The Bird and the Garden 2: Restart!

Chapter 23: Vytal Festival

Festival time.

Team FRSB will be going against other teams. However, this will NOT be like every RWBY fanfic where Beacon falls and stuff. That is because of what Y/N and Vao wished for in the first story; Salem, while powerful, does not have enough power to orchestrate something of that scale.

So you might be asking, "Minty, why even add the Vytal Festival then? Or the school dance?"

Well, my beloved readers, this is a fanfic. I'm basing the story off the lore of RWBY. The Vytal Festival is an event that started from the Great War, and is part of RWBY lore. As for the dance, Beacon is a school.

However, there are concerns. Verde is going insane. Will she be capable of participating, despite her degrading mental health and her inhumane experiments?

And with the reveal that Salem is actively hunting Y/N and Vao, what will happen?

Enjoy. This chapter has a fight scene.

...

One week. One week had passed, and the Vytal Festival had begun. One week, and Verde still had not left Vao's room, not even once. To say that her team was worried was an understatement. Currently, they were sitting at a stall, waiting for the arena to finish setting up.

"... Verde's still not here," Y/N muttered half-heartedly. Sasha nodded glumly.

"Seriously, what's up with her lately? She doesn't even answer our calls. And judging from that look on Vao's face, she doesn't answer him either." Y/N looked at Vao to see what the giant was talking about, and sure enough there was something wrong with the crippled femboy's face. He looked like he was about to have a mental breakdown.

"Dude... Are you okay?" Y/N asked. Vao looked up at him, his eyes watering.

"S-she's been looking forward to the Festival for months... What's going on?"

Y/N felt bad for the recovering alcoholic. He pat Vao's back comfortingly, trying to make him feel better.

"Hello. Terribly sorry for my lateness."

The three of them spun around at the sound of Verde's voice. But before they could break into happy smiles, they stopped.

Something was wrong.

Very, very, very wrong.

...

Ironwood sighed as he sat down next to Ozpin, watching as the arena staff set everything up. The headmaster looked up from his conversation with Winter, taking a sip from his hot chocolate. "... Is something the matter, James?"

"... It's Salem. I've sent search party after search party, utilizing the best investigators I have, but we can't find the whereabouts of Salem or Ruby."

"They'll be found eventually," Ozpin reassured. "That horror never rests for too long. However, there's something else that has been bothering you, hasn't there? Please, do share. You're in a safe place."

Ironwood groaned, leaning back and resting his forehead against his index finger and thumb. "It's... My daughter," he confessed. Winter looked up from her scroll worriedly. Ironwood continued. "I haven't heard from her in days. She usually calls every other night to tell me about her day, or about some place Vao took her that she enjoyed."

Ozpin nodded, taking another sip. "And I am assuming she hasn't called? She is almost eighteen, James. This is perfectly normal."

"I know. But that's not what got me worried," Ironwood argued. "I pulled Vao off to the side, and he told me she hasn't spoken to anyone. Not even him."