Chapter Two
You know what? Five-year-old Lune thought as she stared at her glorious—or, perhaps, not so glorious—reflection in the mirror. Her parents were currently in another room, talking, and for the moment she was free from pretending to be a kid. She lifted a tiny finger and poked at the spot where her nose was reflected, green eyes narrowed accusingly.
I swear, there are times when I look at you, I feel like I'm in the presence of a stranger. I would make a small gasp, wonder who you are, and it would be several seconds later before I realized that, holy cheese sticks, you're me. Reflections aren't supposed to do that.
Lune sighed. It was a hilariously depressing thing.
Even though four years had passed since finding out she lived in Remnant (Remnant!) and she was more used to her body now, much like a glove that finally felt right in her hand, there were still those occasional moments when she'd actually jump and panic at the sight of her own reflection. Lune had even done it once when her mom was around—and River Beryl's face would have been absolutely priceless if the woman wasn't trying her hardest not to laugh at her kid's expense.
"That's a mirror, sweetie," Mom had explained, as if Lune didn't know what the piece of glass was. "It's something that shows what you look like: a lovely little girl."
Chubby and plain would be more like it, considering there wasn't much about her to write home about. A typical little girl. That worked. Maybe. Whatever; for mothers, all their children were beautiful.
Still, that wasn't the point. Her new body was just so different from her old body, she just couldn't help but compare everything old from everything new. It was a silly activity she indulged herself in, but it did keep her reminded of where she came from.
Comparison number one: when she'd been a brunette in a past life, she was now the proud owner of wavy, moon-white hair.
Yes, that's right. White hair. She knew that Remnant was home to many people whose hair color could be anything from the color spectrum (case in point: Neopolitan), but she thought she'd be born with something a little more… normal. Something less special snowflake-y, pun so intended. Then again, the concept of normalcy was nuked out of existence the moment she first saw her mom's rabbit tail.
Funny how she noticed the tail first and not her mom's shoulder-length, equally white hair. She blamed the existence of hair dyes.
Comparison number two: she now had four ears when she used to have just two. That is, she had two rabbit ears in addition to her two human ones. Lop-eared, too, and they were pretty adorable until she had to listen with them. Those bothersome appendages were the reason why she had such a hard time fine-tuning her sense of hearing as she grew older. It was like having many television sets open at once, all in different channels and volumes. Too many were the times she'd mistaken the distant sounds to be ones that were near her. And vice versa. Too many were the times she cried about it.
"Well, kid, it's something you learn to get used to," Dad had told her when she lisped her question to him, hands clutching her long ears. He'd turned her frown upside down after he made his own fox ears wiggle in an amusing way, green eyes alight with mirth. "Believe me, Daddy knows how you feel. But don't you worry, okay? I'll help you through this. Before you know it, you'll be a listening expert like yours truly!"
He'd been kidding when he said all that stuff about being an expert. But he did help her out with her earful problem.
Lune didn't clearly recall how the entire adapting process went, but it did involve stepping out into the front of the house every weekend, just standing there and listening to the ambient sounds coming from the forest nearby. Dad would point out one particular sound to focus on, like twittering birds perched on the branches, and she'd do her best to tune into that until that was all she heard and the rest were comfortable background noise. Then he'd tell her to switch to something else to listen, and she'd do exactly that. Rinse and repeat. He even joked it was a good thing they lived in Patch and not in the city of Vale itself; the exercise would have been "hell on Remnant."
Lune smiled briefly at the memory. As of now, she hadn't completely mastered her Faunus hearing, but she liked to think that she was on her way there. No pressure; she was still technically a little girl and she had all the time in the world.
Last but not the least… comparison number three: it was already mentioned, but the fact that she was a Faunus now would always make her realize that she wasn't completely human anymore. Which was an odd thought in itself, because as far as she knew, she walked like a human, talked like a human, and had the morals of one—rabbit ears and all. If it weren't for the finer details like her newfound preference for leafy vegetables… or what she'd dubbed as 'rabbit reflexes,' she didn't feel any different from any other person. A pink elephant would still be an elephant, right?
Not that I've met anyone other than my parents, anyway, Lune wryly thought as she finally stepped away from the mirror, shook her head, and stuck her tongue out at her reflection.
She'd mostly lived a sheltered life growing up, and during the times she was actually getting some sun outdoors, she was accompanied by either parent—and they didn't really stray too far from home, just making the occasional stroll here and there with a deliberate avoidance of the forests. Patch, after all, wasn't completely Grimm-free.
