LOKE- A RWBY story

Chapter 21- A small Gift

"Don't worry," Ruby said to me assuringly, "I'm sure someone will find it."
"Yeah," I sighed.

We reached the others and saw that both Oobleck and Baron were reporting the events to Ironwood. Ironwood listened calmly and without expression, but I swear I could see his right eye twitch occasionally. Suddenly Oris pulled me away from Ruby by my arm and to the rest of my team. She thrust something into my hand and I saw it was my scroll.

"Now give me mine," she demanded of me.
"What," I said, looking at her with confusion.
"I found it after the crash," she explained, "So if I had yours, you must have mine."
"Sorry Oris," I held my arms out to my side. "I don't have it." She looked both relieved and worried at the same time. Quite an interesting look to see.

"Teams RWBY and LOKE," Ironwood suddenly said loudly. We turned to address him. He continued, "Today, you behaved as hunters and huntresses should. You took action against a recognized threat. Today, you served the kingdom well. As there is to be no school today for the said events, please feel free to spend your day as you see fit. I believe you have earned it."

With that, he turned on his heel and signaled a company of Atlesian Knights to follow. He then walked off with his company toward an airship.

"As was see fit?!" Kuana exclaimed with glee, "Then what are we waiting for?!" He grabbed Lena by the hand and bolted down the street practically dragging her behind him.

"Should we go after them?" I asked Oris while I watched them vanish around a street corner.
"I need to find my scroll first," Oris said and set off through the dissolving bodies of Grimm to find it. I started off to find Ruby with her team when Baron called to me.

"Come here kid!" Baron shouted and waved me over. I walked over and saw my hat in his hand. "You should hang on to this," he said as he handed the hat to me, "Its a nice hat, it looks good with your coat."
"Ah thanks," I said and placed it on my head.
"And take this too," Baron said hastily as he quickly handed me a small object. "Don't mention it, would ruin my reputation as a hard ranger, you know?" I nodded to this.
"Good luck kid," Baron said with a grin and walked off after Ironwood to another airship.

I watched him walk away before I looked down into my hand and found a little wooden fox with nine tails. It was well carved, to well carved to have been carved by that giant hunting knife of his. I looked back up to see Baron wave as the airship took off with him. Strange man that.

I stared at the wooden figure a little longer. It felt familiar to me somehow. Strange. I shook my head and pocketed the little item. I pulled my scroll out and pulled up Ruby's contact and called her. I vaguely wondered as I waited for an answer, what had happened to Oris's scroll.

Third person POV

"Where did you get this?" Cinder hissed as she stormed into the dorm she shared with Emerald and Mercury.
"What do you mean?" Emerald asked with a stunned expression.
"Look," Cinder hissed as she tossed the scroll to Emerald. She opened it gasped.
"What is it?" Mercury asked and came to look himself. "What the...."

The scroll in question was full of photos. And not just any photos, but photos of Ehwaz sleeping in various positions. There were hundreds, if not a thousand of them.

"Is he biting the tip of his tail?" Mercury asked pointing to a particular picture that showed Ehwaz curled in the fetal position with the tip of his tail in his mouth.
"Where did you get this?" Cinder hissed again, blush rising.
"It was on the ground near him!" Emerald said defensively as she continued to scroll through the pictures. "It had his emblem and his teammates contacts on it. Who else's could it be?"

Cinder snatched the scroll back from them and closed it.
"I don't care if had his emblem on it. It probably belongs to one of his teammates," she said handing it back to Emerald, "Get this back to them before they cause a scene trying to find it."
"Yes ma'am," Emerald said eyeing the scroll with an entertaining look.
"And don't you dare open it again," Cinder hissed and pointed toward the door, "Both of you out!" Emerald and Mercury immediately rushed out the door and Cinder slammed it behind them.

"Rrrrrrrgh!" Cinder growled as she collapsed onto her bed. So close! She was so close to learning info on Ehwaz! Her cheeks felt hot. She pushed herself up and looked into the mirror on the wall and saw she was blushing. Blushing! No, she never blushed. It was just to hot in here. She stood up and walked to the window and pushed it open with a shove. She stared out over the school. She had info on almost every student under this damn school's roof at her fingertips. So why was it so hard to find info on him. It had been a week and the only thing she had to show for it was a thousand images of Ehwaz sleeping that were now ingrained in her brain. She felt her cheeks grow hotter.

"Grrrrraaaahhh!" She spun and launched a small fireball into the wall opposite of her. The fireball burst against the wall and singed the paint off. The fireball allowed her to clear her mind a moment. She did have something to show for it. She pulled her scroll out and looked at the newly added contact. Yes, she did have something. She looked back at the burn mark in the wall, it was so small. She turned back to the window and looked over the school.

"Soon," she said to herself, "Very soon."

End of Book 1