After leaving the Sewick's house, the team finally make it to where they need to be.
Neela
Neela had never been so glad to escape an awkward meal in all her life. And as an Oxford, one of the most esteemed families in Highpoint, there had been plenty of awkward dinners or formal occasions. None seemed to quite live up to just how bad that final lunch with the Sewicks had been.
Neela felt bad just leaving things as is but opted not to push things, unlike Xanthos. She knew he didn't mean to be rude by it but she could also see Zelde was in no mood to answer, much less acknowledge what had happened, so had nudged him to be quiet.
When they finally found the address Wren had given them, Neela was quietly relieved that the house was located on a side street and that they were away from the prying eyes of any nosy townsfolk. As they approached the house in question, Neela was surprised at how plain it looked, or at least plain by Apex standards. It was in the same style as most of the other houses in this street, but the door was painted a shade of golden yellow, which made it stand out against the neutral tone of the rest of the building.
Cordovan lightly knocked on the door, and a few moments later, a muffled voice could be heard from inside, shouting that they would be with them in a moment. The man who opened the door was wearing a painter's smock and had a paintbrush tucked behind one ear. His greying brown hair fell just past his shoulders but was held back in a ponytail. He studied them for a moment, golden eyes blinking once, before gesturing for them to come inside.
“Please, come in,” he said as he stepped aside. Once everyone was inside, he quietly shut the door behind them and offered them a warm smile before turning to look at Cordovan. “It’s good to see you again, Cordovan. You’re looking well.” He put an arm on his shoulder for a moment and squeezed.
Cordovan returned the smile. “Thanks, Chen.”
“Liv!” The man suddenly called, shouting down the hallway. “Cordovan's here!”
There was some commotion in the room at the bottom of the hall before a dark-skinned woman with wavy green hair and eyes came striding down the hall, arms outstretched for a hug.
“Cordovan!” She greeted warmly, practically pulling him into her arms herself. “It's so good to see you again.”
Cordovan chuckled nervously, patting the woman fondly on the back. “It's good to see you too, Olive.” He stepped back and then gestured to ZRCN. “These are my teammates - Zelde Sewick, Xanthos Ravindra, and Neela Oxford.”
“Pleasure to meet you all,” Olive smiled, bowing her head in acknowledgement.
“This is Olive Vines and Chen Yeung,” Cordovan continued, introducing the older couple to his teammates. Neela could not say she knew the man very well, but the woman's name was familiar, recalling she had been on a team with Cordovan's mother in her youth.
“Darling, I’d love to stay, but my work calls,” Chen said, somewhat apologetically. He kissed Olive quickly on the cheek. Chen gave them a little wave goodbye, before hurrying upstairs.
“Is Chen working on a new commission?” Cordovan asked.
“Ah, he's an artist then?” Neela prompted. “I did notice the paintbrush.” She made a vague gesture at her own ear, to which Olive chuckled.
“He paints mostly but dabbles in pottery too. Our home is like a regular little art studio!” Olive giggled. As she started to walk back down the hall, the rest of ZRCN followed close behind her. She led them into an expansive, open-plan kitchen and living room. To the left, sat an impressive kitchen with granite countertops, a kitchen island, and a green range cooker. To the right was a cosy living room, or what probably passed as a secondary living room. Adjacent to where two velvet sofas were placed around a small fireplace, were two glass doors that opened out onto a well maintained patio.
“Chen is currently working on a commission for Councilman Miller Wulfric,” Olive explained, gesturing for ZRCN to make themselves comfortable whilst she busied herself in her kitchen making drinks for them. “Do any of you know of him?”
Of the four of them, Neela would have been the most likely to have known him, and ironically she did. Her father and the Mistrali councilman had arranged a deal to build upon Highpoint’s defences.
“I’ve never met him but my father knows of him,” Neela explained.
“You're an Oxford aren't you?” Olive asked, to which Neela quickly reconfirmed with a nod. “Mhm, yes, he's a nice man. Chen visited him a few weeks back to have him sit for some preliminary sketches. One of his sons ordered the commission I believe, but Councilman Wulfric was fully aware of the planned portrait. The final product will be a nice surprise I’m sure though.”
“Dad's very proud of it already.” An amused chuckle sounded from the doorway to the patio. Stood in the doorway was none other than Helia Vines herself. She was wearing casual, civilian clothes, but looked no less radiant than she did in her Huntress gear.
“Nee, Nee!” Xanthos excitedly whispered in her ear. “It's Helia Vines!”
“I know, Ravi, I know,” Neela laughed. “I do have eyes.”
Neela had never met Helia in person before, but had seen some of her interviews, and had obviously seen her Vytal win. She had always thought her to be effortlessly cool, and the way she had dispatched her opponent with ease in her final Vytal match had left a lasting impression on Neela, as it had likely done for many people. However, standing in the comfort of her own home, there was a sort of gentleness to Helia that Neela hadn’t expected. In casual clothes, her hair held up in a matching style to her mother, and lacking her signature katanas, she appeared very soft and gentle, not someone who you would immediately bring to mind when thinking of a huntress.
“It's nice to finally meet you, Team ZRCN,” Helia smiled, stepping further into the house and shaking their hands. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Zelde looked a bit confused by this. “You have?”
“Oh yes, we know a fair bit about you,” Olive confirmed. “Wren often speaks of how well little Cordovan and his team are doing at the academy.”
“Well, I don't think Cordovan is little anymore, mom,” Helia smirked, looking at Cordovan. It was only then that Neela noted that they stood at a similar height. “Gone are the days when you barely came up to my shoulder.”
“Gone are the days when I used to be able to train with him and have the upper hand!” Olive remarked. As she came to stand by them, she took a note of Cordovan's weapon. “That sword form on your weapon puts mine to shame.”
“I doubt my swordsmanship would ever hold a candle to you or Helia though, Olive,” Cordovan smiled. “You were the best sword teacher I ever had.”
“I was your only sword teacher!” Olive corrected, giving him a playful smack on the arm. The green-haired woman excused herself to finish the drinks off at the kitchen island. With her mother busy finishing the drinks, Helia urged the team to sit down on the sofas, smiling when Olive came back with the drinks, and taking a hot chocolate from her mother.
“So…” Helia began, pausing to blow the steam from her drink and take a tentative sip. “What's this mission we'll be working on together?”
“You don't know?” Cordovan asked.
Helia shook her head. “Wren only messaged to say you needed help. I didn't ask much else.”
“I was a little wary of Helia accepting,” Olive explained. “She was supposed to be resting here after some difficult months in Mistral.”
Helia rolled her eyes at her mother's words but it seemed to be in a good natured way. “As I told my mom, you're family, Cordovan. I think I can make one tiny exception to my rule.”
“If you’d rather stay behind that that’s fine,” Cordovan was quick to say. “I know you get a lot of work and mission requests so I understand you wanting to get away from it all. Don’t feel obligated to have to help just because this is my team.”
“Nonsense!” Helia waved him off. “Besides, you're all here now, it would be a waste of a journey if I didn't at least try to help you.”
Neela looked at Zelde quickly after this, thinking it would also be a waste of Zelde enduring her mother.
Zelde was the one who took over explaining for them. Beginning with the Princeton's raid, Zelde then went on to explain how they had been tasked with the mission after it had been brushed aside following the Fall of Beacon. As she continued, explaining the connection with the Mistrali police, their capture of Merlot and Saika, and the failed investigation of Hargrave Manufacturing, Helia and her mother listened intently all the while.
“If these Hargraves are who I think they are, they could prove to be problematic,” Olive said after a moment. Neela noticed she was speaking more to her daughter rather than Team ZRCN as she said this.
“I recognise the name at least,” Helia confessed. “They were suspected to have been involved in a big mining accident a few years back. They practically owned the mine in question beforehand, and after the accident pretty much cut all ties with it, and most of the family fled back to their home in Atlas.”
“They owned a mine?” Xanthos asked. “That never showed up in any searches we did for the name. Where was this mine?”
Helia turned to Xanthos, meeting his gaze for a moment, before looking at each of the team in turn. Strangely, before speaking, she let out a long sigh, as if what she was going to say next weighed heavily upon her.
“It's okay,” Her mother squeezed her hand. “Take your time, Helia.”
Helia returned the squeeze before looking back to ZRCN. “Have you heard of a place called Shizukana before?”
Dinner with Zelde's parents - it is as bad as you think it will be.
Xanthos
The plan had been to only stay a night whilst the storm passed. However, the storm turned out to be worse than expected and a night became three.
For the first night, Xanthos had been eager to stay in such a large house, and finally learn more about Zelde and her life. By the first morning, Xanthos was eager to leave and could understand why Zelde was so reluctant to speak about her past.
The vast majority of Zelde's family had been welcoming enough, if a little too stiff and formal for Xanthos's tastes. But Oriana Serac had actively gone out of their way to make all of them feel unwelcome, none more so than her daughter.
Luckily by the third morning, the weather had cleared and Cordovan messaged Olive Vines to inform her they would be with them soon. Before they were to leave they had been invited to lunch.
Zelde had been reluctant to agree but Oriana rather snidely insisted they stay, stating that she did not know when she would ever see her daughter again. Xanthos hoped for Zelde's sake it was never.
After being urged to freshen up again, Guilford had led the four of them upstairs, directing them to two separate rooms to freshen up. Cordovan and Xanthos in one and Neela and Zelde in the other. They had only been left alone for a few minutes when Guilford had returned with a pile of folded clothing, which he proceeded to hand out to Xanthos. He must have made a face, as the older man was quick to explain that it was Oriana’s insistence he ‘dress up’, as his current outfit wasn’t appropriate for her lunch. Xanthos had frowned but he quietly thanked Guilford and took the clothes. Besides, they were guests here, the least he could do was abide by their rules.
Xanthos nervously adjusted the collar of his shirt, finding that no matter what he did, it didn’t seem to sit comfortably on him. He caught his reflection in the mirror and shook his head. He did not like wearing such formal clothes, he disliked the way they looked on him and found them too constricting.
Xanthos adjusted the shirt collar one more time when Cordovan exited the bathroom.
Cordovan took one look at him and a small smirk formed on his face.
“I know, I know, I look hideous.”
“Actually, I was going to say it suits you,” Cordovan said. “That’s probably the smartest thing I’ve seen you wear that wasn't our academy uniform.”
“Oh, uh thanks,” Xanthos responded with a small laugh.
Having now freshened up, the two headed downstairs, where they were told to wait for the girls in the hallway by Guilford. Cordovan waited quietly, eyes focused on the doors, whilst Xanthos found himself looking around the hall some more, taking in the impressive architecture of the home.
Both their attentions were caught when Zelde and Neela descended the stairs. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cordovan look away, concealing the blush that had begun to form on his cheeks. Although even if hadn’t tried to hide his blush, Xanthos wasn’t sure Zelde would have noticed, as her gaze was firmly trained on him, more specifically his clothing.
“You didn't have to change,” She said.
“Your mother insisted,” Guilford explained to Zelde for him. Zelde pulled a face but didn't argue and allowed them to be guided into the dining room by Guilford, with a table that was already set with an array of food and drink awaited them. The Sewicks were already picking at some plates of food, so thankfully, the team did not have to wait to be invited to sit.
Xanthos went for some simple food options, filling his plate with rice, some assorted vegetables, and a chicken breast. He was not usually the sort to be so plain with his food choices, but half of what was on offer looked so unappealing, that he had to wonder if it even really was food.
As they ate - or in Xanthos’s case, nibbled - quiet conversation filled the air. It was Callaway who talked the most, asking a vast array about the team’s experiences as huntsmen. Xanthos was more than happy to answer him, even if most of the questions Callaway had asked over the past three days had been much the same. Everyone seemed to be content to answer him, but it was a little difficult to keep up with, what with all the questions. Although he himself did not ask any questions, Albus seemed a little interested in what was being said, and Xanthos noted he listened intently, occasionally saying something to prompt a further response. Unsurprisingly, Oriana seemed disinterested in the conversation, her only response being to glare at her husband or son when began to speak about it.
Xanthos couldn’t help but wonder what her problem was. Sure she was a wealthy, upper-class Atlesian woman, but that was hardly any excuse for her dismissive behaviour.
“So the Ursa-”
“Callaway,” Oriana cut her son off with a sharp glare. The woman was currently eating a bowl of soup and had set her spoon down briefly to address her son. “Must you insist on speaking about such a gorey subject whilst we’re having lunch? It is putting me off of my soup.”
Callaway lowered his head. “Sorry, mother.”
They ate in silence for a solid ten minutes, before Oriana, now having finished her meal, broke the silence.
“So, tell me a little about yourselves,” Oriana said, her blue eyes glancing around the table. “Zelde hasn’t spoken to us in years, so I know nothing about any of you.” Xanthos was fighting the urge to remind her she had mostly ignored them and spoken derisively towards them over the past three days. “Do any of you have any relatives in your family who trained as huntsmen? Did they approve of your decision to become one?”
