Ch 17: To The Depths Of One's Own Soul
A familiar ceiling blinked into view as her eyes slowly opened. Dark black hair sprawled out around her head as she reached and rubbed her face. She felt stirring next to her and glanced over. Lux was still asleep but he was close. So comfortably close with an arm draped over her holding her close. She couldn't help but smile, purring deeply as her hand reached to run through his silver hair gently. He stirred more and yawned, pale eyes fluttering open slowly to stare into her amber orbs, after a blink or two they were the icy yellow used to use his sense of touch as his hand moved along her side. His sweet smile grew as he moved to nuzzle her face, "Thank god you're alright. You scared me."
She hummed, nuzzling back, "I just ran out of energy. I'm fine."
He huffed with a pout, making her stare at his concern, a light blush crossing her cheeks at his folded ears and tucking tail, "You were bruised and a giant ghost cat was carrying you. How was I supposed to know you were fine?"
She took a moment to consider what he was saying before she remembered everything, rolling towards him in his embrace and tucking into his chest with a wince. Bruised was right she didn't have anything healed yet since she passed out. She considered pushing her aura but it could wait for now. She never knew when she would need it around here now that she had unlocked her semblance, "That… was my semblance."
She could feel him sliding her in closer, purring more deeply at the feel of his warmth, "It looked like your beast."
She hummed again. Damn she could easily fall back asleep wrapped in him. The world outside this room could burn for all she cared so long as he was here too it was all she could need. Considering all this mess felt like the world was up in flames she would say that wasn't far off from true really. After a while though, she had to tell him. He had to know what his guardian had done to her and her family. If anything, to make him aware something bigger was clearly going on and to figure it out with him, "They sent my siblings to fight me… I'm pretty sure it was on purpose Lux."
He was stiff for a moment, long enough that she closed her eyes tightly and her hands grasped hold of him, scared he might disappear. Finally, he relaxed, stroking through her hair and past her tucked ears, causing her to instantly relax and purr again. She couldn't help the affect her mate had so deeply on her. When had she ever in her life really when you think about it? "I…. fear you might be right. We got back pretty quickly from our mission with the medicines and River seemed very pleased with something. I overheard her talking to Tunnel about your sister… but I couldn't fully make out everything, sorry. She gets hard to understand from a distance when she is also ranting about being ignored by Lyra. Seems something is going on and she isn't allowed to know what."
That fact was interesting indeed. In Azure's short time here, she had learned River was privy to almost everything the snake did. Almost everything. She had already realized while talking to River once that she didn't seem to know anything about the man in black. That alone made her so annoyed with Azure that day she went super rough on her in the training session to the point Lux stepped in before River beat her bloody after she won that evening. She was devoutly loyal to her leader that was for sure to the point she hated feeling inadequate to her. Azure could use this.
She absolutely had to find out what was going on. Why the leader wanted to put her versus her siblings. She knew they knew more about them than River let on. she had known for a bit now actually but was concerned how to approach basically telling Lux the only mother he ever knew was dangerous and plotting something nefarious. She didn't want to hurt him like that, especially not when she was sure that woman was actually genuine in her care for him. But if Lux was becoming aware on his own, that made things easier.
Azure may have accepted she couldn't go back to the other side in all this because of her love and connection to him, but she was no villain. She still firmly valued her core ideals that made her want to be a Huntress to begin with. She wanted to make wrong things in the world right. Very much like her mom did before her and her siblings were born actually, though she'd never admit that part. It was part of what made the depths of the innocent people clinging to this organization touch her as much as it had. But she was not willing to kill, maim, torture or otherwise cause any major wrongs in order to do so. And that is what made helping this organization so difficult for her.
For now, Azure needed to know more before she could get too involved. For the sake of Amethyst at the very least. She also needed more information before she attempted the delicate line of trying to get Lux to do this with her. She was snapped from her thoughts as the boy tilted her chin up to him, smiling so warmly, his tail swishing behind him as he leaned in close, "Why don't I help you relax?"
She smirked, purring loudly as she pulled his face in close, kissing him deeply. Her hands grasped at his shoulders, pushing him over onto his back without moving her face from his. As she pulled away, she slid over his lap, his face flushing with the way her hands roamed down across his bound chest, clearly shivering in response to her purrs, as she leaned to his ear and gently nipped. She tugged lightly on it causing him to sigh in pleasure as her nails softly scratched down with her trail until she grasped his waistband, already feeling his body coming to life in response to her touch beneath herself, the purr dripping into her whisper in his ear, "mm… I hope you weren't planning to get up anytime soon."
