Quietly stirring, Kagami groaned awake. As light filled her vision, she slowly blinked and let her eyes adjust. Her head was spinning. It hurt. It was throbbing. She clenched her jaw and curled up slightly with a hand on her head. Next to her, she stared at her sheathed sword. She tried to focus. She tried to recuperate her thoughts. But everything was overwhelming her. She could barely even remember her own name.
"Give it a minute or two." A voice suddenly spoke. "There's a moment of amnesia usually."
With a groan, she glanced over her shoulder and eyed the man in a sleeveless shirt and cowboy hat. She stared intently with a furrowed brow. His face was blurry in her mind. She couldn't make it out at all. Reaching up, she placed the palms of her hands against her eyes and roughly rubbed them. "What... what the hell?!" She let out a quiet frustrated shout.
He couldn't help but let out a low chuckle. "You're a little firecracker alright." He stepped over while squatting down. "Why don't ya sit up? It'll help." He placed a hand on her shoulder.
Feeling his hand on her, something clicked inside her head. In an instant, she was low to the ground but on her feet. Her sword was out and the tip was centimeters from his neck. "Black." She narrowed her eyes.
"There we go, kid." The mercenary smiled. "But you can put this down." He placed his finger against the tip of the blade and pushed it down. "I wouldn't let you have it if I meant to harm you."
"Doesn't mean I don't want to hurt you." She pushed the sword back up and glared.
"You won't." He crossed his arms. "Not your style. If I don't threaten you or your friends or anyone for that matter, you won't lay a finger on me."
Her eyebrow twitched. After a moment, she quickly pulled away. "Where are my friends?" She demanded while sliding her weapon away.
"Heh." Black stood up with his hands on his hips. "Out with my boys that don't want them dead."
"And Asher?"
"Grounded. For now." He chuckled as he slipped out of the tent. "That friend of yours with the air compressed rifle. She's a good shot. Reminds me of someone I used to know."
"Elise?" Kagami raised an eyebrow. She had to shield her eyes from the blazing Vacuan sunlight.
"Yeah. Her." He waved his hand. "Reminds me of an older fella I knew back when I was still a Huntsman. Old man Elias." He shook his head. "He was something else."
"Right." She nodded slowly. With her hand on her sword, she cautiously followed behind him.
With her hands on her hips, Elise narrowed her eyes. She sat on a barrel with a crate in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she leaned forward. "Hit." She flexed her jaw.
Sitting across from her, McCree smiled with a lit cigar between his lips. He held onto his deck of cards and effortlessly flipped the top card down. He placed an eight of hearts on top of an ace of hearts, eight of clubs and five of diamonds. "That's twenty-two, kid."
The brunet's eyebrow twitched before she let out a frustrated shout. "Damn it!!" She huffed.
He chuckled at that while swiping his cards back up. "You're the one that wanted to play." He gestured before he started shuffling.
"Shut up." She slumped while leaning onto the crate.
"Well if you're going to be a sore loser, you can help us." Cheyenne called out while running her hand carefully along an old rotten plank of wood.
Seeing it become practically brand new again, Hawkes' eyebrows rose. "That's a fancy little trick you got there." He bent down and picked up the plank. "Wish I could make things pretty again." He placed it on the side of one of the many wrecked buildings and hammered away at it.
"I can't believe the two of you." Kris mumbled while hiding in the shade. She had the hood of Kagami's hoodie pulled up over her head. "They literally just tried to kill us!"
"We did not." Hori spoke up while calmly sitting in the sunlight with his legs crossed.
"You-" She cut herself off and flashed her teeth. "Well you still tried to kill us earlier!"
"I wouldn't say kill. Beat the hell outta ya, sure." McCree interjected and chuckled. "But I don't think I wanted ya dead." He shuffled his cards once more before dealing out another round of cards for Blackjack.
"You're not helping your case." The short redhead deadpanned in his direction.
He shrugged back with a chuckle.
"Glad to know you're all getting along." Black spoke up as he came walking over with his thumbs tucked behind his belt.
Eyeing him, Kris hissed.
He quietly scoffed with a shake of his head as he walked past.
That's when the short redhead noticed her leader behind him. "Kagami." She quickly jumped to her feet.
Eyeing her, the jadette flashed a smile while nodding in acknowledgment. "Hey." She eyed the other mercenaries while lowering her voice. "What's-"
"Kagami!" Elise let out in a shout as she dove towards her.
Bracing, Kagami smiled. She let out a small grunt as she was tackled but held her ground. Her feet skidded back a few inches in the sand. "I don't think that was necessary." She quietly laughed.
"Are you kidding?!" She looked up at her. "You've been out for over a day!"
"What?" She blinked before her eyes widened. "What?!"
"Yeah, kid." Black sat down across from McCree and waved his hand for him to deal. "Usually people are only out for the night or an hour or two. But you were out cold for a long while. Guess you haven't been sleeping well. Can't imagine why." He teased.
Kagami let out a low growl before exhaling with a sigh. "Whatever." She shook her head. "How are you guys?" She pried Elise off her.
"Eh." She shrugged. "Bored. Hot. Sand in places I don't want it to be." She smiled. "But at least we're not locked up anymore. Finally have room to stretch my legs." She said while stretching out her limbs.
