The closet was as strangely comfortable as it had always been, closed, suffocating and somewhat dark, the feeling of tranquility it transmitted to Myrian was certainly worrying considering that she was locked in, again, but she could always leave whenever she wanted.
Myrian Val, a little girl of just 7 years old with many dreams and ambitions, but without the courage to try to pursue them, and unfortunately for her, also without the support of her own parents.
"Do you know what a fucking torment it is to leave work to pick up your little problem just because you decided to go on a trip?" Van Adel's voice was easily audible throughout the mansion, although Myrian wished she couldn't hear it.
"It's our problem, Van, not just mine" Adelyn Val mocked her husband, though her gaze revealed how irritated she was "I just wanted to de-stress for a moment, Myrian is a good girl and doesn't get into trouble"
"Whether she's a good girl or not is the least of my concerns, we agreed that you would take care of her on weekdays" Van growled loudly, shuffling his feet across the floor of his daughter's room in search of something to de-stress with "This is a fucking pain…"
"I'm sorry I'm human and have needs" Adelyn made an exaggerated face, turning around and approaching the door "Fortunately, I'll be yours for the whole weekend… I'll be leaving in a few hours for Menagerie, I heard that the fauns are very affectionate with foreigners"
Adelyn smiled at her husband's furious look, without waiting another second, she opened the door, finding the figure of another woman, her brown hair was perfectly combed and cared for, her eyes were not visible due to the incredibly dark sunglasses, the beret on her head made it incredibly easy to recognize who it was.
"Coco" Adelyn smiled sweetly, waving to her sister-in-law "What are you doing here? If you've come to hang out with the family, you're more than welcome, I'll be leaving in a bit, but we can-"
"I looked everywhere for Myrian, including the darkest drawers, she's not here" Coco stated in a soft tone, Myrian silently squirmed in her closet, running her fingers through her hair nervously "Adelyn, can I have a moment with my brother? We need to talk…"
"All yours" Adelyn huffed, walking past Coco and closing the door to leave the two brothers alone.
The atmosphere suddenly became a little heavier, Van quickly passed a hand over his mouth, biting his index finger to calm the incoming nerves that always appeared when his sister was present, while Coco maintained a serious expression, the playful and charismatic woman always disappeared when Van was present, being replaced by someone totally different.
"You heard everything, hmmm?" Van asked, continuing immediately after already knowing the answer "I know what you're going to say, I don't need to hear it again, Coco, I'm aware of what a terrible father I am"
"Knowing isn't enough, Van" Coco replied, looking around the room with a critical eye, finding scattered clothes and crushed toys "It would be nice if you at least had the dignity to treat your daughter like a human being and not a burden, she's 7 years old, Van, blaming her for what the people says about you is a good idea in your head?"
"I don't need you to scold me for how I raise my daughter, okay? She has everything she could ever want, a roof over her head, food, a doctor always available if she gets sick" Van began to list the benefits of his daughter, although Coco's gaze remained hard throughout "She doesn't lack anything"
"She lacks the love of a father and a mother, it's incredible how neither you nor Adelyn deign for a moment to pretend to love her" Coco sighed sadly.
"I don't have time for this" He quickly walks to his sister's side, pushing her shoulder with some force "If you care so much about her, clean up this mess of a room"
Van left the room without saying anything else, leaving it in total silence, Coco took a deep breath and began to pick up the toys lying on the floor, plastic and rag dolls, some plastic kitchen utensils that were completely bent, as well as some stuffed figures of the CFVY team.
Coco couldn't help but smile softly as she saw her stuffed version, which she played with for just a moment before putting it on the bed, she stopped when she heard the wood creak in the closet, the woman quickly approached the wardrobe, opening it slowly.
"Myrian" Coco whispered, grabbing the little girl in her arms and hugging her gently, noticing the dried tears on her cheeks "Poor little girl…did you hear your parents?"
"They see me as a problem" Myrian sobbed, burying her face in her aunt's shoulder "Why don't they love me? Aunt Coco? Am I not a good enough daughter?"
"Ridiculousness" Coco placed Myrian on the bed, sitting next to her shortly after "You're great, grape, I bet you'll be very popular when you're older, just like me"
Myrian didn't respond, she simply clung to her aunt's arm and continued to sob silently, after a few minutes, her irregular breathing finally disappeared, giving her the chance to speak without crying too much.
"…I want to be as cool as you" Myrian murmured, her eyes now shining with a spark of hope "I want to be a Huntress like you! And beat up all the evil Grimm with a bag that transforms into a mini-gun!"
"It's better if you design your own weapon" Coco laughed, caressing the girl's cheek lovingly "You'll be much better than me, Myrian, you just have to trust yourself"
Myrian smiled softly, hugging her aunt so tightly that she groaned in pain, they both stayed like that for hours, spending quality time while talking about how Myrian would work with her aunt one day as a Huntress.
Ivonne Krat felt her jaw get hit once more by her opponent's elbow, the brunette stumbled in the combat arena a couple of times, clumsily covering herself with her arms while blasts of steel hit her constantly, being forced to roll to one side.
Ivonne had brown hair, just like her eyes, her perfectly styled hair was tied into a firm ponytail that prevented any strands from leaking into her face, her white shirt was stained with some dirt and mud, while her opponent continued shooting.
"Stop moving, sweetheart" Verena Adel purred, raising her revolver and pointing it at Ivonne, pulling the trigger firmly until she released a worryingly fast burst of pellets "You're almost as fast as Valerie, though you're a long way from reaching the sole of her shoe"
Ivonne growled loudly, her right leg slamming into the ground before she propelled herself forward, she clenched her fist tightly and threw it in Verena's direction, barely grazing her cheek, the image-haired girl smiled softly, placing her hand on Ivonne's stomach.
Ivonne watched in frustration as a clock-shaped glyph appeared on her abdomen, in an instant, her entire body crashed into the ground in a sudden increase in speed.
"I'm sorry girl, learn your place" Verena did a couple of juggles with her revolver, reloading the weapon in just a couple of movements, without wasting any more time, she fired a last bullet into Ivonne's head, destroying her aura in an instant and leaving her out of combat.
"Ivonne Krat is knocked out, Verena Adel from team EVLV wins the match" Nora Valkyrie announced, pointing at the winner with her right arm, the classroom was filled with shouts and applause after the victory of the image-haired girl, who only leaned forward.
