Chapter 4

Nyx

Chapter 4

            “I’m not coming out.” Nyx yelled through the door. Autumn and Whise groaned. They had been standing outside the bathroom for fifteen minutes now, trying to convince Nyx to leave her sanctuary.

            “We’re going to be late, and besides you have to come out sometime.” Whise tapped her foot impatiently.

            “No… I look stupid.” Lyric walked up, holding a few thin pieces of metal in her hand, and got to work on the door lock.

            Whise laughed. “No, you look much better! Come on out, everyone’s going to love your new style.”

            Nyx groaned. “I don’t want anyone to love my new style…” In the few months that Autumn, Whise, and Lyric had known Nyx, they had never seen her without her hair done up in a tight bun. Whise had finally had enough and decided that she was going to style Nyx’s hair, and there was nothing the younger girl could do about it.

            “You’re being ridiculous. You looked so plain with that boring old bun. You should let your hair down more often, it looks so much better!” Whise exclaimed.

            “Yeah, now you might get a boy to notice you!” Autumn said with a grin.

            “NO! I don’t want anyone to notice me. The bun was to make sure I DIDN’T get noticed!” Autumn rolled her eyes at the bathroom door.

            “That was only the first step; next we change your outfit… I was thinking of a nice strapless dress!” Whise winked at Autumn, as they heard Nyx scream in protest from inside.

            The latch clicked, and Lyric stood, putting her lock picks away. Whise barged into the room, and emerged dragging a struggling Nyx behind her.

            “No! I’m not going out like this!” Autumn bent down to look at Nyx, who had sat stubbornly on the floor.

            “You come without a struggle; we’ll go into town after class and look at the weapons shops.” Nyx immediately stopped pulling, and looked up.

            “They don’t have anything new.”

            “A ship from Lycardia came in today. We’ll get to look at brand new weapons.” Nyx perked up a little bit at that, and Autumn could tell she almost had the girl, just one last thing. “I’ll even buy you new daggers.” Autumn felt sorry for Nyx, she would spend hours at the weapons stalls, browsing over the exotic daggers, but would never buy any of them. As Autumn had just learned, Nyx had no family to provide for her, no one to pay for her things either. Nyx carried around this pair of mismatched daggers that were on the verge of falling apart.

            Nyx jumped to her feet, a happy grin spreading across her face. “Deal! Can we go right after class ends? Oh I wonder if they have any leaf blades.” Autumn pushed the excited girl out into the hallway and walked to class with her. Lyric was listening to Nyx prattle on about the different blades she wanted to see, while Whise just smiled and led the way.

            As they entered their first class, Nyx underwent another personality transformation. The second she crossed the threshold of the door, she stopped talking excitedly and looked down at the floor, suddenly aware of all the attention she was receiving. Autumn looked around the class and noticed everyone’s eyes were focused on the now silent Nyx. Gossip had spread around the school of how she had defeated Thrash in single combat, but that was a few days ago, and the talk had died down by the second day. A sly smile crossed Whise’s face, and Autumn realized that the class was intrigued by Nyx’s new hair style. It really was a sight to see. Autumn had never seen anyone with hair as bright as Nyx’s, and with how it fell all the way down to her waist only helped intrigue the others.

            Nyx took her seat, in the middle of Whise and Lyric. She did this in every class in an effort not to talk to anyone. She didn’t trust herself around other people. Nyx was the type of person who would jump into a conversation, and could have trouble keeping her mouth shut. None of this helped her keep up her disguise though, so she was content to talk only to those on her team. She could feel the continued stares of her classmates, and it was beginning to freak her out a little. Nyx leaned forward, letting her hair cascade down around her face, effectively blinding her from those around her.     

            The teacher walked in, humming and happily looked at his class. “Good morning students. Today we are going to do something different.” The teacher began to go into his plan for the day. Nyx spaced out, day dreaming of the different weapons she was hoping to acquire. Maybe one of those gun blades that her roommates seemed to like so much.

