Ravensdagger_Princess

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Urgh,” Ruby said as she flopped back onto Weiss’ bed. She was so tired. No one had told her that learning was going to take so much energy, or that she’d have to bear all the responsibility of leading a whole team of huntresses on top of everything else.“Get off my bed!” Weiss shrieked.Ruby rolled over, pulling the covers over her head as she did and undoing the perfect smooth surface of the bed all in one motion. She really shouldn’t have been complaining, she got to go to Beacon early. Who else got to say something like that?“You’re ruining my sheets,” Weiss said. “And you didn’t even shower first. You’re probably all dirty!”“Hehe, I bet you’re proud, Weiss-cream, something dirty finally happened in your bed, if you know what I mean.”Ruby groaned, reached out to grab Weiss’ pillow, and stuffed it over her face.“My pillow!”She could still hear Yang’s laughter through the soft, soft fluff of the pillow, but at least it was a distant thing. Then some horrible creature tore the pillow away and left Ruby blinking up at the bottom of her own bed. “Why?” she asked, her voice small and lost like a wet kitten. A sad kitten. A kitten that just wanted to take a nap.“Don’t touch my pillows,” Weiss said.“I don’t think I’d call them pillows,” Yang said from where she was leaning against the frame of her bunkbed. “More like a washboard.”Weiss’ pillow went ‘fwoomp’ when it rammed Yang in the face.Ruby placed her arm over her face to hide from the inevitable backlash.“Could have stayed in the camp,” Blake was muttering. “Just me, and my books, and none of this. No Schnees, no Yangs. Just me, Ninjas of Love, and a nice warm sleeping bag.”“Alright, alright, I give!” Yang shouted above Weiss’ tirade about her lack of culture. She was grinning, but had both hands raised in surrender. “And you don’t need to lose your mind, princess, I’m heading out anyway. You won’t see me for hours.”Ruby sat up. “Wait, you’re leaving?” she asked.“Ah, yeah,” Yang said, and was that a touch of red on her cheeks that Ruby saw? “I’ve got, um, work.”Ruby blinked slowly. “You have a job? Someone hired you? On purpose?!” Her incredulity rose with every new sentence and so did the indignation on her sister’s face.“Yeah, I got a job. I’m hirable,” Yang said before she crossed her arms and looked off to the side. “Anyway, I need to head out to Vale. It’s Friday, so I’ll be out late.”Ruby hopped off Weiss’ bed and placed both hands on her hips. “I’m coming with you,” she declared.“What?” Yang squawked. “N-no no, I don’t need my little sister to escort me to work,” she said.Ruby rolled her eyes. “Not to your job, I’m going to Vale,” she said. “I need to go to The Club.”Yang’s face went from pale to red and right back to pale again all in the time it took for Ruby to blink twice. “Ruby, why are you going to a c-club? The Club isn’t a place for you. Especially not on Friday nights. They have dancers on Friday night,” Yang said.“How do you know that?” Blake asked.“Shut up Blake!” Yang shot back.“As much as I despair of participating in your debauchery,” Weiss said. “I would like to visit Vale. I hardly got to explore the city from my hotel room.”Blake made a noncommittal noise. “I heard there are a couple of bookstores that are decent. Might as well tag along. You two know the city better than I do, I’m sure.”Ruby felt a smile tugging at her lips and she clapped her hands. “Perfect! It’ll be a group trip! Go team RWBY!”“Oh god, no,” Yang whispered, but it was drowned out by Ruby’s cheering and Weiss’ complaining.

