[Author's Note: I forgot that I had deleted a few chapters, so some of you might only be able to access the fic now. If you've only just gained access and have no idea what's going on, I'd recommend going back two chapters.]
—/—
On the outskirts of Argus, by the coast, Daniel was resting peacefully on the deck of a Bullhead that had been poorly camouflaged with a few branches, taking advantage of the moment to sunbathe, although he was beginning to get bored.
"Where the hell is everyone?" he wondered as he pulled out his scroll and checked that several hours had passed since he had sent Pyrrha a message asking her to meet him at that spot.
He was about to call her when he stopped upon hearing some familiar voices in the distance.
"Finally!" he sighed in relief, raising his head to confirm that, sure enough, his group of idiots had arrived.
However, he immediately tilted his head, confused by what he was seeing.
Pyrrha was walking backward, moving very slowly as she dropped candies on the ground every few meters. Behind her, Sadako and Gura, who was wearing a hoodie far too big for her, followed the trail of sweets, eating them as they went.
Without wasting any time, and finding the scene rather amusing, Daniel jumped off the Bullhead and landed directly on the sand.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked mockingly, accompanying his words with a small chuckle.
Pyrrha, who didn't find the situation particularly funny, dropped the huge bag of candy onto the sand and turned to look at him, revealing the deep dark circles under her eyes from exhaustion.
"Do you think it's easy to bring someone here when they won't listen to you and could crush me at any moment if they wanted to?!" She shouted angrily.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Gura and Sadako lunged at the bag of candy like two hungry mice.
"I could barely convince her to put some clothes on!" she added, pointing at Gura, who watched them in confusion with her cheeks stuffed full.
Daniel waved his hand dismissively.
"Clothing is a social construct," he commented. "You should've let her walk around naked."
Pyrrha clenched her fists in indignation.
"THE ENTIRE CITY OF ARGUS SAW HER FACE DURING THE FIGHT!" she yelled at him. "If I'd let her walk around naked, she wouldn't just have attracted everyone's attention, she would've probably ended up surrounded by the army within minutes!"
"Woooow! Relax," he tried to calm her down, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. "You seem a little irritable. Didn't you get enough sleep?"
Pyrrha raised her hands, ready to strangle him, but stopped just a few inches away from him when she remembered that she probably wouldn't be able to do him any real harm.
"I didn't sleep at all!" she complained, lowering her arms and pointing at the girls. "How am i supposed to sleep knowing they could run off at any moment and destroy the city?!"
"For God's sake, Pyrrha!" Daniel exclaimed in surprise.
He walked over to Sadako and Gura until he was standing between them, pulling them toward him as he gently squished their cheeks.
"They're not beasts! They're thinking, rational beings. They're not going to destroy the city for no reason. Where do you even get these ideas?"
Pyrrha took a deep breath, swallowing all her frustration before answering. "You told me they'd destroy the city if I didn't keep an eye on them..."
Daniel brought a finger to his lips, pretending to ponder the matter.
"Nope, I don't remember telling you that. I think the lack of sleep is getting to you."
Pyrrha closed her eyes, trying to find her happy place and gather enough patience to keep herself from committing a crime.
"Just take care of them..." she gave up.
Daniel shook his head several times in disappointment.
"Oh, my dear friend Pyrrha. They'd listen to you if you weren't so weak..." He stretched, rolling his shoulders back before flashing a smug grin. "...Allow me to show you how it's done."
"Ahem, ahem." He coughed a couple of times to get the girls' attention, making sure they were looking at him before pointing toward the Bullhead's door.
"Get on the Bullhead!" he ordered.
However, despite using his most serious voice, both girls exchanged a sideways glance before going back to eating candy, completely ignoring him.
A vein popped on Daniel's forehead, and his irritation only grew when he heard Pyrrha let out a mocking snort behind him.
Annoyed, he grabbed the bag of candy and threw it inside the Bullhead.
