Part 3

Lylla

For all she had read about, heard about, and watched about Beacon Academy, life there wasn't at all what Lylla expected it to be. On her first day, Lylla had expected to be a part of a flawless team, well-respected and known around the world. She had prepared herself for adventures in far-off lands, fighting terrifying monsters to protect the innocent. Most of all, she had hoped for a grand story to unfold around her: a story of drama and romance akin to what she had always dreamed of as a child.

However, after twenty days and nearly twice as many screaming matches, those wishes had been replaced with Lylla attempting to keep her team from killing each other in their sleep.

"I guess I can't really blame them," she said to the image of her childhood friend, Blanche on her scroll. "I mean, there's been times I've wanted to strangle them too, but sometimes it just gets ridiculous!" Lylla leaned back on her bed, enjoying the rare peace and quiet in her team's dorm room. Of course, it's only like this because Sage is off doing whatever he's been doing for the past three weeks, Aruna's doing extra credit, and Ras is… probably doing something weird, if I had to guess. The rest of her team spent little time in the dorm together, and when they did, it never ended well. It was never over anything big, but after a couple minutes, the conversation would degrade to shouting at the top of their lungs at each other about things that didn't even matter. Lylla wasn't blameless either: every few days, she would lose her patience with one of them. They would argue for several minutes, but Lylla would always apologize, which was more than the other three could claim.

"Yoo hoo! Lylla!" a voice from the scroll in her hand said. "Remnant to Lylla! You listening?"

Lylla shook the thought out of her head and sat up again. "Oh, sorry Blanche. I was a little lost in thought."

Blanche smiled innocently and scratched behind one of the long, white rabbit ears that sprouted from her hair. "Oh, sweetie, that is so like you," she said. "Now come on, stay in the present for a while! I haven't talked to you in so long, I can hear about your team later; I wanna hear more about the school! Is it just like on TV? Please tell me it's just like on TV!"

Lylla groaned and fell onto her back again. "Not at all," she told Blanche. "No drama, no action, and definitely no romance." And not for lack of trying on my part, she added silently.

"Aww, sounds like somebody's having boy troubles," Blanche said. "Come on, spill!"

"It's nothing," Lylla said, eager to change the subject. "He's kind of a jerk anyway…"

All Lylla did was make Blanche even more interested. "Ooh, I never knew that was your type!" She brushed a few locks of hair away from her bright red eyes before continuing. "Well watch yourself; you saw what happened on last year's finale of–"

"Knock it off, Blanche," Lylla interrupted her friend with. "I'm not in the mood for jokes."

"Aww, don't be so glum, sweetie," Blanche told her. "You're just having a rough first month; you're a little homesick and you're having trouble adjusting. This is just like when you started at Aurora, only now it's at the best school in the Kingdom!" Blanche squealed in delight. "Do you have any idea how cool it is to say I've got a friend at that place? I mean, most people around here grow up to be criminals or losers; you're by far the best thing to come out of here. Which I guess isn't saying much, because of the whole crooks and losers thing, but this is still the coolest thing anyone I know is doing, so don't give up now!"

Lylla laughed quietly. "I never said I was giving up; give me a little credit. It's not that I'm having a bad time or anything, it's just a little… overwhelming." Lylla sat back up and adjusted her seating. "But I've made some friends, and everyone's really nice, so I'll be fine." She said with a smile, then felt the sides of her mouth curve downward. "Well, almost everyone's nice," she added.

"Now why do I get the feeling you're talking about me?" a voice asked from behind her.

Lylla screamed in panic and spun around to see Sage perched in the frame of the room's large window, located just behind her bed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" she shouted at him.

"This is my room too, you know," he told her while he stepped out of the windowsill and onto the floor.

"What's with the window? You have a key!"

Sage continued nonchalantly toward his own bed. "I saw it was open; figured I'd save a minute or two by climbing up instead of using the stairs." He opened his scroll as he spoke. "And I did, so that's nice." He leapt into his bed and turned his head toward her. "Besides, isn't it romantic for the guy to climb through the girl's window?" he asked in a patronizing voice.

Lylla felt her blood rush to her face and turned her back to Sage, focusing on her scroll instead. Blanche had heard every word: she was trying to keep herself from laughing. "Should I go? Give you two some alone time?"

