Trailer – Black

Careless. She'd gotten so careless.

Blake put her book down on the table and locked eyes with the huntress walking toward her. For weeks after she'd left Adam behind, she'd lived looking over her shoulder. She'd been so certain that someone would come after her – either the authorities or other members of the White Fang. But no one had. Perhaps she had Adam to thank for keeping the White Fang off her back. Despite how things had ended between them, she wanted to believe that he still cared. As for the authorities, it was possible that they didn't have enough information to identify and arrest her.

So she'd let her guard down, little by little. And now, in this quiet café, they'd finally caught up to her. Oh, they were good. They'd done everything so subtly. She'd chosen this café for a reason. It was quiet and secluded but still lively enough to make starting a fight a very unfavourable proposition for anyone acting on behalf of the authorities. She didn't want to hurt anyone else, and she could easily slip away in the confusion any fight would cause.

But as she'd settled down with her book, she'd lost track of the people around her. It was a stupid mistake. And now, she was going to pay for her carelessness.

They must have emptied the café gradually – even engrossed in her book, she'd have noticed if everyone else left at the same time. If she had to guess, they'd probably spoken to management and evacuated the other customers one at a time until only Blake was left. She took a deep breath and reached for Gambol Shroud. She would fight if she had to. She couldn't let it end here, not like this.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The huntress sauntered over, her blue sari brushing against a chair before she came to a stop at Blake's table. "I didn't come here looking for a fight." She pulled a chair over and took a seat opposite Blake. "And even if you could beat me – which, I might say, is a really, really big if – you'd still never make it past my partner there."

Blake stilled as another woman, one with pink hair, came out of the café's kitchen with a freshly brewed pot of tea. To the untrained eye, she seemed nonchalant, but to Blake's keen senses, she radiated a deadly calm.

Who were these people? She should have been able to sense them long before they got this close, but she hadn't felt a thing. Then it clicked. She knew them, almost everyone did. The woman across the table from her was Oerba Yun Fang, and the pink-haired woman was Lightning Farron. They were two of the most infamous huntresses in the world.

Slowly, Blake eased her hand away from Gambol Shroud. As much as it pained her to admit it, she was better off listening than trying to escape or pick a fight. All the same, she kept herself ready to burst into action. The door wasn't that far. All she needed was an opportunity.

"Easy there. I told you, I'm not here to fight." Fang snagged two teacups from a nearby table and flashed a winning smile at Lightning. The other woman rolled her eyes and poured tea into both cups before she took a seat at another table. Fang breathed in the smell of the freshly brewed tea and sighed. Blake did the same. It smelled wonderful. "See that? Lightning's pretty handy to have around – and she makes a killer cup of tea."

The remark was met by a faint scowl and a blur of motion. Fang's eyes never left Blake's as she reached up to pluck the butter knife that Lightning had thrown at her head out of the air.

"The trouble is that she's got a bit of a temper on her."

"Why are you here?" Blake asked. She couldn't afford to let her guard down, no matter how easy going Fang appeared. That knife had been thrown with enough force to send it right through the wall of café, and Fang had caught it like it was nothing. These two were dangerous.

"I cam here to talk, that's all." Fang tossed an amused glance at Lightning. "And she's here to glare." Right on cue, Lightning glared. Blake bit back a wince. That was one scary glare. "But don't let that put you off, she's actually quite cuddly once you get past all the death threats, blunt-force trauma, bullets, and pointy things."

"I'm listening."

"Good." Fang offered Blake one of the cups of tea. Blake took the cup but didn't drink out of it. Fang chuckled and made a big show of drinking her own tea. "Look, we're not going to poison you, kid. If we wanted to take you down, we'd do it the traditional way – with sharp things and property damage." Her expression sobered, and Blake lifted the cup of tea to her lips to try and dull the sudden sharpness in Fang's gaze. "We know who you are, Blake. We've known for a very long time."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Of course they knew her name. But that didn't mean they could connect her to everything she'd done as a member of the White Fang.

Fang nodded, and Lightning passed her a sheaf of folders. The huntress spread them across the table and waited for Blake to pick one of them up. Blake peered into the folder and paled. They had a full dossier of her activities with the White Fang along with pictures of her on several of their raids.

"Those friends of yours like to make trouble, don't they?"

"They do."

"You should have worn a mask."

"I know."

"I'll be honest with you, I can kind of see where the Faunus are coming from. You guys have a tough time of things. But that doesn't justify everything the White Fang have done, not by a long shot. Heck, it doesn't justify half of what you've done. Still, I've got to give the White Fang credit. To train someone like you – they know what they're doing." Fang pulled a scroll out. There were several videos of Blake in action. Fang smiled. "You've got some moves."

"Thank you – I think."

