Of Foxes, Chameleons, and Dragons
Yang and Pyrrha were sparring again, though this time it was with their weapons. Yang punched out, which Pyrhra blocked with her shield; Pyrrha quickly countered swing up Milo, which Yang leaned back from. She punched up, making it Pyrrha's turn to dodge. Yang then punched and Pyrrha kicked, causing their prosthetics to lock, metal arm to metal leg. The two locked eyes, green to lilac. As they were doing so, however, Pyrrha broke away, and moved back. That allowed Yang to press the attack, as she let out several punch, that, while all blocked by Pyrrha, still forced Pyrrha on the defensive.
"Come on Red," Yang said, as she stretched, "You're tougher than that!" Pyrrha didn't say anything, as she pulled herself to her feet, rubbing her leg.
"Come on, let's…."
"Yang," Pyrrha said suddenly, making the blonde stop talking.
"What?"
"I'm… I'm sorry." Yang blinked at that. Now Pyrrha of course apologized almost all the time over one thing or another, but this time seemed to different some how. Unlike previous times, where her tone would be more embarrassed than anything else, this time, she sounded genuinely guilty.
"Sorry for what?" Yang asked, shrugging lightly.
"I should've been there for you," Pyrrha said, looking down while shaking her head, "Your my partner, I should've been on the ground having your back, while instead I was…" She trailed off, as she covered her face with one hand, dragging it down. That surprised Yang. Was Pyrrha seriously blaming herself for what happened to her at Beacon?
"Hey," Yang said, putting her hand on her partner's shoulder, "It's okay." Pyrrha looked at Yang for a time.
"No it's not," she said, before she walked away. Yang opened her mouth, but closed it, as she watched her partner leave again. She then looked at her prosthetic, as she clenched and unclenched her fingers.
(in the Belladonna household)
As one might have expected, the White Fang had caught the Belladonna household unawares. They had stormed the house without warning, and now Kali was left to hide behind a table which was serving as a makeshift barrier. Beside her was one of the Menagerie lawmen who guarded the chieftain's house. As Kali hid, one of the guards peaked over the table to sneak a few rounds.
"Ma'am, please stay…" The guard couldn't finish as a bullet struck him in the shoulder, incapacitating them. Not one to keep hiding, Kali promptly picked up the gun he dropped, and started firing back.
"Get out of my house!" Kali shouted as she fired. One of White Fang's rifles turned into sword, and he charged at the table. That was when the soldier found a bladed whip wrapped around around his wrist. He only had time to look up as Sienna kicked him square in the jaw. The tigress then flipped back to get behind the same table as Kali.
"Sienna?" Kali said, "What're you doing here? You aren't well enough yet!"
"You kidding?" Sienna said, "You think I'm going to let my big sister keep doing all the work?" Kali looked to protest, before sighing.
"I miss the old days when I'd read you to sleep," she said, with a solemn smile, "Things were simpler back then." That was when Sienna put her hand over her sister's.
"Me too, Big Sis," she said. With that, Sienna vaulted over the table, decking another White Fang soldier.
"High Leader Khan?" another said, only to get Cerebrus Whip around her neck, and thrown into one of her comrades.
"Not anymore," Sienna said, as much to herself as the others. That was when Yuma dropped in from the ceiling, using his wings to slow his fall. Sienna glared at him as he did.
"You bastard," she growled.
"You always were something of a…." The bat couldn't finish, as a boot to the back knocked him the ground. He glanced behind him as one Darwin Oogway flipped through the air, and landed, holding his staff in a battle pose.
"What the?" both Yuma and Sienna said at the sight.
"Not bad for an old tortoise, I'd say?" Darwin said, with a toothless grin, "Now come now? You afraid of an old man or something?"
"How'd you escape the assassin?" Yuma demanded. That seriously shocked both Sienna and Kali; the Council of Elders had been assassinated?
"Let's just say, I managed to see her coming," Darwin said. Yuma then jumped at Darwin, who easily evaded. He then knocked Yuma in the knee with his staff, causing him to fell to one knee, allowing Darwin to knock Yuma over the head.
"How are you doing this?" Yuma said, baffled how someone as old as Darwin could be so good at fighting, "You're just an old geezer!"
