Blake exited the apartment quietly, heading to the docks. Slipping onto the streets at night was easy enough as she lending into the dark background. She had to get away from here, away from Vale.
A Queen of the Grimm? Her teammate was a demigod from another world? Not just maidens, but relics!? Add all of that on top of the Fall of Beacon, and it was all too much.
She had to go to Menagerie, anyway, if only to get away from all this mess. She hadn't seen her family in... five years, give or take. Her parents must hate their daughter for running away like that.
Blake sighed as she finally reached the docks, and she stopped to double check the lien she had on hand.
"Where you going?"
She whirled around, eyes wide, but she relaxed when she noticed it was Sun.
"Sun, what are you doing here?"
"Oh I dunno," the monkey faunus shrugged, giving her a meaningful look, placing his hands on his hips, "Trying to find out why you're sneaking away in the middle of the night with a backpack of clothes to the docks?"
"Why are you packed too?" Blake raised an eyebrow.
"Because I know you're going somewhere, and I'm coming with you!" he gave her the finger guns, but she was not the least amused.
"And who gave you permission to do that?"
"I... uh... Percy gave me permission!" Sun scratched the back of his head.
"Wh-how does that make it better?" Blake crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him.
"No, no I didn't."
Sun jumped in the air, flinching as he whirled around to see an amused Percy with his arms folded.
"Not cool man!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.
Percy's lips twitched upwards, "What's 'not cool' is stalking a girl in the middle of the night. Who knows what they're going to think?"
"And who's they, hm?"
"The detectives in charge of investigating creepy guys who stalk women at night. And a minor, at that."
"For the love of the gods, it's not stalking! And I'm a minor too, ya know!" Sun threw his arms up in exasperation.
"Jail might change your mind," Percy shot back, a grin on his face.
"I'm a minor! She's a minor too! I can't get arrested for following her," the blond crossed his arms with a huff.
"Details," Percy waved him off, "I think you want to get arrested. After all, 'age is just a number, jail is just a room', am I right?"
Sun groaned, running his hands through his blond locks, "What's the deal with you?"
"Nine ninety five plus shipping," Percy deadpanned.
"Your prices are absurd! I will never be able to feed my kids," Sun dramatically wept into his hands.
Blake let out a giggle. She couldn't help it.
Here she was, supposed to be on a boat by now, but now these two were bickering in the middle of the street at night, and she couldn't find it in herself to get to the boat.
"No, but seriously, Blake. Where are you going?" Percy tilted his head in question.
"I..." Blake sighed, shoulders drooping, "Well... it's complicated..."
"I get it," Sun nodded.
"You do?" Blake and Percy exclaimed at the same time, looking at him.
"Of course!" Sun moved to her side, the monkey faunus wrapping his arm around her shoulders, his other arm gesturing dramatically to the skyline, "It's obvious you're going to Menagerie."
Blake's eyes widened as she began smiling from ear to ear while Sun continued, "You're going on a one woman rampage against the White Fang!"
Never before had Blake's grin dropped so fast. She tore away from the blond's grasp, "No, that's not it."
"I... I just want to go home..."
"I get it," Percy said, looking concerned, "You feel overwhelmed with the info dump. Demigods, Queen of the Grimm, Relics-"
"Wait, wait, wait, hold on just a second. Demigods? Queen of the Grimm?" Sun interrupted, earning a look from Percy.
"Blake will fill you in later, Sun," he dismissed, earning a glare from her that he utterly ignored as he turned to her, "But the point is, you're overwhelmed with everything that's happened and all the information that you've been given. And when you're overwhelmed... you run."
Blake flinched at his harsh dissection, but she couldn't deny that it was true. She just wanted an escape, to get away from it all. Was that too much to ask for?
"Are you going to try to stop me?" Bake retorted heatedly, knees already bent and ready to flee.
"No," Percy shot that idea down instantly, "But I want Sun to go with you."
"But-"
"No butts. He's already packed, and plus, you should have a companion or a friend with you at least. The White Fang is based in Menagerie. Who knows what they might do?"
"I... fine," Blake relented, knowing she wouldn't be able to win an argument against her team leader. Few ever did.
