Revamped a lot of stuff this weekend for both Gems and Carry On. Remember! If you don't have an idea for something now, let it stew for a bit and come back. And if you have an idea you're iffy on, it will almost always suck when you come back to stewing and there's a chance you'll have a 10x better new one.
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
Friedkin University's tests were more often than naught something to be feared. For a select few students, though, they weren't that bad. Jaune and Nora were not among that number, even with some help from Pyrrha and Gwen. Of course, they mostly understood what was there and, even then, Pyrrha actually had her own doubts about the test.
"Just...just to be certain, nobody remembers even talking about the topic number 14 was asking about, right?" Jaune asked.
"Oh, yeah, no. I just guessed at that one," Nora admitted with a sigh.
"If it helps...I didn't really know that one either," Pyrrha said sheepishly, much to Nora and Jaune's collective shock.
"Are you just saying that to help or are you serious?"
"The latter."
"I knew a majority of the test. I'll give myself that." Ren said. "Gwen, what about you? How do you think you did on it?"
Gwen hummed. "I dunno. Maybe high 90s or something. The topic just kinda connected with me, so it was easy to memorize."
Nora growled. "Lucky..."
"Well, it's fine now because it's over," Jaune stressed the last word, "And because it's over, I'm just gonna head back to the dorm and just relax."
"Second that," Nora chimed in.
"Agreed, honestly." Gwen said. "I feel a bit tired after everything was said and done. Thank God we have a long weekend."
Gwen was right- Friedkin was having a 'mini break', an extra two days devoted to student's mental health. This weekend was called 'Poe's Weekend'- named after the famous poet himself. Poe remarked after his wife's death, "I am constitutionally sensitive—nervous in a very unusual degree. I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity." Poe died at a nearby hospital in the early hours of the next day after being found in a state of insanity on the streets of Baltimore in October 1849, unable to say anything meaningful or explain how he had gotten up there.
A bit of a gruesome name for the weekend, but still, much appreciated that the college cared about mental health.
"Oh that's right! Completely forgot about that," Nora said with a smirk, "Good, we deserve it after today."
Ren brought out his phone as they all walked back to the dorm, just to make sure there weren't any urgent Hunter cases that would prevent them from having that much needed break. He was at least hoping for an update on their last case. After all, Jax and his gang had managed to escape, and he doubted they'd stay quiet for long. It wasn't even the fact that he was looking to throw a weekend out, it was just...nerve-wracking. When people like Jax are this quiet, they're either in hiding...or they're planning something.
Ren shook his head, and put his phone back. Why was he honestly so worried? Gwen said that she scared the living daylights out of him with...whatever she did. Gwen's magic...such a strange ability.
Ren was glad to have magic on their side of the field- who knows what would happen if they fought another magic user?
The five of them reached their dorm in no time. Nora was looking through some different ideas they could do over the break. Nothing too crazy, surprisingly enough. Of course, Pyrrha had tried to suggest that maybe they just put a day aside at the end of the break to go over what they really struggled with on the test. This was, of course, after whatever Nora decided on.
"Hmmm, hard to choose...any votes you wanna throw in, now's the time!" Nora announced to the group.
"Day trip, maybe? I heard the next city over has a good mall and a mini amusement park there." Jaune said. "That sounds great after this week."
"I like that idea." Gwen agreed. "Of course, we'd have to debate on who's driving..."
"Not Nora," Pyrrha, Jaune, and Ren all said in unison.
"Really? One time, I go a little too fast, you all turn traitor the minute we have to drive somewhere!" Nora defended.
"Was it that bad?" Gwen softly asked Pyrrha.
"Imagine if someone tried taking a normal car off-roading. While speeding. No offense to Nora, but it's a miracle we didn't crash," Pyrrha admitted.
"Hey, MY driving is great! Gwen goes too slow on freeways!" Nora pouted.
"Since when is the speed limit slow!?" Jaune yelled.
"IT'S CALLED! THE FREEWAY! SO I AM FREE TO GO 100 MPH!" Nora yelled.
"Ok I see your point," Gwen conceded, "I'll drive if need be."
"I'm in favor of that." Pyrrha grinned.
"Same." Ren nodded, which made Nora even more pouty.
"So, there we go! One day of break planned." Jaune said. "...what do we do for the other three?"
"Part of me wants to say Mario Party just because we have it, but the last time we played, Ren broke a lamp in pure anger," Nora said.
"He did?" Gwen looked to Ren in disbelief.
"Mario Party is like Monopoly. It can and will push one's limits. And then break them," Ren confirmed.
Gwen scoffed. "There's no way Ren got mad. I can't see him giving into anger."
"Oh, we've seen it. It's scary." Pyrrha shivered.
"Listen, the only people who get mad at those games are my cousin, my brother...and those two idiots who live two doors down from us." Gwen scoffed.
"The blonde and the blue haired guy?" Nora asked.
"That's them."
"Knowing Sun, he'd probably say that everyone gets mad at them. I mean...it's understandable! Getting a victory that's like one move away stolen by one lucky roll. Isn't that right Jaune?" Nora shot the blonde knight a glare.
"You're still mad about that?" Jaune asked.
"Not mad, just holding onto it. That way I can get revenge."
"You know them?" Gwen asked. "Are they also from Haven?"
"Yeah." Pyrrha nodded. "Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias. They're both very talented huntsmen...but, they're also totally idiots."
"I believe the second half more than the first," Gwen deadpanned.
"It's true though! Er, the first part I mean. Second's just common knowledge. Sun's Semblance is actually really useful and Neptune's...I...don't know what his is actually," Nora admitted, "He's never said."
"He said he has personal reasons for not saying. Haven't pried since he said that," Ren added.
"I get it, I suppose." Gwen said. "But still, they sound like total idiots. I don't see how they could really-"
"Someone say my name?" a new voice spoke up.
Gwen spun around immediately when she heard someone call out from behind her. She was greeted by a tan-skinned boy with blonde spiky hair and blue eyes. He was wearing red bracers over black fingerless gloves, blue cargo pants with a white belt, and a white collared jacket that was completely unbuttoned. Which wouldn't have been that bad if he was wearing a shirt or something underneath. But he wasn't.
