Shade's New Blood – Chapter 16
After their fateful encounter with Shae, Maron and Trya returned home before nightfall. It was a silent trip for Trya in particular who only sulked at fracturing of her team. Maron, meanwhile, did not have the words nor confidence to try and cheer her up. Even she realized it would be an exercise in futility, but that still left her to be the one to explain to Toma the poor news. Trya had retreated to her room and Toma and Blizz were the next two who had returned home while everyone else was still away. Maron told Toma about all that had happened.
"Well, that certainly puts a wrench in things," Toma noted. She and Maron sat alone in the living room. Toma had taken a small, beige-colored armchair for herself while Maron sat on the couch beside her. Her cheery look from a day out was quick to become one of deep thought and troubled expressions as she was in deep thought. The cracks in their team were always there, not one of them denied that, but they held together long enough to survive most of the year together. This first piece to crumble was a heavier blow to them than any sparring match they could have fought. Tonight, Amethyst would find themselves with one bed left vacant.
"That's awfully casual of you than I expected," Maron said to her.
"All we have to do is find her, right? Shouldn't be too hard to track her down if we've got the time!" Toma leaned back into her chair, one leg over the other with her arm rested over the backrest. She tapped her chin and thought more about their situation, "Tourmaline's a big place though, we'll just have to split up—and we can ask Blizz and them to help us!"
"I doubt they'd—" Maron was cut off.
A light yawn caught both girls' attention. Blizz perked up in surprise after spotting the two, "Oh, you two still sitting around?" Blizz asked as she strolled through the room with a fresh t-shirt and damp towel over her shoulders. She didn't stop to join them for her destination was the house's kitchen.
"Yeah, we we're just…" Maron looked to Toma and answered for the both of them, "Relaxing."
The snow-haired woman rummaged through the kitchen fridge, "Mhmm," came her half-attentive response. Once Blizz finished her scavenging, she opted to join the two in their leisure. She threw herself onto an empty couch opposite of Maron and took over the rest with a stretch of her legs. "So," Blizz began as she rested her back against the couch's armrest and opened the cold drink in her hand with a crack and following hiss, "How're y'all enjoying this lil' fieldtrip? Shame it isn't a simple Grimm extermination mission but I bet it beats sittin' in a classroom all day!"
"Pfft, I'll say," Toma agreed, "So much paper and reading and tests that I sometimes forget that it's a combat school. What'd be better is if there were actual Grimm to fight!"
"Now that's the lesson I learned my first year there," Blizz raised up the drink in her hand before drinking, "I'll bet a good team at a Vale Primary could beat Shade's any day." Blizz shut her eyes and smirked as she got comfortable. "Take my advice, girls, challenge every lesson those 'teachers' at Shade tell you. Otherwise, you'll just end up a fourth-rate Huntress like them, hah!" She mocked the school.
"Then who taught you?" Maron asked.
"Myself, mostly," Blizz said with a bit of pride as she thumbed to herself, "Though to seriously answer, we were helped along by a traveling… oh, what did she say? Historian? Librarian? Eh, something like that."
"Right!" Toma interjected, "Anyways, we, uh, we have a problem."
Blizz watched her drink as she twirled the can in a circle, "So I've heard." She then glanced up to the girls with a small smirk, "Shame, really. Had a bit of mild spice, that one and certainly had more class than someone else on your team," Blizz said with her icy eyes shifted to Maron.
"Watch it," Maron growled.
"Help us out here, would ya'?" Toma made her presence clear and spoke over Maron in the process.
"Hmm," Blizz carefully studied her drink and pondered Toma's request for a moment before putting it to her lips for another swig. She looked content, satisfied with her treat before her blue eyes shot open once again. "Nope," She flatly declined.
"But—"
"Sorry, kiddo, but your inter-team trouble ain't any of my business and besides, last time I helped ya', I got scolded for it." Blizz clasped her drink with both hands, "Right now, I'm just a humble gal looking for a simple trip with my oh so lovely companions," she said in a sarcastic tone.