Xanthos shifted a little at her last question. He noted Oriana glanced at her daughter for a long moment as she asked it, and he suddenly felt very uncomfortable as if intruding on a private argument. He couldn’t help but wonder if Zelde leaving to train as a huntress drove the wedge between them.
Neela was the first to answer. “Well, I was born and raised in Highpoint, as the youngest of three. I presume you know my family - the Oxfords?” Both Albus and Oriana gave a small nod before Neela continued. “None of my immediate family were huntsmen, though my brother wanted to train as one when he was younger. He didn’t have the stomach for it, so pulled out the month before he was due to leave for school. My parents seemed a little nervous when I expressed a similar interest and tried to talk me out of it for a while until they saw how committed I was!”
“Did you have any prior training before going to Atlas Academy?” Oriana asked.
“Oh yes, I went to a primary training academy first. Pelorus Academy, if you are familiar with it,” Neela responded. She then looked at Cordovan and gave him a nudge. “Cordovan and I were in the same year.”
The Sewicks turned to look at Cordovan, who had to set down his fork abruptly to speak. “Yes, we both attended the same primary academy. I was born and raised in Atlas, at least for the most part anyway. Both of my parents were huntsmen, so we travelled around a lot.” Cordovan explained. “I suppose having two parents as huntsmen does end up inspiring you quite a bit.”
“Were they well-known at all?” Albus asked, and Xanthos was surprised to see that he looked genuinely interested.
“A little,” Cordovan admitted with a small shrug. “They both enjoyed mildly successful careers at least. My mother joined the Atlesian Army years ago and still works as a specialist for them. As for my father, well...he’s around.”
Oriana sniffed a little at this remark, which finally drew Zelde’s attention to the conversation. Silver eyes snapped to her mother immediately and narrowed them in response. Oriana picked up on this pretty quickly, and although they said nothing, it was clear they both had plenty to say to one another.
Not wanting an argument to break out, Xanthos was quick to jump in with his own response to Oriana’s earlier question. “Unlike the rest of my team here, I was born and raised in Vacuo. My mother is about the furthest thing you can get from a huntress. Not too sure about my dad though, he disappeared shortly before my sister was born.” Xanthos was ten at the time but had never been particularly close with his father. Chrysanthos had always been a mysterious man and left many unanswered questions in his wake when he up and left them. “I’m not sure where the interest in becoming a huntsman came from, to be honest with you. I was watching coverage of a Vytal festival a few years back and there was this really amazing Vacuo team. They didn’t get very far, but I was so in awe with them and what they could do that I knew I wanted to be a huntsman too.” Xanthos laughed a little as he recounted this tale. “I told my mother that same night I wanted to join an academy. I think she was a little horrified at first because she tried to talk me out of it for days. When she saw how set on it I was she did give in thankfully. I think that as long as I was happy she could accept it.”
“Hmm, typical Vacuo parenting for you there,” Oriana said, looking at her husband as she spoke. Albus Sewick stared at his wife in surprise before looking nervously over at Xanthos. Luckily, Albus seemed to have much more tact than his wife, so for that sake alone he would have spared him from the bitter remark he was cooking up.
Luckily, he did not need to respond, as Zelde had him covered. “Mother, do not speak to my friend like that,” Zelde hissed in a low voice.
“Where have your manners gone, Zelde?” Oriana asked. “You should know better than to speak back to your parents.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, you’re hardly a parent,” Zelde retorted.
From the look that passed between father and son, they clearly had some idea of what was soon to follow, and in truth perhaps the rest of ZRCN had an idea too, based on their earlier interactions with Sewick matriarch. If anything Xanthos was just surprised to see Zelde stirring up trouble rather than trying to avoid it.
What came from Oriana’s mouth was a slew of horrid remarks to her daughter, claiming she was ungrateful for throwing away the life she could have so easily had, selfish for not taking into consideration her family’s feelings, of how she was simply wasting her life. The whole scene was uncomfortable to sit through, and after exchanging a few glances with Cordovan and Neela, Xanthos knew he couldn’t sit quietly any longer.
“You should stop talking to your daughter like that,” Xanthos advised, making her turn to look at him. “Considering how insufferable you have been in the days since I’ve met you, I’d say it’s a small mercy that Zelde opted to leave and become a huntress, it spared her becoming a heartless bitch like yourself.”
Albus’s mouth formed a small ‘o’ shape, though if he was offended by the slander towards his wife, he didn’t rush to her defence. Surprisingly Zelde mouthed a silent “Thank you” his way for helping her, and he simply nodded. Unsurprisingly, Oriana was not impressed with being called a bitch. She rose from her seat, one hand hitting the table and the other clenching into a tight fist in her rage.
“How dare you speak to me like that!” She snarled. “You’re nothing but an insignificant street rat from Vacuo, yet you have the audacity to come into my own home and speak down to me.”
“Oriana, enough!” Albus urged. For once, his voice rose above a quiet whisper.
Oriana paused for a moment, eyes passing over each of the team in question. “I hope it was worth throwing the life we gave you for these people. And when this life inevitably goes wrong, you should know, there will be no place for you in my house anymore.”
With this, Zelde rose from her chair, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin before letting it fall to the table. She proceeded to gesture to her teammates to stand and follow her, before looking off to Guilford who had been stood quietly in the corner this whole time. “Guilford would you be so kind as to gather our things, I think it is time we ought to go.”
He nodded simply and hurried out of the room. If Xanthos had been in his place, he would have been thankful for the excuse to leave.
“Yes, I do believe, you’ve outstayed your welcome wouldn’t you agree, Albus?” Oriana prompted, looking to her husband for support.
“No…” Albus muttered quietly. “It is you who has outstayed your welcome, Oriana.”
Oriana’s confidence seemed to flicker, evidently not used to her husband answering back to her. “Albus?”
“For too long I have stood by and done nothing. Watched as you belittled me, my family, our children,” His voice cracked as he said that. “Enough is enough, Oriana. I’m done with this - our marriage. I’m done with you.”
“Father…?” Zelde blinked.
Xanthos wasn’t sure what to say or do at that moment. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.
“This is your fault!” Oriana yelled, making a move for where Zelde was standing. “You should have never come back here.” Thankfully, Albus caught Oriana by the wrist and kept her in place.
Albus gave an apologetic glance to Zelde and then the rest of Team ZRCN. “I’m sorry you all had to see this.”
Albus gave his daughter a knowing look and she nodded. With a tilt of the head, Zelde gestured for her team to join her in leaving, which they did so without question. She paused to look at Albus and Callaway.
“Father. Cal…” Her voice trailed off as she looked at her brother. He simply offered her a warm smile and a gentle nod. The group carried on walking, before Zelde stopped by her mother, standing to her side. Neither woman directly looked at each other, with Oriana staring down the table refusing to make eye contact, and Zelde merely glancing at her out of the corner of her eye. “Mother, it has been a pleasure as always.” She leaned forward and gave her mother a peck on the cheek before they walked out of the room.
Guilford was not waiting for them when they entered the hallways, though as requested, he had gathered their clothes, as well as their weapons and the meagre supplies they had bought with them. None of them wanted to linger here for much longer, so they gathered their things and quickly left the house. Once they had passed beyond the metal gates, Zelde’s calm persona cracked, and a few tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Are you alright, Zelde?” Neela asked, tentatively touching her arm.
“I’m fine,” Zelde insisted. She took a deep inhale, as if to steady herself and began moving forward. “Let’s find Helia Vines.”
Team ZRCN arrives in Apex and receives a frosty reception.
Zelde
The journey to Apex proved to be more complicated than ZRCN had first anticipated. When planning their journey, it became apparent their luck with airships had finally run out, and they were forced to look elsewhere for travel as no airships could take them there soon. As a native of Apex, Zelde knew their best option would be to take a train there.
It should have been a smooth, untroubled journey from Mantle to Apex, but it turned out the Grimm had other ideas. Their journey was almost at an end when a Teryx had launched itself at the train. The train didn't have much in the way of defences, save for a singular huntsman, and two mounted turrets at the front of the train. Although only huntsmen in training, Team ZRCN were asked if they could give some additional backup, and with only an older huntress to help assist the train's sole guard, they felt obligated to help.
The train stopped to allow the six of them to deal with the Grimm. The wind and snow whipped up around them once they stepped out and Zelde found herself wincing feeling the cold air against her skin. It took a moment for the Teryx to get drawn away from the train as the beast was more determined to get at one of the carriages, but a few shots at it seemed to do enough to pull its attention away.
Luckily, this Teryx was of a smaller size, so taking it out did not prove to be overly difficult. The older huntress took out its ability to fly, damaging its left wing with a spray of bullets. Although unable to fly, it was still dangerous, snapping and thrashing in the snow as it tried to get at the three of them. Zelde instructed Neela to use her weapon to create some formations to try and halt the Grimm. With a nod, Neela did as requested using the earth dust in her trident to create some rocky formations to block it in. With the Teryx slowed, the train guard ordered Zelde, Cordovan, and the older huntress to shoot at it with whatever they had.
The Teryx quickly succumbed to the onslaught of bullets, dissipating into black dust once defeated. However, no sooner had the Teryx been defeated, than low growls emerged from the treeline behind them.
Zelde turned to see what had made the noise, unable to discern anything clearly, but seeing some shapes moving through the darkness. It didn't help that the winds from earlier had become stronger now, bringing a fresh flurry of snow with it to obscure their vision.
In the distance, Zelde could hear the train's guard yelling at them, only able to make out a few words over the howling wind.
“Should we go back?” Xanthos called.
Zelde was about to answer when two Grimm burst out of the treeline, revealing the source of the growling to be two Ursa.
Zelde weighed her options briefly, debating whether they would have time to defeat the Grimm or make it back to the train. Ultimately, Zelde decided they should try and deal with the Ursa, noting that they probably wouldn't have outrun the Ursa with how close they were. That and with the train guard and huntress having begun to move back towards the train, they didn't have much in the way of backup.
The first of the Ursa proved fairly easy to deal with. Cordovan took out one of its legs with his sword before Zelde delivered the finishing blow. The second Ursa was proving to be a little more tricky.
She and Cordovan were once again trying to take it down, though with less luck than last time, since Zelde had narrowly avoided getting punched by it. Xanthos and Neela were also dancing around it, managing a few weak blows, but otherwise causing little damage.
“Anyone got any ideas on how to take this big boy down?” Xanthos asked as he ducked out of the way of a swing from the Ursa.
“I have one,” Zelde responded after a moment. “We need to expose its belly if we can. It doesn't have much in the way of armour on its belly, so if Neela could get a good hit on it we should be able to take it down.”
Xanthos nodded, reaching for his whip. “Alright, I've got this, just line him up for me.”
“Just be careful,” Zelde warned, shooting him a reproachful glance. “We'll only have a narrow window to do this.”
Xanthos didn't verbally respond to this, but she saw him nod his head. As requested, she and Cordovan worked on directing the Ursa away from him. When the creature was a certain distance away, Xanthos lashed out with his weapon, the whip managing to loosely wrap itself around the beast's neck. Had it not been for Xanthos's using his semblance at the same time, the creature would have surely dragged him along with him. Unable to counter the sudden change in Xanthos's weight, the Ursa started to pull back slightly, being forced back onto its hind legs.
Zelde gestured at Neela to be ready, holding a hand up to make her wait for the perfect moment. When the belly was exposed enough, she threw down her hand.
“Now!”
Already poised to throw, Neela clicked a button on the shaft of her weapon, the three prongs of the trident snapping together to form a single spearhead. She threw the spear at Zelde's command, and Zelde watched as the weapon soared through the air, before striking the Ursa in the belly. It staggered momentarily, stopped from falling forward completely due to Xanthos, and then in a poof it ceased to be no more, Neela's spear and Xanthos's whip both falling to the floor where the beast had once stood.
“Excellent work, Neela,” Zelde commended, smiling at her teammate. As Neela went to retrieve her weapon she returned the smile.
“Oh shit the train!” Xanthos blurted out.
Zelde whipped her head around and watched as the train sprung back into life, starting to roll forward as the engine kicked back in. All of ZRCN rushed forward in a panic, yelling and waving their hands to get it to stop. Their efforts were to no avail, as the train pulled away leaving the four of them in the snow.
Xanthos threw his hands out briefly before resting his hands on his hips in a dramatic fashion. “Well, what do we do now?” He said, looking in the direction of where the train had departed.
“We can't stay here,” Cordovan responded quickly. “Our auras won't hold up with the winds growing.”
Zelde nodded, knowing her teammate had a point. The winds had steadily grown to near enough a full storm since they had gotten off the train.
“How far were we from Apex?” Neela asked, looking between her teammates.
