I don't own RWBY or Kingdom Hearts

Chapter 8

"Fern, Blake," Riku called around the dark campus. When Blake ran after confessing to being a member of the White Fang, Fern had disappeared as well. Riku had a feeling that he needed to find Fern before she found Blake.

"You're loud." Riku looked up. Sitting on the street lamp was the monkey faunus from earlier.

"You're that faunus from earlier," Riku stated. Not in accusation, just recognition.

"Yep, name's Sun," Sun introduced.

"Riku."

"So, you're looking for someone? How about I help."

"Sorry, don't trust you," Riku proceeded to walking away.

"Aw, come on," Sun jumped from his position on the lamp and landed on the ground near Riku, "It's easier to search a place a night with a faunus."

"I've got nothing against faunus, I have something against criminals," Riku clarified.

"Well, I'll just follow you anyway," Sun walked after Riku.

"Why?" Riku didn't stop, he needed to find Fern and Blake.

"Well, I might run into that girl you were with earlier," Sun said.

"I hang out with a lot of girls, be specific."

"The girl with black hair."

"Blake," Riku confirmed.

"She's one of the people you're looking for," Sun stated, "What was the other one?"

A gun shot, shot through the air. Both boys were put on edge, "Fern…" Riku sprinted toward where the sound come from.

"Hey wait up!" Sun ran after him.

"Fern," Blake said, as she turned slowly, "What are you doing?"

"I'm doing my job!" Fern growled.

"And what job is that?"

"You know what it is," Fern continued, "Huntresses protect people from grimm and criminals. And you just said you're a member of a terrorist organization." Fern took another shot.

A shadow clone took the bullet as the real Blake rolled out of the way, pulling out her gun and taking a few shots at Fern. Fern's ribbons unfurled to life and deflected the bullets. The ribbons then lunged toward Blake, they grasped another shadow clone. Blake ran behind the statue.

"'Pushed to extreme measures,'" Fern repeated the words Blake had thrown at Weiss, Fern slowly circled the statue, gun in hand "'We're tired of being pushed around.' Weren't those your exact words?" Fern jumped out; gun pointed to where her target should be. But Blake was gone. She heard a sound from back down the path way. She took a shot but missed.

Blake dodged and ran. Fern took some more shots, but she missed. Blake ran to a part of the courtyard with more trees and shrubbery. She dove behind a bush as Fern ran after her.

"Fern I don't want to hurt you."

"But I want to hurt you!"

"Don't you think how the Faunus is being treated is horrible?"

Of course, Fern did, but, "That doesn't justify their crimes. You don't have the right to steal, the right to hurt, the right to kill, because you're 'tired of being pushed around!' Weiss was right, the White Fang is pure evil, and I will spend my life destroying them."

Hearing Fern say that, hurt Blake, but she knew she was right. The White Fang changed from a peaceful group that wanted equality to a group that wanted revenge on humanity, even supremacy over humanity. To hear another faunus say that; was more difficult than she thought, even though she was glad, Fern wasn't swept up in the White Fang's beliefs.

"If I don't stop them, they'll keep hurting, keep killing, they might kill my team. You might kill your team if I don't stop you," Fern continued.

That hurt Blake most of all, that caused her to shout, "I'd never hurt my team. Despite their flaws, the White Fang want to help faunus, they're just scared and confused."

"Help...?" Fern became quiet, her body began to tremble and shake.

Something snaked around Blakes ankle and dragged her from the bushes towards Fern. The gun shifted into a dagger and she pulled out a second dagger. She lunged at Blake, tears running down her face. She screamed, "Were they helping me when they killed my parents?"

Blake was shocked, but she didn't let that stop her. She grabbed both katana and bladed sheathe and blocked the daggers. She managed to kick Fern away. The kick managed to make her lose control of her semblance and the ribbon unfurled from Blake's ankle. Blake stood immediately as Fern lunged at her again.

"What are you talking about," Blake tried to reason the enraged dear faunus, "Why would they kill your parents."

"For being in love! For wanting genuine equality between humans and faunus! For defying the norm despite being looked down upon! For giving birth to me," she screamed the last part, "'The half human abomination!'"

