#amaryllis armilde

[mercurryblack]

Chapter 12: Hattie

This is something unlike anything they were ever trained for.

❃❃❃

“You know, kid… you’re being so quiet, it’s kind of freaking me out.”

Hattie wasn’t sure how long she had been staring at the hospital’s ceiling. It could have been only a few minutes, or even the whole morning— but time was the last thing on her mind. The padded bench she lay on smelled slightly of disinfectant, mingling with the faint yet omnipresent aroma of chemical citrus, likely from another cleaning product. Combined with a uniformly white color scheme across the walls and ceiling, the entire building felt oppressively sterile.

She hated it. Everything in the hospital was too clean, too coldly impersonal, and her Semblance was picking up every bit of pain around her, no matter how small.

“Hey, Remnant to Lazuli, do you copy?” Yuen repeated.

“I heard you,” Hattie mumbled, tilting her head up to get an upside-down view of the woman seated next to her. A metal crutch rested on the wall beside Yuen, a result of the doctor’s concern for her leg wound, minor as it was. “I just… don’t feel like much right now., if it’s all the same to you.”

“Not a problem here,” Cait chimed in, their voice hoarse as they shifted in their seat across from her. Raising an arm to scratch their side, they winced in pain and muttered under their breath a complaint about their rib brace being itchy.

Yuen shrugged, taking her crutch under her arm as she stood. “Alright, whatever. I’m going to go find a decent cup of coffee. Give me a buzz if Sardion wakes up, if your Scroll’s still got any juice left.”

As she headed off, Cait gingerly rose from their chair and walked over to where Yuen had been sitting, plopping down next to Hattie’s head with a low gasp.

“I know you said you didn’t want to talk, but I just wanted to know… are you hol—?”

Cait didn’t manage to finish their question before Hattie raised her arms up and wrapped them around them, burying her face into their side. They hissed sharply as her grip tightened, “Ow, ow, ow, ow, Hattie, not so tight, not so tight.”

“S-sorry.” Hattie said quietly. “It’s just—”

“I know,” Cait said, gently placing a hand on the side of her head. “I’m not exactly feeling peaches-and-cream in my mind, either.”

“Are you feeling any better otherwise?” she asked, lowering her arms as she sat up from the bench.

She had escaped the skirmish with no physical injury to herself, but couldn’t help but concern herself with the rest of them.

“Eh, they did give me some painkiller for my ribs, so it’s not as bad as it felt at first,” Cait said. “And the cuts weren’t anything serious. Needed a couple of stitches, but my Aura’ll take care of them once it regenerates— doc said they won’t even leave scars.”

“Yeah, that’s good,” Hattie said with an almost imperceptible nod. “Do you need anything? Can I get you something to eat or some water or—”

“Nah,” Cait shook their head. “I don’t have much of an appetite right now. I just want two things - a scalding hot shower and a very long nap.”

Hattie didn’t respond at first, instead turning her attention back to the ceiling as a niggling thought at the back of her mind started to grow.

She had clearly heard Moira and Nest call themselves Cait’s sisters, but the two had borne as much resemblance to her raven-haired teammate as her top hat resembled a fried egg — to say nothing of the fact that they didn’t look anything alike either.

Then there was what Cait had yelled about their father, and that was another matter entirely— she had never heard her teammate speak two words about their family, much less speak about anyone with such vitriol in their voice.

“…I need to ask you about something, Cait, and I need you to be honest with me. Please.”

With a twinge of hesitation, Cait nodded. “I think I know what you’re about to say.”

“Who were those people?” Hattie asked, looking at Cait with an expression of concern. “They said they were your sisters… and they said that they killed Yaara and Berilo, too.”

Cait drew in a deep breath before replying, “They’re not my sisters… not by blood, at least.”

“Why would they have murdered two Huntsmen?” Hattie continued her line of questioning.

“I don’t know,” Cait replied, their tone becoming uneasy. “I don’t really want to talk about them right now—”

“Why not?” Hattie asked, pressing them further. “If you knew they were out there all along, why didn’t you tell us about them?”

“Because they’re not exactly something I want to remember, Hattie!” Cait snapped, causing Hattie to recoil slightly. Regretting their outburst at the sight of her reaction, they continued, “Sorry, sorry, it’s just… this is a piece of my past I thought I had finally gotten rid of.”

Hattie hesitated before asking her next question, “Like your… father?”

“Yeah… like him.” Cait said, their eyebrows knitting together in distaste at the mere mention. “And if you thought they were bad, well, he’s ten times worse.”

“So what do we do?” Hattie said. “Now that they know you’re here, it doesn’t sound like they’re going to stop…”

“We have to do what we’ve been trained to do,” Cait answered. “We have to fight back.”

“But didn’t you run before?”

“That time was different,” Cait said hesitantly, taking a moment to choose their next words. They were afraid, and privately cursing themself for never telling their team. They had never hoped, much less ever wanted, to drag anyone else into their conflict, but now…

“You guys are my family,” Cait said, a more affirmative swell in their tone with the declaration. “Family’s supposed to protect each other… and I’m done running away.”

They felt a gentle nudge against their shoulder, and looked up to see Hattie giving them a small, hopeful smile.

“You promise, partner?” she asked, extending her pinky.

Cait nodded, returning the smile and the pinky promise. “I do.”

“HATTIE! CAIT! WHAT HAPPENED?!”

The two of them jolted straight upright, startled out of the serene moment by an abrupt shout. Leaning over, they caught sight of Lillian and Amaryllis running up the hallway to them, Rudyard in tow right behind them. The sisters were clad in regular civvies and unarmed, while Rudyard had his uniform on and his sword at his side.

“Are you okay?” Amaryllis rushed up and knelt down, throwing an arm around each of them. “I thought you two were out late last night, so I didn’t bother to call… I’m so sorry, I should’ve checked in on you—”

“Ammy,” Lillian gently tapped her sister on the shoulder. “Let them talk so we know what’s going on.” She moved her attention to Hattie.

“Hattie, you said that Sardion and Yuen were here with you, right?”

“Y-you read my texts?” Hattie asked, still a bit flustered by the trio’s sudden arrival.

“About Manju-Shage and the killers and everything?” Rudyard said, his voice rushed and breathless. “Yeah, these two got me up to speed on the way. Where’s Sardion?”

“Intensive care unit,” Yuen said, reappearing with a fresh cup of coffee in one hand. “Surgery ended an hour or two ago, he’s probably resting off the sedative right now.”

Without paying any further attention to the underclassmen, Rudyard stole a look at a wall-mounted floor map, then hurried off down the hall a second later.

With Rudyard abruptly gone, Cait was uncomfortably aware that all eyes were now turned on them.

“So,” Yuen said as she took another sip of her coffee, her eyes narrowing. “Given everything that’s happened in the last twelve hours, I think we’re all overdue for an explanation. Start talking, Cait.”

Cait glanced nervously at Hattie.

“Go on,” she said with a gentle nudge, resting her hand on their back.

They pursed their lips, then began to speak.

“There are… some things… that I’ve been keeping from all of you…” they said tentatively. “Three years ago… I ran away from… I couldn’t tell you the name of the place for the life of me, but it was where I grew up. Gods know how many times I tried to run away before that, but I never got further than the perimeter. See, it’s built right into a plateau in the middle of nowhere with cliff faces on every exit, and even if I had managed to get down without breaking my neck, there were miles of forest around it probably teeming with Grimm—”

“Tell us about your troubled home life later.” Yuen forcefully interrupted. “What I want to know is who the hell those two last night were, and why they killed two of Mistral’s best Huntsmen.”

Cait sighed. “Well, the one Sardion offed was Moira Redoul, and the one with the wings... her name’s Nest Nerium. I didn’t see Faine or Anais with them, so that probably means—”

“Wait a second.” This time, Hattie cut them off. “Are you telling us there’s two more of whatever they were… out there?”

“…More like one and a half, I’d say.” Cait said. “Then again, while Anais might only count for half, Faine is good enough to be two on her own… thank the gods she’s the one that prefers to stick with dad.”

“Well, hell.” Yuen slumped back against the wall, letting out a low whistle.

“I’m sorry,” Cait said, lowering their head. “I honestly thought they’d given up trying to find me… but now I’ve led them to all of you.”

“No… you couldn’t have known that they’d follow you this far,” Lillian said. “But why would they have gone after Yaara and Berilo in the first place?”

“I don’t know,” Cait said glumly. “I honestly don’t know.”

Yuen let out a long, exasperated huff, looking away.

“…I’m going to go talk to Rudyard. If he’s waiting for ICU clearance, maybe I’ll have time to fill him in on the rest of this.” She took one more chug of her coffee, then threw it into a trashcan and hobbled off, crutch still in hand.

“She’s mad at me, isn’t she?” Cait asked with a wince.

“It’s just everything happening so fast,” Amaryllis said reassuringly. “She’ll come around.”

“I hope so,” Cait said. “Are you two mad at me?”

Lillian shook her head, taking a seat next to Cait. “We’re definitely going to have more questions for you about this, like it or not, but we’re not going to give you grief about it.”

“…You know they’ll come back, right?” Cait said.

“Who? Rudyard and Yuen?”

“Nest and… whoever else dad’s still got with him. This won’t be the last we see of them, now that they know where I am.”

“Yeah, we know.” Lillian shifted in her seat, but her expression remained unchanging.

“All of us are right beside you.” It was Amaryllis who spoke this time. “We’re a team, aren’t we? And correct me if I’m wrong, Lilly, but I think we can count on Rudyard to back us up too.”

“You know it,” Lillian replied. “First Yaara and Berilo, now this? He’s not going anywhere.”

“…Thanks, guys,” Cait replied simply, their tone grateful but dulled by the gnawing dread of all the ways everything could still go wrong.

The conversation trailed off with that, and the four of them were met with several seconds of awkward silence.

“So… uh… you two want some ice cream?” Lillian spoke up. “There’s a cafeteria on the first floor. It’s open, and I saw they had a sign for Fen & Berry’s.”

“Ice cream in the morning? For breakfast?” Cait said, mirth creeping back into their tone. “We nearly get killed, and you’re spoiling us. We should do this more often.”

“Eh, after the night you two’ve had, I’ll let this one slide. Hattie? You want some?” Lillian asked, turning to her other, uncharacteristically quiet teammate.

“…Can you get Hunka Helia Burning Fudge from them?” Hattie asked, looking a bit sheepish.

“That can probably be arranged,” Lillian said with a soft chuckle. She held out her hand to her sister, a Lien note of low denomination clasped between forefinger and thumb. “Two servings of the biggest size they have, Ammy.”

“Wha—why do I have to go get it?!” Amaryllis said indignantly. “You’re the one who suggested it, why don’t you go get it!”

“Because A, I’m your leader, and B, I’m your older sister.” Lillian blithely answered, without turning around. “And I am going to make up for my absence during our teammates’ very stressful night by emotionally supporting them right now, while you go get them some comfort food.”

“We’re TWINS, Lillian!”

“Yes, and I’m four minutes older. Now, chop-chop.”

“Hrmph,” Amaryllis huffed, taking the note from her sister. “Four minutes older… I’ll give you ‘four minutes older’ one of these days, musclehead…” she muttered under her breath as she strode off for the cafeteria.

#team llac #team llac fic #harriet lazuli #agave yuen #cait miya #amaryllis armilde #lillian armilde #rudyard millard #rwby #rwby oc

[question-anon]

New outfit time!

Like a year ago @neopoliitan and I joked on discord that Akane and Marron probably got/made the Armilde sisters new outfits, since they hadn’t shed their Atlesian fashions since arriving in Mistral.

Then I stumbled across said exchange a while back and thought “shit why not” haha

Thank you @ins-ou for drawing this, I love it!

(also her previous outfit didn’t show it well enough but lillian is shredded)

#ins ou #amocean #neopoliitan #rwby #rwby oc #team rain #akane amaranth #marron armona #team llac #lillian armilde #amaryllis armilde

[neopoliitan]

RWBY OC Fic Recommendations!

No doubt most of the people who follow me are well aware of my RWBY Fancomic, Team RAIN, which is presently on hiatus while I slowly work on the first chapter(s) of the final arc.

While you wait, dear readers, why not delve into some other RWBY fanworks? 

Need I mention that the following are canon to the Team RAIN comic? While you don’t need to read the other two for one to make sense, doing so will provide nice little nuggets and references along the way that you may not catch otherwise. This is like the RWBY OC Cinematic Universe.

So, without further ado;

Team ZRCN by @sustraiii​

(Artwork by sthefbooh)

Team ZRCN (Zircon), comprised of Zelde Sewick, Xanthos Ravindra, Cordovan Radcliff and Neela Oxford, are a second-year team from Atlas Academy. Throughout their quest to end an underground crime spree running rampant throughout the kingdom, the four of them chance upon a revolver toting Bloody Mary, Atlas’s greatest university, the Ace Ops’ B-Team and a Vytal Tournament Winner, among a LOT more.

I’ve been friends with the author for 5 and a half years, and played no small part in roping her into the RWBY fandom. It’s really awesome to be on the reader end of a fic about a team I’m very invested in!

Team LLAC by @mercurryblack​

(Artwork by shuasharp)

A third-year team from Haven Academy, Team LLAC (Lilac) is roped in by their mentor, to aid in solving the murder of two veteran huntsman. The team is comprised of twins Lillian and Amaryllis Armilde, Harriet “Hattie” Lazuli, and Cait Miya.

The author started out by suggesting ideas to me over anons, and has become a good friend of mine over the years. I’m so glad I managed to persuade him to put pen to paper, because I always knew he’d be a great writer (spoiler; I was right). Though it’s quite a young story right now, LLAC sits on a very strong foundation.

