"YES! That's my baby cousin!"
Ruby cheered as she watched the match come to an end on her scroll, not bothering to hide her blatant favoritism, doing a little fist pump into the air as she saw BGEL's victory play out, nearly knocking over her cup of soda in the process. Thankfully, before it could teeter over and spill onto the papers between them, Jaune reached out, steadying it as Ruby chuckled made a half-hearted attempt to scowl at her for almost ruining the paperwork she'd insisted on bringing along, but try as he might, he couldn't pretend to stay mad at the dork. Besides, it was the first time she'd actually relaxed since the incident at the dance.
It had taken him all but dragging her away from the security center just to get her to hang out on her break that she wasn't taking. He understood why, hell, he could have sworn his heart stopped when he'd heard Nick had shot someone, and Weiss had all but smothered the poor boy when he was done giving his briefing. He was shaken of course, but seemed to be handling it well. They were all shaken by the attempt on Jin and Jet's lives, but Ruby had taken it personally, and Touko had as well, just not to the same extent. She claimed she didn't blame herself, and for the sake of not pushing her into an emotional breakdown, he and Touko pretended to believe her.
Stealing a drink from the cup as payment, Jaune watched as similar replays from the more recent matches were shown in a recap format. SLVR had won their fight rather easily, and while he wanted to be similarly proud of their success, he couldn't help but worry at Alaska's cocky smirk in the replay. It reminded him of Yang's, back when she still thought she was invincible, but with a more mean-spirited attitude underpinning it, so, really, it was more like Cardin's old smirk. He just hoped she wouldn't also need to lose an arm or face watching people die on her watch to learn that she was far from it.
The only other team he recognized from this round of replays was NAYA, and that was only because of how much Lumi had ranted about the team's 'rapscallion' leader and how he had picked a fight with Jin over the most ridiculous reason imaginable. He hadn't been told exactly what this reason was, but he had been assured by Lumi's repeated insistence that it was childish beyond reason.
The replay of BEGL's fight played again, and, having missed it the first time, Jaune made sure to tune in, quickly growing confused when the cat-tailed-boy suddenly lost most of his remaining Aura by dodging.
"Hmm... Wait, how'd they win? No one even hit him?"
"Oh, his Semblance lets him reverse time," Ruby said matter-of-factly, taking her coffee back and taking a gulp to wash down the mouthful of corndog she'd shoved into her mouth. Meanwhile, Jaune did a double take at her saying one of the students had time manipulation abilities so casually. "Only by like, a few seconds though, and it takes a lot of Aura."
"Is it just me, or are these Semblances getting weirder and weirder?"
"Eh, I dunno, is it any weirder than me being able to fly?"
He supposed that was a good point, after all, there was no real known limit on what a Semblance could or couldn't be. A Semblance could be as simple as a constant string of bad luck, or something as stupidly complex and off the wall as rearranging your molecules into rose petals that could move at super speeds and fly. Then, there was himself, the walking Aura recharge center.
"I guess not," he drawled, taking a bite of his own unhealthily delicious food as he continued to watch the screen, smiling at the result as the replay showed Goose's celebration. "I'm glad they made it to the second round though, Qrow told me they were having some problems."
Ruby nodded solemnly. In spite of how proud she was of the team, BGEL was yet another example of how she needed to do better. She had no excuses, she adored Lao and her younger cousin, and she of all people should have done more to help them. At the very least, she should have stepped in and stopped the ill-prepared team from being selected for the Vytal Festival. Yet another reason she was against that stupid point system, she hated the idea that a student's potential could be narrowed down to a number regardless, but in this case it was especially egregious.
Their current victory aside, BGEL simply shouldn't have been sent to compete. That fight, as hard fought as it was, had seemingly been won in spite of their lack of teamwork, not actually fixing the issue itself. She just hoped this performance wasn't just the team only pulling together because of the festival, because if it was, it was going to make things even harder once they got home and Glynda dropped the bombshell…
"They are, I've been letting them slip."
