Ruby Rose looked around her team's room, a beaming smile on her face. All of Team RSBR were sitting with her around the table.
Finally!
She had tried to throw around her weight as the team leader to make it that way earlier, but Katsuki Bakugou most of the time just did what he wanted. She couldn't fault him during most of their exercises, he did his part and actually listened to most of her orders, at least when she worded them more like requests. Yes, he started listening to them!
Really, most of the time!
Well, occasionally at least?
Surely more than in the beginning!
Improvement!
Things were finally looking up, right?
...
Right?
Her left eye brow started having that nervous twitch again which she had developed during the first days with her team, or rather Bakugo, but her smile stayed unfettered.
Oh, who was she kidding. Bakugo may listen at times during training, but he always did whatever he wanted during team meetings. Sat on the bed, the couch, the table, "wherever he damn well pleased" in his own words, but listened and participated barely enough she couldn't really call him out over it. And it had grated on her so much that she didn't successfully have a single team meeting that met her standards. It's not like she was asking for much, dammit!
She fought back against the twitching brow while a slight sinister note entered her smile uninvitedly and it became just a little too broad not to be considered unsettling. She quickly raised her glass to hide it, but couldn't help herself being satisfied with herself.
"I love it when a plan comes together...", she thought.
She had found out about Katsuki's weakness a few days before and today her carefully laid-out plan had come to fruition. A team meeting like it was supposed to be! Four people sitting around the table, merrily snacking treats and talking, bonding, wasting the time away...
Well, not that Katsuki talked much right now, mind you, but he at least tolerated them talking without making his usual snide remarks or insults. Improvement! Yay!
'You know that's mostly from him being busy stuffing his mouth...right?'
'SHUT UP VOICE AT THE BACK OF MY HEAD!'
While her other two teammates, Shoto Todoroki and Lie Ren, didn't really talk much to begin with, they always had a warm feeling around them when they sat silent together. It wasn't awkward silence, they seemed to share a bond of silence, a zen-like state of silent understanding and communication among the two. The kind that team members would usually have to fight through a number of death battles to develop, if they arrive at that peak of cooperation at all. Yang had called it bromance and while Ruby wouldn't go as far as her sister, like, when did she ever go that far in anything, she was still pretty happy about the two hitting it off due to having similar characters. Frankly she might have been a tiny bit envious about how easy they did it, if it weren't for her relief that at least two of her team members were easy to handle.
Not than anyone would appear difficult to talk to compared to Katsuki. Maybe that Weiss person, but maybe she had been just in a bad mood on the first day? She shuddered at the thought of potentially having to deal with three people as volatile and grating as Bakugou had been. She told herself to be strong, surely she could take it, even poor, poor Deku had held up fine, didn't he? NOT Deku-Izuku! Bakugou was rubbing off on her. Izuku was fine after years of "Kacchan", wasn't he? Right?
'Well apart from that muttering.'
'And the nervousness.'
'And the self esteem issues.'
...
'Yang, save me!'
"Nope. Happy place, happy place.", she reminded herself. All's going well and according to plan. She wouldn't mess up. She wouldn't panic.
So what if she was carrying the conversations mostly by herself with two perpetual silent types and someone who thankfully shut up for once. That was FINE! Improvement! Yay?
She froze when she realized something. Was she already muttering to herself? Had it already begun? Was that how it started with Izuku? She took another sip to calm down her nerves. Didn't she face Grimm all the time, surely she could handle a team meeting. She had her secret weapon. Almost as good as Crescent Ro... She stopped short, what was she thinking? How could she disrespect her baby like that! The secret weapon was fine, sure, ingenious even, but leagues below her beloved Crescent Rose, that went without saying.
Anyway, the secret weapon that was at the core of her plan had revealed itself a few days ago...
xXxXxXxXxXxXx
The secret weapon had revealed itself when Lie Ren had started cooking.
He had used the kitchen to make pancakes for his not-girlfriend Nora and he made a few portions more for the team. There may or may not have been silver puppy eyes involved. Ruby couldn't be held accountable for her actions when baking smell filled the air. Also the leader position deserved to have some benefits.