"Please don't," Lylla requested hastily. "We haven't talked since I left, I want to hear what you've been doing."

Blanche sighed. "Not much: I've started working at a small shop called Wonderland after school. It's apparently got some shady connections, but they pay well and me and mom need the money, so what you gonna do?" She chewed on her bottom lip and hummed to herself for a moment before starting again. "Oh ya, the Landerig's house got repossessed, so Arjan's been sleeping on your couch."

"Aww, that terrible," Lylla said. "Well, when I'm a Huntress, I'll make sure to help them as best I can."

Sage suddenly laughed from across the room. "Good luck with that one, kid," he told her. "The Kingdom's got possession of your soul the moment you graduate: the only way out's either putting in your time or dying." Sage grinned darkly, as if he had won some sort of argument. "You won't have time to give your little friend aide."

Lylla tried her best to glare at him. "A Huntsman's duty is to protect and help people."

Sage rolled his eyes at the comment. "A Huntsman's job is to kill Grimm," he said, giving Lylla a condescending look. "Protection is just a side effect."

Lylla scowled, then turned her back again. "God, what's his problem?" Blanche asked.

"I'm pretty sure he's a sadist of some sort," Lylla said, keeping her voice down so Sage couldn't hear her. "He also always has to have the last word in everything."

Sage still heard her, and sat up sharply at her comments. "That's not true," he said indignantly. "I'm not a sadist, I'm a realist; quite a shame the two get confused." He stood up and made his way toward her. "Secondly, I don't need to get the last word in everything, I just correct people when they are wrong."

Lylla frowned. "Having an opinion isn't the same as being wrong."

"It is when it's the wrong opinion," he said. Lylla glared at him again, which must not have been as intimidating as she thought: Sage laughed and sat beside her. "Lighten up a little: I'm just having some fun." He put an arm around her, causing Lylla's breath to catch in her throat. Sage laughed at her again. "See what I mean? You should try to relax more." Lylla tried to respond, but was too panicked to say anything cohesive. "You should also pay more attention to your surroundings," he said before suddenly standing up and walking back towards his own bed.

"Huh?" Lylla mumbled. It took her several seconds to realize that her scroll was no longer on her lap, but instead in Sage's hand. "Hey! Give that back!" she shouted as she jumped off her bed at him.

Lylla tried to grab her scroll, but the few inches Sage had on her proved to be enough to keep the device out of her hands. She leapt into the air to try and grab it, but her action only resulted in Sage using his forearm to push her back onto her bed. Sage looked at the screen and nodded to Blanche. "Hello there, I'm Lylla's team leader: Sage. Lylla's apparently too busy having childish fantasies to pay any attention, so the task falls to me to tell you she's going to have to hang up soon anyway."

To Lylla's surprise, Sage didn't mention Blanche's obvious Faunus heritage. Why? She asked herself. Is he going to wait until she's gone before saying something? Or is he just setting her up for ridicule? A small part of Lylla told her that Sage was being genuine, but the past three weeks had taught her to never trust that feeling. "Come on Sage, just give it back!" she pleaded, hoping to be able to cut the connection to Blanche before Sage said anything insulting.

Luckily for her, Blanche seemed to have been just as uncomfortable with Sage's attitude as everyone else. "Ya, um… I've got to go to work soon, so I'll be going too. I'll call you later, okay?" The screen went blank as Blanche cut the connection.

"Aw, what a shame," Sage said as he returned Lylla's scroll to her. "I almost wouldn't have minded talking to her." He shrugged and laid down on the end of Lylla's bed. "Oh well, we'll be leaving once Ras gets here anyway."

Sage was starting to confuse Lylla. Why isn't he saying anything? There's no way he didn't notice; does he really not care? The thought sparked a little hope in her, but Lylla made sure to force it back down. No, he has to care; there's no way he doesn't. After several moments of silence, the anticipation inside Lylla forced her to speak.

"So?"

Sage sat up a curious look. "So what?" he responded.

Lylla grumbled to herself. He's really going to force me on this? She took a breath, then began her tirade. "So? You saw her: I've got a Faunus friend. A lot of them, actually. I love and respect each and every one of them, and I'm not going to sit idly by and wait for you to call them inferior, call them animals, or say they're a detriment to society!"

