Reunion

Stepping out at the Mistral job board was part of the plan Celica and Team CVFY came up with, they wanted to make it seem it was a fated encounter to help Celica and Sylvia have the better chance of talking things through. Celica signed up for a joint bounty mission with Team CVFY and went to work leaving the city of Mistral and headed into the forest surrounding the city to look for their target.

With ease the five of them tracked down their target and with the five of them working together they cut off his escape route and easily caught the bounty. Restraining him Celica opened a portal and they all stepped into it arriving back at the Huntsman job board where they were a few hours earlier. They then marched their bounty to the local police station, on the way they looked out for Sylvia but never saw her.

Sylvia saw them though, she had no idea what Celica and Team CFVY were doing in Mistral, last time she saw them was at the hospital and Celica was still recovering, her heart skipped a beat when she saw Celica walking on her own two feet as the group had someone restrained, Sylvia sighed obviously thinking they were there for a job and guessing Team CFVY was there to make sure Celica could handle it.

Sylvia confided in Ilia asking her if she should go out and try catch up with them, Ilia at this point wasn't sure what to say this time as all the information Sylvia told her was that Celica wanted nothing to do with her and it from Sylvia's words it sounded like Team CFVY were on Celica's side. Sylvia was conflicted, she didn't know what to do but that's when Ilia had an idea.

She explained to Sylvia that they both could go for a walk when they have their lunch and if they ran into them they could make it seem like a coincidence and see if they could talk depending on their reaction. Sylvia hugged Ilia thanking her for the idea and asking if they can do so as Ilia guessed that there was no way of stopping her from her reaction. Sylvia pulled back and apologised which had Ilia chuckle as she said that she must really want to see Celica.

Ilia wasn't wrong as Sylvia nodded and wondered if Celica would even entertain the idea of saying hi to her or would she think Ilia was her new girlfriend, while Sylvia was thinking about that crisis Team CFVY and Celica had delivered the bounty and were set to leave to look around Mistral to see if they could find Sylvia but that's when Velvet grabbed Celica's hand telling the others to search without them as Velvet had a plan for Celica.

She basically dragged Celica to a salon stating that she better at least fix her hair, Celica stared in the mirror at just how her hair looked, no wonder why she was unapproachable she looked like a crazy person and most of her hair covered her face along with the piece of fabric that covered her eye. She sat down in the chair as the Salon worker knew she was in for a job of her lifetime.

Celica had no idea how to style her hair so the salon worker and Velvet suggested why didn't she just get it washed and cleaned, tidied up a bit first then worry about style and length, Celica agreed to the plan as the Salon worker got into her hair. It took quite a while but finally Celica's hair was looking one hundred times better after the wash and trim, her face was shown a bit more and her hair shone in the light.

As Celica stared at herself she didn't want the the Salon worker to have wasted her time by going back to her short hair she used to have a year ago so decided to have her hair length just past her shoulders which was still a decent cut as her hair was currently at her waist. When she left the salon her hair felt much lighter, soft to the touch and she had more confidence looking more approachable now.

Velvet then asked if she was ready to go find Sylvia but Celica shook her head and mentioned she had one more thing on her mind as they went a level down from where they were as Celica went into a store, she had told Velvet to wait there and 40 minutes later of Velvet a little worried but true to her word to wait for her, Celica emerged having tossed the bit of fabric that covered her eye and now was wearing an eye patch with her sigil that was also on her weapon.

Velvet quite liked the eye patch, not only did it look better then a random piece of fabric it also gave her a dangerous but still approachable look, Velvet had to ask about Celica's eyesight though as the eyepatch would block the view on her right side. Celica shrugged and let Velvet in on a secret that her right eye was already fading, when she had first recovered the doctors wouldn't know if she would have vision in it for the rest of her life or if it was only temporary.