Gwen cringed. "Is...this Sun?"
"Yep." Jaune nodded. Sun walked over, and held up his hand for a high five.
"Long time no see, guys! Large campus, huh?" Sun joked, even though he was left hanging.
"Where's Neptune?" Ren asked instead.
"Oh, him? Ah, he's fine. Finishing up some paper for Rumpole," Sun hand waved it away, "I already finished it yesterday so, all good there. Don't think you ever said who this is."
"Oh, this is Gwen." Jaune said. "She's one of the friends we made here."
"Don't worry- I know about the whole Hunter thing." Gwen said. "So, I'm fine with whatever."
"Oh, sweet!" Sun said. "That means you're cool with this." A tail suddenly appeared from out of Sun's shirt.
"I am...but that doesn't mean I was expecting that," Gwen admitted. Gwen had heard about Faunus from the others but, up until now, she hadn't actually met one.
"Oh! First time meeting a Faunus huh?" Sun picked up immediately.
"That obvious?"
"Eh, it's fine. Tail always catches people off guard the first time."
Ruby mentioned her teammate was a Faunus. When she said they demonstrated animalistic traits, I assumed it would be something minor, like their eyes or small bits of scales, not a full tail. Gwen thought.
"So, what are you guys doing for the weekend?" Sun said. "I'm free for hanging out-"
"Oh! We're gonna hit a mall and a mini park in the next city over!" Nora chimed in, "Wanna come?"
Gwen looked to Nora with a raised brow.
"What? It'll be fine! One more person won't ruin things!"
"Hmmm...alright, sure!" Sun shrugged. "Me and Nep can swing by and hang."
"Two more people! Two more people won't ruin things." Nora grinned sheepishly.
"Okay. But...you'll be in the car with Nora." Gwen frowned.
"Hey, as long as I get to drive," Sun smirked.
Back in their dorm, Neptune, while still working on his paper, got the worst feeling that Sun had volunteered to drive somewhere.
"...like hell we're having a repeat of last time," Neptune muttered to himself.
"Alright. We'll give you details in a bit. And, please, keep it down." Gwen frowned. "I know you suck at Mario Kart- hell, the entire hallway does- but PLEASE, remember other people can hear you when you're playing."
"Wait, the dorms aren't soundproofed?"
"No!" Gwen frowned.
"...shiiiiit," Sun winced, the realization hitting him dead-on.
"Yeah. Thank goodness I warned you before...well, I wouldn't even say you could get anyone in that room, even if you tried." Gwen walked away.
"...isn't she a bundle of joy?" Sun scowled.
"She did help us take down that Semblance Trafficking ring on campus, so I'd watch your tongue. Sure, we didn't capture them, but she said something to them that made Jax just stay far, far away from us." Pyrrha said.
"Oh shit, that was you guys?" Sun asked.
"Yep! It was insane. Some lady had a freezing Semblance-" Nora began.
"Petrification," Ren corrected.
"And we got into this crazy, underground fight club, and yes I did fight as part of our cover!"
"You alone made that decision."
"See, now you're just ruining the story. I can embellish a little here, Ren!" the hammer wielding Huntress pouted.
"Well, damn." Sun whistled. "Wish you guys told me cuz I would've LOVED to kick Jax's ass, honestly. I feel like that dude just hated me..."
"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll get another chance." Pyrrha said.
"You'll get to kick his ass, his sister's ass and whoever the hell showed up to save him. We still don't know who they were, do we?" Nora asked.
"No, and I doubt we'll get a lead on them any time soon. Jax was able to keep his operation secret for a while. How easy would it be for him to keep a small group hidden, Semblance or no?" Pyrrha responded.
"Yeah, I figured," Nora sighed in defeat. She just really wanted to land a hit on the guy for turning her against everyone and she was gonna hold onto that for as long as it took to find that bastard.
"Still. I'm hoping we get along better, especially after that first encounter," Sun grimaced. "Don't want to get on her nerves, you know?"
"Yeah. She's just a huge intellectual, she's quiet and...well, she's magic." Jaune said. "Just...work with that."
Sun nodded. "Yoooou got it!"
Annnnnd then Sun did a double take. "Wait, magic?"
A few hours later, Gwen was putting some of her textbooks away, moving them out of the way so she could enjoy the break. She put up one of the literature textbooks and then found one that she didn't remember, which is saying something. It was a heavy book, bigger than most of the other texts she had. The cover itself, green in color, was surprisingly blank, lacking even a title. The only thing on it was a silver latch and lock, both tightly shut.
"That's...weird," Gwen muttered, looking over the book, trying to remember when she got this. She probably checked it out from the campus library and just forgot about it, given the exam.
Gwen looked at the latch, the lock had no key to it, and even if Gwen had a key, it would be VERY distinct. The keyhole had the appearance of what she could only guess to be like a drill bit.
"What is this?" Gwen narrowed her eyes at the text suspicious tome.
Gwen hummed for a minute, a plant forming in her head. Was there a magic spell she could use to open this?
She thought it over for a minute and, while the specific spell for the lock couldn't come to mind, she could use her magic to try and make a copy of the key itself. Seeing the drill bit-like keyhole, she tried to make a mana construct that mimicked the shape of it. She put the fake key into the lock and tried to turn it. Despite the construct being a perfect fit, the lock seemed to fight against it.
"Come...on...!" Gwen grimaced, putting more force behind the key. Maybe the lock's internal parts were damaged?
Gwen gave it a tap. The lock appeared to be built from metal. Pyrrha might have some success unlocking it utilizing her polarity resemblance.
Gwen looked up to see Pyrrha enter. Pyrrha noticed her with the book. "Whatcha got there?" She said, putting her book bag down.
"Dunno. It was in my book pile, but I don't recall ever checking it out." Gwen stated.
"Something for a course, you think, or just some downtime reading?" Pyrrha asked as she walked over. She saw the lack of a title and the lock and raised a brow.