Sage continued to feint ignorance. "What are you talking about?"

Lylla stood over him, glaring angrily down at him. "What I'm talking about is you thinking you're so much better than everyone else; I'm not going to let you insult my friends just because of their species."

To Lylla's surprise, Sage laughed to himself. "If I'm going to say I'm better than someone, it's going to be because of something I do, not some bullshit genetic lottery." He fell onto his back and stared at the ceiling. "Why should I consider myself a better person because of something I had no control over? I don't say I'm better than you because you have red hair, do I?"

After a moment, Lylla broke into a smile. So there is something good in him after all, she thought. The knowledge bubbled inside her, and she giggled to herself.

Sage seemed confused by her reaction. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Nothing," Lylla told him, "it's just nice to know you do have a soul."

"Oh," Sage said, sitting up again. "Kind of hurts to hear you thought that I lacked one."

Lylla sat down beside him. "Well it hurt to think that too."

They sat in silence for a few moments, and Lylla's mind began to race. Are we having a moment? she thought to herself. He's never sat this close to me. She decided to take advantage, and attempted to rest her head on Sage's shoulder. He stood up and caused her to fall over into the spot he had been sitting. "The schoolgirl fantasies can wait: you're going to get ready, we're leaving shortly," he told her as he walked through the maze of furniture.

Lylla sighed to herself, then sat back up. "Get ready for what?" she asked.

"I already told you: We're just waiting for Ras, then heading into town."

Lylla stared at him with a slight feeling of discontent. "And doing what?"

Sage grinned. "It'd be no fun to tell you everything, now would it?" He took off his jacket and shirt, exchanging the latter for a fresh one before donning his jacket again. "Well come on, don't just sit there, we've to look good for this."

Lylla rolled her eyes. "I'm cute and don't smell like grease: I'm already doing a better job than you."

Sage laughed. "Ooh, catty, that's not like you; I like it. Much better for conversation," he said. "And come to think of it, Ras won't be wearing shoes anyway, so you'll be fine."

"Well it's not my fault shoes are uncomfortable," Ras said from the windowsill.

"WHAT IS WITH YOU PEOPLE AND NOT USING DOORS?" Lylla screamed at Ras as he dropped to the floor.

Ras gave her the same look Sage had. "It's faster this way," he told her, then turned to Sage and continued. "Now let's get going: Aruna's waiting outside."

Sage groaned. "Aw, what the hell? Why's she coming?"

"You said you were bringing Lylla, I wanted to bring someone too!"

"Well why couldn't you bring someone fun?"

Ras shrugged. "No one else could come. Aruna didn't even want to until I told her we'd be paying for everything." He reached into his pocket and pulled out several oddly coloured cards, tossing them to Sage. "Now this is what I got out of dad's account today; a few thousand lien should be good for now."

Lylla had to force her way into the two's conversation. "Wait, you pulled a few thousand from your dad's bank account? Isn't he gonna notice that?"

Sage and Ras exchanged a glance, then laughed. "Oh please, he only pays attention to the first four digits anyways, we'll be fine," Ras told her. "But he must've bought something big earlier, so I can't get as much as we usually do."

"How much lien is in that account?" Lylla asked.

Ras paused for a moment, his brow furrowed as he tried to recall the number. "Um… somewhere around four or five hundred million right now, if I'm not mistaken."

The number staggered Lylla. "What?"

Sage shrugged. "Ras' dad is loaded; only good thing about him." He stepped toward the window and looked down at the campus grounds. "But I'm used to having a shitty dad, so it's not much of a loss." He climbed onto the ledge and leapt out the window, with Ras leaving right behind him.

Lylla sighed to herself. "He can't be that bad if you've got that much money," she said to the empty room. The walls gave her no response, so Lylla walked to the window and jumped to the ground two stories below.

She had only been a few seconds behind the others, but Sage and Aruna were already at each other's throats when Lylla arrived. "Well I just think it's a little suspicious that you've got this much money; I've never seen you take any initiative to make some, and you're constantly asking for handouts from everyone!" Aruna yelled at Sage.