#rwby #rwby art #rwby fanart #rwbyoc #rwby oc #rwby fan art #rwby comic #web comic #team llac #team zrcn #rwby fanfic #rwby fic #rwby fanfiction #rwby fan fic #rwby fan fiction #fic rec #fic recs

[mercurryblack]

Interlude: The Armilde Sisters

Oh, yeah, them too. Their nights were mostly uneventful.

…At least in Lillian’s case. Wink wonk.

❃❃❃

“Mmm… I need… the sky to… go home…”

The young woman buried her head into her pillow as deep as she could, but it was clear that she was fighting a losing battle against the light of the morning over Mistral City.

“Damn.” Lillian Armilde groaned, catching sight of her bedside clock as she stirred awake in her dormitory bed. It was already eight o’clock— she’d have to save her usual morning run for later.

As she cast the bedsheets to one side and pushed her purple bedhead away from her face, she realized that not a single one of her teammates was anywhere to be seen. The other three beds were unkempt and vacant, and there were no sounds coming from the kitchenette. She inwardly surmised that Amaryllis had spent the night at Hector’s, but Hattie and Cait had been absent since she had arrived home last night, having stayed over late at Rosario’s place for a movie (along with a bit of making out).

Oh, well. Probably nothing too serious. she mused, popping a pod into the coffee machine. Maybe they hung out with some other team.

As if in response to her thoughts, her Scroll lightly buzzed on the counter. She flicked the Scroll’s screen, and the messaging tab opened.

Lillian blinked. She had forty-five missed messages— two from Detective Yuen, four from Cait, nine from Rudyard, and the remaining thirty courtesy of Hattie.

“What the hell…” she mumbled, confused and mildly annoyed at the plethora of messages. Sliding open Hattie’s list, she muttered to herself, “This’d better not be some kind of stupid joke—”

She stopped mid-sentence as the text loaded. A second passed, then two, then three, then ten before something finally stirred inside her.

“Oh…”

The coffee machine beeped, but it might as well have been a mile away to her.

“…FUCK.”

***

“Mmmnnh… need the moon… to come back… five more minutes…”

Shifting onto her side with some reluctance, Amaryllis Armilde blearily opened her eyes as a ray of sunlight traveled across her face, raising a hand up to stifle the glare.

I guess Detective Yuen did tell us to be ready in the morning, she thought as she sat up, blinking the sleep from her periwinkle orbs as she propped herself with one hand.

She cast a glance over her shoulder to her bedmate. Then again, it’s still early, so it’s not like I should be in a hurry…

Her gaze became fixed on the still-dozing form of Hector Wulfric, another two rays of sunlight shining across his back. Slowly, she reached over and gave his hair a soft tousle, partly out of casual affection and partly as an excuse to wake him up.

“Mmmmbbhg,” Hector mumbled, his eyelids fluttering open a second later. “Hey, Ammy.”

“Hey, yourself,” Amaryllis replied with a smile, ceasing her gentle ministrations. Brushing her scarlet hair out of her eyes, she picked her Scroll up off a nightstand next to her; a souvenir keychain of a red crown gave it away as her own. On the home screen, there were several notifications of missed messages from several senders, but she didn’t get the opportunity to check them any further— seconds after she had turned it on, the screen dimmed and flashed red with a low-battery warning.

“Anyth— aawwwwhhhh—anything new going on?” Hector asked with a yawn as he sat up.

“Seems that way, but the battery’s about dead,��� Amaryllis said, setting it down. “I’ll charge it back up when I get home, since I’ll need to get in touch with the others anyways.”

“Oh, yeah, you did mention that yesterday.” Hector mused. “Well, I can at least make some coffee before you head out if you’d like?”

“Sure, but I’ll make it instead,” Amaryllis said. “I’m picky about it from day to day, but at least you’re consistent. Lots of cream, lots of sugar?”

Hector nodded. “Please and thank you.”

Giving him a peck on the cheek as she rose from the bed, Amaryllis stretched her back as she stood, before heading for the door.

Her hand was already on the doorknob when she finally realized that she didn’t have so much as a stitch of clothing on.

“…Hector?” she asked after a moment’s hesitation.

“Yeah, Ammy?” Hector said as he turned to sit on the side of the bed, pulling the sheets to cover his bare lap whilst trying not to stare.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any idea where my dress is right now, would you?”

“…Nope,” Hector replied, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. “I, uh, I don’t suppose you know where my suit went either?”

“No clue,” Amaryllis said.

“Eh, no worries,” Hector said, shrugging. “Alistair’ll probably find them lying somewhere around here. You can borrow some of my stuff, assuming it tits you— uh, fits you.” He coughed at his slip of the tongue, blushing slightly.

Amaryllis giggled. “My, what a gentleman you are.”

“I do my best,” Hector said, returning her smile.

“You mean, you do your breast?” Amaryllis asked, giggling further.

“I am not going to answer that,” Hector responded, barely resisting the urge to laugh at her tease. “Shouldn’t you be hurrying up? Your sister’s probably going to bawl you out for staying here overnight.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing important,” Amaryllis said, shrugging. “I mean, it’s been only one night— what’s the worst that could have happened?”

#team llac #team llac fic #lillian armilde #amaryllis armilde #team hail #hector wulfric #fanfic #fan fiction #rwby fan fiction #rwby oc #rwbyoc #rwby

[mercurryblack]

Chapter 7: Lillian

The team gets ready for their respective dates... or lack thereof.

❃❃❃

“Ugh. We get a night off, and I’m stuck with an essay.”

Though the crime scene investigation had been a drag, in Cait’s opinion, their current situation sucked even more. They hungered for something exciting to happen— hell, a pissed-off Onikuma could crash through their door right then and there, and it would be a pleasant reprieve from the drudgery of a Grimm Studies report. Fighting was always preferable over writing.

Who cared about the variations in Grimm anatomy and physiology based on their habitat, anyway? One looked like an elephant, one looked like a wooly mammoth.

Either way, Cait had set themselves up for a boring night in, and was left silent and grouchy.

“How are you guys planning to spend your day-offs?” Hattie asked the Armilde twins as she slumped back against her pillow. Her small tophat remained firmly on her head, still lopsided.

Silently, Cait tried and failed to recount the last time they’d ever seen her without it.

“I have a charity event to go to,” Amaryllis replied, adjusting a clip-on silver earring onto her right earlobe.

“Oooh, that sounds exciting!” Hattie said, sitting up. “Can I come? Can I come?” 

“Sure! More people there means more funds for the cause. Plus, it’s public, so everyone in Mistral’s pretty much automatically invited.” Amaryllis paused, looking at her Scroll. “…You do still have that nice blue dress of yours from the dance, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Hattie replied.

Amaryllis nodded. “You might want to consider throwing that on, since it’s a kinda formal event, but otherwise you’re welcome to tag along.”

“Yay!” Hattie squealed, clapping her hands. “Thank you, Ammy! You going with anyone else?”

“Hector Wulfric. The event’s organized by his family, actually.” Amaryllis answered. A smile crept onto her face while she planned how she was going to spend the evening with her boyfriend. 

“Oh.” Hattie said, immediately deflating. “In that case, never mind. I don’t wanna play third wheel.” She took a seat again on the end of her bed. “How about Lilly? What’s she gonna do tonight?”

Lillian wasn’t there to answer. She’d been in the bathroom for a good half hour, brushing her teeth to a complete and almost blinding white.

“She’s going on a date with… what was it, sweet guns? No, wait, she called her tha— Oh, I remember. Sweet buns.” Amaryllis recounted, barely stifling a giggle.

“Who now? Is she that same girl Lillian mentioned yesterday?” Hattie asked in the same moment as Lillian emerged from the bathroom.

“Hush, you.” Lillian said, having overheard them. “For the millionth time, Am, her name is Rosario— and yes, Hattie, she’s the same one I mentioned last night.” She explained.

“Remind me how it went, again? Was it, ‘I got a couple of “sweet buns” right here, and they’ve already got your name on ‘em.’” Amaryllis put her hands firmly on her rear and swung her butt in a circle. She wiggled repetitively, mocking a tease she had observed from Rosario.

Lillian turned to give Amaryllis an especially evil glare. “You know what, Am? You’re a pain in my ass.”

“Yeah, okay.” Amaryllis adopted a placating tone, though the mischievous glint in her eye remained. “But am I a pain in your sweet bu—?” She began, continuing her gluteal choreography.

With a snarl, Lillian grabbed one of Amaryllis’ good leather boots from the floor and hurled it at her sister. It collided with the top of the redhead’s cranium, and she let out a strangled yelp.

“Ow, ow, ow...” Rubbing the top of her head, Amaryllis snapped back, “I swear to god, Lilly, if you messed up my hair…”

Hattie giggled in the background, though she lacked context on exactly what Amaryllis was making fun about— something about sweet buns, but that was all she could make out. Her stomach growled at the thought of the tasty pastry.

“Okay, okay, it’s time to stop. Both of you had your laughs.” Lillian said, as she grabbed her drawstring bag and threw it over her shoulder. “And sorry, Hattie, but I got no extra room tonight. As roaringly as I think you two would get along, I think it’s about time I spend some alone time with my girlfriend.” She coughed.

“Mmm.” Hattie mumbled in response. Though downtrodden by the absence of her teammates for the night, she knew that it was neither of their responsibilities to take her along with them— after all, they still had their private lives. “…Lillian?”

“Yes?” Lillian asked, straightening her cropped hoodie around her midriff.

“Your girlfriend’s the same one with the pastry shop, isn’t she?” Hattie asked.

“Same one.”

Hattie puffed her lips out. “Will you bring back some pastries when you’re done with your date, pleeeease?”

“Sure, I think that could be arranged.” Lillian laughed. “Okay, I should be on my way by now— I don’t want to keep Rosa waiting.”

Amaryllis “I’m going as well— I’ve still got to pick up my dress.” She turned to Hattie and Cait for a moment. “Oh, and you two eat some dinner later, okay? Hattie, if you really have nothing else to do, it’d be really nice of you to help Cait finish their paper. Afterward, maybe you two can come down to the charity ball.” She said invitingly.

Hattie’s eyes lit up again. “Hey, maybe we could! What do you think, Cait?”

Cait didn’t make any effort to face the twins, instead opting to wave a hand to them while facing the window. “Yeah.” They replied listlessly.

“…Okay then. We’ll see you later.” With that, Lillian and Amaryllis turned and exited the dorm room.

***

As Amaryllis and Lillian walked through Haven’s low-lit and empty dormitory halls, they continued to talk about each other’s plans for the evening.

“So... where are you taking Rosario?” Amaryllis inquired in an innocent tone.

“We’re heading down to the cliffs. I heard there are some nice spots over there for a late picnic.” Lillian answered flatly, looking straight ahead without breaking her stride.

“Cliffs. How very romantic.” Amaryllis drawled.

“Yeah, yeah. How about you and Hector, got anything hot and heavy planned for tonight? I heard something about you picking up a dress. I smell something fishy here.” Lillian turned to face Amaryllis, wiggling an eyebrow.

“Ew, don’t even go there. This outfit is for tonight’s event, and tonight’s event only. I’ll change clothes after I go to the salon to get my hair and face done up, and I gotta hit that first since it’s already getting pretty late.” Amaryllis hesitated. “And as far as I know, the only thing that’ll be getting hot tonight is my face from nervousness. Hector said his dad’s going to be there, and he wants me to meet him.”

“Heh. I know the feeling.” Lillian chuckled.

She knew full well that her sister had never met Hector’s family before— both her and the Wulfric lad had seemed secretive about the whole relationship, though they had been dating for well over a year by now. She also was versed in the experience of having to meet a special someone’s family for the first time, and a sweaty face didn’t even start to describe it.

Honestly, it felt more like a jolt of terror up the spine, followed by the sensation of one’s stomach falling right into their feet.

“Don’t worry, Am. They’ll love you.” Lillian reassured her sister. Smirking, she continued, “Just don’t tell them that the reason their beloved son is head-over-heels for you is because of those lumps of fat glued to the front of your ribcage.”

Amaryllis flushed red, crossing her arms over her chest. “Oh, shut up. I’ll have you know that Hector loves all the fat in my body, regardless of its exact location.”

“Yeah?” Lillian retorted. “Tell that to the two loves of his life: peanut butter and jelly.” She teased as she pointed her thumb at Amaryllis’ chest. “…Or was it butter, and I can’t believe it’s not butter?”

“Please. His nicknames for my breasts are much more creative than that.” Amaryllis countered.

A pause.

“So you admit that he has nicknames for them, huh?”

Blushing a brighter shade of red, Amaryllis huffed and walked as fast as she could, overtaking Lillian. She was becoming increasingly annoyed with her sister, not because of what she was saying, but because she had no good retorts up her sleeve to retaliate with.

“Bye, sis. Have fun with your boob fetishist of a boyfriend.” Lillian waved, a guileless smirk plastered on her face.

“You have a nice date too… sweet buns fetishist!” For one last time, Amaryllis turned around to face Lillian and performed the corresponding taunt.

Turning around, she nearly walked right into a green-haired, pink-eyed girl with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth, who had obviously been witness to her previous action. Unmoving, she apparently appeared to still be processing it.

After a moment’s pause, the girl blinked, snorted a small laugh and grinned. “Yeah, Sweet buns, all right.” She cracked, holding the toothbrush out of her mouth to speak.

Hiding her face with her arm from embarrassment, Amaryllis ran past the girl and out the entrance of the dormitory. Lillian and the girl watched with amusement as she fled.

“Hey.” The girl said, turning back to face Lillian.

“Hey.” Lillian replied, sparing a second’s eye contact as she walked past. She vaguely recognized her as one of the first-years.

With that brief acknowledgement, they both continued on their separate ways, in opposite directions along the hall.