"Like I said, don't remember. Been trying to open it but..." Gwen tapped the lock to emphasize her point.
"Magic's not working?"
"Thought maybe a certain magnetism power could help."
"Lemme try it." Pyrrha said. "I was able to unlock my front door with my Semblance once, when I lost my key, I can probably do it on something smaller."
Pyrrha focused on the lock, and tried moving the inner workings around, but for some reason, it didn't budge. She opened her eyes, and frowned.
"Odd..." Pyrrha huffed.
"Nothing?" Gwen asked, surprised.
"Nothing. Bit of a long shot, but you wouldn't happen to know what metal this is, would you? Just in case it's not a magnetic metal."
"...Pyrrha. I'm magic, not all-knowing," Gwen deadpanned.
"Right, right, sorry. Just thinking of a possible explanation is all."
"A book I don't remember picking up, with a nigh-uncrackable lock..." Gwen mused, as she put it back down. Gwen felt like she had read about this somewhere.
"I don't even remember a book like this from the library..." Pyrrha said. "They usually add labels onto unmarked books."
"I'm starting to think it wasn't from the library." Gwen theorized, pulling out a notably dog eared spellbook. "I might have an idea of what it is...in the world of magic, there's these things called 'Hexerei books'- books forgotten by the world of magic. Very few have been found, and I think they require specific keys to open."
"And you think this is one of them?" Pyrrha asked.
"It's possible." Hexerei books are said to have a sort of camouflage spell, a way to blend in among books so people overlook them. Part of a way to keep them away from those who'd misuse them."
"And I'm guessing that camouflage was part of the reason they were lost to begin with?"
"Tossed in with everyday books and scattered everywhere, yep."
"So, it's possible you thought it was another book...and then picked it up by accident." Pyrrha said.
Gwen nodded. "That's the theory." Gwen looked at her spellbook, and compared the sketch to the book before her. "And looks like we're on the dot about it."
The book itself looked different from the sketch, showing a more grand and ornate text, lined with metals and an arcane symbol prominently displayed on the cover, but the keyhole was what gave it away. Every single Hexerei book had an accompanying drill bit-like key, a fitting Hexerei key. Despite the unimaginative name, the keys were unique to each tome, no two books could be opened with the same key. Question now was, where was this key?
"I'll look into it later, honestly." Gwen said, putting the book in her purse for safe keeping. "Locating the key could be like finding a needle in a haystack. Could be on campus or somewhere else in the world."
"Right, right." Pyrrha nodded. "Selfish as it may seem, we deserve a weekend off."
"And despite a certain loudmouth tagging along...I'm looking forward to it," Gwen admitted.
"Could still give Sun a chance."
"I could. Initial impressions just haven't been the best is all. Not terrible but, eh."
"Don't be shocked if he wanders off halfway through." Pyrrha said, as she walked over to their kitchen area to make herself some tea. "I'm shocked he's such an efficient leader, honestly."
"A leader?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah- Sun was made leader of his own team, and, well, they're an INTERESTING bunch." Pyrrha said. "One's trying too hard to be cool, one can be really demanding and that last guy doesn't really talk much. I'd like to know something about him beyond his name."
"'Interesting bunch' can be used for a lot of Hunter teams, can't it?" Gwen smirked a little.
"You're not wrong, I admit. But Sun's team is more that statement taken up a few notches. Not as many as Team FNKI, but still," Pyrra said.
"Team FNKI? That...that's a team name?"
"From Atlas, surprisingly."
"Maybe Ben knows them." Gwen said, as Pyrrha pulled out some Chamomile for herself. "Can you pull out some Rooibos too?"
"Oh, sure." Pyrrha said, pulling it down. "I have respect for Sun as a leader, but socially? He's a lot."
"From the one actual conversation I've had with him, I believe it. What about the others you mentioned?" Gwen asked.
"Sage is the one who doesn't talk much and, well like I said before, I just wish he would say more than a few words for the entire conversation. Just to get to know him a little better."
"Could just be the opposite of Sun."
"True. Scarlet's a bit bossy, a bit flamboyant, a bit studious, bit of everything really. But, he is good friends with his team." Pyrrha said. "Though, they are notoriously absent from certain events, which is weird. I feel like I haven't seen all of Team SSSN in a room since...ever."
"O...kay, yeah that's weird," Gwen said. As long as she's known Team JNPR, they've always shared a dorm. Maybe SSSN just had a different dynamic?
"It's unusual, yeah...but let's keep it at that, for now. I don't want to spoil too much..." Pyrrha said.
"Pulling the spoiler card? Really?" Gwen shook her head, "Fair, though, I guess." As Pyrrha was fixing the tea for the two of them, Gwen looked back to her books, specifically, the Hexerei tome. It couldn't have just appeared in her bag, could it? It had to have found its way there somehow...
Halfway across the campus, students were filing out of the many lecture halls as the class had ended. The professor in charge sighed and started gathering the materials he had set out over the desk. He paused as he reached for one of the textbooks. Something felt...off. He quickly grabbed his bag and checked inside. He gave one last look around the room to make sure no one else was straggling behind, before he pulled out the Hexeri key, with its odd drill bit-like shape.
"Someone's found it..." he muttered to himself, "He can't be making his move this soon...can he? No," he gripped the key in his hand tightly, "The risk isn't worth taking. I must recover that book." He quickly gathered up what papers he still needed, put them and the key back in his bag, and started for his office.
He was in such a rush that he didn't notice that one of his students actually had overheard him.
"Now...where are you heading, Professor?" she muttered to herself, watching him leave.
The next day, Gwen and the others met up with the others in the parking lot. Sun was accompanied by someone else, who Gwen assumed was Neptune. He was a teenage boy with tan skin, blue eyes and messy light-blue undercut hair.
He wore a white dress shirt and black tie under a red jacket adorned with a wide, upturned, black collar and a silver reticle across the back. He also sported a pair of gray jeans with black padding strapped to the sides as well as black shoes fastened with straps instead of laces.
