Ch 2: Rarest Bond

Pale eyes staring up at her vulnerable and warning. She had never seen eyes like that before or heard such loneliness and pain. It was a warning growl like she had never heard but there was something different. Just before she was yanked away she could feel something strange and it almost seemed like he did too the way it flashed in his eyes for the briefest moment as she was yanked away, Blake hissing at the wolf and dragging her back from the alley.

Whatever it was she had felt was unlike anything she had ever felt before or since and it had such a serene feeling like it could reach through her. Like the beast inside her was at such a state of calm and soothed that it was vibrating with satisfaction and an eagerness to step closer. As if another energy all together was reaching in and stroking past the inner beast with such a touch that felt unreal and peaceful and perfect and safe.

Azure's eyes blinked open to Autumn asleep on her shoulder. She could see her own breath in the cargo bay. At this time of year, the mountains of Mistral were covered in so much more snow than she was used to. She was already regretting this journey and they were still short of landing. Hiding in the actual cabin would have been so much better but the twins would have easily found them in a heartbeat. Still, as she rubbed her cold digits into her coat and tucked them under her arms to warm them, she was distracted.

She hadn't seen or felt that part of the memory before but now that her mind had thought of it, she could easily remember the feeling. It didn't make any sense to her whatsoever. She had never even heard of such a feeling or experience even from other older faunus. She stared at her chilled knees in thought. What had that feeling been exactly? How had something so brief and short touched her beast like that? Is that even normal?

She was stolen from her thoughts as the airship touched down, reaching for her cousin when it settled and her drooling younger cousin grumbled, clinging to Azure in a frozen shiver as she woke up, blinking groggily, "A…are we here? It's so coldddd…"

Azure rolled her eyes, slowly standing and pulling Autumn to her feet, "That does happen when you spend so long in a place not meant for people in the middle of the damn winter…"

Autumn pouted, clinging tightly to Azure. The cat grunted, frowning as she tried to easily walk from the cargo bay, shoving on Autumn, "L-let go! You're making it hard to walk!"

But the girl just whimpered, holding on, "But Azure… I'm freezing!"

With a huff and grunt Azure pried Autumn off enough to be able to move her numb legs enough to get them out of the cargo hold unseen, ears twitching as she listened for the twins. At first, her eyes locked on a tall bunny faunus with brown eyes and brown hair and one orange streak running through it in the front. Her accent was odd but not unflattering and she had a very high energy in her tone as she called out to the airship exit, "Hey there mates! Pleasure to finally meet you in person. I've been your Mistral contact. Reckon you two are the Xiao Long twins right?"

Azure ducked lower and quickly rubbed snow over parts of herself and Autumn, covering her mouth so she didn't squeal as shivers ran down her, "Shh! If they smell us we're dead!"

Mao seemed to stop as the two got off the airship, looking around with twitching ears turning in their direction before the rabbit got her attention again and she turned back to the woman. Azure let out a relieved sigh as they watched. The rabbit was wearing a warm coat in white with tall white rabbit ears on her head, tucked through a white beanie, a light gray scarf around her neck and cargo pants with white boots and mittens. A staff folded up on her back in two halves.

Even the twins were well dressed for the weather. Mao in her usual tan pants and black boots but in a thick brown tactical jacket and her weapons tucked at the sleeves,Rapid Lancer, mini dust turret gauntlets in black that could also fire out grappling ribbons in white. Her head looked warm in a snug furry hat with just her ears sticking out the top. Bao was in his usual fitted stretch suit, black but seemed like it had a warmer inner lining as Bao seemed to have a bit more bulk all over on his slender narrow frame. The sleeves covered down to his weapons, Rohdan, tekko-kagi claws with pistol barrels built into the back of the palms. They fit seamlessly into the design of his suit that allowed for his semblance to easily be used. The scarf-like neckerchief he always wore that bad dainty bells dangling from it was still there, all his attire black like his short hair. Both the twins had short cropped hair above their shoulders though Mao's was blonde, both with piercing red eyes that easily helped their strong alphas push their dominance over others.

Azure was envious of all the warm gear. She was still in her boots and thin leggings with just her shorts over them and her thin coat, not having the time to waste when they left to consider the weather. Autumn wasn't much better off. Her outfit was white leggings under a dark red skirt with a long sleeved uniform styled double breasted top buttoned to the neck with white sleeves on the red bodice and white accenting with red cuffs and bands on the upper arms. The collar was high but didn't help block much of the wind. Her long hair not pulled up currently was probably the only thing keeping her neck warm to any degree at all. Her knee high heeled boots might also be helping her calves but she was clearly holding the skirt down that only went to about mid thigh anyway and was shaking as much as Azure was.