…What about taking a trip to the busy streets of Vale instead, you ask? Well, sure, they could go there. Contrary to what the Remnant map suggested, Patch wasn't that far from the city, just one or two hours of travel from home. But, while most of the city population learned to coexist with the Faunus, there were still some bad apples that wouldn't hesitate to throw barbs at the first one they'd see. A family of Faunus was just asking for attention, and River and Vert weren't all too keen on having their little girl exposed to such things just yet.
If only they knew how 'special' their daughter actually was…
Lune's ears suddenly picked up the sounds of footsteps and, realizing that her be-Amelie time was well and truly over, she removed the thoughtful expression from her face and replaced it with her usual relaxed smile. It wasn't too hard to act like a five-year-old. So long as she let her mind take the backseat and leave her body to do all the reacting, she was fine. She wasn't going to be winning any Oscars anytime soon for being a good actress, but at least she wasn't terrible at it, either.
The sounds stopped as they reached her room, and with a creak that made the girl wonder if the hinges needed oiling again, the door swished open and her smiling mother came into view.
"Ah, great, you're awake." Mom began, her eyes sliding to the mess of blankets and pillows on the bed. Lune's crib had long since said goodbye, probably hidden away in some kind of crib heaven somewhere. The entire room had been redecorated from a nursery into a little girl's room—with glow-in-the-dark stars stuck in the ceiling. Lune liked those the best. "You really like sleeping, don'tcha?"
"Yep." Lune answered easily. Her smile grew wider at the thought of just lying there, doing nothing, and lazing the day away.
What could she say? Sleeping was practically an art form. It was also a rare commodity for adults, and she intended to make the most of her childhood phase.
The girl received an affectionate head pat in response, and she brought up her green eyes up to meet her mom's amused blue ones. Yep, her mom was chuckling. "Considering how we got you a bed that's advertised to be highly comfy, I'm glad to know our money didn't go to waste… or we got lucky and didn't get ripped off. Which wouldn't be anything new. Right." She shook her head at herself, frowning faintly before brightening up again. "That said… sweetie? We need to talk."
There was something about the word talk that made a faint, little warning noise in her head. How could one simple verb end up implying so much?
"…Am I in trouble?" She asked. Or, better yet, was she and Dad in trouble? Because Mom found out about her favorite vase being accidentally broken after he and Lune goofed around during his off-day? She swore that was just her kiddie body being its clumsy self. She was normally more graceful than that. Honest.
"If you're talking about the vase, I found out ages ago. Your father is terrible at keeping secrets," Mom dryly said. Lune sputtered for an apology, and this time, her mom couldn't help but grin and pat her on the head. "No grudges, no grounding, no worries. So no, you're not in trouble." She squatted down to Lune's eye level and, after glancing at the door, winked, covered the side of her mouth with a hand, and whispered, "Between you and me, that vase was ugly. I only said it's my favorite to pacify your father. He'd practically flipped over a mall in search of an anniversary gift. At the last minute."
Lune had no control over the giggle that decided to slip away from her lips.
"I know, right? That was definitely my most memorable wedding anniversary yet. But let's get a bit more serious right now, okay, Lune? There's just something we wanted to talk to you about because it's… well, important."
"That's right," said another voice, making the two glance at the door. It was Dad, and while he looked more serious than playful, a smile was still on his face. Today was his day off, so he wasn't needed in Signal today. Right. "It's just something about what's going to be happening soon."
"You mean the school thing that's starting next week?" Lune asked, blinking.
That was right. She was about to start her schooling soon. She'd thought she was going to end up somewhere like Signal Academy already, but she'd learned during her secret reading sessions (the kind of reading impossible for a five-year-old) that the combat academies all across the world only accepted kids aged ten and up. Before that, you were either home-schooled or enrolled in a civilian school so your academic knowledge was up to snuff. Once that's done, it was a choice of deciding to go down the path of a Huntsman or Huntress or continuing your academics to end up being a part of the working class.
After all, how would Vale, Mistral, Vacuo, or Atlas function if nobody was there to work on all sorts of things? To keep things running and functional? The entire population couldn't all be Huntsmen, and forcing them to be one even if they're terrible at it would just raise the mortality rate.
