A/N:
Hey ya everyone! Glad to see you sticking around!
Got some nice stuff coming up here for ya hopefully. Kinda funny story too heh~… I kinda accidentally lost this entire chapter before so~ yeah. Remade it from the ground up lol.
If any of you are worried that I lost my original vision for this chapter, you don't have to. I remembered the general gist of it, and honesty I view this whole ordeal as a way to get some editing done.
Hope you enjoy!
Upon opening her eyes, a young cat-faunus finds herself in a fairly empty apartment. Aside from the bed, couch, and kitchen appliances the rooms she used as her quarters are open and unfilled.
The faunus girl made her way through the halls of the complex to enter the streets. The entire block in which she has resided in for the past two weeks has been made into a safe zone by the Vale police and military.
The streets were lined with tents as quarters for the soldiers, police, and any citizens who weren't able to fit into the apartment buildings available. A few of the buildings that used to be stores have been converted for other uses. One of which is the cafeteria, another is used as a supply depot, and yet another as the armory. Makeshift gates have been made on the ends of the streets to allow any survivors in, along with any search parties access in and out.
During her time here Blake has made quite a name for herself from helping find survivors outside the walls and bringing them in.
Blake made her way to the cafeteria to get her morning meal. After acquiring an MRE package, which just so happens to be the only type of food they have available, she made her way to one of the many tables and took a seat next to a few of the soldiers and police.
While eating she picked up some of the conversation the group was talking about. Mostly just scheduled times that more people will be able to get evacuated.
When they left after finishing their meal, Blake is now left alone with only her thoughts. As she continued eating she began thinking of the past few weeks, and how it had come to be this way. It all started when the Vytal tournament fell into chaos. Beacon was attacked, Vale as a whole was falling, and Yang had gotten severely wounded. For all Blake knows she could even be dead.
Having that thought cross her mind made the faunus wince. Yes, the brawler can be a nuisance and a pain sometimes, but Blake has grown to like that in her. In fact, she found that there were more things she liked about the blonde. The ways she acts with Ruby, the way she supports the team. Hell, even those facepalm-worthy puns were likable.
On thinking of Yang she also remembered other parts about the girl. The way her mane that she calls hair flows in the wind, how she toys with said hair when she's troubled, the sway when she walks…
Blake suddenly slapped herself to keep her mind from straying in that direction. 'Damn, that blonde actually made me fall for her.' The faunus thought to herself. 'And I just left her, probably when she needed me the most. What's wrong with me.'
Her darker thoughts were interrupted when a tray was slapped on the table right next to her. "Mind if I join you?" A man's voice asked.
When turning to face the man she recognized him as one of the officers of Vale's military that was stationed at the refugee camp. From the unique clothing she could tell he must have been a higher rank than most of the others there. She let a small smile grace her lips and motioned with her hand for him to sit, which he immediately did afterwards.
"I hope it's not much of a bother, you just looked a bit disturbed. I know that look." He said pointing to Blake's face for emphasis. "What's eating you?"
Blake remained silent for a moment as she took a few more bites of her previously packaged chicken, then decided to indulge the man in his question. "There's been a lot going through my mind recently. Some really bad things happened." She stared at the chicken in front of her face for a moment in silence.
"Well there has been a lot of shit going down the last few weeks, pardon my French. Wanna shed some more light on the subject?"
Blake continued. "When everything started falling into anarchy at Beacon, a close friend of mine got hurt. She got hurt really bad, and by someone I used to know." She felt a tear start to from in her left eye and soon begin rolling down her face. "And now I just realized I care about her more than I thought." She threw her face into her hands hoping no one else would see her in this weak state.
The man's eyes widened slightly, grasping slightly what may have been going on between the two girls, but thinking more that it was a bond more like sisterhood than what it was actually becoming. "Hey now, let's move somewhere a bit more subtle if you're gonna be crying. Don't want people to start asking questions, do we?" He suggested, earning a nod from the girl.
