Author's Notes
Back again with another one!
Essiter: Yeah I don't want to retread canon events too much with too much focus on RWBY or JNPR, this is COVE's story after all! I can neither confirm nor deny the things Blake and Violet have written at this point in time. To explain Demisexual: To be Demisexual is to only feel romantic and or sexual attraction to people you know well. That is to say, people who are Demisexual will generally not feel romantic or sexual interest in strangers or people they don't know very well, only people close to them. Glad you loved the chapter!
And I hope everyone who reads enjoys this one too!
That night had been one of the most insane parties that Beacon had ever seen, for various reasons.
The next morning was perhaps the biggest collective hangover in Beacon history.
The once elaborately handled decorations and carefully curated table placements were either torn or torn down, or in the case of the tables, overturned. In the midst of this giant mess were several different groups of students, some still passed out, others nursing their hangovers while talking about the night before. Others still were simply in some state of party afterglow.
Two of the shorter members of the student body, however, had left hours ago. They spent most of the night kissing or talking about how crazy their friends were being, or taking videos and pictures of the occurrences, ranging from Neve and Orchid's performance to Team JNPR having a very drunken team dance. It was only after they'd gotten a good night's sleep that they returned to observe the nigh-apocalyptic aftermath. As if a hurricane had swept through the dance hall.
Violet and Ebony progressed further in, careful not to step on any students laying on the ground (and there were more than a few of those) as they looked for their usually-more-responsible friends. They took note of JNPR, of which only one of them was awake. Ren sat on a chair near his friends, who were all passed out in a pile in front of them. He raised his hand in greeting as he saw Ebony and Violet, but otherwise still seemed to be waking up as well. At least he didn't look like he'd gotten drunk the night before. They noted how Jaune was wearing a dress, as for why, there was no telling. All they knew was that he had started wearing one during the party and hadn't taken it off since.
Finally, they found them, propped up against a wall and leaning against each other, both very much passed out still. Their heads rested against one another's, and Violet giggled to herself as she produced her Scroll and snapped a picture of the display while Yuvi created a miniature version of themself on Violet's head, covering their mouth and laughing smugly before vanishing. "These two are adorable together." Violet said in a whisper to Ebony. She and Ebony both might have had complicated feelings for their two friends, but that didn't stop them from finding this cute. "Yuvi and I will carry them back to the dorm, I don't want to imagine what trying to get you to carry one of them would look like."
Ebony scrunched up her nose, closing her eyes and shaking her head before opening them again. "I don't think I could even get them off the ground, let alone carry them. I'll leave it to you."
Violet had to admit that it would have been funny to see Ebony try, but the odds of it ending in anything but Neve and/or Orchid waking up and being very upset at all of the concrete burns on their skin were too damn high. So, instead, Yuvi separated from Violet and the two of them picked up Neve and Orchid respectively before heading off towards the dorm.
They weren't the only ones having to drag their friends back to their respective dorms that day, not by a long shot. It was almost comical how many passed out students were being taken to where they needed to go. Violet smirked slightly, knowing that whenever whoever spiked the punch was found, they'd probably be made to do some ridiculous punishment, like clean the entire school or something like that.
When they arrived back at their dorm, Yuvi and Violet set them down, but not on their own respective beds. No, that wouldn't contain the sheer amount of shipping content that Violet demanded. Instead, she set them on the same bed, Orchid's. Ebony watched this with a slightly tilted head. "They're going to kill you, you know."
"Oh I know." Violet grinned. "It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." She then produced her scroll as the two naturally ended up cuddling against each other in their sleep and snapped a couple pictures. She then slipped her Scroll in her pocket and headed over to her bed and sat down, grabbing a manga she'd been reading off the nightstand between her and Ebony's beds and starting to read. Ebony herself moved and sat next to her, reading along as Violet read it aloud, though keeping quiet for the sake of the two sleepers.
This continued for about ten minutes, before they heard a pair of groans as their friend stirred. Violet lowered the manga and looked at them, smirking as she saw them steadily open their eyes.
As Orchid and Neve blinked, bleary eyed, their vision came into focus slowly but surely. filled with ice blue and honey gold respectively. Immediately, their eyes widened further as they saw just how closely entangled they were. It took their brains a second to catch up as their faces filled with red and various noises of distress emitted from both of them before they both finally booted up enough to jerk backwards, both falling off opposite sides of the bed.
Violet covered her mouth as she chortled, the smile still visible even then, her silver eyes filled with unbridled mirth and glee. As Neve and Orchid stood up, they both noticed Violet's laughing and hurried over to her while yelling in sync, "VIOLET!"
She continued to laugh even as they grabbed and shook her, questioning why she had done what she did and promising retribution for her crimes. Eventually, through her laughter, she managed to say, "G-Guys-" she snorted, "Relaaaxx! Don't you want to see what you got up to last night?"
That got them both to stop, though their squints of suspicion implied that she wasn't quite off the hook yet, not that Violet herself cared. To her, this was worth any sort of retribution they could bring about. So, she grabbed her Scroll and flipped it open, pointedly not showing them the pictures she took just yet, as that would ruin the surprise.
They moved and stood on either side of her, leaning down and looking at the phone with rapt attention, while Ebony tried her best to hide her own humor at the current events from her spot between Neve and Violet.
The video played, and initially both seemed more amused than anything at their drunken singing. It was only as it went on, and the video started to show them making flirtatious gestures, movements, flirtatious remarks and movements, and their amusement faded, replaced instead by sheer horror mixed with pure unfettered embarrassment the likes of which Ebony would have sworn neither (or at least Orchid) was capable of before. Their faces might as well have been burning with how red they were!
As the video finally came to its closing, with Neve catching Orchid and her thanking Beacon Academy, both had similar reactions, they glanced up at each other before turning away from one another. Violet smirked as she said, "You two were cute, and surprisingly it went pretty well despite you both being drunk! So, Ebony and I are together, are you two making—"
To which both looked at Violet and shouted at the same time, "I was drunk!" To which Violet could only continue to smirk. Orchid declared, "I'm going to go take a shower! I smell like liquor and sweat…" She then went to her closet, grabbed some clothes, and headed off into the bathroom.
