Chapter 25: I know what to do!
Two months have passed and our acceptance letters should be arriving soon to our scrolls. To say I was excited was an understatement.
I was overjoyed. Nervous. And a little bit worried.
Mom did her best to try and calm my nerves telling me everything was going to be alright. She felt the same way the first time she received her acceptance letter so she at least understood what I was going through.
"Sweet heart if you tighten your scroll like that some more it's going to break."
I fell my grip loosened a bit.
"Right... I'm just nervous that's all." I set the scroll down the table and take a deep breath.
"Everything is going to be fine. You did all the necessary steps and all the information was well done. So what is there to worry?"
What is there to worry? I mean I feel way comfortable when it comes to other things. But this is something I don't like, the feeling of the unknown. What if I get accepted but I can't switch? What if I don't get accepted and neither school would want me? What if I go back to a normal school?!
NO!
Get a hold of yourself, Seth! We have made it this far and worked too hard for this. Mom said so. Pyrrha said so. Miss Nikos said so. Hell even Pietro and Penny said so. They believe in you!
You can do it! You feel great! You! Can! Do! IT! YEAHHHHHHHHH!
"What are you doing?"
"I...uh... Nothing."
"Really cause it looked like you were chanting to yourself just now."
"Are you in my head?"
"Nope, but I've seen you do it before and I always thought it was adorable." Mom said with a chuckle.
RING!
My scroll goes off and I quickly pick it up seeing it was a text from Pyrrha.
"Is that it?"
"No, it's a text from Pyrrha. Saids here, she got accepted into Beacon. What a surprise huh?"
"Well tell her congratulations on my part okay?"
"I will."
Well to nobody's surprise, Pyrrha is in. The three-time Mistral champion is heading to Beacon. I'm sure the news people are going to have a field day when they discover where she will be attending.
Now that I think about it, she will be doing her fourth run in the tournament next month. Huh, Pyrrha Nikos the four-time Mistral regional champion. That is going to be news or this, I wonder?
I sent the text to congratulate her and put my scroll down on the table. I started to lay back down on the couch and wait for my turn. Any minute now I can get it.
So I waited.
...
...
...
And Waited.
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...
...
And Waited.
By the time I looked at the clock, it was already midnight.
'Maybe Some got it and others are still in progress. I mean it is a lot of students who still need to be checked.'
"Nothing?"
I turn and see my Mom standing next to me.
"Nah... Maybe tomorrow."
"Weird? Haven usually has everything in order by this time. I know for a fact that applications only take two months to be cleared by a group of people. So strange."
"Well, I'm just gonna head to bed." I tell her as I yawn "Hopefully tomorrow I get some news of it. Night Mom."
"Good night, Sweet heart."
Tomorrow is a new day. So hopefully is one for me as well.
"Seth it's time to wake up! It's already past eleven! I swear that boy can wake up super early or wake up super late. There is no in-between with him." The mother reaches the door of his son and knocks at it.
"Seth it's time to get up." She turns the door knob but it was locked.
"Seth! I'm respecting your privacy by knocking but asserting my authority as your Mother by coming in anyway!" Opening the door the lights of the room were off and the curtains were covering the window not allowing light to enter the room.
"Seth, why are you in the dark?
"Life is pain. Life is only pain."
That took the mother aback from what she heard. She has never heard her son talk like that before and why was he talking like this?
"Sweet heart, what's wrong? Is everything okay?" She asked worriedly.
Seth just reaches for his scroll and opens it showing the message that he received.
"Dear Mister Sapphire we are thankful to have received your application for this year's Academy initiation. However, due to an increase in numbers of this year. We were forced to Decline a lot of students and you were selected as one. We are also unable to send your form to your other recommendation school due to the shortage of staff that we have been experiencing. We are sorry for the inconvenience, but we hope that next year you will be accepted.
Sincerely Leonardo Lionheart
...
...
...
The mother read the message again and again.
But she couldn't believe it.
"I'm going to kill that man."
I have seen my Mom upset before, but I think this was a new one if I was being honest here.
"PICK UP! YOU MOTHERFUCKER OR ELSE I WILL HEAD TO HAVEN MYSELF TO ANSWER YOUR DAMN SCROLL!"
"Mom it's fine!"
"No, it's not! How? How can they deny you? You worked so hard for this and even if they don't accept you. How can they not send your application to the other Fucking school!?"
Yeah, that's the part that even I was confused about. Sure it's one thing to not get accepted, I get that. But to not send your application to Beacon is just wrong. All because they are short staff. What about all the other students who apply as well? Are they also not going to a Huntsman Academy this year? I don't know how many people were denied but for the school to not accept anymore. Shit, this is bad.