Blake eyes widened with realization. Earlier Fern shot at her, she missed, she couldn't see in the dark, at least not a well as she should have. Blake felt more dread as she pieced together from what Fern had said, her parents were a human and a faunus who fell in love and had her. Something society greatly discouraged. A love like that was seen as different things, to Blake, it was true equality, a love and trust that two people despite their differences, and were willing to risk their lives over, but to the members of the White Fang who wanted faunus supremacy, it was a threat.

"There were no two people, more strong, more brave, more forgiving than my parents," Fern said as she jumped back. The ribbons wrapped around her knives. The ribbons then shot the daggers at Blake, "And the White Fang killed them!"

Blake tried to deflect the daggers, but the ribbons changed trajectory, Blake managed to use another clone to take the attack and escape backwards. The clone was cleaved in two as it faded away. Fern pulled her daggers back to her hands, with a primal scream she charged Blake. Blake reluctantly took a fighting stance.

As the gap between two grew closer, someone rose from the darkness between them. Fern's daggers clanged against Soul Eater, before Fern was punched in the face. The deer faunus rolled across the ground, losing grips on her daggers.

"Fern, that's enough," Riku shouted. The silver haired glanced back at Blake, "Nice ears."

Riku proceeded to Fern as Blake unconsciously touched her ears.

"I knew you'd look better without the bow." Blake looked to see Sun.

Sunday morning

"Blake!"

"Riku, Fern!"

"I told you we should have looked for them yesterday," Heather told Sora.

"I thought Riku was going to bring them straight back," Sora explained. The remaining members of team SFHR and RWBY were downtown looking for their missing teammates.

"Blake," Ruby called.

"Riku," Sora called.

"Fern where are you?" Heather shouted.

"Weiss you're not helping," Ruby turned to the silent Schnee.

"Oh, do you know who might be able to help? The police," Weiss snarked. Ruby gave her a glare, "It was just an idea."

"Yeah, a bad one," Ruby said.

"You're not being fair Weiss," Heather said.

"We need to hear her side of the story first," Yang said.

"I think when we hear it, you'll all realize I was right," Weiss stated.

"And I think Weiss's hair looks wonderful today," Penny added… Wait.

"Ah, Penny, where did you come from?" Ruby declared as everyone turned to see the girl they had met the other day.

"Hey guys," Penny greeted, "What are you doing here?"

"Uh…"

"We're looking for our friends," Yang explained, "Riku, Fern, and Blake."

"Oh, you mean that human boy and two faunus girls."

Everyone looked at each other confused, "How did you know Blake's a faunus?"

"Uh… the cat ears."

"What cat ears she wears a… bow…" a tumble weed flew past them.

"I feel a special kind of stupid right now," Heather said.

"She does like tuna a lot," Ruby muttered.

"So, where are they?" Penny asked.

"We don't know they've been missing since Friday," Ruby said.

Penny gasped and approached Ruby, "That's terrible, don't worry Ruby my friend. I won't rest until we find your other friends."

"Uh…" Ruby said uneasily, "That's okay, we're alright. Right guys?"

Sora, Heather, Weiss, and Yang were gone.

"We just ditched Ruby, so we wouldn't deal with Penny," Sora hung his head in shame, "I feel like a horrible person."

"We aren't ditching her," Yang said, "We're… splitting up to cover more ground."

"You hesitated when you said that," Heather added.

Elsewhere

Riku, Fern, Blake, and Sun left the café. Blake had explained that she used to be a member of the White Fang but left when the peaceful protesters turned into terrorists. Fern was silent, but she had been irritable all weekend. Not only had Riku forced her to stop fighting Blake, but he made her follow her all weekend. At the moment, the last place Fern wanted to be was near Blake. Riku looked over to her and saw her ears pointed down in anger, he rolled his eyes.

"Hey," Riku called.

Blake and Sun looked back at him, "Yeah?"

"We'll be right back," Riku grabbed Fern's arm and brought her to an alley.

"What is it Riku?"

"Fern," Riku began sternly, "Whatever you have against Blake drop it."

