pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq
(Rosé PoV)
Cloud and I walked up to the enormous double doors in the keep. They were held apart by armed guards in old stately armor. It was more for show than out of any force. The real security guards were wearing suits and ties and were at the front gate. They'd searched Cloud but because of my status he was allowed to keep his pocket folder.
I guided him by the arm through the atrium and around a corner to a large open door vista with a lawn and shrubbery around the outside edges. There were fine tables strewn out in the fresh air and the walled garden had balconies looking over it from all sides. We were in the middle of the estate with chairs and full furnishings set out along with five open bars. Fireworks went off above. The second round of many which would be set off during the night. There was a place with many hundreds of chairs laid out in the garden before a marble amphitheater where the play would go on. Above us there was also seating on the balconies with the best views of the theater and stage. That's where we would be sitting when the time came for the play to start.
Cloud had his head on a swivel. Whatever he had been expecting it wasn't this. Young children dressed in little suits, dresses, or skirts played together in the gardens just as I had when I was younger at these events. Something of a blind eye was turned towards them so long as they behaved during dinner and the play. The enormous yard was open to the air and sky but the evening was cloudless and both moons were already overhead as the sun set and painted the sky in orange and red.
Cloud shuffled uncomfortably like he wasn't sure what to do with himself. Put this man in a life or death fight and he'd be fine. Have him wear a suit and attend a ball and that evidently set his teeth on edge. I guess you can't slice your way out of a gala. He might try, though.
"Drinks?" I asked. I wanted to put him more at ease and I knew that he was fond of substances.
He looked around and back to me from taking in the sight of all the noble ladies and gentlemen having conversations around the stretch of yard. Of course to call it a yard didn't do the enclosure of land justice. It was around six acres and had a stream and several ponds and fountains running through it. There was a large stone bridge at several points and cobblestone paths crisscrossed the greenery. There were massive rose bushes with other flowers lining the walkways and several pavilions of fine marble where the dining tables and chairs and open bars were browsed.
He gave me a firm nod. "Sure. Why not?"
I dragged him along the cobblestone path we exited the interior of the castle onto and led the way to the closest of the open bar pavilions. All the while I held his arm over my chest. Close to my breasts and so that his hand draped over my pelvis. I tried not to think about it too much as he let me pull him along. I could still taste his aura against mine. A loud buzz in the back of my skull that tingled pleasantly. Like if you shocked yourself but the sensation was relaxing. It was a dose of serotonin and dopamine right to the inside of my skull. I huffed out a breath but I only dragged in more of his aroma and that didn't help me relax very much.
"Princess," the bartender greeted me with a little bow. "How may I serve you?"
"A screwdriver, please," I managed. "Cloud?"
"Vodka on the rocks," he said. The bartender started working on mixing our drinks. Well, he was mixing mine at least. Cloud tended to come at drinking the way he did everything else: straight.
"Princess is that you?" I heard a voice from behind me and stifled a groan. I turned to see the old Baron of Feen. He was an uncle of mine and it wasn't that I disliked him in particular. I just had to put on a different face. He was slightly crooked standing up and was pushing sixty. He looked older than that and I knew why. It was because he was a smoker. His eyes were slightly yellow and his teeth were blackened near their bases in the way that some smokers could be if they took care of themselves in every other aspect of their lives. But they still smoked.
"Baron, it's good to see you again." I gave him a smile.
"Why? Look at you. You've become a woman since you left." Well, not yet. Fingers crossed that changes. "And who's this, then?"
I suppose it was hard to miss the way I was wrapped around Cloud. I held his arm close to my chest with both hands.
"Uncle, this is Cloud Strife. He trained me to be a huntress and he's a Professor at Beacon Academy."
Cloud held out a hand and my uncle took it in both of his. "A pleasure," Cloud greeted.
"I'm Baron Ferdinand Gartlee. At your service, at your service. What do you teach at Beacon? Might I ask?"
My uncle released Cloud's hand.
"I'm the newest combat professor."
"So young! Why, Glynda was young when she took up the position in her thirties. I still recall. How old are you, young sir hunter?"
"Twenty two," Cloud answered. "Or thereabouts. Oh, thank you." He said to the bartender when his drink was passed his way. I took my own in my left hand and held onto Cloud with my right.
"You must set the record. For the youngest Professor, I mean."
"Yeah. That's right." Cloud sipped on his drink. The ice clattered around in the glass. I pulled on mine as well. I could hardly taste the liquor.
