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Chapter 68: Halo Academy
In the dormitory belonging to Second Year students of Halo Academy of New Vale, Team TRQS there was already activity to be seen and heard in the form of curtains' being flung open to allow more than the meagre amount of pale, weak and almost half-hearted light that had filtered around them to fill the room before the action was repeated with the slightly translucent screen which separated the beds belonging to the teams' male and female members. That this was happening on a Sunday morning, in the mid to late hours where students of Team TRQS's age might reasonably be expected to be enjoying a well deserved rest or perhaps recovering from the events of the night before, especially considering that this particular Sunday had been preceded by the arrival of many new students and potential friends from across Remnant was seemingly immaterial; the early rousing of the team being entirely expected and routine and entirely the decision of the leader of Team TRQS.
Tiger Santara.
Tiger was a tall young woman who often surprised those she met simply by being human as her name alone seemed to suggest otherwise to many people; she stood a fraction over six feet in height and boasted a lean and athletic form with whipcord muscles perpetually coiling and flexing beneath light brown skin in a sign of the admittedly unhealthy tension borne of the standards to which she held herself and those around her. At present much of those tensed muscles were hidden beneath loose and flowing clothes in the form of white pants which hung loosely around her legs until they tapered enough to not look ridiculous when paired with black footwear and armour affixed with a series of interweaving ribbons and over these pants which were intended to allow for the maximum amount of motion was a heavy and ornate belt, a dulled bronze in colour with glistening jewels set into it with a pair of sweeping sash-like capes hanging from her hips; black with orange stripes in an inversion of the animal she was named for and a rare concession to such an obvious thing. Tiger's chest, shapely as it was had been hidden beneath an armoured chest plate she was in the midst of fastening, its' sleek tactical outline and glossy finish offset by intricate details of the same bronze colour as her belt to create abstract striping patterns whilst leaving a hint of midriff bare only for that to be covered by an asymmetrical jacket, loose flowing and white with black and orange detailing covering it and a single sleeve trailing the length of her left arm to cover several jewel-encrusted bangles hanging about her wrist whilst her right arm was covered in black and bronze armour and ended in a fist encased in a glove which left her thumb and trigger finger exposed. This interplay between different forms of practicality and simple audacity trended towards the latter as one glanced further upwards; her face was often set in a stern way which her soft and still youthful features did not seem to agree with however the look was made more convincing by her wavy black hair being tied back into an intricate bun and kept back from a golden headdress from which she could deploy a black veil akin to mail from which only her vividly green eyes, framed by dark and striking make up more akin to warpaint and a small beauty mark beneath her left eye would show. As it was she had no need for the veil and made do with simply her own sense of charisma and loud, commanding voice.
"Get up!" she called out to rouse Team TRQS "Come on, up! We're not wasting a Sunday just because you can't restrain yourselves! UP!"
"Alright, alright….Seriously" the slurred, almost painfully rough grumble came from one of two beds in the male half of the dorm; specifically that belonging to Rye Fairfax who was a burly and broad shouldered behemoth of a boy with blonde hair so pale as to be almost colourless, fair skin and a gentle nature and softness which stood at odds with mammoth form. Tiger's cheeks quickly flushed however as she realised that her own side of the dorm had been less occupied than it should have been and that Rye Fairfax had in fact not slept alone as another form wriggled above the precipice of the sheets.
"I told you it was too much to hope for, she was never gonna let us have a day off" the mocking tone and brief glare in Tiger's direction came from Amaya Quasar; Rye's partner in more senses than Tiger cared to consider the specifics of. Rather than rebuke her team-mates for their laziness or urge to get out of bed yet again she simply scanned the dormitory briefly for any sign of the teams' fourth member, vivid eyes trailing from an already made bed which despite her lack of outward response did instil some faith in her own partner in her towards the door to the bathroom, just in time to reveal Team TRQS's fourth and final member; clothed and ready to face the day.
Stygian Blue.
Stygian, native of Menagerie and the sole Faunus amongst Team TRQS although his mouse-tail was often hidden from view had a particular sense of flair and style which Tiger could admit she appreciated the brazen and bold delivery of; the young man's deeply dark skin contrasted sharply by the way he had died his braided and dreadlocked hair a deep shade of royal blue before arranging it in an intricate and sweeping way atop his head, allowing individual locks to fall in front of chiselled features and piercing, lightning blue eyes whilst the side of his head were shaven almost completely. The young man, sturdily built and powerful looking was clad in figure-hugging pants with a small opening for his tail to work its' way through before twisting around his waist and a waistcoat without a shirt beneath it which left enough of his flesh visible to show off a series of tattoos which formed a swirling, geometric pattern which was almost hypnotic to look at though the black ink had faded against his dark skin in a way that suggested that the tattoos had been given when he was perhaps too young, the clothing in shades of grey that were lined and detailed with a navy blue trim and adorned with a series of sliver-studded brown leather belts which formed a makeshift harness, a primary belt cinching in his waist being adorned with several ammo and Dust pouches trailing down and adjoining more of the harness which worked around his legs, stopping above his knees whilst on his feet were shoes that were both black and brown and featured a notable heel and a small amount of silver studding around the toe. A single diagonal belt worked up from his waist, across his sculpted and muscular chest to reach his opposite shoulder and in doing so integrated itself into both the weapon-harness at his back where a handle could be seen rising over his right shoulder and the jacket he wore without the use of its' sleeves; a faded blue leather garment which hung to below his knees with a black inner lining which extended out to the broad collar which reached out passed Stygian's collarbones almost to his shoulders and was lined with gleaming studs, the shoulders themselves being prominent and featuring armour plating which bore more spikes whilst the sleeves of the jacket hung limply and trailed behind the young man as though it might be shrugged off in a single motion, the back of the jacket bearing Stygian's own personal emblem, a cryptic and geometric symbol much like his tattoos. His arms were bare, showing more tattoos adorning bulging biceps whilst a blue bandanna was wrapped around on forearm, a small and largely aesthetic piece of silver armour adorning the other whilst his hands were covered by fingerless black gloves.
"I assume it's too much to hope that you've spontaneously developed sense and decided to take this seriously?" Tiger demanded of her partner, bracing herself for whatever flippant response the Door-mouse Faunus would offer her.
"Probably not, depends what you want though?" Stygian punctuated the answer with an entirely deliberate yawn and behind him Tiger caught sight of Rye and Amaya sliding beneath the covers once again, though in a way that was more indicative of them taking cover from a pending barrage rather than of anything lewd. Privately Tiger fought the urge to sigh, she knew she led her team in a way that others had called harsh or overbearing yet Team TRQS were consistently one of the best amongst their peers, competing only with Team SHMR and in her mind the current circumstances called for unwavering dedication.
"We're training" she said bluntly, brooking no argument yet one came anyway.
"You might be" Stygian snorted "And no doubt the other two will buckle and come with….I've got other plans"
"What could possibly be more important?"
"Actually getting to know some of the transfer students" Stygian matched his partners' incredulous tone and look with one of his own "You know, the people who came for the Vytal Tournament and the festival….Whole peace and cooperation thing? Kinda easier to do that when you actually talk to people?"
"You think that's what the tournament is for?" Tiger fought the urge to offer a laugh that was as fake and mocking as Stygian's yawn a moment ago had been, the two of them now standing close to one another and both visibly bristling as personalities clashed in a way that Team TRQS had come to collectively accept as a reality of their teams' functioning over the last year together; with Stygian rolling his eyes.
"Okay Tiger, enlighten us all….what's the tournament really for?" the tone the words were delivered in left Tiger fighting the urge to hit him, yet instead she made do with a verbal take-down; stating the self-evident and obvious truth as she saw it.
"It's a show of power. A stand-off….So peace in a roundabout way" she snorted "The Vytal festival is an invention of the post-Great War era; a chance for the Kingdoms to show each other their best Hunters in training and remind each other that another war will be too much….It's why Atlas loves bringing their latest heavy weaponry to every tournament; not that it convinces anybody"
"Tiger…." Stygian trailed off, palm running upwards across his face and pushing his braided hair back as he let out a sigh "The fact that a cynical hard-ass with absolutely no joy left in them at all managed to make it to team leader is one of the mysteries we'll probably never figure out….Mainly because I have better things to do than try; I'm out"
"Stygian-" Tiger snapped, only for her words to devolve into a wordless snarl as the Mouse Faunus slipped by and exited the dorm in a motion that was partially owed to his own athleticism and partially to a surreptitious use of his Semblance which left his partner utterly galled. After taking several seconds to try and fathom some as yet undiscovered way to make her partner see reason and train with the fervour that the life of a Hunter demanded instead of simply coasting on an admittedly deep reserve of natural talent and a showy aesthetic like the cretins of Team SHMR and their leader with whom Tiger had fostered a deep enmity and rivalry over the last year Tiger found herself distracted; the sound of something occurring beneath sheets demanding her entire focus and leaving her no alternative but to reach for the first hard-backed book at her disposal at hurl it towards the bed her remaining team-mates were sharing.
