Chapter 23 - Opening Ceremonies

Alfie marveled up at the floating arena for the Vital Festival, as much as it hurt he had accepted that he wouldn't be participating this year. But he could still see it, still, cheer on his classmates and for him, that was more than enough. After all, he and his team had enough to keep themselves busy with. He glanced over at Neely, who sat just away from where he and Gren had set up for an afternoon sparing match. She was being quiet and vigilant. So much of the levity she used to wear gone now that her role as a spy was gone from her mind. She looked lighter though, without that weight. But still, she looked grave.

"Neely," Alfie began sitting down beside her. "You're worrying too much and believe me I realize how ironic that sounds coming from me." Neely sighed.

"I know but what if Roman tells Ironwood about me?" she asked.

"You could beat him to it and tell Ironwood yourself," he said. Neely groaned getting to her feet.

"Alfie, I understand the sentiment but the truth about me involves an alarming amount of crime and even murder," she ranted.

"Sooner or later the truth will come out," Gren said leaning on his spear. "It may be better for you to be the one to tell it." She sighed once more.

"I know that," Alfie lay back on the grass breathing in the summer air. He wondered how much longer this peace could last. A smile touched his lips as he thought something simple.

I'm glad for the peace.

"Neely!" The trio turned at the sound of Russell's voice. Neely grinned a small bit at him/

"Hey, Rus." He came to a stop before them, giving a quick nod to the boys.

"You're not too busy to get some lunch?" he asked his cheeks a bit flush. Neely nodded.

"That sounds nice," she told him turning to her teammates. "I'll see you two later."

"Aye, aye," Alfie said without getting up. "Stay safe." Gren grinned lopsidedly at them.

"How cute," he said. "Our girl has a crush."

"It's good," Alfie said closing his eyes. "Russell gets her mind off the whole impending doom thing." He opened his eyes. "Speaking of crushes, have you've been courting Weiss quite a lot lately." Gren laughed.

"I can't help it," he said. "It makes me smile to see her blush, but I'll tone it down once the Festival begins so I don't annoy her too much."

"She doesn't seem to mind the teasing too much," Alfie said softly getting to his feet. Gren chuckled.

"I hope so," he said. "Ready to go another round buddy?"

"Gladly," he said pulling out his weapons.

Before

Alfie sharped Shadowslayers as Lenox and Yang sparred in the backyard.

"Lenox is lucky you actually like working with weapons," Fiona told him. He grinned.

"That he is," Alfie set the swords aside. "But I did tell him once we go to Beacon he's on his

own." Fiona giggled sitting beside him.

"I wonder how long you'll stick to that," she pondered. Alfie sighed.

"I'm going to try my best."

"You know, once we entered Beacon, it will be time for the Vytal Festival." Alfie nodded.

"It feels weird doesn't it that we'll be a part of it," he said. "I wonder what it will be like?"

"I must be amazing," Fiona said with that dreamy edge to her voice. "Being able to represent our school and Vale." Alfie smiled.

"I bet you that you end up being the champ," she said. Alfie blushed.

"No way," he muttered. "It will you or Yang or Lenox." Fiona grinned wrapping him up in a hug.

"Always so modest," she told him.

"Hey, what are you making my little brother blush for?" Lenox called with a wolfish grin.

"I'm just telling him about how he's going to win the Vytal Festival one day," she called back as Lenox and Yang found their ways to the porch.

"Oh, right we'll be apart of that," Yang said. Alfie nodded as Fiona let him go.

"How about we make a promise then," Lenox said.

"What kind of promise?" Yang asked.

"That one of us four will win the Festival," Lenox declared.

"I'm in," Yang replied with a grin.

"Dido," Fiona said. They looked at Alfie. He sighed.

"Fine, I'm in."

"Then it's settled we'll show the others who the champions are," Lenox said as Yang slung an arm around him. Fiona laughed and Alfie smiled.

Now

"What's going on in that head of yours Alf?" Yang asked as he made his way over to Lenox's bed. His brother was still stuck on his coma.

"Something a little sad," he told her. Yang smiled.

"What else is new," she teased. Alfie chuckled, "So what is this sad thing you're thinking about?"

"The promise we made with Fiona and Lenox." Yang's brows furrowed before something clicked in her head.