"Where did you train?"
"Beacon. Until Black Out Day. Then I spent my early career fighting the Branwen Khanate in Anima and hunting big game over in that part of the world."
"Mistral. Such a beautiful country. I've always thought Valean Architecture left something to be desired after I visited Mistral."
"Depends on the level," Cloud granted.
"Ah, so you spent some time in the lower tiers, I did you?"
"A little bit. I hunted gang members down there for a spell," Cloud admitted. He took another drink and I realized he'd finished his. He set it on the bar behind him with a half turn. I sipped on my screwdriver at the reminder but tempered myself. He weighed more than twice what I did. He would be fine. I, on the other hand, could not afford to keep up with him.
"And then you returned to Vale from Mistral?" My uncle asked.
Cloud shook his head. "I spent a tour in the Atlas Special Forces first. Then I came back to Vale."
"A military man, then."
"Not so much really," Cloud shook his head. "It worked out for a time but I was never going to work for the Special Forces very long. Not long enough to make a career out of it, at any rate."
"Say, where did you say you were born?"
"Anima."
"You look Sanusi or Solitasan." My uncle observed.
"I'm not sure on my ethnicity specifically but it's mostly those two," Cloud agreed.
"And how exactly did you come to be the youngest Professor in Beacon's history?"
"I trained Rosé. The headmistress saw her in action and thought it made for a worthy resume."
"And on a first name basis with our darling Princess!"
"Uncle…" I protested lightly. Mostly because I had to.
"I suppose so… We became friends when I trained her for Beacon," Cloud coupled.
"You have had quite the career for someone so young. In and out of the Atlas Special forces already. You must have so many stories to tell."
"Some," Cloud granted noncommittally. "Bartender? Another, please. Thank you." I swallowed vodka and orange juice quietly.
"And now you're escorting my little niece. Well, not so little anymore. Is she? Ha! They grow old so fast. You lose track of them for a year or two and they sneak up on you. Bam! The stories I could tell you about her as a precious little girl running around the manor in Feen. Ever been to Feen? My boy?"
"Can't say I have," Cloud said. He turned around and picked up his drink and sipped on it more slowly this time. Last time he basically slammed it.
"Well, it's a quiet place. South of Vale. Decently sized. Fifty thousand or so souls and no more. You must know the kind of city."
"Sounds a stray like Winhill. Where I met Rosé."
"Just so. We haven't the need for hunters of your caliber. It's a peaceful place. We barely had to deal with the Branwens at all. Though I'm given to understand that Raven Branwen is now dead. Well, good riddance to bad rubbish. I heard the name of the fellow who killed her. It's on the tip of my tongue. Do either of you recall? You wouldn't happen to know, would you?"
"Uncle, Cloud was the one who killed Branwen," I smirked.
My uncle clutched at his chest. "Mercy me," he panted. "I beg your pardon. But I had no idea. You?"
"He keeps her sword on display in his office at Beacon," I informed him proudly. What? Cloud was a catch. Let me show off a little. Or else.
"Imagine that. Khagan Branwen's blade on your mantle. I'd quite like to see it some time."
"My office is open every day," Cloud murmured.
I glanced past my uncle. A group of girls was coming into the enormous yard. I recognized them all.
"Uncle, Cloud, won't you excuse me?" I asked.
Cloud nodded down at me and leaned on the bar.
"Of course. Of course. Well, it was a pleasure to meet you sir Cloud. My word, you must be the most talented huntsman of your generation."
"I'm in the discussion," Cloud agreed absently. Fucking asshole. He would know if he was it or not. He knew.
"What's this modesty?" My uncle exclaimed. "Why, at your age I was little more than-"
I released Cloud's arm and walked past my uncle. I moved in the direction of my old friends. They were noblemen's daughters one and all. Aquamarine, Indigo, Carmine, and Sepia. Sepia rushed at me and gave me a tight hug as I approached her.
"Oh! It's so good to see you!" The brown eyed girl chimed up at me. "Where did they send you off to after the attack again?"
"Winhill," I told her. "I haven't seen any of you in years!"
Indigo and Carmine exchanged hugs with me and guarded giggles and Aquamarine kissed my cheeks and I kissed hers.
"When did you get back and why is this the first time I'm seeing you?" Aquamarine asked. Her father was a baron who lived in Vale.
I sighed. "That's really my fault. I have been busy."
