Nichole walked through the snowy streets of Argus. People began to emerge as the sun peaked in the horizon but she didn't care. After all, she already made it to her destination.
The bright attractions in the town tried to draw in the red huntress, but she didn't give into the temptation. She already had enough to drink anyway. Now, when it comes to flings...
The huntress shook her head as she walked down the sidewalk. No, Nichole. You have work to do.
She's the type to get easily distracted by things such as this. She needs to focus on her mission. Sure, she enjoys some good fun, but there's a time and a place to indulge in her hobbies.
Not long after, she ended up at a stop. She looked up at a tall building in front of her and sighed. The multicolored lights flickered in the window, making it look like a snow globe.
"Okay let's do this." Nichole prepared herself before heading in.
Stepping in, Nichole was hit by the smell of gingerbread cookies. At first, she thought it was a part of the decor, but then she realized someone was baking the sweet treats.
"He must be here." She mused, scanning the holiday themed lobby.
"Evergreen?" Someone called out.
Nichole turned around, forming a warm smile when she recognized the voice. "Hey Eddie, long time no see."
"I'd say," Eddie chuckled. He walked over and the two embraced for a quick hug. "I was about to close shop until you strolled in."
"Heh, yeah. Sorry about that," The red huntress rubbed the back of her neck. "I didn't know if you had anymore customers."
"It's alright, today was pretty slow. However, I guess I can help a lovely lady such as yourself."
"Ha! I bet you say that to all the girls."
"Well, I guess you can say that. Why don't you make yourself comfortable while I finish up shop. I know you have an interesting reason for your return."
Nichole sat in one of the empty chairs. She sank into the cushions and tried to make herself comfortable.
Eddie dragged a table in front of her and placed a batch of cookies on it. The aroma made her mouth water and she licked her lips in hunger.
"Well, aren't you gonna have a bite?" Eddie asked with a smirk, already knowing the answer.
With the go-ahead, Nichole dived in and chowed down on the cookies. The older man watched her and smiled softly.
The red huntress felt she could finally eliminate the hunger that was bugging her in Mistral. She had to skip a few meals to save for transportation, shelter, and other necessities. If she has anything left over, she may use it on alcohol or a hot meal to replenish her strength.
"So, you're gonna tell me why you're here? Or are you going to eat gingerbread cookies all night?" The elder joked.
"Hm?" Nichole looked up with crumbs on her face. She gulped before answering. "You know exactly why I'm here Ed."
"That time of the year again?"
"You know it."
Nichole leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling for a moment. The chandelier lights were glossy in her view. Like little stars twinkling in the night.
"Where are you going this time?" Ed asked.
"Wherever the road takes me," Nichole teased. "But in all seriousness, I'm probably going to Vale to see if I can get a couple of jobs there."
"Ah, I see," Eddie placed a finger on his chin. "I assume that Mistral isn't giving you enough work?"
"I guess you can say that. I think a few patrons knew who I was."
Eddie let out a hearty laugh. "That's what you get for foolin' around in those bars!"
Nichole joined in on the laughter. "Hey, I don't do it for the money. I do it for fun."
"I supposed you do it for yourself too?"
"Th-that's none of your business!"
"Sure it isn't."
The conversation died down as the sound of a clock ticking grew louder.
Nichole broke the silence with a simple moan. "But enough about me, what about you? How's your business holding up? Still creating weapons?"
"Yep, just got done forging a dust sword for some kid this morning. It was beautiful," Eddie smiled. "Wish I could've taken a picture of it. By the way, how is Solstice's Edge holding up? It's been a long time since I worked on her."
"She's holding up pretty well." The red huntress unsheathed the great sword for her friend to see.
She placed the blade on the table for him to look at. He caressed the blade gently with his hand, as if he was petting an animal. Eddie always had a knack for fixing and crafting weapons.
He still remembered the first blade he forged. It looked nothing more than a stick, but he managed to hone it to such perfection that he even had it appraised for a fee. That's how most of the weapons in his shop were also created.
Nichole watched as her friend analyzed the weapon. She was never keen on weapons and would take anything and everything that could slash into Grimm.
"'Holding up pretty well' my ass! It's littered with scratches and cracks!" The blacksmith huffed, handing Solstice Edge back to her.
Nichole blushed in embarrassment. "Ha ha, well you see, I may have gotten into a 'scuffle' with a Grimm on the way here."
Eddie let out a tired sigh, eyeing his huntress friend. "Why am I not surprised."
I know they're here somewhere.
A teenage boy clad in green sneaked through a warehouse, looking for something specific. The moonlight shined through the building, making it better for him to see.
He tiptoed his way around. No one was around, and the door was left open.