Dad helped her mom stand up to her full height of five feet and three inches, and his fox ears twitched slightly as he surveyed Lune's room. He smiled in bemusement. Lune's room was messy as usual, resembling a war field with all sorts of toys strewn on the floor. It was as if the place was nuked by a toy chest bomb. Though, funnily enough, Lune was pretending to be in some sort of war. Teddies versus dolls, a battle of the century. She had pretended to be the catapult and had launched both doll and bear up in the air.
"That's right. There are still some things your mommy and daddy are concerned with before you start school. Well, mostly your mom"—Dad decided not to finish that thought after receiving a not-so-subtle glare from River Dearest—"…never mind. Right. We just need to get a few things across so you're not completely surprised by what you'll encounter next week. And believe me, kiddo, I'd sooner hope that wouldn't be the case because I'd rather you lived a fairy tale."
Inwardly, Lune nodded in understanding. Remnant was technically a fairy tale setting of sorts—with just a few futuristic touches—but it sure as hell wasn't as bright and colorful as a packet of Skittles. Strip away the discrimination, conflict, terrorism, and other stuff, sure, Remnant's a dream. But while she still wished to plow through life as cheerily as she could, she still acknowledged that no world was ever so idealistic.
Which meant that because she was a Faunus, she had as much a chance of being on someone's shit list as catching the common cold in her new school.
"What do you mean?" She still had to pretend to be mostly innocent, though. Her parents had already thought her to be smarter than the average child; she'd prefer things to stay that way before she got promoted to being an anomaly.
Her mom and dad exchanged uneasy glances, knowing completely well that their daughter was about to get a taste of how this world ran. Dad lifted a hand to squeeze Mom's shoulder reassuringly, and Mom reached out to touch his and give a squeeze of her own. They didn't like what they were about to tell Lune, but it really had to be done. Lune silently promised the two that she wouldn't hold this against them.
"I'll start." Mom decided to say. She proceeded to sit at the edge of Lune's bed, patting the space beside her invitingly. The girl immediately clambered up and sat beside her mom. "Lune, you know that this family isn't… normal, right?"
You have no idea. "Yup," Lune said, bobbing her head up and down and making her hair bounce. "Dad's a Faunus, you're a Faunus, and I'm a Faunus. And, uh…" She scrunched her face, rummaging through her thoughts as to how she would put this. "Humans are waaaay different from us. They don't have ears like mine."
There sat Dad to her left, giving Lune the impression of a sinking boat with the way her world suddenly tilted slightly. "That's right, sweetie. And because of that…" He looked at Mom for help, only to receive an encouraging nod. "Y'see… not all humans are friendly like you are."
"Well, there wouldn't be any nice people if there weren't bad ones, right?" Lune said.
"That's right, but I'm sure you'll meet some perfectly good people, too," Mom said with a cautious smile. "But still… when you're there now in the school we enrolled you in, it's going to be a big adjustment. Some kids your age can't help but notice how different you are. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if some brat started pulling your ears, though that would mean I might have to have a few words with his parents…" the last part would have been an unintelligent mumble if Lune's ears weren't trained to listen well.
The girl tried not to quirk a smile at that; River had grown softer over the years, but some words coming out of her mouth were still rough as sandpaper. Not exactly the best role model, her mom was. It was endearing in a hellishly weird way.
"Why would they pull my ears?" Lune asked anyway. She inwardly apologized because the temptation had been too great to resist.
The poker face on Mom's face was a work of art in itself. She then sighed. "Right, enhanced hearing. Sorry you had to hear that, sweetie. But yeah, the point is, Lune, some people are going to be mean to you even if you tried your best to be absolutely nice. And I know this is definitely not something any decent mother should be telling her child, but well…" She shrugged helplessly. "Circumstances dictate that we warn you in advance so you don't get as hurt as you would have been if you thought everyone was nice."
That made sense, the girl admitted inwardly. If you expect everything to go well and it doesn't, it hurts like hell. But if you do something with the expectation that you could still fail, it doesn't bother you as much.
"Honey, you might as well have ripped the bandage off," Dad decided to say with a slight grimace. He opted for ruffling Lune's hair affectionately, the same way he'd been doing it since the strands sprouted from her scalp. "What your mom means is that if you have a rough first day next week, and encounter even rougher days after that, we're here to help you out."
"Even though I still think she should just stay home-schooled." Mom muttered.
"River, we talked about this."
The woman sighed. "I know. But still."