Anyways, team bonding pancakes, yay!
Sure, Ren had to leave to deliver the pancakes to Nora himself, but before that the delicious smell of the pancakes had lured in Todoroki and even Katsuki. Ruby had known for sure when the latter actually muttered under his breath that the pancakes were "decent". It was a lie of course, they were damn near divine, but the taste of victory in her mouth at that moment had tasted even sweeter. Who knew victory tasted of maple sirup? It totally should, it was very fitting, but she didn't knew before. The first kind thing Katsuki said in a... ever actually!
There it was, the weakness, the moment of victory: Katsuki had a sweet tooth.
His weakness finally revealed, Ruby went to work immediately. In her first and so far only bout of Team Leader dictatorship she appointed Ren on the spot to be the official team cook. In private she also told him she was fine with his constant slipping away to meet Nora, but in return he would have to make food for the team meetings and stay around to eat it with them. Lie Ren had looked at her and must have seen the glare in her silver eyes, because he only nodded in agreement.
Katsuki bait supply line successfully acquired and implemented! Masterplan proceeding!
And now the results of that plan showed themselves. All was going well. Ruby likened the feeling she had right now to the flow she tended to get into while working on Crescent Rose. That feeling of all the parts interlocking, that satisfaction when something she had envisioned was made a reality by her own hands. She loved that feeling and it was one of the first times it happened when involving other people. She finally started feeling a little more content about being appointed the leader.
They had decided on a training schedule and Bakugou had even asked Todoroki about his powers on his own accord. A few more minutes of wait until she would bring up some more team stuff again, maybe some team attacks? She'd wait until everyone had eaten half of their fill. Not too early to make Katsuki get aggravated at being disturbed in his pancake eating and not too late that he might make a run for it after he had eaten his fill already.
Her planning was flawless! Take that, doubters! Social awkwardness? Get out of here, you've been replaced! Ruby Rose, mastermind of treats! Now her victory was inevitable and it would be DELICIOUS, which was clearly the best kind of inevitability!
It was then Ruby noticed the first sign of ruin. Something was wrong. Her brow was twitching, what did she...?
She forgot to cool the rest of the drinks. They were already luke-warm and totally not tasty. She glanced to the side and saw Katsuki's features slowly darkening...
"Allow me.", Todoroki spoke up and used his semblance to cool all the drinks and bottles on the table. She'd have to find out what Todoroki liked, because he clearly deserved a reward for that save. Wait, the maple sirup? He didn't freeze it, another crisis averted! Take that, Murphy!
Ruby exhaled a breath she hadn't noticed she had held. Why was her brow still twitching though?
Suddenly Lie Ren looked up and turned his head to one of the walls. Ruby's blood ran cold. Were his ears twitching? She knew that kind of look, it's what her dog Zwei looked like when he heard some animal or caught a whiff of something.
The kind of look Zwei always had right before...
...he would inevitably...
...run off somewhere!
Ruby's eyes widened, she opened her mouth to speak up, she could still save the meeting, she just had to stop him before he could...
"Team leader, I'm sorry, but I've got to be somewhere.", Lie Ren said, already standing up and jumping straight out of the open window. Ruby stared at his suddenly empty seat in utter disbelief. She turned her head to the window and screamed "No, wait, please dooooon't!" after him, but to no avail.
She then felt a pat on her shoulder and looked at Bakugo, who smirked?
"Oh, shut the dramatics, runt, that just means more pancakes for all of us!", she heard him say, while he started putting most of Ren's pancakes on his own plate and even throwing a pair on Ruby's plate. Todoroki quietly took the rest of them, in silent approval.
xXxXxXxXxXxXx
Meanwhile Lie Ren saw a shocking sight that filled him with intense fear, a miserable fallen form he knew all too well. The signs were obvious and he didn't have much time, so he immediately turned around and went back the way he came from.
xXxXxXxXxXxXx
Ruby's eyes were still wide while her mind was rattling, thoughts about how she could still save things, Bakugo still seemed at ease, sharing the pancakes was even friendly! The meeting was half-way done, the less important half, sure, but they now had a training schedule and that had to count for something, didn't it? Improvement! Yay!
