So I got A LOT to talk about and fill you guys in on some things that have been on my mind. But that will be at the end. Enjoy guys. This was a struggle to write. But I hope you beautiful guys and gals like it. I don't own RWBY or Overwatch. they are owned by the lat Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth, and Blizzard.
ENJOY!
Chapter 24:
Allies and enemies
The gloomy grey of the clouds cloaked the city of Vale. Grim ran rampant in the areas that were closest to Beacon and the outskirts became home for the residents who refused to leave the crumbling kingdom. In one of the damaged buildings however, was where two ex-huntresses in training called home.
Blake Belladonna opened the rotting front door and winced as she heard the wood splinter. She sighed at this as she walked into the apartment and set down a bag of stolen food and goods. As she entered the small bedroom with nothing but an air mattress, she saw that her partner Yang Xiao Long hadn't moved from her previous sleeping position. This irked her a bit for the fact that she hadn't moved since this morning and it was almost evening.
"Get up." Blake said flatly. "I got us some dinner." This caused Yang to slowly move from her slumbering form and Blake noticed that she was struggling to sit herself up due to only having one arm. Blake looked away from the scarred stump and got their dinner ready. Only a few cans of food and some packaged crackers was all she could get her hands on due to the two of them being unofficially wanted by the people of Vale.
Their faces decorated the lamp posts and the sides of building all because the people of Vale were looking for someone to blame for the creation of the monster known now world-wide as the Reaper. The people only wanted his head for his actions but because everyone was too afraid of one of the few people that had caused chaos and ruin to the kingdoms, the people looked for others to put the blame on. That was when the Arc's informants and loyalists announced throughout all of Remnant who created the Reaper with an official document from the late Headmaster Ozpin to prove their claims authentic. The remaining members of power in Vale took this as a chance to take the heat off them and decided to place a bounty on the heads of Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. Weiss Schnee was protected too well by her father so there was nothing that they could do due to the SDC basically fueling international relations between the kingdoms.
Yang grumbled at this and awoke from her groggy state. She mumbled about not being that hungry and Blake's ears flattened at this.
"Yang you need to eat." The Faunus said as she opened two cans and grimaced at the unappealing food. Yang shifted a bit and shuddered while grasping her stump. Blake sighed at this knowing that Yang was going through her phantom pains again. It would take a few minutes before Yang would focus on anything else and Blake decided to start eating.
The two sat in silence for a few more minutes until Blake notice Yang reaching for her plastic fork. She continued to look on as she saw Yang struggling to eat her dinner and after about five minutes of struggling Yang sat her foot down.
"Do you need help?" Blake asked. she only meant well but her flat tone seemed to betray her as she saw Yang's eyes go red.
"Do you think this is funny?" Yang growled and Blake quirked an eyebrow.
"I never once claimed that it was. Yang, let me hel-" she was cut off as Yang threw her food at the faunus.
"SHUT UP!" Yang screamed as she tried to get up. "I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" Blake looked on at her partner with shock. It had been a few months since they relocated to this building and in all of those months, Blake had never seen Yang like this. She always kept to herself and Blake understood this. she was healing still but now Yang was being reclusive. She was resenting anyone she could get her hands on and it was starting to tick her off. She lost count of the days she was forced to pull both their weight just to survive. She was sick of risking her life day in and out for a person that would do nothing.
"None of this would have happened if you didn't push him." Blake muttered. She stood up but her wrist was grasped tightly by Yang who was also standing up. Her face contained a controlled rage but her eyes held an unquenchable fury.
"Say that one more time." Yang growled and Blake pulled back her hand.
"You heard me!" Blake shouted. "If it wasn't for you always getting angry at him, maybe this would have never happened! Maybe he wouldn't have snapped and put us here in this hellhole!" Blake was now seething but despite Yang's ever furious look growing, she continued. "If we just listened to our ex leader, maybe the breech would have never happened! maybe we would still be at Beacon! We wouldn't be wanted by the damn kingdom and if you weren't so short tempered you would still have your damn arm!" Blake said, finally crossing a line she would have never dreamed of crossing until now. She was sick of looking after someone who didn't want help. However, this didn't stop Yang from retorting.
"Where was this Blake when we hunted him down huh?!" Yang shouted and jabbed a finger into Blake's chest. "You had no problem with slandering his name when we were at Beacon. Or when Weiss bribed the student body. Or when you were strangling him!" She then grabbed Blake by the shirt and yanked her forward. "You're only saying this because we're in this shithole!" she then shoved her back and looked at her. In those moments, they both saw the exhaustion in one another. Not the exhaustion of living in semi-destroyed building, but the exhaustion of each other. Their tolerance of one another was beyond their breaking point and this was the result. Two ex-huntresses in training doing whatever they can to survive all while slowly beginning to hate each other.