Neve, meanwhile, paced off to the kitchen wordlessly. Though he didn't say anything, the fact that the sink was running indicated that he was probably washing his face, then the sound of the fridge opening made Ebony whisper to Violet, "He's going to cook something. He does that when he's stressed. Did you go too far?"
Violet shook her head. "Nah, they'll get over it." She then whispered, "Besides, maybe it'll make them think. I'm teasing them, but… I do think they should really practice what they preach. Maybe they were just drunk, but… I don't think so. Besides, what was that old North Valean quote? In vino veritas." At Ebony's blank stare, Violet elaborated, "Drunk people usually tell and show the truth."
Ebony nodded in understanding, and with the other two now gone, they returned to their reading.
/-/
Within the shower, Orchid sighed as she felt the water hit her skin. It was a relief, washing herself clean of what had happened the night before. At least, she desperately wished that the water would wash any memory of what she had done from her, but that was asking too much. Instead, she tried to push it out of her mind as she washed her hair.
Yet, it kept coming back to her mind like a bad habit. If she had done what she did, singing a song to the crowd while drunk, alone, then she would have just laughed it off and applauded herself for a stellar performance despite being blackout drunk.
But that didn't happen, did it? The game she played needed a second player, and who else would it have been but Neve? He was drunk as well, she reminded herself, they were both drunk. It should have been easy to just brush it off, that's what she had always done after all, brush things off, because she knew better than to let things drag her down.
Yet, still, just as water wouldn't clean it, trying to brush it off just made her think about it more. 'Why did I do that?' She thought to herself. 'I can put on a good performance, sure, but…' It was hard to write off the things she'd done with him as just for the sake of the performance, especially when it made her heart beat so fast.
Yet, she shook her head and focused on herself. Now was not the time, she told herself, it was just a result of them being drunk and stupid. She was sure that Neve regretted it, and the thought of that made her heart clench within her chest.
Why?
'Just keep smiling, Orchid,' she thought to herself. As the shampoo washed off of her, she opened her eyes and sighed. 'He wouldn't do what she did, he's different. Just… keep it cool. Keep it far away.' The last time she'd put her heart on the line, it was shattered; it took years to tape it all together again, and for a moment she almost lost herself.
But she didn't, in the end. She's still here, and she wasn't going to let herself get hurt again. The confident queen bee would keep buzzing as she always had.
She closed her eyes again and muttered to herself as she looked down, "The stars keep shining either way…
"I just need to shine brighter."
/-/
The sizzle of bacon on the stove was a good companion, Neve found. At least insofar as it filled his ears with something he could distract himself with.
Yet, it wasn't quite enough. His lips tightened into a soft frown, directed entirely at himself. 'What the hell was that?' Neve could brush off Orchid's actions—she was brazen and bold, not afraid to go where other people wouldn't—but his actions? Even though he was drunk, he still felt he made a mistake.
'She's gay, Neve,' he thought to himself, 'I'm not going to imagine stuff that will never happen.' He was certain of this fact, and who could blame him, really? He felt he had seen enough with Orchid to know that much at least. If he was wrong? Well… he didn't feel like he'd be wrong, so there was no reason to entertain such ideas.
Instead, he took the bacon off of the pan and set it on a plate, stacked high with the stuff. Violet needed a lot of protein for the amount she worked out; Neve was honestly surprised she kept her somewhat chubby form, but he knew that muscle-people tended to look like that, those focused on cultivating strength instead of a pretty looking body.
A more petty person might have given her less for what she had done, but he wasn't going to do something as unforgivable as fuck with someone's food intake, it was important!
He whistled loudly, prompting Violet and Ebony to get off the bed and come over as he fixed Ebony's plate. Violet smiled at him with a "thanks," then she took her plate and went to sit at the table, as Ebony did the same.
He smiled at her before turning his attention back to the plates. He knew when Orchid would get out of the shower (always after fifteen minutes if they had no class that day, which they didn't), and he would eat before he took his own shower.
Sure enough, just as he predicted, he heard the water turn off shortly a couple minutes before Orchid emerged from the shower and made her way to the kitchen, looking ready for the day in a solid pink T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. She smiled at Neve, though there was an uncurrent of awkwardness and worry that, while unnoticeable to most, stuck out to Neve very easily. Just another worry, that maybe she was worried about what had happened, thinking that he was getting a crush on her or something when she was gay. Casually, she said, "So, what's on the agenda today?"
He didn't let any of his own worry display on his face. Instead, he smiled at her and answered, "Well, the others are going to be heading out on their missions in an hour, so we should go to see them off. Just because we're not going on one doesn't mean we can't do that much, at least."
Violet groaned through her mouth full of bacon. She at least had the decency to swallow before she said, "Ugh, it's so lame we don't get to go on a mission. I mean, do we look like we can't fight? We're good to go!"
Neve just smiled softly at her. "Ozpin has his reasons, Violet, we just have to trust him." He set his and Orchid's plates down on the table once they were ready, then sat down. "After that… how about we go to the park? Yesterday was crazy, and we've been through… a lot. Maybe it'd help us clear our heads, a bit of relaxation."
Orchid smiled brightly at that idea. "That's perfect! I love being in nature like that. It just sucks that you can only really enjoy it in a park, unless you're looking to fight some Grimm." She leaned back in her chair and ate a piece of bacon, swallowing before saying, "What else?"
"I've got something in mind," Neve responded with a smirk. "But it's a secret. I'll tell you guys at the park. Trust me, you'll love it."
Ebony stared at him for a moment, as if trying to discern whatever the surprise was by just looking at him hard enough, but eventually she just shrugged and went back to eating her breakfast.
After Neve finished eating, he washed his plate and left the other three to finish their own food while he went to take a shower. The water certainly helped him clear his head and focus on what mattered most, having a nice and relaxing day with his friends. Once they were out and about, he knew, the thoughts of yesterday would go right where they belonged: in a box in the closet in the back of his mind, never to see the light of day again (by choice at least).