There it was, she'd turned it back on herself once again. Admittedly, they hadn't done their best with BGEL, having let the wellbeing of teams across all year levels slip through the cracks while they were more concerned with the cult, but deep down, he knew that was just an excuse. Qrow and Touko probably would have disagreed, he could hear them now pointing out that 'they were protectors first', and 'it was more important to keep them alive by dealing with the threat of the cult and then go back to help them once they were safe', but they still should have noticed, and should have done their jobs as teachers.
Then again, it wasn't the first time an obviously underperforming student or team of students was left on their own, he was a prime example of that. Maybe there was just some unspoken sink or swim rule the faculty went by. Either way, letting his friend get caught up in her failures was helping no one.
"Hey, they have three more years to improve. Remember how I was? I could barely hold my own and I still got in!" he said, fondly reminiscing about how he'd bumbled his way through Beacon.
Ruby couldn't help but laugh as she also remembered those days, chasing a criminal mastermind and terrorists all while being more worried about homework… Honestly, the fact that they'd actually gotten away with it all was nothing short of a miracle.
In her reminiscing, she caught sight of a familiar set of cat ears atop a short black bob as she stared off into space, spotting Blake in the crowd, causing the now painfully familiar feeling of guilt to take over once more. She hadn't spoken to Blake or Yang since initially telling them what had happened at the dance, she just wasn't brave enough to.
She'd already apologized profusely to Jaune and Weiss, so much so that the former had forced her mouth shut with a Glyph to get a word in edgewise. They had forgiven her, or, well, it was more like they didn't seem to blame her at all, which felt… wrong. Nick had taken a life, two in fact. Of course, it was an inevitability in their line of work, but needing to do so at such a young age just… wasn't right.
Emerald had been… less forgiving, she'd practically spent an hour getting chewed out by someone whom she'd rather not have had to talk to in the first place, but it would have been wrong not to say anything. That call had created a very… particular feeling of frustration within her. Being cussed out by someone you hated was one thing, but knowing that they were completely right to feel that way made it so much worse. As angry as it had made her to have one of the people directly responsible for Beacon's fall go off on her about failing to keep students safe, the fact remained that she hadn't said anything untrue.
It wasn't right, she needed to set this right.
"Hey, I need to talk with Blake. I'll catch up with you later, okay?" Ruby said quickly as she stood, surprising Jaune. But, as abrupt as this was, he understood why she had to talk, nodding as he similarly got to his feet.
"Ah, yeah, go ahead. We'll talk later?"
"Definitely."
Walking over to Blake was nerve-wracking. Was she going to be mad? Did she still have her trust to look after Jin and the twins? She'd certainly tested it over the years, the first few months after Ruby had helped with the whole Cinder situation was stressful for everyone involved. Her mind raced with possibilities of how her friend would see her differently, and before she knew it, she was standing right next to her.
Blake had heard her coming and turned, smiling warmly as she initially saw the woman who'd come up to her, but quickly picked up on just how anxious she was. She kept her smile, taking a step forward and waiting for Ruby to talk.
"Blake, can we talk?"
"Of course, is everything alright?" she asked gently, having a feeling she knew what this was about.
"No. Blake, I can't even begin to express how sorry I am about Jin, I just- I wasn-" The cloaked woman started stumbling over her words, stopping briefly and recollecting her thoughts before starting once more. "I have no excuse…"
Blake didn't speak at first, pursing her lips as she thought about what to say. She briefly wondered if she'd said or did anything during that first conversation that would imply she blamed her sister-in-law for what happened, but she quickly tossed that notion aside. No, this was just Ruby trying to take everything on herself as usual.
She'd always seen a part of herself in Ruby, seeing her as a little sister long before that became an actual reality through her marriage to Yang, and right now was no different. But, instead of anything good, she saw the doubt and self-loathing she knew all too well. The same feeling that, if not for Sun and Yang literally dragging her back from Menagerie, she'd have similarly been consumed by.
"Ruby, that wasn't your fault."
"Yes it was, keeping them safe is my job, not just as their teacher, but as Jin's aunt. I should have been watching them."
"You enjoyed yourself in what you thought was a moment of safety, blaming yourself for the actions of others is a dangerous road Ruby." she said gently, pulling the woman who had become her little sister into a tight hug. "If you want to make it up to me and Yang. all you have to do is your best. That doesn't mean being perfect, because I'm not, and neither are you."