"Face it." Yang growled. "If you had the chance you would do it again." Blake remained silent and after a few more moments of silence encompassing the room, Blake headed to the door. The splintering noise grinded against their ears and in those moments, Blake could feel Yang's eyes trying to pierce through her back. "Running like always?" Yang commented. Blake wanted to deny this comment. She wanted to justify that this wasn't running. Her hands clenched in fury and she turned back to Yang.
"Better than being here." Blake said as she headed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.
"No one is waiting for you out there!" Yang yelled, getting the last word in their fight. Blake let out a sigh of frustration, knowing what her ex-partner said was true. Either way, the faunus exited the building and straight to the rooftops. All while thinking how right Yang was about no one waiting for her.
Due to each member of WBY being incapacitated for a few days after the fall of Beacon, they were left clueless to how much had changed for them. From what Blake had discovered, Weiss was sent back to Atlas while she and Yang were hospitalized. They never saw Ruby which was expected, but what surprised them was that no one else showed up to see if they were okay. Blake shuddered at the memory when her first visitor came to see her.
Blake winced just a bit as she inspected the stab wound in her side. It had been a few days but the pain still resided within her. Though it wasn't as bad as the anxiety and confusion that was building within her. She thought that anyone would have shown up by now but for about a week, it was only her and Yang in the hospital room and the only noise that occupied the rooms were the mumbles and disgruntled shudders coming from the faunus's partner. That is until a light knock at their door caught her off guard.
"C-come in." Blake stuttered, realizing that it had been a while since she had actually spoken to anyone. The door slightly groaned as a familiar face walked into the room. Blake's eyes widened and she had an urge to stand but due to her wound, she was confined to her bed. "Sun?" she asked. Relief was apparent in her voice now and she cracked a small smile. That smile diminished however as she saw that he didn't reciprocate her elated attitude. "Sun, what happened?" she was starting to worry due this being the longest Sun had ever been quiet. He didn't say a word. Instead, he tossed her his scroll. She caught it and opened it up and her eyes widened in horror to see a saved article entitling the actions she and her two other teammates had commenced.
"It was the last thing that has been uploaded to any scroll. Due to the tower being out of commission." Sun said flatly. He folded his arms and said nothing more while Blake scrolled through the article. Blakes hands tightened around the device as she kept reading. She knew what this meant. At the time, she didn't know why Jaune's death impacted the public so much, that is until she found out that his father was a famous faunus rights activist. Now that the kingdom and possibly the world knew what really happened, it would only be a matter of time before the authorities came.
"The others and I found out a bit earlier though." Blake looked up to see Sun was right in front of her and he snatched his scroll from her hands. "The night Beacon fell. Right after you passed out and Weiss suffered the explosion, he showed up." Sun turned around and pulled up a nearby chair. A few moments past while the stench of a busy hospital and the soft squeaking of the ceiling fan were the only things to occupy their senses. "I'll tell ya, Neptune and I were about to tear his head off. He hurt you and Yang. So I guess you could say my anger was at an all-time high." He then gestured to Yang to emphasize his point. "That's when he started talking." Blake noticed that Sun's hand was starting to quiver. Out of fear or anger, she couldn't tell. "Started saying things about you and the rest of your team being the cause of turning him into what he is now." he took a moment to take a breath of reassurance. "Course, Nep and I denied it. Called him insane and what not." Blake saw that his hand started shaking a little more intensely. "Then the bastard lifted his mask. The two of us nearly vomited our guts out just by looking at him, but I saw him smiling." Sun and Blake sat there for what seemed like hours. Blake was looking at him with worry while the young man was staring at his feet while his tail slumped onto the somewhat grimy floor.
"What happened next?" Blake asked, worried if Jaune hurt anyone. Sun let out an exasperated breath mixed with a laugh as he looked back to Blake.
"He went over to his old teammates. Ren and Nora I think." Sun said and Blake nodded. "Asked where Pyrrha was and then he took off towards the tower." Despite the surprise of everyone being okay, Blake grew confused due to not knowing why Jaune went to the tower. "A little bit later, Ruby showed up and told us everything." Blake didn't say anything but the fear in her was apparent. "Neptune, CFVY, and I were all told what happened and what you three did." Sun then got up from his chair and folded his arms once more. Blake looked as if she wanted to say something, anything to defend herself against this, but she stayed silent.