And he was admittedly a bit cute.
"There you guys are! Startin' to think you slept in late,'' Sun smirked.
"One of us did, actually," Ren said, taking a glance at Nora.
"Ok, maybe but you can't prove it wasn't because of the test we had the day before!" Nora tried to defend herself.
"Jaune seemed to struggle as much as you did...but he was up around the same time Pyrrha was."
"Honestly, just an early riser, anyway," Jaune admitted.
"Ha! See? Circumstances are in my favor!" Nora smirked in triumph.
Ren was about to say they weren't, but decided against it.
"You guys remember Neptune, right?" Sun said, putting an arm around his friend. "Save for you, Red."
Gwen scowled. Red?
"Yeah. Long time no see, man." Jaune said, shaking hands with the blue haired boy. "What have you been up to?"
"Ah, not much. Just working on myself, honestly." Neptune said.
Gwen brushed off the "Red" nickname for now and turned to Neptune. Rude not to introduce herself after all. Before she could however, Sun decided to do so for her.
"Neptune, Red. Red, Neptune," Sun quickly said, gesturing back and forth between the two.
"It's Gwen," Gwen corrected, but took it in stride.
"Uh, nice to meet you." Neptune said, putting up his hand. "Don't worry about Sun. He's..."
"Odd? Yeah." Gwen looked over at Sun. "Are you going to button that shirt up? I have a feeling people are gonna be looking at you weird at the mall."
"Huh? Eh, I'm used to it," Sun shrugged.
"If it helps explain things, he's used to warmer weather. A lot warmer. Like, desert warm," Neptune chimed in.
"Is Mistral particularly warm?" Gwen asked.
"Not predominantly," Pyrrha said. "It's usually hot, windy, or overcast. Sun's actually from Vacuo."
"Vacuo...that's in Australia, right?" Gwen asked.
"Yep!" Sun grinned.
"So, why don't you have an accent?"
Sun paused.
"Good question!" Sun said. "Moving on!"
"Yeah, it's weird buuuuut we've learned not to really question it," Neptune said, "But yeah, moving on from that! Who's driving? And please don't say Sun," Neptune said, muttering that last part.
"It's me~!" Nora said, grabbing the two boys by their shirt collars and dragging them over to a rather beat up looking 2015 Jeep Wrangler. Ren sighed.
"I'll make sure she doesn't get a speeding ticket." Ren said, walking away. "See you guys at the mall. Hopefully."
Gwen looked at Jaune and Pyrrha. "Well, looks like it's us in my car." Gwen said. "So, who's riding in the front?"
"Pyrrha," Jaune said.
"Jaune," Pyrrha said, simultaneously. They both turned to look each other, a bit surprised they volunteered each other and that they did so in almost perfect sync.
"Oh, sorry, you can have front!" they both said simultaneously again.
"What was that all about?" Gwen blinked.
"S-sorry! He is the team leader and everything and-" Pyrrha said.
"Well, you're our best fighter so-" Jaune began. And it slowly devolved into them complimenting each other. A lot.
Gwen made a face. Just date already.
In the end, Pyrrha got to ride shotgun with Jaune in the back (a decision that actually took a lot longer than it really should've, but not really in an annoying way). Gwen did wonder how these two hadn't actually gotten together yet, but that was a train of thought to follow another time.
Gwen, Jaune and Pyrrha had some casual conversation- Gwen recounting stories about the summer she spent with Ben, Max and Ruby, Pyrrha telling some funny stories that happened during Mistral and Jaune talking about some of his childhood memories.
"Beyond my parent's house was this large field. There was a lot of wildlife, huge ponds, and little woods throughout a vast plain. As a timid kid, I recall having numerous adventures there until the sun went down." Jaune said. "Sometimes my sisters would come along, and-"
Meanwhile, in Nora's car, music was blasting so loudly that the car was shaking. Nora was driving a bit unsafe, Sun and Neptune were holding onto the grab handles (which were almost falling apart) for dear life.
Ren was cool, as always, totally unfazed by such reckless acts.
"How is he so calm?!" Neptune yelled, almost drowned out by the music.
"No idea!" Sun yelled, "Honestly wish I knew!"
"Many, many years of exposure to Nora's unique brand of chaos," Ren answered.
Eventually, both parties made it to the mall in one piece. Gwen had parked her car perfectly and Nora's car was parked so damn close to another car, that getting out on the right side would surely dent it.
Nora hopped out of her car and sighed. "Ahhh, feels nice to have a good drive over here. Right guys?"
Sun and Neptune walked out of the car, looking absolutely thrashed. "Y-yeah." Sun said, weakly giving a thumbs up.
Ren, meanwhile, looked none the worse for wear. Upon seeing the state of Sun and Neptune...yeah, Gwen was glad she ended up driving with Jaune and Pyrrha.
Jaune pulled up a map of the mall on his phone. "Let's take this floor by floor, and save the amusement park for last. First floor has a lot of clothing stores and a few other places- maybe we should spice up our wardrobes."
"He is right. Been a while since we've had a change of clothes." Pyrrha said. "I am getting kinda tired of wearing the same stuff every week."
"Still keeping the gold and red?" Nora asked.
"Mostly, I might get something different. While gold and red are my colors, it's nice to get some variety."
"Eh, fair. What about you, Ren? You thinking of updating your look orrrrrrrr?"
"I have been thinking about changing up my hairstyle." Ren said.
"Really? Me too." Jaune said. "I need something with more 'oomph', y'know?"
"Um, what exactly did you have in mind?" Pyrrha asked.
"I dunno! I'll surprise myself." Jaune said.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about that?" Gwen said.
"Oh, come on, it won't be that bad!" Nora beamed.
Jaune's haircut was bad. They learned this a few hours later. The knight of the team had gotten his hair cut short and styled it to be upswept and somewhat spiky.
"You look like a grown up version of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes." Sun said.
"Christian frat boy making life choices for the first time." Nora said.
"Walmart Brand Sokka." Neptune said.
