Shortly after being inaugurated as a team, COVE was given their room number and sent off, their luggage having apparently been brought to the room during the ceremony.
Once they arrived, they found the room to be generously sized, with a kitchen and a bathroom, along with a balcony. Orchid commented on them getting one of the bigger rooms based on what she had read about Beacon's dorms, and mentioned that they were lucky.
However, for all the decorating Orchid wanted to do, they were all incredibly tired. So, their first order of business as a team was to go to sleep. It was incredibly early, all things considered—and especially if Violet's standard of going to bed at 3 AM was considered. However, each and every one of them was tired beyond belief.
Although, upon waking up, the first thing Orchid noticed after turning on the lamp on her nightstand was the distinct lack of Ebony. In fact, her bed hadn't been touched at all, indicating that she had gone to sleep elsewhere.
Orchid wondered about it, but she didn't wonder for very long. Instead, she set about quietly setting her suitcase on her bed and beginning to unpack her clothes, all while singing a song quietly under her breath, Everything Stays.
As she set about folding and putting away clothes, she practically entered into her own little world. "Everything stays~ right where you left it… Everything stays! But it still changes… ever so slightly…"
It was to this scene that Neve's eyes tiredly blinked open. He heard her singing first, and then caught sight of her. She was still wearing her night clothes, which had been a pink T-shirt and a pair of black pajama bottoms. Her hair was messy, but then again, it was never perfectly straight from what he had seen before. Just a little off, a little untended.
For some reason, he felt strangely awed by the sight of her. He didn't know why, or what it meant, but his first coherent thoughts of that morning were, 'Wow… she's… something else.'
Then, he started to sit up, yawning as he did and prompting Orchid to look at him. She smiled sweetly; in spite of having just woken up, she didn't look all too tired. Softly, she greeted him, "Good morning."
"Morning," he responded after yawning. He sat up and stretched, his own attire being a black T-shirt and dark blue pajama bottoms. It was only after a moment that he realized they were missing someone. "Where's Ebony?"
Orchid shrugged. "Dunno, but we should start getting ready. If we want time to decorate and to eat breakfast, then we're going to have to take our showers now." Maybe Neve and the others didn't care that much about making the place look nice, but Orchid certainly did. Part of making a place feel like home was adding personal touches to it.
Neve saw the logic in that. He nodded his head slightly before tossing back the covers and standing up. "I'd normally offer to make us breakfast, but I need to go shopping to fill that fridge first. The school's breakfast should be fine for now."
Orchid hummed curiously as she smiled. "So you're not just a coffee boy, but a chef too?"
"I wouldn't go that far." He waved a hand dismissively. "I can cook, sure, but you're not gonna find me on The Steel Chef or anything like that." There were numerous words you could use to describe Neve, but cocky wasn't one of them. He tried to keep it humble.
She shook her head, smile not fading. "Hey, just because you're not some big wig chef doesn't mean you're not a chef. I bet you're a great cook." She realized that they were kind of getting away from the point, so she nodded to the bathroom door. "You first. I don't take as long as some people, but still probably a lot longer than you do."
Neve thanked her before going off to take his shower. In the meantime, Orchid looked at Violet, who still snoozed quietly in her bed, her raccoon tail swishing every so often from under the covers, only visible due to how they shifted said covers. She debated waking her up, but ultimately decided to wait and leave it to Neve.
Was she pawning off responsibility on someone else? Oh, absolutely, but then again, she wasn't the leader. So was it really her responsibility to begin with?
Orchid smiled to herself as she went back to putting away clothes. 'He'll figure something out.'
Neve didn't take long to get ready, and once he was out of the shower and dressed in his uniform, Orchid went in after him.
Thus he was left with the realization that Violet was his to wake up. Normally he wouldn't want to wake up someone so early, it only being 5 AM, but they needed those couple hours to get ready, decorate, and find Ebony.
After contemplating on what to do, he decided to just try it the easy way first. He walked up to her and placed a hand on her arm, gently shaking her and whispering, "Violet… Violeettt…." She didn't respond, instead seeming to try to drag herself deeper into sleep, and so he shook her again. "Violet!"
She turned away from him and pulled the covers up over herself more, causing him to huff. He shook his head and realized then that the only recourse was the hard way. He took out his scroll and turned up the volume on it before selecting a song and holding his phone in the air as it blasted loudly, "BURY THE LIIIGHTTT DEEP WITHIIINNN! CAST ASIDE THERE'S NO COOMINGGG HOOMMEEE!"
Violet promptly fell out of bed with a yelp, taking her covers with her. "Wha- I-I'm up! I swear! Uhh- I-" She blinked several times and sat up while rubbing her eyes. As she looked at Neve, he turned off the music and smiled at her. She promptly huffed and frowned. "It's not even daylight out, what'd you wake me up so early for?"
Neve smiled softly, lowering his scroll and folding it as he explained, "Because we've gotta all get ready now if we want to have time to decorate, finish unpacking, find Ebony, and eat breakfast."
Violet blinked a few times before nodding her head slowly. "Oh okay that makes perfect se-wait." She furrowed her brow in confusion as she asked, "What do you mean, 'find Ebony?'"
He shrugged slightly. "She wasn't here when we woke up, doesn't look like she slept in the bed at all. I'm pretty sure Ozpin would have messaged us if she got kicked out all of the sudden or something, so she's probably somewhere else."
She had to wonder just where 'somewhere else' was in this scenario, but her brain hadn't entirely started yet and she wasn't in the mood to speculate. Instead, she stood up and stretched, prompting the covers to fall off of her. She was revealed to be wearing a silky black set of pajamas. "Alright. Is Orchid in the shower?"
That was when Orchid called out from inside the bathroom while the shower was still going, "Almost done! I'm going as fast as I can for today!"
