Pearls on a String

Volume 2

Chapter 27: Recovery

Malachite's Atlas Base

Tuesday Afternoon

Beryl stood by the side of Pip's bed, holding on to Evie's hand as she watched the blonde slumber. "She doesn't look any different," she murmured.

The Cat Faunus shook her head. "No, she doesn't. But I suppose that's a good thing, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Sooo…" Evie gave her hand a squeeze. "You wanna talk about it yet?"

She sighed, flicking her gaze over to the other chair in the room containing her partner, who was regarding her with a level but concerned gaze.

"Shouldn't we wait for Pip to wake up first?"

"Sweetie…"

"Yeah, I know," Beryl sighed again. "I'm just putting it off… Look, I don't really understand what happened. I was just standing over you, and the Beowolves were closing in, and then…"

"What happened next, dear?" Lustre prodded gently when Beryl remained silent for a few moments.

She still waited a few more seconds before responding, simply because she found it so difficult to articulate what had happened. "And then, it was like my aura exploded."

"Exploded?" Evie asked curiously.

"I don't know how else to explain it." Beryl shook her head wearily. "I keep going over it, and I don't know what it was. I was just… I wanted to protect you so badly, and my semblance was up while I was standing over you, and I don't know how I did it. I just… exploded outwards."

"Everything in that room had been thrown back from where we found you," Lustre murmured thoughtfully. "As if it was the center of a concussive blast."

"But was it enough to kill the Grimm as well?" Evie asked.

"No, they just… disintegrated when it hit them." Beryl sighed, looking down at her feet. "I know it sounds crazy, and I don't get how I could have done what I did…"

"Perhaps..." Lustre mused. "Perhaps you merely discovered a new aspect of your semblance."

Beryl's eyes shot up, meeting her partner's pale blue gaze. "How d'you mean?"

"Well, your semblance is primarily protection-based. You anchor yourself in the way of harm to protect those behind you."

"Okay," she replied slowly. "I can follow that so far, I mean, yeah that's how I see myself anyways."

"You don't have to, you know," Evie murmured, giving her a quick peck on her cheek. "You don't always have to protect us."

Beryl looked up at her girlfriend solemnly. "Yeah, I do."

The Cat Faunus gave her an affectionate sigh and just shook her head. "Alright, then. So what else were you thinking, Lustre?"

"Well, perhaps this is merely an extension of the same method of protection." Lustre's eyebrows were furrowed in thought as she worked through her theory. "This 'explosion' would prevent her, or those she protected, from becoming overrun. You glow blue when you have your semblance activated, perhaps it was this glow that you sent outwards to push your enemies away from you?"

"I… I don't know." Beryl frowned. "I suppose it could have been… but how did I do it?"

"Well, what were you thinking of when it happened?"

Beryl closed her eyes, concentrating on the fleeting memory. "Evie was at my feet, bleeding… Gods, she was bleeding so badly…" She felt her girlfriend clasp her hand harder, and she clung to it so as not to get lost in the horror of the moment. "And I was thinking… thinking that I'd protect her, defend her to my dying breath… and then… Then I was just thinking, they won't have her, I won't let them have her, and I felt this, this pressure building up…" Her voice was rising slightly as she spoke and she felt herself trembling slightly. "And then I screamed."

"What was it you screamed?" Lustre prompted gently.

"Stay away from her," she finished with a whisper.

Evie let go of her hand so that she might wrap her arms around the shorter girl who was now shaking like a leaf. "It's okay, sweetie," the Faunus girl murmured. "It's alright, I'm here and I'm safe now, okay?"

"I know," Beryl mumbled into her chest. "I just… I came so close to losing you, and then I wouldn't have anything left to live for…"

"Don't be like that," Evie chastised her quietly, though unwilling to release her from the embrace. "I don't want to hear you talk like that, you have a lot of people who care for you…"

"What would it matter, though, if I didn't have you?" she replied in a broken whisper.

Evie choked back a laugh. "Yes, well… I seem to remember being in a similar state of panic after the first round of the Vytal Tournament."

"That's 'cause you loved me back then already."

"Yeah… I suppose I did… Gods, I wanted to punch the dust outta Sunny when she came in and started playing nurse…"

Beryl giggled. "My jealous little kitty cat."

"Don't you forget it. Anything like that you ever do again better be with me in mind."

The blue-haired girl pulled back to regard her girlfriend warily. "Um… what exactly was that supposed to mean?"

"Just what I said."

Beryl blinked at her uncertainly, a light blush forming across her cheeks, as she tried to figure out exactly how to articulate how it sounded in her ears.

Fortunately, Evie figured it out on her own soon enough. "Oh! No, I didn't mean like…" The raven-haired girl's cheeks were a flaming red by this point. "Not like… you and Sunny, when you… I mean…"

"So," Beryl smirked, feeling a little smug. "No threesomes, then?"