"Get in the damn ship before I break your legs!" he yelled at them.
Both girls immediately rushed inside, not because of his threats, but because of the bag of candy he'd just thrown.
Watching them board, Daniel turned around and regained his triumphant smile.
"See? Unlike you, all my comrades respect me..."
"I don't respect you," Aegis interrupted from Pyrrha's shoulder.
For several rather awkward seconds, Daniel and Aegis stared straight at each other.
"Do I need to remind you that I'm really strong?" Daniel asked, forcing a threatening smile.
"Ha!" Aegis scoffed. "Your strength is inversely proportional to your fighting ability, which is frankly disappointing."
She raised a pincer to point at him. "At this rate, someone weaker than you but far more skilled is going to beat the crap out of you. I'll probably laugh when that happens."
Pretending to wipe away a tear from the corner of his eye, Daniel sighed dramatically. "I hope you know that your words hurt me."
"Good," Aegis replied without hesitation.
Too exhausted to pay attention to their argument, Pyrrha stared at the Bullhead for several seconds before finally realizing what she was looking at.
"Wait!" she exclaimed, interrupting them both. "Is that the military Bullhead you stole?"
Daniel didn't even bother denying it.
"Yep, it is. I thought that was pretty obvious."
Following a hunch, Pyrrha set Aegis down on the ground before boarding the ship, ignoring Sadako and Gura, who were still fighting over the bag of candy.
Heading straight for the cargo hold, she opened her eyes wide as she stepped inside and discovered that all the moonstones Daniel had stolen were right there.
"YOU BASTARD!" she screamed so loudly that her voice could be heard even outside the ship.
"I think she's talking to you," Daniel joked, glancing at Aegis just before a genuinely furious Pyrrha stormed out of the Bullhead.
"You told me you'd already handed them over to your contractor!" she accused him, pressing a finger against his chest. "You told me there was nothing you could do to get them back!"
Daniel roughly brushed her finger aside.
"And you were the idiot who believed me," he retorted, his rudeness catching Pyrrha off guard. "Look, I tell a lot of lies. You should know that by now, so don't act so surprised at this point."
Clenching her teeth, Pyrrha turned her back on him and began pacing in circles, weighing her options. Turning him in wasn't an option, but letting him leave with the moonstones didn't seem acceptable either.
Seeing how worried she was, Daniel rolled his eyes.
"Stop worrying," he tried to reassure her. "At this point, it really doesn't matter what you do. Nobody's coming."
Hearing that, Pyrrha opened her mouth, incredulous at his audacity, but before she could respond, Daniel raised an arm and pointed toward Argus, more specifically, toward the military base, which was visible from where they were standing.
"If they really wanted to catch me, they would've done it already. I'm literally out in the open and within range of their radar."
Pyrrha wanted to argue, but she couldn't, because he was right. They were relatively close to the Argus base, so there was no way the military hadn't detected him by now. However, if they'd already located him, why hadn't they sent anyone to investigate?
She could only conclude that, at the very least, what he'd told her about the influence his contractor had over Atlas-affiliated military bases was true.
"Besides..." Daniel continued, placing a hand on her shoulder, "...by the time you manage to convince the Huntsmen and bring them here, I'll already be gone."
"Wait, what?" Pyrrha asked in confusion, turning to watch him walk away toward the Bullhead.
"Everyone except the redheads, get on board!" Daniel announced in a mocking tone.
"Wait, wait!" Pyrrha repeated, hurrying to catch up with him. "You're leaving already?! It hasn't even been a week since you got here!"
Daniel nodded without stopping.
"You're right. And in just these few days, this city has been terrorized by a gigantic Grimm, mutated wolves, a dragon, and giant robots." He sighed with feigned sadness. "I only came here for some rocks and to relax for a few days, which, by the way, I really haven't been able to do. So... I'm outta here!"
Pyrrha considered saying something, perhaps asking him to stay a few more days. Despite being a liar, promiscuous, and prone to violent psychotic episodes, he was still her only friend at the moment, which was rather sad when she stopped to think about it.
