>>Pic of Olivia<<
Third Person POV
Nico stayed silent as she heard footsteps heading this way. She could only hope it was finally the enemy. The small space under the desk was definitely not her favorite place to hide, especially with someone's legs so close to her face. But what could she do? Faye decided for her to be doing this job since she was the smallest. Faye had also said it was because Nico had the sharpest memory out of all of them. She would be able to remember the conversation between the receptionist who is helping us, Mrs. Cote, and Olivia with no difficulty.
The receptionist personally went to her boss to ask if she could switch with the person on night duty. Thankfully, that went through without too many problems. So now, Mrs. Cote is here at the desk, ready for Olivia. It was approximately 5:30 am, and the sun should be just beginning to rise. It wouldn't be a surprise to Nico if the person who came just now was Olivia.
"Good morning. Is there something I could help you with?" Mrs. Cote asked the person who came. Nico couldn't tell whether it was Olivia or not, for they told Mrs. Cote to treat her as any other customer when she comes down to the reception. We wouldn't want Olivia to be suspicious of Mrs. Cote, now do we? "My booking is is over. I was told to tell the receptionist to sign me out before I leave," a female voice replied. Nico's hopes rose. She was almost certain it was the redhead.
Slowly getting impatient, she clenched the little black device she had in her hand. It was a simple receiver that Faye handed out. There were only two functions - one to press a button so that it will send a signal to the other receivers, and the other that lights up when you get a signal from another receiver. They decided that the first signal would be sent by Nico when she confirms that Olivia had made it to the reception. The second one would be sent by either one of the other two who were at the front and back exit. And that would be the signal for them all to move.
"Yes. Please give me your name and room number," Mrs. Cote politely asked. "Olivia, room 103," the lady answered. Nico smirked and pressed the little button her thumb had been resting on for so long. "Alright. You are free to go. Thank you for choosing Star-Round Hotel." Mrs. Cote's voice chirped. "Have a good day," Olivia said before Nico heard the retreating of footsteps.
--
Faye pressed herself against the roof of the hotel so that anyone passing by wouldn't see her. The roof wasn't completely flat, but it had a little wall surrounding it, so that if Faye was low enough, no one would see her. She glanced down at the receiver in her hand, the little red light signalling that Olivia had finally arrived.
She ducked her head when she saw a boy and his father approaching. The boy giggled and ran to the towards the hotel. "Woah, watch yourself, child," a slightly familiar voice said. Olivia, Faye thought. She heard Olivia's voice when she was fighting.
"Sorry, please pardon my son," apologized, who she presumed was the father. "I'm sowwy," the cute little voice said. "Teach your kid manners. You don't run into a store/hotel. And seeing him so excited when it's super early just makes me more tired than I already am," Olivia snapped. Faye clenched her fists. You go learn some manners before you start telling other people to. There's something called forgiveness, if you didn't know. Faye thought angrily. She didn't like how Olivia got so mad at the kid for such a simple reason. Oops, he bumped into you. It happens. Forgive and forget. And it's a little kid for crying out loud!
As soon as red hair came into view, Faye was certain it was Olivia. She clicked the button on her receiver and softly jumped off the roof when her target was a safe distance away. She followed discreetly and noticed that Nico and Axel were out and on her trail too. She sighed in relief and carefully followed the woman. If all goes well, they'll have caught the group by lunch.
Faye stopped at the gate and so did the rest. They stayed silent as team RWBY walked by Olivia, Blake 'accidentally' knocking Olivia's hood down when she was fixing her bow. They had 'just come back from a mission' and 'coincidentally' ran into Olivia. At least that was the backup story. Oh, did I forget to mention that team RWBY was helping team FA₩N? Silly me.
Olivia gave a bewildered look to Blake and pulled her hood back up. "Sorry. I didn't mean to," Blake shrugged. "Oooh, your hair is very pretty! Why hide it with the hood?" Ruby chirped, jumping up to Olivia and pulling her hood down again. Weiss swiftly pulled her camera without Olivia seeing and smirked. The redhead threw an annoyed look at Ruby, "What's your problem, kid? Shoo shoo, I don't need you here."