They got up and carried their meals to another table in the far back corner of the building that most people were avoiding. The reason why would be found out by the two later, but for now the resumed their conversation.
"Alright," the man started. "So someone you knew before attacked someone else you really cared about?"
Blake nodded and began speaking again after stifling a few sobs. "I managed to get her away, but when she was safe in the hands of others, I just ran away." She began sobbing again, only to have a hand lay on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
"Look, I can relate to how you're feeling right now. I've actually been in a situation much like it before. If it helps, I can tell you something that can make it a little bit easier to cope with." He offered, staring her in the eyes when she lifted her head to face him again.
"Like what?" She asked, hoping the man could at least ease her unrest a little bit.
"I know how it might sound bad at first, but hear me out on it." He said as he held his hands up by his chest, which made Blake feel a bit unsettled, but she let him continue. "When I lost some people close to me I had a bitter hatred to the ones that had taken them from me. Ever since then I started tracking them down and sabotaged their supplies, found and released their dark secrets to the military and government, and even personally disposed of some of the scum." After getting a strange look from the faunus girl he continued. "I know that vendetta doesn't exactly get the people you care about back, nor does it really bring the culprits to proper justice, but it gives you something to vent the feelings on. And I'd be lying if I said it wasn't satisfying."
Blake sat in silence for a minute when he finished, not sure what to think of what he suggested. "I don't know. I mean, sure I hate the guy that did it, but he's still someone I was close with before. I don't know if I could do that."
"It's entirely understandable. Revenge isn't exactly for everyone. It's up to you." He got up and began walking towards the exit, but turned back. "I hope that you feel better about it soon, and that you find your friend again. It was really nice talking to you miss…?" He let it hang, giving Blake the cue to introduce herself.
"Blake, Blake Belladonna." She said after shaking her head to compose herself.
"Until next time Blake. If you ever need help with anything, just ask for the specialist. They'll know who you mean." He said then made his way to leave.
When he started walking away, a group of men dressed in leather jackets and jeans got up from a nearby table and closed in on Blake's table. "Look at what we have here, a poor little girl with some issues." One of them said, a blonde with an honestly handsome face, but Blake could tell he was an asshole already. "So pretty lady, need someone to help forget those problems you got? Maybe over a few drinks at my place?" He said with a smirk. It was stated like a question, but Blake could tell where this really was going.
"I'd rather not. I've got things to do, so I'll be on my wa-" She was stopped by a hand on her chest from the blonde.
"Come on~ I insist. I promise it will make you feel better quick." He gave a slight squeeze on her chest, which earned an immediate kick into his groin from the girl.
Two of the others grabbed her by the arms and held her up. After recomposing himself the leader made for her. "Now that wasn't real nice was it- Ugh!"
Blake gave him a good head-butt to the nose, which in turn let blood trickle down said nose. "Okay, now you've done it." He said as he wiped the blood with his sleeve then gave Blake a solid punch to the gut, earning a wince and knocking the wind out of the her.
A sound of struggle and a sickening crack was head from behind the blonde was heard before a familiar voice was heard. "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to hit a girl?" His tone was mocking and made the gang leader turn to see one of his members bleeding from a gash in his forehead from having it smashed into the table they came from.
"And who the fuck are you supposed to be?" The blonde spat at the man that sat with Blake only a minute before. "Her boyfriend or somethin'?"
"No, we've only just met. But I'll tell you, I've already made a much better first impression on the poor girl than you and your lowlife buddies here." He said gesturing to all of the gang members and ending on the man now bleeding on the floor.
"Look man, if you know what's best for you, you'd back off and do whatever the hell you were leaving to do." The leader said as he pulled a switchblade out of his jacket and jabbed it mere centimeters from the man's throat.
When looking at the officer now, Blake realized he was younger than most soldiers. Around her own age even it appeared.
"Actually I already am going to do what I was planning. And that was throwing you scumbags out as a treat for all the Grimm outside the gates." He said as he knocked the blade out of the blonde's hand and kicked him into one of the others who was holding Blake, allowing her to break free from the other's grip.
