XXXII - Taproot

Driving out on Thursday, if all goes well, I'll be in Sequoia on Friday the 13th. Kinda spooky but whatever. I'll probably have one more chapter written by then, hopefully, after that I'll be on the road.

~~~(XXXII)~~~

The landing pads at the edge of Beacon were bustling with activity. The two week long break began today, and a good portion of the students were getting on bullheads. There were many that were staying in the kingdom and its many population centers, but a decent amount were taking flights outside the kingdom.

Oxon was just going into the city, so he was in no rush to board a cramped aircraft. He watched as a few familiar faces waved goodbye to friends and teammates. He was out of the way of the crowds, leaning under a large oak.

"Not much longer now. The tournament is the end of all of this…"

"End of what?" Clearing Patris of its holster, Oxon aimed his gun into the branches above him. "Haha, easy man."

The relaxed form of Sun Wukong dropped out of the foliage with an easy smile on his face.

"I almost shot you."

"I'd'a dodged." The faunus put his hands behind his head casually as Oxon put his revolver away. "So what's got you sulking beneath this ol chunk o wood? Not taking a bullhead out?"

"I'm waiting till the horde calms down, I'm not exactly a fan of crowded areas." He noticed the bag on the back of the teen's shoulder. "Are you heading back to Vacuo?"

"Yup, gonna see my clan back home." Oxon raised an eyebrow at that. A clan? "Oh, and I'm gonna see my cousin and her dojo!"

"Well have fun man, I personally don't understand how anyone wants to live in such a hot place." Seriously, the summer in Vale was rough as it was, but he didn't want to imagine the desert heat.

"It's you that's crazy to me, always trying to be as cold as you can." The faunus pulled down the collar of the green shirt Oxon wore to reveal the ice dust infused undershirt. "Seriously dude, you're kinda a freak there."

Lightly slapping his hand away, Oxon gave the blonde a flat glare. "I like it cold…"

"No wonder you and the ice queen get along so well. Speaking of the girl, pretty sure that's an SDC private transport over there, you going to see her off?" He wanted to, but the conversation the other night gave him pause. He knew he wasn't going to be in the school forever, but now that there was an official end date, he didn't know if it was a good idea to continue getting close with the heiress.

"I don't know, I probably shouldn't bother her." He didn't even look at where he was gesturing, immediately after, he felt a slap hit the back of his head. "The hell was that for!?"

An unimpressed sun was staring at him and shaking his head. "Bro, come on. There's no way you're not gonna, I mean seriously, we all saw you two at the dance."

"Look Sun, that was a one time thing." And it had to be. Oxon dodged the second swing from the blonde but got hit by the third with a scowl. "What's with this all of a sudden?"

"You kidding!? You seemed into her on her birthday, then you were avoiding her the entire week after, at the dance you were with her almost all night, the next day you practically ghost her before the missions, then you almost die protecting her, now you're not gonna see her off when she's obviously hoping you do? Are you going to make up your mind or keep messing with her!?"

Oxon didn't have anything he could say. He was too stunned by the rant sun went on. The blonde pointed to the SDC craft angrily, following the digit, he saw team RWBY in a group hug as butlers packed up bags for the trip. Sun's point was further hammered home when he saw that he had got a text from Ruby a few minutes ago asking where he was.

With fingers massaging his eyebrows, Oxon shook his head. He wasn't like them, he wasn't a student, and he wasn't on the path of light. He couldn't and shouldn't try for what both Sun and Yang had been hinting him at.

"Look, I appreciate the sentiment, but I already had a talk like this with Jaune. It's why I talked to her at the dance. But, it's just, I just can't."

"There's no need to make everything complicated, Ox. You like the girl, we all know that, so just go wish her well man."