Violet hummed and rubbed her cheek while awkwardly muttering, "I guess I shouldn't take that long either. That sucks…"
That prompted Neve to raise an eyebrow as he crossed his arms. "Do you usually take a long time in the shower? It normally takes about twenty minutes for me."
She smiled sheepishly and nodded her head a few times. "Yeaahh… I think my longest ever bath was six hours long, but that doesn't really count because I fell asleep and woke up all gross. No, I think the next in line is about four hours in the bath after I got really dirty one day when I was a kid."
Neve balked. "Four hours?! Isn't that a bit much?" He could only imagine such a bath ending in rather unpleasant wrinkling, and that wasn't a sight he didn't need in his mind. In fact, it was on his list of things that he didn't want to ever have in his mind.
She shrugged and waved a hand dismissively. "Hey! I'm a girl that likes to be clean! Sue me for not trusting most places out in the city to not be super diseased."
His voice betrayed his skepticism as he looked at her. "Oookay." Violet was an odd one, to say the least. Harmless, he could tell, but odd. He supposed that was only natural to expect of a Huntress-in-Training; he'd grown up being told all kinds of stories about what they were like by his mom.
An awkward silence fell over the two, a silence that wasn't broken until the door to the shower opened a minute later. Orchid was dressed in her school uniform and brushing her hair. She smiled at Violet and then went to go sit on her bed while the other girl retreated into the shower after gathering her clothes. Orchid then looked at Neve. "Hey," she asked, "mind coming over here and helping me?"
Neve hummed and walked over. "Need me to brush it for you?" He had a younger sister, so he was used to helping with things like this. Some guys might find it a bit strange to help a girl with this, but he didn't view it in any odd light.
"Just this one part." Orchid gestured to her mid-back. "There's a knot there and I need someone to really get it." She blamed it on the events of the day before. Initiation had left each of them more than just a mess, but a bunch of messes that didn't have the energy to clean much before going to bed.
Neve thought that it was a bit strange that she couldn't get it, but maybe she just felt lazy. He just shrugged. "If you say so." He then went and did as he was asked, helping her with the knot.
Once it was out she smiled. "Thanks. Now." She stood up and looked around. "I'm going to get decorating, do you mind looking for Ebony? Hopefully she didn't go far."
Someone had to do it, and it was clear that he was the only person available, although he questioned if decorating was really that more important. "Sure," he responded plainly, not quite entirely awake himself yet, but working on getting his energy up as time went on.
His first place was the obvious one. The balcony had blinds hung in front of it, and after pulling them aside, he almost gasped at what he saw.
Ebony was close by, but not quite on the balcony. Rather, she was further out, laying on a flowerbed of assorted flowers. She was breathing, so that caused Neve to relax, but otherwise she was wearing the same outfit and looking all the dirtier for being out on the grass.
Neve huffed and shook his head. "I found her," he called out to Orchid.
Orchid turned towards him with a curious look in her eyes before walking over to look where he was looking. Once she did, she covered her mouth in surprise for a moment before lowering her hand. "Okay… I knew she was a bit weird, but that's on a whole other level."
Neve hummed before asking, "So… do we just… go wake her up?"
"You go wake her up." Orchid smirked and patted his shoulder. "I still haven't gotten started on decorating yet."
Neve huffed. He had the distinct impression from their limited interactions that Ebony didn't like him that much. Still, he supposed that it could have just been a misunderstanding. So, he opened the sliding door and then hopped off the balcony, using his aura to blunt his fall before he started walking over to where Ebony lay.
He had been intending to shake her awake, except Ebony had other ideas. She opened her eyes and pointed at him. "Hey! What are you doing sneaking up on me, arrastrarse?"
Neve held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Woah there," he tried to placate her, "I'm just trying to get you up, since we've all got to get ready if we want to be able to decorate and have time for breakfast afterward."
The idea of decorating didn't seem to hold much appeal to Ebony, but her eyes did light up at the mention of food. "Oh, why didn't you mention food was involved? Alright, fine. I'll be up in a minute."
Neve turned around while side-eyeing her before heading back inside.
Now, with the entire team awake, at least they could look forward to their first day and, more than that, their first week.
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Things started to get strange fairly quickly into the first day.
Though everyone got to add a bit of themselves to the room—Violet and her bookshelves full of manga and anime, along with her desktop setup placed strategically on a desk in the corner, Orchid and her numerous band posters and musical memorabilia, Ebony with nothing (she claimed decorating was boring), and Neve with his bevy of kitchen supplies and old cookbooks—and breakfast was delicious as well, things got off track immediately in the first class.
"Come on…" Ebony muttered through gritted teeth as she clenched her fist while Professor Port continued to lecture to the class. "Can I just punch him?"
Violet tries to calm her down. "Ebony, no-"
Yet it was ultimately ineffective, as Ebony stood up and declared, "Gonna punch him." before promptly moving to race down the stairs. As she did, however, Professor Port seemed to have a different idea as to what was going on.
"Ah! Such an eager young soul to take on the challenge I've issued! You believe you have the true spirit of a Huntsman? Then surely killing this Boarbatusk won't be an issue for you, once you have your weapons!"
Ebony stopped as she looked at the cage Port was standing next to. Suddenly, punching him seemed less cathartic. Instead, she grinned and said, "Yeah, I think I've got what it takes."
In short order, she had gone and retrieved her weapons, while a certain member of Team RWBY, Weiss, looked rather upset. Nobody seemed to know why, and none of COVE were very interested in learning why, for various reasons.
More than anything, the other three were just grateful that Ebony didn't actually punch Professor Port. That would have been a very bad start to their career.