"I never knew him y'know." Sun said. "He wasn't around when I got to Vale and all I knew was that he died protecting his team from grimm. I learned later that he forged his way into Beacon and to be honest, I wish I had a chance to meet the guy." Blake grew confused at this. "I mean I call myself an excellent stowaway. What he did? That took balls of steel for him to do that." he chuckled a bit at this and cracked a bit of a smile, wondering how it would have been to meet the blonde knight before everything went to hell. He then turned to Blake and his smile dissolved. "And then I find out that the person that I've been around for months now." Blake could see that Sun's hands were balled up into tight fists. "The person that I thought I could trust. A person that I thought I could call a friend, was one of the few that killed him!" he shouted this last part and the fury within him could be seen by Blake. Her ears flattened and she tried to look away but somehow couldn't. "You played me and Neptune for idiots! We were helping you train to take out a maniac that you created!" the blonde faunus was now seething while Blake remained quiet. Sun was about to go on ranting, but Blake looked at him and decided to step in.
"He was losing it. That night was the last time we were going to risk him hurting any of us." This only angered Sun even more.
"Oh, I heard what he did! I heard what happened to the asshole that put his hands on Pyrrha and I found out what he did on your first mission! Yang jumped to conclusions and Jaune pushed back! I don't blame him either." Blake finally noticed the hateful glare that Sun kept on her. "You all pushed him to his limits and look what happened! Doesn't that remind you of an organization that YOU joined!" Blake had enough of this. Hot tears were forming in her eyes and she reciprocated Suns glare.
"At least I didn't become a MONSTER!" Blake screamed. She couldn't remember the first time she screamed at anyone like this. Sun reeled back a bit. The room once more grew silent and before Blake could say anything, Sun headed for the door.
"You and Yang will be wanted dead or alive once you get out of here." Sun said as he opened the door. He didn't need to see the look of dread and shock forming on her face. "Don't expect any of us to help you. Hell, I won't be surprised if CFVY leads the hunt for your heads." He was about to shut the door behind him until he turned back one last time. "And you're right, he is a monster now. But at least he admits it." And with that he slammed the door behind him. Leaving Blake in the darkness with her partner.
"Quite the day, is it not?" Blake snapped out of her trance and armed Gambol Shroud and faced the voice that was coming from behind her. She mentally cursed at herself for dozing off when she was out in the open. As she faced the man across the rooftop however, she cocked her head in confusion. The man was tall but a bit on the scrawny side. He had dark armor plating on his chest and a red robe covering his whole body. The red hood was draped over his head but his pitch-black hair draped over and contrasted with the red color scheme. His arms were folded and the look on his face had an image of longing. As if it had been a long time since he had seen her. "It has been a while Blake." the man said and Blake's eyes widened. She lowered her weapon with still a confused expression.
"Sienna Khan?" she asked and the man chuckled at this.
"Please Blake." He replied. "You're my niece. Call me Uncle."
With RPNR. Far outskirts of Higanbana Village
Ruby let out a sigh of relief as she rested against a log. The campfire roared to life and the rose heard Nora squee with delight due to the warmth. It had been a damp day since they left Higanbana. They were thankful for multiple reasons that the village was still standing. They were able to get out of the rain, Ariella reunited with some family friends and was in better care, and they surprisingly got a lead on Jaune. Apparently, he made his way through the village on his own and didn't even acknowledge the people. The bars and taverns in the village were running rampant with stories of personal eyewitnesses and the team discovered that he was heading east. Towards Mistral. It secured their suspicions and now the team was set on a solid course. Along with the lack of grim the team was facing, Ruby was convinced that their luck was finally turning around for the better.
Ruby's eyes opened from her quick nap as she felt something brush by her feet. She looked up to see Pyrrha passing by and setting down a few more logs for the fire. Ruby kept eyeing the champion and noticed that she was setting up her sleeping area rather quickly. A few minutes passed by and the champion was finished laying her sleeping area out. Before Ruby could say anything, Pyrrha grabbed her weapons and headed off further into the woods. Ruby sat up and had a look of concern and frustration written all over her face.
"I think it's time to talk to her Ruby." Ruby turned to see Nora sitting next to the fire, trying to get warm. "You said you would back in Xiong." Ruby nodded at this and Nora gave her a reassuring grin.
"And tell her she'll be missing out on dinner as well if she doesn't come back soon." Ren added on as he was crushing a few ingredients into a small pot. Ruby chuckled a bit and got up. She readied Crescent Rose and headed off after her friend.
