CLUES of the Past [closed]

Cheshire's pale hands looked bright paper white on Liseran's red face. She was feeling fevered, alright, but it was certainly no illness.

Liseran yelped and jumped out of Cheshire's grasp, dusting herself and laughing nervously.

"O-of course I'm fine!" she stuttered. "I-I just tripped th-that's a-all. Th-thanks."

She couldn't dare look at Cheshire and Scarlet left without her even noticing. Liseran grunted and scratched her head, trying to smile and look alright. It felt like forever since Cheshire had last touched her in anyway and it was making her feel dorky and giddy.

"Y-you should head up to Mr. Body now..." Liseran muttered.

"If you say so..." Cheshire said hesitantly as he stood up, "Then I'll go guard Mr. Body. Take care." Cheshire turns around to walk away but stops in mid-step. "Oh, Dr. Phil Green wanted to meet you. He's Body's personal doctor and he's staying here while his house is being renovated."

The gardener walks by with a shovel and a potted plant. He hefted up the shovel and stabs it into the ground to dig a hole to pot the plant. He kneels down, picking up the pot by the rim. Cheshire paused to look back and glance at him but turned back to talk to Liseran.

"He's a very good doctor and he felt obligated to meet both of us since we will be guarding the place for a while. He should be sitting around the back patio right now. You should-"

The gardener suddenly throws the potted plant, smashing it against the back of Cheshire's head. The faunus yelled at the sudden hit and he reflexively tried to reach for his weapon but almost instantly the gardener slammed his shovel against the side of Cheshire's head. The faunus falls to the ground unconscious.

"Death to the freaks!" the gardener yelled as he raised the shovel above his head to deliver the final blow.

"Cheshire!" Liseran yelled.

Liseran takes out Weeping Cerinthe and switches to Blade Form, leaping towards the gardener and toppling over him, the sharp point of her weapon just inches from his neck. Liseran's blood is now filled with fury and clutches his neck with no relent.

"How dare you." Liseran hisses. "Who are you!?"

She keeps the blade at neck point, waiting for an answer impatiently because she doesn't know if she can keep the blade suspended in the air much longer.

"Are you defending that animal??" the gardener growls, "Go ahead and kill me race traitor! This is only the start! Those old animals are next to go, you hear me! They're already dead!"

"I think that's enough," a gruff voice interrupted the ill banter of the gardener. A large wrinkled hand suddenly shoots out and clenches hard on the gardener's head making him yell in pain. The same hand literally pulls the gardener right out from under Liseran like a table cloth trick and in a faction of a second the man's face is slammed into the ground, his legs sticking out with his head planted in the dirt. General Mustard held the gardener down and let go for a moment only for the gardener to roll around and pulls out a combat knife. Before he could even try to stab the old war veteran, Mustard suddenly pulls out a massive monkey wrench and slams it down on the gardener's spine. The gardener went limp but he was definitely breathing.

It was then that Liseran could see a lion's tail swaying from Mustard's rear. The old veteran turns around with a tired sigh and looks at Cheshire's limp body.

"I'll take care of things here and take Cheshire to his room," he stated gruffly, "Go to the back and get Dr. Green."

Liseran was so surprised by General Mustard's intervention that she almost hadn't heard him. She stood up all the same as General Mustard took the unconscious Cheshire away and she rushed to the patio where she hoped to find Dr. Green.

Her heart was racing, worry filling her because she hadn't known to what extent of damage the gardener had did. Coming to the patio (and so slightly missing the stray root branches), there was someone there alright.

"Dr. Green?" Liseran called to the person present.

"Hm?" a man wearing a dark green suit responded looking up from his book. He was balding and his face looked chiseled and hardened. As he lifted himself off his chair, a long monkey's tail was following him as he descended the patio steps. "You the new guard lass? It's good to meet ya. What's wrong? You look like you just witnessed a murder."

Liseran gave a brief bow.

"I'm so sorry we cannot make proper introductions, Dr. Green," Liseran said. "But yes, I am. But more importantly Cheshire, my partner, was attacked by a gardener and has taken a couple of blows to the head."