It made for quite the interesting thought to wonder how River and Vert would have been like if they were much, much better at giving parental advice. But then, Lune already liked them as they were. Their flaws were what made them them. She honestly didn't mind how weird it was to be given that kind of advice when she was technically only a little girl.
'Sides, Lune thought as she stared up at her expectant parents. I'm not a normal five-year-old either. I guess being different definitely runs in the family. Go me.
For a moment, her parents seemed to worry about what she was about to say. Maybe even expecting a few waterworks because technically, no kid should expect rejection so soon. So to make them feel better, Lune grinned at them toothily and said, "I can handle this. It can't be that bad."
And immediately decided that she deserved a kick to the stomach. Using stilettos. Because that statement right there? It was a huge neon sign that invited all sorts of trouble to come raining down her like some kind of super typhoon. She'd read the books, knew the tropes; a screw-up was inevitable.
Judging from the forced, pleasant expressions on her parents' faces, she knew they were thinking the same thing.
The first few weeks, surprisingly, flew past her without too much incident.
While she was the only Faunus in her class, nobody really bothered to the point of reducing her to tears. There were still the occasional stares tossed at her during snack time and she was munching on some carrot sticks… and then she was also the recipient of a few jabs about her being a four-eared freak… but those were nothing Lune was going to break down for.
Kids were kids. She wouldn't hold this against them because they were just influenced by their parents; most, if not all, would grow out of this. The only time she would start pointing fingers and calling someone an asshole would be the time when the person was old enough to think for himself.
Too bad her live-and-let-live mindset had to be ruined by her unintentional excellence in her academics.
It wasn't all that bad at first. She'd sit quietly behind her desk as the teacher in front flashed some questions on the board via high-tech projector, and whenever she knew the answer, she'd raise her hand and give what the teacher was asking for.
Every information presented in class, she soaked up like an extremely hungry sponge. There were her letters, which she already had a head start on, thanks to Mom. Then there was her math class that so ridiculously easy she contemplated falling asleep on the spot. There were also some historical stuffs sprinkled throughout the lessons, like the simplest reason why everyone's name was based off a color, and etcetera, etcetera.
She also passed her tests—though not necessarily scoring the highest because her super-secret special condition gave her an unfair advantage over everyone—and she even made some her teachers feel grudgingly impressed for performing so well in school. Grudgingly, because some teachers were actually making an effort to reign in their Faunus prejudice.
Basically, Lune had done so well for herself that, by the time she her second month in school came and went, she ended up getting shoved into the spotlight.
As Murphy's Law dictated, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." So when Lune was finally seen as a threat by some of the students aspiring to be the pride of their parents, she felt like she was pushed off from cloud nine and sent splashing down into a puddle of mud. In white clothes.
"My ears aren't toys, you know," Lune said irritably one day, when her personal tormentor, Aqua Grey, was by her desk again and pulling at her rabbit ear with a smirk on his face. It was currently break time, so most of the kids were either eating their snacks, playing a fun game of tag outside in the playground, or like Lune, patiently waiting in class for the electronic bell to ring and for the teacher to come back to class.
Her vision flashed red as pain spiked from another harsh tug, and this time it was starting to take an extreme amount of willpower not to stand up and strangle the blue-haired kid. Or throttle. Throttle seemed like a nice alternative.
Be the better person. Don't resort to going down his level, Lune.
Plus side: his friends were out playing with their other friends. Not that Aqua let them join in on the fun game of Let's Poke Fun at Lune because she was his business and nobody else's, anyway. It was just weird being bullied while people just sat back and watched the not-so-entertaining show.
"Sure they're not," Aqua said. Another tug, another ache. Lune felt a vein in her temple pulse and eyed the door, wondering where the hell the teacher was. "Besides, smartass, it's not like you don't deserve this. Ma says animals like you shouldn't even be in school."
Lune pinched her thigh as murderous thoughts filled her head. Aqua would've been an adorable little boy if he wasn't busy being a brat and trying to get a rise out of her.
Be. The better. Person.
"You're not as cool as you think you are by saying 'smartass'." Lune shot back calmly, betraying nothing of what she really felt. Maybe she just hadn't noticed before, but the whole animal thing was starting to get to her the more often it was mentioned. It was tiring.
And ever since Lune's recognition as one of the class' top students, she didn't go through a day without a snide comment or two from whoever walked past her—and usually, there were shoves accompanying that.
