"Where did Blake go?" I asked out loud. Weiss was still in her corner but I couldn't see Blake anywhere. It was as if she just vanished all of a sudden.
"Ruby!" Yang shouted as she approached me, "What are you doing?"
"I can't find Blake," I whispered.
"What?"
The officer from outside climbed into the vehicle and briefly looked around. "You're right," he said. "There really isn't much of interest here."
"See?" said Yang. "You could have saved us a lot of time by not barging in like this!"
"It's standard procedure," said the officer. "And what's that over there?" He pointed over to where Weiss lay unconscious.
"That's our friend," I said. "We're trying to reach Vale so we can heal her. That's why we're in such a hurry!"
The officer walked over to Weiss and stared at her for a few seconds.
"This looks like Weiss Schnee," he said.
"You've heard of her?" I asked.
"Of course," the officer laughed. "The Schnee family is probably one of the most prolific in Remnant. You'd have to be pretty far removed from society not to know who they are."
I couldn't help but wonder if that was a dig at me.
Two more officers entered the vehicle and looked around at just how empty it was.
"This thing looks like it died five years ago and then reluctantly came back to life," said an officer.
"Anything of interest in here?" asked the other officer.
"Weiss Schnee of the Schnee Dynasty is apparently in critical condition," said the officer inspecting our vehicle. I assumed he was their superior or something like that. "There's nothing else of notice besides some low-caliber weapons—"
"EXCSUE ME!" I shouted, making sure to give him my best death glare. "CRESCENT ROSE IS NOT A 'LOW-CALIBER' WEAPON!"
"No need to get defensive over that," the officer shrugged. "And what put you in that chair?"
"Oh this?" I looked down at the chair I was strapped in. It probably did look pretty strange to see me confined to this thing, especially as I kept blowing off energy every time I spoke. "I got into a fight with a Hydra Grimm and nearly died. That's how Weiss ended up like that too."
"I survived the entire thing and kicked ass like a champion," said Yang with a huge grin.
The head officer ignored Yang entirely and focused on me.
"YOU fought a hydra?" he asked in disbelief.
I nodded.
The head officer looked me up and down, eyeing every piece of clothing and whatever else he could find on me.
"You're…an unusual group…." He finally said. "Do the two of you plan on heading to Beacon?"
"Of course!" said Yang with another big grin. "The four of us are going to become Huntreses!"
He raised an eyebrow at us. "Four of us?" he asked. "I only see three of you."
I was really starting to worry about Blake. She was a shy person, but I didn't think she had social anxiety like this, especially seeing how she was able to lead the Faunus back at the city.
"Excuse me," said a very tired sounding voice from behind us. I turned and saw the storage trunk open with Blake walking out. She was wearing Yang's pajamas and had her hair tied back in a ponytail. The bow was accompanied by a sunhat that Weiss had brought along with us. She looked really weird and had a very droopy expression as she spoke. Her eyes weren't even open all the way.
"And who is this?" asked the head officer.
"That's… Blake…," I said while trying to figure out what was going on.
"She's a little odd," said Yang.
"No kidding," said the head officer. He looked at Blake a little more and sighed. "You're all an odd bunch, but I have no reason to suspect any of you. We'll escort you to Vale ourselves and you can decide what to do from there."
"Thank you so much!" I said with a big smile.
"No problem," said the head officer. "I'd like you to take these with you." He handed me two posters. One had a picture of a faunus and the other was a sketch of a faunus that sort of looked like Blake.
Yang looked at the posters from over my shoulder. "Who are these people?" she asked.
"Those are the White Fang militants that attacked a cargo train carrying dust from the Schnee Dust Company," said the officer. "We've already identified one of them as one of the White Fang's four commanding officers: Adam Taurus. He's a dangerous person and part of the White Fang's old guard alongside Sienna Kahn. A young faunus was reported as well but we don't have very reliable eyewitness accounts on her. We're trying to find more information on their whereabouts in order to crack down on these attacks."
I could see Blake pretending to fall asleep on the floor. Her eyes continued to remain half-open. The girl on the poster had eyes that matched Blake's almost exactly. I couldn't help but feel a sinking feeling as I stared at it longer.
"But don't worry too much about them," said the head officer. "Their raids have almost entirely focused on cargo trains. The four of you should be fine."
"Thanks again," said Yang as the other officers left the vehicle.
"You hear that Ruby?" she asked excitedly. "We're getting escorted to Beacon! I can't wait to stroll the city at night and crack some skulls while I'm at it….Ruby?"
"I-It's nothing," I said. There was something about the posters resemblance to Blake that really rubbed me the wrong way. I just didn't think that confronting her about it with Yang around would help. I planned on asking her about it later when it was just the two of us. Now was the time to celebrate. We were finally going to arrive in Vale and eventually Beacon.
I still remember the excitement I felt after seeing a beam of light shining through the treetops of Forever Fall. My face pressed against the window to get a better view of the city I'd heard so much about. Vale was a gorgeous sight. It reminded me a little of Patch with its old-timey architecture, but I also felt the city vibe with the lights illuminating every corner. There were so many people walking around that it blew my mind. This was nothing like the city I had been to earlier. This one was much healthier and people seemed content with their lives.
"We made it!" I said cheerfully.
"And it only took us who knows how long just to get to this point," Yang laughed. "Such is the life of adventure!"
"It is really pretty," said Blake. She was dressed back in her ordinary clothes and eyes open wide once again. I noticed a small frown on her face.
"Look, Ruby…I'm sorry about earlier," said Blake.
"I actually wanted to ask you about that," I said. "This girl on the poster looks a lot like you. Were you involved in this? I won't be upset if you are. I just really want to know. You can trust us."
Blake looked at the poster in my hand and then into my eyes. I could see myself staring back at her, pleadingly waiting for an answer. She then opened her mouth and answered with a silent, "no."
"Thank you," I sighed. "That's all I wanted to hear. See? Doesn't it feel good to trust us?"
"Yeah…" said Blake.
"Let's not waste anymore time," I said with an arm wrapped around Blake's shoulder. "We're going to Vale!"
