Chapter Text
One week.
That is how long Artemis has been at Beacon Academy. Just one week, and already she’s become the talk of the school. She can remain hidden and out of sight from Grimm, she was always great at managing her emotions. She was once an undetectable thief, yet, it is impossible for her to remain under the radar in a building filled with chatter and noisy students.
The small scuffle between her and team AASH outside the dining hall was the first wave. But as soon as people found out she was accepted with a disability, everyone went nuts trying to find out what was so special about her. Some looked down at her, commenting on how she doesn’t deserve to be here, others wanted to chat her up and find out what was up.
Artemis hated the attention.
“It’ll die down,” Mauve spoke up from her right.
They were currently in their Language elective course. And as Ozpin had stated, her whole team were taking Sign Language as a requirement. She figured the reason she was also required to be here was to aid in their understanding of sign language. There are numerous ways to sign one word for example, the way she expresses herself might be different than from what the teacher is doing. There were currently only 4 more students in this class, 3 of them second years and Velvet.
“Mauve is right, gossip blows up for a while then something new takes its place.” Ulrich offered. “Coco’s team seems to be getting a lot of attention too. They seem to be doing great teamwork in their combat classes. And I didn’t even know Fox was blind!”
Artemis simply leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms. She hoped that was true.
“Yeah, don’t sweat it. It’ll die out eventually,” one of the second years replied.
Ugh. This is what she was talking about. Attention. She can’t help but feel a bit emo at not wanting to be spoken encouragements to.
“… I think you should let her be… she has that face again.” Vinn spoke up.
“Huh? What face?” Ulrich asked from her left and shifting forward to get a good look.
The archer finally moved her eyes from the board and glared at Ulrich, who immediately shifted back.
“Oh, that face.”
The conversation soon died at the instructor’s arrival.
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, how are you today?!?” Professor Peach asked with that usual enthusiasm while signing with her hands.
And on proceeded the class with the professor signing everything she was saying. Most of the 90 minutes of class speeded by quickly. For Artemis it was all just… sitting there, mostly. She also helped her team every now and then, surprisingly though, they were catching on quick. Although they couldn’t sign much for themselves, they were starting to somewhat understand what Artemis is signing.
“Starting next week there will be zero talking in this class, and I don’t mean behavior wise. I mean, at all. Signing will be your only method of communication here. You may look at your notes and peers for help but that is it. No voicing what so ever.”
“Whaaaat?” Groans were heard all around, Ulrich’s being the loudest.
“Shouldn’t you be better at this? Me and Vinn are completely new at it, but you actually understand what Artemis is saying.” Mauvin asked Ulrich amused at his childhood friend’s antics.
“I can understand it fine, signing it is a whole different deal. A small slight change in gesture can be a completely different word. I accidently cussed out a little girl instead of saying thank you. Her grandfather was the owner of a shop, I’m now banned…”
This brought a smile to Artemis’ lips, while Mauve shook his head. “Only you, Rick. Only you.”
“It was an accident!!” He exclaimed. Soon closing his mouth at Professor Peach’s glare.
Professor Peach then continued, “the best way for you to learn is to practice it as much as possible, and since I know you don’t study to save your lives, we’re doing it during class…”
And on went that class until finally, the bell rang.
Following that was combat practice. This part of the school day tended to be done in teams. Different stations were scattered around the building. Target practice, mats for sparring, hand to hand combat training arena, and there was even a simulator in the second floor that apparently can only be used by second years. Some say that few selected first year students can be cleared but must have an excellent average in combat.
Professor Goodwitch was currently standing in the middle of a small arena-like setting. This is where the combat training is going to start.
“First, I would like to measure your skills through observation. I want your teammates to look for your strengths and weaknesses. After the match you yourself will tell me what you think they are. The objective of this exercise is to make you aware of what you need to work on. Not everything you fight will be mindless. Now, let’s begin. Our first match will consist of… Coco Adel vs Mauvin Hood…
The match between the two leaders was intense. One would have the advantage but then the other would take the upper hand. During their entire match, Artemis watched with fixated attention. She never really understood the drive that every person in this Academy showed. Their yearning to fight, their romanticized vison of becoming a hunter or huntress. They’ve probably never truly experienced violence before. They probably think the Grimm are the only monsters in this world, the only thing humanity should fight against. The carefree attitude her team and Coco’s showed out during the initiation proved that. They’ve never fought for their lives, to survive. They find combat… fun. Fun is the last thing that comes to her mind. If it weren’t necessary for survival, she’d probably loathe it.