Ruby let out a shaky breath she didn't know she'd been holding in, wrapping her arms around the taller woman and burying her face into her shoulder as she murmured out a 'thank you'. It didn't fix things of course, she needed to do better… but knowing her friends and family still trusted her to be able to do so meant the world to her in this moment.
"Group hug!" the sudden but cheery voice of Sun announced just before wrapping his powerful arms around the two and lifting them up. "Hey guys, what's up?"
She squirmed in the embrace, never having been one who liked to be picked up. She used her Semblance to break free, poofing into a cloud of petals and reforming just a few feet away while Blake leaned into the hug more, laughing at Ruby's overreaction. Now free and calm, Beacon's Reaper stuck her tongue out like a petulant child at Sun, who did the same as he set Blake back down. Making his presence known with a dramatic groan, Guang quickly hid his face from the crowd around them, not wanting to be associated with the pair's shared display of immaturity.
It had been a while since she'd seen Sun, but she was happy he still looked like the same goofball she and her team had met back all those years, if a bit more wrinkly thanks to all the time he spent in the sun. The biggest difference since she'd seen him last was the wild mane of hair he'd let grow out a bit, and while it was nowhere near as long as Jin's, it was certainly more wild, and it was pretty obvious that he didn't have the chance to shave recently, his lower face coated in wisps of patchy stubble that eventually fused with his mane in a pair of sideburns. Different, but still easily recognizable as their old friend.
Next to him was her adorable nephew, and standing side by side next to him made their shared traits all the more obvious, but then again, the same was true as when he was with his grandpa, or when Jin was with Yang. Besides, what really caught her eyes were the boy's sunglasses, not the tinted prescription shades he usually wore, but instead a second, sleeker, and as she was sure he'd agree, cooler-looking set that rested over the first pair.
"Yo." The boy said casually, not acknowledging the unusual amount of accessories he wore.
"Young man, what are you wearing?" Blake asked her youngest, stifling a giggle at the ridiculous sight.
"Sunglasses."
"I see that, but why two pairs?"
Guang huffed at the question, crossing his arms in indignation at his Mom's amusement, writing her off, only to grow flustered as Sun similarly started to giggle as he realized how funny it looked. The real reason was obviously that he wanted to wear the 'cool' pair, but they didn't do as good a job protecting his eyes as the prescription set. Of course, he was never gonna say that part out loud, he was a teenager, he couldn't just admit that.
Thankfully, he had a super cool auntie to come to his aid.
"Well, when you've got a future as bright as his, you need a second pair," Ruby said, spinning around and crossing her arms as she leaned against her nephew, flashing her own cocky smile. "Isn't that right little man?"
Rather than respond, Blake pulled out her Scroll, using Guang high-fiving his aunt as a distraction to snap a quick photo of the pair. Guang froze upon hearing the snap of the camera, looking mortified as he'd had his picture taken while looking like as much of a mess as he did. Too flustered to even get out a response, he stormed away to go hang out with Yang and Liang down the road.
"Pfft- teenagers." Ruby scoffed at the dramatic display.
"So Ruby, sorry about the surprise hug," He didn't sound sorry, clearly operating on the rules of no harm no foul. "it's just been so long, how are ya'?"
"Good, I'm just surprised you're here, Blake said you were on a mission."
"I was, but it ended earlier than we expected. Then I got the call for more Huntsmen at the festival and figured, why turn down a free vacation?" Sun explained cheerily, missing the shared look between Blake and Ruby. One glance from her sister-in-law told the redhead that Sun didn't know about the incident with Jin, nor the situation in general.
"We hope so at least." Blake said, rubbing her arm as she failed to look him in the eye.
"How on Remnant have you not figured out how to relax after all this time? You live in a tropical paradise!" he chuckled, before changing the subject away from security to something she'd hopefully be more chipper about. "Has Jin fought yet? I heard the fights started already, but I'm hoping I caught it early enough."
"Yeah, he was one of the first actually, and he kicked butt!" Ruby spoke up, her voice high with pride.
"Ah, darn it, guess I'll have to catch the pay-per-view. How about team NAYA then? Do you know if they went yet?"
