#Lazuli Hamelin - Cutscene

[teamoliv-archive]

Cutscene: Real Professionals

Auroras stood calmly while he looked at the three armed would-be huntsmen and huntresses in front of him. Hari had the other half of them. This was going to be remarkably easy, he predicted. “How nice of you to already split yourselves up for us.” With a stroke of his quill, a flash of aura went from his page to create a barrier between his trio and Hari’s. It wasn’t going to last more than a few seconds but it was the statement that mattered here.

“So what do you think our chances are here?”

“With how easily they took that Grimm down? We’re screwed...”

“Well we can’t just do nothing. We have to fight.”

“I’m gonna ask you this one more time, little Nyx. You and your friends really want to do this?”

“We don’t really have a choice here. You want to drag me back to Atlas and Molly back to Darcie. I can’t have that.”

“She’s right. You’ll have to force us.”

“As you wish. It’s time for you to see real huntsmen in action.”

Auroras took a careful step back and placed quill to paper with smirk. With several quick strokes flashed toward the trio in front of him as if he were writing his design into the air.

“Brace!” Lapis put up his barrier. Lazuli spun backward as a chained aura duplicate of her brother did the same. Molly took to her wheel and spun around in a circle, trying to strafe the attacks. Lapis took the hit straight on and buckled. His barrier was still standing, but he could still feel that impact.

Lazuli quickly swaps her stance as her duplicate is destroyed by the incoming strokes coming through the air. Lapis wasn’t fairing a lot better. She needed to think to bring more of these to bear. One at a time, she understood that one, and they were connected to her memories somehow. She started thinking of her times with her friends before their capture and a new chain started to form from her heart into a new form. The feeling of her aura leaving her to create the double was still really weird to her. Then something smacked into her and Lapis from behind as new strokes appeared above and then swooped behind them.

Molly felt a similar impact slam into her side and knocked her out of her wheel, which drove helplessly into the dirt before falling over. She only barely managed to land on her feet.

Auroras flashed a quickly dissolving sheet of paper with glowing curls drawn on it in a taunting manner. “I was hoping your weak points would have been a little less obvious, but none of you ever finished school, did you? I’m ready to try again whenever you are. Hari, please tell me your side of this is a little more interesting?”

“Yeah, yeah, keep your hat on.” Hari flipped the brass knuckles of his gauntlets back into place and took a step forward with a raised fist in a mock punch, gauging their reactions. “Yep. I got this.”

Without another word, Ivory leveled her weapon and pulled the trigger, charging forward as fast as she could. She felt her ax bite into steel as it caught one of the gauntlets. She caught sight of Onyx flinging himself upward and creating a new net. 

Violet was keeping her distance from Hari, peppering him with covering fire from her pistols while Ivory charged forward with her ax. At first she thought she was hitting- then she saw blood, not aura.

Hari practically ignored the incoming small arms fire. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t feel it more than he was conditioned to the pain. He closed in on Ivory and one of his knuckles started sparking with a fire dust burst. With a harsh uppercut, he slammed his fist into her and sent her flying upward. “Pretty sure I gauged that right.”

Onyx didn’t have time to plan further, only turn to see Ivory flying in his direction and slam into him, hurtling them both down to the ground. He was about to reach out and create a new line of wire when another of Auroras’s swipes appeared in front of him and solidified his plummet.

Molly picked herself up and looked between Auroras, her lost weapon, and Violet. This was bad. She had to slow things down to think. “I’mgoinginwatchmyback!” She says with increasing acceleration as her perception of the world slowed. She reacted with her body delaying heavily from her mind. She saw Ivory’s ax still slowly floating down to the ground and Hari reaching out to grab it. Violet was charging.

“Waitwaitwaitwait!” She felt something snag her leg and pull her backward. A rope had twirled around her and yanked her into Lauzli’s next attempt at an offensive move.

“Here’s another word of advice, free of charge, if you don’t have a backup plan for losing your weapon- don’t lose it.”

“Got you now!” Violet shouts, flipping herself upward and flaring out her whip to snag his arm. Her other arm reached out as a ball of light appeared at the barrel of her other pistol. She cracked off the blinding shot, but not before the large man swung his free arm around- and Ivory’s ax.

Hari plants Isengrim into the ground by its crescent blade and turns to Auroras’s remaining pair. “Still not checking your back, huh?” He placed his hands by the shallow bullet wounds Violet had made in him and let the blood trickle down his fingers. With a quick movement and a flare of aura reengaging, Hari flung the droplets into the air as they solidified into small hardened knives. “Hurts like a bitch, but I think I can afford to be flashy here.”

With the knives hanging in the air, he quickly gave a series of swift kicks to send them all flying toward the Hamelin siblings. The impromptu daggers hit their targets before the aura gave out on them and they splatted back to the ground.

“And now to finish this off.” Auroras took his time with this next series of strokes. He needed to catch the distances precisely, but thankfully this was a maneuver he knew well. A series of chains came from Auroras’s paper and drug the entire group to them. “Hari, ready the restraints and collect their weapons. You remember the way to the shuttle, right?”

Violet angrily struggled against the aura-created chain and then the real restraints as the former quickly faded away. “What are you going to do with us..?”

“Well you and your team are coming with me back to Atlas. Ty’s got some plans for you guys, like I said. Come on, don’t you all have family up there?”

“If you think I believe for a second that’s actually your plan, you’ve got another thing coming.” Lapis jerked violently before he saw Auroras lift up Briar and his sister. “Lazuli!”

“Molly!”Ivory was shoved into an awkward sitting position and wasn’t able to try and stand like Lapis had. However, seeing him getting harshly kicked back down for his efforts dissuaded her from trying.

“Like I said before, you two are coming with me. Our employer has plans for the two of you. Does ‘Pandemonium’ ring any bells?”

“Y-Yeah...” Molly admitted. That was Darcie’s center of operations. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the woman- her and Jade were the closest thing to parents she had, but it was still concerning that she sent these guys to capture her by force instead of sending a message. Lazuli and Ivory were probably the reason. She wanted to be sure that she’d come along.

Lazuli stared at her brother and his team, trying to give a reassuring look. “We’ll be fine.” She finally says, “Just focus on keeping yourselves safe. If... This is what I think it is, Molly and I will be okay. I promise. We’ll come back for you.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Onyx hisses, “What about this situation is ‘okay’? After all the trouble we went thr-” He feels his voice catch his in throat and replaced by a wave of pain and grits his teeth.

“Onyx, don’t strain your voice. You’re still healing...” Ivory stares carefully at Molly, seeing the conflict plain on her face. “I trust you. Both of you. If they wanted us dead, they’d have done it already. We’ll get through this- I hope.”

[teamoliv-archive]

Cutscene: New Beginnings, New Dangers

“Well, I guess we have good news and bad news. Good news is we get to start Ivory and Molly’s huntress career early. Bad news, we’re surrounded.” The group that now consisted of Team OLIV, Lapis’s younger sister Lazuli, and Ivory’s former partner in crime Molly stood in a ring surrounded by far more Grimm than they had anticipated when they were told of a ‘swarm of monsters a team would be useful to take down’. Swarm was a bit more apt than anyone really was comfortable with; there were dozens of spider-like creatures that would let out screeches as they crawled closer and those jaws looked poisonous. A team they were, but professionals they were not. This was going to take some creative teamwork.

“Alright, everyone, split up and take a section!”

Violet turned toward one section of the creatures as they charged. She flared out her whips and hurled herself upward and over the Grimm, a flurry of cracks and blows staggered several of the creatures while surrounding ones were blown apart one by one.

“I’ve got backup, keep pushing!” Ivory stuck herself in a kneeling pose, braced by one of her targets locking her in place while she carefully turned and blasted at any Grimm that got too close to their area.