—-
Days had gone by and slowly as night would take the cavern city within Ouroboros, the large right hand to the snake would spend her evenings lurking alleyways and dark corners. Anyone out was fair game. She purposely kept her eyes out for faunus that fit the feel of alphas, trying for the best odds with the structure given from Hemlock. Each night, she would run several trips to and from his lab until dawn, taking stragglers who had gotten too used to the cavern's safeties, knocking them out and bringing them to the crazed bird of science.
Slowly, his cells were filling with people in abundance to the point they were shoved into them like livestock. All in various stages of his process, with his main subject, Mauve, at his every whim to assist in overpowering them until they were compliant. He had received large vials of the potent mamba venom from Lyra and was able to reproduce it perfectly enough for it to still work in mass quantities for his work, no longer needing to get with Lyra for samples after only a day or two. In only a few days of Rena constantly snagging subjects, plus the previous lot when he grabbed Mauve and cleaned out the block, he had enough to make a small army of obedient zombies.
She was grabbing between ten and twenty people a night easily with her skill and strength, making quick work of getting them to and from without much struggle. The cavern had started to talk about it but with no one to say much of anything about it and Lyra reassuring them that sometimes people simply leave, the town didn't get too up in arms or concerned. They were all quite transient upon arrival and they trusted the leader far more than they should have.
Already, Hemlock had made so many like Mauve, easily able to do as he pleased further with them once they were under his thumb enough, enjoying old curiosities without concern of them struggling or causing problems for him in their pain while still keeping them well enough to be useful to the serpent.
While there weren't many people becoming on high alert over the missing, there were still talks under hushed whispers from the more suspicious folk, the words traveling during short outings into town. While Azure and Lux were purposely being kept too busy to head down, Lyra knowing Lux would easily notice and dive into fixing it head first, the hushed words found their way to Sky and Blush one evening. They had been at a place they made a frequent stop with open ears for tea and coffee when Blush overheard some worried faunus with odd scratched out mate marks talking about people going missing from their home.
He nudged Sky subtly under the small cafe table and scratched his jaw just so to use his eyes to point towards the discussion he heard. At first, they weren't sure if the faunus meant the people who had been going missing or something new but as they listened longer, pretending to be absorbed in their drinks and pastries, it became very clear this was something new. The whispers indicate the cavern town after they listened long enough. This was a great breakthrough but now where to put it together with everything else? When their leads finished their drinks and left, Sky sighed, rubbing his face.
It had been incredibly frustrating to not be able to track down this man in black but knowing what they knew from Azure's intel, he was probably the source of these missing people as well. It was mystifying Sky how this man had not been seen in town anywhere. How was he making large sums of people just disappear and no one ever saw him? Sky and blush alike were stumped, having spent a lot of time trying to brainstorm on it to no avail. They spent the day talking about it again when people weren't around, going to seedy dark places to people watch for any sort of hints, anything until finally after a few more days and the end of the week came around and they got their first break.
In the middle of a rather dark den on the edge of town extremely close to the organization's front runner building, some cloaked figures were discussing something rather odd. While the details made no sense, talking about things like crowded hallways and how useless they felt lately to their "beloved raven lord" now that he had so many mindless hands, their agitation and their odd attire were what really caused the pair to notice and watch them. What made Sky think they were a lead to the man in black was the fact they were clad in such suspicious black cloaking and masks tipped up a bit to allow their mouths to access the drinks they were tossing back as well as the way there were talking about the ever increasing amount of people in a way that didn't sound very good for the people in question.
When the leads stumbled from the pub, Sky and Blush made to follow, lurking through the dark with their perfect night vision to be able to keep up without being noticed. They followed for almost an hour until they noticed the two opened cellar doors and dropped in, glancing around to make sure no one saw them. The conversations between the cloaked figures just before they got there told the men this was their big break as they listened to the drunk bickering, watching those doors close from a rooftop down the alleyway.
"juz be sure no one sees. The raven lord will punish us if someone finds teh labb… We aren' supposed to snek off."
"Shuddup… I would never… I don't want to be fed to the snakek or her faunus recruits…"
Sky glanced at Blush and he huffed air from his flared nostrils lightly in the cold air once they were alone. The two didn't need to discuss it. They Sky nodded and they made their way towards Dakota's shop.
—-
After days of Mao being gone and Jangri pulling a ton of her plans and resources, Bao was getting restless in the room. No one had heard from Mao. He was insistent they contact Azure but only Jangri knew the number of that new scroll and she was not really sure that was the best call yet. In her short attempts to reach Azure lately without blowing Azure's cover, she had not gotten any responses yet. Sitting at her computer in a conversation with a chat box, not looking up, she tried again calmly to get the high strung alpha to relax some, "I told you. Azure hasn't responded to any inquiries. I do not know if she even still has the scroll. We can't just start asking about Mao. It would put both of your sisters at risk. We have to wait to hear back from her first to be sure she is the one who has the device."