I know It's a bad idea, but I can't help myself from wanting to listen. Sun has never really acted in any way other than helpful, he's a good guy. I'm only going to be here for five more weeks max, what's the harm in just enjoying myself for the next month or so? I think I've earned it.

"Yeah, you're right Sun." Walking towards the group of girls he realized just who helped him. "Blondes, why is it always blondes?"

As he got closer to the group he realized they were watching him walk up, he tried to ignore the ecstatic look on their young leader. Blake had a small smile on her face while Yang had a big grin. Weiss seemed the most excited at his arrival.

"Hey Ox!"

"Hey Red, got your message about y'all heading out. Wanted to see you off, I wasn't able to last time due to my mission." He was anxious about heeding the advice Sun had given him, but he wanted to at least try.

"Why thank you Oxon, my ship was just about to head out."

Yang put her hand to her face as if whispering a secret to him. "She was delaying the launch a bunch. I wonder why?"

"Yang! It's rude to tell lies!" As if sensing a perfect chance, a man in a company uniform approached the group. He was anxiously looking at his pocket watch.

"Ma'am, it's well past time to head out, are you finished with your goodbyes?" Yang put her smug face next to Weiss' as the girl blushed furiously at being called out.

"In a moment, Captain." The captain sighed before moving back to the ship, impatiently tapping his foot. As he walked away, Oxon noticed a small round ball of fluff on the man's lower back.

"What was that Weiss?" Even Blake was ganging up on her. "It's rude to tell lies?"

"Wh-whatever!" She coughed into her fist in order to collect herself, though there was still a hint of pink on her cheeks. "As I said before, I'll be heading back to Atlas for the break."

"Yeah, a nice cold climate sounds perfect, I'll definitely need to visit one day." From all the times she'd brought up the northern kingdom, it seemed like a pretty nice place compared to how his ancestors saw it.

"It would be nice if only I wasn't expected to be around my family the whole time, it's going to be less of a break for me and more of a series of SDC meetings." Right, she wasn't on good terms with her family. That was a real shame in his mind.

"Are you sure you can't get along with them? I mean, they are family after all." He sorely wished he could see his during these weeks off. "I'm sure they would be overjoyed to try and make nice with you."

The expression on her face said she clearly doubted that. He didn't know much about her family life, but really, how bad could it be?

"I appreciate the concern, but I'm afraid that it might be too late for us." She looked into his eyes for a moment before looking away. "But, I'm sure I could try…"

"It's all I ask, and if you need someone to vent to, I'm just a scroll call away." His confident offer was followed by him rubbing the back of his ear awkwardly. "Well, that's if I don't forget how to use it… I keep putting it on silent…"

That got a giggle out of the girl and brought her back into a happy mood. "I'm sure you've gotten a good enough grasp on the thing by now. And thank you, I'm happy to know you are worried about me."

"Ah, well, yeah." His hand wet from his ear to rubbing the back of his neck. He had no immunity to the smile she gave him. His awkward attempts at communicating seemed to amuse the other three greatly.

"Well sadly it seems that I must depart. The captain seems anxious to try and salvage his timeframe." The girl seemed to mentally debate something before she found some sort of resolve. The smaller girl caught him off guard when she wrapped her arms around him, the hug only lasted a second before she released him with a blush. "I hope you have a good break, I shall see you in two weeks, Oxon."

With that, the girl turned around and hurried into the private craft, completely out of sight. He was left stunned by the sudden and brief contact. He didn't even have time to wave goodbye to her or even say anything.

A low whistle sounded from behind him. Looking over his shoulder he saw a cheshire looking Yang. "Smooth moves buddy." His blush intensified at the attention and the wiggling eyebrows of the blonde. Like Weiss, Oxon beat a hasty retreat to the nearest Vale bound bullhead, failing to tune out the laughter from behind him.