"...well, I think it's neat." Pyrrha said.
"At least someone has something positive to say," Jaune sighed.
"Pyrrha, you're...you're not serious, are you?" Nora asked, genuinely curious.
"Is there a problem if I am?" Pyrrha asked.
"Well, no but...I mean..." Nora stumbled over her words, trying her best to word this.
"Good. Then we can drop that."
Gwen had also decided to get her hair cut, a bit shorter than usual. Her long red hair was now short, and that had bangs in the front. Gwen approached the gang. "Well? What do you think?"
"Hell yeah, Gwen! Join the short hair crew!" Nora said, pulling her in. "You and I could be sisters now!"
Pyrrha couldn't help but stifle a giggle at that.
"Sorry, sorry, just...that's just a funny mental image," the Invincible Girl chuckled.
"Nora's not wrong. The energetic and the serious, well more often than not, anyway," Ren said, cracking a slight grin at the situation too.
Ren had also changed his hair up. He didn't get a haircut, but he did treat himself to a nice hair wash and had it braided.
"Looking cool, dude." Neptune grinned.
"Not gonna change anything? Haircut, nothing?" Jaune asked.
"Why would you mess with perfection?" Neptune smirked a little.
"Uh-huh, right," Jaune rolled his eyes at that.
Pyrrha felt up her ponytail, and hummed. "Well, since everyone else is changing up their clothes..." she let her hair down and sighed. "I'll try it out, and see if I like it."
"Tempted to ask for you to join the short hair crew here, short haired redheads, buuuut that'd be a bad idea, wouldn't it?" Nora asked.
"Yeah, people might have trouble telling us apart." Pyrrha joked. "I'll keep my long hair, thank you."
"Well, we got the hair part settled," Gwen said. "Maybe it's time we check out some new clothes."
"Gotta ask first though...who's paying?" Nora smirked, looking over to Pyrrha.
"That's your 'We're going for the expensive clothes' isn't it?" Pyrrha deadpanned.
The clothes weren't all that expensive, thankfully. Gwen now wore a light blue vest with a dark stripe down the middle, with a blue collared shirt underneath. She wore a black skirt and black tights. Gwen smiled, admiring her new appearance. "How do I look?" She asked Pyrrha.
Pyrrha, who was now wearing a red jacket over a gold top, dark leggings, and boots that resembled her armor, brown leather with a gold material going up the middle, gave Gwen two thumbs up.
"It suits you," Pyrrha beamed.
"Thanks." Gwen said. "Where'd the others go?"
"Well, Sun and Neptune went to get us seats at a restaurant on the second floor, Jaune and Nora went to another store...and I don't know where Ren went."
"Huh...where would he go in here?" Gwen asked.
Once the two had paid for the outfits, they went in search of Ren, just to try and find him. They knew where everyone else was after all, so they could meet up later. It took them about twenty-five minutes or so, until they found him. Ren, with a few bags in hand...exited a Hot Topic.
"He...he didn't actually, did he?" Gwen began, absolutely confused at this. Ren, the calm, almost monk-like member of JNPR went to a fucking Hot Topic. What is this timeline?
"...what?" Ren asked, noticing the two sets of green eyes watching him.
"Ren, I'm asking this in the nicest way I possibly can, but why were you in there?" Pyrrha asked.
Ren looked down at his clothes, an Artic Monkeys shirt and torn jeans, and blinked in confusion.
"...they have my usual brand of clothes?"
"I'm sorry, your usual brand...is carried by Hot Topic?" Gwen asked, just making sure she was hearing all of this right.
"Yes? I...you two are acting as if I'm missing something," Ren said bluntly.
"Well, it's just… I mean," Pyrrha began, wondering how to tell her teammate in the nicest way possible.
"What?" Ren tilted his head.
"You know what? Forget I said anything. It suits you." Pyrrha conceded.
"Are you sure?" Gwen whispered.
"Yes, I'm sure. If it works for him, I say let him have it."
"Alright..."
"I'll text Nora and Jaune to meet us at the restaurant upstairs," Pyrrha said, pulling out her phone. "I'm sure they won't be long, right?"
"You've never seen how Nora shops, have you?" Ren asked.
"Well, there's food involved. Maybe she'll be twice as fast." Pyrrha suggested.
That might actually work, Ren thought to himself. Mentioning pancakes would probably make her arrive in seconds.
Pyrrha texted the both of them, and smiled. "Alright! So, what's the name of the place we're meeting them at?" She asked.
"Olga's Kitchen," Ren said. "It's a Greek-American restaurant. Guess they had you in mind."
"Oh ha ha," Pyrrha smirked, "Let's go then."
Sun and Neptune had chosen a decent sized booth in the back of the semi-busy restaurant. They already had ordered some appetizers- flour tortillas with dried oregano, paprika, garlic salt and a small amount of crushed red pepper flakes on them. Gwen had to admit- they looked pretty tasty.
"What took you guys?" Sun joked.
"Just lost track of time," Pyrrha said, covering for Ren, even if he didn't know it.
"We would've been here sooner if someone could've made his mind up a bit sooner," Nora said, glancing at Jaune.
"H-hey. I wanted to be sure that my outfit looked appealing..." Jaune sighed. He was right- his clothing included a black and white shirt with sleeves that reached the middle of his arms, pants, and some new grey shoes.
"Yeah, but I told you that look worked in the first twenty minutes. But then you decided to swap out jackets and shirts for the rest of the time!"
"I wanted to explore all my options!" Jaune pouted.
"Why's that, actually?" Nora grinned, getting up in Jaune's face. "You got a hot date?"
"W-what? N-no. Don't know where you got that idea from," Jauen said, looking away from Nora.
"Jaune, we all know how bad of a liar you are!" Nora smirked, "C'moooon. Who is it?"
"I-it's no one!" Jaune said, sitting down next to Pyrrha. "I swear!"
"Hhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm." Nora hummed. "I'm gonna put on my 'skepticals'." She mimed putting on a pair of glasses, and stared at Jaune intently.