"THAT IS NOT CARDIO!" with that Tiger readied her gym-bag and stalked out, Amaya Quasar's comment about begging to differ going ignored.
Team TRQS were cohesive and effective, but Tiger had long since given up on the idea of them being anything more than that and it stung less than she supposed it should have to know that this was one of the few things she had her partner had managed to agree on.
It was a slightly worse for wear and frazzled Team MARZ who were making their final approach on Halo Academy late on a Sunday morning as they, like many of their peers though the specifics of this were largely unknown to them beyond assumptions that could be made, struggled to recover from after effects of the previous evening which seemed determined to make them suffer for their adolescent hubris.
A condition compounded by the juddering flight of the transport that ferried them through the late morning air.
Meeting Felix at the airship terminal the previous day and being assured by the Lion Faunus that anything Team MARZ needed to know regarding their upcoming stay at New Vale's Hunter Academy could be answered either by himself or one of the other alumni of Halo who would be present at the house he called home when not aboard the Nemesis Kharybdis or else handled away from the inevitable crowded bustling of the induction and orientation that the incoming transfer students would be subjected to had seen Team MARZ make their way to the upper middle-class areas of the cities' outskirts to a house that had once belonged to Qrow Branwen himself and yet which had outwardly managed to appear almost painfully ordinary.
Once there Team MARZ had reunited with Team FADE in their entirety, a collection of familial bonding interspersed with Astra and Athena-Jade introducing their partners to some of the other qualified and in many cases legendary Hunters with whom their older brothers were friends including members of Team NEON and GORE. Naturally this had progressed and steadily devolved into a small gathering where alcohol was plentiful and common sense and restraint were not which had consequently left the four Second Year students groggy and bleary eyed as they were awoken by the sound of Eagle Arc banging frying pans together to wake them, though the towering, crimson eyed and freckled blonde who appeared far more friendly without her signature armour was at least merciful enough to use those same pans to prepare breakfast before the teens had departed; travelling as they had the previous afternoon with a combination of the Killer Bee and Clunker which they were growing steadily more certain was not in fact street legal with each awed or frightened glance the custom built jetbike drew from onlookers and finally being deposited at an airship terminal which promised to see them safely delivered to their destination, albeit with the gauntlet of a particularly rickety old transport standing between the teens and their goal.
And yet this could do nothing to stop Regalia, stomach churning as it was from pressing herself against the window and staring down at Neo Vale's skyline in open wonder.
It was a skyline she had seen in movies and yet here, in the flesh it was almost entirely beyond her comprehension. The metropolis was centred around the remaining Hive-Towers, leftovers of the cities' second iteration many of which had been lost in Salem's siege of New Vale; those that remained boasting a perimeter several times the size of a city block with layer upon layer stacked upon each other to create a truly three dimensional city with interconnecting bridges and monorail tracks whilst the outer surfaces of the monolithic structures were emblazoned in banners and projected advertisements larger than a house. This metropolis, with smaller buildings sprouting up in the vacated space between the towers almost to serve as a metric by which to measure them stretched as far as the eye could see yet Regalia knew that beyond this were the suburbs from which she had come, industrial areas of the city large enough to be cities in their own right and other such marvels she could not wait to see whilst in the air around her were even more mind-numbing wonders in the form of the cities aerial platforms which completely surpassed the lone instance of such things she had encountered before; Hammerfall Outpost had been a base of operations, sterile and practical whilst here, in this marvel of a city anti-gravity was used to hold aloft hotels and other places of luxury.
Most important of all however, one of them held Halo Academy.
"This is it" Astra's voice jolted the Racoon Faunus from her stunned appraisal of everything around her, bringing her to her senses only moments before the city below passed out of view and was replaced by the steel surface of the uppermost surface of the anti-gravity platform, followed by the surface of a landing pad as the aircraft lowered itself to a rattling, trembling thud of a landing before finally falling silent.
"Oh thank everything that's over" it was Zirconia's hushed murmur, or more accurately the giggle it drew from Athena-Jade whom the Grasshopper Faunus was leaning against which prompted both Astra and Regalia to turn toward the already opening hatches of the transport, their team-mates already preparing to step out into the air which Regalia's team-mates still maintained was not especially cold despite the way the wind bit and clawed at every inch of the former nomads' flesh it could find and left teeth chattering no matter how she pulled her jackets around herself.
"This is it, this is it" Regalia's hands rubbed together excitedly as she pulled Astra so that the four members of Team MARZ were stood side by side "At the same time right? We step out at the same time so that nobody gets to be the first one to see it"
"I don't wanna spoil it for you but Astra has been here before, I think" Athena-Jade noted, patting Regalia's shoulder whilst Astra discretely made an unpleasant gesture towards the Bear Faunus that lacked any real malice before offering their partner an apologetic glance.
"Yeah, I was here for Astra's graduation, think I was here a few times before that as well….Haven't seen it in years though" the Deer Faunus paused and considered before adding "But you can do the honours"
Without a moment of hesitation Regalia leapt down and took several eager paces forward before coming to a halt, arms limp at her side and her head on a swivel that seemed to offer less range of motion that the awed nomad would have liked and left her instead turning in slow circles in order to take in everything around her, bushy tail twitching and upright as her jaw hung slack.
"She hasn't even made it onto the campus itself yet….Should we be concerned?" Athena asked good naturedly, nudging Astra's shoulder as she took Zirconia's hand.
"Let her have this" the Deer Faunus shook their head, taking the handles of Clunker and hauling their partners' bike along with the teams' accumulated luggage once again strapped to it. Athena-Jade was right however as the space that had they had landed in was only a small terminus attached to campus itself beyond which the main bulk of Halo Academy could be seen rising in a plethora of interconnected towers and ramparts. After allowing Regalia a few moments to gaze in wonder the four of them began to slowly and steadily make their way towards what appeared to be the main route into the academy, a yellow brick road lined with obsidian plinths upon which golden statues, three times larger than the people they had represented had been in life stood.
"Beacon and Halo's fallen" Athena murmured quietly as they neared "Students and teachers who didn't make it through the wars with Salem….One of my Dad's team is here somewhere"
"That's….I'm sorry" Zirconia squeezed her girlfriends' hand and Athena responded with a shrug.
"I never met him obviously, I've heard stories….Some you wouldn't believe; he seemed cool" there was a silence after that, the two of them enjoying a moment of peaceful quiet whilst Regalia took control of pushing her jetbike and continued to soak up the sights around her and Astra, a native of the city cast his eyes around in the vague hopes of seeing a fellow alumni of Signal Academy of Patch or perhaps anybody else who could tell them exactly where they needed to present themselves in order to be given access to their new dormitory; something that the leader of Team MARZ now realised that they were in fact of uncertain of.
All thoughts were forced from their mind a moment later by an explosion.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Astra yelled, Buckshot Ares deploying as they coughed on the thick fumes of a cloying, disturbingly bright pink smoke whilst around them they could hear the sounds of the rest of Team MARZ readying their own weapons and moving into position; yet beneath that and barely discernable beyond the ringing in their ears Astra could hear something else.
"Hold on" they murmured cautiously, bracing themselves with their shields raised as they struggled to get their bearings amidst a chorus of what could only be laughter and cheering with a handful of whoops and jeers that Astra struggled to make out until finally the smoke cleared enough to reveal a lone figure; a diminutive and red-headed woman old enough to be the mother of any of Team MARZ who casually twirled a grenade launched by its' trigger guard on one figure, the barrel of the weapon still smoking whilst her eyes were alight with a demented glee and a smile was plastered across her face which toed a fine line between comical and maniacal.
"Team MARZ of Breaktide Academy?"
"Yeah, who the fuck are you and what was that?" Astra demanded, receiving a fresh round of cheers and laugher for their trouble which they now saw came from various groups of students and possibly even administrators and maintenance teams milling about the grounds before Athena-Jade elbowed them firmly in the ribs.