"Yes!" Sun pumped his fist in the air exaggeratedly, "I'm a prophet! I told you I had his permission, and it came true!"
Percy snorted, "Good job Sun. But as a fair warning," her team leader leaned in, face looking unusually serious.
"If you touch her..."
"Got it, got it, got it!" Sun squeaked, frantically waved his hands in the air, eyes wide with terror, "Got it!"
Blake's lips twitched upwards in amusement, seeing how scared Sun was. Percy barked a laugh, slapping the monkey faunus on the back.
"Take good care of her, Sun. I know you're a good guy."
"You're not my dad, Percy," Blake jested lightly, getting a grin from him in response, "I might as well be with how flighty you are."
Blake rolled her eyes good naturedly, accepting the jab with grace.
"It'll be purrfect!" Sun laughed, getting an unamused glare from Blake, even as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder again.
Percy's lopsided grin began to show again, "Have fun you two! Take however long you need, Blake. But remember, we're your team. We care about you, even if you don't think so."
Percy's words struck a chord in her heart, and she slipped from Sun's grasp, slowly walking towards him.
She surprised herself when she hugged him, and he slowly wrapped his arms around her body. It was... oddly comforting, in a way.
"Thank you... for everything."
She could hear the smile on his lips, "Heh... no problem."
"I have to go catch up with the boat now," Blake apologized, but Percy waved it off.
"Take care, will you?" he looked at her.
"No promises," Blake shot him a smile.
"Shall we, my lady?" Sun made an exaggeratedly deep bow.
"We shall."
"Pyrrha?"
She turned her head, emerald green eyes scanning the area for who had called out her name, until they landed on a familiar black-haired, sea green-eyed man.
"Percy?" She asked, only receiving a smile in return.
"W-What are you doing out so late?"
"I could be asking you the same thing," he grinned, his footsteps crunching on the pavement as he approached her.
He had a point, she supposed. It was pretty late, just another hour short of midnight.
"I asked you first, though," she pointed out, drawing a wry grin from his face.
"I caught Blake sneaking off to Menagerie, and I caught Sun following her, packed backpack and all."
That was kind of unexpected, but Pyrrha wasn't surprised either. Knowing the mischevious monkey faunus that had taken a liking to Blake, that was exactly the kind of thing he would do.
"I'm... not surprised," she admitted, "Still, I would like to know... why did Blake leave?"
Percy let out a forlorn sigh, running a hand through his jet black hair, as he grimaced.
"She was overwhelmed with everything that was revealed," he finally admitted.
Pyrrha smiled sadly. She felt that, too.
"And I guess it makes sense," he continued, "With everything that's happened-"
"Percy," she cut him off.
"Yeah?" he asked, confused, as she waved him over.
"Come on, let's take a walk in the park over there."
"O-Okay?" he was still adorably confused, like a puppy. Outside of combat and books, he was normally sophisticated. To see him like this was... oddly endearing.
She grabbed his arm, smiling brightly as she began pulling him towards the park that was just a few blocks away.
They ran in an awkward half jog, half walk, as Pyrrha continued pulling him towards the park, all while he stumbled, caught off guard and trying to regain his footing.
The night was silent, the lights illuminating the streets, yet still leaving some shadows in their wake. They could hear crickets chirp as they approached the park; the rest of the world was at sleep. There was no one was up at this ungodly hour.
It was just them, in their own little world. They crossed several blocks, before they finally made it into the small park.
"W-What are we?"
"Mmm?" Pyrrha turned back to look at him questioningly.
"I just-What are we? 'Cause- the kiss-"
Percy looked confused, as he didn't meet her eyes. She could see him biting his lower lip in indecision.
She let a giggle slip from her lips, as she put her hand to her mouth. Percy looked up at her with that same, adorably confused look, and she couldn't stop giggling as a full-blown laugh slipped from her lips, and she broke down.
She couldn't tell why it was so funny, but it was! She was having a laughing fit right in front of him, and he was only getting more confused by the second!
"P-Pyrrha?"
She finally stopped laughing, her stomach aching, but the wide smile remained on her face.