“Got it!” She landed on one of the spider-creatures and jumped again, shooting at the grounded monster, causing a spit of bile to misfire and hit the ground. She aimed down and a brilliant flash followed her next shot, blinding the pack with a loud popping sound.

Lapis kept to a defensive, leaving his shield up as he pushed forward slowly. He saw the giant buzzsaw contraption of Briar’s drive through the spiders with her in it, chopping off legs and sometimes abdomens as she passed, but many were making their way to him. He blocked and parried with his shield and weapon, shoving any away that tried to leap at him.

“You know, I could use a little help here!”

“I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it!” Molly ran her weapon through the pack and with a pivot, flinging herself toward Lapis with her hand out. “Tilt-a-Whirl!”

“Wait, what’s Tilt-a-WOOOOAAAH!” Before he finished his statement, Molly grabbed his arm and let the momentum swing them around, throwing her in a circle with her saw being carried in the wide arc to batter and slice the surrounding Grimm. Lapis only had time to brace himself and keep from falling over from the force before he put his weight behind his arm and flung her off into the distance and into an oncoming second wave. She landed frustratingly expertly with the saw’s teeth biting into the oncoming Grimm and her perched on in the inside and waving.

“Woo! Let’s hear it for team attacks!”

Lapis stood up and popped his shoulder to make sure it was still in place. “You’re supposed to plan that out ahead of time! That was my shield arm, too...”

“We got ‘em, didn’t we? Besides, everyone else is doing fine.”

Lazuli watched “her” section of Grimm tangled up in a web. They weren’t dead or even injured, but they were busy. She looked up at the dizzying array woven through the sparse trees around them where Onyx was lounging.

The web tightened as Onyx looked down at Hamelin’s sister with an expectant look. Would that he had the vocal strength to throw his voice again, he’d have reminded her to start firing. Despite her time as the Arena’s prisoner honing her skills and unlocking her semblance, she had little to no experience with Grimm yet.

He tightened it again as the Grimm tried ti wiggle free. Sure he made it look effortless, but he wasn’t going to be able to hold this forever. One creature gets loose and tries to skitter up his wires to get to him. He dodges and rakes his claws around to dispatch it, but now the rest were getting free.

Lazuli wasn’t used to this implicit teamwork that her brother’s team did. She’d have to think of a way to handle what was about to be a rain of spider Grimm. Shooting them directly was only doing so much. She looks up to Onyx and realizes there was at least one thing she could do- but it would be a long shot. “Hey! You trust me, right!?” Onyx clung to his web and gives her an incredulous look. “I need an answer! Are we friends or not?” She heard a barely audible and scraping sound that closely resembled “Yes, now do something!” before she closes her eyes for a moment and springs into action.

“Good enough.” With visible effort, she jumped from wire to wire as carefully as she could before her aura began to glow and manifest a figure next to her, connected at the chest by a spectral chain. Said chain connected to the duplicate of Onyx wasn’t nearly as strong as others were. In fact this was probably her weakest one, but she hoped that would change with her time with Lapis’s team over time. From what she managed to figure out her semblance was strictly related to personal bonds and her duplicates were only as strong and the friendship and trust between her and the one she was trying to recreate. The duplicate Onyx grasped her hand and helped hurl her into the nest. Lazuli swung her weapon with precision, taking out spiders as she ascended while the duplicate followed suit and kept her stable. It couldn’t mimic his weapon’s finer details but she managed to clear out the web before slipping on one more wire and falling.

“Uh oh...” The duplicate faded as she lost focus. To make matters worse the mess of wires weren’t easy to grab. She fell about almost to the bottom before something stopped her fall.

“You need to work on your balance.” Onyx’s scratchy voice responds, having already sped to the bottom to catch her and set her back down.

A loud bang signaled the end of the swarm as Ivory took out one more that was about to lunge at Violet. With the group calming down and brushing themselves off, Violet spoke up. “I think we did it.” Then the rustling got louder, followed by a tree melting.

“Oh right, the big one...” An enormous version of the spiders they had fought before crawled into view, venom dripping from its fangs.

“Everyone get ready!” The group takes up fighting poses again before a translucent stalactite crashes from above into the creature.

Onyx was the first to panic, followed by Ivory. The rest looked more confused and stunned. A figure stood behind them with a stack of paper bunched up in one arm and a quill in the other.

“Pardon the interruption, but my partner and I have business to discuss with the lot of you. I have to say between the number, the open job searching, and your.. distinctive features,” The man glanced accusingly at Molly’s massive buzzsaw weapon, “You are almost comically easy to find.” The Grimm roared again as it recovered from the blow to the head. The man just sighed and with several blindingly fast strokes of his quill, spiked chains materialized from around him and entangled the large Grimm.

“Let’s not waste time. Hari, get rid of that thing.”

“No problem.” A larger man, this one covered in scars shown off by a small vest with a combination of brass knuckles and gauntlets followed close behind. He charged the creature and slammed his fist right into the monster’s jaw, causing it to reel from a dust explosion. Several more blows followed, assisted by more of those aura swipes as the other man kept sketching on his paper. With one more strong blow to the head, the Grimm fell to the ground before it could do anything.

Hari turned to face the six. “See that kids? That’s how the pros do it. Call it a free lesson courtesy of Uncle Hari. Auroras, why don’t you explain this one?”

“Who are these guys?” Lapis muttered to himself. They were easily outclassed. Professional huntsmen had been sent for them? Was this because of Briar and Reynard?

Lazuli cautiously stepped forward. “Who are you? You said you had ‘business’. What do you want with us?”

“Auroras Hallward and Hari Lackey of Blood Brothers LLC,” Auroras responded, “We were sent to locate and escort you to our client. You are of great interest to a few interested parties. Normally confidentiality would prevent me from explaining who that is. However, I have been given leave to extend a more public offer first.”

“You’ve got a couple of options here.” Hari points specifically to Team OLIV, “I’m pretty sure your parents are all worried about you kids wandering around on another continent. We’re here to take you home and put you to work. Onyx, Ty’s got an offer for the four of you. No hard feelings or anything. Come on, your old man’s got a lot planned and he’s willing to give you all jobs.”

Onyx stared hard at Hari. Those names were familiar- old teammates of his father before he turned to business. He always did wonder why he had never met them before while Cobalt Ymir was around. Ivory spoke up instead.

“You want us to believe Tyrael Cheshire wants all of us? After what happened to Lilac...” She pauses for Onyx’s sake. She didn’t want to reopen the old wound; it was still his sister after all.

“Wait.” Lapis stepped between Auroras and Lauzli, “You said four of us. What happens to Briar and my sister?”

“That is our other job here.” He stares at Molly with keen intent, adjusting his glasses. “Your mother misses you, you know. She wants to accept you back and you’re welcome to take your friend with you.”

Molly’s pulse raced. Of course Darcie would come looking for her. Why didn’t she think of that? Part of her was scared of how she would have reacted to Jade’s death. She had taken it pretty hard herself, but she had the comfort of being swept up in finally being a huntress. Something was still wrong. “Why would she send mercenaries instead of her own people to find us?”

“We were already going this way and it’s basically getting paid twice for the same job.”

Lazuli looked to Molly worryingly. “Y-You can go if you want, but I need to stay with my brother. Family’s more important than friends sometimes... I.. I get it.”

“Wh-What, no! That’s not it! C-Can’t you just tell her I’m okay? I’ll come back once I finish-” Whatever she was doing.

Violet gave a hard look to Hari at his comment. “Did you really talk to anyone besides Onyx’s dad? How do we know you’re telling the truth here? My dad gave us his blessing to get out here and get our licenses.”

“Ty’s the man with the offer. Besides, Auroras made the deal. Talk to him.”