After he showered and got dressed, he saw that his Scroll had a notification on it, a text from Qrow of all people. He raised an eyebrow and opened it.
"Hey kid, I dug up some pictures that I took of Shi and Ebony before… well, you know. I also bundled in some pictures of me and Shi, just 'cause I'm sure Ebony wants as many pictures of her as she can get. Tell her I said hi, I'll come around to see her again in a few days, once I've wrapped up a mission I'm on."
He looked at the first picture, and he had to admit that, now that he had seen her as she was alive, Shi was a beautiful woman, wearing much the same outfit Ebony had described as being her favorite: a bolero that faded from red at the top to blue at the sleeves over Mistrali chest wrappings and a pair of black traveler's pants. Her eyes were somewhat strange, two vantablack irises from which light couldn't escape, but the smile she wore while kneeling and hugging Ebony and looking at the camera was genuine, as was Ebony's.
Ebony, however, had a strange addition to an otherwise normal T-shirt and pants combo. Namely, a pair of black cat ears on her head. They were clearly fake, some children's accessory, but Neve, looking at the two very real Red Panda ears on Shi's head, could only smile a bit brighter and chuckle warmly. The rest of the pictures had her wearing much the same thing; it seemed a part of her regular attire.
He saved the images, sent Qrow a text thanking him and promising to say hi to Ebony for him, then closed his Scroll and pocketed it before looking himself over in the mirror. His standard black turtleneck and jeans would do well today, no need for the coat.
He stepped out and headed for the kitchen, where Orchid was cleaning the rest of the dishes, meanwhile Violet and Ebony were both talking idly to each other while sitting at the table. Neve sidled up next to Orchid and hummed to get her attention. Orchid looked at him curiously before he showed her the photos, and as she saw them she gasped and covered her mouth in surprise.
She lowered her hand and beamed as he kept showing her the different pictures, with her cooing softly and whispering, "She looks adorable! Let's show them to her, she's gonna love this! Probably, anyway."
Neve nodded in agreement, and so the two moved to Ebony, with Neve saying, "Hey Ebony, Violet, you're gonna wanna see this." He smiled as Ebony looked at him curiously while Violet hummed inquisitively. He stood behind Ebony and held the phone out while leaning forward slightly, resting his chin on her head.
The first ones she showed him were the ones with Shi and Qrow. She gasped and her eyes widened as she looked at them, muttering to herself, "I knew it…" before shaking her head slightly and whispering, "Qrow sent these, didn't he?" At Neve's hum of affirmation, she smiled brighter than she ever did normally.
Only for that smile to turn to a shocked expression when she saw one of her and Shi. Her eyes watered slightly at the sight, and she sniffled. Neve wrapped an arm around her in a hug and Violet patted her shoulder, while Orchid watched on with a grin. Ebony rubbed under her eyes and tried to speak. "I… uhm… this…"
Violet kissed her on the cheek. "Don't rush yourself, you look cute in those, you know." She raised an eyebrow as she looked at them again. "And… are those… fake cat ears?"
Ebony's smile turned more nervous as she pushed her index fingers together, a blush growing on her face as she looked away. "Y-Yes. I wanted to be like Shi. She was, is, my hero. I didn't know what it meant to be Faunus or Human…" Her voice trembled as she said this, though it was clearly from embarrassment more than anything else.
To say this level of fluster was uncharacteristic of Ebony was an understatement. She got shy and flustered, but not on this level. Ebony at least relaxed slightly as Neve hugged her tighter, though that made her blush darken even further. "Don't worry Ebony," he softly said to her, chalking up how she squirmed to the embarrassment she faced. "It's natural to want to be like your heroes."
Orchid nodded in agreement, smirking as she crossed her arms. "Besides, it's not like you knew any better. Now, how about we stop dragging Ebony and head out? We've gotta catch up with RWBY and JNPR before they head off on whatever mission they're doing. C'mon, Neve will send you the pictures while we're on the way."
Everyone was in agreement, and so they all left, heading for the Bullhead landing where their friends would be due to depart.
/-/
They met their friends just in time, as they were all getting ready to depart. As Ruby saw them approaching, she grinned and waved at them while saying, "Hey guys! This is so exciting!" She bounced on her heels excitedly for a moment before rubbing the back of her neck, suddenly sheepish as she remembered something. "It sucks that you guys can't go on a mission… but I guess it's for a good reason."
Yang nodded, crossing her arms and smiling. "We'll be sure to kick some extra Grimm butt in your name, that should even things out!" She uncrossed her arms and punched a fist into her palm to illustrate her point.
Blake smiled at Violet and asked, "Read the thing I sent you yet?" without elaborating on exactly what it was.
To which, Violet grinned. "Yep! It's pretty damn good. I left a few corrections on it for when you get the chance to look at the doc. Do me a favor and take pictures, Mountain Glenn sounds cool, even with all the death and stuff."
Ebony scratched her cheek as she switched her gaze between Ruby and Yang. "You know… My adoptive mom was with Qrow for a long time, he even said they planned to get married at one point… which kind of makes me your cousin, doesn't it?"
Everyone fell silent and looked at her for a moment, blinking a few times. Then Ruby grinned and exclaimed, "Cousins!" as she lunged forward and wrapped Ebony in a hug that caused her to stumble a bit. "We need to do stuff together after we get back! Real cousin bonding!"
Ebony's hands looked like they weren't sure what to do, should she hug or should she not? She eventually settled on the former, returning the hug awkwardly. "Uhm… sure."
Yang's already existent smile brightened further as she pumped her fist. "Hell yeah! We'll have to show you our place on Patch one of these days too."
Before the conversation could continue further, Team JNPR arrived, with Jaune waving a hand to them and saying, "Hey guys!" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "So, what mission did you get?"
Ruby smirked as she let go of Ebony and crossed her arms proudly. "We're going to Mountain Glenn to cull some Grimm and investigate the place!"