"How do you not know who that is?" she hissed through clenched teeth, Astra's rebuttal cut off as the woman strode closer and unfurled her weapon to form a hammer taller than herself and leaned comfortably against it before answering in a conversational tone whilst the slightly unhinged look failed to leave her eyes.
"I am Professor and Deputy Head of this academy, Nora Ren….And you are late to your appointment with my meat-grinder"
"Oh no" Regalia said simply, lacking any sufficient quips or movie references and instead being reduced to monosyllabic words as she faced the Professor who oozed charisma of an entirely different kind to the Professors at Breaktide.
"I'm sorry Professor, I didn't mean to- I mean….Fuck" Astra flopped with a dramatic sigh; sagging so severely under the weight of Nora's maintained gaze that it seemed as though the Deer Faunus had at least briefly considered prostrating themselves before her and for several seconds a tense, almost thrumming silence reigned as Nora and Team MARZ regarded one another.
Until Nora burst out laughing, the students around the following suit; though the Professor saw fit to intervene before it could become overly mocking.
"Alright, alright shows over everybody….Delete the video, I saw you taking it! Snapdragon I don't know why you're laughing, we both remember the time you fell asleep in my class and what I did to you for it" as the crowd dispersed, still chuckling and pointing in Team MARZ's direction Nora collapsed Magnhild and stowed it before smiling at Athena-Jade "Hey kid, how's your folks….Your Mum still scary when she's pissed?"
"Always" Athena-Jade nodded easily; she and Nora had only met a handful of times with her brothers' wedding to Diamond being one of the most recent though she was well aware that Team JNPR and Team RWBY had considered each other good friends during their own time as students; with Nora and her husband being visible in photographs of her parents wedding.
"Team MARZ, Team MARZ….I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the rest of you" Nora's eyes stopped on Astra "Although your brother and his sister Corvid were some of my best students"
"We literally came here from spending the night at Team FADE's place" Astra admitted "Felix told us that you knew and were okay?….He said he cleared us missing out on orientation with him?"
"He did say that" Zirconia chimed in with a reserved rasp, as though a second voice on the matter would reassure the Professor
"Not exactly what I told him" Nora frowned slightly before shrugging "But not a problem….We'll start with a site tour-"
"Yes!" Regalia's fist pumping left Nora smirking happily.
"And we'll start with the garage that's under us so you can park….Whatever you call this absolutely amazing piece of equipment" the diminutive red-head gestured at Clunker and in doing so whilst offering such glowing praise earned herself a friend for life in Regalia Russet before continuing "Leave your luggage there, I'll have it taken to your new dorm; let's go….This is happening!"
With that exuberant outburst Team MARZ allowed themselves to be led onwards, the four of them sharing relieved and bemused looks whilst still trying to commit every single detail of their surroundings to memory despite the fact that they would remain here for some months; each of them finally willing to believe and accept that they had in fact made it this far.
They had qualified for the Vytal Tournament, arrived at Halo Academy and it had only taken a few minutes for their expectations to be shattered.
The fact that Gestalt-Prime had remained silent during the speech of the black clad human, who by all estimations was something far removed from the Hunters and other, similar varieties of heavily armed prey that the hybrid Alpha had thus far encountered; turning what the tall and slender figure had evidently intended to be a conversation of sorts into a halting and uncomfortable monologue was, as far as Gestalt-Prime could understand the reason for the latest predicament that they found themselves in.
One which involved yet more pain.
The Grimm had not remained silent out of any latent hostility, as natural as it was to them on the most fundamental of levels, nor from any sense of superiority to their captors no matter how self-evident it might be; instead Gestalt-Prime had been rendered mute and dazed by the cascading waves of pain and confusion that had continued to crash over them even as their body took on its' new form, the fleshy and pulpy mass bloated obsidian flesh with its' atrophied appendages and lack of mobility which Gestalt-Prime had already come to despise over the span of a little more than twelve hours, a condition worsened by the lack of the many mechanical components which the Grimm which had once been a Geist had integrated into themselves whose absence denied them not only armour, weapons and flight but also sharply curtailed their knowledge, reactions and base sense of self. After several aborted and faltering attempts at communication the man in black who had identified himself as Damascus Nero had seemingly given up and resorted to a more universally understood language.
Violence.
"The thing is definitely awake and conscious" Albion noted, frowning behind his gold-rimmed glasses as he and Nero studied the ongoing violence which, unbeknownst to them was considered a form of torture by their subject whilst they merely regarded it as experimentation through trial and error.
"But still not responsive….Carmesi assured me that this Grimm could speak" Nero murmured, hands folding across his chest as watched proceedings unfold.
"Even the knucklehead is incapable of a mistake that large….Perhaps the problem lies with Aefen"
"Perhaps" Nero allowed himself a small nod in concession "Or perhaps we simply haven't found the right method of focusing the subjects' attention….It's healing, you said yourself that it's reactions are a definite sign of intelligence and planning; perhaps we vary our approaches….But be careful and alert me to any changes"
"You're not staying?" Albion asked almost offhandedly as he focused once more on the ongoing testing of his subject; watching with fascinated horror as a series of lasers left trails of glowing, near molten flesh and bone in their wake which left the fluids filling Gestalt-Prime's containment tank sizzling and bubbling only for the wounds to close in matter of seconds and the grotesque cocoon or pupa like body of the malformed Grimm to write and twist to first avoid the attack and then swat the weapon aside with one of its' four primary mantis-like, atrophied and segmented limbs with a speed and strength which stood at odds with the monsters' current form; only for its' attempts to capitalise on this blow to be halted by a plane of hexagonal hard-light panels appearing between the Grimm and the damaged armature supporting the laser so that it could be safely withdrawn and a new method of engaging with the hybrid Alpha in an attempt to draw out more of its' reported intelligence could be attempted.
"That was needlessly risky….If it had taken the laser-"
"We would have had a firefight on our hands, which we would have won" Albion nodded to various hidden weapon systems and more obvious batteries situated around the interior of the Chamber in the case of just such an event.
"But possibly not before sustaining casualties" Nero countered before returning to the previous topic of discussion "And no, I have other matters to attend to, Sundays without work are not a luxury I get to enjoy in either of my capacities"
"You say that as though I'm not here, working for you right now" Albion snorted, icy blue eyes remaining focused on Gestalt-Prime's containment tank and the various tools at his disposal.
"Regardless" Nero sighed "I will be busy, but as I said; alert me to any changes"
"I will….I assume that you'll be speaking with Zirconia today, her flight arrived in the city yesterday and she hasn't made contact"
"Unfortunately not in person" Nero's dark eyes were downcast with genuine regret at the thought "I have other….Much less enjoyable company that I need to keep"
With nothing left to discuss the two old friends and co-conspirators gave one another a silent goodbye before Nero exited his chamber leaving Albion to turn his attentions back towards the matter of the hybrid Grimm in his custody which refused to cooperate and play its' role in the plan to create a better Remnant for all; the white haired scientist taking a moment to debate with himself whether it would be more efficient to risk introducing an industrial saw into the equation and giving the subject another single, focused point of attack to rail against or if passing an electric current through the fluids suspending the Grimm would get the desired results.
If neither of those options worked then he would happily devise other methods.
Team MARZ had, over the course of a handful of hours been subjected to an allegedly truncated version of what their fellow transfer students had endured the previous evening and any benefits that might have come with enjoying a small amount of rest between their flight and the orientation and small mountain of paperwork that came with it, which Felix had utterly neglected to mention as part of what he surely considered a harmless prank was vastly outweighed by the fact that none of the four teenagers were currently at their best.
Nora had first, as promised taken them to the campus garage where Clunker and the majority of the teams' luggage had been left, though Athena-Jade had hefted a bag filled with her own personal Dust caches over one shoulder and taken it with whilst claiming that many of the mixtures used to power her weapon could be volatile.