"Old is just another way of saying 'experienced," Darwin said, waving his staff at the bat. With an angry growl, Yuma jumped back at his elder opponent. However, his wrist got caught by Sienna, who grabbed his other arm, kneed him int the stomach, before throwing him over her shoulder and into a bookshelf.
"Letting one of the Elders do the job?" Sienna said, "You kidding?" Darwin smiled at her, before doubling over, holding his shell.
"Oh, my back!," he said, before giving a rather embarrassed smile, "Okay, maybe I am getting too old for this."
(in the entry hall)
Meanwhile, Ghira was having his own battle, albeit without the gunfire, with Corsac and Fennec. The Albain brothers described themselves as people who shared the spoils of their battles. But when it came to the honor of killing the chieftain, they alone wanted those bragging rights.
Ghira ducked as a fireball from Inferno, carried by Fennec, came at him, though Corsac took that as an opportunity launch at him. Ghira avoided a strike, before punching at the young man, who easily evaded the strike and jumped back. Fennec then took his turn to jump at the chieftain, getting a boost from Cyclone, carried by Corsac. Ghira held up his arms, as Fennec kicked at him, blocking the attack, and throwing the fox off.
"I believe it's time for a regime chance, brother," Corsac commented as Fennec recovered next to him.
"I'm afraid so, brother," Fennec answered, as the brothers pointed their weapons. Ghira just narrowed his eyes, as his claws unsheathed, and he growled, before the panther launched himself at the foxes. The two managed to avoid the strike, but Fennec was unfortunate enough to be the closer of the two, as Ghira literally pounced at him. Fennec again managed to avoid the strike, and launched another fireball at him; this one struck the Faunus, though Ghira's Aura managed to reflect the worst of it.
As he was stunned, Corsac pressed his own attack, jumping onto Ghira's back, and stabbing Cyclone into it. Ghira let out a pained grunt, but fortunately it was just a flesh wound, and he managed to throw Corsac to the ground, before bringing his claws down. Corsac just managed to avoid the attack as the claws caught this hood, ripping it away. Corsac then activated cyclone, sending a gust of wind that knocked Ghira away.
As he was distracted, Fennec took careful aim with Inferno, but he couldn't move fast enough, as he got knocked upside the head by Sun Wukong as he burst through the window.
"Brother!" Corsac called, as he leapt to his feet, and charged at Sun. However, his leg was suddenly ensnared by one end of Gambol Shroud, and Blake let out a grunt, as she pulled him to the ground, giving her time to get to her father.
"You're hurt!" Blake said, upon seeing the wound on his shoulder.
"Nothing I can't handle," Ghira answered, as Sun took a place between the two of them.
"Where's Mom?" Blake asked.
"I don't know, I was alone when they ambushed me."
"Go now!" Sun said, as he readied Ryui Bang and Jingu bang, "I've been wanting to bring down these creeps since the moment I saw them!"
"For my own, I am somewhat interested now to see if this boy's worth all you've been claiming," Ghira commented. Blake wasn't pleased boat the possibility of leaving her father and friend to fend for themselves against these guys, but figured her options were otherwise somewhat limited. She just nodded, and ran out of the room.
"I've got your back, Mr. B!" Sun said.
"Oh shut up," Ghira answered.
(back in the dining room)
During all of this, Bai Suzhen calmly stepped through the window into the house. She hopped down, clasping her hands behind her, as she sauntered forward. As she was doing so, Kali was still firing from behind the collapsed table, and Sienna and Darwin were fighting off the thugs that had broken in.
"So uncivilized," Bai said, rolling her eyes. That was when she noticed Darwin, whose attention was still wholly on the thugs around him. She wasn't sure how, but the tortoise had seen her coming. One of the few people who got away from her, but Bai wasn't going to let that happen more than once.
"So that's where you went," she said. She considered slitting his throat then and there, but that wasn't why she was she was here. She then continued strolling down the hall, calmly humming to herself. All the while, no one in the room so much as glanced at her; it was as if the white snake wasn't even there….
(in the meeting hall)
Blake hurried though the hall, a she entered into her house's meeting hall. However, as she did, she sensed a presence, and stopped. Frowning to herself, she took a breath.
"Are you actually surprised to see me" she asked.