Nora groaned and hung her head. "Man, that's so much cooler than what we've got!" Her stomach rumbled and she groaned again. "And Ren hasn't fed me yet…" To which Ren just smiled slightly.
Pyrrha smiled gently at the other two teams and pat Nora on the back. "Now, Nora… at least we're leaving the kingdom; COVE doesn't even get to go on a mission."
Neve waved a hand dismissively. "We're going into town after this, just to hang out. Hit the park, do some other stuff, that kind of thing. A little team outing after… you know, all that other mess."
Jaune smiled warmly at them. "I'd offer for our team to go with you guys, but I don't want to impose. I can't blame you guys for wanting a 'Team Day'."
Further off, in the distance, Neptune called out, "It's okay Jaune! You guys can party with us tonight!" Everyone looked over, and saw him and Sun grinning while wearing badges on their chests (though Sun's was hard to see, given how his shirt was open). "We grabbed an inner-city detective, we're gonna be solving crimes!"
Yang raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "Oh? Who with?"
"Well," Neptune began with a proud smirk, "The guy himself is a full fledged Huntsman, real deal, but we've also got someone else to help with that stuff. Some guy… Ven, I think?"
Yang grinned. "Tell him Yang said hi." At the curious glances from everyone (except Ruby), she explained, "Friend of mine from Signal. He opted to become a private eye instead of focusing on school; believed that the people needed more protectors than just Vale's police and the occasional Huntsman."
Orchid hummed in understanding. "Interesting! Guess I can't blame him, everyone's got a different calling." She looked at the rest of COVE and asked, "So, we ready to head out? Looks like Oobleck is about to drag RWBY away by their shirt collars if we hold them up any longer."
Neve nodded. "Yep, we shouldn't hold you guys." He waved and the three and a half teams said their goodbyes before splitting apart, with COVE heading for the Bullhead port that would lead them down to Vale.
Now came the part of the day they had all been waiting for.
/-/
The trip itself was uneventful, small talk occupied them as they walked towards Vale Central Park.
Neve hadn't been to the park in years; while it was nice, he simply hadn't had the time nor desire to visit it again until today. It held a different air to it, he noticed. Normally, it was vibrant and filled with the sound of children playing at the playground, adults talking or just walking and taking in the scenery, things like that. Today, however, it felt… muted.
'Maybe it's just the weather,' Neve thought as he looked up at the sky. Gray clouds overcast the blue sky, and though there was a risk for rain, none of the team cared that much; a little bit of rain was not going to stop them from going through with their plans. 'Although it might stop us from going to that other thing tonight. I just hope it's rescheduled soon, if so…'
They passed a particular bench as they walked, and Neve wasn't sure why, but it felt strangely familiar to him, an odd yet powerful sense of deja vu washing over him. For the briefest, barest moment, he thought he saw himself sitting there, wearing a plain T-shirt and jeans, looking very dejected and lost. He rubbed his eyes and the vision vanished. He shook his head; maybe it was just some weird dream that came to mind or something.
They broke from the path then, heading to a clearing where flowers were growing and there were no other people around. A river ran further ahead, the same that cut through all of Vale. They sat together on the ground after laying out a picnic blanket they'd brought, while Neve sat down the basket he had been carrying that contained sandwiches for them to eat. None of them were terribly hungry, so they were small, but even if some of them didn't eat it all, they knew Violet would.
They sat together and ate in silence at first, the air thick around them, because they all knew what they needed to talk about, but none were sure on where to start. That was, until Orchid began by smiling slightly and saying, "I don't think I got to say 'congratulations' to you two yet, at least not properly." Her smile brightened. "You're perfect for each other!"
Violet scratched her cheek and averted her gaze for a moment before smiling and saying, "Yeah, we are, and honestly I don't know how I didn't realize how I felt sooner… Ebony's amazing." The compliment got Ebony to blush.
Ebony then spoke, soft and uncertain, as this kind of topic was as foreign to her as snow was to a Vacuan Nomad, "Y-Yeah… Violet's amazing." She specifically looked to Neve and Orchid as she added, "A-And so are you two, you know..." She wasn't any more certain today on what to do with her feelings towards them than she was yesterday, and she doubted an answer would provide itself anytime soon. "I mean… all three of you stayed with me in the hospital all that time… I don't know if anyone else would have done that. Especially after… what we saw."
Orchid took a sip of the soda she had and set it down, looking at it for a moment. "It's horrible that you went through what you did, and… those people… the things they did, it's disgusting. I still think about what we saw there in that warehouse, I don't know if I'll ever forget."
Violet lowered the sandwich in her hands, grimacing as she remembered the warehouse. "It's not something I want to forget. It makes me angry, makes my blood boil, but… forget?" She clenched her free hand into a fist and shook her head silently, seemingly not able to put the rest of her emotions into words.
Ebony noted that, while they had spoken, Neve hadn't. His head was lowered and his eyes were closed, as if he was thinking to himself. Finally, he opened his eyes, though he remained looking down. His voice wavered as he spoke softly, "I'm… sorry, you guys. About all of that. If I had just followed my instincts and pulled us out of there… we'd have never ended up there in the first place."
The other three weren't sure what to say, their gazes filled with worry and sorrow in equal measure. Orchid began to speak, "Neve… it's okay, we-"
"No it's not!" He hissed out, and though it wasn't a shout, it carried the weight of one. It made Orchid go quiet, gaze filled with even more worry than before. With a voice filled with regret Neve said, "If I had just listened to myself, then we wouldn't have had to see that." He gritted his teeth. "We wouldn't have gotten so hurt, and Ebony would still have her eye! I failed you guys…"
He was pulled out of his gloomy train of thought when he was pulled into a hug suddenly by Orchid, who squeezed him tightly while sitting on her knees next to him. "Neve…" She said worriedly, trailing off, at a loss for words for a few seconds. "...It's not your fault. You might have made a mistake, but we were going to go in anyway, and you weren't the one who put the traps there."