* * *

“Ugh,” Velvet said as she crashed back-first on her bed. She spread her arms and legs out as if she was the most comfortable piece of roadkill on the continent, then let out a small sigh.“Are you tired, Bun?” Coco asked.Velvet felt her forehead creasing and her mouth moving into a pout. She stopped it in time, but still rolled onto her side, back towards Coco’s voice.Coco sighed. “Come on Velvet,” she said. “Please?” She didn’t say what she was asking for, but it was obvious to everyone in the room.“Will you apologise?” Velvet asked. She didn’t want to sound so petulant, but it wasn’t her who had betrayed a friendship.“For keeping you safe? Never,” Coco said.Velvet rolled over then swung her legs off the side of the bed so that she was sitting and facing Coco. There were circles under Coco’s eyes and for all her bluster she was missing that spark, that fire that made her who she was. “That’s not what you should be saying sorry for, and you know it,” Velvet said, but her voice softened as she realised how mean she was sounding. “It’s just that... you betrayed me, Coco, I thought we could do better and...” She swallowed. Speaking from the heart had never been her strong suit.Coco looked away too. “Yeah, well I thought I was doing the right thing too.”Velvet came to her feet with a single bouncing motion. It was too much, being in the same room as a moping Coco, the air stank of bad feelings and neither partner was willing to meet each others eyes. “I’m going for a walk,” she announced.Coco looked up, but nodded.She didn’t see Velvet’s hug coming and squawked for a moment before realisation hit her and she melted into the embrasse. “I still love you, Coco. You’re my best friend,” Velvet said.She felt Coco nodding and her arms tightened around Velvet’s waist. “Yeah. Me too.”Smiling a little, Velvet pulled back and nodded once. “Right, I’ll be back.” She waved to the boys and both of them waved back, Yatsu wearing a knowing smile and Fox looking just a shade bewildered.“Stay safe,” Yatsu called after her as she slid out of the dorm room.The moment the door was closed behind her Velvet felt herself slumping down. It was almost a relief to be out of there, and yet guilt churned in her stomach. There was more she could have done to repair the gap, to fix the break in their relationship, but she always hesitated before doing it, a mixture of fear and lingering anger keeping her back.But she did love her teammates, and she knew that things would get better, eventually. Resolve hardening, Velvet started walking down the corridor, letting her feet carry her wherever they would. Maybe she would stop by the cafeteria and grab something to drink.The problem was a bit too big, sometimes to just tackle in a day. Coco had, basically, arranged an ambush on someone Velvet considered a... friend. Even if Coco did it for what she thought were good reasons, Velvet couldn’t look past the sight of Akelarre’s disappointed face the moment before the walls exploded and she was attacked.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.That Akelarre seemed ready for an ambush meant... well she didn’t know what it meant, but it still ate at her.She was crossing one of Beacon’s flower-lined courtyards when she saw a team of younger students walking by, just four girls in colourful uniforms bickering and arguing as any team would. She would have ignored them and kept on her way, but a snatch of conversation had her ears perking up.“But Yang,” the shortest girl in the group said. “Akelarre stays there too, and she would let me in.”“Ruby,” a white-haired girl next to the short one said. “You can’t just enter a bar. You’re too young. For that matter, so are the rest of us. It’s hardly the kind of place you’d expect respectable people to go.”“Yang is going,” Ruby pointed out.“Exactly.”Velvet hesitated for just a moment before she spun around and started following the team. “Um, sorry,” she called out to them as they moved from the courtyard and into one of the corridors leading to the bullhead docks.Four pairs of eyes turned to her and Velvet found herself suddenly nervous. She tried to speak, but the words caught in her throat. “Can we help?” the black haired one asked, she tilted her head to one side, bow sticking out of the top like the centrepiece of a cake.“M-maybe?” Velvet said. She pressed her fingertips together and focused on her shoes. “Were you guys talking about Akelarre?”Two of the four girls flinched at the name, but only one of them teleported to an inch in front of Velvet and grabbed her hands. Wide silver eyes stared up at her as if they could see through her soul. “You know Akelarre?”“I, yes?” Velvet said.“Tall, kind of pale?” the girl asked as if to be sure.Velvet nodded. “Yes. We met in Patch a few months ago. She, um, has an interest in bugs.”“You do know her!” Ruby said. “That’s so cool. How did you meet? We’re going to go see her now, did you want to come?”“Ruby!” the blonde said. “We don't even know if she’ll be there. You can’ just go inviting people to come.”“I-I would love to,” Velvet said, a queasy smile crawling onto her face at all the attention directed her way. “If you guys wouldn’t mind, of course.”“The more the merrier, I suppose,” the white one said. “I’m Weiss Schnee, these two are Yang Xiao-Long and Ruby Rose, and the quiet one here is Blake Belladonna.”Blake waved at Velvet. “Hey.”“Uh, hi,” Velvet said. Then she remembered her manners and bowed quickly. “I’m Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina. I’m a second year here at Beacon.”“You’re our senior?” Ruby asked. “That’s extra cool. Come on, you need to tell us all the tricks so that we won’t have to do as much homework. Can we see your notes from last year? How did you meet Akelarre anyway?”“Ahh.” Velvet allowed herself to be dragged forwards by Ruby where the girl still had a firm grip on her hand. “M-maybe only one question at a time?”

