Third Person POV
"It was quite unexpected, hm?" the hooded woman known as Olivia comments with a slight smirk. "Bring me more food!" she demands, prompting the twins to scurry off. Their pride had all but crumbled into dust when the grimm king ordered them to be slaves to Olivia if they didn't want to die. They couldn't believe that just one mistake brought them to this. Opposite their now queen was Gline in all of his masked glory. "It sure was," he replied, "I didn't expect them, nor think they could be so smart."
Olivia shurgs. "It was a shame I couldn't battle the host. That white haired bastard was in the way, I was ready to rip his throat out but held back because master wanted him alive." Her face contorts into an angered one when she recalled the memory. Gline sighs, knowing the red haired girl is too needy for the attention of their king.
"I was having too much fun with that boy; Axel."
"You just love playing with people, huh?" Olivia smiles evilly, reflecting the expression on Gline.
"Absolutely."
Suddenly the door bursts open with a satisfied looking grimm king and his very dead looking old pal.
"Olivia. It's time I send you to get the host," he says, grinning wickedly.
Back at Vale
Faye is frustrated and angry at everything and anything. Out of all these files, not one can help her guess where the hideout could be. The information is available to her because she showed proof that it is for a mission she was given from beacon, but it isn't much help.
It's been a couple of days after Ward's death and she knows she can't continue grieving and doing absolutely nothing. He's gonna pay. That bloody murderer who calls himself the grimm king was going to pay. He deserves to die, she thought. Though, before her life became upside down with her mother's death, she used to think that no matter what, no one ever deserved to die.
But her opinion started to waver when she was out all alone travelling place to place, forced to see the suffering of others—all the consequences of people who wouldn't give a damn about anyone else. She saw people who just trampled on others' lives like it didn't matter if their lives would be tortured because of them.
She always wished to be of help but she was just a girl who was trying to protect her sister, unable to have any extras to help anyone. If she found it hard to get through life herself, how could she possibly help others? She started to hate people who caused others to be in pain on purpose. And now, she fully believes that the grimm king had no right to live.
After almost a week of being stoic, eating nothing and killing herself with negative emotions, she decided to gather information about the six people they faced that day. She also sought information about the twins they had encountered before, though she found almost none.
She had talked to people in other countries too, but it seems like they were more active in Vale, making it much more easier for her, given their hideout is bound to be somewhere near Vale. The most recent ones are all of the red haired girl she saw fighting with..Ward.
The thought of her late teammate and friend still leaves her heart heavy. Ward definitely left a scar. This is precisely why she didn't want to be on a team. Faye sighs and rubs her temples before getting her thoughts straight to work with the situation at hand.
The red haired girl is the only one who has been out after their last battle, according to all the information she's gathered. The girl has been out a lot so Faye managed to get some pictures. Though, in all the pictures, she is always wearing a hood. Even so, you can see the bright red hair that falls on her shoulders in most shots.
Faye separates the other information from the girl's and starts trying to figure out where she is. The closest the girl's been to the academy is the restaurant that is only a five minute walk from here. Then, it goes just a little farther each time. It's like... she's purposely showing me the route. But no, that would hardly make sense.
The holographic tablet Professor Ozpin provided for her when she first arrived at Beacon starts ringing. Her eyes scan the unfamiliar number hesitantly but she decides to answer anyway. "Hello?"
"Can I speak to Faye Rose?" the lady on the other side of the line asks.
"Speaking," she says, leaning back on her chair.
"You visited our hotel two days ago. You gave me names and descriptions of people and asked if I had them in my data, or recognized anyone. I replied no so you gave me your number and asked me to call you if I did come across any of these people. Is that right?" she asks, making sure Faye remembered their encounter.
"Yes," she confirms as hope rises within her. The lady is from a hotel just at the edge of Vale. The gates are very close, leading most people to the hotel when coming from a tiring journey.
"Just a few minutes ago, a girl walked in with a black hoodie and long red hair. Stormy blueish eyes and suspicious aura. I recall it matches one of your descriptions?" she asks, unsure.
"That is correct." I lean forward on my chair in interest. "What did she do when she came to your hotel?"
"She booked a room and went by the name of Olive."
"I see.." I mumble as I look through all the notes I wrote about the red haired girl. There were a lot of names the woman put down when she registered in hotels and what not. Olive was one of them. Olive, Oli, Olivia, Aivilo, Vialo, Via.
"They're all names that consist the letters O -L - I- V - I - A. In other words, we can presume her name is Olivia," a familiar voice informs. I look behind to see Axel flipping through the files.
"Yes," I agree before putting my attention back on the phone.
"Miss Rose, the only other piece of information I have is that she will be staying the night and leaving at the break of dawn tomorrow. She said she'll be heading home after a while." Yeah, she's been staying at different hotels for more than a week now.
"I will keep that in mind. Don't be surprised if you see me there," I say with a grin, "Thank you for all your assistance, ma'am. I can assure you it's leading to a good cause."
"No problem at all, Miss Rose. Have a good day!"
With that, I close my scroll and stand up. Axel hugs me from behind and I can only sag against him for comfort. "You okay? You've been working a lot these past few days."
I smile up at him, patting him on the cheek reassuringly, "Yeah. Can't be mourning all day, can I?"
"It's worth it. We found another lead, huh?"
"Yeah. Hopefully one that doesn't end with one of us dying," I quietly say. Axel's eyes turn sad and, much to my displeasure, pitying.
