"Alright boys and girls; let's earn our payday."
Blake and Weiss recoiled as the White Fang goons slowly descended upon the pair, swords, clubs and blackjacks at the ready. No guns by the looks of it; if Weiss had to guess, they had not wanted to risk killing their 'payday' and would just be content with beating them into submission. The Schnee Heiress quickly backed up to Blake, the white-haired girl's face formed into a sharp frown as she looked around.
"Blake, are you gonna be okay to fight? With that thing on your chest…" Weiss' sentence was cut off as she took a good look at her teammates; the girl looked utterly defeated and miserable, her amber eyes downcast as she looked down at The Lock as it sat perched upon her torso. Weiss blinked when she saw, with her own eyes, as The Lock grew ever so slightly, although she attempted to pass this off as a trick of the light or her own mistake.
"I-I… I dunno Weiss… I don't think I can. I mean, I got into this mess into the first place…" Blake's tone was dim as she spoke, though Weiss just grunted as she knelt down and, with some effort, managed to pull Blake to her feet.
"Which is why we're going to get out of it together. You and me, teammates." Weiss loaded a bit of ice dust into Myrtenaster's loading mechanism. The black haired faunus turned her gaze to Weiss, as she just snorted in derision at her words.
"Yeah, teammates… some teammate I am. I didn't even tell any of you I was coming here, just like last time. Now you have to fight to get both of us out of here because I was too damned stupid to think ahead for once… like always." This time, Weiss knew her eyes played no trick on her as she saw The Lock grow in size on Blake's torso again, as the Schnee Heiress just grimaced as the two were enclosed upon.
"Blake, please, snap out of it. We can… we can discuss this with Ruby and Yang when we're safe. For now, we just need to focus on getting out of this alive, okay? So just… just fight for a little bit and then we can just go back to Beacon, alright?" Weiss didn't have time to stop to see if her words had gotten through Blake's dismal mood as the two had run out of time to chat. The White Fang goon squad had gotten close enough to charge at them.
Without a moment's hesitation, Weiss charged into the fray, her rapier at the ready as she quickly riposted several attempted blows against her and, pulling the trigger on Myrtenaster's mechanism, froze them solid at various points with her thrusts, specifically aiming for their feet and their hold on their weapons or, if she could manage, each other. Weiss knew that a prolonged fight where she attempted to spare her own resources wouldn't go well here; it was still an open question as to whether or not Blake would be in this fight in the first place and who knew how many of these mooks the rat faunus would have swayed into joining him.
She needed to incapacitate as many as she could as quickly as she could. To that end, she froze feet to the floor, weapons into awkward grips in their owner's hands and White Fang Goons to other Goons, as the Schnee swordswoman practically danced in between the various hired lackeys, her blade shimmering with the power of the ice dust she fired from its mechanism.
"Oh, dear Ice Queen, that weapon is quite a beauty indeed. Such magnificent craftsmanship and, I must say, a rather unique dust mechanism. I can only imagine just how expensive that little sword of yours ran." Weiss growled as she turned and, with a flourish of her weapon and hand, prepared to fire off a glyph towards the rat faunus, seeking to silence Tamami. She shouldn't have been surprised when rather than staying where he had been Tamami had pulled a disappearing act, the rat faunus having had once again slipped away into some corner of the warehouse out of sight but hardly out of earshot.
"In fact, tech like that has to be mighty expensive indeed. I wonder, how many faunus got crippled or killed in the Schnee Dust Mines for your dear old papa to afford that little rapier for you. Hell, how much blood is soaked into the dust you're using on the very faunus who've been abused by your family for the past couple decades now." Weiss growled as she barreled through his words, instead turning her already formed glyph onto a number of White Fang Goons and freezing them in place.
It didn't take Weiss long to put two and two together as she listened to Tamami prattle on and as she recalled how Blake had spoken mere moments ago. It was clear that this Stand, The Lock he had called it, required some sort of condition to be met in order for it to be forced upon her. Otherwise, why not have it be used on her right now and have the White Fang spared the vicious beating she had delivered onto a good handful of the goons in front of her. No, if that was in his power, then it very well seems like he'd have used it by now.
While she didn't have a precise idea of the trigger, she had a faint clue; Blake, far more than any other time Weiss had seen her, seemed to be swimming in her negative emotions. She seemed to just bare the brunt of her actions far harder than she'd known the black haired faunus to, and assigned herself an overwhelming amount of blame for her actions. If Tamami's taunts were any indication, the rat faunus looked to do the same to her.
"I mean really, your own friend and teammate, a member of The White Fang. She doesn't even seem like that bad a kid… sure, she's a horrible murderer who helped make sure members of your friends and families would suffer or die under the terror of The Fang, but hey, she left and it seems like you don't hold much of a grudge against her. So really, is it okay for you to be profiting so much from the sort of suffering that'd make a good kitty like her turn feral? Just how much of daddy's money are you wearing and firing out of your little weapon right now, Miss Weiss Schnee?"
Sad thing was, Weiss did have a vague idea of how much everything on her person cost as well as the price of the dust she had fired at his various goons. However, Weiss did what she could to ignore his taunts; she threw herself into the heat of battle, using adrenaline and the sheer moment to moment terror of being in danger, of every move potentially being her last, to keep her wits focused on the matter at hand. It had worked too; despite his best efforts, Tamami's taunts had become the static background noise of the battle, as Weiss tunnel-visioned in on each White Fang Goon, striking her blade across them and freezing them one by one by one.
Tamami had never met Weiss Schnee and thus could only dream of how good she'd gotten at burying any gu… bad feelings she had about her family name. Weiss had spent every single day of the past seventeen years cultivating this skill, learning to bury her emotions so as to deal with the social life in Atlas and so as to deal with the horrific actions of her father, both as a parent and as the head of the Schnee Dust Company. If she just kept her focus, if she just kept her head in the fight, then she'd be able to end this, shut that pathetic little rat's ramblings up and then get Blake to safety.
That's all Weiss had to do. Just keep focused, keep focused, focus. They're just monsters in masks, just monsters in masks, monsters in masks…
On the opposite end of the fight, Blake had actually managed to force herself to her feet, despite the increasing weight of The Lock, in order to give it her all to try and fight back against the goons that had attempted to surround her, even as Weiss gave it her all to bring all their attention to her. Though the guilt banged on in her mind, her every thought turned to her failings as a member of The Fang, as a faunus and a person, there was still enough of her left untouched by The Lock and its influence that she realized that, if she and Weiss were to survive this, then they'd both need to be in this fight.
However, the first stumbling block right out of the gate was how The Lock affected Blake's fighting style. Much like Ruby and Weiss, Blake's fighting style depended on fast movements and graceful agility. Yang was fast, but she was far more inclined to powering through obstacles rather than avoiding them and quickly moving in for a swift blow to a weak point. This was Blake's forte and her preferred method of fighting, as the would-be ninja wasn't quite as strong or hardy as her partner.
The Lock's weight however threw a great big old wrench into that, however. The huge weight that The Lock had put on her torso, not only forcing her center of gravity forward but also just generally weighing a ton on its own, left her movements awkward, as practiced and drilled routines and habits were thrown off by the sheer heft of The Lock. In addition, whenever she could start to build up a good rhythm, The Lock would just increase its weight, causing her to once again stumble and be forced to try and readjust herself once again.
However, it hadn't been all bad; her Aura had allowed her to adjust, somewhat, and while this handicap had given the White Fang Goons around her some room to work around her and even land a few solid hits, she still had more skill than these common goons, little more than cannon fodder in the grander scheme of The White Fang.
No, it wasn't The Lock itself that had begun to spell doom for Blake as she took down and knocked out White Fang Goon after White Fang Goon. It was her own mind.
'How many of them are like me…' It was her mind's voice speaking to her, or at least, something that sounded like the inner-monologue that had often accompanied Blake's thoughts as she meticulously moved through and around the various grunts. 'How many of them right now think they're doing the right thing. After all, a few months ago, I would've thought I was doing the right thing; fighting the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and a traitor who turned their back on The White Fang. Heck, I probably would've been first in line for a mission like this… I would've been thrilled.'