Celica continued how her right eyesight was getting blurry, she had seen a specialist and the specialist told her her right eye would be blind within 4 months and there was nothing she could do except offer surgery to give her an artificial eye which Celica was on the fence about, she had gotten used to relying on her left which the specialist took a look at and she had 20/20 vision with her left eye.

Velvet and Celica returned to the level they were before to join in the hunt for Sylvia as Coco, Fox and Yatsuhashi hadn't found them at all yet. They got to their destination on the elevator and as they were walking off they both looked ahead and saw Sylvia staring back at them, both Celica and Sylvia had frozen on the spot, Ilia was wondering why Sylvia had stopped but then looked to where she was looking seeing another girl just knowing by their reactions that must be Celica.

Velvet was trying to push Celica forward telling her to go talk to Sylvia but Celica was feeling guilty, Ilia practically had to push step by step for Sylvia to get closer to, they both finally got some composure as they got closer as both nervously said hi as Velvet and Ilia locked eyes introducing themselves to each other, they both noticed the two girls had said hi but now were both looking in other directions, blushing and very nervous.

Velvet rolled her eyes and got into Celica's face pointing to a small diner, Velvet gave her some lien and told the two to go sit down, order a coffee and talk as she barked orders at them and even Ilia backed up Velvet as both Celica and Sylvia nervously and awkwardly headed towards the establishment that Velvet pointed out. Velvet and Ilia turned to each other and it was Ilia to offer her to go sit at a table near them and keep an eye on them.

Velvet said she basically read her mind as they sat at a table on the other side of the room, Velvet could hear their conversation if she wanted to but didn't want to intrude but both girls could look after them as they got to know each other and Velvet had informed the rest of Team CFVY which were now all on their way to meet them there. Sylvia an Celica had managed to sit down after both went for the same chair to only touch hands then pull back apologising.

They eventually worked it out as Celica hurried to the other side of the table, they sat down and ordered their drinks and both didn't really say a word as they were both nervous, shy and awkward, when their drinks arrived it got them to talk as Sylvia asked Celica if she could pass the sugar, Celica obliged and after they both took their first sip they both at the same time said they were sorry.

Both girls stared at each other, they were both wondering why the other was apologising as they both then insisted they were in the wrong. Celica reached for sylvia's hand but Sylvia pulled both hands away and tucked them in her lap as Celica watched her hands draw away from her. Celica then looked at her own hand and realised she was still trying to reach out before bringing it back saying she was sorry once more.

Sylvia looked confused still as she asked why Celica was apologising, Celica's eyes widened as she gave the reason to Sylvia for pushing her away and laying on the guilt and blaming her for everything that went wrong. Sylvia shook her head saying Celica had nothing to apologise for, it was all her as she insisted she was in the wrong listing at how she betrayed her trust, tried to force her way back into her life and causing her more heartache.

Sylvia then continued that she only knew a slither of Celica's pain from the past year, pain that she helped cause and was adamant to not hurt Celica again and in order for that to happen she promised to stay away from Celica, the one she loved. Celica stared at Sylvia with her mouth open, now in the best mindset that she had been since the fall of Beacon she could see how she treated the one she loved more clear than anything now and was appalled at herself.

Celica got up and came to Sylvia's side of the table, getting on her knees apologising to Sylvia profusely trying to get Sylvia to understand she was in the wrong but Sylvia was adamant that she was still in the wrong to. Celica got up from her knees and hugged Sylvia as she stood up to back away and as soon as Celica hugged Sylvia, Sylvia hugged back as they embraced each other.

As Celica whispered into Sylvia's ear asking if they could both acknowledge they were wrong however at least agree to forgive each other and start anew. Both girls had tears in their eyes, they couldn't care less about anyone staring at them, all they cared about is what was said next between them, Sylvia struggled but finally nodded her head saying yes as Celica hugged her tighter than ever before saying sorry once more.