Ivonne sighed in defeat, the girl barely found the strength to raise her head, meeting the gaze of her sister, Valerie Miller, who simply turned her attention away when their gazes collided.
Ivonne started to get angry.
The WBRN and STRM teams watched the fight since the beggining, it was normal for the EVLV team to have students from lower years as audiences, everyone knew the son of Professor Ren and Headmistress Nora, or even the daughter of Coco Adel, Verena Adel.
It had just been a matter of finding a space between classes large enough to observe the fight, which had been exceptionally short, Verena was definitely one of the best of her generation.
"She defeated her in just a few moments" Roy murmured in utter admiration "Her semblance seems to be like our time dilation glyphs, right Waylon?"
The red-eyed opened his eyes at his cousin's call, barely sparing a quick glance at Roy before muttering in a fairly low volume.
"I don't know" Waylon replied, turning around and looking at the academy hallway "We should head to our next class"
Waylon didn't continue with the conversation, he simply began to walk down the hall, Roy began to play lightly with his hands, his cousin had been very ineloquent the last few days, in fact, he didn't talk much with almost anyone, perhaps he would chat for a while with Riana or Yang, and then shortly after he would retreat to the training areas and stay there for hours.
Neithan approached Roy from behind, the younger boy still held some resentment towards his leader for leaving them out of the operation to capture Felicia, however, the news across the kingdom had been filled with images of Waylon in the back of an ambulance, crying inconsolably while Ruby Rose tried to cheer him up somehow.
Everyone was looking at Waylon in the hallways, some were whispering about the fact that the armored vehicle driver was in a deep coma, or that he was incapable of defeating a woman dressed as a mage being a Schnee, comments that, usually, the rest of WBRN had to deny in one way or another.
"He doesn't look good" Neithan sighed, shaking his head "It's weird to see him like this, I tried to talk to him yesterday, but he just didn't seem to listen to me"
Bryan joined his team's side "We should give him time to think, I heard that Felicia made a sound bomb explode in his face, at least that's what you can see in the videos... they're all over the kingdom's network"
"They couldn't just keep quiet?" Neithan hissed, stretching out his arms and placing them on the back of his neck "Let's go after him, he doesn't even know we have another free hour"
The trio of teenagers retreated at that moment, Myrian discreetly moved away from the wall, placing a lock of hair behind her ear, the girl approached her team, who continued to watch the clashes between third-year students.
"Verena is so cool" Telsius said, looking at Myrian with a smile "You've been watching her a lot…do you like her?"
"Oh no, that's weird" Myrian let out a low laugh, shaking her right hand "Verena is my cousin"
"Your aunt is Coco Adel?" Riana asked, her body taking on a rather creepy and inhuman twist "So my brother and your cousin are on one team! Why didn't you tell us before?"
"Its… it's not supposed to be something people know" Myrian muttered, eliciting a confused expression from her teammates "It's something familiar"
Samuel nodded, noticing Verena approaching them, the lion faunus seemed to understand some kind of signal, as he quickly gave an order to part of his team "Telsius, Riana, let's go to the cafeteria, Myrian can catch up with us later"
Telsius and Riana put up no resistance and retreated with their leader, leaving Myrian alone with her cousin, Verena Adel.
Verena and Myrian's relationship was quite nice and pretty, both girls shared a similar taste for fashion, in addition to their incredible admiration for Coco, one of the reasons why Myrian chose Beacon over Shade, was because of Verena, who had already gained considerable popularity at the academy.
Still, practically no one knew that they were cousins, or rather, no one really knew about Myrian's past or her parents, after all, they never attended social events, they never went to pick up their grades, and her mother barely had the decency to bring her home from kindergarten.
"You look good, Myrian" Verena gently placed her index finger on her glasses, lowering them a little to reveal her dark blue eyes "Though those shoes are a bit out of fashion…you should learn more about me"
"Aunt Coco once said that the best fashion is the one we like, and I definitely don't like your sunglasses" Myrian playfully hit her cousin's accessory, making her growl in irritation "…Did you know that girl you fought with?"
"Ivonne Krat, is Valerie's sister, my teammate, she's a bit of a strange girl, she's always messing with her team, TINY, apparently she thinks the world owes her something because her father, everyone knows she's the daughter of a councilor, but it's as if he was ashamed of her" Verena explained calmly, looking at her acrylic nails for a moment, Myrian's silence forced her to look at her, noticing her thoughtful.
"I'm sorry" Verena quickly apologized, slapping her forehead hard "I forgot that Uncle Van doesn't even recognize you as his daughter…forget what I said-"
"Its Okay, don't worry" Myrian shrugged it off, though her somewhat subdued tone of voice revealed her unruly thoughts "Val isn't such a horrible last name, though Adel sounds better"
"Much better" Verena replied proudly, then firmly took her cousin's hand "Let's go with your team, okay? Eijiro wants to see his little sister for a moment"
Myrian and Verena headed to the cafeteria, not noticing the penetrating gaze of Ivonne Krat, who barely resisted the urge to break her own teeth from clenching them so much.
Ivonne was upset, which wasn't unusual.
She had a bad habit of not being able to keep her emotions under control, she always ended up hitting someone or insulting them, she had even challenged several of her teachers more than once, which ended up with her in detention, most of the time.
There were many things that bothered her, people harassing her, people trying to mess with her, or trying to mess with any member of her team, but there was something that she hated deeply, and that was her sister.
Valerie Miller.
Valerie was Ivonne's sister, despite that, the connection between them was identical to that of two strangers, there was no mutual interest in each other or any kind of positive feeling, there was only resentment and hatred on Ivonne's part, while Valerie looked at her sister as a total lost case.
Which made it all the more irritating and annoying that she had the nerve to come and complain to him.
"Ivonne, could you look at my face?" Valerie asked with genuine curiosity, firmly grabbing her sister's chin to force her to look at her, Ivonne only shook her head in response, moving her away from the blonde's hand "This is incredible, you act like a little girl every chance you get"
"And all you are is a bully" Ivonne replied, pointing at her sister accusingly "You don't have the guts to fight me, so you send your teammate to humiliate me in front of everyone! Really? Valerie?"
"You think you're that important?" Valerie asked, her frown hardening even further "It was a coincidence, right? How about you just let this go? I'm pretty sure you'll try to do something against Verena"
"Do you care? You never care, Valerie, you just get irritated that your little sister gets into trouble, oh, Ivonne is dragging attention again, what a tragedy!" The brunette's tone of voice became exaggerated, irritating her sister even more "Go away! I don't want to see you!"
