*Legend 11*
Warmness on the Soul
...
"We need to see The Speaker."
The dire necessity of Cinder's claim was not lost on Glynda, not for a second. There was, however, a stipulation that prevented her from seeing it through. "I understand," Glynda said slowly. "However, The Speaker has retired for the night..."
"This cannot wait," Cinder insisted.
Glynda heaved a tiny sigh, "But I'm afraid it must. While I cannot oblige you right away, I can set up an appointment for you first thing tomorrow morning; Six a.m."
Cinder rolled her eyes as she chewed the inside of her cheek. "Fine then," she eventually huffed. She rose from the table she had been sitting on. She took a few tired and faulty steps before being steadied by Mercury. She gave him a smile of reassurance before continuing down the stairs. Emerald, having just completed a slow and oddly careful circuit around the office, joined them at the stairs.
Glynda, again seeing the state that these three Guardians were in couldn't help asking, "What happened to you three out there?"
The other Warlock turned, her eyes full of a vindictive mirth, "Tomorrow, six a.m." she said.
Glynda took the cheek as her due and watched silently as the three made their final exit from the office.
Just at the bottom of the stairs did Cinder finally seem to get her legs working properly. "Let's go home," she said.
"Right behind ya," Mercury said. "You comin' Em?" But Emerald was no longer listening. As it happened, she was caught up beholding a certain object of her affection. "Here we go..." Mercury chuckled to himself. He joined his team mate at the railing she was oh-so contently leaning on, sharing the view of the great machine before them. Although, Emerald was much more interested is what, or rather, who was directly below said machine.
"You know, The Crimson Days are a few months away," Mercury said to her. "Why don't you just tell him?"
"Shut up," Emerald responded half-heartedly.
Mercury grinned. "It's been what, three months now? He should have gotten the hint by now, that is if he even knew how you-"
"Mercury, I will seriously pay you to shut up," Emerald said, waving a cube of glimmer under Mercury's nose.
Knowing full well Emerald's...diverse skill set, there was a high probability that she only came to be in possession of that glimmer but mere moments ago. "That's not your money," Mercury said slyly.
"But it could be yours for five minutes of silence," Emerald said in offer.
Mercury rolled his eyes, a playful contemplation on his face. "Nah," he said finally. He looked over his shoulder then, to see Cinder waiting; a patient and knowing smile on her face. "Well, you do you, boo," He said. "I'm gonna go home and...enjoy myself."
"You do that," was Emerald's response.
So again, Emerald was alone, just the way she preferred it on her little perch here. But just as she was settling in for another empiric observation of her subject, did he suddenly stir. He eased himself down through the air and settled into the great bowl beneath the machine. At this juncture, Emerald did what she always did; she scurried off to her right and parked herself on a railing overlooking the city and pretended to be enraptured by the view it offered there. She did this to avoid detection, and it usually worked.
Usually.
Whether by sheer force of some cosmic coincidence, or just plain dumb luck, did Lie Ren happen to look to his left and see her standing there. "Emerald?" he said, his voice full of contemplative wonder.
Emerald hugged her elbows as a shiver overcame her. Her name on his lips made her shiver for a few reasons (the latter of which she'd rather not say aloud). She turned awkwardly to face him. "Uhh...hi..." she muttered.
Ren was just in front of her now, and Emerald could see the concern shining in his eyes. As today was Thursday (The new holy day, as the Traveler had first shown up on Earth on a Thursday evening) Ren was dressed in his finest accoutrements; he wore a billowing and highly ceremonial Warlock robe, jet-black and trimmed with gold tassel. The collar of the garment was very high, coming high enough to frame his whole head, almost like a black halo. "What happened to you?" While the Light layer inside Emerald's body had healed her of her minor wounds: cuts, scrapes, burns, etc. There was nothing it could do to mend the ratty state of her armor. "Did you complete your mission?"
"More or less..." Emerald trailed off. She could have probably come up with something more convincing, but she was having extreme difficulty thinking past the humming in her ears and the rising heat in her face. But just when Emerald thought this situation couldn't possibly become any more awkward, did a third member join them.
