The bus moved lethargically through the dim streets of Vale, Alcatraz lay up against the window, looking out at the passing streets. Petros sat next to Alcatraz, looking at his feet, too embarrassed to confront Yang after what happened at the beach. Weiss was looking out the window angrily, refusing to talk to Ruby after she humiliated herself in front of her. Alcatraz was spellbound by the beauty of the streets, then something came to his mind and he turned to the seats behind him where Lala and Melody were sitting.
"Did we leave Sweetheart at the beach?" Alcatraz asked. Lala grinned.
"You think I'd be so foolish as to leave our protector at the beach" Lala said with a cocky laugh "I told him to go back to Beacon and wait for us at the gate."
"Wouldn't that mean he'd have to swim there, he's made of rock isn't he?" Alcatraz asked with confusion. Lala giggled and grinned at Alcatraz.
"You're greatly underestimating our Sweetheart, he'll be waiting for us, just you wait and see." Lala said with her finger on her bottom lip and a grin on her face.
"Why do you need his protection, you and Melody make a perfect team anyway" Alcatraz asked, Lala sighed.
"What's my role in combat?" She asked.
"Cata-disc?"
"Nope"
"Cata-last?"
"Close, but no cigar"
"Catfish?"
"Okay now you're not even trying" Lala sighed "catalyst, I make everyone else's semblance stronger, but doing that makes me vulnerable, so Sweetheart is required." A bell sounded then a voice came over the speakers on the bus.
"Next stop, Vale shopping district." The driver said in a grizzled voice. The bus came to a stop and the doors creaked open, everyone stepped out of the bus, team JNPR along with Melody and Lala, split from the rest of the group to go back to Beacon.
"Good luck on your hunt, JNPR!" Alcatraz shouted behind them, waving.
"So, we gonna get the food now?" Yang asked.
"Yeah, Alcatraz come here" Petros said reaching into his bag, when Alcatraz got to him Petros placed a collar around his neck, a pair of spikes inserted themselves into Alcatraz's neck bones, causing him to shudder.
"Disgusting" Blake spat.
"What is?" Alcatraz asked, adjusting the collar.
"Just because you look like a Grimm, you have to wear a goddamn shock collar" Blake growled, her anger radiating passionately.
"We've been over this, Blake" Alcatraz attempted to reassure her "I'm honestly fine with it, I mean, just going into the city is a privilege for someone like me I look menacing, plus the electricity is only administered if Petros thinks I step out of line."
"It's still unacceptable" Blake said, scowling at the collar.
"I think it suits you" Weiss snickered "all dogs need a collar" earning her a venomous look from Blake.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean, princess?" Blake hissed, confronting Weiss.
"Pets must be on leads at all times in the shopping district" Weiss said "so he should consider himself lucky to be without a lead, but I suppose if the Faunus don't have to be on leads, he can get off with just a collar." Weiss smirked and Blake growled angrily at her.
"You two, stop fighting right now" Ruby said stepping in between the two, Weiss and Blake turned away from each other, Weiss walked with everyone, Alcatraz gave Ruby a signal, that it was okay to continue without them, Ruby rejoined the group leaving Blake and Alcatraz alone.
"If you don't hurry we will get left behind, you know" Alcatraz said softly.
"I don't want to go anywhere with her" Blake mumbled.
"Too bad you don't get to choose" Alcatraz said, he was on all fours behind Blake, he bumped his body into the back of her knees, causing her to fall onto his back. Blake involuntarily sat on his back as he started to move along the pavement; Blake's eyes widened.
"How are you not humiliated?" Blake asked, confused.
"I don't get humiliated, I don't believe I can anymore" Alcatraz said as he caught up to everyone else, still lagging behind some distance. Weiss and Ruby seemed to be arguing at the front of the group.
"I don't believe I've asked, where did you come from Alcatraz?" Blake asked.
"I come from a small mining town called Orre" Alcatraz replied with a smile.
"I know that, but before that?" Blake asked, adjusting her seat to be more comfortable. Alcatraz's eyes darted around.
"I don't want to talk about that" Alcatraz said bluntly, Blake noticed just how real Alcatraz was being, to a point where he just didn't seem like himself.