That wasn't to say that Ebony fighting the Grimm was uneventful, though. She beat the Boarbatusk handily, dodging it as it attempted to charge at her, and then hooking her sickles underneath it, right into its vulnerable belly, and practically tore its gut in half. Everyone was just glad that the result was only a TV-friendly display of the red inside of the Grimm instead of guts and gore.
Port applauded Ebony's efficient fighting style, launching into a bit of a follow up lecture about the merits of varied combat styles—a talk that was really better suited for combat class, but nobody was rising to correct him—and then dismissing everyone.
A few people congratulated Ebony on her work outside of her team, like Ruby and Pyrrha, which she didn't react to that much. However, she did seem at least moderately smug when Violet told her she did good, and she outright ignored Neve when he tried to congratulate her.
His confusion towards her had only continued to grow, but he supposed that all would be revealed in time.
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It turned out that before any answers could be gained, more questions had to be raised.
For example, aside from Ebony being terse, unfriendly, and prone to insulting Neve in Old Vacuan, she was also incredibly unhinged.
At first they chalked up her wanting to punch Port as her having anger management issues—and while that was likely still the case, it became clear that there was more to it. For example, after class, Neve suggested that they all study at the library. The end result was Ebony setting fire to several bookshelves, which were only saved by Neve using his semblance to snuff out the fire, which only seemed to make her more upset as she called him a "bastardo poser estafador."
They were able to avoid any detention that time due to Orchid explaining to the librarian (and subsequently Professor Ozpin) that they had just been doing a Dust experiment that went wrong. Luckily, nobody had actually seen Ebony start the fires other than the rest of the team, and Ozpin accepted their reasoning.
The next morning, once again, it was revealed that Ebony hadn't slept in her bed. This time, finding her wasn't so easy, although eventually Orchid discovered her sleeping on the rooftop. She asked why she felt the need to sleep like that, but Ebony didn't answer and instead went about her morning routine.
Then, later that day after classes were over, the four hit one of the school's gyms and worked out. This naturally meant that they would use the public showers, and while luckily that meant Neve was able to enjoy some peace, it wasn't that way for the others.
Ebony thought that some girl in the room was looking at her funny, and after a brief exchange the girl called her flat. The result was Ebony attempting to strangle the other girl right then and there. Orchid and Violet broke them apart, of course, and Ebony would later go on to say that she hadn't even cared about the insult that much, she just hated the girl's face.
Nobody entirely believed that, but neither was anyone willing to test her claim.
The next thing wasn't one big incident, but rather a series of incidents over the course of several days. She got into the habit of stealing things from people—not her teammates, thankfully, but from others. She stole fairly mundane things like pens and pencils, while also sometimes stealing more important things like Dust and ammunition. She said that she was taking them because she needed them more than they did, but the others wondered where that habit had developed from. Especially because it also extended to the dining hall, and her stealing whole plates of food from people when they weren't looking and scarfing it all down in record time.
This extended into other things that nobody had expected. For example, it was a little known fact that Beacon had a farm full of crops and livestock. Ebony decided to use this to her advantage by stealing and killing a couple chickens and then cooking them over a fire. How she ate them was disturbing, because she didn't seem to know a damn thing about actually cooking, and so instead she would chop them up haphazardly and simply cook them directly on the fire.
Neve almost had a heart attack when he found out, but then again, he was surprised that he hadn't had one already.
The straw that broke the camel's back came on Friday, when Ebony decided that she needed to kick down the door to one of the other first year teams and wreck up the place. Apparently, the members of Team CRDL had made snide remarks to her, and she took them so personally that she felt the only recourse was to wreak as much havoc as she could in their dorm while they were gone.
Thankfully, after that, CRDL left her alone, seeming more than a little terrified by just how far she was willing to go. However, as funny as it was to the other members of the team, they knew that this had to stop, and so they contacted Professor Ozpin to talk to him about it.
Well, 'contacted' was a bit of a nice word. It was more like the three students took the elevator up to his office and stormed up to his desk. Once they were there, Violet declared, "You need to do something about Ebony!" It was clear that each of the students had had quite enough of what was going on, but Violet was the most ready to vocalize exactly what she was feeling without any filter.
Neve gave her a light shove to remind her to be polite and then smiled at the Headmaster. "What my teammate meant to say was… Ebony has been acting…"
Orchid piped up to add to the chorus. "Batshit insane!" She didn't normally result to saying things like that unless she was just poking fun, but she actually meant it this time. It was clear that there was something wrong with Ebony, and they all knew it.
Neve nodded a few times. "Yeah, that's it. Batshit insane. We think she's got some serious mental health problems and needs help." Neve was no mental health professional, not by any stretch of the word, but it didn't take a degree in Psychology to tell that Ebony needed help of some kind.
Ozpin smiled at the students, in spite of their rather brash way of explaining the issue. He bridged his hands as he said, "Oh, worry not, you three. I've known about Ebony's troubles for some time now, and have been looking for a professional that I felt would be able to work with her and find a solution. I finally located him just earlier today, actually."
Neve raised an eyebrow, refraining from sighing in relief and asking the important question, "Who is he?"
As if perfectly timed, that was when the elevator dinged, and out stepped an older man with fair skin, graying hair, and hazel eyes. He wore a smart shirt with a tweed waistcoat and corduroy trousers, with small spectacles perched on his nose. He spoke in a warm tone as he approached. "Ozpin, it's been too long. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
Ozpin smiled and shook his head as he said, "Doctor Edward Basil, it has been years. No, you're not interrupting anything. Quite the contrary, I would have been sending for these three shortly." He gestured to each of them as they turned to look at Doctor Basil and introduced them. "This is Neve Cadere, Orchid Grove, and Violet Merino. Ebony's teammates."