"...I always forget how weird she is." Neptune said.
"But in a good way!" Nora shot back, leaning closer to Jaune. The blonde never looked the energetic redhead in the eye, hoping that'd be enough to throw her off.
But this was Nora Valkyrie. Why would it be that simple?
"Anyways," Gwen said, taking her seat. "Pyrrha mentioned you were the leader of your team, SSSN. I have to ask- what's your primary goal with your team?"
"My goal?" Sun asked.
"Yeah. You must have one, right?"
"Well, 'oh fearless leader?'" Neptune chimed in, "Go on, tell her."
Sun took a deep breath. "As a leader, my goal is, honestly? Nothing."
"What?" Gwen blinked.
"I'm a simple man without a lot of complicated twists and turns," Sun said. "I see something? I go after it. I leave whenever I want. I go wherever. I'm my own man, and these guys can do whatever they want. They want to follow me? Alright. They wanna go do their own thing? Also fine. I just value my happiness, and THEIR happiness too."
"That...huh. Wasn't expecting that," Gwen admitted. Nor was she expecting him to be so forward about it. Someone else would've actually had no goal, but they might've tried to save face with a cover story of some kind.
"I just want to be a part of a world where people are free to do whatever, whenever. Is that so hard?" Sun shrugged.
"I see." Gwen hummed. Her attention turned to Neptune. "So, why do you follow him?"
"Eh, he's stupid and he needs direction." Neptune said.
"It's why the team works so well, honestly," Sun admitted.
"The other two are off doing their own thing. We maybe meet once or twice a week for training, and assemble into a bigger group if need be." Neptune said. "Free reign all around."
"That's...very different from the other Hunters I know. Aside from these guys," Gwen said, gesturing to Pyrrha and the others.
"That's just how things work in Vacuo," Sun said, "Heard people call it 'chaotic order' more than once."
"Vacuo is one of the most disordered places in the world right now," Pyrrha explained. "How do you function without a government?"
"Well." Sun said, resting the back of his head in his hands.
"It's not entirely lawless," Neptune added, "Shade's what people respect out there. Outside of that, it's kind of tribal laws."
"Better than whatever you guys have here. Jeez, politics! Am I right?" Sun joked.
Gwen gave him a look.
"...right, sorry."
"I mean, Vacuo had a government at one point, but that died out ages ago. Shade still teaches about the dynasties, sake of history and all, but outside of that," Neptune began.
"Not really something people like to think about, right..." Gwen said.
"I'm still very hung up on the idea of you just simply letting your other two teammates do whatever, Sun." Jaune admitted. "I feel all teams should need a connection, a shared goal. Like, Team JNPR is devoted to self-improvement."
"And good vibes," Nora added.
"And good vibes too." Jaune agreed.
"Best way to think of it is...well, you know how many tribes are out in Vacuo? Each tribe makes a settlement, that whole thing?" Sun asked.
"Kind of. Heard about it from some of our classes back at Haven."
"Well, it's kind of like that, but, I don't know, more organized I guess?" Sun scratched the back of his head. "I mean, you've got your big city in the middle, and then a bunch of different neighborhoods that all have their own feel to 'em."
"Oh, that makes a lot of sense." Nora said. "So, like, there's a bunch of different places to hang out and stuff?"
"Exactly. You've got your shopping districts, your entertainment districts, all that good stuff." Sun grinned.
"What about the bad stuff?" Pyrrha asked. "I mean, with so many people in one place, there's bound to be some conflict."
"Oh, there's plenty of that too." Sun's grin faded a bit. "But that's why you've got us hunters. We keep the peace."
"So you're like the police?" Gwen asked.
"More or less. Though we try to avoid violence if we can. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but," Sun shrugged. "That's life, I guess."
"I suppose," Jaune said.
"What about when the Grimm get involved?" Nora asked, "Go all out?"
"When the Grimm show up, even the people who aren't Hunters end up fighting," Sun answered, "It's kind of rare to find anyone in Vacuo who doesn't at least have a dagger on 'em."
"I've seen people take on the Grimm with just their fists before," Neptune said, "I'm not sure if it's brave or just stupid."
"I think it's a bit of both." Jaune said, "Though I'm not sure I could do it myself. Kinda need my sword and shield to fight, you know?"
"I've fought many Grimm before, both big and small." Pyrrha said, "Though I'm not sure I would want to take on the Grimm with just my fists."
"Ren's fought a King Taijutsu barehanded! It was AWESOME!" Nora said. Everyone looked at Ren, in shock. Ren looked up from his menu.
"...what?" the composed Hunter in training asked.
"Is that true?" Sun asked, kind of awestruck now.
"Is wha-?" Ren began.
"Tell 'em! About the King Taijitu in initiation! You remember!" Nora interjected.
"That wasn't impressive."
"Famous Ren humility here!" Nora smirked.
"I was just trying not to die." Ren said.
"Oh come on! It's a great story and you know it!" Nora pouted.
"All I did was manipulate my Aura in the proper ways," Ren tried to appease Nora.
Gwen rolled her eyes, as she suddenly felt her purse shake in her chair.
"What the-?" she muttered.
"What is it?" Jaune asked. Gwen looked into her bag, wondering if her phone was going off, but instead, the mysterious book was glowing a strange pink color.
"That doesn't look normal." Neptune said.
"No, it doesn't," Gwen said, picking up the book cautiously.
"Maybe it's a sign!" Nora said, "Maybe it's trying to tell us something!"
"Normally, I'd say you're reaching but you might be right," Gwen said, checking on the lock. It hadn't reacted like this before. Was it her or something else nearby?
"The book just appeared in your bag last night. Maybe it was there for a reason." Pyrrha hypothesized.
"Maybe," Gwen said, still not sure what to make of it. She was trying to recall any spells that would cause an object to react like this.
"...a tracking spell." Gwen suddenly realized.
"A what now?" Neptune asked.
"Someone's trying to track this book!"
"And I take it that range isn't exactly a factor for something like this?" Pyrrha asked. If range counted, then maybe whoever was casting this was nearby.