* * *

Ruby bounced ahead of the group because as long as she kept moving ahead and focusing on the things that made her happy, then there was no way the things that made her nervous could catch up. At least, that’s what her mom had told her a long time ago, and she believed it still. It was why her semblance was the coolest ever, it allowed her to speed past all the bad things in life.One day Ruby would grow tall, and strong, and faster, and then she’d show her dad that you could outrun taxes.Behind her, Weiss was being pouty about not being in charge and was complaining to whomever would listen that the area was dirty and nasty and that they would probably get sick if they stayed here any longer. Behind her, Blake and Velvet were talking amicably. She wouldn’t have expected Blake, who was such a shy and timid girl, to strike up a friendship with Velvet, but maybe they had a lot in common.And Yang was at the rear.That... was probably not a good thing, Ruby reasonsed. She knew her sister very well. She knew her sister too well, even, and when Yang Xiao-Long was being quiet it was because something was horribly, horribly wrong.At least Yang hadn’t pulled out her phone to snitch to dad or Uncle Qrow, so maybe everything was okay? Or maybe Yang was just nervous about her new job. The job she hadn’t told her own sister about.“Yang!” she called over her shoulder. “Where is it?”“It’s just around the corner,” Yang shouted back.Ruby rushed ahead a little, ignoring Weiss’ pleas for her to slow down and act her age (she was totally acting her age, Weiss was the one who was trying to be old) until she could hear the booming retort of a bass ahead.The Club wasn’t easy to spot. The building looked like any other on the street, a bit dilapidated, a bit rough around the edges. The line of people out front, on the other hand, was super easy to find. It stretched out across half the block, a sea of younger people in clothes so bright they rivalled the average hunter team.She was standing there, oohing and ahhing to herself when the other members of team RWBY and Velvet caught up. “So, that’s the place?” Weiss said, the sneer evident in her tone. “This is where your friend hangs out?”“Yup,” Ruby said. “It’s going to take forever to get in, though.”“I might be able to get us in,” Yang said. “Seeing as how I kind of sort of work here.”Ruby stared at Yang, aware that all the others were doing the same. “You work here?”“Well, not yet?” She laughed, but it sounded hollow. “A-anyway, follow me.”The others all shared a look, but did as she asked, crossing the street and beelining right for the front door where Yang was waving a one of the guards. He eyed her suspiciously until she pulled a piece of paper from out of her shorts and handed it over. “Alright, you can come in, but your little posse has to get in line like the rest,” he said.“But I wanted to see Akelarre,” Ruby said.The bouncers all froze for a moment. “Do, do you have an appointment, miss?” one asked.Ruby blinked. “Yes,” she lied. “I totally do.”The sound the people in line made as the complained was music to Ruby’s ears. The bouncer held up a red cord that had been blocking their path and ushered them into the music filled world of The Club.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Neo’s feet kicked against the bar with a thump-a-thump-a beat that was just a sliver off from the bass thrumming in the background. She knew, because the guy standing behind the bar’s eyebrow was twitching wildly every time he finished serving a client and looked her way.She smiled at him, the expression like a knife between the fourth and fifth ribs.This was nice, spending some time on her own, enjoying a float that was more ice cream than soda and that came with a really long straw while waiting for some unsuspecting brat to come bother her so that she had the excuse to beat them to a pulp. The look on the frat-boy sort when she was done knocking their teeth out and the bouncers showed up was always so fun, especially that sudden confusion when they were the ones hoisted out of The Club.“Um, excuse me,” said a voice that was far too soft.Neo took a long slurp from her drink and spun on her stool, nice and slowly, like a villain in a movie, so that she came face to chest with the woman behind her.She blinked, then looked at the girl up and down to be sure.It was Bunny Girl, and she was with blond bimbo and... three others that Neo didn’t know.“H-hi, Neo,” Bunny Girl said. “It’s me, um, Velvet.”Neo nodded.