Ch 9: Change Of Plans

"No! Bring him back! You vile…" Amethyst shouted, cut off by darkness as a fist landed into her head and knocked her out cold.

Mauve was grasped by hair and ears by the other strong hand, snarling weakly as he tried to squirm. His weak body could hardly compare to the healthy fit large faunus holding him as he was dragged by Rena to follow Lyra to the interrogation room. He was strapped into the chains as the snake approached, bleeding her venom into a tube as Rena beat him to get him to sit still. The viper's sinister grin made his skin crawl as she leaned in, Rena forcing his head to the side as he struggled, hissing. Every inch of him was crawling, worry filling him as the syringe was filled and brought close to his veins. Now he knew what had been the reason no one was returning anymore. The thought it was about to happen to him as well was terrifying.

He couldn't allow this and yet this faunus holding him down was too strong to fight against with how tired and low on aura his body was after all this time. As the needle was pushed through his skin, all he could think about was his sister and their teammates. Was he ever going to see any of them again? Was this going to hurt before it was over or would he slip silently into death? When it was injected and she moved away, he growled, "I'm not telling you anything you know."

Lyra chuckled, twirling the syringe in her fingers before she set it down and grabbed a chair, dragging the metal legs along the floor over to Mauve with intense screeching sounds that made his cat ears flick and fold and his face scrunch painfully. She dropped into it, folding her arms and crossing a leg over the other, leaning back into the chair with a smirk, "Oh I think you'll tell me exactly what I want to know in time if you care about a certain little kitten named Azure."

She watched his face change and it was the result she was looking for. Mauve had expected and even prepared for her to find out about the twins or even their actual connection to Jangri but he had not expected young Azure's name to come off her tongue. It unnerved him. How did she know anything about Azure? She would also have to know about the twins then but why not mention them? It was very worrisome to him but he tried to regain his composure as fast as he could, saying nothing though even he could tell it was already too late as Lyra leaned in with that dark grin, "Let's begin shall we?"

—-

River smiled softly, "We create a safe space for faunus to be themselves with who they want. Many come to us after being naked and discarded, their own kind outcasting them for something not their fault, or for being odd pairs outside of alphas with subs. We have quite a lot of alpha and alpha pairs actually. We also have many sympathizers in our ranks who have seen the abuse first hand of faunus just trying to survive and some humans too who have been discarded by faunus. You would be able to be with Lux without having to do all this hiding from your friends and your family."

Azure breathed in his scent again off the jacket, feeling her very being shivering in need of him but tried not to be so easily deceived, red eyes watching River, "and all the people you have captive who don't agree with you?"

If she had poked the beast, River didn't show it, not even a single flinch in her kind front or even a shift in her posture. The lizard shrugged, "Change is warfare. It never comes easy. I can assure you the idea isn't to make a difference by force. It is to simply protect or own."

Azure tried to weigh that with the knowledge Mauve and Amethyst were still captive, able to understand how spies could be a threat. She wanted to ask but didn't want to run the risk of their well being, choosing a different route instead, "And if I wanted proof they were all ok?"

Now river chuckled, "Smart girl. I like that. Well, once we can be sure we can trust you in return, I would be happy to take you to them. But if you are truly interested in joining, I need something from you."

Azure fiddled with the collar of the jacket, wrapping herself in the soft material and sighing, hardly able to really listen, her mind racing as she continued to breathe him in off the fabric, 'Oh god… I'll go into heat any day now… I'm so needy… dammit… I need him… ugh focus Azure! What did she just say? something from me?'

"Hmm? I'm sorry?" Azure responded, blinking a bit at River.

The lizard knew that look. They had locks on the quarter doors to secure heated faunus with those looks though being the dead of winter struck her very odd indeed. She only knew one person who got their heat in the winter and no one was allowed to talk about it out of respect for that person's identity. Eyes narrowed curiously at Azure before she cleared her throat, watching the cat focus on her better, "I need you to do me a favor if you want to come with me."

