Sitting in a chair, Aero was hunched over a table. Her right hand propping up her chin as she stared down at a cup of hot chocolate. Strands of her blue hair were wrapped all across her cheeks and neck, slightly dancing across her eyes. With a sigh, she spun a thin maroon colored stirring straw around in the cup over and over until she stopped, letting go of the straw. She watched it spin around, waiting till it stopped and the white foam reappeared on the surface of the drink.
Leaning back, she looked across the table at the group of four young girls glaring over in her direction. She flinched, her head lowering some as she formed a faint smile. "Sheesh, talk about a tough crowed."
Glaring harshly and in a protective way, Kris had her eyes locked on the woman, her jaw tense. Having her spy on her and not to mention the Fall of Beacon had been enough. She did not need some lady walking up and saying she was on a team with two of her best friends' mothers.
"Well," Elise took a deeo breath, leaning back in her seat. She was still having trouble processing her mother as a fighter. Her mother had always been against fighting, even teaching Elise from a young age that it was wrong to hurt someone. She couldn't picture it. "Are you going to explain or what? If someone needs to break the ice, I glady will." She pulled an arm up, pointing her thumb at herself.
Aero gave another sigh, leaning forward. She rested her elbows on the table. After a few seconds of a serious look, she flashed a smile before chuckling. She leaned back, nearly dying of laughter. "You guys are so much like them! It's the best!"
"Huh..." Cheyenne raised a hand, slowly lowering it with a blank face. Of all the responses from a woman that the Faunus imagined, this was definitely not one of them.
As the blue haired woman continued to laugh, Kagami took a very deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. "This is ridiculous..." She muttered to herself. Though, from every little detail from her mother saying she was a part of a team and Elise having learned her how to make her mother's healing tea from her own mother and most importantly the mere fact she knew of the Monomane clan, it all somehow fit together in her mind.
"Sorry... sorry..." Aero took a deep breath, calming herself as she rubbed her eyes. She shook her head some, taking another deep breath before leaning onto the table. This time, she softly smiled. "It's just... it's been so long since I've seen Eleanor's and Midori's death glares. Ruthless hell bound beast they were." She smiled a little more, staring down at her coffee. "Anyway," She slowly looked back up, leaning back. "Y'all want some answers."
"Damn well we do!" Elise snapped, slamming her fist down onto the table. "I am getting tired of your stalling!"
She chuckled, brushing some of her blue hair behind her ear with a smile. "Alright, alright." She nodded, reaching down towards her backpack. After a moment, she pulled out one of the largest books any of the girls had ever seen.
"When I was younger, I use to have memory issues. Dad always said it was because mom dropped me on the head when she was trying to feed me and cook for him," She chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. "But I swear, mom and I both agree that he was pushing me in a stroller one nice day and he hit a crack in the sidewalk and I just flipped out."
"On with it." Kris rolled her eyes, waving her hand.
Aero smirked, glancing at her before winking.
The red head flinched back, her eye twitching slightly. "G-Go on! Dumb ass!" She felt herself becoming flustered.
The woman smiled, leaning forward and tapping the top of the book with her left pointer finger. It was far beyond old, the pages burned yellow by age. The outer cover was a dark green, covered up by strips of dark brown leather. It was still worn down, some of the stitching torn out and colors faded in places.
"There is a thousand pages in this book." She tapped it again. "Though..." Her head lowered some. "I was only able to write on nine hundred and fourteen of those pages..." She leaned back, her arms crossing. "See, my mom wanted to know everything that happened when I went to Beacon, but with my poor memory, she thought of the idea of having me write a diary entry for each day. All in all, it honestly helped with my memory." She looked down at the book, slowly leaning back.
"What's inside that dairy... is utter madness..." She sighed, a hand reaching up and grabbing the panda charm on her necklace. "Oz said not to tell you guys anything... but... I just needed to make sure you four were alright after a battle like that..." She shook her head. "Some teams fall apart after major battles that define them..." She trailed off, letting silence fall.
Feeling her eyes sting, Aero had to take several seconds, taking a deep breath. After a moment, she gulped and looked up. She tapped at the book again."This... holds every day from the time I first stepped into Beacon and up until... the last moments of my team..."