You might be wondering if I can just send another letter to Beacon and wait another two months. Sadly I can't, Combat schools have top priority over any other forms of applying, so they have a limit on one letter to send. If you were to send two letters to a different school then both schools would cancel that application there for eliminating that applicant from entering.
So what that means is. You get one chance to do everything right and don't fuck it up.
Or in my case right now. I didn't fuck it up, someone else did, but it is somehow my fault.
There are other ways to get in and that is one, either getting invited by one of the teachers of the school. Two getting recommended by a professional Huntsman that went to that school. Or three do some heroic deed that helped a village. But that last one is a rare occasion.
Honestly, who created this system?!
"Sweet heart, can't you ask one of your teachers for a recommendation? Surely one of them will say yes?"
Sigh..."That won't work Mom. All the teachers either graduated from Haven or Atlas. We did have one but he transferred a long time ago. Do you know anyone?"
"Sadly I don't... You can say I'm not really the social type of person I was back in my younger years."
Great so even Mom doesn't know anyone either. This is bad I only have five months left.
"As much as I hate to bring her up. Maybe ask Nikos."
"Pyrrha's Mom? You think she will know someone?"
"I don't know maybe. I don't know what type of life she lives but she might know someone."
I mean it's worth a try. But in doing so... Pyrrha is going to have to find out.
"Great... Just my luck."
The walk to the Nikos residents was in my opinion one of the hardest walks in my life. But there was one good thing about it. And it was that at this moment Pyrrha shouldn't be home. So talking to her mother would be easy, however the aftermath of this could be nuclear.
So I needed time to prepare for that.
Standing outside the front door of the Nikos residence I begin to walk to the door and knock.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
'Okay Seth we are here to ask for help and if we can't then... We think of another solution.'
The door opens and out pops Miss Nikos with a smile on her face.
"Seth what a wonderful surprise to see you." Miss Nikos said with a smile.
"Hi, Miss Nikos! I was wondering if you have-."
SLAM!
The door slams right in front of me and stops me in my tracks.
...
...
...
Sigh... If I didn't need her right now I would have just left.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
The door opens again and out pops Miss Nikos with a smile on her face.
"Seth what a wonderful surprise to see you." Miss Nikos said with a smile.
This woman!
"Hi, Nereid! I was wondering if I can have a word with you."
"Of course dear please come in!" she steps aside and allows me to enter her home.
Well, this is it.
Entering the home was quite relaxing. For starters, the house looked way more normal than anyone can experience from a world-famous celebrity. Then again Pyrrha always said that money couldn't buy happiness even if she had it all. But to see that the house almost resembled our house was kind of scary. But it's the simple things in life I guess.
"Would you like anything to drink Seth?"
"Oh no thank you. Like I said I was hoping to have a word with you about something."
"Well, this seems important. You couldn't even wait for Pyrrha to come home."
"This is something that I don't want Pyrrha to find out yet. If anything with your help I'm sure this will pass and she won't have to know."
"Well, what is it that I can help you with? Better yet what is it that you need?"
Well, here we go, Let us see if she can help me out.
"Do you know anyone that attended Beacon?"
"Why do you ask?"
I show her the message that I have received rather than explain it to her. She took my scroll and read the text. After a good five minutes, I could tell she was reading the text over and over again trying to understand if this was real or not.
"Seth if you can excuse me for a minute. I'll be right back."
"Sure."
I see her stand up from her seat and head to another room.
I simply just sit there and wait for her to return.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
You know it's scary to think this Woman has a huge anger problem compared to Pyrrha. Then again I rarely see Pyrrha get this angry and most of the time She apologizes because of her mother's attitude towards others. And to think that my own mother can become even angrier than her is something even I can't understand. I feel like they take the meaning of 'Too angry to die' to another level when they fight.
I was just happy that none of us got arrested after our graduation.
"Sorry about that Seth. I saw a spider and I threw something at it." I see Miss Nikos enter the room again with a smile on her face.
"..."
This might have been a mistake.
"Don't worry I'm used to it by now."
"Good... Well to answer your question, Seth. I'm sorry but I sadly don't know anyone who's from Beacon as well."
Damn it! Another dead end.
Sigh..."No, it's fine. Thank you anyway." I begin to stand up but I hear her speak again. "Have you tried asking the teacher?"
"They probably won't know. They all graduated from Haven or Atlas. So I really don't know anyone else."
"Oh dear... Maybe Pyrrha can help she does know a lot of people that mi-"
"She is the last person I want to ask. I don't want to ask her for a favor that would involve her fame so that is out of the question." It didn't feel right to do it either. Sure it would help but I don't want to be that type of friend.