As if knowing this was a bad idea, Azure glared at her and bared teeth, ears folding to display aggression but her resolve was weak, too weak. She was far too distracted to be a threat right now. Still, River gave her some respect even if only falsely, "Hold it there kitty cat. If you want to come with me and be with Lux without anyone stopping you or anything in your way, all you have to do is tell me all about those twin cats and what they are here for. Who sent them, who are they working for, and what is their agenda? You get me that information, and you in."

Azure snarled. This faunus wanted her to sell out her siblings in order to be with the wolf? The very audacity was vile to her. Sure they didn't get along and she didn't like them but they were her family and she still loved them. She'd never just give them up to a group of villains for a boy. Right? River stood up. She could tell this meeting was at an end, "Just consider it alright? Have a good night. I'll be in touch."

With that, the faunus was gone leaving Azure with a swarm of moral questions in her brain as she stared at the jacket in her fingers. She sighed, curling in the bed in the jacket. She couldn't stop herself from tearing up. None of it felt fair. She didn't want to make this choice and she could hardly take much more of his rejections while being able to fully feel his beast's desires for her as well. It was really breaking her down.

—-

Hours. Mauve had spent hours of this agony. She would question him and Rena would rough him up until the venom shut down his functions and he could no longer breathe, a drooling convulsing mess, only giving him the antivenom just before he had any permanent damage only to inject venom back into his body the moment his systems returned enough to start the process again. At this point, he had lost track of how many times it had happened to him and he was a mess, spit and drool all over his face and neck with other things like urine on his front from his body losing the ability to hold its functions so many times.

Still he had managed to say nothing though she had stopped asking very many questions. At this point she was just putting him through silent paces as the venom and antivenom worked in turns. By the time she was done she tossed away a pair of gloves, antivenom done in his system and his body worn out, "Bring him back Rena. Be sure his twin sees him and put him in a new cell far, far from hers. Out of ear shot if you would. Then if you see River before I do, I want a report."

The faunus nodded and grasped Mauve who didn't have the energy to struggle this time, dragging him by the arm limply across the tile floors, his consciousness finally caving as she dragged him past the cells. Amethyst came to the bars quickly, having been a passing mess waiting. When she saw him, her mind and body flushed with the icy feeling of fear. Her ears folded with her white knuckle grip on the bars, trying to call out to him but getting no response, "Mauve! Mauve answer me! What did you do to him, you monster!? W-where are you taking him!? His cell is next to mine!"

Rena just smirked, kicking her cell bars and growling back, watching the younger alpha refuse to back down despite how actually helpless she was. It was laughable to the faunus, "Not anymore."

All Amethyst could do was watch as Mauve was brought so far down the long hall she couldn't even make him out anymore, tucked into a cell. When the woman left, she slid down to her knees, staring after his cell with no use. It had been her main strength here to have him with her, close and able to keep her sane and support her if she wavered and be able to do the same for him. Neither of them had been so affected by any of the interrogations either nor pulled back since the cells started going empty so now she not only had no access to her one life line but she had no way of knowing what had been happening.

She thought about what the snake had said. Maybe she wasn't broken yet but she would be if this kept on now. It was already hard under these conditions for as long as it had been. Without her brother, or any familiar tether to her reality, she wasn't sure how much longer she could manage. As she growled, hanging her head, she mumbled, "touché you bitch…"

River found Lux testing the locks on his quarter doors as she was returning, checking by him before looking for Lyra, "Making sure you are ready for your winter week away from the world?"

He watched her lean into the doorway and huffed, scratching behind his wolf ear, "Just… being sure everything's in working order. They only get used once a year after all. Are you here just to ask me about my room locks?"

River smiled and shrugged. She watched Lux checking the digital panel of a few other things. She was still very curious about him and Azure and what on earth was going on between them. They didn't know each other much and as far as she could tell neither had a mark so why did they have such attachment to each other? Before she could answer or question, Rena turned the corner and came right to her, the lizard noticing, "Ah, Rena. Guessing Lyra needs me?"

