The Schnee Black Sheep

A/N

So, i had some spare time and decided to upload a new chapter. do be warned there will be a lot of Blake and Coal interacting in the mission but it will be solely for the purpose of story not that im confirming their pairing or anything yet. WHICH I STILL WANT YOU GUYS TO VOTE ON BTW!

and can i just give a big shout out to you guys that continuously support the story by reviewing, following and favoriting this. i mean seriously guys thank you so much!

As an auther i do have two requests for you readers though: if any of you know a beta reader that could help me out with checking over chapters for me could ya get them to pm me or something... mine kinda bailed on me and im in desprate need of a new one. also if any of you can draw id like to request if someone can do some artwork for the fic featuring Coal's design. id do it myself except im limited to stickmen and dicks :P

Enough rambling now! Please enjoy

Chapter 10: Operation Hide and Seek – Part 1

When Wiess woke up the first thing she realised was that she wasn't in her own bed, or her own room for that fact. She had fallen asleep waiting for Coal to return from his briefing with Ozpin and had slept quite well using his bed. Weiss sat up and rubbed some of the sleep from her eyes when she heard her brother speak up.

"Sleep well Baby sis?" Coal Chucked from somewhere, her eyes still had yet to adjust to the darkness in the room. It must have still been early in the morning.

"what time is it?" She groaned

"around half four in the morning." Coal stated. Wiess' eyes had finally adjusted and she could see him sat in the middle of his room fully geared up and ready for his mission. He wore his frost white trench coat over his silver tee-shirt and black combat pants with black combat boots. He had a single strap black backpack slung over his right shoulder which covered the Schnee crest on his back and his headset rested around his neck. She could also see the black gauntlet which he used to store and eject dust on his right forearm which also meant that he had his ammo bag attached to his lower back. He was currently cleaning his revolver, Forgotten Sins, with his back to her and the sight filled her with a calm sense of tranquillity. He was only ever calm when he had a job or a mission to complete. "… While I'm gone?"

"what?"

"I said, are you going to be alright when I'm gone?"

"I'll be fine. You just be careful ok."

Coal stood having finished cleaning his gun and embraced his twin in a warm hug which she returned. "You do remember that I promised you years ago that I'd always come back right." He said softly before releasing his sister and walking out the door. Neither one saying a proper goodbye.

(outside the airship)

"He said to meet at 6am, he's late!" A frustrated scythe wielder yelled.

"Calm down Ruby I'm sure he has his reasons." Pyrrha said as she tried to come up with a reason for the team leader's lateness. It was almost half past six and he had still yet to show up…

"Yeah Ruby chill ya beans lass, I have my reasons." Ruby and Pyrrha turned a full 180 to see Coal leaning against the door of the airship, with his typical childish grin and gave the boy a mixture of confused and pissed off glares having somehow appeared behind them.

Blake, who had arrived with Ruby, didn't bother to look at the boy. She seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him at all times. Maybe the gun to the head shook her more than Coal initially thought, he would need to fix that if he was going to get any information form the girl and use her to get to her lover. "I got a little lost on the way down, if it wasn't for some rabbit Faunus I probably would still be lost." The three girls made their way past the boy to take their place on the airship groaning about his lack of sense of direction to get the mission started.

Coal put a hand on Blake's shoulder to keep her back for a moment longer. "Look." He started, Blake still didn't make any eye contact, in fact she kept facing forward, not acknowledging the one who almost took her life. "I'm sorry about what happened in the forest, there's no point making excuses because there is none that I can give that will make you feel better." He removed his hand and left it hanging in front of her offering a handshake to the girl. "Think we can start over?" He asked with a soft smile.

Blake looked at the hand that he offered and after a brief moment of thought, looked into the boy's obsidian eyes for the first time since the forest. "So that's why you selected me for this mission." She more stated then asked. She continued walking and took her own place on the airship leaving the team leader alone with his thoughts. Little did she know that when she left, Coal's smile morphed into an evil smirk.

Coal had made some space in the middle of the lounge area of the airship so that he could brief his team about the mission they were going on. The girls sat in front of him on the sofa while he stood on the opposite side of a small coffee table. He handed each one of them a paper file which he had made himself earlier that morning containing the details of the mission and each member's roles during the course of the assignment. Each file came with the name of the person it was made for.