“Two miles or just under,” Zelde answered, taking a moment to note their surroundings and recalling the announcements on the train.
“That's still quite a journey in this weather,” Cordovan mused. He crossed his arms over his chest trying to keep warm.
Zelde groaned. Not because of her teammates talking but because she knew there was somewhere they could go to avoid the weather. “I know somewhere closer we could stay,” Zelde offered. “Temporarily at least…”
“Where?” Xanthos asked, looking far too eager for his simple question.
“I thought you lived in Apex?” Cordovan said, raising a brow.
“Technically our home sits just beyond the town,” Zelde explained. “It's a little closer than Apex proper so I thought it would be a better solution than trekking to our accommodation in town. As I said, it would only have to be temporary.” Which Zelde thought was more for her own sake than her teammates.
Some quick glances were exchanged between the four of them before agreeing to head on. Zelde took the lead naturally and the rest of her teammates followed close behind. Due to the weather, Zelde kept a good pace, eager to get to her family home for the prospect of getting somewhere warm at the very least.
Ironically, despite heading to Zelde's family home, the lights of the distant town Apex came into view first. And then, out of the gloom, the warmly lit Sewick manor suddenly appeared.
The Sewick’s house was located in the north of the town, with high walls surrounding the property, shielding the building from the outside world. Wrought iron gates marked the entrance of the property. Peering through the bars, it was possible to see the gravel walkway up to the property, illuminated by a number of outdoor lamps. As they approached the gates, Zelde pressed the buzzer to say hello. A small static sound followed before a voice answered.
“May I help you?”
“Yes, we need to speak with-” But before Zelde could finish her statement the voice on the opposite end cut in.
“I'm sorry, Mr and Mrs Sewick are not taking guests right now,” the voice told them. “You'll have to leave or I'm afraid I'll have to call the police.”
Zelde sighed deeply, before pressing the buzzer to speak once more.
“Guilford, it's me, Zelde.”
There was a pause, before another static sound followed, different to the first, and one which Zelde knew to mean the gates would open. As expected, the gates began to shift, and a few moments later swung open, allowing the group to enter the property.
With the gates now open, the group could now follow the winding path up to the house. As they approached the front doors, Zelde spotted the family car parked outside of the house, even in the dark, it was clear it had been recently cleaned by how vibrantly the lights from the house gleamed off the metal exterior. As they approached the doors, Zelde was stopped mid-knock, by Guilford who opened them to let them inside.
He held the doors open as they all stepped inside, and promptly shut them after Xanthos entered.
Xanthos took one look at the interior before blurting out, “Wow, this makes my house look like shit!”
Zelde was mortified to hear his voice echo around the hallway. He seemed amused by this fact as a grin stretched across his lips, but Zelde was more annoyed, shooting him a disapproving glare. He was lucky Guilford suddenly stepped in else she would have reprimanded him for blurting that out loud.
“It is good to see you again, Zelde,” He greeted warmly. The man stepped forward holding his arms out for a hug, which Zelde was quick to do. He may have been the family butler, but Zelde and her brother had always thought of him as a family member, an uncle figure of sorts. As they pulled apart he added, “I’m sure Master Callaway will be thrilled to see you again.”
And almost as if on cue, a figure appeared at the top of the stairs, hanging over the bannister to peer down at the guests. When he spotted his sister, a wide grin took hold of his features. “Zelde!”
Her brother propelled down the stairs, moving with such alarming speed that he jumped over the last three steps, and practically threw himself at his sister. Zelde held onto her brother tightly, before eventually releasing him, and holding him at a distance to get a better look at him. He had grown since she last saw him, now standing at around the same height as she was, despite only being fourteen. Besides inheriting their mother’s blue eyes, he looked like a younger version of their father, especially dressed in his shirt and vest. All he was missing was a tie.
She looked him over briefly, noting he appeared well and in good spirits. His monochromatic grey clothing was broken up by a single pink hair clip in his hair. Zelde studied it for a moment, making a note to ask him about it if she remembered.
Once released from the embrace, she noticed her brother looking at her teammates with a look of curiosity and excitement. Hunstmen were rare in Apex, so even seeing a team like theirs which was still in training, was a cause for interest.
“I can’t believe you’re here. This is such a surprise!” Callaway enthused, moving to go for a hug again.
“Indeed it is.”
Their mother’s voice made him freeze in his tracks and he flinched away from Zelde. Everyone turned to see Zelde’s parents exiting from a door to the left. Her father was dressed in a simple grey single-breasted lounge jacket and matching trousers, whereas her mother wore an expensive looking blue dress with a plunging neckline, and a rather plain teardrop necklace resting against her collarbone. With her arms crossed, her mother gave off something of a hostile air, which knowing her, was probably intentional. Her father seemed more open, even stepping forward to greet his guests.
“A pleasure to meet you all,” He began, as he shook each of their hands in turn. “My name is Albus Sewick, and this is my wife Oriana Serac.”
Rather than greet Team ZRCN, she turned her attention to Callaway. It seemed like Zelde, she had noted the pink hair clip too.
“Callaway get that ridiculous thing out of your hair,” Oriana snapped.
“Yes, mother,” Callaway mumbled, reaching up to remove it. Although he took it out, Zelde noticed he tucked it into his vest pocket when their mother turned her attention back to Team ZRCN.
“May I ask what you are all doing in our home?” Oriana asked as she stepped back from speaking to Callaway, before linking her arm with her husband.
“We are on a mission,” Zelde began to explain. “There was an issue with some Grimm and our train left us behind whilst we were dealing with them. We were hoping to stay here for the night until this storm passed.”
Oriana sniffed. “That was very presumptuous of you.”
Her father shifted uncomfortably at her side, nervously adjusting his lapel. “Of course, you and your teammates can stay.” He said, offering his daughter a weak smile. Her mother rolled her eyes, pulling her arm free before crossing her arms over her chest. Albus cast a pleading look at his wife, perhaps hoping to get her to see reason. “Ana, we can’t just kick them out….”
“Fine,” She said sharply, giving her husband a cold look. “As you wish, Albus.”
Oriana unfolded her arms and her cold blue gaze fell on the team.”Lucky for you, dinner is almost ready. I’d suggest you freshen up before you join us.” With a small smirk, she turned and reentered the room she had come from, gesturing for her husband and son to follow. As the three of them left, leaving the four of them alone with Guilford, Zelde could feel a small nagging feeling in her stomach beginning to blossom.
“I see mother is as delightful as always,” Zelde remarked, once they were out of earshot. “Has Callaway been alright?”
“As well as can be but you know how your mother is,” Guilford sighed. “Your father does his best but he's been getting more worn down with it as of late.”
Zelde nodded sadly, knowing all too well how her mother could be. She had spent nearly seventeen unhappy years dealing with her mother's mental abuse before finally deciding she needed a change and breaking free.
“Will the four of you be staying for dinner?” Guilford asked.
“I am quite hungry,” Xanthos said, patting his abdomen.
“You're always hungry, Ravi,” Neela teased, elbowing him playfully.
Zelde glanced at Cordovan and he shrugged. “Some food wouldn't hurt,” He said. “It isn't as though we'll be leaving anytime soon with the storm.”
“I suppose we will be joining you then,” Zelde said, looking at Guilford and giving a vague shrug.
Guilford's golden eyes shimmered with warmth. “I will ensure four more plates and some cutlery are prepared for you,” He said, before moving to head towards the room where the rest of the Sewick family had disappeared into. “It really is good to see you again, Zelde.”
As per the suggestions of Cordovan, Team ZRCN currently found themselves waiting to speak with General Ironwood.
Although they had made their plans, it still took another day for a meeting to be arranged. It was a little frustrating having to wait but as the General’s secretary, Miss Santiago, pointed out he was an extremely busy man - even more so following events at Beacon.
In order to try and sway him to their cause, Zelde had insisted they all wear their academy uniforms when they went to speak with General Ironwood. Xanthos agreed but he could not say he was particularly happy about it. Somehow, whoever had designed the uniforms had ensured they were made from the scratchiest, most uncomfortable material ever. Every time he wore it, Xanthos felt as though he was developing hives and could not stop itching around his collar.
When they entered the small waiting area before the General's office, Xanthos had a finger in his collar, scratching idly away.
“Are you trying to take a layer of skin off there, Ravi?” Neela quipped, speaking softly into his ear.
Xanthos stopped and caught his reflection in a nearby glass pane, already seeing his neck turning pink from the scratching.
“Oh, Team ZRCN, you're early,” The secretary, Stephanie Santiago, remarked from behind her desk.
She was a short, bespectacled woman, with brown skin, neatly plaited black hair, and amber eyes. Stephanie didn't wear a modified military uniform like the majority of the faculty or staff in the school, but her outfit was very formal and neat. She wore an orange blazer with a red turtleneck underneath, a darker orange pencil skirt with brogues in a matching colour, and dark tights.
As ZRCN stood there, she looked around for something on her desk, before typing something on her computer. “I’ll let the General know you are here,” She said, briefly looking at ZRCN. “You're early but he should be able to see you in a moment.”
Stephanie flashed them a cheerful smile before looking at her screen again. After reading a message on it, she leaned back in her chair, gesturing to the door to his office. “The General will see you now.”
Xanthos wondered if he had ever seen the man in front of him look so scruffy. Rising from his desk, General Ironwood moved to greet them, shaking their hands in turn. All the times Xanthos had seen him in the past, the man had always looked so neat and polished, but today he seemed rather dishevelled.
Zelde did most of the talking for them, as per her offer the day priorly, giving a brief rundown of their mission. From the plan they had discussed earlier, Xanthos knew it would be long until she broached the topic of what to do with Candy and Wisteria. After confirming what had happened at Hargrave Manufacturing, Zelde paused for a moment before inquiring about Candy and Wisteria. She spoke about how whilst they were aware of Candy, Wisteria was an unknown entity to them.
“Sir, considering what happened at both Verdant Storage and Hargrave Manufacturing, we were wondering if you planned to follow up with them at all?” Zelde inquired.
General Ironwood’s expression shifted. “Unfortunately, at this time, we do not have the resources to investigate this further.” He responded simply. “The four of you have completed your initial mission with the Princeton's there is little need to pursue matters further for now.”
Xanthos couldn’t see her face, but he could tell by her tone that Zelde must have been frowning. “You’re not suggesting we just leave them be? If nothing is done soon, these thefts will continue, and having seen what some of their people are capable of, I don’t think they’re afraid to step up their game either.”
“The military has considered the risk and we have concluded that now is not the appropriate time to continue,” General Ironwood said. “I am sorry, Miss Sewick. We simply do not have the military resources to spare at this time to commit to a full investigation.”
“Well, if the army isn’t willing to help, why can’t we just do it? Put us in contact with a few good huntsmen and we’ll soon have them sorted out!” Xanthos cut in. Zelde turned and narrowed her eyes at him, and Cordovan shifted awkwardly by his side.
“That is a nice thought, Mr Ravindra, however - “
“Cordovan's mother is a specialist! Perhaps she'd be willing to help?” Xanthos prompted, looking between the General and Cordovan.
General Ironwood gave Xanthos a kind smile. “Your spirit is highly commendable, Mr Ravindra. If only more of the new members of our army shared your enthusiasm,” He said with a wistful smile. The General took a step towards them, extending an arm outwards that made it appear as though he were ushering them out of the room already. “Your willingness to help has been noted, I assure you. However, for the time being I ask that you leave things alone and return to your schoolwork. Once matters have resolved in Vale I promise I will put my best people on it.”
With those final words, the General ushered them out of his office, bidding them farewell before closing the doors on them.
“My, that was fast!” Stephanie said, shifting her glasses when she saw ZRCN's sudden return. “Did your meeting go well?”
“Something like that,” Neela answered sarcastically.
Zelde grumbled something under her breath. She fumbled with something on her uniform. “Come on,” she said, turning to the group and gesturing for them to move. “Let’s head back to Cordovan’s place.”
At Zelde’s prompting, the team headed back to Cordovan’s home and were back there within twenty minutes due to an early airship.
Once they had returned to the home and gotten changed into more casual clothes, Cordovan excused himself into the kitchen, whilst Zelde and Neela slipped into the living room, and Xanthos bounded upstairs to the bathroom. When he returned minutes later, he found Neela sitting on the bottom of the stairs, her scroll held tightly in one hand. She had probably tried to call Tilia again, Xanthos reflected sadly.
Walking down the remainder of the stairs, Xanthos sat on the same step as Neela and wrapped an arm around her. Neela in turn leaned her head into his shoulder a little bit.
“How are you holding up, Nee?” he asked, as she pulled away a little.
“I’ll be fine,” she answered. When Xanthos gave her an uncertain look, she flashed a genuine smile his way, and he eased up a little bit. “I’m still a little worried about Tilly and her team. As you know, we practically spoke every day if we could, so it feels weird not to have that option. I feel a little silly worrying though. Knowing Tilly she’s probably off swinging her sword somewhere, saving the masses.”
