A/N: Normally don't do authors' notes but this one is more of a community note, we have a DeviantArt page now, complete with the art and emblems for SJJL, BEGL, and more. Do be warned that the page will have minor spoilers, especially in the image descriptions, but if you're interested in seeing art/sneak peeks at future events of this AU you can find it at the DeviantArt page RWBYSV.
Ruby Rose made her way through the halls of Beacon, hearing the chatter around her. After two weeks of uneventful school life, things were finally going back to normal, the staff were less on edge, and the students that were whispering about the intruder had moved on to the next topical event, something about a boy cheating on his girlfriend with one of the more popular students. Things were finally going back to normal. However, this feeling of normalcy did not extend to Ruby, in fact, with each passing day her anxiety grew worse. This was completely ridiculous, how was no one but her bothered by the attack? Well, okay, that wasn't true, she knew Jaune was pulling his hair out over it in private, he just had to keep a strong face seeing as he was in charge of helping the students with their own problems. She felt bad, that couldn't be healthy, and with everything going on as of late, she hadn't been able to check in with him. She thought that she should change that, get him and Touko out so the three of them could have a night off again. Speaking of her favorite cyborg, Ruby couldn't help but notice the fingernails of her right hand had been chewed down. Maybe the residual nerves were simply because the three of them weren't as experienced as the others, Glynda had already pulled the school together after the last attack on Beacon, and compared to Cinder, the most damage Lavender had done was making Lumi hallucinate for a bit. Even so, they were doing nothing, Lavender had disappeared into a building that went up in flames not even twenty minutes after her brother went in after her. As far as Glynda was concerned, it was a dead end, and there was nothing that could be done until she popped back up or they found another lead. That didn't sit right with Ruby, especially since there was something that could be done… it just wasn't the safest option. But, she'd already seen what happened when she got complacent and waited for permission to do the right thing, Glynda and Dr. Pine might not have the means to drag Salem's little helpers out of hiding, but she did. The only issue was it wasn't something she could speak on publicly, and as Touko had reminded her, it was something she could easily lose her job over, possibly even her freedom. Normally, it wasn't even a question, she'd become a Huntress to help people and do the right thing, if it came down to her title or what she thought was right, it was an easy choice, but she couldn't get her friend's words out of her mind. Maybe it was just because the girl was regularly on her mind anyway, something that usually helped, but in this specific instance, it caused her uncertainty on the path laid before her. As such, she did what she always did when she was unsure, she went to her uncle. Opening the door, she saw the greying old man scowling at the paper down on his desk, his pen having broken and spilled its deluge of ink all over the paper. She tried not to laugh at the sight of her Uncle frowning at the spilled ink like he was gonna scare it into flowing back into the pen, but she found herself stifling a giggle regardless, catching his attention.
"S-sorry, is now a bad time?" she asked, trying to sound professional and not like she was laughing like a little kid. Qrow took it well, rolling his eyes, but knowing she didn't mean anything by it, motioning for her to come in.
"Not at all, if anything you're giving me an excuse to put off filling out all this paperwork." Said paperwork soon found itself in the trash bin next to his desk, Glynda was just gonna have to deal with his papers being signed with pencils for now, listening to her go on another rant about how it was unprofessional tomorrow was better than losing progress at random due to his Semblance. Ruby gave a sympathetic smile as she sat down.
"You should probably get to that sooner than later, you know how Glynda feels about tardiness."
"Hey, just because you technically outrank me now doesn't mean you can start giving me a lecture." The two shared a much needed laugh at that, after the less than calm start to the school year, something as simple as his niece being his boss was enough for them to relax. But soon after, their laughter died down, the mood growing more serious. He knew why Ruby was here, hell, he could practically feel the stress on her. "So, what's eating at you Ruby?"
She didn't even try to deny what he said, she was never good at keeping her emotions close to her chest anyway. She sighed and nodded her head, seeing no point in beating around the bush as she spoke softly.
"I… I'm scared, Uncle Qrow. Salem's planning something, and just like last time, we know nothing, and I'm going stir crazy just sitting here and pretending that nothing's wrong!" Nodding, Qrow leaned back, he understood the feeling all too well. He wished there was something he could say to make it better, but it was the grim reality of their situation, fighting an inherently defensive war against an opponent they couldn't kill and didn't know how to defeat.
"I get that, but until we have more information, that Lavender girl was our best bet, and she's gone underground. We just have to be ready for whenever she pops back up." There it was again, that passive approach that she hated, just 'be ready' for a threat they knew nothing about, like they had been during the Fall of Beacon? She swallowed the urge to throw the event in his face, knowing it wasn't his fault, but then again, that was why she had come to him to begin with, right?
"...What if that wasn't the case?" she asked, her voice quieter than she had intended, as if she was sharing a deep dark secret with her uncle. Qrow raised an eyebrow, already skeptical, but his niece had long since earned more of his trust than his average colleague, so he could at least hear her out.
"Meaning what , exactly?" While not the most open to the idea, he didn't shut it down either. It wasn't much, but Ruby recognized it for what it was.
"Like, what if I had a way in, or if I knew how to get information… but I had to do something risky to get it." Despite her framing it as a hypothetical, Qrow understood that what they were talking about was a very real possibility, but not caring much for the pretext, he cut right to the chase.
"This coming from anywhere?" Again, Ruby nodded, but more hesitantly this time.
"It is, I think I know where to get information, but… I could lose everything if I go through with it." Well, that was a new one, Ruby was worried about what could go wrong. Ruby Rose, the same girl who spent half of her time at Beacon risking her life to fight the White Fang and had stolen an airship from Cordovin and the Atlesian military without a second thought? Now that just didn't track.
"Really? You're afraid of risks all of the sudden?" The question made Ruby pause.
"Well… the last time I did something like this, it didn't turn out how I'd wanted it to. And… Touko wasn't very happy about it." Touko? Aaaah, that explained it. Sure, Ruby was just as ready as ever to jump into the fray come hell or high water, save for the difference that a certain Grimm Studies professor seemed to have less tolerance for her friends putting themselves at risk than before.
"Hmm, sounds to me like you're more worried about what she thinks than the consequences." He once again cut right through any pretense, and as he expected, Ruby's cheeks went flush as she stammered out an excuse.
"I-It's not like that!" Ruby protested just a bit too quickly, much to his amusement, the way those two felt towards each other was the most obvious thing in the world to everyone but each other. In any other circumstances, he'd have told her to just make her move already, hell, Jaune sealed the deal with Weiss years ago, and that boy was somehow even more of a mess than her regarding romance. But, at the same time, neither of them ever really got the chance to experience things without getting thrust into the deep end. If they wanted to stumble through it like they were still teenagers, then hey, who was he to get in their way? In fact, why not play into it?
" Suuure ." Was it immature for someone of his age to tease her like a teenager? Maybe. Did he still find it hilarious when she pouted? Absolutely. In a different situation, she might have appreciated the levity, but in this case, she needed him to take things seriously.
"This doesn't just affect me, if this blows up, the people I love could get hurt. You included." Qrow let the statement sit for a moment, nodding in acknowledgement, though he didn't really need to think about it at all.
"Go for it." Qrow said as casually as one could with the circumstances, stunning Ruby.
"Just like that?"
"Kiddo, I've known you since you popped out of Summer, and since then you've grown into one of the best damn Huntresses I've had the pleasure of knowing. If you think it's the right call, then I trust you with more than just my safety." Ruby sniffled, those words meant more to her than he knew. Honestly, she could have cried, but instead she ran up and hugged him hard enough to nearly knock him out of his seat. He groaned and mumbled something about his Semblance and his poor old bones, but she wasn't listening, hugging him even tighter.
"Thank you, Uncle Qrow." she mumbled into his shoulder. Rolling his eyes and accepting it with a smile, he returned the hug and rubbed her back.
"Just… be safe, okay." he reminded her. Even now as a Huntress in her thirties, he still remembered her as that little girl who begged him to teach her how to swing a scythe, seeing her hurt almost as much as seeing Goose hurt.
"It's not like that, he wouldn't hurt me." Ruby said, trying to be reassuring, only for him to pull back.
"He?" Qrow asked. Ruby keeping things close to her chest was new, and not something he was sure was a good sign. Sensing his apprehension, she gave him an excuse.
