Chapter 10: Falling Spark
XxX
Yang
(One month later)
Yang walked briskly into Oobleck's classroom, a little skip in her step. She was actually a little excited about this lecture. It felt wrong to be excited about a history class, of course, but she couldn't help it. Oobleck really seemed to care about his subject and she respected that kind of intensity. Also, he'd had been building up to this lecture for weeks, and according to some of the upperclassmen this one was worth the hype. It helped that the stuff he was talking about was recent, and not that 'archaeology of pre-hunter societies' crap she'd gotten at Signal. Thank the gods those classes were... ancient history.
She and the other students took their seats as the Prof stepped forward from the back of the classroom. Blake leaned forward beside her, as mysteriously dedicated to this class as she'd been for the past series of lectures. Sure, Blake always did well in class, but it was strange to see her... participating so easily. Yang shrugged. Maybe she was just interested in Faunus history. Everyone had their weird hobbies. Live and let live-those were words Yang lived by.
Oobleck tapped his thermos once, stowed it away, and began his lecture, starting his customary pacing back and forth in the front of the classroom.
"All right, students, where did we leave off last time? We're right in the middle of things, it's so hard to keep track..." The man was genuinely asking. Yang rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless.
Pyrrha raised her hand.
"With the capture of General Lagune and the subsequent surrender of the human armies, professor. The third year of the Faunus revolt."
He nodded.
"Ah, yes! Excellent, excellent. So, that brings us to the postwar period. In a world rocked by two globe-spanning wars in as many decades, those left were decidedly uneasy about coming to any sort of peace. However, once the dust settled, there was a treaty. The Menagerie Accords, outlawing anti-Faunus discrimination and guaranteeing a Faunus sanctuary in Menagerie in case public opinion failed to be changed by law in exchange for the cessation of unrest. This I hope you all know. That brings us to our first question for today's lecture. Who proposed the Accords?"
Weiss raised her hand. She'd started participating more in these classes too, come to think of it. Then again, it made sense for her. She was a Schnee. Their relationship with the Faunus could be best described as... ice cold. She probably wanted to score points whenever she could. Also, again, she was a Schnee. Overachievement was written in their DNA. Or their genes. Or their brains-whatever. Yang wasn't exactly sure how genetics worked but she also really didn't care.
"The humans, of course. They saw that the situation with the Faunus was unsustainable. That's also why one of the charges laid at Faunus feet to this day is their violation of the Accords. We gave them what we promised, they should have the common decency to remain peaceful."
Common decency. Yang snorted. What a Weiss thing to say.
Blake's hand shot up before Oobleck could respond. He stopped his pacing, pointing at her.
"Rebuttal, Ms. Belladonna?"
"Yes. The Faunus didn't violate the Accords, the humans did-it took decades of mistreatment before the Faunus turned to violence. That's not a violation of the treaty on the Faunus's part, it's restraint!"
Yang whistled, eyes wide.
Oobleck held up a hand and resumed pacing.
"Interesting as this debate undoubtedly promises to be, that isn't the question at hand right now - any rebuttals to Ms. Schnee's claim that the humans were the ones to propose the treaty? Come on, come on, this isn't a hard question, think about what you know - the Faunus captured Laguna, the war ended, and we got the Accords, so who made them?!"
The class fell silent. Yang couldn't blame them, Weiss was right - or at least, that's what everybody said, about the Faunus. Yang didn't hold by all that lesser species nonsense, and the Faunus did get mistreated and that was wrong, but the humans made them a treaty. The Prof looked a little disappointed, pace slowing.
"Really, nobody? You all believe that the humans proposed the treaty? Well, society is good at telling its lies. Let me pose you a question. After a war, who typically proposes terms of ceasefire? The victors or the losers?"
Yang's eyes widened as the point hit her. She looked to her left to see the same expression on most of the class besides Blake, who looked like the cat that ate the canary.
"Now you're all thinking. So, who proposed the treaty?"
Pyrrha hesitatingly raised her hand.
"The Faunus? But in that case, why would they have accepted Menagerie as a shelter? They could have taken anywhere on Remnant - why suggest a treaty that leaves you worse off than you were pre-war?"
Oobleck grinned, walking back and forth so energetically Yang could have sworn he was about to start flying.
