Chapter 96 - Breakwater - Growing Pains
Year 74VE, January
Cover Art by Mi Chumi
[A/N] FFN had a seizure or something on Monday when I posted the previous chapter, so it's possible you didn't get a notification. So might want to check whether you saw that one before you read this one. If not, then enjoy a 2-for-1 deal!
It was the weekend, and Rosso wasn't spending it with Team SCRV. Instead, he'd gone home Friday afternoon. His mom had been elated to see him.
That lasted about two hours before she'd practically demanded that he either talk to her about what was bothering him, or go mope somewhere else.
And the problem was, he didn't really hang out with his old high school mates anymore. The two years he'd spent at Cove had changed the direction of his life. He'd grown apart from most of them to the point where they could maybe have a few laughs, but he wasn't prepared to talk about his problems with them.
But he did have one friend that was, like him, probably not back at campus right now.
Which was how he ended up at an ice cream shop, treating Nina Pololia to a double-scoop cone of mint chocolate chip, while she watched his mango shaved ice slowly melt in front of him.
"Sooo… somethings definitely bothering you," she mused, pink eyes flicking between his uneaten treat and the bland expression on his face. "You were so excited a few weeks ago. What happened?" The truth was, they'd both been so busy the last couple of weeks, with the start of the school year and him shifting to Breakwater, that they hadn't had time to really talk.
And he had missed that.
Rosso grimaced at his ice, fingers twitching around the sweating container. "I'm starting to wish they'd held me back a year," he grumbled.
Nine made a noise, and he glanced up at her to see a wide-eyed expression of pure innocence. "Oh really? Why?" she drawled, then fluttered her eyelashes. "Was it my looks or my personality?" Rosso glared, and she flinched. "Okay… not that kind of conversation, eh?" She glanced down, then back up. "Honestly, I wish they had, too. Then we could have been on a team together." She reached out her left hand and grabbed one of his. "I miss having you around."
That actually made him feel a little better. He pursed his lips, then took a moment to spoon some sweet cold ice into his mouth.
"So," she squeezed his hand. "What is the problem?"
He took a second to swallow before answering. "It's my teammates, Nina. I don't get it, it's like they stuck the two people voted most likely to cut each other's throats on the same team, and the third is one of them's best friend." He flipped his hand and curled fingers around hers, so tightly it almost hurt. "So that leaves me watching the crap show from the sidelines, every day. And when I asked Director Nagata, he just said there were very good reasons, and to give it time."
Nina frowned. "Is it… really that bad?"
"They've had three 'spars'," he slid his hand out of hers and released the shaved ice to make air quotes, "so far to settle arguments. And by spar I mean two-on-one beat the crap out of each other." He shook his head. "And the weird part is, that seems to actually work for a day or so, and then it's back to Cinder and Vernal insulting each other every chance they get." He dug his spoon into the flavored ice like it had offended him. "And we aren't practicing teamwork together, either, because Vernal won't listen to Sarah. She says Sarah's on Cinder's side." He let go of his spoon, fingers flexing. "The whole thing is stupid."
Nina leaned back against the chair, thoughtful. "Sounds like it." She took a lick of her ice cream before it could dribble down her right hand. "So… whatcha gonna do about it?" She fluffed her hair with her free hand, going all nonchalant, "Want me to zap 'em so you can beat some sense into them?" Rosso blinked, and Nina realized he was actually considering whether that might work, her eyes widened. "Scratch that. I can't believe you were taking me seriously. Holy crap, that is bad."
Rosso slumped. "I just don't know what to do…"
Nina tilted her head, lips puckered to the left as she chewed on her cheek. "Maybe… this Vernal girl just needs a friend?"
Rosso snorted. "Vernal needs someone to kick her butt. And I have to put up with four years of this…"
Nina sighed "Well, at least next year I'll be in Breakwater too, so you and me will be able to eat together, right? I start my first year then, so we've got three years of overlap. Salt says that we can start doing "special team" exercises during free spar period at Aquatics next week, too. And if you want, you and me can hang out on the weekends." She reached her hand across the table again, and gave his hand an experimental squeeze. "Maybe… go on a date?"
Rosso Aukei stared at his friend.
His female friend.
They'd trained together, fought together, studied together.
His girl friend.
Who had just asked him out on a date.
A date.
With a girl.
He suddenly realized that this was exactly what he needed right now. "You know what. I'd love that. Heck, might be enough to keep me sane." Nina's tan skin seemed to glow at his response. "Say the word. Time and place."
Nina's cheeks pinked, and she turned her head, giving him a little side-eye. "Alright… uh… can't believe I said it. But… how about right now, right here?"
A smile spread over his face. "You're on. Thanks Nina."
"You can thank me by walking me home after."
"Deal."
It was Friday evening, and Cinder had locked herself in Garek and Selene's spare bedroom in their staff suite.
Not because she was hiding from Vernal, though that was a happy side-effect.
Not because she was hiding from Sarah, either. Though she kinda sorta was doing that too. Sarah had been… working on her, trying to convince her that she should give Vernal a chance.
It was freaking weird. It was like, Sarah saw, firsthand, how Vernal acted. She saw how Vernal bugged her, and insulted her, and made fun of her. And Sarah usually took her side against Vernal.
And then she would turn right around and try to convince her to give Vernal a chance. As if she was the problem.
Okay, yeah, sure, it was the same thing that Selene and Garek had suggested. Give Vernal a chance. And yeah, they'd also gotten onto Vernal about her behavior.
And everyone kept saying that when Summer got back to Breakwater, that she'd be able to keep Vernal in line.
"I'll believe that when I see it," Cinder groused.
No, the reason she was locked in this room was because… it was Friday. It was time for her weekly secure call with Argent.