“Perhaps I should rephrase. Our job, as we were paid to do, is to locate and bring the lot of you two the parties that want you. The offer is a generous one that our employers took time out to offer you. However, your compliance is not a required factor. If you choose to resist, we’ll simply have to take you there by force.”

“And there it is... Everyone get ready for a fight!”

“Can we handle these guys?”

“I don’t think we have a choice. We have to try!”

[teamoliv-archive]

Cutscene: Welcome Home

The caves underneath Mistral were dizzying. It didn’t help that Lazuli and Molly were forced to follow along this contrived labyrinth of tunnels and caves to get to who knows where. Pandemonium, was all she really knew and that it was where Jade’s former partner, Darcie, made her home base. She got some details from Molly during their long and problematic trip. Jade held the front of the entertainment, catering to the rich and bloodthirsty while Darcie’s operation was larger in scope and handled the more devoted clientele who were trusted with the “premium” service of their broader operation. To hear that Jade’s sprawling fighting pits were little more than the advertisement for the larger show was deeply concerning. She took a small pleasure at the frustrated look on her captor’s face, though.

Auroras, for his part, looked worse for wear though it was more a case of exhaustion than any kind of genuine trouble. These two had proven to be difficult hostages to travel with. It was hard to keep either of them entirely quiet and Lazuli’s multiple escape attempts had grown tiresome. Eventually he had to double up her restraints and make sure she never left his sight, which made travel even more difficult. At least now that they were nearing the entrance, they’d be his employer’s problem now. Apparently they were supposed to meet with an intermediary while Auroras would get to finally just sit down and enjoy his paycheck.

Molly stared at the fancy-looking military-style gate that separated them from Pandemonium. She had only been here a few times in person and all of those were under heavy escort. She expected to meet with some of Darcie’s frontliners at some point and while some had come to guide them down the tunnels, this Auroras was still mostly in charge. Darcie really didn’t want her tracks followed this time and she wasn’t taking chances. The energy gate opened and she and Lazuli were shoved inside and down to one of Darcie’s private greeting areas. The ‘circus’ was practically a small city with its mix of performers, visitors, and black market vendors selling everything imaginable. The sheer size of it was something she didn’t take into account. “I never realized... it was this big.”

“Don’t worry,” Lazuli whispers, still defiantly struggling in her restraints, “We’ll get out of this.” Her attention snaps to Auroras finally talking, his tone was low and carried a frustrated growl.

“Well it’s about time you showed up. Wasn’t I supposed to meet with you back in the kingdom itself?”

Molly and Lazuli stared at the well-dressed man neither of them recognized walk calmly up to them. “What happened to professional manners, Mr. Hallward? Surely, two young girls couldn’t have given one of Remnant’s most elite mercenaries that much trouble, right?” He gives both of them a studious look as if analyzing every inch of their tired forms. His eyes flashed a stream of blue numbers for a few moments before nodding. “This is, in fact, the two you were requested to gather. Good. Take a seat... may I call you Auroras? The lady of the house will be here shortly to collect her things and give you the rest of your payment.”

“That had better be the first thing she does.” Auroras says tiredly, collapsing onto a plush couch with a scrunched face. “The distance was the issue more than anything else. Sooner or later people notice these sorts of things, you know. Kidnapping is almost never worth the money...”

“Who are you?” Molly asks as directly as her tired and nervous state would allow her, “I’ve never seen you here before. Darcie never goes through third-parties like this. It’s always one of the performers.” First a mercenary and now this guy- Molly was starting to wonder what else was going on.

Lazuli stared at the man with as much of a piercing, hateful look she could muster. She didn’t know anything about him but everything about that calm demeanor seemed shallow to her. The way he called them ‘things’ made her think he was far too used to this.

Then she saw his shadow move. Her eyes widened when she realized it was a second shadow next to his own. That was was taller, more muscular, and had some kind of faunus ears.

She snapped her head downward and called out to the floor. “What about your friend down there? How about both of you introduce yourselves?”

The man’s lips curled into an impressed smile. “I can see why you had such trouble, Auroras. Quite the prodigy that one. Do as she says.” He marches around the couch across from them and sits down, motioning for the two captive girls to try their best and shuffle to the one the mercenary had collapsed on. While he did this, the second shadow stood up out of the ground, taking the form of a tall bronze-skinned young man with a large blue jackal hood over his face. “You may call me Mr. R. and this is my associate who still insists on the remarkably uncreative moniker of “the Shadow.”. I have yet to convince him to come up with a better one so please, offer any suggestions you might have. As for me, I suppose you could say I’m an ambassador of sorts and I will be overseeing some... restructuring happening in the near future.”

Mr. R’s “Shadow” stood behind the couch and folded his arms, the deep blue and gold hood obscured his face but intricate tattoos covered the parts of his limbs and chest that were uncovered by a large sash wrapped around him in several places. He clearly had weapons folded at his sides.

“We’re not getting these restraints off until Darcie finally gets here, are we?” Molly asks in a dejected tone, taking her seat with Lazuli awkwardly, hip checking the exhausted Auroras a few more inches away. 

“Oh, absolutely not.” Mr. R said casually, picking up a glass and pouring some wine. “Would you like any? Before you ask, my associate behind me will be feeding you until such a time as your limbs are freed. Any refreshments you could want are on the table. We want you to be comfortable here after all.”

[teamoliv-archive]

Interlude: Picking Up the Pieces

Violet wasn’t sure how long she had stared at her uncle’s body at the modest funeral they had put together. Several grateful people in the kingdom had helped donate materials or money to give a proper burial one of the huntsmen who helped save people from the attack that was currently being blamed on cult that grew out of a White Fang splinter group. She hadn’t heard about Cobalt Ymir’s death until after it was all over. It had taken several weeks for things to return to what was as close to normal as they could be anymore.

“Do you think he would have been proud of us?”

“If he knew half of what we had to do to get here, I’d say so. Lapis stood nearby with what was left of their team. They were the only ones of the four present save for Lazuli who decided to stay for emotional support. Ivory didn’t dare show herself and he didn’t even want to think about Onyx right now. Everything about the end of that fight still haunted him. “He believed in us, even when we didn’t.”

Violet forces a smile and nods, wiping some tears away. “You’re right. What matters now is that we don’t forget that.” She turned around when she heard her name being called.

“Hey there, Sundrop, I hope I’m not interuptin’ anything. I need to talk with you for a bit, okay?”

“Sure. Hey, Dad, I don’t think you ever met my partner from Atlas. This is Lapis and his sister, Lazuli.”

“It’s nice to meet you, sir.”

“You guys need a minute?”

“Actually, you might want to stick around for this.” Shin explains, “We’re going to have to head back home soon.”

“We can’t go so soon!” Violet protests, The Dustwings aren’t really in good enough shape to help the city rebuild yet. They’re going to need huntsmen and huntresses out here.”

“You’re right, but I want to know if you noticed somethin’ about those safe houses. Notice how empty they are?”

“They look packed to me.” Lazuli notes, watching the throngs of injured and recently homeless crowding around the area. ”Violet’s right. There’s too many mouths and not enough help. We can’t just... not do something. Maybe you need to leave but we can’t. If we send a letter home I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“That’s exactly the problem. Tyrael Cheshire packed up his goons masqueradin’ as help and left already. He snuck his way back to Solitas and to be blunt, our families might be danger. The Dustwings will have help soon. That militia that saved Haven’s still around, I think.” Shin looked to Violet with a nod. “I spoke with your brother.”

“You found Robin!? What happened?” Violet caught her breath and cursed herself for having missed him again. “Where? What did he say?”

“That ‘Red Arena’ might be gone but it won’t be long before Cheshire just throws his money into a new project. Robin claims he’s going to target us soon. We need to get back to Mantle to make sure nothin’ happens to them.”