#team llac #team llac fic #cait miya #harriet lazuli #amaryllis armilde #lillian armilde #team npir #nanako amaranth #neopoliitan #fanfic #fan fiction #rwby fan fiction #rwby oc #rwbyoc #rwby

[mercurryblack]

Chapter 6: Rudyard

Day six: the investigation fruitlessly continues.

❃❃❃

“Any luck today?” Yuen asked.

After six fruitless days of combing over Berilo’s house and garden, LLAC had once again returned to the usual meeting place. By that time, Yuen, Rudyard and Sardion were already waiting for them, and the sun was inching down past the horizon.

Lillian shook her head in disappointment. “Nothing. We searched the house from roof to basement as usual, but we didn’t find anything that wasn’t already marked or mentioned in the initial report.” She informed them.

“Yeah, same here.” Cait added. Under their breath, they grumbled; “This is so not cool at all.”

The search of the garden on the first day had been under pleasant weather, but that was the only upside that they recalled— most of that day had just consisted of crawling around underneath the plants and staring at every inch of grass and dirt for footprints. Consistently, the highlight of each passing day seemed to be their short lunch break.

Sardion sighed. “We’re in the same boat, then. Nothing turned up for us, either— I guess we’ve hit a dead end.” Yaara’s house, in comparison had been spick and span, just like how she organized it. Like Berilo’s, a blood spatter marked the area where she had died, but the house was in better shape than his— the door was still on its hinges, with no sign of lockpicking.

“So, what are we going to do next, Detective?” inquired Rudyard. Despite his annoyance at the lack of any new leads, he managed to keep his tone calm.

Yuen raised a hand to her temple, exhaling heavily. “For now, we should head back to my office. I’m sure the lot of you are hungry, I have some food stashed there. We can talk over a nice meal.” she answered.

Sardion raised an eyebrow. “You keep food in your office, too?”

“Ah, just some Dr. Piper and a few packs of Simple Wok instant noodles,” Yuen replied. “…Er, lots of Simple Wok instant noodles, to be honest.”

***

Yuen prepared some water for the instant noodles on a hot plate, as the group sat huddled in the small space.

“Sorry that this is all I have. Whenever us detectives need to stay for the night, cup ramen and soda become our nectar and ambrosia.” She said, sounding a bit embarrassed.

Rudyard laughed, giving Sardion a gentle nudge in the arm. “It’s alright, detective. Truth be told, it makes me remember when I was back in the academy. Sardion, Berilo and I used to sneak boxes of these from the cafeteria to our rooms every once in a while, so that we could have late-night snacks every time we needed to stay up to finish our written assignments.”

“Oh gods, yeah, I remember that.” Sardion said. “And you remember that time Yaara yelled at all of us because we pulled an all-nighter and made the entire room smell like broth? She said if we had just eaten enough at dinnertime like ‘normal people’, we wouldn’t be hungry and therefore wouldn’t stink up the dorm. She was right, of course, but that never stopped us from doing it again and again.” He started laughing along with Rudyard.

“Man, we should try that out, Hattie.” Cait suggested. “Knowing ol’ Branwen, there’s no way that he’ll let me off of that paper just for this assignment, so we might as well have something to eat.”

“Yeah!” Hattie agreed. “We can eat whenever we want!”

Sardion adopted a comically authoritative demeanor. “Hey, hey, bad idea. Don’t do it. And if you ignore me and get caught, don’t tell Lionheart we did it too at our time there. But, if you pull it off and don’t get caught, then you gotta tell us how you did it.”

Rudyard shook his head, grinning. “Man, we must’ve done it ‘til the day we graduated. That grouchy old lady who worked there would always wonder why some of their food was lost, but we never got the blame for it.” He clicked his fingers “Say, you remember the time Hidalgo and Gin found her stash of chocolate pudding and took as much as they could carry?”

“The Great Pudding Robbery of ‘56. How could I ever forget—?”

This time, it was Lillian’s turn to interject. “Wait, Hidalgo? As in Hidalgo Ferrante?”

Sardion turned to her, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, he was one of our pals in the academy. You know him?”

“Sort of.” Lillian replied. “I mean, I’m dating his daughter right now.” She explained, her cheeks reddening slightly.

“Wait, no kidding?” Sardion’s eyes widened. Turning to Rudyard, he mouthed ’did you know?’

“Yeah, her name’s Rosario.” Rudyard continued. “Talks about her all the time. Showed me a picture of her once, too— she’s definitely her old man’s daughter, has his eyes.”

As he spoke, Yuen sat down with them, placing the pot of now-boiling water in the middle and gesturing to the box of cup ramen. “Okay, grab whatever flavor of noodles you want. And before we continue with the nostalgia and all that, we should first discuss what we want to do next.”

“But… we still haven’t really found anything. How are we supposed to know our next move?” Amaryllis asked.

“Well, it’s not like we can just sit here until something else happens.” answered Yuen.

“Actually, they could stand to do so.” Sardion suggested, indicating LLAC with a nod of his head. “Not for long, but just half a day should suffice. We need to have clear heads, and that goes double for you, Detective— you’ve been pulling all-nighters trying to connect the dots on that corkboard. We all deserve a moment’s rest before we try facing the problem head-on.” he suggested.

Rudyard pensively nodded. “Sardion and I can carry our own independent investigations during then. We’ll try and reconvene with you in the evening, Detective, and LLAC can join us the next morning. The last couple of days have been a whirlwind, and while I’ve no intention of stopping my search for the killer, I don’t want us to burn out— or you guys, for that matter.”

After a moment’s pause, Yuen nodded in agreement. “Alright, team, you kids get tomorrow off starting at noon, and you two get the morning to make your own inroads. But when we all get back, we immediately pick up from where we left off, agreed?” She remarked.

“Agreed!” LLAC responded in unison.

***

“You know, despite all the preservatives, this stuff isn’t half bad.” Lillian said, shoveling a hunk of chicken-flavored noodles into her mouth. “I can see why people would get addicted to it.”

Yuen laughed. “What, don’t tell me you never ate this growing up? Not even once?”

Amaryllis shook her head as she followed her sister’s example, holding up a cup of beef-flavored noodles. “Aunt Izzy was always pretty strict about what we ate. Sure, we had breakfast cereal and juice and the occasional sweets, but that was pretty much it. Said that we had to follow a good diet, and that taste was one of the first things Huntresses sacrificed in the field.” She slurped some of the broth. “Hope I never have to find out what she meant by that.”

“Mmmllpphh... uhh knww whuhh duhs’ lhhk,” Cait said through a mouthful of noodles. “Than’th fuhh th’ muhhll.”

Yuen nodded. “No problem, kid. Eat up, you need it.”

“RRURRRRRP!” Their conversation was interrupted by a loud burp from Hattie. “Ah, ‘scuse me.” She said sheepishly

“Hah! I’ll have whatever she’s having!” Sardion laughed, countering her with a slightly louder belch of his own.

He barely even finished before the petite girl grinningly returned the favor with an even louder eructation.

“Are you… perhaps challenging me, Miss Lazuli?” Sardion inquired, his face turning comically stony as he repressed the urge to snicker.

Hattie smirked, holding up an unopened soda can. “Mayb—b—buUUUURRRRUUUPPPP!”

“Oh, for the love of…” Lillian groaned at the childish antics of the two. “Okay, saying it right now; I’m not being the judge this time.”

***

“Okay, you two, you know the rules. Whoever burps the longest wins, brownie points for whoever starts the loudest,” Amaryllis recited, holding up the timer on her Scroll, her finger raised just above the screen. “Ready.”

Sardion and Hattie each snapped open a can of soda, looking each other dead in the eye as they did so.

“I must let you know, Miss Lazuli, that I was the burp-off champion of Haven Academy in my time.” boasted Sardion.

“That was a long time ago, old dude. Now, it’s my time to shine.” Hattie shot back.

“Set.”

Both of them raised the metal edges of the cans to their lips, still maintaining their locked gaze.

“Last chance to back out, kiddo.” Sardion said, in a taunting voice.

Hattie didn’t reply, but narrowed her eyes and gave Sardion a thumbs-down.

“Go, Sardion.” Rudyard cheered halfheartedly yet amusedly, who sat on the couch watching the game.

“Get him, Hattie!” Cait crowed.

“Begin!”

Glup, glup, glup, glup. Both Hattie and Sardion began swigging down their cans in one long draught, their eyes beginning to water against the drink’s stinging carbonation. Within the span of a few seconds, they had poured every last drop down their throats, only for their cheeks to pouch as the carbon dioxide came rushing back up their gullets.

“Aaaaaaand… go!”

(For the reader’s own sake, this ridiculous match has been abridged by the author, who apologizes for this shameless, childish, and blatantly filler chapter. If you wish for a much funnier burping match, please follow this link.)

“And… time!” Amaryllis turned off her Scroll’s timer as Hattie and Sardion’s burps died down at the same time. “Geez! Thirteen seconds, not bad.” She remarked, swiping on her CCCT browser. “Says here that the world record’s over forty, apparently.”

“Which one had that time?” Hattie asked, wiping her chin with the crook of her elbow.

“Both of you, actually. Tie.” Amaryllis said, lifting her gaze.

Without missing a beat, Hattie grabbed another can of Dr. Piper and thrust it at Sardion. “AGAIN!”

***

While they continued with their childish contest, Cait, Lillian, and Rudyard were busy talking about some of their older missions. Cait found the pair’s recollection of the Kumoyuri assignment far more interesting than the day’s work, and found the part where Lillian had gotten dunked in mud wildly funny.

Personally, they didn’t find their extracurricular Grimm-hunting work to be as interesting, but Rudyard still politely listened nonetheless. Lillian, having been there along with Cait, only half-listened to them as she poured water into another cup of noodles.

“Oh, man. So there we were, looking right in the eye the largest Boarbatusk I’ve ever seen in my whole life. It huffed, and it puffed, it almost blew us away, but we still weren’t scared!” Cait exclaimed, gesturing with their hands to the best of their ability. “Thing is, it was pretty simple once we got down its attack pattern. Charge, turn around, charge, turn around, snort, repeat. Fourth pass around, Hattie managed to chop off its tusks with Whirligig… uh, her saw-gun thingamabob.” They continued, snapping their fingers as they tried to recall the exact name.

“Whirling Dervish.” Lillian said.

“Yeah, that, thanks Lilly.” Cait said, nodding. “Well, as I was saying, she cut off its tusks and got its face pretty good, and I shouted, ‘Guess you’re just a “Boarba” now!’” They sniggered for a moment at their own joke. “You wanna know why I called it that?”

Rudyard chuckled, bracing for the terrible pun he knew was incoming. “No, I have no earthly idea. Why?”

“Because it lost its tusks. Gettit? Boarba? No ‘tusk’? Cut its tusks off?” Cait grinned, acting as if the wordplay had been anything resembling clever.

“Oooof.” Rudyard groaned, shaking his head despite the grin on his own face. “Bad one.”

“I know, right? I should get an award for my combat banter. S’not as easy as everyone thinks it is.”

“Ignore them.” Lillian said, rolling her eyes.

Rudyard leaned back, taking a helping of his own noodles. Despite his inner tension, the pain he still had in his heart, he felt relaxed and eased by LLAC’s company. It felt nice for all of them to gather like one big family, even facing the stark reality of the next day to come. It would take far more than one good night to heal, but watching his protégé and her team… it filled him with determination.

It gave him strength and determination, seeing the new generation take the reins the old had once held. More importantly, it gave him hope.

#team llac #team llac fic #agave yuen #team sybr #sardion sarikaya #rudyard millard #lillian armilde #cait miya #harriet lazuli #amaryllis armilde #fanfic #fan fiction #rwby fan fiction #rwby oc #rwbyoc #rwby

[mercurryblack]

Chapter 1: Lillian

Lillian spars with Rudyard, while her team is introduced in proper.

❃❃❃

Rudyard Millard had been around on Remnant for forty-four long years, over half of them spent as a Huntsman. He had had his fair share of challenges in his lifetime, but perhaps the most challenging of them all was mentoring his protégé, Lillian Armilde.

This was no act of derision of her skills; Lillian was a terrific fighter. If the decision was up to him, he would have let her graduate from Haven, even though she was only halfway through her third year at the academy.

But at the same time, that fighting skill was what made Lillian a tough nut to crack; she knew she was a great fighter. It begat a small degree of arrogance, and, while she respected Rudyard as a mentor, it led her to act on impulse even in his presence— not unlike a father and a rebellious teenage daughter. Despite a lack of any familial relationship, there was a similar connection between the two, and Rudyard had no living children of his own to pass his teachings down to.

“Remember what I taught you, Lillian. Eyes up front, ears alert—” Rudyard noted.

“Grip tight and strike. Yeah, I know.” she replied. She thrust forward her gauntlet’s heavy blade into the chest of a straw training dummy, up until her fist collided with the paper target ring over its chest.

He scratched his chin, nodding slightly. “Good form, but what if someone comes at you from behind, because you let your presence be known? The sound of your blade extending isn’t necessarily the quietest.”

As Lillian drew her blade out of the dummy, Rudyard raised the hilt of his sword and lightly bonked her on head. She winced at the unexpected blow— it stung a bit even with Aura, but she was used to her mentor pushing her to her limits.

A year or so ago practice spar. she had accidentally lost her ponytail by Rudyard’s blade, though he chalked it up as ‘you didn’t react fast enough’. Since then, she’d taken to wearing her hair short.

“See? You’re taken aback. You’re supposed to sneak up and strike at the right opportunity, not just charge at every opponent you see. Remember; Huntsmen need to know when to attack, not just how to. That second part’s pretty easy for you already.” Rudyard added.

“Yeah, but sometimes it’s nice to get right to the action the moment you get there.” Lillian abruptly spun into a sweeping kick, knocking Rudyard’s legs off the ground in the process.