I squirm out of his grip and take out my notebook to turn to a plain sheet of paper. When I'm done, there's a full sheet of paper with everything we need for the mission. Axel is cleaning up the room, something he's done these past few days like therapy for his loss. A glance at Nico's bed shows me that the girl is still sleeping even though it's past noon. I know she has trouble sleeping lately and it causes her to sleep late and through the morning. "I'll wake her up," Axel offer but I shake my head in refusal, not wanting to wake up the poor girl.
We haven't talked since the fight. It's partially my fault. She ignored me half the time, and I ignored her the other half. I'm not quite ready to face another person who called me a monster. However, I know I can't work with her as a team if we don't fix the broken trust we have between us.
"No, she needs to wake up. And then, I'm getting out the door and you two are going to have a very much needed talk," Axel states before nudging Nico.
"But-"
"No buts, Faye. This has been going on for too long."
Really, this guy. Just who is the captain here again?
Nico grumbles when Axel successfully wakes her up. She drags herself to the washroom to do her morning duties and when she comes back, Axel whispers something in her ear before walking out the door. My eyes drop to look at the very interesting (imaginary) pattern on the carpeted ground. The silence is deafening, but I can feel her piercing gaze on me. I want to meet that gaze but my eyes won't let me.
I suddenly feel like a kid getting scolded at. The reality is that I'm the captain. It's my responsibility to make things right. I finally look up to meet her eyes but it seems she thought now would be the best time to break the silence too.
"Nico—"
"Faye—"
I shake my head in amusement and give a small smile. "You first."
She takes a deep breath before words start tumbling out o her mouth one after the other. "I'm so sorry, Faye. I don't know what came over me and I said some pretty horrible things to you. Like, really really horrible. I didn't mean any of those words and I know it's not your fault that Ward died. I know you care about this team very much. And I swear, Faye, I regret every word I said to you after we came back down from the mountain. You're not a monster at all. I was just really sad and angry and frustrated, and it absolutely wasn't right of me to take it out on you, especially with such awful words.
"I beg of you, forgive me, Faye. I know we might not have that same level of trust we had before again, since I said something that I know hit deep, but I still need you. I need you and I want to help you with the rest of the mission. And that's something we can do only if we trust each other. I'm stupid, I know. I'm so damn stupid and-"
"Nico, stop," I inturrupt, not liking how much she was putting herself down.
"No, Faye," she says with an unwavering gaze, "I'm stupid for not understanding you and not being able to control my frustration like you. And I even ignored you for a week. But I can help, I know I can. I'm good at sneaking around and you can bet on my punches." She smirks at this and I can't help but mirror it, knowing she's absolutely right. "So please--please forgive me. I'll do anything to earn it. This won't work any other way."
I sigh and shake my head with a small smile plastered on my face. "Then never beat yourself up with all those negative words. I won't lie, I was pretty hurt by your words, but I forgave you a long time ago. I'm not gonna keep a grudge against a friend for more than two weeks! I also ignored you and I'm sorry. I was scared to face you.
"The thing is, the last time someone called me a monster was someone who I looked up to as a brother." I could remember the exact words, see the scene playing out as if I were watching as a third party. He had started pointing out all my flaws and, knowing my past, said that nearly hurting Ruby was enough to make me a monster. When I found out that he wanted to have the grimm inside me, the betrayal had cut deep enough to scar.
"He thought me everything I needed to become a huntress and I looked up to him for his kindness and knowledge, but he betrayed me and I was hurt knowing that someone I trusted so much ended up throwing it all away.
"That's why it was hard for me to trust this team. I wasn't ready for another betrayal. And that's why it broke my heart when you called me a monster. It was like déjà vu and I didn't like it. I didn't want everything to repeat again. And so I ignored you.. but you were different. You are different. You have proved yourself to be a trustworthy friend and teammate. Just that has earned my trust." I grin as Nico embraces me, hot tears falling from her face. "Thank you! Thank you, Faye! I love you so much!"
I smile, returning the words and hugging her tight. When I pull away, I call out without looking at the door, "Axel you can come in now. We all know you heard every word." He enters the room with a sheepish smile, "Sorry, cap'n."
"It's fine, I would've kicked your ass if I didn't want you to hear it."
He gives me a heartwarming smile and pulls me into his arms. "You've gone through hell and came out strong, brave, and yet still kind. You don't know how proud I am—we are—to have you as a friend and captain."
I smile against his chest and gave him a quick but tight hug before pulling away and taking the sheet of paper that held the plan I came up with. "Okay, let's get down to business. Olivia, one of our targets, is staying at this hotel near the gates. She'll be leaving tomorrow at the break of dawn, so we have to make sure we get to the hotel a little later than midnight.
"When she comes down to the front desk in the morning, we'll need someone to hide under the desk to listen to anything she has to say. We'll need one at the front door, and one at the back exit. We never know which way she'll go. Then, either the one at the back or front, will signal the rest of us that they've got her on their exit.
"She'll be going home, which we hope is their base. Our job is to follow her without getting caught. That is the most crucial part—not getting caught. We don't know how far their base is from Vale, but it shouldn't be too far. It's going to be hard. Are you two up for this?"
"Some ninja shit? Always," Axel says, smirking. I shake my head with a smile before turning to Nico. She grins widely , jumping once to show her excitement. "Hell yeah!"
---------------------------------------------------
Thanks for reading! Sorry I took so long but I'm one day earlier than the due date I promised, so I deserve a pat on the back, don't I? Jk jk.
Pls VOTE and COMMENT what you think! I'd really appreciate it!
Finished: 8/22/2017
~ Lyragirl11