RWBY: Beacon's Fading Light
Chapter 17
oxoxoxo
If there was one thing that could be said about Maria Gaia, it was that she was driven. Throughout her youth, she had always strived to be the best, always trying to go the extra mile to ensure victory and success. Even after she was beaten at Sanctum, she worked to win even harder than she ever had before, managing to earn a spot a Beacon for her efforts.
That said, if there was one thing she hated it was when something went wrong. And something was going wrong at this very moment.
Since the beginning of the year when she was partnered with the artist Alison Zu, she had worked to help the girl overcome her shyness and bring her into the new and larger world she had become a part of when she came to Beacon. For the beginning of the year, it had worked, and Alison had gone from barely speaking to actually initiating conversations. Now, however she seemed to be regressing. For the past two months, she had been slowly retreating into silence, barely speaking more than she had when she first arrived.
Maria watched this change and could only wonder what had gone wrong. Every time she tried to ask the girl she'd give a one or two word answer, assuring her she was fine, and giving a reassuring smile as she did. Maria, however, didn't need a semblance of accuracy to see that her smile didn't reach her eyes.
Not knowing what else to do, Maria decided to seek help, and she knew just the person to ask.
"You want me to what now?" said Ruby. The two of them had just walked out of Professor Fantine's dramatic arts class (something Maria had taken specifically for her partner, much to the grumblings of a certain swordsman) and were now on their way to Goodwitch's combat class.
"You heard me." Maria replied "I want you to tell me what you did to restore your relationship with your partner."
"Oh..." said the reaper. "What?"
Maria applied palm to face. This girl really could be as dense as Weiss said. "How did you make friends with Weiss again?"
"OH, right, that." Ruby said, looking away awkwardly. "Well, you see... I didn't..."
"What do you mean? The two of you are closer than ever!"
"Well... I didn't really do anything to make Weiss like me again. She kind of came to me..."
Maria sighed. "Well, as nice of a story as that is, it doesn't really help me with my problem."
"Well, what's your problem?" Ruby enquired.
Maria looked up into the genuinely curious eyes of the younger girl. What did she have to lose? "Well, You've met my partner Alison, and you know she has a... way with words shall we say."
"Yes?"
"Well, I've been trying to encourage her to say more, to come out of her shell and join the rest of the world." The centurion explained "And for a while it was working, then after the trip to forever fall she started regressing. She's going back into her shell Ruby, the same one I've been trying to get her out of."
Ruby thought for a moment before giving her answer. "Well, from what I know about you, you're a bit, well, you know, aggressive."
Maria smiled sarcastically. "Part of my charm, right?"
Ruby nervously laughed. "Heh, right. Well, have you thought of being a little less aggressive to her? Maybe just reassure her that you're there for her and she'll be more willing to talk to you."
Maria said nothing, but on the inside she wanted to slap herself. This whole time, she had been trying to pull Alison out of her shell and into the rest of the world. After she started to retreat back, she had tried to pull her right back out, but that probably only drove her even further in. Maybe she should have been gentler, try to coax her out rather than pull forcefully. "I'll give it a try, thanks Ruby."
The younger girl gave her trademark cheerful smile. "No problem!"
Maria gave her usual small smile. "Yeah, no trouble." She muttered as they approached the door to Goodwitch's class. Ruby put her hand on the door to open it, but Maria suddenly reached out to stop her. "By the way, you tell anyone about this talk, and I'll find you." She said, fixing the younger girl with a glare.
Ruby laughed at first before she noticed that Maria (as usual) was serious. "Alright, I got it." She said, pushing open the door and walking off to join her team. Maria watched her go, wondering if it could be as easy as Ruby made it out to be. She sighed softly before going to her team and taking a seat next to her silent as ever partner. She looked over her team to see that Alison was, as was typical of her these days, looking at her feet quietly. Meanwhile, Thatch was glowering at a wall, having most likely made an attempt to talk to the artist, her silence beginning to frustrate him. It seemed that Francois was the only one enjoying his day, chatting amicably with that faunus girl, Velvet.
"EMAD, up and at 'em." Maria declared, getting the attention of her team. "Class is starting, pay attention."
Just as Maria spoke, the class began, Goodwitch clearing her throat as she spoke. "Okay class, in preparation for the Vytal Festival at the end of the year, some matches today will be doubles matches. Partners will be chosen at random before you ask." She snapped, giving a pointed glare to Jaune who had his hand raised, the knight immediately lowering it. "We will, however be beginning class with more traditional one on one matches." Goodwitch then activated the fighter selector, the faces on the two screens shifting through the faces of the class. "The first fighters are..." she said, looking up to the faces. "Blake Belladonna..." The quiet member of Team RWBY put down her book and looked up to her face on the screen as her name was called. "And her opponent... Maria Gaia." Maria immediately stood up and marched off to retrieve her armour and weapons, not even bothering to look up to the screen. Blake went soon after her, making barely a sound as she did.