She moved closer to him, her hands shaking and clasped together.

"Will you please come with me and see him?"

Suddenly, Dr. Green draws a revolver gun from his coat pocket and shoots. The bullet zips right by Liseran and she can hear a scream coming from behind. A man dressed in camouflage writhed on the ground behind her, holding his stomach in pain, a bayonet lying dropped on the ground next to him.

Dr. Green leaps up and slams a fist against the man's temple, effectively knocking him unconscious. He grabs the dropped bayonet and turns to Liseran. "I think we should get in the house," Dr. Green murmured, "Now."

He pushes Liseran through the patio door and locks it shut behind him.

In moments he went upstairs and entered Cheshire's room with his medical bag at hand. Edgar Plum is waiting outside Cheshire's door, his cane replaced with an iron pipe with one end curved. His cow ears laid flat on his head and he was breathing slowly with his eyes in intense concentration.

"And just when I was inspired by this picture of a red mask I saw in a book," Plum grumbled.

Liseran's seen more than enough surprises today and she can't let go of Weeping Cerinthe anymore.

Almost everyone's a faunus... she contemplates. I can see why this place needs guarding.

But still, Liseran's mind is on Cheshire, worried extremely about whether he's okay or not. Liseran doesn't know if it's a good idea to go into the room, but she does otherwise, unable to bear the anxiety anymore.

"Cheshire?" she calls softly.

"He's alright lass," Dr. Green says as he closes his medical bag. Cheshire is lying on the bed, his head wrapped in bandages. "Just out cold that's all. Not even a concussion. Always knew that boy was hardheaded." Green shakes his head in dismay. "Don't know when he'll wake up though. Best to just rest easy. You can stay here and watch over him if you want but he's out like a light for a day at least. I'm going to go warn the rest of the house about the attacks. The general is with Mr. Body so he should already be informed by now."

With that, Dr. Green exits the room leaving Liseran alone with an unconscious Cheshire.

Liseran feels a little guilty that she can't guard the house, but she sits next to Cheshire, her mind confused and worried.

Lightly, she touches his forehead and feels cold beads of sweat. She bites her lip half out of worry and half out of frustration.

"I couldn't protect you again..." Liseran says sadly. "But...I won't let that happen anymore. I can't."

Her fingers eventually make their way to his face and she traces it ever so lightly on his skin.

"I don't care what secrets you're hiding," she mutters. "Whatever past might haunt you...whether or not you'll care about me in the future..."

The hand runs down to Cheshire's own gloved one and she presses this on her cheek.

"I just want to be with you," she said. "To protect you. And make you happy. That's all I ask."

A stray tear falls from her cheek and its only then that Liseran realizes she's crying. She repeats the last sentence, but now addresses it to whatever forms might be listening above her. Whatever forces could aid and bless her wish.

That's all I ask...

She knows at some point, she'll have to let go of Cheshire's hand and return to her duties. For his sake and for the sake of the others in the manor. She places Cheshire's hand down gently and stands up, holding Weeping Cerinthe back in Bell Form.

"I'll take care of things," she tells him, though she knows he can't hear her.

She then opens the door in hopes to find Mr. Plum to watch over Cheshire. She needs to get back to Mr. Body. A mission is a mission, after all.

As Liseran exits the the door she does indeed find Plum still standing guard but she also sees another familiar face standing there.

"Oh, it's you," Scarlet smiles at Liseran, "Oh, hold on."

Scarlet reaches back and pulls down a zipper on her dress. A fluffy fox tail suddenly sprouts from the opening and she sighs in relief.

"That feels so much better," she states as she wags her tail, "I heard about what happened. Were you about to leave? Don't worry about Cheshire, I'll nurse him back to health."

"Yeah, you do that," Liseran said not really paying attention to Scarlet's hint of flirting. "And if you anything happens keep the doors locked and use the pager. I'll get here as fast as I can."

She rushed towards Mr. Body's study and just realized something.