"Please… stop…" Blake's voice shook as her eyes glistened, her thoughts ravaging about her head as The Lock just kept on growing. Another White Fang Goon struck her across the back, Blake reflexively turning and crashing the handle of Gambol Shroud across his head. The move knocked him out, flat and clean, but it also shattered the mask he had worn, revealing… just another face. Another person. Another faunus.
'What gives me the right to judge these people. I was in their exact state of mind not even four months ago. I ignored anything and everything everyone smarter than me ever told me, all because I got the hots for some edgelord with a katana and his prattling on about how the faunus were a race who only wanted to live in peace, but were forced to maim and kill by humans who would never come around to the idea of equality through peaceful means. Hell, my own father begged me to leave The Fang when he did. I'd always looked up to him as a wise man and a great leader…
'But what did Blake Belladonna do when her mother and father left The Fang, when she was forced to choose between them and Adam and Khan? She just abandoned them and stuck with a Fang that had become a cruel, horrific mockery of its previously peaceful self. I left them all behind just so I could follow in Adam's bloody coattails, telling myself day in and day out that he wasn't a murderer, that his sick obsessions were endearing and that his feelings for me didn't pass into outright ownership of me. I left a mother and father who loved me for that and a violent psychopath who turned The White Fang into terrorists.
'Why should I get to judge these people? How different are they from me? How many of them are actually worse off than I am? I have a good family and home on Menagerie, a safe place to return to. If I really wanted, I could just go back to the island and stay with a mother and father who loved me and trusted me and I betrayed them both. How many of these people have actually directly suffered at the hands of humans and have had their outlooks warped by those humiliations and injuries? How many of them have turned to The Fang because they have no other choice? I was just some stupid teenage girl who let her stupid ideas of nobility and justice cloud her eyes from the truth and ran away from home. These people have probably actually suffered horrifically at the hands of humans and I'm STRIKING THEM DOWN! I'M HURTING THEM! IT'S ALL I EVER DO, I HURT THE PEOPLE WHO I LOVE, I HURT MY FRIENDS AND I HURT PEOPLE I'VE NEVER EVEN MET WHY AM I EVEN ALIVE WHY AM I EVEN ALIVE WHY AM I EVEN ALIVE-''
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
With that, Tamami grinned. He had been worried when Blake had managed to stand up and defend herself. When the black haired faunus had managed to actually get up off the floor and force herself to fight the goons he had thrown at her and Weiss. In all honesty, he had very little faith in the goon squad he had put together to take down both of them at once. He had just wanted as much of the reward as possible for himself and bringing on anyone more qualified would risk seeing that reward, that payday split off heavily from him.
However, all that meant was that he just had to turn up the pressure on The Lock, have it peel into Blake's mind. As he said, when The Lock is on you, it doesn't come off until he popped it off. Once The Lock is on you, you don't even really need to feel terrible about certain things for it to begin to amplify what guilt there is inside you to ludicrous degrees. The Lock grew stronger off a person's guilt and, from there, it could strengthen that guilt on its own. A self-sustaining feedback loop that fed into itself more and more until finally, it broke you, whether that left you physically or mentally broken, it didn't matter.
As Blake Belladonna threw her weapon to the side and collapsed onto her knees, The Lock now almost one and a half times the size of her torso, he knew he'd won that front. Tears streamed down the black haired faunus' cheeks as she tore off her bow, revealing her cat ears as she clamped her hands and arms around her head, attempting to drown out all the noise that The Lock likely rattled along in her mind, the voice that it had spoken through to truly manipulate her feelings of guilt.
Tamami had to admit; he enjoyed seeing this sight in a way, though certainly not limited to Miss Belladonna. An admittedly sick sort of way; when someone who held themselves as holier than though was brought down by little more than their own thoughts and feelings, amplified by The Lock. If he had to put words to it, it almost felt like knocking down a precarious tower of cards, with similarly messy results in most cases.
Weiss, snapped out of her tunnel vision by the sound of Blake's scream, turned her head to her friend, light blue eyes wide as she saw a few White Fang Operatives gather around her, preparing to restrain her.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Reloading Myrtenaster with fire Dust, Weiss quickly jumped away from her own batch of goons and swung the blade of the rapier around; ordinarily poor form for the weapon in question, it left arcs of the flaming Dust in the air. Some of it would burn the few goons who'd dare try to lay a hand on her teammate, while the rest simply backed off, cowed by the sight of Weiss' manipulation of the dangerous material.
"Blake, listen, I don't know what that rat put in your head, but whatever it is, you gotta try and fight-"
"I've been fighting it Weiss…" Blake muttered under her breath, her words choked by sobs as The Lock just grew and grew on her. "I've been fighting it for years now. Nothing that's passed through my mind wasn't already there when this thing got put on me… it's all been here. I've just been pushing it to the side and trying to ignore it…" Blake tugged at her animal ears as she scowled. "I've hurt so many people Weiss, and I did it for what I thought were good reasons… but I was just kidding myself. Like I always have been." Blake looked up to Weiss, amber eyes shining with tears as she just frowned at the white haired girl.
"Just run Weiss… you still have a chance to get away. You deserve it, at least; all I've ever done is hurt you and your family, even if they weren't the ones doing any harm at all… just because I wanted an enemy. Just because I had to pin all my anger and frustration with this fucking horrible situation between humans and faunus on someone. The least I can do is let you get away… I know that it can't take away everything I've done to you, your friends and your family… you still deserve to hate me for all of it..." Blake tilted her head down as she shook her head. "I deserve it. I bought into Adam's spiel the whole way when it counted, when I could've actually done something to keep people from dying… why don't I deserve to be tossed back to him… why don't I deserve to have to suffer with him again… I deserve it…" Blake shook her head as she muttered those last few words under her breath, Weiss' eyes wide for the briefest of moments before she had to turn her attention back on the other White Fang goons.
Weiss' thoughts raced as she sliced Myrtenaster through the air, a volley of ice and fire exchanged each time as Weiss, on the one hand, sought to incapacitate the goons while, on the other, tried to fend them off before they grabbed Blake and took her away.
'She… she thinks I hate her.' Weiss blinked away some misty film that overtook her vision momentarily as she ducked under the hasty swing of a club from one member of the Fang before she thrust into his leg, freezing it to the floor before she moved on. 'She thinks I HATE her. She thinks she deserves it…' Weiss shook her head as more tears pricked at the corner of her vision. 'After everything that my family's done, after all the harm that I've profited from by being his daughter… she thinks I have the right to hate her.
'Is that why… is that why she stayed away from me? Because she feels like I do… because she feels as guilty as I do.' As the word rang out in her mind, Weiss bit back a growl that had been equal parts frustration and gasp as she ducked under another swing from one of The White Fang. 'This whole time, this whole time, we've been avoiding each other… I thought she hated me.' Weiss resisted the urge to slap herself on the forehead as she shook her head.
'Brothers above us… Okuyasu was right.' Weiss parried an incoming slice from a sword as she practically mentally choked on the words. 'If we just had this out, if we just actually acted like the friends we say we are, then this wouldn't have happened…' Weiss bit her lip as she felt a familiar feeling crawl up in her chest. 'If this Stand really does work on those feelings… then if I reveal to Blake how I actually feel right now, it might leave me open for having that thing stuck on me. But…' Weiss looked over to Blake, who still sat in her spot, as the white haired heiress just frowned. ' I'm not going to abandon her either… and if I don't do something now to try to change things, then we're both going to be overwhelmed. I need her help… I need her to know that…'
"Blake-"
"Weiss, I said get out of here, just leave me-"
"I'm sorry!"
As Weiss Schnee screamed these two words at the top of her lungs in order to cut Blake off, for a moment, it seemed like the room stopped for a moment to look at the Schnee Dust Company Heiress with perplexed expressions.
"What?"
"Yeah, what?"
