I'm back. Seriously, writing this isn't healthy for me...ah, well, gotta keep y'all entertained. Anyway, here we go.
Honestly, I would've hoped that Wind had stayed as the leader of Team SWRD. Sword really took the job instantly and, almost instantaneously, the team had regained balance since Saber had left. It was almost, well, crazy how quickly he took control of the group, even though Wind was obviously a really good leader. However, the thing that I really took notice of, was the fact that Wind and Lima had…well…grown really distant.
I kept my eye on him in the café after they had moved to the opposite side of the café. I could faintly hear Sierra speaking to us as Sword kept talking to Dagger, causing the entire group to laugh. However, Wind seemed a bit odd considering that he sounded rather flatter than usual with his usually cheerful laugh. I then glanced at Lima, who had her ears folded in depression, slowly knitting whatever she was knitting, which appeared to be just a scrambled mess of lines on a cloth.
Sighing, I turned to Sierra, who had her glance on me. I motioned towards Lima, causing her to look up at me as I smiled at her. She smiled weakly at, then flinched violently, her ears jumping up and down violently, her eyes suddenly growing watery. I raised an eyebrow, looking back at Team SWRD's table, seeing Wind glance away quickly. Suddenly, the sound of a Lima scrambling out of her seat filled the space next to me, causing me to turn and see her bolting out of the café.
"Lima!?"
I stood up to follow her, jumping out of my seat quickly as Ruby quickly followed.
Running out of the café, I looked around, quickly catching a glimpse of her running into the dorms. I could sense Ruby behind me, causing me to grab onto her hand, focusing my aura as we teleported to the team bedroom. I looked around, lying on my bed, pulling Ruby down with me as the door suddenly flew open. It slammed shut just as quickly as Lima flopped on her bed. I blinked, feeling my chest flare up as I could hear her sobbing into her pillow.
Sitting up, I walked up to her, putting my hand on her shoulder, feeling her flinch violently as I asked, "Lima?"
Suddenly, she jumped on me, digging her face into the crook of my neck. She let out a pained scream, letting out a cry of sadness as my shirt quickly became soaked. I furrowed my brow, wrapping my hands around her as did Ruby as she cried her heart out.
"What…the…?"
Sierra looked on after the three who had just bolted out of the café. Raising an eyebrow, she then glanced over at Team SWRD, quickly catching Wind looking away in shame. Freezing time, she quickly strided over to their table, sneaking in on Team ERTH's table. Unfreezing time, she raised a finger to her lips, motioning to Team SWRD. Echo quickly caught on as they began eavesdropping on them.
"Ah, you're fine, Wind."
"…Yeah…right…."
"C'mon," Sword continued, "It's the only way; you two are different."
Sierra, offended, almost stood up, only for Echo to wrap his arm around her and whisper, "Relax."
Herald nodded as they continued talking.
"But…well…."
"But nothing. You're different from them."
"I…I know…."
Wind seemingly hesitated with that last sentence as the sound of him standing up caught her attention. Sierra narrowed her gaze as she watched from the corner of her eye as he walked out of the café.
"Th…then…he…s…s…," Lima stuttered, "s…sa…said that...I…I…'m…an…an animal…."
I couldn't believe what I just heard. I could feel my chest tightening up at the remark that Sword had said about my partner. My partner. I knew something was up when I first met the guy, but from what he said about Lima, I just couldn't ignore.
Ruby pulled Lima away from me, embracing her herself and said, "I'm sure that Wind didn't mean what he said."
Lima weakly nodded, sniffling a bit as I turned, seeing Sierra as she said, "…looks like we've got another problem with Team SWRD…unfortunately."
Sierra then walked up to Ruby and said, "Keep Blake close to you when you're by Team SWRD."
"I know…but why?"
"We might," Sierra continued, "have a racial discriminator on our hands."
Just as I thought.
I let out an annoyed sigh as the door swung open. Lima turned, immediately getting smothered by Blake as embraced her tightly.
"Miss Kerrigan."
We all turned to face the open door, seeing Prof. Ozpin standing in the door way with a concerned look on his face.
"Is something wrong?"
I opened my mouth to speak, getting beaten by Sierra as she stated, "No, nothing's wrong, headmaster."
Ozpin kept his eye on us, albeit briefly, then his eyes landed squarely on me. I flinched slightly as he motioned for me to follow him. I looked at Ruby, who furrowed her brow in concern as I quickly followed, meeting him just outside the door. Shutting it closed, he wasted no time as he asked, "Is there truly nothing wrong with your partner?"
"I…," I stuttered, unsure of whether to tell the truth or not. I glanced away, causing the headmaster to furrow his own brows in concern. I looked back up to answer him, only to hear him say, "Does it involve Team SWRD?"
I widened my eyes in shock as he put a hand on my shoulder and said, "Please, get Sierra for me."
I slowly turned back around, entering the room again, motioning to Sierra, who had her arms crossed as she leaned against the bathroom door. Sighing, she kicked herself up off the door and walked out of the room, greeting the headmaster. I then walked back over to Lima, who was now weeping in Blake's arms. Blake continued stroking her hair as I took my seat next to Ruby on my bed.
Suddenly, the sound off something knocking the window caught all of our attentions. I could hear Lima gasp as I looked outside, seeing Wind standing outside of our dorm window. I raised an eyebrow, making to leave the room. However, as I reached for the door handle, I could hear Sierra and Ozpin still talking.
"I understand that you want to help her yourself," Ozpin stated, "But I do not want another mess like the incident with Team RWBY from three years ago."
"Yes," Sierra replied, "I understand."
"Now then," he continued, "How would you personally like to address this situation?"
"Well," she replied, "I'd first like to know why Delta's standing behind the door."
I opened the door, raising my hand and replied, "Going to meet someone outside."
Sierra motioned for me to leave as I snuck around the door, closing it softly as I quickly ran to the door, quickly leaving and locating Wind, who looked like battered shit at this point. I raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he looked at me, albeit with a melancholic aura around him. Walking up to him, he dropped his head again as I asked, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"I…," he replied, "I…I didn't mean it…really!"
Suspiciously, I looked back up at the window, seeing Ruby poking her head from my bed frame. I then looked back at Wind, noticing his face growing a little red. He closed his eyes, turning away from me as he said, "…sorry about this…."
"Don't apologize to me assfuck," I replied, dropping my tone a bit. He completely turned his back towards me, probably to hide the fact that he was crying. I was right about ready to slug him as he said, "I didn't…! I didn't mean to have her run like that!"
"Oh? So you do admit to discriminating her?"
I narrowed my gaze, walking up to him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, catching him by surprise. Tears were streaking down his cheeks as I glared angrily at him. He was such a jumbled mess right now that it didn't take much to intimidate him as I said, "Lima…my partner…and your girlfriend? Just so that you can get along with your leader?"
Wind opened his mouth to reply to me, only to get cut off as I said, "Well then…I guess you can just say bye to her then."
"Wh…wha…?"
"You realize," I said, looking up at our team window, "You've left quite the scar on her."
Wind slowly looked up, seeing her looking right at him, her usually beautiful golden eyes now red from crying. I watched as his eyes widened, his body growing slack for a moment as I finally let go of him. He opened his mouth to say something, only to end up speechless as she quickly disappeared from sight.