Maybe she could even...
It was at that moment Lie Ren suddenly climbed through the window and, with a single fluid movement worthy of an experienced multi-classing ninja/waiter, took away all of their plates with all the food on them, mumbling "Sorry, it's an emergency." under his breath and then disappeared in a flash, all over the course of the time span it took the others to blink dumbfoundedly.
A few moments there was a deathly silence.
Then the sound of a vein popping with rage.
Katsuki flipped the table with a huge blast of his semblance and a resounding "WHAT THE FRICKIN HELL!", closely followed by Ruby's heartbreaking "Noooooooooooooooooooooo!" echoing through the campus...
For a moment, Weiss was sure there were two Izukus.
It took a quick shake of her head to rid such an insane thought from her mind, letting her realize he was just perched beside some kind of tiny tree in a tiny clay planter on his desk. From what she could observe, he seemed to be looking back at something on his desk, then back to the tree, all while muttering that familiar chittery nonsense that seemed to only came from him, Ruby, and squirrels. When he finally began to pull the pruning scissors away from the flora, she coughed into her hand before crossing her arms. "What on earth are you doing, Izuku?"
Her voice was enough to snap him out of whatever fugue state he'd lulled himself into, jumping in his chair before quickly spinning around to look at her. Huh. Even now he and the tree still seemed similar, save one had a big grin on its face. "O-Oh! Hi Weiss! I just got this bonsai from our Botany class, and I wanted to study up on the technique for working with them!"
"...It's a plant. What's to know?"
"That's the whole thing!" That seemed to excite him even more, and she wished she could take it back as soon as he held up the surprisingly thick book. "Sure, you can cultivate it however you want to, but a proper bonsai has certain qualifications on what limbs to prune, the style, and even using wire to adjust how branches grow for proper aesthetic. It's actually very in depth! There are even particular breeds of plant that are considered appropriate for bonsai work."
Against her better judgement, she leaned in to examine the book, then the plant, and then back to her apparently insane leader. Of course, it sounded just like something he'd enjoy, tending to plant life with some personal flair which required lots of small effort to build up to turning that bush into the oddly stylish bush that was on the picture. It was actually rather admirable, not that she would ever admit to it, though something in what he said did stick out in her mind. "That sounds... I'm going to say fascinating, but I'll never understand why you took the botany elective in the first place. It's not like we'll be roughing it in the wild or anything." That was obviously why they took food with them in the first place. It was just good sense!
From the way his brow took a confused furrow, he seemed to disagree. "But what if we lose our rations or packs? It's always good to have some wilderness survival tricks, like what plants to eat, boiling water, and even that thing about moss growing on one part of a tree." He seemed to be getting excited again, but there was something odd about that sentence that stuck out at her.
Several things, actually, but she chose to focus on the strangest to start. "What thing about moss? What's moss?"
He opened his mouth to no doubt explain with all the speed of an untethered engine, when it snapped shut. Izuku blinked, then tilted his head to the side in a way that reminded her of a puppy. A cute, but very confused puppy. "It's plant life that grows in shady places, such as rocky overhangs and trees. Like fungi, I guess."
"Like mushrooms? Disgusting! Why would anyone care where it grows on a tree?"
"Because people say you can navigate by seeing where the moss grows?"
"Can you?"
"Actually not always."
"Then why on earth would anyone think it was a good idea in the first place?"
As she focused on forcing down her revulsion, Izuku took a breath and set his book on the bed before speaking. "Weiss, I don't want to sound rude or anything, but do you know anything about wilderness survival?"
The very thought of wanting to know how to rough it in the woods made her straighten her back, nose rankling at the imagined dirt, smells, and general unpleasantness of nature. It wasn't natural! "Why would I need to? That's what civilization is for, to get us away from dirt and sleeping in trees like animals."
"B-But won't we be taking missions that leave us in the woods? It'd be nice to know what berries you can eat and what others are poisonous."