All except for Tamami, who just grinned from his hiding spot as he slowly but surely crawled his way back into line of sight of the battle, an excited grin on his face as he realized that the moment was nigh.
"Blake, listen. I'm sorry if I made you feel like I still hated you. That was the furthest thing from my mind when I tried to avoid all this! The truth is-" Weiss countered a blow from one of the goons as they tried to interrupt her and were met with a bit of fire Dust for their trouble, "-the truth is, I was worried that you hated me."
Amber eyes were wide, still slightly red from crying, as they watched Weiss move to and fro. "W-What?"
"Blake, my entire life I've profited from my father's vile actions. His abuses of the faunus made the Schnee Dust Company rich in profit if nothing else. I had the finest tutors, the best servants and the greatest access to all the luxuries one could ask for in life. Anything I earned was through the financial investment and support of Jacques Schnee and his blood money…" Weiss frowned as she cut through another masked… no, another faunus, as she felt the weight in her chest linger.
"I've always known how bad things have gotten… I didn't even really try to deny it at home because I knew what sort of man my father was… and I've known it for a long time." Weiss incapacitated another faunus as she kept a careful eye on Blake. "But despite that, I never stopped taking advantage of what being a Schnee could get me. I never tried to fight for your people's rights because I was afraid of how my father would react and what he would do to me. Because I was so afraid and my father was such a monster, five years ago, a peaceful organization turned to terrorism… and I couldn't stop thinking about how it was my family's fault, that it was our own actions coming back to haunt us.
"No matter how many well-wishers came by and told us about how unfortunate it was we were under assault, no matter how many sycophants told my father anything and everything he wanted to hear… I knew that if we hadn't been so abusive, if we lived up to Nicholas Schnee's example, then this horribleness wouldn't have befallen the Schnee Dust Company. All the friends I lost, the members of my family who fell… if we were just willing to compromise, to give up the lien that lined our pockets to make things better for the faunus, then it would end. Because there were people like you in The White Fang, people who were just tired of having to suffer through life. People who, if things changed, then they wouldn't have to turn to what monsters were in The Fang.
"Blake, you don't have anything to apologize to me for. What you did… it wasn't your fault. It's my father's for being such a brute, who cared for nothing but his own legacy. It was… it was our fault at home, because no one challenged him, because we all feared what he could do. Hah… my own sister basically chose to run away from home to get away from him, to sever monetary ties to be free of his influence… but not me. Every month I still get massive sums in an allowance from Jacques Schnee because I'm too afraid to stand up for what I know is right… because that man's made me such a coward."
Weiss turned her gaze to Blake, shocking the black haired faunus as tears brimmed at the edge of those light blue eyes. "At least you were brave enough to fight for something you believed in. At least you were willing to risk it all for change… I just decided I would adopt my father's stance and brand all faunus as monsters, rather than try to sympathize… because if I did, then I wouldn't be able to live with how I've profited from your race's suffering. Even if you were lead astray, it was for a cause you know is right… I know that sitting by silent and not challenging my father is wrong, but I just… just continue to sit there, silent, like a good little girl anyway. Because I'm afraid…
"So I'm sorry Blake, I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry I never told you any of this before either. I'm sorry that I let you think I hated you! Because the truth is Blake… the truth is, I thought you had every reason to hate me. Because you deserved to hate someone like me."
Though the fighting had still gone on strong during Weiss' tearful apology, it had entered a slight lull. Many of The White Fang Goons who had signed up to capture the traitor and kidnap the Schnee Dust Company Heiress hadn't come prepared for the torrent of emotions from Weiss Schnee. For the very palpable regret and guilt that the girl exuded as she poured out what must've been years of pent up emotion and regret into one flow of words. For a brief moment, their blows were halfhearted, their attempts to strike her down slowed, as few among these men and women had it in them to stop her.
They could stop Weiss Schnee, the daughter of Jacques Schnee and the Heiress of The Schnee Dust Company, a member of a family whom had become the symbol of all they hated. Few, however, had it in them to interrupt or stop Weiss, the young woman tearfully throwing herself at her friend's mercy.
That is, except for one visibly grinning rat faunus who stood upon a nearby crate.
"Well, well, well, what do you know! The ice princess has a little hot spot in her heart after all. Almost brings a tear to these eyes of mine to see such warmth and love between two friends who're about to be brought in together." Tamami grinned a wide, mischievous grin as he looked down at Weiss, who glared up at the rat faunus as he tapped his chin. "Now, I wonder; is this little hot spot in your heart big enough for… oh, I dunno, [The Lock]!" Tamami's grin grew both in size and in manic excitement as he pointed down at Weiss, the Schnee Heiress gasping as she felt the weight that had formed in her chest grow, as a heat began to build up.
In a flash of white light, everyone in the room expected it to be over. After all, Weiss had been the only one there capable of fighting and Blake, well, she had been effectively knocked out of contention by her own guilt. Tamami himself was so certain of his victory that he hopped off the crate he had stood on and watched on, excited to see just how large this particular lock would be.
All culminated as the white light dissipated and left many of The White Fang, up to and including Tamami, gaping with their jaws slightly unhinged.
While The Lock on Weiss was by no means small, it was hardly the massive, utterly debilitating Lock that had formed on Blake. Hell, it was half the size of The Lock that had formed on Blake's chest to begin with. All eyes blinked in confusion at the tiny little Lock on Weiss, even the Heiress seemed mildly confused about the turn of events, as Tamami ground his crooked teeth together and pointed to the Schnee Dust Company Heiress.
"Well don't' just stand around there like a bunch of idiot, subdue the little bitch!" Several heads snapped out of their reverie as, suddenly, one of the White Fang operatives charged forth at Weiss, the white haired girl surprised by the quick succession of events, which had left her momentarily open.
SWISH!
"GAAAH!" Gambol Shroud quickly sliced through the air and cut into the back of the faunus' leg, a momentary distraction which proved to be all Weiss needed as she quickly thrust forward towards the faunus and knocked him away with a blast of fire Dust. Light blue eyes turned back to the other end of Gambol Shroud, as the weapon in question flew back to its owner who, giving her best effort, forced herself back onto her feet.
"Weiss… you shouldn't… I was the one who hurt people. I've killed people with my own hands. There are people in Remnant who'll never see their families again, and most of them were connected to you and your family. You don't deserve-"
"My family has disrupted the lives of so many families Blake. There are faunus who'll never see their fathers, mothers, brothers or sisters again because they died in some mining accident that just a little more time, care and money could've prevented. They're kept away from each other to keep them from organizing against us or to keep The Fang from infiltrating." Weiss frowned sadly at her friend as, with her renewed focus, she quickly froze a couple more White Fang operatives in place. Despite her admitting all of this and despite Tamami's best mental efforts, The Lock on Weiss' chest didn't grow.
Instead, The Lock on Blake's chest shrunk.
"That still doesn't make what I did right…"
"It doesn't have to. Blake… I don't blame you for what you did, and I can't say I blame the faunus for what they chose to do. It's still wrong, but I can understand those frustrations. I live with them everyday at home. Just because you all have done wrong doesn't justify or wipe away the wrong I've done, or that my family's done either." A White Fang Operative attempted to slice Blake across the back, to keep her from moving away from them, only to find himself cutting straight through an illusion of Aura as Black ducked around, and slammed Gambol Shroud handle into the back of his head, knocking him out.
"I don't understand how you can forgive me for this Weiss…" Blake shook her head, as Amber eyes slowly came back to life, the weight of the lock dropping and dropping as the black haired faunus turned her attention of the combatants that had surrounded the two teammates.
"Because I can't forgive myself, Blake." Weiss parried and riposted blow after blow, the Schnee Heiress quick to adjust to the relatively small change in weight The Lock presented as she fought off the various thugs around her. "Even if I didn't have a direct hand, I've profited from it all… and I can't find it in myself to forgive myself for my past inaction." Weiss and Blake soon found themselves back to back with each other, as Blake's own Lock continued to shrink in size. "But… that doesn't mean I want to hold onto these feelings. That I want them to come between us. I want to forgive you Blake because… because I want to be your friend. A real friend. Not just someone who shares a team with you and silently sits around feeling sorry for herself."