Xanthos laughed in agreement. “Yeah, from what I’ve seen she’s a strong woman. Remind me to never challenge her to arm wrestle or anything, I fear I’d walk away missing an arm.”
Neela smiled and began to laugh along with him. They were still laughing and talking a few minutes later when Wren returned home, jumping slightly to see the two youths sat there. Cordovan called out a greeting to her from the kitchen and then suggested everyone head back into the sitting room, as he would be bringing in some tea and snacks. At his suggestion, Xanthos and Neela followed his mother into the sitting room, getting comfy on the sofa next to Zelde. The older woman settled herself in an armchair by the window.
Cordovan appeared a moment later carrying a tray laden with tea and snacks. He sat it down on the coffee table, pouring himself a cup of tea, before taking the armchair adjacent to his mother. Zelde also poured herself some tea, sipping at it gingerly whilst everyone else picked at what was on offer.
“So how did things go with, General Ironwood?” Wren inquired politely.
“About as well as you’d expect,” Cordovan responded grimly.
Wren gave the group a sympathetic glance, clearly sensing that they hadn’t gained Ironwood’s approval to pursue matters further. “He said no then?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Zelde confirmed. “He cited a lack of resources, which is understandable after what happened in Vale.”
“I did suggest we push on ahead ourselves,” Xanthos explained, drawing Wren's attention to him. “Or suggested a few good huntsmen to assist. I even brought up your name too.”
Wren shifted in her seat. “Of course, had circumstances been different, I would have been happy to assist, but unfortunately I am required to help get a handle on things in Essen. Some nasty Grimm issue, I’m afraid.”
Zelde paused to shake her head, emitting a deep sigh. “I just wish Ironwood had at least given us permission to look into matters further.”
“Technically he didn’t say no,” Neela pointed out.
Xanthos paused a minute to think back to the earlier conversation, and sure enough, as Neela had said, he hadn’t technically said no. He had merely advised them to leave things alone for now.
“You’re not suggesting we go after them without any permission are you?” Zelde asked with an incredulous tone, silver eyes shifting between her teammates.
“Again, Ironwood technically didn't say no,” Xanthos pointed out.
Surprisingly, Cordovan seemed shockingly on board with the suggestion. “We do have some old notes from Vernon to go on. It would be a strong start.”
“I can't believe you're all suggesting this,” Zelde raised a hand to her face, continuing to shake her head. “If we get caught we’ll be in so much trouble…”
“Does this mean you’ll be going after them then?” Wren asked with a tilt of the head.
“It would appear that way based on my teammates' enthusiasm,” Zelde responded.
Wren chuckled. “Very well,” Wren said, rising to her feet. Xanthos watched as she moved to a desk on the other side of the room, opened a drawer and proceeded to grab a pen and paper and jot something down. She handed the slip of paper to Zelde. “I dislike the idea of you four going after them alone, so consider this my way of helping. In a non-military capacity at least.”
Zelde glanced down at the note. “Oh, this is an address in Apex,” Zelde said with a hint of surprise in her voice. She handed the note over to Neela to look at. “What is this ‘help’ you’ve provided us with.”
“An old friend,” Wren responded plainly. “Someone who I’m sure will be willing to offer some assistance when going after these women.”
Xanthos wondered who this “old friend” might have been. A huntsman or huntress? Or perhaps another specialist like herself? He felt a growing sense of excitement at the possibility of getting to work with someone famous.
Cordovan held his hand out for the note and Zelde passed it over to him. “This is Olive's address,” He said. “You don't think…?”
“Well, Helia might still say no Cordovan,” Wren pointed out. “She is very in demand as you well know.”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Xanthos snapped his fingers, drawing attention back to him. “Helia wouldn't happen to be Helia Vines would it?”
Cordovan nodded. “The very same.”
“She's my goddaughter,” Wren added, proudly.
Xanthos was practically bouncing with excitement. Helia Vines. The very important, very notable, former Vytal winner, Helia Vines, could be assisting them on a mission. Just the very idea of meeting her would have been enough for Xanthos. Even if she said no, he could boast about having met her in person.
“Do you think she’ll help?” Neela asked.
Wren shrugged. “Possibly. As I told Cordovan, she’s very in demand for missions, but last I heard she was taking a little break after some incident with her teammates.” The older woman frowned slightly. “I don’t know the whole story, only what Helia’s mother has told me, but I heard there was quite a bit of fallout between the four of them.”
Rather embarrassingly, Xanthos could not recall many of Helia’s teammates, save for perhaps the blonde-haired teammate she had competed in the doubles with. What he did remember is that they seemed to stay out of the limelight a lot, but when they were all shown together, they appeared to be friendly with each other. Something pretty bad must have happened to cause such a breakdown of their team.
Regardless of the state of her team, Xanthos reflected that Team ZRCN now had a metaphorical ace up their sleeve. If Candy or Wisteria tried their luck with them again, they would be ready with their own equally powerful backup.
Following the failed investigation at Hargrave Manufacturing, ZRCN considers the next steps.
Cordovan
It had been just over two weeks since the confrontation at Hargrave Manufacturing. Bruised and worn down, Cordovan had reflected later that same night, just how lucky they had been to escape. There had been a number of difficult enemies the team had faced since they formed, but none had elicited quite the same response as Wisteria had. Their first meeting might have been brief, but it had been enough to leave a lasting impression.
After escaping the factory, it had not taken long for police to arrive, as well as a growing crowd of workers who had come to see what was going on. After clearing up things with the police, they had been passed into the care of what at first appeared to be a more senior officer, although as it turned out she was in fact an Atlesian Specialist - one who just so happened to be his mother.
Wren Honeycutt had greeted them all warmly, despite her surprise at seeing them all here. Apparently, she hadn't been informed of a team - much less a team of students - being present.
After speaking with the officers present, Wren offered the team the chance to stay at their house, suggesting they take the opportunity to recuperate at home. There was a little discussion on ZRCN's behalf before they all agreed. Satisfied for now, Wren explained she would stay behind a little bit longer to ensure the eventual reports would be completed correctly. With a smile, she sent them on their way, leaving Cordovan to guide them to their home.
When they had first stepped outside, Cordovan had found himself fussed over by Zelde, who worried he might have passed out after the fight inside. Luckily, the fresh air seemed to have done him some good, and he no longer felt as light-headed as he had previously.
Cordovan took it upon himself to charter an airship to take them to his home in Mantle and an hour later, Team ZRCN found themselves in the safety and warmth of his home. Although initially dismissive of his mother's offer to recuperate at home, Cordovan had to admit it felt good being able to recuperate within the comforts of his own home. It was smaller than his childhood home, but after his parents had divorced and his father left, his mother had seen no point in continuing to live in such a large home, so they moved to a smaller house closer to the heart of Atlas.
Once settled, the team began to get themselves ready to settle down for the night. Zelde and Neela had taken up the small spare room, whilst Cordovan sorted out a makeshift bed for Xanthos in his room.
Cordovan and Xanthos needed a longer time to rest than at first expected but once two days had passed, the team felt they were in a good enough position to wrap up the mission, or at least try to.
In the days that passed, there seemed to be a consensus among the four of them that their attempted mission had been a complete failure, only serving to provide them with more unanswered questions.
Cordovan had relayed these doubts to his mother, who listened with a sympathetic ear, before offering a potential solution. “You should speak with James as soon as you can,” she had suggested, catching her son by surprise by the casual usage of General Ironwood’s first name. “I suspect he would have wanted to reach out to you soon anyway, regarding what happened at Verdant Storage and Hargrave Manufacturing. You should see if he’s willing to look into Candy and Wisteria for you.”
Cordovan nodded gently. General Ironwood had been a little reluctant to extend their mission according to Zelde, but perhaps, with what had happened at Hargrave Manufacturing, he might have been persuaded to explore things further.
Wren had paused momentarily to look her son straight in the eyes. “I don’t like the idea of you going up against her again, Cor. You were lucky not to have come off any worse than you did in this first fight with her, I hate to imagine how another one would play out.”
With his mother’s suggestion noted, Cordovan decided to broach the topic with his teammates the following morning, asking them to meet him in the sitting room after breakfast. His mother would not be due back till later in the day, so the hours they had to themselves would be perfect to discuss this.
As he came back downstairs from freshening up after breakfast, Cordovan spotted Zelde looking at some of the photographs on display in the hallway. He could hear Xanthos and Neela already talking in the sitting room, so took a moment to look at the photographs with Zelde.
When she sensed his presence, she turned her head and gave him a weak smile, before looking back at the photographs. She seemed particularly focused on one of a much younger Cordovan. “You look very happy here,” she said softly. “I don’t think I ever smiled this much at this age.”
Cordovan raised a brow. Zelde's words were not lost on him and he shifted awkwardly on the spot. Zelde did not often discuss her childhood but from little she had mentioned to the team, Cordovan got the impression that there weren't many fond memories to speak of.
“Don’t be fooled by the smile,” Cordovan said with a slight grin. The younger version of himself in the photo had a large grin on his face. “Just minutes before that was taken I was crying my eyes out because I lost a tooth. My father had to bribe me with the promise of sweets just to get me to smile.” He could still remember that day fondly. At the promise of sweets, he had soon settled down, but his mother had not been impressed when she learnt of the secret deal that had gone down between her husband and son.
Zelde was looking at him as he spoke, smiling softly as he recounted the story. When he finished she looked back at the photograph. “Your father sounds like he was a nice man.”
“Hmm, yeah,” Cordovan responded, voice trailing off. He didn't have the best relationship with his father anymore but as a young boy, he had greatly admired and looked up to him. It was a shame he had thrown it all away for nothing.
Zelde and Cordovan continued to look at the photos on display for a little while longer. Most of them were of him or his mother, those that had his father in had been put away long ago. Zelde picked up one photograph of a group of students around their age.
“Is this your mother's team?” She asked.
“Yep,” he responded, taking time to point out each member of the team in turn and give their name. “There's my mom, Lorelei Edurne, Olive Vines, and Stanford Whittle. They went by WLOW when they were a team.”
The four youths were all smiling in the picture, though the red-haired Lorelei's could be better described as a strained smile. It was strange to think they were around the same age as ZRCN in this picture. His mother looked especially young here, wearing a casual cream-coloured blouse tucked into a brown skirt. Her chestnut hair was worn loose save for a single braid to the side, which differed greatly from her now preferred style of having it in a neat ponytail.
“Hate to interrupt the lovely bonding session going on out here, but I thought we were supposed to be discussing what to do next?” Xanthos's voice sounded from behind them. As Zelde put the photo back down, Cordovan turned to see Xanthos leaning against the doorframe.
“We were just coming, Ravi,” Cordovan said, following Zelde in brushing past him into the sitting room.
Neela, Xanthos, and Zelde all settled themselves on a sofa, whilst Cordovan seated himself in an armchair adjacent to it.
“So what did you want to talk about?” Xanthos asked drawing up his legs so he sat cross-legged on the sofa.
“Well, it's about what we should do next,” Cordovan started, earning some confused looks from his teammates.
Neela raised a brow. “In regards to the mission?”
“Yes,” Cordovan nodded in confirmation. “I know we all feel as though we did not accomplish as much as we would have liked with our mission, but I do not believe we should give up just yet.”
“I don’t know, Cor,” Xanthos cut in with a frown.
“Candy and Wisteria are still out there, and we still don't understand how big a role the Hargraves play in all of this,” Cordovan pushed, undeterred by Xanthos’s doubts.
“So what do you suggest we do? Do an unsanctioned mission to track them down?” Xanthos paused a moment, before adding in a more enthusiastic voice, “Cause I'd be down for that.”
“Ravi, please,” Zelde warned, shooting him a glance. “We can't just do that. We'd need to tell someone first.”
“That was going to be my plan,” Cordovan confessed. “I spoke to my mother about this yesterday, and suggested we speak to General Ironwood about this, see if he'd be willing to help us look into things further regarding the Hargrave angle, and maybe sanction another mission.”
He did not miss Zelde and Xanthos sharing a glance between themselves. “Well, it’s worth a try,” Zelde said, but Cordovan noted she did not sound entirely convinced.
“You think he’ll say no?”
Zelde hesitated a moment before nodding. “You weren’t there when we spoke to him the last, Cordovan,” She said, looking at Xanthos briefly before continuing. “General Ironwood barely sanctioned the investigation the last time, even with the information we had from Vernon. And now that we did not succeed, I very much doubt he’d be swayed into letting us try again.”
“You were the one who just said it couldn’t hurt to try,” Xanthos pointed out.
“I did but we shouldn’t get our hopes up,” Zelde told him. Her silver eyes then found Cordovan’s and despite her hard tone, her expression softened towards him. “However, if you want to give this a real try, I will do what I can to help sway him to our cause.”