Rena nodded with a grunt and River just eyed Lux before following the woman. Lux watched her leave, curious to her behavior but he had other concerns as he closed the door and ran the locks again before pulling at the steel, finally satisfied with the resistance and the door not budging. He leaned back into the door with a sigh and slid down the surface to sit, rubbing his face. Everytime he closed his eyes all he could see was Azure's face. It was burning in his soul how he had kept pulling away from her, an ache so painful in his heart as he gripped his chest.

He really didn't want to. Every part of him wanted her just as badly, wanted to sink his teeth into her as well. But he was too afraid of what she would say if she knew. He needed to wait even if it meant until spring to see what her pheromones were going to call out for. If they strictly scented for one or the other and not both or all, he would know where he stood and if it was safe to let her in. The idea of waiting that long was agony and his beast was screaming at him, brain buzzing from it but it was what he intended to do.

—-

Azure returned to the inn after a few nights. She had given the jacket to Dakota even though it was a struggle to let it go, not wanting anyone to ask any questions. She had not seen Lux in all this time. It was making her more stir crazy than even being stuck in the inn. When she did return, Jangri had moved everyone to a new inn and the twins were now also staying with everyone. Something must have happened but no one would really say too much about it. Azure could only assume that, as she already suspected, River was wise to the twins already.

Jangri was also less talkative now, so was Autumn, and the twins seemed just as irritable. At the small table in this inn, Jangri was seated handling some business on a computer while Autumn was picking at the fake claws, the twins currently in a kitten pile in bed trying to get sleep. With everything, Jangri got Azure filled in on the fact that the twins' contact refused to meet with them anymore until further notice. The tense air in the room had to be a mixture of the nervous feelings of possible failure combined with Mao clearly plagued with worries about her girlfriend. The blonde cat had been more agitated in the few minutes since Azure had returned than she could really recall in her entire life.

She sat at the window, taking up the shift to watch for any potential unsavory characters in case anyone was watching them, Jangri going to look around for food to bring back. Her eyes occasionally glanced at her siblings, curled up, Mao clearly squirming and shaking. Azure knew she was resisting a break down in that annoying, fake strong sort of front she did when anyone other than Blake or Bao were around. Rubbing her own face with a low frustrated sigh she glanced out at stars. How could she betray them? They were already struggling and all hope wasn't lost yet. She couldn't be the one to destroy it for Mao but at the same time she desperately wanted to be with Lux, her will growing weaker and weaker the longer he was staying away from her.

As she sat, Autumn came over, sitting next to her, "Azure…"

She hummed in reply, too distracted and frustrated with her situation to give much more. Autumn fidgeted, "The twins are restless. Their contact told them she won't see them for the foreseeable future… Mao's been… difficult…"

Azure glanced at the twins with a sound of acknowledgement before watching out again, saying nothing. She could see in the distance Jangri heading back their way. She knew why the contact wouldn't see them. In a way she felt it was her fault. Again, she had contributed to an issue on this mission and it was frustrating to say the least. Her lack of response was obviously not satisfying to the younger cousin as Autumn leaned to see her better, "Azure… that boy… I saw… um… I saw you two…"

Azure's eyes shot over to the twins but neither had moved, still asleep, before her glare landed on Autumn. Her expression washed into a dead stare and she stood to her feet, "Take a turn on watch if you aren't going to sleep."

She said nothing else and ignored any of Autumn's attempts to stop her as she crawled onto the couch in the room. Originally, Jangri was going to sleep on it but Azure didn't want to share a bed with Autumn right now. As the rabbit walked back in with a small amount of groceries, she looked at Autumn's disheartened face confused and got the girl's help to store things away. The night dragged on and Azure hadn't slept at all. When Jangri took the shift so Autumn could sleep, the red head practically fell into the bed.

With the quiet around them, Azure sat up and grabbed her coat, getting a stare from Jangri but she simply held up her pack and lighter and walked outside. She was restless tonight not because she was stuck anywhere but because she had not gone this long without seeing Lux since they got here. It was miserable for her. The push and pull within her on what to do was cresting into a certainty she had come to while laying down. It did bother her that the new location might mean Lux wouldn't find her. Jangri stopped her outside the room, "Mate… we need to talk."