From there Nora had explained to them that the garage existed as something of a midpoint between the bowels of the massive anti-gravity platform itself, whose innards were some gargantuan hybrid of vessel and architecture and crucible in which vast quantities of Dust were expended every day and the actual campus itself which existed above them, constrained to the uppermost surface of the platform and whilst Nora had been willing to explain the details of what occurred in the lower reaches of the platform as she understood it she had also been fast to declare that those areas were, with very few exceptions off-limits to the students and that trespassing into the core of the platform would be punished in the harshest possible terms. With warnings still ringing in their ears Team MARZ had been taken back up into Halo Academy itself where those of them not already aware of the fact had been surprised to learn that the campus was shared with the orphanage that its' headmaster and Nora herself had both founded and still bore some small amount of control over the operations of and that the two institutions were not entirely separated, as was made clear by several groups of huddled children pointed excitedly at the sight of yet more Hunters coming to stay in their home; a situation which Regalia had remarked privately to Astra reminded her oddly of the communal child-rearing of Clan Aiktishaf only for the moment to be somewhat sullied and yet also made more familiar in a bittersweet way by Nora vocally, albeit playfully chastising the four of them for their late arrival and holding them up as an example of how not to behave for the benefit of the onlooking and giggling children, which Regalia and Athena had both remarked was a treatment which reminded them of home and their younger siblings.
Once inside Halo's grounds they had been given a tour of its' most important locations and facilities which had allowed them to take in the general aesthetic and sense of prestige about the place which had allegedly changed outwardly very little since the years when Professor Glynda Goodwitch had presided over the academy and she in turn had based her own designs on those favoured by Professor Ozpin; a yellow-bricked road lined with statues and tributes to fallen heroes leading the way to a campus which walked a fine balance between being a fantastical castle and a state of the training facility and campus with all of the expected facilities that could be found at Breaktide; albeit all of them with a sense of time and something grandiose about them which Menagerie's academy lacked, as though this floating fortress had inherited its' standing from Beacon before it.
With their tour, lectures on various emergency protocols and other matters of importance and more mundane aspects of daily life concluded, their new schedules and dormitory keys firmly in hand and the requisite paperwork to ensure that things were full in order Team MARZ had finally been allowed to make their way to their new living quarters, the four of them seeing that the sun had passed its' zenith some time ago as they meandered along ramparts in what they had thought was a shortcut towards their dormitories.
Quickly realising as they made their way through several corridors and hallways that they were lost.
"The sign literally said dormitories, I don't know what you want from me at this point" Astra shrugged leading the way out of habit more than any real idea where they were going.
"I thought you looked at the map before you set off?" Athena-Jade countered, continuing a stream of friendly but pointed bickering that the pair had been engaging in and that the Bear Faunus felt that she was winning, although that feeling may have been in part due to he having Zirconia's arm looped around her own and the taller girl leaning against her in a pleasant counterpoint to the weight of her bag hanging from the other shoulder.
"I gave it a quick look" Astra admitted "Professor Ren showed us where the dorms are, I figured it would be easy to double back and find them again-"
"We're coming from a different part of the campus than before Astra" Athena sighed, shaking her head and sharing a glance with Zirconia who offered a soft, bemused and thoroughly enamoured smile before turning her mismatched eyes to Regalia who was strolling along a pace or two behind them, arms folded behind her head and jackets unfastened in a display of utmost comfort now that she was somewhere she considered to be of a reasonable temperature.
"Regalia, would you be so kind as to point us in the right directions with your Semblance?" the Grasshopper Faunus murmured, effectively bringing the bickering to an end.
"I mean I could it would only tell you which way, not the route there" she shrugged in response before grinning "Heh, besides I was honestly enjoying looking around….It's like the first day at Breaktide again, but better because I've got you guys with me"
"Regalia….Don't ever change" Astra swallowed, unable to find a suitably glib response to the open, unabashed and unironic way their partner showed and discussed her feelings for her friends; before Regalia could say anything else that Astra feared would leave them overly sentimental however Athena-Jade raised a large and clawed hand.
"It sounds like there's an argument going on up ahead….We could ask for directions but, do you want to intrude?"
"We're Hunters, making other peoples' problems our business is what we do. Let's go save someone from getting chewed out and find our dorm while we're at it" Astra's response was one which their friends found they could not easily argue with and so Team MARZ collectively set off, making their way along a corridor and taking a left turn to bring themselves into an ongoing argument between what appeared to be members of the same team of students; off to one side were a tall and burly behemoth of a young man whose gentle expression seemed somehow misplaced, his hair a shade of pale blonde that rendered it almost blonde and falling about his fair-skinned and dimpled features in what would have been a fluffy and shaggy mop were it not held back from his golden brown eyes at least partly by a black hairband and also not damp with sweat from what seemed to have been a gruelling ordeal of some sort. The young man wore heavy plate armour in a creamy colour paired with calf height brown leather boots and a high collared robe of golden brown with white and yellow trim which reached between the shoulders and gorget of his armour and dipped to below his knees in a pair of twin capes which trailed from his hips and back, hiding the collapsed form of a weapon at his left hip.
Beside this tall yet somehow decidedly unimposing figure was a young woman who leaned against him, ghostly pale and sharp featured with black hair which had been straightened and reached below her shoulders with tips that had been dyed a blend of deep blues, pinks and purples to match with the traces of glittery makeup she wore; all of which was set against a striking outfit of black, thigh-high boots and a matching short skirt barely reaching mid-way down her thighs with a pair of neon pink leggings filling the space between them, the skirt held up by a studded black belt with a plethora of chains and decorations hanging from it whilst its' buckle featured what seemed to be a personal emblem in the form of a pair of stars above a slanted crescent moon to create a smiling face that was somehow sinister. Above this she wore a figure hugging pink hoodie offset with a layer of mismatched tactical armour evidently taken from various different sources which adorned her chest, entire left arm and right forearm and had all been made uniform by being painted a deep, glossy black and adorned with glittering paint in shades of midnight blue and purple with silvery flecks to create an effect not unlike a particularly clear night sky.
Whilst these two figures distanced themselves from what could only be their team-mates the light-brown skinned young woman with green eyes clad in flowing white with black and orange detailing and the dark-skinned young man with immaculately fashioned blue dreadlocks, tattoos and shockingly blue eyes traded several more rounds of biting and scathing comments complete with gesturing and incredulous looks until finally they were interrupted as the girl in black and pink caught sight of Team MARZ and nudged her partner who cleared his throat and spoke in a soft and mellow which nonetheless cut through the ongoing argument.
"Tiger, Stitch….We've got company" upon hearing this the ongoing confrontation was brought to an abrupt halt, the blue haired young man turning away and waving his team-mate aside which earned him a hissed comment.
"We'll talk more later" the young man who had been named 'Stitch' by his team-mate merely shrugged in a way which threatened to cost him the jacket precariously balanced on his shoulders before sauntering over to Team MARZ as though nothing at all of note had happened.
"Hey, can I help you guys with something?" Team MARZ shared a series of glances between one another before Astra finally spoke up, eyes narrowing a fraction and mind racing as something niggled at the back of it.
"Uh, we're transfer students and we arrived late, we got a little lost looking for our dorms…..And I am sure I know you from somewhere?"
"Really?" the taller Hunter, whom Astra now realised was a Mouse Faunus as their tail flicked into view considered for a moment before cracking a broad smile which showed pearly white teeth "Oh yeah! We trash-talked a little at the airship terminal when you were flying to Menagerie just as I was coming the other way….Never did get your name-
"Astra, Astra Mars"
"I'm Stygian Blue….Or Stitch" he jerked a thumb of his shoulder at his team-mates who were talking amongst themselves, the pair who had been observing seemingly trying to calm the more agitated young woman "Those are Rye, Amaya….And Tiger, we're Team TRQS"
"Everything okay?"it was Athena-Jade who spoke up, eyes darting to Tiger and studying the leader of the first team of Halo Academy students her own team had encountered with a level of wariness that might be unfair given her lack of context for the argument that they had interrupted, hearing her speak however Stygian turned his focus first towards Team MARZ as a whole and then onto Athena-Jade specifically, whom he took a few moments to size up appreciatively before speaking.
"Yeah….Just a team thing y'know?" when the momentary silence made it apparent that Team MARZ did often have semi-public shouting matches to resolve their problems the Mouse Faunus simply slipped his way into the loose grouping they stood in, positioning himself beside Athena.
"Okay so this is the dorms for Halo students so I can see how you got lost by following the signs, dorms for transfer students are in a few hallways that weren't being used….I'm pretty sure they put you here, yeah, it's pretty easy to get there form here" he produced a scroll and opened a map of the academy as he spoke, punctuating his words by pointing to an area that appeared to be only a short walk away before adding "Hey….You're Athena-Jade Slate right?….You want me to carry that bag for you?"