Valerie raised her arms quickly, preparing a new series of insults and complaints towards her sister, however, the weight of the situation seemed to take its toll on her, she turned around and left the room, closing the door hard until the clash of wood echoed throughout the bedrooms.
Ivonne could not contain her anger for a moment longer and raised her arms, letting them fall on top of the wooden desk of the room until she completely destroyed the wooden object, leaving it as a simple set of irregular splintered pieces.
Ivonne sighed erratically for several minutes, calming down little by little as she assessed the destroyed state of the desk, she would definitely have to explain to her team why they now had to do their homework in their beds in an uncomfortable manner, if not she would also receive a scolding for continuing to create an even worse reputation for the TINY team.
Ivonne's thoughts were filled with Verena's face, more specifically, that jocular and proud smile, in addition to her arrogant tone of voice that created an inhuman need for the brunette to dig her nails into the magenta-haired girl's neck, she was definitely upset.
Still, it wasn't very smart to directly mess with someone as popular as Verena, Ivonne already had enough enemies without adding the strange cult of fans that Coco Adel's daughter had, therefore, if she wanted revenge, she would need to hurt her in some other way.
Ivonne quickly recalled the little conversation Myrian Val had with Verena, apparently, the popular girl from Pharos who was on Pyrrha Nikos's nephew's team was also Verena's cousin.
"She is Van Adel's daughter…but she is not recognized by him publicly" Ivonne murmured, feeling a strange feeling in her chest "Ugh, I am an idiot"
Ivonne threw herself towards her bed, burying her face in her pillow "Hmmm, I like to annoy people anyway…if she wants popularity so badly, I'll give it to her"
"Does it hurt if I touch you here?" Oscar Pine asked, placing his hand on his wife's forehead.
"No," Ruby replied, shrugging nonchalantly "The migraines have been getting more recent lately…I'm not sure what it is"
"You've slept well these days" Oscar commented, sitting down at his desk, his face adorned with a worried look "…Could it be an illness?"
"I don't get sick" Ruby laughed, her body was on a hospital gurney, which was a stark contrast to Oscar's office, she stood up without much difficulty "Maybe it's… something normal and that's it"
"I don't think so" Oscar shook his head "Pyrrha, analyze Ruby's condition"
Pyrrha's hologram appeared on Oscar's desk, remaining silent as she internally analyzed all kinds of data extracted from different sources in Remnant, Ruby sighed slightly irritated due to her husband's concern, she hadn't been able to leave Beacon in days, not even this room, although she couldn't blame Oscar much for wanting to protect her.
It was very worrying that a random migraine was capable of leaving her on the ground, completely vulnerable, she was lucky that Raven had mercy on her, otherwise Ruby Rose's funeral would be the headline of all the newspapers.
"Ruby has constant, stabbing pains in her frontal lobe, her motor skills are exponentially limited by suffering from these migraines, blurred vision, loss of perception of reality, and the aura seems to be unable to mitigate the damage" Pyrrha began to speak in a worried tone, something that was relatively strange for the AI.
"Data collection focused on Remnant's diseases has no answers, however, there are some ancient writings of a… civilization, made up only of silver-eyed warriors, they suffered from the same symptoms when they were alive, apparently, it is a consequence of the excessive use of silver eyes" Pyrrha explained, leaving the room in an uncomfortable and dense silence.
Oscar placed a hand over his mouth, biting his index finger in nervousness and worry, his body seemed to move on its own, approaching Ruby and hugging her tightly and burying his face in the woman's shoulder.
Oscar pulled away enough to look at Ruby, noticing her gaze looking away "You don't seem too surprised…Ruby, has this happened to you before?"
Ruby nodded weakly "The migraines started a few months ago, I thought it was just from fatigue, but, that was the least of my eye-related problems"
Oscar's sad expression forced Ruby to stare at him, taking his cheeks.
"I can't see very well anymore" she whispered, joining her forehead with her husband's in a loving gesture "Using my eyes is making me blind, it's not that serious, but, I got really scared when I couldn't see things very well, I've been making mistakes lately against Felicia, my range of vision is now very limited, I didn't want to worry you"
"I'm worried" Oscar murmured, his usually calm and collected voice now shaking from holding himself together, almost as if he was about to start crying "Is it permanent?"
"It's gotten better, glasses aren't necessary ye," Ruby replied, caressing her husband's cheek with her finger "It's not your fault, it's mine for being so stubborn and stupid, I swear I'm being careful, you won't see me using a blind stick, Pinky Promise"
Oscar couldn't help but laugh lightly, even if a solitary tear left his eye, it didn't take long for Ruby to wipe it away, getting close enough to kiss his lips softly.
The kiss broke after a couple of minutes, Oscar sighed deeply, still trying to control his emotions "I want you to stay home these days, if Felicia does something, I won't stop you from going after her, but you can't use your eyes"
"Okay" Ruby nodded, firmly taking Oscar's hand and forcing him to follow her "Come, it's been a while since we've had a date"
Lisa Lavender was genuinely bored.
It had been quite a few years since she had started her career as a journalist in the city of Vale, time seemed to have been kind to her, her physical appearance remained practically the same, her lavender hair remained the same, her amber eyes had not lost their shine, and her figure was still attractive enough for the public.
What had changed, though, were her objectives, Lisa had taken on simple, mundane news in the past, although she was also responsible for juicy reports related to high-class criminals, such as Roman Torchwick among others.
Lately, Vale's news had become simpler, the peace implemented by team RWBY throughout Remnant caused tragic events to be considerably less than before, Schnee Corporations were a good source of controversies, and therefore, Lisa always covered anything related to said company, but she had not yet gotten anything genuinely juicy.
To her surprise, a few days ago Schnee Corporations was once again fully involved in a controversy, this time more serious and public than before, a driver specialized in the transport of weapons had been seriously injured by Felicia Torchwick, Ruby Rose was involved in the event, and even more importantly, Waylon Branwen himself was the one who saved the life of said driver.
The man was in a coma, Winter Schnee publicly said that Remnant's best doctors are working to save the man, who, not having an aura, has a medical condition that is too delicate, to the point that even thinking about forcibly activating it could kill him.