"No," Gwen said, her mind racing, "Which means they could be here, right now."
"Not good..." Ren's eyes darted around the area.
"We should probably go," Neptune said, "If someone's looking for this book, they're not going to be happy if they find us with it."
"Right," Gwen said, "Let's go."
"What about our food?" Nora asked.
"I think we can manage without it," Gwen said, as she quickly put the book away and stood up.
"Right, let's go then," Jaune said, as the group quickly left the restaurant.
Sun and Neptune weren't really sure what was going on, thinking the "spell" Gwen mentioned was just someone's Semblance. Considering how many there were out there that bordered on comic-like superpowers, like Neptune's own, it wasn't hard to imagine someone had a tracking Semblance.
But Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren knew better. If someone was trying to track the book, it meant they were likely after Gwen as well. And they weren't going to let anything happen to her.
Magic was such a troublesome thing- Gwen had only encountered a few sorcerers in her adventures with Ben- they were incredibly varied in their spellcasting. Gwen knew that their unknown enemy could have that same 'net' of spells at their disposal too.
"We should probably head back to the academy," Jaune said, as they walked quickly through the mall, "It's the safest place for us right now."
"Agreed," Gwen said, as they hurried along. Whoever was after her wasn't going to give up easily- Tennysons had to be prepared for the worst.
The group quickly left the shopping center behind them. Whoever was tracking the book might not care about civilians getting caught in the crossfire so, best to draw them away from the largest concentrations of people. Ren and Pyrrha were discreetly looking around, trying to see if anyone was out of place or following them.
Ren scanned the area. "I don't see anyone."
"Neither do I." Pyrrha said
"Good. Keep an eye out." Gwen said.
The gang picked up the pace, but it became apparent that they were being followed. More and more clearly audible footsteps could be heard.
"Split up!" Nora shouted.
Everybody dispersed in all directions. While Gwen, Sun, Ren and Neptune walked a different street, Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha sprinted down another one.
"We'll meet back up at the park!" Nora called over her shoulder.
The group ran as fast as they could, but it was clear that their pursuer was not going to give up easily. Gwen, Sun, Ren and Neptune turned down an alleyway, hoping to lose their follower in the maze of streets.
The only problem was the book. Whoever was tracking them had them zeroed in thanks to it. Gwen couldn't just throw the book away and just give the pursuer what they wanted, though; she had no idea what their intentions were.
Sun and Neptune were both winded, but Gwen and Ren pushed on. She could hear the pursuer's footsteps getting closer and closer. The four turned down another alleyway and came to a dead end. Gwen turned to face the pursuer, book in hand, and prepared for the worst.
The pursuer came into view and Gwen was shocked to see that it was a girl...that looked eerily similar to her.
"Please," The lookalike said. "Just give me the book."
"W-why?" Gwen asked. "What do you want with it?"
"I-it's not important," the girl said. "Just please."
"No," Gwen said. "I won't just hand it over. You need to tell me what's going on."
"I don't- I don't have time to explain. You have to give it to me before she shows up! If I can get it from you now, she won't need to make a scene," the doppelganger said.
"Oh, so you're the good cop then?" Sun asked.
"If you want to say t-that, yes, j-just stop trying to distract me. Please."
Gwen looked at the girl and then at the book. She didn't know what to do. On one hand, this girl seemed sincere and was just asking for the book. On the other hand, Gwen didn't know what this girl's intentions were and she didn't want to hand over the book until she knew more.
"I'm sorry," Gwen said. "I can't just hand it over."
"I see," the girl said. "Well, I guess I'll just have to take it from you then."
The girl lunged for the book and Gwen threw up a magic shield that blocked the girl. The lookalike didn't even hesitate with her counter- attack and sent a bolt of energy flying at Gwen, which she barely managed to dodge.
"What the hell?!" Sun shouted.
"What is going on?!" Neptune yelled. "Is this magic thing REAL?!"
"Very! We learned it first hand," Ren said. On instinct, he reached for Storm Flower, but remembered they weren't there. Gwen saw that and realized that the four of them did outnumber this counterpart of her's; her allies just needed their weapons. After dodging another bolt of energy, Gwen focused on the weapons most familiar to her. Soon, the twin pistols of Storm Flower appeared before Ren and he quickly grabbed them, checking their clips to make sure they were full before engaging.
With the rest of team JNPR, their weapons appeared before them as well. Nora quickly took hold of her signature hammer.
"I know you said to regroup here," Pyrrha said as she grabbed hold of Miló and Akoúo̱.
"I know, I know. We gotta find 'em," Nora said.
Gwen and Ren pelted the red head sorceress with blasts of magic and bullets.
"What's the plan?" Gwen asked as she dodged another attack.
"We need to find the others and regroup," Ren said. "Then we can figure out what to do from there."
"Got it," Gwen said.
The two of them continued to fight off the girl as best they could, but she was getting more and more aggressive with each attack. They were slowly being driven back. The girl created a large sphere of energy and hurled it at them. Gwen and Ren managed to jump out of the way, but the blast still hit a building behind them, causing it to collapse.
"Christ!" Neptune yelled.
"Uh, hey, no offense, but do you think you can pull that teleport-thing on our weapons?!" Sun yelled.
"I've never seen them!" Gwen yelled back, firing a barrage that her duplicate was able to dodge expertly, "I have to be familiar with them in order to make it a guarantee!"
"Of course even magic has limits!" the monkey Faunus sighed.
"I mean...lotta stories do put limits on magic," Neptune countered.
"Well, we'll just have to find a way around it!" Jaune called out as he, Nora, and Pyrrha ran towards them. "We're with you!"
With the rest of her team by her side, Gwen felt a lot more confident. She and Ren continued to fight off the girl, while Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha tried to find an opening. Pyrrha threw her shield, boosting its power with her polarity. The girl was momentarily stunned by the attack and Nora grinned.
"GWEN! HIT ME!" Nora yelled.