Two of the gang members helped their leader to his feet, then they all took fighting stances wielding different weapons ranging from the switchblade, crowbars, and baseball bats. One of them even had a .32 revolver.
The soldier helped Blake to her feet and they took their fighting stances. Blake didn't have any weapons on her at all, considering she lost Gambol Shroud during the crisis at Beacon, and the weapons she was supplied with here were back in her apartment. The soldier didn't seem to have any weapons on him either, but he clearly didn't need one.
One of the gang members charged and tried to take a swipe at the soldier with a baseball bat, only for him to duck under it and send a well-placed punch into the man's jaw. He then gripped the bat and bashed the end that the previous owner was using to hold it into his thigh, knocking him to the ground.
Another gang member with a crowbar rounded up on him and attempted to bash his skull in, but the bat swung around and took the brunt of the blow. The soldier head-butted the man which inevitably caused him to lose his grip on the crowbar and letting it fall to the ground.
During all of this time Blake stood back and watched as the soldier was taking down the entire group. Well, all of them but-
"Hello again doll face." The gang's leader managed to sneak behind Blake and had his switchblade placed at her throat. He then whistled, getting the attention of the soldier after he flipped one of the gang members and punched him square in the throat, leaving him gasping for air that would never make it through his crushed airways. "The tables have turned asshole, so here's how this is gonna work out! I'm gonna take this broad with me and you're gonna stay perfectly still where you are, or else I'll slit her throat like a pig right now."
The soldier only stood and glared at the blonde. His glare softened and his eyes flashed before he let a smirk cross his face, then let out a small chuckle. "What's so funny wise guy?!" The leader called out. The soldier simply made a circle motion with his finger, which made the man instinctually look behind him.
There were multiple other soldiers and police surrounding the entire cafeteria and cornering the street gang. The blonde's eyes widened and he pressed the blade closer to Blake's throat and cried out threats to all of the law enforcement. But he was met with a baseball bat to the back of the head from the original soldier, knocking him to the ground and losing his grip on the faunus girl.
The soldier knelt down to the blonde and made direct eye contact. "Looks like the tables have turned," He recited with a smirk. "And here's how this will work out." The other soldiers, police, and even Blake managed to begin laughing as he repeated the gang leader's words. "I'm gonna drag your punk ass, along with all of your buddies here, and throw you all out that gate and make bets with my friends here on how long you'll last before getting torn to shreds…" He stated as he pointed in the direction of the gate outside. This made all of the others laughing, save for Blake, to roar into even more laughter.
Sure they were shitheads, but was that necessary? This line of thought made Blake tug on the soldier's sleeve to get his attention. "You're not really going to be that cruel are you?"
"You didn't let me finish Blake." He said in a hushed tone that only she could hear. Then he stood and got everyone's attention again. "Or~," He drawled on. "You could apologize to this young lady and never repeat this shit again, and not terrorize anyone whatsoever."
The blonde looked up at the soldier with many different emotions on his face. Fear, anger, and relief to name a few.
"And so help me if I catch you punks ever starting shit again, you'll be begging for the first option I gave. Got it?" He said as he stared down the sorry excuse for a gang leader.
"Y-yes sir." He sputtered then tried to get up. After remaining silent for a moment he turned towards Blake. "I'm sorry for the trouble me and the boys caused. It won't happen again, I swear." After giving the apology he turned to face the soldier with a look of absolute fear for his own life.
"Now get out of my sight rat." The soldier said with a flick of his head towards the door.
The entire gang ran for the exit at their top speed and faded out the doors, not to be seen the rest of the day. After staring out the door Blake turned to her rescuer.
"Thanks… For everything." She said as a small smile formed.
"No worries Blake, I've never liked those scumbags anyway. Honestly I would've been pretty happy to throw them out for good. Make an example of 'em."
"Well I'm glad you didn't. Also, thanks for the talk earlier. It felt nice to get that off my chest." The soldier raised an eyebrow slightly. "And I was thinking about what you said earlier. Maybe you were right."