"Wait. There are berries out there that can kill you?!" She didn't realize she'd grabbed him by the shirt in her panic and drew him to her eye level, noses only a few scant inches apart as he frantically nodded. Her lips drew into a scowl and she looked at the bonsai book that had started this entire mess. A few moments ago it had been a simple peculiarity, but was now the started the entire horrific idea of death that could be brought about by her carelessness. And he had mentioned boiling water, which she was beginning to suspect was not so you could brew tea. There were an entire tableau of things that she may need for the future. And she knew just who to learn from.
With a smile that was so saccharin it instantly put her leader on edge, she let him go and reached out to gently brush out the creases out of his shirt. And no, she didn't find she liked the feeling of his solid chest muscles, thank you very much! She had other things to focus on for now! "Well then, I suppose there are some things I could stand to learn about the wilderness...if you're willing to maybe teach me?" Her bravado ebbed as she drew closer to the actual request. Could she have made it a demand? Of course, but after he'd tried explaining the hazards to her already it would be horrifically crass to just command him to give something he'd already been willing to share.
But more than that, Izuku deserved to be treated better than some servant. He was the leader of their team. A responsible young man.
Maybe even, possibly, conceivably, they could be considered friends?
From the way his confused just melted into a soft smile, a small part of her genuinely hoped he felt that way. "Sure thing, Weiss. We haven't covered much in class yet, but I do know plenty from home. Grab your chair and we'll start with the basics." He turned to push his bonsai to the side while she went to fetch her chair, quickly picking up another book and sitting down. As Weiss set her chair down beside his, she quietly thought about how she'd pay him back for this kindness. Of course he'd just say she didn't need to, but he was taking time out of his day to help educate her. His infuriatingly sweet generosity deserved something, though that would have to be decided on later.
For now, she was learning about berries.
Heck, maybe she'd find something to help him with in the future...
For a moment, Izuku was sure he was imagining things.
He took a moment to stop the leisurely return to his team's' room, having left Pyrrha and Nora to their private spar while he went to review his notes for Professor Oobleck's class. And just outside the door, he heard it. A quick mental search told him that while the song was rather catchy, it wasn't something he heard before, much less at a volume he could hear it from the other side of the door. Obviously someone had been listening on their scroll earlier and simply left said scroll open, he told himself as he shrugged and reached for the handle, unable to help but hum along with the beat.
Compared to what Weiss was doing, it was a dramatic understatement.
The Schnee heiress had her back to the door and her hair down, head bobbing in time to the beat that had utterly absorbed her. As the instrumental picked up, her shoulders rolled back, the simple effort being carried all the way down her curling spine down to her shifting hips in one smooth motion, knees bending and rocking with the tempo before she spun in place. It was almost hypnotizing to be honest, the energy and skill combined with the sheer joy that radiated from her like a small sun. He wanted to stay right there and enjoy the chance to see her literally let her hair down, but he very much doubted she'd take the unintended intrusion very well. With all the care he could muster, he slowly began backing for the door, hoping that she'd stay in her little world for a few more seconds.
Which is, of course, when the elegant pirouette ended with her facing the door, Weiss' eyes crisp blue eyes snapping open and pinning him in place like a deer in the headlights. Her exuberant smile was instantly replaced by a look of growing horror, the color seeping from her face as comprehension sank in. "Wh-Wh-Wha..How..?" Her attempt at words just dissolved into her mouth and forced her mouth to flap open and shut uselessly before finally snapping closed. Rather then say anything just yet and embarrass her even more, he simply turned around to closed the door, though not without noticing Weiss out of the corner of his eye as she lunged at the scroll to snap it shut. By the time he had come back around to face his teammate, she had at least managed enough personal control to finally stammer out a sentence. "H-How long were you there for?" Her eyes were firmly locked on the floor now, expression almost as if she was either berating herself or expecting to be berated.