She dared not to acknowledge how those near-falls always result to a flashback of her previous life: that moment when, seconds later, she died.
"My friends think I am," came the boy's smug reply. Lune could still feel his hand gripping her ear. "What are you gonna do, tell the adults how I just said a bad word? They're just gonna think it's your fault for, uh... tainting their children, whatever that means. So I'm not going to be in trouble anyway."
Counting one to twenty was said to help people with anger issues. The white-haired girl was starting to wonder how true was that because she'd just gone past fifty and still felt the thorn-sharp pang of annoyance. "I know."
The boy stilled.
"...Oh." Aqua ended up saying, not expecting that admission.
Lune inwardly pumped a fist at the small victory. Before long, though, the boy regained his composure. He let go of her ear, but his hands moved on to gripping her chair. It didn't take a genius to know what could happen next.
But she wasn't giving him what he wanted.
"Still, I think you should just go home and stay there, freak. Or you should've pretended to be not here 'cause things were just fine before you showed you had a brain." The boy finally said. And for good measure, "I bet a dog's still way smarter than you, anyway."
He really, really didn't have to rub it in. Blending in was one of Lune's goal when she started her first day in this school in Vale, but she didn't think that she'd stand out that much by being smarter than most. She didn't want to kill off all her brain cells by taking it easy on her studies. Or grow insane from the ridiculously easy subjects. If staying quiet and average meant being away from the spotlight, though, maybe she was going to reconsider her study habits.
Or, she'll just flunk until she ended up being the dead last.
On second thought, maybe not. Amelie would be rolling in her grave if I did so much as deliberately screw over my studies, piss easy or not.
But then, thinking on Aqua's words… she realized something. It was like being smacked in the face by a trout. She was the adult here; how could she not have realized this?
"You didn't like how I ended up better than you, huh?" Lune asked, her voice almost hinting at wonder if it didn't sound so… lazy. Or sleepy. She finally brought her green eyes up to meet Aqua's surprised, dark ones. "Come on, Aqua, that's not true. You're still whom the teachers consider the absolute best in our class and I know I never will be. So stop being so—"
She would have said insecure if it weren't for the fact that she would have sounded more like her teenage self—and if it weren't for the fact that her world suddenly tilted upwards and she was falling, falling, falling until she felt the back of her head collide painfully against the tiled floor. White stars filled her eyes just then, along with a few tears at the corners because son of a bitch, that hurt like hell.
Lune didn't realize that her heart was beating loudly against her chest. The last moments of her past life had flashed in her mind again.
She gritted her teeth. Stop thinking about that, dammit. Remember: spilled milk. You're not afraid of falling because of that. Falling just hurts, that's all, and that's why you avoid that as much as you can. Safety first.
As she opened her eyes, schooling her expression into that of boredom, Aqua's stormy face was immediately the first thing she saw. She rolled her eyes, stood straight, fixed her buttoned blouse, and picked up her fallen chair.
"That was fun. Let's not do it again," she simply said.
Seeing that Lune was barely affected by Aqua's actions, the boy seemed to decide that he wasn't done with her and decided to throw his hands forward to give the girl a good, hard shove.
Except Lune didn't fall this time. Because her footing was steadier, she simply ended up taking a few steps back. She raised an eyebrow at Aqua questioningly.
"You know what? Maybe you should just drop dead instead. That's what a Faunus deserves."
He didn't.
Drop and dead should never be in the same sentence together. Something in Lune seemed to snap, so before her brain registered what she did, she stepped forward and gave him the push he meant to give her.
There was probably a reason behind Aqua's blatant dislike of people like her that went beyond being better at academics, but at the moment, she felt too done with things to care. Her quota for daily torments was filled to the brim, thank you very much.
She never did take kindly to any person who wished death on someone, child or not.
The resulting fight between the two children only ended when a teacher finally stepped inside the classroom to pry the two apart. While Aqua only ended with a punishment with the equivalent of a slap on the wrist (helping arrange the chairs at the end of the day for three days), Lune was reprimanded harshly, punished with being disallowed to interact with any of her classmates for a week, and had her mom summoned for a talk with the teacher.
River wasn't exactly in a good mood when she learned what happened, though it wasn't Lune she was going to be pissed at. And judging from the harsh sound of the words escaping from the closed classroom as the girl waited for the adults to be done, the discussion wasn't going well.
Talk about disproportionate retribution.