"OK so, those files contain the basics of the mission and your given roles, but I'll explain everything as simply as I can." He rolled out a map of a mountainous area which contained a diagram of a small town. "3 days ago the town of Frostpoint located on a small island between Vale and Atlas was invaded by a large quantity of Grimm. The towns folk evacuated but they have reported that there were some people who were left behind in the confusion. 6 people to be exact. One of which is the mayor's daughter. We are to locate and extract the missing survivors and bring them to Vale where a refugee camp has been set up. The island is basically one big mountain and the town is located halfway up its main face. Due to heavy storms the airship cannot take us all the way to the town so we are going to be dropped at its base and will have to walk the rest of the way, this will take us almost half a day to reach the town entrance and from there, we will have 24 hours to search the town for the missing survivors. Once they are all accounted for, alive or dead, we will make our way back down to the mountain to the airship where the survivors will be dropped at the camp. Are we all clear so far."

Coal got nods of affirmative from the girls and a raise of a hand from the youngest member indicating she had a question. "Is that why you said to bring something warm?"

"Yes. The snow storms that the island gets are apparently quite ruff. Why they built a town there is beyond me and I really don't care in all honesty, probably thought it would be safer from Grimm or something. Anyone else got something to ask?" When he got no further questions, he continued his briefing.

"The files you have been given contain the details of the missing six which you will need to familiarise yourselves with as once this ship lands, those files will be burned and destroyed. As for when we enter the town, we will be going in through the south entrance and doing a full circle through the town in two separate pairs. Ruby and Pyrrha will take the west side and circle around clockwise while Blake and I will take the east and take a anti clockwise motion. We will meet at the north entrance to the town where will take refuge inside one of the bigger buildings and hunker down for the night. We will then continue on in the morning double checking the other pair's side if we haven't found everyone. Clear?"

The girls nodded again and, now satisfied that his team knew what they were getting into, turned to face Ruby. "Come with me."

Ruby followed silently wondering what he wanted but they stopped in the corridor outside the lounge area, Coal made sure that the door remained open for reasons Ruby didn't understand. He took out his revolver and handed it to the young girl who now had a confused look and walked about 10ft away from the girl. "Take that gun and shot at me." Was all Coal said as he turned to face her once more.

Ruby was confused but obligated anyway. She raised the gun slightly and shot at the ground next to him, who didn't even flinch at the shot. "Good." He said. "Now. Shoot to kill."

"W-what?" Ruby spluttered.

"I said, Shoot to kill. That's an order."

Ruby raised the gun once more and aimed for Coal's head. She was confused and worried about why he had just asked her to shoot at her in the first place and now he was asking her to try and kill him. No one could dodge a shot from this range and he didn't have any kind of defensive shield or anything. She knew he had aura but that didn't make it easier. She had never aimed to kill a person before. Killing Grimm was different to this.

Ruby shot after a minute of internal debate and the bullet flew past the boy's face just grazing the skin of his check, leaving him with a small scratch that spouted a small trickle of blood. He hadn't activated his aura. Ruby's eyes widened at the realisation that she almost killed him. She heard him speak to her again but it didn't really break her out of her stunned stance.

"You missed. I said to shoot to kill." His face was dark and emotionless. Ruby couldn't recognise the child like teen she had come to think of as a friend. She couldn't kill him. She doubted she couldn't kill anyone. She started to doubt that she could even be a huntress.

Coal watched as she held the gun up once more and aimed for his head a second time, her entire body began to shake as she debated about pulling the trigger, she had been given an order from her team leader after all and she always followed the leaders instructions. Seconds turned into minutes before Ruby lowered her arm and looked away from the boy, tears forming round her eyes.

"I cant." Was all she was able to say, it was barely audible but Coal had heard her.

Ruby didn't register that Coal had slipped the gun from her hands as she let the tears fall. She couldn't do it. Why had he put her in that position and ordered her to take a shot that would kill him? Was he trying to prove just how weak she was?

