Velvet sighed.

She didn’t want to be a coward. That wasn’t why she became a huntress or went to Beacon, but she certainly didn’t feel brave doing as she was.

The others were all still in Beacon, probably. It was hard to tell. The past few weeks the team had been a little... rough. Oh, they were still all close, but now it felt off.

At first Coco was the shining beacon of team CFVY, she was the glue that held them together and the social juggernaut that wrapped the team around her pinky and dragged them into adventures.

Now... well now Coco was reserved and shy and withdrawn. It didn’t help that when she was at her lowest the professors tore into her for being irresponsible, and until Velvet showed Ozpin the pictures she had taken no one really believed them.

She couldn’t stand being in the same room as a quiet Coco that just didn’t want to engage with her anymore. It was like the exact opposite of how the start of their term in Beacon only Velvet didn’t have the social know-how to pull Coco out of her funk.

So, like the coward she was, she took a Bullhead to Vale and wandered the shops, spending more time staring at the pretty dresses behind windowed fronts and wondering what Coco would say than actually doing anything.

She sighed again and turned away from the storefront she was standing before, her attention scanning across the sparse mid-afternoon crowd before she started walking.

Her feet locked in place and she spun around, scanning the people walking by again until she noticed a tall person in a white cloak across the street. She was walking next to a little girl in a white and brown and pink outfit who carried a parasol, the girl gesturing wildly without opening her mouth as she pointed at different things. The woman in the cloak nodded along.

It couldn’t be.

Adjusting her purse so that she wouldn’t have a hard time grabbing Anesidora, she ran her hands down her summer dress and started making her way across the street. She placed one hand on her sun hat to make sure it didn’t get caught in the wind and pull at her ears which were poking through.

Her suspicions only grew as a glove-covered hand poked out of the cloak to point at one thing or another.

She slid behind a group of teenage boys when the girl with the cloak turned to look her way, her ears bending down as she kneeled a little and tried to make herself as small as possible.

“Uh, you okay?” one of the boys asked.

She blinked dumbly at him. “Yes,” she said before looking to see that the girl in the cloak and the little girl were crossing the street towards an ice cream parlour with a terrace with little parasol-covered tables.

They settled down at a table and waited until a waiter arrived to take their order, then the girl in the cloak said something and left. Parasol girl waved her off and started fidgeting in her seat.

The moment the girl in the cloak disappeared into the shop Velvet moved closer, using a convenient alleyway to hide herself while spying on their table.

She started thinking of her options. Calling the professors would probably be wise, but then the wouldn’t be fair to her team. Coco needed a win, really bad. Could they take Akelarre, if it really was her, in such a public place?

On the one hand, she probably didn’t have an army of Grimm to support her.

On the other hand, being riddled full of armour-piercing bullets didn’t seem to bother her all that much. Also, she was kind of scary. And nice until she got shot.

“Can I help you?”

Velvet felt her ears going ramrod straight and she froze on the spot, eyes wide and breath caught in her throat. Turning first her eyes then her head towards the deeper parts of the alleyway, she found herself facing a face hidden by deep shadow.

“Wait... Velvet?”

Pulling back her hood enough that her red eyes became visible, Akelarre smiled at Velvet showing off a row of pearly whites that she was almost surprised to note weren’t all sharpened for tearing into flesh. “A-Akelarre,” Velvet said. “Uh, I... how did you know I was here?”

The woman blinked and her smile grew wry. “You’re supposed to pretend that you weren’t spying on me then keep denying everything until the sun goes down,” she said. “But I’m glad you’re not like that.”

“Ah,” she said. That made sense. “B-but you already knew I was here... how did you know I was here?”

“Don’t be silly. I know where everyone is.” Akelarre’s hand shot out and wrapped around Velvet’s. “Come, you should meet Neo.”

“N-neo?” Velvet asked as she was pulled along after the Grimm girl. “Is, is she like you?” she asked.

“Oh no, Neo is just about the exact opposite of me in every way that counts,” Akelarre said.

As they neared the table, the girl, Neo, looked up and blinked once as she took them both in, then her eyes met Velvets and a grin spread across her features. It was sharp, a flash of teeth and dimpled cheeks that was nothing less than undiluted smugness.

“Neo, this is Velvet, Velvet, this is Neo,” Akelarre said as she presented her to the girl.

