Glynda Goodwitch caught herself doing something that was very much out of habit for herself, she was hesitating. She was standing right outside of Professor Thumbelina Peach's office and she was hesitating but it wasn't out of fear, instead, it was out of a weird sense of awkwardness. Glynda Goodwitch, a full-grown and incredibly successful woman was feeling awkward as though she was some kind of teenager who wanted to make a good impression but lacked the confidence and grace to do so. And it was ridiculous!
Or at least that is what she wanted to tell herself, she wanted to believe that she was just being silly because then she'd be able to laugh it off when things inevitably went smoothly. But that was just the problem, she had no idea how this conversation was going to go and it needed to go well. The information that Professor Peach had on her niece could prove valuable for the investigation but there was no telling just how willing the woman might be to give info that might hurt her niece even if they weren't on the best terms. And it didn't help the fact that she wasn't on the best of terms with Peach either.
Glynda imagined many different scenarios on how this conversation could play out, some were good, some were bad, most were middling, and all were fairly normal. The truth was that Professor Peach was an adult and could be expected to act like an adult, she would not be working in Beacon if she couldn't and that was a reassuring thought. The absolute worst-case scenario was that Peach would be put into a sour mood that might last for a while, that's it. Glynda didn't like the idea but if it came down to it, she could force Peach to cooperate, being Vice Headmistress came with certain privileges even if they made for less-than-ideal options. So Glynda went through one more mental rehearsal before opening the door to Peach's office, walking inside, and instantly regretted not visiting sooner.
Peach's office was a large room, bigger than even Ozpin's office by far but that only made sense since this place also doubled as a lab for intensive studies into plant life, and what a fascinating lab it was. There were tables filled with hundreds of plants that Glynda had never before seen and some of those plants were in special tanks designed to simulate the plant's natural environment including one mimicking the deep sea. There were shelves filled with rows upon rows of test tubes containing different parts from different plants, some rows dedicated to bark, another focused on pollen, another for roots, and so on and so forth. And there were also machines analyzing, maintaining, and recording every single plant, this room was a treasure trove of knowledge that Glynda wished she could spend a little more time in to fully explore.
As for Professor Peach's desk, it was in the middle of the lab and served as a barrier between visitors and the more sensitive material she was studying. The Professor herself was sitting at that desk eating a nice steak salad while a cup of homemade strawberry pudding sat off the side as a dessert. Peach did not look up at Glynda as the woman approached but whether it was because she didn't care or didn't notice wasn't clear or even important.
Glynda decided that she wasn't going to wait any longer, they were both professionals and this was important. "Hello Thumbelina, I hope, not disturbing you."
"Please don't insult my intelligence by pretending that you're here for a pleasant conversation, get to the point so that I can get on with my lunch," Peach said without even looking at Glynda.
"Tell me about your niece, Iris."
Peach gave Glynda an upset look, "What is it that you want to know?" That girl is no longer my niece… but Glynda doesn't know that and it would be too much of a pain in the ass to explain it to her. I'll just play along for now.
Glynda pondered for a moment how to best phrase the question and a part of her wondered if it was best to just get right to the point. No, that's a bad idea. She might lie to defend her niece. It's best to be subtle about it. "When was the last time that you saw her?"
"Just before the raid on that apartment, so a bit over a month ago. So, tell… what trouble did Iris get herself into." Of course, I already know thanks to that scroll Watts gave me but I don't know how much she knows.
"She's not in any trouble but someone did claim to see her near the Rally, maybe there's something she can tell us to help the investigation?"
"Then why are you talking to me instead of her?" Peach held back a smirk when saw Glynda's eyes reflectively twitch. She had nothing against the woman but it was fun to break that mask of hers.
"I'm asking because you are her aunt and I'm hoping that you can arrange a meeting. Right now Beacon is assisting the police and Atlas forces on an ongoing investigation, Iris is not in any trouble but as I understand it her job as an independent courier sometimes puts her in a… gray legal zone."
Peach glared at Glynda and with a growl asked, "Are you threatening my niece?" By the Brothers, I hate calling her that, she was so much more tolerable when she stopped being my niece and became just another student.