"You didn't take the shot this time. But someone will put you in that position again. When you are forced to make a choice between ending someone's life and sparing it, will you be able to take the shot? Your still young Ruby, so remember that no matter what choice you make, if you kill a person or spare them, will you be able to live with that choice? It doesn't matter about orders, it will always be your choice that decides when one's life ends." Ruby felt a hand on her head which cause her to look up at the boy standing in front of her, the cut she had made having healed meaning he had reactivated his aura. He had a soft smile on his face and Ruby instantly knew from the look in his eyes that he knew what he was talking about. That he had already needed to make that choice before… That he was living with his choice.

Just inside the door way to the lounge, Blake and Pyrrha had witnessed the whole display and had different thoughts about the situation. Pyrrha held a soft smile while thinking that despite his odd way of going about it, he managed to pass the message along to the youngest of the students in the school that being a huntress was more than just fighting Grimm. She inwardly cursed when she realised that her rival might have actually taken a life at some point but quickly let it slide because he was right in what he was trying to get across. Even though you sometimes don't have a choice in the matter.

Blake on the other hand had a completely different mindset. She was disgusted that the boy had brought up such a horrible subject and ordered a 15-year-old girl to shoot at him as if trying to end his life. What if Ruby had actually shot when he had his aura down and how would she be able to live with herself? But the more she thought about it, Blake came to realise that Coal was not wrong in his statement. Her scouting missions with the White Fang had led to countless deaths and while she had not taken those lives personally, she had to live with blood on her hands. She couldn't help but wonder if Coal's words were just as much for her as they were for Ruby.

Coal brought each one of them from their thoughts by announcing in a loud voice. "Okay everyone go get changed into whatever warm clothing you have and read up on the missing persons. Be ready for when we land as from that point, we don't not stop until we find every one of those people and return to the ship."

(Town of Frostpoint)

Team VOID had been walking along the mountain trail for a few hours now and where almost at the village. Coal still had his normal attire, he had the coat lined with both fire and ice dust and he was born a Schnee, he didn't feel the cold to much despite the snowy terrain and the small blizzard that had started halfway up the mountain side. Ruby had a slightly thicker cloak with a black fur hood and a black turtleneck jumper over her regular clothes. Pyrrha had a similar jacket to Coal's however, hers matched her red sash around her waist, she also opted to wear a set of thermals under her armour. Blake… didn't bring any thicker clothing. The further the group went the colder it got and it was almost mid-afternoon by the time they reached the town of Frostpoint. Needless to say, she was freezing, but was still hiding it quite well.

Before Coal gave the order for the team to split up, Ruby and Pyrrha going left while he and Blake went right. They had encountered very few Grimm on the accent to the town but now that they were in an identified Grimm infestation he reminded the team just before they split. "This is search and rescue, not extermination. Make sure you make it back alive. That is your main priority." He then reached into his backpack and pulled out 4 cans of beer and held them out for each member to take. Reluctant at first each girl eventually took a can each and gave the boy a confused look. "Keep these with you. Once we all make it back to the ship this is our reward."

Ruby looked even more confused at the explanation as she questioned. "You remember I'm only 15, right?"

Coal gave a loud laugh before answering the girl. "2 years older than me when I started and I had Ironwood as a mentor. One of the guys on our squad used to do something similar but with a six pack of beer rather than a single one… When he retired, I took up the tradition." After the girls stored away the beers with mixed opinions, Coal's expression grew serious. "You know your jobs. Now go!"

Coal and Blake had been searching the east side of the town for about an hour before the happened upon on of the missing persons… Dead. Coal was examining the body while talking through his scroll to an officer at the refugee camp to inform them of this person they had found. "Body is too mangled to get a solid ID, but I'll scan his prints and send them along. There isn't much left to bring back… I'm sorry."

"Don't be, just get the prints along and we will inform the next of kin." He heard the officer say. Coal didn't reply, he only ended the call and scanned the finger prints on the body. He was lucky to even get a scan at all considering the state the body was in. There was no way of knowing whether it was male or female.