Sage moaned and stared at the grass under his feet. "Its family funds, okay? Why do you have to be so critical of everything I do? Just fuck out of my life and take things when I offer them!"

The death glare Aruna was giving Sage intensified. "And just let you get away with everything? That may have worked when you were a child, but the lives of thousands is going to be on your head soon, and I'm not going to let you do whatever you want." She laughed at him. "And please, the only way you've found your way into that much money is by lifting off of someone else."

"Oh just fuck off! I don't pickpocket for money and you know that!"

"So you admit you do it?"

Sage turned to Ras. "Good job bringing her, now we've got to deal with this shit the rest of the night."

Lylla could see Aruna tense to hit Sage, but she quickly leapt between the two. "Come on, guys, we barely spend any time together as is, can we please just not fight for a few hours?"

Sage rolled his eyes. "That's all I wanted to do; Aruna's the one causing–" He didn't have the chance to finish before Lylla found herself slapping him across the face.

"No, you are not pinning this all on Aruna: you need to take responsibility for yourself and learn that we're not all here to do what you want," she told him. Aruna began a remark, but Lylla turned on her too. "And you need to learn to have faith in people, and understand that there's going to be things that happen that you'll just have to deal with." Lylla took a light breath, and noticed that the other three were staring at her. "I'm sorry for that," she said. "But we're supposed to be a team: are we really that terrible that we can't even spend one night together without hating each other?"

The rest of her team exchanged a few lost glances before someone spoke again. "I suppose you do have a point," Aruna mumbled. "And I suppose I could spend one night with these two." She turned to Sage. "But it depends on whether or not you can control yourself."

Sage sighed. "Well, I can't let you be a better teammate than I." He turned to walk toward the school's docks, then paused and turned back to them. "As a matter of fact, here." He pulled out the cards Ras had given him and fanned them out. "Aruna, Lylla: take one. Whichever one you want," he said with a smug grin. Aruna cautiously grabbed a light pink card from his hand. Lylla reached forward and pulled out a blue card, turning it over in her hand. Reading the small number on the bottom, she noticed that the card was worth two thousand lien. This is the most money I've ever seen at one time, she realised, and he's just handing it out to prove a point. She tucked the card into her shorts pocket, already thinking about how to send the money to her family.

Aruna looked over her card before slipping it into her pocket. "I'll take it; but if it turns out that this was taken from some businessman downtown, I'm going to break your nose." Sage patted her on the shoulder and began toward the docks again, with the rest of them joining him.

During their ride down to the city in one of the school's Bullhead tiltjets, Lylla and Aruna kept pestering the other pair about where they were going. Ras and Sage held their tongues. They just have to be clever, Lylla thought as they left the airdocks and entered the cityscape of Vale. Why can't they just give us an answer? She watched the two as they led themselves expertly through the streets. They like holding knowledge over us, she decided, it's their little way of pissing Aruna off without actually doing anything wrong.

"Well, it's still a few miles from here," Sage said after they had made their way into the downtown area. "We should call a cab or something."

"Or we could take the train," Ras interjected, pointing to the rails overhead. Sage groaned, but reluctantly agreed with his step-brother after a few moments of arguing. Ras got their tickets by using a strange card at the ticket booth, and the four climbed the staircase that led to the platform and began waiting for the next train to arrive.

"You know," Sage told Ras after a few minutes, "if we had taken a cab, we'd be there by now.

Ras revealed the card he had used to get their tickets and waved it in Sage's face. "But the cab would cost us! Why pay for a car when we can use the train for free?" Sage rolled his eyes, which Ras took as a victory as he slid the card back into his pocket.

"Wait, how are we getting tickets for free?" Aruna asked. "This isn't something illegal is it?"

Sage made an annoyed grunt, but Ras simply laughed. "No, it's a special card for executives of the VGE Railway Company: free train rides. All day, err'y day."

Aruna folded her arms. "And how might you have gotten one of those? I don't believe for a second that you're an executive."