The remains of Team EMAD watched as their leader walked off. "Alright, I'm taking all bets on this one." Thatch said to the rest of the team. "Maria or the ninja."
"You know she'll kill you if she finds out you bet on this." Francois said with a small smirk at the thought of his partner's pain upon their leader's discovery of his stupidity.
"Not if I bet on her." Thatch assured.
"You may have a point." Francois mused "But I think we're all betting on her, so where's the fun in that?"
Thatch was shut up by that one. Alsion snuck in a giggle hoping he wouldn't catch it. She wasn't lucky.
"Oh, she speaks. Sort of." Thatch said, moving closer to her. Alison just looked away. "Bugger." The swordsman muttered.
It wasn't long before Maria and Blake took to the stage, both of them drawing their weapons and entering a fighting stance.
(Author's Note: Hey look, more music! Song: From Shadows by Jeff Williams)
Goodwitch looked between the two combatants, each one just waiting to make the first move. She wouldn't deny them this. "Ready. Begin!"
Maria opened the bout, charging for Blake, but the silent fighter flashed out of the way, the centurion slamming into a shadow clone as she begin to attack, making several slashes with Gambol Shroud's blade and sheathe, all of which were blocked by Imperator before Maria attacked with her blade, Blake leaping back to dodge the stab before leaping at Maria's side.
Maria spun around with her shield just in time to block a stab from Blake's sword, the girl leaping away right before Maria would have stabbed her, flipping away from the attack, Blake landed a good distance away from Maria, shifting her weapon into its pistol form and opening fire. Maria responded by ducking behind her shield, the boss opening to reveal the spinning barrels behind it.
Blake's eyes widened as the minigun in the shield roared to life, several rounds tearing right through a shadow clone she left behind. Maria turned to face the quiet girl before firing again, Blake leaping over the attack and diving blade first for Maria, but the centurion raised her shield in time to block the attack, batting the girl in black away with a swing of her shield. She then opened the boss to fire again, but just as the barrels began to spin, Blake rolled to the side and converted Gambol Shroud back to its pistol form, firing several rounds at Maria who raised her shield as a defence, but this was just what she was hoping for as she leaped behind the shield and kicked it away before kicking Maria in her helmeted head, sending her stumbling back.
Meanwhile, in the rest of the class, the entire audience was enthralled with the fight, but one student in particular took interest in one of the fighters. Francois carefully watched as Blake fought, each of the girl's movements seeming familiar to him, but he just couldn't place where from. That is, until he met Blake's eyes, the look they held instantly made him remember. The smooth, quick movements, the fluidity of her fighting, put together with the fierce, determined look in her eyes. He had only seen that look once before.
Maria dragged herself up to her feet to see Blake preparing for another attack. She needed a new strategy. Her shield was across the stage, all she had left was her sword, and her fighting style depended on her using her sword and shield in tandem.
At least, her usual one did. She cast her memory back to her teammates, one of them in particular, her mind instantly adopting his fighting style, compensating for the shorter length of her blade and its superior cutting power...
Blake looked to her aura and to her opponent's. Both of them were decently into the yellow, but Maria was still slightly in the lead. She was about to launch into another attack, when Maria suddenly struck another fighting stance, a fencing pose reminiscent of Francois.
(New Music: Headstrong by Trapt)
Before Blake could react, Maria surged forward, her blade a blur of thrusts and slashes, keeping her on her toes, forcing her ever further backward. Blake tried to fight back, using both parts of Gambol Shroud, but just as she tried to do so, Maria pulled her sword's scabbard off her hip and used it as a secondary weapon, her style shifting to match the quiet girl's, compensating for her slower movement in her armour. She rapidly began to force her foe back, inching ever closer to her shield. To cross the last of the distance, Maria made a dash forward, blade extended in just as Weiss would, Blake jumping aside as Maria dropped her scabbard, and grabbed Imperator with a rolling dash.
The centurion opened the boss of her shield as she rose, the first bullets flying as she got to her feet, Blake rolling underneath the stream of lead and converting her sword to pistol form to fire back. She pulled the trigger only to be rewarded with a 'click.' Blake's eyes widened as she was forced to dodge the gunfire again.
Maria kept on the other girl, turning to fire at her at every turn, but Blake was getting ever closer to the point where she was able to attack Maria up close again, raining slashes down on the centurion, using her shadow clones to avoid attacks as she forced the Roman backwards. Blake kept on her though, knowing that her only chance to win was to keep the fight in close quarters, her chances plummeting if she had to avoid gunfire again.