"A friend, an old student actually, he can tell me what I need to know." She felt bad about hiding the truth, but it wasn't a lie per say, this 'student' just wasn't on the books… nor had he ever actually been to Beacon…
The door of team SJJL's room was carelessly flung open, revealing their tired and dirty team leader, who stumbled in, followed closely by her team. As it turned out, Beacon didn't do typical detentions like sitting in a room for an hour quietly and stewing in your own thoughts while staring at the slowest clock in existence. Instead, the time spent in punishment was used to help the members of staff. Some of the days weren't too bad, like helping the lunch team clean up, even if Lumi complained harder at that than any other assignment, or maybe they'd take over making sure all the weapons used in workshop classes were stored safely so that Professor Rose could deal with more important matters. Some harder ones included helping Oobleck pull double duty as a librarian assistant, although the challenge there was mostly just keeping up with the man. Then there were the days they had to help Qrow. The job itself wasn't too bad, just helping him patrol the grounds, but of course it couldn't just be that simple, as being around him meant having to deal with the head of security's Semblance, and all the suddenly opening doors, random bird droppings, and dislodged brickwork that it brought. But, even once they were finally used to that, they weren't prepared for today. Goose had tagged along with them, it should have been nice! But no, they were in store for several incidents, each leagues worse than what they were used to being around just Qrow; Lumi had made the mistake of being within range of a falling paint can while a wall was being recolored, Jin had sat down on a perfectly stable looking park bench and went through it, resulting in a handful of very unpleasant splinters, Jet had tried to summon a book to pass the time only to shriek in a very not Jet like manner when he realized he had somehow pulled a large spider along with it, and in the middle of a busy hallway at that, and Scarlet, poor Scarlet, had just tripped during a walk through one of the courtyards, embedding her horns in a tree, and had been stuck for almost an hour. It apparently warranted an incident report, as Qrow had to end up cutting that section of the tree out with Harbinger so he could go fill out paperwork. With their hellish day finally over, Jin jumped into his bed, groaning into the pillow.
"Please, please, please tell me we're done with detention now!" Jin pleaded, looking over at his teammates with a quivering lip and misty eyes, Scarlet and Lumi seemed sympathetic at least, but unfortunately, Jet wasn't.
"...So you want me to lie?" Jet asked, similarly dropping onto his bed and ignoring the pitiful way Jin started to whine. Lumi sighed and walked over, gently stroking the Faunus's long, soft hair to try and soothe him while shooting Jet a dirty look, which was similarly ignored as the boy stretched. Absent from the little scene was Scarlet, who crossed the room in a few brisk steps, looking out the window for a moment before shutting the curtains, ignoring the looks of confusion from her teammates as she did the same thing to their door, peering out and looking up and down both sides of the hallway. Lumi looked at her confused, this wasn't like her partner. She looked over to Jet, only to see that the boy more familiar with her was just as confused.
"Something up, Scar?" The pair were met with silence as Scarlet was currently preoccupied with the seemingly empty halls. Lumi, still confused, stood from Jin's bed and cleared her throat before speaking a bit louder.
"Uh, Remnant to Sca-"
"Shhh!" The audacity of this girl, she was completely flabbergasted, being shushed like she was some nuisance! Well, she was not going to just take that lying down, so she walked right up to Scarlet with her hands on her hips, eyes primed with righteous indignation.
"Scarlet Taurus-Fall, do not shush m-" Lumi started, only to be cut off by Scarlet's finger pressing into her lips. She pulled back and sputtered, spitting out air and wiping her lips as she had no clue where the redhead's fingers had been, nor when they had last been washed. Satisfied they were alone and not being watched, Scarlet closed and locked the door before turning around to address her team with a sudden serious shift in tone.
"Alright, listen up, team meeting." This caught their attention quickly, team meetings weren't really something they did, so for Scarlet to just drop one on them out of nowhere after acting all paranoid was a tad concerning.
"About what?" Jin asked, suddenly sitting up, only to wince as he put weight on his rear, instead electing to float just above his bed with his legs crossed.
"You know, what Jaune and my Dad talked about." Scarlet reminded him, immediately straightening up as he realized that they were finally going to have this talk with their team. The other two members of SJJL just looked confused, picking up on the fact that there was some secret knowledge that had been kept from them. Lumi especially looked unhappy about this revelation, as her father was apparently part of the topic.
"Our fathers? What is she on about Jin?"
"Well uh… when we were getting picked up at Scarlet's house, we, uh, miiight have overheard them talk about a, um… a cult." The silence lingered, Jet and Lumi both giving them a look that bordered on both bafflement and disbelief.
"A cult?" she repeated incredulously, crossing her arms in a very unimpressed way. The clear display of body language somehow went right over her friend's head as he simply nodded with a smile.
"Yeah!"
"Like a little gathering of kooks in dark robes getting together and worshiping Grimm or something?" Jet added on, his voice dripping with sarcasm, leaving no room to mistake that he was similarly unimpressed with the notion.
"Yes, actually, just minus all the sarcasm." his best friend shot back, growing irritated that he was blowing her off so casually. In fairness, she absolutely would joke about something like this in any other circumstance, but after everything that had happened recently, it was a different matter altogether. They shot scowls at each other as the other two watched unimpressed. Not having the patience to watch them bicker like an old married couple, Lumi stepped in between them.
"Right, since Jet doesn't want to be the one to say it, I will. That is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard."
"It wasn't so stupid when one of them almost killed us." Scarlet countered, the mood immediately shifting and getting darker as it set in that she and Jin were completely serious.
" Her ?" Lumi's voice was almost a whisper as images of the black and purple clad Faunus trying to rip her and Scarlet apart flashed in her mind. If there was anyone actually crazy enough to be in a cult, it would be a maniac like her. "You're serious?"
"Yeah, Jaune said it himself." Jin added softly. Lumi went silent, not knowing how to take this. The idea was still ridiculous, the stuff of Saturday morning cartoons, but if it was the truth, then why hadn't her Father told her? Of course, she knew the answer was that he thought he was protecting her, but she couldn't help but think that it also meant that in his eyes, she couldn't handle herself in such matters. She said nothing further on the subject, just looking down in frustration.
"Okay, okay, we believe you, but still, why not just let the school take care of it? They clearly know more about it than us, and they're leagues more equipped to deal with it." Jet pointed out, trying to keep them from going where he hoped it wouldn't, Scarlet proposing they take on an entire organization filled with people who would probably make the girl who beat her and Lumi look like an amateur.
"Because… I think my Mom was involved with it in the past. She had these… powers. It wasn't her Semblance, it was something else, something stronger ." Silence once again filled the room as Scarlet rubbed her arm uncomfortably, the rest of the team not knowing how to respond. While their leader had been slowly coming to terms with who her parents were, it was still a shock to them.
"And we think that explains why Adam killed that girl's dad, like, what if he went after them or something after they left." Jin pointed out, trying to shift the mood back on track rather than letting it linger on the melancholic state it was in.
"Well, I guess that makes se- wait, we ?" Jet asked, raising an eyebrow at the two, Lumi similarly joining him in questioning the suspicious wording of his sentence.
"Oh uh… yeah, me and Jin have been talking about it since we got back to Beacon." This news clearly shocked the other half of their team, and guilt began to swell within the two Faunus as their friends were clearly hurt by this revelation.
"You kept this from us for two whole weeks ?" Jet asked, trying to keep the mixture of emotions swelling up in him out of his tone, and mostly succeeding, even if they could all tell it bothered him in some way. Scarlet especially felt bad, easily recognising the way he bottled up what he felt.
"We just… didn't want you guys to worry." Jin said, trying to assuage their bruised egos, but he only got Lumi stomping her foot in response.
"That's not the point, we're a team. We're supposed to work together , you guys can't just cut us out of stuff like this!" The pair flinched as Lumi went off on them, the smallest member of their team somehow managing to make them finch at her righteous anger.
"So, what's the plan?" Jet sighed, putting a pin in the matter for now. He could tell their hearts were set on this, and if he was being honest, he'd rest a little easier if they knew more about this potential threat. "You do have a plan, right?"
"Y-yeah… we just need you guys to promise not to freak out." Well, that was a reassuring answer, she had Jet totally convinced that this idea was just perfect! Only issue remaining was that if he rolled his eyes any harder, they'd probably pop out of their sockets.
