A/N- New chapter! And it doesn't feel like it's been forever this time! Hope you enjoyed that because I'm probably gonna focus on my RWBY OC story -The Ballad of Oreonna, please check it out too- for a hot minute. That story is actually about to reach a stopping point, which is a first for me! Now without a single further ado, enjoy some angst!
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The ache of Carmella's muscles burned through her body, she couldn't remember ever feeling this exhausted before. Ilia and herself had spent the entirety of the morning, and partway into the afternoon, training. The young rabbit faunus' body felt like it was on the verge of collapsing, it's dull throbbing giving the promise of even more pain when she woke up tomorrow morning.
Despite this, as she laid sprawled out on the grass, breathing heavy, staring up past the ring of trees surrounding her and into the clear blue sky, a huge grin was plastered on Carmella's face. The brunette was no masochist, but she'd be lying is she said a part of her didn't love this. This was the kind of training she'd always wanted! There was a strange sort of satisfaction in the pain she felt, the feeling of a job well done, of putting in the work to improve yourself, knowing it'd all be worth it in the long run. Though, at the same time the young faunus just wished she could say that ALL of her training had been so productive.
Not all of their morning had been spent with physical exercise, the two of them had taken a few breaks as they went, and that time was mostly spent so Carmella could try meditating to unlock her aura. As one could guess, the only exercise that proved to be was one in futility.
It was so weird, the rabbit faunus did everything her teacher told her. "Relax your body, focus the mind, search deep inside yourself" -whatever that meant- but still, nothing.
Well, not "nothing" per say , if Carmella really, really focused, she could almost feel... something, it was hard to put into words. Not that it mattered, she felt the "something", but had trouble "reaching out" to it. It was like whatever it was had sealed itself behind a wall inside the rabbit eared girls head, and at this point the frustrated Carmella was about ready to take a sledgehammer to it. Alas, after a day full of failures, all the young faunus was left with was a still impotent aura, and a headache.
But the chipper rabbit girl wasn't about to let that get her down! Her aura would come out of it's shell soon, she could feel it. The long eared faunus had faith in herself, and faith in her teacher as well. On cue, a shadow appeared over Carmella, blocking the sun bearing down on her.
"You look exhausted," Ilia said, bending over to check on her pupil, her long, curly pony tail still refusing to bend to the law's of gravity as she did.
"You kidding?" Carmella said, still looking upbeat in the face of what she'd been through that day, "I'm ready to go another round whenever you are, Teach."
The spotted faunus gave the other girl a skeptical smirk. "As much fun as that sounds," she replied, "I'm pretty sure you'd like to be able to walk tomorrow morning."
That wasn't exactly an exaggeration, Carmella sat up and looked down at her hands and arms, let's just say Ilia had gotten good use out of the first aid kit today. In addition to the bandages on her cheek and arm from earlier, several more had been applied throughout the morning. One on both knees, a few of her fingers, and even a larger one wrapping around her right forearm. Again though, Carmella didn't mind, she considered every cut and bruise a badge of honor, this was what she'd wanted after all. Fighting without an aura was tough, but for the first time the rabbit girl felt like she was on her way to fulfilling her dreams.
Ilia helped the other faunus to her feet for what felt like the millionth time that day. The brunette stumbled a bit once on her feet, until Ilia placed a stabilizing hand on her shoulder, only letting go once the other faunus regained her footing. Carmella smiled at her, half in appreciation, and half embarrassment, and as had become custom, Ilia laughed lightly and looked away, which in turn the long eared girl found incredibly cute.
Carmella thought the pony tailed faunus was impressive at Haven, but seeing her in action, up close and personal, was astounding to witness. The rabbit girl had never met someone so strong, cool headed and capable in her life. She was the kind of person Carm had always dreamed of meeting, so it probably came as no surprise that she'd developed a bit of a crush.
Who could blame her?! Ilia was the whole package! Not only a total badass on the battlefield, but also humble enough to go out of her way to help out some poor, delusional rabbit girl with dreams too big for her britches. She'd even accepted Carm's whole "aura problem", and agreed to keep training her, though the long eared faunus still felt bad about hiding it for so long. She'd done so much for Carmella in only a few days, and throughout all of it, Ilia never once asked for anything in return.
Oh, and did Carm also mention Ilia was super cute? Because that was also a thing.
Her mind was made up, Carmella didn't have a choice anymore, she had to ask this girl out.