Blake just left out one factor: Maria was tenacious at close range. The Roman was fighting back, stabbing with her blade and charging, shield out, trying to either hit her foe or drive her back. That was when Maria got a lucky hit in, smacking Blake with Imperator and sending her to the floor. Not wasting a second, Maria planted her foot on Blake's chest and put the tip of her blade to Blake's throat.
"Stop!" Goodwitch declared, approaching the combatants. "Students, as you can see, Miss Belladonna's aura has been depleted, and thus, Miss Gaia is the winner."
Maria nodded and stepped off Blake, offering her hand to the other girl, a hand Blake gladly took. "Sorry about that." Maria muttered "I can be a bit... competitive..."
Blake shot the other girl a small smile. "Hey, it's no trouble." She said "You're supposed to fight hard."
Maria extended a hand to the other girl. "You fought well too. Disarming me was pretty impressive."
Blake returned the handshake silently before Goodwitch shooed them both off the stage for the next matchup. As the screen began to cycle through the faces of the class, Francois broke off from his team's congratulation of its leader and walked towards her opponent.
"Excuse moi madame!" Francois called out, getting the attention of Team RWBY, Weiss immediately face-palming. "May I have a word?"
"No." Weiss stated with an edge of finality.
"Je m'excuse, but I was speaking to my fearless leader's new friend." The marksman said, gesturing to Blake.
"Uh, okay." Blake said softly. "What's up?"
"May we talk somewhere quieter?" Francois asked "There is something we must discuss."
"What if one of us gets called up to fight?" Blake replied.
Francois was about to speak, when Goodwitch saved him the trouble. "The next match will be between Jaune Arc and Sky Lark."
The nobleman turned to Blake and gestured to the door. The girl shrugged and followed, Francois following close behind.
As the two walked off, Weiss turned to Ruby and Yang, grumbling something to herself. "Weiss, what's wrong?" Ruby asked.
"It's him!" Weiss hissed. "Does he have no shame? First he's all over me, then he moves on to Velvet and now Blake? I hate guys like that. I just hope Blake and Velvet are smart enough to get him to leave them alone."
oxoxoxo
Blake and Francois had just left the class when Blake opened with "If this is some attempt to get with me, you've got another thing coming."
"Relax madame, my heart belongs to another." Francois reassured. "I merely wanted to ask you about your combat skills. Might I ask where you were trained?"
"In my home town." Blake simply responded.
"Might I ask for more details?"
"You can ask, but you might not get an answer."
"Why not?"
"Why do you ask?"
Francois sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're more difficult than Alison..." he muttered.
"Do you have a point in all this?" Blake asked.
"It's just that your style reminds me of only one fighter, a man by the name of Lucius Severus-"
Before Francois could say more, Blake grabbed him and threw him up against a wall. "How did you know Severus?" she demanded.
"He taught me to fight." Francois replied. "Why, how do you know him?"
Blake realized she was acting suspicious and let the nobleman go. "I was tutored by him a few times."
"The look in your eye matched his to an almost frightening degree."
"You pick these things up when you fight with someone for long enough."
"I thought you were only tutored by him occasionally."
"There were a lot of occasions."
"And those occasions were?" Francois asked, hand propped on his chin.
"Look, I don't want to talk about it." Blake said, and before Francois could respond she turned on her heel and walked back into the class.
The nobleman sighed and followed her, his mind racing to think of how she might have met Lucius. There wasn't much chance of the serpent moving between their two towns in order to work with both him and Blake, and there was no way she could have been able to pick up his style and look if she had met him when she was younger... Did she have some connection to the White Fang like Lucius did? But Lucius said he quit...
So deep was he in his thoughts that he only noticed the fight was over when Goodwitch called out "Mister Arc is the winner."
Those words were enough to bring anyone out of their thoughts, Francois looking up from his mind to see Jaune with the point of his sword to Lark's throat. "Mon Dieu..." he muttered.
"How did that happen?" Thatch said to seemingly no one.
Maria grunted. "Maybe he has more talent than I thought." She mused aloud.
Velvet nodded happily before moving back to Francois' side. "Where did you go?"
Francois jumped at her words before turning to her and replying. "It's not important mon cherie."
The bunny blushed at his words, turning away from the nobleman to hide her quickly reddening face.
Meanwhile, across the classroom with Team RWBY, Blake was lost in her own thoughts. How did Francois know Lucius? Was he the other pupil he mentioned? Did he know Lucius was involved with the White Fang? The cat faunus was hungry for answers, and she had a feeling the Nobleman would only give them to her if she gave him answers of his own.