Breathe Chapter 59: The Early Bird

With the Vytal festival only a few short months away, Vale was in the middle of preparing for the other Kingdoms arrival, getting ready to host the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of tourists that would be attending.

Unlike the Regional tournament back in Mistral, the festival wouldn’t conclude in a single day, it would last a while longer. The exact frame of time varied from festival to festival. The longest festival lasted nearly three weeks, while the shortest one was a little over 8 days.

There were also a number of factors that influenced when it started... Namely, the arrival of the Amity Colosseum which was slowly making its way towards Vale alongside a small fleet of Airships that took care of any Grimm they came across.

As always, with the number of tourists that would soon be flocking to Vale, there would also be an increase in Grimm activity.

There wasn’t any real reason to be concerned, especially since Atlas had volunteered to assist with security, but it did put a bit of a strain on the people of Vale who weren’t used to seeing that many military personnel around.

All of this, along with a small influx of tourists that were already beginning to arrive, made it seem like a good idea to avoid Vale until things settled down. Unfortunately, it seemed that wouldn’t be an option, what, with Ironwood contacting Winter in order to ask for a favor.

He had a pair of students, one Penny Polendina and Ciel Soleil, that would be arriving soon and since Winter was in the area, he wanted her to escort them to Beacon.

And so, I found myself accompanying Winter to a small cafe where we waited for the two to arrive, Pyrrha having opted to stay behind in an attempt to get ahead of her studies.

“Coal,” Winter hummed softly. “You seem a little distracted... Again. Is everything alright?”

Blinking, I looked up from my half empty coffee cup and nodded. “Yeah, sorry. I just got lost in my thoughts. What were you saying?”

Eyeing me for a few moments, Winter placed her Scroll back in her jacket before straightening her clothes. “I said that the Team that Atlas sent should be arriving soon,” She explained.

“I guess we should finish up here then,” I sighed, grabbing some Lien to pay for the drinks.

“In a minute,” Winter nodded. “There’s no rush. We rarely get to spend much time on our own and I would like to savor this moment.”

Oh. Then would she...

“Don’t misunderstand,” She continued. “I enjoy spending time with Pyrrha as well. It’s just...” She trailed off.

“I think I get what you mean,” I replied. Reaching across the table, I took her hand in mine. “Sometimes you just want a little time alone.” I wonder if that’s why Pyrrha decided to stay behind... She wanted to give Winter and I a moment to ourselves.

It was only now that Team RWBY were busy with their weapons that we had a moment to ourselves and Winter, seeing an opportunity to spend some time with me, jumped at it.

Damn, now I felt a little crappy for wanting to avoid Vale.

“Yes,” She smiled. “We might be on a bit of a schedule, but that’s alright...In fact, it might be better if we keep our dates short. That way there will be less time for anything to go wrong.”

Not having expected that, I let out a snort of laughter. The way she worded it made it sound like our dates were destined to go wrong.

Sure we had only been on one date and sure Roman Torchwick and a Grimm had interrupted it, but that hardly meant that every date would go wrong. I’d already spent half an hour together and there was no Torchwick in sight.

“I don’t think that–“

“Get back here and pay your dues!” A man yelled from outside the shop.

“No thanks, dude!” A younger male voice called back. “I think I’m good up here.”

“Bloody Faunus... Get down right now and face me like a man!”

“Hah... Wait, you’re serious?” The younger male asked. “Quick question and be honest. Has that line ever worked in the history of...Ever?”

Removing her Scroll from her jacket pocket, Winter made a quick note on it. “Forty five minutes and fifty nine seconds. Going forward, I think that our dates shouldn’t extend over forty minutes.”

Sighing, I placed a handful of Lien on the table, before getting up.

Heading outside, we were greeted by the odd but familiar sight of a blonde haired monkey Faunus standing on top of a streetlight with a single, exhausted man wearing a suit standing below.

“Excuse me,” Winter began.

“Vale PD, move along,” The man said gruffly, flashing his badge.

“Winter Schnee, fully licensed Specialist,” Winter replied, showing her credentials. “What’s the situation?”

