Chapter 2
Awkward did not even begin to describe the situation Ilia found herself in. Her and Kali were in the kitchen, the pair having previously finished their lunch. Ilia had also just finished confessing to her everything she knew Blake had done. Now her mistress sat at the table in silence while Ilia attempted to busy herself with the dishes. She waited for her mistress to say something, anything. Was she angry? Was she upset? Was she disturbed? Was she disappointed? Ilia was turned away, afraid to meet her mistress' gaze out of guilt. After almost half an hour, Kali finally broke the silence.
"How long has this been going on?"
Ilia hesitated, fearing the reaction to her response. "Three months..."
Her mistress just sighed. "Oh dear..." Looking back to the girl's phone, she scrolled again through the various texts and photos Blake had sent. "That poor girl..."
Putting down the dish and washcloth, Ilia lowered her head. "I'm so sorry mistress..."
Concerned by Ilia's demeaner, the raven-haired woman's gaze turned soft. Slowly standing, she approached her partner from behind, making the girl tense up. Loving arms wrapped around Ilia as Kali whispered in her ear. "Sweetheart... you don't need to apologize. I understand how you might believe this is you're fault. Keeping this bottled up for so long. I want you to know it's not. I know the experience of discovering something as serious as this and not knowing what to do."
Ilia raised her head, tears starting to form in her eyes. "You do?"
Kali reached around, gently grabbing her partner's hand, and leading her back to the kitchen table. Sitting down, she pulled the girl closer until she instinctively sat in her lap. "I do." Releasing Ilia's hand, the older woman wrapped her arms around her waist. "When I was your age, social drama was almost the center of my life. Sex scandals, addictions, broken friendships and relationships..." Her hand slowly reaching up to touch one of her feline ears, she sighed. "Racism..." Refocusing, she wrapped her arm back around her partner. "And most important to this situation, *keeping secrets*. I understand keeping secrets from the ones you love, being so overwhelmed by conflicting feelings, like it's eating you from the inside. I know how hard it must have been to keep that to yourself, and as much as I would have preferred to hear this from Blake herself... thank you for telling me Ilia."
"You're not... angry with me...?" Ilia stammered.
Kali reached up and cupped the girl's cheek. "Of course not my love. Admitting something like that takes a lot of strength, and is no reason to be punished."
Ila sniffled. "Thank you mistress..."
"Now, my daughter on the other hand..." Ilia stiffened at the word. "I believe it is time I have a word with her about her... *relations*."
"Of course."
"Would you be a dear and go get my scroll?" Kali inquired "I'm going to give Blake a call."
"Yes mistress!" Ilia hastily answered as she hopped off her mistress' lap and rushed into the bedroom to retrieve her scroll.
The first time her daughter didn't answer, Kali attributed it to her not catching it in time. The fourth time she didn't answer, Kali started to get worried. But the fifth time, when it rang a few times then went to voicemail, that worry became irritation.
The feline Faunus sat on the living room couch, a stern look on her face as she was repeatedly hung up on by her daughter. Eventually it stopped ringing altogether and it started going straight to voicemail.
"She must have turned off her phone." Kali huffed. "Ilia."
The younger Faunus flinched at the serious tone of her mistress' voice. "Yes mistress?"
Putting her scroll down, she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Did you try contacting her as well?"
"Yes..." The girl's gaze falling to the floor. "With... no answer..."
The older Faunus sighed. "What do you suppose we do now then?"
Still staring at the floor, Ilia mumbled. "We could... go to the university..."
"What was that Ilia? Please speak clearly."
"I'm sorry mistress!" She snapped to attention. "We could... go to the university... confront her where she can't run away..."
Kali pondered over it for a moment, then smiled. "What a wonderful idea! Sometimes I wonder what I'd ever do without you!" She praised, making Ilia blush all over her body.
"You're too kind mistress..." Ilia thanked.
"Not at all my darling." She grinned, but her expression fell. "I know I should tell you this more... but you helped me out of one of the toughest times in my life. You know how... dark of a place I was in after the divorce... and I truly believe that if it was not for you, I would still be there. Ilia... I don't think any amount of kindness can ever repay what you've done for me."
"Kali..." The younger Faunus started, tears welling in her eyes as she got up from her chair to join her older partner on the couch. Ilia took Kali's hands in her own and continued. "You don't need to repay me for anything. You do plenty for me every day. Even before we were a couple you did plenty for me. I love you, and the only thing I ever want from you is you."
As hard as she tried, Kali failed to hold back her own tears. "Ilia... I... I don't know what I'd do without you..." Bringing her hands up to cup her lover's face, she brought her into a tender kiss. It was short lived, Ilia nearly chasing after her lips as she pulled away, but they had something more important to focus on. "Get dressed, we have a long drive ahead of us."
Giving her mistress a quick peck on the cheek, Ilia stood up and headed back to the bedroom. "I'll be right back."
Ilia tried to focus on the cars white noise, it helped distract from what was to come, the anxiety it brought, the guilt weighing down upon her. She never wanted to betray her closest friend, but lines were crossed, and Ilia could bear it no longer. She looked up at her mistress, the serious expression doing little to lesson Ilia's anxiety. Golden eyes flickered to own, tinged with concern.