Gwen looked at Nora and then at the girl. She knew what Nora was trying to do. She fired a blast of thunder magic at Nora and she hit it back with her hammer, hitting their assailant. The girl was overwhelmed by the attack, and collapsed to the ground.
"That was... actually really impressive," Neptune said, gaping at the two.
"Thanks!" Nora said, "But...shouldn't she still be kinda up? The hit could've broken her Aura but..."
Pyrrha walked over to the girl and placed two fingers on her neck. "She doesn't have a pulse," she said.
The group was silent for a moment as they processed what had just happened.
"...well, this just took a turn." Sun said. "I'm hoping my mugshot looks good."
"What do we do now?" Jaune asked.
"We need to figure out who she was and why she was after the book," Gwen said. "But first, we need to get out of here before someone sees the body."
Gwen and the others ran away, not bothering to look at the body.
Shame.
If they did, they would've seen the girl open her eyes again.
"Ok...never thought I'd be fleeing from a crime scene today...or ever," Nora said. Her voice still had that usual energy to it, if a little bit panicked.
"It was self-defense, Nora," Gwen said, trying to reassure her.
"So, we're just gonna ignore that she looked exactly like you? Just, breeze past that?" Sun asked.
"What else are we supposed to do?" Neptune asked. "We can't go to the cops and be like 'oh, by the way, we just killed a girl who looked like our friend here because she was after a book that we don't know the purpose of!"
"He has a point," Jaune said. "We need to figure out what's going on before we do anything else."
"Maybe you should take a look inside the glowing pink book! For like...reasons!?" Sun yelled.
"One problem with that. It's locked," Gwen held up the book and tapped on the lock to emphasize it.
"And you don't have the key?" Neptune asked.
"Not that I know of," Gwen said. "But I'm not going to give up that easily."
Gwen focused her magic on the lock and tried to pick it. It took a few minutes, but eventually, the lock clicked and the book opened.
"Well, that's a relief," Jaune said.
"What does it say?" Nora asked. Gwen scanned the pages quickly, looking for any clues.
"These are some weird spells...never seen anything like them before." Gwen frowned.
"Can you try one out?" Pyrrha asked.
"I don't know," Gwen said. "I don't want to risk it. We don't know what these spells do."
"Well, we need to find out somehow," Ren said. "We can't just keep running around without any answers."
"Oh, I can help with that!" a new voice called out, startling everyone. They all turned to see the source and Team JNPR where...definitely confused as to why she was here, of all people.
They saw someone who, maybe at least looked like, Winter Schnee.
She had a mischievous and threatening air to her, and eyes that could look into your soul and freeze you to your core.
"Who are you?" Jaune asked.
"Someone in need of a good read." The girl smiled. "Call me Willa."
"Okay...Tell me why you want this book." Gwen queried.
"Same to why you do. I need to know if that book holds anything of importance." Willa said.
"How do you know anything about this?" Nora asked, holding up her hammer defensively.
"I have my ways." Willa said with a shrug.
"Yeaaaaah, does anyone else trust her? Cause I really don't," Nora narrowed her eyes at the newcomer.
"Only about as far as I can throw her," Sun said.
"That'd be much more threatening if you were armed," Wila smirked.
"Don't compliment the weirdo." Sun frowned.
"What knowledge could this book hold?" Gwen asked.
Willa looked her up and down. "This'll make sense on what kind of sorceress you are. What 'grade' are you- starter, intermediate, ender...or special?"
"I'm self-taught. I don't need a grade." Gwen said.
"Interesting." Willa mused. "I suppose I can tell you this- that book holds powers undreamed of. You could change the very fabric of reality with it..."
"If that's the case...then I don't think so!" Gwen held the book protectively.
Willa's eyes narrowed. "If you want to keep that pretty little head of yours, I suggest you step aside."
Without another word, a shield was suddenly thrown at Willa. The icy Winter lookalike dodged it, her eyes locking onto the one who threw it. Pyrrha still had her hand outstretched.
"Just try it," Pyrrha threatened.
Willa didn't even retort and the group watched as clear, white crystals appeared over their new adversary's arm and eventually formed into a jagged blade. If Ben was here, he might threaten to sue Willa for ripping off Diamondhead. Pyrrha did react with surprise, but kept her hand outstretched for the time being. Willa began to advance on the group, only to be knocked off balance when Pyrrha's shield flew back and slammed into the back of her head.
Ren dashed at the Winter lookalike, and attacked her with a barrage of high-speed spinning slashes with the blades of StormFlower. Willa held up her arm, and crystalized it. The attacks weren't of any concern to Willa. Nora yelled, as Magnhild morphed into a grenade launcher. She fired three grenades from it. WIlla simply caught them in a crystal orb, and lobbed it back at the group.
The grenades exploded, sending shards of crystals everywhere. "HEY!" Nora yelled. "No fair using our attacks against us!"
"Anything's fair in the game of war, stupid." Willa said, slamming her hand down onto the road. Shards of crystals started to shoot out. The group took off down the street, with Willa in hot pursuit. They turned corners and dodged crystals, but she always seemed to be right behind them.
"Use your magic!" Nora shouted at Gwen. "Do something!"
"I'm trying!" Gwen said. "But I don't know what kind of spells are in this book!"
Suddenly, Willa was right in front of them, her blade raised. Gwen reacted on instinct and held the book up. A bright light flashed and Willa was sent flying backwards.
"What the heck was that?" Nora asked.
"I don't know," Gwen said, looking at the book in amazement. "But it worked."
Willa jabbed her blade into the pavement, tearing up the stone as she skidded away from, trying to stop herself.
"Luck, that's all," she smirked, "Longer fight just makes it more fun for me!"
"We can't take her on our own here, Gwen! Her magic is insane. We need to either retreat, or get back up." Jaune said.
"What about us?!" Sun yelled.
"No offense Sun, but we might need a bit more!" Gwen called out, before a plan struck her,"And I think I know exactly who we need." Gwen began flipping through her spellbook. "If this thing is meant to manipulate reality, then it has to have- yes!"
Gwen's eyes started to glow, as she recited a spell...