It took a while, but Ruby finally reached the end of Pyrrha's trail. The sun was about to set and Ruby's eyes squinted under the harsh sunlight. She then reached a small clearing and marveled at the lush greenery that surrounded her. In the distance however, Ruby noticed a bit of red contrasting with her surroundings and knew that it was Pyrrha. As the Rose made her way towards her, she could hear the faint sounds of chimes being played. The music became louder as she made her way toward Pyrrha and she also noticed that the champion was training. The sweat was apparent and the force in each of Pyrrha's strikes was noticeable. Ruby was about twenty feet away and noticed that Pyrrha's fatigue was apparent and saw her give one final swing, impaling the silver blade into the dirt. Ruby saw Pyrrha's gear and grasped her water canteen.
"Here." Ruby said as she tossed the canteen to her teammate. Pyrrha caught it with one of her hands and uncapped it.
"Shouldn't you be with the others?" Pyrrha questioned before she took a few swigs of water. Ruby chuckled a bit at this.
"They'll be fine. We're still in range for local chat on our scrolls and I think they need a little alone time." Ruby saw Pyrrha smirk at this and the champion set her drink down, and picked up her weapon once more. Ruby sighed at this. "Besides, I think it's time we talk." Pyrrha went still for a moment and Ruby grew a little more awkward.
"About?" Pyrrha asked flatly which caused Ruby to become frustrated.
"I don't know. How you've been acting this whole trip so far? Or how about when you went off on that traumatized girl back in Xiong?" Ruby asked. She heard Pyrrha let out a short breath and after sheathing her weapon, the champion turned to her with her arms folded.
"Last time I checked, we weren't going to Mistral for a vacation." Pyrrha replied. "We can't afford to lose track of what we're trying to do." Ruby growled a bit at this.
"And what is it that you think we're trying to do?!" Ruby exclaimed. "Finding out who caused the fall of Beacon? Or going on a wild goose chase for someone who is far ahead of us!" Pyrrha grew quiet when Ruby let out her small outburst. The only sounds were the chimes coming from a music box that was with Pyrrha's belongings. Ruby confirmed her suspicions about her teammate and decided to press on. "Pyrrha, I know Jaune means a lot to you. He means a lot to all of us. But we can't let him distra-"
"He doesn't degenerate anymore." Pyrrha interrupted as she faced Ruby. "On the roof that night. I flooded him with my aura and he turned back to normal." Ruby's eyes widened when she said this. This was the first time Pyrrha talked about what happened then. "For those moments, I saw my partner. I saw Jaune. And he was thankful. He was happy that the pain was gone. When I hugged him, I felt that warmth that I've missed." Ruby softly smiled at hearing this news. But grew confused when Pyrrha had a look of distraught. "But then he knocked me out. Took the hilt of his blade and slammed it into my head." Ruby's smile faltered as she heard this. Pyrrha then turned back to Ruby and walked forward. "So yes. I am trying to find him. Because not only is he linked to everything that happened in Vale, but I need to know why he did that. why he left." Ruby remained quiet for a bit and headed over to the music box and closed it. Before Pyrrha could say anything, Ruby turned around.
"Do you blame yourself for what happened to him?" Ruby asked out of nowhere. "Do you think that if you could have done something, anything just a little more to help him, he would be here with us?" Ruby noticed the growing anger and frustration within Pyrrha but decided to go on. "Do you think that Jaune even wants to come back to us? After how we treated him in the beginning? Do you think apologizing to him will somehow bring him back?!" Ruby knew that this wasn't going to end well but she was ready.
"Who are you to ask me this?!" Pyrrha replied. "Do you know even half of what you're saying?! While you're asking me why am I taking this too serious, you should be asking yourself why you're taking this so lightly! It's not like you were responsible for letting Jaune become this way!" with a blur of rose petals, Pyrrha felt the Ruby's fist collide with her face. The champion felt the pain radiating in her jaw but felt her aura healing it slowly. She then turned back to Ruby with anger and had her fist reeled back. Her eyes widened however when she saw Ruby. Hot tears were in her eyes as she presented the lower area of her neck, indicating where the three scars she had across her chest.
"Do you think for a moment that I don't regret getting hurt that night?!" Ruby yelled back. "Jaune was in danger and I took a blow for him I didn't know it would tear through my aura!" at this point, Ruby didn't care what the outcome of this talk was. Pyrrha needed to know she wasn't the only one hurting. "and in the end, Yang went off on him causing all of this to be set into motion!" Pyrrha looked stunned at this revelation. "He saved me that night. Do you really think I don't blame myself for what happened? Do you think Ren and Nora don't blame themselves for not being there for him more and when he truly needed it?" Pyrrha stood there for a few moments. Slowly realizing that yes, she was Jaune's partner, but he was also Ruby's first friend. He was the closest thing Ren and Nora had to a brother. He wasn't just hers. He was their friend and ever since he left, she thought she was the only one in pain. Which was far from the truth.