"We are whatever you want us to be, Percy. I'll wait, if you're not comfortable," she reassured him.
"Thank you, Pyrrha," he sighed, before pouting at her with an adorable, baby-seal look, "Now was that really all that funny?"
"I'm sorry! I couldn't help it!" she protested good-naturedly in response, smiling. They both looked up.
The night sky was aglow with both city lights and the haze of the pale, crescent moon. Even if it was shattered, it shone like a silvery claw against the blanket of thousands stars that coated the dark sky. Crickets chirped peacefully in the darkness of the night, frogs quietly croaked occasionally, and owls hooted.
Pyrrha's eyes flickered to his face, as she watched him look up at the glimmering night sky, a bittersweet expression present on his features.
"You've been through a lot, haven't you?"
"Huh?" he turned to look at her, as he scratched the back of his head, "I..."
"You're hurting, Percy," Pyrrha spoke softly, as she gently grabbed his arm, as if she were afraid that he was going to bolt. He didn't resist as she pulled him down with her onto the soft grass, both of them gently lying down.
"I... am," he admitted with some reluctance, still looking up at the night sky, as if he were mesmerized by it.
"You only gave us a summary of your journeys, you know..." she said softly, "You can talk to me. I'm here for you, always."
She could hear him sigh next to her, "You're right. I... I need to get it all out, don't I?"
"Growing up, I was lucky enough to have the best mom in the world," he said, a genuine admiration and love in his voice, "She was the best, you know. She was sweet, kind, baked the best cookies... everything you could ever want in a mother. I think that's why my dad had... me, with her. Poseidon, the god of the seas."
"He saw something in her. You know, he even once offered to make her a Queen under the seas, but she declined! Dad said so when I declined immortality from the gods..." Pyrrha smiled when she heard that. Like mother, like son.
"But the worst thing was... because I was a son of the Big Three, my scent was extra strong to monsters... so my mom married a stinking, disgusting slob of a man to hide the scent."
"She put up with him, just for me. Sometimes he'd get mad 'cus he didn't have beers... and he'd beat me. One day, he found out water healed me, and he began using a knife..."
"Oh, Percy..."
Pyrrha's hand intertwined with his, as she listened to his troubles and hardships, eyes shining with sympathy. Percy... he'd really gone through so much, hadn't he?
He was always so strong for them, for his own team, for everyone! He always had to be that shining beacon, to be perfect, a guardian for the people. But, in reality, he seemed to be more jaded and broken than any of them...
His hand was cold, but she shared her own warmth with him, comfortingly.
"That was before I found out my mom would take the brunt of the beatings for me... And she did it all for me..."
Pyrrha shuffled closer to him, wiggling so that their shoulders touched ever so slightly. She could feel him stiffen slightly, but he relaxed soon enough, and she smiled.
He continued, "When I was twelve, everything changed. I found out my best friend was a Satyr, and that the gods were real."
"It... must have been a shock," Pyrrha softly commented.
"It was. I discovered my heritage, and went on all sorts of quests for them. The gods wouldn't lift a finger, you know? They restricted themselves from excessively interfering with the mortal world through the Ancient Laws, yet they had children with mortals... us demigods."
He sighed, "And that was why it all went wrong. Kronos, King of the Titans, recruited demigods from our own Camp Half-Blood. He was only able to do it because we felt neglected."
"The gods had never cared for us. Few of us even got to our teenage years. We were their children, and they treated us like tools," he spat angrily.
Pyrrha shuffled closer to him again, wrapping her arms around his bicep. She could feel him relax at the motion, as he slowly leaned into her touch.
"My... mentor, Luke Castellan. He betrayed the gods for the titans, along with other unclaimed children," he swallowed, "It was true, the gods treated us like filthy dogs, but they were the lesser of two evils."
"And so we fought against our own, against the titans, and against the monsters. In the end, we won, but at what cost? Many of us perished in the First War, the Second Titanomachy. Then, Gaea came. The Second Gigantomachy... brought even more challenges to life for us."
"In the end, I-", he choked, "I am the only one left."
Pyrrha glanced over at him, shocked.