            “-and that is how the Faunus came to gain their equality with us humans. Any questions?” Nyx froze, looking up at the professor. What did he say about equality? Her hand shot into the air, but another student beat her to the punch.

            “Yes Taris, what is your question?” The professor looked intrigued. Someone was actually paying attention to his class for once.

            “If the Faunus are considered equal, why don’t we have any in this school?” Taris asked. Nyx slid down in her seat a little at the question.

            “Well… um, that’s a good question. Maybe because they never try out for the school…” The professor paled a little as he answered.

            “That’s not true, I have seen several Faunus apply for this university, and several of them showed far more promise than some of the students here!”

            Someone behind Nyx mumbled. “Yeah, like Karden.”

            The student in question, Karden stood up and bellowed at the kid. “You wanna start something?!?! Ain’t no filthy faunus better at fighting than me!”

            The crowd erupted into arguments, and Nyx took a quick peek behind her at Taris. She was still standing, glaring at the class. Nyx had seen the girl around campus before, but had never spoken to her. She had jet black hair, brown eyes and a bow on her head. Nyx watched as the girl sighed in aggravation and slid back into her seat. Nyx turned back around and laid her head on the desk, and slept through the rest of class, amidst the arguments and accusations being thrown around like wildfire.

            The rest of her classes passed much more smoothly. No one raised arguments about the Faunus or equal rights, and no one called on her. She made it look like she was paying attention, but in truth; Nyx was day dreaming about what type of weapons she would find at the market.

            The end of classes could not come soon enough, and when Nyx and her friends finally left the school grounds, she was practically hopping with excitement. The walk to town was long and uneventful. If she could have, Nyx would have made her friends sprint to town with her. She sighed and looked up at the sky with longing eyes. Today was the perfect day to go flying. The sky was a royal blue with large clouds drifting lazily across the horizon. Her wings began to twitch under her sweater, urging her to spread her wings and become lost in the dancing air currents. Of all the things she had done to keep her identity a secret, not flying was the hardest. She could act like a shy little girl, and keep her wings hidden, but limiting the amount of time she spent in the air was pure torture. There was a time when she had to stay ground ridden for three months due to an injured wing, and she thought she would claw her eyes out. When a winged Faunus stayed grounded for too long they became paranoid and rather… animalistic in their emotions.  

            The market place was unusually crowded, for a Thursday afternoon. The rest of the city must have had the same idea as Autumn, not wanting the fresh trade goods to be picked over before they got a chance to browse. Nyx’s eyes were flicking everywhere, a wide smile on her face. Whise and Lyric left to replenish their ammunition supplies for the gun blades. Autumn handed Nyx a small black card.

            “Here, go find some nice new daggers, this will pay for them. I’m going to look for some phoenix fire for my spear.” Autumn was slightly startled as the younger girl gave her a quick hug and thanks before disappearing into the crowd.

            Nyx browsed the weapons with wide eyes. Every single blade they sold was such higher quality than Nyx’s mismatched daggers. Some were a scary dark metal, while others shimmered like a diamond in sunlight. It was hard for her not to buy the first set of daggers she found. The crowd was stifling. Every time she tried to ask one of the traders something, they couldn’t hear her, or were too busy helping other customers. She found a pair of thin daggers imbued with everfrost, and shouted for the trader. Of course he was helping another customer.

            Nyx resigned herself to wait, hoping no one would purchase them first when her attention was stolen from the daggers. The air had shifted and a very distinct scent filtered past her nose. Nyx turned away from the trader, just as he came to help her, the daggers long forgotten. She flowed through the crowd, drawn every onward by this familiar scent.

            The crowds began to thin a little as she approached the one stall with no customer. Behind a table crowded with weapons was a blacksmith, pounding on a length of metal, coaxing what was sure to be a masterpiece from the glowing blade. Nyx stopped at the table, not noticing the array of weapons before her, as her eyes were frozen on the blacksmith. He was a dark skinned southerner, massive and broad of shoulders, with a shaved head. He was shirtless, and she could see the sweat dripping off of him. She felt almost as if she was in a trance, not sure why she had been drawn to him, or why this smell was so familiar. He turned and plunged the glowing blade into a troth of water, and she froze, feeling as if the wind had been knocked out of her.