"Emerald?" It was the voice of Blake Belladonna, holding all the semblance of shocked discovery.
'Oh for Traveler's sake...' did Emerald curse mentally. Blake hurried over towards them, her eyes wide and reflective. And much like Ren, she was decked out in her Thursday best: A flowing and jet-black gown adorned her; the skirt trailing all the way to the ground. There was, however, a clever slit up the right side that reached up to her thigh, revealing nearly the entire length of a milky white leg. She wore classy high-heeled sandals that strapped up over her calves, and her hair was piled elegantly atop her head and stayed with gold pins. She looked much more like she was on her way to some high society promenade than off to worship The Traveler. Emerald felt completely scruffy and inadequate next to Blake's dark and radiant beauty. 'Okay, so she's pretty, so what?' She thought savagely. 'She's still just a Faunus; she's beneath me,'
"Emerald, you look like you've been through hell," Blake said.
"You could say that," Emerald muttered back.
"You will give us the full details at some point, won't you?"
"Sure..." Emerald said as condescendingly as possible.
This answer seemed to satisfy Blake, she nodded. And then she said to Ren, "We should be off to the chapel; service is to start soon."
"Of course." Ren cast one last look to Emerald. "You will tell me what happened won't you? At another time of course."
"Absolutely. You can count on it," Emerald said back to him, her tone nothing but sincere now. Ren nodded and took off after Blake.
And just then did Emerald's Ghost pop out of her head. "Well, all things considered, that didn't go too badly."
"Oh, shut up, Chaos," Emerald said to her Ghost. "You're supposed to be on my side."
"And I am," Chaos said back. He floated right up to Emerald's face. "And I know that right now, you need to get some rest; you're exhausted."
"Yeah, but we gotta be up early anyway to meet with The Speaker," she said back.
"All the more reason to turn in sooner," said Chaos. "You're off to bed, and I won't hear another word about it, missy."
Emerald groaned. "Why did I program you like this again?" And, under the stern instruction of her Ghost, did Emerald head home.
...
Ruby was awake, though her surroundings were still completely black. This had everything to do with the sleep mask that was over her eyes. She pushed it up to her forehead and just lay staring at the ceiling. Ruby lay pondering over the day's planned event; it could either be spectacular...or a total drag.
She had no confidence as to the former.
Just then did Yang wander in from the kitchen, munching on assorted nuts from a triangular cup. She was fully geared and seemed to be in a state of expectant excitement. "Good morning little flower!" She sang as she saw Ruby awake.
"Meh..." was Ruby's response.
"Big day today!" Yang said, taking no notice of Ruby's despondence.
"Yeah..." Ruby sighed. "Basic training...yay..."
"Oh c'mon, don't be like that!" Yang said, sitting on the edge of the bed. She rubbed Ruby's exposed tummy. "Today's gonna be awesome!"
"But we've been through BT!" Ruby whined. "Twice because dad insisted! We dominated everybody we fought. Our opponents were total scrubs..."
"Well that was Signal's regime," Yang said. "Traveler only knows what The Tower will put us through." It was at this point Yang put her hand on her hip and said with a disingenuous indignation, "Hey wait, chu callin' me a scrub now?"
She more than likely said this in allusion to the fight they had but five months ago at the Signal junior tournament. The final match had come down to Ruby and Yang. Given the fact that they were blood relatives and practically best friends; these factors didn't affect the intensity of their fight one bit. The two went at each other hard in a pitched and spirited battle, one that Ruby only just barely managed to win.
"Well," Yang said in contemplation, " At any rate,we can use today to not only kick some serious ass and show Lord Shax what we're made of, but you can maybe use this as a growing experience..."
"Ughh...you sound like dad," Ruby groaned. She kicked herself up to a sitting position. "Firstly, what does meeting new people have to do with fighting? And second, I don't need people to help me grow up, I drink milk!"
Yang laughed. "Well whatever the case, it's not just our day today; Weiss should be along any minute now..."