"I will do no such thing." Lumi said as she crossed her arms, similarly far from impressed.
"We're gonna find them, all we need to do is steal that girl's book from the teachers." Jin said confidently, as if the plan was completely foolproof.
" What !?" Lumi shrieked, unable to believe what she had just heard. They were going to steal evidence from Beacon? Just what on Remnant had gotten into them to think that this was even remotely a good idea? Meanwhile, Jet stroked his chin, having a good idea about where this was going.
"Let me guess, you need my Semblance for that?"
"Yup! See, I knew you'd figure it out, you're smart like that!" Despite the fact that she had obviously been trying to butter him up with that comment, he didn't fight how it made him feel all warm inside, not that he would show it, given that he was still more than a little irritated with her.
"So this book, just where exactly is it?" he asked bluntly.
"Well um, we still need to figure that out." Jin admitted. That certainly complicated things, but they could at least narrow it down, it was evidence, so it was certainly still somewhere on campus at the very least.
"I guess we'll start with that, if I had to take an immediate guess, it would either be in one of the offices, or in the teacher's quarters, so we can start there." Jet started to put a plan together, it would take some time, a lot longer than it needed to if they already knew where it was at. Opportunities to sneak into the offices and living quarters of the staff would be few and far between, not to mention the risks involved of doing so.
"Wait, you're just going along with this?" Lumi asked, shocked he was actually considering going along with such a risky plan.
"If there really is a cult out there that wants our heads, then I'd rather we know about them, and if we do find something, we can report it to the professors." Lumi had no counter to that, they'd already proven to be a dangerous lot of people just from one encounter. After thinking in silence for another few seconds, she reluctantly sighed and nodded along.
"Fine, I have a key to Father's room and office for emergencies, we can start there." Her biases aside, he made a good point. These guys needed to be stopped, otherwise they probably weren't safe, and they were Huntsmen and Huntresses in training after all, they had a civic duty to put a stop to acts like this.
"And Jet and I can snoop around for other leads in our free time." Scarlet said, clapping her hands together with a proud smirk before switching to her practiced lower and more sultry voice. "Alright everyone, time to initiate Operation Unveiling!"
Silence once again filled the room as the others were various shades of unimpressed, Jin was just confused as to why she'd put on a voice in the first place, Jet was cringing at the voice itself, while Lumi just shook her head.
"We are not calling it that."
The next day, Scarlet walked into the workshop, Wilt and Bleed at her side as she scanned the room. Weapons Workshopping wasn't really a normal class per se, more like a study hall where students were expected to put the time in, if needed, to maintain their weaponry. Ruby mainly served a supervisory role, there to offer aid to students and to step in if anyone accidentally made modifications that would cause their weapon to explode in their hands. Normally, she'd just be there to screw around, her swords lacking any actual engineering meant all she really needed to do was inspect for chips in the blade, and sharpen it back to form if needed, something that was already rare thanks to her Aura, which basically made the class her school assigned free period. Unfortunately, she actually had something to do today. Today, her job was to keep an eye on Ruby while Jet and Jin checked her office for any information about the cult, the pair having a 'sick day'. Lumi was also absent, she was going to check Jaune's office, but she used the excuse that she was getting a paper for her father. They figured it was best to start with the professors that would let them off easy if they were caught in their quarters, rather than say Professor Castleton or Oobleck, who would have more than a few questions about the intrusion. This left Scarlet as the sole lookout who would text the team group chat if Ruby left the room for any reason, which meant all she had to do was just blend in and not act suspicious. Her first idea was to find Belka and Goose, which she did rather easily, mostly due to Belka's naginata taking up about 70% of the table laid out the way it was, and the rest was being taken up by Goose's comparatively simple shotgun sword. Yeah, there was no way she'd even be able to set her swords down, so she gave them a polite wave as Goose spotted her, and decided to look around for a better spot. Usually she just sat with Jin or Jet, so finding somewhere welcoming was tricky. She saw SLVR sharing a pair of tables and immediately vetoed that entire half of the room. Looking a bit further, JWEL had similar space problems and Luna was currently talking with Ruby, not exactly a smart choice if Jin decided to call her in the middle of class. Then, she spotted a pair of familiar heads adorned with long ginger hair and a pair of black buns, smaller than the rest of the room save for some frankly tiny examples. Well, it was as good a spot as any, and besides, she needed to talk with them more anyways.
Elizabeth held the cord of Exenterator up to her eye, slowly running it along her splayed fingers until she spotted a clump made up of loose strands of metal. Just as she'd thought, the cord had started to fray, well, that explained why it was getting caught on seemingly nothing, as well as why the arc of her swings felt a bit off recently. Well, at least it was an easy fix, though an annoying one nevertheless, it meant she would have to unthread the blades, then take the whole weapon apart to uncoil the cord, then carefully set and coil the replacement wire before putting the weapon back together again and threading the blades onto the new wire. It wasn't undoable by any means, just extremely tedious. But before she could get to work, she spotted a red haired figure moving closer out of the corner of her eye, looking up just in time to see Scarlet taking a seat next to her and Lao.
"Hey, what's up?" the bovine Faunus asked casually, surprising Elizabeth.
"Oh, Scarlet, are you looking for Goose or Belka?" the Atlesian asked in a slightly stilted and overly polite way. She wasn't uncomfortable around the girl per se, just unfamiliar with her. Liz's slightly forced greeting, if noticed, went ignored by Scarlet as she kept up her smile.
"Nah, I actually wanted to know if I could sit with you guys. You two seem cool, but I feel like we don't really talk much." Scarlet pointed out, making Elizabeth pause and think. She had a point, their teams were close yet they were practically strangers to one another. That had been by design at first, as she probably would have done something exceedingly stupid if she'd been left alone with the Faunus after what she'd done to Lumi, but that was in the past now, if her cousin could move on, so could she. So, she found herself nodding and giving her a small smile, moving Exenterator's components a bit to clear off some space.
"Well, I don't mind, but Exenterator takes up a lot of space, Lao do you mi-" The boy in question only looked up for a moment, his soft eyes flicking to Scarlet for a brief moment before nodding and going back down to his weapon, examining it closely despite not actually working on it yet. Elizabeth pursed her lips and sighed, his unresponsiveness was getting old, but now wasn't the time or place to bring it up. "...of course you don't, alright then, so as long as you have the room, go right ahead."
"Thanks, and don't worry, I just need enough room to sharpen the blades. No need for mecha-shift when I'm just using good old fashioned swords!" Scarlet said, unsheathing Wilt and placing it onto the table. The distinctive red blade caught Elizabeth's attention, yet she chose not to say anything, instead looking back to her own weapon. The girls quickly found themselves preoccupied with their own tasks; Scarlet sharpened her blade and occasionally looked over to the Professor, meanwhile, Elizabeth got to work replacing the cord of her weapon. However, she couldn't help but to notice her teammate hadn't moved much, just examining his weapon closely, his lips twitching downward ever slightly. Was… that him showing emotion ? Even if not, she recognized the way he was glancing up from the weapon to the tools, only to shake his head as if it was pointless.
"Something up, Lao?" she asked her partner, only getting a simple nod in response, which hey, was progress, she'd take him telling her how he felt if he wasn't going to emote like a normal person.
"Ao Bing and Ao Quang have been tampered with." Lao explained in a manner far too calm for a Huntsman in training who'd just discovered his weapon had been sabotaged. In fact, with how calm he spoke, the girls at the table almost missed what he had said, their delayed reactions coming a few moments later after they processed his words.
"What!?" Scarlet and Elizabeth asked in unison, looking at the weapon. At a glance, nothing seemed wrong with the twin chakram, but then he placed them down, allowing them to give the circular blades a closer look.
"The extending mechanism for the blades are jammed, and there are several stripped screws preventing me from getting to the blockage. I'm going to have to replace at least half of the mechanism." As he pointed out each of the tampered with parts, Elizabeth could feel her blood pressure rising.
"What the hell? Who would do something like that?" Scarlet asked, however, Elizabeth had a pretty good idea. She immediately found herself looking over at the set of tables SLVR sat at, and the team just so happened to be laughing at something as Alaska and Aethelflad glanced over at them, how convenient.