"And now we come to the crux of the dilemma! Why would the Faunus have made such an offer? As Ms. Nikos rightly says, they could have had anything-why take what the humans were forcing them towards anyway? Why make a treaty that leaves you worse off? The puzzle's almost put together, finish it off, take what you know and use it to find what you need!"
"Because the humans weren't the enemy that needed worrying about." Blake's voice was calm, as always, but Yang could almost hear her smile. "At the end of the war, the Grimm would have been out in force, almost as bad as they were during the Great War. Moving Faunus communities from Menagerie risked deaths and increasing unrest would mean Grimm attacks, so the Faunus took what they could without endangering the human world. In their Accords, they embodied the Faunus ideal of equality at all costs but life."
Weiss jumped to her feet. The professor abruptly pointed at her.
"Where are you going, Ms. Schnee?"
"The Faunus slaughtered people in cold blood and still do to this day. I won't stand by and hear them be aggrandized."
Blake stood up quickly, turning towards Weiss.
"The Faunus did nothing, Weiss. The White Fang, after decades of seeing their treaty spat on and protesting peacefully, escalated. Even if that escalation was wrong it doesn't mean their cause was wrong!"
"You sound like a sympathizer." Weiss's voice was eerily calm.
"Students!" Oobleck's voice was unexpectedly loud and serious. "Not in my classroom! I will tolerate debate but not this sort of bigotry!"
Weiss stalked out of the room. The entire class was silent for a few moments before Oobleck exhaled slowly and continued speaking, his head of steam totally gone.
"Anyway, now that that's over, let us continue to discuss the reactions to the Accords..."
Yang gently tapped Blake on the shoulder. Blake whirled at the touch, eyes wide. Yang leaned back, raising her hands placatingly and, lowering her voice.
"Easy there, tiger. Just wanted to know if you were alright."
Blake visibly tensed, responding in a shaky whisper. "I'm fine."
Yang raised a brow, smiling mischievously. "Yeah? You sure about that?"
"I said I'm fine. So drop it."
"Alriiight," Yang shrugged, not convinced in the slightest. "But you should know, now I'm curious."
"Curiosity killed the cat," Blake muttered.
"Not if it was a faunus-cat! Er, cat-faunus? Cat...uhnus…? Is that a thing?"
Blake's eyes widened. "W-what are you even talking about?"
Yang blew out a breath and slumped back against her seat. "Hell if I know, Blake. People are weird. World is weird. My partner is obviously an undercover White Fang member. I just don't know what to think anymore."
Blake straightened like a puppeteer just yanked her strings. "What?"
Yang threw her head back and laughed. "I'm just kidding! Geez, you're always so serious!"
Oobleck paused his lecture, raising his brows. "Is there something you would like to share with the class, Miss Xiao Long?"
Yang waved her hands. "No, no, sorry Prof. Keep going. I'm, like, super interested." She winked at Blake, nudging the girl with her elbow.
Blake gave her a tight, thin smile and turned away.
XxX
Sun
The cargo ship rumbled into the harbor, finally slowing to a stop after days of endless plodding motion. The doors at the top of the hold slowly swung open, light shining into the deep hold. Sun rolled out from his hiding place behind a cargo container, stood up, and stretched, relaxing as muscles popped in his shoulders and back and the welcome breeze brushed against his skin. Gods, that had been boring. He had expected it, stowing away was always dull, but normally he didn't have to stay that still! Whatever else you could say about Atlas security drones, they did their jobs. If only he could have brought his team with him and talked to someone - but getting Neptune onto a boat was impossible at the best of times. Keeping him quiet on a boat? Not even worth trying. He'd catch up with the others in a few weeks at the Vytal festival, anyway.
An Atlesian security drone wheeled around the corner, eyes flickering red when it caught sight of Sun.
"Intruder detected. Please identify yourself."
Sun grinned as his tail curled around a handle on the nearest cargo container, legs tensing to jump.
"James Ironwood."
The robot paused for a moment, considering this new information. Sun yanked himself upwards into the container, leaping off of it to a higher container as the drone's eyes flickered to red, guns retargeting to him.
"Aura mismatch. Impersonating Atlas officials and stowing away is a crime against the region. Please surrender peacefully."
Sun shrugged as he leapt onto the next container. He had gone long enough without getting caught-it was really about time, if he were to be honest with himself.