Given the success of their first mission, Fireteam Rosenkreuz had been promoted a rank; putting Ruby and Yang at rank two, and Weiss at rank five, which meant she was now eligible for a heavy weapon. She had made it a point to hit the gunsmith's early.
And just then was there a knock at the door. Yang crossed the room and peered through the door's peephole. "Ah, if it isn't the princess herself!" She turned to Ruby, "Answer the door, will ya?"
"But you're right there," Ruby said.
"What's that? I can't here you!" Yang practically yelled as she crossed the room again. "I'm in the other room!" She disappeared into the kitchen with great haste. There was another knock on the door from Weiss, polite, but insistent.
"But I'm not decent!" Ruby said. She was still clad in her sleep wear; black tank top and rose-patterned pajama pants.
Yang popped her head out of the kitchen, "Something tells me she won't mind," she said with a wink.
"Huh?" But Yang had retreated back into the kitchen, leaving Ruby with no choice but to get the door, she didn't want to leave Weiss hanging after all. Rub padded her way across the room to the door and leered through the peep hole. And sure enough, there stood the white-haired form of Weiss, bobbing up and down rather impatiently on the balls of her feet.
Ruby heaved a sigh and swung the door open, doing her best to hide her small body behind it.
Weiss marched into the room with a beaming, "Guten Morgen!" However, upon finding the room completely devoid of her target persons, she inspected the phenomenon of the apparently self-opening door she just walked through.
Ruby's first impression upon seeing Weiss for the first time today, she had honestly never looked better. Instead of her her usual white one-piece battle robe, she wore a much more business-oriented attire: A long-sleeved white button down blouse with an upturned collar. Her skirt, which matched the blouse, came down to just over her knees and had the flare of a black underskirt poking from beneath it. The look was finished off with lovely white high-heeled, thigh-length boots. Over all, Ruby thought she looked very dapper and professional, and maybe a year or two older.
And here was Ruby, in her freaking pajamas...
Having espied Ruby huddled behind the door, Wiess's first reaction was that of mild panic. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't know you weren't..." Weiss averted her eyes with haste, a deep blush coloring her white skin beautifully.
Seeing Weiss embarrassed and on edge, strangely enough, put Ruby slightly at ease. "Aw, you know...I'm kinda slow when it comes to mornings," she said.
Weiss laughed at this juncture. "Well then, I'll just be waiting outside..." She turned to head back out the door, and in doing so (unless Ruby's imagination was wildly wildly mistaken) Ruby could have sworn that her eyes had wandered over her profile, albeit very, very quickly.
Ruby swung the door closed after her, glad the event was over. When Yang said from the doorway of the kitchen, "Nailed it."
Ruby turned to her, "Nailed what?"
Yang only smiled, in a very knowing, older sister kind of way. "Let's just get going," She said. "I got somethin' I wanna do too."
"Why are you so full of riddles this morning?" Ruby groaned. She pulled on her gear and strapped her Psi Umbra to her back before leading the way out of the room. They collected Weiss in the corridor and made their way across the courtyard to the weapons dealer.
Luckily, with it being so early, they only had one person ahead of them, that person just happened to be Lie Ren. He looked to just be finishing up his business with the Exo gunsmith.
"Made those adjustments you requested," Bashee said, handing Ren his beloved Silvered Hushwind-D auto rifle. "Increased the gas chamber's psi, you should see a notable increase in the rate of fire, but it'll cost you some stability though."
"I'll make it work," Ren said, strapping the weapon to his back. "Thank you again." He bowed to the Exo and turned to depart, coming face to face with Ruby and her team. He smiled then, "Good morning, Rosenkreuz," he said to then collectively. "And to you, Miss Schnee." He offered her the Warlock salute, with a decidedly emphasized flourish. It awed Ruby to see Ren, who outranked Weiss by some little margin, offer her such respect and admiration. More than likely a perk of the name, and her future position of importance.
Weiss, in turn, offered the salute back. It was then that Yang leaned into Ruby and whispered, "Why Warlocks gotta be all froufrou and shit?"