Why she'd think she deserved such, he couldn't even fathom, but he did have enough of his wits together to respond. "N-Not v-very long. I heard the music and I..kinda was curious." He winced at how feeble the truth sounded to him, scratching the back of his head as the awkward silence hung between them like a noose. Desperate to keep her from getting angry at him or herself, he latched onto the first stray thought that crossed his mind. "You looked so cool! How did you even move so smoothly with the rhythm? I thought dancing was all just awkward moving with a partner or something." Thankfully the compliment shook her out of her self-reflection, and the questions seemed to bring that familiar focus to her face.
While he did like seeing the relaxed and smiling Weiss, there was something about the way she could so completely focus on a topic that he was always impressed by, smiling all the more as she spoke. "I'll have you know that dancing isn't just flopping around like some fish. I've been trained in various forms and styles since I could walk." Her back straightened and a small smirk curled her lips. "I'd daresay I'm almost as good a dancer as I am a singer." He couldn't help but be in awe, thinking about the kind of dedication and effort she had to put in. Even if what he saw was just her having fun, it was still really impressive, and actually explained some of how she was so agile in combat.
"Can you teach me how to dance?"
The words practically leapt from his mouth before he could stop them, breaking her haughty expression and making her stare. He scrambled to explain. "I-I mean I don't expect to ever be as good as you, but I did hear we have school dances and stuff, and I was kinda hoping I could look cool and not embarrass myself..." His voice and confidence trailed off, his embarrassment so heavy it was pulling his head down until he was staring at the ground unable to even apologize of he insulted her.
Which meant he did get to watch her bare dainty feet slowly moving around him, trying to ignore the soft 'hmm' she made as she moved before standing in front of him. "Well, I suppose I have had the actual training, and I could show you something basic like a waltz." His head immediately snapped up at that chance, grinning from ear to ear as he nearly moved to hug her even as he felt his eyes watering. He had a chance to look cool! To maybe get a little coordinated and not embarrass himself and his team!
But before he could embrace her, Weiss daintily reached out and pressed her palm against his forehead, pinning him in place with her hard stare. "On three conditions; One, you follow my instructions to the letter."
"Yes!"
"Two, you tell no one I'm teaching you. I'm doing this because you asked, not because I want to be a dance teacher."
"Of course!"
"And three," She paused to lean in. "If you tell a soul about what you saw earlier, they will never find the body. Understood?"
Rather then respond, his head meekly bobbed in agreement.
She stared at him a long moment, then nodded and went to pick up her scroll. "Take off your shoes while I find some proper music." He saluted and quickly went to untie his shoes. Learning to dance from a real girl?! His life just found new ways to get better and better!
"And watch your hands, or I'll make you eat them!"
"Right!"
"Remember, you have an assignment due next week" Port reminded the class.
A chorus of groans resounded around the room except for team MNVW. Instead, most of the team looked expectantly at their leader, Izuku. The reason for that was simple. The assignment they had was an essay about beowolves. Something that Izuku happened to have a notebook about.
"We got this in the bag!" Nora fist pumped the air.
"While I won't put it as bluntly, I do agree that Izuku's notes will make this assignment much simpler" Weiss stated while Pyrrha nodded her head in agreement.
"Um, guys" The three girls of tem MNVW looked towards their leader. "Do you really think my notes would be good enough?"
The three girls paused, and in one swift motion looked at one another. They then turned their heads back to him.
"You write like a textbook."
Izuku wasn't quite sure whether to be flattered or offended by the statement, so he just settled on sighing, and followed his team toward the assignment.
…
"Remind me again why we're in a middle of a forest?" Weiss complained.
"My notes are all second-hand. I only got information from stories and books so it would be much better to get some first-hand information right?" Izuku replied.
"Well, it's a nice team outing" Pyrrha backed him up.
Weiss puffed out a breath of air but still continued to trek the forest with her team.
"It's Beowolf season! Let's goBeowolf hunting!" Nora exclaimed, holding her hammer at the ready.
It didn't take long before they came across a beowolf. As luck would have it, that particular beowolf had strayed from the pack. A single Beowolf was a rare sight to behold.
The team hid from sight as Weiss set up multiple glyphs of increase weight. It didn't take long for the beowolf to walk over one of the glyphs.