Blake had neglected to approach the body, they had really only found it because of her enhanced senses and she could smell the decaying body from a fair distance despite the worsening storm. She had pretended to stumble on the body and called upon her partner to take over after nearly vomiting at the sight of the mangled corpse in the snow. She was too cold to really want to get involved anyway, she had been shivering since they reached the town and due to the storm getting continuously worse and now that it was starting to get dark, she was only getting colder. She silently regretted defying her leaders instructions to bring warmer clothing.

Being a Faunus she had enhanced senses, so when she felt a warm weight on her shoulders from behind her she jumped a little having been surprised and rounded to see a now jacketless Coal with a soft smile. "You looked cold." Was all he said before turning to walk away his voice only barely audible over the wind.

"What about you?" Blake didn't even realise she had asked when she saw Coal look over his shoulder at her, still with that soft smile.

"I don't feel the cold. And before you make a sarcastic remark about it being related to my cold heart, I suggest we keep moving before the storm gets too bad. We need to make it to the half way point and regroup with Ruby and Pyrrha." Coal continued to walk away from Blake who was now sliding her arms though the sleeves of his coat. She had wanted to make the sarcastic comment at his cold heart, but if he was so cold hearted he wouldn't have gave her his coat. It was warm after all and she did need it if she was going to make it through the mission.

She quickly jogged after him to catch up and walk alongside him, the first time since they had been dropped off, so that she could question him about the body they had found. "Did they find out who it was?"

"Yeah… Sapphire Shade, 20-year-old female, she was an only child. Her parents made it out though, according to the message from the officer. I've already sent a message to the others to mark her off the list." Blake nodded and they continued to walk in silence. Until Coal broke it. "It's weird."

"What's weird?" Blake questioned turning to look at him.

"This area is supposed to be infested with Grimm but we haven't seen a single one since we entered the town." Blake's eyes widened at his words, he was right. They had yet to see a single grim since they had arrived, she couldn't help but wonder if Ruby and Pyrrha were having the same amount of luck. "Ruby." She heard Coal say, he had his scroll open and had made a call to their teammate. "Report."

"We have found 2 survivors so far… Both dead, I'll send you a message once their fingerprints have revealed their identities. That's about it."

"Grimm activity?"

"Erm well… We haven't actually seen any."

"Don't sound to disappointed. Keep moving and report in when you reach the rendezvous point."

"Okey dokey." Coal ended the call and the pair continued on deeper into the town.

They were about 15 minutes out from the meet up location when they heard a high-pitched scream coming from one of the larger buildings from the street across from them. They both sprinted to the sound of the childlike scream.

As soon as they rounded the corner into the next street they saw 3 Ursi chasing a small girl who looked about 6 years old, the Grimm were closing in fast. Coal reacted first and drew his revolver and fired 3 quick rounds of wind enhanced bullets which tore through each beast, enough to slow them down and draw their attention but not enough to kill them instantly. He then parted from Blake, who had run towards the girl and was now standing between her and the Grimm with weapons drawn. Coal ran off to the side down the street firing as he went to keep the attention of the Grimm focused on him. He didn't need to say it, Blake had taken it upon herself to protect the girl. Something he didn't expect her to do of her own accord. The girl was obviously human and if he could tell from this distance, then the Faunus girl must have noticed too.

"I'll keep them distracted!" He shouted to his partner as she picked up the girl and headed off in the opposite direction. Coal had ran about 5 streets down before he finally decided that it was far enough to know that the girls were safe from these Grimm. As soon as he rounded to face the Grimm his smirk dropped… "Ah shit." He cursed, weren't there meant to be 3 Grimm following him, not just 2.

Blake had been running the whole time while carrying the screaming girl. The sounds of the high-pitched cries hurting her sensitive ears but she played it no mind, she was to focused on out running the Grimm that had decided that they were more appealing than the boy who had shot at it. The only reason why it had yet to catch up with the 2 girls was that Coal had hit the Grimm in one of its legs slowing it down.

Blake's sole focus was to keep the girl safe; even if it cost her, her own life. She had no idea how she was going to take down the creature while carrying the child so for now all she could do was run.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" a familiar voice shouted. Blake looked over her shoulder to see Coal falling from the sky with one leg outstretched to kick the Grimm, as soon as he connected with the back of the Grimm's head the beast crashed forward landing in the snow with a loud thud as Coal rolled forward to absorb the impact from the fall, stopping a few meters from Blake's position.