Evie just sputtered incoherently.

"I did not hear a 'no' there, dear," Lustre grinned, enjoying the spectacle.

"Nope, neither did I," Beryl grinned.

Evie finally just snorted and clomped over to a chair, plopping herself down inelegantly. "I'm not talking to either of you," she growled, her tail swishing furiously behind her and her Faunus ears flattened against her head.

Beryl and Lustre's laughter was cut off when a weak voice spoke up.

"You know, I'm always available, babe."

"Pip!" the three other team members shouted joyously. Evie and Lustre both leapt to their feet and crowded around the bed.

"How are you feeling?" Evie asked anxiously.

The blonde gave them a wan smile. "Kinda like I got run over by an airbus. But… overall, pretty damn good."

"Clear-headed?" Beryl prompted next. "I mean, you can think straight, right? And you're still in control?"

"Well, let's see…" Pip held up a hand, palm up, and stared at it for a moment. Suddenly there was a pulsing along the veins of her arm, the crimson color running up to her hand, and where it ended a small flame came into existence, flickering upon her palm like a candle.

"Huh, it worked."

"Pip…" Evie breathed. "That's... "

"Really cool," Beryl finished, awestruck.

"So are you fireproof now?" Lustre asked quizzically.

"Apparently, yeah. From what the doc said, if I practice enough, I should be able to, like, toss the fire around."

"Oh my Oum, you can make fireballs?" Beryl squealed.

"Maybe," Pip laughed, clenching her fist and snuffing out the flame. "Still takes aura to activate, but doesn't drain me any, since the dust is fused inside me now. I gotta take the time to figure out all what I can do, y'know?"

"Well, we will have to find the time back at Beacon," Lustre interjected solemnly. "Professor Ozpin wants us back as soon as we are able."

"Can you travel yet, or do you need more time to recover?" Evie questioned.

"Nah, I'm good," Pip replied, setting actions to words as she swung her feet around and stood up. She was a bit wobbly at first, but soon enough stood up straight and stretched her arms over her head.

Unfortunately, as she did so, her flimsy hospital gown tore and dropped to the floor.

"Oops," Pip grinned sheepishly.

Lustre shook her head with a resigned sigh while the others just averted their gazes. "I shall find you some clothes, dear."

"Thanks, Lustre! Guess we need to grab our gear, then, and find that Bulldog?"

"Yep, it's waiting for us," Evie confirmed. "Frost has Viridian secured and they're just waiting on us."

"Alright," the blonde sighed as Lustre re-entered the room, a pair of grey sweatpants and a white tee shirt in her arms. "Let's get this show on the road, and you guys can catch me up on the flight back…"

Beacon Academy

Tuesday Evening

Many hours later, they touched down at the landing pad of Beacon. Frost had stayed behind in Atlas to start the cleanup of the SDC and work with the board of directors to ensure the company itself did not collapse. But finally, after a very long day, they were back home again.

As soon as the group exited, they were met by several veteran hunters who took Doctor Viridian off of their hands. After that, it was just a matter of taking the long walk to the elevator leading up into Ozpin's tower.

"Whelp, here we go," Pip murmured.

"Evieeee…" Beryl moaned quietly. "Everyone's staring at us..."

"Hmm," the Faunus mused, taking in the curious glances of the students lining the walkway. "Nothing hostile, though…"

One of the students broke away and began walking next to them calmly. Beryl was pleased to recognize Indie, the green-eyed leader of their friends from Team IRIS, her shoulder-length blonde hair tied back into a ponytail.

"Ladies," their friend greeted them levelly.

"Hey there, Indie," Pip grinned. "How'd you guys make out? Everyone in your team okay?"

"Yeah, we all escaped without any injuries," she replied. "Gotta ask you, though… there's a lotta rumors flying around about you guys and how you pretty much deserted Vale. I'm guessing, though, that you found something out in the library?"

"That we did," Pip replied solemnly. "Didn't have the time to get permission or anything, and they likely wouldn't have let us anyways… Well, you heard some about what happened with the SDC?"

Indie stopped in her tracks, her mouth gaping. "You killed Damian Schnee?" she whispered incredulously.

"No, no not that!" the lanky blonde replied, waving her arms about emphatically. "We just figured out it was him as the money guy, giving lien to Malachite. Got the location of the bad guy's base, his sister Frost came with us, and we kicked ass."

Indie nodded slowly and resumed walking alongside them. "Looks like you didn't come away unscathed, though," she commented, glancing over at Evie.

The Cat Faunus nodded genially, aware that her new scars would likely draw attention for awhile. "Would have been a lot worse, though," the raven-haired girl replied, giving Beryl's hand a squeeze where she held it.

