Menagerie

The ship travelled peacefully across the ocean further and further away from Vale and closer and closer to Menagerie, as soon as reception on her scroll displayed her Mum she immediately video called, instantly she got an answer staring back at her Mum with tear stained cheeks trying her best to smile, glad to see someone smiling back at her as she told her Mum that she was returning to Menagerie and pretty much 10 minutes from docking as the local communications in Menagerie weren't as good as Vale.

Her Mum said she'd meet her at the dock of Menagerie and hung up as she raced out of home to go welcome back her daughter knowing something was off especially when she saw her tear coated cheeks. After the call Sylvia leant against the rail at the front of the ship, she spent the whole trip crying and thinking about Celica that she didn't once think until now about how Luca and Arthur were everywhere.

As the ship got closer to the dock, Sylvia saw her Mum waiting for her but then looked to the left and swore she could see Arthur and Luca standing and waiting for her. It hit her heart hard which sped up her breathing as she was building up to a panic attack. The ship docked and as people disembarked Sylvia stayed put, the crew of the ship were trying to see if she was alright but she had blocked out people unintentionally.

Her Mum climbed aboard and thanked the crew saying she'd take care of her as she mentioned she had just lost someone and they were all but understanding as her Mum guided Sylvia off the ship and at least onto the pier. Instead of going home her Mum walked her to the end of the pier facing out to the ocean and got her to sit on the edge of the pier next to her, she put her arm around her and comforted her daughter.

Sylvia sat with her Mum, not knowing how long for before she started crying once more as her Mum hugged her letting her daughter cry herself out. Eventually she decided to take Sylvia home and basically supported her on their way home as everywhere Sylvia looked she remembered different spots of town where she spent time with Luca and Arthur, even just a simple memory of them just sitting on a random bench as they talked about how school was boring.

Passing a public table of where Luca and Arthur would often arm wrestle one another when they were younger and would challenge other peers or even adults as they thought they were tough. Sylvia knew it was hard and her Mum just knew what she was going through but both knew it would be worse for Luca's family but for now the focus was just on Sylvia and they would see Luca's family when the time was right.

As they walked in the door Sylvia went straight to her room sitting on her bed, it was a bad idea as she had covered a wall full of pictures of her, Luca and Arthur in different times of their lives doing different activities. Her Mum walked in and sat next to her and hugged her as Sylvia started saying she had no idea Arthur and Luca had joined the White Fang, she wanted them to stop and surrender, she never wanted any of it to happen.

Sylvia's Mum comforted her throughout the night and eventually the conversation evolved from Luca to Celica, Sylvia told her Mum the entire story from Luca's death and finding out the truth from them both leading her to Vale and how she started her search as soon as she arrived. How she contacted Team CFVY and then sought after Celica and managing to find her multiple times.

Then once finding her on the boulder where they met which she delved into the story of forming teams when they first arrived at Beacon and that's how they ended up on the same team, how she nursed Celica back to health and then how Celica did the same thing and things were looking up between them but then told her how she ruined things by being too pushy and then all about the kiss, the kiss she couldn't take back.

Continuing the story to her Mum, she mentioned how Celica had opened a portal when she was charging the Grimm with Celica and then finding out from Team CFVY that Celica had almost died, how she blamed herself but her Mum cut her off and said it was Celica's fault as you would've helped her but she was the one to send you away, Sylvia shook her head saying she must've gotten very angry which would've overwhelmed her as Sylvia then stated that she should've just come home.

Her Mum at least said she tried and that's all she could do, she talked with her Mum thought the night then slept most of the 2nd day and by the 3rd day she got up and knew she couldn't put it off any longer and had to go see Luca's family. She went alone knowing she shouldn't show up with her Mum, she had knocked on the door countless times growing up wanting to see if Luca was home but now as she stood at the door she didn't want to knock ever again.

Sighing and taking a deep breath she managed a few taps loud enough for someone to hear but not too loud to be counted as aggressive, the door opened up and she was face to face with Luca's Dad who was a little shocked to see Sylvia but welcomed her in so they could talk, Luca's Mum had come in from the other room and started crying. Sylvia was tearing up to and started to apologise profusely once more, apologising that she had no idea Luca and Arthur joined the White Fang.

How she never wanted them to die, Luca's parents and Sylvia sat down, they didn't blame Sylvia, they all just wished they could turn back time and check on Luca and Arthur more, they certainly did blame after as they heard how the fight between the three went and Sylvia mentioned how she was conflicted in fighting her two best friends but the fight against the White Fang was what they were there to do and everyone was on their side.