“I was wondering if-maybe-you had seen...” Bunny Girl leaned forwards to no effect, her costume was too tight in all the wrong places for the gesture to provide a view. “I was wondering if Akelarre was here?” she whispered.Neo tilted her head to one side and then wondered how to answer. Akelarre was, in fact, around. She was just upstairs talking to Roman and Junior about serious stuff. Stuff that didn’t matter, like setting up a tax system for the underground and redistributing territory and manpower and all those other boring details.She made a ‘wait a minute’ gesture, whipped out her Scroll and shot off a text to Akelarre.Neo: o.o !Akelarre: What’s wrong?Neo:(_/)(o.o)(___)0Akelarre: Velvet?Neo:Akelarre: Oh, that’s nice. Is she here?Neo: :0Akelarre: Okay, I’ll be down in a moment.Her duty completed, Neo slid her phone back into its place and gestured at the stools next to her. She was about to turn around and focus on her drink again when the short red one slid up to her. “Are you Akelarre’s friend? I am too. My name is Ruby, and this is my team. That’s Weiss, Blake, and that’s my sister Yang.”The name rang a bell, and it wasn’t until the girl gave Neo the must insufferably innocent smile that she put two and two together and got ‘cheating little shit’. She narrowed her eyes at the girl.“Are you really close with Akelarre?” Ruby asked while making huge expansive gestures. “That’s so cool!” She squealed. Actually squealed, and for a moment the cold black pit that was Neo’s heart quivered in her chest. “Oh, do you want to meet Crescent Rose? I built her, but Akelarre helped a little.” From behind her back and above her frankly adorable poofy dress she pulled out a box that Neo recognized as some sort of Mechashit thing.Then it unfolded into a scythe that was longer than Neo was tall. A lot longer. “Mistress!” the weapon said. “This building looks like a fire hazard. Loading Burn Dust rounds!”Neo could see what Akelarre saw in the girl. She patted the stool next to her, inviting Ruby to the seat of honour before turning around to face the bartender and gestured at him.The man looked at the young women next to her, then up at the sign above the bar saying that patrons had to be older than eighteen, then he looked back down at Neo and started pouring some drinks.“Ruby,” White said with the sort of exasperation Neo was used to hearing from Roman when she accidentally killed a target, burned down their house, and stole all their stuff, on accident. “You can’t just bring out your... toy like that in broad daylight. Try to think of what others will think if they see you acting so immature!”“Mistress, this heathen is mocking you. Set as priority target?”White glared at the scythe while Blackbow just sighed and slid into the next seat over. Bunny Girl hesitated for a moment, then plopped herself down on Neo’s other side. Ruby had the decency to shush her murder toy before folding it back up.“Um,” Bunny Girl began, and if she wasn’t so cute Neo might have been annoyed by her little shy girl act. “Did you notice if Akelarre was, angry, recently?”Neo thought back to the last few nights, nights spent dismantling entire groups using metric tons of angry, screaming bugs, lots of fire, and the occasional death threat. She shook her head, spoon waving from side to side where it was caught between her lips.Bunny Girl sighed. “Oh, good.”“Hey, blondie.”The five girls and Neo turned towards the huge slab of man that was Junior as he strutted over to them, then stood above the blond girl and eyed her from above. “You’re almost late, and why aren’t you in your costume?”“Aww, boss,” Blondie said. “Can’t we, you know, get a raincheck on tonight’s, um, activities?”White snorted. “Typical. Your first day and you’re already shirking your responsibilities.”Junior’s grin was feral. “You should listen to your friend, Blondie. Get to it.” He jerked his thumb towards the door leading into the backroom, then walked past her onto to pause by Neo’s side. “Is everything to your liking, Miss Neo?” he asked.Neo nodded, gesturing at her drink which was mostly gone, then gave him a thumbs up.“Good, glad you like it. I had to install a soft serve machine just for you. Oh, and the boss lady is coming down in a minute,” he said before moving on. “Enjoy your evening girls.”Neo looked at blondie, one eyebrow perked. The girl crossed her arms, huffed, then with a quick glance at her friends she seemed to decide that she had better things to do and stomped off towards the back.