"We miss him too Pyrrha. We want him back as well." Ruby said as she composed herself. "But we also know that he isn't the only goal. We need to find out what really happened at Beacon. And Mistral is the safest bet we have." Ruby straightened her cloak and covered the scars back up. She headed back towards the camp, but not before giving Pyrrha a soft smile. "Ren's cooking dinner. You should come eat with your team." And with that, Ruby headed back into the woods. Leaving Pyrrha to think on what they had just discussed.
With Widowmaker. Anima Forrest.
Amelie had propped herself against one of the nearby trees and slowly watched the embers form their campfire die down. The sun had been down now for a few hours and she was first to be on watch. She had no qualms with this. She actually preferred being up more. A wave of anxiety overcame her however due to her knowing that she would soon have to go to sleep and be plagued with nightmares of the past. It annoyed her to no end because of the lack of sleep but it was manageable due to her slow heartrate. Either way she would rather not be reminded of what happened before she met Jaune.
"Well how bold of you Amelie. I'd say I rather like you as well." Those words echoed in her head and her mind clamped shut. She squeezed her eyes shut as the layer of anxiety intensified. She couldn't afford to think back to Gerard. Not when her teammates needed her. With each day, they were getting closer to Mistral and one step closer to finding the ones that turned her into a monster. Now was not the time to be thinking about him.
Thankfully, she heard some snorting to snap herself out of her slight panic attack. She looked over to see if Jaune was the culprit for the bombastic snoring. Instead she saw their hacker Sombra, Snoring up a storm. How Jaune slept through it was beyond her. She chuckled at the loud snoring Sombra was making and her attention was now one the blonde in question. He was sleeping on his side in nothing but a white T-shirt and sweat pants. His blonde hair was disheveled and his breathing was slow, but full of well-earned exhaustion. They traveled farther than any other day before and it was now taking a toll on them. A soft smile formed on her lips as she thought about everything that the three of them went through. Of course, they weren't the happiest of people, but they seemed to be getting along well. Despite their intentions, they were a team and a damn good one at that. She just hoped that the other two saw it that way as well.
"What the-" Amelie grew confused as she heard Jaune start to say something. She got closer to hear what he was saying. "S-stay away dammit!"
"Jaune?" the sniper asked as she knelt down next to her partner. She was about to try and wake him up but he suddenly tossed over his side while his smoke started to appear. Worry was growing within Amelie due to this being the first time she had ever seen Jaune afraid. His smoke was amplifying by the minute and Amelie could see tears starting to brim past Jaune's eyelids.
"Reyes, you son of a bitch! GET BACK!" with this outburst, Jaune's smoke flared one last time before simmering down. Jaune became quiet once more and the only noises occupying the forest were Sombra's snoring and Jaune's slow breaths. However, Amelie was confused beyond belief.
"Who the hell is Reyes?" she asked herself. She needed answers and needed them soon. She learned that Jaune preferred to not share everything about himself. So, asking him was out of the equation. She then turned her head to her other teammate and nodded. If anyone could get her answers on what just happened, it would be Sombra.
Alright. I hope this one was alright. No action really. Just more exposition. I intend for it to start picking up soon though. Okay everyone. Real talk. So I have been seeing some feedback on this fic and the biggest qualm I have is that people believe that this is too edgy and the characters are OOC… to which I say you're right. It was never my intention to make these characters strict adaptations. I'm simply trying to take the bases of their personalities and making them react to the situations I create. But I do understand that it is getting a little too edgy. And not good edgy. I am working on this and if this chapter contradicts my statements, well it's a work in progress. I can assure you all that effort is being put in to make each chapter better than the last.
Another thing I want to talk about is that Blake and Yang are personally the hardest characters for me to write. Not to mention that Vol. 4 is my least favorite season so putting my own spin on it is going to be a big challenge. This is all still a work in progress and any critical or supportive feedback is valued. Thank you guys for your patience and I really appreciate the support (OVER 600+ FAVS AND FOLLOWS! WOOOOOO!) Schools done with and I got a whole summer to write now. Shout out to my Beta SunWukongMogar for sticking with me and being my beta and definite shout out to Kegi Springfield for the cover art. Alright! Drop a comment or review if you want. Thank you once again and as always you beautiful people BE FIERCE!
SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!