The jadette softly laughed while glancing over. "I already know you want to die." She patted Kris' back with a smile before tilting her head back. "What about you, Chey?"
"Just... trying to help where I can." The Faunus waved back with a smile. "These guys have been nice after the Grimm attack. Thought I could at least help them repair their buildings."
"Really? You've been nice." Kagami crossed her arms and looked over towards Black.
He shrugged. "I guess. All I did was tell my men to lay off you while not locking ya up. Your friends weren't gonna run away without you and waking someone up after I've knocked them out is dangerous. There was no reason for more fighting. And I'm tired of fighting anyway. I've had a week."
"You've had a week?!" Kris raised her voice while baring her teeth.
"Alright, alright." Her leader calmed her while gently rubbing her shoulder. Taking a deep breath, she looked back up at the mercenary in charge. "So what now with us then? Are you just going to let us go?"
"Can't do that just yet." He waved a hand. "So kindly don't give me a reason to tie y'all up again. I really don't want to. I just need you to stay here while I figure things out. Evelyn's men are coming."
"Evelyn?" Cheyenne raised an eyebrow.
"Does he mean Zucchini?" Elise raised an eyebrow.
"Sanguine." Kris corrected.
"I thought her name was Persephone?" Kagami furrowed her brow.
"Persephone?" McCree let out a laugh as he shuffled his cards. "What kind of name is that? Is that what she goes by now?" He shook his head.
"Don't matter what she wants to call herself." McCree eyed him before looking over at the girls. "She has some of her men coming here. You gotta be here when they do." He stood up with a hand on his hat. "That was the deal I made."
"And then what?" Kagami crossed her arms. "What are you going to do with us when they get here?"
Staring at her, he exhaled while bringing the brim of his hat over his eyes. "I'll figure it out when it happens." He walked by. "They'll be here tomorrow."
"And what if we just leave?! Huh!?" Kris squared her shoulders.
"If you remain and things go well, we will aid you in making it to the Kingdom." Hori slowly breathed in before rising to his feet. "We will give you supplies and everything you need to make it there safely."
"And why should we trust you?" Elise stood up on her toes so she'd be taller while talking. "How do we know this isn't some trick to hand us over to them without having to deal with keeping us locked up?"
"I don't think we have much of a choice." Cheyenne lowered her shoulders. "Our only other option other than listening is what we've been doing all week."
"And no one has gained anything besides a headache from that." McCree grumbled as he got up to his feet. "So be good." He followed behind his husband while tossing his deck of cards to Elise. "The four of you just relax and have fun. Lunch will be done soon. I'll make sure Smoke and Holland don't try to poison you again."
"What?" Kagami eyed her friends.
"Long story." Cheyenne rolled her eyes. "Smoke tried to give us stomach bugs."
She nodded slowly. "Uh... huh."
"They won't dare try anything again." Hawkes interjected. "Black already scolded them. They know not to go against his words. They'll just glare at you silently."
"All you have to worry about is Asher. She is very willing to go against her fathers." Hori added. He then turned his attention towards Kagami and held out his hand. "Would you mind meditating with me under the sun?"
"Um," she blinked. "Well, sure, I guess." She rubbed the back of her neck. "If you want."
"I'll come too!" Elise leaned over with a raised hand.
Blinking, both swordsmen eyed each other before eyeing her with the same looks.
"And you can help me with helping them tidy up their camp." Cheyenne smiled while holding out a hand towards Kris.
The short redhead glared up. "Why would I want to do that?"
"Because. It's. Nice." The Faunus narrowed her eyes. "And I don't feel like being in ropes again so let's pretend to be useful." She snatched her by the wrist and pulled her along.
That night, MACE was sleeping inside the tent they had been given. Well, all except for Kagami were sleeping. The leader of team MACE couldn't sleep.
The day had gone decently. Black was telling the truth. The other three members of his group didn't try anything. They purposely ignored them and kept quiet. Snape seemed more annoyed by them but Smoke and Holland clearly did not like the four girls.
But despite how well it had gone, Kagami couldn't shake the feeling in her stomach. Perhaps it was because of how things had gone since they left Vytal. She was just too on edge and didn't trust the group of mercenaries one bit. She didn't trust anyone in Vacuo anymore. She hated it here so much. She didn't want to assume the worst of everyone. But she was starting to believe she had to.
Hearing the sands shift outside, Kagami let out a quiet breath while quickly sitting up. She had a tight grip on her sword and narrowed her eyes at the front of the tent. With a deep breath, she silently moved towards the opening and slipped out. She did a quick sweep around the tent only to find nothing. With a sigh, she lowered her shoulder.
"Damn it, you need to go to sleep." She mumbled to herself while reaching up to rub her eyes.
"You need to do a lotta things."
A female voice came from behind her. Before she had the chance to move, the barrel of a gun was placed against her head.
"Drop your sword. And your bracer. Now." Asher demanded. The light of the moon made her hair glow bright like fire in the night.
Gritting her teeth, Kagami glared back out of the corner of her eye. With a low growl, she let her sword fall to the sand and slowly slid her bracer off. "You f-"
"Walk forward." She rammed her revolver into the back of her head to usher her onward.
Grunting, the jadette closed one eye and grimaced. Taking a deep breath, she slowly moved.
She hated it here so much.