It wasn't like they didn't get to talk, otherwise. They messaged daily. Heck sometimes hourly. They called each other as often as they could grab a free minute.
But they didn't talk about serious things on those regular calls and messages to Argent's scroll, because… well because Argent was studying Dust Technology at an Atlas-co-sponsored school, and Cinder's dad was the Faunus Headmaster of Cove Academy, and Cinder was studying at Breakwater. They had decided, amongst the Grimmslayers, that there were things they had to be careful about discussing over regular scroll.
So they'd asked Sophia for help. She'd been a bit iffy about giving Argent a secure scroll to keep (though they were still working on her over that), but she'd said that Cinder's girlfriend could come by the Emporium any time, borrow one there, and use a private office to make any calls she might want.
Cinder felt like her composure broke as soon as her girlfriend's face flickered into view.
Argent was so pretty. Her metallic blue hair offsetting her freckles and her aquamarine eyes, and just the sight of her made Cinder's heart ache. She slipped a hand up, to the pendant at her throat. "Argent…"
And her girlfriend read whole paragraphs in that one breathed word and Cinder's stricken expression. "Oh babe, is it still that bad?"
Cinder had tried to keep things neutral and boring on their previous calls and messages. Talking about classes in general terms and staying clear of anything that someone, some asshole like Watts, might use against people she loved. But Argent knew a few things. She knew about Vernal, at this point. Cinder had called her a half-dozen times that first day, crying and raging about her unwelcome teammate.
Cinder inhaled a shuddering breath. "It's not… just that. It's… gods I miss you so much. I didn't realize…"
Argent glanced away and swallowed. "Yeah… me too… but… we both know…"
"It had to be this way," Cinder finished, "For at least a while." They were both quiet for a bit. "I love you."
"Love you, too," Argent replied quietly. There was another pause, and Argent's face softened further. "If it helps, I'm working on mom to get a trip over for Spring Break. I think… she's going to say yes."
Cinder's elated expression spoke volumes. "Gods yes! Yes, it helps!" Her mind spun with possibilities. "Maybe we can get you a direct flight… dad says that Sofia and Reggie are talking about coming down to review Chimera and the local network's physical security."
"Oh wow, yeah that would be nice." It was a long trip by rail and sea. Having air transport would mean that Argent gained at least two whole days with her girlfriend instead of wasting it travelling. "So, is it getting better?"
Cinder felt some of her joy tempered, though it was a little easier to be objective with the thought that Argent might actually come visit her. "Ehhh…. I mean… we've been kinda avoiding each other, so that's better."
Argent frowned. "How does that… work? Don't you guys live together?"
"Well… we have classes together. But there's no actual requirement that we stay in our rooms when we're not in class. So… I just... leave when she shows up and then come back when it's lights out.
Argent drummed her fingers on the table in front of her. "That doesn't sound good, Cin."
Cinder sighed. "You sound like Sarah."
Argent raised her eyebrows. "Nobody ever said Sarah was stupid, babe, just mouthy."
Cinder huffed, and flipped her bangs out of one golden eye. "She just hasn't dealt with," her voice lowered, "Vernal like I have." She shuddered, and tried to change the subject for a bit. "How's school going for you?"
Argent narrowed her eyes. She knew what Cinder was doing. Her girlfriend had spent an entire early childhood not sharing her thoughts on things. Hiding what hurt. And sometimes, she still did that. Usually, if Argent gave her a minute, she'd spill her guts to her without prompting.
Usually.
So, she went with the change in topic for the moment. "Well, it's only been a couple of weeks so far. Mostly we've just been going over lesson plans and overviews. The first year is gonna be fundamentals," she chewed on a lower lip, which Cinder became suddenly fascinated with even as she tried to stay fcused. "Then we start specializing after that," Argent waved a hand airily. "Deposit Surveying. Mining and Extraction technologies. Raw dust handling. Refining. Synthesis." She shook her head, and a corner of her mouth tilted up. "It's actually really interesting. Not sure which field I'll focus on yet, but I can touch all of them a little."
Cinder smiled. "Good. That's so good to hear."
"Yeah, I… well I owe Sophia and Pete a lot. My mom could never have afforded this, and I wouldn't have gotten the opportunity. I think I'm actually going to love this field."
Cinder's eyes watered a little at the joyful look on her girlfriend's face. "I'm so glad. And you deserve it. You deserve everything."
"Heh." Argent blushed a little at the praise. "Well, don't forget, awesome me picked you to be my girlfriend. So… you're awesomerer."
Cinder snorted. "And how's Laurel doing at school?"
"Laurel is Laurel. She's putting that overdeveloped empathy to work on her course studies. Apparently her teachers are really impressed with her 'emotional maturity' or something." She rolled her eyes. "But no joke, she keeps me on an even keel, so maybe she's got something there. Maybe you should chat with her?"
Argent paused, waiting to see if Cinder would veer back to the original topic of conversation at her prompt.
And Cinder didn't take the bait. "And Tommy?"
Argent sighed internally. "Tommy… well tell Sarah that if she'd seen him in his new uniform, she would have reconsidered that whole 'nah we're just friends' thing. He's apparently fitting in well with that new special tactics group at Argus PD, at least according to Sarah's dad." She narrowed her eyes. "And don't think I didn't notice you changing the subject again, babe. Seriously, you gotta talk to somebody about this, figure something out. You can't live four years avoiding your teammate, can you?"
Cinder felt her face pinch, shoulders drawn down. It probably made her look ugly. It made her feel ugly. "Probably not," she had a dark thought, and lowered her voice. "Maybe I'll get lucky and a Grimm will freaking eat her."
"Cinder!"