The operation to obtain Waylon Branwen's testimony had begun, and the first step was an interview with Yang Xiao Long.
The cameraman focused the camera lens in Yang's direction, who tensed slightly and smoothed her hair, rubbing her face vigorously to remove any traces of sleep from her face.
The camera started recording, and Lisa opened her mouth "It is an honor to be able to interview you, Miss Xiao Long"
"Just Yang" The blonde smiled, Lisa simply nodded, looking at her question paper with some boredom, putting it aside for the moment.
"It is public knowledge that your time as a teacher was cut short due to your pregnancy, the reason for your return to the Beacon teaching staff is directly related to the formation of the WBRN team?" Lisa got straight to the point, Yang thought for a couple of seconds, ordering her words correctly in her brain.
"WBRN is my family, I felt strangely tied to Beacon during my absence, even if I refused to return because of my duties as a mother, I always had this academy in my heart, ever since I was a teenager, and with a team that seems to be the RWBY of this generation, I couldn't help but return" Yang smiled radiantly, while Lisa nodded without saying anything else.
Lisa couldn't help but hide her reporter instincts further, so she asked a more risky question: "What do you think about the Branwen tribe and their recent alliance with the criminal Felicia Torchwick? I must say it's impressive, knowing that you're the leader's daughter"
Yang's smile faltered easily, her expression becoming somewhat harder, yet she didn't seem to be really upset "It's strange to see the tribe allying with someone from the kingdoms, yet I don't really know much about the subject, my time as a Huntress has been... somewhat inactive"
"That's funny, Felicia was recently seen in the city, in fact, Waylon Branwen managed to stop her from causing further damage, although as a result a Schnee Corporations worker is in a coma" Lisa said as normal, smiling internally as she saw Yang's expression become even more rigid "Do you have something to say?"
"Waylon is a teenager, it is admirable that he managed to maintain the situation as he did, I have seen the news, they are being somewhat harsh with him" Yang remained calm at all times, years of experience and discussions managed to create a very large resistance to provocations.
"He won the Vytal Festival tournament last year, even if it was in a minor league, and he also won a dozen other competitions, even if they were sponsored by the Schnee Corporations, he is still a talent on the level of Pyrrha Nikos, shouldn't society have high expectations of him?" Lisa asked, making sure to keep her provocations at bay.
"At Beacon we teach our students to be prepared for the adversities of the future, supporting them in all kinds of situations is a priority, Waylon is not ready yet, I was not ready either when Beacon fell, not even my sister was" A proud smile crossed Yang's face, causing Lisa to frown "…I think it's the perfect time for a break, don't you think, Lisa?"
"I agree" Lisa muttered, getting up from the comfortable rubber seat and quickly signaling to the cameraman "Go eat, I have to review the questions"
The cameraman nodded and disappeared from the room with Lisa, the woman began to walk down the hall, her head replaying Yang's answers over and over again, and how she could provoke her in some way, the calm and confident answers were unattractive, the sharp and aggressive ones were the ones that attracted the most audience to the newscast.
Lisa wanted to get information about Waylon Branwen, the priority was to get a juicy premise related to one of the protagonists of the most recent controversy in the city of Vale, Yang evaded her perfectly, so she returned to the starting point.
Lisa stopped in her tracks when a teenage girl appeared in front of her, her brown hair and eyes of the same color looked quite common in the halls of Beacon, however, Lisa was able to recognize the girl easily, after all, she had written about her a few times.
"Ivonne Krat, what a surprise to have a councilor's daughter in front of me" Lisa mentioned, though there was no trace of real surprise in her voice "This area is temporarily isolated for the interview with Professor Xiao Long, I assume you snuck out to see?"
"I snuck out to give you what you like best, controversy" Ivonne replied, smiling mischievously "If your reputation supports you, then I can guess that you know who Van Adel is?"
"Coco Adel's brother and the head of Matron, one of the most famous Huntsmen agencies in the entire world" Lisa looked at her nails with some disinterest "Is there anything I don't know?"
"Everyone knows that Van Adel divorced his ex-wife 17 years ago, because he had an affair and put a child in his lover's womb, no one knows who that baby is…or maybe they do?" Ivonne's lips curved into a somewhat strange smile, catching Lisa's attention.
"I knew about it at the time…what do you know?" Lisa asked, finally looking Ivonne in the eyes.
"Myrian Val, from the STRM team, is his daughter, I heard it from her cousin, Coco Adel's daughter" Ivonne activated her Neo-Scroll, the hologram showed a photo of Myrian "Do you want to try your luck? She's in the cafeteria right now, if you hurry, you might be able to catch her"
"Do you think I write reports on a hunch?" Lisa laughed lightly, though her expression revealed that she was apparently a little offended "…You know what? I'll listen to you, the interview will resume in a while, I'll kill some time"
Ivonne put on one last arrogant smile before walking away, leaving Lisa alone once again. The older woman accessed her own Neo-Scroll and looked for a quick route to the cafeteria with the help of the AI Pyrrha, she didn't usually do reports without a reliable source, in fact, she felt like it was a waste of time, but boredom is bothering her a bit right now, so a quick glance at Myrian Val might surprise her more than she'd think.
"Hey! Telsius! Don't you get nervous when people stare at you so much?" Riana Ren asked, leaning gently into her friend's shoulder, forcing herself to stand on her tiptoes.
"In Sanctum I used to get stares all the time… some would come up to me to talk about something or other, but they would leave disappointed when I never mentioned Pyrrha's name" Telsius replied politely, Riana hummed in response and simply sat back down on the bench, looking around the cafeteria curiously.
The Beacon cafeteria was full of voices and teenagers, as it almost always was, the noise was too noticeable these days, forcing all the teams to get closer to be able to discuss some matter or another, which usually didn't happen.
However, the last few days have been special at Beacon, news spread fast enough, and the online news was enough to find out about the latest events in Vale, thanks to the Vale News Network to find out that Waylon Branwen had been on an extracurricular mission with Ruby Rose.
It was the topic of the moment, all the students had an opinion on it, some found it disappointing that Waylon did not emerge victorious, others, more daring, called it a false promise, a Huntsman had to keep damage to a minimum, the half-destroyed Schnee Corporation truck and the comatose driver had not done Waylon any good.
Which did not seem to be appearing anywhere.
"Riana" Samuel called to his partner, drawing her attention "Do you know where Waylon is? His entire team, actually?"