The idea seemed simple enough, but as far as putting into motion?... The usually outgoing rabbit girl found herself oddly nervous about it. That wasn't like Carm as all, in all her past relationships, she'd always been the first to engage with whoever she had her eye on, but this time felt... different. She didn't want to rush into this, Ilia and herself had been having a pretty great time together -in the brunette's opinion anyway- and Carmella had even managed to go all morning without saying anything (too) dumb! She didn't want to risk ruining all that.
This wasn't like the other crushes in Carmella's life, it was... special, and that meant she had to do things right. Fortunately the rabbit girl had all the time in the world to-
"Well, we should probably call it a day," Ilia suddenly said. Carmella's long ears shot up in alarm as the spotted girl turned to walk away. She couldn't just leave! Carm was just about to probably, maybe, build up the courage to try and ask the other faunus out!... Probably...
Without thinking, and using speed she didn't believe her tired body still possessed, Carmella darted around the chameleon faunus, cutting off her path, and making the pony tailed teen freeze mid step. The rabbit girl revved her brain to full power as she quickly tried to come up with a reason for Ilia and herself to spend more time together. Suddenly, the light bulb went off as the brunette came up with a fool proof plan.
"Food!" the rabbit girl found herself shouting.
The wide eyed chameleon faunus just stared at the brunette, waiting for her to finish the thought, but no more words came. "Umm... what about it?" Ilia asked, bewildered by Carm's sudden actions.
"We should... eat food!" the rabbit girl "elaborated", in the broadest possible definition of the word.
"Yeah... that is typically what you do with food," the chameleon girl replied, looking at her pupil with concern. "Are you okay? Did you hit your head? I didn't throw you too hard, did I?"
Carmella couldn't possibly have imagined this going so poorly. Why was something as simple as what she was trying to say so hard to articulate around Ilia? Dammit, brain! the rabbit girl scolded internally, Do words good!
The long eared faunus stopped to take a breath, clearing her throat, and then tried speaking again, slowly this time, "Do you want to go get something to eat?" There, it was out, something nice and casual, not necessarily a date, but it would serve as an adequate excuse to spend more time with the girl she'd found herself so charmed with.
However, Ilia seemed to look oddly hesitant to the idea. Had Carmella misread things? She'd never claim to be an expert on the subject, but the rabbit girl was at least a little sure that there was something between them. If not, then what was all the nervous laughing and awkward eye contact for? Was this all a misunderstanding? Just a one sided infatuation? Carm felt herself start to spiral into despair as the thought that she didn't even know if Ilia even liked girls stormed through her mind.
Luckily before the brunette's emotions could completely overtake her, Ilia finally responded. "Where... did you have in mind?"
Just like that, Carm's mood skyrocketed from the lowest of lows to the stratosphere in about half a second. She did her best to play it cool though. "Oh... well then," the rabbit faunus said, trying to keep herself from smiling too wide. "Follow me."
So the internally bouncing off the walls rabbit faunus lead her pony tailed teacher out of the park and back into the city proper, at a bit of a slower pace than usual considering how sore Carmella's legs were. Who cared about them though, Operation: "Spend more time with, and get to know the mysterious yet alluring Ilia," was a go!
The long eared girl kept stealing glances over at the spotted faunus next to her as they walked down the streets of Anima's largest city, the roads much more packed than they'd been earlier this morning. Ilia looked... oddly on edge, her head on a swivel, her pale blue eyes darting around the street as she walked slowly behind the rabbit girl, it was like she was ready for someone to dart out of the crowd and attack her at any second, her guard thoroughly up. Maybe she didn't like crowds? Carmella hadn't considered that, but then remembered that aside from when Ilia had trained the militia back on Menagerie, the rabbit girl hadn't really ever seen the chameleon faunus hanging out with anyone before. Maybe she was a bit antisocial? Carm had no idea.
In fact, there were a lot of things Carmella didn't know about Ilia... and it was time to start changing that. "So, where'd you grow up?" the rabbit girl asked out of the blue.
She thought it was a rather innocent question, but judging by the reaction on the other faunus face you'd think she just asked Ilia to skin an animal and eat it raw.
"...Menagerie..." the chameleon girl mumbled out, looking away and offering no further details than that.
Okay, so that wasn't the most promising start, but Carm decided to try and work with it anyway. "Oh hey, me too," she went on, trying to encourage a conversation. "It's weird we've never run into each other before all this."
The long eared girl didn't think it was possible, but somehow Ilia had managed to look even more uncomfortable. "I... sorta moved around a lot once I hit my teens," again, the pony tailed faunus' answer was brief, with a heavy subtext that read; I don't want to talk about it.