Each of them greeted him in their own way, and once they had done so, Basil nodded. "It's good to meet all of you as well. As Ozpin already said, I'm Doctor Edward Basil. I've been practicing for decades now, and for a great length of time I was one of Beacon's on-site therapists, but up until recently I was out in Mistral, helping some of those in the lower levels. But- I'm getting ahead of myself." He shook his head to get himself back on track before saying, "Please, tell me everything you three know and have seen regarding Ebony. Ozpin prepared a file that I've read over, but it's important to hear from other sources as well."
Doctor Basil only seemed to slightly regret asking after being showered with a deluge of the events that had come to pass. Nobody pretended to know more about Ebony than they did, but it was clear that their frustrations had reached something of a boiling point.
After they had finished explaining, Basil rubbed his chin before nodding. "Right, I already have a few ideas of what this might be, but I'm not going to speculate." He turned his attention to Ozpin. "That appointment is soon, correct?"
Ozpin nodded and looked down at a paper on his desk. "In about an hour."
"Right." Basil nodded and turned on his heels. "I'll go and prepare."
Ebony's team could only hope that this was the help she needed as the elevator door closed behind him.
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In what felt like no time at all, Ebony suddenly found herself being called to a therapy room, and Ozpin informed her that she was highly advised to attend this meeting, for both herself and her teammates' sakes.
Of course, 'highly advised' meant that he needed her to go, even she could tell that.
That was how she found herself sitting on a couch opposite of Doctor Basil, the only thing between them being a coffee table with a kettle of tea that had reached a boil and been poured out for both of them to sip from. Not that Ebony intended to drink any.
Basil himself was holding a Scroll tablet and a stylus, which he seemed ready to take notes with. "It's good to meet you, Ebony."
Ebony grunted and crossed her arms. "Look, I'm only doing this because Ozpin asked me to. I don't even really think this shit works. So, if you've got something to say, then say it."
Basil remained with a small, patient smile on his face as he nodded and jotted something down before looking at her and saying, "It says here you had a guardian for a number of years. What was life with her like?"
In what Basil suspected was the most emotion she had shown that wasn't anger, Ebony looked shocked at the question. Like she'd been hit with a bat that brought back some memories. Her eyes remained looking away, but the emotion in them changed from disinterest and annoyance to nostalgia and sadness. "Mom was… amazing. She…"—her voice broke slightly—"...she took me in when I thought nobody wanted anything to do with me, or was out to get me. She gave me my first hug, and my first set of clothes I didn't steal. She made me my first home cooked meal."
She pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her feet on the couch as she wrapped her arms around herself. "Whenever I'd have a nightmare, she'd sing to calm me down, and stay with me all night if she thought she needed to. She… she was the torch in the dark that kept the monsters away..."
Basil listened intently, and only after she trailed off did he write something else down before asking another question, seemingly unrelated but still very crucial. "I heard that you killed and tried to cook a couple chickens from the farm. Do you like to cook?"
"I…" Ebony stammered before eventually finding what words to use. "I do, but… I don't. I like the idea of cooking. I don't like how bad I am at it. Mom tried to teach me, but I was too stupid to pay attention. I think she knew that I wasn't really taking anything in, but she still tried and… that meant a lot to me. So I try to cook, just to see if I can remember anything she told me, but… I can't. I barely know how to cut meat, let alone cook it."
He hummed in understanding and wrote more down before saying, "It's understandable to not have an easy time learning a skill, and even I've found myself not learning something even when I was actively being taught. It's natural. Do you have any other difficulties like that?"
"Gods… where do I start?" She closed her eyes as she thought. "I can't… read well. The letters get all jumbled, and it takes me a long time to actually read something. I can't understand… people that I don't know that well. It's… different if I actually know someone, like Mom, but people I don't know… I just can't understand them. I have a lot of trouble trying to think of them as… people."
Basil nodded and then asked in a plain, non-accusatory tone, "Is that part of the reason why you've been so willing to steal and assault others?"
"Yeah, I guess." Ebony opened her eyes, but remained looking elsewhere, this time at the coffee table. "When someone calls me flat-chested, or says some other shit I don't like… I don't see a reason not to hurt them. They don't feel real to me. It feels like I'm fighting Grimm, but… I know that I'm not. I try, I really do, but… it's hard."
"I see." He jotted down more notes before commenting, "The first difficulty you have is called Dyslexia, it's a learning disability that makes reading difficult. Admittedly, it means you'll always have more difficulty reading, but you can learn to get better at it with practice. It might also help to have others read for you, I'm sure your teammates would be willing."
She scoffed weakly. "Them? Yeah, right. I've been nothing but a bitch to them this whole time. A big headache. I'm not going to hold my breath, and I can't blame them if they don't want me on the team anymore."
Basil shook his head. "I feel that's not true. Tell me, have you been interacting much with them?"
"Yeah… I have to." Ebony responded softly. "I don't think any of them have ever gotten really… angry at me. Annoyed, I guess, the fire was pretty annoying I think. But, nobody's ever… insulted me, or tried to push me away. But I haven't really given them much of a reason to, except for Neve, that…" She spat out the next thing she said, "wannabe."
Basil found that peculiar, especially because he had read all about Neve from Ozpin's records. The boy didn't seem the kind to make people hate him, in fact, he had a feeling that he was the exact opposite. "Hmm. You dislike Neve? Tell me why."
"It's…" Ebony began, although she seemed to realize how stupid it was even as she started talking. "It's his semblance! Mom had the ability to set stuff on fire with one half and freeze stuff with the other! He can freeze stuff like she could, that makes him a poser! Who does he think he is? Is he trying to be better than her?! It's bullshit!"
"Ebony." Basil began. "You're aware that semblances are not chosen, correct?" She nodded, now more than ever not meeting his gaze. "And has he done anything to truly deserve your anger? You know that he doesn't want to replace your mother, or be better than her. I doubt he even knows her name."