Glynda was caught off guard by the aggressiveness of that response but didn't show it, as a combat instructor she had seen far worse. Though she did make a mental note to try and avoid that subject in the future before continuing, "I'm sorry if it came off that way, it wasn't my intention. I'm simply asking out of pure concern both for her and the investigation, the Rally is by far the most important thing right now and I don't want any distractions."
She then paused and waited to see how Peach would respond but the woman wasn't saying anything. However, there were plenty of nonverbal cues such as her soft steady breathing and relaxed but attentive poster that told Glynda enough; Peach was listening. "We just want to find an answer so that we can put this behind us and we think that Iris might have some answers."
Peach sighed, "Alright then. Are you busy right now?"
"What do you have in mind?"
"My niece makes a habit of reserving a couple of hours every day for herself, it's something that she picked up from me along with a taste for tea. If we leave now, we should arrive at her apartment in time to have a full uninterrupted two hours with her… unless you want to wait another day."
"The sooner we do this the better for everyone."
Peach smiled as she stood up and grabbed what was left of her food to eat along the way, "Fair warning, my niece is a bit of bitch." She then smirked when Glynda let out a small chuckle, This stupid broad probably thinks that we're starting to become friends; As if I'd be friends with someone who constantly sucks up to and probably sucks off their boss! Oh how I'd love to tell her off but this place pays too well even if I do have to deal with brats…
The pair were soon walking out of the door to the office and walking through the door of a Bullhead heading to Vale's downtown central station. During the trip, Glynda asked a few inconsequential questions about Peach's research in an attempt to make light conversation to pass the time. "So what led you to become a botanist?"
Peach just shrugged, "Someone had to. Why did you become a Teacher?"
"I always enjoyed mentoring people, it was just a natural progression for me." Glynda then waited to see what Peach would ask next but the question never came. Instead, Peach started to fiddle with her scroll and all but ignore Glynda who quickly picked up on the fact that she wasn't interested in a conversation.
About 15 minutes later, the Bullhead landed and Peach immediately got off of her seat and walked out as Glynda followed. The woman then walked towards the west exit of the station and without looking at Glynda said, "It's about a 30-minute walk from here."
"Your niece lives only 30 minutes away from a bullhead station in the downtown area," Glynda's tone of voice made it clear that this wasn't a question, it was an observation.
Peach sighed, "Is it really so odd for a young woman like her to want easy access to all the most interesting places in the city?" Of course, she'd notice…
"Of course not, it's just very odd that she can afford it. Have you been helping her?"
"I know that there's a bit of a spat between Iris and me but she's still my niece and after the death of her father, my brother, I'm the only family she has left and that means something." She's awfully nosey, bringing her here might be a mistake.
"Alright, I won't pry any further." She's hiding something.
The conversation died soon afterward but it didn't matter, before long they were standing in front of the door to Iris's apartment. Peach knocked a few times and said, "Iris dear, open the door." She then began to tap her foot impatiently and then knocked again this time a little bit harder, "Open the door, Iris!"
"Give her some time, maybe she's busy."
"With all due respect Glynda but you don't know my niece, she's either not here or she's ignoring me." Peach reached into her pocket and pulled out a key, "Fortunately, I don't need her to open the door."
"You have a key to her apartment?"
"Of course I do. It would be foolish to trust someone as young as her to live a responsible life without some supervision."
Glynda didn't like what she had just heard but chose to keep it to herself as Peach inserted the key and opened the door, there were far more important things to focus on than the relationship of two people who were borderline strangers to her. Right now she needed to divert all of her attention on the matter before her, everything else was secondary at best.
The lights in the apartment were off but even in the dark Glynda could tell that the place was spacious. As soon as she took a step inside the lights came to life on their own and confirmed that she was right, the place was spacious but it was more than just that. The walls were painted a lovely pleasant shade of lavender, the floor was tiled a tasteful porcelain white, and she continued to walk in she could see that the living room had black faux leather furniture of good quality, a few empty porcelain pots that Glynda assumed were decorations and a widescreen TV with a surround sound system. It was clear that Iris was well off, not wealthy but still far better off than would be expected of someone her age and career.