Carmella stayed quiet for a minute after that, feeling like she'd wandered into a mine field and gotten herself blown up twice in just two steps. She wondered if by "moved around a lot" Ilia was referring to her time with the White Fang. The rabbit girl thought back to the rumors she'd heard on the boat ride to Mistral, and ashamedly found herself wondering just how much truth there was to them. Had Ilia really been that young when she'd joined up with the radical faunus group?
The brunette was about to ask, then realized there were two reasons that was a bad idea. One, the most obvious; Ilia REALLY didn't seem to want to talk about that. The second being; That the chameleon girl most likely didn't know that Carm knew about her past with the Fang, and probably wanted to keep it that way. Then again, there was a good chance it was a combination of the both reasons.
This was turning out to be harder than Carmella had ever anticipated. Ilia had been so open and friendly during training this morning, but now that the conversation had been steered towards herself, the other girl seemed like a completely different person. The chipper faunus wasn't about to give up though. She knew there just had to be a topic she could get Ilia to open up about.
"Sooooo, what about your parents? Do they also live on Menag-"
"Carm!" Ilia suddenly blurted out, a bit of harshness in her voice, her eyes closed and brow furrowed, looking thoroughly annoyed all of a sudden. The long eared faunus stopped walking, caught completely off guard by the other girls tone. The pony tailed girl slowly opened her eyes, looking guilty. "Are we... almost there, I'm... pretty hungry."
Carmella just kind of stared at the other faunus for a moment. If she'd been walking in a mine field up to this point, it felt like she'd just detonated every explosive at once, and was forced to retreat from her advance. "Yeah... it's just around the corner," she said, trying to sound upbeat despite the bitter feeling of rejection she felt deep inside.
The rest of the walk continued in silence. Carmella kept her gaze forward the entire time. She didn't know what to do now, it'd never been this hard for the socially eager faunus to start a conversation before. The rabbit girl had only wanted to know more about Ilia, but apparently she'd pried too hard.
This is fine, you haven't completely ruined your chances or anything, nope, not at all, no reason to panic, the very much panicking Carmella told herself. They'd get to the restaurant, sit down, have a nice meal. and then Carm could apologize for being so nosy and the two of them could take it from there.
With that optimistic thought in her heart, the rabbit faunus lead Ilia around the final corner, revealing the restaurant she'd chosen, the Aster Grill. Carmella had passed the place yesterday while exploring Mistral. She didn't know what they served here, all the brunette knew was that it smelt amazing. The long eared girl was happy to see the place wasn't too crowded, it was probably still a little too early for the lunch rush.
Carmella turned to her company and managed an enthusiastic smile. "Here we are," she said cheerfully, as if the entire walk here hadn't been insanely awkward.
Ilia seemed to study the restaurant, and again the rabbit faunus noticed the hesitation in her eyes, but for the life of her couldn't understand it's source. However said hesitation flickered away when the spotted girl looked back at Carm. Ilia gave a weak smile to the rabbit girl. "Alright," she said with a forced enthusiasm that the long eared girl didn't fail to notice. But, maybe that just meant Ilia was trying? Which meant she must still want to have lunch with her? Which, in turn, must mean she didn't hate Carmella yet!
I'll take it! the rabbit girl thought, as she held the swinging door open for the chameleon faunus and the two went inside.
The inside of the Aster Grill was very warmly decorated, golden brown wood made up the tables, chairs, and the bar where a few customers were already enjoying their meals. There were a few exotic looking plants and flowers decorating a small lounge in the corner where even more patrons were enjoying coffee while reading their newspapers. A small bell chimed as the door closed behind the two faunus teenagers and almost immediately a cheerful voice yelled from the kitchen, "Have a seat at the bar, I'll be right with you!"
Carmella took a look around the new surroundings. It was odd, but this places atmosphere actually kind of reminded her of Menagerie a little, maybe it was because of the decor? Or, more likely, it was because of all the faunus. In fact, almost all of the customers were faunus, a couple of them at the bar, a few groups at the tables, and there was a big guy in the corner too, but honestly Carm had a hard time telling whether he was one or not. Also he seemed to glare in the direction of the rabbit girl as she entered with Ilia, making the long eared faunus decided to look elsewhere. While Carmella gawked, Ilia took a seat at the end of the bar, far away from any of the others, which the rabbit faunus found weird, but not really surprising at this point.
"Carmella? Is that you?"
A familiar voice called out to the brunette. The rabbit girl turned her head at the sound of her name to see someone she knew. "Oh! Hey Mrs. Catta," she said in a friendly voice.
The Catta family and the Lindt's both worked in the marketplace back on Menagerie peddling their goods. While Carmella's family specialized in produce, the Catta's made their living running a successful dairy farm not far down the road from the family of rabbit faunus. The two houses got along well enough, as well as most of the faunus on the island, though Carm didn't really know the short, black haired, lemur woman that well, but decided to keep things polite anyway. Although she found herself strangely hesitant to talk to her for some reason.