Neo nodded and her eyes wandered from her feet, up along her legs and across her off-white summer dress until they were back to her eyes. It was the most clinical look Velvet had ever received. Neo raised eight fingers, lowered them, then showed all ten.

Eight over ten? What was that supposed to mean?

Before she could wonder at it, Akelarre started looking around as though searching for something. “I need to find you a chair,” she said.

Neo shook her head, then made a patting gesture on her lap.

“Neo, she can’t sit on your lap. She would squish you.”

The girl brought a hand up and covered her mouth demurely. The effect was ruined when she wiggled her eyebrows.

“Right, well I’m going to find myself a seat. Velvet, you can take mine!” Akelarre said as she walked off and into the ice cream parlour.

Velvet fidgeted for a moment, watching Neo as she spooned some ice cream from her bowl to her mouth without ever breaking eye contact. “Ah, so, I guess I’ll just leave? Tell Akelarre it was nice to see her!” She spun on her heel and was about to move when she felt something sharp and cold tap her on the shoulder. She looked down slowly, eyes widening at the sight of bare steel casually leaning against her shoulder.

Turning slowly, she found that Neo was now sitting on the table, spoon in mouth and one hand outstretched to hold a sword. She nodded her head towards Akelarre’s seat.

Swallowing, Velvet moved towards the seat, adjusted her skirt, and sat down. When she looked up Neo was back in her seat as if nothing had happened. She didn’t even see the girl move.

Neo picked up another spoonful of ice cream and shoved it into her mouth with an indecent sound of pleasure.

“I’m back!” Akelarre said as she brought a chair around and slid it between Neo and Velvet, her other hand was carrying a small tray with three small bowls of sundae. Neo’s eyes widened and she pushed aside her own to grab one of them. The other two Akelarre placed before Velvet and herself. “I got vanilla. I thought it was the safe bet.”

“Thank you?” Velvet said as she eyed the ice cream. It probably wasn’t poisoned. Probably.

Akelarre grinned at her and sat down properly. “So, why were you so sad earlier?”

“What?” Velvet asked.

“Earlier, before you spotted us. You were kinda just staring off into the distance and sighing a lot. Did something happen?”

“I... you noticed me back then?” she asked.

“I see everything,” Akelarre explained as if it was the simplest thing. “That’s why we’re out right now. We’re spying on criminals. Uh, don’t tell them though. It’s going to ruin the surprise. Anyway, I saw that you looked sad, but I didn’t recognize you until you started spying on us from the alleyway.” She pointed with her spoon.

“I wasn't sad,” Velvet tried to defend herself while unpacking the rest of what the Grimm girl had said.

“You sure?” Akelarre asked and if Velvet didn’t know what she was, she might have been fooled by the note of concern in her voice.

Then Neo stuck out her lips and made them wobble while bunching her fists under her eyes as if crying.

“Neo,” Akelarre said before bopping the girl on the forehead with her spoon. “Don’t mock Velvet. She’s nice.”

Neo rubbed at the spot on her forehead and pouted.

“You should apologize.”

Neo flashed Velvet the finger.

Akelarre sighed and patted Neo on the head as if she was an unruly puppy. The look wasn’t improved by the way Neo leaned into the touch. “That’s really the best you’re going to get,” she said. “But at least Neo hasn’t threatened you yet. I think she likes you.”

Neo nodded and raised both hands, pointed to Akelarre, then Velvet, then herself before she started making downright lewd gestures. Akelarre pushed the hands down, a faint blush on her too-white cheeks.

“S-so, what upset you?”

Velvet fidgeted in her seat, aware that she was in the middle of Vale and that it didn’t matter at all. “I... my team, CFVY, we got into a bit of trouble after the whole, uh, thing with meeting you,” she said.

“Oh, I’m sorry. But that was months ago. You’re still in trouble?”

“No, no, it’s Coco, she’s been quiet and, well she hasn’t been herself since. She didn’t take us almost dying well.”

Akelarre waved the comment off. “You can tell her that I wouldn’t have killed her even if she did kill me first. I know that there’s a stigma against the Grimm. She should have tried talking before shooting, but she wasn’t entirely in the wrong. Or, well, she was, but I can understand why she did what she did.”

“I think it’s more about not being able to help, actually. We could have died and it would have been her fault. At least, that’s what she’s saying. We just want our Coco back.” She leaned forwards until her ears dipped down enough to enter her line of sight.