“We’ve got to try, right?” Cordovan gave her an appreciative smile.
After successfully taking care of Merlot and Saika, Team ZRCN spent the next few days attempting to resolve their mission. Whilst it could have been resolved sooner, the involvement with the Mistrali Police had slowed the completion down. Luckily, despite the delay, it was eventually resolved without too much issue and ZRCN were permitted to complete their mission.
It was pleasing to return the missing Princeton supplies but in the process of searching the warehouse, they had found clues and more stolen supplies that hinted to a far larger operation, and one that linked with several robberies that had occurred in Mantle.
Vernon had been able to explain some of what they found but there was even more he could not. Although their mission had only been to resolve the Princeton’s case, all of ZRCN had expressed an interest in potentially pursuing things further and trying to expose Farron Hargrave. It seemed like a difficult task, especially given that Vernon himself had struggled to make any real progress on that front, but he was happy to provide them with what information he could so long as they got permission.
Zelde had tasked herself with speaking to General Ironwood on their behalf that morning, with Xanthos accompanying her for, as he put it ‘moral support’. Cordovan would have offered himself but Zelde waved him off, telling him and Neela that they did not need to all be present as she was quite certain she could get the point across well enough.
With little else to do, Corodvan and Neela headed down to the training room for a few hours. As Zelde was unsure of when she would be finished, she thought it was a fine idea to keep themselves occupied.
Once Zelde and Xanthos had finished, they headed to the training room in search of their teammates. Figuring that they would be in the main room already, the two of them headed to the viewing area, where they were met by half of Team ZNIA - Noah Azouf and Ajax Hodios.
Ajax explained that Cordovan and Neela hadn’t been there long when Team ZNIA appeared and suggested the two of them join them for a little spar. Apparently Cordovan would have been happy enough to leave it as just the two of them, but Neela seemed quite keen on the idea. Luckily, Ajax and Noah elected to hold back now for the time being, allowing it to be a fair fight between them.
As Xanthos continued chatting with Noah and Ajax, Zelde stepped closer to the window, peering down below to watch. Cordovan was currently sparring with Zinnia, using his sword to counter and parry the strikes from her weapon in its sickle form. If they had both been using their weapons in their rifle forms, Zelde thought they'd have been fairly evenly matched. In their current state, Zinnia had the upper hand, her lighter weapon granting her more mobility. Cordovan did have a slight advantage in that he could still use his semblance.
Zinnia's semblance required the absorption of natural light, something which she could not tap into in this room of hard light constructs.
As Zinnia took a step back to land a heavy blow, Cordovan threw up a small shield, which her weapon collided with. As she pulled back, Cordovan dropped his shield, drawing back his sword and then swinging it at Zinnia. Her weapon hastily came up to parry it, but not fast enough to avoid the power behind the attack.
Zinnia took a step back, her back hitting against a stack of hard light cubes. Cordovan gripped his weapon tight, stalking towards her, intent on taking her out of combat. However, before he could, Isolde’s throwable shield came out of nowhere and disrupted his walk when it hit him on the shoulder. Cordovan looked around for the other woman and Zelde also looked, half expecting to spot her lingering nearby. Isolde was close enough to see the two of them and to have thrown her shield, but it seemed that once she recalled it to her, Isolde was quick to return her attention to Neela.
The training continued for some time and as Zelde continued to watch, she was joined by the rest of Team ZNIA and Xanthos. She and Ajax enjoyed talking battle strategy together, pointing out ledges or angles their teammates could use against each other. They shared similar strategies but Zelde was also interested to hear how he viewed certain things differently from her. There were some things she agreed with and even found to be quite insightful, but other suggestions she thought were just plain wrong.
Down below, Isolde was taking her chances with both Cordovan and Neela, having backed them into a tight corner. Zelde found it difficult to plan for a fight with the Azouf woman. Like her brother, Isolde could be as unpredictable and lethal in combat as she was when playing Remnant: The Game, which made it difficult to counter.
Isolde neatly deflected shots from Cordovan’s rifle with her shield, barely even breaking a sweat the entire time. Neela managed to get Isolde back by forming some ice crystals with her trident and then using her semblance to give herself and Cordovan an escape.
Although they were able to avoid Isolde, they were not so lucky when it came to Zinnia. From where she waiting on a platform of blocks, Zinnia shot a couple of warning shots at Cordovan and Neela. The first couple of shots caught their aura, but Cordovan was ready with a shield for himself on the last.
Zelde watched as her teammates looked around for Zinnia but she had already gone. From their position below, they could not see her using the platforms of hard light blocks to close in on them, using her weapon as a makeshift grappling hook to swing from one ledge to the other before dropping down between them. Cordovan was caught by surprise and quickly felled by Zinnia. Neela attempted to parry her, blocking a swing from her sickle with her trident, before ultimately falling to a quick shot from Zinnia who had swapped her weapon back to its rifle form.
“The spar is over,” Noah’s voice intoned over the speakers in the training room. “ Cordovan, Neela, both of your auras dropped to a critical level.”
Down below, Zelde could see the four combatants shifting around awkwardly before they shared a few light-hearted words. After holstering their weapons, the four of them took the elevator back up to the viewing platform. Xanthos was quick to rush over and commend Neela, whilst Cordovan, Zinnia, and Isolde came to stand with Zelde, Ajax, and Noah.
"That was impressive, Zinnia," Zelde commended. Neela and Xanthos were lagging behind in catching up, but all of Zinnia's teammates were beginning to crowd around her.
She waved Zelde's comment off playfully. "Oh, it wasn't that impressive. Just luck really. Neela would have had me out otherwise."
"You always impress me, sötnos," Noah Azouf blurted out suddenly. It took him a moment to realise what he had just said before his cheeks began to flush with colour. "I, um…I'm going to see about getting the room set up for me and Ajax."
The two boys quickly departed and Isolde followed close behind, flashing an amused grin at Zinnia before joining her twin and teammate.
“So…” Neela said, her tone innocent but her expression betraying the ribbing she was about to give Zinnia.
Zinnia made a groaning sound, holding a hand out to try to stop her. “Please don’t.”
“You and Noah, huh?” Neela chuckled, raising her brow.
“It's not like that,” Zinnia said before shaking a head. “It's…complicated? No, no, that's the wrong word for it.” Her gaze moved over to her teammates, who were still trying to set up the room. “To be honest, I’m not sure what we are. I mean we've flirted a little and went on one date but we've never given ourselves an official title or anything. I suppose we're still trying to figure it out ourselves.”
Although she had never been in a relationship herself, Zelde nodded in understanding. It must have been hard for the two of them to try and pursue a relationship between all their training and various huntsmen activities. That, and the Atlas dormitories offered little in the way of privacy, so Zelde would have been surprised if they even managed to find any private moments for themselves.
“Do you mind if I steal my team away from you?” Zelde asked, eager to share the news she and Xanthos had received from General Ironwood.
“Sure,” Zinnia smiled. “Thanks for the spar!” She gave Cordovan and Neela and thumbs up before departing to rejoin her teammates.
“How did it go with the General?” Cordovan asked once the other woman was out of earshot.
“He was a little reluctant at first but after explaining the situation to him and how we felt there was something larger at play, the General was willing to consent to a further investigation,” Zelde explained.
Xanthos pushed out his chest. “My charms never fail!” He boasted.
Zelde rolled her eyes but her lips twitched faintly. More so in amusement at the fact that Xanthos had barely said anything during that meeting as opposed to his supposed charming of General Ironwood.
“If you were both willing, I thought we might head out to Hargrave Manufacturing this evening?” Zelde prompted.
Cordovan and Neela shared a glance before Neela shrugged. “Well, we’ll need a little bit to recover after the spar, but I’m open to the idea if you are, Cor?”
“I am also fine with it,” Cordovan nodded. “Once we’ve rested of course.”
**
Three hours later, on the opposite side of the city, the team had finally arrived at Hargrave Manufacturing. From the outside it was not very impressive, being what you’d expect from a manufacturing plant. As it was nearing nighttime now, there were few people around, though even from outside they could still hear the sounds of machines working away from within.
It took some time to get into the place, Xanthos was eventually able to jimmy open a locked back door, and they slipped inside. To Zelde’s surprise, the place didn’t seem particularly secure, and besides one solitary security guard at the entrance, there was little in the way of protection. Avoiding any workers they stumbled across, using a number of concealed spots, they all were able to eventually slip inside the building. The main factory floor had at least four assembly lines, two of which were active. Clearly, these were automatic machines, as no workers were operating them. Dotted around the room were little trolleys carrying various pieces of metal, and some crates lined the back wall. There was a pair of double doors at the rear of the factory floor, leading to what Zelde assumed to be either storage or another production room. A single staircase led up to a balcony and a windowed room which appeared to be an office of sorts.
“Neela and I will investigate the office,” Zelde told her team as they paused for breath behind one of the machines. Looking at Cordovan and Xanthos, she gestured to some of the crates lining the wall. “You two stay down here and see what you can find. Try not to cause any trouble.” She looked pointedly at Xanthos as she said this.
Splitting up, Zelde waited a moment to watch as the boys made their way to the side of the room, before nodding to Neela to carry on their way. They moved up the stairs slowly, careful not to make too much noise, and as soon as they had reached the balcony they kept low and close to the wall. Stopping by the window, Zelde took a small look inside. It turned out to not be an office but rather a security room with one man manning a computer system.
Zelde held up a finger to indicate there was one person to deal with, before gesturing for the two of them to enter. Despite best efforts to enter quietly, the man saw them approaching in the glare of the monitors and turned to stop them. Fortunately, Neela was quicker to react, and a few well-timed kicks sent him to the floor.
Zelde was moved to look at the monitors, whilst Neela searched his body for anything useful. The monitors displayed a number of camera feeds one of which had been focused on where they had entered before. She quietly wondered if he had spotted them at all. As she continued to look at the monitors she was certain she saw a casually dressed figure approaching the building in one of the screens.
“Umm, Zelde?”
The sound of Neela’s voice caught her attention, and before she could get a good look at the screen, she found herself looking back at her teammate. Neela was holding up a tiny earpiece, with a worried expression on her face. And for good reason, it would seem, as Zelde could hear the faint chatter of a woman on the other end.
“He was communicating with someone,” Neela said, confirming Zelde’s growing fear.
No sooner had she said it, did the wail of a siren punctuated the air, followed by the sound of something metallic hitting the floor from down below. Realising either Xanthos or Cordovan had been spooked, both girls went for the door, but practically tumbled backwards into the room, when rapid-fire gunshots could be heard below.
“Get your scroll out,” Zelde instructed, doing her best to keep her voice level and calm. “Call for the police. I’m going to see who is shooting.”
With a nod, Zelde left Neela alone for a moment, slipping out the balcony and peering over. A woman with reddish-pink hair was firing bullets in the direction of where Xanthos and Cordovan were hiding. They seemed cornered which was troubling, but Zelde could see Cordovan managing to fire back a few shots when the woman paused to reload. They had to get down there and help, but there was no way she or Neela would make it down those stairs without some cover or a distraction.
A moment later Neela appeared beside her. Zelde was about to mention they tried catching the attention of one of their teammates when she saw the expression on Neela’s face.
“What’s wrong?” Zelde asked.
“I couldn’t get through!” Neela responded quickly. “The signal was down or something! I can’t get through to anyone.”
“Try mine,” Zelde offered, handing her scroll to Neela to try, before looking over the edge again. She managed to get Xanthos’ attention, who promptly nudged Cordovan to look up as well.
“No good,” Neela suddenly said, passing the scroll back to Zelde. Before she put it away, Zelde could see for herself that she had no signal. “What are we going to do now?”
“We’ve got to get down there somehow,” Zelde said, “I’ll see if Xanthos can give us a distraction, can you maybe use your semblance for a little extra help?”
“I can try.”
“Good. Do it.”
With a little trepidation, Neela stepped forward, and holding her arms over the balcony started to produce her misty semblance. Zelde wasn’t sure how well it would work, but it was something at least. Grabbing Xanthos’ attention, she gestured for him to hit one of the machines with his whip.
With Cordovan’s help, Xanthos was able to inch forward a little, to stand and strike one of the machines. He had infused it with dust, and a crackle of electricity sparked as it hit the machine, which groaned to a halt. This seemed to catch the woman’s attention a little, as she turned her gun in that direction, almost as though expecting someone to be there. With this little error in judgment, Zelde and Neela made for the stairs, not quite reaching the bottom before the woman turned and saw them. Wanting to give Neela more cover, Zelde fired at her, which caught her by surprise. Attempting to shield herself, she had raised her rifle to protect her, only for it to fly out of her hand when struck by some of the bullets. As Zelde raced to join her team, she noticed that the woman’s aura flared in her hands, clearly in response to having the rifle shot away.
“Attack her now!” Zelde cried.