"No, I had a feeling you'd get away." Blake glanced up to the balcony to see Ilia standing on the railing of the balcony, wearing her Grimm mask.
"Take off that mask," Blake said, "Face me yourself." Ilia wasn't sure why she did so, but she did indeed remove her mask after a moment. She then tossed it over her shoulder. In an instant, the cat and the chameleon launched themselves themselves at each other, and their weapons clashed. The force pushed both of them back. Ilia then lashed her whip out, which Blake was able avoid. She switched her weapon to gun form, and let out a few shots at Ilia, who deflected them with her whip. She then swung her whip again, which Blake managed to dodge. She then jumped up to Ilia's level, and the two exchanged strikes. While Ilia had speed, Blake had agility, and while Ilia may not have wanted to admit it, the actual training Blake had received had made her a better fighter.
Realizing pretty quickly that she wouldn't beat Blake in a straight up fight, Ilia retreated, and swung Lighting Lash out. Unfortunately for her, this time Blake's semblance to kicked in, though was enhanced with Ice Dust, causing Ilia's whip to get stuck in an ice statue of Dust.
"What the…" She didn't get to finish, as Blake was suddenly on top of her, and Ilia had to let go of her weapon. Hopping back to the wall, Ilia glared at Blake, who was panting slightly.
"I can do this all night if I have to," Blake declared, "You aren't hurting my family!" Ilia's glared just hardened, before she glanced at the wall, noting a light switch, which she promptly slammed. Instantly, the room got dark, not pitch black, but enough that that Ilia would've been able to camouflage in it. Blake took a few steps back, as she tighten she hold on her sword.
"Are you really deluding yourself into thinking we can beat the humans in a war?" she asked.
"We did during the Revolution," Ilia's voice answered from the dark, "We can do it again. The mistake of the revolutionaries was they didn't go far enough. They shouldn't have stopped Kuchinashi, they should've gone al the way to Mistral!"
"This will only validate all those humans who hate the Faunus," Blake said, "Not only will you lose, you'll make things worse for the others."
"We have everything the humans have, and we have more!"
"The humans have more then twice our numbers," Blake said, stating what should've been obvious.
"That doesn't matter either!" Ilia shouted, "We're the superior species! The chosen race! Created by the Spirits themselves…"
"The Spirits aren't real!" That silenced Ilia's voice completely.
"They've never been real," Blake continued, partly through gritted teeth, "The only gods in this world are…"
"You're lying!" Right then, Ilia swung in from the dark, knocking Blake away, and into the ice clone, shattering it, thus freeing Lighting Lash. Ilia was quick to retrieve it, and she swung it at Blake, who tried to dodge, only to get struck in the side. She let out a cry of pain at the shock, causing her to fall to her knees. This gave Ilia the chance she needed to come in and kick Blake in the stomach, sending her careening away into the wall. Ilia rubbed her shoulder, as she panted.
"I'm sorry Blake," Ilia said, "I really am. But I have no choice." That's it! Blake thought. That was going to be the last time she heard that from someone. She knew exactly what needed doing.
"No, I'm the one who's sorry," Blake answered, as she got to her feet, "I didn't want to do this." She then sheathed Gambol Shroud, much to Ilia's confusion. Blake then folded her arms over her chest, as she channeled the old magic through her body, and her body was consumed with the glow of the Aura. Ilia took a few instinctive steps back at that, at a complete loss as to what was happening. That was when the glow faded, and the chameleon was left to stare at what was before her.
In Blake's place, was a great panther-like dragon, slamming its tail into the ground in intimidation, grinding its claws into the wood. To her credit, Ilia didn't drop her weapon, and her jaw didn't drop, rather use just froze, like she had been hit with Ice Dust, as she stared at the great beast. The dragon growled, as its tail slapped the floor in intimidation.
"I really didn't want it to come to this Ilia," the dragon said in Blake's voice, as she stalked towards Ilia who tried to step back, only to back into the wall, "I gave you every chance to walk away. Gave you every chance to see why this wrong? But you wouldn't listen." Ilia instinctively swung Lighting Lash, only for the whip to harmlessly bounce off the dragon's scales. In a flash, Blake sprung forward, and before Ilia even knew what was happening, she was pinned under her claw.