Perfect. This must be it
He approached the stack of crates, eyes trained on the one with a snowflake insignia on it.
The boy removed his box cutter from his coat pocket and picked the lock. With a single click, the top crate flew open. The contents fell out with a clang, revealing jewels of any kind.
"Yes!" He cheered. "This should be enough to get out of this place."
He scrambled to shove the findings in his pockets.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" A voice barked.
"Way to go Keijo." The boy hissed, blaming himself for his current predicament.
He ran for the exit, only to find a man blocking it.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
Keijo backed up cautiously but bumped into someone else.
Before he could register what's going on, he gets hit on the head with the butt of a rifle. He fell to the floor, spilling some of the jewels.
"Hm? What's this?" The man bent down and picked up one of the blue jewels.
Keijo grunted in pain. "What the hell? I have nothing to do with this! Let me go!"
"Nothing to do with it, huh?" The man picked him up by the collar. "Then explain to me why you were stealing these dust crystals, you thief!"
He punched the thief in the face and threw him to the ground.
From his blurry vision, Keijo could make out the three people that were looming over him. They all wore white vests with black sleeveless hoodies underneath. Not to mention their animalistic features and faces that were concealed behind masks that resembled...
Wait a minute...are these people...
The White Fang! What were they doing here? Hold on, didn't one of them say that these 'jewels' were dust crystals?
That's when everything came together. They must've been smuggling dust crystals here and are planning to ship them all throughout the underworld of Argus. Keijo knew that there was something fishy about this place but he still came anyway.
He needed the money, but at what cost? Now he was about to die at the hands of a couple of White Fang soldiers.
His eyes shifted to the dust crystals that were scattered in front of him. Those crystals were pretty. What a shame.
Wait a minute...
Keijo suddenly remembered something. Something very important. The dust crystals held some sort of elemental power if used correctly. He could use this to escape. But then again, those crystals mainly have ice powers. They may be ineffective in combat.
The green boy looked up at his captors weakly, watching them check the broken crate. What chance does he have? Knowing the White Fang, they will probably kill him on the spot or haul him away to their base to be interrogated. He needs to act quickly before they catch him.
Keijo slowly pulled himself forward. One step after the next, he crawled to the pile of dust. Once there, he scooped up as much as he could. It wasn't much but it'll do. At least he thinks so.
Now the real question was, how does he use him. There must be some sort of way to harness its power.
"Should we report this to Torchwick?" One of the soldiers asked.
"Probably, if we don't then he'll have our asses." Another answered.
Ugh. I'll think of it later. Keijo huffed, getting off the floor slowly so the faunuses wouldn't catch him.
The dust slipped through his fingers. It seemed so unnaturally light, despite holding a lot of power. It was as if he was holding a pebble.
When the time was right, he threw the crystals at the White Fang and made his escape.
"What the?! STOP HIM!"
Two faunuses fired their weapons, but none of them seemed to hit the thief.
Keijo already made a good enough distance to catch his breath and figure out his next move. Most of the shops are already closed so it's going to be a little tricky to find a hiding spot.
"There he is!" The White Fang soldier shouted, pointing in his direction.
"Aw crud," Keijo sped off and duck into an alleyway. "This is the last time I'm stealing from a warehouse."
"And that's how I ended up here," Nichole told her friend. "But it was totally not worth the trip."
Eddie furrowed her brow. "Hmmm. I don't know if I should be proud of your bravery or disappointed at your recklessness."
Nichole gave a small shrug. "If I were in your shoes, I would be proud of myself."
"As usual."
"What can I say? I'm good at my job?"
"Maybe a little too good."
"Say what you want. I saved the day."
"Again." Eddie got up from his chair and walked to the counter.
He pulled out a bottle of vodka and two glasses. He opened the bottle and poured himself and Nichole a glass. He slid the glass across the counter to her. "Drink up."
The red huntress smiled and took a sip. She took a moment to swallow the bitter flavor before replying, "Thanks."
The blacksmith gulped down his drink and poured himself some more. "When do you plan on going to Vale?"
"The day after tomorrow. That dusty crow should be there by now. Can probably squeeze a few jobs out of him." Nichole responded.
It would've been smarter to go straight to Vale up if the red huntress wanted to see if Argus had anything left to offer. Not that it was such a big place or anything. Although, it is that time of the year and people will need some help and hefty protection. Nichole knew what she had to do. That was her job after all.
"And after that's done, what would you do?" Eddie questioned.
"Slowly disappear off the face of Remnant and repeat the cycle all over again when next year rolls around." Nichole laughed. "Come on Ed, you of all people should know my shtick by now."
"I know, I know. Just thought you were doing something different this year."
"Nope sticking to the classics as usual."