“She’s not going to last very long with that sort of attitude,” White said.“Yang’s probably just a little worried,” Ruby said. “It’s her first job.” She reached for the cup the bartender had placed before her and took a sip before her entire face scrunched up. “Ew, ew, this is gross,” she said. “It tastes like Uncle Qrow’s juice.”White and Blackbow both took their cups and sniffed them, Blackbow going so far as to take a sip. “It’s beer,” Blackbow told Ruby. She took another sip and spun on her stool to watch the crowds.White made a disgusted little sound and replaced her cup on the counter. “I’d prefer some nice fruit wine,” she said, sounding just as prissy as she looked. Neo wondered if she would fit in White’s dress and if she could steal it before the night was over. “Don’t drink that Ruby, I wouldn’t want to explain to Yang or, gods forbid, Goodwitch, why you came back to the dormitory drunk.”“I think we would all prefer it if Ruby stayed sober,” a smooth voice said from off to one side. Neo had to lean back and look up to catch Akelarre’s eye as she walked over to them, cloak billowing out behind her like the sexy cape of a sexy supervillain. She licked her lips to the taste of vanilla ice cream.“Akelarre,” Velvet and Ruby said at the same time, though with two entirely different tones.Ruby hopped out of her seat and tackled the taller girl in a quick hug before letting go to reveal red cheeks and a sweet grin. “I got into Beacon!” she said.Akelarre placed a hand on Ruby’s head, then gently rearranged the girl’s red locks. “Really? Congratulations. I thought you had to be a bit older to enter?”Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.“Yup, but I’m so awesome they let me in early.”Akelarre’s smile was soft as she continued to pat Ruby on the head he way Neo might pat a dog. “Well done. And who are your friends? Velvet I already know, of course.”“Uh, hello, Akelarre,” the bunny girl said before her ears drooped down and she sunk in on herself. “I, I wanted to talk, if you had the time.”“Sure, we can talk whenever you want. I have a room upstairs if you want some privacy,” Akelarre said. Velvet nodded so fast her ears flopped around. Akelarre let out a chuckle before turning to the other girls. “Hello, I’m Princess Akelarre, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”“Yes!” Ruby said before zipping back to her friends. “This is Blake Belladonna, my friend, and this is Weiss Schnee. She’s my friend and my partner.”“It’s a pleasure to meet you... Princess,” Weiss said.Next to her, the black-haired girl, Blake, was going so pale she would soon look like someone had left her outside in mid-winter, her eyes were bugging out with the kind of expression Neo had started to label as the ‘I’ve met Akelarre’ face.Akelarre noticed almost immediately, eyes narrowing before she smiled at Blake. “Are you the Blake that was at that camp a while or so ago?” she asked.Blake made a noise that could have meant anything.Akelarre took pity on the girl and reached out to pat her head. Blake sunk under the patting. “Don’t worry. Any friend of Ruby’s is a friend of mine. And anyway, aren’t we cousins?”Ruby blinked slowly and so did Neo. She eyed the Blake girl up and down but couldn’t see any noticeable Grimm-like traits to her. Maybe the bow was hiding horns?“You’re related to Blake?” Ruby asked.“Not by blood,” Akelarre clarified. “It’s common courtesy that any princess call another princess cousin, even if none are actually related. It’s a very old tradition.”“Blake is a princess?!” Ruby said. She spun towards the black-haired girl, eyes shining with awe. “Why didn’t you tell us? Were you hiding it?”“Um,” Blake said.“Ah, forgive me,” Akelarre said before bowing towards Blake. “I didn’t know you were undercover. You weren’t masking your appearance, so I jumped to the wrong conclusion.”“What.” Weiss’ voice was flat.“It’s... okay?” Blake said.“Okay, time out,” Weiss said. She pointed a finger at Akelarre’s chest. “Who are you.” Her hand moved over to Blake. “Princess of what?”Blake swallowed under her teammate's looks, then looked off to the side. “I’m not a princess. My dad’s just the high chieftain.”“The high chieftain of an entire county,” Akelarre pointed out. “Which is a crown short of being king.”“You’re... you’re one of those Belladonna?” Weiss said. Then she started staring at Blake’s bow and she paled.