"Oh for fu- it's SLVR." Elizabeth spat out, not bothering to hide her glare directed at the all girl team. Most of them ignored her, save for Aethelflad, who winked at the pint sized girl and blew a kiss in her direction, causing her to get even angrier.
"They're screwing with you guys now? Seriously?" Scarlet couldn't believe that, wait, no, now that she thought about it, that made perfect sense, especially since Belka had stood up to them so publicly. It made her feel bad, if it wasn't for her, they likely wouldn't even have been aware of BGEL in the first place.
"Yeah, they messed with Lao's uniform the other day after and we had to try and sneak him back in one of Belka's spares." That had not been a fun day, Belka had to sneak into the boys locker room just to figure out what was up, only to find Lao holding a torn up uniform. Then she had to sneak him into the girls locker room without being spotted to see if any of their uniforms fit him, and then they had to try to get him back out and to their dorm without being spotted. Somehow, they had only been caught after Lao got Belka's spare uniform on, and they had to try and salvage it by pretending to be an all girls team. Thankfully it worked, but it was still too close of a call.
"I actually got a fair share of compliments." the boy added with a small smile, causing Scarlet to wonder if he knew he'd probably been hit on by the other guys, but she wasn't gonna be the one to tell him. Besides, her mind started to wander, forming images of the androgynous boy in the female blazer and skirt… Okay, yeah, maybe it was just her overactive imagination, but she could see him getting some attention in that, he was a pretty guy after all.
"I… okay, I can see that, but that's not the point, we need to tell someone." Scarlet said, looking over to Ruby who had moved onto a student, a second-year she believed was named Umbra or something? All she really knew was that the boy had a very obvious crush on their Grimm Studies teacher, like, the kind that got a little creepy. She was about to call out to the woman when Lao held out his palm, stopping her to the shock of both Scarlet and his partner.
"No, that won't be necessary." he replied far too calmly, seeming to just blow off the matter as something he'd fix and then move on from. Well, that wasn't going to fly with Elizabeth, she could handle it normally, but she was not gonna just sit there and let him react passively to something this serious.
"Are you kidding? Lao, they messed with your weapon! What if you hadn't checked on your gear before a mission? You could have died !" the tiny girl stage whispered at her partner, trying to impose just how serious this was, but, angering her even further, he just nodded along and stayed unmoved, trying to calm her down with the logical approach.
"We have no proof, just a hunch, we can't prove that anything happened. It's our word against theirs, and we have a publicly known reason to not like them." In response, Elizabeth smoldered in her seat, almost shaking in sheer frustration. She was genuinely starting to grow more frustrated with Lao than SLVR at this point!
"So? We can't just let them get away with this!"
"Retaliation will only lead to escalation of the situation, they'll grow bored eventually." By now, Elizabeth's face had gone almost completely red with anger. Not only was she furious on his behalf, but now she was mad at him for just letting them walk all over him like this, did he really think they'd just stop like this was some kind of bullying PSA!? Gods above, what was wrong with him!?
"Hey, maybe I can help you out, the design is Mistralian, right?" Scarlet interjected, sensing that the situation was only going to get louder, figuring her minuscule knowledge on the type of weaponry might come into play.
"You're familiar with our weaponry?" he asked, seemingly a bit skeptical, but welcoming the change in topic.
"I mean, sort of? Mostly what I've heard, but either way, I know Jet has some stuff for stripped screws in his locker." Scarlet said, patting her own swords with pride.
"Oh gods, please don't tell me you're one of those Mistraliboos." Elizabeth pleaded just a bit aggressively, glancing over at the unmistakably Mistralian swords at her side of the table. Lao just cringed at the term, memories of uninformed friends asking about wildly exaggerated claims as though they were facts, something he hoped to avoid happening again.
"What!? Absolutely not, besides, I'm half Mistralian! I can't be one." The horned girl said in defense of herself, crossing her arms as if her heritage was an ironclad alibi despite having never actually left Vale's territories once in her entire life. Elizabeth wasn't as persuaded, raising an eyebrow and humming as she stared SJJL's leader down.
"So, you don't think your katanas are better swords than say, Lumi's Crocea Mors just because the metal is folded a thousand times?" Scarlet opened her mouth but stopped, thinking for a moment before smirking.
"...I mean, they are ."
"Hah, I knew it!" Elizabeth proclaimed, only making Scarlet's smirk wider.
"Please stop talking." Lao pleaded as he cringed inwardly. It was bad enough when people who knew nothing about how their swords were actually made tried to perpetuate these stereotypes, but hearing this coming from someone who was genuinely half Mistralian was far worse.
"I guarantee that my katanas cut better than your overcomplicated sword whip!" Scarlet proclaimed, much to the chagrin of Lao, who was now stuck in the middle.
"Wilt isn't even a katana, it's a chokutō, they are very different." He pleaded with them, Scarlet especially, to not spread such false rumors about their culture's weapons. Unfortunately, he fell on deaf ears as the girls devolved deeper into the debate, leaving the poor boy to listen and watch.
Jet walked into the gym dressed down compared to what he normally wore, adorned in nothing but a form fitting dark green tank top and yellow basketball shorts. Beads of sweat were already on his brow as he'd ran to the school provided facility after receiving a text from Jin that just read: 'Meet me at the gym, be ready to put in some work :).' and, assuming it was another attempt at finding the journal after yesterday's failure, he dropped everything and ran to the building, expecting to meet Jin with a game plan. He… sort of got that, the part he wasn't expecting was seeing Juliet and Luna waiting with his teammate. Juliet waved him down, her outfit being more or less the same as usual, still sporting the same black crop top that showed off her set of abs that damn near put Jin's to shame, and a matching set of gym shorts, really, she'd just left the red jacket she wore whenever she was out of uniform in her locker. Luna was similarly dressed in workout attire, though far less eye catching, just a simple sky blue tracksuit, and Jin rounded them out with sweatbands on his wrists and forehead, along with a muscle shirt that Jet only knew was different from the usual one he wore thanks to it being black rather than his usual purple.
"Sup man?" Jin asked casually as the shorter boy approached, waving him over. Jet shot his partner a confused scowl, while the text didn't exactly say that this was about their little operation, the vague text had given him reason to think it was related, but as two of the JWEL girls were with him, that clearly wasn't the case, or at least, he hoped it wasn't. Juliet seemed casual enough, throwing a thumbs up his way which he half heartedly returned, meanwhile, Luna was just sitting there with one of her sleeves in her mouth, looking confused as she just sat there with her legs crossed.
"Juliet, Luna? What're the two of you doing here?" the new arrival asked outright, not bothering with pleasantries, causing Luna to jump with a small squeak, apparently having been lost in her own thoughts until now. Juliet then bent down and effortlessly lifted her up off the ground before setting the smaller girl on her feet, flashing a bright smile as she did.
"Right, now that everyone's here, we can get started!" Juliet announced, not at all answering his question. With the two muscle heads seemingly unwilling to explain what was happening, he looked to Luna, but the poor girl was obviously just as confused as he was, looking to her leader and raising her hand as if to ask a question.
"Uh, start what exactly?" Thankfully, it clicked in their heads that explaining why they had brought the two gunslingers to the gym on a Saturday would probably make things go smoother than just assuming they were on board and ready to go, so, clearing his throat, Jin stepped forward with a warm smile and his hands on his hips.
"Well, Juliet and I sort of noticed a problem with you two that we figured we should fix, so I suggested we should work on it together!" The cheery explanation from his friend didn't do much to lessen Jet's confusion, seeing as he had still neglected to say what exactly they were there to 'fix'. Was it that he and Luna weren't built like the statues of the old Mistralian gods like the other two present? No, that didn't make sense, otherwise, they probably would have dragged Belka from BGEL along, that girl's arms made twigs look muscular. While Jet wracked his mind to figure out what this impromptu meeting was about, Luna froze like a deer in headlights, a worried look crossing her face as she suddenly felt very self conscious under the friendly stares from Jin and Juliet.
"A problem? Did we do something wrong?" the moth Faunus asked meekly, worried she'd somehow upset her leader, her timid tone catching the other two off guard. Jet then joined in, raising an eyebrow at them, silently asking if that was the case in a way that made it very clear he would have some choice words for them if that was what they were saying.