"Oh, so now you can't help?" Maron rolled her eyes.
Blizz shrugged, "Look, my little groups got a hierarchy to follow—for the most part—and I don't like pushin' my luck any more than necessary. So, hands're tied!" She said with a proud smile. Blizz took in a deep breath and stretched herself again before sitting up straight. With a pleased look on her face as she stretched her arms, Blizz rose from her spot and bid the two a farewell, "Well, good luck to the two of ya' though, you're gonna' need it." Once she finished off her drink, she left the two younger girls to themselves once again.
After a small bout of quiet, Toma spoke once more about their predicament, "Well, guess we should make search plans for tomorrow, huh?" She asked Maron with a confident smirk. "Shae's bound to be around somewhere; we've just got to be more determined to drag her back!" She rested her back against her chair and let out a long, relaxed breath. Maron was sure Shae wouldn't like this, she sure wouldn't like the idea if it was her out there, but she held doubt that anything she said could hope to dissuade Toma. "That girl, honestly," Toma continued, "This all could've been avoided if she just talked instead. Now she goes off without even a 'goodbye', how cruel!" she jokingly complained.
Maron wasn't too pleased at the light-hearted mood. She thought more about what Shae would have wanted—what she does want. Although she didn't have a clear answer, she had her own, "I'm pretty sure her mind was made up a long time ago." Maron's decision was clear already, yet she still decided to tag along all this way. She wasn't blind to their team's… 'shortcomings', nor was it her place to intrude on Shae's life. However, it made her wonder why she opted to stick around even after she made her claim to Toma about leaving the team early. She was sure she was doing this out of obligation, so why care about Shae's personal decision to leave?
"Every other team works through their problems together!" Toma proclaimed, "So it's about time we start too!" She finished in an excited voice.
"Unfortunately for you, we aren't like other teams," Maron rebutted. She listed the myriad of problems they had without a shred of mercy, "We can barely work together, our scores are abysmal, we've yet to actually win a sparring match, and I'm pretty sure our names have already been struck from Shade's registry for next year. Don't know how it is at the other academies but at Shade? We aren't getting far, that's for sure."
"Bah, who needs 'em anyways? We can get by on our own! Besides, nothing's stoppin' us from trying again."
"That's assuming we want to next time," said Maron. "Wait, what happened to you wanting to be a Huntress?" she asked once Toma's words fully processed.
Toma's eyes darted away as she waved away Maron's question with her hand, "Eh, I enrolled just for a chance to study new weapons. That license they want to hand out is just a bonus, still does good to act like a Huntress, I think. Now, about Shae…"
"I think she'd prefer to be left alone," Maron replied.
"Come on, Maron, how are we supposed to work together if we don't even know each other? Once everyone—and I do mean everyone—starts to open up to each other, I believe things will start getting better," Toma said. She then crossed her arms and leaned back with a small pout, "I mean, not like anyone else makes much of an effort," She muttered.
"You don't need to know everyone's little secrets, Toma!" Maron snapped, "And you pried mine from me, remember?"
"Hehe… Sorry 'bout that," Toma apologized with a nervous smile, "Regardless, we should find a way to get her back. Best not to leave a job unfinished, right?"
"Ugh," Maron groaned, "Can't you listen? She's done with being a Huntress! There's no point in trying to convince her to come back."
"Doesn't mean I won't try," Toma stated as a look of irritation grew on her face.
"But—"
"Enough," Toma put up a hand, "I'm tired and don't want to hear it." She had a frown on her from the constant arguing. "Look, I can't force you to help, so, you do what you want, but I am going to look for our friend." Once Toma was done, she headed upstairs.
Alone, Maron sunk into the couch beneath her and let out a tired sigh. She was already feeling a bit miserable since her incident out in the desert, yet part of her felt that chasing after Shae would only make things worse for everyone involved. Even if she happened to find her, it's not like she and Shae were on good speaking terms as of late anyways. On top of that, Maron also wanted to leave the team which would make her words distasteful at best.