A small, almost unnoticeable smile formed on Blake's face as the two quickly jumped off from one and other, the two huntresses slowly but surely making mincemeat of the various faunus that surrounded them.
"I guess what I'm saying is… I want to forgive you, because I'd like for you to forgive me. Even if I can't ask you to put it all aside… I'd like to. I want to start fresh. I want us to be able to be friends from here on out."
"Weiss…" Finally, The Lock on Blake shrunk down till it matched Weiss' own size, the weight from before now almost entirely gone as Blake just felt the minor discomfort of the current Lock. "I want that too. I've wanted it ever since I ran away from The Fang. I want my friends to know I'm not that me anymore…" Weiss nodded, a smile on her face as she froze another goon in place.
"Me too... " Finally, the two ended up face to face as they moved just past each other, looking to incapacitate some goon or another. "Do you want to finish this talk later? I'd like to be able to bury the hatchet after all this." Amber eyes twinkled as Blake just nodded.
"I'd like that." Soon after, determined glares reached both huntresses eyes as Black spun one end of Gambol Shroud forth, caught the leg of one White Fang grunt, tripped him up into another, before she quickly moved in. In two swift swings of her blade, Blake quickly disarmed both thugs and, weapons out of reach, took her time to make sure that both goons would be good and unconscious with a few well placed kicks to the head.
Weiss quickly cut and gestured a pattern into the air with some of her remaining ice Dust and, before they could so much as scream 'RUN!' Weiss locked down several White Fang goons in a mess of ice, as she effectively trapped them against various crates or the floor. The two huntresses-in-training quickly turned to face down any opponents they had missed in their haste to strike at the ones directly in front of them and both soon found themselves surprised.
Between Weiss' harrowing efforts beforehand and the pair's combined effort then and there, the White Fang Goons who had seemed so menacing before, who had circled them as predators did wounded and crippled prey, were dispatched. Either unconscious from Blake's efforts or otherwise indisposed thanks to Weiss' Dust. The two young huntresses couldn't' help but allow a small grin to form on their faces as they had managed to overcome these challenges.
Only for their grins to immediately fall away as a pair of thin, bony hands clapped, the sound of which echoed throughout throughout the warehouse.
"Well… I feel like I should be disappointed, but then again, I guess I can't say I'm too terribly surprised. There's a reason that rat bastard Torchwick decided to go with Stand Users after all the bullshit you huntresses have put him through. I swear, these guys aren't worth the lien spent on their porcelain masks." Weiss and Blake turned hateful glares upon Tamami as he leaned back against a crate, his incisors chewed on his lip a bit as he stared at the two of them.
"So you two feel good about yourselves? You threw out a little simpering speech about friendship and forgiveness and all that claptrap and you ended up getting by on the skin of your teeth against some low-ranking White Fang thugs." Tamami snorted in derision as he rubbed at his nose a bit. "I shouldn't have been so greedy. I should've just gone ahead and brought some higher ups on board to bring you two down. But no, I wanted most of the reward for myself so I brought these jokers aboard… guess that's just good old greed for ya." Tamami rolled his eyes slightly as he returned his gaze to the two huntresses and took of particular note Blake's particularly angry look.
"What's the matter kitty-cat? Little bit sore that this rat managed to take advantage of your messed up little feelings for Mr. Edgy and got you to come here and endanger your little friend? Or do you just give that look to every guy who ever managed to to make you cry? Cause if that's the case, then Adam must be really familiar-"
Blake hadn't even hesitated as she leveled Gambol Shroud's pistol form at Tamami's leg and shot him through the knee. However, instead of the satisfaction of being able to watch Tamami squirm on the floor as he held onto a bullet wound in his knee-
"AAAAAAHHHH!"
Blake fell to the floor and grasped at her knee, a huge puncture wound suddenly formed on it as it bled profusely, a move which stunned both huntresses as Weiss knelt down next to her friend.
"Blake?! What?! How did that happen?!" Weiss scrambled about as she applied pressure to the wound, an attempt to keep as much blood in Blake as possible while her Aura worked to patch up the wound.
"Oh? Maybe I forgot to mention before… you see, The Lock doesn't just guilt trip any unfortunate saps that it gets attached to. It also protects me from said saps by redirecting damage they try to inflict on me back at them." Tamami's crooked, rat-like teeth showed through in his grin as he pointed to both Weiss and Blake. "Your happy, sappy, bullshit apologies might've gotten The Lock to lay off a bit but it looks like it wasn't to get The Lock to pop off. Which means that you two still, on some level, feel guilty about your actions and are still at my mercy." As he spoke, The Lock on both their chests, having had momentarily ceased their growth, each grew just enough to be noticeable.
"It's gonna be a pain in the ass; now I have to sit around and wait for The Lock to actually get you two incapacitated on its own rather than feeding off the tremendous guilt you two bitches had been carrying around. I'll just have to take comfort in the fact that there's literally nothing you two can do to me in the meantime." Tamami laughed a bit as he passed the two by, comfortable in the knowledge that if they tried anything to harm him, they'd only feel the brunt of that damage themselves. "Guess I'll just go ahead and wait you two out; once The Lock has you two good and pinned down, I'll bring in some more Goons to go ahead and take you two to Roman for delivery." Tamami just laughed harshly as he slid the warehouse door open. "You two are free to come after me of course… but it won't do either of you two much good. Good luck!" With that, Tamami walked out of the warehouse and stalked a block or two away, keen to just sit this bullshit out and wait for Weiss and Blake to succumb to The Lock's own slow processes.
"... I hate that guy. Sooooo much!" Blake bit her lip as her Aura went to work, the black haired faunus glared back at the door as her fingernails dug slightly into the skin of her leg in frustration. "I swear, when we get this Stand off and get our hands on him, he's gonna wish he'd never been born." With Weiss' assistance, Blake made to stand up, her footing a bit shaky as she hobbled onto her feet. With the bullet wound mostly closed, Weiss removed her hands from Blake's knee, the Schnee Heiress equally frustrated as she winced, the weight of The Lock increased slightly in the few moments that had passed.
"We're gonna need a plan if we're actually going to do that though. I'd rather not go through the trouble of trying to beat the ever loving crap out of him only for it to come back on us." Blake nodded in agreement as the Amber eyed faunus scratched her chin, while an annoyed expression tugged at her face.
"About the only way I could see fit of getting him hurt would be to make him hurt himself… and I doubt either one of us would be charismatic enough to get that little rat-toothed bastard to actually give himself the beat down he deserves." Weiss couldn't help but nod in agreement with Blake, her own mind occupied with dark thoughts of what she wanted to inflict on the rat bastard.
"Yeah, I doubt he'd hurt himself willingly…" Weiss tapped on The Lock on her chest as she tried to think up a plan, the rhythmic tapping of metal rang in the pair's ears as they tried to think through their problem. Two pairs of eyes turned to Weiss' Lock as her finger stopped tapping against it, as the two of them looked back up to each other.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Blake suggested with a bit of a wide, cat-like smile as Weiss reached into her combat skirt and pulled out a loadable canister of Dust, dark purple in color and seemingly swirling about the container on its own.
"I think so… if it's what I'm thinking, then I might just finally get an opportunity to use this. It usually throws me off my feet any time I try to use it but… well, with the right ballast…" Two pairs of sinister grins formed on the huntresses faces as they looked out at the open warehouse door.
"Think you can dredge enough guilt on such short notice?"
"Sadly, I think that'll be laughably easy Blake…"
"Uuuugh… I swear, this is going to be such a pain in the ass." Tamami muttered to himself as he leaned up against a nearby wall. The rat faunus rubbed his temples in an attempt to fight off the inevitable, oncoming headache as he was forced to take stock of the very recent melee between the two huntresses the goons he'd taken onboard to try and restrain them. "No wonder The White Fang decided to switch up tactics to these Stand things. Even giving them a handicap in the form of The Lock didn't keep those losers from futzing this entire thing up. I'll have to remember to actually hire on some stiffer help if I try something like this again.