Sylvia spent hours with Luca's family and they even paid a trip to his grave, they all gave their respects and as Luca's parents left to go home Sylvia stayed behind sitting next to his grave and just started chatting with him, telling him how she went to Vale to try find Celica, just like he wanted her to but then reported back at how she only made things worse and said it was time to give up on Celica.

She told him that she and Celica wouldn't work ever again but now being back in Menagerie it was highly disturbing admitting to Luca that she saw him everywhere around here and she missed him dearly and Arthur and wished things could've been different. She continued to sit with him for a while before finally getting up saying that she'd always love him and she would never forget him. As she left a sudden gust of wind went through her as she said goodbye.

Sylvia walked around Kuo Kuana for a while, she walked by all the regular places she hung out with Arthur and Luca and reminisced about all the times they spent there growing up, after going home she told her Mum that she'd help out the Security of Kuo Kuana as one of the members asked her to fill in. So the next day she talked to the guards at the edge of the Kuo Kuana and used the Sniper feature on her longsword keeping any threat at bay.

Few guards talked about how they had been back and forth between Mistral and Menagerie in the interest of helping Mistral to be more accepting to Faunus as Ilia was there continuing on building a bridge between the Humans and Faunus. It's when Sylvia had the idea to go there herself and lend Ilia and the Faunus there her aid as she didn't know how much longer she could stick around Kuo Kuana for as she saw Luca and Arthur everywhere and not chasing Celica or studying she figured this would be perfect.

That night she went to talk to her Mum about it, despite her Mum saying how she only just got her back she was accepting of it knowing it would've been hard for Sylvia seeing Luca and Arthur everywhere, they decided on going to Mistral for two weeks then returning to Menagerie for one week and repeat the cycle until she wanted something else or another opportunity presented itself.

Sylvia thanked her Mum and made travel arrangements, the fifth day since she came back from Vale she spent with her Mum as Sylvia caught up what her Mum had been doing and how she was coping with everything especially her only daughter being in Vale. Then on the sixth day from when she returned from Vale she set out on another ship bound for Mistral.

She had spoken to Ghira Belladonna the Chiefton of Kuo Kuana and he had given Sylvia all the information to get in contact with Ilia when she arrived there as she once again said goodbye to Luca, her Mum and Menagerie but promised to be back, knowing this may just well help her move on from Celica to, it was going to be hard, Sylvia could not stop thinking about her love and hoped she was out of the hospital.

Arriving in Mistral she found Ilia pretty easily as the information from Ghira was quite helpful and she had rung her scroll, Ilia welcomed Sylvia into quite a large house which had a spare bedroom for her, she then got to work with Sylvia showing her around and explaining what they did around Mistral. There were options to do volunteer work, help with the Kingdom's security and much more like helping feeding and sheltering homeless people.

Sylvia immediately chose to help with the Kingdom's defences, she wanted to see how Mistral defended compared to Kuo Kuana as she was used to a very quiet border while Mistral had the longest and most difficult border to protect in all of Anima. She instantly got hit with a whole new massive shock as her first day she couldn't believe how far the border stretched, there were multiple men and women defending the border keeping in contact through their scrolls.

She was shown everything to do and stayed focused all day, as she took her breaks, got advice from the other guards and some Huntsman that were also helping, when Sylvia got back Ilia was thrilled to find out how successful Sylvia's first day was but still got her to choose something else for the next day so she could introduce herself to the community and not just focus on one thing.

Sylvia then decided to help cook food for a homeless shelter, she wasn't the best cook but she mainly served the food among peeling vegetables and doing the dishes, it wasn't exactly thrilling but it was a nice change of pace and she got to know some people and even worked alongside other students from Beacon or Mistral that were also at the fall of Beacon.

With her 2nd day shorter than her first Sylvia had time to go check out the town and so invited Ilia out, Ilia accepted the invite and she introduced Sylvia to quite a small diner but the diner had amazing food with a super friendly waitress, Sylvia knew Ilia's story having also fought alongside her when they helped protect Mistral so Ilia asked Sylvia what her time at Beacon was like.

Sylvia felt comfortable with Ilia and gave her the truth how she was on the same team with her friends and partnered up with someone that eventually became the love of her life, Ilia then asked if they were still together and that's when Sylvia sadly shook her head and mentioned a lot of drama happened during and after the fall of Beacon and also let Ilia know that Luca and Arthur her two friends had joined the White Fang.

Ilia was quick to apologise but then had to ask Sylvia if she planned on seeing Arthur while she was here as he was serving his time in Mistral but he also helps the cause as part of his sentence, he's just not allowed to do any activities involving weapons and apparently he mainly gives everyone self defence classes or cooking food for events or homeless people. Sylvia froze, she had pushed Arthur being imprisoned in Mistral to the back of her mind...