"I see... I'm sorry Seth."
"Nah it's fine. My mom did wonder about you so I just took her advice."
"Oh, I see. Well, that's nice." I could see her trying her best not to curse her name.
"Well thank you for your time Nereid. I'll be going now." I begin to leave this time.
"I'm sure you will find someone, Seth. Just think deeply of everyone you know."
I wave goodbye and leave the house.
'Everyone I know.'
Walking back to my house I started to think of the people I had met.
First was Fiona, a girl from Mantle. One of the first friends I ever made. And recently She must be a huntress now that she has graduated from Atlas. So she might not know anyone from Beacon.
The second was Pietro. The best scientist Mantle and Atlas ever had. To say he might know someone could be something but I feel like his time might be way busier than anyone. So he might not have the time for this. Also, I wouldn't want to bother him. The same thing could be said about Penny.
The third was Pyrrha. My best friend, the person I have known for a long time. The person I know I can trust with my life. The girl was so famous that our friendship never ended after so long. Someone that I didn't want to ask.
The fourth was Marrow, another person that I made friends with as a kid. He really changed over the years. Not the same kid I saw getting picked on, but a more confident person even though he was mischievous from time to time. Like Fiona he might not know anyone outside of Atlas. And last I heard of him, he was trying out to become an Ace-ops. Good luck to him.
The fifth one was an interesting one, Bolin. We meet back in Haven for the first Mistral tournament. We met as enemies but by the end of it, we became friends. The guy is good but man can he run his mouth when he fights. Now that I think about it he might be heading to Haven as well. Unless he didn't make the cut as well. Oh well, only time will tell.
The sixth one was Headmaster Lionheart... And to be honest I never trusted that guy ever since we met. Call me paranoid, hell call me a racist if you want, but that guy... I always had a bad feeling about him. And now I'm just pissed at him for what is going on now.
The seventh one was...
"The damn Drunk!"
Was he... Wait where was he from again? Shit! Maybe? Unless. But?
"I might need to know where he is first." I begin to run towards my home.
'Help me Qrow you are my only hope right now.'
I open the door and scream for my Mom.
"Mom!"
"Seth what is it?! Are we under attack!"
"What? No! Listen! The drunk you know where he is from?"
"Seth, do you have any idea how little that narrows it down? What Drunk?"
"Qrow! That drunk! From Haven a few years back."
...
...
...
I see my mom think for a second and realize something.
"The last time I saw him, He said something about returning home. So he might not be from Mistral. Then again he said something about Beacon as well."
Bingo!
"So if we find him he could help me get into Beacon!"
"Seth there is a problem with that. We don't know anything about him. Even I don't know what his scroll number is."
"No, but we do know who does."
"We do?"
"Yep! The headmaster. He worked as security so what's not to say he has his number!"
"Soooo."
"So all we have to do is ask for his number and call Qrow."
"Seth I don't think it will be that simple."
"Why not?"
"The headmaster won't just give anybody information like that. Unless both parties are involved. And since it's been a while since we last saw him. I doubt that the headmaster would just give you his number like that."
"Unless you can talk to him and convince him otherwise."
"Yeah, however, we got a problem. He blocked me from his scroll."
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...
...
"How many messages did you send? I was only gone for an hour!"
"Not important. Seth what you are trying to do is impossible."
"But it's necessary!"
"Seth-"
"Please Mom let me do this. If there is a way for me to go to Beacon then this could be it."
Mom just looks at me determined not to let me do this. But I was also determined to do this one thing. For my future.
My mother looked at me with her eyes trying her best to intimidate me. But I just stood tall and looked back at her.
This reminded me of when I first tried to ask her to train me and let me go to Sanctum. Back then I was a kid hoping to be able to become a huntsman. And now history was repeating itself.
Both just stare at each other wanting the other to accept.
But in the end.
...
Sigh..." Fine, you win."
...
It really matters.
"YES!"
"But you will have to find the headmaster once in Haven, and knowing how he is. It will be a difficult challenge for you."
Wait for me.
"What do you mean 'me' Mom."
"I won't be coming along with you. This is your problem, Seth. This time you will have to solve it on your own."
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...
...
I nod at her. "I will."
She smiles at me. "Good, so what's your plan then?"
"Simple. Next month is the Mistral regional championship. And like all the other times he will host it. So I will wait for him and corner him to give me the information that I need and hopefully, everything will go as planned."
"You really put a lot of thought into this. Haven't you?"
"I'm a guy with nothing to lose but a lot to gain Mom."
"Hmm Well, at least you thought about it. So next month?"
"Yep! So that will give me at least two more weeks before the tournament to start."
"And how will you get there?"