            There folded on his back, exposed for the entire world to see, were two massive black wings. Nyx couldn’t help but stare at the wings, tracing the different feathers with her eyes. Winged Faunus were not that common in the Vale. They were more commonly found in the southern deserts such as this Faunus before her, or the far northern mountains, like Nyx.

            The wind shifted once again, and the blacksmith froze mid strike. His head snapped around, staring deep into Nyx’s eyes. They stayed like that for what felt like forever. His eyes passed over the heavy sweater she was wearing. He put his hammer down and sighed.

            “Hatchling.” That single word made her feel like a child once again. He turned away and walked into the tent behind him. She looked around to see if her friends were in sight, then snuck into the tent.

            Inside, he had his back turned to her, wiping the sweat off with a wet rag. “You hide yourself.” She looked down, ashamed. For winged Faunus, it was very shameful to keep your wings covered, even if it was for a good reason. They believed that it was turning your back on your kind. The blacksmith shrugged into a shirt and turned around.

            “Come here.” He sat in a chair and beckoned her forward. She did so, and he held her chin in his hand, staring into her eyes again. “You even hide your eyes behind false colors. Why do you do thi-” His eyes widened as he inspected the other side of her face. He released her, a sad look passing over his face.

            “You have no family, do you?” She took a step back, startled.

            “H-How do you know that?” The smith held up a single finger to his left eye. Right below the eye, a small feather was tattooed in, nearly invisible amongst his dark skin.

            “Our kind receives the mark on our 11^th name day. You have none.” He gestured to another stool. “Sit, tell me your story.

            She collapsed into the stool, and before she knew it, the words came flowing from her mouth. He listened without interruption, never asking her questions, just sitting there and letting her get it all off her chest. She was grateful, because if he stopped her, she thought she might break down. She told him of her Mother and Father, living in the mountains, trying to stay out of the fighting between the Faunus and Humans. How the humans tracked them to their mountain abode, and put it to the torch. The torture her mother and father endured at the hands of the humans.

            Tears began to stream down her face. “And then…. Th-they c-cut their wings- they- with this big rusty sword.” She couldn’t keep going; she broke down into barely suppressed sobs. The smith settled a thick blanket over her shoulders, and wiped the tears away from her eyes.

            “Shhh, they would not have you sad. You have mourned long enough, be happy that you still live.” The smith began to prepare a pot of tea. She had never spoken of her past with anyone. No one would listen or even care.

            After a while, her tears had dried and the tea was finished. The smith handed her a steaming cup. “Here drink. Tis good for the feathers.” Nyx took a deep gulp, wincing as it scalded her throat. The smith chuckled. “Haha, slowly hatchling. Small sips.” Nyx blushed and took a smaller sip. Warmth filled her and gave her renewed energy; she looked up and smiled at the smith. He clapped a hand on her shoulder. “And there it is; I have been waiting all afternoon for you to be happy. Now, we have spoken enough of the past, but I must know, why do you live among the humans and not our kind?”

            “I could never find any of them. I lived in the forest for two years after my- after that night. When I finally stumbled into a city, I was so relieved, I didn’t even care they were human…” Nyx looked down at her cup, lost in memories. “I lived on the streets for the last couple of years… I stole and fought, doing anything I could do to stay fed and warm at night. A few times I would hook up with other Faunus, but on the streets nothing stays consistent. Friends would come and go, just trying to get by.”

            The smith nodded. “Yes, you need a trade to live with humans.” He looked out at his table, still piled high with weapons. “Although this town seems more hostile to our kind than most. It is plain that you are no longer on the streets.”

            She nodded and explained how she had hidden her wings, hiding her eyes behind false contact lenses, and had joined the Guardian Institute to become a Huntress. The smith nodded his approval. “This is smart move for you. But I still do not approve of this disguise you wear. You pretend to be a shy quiet girl. Our kind is neither shy nor quiet. The disguise will fall.” Nyx began to protest, but he held up his hand, silencing her. “No, I am right. It is not a matter of if, but when. When it happens, shed this disguise of yours. Be proud of who you are. Show off your flying, don’t hold back in combat, and do not let anyone stop you.”