"What happened?" Kagami spoke up in a hushed voice, looking up at the woman.
The blue haired woman cracked a small smile, it quivering before falling apart. Her jaw tightened, her head lowering down. "I messed up... that's what I did..." She gulped, wrapping her arms around herself before leaning her forehead onto the table. Birds chirped in the distance before Aero screamed at the top of her lungs, yelling the before sentence but with a certain four letter word, the worst four letter word, in place of the word messed, that made each of the girls flinch away slightly.
Grinding her teeth together, Aero's left hand was gripping her shoulder tight. Her fingers were digging into her soft flesh yet she didn't seem to notice the own pain she was causing herself. With her heart racing, she shut her eyes, her body beginning to tremble. Flashbacks of the last day she spent with her team overran her mind, a rush of terror overcoming her.
After a moment, the woman flinched, a hand grabbing her left hand. Her eyes shot open, her breathing heavy as sweat dripped off her nose. Slowly, she looked up, gulping with her mouth slightly opened.
Standing at her side, Kagami seemed rather worried, her hand tightening slightly around Aero's. It didn't matter who this woman was, when someone was in distress, Kagami couldn't resist the urge to help them.
She gave a slow nod, half smiling. "The past is the past, you don't have to worry about it. Whatever happened that day, it's not going to harm you again."
The blue haired woman softly chuckled, pulling her hand back. "That would work if I wasn't trying to track down those bastards."
"Oh for the love of..." Kris rubbed her face, shaking it as she looked down.
Kagami herself blinked a few times before shaking her head and taking her seat once again."Well, if you're alright now, I'd like to know exactly what happened."
"Well..." Aero leaned back, picking up her cup of hot chocolate and holding it close. "Twenty three years ago, I came to Beacon. Though... the four years that followed that were nothing as I had planned." She faintly smiled. "I had always wanted to travel and help out anyone I could, human or Faunus." She gave a small shrug before chuckling. "Though, I don't think I was considered the most ethical person. Pretty sure I slept with every man that was at Beacon in the four years I was there."
"Oh for the love of..." Cheyenne was to speak this time, lowering her head as she pinched her nose and shut her eyes.
"What?" The woman gave a shrug, laughing slightly. "Now that I think about it, it was the worst idea I ever had, but it made sense when I was younger."
"And what possible reason could that havd been?" The Faunus shook her head, looking up.
"Well..." She sighed, looking up at the sky. "It was never for attention, my parents loved me enough and I had tons of friends. You see..." She watched a bird fly across the sky before looking down at her hot chocolate. "Around the time I was fifteen... while I was hanging out with a few friends and was watching these shirtless guys spar... they all seemed to be happy watching them and I... I just didn't understand." She looked up, taking a deep breath.
"It took me a bit," She smiled faintly. "But I eventually realized I didn't feel the same way towards guys as normal girls my age did. So my stupid young mind tried to fix that by having sex with every bloody man I could." She shook her head some, sinking deep into her seat. "When I finally did start to have feelings for someone... they weren't someone I wanted the world to see me with..." She looked down. "So... I never told her... and I let them kill her..."
Silence fell again, neither of the four girls willing to speak up for once. For once, in a very long time, neither of them had the nerve to speak, not even utter a single word. Birds simply chirped, clouds rolling by up above as a cool gust of wind blew through.
After well over five minutes, Kagami took a deep breath, breaking the awkward silence. "The woman, was it the person named Cherry that you mentioned before?"
Aero slowly nodded, looking up. "She was... amazing in all fairness. While I was running off with as many men as I could, Midori and Eleanor would be bickering non-stop. The two were like boiling oil and ice cold water. Eleanor couldn't go five seconds without nagging Midori and Midori couldn't go five seconds without doing something that ticked Eleanor off."