“Dad....” Violet shook her head, “Mom’s a huntress, too, I think the two of you can take care of yourselves. I- I can’t leave yet. The Dustwings need help and we’re here to do exactly that. Besides... we have some people who need us more than ever now. Lapis and I might have homes to go back to, but half of us don’t.”

Shin let out a sigh. “You know, he told me you’d say that. I guess I should accept you’re a big strong girl now. Here.” Shin holds out a scroll to her. “Hold onto this. We managed to get some replacements for everyone. It’s got a message for you, too.”

“What’s it say?” Lauzli says, peering over Violet’s shoulder.

Violet opened the scroll to an audio message. She recognized the voice instantly.

“Hey, Sis.

Sorry I didn’t catch you when I talked to Dad. Well, I guess I’m sorry about a lot of things. I know it won’t make anythin’ better but this is all I’ve got for now. You did a good job out there, you know? I’ve got some information on this scroll you’ll need to know. Jade didn’t work alone. He’s got friends- and if you stick around, you’ve gotta watch out for them, and don’t think his old paycheck’s going to forget what happened to his daughter, either. But, hey, you kids took down some pretty nasty people. So long as you stick together, you’ll do fine.

“I’m not gonna say you won’t ever see me again, but I’ve got my own things to take care of right now. In the meantime, keep bein’ who I couldn’t, and tell that tin can of a Lieutenant I said hello, would ya? We went to Atlas together.”

“I'm bad at showin’ it, but I love you, Violet.  Make everyone proud.”

“Robin... I just finished crying...” She smiles and rubs her eyes gently.

“So you’re staying then?” Lapis asks after a few more moments. “We’ll need to find Reynard soon. I don’t really want to leave her or her crazy friend unattended.”

”I can go find them,” Lauzli replies, “I think you guys need to get a few other things straightened out. Don’t you both have people to say goodbye to still?”

______________

Ivory takes a deep breath, having gotten far away from the small gathering in the ruined square. She and Molly made it a point not to be seen by anyone. They were recognized by a lot of the populace in the district. She feared retaliation for Jade’s failure to protect them as promised. The news that he had been killed had not been kind of either of them, but Ivory felt a strange serenity in it. Though, she had her family and Onyx growing up. Jade Leroux was a lot of things to her- a mentor and master first and foremost but to Molly he was the closest thing to a father she likely had. She entered one of the ruined houses where they promised to meet. “Hey, how are you holding up?”

Molly sat in the middle of her ring weapon, letting it rest on the floorboards. “About as good as I can be. Honestly, I’m glad we’re both still alive but...” She balls her hands into fists and starts shaking.

“What are we going to do now? No one here’s going to give us anything. They have new real heroes now, right? They don’t want us. Even your stupid team is being talked about.”

“Yeah, well as far as fuck-ups go this could have been a lot worse.”

Ivory spins around and draws her ax immediately. “What are you doing here!?”

“I’m here to come clean, okay? I’m layin’ it all out on the table to let you figure out what to do next besides sit here and not know. Yes, I killed my uncle. I basically killed Jade, too. I’m not askin’ you to forgive me for either of those things and I ain’t here to gloat.”

“Then what!?” Molly darts up and spins around, standing with her wheel around her. “You’ve always hated us!”

“You’re right.” Robin says, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it. “You want to know why? I want you to look at my little sister and then ask yourself, what if she wound up like you? How about you look at Darcie and her crazy parade and ask if you want to see each other in a place like that years from now?” He watches the two girls stare at him and then each other in awkward silence. “You’re wasted potential is what you are. I made my choice when I had a mind to do so. You were snatched away as kids. I ain’t blind. You two are damn near siblings to one another and as weird as it’s gonna sound comin’ from me, I’m glad for it. So I’m tellin’ you right now- you can either sit here and cry over what you lost like Lilac Cheshire did, or pick yourselves up and have your own fuckin’ lives for once.”

“And do what? We can’t just become huntresses just like that! What, do you think we’re just going to pick up our stuff show up with your sister and her friends and walk off into the sunset like some stupid fairy tail!?”

“Why not? S’what I’m doin’. Well, sort of. See, I’m plannin’ on makin’ Tyrael Cheshire’s life a livin’ hell and all his buddies with his creepy business partner at Ciar to boot; so I’m grabbin’ my old team together. We’re about to make some noise and make off with whatever we can in the process.”

Ivory trembles as she thought of Onyx, holding his bloody body in her arms. “We all fought together in the end.” She mutters to herself, “M-Maybe we can do it again.” She turns to Molly and holds out her hand.

“I’m not doing this without you, you know that. I promised I wouldn’t abandon you. You won’t be alone again.”

Molly didn’t say anything for the longest time. She heard Robin’s footsteps leave the building without even saying goodbye. “Sure, fine, just stalk off...” She says to herself before staring at Ivory. Her mind flashed a moment to that girl from the Arena.

‘I forgive you.’

“Fine.” Her reply was reluctant and slow, but maybe something good could come out of this. “You know... I always wanted to be a huntress as a little girl.”

“We can at least give a shot, right?”

_____________

“It is going to take a while to rebuild.” The elderly huntress says, having donned a new mask and walking the streets. The kingdom had already heard rumors of the elusive “Mother Marianne” sighted in Mistral- it was time to show that face again.

“Yeah.” Morado still hadn’t even begun to process everything he had learned about his fiance in recent weeks, let alone grieving. “We’re staying right here, though. Mistral’s not about to turn us over to Atlas needing us as much as they do. Besides, I should have been able to stop this. Lilac... If I had known maybe I could have done something more to help her.”

“Some would take you for a fool, but I believe we need more people like you in this world, Lieutenant. But if I may be so bold as to give you some sage advice, don’t dwell on who you couldn’t save. Look to see who you can. It will never get easier. I can promise you that.

“Every victim, every lost soul, every life lost still hurts me whenever I come across it. Having a heart is not a weakness, but do not let it turn into guilt. You have to be the one these people look up to now. You’re all they have left anymore.”

“Lieutenant!” “Marianne!”

Lapis and Violet rushed to their side, breathing heavily. They had been running back and forth looking for them. “There you are. We needed to talk to you.”

“Did something happen?”

“Well, sort of? Not yet. We’re going to be leaving soon. Lieutenant, if I could have permission to-”

“Granted.”

“That was... quick.”

“We’re grabbing Reynard and her crazy friend to try and set them back up. Hopefully in a way that won’t get anybody arrested or killed this time, but we need to get them out of the kingdom first- at least until things calm down some more.”

“Rather noble of you to give them a second chance.” The elderly huntress replies, “They will need good guidance to put themselves back together, let alone on the proper path.”

“Let’s just say we owe our team leader a favor. Before that collapse, he still tried to reach out to his sister even when she tried to blow us all to kingdom come. If he could believe in a second chance like that, we can.”

“Besides, there’s still whatever Robin left on this scroll. Something about another operation like Jade Leroux’s. Apparently he wasn’t alone.”

“If I may see that?” Marianne had a feeling she already knew what it was about. Jade’s sadistic other half was just as ruthless as he had been and perhaps even more twisted. “I would like to copy this. You will not need to worry about her.”

“I hope you don’t plan on keeping me out of the loop this time. If there’s something else going on, we’re staying to help.”

“It is a long story, I will have to tell you later. For the time being, children, do not worry about Darcie. I have an old score to settle with her. I worry that Leroux’s death will make her more unpredictable, though. It is best if you leave that to us. Go find your friends and get ready to go.”

______________

“We’re almost there.” Lauzli announced, leading Ivory and Molly out to a clearing outside the kingdom. It was surprisingly easy for them to leave with all the commotion. She stayed a small distance from the two, but kept feeling eyes on her.

“H-Hey. Kid.”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for... you know... back during the fight. Not the ‘saving me’ part the... ‘I forgive you’ part.”