Yet, seeing her team leader so focused and observant, made her want to understand if there is more to fighting than just for enjoyment. She is also quite curious as to how Mauve knew back at the initiation that people were coming without them being visible. She’d have guessed he had good faunus hearing, but he was most definitely human. As the time dragged on however, she found no answer to her questions. Her thoughts getting interrupted by the Professor’s voice.
“Alright, and that’s the match. Well done both of you. I think this is the first time we’ve had a draw in my time teaching,” she said, glancing up at the monitor showing both their aura levels at 25. “And well, what have you learned about each other?”
“He’s very good at close quarter combat. But for long distances he’s easy picking.” Coco spoke first.
Mauve took in that information and responded with, “And I’d say you excel at long distance, but close quarter will be your downfall.”
“Very well done, now please take your seats.” Glenda glanced up and choose a more reserved student. “Miss Kynigos, you’ve not been very participative lately, lets find you an opponent, shall we.” She glanced down at her screen to look for someone that would contrast her fighting skills.
“I’ll do it,” a voice called out.
Ash. Of course.
“Hmmm,” Glenda looked down at his report from his past combat experience. He seemed to be an okay opponent to test her strengths and weaknesses. The thing she was worried about was their previous confrontation she was reported about before classes had started. After some thought, she relented.
“Very well. You know the rules. Stop attacking as soon as your opponent is on the red. And remember, your objective here is not to defeat your opponent, but to learn their strengths and weaknesses.” She stepped outside the lines of the ring.
Artemis sighed as she stood up and almost lazily stepped away from her team and into the ring. Great, she thought.
Ash, however, strode down the stairs like he owned them, a smug smile decorating his face. Taking a good look at him, Artemis could now see his eyes were a very pretty green, but not as stunning as Mauvin’s right eye. Who’s left blue eye simply accentuated his good looks.
This guy, however, looks way too confident right now. She didn’t like it one bit.
“Hmph, you’re in for a world of hurting kitty cat.” He taunted.
Artemis just stared back indifferently, not acknowledging that he had spoken. I just want to get this over with, she thought to herself.
On the sidelines was the rest of her team watching their exchange.
“Think he’s talking smack to her?” Asked Ulrich.
“Most likely, but Artemis isn’t very easily provoked. If she were, you’d be sleeping outside our dorm.” Mauve replied with slight banter.
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You snore.” Deadpanned Vinn.
Coco snickered and Velvet tried very hard to suppress her giggle.
“Not cool man, not cool.” Ulrich shook his head and crossed his arms.
Mauvin, although engaging in the conversation, didn’t take his eyes off the fight that was about to begin. Ash’s sudden interest in participating gave him bad vibes. He was up to something, he just knew it.
“BEGIN” Was Artemis only heads-up, because soon she was forced to the defensive.
Ash flicked his wrists and a throwing knife appeared in both his hands. Simultaneously he ran up and swung sideways to swipe at Artemis’ face, in which she was forced to move her head backwards out of range. To safe herself from falling on her back with that sudden move, she back flipped into a defensive stand.
He’s faster than I gave him credit for. I underestimated him. But if speed were the defining factor, Artemis would be the victor. From what she could see is that all his focus is on hurting her, not even bothering to follow the point of the exercise. I’ll stay on the defensive, see how he moves, them ill force him on the defensive.
Artemis was surprised to say the least. He brought more to the table than she thought. He’s a close quarter combat fighter. So far only using two knifes but she knew that contraption on his wrists either did something or hid more knives. He also knew how to hit. Hard.
“ugrh – g” She grunted. She was forced to take out Crescent Moon, blocking his hit. But he just kept on pushing, literally dragging Artemis backward. He was stronger than her, that was for certain.