Violet moved and hugged him as well, sitting on the opposite side of him on her knees now, with Yuvi creating a heart above her head. "Yeah, those evil cult bastards are to blame. You knew there was something wrong there, and you knew we had a duty to check it out. We had to. We could have pulled back and called in licensed Huntsmen, but what if there were hostages there, or what if someone was dying and didn't have much time? We didn't have all the information."
Finally, Ebony joined the hug, hugging him from the front. "And… besides," she began, trying to sound a bit more upbeat than usual, "I think this new eye is incredible. It's much better than my old one. I mean… I can see in the dark, and with thermal vision… I couldn't do that with my old one."
Neve took a deep, shaky breath, but couldn't fight the smile that came from both being hugged by his team and from the absurdity of Ebony's attempt to comfort him. Most people would still at least miss their old eye, but Ebony didn't seem phased by its loss at all. "Thanks guys…" He sighed. "I'm glad we all ended up in each other's lives. All thanks to a couple lucky encounters and a chess piece."
They separated and went back to sitting where they were before, with Violet chuckling and saying, "Yeah, I mean, Ebony literally dropped into my life, she almost face planted on the ground after a branch she was swinging on with her sickle broke."
Ebony huffed at the memory of her mistake, yet thankfully they didn't stay on that topic. Instead, Orchid said, "We've got other stuff to worry about too. Like the White Fang. Sure, that's mostly Team RWBY's thing, but we also have a duty to stop them. They're a bunch of terrorists pretending to be fighting for something more noble than they actually are."
Neve nodded in agreement. "They've been quiet lately, not sure if that's a good or a bad thing." He shook his head. "One way or another, whenever RWBY calls for us, we'll answer. Until then, we've got to make sure we focus our attention properly. We enjoy our time off, we participate in the Vytal Festival, and then once Vytal's over we can get back to looking properly."
Orchid nodded in agreement. "It sucks that we can't do anything right now, but there's no way they're going to make any moves right now, not with the warehouse getting peoples' attention." There was a part of her that worried if they might try something at Vytal, but that seemed unthinkable; with Vytal's security and Atlas' army, they'd have to be suicidal to try anything.
Before the conversation could continue, Neve heard a beep on his Scroll. He pulled it out and checked it, groaning. "Man…" At the curious looks, he smiled at the others. "Well, I planned for us to go to a concert tonight, but it got delayed to tomorrow. So I guess we'll have to find something else to do today."
Orchid gasped, eyes lighting up as she said, "A concert?!" She giddily rocked back and forth, sitting cross-legged with her hands on her legs as she was. "Who's playing?"
Neve smiled brightly at her excitement. He had missed this side of Orchid, which had been hidden away due to all the things they had been dealing with lately. He assumed that this would help draw it out, and he was glad to be right. "We're going to go see Ash Inazuma. I've never listened to her songs before, but I hear she's pretty good, seemed up your alley."
Orchid's eyes widened and her grin was all he needed to see to know he made the right choice. "She is! I don't listen to her all the time, but I still love what I hear!" She reached out and pulled Neve into a hug, dragging him closer to her to do so. "You're the best friend ever, I swear!"
Neve blushed at their closeness, but he tried his best to push it out of his mind. Instead, he returned the hug and smiled. To her evaluation of his friendship, all he could say was, "I try my best." Thankfully the hug ended not long after it began, letting Neve get away from the smell of her perfume, the floral scent was making his head a bit cloudy.
Violet looked up at the sky and said, "Well, if we're gonna do that tomorrow, how about we go watch a movie at the theater or something? If it's gonna rain, then we'd better get somewhere indoors for the rest of our time out here today."
As if to emphasize her point, the sound of thunder rumbled above them, with Violet quickly grabbing what sandwiches were left and standing up. Everyone else stood as well, taking their drinks and starting to leave.
As they did, Violet couldn't help but think about their time together, and the times to come. She'd never been happier than she was now, even with all of the troubles they faced. If you had told her a few years ago that she would have been here, surrounded by friends (all of whom made her feel very tingly and warm inside), and on track to being a Huntress, she'd have thought you were joking. 'I just wish Grandpa could see this.'
The thought of her life before stayed with her as they made it to the movies, just in time to avoid the start of the rain. It didn't seem that bad when they went inside; however, after they finished watching the latest Spruce Willis movie, they could hear the roaring torrent outside before they even saw it.
As they looked at it from the rainstorm from the safety of the movie theater lobby, they checked their Scrolls (which had been turned off, prior) to find that they received an update from the school saying that all flights to and from Beacon were grounded until the rainstorm let up. All of them groaned with different measures of annoyance, with Orchid saying, "Guess we need to get a hotel. Damn, I was hoping we wouldn't have to spend the money on that…"
Neve nodded, sighing before saying, "It's too far a walk to get to my place either…"
Violet chuckled and shook her head. "We don't have to do that, dummy. We can just stay at my place tonight. I've kept the fridge stocked in case I ever needed to visit for some reason, like, well… today."
They all looked at Violet in surprise, with Neve asking, "Doesn't it get expensive keeping the lights on when you're not even there?"
Violet shrugged. "I've never had to pay a bill in my life. Don't know why, but between that and my Grandpa's pensions still coming in, well… I'm pretty well off." She grinned proudly. "When the only thing I buy is food, anime box sets, and shit like that, I end up having a lot of extra leftover money. Now come on!" She waved for them to follow, with Ebony following behind first.
Seeing no better option, and filled with curiosity as to what Violet's apartment looked like, both Orchid and Neve followed shortly behind.
/-/
Violet's apartment was one of those places where the apartments were facing the parking lot, with the main entrance being simply walking up flights of stairs then getting to the apartment you wanted to enter. At least the different levels helped shield them from the rain somewhat, but it wasn't perfect.
Not that it mattered, they were all soaked! They stumbled into the apartment and Orchid shuddered. "Ooh, it's cold… can you turn the heater on, Vi?" She rubbed her shoulders. "And we probably should get some clothes… sleeping in these will get us all sick."
Violet nodded, with Yuvi separating from her and going to flick on the heat, as well as the lights.