"Sorry, mom," Lune could only say later as both mother and daughter were on their way back to Patch. The girl knew her arm was going to look colorful in the following days, thanks to the bruises forming from Aqua's punches. If her Aura was activated, this wouldn't have been a problem. Too bad she didn't know how.
On the plus side, Aqua would be looking like a panda Faunus tomorrow.
Lune smiled secretly. Silver lining, that.
On the other hand, River Beryl sighed. She wasn't even angry at her daughter. More like… she understood. "Do you want to be pulled out from school? Just so you know, that teacher of yours is one mean witch."
The girl's lips threatened to crack into a smile at the intentional avoidance of the word bitch.
"Nope. I'm okay." Lune replied, shaking her head. They eventually reached the port where a small ship ferried people to and from Patch. The sounds of lapping waves was surprisingly calming, and because the sky was cloudless today, the ocean was just as blue. "I'm gonna grin and bear it, Mom. I promise I'll be better than that next time. So, um, can I ask you something?"
"Anything, honey."
She'd been thinking about this during the brief silence that ensued after they walked past the school gates. It wasn't something she was eager about because of the risks that came with it. But then…
"Will being a Huntress make people think less badly of me 'cause I get to fight Grimm and keep them away from the city and keep people safe?" Lune popped the question.
It made sense, didn't it? If a person was the only thing keeping the Grimm from killing you, you'd be glad he—or she—was there. Even if she were a Faunus.
Her mom blinked, caught off-guard. She almost stumbled from her walk if Lune wasn't holding her hand.
"Lune, sweetie? I think you should just get through your current school first before deciding on something. Or, well, finish your homeschooling if you ever wanted to have that instead." She said as diplomatically as possible. At the way Lune's face fell, she explained, "Being a Huntress… it's something you'll be doing for the rest of your life. It's dangerous, and, well, think of your dad for one moment. For each day he comes back, it's each day we risk losing him. It's a really important decision that shouldn't be made instantly because of what happened today."
Her mom had a point… if Lune hadn't entertained the thought as she grew up. But for the woman's sake, maybe she'll just let Mom enjoy raising her only daughter before she ever solidified her decision of going Huntress.
Fighting Grimm, defeating the bad guys, being a badass… maybe a hero… it was an interesting life, sure. Idealistic too. But a cynic would point out that the life of a Huntress definitely wouldn't be all fun and games and saving the day. It would be more like killing and even more killing, and having an existential crisis because you'd wonder if you're doing something for the good of all or you're just one of the pawns in a gigantic chessboard.
"I guess I should think on it some more," Lune finally allowed.
The girl received a head pat in return. "You do that, kiddo. Now come on, let's just go home and put this behind us, yeah? We're having your favorite for dinner. And everyone else who thinks my little girl deserves to be punished for defending herself against a bully should go and get dunked on."
River Beryl, the sharp-tongued master of equally sharp words.
Anyway, one would probably wonder why a five-year-old enjoyed a dinner of vegetables when the normal reaction should be eww, green stuff!, but with Lune's new food preferences and her old self being used to a meal involving salads whenever she was on a diet, she wasn't about to complain. Besides, a salad somehow tasted better with mayonnaise and bits of cheese. She liked cheese.
"Awesome!" Lune cheered, raising a fist of victory. Her mom laughed softly, and for a moment, the girl felt her chest grow warm at the pleasant sound.
As both mother and daughter boarded the ship and watched the island of Patch grow bigger and bigger, Lune decided she would just think of the whole Huntsman or Huntress thing when the right time came.
Five years. She had five years to weigh the pros and cons of this particular life decision. No pressure.
Lune wasn't about to deny the fact that being a skilled combatant would mean a smaller risk of dying in this lifetime, though.
A/N: This chapter might have been done sooner if I wasn't so sleep-deprived most of the time. Merci, college life.
I'm floored by the amount of response the first chapter got, though! Admittedly, I was only expecting one. Maybe two at best. It's a really good way of encouraging me to write more, heh. So with this chapter, I hope the length makes up for the time spent waiting! I usually do any additional polishing a day or two after I finish anything I end up writing, so my fingers are crossed this one is as good as the last.
And before anyone ends up asking... no, Lune isn't going to be shoehorned into team RWBY. Or any other canon teams, for that matter. Not when I already have a team planned out for her. You'll see~
Thanks for the reviews, follows, and faves, everyone! Feel free to also tell me what you think of this one. :D