"NAYA? Wait, you mean Noah's team?" Blake asked, confusion evident in her voice.
"Yeah? You know them?"
Sun, still slow to pick up on cues as ever, smiled wider as he realized Blake knew who Noah was, only for said smile to falter at the confused and displeased looks on the women's faces.
"Jin mentioned Noah's been…" Blake trailed off, it was a boy Sun knew, and apparently in a positive light if that big toothy grin was anything to go by, so she took her time to make sure her words were more… gentle. "Well he's Jin, he didn't say a single bad word about him, but he mentioned a fight."
Sun's face fell upon hearing this, and the girls could tell he knew what this was about, his mood suddenly shifting as if receiving some particularly bad news.
"Fuck…" he muttered quietly, the disappointed and tired swear sounding weird with his usually cheery voice.
"Is… everything alright?" Blake asked, gently rubbing his arm as she noticed his discomfort.
"Yeah, it's just… I know what's eating at him. I'm sorry, he's not- he's a good kid, I promise." "We… lost a member of SSSN at the start of this year. Do either of you remember Scarlet David?"
Ruby thought hard, she knew that name was familiar, but she couldn't quite place her finger on where, until she remembered seeing the name attached to one of the forms for a training mission right off the coast, suddenly remembering the red headed pirate themed huntsman she'd entrusted with a team just last year. Her heart clenched at the fact that she was just now realizing he had passed away.
"He chaperoned some of our student missions in the past… He's dead?"
"More like murdered… We think it was the White Fang." Sun confirmed with a heavy heart, shocking the women he was with.
"The Fang? I thought you guys helped Weiss and her mom smooth all that out."
Blake froze as Sun and Ruby both looked to her for an explanation. However, she was just as confused, this wasn't the first time she'd heard of attacks being credited to the White Fang, or at least a group pretending to be them, but there was nothing but rumors so far. This wasn't just some rumor though, it was Sun telling her that he believed his friend, a fellow Huntsman, was murdered by the White Fang. Her mind immediately went to Jin and the twins, looking back over her shoulder as her two youngest bickered, blissfully unaware of what this would mean for them if it was true.
"So did I."
Scarlet swore at the screen as Luna took a hard fall off the icy glacier, sliding at full speed into a bank of snow after JWEL had been slated against SABL, and as much as she wanted to cheer her friends on in person in order to get a front row view of them winning, she had more important things to do, Expect, there was just one little problem. They weren't winning, they were losing, badly. Juliet was being danced around that little shit Alyx with her bullshit infinite double jump Semblance, Rosaria couldn't land a strike with her weird taser whip nail things to save her life, and Elena was getting double teamed by the woman who'd threatened to tit punch her and the Aura summon that she begrudgingly admitted was pretty badass. Suddenly, she was glad Lumi had insisted on doing some training before the next round, mostly because she was booing the screen in the training room. Had she been in the stands like she originally wanted, she'd be throwing a legendary shit fit.
Lumi was substantially less furious, merely frowning as she'd gone ignored while trying to talk with her partner on what she was sure would be crucial to their success in this tournament going forward. Her patience wearing thin, she removed Crocea Mors from the magnetized plate at her hip and raised it up, making sure it was still securely in its sheath. She gave the louse one more chance, loudly clearing her throat behind her partner, but when she got no response, she let gravity bring the covered weapon down. It didn't hit with nearly the amount of force she could have put behind the strike, but still made a satisfying thump sound as it hit the top of Scarlet's thick skull.
"OW, hey! Cheap shot!" she growled, raising her hands to rub and cover the spot that had been struck, already feeling a warm bump starting to form. She took one of her hands off her head to flip off her blond assailant, who rolled her eyes in response.
"It's your own fault for not paying attention." Lumi chided back, reattaching Crocea Mors to its rightful place at her side.
"Please, you're just salty we decided I'd go on to the next round instead of you."
"I can acquiesce to not being brought into the second round, but if you're going on instead of me, you will take this seriously."
Despite her confident rebuttal, deep down, she knew there was a hint of truth to Scarlet's words, not that she'd ever admit it.