As soon as it did, Nora came flying from her hiding spot and came down on top of the grimm, pinning it to the ground with her hammer.
"All ready, fearless leader!" Nora shouted.
The rest of the team came out of hiding and walked towards the beowolf. Now that the beowolf was trapped by Nora, Pyrrha and Weiss would act as lookout just in case anymore grimm came while Izuku would study the trapped grimm.
Izuku knelt down in front of the Beowolf's head and got to work analysing everything he could. From the amount of teeth it had to the texture of its fur to its sense of pain.
"Hmm, If I do this here then how would it react? Does it feel more pain here?" Izuku mumbled to himself.
"Yeah! Break its legs!" Nora cheered Izuku on but he was way too far into his own world to acknowledge it.
Pyrrha and Weiss looked on in shock at what they are witnessing. It looked like something out of a horror movie.
"This… This is just wrong" Weiss muttered under her breath.
"I know it's evil but I can't help but feel bad for the thing" Pyrrha said, her eyes wanted to tear away from scene in front of her but her body wouldn't let her.
Weiss slightly nodded her head and gulped. She barely even registered that she even did anything. The only thing in her mind was that she never wanted to be that beowolf and hoped that those inquisitive eyes of its torturer would never be turned towards her.
The two members of team MNVW would shiver whenever they saw Izuku writing in his notebook while mumbling or whenever they heard the words 'break its legs'.
To think that even after that, they still had so much more about the Grimm to learn...
"So, with all that said, finishing the Alpha of a pack of Beowolves first isn't necessarily the best course of action to choose. While a lack of leadership will hurt their teamwork, which will help harm their harassment tactics if the pack is trying to hunt you down while you try to get away, that isn't much of a factor if you already decided to stay and fight in the first place. Because if you instead choose to stick around, the rest of the pack will most likely still attack even without any more guidance by their Alpha, simple bloodlust taking the place of its orders. In fact, a lack of a leader presence in the pack may even lead to a prolonged fight, since occasionally an Alpha Beowolf may order his pack to retreat if the pack lost a substantial amount of its members."
"They'll never retreat without an Alpha to pull them out of their fighting frenzy though."
Izuku stopped, getting an idea and breaking into muttering, while he quickly scribbled a few more notes on the page.
"Of course, if the mission would be to basically eradicate the entire pack of Beowulf's, that fact could be abused to ensure none of the lesser Beowulf's will manage to get away. Specifically useful as a tactic if the fight is happening in an urban combat zone, where even one stray Beowolf could easily kill or injure ordinary citizens."
The girls waited until Izuku reread his new notes and changed some slight things in the wording, then reread it to them in a non-mutter. By now they were all used to Izuku's meticulous procedure of adding anything new to his journals. Disrupting that process had proven to only take more time in the long run and it was as good a time as any to just nibble some more snacks or refill their drinks instead.
Or to add something to their own notes. By now Izuku had copied all of this journal to the girls' scrolls, which made him severely regret the fact his school-provided model wasn't good enough to do all the same things with. The girls had decided to start taking notes on paper during their sessions so as to not rub that fact into Izuku's face any further.
Finally their leader seemed satisfied and put down his pencil again.
"The next Grimm we will talk about is..."
Izuku couldn't resist the usual dramatic pause before flipping the page.
"... the King Taijitu!"
"We'll break his legs!", Nora immediately and helpfully uttered out her usual go-to tactical advice.
"Oh please, Nora, it's a snake Grimm, it doesn't even have legs!", Weiss grumbled.
"We'll just break his ribs then, same old, tomato, to-ma-to.", a non-fettered Nora replied.
"It's a Grimm though, it doesn't really have ribs either.", Pyrrha chimed in.
"True." Izuku answered, "A shame actually, because breaking its ribs could otherwise end up in those ribs poking out through its scales and slow it down severely or serve as a gripping point to break its body armor wide open with."