Autumn was sitting at the window, watching the two. This had become a common fight between the two for a day or so now and she could tell both of them were losing their patience with each other. The first few times, Autumn had tried to smooth it over but after Bao yelled at her and it made Jangri act unusually aggressive towards him, she thought it best to stay out of it. While Autumn had no way to feel the aggressive energy rolling off Bao like steam from a sauna, she could tell he was angry and impatient and agitated, all things Bao normally hid very well if he felt it at all. She could also tell Jangri was getting tense and annoyed more and more often, which she had come to learn was also not very usual behavior. Jangri usually had her head on straight and a good temperment, even with fussy alphas.
All Autumn could assume was that the two were working on each other's nerves and patience was wearing very, very thin. She nibbled a fake claw as Bao grit his teeth, his hissing seething anger causing Jangri to stiffen visibly as he punched through the small table by the bed, "I don't fucking care what you think we should do you half-bred beastless hare! My sister could be in serious trouble! Fucking call her now!"
Autumn had no idea what would go down from here as she watched every fiber of Jangri grow ridgid. The usually well tempered jackrabbit was frowning so intensely it was like it stretched her face into directions it never had been before. Her brows grew tight as she got to her feet to face him, a deep foreign growling in the air. At first, Autumn thought it was Bao, but when she looked over to him, he seemed to be gritting his teeth but tense as if he was unsure of what was happening himself. That's when Autumn realized it was coming from the rabbit. It was so surprising she didn't notice her mouth hanging open in shock nor did she notice the rabbit activate that semblance of hers. In a matter of seconds, Jangri had shot herself forward in time, crashing into Bao like a rocket and sending him flying into the corner hard, a trace of vibrant glow left in her wake, "Shut your damn mouth!"
The man lay there, coughing like crazy as his body shook trying to breathe again, air slammed out of his lungs from the impact of the sudden force of sped up time racking through every inch of him like a powerful punch forcing him to the wall. He was stunned. He had no idea she would actually challenge an alpha's pure flex of power like that. In his confusion, his confidence waned, Jangri approaching with that intense inner growl, watching him jerk to cower, "You fucking alphas and your shitty attitudes. Always trying to force me to listen to your bullshit! I'm the one in charge here pussycat not you! It's my mission, you are here to follow my orders, and no amount of your piss poor threats are going to change my mind!"
He hissed and snarled at her trying to gain some control back but that only seemed to anger her more. Hands reached out, ripping him to his feet by the shirt and slamming him into the wall, making him squirm and gasp, "Call me beastless one more time this week… I fucking dare you."
Her eyes were two burning orbs of intense brown scolding into him, his own struggling to maintain contact before finally darting away and coming back. He squirmed and scratched at her fingers, still resisting her as much as he could before a cold sensation washed the both of them, the sound of Autumn's voice filling the air like a hazy distant shout, "That's enough!"
A glyph had grasped both of them, yanking Jangri away while pinning Bao in place for good measure, the rabbit falling back into her chair with a loud grunt. The younger girl was holding them both in place, waiting for them to simmer down. It had taken her a moment to intervene, still completely surprised by Jangri's display of aggression. She didn't know a ton about the way the beast energy worked but having been given the small lesson before from Dakota and Jangri about all the inner beast crap, and finding out Jangri was something called a true neutral without an energy source to use with other faunus, Autumn guessed this aggression was entirely the source of Jangri's irritation at being bullied by her cousin. Autumn also knew being separated from Mao was really taking its toll on him. She'd known them her whole life and they were never apart like this. Still, it was no excuse to be so reckless.
"You both need to calm down. Bao, stop treating her like this. She's actually really got a lot of this under control. Everything from cracking the weak points, to gathering teams to bring in to trying to figure out how to reach Azure, who is also your sister remember? I know being away from Mao must be really hard for you but this is not the solution ok?" Autumn said sternly, staring daggers at her older cousin.
He was still seething for a bit before he grunted, looking away, "Just put me down already."
She watched him a second longer before releasing him. The irritated feline quickly straightened himself out before storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him causing Autumn to flinch. As amazing as she was at combat, conflict was still not something she had ever liked much and often was sensitive to. Maybe it was the way her parents had always had some unpleasant tension when she was a child or how they argued when they thought her young ears couldn't hear that had followed into her soft nature or maybe she was just too kind. Whatever the reason, interpersonal issues were something she always felt extremely uncomfortable around.
