Hey, so turns out I have Wi-Fi at home now. So this hiatus was nowhere near as long as expected.
Short AN; I'm in a rush. This was written in the early hours again, not proofread, so apologies for spelling and grammar mistakes.
New chapter. Enjoy :)
Edit: Forgot the disclaimer.
Also, thanks to Relks the Disturbed for reviewing.
This is a disclaimer. You can fill in the blanks.
Chapter Four: Storm in a Bottle - Part 1: All is Calm, For Now
"Did you hear? Sentinel totally wiped out a smuggling ring last night."
"Really? I heard he saved a rich old lady from being mugged."
"Well I heard he beat up a group of White Fang assassins."
"Man, he is so awesome!"
Weiss rolled her eyes. Didn't her fellow students have a better use for their time than gossiping about some vigilante?
It had been just over a month since the arrival of Lilac and Amaryl at Beacon, and in the past weeks a vigilante calling himself Sentinel had suddenly appeared and begun taking down criminals in Vale City. In a matter of days his name was known to half the police force. At three weeks his name was being whispered in the hallways between classes and articles were cropping up in newspapers. A week later he was nothing short of a celebrity, virtually a superhero to his rapidly growing fanbase.
As a general rule, Weiss disliked vigilantes and what they stood for. They operated outside the law, using the shadows and the cover of night to do work that was best left to the police.
"So what do you guys think of Sentinel?" Yang asked.
Weiss groaned softly. Even her own teammates insisted on gossiping about this ruffian.
"He seems…okay," Blake murmured. "As long as he doesn't take things too far."
Under their current leadership, the White Fang had started out as a group of vigilantes who had quickly graduated to murder and grand larceny. As far as Blake could tell, this Sentinel didn't seem to be going much farther than apprehending criminals and gift-wrapping them for the police. She just hoped that he didn't decide to take things much further. Someone else like the White Fang was the last thing the world needed right now.
"I think he's awesome," Nate grinned. "Right, Silas?"
After the battle in the forest, Teams RWBY and JNPR (with the notable exception of Weiss) had taken to inviting Team BSTN to sit with them at lunch and during class. With a sense of camaraderie still lingering, the three teams had quickly warmed to each other and become friends (again, with notable exceptions where Weiss was concerned).
"I don't think he's so great," Silas said with a shrug. "He's doing good things, but I think people are exaggerating."
Weiss snorted.
"Do you have something to say, Princess?" the wolf-Faunus asked, his even monotone at odds with his icy glare. He still hadn't dropped his grudge against Weiss for her earlier commentary on Bastion.
Weiss didn't care for his tone. "I just don't approve of ruffians who think they're above the law," she replied loftily, nose in the air. "Crime-fighting should be left to the police."
"That's one opinion on the matter," Taka replied, his tone coolly pleasant. "I personally approve of his actions." While not especially hostile towards the heiress, the young Kaneshiro heir had made no effort at all to be particularly friendly towards her either. He was pleasantly cordial and nothing more.
Before Weiss could deliver a retort, Bastion broke in. "Let's just agree to disagree, shall we? I'm with Nate and Taka, personally, but let's not argue over this." He placed a pacifying hand on Silas's shoulder and offered Weiss a smile.
Out of all of Team BSTN, Bastion alone was nice to the Schnee heiress, treating her with the same warmth that he did everyone else. His kindness baffled Weiss. Had someone said those things about her, she'd probably never forgive them. The rest of his team certainly hadn't forgiven her, and she hadn't said anything about them. His propensity for forgiveness astounded her. It also reminded her in no small way of her own leader, and that just made her feel even worse for not having apologised to him yet.
"Whatever," she snorted, turning her head away.
Nate scowled and opened his mouth to something. Before he could, he felt Bastion's other hand land on his shoulder and squeeze gently. Don't. With a soft snort, Nate closed his mouth and slumped back in his chair.
In an attempt to lighten the mood, Yang tried to change the subject. "So," she began, looking over at Ren and Nora, "where are Jaune and Pyrrha?"
"They're training," Nora piped up cheerily. "Jaune asked if they could train at lunch today and Pyrrha said yes. They take this training thing reeeeally seriously."
"If you say so," Yang smirked. She had suspicions of her own as to why the two JNPR members were so eager to spend time together.
"It's nice that Jaune is so eager to improve," Ruby smiled. "We team leaders have to try hard to live up to our positions," she finished proudly.