"I see, sorry for asking" Blake stumbled to say.
"It's fine, you didn't know it would upset me" Alcatraz said, a swift shake of his head snapping him back into reality. "Also..."
"What?" Blake pushed.
"Why are you always hiding?" Alcatraz said in an uncharacteristically serious tone, Blake's teeth clenched, her heart beat intensely and her eyes widened.
"W-what are you talking about?" Blake said shakily "I'm not hiding, I'm right here, on your back."
"The real you isn't, you're not a Faunus right now are you?" Alcatraz said looking gloomily at the floor.
"How do you... Well what about the real you? Blake asked.
Alcatraz's face changed to one of confusion "explain."
"The red eyed you, why do you-" Blake started but she was interrupted by Alcatraz.
"Don't you dare associate me with that monster." Alcatraz snapped hatefully.
"But that's the real you isn't it?" Blake asked.
"Not even close, quite the opposite actually" Alcatraz said as he regained his composure.
"Then who or what is it?" Blake asked with a heightened sense of intrigue.
"A monster" Alcatraz said, not sure what to call him. "He is pure evil."
"There's no such thing as pure evil" Blake said.
"He used to be a good guy" Alcatraz began to ramble, "but then he started to reject the experiments, he would only talk about escaping the fac...ility" Alcatraz realised what he was saying and quickly stopped, lowering his head in shame.
"What facility?" Blake asked "and what do you mean 'he', if he is you why do you refer to him in third-"
"Omega" Alcatraz said, his voice shaking a little at the word. Blake looked at him, confused.
"You mean the symbol?" Blake asked.
"That is his name, Omega" Alcatraz said with a clear indication that he hated the name as he spat the last word out.
"What happened?" Blake asked.
"He went completely mad" Alcatraz explained "he had a friend, who he forced to run away, then I beat him to a bloody pulp, we both went back to the facility and his soul was put into my consciousness, at first I couldn't contain his pure hatred, he overtook me and forced me to kill everyone in the facility" Alcatraz began to choke, tears streaming down his face. "Please don't hate me, I didn't want to kill them." Blake's eyes widened, she realised that she had never seen Alcatraz get so upset before. Alcatraz shook his head violently, shaking his tears away "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get so worked up."
Blake gave Alcatraz a second to compose himself, "it's okay, I didn't mean to make you cry" Blake took a moment to think, "how did you figure out about me being a Faunus?" She asked, trying to escape the sensitive subject.
Alcatraz sniffed, "your scent, remember when I went under the table and started smelling people? I was trying to figure out who the Faunus was, that's why I stopped at you." Alcatraz smiled as he returned to normal.
"How do you smell a Faunus?" Blake asked.
"They smell a lot like humans, but they have a very subtle smell of whatever animal they embody, you are a black cat are you not?"
"Yeah, but please don't tell anyone." Blake pleaded, Alcatraz grinned.
"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me" Alcatraz said innocently. At that same moment Alcatraz noticed Yang drop back from the group and join them.
"Daw! Are Blake's leggies tired?" Yang said jokingly. Blake frowned, Alcatraz grinned.
"All aboard the Alcatraz express, toot toot!" Alcatraz said with a chuckle. Blake rose an eyebrow to the Grimm's odd actions.
"You better now, Blake?" Yang asked, setting aside her jokes. Blake smiled at Yang.
"Yeah, thanks for asking" Blake said happily.
"Hey Al?" Yang said, Alcatraz looked up at her.
"Yeah?" Alcatraz answered.
"You still up for tonight?" Yang asked with a grin.
"Hell yeah!" Alcatraz shouted. Blake had a flashback of the last time they went out together, they came back covered in bruises and Yang had a black eye.
"I'll come along too, just to watch" Blake announced. Yang and Alcatraz were surprised to hear that, given her calm nature.
"You're coming to root for me, Blakey baby?" Yang asked jokingly, Blake tried to frown but she let out a little chuckle instead.
"Just for that, I'm going to root for Alcatraz" Blake giggled.
"Toot toot!" Alcatraz said happily.
"You're not a train" Yang said bluntly, Alcatraz stuck his tongue out at Yang.