"It's just their way," Ruby said back to her. She honestly kind of liked it. It was quite elegant and refined...and...graceful...
Ruby suddenly had a very hard time keeping her eyes off Weiss.
She came back to herself as Ren spoke up again. "I should be off to the hall. My team has a very important mission to undertake on The Moon."
"Farewell then, and good luck," Weiss said in parting.
Ren nodded and turned to leave, but then Yang called out, "Wait a minute!" Ren turned back to her in question. "Where's your friend?"
"Beg pardon?" Ren said.
"Where's Blake?" Yang said simply.
"In the hangar bay last I saw; working on her sparrow."
Yang nodded her understanding as Ren made his departure. "Welp, I'll be right back," Yang said. "Actually, if it goes well, I might be a little while."
She took off in the direction of the hangar. "Where are you going?" Ruby called after her.
Yang turned, her smile brighter than all of The Traveler's Light. "I'm gonna go bag me a Faunus!" She turned again in the direction of her itinerary.
Weiss took just a moment to ponder Yang's statement. "Um so your sister is...if you don't mind me asking..."
"Oh, yeah," Ruby said, taking no offense. "Practically since birth."
Weiss nodded as she chewed her lower lip. She seemed to be in deep, somewhat hesitant thought about something. However, at length, she decided to abandon said thought, there was business to attend to here after all.
"Guten morgen, herr Banshee," did Weiss say professionally. "I have a voucher here for one level-white heavy weapon."
Banshee took the chip Weiss presented and gave it a quick inspection. "Right you are," he grumbled. "So, what cha got in mind?"
Weiss looked over the selection of rocket launchers and machine guns, her eyes narrowed in a thoughtful squint. "That one there, please." she said.
Banshee followed her pointed finger to the weapon of her choice. "Good eye" he said. The Exo retrieved the gun from the rack. "The Darius-B machine gun; slams targets with massive slugs, putting damage above all else." He handed the cumbersome weapon over the counter to its new owner. "You Schnee's sure know your weapons."
Weiss tested the balance and iron sights of her new machine gun. "So I've been told," she said in response to Banshee.
During Weiss's appraisal of her new gun, Ruby noticed that she, much like Ruby herself, was left handed. How could she not have noticed that before? Ruby grinned at her own lack of relative awareness regarding her team mate's handiness. "Congratulations, Weiss," she said. "You have become the ma-cheen"
Weiss smiled her appreciation. "Windig, if you would be so kind?" Weiss's Ghost flashed into existence and transmatted the gun into storage. "Well, with that handled, I suppose I should be off to the Cryptorium."
"Oh yeah, you got the...thing..." It had honestly slipped Ruby's mind that Weiss had an important lecture to attend today, which probably accounted for her elevated state of dress. She thought that she would be there to cheer her on in basic training...
"Ah, yes," Weiss sighed. "Three whole hours of being told things that I already know."
Ruby chuckled. "Yeah, and me stuck in basic training." She set her hands on her hips determinedly. "Wish me luck!"
Weiss smiled. "I don't need to," she said. She patted Ruby's shoulder. "I just know you're going to shine."
It happened again. That immediately unidentifiable sensation that emanated from somewhere near Ruby's belly button, and proceeded to make her knees soft. She simply nodded, her voice failing her.
Weiss then departed, leaving Ruby to ponder on the immediacy of the upcoming event, and this sudden warmness on her soul.
...
In a relatively isolated corner of the bustling hangar bay, Blake was hard at work performing repairs on her Sparrow. By some strange biological arrangement or another, Hunters happened to be born mechanics; they simply loved to tinker. Blake found the process of breaking down a machine and putting it together again quite relaxing, therapeutic even. She was as at ease working on her Sparrow as she was reading a book.
Blake gave the single front-mounted headlight a critical look. 'Might need to get some headlight fluid on that...' she thought. So to best work on it, she decided to remove the light entirely. Keeping her eyes locked on the coupler that held it in place, she held out her hand towards her Ghost, who was hovering nearby. "Adam, a socket wrench please," she said.