Against her better judgment, Azure scooped Autumn close, needing the warmth herself as well, as they tucked into each other, ears straining to listen to the conversation over the cold bursts of wind but the twins were talking too quietly. The only person she could hear was Jangri, who was already onto discussing finding a better place to talk. Azure watched the direction they were heading and when they disappeared around a building corner she turned back to her cousin, lips a bit blue, "We gotta get out of this weather…"

Her eyes scanned quickly for anything but with only the seedy underbelly of Mistral in view, she grabbed Autumn's hand and dragged her along after the twins and the rabbit. She was thankful to have not lost track of them, though she and Autumn were easily gaining odd looks and unwanted notice for their improper attire. In a row of inns, Azure ducked into one, a building across from the one her targets entered and turned to Autumn as the man behind the counter gave them a doubtful glare, "You have your card with you right?"

The red head dug around with numb fingers for a bit before pulling a small wallet from her skirt pocket, grinning, "Please. Who do you think raised me? I know better than to go anywhere without it."

The cat snatched it quickly, glancing around, "Autumn! Don't wave it around! Just get us a room so we can warm up and figure out what to do next!"

The girl waved Azure off, rolling her eyes a bit, "Calm down I got this!"

Autumn took care of getting them a room while Azure stared out the window at the other building, making sure the twins were still inside. Most of these inns were small, dimly lit, in rows around still seedier markets with taverns on the ground floor full of the kinds of unsavory characters that most parents might warn their children about. When the red head came beaming at Azure with a key, the cat was quick to drag her as she whined up to their room. Thankfully the window faced the street in full view of the other inn across. Azure stripped the thick comforter off the large bed, not bothering to question a single bed room right now, and tucked into it with a shiver, sitting on the floor by the window so she could just barely see the other building from over the window seal.

Autumn scooted in next to her, watching as well, "What do you think they are talking about over there?"

The cat shrugged, tucking the blanket around them both tighter and over their freezing heads, her faunus ears so thankful for the extra comfort, "Dunno. I just want to be sure we don't lose them. By the way…one bed? Really?"

The girl's lip poked out in a pout, "It's all they had!"

—-

It wasn't the movement outside that dragged Azure from her drowsy daze or even Autumn asleep drooling on her shoulder. What brought Azure's full attention was a distant familiar feeling as if reaching faintly out to her, touching her soul. It was soothing and warm, her whole body feeling suddenly light and comfortable and blissful, as if emotions like fear, stress, pain didn't exist in that moment and it was startling.

Amber orbs glanced out the window in time to see a shadowed figure in the night taking off quickly down an alley while the twins and the rabbit were bursting out the inn doors across the street to give chase. She leapt to attention, shaking Autumn, "Get up we have to move now!"

Autumn gave a light squeal of surprise and jumped upright, eyes wide, "Bunnies!"

Azure was already grabbing Prophecy and rolled her eyes, shoving the heavy case for Jahreszeiten towards Autumn who gained her senses fast enough to flick the latches as it slid towards her, grasping the hilt easily on her way to her feet, effortlessly moving after Azure into the hall all in one fluid motion. Azure was not sure how someone so small wielded that monster like she did but she was a bit envious. No time for that now though as they ran out the front door with the innkeeper shouting after them for their behavior.

The cat got them as far as the alley turn but when they got there alone, her ears flicked at all the noises of the Mistral nightlife until she perked up at the faint jingles of Bao's bells, pointing down another turn in the alley further down, "That way!"

Autumn just nodded and followed her, placing glyphs under their feet to speed them up until they were using the walls to bounce the corners in order to not have to slow down, Autumn effortlessly sending herself around them with black gravity glyphs as Azure loaded a gravity blade into Prophecy, the purple glowing blade striking brick and mortar to toss her around the maze like edges until the pair had caught up to the rabbit at least. The woman glanced over head at them and stopped short for a moment, a bit surprised, "Woah!"

She was on a different path then the twins and had the bells on to confuse the person they were chasing, more willing to be discovered then the twins whose faces were still unknown to the enemy. Azure did notice for a moment, but before she could slow her motion to recalculate, that familiar energy was wrapping her in it's grace again and she could feel every fiber of her beast locking onto it, driving her towards it with so much determination and desire that she couldn't care less about what they were originally after anymore.