Where's Lacie?

As Liseran approaches Mr. Body's studies she can see him speaking with both general Mustard and Ms. Betty White. White and Mustard's backs were turned to Liseran and Liseran can notice that hidden in plain sight among all the white ribbons and frills of White's maid dress was a fluffy cotton tail.

"You've got to fire them all," Mustard barked slamming his hand on the desk, "Any of them could be another extremist! Next time I may not have my wrench on me!"

"I caught one of the maids trying to slip poison into the soup," Ms. White stated, "I took care of her but I can't keep an eye on all the food all the time."

"I get it, I get it, I know," Mr. Body groaned as he clutched his head with his own hands, "I can't risk it anymore. As much as I'm going to hate this I'll have to fire all of the help. I'm sorry Ms. White but can you please take on your old duties again?"

"Of course sir," Betty White nodded.

"I'll take on the black cat's duties while he's out cold," Mustard stated, "I'll even keep them up when he recovers. You need as many guards as you can get."

"But you are one of the people need guarding!" Body exclaimed. It was only then that he finally noticed Liseran. Body dabbed his handkerchief over his forehead and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry Liseran, you probably have a lot of questions after everything that happened. Go ahead and ask whatever you want."

Liseran straightened her glasses and looked at Mr. Body.

"As much as I can tell is that all of you here are faunus obviously," Liseran said. "And that's made you target to some sort of attack. But there's more to it than just mere racial discrimination, am I correct?"

She goes up to Mr. Body and stares at him straightly.

"What do these people want?" Liseran said. "And, more importantly..."

She takes off her glasses to give Mr. Body an even graver glance.

"Who exactly are all of you?"

Mr. Body let out a tired sigh and leaned back against his chair. “Alright,” he said, “Let’s start with who we are. I am a human who supports faunus rights and sided with the faunus during the war.”

“As you can guess I was a general during that war,” Mustard explained, “And everyone else staying here is in one way or another connected with the same war. Even Scarlet has ties with us. Because of the roles we’ve all had in faunus rights support we’ve had plenty of extremists attack us before.”

“We’ve been attacked so many times that Mr. Body decided to house all of us for the last few years,” Ms. White stated, “Not only that but we recently found out that we’ve been targeted by an anti-faunus extremist group. Those two men we captured spilled the beans on that but they refuse to say anything else.”

“We’re keeping them locked in the basement tied up,” Mr. Body confirmed, “The doctor is working on interrogating them but we haven’t heard anything from him yet. For now we must take measures that these attacks don’t claim another victim…”

“Liseran…” Ms. White murmured, a worried look on her face, “I’m sorry you were dragged into all of this. And now Cheshire’s injured. Would you like to take the day off to take care of him?”

“If that’s what you want you have my permission,” Body confirmed.

“Me and Plum can take care of guard duty for a while,” Mustard stated.

Liseran paid careful attention and the situation made her toggle her glasses again.

"Things are going to get ugly," Liseran said. "And as much as I'd love to take care of Cheshire, you're going to need all the help you can get."

She took out Weeping Cerinthe from her waist.

"As a student of Beacon it's my obligation to make sure you're all out of harms way," she stated. "I'm not going to watch this from the sidelines. Those...those monsters aren't going to get what they want. In fact..."

Her hand triggered one of her bells to turn into a dagger.

"I think they deserve a taste of their own medicine."

The dagger turned back into a bell and Liseran looked at Mr. Body.

"It's not good that the others are separated," Liseran said. "With me and General Mustard and Mr. Plum, it'll be hard to stretch out in case one area's attacked. Can we manage to gather everyone is one place? Cheshire and Scarlet are in one room..."

Liseran's face turns pale.

"Where is Lacie?"

"You're looking at it," Mustard sighed as he crossed his arms, "This manor was built to be our fort. Never thought the hired help would turn on us though."

"The best we can do right now is stay in the manor as much as we can," Ms. White said, "I'll go prepare supper."