She started to chuckle some. "But Cherry was always calm. No matter the madness that happened within our dorm room, she would sit there and meditate as if she was sitting in silence... and every now and then she would speak up and give some deep and poetic advice that we rarely listened too. And to make her even better!" She slammed her fist on the table.. "Cherry was a shapeshifting Faunus! Though, as a child, she could never master her shifting ability so her father had special people creare a little panda pin that would stop her from changing suddenly and uncontrollably. Oh, by the way," She waved them off. "She would transform into a giant freaking panda and it was great. Though she tried to keep it a secret. I wouldn't blame her. I wouldn't want someone seeing me at over two hundred pounds."
She then reached out, pointing towards Kagami. "Don't get me wrong though, your mother was amazing. She had a pair of katanas that were basically magic. They were realy cool. And she could wield a katana with one hand." The woman began to smile wide, her hands outstretched in amazement. "Do you know how difficult it is to use a katana one handed, let alone wielding two in seperate hands? It's freaking amazing!"
She took a few breaths, calming herself yet still smiling. "And even though Eleanor and I questioned Oz's choices in making Midori the leader, Cherry always had faith. And in all honesty..." She smirked. "Cherry was right a hundred percent of the time. The two of us should have listened. Midori was..." She shook her head. "Midori was something else. She was always willing to fight. Even if she was hurt, she would always rise back up and fight to protect us when we were too tired or too hurt to do so. She was probably the best leader anyone could have asked for. She didn't take it as a high authority or as a title, she took the word leader as a shield for those she took into battle. She was spectacular."
She then reached over, letting out a deep huff of air as she pointed at Elise. "And Eleanor was the craziest ass bitch I have EVER met." She shook her head. "Someone could tell her to climb a wintery mountain and she would head right up there without any preparation or water or warmer clothes! And the thing is, she would always get to the top and climb back down with ease! She would jump from building to building! Lord Oum forbid, she once chased a bloody car down a highway!" She tossed her arms up. "The woman was a bloody mad man! She even got a tattoo of a snowy mountain with the moon and some clouds on her back from a homeless guy off the streets!"
Kris, Kagami, and Cheyenne all slowly looked over at Elise, blinking rapidly.
With her mind at an utter loss, the brunet slowly lifted a hand and placed it on the table. "Okay... see... one problem I have with all of this..." It wasn't the idea of her mother doing something dangerous or not preparing for a near fatal challenge, no, it was something far worse that puzzled her mind. Both her hands suddenly slammed on the table. "Mama wpuld NEVER in a million years get a tattoo!"
"Trust me," Aero gave a slow nod with a smile. "She was like that before it all went downhill."
"No way..." The young farm girl shook her head.
Smiling, the woman leaned forward. "Have you ever seen the very lower part of her back?"
Elise was quiet for a moment before she crossed her arms woth a pout. "Quiet, you."
Chuckling, Aero leaned back again. "Now, I'll admit, the first semester the four of us psent together, I was pretty sure one of us would wake up with a dead body in our room. But you know, small events in our lives change us." She smiled, taking a sip of her hot chocolate for once. "See, Cherry was unlike other girls. She came all the way from Mistral just to go to Beacon. She could have gone anywhere, she went to the most expensive comabt school and damn," She whistled. "Her father was loaded like mad. He was Mistral's greatest crime boss for a long time. It ran in the White family. People feared him and his lackies."
She grinned. "Big Bear was my favorite of his associates. He had a little sister too, her name was Little Bear. And well... to make a long story short," She rubbed the back of her head. "Cherry her father she was leader of the team. She came up with the name Team CAME, please don't quote that, and we all took a trip to her family over our mid-year break."
"And see..." She pointed at the ground. "People in Mistral aren't very nice to new comers. Not knowing who we were, this one gang tried to attack us for all the lien we had on us." She softly smiled. "That was the day the fighting and tensions dropped down greatly between my team. We couldn't win, we all knew this, but Midori always came up with insane plans. So..." Shd trailed off for a moment, almost reliving the memory.
"So Midori, being our leader, decided to make a decision that changed us all." She couldn't help but smile from ear to war. "We were running down an alley and the gang was catching up to us. Midori, she shoved the three of us in a dumpster before she went on running a little more. Now, she got caught, but the thing sas, those idiots thought we had ran on ahead. And you know what happened?" She looked up at the four girls. "A seventeen year old girl, someone the same age as me, went to trying go fight at least twent men who were armed with pipes and bars and Oum knows what else. Of course... she didn't when... but as she was getting herself pumbled into oblivion, Eleanor and I were both cowaring in trash. Comapred to her, we weren't worthy of being on the same team as her..." She trailed off again.