Autumn however had come to a stop a bit ahead of the bunny, watching Azure take off suddenly down a completely different angle. She had seen the red bleeding into Azure's eyes just before the cat hit a rooftop corner and disappeared across it. When the rabbit caught up to Autumn she grabbed her hand, "No time kid! We gotta go! We have some kittens to catch!"

The bunny had known the two had been following her since she picked up the twins but without knowing if they were friend or foe she had not drawn any attention to them yet. Those massive ears missed nothing especially when you have been spending almost a year skulking around shady characters and trying to bust an entire massive organization from within. Autumn tried to protest as she was dragged away from the direction Azure had darted off to, worried about being separated in such a new place, but when she realized they were still after the same goal, she took to following, the twins bouncing rooftops up ahead.

The bunny grabbed her head and turned it back in front of the girl, "Try not to watch them mate! We don't want anyone to know we are all together yea?"

Autumn stared at the brown eyes watching her, most of the only face she could really see currently and could only nod. She was about to set some glyphs to get them further faster when the rabbit lit up in a brilliant blue and grabbed her, the two moving as if someone had rewound them in time several seconds, moving them out of the way of two very powerful strikes from a blade whip crashing into the brick right in the path of where they were standing moments before.

She was stunned and a bit sick to her stomach at the motion, head dizzy when she was set back down and shoved out the way as those blades shook loose and spun wildly around them, whipping and slicing through things, "Watch out!"

Autumn stubbled but corrected fast enough, flipping out of a few swipes before swinging Jahreszeiten around to block the rest that she couldn't easily dodge. The source of the blades was a shadowed figure clad in some sort of black covering, eyes blazing a pale almost white color in the darkness, catching the moonlight reflecting off the surfaces of the weapons as they flailed around wildly.

The twins had moved elsewhere, after something else, clearly there must have been more then just this figure, but as the rabbit and Autumn struggled to get closer, Azure's near glowing red orbs and Prophecy's vibrant glowing red blade came rushing down from a rooftop above the figure, side stepping from a blade before wrapping one around Prophecy and yanking, dragging the figure with it until the dust blade shattered and Azure reinserted the hilt for a new one.

The figure growled at the cat, her ears folding back in response but she was standing there at the ready, a blue ice blade drawn as she panted from running. The two stood still for several moments, those whipping blades retracting back into their katana forms and resting in each of the figure's hands. In seconds, the pale eyes widened further and the figure took off faster than before, occasionally lashing the whip form of a blade in Azure's direction as the cat gave chase, bouncing after it and blocking the whips with her weapon.

She jumped to a wall as the figure rounded a corner and threw herself down at it, blade poised for blood but when the figure turned, her red eyes locked onto pale whites that shifted to a icy blue and Azure flinched, her own eyes wide. She shifted just enough with a hiss and drove the blade to the side instead, shattering it into the ground as she landed over the figure, her over correction mid air faltering her landing and she was on her knees to catch herself, crunched over the fallen body.

Her momentum had thrown her forward when the blade shattered, nothing to hold her the offset force into the ground. When the hilt hit the ground at the guard, Azure was inches from the figure's face, both panting trying to breathe. The hood had fallen off and white hair cascaded around the pale face, silver wolf ears twitching and a deep growl was trembling from him, growing quieter the longer the two stared at one another. Azure rebladed Prophecy and whipped it to the wolf's neck but she couldn't bring herself to cut him, eyes unable to pull from those pale pools turning a different icey shade, green now as they shifted with a roll of iridescent light like the surface of a pearl.

His nose was twitching and the growl was now a weak rumble but Azure couldn't help the effect it was having on her, her will weakening as her mind felt at ease, like she was in the safest place she could ever be. Both sets of ears were folding and flicking as the sounds of the others were coming closer but even the wolf didn't move, claws digging into the ground not tensely, but in repeated patterns like a nervous impulse. When the sound of Autumn's voice filled Azure's ears, she felt like someone had shattered the fragile glass of her existence, turning her head slowly as if slow to understand her surroundings, her teeth grating against themselves as her beast suddenly began to swell with anger.

Not at this wolf but at anyone coming near her right now. It spooked her long enough for the wolf to scamper out from under her, still watching her oddly before taking off while she was distracted though almost reluctantly. 'That's a weird thing to think…. why would he want to stay… wait… no why do I want him to stay? Those eyes… I know those eyes…' her mind raced as she watched him get away, giving a single glance back before he was gone.