Cinder paled, then felt herself start to crack. "Well, dammit, it's…. she's… why?! Why did they do this to me?" And by they, she meant her parents for allowing it, the school for doing it, Lionheart for suggesting it, Vernal for existing, and the Gods themselves for granting her this fate.
Argent didn't have an answer for that. She and Cinder'd already had that conversation, the first week, and from what Cinder had said then, she'd already tried to get her dad to intervene, and he said he had tried, and gotten nowhere.
Cinder's face went still, and she quieted again. "I've started having… intrusive thoughts, and nightmares. About setting her bed on fire."
Argent's breath caught. "Babe, that is not the answer."
"With her in it," Cinder added in a whisper.
"Very much not the answer, babe." Argent finished in a slightly tense voice.
"I know. I know. But… she reminds me so much of… of… Minerva and Calliope."
Argent went quiet again. Cinder had told her, one night after an exceptionally lovely round of making out and cuddling, about her childhood. And it had eventually delved into dark places, leaving Cinder crying in her girlfriend's arms.
Cinder had told her about what kind of people the Tremayne sisters and their bitch of a mother were. Argent learned how they had treated her girlfriend. The fact was, at this point, she would have stood by and cheered if Cinder had the opportunity to singe those smug expressions off their faces…
Well, Argent Reece had a very clear understanding of the significance of what Cinder had just told her.
"Listen to me, Cin. If your mental health is at stake, then you need to lay down the law. Tell your parents it's you or her on the team. I mean it. You can't sacrifice your well-being to comply with some dumb adult's wild-ass ideas about what makes a good Huntsman team."
"It's not that simple." Cinder said miserably. "They don't understand."
Argent's tone went cold. "Yeah it is that simple. And if you need me to come down there and explain it to those idiots in a way they'll get, then I'll do it. And Sarah will back me up, too."
Cinder stared at her girlfriend. Argent was… righteously indignant. On her behalf. She was threatening to go up against adults for her. Against the Headmaster of Breakwater.
For her.
"I don't deserve you," Cinder whispered, eyes starting to sting. She felt the urge to hide behind her bangs, but she knew Argent wouldn't allow that.
"Oh yeah, you do. You saved my butt, remember? You're stuck with me, now. Don't ever forget it." Argent rubbed her own eyes for a second. "Now… tell me everything, and let's see if I can come up with something you haven't thought of."
Sarah Tourmaline had come to a conclusion.
Vernal Branwen was 100% right.
Being Team Leader, with no other perks, sucked grimm guts. Rotten stinking grimm guts.
Of course, it was mostly due to the fact that Vernal was impossible to lead. Vernal didn't respect her. And she kept needling Cinder until her friend blew up and threw hands, which meant those two got into a physical fight every other day. And the fact was that Vernal was a better fighter than Cinder, if you didn't include Semblance. And students weren't allowed to use Semblances outside the Sparring Arena or Aquatics Center, for safety reasons.
Which meant that in a 1-on-1 fight, Vernal not only had the satisfaction of goading Cinder into the fight, she also had the satisfaction of beating her into the ground as a result.
Which is why Sarah had begun demanding 2-on-1 fights, with her playing Cinder's second. And that had more than evened things out on that front. But it had also seemed to make it worse, because now Vernal could rag on Cinder about needing Sarah to 'defend her' because she was 'fucking weak', and even when Vernal lost, she just acted all smug about it.
Though she did back off on the insults for a bit afterward, while she was in a good mood.
But it wasn't working. It didn't work as a team. Nor as roommates. It sucked ass all around. Heck, that didn't even account for the fact that Rosso, their fourth, was clearly miserable too, and she didn't have the bandwidth to even deal with his fee-fees on top of all that.
And to make things catastrophically worse, she'd caught Cinder, more than once, with that look in her eyes while her fire-wielding friend flexed her fingers. Sarah had learned to read Cinder's body language over the years. She knew when her friend was thinking about doing something… not good. Something that Sarah had started calling "thermal therapy". And it was up to her to distract Cinder, or talk her down, or intervene. Because she was Cinder's bestie, and Team Leader.
How do you freaking be a Team Leader in a situation like this? Why isn't there a class for this? Why did they put us together?
Why me? Gods why me?
Finally, she'd gone to Cinder's dad, Garek. Garek was a Huntsman. He'd been on a real Huntsman Team before. He knew about Team Leadership.
And he'd told her that he was probably not the right guy to talk to. His Team had broken up. His Team Leader had abandoned him, basically.
Gee. Great.
But Selene had been there, and she'd suggested Sarah call Huntress Summer Rose. She said that Summer was a Team Leader. And she was Raven Branwen's Team Leader, and that Raven, in many ways, was a lot like Vernal. Or Vernal was a lot like Raven. If anyone could give her advice on this, it was Summer.
So here she was, in Selene's office, and they were calling Summer Rose using Selene's scroll.
"Selene! How are things in Kuo?" Sarah was off camera, but she could see Summer's image on the screen. She wasn't wearing an eye patch, but instead had a medical gauze patch over her missing eye.
"They are settling in. And your medical examinations?"
"Doctor Polendina has finished all the scans and nerve surveys, and they've started doing some tissue prep." She pointed to the bandages. "He says he has a compatible prosthetic available, he just needs to finish the custom socket insert, to match with what someone we shall not name left to work with." She smiled. "He's talking about having the final surgery done before the end of this month."
"That is lovely," Selene replied. "And how are your girls?"
"Tai took them back to Patch to start packing up." Summer's expression was complex. "Yang is excited. Ruby…" her face shifted rueful, "we've had to bribe Ruby with a new puppy."
"Oh… bribery with a pet for good behavior?" Selene tapped a cheek, and caught Sarah's incredulous look. "Hmm… well I suppose that would not work in our other situation…"
Summer tilted her head. "What situation?"