Even so, as much as she wanted someone to talk to, she decided not to stop him, reminding herself that once he left, his entire gang would go with him, including Gura, the girl capable of destroying the city if she woke up in a bad mood.
With that in mind, her mood improved considerably.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye..." she said as a smile began to spread across her face, already mentally preparing herself to return to Argus, visit her mother, and sleep for the next two days.
Upon hearing her, Daniel suddenly stopped at the entrance to the ship.
Don't stop now. Just leave, Pyrrha thought, silently begging him to go.
But he didn't.
"Oh, I almost forgot," he remarked, turning to look at her. "In two months... I'm gonna kick your ass."
Pyrrha went blank for a second before cleaning out her ear, wondering if she'd heard him correctly.
"Excuse me, I don't think I heard you correctly... Could you repeat that?"
"I said that in a little over two months, I'm gonna kick your ass."
There was a moment of silence before Pyrrha burst out laughing. "Ha, ha, ha! And here I thought you weren't capable of telling a good joke."
However, her laughter abruptly cut off when Daniel closed the distance between them in less than the blink of an eye, stopping with his face just inches from hers.
"I'm serious."
Pyrrha stood completely still, her smile frozen on her face, as she watched him return to the Bullhead. It took her a few seconds to process what had just happened before reality finally hit her.
"Wait!" she shouted, running after him. "You said we were friends! Friends don't kick each other's asses!"
She tried to reason with him, mainly because she knew that if she actually had to fight him, there was a good chance she wouldn't walk away alive.
Daniel suddenly stopped, causing Pyrrha to crash into his back and fall to the ground.
"I'm doing this for your own good," he replied in a falsely sincere tone, crouching down to bring himself to her level.
He pointed toward Aegis, who was already waiting for him at the Bullhead's entrance.
"Aegis and I talked it over, and we believe that if you want to fulfill your dream of becoming stronger, we need to give you some motivation. So you've got two months to get stronger... or face the consequences."
"Ha..." Pyrrha let out a dry laugh, not quite knowing how to react to such an explanation. "So you're coming after me in two months?"
Daniel shook his head as he stood up.
"There's no need for that. I'll face you in the Mistral Regional Tournament."
Pyrrha stared at him in genuine confusion. "What would you gain by participating in a tournament like that? It's literally full of students and Huntsmen whom you undoubtedly outclass by a wide margin!"
A malicious, ear-to-ear grin spread across Daniel's face, giving her a very bad feeling.
"I'm gonna go there and humiliate every single competitor in the tournament, including you!" he announced in a cheerful, almost euphoric voice. "And that's not all! I plan on bringing other competitors, like Sadako, Gura, and other monsters like them."
He threw his arms up, unable to contain his excitement.
"It's gonna be the greatest tournament ever broadcast on television! So good it'll put the Vytal Festival to shame!"
Overcome with excitement, he stomped one foot against the ground, making everything tremble for several meters around him.
"I can already see the headlines! 'The Humiliating Downfall of Pyrrha Nikos!'" he exclaimed, locking eyes with her. "Don't you think that'd be fun?"
Pyrrha began to break out in a cold sweat. She didn't like being famous or constantly having the public eye on her, but that didn't mean she wanted to be humiliated and forgotten.
"You know what? I don't think I'm going to compete this year..."
"Shhh," he silenced her, placing a finger against her lips. "That's no longer an option. It's in your contract."
Pyrrha blinked, unsure which contract he was talking about. The only contract she had was with Pumpkin Pete's, and it expired in exactly four months, shortly before she entered Beacon Academy. Besides, it didn't include any clause requiring her to participate in the tournament.
However, suspecting that Daniel had no idea about any of that, she decided not to correct him.
"Oh, well... I guess I have no choice but to fight... Oh, boy!!" she replied, putting on her best defeated voice.