"No." Fern simply said.

"She's not a member of the White Fang anymore."

"She still did bad things and you want me to pretend she didn't," Fern argued.

"I'm not saying she didn't."

"Then why should we?"

"People do bad things time from time, that doesn't make them evil, they can change."

"This wasn't shoplifting on a dare," Fern retorted, "This was attacking people, hurting people and their families. Nothing justifies it. She killed my parents!"

"Did she?" Riku asked, "Was she there?"

Fern looked down, ears drooped, "No."

"Fern, do you think I'm a bad person?" Riku asked.

Fern looked back up, "What does that have to do with…"

"Yes or no?"

Fern took a breath, "You're rude, constantly brooding, and you snore, which is difficult for someone with four ears to sleep… but no I don't think you're a bad person."

"Fern," Riku took in a breath. Mentally preparing himself for what he was about to tell his teammate, he knew he'd have to come clean about it, but he had hoped it would had been later, "Before coming to Beacon, before leaving home, I wanted to see the outside world. I wanted to see it so bad, I was desperate."

Fern looked puzzled, "Sora said your home was beautiful, peaceful."

"It was," Riku confessed, "Everyone was happy and safe, humans and faunus lived together peacefully, few grimm attacks, what attacks there were we could handle. But to me, it was small. In one hour I could run the perimeter of the island, nothing changed because no one wanted to change. I read about huge grimms that only the most powerful people could defeat, cities so big that I could get lost in, tall mountains, glaciers, deserts, flowers and food I never saw before. Reading it all made my small little island feel like a prison surrounded by water. Sora and I wanted to see the world. We knew becoming huntsmen would be the best way, we could see the world and defeat the grimm that got in our way. Then… two years ago… someone came to me."

When Riku began to speak he started to look away from Fern. The faunus immediately knew something was wrong.

"He said, he would help me get stronger… give me the strength to see the outside world. I never saw him before, which meant he came from the outside world. Being the idiot, I was, I thought that meant he must have known what he was talking about. So, I met up with him after school, he trained me, help me get better control of my semblance, and I got stronger. Then he told me he needed my help, but it got people hurt, I knew it got people hurt, but I just didn't want to admit it to myself. Then Sora and Kairi found out what was going on," Riku's fist curled in anger and shame, "I fought them."

Fern's expression filled shock when Riku said that.

"I fought them, I hurt them, but Sora never stopped trying to stop me, save me from my stupidity, never stopped being my friend and by the time I finally woke up…" Riku trembled, "The man who trained me, was gone, and I had hurt so many people and the regret I had been pushing away finally hit me in the face."

Fern's face began to soften.

"I'm not asking for forgiveness, I don't deserve it. And Blake isn't asking for forgiveness either," Riku faced Fern again, "I know there is no undoing what I've done, I'm not saying I was right and I'm not stupid, I know that dedicating my life to be a huntsman won't make up for any of it. But it won't stop me from doing the right thing from now on, because when Sora pulled me out of it, I remembered the real reason why I wanted to see the outside world, I wanted to find the strength to protect those that mattered. Becoming a huntsman is the only way for me to move on. And I'm willing to bet anything Blake is trying to move on as well. You can't judge her for trying."

Fern stood there for a moment. She took in everything for a moment. Then she slapped Riku, "That was for hurting Sora." Riku didn't complain.

The alley was silent for a moment, "But I forgive you," she took in a breath before speaking again, "I can't forgive Blake, but I will let her try to do the right thing."

"That's all I ask, and I'm sure that's all Blake is asking for too," Riku explained. The silver haired boy turned around.

"Riku, what happened to that man?"

Riku froze mid step, it took a minute for him to answer, "I don't know."

Riku and Fern rejoined Blake and Sun. Blake looked at them, "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine."

Blake nodded, "Sun told me a large shipment of dust is coming in tonight."

"Why should we care?" Fern asked, sounding monotone again.

"I want to prove that the White Fang didn't steal the dust like Weiss thinks they are," Blake explained.

"Let me guess," Riku added, "We're going on a stake out."

"Yep," Sun said.