"I believe I will leave that to Ms. Tourmaline to explain," and she turned the scroll to show Sarah's face before the girl could compose herself.
"Oh! Sarah! Something's wrong, huh." Summer Rose didn't know the young girl well. Oh she'd met her briefly at a few of Selene's events, including the Second Wedding, and had chatted with her when they had visited Breakwater previously. But she could tell something was bothering her.
And she had a good guess regarding what…. who… it was.
"Yeah… you could say that."
Over the next thirty minutes, Sarah Tourmaline laid out her woes upon Summer Rose, careful to leave out as much detail about Cinder's personal issues as possible. She didn't feel right, talking about Cinder's part in front of her mom. This was about her inability to fix things, not Cinder's.
Summer's face hardened as she spoke, and then at some point, eased.
"Oh… well crap. I had hoped that fear of my eventual return would keep her in line."
"Honestly, Mrs. Rose, I think it has. I think that… this is Vernal staying in line. I mean… she's made a few comments about how back at the Camp someone would've gotten permanently damaged by now."
Summer's face tightened. "Freaking Raven and her freaking Tribe." She sighed and shook her head. "Alright, so you've already tried convincing Nagata to move her, and no dice."
"Right."
"So that leaves dealing with her." Summer's silver eye rolled to the right. "Seriously, though, It really is a lot like me and Rae. She always was… rough. And you're right about one thing, the two-on-one fights aren't helping. She just sees that as a weakness, and that'll make her even more sure that she's right, and that you're coddling Cinder."
Sarah felt her stomach fall. "Then what do I do?"
"Well, first off, stop doing that. Step in and tell Vernal that you aren't doing any more 'spars' to settle arguments, and tell her that I'm going to remotely order detention if she tries it." Summer thought about it. "No scratch that. That I'll give her extra homework. That'll put sand in her shorts."
Ugh.
"And second, you need to put her in her place. I know for a fact that she couldn't beat Cinder if Semblances were allowed. So, she's not the biggest rooster in the farmyard, not really. And I'm betting there are other things you can do that she can't keep up with, either. With Raven, before I got good enough to take her in the arena, it was her pride that was her weak spot. If I challenged her to do something, she had to be the best at it. And if I beat her, that meant she had to respect me."
Sarah thought about that, scratching at the back of a hand. "So, I gotta find something she's not as good as Cinder at?"
"Yep." Summer popped the P. "And also, if the Team loses face, Vernal loses face. She won't like that, either. Any chance you can get a team competition going with someone else?"
Sarah frowned. "Well… truth is even though we suck at Teamwork, we're all pretty much at the top of our class…."
"Oh" Summer laughed. "This does sound familiar… look, Sarah, it's only been what, two weeks? I promise you, this won't last. Those other kids are going to start figuring out how to work together, and even if you four are better than them individually, a team that works well is going to wipe the floor with you at some point." For a strange reason, that actually made Sarah feel kinda hopeful. "But in the meantime, I would talk to your fourth, what was his name again?"
"Rosso."
"Rosso. You need to get him in on this. Get him on your side. Explain what the problem is and what you want to do. See if he has any ideas."
"Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thanks Mrs. Rose. You're the best."
"Happy to help. And if it gets to be too much, you have my permission to use my name. I'm serious. Tell her that you talked to me, and that I'm keeping tabs."
"I will. Thank you."
She missed Selene's thoughtful expression as she left her office.
It was early Sunday evening when Rosso's scroll pinged, just as he was arriving back on campus. He'd put it off as long as he could, but he was supposed to be back before sunset. Glancing down, he saw it was his Team Leader, which was kinda surprising.
S: We need to talk. Got a minute this evening?
R: Uhhh sure? Where?
S: How about Aquatics?
Rosso arrived to find Sarah in the empty Center, sitting on the sandy beach. In the dusk, the interior lights had turned on, leaving it feeling otherworldly. He'd spent two years here, but he'd never come by after hours.
It was almost romantic.
Uh oh.
"Uhhh Sarah?"
She turned around. "Oh. Hey. Have a seat?" She patted the sand next to her.
"I'm not sure… I mean…"
His expression must have been eloquent. The corners of her eyes crinkled. "I'm not making this a date, silly boy. Come on. We need to talk, about the Team."
"Oh. Alright."
They chatted for almost an hour, and for the first time in weeks, Rosso felt like he was actually part of a Team. It wasn't a whole team yet, but he was part of it. They were winding down when Sarah's scroll chimed.
C: Where are you? I'm at the dorm and… Vernal's here.
S: On the way. Chill. Was chatting with Rosso.
C: Whatever. Hurry back.
Sarah huffed and shared a look with Rosso.
"This is bullcrap, and we're gonna fix it. You're sure you can get the stuff?"
"Yeah, no problem at all."
. . .
When the two arrived at the dorm, Vernal was lying in her bed on her side facing the wall, watching videos on her Scroll. Cinder was in bed, reading a book, and fiercely ignoring the other occupant of the room.
She glanced at Sarah like she was a lifeline in a storm.
This better work.
Monday was full of surprises.
As usual, the one thing that Sarah didn't have to worry about was making sure everyone was at class on time. Cinder had taken to getting up earlier than really required, getting a shower in and getting dressed so she could head to the cafeteria before Vernal dragged herself out of bed.
Vernal liked to sleep in, and just throw on clothes and head out. She claimed, once, that she didn't need time for 'primping like a whore'.
No, Vernal didn't care so much about her looks, though she was never dirty. She had a handful of standard outfits she liked, preferably ones that showed off her physique and Tribe tattoos.
And this morning, once Cinder was out the door, but before Vernal rose, Rosso met Sarah's eyes, and nodded.
