Sitting back to back on the sandy shore, Gurin and Kagami were quietly talking together. Both of them were exhausted at this point and were honestly struggling to not fall asleep.
"Is this what a Huntress' life is always like?" The younger jadette asked. "Do you almost die like this everyday?"
"No. No, no. Definitely not." Kagami shook her head with a yawn. "This was a bigger adventure than I was expecting."
"Hmm." She slowly tilted her head back and closed her eyes. "I'm hungry." She mumbled as her stomach loudly grumbled.
Her older sister quietly laughed back. "You know, so am I." She glanced over her shoulder with a small smile. "I could eat a couple bowls of ramen."
"Mhm. Noodles sound so good." Gurin smiled. She leaned back a little more before slipping away from her sister. Her back hit the sand and she let out a grunt. "Ugh." She complained rather monotonely but other than that she didn't even bother moving.
"Heh." The older jadette smiled down at her. "Don't get too much sand in your hair." She reached over to brush some green strands out of her face.
"Shut up!" She groaned loudly before pushing her away.
With every muscle in her body sore and aching, she didn't even try to resist. Gravity pulled her down and her back hit the sand. She heavily exhaled before looking up at the sky.
The sun was up now and the sky was a bright shade of blue. It should have been clear skies, but the smoke from the city was like clouds in the sky. Hearing birds chirping in the distance, she closed her eyes. Slowly, she breathed in and out.
"Kagami...?" Her little sister tiredly spoke.
"Yeah, Gurin?" She shifted her head slightly.
Moving a bit, the little girl reached over and grabbed her hand. Softly squeezing, she closed her eyes. "You're the best big sister..."
Smiling, she squeezed her smaller hand back. "Thanks." She mumbled. "That means a lot."
With the sound of wind softly whistling in their ears, both girls dozed off momentarily. Both were quickly woken up though by the sound of shouting.
"Kagamiii!"
The older jadette's eyes shot wide. She didn't even need to look to know who it was. She knew the voice. She went to roll away but having just woken up, she was too slow and a body landed on top of her. Heavily grunting, she winced while closing one eye. "Elise!" She hissed while squirming.
"Don't you ever do that again!!" The brunet clung to her with tears in her eyes. "Do you understand?!" She held onto her tighter. "I thought..." Her voice cracked.
Blinking, Kagami's expression softened. "I'm sorry I made you worry." She pushed herself up slightly before wrapping her arms around her and hugging her tight.
"Oh." Elise blinked back before smiling slightly. Closing her eyes, she held her tightly back. "Just... don't do something that dumb again. Okay?" She clenched her eyes closed tighter. "I don't know what I would do if you..." She couldn't even bring herself to say it.
"I won't. I promise." She gently rubbed her back.
"Yeah, you better not." Kris smiled while walking over with her hands behind her head. "Not without us, that is." She then lowered her arms and glanced away. "I am glad you're okay though."
"As am I." Cheyenne nodded towards her leader while nervously tugging at her friendship bracelet. "I still can't believe it just walked away after everything."
"I know." Kagami nodded softly while Elise finally pulled away from their hug. "I'm just grateful it did. I don't know what we would have done if it didn't."
"There's still plenty to be done." Midori walked over while picking up a very sleepy Gurin. "The city is in shambles and we don't even have power yet. Not to mention all the injured."
"She's right." Aero agreed. "We should start-" She grunted loudly as her injured arm was hit.
"But first all of you should sleep." Eleanor crossed her arms while eyeing the four girls. "All of you deserve it. And you can help more when you're fully rested."
"I know I could use a long nap." Kagami nodded slowly before pushing herself up to her feet. Glancing at Elise, she held out her hand. "And I'm sure you need something to eat." She smiled.
"Always." She grabbed her hand back while being helped to her feet. "If you thought I could eat a lot before then you're in for a surprise now." She quietly chuckled.