"Well, when you're dad's the CFO of the company, you get some privileges." As if on cue, one of the sleek grey trains of the city's rail system pulled up and opened its doors. Ras grabbed a very reluctant Sage and pulled him onto the train, with Aruna and Lylla right behind him. They took their seats. Aruna took one side for herself while Lylla sat next to Sage on the other; Ras managed to hook his legs around a metal pole that crossed the center of the car and hang upside down. The train lurched forward, and Lylla felt Sage's head come to rest on her shoulder. Her heart jumped into her throat, but the look on his face made the feeling fade as quickly as it came. He had become a shade similar to his hair and stared at the floor of the carriage with listless eyes.

"Um… are you okay?" she asked.

He stared up at her with a pained look to his face. "Trains suck." He curled up and buried himself in her shoulder.

"What's wrong with them?" she asked while patting him on the back.

He shifted his position to get Lylla to stop, then sat up to the best of his ability. "They have a pre-set course that can't change, and can only go faster or slower. It's a deathtrap on rails, and there's no way in hell I'm letting myself die in one," he told her. Sage tried to stand, but Lylla saw the colour drain from his face as he fell back onto her shoulder.

Lylla giggled. "Aww, it's okay, I'll keep you safe." She tried to put an arm around him, but Sage shrugged it off.

It didn't take them long to reach their destination. Lylla helped Sage get off the train, and while she was a little disappointed that he'd no longer be cradled in her shoulder, she couldn't help but feel relieved that he hadn't thrown up on her. After spending more time than everyone would have like against the platform's railing, recovering, Sage led them down into the city.

"Ah, here we are," Sage said suddenly, turning to look at the large, stained-glass doors of a restaurant Lylla was sure she could never imagine affording. "Olympia. We used to come here all the time, didn't we Ras?"

Ras nodded in agreement, while Aruna began to question Sage. "Why didn't you say we were coming to a place like this? There's no way they'll let us in looking like this!"

Sage turned around and gave her a condescending look. "Come on now, what did Lylla say about trusting your teammates? I know what I'm doing." He pushed open the doors and strode inside, with Ras right on his heels. Lylla hesitated for a moment, then followed them in; Aruna mumbled something under her breath, but walking inside as well.

A balding, middle-aged man with thin eyes and an upturned nose greeted them at the door. He took one look at them and had to stifle a laugh. "Hello and thank you for coming to Olympia. I do, however, feel that you would feel more at home in the Burger Buddy down the street," he told them in a disdainful tone.

Sage shrugged off the comment with ease. "No, I believe I've come to the right place," he said, pulling out one of his lien cards and pressing it against the waiter's hand.

The man's eyes widened. "Oh, but of course, sir," he said in a much more courteous voice. "Right this way." Sage let go of the card, and the waiter slipped it into his pocket.

As the waiter led them through the restaurant to their table, Lylla couldn't help but notice all of the higher society people giving them looks. This was a bad idea, she thought. They're all staring at us; probably wondering how we managed to get in, and hoping they throw us out. Sage must have noticed her discomfort: he slowed his pace to walk beside her. "Don't forget, you're better than them," he said under his breath. "If someone dropped a Beowulf in here, all these rich assholes would cry and run; they're pathetic when it comes to the real world." He flashed a dark grin, causing Lylla to wonder just how far he'd go to prove it.

They arrived at their table and took their seats. "Now, what shall we be having for drinks?" the waiter asked after they had looked over their menus for a moment. "I assume the wine list is not an option." Sage asked for water; Aruna as well. Lylla's original choice began to feel immature, so she asked for water too. Ras ordered chocolate milk.

Lylla spent a few minutes reading through the list of foods she'd never heard of before. I have no idea what any of this stuff is, she realized. Maybe we should have just gone to Burger Buddy instead. A loud argument from the front of the restaurant snapped her out of her thoughts and made her turn in her seat. A couple that couldn't have been more than seventeen where arguing with another waiter at the door. Lylla wouldn't have given it another thought, had she not noticed the prominent, fur-covered ears that stuck out of the boy's hair. "That's not fair!" he yelled at the waiter. "I've been planning this for weeks! You can't just not let us in now!" The waiter said something Lylla couldn't hear, but could tell the Faunus didn't like it. "But I did have a reservation! Like it even matters; half the tables in here are empty anyway!" A few more words were said, and the boy pointed to his ears. "It's these, isn't it? You won't let me in because of these, right?" The girl with him looked worried, and began pulling on his sleeve. The boy looked at her and nodded, then said something to the waiter and walked out of the building, slamming the door as he left.

