The great Vytal festival ball,
A celebrated tradition among the Huntsmen and Huntresses of Remnant, conducted worldwide by members of that noble order of guardians. Held annually on the day many historians consider the start of the last Great War with the Grimm. Just before the anti-expressionism times that preluded the Great War. The day when one last group of warriors forgotten to time celebrated in defiance of their seemingly imminent doom with Grimm clawing at their doors. Trying to make a few bright memories to hold with their comrades through the dark days of slaughter ahead of them.
And an utter waste of fucking time, in the opinions of Kad, Jaxon, and Co'Balt.
Alicia had thought they were merely joking with their opinions. Until she realized by the simple fact of their sudden absence this late in the afternoon that her three teammates really weren't going to come to the ball. Not that they had any obligation to, she hadn't asked any of them specifically to accompany her.
But Alicia just expected them to follow both school rules and tradition and all go together, as a team. But after Alicia returned from the hairdresser who had set up shop at Beacon for this special occasion getting her hair washed and combed by a professional to get her favorite dress. A silky smooth black summer thing with just one sleeve curling over her right shoulder leaving her left completely bare. Curving and reaching halfway down her slender calves and cut partly up her left leg to let her have more mobility, complete with a maroon sash tied around her waist and dangling to her right. It appeared that all her worries were coming true…
She knocked on their dorm door three times carrying the thin black very high heeled dress shoes she intended to wear, in case they were still changing into their suits. Only when she got fed up waiting and finally entered, no one was in the dorm. Not even a note, the three boys were just gone.
And she was furious.
The night was young and the party was in full swing when Alicia walked the ballroom after spending a fruitless hour searching for the boys. They had not returned any of her messages and she hadn't found them in any their usual haunts.
Yang Xiao Long in her simple white dress greeted her cheerfully at the entrance,
"Hi Ali!" The blonde said with a smile and a wave, but a bit of her enthusiasm faded in her demeanor when she sensed the other girl's mood.
"What's wrong?" Yang asked in genuine concern
"Three guesses," Alicia replied, "And none of them are here."
"You mean…"
The taller Huntress in black almost snapped right then and there but managed to restrain herself. "No Kad isn't coming."
While disappointed and sorry for her fellow Huntress in training Yang tactfully didn't say anything. It wasn't that hard to figure out there was trouble brewing in APRC, and she knew all too well the occasional trouble with friends.
Alicia wandered out onto the dance floor with no idea what she was going to do. Moving between couples and others dancing by themselves. She eventually sat down on one of the empty seats lining the sides, quietly seething with fury.
Right at this moment she regretted not making a few more friends among her class and her sharp responses to Yang at the door. A bunch of people were sitting on the sidelines in small groups, but she didn't see anyone she spoke with regularly.
So Alicia speculated where her team had vanished to.
"So a man walks into a bar and says he'll have a beer and a shot of whiskey, before the trouble starts" Kad said to his two Faunus teammates,
Luckily for the both of them their heritage had gifted them with an acute sense of hearing, able to pick of the voice of their leader over the blaring techno music while he sat on the onyx floor of this night club next to their red leather booth.
Jaxon raised up his own crystal mug in salute, his lion ears flicking in every direction locking onto the ten million sounds around them, "Good idea that."
Kad held up a few fingers quieting him down, "So the guy comes back again, asking for another beer and a shot of whiskey, before the trouble starts. Keeps going all night long like this."
Co'Balt let out a hearty belch beating a fist against his chest at the same time, "Like a champ you mean."
"Until finally, "Kad said, "The bartender asks the guy what trouble is he talking about? Guy says give him another beer and he just might say."
Kad smiled picking up his yet untouched drink and taking a sip, "Bartender cuts the guy off at that point, tells him he's had enough. Guy says, ohh now the trouble starts…"
Laughter filled their booth and fists driven by rising levels of intoxication hammered onto the polished wooden surface before the three young Huntsmen once again.