"I… I know." Ebony responded. "I just… I can't help myself. Just seeing him makes me angry, because I think about Mom! She was a great Huntress, and she still—" Her voice caught in her throat. Her eyes glistened with tears as her hair covered her eyes and she whispered, "She still died."
Basil gave her a moment to collect herself, before asking, "If you're willing to talk about it… do you know how she died?"
"J-Just that she died protecting me from some assholes who've been chasing me forever." She gritted her teeth. "I don't even remember how she died! Or why! Just that… I had to run, and I took her weapons. Requiem. They're all I have left of her." Her memory was blocked, that was the only explanation for it she had. She just plain couldn't remember what happened. She wondered if, maybe, it was because she simply didn't want to remember.
It was thoughts like that that made her scared to even try.
Basil didn't prod on that subject anymore. Instead, after a few moments, he said, "Ebony… I think that I've learned a lot about you today." It had surprisingly already been most of the allotted time they had, but that was okay. He knew what she needed now. "Your mother clearly means a lot to you, and it's clear that you need to learn to communicate better with your team. You're a lonely girl, Ebony. I can see that, and I'm sure they can too. I just have one question… are you willing to take steps to change?"
Ebony was silent for several moments. Moments that turned into minutes, but neither moved much nor said anything. Eventually, however, she summoned the courage to speak, "Y-Yeah. What do you want me to do?" She knew that she needed help, even if she would never admit it outright. She had to try and push past her bad habits, and try to control herself. That was easier said than done, but what journey ever started without the first, most difficult, step?
"For starters," Basil began, "I'm going to assign you several prescriptions that Ozpin will have filled for you. You're going to need to take them, and in time I believe they'll help some of your issues." Medication for some of the problems she had was simple, some of it was highly advanced and even experimental, but he knew Ozpin would give whatever it took. "Secondly, I want you to try to make peace with your team. I think you'll find that they don't resent you, and really just want you to be their friend. You don't have to approach them all at once, or even all in the same day, but you should talk to them. Can you do all of this?"
Again, Ebony was silent. They had gone over their time, but Basil didn't move. Instead, he waited as long as it took, which ended up being almost three minutes. When she spoke, she sounded a mixture of resigned, hopeful, and scared.
"Yeah… I'll try."
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After Ebony left, Basil returned to Ozpin's office. He obviously didn't plan on sharing anything he learned during the session, but he still had his concerns he needed to voice.
When the elevator doors opened and he stepped inside, Ozpin looked up from his desk while taking a sip of hot chocolate from his mug. Once he finished, he smiled and asked, "How'd it go, Edward?"
"Well enough." He responded as he stopped just in front of Ozpin's desk. "We made quite a few breakthroughs already. It's clear that Ebony is a girl that wants help as much as she needs it, she just… doesn't exactly know how to ask."
Basil lowered his gaze to the tablet in his hands. "Still… I feel like I need to repeat my concerns I had when you first called me, Lucian. What were you thinking?" He looked at the other man, his eyes betrayed not anger, but worry. "The Phantom of Vale, attending Beacon Academy? Do you understand how big of a risk that is, not just to the other students, but to the school as a whole? If the press, or Gods forbid the police found out—"
Ozpin replied in an uncharacteristically firm voice, "They won't, Edward." He stood up, mug in hand, and turned around. He walked up to the large windows overseeing Beacon and stopped in front of them. "I've taken every necessary precaution to make sure that Ebony's past is never uncovered, and as you said, she wants to change, I am not going to hold her mistakes over her head. Not when they were the mistakes of a desperate and starving little girl."
Basil sighed, because he knew Ozpin was right, but he also knew that was far from the only reason why. His voice softened as he said, "There's more to it, isn't there? You're not just doing this for Ebony, but… for Shi as well."
After a moment of silence, Ozpin sighed. "I made a promise to her, Edward. She shared with me Ebony's story, and she asked me to help the girl should anything happen to her. At the time, none of us thought that she would actually…" He shook his head. "She was one of the greatest Huntresses I've ever had the pleasure of working with, and it was an honor to have known her. I think everyone from our class would agree with me. You need only ask them. Taiyang, Summer if she were still around… Qrow."
The weight to the name said a lot more than Ozpin did. Basil rubbed his forehead. "You're right… I'm sorry for doubting you, Lucian. You have to understand that I have my worries. Still…" He decided to move on from the topic. "I have a list of medications for her to take. One of them is a highly experimental antipsychotic, meant to work against ASPD using a mixture of Dust and traditional pharmaceuticals. It's quite expensive…"
"You know price is no object to me, Edward," Ozpin said without looking back. As if price was ever in the equation, as if he would balk at mere numbers when he had more important things to think about. "Leave the prescriptions on my desk and I'll get them filled. Money is not an object. To fulfill my promise…
"I'll give whatever it takes."
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The changes were subtle at first.
The other three members of COVE noticed that Ebony had begun trying to restrain herself a bit more. Though she still slept anywhere but her bed and insulted Neve every so often, she was at least seemingly trying to stop, even if it was clearly difficult.
She started taking medication only a day after the therapy appointment, and she mentioned that she would be going to more of the appointments over time.
Not everything was automatically better, Ebony still occasionally tried to fist-fight people, but at least she wasn't trying to punch Professor Port anymore; instead, her annoyance at his class manifested in her carving swear-words into the underside of her desk.
There was also the matter of her not wanting to do any homework they were assigned, but at the very least Violet seemed capable of getting her to work so long as she agreed to help read out the questions. Since Ebony still seemed to have a problem with Neve at the time, they worked on homework as partners rather than a full team.