Once alone, she turned to Jangri who was still trying to calm back down, that growl now a low rumble in her. This was so out of character for the rabbit faunus. Just like when she got aggressive over Bao being rude to Autumn when this started before. She stepped closer, pulling a chair over closer to face Jangri, her glyph still holding the rabbit still. Staring into those brown restless eyes, Autumn sighed. It took a moment but soon Jangri relaxed, hanging her head, "I'm… sorry."
The icy blue eyes looked over at the defeated rabbit, "It's fine… Bao probably needed a wake up call anyw…."
"No… I'm not sorry about him. I'm sorry I put you in that position… it was unfair to you…" Jangri corrected her.
Autumn didn't really understand or know what to say. Her eyes darted to and fro trying to understand, "Jangri… What's going on with you? I mean I know he's been…difficult but… you have never seemed like someone to let any of all that alpha mess bother you. But lately… you got all angry with him when I tried to get him to calm down a few days ago and now this… I don't understand…"
Jangri stayed quietly staring at the floor for a long time. Autumn had not even bothered to remove the glyph holding her to the chair, having sort of forgotten about it really in her focus on the rabbit. As she waited, Jangri's rumbling slowly seemed to change in tone to something that sounded familiar though Autumn was struggling to place it at the moment. Those tall ears flopped forward for a moment before tucking back along her hair, the hair pin still worn daily that Autumn had gifted her. Some hint of something was in Jangri's voice as she spoke that made Autumn turn red, a click of the tongue in the rabbit as her lips tried hard against the awkward grin, "I thought it'd be obvious to you. Sooner then it was to me anyway."
The crimson in her cheeks blazed. Suddenly, that tone in Jangri's rumble clicked in her mind. It was the same as when Autumn kissed her on Christmas. Jangri was rumbling because of Autumn now and it was warm and welcoming just like before, a sign the rabbit was happy and pleased and… "Jangri…?"
She fidgeted with those fake claws in her nervous fingers, watching the rabbit stumbling for confidence. The rabbit peeked up at her, Autumn seeing the red cross Jangri's face as well as those beautiful eyes watched Autumn before she lost confidence again and glanced back at the floor. The twitch in her long ears and the way they kept tucking was all Autumn needed to know what the rabbit wanted to say, that rumbling was becoming so loud Autumn could swear it was deafening to her straining ears. When the rabbit's ears twitched at her name off soft curious lips, Autumn nearly swooned, bitting a claw, "S… say it?"
It was so quiet as it left the rabbit's lips that Autumn wasn't sure it was real, frozen there in that moment unsure, "I… I've never said anything like this before… I don't know how… Where do I even start?"
It took her saying Autumn's name a few times, looking up nervously, ears tucked back timidly. Autumn could hear the rumbling dying down inside Jangri and she nearly whimpered sadly. When she held Autumn's attention again, Autumn bit her lip, "J…just say it you big dummy… please?"
Not looking away, Jangri took a shaky deep breath and said with the only confidence she could find, "I…" she remembered Autumn's words about that kiss and she realized how much easier those were, staring into those longing pale blue eyes that meant more to her than she had realized until now, "I feel it too."
It was a weird statement and it took Autumn a moment to realize what she was saying but when she did, the girl seemed to beam with watery relieved eyes, moving towards Jangri so quickly the rabbit didn't know what to do. The feeling of Autumn's fingers grasping into her jacket as those delicate lips touched her own sparked the rumbling to return in full force, so loud it was easily making her thundering pulse in her ears impossible to hear. The girl was pressing in so close in such a sweet delicate kiss, absorbed in the wonderful way it sounded to hear that faunus's beast practically purring at her that neither noticed Dakota enter the room.
The man stopped at the door with a tea tray in hand, staring at the two for a long enough moment to feel if he didn't clear his throat it would be too invasive to stand there any longer. The sound snapped both back to the world around them and Autumn pulled away quickly, flushed a deeper ruby color now as Jangri turned a bright red as well, looking away embarrassed. He chuckled and came in, setting down the tea on the table. He looked over the two for a moment as Autumn stood here nervously twisting her hands in themselves and Jangri sat still, taking a longer look at the rabbit with a weird snicker before he headed for the door, "Well… I won't interrupt…"
Dakota muttered to himself as he left for his shop below, "About damn time. Way to go lil Rose. Knew you'd be ok if you didn't give up like I did."
When the door closed, they both shared an exhale of relief. It was quiet for a bit as Autumn was moving to the tea to busy herself before Jangri's voice breaking the silence startled the embarrassed girl, "Um… Little flower?"