Glynda walked around as Peach called out for her niece and then stomped off to find her. As she did she noticed an oak table in the dining room with a fruit bowl on it. Tracing her finger on the table revealed a layer of dust, When was the last time Iris dusted? This doesn't mean anything on its own… I should keep looking. Her eyes then turned to the fruit bowl, it contained some red apples, bananas, and oranges and each one had visible blemishes, a sign that they needed to be eaten soon before they began to rot. How odd but this is hardly the oddest thing here.
She stepped away from the table and glanced around the rest of the living room, there was a layer of dust on everything but at the same time nothing was out of place, Iris must not be a messy person so why is there so much Dust? And why is the fruit going bad?
Peach returned and with an apologetic tone said, "I don't think she's here."
"I don't think your niece has been here in a while. Do you mind if I look around?"
"Don't you need a warrant for that?"
"No. I don't."
Peach chuckled for a bit as she waited for Glynda to admit that she had made a joke but when that didn't happen, she stopped chuckling. "How?"
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I didn't want to worry you bu-"
"How?" Peach wasn't interested in hearing fake apologies. What she wanted was an answer and the growl in her voice made it clear that this was a demand, not a request.
"This case is a matter of national security and I have been authorized to investigate this potential lead."
There was a stretch of silence as Peach all but glared at Glynda and for a moment it looked like she might demand that the woman leave her niece's apartment. But instead, the silence was broken with a defeated sigh as Peach walked over to the nearest couch and sat on it. "Is it that bad?" Of course, this bitch has the authority of the Council! She's Ozpin's right hand and the Vice Headmistress, she might as well be on the Council!
"I'm afraid I cannot go into details but, I can reassure you that we have no reason to suspect your niece of any wrongdoing. We really do just want to ask her a few questions about what she saw that night."
"Then why do you want to search her apartment?" Maybe I can get her to spill some information about the situation, unlikely but it can't hurt to try.
A cynical part of Glynda began to wonder why Peach was being so resistant about this but she chose to keep it to herself. "Peach, look around. There is dust all over everything and the food is going bad but there isn't a mess in sight. Your niece is clearly a tidy young lady so the only logical answer is that she hasn't been here in a while, have you tried calling her?"
Peach frowned but her face quickly returned to normal, "Yes but I'll try again." There are plenty of other logical explanations but becoming argumentative with her will only look bad, fucking bitch probably planned this. Also, I need to come up with a reason why Iris can't answer her scroll… maybe when this is done I should call Watts and tell him that I'm out.
Glynda watched as Peach took out her scroll and called Iris, but no one answered.
"Keep trying, I'll be looking around in the meantime," Glynda said before walking towards the hallway as Peach grumbled something inaudible.
There were four rooms in the hallway, two on the left, one on the right, and a final door at the end. Glynda walked up to the first door on the left and opened it to find a rather nice-looking bathroom. She immediately began to look through the cupboard and medicine cabinet but found nothing that would be considered strange. She then looked in the shower and even examined the toilet just in case there was something hidden there but once again she found nothing, Better to be safe than sorry.
The next room was a closet and inside were some clothes, shoes, a bow next to a quiver full of Dust tipped arrows, and some boxes containing Dust. A closer examination of the bow soon revealed two things, the first was that the draw was too strong for civilian or even professional use, this was a bow built for a Huntress. The second thing Glynda noticed was that the bow was in excellent condition while still having signs of use and that made her a little happy, I was afraid that Iris would abandon her training though I suppose that now there's no chance of her becoming a Huntress. Not that I blame her, this lifestyle is good, too good for most people to give up.
The third room was about the size of a spacious walk-in closet and it made Glynda pause as it was completely empty and yet it had also been heavily modified. The floor, walls, and inner side of the door were padded and upon closer examination, she realized that they were also soundproofed. The entire room was lit by a light bulb which produced a very soft light, the kind that was designed for people with sensitive eyes and Iris did not have sensitive eyes. Another thing that stood out was the temperature of the room, it was lower than the rest of the apartment but it wasn't what anyone would consider cool; the temperature was lukewarm.
"What is this room for?" Glynda asked out loud but to no one in particular.
