Pov: Blake
"Okay. Are you ready?" I asked.
"I beat up on giant monsters and robots more than once, I think I can handle getting a few signatures." Sun said. I gave a small smile at Sun.
I stood on a platform in front of a crowd of Faunus, holding my scroll up in front of myself.
"Your chieftain needs you! Your people need you! Please, join the fight and help us save Haven Academy!" I said.
The Faunus just stared back at me. Let's just say… it was like this for a while.
"I don't get it! How can they just sit around and do nothing with the White Fang getting ready to attack?!" Sun slammed his hand on the desk.
"Because not everyone is like you and me. The Faunus here in Menagerie - the ones that weren't born on the island - moved here because they were tired of fighting, of having to struggle constantly. Menagerie is filled with people that just want to be left alone, and here we are, asking them to put the rest of the world before themselves." I said.
"I guess I never really thought about it like that." Sun said.
"The problem is, whatever happens at Haven is going to affect them whether they like it or not. If Adam gets his way and Haven falls, it's only going to make things worse for the Faunus. Everywhere."
"Adam… He's the guy you used to… work with?"
"Yes." I said.
"Sorry, forget I brought it up." Sun said.
"No, it's okay. Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself, 'They are the personification of this word.'"
"Uh…"
"Okay, well, I remember getting to know Ruby and thinking, 'This girl is the embodiment of purity.' After a while, I saw Weiss was defiance. Yang was strength. Ryuki was forgiveness. And Satoshi… Satoshi was anger."
"What am I?" Sun asked.
"Jury's still out on that one, but I'm leaning towards earnest." I said.
At this, Sun wrapped his tail around his cup and took a sip from it, before leaning on his hand affectionately. I giggled and smiled for bit, before frowning as I continued.
"At first I thought Adam was justice, then I thought he was passion. But over time, I realized I was wrong. He wasn't any of those things. He was spite. Not hatred, not rage, spite. He won't accept equality, only suffering for what he feels the world did to him, and his way of thinking is dangerously contagious. That's what worries me about Ilia. She's not like Adam, not yet at least, but I don't know how long that will last." I said.
"She was your friend, huh?" Sun asked.
"She was. Her chameleon traits meant she could pass as human. She could've lived a normal life if she wanted, but she didn't. I always admired that. She lost her family in a mining accident when she was young, then she joined the White Fang. Like me, she was more or less trained on the road alongside other Faunus. She learned to survive, to defend herself, but as people like Sienna and Adam started to gain a following, she became more dangerous. I guess I did too. My parents tried to get me to leave with them, but I refused. I had Adam and Ilia, after all." I said.
"You know we're gonna have to face her eventually." Sun said.
"I know." I said.
"So, what are you gonna do?" Sun asked.
"I'm going to try and help her the way you helped me." I said.
Sun was surprised at my response.
"You showed me that sometimes you need to be there for a friend even when they don't want you to be. I was drowning in guilt and fear, I tried to push you away, but you didn't give up on me. And I can't give up on Ilia. It's about time I saved my friends for once."
Sun smiled at my response.
Pov change: Ryuki
Oscar was in the training room while wielding Ozpin's cane. As he panted from exhaustion, he heard Ruby's voice as we entered the room.
"You're really getting better, huh? Are you hungry? It's almost dinnertime." Ruby said.
"Oh, yeah. That sounds good. I was about to call it a night anyway." Oscar said.
'Has He never fought before?' I asked Ruby.
"So, you've never fought before?" Ruby asked for me.
"Just the occasional small Grimm. Nothing like this, though." Oscar said.
"Wow. You look like a natural."
"It's strange, I have only had this cane for a few weeks, but… I feel like I've had it for a lifetime. Longer, even… I sound like a crazy person." Oscar said.
"I mean, uh, yeah just a little. But at this pace, you'll be combat ready in no time!" Ruby said.
As soon as she said that, I looked at her. Ruby frowned upon mentioning her last phrase. Oscar noticed this and tried to ask a question.
"Uh…"
"Well, see you upstairs." Ruby said as we almost left.
"How do you handle all of this?" Oscar asked.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked as we looked at him.