Autumn and the rabbit caught up, both a bit stunned, "Azure! What was that you totally let that guy go!"

The cat snarled and stood, her inner beast shaking with irritation at the way it felt for that energy to leave with the wolf. It was almost painful the way it felt like it was ripping her beast apart to be away from it now that she had been so close, like the world was a swirling void of darkness without it to encase her. The rabbit stepped back, rolling her head a bit in a show of submission to Azure's beast pressing on her and Autumn though once again Autumn couldn't tell, "Hey mate. Relax yea? We'll get em next time. No need to get all riled up."

Before Azure could try to calm down however, the twins dropped down from nearby, clearly coming from the direction the wolf had run off to, Bao grunting, his voice as smooth as silk even when he was annoyed, "Tsk… We lost her. Guess you weren't any better off either huh?"

The bunny shook her head and shrugged, Bao noticing the girls with a deep frown, his red eyes gleaming as Mao spoke, her own voice sharp in contrast to Bao's but just as intimidating, "The hell?! Azure?! Autumn!? W…what are you doing here!?"

Azure did her best not to cower but the twins had much stronger beasts, being actual alphas against her neutral shifting and she bared her teeth as she weakened to them, Bao stretching an arm over with his semblance to snag Azure by the back of her collar and pull her over, "Tiny kitten, did you follow us?"

The only thing more threatening than Mao's obvious alpha was Bao's lurking prowling alpha, words laced like poison even when soft. Azure squirmed a bit, hissing at him. Before she could answer, Autumn grabbed his other hand and gave a tug, "Bao wait. It's my fault. I convinced her to come. We were just worried about you two and your team… I thought maybe…"

His eyes turned to Autumn, back to Azure then turned to Mao before he sighed, dropping his sister down a bit carelessly, Autumn moving to her. The bunny saw the opportunity and jumped in, "Alright. Let's all just calm down. We need to get out of the open like this. We can discuss things more somewhere else, mates. To be honest if not for these two kids I might have been minced meat. And besides, they are here now, doesn't matter how it's too late to fix it now. He saw the cat's face."

Azure shrunk in on herself a bit but didn't show it, instead frowning and gripping herself feeling the cold again full force now that the adrenaline was gone. Her brother's scarf was dropped on her from the rabbit who had been wearing it, "Plus we need to get them out the cold."

—-

The inn was so warm. The twins were lecturing them on how dangerous and foolish this was but Azure couldn't be bothered, unable to really focus on any of that. All she could think about was that delicious feeling of being whole and how awful she felt when it disappeared. She had never felt so irritated, depressed, and fatigued all at once in her life as she did right now. No amount of breathing, no amount of cigarettes even, was helping her relax. Even Bao and Mao were stuck occasionally growling in reaction on instinct to the energy her beast was putting of with how unhappy it was and how restless it was growing cooped into this room when all it wanted to do was jump out her skin and glide through that wolf's energy like her lungs wanted air to breathe. Those few moments staring at that wolf were the most at home she had ever felt in her entire life. Well, that wasn't exactly true. She had felt it so briefly once as a child, a moment she never seems to forget. It scared her really. She didn't understand it at all, had never heard of such a thing.

She could tell the rabbit was watching her curiously, trying to figure her out as Autumn whimpered from being fussed at, Azure glaring at the bunny trying to show her impatience at the stare. Finally, the rabbit stood up and put an arm out, backing the twins up, "Alright, alright. They were wrong, yada yada, but they are stuck with us now. Can't send them back now. Too risky. So like it or not they are part of the operation now. I think you can stop giving them the third degree now."

The twins backed down. In the end it was the bunny's mission and she was in charge of it even if she was a shiftless neutral faunus with no power to make them listen. They had enough sense to know better. She pulled the beanie from her head, shaking out her long brown hair and orange streak before shedding the coat. Her shirt beneath tight to the skin ]with only some kevlar covering the vulnerable areas, an emblem Like a shattered pocket watch on the shoulder, the suit clearly a bodysuit under her pants as well and black with the emblem in white. Autumn instantly turned red, awestruck though the rabbit thought she might still be cold, wrapping her in the coat to which Autumn sunk into with a satisfied whine.