"I don't blame ya, but trying new things isn't bad either."
"Maybe."
Switching up her agenda wouldn't be a bad decision but it will bring some unwanted attention if she made one wrong move. Although, the red huntress may have to change course with the incoming Grimm recently. Either way, she wasn't going to let anything ruin her goal this year.
Suddenly, the bell at the door jingled, causing Eddie and Nichole to look up.
"That's weird, I wasn't expecting any late customers." The blacksmith got up from his chair.
Nichole sheathed her weapon and followed her friend to the entrance.
When they got there, they were surprised to see a boy clad in green out of breath.
"Hey, is it fine if I hide in here for a little while?" Keijo asked urgently.
Nichole and Eddie looked at each other in confusion.
Seeing that he wasn't getting to them, the boy dug into his pocket and pulled out a few dust crystals in hopes of winning them over.
The old blacksmith approached the boy and examined the crystals. "Aye lad, where did you get these?"
"I, uh." The thief stumbled over his words.
He was starting to regret coming here. He should've went with his gut and went to the clothing store across the way. There is still time to bolt out of there but the White Fang will be on him.
"Eh? What's wrong? Aren't you going to answer him?" Nichole added, growing suspicious of the late "customer."
The green boy sighed before giving in. "I got these crystals from-"
The door swung open and his pursuers stepped in the door, alarming the other two.
"There you are, you thief!" One of the faunuses, holding up his fists, charged towards the boy.
"No, no don't-"
Before he could land a hit, the blacksmith caught his fist and gripped it tight.
"What?!" The bear faunus gawked.
"You have no business here, you White Fang lackey." Eddie snarled.
"Actually we do," Another faunus interjected. "That boy stole our precious dust crystals."
"You mean he stole from your stolen crystals." Nichole corrected with venom seeping behind it. "That's one thing I hate about you White Fang. You like to take things and claim them for yourself."
"She's right, you little cad. You're the one with the history of theft." Eddie agreed, making his grip tighter.
"Oh yeah? Well maybe if your kind didn't steal from us throughout the years, this wouldn't be a problem." Another faunus chimed in. "Now, if you two would be so gracious enough to hand the boy over to us, then perhaps we can solve this without any bloodshed."
The two friends looked at each other and the boy. They were clearly not going to give him up so easily. Let alone be pushed around.
Keijo gulped loudly. He could sense the rising tension between the two parties. Maybe the best course of action is to run away. But one of the White Fang are blocking the door and even if he attempted to leave, there's a high chance that he will be shot.
"Now, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?" Eddie mocked.
The bear faunus glared at him angrily. "How about we make it easy for you."
He threw an uppercut towards him, but he dodged it. The blacksmith grabbed the soldier's arm and twisted it, causing him to drop to his knees.
Before he could recover, Eddie punched him in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain. He raised his leg and brought it down onto his head, knocking him unconscious.
After finishing off his opponent, Nichole and Keijo looked in disbelief. "Holy shit..."
"It's been a couple of years but I still got it." Eddie grinned, flexing his muscles.
Witnessing the shock mirrored on their faces of the two other White Fang soldiers, Nichole firmly gripped her sword, prepared to defend as they both lunged at him.
Swifly sidestepping, she unsheathed Solstice's Edge just in the nick of time to intercept their incoming attack. Slicing through the air with her blade, she harnessed the momentum to execute a nimble flip, cleaving the second faunus across the chest in a seamless motion.
Meanwhile, Eddie swiftly seized an axe, ducked down and swug at one of the soldier's legs. The blade sliced through flesh, causing a profusion of blood to spray forth, saturating the carpet.
Keijo couldn't believe what he just saw. Those White Fang soldiers were chasing him a few minutes ago but now...they're defeated.
Who are these people.
"That should teach you lackeys a lesson," Eddie huffed. "Now get the hell outta my store!"
The two faunuses scooped up their comrade and ran off.
The red huntress lowered her sword and caught her breath.
"Damn! Messed up my new carpet." The blacksmith cursed, setting his weapon on the counter. "Oh well, I'll buy a new one when I go into town tomorrow."
"At least that was the only thing damaged in the fight." Nichole said.
"You tell me. I was already planning an appointment with the repairman to have to walls redone as soon as that punk swung at me!"
Keijo looked at the two friends as they conversed.
This is my chance. All I need to do is make sure they don't notice me.
He inched towards the door, sensing freedom with every step.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Nichole questioned, stopping the boy in his tracks. "Don't tell me that you were planning to leave already."
"On top of that, you still haven't answered my question about those crystals." Eddie added.
Keijo turned to face the two. His eyes shifted nervously from one person to another, unsure what to say.
He's sure that his lies wouldn't get him out of this predicament.