"... Right I need money."
Well, time to job hunt!
"I'll deal with it. For now, we will have to wait."
BZZZ! BZZZ!
My scroll buzzed and I pulled it out seeing I was getting a call I was dreading.
"Shit! It's Pyrrha! What should I do?"
"You have two options if she knows you deal with it now or later. And if she doesn't know tell her the truth. The choice is yours."
So either way I'm fucked.
...
...
...
I just answer the scroll.
"Hello?"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HAVEN DIDN'T ACCEPT YOU!" I quickly pull the scroll away from my ear.
God damn it, Miss Nikos.
"Pyrrha listen I have everything under control. Everything is."
I looked at my Mom "What is it that you always said in old Mistrilian?"
"Daijōbu"
"Pyrrha everything is Okay."
"..."
"Pyrrha?"
"Are you sure?"
"I do. Trust me."
"Okay. I trust you, Seth."
"Thank you. We can talk later about this because trust me I already have a plan for this."
"Alright take care."
"You too." I hang up and take an exhale.
I look at my mom and see her smile at me.
"What?"
"Nothing! Just wondering."
"About?"
"You two are so cute sometimes."
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...
...
My face turned red at that. "MOM!"
She just laughs at that.
Gods damn it.
ONE MONTH LATER!
"Okay, you got everything right?"
"Yes, Mom for the last time I have everything on me. Scroll, Lien, Weapon, and my backpack. I have everything."
"Well, not everything." I see her reach into her jacket and pull out a case, She then hands it to me and I open it.
Inside the case, I see a pair of sunglasses. A pair that resembles the old ones that I had.
"..."
"I know they are not the same as the last ones but I just hope these ones last."
I hug my mom and thank her. "Thanks, Mom."
"No problem Sweet heart. Well, put them on?"
I let go of her and put the sunglasses on my face. Yep, this felt so right that It just felt natural to me.
Sigh. "Much better!"
"I can tell. You looked way more relaxed now."
"Was I not before?"
" Well, your posture looks different from before. So I guess it works for you. Now you better go now. Your train should leave in half an hour."
"Right... Well, I guess I should go now." I open the door and stop.
I don't leave from the door. Am I scared to do this? I can feel my legs shake a little This will be the first time I leave my home and travel for a bit. I have no idea what this little adventure could bring me. If anything this would only take a few days at max. Find the headmaster and request the information then I can explore Mistral for a bit before returning home.
All I need to do is step outside... So why is this hard right now?
"Seth." I turn to my Mom and see her smile at me. "Let me tell you what My mother told me before I left for my own journey. 'May the wind bless you in your travels.' You got this Sweet heart."
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...
PFFT!
"What! Why are you laughing? That was your gramma words!"
"Nothing! I think Gramma had a few drinks in her time."
"She really did. Wait how do you know-"
"Bye, Mom! I'll be back!" I leave out the door and begin to run towards the station.
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...
...
As the son left The mother just stood at the door looking toward the direction of where he ran off.
"Please be safe. Please come back... Please... Don't... Die."
Omake: Odd jobs.
'This Job sucks!'
"Welcome to McSchnees May I take your order?"
"I'll have two number 9 a number 9 large a number 6 with extra dip a number 7 two number 45 one with cheese and a large soda."
I look at the man in front of me.
"You want that soda Diet?"
The man took offense to that. I was fired shortly after.
'Okay, dog walker isn't as bad as I was expecting.'
I am currently walking the dogs outside and taking them to the park near the beach. However, one dog in particular was the hardest to control. Especially when he sees a cat.
Speaking of cats one just passed by us right now.
"Cujo! Sit! Down Boy! DOWN! NO DON'T CHASE THE CAT INTO THE WATER!"
The owners didn't like that their dogs came back wet. I was never called again after that.
"Hi thank you for calling Argus customer support how may I help you today?"
"What are you wearing?"
Hung up right there and left my cubical.
"So your sixteen about to be seventeen." A woman asked me.
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...
...
I just got up from the couch and left.
'Why did I even bother coming here.'
I was standing outside in the dark close to a street lamp.
Soon a car pulled up on me.
"Hey darling looking for a date?" A woman asked.
I look inside the car and look at the woman and smile.
I reached into my ear and called out.
"We got one. Book her."
I squad of police cars surrounded the car and cops began to arrest the person.
One of the cops walked up to me and handed me an envelope.
'Mom must never know this. I'm taking this to my grave. But at least the streets are now clean.'
Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
I leave the scene while singing a song.
A/N: Next week a new chapter this one is going to be inspired by a game that is coming out. So I will try to post it on Monday! Thank you for reading and I will see you next week. Take care!