“Sounds like Coco needs a win. If you want I can have some ant Grimm burrow a hole under the walls and she can stand at the opened hole and mow down a whole swarm of Grimm with that gun of hers. I’m pretty sure I can make it look heroic and it won’t cost me anything.”

“Won’t a bunch of Grimm die?” Velvet asked. Then she blinked. “Wait, there are holes leading into the city?”

“Not yet,” she said. “And yeah, but most Grimm are pretty expendable. And It’s not like it costs me anything to make a few million more.”

Velvet felt her mouth going dry so she shoved a spoonful of vanilla ice cream into it. The ice cream tasted like sadness and mounting despair. “So, what’s the point?” she asked.

“The point?” Akelarre asked. “The point to what?”

“You could just destroy us all, couldn’t you? W-why are you letting us live?” Velvet asked.

“Personally, I’m not a fan of mass extinction. Some people need killing, but most bad people can be arrested or reformed. I’m thinking of trying to convince Mom to give humanity more room. But that doesn’t answer your question, does it?” she asked with a giggle. “I think the biggest reason is that you provide stuff like this.” She raised her empty bowl of ice cream.

“Ice cream?” Velvet asked.

Neo nodded solemnly.

“No, not ice cream. Products. The Grimm can’t make ice cream. Or food. Or clothes, cars, phones, books, or anything else. The Grimm are really good at destroying things, but they’re not Tinkers. We need everyone else for that. At the same time, I think Mom is a little afraid that people might rise up against her, so she pretends that she doesn’t exist. It’s worked so far.”

“So what, as long as we keep making things we’re okay?” Velvet asked. “We’re, we’re like slaves?”

Akelarre looked down. “Not really? Kinda?” she said while her arms wrapped themselves around her chest. “It’s not that simple, or all that complicated really. Mom wants to live, to be left alone, and humans want her dead. Not that they could kill her if they tried. So we have this situation, an eternal stalemate where humanity is kept in check and the Grimm rule the world. But I think we could do better.”

“Better?” Velvet repeated. Akelarre sounded so... she didn’t have the words for it. But she reminded Velvet of Ozpin when he gave his start-of-the-year speech. He had sounded so idealistic and happy, as if the future was going to be this bright and awesome place. Akelarre had the same tone, as if everything was going to be okay if she just listened to her.

“Humanity tends to hurt itself. It’s silly, but that’s just how it is. Actual slavery, corruption, governments and corporations that almost take on a life of their own. It’s annoying and fighting it is so hard. But we still should.” She smiled at Velvet, an honest grin that had the bunny faunus’ heart skipping a beat. “Did you know,” she said as she leaned in, as though about to reveal a secret. Velvet’s ears perked forwards. “I’ve been trying to think of a way to get the Grimm into space.”

“W-what?” Velvet squawked.

“Uh huh. Think about it! Grimm don’t need to breath, or eat. Temperature isn’t as big an issue, not unless they’re extreme. It would be so easy to land a few on the moon if we had a big enough rocket and the know how behind it.”

“You want to send Grimm into space?” Velvet asked. The mental image of a Beowolf strapped to a rocket like something out of a cartoon flashed into her mind and she slapped a hand over her mouth as a giggle escaped.

Her breath caught, cutting off the laugh as she looked towards Akelarre who was pouting. She tried to take a breath, but it came out as a snort.

“Okay, fine, laugh it up. You won’t think it’s so funny once I figure out how to drop spiders from orbit,” Akelarre said, but there was a hint of amusement there that helped Velvet calm down. “My ODSSs will be feared across the world.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just so... silly.”

Akelarre shook her head as she stood up and reached over towards Velvet. She relaxed into her seat until she saw that Akelarre was reaching for her bowl. Her empty bowl. She didn’t remember eating all of her ice cream. “If you’re done eating,” Akelarre said as she stacked the bowls. “We should head out, we still have a few places to scout out for later.”

“What are you scouting them for?” Velvet asked. It struck her just how open Akelarre was. Not at all what she would have expected from a Grimm.

“We’re looking for criminals to arrest them,” Akelarre said. Then she paused and eyed Velvet up and down critically. “Hey, Hunters are kinda like heroes, right?”

‘Um, I suppose,” Velvet said. Fox would have agreed, but Yatsu would have said that it was their duty to protect humanity first.

“What would your friends think of stopping a whole lot of criminals?” Akelarre asked.