"Oh?" He said with his eyebrow raising slightly more. "Well I'm glad I could help. If you need anything else just let me know. I'd be happy to lend a hand."
"Actually you can help," She said immediately after he finished. "I need some spare food for a good amount of days. I'm going to head out into Vale."
"Well I can see to it that you'll be stocked well. I'll even get you some extra ammunition for your weapons as well if you'd like." He said as he walked her towards the counter for the cafeteria and told the worker there to get a large amount of MREs for Blake. The boy behind the counter walked into the back with reluctance.
"By the way, I would offer to join you, but sadly I have other matters to attend to." The soldier stated after turning to Blake while they were waiting for the food packages.
"It's fine, I'm sure I'll manage just fine." She waved him off. "What would those other matters be, if you don't mind me asking?"
"The exact details are classified. But I can say that it's a very important investigation." He responded, making it obvious that he couldn't tell her what his objectives were.
"That's fair. Thanks for the help you've given me. Maybe we'll meet again someday and I can repay you." The girl offered with a smile.
"That won't be necessary, but I would look forward to meeting again." He pulled out a notepad and began writing on it, then tore the slip and handed it to her. "Give that to the quartermaster and he'll get you the extra ammo you need. Until next time Miss Belladonna." He bowed and made to take his leave.
Blake shouted after him, which in turn made the man look back at her with his foot halfway through the door. "What's your name; in case I ever need your help again?"
After a moment of thought the soldier smiled. "Just get in contact with Vale's Air Force, then ask for Colonel Valenwood." And with that he made his leave for good.
Blake looked over the note the colonel left her until the boy behind the counter returned with the packages. "Will this be everything ma'am?" He asked. Blake simply nodded and took the large plastic bag that was filled with various MREs.
'This is really going to happen.' Blake thought to herself as she was walking towards the exit. 'I'm going to find Adam, and I'm going to make him pay for what he did to Yang'
As the group made their way through the forest there was small talk among them all. Most of it being everyone, except for Qrow and Harkness, coming up with theories about the newest member of their impromptu militia. The duo was walking a distance farther than the rest so they couldn't exactly make out the group's whisperings, but it did still bug Harkness.
Ruby eventually broke off from the group and began walking next to the new member and her uncle. "So~," She started as she turned slightly to address Harkness. "Why were you out here looking for my uncle?"
"Classified." He stated bluntly without even looking in her direction.
"Oh… Well, what do you do? Do you attend a Huntsman academy?" She asked, trying to learn a little bit about the newcomer.
"I'm currently serving in Vale's Air Force." He started, earning a surprised look from Ruby and the others behind them. "I'm primarily a special operative, but do some aircraft maintenance on the side. I'm also checking into becoming a pilot."
"That's… Pretty cool actually. But don't you have to be eighteen to join the military?" Ruby asked, confused by the concept. She knew that he was older than her, but he definitely wasn't a legal adult quite yet.
"Well, let's just say Ozpin has connections, and can be very persuasive." He replied, this time turning to face the girl.
Now she was even more confused. Harkness somehow knew Ozpin, but in all her time at Beacon, she'd never seen the teen there. "How do you know Ozpin anyway?"
The soldier remained silent for a moment and turned his gaze away from her slightly. "It's… A bit of a rough topic. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable sharing it with you quite yet."
"Oh, that's fair I guess." Ruby said as she slumped a bit.
"Don't worry Ruby, I'm sure he'll open up to you eventually." Qrow said as he leaned forward so he could be seen past Harkness. "Who knows, maybe you'll even become besties." He finished with a smirk, then leaned closer to whisper to Harkness. "Or maybe even better…"
Harkness shoved Qrow a good couple feet, earning more laughter from the Huntsman. "Hold your tongue old man. Eventually it'll be the death of you."
"Oh lighten up kid, I'm just messin' with ya." Qrow then ruffled the boy's hair, earning a grunt from him.
Ruby couldn't help but giggle at the two fighting each other. They honestly looked like they've known each other their whole lives, which she knew wasn't the case, but damn did it seem like it.