“I managed to figure out what your old boss was doing. How he was doing it. You guys didn’t realize did you?”

“We’re... still... processing that.” Ivory states, trying to ignore a suppressed angry look from Molly. The idea that their emotions were being directly toyed with through a semblance was a heart-wrenching thought, but a long time without it present felt strange. Things made a bit more sense with that context but she worried what that took away from her actual feelings. Where did any actual ideas or thoughts begin and Jade’s old influence end? Was that really a bad thing? She couldn’t imagine Molly wasn’t going through a similar internal crisis.

Lapis was standing firmly next to a large rock, his gear ready to go already. “You all set? I know a few nearby villages that know my face. We can get you some work and get your feet wet. You sure this is what you want to do?”

“What else do we have anymore?” Molly admits, her tone more flat than it used to be, “You sure you’re okay having two people who tried to kill you follow you around?”

“Oh, I’m not worried, we put our best in charge right beside yours truly.”

Ivory frowns, unable to really bring herself to reach for her ax like she used to. “It’s not going to be the same without him.”

“No one said it has to be.” Violet keeps walking through the trees to another figure waiting nearby.

“I did say we put our best in charge.”

_____________

Tyrael Cheshire had been quieter than usual ever since returning to Atlas. He had been absorbed in work both regarding retrieving money from Jade Leroux’s failed operation as well as the troubling news of the deaths of both his children. The official record deviated from what actually happened, of course, but it affected him nonetheless. Today would be when that turned around.

“Sir, Auroras Hallward here to see you.”

“Auroras Hallward of Blood Brothers LLC at your service, Mr. Cheshire. We will offer you the absolute best in elite mercenary services! No job out of the question for the right price and-”

“Auroras...”

“Fine, fine. Take all the fun out of it. Really though, Tyrael it’s been nearly twenty years since you seriously contact us and it’s for a job? Cobalt has seen us more than you and he’s on a military schedule.” The man removed his hat and adjusted his glasses before setting a large stack of papers on Tyrael’s desk.

“I heard you both just came back from Mistral. How was that?”

“Cobalt is dead.”

“I’m sorry. Repeat that?”

“One of my investments tried to manipulate and double-cross me and got Cobalt’s family involved. He was killed for his efforts to remedy the situation himself.”

“So that’s why you called us, is it? Is this because you don’t want to mix business with pleasure for the sake of revenge or were you just being kind enough to allow the rest of your old academy compatriots to share in it? He was just as much Hari and I’s friend as he was yours, you know. But surely, you wouldn’t call us for simple revenge.”

“You’re correct. I have a list of people I will need you all to hunt down. First is Robin Goodfellow, the man who killed Cobalt and was, to my understanding, instrumental in helping Leroux’s operations fall apart. The next is a group of young huntsmen and huntresses that are responsible for my daughter’s death. Find and bring them to me, dead or alive. In the meantime you will be covering for Redmond while he reestablishes my presence in Mistral.”

“That’s quite a lot for us to do at once, you know. It won’t be cheap. Of course, if you had told Hari that we were after Cobalt’s murderer I’m sure he’d jump at the chance to do it regardless.”

“Not... that that’s an invitation to work for free. We do still have a business to run. You know how it is.”

“Where is Hari by the way? I specifically asked for both of you to show up.”

“Currently locked up, I’m afraid. With our workforce cut in half it’s been a bit difficult to keep up the money to-”

“Auroras, you charge millions. You simply haven’t given yourself the time.” Tyrael waves a hand and two large briefcases are placed one on top of the other at the side of the desk. Tyrael slides Auroras’s stack of blank papers aside and lets it open to reveal a large amount of lien. “Half of your payment down as per your usual.”

“This is... actually more than usual, Tyrael. You’re not about to add another job onto this are you? You know we don’t stack work.”

“The second one isn’t for you.” Tyrael replies, “That is to get Hari out of jail. Do that, then begin your work. You are to kill Robin Goodfellow, find what remains of my son’s old Atlas team and bring them to me, and make sure that Leroux’s associates do not swipe away what is still rightfully ours.”

[teamoliv-archive]

🗣+ Lapis and Lazuli

Send me 🗣+ the names of 2 muses on the blog, and there will be a random conversation written involving them.

“I still can’t believe we’re following this crazy girl to go save Reynard.”

“It’s a little surreal, isn’t it? But look at what’s going on; the fires, the captures, it’s chaos out there. Someone has to do something. Why shouldn’t it be us?”

“You’re right. It’s like Goodfellow said- We’re the good guys. This is what we do.”

“Besides, I think this will lead us to who destroyed our home and killed all our friends.”

“All the more reason to prevent it from happening again, right?”

[teamoliv-archive]

Cutscene: Yellow-Eyed Monster Part 2

Lazuli spun her weapon in wide arcs, blocking and deflecting the oncoming blades that Auburn hurled at her. She was hoping to knock their trajectory off course so she couldn’t retrieve them, but even when parried away, they spun and returned to her.

“How do you like the new addition?” She taunts as the curved blades swirled back to her and locked back into the discs on her arms, which gave off a small glow as the blades returned. “I had this installed when you were busy starving in a cell.” She glares down at Lazuli with a grin on her face.

“I already heard about how you managed to get out, but the difference between then and now is that I know what you can do- and I’m ready for your fancy little trick; so come on, let’s see it!” She leaped from the rooftop and dove at her.

Lazuli braced for the impact, focusing again on parrying and dodging instead of attacking. Auburn’s blows felt heavier than they should have. She had no idea if that was a result of her not being fully recovered or if her opponent was just stronger than she used to be. With Auburn focusing on hurting her rather than the wounded huntress behind her, she didn’t have to worry about defending anyone but herself at the moment, but she still worried. One of Winterfang’s blades missed its parry and she readied herself for a hit from Auburn’s swipe, only for a shot to ring out.

Marianne was leaning against the wall, holding out her sword upright revealing the gun barrel on the side of the hilt. “You’re forgetting someone.” The scarred woman grimaced before snapping her good eye to Lazuli. “You have covering fire, girl! What are you doing?” She sounded more pleading than demanding. They both needed to do all they could to survive in a weakened state.

“Right!” Lazuli moves to attack while Auburn jumps out of the way, sending more blades out in wide arcs around the two. Shots and blows were made to try and deflect them, forcing them to return to their owner.

“Ugh... And here I was hoping this would be easy. Fine.” She plants her feet down and her shadow begins to spread around where she stood, coating the area in a twisted version of the landscape.

“This is all just an illusion,” Lazuli shouts to Marianne, “She’s trying to use the images and sounds to distract us. Just focus on where she is.” This was easier said than done. She heard a voice come from a lamp post.

“Come on! Where’s that semblance of yours?”

That was an unfortunately good question. she wasn’t too sure exactly how hers fully worked yet. She was thinking about something- almost like the fight was a secondary focus, but how did she do it last time? She stood still for a moment, trying to feel what it was that caused her semblance to activate during her fight with Jade. Now, it was only enough to distract her and take a blade to the shoulder.

“I knew you weren’t going to be able to do that twice. Now I get to take my time. Let’s get your leg next.” The blades came from a few directions, spinning and making a high-pitched laughing noise.

“That’s the spot.” Violet says, pointing out to the neighborhood where she fought Ivory and her allies earlier. Something was wrong with it, though. It was still covered in smoke from the fire. This wasn’t normal smoke, though. That looked familiar. 

“I don’t think we’re alone. One of the others that was with Ivory could make these weird eyes in the shadows.” She says, having difficulty explaining it, “Whatever’s happening down there, she either came back or never left that spot.”

Onyx winces as his ears pick up the distinct hiss of steel clashing and strange laughter. Someone was fighting down there. He glances to Violet and sternly nods, pointing to it and deploying his claws.