I can’t win him in a battle of strength, So I’ll just use it against him. Artemis raised her bladed staff higher, in turn raising Ash’s arms. She twisted in place so that her back was facing him and turned her bladed bow from a horizontal block to digging it in the floor vertically. At the sudden disappearance of an opposite force, Ash’s arms kept moving down with force. Using this to her advantage, Artemis pressed her back as close as possible to his, then grabbed his right arm near the shoulder and pulled along with his swing. Simultaneously, she kicked her right leg backward, now his whole body was going the same direction, over Artemis’ shoulder, and to the ground.
She didn’t waste any time in grabbing her weapon again from its place on the ground and backtracking, not wanting to engage just yet.
“Woah, that was neat.”
Good, Mauvin thought. She knows he’s stronger and is using it against him.
She dodged, parried, and turned on her feet to avoid getting stabbed. Even with her aura he was sure to leave painful hits because he wasn’t holding back.
Alright, time to get on the offensive. She jumped back a few feet to keep some space in between them. She then gripped her bow tightly in her hands and raised her arms, swinging down and focusing on releasing her aura down with the strike. The amethyst glowing arc flowing towards her opponent. That seemed to surprise some people because along with Ash’s surprised face, some people from the audience gasped. Taking a quick look around she saw that some second and third years from another class over at the simulator on the second floor were leaning on the rails watching the fight.
That strike drained Ash’s aura considerably, while it only took a small portion of hers. That was the downfall against using her aura that way, as strong as the attack was, if she used it too much, she ran the risk of draining herself.
Straightening from that attack, she glanced behind her opponent and saw Ash’s team standing behind him. She made eye contact with one of them, something about them… that… what was I doing?
“Arghg..,” pain radiated through Artemis. First her hand felt like it was hit with a boulder, then a wave of hot stinging pain traveled from her upper back down to her waist. Blinking a few times, her vision focused on the ceiling.
I’m on the ground?
Ash, had somehow slammed the faunus so hard into the ground that the metal floor dented underneath her. Seeing a foot aimed towards her face, she quickly rolled to the side and stood, still slightly disoriented.
What the hell happened, she thought.
“What the hell happened?” Asked Ulrich, watching from the sidelines.
“…I don’t know…” Mauve frowned. She was doing so well until she suddenly didn’t move when Ash kicked her weapon out of her hands. Almost as if she didn’t see him charging towards her.
Damn that hurt. But what happened, he isn’t fast. Why didn’t I see him? Is it his semblance?
She thought back for a moment. Throughout their fight he’s been throwing knifes and they gravitated them back towards him.
No, that can’t be. His semblance has to do with how his knives returned to him. But if its not his semblance then how…
Her thoughts trailed off as he turned to face her once again. He flicked his wrists and instead of knives appearing in his hands, his weapon finally appeared. Some sort of wrist daggers that looked like claws, or talons. As he walked towards her, his head shifted slightly to the right. His eyes moving quickly, directing Artemis’ attention along with him. All she saw was his teammates again.
Although one caught her interest. He seemed, very focused on her. Waiting for something?
No. Trying to do something.
Its him, Artemis thought. These pair of bastards reeeeeally must not like me to consider cheating in view of so many.
But by the time she realized it, it was too late, her vision went dark again, twisted. Like, that feeling you get when you’re about to faint, the edges black out first and everything looks fuzzy, and slow. She was ready for it this time though. Instead of focusing her vision, she closed her eyes and focused on sound. His heavy footsteps sounding close, way too close. She didn’t know how he was attacking so she simply ducked and rolled sideways.
Upon not feeling an impact, she opened her eyes again, blinking rapidly to try and clear her vision again. She didn’t know how that guy’s semblance worked, if eye contact was needed or if one look was enough, but she decided not to take any chances. She just hoped the professor wouldn’t reprimand her.
That side roll ended up taking her to where her weapon had fallen, taking it in her hands she raised her bow and grabbed an arrow for the first time in their whole sparring match. Aimed quickly and let go. The arrow flew straight towards Ash, passing and grazing the right side of his check, slightly damaging his aura. But he was not her target. Hanz was.