The other three, meanwhile, had been getting more accustomed to one another as well. Neve quickly found that the others weren't quite as responsible as he was, but that was okay, because they at least were willing to listen to him if he had something that needed to be done. Orchid loved her music, and had a habit of playing whenever nothing else was going on. Meanwhile, Violet was actually something of a neat-freak. She made it her personal responsibility to clean the kitchen before Neve made them any food, claiming that she wanted to make sure that it was safe to cook beforehand.
At the very least, the kitchen practically sparkled whenever she was done. Now, Neve thought, if only they could get her to stop leaving soda cans around her bed…
More than anything though, Violet loved manga, anime, and games. Neve and Orchid didn't know the first thing about manga, but they both had seen some anime and played plenty of games, with Neve preferring strategy games and Orchid preferring rhythm games. Ebony, meanwhile, seemed to not even really know what a video game was, but once she found out, she found that action games helped her take the edge off of a stressful day.
However, come that weekend, Ebony was stressed in a way that she knew games couldn't solve.
It was Sunday, a whole week since she'd begun her medicine, and she had noticed remarkable changes in her own behavior. She felt… calmer, for one. Able to think more clearly, for another. Now, as well, she found her emotions far less dampened than they used to be. Now, rage wasn't the only thing she felt. Though there was still a long way to go before she was entirely in control of herself, emotions that she hadn't truly felt played with her.
Today's emotion was regret. Regret, embarrassment, and worry. Because she knew that she'd been treating Neve terribly for absolutely no reason. Sure, she could have been worse, but that wasn't exactly saying much, nor was it really an excuse either. She knew that.
Which was exactly why Ebony sat so nervously on her bed. While she still hadn't slept on it, she was now thinking there anxiously. The smell of dinner being made filled her nose and made her mouth water. Neve was making the team stew, Chicken Cacciatore he called it, a recipe he learned from his mom.
Ebony, meanwhile, gripped her bedsheets worriedly. Balling her hands into fists and then relaxing them repeatedly in an effort to steel herself. She had to wonder why this was so difficult, as if anything else had ever given her such trepidation. Then again, when had she ever cared what anyone ever thought about her?
Previously, never. But it was different now. Now, she found herself able to drown out the bad thoughts better, and able to empathize with at least those who were close to her much better. As for those further out, well… she at least could control herself and think twice before punching someone. Even if sometimes she really should have given it a third, fourth, and fifth thought before committing.
'Come on, Ebony. Focus.' She sighed, irritated at herself. She then stood up and thought, 'How hard can it be?'
She started walking towards the kitchen, tugging on her tank top a bit to try and straighten it out, while simultaneously trying to find some way of relaxing her nerves.
Strangely, as she got closer, she heard Neve. He was singing to himself, just quiet enough to be masked from a distance by the sizzling of the chicken he was browning on the stove, but loud enough to hear when one drew closer.
She saw that he was wearing a simple light blue T-shirt and black sweatpants, having finished everything else he wanted to do today. He still had a pair of shoes on, a simple pair of dark blue sneakers, having claimed that he wanted to protect from any grease that might fall on his feet.
He continued singing, apparently having not noticed her yet. He wasn't an expert singer, but he had a certain… comforting presence to him. "Well come and well met, my brave little spark. How long you've wandered, burned bright as a star! Oh, I have longed, waiting patiently… All this time~ past every fate…"
Ebony stopped in her tracks as she listened. Between him and Orchid, she'd heard more singing recently than she had basically her entire life. At least, since her mom died. Both of them had a different quality to them, but Ebony was the wrong person to ask about what that meant, or why listening to either of them sing made her feel so… warm.
His singing trailed off, however, as he noticed Ebony looking at him. He didn't say anything, just going about the motions of cooking. It was obvious, however, that he knew she was there and was waiting to see what she'd do.
Eventually, finally, Ebony found what she believed was the right way to start the conversation. She opened her mouth slightly about a second before she began to actually speak, trepidatious and uncertain, "So, uhh… you're making Chicken… Cacciatore?"
Neve nodded his head and said, "Yep," with a poppin' P. "It's an old recipe, dating way back to the days before Vale was the only kingdom on this side of the continent." He glanced back at her. "Was there… something you need?"
"Uhm." Ebony cleared her throat and took a step closer, leaning slightly to the right to look around him at the chicken as it browned on the pan. "Do you mind if I help? I don't know how to cook, but… I want to."
While Neve wasn't one to refuse something like that, he was more confused than anything else in that moment. "Ebony, what is…"
Abruptly, she clenched her eyes shut and looked away. "I'm sorry, okay?!" She gritted her teeth briefly before opening her eyes and looking at Neve's shocked expression. "Your semblance, i-it reminds me a lot of my mom's, and I wanted to think you were trying to imitate her, even though you didn't even know who she was! It's-I just wanted something to be mad at. I just wanted to be mad." She took a deep breath, tears glistened in her eyes. "B-But that was wrong. I still… I still don't even really know what wrong is supposed to be. I just… know that I feel awful for how I was treating you. So… I'm sorry." She shook her head. "D-Don't make me repeat it again, okay?"
Neve stared at her in shock for a moment, mouth slightly ajar in surprise. Then, he softly said, "Ebony… I had a feeling something was going on. That's why I never begrudged you for… any of that. Sure, it was annoying, and kind of hurtful, but… I knew you had to have a reason for it, no matter how… vague." He smiled. "So long as you don't do it anymore, I forgive you."
Ebony visibly relaxed, sighing in relief as she muttered, "Oh, Gracias a los dioses," thanking the gods for this to be over with. She'd been trying to work herself into talking about this all day today and most of yesterday. The fact that it was actually relatively simple to apologize and get him to accept was a huge weight off her chest.