"What room?" Peach asked as she walked over partially out of curiosity and mostly out of a desire to try and prevent Glynda from being too much of a bother. She had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from spitting out a curse when she saw the room in question, Of course, that stupid girl would make a drug room! Okay, okay, calm down Peach… just act like you don't know, even if they figure out what Iris did in there, it won't impact you as long as you act like you didn't know.
"Peach? Are you alright? You seem… upset."
"I-I'm sorry for worrying you Glynda, I'm just as bewildered as you are by this room. This thing used to be a closet, what has she done to it?"
Glynda touched the padding and gave it a poke, it had the perfect balance between soft and firm, and the material left good to the touch. This was expensive, too expensive for a young woman living by herself unless Peach is being awfully generous with someone she doesn't get along with. Not to mention her comment about this being the closet… no, it's too early to be jumping to conclusions. This could have been the closet when she was here last or maybe she's simply misremembering which room was actually the closet.
"Do you have any idea what this room is for? And have you been able to track down your niece?" Glynda then asked Peach.
"No to both, I'm starting to get worried. My niece has always been independent but this feels different, and this room… how much did this cost?"
"Iris is a courier, correct?"
"Are you about to suggest that my niece was involved with something less than legal?"
"Peach, look at this place! An apartment is expensive enough but one in this location?! No, that would be well out of the price range of most people her age even with help, and that's not even addressing the furniture, decorations, and appliances! And look at this room! This is high-end stuff, there is no way she could have afforded this on a courier's pay while also affording everything else."
"I already told you that I wa-"
"You also told me that your relationship with your niece was bad… look, I'm not accusing her of anything. But it's important that we find her and that only becomes important if she was involved with the wrong people."
"I- I- just… fine." Peach sighed, "Let's head back to the kitchen and make some tea, I have a lot to tell you." This is perfect! I'll be able to throw suspicion away from me by throwing Iris under the bus! Haha! That little brat was good for something in the end!
"Alright, but then afterward you are going to help me search her room."
"Glynda please, it's already bad enough that this is going to drag on past my lunch break but there are limits."
"And I am the Vice Headmistress and I hereby approve of you taking the rest of today off along with the rest of the week, of course, you will be paid. Furthermore, due to the unique circumstances, they will not be subtracted from your vacation days."
Peach wanted to refuse, partly out of fear that something in this apartment could be tied back to her and partly because she just didn't like Glynda. But… she was never one to turn down a vacation, "Deal." It might be tricky but I'm not going to let myself get dragged down by whatever is going on here.
Emerald stood at the open doorway of her dorm room with her mouth agape at what she saw. On the walls of the room with pinboards filled with photographs, newspaper clippings, notes, coupons, pins, and strings of various colors connecting everything. In addition, there were multiple monitors throughout the room with each one displaying a different fight from Pyrrha Niko's career in the Mistral Junior League. And in the middle of it, all was Mercury with a notepad going from monitor to monitor pausing, taking notes, comparing notes, and then resuming the video only to pause it again at a later point.
"Merc!? What the hell is all of this?!" Emerald asked when she finally worked up the courage to enter the room.
He answered without looking at her, "Isn't it obvious? Cinder wanted me to figure out Pyrrha's Semblance and that's what I'm doing, since fighting her isn't going to work, for now, I'm doing the second best thing which is research. And I think I'm making good progress."
"You call this progress!?"
"Yes, yes I would. Why wouldn't you?"
"Because look at this mess," She pointed at the pinboard. "What is even all of this paper and string for!?"
"To keep track of everything."
"What about the coupons?"
"In case I get hungry, duh."
Emerald rubbed her eyelids with a groan, I'm not going to be able to talk him out of this. Might as well help him figure this out and get this over with. "Okay, I'm gonna help you out. So what do you have so far?"
"Remember my fight with Arslan? Specifically, do you remember the roaring lion made of fire that she had at the end?"
"How could I forget?" Emerald used her Semblance to recreate the lion and even gave it a voice so it could roar, then it was gone as quickly as it appeared.
"She called it a parlor trick and after talking to her some more, I now know what she meant. Arslan's Semblance allows her to manipulate energy."
"That's… incredible, do you think she's a candidate for Maidenhood?"