The place looked incredibly normal, a couch with an armchair facing a holo-TV display that was currently powered off. The floors were carpeted with an off-white carpet, and the kitchen was nearby, leading to a fairly standard looking kitchen. Further down the hall were three doors, one on the right, one on the left, and one straight ahead. Presumably, Orchid figured, one of them was the bathroom and the other two were bedrooms.
Once Yuvi had returned to her, Violet hummed. "I can send Yuvi to get some clothes for us, but I'm going to need to focus. It's hard to maintain her separation at long distances like that, unless I'm entirely focused on it." She started forward, with Yuvi separating from her and leaving out the front door "So I'm gonna go sit in my room, you guys are free to look around, I'll be back in a few."
So, Violet left them there, with Ebony following her, presumably to see her room. Orchid continued to look around, taking in the place. "It's a lot more… normal than I expected it to be," she muttered to herself. Calling over her shoulder, she asked, "Hey, Neve, what does she have to cook?"
"Way ahead of you." Neve began rummaging through Violet's kitchen, at the ingredients and items she had laying around. He just muttered, "Gruesome," which wasn't a good sign to Orchid. Eventually he grabbed a few packages of instant ramen and set them down before rummaging through her pantry and producing several pre-ground shakers filled with things ranging from Valean seasoning to red pepper.
Orchid approached the kitchen, watching as he worked and trying not to be too taken with how easily he moved about, how simply in tune he was with being here. "You know, with how you're operating, it's almost like you've been here before."
"Hmm?" Neve looked at her before shaking his head slightly. "No. It feels kind of familiar, but that's probably because it's a pretty average looking place." He turned his attention back to what he had, grabbing pre-grated parmesan from the fridge. "It's not gonna be pretty, but I can make something that's better than just instant ramen."
Orchid tilted her head slightly, curious as to what he would do. She stepped into the kitchen further and shoulder-leaned on the wall. Neve didn't seem to pay much attention to her watching him cook, presumably he was used to it. She hoped she wasn't distracting him, but she always liked watching him cook. She didn't do it usually, because she was worried it might be seen as creepy, but… something about how self-assured and knowledgeable about the art of cooking always amazed her.
A few minutes later, Yuvi came back, and Orchid had to pretend like she hadn't been watching Neve so intently as she was handed her clothes. "I'll go and change. I think I'll save the shower for tomorrow…" She doubted that Violet had any shampoo here, or at least, none that she used.
She ducked into the bathroom and did just that, changing into a new set of underwear, black shorts, and a honey gold shirt. She then stuffed her old clothes into Violet's laundry hamper, which was just a big bag that seemed made to be carried out to whatever laundromat Violet wanted to use.
She stepped into the living room now that she was dressed and could smell the food. It didn't take long, Neve said, to make even instant ramen taste better. So, after they all changed and ate, they were able to figure out their sleeping arrangement while they all sat in the living room.
"My room has a queen sized bed and my Grandpa's room has a king size, so it's pretty simple to me." Violet nodded as she crossed her arms. "Ebony and I will sleep in my bed, Orchid, you and Neve can sleep in the other bed."
Orchid and Neve both shifted uneasily and blushed. Both of them spoke at the same time, "I can just sleep on the couch!" Before blinking and looking at each other. Neve crossed his arms and huffed. "I'll sleep on the couch, Orchid, you can take the bed."
"No way!" Orchid shook her head and crossed her arms right back. "You're our event organizer, you need more sleep than me, so I can take the couch!" To her, the logic was flawless.
To Neve, however, it was very flawed. "I can handle sleeping on a couch for a night, I'll be fine. I don't want your neck to hurt tomorrow because you were sleeping weird with how tall you are."
"Well I don't want you to have a hurt neck either!"
Both of them squinted at one another, neither willing to cede any ground. Ebony watched with a smirk, while Violet rolled her eyes and said, "Guys, just sleep in the same damn bed! It's not that hard. Besides, it's king size, you two can sleep the whole night without touching whatsoever. If I catch one of you sleeping out here, I'll have Yuvi overturn the couch!"
Both Orchid and Neve looked at Violet in surprise for a second, before sighing one after another. Orchid said, "Fine, fine…" relenting entirely to what was going to come, and praying that it wasn't going to be too awkward.
It was already late, so everyone made their way to the bedrooms. When Neve and Orchid got to theirs for the night, they both just… stood and stared at it. Neve shifted his weight from one foot to the other, wearing a solid black T-shirt and shorts. "So, uh…" He cleared his throat. "You… first?"
Orchid wished that this wasn't so awkward for her, because she really was very tired. But what was to be done about it? "Uhm…. you first, I insist." She was ready for Neve to push back again, but it seemed he was tired too, so he got into bed on the left side. Orchid herself crawled into the right side.
They both stared at opposite walls. The lights were off but Orchid could see just fine (in grayscale, granted). She knew Neve couldn't, and had to wonder what that would be like. "Neve…" Orchid began, having trouble not talking right now, just to fill the awkward silence that was only broken by the sound of the AC and the ceiling fan. "What's it like not being able to see in the dark?"
"Hmm…?" Neve questioned with a tired hum. He thought about it for a moment before answering, "It's… I guess when you don't need to see in the dark, it's nice. I actually like being able to sleep in total darkness. I know some people don't like that, but… it's comfortable to me. What's it like being able to see in the dark?"
"I guess it's… nice, most of the time." She shifted slightly. "It's grayscale, but I can see color if there's, like… a streetlight. Most of the time, I don't need to see color late at night like that, but it's still nice to be able to, sometimes." She chuckled softly and melancholically. "When I was younger, the world felt colorless enough without night vision, with it? Worse, sometimes."
Neve stared at the wall, blinking a few times slowly as he took in her words. "It was bad back then, wasn't it?"