Rudyard rolled on his side as he fell and leapt back to his feet. At the same time, his double-edged sword split with a snap into two single-bladed ones. He swung the longer of the two blades in her direction, but she quickly dodged the attack.

“You have to keep your act together, Lillian.” He said with a harumph. “The Vytal Festival is coming up soon, and as I recall, LLAC’s planning on competing in the tournament. How will you win if you maintain your cocky attitude? Keep in mind; a good huntsman never boasts about how good they are. They simply just show it.”

The two kept dueling; Rudyard acting as offense and Lillian acting as defense.

“Come on, Lilly! Show him what you’re made of!” Hattie crowed from the side of the arena. She and the rest of Team LLAC had gathered in the shade of a small ash tree to watch Lillian and Rudyard spar.

Harriet Lazuli— better known to her teammates (and nearly everyone else) as “Hattie”— hung upside down on a thick branch, her twintails dangling far enough to nearly touch the freshly cut grass below her, while her hands kept her skirt in place. Her small tophat, apparently unbridled by the laws of gravity, stayed right in its lopsided place on her head.

Reclining on the tree to the left of Hattie was Cait Miya. They seemed only mildly interested at the session, more preoccupied with something on their Scroll. Their outfit looked a bit haphazard— ripped jeans and a long sleeved shirt emblazoned with a weathered sigil of Haven Academy. It befitted their attitude— the genderless teenager had never preferred to be the ‘conventional’ sort.

Amaryllis Armilde sat on the grass beside them, sharpening her greatsword, Heartbreaker, across the lap of her scarlet blouse. It seemed odd, seeing a girl as kind-looking and reasonably dainty as her holding such a weapon, but Hunters came in all shapes and sizes. Amaryllis was no different— she was as gentle as a flower petal, yet three years of training at an Academy (and an even more grueling curriculum under her aunt, before that) meant she was a natural born fighter.

Turning her attention to the spar, Amaryllis stood and sheathed her sword before propping the chape into the lawn, resting her elbow on the pommel.

“So… who do you think’s going to win, Cait?” she asked conversationally.

Cait glanced up from their Scroll. “Isn’t it obvious, Am? Rudyard’s totally toying with her. He’s got this in the bag.” they replied.

“You think so?” Amaryllis replied, raising an eyebrow before she turned back to observing her sister.

Back on the arena floor, Lillian huffed and bucked her head, tossing a stray strand of hair from her eyes. Her muscles tensed for a moment as she leaned in, before she broke into a full sprint. Her feet fell rapidly, pounding down on the training ground floor as she rushed toward Rudyard.

He tensed, centering his balance as he waited for her to reach him, feet firmly planted and sword held high to meet her own blade.

“Raaaaah!” She leapt into the air. Her iridescent shield blocked her upper body as she raised her gauntlet blade above her head. In doing so, however, she had left her bare arm unprotected - neither her blade nor her shield reached any higher than her elbow, and from there to her shoulder was completely exposed.

Rudyard made one swift yet light flick of Endurandal, ensuring not to leave a bad wound, but enough to make his point clear. A red line appeared on the flesh of Lillian’s bicep, and he spun on his heel to face her as she landed to his side, her direction thrown off her leap by the sudden jolt of pain up her arm. “Remember. You have to consider every angle.”

Lillian raised a hand to the shallow cut, hissing slightly as her fingertips brushed the broken skin. A few rivulets of blood had begun to trickle down her arm, but the wound was already healing as a pattern of Aura flickered over it. “Yeah, I get it. Damn, that stings.”

Rudyard snapped his blades back together, lowering his sword before walking over to her, his arm outstretched. “You alright there—?”

Quick as a flash, Lillian lunged and grabbed onto his sword arm, twisting it back as she spun behind him, bracing her other hand on his shoulder. “And you remember; don’t let your guard down. I didn’t surrender, after all.” she smirked.

The linen of Rudyard’s shirt crinkled as she kept twisting his arm, ever so slightly. It was painful, he couldn’t deny that, but he was also a bit proud - he had given her the same piece of advice during their last session, and here she was applying it. Undoubtedly, she was stubborn, and it would likely take her another session or two to drill in this lesson about being careful. But once his point was across, she’d have it engraved in her mind. This moment just proved him right, if anything.

“Okay, smart aleck, I’ll be nice and call that one-for-one. Care to make this next bout the tiebreaker?” he asked, as she let go of his arm.

Lillian checked her arm, the injury now little more than a thin white line on her skin, before turning back to face Rudyard. “Absolutely.” she replied, turning back to adopt a defensive stance.

Back on the lawn, Amaryllis glanced at Cait, nodding toward the sparring duo. “…I guess that means we were both right?”

❃❃❃

After another quarter-hour of exhaustive practice, Rudyard decided that they could finally call it a day, and told Lillian to hit the showers. After a few minutes’ thorough rinsing, Lillian toweled off and changed into her usual civilian clothes— a sleeveless purple cropped hoodie and a pair of khaki cargo shorts.

“That was… a lot.” she remarked, heading out of the womens’ lockers to where Rudyard waited outside. The two of them walked back across the Haven courtyard to where Cait, Hattie and Amaryllis remained, sitting comfortably in the shade.

“Be grateful. I took it easy on you today.” Rudyard tried to hide the fact that he was still a tad tired, despite it having been nearly twenty minutes since the spar ended.

“Just admit that you’re past your peak, old man.” she lightly jabbed.

“Hey, even if I’m past the peak, you’re still climbing, Lil-Lil.” joked Rudyard.

“Ha ha.” Lillian responded dryly, before stopping in front of her team. “Right, you three indulged my morning training session, so… you guys get to decide what we’ll do this afternoon?” she asked.

“Ooh! OOH! I know!” Hattie piped up. “Why don’t we go to that new milkshake place over in the Sora District? I heard they make this awesome chocolate milkshake with tons of whipped cream and syrup and chocolate chips and wafers and—” She tapered off into daydreaming as drool began to drip from her mouth.

“Milkshakes sound perfect to me. It’s an especially hot day.” Amaryllis agreed, the hard heels of her leather boots clacking as they walked along. The way Hattie described the treat did make them sound appetizing, at the very least.

“Let’s go, then. Last one to get there has to paaaaay!” teased Cait. They were the fastest; they immediately knew that they weren’t going to be the one taking a few Lien from their wallet.

Harriet perked up and immediately raced after them, and Amaryllis followed suit when she realized her sister was hanging back with Rudyard at the courtyard.

Lillian angled her thumb in the direction her teammates had run off. “Want to come with us, Rudyard?” she invited.

“No, thank you. You go have fun with your team. Besides, I have somewhere else to be.” he said as he packed his bag.

“Is it anywhere interesting?” Lillian said, raising an eyebrow. “Or are you just looking for something a bit stronger than milkshakes?”

Rudyard chortled. “Bingo. I’d invite you and the team, but you’ve got two years to go before they’d let you in. Besides, you are still a teenager, and you deserve to take some time off from all this adult stuff.”

“Oh, alright. At least I tried.” she shrugged. “By the way, can I ask you a question?”

“What is it?”

“…Why do you always call me ‘Lil-Lil’ outside of sparring?”

Rudyard smiled to himself. He did treat her as if she was his daughter, in a way, so it wasn’t hard to come up with a nickname for her. “What, don’t you like it?” he asked, feigning a puzzled expression.

“I mean, it’s… okay to say, I guess. It’s just that no one else ever calls me that.” She’d had a few different nicknames growing up, but she found that ‘Lil-Lil’ wasn’t exactly the coolest one.

“Little Lil. Lil-Lil. You’re little, and your name’s Lil—lian. So, ‘Lil-Lil’.”

“Hey, I’m not little. You’re only a few inches taller than I am! You do realize I’m nearly six feet?” she argued.

“Oh, I realize. Everyone else who’s five-foot-ten says the exact same thing.” Rudyard retorted, laughing.

Lillian glowered, trying to think up a proper comeback. Before she could, however, she remembered what Cait said before they and the others had left. ‘Last one to get there has to paaaaay!’ echoed slowly inside her head.

At the same time, she realized she was still in the courtyard with Rudyard.

“I’ve gotta go, thanksforthesessionhaveagreatevening!” she blurted out as she took off in the direction of her teammates. Rudyard grinned and waved goodbye to Lillian as she dashed away.

No sooner had he turned around and began walking in the opposite direction than when his Scroll began to buzz. Taking it out of his pocket, he checked the screen of the device.

Incoming call from: SARDINE_S, the screen read.

Rudyard raised an eyebrow, wondering what his old leader Sardion had to say as he accepted the call, raising the Scroll to his ear. “What’s up, Sardi—” he uttered, before his friend abruptly cut his greeting off.

“Rudyard… We— we have to talk. It’s Yaara and Berilo. They’re—I…” Sardion spoke frantically, sounding like he was trying to repress a sense of panic.

Rudyard halted where he stood, immediately recognizing the names of his old teammates. Judging from Sardion’s tone, whatever was going on couldn’t have been good. “They’re what, Sardion? What’s going on?” Rudyard asked, a hint of worry appearing in his voice.

“They’re dead, Rudd. Both of them— they’re dead.”

#team llac #team llac fic #lillian armilde #harriet lazuli #amaryllis armilde #cait miya #team sybr #rudyard millard #sardion sarikaya #fanfic #fan fiction #rwby fan fiction #rwby oc #rwbyoc #rwby

[mercurryblack]

Chapter 4: Sardion

As LLAC prepares for their first day on the job, Headmaster Lionheart pays the team a visit.

❃❃❃

“Come on, already! They said ‘bright and early’!”

The next morning had dawned, and Team LLAC had decided to start it early— involuntarily, for the most part. Lillian had woken up the rest of her team just as the first rays of sun had come across the horizon, before the skies had even started to turn blue.

Amaryllis was in the dorm’s bathroom combing her red mess of bed-head out of her eyes, while Cait stood by her side at the sink, slowly brushing their teeth. Hattie, the worst morning person of the team, was blearily attempting to open a can of flash-brewed coffee, still clad in her pajamas and lopsided nightcap. She would have met with more success had she actually been holding the aluminum container upright; instead, she continued to scrabble around the bottom of the can, entirely unaware of the conspicuous lack of a pop-tab in her drowsy state.

Lillian, on the other hand, had already thrown on her outfit and was leaning against the doorframe of the dorm’s entrance by her elbow, lazily tapping her finger to her skull as she waited on her teammates. Before she could badger them again, however, her train of thought was interrupted by three knocks on the door.

“Who could be calling on us THIS early?” Amaryllis asked bemusedly, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

“I’ll have a look.” Lillian said, turning around to open the door.

Her eyes widened when she saw who the visitor was. Standing on the other side of the door was Leonardo Lionheart, the headmaster of Haven Academy. He was in full uniform and appeared wakeful— evidently, he had risen well before LLAC. Seeing him in the mirror, Cait and Amaryllis stopped their personal ministrations and turned around.

Hattie, unaware in her morning delirium, continued to hopelessly fiddle with the can.

“Oh! And just where might you be preparing to go, Miss Armilde?” he inquired in a pleasant tone, his lion tail gently swaying from side to side. “The breakfast hall won’t open until an hour from now.” 

“Uh… Uhm…” Lillian hesitated, unsure of how to respond. Admittedly, while she knew that they would have had to meet soon regarding the assignment, she was quite surprised that he had come down to speak to them personally. She had assumed he would have sooner called LLAC to his own office.

Lionheart gently chortled. “A rhetorical question, Miss Armilde.  I’m already well aware where you’re going.” The headmaster tilted his head, glancing over Lillian’s shoulder through the doorway. “May I come in for a moment?”

“Gllmmbbhhllbb.” Cait attempted to reply from across the room, but their mouth was still full of toothpaste.

“…Please do, Professor.” Lillian said, opening the door wider for him as she stepped to the side.

“Thank you.” Lionheart walked in and gently sat down on the foot of the bed closest to the door. “Good morning, you four. I’m very sorry to drop by so early in the morning. I know you’re supposed to have your rest today, but I was approached yesterday evening by Sardion Sarikaya and Rudyard Millard, and they proposed something to me that concerned you.”

Finally alerted by the headmaster’s distinct voice, Hattie rubbed her eyes as she tried to wake herself. “Th— gghhhh— th’ mrrdrr caze?” she asked, her voice slurred.

“Precisely, Miss Lazuli,” Lionheart continued as he clasped his hands in front of him, resting his elbows on his knees. “You all have been officially recommended to aid in a confidential criminal case that the Mistral Police are handling.” He paused to draw in a long breath, as if contemplating his decision. “Now, I’m not usually the one to let my students go on dangerous missions like this before they graduate, but Sardion and Rudyard made some strong arguments on your behalf— especially so for the latter. And given that, along with his reputation at Haven… well, I have decided to make an exception in this case for your team.”

“You’re saying…?” Lillian asked hopefully.

Lionheart nodded pensively. “I’m here to hear it come from yourselves that you want to undertake this mission. However, before you answer, I will ask you to remember that a large part of a Huntsman’s life is comprised of uncertainty. I don’t want to cause you any undue alarm, but there is the chance that you may not come back from this.”

His eyebrows knitted together ever so slightly. “I know that you four are well-regarded here at the Academy, but the world outside the Kingdoms can be unpredictably harsh. Trust is not an easy thing to build, and it is even harder to maintain.”

“Believe me when I say that I speak from experience— Humans and Faunus alike can be just as bad, if not worse, than the Creatures of Grimm.” His expression turned melancholic, and he let out a long breath, as if the statement brought up certain memories best left forgotten.