"Steady on though, Tamami." The rat faunus grinned to himself as he licked his lips. "Soon enough The Lock will manage to feed into those girl's guilt enough to well and truly pin them to the floor. Then I can collect them, get my reward and start living the high life in The White Fang… I wonder if I'll get my own henchmen… I'll have to screen them to make sure that a stiff breeze won't be enough to knock them over first though." Tamami spat out as he spoke, clearly annoyed, as he continued to wait, taking a moment here and there to keep an ear out for the sound of those two approaching. Even if they couldn't actually hurt them, it wouldn't do to let them get the drop on him and maybe, just maybe, find a way to worm their way out of this situation.
As Tamami listened out for any signs of them, he heard the telltale sounds of two sets of footsteps, slowly and laboriously approaching his position. With a snort as he figured the two had done their best to try and sneak up on him with The Lock's added weight, Tamami kicked off from the wall and, at a leisurely pace, slowly walked away from the sounds of their footsteps.
"Wait!" Of course, this effort was immediately halted when Weiss suddenly called out for him, the rat faunus so utterly perplexed by this that he turned his head to take in what he had assumed were the two's stealthy approach. Tamami almost snorted in derision at what he saw instead; Blake and Weiss slowly approached him, arms wrapped around each other as they sought to support the other's weight, as the two huntresses slowly staggered up to him. The reason for their slow pace was soon very much obvious; The Lock had grown quite a bit on the two of them, easily growing to be as large, if not larger, than Tamami himself.
"I have to say, I'm kind of impressed. Most normal people without Auras couldn't even handle a Lock that was half that size without killing themselves or, if they were strong willed, having it crush their chests. Most hunters your age just folded like wet tissue paper with Locks slightly smaller than that too, even if their bodies could take it. You two must be something else… either that or your real guilt is so limited that my Stand isn't having quite the effect it should." Tamami gave a wide grin as Weiss glared at him, all the while Blake stared down at the floor. "Maybe I've spoken a little too soon; seems like kitty-cat's already back to her gloom and doom state." Weiss' glare increased in fury for a moment and Tamami swore that she was going to bolt for him…
Imagine his surprise when, instead, Weiss dropped to a knee along with Blake, as she set The Lock on the ground to take its considerable weight off her chest.
"Please… you can't do this. The White Fang, Adam Taurus… he'll do so many horrible things to the two of us if he gets his hands on us. Who knows what they'll do to me before they either kill me or send me back to my father… and Blake. The way she's spoken about the guy… I can't even imagine being forced to be around him." Weiss bent her head down as far as she could considering the sheer size of the lock. "Please, I'm begging you, just let us go. Don't do this to us."
"Ah, good old-fashioned begging. I was wondering if we'd ever get to this state but frankly, I figured kitty-cat would be too broken and you'd be too proud to ever give that a try." Tamami grinned wryly. "Congratulations Miss Schnee, you've surprised the Rat Boss once again." Tamami just shrugged, however, as he picked at his ear. "As for your oh-so-earnest request, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to turn you down. You two represen way too big a payload for me to just drop out of the kindness of my heart… especially considering I don't have too terribly much kindness stored away in there in the first place." Tamami just grinned as Weiss glared up at him, the Schnee Dust Company heiress bit her lip as she looked down to the side.
"Then… then could you just take Blake and leave me be? She's totally unwilling to act anymore and I had to drag her all the way here just to try and beg you to let us go and… and look at her, she's not even trying!" Weiss sounded legitimately frustrated as she glared over at Blake, who still kept her head down before Weiss looked back. "So come on, please, just take Blake and let me go. How about that?"
"Hah, now that's a Schnee response I was expecting. Guess all that bullshit you spouted in the warehouse back there was just that; bullshit." Tamami shook his head as he grinned a crooked grin down at Weiss. "Your Lock must've started out so small because you don't feel too much guilt about all this at all. Still, more's the better, as a lot of White Fang operatives will be glad to hear that the Schnees are as bitchy and horrible as they all thought they were, right down to the very last one." Tamami laughed a bit as he clapped his hands, Weiss' expression grew ever more desperate as her eyes darted around.
"P-Please, I'm… I'm willing to do anything you want. I'll… I'll get my father to forward you money. I'll find a way to pay you back somehow. Please, just, just don't hand me over to The Fang!" Tamami's expression became thoughtful for a moment as he looked down at her.
"... Anything, you say?" A slightly perverse look crossed his face as he said this, a disgusted look passed over Weiss' face as she, hesitantly, nodded.
"Y-Yes… anything. So please, let me go?" Weiss bowed her head to Tamami again, the rat faunus taking an almost sexual joy in watching a Schnee bow to him, a faunus, before he just laughed.
"Sorry toots, you are pretty cute, but I'm afraid you just aren't worth it… besides, I'm sure if I asked nice enough, the bosses would let me… play with you on my own time." Tamami just reared back and laughed as he said this, Weiss' gaze quickly became horrified as she shook her head lightly.
"You're absolutely serious about all this… turning me over to The White Fang… an innocent, cute girl like me?" Weiss did her best to bat her eyelashes, though the effect was more comical than not as Tamami just laughed again.
"Sorry, but compared to turning you in and getting that sweet, sweet reward, letting you go is way too much trouble." Tamami gave Weiss a shit-eating grin as he got ready to kick The Lock on her chest over. However, he stopped short of that as Weiss' expression suddenly turned into a determined, furious and thoroughly disgusted look as she suddenly whipped out Myrtenaster and pointed it in Tamami's direction, the chambers of the rapier a deep, dark purple in hue in comparison to the previous white, reds, yellows and blues from before.
"Well, I'll give you this you rat bastard, you certainly are a loyal little foot soldier, aren't you?" With that, Weiss pulled on Myrtenaster's trigger and, despite knowing that Weiss couldn't hurt him, Tamami ducked to the side to avoid the point-blank shot of Dust, as he figured it'd just end up killing Weiss and ruining his chance for his biggest score.
The blast of the Dust was intense, a blast erupted for Myrtenaster that nearly swept Tamami off his feet and, were it not for The Lock on her, would've likely blown Weiss far back away from him. When it landed, rather than an explosion or a crack of thunder or some other elemental ability, the purple Dust suddenly collapsed in on itself, before a purple field suddenly grew from the point of impact and the winds around it started to blow in towards it.
Before Tamami could get a better look, he was knocked off his feet and the wind was knocked from his lungs as Weiss was suddenly pulled into him, The Lock carrying him off his own feet as the pair were propelled to the point of singularity where the gravity Dust had made its impact.
"Y-You little bitch! What the fuck are you doing?! Didn't you already take the hint? You can't hurt me, or else you'll just end up hurting yourself!" Tamami called out from around The Lock, so huge was it that he could barely maintain eye contact with Weiss by stretching himself around it, the force of The Lock's weight and momentum and the gravity Dust keeping him placed just in front of it. Weiss just grinned at Tamami, as she stuck her tongue out at him.
"We know, that's why we're going to make you hurt yourself." Tamami just growled in frustration as he glared at the Schnee Heiress.
"What the fuck is that even supposed to mean? And what are you talking about we, Blake is-" Tamami stopped himself short as he finally saw it: Blake and The Lock had slowly faded from existence as soon as he and Weiss were dragged away from their spots by the gravity Dust, only a vague outline of Aura remained before that, too, dissipated into thin air. "W-Wait, where the Hell is kitty-ca-
"GAAAAAAAAH!"
CRUNCH!
Tamami's mind went blank as pure, blistering pain ran through his entire body. The Rat Boss barely had a moment to look back behind him before he fell unconscious from the poor shock of it all. When he did, his beady little eyes widened for just a moment at what he saw; Blake Belladonna, a very impish, cat-like grin on her face, as her own Lock had slammed into his back as the three bodies met at the point of singularity where the gravity Dust had hit.