"It shouldn't have been…" Orchid sighed. "I had friends, I had, and have, a loving mom and dad, but… Weiss messed up all of that. Really put a damper on things. Made it kind of hard to even want to try, some days…"
"You deserved better than that." Neve responded softly. "What she did, what she said… it's deplorable." His voice gained a slight edge to it as he spoke, demonstrating his own distaste for Weiss at this moment. "I mean, how could she do that to you? You're… you." Though Orchid couldn't see his facial expression, she could feel the exasperation. "Orchid Grove, musician, Huntress-in-Training, beautiful, strong, confident! You're worth ten Weisses."
He rattled off the last sentence fast enough that she almost missed him calling her beautiful, but it still made her heart skip a beat all the same. She closed her eyes as her face darkened red. "Neve, I…" She started to say, but then those feelings, those worries, those deplorable, dragging thoughts, grasped at her again, and whatever she was going to say died in her throat. Instead, she simply softly said, "Thank you…"
She thought of speaking again, of maybe trying to say something else, but she heard his steady and soft breathing first. She knew he was asleep, and so she simply allowed herself to be carried off as well. Her fear was hers to keep, and she would live with it.
No exceptions.
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Orchid didn't even want to talk about how she woke up spooning Neve; she was just glad that she was able to get away without him noticing.
The rain had stopped, and the sun shined on another beautiful day, so they were all able to return to Beacon to wash their laundry and change into more suitable clothes for the concert scheduled for early that afternoon. It was starting early by concert standards, but given the setback, and that it was a weekend so most people were off work, Ash wanted to make it up to people by having it start earlier than usual.
They made their way there, idly talking the whole time, until they reached the concert venue itself, which was a stadium that had been repurposed into a concert venue for the event. People were streaming in in droves, and it took COVE about twenty minutes to get in (and they were pretty lucky with that).
Ebony looked at the stage as one of the opener bands was playing and asked, "So, why do other people play if it's supposed to be a concert about Ash?"
Orchid answered easily, "They're opening acts. Main events always have a few of those, both to let other artists get some attention and the venue time to sell concessions while padding for time, plus touring alone can be boring." She smirked. "Frankly, I'm surprised Ash doesn't have a third opening act, with how popular she is. Usually it goes from least famous to most famous, with the main event obviously being the most famous"
Neve nodded in agreement. "I guess she doesn't want the attention pulled off of her for too long. That, or her manager doesn't. I'm not exactly sure how music stuff works like that." He shrugged.
Violet nodded in agreement. "I prefer cover artists on OurTube anyway. I grew up with them, so they're really all I listen to. Sometimes I listen to 'normal' bands, but it's not usually on rotation."
With that, they focused their attention on the music being played, while Violet of course went and grabbed concessions for them all. The opening bands were pretty good, Orchid had to wonder if the first one would get more popular with time, since they were actually filled with talented artists. Maybe someday they would be the main event.
Finally, Ash stepped on stage, to the roaring cheers of the crowd. Ash waved to them and exclaimed, "Hey everyone! It's great to be here in Vale again! Remember to give some love to my openers and buy some of their mech, they're all amazing! Now it's my turn!" She cleared her throat and elaborated, "This first song is one I heard back in Atlas, from a performer that really deserved to be more popular while she was still performing! Orchid Grove, if you're watching, then this one's for you!"
Orchid's eyes widened and her mouth went ajar slightly as Ash suddenly began to sing Good Riddance. It was a song Orchid had written and sang a lot back when she was an active musician in Atlas. She knew it was popular, but she didn't know it was so popular as to catch Ash fucking Inazuma's attention! She grinned as the haunting melody of the song played, an encapsulation of how Orchid felt while writing it, alone and better for it. To say she was giddy was an understatement!
The others elbowed her and Neve said, "Wow, Orchid! I didn't know you were that popular back in Atlas! You're a regular superstar!"
Orchid laughed and shook her head. "No, but I feel like it right now." She didn't think her grin could get any bigger, or else it might start to hurt. "This has made my whole month!"
When the song came to an end, Ash called out, "Orchid, if you're out there, call me sometime! I'd love to collab!" She made a phone gesture with her hand before saying, "Alright! Time for the next song…"
Before it could begin, however, all four Huntsmen-in-Training received a text on their scrolls. All they saw was a text from Jaune that read 'Grimm! Plaza! We need backup!"
It seemed that the crowd nor Ash had been notified of this event, they had to assume that it couldn't be that bad, Jaune was prone to overreacting, but they couldn't ignore a friend in need. So, they all started to leave, with Ebony muttering, "I was actually enjoying her singing a lot too…"
Orchid didn't even have time to fully process that Ash wanted to collab with her. Ash! Her! Collab! She wouldn't turn that down! But now wasn't the time for that.
Once they were out of the stadium, they all punched in the code needed to get their lockers to deliver them their gear. They didn't have time to change, Neve just threw his coat on while all of them grabbed their weapons and ran, sending the lockers back to where they came from.
At first, none of them thought that this would be anything major, but as they got closer to the main plaza in the city, they heard the sound of roaring Grimm, gunfire, and the screams of scared civilians.
They saw it not long after, a whole chunk of road had been blown open and Grimm were pouring out of it. Teams RWBY and JNPR were already fighting many of them off, but there were more than they alone could handle. There was a Beowolf closing in on a cowering civilian, and Violet bolted forward, Yuvi going ahead of her.
As the Beowolf jumped at the woman, it found itself being punched in the jaw and sent flying into the air by Yuvi. Violet grinned at the woman as she looked at her, then said, "Better run!"
The civilian did so, and Neve readied his twin blades. "Orchid, strike up the band. We've got work to do."
Orchid grinned and began to play a new, Old Scars/Future Hearts by All Time Low.
"In the dark, there's a light that's calling everyone~ out, if you could see beyond the walls that you have built!"
Neve surged forward, raising both of his blades. He cut down Beowolves with one blade as they came, right or left. He ducked under the swipe of an Ursa and grinned as he power-slid on the ground, cutting the beast in the leg and sending it toppling down.
"I know it's hard to escape the past and start it again, those memories, of all the future hearts you killed!"