Her performance didn't fool Daniel in the slightest. Nevertheless, he decided not to point out her mistake and let her enjoy her illusion of freedom for a few more hours.
"We'll see if you're actually capable of not competing..." he whispered, finally turning his back on her before boarding the Bullhead.
The door closed behind him, completing his dramatic exit... which he promptly ruined by sticking his head out of one of the ship's windows.
"Whatever, I'm outta here!" he complained, giving the Bullhead's hull a few taps. "This ship is slow as shit, and I've got a long way to go."
The ship's lights switched on, making Pyrrha look at it in confusion as she realized he wasn't at the controls.
"Wait, who's flying it?"
Daniel looked at her as if she were an idiot. "Aegis, obviously. Who else?"
Sure enough, Aegis was at the controls, which had previously been adapted for his use. The modification basically consisted of a cardboard box placed on the pilot's seat and a few long branches attached to the steering wheel and controls.
Not wanting to ask why Aegis of all people had to be the one flying the Bullhead, Pyrrha decided to let it go.
"Military Bullheads aren't slow," she pointed out, since there were very few aircraft capable of surpassing their speed.
"Ha!" Daniel burst out laughing. "You consider this ship fast?" he asked, shaking his head in amusement. "I wish you'd seen my previous ship. Now that was fast! Unfortunately, it exploded when I arrived in this city."
"Ah..." Pyrrha sighed.
She didn't know whether Daniel was telling the truth or simply bragging, but since she didn't want to keep him there any longer, she decided it would be best not to ask any more questions.
She took several steps back as the ship's engines began to power up. She raised a hand and waved gently in farewell, but as she did so, her mind began piecing several things together.
His ship had exploded when he arrived in the city...
Pyrrha's hand froze in midair as the realization hit her.
"WAS THE EXPLOSION ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF ARGUS YOUR FAULT?!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Daniel hurriedly closed the window and pointed at his ear. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE NOISE!"
Pyrrha knew he was lying. She could hear him perfectly well, so he must have been able to hear her too. She clenched her hand into a fist and shook it in his direction as the Bullhead slowly began to rise from the beach.
"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!"
Furious, she picked up a rock and hurled it at the ship, although it barely managed to hit the hull.
If Daniel hadn't blown up his ship, the Huntsmen and students wouldn't have had to mobilize to the outskirts of Argus. She wouldn't have ended up encountering the wolf, which in turn led to it entering the city and, as a consequence, attracting the Leviathan Grimm.
It was all his fault!
And the worst part was that he knew it all along and had tricked her into believing she was the one responsible for everything.
"I ALSO FIND YOU SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE!" Daniel shouted back.
Pyrrha froze, completely in shock.
"YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID!!!"
She tried to find another rock to throw at him, but couldn't find one. Besides, it was already too late. The Bullhead was quickly moving away from the beach and was now out of her reach.
"At least things can't get any worse..." she thought, trying to regain her composure.
But, of course, she was wrong.
Through one of the Bullhead's rear windows, Pyrrha managed to make out the wolf's face. It was looking directly at her with its tongue hanging out and a huge grin plastered across its face, clearly mocking her as the ship sped away.
She followed it with her eyes for a few seconds, until the ship finally disappeared from view.
"You know what..." she muttered to herself. "Fuck this."
She wasn't even annoyed anymore, because she was physically incapable of getting any angrier. She simply turned around and began walking back to Argus.
—/—
Meanwhile, inside the Bullhead, Daniel returned to the cockpit, laughing his ass off.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Did you see her face when she saw the wolf? She's gotta be absolutely pissed off now!"
Aegis, having finished programming the ship's coordinates, turned her captain's chair around to look at him.
"Was all of this really necessary?" she asked curiously.
Daniel dropped into his seat before answering. "What exactly are you referring to?"
Taking advantage of the moment, Gura jumped onto his lap and snuggled against his chest, bringing her face close to his neck in an affectionate greeting, to which he barely reacted.