Lylla realised she had stood up. "I have to use the restroom," she said as she walked away from the table.

"Um… need directions?" Ras asked. Lylla waved the request away and stormed toward the back of the building.

The lien card Sage felt as if it were burning into her skin. Sage could bribe the waiter, it makes sense that they could too, she assumed. Two thousand lien is a lot of money, no way in hell they'd get turned down. She found her way to a back exit to the building and circled back toward the front, determined to find the Faunus couple before they disappeared into the city. By the time she made it to the front of the restaurant, the pair had vanished from the street. Lylla cursed under her breath, then began jogging down the road, hoping to catch a glimpse of them. Ten minutes of searching proved to be fruitless, and Lylla ran out of hope. Face it, they're gone. They probably wouldn't have accepted anyways; I'm human, and I wouldn't even think about going back there if they had done that to me. She sighed, and began her walk back to the restaurant. She didn't make it very far before she heard a muffled shriek come from one of the alleys that cut between the buildings. Lylla didn't even think before she ran down the side street towards the cry.

She found the source of the noise in an alleyway behind a large hotel: the Faunus couple she had been looking for had been found by a group of three thugs. The girl was held against a wall by one, while the other two were holding down her boyfriend and punching him repeatedly. "Come on, faggot!" the thug punching the boy yelled. "Let's see those animal instincts!" His friend dropped the Faunus, and he kicked the boy onto his back. "Ha, pathetic." The boy tried to sit up, but got kicked back down again. The girl screamed something, but was slapped across the face before she could finish. "Shut up, bitch!" the man holding her shouted. His hand dropped to the hem of the girl's skirt, and he began ripping the fabric.

Lylla didn't plan on letting them continue any longer. "HEY!" she screamed, marching toward the group. "Leave them alone!"

The group of men laughed at her. "Aww, look at this kid trying to be a hero," one of them said. "Fuck off home, princess, or you'll be next." Lylla kept her pace, and the man shrugged. "Okay then." He started toward her, cracking his knuckles. He attempted to grab her, but Lylla dropped beneath his arms and dug her fingers into the man's stomach. She triggered the dust she kept in her arm bands, and sent a jolt of electricity through her hand. The man let out an inhuman shriek and leapt back. "What the hell was that?" he shouted at her, clearly confused as to what had just happened. The other two turned their attention toward Lylla, giving the girl an opportunity to run over and tend to her partner.

"Leave them alone," Lylla said again, preparing herself for a fight.

The largest man laughed. "Like hell, bitch." He threw a sloppy punch that Lylla avoided with ease, grabbing his arm and twisting. The man fell forward and Lylla pinned him to the ground, pulling his arm behind his back. The ease of the motion surprised her. I've haven't fought a normal person since I began training, she realised. I'm a lot stronger than most of the population now.

"Now, I'm going to count to ten," Lylla began saying, "and if you haven't left by then, I'm going to have to beat your heads in."

"What's your problem?" the man said. "These are just Faunus!"

Lylla's anger flared, and she bent back her captive's fingers. The sickening cracking noise of the fingers leaving their sockets were quickly accompanied by the shrill screams of their owner. "Five."

The thug Lylla had electrocuted faltered, but the other kept his resolve. "You whore!" he shouted as he reached out to grab her. His hands never made it: a golden flash passed between him and Lylla, and the man watched in shock as the ends of his fingers fell to the ground. He screamed in pain and dropped to his knees, clutching the stumps on his hand.

"If you could politely fuck off and never speak that way to my partner ever again, those will be the only things I sever," Sage said, his golden sword gripped firmly in his hand. He leveled the weapon at the one with all his fingers. "Now; why aren't you leaving yet?" The thug was much more intimidated by Sage than Lylla: he staggered back a few feet, and Sage's sword expanded into a short spear to accommodate. "Oh, you can stay if you like," Sage said with a disturbing grin, "I've not killed someone in quite some time; I almost miss it." That was more than enough. The man grabbed his accomplice by the back of his jacket and partially carried, partially dragged him out of the alleyway. After they left, Sage began snickering. "Oh god, that might have been one of the dumbest things I've ever said." He turned to Lylla with a stupid grin on his face. "Next time, stop me before I do something like that, okay?"