"Oh she is absolutely a candidate but it isn't because of her Semblance. I know that it sounds stupidly overpowered but in practice, it has limitations that make it only okay, it's how she uses it that makes the difference. You see, she can't change the strength of whatever she's manipulating, and her ability to move and shape the energy drops dramatically if she's not touching it. So if she had thrown the lion at me, it would have collapsed into a ball after leaving her hands and not done much damage."
"Okay, that's less impressive but then how does she-!" Maybe it was a stroke of luck or maybe it was due to her time as a thief giving her a unique perspective on things but either way, something clicked in Emerald's head, "The lion is a distraction for the real attack!"
"You got it, while you're looking at the lion she is gathering Aura and getting ready to hit you with it. And the best part is that Aura is an Energy that she can manipulate in order to concentrate it into a small spot on her palm before driving it deep into her enemy and letting it rip, her hands are basically piledrivers!"
"Okay, okay… so what does any of this have to do with Pyrrha?"
Mercury got up and walked up to the pinboard and pulled off a photo that he showed Emerald; It was a picture of an old scarred man in armor. "This is Pyrrha's old coach and he's a man who hid his Semblance for most of his career. I believe that he taught Pyrrha to do the same."
"This isn't a secret, everything about this man is on the internet."
"But Pyrrha's Semblance is still a secret but I believe that she has been using it the whole time right in front of everyone's eyes without anyone realizing it. She's been pulling a parlor trick on the entire fighting league."
Emerald was getting interested, "So I take it that you don't accept the theory that it is a passive Semblance like Luck Generation?"
Mercury pointed at one of the monitors, on display was a fight between Pyrrha and a slightly older-looking girl dressed in a gorgeous kimono and wielding an Executioner's Sword. The two fighters were charging toward each other when suddenly there was a flash of light followed by the kimono knocking Pyrrha's sword out of her hand and sending it flying into the air while Pyrrha herself was knocked to the floor. The kimono girl then wasted no time moving in to try and finish her off but Pyrrha was able to stand up faster than anyone would have reasonably expected and then used her shield to easily parry the oncoming strike.
There was a confused look on the kimono girl's face that quickly changed into a snarl after Pyrrha kicked her in the gut, knocking her backward. The announcer tried to say something but the roar of the crowd drowned him out as the kimono girl raised her sword again and pointed it at Pyrrha who was oddly serene, as though she was above it all. The kimono girl said something but the crowd drowned out her voice, however, her actions made her intentions clear as she raised her sword over her head and charged with a battle cry.
But Pyrrha didn't seem to care, she just calmly watched as her foe quickly covered the distance between them. For a second it looked as though this was going to be the end of the fight but then something happened, Pyrrha's sword which had been earlier knocked out of her hand and sent into the sky was now falling and now it coincidentally was right behind her. She then turned around, snatched her falling weapon out of the air, converted it into its rifle form, and won the match by unloading on the unprepared kimono girl.
Mercury looked away from the screen and turned his attention to his partner, "Luck is one thing but Pyrrha knew that her weapon would be there, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to grab it out of the air as it fell and she wouldn't have been able to switch to rifle mode. She knew that her weapon was going to be there! How did she know?"
Emerald didn't say anything, instead, she looked at the other monitors, each one playing a similar scene to the one she just saw. Each one showed Pyrrha beating the odds in a manner far too perfect to be just luck, she was far too calm for someone who simply got lucky. She was too good at dodging, her attacks were accurate to an uncanny degree, and her movements were too flawless while her opponents made mistakes. Mercury is right! This isn't Luck nor is she messing with their heads. There is something else at play here, she's somehow controlling how the fight plays out.
"You see it too," Mercury stated when he saw how Emerald's eyes widened. "The Invincible Girl has somehow been tilting fights in her favor which is fair, her opponents do the same. But she's doing it in a way that they can't fight back against."
Then an idea popped into Emerald's head, "Who was the closest to defeat her?"
Mercury pointed to a picture on the pinboard, "His name is Rio Verde and he was known as the Bloody Monk, he faced Pyrrha twice and nearly got her the first time but was trounced the second time they fought. He retired shortly after that, now he is studying to be a preschool teacher. He's apparently great with kids."