"Magnhild will still flatten it either way. That whole damage immunity of Grim due to their homogenous nature doesn't really apply to my kind of battle tactics after all, does it? Regardless if it's me hammering at their head or using my grenades for explosive damage or me riding on them."
"She has a point.", Izuku conceded, to which Nora happily nodded along. "Well, except about that riding part."
"Magnhild is the best and you don't know what you're missing by not riding!", the girl added in a sing-song voice.
"Still, Nora, you should take this a little more seriously.", Weiss chided her.
"Well, it wasn't me who ended up in last place in our last Grimm pop quiz, Weiss."
The young Schnee immediately jumped at the slight.
"My throat was dry and you know it, I missed those two questions due to taking a few sips of water! And I was only last by a single point of difference either! And only in that one, single quiz, usually you are in the last place!", the young girl fumed.
"Sure, whatever lets you sleep at night, princess of the dead-last!", the orange-haired girl teased, sticking out her tongue at Weiss, who ultimately decided to take it in stride. And to never allow herself to place last again, on her name as a proud Schnee!
While the friendly teasing did prolong the Taijitu lesson, Izuku didn't mind at all. He got a warm feeling from the friendly atmosphere and was quite simply overjoyed his team was working so well together. He shuddered a bit when thinking about Ruby's problems with Bakugo, he really dodged a bullet there. Izuku felt truly blessed and just enjoyed watching their antics for a bit.
"So, which sort of Grimm is next, Izuku?", Pyrrha inquired at some point, intent on keeping the meeting productive.
"The next Grimm we will talk about is a new one we haven't covered at all so far..."
And with a flip, Izuku revealed the Grimm`s picture. It had a rather weird and deeply unsettling appearance, even for a Grimm. Which was saying something. What from afar could have been mistaken for a rider on horseback was actually a horse-like creature consisting of an equine main body and a skinless humanoid creature fused with it, that had spikes along its spine.
Its forelegs were shaped like claws and its hooved hind legs had a rather characteristic shape too. The humanoid body had sharp, curved horns on the head that also sported a closed slit of a mouth and it bore a long pair of arms, each arm ending in two clawed fingers.
None of the others noticed Nora's head dropping down at the mere sight.
"... the Nuckelavee!"
Weiss looked at it, swallowed, then frowned in disgust. "Now that is one ugly Grimm if I've ever seen one. Downright hideous."
"Since it's the first time we're covering it, I'll start reading out what I've already got on it. Which is not all that much, I'm afraid. From what I've heard about it, it's a pretty rare one too, so there's likely little any of you can add about it."
"I sure haven't heard about it", Pyrrha spoke up. "While the name rings a slight bell, nothing of worth. I think I can recall hearing one killing a pair of seasoned hunters though, that also used to be former battle champions. So it should be a formidable foe.", Pyrrha mused aloud.
"Now that, Pyrrha, is probably a real understatement. The Nuckelavee is said to be quite intelligent and that's a factor that apparently leads to them getting older and more powerful at a higher frequency than most other Grimm species. To be frank, the chance of encountering one are rather low due to its rarity, but due to its threat level I figured I'd bring it up for the off chance of it ever happening."
"Yeah, the off chance of it ever happening. Probably one in a million. Like being struck by lightning. Won't happen to most people and for sure not twice...", Nora muttered in a somewhat hoarse voice, her voice getting lower towards the end. Weiss and Pyrrha gave her a look, but Nora's was still looking at the table, so they focused back on Izuku's explanations, who was simply too involved with his notes to have noticed anything out of the ordinary.
"While both of its halves apparently can't function at the same time, regrettably that isn't much of a real weakness. The switch in control apparently happens near-instantly and the disarray of its movement often serves to throw hunters off their game, surprised by the sudden movement shifts and irregular rhythm. So it could arguably be seen not as a weakness, but as a disguised strength instead."
Izuku stopped reading when Nora stood up and walked to the door, still holding her glass.
"I think I need some fresh air. I'll be back soon."
Pyrrha looked after Nora, raising a brow. "Can't that wait a few moments? We`re almost done with this Grimm."