Azure growled but Jangri was undeterred, "None of that. I'm not your siblings but a lot of people expect me to be responsible for you and your little cousin. What's going on mate? You constantly come back smelling like the wolf, I know he was there that day at the shop, now you are even more out of sorts and since you went to the shop the twins have been snubbed on their mission?"

Azure growled more of a warning this time, teeth bared but her eyes were tired. In truth, she hadn't slept much at all while gone either without seeing Lux and had been chain smoking through more cigarettes than ever to deal with the stress. Her body was strained and her heat could come any moment and all of it had her worn down and annoyed, the weakness written all over her face in the red and purple circles under her eyes and the paler tone to her skin. Dakota had also informed Jangri the cat had been hardly eating as well.

Without the will to drag this out, Azure reached and rubbed her face. This could possibly solve her dilemma but she didn't like letting people in. She hardly let Autumn in anymore and that was the closest to a best friend she probably had these days. Leaning into the wall, she closed her eyes and took a breath, "Do you think… fate is real?"

The rabbit's head tilted some, curiously scanning over Azure's sudden drain in behavior, "I've never given it much thought really."

Azure hummed in reply, staring at the floor as her hand rubbed down off her face. Her mom had talked about things like fate before throughout her life, especially when talking about meeting her mother and how those pieces fell into place or when speaking about the events that led herself to Beacon but Azure was never sure she believed in any of that meant to be stuff. It all just seemed romanticized fiction to her to make something seem special and heart felt. Since finding Lux as an adult with all her dreams since her youth and the painfully tugging magnetism, she wasn't sure anymore.

She could feel Jangri just watching her, the kind eyes felt condescending to Azure but she didn't have it in her right now to fight anyone. She didn't want anyone's pity even if she probably could use it. Jangri didn't need her to explain to get a general gist of what she was trying to ask but she didn't know an answer and without any details didn't want to assume anything. She didn't need to spend a lot of time with Azure to know the feline wasn't going to take anyone butting making guesses in the dark lightly.

"Their recruiter is onto them. She isn't certain yet, and I don't know what it is she does know, but I know she is fishing for answers. She is trying to leverage him over me to get them. Which means she knows enough if she knows to ask me," Azure changed the subject, not liking how vulnerable she felt.

It was a moment before Jangri responded, those large ears twitching as she pondered on her thoughts. As Azure glanced over to her, the rabbit nodded, "Do you think you can find a way to give her any sort of truth without exposing the twins as spies? If you have to expose them as students so be it but just don't reveal they are here on an actual mission yea? It might not be the plan we wanted, but maybe we can shift gears and still get someone inside."

It was odd the sensation that washed over Azure. Jangri was going to let her not only help in the mission but she was giving her permission to go to him? It was like her beast was doing flips inside her and light was struck at the end of a deep darkness. She stood straight and nodded, a renewed sense of energy inside her, "I… I can do it."

Jangri left back into the room and returned with Prophecy, handing the weapon over, "For now, make sure you are never without your weapon. Seems this recruit is more interested in coming to you rather than making plans. Probably to be ahead of me in case I'm involved. We can't wait for the new scroll to arrive. We will need to just go buy you one tomorrow. I'll use the agency money. Faster to ask Indi for forgiveness than permission. Until then, try not to be alone too long. It will be really bad for everyone if she comes for you before we can reach you later."

Azure was frowning as she strapped her weapon to her waist, eyes narrowing with red bleeding into them. Jangri just sighed, "Stop it. I'm still leading this mission. I have an important job to do here. Your little childish affairs with a criminal aren't my concern here. There's no time for all that. There are people missing yea?"

Azure snarled and Jangri grew quiet. She didn't need a lecture. She knew people were in trouble. She also didn't need some faunus she barely knew trying to tell her what was important or not or invalidating her inner turmoil as if it was some simple girlish fantasy she could just ignore. She yanked the hood of her coat up and plucked a cigarette into her lips, glaring daggers at Jangri with a glance at the inn door, "You could do to actually ease up a little so you don't miss the things around you because of this mission. She's not some little girl you know. Stop ignoring her like some jerk when it's clear you're soft for her."