Weiss smiled. It was nice to see Ruby taking her responsibility seriously.
Bastion grinned at the red-hooded girl. "You've got that right. We have to do our best, and if there's something holding us back we have to find a way around it, to be the best we can be for our teams."
Nathaniel grinned and punched his partner playfully in the arm. "Aw shucks. Didn't know you cared about us so much."
The blue-haired boy just laughed and rubbed his arm.
Weiss shifted uncomfortably. It was obvious that Bastion had had his disability in mind when he spoke about overcoming obstacles. And that just reminded her yet again that she still had yet to apologise for her harsh words over a month ago. Any hope she might have had of it just dying out of peoples' minds vanished under Silas's constant icy hostility, Nathaniel's continued dislike and Taka's aloofness. Butsomething was holding her back. In part, it was reluctance to bend in such a way. Apologising in general was not something Weiss Schnee did very well.
But there was something else. As she watched Ruby exchange proud grins with the other leader, something uncomfortable coiled in her stomach. She remembered her earlier resolution to hurt Bastion if he ever hurt Ruby. Perhaps that had a hand in it somehow. When she thought of the possibility of him dating and hurting the younger girl, a surge of dislike ran through her. It must be protectiveness for her leader, she thought. That must be it.
Still, it was a silly reason to prevent her from taking responsibility for her words. Besides, she didn't even know if Ruby did like him that way. It was all just a product of Yang's stupid teasing. She had her own responsibility to bear, and she wouldn't let this stop her.
Before she could open her mouth, Taka spoke up. "The bell will be going soon, and I think everyone is finished with their lunch. Why don't we head to class?"
There was a murmur of assent from around the table and then a collective grinding sound as they pushed back their chairs and got to their feet. Across from her, Bastion pushed himself up and grabbed the crutches leaning against the back of his chair. His team automatically fell into place around him.
That was something Weiss had noticed recently; despite being Beacon's newest team, the four boys already seemed to instinctively know how to move around each other. They oriented themselves with an inherent ease that only came from years of comradeship. When walking through the halls they automatically moved into a loose protective formation that placed Bastion in the middle, with the other three evenly spaced around him. Now that she'd noticed it, Weiss realised that they'd been doing it ever since they'd arrived. She doubted that they even realised what they were doing. It was just impulsive. They were always like that. In battle, each one always seemed to know what the others would do next, and they fought as a seamless whole.
Weiss sighed. She wished that her own team was that cohesive. She'd berated herself mentally the first time she'd had that thought, but the more she thought about it, the more she realised that it was not only true but a natural wish. That was what teams aimed for. Every team in Beacon strove to be a cohesive unit like that. They struggled to develop such unity over the course of their training, and to achieve that was a mark of how well a team worked together; that was what it meant to be a true team. Every team in Beacon strove for it, and Team BSTN had shown up with it already perfected on the first day. Weiss had to admit that she was just a little jealous. Just a little.
Pulling herself out of her thoughts before anyone noticed anything, she got to her feet and followed the rest of her team out of the dining hall. Nora and Ren split off soon after leaving the hall; they weren't in Team RWBY's next lesson. The whole of Team BSTN was, and upon pushing open the door to the classroom they discovered that they were the first to class.
As Team BSTN slid into their seats, Weiss took a deep breath and steeled herself. Now was the perfect time, when there was no one but the two teams around to hear her. Just because she had decided to apologise didn't mean that she wanted the whole world to know it.
Yang and Blake were already in their seats in the row below, and Ruby was just behind her. Weiss stopped level with Team BSTN and cleared her throat. She didn't like the thought of looking up at the boy while she apologised. She was lowering herself enough already.
She cleared her throat again. The four boys turned to face her.
"Yes?" Bastion asked kindly.
Weiss could sense her teammates looking at her curiously. Taking another deep breath, she began. "Bastion… I said some…unkind things about you when you and your team arrived at this academy and…" She struggled to get the words out. Just because she knew that she was wrong didn't mean this was easy. She still had her pride, and a Schnee's pride was not easily bent.
"You have…proven me wrong," she continued. "So I… apologise… for the things I said."
The blue-haired boy was frozen in surprise for a moment. He had not been expecting the heiress to be so forthright with her apology so soon. Then he smiled warmly. "Thank you," he replied softly.