"I'll stay here with Body," Mustard stated, "Alright young lady I'm going to need you to go to your room and sleep right now. I want you to take night watch from now on. You fine with that?"

It was as if they hadn't heard her last question, but she listened to them and nodded.

"O-of course," Liseran said. "I...I'll go now."

She went off, hoping that Lacie was alright. As she walked back to her room, she tried most of the doors, but they were locked.

"Lacie?" Liseran called. No answer. "Oh, please be alright..."

She was near the rooms with the Temp Guard signs and she decided she might as well take a peek on how Cheshire was fairing. She knocked on the door.

"Scarlet?" Liseran said. "It's me, Liseran. The other temp guard."

The door was unlocked so she opened it.

As Liseran enters the room she can see a fairly disturbing sight.

Scarlet is fast asleep, a peaceful look on her face, as she lay next to Cheshire on his bed while the injured faunus was unconscious. Scarlet is breathing deeply in light snores showing that she was indeed fast asleep.

“Mmm~ naughty boy,” Scarlet murmured in her sleep. Her hands moved around as if subconsciously seeking out a blanket. Scarlet’s hands only found Cheshire and she cuddled up with the faunus like an overgrown comfort pillow.

Seeing the sight makes Liseran’s cheeks turn red out of embarrassment but she raises and eyebrow.
Really now…Liseran thought.

Knowing supper is close by (and her vexation at seeing injured Cheshire turned into a body pillow), she decides to shake Scarlet ever so lightly and tries waking her.

“Miss Scarlet?” Liseran says as she wakes her.

"Mmm~ five more minutes," Scarlet murmurs sheepishly. She scoots up even closer to Cheshire and wraps her arms around him."Mm~ so warm..."

Liseran sighs in exasperation and then takes a glance at Cheshire.

"Well, it's not like you know she's doing any of this," she says.

She takes a blanket and drapes it over Scarlet's shoulders. There's an armchair nearby and Liseran takes a seat.

"It's not like I'd be able to sleep in my own bed right now," she says. "Knowing the situation. I'll just stay here and take a small nod."

And keep an eye on Scarlet, she thinks last.

She waits for the hours to pass by in a worry-laced sleep, her head bobbing as she does.

Hours pass and the sky has already turned dark. At some point Scarlet had disappeared from the room during Liseran's nap. Liseran can feel something strangely warm around her. As she wakes she finds that she was lying on a bed. As the moonlight seeped through the windows, she soon finds out whose bed she was in.

Cheshire laid next to her, still unconscious, but now she was lying next to him on the same bed, alone in the middle of the night. There is a note right in front of Liseran's face. It showed a cartoon drawing of Scarlet giving her a peace sign with a smile on her face. The note simply read, "Have fun!"

Liseran rolls off the bed in shock and hands trembling. For the nth time today, her face is red and flustered. She frowns upon seeing the note and irritatingly folds it to put in her pocket.

"Sorry about that," she says to the sleeping faunus.

She looks at her watch and she decides it should be about time for her to start her duties.

"But someone should keep watch over Cheshire..." she contemplates. She goes outside in hopes to find someone, preferably not the vixen faunus who had been in here just moments ago.

"Hello," a familiar girlish voice called out to Liseran. Lacie smiled at Liseran as she stood in the hallway, "You looked happy in there. You want to talk again?"

Liseran gave out a sigh of relief and knelt down, putting her shoulders on Lacie's.

"Lacie, I'm so glad you're alright!" Liseran said. "Where have you been? It's dangerous to be going around alone. In fact, you should stay indoors. We've been having some...trouble, and I'd be ever so happy if you're safe and sound. Can you be a good girl and stay in this room? There's a man in there, but he's asleep and injured, so it'd best to be quiet. Keep the doors locked and..."

Liseran showed Lacie a pager.

"Press this button if there's trouble, okay?"

She hadn't even heard Lacie's question about wanting to talk, but it came to her now.

"As much as I'd love to talk, Lacie," Liseran said in a motherly voice. "I have something important to attend to. And you should keep safe. Have you eaten?"