In the end, they had chosen Scarlet and Jin to go onto the next round. Cutting Jet was the logical choice, he may have been the best shot in their team but a 2v2 had a lot less room for a shooter to get away and while he wasn't a bad close ranged fighter persay, the rest of SJJL was undeniably superior in that area. Both were facts that he pointed out himself in the discussion, so that made one cut easy. Next, they'd decided to bring in Jin for the opposite reason. When it came to getting in close and dealing out punishment, he and Scarlet were their best picks, with the prime difference between them being that he was slower but tougher, meaning if it came down to the wire, he would likely last longer. Which brought them to their final decision, double down with an all out attack strategy for the second round with Scarlet, or bring Lumi in to balance things out.
Several good points had been raised on both sides, namely that Scarlet had proven multiple times to be the better fighter, an idea she still disputed as they hadn't had serious spar in a while, but she had been outvoted on that point. In her corner, her Semblance was the obvious driving argument for her moving on instead, being leaps and bounds more versatile, and better yet, countering Elizabeth on the off chance they were slated against BGEL. But some of the downsides were also pointed out, such as the fact that her summoning took time, and if interrupted, left herself wide open, or how a decent chunk of her abilities required Dust, meaning if they faced someone who could interfere with Dust in any capacity she was substantially limited with her options, while Scarlet had no such glaring weaknesses.
In the end, it was all but unanimous, and Scarlet was sent ahead instead of her. A part of her had thought Jin would defend her, but no, apparently Scarlet was so much better that it made up for the advantages of her Semblance, and as much as she tried to hide it, that hurt, especially knowing Liz was practically a shoe-in to get selected for the next round because of it. She tried not to be bitter about the decision, even if she felt it was wrong.
But, when she caught Scarlet looking up at the screen once more, this time scowling as Elena was eliminated, she couldn't help but to feel slighted. Here she was, doing her duty as an Arc-Schnee and Huntress in training by aiding and uplifting her partner even after being snubbed and she had the gall to ignore her?
Hearing the sound of Lumi detaching her blade once more, the horned girl jumped back, grabbing Bleed for self-defense.
"Okay, okay, fine! Shit, you still haven't told me exactly what we're doing anyway."
"Semblance training. You need to bring something new into the upcoming fights, because you've already shown everything you're capable of." Lumi repeated herself dryly and much faster than the first time, lest Scarlet's small attention span drift elsewhere.
"Wait, you expect me to just come up with a new technique on the fly?"
"Not quite, we're going to bring out something you've done previously."
The Faunus tilted her head, confused as to what forgotten move she'd had before that she hadn't already used either in one of the many training matches or the first round, and what did come to mind wasn't exactly promising.
"Lumi, look, I know it was badass, but the buzzsaw trick has like one chance to work, and then I'm gonna vomit again."
Lumi opened her mouth to explain that, no, that move had been asinine and would only ever work again in that particular scenario, but rather than go down that road, she cut to the chase.
"Your Semblance is functionally hemokinesis, right?" "You typically use it to attack, but you can manipulate blood freely, like when you drained that girl's venom out of me, or put my blood back in me when you cut my back open."
"Sorta?"
"I have a theory, do you remember that creature you conjured? The one you told us about when you fought your dad?"
Scarlet nodded along reluctantly. She'd tried to keep most of that day in general out of her mind, but of course she was still curious about it, she'd practically summoned a demon to fight alongside her, but it wasn't as if she'd meant to make it, it just kinda… pulled itself off of her. Trying to recreate it hadn't gone well, she could get the basic shape down and kinda move it around, but not any of the details. When she tried to get specific with it, it just brought back those painful memories of realizing she'd been lied to her whole life.
"Well… Yeah, I mean, I still don't know what it was or how I did it though. Do you think it works like your summons?"
"No, not in the slightest," Lumi deadpanned, scowling at the horned woman for daring to insult her with such a suggestion. "Your Semblance requires active concentration, right? So, how did you fight and use it to form a separate entity at the same time?"
"I dunno, I wasn't really thinking."
"Precisely."
"I don't get it."
"Not surprising." Lumi chirped back smugly, enjoying how her leader pouted. "It's instinct. You told us that you didn't think about what it did or how it would act, but it perfectly followed your will nonetheless."