Examining her Scroll, the man’s eyes visibly widened from behind his sunglasses. “Ah, sorry. I thought you were another civilian,” He muttered awkwardly. “Right, situation. We have a stowaway from another Kingdom... Possibly Huntsman trained.”

Outside of the fact that the stowaway he was talking about was Sun, who I knew wasn’t malicious, I kind of got where the detective was coming from. All he saw was someone that snuck into another Kingdom, highly trained and potentially dangerous.

“I see... We’ll take it from here,” Winter said, giving no room for argument.

Nodding, the man backed off, giving Winter room to work.

“What’s the matter, Chuck? Done chasing me already? Don’t give up yet, dude. You’ve still got a few good miles left in you.”

“You have one chance,” Winter stated. “Come down and surrender peacefully or there will be consequences.”

“Don’t be too rough on him,” I whispered softly. “I’m pretty sure that he’s from Haven Academy.”

“You promise... About the consequences, I mean,” Sun corrected himself.

“...Never mind,” I hummed. “Be as rough as you want.”

Smirking, Winter pointed a single finger towards Sun.

“So, you gonna do anything or, wait, what the heck is that?!”

Pulling his shirt to the side, Sun was greeted to the sight of a hand sized spider that was attached to his chest. Letting out a startled scream, he threw the thing, only for it to swing around on the web that it’d attached to his chest.

Growing to the size of a small car, the spider tugged Sun towards it, coating him in its web before hanging him from a street lamp.

“Please don’t lay your eggs in my chest,” Sun begged, staring directly into the spider's eyes.

Having her summon lower him, Winter grabbed his Scroll and began paging through it. “You were right. He’s listed as a student from Haven Academy,” She hummed.

“Damn. There goes my jurisdiction,” The detective murmured, looking distinctly uncomfortable at the sight of the giant spider. “The kid didn’t really do anything wrong, so I’ll just leave the rest to you.”

“That is acceptable,” Winter replied.

Watching as the detective briskly walked away, I turned towards Sun, more specifically, the giant spider. “You think you could... Let him down?” And dismiss that giant monstrosity went unsaid.

Examining Sun’s Scroll for a moment longer, Winter nodded and let her Grimm construct fade, dropping Sun to the ground.

“Well, that’s going to be a recurring nightmare from now on,” Sun muttered. “You don’t have anything like that, but involving water, do you?” He asked cautiously.

“I do not,” Winter replied stiffly.

“Good. If you did, Neptune would probably have a heart attack,” He laughed awkwardly. “So, what happens now?”

“You’re here for the Vytal Tournament, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, dude. You too? You look a little familiar... Don’t I know you from somewhere? Don’t tell me... You’re that new cereal mascot, right?”

I slapped a palm to my head while Winter hid her laugh behind a cough.

“Way off?” Sun asked, grinning sheepishly. “On a scale of one to ten, how close was I?”

“Such a scale would be too small to measure the accuracy of your guess,” Penny said, suddenly appearing behind us. “Although, I do believe the reason for you being so wrong is due to the off brand cereal that is using Coal’s likeness in an attempt to boost its own popularity. Coal Flakes.”

“Wait, as in Calavera?” Sun asked, “You’re that Coal?”

“Yeah,” I muttered distractedly, more focused on the cereal that was named after me.

I’m sorry, Coal what now? Was that genuinely a thing? What the hell was going on in Mistral?

“Penny... And Ciel,” Winter noted, turning around. “I apologize for being late. There was an... Issue that needed my attention.”

“There is no need for an apology, ma’am,” Ciel replied. “We arrived earlier than expected and only came to investigate the disturbance that you, no doubt, have already handled. As such, there is no need for you to collect us from the appointed location.”

O...Kay. That was a lot to take in. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that Ciel was the robot and Penny the human. It was a little ironic in a weird sort of way.

“...Thank you,” Winter said slowly. It seemed that even she was a little taken aback by Ciel’s stoic mannerisms. “Since you’re here, we can head back to Beacon.”

“Actually, do you mind if we head back to the docks?” Sun asked, grinning awkwardly. “I kind of had to ditch my bag when I was being chased and while I could always get new clothes, I was kind of given something by Haven’s Headmistress to give to Beacon’s Headmaster.