"So I get why you joined the White Fang. What I'm trying to work out is why you left them." Fang took a sip of her tea. "Let me tell you what I think. I think that you didn't agree with the way they were doing things. I think that even though you want equal rights for the Faunus, you'd rather be helping people instead of hurting them. Am I right?"

Blake took another sip of her tea. It was perfect. Then she counted to three. "And if you are? What does it matter? You clearly have enough to arrest me. We both know that. But we both also know that I'm not going to go quietly. I don't want to hurt anyone, but there's something I have to do."

"You want to go to Beacon to become a huntress."

"How do you know that?"

"Call it a lucky guess. Besides, what better way to help others and show that the Faunus can make a positive contribution to society?" Fang looked at Lightning. The other woman gave a small nod. "And I think I can help you with that."

"How?"

"Amnesty." Lightning stood and took a seat at their table. Her blue eyes burned into Blake's. There had been nothing judgemental in Fang's gaze, but there was nothing but judgement in Lightning's. Lightning wanted to see right into Blake's soul. Blake met the older woman's eyes as best she could. "There's something coming. Each year, there are more and more Grimm, and they're getting stronger and faster and smarter. The only way we're getting through this is if humans and Faunus can set aside their difference and fight together."

"What we're offering is very simple," Fang said. "You never have anything to do with the White Fang or other organisations of that kind again. In exchange, we give you a clean slate and get you into Beacon."

"You can do that?" It sounded too good to be true, and Blake had learned that when things sounded too good to be true, they usually were. Life was never that kind.

"We can." Fang leaned back. "It's a new initiative. You'd be the first, in fact, but hopefully not the last. Of course, there would be consequences if you went back on the deal. We'd have to hunt you down and take you apart piece by piece. But I don't think it will come to that."

"And if I don't want to go to Beacon?"

"Then you don't have to." Fang sighed and waved one hand at Lightning. The other huntress handed over another folder. Blake looked inside it. There were identity documents there – enough for a new start. "Those will be enough to help you start again, if that's what you want. You could take a nice job in an office, or maybe even become a librarian."

"Why would you do this?" Blake's hands tightened around the folder. People didn't do things like this without a reason. There was always a reason. Nothing ever came for free.

"Because I know what it's like to do bad things to help the people you call family. Because I know what it's like to grow up with nothing." Fang shrugged. "And because I'm sure that whatever you decide, you're not going to hurt anyone unless you have no choice."

Something that could almost have been called hope flared in Blake's chest. "How could you even get me into Beacon?"

"Lightning here is going to become a professor over at Beacon – head of the Advanced Combat and Tactics program. Guess who's going to be her second-in-command?" Fang chuckled. "Besides, we've already run this past the headmaster. He's a nice guy, actually. I think you'd like him. A little laid back, maybe, but he's the best at what he does."

"I haven't gone to the other academies –"

"Not a problem," Lightning said. "It's possible to gain admittance to Beacon via recommendation. You'll do."

"You don't have to give us your answer right away. You've got a few days, at least." Fang stood, along with Lightning. "You can keep those files, by the way. We've got copies. But here, have this. It's a ticket for an airship to Beacon." They headed toward the door of the café, but Fang stopped at the door and turned. "You never noticed what we were doing, you were that interested in your book. Beacon has a very good library."

Blake waited until the two were gone before she picked up the ticket. Was it really going to be that simple? She smiled. Maybe it was. As customers finally began to file back into the café, she gathered the folders and left. She had some shopping to do – there was no telling what she might need at Beacon.

X X X

Author's Notes

As always, I do not own Final Fantasy or RWBY. I'm not making any money off this either.

So, I said I'd get around to a Final Fantasy XIII and RWBY crossover, and here it is. As the title of this chapter suggests, there are going to be several "trailers" before we really get started. I plan on doing one for each of the RWBY girls, and you can expect appearances from Final Fantasy characters in those (most likely Final Fantasy XIII characters, but I'm not limiting myself to only Final Fantasy XIII).

I thought Fang would be the best person to approach Blake for this. There is a period in Blake's past that still isn't completely accounted for (the time immediately after she parts with Adam but before she comes to Beacon). How did she manage to get a recommendation into Beacon (since it seems safe to say that she didn't attend one of the other academies)? This chapter offers one possible explanation.

Out of all the RWBY girls, Blake is often the most level headed and calm. Having someone personable like Fang approach her and make the offer of amnesty is a sound approach. Naturally, Lightning is there in case a sterner form of persuasion is required. Strangely enough, I do think Blake and Fang would get on very well (see e.g., how well Blake handles her teammates).

So, yeah, you can look forward to three more trailers (I haven't decided on the order yet), and then we'll get onto the proper chapters. In terms of straying from the timeline etc., it should be clear that there's going to be a bit of that. This crossover is set primarily in the RWBY world but with the introduction of some Final Fantasy characters and concepts – some deviation is absolutely going to be necessary.

As an aside, I also write original fiction. If you're interested in that, you can find the details in my profile.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.