"So…" Indie mused. "The glowing Grimm all dropping dead, that was you guys then?"

"Yup," Pip answered.

"Damn. Guess you're the heroes, then, huh?"

"Welllll…" Pip smiled sheepishly. "We did desert, and kinda steal a Bulldog, and invade the private residence of a corporate CEO…"

"Ah, hence the very slow walk of doom towards Ozpin's office," Indie smirked.

"Yup," Pip replied again, this time far more despondently. "Guess we'll see how much trouble we're in."

"Well, for what it's worth… thank you guys. And I'm glad to see you're all okay." She flashed Lustre a quick smile. "I'll let the others know you're alright, and maybe do a little damage control to the rumor mill."

"Thank you, Indie," Lustre replied warmly. "I hope to meet up with you again soon."

"If they don't just lock us up," Beryl grumbled as they boarded the elevator.

"Now, I don't think Ozpin would be that drastic," Evie murmured.

Still, it was with a certain amount of trepidation that the four students disembarked from the elevator and into the headmaster's office.

He stood at the window, his hands clasped behind him as he gazed out across the school and towards the town of Vale itself.

"Have a seat, please," he murmured without turning around.

Beryl audibly gulped as she took a seat as close to Evie as she could without crawling into her lap. She could tell that her girlfriend was wanting to do the same, but they settled for tightly lacing the fingers of their hands together.

After a good minute, Ozpin let out a quiet sigh as he turned and paced over to his desk. He sat in his high-backed chair, adjusting the cuffs of his jacket as he did so, and then pushed his glasses up on his nose.

"Miss Cerise. I understand the detrimental side effects of your condition have now abated?"

"Er, yessir," Pip answered meekly. "Viridian finished the procedure on me, and now I got… a bit of control over things. At least, I don't need the shots anymore."

"Hmm." He reached forward and took a sip from his mug. "You will need to spend some time in the infirmary just to be sure."

And that, obviously, was not a request. "Yessir," Pip said again.

Ozpin's gaze moved on to Evie next. "And Miss Black. Your injuries seem to have been quite extensive, and yet healed as if they occurred quite some time ago. A remarkable feat for a huntress-in-training."

"Um, yes, sir. That is… Beryl helped me. We…" The Cat Faunus nervously glanced at her teammates, and Beryl gave her a confident nod. "Sir, we share an Aura Bond. And she was able to transfer enough aura to me to help me heal."

"Interesting," the unflappable headmaster murmured. "And indeed quite remarkable. I would imagine, however, that even sharing such a bond, the transference of that much aura came close to ending your own life, am I correct, Miss Beryl?"

"Yes, sir," the diminutive blue-haired girl nodded firmly. "I have no regrets, sir."

"Hmm." Ozpin graced the pair of them with a very slight smile before glancing at the last member of their team. "And you, Miss Bijou. No significant injuries?"

"No, headmaster. I am quite well now, thank you."

The grey-haired man nodded slowly. "Excellent. Now, I would like to first reiterate how pleased I am at your successful efforts at ending this threat to the four kingdoms. You all remind me of several other teams in the past, ones who went on to become legendary figures in their own right. I'm sure you've heard of them." He gave them another slight smile. "In fact, you have met one, if briefly."

All four of the girls sat up a little straighter, flush with buoyancy from the compliment of the comparison to the famous Team RWBY.

"However," he continued in the same mild tone. "I must take some exception to the methods you used to obtain your goals."

And just like that, their good moods evaporated.

"I am sure I do not need to go over the list of transgressions. Were these normal times, any one of them would be grounds for possible expulsion from this academy."

Beryl gulped once more, gripping Evie's hand more tightly.

"Fortunately, there were not normal times. I assume your actions were based off of the belief that your course would not be approved. Given that… I must still administer some form of punishment, even though the end of the semester is a scant two weeks away."

Ozpin leaned forward and folded his hands on the desk in front of him. "Your team is grounded from further missions, through the remainder of the semester."

The four girls stared at him for a few more heartbeats, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Er… Is that it? Sir?" Pip asked hesitantly.

Ozpin quirked an eyebrow. "Would you like more, Miss Cerise?"

"No, sir! Not at all, sir!"

"Very well. I do believe you are all deserving of several hours sleep. Classes have been cancelled for the next two days to allow for students to recover. I expect you all to take the next day to relax, and Miss Cerise, do stop by the infirmary the following day. Are we clear?"

The four of them nodded quickly, rising from their chairs. "Yessir, very clear!" Pip replied, turning to leave.

"Oh, and girls?"

They paused halfway to the elevator to glance back at Ozpin, the corners of his mouth quirked slightly.

"Next time, do not be so quick to assume what I would or would not approve."

"Yessir!" the blonde team leader grinned.