Deflecting the incoming blades was difficult when forced to stand still, but Marianne was managing as best as she could with Lazuli faltering. She stumbles forward, trying to join the young girl. “We need to get out of here. You’re still exhausted and I am in no condition to fight- URGH!”

Lazuli turns to catch the huntress as another spinning blade came from the back and sliced through her already battered cloak. It didn’t do a lot of damage through the woman’s armor but she couldn’t be taking other wounds. “You’re right, but I can’t get my semblance to work! I don’t know what I did! How are we going to get out?”

“Alright, that’s better. On the ground and pleading for your lives where you belong.” Auburn recalls her blades and takes a few steps forward, only for something to catch her leg and pull her forward. The look of shock on her face pierced through the haze of her semblance.

“Are you guys alright!?” Another girl jumped over the faltering Auburn and rushed to the two. “What’s going on here?” Was that... Lapis’s sister? She only saw her a few times when she had visited Beacon for the festival and once before at Atlas. What was she doing here?

That must be her, the sister Robin was so adamant about keeping away from his matters. Marianne spotted the resemblance quickly. “We are under attack and injured.” She explains.

“My brother went off to find who was responsible for the fires earlier. Someone’s in danger.” Lazuli paused, “You... You were on my brother’s team at Atlas, right!? Lapis Hamelin?”

“Hey! I’m not done with you yet!” Auburn gets to her feet and readies her weapons. She prepares to fling out her blades again, but feels her arm stopped as if someone came from behind and grabbed them. Looking to her elbow, she saw strands of wire wrapped around her arm.

The faunus on the other end of the wires stared with a confident smirk on his face. No, there will be no getting away from this. You have bigger problems to worry about now.

Violet ignores the trapped enemy behind her. Onyx could handle that. “Then we don’t have a lot of time. Onyx knows who’s responsible for that blaze and if we don’t do something, she’ll burn the whole city down! You said Lapis is here!? Which way did he go? There’s no way he can handle this by himself.”

“That way.” Lazuli says, motioning to where he had run off with the injured girl from before. “But we still have to take care of Auburn. She’s not going to stop if I run.”

“First thing’s first.” She pulls out a flare gun and tosses it to the injured woman who looked like she had been to hell and back in those fires. “You don’t look too good. Fire that and help will show up. There’s four shots. Get to safety and fire.”

“You’re with those Atlas soldiers then? Very well.” Without skipping a moment, she slowly started to slip through the nearby alley. “I will be fine if I don’t move quickly. Just go!” 

“I can show you which way my brother went. I know I’m not in great shape right now but I’m coming with you. He saved me, and now it’s time for me to help him, too. I can still fight.”

There wasn’t going to be any dissuading Lauzli otherwise, Violet could tell. If it was her brother she’d probably do the same thing. Hell, that is what she’s been doing. “Alright. Just be careful.”

Lazuli turns to Marianne with a concerned look. “Are you sure you’re going to be alright?”

Marianne stared at standoff between Onyx and Auburn. “I think I will be left in good hands- or claws in this case.”

“Let me go!” Auburn twisted and slashed at the wire, finally freeing herself and facing Onyx with an intense glare. “I don’t know who you think you are but you’re interrupting something really important! I don’t have time to put you in your place!”

Onyx stared back at Violet. There was no time, why was she still just standing there? He swung his arm at them to tell them to move, then he turned back to the girl in front of him. The message was pretty clear: I’ll handle this one. He watches Violet and Lazuli rush off while the older huntress ducked out of the fray.

“Give me one reason I should even bother with you. Who are you!? SAY SOMETHING!” Auburn says, readying her blades again. More wire sprayed around her faster than she saw coming. Dangling right in front of her was an old hospital tag. The name was crossed off and written over.

Jett Huldre Onyx Cheshire

Auburn took a step back. “No. That can’t be right!” She snaps her head up to Onyx and stares incredulously. “How are you alive!? Why are you here!? You were sold! Your parents were killed off! You were supposed to die as some rich asshole’s servant or something, not...”

Cheshire. Those were the people who were paying for Jade Leroux’s operations in the first place. He wasn’t just some operative. He had a brand new name- a family name. How did some doomed cousin she only ever heard horror stories about turn out to be not just a huntsmen but a rich one? “This isn’t how things are supposed to go. No, this isn’t right! How!? Come on, dammit, say something! Are you here just to taunt me!?”

Onyx stood without much fanfare. He still didn’t really know who this girl was or what his old name meant to her. Truth be told, however, he didn’t care. He opens his mouth and forces out a weak croak of a voice. It was painful to speak yet, but he was at least starting to manage again. It came out as a raspy whisper. “No... You’re just in the way. Will you continue to be?”

“I was supposed to be the one who survived, the one who proved we weren’t all weak. Why!? How did you take that away from me, too!? Jett, I am still standing in your way. I have a destiny! I’m going to be the one at the top of it all! Let that stupid little backwoods brat run. I have a bigger target now!”

Onyx forced another harsh-sounding reply. “Do not call me that. My name is Onyx Cheshire, and you will remember it. Prepare yourself.”

[teamoliv-archive]

Cutscene: Yellow-Eyed Monster

“I really hope we’re not lost.” The had been carrying the injured huntress Lapis had apparently brought with him to find her for nearly an hour now. She hadn’t heard from the others yet, though, so there was no telling if they had found Shani or not.

“Me too,” Lapis admits, hoisting Marianne over his shoulder. It was hard to determine where help could actually be with everything either destroyed or blocked off. They managed to stay ahead of the fires when they started, thankfully, and had stuck to the burnt out areas in the meantime. Everywhere was empty, though.

Turning a corner, they found a nearly destroyed neighborhood with a large crater in the road. “Man... what happened here?” This wasn’t just the fires; a fight had broken out sometime earlier. It wasn’t old either. He could hear an engine buzzing. Lapis wasn’t sure what kind of vehicle it was, but it didn’t sound very big. From around the corner, a swerving wheel took a turn too hard and the ‘driver’ flew out and collapsed on the ground. The wheel kept going for a short while until it fell over and what was now revealed to be a sturdy bladed saw slowly rotated to a stop in a pitiful sputter.

“Ugh.... H-Help....” The girl that was flung from the weapon was face first on the ground and looked very bit of a mess. Her clothing was torn, her hair looked awful, she was covered in old burns, and just looked like she had gone through hell and had just forced herself out of it.

“What...? What was that?” Marianne titled her head up to look at the figure on the ground, but Lapis kept a distance.

“You! You’re-! You were with him!” Lazuli starts, drawing her weapon. “She’s one of Jade’s people, be careful.”

“Please... You need to help. It’s Ivory, if I don’t do something she’s going to die!” The girl looked like she wasn’t going to be in any condition to fight and the pleading voice made it difficult for Lazuli to keep her weapon steady. She looked right at Lapis. “You! You were on her team right!? She showed me pictures! Please, you have to help!”

Lapis stared at Molly questioningly for a moment. This wasn’t what he was expecting to hear. He watched Marianne while keeping his weapon ready in front of him. This could still be part of that trap he worried about. “Is she telling the truth?” The old huntress was very good and picking out lies.

Marianne stared at the girl for a while. Her own face was still mostly obscured by a hood but her scratchy voice appeared to pierce through the conversation with a pointed question. She tries to steady herself, but it was clear she was having difficulty doing anything more than standing. “What is your name?”

“Look out!” Lazuli caught the glint of something whirling by and threw herself into the mystery girl’s way just as two blades swung by them. Lapis deflected another that looked to be aimed in his direction.

The blades swung back to a figure on a half-collapsed rooftop as they snap back into the circular holsters at her wrists. “I should have figured I’d find you if I followed her.” Auburn gave a cheerful smile with a wicked look in her eye. “Isn’t this just a treat? I get to see you surrounded by bunch of people who can’t defend themselves. Well guess what you’re stuck doing until I feel like I’m done with you. Want to make this simple? Get up here and let me finish what was supposed to happen back in that fight.”