Lylla rolled her eyes. "You're a psycho." A soft moan from beneath her reminded Lylla that she still had one of the muggers in an arm lock. She glanced from the man to the Faunus, contemplating her next decision.

Sage seemed to know what she was thinking. "Tend to them; I've got this one." Lylla nodded and let go of the man's arm. She hurried over to the pair of Faunus, while Sage strode over to the man and slammed his foot into his chest.

Lylla bent down at the girl's side. "Is he okay?" she asked. The girl tried to answer, but she broke down into tears before she could say a word. Lylla untied the bandana around her leg and began dabbing blood away from the boy's face. Now that she was closer, she noticed that the boy wasn't as old as she thought: he seemed to be about fifteen, with his partner being, at most, a year older. They're the same age as Blanche, she realized, this could have been Blanche. The thought made her sick with rage. These are just kids! What the hell is wrong with people? The boy groaned and sat up. He had shaggy brown hair that did little all to hide the massive set of lupine ears that extended from his head. His girlfriend was a little more fortunate: she had a small pair of grey horns that just poked through her light blue hair. Neither of them were formidable in the least: they couldn't have weighed more than a hundred pounds each. The boy tried to stand, but fumbled and had to support himself on his girlfriend's shoulder. "No. Stay seated right now. I'll call for an ambulance or something," Lylla told him. He nodded and retook his seat on the ground. Lylla glanced over her shoulder at Sage. "Um… need some help?"

Sage was currently crouched on the mugger's chest, with each sword pierced through the man's sleeves to hold him to the ground. "Nah, I'm good," he said with a childish grin on his face, "isn't that right buddy?" The man didn't answer; he seemed to still be dazed from the boot to the chest Sage had given him. Sage patted him on the cheek and laughed. "Ah, this is fun; we should go out for dinner more often."

Lylla scowled at him again. "Sage, please take this a little more seriously," she asked.

Sage rolled his eyes. "Oh please, I've done more than you have already." As if summoned by his voice, sirens emerged from the background noises of the city and grew louder, until the lights of the vehicles could be seen coming from the mouth of the street.

Lylla glanced around in confusion. "When did you…?"

"About ten minutes ago, after I followed you out of the restaurant. " He stepped off the man's chest, greeted the paramedics jogging down the alleyway, and pointed them in the direction of the Faunus boy.

A police officer came into the side street shortly after. "You're the one who called?" he asked.

Sage grinned and pointed toward the man he had pinned to the ground. "Yes I am; feel free to arrest at your leisure." As Sage pulled the swords out of the ground, they collapsed back into revolvers and were slid into the sheaths on his legs. "There's two more somewhere nearby: one of them is missing some fingers now, so it should be easier to find them," he said, motioning to the severed digits that were still lying on the ground. "This guy's just got broken fingers and some mild-ish bruising."

The officer's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Are you sure this is the one I'm supposed to be arresting?" he asked with his hand cautiously placed on his gun.

Sage shrugged off the accusation. "I suppose I should introduce myself: Sage Appolis, Beacon Academy Huntsman in Training," he said, flashing his Beacon scroll as identification. "My friend and I were out for dinner and saw them attack the kids; we figured we might as well get some early work in."

Sage's answer eased the cop's doubts, but Lylla could tell he was still wary. "Well, I guess that's a pretty decent alibi for vigilante justice," he agreed. "But perhaps go a little lighter on them next time." He was able to handcuff the thug with little challenge and picked him up off the ground. "In any case, it's nice to see young couples going to such lengths to be good people."

Before Sage could correct the officer's mistake, Lylla latched onto his arm. "It's what we're training to do, after all," she said as the cop escorted the mugger out of the alley.

Lylla heard Sage sigh impatiently. "Want to let go now?"

She grinned and nuzzled up against his shoulder. "Not really."

He jerked his arm out of her grasp. "Well I want you to; I've had more than enough human contact for the day." He exited the alleyway and started back toward the restaurant at a speed that made Lylla have to jog to keep up with him.