Before anyone else could say anything, Baren quickly walked up. Her sandals dug deep into the sand with each step. Reaching out with her wooden arm, she snatched Kagami by her collar. She twisted her body slightly while gripping tighter with her wooden fingers. "DON'T EVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN!" She shouted loud enough to wake the dead. With a single step, she flung the jadette over her shoulder and into the ocean.
Staring, Gurin watched as her sister disappeared under the water with a splash. "Kagami!" She took a deep breath before teleporting away.
Blinking slowly, the old warrior exhaled. "Well she was going to get thrown in too. Saved me the trouble." She turned around while eyeing Midori. "Your children are drowning." She narrowed her eyes before slowly beginning to walk away.
Staring dumbfounded, the former Huntress quickly looked between her old teacher and the ocean. Taking a deep breath, she reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. She closed her eyes for a moment before looking up with slightly darker eyes. In an instant, she was gone and a moment later she reappeared soaking wet with Gurin in one hand and Kagami in the other. Letting go of both of them, she quickly walked after the pinkette. "Now you listen to me! You can't throw my kids into the water to drown!"
"Would you rather I threw you?" She glanced over her shoulder and glared between strands of her hair.
Freezing in place, Midori gulped and took a small step back.
"That's what I thought." Baren mumbled before turning away.
Catching her breath, Kagami sat on the sand with her knees up. "Okay..." She gently waved her hand. "I think I deserved it that time." She weakly laughed before reaching up to squeeze the water from her hair.
"What... What was that for?" Gurin coughed slightly before shaking her head.
"It's..." Her sister shook her head. "It's just how she does things. The water is our only weakness after all." She sighed while slouching. "You'll get used to it."
"I will never get used to it." Elise grumbled with crossed arms.
"So you're going to tell Baren to stop being Baren?" Kris raised an eyebrow.
Groaning loudly, the brunet sunk her head between her shoulders. "No..."
Smiling a bit, Cheyenne stepped over to help Gurin to her feet. "Come on. Let's go get some rest."
"Yeah." Kagami took a deep breath as she pushed herself up with a grunt. Blinking a little, she noticed a few lights flicking in the city before they all slowly began to turn on. "What?" Her brow furrowed. "How did that happen?"
Earlier, while the chaos was still continuing, Aza closely watched the door to a maintenance room in a power plant on the southern side of Vytal. Holding his butcher's knife up, he held his ground despite nothing coming in.
The building had been abandoned when evacuations took place. Everyone had gone further south towards the country for safety. Someone needed to get the power back on though.
"How ya doing?" The blonde chef called out.
"Wonderful, dad!" Kuro replied with an uneasy smile. He was doing his best to make sense of all the buttons and switches and levers across the control panel, but none of it made any sense even to him.
"You don't know what you're doing, do you?" Kit quietly asked with a small gulp.
"No..." He dropped his head. Feeling the ground tremble from the enourmess Grimm, he clenched his jaw and dug his nails into his palms. "I don't."
Taking a deep breath, the small blonde stepped over. Reaching up, she shakily grabbed his hand. "It's okay. I don't know how to do a lot of things either. But Baren believes in you. And she believes in me. So I hope she's not wrong."
"Yeah, well, that doesn't help me here." He slumped over the panel. "It doesn't matter how much someone believes in me. If I can't, I can't do something." Gritting his teeth, he struck the panel and groaned.
Kit jumped and flinched back at his rapid movement. After steadying her breathing, she stepped back up. "Maybe you're just overthinking it then?" She quietly suggested. "Maybe take a step back and breathe?"
"And how will that help?!" He turned his head to glare at her. He swiped his hand across the control panel, hitting everything he could as he did so. "Huh?!" He snapped before suddenly taking a small step back.
"I-I don't know!" Kit trembled while closing her eyes. "I was just trying to encourage you!"
"Do you see it?" He suddenly asked with a much more quiet tone.
"Huh?" She glanced up at him. Blinking, she looked around. "What are you talking about?"
"You don't see it?" He sounded even more confused.
Raising an eyebrow, she looked around the abandoned room. There was nothing there besides them and the controls for the power. "I don't know what you're talking about." She mumbled.