"I'm… scared. I'm more scared than I've ever been in my life, than I ever thought was possible. I always knew that I wanted to be more than a farmhand, but this? Who would ask for this?" He asked.
He glanced down at the floor as a tear dripped from his eye. He sniffed before kneeling to the floor to reach his backpack. He grabbed the cane off the rack and pulled the lever on the handle to compact it before putting it in his backpack.
"We all went to Beacon because we wanted to help people. But, you're right. None of us asked for this either. We just have to press on and-"
"How can you be so confident?! People have tried to kill you! The world's about to go to war all over again! How are you okay with any of this?!"
Ruby and I were taken aback by Oscar's question. She frowned as she responded.
"When Beacon fell, I lost three of my friends: Penny Polendina, Pyrrha Nikos, and Satoshi," Oscar was confused by my response, "I didn't know Pyrrha and Penny for very long, but that doesn't change the fact that they were some of the most kind-hearted people I have ever met. But that didn't save them. Pyrrha thought that if there was even the smallest chance of helping someone, then it was a chance worth taking. And because of that, she died fighting a battle she knew she couldn't win. And Penny… was killed… just to make a statement. Satoshi as well. He was forced into becoming a Grimm so that the world saw him as a monster instead of a person. Ryuki was forced to kill him so that he couldn't harm her anymore. We may have gotten him back but the world hasn't forgotten about what he did." Ruby said.
"I'm… sorry." Oscar said.
"I am scared, but not just for me. What happened at Beacon shows that Salem doesn't care if you're standing against her or not. She'll kill anybody, and that scares me most of all. Pyrrha… Penny… I'd be lying if I said that it didn't hurt, that I didn't think about them every day since I lost them, that I didn't wish I had spent more time with them. If it had been me instead, I know they would have kept fighting too, no matter how dangerous it was. So that's what I choose to do - to keep moving forward." Ruby said.
Oscar walked up next to us, and we all shared a smile. Ruby wiped her tears coming from her eyes with her arm.
"C'mon, if we don't hurry, Nora's gonna eat everything. It wouldn't be the first time. Hey, Oscar? This isn't gonna be easy, but the fact that you're even trying says a lot about you. You're braver than you think." Ruby said
Ruby and I proceeded up the stairs while Oscar waited a bit.
As we walked, I held Ruby's hand.
"Speaking of Satoshi, where is he?" Ruby asked.
Pov change: Satoshi
"Look Tatrael, I know you have what we want." Tatsumi said.
The lizard Faunus smiled. He had aura infused armor which was great for me.
"And why should I offer my most valuable piece to you?" He asked.
"Because you will owe us for the job we pulled for you four months ago." Sydney said.
He hissed before looking down.
"Consider this debt squared." Tatrael said. "Fifteen hundred."
"Seven." I said as I placed my hands on the table. Let's just say this isn't the first time I've done this.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" Tatrael asked.
"I suggest you ask that question as well." I said as my arms shaped into Grimm claws.
He stared at my arms and hissed.
"Alright alright, calm down. I can go with eight." He said.
"Deal." I said.
"Here." He gave me the armor.
I put the armor on and felt the aura surround me.
Tatsumi paid for the armor and we were walking back to the safe house when we walked past Tatsumi's house.
"What the?" Tatsumi asked.
The door was busted open.
We ran in and saw a bird Faunus looking around. Her bird traits were that she had feathers.
"Kagome." Tatsumi said.
She looked at us and smirked.
"Well if it isn't my love. How have you been?" She asked.
"What are you doing here?" Sydney asked.
"Did I ask you, bitch. Why don't you just bite your own ass?" She asked. "You two were warned not to go near the school."
I stood in front of them.
"I don't plan on hurting my love, but just know that the next time you go near the school, I will have to. And I won't be alone." Kagome said.
Before we reacted, a smoke bomb went off and she was gone.
"Let's go. Grab whatever you two need. This place isn't safe anymore." I said.
They grabbed all they needed and we ran out.
Pov change: Kagome
"Did they get the message?" Shigou asked.
"Not sure, but if it comes to blood. That bitch is mine." I said.