Muffled words and blurry images were the sum total of Co'Balt's sensory input at the moment, he was fairly sure he had only himself to blame for this. The half intentional consequences of this late night bender it was a minor miracle he had even heard his leader's joke after the last round of shots.
Beacon wasn't the only place celebrating this evening, and the city had a lot more interesting things going on in it than Beacon. Travelers from all over the world were arriving to partake in a great exchange of culture. The night scene of Vale was more than happy to exchange.
Block parties sprawled across downtown. Stores kept their doors open late into the night, food vendors were out in force, clubs and bars dropped their entry standards quite a bit, and the three absent members of APRC abused this mercilessly. Plenty of places were willing to overlook a few things in exchange for a little extra Lien.
Kad was happy to finally get rid of some of the money he had been saving, slash stolen, during the infamous rouge arms dealers' escapade last year. When an uncomfortable amount of stock was discovered missing and in the hands of the wrong sort of people. Not really one of his problems, except Cinder made it one after she promised a desperate contact in the industry to look into it.
Kad and Mercury eventually tracked the supply flow and the guilty parties to their base. The rest was history buried four feet deep in concrete behind a new office building going up in Haven city.
The last club had thrown them out after an altercation with several other patrons. The judgement of even the best people could be questionable under the right circumstances, luckily the young Huntsmen had made their getaway before the weapons they had brought with them became necessary. Jaxon was wired and unwilling to go back to school yet, Co'Balt was incoherent, off balance and ready to fall over and puke. Kad was having the time of his life, free from any obligations, expectations, and frustrations back at Beacon.
And the night had only just begun,
He definitely was interesting looking, Alicia thought to herself.
She could tell this dark skinned boy was probably from Vacuo, or at least she thought by the slight dressing down in his attire. His slightly rolled up sleeves on his dark dress coat, lopsided belt, and casual but shiny boots. Bearing a ring of interesting tattoos around his neck of all places, and a head of pointy green hair.
He said his name was Sage, the two of them passed each other a few times circling the ball room, and by some unspoken mutual agreement decided to walk together for a moment and chat.
"So did your team ditch you too?" Alicia just decided to start off their conversation with the most pressing thing on her mind.
"No, they're here, otherwise engaged however." Sage smirked and nodded his head out to the center of the ballroom, where Blake and a Faunus with a monkey tail were laughing at a story being told by a blue haired boy.
"Do you all dye your hair or something?" Alicia asked him,
Sage blinked, "What do you mean?"
"Never mind." She was nervous, always feeling apprehension when meeting a new person. It was just so much work interacting with others sometimes. Although Sage seemed to be easy to talk to, Alicia started to think maybe they could be friends. If he wanted to be.
"Would you like to dance?" Alicia finally managed to jump to the chase and ask him.
Sage bowed slightly and held out his hand palm up. "I'd be delighted."
Not such a bad night after all…
The little adventure of the three last members of APRC finally slowed down a little after midnight when the police were starting to get in gear to quiet things down around town. So here they were crouched behind a pair of dumpsters on opposite sides of this quiet little back alley of Vale Co'Balt and Jaxon behind the one on the right coming in from the street and Kad behind the one on the left.
"So, should we call it a night?" Jaxon suggested,
"Jaxon, always the man with the plan, or... the plan to… some." Co'Balt slurred out before falling over onto his left, suddenly snoring heavily. Jaxon sputtered and laughed. But suddenly felt his previous reserves of energy drain away when he attempted to stand up, and crashed back down to the ground his rifle spear Uzipho scraping against the side the brick building.
"Whooaa, yup, that's a night…" He sleepily rubbed both palms against his forehead glancing across at his team leader. Kad was looking at his scroll deleting all of the angry spam that had clogged up his message banks.
He didn't think Cinder or Emerald would have missed him at the ball this much, their messages indicated otherwise.
The raised the device up and tilted it at Jaxon across the way in a little salute.
"Yeah, don't worry. Not the first night I've spent in an alley." Kad told his friend, "We'll wait till Co'Balt can manage to walk around with some form of dignity and head back."