Hanz’s eyes widened when he realized the arrow was going straight towards him, but a little too late. It made contact and impacted right between his brows. The impact flew his head backwards with so much force that he was thrown down. His aura took all the damage, though he’d most likely feel that tomorrow. Good. The room was silent for a minute, Ash was about to charge again when Goodwitch declared “alright, that’s enough. Match is over.”
Everyone was ushering and murmuring, glancing at Artemis with a variety of looks. Many not nice.
“Shouldn’t she get in trouble for that? She hit me!” Hanz called her out, rising from the floor.
Goodwitch ignored him and proceeded to ask, “alright Ash, tell me what you’ve learned about your opponent.”
Ash put away his weapons and huffed, “that she’s a terrible shot,” snickers were heard.
With the same static expression, she turned to Artemis, “and you?”
He’s slow, makes too much noise when he moves, his head was not on the objective, and he clearly can’t fulfil an objective on his own. He is however quite strong, the way he uses his semblance makes his weapon help long range.
With a nod she announced, “A for you Miss Kynigos, and C- Mr. Redd.”
At the announcement many voices of surprise filled the room, Ash’s being the loudest.
“What? Why? She took the most damage!”
“Will anyone care to tell Mr. Redd the reasoning behind his grade aside from Miss. Kynigos?”
Mauvin spoke up, “I’m actually surprised you didn’t fail him, he clearly had outside help.”
Goodwitch seemed pleased at the response, seems as though she also knew of team AASH’s actions. “Please, elaborate.”
“the match was going fine until he slammed Artemis down. I found it odd that she didn’t move. Her speed is her forte, she should have seen him coming and moved out of the way.”
“Maybe I was just faster.” Was Ash’s reply.
“Sorry to tell you this but you’re not. Your footing is too heavy and you are nowhere between her speed. I eliminated the fact that it was his semblance, which I think is something along the lines of attraction or telekinesis, maybe polarity. I thought maybe something was wrong with her when I saw her blink several times. She must have figured something out because she stopped relying on sight and closed her eyes, focusing on sound. Which is no hard feat giving his heavy footing. I didn’t realize someone outside was in on the fight until she shot Mr. Bullseye over there. I’ve seen Artemis fight, there was no way she could miss from that distance, so it was done on purpose.”
“Thank you, Mr. Hood.” Turning to Ash, Professor Goodwitch gave him a stern glare. “There is also the fact that you didn’t understand the objective of today’s lesson: Figure out your opponent’s strength and weakness. Not only did you not mention strength, but you got her weakness incorrectly.” Looking to the crowd she called out “Yatsuhashi, Mr. Hood has told us a few of Miss Kinigos’ strengths. Please mention a weakness.”
“Strength, she clearly is outmatched in strength. She was however smart enough to use her opponent’s strength against him.”
“Thank you.” She responded, “and to further answer Mr. Hood’s question, the only reason I did not fail you is because you didn’t need me for that. You yourself have proven that you can’t fulfil a future mission, and that you need someone’s help to assist you against an opponent. Things aren’t looking good for you in regards to the Vital Festival. And I would like to see you and Mr. Bleu in my office after class.”
“Welp, that was fun.” Ulrich said.
Artemis rolled her eyes while closing and opening her hand into a fist. It was still quite sore from that kick Ash gave her earlier.
Vinncent scoffed, “I’m not sure Artemis agrees with you,”
The group was currently heading towards the next class that they had together, Weapons Training 1301. Walking into the room they noticed that target boards were placed in the middle of the room in a line next to each other.
Guess its target practice today, Artemis thought. My hand is going to get in the way. She looked at her hand again. Her aura should take care of the bruise, but it was still gonna ache for a while.
“I think its target practice today, what are we gonna use?”
“ – You will be utilizing your own weapons for today.” Answered Miss Peach, again, who strode in through the door. “If your contraption does not handle any throwing projectiles, using the gun form will work as well. The point of today’s lesson is accuracy. The closer you get to the bulls eye, the better your grade.”
The doors swung open, Team AASH walked in looking a little annoyed. Looks like Professor Goodwitch had an unpleasant talk with them.