"I didn't know you came to Mistral with the militia too," the rabbit girl said.
Mrs. Catta smiled, her long, striped, lemur tail sticking out from behind her chair waving a bit. "Oh, I didn't come here for all that dreadful business," the short, stout woman said, waving off the idea. "I wouldn't be caught dead associating with that bunch of ruffians with too much time on their hands." Carmella squinted at the woman who had just casually dismissed the struggle of her own people. "Little Indri insisted that we come to show our support and I wasn't about to let my boy run off on his own." The lemur faunus leaned in close, cupping a hand to the side of her mouth like she was sharing a deep secret. "Also I figured it couldn't hurt to make a few connections in the restaurant business here on the mainland, am I right dear?" The rotund woman laughed loudly, making all the other patrons stare at her and Carmella.
The rabbit girl chuckled awkwardly as she remembered that "little" Indri was actually about six years older than herself, and a bit of a mamma's boy, so of course he'd bring his mother with him here.
"Are you here for lunch as well? Why not join us? Little Indri will be here any minute and I'm sure he'd love to share a meal with a cute little thing like you." Mrs. Catta said with a wink.
That was when Carmella remembered why she'd felt so anxious about speaking with this woman; because she wouldn't stop trying to set her up with Indri and... no... just, no.
"Um... actually..." the rabbit girl frantically tried to find a way out of this conversation.
"Oh, I'm sorry, are you and that Mata boy still a thing?"
Carmella was really starting to regret her politeness at this point. "No... no, we're just friends, like we have been for ye-"
"Well in that case," the woman interrupted, "why don't you pull up a chair and we'll get an order in and then-"
Mrs. Catta stopped, and the incredibly uncomfortable rabbit faunus was willing to fall to her knees and worship whatever had caused her to abandon her tirade. However, once the lemur woman's face turned sour, Carmella turned to see she was glaring at the bar, namely, where Ilia was sitting.
"What is she doing here?..." the long tailed woman asked in a low voice, probably so the girl in question wouldn't hear. "I thought they arrested all of those psychopaths."
Carmella looked back at the older faunus in disbelief. She was about to tell her off, but relented, not willing to make a scene over one ignorant woman. "Yeah, well, see you around," the rabbit girl mumbled quickly before spinning on her heel and walking in the other direction, ignoring the indignant protests of the other faunus behind her.
Belittle the cause Carmella had chosen to fight for all you wanted, try to set her up with your weirdo of a son if you had to, but the rabbit faunus wasn't about to stand there and listen to you bad mouth someone behind their back.
The long eared girl made her way over to the bar and took up the empty seat next to Ilia. "Hey," she said to the pony tailed faunus, "sorry about the wait, that lady... just needed to ask me something."
Ilia didn't respond, she just continued to stare vacantly at the menu board hanging above the bar. "So, have you decided what you want?" Carmella asked.
"Huh?" the chameleon girl replied, snapping back to reality, "Oh... uh... no, not yet."
Carmella would give anything to know what the other faunus was thinking at that moment. She still looked so on edge and rigid, like she thought someone would plunge a knife into her back if she dared to relax for even a second.
"Hey," the long eared girl said gently, "we can go somewhere else if you want... or if you're not feeling up for this we can just cancel." Carmella really didn't want that to happen, but it was becoming more and more clear that something about this situation was making Ilia very uncomfortable.
"No, no, it's fine, I'm fine," the other faunus responded. "I'm just..." the spotted girl sighed, "bad at this kind of stuff."
"What stuff?"
The chameleon teen gave a bitter smile, "Normal stuff, I guess." She crosses her arms and rested her elbows on the bar in front of her, looking downward. "Stuff like sitting down to a meal with someone in public, or even just... hanging out. I haven't really done that kind of thing in a while."
That... was quite possibly the saddest thing Carmella had ever heard in her entire life. She'd always been the social butterfly in the room, the first to talk to new people, the first to try and make friends, and yeah she'd met a few people that were a little shy - Mata, for example- but often that just meant they needed a little push to help break them out of their shells. The idea that the kinds of activities she did on a normal basis could be seen as some insurmountable task to someone else was just... surreal to Carm, but it did help her come to a happy realization.
"Maybe you're just out of practice? I could help you out with that!" she replied excitedly. After all, who knew more about normal stuff than her? She was normal... ish. Plus she'd been looking for any possible way to pay the chameleon girl back for all she'd done, and while this didn't seem to even come close to what Carmella owed Ilia, it was a fine place to start! "That way I could make up for you teaching me how to fight!" the rabbit girl continued, "And I promise we'll need way fewer bandages."