Good, he's still on board.
Breakfast was good. And quiet. Cinder had already eaten and would already be waiting in the classroom, and Vernal would just grab something and eat it on the way.
That left their first period class of the week.
Grimm Studies, taught by Instructor Daisy Alenta. Rosso told them he'd had her for his Combat School classes, and said they were lucky that she'd decided to bump up to Breakwater when the new loaned teachers for Cove had arrived from the other Combat Schools. He said she was probably relieved to be teaching older students.
The lean tiger-quoll Faunus stood in the front of the classroom and ran her fingers through her short blonde hair as she appraised the class. Finally she nodded, assuring herself that everyone who should be there, was present. "Alright everyone, today we're going to start our coursework in earnest. We've spent the prior two course-weeks getting everyone on the same page regarding what we'll be covering, and why it's important." If her brown eyes lingered on Vernal for a moment, no one would have noticed. "This week, we're going to begin an in-depth review of Grimm that are specific to the jungles and coasts of Menagerie. We'll be covering one Grimm per day, at most, including how they're put together, behavior around civilians, behavior around Huntsmen, where their armor is thickest, any weaknesses, and where they rank on the hazard scale."
Sarah shared a smile with Cinder. It sounded like they were finally digging in to the meat of the matter.
Instructor Alenta continued. "And one of the reasons we'll be focusing first on coastal and jungle variants, is because this week you will also be introduced to some highly-supervised field training, which means you may in fact come into contact with some of these Grimm."
That brought a few murmurs of happiness and a few pale faces. But mostly excitement. Vernal just scoffed. She'd fought Grimm, she'd told the others. She wasn't impressed so far with Breakwater's coddling.
"So, to begin with, let's talk about the runt of the litter, the capivara…"
For Rosso, this was, to some extent, old hat, and more than once during the rest of the class he was the one raising his hand to answer a question about capivaras predatory techniques and pack behavior.
After first class, on the way to their second period, Vernal Branwen leaned in, quietly, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Did I hear that right? You've fought Grimm in the water?"
"Yep. In it and under it," he replied, slightly surprised at her interest. She'd never shown any regarding his combat school training before.
But in response, she just blinked at him. "That sounds stupid."
He shrugged as they walked on. "Well, we live on the coast here. People in Menagerie make their living on and in the water. You gotta fight Grimm where you find them."
And then they were entering second period.
Cinder and Sarah received an incredibly happy shock.
"Mrs. Plum!" Cinder and Sarah shrieked together, and rushed forward. Previously, Cassie Kanana had been teaching this class, but she'd made some side comments that they were expecting someone more permanent.
The look of joy on their teacher's face echoed theirs. "Well hello there girls, fancy meeting you here!" She explained with a smile as they mobbed and hugged her.
. . .
"It would appear that our teacher is known to our classmates," Corsac Albain murmured to his brother as their team watched from the aisle. Corsac had not been made leader for Team Fractal, instead they'd elected his slightly more personable and shorter twin, Fennec. The other two members rounding ou this team were Raizel Faina, a native Menagerien, and Leeta Lazare, a faunus applicant from Mistral. The Albain brothers had found, thus far, that they were quite adequate partners.
"I recognize her. Patricia Plum was an instructor at Sanctum," Leeta leaned forward to murmur to the twins. "I didn't go there, but she had a good reputation at the other schools." Leeta had been a graduate of Kuchinashi Combat School instead.
"I see," Corsac frowned. "She is… a Faunus?"
"I don't think so," Leeta pursed her lips. The Albain brothers had, over the prior two weeks, shown significant concern regarding the idea that some of the teachers might not be Faunus. They'd not exactly said… bad things about humans, it just seemed like the idea freaked them out a little. Being from Mistral herself, she didn't have those kinds of worries. Teachers could be good or bad, whether they were faunus or human.
. . .
Back at the front, Cinder was trying to come to terms with a miracle. "But how!?"
Her old teacher's face took on a mischievous expression. "Well, when we heard that Cove was requesting a loan of instructors, the staff discussed it and... well, I decided that I'd enjoy the opportunity to teach some more advanced topics regarding Aura manipulation and Semblances." She leaned in conspiratorially, "I suspect they actually wanted Regalia," she winked, "but they got the second stringer instead."
"No way! That is so awesome!" Cinder cried. She'd have Mrs. Plum teaching her again. The woman who not only didn't fear her Semblance, but encouraged her to use it, perfect it. It was… heck it was almost enough to make her forget about Vernal for an entire class.
The rest of that class involved mostly Mrs. Plum introducing herself to the students and vice versa, and going over the lesson plan she'd put together for the year.
Which included field trips to exercise Semblances!
Third period was Menagerie Studies and Remnant History with Mrs. Belladonna, who was still doing double-duty between Cove and Breakwater students and starting to show the strain. It helped a little that they only had five full teams at Breakwater between the four grades at the moment, though the rumor was they'd continue accepting students throughout the year, as the other Kingdom Combat Schools' 'loaned instructors' arrived.
After that was lunch, and Sarah watched Vernal corner Rosso again, though she couldn't hear what they were talking about other than it involved something about aquatic Grimm.
Cinder was too pumped about Mrs. Plum being here to even pay attention to Vernal.
Well, that's at least something good.
And then in the afternoon was Combat!
They still didn't have enough teachers and students to have one class for each grade. Instead, they'd combined the 1st and 2nd year students into one class, and the 3rd and 4th years into a second, swapping the teachers between 4th and 5th periods so they could cover it all.