Ignoring the scene, Aegis continued.
"I'm referring to the moonstones in the cargo hold, which you could've simply stored in your inventory, and that entire backstory you made up just to deceive ONE person."
With considerable indifference, Daniel shrugged as he placed his hands on Gura's hips. She was trying to rub her cheek against his, although the difference in their heights made it difficult.
"I'm a method actor!" he justified himself, raising one arm in a distinctly Shakespearean pose. "When I get into a role, I go all the way. And if you want someone to believe a lie, you have to believe it yourself! Live the lie!"
"Oh, I almost forgot..." he suddenly added, dropping the illusion he had maintained over his body and returning to his original appearance.
Gura's eyes widened in fascination at the transformation.
"You can change your appearance?"
Daniel nodded, rubbing his nose against hers.
"I can do a lot of things," he replied with a chuckle before turning his attention back to Aegis. "So don't ask me to suppress my nature, because I'm not going to-!"
His explanation was interrupted when Sadako climbed onto his lap and squeezed herself in beside Gura, trying to steal her spot. She even began imitating her, rubbing herself against him to get his attention.
"The only thing I heard is that you're a pathological liar..." Aegis remarked, looking at the three of them. "And since when have you been so affectionate?"
Daniel chuckled and gently tightened his hands around both girls' hips.
"Don't confuse affiliative behaviors with gestures of love." He pointed at Gura before continuing. "She's not trying to be romantic. She's reinforcing social bonds and closeness within the group."
"I thought Gura was a tuna girl, not a wolf girl," Aegis commented, certain that tuna, much like his own species, lacked emotional and familial bonds.
Daniel nodded, conceding that she had a point.
"You're not wrong, but I can sense some werewolf in her, along with a few other things... I'd say she's more of a chimera."
"Uh-huh... And what about Sadako?" Aegis asked, fairly certain that she had nothing wolf-like about her.
Daniel's gaze dropped to meet Sadako's eyes, and he flashed her a smile before licking her cheek.
"She's just jealous of not being the center of attention."
Aegis shook her head several times before turning her chair back toward the controls.
"Damn mammals and their pack behavior," she grumbled under her breath as she revved up the Bullhead's engines to reach the mines as quickly as possible.
—/—
Back in Argus, Pyrrha finally arrived home. With no fans lingering around the property anymore, she made her way to the front door without any trouble.
However, the moment she opened the door, her mother, Athena Nikos, lunged at her and wrapped her in a tight hug.
"Thank the Brother Gods, you're all right! You're not hurt, are you?" she asked, checking her body from head to toe.
Although she was happy to see her mother, Pyrrha had to pull away from her suffocating closeness.
"I'm fine."
Athena sighed in relief for a moment before frowning and smacking her on the head.
SMACK!
"OW!" Pyrrha complained, bringing a hand to her head. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"
"You were supposed to be home hours ago! You didn't even answer my messages! WHERE WERE YOU?!"
Still rubbing the spot she'd been hit, Pyrrha pulled out her scroll and finally noticed the sheer number of messages that had piled up.
Damn it... She'd been so busy keeping an eye on the girls because of Daniel that she hadn't even checked her mother's messages.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I was... with some friends."
"YOU HAVE FRIENDS?!" Athena exclaimed, genuinely surprised.
Pyrrha narrowed her eyes as she met her mother's gaze, and Athena at least had the decency to look slightly embarrassed.
"Sorry, of course you have friends... I'm just happy you're here."
This time, her words were better received by Pyrrha, who managed a small smile.
"Thanks, Mom. I'm happy you're okay too, but right now, I really need to sleep-"
She didn't get to finish the sentence before Athena grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her toward the kitchen, completely ignoring her obvious exhaustion.
"I have wonderful news!" she announced excitedly. "Have you eaten yet? I'm sure you haven't. Come on, I've prepared something for you. I'll tell you all about it while you eat."
Despite how sleepy she was, Pyrrha didn't resist and eventually sat down at the table to listen to what her mother had to say.