Beacon Academy

Friday Evening

It had been a rather grueling few days. Pip had spent quite some time in the infirmary, and still hadn't had the time to figure out the extent of her new abilities. Meanwhile, classes had started up again, and the professors were cramming as much in as they could prior to final exams beginning the following week.

Practically all of the students felt woefully unprepared for the end of the semester.

The stress was beginning to build as the library remained open around the clock, free space hard to find no matter what time of day or night it was. For Team PERL it was no different, and they all felt as if they spent more time staring at their class notes and textbooks than with each other.

And that's why Beryl couldn't quite seem to wrap her head around the message she'd received from her father.

On the surface, it seemed simple enough, just a quick missive regarding something he'd found and wanted to pass along to her. But the ramifications of that very simple message…

It would shake the foundations of one particular person that Beryl was close to.

Eventually she shook herself out of her stupor, quickly coming to the realization that she had no idea at all how to proceed. This called for a second opinion, specifically that of a rather gorgeous Cat Faunus, who even though was looking particularly harassed at the moment was the first person she'd thought of.

"Beryl, sweetie, not right now," Evie murmured, her brow furrowed as she poured over her notes while sitting under a tree outside. "I've gotta go through this one more time if the latter section is to make any sense…"

"Please, Evie," the blue-haired girl begged quietly. "I need you to read this."

Sighing, the raven-haired girl set her notes down, her tail swishing irritably behind her though her tone remained gentle. "Alright, then. What's so important?"

Beryl handed her scroll to Evie, who wordlessly took it and began to read. And then her sapphire eyes widened like saucers as she gasped softly, her tail stilling.

"Beryl, this… this is…"

"I know!" the blue-haired girl hissed. "But what do I do with this?"

The Cat Faunus chewed on her bottom lip, thinking hard. "We have to tell her at some point…"

"But exams are coming up…"

"There's never going to be a perfect time," Evie asserted.

Beryl let out a small huff. "I know, I know… Okay, maybe we should ask Lustre too…"

"Yes, absolutely." She pulled her own scroll out, sending a quick message asking for the whereabouts of their silver-haired teammate. They coordinated a meeting over in front of their dorm, and headed over immediately.

Lustre noted her teammate's agitation and readily agreed to view the scroll message, though her reaction was similarly astonished. She was, however, unequivocal as to their next action.

"We have to tell her," she asserted firmly. "Now."

And so it was that the other three girls clustered around Pip as she reclined in her desk chair, looking up at them askance.

"Okay, you're all startin' to worry me a little bit here…"

Beryl sighed, clutching her scroll in her small hands. "Pip… I got a message from my dad. He, well… He did a little research based off of something he noticed when he met you all. And, well…" She handed her scroll over to Pip.

The blonde accepted the device and read it. Then reread it before looking out the window, her coral eyes slightly unfocused.

"My mom is… alive?"

"Possibly," Beryl conceded, taking the scroll back and glancing over the contents once more. "I mean, all we have to go on is her name, Jewel Cerise, and that she was a huntress, and last spotted in Mistral, though that was a few years ago… but…"

Pip shook her head slightly. "But she could be alive still. Why… How did I end up at an orphanage?"

"I don't think my dad got that much. But still…" Beryl looked down at the image there on the scroll that accompanied the message, a vibrant-looking woman who could be a twin to Pip were it not for the bright blue eyes. The picture was apparently taken some time ago.

"Can you send it to my scroll?" Pip whispered, still staring out the window.

"Sure, Pip."

"Sweetie," Evie asked her partner gently. "What do you want to do?"

"I… I don't know," the blonde replied, still a little stunned at the news. "I mean… I want to find her, and ask her… Oum, I have so many questions for her…"

"Very well," Lustre interjected firmly. The others looked up at the silver-haired girl, her ice-blue eyes flashing with determination. "As of right now, there is nothing to do until after exams. But once summer break is here I know exactly what we shall do as a team and as a family."

She grinned at them, warm and confident.

"You will all accompany me to my home in Mistral, and we shall spend the break tracking down Pip's mother."

A/N: Alright, so that wraps up Volume 2, and sets the stage for Volume 3 which will take place essentially over the girls' summer break. I got some fun stuff lined up as Pip goes in search of her family.

I am, however, going to put the story on a brief hiatus, hopefully no longer than a couple of weeks. I want to build up more of a buffer for A Thorny Tangled Triangle (and write a little more fluffy smut for A Thorny Bind), but I also have another short story I want to try and push out. Should only be a handful of chapters with a definite end in sight. If you're curious, it's a Bumblee story that I don't believe has been told before. Follow me as an author if you're interested.

Until then, I want to send out my love for reading this story so far, and for all of the lovely followers, favoriters, and reviewers! Pearls has garnered over 4k hits so far, that's pretty damn impressive for an OC story!

Stay shiny!