"I guess.", Nora answered without turning around. Her eyes were intently focused on the small wooden hammer residing close to her bed, though none of the others could see that from their angle.
Izuku continued, while Weiss turned to open the window to let some fresh air in.
"There really isn't all that much left to say.", Izuku admitted. "I guess we could all take a break after this one. No real sense learning when we're getting tired, since the knowledge likely wouldn't stick. The Grimm's arms are rumored to be slightly elastic, increasing its range somewhat. And it's shrieks are supposed to be rather loud, potentially serving as a minor distraction in a fight. But I could imagine they might be increasing the chance of panicked civilians by a good amount."
Izuku checked his notes a final time to see if he'd missed anything, before coming to a close.
"With all that being said, the Nuckelavee is still said to be dangerous enough to attack and depopulate human settlements up to the size of small towns entirely on its own and thus considered..."
The sound of glass breaking disrupted Izuku.
All three members of Team MNVW looked confused for a moment, before noticing that Nora held the broken remains of her drinking glass in her clenched fist. Red liquid dropped down from it, but the shine of aura protecting Nora's hand revealed it couldn't be actual blood, it was just the cranberry juice they'd had that day. Still, the sight of Nora's trembling form silenced her entire team at once.
After a long moment of silence Nora finally spoke up in a voice bar of emotions that sounded so very alien for her.
"Leader, I`ve got a few things to contribute this time. Better take notes like you always do, because I won't say it twice."
Izuku opened his mouth, but Weiss quickly grabbed his hand, motioning him to stay silent.
"The Nuckelavee is eerily slow when approaching, with only the unnerving sound of its hooves and of its arms getting pulled over the ground, occasionally cracking its knuckles. Which makes what comes after worse. That 'somewhat increased range' you mentioned? Try a dozen meters or more instead, at pretty much every angle, including upwards, with great aim. And great speed it barely even needs to bother using due to having that range. It's 'minor distracting cries'..."
Nora paused for a moment, before continuing in a much lower voice.
"...are actually horrific shrieks that leave grown men sobbing and weeping wrecks that can't bring up any will to fight back anymore, nor to even run away."
"You just hide, knowing fully well that it will find you at some point, but being frozen in place regardless. Covering your ears with your hands won't help either, the shrieks are so loud, shrill and unnatural they pierce that easily, but you can't stop covering your ears when hearing it regardless, knowing there's no hope left that it will not find you in your hiding spot, no matter how small and insignificant you might be..."
The three shared disturbed and worried looks, unable to disrupt that side of Nora they saw for the first time, who was so different from her usual bubbly self.
"But you definitely got that depopulating towns part right."
With that sentence, Nora had suddenly opened the door and just ran off. Before her team could follow her, she was already out of sight. While they searched for Nora, they just couldn't find her. She didn't return that entire night either.
xXxXxXxXxXxXx
That night, Ren, who had been woken by his scroll, looked at the simple message he got from Nora, consisting of just three simple letters.
His own name.
Lie Ren immediately left through the window to find his friend.
It had taken even him some time to find and get to Nora. She sat on a building's ceiling and stared in front of her with a thousand yard stare, even when he sat down beside her. He touched her shoulder, but she clearly didn't want to talk, he could tell as much. So he didn't talk either.
After a while she pulled out her scroll though, pulling up a file.
"My team... talks about Grimm. For training purposes."
He could tell from her voice she must had been crying before.
"Today we got to... this one, Ren."
She weakly handed him the scroll and Lie Ren took one look. And immediately froze. After some long moments with his own thoughts, he just slided closer to Nora and put his arm around her, with her doing the same.
Both sitting together silently, just being there for each other. Because there wasn't anyone else that would really understand. But that one person was enough. It had always been that way for them, ever since that day.
E/N: Starting out we have "A Simple Plan parts 1+2" by Vandalgyon, Followed up by "Deal With the Deku" and "The Swing of Things" both by Preventer Squall. Then we get "Documenting A Beowolf" by thebebb, Before ending with "Grim(m) Memories" by Vandalgyon, which had a decent chunk cut off for the sake of a more sombre ending.