Tamami had counted on the power of his Stand to protect him from any harm that the two huntresses would have tried to inflict upon him. What the rat faunus had not counted on was the fact that his own Stand, a reflection of his soul and an extension of himself, would be used against him. As the gravity Dust reached the peak of its momentary power, Tamami passed out from the pain of being crushed in between two of his own locks before, finally, the Dust dispersed and the three dropped out of the air. Before either Weiss or Blake hit the ground, their respective locks quickly dissipated, which left both of them feeling as light as a feather after their tribulations with the annoying Stand.
As the two caught themselves on their feet, Tamami slammed into the ground, a slight groan to his shortened breathing, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and blood lightly flowing out from his mouth. The two huntresses looked down at him, each satisfied in their own way, for the moment, before they looked at each other.
"Do you think that was a suitably humiliating way of beating him?" Weiss asked as she dusted off her combat skirt, before Blake just kind of looked down at him, before she smirked at Weiss.
"For him or for us?" Weiss paused before she could gloat further, the Schnee Heiress suddenly very much aware of how this particular method of beating the little con artist would sound to anyone else.
"... This wasn't exactly the most dignified way a huntress could overcome their foe, is it?"
"Nope. In fact, pretty sure this is the most embarrassing way any hunter's beaten anything ever." Blake crossed her arms as she shook her head as Weiss just nodded in agreement.
"So we tell everyone we just beat the tar out of him?" Blake nodded in agreement and Weiss sighed. "Good… good. We can probably place an anonymous call with the Vale Police Department to pick up those White Fang Goons we left in the warehouse… as for him, we should probably get him to Josuke's team as soon as possible."
"Yeah, technically we're not supposed to be involved in all this Stand business, after all." Blake rolled her eyes as the two situated themselves around Tamami, before they each turned to the other.
"We should probably pick him up and carry him. Given the amount of force he probably took from that little collision, it'd be unkind to just drag him through the city back to one of the airbuses." Blake nodded in firm agreement with Weiss.
"Absolutely, it would just be horrible of us to do that sort of thing to him."
…
Twenty minutes later and having "accidentally" let Tamami's head bang into the corners of buildings, roadside curbs, perfectly avoidable speed bumps and the occasional pothole, Weiss and Blake walked along in silence towards the scheduled airbus back to Beacon Academy, a lot of thoughts still on the two young women's minds.
"... So, The Lock never popped off until we actually knocked this bastard out, huh?" Blake said somewhat solemnly as her free arm rubbed the arm that drugged Tamami around by the leg, as Weiss just nodded very slowly.
"Yeah… guess that means that we… don't exactly feel completely over all that stuff, huh?" Weiss said with a sigh as she shook her head. "I guess it would've been too much to ask for Okuyasu's advice to just up and fix everything immediately, right?"
"Okuyasu's advice?" The black haired faunus arched a curious eyebrow, as Weiss just sighed and nodded.
"Yeah… after you left the dining hall, Okuyasu grilled me a bit about what was going on. He said instead of just trying to ignore all of this then, if we wanted to actually become better friends, we needed to tell each other the truth and talk this stuff through…" Weiss frowned as she palmed her face. "And I just chewed him out for it…" Blake smiled slightly as she looked forward.
"To be fair, I probably wouldn't have been receptive to that advice either… in fact, I know I wouldn't have. Sun's been trying to convince me of the same thing ever since the docks happened and I just blew him off." The two sighed as they shook their heads, the clack of Weiss' heels and Blake's shoes being the only sound that was made as the two picked the most private and round-about path towards the airbuses.
"... Weiss. We said a lot of things in the warehouse, and we were pretty emotionally charged because of the rat, his Stand and the fight going on." Blake started off as she rubbed her arm again, as she looked over to Weiss. "I just want you to know… I meant everything I said. You really don't have to feel bad… and even if you do, I still want this friendship to work out. I'm… I'm done just having this stuff between us, when I really want us to be able to be friends, like with Yang and Ruby, and for us to be better teammates." Weiss smiled as she nodded in agreement with Blake.
"Me too Blake… and listen, whenever you want to talk about something… anything, I'll be willing to listen. No matter how wretched I might feel while talking about it." The light blue eyed heiress smiled at her… at her friend as she stuck her hand out. "I can't forgive myself for all the things that've happened… but I want us to be able to move forward from now on, rather than just letting all this stuff sit, okay?" Blake just smiled as she reached a hand out and shook Weiss.
"Yeah, sounds good to me Weiss." The two young huntresses just smiled at one and other as they let the moment settle, already the weights in their chests lightened as they felt they could, finally, begin moving forward again.
"Awwww… Now, you see, this is all really sweet." Eyes snapped down to the form of the Rat Boss, as Tamami just grinned a bloody smile at the two girls as he clasped his hands together. "You know, it stands to reason that this beautiful little moment wouldn't have come about without me. I mean, I saw how awkward you two were before all this, and it was clear you all weren't getting stuff done. So, how about you two just let me go and I'll never bother any of you ever again? That sounds like a good deal, right? For being so helpful?" Their bangs obscured the pairs' eyes as they each dropped Tamami's legs immediately, the con man winced as his bruised and battered flesh and bones slammed against the hard pavement. Then, his eyes went slightly wide as both Weiss and Blake cracked their knuckles.
"... I really should've just stayed quiet and pretended to be unconscious, shouldn't I have?"
"Yes, you should have." They both intoned at the same time as they slowly surrounded him.
"H-Hey now, you all can't just keep beating me up when I'm like this. I-I'm injured… and for Weiss, this would pretty much be a hate crime! Do you really want to indulge in the Schnee stereotype like this, ice princess?" Tamami's face dropped in horror as Weiss and Blake just gave him wicked smiles.
"Just this once, I think I will, thank you." Weiss turned a thoroughly creepy expression towards Blake, a mock-pleasant smile on her features as she nodded towards Tamami. "Blake, this little bastard got you the worst. I think you should get first dibs on this." Blake closed her eyes and smiled in a similar mock-pleasant gesture, as she just nodded her head slightly.
"Why thank you Weiss, I appreciate it."
"... I'm not going to like this am I?"
"Well, we really didn't like what you did so… consider this us making it even…"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
Tamami Kobayashi was beaten until several of his bones were broken and his face swollen till it resembled an overripe peach. He was then turned over to Ironwood and Ozpin by Team JOJO for interrogation.
TAMAMI KOBAYASHI - RETIRED!
School Grounds, Beacon Academy, Soon After
"It's so weird that they never showed up for class. Sure maybe one class after how awkward it was in the dining hall but the entire rest of the day? That really isn't like them." Ruby muttered, a worried expression worn on her face as the group of nine students slowly made for the airbuses to the City of Vale.
"Yeah, and I've asked just about everyone and no one's really seen them ever since lunch. The only hint I got was from someone who said he swore he saw both of them rushing for the airbuses to the city." Pyrrha said as they all hurried along, the remnants of Team RWBY, JNPR and JOJO in a rush to get to Vale as soon as possible.
"You don't think something came up and they ran off, do you?" Jaune muttered under his breath as Yang just sighed.
"I swear, if that's happened again then when I get my hands on her she'd better hope she... oh, Blake, and Weiss too." Yang's momentarily red eyes gave away to her usual lilac ones as, on the way to the airbuses, the nine teens ran into the missing pair, Weiss and Blake smiled in turn as they slowly dragged a broken and beaten Tamami Kobayashi behind them. The sight of two huntresses dragging someone so battered behind them had caused a lot of eyebrows to be raised, however, the casual mention of 'hunter business' had been enough to wave most off.
"Hey guys, sorry, were you all coming to look for us?" Weiss asked in a gentle tone as she just smiled lightly, having worked out the better part of her frustrations by having helped Blake beat the ever loving shit out of Tamami.
"Sorry about that, some stuff came up and I promise we'll tell you about it later but for now we… what's with the look?" Team JOJO blinked in confusion as they all turned to look at the other members of Team RWBY and Team JNPR, all of whom seemed to be slightly shocked still as they glanced between Team JOJO and Blake. Weiss raised an eyebrow as she turned towards Blake, only for her light blue eyes to go wide in shock as she slowly opened and closed her mouth.