Emerald walked up to the picture and closely examined it; Rio was a powerfully built man who seemed too old to be in the junior league. He was dressed in an orange monk robe with yellow fur lining and there was an intricately woven yellow pattern on his robe in the shape of some esoteric symbol that she didn't recognize. Furthermore, his arms and legs were covered in steel armor decorated with more esoteric symbols, interestingly he wasn't holding a weapon.
"Mercury, what weapon did this guy use?"
"None, he prided his physical prowess and martial ability. Boasted that he could defeat anyone without using either weapon or armor, the guy was seriously badass."
"But he's wearing armor in this picture." Emerald noticed that there was a newspaper clipping next to the picture and started to read it, Rio Verde unveils the latest stage in his ongoing journey for martial perfection…
"Yeah, he put on some armor after he lost his first fight against Pyrrha. Before he'd just rely on dodging or using his Aura to block but that costs Aura which eventually bit him in the ass… wait a second! Are you thinking that his armor is the key to this mystery?" Mercury pulled out his scroll and began looking up the different people that Pyrrha had fought in her career and paid close attention to their equipment.
"I would have to see both fights to be sure but… yeah, I don't think that it's a coincidence that the man who came closest to beating her did so when he wasn't wearing metal."
"Okay, let's assume that you're right and that the armor is the key to this." Mercury then got up from his seat and walked over to the pinboard, on it was a list of possible Semblances that he had written down. "Let's assume that she has the power to control poles-"
Emerald interrupted him, "Poles? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Polarity aka the power to control poles," Mercury said with a completely serious look on his face.
There was a brief moment of silence between the two that broke when Emerald noticed a growing shit-eating grin spreading across her partner's face, "How long have you been waiting to use that joke? More importantly, is this really the time to be joking?"
"Too long and it's fine, we got plenty of time to figure this out. More importantly, is that all of this theorizing means nothing without a way to test those theories. I have a plan for the dance but we need to form a list of possibilities first."
"Well then let's put polarity on that list and see what else we can come up with."
Mercury walked up to the pinboard and turned his eyes toward the center, there in the middle of the board was a piece of paper that every string connected to. It was a list of all the possible Semalances that Pyrrha might have according to this research, some entries were already crossed off and those that remained had different symbols drawn next to them. The symbols weren't just for show, each one had a distinct meaning that only Mercury knew and they served the purpose of helping him organize the fruit of his labor.
He then reached for a highlighter and scanned the list until he found the spot where he had written; Polarity. He then highlighted the entry and then grabbed some extra string and pins to connect everything together properly. As he did so he began to whistle a happy little tune, he was in a good mood and who could blame him?
Everything was working out in their favor.
The theory behind group therapy was that people with similar experiences and issues would find comfort and encouragement in each other. In practice the theory has held up rather well, people whether they be human or Faunus were naturally social creatures and the knowledge that they were not alone in their struggles was often a massive boon in their journey to recovery. This was especially true among professional Huntsmen who by the very nature of their jobs would often spend a considerable amount of time away from most people and had experienced things that most would fortunately never go through.
Right now in Riviera's office, the psychologist was sitting in a circle with Team PRAN and leading a group session to help them sort out their feelings after the Rally incident, and in his humble opinion, it has been going rather well. Though he couldn't take credit for it, the secret here was the bond that PRAN had formed with each other, it was a bond formed through shared struggle and violence. They worried about each other, lifted each other up, laughed together, cried together, fought together, bled together, and now they were helping each other heal.
The session would be over soon, much had been covered, and much more needed to be addressed in future sessions but could wait until then. Dr. Riviera preferred to focus on the present and presently Team PRAN seemed to be recovering quite well from their encounter with the Grimm Woman at the Rally. The act of killing someone brought a different reaction from everyone, for example, Jaune was unbothered by it and that was a realization that bothered him for a while. Pyrrha on the other hadn't yet killed anyone but seemed to understand that it was sometimes necessary. As for Ren and Nora…. it wasn't their first time, and before the session ended, Nora had a personal story she wanted to tell.
"I have killed before," Nora Valkyrie solemnly said. "It happened more or less a month or so after the Grimm attack on Kuroyuri… it is or rather it was a settlement in southwest Mistral… and it was me and Ren's home," She took a deep breath and glanced at Ren who gave her a supportive nod. "We got separated from the other survivors and tried our best to catch up, oh we tried so hard but we were just children traveling on foot."