"Maybe they're in their room" Riana replied, her usually happy face now a little duller "Why?"
"The students won't stop talking about what happened in the city, Waylon seems tough, but he's definitely affected by those comments" Samuel pointed out, his frown revealing how upset he was with the situation "Did you talk to him?"
"The same night the attack on the Schnee Corp truck happened, he was on the rooftop, alone, he had a really cool new sword… but he looked sad, and he asked if my parents would be disappointed in me if I failed here at Beacon" Riana explained, her sad expression slightly worrying her teammates.
"Did something happen?" Myrian asked in a whisper.
"His answer was a bit depressing, it's too personal to explain," Riana commented uncomfortably, squirming slightly "Although…he seems to have problems with his mother"
Samuel squeezed his hand tightly, looking away slightly "It is to be expected…our last names carry too much weight for our shoulders, being the grandson of Leonardo Lionheart and the son of Leonardo II has brought me many expectations, Waylon is the son of a maiden, I can't even imagine the expectations that are placed on him…"
Telsius nodded, his soft voice briefly tinged with sadness "I know how it feels…I had no friends in Sanctum because of my last name, everyone wanted to be with me, but no one wanted to know me, it's hard"
"That's so depressing" Riana lamented, dropping her face heavily onto the wooden table "It seems that Myrian and I are the only ones who don't care that much about it"
Myrian laughed softly, reaching out to stroke Riana's hair "You're right, though it's not for the reason you think"
The rest of her team looked at her in confusion, Myrian cleared her throat and began to think of an explanation, she hadn't spent much time with her team, but she trusted them enough to reveal a little about her past, or rather, about her family situation.
Van Adel is a terrible father, a man incapable of caring for his own daughter because he feels that she damaged his social reputation, practically all of Remnant knows that he cheated on his first wife many years ago, and that his lover ended up pregnant and having a child, however, absolutely no one knows the identity of that child.
Myrian hadn't understood it when she was a child, listening to her parents' constant arguments was always painful, she ended up crying and with pessimistic thoughts, however, she knew that her parents were ashamed of her, the only one who even moderately cared about her was her mother, Adelyn, who looked after her daughter more out of obligation than because she really wanted to create a bond with her.
Family gatherings were the best for little Myrian, she usually spent a lot of time with her cousins, especially Verena, with whom she had a very special bond, Myrian always admired Coco Adel in every way, as a mother and as a Huntress, so it was no surprise that in her adolescence she decided to go to Pharos.
Myrian was popular in Pharos, everyone wanted to spend time with her because of her physical appearance, her personality and her way of thinking, she had more than one partner during that time, although she had always wanted to get closer to a specific boy, Waylon Branwen.
Unlike Myrian, everyone knew Waylon's parents and admired him for living up to expectations, Winter Schnee's son always lived up to expectations, Myrian could admit that she had had a temporary crush on him, perhaps because of how attractive he was or for the mere fact that he could boast about his family.
She couldn't do that, if her father found out about it...the punishment would be unprecedented.
"My father is Van Adel, and no one is supposed to know that, the path has always been difficult for me, being popular in Pharos wasn't so easy, a pretty face wasn't enough, I worked hard in my classes and created an image of trust for the rest of us" Myrian explained, feeling the looks of total shock from her classmates "I don't want them to tell anyone, okay? My father would kill me if he found out"
"Of course we won't" Riana said quickly, taking Myrian's hand tightly "You're our friend, we'll always support you, won't we guys?"
"It doesn't matter if you are Van Adel's daughter or anyone else's, we appreciate you for who you are" Telsius blushed slightly, smiling sweetly.
"You can trust us, Myrian" Samuel said, smiling and taking his friend's other hand.
Myrian felt a slight strange sensation in her eye, she blinked hard to remove any trace of tears, in Pharos she never dared to reveal her little secret to anyone for fear of being betrayed, it was a huge relief that her teammates were such good people.
"You're going to make me cry, makeup is expensive" Myrian laughed, giving a bright smile to her friends "Let's get out of here, I think it's time for my friendship initiation ritual, to do all of you makeup"
Myrian walked through the halls with her teammates, the atmosphere was already calmer and more positive due to the casual jokes or witty comments, the purple-haired girl felt quite comfortable with the current dynamics of her team, so getting to the room was something she was looking forward to.
Myrian stopped dead when she recognized Lisa Lavender, standing in front of her, with a very curious expression.
"Myrian Val, right? These must be your teammates" Lisa was holding a small notebook and a pen in her hand, which she pointed at the rest of STRM "I would like to speak with you in private"
Myrian glanced at her companions lightly, noticing the look of total distrust on their part, however, she couldn't help but feel a little curious, so she simply waved her hand at them to leave.
The three teenagers left clearly worried, Telsius in particular turned around and looked at Myrian for a couple of seconds before walking away, finally leaving her alone with Lisa.
"I had to do a little research on you online, I didn't find much, honestly, but I do know that you were on the popularity rankings on Pharos" Lisa mentioned, activating her Neo-Scroll and showing a list, with Myrian in 4th place "Impressive, right?"
"I was adored at Pharos" Myrian said proudly "It would be an honor to give an interview to the most renowned journalist"
"They adored you for your own merits, not for being Van Adel's daughter" Lisa interrupted her, her expression turning hard from one moment to the next, then turning into confusion as she looked at the surprise in Myrian's eyes "…Is that true?"
"I don't know what you're talking about" Myrian mumbled, taking a lock of her hair and starting to stroke it nervously "Van Adel isn't my father, it's more likely that Salem will come back to life…"
"You're nervous, your hands are shaking and you don't want to look me in the eyes, I'm not stupid, child" Lisa quickly took her notebook, beginning to write down her quickest assumptions and confirmations of her suspicions "Your father was involved in a small controversy related to his first marriage, he cheated on that poor woman with your mother... is he ashamed of you?"