A near silent laugh escaped the lizard girls lips as she considered the offer, until she finally lifted her head. "I don't know, that sounds like a raw deal for you. Trying to get me to socialize sounds way harder than combat training."
"That's okay, I've been told I can be annoyingly persistent," the long eared girl shot back with a smile.
The spotted girl smirked at Carm, the first sign of genuine happiness she'd seen on the other faunus' face since the two wrapped up training for the day. "I mean... I guess we could give it a try," Ilia relented.
"Alright!" the brunette said, before her expression became very serious and she slapped the wooden surface in front of her with her palm. "I hereby announce the beginning of your training, Ilia!"
The other faunus rolled her eyes. "You're ridiculous," the pony tailed girl said in an amused tone.
"Don't talk back to your Sensei," Carm replied, sticking her tongue out at Ilia, before turning her attention to the important matter at hand. "Okay, step one: Ordering our meal! I'm kinda feeling like scrambled eggs and bacon. Oh! And fruit! Lots of fruit!"
"Isn't it a little late for breakfast?" Ilia said, raising an eyebrow at her new "Sensei."
"Nope! Breakfast food is good anytime of the day, people who say otherwise are the weird ones."
The chameleon faunus chuckled lightly at Carm's... unique logic, and the two of them placed their orders with the waitress who gave them both a strange look for ordering breakfast at a quarter past twelve in the afternoon. The rabbit faunus didn't care though, Ilia seemed to be in better spirits now, and things were finally starting to look up for the young faunus' relationship.
Which of course meant it was time for the universe to throw a wrench into things.
Carmella's long ears twitched at the familiar tone of voice from the tables behind them.
"I can't believe they let that criminal in here."
The rabbit girl turned around in her seat to see Mrs. Catta talking to the table full of faunus next to her.
"I heard she led that attack on the chieftains home too. Nearly killed a few of the guards that tried to stop her."
"No way, that's her? That's Ilia Amitola?" A new voice chimed in as another faunus began discussing just who was sitting at the bar right now.
"I heard the rumors, but I didn't think the Belladonna's actually let her come here with us."
"Why wasn't she locked up with the rest of the White Fang?"
"Why is she here now? Is she planning anything?"
"Maybe we should get out of here..."
Carmella never thought herself to be the quick to anger type, but as her enhanced hearing picked up more and more faunus joining in on bad mouthing Ilia she felt her hands tighten into fists. Ilia had risked her life for these people at Haven and still they spread gossip behind her back, gossip Carmella herself had once been stupid enough to listen to.
The rabbit faunus took a deep breath, trying to keep calm. She hated to hear those kinds of things, but also knew that making a scene might just make things worse for Ilia. At the very least, Carm could be grateful that the chameleon girl didn't possess the same faunus trait she did, so Ilia didn't have to hear any of the crap being said about her.
Or so she thought.
The rabbit eared girl looked over to the girl sitting next to her to see Ilia with her head down and hands in her lap, a grim expression on her face, but most striking was the orange color that was slowly traveling up her arms from her hands.
Carmella's stomach dropped as she realized Ilia could hear every word that was being said about her.
The brunette had no way of knowing this, but the chameleon faunus had spent years of her life training not only her body, but her senses as well. While her hearing might not be as excellent as a faunus with two sets of ears, it was definitely good enough to make out someone talking about her, using her own name, just across the room.
"Who's that girl sitting with her?"
Carmella didn't even look at who was talking about her, the rabbit girls eyes were glued to Ilia.
"Did you notice how beat up she looks?"
The young faunus watched as the orange on her friends skin began to travel further and further up her arm as the pony tailed girl clenched her eyes shut, as if trying to fight off the change.
"Poor thing, I bet that Ilia girl was abusing her and she-"
Carmella stood up so fast the stool beneath her was knocked to the side. Before it could even hit the floor the rabbit girl was halfway to the table of gossiping faunus. Mrs. Catta opened her mouth to say something as she noticed the enraged looking teen's approach, but was silenced when Carm slammed both hands down on her table.
"Shut. The hell. UP!" the rabbit girl growled out through grit teeth. "Don't talk about people like that when you don't even know them!"
Most of the other faunus at the table were too taken aback by the ferocity of the brunettes outburst to do anything except stare wide eyed at Carmella's seething face. Mrs. Catta however, was never one who found herself at a loss for words.