She gave a bitter laugh before continuing, "We never had a chance to rejoin the others and that was something we quickly understood. But we pushed forward anyway because we knew that the main road would sooner or later lead us to civilization assuming that something didn't happen first." Her hand curled up into fists as a fit of old tired anger within her stirred.
"So of course, something did happen!" She didn't try to hide the frustration in her voice. "We were found by a woman whose name and face I am happy to say I can no longer recall. However, her hazel eyes are another matter altogether… I'll admit that I am not sure whether this little bit is real or if it is the result of a child's imagination embellishing memory but I swear to the Bothers, there was an evil gleam in that woman's eyes that shone through as she lied through her teeth. In those eyes, we weren't children. We were just prey, scraps of meat to be used and consumed as she pleased."
For a moment Riviera distracted himself with a wayward thought about that woman, he wondered if he could somehow figure out who she was. Perhaps she was a serial killer or maybe she was someone who wanted something else, either way, didn't matter anymore. She had underestimated both the pair and the bond that they had and paid the price. Figuring out who that woman was won't help these kids, they don't care about her and they shouldn't. Riviera then decided to refocus on what mattered; His Clients.
Nora continued with her story, "One day she caught me trying to steal a piece of bread and it made her mad, so mad that she locked me in a cage and made me watch as she hit Ren," Nora took a deep breath as she recalled something that she wanted to forget. "She hoped that by doing this that she could turn us against each other, thought that it would be funny," Nora's voice was shaking as she said this.
"You don't have to keep going if you don't want to." Doctor Riviera gently said, no one here is going to push you to say or remember anything that you don't want to.
"Thank you but this is something I've been wanting to get off of my chest for a long time now and I can't think of a better place to do it than here in a safe place surrounded by my team." Nora smiled as she felt Ren's and Pyrrha's hands on her shoulders. As for Jaune, he was sitting across from her but was getting up and making his way over to comfort her as well.
Nora continued her story once Jaune's hands joined the others, "The thing was that we already knew what she had planned, she wanted me to steal the food so she made sure that I was always hungry. So earlier Ren stole the key to the cage and slipped it over to me before telling me to steal the bread, I objected but we didn't have another option." She paused again as she remembered begging Ren to come up with a different plan, even offering to be the one who got beaten instead. But he wasn't willing to let me go through that again.
She continued, "The plan worked and while she was hitting him, I got out and grabbed a knife and… did what I had to. When it was done we just stood there for a bit trying to come to grips with what had just happened, Ren's Semblance then kicked in and snapped him out of it, and before long it spread to me as well… I don't know how long we would have stood there if that hadn't happened. After that, we went looking for Ren's knife and anything that we could use as supplies. That's when we found her unlocked scroll, we took it and thanks to it we were able to contact help. In a weird way, she… no."
Nora shook her head, "The fact that we were able to use her scroll to get to safety doesn't mean that everything worked out for the best. What happened is that we went from one bad situation to another and barely made it out both times no thanks to her… fuck her and fuck everyone who ever told me and Ren that we had to let go of our anger towards her… Damn, that felt good to get off my chest." Nora sank into her seat and after a few more seconds her teammates returned to their seats but not before whispering a much-appreciated thanks or word of encouragement.
Riviera then checked his scroll, it was just about time for the session to end for the day. "Thank you, Nora, thank you oh so much for sharing that with us. And thank you all as well for your own contributions, the session is over and there's only a couple more before you can start taking missions again."
Pyrrha laughed, "I think I speak for everyone when I say that we have had our fill of missions for the year."
However, Nora disagreed, "I think we can handle at least another one!"
Ren shook his head as he walked over to his partner, "There is no prize for whoever can do the most missions, I checked. Twice."
"Aww, man! We were on a roll!"
Meanwhile, Jaune glanced at Riviera and though he didn't say anything then, it was a look that conveyed his intention; He wanted to talk to Riviera alone. He watched as the psychologist gave him a nod before slowly joining his teammates and friends, "So what's the plan?"
"Wanna hit the gym?" Pyrrha asked.