Haven had a new headmaster... Headmistress? That was new... Although, I suppose it was to be expected. It’s not like they were going to permanently leave the position open after Lionheart’s death.

From my understanding, all of the Heads of the Academies were aware of and actively against Salem. I wonder who it was that was in charge of Haven now.

Winter sighed tiredly. “Lead the way.”

“Will do,” Sun replied eagerly. “Just follow me, we’re actually not that far from the docks.”

“Okay!” Penny responded with just as much enthusiasm, drawing a grin from the Haven stowaway.

It only took a few short minutes before we arrived at the docks. Heading down towards one of the piers where a relatively large ship was docked. The area seemed mostly abandoned.

“Alright, it should be around here somewhere,” Sun muttered. “I made sure to throw it onto one of the rooftops around here.”

“That’s not a lot to go on,” Ciel commented.

It really wasn’t.

“You know, I didn’t realize that Haven had a new headmistress,” I hummed while idly looking around.

“You sure? I’m pretty sure she knows you,” Sun replied. “Miss Salonga said it was one of the reasons she took the job… That and the other guy attending Haven as well. He was actually supposed to be here instead of me, but apparently he needed a little more training. Don’t know why, dude’s a freaking tank.”

Salonga… Wait, Jasmine? She was the new headmistress of Haven? Well damn, I wasn’t expecting that. I’m not exactly sure why I would be one of the reasons why she would decide to leave Sanctum, but good for her. Headmistress was certainly a step up from Principal.

“Ah, there’s my bag,” Sun said, spotting his bag hanging from its straps on a nearby ledge. “You guys stay here, I’ll be right back.”

“Ensure that you don’t take too long,” Winter commented, summoning a small white spider. “I wouldn’t want to have to go looking for you again.”

“Yes ma’am!” Sun shivered.

“Good.”

...Breathe...

The loud clang echoed throughout the forge as Ruby brought her hammer down on a glowing piece of metal that was only just beginning to resemble the blade portion of Crescent Rose. Striking it only a handful of times, she shoved it back into the furnace to reheat it.

Yang stood to her side, grumbling to herself as she struggled with her own piece of metal. Whether it was due to how difficult it was to work with or if she was still embarrassed by what their dad did the other day was anyone’s best guess.

As for Blake... She seemed to be getting the hang of things in her own corner of the workshop.

Weiss on the other hand was completely out of her element and looked totally lost. If Ruby wasn’t busy with her own weapon, she’d offer to help out, but... Well... She was.

It sucked, but Weiss was just going to have to figure things out on her own today. Maybe when they came back to continue working tomorrow Ruby could partner up with her, but unless Yang decided to move, Weiss would have to wait.

Turning her attention back towards the forge, she smiled excitedly when she noticed that the metal was ready.

“Okay, just gotta get to the power hammer without any distractions,” She muttered to herself, removing the glowing hot metal using a pair of tongs. “Just gotta–”

“Hey there,” A girl wearing a beret and sunglasses greeted her. “Do you mind if we work alongside you guys? Bunbun over there needs to fix her weapon and old Gianduja here could use a tune up,” She gestured towards another girl with rabbit ears and her handbag.

“Maybe we should just come back later,” The rabbit girl suggested.

“Why? there’s more than enough space for all of us.”

“But we might get in the way...”

“Uh...” Ruby paused, not really expecting the sudden interruption. Remembering what she was doing, she looked down to her cooling blade and rushed back to the forge. “My baby!”

“Is that a no?”

“Come on in,” Yang called, gesturing for them to enter from her and Ruby’s shared space.

Nodding, the beret girl pulled her friend in with her. “Thanks. I’m Coco by the way and this is Velvet,” She introduced herself.

“Yang,” Yang nodded. “And that’s Ruby, Weiss and Blake.”

“Oh, we know,” Coco replied.

Pausing what she was doing, Ruby turned away from the forge and towards the pair that’d just arrived. “You... Know?” She asked cautiously.

“Coco,” Velvet whined, elbowing her in her side. “You’re making it sound creepy.”

