LJNT

Harsh Reality

"A mysterious scorpion Faunus managed to infiltrate the Myttlefranken Theater just yesterday, massacring anyone in his sight. There were fourteen casualties. Lyra Ng-Nikos, Pyrrha Nikos, and a couple of other students at Beacon Academy did their best to stop the intruder, but were unfortunately unsuccessful. The murderer is still at large. Vale's police forces are doing their best to seek him out."

The television in front of Lyra, Pyrrha, Nico, and Tanya continued to debrief about the tragedy that had happened yesterday, and the reporter Lisa Lavender was doing her best not to show her true emotions. After all, the Grimm were attracted to negative feelings, the news had to do their best to hide the truth of what happened...but nothing could stop the girls from feeling incredibly guilty.

"...It's my fault," Lyra finally said after a long moment of silence. Her voice cracked, her eyes tinged with a bright blue tint. "They...They all came to see me, and..And...because of that..."

"I...I can't believe the police couldn't catch him," Tanya's normally cheery expression was nowhere to be found. It hadn't stopped raining ever since the battle last night, and the rain relentlessly pounded against the roof of their dorm, constantly reminding them of their failure last night. Nico was just silent, but she was curled into a tight ball. Her hood was pulled up over her head, concealing her fuzzy ears. The three of them just sat there in solemn silence.

"We are speculating that this is another freak accident from the White Fang," Reporter Lisa Lavender continued. "Police have been ordered to keep a lookout for any suspicious looking Faunus."

"Uh, what-? That's...That's profiling! They can't do that!" Tanya exclaimed. "I'm just as scared as everyone else, but...but they can't do that!"

"...P-People do that already," Nico muttered, a distant look in her red eyes. "W-What's t-the difference..?"

"Wha-!? Well, they shouldn't!" Tanya said angrily as she stood and began to pace. "I'm just so-ugh-! Mad! And upset, and sad, and-I don't even know anymore!"

"What is there to be conflicted about? We failed. We let someone just come in and kill people...It's the same as what happened to my village..." Lyra's golden eyes were almost entirely sapphire. She curled up on her bed, a traumatized look in her eyes. "I couldn't stop it again...this time, it's my fault...It's all my fault...I let people die, I let people die..."

"...Why did this have to happen?" Was all Tanya said in response. None of them had the energy or the mindset to deny what Lyra had said. "Why did this have to happen? It...It must be some sort of bad dream..."

"I-It's not..." Nico mumbled dejectedly, her ears drooping. "We r-really couldn't...stop him...B-But...A-At least we're alive..."

"...Do we really deserve life?"

"Yes. Of course we do!" Tanya said, and even though her voice wasn't as energetic as usual, it had a certain firmness to it. "We...We did the best we could...we did. And even after all of that..."

"...After a-all of t-that, J-Janelle h-had the nerve t-to call you a n-no one," Nico's red eyes narrowed in fury, remembering about the full train wreck yesterday was. Tanya flinched at this.

"I can't believe she called me a no one... I know we weren't as close as I wanted, but I...I thought we were friends."

"Friends don't do that to each other," Lyra said, her tone laced with venom. She softened her voice in just the slightest. "...Tanya, Nico...I know I haven't always been the kindest, but...I...I truly do consider you my friends. I..I'd do anything for you. I thought Janelle felt the same, but I guess I was wrong...but that doesn't matter. The three of us are going to be the best team ever. We're going to take down all of those monsters, and stop something like that from happening ever again. We will get stronger, we will stop it...and we can do it, just the three of us. We can do it, and we will."

"Y-Yeah," Nico nodded. She had wanted to get closer to Janelle, but now, Nico was glad she hadn't. Janelle's betrayal would've hurt a lot more if Nico had actually gotten close to her. "Y-You guys...s-see me as m-more than a G-Grimm...A-and I r-really appreciate t-that...W-We w-won't ever let t-this happen again."

"Janelle made her decision," Tanya said, her fists clenched. "So, fine.. We're no one to her now. She can find a new team."