Now Jangri was glaring with a warning in her eyes but Azure just leaned close, voice slicked with a passive tone to her threat, "I swear if you hurt Autumn or lead her on I will bury my blade into your chest so deep that rigid heart of yours feels her pain."

She didn't stick around long enough to see if the threat landed, turning immediately to head off to an exit. Jangri just let out a deep sigh and stared back at the inn room door. Azure clearly picked up on the weird energy between her and Autumn and now she knew it. When the twins joined them before Azure got back, things got a bit out of hand with all the high strung anxiousness and poor words were exchanged that had made everything uncomfortable for everyone. Mao had gotten into a temper in her agitation and accused Jangri of slacking off on the mission to "play house" with Autumn to which the young red head got very upset about. When Jangri tried to calm the situation, she had said some stern things that had come across a bit hurtful to Autumn without intention.

She had yet to figure out how to resolve the issue and was simply trying to focus on work instead, which was the only thing she was really used to. But even Jangri had to admit as she looked back on it she might have been being too sweet to the girl despite trying to say she wasn't interested. It wasn't intentional but then, she had never even been on a date in her entire life. Never kissed anyone or held someone's hand or flirted before. She really wasn't sure how to even tell if she was being too kind with someone or if she even had an interest in someone. She had always just buried herself in everything from training, to prep school, to the academy to work. Romance never mattered in comparison. She slicked back her large ears and grabbed the nob. For Autumn's sake, she would figure out fixing it, but first she needed to figure out how to make space in herself to give it more priority alongside the mission.

—-

This alley wasn't in view of the inn window so even if Jangri looked or Autumn or the twins woke and looked no one could see her there. In the darkness, with most the street hardly lit in these seedy parts of town, most the glow came from the embers on her cigarette. She had already smoked through her first and was on her second when boots approached and fingers reached out, taking it from her lips carefully. Azure glanced up from under her hood, the chill of the cold night already turning her nose red, to stare into River's eyes, the rest of the lizard bundled against the cold, "Thought about my offer?"

Azure watched her cigarette in the lizard's fingers as it was put out and tossed. She nodded carefully. She had already decided what she would say though Jangri wasn't going to like how soon this was happening. You can't really have a choice in these things Azure supposed. She stood up straight, "Their teammates are your captives. They are just here looking for them. One of them is mated to my sister. She's been going crazy with worry about her and my sister doesn't do well doing nothing about something. I'm pretty sure she would go to the depths of hell to find her without anyone telling her to. She loves her. She'd do whatever it takes to be with her."

River took that into consideration as she recalled what the twins had told her, "So, no one sent them here? Were they earnestly trying to join?"

Azure shrugged, "As far as I know, no one asked them to come here. We aren't close. I don't know what their intentions are. Now please… take me to him. I need to see him."

River could see the slight glaze to Azure's eyes and smell the rise in Azure's scent. It wasn't an immediate shift but the girl was clearly going to be in heat very soon, by the morning if she had to guess. It brought a grin to her features. It did make it harder to use her semblance on Azure to tell her truth in her words through gazing into her eyes but that was alright for now. She was satisfied enough with what she was told. She reached out her hand to Azure with a grin under her bundled face, "Come along little kitty, let me take you to your soul's desire."

Azure gazed at those fingers and reached out, taking them, forgetting at that moment about her mission from Jangri and only wanting one thing promised to her. In no time at all, she was whisked off on a maze of a journey to the base, taking a crazy path that no one could possibly easily remember. River always took new people on the wildest path to get there to be sure they couldn't risk the base until they were more trustworthy. New recruits spent their days inside the base afterall until they were trusted to wander.

When they got inside, Azure was led to a strange sublevel where a ton of fabrics and several faunus were wandering the floor. River was walking ahead of her with purpose so she simply followed even as her eyes scanned everything and her ears flicked at every noise. "COOP! Where are you ya crazy critter!" River yelled out, causing Azure to flinch.

A deep but silky voice came calling back from around a stack of textiles, "Over here Waterlily!"