She nodded sharply and moved stiffly to take her seat. As she did so, Yang leant over and clapped her on the back. Blake nodded approvingly, even gracing the heiress with a small smile.
As Ruby sat down beside her, Weiss felt her partner's hand slip into her own and give a grateful squeeze. Ruby's hands were surprisingly warm, she thought. Before she could savour that warmth, however, the hand was gone.
Weiss was in a surprisingly good mood for the rest of the period. She wondered at the warmth that filled her when she thought of her teammates' approval. She had noticed the feeling a few times before, and every instance involved her friends. Friends. The word was almost foreign to her. She hadn't had much contact with other children her own age as a young child. When she was a little older she had socialised with the children of other noble families, but those interactions had been nothing but cold and political. There had been no friendship there. So this warm feeling that she got around her teammates, as well as the members of Team JNPR, was strange to her. But though she had resisted it initially, Weiss found that she could not help but like it.
When the period came to an end and the students began to file out the door, Weiss glanced towards Team BSTN on her way out the door. Her eyes met Nathaniel's. He looked at her calmly and then, to her great surprise, he smiled. Just a tiny smile, not much more than a brief quirk of the lips, but it was a smile nonetheless. As he moved out, Taka caught her eyes and held them for a moment. Then he too smiled. The young heir inclined his head respectfully before moving along. Bastion just grinned brightly as he joined his teammates in the aisle.
Silas didn't meet her eyes at all as they moved out through the doors. Then, when the two teams drew level in the hallway a few moments later, he looked straight at her and ever so slowly nodded his head.
The warm feeling returned to Weiss, but it was slightly different this time. This time it was a sense of accomplishment combined with something else that, despite the heiress's attempts to stay haughty and indifferent, made her feel good about herself.
It was later that afternoon, and Bastion was once again wandering the school grounds alone. It was a habit of his to go on quiet wanderings in the afternoons. Sometimes one of his teammates joined him, but for the most part he walked alone. He loved his teammates (they were like the brothers that he'd never had) but it was nice to just be alone and enjoy the peace for a while. They all understood the sentiment; Taka often went off in search of quiet places to work (since his office at home was unavailable), Nate went off and trained on his own quite a lot and Silas had his… had his own 'solitary wanderings' quite frequently.
Ever since arriving at Beacon, the need for peaceful solitude had intensified. His quiet, pensive walks became a way to escape the judgemental eyes of his fellow students. Though the whispers had lessened somewhat since he had begun to participate fully in combat class, there were still those who mocked him for his disability.
The Beacon grounds were massive, and on his walks Bastion had found several small gardens, memorial statues and other such treasures tucked away into secluded spots and distant corners. In his latest wanderings he had discovered a large maze comprised of neatly trimmed, fifteen-foot-high walls of shrubbery hidden inside a copse of trees just over five minutes' walk from the dormitory. 'Maze' was perhaps not the right term, as there seemed to only be one path winding towards the centre.
The leaves towering above him cast dappled shadows across the ground as Bastion wound his way deeper in. As he turned yet another corner, he noticed a familiar purple light creeping around the next bend. Intrigued, he began to walk faster. Lilac and Amaryl had barely been seen since arriving at Beacon Academy. They'd been discharged from the infirmary two days after waking up, and had all but vanished since.
As he rounded the bend, Bastion was met with the sight of a beautiful garden. Beds of flowers spread in long rows around neatly pruned trees and shrubbery, with small paths tracing their way through to a central clearing. Four marble benches spread evenly around the edges of the clearing and in the very centre of sat a small fountain. The polished stone was carved into the shape of a cluster of flowers that wound intricately around each other, reaching a little higher than Bastion was tall, water flowing from within the stone petals and down into a small, shallow pool at the base.
Kneeling at the near edge of the central clearing was Lilac, her hands, which were hidden from Bastion's view by the shrubbery, seemingly outstretched over the flowerbed. Her aura surrounded her in a soft glow, streaks of silver flowing through the purple. She was humming quietly to herself, a gentle smile on her face.
Noticing Bastion's presence, she looked up in surprise. Then she smiled. "Hello."
He smiled back, making his way over. "Hi."
She stood up as he neared, brushing her hands off. "You're the first person I've seen in this place. It's Bastion, right?"
He nodded. "That's me. And you're Lilac."
She nodded and smiled again.