The four of them fell quiet, unsure of how to respond. It was true that they’d never considered what an official mission would be like— Lillian was the only one with prior experience, having helped Rudyard over the past summer with a Village Security mission, and even that had only been fighting a few low-level Grimm. It was a comfort to know he’d be at their side this time around, but if trained killers were involved…

Lillian was the first of them to speak up, taking it as her duty as a leader to do so. “Headmaster, we’re more than ready to help Detective Yuen—” She began.

Lionheart raised a hand to halt her response. “That may be so, Miss Armilde. But are you prepared?” he asked. “After all, you’ll be graduating next year. Why not just wait to go on a mission like this until then, as qualified Huntresses?” he continued, though not for the sake of argument.

Lillian hesitated for a moment before answering. “…That’s true, Professor. But Rudyard Millard is like a father to me, and I know how much his teammates meant to him. I can’t let this pass me by, and neither can you.” She turned to the rest of her team, who all nodded in affirmation. “Plus… we’re already in our third year, and I doubt we’re going to learn how to handle missions like these any other way. Sure, there’s danger, but we’ve got two of Mistral’s best at our sides. We can do this. Not alone, but as a team.”

Cait puffed their chest out in an exaggerated manner. “And even then, I think our skills speak for ourselves. I’ve seen the odds that those underground Vytal bookies were placing on us, and they were very flattering indeed.” They chimed in, grinning.

Amaryllis gave a curt, confident nod. “Plus, as far as leaders go… well, we could do a whole lot worse, but there’s nobody else I’d rather have than my sister.” She said.

“Yeah!” Hattie exclaimed. “We’ll get to the bottom of this case without dying for our country!”

Chuckling gently, Lionheart felt a small feeling of pride swelling inside him. Lillian was right— with a case like this, would receive training from reality, not just from the academy textbook that described a Huntsman’s life.

In a way, seeing LLAC prepare stirred up vague recollections of SYBR, back in the halcyon days when he had served as Haven faculty, long before taking up the role of headmaster.

Before…

He recognized he hadn’t responded to her. “Ah, good answer, Miss Armilde. And fine spirit, you four.” He said, standing up from the foot of the bed. “Now, I suggest you all eat your fill when the cafeteria opens. You’ll need it for today.”

“Thank you for letting us go, Professor Lionheart.” Lillian remarked.

The headmaster reciprocated with a smile. “I wish you good fortune, Miss Armilde. Make Haven proud.” Lionheart waved goodbye before heading back down the hall.

Lillian gave a wave back, before seeing him out and beginning to close the door. Just as she had her hand on the doorknob, however, something caught the corner of her eye and she looked out once more to see Lionheart.

From what she could see as he turned the bend in the hall, his head was bent in sorrow, and his expression was falling.

She quietly assumed it was related to the news of SYBR, and gently closed the door.

***

After spending a full night in her office, Detective Yuen had finally finished the corkboard full of the potential clues related to the killings of Yaara Dailan and Berilo Gaspar. Red yarns adorned the board as they hung onto pins and thumbtacks of varying colors; connecting each point but hardly bringing forth a clear answer.

Yuen was good at her job— damn good, in her own opinion, but she’d never encountered a case quite like this. She was used to her cases unfolding themselves with questions and answers through investigation, but there wasn’t a single witness to question nor an item out of place at either scene. Plenty of questions, no answers whatsoever.

She was about to take a sip of her third coffee for the day when Sardion opened the door and made his way inside.

“Detective. Good morning.” he greeted.

Yuen quickly began to fix her uniform and hair before greeting him, in a haphazard attempt at professionalism. “Uh, good morning, Sir Sarikaya. Sorry about the mess, I’ve been working on the board.”

“S’ fine.” He replied. “Are you okay? If you didn’t get enough sleep last night, it might affect your day.” Sardion worried.

“Fine and dandy, Sir, thank you for asking. I managed to get a bit of sleep last night.” What she chose not to mention was that ‘a bit’ was little more than a half-hour power nap. Nevertheless, it was all she felt she needed for the day ahead.

“Have you made any advances in the case since yesterday?” inquired Sardion. While he was better off than Yuen, he hadn’t had much sleep either. He had lain awake, with the terrible thought of how his friends died echoing in his head. Yet he had not succumbed to despair— he could grieve later. Here and now, he had to be a leader to Rudyard and LLAC both.

“So far, not so much. I got a call last night from the coroner’s lab— the autopsy results came back. They confirmed the burn marks on Yaara were from some sort of unrecognized chemical, they said a ‘caustic peptide’. On the other hand, Berilo only had the slash wound, no burns.”

Yuen tapped a group of several photographs on the corkboard— closeups of the wounds the two had suffered. Sardion felt his breath hitch as he brought himself to look at the photos; it was horrible to imagine it, but seeing what had killed his teammates was ten times worse.

“What I find unusual about it is how anyone could enter Yaara’s home. All the possible entryways were closed, no signs of forced entry or tampering. There weren’t any fingerprints inside or outside the house except for her own.” Yuen continued.

 “How about Berilo?” Sardion asked.

“His case was a forced entry. Whoever did it kicked the door right off its hinges, so they must have reached him quickly, since he was in the living room. We found a few bits of dirt that must’ve come from the killer’s footwear, but no prints.”

Sardion kept his hand rested on his chin, looking closely at other pictures of the crime scene. He didn’t see anything unusual either, but he knew that was only the case in the pictures. It would be a lot different when he got there.

The sound of the office door opening took his attention off the corkboard— Rudyard had just arrived. Sardion noticed that the man looked more like his usual self; the initial anger and pain appeared to have faded from his eyes.

“Hey, Rudyard… uh, feeling any better?” Sardion spoke cautiously, unsure how his teammate would respond.

The Huntsman nodded. “A bit. I had some time to process my thoughts after we spoke to Lionheart.” Slowly shifting into a chair beside Sardion, he continued, “I’m sorry that I acted the way I did yesterday. Right now, all that matters is justice for our teammates.”

Sardion gave him a soft clap on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Rudd. I wasn’t far from doing the same myself.” Turning back to Yuen, he asked, “Can you continue with the plan, Detective?”

Yuen nodded. “Well, as I was saying, there were new reports given to me by the autopsy lab. If you would look at the board I made over there, there are pictures of Yaara’s burn marks and the bloodstain analysis from Berilo’s home.” she said, pointing Rudyard to the corkboard where Sardion was looking.

“For now, we should go to the two crime scenes and give them a once-over. Maybe we’ll see something that the first investigators didn’t. The kids can take Berilo’s house, we’ll look over Yaara’s.” she continued. “We’ll be heading out in a few minutes. I just have to finish up some reports. You gentlemen can grab some food from the canteen downstairs. Also, aren’t we waiting for your proteges, Sir Rudyard?”

The mere mention of the word ‘proteges’ triggered Rudyard’s mind to go back to what had happened yesterday. He felt ashamed at his rash decision-making, spurred on in an irrational, emotional moment.

What the hell was I thinking, roping them into this so abruptly? He thought to himself

“Actually, it’s just—ah, never mind. They’ll be here soon. We talked to Lionheart last night, and he said he’d catch them before they left.” answered Rudyard.

It was too late to change his mind now, as he knew how much Lillian looked up to him, and that was enough to know that she wasn’t going to accept another change of plans.

He’d have to make it up to her for this— to the lot of them, really.

#team llac #team llac fic #lillian armilde #amaryllis armilde #cait miya #harriet lazuli #leonardo lionheart #agave yuen #team sybr #sardion sarikaya #rudyard millard #fanfic #fan fiction #rwby fan fiction #rwby oc #rwbyoc #rwby

[mercurryblack]

Chapter 5: Amaryllis

Day one: the investigation begins.

❃❃❃

“Are we there yet? My legs can’t take it anymooore.” Hattie whined.

Despite the coffee and hearty breakfast she had enjoyed only moments earlier, the girl was still sluggish as the team walked to the precinct. It was hardly further than their excursion from yesterday, but the journey today seemed to be taking longer than usual, especially in the slow hours of the early morning.

“If you stopped dragging your feet, maybe we’ll get there faster.” remarked Lillian, a bit exasperated. “You’ve been awake for over an hour, had two cans of coffee, and you got the same amount of sleep you always get. How are you still drowsy?”

“…I dunno. Circadian rhythms?”

“It’s only two blocks away, don’t worry.” Amaryllis reassured Hattie.

Cait was in front of all of them, and in a much better mood than their teal-togged teammate. “Remind me to thank you, Lillian. This is sure to be much more cool than yesterday.”

Lillian rolled her eyes. “I don’t think it’s going to be that ‘cool’ once you consider what we’re dealing with.” She responded, remembering how distraught Rudyard had looked.

***

A couple of minutes later, they reached the precinct and headed up to Yuen’s office. The second they opened the door, they were greeted by several storage boxes and piles of paper scattered on the seats around the doorway. Sardion and Rudyard were both looking over copied reports, while Detective Yuen was arranging new pins on the corkboard.

“Good morning, Team LLAC. Please sit down, we need to brief you on what we’re going to do today.” Yuen ordered, barely turning her head as she placed a report footnote on the board. As they did so, she turned to one of the supply boxes and lifted it onto her desk.

“Umff— Today, we’re going to be taking a further look at the crime scene for material evidence. Anything you can find, mark it and let us know. It could be a household object out of place, a scrap of clothing you don’t recognize, a mark on the floor or wall. Anything that doesn’t belong in the area, report it. Here are some things you need.” She pulled several pairs of gloves from the supply box, as well as two smaller boxes of identification markers. “And finally, this should go without saying, but do try not touch any piece of possible evidence. Last thing we need is someone getting labelled as a suspect because they accidentally left their fingerprints on it.” She finished, distributing the equipment to the group.

It felt a bit unusual for LLAC— Lionheart had spoken to them earlier as if they were off on a Search and Destroy mission, but latex gloves and plastic site markers weren’t exactly the attire and equipment to go for when fighting.

“We’ll make sure to follow everything you said to the letter, Detective.” Lillian confidently assured her.

Yuen nodded. “Good, we’re counting on you. Any advances you make today will help this case greatly.” She stood up and picked up her weapon of choice - a polymer handgun - and made one last adjustment to the collar of her uniform as she tucked in into her hip holster. “Shall we go?” She asked.

“Yes, let’s. Time’s a-wasting.” Sardion spoke as he got to his feet and followed her out the door. Cait, Hattie, and Amaryllis all did the same, leaving Rudyard and Lillian inside the office.

Turning to her mentor, Lillian noticed that his attention had turned to the pictures on the board. “You doing okay there, Rudyard?” she worried.

Rudyard nodded solemnly. “I’ll be fine.” After a second, he added, “Just promise me that you and your teammates will watch each other’s backs while you’re out there? Don’t be as careless as I was. Just because they’re good fighters doesn’t mean that they’re safe from harm.”

“If we only watch each other’s backs, how are we gonna be able to walk properly? I’m afraid one of us might trip.” Lillian replied, cracking a weak pun to see if she could garner a laugh.

Rudyard paused, then let out a small chuckle. “I’m serious, though, Lil-Lil. We don’t know yet what’s out there.”

***

Yaara and Berilo’s houses were both fairly close together, in a residential neighborhood at the top of the Sora District, not far off from the restaurant where LLAC had enjoyed their milkshakes the other day. According to Rudyard, both of them had wanted ‘peaceful lives away from all of the city buzz’— for all the good that had done them, apparently. After graduating from Haven Academy and beginning their Huntsmen lives outside the city proper, they had kept themselves out of the limelight, apart from the occasional appearance at Haven alumni ceremonies.

Rudyard had always assumed that Yaara and Berilo, despite never having married, had been boning one another. They had never explicitly denied it, and the proximity of their homes only heightened that assumption.

“Miss Dailan’s house is right around that corner. We should split up now. We’ll meet back here before dusk.” Yuen said, before turning to Rudyard and Sardion.

The group nodded and said their goodbyes to the adults. Lillian gave one last smile of reassurance to Rudyard, just to let him know she’d be okay. While his mustache concealed his closed mouth, she could tell he returned it by the way its edges curled.

“So, where are we looking at first?” Hattie asked, turning to eye the house. If they wanted to thoroughly cover the entire place before the sun went down, they had to start soon.

“I’ll look inside Berilo’s house.” Lillian suggested. “There’s a garden and gazebo in the back, too. I say we split up into groups of two. Cait, if you’ll take the back?”

“‘Kay, sounds good. Who’s coming with me?” Cait looked at their teammates, spreading their arms.

Hattie’s hand shot up in the air. “Me! Me! Mememe!” She declared, bouncing on her heels.

Cait smirked. “Alright, then that leaves the wonder girls together. We’ll see you two later! Come on, Hattie! Adventure awaits!” They let her grab their arm as they walked around the side towards the backyard.

“I wish I was a wonder girl,” remarked Hattie. “Hmph.”

“Oh, don’t worry, all of us are wonder girls in our own little way.” Cait reassured her, still maintaining their cheshire grin.

Hattie turned her head to face them. “But you aren’t a girl, Cait.” She remarked quizzically. “Or a guy, for that matter.”

Cait shrugged. “Yeah, but hey, I’d take it as a compliment nonetheless. It doesn’t really matter that much to me s’long as it has ‘wonder’ in front of it.”

Amaryllis chuckled as she watched Cait walk away with Hattie. Despite everything, the former tended to be quiet more often than not, but whenever Hattie was around, they wouldn’t stop talking.

Lillian, meanwhile, walked up to the front door, which was cordoned off by yellow tape reading “CRIME SCENE - DO NOT CROSS” in blocky black letters.

“Let’s get started, Am.” she said, ducking under the tape into the house.