"Retreat and surrender are basically the same thing, right? I'm definitely being peaceful."
The drone opened fire. Sun sighed. What was with robots and not liking banter? He launched himself off of the next container, taking a few steps along the corrugated side of another before jumping up and out of the hole, landing in a roll on the deck. He rolled to his feet before tensing. This was probably going to hurt. His next jump took him off the deck and onto the docks, his Via Sun flickering into existence beneath him for a second to slow his fall. He hit the wooden boards hard, rolling onto his feet and into a lazy jog off the docks. At this point, he was home free. Nobody really cared about stowaways on land, and why would they? Not like there was any advantage to catching them. What were they going to do, send him back? He kept jogging steadily, eyes flickering around, taking in the sights.
Man, Vale was a nice city. Definitely better than Vacuo. Then again, the treehouses Sage built were better than Vacuo. It wasn't a high bar-
A sudden hand blocked Sun's path. He looked down to see the person the hand was attached to- an orange-haired, green-eyed girl. There was something a little odd about her eyes, but whatever. If Sun spent time worrying about odd people, team SSSN wouldn't have worked anywhere near as well as it did.
"Salutations, good citizen! I apologize for bothering you! I noticed you were coming from the area of the Vale Docks! I am tracking a stowaway from an Atlesian Cross-continental Cargo Ship from there- did you see anything strange?"
Sun's eyes widened slightly at her strange tone. It was almost like someone had been shown a thousand conversations and never tried one themselves. Also, they were sending trackers after him? Ha! That was ridiculous. What, was the ship carrying secret Atlesian military gear? He should probably deal with this. He grinned. Time to hope the drone hadn't snapped a photo amid all the gunfire.
"Oh, I was looking for the same stowaway! I'm Sun Wukong, from Shade Academy. I got here a bit early for Vytal."
He held out his hand. She looked uncertainly at it for a moment before her eyes brightened and she shook it. Sun winced. Her grip was strong, that was for sure. And weirdly... hard. Like metal.
"It is excellent to meet you, Sun Wukong! I am Penny Polendina, huntress in training from Atlas, here early for the same reason!"
"Sun's fine. So, how about we search for the criminal together? We'll cover more ground that way." Was spending time with the person who was hunting him a good idea? Eh, probably not. But that had never stopped him before.
Penny smiled widely.
"Sensational! I'm tracking-ready!"
"That's a weird way to phrase things, but sure. Where do you want to get started?"
The girl's eyes seemed to glow as her head tilted in thought.
"It looks as though the criminal took nothing, though he did identify himself as General Ironwood. Sun, why would he have lied like that?"
"I'm not sure. It's difficult to get into the mind of criminal masterminds like that, seeing as I'm a Huntsman and all." It was tough for Sun to keep a straight face. Maybe he was laying it on a little thick? Nah. If anything, not thick enough.
Penny nodded. Her eyes glowed for a moment. Yeah. Sun was sure they'd glowed that time. Definitely.
"It seems that the likely path of the criminal took him right by us? Sun, if we hurry we might be able to catch him!"
"Nice! Look, before we get started, can I ask you something?"
"Of course!"
Sun paused.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but, are you a cyborg Faunus?"
Her eyes widened as she blanched.
"I don't know what you are talking about! A cyborg Faunus? I'm a real girl!"
He held up a hand.
"Look, it's ok if you are, alright? None of my friends are normal. Your not normal just happens to include metal hands and glowing computer eyes. Beside, I've never met a cyborg Faunus before. I just want to know so I don't accidentally drop a magnet on you or something."
She stared at him.
"Did you just call me a...friend?"
"I mean, yeah, we're about to chase a stowaway together, right? And we could both use friends, we're new here."
Her grin stretched over her face almost unsettlingly widely.
"Sensational! So, friend, let's go catch a stowaway! And don't worry about magnets, my internal systems make them a nonissue. I mean - human bodies don't get affected by magnets. Yes."
Sun chuckled as she took off. He wouldn't lead her on a wild goose chase for long, but he could have some fun with this, right?