Great, the feline thought, now I have to put up with his annoying self on top of his usual displeasing presence.
At their arrival, professor Peach spoke again, “Glad you could join us, please line up in your assigned teammates per target. This will be a group effort. If your weapon has no projectiles of any kind, you are free to use the practice knifes, or arrows we have for you…” she repeated and continued on with further instructions.
Team MAUV strode over to the target in the center, with team AASH to their right. Not one glance was spared or word was uttered but you could feel the tension in the air between both teams.
Mauve was up first, he strode up in position and shifted his gauntlets, a double barrel was raised close to where his blade usually extended. Firing a few times, he did pretty good, from his various shots, a few hit dead center, the other burn marks stayed pretty much close to it. Ulrich was next, he gripped his weapon, aimed and fired. Unlike Mauve’s rapid firing weapon, Ric’s shotguns were a slower firing rate, but packed a bigger punch. He only took four shots, all of them hitting in the inner ring just grazing the center. Vinn’s weapon didn’t have any type of projectiles, so he grabbed two practice knifes and threw them. Both grazed the center dot.
For someone who’s fighting style doesn’t depend on guns or throwing knifes, he’s a very good shot, Artemis thought as she lined up. To her right, Ash also took position. He decided to act first, he used his own throwing knives and aimed three at the target. All of them hit the center, digging right next to each other. He threw her a look that promised a challenge and waited.
“Just ignore him, he’s full of himself,” Ulrich spoke up.
Artemis stared straight ahead, then raised her bow and arrow. When she tried to pull her arrow back on the string, she immediately stopped. Hissing slightly in pain, she let go and pulled her hand out, opening and closing it in a fist.
Team AASH snickered.
“As you are out there in the field there are times when you will be stuck in a situation where your hurt, but a small action like aiming accurately can save your life. So, I don’t want to hear any excuses…” she added as she observed the two teams warily.
Artemis didn’t mind, she could easily just switch arms and be done with it but, where’s the fun in that?
She placed her bow, and one wooden prop arrow that was not her own, down on the floor. She then laced two more in between her lips. Soon, the faunus proceeded to remove her footwear.
Her teammates looked at her with questioning gazes, especially when she grabbed her weapon on the floor with her feet and did a hand stand. She balanced her weight on one hand, the one that wasn’t hurt, and readied her arrow on her left foot to pull back the string.
“No way…” she heard Ulrich mutter.
Raising her head slightly, she positioned her aim slightly lower, and let go.
Dead center.
You could hear a pin drop in the room when she readied her second arrow, everyone had stopped what they were doing to see which team got closer to the center with their three throws. Reaching her foot forward towards her face, she grabbed the second arrow with her toes that she had placed between her lips.
When Artemis let go of the string again, gasps and slight chuckles were thrown when her arrow literally split her first arrow in half, hitting the exact same spot dead center. At this point, Ash already had a sour look forming on his face, while her teammates tried very had not to laugh straight in their faces. Her third arrow hit dead center again, splitting the second arrow in two.
“Very well done, even with a slight injury you can still manage to stay alive out there with that skill.” The instructor praised walking away to assess other students.
I didn’t learn this skill to prepare for ‘out there’, the outside world forced me to practice this skill to stay alive, she thought as she stood straight from her hand stand.
“Well, now I know never to play billiards or bullseye with you,” observed Vinn.
“Yeah! You totally shut his face up real quick,” was Ulrich’s response. While Mauve simply stared at her with a look of appreciation.
The rest of the class went by quickly, her teammates soon finding out that she did the whole hand stand thing just for show when she shot again normally with her non-dominant hand. This of course just caused even more nasty looks from team AASH.
“Okay class, that will be all for today. All of you did very well today. The point of today’s lesson was to grade you as a team because out there? Your team will be all you have, if you can’t work together, you don’t stand a chance.”
“You are dismissed.”
Everyone grabbed their things and headed out towards the door, making the faunus wonder if she was claustrophobic because the sudden heard of people started to make her feel uneasy. As Artemis walked behind Mauve, she was suddenly shoved harshly forward, bumping into him and was forced to grab his arm for balance.