Scarlet reluctantly thought back to the fight with her dad, all she could do was see red. Of course she knew now that she didn't really want to hurt him, she just wanted the truth, she'd just been too mad at the time to think, and that wasn't too far off from how the creature acted. Sure, it had moved to make an opening for her, but other than that, it was just as blind and rabid as she was.
"You think it's just following my lead? Like it knows what I want and does it with me?"
"I- yes, that is what I said in layman's terms."
"I still don't see how it's different from your summons."
Pursuing her lips at the question, Lumi took a deep breath in before exhaling out. Apparently, she'd need to dumb it down even more.
"Think of my summons like an attack dog, they follow my command to the letter but still have the capacity to think for themselves to an extent. They aren't chained to me, nor do I constantly need to give them input to keep them in line. Yours, on the other hand, is more akin to a wild animal that just so happens to be on your side, chained to your command, and constantly needing directions to function."
Scarlet rolled her eyes, feeling like the whole thing was a semantics argument, but deciding not to set Lumi off by saying as much. Besides, there was still a lot they were missing before they could actually do anything with this idea.
"Okay, but I don't know how I even made that thing."
"That's why I'm going to help you, as the one with the most experience summoning, I should be able to lead even someone like you through the process."
Scarlet huffed at the explanation. Oh sure, it was nothing like her summons, but she was enough of an expert to talk her through it. Complete bullshit aside, she couldn't help but to feel excited, this was something new, something badass, and while the stick wasn't all the way out of her ass just yet, at least they'd moved on from constantly bitching at each other.
Suddenly, a loud buzzer from the screen that had been left on rang out, interrupting them and drawing their attention back to the freshly finished match, the screen showing a dazed-looking Luna laying on top of Juliet as they both lay outside of the ring's boundaries.
"Oh Gods damn it." Lumi spat as the results showed on screen, confirming SABL's victory with the same animation that had played for everyone else.
"JWEL lost!? I thought Juliet handled two of them on her own?"
"Guess it's different on the battlefield. Yet another reason you can't afford to get cocky, now concentrate."
Scarlet scowled at the screen, the smug face of Siyah on display made her blood boil.
Right, no more fucking around.
"Will this mission be anything like the ones we took before?" Lavender asked as she walked alongside her sister.
The pair had just returned from their latest excursion into the city, Lavender's mood still dower over how little of it had been an actual outing as opposed to scouting. The scorpion tailed girl had obviously enjoyed playing the role of a tourist for what little time they'd had to do so. While it pained her to see her sister's disappointment, the fact of the matter remained that they weren't there to waste time on rigged games or overpriced food, they had a duty to fulfill. So, while disappointing her sister was the last thing she wanted to do, she'd been far stricter than usual all the same.
Even if it just felt good to share the feel of Vacuo's sun on her skin with her.
But she had coddled Lavender enough, and with Romeo involved Azrael was being more open about his objections. Lavender needed to start pulling her weight, which meant she had to be ready when the plan was put into action. The trip around town had solved part of that, making sure she had most of the main roads and shortcuts memorized. The only issue that still remained was her proving her devotion through blood, however, therein lay a perfect opportunity with the Maiden. It wouldn't be easy, but this is what she had been training her for, and now that Lavender had her family all together, it was only right that she'd be expected to fully devote herself to the faith.
Romeo would be his own challenge, but so long as she had Lavender's loyalty, his would eventually come as well. She simply needed to put her foot down and their brother would reluctantly follow suit, his devotion to Salem would come naturally once he saw her beauty first hand regardless. His small acts of defiance now meant nothing in the grand scheme anyways, akin to a child throwing a tantrum, acknowledging it would only add more fuel to the fire.
"No, this one is more involved, it's a decree given directly by Her Grace. I'll deal with the main threats, but I expect you to fight." Henna said bluntly. "The Heretic has a pair of bounty hunters guarding her. From what I hear, they're strong in their own right, but our priority is the Maiden."
Lavender nodded along, soaking up the information. She'd faced actual combat before, but only ever on her own terms or in self defense. This was different, her sister was trusting her to fight at her side. Sure, she'd already done so with Romeo, but that was different, he trusted her without question. It was a touching sentiment that wasn't lost on her, but in the case of Henna, she'd earned this, and she wasn't going to mess it up.