A stress-filled sigh escaped from Maron as she laid on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. She hated it here. All this time spent being dragged along on a journey she never intended to take. Everything about it felt so out of place for her, and not just through her mentality being worn down. Even without the recent trouble, something didn't sit right with her as they were being led on a mission they had quite no right to take. Why let them go? Why weren't they stopped? As much as she believed it was for 'extra credit', she couldn't help but remember seeing the confrontation between Flaye and the professor. She wrote it off as just bad history between the two, but that didn't explain why they were being taken to Atlas and not some mission within the kingdom—or even Vale for that matter. Why would Shade students—first-years at that—be going on a mission outside of Vacuo?
Weariness grew within Maron as doubt and confusion set it. She was tired of having to deal with all the uncertainties. To think this part of her life started because of one damned Huntsman. She could have been living a normal life away from all of this but here she was. She considered herself miserable all things considered. Even that deep well of resentment had dried up leaving her aimless and at a loss of what she should do. Maybe she could convince Steele to take her back to Vacuo, or anywhere else, really. But what then?
Maron rested her eyes and let out a heavy breath to relax. She did her best to remember her old home, the time before its ruin. They always had plenty of celebrations for one arbitrary reason or another. Whether it was a local festival, watching Vytal, a school graduation, or even a small festival to commemorate the winter and summer solstices. She could certainly remember many faces that put up fake smiles only to turn around and curse a nosy neighbor or the troublesome kids. Of course, she was constantly shoved outside to meet her neighbors and play along with the charades, but at least the food was great—for the most part. There were scorching hot days where she often did nothing but literally lie around and complain with an ice-cold drink nearby. Cold nights were met with a lovely calm and an extra blanket or two wrapped around her, and then there was that one day… That one day where red ran under the light of a broken moon…
Coarse sand layered over the once homogenous paths of stone which itself had been made jagged and sharp through heavy impacts and crashes. Each grain and sharpened pebble scratched against her face and figure as fire crackled to life around her and the terrified voices went silent one by one. Adrenaline coursed through her legs and arms, but even with the added energy, she could do little more than crawl inches away from where she fell. In the darkness between the houses? Break into one of them and hide? Anywhere would do, but she had neither the strength nor the will to make the attempt. Her lungs burned from the smoke she had took in, more so now as each breath she took was from the cold, dry, desert air. Her body shivered, her limbs limp, all she wanted right now was to rest comfortably one last time, but eyes filled with hatred—and anguish—bore down on her.
A silhouette formed with the moon behind it, one of someone who could have help—who should have helped. They carried with them a signature weapon that marked a Huntsman and separated them from the common thugs of the world. Not a word, nor even an explanation came from them. The ringing in her ears had settled but only a few words reached her. 'All for a good cause', came a whisper from the silhouette. It repeated those words, over, and over, and over until they could be heard no longer. A shadow grew upon her, it consumed her with a piercing gaze and a drawn weapon. However, she was too tired to look up from the splats of blood on the ground, too tired run away, too tired even call for help. It wouldn't matter. Despite that, as if it had a will of its own, her hand reached out to the remains of another family's home within her tear-filled, blurry view. She knew it to be empty, yet her heart still yearned to reach and call out to it.
The last light of the moon vanished behind the dark silhouette of the figure who now stood before her. Her arm fell, but she didn't bother looking up to see it. The pain in her lungs subsided, but her breaths were still short and ragged. One more time, she closed her tired, stinging eyes, and sought sleep. She waited—accepted the cold breeze and coming dark.
Yet they never came…
Maron awoke with a small, startled jump. Her heart raced from the nightmare but quickly settled itself down once she remembered where she was. The lights had been switched off and it looked to be the dead of night. She was still in the living room and realized she must have fell asleep. A quick dash from the window near the front door caught her attention. A small animal no doubt, one that fled as soon as she met its odd-colored eyes but she didn't have the mental energy to think much of it. She slowly sat up from the couch and yawned. However, as she tried to stretch from her nap something fell from her shoulder. It fell to her lap and still covered much of her legs. Maron ran her hand over it and recognized the leathery texture to be that of a duster.