"That's not…how do you know that?" Myrian asked, frowning, her heart was beating at incredible speeds "That's something private…we just don't have the best relationship"
"He doesn't recognize you as his daughter publicly, that's sad" Lisa smiled slightly, making Myrian even more uncomfortable "I'm surprised at how macabre the human mind can be… your life could have been much more important to society than it is now, no one really knows you"
Myrian shook her head, digging her nails into her palms "Could you mind your own business? Harassing a teenager to get a sandal doesn't sound very ethical on your part"
"Ethics don't matter in the world of journalism" Lisa said in a mocking tone, though the truth was leaking through her words "But, I'll leave you alone for now… I won't make anything public, don't worry, we'll be very good friends when you're older"
Myrian felt a cocktail of emotions run through her body, standing still as she watched Lisa walk away, leaving her alone once again, the purple-haired girl sighed heavily, clenching her teeth before muttering
"How the hell does she know that?" She asked herself, the girl's mind began to work to find an answer to her doubts, there were very few people who knew her situation with her parents, in fact, it was ridiculously tiny, Verena couldn't give her away, her aunt Coco isn't here...so-
A new voice interrupted her thoughts, its tone was mocking and somewhat irritating, although satisfaction could also be discerned "Tell me, how does it feel to be publicly recognized as Van Adel's daughter?...not very well, apparently"
"Ivonne Krat?" Myrian muttered the brunette's name, connecting the dots with ease "You told Lisa about my father…how do you know?"
"Listening to you talk to your cousin was enough to tie up the loose ends, you are Van Adel's daughter" Ivonne said slowly, making sure Myrian understood her words "I had to find a way to annoy your cousin…although your case is very interesting, I almost felt identified with you"
Myrian gritted her teeth, approaching Ivonne and grabbing her by the collar of her uniform, even if the brunette was taller "I hadn't even done anything to you, and you put my social reputation at risk?"
"Your cousin and I barely knew each other's names, but she still wanted to humiliate me for my sister" Ivonne shrugged, satisfied with the purple-haired girl's reaction "You know what? Let's meet at the third-year's training camp. If you want to ask your team for help… you can, but from the look on your face, I don't think you want to"
Myrian growled lightly, pushing Ivonne hard, the purple-eyed girl turned around furiously, beginning to walk towards her room, clearly hearing the brunette holding back her urge to laugh.
Myrian stared at her hair dryer, which was actually her main weapon, facing Ivonne was not exactly easy, asking some students was enough to discover a little more about her, her appearance is to copy her opponent's combat style, practically the same as Velvet Scarlatina, so this time Myrian had the advantage.
Myrian's semblance, Charm, didn't work on Grimm, but it worked more than well on humans and faunus, causing them to be attracted to her strong enough to knock anyone out, all she had to do was kiss her opponent, even if she deeply disliked having to kiss Ivonne, it was necessary.
her gun, Cupid, had the ability to fire Dust-infused bullets, which wasn't all that useful against heavy Grimms, but was still powerful enough to take out the smaller ones, as well as giving normal humans a hard time.
Myrian placed the gun on her hip, getting up from her bed and looking at her empty room, the 4 beds separated by the same distance were perfectly arranged, the girl couldn't help but feel a little curious about the absence of her companions, they had left a few hours ago, but they hadn't told her the reason why they decided to leave.
Calling them for help in her little confrontation sounded bad to her, Myrian knew that her teammates would support her no matter what, however, this matter was more personal, her pride had been hurt by a simple whim, and even if she didn't want to, she felt the need to fix it herself.
Myrian looked up as the door opened, revealing Telsius Nikos, his hair was somewhat wet, his uniform was also somewhat stained in some parts, Myrian couldn't help but smile slightly.
"Did you have a water gun fight?" she asked, holding back her laughter.
"Neithan had the idea to do that, we actually wanted to cheer Waylon up a bit but, he wasn't even there so we ended up getting wet anyway" Telsius shrugged, noticing that Myrian was dressed in her combat outfit "Going somewhere?"
Myrian hesitated for a couple of seconds, telling Telsius would risk him reporting their little encounter to the rest of the team, however, she also felt the need to tell him, they were friends, and he didn't seem to be the type of boy who was a gossip, so to speak.
"Ivonne Krat challenged me to a fight… let's say she told Lisa Lavender about my father and, I feel humiliated" Myrian laughed lightly, feeling stupid for openly admitting her feelings.
"She has a very powerful semblance, I don't think it would be wise to fight her, can I help you?" Telsius asked with concern noticeable in his voice.
"She gave me the option, but, this is something I must do alone" Myrian approached the door, being quickly stopped when Telsius grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him.
Telsius gently squeezed the girl's arm "…We are a team, right? If we can help you with something, we are obliged to do it"
Myrian bit her lower lip, pulling her arm away from Telsius's grip."I know…but I'd feel horrible about myself if I wasn't able to fix it on my own, understand?"
"I guess I do…" Telsius grimaced, managing a smile with some difficulty "Then I wish you luck, and I also hope the teachers don't notice…I don't want to have to clean the cafeteria"
"I'll make sure your pretty face doesn't get stained, if that happens" Myrian winked at the red-haired boy, opening the door and closing it as she left, Telsius' expression turned worried once again, activating his Neo-Scroll as he listened to Myrian's footsteps getting further and further away.
It didn't take long for him to browse through his contacts, finally finding the one he wanted, Waylon Branwen.
Myrian walked down the desolate hallway for several minutes, at this time, students were usually in their rooms, doing their homework or just hanging out in different ways, so it was common for there to be no surveillance, even more so towards the third-year training camp, which was somewhat far from Myrian's current location.
The girl stopped when she heard footsteps approaching her location, after a few seconds of suspense, a figure appeared in front of her, his white hair and red eyes were so familiar that she simply recognized him for who he was.
"Waylon" Myrian called the red-eyed, who remained silent "Uh…what are you doing here? I thought you would be with your team or with Riana"
Waylon shook his head "I heard that you were going to fight Ivonne Krat, by yourself, I got a little worried and decided to come see if you are capable enough to defeat her"
"Telsius" Myrian muttered, apparently Telsius was capable of telling a few secrets "Look, you're going through a difficult time, wouldn't it be better if you sorted things out with your team instead of coming to defeat me? I can fight alone"
"I will hold back" Waylon openly ignored Myrian's proposal, the boy extended his arm behind his back, taking the handle of a sword that Myrian had not seen before "Get ready"
Waylon lunged forward with great ease, spinning his sword towards Myrian, forcing her to duck her head, the red-eyed grabbed her hair, slamming her against the ground and pushing her with a somewhat strong kick.
Myrian growled lightly, raising Cupid and firing a few bullets infused with Fire Dust, Waylon firmly hit each of the projectiles with Ex Requiem, approaching her again and trying to cut her down slowly and somewhat predictably, he was definitely holding back.