"Sorry." He said as he pointed his gun behind him and double tapped the beast in the head executing it. "Wrong franchise."

Blake simply rolled her eyes, not even noticing that she was now smiling at him. It was small and barely noticeable but it was a smile none the less. "So, she does smile." Coal beamed. Blake instantly reverted back to her standard deadpan expression and set the girl down.

Coal made a split decision that rather than continue on the would make camp one of the buildings close by and let the kid rest up. The child looked rattled and could barely stand on her own so she clung onto Blake's leg while they walked further down the street to find suitable accommodation. While they walked Coal had contacted the other pair to let them know that they had found a survivor and were making a change of plans, rather than meet up they would find a place to rest up for the night now and start fresh in the morning. Something Ruby had agreed to quickly, she and Pyrrha had encountered a large hoard of Grimm after the first report and were beyond exhausted after the fight. The weather was also slowing down progress and they doubted that they would make it to the meeting point anyway.

Coal had picked the lock on one of the larger houses on the corner of the street. It was bigger and seemed more robust than the rest so it made to most sense to him to hold up there for the night. The group took refuge in the master bedroom in the upstairs of the house and the child of the group, for once not Coal Blake mussed, had taken the bed and was attempting to get warm and settle down to get some sleep. Coal and Blake stood at the doorway to the bedroom having a quiet discussion amongst themselves.

"I'll take first watch, the lass seems to have grown attached to you with her clinging to you on the way here so she might settle easier with you around,"

"You sure? You have just fought 3 Ursa aren't you tired? And what happened to the 2 that chased you?"

"I'll be fine, I need the exercise so I'm taking first watch. There dissolving somewhere in the snow, they were smaller than normal Ursa so weren't too difficult. Besides don't you recognise her?"

"Yeah, she's the Mayor's daughter."

"Exactly, so keeping her calm and sane is the best thing to do here. Your probably not going to like it but you may actually have to have a conversation with her." All Coal got as a response was an unamused glare from the Faunus. "Chill lass it was just a joke. I'm taking first watch that's final."

"Ok but I'll take over in 4 hours."

"If that's what you want." Coal said as he departed to begin his watch, he had opted to do a quick perimeter check to make sure that they wouldn't be disturbed during the night and leave Blake alone with her thoughts.

After Coal had disappeared into the blizzard, Blake looked back to the restless child on the king-sized bed. She hated the fact that a child had been dragged into such a horror show yet she was still thankful that the girl was alive. She moved over to the side of the bed and sat down, watching the young girl as she tried to get comfortable. The girl had long black hair much like her own and her eyes matched the colour of her hair almost perfectly. If anyone saw the girls together they would probably mistake them for sisters.

When the girl rolled over to look her in the eyes Blake saw something that she never expected, despite all that had happened in the last few days to the town and having almost been killed by Grimm the girl's eyes showed only humour and a childlike excitement… Blake realised that she had seen those eyes once before, Coal had given her the same look when he joked about her smiling. "Your pretty." The girl giggled. Blake's eyes widened slightly, did this girl not remember what had just happened.

"umm… Thanks?"

"Thank you for saving me. I'm Ebony"

"Blake" The two girls exchanged a quick handshake before the now named Ebony spoke again.

"Who was your boyfriend?" Blake's expression darkened… there was no way this girl could know about Adam… "You know the boy who saved us before." Blake let out a deep sigh, she meant Coal. She praised the child's innocence and returned a soft smile to the girl as she answered.

"He isn't my boyfriend. He is the leader if the team that I'm on."

"But he saved our lives, like a knight from the stories daddy reads me." Blake didn't want to start an argument with a small child about the meaning of love so she shrugged her shoulders. Ebony started giggling and shuffled along making room for Blake to sit fully on the bed. Once Blake repositioned, Ebony took her chance and used the older girls lap as a pillow and instantly drifted off to sleep. Blake followed about 30 minutes later after playing with the younger girl's hair a little bit. Before she fell asleep Blake couldn't help but feel slightly envious of Coal for having a sister.