"Excuse you! But where do you-"
"Ilia risked her life at the Battle for Haven!" Carm's tirade washed over the lemur woman's rebuttal, leaving her no room to interject. "She saved every faunus and human there that night when she disabled those bombs on the CCT, and then even fought back with the militia against the White Fang, you know, the actual criminals!"
Mrs. Catta seemed cowed by that fact, as the other faunus at the nearby tables all gave her looks of surprise. It seemed like Carmella had just stumbled into the source of all those unseemly rumors about Ilia. Good, because she was just getting started tearing this woman a new one.
However, just as the rabbit eared girl was about continue her rant, she felt a hand lightly take her wrist,
Looking down, Carmella recognizes the spots on it instantly.
"Carm," Ilia said in a calm, but also pleading voice.
The rabbit faunus hadn't even noticed the lizard girls approach, nor had she noticed every eye in the restaurant on her at that moment. Even the chefs in the kitchen had poked their heads out into the dining room to see what all the noise was about.
"We should go," the chameleon faunus said quietly, giving the other girls arm a slight pull to emphasize her point.
Carmella felt embarrassed, but was also a bit surprised to see Ilia was stopping the rabbit girl from trying to defend her. She shot the table of faunus one last sharp look, all of them suddenly going silent. It was funny that they couldn't think of any good gossip when the person they were talking about was right in front of them.
With that, Carmella allowed Ilia to guide her out if the restaurant by the hand, the spotted girl staying silent even as the duo got outside. Under normal circumstances the brunette would've been thrilled by the feeling of the other teens hand in hers, but the pony tailed faunus was dragging Carmella like a disappointed parent. Carm could tell she was upset, and honestly didn't blame her after how the rabbit girl had snapped like that, she was pretty upset with herself too.
Publicly calling someone out like that wasn't Carmella's style at all, but hearing someone talk about Ilia in that way had just... awakened something petty inside her. Deep down though, she didn't regret it, no one deserved to have their name dragged through dirt like that. Surely Ilia had to think the same... right?
"You shouldn't have done that," the spotted faunus said as she still led Carm down the twisting side streets of Mistral.
Carmella couldn't believe it. Was she really about to be lectured by the girl she'd just stood up for? "I'm sorry? Am I supposed to just sit there and let them talk about you that way?" she said, her tone maybe a bit more agitated than the brunette had intended.
"Yes," Ilia stated matter-of-factually, looking back over her shoulder for only a second to give a discouraging look at Carm before turning away again and continuing to lead. "Making a scene like that will only make things worse."
Carmella was flabbergasted by the other faunus' words. "Worse? Worse than people spreading rumors behind your back? How!?"
Then Ilia muttered something under her breath so quietly even someone with as good of hearing as Carm could only barely make out.
"Not worse for me, worse for you."
The pony tailed faunus finally stopped dragging Carmella down the side streets of Mistral, as the two of them found a quiet secluded section, away from any prying eyes. The rabbit girl stared at the other teen in confusion. What did Ilia mean by that?
The spotted faunus wrapped her arms tightly around herself, head low, still refusing to turn to face Carm. "You shouldn't... stick up for me like that, Carmella," she said in a despondent tone. "You don't... you don't know me, or what I've done."
The rabbit eared girl had never seen Ilia like this before. She looked so... defeated. "Do you mean... the stuff with the White Fang?" Carmella asked hesitantly, knowing that was an unbelievably touchy subject.
Ilia turned her head just enough so the brunette could see the sad look in her eyes. Then the tan skin on her exposed arms and legs slowly started to shift green, stopping right around where the chameleon faunus' limbs met her torso. "So you did know...?"
Carmella's chest tightened. "Yeah, I mean, I heard the rumors on the boat ride over and... yeah," the rabbit girl explained. She really didn't know what to say right now, all Carm wanted to do was put her friends mind at ease. "But... I don't really care about all that, if that's what you're worried about..."
The rabbit eared girl watched as the chameleon faunus turned away again, and Carmella knew what she'd just said wasn't what Ilia had wanted to hear.
The spotted teens colors returned to normal, and she relaxed her arms and let them hang loosely at her sides.
"It's doesn't matter what you think..."
Ilia's words cut deep, and Carmella felt the bottom drop out from her stomach.
"If people see us together it'll just make things harder for you."
The spotted girl went on and all Carmella could do was stand there, her mouth slightly agape, a dull pain in her chest.
"I was stupid to think that I could ever..." Ilia trailed off, before finally turning to face the rabbit girl.
"It's probably better if we don't see each other anymore."
The look on the chameleon faunus' face broke Carmella's heart. Ilia didn't look mad, or sad, or anything really. She was emotionless, her tone dry, and practical, like what she'd said was just a cold, hard, unchanging fact of the universe. It was the look of someone who was giving up, accepting the role society had chosen for them.