“Haha, yeah. Sorry about that,” Coco apologized. “I just thought that they’d know that we heard about them. Pretty much everyone’s talking about you four and how you’re going on missions with that Calavera guy.”

That was a little weird. They’d only gone on one mission... Well, technically one. There was still that whole incident back in Mistral with that mine and then Salem and her Grimm thingy, but Ruby wasn’t sure if those counted.

“You blow up one island and suddenly everyone is interested in you,” Yang laughed.

“Technically, we didn’t blow it up,” Blake butted in. “It was rigged to explode and we just happened to stumble into it.”

“Um, excuse me,” Velvet interrupted. “What exactly do you mean by blowing up an island?”

“It’s a long story,” Blake sighed. “And we are a little busy.”

“Oh... Sorry,” Velvet apologized, taking the hint. Grabbing her teammate, she began to tug her towards one of the open workbenches. “We won’t keep you guys.”

“Eh, it’s no big issue,” Yang replied. “I could honestly use a little break.”

“Is that so?” Coco asked, looking at the scraps of metal Yang was beating with interest. “Got an explanation for why you’re all working on your weapons?”

“Yep...” Yang said, shooting Coco a smirk.

Waiting for an explanation, Coco raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to tell us?”

“Nope,” Yang answered, grinning. “Got any other questions?”

“A few. You feel up to answering any of them?” Coco asked.

“Maybe when we know you better,” Yang shrugged.

Appearing as if she wanted to say something, Coco was interrupted by her usually shy teammate who was now actively dragging her towards one of the workbenches.

Returning to her work, Ruby began to make some progress with her scythe. It still needed a significant amount of work sharpening the blade, but it was coming along nicely. Another few days and Crescent Rose would be completed.

Turning her attention towards the upper year duo, Ruby tilted her head to the side when she saw their weapons. A mini gun and a hard light projector connected to a camera.

“Something catch your eye?” Coco asked, noticing Ruby’s stare.

“Ah, no, sorry,” Ruby apologized. “It’s just... I couldn’t help but notice that both your weapons relied on Dust to function. If you run out, then you won’t be able to use them.”

“I can see how that might be an issue for some, but I never run out,” Coco smirked. “As for Bunbun here, she’s got the rest of us to rely on, so there’s no real worry there.”

“Okay... I guess I was just over thinking it,” Ruby replied.

“No problem, little red.”

It was still odd though. Coco and Velvet’s weapons were great, but it just seemed like a lot could go wrong with them. Then there was the thing she said about Velvet relying on the rest of them. It just seemed kind of odd that they’d limit themselves like that.

I mean, sure, they all used Dust to some extent, but they weren’t completely reliant on it. Even if they ran out, they’d still have their Weapons. Heck, outside of Weiss, Yang was the one that relied on Dust the most, but even without it, she still had her Semblance and her speed to fall back on.

Maybe they were the same.

...Breathe...

To the average Huntsman or Huntress, Beacon was an incredibly boring place, but that was to be expected. While it was one of the most renowned Academies on Remnant, at the end of the day, it was just a school... A fancy one at that, but still a school.

That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The students that came here were definitely in need of help. Hell, in the last few decades, the survival rate of Huntsmen and Huntresses have increased several times over with more than a few living to retirement age.

No, the Academies had been nothing but beneficial. It supplied its students with knowledge and readied them for the world that they would be inheriting.

Although, the staff could stand to liven things up a little... At least in Maria’s opinion.

The only other person in Beacon who seemed to get it was Professor Port who used live Grimm in his class. Some of which he captured and others which were captured by the upper years. It was just unfortunate that the man liked to drone on about the Grimm he fought in his youth.

So, with nothing to do, Maria had taken to skulking around Beacon, looking for something... Anything, to alleviate her boredom. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Team RWBY were busy working on their weapons. Coal was in Vale with Winter while Pyrrha… She’d chosen to stay in their room in order to get ahead on her studies.

With the Vytal tournament only a few months away, everyone was on their best behavior. It was their chance to be seen by the world and gain some recognition. No one wanted to be banned because they got one too many detentions with Glynda.

Bah, the cowards.