Cordovan and Neela were first to attack, with Cordovan’s Braveheart in its sword form. Neela’s spear struck her in the abdomen and the woman fell backwards, her aura flaring up again. Although her teammates had done well to push her back so far, the last hit had left her in reaching distance for her weapon, and she had managed to grab it and shift it into a sword form, which she was now using to parry Neela’s strikes.
She was certainly not the fastest, but the pink-haired woman was able to keep up with the team and deflect some of their hits - at least for a while. After a solid ten minutes of combat, Zelde noticed something strange - the woman seemed to almost purposely be allowing herself to get hit. She seemed to avoid large blows, but every so often she appeared to almost purposely get in the way of an attack, her aura flaring up in response to the direct blows to her body. Unfortunately for Zelde, she realised that not all was as it seemed a little too late.
The woman dropped to her knee suddenly, after ducking to avoid a swing from Cordovan. Zelde attempted to motion for her team to stop, but Xanthos didn’t see her and was already about to attack again before Zelde could stop him.
“Xanthos, wait!” Zelde cried out, turning around to attempt to stop him. But it was too late. He lashed out with his whip, and in response, the woman had raised one of her arms, the whip curling around it, and allowing her to grip it tightly. She slowly began to stand back up, her body now appearing to give off a reddish-pink glow, not unlike her aura. With a sharp tug, she pulled at the whip, dragging Xanthos forward with alarming strength. He attempted to dodge out of her way but was struck in the shoulder by her other fist, which sent him toppling to the side.
The next few attacks were difficult. The older woman no longer appeared to have much difficulty in deflecting their attacks. And now it appeared as though the tables had switched. She seemed stronger now, quicker as well, managing to knock them aside on some hits. Zelde wondered if this sudden surge in strength was her semblance, and that by allowing the team to deplete her aura, they had unwillingly triggered it.
Cordovan and Neela seemed to suffer the brunt of the woman’s attacks, being pushed back numerous times when they attempted to attack. Xanthos and Zelde had fared a little better, though a sharp kick had knocked Xanthos into one of the other machines, and winded him for the time being.
Just as she began to fear how long she’d be able to keep up, the woman seemed to slow, tiring almost. She parried a few hits from Neela before finally seeming to give up. Winded slightly, she appeared to wobble on the spot, leaning against one of the machines for support.
Hesitantly the team lowered their weapons and Xanthos struggled back to his feet, having remained there since the woman had knocked him down.
“I must admit I expected more,” Cordovan muttered, the blades of his sword retracting into the stock of his gun.
“I agree,” Neela added, “this seemed a little too easy.”
“Well, that’s probably because you didn’t face anyone with any real talent.”
A voice behind them made them all swivel around to look at the door that likely backed into another room. Even the red-haired woman turned, much like the team, seeming rather unimpressed to see the figure standing there.
The voice belonged to another woman. She had lavender hair styled in an inverted bob, and eyes a shade of striking green. She had lightly tanned skin, mostly unblemished save for a healed scar on her chin. Under a thin, dark purple jacket with the sleeves pushed up to her elbows, she wore a high-necked dark grey shirt and an armoured corset over that. She wore trousers the same colour as her jacket and heeled boots that came to just below her knees. Although her weapon wasn’t visible, Zelde could see a holster at her waist, partially concealed by her jacket.
This new woman went to crouch beside the pink-haired woman, inclining her head as though curious. “Having trouble, Candy?” She asked the pink-haired woman in a mocking tone.
Candy grumbled something under her breath and shook her head. “I’m fine, Wisteria.” She responded curtly. As she pulled herself up onto her hands and knees, she gave ZRCN a withering glare. “Just take care of this.”
With a wicked grin, Wisteria stood up straight and turned her attention to the team. “With pleasure.” She proceeded to bow to them.
It was then that Zelde was struck by a growing sense of unease. It almost felt as though she were afraid, but at the same time, it felt almost unnatural, as though she knew she didn’t have any real reason to be this fearful. Looking at her teammates, she saw that Neela and Cordovan had similar expressions on their faces, and she wondered if they were feeling the same way.
Before any of them had much time to react, Wisteria lunged for them, going straight for Zelde. Initially caught off guard, Zelde narrowly dodged her attack, a hand scrambling for her gun to retaliate. When she had it in her hand she swung out but Wisteria avoided it, practically doing a backflip to get out of the way. She avoided many of Zelde’s attacks with ease, moving with a speed that Zelde couldn’t quite match. Still, despite this, Wisteria had only made one attempt to properly attack.
After dodging a few more of Zelde’s attacks, Wisteria finally responded. After throwing a few punches in Zelde’s direction, she shifted into going for a roundhouse kick to Zelde’s head. Just as Zelde moved to avoid it she heard a noise that sounded like that of a blade sliding out and was alarmed to see what appeared to have been a concealed blade in her heel aiming for her head. Wanting to get out of the way, Zelde forced herself to fall backwards, narrowly avoiding cracking her head on one of the machines as she hit the the floor.
Wisteria stood over, cocking her head in fake sympathy. “What’s the matter? Feeling a little scared are we?”
She began to laugh a little but was cut off as a yellow blur crashed into her. To Zelde’s great relief, Xanthos had come to her rescue. As Neela and Cordovan pulled her to safety, Zelde watched as Xanthos and Wisteria fought on the floor. They seemed evenly matched at first, but Xanthos, still weakened from his earlier bout with Candy, was quickly overpowered.
Xanthos lay sprawled on his back, with Wisteria straddled over him, pinning his arms to the floor temporarily. Wisteria hissed something into his ear, before releasing his arms, grabbing his head and slamming it into the floor. Once she clambered off of him, she moved towards Candy, who was waiting nearby with a hand over her waist.
“Stop playing, Wisteria!” Candy urged. “We need to go!”
Zelde was close enough to hear Wisteria muttering under her breath. “Playing?”
As Wisteria helped Candy to flee, Cordovan rushed to help Xanthos struggling to get him back to his feet. Meanwhile, Wisteria and Candy reached the door they had likely entered through, but Wisteria stopped when saw Cordovan helping Xanthos. She gestured for Candy to carry on without her, before reaching for something in a back pocket with one hand, and the other going for the pistol holstered at her waist. Zelde didn’t see what she grabbed at first but felt her heart sink when she saw a bright orange dust crystal thrown at her teammates.
With a smile and a shrug of her shoulders, Wisteria aimed her revolver at the crystal. “There’s nothing personal, it’s just business.”
Zelde was barely able to shout at the two of them to run before Wisteria shot the crystal and it unleashed a fiery explosion.
Sensing there would be little time to move, Cordovan had quickly put up a shield, but it was no match for the force of the explosion, and fell apart easily, sending them both flying backwards. Zelde and Neela avoided the blast for the most part though the force had still knocked them back as well. To her relief, Cordovan and Xanthos looked to have avoided getting majorly hurt, though neither of them was moving much. With the sirens kicking in again, and fire spreading into the machines following the blast, Zelde knew this battle had been lost. There would be no point in chasing after the two women who had since disappeared in the commotion. The most important thing right now was to get her team away from the smoke and fire and outside to safety.
Neela ran towards Xanthos to get him back up, whilst Zelde went for Cordovan, who upon closer inspection seemed on the verge of losing consciousness. Zelde kept speaking to him to keep him alert, but she suspected if he stopped he would likely hit the floor and be impossible to move.
Helping the boys up onto their feet, Zelde urged her team to begin to evacuate the building. A lot of smoke was coming off the machines now, several of them having been heavily damaged by Wisteria’s explosive tactic to flee.
Neela was supporting Xanthos and Zelde had Cordovan’s arm over her shoulder, attempting to keep him upright despite their height difference.
“Come on,” Zelde said, looking between the four of them. “Let’s get out of here before any more of us get hurt.”
Now that @sustraiii has finished her ZRCN saga, what better time to post this art of Zelde and Cordovan?
Congrats dude!! Really enjoyed following along with the adventures of this part of the RAINverse trifecta (to say nothing of the fact that they’re the first to have their story officially brought to its conclusion).
Also thank you @huyandere for this artwork! …That I commissioned like two years ago and then never posted lol
bonus under the cut
casual outfits ft. the Ben Swollo pants (insert “that’s no moon” jokes here)
Team ZRCN and Helia, team up once more to finish Belleza Rossi once and for all.
Zelde
It was funny how certain circumstances put the unlikeliest of allies together. Looking around the room, Zelde marvelled at the strange group that had come together. She couldn't have imagined that she would find herself in the same room as one of the Rossi sisters, much less in the form of allies.
According to Morgan, Bianca had quickly defected when Calantha had been threatened, even going so far as to threaten Belleza herself when Calantha had been injured.
Poor Calantha was in the worst state of all, currently lying on one of the beds, being checked over by Theodora Crest with Bianca hovering in the background. The Rossi’s father was also nearby but didn’t really seem to have grasped what was going on, humming contentedly as he fiddled with a small device.
By the sound of it, Calantha was lucky to be alive, with the resuscitation efforts of Morgan and Bianca being the reason she was still breathing. Occasionally, Bianca would tear her eyes away from her sister and look at Uriah, who was sitting on the floor cuffed to one of the beds thrashing about trying to get free. He had been the one to strike Calantha and leave her in that state and Bianca looked like she would not forget anytime soon.
Zelde found herself sitting on another of the spare beds with Cordovan. Opposite them sat Callaway and Rosie who had been rescued from their captivity by the two of them with the help of Euphemia Crest. Neela's sister Mira and a man named Lunick had also been rescued from captivity. Lunick was sat on a bed speaking in hushed voices with Laurel and Biggs - whom Zelde had since been told were actually named Nerine and Jesper.
Mira was currently sitting not far from where Calantha was being treated. Compared to the other former captives, she seemed to be in a sorry state with a black eye, chipped tooth, and various bruises and small cuts lining her arms and shoulders. According to Mira herself, she had taken most of the abuse from their captors, ensuring that Callaway and Rosie were unharmed. Her actions might have been a little foolish on account of her having no aura, but Zelde could not thank her enough for shielding the two of them.
Zelde watched Callaway and Rosie quietly before she felt Cordovan bump her knee with his own. She looked at him briefly before he gestured with his head towards the approaching Euphemia.
The older woman carried a plastic cup of water with her, handing it to Zelde before continuing on. "For your brother."
Zelde held it in her hands for a moment before turning and extending it to Callaway. He smiled appreciatively but shook his head. "I'm fine," He assured her. Theodora had checked him over along with Rosie and Mira and already confirmed they were alright. Still, that didn't stop Zelde from fussing over him. He had been held longer than Rosie and Mira, and though he carried no bruises or healed injuries like the elder Oxford sibling, he seemed tired.
"Drink," Zelde said, which was less of a question and more of an instruction.
Callaway pulled a face but took the cup without arguing. He finished the water before crinkling it in his hand.
"I cannot tell you how glad we are that you're all alright," Cordovan said, smiling softly at Rosie in particular. Zelde had not forgotten the breakdown he had following the explosion at the university and the truth he had revealed about his and Rosie's relationship. Half-siblings. It was no wonder he had been so affected by her capture. As they sat there, Cordovan's hand found hers. Zelde did not know if it was intentional or not, but she looked down at their hands and then leaned into him.
Callaway and Rosie exchanged a glance. "Are you two a couple now?" Callaway asked.
"Eww, gross," Rosie said in a childlike manner.
At their words, Cordovan looked down and realised his hand was resting atop Zelde's. He stared at their hands for a long moment but did not move it away.
"We haven't really had time to discuss what we are given everything that has happened," Cordovan confessed. His eyes met hers for a moment and his hard features softened. "I like to think that we are though."
Zelde's cheeks warmed. As he said, they hadn't really discussed where their relationship now stood following their kiss at the dance and confession of feelings for each other. There hadn't been time and with everything that happened afterwards it hadn't seemed appropriate. Even now, in this secure room within the Rossi's base, Cordovan's words seemed a little out of place but Zelde was glad for them.
"I think the same too," Zelde responded, sharing his sentiment that she thought they were a couple. Cordovan smiled at her. A genuine warm and wide smile that she often did not see from her teammate.
"You two are so cute!!" Rosie gushed. Her enthusiasm broke the two of them apart and Cordovan looked at his sister with an amused face.
"I thought you said this was 'gross' before?" He pointed out.
"Well, it still would be if you started kissing," Rosie responded very matter-of-factly. "Are you two going to get married and have babies now?"
"Rosie!" Cordovan snapped, blushing fiercely.
Callaway laughed out loud and Zelde couldn't help but emit a small chuckle herself. Their conversation was promptly interrupted by Morgan catching their attention.
"Heads up, Cherry is on the way back with your teammates," Morgan told them.
Cordovan nodded to show they had understood. They were only kept waiting for a minute or two before they heard a knock on the door. Euphemia turned to look at the door, her expression dour, before slowly moving towards it. She opened the door and let three figures in.