***

The atmosphere inside Berilo’s home was horribly eerie, despite the fact that not a soul besides the two girls was currently within the walls. An cup of now-cold tea rested on the kitchen counter, likely what he had planned to drink on the night of his murder. Aside from the living room, the rest of the domicile was immaculately kept— if it wasn’t for the large pool of dried blood in the center of the living room, no one would have likely been the wiser to the fact that a murder had taken place. Several black strings tagged with small numbers extended from the bloodstain to small flecks on the wall and couch, likely the work of a forensic technician.

After more than three long hours of careful inspection, however, Lillian and Amaryllis still hadn’t found any further clues. Whatever was out of place (which was few and far between) had already been tagged by the police.

“…I wonder how Hattie and Cait are doing outside. Do you think they’ve found anything?” Amaryllis wondered aloud, moreso an attempt at conversation to alleviate her unease.

“Probably not. The second they did, knowing Hattie, she’d blast in right through the wall to tell us.” answered Lillian, parsing over a small bookshelf. “Like that weird drink commercial.”

“Yeah…” Amaryllis sighed. Exhaling harshly through her nose, she changed the topic; “Don’t you find that we’re investigating the deaths of our predecessors? I can’t believe they’re gone so quick, and so brutally.”  After Rudyard had taken Lillian under his wing, Amaryllis had found a sense of respect for SYBR— a bit of research had quickly brought up the team’s Vytal victory, and while she hadn’t gotten to know them very well aside from Rudyard, they had always seemed as kind as they were skilled.

“No kidding. It’s the lucky ones that’re fortunate enough to have old age take them. Just didn’t happen to be the fate in store for Yaara and Berilo…” answered Lillian. “Not to be a downer, but I think if one of us two were to bite the big one, it would be better if I passed on first.”

“What makes you say that?” Amaryllis asked, taken aback with Lillian’s words.

“You’re the one with the big heart, Amaryllis. At least you’d be there for others as they’d be there for you. Me, on the other hand… well, let’s just hope it doesn’t come down to that.”

Amaryllis slowly shook her head. “I couldn’t bear to see you die, Lilly. Between the two of us, you’ve always been the one with the indomitable heart.” She said softly. “Sure, you’re the older sister and it’s your responsibility to act like you’re tough and stoic and all… but I honestly don’t think I could go on if I lost you.” she continued, her tone betraying a hint of playfulness as she jabbed at Lillian.

It was true for both of them, however— the Armilde sisters had been inseparable since they were in the womb. To either of them, the thought of losing one another was the worst thing imaginable.

Lillian turned to face her sister, her expression unreadable. “Hey, Am…”

“Hmmm?”

“…You aren’t getting all mushy on me, are you?” She asked, her mouth curling into a smirk.

Amaryllis sputtered, before she started laughing at her sister’s comeback. “Well, not anymore I’m not! Way to kill the mood, musclehead.”

#team llac #team llac fic #harriet lazuli #lillian armilde #amaryllis armilde #cait miya #team sybr #sardion sarikaya #rudyard millard #agave yuen #fanfic #fan fiction #rwby fan fiction #rwby oc #rwbyoc #rwby

[mercurryblack]

Chapter 3: Cait

Shakes wait for nobody, unless it’s a murder case.

❃❃❃

“Haah… haah… haah… haaww, crap.”

Despite her best efforts, Lillian had been unable to catch up with her teammates, not least with the lead they had gained on her. She was far from lacking in stamina or fleetness of foot, but in the several minutes she had spent talking with Rudyard, the rest of her team had been too far ahead of her for any chance of overtaking them.

It had taken her nearly ten minutes to reach the restaurant even at a full sprint, and she was winded and sweating buckets by the time she arrived. Looking up through one of the restaurant’s bay windows, she caught a glimpse of Cait, Harriet, and Amaryllis, already seated in a booth and each enjoying a tall milkshake.

“Why, funny meeting you here, Lilly!” Cait grinned widely at their leader, as she dragged her feet in through the front doors. “These drinks are ten Lien each, thank you in advance~!”

Lillian groaned, shaking her head in exasperation as she tiredly walked over to the cashier to pay for her teammates’ shakes, including one for herself. “And there goes forty Lien down the drain…” she grumbled.

Amaryllis giggled. “Our leader’s so generous. We should do this sort of thing more often.”

Lillian glowered at her sister as she slid into the booth seat next to Cait, across from Amaryllis. “Yeah, sure.” She darkly muttered under her breath. “If you wanted a milkshake, Am, all you’d need to do is wring out your fat—”

Hattie cringed, not wanting the two to start squabbling lest their argument end up affecting her through her Semblance. Feeling others’ emotions had its uses, sure, but it could be such a pain sometimes.

Turning to her raven-haired teammate, she loudly cut off Lillian’s retort, “SOOOoooo… Cait… how ya’ doing?”

Cait shook their head and gestured a shrug with their free hand. “Truth be told, it’s so boring around here. I wish the Vytal Festival would come sooner, so all of us could have some fun.” they complained. “There’s only so much I can take of watching Lilly and ol’ Rudyard smack each other around before it stops being entertaining.”

Their remark wasn’t just their own sentiment, either— many of the Haven juniors didn’t see much excitement inside or outside the Academy. They were smack in the middle ground, stuck right between the freshmen and sophomores who were still figuring out life as a Huntsman, and the seniors who had the ability to undertake official Huntsman-level missions (on provisional licenses, nonetheless.) On days like these, there wasn’t a lot to look out for aside from the Vytal Festival, which had left the juniors even more antsy than usual.

“I wonder if we could join the senior school trips. I heard through the grapevine that the last batch almost didn’t make it back alive.” they joked.

“Wow, that sure sounds fun,” Amaryllis said sarcastically.

Cait smirked in response. “Oh, c’mon, Am,” they drawled, sarcasm evident in their tone. “The adventure’s calling out to us. Aren’t you also bored of sitting here all day, when we could be out there fighting Grimm and the dregs of humanity?” They sat up straight, jestingly pumping a fist halfway in the air with every sentence they finished.

“Yeah! Fighting!” Hattie stood up with them, playing along with Cait’s theatrics.

Spurred on by Hattie’s exclamation, Cait continued. “Don’t you wanna feel the adrenaline coursing through your veins as you fight the biggest and meanest beasts you’ve ever seen in your life?”

“Yeah! Adrenaline!” Hattie followed suit.

“Don’t you wanna just throw yourself onto the Grimm and die for a greater cause?!”

“Yeah! Die for— wait, wait a sec, what?” Hattie cut herself short when she realized what Cait had just said.

Lillian rolled her eyes. “Believe me when I say it’s not all you’re making it out to be. Look, the Vytal Festival Is less than a month away, and we’ve already got our training schedule planned out until then. Why don’t we just enjoy the weather and relax? When we go back to our room, I suggest we have a nice little siesta.”

Harriet grinned. “Aw, that’d be great! That Grimm Studies paper can wait for the weekend, am I right?” She gently nudged Cait.

Cait ceased sipping their sweet drink and froze up for a moment, before their eyes widened as far as possible. “We have a paper due for Professor Branwen?” they said, a horrified expression dawning on their face.

Amaryllis looked up from her milkshake with a concerned expression. “…We thought you knew, Cait. The rest of us spent all of yesterday evening trying to finish it.”

Lillian facepalmed. “You completely forgot about it, didn’t you?”

In spite of their initial reactions, it didn’t come as a surprise for either of the Armilde twins that Cait couldn’t remember their latest assignment. Normally, the dark-haired individual just tried to catch some sleep in class and worry about their academia later.

“Oh, man. Now I have to stay up all night.” Cait groaned, banging their forehead onto the wooden table.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you with it!” Hattie brightly exclaimed. Leaning into Cait’s ear, she whispered, “If you word it differently and stuff, I’ll let you just go ahead and copy off mine.”

Cait responded with a grin. “Sweeeeet. Thanks, Hattie, I owe you one.”

As her teammates continued talking about the easiest way for Cait to forge their essay, Lillian felt a small buzz from the Scroll in the pocket of her shorts. Pulling it out, she saw a message notification on the glowing cyan display.

1 new message from: red_cueball, the screen read.

Get your team, come down to Second Precinct ASAP. Speak there.

“It’s Rudyard.” Lillian responded, twisting her lower lip between her thumb and index finger’s knuckle in mild confusion. “Weird. He’s asking all of us down to the police station— the one where Agave is, I think.” Letting go of their lip, she quickly stored her Scroll back in her pocket as she stood up.

“Change of plans, guys. Finish up your shakes.” She said, before eyeing Cait. ”You got your wish, Cait. It looks like we might be getting a bit of excitement after all.”

***

A short, brisk walk later, LLAC arrived at the Second Precinct, where Agave was stationed.

The two-story building wasn’t much to look at from the outside— a grey, weathered monolith of concrete, with two lines of glass windows demarcating the first and second floors. From a look through the windows, it seemed like a busy day for the precinct, and surely enough the station was bustling inside. In the relative peacetime, the police were picking up any slack on the academy’s part in regards to logistics and security for the Festival. It wasn’t nearly as bad as if Mistral proper had been hosting the tournament, but it nonetheless seemed more intense than previous non-Mistral years.

LLAC began to navigate their way through the crowd to the reception booth. Some of the police force members were in suits and a few in plainclothes, but most of the officers were clad in the full Mistral uniform— a dark brown double-breasted coat with grey sides, replete with a peaked cap.

Reaching the booth, Lillian leaned against the plexiglass screen between her and the officer manning it, gently tapping on it to get his attention. “Hey. I’m looking for a Huntsman who’s supposed to be here, Rudyard Millard? Forties, bald, big mustache…?” She asked.

The policeman lifted his gaze from the computer and nodded. “You’re the students? He’s up with Detective Yuen, second floor, room 132 on the right side of the hall. Said they were expecting you.”

“Thanks.” Lillian waved, and LLAC continued to the stairwell at the back of the floor.

Despite the greater distance, it took them less time to reach Yuen’s office from the ground floor than it did to reach the reception from the entrance. The upper floor was devoid of personnel, aside from a few detectives working in their respective offices.

As they walked up to the office door, Lillian suddenly halted and craned her neck towards the window. “Is that… who I think it is?” she said, squinting her eyes as she peered between the wooden blinds.

“Who?” Cait asked curiously.

“I think— yeah! That’s his old leader Sardion with them.” she replied, surprised at the sight of the blonde man. She’d met him before a few times in passing, but never really gotten to know him. Quietly, she wondered what had gotten both of them to come to the precinct.

Did something bad happen?

A small but clear sniffle interrupted her thoughts, and she turned around to see who had made the sound

“Huh? What’s wrong, Hattie?”

The girl’s expression had turned shaky, and she looked to be on the verge of tears. “Whatever they’re in there about, it’s really bad. I feel… loss…” her voice wavered as she replied. Despite her ignorance of the situation going on inside the room, the negative emotions that she felt through her Semblance were nearly overwhelming.

Amaryllis placed a comforting hand on her teammate’s shoulder, giving her sister a worried glance. “Uh, Lilly… did Rudyard actually mention what he wanted us down here for?

Cait raised an eyebrow, looking uneasy. “Reaction like that, it can’t be anything good.”

Just then, a dark-skinned woman with golden eyes opened up the door— Detective Yuen, Lillian surmised at a glance from the woman’s vest and suit. A bronze badge was clipped to her belt.

“You must be LLAC, then.” Yuen said. “You’d best come in so I can get you lot all caught up.”

That said, the four of them followed Yuen into the office. Rudyard and Sardion turned to face them, but neither responded with a greeting aside from a curt nod of the head on Sardion’s part. Now that they were in clear view, the rookies could get a better look at their downtrodden expressions— it was clear as day that something was wrong.

Cait was the first of them to speak up. “So… are you guys going to tell us what exactly happened?”

Agave crossed her arms and hesitated for a second, preparing for any emotional windfall that the four might have to the bad news. “Long story short, last night, their other teammates from SYBR were found dead in their homes.” she replied bluntly.

The four teammates audibly gasped in shock. It all made sense now— why Rudyard and Sardion looked so beaten down, and why Yuen had only spoken to them first rather than everyone else in the group.

Lillian brought a hand up to her forehead, shuddering slightly from the news as she drew a breath. “No wonder you said you sensed ‘loss’, Hattie. Gods… Rudyard, I don’t even know what… I’m so sorry.” she said, turning to her mentor.

Rudyard gave her a small nod in response. “Yeah… yeah. I, uh…” He trailed off, unsure of how to respond without letting his emotions overtake him.

It pained Lillian to see Rudyard in such a distraught state. She wanted to offer him some words of comfort, yet it didn’t feel right to speak. It seemed like only a few seconds ago that he had been joking with her, and everything had been fine.

“Would you continue repeating it, Detective?” Sardion spoke up.

Yuen nodded, before continuing on. “We know it’s a murder, and a professional’s work at that. Cleanly done, whoever did it left just about little to no physical evidence. All that we know so far is only how they died— slash wounds of separate degrees, on the both of them, but what I didn’t mention earlier is that Yaara also suffered some… burns, that we haven’t identified yet. Some sort of chemical compound, based on a glance.” the detective reported. 

“Okay, okay, okay,” Cait said, waving their hands in front of their face. “So we know what happened, there’s an assassin on the loose in Mistral. But why’d you call us here?” they asked impatiently.

“Cait—!” Lillian hissed. “Have you ever heard of a little thing called tact, idiot?!”

“So what?! I mean, yeah, it’s absolutely horrible what’s happened, but what’re we going to do about it?!” Cait snapped back.

Yuen turned to Rudyard, fixing him with a suspicious look. “As a matter of face, I’ve been wondering about that as well. Why exactly did you call them here, Sir Millard?”

“Because I think these four could be able to aid us with the investigation.” Rudyard replied.

“I— come again?” Yuen exclaimed, her eyes widening.

“You know these other kids too, Rudd?” Sardion asked, also surprised by Rudyard’s response.