"No, no… well okay yeah , but not how you're thinking." Jin tried to explain with a nervous smile, however, under the unamused stare of Jet and the quivering lip of Luna he wavered, looking back to the tanned woman with them for support. Juliet, thankfully, was less worried about their feelings and just stepped forward, blurting out the purpose of their meeting without any hesitation.
"You guys can't fight." Out of everything the two shooters had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. They both took offense to the statement, obviously, though Luna, through no fault of her own, looked like she was pouting more than anything else.
"What!? You've seen m-" Before she could finish, Juliet cut her off, speaking over her.
" Without Cigarette Lighter?" Luna stopped at the caveat, mumbling under her breath that she "sort of could". Jet similarly paused, so that's what this was about, not that they couldn't fight per se, but that they couldn't fight without relying on their weapons. An understandable concern, if they were ever disarmed, things could go very wrong very fast, maybe too fast for him to use Transporter to summon Hephaestus back into his grasp, and Luna lacked that option altogether. Now a little less offended, he nodded, at the very least, they needed to teach Luna how to throw a punch or get someone into an arm bar. However, they had overlooked one thing.
"Jin, I can fight just fine." Jet said matter of factly, apparently to Jin's amusement, chuckling warmly but dismissively at the statement.
"Don't worry man, I didn't tell the girls, it's just us here." Jin understood why he wouldn't want to admit as much, especially in front of Scarlet, but this was something they legitimately needed to work on.
"I'm serious." the green haired boy said, once again growing irritated with his partner at the insistence. Jin remained unconvinced, giving him a friendly and supportive smile as he believed he was helping his partner. Either way, it seemed someone was going to need to learn the hard way.
"Alright, put up your dukes then!" Before another word could be said, the blond put his fists up in front of his face, getting into a basic boxing stance, throwing a few playful jabs into Jet's general direction. He sighed, clearly seeing that there probably wasn't a point to trying to talk his way out of this, and so got into his own stance, one slightly lower to the ground. Off to the side, Juliet told her tiny teammate to take notes as the two approached each other. Jin waited for his partner to get into range and immediately threw the first punch, not too hard or too fast though, he didn't actually want to hurt him, but he would still end up feeling the blow. Or he would have, if Jet didn't evade it, ducking underneath his strike and darting around behind him, all while grabbing his wrist and taking it with him. The next thing he knows, his arm has been twisted into place and he feels Jet's other hand drive into his shoulder, sending him down onto the ground face first, hitting the mat underneath them with a heavy thud. The crimson eyed boy wasted no time and shifted Jin's arm into place, threatening to break his arm if he moved any further while remaining ready to back off if he tried anything crazy. He held that position for a few seconds when he noticed Jin not moving, just looking up from the mat, completely stunned. Figuring his point had been made, he relaxed and let go, giving the bigger boy a chance to put his thoughts into words.
"Oh." Yeah, that was about what he'd expected. Jin's face went puzzled after that, looking up at Jet and tilting his head. "Wait, if you're actually good at this kinda thing, then why have I never seen you fight like this?"
"I don't like getting close to monsters that could tear me in half." Jet said, reaching his hand down, Jin accepted and let his partner pull him up, rubbing the back of his head as he got back to his feet, ignoring the slight strain on Jet's face as he lifted him.
"Y-yeah, me neither! We're just fine with our guns!" Luna added on, though, unlike Jet, she was clearly just trying to get out of being forced to learn how to fist fight, backing down once she caught a glimpse of Juliet's disapproving stare.
"Guys, c'mon, you can't just ignore this, do you think either of you could take us if we were fighting seriously?" Neither had a counter to the statement, Luna would have been outright lying, and while Jet might have been able to make the argument that he'd put up a decent fight, he knew his skill set well enough, it was based on keeping an opponent from hitting him while he used his Semblance to pull one of his many stockpiled backup plans to him, not actually ending a fight, and it wasn't like he could really make the argument that he could get a Beowolf in an arm bar. So, deciding not to argue, the two silently agreed to the training, though Jet was still just a little insulted that it was just Luna and himself that had been pulled into this.
"Okay, but why not include Rosaria and Elena too then?"
"Roe? Oh that girl's stronger than I am, she's fine!" The casual admittance that Rosaria was stronger shocked just about everyone but Juliet herself; they'd seen what she could do, knocking students out with single blows and lifting stacked barbells with one arm. Either Rosaria was jacked, she had some kind of trick involving her Semblance, or just really strong Aura, and considering how shocked Luna was, he assumed it was one of the latter. Not noticing their utter bewilderment at her statement, Juliet carried on as though she hadn't objectively just said something strange. "Elena… well, I did ask her, but she was acting weird again, said she was busy looking into something."
"Again?" Jin asked, this being the first he'd heard of the girl acting out of the ordinary. Juliet didn't respond, instead looking away, seemingly debating with herself as to how much she should say. Before she could decide on an answer though, Luna spoke up for her.
"Ever since those warning fliers about that scorpion girl went up, she's been acting distant, not like normal. I tried talking to her, and it's like she didn't even hear me, and now we hear her saying something about 'Callows' or something under her breath all the time" Jin and Jet shared a confused look, neither of them knew what this "Callows" thing could be about, maybe it was related to the girl? Either way, it was something to discuss later, not in front of the JWEL girls. Besides, Juliet's mind had already been made up.
"Look, it's her business. If she doesn't wanna talk, I don't feel right forcing her, she's always been kinda introverted, and we got a job to do, remember? So Jin, you walk Luna through the basics real fast. I wanna see what Jet can do." There weren't any arguments past that, each pair splitting off onto a different mat. While Juliet and Jet sparred, Jin paired up with Luna, doing his best to try and not intimidate her with a big toothy grin.
"Okay Luna, let's start with the basics, show me how you throw a punch!" Hesitantly, she complied, putting her hands in front of her face. It was a good start, she at least knew to protect her head. Then, she extended her fist out quickly while keeping the inside of her fist upward, her body rigid and straight the whole time, the whole movement more like a strange hammerfist than an actual punch. Okay, they could start there.
"That's… a good start, but you need to actually follow through with it, here." Luna tilted her head, unsure of what he meant by that, and not having much of a chance to figure it out before he took her wrists and moved behind her, causing her to squeak out from the sudden contact. Noticing her discomfort, Jin stayed calm and started to gently move her hands into position. "You have your hands in the right spots while guarding, but you gotta spin your fist so the inside is facing downward as it moves, and put your weight into it too, turn at the waist and lean into the punch."
Jin led her through the movements as he explained it, and while she remained stiff for the first few times he led her through the motions, she eventually got the hang of it. Though still clearly uncertain with her movements, she practiced her strikes, switching the sides and angles of her punches. Watching with approval, Jin was pleased. Considering how she'd started off, she was definitely a fast learner, and at this rate, by the time they were done, she'd be able to knock someone out in no time!
"Yeah, like that, just put in some more power!" Turning to the side, Jin put on a little show of shadow boxing, throwing a series of powerful punches that would have staggered man and Grimm alike, ending the sequence with a straight strike at eye level accompanied by a powerful kiai. "WAH!"
Watching intently, Luna threw a few similar punches, though clearly lacking in power. Groaning, she was about to give up when she turned back to Jin, the boy still smiling at her and holding up a single finger. One punch? She could do that right? Breathing in deep, she pulled back before throwing a hard punch, almost making herself stumble as she cried.
"He-YAH!"
"There you go!" Luna beamed at the praise, Jin walking right up and holding his hand out for a high five, which she immediately joined in on, just as proud of herself as he was of her.
"Thanks Jin."
"Not a problem. Still, I'm surprised, did your parents not teach you how to fight? Like, you wanna be a Huntress, that's kinda important." As soon as she processed Jin's words, Luna's smile faded as she looked down and shook her head, fiddling with the still wet cuff of her tracksuit.
"N-no, my Dad isn't a fighter, and Mom… I wasn't around her much." Jin felt his heartache, clearly, it was a sensitive subject. He couldn't have known, but at the same time, he shouldn't have assumed either.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." he said quickly to try and move the conversation along, but to his surprise, she stopped him.