"It's... everywhere. It came from the panel when I hit it." He took a step and moved his hand through one of many black holographic screens around him. "Do you really not see it?"
Seeing his hand go through the air, she shook her head. "No?"
"What the hell then..?" Kuro exhaled. Swiping through the different holograms, his eyes began to widen as he came across blueprints and designs. "Wait. Wait. I know what this is." He turned around while moving through several files floating in the air. "I know exactly what these are!"
"I'm sorry... what?" Kit's voice cracked a bit as she watched the older boy mindlessly move his hands through the air. "What?"
"Hold on. Quiet. Shut up!" He narrowed his eyes before pulling several levers on the control panel. "And then over here." He scrambled on his feet and practically fell as he hurried towards the power plant's mainframe. Once inside, he began zipping around like a mad man.
"Oi... is he alright?" Aza asked as he stepped over. "I know he's a weird kid but..."
"I have no idea." Kit swallowed. Looking up at him, she gulped and took a small step closer towards him. "He didn't know what he was doing before. But now it's like he can see everything. I don't know how."
"We'll... figure it out later then." He glanced down at her as a few lights began to flicker and power on. "Later."
Team MACE slept the rest of the day and well into the night. It wasn't until early the next morning did Kagami begin to stir. Groaning painfully, she rolled over onto her back. Her friends and her had pushed everything out of the way in her parent's living room and threw enough blankets to make a bed on the floor. And then slept on that. It wasn't pretty, but no one wanted to pick up Gurin or Kuro's room after everything had fallen over.
The jadette went to get up only to wince and fall back down. Taking a few deep breaths, she closed her eyes. She waited a moment before rolling over onto her stomach. Pushing herself onto her hands and knees, she groaned. Everything still hurt. Inhaling, she slowly stood up with a blanket over her shoulders. She stood still for a moment before glancing towards the kitchen. She blinked a little before sighing.
"Screw it." She huffed before falling backwards onto the pile of blankets.
"I know." Cheyenne mumbled while curled up. "I've been wanting to go make some coffee for at least an hour. I don't think I'm getting up anytime soon..."
"Heh." Kagami quietly laughed while moving her head to look over. "I wanted some tea. But I don't have the strength."
"Yeah." She laughed back. Opening her eyes, she glanced at Elise who was loudly snoring. Even an alarm blaring in her ear wouldn't wake her up. She was dead asleep. "We overdid it this time."
"We really did." She furrowed her brow a bit. "Do you think we should have continued training at an academy?" She suddenly asked while shifting. "Do you think we were ready for something like this?"
"I don't even think veteran Huntsmen would be ready for something like this." The Faunus swallowed. The Leviathan was still haunting her each time she closed her eyes.
"But if we went to an academy, could we have saved more people?"
"If we had gone to an academy, we wouldn't be here." Cheyenne looked over. "And that thing would still be rampaging." Her brow furrowed. "What's bothering you?"
"Nothing." Kagami was quick to reply. Shifting under her blanket, she fiddled with a pair of dog tags. "Nothing at all."
She frowned. "Kagami...?"
The jadette sighed. "Okay. So I'm not fine." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "A lot of people died. A lot, a lot of people. A lot of good people."
"Hey." Kris suddenly spoke up while lightly kicking her leader. "It's okay. I'm not fine either." She groggily mumbled. "I really wish I could have done more."
"I think we all do." Cheyenne took a deep breath. "We can't let ourselves be stuck on this though. If we do, we'll miss out on everything we can do now. We'll miss all the people we can still help. We have to keep moving forward."
"Not out of guilt for surviving, but as a promise to those you've lost." Midori added as she walked by the group of girls. Eyeing her daughter, she smiled softly. "I'll make all of you breakfast. Keep resting." She nodded before heading towards the kitchen.
"Thanks, mom." Kagami softly spoke while leaning back. Seeing the pair of katanas on her mother's hip, she smiled brightly to herself.