"Sounds good." They answered before returning all the chairs to their original places and then bidding goodbye to Riviera and thanking him for his time.
And now that he was alone Riviera began to look through the notes during the session, According to Nora, Ren used his Semblance on a near-daily basis back then which would mean that he had it for most of his life, I wonder what a person has to go through to get the ability to mute emotions? Was it a result of how he was raised or of circumstances around him or a little of both? More importantly, what effect would something like that have on his emotional development?
Riviera then quickly considered how Nora expressed emotions versus how Ren did. Ren was very quiet compared to his partner which often led people to assume that he was the more mature of the two, But what if he is just unconsciously suppressing it? Then, in that case, it's not that he's more mature but rather he is just avoiding his emotions and if that's true then there's a problem. Suppressing emotions doesn't get rid of them and if he has never learned to properly express them… I may have to speak with him about this.
Nora, on the other hand, wore her emotions on her sleeves, you never had to wonder what was on her mind because she would eventually tell you, and given how hyper she was it wouldn't take very long. It was rather easy to conclude that she was a bit of a ditz but behind her eyes was an intelligent spark, she was far smarter than she let on. Why does she act this way? Is she perhaps attempting to emote both herself and Ren? Does she even realize that she's doing it or has she done it for so long that it's become second nature?
Riviera then made a note to keep an eye on both Ren and Nora, how they handled their emotions wasn't necessarily a problem now but that was something that could change in the future. After all, emotions weren't meant to be suppressed nor was a single person meant to carry the emotional weight of two people, Let's keep them under observation for now and recommend private sessions if there is any sign of complications.
He then glanced over to his notes on Pyrrha, out of everyone here, she had the unique position of never having killed anyone, and that had made him a bit worried. After all, the whole point of group therapy was to connect to others who shared your experience but his worries had proven to be unfounded. Pyrrha was tentative and as seen earlier, her presence had a positive impact on her teammates. Furthermore, it was only a matter of time before this career path led her to take another's life in the defense of others or herself, these sessions may prove valuable to her when the time comes.
And then there was Jaune who-!
The door to the office opened and Jaune walked in timing so impeccable that it almost felt contrived, "Excuse me, sir, and thank you for this."
"I always try to make time for others, tell me, how can I help?"
Jaune started and stopped himself several times, he fumbled his words a bit, and muttered to himself a few times before deciding to just be blunt, "I want to tell my team about my condition."
"Go for it."
"Look I know that it's probably a bad idea but I feel li- wait a second, did you just tell me to go for it?"
Riviera chuckled, "Yes, yes I did and I am proud of you for deciding to make that step."
Jaune was surprised, "That is not how I expected this conversion to go."
"It is a big deal but it has always been your deal, you and only you have the right to decide who should or should not know about this. Your team has proven that they have your back, I do believe that you can trust them, and to be frank, they probably already suspect something."
Jaune nodded, "Yeah, it's almost impossible to see that Grimm Woman and not think back to me. So how do you think I should do it?"
"You know them better than I do, when do you think it would be a good time to tell them?"
For a moment Jaune was tempted to just tell them in the middle of their work out but, that didn't feel right. There was a lot that he wanted to say and he wanted them and them alone to be the ones who heard it, he also knew that they were going to have questions and he didn't want distractions, "Tonight's not going to work."
"How about the weekend?" Riviera suggested. "I can talk to Ozpin and he can arrange for you to have less homework than usual if any at all. That gives them a couple of days to process it."
"I can work with that."
Author's Notes: To start with, I apologize for ending the chapter by teasing a conversation that has been a long time coming. I was sorely tempted to cut out the portion with Emerald and Mercury to make room for the conversation and nearly did. However, I felt it was important to show how competent the pair were since they are major antagonists, and their friendship is something that influences them both.
But beyond that, the conversation that Jaune is going to have with his team is going to be a long one. There is a bit that I want to cover and I'm not sure that I would have had enough space even if I cut out Emerald and Mercury and it wasn't an option to remove Glynda and Peach, the investigation is going to be important.
Speaking of Peach, if you're wondering what happened between her and Iris… feel free to make something up. The fact of the matter is that I don't see it becoming important any time soon so it's not likely something I'm ever going to answer but I will say that it wasn't Iris's fault.