"No, it's okay, we were better off that way. Besides, Dad's great, he always made sure I didn't feel lonely or like we weren't a normal family." Her words helped put him somewhat at ease, from what she said, he sounded like a good dad, and if she wasn't uncomfortable, then neither was he. Training progressed smoothly after that, for those two at least, for Jet and Juliet on the other hand, it was mostly Jet hitting a brick wall, or a girl who felt like one at least. Juliet didn't hold back in the slightest, claiming it wouldn't help him if she babied him, which might have been true, but getting ragdolled across the mat every five seconds wasn't helping much either. On the bright side, maybe the only one, he learned very quickly which methods of evasion worked best, which was something. Sitting down, the boy rested his sore and tired body as they took their break. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the massive mountain of muscle that was his partner approaching. Jet didn't say a word as Jin sat down beside him, the pair sitting in awkward silence until Jet was unable to take it anymore.
"How's Luna?" The girl in question was showing off her new punching skills to Juliet, the proud leader of JWEL giving her a pat on the back that nearly knocked her over as a congratulations. At the very least, it was good to know she was intense with everyone, not just him.
"She's getting it, I was just telling Juliet that maybe you and Lao should work with her, you guys both know how to handle bigger people. I honestly just know how to punch people good." Jin explained with a chuckle, trailing off as he looked over to see Jet's unamused face, staring down intensely at his own shoes.
"Yeah, I'll consider it." Jin frowned at the non committal answer, it was strange coming off of him. Come to think of it, he had been acting irritable the entire training session, and he had a feeling he knew why.
"You okay man? You seem kinda pissed." The blunt question surprised Jet, but he caught himself before he could give a kneejerk reaction to it, looking away and taking a deep breath to calm himself down.
"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Denial wasn't a look that suited Jet in Jin's eyes, it was weird seeing him hide how he felt. It wasn't the first time either, and just like last time, he didn't give Jet any room to wiggle out of it.
"I mean, you threw me to the ground pretty hard." Despite masking the words with a chuckle, it got the desired effect out of Jet, looking away guiltily as he stopped to think about what he had done earlier, how he'd let his anger get the better of him. He didn't mean to throw Jin as hard as he did… it just sort of happened, his anger getting the better of him.
"Shit, sorry I really didn't mean to… it's not yo- or it's not just you." Jin nodded understandingly, not pressing his partner any further on the act itself, he'd known it was a mistake in the moment, and besides, it didn't really fix anything.
"Is this because me and Scarlet waited to tell you?" The green haired boy sighed at that, not even bothering to deny it.
"I've known her since before I could even walk, we don't keep stuff from each other, especially not big things like this." Jin thought for a moment, there was a lot to unpack there, trust, history, and clearly a lot that had been left unsaid, by both parties apparently.
"How is this any different from you not saying anything about her parents?" A moment of silence sat between them as Jet thought it over.
"I… guess it's not. Does that make me a hypocrite or something?" Jin just shrugged in response. In reality it didn't really matter, his heart had been in the right place, as was Scarlet's. Really, the only mistake they'd made was assuming the other couldn't handle it.
"It means you two care about each other, and that you really need to be more open. I have two Moms and a little sister, trust me, the last thing a girl wants is to get the work around." As the larger boy's words sunk in, Jet chuckled.
"You're right, I can't be all pissy just because she did the same thing as me." Jet said, letting go of the tension, or as much as he could in the moment. "You know, you're good at this, maybe I should come to you for relationship advice next."
"Well, it would work for that too, just walk up to her and tell her how you really feel." Jin said without missing a beat, causing Jet to stare at him blankly for a moment before his cheeks turned just a hint redder than before, his eyes darting to look at the other side of the gym once more.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Just as he thought, denial was not a good look on him.
A beam of ice Dust infused plasma slammed into the target, hitting the left shoulder of the hard light Beowolf instead of its head. Belka let out an annoyed sigh as she adjusted Morgan ever so slightly. Despite the accuracy counter reading at around 90%, it was another miss at her intended target in her eyes, she wasn't concerned with just hitting the Grimm, what she was aiming for was sure-fire kill shots. As the designated ranged fighter of her team, she needed to ensure she could take out as many targets as possible before they reached her teammates, and so far, her rate on that was about 60%, far too low for her liking. So, ignoring the temptation to place the scope back on its slide, she closed her left eye and looked down the rear sight once more, quickly lining it up with the sights at the front before firing once more, hitting the skull and causing the construct to shatter into a million rapidly dissipating shards of light. It was almost immediately replaced with a Creep a few feet to the right, and she found that she was smiling to herself as she repeated the shot, once, then twice, then three times, each shot definitively nailing the head of her new target. She was getting the hang of this, with a bit more practice, she'd be a crack shot in no time! With her confidence boosted, she hit the button for the next stage, moving targets, the hard light shape of a Beowolf now galloping towards her on all fours. Lining her sights up as fast as she could, she took a deep breath, steadied her aim, an-
"Yodelayheehoo!" The nonsensical call had been screamed into her ear, causing her to flinch and fire, completely missing her target, and nearly falling over in the process. Thankfully, she caught herself just in time, but still, her temper flared up as she saw the 'MISSED' signal flash on the screen over the shooting gallery, spinning on her heels to give the woman behind her a piece of her mind.
"What in the love o-" She stopped once she saw familiar sky blue eyes staring back at her, long matching hair, and that insufferably stupid fur cap.
"Good to see you again, Bella!" Alaska greeted, smiling at the smaller girl in front of her. After the initial surprise wore off, Belka glared back, she didn't know what she wanted, but the brute was getting a piece of her mind regardless, this childish harassment of her and her team was going to stop.
"It's Bel- ka ." she corrected, making Alaska's already wolfish grin widen. She knew her little plaything wouldn't be able to let the slight mispronunciation of her name slide, it was typical of Atlas elite types to feel so self important about the slightest thing. It was cute seeing her all flustered like that, it made her wanna do it more some other time.
"I truly don't care." she said, shutting down whatever Belka had planned on saying and reaching over, turning off the training protocol and ignoring her protests. She looked around, reminiscing as the room gave her a sense of deja vu she couldn't quite place for a moment, chewing on it for a moment before snapping her fingers as it came back to her. "Y'know, this is actually the first place I saw you."
"What?" Just what in the world did this girl want? First she ruins her training, now she wants to reminisce like they were friends? She was under no delusion that this was anything other than Alaska messing with her, but regardless, it was a thought process she didn't understand.
"I didn't 'member till now, but I was sittin' right over there fixin' up Jacinta while you got into a pissin' match with your nieces." Logic went out the window at that little comment, just who the hell did she think she was speaking about her family? Well, two could play at that game, stepping right up to the girl, Belka spat back.
"Oh, so you do have a working memory? I guess you're smarter than I tho-" Before she could finish, she was struck across the cheek by the back of Alaska's hand, she was just as strong as she looked and didn't hold anything back, almost knocking Belka over from the force until she bumped into the rail that stopped students from accidentally going into the gallery proper. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she reached up, holding her reddening cheek as it stung. Before she could even think of what to do in return, Alaska grabbed her by her shirt, lifting her up off her feet, bringing her to her eye level.
"You'd better watch that mouth of yours, it's just us this time." Belka struggled and kicked to try and get out of Alaska's grasp, the larger girl enjoying how she squirmed, not like before when she was all haughty and confident. "Aww, what's wrong, Belka? Don't tell me you're not gonna stand up to me, you were so brave when you had me outnumbered."
Belka wasn't paying any attention to her taunts, she was too panicked to think about anything other than escaping the woman's grasp. She pried unsuccessfully at the hands holding her up, much to Alaska's amusement, as her efforts yielded no results. What was she going to do with her? Alaska had already struck her once just for talking back, as her mind imagined the worst case scenario, she moved on instinct, punching Alaska across the jaw. The blunette was honestly surprised at the fact that she'd actually gone through with it, she would have been impressed had the punch actually done anything more than sting.
"Oh honey, you're gonna need to do better than that." Deciding that an example would do the girl some good, Alaska pulled her fist back and slammed it into Belka's stomach as hard as she could, knocking the wind out of the smaller girl and dropping her like a sack of potatoes, letting her fall to her hands and knees as she gasped and coughed, trying to regain her breath. Slowly, the air returned to her lungs, yet she couldn't get any relief as Alaska stayed standing over her, watching with amusement.
"Why're you doing this?" Alaska chuckled, making a show of thinking it over, making an exaggerated confused face.