She didn’t need to look backwards to know who that was, but as Mauve did turn around, he shot the culprit a stern look and simultaneously stopped walking.
Ulrich and Vinncent had already made it outside and did not see the altercation that was to come.
“I apologize, I didn’t see you there.” Ash responded, with a tone that showed no such sentiments.
“You –
Was the only thing Mauve was able to utter because Artemis soon gripped his arm and abruptly pulled forwards, forcing him to walk out the door.
As they made it towards the other half of the team, Vinn raised an eyebrow at the linked arms and asked, “moving that fast already?”
Ulrich snickered at the same time Artemis rolled her eyes. She let go of Mauve’s arm but didn’t stop moving, pushing past her other two teammates and headed out the door for lunch. Behind her the three males shared a questioning look.
“Ash.” Was all Mauvin had to say. A look of understanding passed by the other two males.
“What did he –
“Just made her trip. She didn’t want to make a big deal about it apparently.”
“That guy’s got some issues, and I don’t think he’ll stop if he isn’t dealt with. Think we should take it up with a professor?
“… No, if she decides to then we’ll back her up but I have a feeling she’s the type who prefers not to make a big deal out of things. So lets keep low for now.”
Ulrich and Vinn agreed to that and followed Artemis to the dining hall. Not very many students were here, most seemed to be scattered outside practicing and exchanging moves while others had books in front of them. It was still quite early, so more students would eventually make their way to fill their stomachs.
As they were eating some chatter was instigated after Ulrich handed Coco a banana saying, “I find you appealing,” groans and face plants were distributed amongst both teams.
“That pun was as cheesy as this lasagna,” Coco joked.
Ulrich laughed at that, “well, I do try.”
Mauvin opened his mouth to cut in the conversation of Ulrich’s humor when the televisions set around the hall blurred and the news interrupted the programming.
“ – Breaking news. A very recent tragedy just happened at downtown Vale with the White Fang being the presumed culprits, we will now switch live at the site with one of our news reporters, Cyril?
“Yes Lisa, as you can see behind me, various shops and businesses have been heavily damaged by whom we presume is the aftermath of a White Fang attack. Few have been set on fire while others have been broken into and vandalized. Thankfully no casualties have resulted from this attack but about 15 people have been injured, it is encouraged that people refrain from coming down due to –
“Vinn?” Ulrich asked as he saw his partner rise sharply with a worried look on his face as he stared at the news report. “What’s up”
“My parent’s shop is nearby,” he stated as he quickly made his way to the door. Ignoring his food completely on the table.
Mauve and Ulrich looked at each other and seemed to agree to something, because soon they too rose from their seats. Artemis however stayed in hers, her gaze still stuck on the reporter. Not again, she thought.
“Artemis, c’mon!” Ulrich called out when he saw she didn’t move. Mauve stopped halfway to the door at noticing her lack of movement.
This isn’t a good idea, she thought. If the Fang is still there they might recognize her, not something she needed now.
Midway through her thought process a choice was made for her, because soon Ulrich grabbed her arm and dragged her out with him.
Dammit.
As all three raced towards the airship that lead to the city, they finally caught up with Vinncent who was about to board.
“Vinn!” Ulrich called out.
He turned, seeing his team nearing towards him. “What are you guys doing?”
“We’re going with you,” Mauve stated.
“I appreciate that, but you don’t have to do that,
“Of course we do! What are you talking about? We might only know each other for a few weeks, but were friends! We help each other out.” Ulrich responded with a firm expression that reflected Mauve’s.
Vinn smiled at that, “Alright, let’s get going then.”
During the flight, they all stood attentive to the screen for any more information about the attack. Out of the corner of Mauve’s eye however, he spotted Artemis fidgeting with her thigh-long black hair throughout the ride. Something about her hesitant attitude into coming along bugged him, but he let it go, for now. He drifted his thoughts to the far back of his mind as the ship started to descend, soon making their way towards the attacked part of downtown Vale.
As the group walked along the streets, the further they walked, the more apparent the damage seemed to be. Red spray paint on the sides of buildings and over shop windows depicting the White Fangs symbol or words that would not be suitable for a child to see. The further they walked the worse it got; broken windows shards crunched as Artemis and her team stepped over them, furniture from businesses where thrown out the windows and battered, some places looked like it was caught on fire briefly from the blackened walls that seemed to claw upwards.