She stammered as she answered, trying to pour the tea to avoid eye contact, "Y-yes?"
"Could you maybe… release me now?" Jangri asked with a hint of a warmness to her voice as if she was being a bit playful.
Autumn was confused, glancing over and realizing the glyph still had the rabbit pinned with her arms stuck to her body and the chair. Instantly she fumbled with the tea to set it down, raising a hand to release her semblance, "Oh gosh I am soooo sorry!"
—-
Days. Being tormented for days has a way of taking its toll on you. If not for Mao there, Amethyst would have become like her brother at the start. It wasn't much easier for Mao either having to constantly watch Amethyst suffer and be brought to near death each time. Her mind was frazzled and frenzied constantly at the fear that Lyra might actually not give the antidote one of these days. The snake seemed to get a massive thrill out of putting the alphas through their torture.
Mao's wrists were utterly destroyed from her constant fight to try to free herself for her mate, always failing. Blood stained down her forearms fresh and dried from the abuse she put them through with all her trained might. But her body wasn't stronger than steel. There was nothing more she could do but have to swallow down her helplessness. It was driving her inner beast to madness and her sanity was shot from being made to watch Amethyst suffer day in and day out.
Lyra would do this two to three times a day. It often happened when the meager sustenance she dared call a meal so they wouldn't starve to death was brought. Usually a slice of bread and half glass of water or something. Never enough for them to get the leg up on her by reviving their semblances but enough that she could decide how they would meet their end rather than their stomachs. Though Lyra had no clue what happened when she was away. To avoid risk of exposure, these rooms had no surveillance of any kind.
Mao was slumped to her knees gripping her head, eyes tightly closed and trembling as she bit so hard into her lower lip it was bleeding down her face. She couldn't listen to that serpent laughing at their pain any longer as Amethyst was recovering with the antidote on the floor, motionless. She was so stuck in her head trying to ignore it all she couldn't hear anything, forcing it all out to try to grip as much of her dwindling sanity as she could. Lyra smirked watching her, Rena reached with a boot and shoved the blonde to her side, "Now Rena don't poke it. That's just sad. We're better than that."
The gorilla nodded with a huff and took to the door, waiting to open it for the viper as the woman approached, stopping by Mao who was curling to keep herself shielded from the mental assaults. The snake crouched down, glancing for a moment over to Amethyst as she gasped for air now that her lungs were working again before turning back to the trembling blonde with tear stained face, her own smile twisted into something darker, eyes filled with a disgust she could never get rid of, "You know. I underestimated how satisfying it would be to hurt a blonde Xiao Long finally. You might not be your sister, hell you are so much weaker really, but damn does it feel so good to finally get to make one of you suffer. Hurts doesn't it? Watching everything you love and want dwindle away and there';s nothing you can do about it. If I can't destroy her, I'll easily settle for you. Who knows, maybe big sis will come save you and I can be truly satisfied."
Mao didn't listen and none of it made any sense to her anyway, Lyra laughing darkly as she left with Rena for other matters. She had another kitten to bother after all. When she was gone and Amethyst recovered enough to speak, the siamese cat was calling to Mao, voice hoarse and raspy from all the torment, "Mao…. Maow Meow look at me please?"
When red eyes finally opened, a pained whimper in her throat, Amethyst did her best to smile softly, trembling herself as she slowly sat up, "There you are. Hang in there ok? For me? I can't keep seeing you like this…"
Mao sniffled and rubbed her running nose as she sat up slowly, trying to relax her tense stress, "I… I can't watch this anymore Amm… I'm going crazy watching you almost die over and over I…"
The other feline closed her eyes to center herself and nodded weakly, "I know. I know. But we are so close, Mao… just a bit longer and I can do this. I can get you out. And then you can get me home…"
It felt like a fever dream to even consider after all this. It had only been a few days but still it felt like eternity in this looped torture. Mao stared down at the tray in her reach, already knowing what needed to be done. It was hard to ignore her own hunger pains but she reigned in her mind and gently chucked the tray across to Amethyst who caught it in her shaking grasp. With both her own and Mao's shares, she was building her body back up enough to start reliving her aura. It wasn't as potent as real meals and real sleep but between being so exhausted from all the anguish her body was being subjected to in that venom and the extra food in her starved body, it was working. A few more days and she would at least be able to summon enough to get Mao free.