Zelde was a bit slow to turn around but hastened her pace when she saw some of the shocked expressions in the room. Cherry stood to the left, sizing up Euphemia, and beside her, bloodied and shell-shocked were Xanthos and Neela.
"What happened?" Morgan asked, approaching swiftly but hanging back when he acknowledged the blood again. Zelde and Cordovan were on their feet now too, mirroring each other's concerned expressions as they came to listen to what had happened.
"It was my fault!" Neela suddenly blurted out. Whatever had happened, she sounded quite distressed. Xanthos touched her arm soothingly.
"We encountered Maia as you know," Cherry explained. "She fought the three of us and we managed to disarm her and break her aura. She was on her knees otherwise defeated when I got through to you, Morgan. Foolishly I let my guard down and looked away. I was distracted and didn't hear anything until it was too late. Maia had managed to grab her weapon and would have likely attacked us if not for Neela. She reacted swiftly to defend herself and us. Unfortunately, the wounds she inflicted on Maia were too severe and she passed." A few gasps echoed in the room, and Zelde looked back to see Elio and Bianca listening with particular interest. "It was an accident," Cherry said in a softer tone.
Zelde was about to say something in response when Uriah's voice pierced the air.
"What did you say about Maia?" He questioned sharply, looking around for answers. "My sister, is she…?"
"She's dead," Bianca confirmed for him, suddenly appearing near the handcuffed man and looming over him. She had seemed like one of the more reasonable members of the Rossi's group but as she stood over Uriah there was something malicious in her expression, and more chillingly something joyful too. Bianca leaned towards him. "I hope you feel as I felt when I thought you'd killed my sister."
Uriah looked alarmed by her words. Zelde thought he might have fought back and argued, as his earlier behaviour suggested he would, but the news of his sister's death had defeated him. Satisfied her words had cut deep, Bianca walked away to hover near Calantha again.
“Times like this I am reminded of exactly who Bianca is related to,” Euphemia mused, watching the white-haired woman leave. “Behind all her formalities lies a cold heart deep down.”
“Uriah did nearly kill her sister,” Morgan pointed out.
“True,” Euphemia conceded briefly, before continuing, “but she also survived. Maia did not. I’m not excusing his behaviour or that of his sister but as an older sibling myself, I’m not sure I’d have appreciated someone gloating of their possible deaths in my face.” Euphemia looked towards her sister and stiffened slightly, her expression soon shifting into a grimace. “I certainly never Miho get away with talking about Ulysses. Even if I got a broken horn for my troubles.”
With those words lingering in the air, Euphemia moved aside, leaned against a nearby wall and crossed her arms over her broad chest. She didn't linger too far from the door, likely ready to intervene should any of the remaining unaccounted Rossi allies try their luck with the door. They wouldn't have been able to break the lock by conventional methods but Zelde would not have put it past them to try other ways of breaking in.
Although Zelde still found Bianca one of the more tolerable members of the Rossi’s group, Euphemia’s words had certainly given her food for thought. After everything that had happened to Calantha, Zelde couldn’t truly begrudge the woman for being a little cold towards him, if the situations were reversed and it was Callaway instead of Calantha, Zelde knew she'd have had a few choice words for him, but the way Bianca had acted around him was exceedingly harsh. Perhaps it was just the heightened emotions of the situation, or perhaps Euphemia wasn’t too far off the mark when she said Bianca had a cold heart.
Zelde was pulled from her thoughts by the approach of Theodora Crest. The bespectacled woman stopped before the group and looked at Neela's bloodied hands unflinchingly.
"Come and wash your hands," Theodora said, gesturing for Neela to follow her. The blue-haired woman followed without arguing but Theodora stopped and urged Xanthos to come too, noting the small amount of blood he had on his hands.
As their teammates were led to a small en suite at the back of the room, Zelde found herself moving towards Elio and Helia with the rest of the assembled group, having been waved over by Elio. The only person who didn't come with them was Euphemia who was still leaning against the wall.
Elio had gotten pretty badly beaten when he and Helia had encountered Nerine and Jesper. The assailants had eventually relented and whilst Helia had walked away practically unscathed, Elio barely had any aura left. The blonde man was currently sitting up on another bed in the room, looking quite alert despite how worn down he had been from his previous battle.
“How are you holding up, Cher?” He would ask when the group stopped before him. He extended a hand out for her to hold and she reached out and gave him a reassuring squeeze.
“I’ve been better,” Cherry confessed, releasing his hand. “Took a few nasty hits between both fights and my aura broke so I’m really feeling it. Losing Wisteria and Miho and then Maia on top of that…yeah, I’m not going to lie Elio, it hasn’t been a great day for us.” Cherry shook her head and then looked to the en suite, the door of which was ajar allowing them to see Xanthos and Neela inside. “They’re taking things rough. Especially Neela.”
“Not much we can do now, unfortunately,” Elio said sympathetically. “When this is all over, we’ll ensure they get the support they need to talk things through won’t we?” He looked to his fellow Mob Ops members as he said that, to which they both nodded their heads. “Now, to why I called you all over here. Firstly, let’s start with this.”
The man proceeded to pull his scroll out and showed them what appeared to be a message from Wren. By what was written it seemed she and some “support” were inbound.
“When did that come through?” Cherry asked. “The connection is pretty spotty in here, I’m surprised a message from outside reached you.”
“It was about an hour ago,” Morgan responded. “Bianca has since confirmed that their aerial radar has picked up an incoming Atlesian ship. Based on the speed they were supposedly travelling, they should be here soon probably within the next hour if my estimations are correct.”
“Well that’s good,” Cherry said. “What else did you want to talk about, Elio? You made it seem like there were multiple things.”
Elio and Helia shared a glance. “We still have Belleza and Sparrow unaccounted for. Now, we could wait for Wren and her backup to arrive, but we know from prior experience that Belleza is a wily opponent and will probably try and make a run for it if she can, if she hasn't already.”
“What’s going on?” Xanthos asked, interrupting the flow of conversation as he and Neela returned. Cordovan took it upon himself to catch them up to speed.
“What about Sparrow?” Cherry asked.
“We already know from prior intel that Sparrow tends to more or less disappear into thin air. Given the circumstances, we shouldn’t waste time looking for them and focus on efforts on capturing Belleza,” Elio responded. “Bianca has already agreed to lend us her scroll to track where Belleza is in this place - apparently, they modified their scrolls to have a tracking app that can be activated when necessary - our main issue lies in which of us should apprehend her.”
Zelde realised he was referring to the Mob Ops with that statement, what with all three of them in varying states of health after fighting their way through this place.
“I’ve already agreed to help,” Helia announced. “I’m a trained huntress, not a civilian, I know how to handle myself. Besides, I’m one of the few of us here who has all her aura.”
“What about us?” Xanthos piped up, looking between his teammates. “Could we help?”
Morgan looked uncertain. “I don’t know, that’s a potentially big risk.”
“Morgan,” Elio cut him off. “It was a big risk in them even coming here. Besides, it’s not like some of them haven’t already fought their way through some of the Rossi’s people. And they won’t be alone they’ll have Helia with them too.”
Xanthos had volunteered their team, but ultimately it was Zelde who had the deciding opinion. She already knew Cordovan was keen to fight, and by his quick offer Xanthos was too, but she was uncertain about Neela who was currently looking down at her feet. “I’d certainly be amenable to the idea of helping,” Zelde confirmed with a nod. Her silver eyes looked at Neela. “Perhaps Neela could sit this one out though.”
“What?” Neela’s head shot up swiftly. “I can help!”
“You don’t have to, Neela,” Zelde told her reassuringly. “You’ve already been a great help so far and after everything you’ve been through I’m not forcing you to come.”
“I want to come,” Neela said, lifting her head.
“Only if you are certain,” Zelde said, peering into Neela’s eyes. Despite her posture and words, Neela’s eyes seemed to suggest she was a little more uncertain.
“I’m certain,” Neela responded. “Let’s go get her.”
“Well there you have it,” Elio said, glancing between the group. “Looks like we have a plan.”
Zelde noted that Cherry and Morgan seemed less enthusiastic about this plan, but given where the group stood currently, it was one of the better ones they had.
The five of them approached Bianca, who was still hovering near Calantha. Theodora was also nearby, monitoring one of the machines that were hooked up to Calantha.
"You're going after, Belle?" Bianca asked, lifting her head to look at the group.
They all nodded and Helia stepped forward. "You mentioned earlier to me and Elio that you'd lend us your scroll to track her."
Bianca looked at Helia's hand and then proceeded to retrieve her scroll. She tapped a few buttons on the screen before handing it over. "Here you go," Bianca said. As the scroll was passed between hands, Zelde noted Bianca frowning slightly as she did, her eyes staring at the screen. "Strange…she doesn't appear to be moving."
Helia held the scroll in her hands and ZRCN all gathered to look around at the screen. "Where is this?" Helia asked.
"The cafeteria on the ground floor," Bianca responded. "Save for the kitchen, it was cleared out years ago, so I'm not sure why she'd be there."
"How do we get to it?"
"Once you leave the medical wing, take two lefts and then follow the corridor until you come out onto the atrium. The cafeteria will be opposite you, beyond a dried-up fountain," Bianca explained.
"Oh." Zelde looked to the left and saw Xanthos pulling a face. "Yeah, me and Neela know the place. Or well, we saw it from above at least. Before Miho and Wisteria, you know…fell."
Zelde grimaced at the choice of words her teammate had used. It was an accurate statement at least but perhaps not wholly appropriate given the seriousness of the situation.
With information gathered on Belleza, the five of them set out to finally bring Belleza Rossi down, words of luck being offered to them as they left. They followed Bianca’s previous instructions upon leaving the medical wing, taking two lefts, and then following the corridor until they reached the atrium. It was a large open space that Zelde and Cordovan had only recently passed by on a different angle when Euphemia had taken them to retrieve the captives.
In the centre of the vast space, sat a now dried-up water fountain, and sprawled over that fountain with blood, glass, and various other bits of debris scattered on the ground, was the broken and twisted body of Miho Ryuzaki. Zelde had known the woman had died from when Cherry had briefly updated Morgan on the situation before reuniting with the group in the medical wing and then Morgan had in turn relayed it to those present. Regardless of knowing what was waiting for them here, it still didn’t stop Zelde’s stomach from churning, and she bit her lip to stop the bile from rising in her throat.
Zelde was too busy fighting the urge not to vomit that she didn’t notice what - or rather who - wasn’t there. And it was only when Xanthos spoke up that she looked over the scene again.
“Where’s Wisteria?”
Again, Zelde remembered that they had been told Wisteria had shoved Miho over the edge of an above balcony, finishing off the red-haired woman at the cost of her remaining health. From how it had been described, Wisteria’s injuries had been quite severe too. Perhaps not to the extent of what Miho had suffered but enough that she wouldn’t have been able to move. So, that begged the question, where exactly had she gone?
“She can’t have gotten far,” Neela said. “Maybe she’s nearby.”
“Possibly,” Xanthos mused in agreement. “Though I doubt she’d have gotten far with those injuries. Should we look for her?”
He was looking at Helia, Zelde, and Cordovan as he said that. The three of them shared a glance before Helia shook her head. “Belleza is the priority,” Helia told them. “If she’s taken down quickly we can spare some time to look. Or we could try and get through to the others and let them know.”
Xanthos nodded but didn’t say anything else which allowed the group to move onwards to the cafeteria where Belleza Rossi awaited them within. Double metal doors were pushed open and the five of them stepped inside. Bianca had mentioned that much of the room had been cleared out and she wasn’t lying. Only a few plastic chairs remained stacked in a corner and other than the kitchen opposite them, there was nothing to suggest this had once been a cafeteria. It made Zelde question where the group ate but she assumed with how much this building had been repurposed over the years they had probably found another space to serve as a dining room.
They didn’t have to look hard for Belleza at least. The older woman was sitting on the floor with her back leaning against a servery. She had her arms resting on her knees, fiddling with something in her hands that Zelde couldn’t quite see, and her spear sat by the side of her.
When she heard the group enter, she lifted her head, red eyes burning into them. “I knew you’d come eventually,” She said with a smirk. “Who was it who ratted me out?”
“Your sister,” Cordovan responded.
“Bianca? Hmm, figured as much the little traitor,” Belleza huffed. “Happy to play along until it suited her.” The white-haired woman let out a bitter laugh before glaring at the group. “You should have stayed in Highpoint. You should kept your noses out of where they did not belong.”
“You forget yourself, Belleza,” Helia snapped. “You made it personal when you attacked my teammates. When you killed Alcyone. When you sent your robots to attack ZRCN. When you dragged us into this mess.”