A few moments passed, in which the weight of the necessary tool remained absent from Blake's outstretched hand. She turned to her Ghost, and ended up instead with an eyeful of a certain Yellow-haired Titan. "Helllloooo!" Did the girl sing.
"Uh... h-hi..." Blake, for some reason, felt taken off guard. Yang's sudden presence was quite unnerving...in a good way.
Yang smiled somewhat lopsidedly. "Whatcha doin', cutie?"
"Just uh...routine repairs..."
"I see," Yang said. Her eyes turned to Blake's Sparrow. "You know, I always loved this Sparrow," she said, trailing two fingers over the body of the vehicle as she walked a slow parallel along it. "Makes me think of it's owner; sleek, jet-black, and sexy as all hell."
This couldn't possibly be going where Blake thought it was. Where she oh-so direly wanted it to go...
Yang then mounted the Sparrow, lifting her right leg to straddle the seat. The extension of said leg was slow, purposeful...
Seductive.
Yang, now hovering just slightly over Blake looked down at her, looking directly into her unblinking yellow eyes. "Whatcha doin' later?"
Blake was all set to shout 'nothing' but then she remembered. The mission.
That stupid, stupid mission.
"My team; we're going t-to The Moon..." Blake was suddenly finding it difficult to breathe, let alone form words.
"Aw that's too bad..." Yang sighed with a smile. Her eyes still haven't moved from Blake's, and Yang was sure that the Faunus hadn't blinked in over a minute. "Whats' your scroll number?" She then asked her.
"It's uh...um..."
It was so adorable, Yang thought, to see Blake, who's rhetoric was normally cool, smooth, and calculated, struggle to remember seven simple digits. Eventually though, Blake recited the numbers out loud and they were recorded by Yang's Ghost. "Well then," Yang said, dismounting the Sparrow. "See you in a little bit, yeah?" Blake nodded, incapable of speech. "Don't keep me waiting." She dropped one of her signature winks and was off.
Adam fluttered down to Blake's eye level. "Yep, it's official, she wants you." He said.
"Yeah..."
"Oh c'mon!" Adam said impatiently. "She's had her eye on you for weeks. And you don't exactly keep your eyes to yourself when she's in the same room." The Ghost did a double take, turning his whole body, between Blake and the retreating form of Yang. "You do want her, don't you?"
"Oh Traveler yes..." did Blake breathe.
"Then go get her!" Adam practically shouted. "I'll mind the Sparrow, just go, now!"
And Blake was up and running, intent on catching Yang before she left her sight.
Yang, who had just crested the top of the hangar's staircase, turned when she heard the rapid approach of footsteps. "Thought you were busy, kitty cat?"
Blake had determinedly set her gaze down at her own boots at this point. "I, uh... just remembered," she said. "I...need some stuff from my room..." her cat ears flattened against her head as she clasped her hands together, as to stop them from shaking.
Yang smiled, both inwardly and outwardly. She knew an invitation when she saw it. "Then let's go get that stuff, shall we?"
And the two of them set off for Blake's quarters.
...
In the Vanguard Hall, Pyrrha stood over her swathe of the great holographic table map that was erected in the center of the hall. Projected before her, was an image pulled strait form the scan data that Blake's Ghost Adam managed to procure during her escort mission to The Moon. The mysterious machine was shown there, rotating slowly as to give Pyrrha every possible angle of potential insertion. Her mission was twofold; obtain a comprehensive scan of the anomaly, and then destroy it.
To that end, Pyrrha was equipped accordingly; her go to scout rifle, Not like the others, was strapped across her back. In secondary storage was her fusion rifle, Long far gone (Solar affinity). And rounding out her armaments was the devastating rocket launcher, The unfriendly Giant (Void affinity). She worked her fingers more securely into her gloves; clenching her fists, Void energy flaring from her knuckles as she did so.
She was ready.
As was her Voidwalker subordinate, Lie Ren, who stood by dutifully, awaiting his orders. There was, however, one unit missing from their little menagerie here. Pyrrha huffed a breath of frustrated disbelief. "This is most unlike Blake," she said.