Right now, freeing Mao was the only goal but if she couldn't help keep Mao in the right head space enough to continue to conserve her aura, it would all fall apart. But what do you say to your lover to keep them afloat while they are forced to watch you die over and over again? She didn't want to numb Mao to everything but she also didn't want her to break either. She was truly at a loss. It didn't help that her own mind was suffering from the damages from the venom, making it hard to think or concentrate on complex tasks.
"Mao… I know this is hard. I had to watch Mauve… I had to watch Mauve come back from this torment everytime knowing all I had to do to end it was to tell the damn devil about the mission, about Jangri and who she was working for. I had to pick between my own brother and what was right until they dragged him off to… well…" Amethyst paused, gripping weakly at her chest over her aching heart, "in any event, he's gone now. But I didn't break. It was the hardest moment… to realize what this line of work can take from us. The pain it can cause and the grief it leaves behind just to save the day. I know it's so very hard to watch me hurt… but I need you to be strong because if you break… I… I can't do this anymore if you break. You are the strongest person I know. If you can't do it, how on earth can I hope to?"
The blonde watched her and rubbed her face. Amethyst always found the right thing to say when someone needed it most. She had seen her with her sister Azure last year in Beacon when the girl was angry about not having a semblance and self imploding. She had seen it with their team when Mauve was depressed about his not so secret unrequited love of Bao he couldn't bring himself to act on. She had even seen it when Autumn got scared she wasn't enough to be a leader. Amethyst was calm when people needed it. She was a hand to lift you off your feet and a stern voice if you were too hard on yourself. How could the siamese not see she was the true strength behind BAMM? The true strength that helped keep Mao's head clear and level enough to charge forward with an unrelenting force?
Softly, Mao smiled and sat herself back into the wall, giving her wrists a break. Her voice made Amethyst smile and her eyes water as that slight cocky tone the smaller feline adored laced the most gentle words to ever leave Mao's lips, "Don't you know by now that without you I'd be a complete mess with no center?"
She let herself absorb that light chuckle and smile and they two were refocused again, always the better half of each other they had needed in their lives, "Eat up Amm. We'll get out of here soon. I promise."
—-
Dakota glanced up as two figures entered his shop. It had been a long time since he had seen either of these two come by. With a grin he greeted them, "Well well boys. Been a while. Here to see the rabbit I assume?"
The smaller of the two nodded and Dakota chuckled, "Well I'm sure by now it's fine to go up there. Though if she's still being tied down by that lil Rose, I would come back and wait a while."
The two shared a look at each other in confusion. Of course they knew of her ward but they weren't really sure what Dakota was on about. Jangri didn't do people and relations. Dakota could see their confusion and just laughed, "Oh you two don't know do you? Well, far be it from me to spoil it for her. Go on then, I'm sure she won't want to wait for whatever you two have for her if you came out in person."
The two headed up the stairs. Inside the room, Autumn and Jangri were settled with tea, Autumn busy asking about the stuff on her screen and finally getting Jangri to tell her more about everything. It didn't help the poor rabbit that Autumn forced her way into sitting in Jangri's lap to do so. While it had the rabbit insanely flustered, trying to reach around Autumn as the girl's back leaned into her chest to show her logs and maps, Autumn was oblivious to Jangri's plight, fully absorbed in the details.
Jangri could only do her best as she answered questions. Even as flustered as she was, this was still so much less stressful than pretending she felt nothing, the weight off her chest over it making her feel so much more comfortable. Though she was sure if Bao was still here Autumn would never have dared. Still, Jangri didn't hate it. A part of her couldn't stop its pleasant rumbling and Autumn only seemed to nuzzle her back into it, making Jangri blush more, noticing the way it was seeming to ease every tense muscle in the girl.
She had never thought such a thing worked on humans too. It sort of fascinated her really while also making her feel really good inside about herself. It was all innocent and sweet of course. Neither tried anything nor made any indication of any lewd thoughts. That alone was comfortable for the rabbit and the girl, both nowhere near willing or ready to make such a jump even if other people did and that was fine for them, these two were not about it. Even if that were something Autumn wanted, Jangri was never going to be willing while she was still getting to know her, especially not while the girl was still an academy student. She wasn't going to bend all her standards after all.
When the knob turned, Autumn was startled by Jangri pushing her out of her lap, just barely getting to her feet in time for the door to open and the two men to stand there watching them. Both Jangri and Autumn were a deep crimson by the disturbance though it took Autumn way longer to realize who they were then the attentive rabbit. Jangri was to her feet quickly, approaching the men. The smaller one raised a brow at the scene, smart enough to have a guess of everything especially with how Autumn had yelped before they opened it and with the weird words from the dog downstairs. Still, if he hadn't seen it for himself he wouldn't have believed it from his old academy partner and roommate in their sad lonely apartment back in Vacuo. The larger man either didn't notice or refused to acknowledge it.