XxX
Blake
Blake walked slowly into her team's room. The door swung shut behind her, clack of metal on wood like a nail driven into a coffin. Ruby, Yang and Weiss were sitting quietly in the middle of the room, waiting for her. Yang looked apologetic. Weiss, meanwhile, appeared to be trying to burn a hole in Ruby with her eyes. There was still a chance this wasn't about Oobleck's class -
"We need to talk about what happened today." Ruby's voice was oddly solemn. It sounded almost like - no, exactly like how she had sounded in initiation. Her flat tone was broken up by the occasional pause, as though Ruby were searching for the most leaderly thing to say. "I can accept that my teammates have different opinions, but what happened in History shouldn't happen. We're going to talk about why what happened happened, but first - can you apologize to each other?"
Weiss turned her caustic glare up to face Blake.
"I'm not apologizing for calling someone what they are. You said it yourself, Belladonna. You agree with the White Fang's cause."
"Because their cause was making sure the Faunus receive what they were promised." It was all Blake could do to keep herself from saying 'we'.
"The Faunus were promised Menagerie. They have it. They were promised nondiscriminatory practices from the signatories of the treaty. They have it - all Remnant governments have laws guaranteeing equal treatment. You know what the humans were promised, Blake? We were promised peace."
"And you had it for decades, before the White Fang grew fed up with the failure of Remnant to honor the spirit of the Accords! They spent a half century dealing with people like you, people arguing that the Faunus were 'treated equally' while companies like the SDC pushed u-" Blake covered the sound with a cough, frantically reminding herself to stay calm, to stay hidden. This wasn't worth it. "-them into a cycle of poverty and slavery for the sake of cheap labor!"
Weiss's eyes flashed. Ruby held up a hand, voice wavering a little.
"Okay. You guys are saying what you feel, that's good, but maybe we could take it down a notch-"
"No." Weiss's voice had lost all traces of emotion beyond cold rage. "I will not let you drag the SDC through the mud to clear the names of dirty Faunus criminals."
Blake's eyes widened. She couldn't stop herself from saying what came next.
"So the truth comes out, huh? What's the issue, Weiss? Is it that they're White Fang? Or is it that 'dirty Faunus criminals' had the audacity to try and better themselves?"
"And so what if that's it? We've all seen what happens when the Faunus get political - maybe it works for a few decades, but then you get the Schnee dust train!"
"That's an exception, not the rule!"
Weiss's eyes widened.
"Oh, what makes you so sure of that? Some innate belief about 'the equality of Faunus'? Or do you have actual proof?"
"We were never supposed to kill civilians! Adam went off-script!" Blake froze.
"...What?" Weiss's anger seemed to have looped through cold back to incandescent.
"What are you talking about?" Ruby's aura of leadership was gone, replaced by confusion.
"Blake... what are you saying?" It was Yang's tone that did it. Blake couldn't bear that mix of confusion and fear. She couldn't help it.
Blake ran.
A/N: Nonstory thing first: I'll not be able to update the week after next for personal reasons - namely, being on a cabin in the woods for 5 days for a college pre-orientation program. So, you'll get next week's chapter as normal - it's the one after that'll be delayed for a week.
Also, when I finish the first arc I'll be taking a week or two hiatus to finish up planning for the next arc - however, there will be a bonus interlude chapter-it will be part of BB canon but not necessarily chronologically in the right place. Here's your hint as to what it is: 'The world according to Peter'.
Storywise: These three scenes flowed better than maybe any other scene I've written before.
Oobleck's class: this scene was originally from Oobleck's perspective, actually. Had to change that to get the Blake and Yang scene at the end, but it was high time we saw Yang on page anyway, so I'm glad I did. Oobleck will get POV sections in the next arc, most likely.
Also, all the White Fang and Menagerie Accords lore? Besides the Faunus agreeing to take Menagerie as a sanctuary, all of that is canon. The White Fang are possibly the most restrained freedom fighters in existence (well, if they existed). I'll refrain from saying more lest I reveal my own political beliefs.
Sun and Penny: this is the most fun I've had writing a scene since the 5th execution in LiDD. Can you tell?
Also, it was a toss-up before I started writing whether Penny would be like canon!Penny or whether I'd give her the LiDD!Alter-ego treatment. I am immensely happy with my choice.
The argument: Getting started with this was really difficult-but, once I got into the meat of the argument? Writing it flowed incredibly naturally. I actually found myself typing 'we' and 'us' in Blake's dialogue without thinking and had to erase them a few times.
Please review!