Belleza merely blinked at Helia, unfazed by the blame being put on her.“I shouldn’t blame you, really,” Belleza said. “We all know it was Wisteria’s fault. Stupid bitch couldn’t keep her mouth shut and just had to gloat to you and Farron that she never worked for him,” Belleza continued, rolling her eyes. “At least she’s dead now though. Got what she deserved in the end.”
Interesting, Zelde thought, she seems to still think Wisteria is outside.
“Sounds like a lot of bullshit to excuse your actions if you ask me,” Xanthos said, putting a hand on his hip. “Convenient to blame a ‘dead’ woman too.”
Belleza chuckled. “Bullshit? Bullshit!? No, I had a plan!” She leaned forward a bit, suddenly more agitated than before. “When Wisteria joined our group she complicated things to be sure but I adapted. But then in you all come and ruin everything! We were going to make Atlas pay! We were going to hold them accountable! Plans that my family had been building for over ten years and you ruined them all!”
“Well, they can’t have been good plans if we took you down in less than a day,” Xanthos said sarcastically.
Helia took a step forward. “It’s over now, Belleza,” She told her sternly. “Your allies are dead, gone, or saw sense and stood down. There’s nothing left to fight for anymore. You are going to jail and you will pay for what you’ve done.”
If Belleza acknowledged the latter part of Helia’s words, she didn’t let it show. Instead, she seemed fixated on the first half of the words, starting to rant incessantly.
“Cowards the lot of them. After everything I put them through, all the training they undertook, all it took was a little bit of pressure to have them all throwing their hands up and surrendering. I always knew it would be down to me in the end.”Slowly the white-haired woman rose to her feet and removed her jacket, dropping it to the floor where it covered her spear. “After all, if you want a job done right, it’s better to do it yourself.”
She then held out her left hand, showing the group what she had been fiddling with before. It was a dust crystal and a rather jagged piece too that looked as though it hadn’t even been refined yet.
“A gift from a departed friend,” She smiled, and as she spoke Zelde was sure there was something akin to genuine sadness at the back of her words. Zelde felt her semblance flare into life following her words, though the sensation did not last long thanks to her efforts to focus on it more as of late, but even as her body relaxed she knew danger was imminent.
Belleza pulled the crystal back towards her, hugging it close to her chest. “If I’m going to down, I’m going to make sure I leave a message and take out as many of you with me as I can.”
And what happened next, not even Zelde could have predicted. Belleza stabbed the dust crystal into a healing wound on her shoulder. Immediately, her arms started to swell, red-orange vein-like marks running down the lengths of both of them and up the left side of her neck. Belleza was screaming too and Zelde could not tell if it was from the pain or the anger. Injecting raw dust into one’s veins was said to be excruciatingly painful, even with aura, she could only imagine the pain the other woman was in. More alarmingly, the room began to fill with the smell of what Zelde could only assume was burning flesh, which seemed a strong likelihood based on how red Belleza’s arms were going.
When the initial effects of the dust infusion subsided, Belleza straightened, and she looked to be in quite a state. Her face was a paler red from the screaming she had been doing, cheeks streaked with tears, and her eyes were glowing a similar red-orange to the veins on her arms and neck. Zelde noticed that her right arm was awkwardly dangling down as if she could no longer control it fully.
Belleza paused for a moment, teetering on the spot as if she did not want to do, and then screamed at the group. Zelde was struck by how distorted it was to her earlier screams, sounding deeper and more unnatural.
With some effort - mostly on account of the right arm she was struggling to move - Belleza raised her arms and fired a giant fireball in their direction. It was Helia who moved quickly, her katana raised, as she rushed to intercept it and stop ZRCN from getting hit. As soon as the fireball connected, a cloud of smoke engulfed the spot where Helia had been standing, and she came flying back out of it seconds later, with such force that she wound up thrown against the wall and her aura shattered.
Zelde knew Belleza would have been more powerful now due to the dust infusion, but she had underestimated just how strong her hits had become if it had been enough to take out Helia’s aura with one hit. Even Belleza seemed surprised at the raw strength of her attack, but that surprise quickly faded into joy when she realised just how powerful she had become.
Suddenly, the fireballs were coming thick and fast, Belleza doing whatever she could to try and hit them. They were able to dodge the first few without trouble, but as Cordovan threw up a shield to block one, Belleza quickly retaliated by throwing another in quick succession. The shield took the brunt of the blast but it shattered under the strength of the second hit and Xanthos and Zelde tumbled backwards.
Cordovan and Neela remained close together, with Cordovan on one knee. Neela was trying to pull him up when suddenly she saw Belleza running for them.
“Cordo, look out!” She yelled.
Neela tried to pull him back but he instead shoved her out of the way, throwing up another shield with Belleza practically fell on top of.
“Move!” He yelled, glaring not only at her but Zelde and Xanthos too.
Zelde was loathe to move and leave Cordovan but he seemed to be holding Belleza off well enough. Xanthos and Neela ended up pulling her backwards, running to the now exposed kitchen area where they might have been able to duck into cover.
Belleza thumped on Cordovan’s shield. “I think I’ll enjoy sending you back to your mother,” She snickered, before raising a hand up.
From where they had briefly ducked into cover, Zelde watched as she raised a hand back, the palm of it starting to glow as she was about to create another fireball, only to get suddenly thrown backwards, as Cordovan used his shield to shove Belleza backwards. It was really a testament to his training that he could even manipulate his shields like that, as Zelde could remember a time when his semblance was static and he could not form it anywhere beyond his person, let alone throw it up away from himself.
As the woman went back, Corodvan quickly darted away to where the rest of his team was, coming to a stop in a hunched over position next to them.
“We need a plan,” He said, a little breathless from his efforts to halt Belleza. “We can’t outrun her fire forever.”
He was right of course but coming up with a plan was going to be difficult. Not just because of the little time they had but because Belleza was quite an unpredictable opponent too. Zelde gave it some thought for a moment before lowering her head.
“We have to kill her,” She said.
“Zelde…” Cordovan didn’t seem particularly alarmed by this, only troubled that the suggestion had come from Zelde’s mouth. Xanthos and Neela looked a little wary of the suggestion, and Zelde noted after their earlier bout with Maia, that they were perhaps not looking forward to the idea of killing someone else, even if that someone was Belleza.
“I know it sounds like an extreme idea, but I think that is the only option we’ve got,” Zelde said, pressing on with her suggestion. “As Cordovan said, we cannot outrun her forever. We won't stand a chance if she hits one of us with one of her fireballs. She will knock us out and kill us have no doubt about that.”
“To be honest, killing her might be a mercy,” Xathos said. “Did you see how she reacted when she injected the dust? The smell too? I think she’s quite literally burning herself alive.”
Zelde grimaced at the thought.
“I don’t know if I can,” Neela said. “I know it seems like our only choice but I’m not sure if I can kill another person. Even if it is her.”
“Just leave it to us, Neela,” Zelde said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Can you give us as much mist as you can though?”
Neela nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”
“FIREBALL!” Xanthos suddenly yelled, forcing them to duck down a little lower, as one flew over their heads and struck a metal cabinet. Clearly, Belleza had gotten back to her feet.
“Go, go, go!” Zelde urged, instructing Xanthos and Cordovan to follow her out of cover.
“You weren’t trying to hide were you?” Belleza asked, cocking her head to the side. “Where’s the other one?”
Belleza seemed to be preparing another fireball when thick mist suddenly started to roll out over the servery and spill out into the empty room. Zelde thanked her teammate silently. Whilst Belleza was temporarily distracted by the appearance of the mist, Zelde gestured for Xanthos and Cordovan to duck, knowing that the three of them would be a bit more obscured if they crouched and hid in the mist.
Even though the mist was thicker than usual for Neela’s semblance, the fiery outline of Belleza could still be seen in the middle of it, her head snapping from side to side rapidly as she tried to see them in the mist. With the heat she was no doubt generating the mist likely wouldn’t last, and Zelde knew they wouldn’t have long and needed to act fast.
Pulling her gun out of its holster, she aimed in the direction of Belleza, and squeezed the trigger, letting off a short burst of rounds. If one or two of them clipped Belleza then so be it, but it was mostly meant as a distraction tactic.
Sure enough, Belleza’s head whipped around to face her, eyes narrowing.
“You,” She hissed.
Come on, Zelde urged silently, as she held her ground. Charge at me.
Belleza looked at her momentarily, her left palm starting to glow as if preparing a fireball again. Zelde was about to curse when the other woman started moving towards her, possibly deciding that she’d much rather get up close and personal if she was going to hurl a fireball in her face. To Belleza’s surprise, Zelde rushed forward to greet her, raising her foot to kick her sharply in the abdomen. The first kick caught Belleza by surprise, but she was ready for the second, catching Zelde’s foot with a hand and then swinging her leg down violently causing Zelde’s leg to jolt.
“Pathetic,” Belleza sneered, closing the gap between them and slamming her head forward to headbutt Zelde.
Zelde fell backwards and wound up on the floor. Her aura had held, luckily, but she didn’t like being this close to the other woman, even if it was part of her plan.
As Belleza approached, Zelde shuffled backwards using her hands to move, suddenly yelling at Cordovan when Belleza looked ready to form another fireball.
“Cordovan, shield!”
Belleza did not have time to pull back before her fireball connected with the new shield. And being this close to the barrier, she got hit by the recoil from her own attack. Zelde meanwhile neatly rolled out of the way, feeling a bit of the heat from the blast, but avoiding any lasting damage.
As Belleza stumbled away, shielding her eyes, Zelde quickly jumped to her feet, making a signal to Xanthos nearby.
“Xanthos, restrain her!” Zelde instructed.
Xanthos lashed out with his whip, letting it curl around the body of Belleza. He quickly began to run around her, ensuring his whip was tightly coiled around the other woman, before activating his semblance to alter his weight to his heaviest state. He leaned back on his heels a little, making his whip go taut.
Although restrained, and unlikely to break out quickly, Belleza was trying to free herself. She was heating her palms and trying to burn away the whip with little effect.
“Cordovan,” Zelde called out again, looking towards her red-haired teammate. She shifted her weapon to its bladed form and looked expectantly at Cordovan, hoping he understood what she meant by the gesture. “Together?”
“Together,” He nodded.
“Xanthos, when Cordovan goes in for his strike, release the whip,” Zelde instructed swiftly.
He nodded and Zelde gave him a swift smile. She took a breath. It was time.
Gripping her weapon tightly, she looked towards Cordovan again, before running forward. Belleza saw her coming and yelled out an expletive at her but Zelde did not stop. She pulled back her weapon and made a strike at the back of Belleza’s knees. Her blade connected and she heard Belleza cry out before dropping to her knees, no longer able to stand. Zelde darted quickly away to let Cordovan land the finishing blow.
As promised, when Cordovan approached, Xanthos let his weapon slacken, allowing Cordovan to attack unimpeded. His weapon, Braveheart, was in its rarely used sword form. And with a grunt of effort, he pulled back, before stabbing it through Belleza’s chest and out her back.
In the end, Belleza did not go out in a blaze of glory, but rather, a small whimper.
Cordovan pulled out his blade and stood back allowing Belleza to fall back, her head near enough bouncing off the floor. Her chest gave one final heave and then grew still. Her body was spent.
Belleza Rossi was dead.
Nobody dared to move for a long time. The air felt heavy with some indescribable emotion. It was over and Belleza was defeated but it didn't feel like a victory truly worth celebrating.
Zelde stood by herself for a moment until Cordovan came near, hooking an arm around her waist and drawing her near to his body. Zelde let her weapon drop to the floor, wrapping her arms around Cordovan's neck in relief, just letting herself be held for the moment.
They pulled apart when Neela approached, having come out of hiding from behind the servery. Cordovan gave a small smile and put a hand on her back.
"We did it," She said, weakly smiling back. Her blue eyes strayed away from him and looked at the dead body on the floor. It was a grim sight to be sure and nobody wanted to linger on Belleza's corpse for too long.
Still lingering close together, they moved towards Xanthos who was trying to rouse an unconscious Helia. She seemed to be stirring back to life when they approached, still dazed but then snapping up, as if suddenly remembering she had been in a fight priorly.
"Where's…" Helia's voice trailed off when she spotted Belleza's body behind them. She gulped slightly. "She's dead then. What happened?"
"We killed her," Cordovan answered swiftly. "We couldn't take the risk. We saw what she did to you and we knew we couldn't outrun her forever. It seemed like our only option given the circumstances."
Helia processed the words carefully before nodding and trying to stand.
Cordovan and Xanthos helped her up and she took a moment to dust herself off, once again looking at Belleza before back at the group. "Let's go meet up with the others," She suggested. "I don't want to linger in here longer than we have to."
It was something all of them could agree on at least. The five of them walked out of the cafeteria, tired, and bruised, but alive. As they headed back to reunite with the rest of those who had come with them to this place, they could rest peacefully knowing that the Rossi threat had finally been dealt with.