"Ehh? Is that anyway to treat a fellow human being?" Ruby pouted/frowned. Faye tried to motion for Ruby to leave her be now that our purpose was accomplished, but she wouldn't get it and kept following Olivia. "Honestly, kids these days don't have any respect. Will you please leave me alone?"
Thankfully, Yang noticed her gestures and pulled Ruby back, "Ah.. sorry for my sister's childish behavior. We'll leave now," Yang nodded. "Tch, you better be sorry," Olivia glared. Yang narrowed her eyes at her, "However, I think you, Missy, were the most childish person here. Someone needs to know how to calm down and act her age." And with that, they headed towards the gate (smirking, may I add), leaving a bewildered Olivia to face reality. Faye smirked. You go, sister!
So now we have some proof. Faye nodded at her teammates who hid behind the trees and motioned to follow Olivia. We're in luck. Everything's going smoothly so far, so we don't need to switch to other plans yet.. Faye sighed softly in relief.
TWACK
I froze in place before my head slowly moved to look behind me, only to reveal the panicking face of Nico.
She stepped on a stick.
Oh frick.
I immediately motioned for 'Plan change A2', A1 having been a plan for if Olivia heard us behind the gates.
Nico pulled out her wig and placed it on her head, took a little basket filled with food from her bag, and sat down a little away from the path. Just in time, Olivia spotted her and suspiciously eyed her. Nico looked back and frowned at the 'passer-by she just saw walking by while she was having her little picnic.'
"You were here the whole time and I didn't see you?" Olivia furrowed her eyebrows in suspicion. "Not my fault I can stay as still as a statue when I don't want to be bothered," Nico sighed as she took a bite out of her half-eaten sandwich.
"And what is a little girl doing here anyways?" Olivia pestered. Nico groaned in annoyance, "I'm trying to have a nice picnic, but as soon as my dad leaves, some stranger decides to ruin it. May I eat in peace now?" Nico said in an extremely irritated voice. Faye had to hand it to her. Nico isn't only good at visual arts. She is quite the good actor as well.
Olivia looked taken aback, "What's gotten you so hot-tempered? I was only being curious."
Shit, this is taking longer than they had expected.
"I'm in a bad mood so back off, please," Nico didn't cease to stop her annoyed tone. It would be weird if she stopped now anyways. The words that Olivia said would usually spark anger in the character Nico was doing, so it wasn't like she could sincerely apologize or anything. She knew she needed this to end quickly but not suspiciously.
"Well, excuse me. little girl. That's no way to talk to someone like me-" Olivia started, but was interrupted when Nico abruptly stood up. "Look," Nico glared, "Sorry for making you curious but it's wrong of you to stick your head into someone else's business. How about this. You go your way and I go my way, so that I don't have to deal with you like this, okay?"
Nico took her belongings and stomped away. Looks like she'll be arriving at their base a little later than Faye and Axel. She made eye-contact with Axel, assuring him that she'll be fine so that the worry in his eyes would dim.
Olivia shrugged and got back on the path only to go off a few minutes later. And not long after, stopped in the middle of nowhere.
"Even the most beautiful white rose has a dark, black shadow," she chanted out loud before the ground started to split open before her and she swiftly jumped in. Faye saw Axel make a move to go in there, but she put a hand out to motion for him to stop. So he just came to her side, "What's wrong?" he asked as the ground started to close up again. Faye narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "I can't help but feel something's wrong..or like, something bad's going to happen."
Axel stared at her for a moment before ruffling her hair. "That's inevitable. We lost a comrade because of these people, and as captain, it's okay to fear that someone else in going to die. You just have to overcome it. You have to trust us, capt'n," Axel smiled reassuringly, "You have to trust that we can win this."
Faye looked up at him with a smile, "You're right. Sorry." Axel shook his head and chuckled. The fuchsia haired girl typed the pass-code to the hideout on her scroll (the device they use in the show) and sent it to Nico, then attached the tracker she had to the tree so that Nico could come to the correct place.
The captain couldn't help but frown even though, in her head, she kept repeating the words her azure haired friend shared. It's nothing to worry about, she reassured herself for the hundredth time, but she couldn't help but think there was more to the feeling that something-bad-was-going-to-happen than she gave credit for.