Velvet and Ilia got up, headed over as Ilia and the two girls got out of there while Velvet left a generous tip as she paid for the coffee. Outside Coco, Yatsuhashi and Fox were waiting and all had approving smiles seeing Celica and Sylvia with smiles in each others presence since they were at Beacon. Sylvia looked at Celica, checking out her new hairstyle and eyepatch commenting that Celica was even better to look at now.

This made Celica blush like crazy as she tried to hide her face like she used to do but Sylvia stopped her by grabbing her hands, Celica on instinct buried her head in Sylvia's shoulder which was something that was common when she was embarrassed back in Beacon, Team CFVY noticed and laughed it off. Ilia then mentioned she had better get going telling Sylvia to take the rest of the day off and Team CFVY said they'd give them some privacy as everyone left leaving Sylvia and Celica alone.

Despite getting on well now there was still so much left to talk about, they both knew this but Sylvia could see the old Celica but also parts of the new Celica when she looked at her which would have to get some used to. The two girls walked around Mistral, talking about what they had been up to, at the start of the conversation it was awkward, they had no idea how to refer to the past year as they were both out of the picture.

Celica would tell stories of missions she had went on finally getting to be more social once again but didn't leave out the parts of meeting other people and having fun with them after her missions and Sylvia just referred to Luca and Arthur as friends. They knew what they were talking about but both knew they had to take baby steps, a little while later Sylvia got a call on her scroll from Ilia apologising but there was nobody there for the defence class for the community.

Sylvia said she'd take care of it, apologising to Celica but that's when Celica asked if she could help, after all she showed Sylvia her Huntress license which brought a smile to Sylvia's face as they both hurried to the defence class, unfortunately Celica had never been there before so she couldn't teleport them. When Sylvia arrived she went in first apologising why nobody had been there for 10 minutes but promised the wait was worth it as she announced they have a volunteer Huntress to help teach the class.

The community class got excited to have a Huntress helping them as Celica walked in nervously, she hadn't dealt much with communities and people in the past year and a part of her was regretting on coming as she was instantly flocked by kids and also asked about her eyepatch. Celica was about to lose it but she saw Sylvia's worried expression and didn't want to let her down as she took a deep breath and had the kids ask one at a time and also confirmed she was injured in the fall of Beacon.

The kids were impressed which was easily done, Sylvia took control before they could ask more about the fall of Beacon and reminded everyone that they were here for self defence classes and after a brief warm up the two girls got to teaching everyone self defence techniques over the next 20 minutes. The class was going well, only when did one of the armed guards enter, Sylvia then remembered who usually taught the class.

She quickly went over to the guard as the guard thought business as usual apologising they were late and how they had Arthur here now, before Sylvia could stop them in walked Arthur with the other armed guard greeting everyone. Sylvia tried to discreetly shush him so he wouldn't talk but it was too late as Arthur froze on the spot after greeting everyone as Celica had heard his greeting, turned around and both were staring at each other.

Arthur was truly shocked to see Celica, worried to as she was armed and the last time she saw him he was gloating after he and Luca had hospitalized her. Celica was shocked but looking at Arthur and then Sylvia who had the most apologetic look on her face and worried expression as Celica glared at Arthur, Arthur could see a fiery rage in Celica's left eye but the stare was stopped by one of the guards approaching her.

The guard told Celica that they had to make sure she wasn't there to try free Arthur and why she was armed, Celica took her eye of Arthur and showed the guard her Huntress license and explained how Sylvia was called in last minute and how she volunteered to help. The guard relaxed and thanked her for coming in and sat down with the other guard while some of the kids asked Celica if she could show them her Huntress license.

Celica showed them all and as she was showing them she got a call from Coco, she answered apologising to the kids as she brought up the phone to her ear she heard Coco tell her to go to the Huntsman job board in Mistral, Celica said an ok and hung up apologising to everyone saying another fellow Huntress needed her help. Some of the kids asked if she would come back and Celica said she'd do her best on her busy schedule as she opened up a portal and hopped into it with a look to Sylvia and a glare at Arthur.