She chuckled and looked back, nodding her head in the direction before turning to go towards it, Azure following. When they turned to stack, Azure froze a bit. Standing there was a tall, sturdy but clean man with wings of vibrant colors. It was a macaw faunus. He turned to them and grinned, "Now you better not be here for a favor my dear! You haven't come to see me in so long for anything other than ammo and…oh! My my, who's this?"

She gestured towards Azure, "This is a new recruit. I'm sorry to come to you again for something but she needs an issued uniform. She can't go around in these lightly colored clothes that certain people will recognize."

His hands went to his hips and he frowned but River placed her hands together and pleaded, "Please please please? I promise we will hang out soon. I've just been busy working for Lyra directly with a big project!"

His laugh was almost infectious as Azure tried not to get distracted, her brain only interested in Lux and the rest of everything just taxing and annoying, "Well, alright but only because it's you."

Suddenly, she was yanked over and he was checking her with a measuring tape, holding out her arms and humming to himself. It was thankfully a bit less invasive than when Jangri needed her size but he seemed to be a bit of a professional. He took in her style and turned, digging through some already made attire, "I think I already have some new wares she will do nicely in right... aha!"

He shoved clothing at Azure and pushed her over to a nearby stall. The cat was getting disoriented with all the treatment and frowning but as she looked over the clothing she felt in awe. It was perfectly something she would wear though the exposed midriff wasn't usually her go to. In the cold, she wondered what the intention was but she wasn't dumb enough to think they were going to just let her come and go freely for a while so it probably didn't matter. The base itself was incredibly warm already.

She got into the attire. A perfect fit. The pants were fairly snug but still with enough give for comfortable movement. They had cut outs on the sides from the belted waist at the hips down several inches of the thighs, exposing skin. A strap hanging from the belt went to a loop around the calf and on the other side the same kind of strap that looped from the front to the back and hung low and seemed to be of a material that could produce its own glow if activated. The boots were high tops and black with white striped accenting on the sides and white soles. The top was a tightly fit cropped tank top with no straps that stopped just below her breasts with a strap accent detail below on each side. The attachment at the top was around the neck with a bangy massive black scarf-like collar adorning the top as well with four small dots of the same optional glowing material. Over that was a cropped jacket with its own black hood in black with a strap around one arm in the same glowable material. It included gloves that were missing the ring and pinky fingers on each one in black as well.

When she came back out, the two were staring at her with large grins, "Lovely! She looks great Coop!"

He shoved River lightly, "Well of course she does who do you think I am?! Now get out of here before I change my mind! And you owe me one!"

River nodded and led Azure away deeper into the base, noticing her beginning to sweat and her hands trembling some. Azure looked very distracted or rather very focused, depending on what you meant. She was locked onto a singular thought and it was Lux. Nothing else mattered. River turned to face her, walking backwards and tucking her hands behind her back with a grin, "you want to see him don't you?"

Azure swallowed hard, nodding a bit more eagerly than she meant to. River could see her constricted pupils and the increased smell of her coming heat was radiating off the younger faunus. They turned a few corners and halls before they reached a corridor of doorways, River pointing down the hall, "His is that one."

The lizard was gone just like that, not that Azure cared. She had one thing she cared about and it was definitely not that woman. She made her way to the door, feet feeling like lead and throat dry the closer she got. Part of her felt that miserable sting of missing him for days but the other part felt the insane elation of getting to see him now. Her hands trembled as she reached out, a silly feeling hitting her as she knocked on the door. This would be the first time they would meet in a normal way people do and not through a chase or in an alley or by chance in a pet store. She was purposely knocking on his door. His bedroom door even by chance? It was making her strangely nervous.

Or maybe it was the growing warmth in her body screaming for him, the thundering of her blood in her ears as her heart pounded in her chest. She wasn't going to make it much longer before it hit her. She needed to see him first. She was too impatient, banging on the door again. This time she heard movement and shuffling towards her. When the door opened, her pupils blew as his scent practically crashed into her from the room and his body, his eyes staring at her with intense surprise. It didn't even register to her the oddity of the strength of his scent coming off his skin or how confused he looked. All she cared about was that he was right there in front of her.