Then, a surprise. Neve smirked and said, "¿Creías que diría que no?" ("Did you really think I would say no?"). Ebony looked at him in shock, and Neve chuckled as he explained, "I've got relatives that live in Vacuo and still speak Old Vacuan, I had to learn if I wanted to talk to some of the older ones."
Once the shock had passed her, she felt a smile involuntarily crossing her visage. "Entonces... ¿me enseñarás?" ("So… will you teach me?")
To which, Neve simply said…
"Sí."
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Orchid and Violet had had a fairly nice day out on the town.
Orchid had tried to get Violet to try some clothes that she thought would look cute on her, but Violet seemed uncomfortable with it, so Orchid didn't prod any further into it. Instead, she got herself a new outfit that she planned to wear someday; she wasn't sure when, but she knew she'd know when the right time came.
They left the clothing store together, with Orchid carrying a bag and Violet sipping on a fountain drink she'd got from a nearby fast food joint while carrying a bag of manga she got from a nearby shop. Orchid smiled at Violet and asked, "So, having fun?"
"Mmh…" Violet hummed before shrugging. "I dunno. This is all…" she chuckled nervously, like she was admitting some secret, "pretty new to me. I'm usually not the kind of person who goes out into the city or anything like that. I'd just stay in my apartment and play games. Still… I don't hate it."
Orchid's smile grew. "Don't worry, Vi. I love going out into town, but I know that sometimes nothing beats a day inside playing games or reading a good book." They started to walk, with Orchid adding, "Maybe next time we can get the other two to come with us." She huffed. "Neve wanted to get dinner going, which is great and all, but I wanted him to come on this trip with us."
They walked together in silence for a moment before Violet asked while glancing sidelong at Orchid, "So… what do you think of them so far? I mean… I know we haven't exactly known each other for super long, but… what do you think about your partner?"
Orchid gained a contemplative look on her face. "Hmm! Good question. Neve? Well, I think he's a good leader so far, even if we haven't really had much of a chance to see him in action yet. He's really responsible, too. I just really wish he'd actually give his opinion on things more often. He seems kinda… reticent. Maybe that's just because we don't know him that well yet." She looked at Violet. "What's your opinion on Ebony?"
"Ah, uhm…" Violet bit her lip as she thought for a good long moment before speaking plainly, "She's… weird. Not that I think that's a bad thing, we're all weird in our own way, but she's, like… extra weird. That first week was kinda hellish with her. I'm just glad she's getting better. I honestly felt like Neve was gonna die of a heart attack if Ebony kept up at the pace she'd been at, and she really seemed to hate him for some reason too…" She finished drinking her soda and tossed it into a trash can as they passed by it. "I just hope things get better."
Orchid's smile softened, because she agreed with everything Violet was saying. Ebony struck her as a troubled girl, but maybe not necessarily a terrible person. "Me too, Violet. Me too."
Soon, they boarded the Bullhead back to Beacon, and were on their way back to the dorm. They continued to talk, with Violet seemingly fairly excited to try the dish Neve was preparing. Meanwhile, Orchid was looking forward to it as well, although she was also pondering making some dessert one night sometime soon. She wasn't sure when, however. It seemed like something best saved for a special occasion.
At least, for the first time. Normally, Orchid was the kind of girl who loved sweets on just about any occasion, but the first dessert in a living space needed to be something special and meaningful, in her opinion.
After they arrived back at their dorm, they encountered a peculiar sight.
Neve and Ebony were in the kitchen, with Neve clearly giving her directions on what to do while he handled the more complicated tasks that he needed to do while making the dish. More than that, however, they were both talking in Old Vacuan. Ebony seemed the happiest she'd been since she arrived, while Neve too wore a smile on his face as they talked rather animatedly between cooking steps.
Orchid smiled brightly, partially in relief and partially in just pure elation. She placed a hand on her chest and over her heart as she sighed softly. "Oh thank the Brothers. I was worried we'd come back to a fire, or worse…" Ebony had never been violent towards any of them, but Orchid wouldn't put it past her to set a bed on fire. At least, she wouldn't have before. The medicine seemed to have been working wonders.
Violet, in the meantime, was smiling too. She cooed as she put a hand on her cheek, "Awwh, that looks so sweet…" Her smile grew, although unlike Orchid's relieved smile, hers seemed a bit… perverse? "This looks like the start to a great enemies-to-lovers story! Oh, I can see all the fanfiction now…"
Orchid promptly whacked Violet on the back of her head with an open palm, prompting the other girl to yelp. "Oww…" She rubbed the back of her head and looked up at Orchid, huffing as she did. "What was that for? Am I wrong?" She shook her head. "I don't think so!"
"Wrong about what?" Neve asked, having heard Violet yelp as he looked over, still smiling albeit with a curious look in his eyes. "Also, how was your shopping trip? I hope you didn't try to drag Violet around too much, Orchid."
For a moment, Violet was worried that Orchid was going to out her for what she said. Instead, Orchid threw Violet a bone by waving her hand dismissively. "Oh, we were just debating cake flavors. I personally think red velvet is overrated, but Violet loves it."
Violet gasped, only semi-seriously offended. "Red Velvet is great! What're you talking about?" She pouted and crossed her arms under her chest. "You wouldn't know flavor if it hit you upside the head, huh?"
Neve chuckled and gestured to the dinner table. It wasn't large, just a round table with four chairs around it. "Well, set your stuff down then sit. Dinner's almost ready. I think you guys will love it. I know I did when my mom first made it for me."
Orchid nodded and set her bag down on her bed before going and pulling out a chair, sitting down. She smiled and said jokingly, "Oh, waiter! Would you mind getting me a drink? That Vanilla Dr. Spicy I have in the fridge would be nice."
Neve rolled his eyes and stepped over to the fridge before opening it, reaching in, and then taking out the can. He walked over and set it on the table. He smirked as he said, "Yeah, here. Just don't get into the habit of calling me 'waiter' or else I'll start shaking up your drinks."