"Ivonne knows many combat styles, you will depend merely on your semblance… it would be quite convenient if you had your teammates with you" Waylon muttered, receiving a direct shot to the face, stunning him for a short time.
"I don't need help, I need to do this alone" Myrian gasped, lifting her leg to connect it with the boy's stomach, Waylon easily took the purple-eyed girl's ankle, quickly lifting her and letting her fall once again to the ground.
Waylon raised his sword towards Myrian, the girl quickly tensed, slouching her posture to try and move if he tried something, getting even more nervous when he simply stared at her.
"Even if we don't want to…our teammates will be more important to us than we think" Waylon created a glyph taking out an exact copy of Harbinger, wielding it with his left hand "They are your friends, Myrian, leaving them out is not the solution"
Myrian didn't wait another second and fired a bullet directly at Waylon's left hand, causing him to lose his sword, the purple-eyed took advantage of the temporary confusion and kicked her opponent's ankle hard, managing to bring him to his knees, finishing with a knee to the jaw.
Waylon used his arms to push himself up quickly, his lips ended up colliding with Myrian's by accident, starting a somewhat quick kiss.
Myrian's and Waylon's lips moved in sync for a few moments until she separated from him, the boy gasped loudly, feeling an explosion of serotonin and excitement in his body, this must have been Myrian's semblance.
"Well… I admit that your lips are nicer than I thought, I promise not to tell Riana" Myrian gasped, smiling as she watched Waylon writhe on the floor and blush "The effect will last a couple of hours… don't worry, it will fade away"
Myrian began to move forward, being stopped by Waylon, who grabbed her leg tightly, managing to force her to turn around once again.
"You shouldn't do this alone…Myrian, your team will be worried about you if you end up in the nursery…you should take their feelings into account" Waylon murmured, looking at the girl pleadingly, something that was strange on his part, according to Myrian "Please…"
Myrian hesitated for a few seconds, but finally separated her leg from Waylon's arm "I'm sorry"
Myrian disappeared from the hallway in a matter of seconds, leaving Waylon still on the ground, who continued panting heavily as his body still dealt with the effects of Myrian's semblance, barely having enough strength to get up from the ground without falling over again.
Waylon gritted his teeth tightly, staggering until he crashed into the wall, crawling to the ground once more, the boy raised his right fist and punched the ground quite hard, trying to resist the urge to scream.
Supposedly he had come to stop Myrian, Telsius called him worried, stating that she would get into big trouble if they didn't change her mind, Waylon firmly believed that there was no real reason to stop her from fighting, after all, a person's pride is sacred and defending it is logical, however, doing it alone was not optimal.
He learned the hard way that fighting alone was difficult, Felicia had given him a considerable beating and left the driver of the truck he was protecting in a coma, Waylon never felt so useless, and also, he felt guilty as soon as he returned to the academy, his team offered to help him and he simply rejected them for doubting his abilities, in the end, he proved to be weaker alone.
He couldn't help but feel somewhat identified with Myrian, Telsius's explanation was not very deep, but from what he knew , Myrian had a small altercation with Ivonne Krat, a member of the team TINY, apparently she had been given the option to ask her team for help, however, she refused due to the inexplicable need to defend her pride on her own, which was practically the same as what Waylon suffered a few days ago.
Waylon looked up when he heard several footsteps approaching him, when he looked up, he found Yang and Riana, both of whom quickly approached him, assessing his physical condition.
"What are you doing here?" Waylon asked, clearly confused by the presence of both of them.
"Telsius called me and said that you were in trouble…Professor Xiao Long was passing by, so I asked her for help" Riana stated, kneeling in front of the boy and looking at him closely, trying to find any noticeable damage on his face.
"You're blushing, did you see more than you should have and got excited?" Yang asked laughing lightly, noticing a reddish stain on the boy's lips, it must be lipstick "Huh…"
"What happened to you?" Riana asked, firmly grabbing his cheeks to examine him more closely. When she noticed the lipstick stain, she frowned "Did you kiss Myrian? Waylon!"
"She used her semblance on me" Waylon quickly defended himself, smiling at his friend's pout, then focusing more on his cousin "Myrian Val…STRM, do you know who she is?"
"She's Coco's niece" Yang stated, slightly surprising Waylon, while Riana didn't make any kind of comment on the matter, so he assumed she already knew "What's wrong with her? She's your girlfriend and she decided to leave you here?"
"She's going to fight with Ivonne Krat…Riana, you must stop her with your team" Waylon took the girl's hand that was still on his cheek, caressing the back of it gently "She needs to know that she can trust you and the rest…"
"There might be trouble if I allow this, you know?" Yang sighed in defeat, now looking at Riana. "I will turn a blind eye to this, but there will be consequences later… you will be grounded"
"Damn" Riana cursed, giving Waylon and Yang one last look before starting to run down the hall, activating her Neo-Scroll and stuttering strange instructions, leaving the blonde and the red-eyed man completely alone.
"…Is she your girlfriend?" Yang asked, remembering how her cousin had caressed Riana's hand "With your teacher's daughter? Sheesh, you definitely don't fear anything"
"Shut up and help me, I don't think I can stand up…" Waylon leaned on Yang's shoulders, who couldn't help but laugh and continue to bother him all the way back to the first-year dorms.
Ivonne had been walking in circles for a few hours, her encounter with Myrian had been satisfying to her twisted mind, teasing her and hitting her ego had felt really good, maybe not as good as trampling Verena would have felt, but good enough to satisfy their twisted mental needs.
The consequences could come, it was very likely that the entire academy would find out about this little fight, and the imminent punishment by the teachers did not worry her so much, she was already used to cleaning the yard or the bathrooms, the need to de-stress was even greater.
Ever since she was a child, she had always been drawn to chaos in one way or another, getting into trouble sounded good as long as the consequences weren't too drastic, killing and doing permanent physical damage were always things Ivonne rejected, but still, she couldn't help but feel a need to do something bad.
She loved killing Grimm for that very reason, being a Huntress would make the job much easier, she could get away from her family as much as she wanted, and even better, stay together with her team for much longer.
Still, Ivonne could admit that she was a little jealous of Myrian, seeing her talk to Verena had brought back memories of when she did it with Valerie, several years ago, they were very close, but they were so different that they simply ended up creating resentment towards each other, Myrian and Verena seemed to get along very well...