Vinn, who has been leading the way, made a sharp left and walked straight towards what looked like a metalsmith’s workshop. Although this section of Vale looked like it received the most damage, this shop seemed to take the least. Windows were shattered and some furniture looked broken from what Artemis could see through the now windowless shop.
Vinncent pushed open the wooden door, but instead of swinging open it simply fell down backwards. Which surprised Vinn enough to stumble and barely catch himself to avoid following the door to the ground.
“… aaaaand there goes the door again,” a male voice commented with amusement.
Ulrich and Mauve followed Vinn inside while Artemis slowed her walking a bit before entering. That voice sounds…familiar, she thought.
“Where are my parents? Are they okay?” asked Vinn with concern in his voice.
“Why yes Vinn, I’m fine, thank you for asking,” was the stranger’s response. “And they’re fine, they’re not here, they left to the other side of town to pick up some materials to fix up the shop. They should be back soon.”
“Oh don’t be such a girl, I knew you’d be fine, no offense Artemis,” he added looking towards his female teammate. “So, how bad is it?” he asked, turning his attention back to the male voice.
Artemis finally walked past the door frame and stood on top of the fallen door. But she soon froze in place. Fuck, was the only word that crossed her mind.
The not-stranger didn’t answer Vinn’s question, he cocked his head to the side with a questioning look on his face at the mention of the feline. “Artemis?” he asked him, then shifted his gaze to her as she entered.
Apolleon, her brother, stared at her in disbelief. Which then turned dark.
Fuck, Artemis repeated.
The girl’s teammates had lost look in their faces, glancing back and forth between Artemis and Leon.
The dark-haired female took one tentative step backward towards the exit, but she didn’t get another one in before Leon’s voice warned, “if you step out that door I swear I will throw this knife as soon as you turn your back.”
I could risk it... Artemis thought, it was so tempting. But she knew she’d have to face him sooner or later. She knew her brother worked in a workshop but never really bothered to find out which one. Karma’s a real bitch.
“Uuuuh, you two…know each other…?” Vinn asked carefully.
“I don’t know,” he responded dryly. “I mean, I thought we were friends, but you tell me. Do friends who have known each other for so long leave for a job outside the kingdoms and don’t contact you for almost three months? Apparently, you’ve been back for a while, didn’t bother to come by?”
She avoided eye contact by looking around. Her uneasiness showing through the shifting of her weight from foot to foot.
“Can’t even look me in the eyes?”
Artemis’ teammates watched with awkwardness at the reunion of these two apparent ‘friends.’
The woman in the spotlight rubbed the back of her neck in nervousness before signing, low signal….?? She signed with a questioning look on her face, obviously needing acting classes.
Silence filled the air.
“I think I’ll just throw the knife either way,” he said after a while. Swinging his arm backwards aiming for her.
“WHOA. Whoa, whoa.” Vinn exclaimed, reaching for his wrist. “How about we calm down here, alright?” Taking the knife from Leon’s hand for extra measure he again glanced between the two ‘friends,’ unbeknownst to everyone but Artemis, they were siblings.
During the altercation, Mauve and Ulrich simply stood idly, confusion and surprise apparent in their faces.
Leon scoffed. “Honestly,” he muttered. “I thought you were dead, that job was supposed to take you a few weeks. And I had to find out from Tukson that you were alive?! And that’s because he had people searching for you!” He exclaimed.
Artemis’ face revealed nothing. She simply broke eye contact and looked out the broken window.
Leon’s lips were pressed into a straight line, but choose to ignore her for now. Looking over at Vinncent, he asked “how do you know her anyway.”
“She’s my teammate, from Beacon.” He answered.
That got a reaction. His eyebrows flew up, surprise and disbelief crossed his face.
“That’s new,” he muttered. “So, you’re… friends?” He asked, risking a glance at the person in question.