"I saw you compete in a tournament," Indigo accused. "What's the matter, didn't you have time to stop by and meet with old friends?" Her mother was a countess who also managed part of Vale. The other two lived nearby but not in the city, Carmine and Sepia that was.
"Well I got into Beacon. I became a huntress. I'm still training but I have aura and a weapon now. My life has been a bit of a blur to be completely honest. So much has happened to me since I last saw you and since Black Out Day."
"We weren't sure you would show up," Carmine confessed.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Well you never really liked these little get togethers," Carmine pressed. "Plus, you know…"
"The sausage fest between the boys of 'who gets to dance with the Princess this year,'" Indigo said. "You always hated that."
"It's fun to watch, though. I'm looking forward to seeing the scramble," Sepia chorused.
"What makes you all think I'm unescorted?" I wondered openly.
"You? Please," Aquamarine waved off.
"Wait, did you get one of the boys?" Carmine whispered. "Who was it?"
"Did you ask him or did he ask you?" Indigo wondered for the juicy details.
"I didn't ask one of the boys. You know how they are. They're just boys."
"So the scramble is on!" Little Sepia grinned. "Let the rat race commence."
"Not this year," I waved a finger at her and tutted. "Boys our age can take a hike."
"True that," Carmine agreed.
"You have an escort then? For real?" Aquamarine asked.
I turned around and pointed at Cloud where he stood in the marble pavilion closest to us. "The tall, blonde, huntsman with the piercings talking to my uncle. Down by the bar."
"You have too many uncles. Narrow it down for me," Sepia whined. She stood up on her tiptoes to peer down at where I pointed. She was like four-two compared with Aquamarine's five-ten.
"The only one in sight and where I'm pointing. The Baron of Feen," I told her exasperatedly.
"With the blue shirt?" Carmine asked.
"I think I see him," Aquamarine decided.
"You'd know if you saw him," I mumbled. Cloud was like that.
"The cute one with the spikey hair?" Indigo asked. "Him?"
"That's the one."
"What's his name?" Carmine asked.
"Cloud Strife."
"Oooh," Sepia hummed. "That's a pretty name. 'Cloud.' Where'd you find him?"
"He came through Winhill and he took me on as his apprentice. He trained me to be a huntress."
"How old is he?" Aquamarine stared down at the pavilion. She was the tallest and she peered over our heads.
"Twenty two."
"Nice," Indigo murmured. "Who doesn't like older guys?"
"I know, right?" I giggled.
"Scandalous of you. Does your brother know?" Carmine wondered.
"Know what exactly?" I shot back. I needed details.
"That you're escorted by a guy older than he is," she answered.
"I dunno, is my brother here? He might be at Beacon still. He knows about Cloud and that Cloud trained me. He wasn't happy but Cloud knocked him around when they first met."
"He did what?" Indigo asked. I nodded.
"It was at that tournament I went to. Chrome started a fist fight with Cloud and Cloud didn't know who he was and slapped Chrome around. Chrome was all 'you can't train my little sister,' and Cloud threw him to the ground and kicked him in the head. He floored him and Chrome said 'you'll regret that' and Cloud was all 'that was just a love tap.' True story. Now Cloud's training Chrome and me at Beacon. He's the combat Professor there now."
"Wow…" Sepia trailed.
"Isn't he young for that?" Aquamarine pressed.
"The youngest to ever do it," I answered. "He served in the Atlas Special Forces for a while. He hunts down serial killers and bandits. He killed Raven Branwen and Adam Taurus."
"Yowza, and you just found this guy?" Carmine looked at me bewildered. "What's Chrome going to do when he finds out you're being escorted by him?"
"Let Chrome soak his head. What's he gonna do?" I wondered. "Seriously. He'd need an army to make Cloud think twice."
"What are you gonna do with him?" Indigo asked. "I know what I'd be doing with a guy like that…"
"Well, you never know... Five years sounds like a lot right now but by the time I graduate we will basically be the same age…"
"Are you serious?" Sepia's jaw dropped.
"Come on. Guys our age don't know how to touch us. They don't know how to treat us," I quoted Peach.
"You are serious…" Sepia realized.
"Do your parents know?" Carmine asked.
"Know what? That if Cloud asked me nicely I'd pretty much let him bend me over pretty much whatever he wanted to? No, they have no idea." I took a long drink of my screwdriver and finished it off. I gasped off the alcohol.
"You're the Princess!" Aquamarine protested. "You can't say stuff like that? You can't give it up that easily."