She took another deep breath, looking up. "Lucky for her though, a childhood friend of Cherry's showed up. Sakuya Aoigane I believe her name was. She reminded those jack asses that they weren't in their own territory and were looking for a gun fight. See, Cherry had been gone for so long, she hadn't known of the territory changes in Mistral. Her father had gained a hell of a lot more." She gave a nod, before softly chuckling. "The best thing was, when Midori stood back up, aside from a slim trail of red from the corner of her mouth, she was fine. She was bold and brave and had the strength to protect us. She was definitely the best choice for a leader."
"Well," Kagami gave a small shrug, smiling with her eyes shut. "I guess every Monomane has to take care of their idiot teammates."
"Aw, shut up!" Kris glared at her, nudging her softly.
"So you guys become a more connected team after that." Elise gave a very slow nod, looking uo at the blue haired woman. "So what ever happened with you guys? What... happened to Cherry?" She almost seemed reluctant to ask. "What happened to you? And what happened tp Kagami's mother and mama?"
"Well..." Aero licked her lips, looking down before looking back up and down again. She bit her lip hard, clutching the panda charm. "Ironically, on our five year anniversary of meeting each other at Beacon, nearly eighteen years ago, just like I said..." She looked up. "I fucked up."
The four girls stared at the woman for a moment before Kagami quietly spoke up, leaning over onto the table with one arm. "Explain, please."
"Well to put it as simple as I can..." Aero took a very deep breath, inhaling as much as she could. Her chest pushed outward till it seemed like her lungs were going to burst. She held her breath for a moment before she slowly exhaled, her shoulders dropping. "Even after we graduated, the rest and MACE and I still were a team and fighting as much injustice as we could. Well... we weren't really good at staying in one place. We decided to leave Vale and go to Vacuo for a while. Even decided to stop at Menagerie for a while. But..." She lowered her head down. "Then I said we should go to Mistral... and try to help with all the crime..."
She paused, grinding her teeth together. Her pupils began to dilate, her right shoulder aching like hell as she reached up and gripped it. She had to take several heavy breaths, her body trembling ever so slightly. It took her a while before she came back over herself, and none of the four girls dared to tell her to hurry.
"A-And..." She took a shaky breath. "Well... we got stuck... in the middle of a gang war... or a mafia war... or whatever the hell you think war... it was between the White family and Black family... those in Mistral named it it the Battle Of Yin And Yang..."
Aero shook her head, glancing up with a gulp. "It was one of the biggest crime boss wars in Mistral in a long time... and when Cherry found out about her father, she couldn't just run away and leave... her father did her best to convince her to leave, but it was no use... criminal or not... they were still family and she was determined to stand by her family's side... and so..." She chuckled softly. "Of course we had to stay too. We weren't going to let her fight all on her own. She was one of us now. Plus," She softly smiled. "I did have the strongest feelings for Cherry back then, I would have gone to the ends of Remnant and back for her..."
"So what exactly did you do that... caused everything to become so awful?" Elise nearly mumbled, her brows slightly furrowed.
"You know how things are," Aero glanced over at her. "See, we couldn't just let Cherry and her family down, so I came up with the worst thing I could have ever thought of." She leaned back, lowering her head as her arms wrapped around herself. "In a summary... Midori and Eleanor to agree to help me kidnap the son of the head of the Black family... it took some convincing, but I eventually got them to agree and... it all went south... we took him as a bargining card because the White family had always been on top and were suppose to stay there... but by taking the boy," She looked up. "All hell erupted. The two families immediately clashed, bloodshed all across both. My right shoulder was completely shattered, Eleanor watch horrors she could only imagine, and Midori... she tried so damn hard to protect us all... but in the end, she held Cherry's dying body in her arms..." She trailed off, her voice cracking.