“Well, yeah. I mean we all only know each other for about a week, but we’re pretty much stuck together for the next four years. We’ve gotten along pretty good.” Vinn answered. “these two are also part of our team. This is Ulrich, my partner,” he motioned to the silver-haired guy who did a two-fingered salute. “And this is Mauvin, our leader.” Said person strode forward and held out his hand for a shake.
“Just Mauve is fine,” he added.
Apolleon mirrored the action and shook his hand once. “Name’s Apolleon, but I go by Leon.”
“And Artemis happens to be his partner, which you apparently already knew.” He said a bit more cautiously, hoping Leon didn’t happen to have another weapon nearby. This was a metalsmith’s workshop after all.
During Vinn’s introductions, Artemis took the liberty to glance at her brother now that his attention was drawn elsewhere. He seemed pretty much the same; messy black hair, amber eyes in the exact shade as Artemis,’ he did however seem to have gotten bigger. Does working as a metalsmith really give you bigger arms?
He no longer looked like a male lean version of her. Being outside the kingdoms didn’t give them much of muscle mass. He, however found his calling in making weaponry, and filled up in all the right places. Artemis seemed to be the only one who needed to build up more mass.
During her little inspection, Artemis was startled when his eyes met hers again and started to go over her form. “have you been eating right?” He asked, noticing her lean form. “Wait, stupid question. Its you. You’re always eating. I just never understand where it all goes….”
That comment caused Artemis to huff and cross her arms defensively. Although her brother didn’t remember their lives outside the kingdom, living with him did give him an idea of her love of food.
Ulrich chuckled, “yeah, we have been starting to notice that.” Starting with the pancake incident they all remember too well. “You’d almost think you’ve never eaten pancakes before.”
“And I’m still waiting for her reaction for when she tries Mauve’s food.” Added Vinn.
“Guys, how many times have I told you,” Mauve interrupted. “Stop making me sound like a housewife.”
During the team’s small scuffle about delicacies and housewives, Leon looked over at Artemis again, and his once stern expression disappeared.
“Are you gonna finally let me welcome you back, or not?” he asked, raising his arms.
Artemis walked over to his open arms and accepted the gesture. She wasn’t one for open affection, but her brother was an exception. Even if he didn’t know of their blood relationship.
Vinn’s parents returned a few moments after that. Some small chatter was instigated and Vinn’s fussing over their safety being the loudest. His parents turned out to be ex-hunters, now retired with a workshop to aid in wielding custom weaponry. After a few more moments of introductions and small chore of helping clean out the worst of the vandalism, the team decided to head out, Vinn now a million times more relaxed realizing his parents were okay and that the store only suffered minor damages.
Before leaving and everyone saying their farewells, Leon pulled Vinn aside.
“Keep an eye on Artemis for me Vinn. She might not be the most open person out there but give her some time. She’s also very stubborn and tries to deal with things on her own, or not deal with them at all. Just… be there for her, she doesn’t have a lot of people in her life. I’m glad knowing she’ll be part of a team.”
Vinn thought back to the confrontation between his teammate and Ash, and her refusal to do anything about it.
“So she’s that friend you told me about huh? Didn’t realize it was the same Artemis.”
“Yeah, she’s a bit of a… tough person to crack open. But once you do, you’ll be alright in her book. Oh, and do me a favor and pass me her number, the girl ain’t gonna escape from me two times,” Leon grumbled.
“Alright,” he laughed in response, “and we’ll all keep an eye out for her. We are a team after all.”
Vinn and Leon’s relationship started at about 2 years ago. One day a boy with a dejected look in his face looked for a job and found one with the Vulcan family. Vinn taught him the ropes to the workshop for his parents to have a substitute while he attended Beacon Academy, deciding to follow in their footsteps and become a hunter himself. His sister was initially going to take his place, but a fatal accident a few years back prevented that from happening. Tragically losing her life during some train accident.
Making their way back to the shuttles, the group of friends started chatting it up about Leon, apparently he left a good impression with the team, his custom weapons rising an exciting conversation between the males of the group. Artemis walked a few steps behind them, taking in all the damage that was done by the White Fang. But the more she gazed upon the wrath of a once peaceful organization, the more she realized how right her brother had been those years ago. If only she had listened…