"Why? Well I dunno honey, maybe it's cuz I'm bored, maybe it's because I think you're cute when you're all red in the face." Then the mask came off and she looked at Belka with so much disdain it made her freeze. "Or maybe it's because I don't appreciate some weak little brat with a silver spoon in 'er mouth talking down on me and actin' like she's better than me."
"Leave me alone!" Belka yelled, standing and trying to push her aside to get past her, only to have her wrist grabbed as she tried. Belka panicked once more as Alaska's tight grip started to bruise her delicate skin. Spinning around, Belka swung at her once more, but, no longer passive, Alaska lifted her arm and casually blocked the blow. She hummed, now that one had some force behind it.
"Hmm… better, not by much though." She struggled some more, doing what she could to break free until a hand grabbed her throat, Alaska's calloused fingers closing just enough to cut off her airflow.
"A-ack!" It was hard enough with the hand on her throat, but then she was lifted off her feet. It was seemingly effortless for the Vacuoan, only needing one arm to keep her suspended.
"Come on missy, can't handle little ole me? What're you going to do when a real monster shows up?" She emphasized her point by smacking Belka with her free hand, breaking the dam as she started to cry. "Nothin', You ain't gonna do nothin'."
She let Belka hang off the ground for a moment longer, letting it sink in until her face started to go purple, and only then did Alaska let go, allowing Belka to fall to the ground once more. Well, that was fun, though she needed a bit more to bring the fight out. It was there just… well, pathetic, but for now it would have to do, poor thing looked like she might keel over if she went any further today. So, without a word, she walked off, leaving Belka to tend to her wounded pride, bruised throat, and aching head. Slowly, she got into a sitting position and cried into her knees. What the hell was wrong with Alaska, was she just insane? What if she had seriously been hurt!? She had to tell someone, she had to get help. But from who? Elizabeth and Lumi? No, they wouldn't even care, they weren't exactly shy about the fact that they didn't like her, and SJJL would probably just get in trouble again anyways, she couldn't be responsible for that, she didn't know any other teams that would help her, which just left Lao, who didn't even stand up to himself, and Goose, as if, she'd sooner deal with it all on her own than go to the oh so great Aunt of her nieces for help. So, with no other options but to endure, she let her Aura heal the bruises on her face and neck and got to her feet, rushing out of the room as if nothing happened.
The city of Vale was never a dull place in Ruby's eyes, there was always something going on, you just needed to look for it. Some points of interest were just more obvious than others, sometimes you had to dig deep and find an underground terrorist meeting and have your cat-eared friend dress up to infiltrate it, other times you just went to a nightclub a little before midnight. The club simply called 'Juniors' wasn't new to her, she'd been familiar with it since she'd seen Yang punch the owner out of a window when she was fifteen, although she had no reason to ever actually go into the establishment until she was well into adulthood. In fact, if she recalled right, she was already in her thirties by the time she'd set foot inside for the first time, and it certainly wasn't for the alcohol. As she walked down the stairs, she did a simple survey of the room. There were at least thirty guards, the majority, if not all of them, were likely armed, not that she was concerned though, she hadn't even brought Crescent Rose with her, knowing she wasn't in any real danger. At least, she thought she wasn't. She awkwardly pushed her way through the crowd, ignoring a few lustful stares and managing to catch a few whispers of 'MILF' over the din of the speakers, but as uncomfortable as that was, it was nothing compared to the pair of bright yellow eyes she felt watching her from above. It didn't take a genius to spot Lavender looking down at her from the balcony overlooking the dancefloor, not with that tail of hers glowing under the ultraviolet lights overhead. She kept an eye on the girl, and she'd definitely noticed her, her tail had coiled up behind her as if she was ready to strike, and she was moving so that Ruby wasn't too far away from her at any given point. Yet, the professor was unbothered by the attention, instead walking right up to the bar and taking a seat on the stool. Soon after, a bartender, one she didn't recognize, came right up to her with an obviously fake smile while preparing a mixed drink for another patron.
"I'll have a Spiderweb, please." The young man paused as he heard the code phrase, looking the older woman up and down carefully, a clear look of doubt in his eyes. Ruby certainly didn't fit the look of their usual partners, but he relented and leaned in, the artificial cheerfulness in his tone now absent.
"Are you here to see Xiong or Malachite?" the man asked in a hushed tone. He was painfully new at this, actually drawing more attention than if he'd spoken his question out loud. After all, the booming music kept most conversations private, regardless of volume.
"Romeo." Ruby answered simply. Again, he hesitated, eyes darting around for an out, but with a set of silver eyes staring him down, he was forced to give her an answer immediately, fumbling over his words.
"Mr. Torchwick isn't here right n- Well, we haven't seen him in a minute, but I ca-"
"So you're telling me that's not his sister watching us from the balcony?" The Huntress cut him off, casually motioning behind her shoulder up to the girl who was still watching over her like a Beowolf stalking its prey. Quickly realizing he'd been caught in a lie, he opened his mouth to try and salvage his screw up in some way but stopped, instead glancing over to another one of the bartenders and holding out a hand.
"One moment please." Ruby watched as the man walked over, whispering into the ear of his co-worker, who also looked her way, no doubt asking if she was a problem that would need to be dealt with or not. Ignoring them, Ruby looked back over to Lavender, only to find the girl gone, as if she'd vanished into thin air. Ruby briefly wondered how the girl had been doing, she doubted Neo was involved, but still, it was a concerning possibility. The last thing she needed at the moment was an excuse for that woman to come out of retirement and try to make another one of her children into a crime lord, but then again, with how Lavender had acted, it was a small possibility, however, a girl like her was… well, vulnerable to say the least. Before she could finish her thoughts, the younger of the two bartenders came back, a sour, almost pouty look on his face as he returned. "He'll see you in his office. It's-"
"I know where it is." Ruby said, getting to her feet as she cut him off once more. She already didn't like that she had to be here in the first place, the last thing she had the patience for was an incompetent grunt of the Xiong-Malachite family. Making her way down the halls until she found herself approaching a familiar office, she opened the door to be met by a pair of men exiting from the other side. She didn't care about the taller of the two, there was only one man she was interested in seeing right now, and she found herself looking at a face that shared many features with the man whose Dust robbery she'd stopped at fifteen, though just a bit softer like his mother's, and sporting only one green eye, instead paired with another pink orb upon the other side of his face. Romeo similarly looked her up and down, stepping back around his desk and coming face to face with the woman, leaning on his cane.
"Steele, give us the room, make sure there are no interruptions." the heterochromatic prince of crime said, not even looking at the man as he addressed him. Obediently, the man went out the door they had just been intending to leave through, leaving her alone with Torchwick. The young man took a few steps closer until he was close enough to touch Ruby. Then, he reached out and pulled his old friend into a hug, which she promptly returned, squeezing him back before they broke off, the son of her first real enemy patting her shoulder with a chuckle.
"You need to stop acting like a stranger." he said, pulling the seat out for Ruby to sit down, making his way back around to his side of the desk.
"The school year has been more eventful than usual, and the only crimes on my radar are, well, yours." she explained with an awkward attempt at a joke that he politely continued to laugh at as he took his own seat, folding his hands together and resting his chin on them as he leaned forward.
"Ah, yes, Scarlet and that little mess with my sister." At the mention of her student, the friendly nature of the conversation dropped, he wasn't supposed to know about that. They'd intentionally kept names out of the report, but at the same time, since his sister was with him now, it shouldn't have been a surprise that he'd know about it. "Oh relax, that's why you're here, right?"
"Part of it." That got his attention, an eyebrow going up curiously. Despite the fondness they shared for each other, social meetups between them were practically non-existent, given that one stray photo of them together meant the end of everything she had worked for, and as for him, there'd be questions from the end of a gun barrel about why he was all nice and buddy buddy with a Huntress, and a teacher at Beacon at that. Pulling out the leather-bound journal and sliding it across the desk, Ruby questioned, "What do you know about this?"
Romeo took the book, opening it up curiously and immediately glaring at the old weathered pages and fading ink, it was very familiar to him.