~~~(XXXII)~~~

After escaping team RWBY and towards the bullheads, he made his way to The Club. He would be spending the next two weeks. It was surreal to think that his time at the school was nearing its end, after spending so much time with the huntsmen in training, it was strange to imagine not being around them.

Walking the streets of Vale, he had a few people wave at him in recognition. There were even a rare few that wanted an autograph, strangers wanting him to sign pieces of paper was not something he was prepared for.

Thankfully he made it to the gang's base before he could be stopped by any journalists. Stepping past the door guard, he took a deep relaxing breath once he was on the main floor. He'd definitely missed the place, and it seemed he was missed as well.

"Ox!"

"Still keeping the long hair?"

Miltia and Melanie Malachite approached him from where they were sitting against the bar. It seemed that not much has changed since he was here last, not like he expected anything different anyways. He waved to the two in greeting as he met them between the door and the bar.

"It's good to see you both." While he'd been nervous around them in the beginning, the two showed that they weren't nearly as vicious as some of the other gang members said. Probably because he didn't try anything he shouldn't, no matter what Lisian said.

"So you really are going to be working here during this break of yours?" Melanie motioned for him to sit with them at the bar. Since there were still a few hours until they opened, there was no rush in him getting his uniform on.

"Yeah, I need the lien, I'll be working the nights when my team doesn't need me, which is gonna suck." He wasn't looking forward to the many late nights but he would have rather worked all fourteen nights rather than meet with his team and some bigshots in the Fang.

"Yeah, I guess with Roman locked up, nobody left to sign your checks?" Pretty much, Roman paid him for the work he did, unlike Cinder. The bitch didn't bother to pretend that he wasn't anything but a tool to her.

"Mhmm…"

"Sounds rough, but enough about work, how's Beacon?" Thankfully Miltia sensed his sour thoughts.

"It's alright, the teachers are pretty bizarre, the worst are the Grimm studies and history professors." Sure Oobleck was extremely knowledgeable, but that was it really. "Ones a blowhard who lives

For his own voice the other acts like an over-caffeinated chipmunk."

"No shit?" His exasperated nod confirmed Melanie's question. "Yikes, how about the students? We've had a few stop by here recently."

"Really? They come for a drink or for the boss?"

"This duo came by looking for information on Torchwick, they wanted to know what he was up to." The girl in white snagged a bottle of tequila from behind the counter and took a small swing. "Some moron with blue hair and that blonde bitch that trashed the club the first time. I swear, if Junior hadn't told us to stand down, we would have gotten her back."

Blonde and blue? That sounded like Neptune and Yang, he did run into them on the night they fought Mecha-Torchwick. Wait, did that mean Yang was the one who trashed The Club?

"So what did they learn?"

The twins looked at each other for a moment, some sort of silent conversation. Eventually they answered him.

"That Torchwick hired our guys and we haven't seen them since. You know what happened to his second batch by the way?" He didn't, and he said as much. "Great, what the hell happened to them?"

"Blondie knows Torchwick kept a certain guy close at hand, and that he isn't exactly thrilled with the assignment."

"Wait, you what?"

"We didn't tell them it was you, obviously, all they got out of us was that this recent hire of his might be willing to turn over Roman." Miltia swiped the bottle from her sister and placed it back. "We didn't rat you out, and we don't plan to either."

"Well, I should have known, since I haven't been arrested and all." The four girls didn't seem suspicious of him after the fight, so he was likely in the clear. Hopefully his note to Ruby as "Silvestree" threw them off. He probably didn't have anything to worry about.

"Yeah, the blonde bimbo probably forgot all about it after she left, didn't look like the type who had a high brain cell count." They kept mentioning a blonde girl, maybe he could figure out who.

"So about this girl that wrecked the place, you said she was blonde?" The two nodded in confirmation. "Does she fight with a big weapon, or with her fists? Like a boxer or somethin?"

"Yup." Melanie answered, popping the "p" loudly. "Fist fighter nasty right hook."

"And her semblance is her lighting herself on fire and getting a power up?"

"I'm guessing you know the tramp?"

His forehead hit the bar with a meaty thud. It fucking was Yang. Of course it was.

"Damnit, Xiao Long…"

"So, you get her back for what she did yet? I haven't forgotten that I asked you to."

Shifting his head so his chin was resting on the wood surface. He gave the two a tired look. "I don't think that's gonna happen, trust me."

"Yeah, kinda knew it was a long shot."

"Any other fun students? Besides the bitch."

Oxon thought for a moment on the teams he'd met. "Well, blondie is on team RWBY, led by her little sister. They got some kinda ex-fang cat girl and the SDC heiress as well.