"'Easily,'" I parroted. "Why not? He doesn't play politics or fuck around and he's serious business. He's, like, an actual man. Not like the boys our age. He showed me how to kill monsters. He hunts the most dangerous game in the world like Raven Branwen, Adam Taurus, and other aura-monger serial killers. He's a living legend now and if he's not already he will be soon. He's the most powerful man in the world."
"Your dad's the most powerful man in the world," Aquamarine made the attempt at reminding me.
"My dad wishes," I scoffed. The king of Vale was an empty throne. The council had all the real power over the state affairs and any grasp my family had was symbolic at best.
"Rosé!" Sepia gasped.
"If Cloud wanted to he could rip the roof off this castle like a tin can. My dad doesn't even have aura. No, it's Cloud or General Ironwood. And General Ironwood has two council seats, aura, and an army. Cloud is the most powerful huntsman of the past one hundred years and he's only just getting started. He's still so young."
"You have got it bad, sister," Carmine informed me.
"I know right?" I grinned. "You guys haven't even tasted his aura yet. It's like… it's like being set on fire if being set on fire felt good. And when he touches me and I feel his aura against mine it just feels so right."
"Rosé!" Sepia gasped again. She flushed red.
"You can't do this," Aquamarine said.
"I totally can," I disagreed. "And if he decides he can't keep his hands to himself tonight I'm so ready for that, too." I finished lightly. "I mean, all the better if he's that hungry for me."
"Rosé!" Sepia was so red I thought she might melt. I bent and laughed at the expression on her face.
"Well why not?" I wondered.
"Because you're the Princess," Aquamarine reminded.
"Cloud doesn't care," I returned. "And what are you going to do? Run and grab that guy who could stop him? What was their name again? Maybe General Ironwood? And what's the big deal? I'm legal and very, very possible for him."
"Think of the consequences?" Carmine tried.
"I don't know… if she doesn't eat him, then I might," Indigo nodded in her purple dress.
"Back off. A: I saw him first. B: I will put his dick in my mouth," I countered. I grinned at them with a little wink.
"Rosé!" Sepia swayed and looked fit to collapse.
I felt it without turning when Cloud started walking my way from the bar. I craned my neck around. My uncle had finished the conversation and Cloud was making his way over to me with a slow smooth swagger. He was on his third drink. But I trusted him to handle his liquor.
"Here he comes," Indigo whispered.
"Oh, wow," Sepia mumbled.
"With the piercings and the hair," Carmine agreed. Then she whistled lowly.
"You taste that?" I asked. Referring to his aura. He had a lot of it. And you know what they said about guys with big aura. Well I knew. And if he had a length to match, maybe I was in trouble tonight.
"No," Sepia said.
"Huh-uh," Indigo denied.
Aquamarine just shook her head.
"Give it a minute," I suggested.
He came up to us easily enough and took a swallow of some of his drink. He glanced upward at the balcony above us as he approached. Then his eyes swept back to me. "Rosé," his voice came out rich and dulcet. "You tossed me to that old dog back there just to chat up your friends," he smiled gently to let me know he was kidding.
"Oh. Now I taste it," Sepia murmured.
"Pardon?" Cloud asked.
Sepia squeaked. Cloud gave her a look like she was a bit odd but then his eyes flickered over to me.
"It was nothing you couldn't handle," I smiled back up at him. "Cloud, this is Aquamarine, Indigo, Carmine, and Sepia." I pointed to each of them.
Cloud held out one of his giant hands and bent down a little to greet even tall Aquamarine.
"A pleasure," he said, shaking each of their hands with a small smile.
"Rosé's been telling us all about you," Carmine smirked.
"I…I certainly hope not," Cloud hesitated, shaking his head. Okay fair cop.
"Just about your career so far," Aquamarine recovered for me. She was a sister.
"I really didn't serve in the Special Forces that long," Cloud sighed.
"Not that, Raven Branwen and Adam Taurus," Carmine said.
"Oh?" Cloud asked. He took a sip of his drink. "They both had to go down," he turned the word into a low groan that I could want to hear more of. Maybe I could want more of that sort of noise. Who was to say?
"And you just happened to be in the right place at the right time?" Indigo wondered.
"Well, I set traps for them both. Ambushed Adam Taurus where he was hiding out in a warehouse down in Mantle. And I lured out Raven Branwen by threatening to kill one of her lieutenants. I wasn't sure that would work for baiting her along. She had to think she could beat me because we'd crossed paths before in Anima near this little town called Wutai and we were pretty evenly matched at the time."