Given the late hour, it was fine for them to speak openly, not only were most of the guests asleep but the hotel they picked hadn't been at random. Both from the outside and on the inside, it looked to be an average inn, but what most didn't know however was that the hotel was a popular location for escorts to take their clients due to the thick walls making discussions of payment and often exaggerated sounds of ecstasy go unnoticed, a fact Azrael had tested personally by murdering one such woman of the night within one of the many rooms.
It was a morbid way of testing the security of their location, but proved that even screams of bloody murder wouldn't breach their room, which was good, considering the burning question on the scorpion girl's mind, still having the sense to wait until they were behind closed doors.
"What's a Maiden?"
As if on cue, a swivel chair spun around, making Lavender flinch, crouching down and readying herself to pounce. Henna stayed still, unbothered by the sudden appearance as she already had a suspicion of who exactly would have the audacity to break into her room. As the lights flickered on, her suspicions were confirmed as Romeo revealed himself, leaning his chin on his palm with an inquisitive yet smug expression, causing his sister to scowl at him for sneaking into their sister's room.
She didn't know what feeling he was trying to evoke from her by pulling these stunts. Really, she was more preoccupied by the sudden appearance of the swivel chair he had seemingly brought in just for dramatic effect.
"You know, that is a very good question." he pondered loudly, rubbing his nonexistent chin hairs before snapping his fingers as if suddenly piecing it all together. "I mean, it's gotta be real bad right? My guess is wrongfully parking in a handicap space. No, wait, I don't think Vacuo has those. Oh, I know, she kicked a puppy."
The women watched as the one sided guessing game played out for a moment, Lavender left mortified at the disrespectful tone he was taking. Henna, meanwhile, quickly grew agitated. Did he know just what he was playing games with?
"I'm not a fan of theatrics Romeo, say what it is you have to say."
Rolling his eyes, he stood before reaching down into the table drawer and pulling out a picture of the Summer Maiden. A curious place to find it, considering she hadn't kept any physical information on her in her quarters. She briefly wondered how much he knew, he clearly wasn't happy, but if he knew the full story, his reaction would probably be more extreme.
"Durga Sahara, registered Huntress, and a personal friend of Shade's headmaster." he started to dryly list off information he couldn't have possibly gotten from the pictures alone. "Even ignoring the many consequences for killing someone like that, there's simply no apparent benefit to doing so. What's your game?"
"Quite the curious one, aren't you Brother? Maybe next time there's information I don't want you digging through, I'll leave it in an unlocked room." Henna chuckled in an attempt to hide how agitated she was getting, but no one in the room missed the bite she had in her voice.
"Cut the shit Henna. Her? You wanna wack her? Why?"
"As much as I'd like to tell you, the fact is, you've done nothing to gain my trust."
Romeo's verbal confrontation had quickly come to a standstill, the tan woman had either deflected or outright ignored every word from his mouth. He had to admit she was good, it wasn't often he met a manipulator so good they could even fool themselves, not that he was surprised though, wackjobs who joined cults often lacked enough common sense to think inwardly about their own actions. It was something that he had tried to subtly show Lavender over the last few months, but frustratingly, he had been pushed into shoving this fact in her face instead.
The youngest of the trio had become fully silent, looking off to the side uncomfortably. A part of her knew Romeo was right, this was a risk they'd never usually take, especially for one woman. Surely she must have done something to warrant such a response, she was sure there was a good reason… Torn and unsure of what to say, she stayed silent, but not unnoticed.
In fact, both of her siblings noticed this, and both of them were equally displeased by her silence on the matter, but it was her brother who first lost his patience.
"Are you on board with this?"
"She's an enemy, no different from those cops you killed protecting me." Lavender said defensively, trying to force a scowl, but lacking the conviction to actually stare him down.
Romeo could feel his blood boil, he couldn't believe she was even comparing him protecting her to assassinating a woman who, as far as he could tell, was a mundane if well connected Huntress.
"Why? Because the Grimm worshipers told you to?"