"I just stumbled on this by accident," he continued. "I wouldn't be surprised of most students don't know about it." He eyed her curiously. "What were you doing just now?"
Her eyes brightened. "I planted these a few days ago." She gestured to the bed at her feet, which was lined with small bushes behind the beginning bulbs of what looked to be lilies. "I was using my aura to help them grow faster."
Bastion's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You can do that?! I assumed your semblance was that protection thing that you did back in the forest. Or is this something else?"
Lilac laughed softly. "No, my semblance is protective barriers. This is something else that I learned at the Amethyst Temple. You channel your aura into the plants, coax them to grow faster and provide the energy they need to do it."
"Can you teach me?" he asked eagerly.
She laughed softly. "Sure. But not on these. It's hard to do when you first try it and accidents happen, and I'd rather you not do any damage to these ones. No offense."
He smiled understandingly. "None taken." Then he peered at the bushes. "What are they, anyway?"
"The bushes are lilac," she said with a sheepish smile. "They were the most convenient that I had to hand. The flowers are what is commonly known as Amaryllis. It's the flower that Amaryl was named after. I figured that if my namesake was going to be here, hers should be too."
Bastion smiled. "A nice sentiment." He glanced around. "Speaking of your bodyguard, where is she?"
Lilac's smile became a touch exasperated. "I convinced her to take a break. When she tried to refuse I had to remind her that she wasn't officially my guard anymore. She should be back soon."
Bastion quirked a brow. "Not your guard anymore?"
Lilac shook her head. "No, technically her time as my official bodyguard came to an end as soon as I arrived at Beacon. It's a self-appointed title now."
He laughed. "Well, she cares about you a lot, so it's understandable."
Lilac's eyebrows rose in astonishment. "What makes you say that?"
Bastion shrugged. "She's obviously protective of you, and it's not hard to tell that she cares. If I had to guess, I'd say you're her best friend."
"Well, yes," Lilac said, a touch of surprise still in her voice. "I know that. She is mybest friend, and I think I'm hers. What I meant to say was how could you tell?"
He shrugged again. "I guess I'm good at reading people. It just seemed obvious to me."
She laughed softly and took a seat on the nearest bench, patting the spot next to her. "I suppose it isn't hard to see. She's probably my only real, close friend, truth be told. I see the apprentices around the temple a lot and I'm on good terms with them, but I don't have any that I'm particularly close to. I tended to keep to myself a lot before Am came around."
Bastion moved to sit beside her, a smile on his face. "It seems to me that you noble types tend not to have many friends."
"What makes you say that?" she asked. "You're right, as far as most cases go. I was a little different, but in any case, how do you know. More observation?" Her smile became almost teasing as she said the last part.
He shrugged and grinned. "In part. Taka didn't have any friends before Nate and I; he's said so himself. And Weiss hasn't said anything, but I think she was the same way before she met her teammates."
Lilac's eyes turned pensive as she searched for the faces in her memory to match the names. "Taka. His family name is Kaneshiro, right? And Weiss is the girl with the white hair?"
Bastion nodded.
"What family does she belong to?"
"Schnee."
Comprehension lit Lilac's face. "Aah. Two of the most prominent families in the world. I'm lucky. From what I hear, my family is different from most. They still taught me 'proper etiquette' but they weren't overly strict about it. Some of the apprentices end up developing similar habits anyway, just because the temple encourages politeness and good table manners."
Her smile turned wry. "Mind you, it is only encouraged, not particularly enforced, so we have our fair share sloppy people. Anyway, I digress. My point is, my parents didn't enforce much in the way of a noble upbringing, and I had a whole temple of people around me, including people my age. I was usually trained alone, but that was because I had been training longer than most of them. And because I was shy. Prominent families like the Kaneshiros and the Schnees, who tend to be more involved in business and politics and who have a public image to uphold are generally stricter on their children."
Bastion nodded. "That's what I've observed too. Taka's dad, the Kaneshiro family head, is a pretty cool guy, but there's still pressure on Taka. I don't think his dad can do much about it. Taka's fine with it though. Proud even. But I can't say a thing for Weiss or anyone else."
Lilac nodded to herself. "I'm happy for your friend then. He seems nice, which is good. Constant pressure like that has a tendency to turn people harsh."
Bastion smiled. "Taka deals fine. Besides, he has his teammates to lean on if things get rough."