            He stood and unfurled his wings. “Come, take off this disguise, and show them to me.” Nyx pulled off her bulky sweater, dressed in only a white undershirt, and relaxed her wings with a sigh. She kept them squeezed in tight most of the time, so it was a relief to relax them once in a while. She stayed sitting in the chair as he walked behind her, inspecting her feathers. “You need to preen more often. The feathers are misaligned and dirty. They will get infected… you do know how to preen?”

            Nyx blushed. “Of course I do! …it’s just hard finding time with my roommates…” she tensed up as he laid his hands on her wings.

            “Relax hatchling. You have knots in the muscles. This comes from lack of use. I understand you desire to keep up this disguise, but it is unhealthy.” He walked back around and checked outside; making sure no one was around, before turning around with a grin. “I have something I must show you. A little project I have been working on.”

            He spread his wings to their full extent, showing them off to her. “Tell me hatchling, what do you see?”

            “Um… feathers?” the smith laughed loud and deep, pride shining on his face.

            “Exactly! Just feathers. Now look closer.” Nyx walked forward, leaning over and inspecting his primary feathers. Her eye was drawn to a glint as he shuffled them in the firelight. Her eyes widened as she found what he was showing her. There, clipped to one of his black feathers, was a dark metal blade, shaped to look exactly like a feather. Her eyes traced the rest of his wings and she found that they were on all of his primary feathers and a lot on his secondary.

            “You have found them! Ingenious, no?” He unclipped one of the blades from his feathers, holding it up in the light. It was shaped perfectly like the feather it was clipped to. He handed it to her.          “Careful, tis very sharp.”

            She held it in the palm of her hand and looked up with shock. “It weighs almost nothing. How is this possible?”

            “They are made of a metal found in my home desert. My people make our armor out of it. There are stronger metals out there, but this can still hold up in battle and is light enough to fly in.”

            She extended her own wings, clipping the blade to one of her feathers. It was a poor fit and slid off. The smith caught it. “The blades must be custom forged for each of us. When the process is done correctly, they become an extension of the wing. Observe” The smith gave his wings a few hard strikes, and nothing happened. No rattling of metal, no daggers falling out. “With training, you can manipulate the blades.” He snapped his wing out, and three knives went flying through the air, impaling them into the wood of the tent post. Nyx was astounded. A wide smile forming on her face.

            “Can I have a set? Oh please? I can pay, my friend gave me some money and-” The smith laid a finger on her mouth.

            “Silence hatchling. I will not take money that is not yours. We are a proud race, not petty beggars.” The smith sat back down on the stool, crossing his arms against his chest, and silence settled over the tent. Nyx became depressed. She really wanted those blades, but had no way of paying for them. She looked down at the floor, letting her hair spill over her face and hiding her to the world. Out of habit, she receded into her shy alter personality. The smith noticed this and raised her chin up to look at him. “No. You will not pretend to be someone else while around me. You are not a shy girl, so enough of the pretending… I will not take money that is not yours, and you have no way of paying… but I might be able to offer you a job…” Nyx’s eyes filled with hope. “I have need of someone to man my store front. The humans here are too petty to do business directly to my face, but they still believe you are human. You will sell my weapons, and in return I shall forge you the feather blades.” Nyx grinned, jumping up and wrapping him in a hug.

            “Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I’ll work really hard and do whatever you say and sell everything!” The smith chuckled, a deep throaty sound making his chest shake.

            “You will not be thanking me soon I think. It shall be hard work. You will help me at the forge when there are no customers. You will be here for many hours each day, and the work shall push you to the limits at times.” He pointed out of the tent. “Go, it is getting late. Be back here tomorrow as soon as your classes are finished.”