But she decided to push it to the back of her head. This was no time to be calling it quits. They've finally found the hideout, they're finally able to complete this mission. They've finally made it so far, there was no way Faye was going to make this all for nothing. For Ward, for Axel, for Nico - for all of them, she was going to finish it all for them. And not alone, because all those times of working together has taught her the importance of teamwork. So she was going to use it. She was going to finish all this...with the help of her team.
Giving a quick, but determined nod to Axel, she stepped towards the supposed entrance to their enemy's hideout. "Even the most beautiful white rose has a dark, black shadow," she repeated the words of Olivia, and watched as the ground opened up. Axel peered in but informed Faye that he couldn't see anything that would be dangerous. She noticed there was a ladder and decided it was safer, for she didn't know what was down there.
Quickly, but quietly, she led the way and started climbing down to reach a small hallway. Hearing the ground close up above them, everything became pitch black, but Faye adjusted her eyes to the darkness in no time. Considering Axel, she looked over at him in thought, He probably can't see.
However, when Axel met her eyes with question of why she was looking at him and not moving forward, Faye was surprised. It wasn't coincidence that his eyes met hers, she knew. So the only way he could in fact meet her eyes was if he could see in this darkness. She took out her scroll and typed a message.
Faye: You can see properly even though it's pitch black?
Axel took out his scroll when he realized she sent a message to him and smirked after reading it.
Axel: Princess, don't you think you're underestimating me too much? I have a lot of experience, you know. It's just that you have above and beyond experiences.
Faye looked at him for a second before trying to contain her chuckle.
Faye: You're right. Remind me to ask how after this, though.
Axel: Aight.
Realizing that they wasted more time than necessary, they proceeded to walk down the narrow hallway immediately. She stopped when she looked around the corner, making Axel stop dead in his tracks and letting curiousness fill his mind. There was a little light coming from the end of the hallway where you'd have to take a left. It was a room and the door was probably wide open. There was another hallway opposite the open room, but they'd have to check the room first.
This is weird, Faye thought. We didn't encounter any traps. It can't be that they trust that no one's ever gonna find they're hideout. That's just being stupid..
She got an explosive (that exploded spikes after getting a strong hit) out of her bag and secured in her pocket. She motioned to Axel to be extra careful, and continued on after his nod. She sneaked forward without making a sound, and was once again amazed at how Axel was almost as skilled as her with being quiet.
She was even more curious with what made him so skilled. The academy didn't go that deep with training, so he might've just trained himself. But there could always be something more, she thought, before pushing it to the back of her head so she could concentrate on the task at hand. She felt a tap on her shoulder, so she paused her movements to look back. She saw Nico grinning at her. She grinned back and handed the explosive to Nico.
Nico was finally back and she was determined to complete this mission. She was going to do this for her team, especially Ward. She took the explosive and continued down the hallway, leading the two.
They stopped right before the entrance, and pushed themselves flat against the wall. Their hearts thumped against their chest, but they made calm movements nevertheless. Faye signaled Nico to check the room out, so Nico slowly peered over the opening to spot a large room and familiar faces.
There, seated on his throne, was the oh-so-high-and-mighty Dragon King. Nico felt anger boil in her, but she made sure to calm herself quickly. Being angry will only lead to mistakes, she reminded herself. Olivia, and a few others she recognized from the fight were surrounding Dragon King.
This was it.
"It should be about now..," Olivia laughed as FA₩N heard a bit of their conversation, but didn't pay much heed to it. Axel nodded towards Nico, and she took the explosive out of her bag and was ready to throw in into the room, but a hand from above caught her's, causing her head to snap up in surprise.
"...And here they arrive," Olivia smirked as the rest of them laughed evilly and eyes Nico.
They expected us.
That was a scary realization. But what took their attention was something much more scarier.
There, above the door, hanging upside down with his hand tightly around Nico's, was a red eyed boy with white hair.
He was alive.
They should've been happy. Well, they were. But the hard truth was..
He was on their enemy's side.
And they were going to be forced to fight him.
Why must the world be so cruel?
2723 words
~ Lyragirl11