"How'd you make her think that she could beat you?" Carmine asked.
"Raven Branwen used a katana which cycled through blades of different dust alloys. She came at me with a blade of white dust. She used it on me but it wasn't enough to kill me. Her trump card failed. So I won." He drank a little.
"And Adam Taurus?" Aquamarine asked.
"My semblance is an Alexandria package. Flight, strength, speed, and a bit more of a grab-bag with a Breaker state. He couldn't keep up with my ability to fly and my strength. I penned him in and shut him down. He almost killed me once when we'd clashed before then. He got lucky but he did almost get me when we first fought. That was in Atlas but before I was with the Special Forces."
"Wow," Sepia breathed.
"He has their weapons on display in his office," I bragged. "Adam Taurus, Raven Branwen, and who were the other two? The woman who killed Ozpin and who else?"
"Cinder Fall. Tyrian Callows. That one… those ones were personal. Callows was this serial killer I ran into in Anima. He almost killed me when we first met. I was… about nineteen then? It was roughly ten months after Black Out Day. He kicked my ass. He butchered me. I almost died from the wounds. Then I ran into him in Atlas but by then I'd come into nearly my full power. I killed him there in the streets."
"What did he do to you?" Indigo wondered.
Cloud reached down and lifted up his shirt. You could see his abs and the beginnings of his pecks and the 'v' of his adonis belt. I flushed but didn't look away from where that drew my eyes for a moment. There were two bifurcating scars on his stomach and another laceration to his right side near his ribs. "These are from Tyrian. This long one is from Taurus." He dropped his shirt and tucked it back in under his slacks.
"How are you alive?" Sepia asked bewildered.
"I probably should be dead. I almost died a lot," he agreed. "Like so much."
"You're lucky," Carmine mumbled.
"I… I wouldn't say that," Cloud disagreed this time. He took another smooth drink.
I fell back towards him and bumped into his chest. He caught me around the waist and looked down at me.
"What are you doin'?" He asked with his eyes sparkling into mine as I craned my head back up to look at him.
I giggled into my hand in a pointless attempt to hide it.
"I feel sleepy," I told him in a murmur. I tried to make it sound sultry but I don't know if it came across that way.
"Did you finish that whole screwdriver? I thought you knew alcohol just makes you tired," he shot back. He propped me up a little better so my head laid against his chest. His aura was rubbing me in all the right places. It was all around me and I breathed it in.
"I might sleep through the play…" I agreed.
"Which comes first? Dinner or the play?" He asked.
"The play," Indigo and Aquamarine said together.
Cloud exhaled. "Whew… well, if any more members of your family show up to talk to me I'm going to need a couple more shooters."
"My family isn't that bad," I dismissed. "They just like to chat."
"You two seem close," Sepia observed. She was a tiny thing. Way down there.
"We're friends," Cloud agreed readily. "We got fairly close while I trained her for Beacon."
"But then you stayed with her…" Aquamarine trailed.
"Well, there are benefits to Beacon. The headmistress is a definite perk. The pay is good. And I liked training Rosé. It's so easy to kill stuff and take evil out of the world but it's much harder to add something worthwhile. It's the exact sort of good I want to do before I kick the bucket."
"You're dying?" Indigo pressed.
"Well, it's a touch more complicated than that. It's only a matter… Well, when the Vale council gets a hold of my Atlas Special Forces power ratings they're going to start wondering what I'm doing collecting dust teaching."
"How high do you rate?" Carmine wondered.
"Pretty damn high. Rosé, do you mind?" I did actually mind. I got off of him with a sigh. I'd had my eyes shut and I was just letting his aura take me. "Thanks," he said. No, bad Cloud. You're supposed to want me on you. "I…I see your parents coming this way," Cloud mumbled.
My friends turned around to see the King and Queen walking our way under the balconies and orthogonal to the path which led to the closest bar.
"We had better get going," Indigo decided.
Carmine nodded.
"It was nice meeting you, Cloud," Aquamarine gave him a little wave.
"Goodbye," Sepia valedicted.
They turned down the path and away from us.
Cloud started walking away towards the bar. "Cloud!" I protested.
"I'll be right back. I'm just getting another drink," he waved me off.
I turned to face my parents as he walked down the cobblestone steps.
pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq
-WG