakthroughs had come in the recent days, since he woke from the coma, the revelation of the white clouds solidified his suspicions about being connected to auras, and the way the clouds interacted each other made Li sure that not only could he affect the auras in his state, but that others could affect auras independently. There was still much to understand however, namely why Li had this ability.
Li walked Velvet to her first class, medical practice, thanked the nurse again for everything, and explained the room situation before rushing off to his classes for the day.
Li's classes went by without incident; it seemed all his peers had moved on from the confusion and irritation at his presence.
Li decided to leave Velvet to her team, he had realised he was taking up a lot of her time, and so Li spent his spare time in the workshop, working on his side project.
He was only allowed in the workshop while a professor was around, and so it came to about half past six, and Li was forced to clear up and vacate the room. Li decided to head to his bay window for a moment, to get some pictures.
On his way past the library he noticed someone coming down some stairs. "Jun?" Li yelled, running over. "What are you doing here?"
"Ozpin messaged me on my old scroll, asking if I could come in for a meeting." Jun responded hesitantly.
"That's cool, what did he want?" Li asked, as if he already knew the answer.
"Well, he just wanted to ask me something, but I'm not sure what to do about it."
Li's smile lessened, "I know what you should do. Don't make any decisions until Sunday; I have something to give you."
"How do you know I have a decis…" Jun paused, laughed and stared at Li, "You son of a… You really are too sneaky."
Li laughed at that, patted Jun's shoulder, "I'm glad to see you up and about, I told you it was easy."
Jun gave Li a smack, "This was anything but easy you dick!"
Li only laughed more, "I will see you Sunday, at the town centre?"
"Yeah… Sure thing man; it better be good." Li smiled, hugged Jun, and continued on to the bay window.
Li sat there for a few hours, taking in the beauty of the city, noting how there was a large number of ships flying and sailing in, the festival; of course. Li had completely forgotten that other students would be coming into Vale.
It was late in the evening when Li heard a familiar rustle behind him, when he turned he saw deep brown eyes, not amber eyes.
Li smiled, reaching out a hand for Velvet to join him. "I thought I'd give you some time with your team tonight!" Li explained, feeling guilty.
"I appreciate that, but I wanted to be with you. I went to the room, but you weren't there, so I came straight here!" Li looked to his lap blushing, but when he felt a hand in his hair, rubbing his ears, he relaxed.
They sat together for a few hours; it was evening when they saw a figure running out into the courtyard.
Velvet and Li were both intrigued; the figure stopped by the courtyard statue, and a few moments later a second figure came out of a nearby tree and joined her, the two figures departed together, quickly disappearing out of view. Velvet and Li looked at each other in puzzlement, but quickly moved on.
They left soon after, going back to their room and spending their night together again. Tonight was a special night for them both. They didn't sleep for a long time, only 'enjoyed' each other's company. Once they did fall asleep, Li dreamt, as he always did.
Li woke up late; having a lie-in was exactly what he needed after last night. Velvet was in the shower when he woke up. Once she came out, Li admired her glistening body, reminiscing about the night they had spent together.
Once they were both awake and recharged, they left each other, Velvet went to study in the library, and Li went to the workshop; to finish off his project.
Once Sunday rolled around, Li was tired; his Saturday was spent labouring in the workshop, he hadn't realised how far behind his project was and so had to spend hours working to finish before the project was done.
Li rushed off to meet Jun in the town centre.
It was close to 16:00 when Li got to the town centre, a full two hours late. "You dick, where have you been?" Jun almost yelled, spilling some of his coffee.
"I'm really sorry; I just had some minor issues with your surprise." Li smiled, embarrassed. Li sat down in the seat across from Jun.
Once Li ordered his drink, he relaxed, the conversation with Jun continued, and they joked and laughed with each other for a while, until finally Jun's curiosity got the better of him. "So where's my surprise?"
Li laughed, picked up a box from his side, which he had hidden from Jun's view.
Li handed it over to Jun, smiling, "Open it up, I hope you like them!"
Jun opened the box, and read the note on the top, "Dear Jun, I hope you like these, I designed them based on 'Clint'. 'Deadwood' and 'Sundance' here are much more powerful than Clint was, the high impact magnums are built with a special mechanism, which allows for quicker bullet chambering. The magazines have been improved to hold triple the number of bullets, the blades on the front are a part of the gun barrel, making them both strong blades, and they are also five inches longer than 'Clint' was, making it far more deadly. - Li" Jun read silently, smiling as he read, Li thought he spotted a tear, but couldn't be sure.
"I thought you would need these to help you make it out of your slump. It seems that you didn't need them though, so instead they can be your present for coming back to Beacon! If that is what you want!"
Jun smiled, "Thank you, they are awesome! So much cooler than 'Clint'. 'Deadwood' and 'Sundance' though? Not the greatest names!" Jun was teasing Li.
"You can re-name them if you want!" Li snapped.
They both laughed, sipping at their cold coffees. "If you want we could go pract…"
Both Li and Jun froze. A large explosion and a plume of smoke resonated from the docks a few blocks away. They looked at each other, "Go get bring the police!" Li snapped, Jun nodded and jogged off. Li ran off, following the backstreets towards the docks.