Carm was still too shaken to speak. She never would have thought that this side of Ilia existed. Every moment the two of them had shared so far the chameleon faunus had always exuded strength, composure, and not to mention, skill. Sure maybe there was a hint of awkwardness too, but honestly that had made her seem more easily approachable to Carmella. Now the rabbit faunus was able to see past those surface traits, which while still a part of Ilia, weren't even the tip of the iceberg.
This right here was the true Ilia; a normal girl, not some infallible weapon of justice, someone with fears and doubts, just as vulnerable as Carmella herself in a lot of ways. The brunette felt like she'd just taken a big first step in her goal of understanding the faunus before her.
Then, as Ilia turned to walk away, a new, more terrifying feeling took hold of Carm; The feeling that if she let Ilia go now, she'd never see her again.
The rabbit faunus definitely didn't want that, but what could she say to stop her?
As the lizard girl went to take that first step out of Carmella's life forever, the brunette reached out and snatched Ilia's hand. "Wait!" she shouted in desperation.
This stopped the pony tailed girl, but only for a second, before she yanked her arm free and kept walking.
Carm wasn't about to give up though, she lunged forward and grabbed Ilia's entire arm, wrapping her body around it. "Ilia! Please just listen to me!" the rabbit girl pleaded.
The spotted faunus stopped her retreat, but didn't look back at the girl clinging to her, head still low.
"If... if you're going to let what other people say about you effect you, then... then you have to listen to what I think too!" Carmella was almost yelling at this point, as she glared at the back of Ilia's head with wet, glossy eyed. "You said... you said I don't know you, but you're wrong!"
The chameleon girl sighed. "Carmella, you don't-"
"I know you worked your butt off to whip a bunch of weak, untrained faunus into shape to fight for their lives at Haven, even though the didn't all trust you at the time." The rabbit girl didn't give Ilia a chance to deny anything. "I know that without you, a lot of those same faunus would have died if those bombs had been detonated at the academy, and even if they won't admit it, they all know it too."
The long eared girl really wished Ilia would turn and face her, if just so she could get a better idea of what was going through the other faunus' head right now. However from her current perspective, Ilia seemed unmoved by Carmella's words, so she just kept going.
"But... there are also things only I know about you, things that are just as important." This did manage to get Ilia to raise her head at least. "I know that on the boat ride to Mistral you helped out a poor, sick, weak stomached rabbit girl when she couldn't even walk back to her own room because she was so sick. Anyone else would have just left her to fend for herself, but you helped her, even though you had nothing to gain."
The long eared faunus wiped away her tears on her shoulder, still too afraid Ilia would leave if she let go of her. "And I know you saved that same stupid girl when she had a gun pointed in her face and she was too scared to move. Then, when it would have been easier just to ignore her, you offered to help her try and get stronger."
Carmella continued to keep the octopus like hold with everything she had, rooting the other faunus in place. "You gave that girl a chance. You... made her feel like her dream actually mattered." The rabbit girls tone became softer, "That's... that's what I think... and how dare you say that doesn't matter."
The brunette loosened her grip a bit, but only so she could pull herself closer to Ilia, holding her in some kind of awkward looking 'arm-hug' of sorts. "I believe- I know you're a good person, Ilia, even if the rumors are true. Because a bad person wouldn't be working so hard to try and be better, and definitely wouldn't look so sad if they suddenly believed they couldn't do it."
Carmella hadn't noticed while she was latched onto the pony tailed faunus, but Ilia's skin had begun to turn blue. Her entire body was rigged and stiff, she hardly even looked alive until she spoke, "Th-there's still a lot you don't know about me..."
"That's... probably true," the rabbit girl relented, "but maybe, someday, when you're ready, you can talk to me about that stuff too. I know it might be tough to trust someone you haven't known long, but you can take as long as you need. In the meantime, I'll just keep on trusting you."
The two faunus were silent for a long moment after that, the only sounds being the distant murmurs of the crowds in the marketplace.
The position Carmella was standing in was a little awkward and she began to feel strain in her neck, so she decided to rest her cheek on Ilia's shoulder. The chameleon faunus seemed to twitch a little at the contact, but made no protest, so the brunette didn't move, settling in right on top of the spots on the other girls arms. It was strange, she thought they'd feel tougher, or even a little scaley, but they weren't, they were just as smooth as the rest of Ilia's skin.
Suddenly, the rabbit girl felt one of the other faunus' hands wrap around her shoulder, pulling her even closer, and the two enjoyed a -honestly, rather uncomfortable looking- embrace.