That meant that Team SCRV and Team FRCL were combined with the only 2nd Year team, Team Sambar (SMBR). None of them were students Rosso had trained with, having entered Breakwater from the community or from one of the Kingdoms. Saber Rodenta, a gerbil faunus and Mata Keleko, a ram faunus, were locals. Of the other two, Bay Greenleaf was human-passing and originally from Atlas, while Rolf Leonine was very clearly a canid faunus and was from Western Mistral. Rolf had supposedly had private training rather than going to a Combat School.
Twelve students.
And all of them were tough fighters.
So far, Combat Class had focused on unarmed land combat, one-on-one spars, heavy on the coaching and instruction, led by Cassie Kanana. All four of the team had seen her in action by now, and Rosso had given the other three the full scoop on her background. The green-mohawked cassowary Faunus was a well-regarded retired Huntress, and tough as nails.
Instructor Kanana regarded the three teams. "So, I'm pleased to tell you that this Friday, the staff will be performing a field exercise with you first and second year students! We aren't sure yet whether this will be a land-based, or semi-aquatic field exercise at this moment, but we're planning appropriately."
That brought more whoops and cheers from most of the class.
But not Vernal, Sarah noticed. Vernal should have been happy about this, but she was acting kinda weird.
After that initial announcement, they did two fifteen minute single spars, chosen at random. Cassie had indicated that everyone would be paired up at some point, and that starting next month, they would shift to the Arena and begin incorporating Dust and Semblances. Today, none of Team SCRV was picked. That was fine, they had a whole week.
. . .
Fifth period was Weapons Design and Maintenance, alternating with techniques and marksmanship. That was led by the Weaponsmith, Mort Gangurru. Just Mort, he'd insisted that first day. The old disabled Huntsman, it turned out, had been voluntold into this staff position, and was quite good at it. He'd spent decades building, perfecting, and maintaining his own mechashift weapons before a Grimm had forced him into retirement.
Now he got to pass that knowledge on.
Sarah and Cinder had their weapons, Sfenxiphos and Midnight, both full mechashift. Rosso had his weapons built, but was still designing and perfecting what he planned to use for the rest of his career.
The Albain brothers were currently designing twinned weapons, to match their sibling relationship. Something combining daggers with Dust-wands. Raizel was working on hers, which appeared to include a firearm and blade option. Leeta already had her weapon from Kuchinashi, and was focusing on upgrades.
The second year team, SMBR, had built their weapons at Breakwater the prior year, and spent the bulk of the class ensuring proper maintenance or making tweaks under Mort's watchful eye.
. . .
6th Period was Field Studies. And to their surprise, they had two instructors today. Kanana again, joined by Salt Boudda.
"We'll be doing a series of field trips over the next several weeks," Instructor Kanana told them. "These will start with visits to the nearby highland plains and wetlands around campus, progressing to coastal surveys or aquatic exploration a bit further off, and eventually, a trip to the Menagerie interior itself."
"How does that sound?" Instructor Boudda added.
"Whoo!" Rosso yelled, "Waterworks!" and Salt Boudda grinned.
Instructor Kanana glanced at her partner before continuing. "Glad to hear at least one of you is excited, because we'll be choosing which teams go where over the course of the week, and preparing for the field, including reviewing potential threats, native plants that are dangerous or edible, native animals that can be hunted for food, and environmental hazards." She gestured at the desks. "You will find on your desk a series of field scenarios. Please review each one during class, and over the course of the evening, as we will be assigning teams tomorrow and I'm sure you'll have questions."
. . .
Dinner was… remarkably quiet. It was as if something had shifted with the team. Something not quite definable. It was after dinner, back at the dorms when things went badly again. Sarah had insisted they needed to talk, as a Team, which meant that Vernal and Cinder both had to be there.
"We should discuss which mission we want to do," Sarah started with, eyeballing her teammates. Rosso was leaned against the door. Vernal was… kinda looking sour on her bunk. Cinder was hovering close to Sarah, starting to get that hunted look as she stole glances at Vernal.
"Don't care, as long as it's not in the water. Not interested in getting swamp ass," Vernal groused.
Rosso flinched. Rosso liked… no Rosso loved the water. Sarah had long-since figured that one out.
So, to Rosso's pleased shock, Sarah backed him up. "Vernal, we're going to discuss, but we might not get a say, so we have to plan on any of the field scenarios. That includes getting our asses wet."
If anything that seemed to piss Vernal off more. "Fuck that."
"That's enough, Vernal."
The Mistralian glared at her, then sulled up.
"Which one you want to hit first?" Sarah continued.
"Let's check out the water one," Cinder offered. The fact was, Vernal had already said she didn't like it and… Cinder was wanting to 'get some back' on Vernal by now. If Vernal didn't like it, then Cinder was gonna dig the knife in a little.
"Fucking shit," Vernal spat. "You're just doing that to piss me off."
The fact that it was true… "Whatever," Cinder mumbled, glaring at the floor.
But Vernal wasn't having it. Now she had a target for whatever pissy mood she was already in. "Don't whatever me, bitchface."
Cinder's glare intensified, and she managed to turn that glare on Vernal herself. "Screw you."
"Dammit, Cinder-" Sarah started.
"You wish you could screw me. Probably better than that whiny-ass city girl you-"
Oh shit.
"FUCK YOU!" Cinder yelled, hands balling into fists at her sides.
And Vernal's blue eyes lit up with joy. "Oooohhooohhoohoho it's on! You! Me! Quad!"
"No." Sarah's voice cut through the tableau, flat and unyielding. For a moment, she had Cinder's attention and Vernal was quiet.
Vernal was standing now, glaring between the two of them. "Chickenshit. Fine, two on one if you think Cinder can't take it."
"She said no," Rosso said from behind her.
Vernal blinked, but didn't even bother turning around. Instead she scowled. "What do you say, Tinder Cinder? Are you much of a pussy to fight your own fights? Too scared and weak to take me on?"