Ivonne stopped when Myrian appeared, the training field was wide enough that the distance between them was considerable, the concrete floor made a somewhat irritating noise from the steps of both, getting closer and closer to each other.
"I promise I won't leave you a single scar" Ivonne said in an uncomfortably sweet voice "Even though it took you a while…"
"It's none of your business" Myrian replied curtly, lifting Cupid and pointing the gun directly at Ivonne's head "You'll learn not to mess with me…"
Ivonne laughed mockingly, preparing her Ouroboros chains, the yellowish chains were somewhat thick and seemed heavy even for Ivonne's somewhat small form, the metallic snake heads loomed somewhat imposingly at the ends of the chains, causing Myrian to swallow her own saliva hard.
Ivonne threw her right chain forward, managing to firmly tie Myrian's arm and immobilize her, the purple-haired girl dropped her gun and clumsily grabbed it with her free hand, raising it and shooting Ivonne a couple of times.
Ivonne dodged each of the projectiles with ease, the girl pulled the chain with force, destabilizing Myrian and drawing her towards her, the brunette connected her left fist on the purple-haired girl's cheek, knocking her to the ground with relative ease.
"Sure you don't need your team?" Ivonne asked, genuinely impressed at how easily she had taken down Myrian "I can give you a call…I think I still have battery left-"
Myrian growled in annoyance, raising her gun and shooting accurately at Ivonne's face, managing to hit the projectile with ease, the brunette stepped back from the sudden pain in her head, receiving a strong punch in the stomach, it wasn't exactly painful, but it was somewhat uncomfortable.
Myrian firmly grabbed Ivonne's neck, bringing her face closer to try to use her semblance, Ivonne raised her legs and pushed her opponent, falling to the ground and walking away while laughing.
"A kiss so fast? Take me to dinner first" Ivonne raised her chains once more, throwing them down and catching Myrian's legs with ease, bringing her closer again so she could finish her off, Myrian fired a bullet infused with gravity Dust, hitting Ivonne's face and throwing her back.
"Why did you tell Lisa about my father?" Myrian asked, slowly getting up from the ground as she readied her gun for another burst "I don't even really know you…"
"At first, I admit it was just to annoy your cousin… but apparently you and I are more alike than I thought" Ivonne also got up from the ground, turning her neck until it rested satisfactorily "Ah… I was always an embarrassment to my parents… I always got into trouble and I wasn't as smart as my sister, yet everyone knew I was the daughter of a councilor, that didn't make my life easier, Myrian, it just put more expectations on me"
"That doesn't give you the right to want to teach me a fucking life lesson!" Myrian shot, the bullet was easily dodged by Ivonne, who began to approach "I will build my name on my own, I don't need to have my father's pressure on me, or anyone else's! I won't let you ruin that"
Ivonne smiled, lunging forward with impressive speed and kicking Myrian's chest with great force, knocking her down and landing a few blows to her face, causing the purple-haired girl to moan in pain and stop trying to defend herself.
"You, on the other hand, have the opportunity to go unnoticed and not have people talking behind your back, the Vale people, your classmates…your own family" Ivonne muttered venomously, even if she really seemed to be saying these words to herself "This hostile and aggressive environment is my playground, Myrian, and I will teach you how to play it right"
Myrian felt her aura crack as another punch connected with her face, the girl gasped for air as she watched in anger and fear as Ivonne loomed over her, ready to knock her out.
Suddenly, Ivonne felt a strong impact on her face, pushing her away from Myrian until she fell to the ground with a thud, the purple-eyed girl looked up in confusion, finding Arondite, Telsius' spear on the ground.
"What…?" She muttered, watching with some relief as Telsius, Samuel and Riana approached her, taking her firmly by the shoulders and helping her up, Myrian groaned somewhat in pain, while Ivonne got up from the ground.
"You already broke her aura" Samuel stood in front of Myrian, raising his gloved arms with his clawed gauntlets, looking at Ivonne with some anger "Let's get out of here and the punishment will be less worrying…you won't be able to defeat us all together"
"Yeah, you're right, I won't" Ivonne smiled slightly, feeling somewhat nostalgic as she watched Myrian being helped by her teammates "Well, at least I was able to fight a little, I hope we'll see each other again under better circumstances…"
Ivonne walked away calmly, Samuel kept his eyes on her at all times, making sure she didn't try anything strange or attack, when she disappeared, he sighed and simply turned to see his friends' conversation.
"Are you okay?" Telsius asked, gently cupping Myrian's cheek and assessing the damage, she looked tired and certainly somewhat lacking in energy, but nothing the aura couldn't heal once restored "I heard Waylon couldn't stop you and I was worried…Riana called us"
"You asked help to us" Riana joined the conversation, kneeling down next to her friend and looking at her harshly "We are a team, Myrian, your fights can also be ours"
"This was personal, Riana" Myrian shook her head, resting her cheek on Telsius' hand "Look…I'm sorry-"
"No! Stop making excuses! You can't just push us away when something happens to you, we care deeply about you, we trust you completely and we expect you to do the same with us, if Ivonne wants to mess with you, then she'll have to go through the rest of us if she wants to try again" Riana seemed determined with her words, slightly surprising Myrian, who nodded without finding another reason to continue arguing.
"Okay…I understand" Myrian got up with difficulty, noticing that Ivonne was no longer there "Huh?"
"She just left, she didn't really say anything, but she seemed satisfied" Samuel said with some displeasure, walking closer to Myrian "You're in trouble, you know? Professor Xiao Long is going to force you to do a lot of things this week and next… are you happy with this?"
"Maybe a little, now I know I can fully trust my team" Myrian laughed lightly, Samuel couldn't help but smile, feeling satisfied with his teammate's change of perspective "Let's get out of here, okay? I'm really tired and my make-up is all smeared"
"Of course! By the way, was it necessary to kiss Waylon?" Riana asked seriously, looking closely at her teammate, Myrian couldn't help but feel a small pinch of fear, while Telsius and Samuel simply laughed.
It had been a somewhat hectic and unusual day, Myrian felt that her problems had not been solved there, but now she knew that if something similar came in the future, she would not have to fight it alone.
She has a team, a team that will now be a part of her life for years to come, and strangely enough, she doesn't feel scared about having to share so much of herself with them, in fact, it even feels good.
Team STRM could be a good family for her, and she was more than nervous to see how it would turn out in the future.