They sat like that for a little longer, until Carmella finally decided to uncoil herself from the lizard girls arm. She wanted to trust Ilia, like she'd said, and so she had to believe that the spotted faunus would stay on her own.
The lizard girl still hadn't turned to face Carm, but after her colors slowly returned to normal, she finally said, "My arm was starting to fall asleep..."
Carmella gave an exhausted sounding chuckle, before wiping away the remaining wetness from her eyes and face with her hand. "Yeah, mine too," she said with a tiny smile, "but I warned you, I can be annoyingly persistent."
Ilia's body shuddered, in what could have been a laugh, a sob, or a mixture of both, before she finally turned to face the other faunus.
As soon as Carmella saw the expression on the spotted girls face, she felt her chest swell. In all her life, the young faunus had never seen such a beautiful smile. Ilia's face was beaming, a distinct pinkness emanating from the spots on her face and arms, her pale blue eyes still gleaming from the tears she'd been hiding, shining brightly even in the dim bit of light being cast into the side street the two of them where standing in.
"Thanks, Carm," Ilia said, genuine relief in her voice.
So many emotions surged through the overwhelmed rabbit faunus in that moment. Joy was the most prominent, it felt like the clouds had split apart in the sky and the suns glow was radiating onto every part of Carmella's body just at the sight of the girl before her. There was even a little bit of pride in there too, pride in herself being able to be there for someone she'd already began to consider a friend. However, the rabbit girl couldn't deny the presence of a less positive emotion inside herself, a feeling of guilt.
The young faunus thought back to less than an hour ago, after they'd wrapped up training, when she'd been so concerned with getting to date Ilia that she'd completely ignored the feelings of the girl she was so infatuated with. She'd been so blind to the turmoil her teacher was going through, too focused on her own selfish, baser instincts. Granted there had been no way she could have known what was going on in the other faunus head -short of mind reading- but now that the chameleon girls insecurities were out in the open, that hardly seemed like an decent excuse. So all the brunette's positive feelings had a twinge of bitter sweetness to them, but nothing felt worse than the realization she came to next.
It hurt to admit it to herself, but Carmella knew that the last thing someone in Ilia's current headspace needed was to be dating anyone.
No, what the pony tailed faunus needed right now was people to be there for her, friends to support her on her new path, not the pressure and expectations a romantic relationship required. Carmella had been there before, rushed into things with someone, and it hadn't ended well.
So the rabbit faunus decided to do what was best for Ilia, put her feelings aside for now, and help her friend through this difficult time. She already owed the chameleon girl so much, this was the least she could do.
And maybe one day, when Ilia was in a more emotionally stable place... well, who knows what could happen...
Carmella smiled back at her friend, hopeful for their future.
Suddenly a low gurgle echoed in the silence of that special moment. Ilia's smile fell into shock, and then embarrassment.
The rabbit girl giggled lightly at the other faunus' stomach growling. "Right, well," Carmella said, hands on her hips, "I'm pretty sure we passed a couple of food trucks on our way here. I'm sure there has to be at least one or two of them that probably won't give us food poisoning."
Ilia smirked. "Sure, that sounds like a fair gamble." The two began walking side by side back onto the main streets of Mistral. "Maybe if we're lucky we'll even find one still serving breakfast."
Carmella laughed in response. "That's the spirit!"
The long eared faunus was still a little sad about how things had worked out, she still really liked Ilia, none of the things revealed today had done anything to change that. At the same time though, just being able to see the other faunus' mood improved so much was enough to chase any one of those dark clouds away. If this was to be her place in Ilia's life, then Carm was more that happy to fill it.
"Hey Carmella?" the lizard girl suddenly said.
"Hm?" Carm hummed in response.
The spotted girl seemed fidget a bit as she walked, before muttering, "You... were never easy for me to ignore..."
With that cryptic remark, Ilia sped up a bit, outpacing the rabbit faunus next to her as Carmella tried to process this. Then she noticed the glowing pink spots on the other girl as she passed by and the brunettes face lit up with happiness.
Carmella's parents had often tried to instill the old adage, 'Good things cone to those who wait' in there daughters head. However, the energetic rabbit faunus was never good at the whole 'waiting' part.
But in this case, Carm was more than willing to give this whole 'patience' thing a try.
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A/N- Alright that it! Like I said in the beginning part, I'll be taking a short break from this story to focus on my other one. But don't worry two whole people out there who read this, I'm sure the hiatus won't be any longer than the break I usually have between chapters!
I guess that's all. Oh wait! Remember to review! I love hearing from you guys!
Ok bye.