There were unshed tears in his deep sea green eyes. She could see the reflection of the broken moon in them, as he looked up at the sky. She'd never seen like him like this before. So open with himself... so vulnerable...
Pyrrha brought her arms completely around his body, embracing the warmth, and she hugged him.
The tears came out, slowly, one by one. Once the first tear broke free, the second one followed, and soon enough, the rest followed in an unbroken stream, falling down the side of his face and onto the grass. He breathed choppily, and she only held him closer, even as he tried to blink his tears away in the hope that they would stop coming.
"The moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it?" she said.
"Y-Yeah..."
She looked up at the night sky that seemed to glitter with stars. Some formed constellations, others were grouped in clusters, and others stood alone, by themselves.
"Have you ever tried counting the stars?"
"The stars?" he turned to look at her.
"Yes, the stars," Pyrrha sighed, "I've always found them to be calming. There's so many that you can't hope to have all of them. Like our wishes, our desires. We wish to count the stars."
"Right..."
"Whenever I felt pressured by my fame, by duties, I would always count the stars. I'd never finish, though," they shared a laugh.
"Then I guess we'll be counting stars," he looked to her, smiling.
She nodded, a smile on her own face.
"We'll be counting stars."
"So... what's the next step?"
Jaune's voice broke them all out of their musings. The news that Blake had left hadn't been too well-received, but they accepted her justification all the same. Yang looked glum, but Percy knew he couldn't do too much about that.
"Well kiddos," Qrow interrupted their little meeting, strolling in, "We know ol' Ozzy's in Mistral, don't we? And I also know another important person who has the Spring Maiden..."
"Who?" Ruby piped up, but Qrow shook his head, "This is for Percy's ears only. Specially with those two criminals hanging around..."
"Don't worry, they're nowhere near us," Percy waved him off.
"That another one of your abilities?" Qrow looked impressed, "It's not the same as the normal danger instinct that all huntsmen have, eh?"
"Related to it," Percy answered vaguely. He didn't want them to know he could sense... bodies of liquids. Even he would admit it was a little creepy.
"Alright then. Here it goes: The Branwen Tribe has the Spring Maiden."
Everyone piped up at that.
"My mom?" Yang spoke.
"Yes... my older twin sister, Raven Branwen," Qrow answered, thinning his lips.
"That the one with the weirdo portal semblance and the Grimm mask?" Percy asked.
"That's the one, kid. How'd ya know?" Qrow cocked his head, putting away his flask.
"Met her twice already," he held a hand up, when he saw Qrow, Yang, and Ruby all open their mouths, "Relax, relax, let me finish. Once on the train, when Neo tried to kill Yang-"
"Still not over that," all three of them grumbled at the same time, oddly in sync, as he continued.
"Yeah, she came out of the portal, and we were about to double team Neo, but apparently she can sense power levels or something, and she dipped out of there. She gave me a quick once over, snorted, and left."
"Must've thought you were strong, then," Qrow offered up as the only explanation.
"Second time was at the Fall of Beacon-"
Weiss interrupted him, "Blake and I saw her, and Ruby too. She leapt out of the portal, and started fighting Adam Taurus. They knew each other."
Qrow looked alarmed for once, "My sister knows Adam Taurus!? That's..."
"I caught them fighting," Percy added, "And-"
"Ooh were you in your super cool mode!?" Nora proposed enthusiastically, "The lightning and hurricanes and quakes? Ooh we should do a Nora Percy combo! You could charge me with your lightning! But anyway, you showed up in your awesomeness and just told both of them to leave!"
Percy moved to deny it, but that was exactly what happened. There wasn't really anything else to add.
"Yeah," he admitted.
Qrow snorted in amusement, "Can't believe you managed to scare off my sister of all people. She's probably taken an interest in you, and not in a good way," the huntsman paused, "Well, any kind of interest from her is bad interest. Either way, you got balls, kid. So, next stop is Mistral?"
"Actually..." all eyes turned to Weiss, "My father," she spat the word like it was pure poison, "Is taking me back to Atlas, and there's not a thing I can do about it. He wants Percy to go to the SDC charity banquet he's hosting in a month."