"Little kid is in charge of a group like that? Bet it's a headache to keep em under thumb." Apparently it was at first, but they were damn close the whole time he's known them.

"They're good girls, yes, even Yang. They have helped me a bunch ever since I was placed in Beacon. If it weren't for them? I'd probably be a lot more miserable with the whole thing." Gods, if he was alone with the rest of his team? He'd have snapped.

"Them and one other team are the only ones I really talk to. There's a few others for sure, but primarily JNPR And RWBY. They're not what I thought of them at first." Terrifying, snooty, shifty, and obnoxious were his initial impressions of the four. He did feel happy to have gotten to know them better, even if he'd be leaving eventually.

"Speaking of the heiress, we saw the news about you and her." The look he gave Melanie must have shown his thoughts of the news. "We're not ones for tabloids Oxon, just surprised you took that hit."

"It was a split second thing. I have heavier armor, I can take a hit. Or well I should." Stupid ursa…

"Well it's clear that you're doing ok, I'm not going to worry. Though Mil seemed ready to storm the castle."

"Was fucking not!" The crimson girl gave her sister a nasty look before glancing at him. "It's just that you helped us out before, wanted to know if you'd bit it before we could pay you back."

"It's fine really, y'all were decent folk the whole time I was here, not to mention you saved my ass from the big boss after the botched robbery."

"Speaking of the Vale incident, just what was that? Why bomb Vale?"

"Mel is right, we all saw what Roman did with those animals, were you in on that?" Oxon violently shook his head at Miltia's question. "Did you at least know what was going to happen?"

"I knew the dust we were stealing was for something. But I never knew it was going to be something like that, honest." He didn't know what that was supposed to mean for Cinder's grand scheme, but he didn't like the direction they were going. "I'm just mad I couldn't be the one to arrest the red haired prick, he wouldn't have come out without a shiner if it were me."

"Yeah, I can believe that." He felt relief at the fact they didn't think he would have helped that event willingly. Though, he did help with his work with the Fang and Torchwick.

"Chaos in the streets isn't exactly good for business Ox, so you can understand why we're not thrilled with what's been happening."

He let out a deep sigh, he wasn't a big fan either. "I'm not exactly in the know on things until they seem it necessary to tell me. But what I can say is the focus is out of the city, more on the school now."

"The huntsman academy? What's the goal there?" He was as lost as they were, some sort of power or whatever. He told them about his "team" and how glad he was to be free of them soon. That is, if he was able to walk away.

"Sounds like a cheery bunch, they planning on cheating on the tournament?" His questioning look had her clarify. "So I know who to bet on, there's a lot of lien changing hands for the finals."

"Makes sense, but sorry, as far as I know, we're not in it for the trophy." He idly thought about who he thought would win. "My money is on Nikos, it's a well guarded secret, but her semblance is polarity. Anyone with metal gear can't win."

"Well that's fucking broken."

"No wonder she's the Mistral champ for four years running."

He agreed with their reactions, even he had money, stolen from Emerald and blamed on Mercury, on the red head. It was funny watching them argue over where the money went. They didn't even think to question him about it, dumbasses.

"Well, I should get ready." He needed to put on his uniform for tonight, though he wasn't going to bother with the hair dye. If he could get away with it, he'd "lose" his tie as well. "Gotta get that bread."

He hadn't gotten off his seat when the sound of loud groans and sliding stool legs erupted from next to him.

"You're such an idiot."

"Can't believe you'd say that…"

"Dead meme dude."

He wasn't sure what that reaction was for. Nora told him that it was a normal saying. She and Yang had helped him catch up on modern day lingo. He got up to try and follow the girls except for them quickening their pace.

"What? Does that saying not apply here? Miltia? Melanie? Come on, what was so wrong?"

~~~(XXXII)~~~

We all know that it's gonna hit the fan soon, but of course they don't. Who knows how things will end once the windthrow is done?

Don't forget to leave a review on your thoughts, helps me out a bunch to see how people see the story.