"Sky. Blush," Jangri cleared her throat, taming her rosy cheeks, "What on earth are you two doing here? Are you trying to blow your cover?"
"As if you can judge me while being suspicious with some girl," Sky teased, causing Jangri to stiffen, "besides, this is extremely important information rabbit. Too sensitive for chats or coms. If you're done playing house we can get to business."
Autumn was very much paying attention now, seeing Jangri's ears snap into place as if she was threatened by the joke Sky had offhandedly tacked onto his important statement. Sky Dodger and Ebony Blush were the two freelance operatives working in the city for Jangri as a favor to be the eyes and ears on the ground ever since her face was marked as trouble to Ouroboros. Autumn had only met them once with Azure far back in the beginning of all this mess months ago now but it felt like an eternity with how she had been cooped up inside this mess. The two faunus had been people Jangri knew.
When she had asked about their names before recently, Jangri had explained Sky was her partner in Shade Academy, in team JADE led by the rabbit herself. Blush, as he went only by his last name refusing to acknowledge the name he was given of his upbringing, was the owl faunus's lover. They had been together since before Jangri knew about them even though the rabbit told Autumn about when they returned as second years and Sky was carrying some ritual tattoo that tied them together. That had to be at least seven or eight years ago now. She didn't see any rings so maybe they either weren't married or had different customs but that was a long time for sure.
Autumn, the helpless romantic she was, thought it was the cutest thing she'd heard in a while though she snapped herself back to the present in enough time to catch what the owl was saying as Blush closed the door behind them, "We found the man in black."
—-
As the serpent made her way with Rena out the halls she thought back on it all that got her to this moment. Everything to this day that Lyra had strived for all came from one small moment in time, when a dragon took everything she wanted away from her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. When a couple of alphas ruined her life in her opinion. Lyra had not become a Huntress. While she was allowed to graduate, she had been kicked from the exam due to her behavior in the dorms before graduation. Her broken arm took a while to heal because she was so mentally unstable she had no connection to her aura.
From there her family turned their backs on her as a disgrace, kicked from her home and everything she knew. The people around her, mostly older faunus, saw her as a retch for all her revealed unsavory behavior of being some alpha's toy no matter if she was willing or not. In fact, the fact she was completely ok with doing so if only to satisfy her desire to have Scarlet in some way only made it worse on her. Left to figure out how to make a living doing anything else, she seethed deeper into her darkness over those alphas and the things in her life she blamed them for. If not for Jin, she was convinced she could have been the one to convince Scarlet to keep her around. She was convinced she would have her license and be in the only workforce she had ever learned how to do, fighting Grimm.
From streets doing her best to make ends meet while constantly trying to challenge old world faunus bullshit, to establishing her money she did gather through any means she could, legal or otherwise, she found Lux. What a small frail blind thing who had never really known his own family struggling to survive. Something in her angry heart latched onto that little wolf and she softened enough to let there be room for one in herself to love again. He was oddly quick to depend on her and see her as family for what the snake was used to. Snake faunus don't get emotional, they don't rear their young with hugs and kisses, and they don't get all sweet and cuddly. It was what made Lyra such an odd child in her family to begin with. She had always just wanted the strange closeness she saw around herself with other faunus and humans but that was weird for a snake to desire and even weirder for anyone to want from something seen as innately vial as snakes.
Finally, there was someone who actually depended on her, wanted those warm hugs and affections. He wasn't that much younger then her but she still took him in as a son anyway. And he took to being her child easily. As if they had been destined to be in each other's lives. She would be lying if she said she didn't take him in at first because of the Xiao Long girl and how deeply it had grated at her still bubbling hatred of the ruin of her life. She also was very much so able to tell they had created a soul bond, having grown up with soul bound parents herself. What started as an idea to work towards with patience, the snake lying in wait to strike, also grew into something soulful.
It took her a bit to understand his gender identity but after being with Scarlet she would be dumb to think anything was so black and white as only one or the other. As she worked towards this new goal, knowing eventually it would bring the young bobcat to them, she also found she could help him grow too. He didn't remember his real name or where he had come from but he was clearly skittish from what must have been repressed trauma from his early years. Nothing she couldn't help him overcome fairly easily but it only made her more and more angry with how faunus treated one another, how they had treated herself. She named him Luxuree, an ode to the life she hoped to give him in some fashion as well as how she felt about having him in hers. A sweet luxury she had been raised to believe from the world around her a snake didn't deserve or need.