Percy frowned at having to attend a charity banquet and frolic around with the elite of Atlas, but he would, if only to help Weiss out. Ironwood had requested that he visit Atlas soon anyway, if only to get some scans of his body's functions and help him better understand how to apply it in combat.
"I'll come, Weiss," he said, gaining a grateful smile.
"My father wants me back in Mistral," Pyrrha frowned ever so slightly, "And the Mistralian Council is expecting a meeting with Percy as soon as possible..."
"I..." Percy sighed, shoulders slumping slightly, "Tell them I have some things to clean up first before I go to Mistral. I'm... tired. Thrust into another war just after finishing the Second Gigantomachy... we can't afford to slack off, but it would be nice to take some time aside to train and recuperate... Evil doesn't rest, after all."
"It would be good for all of us to take some time off," Jaune agreed, Ruby nodding along with him.
"We all need time to... process things," Ruby said.
"Alright, well, if Mistral's council wants Percy, they can get him."
"Before or after the SDC banquet?" Percy asked.
"Before. They'd see it as a slight to them if you did it afterwards... though that might not be so much of a bad thing, ya know?" Qrow shrugged.
"After, then. They'll need to understand I can't just be bossed around, and they'll have to wait."
"And if they bring it up?" Weiss pointed out.
Percy grinned, although it lacked its usual luster, "I'll manage."
"This is all good, but remember that you don't have a place to stay. We," Ren pointed out himself and Nora, "Don't really have a place to stay either, and Jaune doesn't exactly want to go back to his family and confront them..."
"You guys could come with us," Ruby smiled uncertainly.
"Really? You'd do that?" Percy was surprised, Jaune equally surprised.
"Any day for you guys!" Ruby cheered, somehow lifting all of their spirits, "We have enough space!"
"Your dad's not gonna be happy you got roped into all of this, pipsqueak." Qrow commented, taking a swig of his flask.
"Well, he's going to have to deal with it," Ruby shot back immediately, an adorably hard look on her face as she crossed her arms.
Qrow chuckled, "Heh. You got that same fire in you, shortstack... the same fire she had..."
There was a mildly oppressive silence that settled over them for a few seconds, before he broke it.
"That settles it then," Percy clapped his hands together waking everyone up, "This is where we part ways. Blake and Sun to Menagerie, Pyrrha to Mistral, Weiss to Atlas, the rest of us to Patch."
"One question; where do Neo and Mercury go?" Pyrrha asked, frowning.
Percy glanced at Qrow, and Qrow raised an eyebrow in response. Yeah, there was no way that old bird was gonna let two criminals go to his nieces' house. No way.
But they couldn't exactly go to Menagerie, or Mistral, or Atlas either.
"How bout we have them sleep outside in tents?" Percy asked Qrow, to which the man rolled his eyes.
"I'll make sure they give some good training, and they'll come with me to Atlas when we go," Percy argued, "They're going to be coming with us either way so might as well get used to sleeping with them around."
Qrow snorted, folding his arms across his chest, "Going a little fast there buddy. Shoulda told them to take you out to dinner first."
Percy grumbled in exasperation, "You know what I meant."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. But it's up to you to convince Tai, got it?"
"Ruby and Yang's dad," Qrow elaborated when Percy moved to ask the question.
"Fair enough. Any other concerns?"
"I wonder what Neptune will think when we tell him Sun ditched him again," Weiss smirked.
"Probably say something about him being a simp," Nora suggested.
"Probably."
Somewhere in Vale, Neptune Vasilias abruptly sneezed.
AN: Blake starts blaking around again. Nothing surprising there.
Percy x Pyrrha moment for you guys!
And here, you can notice that the presence of Percy makes it so that there's an actual plan being made instead of, like in canon, the team splitting up and going their own paths.
Join my discord!
Discord links
FFN (remove spaces): discord . gg / M4yMguEz2J
Wattpad/AO3: /M4yMguEz2J
How'd you like this chapter? Review, comment, favorite, follow, vote, but only if you enjoyed! It helps motivate me to write more.
'til next time!
Next Chapter: October 28th (2 weeks)
-thann3