"The one about one of us four being the one to take the festival by storm," Yang said. Alfie nodded.

"It looks like that you're the last one standing to keep it," Alfie said somberly. Yang smiled sadly.

"Then I guess that I'm going to have to do my best," she said. "Can't let you all down."

"You'll have plenty of help along the way," Alfie said grinning. Yang nodded smiling brighter.

"Yep, everyone should beware of team RWBY," she said.

"Champion Yang Xiao Long," he said.

"Heck yeah," she said holding out her fist. Alfie bumped it with his own.

"We can tell Len all about it once he's up," she added.

"He wants all the details," Alfie said.

"Right, he'll be so sour that he missed it," Yang said.

"We won't hear the end of it," he joked.

"I can't wait to," Yang said smiling.

"Me too."

Blake looked at the same page of her book for about the last twenty minutes. She tried to keep thoughts of the White Fang and Adam from mind before the first round of the festival. But they kept coming back so she took time to herself, hoping to deal with them. She hated that Adam could still get into her head like that. She sighed.

"You look gloomy," a familiar voice said.

"I'm fine, Gren," she said closing her book glancing up at her fellow Faunus.

"Thinking about Adam?" Gren asked Blake in that calm tone of his.

"A little," she replied. "How did you know that I knew him?"

"I guessed," he admitted looking at the window in the hall where Blake sat. "You reacted to his name when we explained what had happened." Blake thought about the last time she saw Adam when she was drifting away on a train car.

"I knew that he was more dedicated to the new order of the White Fang," Blake said, "But it took me a while to admit that he was so full of apathy to everyone who opposed us." Gren nodded, there was that sharp edge in his eyes. Anger towards the new White Fang. It looked odd on his kind face.

"What will you do if he shows up?" he asked.

"I don't really know," she admitted. "Fight him if he threatens my friends."

"I understand the feeling." Blake made to ask something when Sun appeared.

"What are you two looking so glum about?" he asked with a cool grin.

"About how I'm trying to woo Weiss," Gren said an easy smile wiping away the anger. Sun shook his head still grinning.

"Man, you are hopeless," he said. Gren chuckled.

"Don't I know it." Blake smiled even if the thought of Adam hadn't vanished from her mind.

Next day

Alfie stood watching Team RWBY fighting in the round one of the tournament. He couldn't stop himself from grinning at the battle. He watched each move, working out how he'd counter them or just appreciating the flow of their movements. He cheered as Team RWBY won, the stadium loud and pulsing with energy. The Vytal Festival had begun.

"Well, Alfie you didn't over exaggerate how fun this was," Neely told him as they walked towards the festival grounds. He took in the smells of the many vendors and the foods they brought with them.

"Told you this was fun," he said smiling like a little kid. He remembered being there for the first time as a child. With Lenox and their dad, he never wanted to be a hunter as bad as watching the different teams compete. He loved seeing all the different people from all around Remnant. "Reminds me of being a kid," Gren said looking around them. "Makes me miss all the traveling." Neely smiled.

"Yeah, same but it's nice to see it all without being on the run."

"We'll make sure to keep you on the straight and narrow," Alfie said still grinning.

"My knights," Neely said shoving him. He laughed.

"It's a full-time job," he said as he caught sight of the victorious team RWBY at one of the food vendors. They looked moew glum than he was expecting.

"What's with all sad faces," Gren said as the team came to the vendor.

"We're poor," Ruby said resting her head in her hands. "Poor and hungry."

"Maybe I could help with that," Prryha said as she and the members of team JNPR appeared.

"I can split it with you," Alfie said.

"You're both the best," Ruby said as the whole group got big bowls of food to eat. They bid team JNPR goodbye as they headed off to their fight.

Before

"So what do we know?" Alfie asked standing in the middle of his room. They had a board set up with the information that they knew so far about their shadowy enemy. Torchwick and Neo in one man, copies of Lenox's not were taped to it. Maidens, and even more shadowy bosses.

"Plenty but also nothing," Neely grumbled as she lay back on her bed. She was still recovering from her injuries.

"We know at least that Beacon is their target," Gren said.

"Do we?" she asked.