Cinder hesitated.
The truth was, she was weaker than Vernal. She couldn't take her in a one-on-one fight.
Unless she used Scorching Caress.
But…
"I fucking said no," Sarah replied. "Nobody's 'sparring' tonight."
"That's right," Rosso added. "And I'll go to the Director if anybody tries."
Vernal's eyes widened, but she didn't look mad, she looked manic, she turned to regard their fourth, who had never, up to now, gotten in the middle of her fun. "Oh yeah?"
"That's right," Sarah agreed, dragging Vernal's attention back. "Whatever the hell game you've been playing, we're done with it. We're a Team. If you want to spar, we'll do a spar with a teacher present. But this? This BS is over."
She spared a glance at Cinder, to see her friend standing there, blinking and looking confused. Why were they…
Vernal though, was… acting really weird. She was vibrating. And Sarah watched in fascination as the Mistralian stalked up and got in Sarah's face. "And you? You're gonna tell me what to do?"
Sarah felt an arrogant smile creep across her face. For the first time since she'd been shoved into this position, she felt like she knew what she was doing. "Yep. Because you freaking voted me Team Leader. You stuck me with this stupid job, and I'm gonna do it."
Vernal's mouth turned down for a second, then shifted to a shit-eating grin. "Yeah, well let's see how well you do wearing your damn teeth."
And with that, Vernal pulled back her fist.
And froze, eyes shifting from arrogance to panic.
Without a sound, Vernal Branwen fell onto the carpet of their dorm, bonelessly.
Behind her, Rosso Aukei quickly hid the small dart, which he'd borrowed from his girlfriend, behind his back.
Sarah gasped. "Oh no! Vernal are you okay? You having some kind of attack?"
Vernal found that she couldn't talk, she could only lay there on the ground, glaring at Sarah and Cinder.
This is fucking bullshit! I'll fucking kill you! She screamed.
In her head, cause she couldn't talk.
"So… uh, do you want us to call the campus nurse? Blink once for yes!"
FUCK YOU I'LL GUT YOU AND FEED YOU YOUR OWN SHIT! I'LL MAKE YOU WISH YOU NEVER FUCKED WITH ME! MOTHERFUCKING-
Unfortunately, that was all in Vernal's head, cause... mouth no work.
"Guess that's a no," Sarah said airily. "Rosso, help me get her into her bunk. Cinder," she turned hard eyes onto her bestie, "go to the bathroom or something, you look constipated. Then we can all talk, as soon as Vernal's feeling a little better."
Nina's venom would wear off in about an hour, which would give the other three time to prepare for how pissed off Vernal was. But now she was pissed off at Sarah and Rosso, and that was good. That they could handle.
It's a start.
. . .
END OF ACTUAL CHAPTER - OMAKE BELOW CHAPTER NOTES
[A/N] Thanks to AtomicR4y and Rookie80 for sneaking in Chapter 95 reviews! Yep lots of butterfly effects as AU continues to diverge. You're going to see future chapters where the stress that Menagerie is under is really driven home, and forces them to make some aggressive moves (and introduces all of the licensed Huntsmen in Menagerie). And yes, Sienna/Adam in this AU are going to have their own story arc without being Ghira's antagonists (though possibly pain in the ass). Red Claw will have a lot more missions interspersed, and may end up being a side-story once this one gets fleshed out and is closer to completion.
This chapter starts to delve into Team SCRV's issues, mostly around Cinder and Vernal. And boy do Cinder and Vernal have issues, and not all of them are about each other (though that doesn't help). You'll find out in a few more chapters exactly what Vernal's problem is...
And we do introduce some more OCs, cause I needed Breakwater Academy to have some teams. So here you go! An asterisk denotes a native Menagerien, the others have indications where they are from. All are Faunus except for Cinder at the moment.
FIRST YEARS:
Team 1 Scarab SCRV (Sarah Tourmaline, Cinder Scoria, Rosso Aukei*, Vernal Branwen)
Team 2 Fractal FRCL (Fennec Albain*, Raizel Faina*, Corsac Albain*, Leeta Lazare from Mistral)
SECOND YEARS:
Team 3 Sambar SMBR (Saber Rodentia*, Mata Keleko*, Bay Greenleaf from Atlas, Rolf Leonine from Mistral)
THIRD YEARS (Aquatics Core):
Team 4 Fathom (Fiona Fleck from Vale, Roderick "Hot Rod" Elema from Vale, "Doc" Otto Awks*, Marco Malacos*)
FOURTH YEARS
Team 5 Bowfin (Brook Gage from Vale, Wrona Ulf from Vacuo, Fleet Lua*, Nalani Nagata*)
A few names should jump out. Canon characters include of course Cinder and Vernal on Team SCRV, the Albain Brothers on Team FRCL, Saber Rodentia (a Menagerie Guard in canon) and Mata Keleko (a random canon character).
For OCs, you'll notice the last name Greenleaf from Atlas. She's a passing Faunus cousin of one of the Happy Huntresses. You'll also notice the reappearance of "Hot Rod" Roderick and our Rhino Faunus Brook Gage.
"Doc" Otto Awks (yes the author has a weird sense of humor) is the Octopus Faunus from the Shallow Sea Pirate chapter, as is Marco Malacos, nicknamed Manny, who is the Mantis Shrimp Faunus with "One Punch" Semblance. Credit goes to Rookie80 for putting the ideas of their traits in my head.
Nalani Nagata is Director Nagata's niece, rounding out the 4th years.
Wrona Ulf is inspired by a character from a Larry Niven fantasy novel I read eons ago.