"This is Tyrian's handwriting." Romeo muttered, flipping to the next page, an impressive thing to notice considering he was a child no older than six, maybe seven, when the man met his end at Adam's hands. Looking up, he saw the questioning look Ruby was giving him. Normally, he'd tell anyone prying into his personal life to fuck off before he promptly had them buried in the river, but Red had long since earned his trust in that area. "This wasn't his only journal, it's just the one that Lav took when she ran away. I know he didn't seem like it, but it seemed like he did a lot of thinking, I guess he liked to write his thoughts down."
"Where are the others?" Ruby asked, hopeful that he'd be willing to cooperate since he didn't seem pleased in the slightest about its contents.
"Ma burned them, along with every other trace of him in the manor." he said without even looking up from the pages, too engrossed in the raving lunacy written down by his deceased stepfather. Right, she supposed that made sense, from what Romeo had told her, Neo had tried her best to erase every memory of Tyrian, not even letting her daughter with him have a single memento.
"Speaking of… I have to ask, does she know?" There was no question as to who she was referring to; Neo, despite having gone mostly dormant in the last decade, was still a key figure in the crime families of Vale, very connected, and very deadly. While what she'd heard didn't paint the tiny woman as being a grade A parent, she doubted that she'd just ignore her own daughter showing back up in Vale after having been a runaway for nearly three years.
"Last time I saw her, she wasn't sober enough to remember anything I said, so she's probably unaware at the moment." he mumbled bitterly, remembering the way his own mother lazily glanced up at him and signed the name of his father instead of his own, but then again, he supposed it was appropriate, all she'd ever seen him as was an extension of his old man anyway. Ruby could see the way he soured at the thought, understanding that she needed to approach this delicately.
"Romeo, your sister is involved with very dangerous people."
"Like a cult?" Ruby's blood ran cold, did he know? Oh brothers, had Lavender told him? No, she needed to think, Romeo wasn't dumb, he'd been around Tyrian for years, he had no doubt heard the name Salem being thrown around, even if he was ignorant of the weight it carried, but for now, she just had to play along.
"That's… pretty good for a guess." Ruby said, trying not to play her hand too far, letting Romeo think a bit before answering.
"She said something when she first got back, something about a 'Goddess', Tyrian used to say something similar." Turning another page, he raised an eyebrow, laying the book down so Ruby could see it as well. It wasn't pretty, a series of wild lines sketched out and unfinished circles around a vertically opening eye. Apparently Tyrian wasn't much of an artist, but there was no mistaking it, that was Salem's symbol.
"Do you recognize that?" she asked gently. Romeo hesitated, but nodded silently, no doubt having noticed how she didn't comment on it herself, picking the book back up and glaring at it as though it had burned his favorite suit.
"A few months ago we had an incident in the industrial district, we found one of our guys gutted like a pig, and this symbol was painted on the wall in his blood." Mismatching eyes glanced up at his friend, looking right into her own. "You're telling me this is related to that? My sister is part of a fucking death cult ?"
"As far as I can tell, yes." The man ran his hands through his hair and leaned back, taking a deep breath to calm himself, Ruby giving him the time needed to calm down. It was undeniably a lot to process after getting her back, but before she could extend her sympathies, he leaned forward, his signature smirk having returned as he rested on his elbows.
"Okay then, let's cut a deal." he said, sliding the journal back across the table at a now confused looking Ruby.
"A deal? This affects both of us." the woman pointed out, hiding the book in her cloak the same way that she concealed it coming in.
"You're right, it does. Truth be told, I don't want these brainwashed psychopaths anywhere near my city, let alone getting into my sister's head more than they already have. Buuut , I'm going to need a favor."
"What's your offer?" Ruby sighed, electing to at least hear him out so long as the deal didn't involve her overlooking a bank robbery again.
"I'll put out some feelers, have my street level guys on the lookout. If and when we find a lead, that info goes straight to you, no shootouts on the streets, no finding a bunch of mooks cooked up in a burning building, we'll let you handle things your way, it'll be completely in your hands. But , in return, that little incident at Beacon goes away." Ruby pursed her lips, she had to admit, that was exactly what she was hoping to have this visit end in, but making Lavender's attack go away? That was tricky, and as bad as she felt for the girl, she was undeniably dangerous, and a proven threat to her students… but was she a bigger threat than an organized group of Salem worshippers? It was a gamble, but Romeo had been trustworthy in the past, she had to pray that he'd come through again.
"I'm going to need your assurance that she won't go after any more of my students. If you can do that, then we have a deal." she said, holding out her hand, and without hesitation he took it, shaking her hand firmly. And just like that, she had once again made a deal with a criminal. It was just as unpleasant as the first dozen times, but if it meant keeping her students, her family, and her friends safe, she'd make the same deal again in a heartbeat. Romeo accompanied her out to the back entrance, leading her out to an alleyway out of view from the main streets. Before taking off, Ruby stopped, looking back at the boy, one last thing on her mind.
"What are your plans with her?" Romeo sighed, shaking his head. In truth, he didn't have a long term plan, their special little brand of family trauma was too complicated for that, he'd just have to tackle the issues as they came in. He'd just squared away the mess at Beacon, now it just left Adam, and the cult she'd apparently joined up with.
"Right now, I'm just trying to get her head on straight. After that? I'll see how she feels about the family business." The woman had expected as much, nodding, but she couldn't help but wonder what Lavender could do with the right guidance.
"She has potential, she could do a lot of good with skills like hers." Romeo laughed, taking a drag of his cigar.
"Why, are you thinking of making her the same offer you made me?" The offer in question was simple, leave the family business behind and go to Beacon, no strings attached. When she'd first met the boy, he was young enough to still enroll, and like his sister, he was far from being in the best state of mind. The reaper had hoped that she'd be a positive influence in the boy's life, show him that he didn't need to just be like his parents, but in the end, he chose his path. Despite Romeo choosing a life of crime, Ruby could never bring herself to cut him off completely, even now as he leaned on Roman's cane and smoked the same terrible smelling cigars as Roman, she didn't see the man she fought outside that Dust shop back when she was fifteen, she saw the lost young man, probably about Lavender's age then, that she met looking for his little sister who had recently ran off. Maybe it was too late for him to change, but that didn't mean it was too late for Lavender. He didn't seem opposed to it, it was something to think about at least.
"Maybe, one thing at a time." Ruby said, giving the ginger a quick hug goodbye before petal bursting away. Once alone, the young man checked his watch, it was almost one AM, almost time for the real party on the dancefloor to begin, and he'd either find someone young and dumb to take upstairs for the night, or he'd find something else to entertain him.
"What was that ?" The familiar voice of Lavender almost made Romeo jump out of his skin as he turned to see his sister glaring at him, her arms crossed and her foot tapping against the floor impatiently.
"That was business." he said nonchalantly, walking past her and twirling his cane, only stopping once Lavender ran past him and once again stood in his way, the same scowl as before telling him that she had no plans of dropping the subject.
"With her ? She's the enemy!" she all but shouted, not caring who heard her, her outrage over her brother meeting with someone like her, let alone getting friendly with the woman… well, it was unthinkable! Yet Romeo just laughed and rustled her hair like she was still a little girl.
"Ruby? She's a family friend, if anything, you should get used to seeing her more." Lavender's anger rose to a new level. Never, not in a million years, would she ever be fine with a woman like her! Goddess, what was he thinking?!
"She shot me!" Before she could protest further, the sound of Romeo's cane striking the floor caught her off guard, causing her to flinch. Her brother was fresh out of patience, staring down at her. It wasn't even fully hostile, but the intensity of his gaze made her look away as he started to speak.
"And why was that again? Oh, I remember, because you snuck into the single most guarded building on the continent and tried to kill someone!"
"I-I was just trying to get even, for Dad." Her voice had grown quiet and unsteady, and immediately, guilt entered Romeo's heart. He stopped himself, taking a deep breath before reaching out and gently holding his sister by the shoulders, ignoring the way she flinched, and began to speak gently.
"Look, Dad is gone. I miss him too, but killing someone who was barely able to speak in full sentences when he died is only going to create a lot more problems. We got a rough deal, but it's over now, trust me, I'm fixing it." She scowled at that, of course he didn't understand, it wasn't his father who was murdered, he was just ready to just move on like nothing had happened.
"Whatever you say." she muttered angrily before pulling herself away, storming off into the club to get her mind off things. Romeo sighed, deciding to let her walk off rather than stopping her, dropping what was left of his cigar and smothering it under his shoe.