"I can do that" it was Zirconia who spoke up in a quiet rasp, mismatched eyes locking with Stygian's lightning blue and holding a stare that could only be seen as a challenge until the Mouse Faunus seemed to realise the mistake that he had made and took a single step back and quickly averting their eyes from the lingering looks they had been casting in the direction of Athena-Jade, or at least the way her pale blue shorts hugged her thighs.
"You guys want me to show you where the dorm is or you think you can find it?-"
"Stygian! We have work to do, some time today would be nice!" Tiger's snappish tone cut through the conversation and left each of Team MARZ inadvertently wincing in response to it; Astra slapping a palm on his shoulder in commiseration as they slipped passed.
"See you around Stitch….Come on guys let's go, think we can make a start on decorating our new dorm today?"
"We can get the bunks set up and unpacked at least" Regalia beamed happily falling into step beside her partner with her eagerness firmly restored, a goal and destination in mind superseding the enjoyment of simply wandering around her new home away from home whilst behind the two of them Zirconia took Athena-Jade's bag whilst the Bear Faunus gave her a knowing look, rolling her eyes before reaching up on her tip-toes to whisper something that made the Grasshopper Faunus blush and kiss her briefly on the cheek. For their own part Astra was content and whilst they had come to consider Breaktide Academy, Port Alistair and Menagerie as a whole their home they could not deny that being back in Neo Vale and settling in at Halo Academy so easily was a reassuring thing.
They finally felt that they were on the path to being the Hunter they wanted to be.
Carmesi Hueso had, at Nero's request and despite his own unshakeable misgivings and disgust once again ventured into the underbelly of Neo Vale which, in the case of the many-times rebuilt and redesigned metropolis a quite literal thing.
In the years when Neo Vale had simply been called New Vale, Capital of the Kingdom it had been named for the monolithic hive towers had stretched into the sky to such an extent that they had threatened to graze the lower edges of some of the cities' aerial platforms in places and had been much more densely packed than they were in the cities' current iteration, something attributed to the expansion of the cities' limits and the exodus to other cities and settlements in Neo Vales' territory following the second war against Salem. What was noteworthy and currently relevant to the Komodo Dragon Faunus was that during this period an unofficial yet clearly visible hierarchy had taken shaper wherein the more affluent citizens of the city resided in the higher reaches of the hives whilst working classes tended to live in the smaller and more densely packed apartments and homes within the lower levels with petty crime and poverty growing steadily more prominent as one drew close to solid ground and that this striation of the city had carried over into Neo Vale; the lower regions of the hives exchanging the neon advertisements decorating the exteriors' of the upper levels for slapdash repairs to fascia which were in turn littered with stains and signs of vandalism whilst the areas where towers had formerly stood, the massive structures having been collapsed by Salem's assault were filled in by new developments and renovations which ranged from well-meaning and optimistic attempts to create something better which had ultimately failed due to a lack of connections to the existing city and disparaged as gentrification, down to ramshackle marketplaces with dwellings resembling shanty towns forming around them though these were at least a slowly declining thing as each passing year saw many of the displaced given the help they needed.
All throughout the lower reaches were gang signs, scrawled and sprayed across surfaces that had obviously taken a great degree of skill to reach and it was these markers which Carmesi had used to find his way, noting that the scum he was forced to tolerate were at least useful for something as he had seen just how many of the cameras in the lower levels of the city had been dismantled, blinding the police and any Hunters that might help them or; more importantly in this case the watchful eye of Qrow Branwen and his fellow conspirators.
"Now I know we've got arrangement….If that's what we're calling the thing from yesterday, but let's keep this one hundred percent; I don't work for you I just so happen to have done some business for your boss before and that means I really don't appreciate you showing up to my place unannounced, especially when I definitely didn't tell you where to find me" Petrol's tone was even, conversational and entirely reasonable and yet with an unmistakable attempt at intimidation beneath it; that of a seasoned career criminal all too used to violence as a part of daily life despite being little older than a student. In truth Carmesi could understand Petrol's annoyance at the fact that he had intruded upon his home, which was currently a small and dingy one room apartment with poor lighting and an audible leak which the avian Faunus had taken up residence in upon his release from North Vale Correctional Facility after finding that his mother had changed the locks on his childhood home.
Understandable as it was however Carmesi simply did not care.
"You'll learn to cope with it" the reptilian Faunus grunted, utterly unbothered "As for….the thing from yesterday. You aided the Benefactor, the Grimm tissue we recovered was useful; as for the other gangs-"
"A lot of 'em are pissed but not sure who to be pissed at right now" Petrol noted, again conversational as he stretched out on a dilapidated sofa clad in sweatpants and a tank-top despite the fact that noon had long since passed, though given the young man's profession somewhat irregular hours could be expected.
"Oh?" Carmesi gestured for him to elaborate.
"Well, looks like a lot of the people from other crews that you called up chose to keep quiet about the fact that everyone is getting their weapons from the same guy and then asked to do jobs that have us in each others' turf….It's the kind of thing that makes people ask questions" grey-green eyes lingered on Carmesi for a moment before Petrol added "So all most people know is that there was a meetup and that a few people from different crews got killed off….If nobody knows about the Grimm then it looks like somebody broke a truce, sooner or later someone's gonna point a finger and people are gonna act on it"
"And you're worried that it might be you the finger points at" Carmesi rumbled, a statement of fact rather than a question though Petrol disputed it all the same.
"My crew are good" he scoffed "We used to keep a pretty low profile, but since your boss I don't know how you'd call it, subcontracted some work out and paid in weapons I guess, we've been able to step things up….Nothing stupidly out there, more of what we were doing before-"
"Robberies" Carmesi growled.
"I mean there's a few different kinds of stealing, it's a pretty diverse skill set" Petrol laughed "But yeah, we expanded….People we trust, little brothers, cousins and people who would have been connected to us anyway; but we never asked for any of those big flashy mech suits that some of the gangs are using, no point in bringing something that obvious to our kinda work right….But now there's a chance that I'm gonna have a problem with the people who do have those suits; that your boss sold to them-"
"You won't be harmed" Carmesi interrupted "At least not unless you give us a reason to harm you, I told you yesterday that our benefactor would likely want to continue doing business with you….Which is why I'm here"
With that the Komodo Dragon Faunus drew a scroll of an older variety, the kind which had small holographic projectors fitted into them as part of what had been a short craze several years prior and used that projector to begin a video call; the image that appeared being that of a flickering, crackling mass of vaguely humanoid shadow which rose far higher into the air than expected from such a small projector and turned what Petrol could only assume to be the face of its' featureless head towards him before speaking in a distorted and modulated voice which grated at nerves.
"A pleasure to meet you face to face so to speak, though I can't help but feel I've come slightly overdressed"
"Petrol….Meet your new full time employer, the Benefactor" Carmesi rumbled, the threat behind his own words far more severe than that which Petrol had previously attempted in a delicate balance against the more personable variation of the Benefactor character, closer to Nero's own personality which the Chairman was applying for this particular asset.
"I don't recall signing any contracts" Petrol noted, unable to entirely keep an air of petulance from his attempt to assert himself.
"But you did sign your release paperwork, the kind that allowed you to walk free without even needed to attend parole-"
"And that deal is finished; if you wanted more you should have asked up front" Carmesi loathed himself for the small smile that crossed his face at that, criminal scum at the root of all of societies' ills and the source of the problem that was the Grimm themselves Petrol might have been, but the boy had nerve and conviction at least.
"Oh don't presume that I plan to hold your freedom over your head in return for continued loyalty with nothing in return; I am simply a man making necessary changes for a better Remnant" the Benefactor chuckled, the static transforming the sound into something more sinister as he let the thought of information that could be given to the authorities linger in Petrol's head for a moment before continuing "I have several upcoming endeavours that will require the skills you bring and am simply willing to pay you a sizeable retaining fee rather than waste time negotiating each individual deal"
"First thing I'm gonna need is some firepower, yesterdays' stunt is gonna have some fallout" Petrol answering quickly, belying the attempt at nonchalance he had attempted against Carmesi and earning himself a derisive snort from the rogue Hunter whilst Nero, in his formless guise took the liberty of pretending to consider for a moment despite this request having been accounted for in advance.