"They had a spy here and someone infiltrated a place that you scooped out," Alfie said blandly. "Several attacks have been going on near our campus, need I go on Neely?"

"Okay, I get it," she said. Question is what the hell is here on campus that they want." The team fell silent. Nothing in Lenox's notes suggested he had any idea. Beyond some vague notes and names, they didn't know.

"We could ask Qrow?" Gren suggested. "He is Lenox's mentor."

"True," Alfie said. "But as far as I saw Qrow had gone dark and I've got no clue how to find him."

"Couldn't we just ask Ruby or Yang?" Gren said. Alfie nodded some odd part of him wanted to keep them out of this despite how involved they already were.

"I'll talk to them about it soon," he said the festival was soon so he needed to decide soon.

"There is also the Roman and Neo problem," Neely said. "Roman could sell me out at a moment's notice and Neo is still out there somewhere." She sat up looking grumpy as she often did the past few days. "I don't doubt Neo will try to break Roman out."

"It won't be easy," Gren said. "Especially with Ironwood and his army." Alfie crossed his arms.

"Lenox saw something the night of the dance," he said. "What if there is more than one spy here?" Gren and Neely both looked at him as he stared at the board.

"With the Vytal festival, there are some many strangers coming to our campus that no one would question someone looking around. New people doing things that don't seem completely normal."

"Maybe even the boss themselves," Neely said.

"It could be," Alfie muttered. "This is the perfect sort of situation to cause chaos. We need to be extra on guard.

"We need to watch out for more spies and murderers, you mean," Neely said tiredly. She really looked worn out.

"Yeah, I suppose that is what I'm saying."

Now

Alfie sat up far above the stands in the fighting arena. He loved the feeling of the wind in his ears. He watched all the teams far below, the people that he called classmates and friends. And all the strangers. Some of them could be the one that harmed Lenox. But who was it? Neely and Gren were down there somewhere, cheering on their friends.

"Don't you know students aren't supposed to be up here?" an older man's voice came over the wind. Alfie smile getting to his feet carefully.

"Dad!" he said. "What are you doing up here?" Mr. Zane smiled.

"I'm helping with the programming and maintenance of the arena," he said proudly. "I was going to surprise you, boys, when you were completing." Alfie hugged his dad.

"It would've been a great surprise," he said. Mr. Zane hugged his son tightly.

"I'm glad to hear it," he said as the crowd broke into cheers below. Alfie let go of his dad.

"They won," he said seeing Jaune and the others celebrating on the big screen.

"Friends of yours?"

"Yeah, I should go down and congratulate them," Alfie said. "Want to come with me, you can meet my team?" Mr. Zane grinned. He looked an awful lot like Lenox. Same black hair that was graying now and they had the same smile just their dad was softer. Mr. Zane's eyes were also a soft brown, Lenox's mom had his red eyes.

"I'd like that," he said. "Also don't let me find you up again, it's dangerous you know."

Alfie smiled timidly. "Understood," he said as they headed back down to where the next rounds of battles were being prepped.

The day of matches had ended and Team ANGL walked to the infirmary with Alfie's dad.

"Once he got so caught up in forging one of his new ideas, his grandpa found him curled up outside the forge room door. Sleeping on my jacket," Mr. Zane recounted.

"Please no more stories, Dad," Alfie groaned.

"No please going, Mr. Zane," Neely said grinning.

"Could you not?" Alfie said to her.

"What? It's good to learn more about my partner," Neely said. "Help us build up our teamwork." Alfie shot her a withering look.

"We work fine already." Mr. Zane and Gren laughed at the pair's banter. Alfie grumbled something under his breath as they reached the nurse's station.

"Alfred," she greeted. "Such a good brother." he blushed.

"Any changes?" Mr. Zane asked.

"Nothing today," she said. "I'm sorry, but with all these visitors I'm sure he'll be up before you know it."

"Who else has been here?" Alfie asked. Most everyone else had been in the arena.

"An older man, a hunter, red eyes, black hair," she said. "Seemed a little tipsy, to me to be honest," she added frowning. Alfie froze mid-step towards the room.

"Qrow," he said softly and ran in the other direction.

"Alfie?"Gren yelled as he raced back towards the fairground. He needed answers and Qrow had them. He wouldn't let the hunter sneak past him.