The rays of the sun were beginning to lose their power as the ball of fire began to slowly sink below the tree line.
"Well everyone, I think we should set up camp for the night." Qrow stated, earning a simultaneous nod from the rest. "Harkness, get a fire set up, Ruby and Nora, set up the bedrolls, Juane and Ren, go collect some extra firewood, and I'll start on our dinner."
Everyone went to work immediately without question. Harkness grabbed a few rocks and arranged them in a circle then threw a few logs in the middle. He then flew his left hand over his thigh. The disc glowed and created the wire frame of a flint and steel.
Ruby set up the bedrolls quickly, tapping into her semblance to set up all of the beds in a matter of seconds. She placed her hands on her hips in a heroic pose and a confident grin grew across her lips, earning a glare from Nora for taking all the work.
As Harkness got a fire to slowly begin to grow from a small cinder into a textbook campfire, he noticed that Qrow was staring at a can of baked beans with a slightly disappointed look.
"Hey Qrow, there's still a little bit of daylight left. We could have a couple of us go hunt for something fresh. Or at least something better than some baked beans." He suggested earning a look of relief from the man and a look of excitement from the two girls.
"You really think we can do that? That would be great! No more baked beans for life!" Nora exclaimed with a raised fist and her foot resting on a boulder.
Harkness chuckled at the display then looked to Qrow. "So, I think it's obvious I'm going. Who do you think should come with?"
Qrow began stroking his chin, then smirked after a moment. "How about-"
"I'll go!" Ruby shouted as she jumped up with her hand raised excitedly like an elementary student.
After a moment of looking over Ruby he conceded. "I don't see the harm in it. Let's go Ruby." The soldier said as he rose from the campfire, trying to make it appear he wasn't paying attention to the girl bouncing around the camp exuberantly. "Maybe I can teach you some basics about tracking while we're out there."
"Yeah! That sounds great, let's head out!" Ruby shouted as she gripped Harkness by the arm and practically dragged him out into the woods.
The whole scene left Qrow laughing until his sides hurt, but he stopped as he realized the expression on Nora's face. "What's got you beat kid?"
"I didn't even do anything! Ruby got all the beds set up using her ridiculous speed, and now she's going out hunting?!" She stood there with an almost visible line of steam rising from her head.
Qrow pondered for a moment, trying to find a way to cheer up the Valkyrie girl. Then he came up with an idea with a snap of his fingers. "How about we scan the perimeter for Grimm?"
Nora immediately broke into a grin and pulled out trusty Magnhild. "Let's do this!"
A/N:
So we got a look at what Blake's been up to and what she's getting into. Like I said earlier I ended up losing this entire chapter originally, but I personally am glad it happened because it ended up giving me a better idea for the Blake portion. Originally there wasn't the whole fight scene there or the soldier giving Blake some advice, leaving her to have originally just decided to take the path on her own, which in all honesty seemed out of character for her to me.
There were also a couple minor changes in the portion involving Ruby and the others, one of the changes being Qrow teasing Harkness again. The reason the two of them act the way they do with each other will be shown later on, so stay tuned.
Also this set up what I personally think is a beautiful scene coming up, so I can't wait to see your opinions when it comes!
Thanks to everyone sticking around! Feel free to write a review, favorite, and/or follow, and I'll see you all soon!
EDIT: So I actually have been working on this fic for a while now and have only began posting it today. There is a total of 9 chapters completed already, which I will be pumping out over the next few days. Chapter 10 will be when you all are caught up with me and will have to wait for the whole bi-weekly deal I originally mentioned.
Also at this point Volume 4 is a mere two days away, and I'll tell you right now, I am hyped beyond belief right now lol! The World of Remnant videos that RT have been posting over the past few days have only been adding to that hype and now I'm pretty much at the point of exploding from the overload of excitement.
My goal is to still try my best to stick with the show as best as possible, especially when it comes to lore. What can I say, I'm a lore-whore XD