Ren nodded. "Perhaps she has not been made privy to our expedited departure time..."
"That's bull," Pyrrha said, a very 'nice try mister' smile on her face. "You were both given the same information at the same time; she knows to be here." She sighed again and the called to her Ghost. "Betelgeuse." Her Ghost appeared by her head. Betelgeuse's appearance was rather unique among other Ghosts given that his shell (colored Supernova red) was quite over-large, at least twice the size of a normal shell. The points of said shell were also smoothed down, giving him a more rounded appearance, like the star he was named for. Pyrrha gave the device one simple command. "Go collect Blake."
"Will do," Betelgeuse said. And in a flash of blue, did he depart.
...
It didn't take very long for Blake and Yang to arrive at the door to her quarters. This could possibly be attributed to the fact that Blake seemed to waking at least twice as fast as normal. During their trip, Yang was sure to absorb as much of her surroundings as she could, this was her first time in the advanced Guardians section after all.
Blake withdrew her scroll from her pocket, however, a nervous spasm soon saw the device clattering to the ground. Yang smiled. "Nervous much?" She whispered softly into Blake's twitching cat ear. There was no verbal response from the girl, but a pink flush, evident even with her facing the door, swam over her face.
Blake retrieved her scroll, and at length, did she manage to engage the electronic lock. The door slid open, giving Yang a view of a relatively spacious accommodation. It was sure as hell alot bigger than that cupboard under the stairs that she and Ruby shared.
There was another detail about the room, which came a complete surprise to Blake. There floated a Ghost, as though it had been waiting for her... "Betelgeuse?" Blake said in wonder.
"Pyrrha needs you in The Vanguard Hall, asap," said the Ghost pointedly.
That's right, the mission.
That stupid, stupid, STUPID, mission.
"Of course. I'll be right there..." Blake said.
Betelgeuse nodded and then vanished from sight. "Well, that kinda sucks," Yang said.Blake turned to Yang, somewhat unclear on how to express her disappointment. "Guess you better head off then," Blake only nodded.
"Just hurry back alright?" Yang said, an impassioned quiet coming over her voice now. "And do come back in one piece. Wouldn't want anything on you damaged, now would we?"
A shyly appreciative smile lifted the corners of Blake's mouth. And then did Yang turn to leave. She took exactly two steps before she stopped completely; a unexplored detail of great importance seeming to stay her feet. "One more thing..." she said. she turned and retraced the short distance that separated them. And then, tilting Blake's face upward with an index finger, did she lean in to kiss her.
It was a wonderful and long-awaited contact, one that Yang kept deliberately brief. When she pulled away, she was amused to see that Blake's eyes were still closed, her mouth still in the rounded kissing posture. She leaned further into Yang, her mouth still desperately seeking the warmth of Yang's own. Clearly she had not wanted the kiss to end...at least not so soon. Her eyes opened now, as she met Yang's lilac stare. "Yang..."
Staring into Blake's reflective yellow eyes, softened by the urgent need for passion, yang felt her heartbeat skyrocket. Good Traveler was this girl beautiful! Yang suddenly found herself having to master the urge to pin this Faunus to the bed and cover her body in kisses. But master it she did; the idea here was to leave Blake wanting more; to establish the hierarchy of their future relationship here and now. Yang smiled then, regaining control over the situation. "Come back quick, alright?" She whispered. "I'll be waiting for you..." And with that, did she turn and leave without a look back. Cool guys didn't look at explosions, and cool girls didn't back at potential girlfriends either.
Blake, now alone, flustered, and overheated, wobbled deeper into the room, and then melted bonelessly onto her bed. And she remained there, for some number of minutes to come.
...
*End of Legend 11*
...
A/N:
A short fluffy chapter here. I shudder to think (and to count) just how long it's been since the last update to this story. I haven't given up on it, believe me, as you already know, I'm just stupid slow. So now I can float this fic back to the top for a while and maybe gain some views and follows...and then not update again for another four months... *sigh* I'm working on it everyone...I'm working on it...
-B. D. Skunkworks