"Say, when did you two get so chummy?" Blake asked as she watched the two bickering.
"I suppose it started just before last Christmas, I was training against a punching bag and I spotted Al lying on a punching bag, I shouted him over and asked if he wanted to fight, he told me that I could go all out, and for once I'd finally found someone who could not only take hits from me, but someone who can dish out some serious punishment as well, so now every week or so we meet up at the local gym and beat the crap out of each other" Yang said, grinning at Alcatraz.
"Who wins?" Blake asked, Alcatraz and Yang looked at each other.
"Dunno" they said in unison.
"We both drop due to fatigue after about fifteen minutes" Yang said, shrugging. Blake rolled her eyes. Alcatraz looked forward to see Weiss, Ruby and Petros going into a grocery store about a street ahead of them. "Hey Al, if you call them on your scroll, we could just go straight to the gym now."
"Okay" Alcatraz said as he lowered himself to the ground, Blake hopped off, he then stood up, becoming over a foot taller than Yang, he fumbled in his shorts. "Oh yeah, I lost it, Blake can you call them?"
"You're gonna have to find it you know" Blake said as she took her scroll from her pocket, she brought the scroll up to her ear.
- in the store -
"My scroll's ringing!" Ruby said as she took out her scroll. "Oh hi Blake" she paused for Blake to speak "okee dokee," Ruby put the scroll back into her bag, she then turned to Weiss and Petros.
"What did she say?" Petros asked.
"Those three are gonna meet us back at beacon" Ruby said as she pushed the trolley forward. While moving down the isles, amidst the clatter of the trolley, Petros noticed something that he hadn't even remotely noticed earlier, Ruby had extremely prominent bags under her eyes.
"Ruby?" Petros asked, concerned.
"Yeah?" Ruby asked with a cheerful smile.
'I don't want to ruin her smile' Petros thought to himself, causing his face to melt into a smile "doesn't matter" Petros eventually said. Weiss came back with the shopping bags.
"We'd better get going" Weiss said lethargically.
"Long day?" Petros enquired.
"Yeah".
-a damaged mansion, the Emerald forest-
The withered vines worked hard to sew the last pieces of cloth together, finishing the doppelgänger of Ruby's combat gear.
"Perfection is a cruel mistress, but she has been benevolent to me now" Omega said as he inspected the apparel, running his claw along the fabric, he then picked up the dress and threw a bucket of water onto the floor, the eight vines plunged into the bucket, desperate for some of the precious liquid. Omega carefully placed the dress into a box and then he pulled out a scroll, marked by Alcatraz's emblem. "This is where it gets real interesting" Omega said with a maniacal grin.
-an hour later-
"This is the place" Ruby said, holding her scroll out in the darkened forest, looking up at the mansion that stood before her "honestly, how did Alcatraz get stuck in an ursa trap in the middle of a mansion, he's really nice but just so stupid sometimes." Ruby mumbled as she tightened her grip on her Crescent Rose. Ruby shook the scythe to remove the beowolf bits that adorned the blade and stepped up onto the rotten steps of the porch, that creaked in protest. "Alcatraz?" Ruby shouted, she didn't get a reply, instead four blackened vines burst through the floorboards and made an attempt to grab Ruby, who thwarted their attempt by speeding forward. When Ruby looked back, she saw the vines in full, they moved too lethargically and were too withered to belong to Alcatraz, she pulled up the Crescent Rose, squeezing the trigger four times, the high caliber rounds decimating the delicate plants, three dead vines dropped to the floor, the last retreating into the ground beneath the floorboards. Ruby cursed her fatigue for causing her to miss the last shot. The vine barreled towards her, sending floorboards and nails alike up in the air, she slammed the scythe into the floor, successfully executing the plant. Ruby turned and walked into the mansion, the mighty room that greeted her was ancient, rotting in places; she was not alone. The double doors that were across the room were separated by a gleaming red light, as Ruby registered the existence of the light the doors launched from their hinges, soaring through the air only to splinter and smash upon contacting the walls of the room. What stood in the doorway was the bearer of the omega symbol, his remaining eye glowing a bright crimson, his left socket still nurturing a small red dot at its centre, the markings resonating like bioluminescent blood vessels, all leading to the omega symbol on his chest. Omega grinned.