            Nyx gave him one last grin and dashed from the tent, her wings twitching, asking to fly. She slid to a halt, gasping. Her wings! They were still exposed for the world to see. She ducked beneath the table outside and pulled back on her sweater hurriedly. Nyx poked her head above the table and scanned around. It was far later than she had realized, and the market place was all but empty. She breathed a sigh of relief and dashed out of the town, a goofy grin plastered to her face. Buildings streaked by as she sprinted past. She wasn’t just running out of town, but towards a new step in her life. Moments later, she was sprinting through the forest back to the Academy. The wind was whistling through the trees like a song of the forest. The sun was almost below the horizon, and the leaves rustled as she streaked past them. Her excitement funneled into a bottomless repository of energy. Time slowed, yet she seemed to speed up at the same time.

            Nyx blasted through the forest, trees screaming past, as she soared, flipped and streaked her way through. Her powerful wings working almost as if they had a mind of their own, yet in perfect sync with the rest of her body. Left she would spin around this tree, then immediately banking right to avoid a ticket of saplings. Nothing slowed her down; all obstacles were surpassed with little effort and no loss of momentum.

            The Academy appeared before her as she exploded out of the forest. The sun had fully set and the grounds were illuminated by flickering torch light around the walls. It finally dawned on Nyx that she had been flying. She didn’t remember nor care that she had lost her sweater at some point in the forest. She was built for flying, and nothing was going to stop her from doing it.

            Nyx had spent so many months practicing to be this shy little girl, dead set on fitting in at this school, and not drawing any undue attention to herself. What she failed to recognize was that a few short hours spent with another of her kind had cracked the surface of her false personality, allowing the true one to emerge a little.

            Nyx knew it was risky to be flying on school grounds, but at the moment she really didn’t care. She felt so full of energy, and all her mind could think about was those feather daggers flying through the air and sinking into the wood. Nyx looped around the tower that she lived in several times, before dive-bombing through her open window.

            All the winged girl could hear was several startled yelps as she blasted into the room in a blur and into the closet, the wind created by her passage slamming the door shut behind her. Nyx wasn’t able to suppress the giggles as she shrugged into one of her sweaters.

            The door was wrenched open by Whise, a look of murder on her face. “What the hell was that!?!? We have a door for a reason, stop exploding into the room!” Nyx looked at her before collapsing into a fit of laughter. Whise’s hair was all over the place, giving the girl the appearance of a hurricane survivor.

            Nyx walked out of the room, trying hard not to grin. The room was a mess. Again. Thanks to her. Again. Autumn was helping Lyric out from under the overturned bed.

            “Hey, Nyx… you should like totally stop tipping the bed over on me.” Nyx smiled apologetically at her roommate.

            “Sorry Lyric, I’ll try to tone it down…”

            Autumn turned to look at her with confusion. “How did you even do that anyways? We live on the 12^th floor!”

            “I um… I climbed?”

            “Well stop doing that! What if you fell?”

            Whise approached them, her hair now back to its usual state. “Well are you going to keep us waiting?”

            Nyx looked at her confused. “Waiting? What?”

            Autumn laughed. “Come on, don’t be so forgetful. Show us the weapons you bought! We have been talking about it all day. There were so many things you would have loved.”

            Nyx handed Autumn back her black card. “I didn’t buy anything.” Nyx walked to her bed and pulled out her old rusty weapons from the harness under her sweater, placing them on the nightstand.        

            Her roommates looked at her in shock. “You didn’t get anything!?! But you were so excited!” Lyric looked at Nyx as if she had grown a second head.

            “You mean you are sticking with those rusty old things?” Whise turned her nose to the daggers sitting on the desk.

            “I don’t understand… I told you it was ok to buy any weapon you wanted…” Autumn looked confused.

            Nyx turned to her roommates, a strange look of confidence on her face. “I hail from a proud race, not one of petty beggars!” Nyx turned her back on her stunned roommates and climbed into her bed, signaling the end of the conversation.

            Whise, Autumn and Lyric looked at each other in bewilderment, having no idea what just happened, and wordlessly turned in for the night.