"Something that can be arranged, however not immediately as I'm sure you understand" he made a small gesture as if to wave the concern aside as he added "Though with the retaining fees I am willing to pay as compensation for your continued and exclusive services….You and you colleagues will likely be able to afford to move to a place where retaliations will be less of a concern"
"Too many hood kids moving into the nice part of town tends to get the kind of attention we don't want" Petrol sneered "But let's talk about what exclusive means here-"
"It means what we say it means" Carmesi snarled, leaning through Nero's projection to bring himself face to face with the boy who was getting far to confident for his own good "It means you take the jobs we give you and those jobs alone, I shouldn't have to explain that taking competing offers, especially from the authorities will end badly for you but well….The last mercenary to double cross us, I stopped their prison transfer just to kill them personally"
"Mercenary?" Petrol shook off the bravado-laced threat with ease, a consequence of having heard many such claim albeit with far more bluster and less total certainty behind them; but instead focused on the word as though it left him riddled with its' connotations.
"A catch-all term to apply to any and all duties I made need you to perform" Nero answered bluntly in a tone that Carmesi could image less as the Benefactor and more as something the man had used during the early days on the conglomerate when conducting job interviews "But tell me….I can offer you Lien, notoriety; what is that you truly want Petrol?"
"Notoriety….Like rep?" the avian Faunus sneered "I don't give a fuck, my team took low profile jobs for a reason. Lien, guns, the kind of clout that's more than rep….All of it's just security thing really; just looking out for mine, we've all got people around us right?"
"Indeed" the Benefactor sounded more human in that single word, as though Petrol had managed to speak directly to the man beneath the illusion despite the gulf of experiences that separated them and then, in his next words the career criminal showed his ugliness in a way that marked him as something separate and lesser.
"But I want payback….I did a year inside because some kid lied about being a Hunter and the police were happy to tell whatever lies they needed to so they could put me away; the kid didn't even have to give evidence at my trial, apparently they were away for college" Petrol sneered "You hand me that little fucker along with everything else you said and I'm in"
"It can be arranged" the Benefactor's tone was colder, though in their vengeful bloodlust Petrol was too ignorant of their surroundings to truly appreciate that or the twisted sneer Carmesi's blunt and scaled features twisted into which showed his jagged teeth; more threat than mirth.
If he had paid more attention then the young man might have realised exactly what he was agreeing to and that he was simply the latest in a rotating cast of people to fill his role and be discarded.
Night had fallen early in Neo Vale, expected given the season and with the darkness had come a frosty night air which had surprised Regalia by not being as fearfully harsh as she had been bracing herself for; with Astra explaining to her that the differences between night and day in terms of climate were not so pronounced on Vytal, nor would the winter be as bleak and merciless as the Racoon Faunus was leading herself to believe.
Though Regalia would believe that when she saw it.
Team MARZ had collectively found their new dormitory some time ago and had first begun unpacking the essentials, namely clothes and uniforms that they would need over the next few days along with tool kits, Dust supplies, text books and other important equipment for their day to day lives as students before they had made the first small inroads toward making their new, standardised dormitory feel like home. Their beds had been arranged into two bunks for the two pairs of partners as they were at Breaktide though the effect was possibly even better here as the layout of the dormitory itself meant that the rooms' window was not obscured by the beds and from there spirited debate about decoration, use of space and what the priorities were began in earnest; Zirconia's comments that the four of them would only be there for only a few short months doing little to halt things or bring them down to a more contained level until a compromise had been reached when it had been pointed out by Regalia that many of the specifics which Astra and Athena-Jade were at odds about, namely an additional writing desk, extra plug sockets, a television or speakers that could be connected to a scroll were all things that had been left behind at Breaktide and would have to be acquired again.
That realisation had lit a fire under Astra and they, taking Regalia with them had set off out into the campus at large once again with Regalia's Semblance pointing the two of them in the general direction of what they would need and after only a short walk through halls that were at once so similar to Breaktide Academy and something entirely unique they had happened upon a common area shared by both students of Halo Academy and some of the older residents of the orphanage on the grounds which had been what Regalia's Semblance of 'Look-See' had drawn her to. After some exploration Astra had seen a noticeboard where students and others could leave listings for items they were looking to buy, sell or trade which the Deer Faunus could only assume was part of the two Professor Ren's attempts to foster a sense of community on the campus; leaving a list of the various creature comforts that they were seeking pinned to the board the two of them had departed and had, much to the enjoyment of both Astra and Regalia managed to make the acquaintance of a handful of other students and easily amused children as they passed them, double checking directions and making their towards something Regalia would always enjoy.
Free food.
Astra had lamented, to a comical degree that was plainly affected that their partners' first taste of real Vale food was sullied by the fact that it was canteen slop and thus, in their mind not real whilst the nomad herself had thoroughly enjoyed every bite and experimented with her usual gusto. From there the two had departed, agreeing without the need for a conversation on the matter that they would be better served by exploring the grounds some more and getting some fresh air than by returning straight to the door and interrupting whatever Athena-Jade and Zirconia had chosen to do to pass the time which had brought the two of them to their current location; namely the reinforced railing which lined the very edge of campus and the anti-gravity platform it rested upon to enjoy a view from which almost the entirety of Neo Vale could be seen with its' defensive perimeter walls a distant looming shape on the horizon.
"See that big tower there?" Astra pointed and Regalia's purple eyes followed the direction they pointed in, her gaze wide and awed as it had been for much of her time in this new Kingdom and now entirely unhidden by her heavy and tinted goggles.
"Yeah?"
"We're a little too high to get a good look at the exact level it's on, but that's the hive tower my parents live in" Astra's expression was one of easy happiness as childhood memories doubtless flitted through their mind as they pointed to a conspicuous gap in the rising obelisks of steel and glass "My old school was there….There used to be another tower but it's gone now; they actually had to change the naming system for the towers as well, when I was a kid it was just numbers but then so many got taken down it didn't work"
"So the city was really messed up by the Grimm?" Regalia pondered, unable to truly comprehend a scale of damage that even the most gruesome of movies she had watched during her formative years when she ideally should not have seen such things failed to properly convey; something which dwarfed even what had befallen Port Alistair.
"Some parts were completely wrecked, easier to rebuild from scratch….But we ended up with less people living here overall; a lot of people moved out to other cities or some of the new smaller settlements that sprung up after the war" Astra paused, sombre moment lasting for as long as it took their keen Faunus eyes to strain in the dark and fight against the glaring neon before they pointed elsewhere "See that anti-gravity platform there, the big one with the airship just above it? They actually started trying to build an amusement on it; the plans ended up falling through but for years there's been rumours about people being able to sneak in and get the rides working….Might be bullshit, but we should definitely try it right?"
"Definitely" Regalia beamed, though he single word answers awed as they had been left the Deer Faunus cocking their head as they studied their partner closely for a moment.
"You okay?"
"I'm great, really I am" the Racoon Faunus's smile widened and her bushy tail swayed energetically behind her "I just don't think everything has really sunk in yet"
"I get it" Astra reached out and patted her shoulder gently, with their hand continuing to rest there afterwards "So….What do you think of my home turf, is it everything you hoped for?"
"More than I could have imagined and I can't wait to see more of it" with that some of Regalia's signature bubbling enthusiasm came back to her, eves roving even as she hugged at her own forearms to fend off against the cold she was not accustomed to "Is the tournament gonna be on the tops of the towers?"
"Oh that would actually be cool….But I think we're gonna be in one of the platforms, I think that one and that one are stadiums but I'm not sure if it's either of them" Astra picked out to masses of steel littered with flickering lights which intruded upon the littered skyline before noticing their partners' mild discomfort "Cold?"
"Heh, a little"
"Gimme a sec" Astra murmured, fingers digging deftly through their pockets and producing a small, loose chunk of Fire Dust that had most likely been found littering the insides of their luggage as they unpacked earlier, they then unfurled one half of Buckshot Ares and carefully expanded the hard-light shield of the weapon, forearm facing down so that its' curved surface formed a shallow bowl for them to drop the crystal into and then carefully reposition their arm so that it was closer to Regalia as the deep scarlet mineral ignited with a belch of flames that jetted upwards for a few second as they interacted with the Dust based shield before slowing a more controlled burn.
"Heh, thanks" Regalia shuffled closer and held her hands closer to the flames even as a frown crossed her face and caught the light "Are you sure this is allowed, it's an open flame on the grounds?"