"Sweetheart, are you alright?" Kali wondered.
"I don't know... I just..." The younger Faunus sighed. "I know I'm doing the right thing... but I still feel guilty about it..."
The raven-haired woman reached over to grasp her lover's hand. "Ilia there is nothing you should feel guilty about. You said it yourself, Blake is downright abusing that girl! If anyone should be feeling guilty it should be my daughter."
"Um..." Ilia squeezed her partner's hand tighter. "Speaking of Blake... do you think we'll be able to keep this from her...?"
Kali signed, her expression falling. "Yes... as long as we keep our interactions clearly platonic, as we usually do."
"Thank you..." Ilia mumbled. "I love you. I just... like to keep these sorts of things to myself... As for Blake... I would usually tell her about stuff like this, but it felt weird telling her I was dating her mother... and I never worked up the courage to tell her... I'm just afraid. Blake will already be angry at me for telling you this...but if she knew we were together?"
"It would only hurt more, I understand..." The older Faunus sighed.
"Yes... I just don't want to strain our relationship further..."
"Don't worry dear, I know you're not ready." Kali reasurred. "And when you are, I will be there by your side, as I always will be."
"Thank you mistress..." Ilia sniffled.
Golden eyes met hers as her mistress smiled. "I know, and I love you too my little rainbow."
After a few hours on the road, the pair finally made it to the university. Finding a parking spot at the dormitory, Kali roused her sleeping partner.
"Are... are we there?" Ilia mumbled as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"We are." Her partner gently answered. Putting her hand on Ilia's thigh, steel-blue eyes met hers. "Are you ready?"
Taking a shaky breath, the girl put her own hand over Kali's. "As I'll ever be."
The two women exited the car, heading for the dormitory. Ilia led her mistress towards Blake's single room. As the pair neared their destination, the younger Faunus slowed to a stop.
Kali turned to see that her partner had stopped. "Sweetheart... are you alright?" She asked, voice full of concern.
"Yes... I just..." She took a deep breath. "I just need a moment."
The older woman walked back over and opened her arms, to which Ilia happily met her in a gentle hug. "We're doing the right thing Ilia..." Kali purred as she stroked her lover's hair.
"I know..." Ilia murmured as she hugged her mistress tighter. "Thank you..."
The two parted and continued walking down the hallway. Finally reaching their destination, Ilia looked over at the metal plate next the door:
315
Blake Belladonna
Feeling her heart starting to beat faster, Ilia took another deep breath. She raised her hand to knock, but felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Wait." She heard her mistress whisper. "Listen."
Knowing her mistress had a keen sense of hearing thanks to her Faunus trait, she leaned closer to the door, and realized why she was held back. She heard... grunting... a feint slapping... and... whimpering... very muffled, but still present.
Stunned, Ilia looked back and gave Kali a worried look, who tried to give her a reassuring one. "Just knock. If she knows it's you she'll probably stop. Then we can deal with it." She whispered.
Hesitating for a moment, the younger Faunus raised her hand and gently but firmly knocked on her friend's door. After a moment she noticed the noises on the other side stopped. She looked back at Kali, who nodded. "I-It's me."
Immediately she was met with a gasp. "Ilia? What are you doing here? I thought you were at home for the break!"
"Um... I-I was... but I wanted to... come see you..." Ilia stammered.
"Ilia that is so sweet! Would you like to come in?" She heard Blake excitedly say, but then she adopted a near-sinister tone. "You can help me put this whore in her place."
Hearing that word made Ilia shudder. She looked back to her mistress again, who nodded once more. The younger Faunus gulped. "O-Okay... is the door unlocked?"
"Yeah, come on in."
Now shaking, Ilia reached for the door handle. Taking a couple deep breaths to calm herself, she turned the handle and opened the door, and was met with a horrifying sight that made her blood run cold.
She saw her best friend kneeling behind something tragic, someone tragic. The first thing Ilia noticed was the bruises. There were a few scattered around her torso, but the biggest and darkest ones were on her rear. Next were the scratches. There were tons all over her back, some of them even had dried blood around them. She was panting too... they much have been going at it for a while. Looking over towards her face, Ilia noticed something in her mouth... panties... looking like two pairs of them, black and white. She shuddered at the though of whose they were... and if they were clean or not. As her gaze made it to her pale blue eyes, she saw the most disturbing thing... she was crying. Those eyes were also staring up at her... terrified. Ilia saw the pictures and texts involving this girl... but she really couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Her best friend was... sexually abusing Weiss Schnee.
Author's Note: So, just to be clear; what Blake was doing is not ok. It shouldn't be taken as ok or sexy or anything like that. It's wrong and there will be consequences.
The first chapter was originally uploaded to Ao3 a week before this one, so that's why chapters 1 and 2 were uploaded the same day here.
I would love to say once per week is my schedule for this, but with the growing length and complexity of the coming chapters, I'm not sure. But we'll see!
Anyways, thanks again for reading, your feedback fuels me!