She went to clutching her shoulder again, her fingers trembling as she inhaled a shaky breath. "I never... I never got to tell Cherry how I felt about her... and to this day it haunts me..." Her eyes teared up ever so slightly. "In the end, all of the White family was killed off, and the Black family had lost so many numbers they became a bandit group instead. I've been searching for the Black Clan for years... trying to avenge Cherry in some way... but it's so hard to find people who don't want to be found." She smiled some, chuckling softly. "Same goes for Eleanor and Midori. After the end of the Battle Of Yin And Yang had ended, they vanished without a single word... I've been searching for them since... they are little devils though..." She shook her head. "All I found was a grave marked for Cherry inside a cave where the four of us would hide and chill in while at Mistral. I assumed Midori was the cause of that. I got myself medical attention for my shoulder, but it took years for it to recover. It still messes up now and then. Shattering every bone... really isn't good..." She sighed, dropping her head,
After a moment of silence, she looked back up. She grabbed the necklace around her neck, lifting it up for the girls to see. "This was left on the grave. I don't know if Midori knew I would come or if she knew how I felt for Cherry, but it was there like it was waiting for me." She gave a soft smile, leaning forward. "So, there you go. The story of team MACE summed up. Our tragic friendship torn apart by a stupid mistake a made." She sighed, lowering her head as she pushed her age old diary forward. "I'll be here for a while though to help clear up Vale, don't know how much you'll see me, but you can take this and read it if you want."
Kagami and Elise both glanced at each other before Kagami nodded, out stretching an arm and pulling the thick book close. "Will do."
"So you've been searching for bandits and two women for eighteen years, huh?" Kris raised her eyebrows. "You are a pretty awful bounty hunter."
"Shut it, pip squeak!" Aero snapped, glaring over at her. "It's hard to find people who don't want to be found! And I was helping people too in my travels!"
"Do you still want to find them?" Elise raised her head, looking up at the blue haired woman. "Mama is pretty crazy still, but I'll help you meet her again if I could."
She blinked some, glancing over at the brunet. Slowly, she started to smile. "Really?"
"Sure thing." The young farm girl shrugged.
"Not sure if you'll want to go where mother is," Kagami looked up. "It's being overrun with hatred and madness and Atlas soldiers now, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind meeting you again."
"Why do you think they would even run away without a word?" Cheyenne quietly spoke up.
"Trauma, probably. It was most likely their way of coping with theall the madness and loss of a best friend." Aero took a deep breath. "They coped by running away. I coped by helping others."
The Faunus slowly nodded back, glancing downward. The next few minutes, Elise and Kagami both gave the where abouts of their mothers to Aero. Soon after, Aero took her leave, letting the four keep the legendary diary.
"You believe her?" Kagami finally spoke up after a while, glancing at Elise.
The brunet gave a nod, running a finger across the leather of the book. "I don't see why not."
"In all honesty," Kris spoke up. "I liked everything a lot better at the beginning of this year."
"Agreed." Kagami nodded.
"I second that." Cheyenne muttered in a hushed tone.
Giving a sigh, Elise let her fingers wrap around the front cover of the dairy, opening it up. "Might as well read some of it."
Kagami gave a soft smile, pulling the book close. "I honestly want to know what my mother was like before."
"I think ALL of us do now." Cheyenne leaned over onto Elise's shoulder.
"I couldn't have said it better myself." Kris added, leaning onto Kagami.
The jade haired girl flashed a smile, pulling the diary closer. "Just a little, I do want new clothes." She glanced down at Kris before over at Elise and Cheyenne. Her mother had lost her closest friends, but she was not going to let that happen her. The three of them meant far too much to her now.
She leaned back, her head tilting towards the first page of the book. Inscribed on the front page was as read:
To the greatest team in the world and the best friends in the world, Midori Monomane, Cherry White, and Eleanor Geel, I apologies for everything, but through this diary, I hope our legend lives on.
Elise questioned her mother's last name for a moment before she shook her head, coming to the conclusion she would have most likely have had changed it after the whole disaster. She reached over, flipping the page over. On the back of the front page was as followed:
"We all write and draw our own destiny, whether it is with gold, brown, black, white, or... red." ~~~ Aero Pastell