They walked in silence for a couple minutes until Lylla's curiosity got the better of her. "Why'd you come and help me?" she asked him.

Sage turned to her. "I had a feeling you'd do something stupid."

"Oh," Lylla mumbled, feeling somewhat disappointed in Sage's answer.

After a moment or two passed, she heard Sage sigh. "And… I guess I was sort of worried you might get hurt," he added.

Lylla giggled and gave him a playful punch on the arm. "Aww, that's so sweet." Another few moments passed before she wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest. "And… thanks for caring about me."

Sage squirmed uncomfortably in her arms. "Ya, great, I'm a caring person. Now get off of me, people are watching." Lylla him go and stared sheepishly at the ground as they walked. To her surprise, Sage took her hand in his as they continued down the street. "Don't get full of yourself; all these people just saw you hug me," he explained. "I'd just look like an asshole if I didn't do something." Lylla was about to point out that he was an asshole, but decided to keep it to herself.

By the time they made it back to the restaurant, Lylla was more than ready for Sage to let go of her: his hand was cold and clammy, and he had an uncomfortably strong grip that had begun to hurt. This must be a surprise to him, she guessed as she pulled her hand away, the 'naïve, smitten little girl' is the one backing out. To her annoyance, Sage looked incredibly relieved that he had his hand back. The pair pushed through the doors and walked through the building back toward the table Ras and Aruna were sitting at.

"What the hell?" Lylla asked to no one in particular when they arrived. Sitting on their table were no less than two dozen different dishes. Every plate filled with food, and nearly every plate untouched.

Sage seemed just as confused as Lylla was. "Ras?" he asked, "what did you do?"

Ras grinned proudly. "You told me to order something Lylla would like; I didn't know what she likes, so I ordered her one of everything." He leaned forward in his chair and began pointing to the plates, naming off each one's contents. "This is filet mignon, this one's salmon, that one over there is–" Ras' description got cut short by Sage hitting him in the face with a side dish of potatoes.

"Dumbass," Sage said with a slight chuckle. Ras laughed too, grabbing the edge of the tablecloth to wipe off the food.

Aruna was not as amused. "Good to see you're being mature," she commented.

Sage took the seat opposite her. "Hey, I'll have you know Lylla and I just did something very mature." His face contorted in disgust after he finished his sentance. "That came out wrong." Lylla snorted and sat down at the last available chair, then began looking through the plates of food around her.

"What happened?" Aruna asked.

Sage leaned forward in an exaggerated manner. "Would you believe… beat the hell out of a group of thieves and saved the lives of two young lovers?" Sage offered in a sarcastic tone.

Aruna narrowed her eyes. "No." Sage looked back at Lylla and raised his eyebrows; Lylla stifled a laugh. "So are you going to give me a real answer or aren't you?" Aruna asked again.

Sage and Lylla exchanged a knowing glance. "No," they answered in unison. Aruna groaned and rolled her eyes; Lylla had to keep herself from giggling. Okay, this is kind of fun, she had to admit.

Aruna shrugged it off and returned to the plate infront of her. After a few bites, she looked back across the table at Sage. "Wait, you two didn't actually–"

Sage made an insulted gasp. "Whoa, hell no!" he told her. Lylla readily agreed.

Ras looked up from his plate. "Didn't actually what?" he asked, clearly confused. Sage leaned over and whispered in his ear, and Ras' eyes went even larger than normal. "Are you sure?" he asked. "I would!" Lylla gave him her opinion with a swift kick to the shin underneath the table.

Sage smirked and began sifting through the meals. After he looked through a few, he stared suspiciously at Ras. "Hey, how much is all this going to cost us?"

Ras glanced around the table. "Um… about…" He didn't finish his thought, and instead leapt out of his chair and bolted toward the building's exit, dodging past confused patrons and employees. A few of the servers attempted to chase him, but Ras had more than enough speed to outrun them.

Sage laughed. "Idiot, he gave me sixteen thousand lien." He sighed in satisfaction and pulled one of the plates toward him. "Oh well, we can find him later." For once, Aruna agreed with him and went back to her meal. Lylla picked through the food until she found something of her taste. This is nice, all of us together for a change, she thought. We should do this more often.