She giggled and covered her mouth before looking at him and grinning as she lowered her hand. "You'd better not! You'll get me all sticky, and I'd have to retaliate." An eye for an eye may make the whole world blind, but Orchid was fine feeling around in the dark for a little while if she had to.
Violet huffed and sat down next to Orchid after setting her bag down on her bed. "You'd better not! Neither of you!" She pouted as she looked between the two of them. "That'd make the kitchen all sticky too, and that's super gross! We eat here, we have to keep it as clean as possible!"
Ebony snickered as she and Neve assembled the plates. "I dunno, it sounds pretty fun. A soda fight." She looked away awkwardly for a moment and scratched her cheek. "Although I'd be tempted to throw full soda cans around, and that's probably not in the spirit of things."
"Let's not resort to food fights." Neve responded with a chuckle as he took his and Orchid's bowls over while Ebony took hers and Violet's. "I'm sure if Orchid insists on calling me waiter, I can find other ways to get my revenge. Like calling her something cringey."
Orchid raised an eyebrow and smirked as she crossed her arms. "Oh yeah? Like what?"
Neve rubbed his chin before smirking right back. "I dunno… how does Honeybunch sound?" He made it sound all too sickly sweet, and judging by the way the other three cringed, he figured it worked. He grinned. "Exactly."
"Gods, if you didn't say it that way it wouldn't have been half as bad." Orchid responded with a huff. "Especially because I do actually produce honey." She poked her cheek. "My saliva becomes honey once it leaves my mouth. I'm just lucky it's not always like that. That'd suck."
Violet blinked in surprise, her tail swishing behind her through a gap in the chair. "Wow, really? Man, you're so lucky. You got the cool hair and the eyes and the honey spit, but all I've got is this tail and a penchant for keeping things clean." She scratched her cheek. "There was also the dumpster diving I did when I was younger, but Grandpa got me to stop that pretty quickly."
Ebony huffed. "Can we not talk about spit and dumpster diving? I'm not against talking about stuff like that normally, but I'm trying to eat!" She gestured to her bowl.
That prompted the others to share a laugh before the topic moved on. Ebony listened, and she had to admit that, now she felt even stranger than she did earlier. It was a good kind of strange, like a warm blanket wrapped over her being. It took her a minute to find what the word was, but eventually she figured it out. She was…
Content.
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An 'Abandoned' Mining Town, Outer Vale
The sound of work filled the air. Not the work that used to be done there, mining for Dust crystals that had since been depleted, resulting in the town being abandoned. Instead, it was the sound of people talking, of swords clashing in practice, and of gunshots resounding from a makeshift firing range.
Some of the people there were wearing normal clothes, the kind of thing you'd see on the streets, while others wore robes of varying states of wear and tear.
Amongst the town, there stood one man at the center of it all, within what had once been a church dedicated to the Brothers but was now defiled. Plain above the door was the symbol of his cult, a side-ways eye in the middle of a spiked wheel, all colored yellow.
He stood at the altar, his arms crossed as he listened to various members of his group talk amongst themselves about their plans. He stood tall at 6'5'', with long black hair that fell to his mid-back that showed clear signs of graying, denoting his age. He wore a priest's robes that were primarily colored yellow with black, red, and white accents across it. The symbol of his cult, The Choir, was imprinted all over it. Over his face, he wore a theater mask that only covered his upper-face, concealing his eyes behind a golden visage, with two eyes reminiscent of the cult's symbol over where his actual eyes were.
One of the members of The Choir hurried up to him and knelt. "Hastur! We've got important news. Based on a few sightings around the city of Vale, we have reason to believe that The Herald is somewhere within the city, although we still don't know exactly where."
Hastur's lips twisted into a sinister grin. "Good. Inform the scouts in the city to continue their efforts, I will send a few of our priests in to begin covert recruitment efforts. If The Herald is in the city, then that must surely mean that is where our grand finale will play out."
This was standard practice for them, it was how they continued to grow even after almost being brought low those many years ago. Amongst the desperate, the destitute, and the unwell, they found people who were willing to abide by their view, who were willing to accept what, in Hastur's eyes, was the truth. The Grimm Queen wanted them to help usher in an age of Grimm, and in time they would do just that.
The lesser member of the cult nodded and then turned and headed off to do just as he was asked. Meanwhile, Hastur himself cleared his throat, demanding the attention of those cultists still in the church, many of the higher ranking members. "Brothers and sisters! The day we've been waiting for is approaching!" Their cheers caused his grin to widen, yet he wasn't finished. "No matter how many months, or even years, it will take, we know now that the end will come! We will retrieve The Herald again, and usher in the age of the holy creatures! The Creatures of Grimm!"
Their cheers emanated, and he began to give orders. He pointed out three of his most trusted members. "I want you three to go and begin setting up a cell in the city of Vale. We've long stayed away from the capital, but I feel that soon having a presence there will be mandatory. If the world is to move, we will be the ones pushing it! Make your preparations, and see to it that no one suspects your true purpose. The unenlightened will curse you, and try to see you slain, but amongst the masses, there are those who can be brought to the truth!"
The three nodded and quickly left, which led to Hastur dismissing everyone else to go and continue to prepare. Theirs was a life of constant preparation. Every day they prepared for the next, and for the end. They needed to be ready for everything and anything, if they were to see their dreams come to fruition.
As he turned away from the altar and looked out the nearest window, watching his people mill about, he smirked. "Maybe not now, maybe not soon, but someday. Some day, we will see each other again. You'll realize your mistake, and come back into the fold. You will learn that you and that foolish woman were chasing an impossible dream. This I swear…
"Ebony Marzenie."