Ebony raced ahead, combining Requiem into its boomerang form, throwing it forward and watching as it cut through several lesser Grimm and cut the tail off a medium-sized Deathstalker. It came back to her and she caught it, just in time to use it to cut down a Nevermore as it attempted to dive bomb her.
"I don't wanna be the one that's left behind! Don't blame me, don't hate me!"
Orchid fired waves of Dust out of her guitar, sending lightning bolts to cut down some Grimm, fireballs after others, and water to drown some smaller ones. She wove between attempts to swipe at her, all while playing the song, at one point kicking a Beowolf in the jaw without losing the rhythm, causing it to fall to the ground.
"I don't wanna be the one that's left behind~!"
Violet saw an Ursa Major charging towards her, and she grinned as her body was enveloped with Yuvi as an exoskeleton. She then launched herself forward and punched the Ursa in the face with such force that it flew backwards and crashed into some of its pack.
"I won't fade away! Be forgotten or just cast away, this life is mine to live!"
She leaned back and avoided the stinger of a Deathstalker; grabbing Suncutter off of her back, she brought it up and swung downward, cutting off the Deathstalker's tail and then twisting, bringing her blade down on its eye, killing it after piercing through it. She then saw a horde of lesser Ursa charging at her, and her grin only widened as she turned. With one heavy motion she swung Suncutter, sending the blade flying forward in its chakram form while she held onto the rifle portion.
"I won't fade away, I'm lost inside this endless haze of life, but this life is mine to live~!"
The chakram cut down the Ursa, while nearby Neve and Yang faced a Beringel together, with Neve running forward and cutting its tendons with swift precision, causing it to fall to its knees and allowing Yang to punch it repeatedly in the face, causing its head to explode.
"Waking up just to catch yourself dreaming~ again, but you won't think outside the lines that hold you in. You say it's easier, just to hide yourself away, shut the windows, lock the doors and disappear!"
Ebony cut down a lesser Ursa as it ran at her, breaking apart her boomerang and returning it to its constituent parts. She saw Ruby facing an incredibly large Ursa Major, and raced over to help her. Ruby swung her scythe at the thing's legs, and, hearing Ebony call out her name, she leaned forward as the Beringel staggered back from her strike.
"I don't wanna be the one that's left behind, don't blame me, don't hate me! I don't wanna be the one that's left behind~!"
Ebony used her back as a springboard to launch herself up, flipping and twisting in the air before bringing her sickles down on the Beringel's shoulders from the back, dragging herself downward, leaving massive cuts in her wake. When she landed, Ruby shot the Beringel with Crescent Rose, causing it to fall back entirely while Ebony moved to fight another Grimm nearby.
"I won't fade away! Be forgotten or just cast away, this life is mine to live! I won't fade away! I am lost inside the endless haze of life, but this life is mine to live~!"
She passed Orchid, who was fighting alongside Weiss. Weiss summoned her glyphs to cut down Grimm as they came, while Orchid enhanced her with her music, making her attacks that much more powerful, and sending out her own Dust attacks. A massive Beowolf ran towards them, and was assaulted with a barrage of lightning, ice, wind, and fire. It fell forward, sliding and stopping just in front of them.
"We've got scars on our future hearts, but we never look back, no we never look back!"
Violet saw Pyrrha taking on a horde of Grimm by herself, while Blake was struggling in the center of the plaza against her own horde. The others were too busy to help, and so Violet surged forward, grabbing the tail of a King Taiju that was about to bring its fangs to bear on Blake. She then lifted it up with a powerful roar and threw it directly into the air, where it exploded, shot with a cannon from arriving Atlesian dropships.
"I don't wanna be the one that's left behind! Don't blame me, don't hate me, I don't wanna be the one that's left behind~!"
She and Blake still had more Grimm to face, with a Boarbatusk rolling towards Blake, who stepped to the side. Violet was waiting, and as it reached her, she kicked it with her enhanced strength, sending it flying back into a destroyed building.
"I won't fade away, be forgotten or just cast away!"
Violet ducked as an Ursa tried to swipe at her, allowing Blake to surge forward and cut into it with her weapon repeatedly, with such speed that it fell under the torrent of cuts. Blake smirked at Violet, who shot one back at her.
"This life is mine to live, I won't fade away!"
Neve ducked and weaved between Grimm that were attempting to hit him, turning Fimbulvetr into its glaive form and swinging it, cutting down several Grimm with a single slice while Orchid turned her attention to him, shooting a barrage of lightning and fire at Grimm that were approaching him and softening them up for him.
"I am lost inside the endless haze of life, but this life is mine to live~!"
Neve cut down yet another Ursa, and that was when a Bullhead flew overhead, signaling the arrival of CFVY and Professor Port. They joined the fight, along with Atlas' androids and two visiting students from Mistral, Emerald and Mercury.
The combined might of all of them, plus the arrival of Glynda Goodwitch, signaled the end of the fighting, as she fixed the road and sealed their entry point away.
Orchid panted as the fighting finally ended, and she looked at Weiss, who looked back at her. They stared for a moment before Orchid simply grunted in acknowledgement of her efforts and left to go check on Neve, who was sitting down with Yang while they both talked about how insane all of that fighting was.
Violet, meanwhile, was sitting with Ebony and Blake both, catching her breath and fighting off the wave of exhaustion that came with such extended use of Yuvi's exoskeleton form. Ebony asked her, "Are you alright? That was intense."
Violet nodded and between breaths said, "Yeah." She laughed. "That was insane…" She looked as the Atlesian androids secured the streets and made sure civilians were safe. "What the hell even happened there, Blake?"
Blake took a deep breath before explaining everything that happened to her, from their arrival to Mountain Glenn to their fight with the White Fang and the (now captured) Roman Torchwick. She also noted, "His sidekick isn't around, she got away…" She shook her head. "But we got him, that's what's important."
"Shit…" Violet whistled. "I wish we could have been there too, maybe this wouldn't have happened." She shook her head. "Bah, nothing to think about now." She laid back and stared at the sky, filled with Atlesian airships as it was. "I gotta say though…
"I hope the tournament is as exciting as this fight was."