Lapis wastes no time firing, but the girl just jumped out of the way when he raised his gun, letting him chase her with the bullets and she jumped from roof to roof, until she plunged herself into a collapsed part of one of the buildings and out of sight.

The other girl rose to her feet shakily. She jolted around with arcing static as she stood. “I hate to break it to you, but that won’t work... I trained her this last year. Besides, we don’t have time for this!”

“She is trying to attack us as a distraction. If we can leave, then we can rescue your friend.” Again she tries to stand up straighter and Lapis catches her as she buckles.

“Neither of you are in any position to go anywhere! Besides, I don’t really owe Reynard any favors lately. I’m sure she can take care of herself.”

“We’re huntsmen, Lapis. Are we really any better if we leave someone to die?” Lazuli interjects, “Auburn’s after me. I can protect Marianne. You go with that girl and help. Besides, I’ve seen her fight, if she’s in that condition the situation’s really bad. I’ll catch up.”

Lapis gave a stern stare to the burned girl but nods. “Fine. But you’re not driving that thing.” He points to the buzzsaw, picking it up. “I’ll carry this. Can you run?”

“Y-Yeah... Thank you.” She starts to dash ahead in a clumsy way, still trying to fight back the pain of the dust she’d been injected with.

“Wait. Wait!” Marianne tries to shout as the two rush away. “What is your name!?” She stood there with a look of shock half visible under her hood. There’s no way...

“Been waiting here this whole time you know.” Auburn says as she kicks down an already half busted door only hanging on one hinge.

“What is your deal!? Why go through all this just to get at me!? That’s half the reason you didn’t help us in the first place, right? Why do you hate me so much!?”

“You know, I would have thought it was obvious but I guess that just goes to show just how much dumber than me the rest of you are. There’s just so much to hate about you! I crawled my way out of everything thrown my way because I know how important it is to be strong. I was ready for the world no matter if it was ready for me or not. I’m smarter, stronger, and wiser than any of my peers and I was destined to be the one at the top. Then you show up with a sob story about your precious little mining town, some hacked up weapon whose design you stole from your brother, and no semblance, and all of the sudden you have all the friends, admirers, attention; and when you finally get your semblance you manage to live through something you absolutely shouldn’t have!

“Everything you have, everything you don’t deserve! It. Should. Be. Mine!” Auburn readies her weapons with a dark look on her face. “And I’m going to kill you to take it all back!”

“Th-That’s it? You’re just jealous!? I-I can’t believe you! Everything the rest of us went through was just because you couldn’t stand not having what someone else did? Well sorry, but I’m not going to fight you because you want it. There’s someone here right behind me who needs my help- and I’m going to defend them. Now let’s go.”

[teamoliv-archive]

Overheard Conversations: Unexpected Aid

“What the hell happened!?” Lapis’s first words on seeing the battered Marianne were probably the wrong ones, but it was the only thing that he could think of. It looked real bad. Did being chased down by that guy with the hat really take that much out of her? Just how strong was this guy?

Lazuli and her friends gazed on in a muted shock. The blood was something she had been unfortunately desensitized to during their time as the Arena’s prisoners, but her brother’s reaction was worrying.

Mother Marianne let out a bloody cough, her mask no longer hiding the numerous burns and scarring on her face. She looked up at them with her one good eye. The fact they were more concerned about the fresh wounds than the old ones was comforting at least.

“We need to get you to a hospital.” Lapis says, rushing over to help the old huntress to her feet. “What happened out there?”

“Put up a hell of a fight in what she did.” A voice came from the direction of a squirrel who had hopped up on a small ledge.

Lazuli had to double-check to make sure she was seeing this correctly. The animal was new but the voice was familiar. “Wait, you’re-”

“That’s the guy who was arguing with Jade when we were first caught!” Arvinda blurted out, staring at the squirrel with her ax drawn, but the blade inactive.

“Hey, cool it!” The animal replies. It appeared to be straining to have its head forced toward them somehow. Occasionally the squirrel would fidget and move around as if it was held in place against its will. “Besides, you hack this thing up it won’t inconvenience me much. You’re not gonna find me; this thing’s just the messenger. Now shut up and listen to me. You want to know where your little friend is, right?”

“You know where Shani is!?” Lazuli called back. “Is this more of your stupid games? We’re not going back to your bloodsport.”

From several buildings down, Robin let out a irritated sigh. Kids were always so impatient. He kept his eyes closed for now considering he couldn’t see in front of him anyway. Displacing his senses into animals he touched was useful but inconvenient in other ways and just plain disorienting if he used more than one. “You want me to answer the fuckin’ question or not? Truth is, I swiped your friend out of there a while ago. She was off to some other place to take care of some owed debt. I didn’t bother figurin’ out exactly where. You listen up and I’ll tell you where I hid her. In exchange, you keep off my back while I sort out some business of my own.”

This sounded way too much like a trap for Lapis’s taste. It was still a bit hard to take that Goodfellow’s missing brother was one of these monsters. “Why should we believe you. What do you get out of this?”

“Mostly, rubbin’ this in Jade’s face. I didn’t like his plan to keep usin’ students for the games. Left a bad taste in my mouth. Sides that, gettin’ my sister involved is where I draw my line. Call it the one of the few standards I’ve got. Go ahead and call the goddamn police to go with you if you really want, but I’m not stickin’ around here anymore.”

Lapis watched Marianne lift her head to stare at the squirrel. She lifted a hand up to touch where her mask was. Now that she was closer it looked like her nose was broken, too. 

“We can trust this...” She says with reluctance. “I saw that rage against what your sister went through with my own eyes.” Without another word the squirrel departs.

Lazuli saw the determined look on her friends’ faces. They’d have to take the bait either way. “We’ll need to split up. How are you guys holding up?” Lauzli asks her friends. The three of them nod. They were just as shaken as Lazuli still was given the long time they spent but they could help. “You guys go find Shani. Lapis can I can help her. We’ll meet you at the hospital.”

“Take this with you.” Lapis tosses one of them his scroll and motions to Marianne. “Her contact is in there so we can touch base. Don’t do anything too reckless. We still don’t know if this is a trap or not.”

[teamoliv-archive]

Overheard Conversations: Resistance

The creaking of the door at the end of the hallway at this hour only meant one thing. That bastard was coming again to try in vain to convince her to give in.

“I’ve come with something for you.” Jade said is a polite and gentle tone. He already knew the girl saw through him, but he wasn’t about to be the first one to lower their guard in this little game of theirs. She was remarkably willful. “I heard a few of your meals were skipped. I made sure your friends knew and we’ve arranged for the cook in question to face all three of your little friends in the next match.”

Lazuli stayed silent. She knew better than anyone they were being forced to fight for this monster’s sick amusement. She just hoped they didn’t normalize it too much. Arvinda worried her. She had a tendency to get lost in fighting. Nilah and Iris would do what they had to but Arvi could lose control. Either way they’d have to kill the poor man. Despite receiving messages and notes from them through this man she hadn’t seen them in person in weeks. She didn’t trust anything he gave her because of that.

“You don’t want to at least watch? Such a selfish girl. They’re doing this for you you know. What should I tell them when I return?”

“Or perhaps I should have Molly challenge them afterward?”

Dammit. She had learned that one of the ‘rules’ of this twisted place was that anyone could challenge anyone else- but it was always to the death. Many picked their battles carefully but whatever money came in was apparently dependent on crowd reactions and displeasing the crowd could get someone ‘challenged’ by someone they just couldn’t beat. Molly was a girl she had met only once- when she took Autumn off for her new training when she sold the rest of them out. Still, she could already tell by the weapon and her blase attitude toward the whole thing (and her utterly creepy devotion to the nutcase currently in front of her) that she could probably beat all three of them easy.