"It's outside, it's not near anything dangerous….should be fine" Astra shrugged "If we see any professors I'll just tip the Dust over the edge and play innocent"
"Smile and wave boys, smile and wave" Regalia snorted, earning a roll of Astra's eyes
"Pretty sure there's nothing directly under us anyway; we're over what used to be the exclusion zone; where Team FADE did their initiation" Astra mused before taking a moment to let out a slow sigh and nudge Regalia's elbow while precariously balancing the still burning Dust "You gonna tell me what's bothering you, I though you would have been trying to head into the city and explore everything already….And we will by the way"
"You'll think it's dumb" Regalia mumbled.
"I'm dumb, you put up with me" Astra offered the counterpoint without hesitation and found themselves preparing for a seemingly inevitable reply that they were anything but laden with vehement insistence but Regalia seemed to think better of it and after a moment simply leaned against the heavy railing surrounding the edge of the floating campus, slightly square chin resting on her arms.
"My people are explorers and nomads, we travel and never stop moving….I know I've always been the 'odd little duck' of my people" Regalia smiled softly at the sound of her mothers' nickname for her "But I'm finally here, I'm finally exactly where I wanted to be after all this time….We're gonna be those super cool famous Hunters that people see on TV all over Remnant, I've made it….And I can't contact Clan Aiktishaf until we go back to Menagerie; I shouldn't feel lonely when I've got you guys with me but-"
"Regalia" Astra needed to blink several times and process the words they had just heard to keep themselves from being painfully blunt in their reply; instead switching to Regalia's opposite side so that they could keep the still burning Dust close by whilst also wrapping their free arm around her shoulders, pulling their partner and best friend as close as their antlers would allow "That is probably the least dumb, most normal thing on Remnant-"
"You think-"
"Fuck yeah I think!" Astra huffed, fighting the urge to laugh lest Regalia interpret it as mockery "You're a little homesick on your first time out of your Kingdom; you think I wasn't homesick in Menagerie?"
"But my people-"
"AJ is second generation Hunter on both sides of her family, you remember what she was like at first? Definitely missed home….Difference is that we could call home and you can't, that sucks; it really does and if there's anything I can do-"
"You're doing enough right now" Regalia mumbled suddenly bashful, something she overcame by punching Astra's shoulder lightly "You've done it, you've unlocked your Semblance, you got us here….Talking to you now feels like you're the team leader that you were always supposed to be. We both did it Astra, we're where we're supposed to be"
"That….Really means a lot" Astra swallowed thickly, averting their eyes and narrowing them in the direction of what they baselessly assumed to be the grounds upon which the tournament would be fought "Let's hope it's enough right?"
"Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear" Regalia nodded solemnly before chuckling to herself "Maybe not the best movie to quote now that I think about it….But do you really think we've got a shot?"
"I think we're Team MARZ and that we're pretty fucking awesome" Astra nodded, voice filled with determined conviction that left Regalia grinning from ear to ear as she leaned closer to her partner to enjoy the last of the fading warmth.
Whilst the decoration of Team MARZ's dormitory was far from finished the space was in a condition that was serviceable and at the very least habitable, which had been considered good enough to justify a break by both Athena-Jade and Zirconia; one which had first been occupied by a brief scroll call to Athena's sister, with Coral being both happy for her older and yet far shorter adoptive sibling and at the same time mildly crestfallen that both Athena-Jade and Arctus were in the same place with at least one of their cousins whilst the Crab Faunus herself could only watch from the sidelines in Atlas with infrequent contact from other members of their extended family. With the call ended, her own part in it minimal despite the fact that she did enjoy the company of her girlfriends' siblings no matter the complications it would no doubt cause down the line Zirconia had turned her attention to her own scroll and saw that Nero had requested to speak to her in private as soon as possible; the various coded double meaning woven into the communication suggesting that the matter was one of importance however with no secure place from which to make the call yet secured the Grasshopper Faunus had simply replied that she would call home when she was able to and then quickly sought out ways to distract herself from whatever uncertainties and developments had arisen.
Fortunately for her having Athena-Jade's hand beneath her shirt was distracting in the best way.
The two of them had begun sat on the softly carpeted floor of the dormitory, leaning against the frame of Athena's bed instead of removing the cases and other items which currently littered both it and Zirconia's bed directly above it; the Bear Faunus resting her head on her partners' shoulder whilst Zirconia had in turn leaned against Athena as their fingers laced together before the two shared a slow, gentle kiss that had steadily developed into something more intense and needy. Zirconia's sleeveless jacket with its' twin capes and the black hoodie below it had both been removed over the course of unpacking with her corset following shortly after and now the Grasshopper Faunus was left with her back arched and mechanical legs whirring faintly as she braced against the floor and surface of the bed with her mismatches eyes half-closed and mouth open in a constant stream of gasps as Athena made use of the access afforded to her, sharp teeth grazing skin gently as the shorter but burlier of the two partners trailed a series of sloppy, almost desperate kisses from Zirconia's collarbone and neck up to her jawline whilst one calloused hand made its' way beneath her white button-down shirt and left fabric bunched up as Zirconia's bra was unceremoniously pushed aside whilst still fastened so that Athena could touch more of her; all the while Zirconia's hand not being used to steady her was tangled in snowy white hair. The sensation of a thumb brushing against her nipple sent lightning bolts and starbursts through Zirconia's vision and with a sound somewhere between a moan and a mewl she used the purchase she had on Athena-Jade's hair to move her girlfriends' lips to where she needed them, against her own so that she could kiss the Bear Faunus with a ferocity offset by the gentle way she cupped the Bear Faunus's cheek; in response to this Athena repositioned herself without breaking contact so that she was somewhere between in front of Zirconia and atop of her, slipping a powerful thigh between her partners' more slender legs.
Only for the moment to coincide with Zirconia needing to pull back, separating the two of them so that she could breathe.
"We-we should stop" the words left her in a breathless rush, her own pink and orange eyes filled with the same brief flash of disappointment as Athena-Jade's as she held up a hand to end the moment.
"You sure?" Athena murmured, hand coming to halt and slowly being removed from within Zirconia's shirt as the Grasshopper Faunus, though she still allowed herself to relish the momentary contact brought by doing so.
"I'm sorry-"
"No, don't be" Athena urged, arms wrapping around her partner and girlfriends' shoulders and giving her a look that was a clear request for permission before kissing her cheeks and forehead.
"I don't want to rush things, I want things to be as close to perfect as we can make them" Zirconia's voice was its' usual low rasp yet filled with something more subtle as she leaned into the Bear Faunus before a faint note of amusement coloured her words "Besides, call me a romantic….But I don't want our first time together to be us rushing to finish on the carpet of a half-decorated room because our friends could be back at any moment"
"Okay yeah when you say it like that….Wow, I didn't even take us to a motel" Athena laughed, leaning against the frame of her bed once more and allowing Zirconia to use the change of position to make herself comfortable against her partners' arm and shoulder whilst at the same time the paler of the two girls reached up and deftly pulled a blanket down from the bed without upsetting any of the luggage laid over it or accidentally bringing it down on both of their heads.
"There, now Astra and Regalia won't get an eyeful of anything inappropriate if they walk in" she beamed as she arranged the blanket over the two of them.
"Small mercies" Zirconia's murmured "Did they tell you where they were headed, I wasn't expecting them to be gone this long?"
"Regalia probably wanted to explore, Astra probably wanted to get to know some of the other students, or call someone they know in the city" Athena-Jade paused for a moment before considering "I wonder if they ran into those guys from earlier….That seemed to be a pretty dysfunctional mess of a team, but so did we for a while"
"Well one of them seemed friendly at least" Zirconia's voice was an uncommonly petulant grumble which could not be taken as anything other than sulking, especially when it was followed by a wordless huff which left Athena-Jade desperately trying not to giggle to spare her partners' feelings.
"Are you…." her hand flew to her mouth as she regarded Zirconia who would not meet her eyes "Are you jealous of….What was his name, Stitch? The guy who offered to carry my bag?"
"Not jealous-" Zirconia trailed off with another wordless sound of annoyance "I just didn't like what he was doing"
"Hey" Athena kissed her temple before gently cupping Zirconia's chin and tilting her head so that the two of them were eye to eye "Look at me, I'm gonna be completely open and honest with you here Hops, okay?….Yes, I'm bisexual and yes that guy was honestly kinda hot and he seemed cool before he started with flirting right off the bat; but and it's a big but here Hops….He has one massive problem"
"And what's that?" Zirconia frowned, arms folding over her chest beneath the blanket.