“I wouldn’t say as well as Lillian personally, no, but I do know that they’re as good as their leader. They can help us.” the Huntsman assured.

“They’re still students!” Yuen argued, before turning to face the four of them. “No offense, kids, but I don’t think Professor Lionheart would like you to get involved in a serious case just yet. Especially not one such as this.”

Rudyard dismissed her with a small wave. “Don’t worry about Lionheart, I’ll arrange something with him. Just trust me on this one.” he said, before abruptly walking away from the group and out of the office.

The remaining six of them were left standing around in silence, caught off-guard by Rudyard’s abrupt departure. Yuen and Sardion exchanged confused looks, as if they were contemplating whether to trust Rudyard’s advice or not. 

Amaryllis decided to break the silence. “So… what are we going to do?” she asked.

“What are we going to do?” Yuen repeated, bemused by the girl’s subtle assertion. Regardless, it seemed like they were on board with the case, like it or not.

Sardion cleared his throat. “We’ll talk more about where we should go from here tomorrow. Rudyard and I will talk to Professor Lionheart, and ask him to excuse you four from your classes while you’re helping us out with this case. For now, rest up. If you’re really as good as how he made you out to be… can I expect all of you to be here tomorrow at nine in the morning?” he said.

The four Hunters-in-training would have responded more eagerly, but any excitement of theirs rapidly faded as they remembered the exact circumstances of this case. Instead, they each replied with a determined expression and a curt nod.

“Well… then, I guess we’d probably best all reconvene tomorrow. It’s already getting late. Detective Yuen, thank you for your help. And Lillian, uh—” Sardion glanced over at the other three teens, whose names he wasn’t aware of yet.

“Oh! This is Harriet, that’s Amaryllis— my sister, and the one over there’s Cait.” Lillian said, indicating the rest of her team.

Sardion gave the rest of LLAC a small wave and a sad smile. “Ah, it was nice meeting you three. I wish it could have been under better circumstances.” He headed for the door, turning round one last time. “I’ll see all of you tomorrow, then? Bright and early.”

Lillian nodded. “We’ll catch up then. Try and get some rest, Sardion. Whatever’s to come, we’ll have your back throughout it.”

As the old soldier walked away, LLAC and Yuen fell silent, at a loss for words now that the two remaining members of SYBR had left.

Cait gave Hattie a gentle nudge. “Hey, at least this means I can get out of that Grimm Studies paper now.” They whispered into her ear, in a half-hearted attempt to lighten her mood.

“...Way too soon, dude.” Hattie replied with a wince.

#team llac #team llac fic #lillian armilde #cait miya #amaryllis armilde #harriet lazuli #team sybr #rudyard millard #sardion sarikaya #agave yuen #fanfic #fan fiction #rwby fan fiction #rwby oc #rwbyoc #rwby

[mercurryblack]

Chapter 9: Amaryllis

Meanwhile, down in Mistral City proper...

❃❃❃

Amaryllis wasn’t the formal type.

Practicality had been the byword that Aunt Isabelline had drilled into her head— and more often than not, that word either meant plate armor or a drab tac-suit of Atlesian make. She’d started wearing a ‘combat’ skirt in her third year, but only at the insistence of that Amaranth girl in the year below her, along with the assertion that it wouldn’t impair her mobility. Even still, her range of clothing options as a Huntress-in-training had always been limited, and it left her with comparatively less concern for her personal fashion.

All that being said, she couldn’t help but feel a little bit regal in her current garb.

The colors fit perfectly with the charity’s motif - black and red. It was a simple outfit; a strapless midnight gown with a banded pattern. She had chosen to pair it with her good pair of knee-high boots, and had even gone the extra mile to put on a bit of makeup. Honestly, she didn’t mind styling herself; it was just the feeling of being stared at that she was a tad unnerved about.

Her boyfriend, of course, was the sole exception to this.

“You look amazing tonight, Ammy.” Gently laying a hand on her shoulder, Hector leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek. She blushed at the sudden public display of affection.

“Thank you, Hector. You’re quite handsome yourself.” she complimented him.

The young man stood in front of Amaryllis, showing off the black dress suit and scarlet tie he had tailor-made especially for the event. “Say, we’re even matching.”

“Why, don’t you two look cozy?”

An older man in a suit with salt-and-pepper hair abruptly appeared from the crowd in front of them. Amaryllis immediately recognized him as Hector’s father, Miller. He was tailed by a shorter boy— who Amaryllis assumed to be Hector’s younger brother— and the boy’s companion, a girl roughly the same age with flowing white hair.

The boy scrunched up his face and raised an eyebrow as he turned to Hector. “Who’s this pretty woman with you, bruv?”

Miller smiled. “Yes, Hector, aren’t you going to politely introduce me to this stunning young lady you have on your arm?” asked the elder Wulfric, though his focus was on Amaryllis as he spoke to his son.

At those words, time seemed to freeze for Amaryllis.

‘Oh no. Oh no. This is it— this is really it, there’s no way I can back out of this now. What if he doesn’t like me? What if he doesn’t approve of me being a Huntress? What if he thinks I’m showing off too much skin?’ she thought, inwardly starting to panic.

Hector coughed, facing a newfound sense of second-hand nervousness from seeing Ammy’s eyebrows scrunch together in fear. “Uhm, yes. Yes, of course. Father, Kodlak, Mori, this is Amaryllis Armilde. She’s my girlfriend. Amaryllis, this is my father Miller, my little brother Kodlak, and his girlfriend, Mori.”

“H-hello!” Amaryllis said weakly, giving the three of them a small wave as she did her best to put on a pleasant expression, rather than a pained grimace brought on by anxiety. She clutched Hector’s shoulder a bit tighter.

Miller nodded, beaming. “Is that so? Well, Miss Armilde, it’s my true pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh. I knew that Hector was keeping something secret from me…”

Mori didn’t speak a word— but not by choice; the girl had been mute since birth. Instead, she responded with a polite smile and a small curtsy.

Kodlak, meanwhile, froze in place, his eyes widening to the size of saucers as his jaw dropped slack in shock. He had never thought of Hector as someone to have a girlfriend— if he was being honest with himself, the mental image of Hector dying as a bachelor was easier to perceive, compared to the very real one of Hector and the redhead standing beside him. After several seconds, he spoke, “You—I— how— Hec, you have a girlfriend?!”

“Yes. The last time I checked, she was my girlfriend.” Hector managed an aside glance at Amaryllis, whose nerves seemed eased by Kodlak’s comically stupefied response.

Kodlak turned to Amaryllis with a look of suspicion on his face. “Please, Miss, tell me he’s not just paying you to act like his girlfriend? Because I’m warning you now, it’s probably not worth—AWK!” The younger Wulfric yelped as his spiel was cut off by an elbow to the ribs courtesy of an annoyed Mori.

“Give it a rest, Kodlak,” scolded Miller. “Honestly, saying such things right off the bat… you could at least give your big brother a fighting chance.”

Mori rolled her eyes, signing with her hands to Amaryllis. I‘m very sorry about my dum-dum here. I’m sure you and Hector have a wonderful relationship.

Amaryllis responded to the girl with a beatific smile. “It’s all right. I like to think we’ve been going along splendidly these last few months.”

“Well then, now that we’ve all met one another, why don’t we take a seat for a second so I can get to know you better?” Miller suggested, pulling himself up a chair from a small table next to them.

In true gentlemanly fashion, Hector swiftly pulled up a chair for Amaryllis. She whispered a small “thank you” to him under her breath.

Seeing this, Miller couldn’t help but smile to himself. His son hadn’t grown up in the best environment for etiquette, but he and his late wife had still made sure that their sons — the younger two, at the very least — had been raised properly.

Well, it was probably more his wife to thank for doing so, but he liked to think he had a role in it too.

“Please, do tell us a little bit about yourself, Miss Armilde.” he asked.

Amaryllis nodded, pursing her lips as she took a deep breath “Well, I’m a student at Haven, just like Hector, but in the year above. We started dating last semester,” she glanced at Hector and smiled. “I’m in a group called LLAC— uh, spelled ell-ell-ay-cee. My twin sister Lillian’s the team leader. We’re in the group together with our friends Harriet and Cait.”

“Your twin sister is the leader?” Miller responded, momentarily turning to Hector. “Not to be rude, but I’m a little surprised you didn’t go for her first.”

Amaryllis laughed at Miller’s remark. “Oh, no, that wouldn’t have worked out. She doesn’t, erm, swing that way.” 

“No worries about that! I understand.” Miller chuckled. “And LLAC… I’ve heard tell of your team. Aren’t you helping with the murder case of those two Huntsmen? I read about it in the morning edition the other day… terrible thing.” he continued, his tone turning solemn.

Amaryllis raised her eyebrows, surprised that Miller was already aware of the event. “Oh, yeah… wow, I guess news travels fast.” she replied. “We’re taking a night off the assistance work today, but I’m not sure that I can really tell you anything besides that.”

Not like there’s much to tell anyway, she thought to herself. Nothing had come up in the day since they had hit a dead end— no leads, no clues, no witnesses.

“That’s alright! Why don’t we make your day off more meaningful and enjoy the night? No more Huntsman talk, just enjoy the event. We have good food, good music, and I’m sure Hector here won’t be afraid to show you a good time.” Miller stood up from his seat and continued, “I’ll have to leave you for now, to attend to some of the other guests, but I must say that it was wonderful meeting you, Miss Armilde.”

“Oh, the pleasure’s all mine, sir— and you can call me Amaryllis.” she smiled.

“Amaryllis, I hope Hector brings you over again for a much more private family dinner. You are more than welcome in our household.” Miller replied. “After all, knowing my son, I see you might just be a future Wulfric.” he continued, winking jauntily at Hector.

Although Hector felt embarrassed by his dad’s remarks, asking for Amaryllis’ hand in marriage had crossed his mind more than once since they had started dating. He knew it was early into the relationship, but being with her made him feel exactly like how Miller always described falling in love felt like. 

Miller patted Kodlak’s shoulder and smiled. “Right then, Kod, I suppose I’d best make small talk with all the politician types. I’ve been hovering over your four for long enough anyway. Enjoy the party!” He gave them a small wave, then turned and walked away into the crowd.

Kodlak, who sat in front of the couple, didn’t respond. Although it felt like his eyes were deceiving him, there was actually a girl sitting beside his brother. A girl that just happened to be his brother’s girlfriend. It was all such a blur to him that he didn’t even notice that he’d had his mouth hanging agape for the past five minutes.

A poke on the shoulder snapped him out of his stupor. Close your mouth already, dum-dum. You’re gonna end up swallowing a fly if you keep it up. Mori signed, tapping the young Wulfric’s chin to close.

“I’m sorry. It’s just, I- How did you do it?” he asked, turning to Hector.

“Do what?” Hector asked.

“You know,” Kodlak said as he rolled his eyes in Amaryllis’ direction, “get her?”

Hector glowered in exasperation at his brother’s question, the joke having already worn itself out. “Damnit, Kodlak, it’s not funny anymo—”

“No, no, I’m serious, I’m serious. I’m not taking the piss, Hec— what led you to her?” Kodlak pressed.

Hector’s brow unknitted as he considered the question. After a moment he replied, “Let’s put it this way. I found that… if you explore more around Mistral and take your mind off of things for a while, you’ll start to see everything in a different way.” he explained. “You never know, maybe someone out there’s just walking around.”

Pausing, he thought a bit further before grinning at Kodlak. “Or maybe, she’s already with you and you just don’t know it yet.” 

“…What do you mean?”  Kodlak asked, tilting his head in confusion.

Hector’s grin widened a bit. “Maybe Mori’s your destiny, Kod.”

“Meep!” Kodlak squeaked as his cheeks turned a violent shade of red. It was no secret that he’d had feelings for the Primrose girl for quite a while, but he was still at an age where the thought of long-term romance flustered him. Reaching over, he smacked Hector’s arm. “Don’t say that out loud! She’s right here!”

Hector, on the other hand, was having a good time of countering his little brother. After a few years of living with him, the little game of one-upsmanship had become his specialty.

Amaryllis chuckled at the repartee of the two brothers. In a way, she saw herself and Lillian in them - having their trivial arguments, but at the end of the day, still having each other’s backs. Glancing at Mori, she asked, “Are they always like this?”

‘More often than not.’ Mori signed with one hand, grinning amusedly.

“Thought so.”

“Now, Mori, why don’t you go enjoy the ball a bit with your boyfriend here?” Hector said. After all, he had intended to have some alone time to talk with Amaryllis at the ball, but he had yet to manage to shake his little brother loose.

“Hey! I still want to know how you guys came to be!” complained Kodlak.

“Come on, the night’s still young. Go on and party.” shooed Hector.

‘You heard your brother.’ Mori signed, tugging on Kodlak’s sleeve as she got up to stand. ‘Come on and dance already, dum-dum.’

“Okay, fine. It was nice meeting you, Miss Amaryllis! Maybe next time you can come over like Dad said, so I can show you all of Hector’s embarrassing baby photos!” Kodlak waved goodbye as Mori pulled him away into the crowd.

“Sounds great,” Amaryllis laughed. She felt happy that Hector’s family liked her, strangely feeling at home with them. Smiling to herself, she held Hector’s hand tighter.

Once they were alone, Hector let out a sigh he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in. “…I’m sorry about that, Am. My family can be such a bunch of bloody jokers sometimes, but they’re great, I swear.”

Amaryllis turned to him, still smiling. “Whatever do you mean? I had a great time talking to them.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yeah! I’m having a great night so far. Thank you, Hector.”

Hector looked surprised for a moment, before he breathed a sigh of relief and returned her smile. “Well, you’re welcome. I’m glad to hear that you’re enjoying it.”