He studied the girl beside him for a moment, taking in her perfect posture and the way her hands were neatly folded in her lap. She had apparently taken in her etiquette lessons well. Her pale hair hung straight down her back, with a few locks falling in front of her shoulders. Her irises seemed strangely crystalline, as if she really did have amethysts in her eyes. Now free of the hospital room, she wore a pure white chiton-style dress with decorative golden clasps at the shoulders that were shaped like a cluster of lilac blossoms, the hem dotted with dirt from the garden, her feet clad in a simple pair of sandals. She was quite beautiful, he thought.
The sound of footsteps caught his attention and he turned to see Amaryl emerge from behind the gigantic hedge walls. Since leaving the infirmary, what few bandages she had sported had vanished from sight. She was now clad in simple forest green pants, black boots and black leather finger-less gloves, as well as a scarlet t-shirt bearing the white outline of a lily-like flower. The leather jacket that she wore over the top mimicked her hair; chocolate brown and edged in the same orange-tinted scarlet as the tips of her hair. Her eyebrows rose over leaf-green eyes as she registered Bastion's presence.
"Hi," he grinned.
Lilac's head whipped around. "Oh, hi Am."
"Hey," the girl greeted, eyeing Bastion cautiously. "We met you in the infirmary, didn't we? Bastion, right?"
"Right," he grinned. "And you're Amaryl."
"That's me," the girl nodded, walking over to them.
"I leave for twenty minutes and come back to find you alone with a guy," the green-eyed girl muttered teasingly to her friend as she took a seat on the grass.
Lilac and Bastion both blushed, the latter having overheard her comment.
"Do you have to?!" Lilac groaned, hiding her red face in her hands. "There is no substance to this teasing."
"And yet your blushes say otherwise," Amaryl muttered under her breath, too quietly for either of the others to catch.
Bastion glanced at the watch on his wrist. Noting the time, he got to his feet. "Well, it's time I got back to my teammates. It was nice talking to you, Lilac. Nice to see you again Amaryl."
"Likewise," the girls echoed.
"Come back tomorrow if you're still interested in learning that aura trick I talked about," Lilac smiled.
"Absolutely," Bastion grinned. "See you then."
Then he turned and left the way he had come.
It was late that night, and Blake Belladonna couldn't sleep.
The cat-Faunus sighed to herself and rolled over, hoping that somehow a change in position would help her drift off into slumber. To no avail; sleep still eluded her for some unfathomable reason. Sighing again, she rolled into a sitting position and got to her feet. Maybe a walk would help tire her out.
Careful not to wake her teammates she slid out the door, shutting it quietly behind her. She moved silently through the halls until she reached the front doors. Slipping outside, she took a breath of fresh air before heading along the path that ran beside the dorms.
The softest of thuds caught her ear, and immediately Blake slid into the shadows. She'd heard that sound many times before. It was the sound that accompanied a person landing on the ground; a very skilled, stealthy person considering how quiet it was. Silent as a breath, the cat-Faunus snuck forward and peered around the corner just in time to see a figure slip into the trees nearby.
After a split second of thought, Blake slipped off in pursuit.
She followed the figure at a distance, always keeping to the shadows and never making a sound. If there was one good thing about her time with the White Fang, it was that it had given her the skill and ability to move like a ghost when she needed to. She was thankful for it now. The mysterious figure was skilled as well, as good as her or better; he or she was so proficient that they almost lost her several times.
She followed the figure across the school grounds to the small building that housed the entrance of the underground staircase that led to the docks below. As they neared the building, Blake drew closer to her target in an attempt to discern its identity. It wore a dark cloak with the hood raised, so she couldn't tell much from behind. As it glanced around a sudden gust of wind fluttered the edges of the cloak, affording Blake a glimpse of a satchel hanging at the figure's side. Is hood slipped back a little, just enough for Blake's sharp Faunus eyes to pick out a face in the shadows. It belonged to…
Silas?
What was he doing sneaking out at night like this? Blake watched as the wolf-Faunus vanished into the building. Then, after a short pause, she slid inside herself. She headed down the stairwell, taking care not to let her footsteps make a single sound. When she final reached the ground, she just caught sight of Silas slipping along the dock.
Following silently, she was just in time to see the Faunus boy step onto a jetboard and take off across the water towards the city.
Blake cursed silently. There was no way she could follow him now. She had no choice but to return to her own dorm room, determined to find out where exactly Silas was going, one way or another.
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