We also will have a handful of teachers from Oscuro in Vacuo, Pharos in Vale City, Kotai in Kuchinashi, and Atlas Combat School appearing, though MOST of them will remain at the Combat School level, so won't really appear in our focused narrative, other than the Rose-Xiao Long family.
NEXT CHAPTER will be where Team SCRV has all their internal conflict come to a rather dramatic head... during a field mission. Be ready.
And now an Omake - In which the Author makes up an excuse to write 500 more words. This chapter exists because... I was like 500 words shy of a HALF MILLION WORDS and just... I... I couldn't help it.
Enjoy and next week we return to our regularly scheduled chapters.
Please don't take anything written below seriously!
OMAKE - SALEM DISCOVERS TRUE EVIL
Bullhead Docks - Evernight Castle – The Grimmlands – Remnant
Doctor Arthur Aurelias Annulus Watts, PhD-DJS-DOM-DDS-BFA-MSMF, paced back and forth at Evernight's bullhead docks. He was flustered. And furious. And flummoxed. And other words that started with the letter "f".
And what made it worse was that the bestial behemoth of boorish behavior, Mister 'thinks muscles are cool' Hazel Rainart was tinkering with the Bullhead again, so he couldn't go anywhere. He really wanted to go do some stuff.
Because he was tired of loitering around Evernight, waiting for Her Royal Highness Queen Salem to bother to hold court. It had been weeks since she'd shown up in the throne room, and it was starting to become bothersome.
He paused his pacing at that thought, and glared at the lower half of Hazel's body, sticking out from beneath the Bullhead chassis. A chassis that was held up by a single, solitary lift jack, powered by gravity dust.
And the button was righhtttt… there….
He shook himself. No. No. Not yet. He needs to fix the damn Bullhead first.
"Hazel, have you noticed that the Queen is spending... an inordinate amount of time in her private chambers these days?" Watts… sorry, Doctor Watts, PhD-DJS-DOM-DDS-BFA-MSMF, hazarded.
There was a long pause from under the Bullhead. From the way his lower body twitched, Hazel wasn't really happy to talk about the subject. "Maybe…"
Watts (Sorry Doctor Watts) glared through the wall in the general direction of Salem's opulent suite of personal chambers. "What…. do you suppose she... does... in there alone? Hour after hour... day after day?"
Another long and excruciating pause. "There are things I don't want to imagine, Watts."
"Doctor Watts, you insufferable oaf. I earned all fifty-three of my Doctoral, Masters, and Bachelor degrees. And my professional certifications. And my 100% authentic Junior Explorer Badge. Never forget that, Hazel. I earned my position in the world."
From beneath the Bullhead came a muffled. "Whatever. Watts."
. . .
The sound of several tons of Bullhead suddenly kissing the immovable and rather impermeable surface of the Bullhead Dock was satisfying, but only for a second.
A Most Opulent and Dank Bedroom Suite, Lots of Purple - Evernight Castle – The Grimmlands – Remnant
Queen Salem, or at least one aspect of Salem, sat in her comfortable chair before a desk that predated the four Kingdoms. It was a desk that had seen aeons of nefarious planning, ill-conceived evils, and enough petty vindictiveness to put a high-school clique to shame.
What it had never before seen, however, was the state Salem was currently in as she stared that the highly customized and secure scroll in her hands.
"What do you mean, I must pay additional funds for more of these 'gems'?!" She glared at the screen, fingers flexing. It would take but a moment, the barest hint of her dread power, to reduce the Scroll to scrap.
But that would mean… she'd have to deal with Watts.
Gods the man was insufferable.
But this game was, likewise, infuriating.
And highly addictive, apparently.
"This is unconscionable. Intolerable! Not another lien! You promised me 'hours of enjoyment, free-to-play'. And yet you toy with my desires, play upon my weaknesses!" With a growl, she dropped the Scroll, ever so gently, in its highly cushioned and lovingly crafted case lined with the soft tresses of all the silver-eyed Huntresses she'd captured and ceremoniously shaved bald.
She'd broken more than one that way. It was amazing how vain those argent-eyed tarts were…
She promptly summoned a cadres of Seers. "You will send word to an Ursa... no, a Beringel... no... a Wyvern in northern Mistral. They are to stand by until I have identified the developer of this 'Candle Crash' game, upon which you will have it locate and eviscerate them…" a feral smile of pleasure crossed her lips, "along with their entire corporate structure..."
Their duty known, the Seers turned and gently floated toward the doorway. It would take them several months to reach Mistral, but Seers were nothing if not patient.
"Wait!"
Salem paused, having considered the very real possibility that the game's servers might be also housed on premises.
"Perhaps... something less dramatic... I will seek counsel regarding an appropriate response... bide a moment."
Team SKIVVIES Dorm Room - Breakwater Academy - Menagerie - Remnant
Somewhere in Menagerie, Cinder Scoria, a perfectly ordinary and well-adjusted teenaged girl who never, in fact, murdered her stepsisters, stepmother, mentor, and gods-knew how many other souls, answered her Scroll, and then quietly slipped out of her dorm room and into a supply closet cause… well… it was her Grimmmother calling.
"Yo Grams, sup?" she asked, scroll held to her ear. They didn't do camera-enabled, because Cinder didn't want to have to kill any of her classmates and incinerate the remains. She wasn't that kind of girl.
Murmuring from the scroll.
"Oh? Yeah no, blowing up a corporate headquarters it not really a-"
Murmuring.
"Well, yeah I know some of the games can be-"
More murmuring, slightly irate sounding.
"Wait, back up… which game was it?"
Satanic screeching.
"Oh, that one?! Yeah, that's TakeFive Games. Total lien sink." Cinder considered her next words. "Fry the whole city block. I'll send you the Board of Directors home addresses, too."