Now, as her plans came to their peak, all her hard work and waiting, she found herself worried what he might think of her if he knew her true colors. If he knew she was no less vial then the world believed in snakes, constantly used as a symbol for darkness and evil. Would he hate her? Fight her? She doubted he'd attack her and she knew she wouldn't truly hurt him if the time came but his little kitten was fair game. How dare her son bond with one of those cats from a family that haunted the shadows of her life!? She knew it wasn't his fault of course but that didn't make her insane mind any kinder about it.
Time had done wonders to twist her mentality, make her believe all the weird thoughts she felt. The hierarchy of alphas and subs didn't make it any better. Seeing faunus treated similarly to herself just because of who they loved while knowing she lost everything to a couple alphas only spurred her rage further. When Lux showed interest in wanting to help too, well that was all it took to design the front for her plan. In no time at all it had flourished far beyond her wildest dreams. If you had asked her when she was scraping by in slummed alleys that she would be the head of one of the biggest undergrounds since the White Fang one day she would have thought you were trying to bait her for something nefarious.
She stared down at the odd scar on her arm from where the bone had ripped skin and needed surgeries to heal right from that fateful day, running her other fingers across it lightly as Rena silently watched her while they walked. What was once a painful reminder of her crazed mind was now a trophy about to see its true rewards come full circle. she was so close to the sweet revenge she could taste it and she was just crazy enough to risk everything including her "son" to get what she wanted, "Rena dear… tell River… Azure needs some more…rigorous training."
Rena nodded with a smirk and left the snake to her thoughts. Lyra stared at the corridor they had walked to, her "throne" sitting amidst a table of empty chairs for hands like River that kept her entirely informed on everything, moving to sit at its head in her chair as the room's motion lights lit as she passed each one. the top down stark lighting casting twisted shadows across her face from her hood and her dark expression. She nestled into the seat, leaning her face into her hand, staring across the empty room. Soon, her heads would be showing up as they planned the coming wave that this world wasn't ready for, and she was reminding herself again of all the things she had been through that led her here, that dark grin spreading across her lips with her fangs drawn.
—-
With nightfall outside and Dakota closing the shop up, he assumed the men would be sticking around for the night. The two had not come down for hours. After flipping the sign and returning to do a round of feeding animals and taking care of numerous trips with puppies to the yard behind the shop, he groaned and rubbed his face. It always took an hour or two to get through with the nightly routine. Walks for the puppies, litter cleaning for the rabbits and kittens and other small critters.
While he often had little traffic in his store, he still actually did fairly well. Well enough to have to be in rotations for more animals at least once a month. If nothing else most people shopped here because they could trust the neutral ground. From thugs to the upper crust, Dakota wouldn't question where your money came from nor tell anyone you came by so long as you promised good care for the critters you took home and kept your business out of his shop.
It didn't stop him from getting tired at the end of the day however, wishing he was making enough to hire help for these tasks. Not that anyone would apply. As a faunus covered in old scars from a White Fang sect and who was clearly fine with humans, he still was an undesired man in the area. Housing Jangri and Autumn here was definitely making it worse but he wouldn't turn down a friend. And Autumn was kind and would help him from time to time so it wasn't so bad. Anyway having the two here gave him more entertainment then shows to watch what with all Jangri's dodging of Autumn's affections while he watched the two fall closer together. It was worthwhile entertainment!
He was making his way to his area behind the counter to retrieve the keys to the front door when he finally noticed it. Dakota was so used to his routine he had completely missed it. Standing inside the store front door was a man. He was about 5'11" and slender with long silver hair braided in its ponytail and a small goatee, inquisitive silver eyes scanning across the store as if trying to take it all in in the dark. His face didn't seem to bear any obvious emotion. His boots were white with black pants tucked into them, only a little loose fitting in the legs on his frame. The shirt was of white with silver trimming detail edging his clean fitted shirt that had a built in shoulder fabric draping from two golden rose details in the shirt chest to cover his upper back, also lined with the silver detail, like a small cape of sorts. There was some black in the underside of the small cape and in some paneling on the shirt under his arms to the hem, sleeves long and white gloves on his hands.
On his back was a folded staff weapon with a blade built to an end, the staff itself red with light blue petal details on it outlined in a fine silver. When those silver eyes landed on Dakota, the heeler gasped and dropped the keys in his hand, staring back at a man he had not seen in over ten years. One never forgets the eyes of their first love though as that silky soft voice spoke to the dog, so calm it made the faunus tremble, "So then… that is you isn't it? I wasn't really sure I was in the right place."
The heeler gulped and nodded, turning his face away in shame of his scars, "What are you doing here Sterling?"