No, she couldn’t let him get to her. That’s what happened to the others. Somehow... Somehow he had convinced them they wanted to be here.

She still had no idea what she was waiting for, but something in the back of her mind practically demanded that she hold her ground. She refused to believe it was just stubborn pride or rebellion. She couldn’t let him back her into a corner. “You can’t keep doing this.” She said more like it was fact than a plea. What was she doing? This was stupid! She could get herself, or worse everyone else, in serious danger.

If I don’t do something they’re going to get killed anyway.

If they saw her, maybe she could help send a message to her friends, if not anyone else. “Because I’m going to stop you.”

“I doubt you can do a whole lot emaciated and behind bars. You know if you accept my offer you would see that it’s not all that bad. Come, watch your friends and see how they’re doing. You know they’ll love to see you again.”

“Stop talking.” She issues harshly, standing up with difficulty. “I’m going to fight.”

“I knew you’d come around. Why don’t you tell me-”

“I said shut up! This isn’t because of you! This is because I’m going to stand up for myself instead of lie down and die of starvation. Your precious ‘crowd’ isn’t going to accept someone who isn’t strong enough to fight for a match so I’m going to need time to get ready, right?”

“Correct.” Jade says hesitantly. This was suddenly a little less pleasing than he’d have wanted it to be. She was forcing him to only respond instead of letting him speak. A small problem but one he disliked anyway. “Now, why don’t you let me-”

“I’m not done.” Keeping him silent was working- whatever it was she was planning on doing with that. “I was told you can pick your first opponent when you’re ready, well I have it.”

“YOU!“

[teamoliv-archive]

Overheard Conversations: A Few Weeks Later

At an undisclosed location... One month after the Fall of Beacon

“So... What are you in for?” Lazuli asks dully from behind a set of bars. The room she was locked in was pretty decent for a prison in that was clean and had a decent bed and running water, but that was wholly beside the point. “Me? My class’s ship got shot down by terrorists letting a bunch of Grimm loose at Beacon Academy. I had friends once, now they’re all fighting to the death for some rich asshole’s amusement. I think one got sold to a sleaze bar, though. Another sold us out. I hated her anyway. If you see a faunus named Auburn, kick her in the shins for me; until they break. Meal time is once every other day. I got skipped yesterday. I haven’t eaten in three days. You can go fight if you want food every day, but me? I’m staying right here. Yes, I do plan on starving before I give them what they want. Their leader’s a creep. My advice is just don’t listen to what he has to say even if it sounds like a good idea. You think it’s a good idea- and he’s got you. I managed to figure that out at least. Anyway, I just have to hold out and hope they don’t forget me again tomorrow. If you see my friends, let them know I’m still here. I know they can’t come see me of their own free will, but just make sure they know I’m not dead.”

“I’m just doing what a Hamelin is good at- waiting.”

[teamoliv-archive]

Overheard Conversations: Silly Meta Stuff 3

“Alright, Sis... I’m doing this because I want you to succeed. Now you’re going to start Atlas in a few years and I want you to look at this.

“What... is this? Uh... I actually don’t know what my semblance is yet. I’m kind of worried though. Tragic backstory?”

“Why worry?”

“The village, Lapis... I was ten when the riots happened. I still have nightmares... How much is that going to affect me when I start fighting?”

“You don’t have to worry. I went through it already. I’ll try and help you through it.”

“Mom and Dad are still alive. I definitely want to keep it that way. I’m not really good at being emotionless, I don’t have any disability, we don’t have anything to do with Grimm, who are all these people this keeps referencing?”

“Belladonna’s team. Don’t worry about it. You haven’t even met them.”

“Well here’s one I can say for certain. My weapon is based on yours.”

“Wait, what?”

“Well why not? I mean you’re the only hunstman I know anyway. We all look up to you, Lapis. You told us you’d come back a hero! I think you will. Why not emulate that?”

“I’m definitely ‘underpowered’ but that’s because I’m still in training. So how’d I do?”

“I think you have a better shot at the hero thing than me, Lazi. Besides, I’m not a huntsman, remember?”

[teamoliv-archive]

Cutscene: Guidance

Still nothing.

Ever since he found that missing poster, all of Lapis’s priorities had shifted. He was still coming across plants of weapon caches when he knew where to look, but lately he’d been doing little but cluing the authorities in on what to look for. Only finding Lazuli mattered. He still had nothing to go on. No one knew anything and apparently huntsmen around this area have been disappearing left and right. He was about to hazard his luck in the next town when he spied something he thought he should be seeing more of.

Another huntsman.

The cloak and the full-covering didn’t hide that they were technically a huntress, but Lapis didn’t see a single bit of uncovered skin on the woman. Even the mask shrouded everything. She looked like she was peering at a piece of paper. Lapis knew what it was the moment he even saw a corner.

“Hey!” He rushes up to the huntress, yanking his own copy of that poster out of a pocket. He holds it up sideways, not bothering to straighten it upright. “What did you find!?”

The masked woman peered at him. Lapis could practically feel her gaze on him. It was like there wasn’t a darn thing he could do she wouldn’t notice. After a few moments of pause she finally speaks with a harsh and raspy voice that was struggling to sound kind. “You are an earnest one.” She declares, “You are looking for these missing children also?”

“Yeah.” Lapis says. There was no time to try and put up the mercenary front. He was finally making headway hopefully. “I’ve been trying to find what I can and nothing’s turning up. I need to find out who did this and-”

The woman spoke calmly. Regardless, Lapis felt himself cut off. “I am aware of at least one of their ranks. They are more dangerous than I feel I can describe to you. If you wish to help, then I will ask you to do something for me.”

“What?” Lapis didn’t like this already. She was trying to keep him ‘out of danger’ more than likely. “If you’re going to tell me to just start spreading word while you go out and risk your neck, that’s not happening.”

“I assure you, young man, my neck will be perfectly safe. You, however, I cannot allow to simply waltz into a lion’s den without knowing what you’re up against. You clearly have a deeper stake in this than simply doing the right thing. You’re too anxious for it to be otherwise. Tell me, what is it?”

He was right. He wasn’t going to hide anything was he? “One of them is my sister. I can’t just sit back and not do anything!”

There was no persuading him otherwise. A stubborn boy to be sure. It would be pointless to argue. “You never let me tell you what it is I wanted you to do for me, you know. I am not going to send you off to hide when there are capable people who can come to the aide of who needs it most. You look to be half-finished with your schooling. You are not fully trained.”

“I will tell you what I know. I fought one of the people responsible and I can confidently tell you they are powerful and well-hidden. You will need to improve if you wish to save these people and make it out alive. You will come with me and I will finish your training as a huntsmen.”

Well that wasn’t what he was expecting. Karma paid off in spades today it seemed. “R-Right.” He was otherwise at a loss for words. Composing himself, Lapis straightened himself back out. “Hamelin.” He introduces.

“Lapis Hamelin, then? I thought you looked familiar. You were one of the Atlas teams who participated in the ill-fated festival. Do not be so shocked, many huntsmen and huntresses watch those games. I just happen to be very good at memorizing names. I seem to have picked up the name Mother Marianne in recent years. You do not need to call me Mother, though.”

“Wait... I’ve heard of you! The Spirit of Forever Fall...” It was some kind of local legend around Vale. She would come out of nowhere and help lost travelers or huntsmen in trouble. What was she doing in Mistral, though? A younger him might have looked up to someone like this. A real guardian who wasn’t put in place for fame, prestige, or interest. A hero; a real one.

And here she was, offering to teach him.

Don’t worry Lazi... I’m coming. We’re getting you all out of there.