"He isn't you" Athena said simply, taking a moment to work an arm around Zirconia's waist and gently pull her closer so that her following words were spoken more into her partners' ear and the crook of her neck than to her face "I know we've only been officially dating for a few days really, but it's honestly felt like we were a thing for a lot longer….And I wanted us to have this even before that; trust me when I say that there's nothing you need to be worried or jealous about"
"I'm sorry" Zirconia sighed, leaning into the contact even more and wrapping slender arms around Athena-Jade's broad shoulders "It's immature and it's beneath us both but….Sheltered, remember? This is my first-well, my first everything really-"
"Then talk to me Hops" Athena smiled against her partners' skin "I know the whole brooding and mysterious bad-ass thing really does work for you, but sometimes you've gotta just tell me stuff"
"Naturally" Zirconia managed to roll her eyes and put on some level of feigned nonchalance as her mind raced to all of the many things that she would have to tell Athena-Jade and soon if she wanted the two of them to have any kind of future following the enactment of plans which, if Nero's messages were any indication were progressing at an acceptable rate; instead however the rogue insectoid Faunus simply allowed herself to bask in the moment and cupped Athena's cheeks before pulling into another slow and tender kiss which, almost predictably began to grow more heated as teeth tugged at lips and the two allowed their hands to wander across the outside of each others' clothes.
Only for the moment to be ruined by the dormitory door swinging open as Astra and Regalia returned.
Prompting Athena-Jade to use her Semblance to hurl something heavy at the Deer Faunus, simply as a matter of principle.
Author's Notes:
Okay first thing's first; this chapter is being posted a day early and that is because my Nephew, my sister's second kid was born on Wednesday and I'll be visiting my sister on Saturday…..Also, I'm an uncle for the second time now; I want my scythe.
Well, we've made it to Halo Academy properly now and things are in motion once again with classes and more re-setting of the scene and introduction to new secondary characters who'll be with us for at least the rest of Second Year coming in the next few chapters.
But anyway let's summarise shall we?:
And for the second chapter in a row we're starting with an introduction/reintroduction to the new cast; in this case Team TRQS (Turquoise) who will be taking on Team WULF's spot and role to some extent.
Tiger was originally going to be a man….It was a last minute change because I decided that I really don't have enough female team leaders in my current batch of Ocs, especially given exactly what RWBY is and also because I realised I could do something fun with Tiger and another team that have been mentioned off-hand.
Also, I feel like Faunus's giving their kids names that are animal inspired would just be tacky.
Loose marital arts gear with an aesthetic inspired partly by images of Hindu mythology, light tactical armour and jewellery that was inspired a little bit by Jibaro from Love Death Robots; so have that in mind when you imagine her appearance.
Character wise….Honestly, imagine if Vol.01 Weiss had gotten to be a team leader, or Athena-Jade and was just never really challenged.
The fact Rye and Amaya were not dressed was half to give them some sort of character by tying them to one another and also frankly because I didn't have designs in mind for them and saving them until later in the chapter made things flow better anyway.
Amaya Quasar….Amaya = Night Rain in Japanese whilst a Quasar is obviously a star….So I don't have a weapon and Semblance fully planned out for her but we're definitely doing something with a meteor shower theme.
Stygian Blue is, as I hope people guessed before it was spelled out, the blue haired guy that Astra met at the start of the volume; and I made him a Mouse Faunus….Literally days before we got the Vol.09 teaser and were shown Little.
Stygian Blue is a colour that is simultaneously dark and impossibly saturated and should not actually exist, it's like magenta in that it's a trick of the eyes….Make of that what you will.
Stygian's design was heavily inspired by Ekko and Finn from Arcane, with a little bit of Trunks from DBZ thrown in.
I felt like I had to introduce the new students as though they were mid-way through their own individual arcs or had a pre-established routine going on already because they're second years just like Team MARZ; and in the case of Team TRQS that routine obviously involves Tiger pushing harder than everyone is comfortable with.
Tiger would probably have done well at Atlas Academy under Ironwood.
So we didn't see exactly what Stygian's Semblance is, but it's clearly movement based and considering their name there's a few ways that can go.
Also, Nora mentioned that Teams TRQS and SHMR because of their leaders, Tiger and Snapdragon.
Fucking absolutely is cardio, don't let cock-blocks tell you otherwise.
Sunday mornings usually start with being slightly frazzled, that's just me seeping into the characters.
Eagle Arc is absolutely the kind of person to play the musical frying pans to wake up hungover teenagers.
And now for some scene setting and showing off how cool Neo Vale is, because we've seen little bits of it and it's not exactly the same as New Vale from FADE Legacy.
Regalia is an absolute dork when she's excited and we love her for it….Look at her, like a kid in a toyshop.
The yellow brick road and statues of the fallen were key parts of Halo Academy's design in FADE Legacy and they're staying; Goodwitch made that yellow brick road herself.
"Some you wouldn't believe"….Like that in one part of FADE things went full Multiverse and her brother actually met their Dad's partner who'd been dead for years at that point.
Nora using a grenade to introduce herself to new students is now a long standing tradition.
Well, Snapdragon was teased but not shown.
So Gestalt-Prime is awake and reacting but not fully aware and verbal yet...We're dragging things out, I know but the pay off will be worth it.
However it does give us a chance to show out resident mad scientists doing mad scientist things, just in case anyone was believing their greater good routine entirely.
And yay for more plotting and scheming.
And now for some scene setting and world-building within Halo Academy itself.
Yeah, everyone with younger siblings has been used as "The example" at least once; always a fun time.
Halo's aesthetic is basically "Beacon, but modernised and without the clockwork".
"It's like the first day at Breaktide again, but better because I've got you guys with me" right in the feels.
I think you should all have known that the argument that Team MARZ heard was gonna be their introduction to Team TRQS.
So now we get descriptions of the other half of the team and I've been reading the Parahumans series lately...Rye is a lot like what I imagine Theo/Golem to look like in my head, which in a RWBY aesthetic sense means that he has an aesthetic that wouldn't look out of place in Team CRDL but he's nothing like them as a person.
Amaya Quasar is the goth gf nobody knows how Rye ended up with.
Everyone has public arguments right?….awkward silence.
And immediately tried to flirt with AJ which, understandable but also dumb.
I liked the idea of the juxtaposition of Regalia's view of Neo Vale and Carmesi's with them literally looking at it from opposite directions.
Petrol is trying so hard to be tough and intimidating….Whilst dealing with the fact his mum has kicked him out.
And Nero is fucking with the street level stuff on a level that they don't understand in the way that people with no knowledge of hood politics always manage to.
So, here's the first official meeting between Petrol and Nero, with Nero's Benefactor persona being slightly different for this usage because he tailors it for each person.
And Petrol could have proved himself to be a possible asset there, he could have shown himself to have vision, or to be someone with a code or people he
cares about….Instead he focused on revenge against Astra.
Petrol is now basically the new stand in for Rowan, how did that go for Rowan?
Yay for a setting with actual seasons and stuff.
The bunk-beds are a tradition that I'm not parting with.
Of course Astra took Regalia to explore, they're not dense enough to go without her.
If you have a floating setting and don't do the "I can see my house from here" are you even doing it right?
Abandoned amusement park party, what can possibly go wrong?
Funny thing, there was a fight on the tops of the towers….Between Ruby and Salem.
Making a fire for Regalia, 'cos giving her their jacket would have been too openly romantically coded.
"Smile and wave boys, smile and wave" yes, yes I just did that.
Of course she's a little homesick.
"Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear" yeah a Hunger Games quote when talking about the tournament coming up might not be the smartest.
Athena-Jade putting the important life lesson into practice; life cold and hard, titty warm and soft.
Enjoy these scenes you animals, you waited long enough for them.
"I don't want our first time together to be us rushing to finish on the carpet of a half-decorated room because our friends could be back at any moment"….She makes a point.
See this….This right here, it's called healthy communication and it can save you so much time and effort it's unreal.
"I know the whole brooding and mysterious bad-ass thing really does work for you, but sometimes you've gotta just tell me stuff" oh you poor girl, you're gonna get hurt so bad.
The scene ended exactly the way it had to and you know it.
Thank you to OrcPaladinArthur for their reviews on the last chapter.
I don't think Rapier Wasps were over shown on screen and they're not a real animal so….they can be fantasy wildlife or a Grimm, depending on the author; I went for the latter.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.