With nothing better to do, Maria made her way towards the only people who were having a worse time than her. The notorious ACRN who’d been given an impossible task to accomplish by Coal. Well… Seemingly impossible.

As per usual, Maria found the team outside, each member attempting to push their own boulder. They’d all gotten to the halfway point, but were unable to push it any further. They each struggled for a while, attempting to move their boulders, but all ultimately failed.

She must have come across them when they were just about done for the day. Only ten minutes passed since she’d arrived, before the team gave up with three of its members heading in while one remained behind, Opting to continue in solitude. If she wasn’t mistaken, it was the same one that was responsible for their detentions, Cardin Winchester.

Humming lightly, Maria watched him struggle for a few minutes, before finally coming to a decision. Heading closer, she smirked when she saw that he hadn’t noticed her presence.

“Trying to get one over on your teammates?” Maria asked.

“What the hell?” Jumping Cardin turned to glare at Maria. ”Look lady, just leave me alone. Can’t you see that I’m in the middle of something here?”

“I can... And I can also see that you’re never going to succeed with that little conviction,” Maria shot back, smirking as Cardin’s frustration grew.

Growling, he turned back towards his boulder. “Like I care what you think.”

“The same as your team?” Maria taunted.

“You know, you’re really starting to piss me off. Leave!”

Kicking off the ground, Maria landed on Cardin’s boulder and proceeded to sit down. “I don’t think so. In fact, I think we should have a little chat. You see, sonny, I’ve lived a long life and met plenty of Huntsmen like you and let me tell you, it’s not a pretty end.”

“Don’t care,” Cardin grunted, straining against the boulder. “Didn’t ask.”

“You should,” Maria hummed. “With an attitude like that, you’re not going to make many friends. Those that do stick around will only do so because it’s convenient. The moment things get serious and you need help, they’ll be like the darkness at dawn. Leaving you to the Grimm.”

Doing his best to ignore her, Cardin dug his feet into the ground and pressed with all of his strength, only to come up short.

“You might think to go the solo route, but that path doesn’t end well either. You can trust me on that.” Maria tapped her goggles. “Or, you could try and get along with your team.”

“Like I need them. All they want to do is help out those freaks and losers,” Cardin muttered. “They’ve got their priorities the wrong way around.”

Taking a moment to wade through the blatant racism, she sighed. “You’ve lost someone then? I’m guessing that a Faunus was somehow involved. Tell me about it.”

Growling, Cardin strained against the boulder, managing to shift it a little. Stopping, he gasped for air as sweat dripped down his face. “Just... Leave.”

“I’ll tell you what,” Maria hummed. “You tell me what happened and I’ll leave. That seems like a fair enough trade, don’t you think?”

“I’m not going to get rid of you any other way, am I?” Cardin muttered to himself. “Fine. I’ll tell you. It’s not like there’s much to the story. A friend and I were mugged by a Faunus when we were young. He died, I didn’t, end of story. Now leave.”

“You seem to be skipping over a few of the details,” Maria noted, drawing a frustrated grunt from Cardin. “But I guess that’s enough for now.” Getting up, she stretched lightly. “You know, the reason I have these things is because of a Faunus,” She said, tapping her goggles.

“Then you should see things my way.”

“A Faunus, not all Faunus,” Maria replied. “She was a crazy bitch who wanted me to beg for my life... Probably wouldn’t have let me keep it if I did,” She mused aloud. “She had a gang of humans to back her up too. I hated them for what they did to me, even after killing them.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Cardin asked, looking more than a little uncomfortable.

“Because I want to,” Maria shrugged. “The moral of my story is that, if you’re going to hate, you should hate the individual that’s responsible, not the people that just so happen to look like them. If you have any left over, focus it into improving yourself.”

“Easier said than done,” Cardin muttered under his breath.

Smirking at that, Maria hopped off the boulder. “A deal’s a deal. I’ll be heading off then.” Leaving him to his struggle, Maria paused and shot him one last glance. “Oh and by the way, try focusing on things that get you riled up when you’re moving that thing, that should help. Pass it along to your teammates too.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Nodding, Maria headed back towards Beacon, leaving Cardin to his thoughts.