"Blake… ummm… well, Blake, you see uh-"
"Hey Blake, what happened to your bow? Did you lose it somewhere?"
Amber eyes suddenly went wide as Blake reached up for the top of her head, slight horror crossed her features when, instead of the fine fabric of her black bow, she felt her cat ears as they stuck out like a sore thumb.
'B-But how, when did I-'
Tears streamed down the black haired faunus' cheeks as she tore off her bow, revealing her cat ears as she clamped her hands and arms around her head…
'O-Oh shit!' Blake slammed her hands on her head as she looked towards Team JOJO fearfully, worried about the exchange students reaction to the sudden appearance of her faunus features.
When all Team JOJO did was blink in confusion, the gathered Four Kingdom hunters just tilted their heads to the side, having had expected some sort of reaction out them.
"Is… something the matter Blake?" Josuke asked slowly as he tilted his head to the side, as Blake's mouth just gaped open for a moment.
"You… guys saw my ears, right?" The three teens just nodded slowly as amber eyes narrowed in confusion. "Then you know that I'm a faunus, right?"
"Y-Yes Blake… we know what faunus are." Koichi mumbled quietly as he arched an eyebrow. "I-I mean.. We do have faunus in Morioh, Blake. We know what they look like. We can tell." Blake just seemed even more confused.
"Then, why aren't you guys more surprised?" Okuyasu just crossed his arms in response, a curious expression on his face.
"Why would we be?"
"BECAUSE I'VE BEEN HIDING THE FACT THAT I'M A FAUNUS FROM YOU GUYS!" Blake suddenly shouted in frustration, as she took deep breaths through her nose. Blake had been through one too many emotional roller coasters today to keep dealing with stuff like this. All three members of Team JOJO just blinked as they looked at each other before they, cautiously, turned their gaze back towards Blake.
"Blake… listen, I don't know how to tell you this but… we knew." Josuke slowly said as he pulled at his collar, as Blake's expression just went blank.
"What?"
"Y-Yeah… I mean, Blake, your bow twitched every time you got emotional about something. You have pretty much vertical pupils… we thought the bow was just a fashion statement or something." Koichi seemed really embarrassed about all this, as Okuyasu just nodded.
"Yeah, though to be fair, I wasn't certain at first. I had to have Josuke and Koichi tell me before I could be sure of it myself." Okuyasu just kinda barked out a laugh as he pointed to his head. "Though I guess that shouldn't be a surprise. I'm not exactly a smart guy, and it'd probably take a idiot like me to actually be fooled by a disguise like that, right everyone?" Okuyasu turned his head back towards Teams RWBY and JNPR… only to find that they stared in shocked awe at the three transfer students.
"... Ow…. My pride…" Yang slapped a hand to her forehead, same as the other Four Kingdom hunters besides Blake, as they took all this in.
"So… you guys have known for a while now?" Blake asked, slightly stunned, as the three huntsmen just nodded.
"Yeah, we didn't figure it was a big deal so we didn't think to bring it up or anything. Just figured you were a faunus and that was that." Josuke scratched the back of his head sheepishly as he smiled apologetically. "Sorry Blake, but that really is kind of a crappy disguise."
"So… you guys don't care about me being a faunus?" Blake asked, stunned, as she just blinked. "B-But you all… you guys never went through the Faunus Rights Revolution… I thought… I figured…" Josuke suddenly looked like he understood as he gave a sympathetic look to Blake.
"Blake, listen; it's true, The Frontier didn't go through all the horrible crap you guys in the Four Kingdoms did to get to where you are with faunus-human relations today. Hell, it's even true that before everything we settled there was still a lot of that old prejudice flying around." Josuke shoved his hands into his pockets as the pompadoured teen looked at her. "But, well, Jonathan Joestar, Robert Speedwagon and… Joseph Joestar have all been pretty clear; Morioh is everyone's home in The Frontier. No matter what kingdom you came from or what race you are." Josuke just shrugged again as he reached a hand up to scratch the back of his head.
"Besides… those were some pretty dark days back during The Reckoning… for a lot of people, it wasn't an absolute certainty that anyone would survive it, much less that Morioh would still be standing Everyone needed everyone in order to fight back against The Grimm that tried to eradicate us all…" Josuke smiled a bit as he looked at Blake. "Kind of hard to still hate someone after you nearly died with them."
"Yeah Blake, it's cool with us that you're a faunus. Never really crossed our mind that it'd be a problem." Okuyasu said with a lackadaisical shrug as he grinned. "Hell, we've got a lot of descendants of humans and faunus running around Morioh these days because… well, folks got needs." Okuyasu barked out a laugh as he elbowed Josuke. "Like Jotaro's wife; she's-"
"Oh cripes Okuyasu, not that stupid rumor." Josuke palmed his face in his hand as Okuyasu just grinned.
"Oh it is not just a rumor Josuke, Mrs. Kujo is totally 1/8th dolphin faunus." When Josuke just snorted derisively at Okuyasu, the scarred teen just flashed a wily grin. "Come on, you've heard her laugh, you know it's true." The pompadoured teen's face suddenly flushed red with embarrassment as he snapped his head towards Okuyasu.
"O-Okay, so she's got that crazy laugh, but it doesn't make it… I mean, that alone shouldn't be proof enough…" Josuke just blinked a couple more times as he leaned forward. "You think so huh?" Okuyasu just nodded as he shrugged.
"Course, why else would Jotaro have married her? You've seen the guy." Before Okuyasu could belt out another one of his laughs, the teens were interrupted when Blake, seemingly prompted by nothing, gave a slow, hearty laugh herself, a few tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as she carelessly flicked them to the side.
"... I really should've just talked to you guys and told you." Blake shook her head as she palmed her forehead a bit, a warm smile on her face that soon reached everyone else's as she looked at everyone. "I'm sorry guys. For everything. I've been a real pain about all this. I promise, no more of this." Blake walked over with Weiss to the rest of Team RWBY as she looked at Yang and Ruby. "If I'm going to expect my friends to trust me…" She turned to look at the other gathered hunters, "-then I need to start showing that I trust you all." Yang just gave a big old grin as she wrapped an arm around Blake's shoulders.
"Well hey, here I was about ready to knock some sense into you… seems like whatever happened with short stuff over there already did it for me." Everyone looked over at Tamami, suddenly remembering the severely beaten rat faunus on the ground nearby.
"Yeah… Weiss and I figured Josuke and the others should probably be the ones to turn him in, seeing as how we're not 'actually involved' with all this Stand business." Everyone nodded in agreement as Josuke brought out Crazy Diamond, who carelessly threw Tamami over its shoulder.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Josuke said as he walked alongside Crazy Diamond, the mood of the group of teens already leagues lighter than it had been when they had first arrived.
"So, how about we all go ahead and grab some dinner. Whatever Blake and Snow Angel have been through must've taken a lot out of them." Jaune winced slightly at the slightly withering glare Weiss sent his way as the blond just nervously chuckled. "Team JOJO can join us after they drop the short guy off with Ozpin and Ironwood." Everyone nodded in agreement as the two groups prepared to split off, though Weiss hesitated for a moment.
"You coming Weiss?" Ren looked over his shoulder, the magenta eyed teen raising an eyebrow as Weiss still seemed to carry an annoyed air about her.
"Yes, just, give me a moment." The white haired girl rubbed her temples a bit as she turned on her heels towards Team JOJO. "I'll catch up with you guys in a little bit." The other Four Kingdom hunters just shrugged as they walked off, though Blake had nodded in some understanding, as Weiss stormed off towards the three Frontier Huntsmen.
"Hey, Josuke." The pompadoured leader turned to face the Schnee Heiress, as Weiss just jabbed a thumb over towards Okuyasu. "Mind if I borrow the dolt for a moment?" The three young men blinked as they glanced at each other, before all three shrugged.
"I don't see why not. We'll meet you at Ozpin's office, okay Okuyasu?" The scarred teen just nodded as Koichi and Josuke headed off.