Azure rolled Her eyes. Rabbits were some of Autumn's favorite animals and the very queer red head was entranced in the beautiful older faunus which only was making Azure more annoyed right now as her cousin snuck a sniff at the vanilla and gunpowder scent on the coat. She got Azure a blanket too though Azure was trembling for much different reasons internally than the winter weather.

She leaned back across from them against the desk in the room with a grin, "I guess introductions are in order then. My name is Jangri Adele, I'm a Shade academy graduate licensed Huntress that works for an agency here in Mistral. We've been working on this mission for about two years now though the twins and their team joined only a few months ago. We needed skilled fresh faces the organization didn't know to go undercover. We're all here because we lost contact with the other two a while back. The twins here were to go in after them but we had a bit of trouble outside with one of the more… difficult scouts. The one with the swords. He was with one of their recruiters keeping watch when he recognized me in a window. The whole thing was a bust and the twins couldn't show up at the meet point for the recruiter."

She leaned closer, her warm welcoming smile only making Autumn turn a brighter crimson, "now… Who are you two lovelies?"

‐—-

The woman could hear the clanking of metal on metal as she approached, the windowless halls lined with doors and dim lights. The lightest lavender eyes peered into the room bearing the source and watched the wolf as he growled, frustration filling every fiber of his being along with confusion and a strange sense of longing. The swords practically danced in the light of the training room as he struck at training dummy after training dummy, either in full swings or in the shifted whip forms.

As he panted, hunched over with the blades in their extended forms scattered around the floor, she walked closer, her fingers scratching along his scalp sweetly, voice calm, "You're upset little pup. Tell me what troubles you."

He glanced back, pale eyes taking on a shimmer to an icy blue hue as her form came into his vision, like a gray scale on strangely rendered three dimensions, light refracting on her shape enough for him to fully see her and the way it shimmered off the few black scales on her forehead and temples with his semblance through his blind eyes. He felt her hand rest under his chin and he tried to relax. He didn't want to tell her what was actually bothering him. It wasn't like he didn't trust her, she had saved him from starving on streets as a child and raised him, taught him everything he knew. He even took her last name as his own like a younger sibling, not knowing what his own truly was before anyway.

No he didn't want to tell her because the beast stirring madly inside was screaming not to. He could not tell a soul what he was feeling, clawing at his insides and brain, desperately screaming to find the cat, be close to her again. Everything inside was aching for her presence just a little longer. He had only felt this once before when he was small and a little girl found him hiding, starving to death in an alley. He dreamed of her so often he could almost taste this feeling but now he could truly feel it again and his inner beast was wild with frenzy, angry at him for running away.

It made no sense to him. He was constantly around other faunus but they never made him feel anything, not even the ones he might consider friends. Yet this girl he didn't know, this cat with eyes like precious stones that cut straight through him made his entire soul cry for her painfully, as if being away might actually physically wound him.

Instead, as he watched the leader eyeing him in concern, he chose a different issue to voice, "She saw my face…."

The woman watched him carefully, noticing his eyes shimmer to green and his nose twitched. He was trying to read her scent to see her now, gauge her reaction to him, "Who did?"

He could only shrug, face growing in visible irritation, the memory of her shape in his semblance burning into his brain so vividly he would never forget it, "I don't know. But she was chasing me… she had black cat ears…"

The woman seemed to think for a moment before her hands reached out so fast he couldn't see them, turning him back to the door, "Get rest little pup. Don't worry too much on it. We can think about it tomorrow."

He sighed, and ran a hand through his long hair, "Cut it. I don't want her to find me again…"

After making sure he was certain, the woman took one of his swords in its natural form and grabbed a fist full of the long locks before her hand moved with deadly precision and speed, and the locks separated from the rest, leaving a cropped cut around his jaw line behind. She let it fall to the ground and turned the sword, offering the hilt to him, "there you are Lux, she shouldn't recognize you at a glance now."

He nodded quietly. Inside, his beast was crying, screaming out as if by doing this, by even considering avoiding her, he was piercing it. He took the sword and placed both at his hip, yanking his hood up to hide his ears as they folded sadly, feeling a lump choke in his throat at the mere thought of forcing himself to never cross her path again. He had to though. This feeling was dangerous and couldn't be trusted. He couldn't be trusted with it if he wanted to do his job. When he left, the woman seemed intrigued, going to the light and turning off the switch, "Black cat ears you say... seems I won't have to wait long after all."

The door closed with an echoing eerie thud, leaving the darkness behind.