By the time Ruby recognized the grin it was too late, three of the withered vines sealed the door shut, Ruby brought up her rifle to shoot them but one of the vines, that had remained concealed until now, burst from the floorboards, and in a blizzard of dust, wood and splinters, the vine tore the weapon from Ruby's fingers, and threw it across the room. By the time Ruby turned around, Omega was upon her, she tried to run but his reaction time was quick, he swept his leg beneath Ruby, tripping her and condemning her to the floor. The vines that had been keeping the door closed re-emerged to wrap themselves around Ruby's limbs, pinning her to the floor. Omega dropped down to all fours over Ruby.
"What do you want?" Ruby asked, her voice shaking with fear, Omega grinned.
"Isn't it obvious?" Omega said through his twisted smile "I want you" Ruby's eyes widened as one final link was made to that day eight years ago, in the old metal building. "There you go, you see now don't you? I've been waiting for this reunion for so long, waiting to have you for myself"
"Why do you want me?" Ruby asked as fear caused tears to stream down her face, Omega ignored her as he began to undo the strings of her corset by running one of his razor-sharp claws along it, Ruby began to shiver. "W-w-what are you doing?" Ruby stuttered fearfully as she desperately fought against the vine's iron grip, Omega continued to ignore her. Suddenly, Omega brought up one of his claws and slashed Ruby's blouse and, cutting a bit of her skin that lay beneath, Omega finally looked up at Ruby's face, tears streaming down it, he crawled over her body and brought his face right up to her's, his mouth opened and he slowly licked Ruby's tears up, savouring the taste. Omega moved back to his original position and, grabbing the hole in the blouse, tore Ruby's blouse open exposing her abdomen all the way up to the bottom of her bra.
Ruby had never been so scared in her life.
"How thick is your skin?" Omega asked, Ruby was too scared to utter a single word, Omega sighed, "I guess I'll have to find out" he drove one of his bladed fingers into her skin, then took it out and examined it, he then placed his talon back into Ruby's abdomen and began to cut diagonally. Ruby screamed in response to the tearing of her flesh, Omega stopped at the top of her hip. "This bit may hurt just a little bit more than the last", Omega plunged most of his forearm into Ruby, causing her to howl in pain, the markings on Omega's body shone with such intensity that Ruby had to close her eyes, after an agonising minute Omega removed his hand from Ruby, but now there was something in his hand, a floating light that every so often produced a rose petal that quickly dissolved into nothing, then reappeared again.
"My semblance is the ability to copy other semblances, but if close enough, I can copy a portion of the soul" Omega said as he examined the light in his hand. "Stitch her up" the vines brought Ruby to a sitting position and injected her with a painkiller, then began to close her wound with fibers, after about five minutes, all that was left was a scar across her body, the vines dropped her but she felt too weak to move. Ruby looked up to see Omega effortlessly dragging the corpse of a huge deathstalker across the room, a piece of its armoured carapace was missing, Omega put the Grimm down then put the soul in front of his symbol, which glowed brightly then the soul turned a reddish colour. Omega buried the soul into the deathstalker and the mass of flesh began to warp and move sickeningly, this disgusting dance of gore went on for a good few minutes, Ruby was still frozen by fear, once the dance had finished a figure rose from the corpse, pale white skin, markings all over her naked body and eyes just like Ruby's except with a tinge of red, in fact the figure was an exact copy of Ruby except with paler skin and covered in markings. Omega held his hand out to the new Ruby and passed her the box with the copy of Ruby's outfit in, she quickly took his hand and hopped off the body of the deathstalker then hugged Omega tightly. "Shall we take our leave?" Omega asked.
"Yes, yes! Anything for you, Master" the marked girl said, as the two left Omega threw Alcatraz's scroll next to Ruby. Ruby watched as the two stepped through the entrance, Omega took the clone's hand and they disappeared in a flurry of rose petals. As the petals dispersed, Ruby saw the figures of Blake, Yang and Alcatraz sprinting towards the mansion as she lapsed into unconsciousness.
Author's notes: Thanks for reading, sorry this takes so long for me to write, I'm just lazy, but once again thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read my fanfic!