"Alright, see you guys there." Okuyasu called out to his friends before he turned to face Weiss, a curious expression on his face. "Alright, 'sup?" Okuyasu had kept his usual posture and had his hands in his pockets as he casually regarded Weiss, who seemed tense and a little bit aggravated as she crossed her arms and took a moment to gather her thoughts.
"... At lunch. When you heard our problem, you reached out and gave me some advice. It wasn't given in the most… polite or dignified way, and you… urgh." Weiss shook her head a bit as she turned her light blue eyes towards Okuyasu. "I mean… I acted out of line when all you were trying to do was help. You were trying to be a good friend and I lashed out because I didn't want to deal with my own problems or feelings." Weiss bit the corner of her lip slightly as she bowed her head. "I'd like to apologize for that, and I hope there won't be any hard feelings… your advice was actually quite good, Okuyasu."
",,, Is that it?" Weiss gaped slightly as she snapped her head to look up at Okuyasu, a casual grin on his face as he shrugged his shoulders. "Man, you had me thinking it was something big. You really do overthink stuff way too much, don't you Weiss?" Okuyasu belt out a bit of a laugh as he said this, as Weiss went red in the face from a mix of embarrassment and frustration.
"I-I, w-w… Now listen here you boor, I'm trying my best to apologize for being a jerk earlier, and you're just going to sit there and make fun of-" Weiss was cut off as Okuyasu waved her off, a grin on his face as he just chuckled even more.
"Weiss, I've already forgotten all about that." The Schnee Heiress' mouth snapped shut as he said this, though she still tilted her head in confusion.
"Pardon me?"
"Yeah." Okuyasu just shrugged as he reached a hand up to scratch at his cheek. "I worked off some steam using The Hand and I was pretty much over that lunch thing by the time the next class started. Honestly, I didn't really think that much of it." Okuyasu offered a good natured laugh as he pointed to himself. "Gonna take more than a few insults to keep a big, tough guy like me mad for long."
"B-But I, and you, I got so mad, and you-" Okuyasu just laughed at Weiss' spluttering as he shrugged it off.
"Weiss, we're friends. I'm not going to hold something like that against you. Come on; I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm not that thick." Okuyasu just gave her a wily grin. "Besides, it sounds like you took my advice with Blake, so that'd have been an apology enough on its own."
"... You really didn't care, did you?" Weiss asked, genuinely surprised, as Okuyasu just shrugged.
"Don't get me wrong, I got frustrated, but Hell, I get frustrated with Josuke and Koichi sometimes too, and I hardly hold it against them." A grin crept across Okuyasu's face as he looked down at her. "But, if you're apologizin' anyway, then I appreciate it… I guess?" Okuyasu barked out a short laugh as he placed his hands back in his pockets. "Now, was this all you wanted to chat about?" Weiss nodded slowly as Okuyasu just grinned. "Great. Guess I'll see you at dinner then Weiss. Later!" Okuyasu just turned on his heels and followed after the rest of his team, as Weiss finally snapped out of her surprise as she glared at the back of his head.
"You're still terribly rude, I'm not taking that back!" All that got out of Okuyasu was a long, hearty laugh as he waved her off, the Schnee Heiress just standing there for a moment before she sighed.
"Thank you, Okuyasu."
-To Be Continued- Skin Deep (Act 1)
A/N:
Hunter: Weiss Schnee
Semblance: Glyphs
Destructive Power: D - A
Speed: D - B
Range: C
Lasting Power: D - C
Precision: B
Developmental Potential: B
Glyphs: Weiss' semblance is multi-faceted and with a numerous combination of uses. By combining her natural Aura with Dust, Weiss can use the latter material in a variety of ways by manipulating it both through her weapon, Myrtenaster, a multi-action Dust rapier, and through Glyphs that she is capable of creating out of thin air. Limited only by Weiss' creativity and the amount of Dust she has on person, and the types of Dust she's carrying, her Glyphs can form and change the Dust into numerous forms; as just a short example, through ice Dust, Weiss can summon pillars, domes or sheets out Ice seemingly out of nothing, or project it from Glyphs she creates or, in its most humorous example, a giant fist made of ice.
She can also use her Glyphs and Dust to slow down opponents, speed up allies, block hits, charge bullets from other sources of fire, enhance the strikes of her rapier, freeze foes and several other means of manipulating and changing the battlefield. However, unlike Stands with similarly creative potential like [Crazy Diamond], Weiss had a hard limit on how long she can use her Glyphs for; on top of her physical limitations in exhausting her Aura, Weiss is at threat of burning through her supply of Dust using her semblance. Should either run short, Weiss is effectively cut off from this source of power and combat.
Also Known As: Totally a Fullmetal Alchemist character. There's no denying it, you know it's true.
Also Known As: Yo, VIP, let's kick it! Weiss, Weiss, baby~!
Alright so, character economy. I'm sure a lot of you may have expected Tamami to join up with the crew and to be a sort of ally for the Duwang gang and the CRWBY, as it was in the canon of Diamond is Unbreakable. The short answer to why that isn't happening is quite simple; numbers.
In Diamond is Unbreakable, you had the core four, Josuke, Okuyasu, Koichi and Jotaro who, around them, had a limited number of let's call them 'allies'; Tamami, Toshikazu, Yukako, Tonio, Joseph, Rohan, Reimi, Mikitaka, Yuya and Hayato. So we have 14 right there, although not so 'solid' when you think about how limited the development for most of these characters were. Aside from The core four plus Joseph, Rohan, Hayato and Reimi, we really didn't get a lot of out of these other characters. Which is fine; they were all pretty much definitely side characters and could be kind of shunted off to the side when need be like say when you want to develop your main villains on top of that too; Kira Yoshikage got an awful lot of screentime in DiU too, if you'll remember.
In contrast, here's how Beacon is Unbreakable stacks up: Team JOJO + Jotaro, RWBY and JNPR. These are the 'core' characters, the main characters of their respective series who fans of both works will be expecting to see attention poured upon and who I really want to focus my writing around. That's not even counting characters who'll join the main cast later on as the series progresses, but that's another topic for another time. Beyond THAT, we have side characters and main villains to pour attention onto: Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, Roman, Neo, Whitesnake, Ozpin, Ironwood, etc., etc,, etc., etc.
Basically put, when I was working on this crossover, I had to sit down and say "What characters are really needed from both series. Who actually needs to be part of the main cast or cast of side-allies and who is just kind of added, unnecessary weight on the story"? This is neither a confirmation or denial of his presence in this series but, as an example, during the outlining phase of this fic I fucking tortured myself working and reworking Rohan. Trying to figure out if he had a good spot in the fic or if he'd prove to be unnecessary and just kind of a waste of space all things considered. Because I wanted him in here, but not if he was just going to be vestigial. I've come down firmly one way or another, but you'll have to wait and see how I ended up coming down.
Now, on the flip side, while RWBY does have a lot of interesting main characters and allies, they hurt for a lot of good mooks. They got some solid core villains like Cinder, Roman, etc., but they're lacking in those Arc villains that make up such a strong reason why DiU in particular or JoJo in general feels like such an exciting adventure. Which is a weird omission for a series that does its best to really ape slice of life/adventure anime…
But, once again; fucking time restrictions. You can't spend episodes building up and beating an arc villain when you've only got 12 to work with per Volume. Well, you can, but you'd better be sure you get your mileage out of that villain while he's around or make sure you can use him later. Hello Tyrian.
So a lot of the 'villain-turned-allies' from DiU or even eventually neutral villains got converted into full on mooks. This gave me a lot of freeway in making them more threatening and more of a challenge because I wouldn't have to double-back later on to make it seem more natural that oh-hey, this person who threatened to have my mother and sister commit suicide is totally a guy I want to have hanging around me from now on, sure.
Will some fans be disappointed? Inevitably so, but I think this'll end up making for an overall stronger series in light of all the plates I do need to keep spinning.
Hope you all enjoyed this little update and I hope you all have a great weekend.