“I... yes.” Blake said, her back straightening as she glared down at the smaller white-haired girl. “I’m one of those Belladonna.” She turned narrowed eyes onto Akelarre. “And you’re a Grimm,” she spat the last word.Akelarre shrugged one shoulder. “I am.”Weiss, who was already pale, went even whiter. “That’s not possible. There aren’t any intelligent Grimm.”“Of course there are. I’m one of them. Besides, if there weren’t intelligent Grimm like me, then there wouldn’t be any humans left, now would there.”Blake, whose hands were balled into fists by her sides, looked ready to jump Akelarre. Neo sat back a little. She didn’t want to get hit by a stray blow while watching the girl get trampled.Neo gestured at the bartender to bring her another float. If there was going to be a catfight, literal or otherwise, she wanted to have a drink before it started. It was hard to order a drink when the bartenders were all running away from angry huntresses in her experience. “You’re... you’re Grimm. We should be fighting you,” Blake said.“Because of what I am?” Akelarre asked.“Yes, of course.”“Well that’s rather racist. And anyway, no fighting in the Club. You don’t want to end up like Yang.”“Huh?” Ruby asked.The music in the room changed, the current technobeat dying down, but the bass thrum continuing the background. In the DJ booth, the bear-headed maestro brought a microphone to his costume’s mouth and shouted into it towards the crowd of dancers. “Everyone say hello to our newest serving girl... Blooondiiiee!”Blondie stepped out onto the stage wearing what might have been the poofiest dress on the continent. It ballooned out at the waist in a mass of frills and lace that almost looked like a ballerina’s outfit. If the ballerina was really fond of looking like a pom-pom.Her movements were lithe and graceful despite the jarring outfit and she held a notepad and pen in her hands as if they were weapons and not the tools of a proper waitress, then the blonde saw her sister and friends and her next steps onto the floor turned janky and robotic.Neo saw Ruby’s jaw drop and stay there for several seconds as she stared at her sister. When she turned around Ruby’s face was set in the most serious expression Neo had ever seen, she regarded Blake and Wiess for a long moment, then spoke, her voice flat and even. “Guys? You can't tell our Dad about this. Ever. That’s an order.”Akelarre placed a hand on Ruby’s shoulder in a show of solidarity.Neo sipped her drink, enjoying the show while Weiss picked up her beer and downed it in one swallow. Then she did the same to Ruby’s.“Well, it was fun meeting all of you again,” Akelarre said. “But Velvet wanted to talk, so I hope you don’t mind if I’m gone for a few minutes? Bye cousin, bye Weiss, bye Ruby.”The three reactions were as different as they could be, from red-faced apoplectic anger, to pale, bloodless fear mingled with confusion, to cheerfulness that was only tempered by curiosity of what was happening on-stage.With a few distracted good-byes, Akelarre moved towards the side and nodded her head towards the back. Velvet, who was busy being a quiet little bunny girl, nodded and followed after her.

* * *

Velvet looked around the VIP room, but didn’t catch anything that might serve as a distraction, just two couches and a chair and some tables.Akelarre sat herself down on one of the couches, then gestured at the other. “Did you want to sit? You look a little nervous.”“I, I am,” she admitted. Instead of sitting though she paced. She had a lot of energy to work off. “I wanted to say sorry,” she began.“Because of what happened the other night?” Akelarre asked.“Yes. Coco... Coco is nice, she really is, but things are just so complicated now and it doesn’t feel the same anymore. I still love her. She’s still my best friend, but...”“But you don’t approve of what she did?” Akelarre’s voice was soft, far softer than Velvet had ever heard.She nodded. “Yeah. It wasn’t fair that she attack you like that the first time, then she called the Professors and, and that was just mean.”“And what about you?” Akelarre asked. At her blank look she continued. “What do you want to do about it?”Velvet’s hands wrung together. “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”Akelarre hummed for a moment, eyes looking off into the distance before they refocused on her. “Hey, Velvet, do you know how to pilot a Bullhead?”“Um. Yes?” she said. She wasn’t terribly good at it, and she didn’t have much more than the courses at Beacon under her belt, but she knew how.“Then how would you like to go on a little vacation. Just two days. It’ll be fun.”