Pushing back his chair to stand, he continued, “Now, I think I’ve put this off for long enough— might I have this dance, Miss Armilde?” He lowered himself in a slight bow, raising a hand in offering.

Amaryllis stood up from her seat and extended her arm, allowing Hector to take her hand. “You certainly may, Mister Wulfric.”

#team llac #team llac fic #amaryllis armilde #team hail #hector wulfric #kodlak wulfric #miller wulfric #mori primrose #jaguar-knight #fanfic #fan fiction #rwby fan fiction #rwby oc #rwbyoc #rwby

[question-anon]

Team LLAC with their signature weapons at the ready, as drawn by @gabecebro - thank you again, dude!

#gabecebro #team llac #rwby #rwby oc #lillian armilde #hattie lazuli #amaryllis armilde #cait miya

[question-anon]

A commission of Amaryllis Armilde and @neopoliitan‘s Robin Lincoln, drawn by @ansyp!

#team llac #team rain #rwby #rwby oc #amaryllis armilde #robin lincoln #mega milk #neopoliitan #anysp

[question-anon]

bovine faunus genetics have been retconned out. long live big tiddy third year

#rwby oc #shitpost #team llac #amaryllis armilde

[mercurryblack]

Chapter 10: Hattie

The night is but young.

❃❃❃

“Are you done yet? Are you done yet?” Hattie asked, squirming as she repeated her question for what seemed like the thousandth time.

“For the thousandth time, no, I’m not done yet. Stupid three thousand word count.” Cait groaned, slouched over their desk. “I swear, the day I graduate, I’m gonna kick Professor Rook square in the junk… boring old bastard… ”

“Sorry, time’s getting away from me.” Hattie apologized. “You’re still using that trick I told you about?”

Cait shrugged. “Even if I don’t count it as I go, it still feels like I’m never gonna finish it.”

The two had been spending the entire evening in their dorm room; Cait had been working on their assignment since the moment the Armilde sisters had left, and Hattie had been trying to keep herself busy by dusting, staring outside, dusting again, and even going as far as to read a lesson they hadn’t yet covered in class.

Tossing the Modern Remnant History textbook to her side, Hattie fell back on her bed spread-eagled, disappointed at the evening so far. She regretted how she had never really fostered a social life outside of Haven Academy— or much less her team, for that matter.

She had grown up as a ward of the underground Sisterhood, mostly keeping to herself and her small collection of fairytale books back then. Having dwelled for so long down in the habitable mine tunnels that the Sisterhood called home, she had recently found herself wanting to explore the world outside more often, if only to make up for lost time.

Those extracurricular lessons with Professor Gormlaith don’t count, she mentally noted.

Hattie didn’t have many friends, either— ironically, the happy-go-lucky girl could be a lot more introverted than extroverted at times. She knew a few students in their year by name, but not enough to warrant anything closer than a “hello” in the hallways. Plus, she didn’t find it to be much fun going out without her friends, which essentially consisted of LLAC and pretty much nobody else.

Well, there is CMYK, she thought to herself, remembering the team of now-second-years that they had tutored in the previous semester. I bet ol’ Mallow or Kara would have been free at this hour… but they’re all over in Vale helping with the set-up for the Vytal Festival, lucky dogs.

And since Lillian and Amaryllis were out doing their own things, she was left cooped up with Cait, who had been taking their time in writing an essay she had already finished.

“…Don’t you have anywhere else to go, Hattie?” Cait asked, glancing over their shoulder.

Hattie turned, wilting slightly as she did. “Should I leave you alone?”

“Nah, it’s not that.” Cait replied. “I just don’t want you to feel stuck here with me, y’know? You could go if you wanted to.”

Hattie shrugged. “Yeah, but I don’t really wanna. I’d prefer to wait for you rather than leave by myself.”

“Fair. Are we going somewhere after I’m done, anyways?” Cait said, turning back to their writing.

“I don’t know. I mean, Ammy said we can come down to her boyfriend’s family’s charity event, but it sounds kinda formal.” Hattie said, then shook her head. “I’m not in the mood for formal tonight.”

“So you don’t have a plan for this evening?” Cait inquired.

“I was kinda hoping you had that part sorted out,” she said with a lopsided smile. Having hung out with them the most, Hattie had always left the ideas up to Cait— they did always know where to go for a fun time. Also, she tended to worry that she’d make a big plan and it would turn out to be a flop.

Lost for any follow-up, she wondered aloud, “What do you think Detective Yuen and the old guys are up to now?”

“Probably living their nice and worry-free adult life.” Cait said sarcastically.

“Do you think we should give them a call? You know, check up on them?”

“Nah. I’m sure they’re doing fine on their own for one night.”

Hattie grabbed her Scroll from the far edge of her bed and waved at Cait, sticking out her tongue. “I’m gonna do it anyways! What if they’ve finally found the bad guys or something?”

Cait rolled their eyes. “Whatever you say…”

***

Sardion paced back and forth in Yuen’s office, his gaze fixed on the vinyl floor. The day had been yet another bust— Rudyard had hung back at Yaara’s house, while Sardion and Yuen, with little else to do, had returned to the precinct.

“I’m just saying, don’t you think we should give LLAC a call?” Yuen suggested. “They’re part of this investigation too, and we could really use some help right now. Plus, they might see something we’ve overlooked.”

“They’re having a night off, Yuen. I’m sure they have better things to do.” Sardion replied. “You don’t want to tire the young’uns out before they even graduate, right?”

“Maybe.” Yuen sighed. “Hear anything from Rudyard?” 

“Not yet, but he said he’d call if he found anything to go on.”

***

Rudyard stared up to the inky heavens, taking in the starry night sky from Yaara’s old lawn chair, a half-empty bottle of beer loosely grasped in his fingertips.

In the backyard of her humble home, the Huntress had cultivated a small flower garden. In the back of his mind, Rudyard reflected on the visits he had paid her, how she had meticulously tended to them every day; thoroughly watering them, rooting out any weeds, gently humming while she kept her garden impeccable.

Now, seeing as their owner had been dead for a week, the garden had slowly begun to die as well. The bright petals and leaves of the flowers had begun to fade and wilt from a lack of water, and weeds had taken over a small patch of dandelions.

Rudyard rose to pick up a rusty old watering can on the back veranda, then filled it up with a nearby hose. As he let the water trickle down onto the garden’s parched soil, he let out a long sigh— after all she had done for him, it was the least he could do. Eventually emptying the can, he opted to go back inside, as the night air started to grow colder.

Searching for a spot where the police hadn’t tagged or taped anything of interest, he made himself comfortable in a reclining chair in her personal study. Looking around, a single book lying on her desk caught his eye, the tip of a torn sheaf of paper stuck in the pages halfway through. The title on the cover read Eternal Blue Sky, luminescent gold font on a pastel blue background.

“Of course.” Rudyard chuckled to himself. “You would have hated this, Yaara, leaving a book unfinished.” Absentmindedly, he picked up the book and opened it up to the bookmarked page.

He paused.

Written on the scrap of paper in what was unmistakably Yaara’s handwriting was a short message; 1100 apr 23 for further details - stored on hosaki comm log 1138.

“April…?” Rudyard muttered, squinting at the writing. He remembered that April 21st had been the starting date of the last mission on her and Berilo’s record, and it had been marked as remaining within city limits.

He had never heard of a place called “Hosaki” anywhere in Mistral City.

Frowning, he tucked the sheaf of paper into his pocket and rose from the chair, reaching into his pocket. “Wonder what Yuen’ll make of this.”

He paused, fingers fumbling inside an empty pocket.

“…Where’d I put my Scroll?”

***

“Do you know of any other places they might have escaped to?” Sardion asked as he took a closer look at the map of Mistral spread over Yuen’s desk, doing his best to focus despite his inner restlessness slowly clouding his mind.

“Besides the forest, nothing, and if that’s the case then they’re likely long gone by now.” Yuen said, leaning back in her chair. “Maybe the Manju-Shage District, but I doubt it. The whole thing’s cordoned off by a tripwired security fence. There’s no way someone could’ve broken in without us knowing about it.” She continued, tapping her fingers against the armrests in mild frustration.

“Well, maybe they could’ve snuck in, if they had the right Semblance for the job. At this point, I’m ready to try anything if it means we might find a lead,” Sardion paused, sharply exhaling, “Any step we take, no matter how small, is at least a bit closer to the whoever’s behind this.”

“True.” Yuen said, glancing up at him. “After all, there’ve been times that thugs occasionally get the great idea to break in and squat there, to lay low or whatever… you want to check it out, just in case?”

“Might as well. I’ve already got my weapon on me.” Sardion shrugged. “I’ll call up Rudyard first, see if he’s up for it.” He pulled out his Scroll and sent a call to Rudyard’s contact.

Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz. A small buzzing hum came from beneath a stack of papers on the right of Yuen’s desk. The Huntsman and the detective exchanged confused looks, before realizing what was making the noise.

“Oh, for the love of…” Sardion muttered, sticking his hand underneath the stack and pulling out a Scroll— Rudyard’s own. “Perfect time to forget this, you freakin’ cueball…” He stuck his Scroll back in his jacket and tossed Rudyard’s onto Yuen’s desk.

“Okay, well, that’s a bust… like I said before, we could call up LLAC.” Yuen suggested.

Sardion was inclined to disagree with her, given that it had been the students’ night off— calling them in for duty at such an hour wouldn’t be the most gracious move. However, he figured that they’d best bring some backup, if only to cover more ground if nothing else.

“Alright, go for it.” he said.

Yuen took out her Scroll and pulled up Lillian’s contact. “Here goes. Hope for the best.”

***

“Why do I always have to be the one to make the food?” Rosario asked, swinging her now-empty basket from one hand as she walked alongside Lillian down the cliffside path.

“You’re a great cook, and I can’t even season my food correctly.” Lillian replied. “Do you remember the last time when I tried to make instant ramen unsupervised?”

“Point.” Rosario said. “You did literally set a pot of water on fire. I’m no scientist, but I’m pretty certain that violates every law of thermodynamics that there is.”

Lillian nodded. “See?”

“Riiiight.” Rosario drawled. “Imagine what adult life would be like. Every night, it’ll just be me greeting you, ‘Welcome home, mi amor! What do you want first? Dinner? A bath? Me?’ And then you’ll go, ‘I’ll have you for dinner in the bath!’”

“I know you’re trying to make fun of me, but you’re drooling, Rosario.” Lillian said, giving her girlfriend a flat stare.

Rosario flushed red, wiping the corner of her mouth. “I am not.”

Lillian snorted.

***

“Damnit, her Scroll’s turned off.” Yuen groaned. “Her sister’s offline as well.”

“Thought so. They have private lives too, you know.” Sardion shrugged, slinging his coat over his shoulders. “C’mon, might as well see if any airships are available and just get this over with.”

Yuen rose from her chair. “Fine. I’ll leave them a message if we do find anything.” Just as she was about to follow Sardion out, her Scroll suddenly vibrated in her coat.

The profile picture that displayed the caller wasn’t Lillian— rather, it was the Lazuli kid calling her.

It’s something, I guess. Yuen thought to herself, swiping to accept the call.

“…Hey, Detective Yuen.” Hattie chirped up on the other end.” How’s it going? It’s Hattie from, uh, Team LLAC. Uhm, we just wanted to check in, and—” She continued, stumbling slightly over her words.

“As a matter of fact, I’m glad you called.” Yuen replied. “Listen, Sardion and I are going to investigate a possible lead down in the old Manju-Shage District, and your help would be very much appreciated.” She hesitated before continuing. “That is, if you’re not already preoccupied.”

***

On the other end of the line, Hattie’s face lit up as she heard Yuen’s invitation. For the moment, she managed to suppress the urge to whoop and cheer out of deference to the still-working Cait. “Nononono, no problem. We’ll be there right away, Detective,” she said, struggling to contain her excitement as she ended the call.

It took her a few seconds before she was able to produce words, since all that was coming out of her mouth were muffled joyful squeaks. “…Cait?”

“Gimme a sec.” Cait replied, holding up a finger.

Hattie paused, her smile falling slightly.

“Cait.” she repeated, her tone becoming  normal.

“Wait, I’m almost done.” Cait said, focused on their computer’s monitor.

“Cait!” Hattie repeated for a third time, her voice rising slightly as she grew irked by their dismissal.

“I said wait, Hattie.” Cait said, still not turning around. “…’Make sure to provide footnotes along with citations’? Aw, what the hell’s the point of that?” they muttered to themself as they reviewed their essay.

Hattie scowled darkly, thoroughly annoyed at the brush-off. After a moment, she tiptoed up next to her teammate’s shoulder and leaned in towards their ear as close as possible.

“CAAAAAAAAAAAIT!” she screamed.

“AUUUUUUUGH!” Cait screeched, jumping up from their seat in shock as they spun around to face her. Their brow contorted, startled and frustrated at the girl’s outburst.

“WHAT?!” they snapped.

Hattie’s expression morphed into a tooth-bared cheshire grin, her attempt at emulating Cait’s own habit.

“I know what we’re gonna do tonight~♪.”

#team llac #team llac fic #harriet lazuli #cait miya #team sybr #sardion sarikaya #agave yuen #rudyard millard #lillian armilde #rosario garland #fanfic #fan fiction #rwby fan fiction #rwby oc #rwbyoc #rwby

[question-anon]

Tagged by @echollama lessgo

Relationship status: That word sounds made up.

Favorite color: Cyan!

Top 3 ships: Robin Lincoln/Marron Armona, Hector Wulfric/Amaryllis Armilde, and [REDACTED] 

Lipstick or chapstick: Don’t really care for either.

Last song listened to: “Fortunate Son” by CCR. Best. Song. Ever. 

Last movie watched: Bumblebee. Still impressed by how good it was.

I’m too lazy to tag rn so whoever sees this and wants to do it, go ahead!