Jaxon groaned and grabbed at his Faunus ears holding them down against his head. "Not so loud bro."
"What?! I didn't hear you Jax?"
"You prick." He muttered as he clamped down harder.
Co'Balt finally woke up when he felt an abnormally sized boot nudging him in the stomach. It was still dark out and he didn't particularly feel like getting up, this concrete was starting to grow on him with how comfortable it was.
He swatted the air in front of him, no idea what anyone would be doing up at this ungodly hour.
Jaxon crouched down grabbed two fistfuls of Co'Balt's vest and hauled him up to his feet. The bull Faunus swept his arms up from his side and knocked Jaxon's arms away from him.
"Fuck, I'm up already." He grumbled and staggered trying to find his balance
"Could have fooled me." Jaxon replied
Co'Balt stretched but clamped both hands to the top of his head in a sudden panic. Looking up at his team leader. "Dude! We're supposed to pick missions today!"
"And?" Kad asked nonchalant,
"We've got to get back to Beacon!"
Co'Balt was barely tall enough for the top of his head to be within a head span of Kad's shoulders. His giant team leader ruffled his buzz cut with his left hand.
"Relax." He tried to order the frantic Faunus, Co'Balt swung around and ran out onto the darkened street trying to get his bearings.
"Where are we? Can we call a cab?" He stuttered patted down his outfit looking for his scroll.
Kad playfully pushed his shoulder, but that was a hefty shove to a normal person. But Co'Balt kept his feet stumbling back a bit.
The giant smiled and waved his arm in the traditional follow me gesture as he turned up the road.
Dawn was creeping over the horizon as the three of them landed at Beacon. Lucky to have caught a ride with a supply shipment from the town. The pilot was okay taking a few huntsmen in training back up to Beacon.
He just wasn't too thrilled about the smell of three guys in his bullhead who had spent the night behind dumpsters in an alley after the highlight tour of the Vale party scene.
Cleaning up was their first priority as arrived back at the dorm room. Kad hoped his bigger uniform had arrived and he could simply switch clothes and not worry about wash. It was annoying how often he had to get clothes re-sized. He was already taller than anyone he knew, and probably one of the few people in the world who hoped they would stop growing at some point.
Jaxon swung the dorm door open as quietly as possible, his caution unwarranted as Alicia was up already. Fully dressed back in her school uniform and waiting for them at her desk.
The lion Faunus sheepishly smiled and tried to start a greeting, "So how was your night Ali…."
Only to be cold cocked by the furious Huntress when she shot up from her chair and landed a right hook straight into his jaw with a vicious crack.
He staggered sideways eyes wide in shock holding his jaw. "What was that for?"
"Don't you dare be fucking surprised!" Alicia snapped, "Where the hell were you three last night?"
"Jeez, Mom!" Jaxon shot back.
She raised her fist again Jaxon backpedaled into the wall and tried to guide Kad in front of him.
Alicia glared unblinking at all of them, Co'Balt shrugged,
"We were out."
"Out?" Alicia repeated, hazel eyes narrowing.
"Yeah, out." Co'Balt said anger beginning to rise and retaliate, "Not present, away, be back by yada yada."
"Last night of all nights?!"
"Your point? We were just killing time, we saw no fun to be had at the dance."
Alicia stepped towards Co'Balt, but he was never one to back down from a challenge and moved forwards as well. Kad stepped in between his teammates and pushed them away from each other before something regrettable happened. He moved over to his bed to break into the package he saw sitting there. Alicia turn back on Co'Balt pointing an accusing finger at his face.
"I just know this is your fault somehow."
"What, why me?" He asked in outrage, "The unruly Faunus dragging your friends away to parts unknown?"
Alicia was quick to clarify, "Just you still smell like half of whatever you drank last night ended on your shirt, jackass."
She turned around and picked up one of the scattered white school shirts on the ground and threw it at Co'Balt. Then promptly left the room without another word.