That was Henna's breaking point, she'd been more than patient up until this point, but maybe that was the wrong approach. Romeo, as much as he liked to pretty it up and pretend what he did was more sophisticated, was a thug when it came down to it, a criminal who ruled through fear and intimidation. Clearly, appealing to him as family wasn't going to work, so she'd have to work with him in a way he'd understand.
Marching up to him, she got right in his face, close enough for him to feel her breath on his face as she snarled.
"It's not that simple you ignorant bastard!"
There it was, now he just had to push a little deeper.
"Then by all means, fill me in. Tell me why she needs to die. Hell, if it's a good enough reason, I'll help you."
Scoffing, the eldest of the three shook her head, not even bothering to play along with his obvious lie. He wasn't going to do anything for them just yet, he was a stubborn bastard, but they all cracked eventually. Bitterly, she looked back over her shoulder at Lavender, it would be far easier to wear him down if their sister would just stand up to him properly.
"She's a heritic, a pawn of the Emerald Devil."
"That's it? That's what convinced you to put a target on your back by killing a Huntress in the middle of the fucking Vytal Festival?." Romeo let out a dry humorless laugh near the end of that sentence, the absurdity- no, the sheer stupidity of his so-called 'sister' astounding him.
Trapped between Romeo's dismissiveness and Henna's expectant look, Lavender mustered up the courage to snap back at her brother. After all, this fight was all his fault, he had gone snooping for this information, he hadn't even tried to understand and now he was openly antagonizing them? Why? Why was he here if it was only to make her feel so wrong about this?
"Henna wouldn't lie to us, she's a threat, some of the same people who killed Dad!"
"Right, a single mother has done you and me so much harm," Hearing that broke her confidence, pausing to make sure she'd heard him right. "Oh? Did Henna not fill you in on that? That you were taking away the only parent a young woman has?"
Lavender flinched, looking away from his wrathful gaze and over to her sister, hoping to find an assurance that this was just Romeo saying whatever he had to to win the argument. But she didn't say anything, not even bothering to deny the accusation, as if it didn't even matter one way or the other.
Was… was he telling the truth? Was she expected to take someone's only family away from them, to leave them alone and scared, just like she'd been left? Why? Why was he making things harder than they needed to be? Why wasn't Henna just telling them the truth so this fight would stop? Why were they both just staring at her? They didn't need to fight damn it!
"After all, I assume you'd have a good reason for following Adam's footsteps." Romeo spat. Seeing her confliction, he dug the knife just a little deeper, hoping it would snap her out of this insanity.
His words certainly got a reaction, just not the one he had wanted.
Lavender flinched back as if he'd just raised his hand at her, but the shock quickly turned to rage as her breathing grew heavy.
"I am nothing like that bastard!" Lavender screamed as she stormed forward
Before he could react, a series of three hands latched onto his wrist, twisting it as Lavender used her Semblance to force his arm into a bent position. He hardly had time to yelp before he found himself being pushed, barely getting out a 'wait' before the door was flung open and she threw him out into the hall. Trying to recover from the suddenness of Lavender's response, the gangster lost his footing, stumbling onto his side and hitting the adjacent wall. Turning back, he opened his mouth to fire back another scathing remark, only to stop when he saw the mask of anger start to break as tears welled in his sister's eyes. Over her shoulder, a small but proud smile was clear on Henna's face.
"You have connections to your father, you got to understand him, to know him without knowing him!" As she spoke, the anger broke into pain, her breathing growing shaky as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Why don't you want that for me?"
Romeo stumbled over his words, alternating between trying to blurt out an explanation, an apology, and a condemnation of the idea itself, that this wasn't about anything other than wanting her to not do something dangerous and stupid. But his mind worked faster than his mouth, and all that came out was incomprehensible nonsense. Lavender wasn't listening regardless, and with one last hurt look, she slammed the door, leaving him alone in the hallway.
Sitting against the wall, he slumped back, hitting his head against the wall. She was making a mistake, and rather than do any good, he just pushed her further into it. He'd fucked up, he was still the same failure who'd unintentionally pushed her away all those years ago. All he could do now was hope she wouldn't also have to learn that being just like your dear old dad wasn't the blessing so many made it out to be.