"What's the news?"
Her mother could barely contain her excitement. "You're never going to believe this!"
Pyrrha disagreed with her. At that moment, she would believe just about anything if it meant she could go to her room and finally get some sleep.
Noticing her impatience, Athena finally revealed the news. "YOUR CONTRACT WITH PUMPKIN PETE'S HAS BEEN BOUGHT OUT!" she announced triumphantly as she placed a plate of food in front of her daughter.
Pyrrha didn't even touch her cutlery. She simply stared at her mother, completely confused by what she'd just heard.
"Huh?"
Athena nodded enthusiastically. "Last night, some people from Atlas contacted me. They offered a good amount of money to buy out your contract with Pumpkin Pete's."
Noticing her daughter's surprised expression, she smiled, clearly pleased with the reaction, before continuing.
"I know you don't like being sponsored by Pumpkin Pete's because of their 'unhealthy' products, so with these people's help, we contacted their offices, and after a lot of paperwork, they bought out your contract!"
Pyrrha shook her head in disbelief. None of what she'd just heard made any sense. Her contract only had a few months left, so there was no reason to spend money buying it out.
Nobody could possibly be crazy enough to make such a deal... Her eyes suddenly widened as she remembered that there was, in fact, someone crazy enough to do exactly that.
"Mom..." she asked, her voice trembling slightly. "Who bought my contract?"
Athena hurriedly pulled out her scroll. "Give me a second..." she muttered as she checked the copy of the contract.
"That's the strangest part," she remarked in surprise, showing her the SDC & AS logo. "At first, I thought it was the Schnee Dust Company, but it seems they've merged with another company, although they haven't announced it publicly yet."
Pyrrha didn't even have to guess what the other company was. She recognized those initials perfectly well.
"Aperture Science..." she whispered, surprising her mother.
"You already know them?"
Pyrrha nodded, putting on her best fake smile.
"Yes, I know them..." she replied, taking a deep breath before asking her next question. "Mom, did they happen to change anything in the contract?"
Athena puffed out her chest, feeling like the greatest negotiator in the world and looking immensely proud of herself.
"Not really. Almost the entire contract stayed the same."
"Almost...?" Pyrrha asked, feeling a cold sweat trickle down her back.
Without noticing how her daughter was shrinking further and further into her seat, Athena continued.
"The only thing they asked for was that you participate in the upcoming Mistral Regional Tournament, but that's something you were planning to do anyway, so it really doesn't matter, right?"
Athena kept talking, but Pyrrha was no longer listening. Her face turned pale, and her vision began to blur as her mother's voice seemed to grow more and more distant.
"So that's what he meant when he said it was in my contract..." she thought, finally understanding Daniel's words.
There was no escape. She was contractually obligated to participate in the tournament, and she had no doubt that breaking the contract would result in a hefty fine. One she probably wouldn't even be able to afford with the money he'd given her for the moonstones.
"...They also said they'd be sending you new equipment, supplements, and everything else you need for training," Athena continued, oblivious to how defeated Pyrrha looked. "Isn't that great?!"
Without having touched her food, Pyrrha got up from her seat and began walking toward the exit.
"Yeah, it's great..." she replied in a lifeless voice.
"Where are you going?" Athena asked, puzzled by her strange behavior.
Pyrrha didn't even turn around to look at her.
"I'm going to train..."
"I thought you were tired."
"Suddenly, I feel like I want to train as if my life depended on it."
Athena couldn't help but laugh. She packed her daughter's food to go and handed it to her, watching as she headed straight for the training area.
"What a hardworking daughter!" she remarked with a chuckle.
[Image]
—//—
Author's Note:
Nothing new to comment on. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The Mistral tournament isn't filler; I've had plans to write it from the very beginning, over two years ago. Does that mean it'll be well-written? I doubt it.
I left an image above as a possible little spoiler
That's it!
Hugs and kisses. Bye!