"What… what are you?" she stuttered out.
"I'm just someone who wants to protect her family," Blake answered, as she held up her tail, as the scales on the tip stuck up like quills. Quills that were pointed straight at Ilia. With that, the tail struck down, and Ilia cried out. But the blow never came. The chameleon slowly opened her eyes, as she saw the tail embedded in the ground beside her head.
"Now tell me," Blake said, "do you want to get out?"
"Blake….," Ilia said through her tears, "I…"
"Just tell me, and I can do it for you," Blake said.
"It's too late," Ilia said, now truly crying, "I can't go back now." That was when she found herself being nuzzled slightly by Blake.
"It's not too late yet," she said, "You can stop this."
"I… I don't know how," Ilia answered. With that, Blake got off of Ilia, and with a glow, returned to her Faunus form.
"Let me show you," she answered, before she ran out of the room, leaving Ilia to just stare after her.
(in the entry way)
Ghira had to admit, Sun wasn't actually half bad. He was certainly rather begrudged to admit such a thing, but it was true.
Sun deflected a strike from Corsac, only to get blown back by Cyclone. He then stuck his weapon back into its staff form, and spun it to deflect the wind. He couldn't deny that Corsac was good, but he sure as heck wasn't going to let a jerk like this get the better o fhim.
Sun then activated his Semblance, sending his three doubles out at once. The sigh to this certainly caught Corsac off guard, and that was really all the monkey needed. He sprung himself at the fox, dealing him a sharp punch in the gut, stunning the fox, after which Sun punched him twice in the face. Corsac was knocked into the wall, as he let out a grunt of pain. He didn't really have time to recover though, as Sun knocked him to the ground with a single strike from his nunchakus, defeated.
"Brother!" Fennec cried out. But much like said brother, he fell to distraction, as he was grabbed by the scruff his neck by Ghira, punched in the stomach, and sent flying into the wall. With that, the Albain brothers were both soundly defeated.
"Now come on!" Ghira said, "We have to help… UH!"
(in the dinging hall)
The thugs were finally starting to give up, as their numbers began to dwindle. As the last of them either retreated or fell, Kali emerged from behind the table.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"As good as a 437 year old tortoise can be," Darwin answered, leaning on his staff. Kali nodded at that, before she turned to Sienna, only for her younger sister to suddenly hug her.
"I'm sorry!" Sienna said, tightening her grip on Kali. Kali was surprised, by was all to happy to return the hug.
"Can you ever forgive me?" Sienna asked.
"You're my sister," Kali answered, "I could never not forgive you."
"Mom!" Blake called as she burst into the room.
"Blake?" Kali said, as Sienna let her go.
"You did good kid," Sienna said with a nod and a smile.
"Thank's Aunt Sienna," Blake answered before noticing Darwin stumbling forward, "Master Darwin? What're you…."
"Not important right now, child," Darwin answered, "I fear there is a threat we may have missed."
"What do you mean?"
"When the assassin came for the Council, for some reason I was the only one could see her," Darwin answered, "It must've been her Semblance or something, but fortunately mine kicked in just in time, and I was able to slip away." Blake figured that could be expected; she knew that Darwin's Semblance gave him some degree of immunity from other people's Semblances. His age must've been taking its toll on it, though.
"So you think…" She couldn't finish, as her question was unfortunately just answered for her.
"Blake!"
"Sun?" Blake asked at the sound of his voice. Blake raced back down the halls, her family and elder not far behind.
Blake burst through the room, and she got there just in time to see Bai yank a metal spear out of her father's gut. Her long white hair was down, and in each hand, she held a long thin spear, one silver, one gold. These were her two weapons Yuànhèn and Ráoshù; normally she kept them collapsed down, as her hairpins, but not now.
As the rest of the people filed in, they could only stare as Ghira collapsed to his knees, holding his injury. Kali let out a scream, Bai just stared at her fallen victim, and Corsac looked up to grin triumphantly at the sight.
"At last," he said, as he rose to his feet, "At last the time…" He was silenced, as he was struck by Lighting Lash, and knocked back unconscious. Ilia emerged from behind the column, panting slightly. Bai then glanced towards the group with her cold eyes.
"Can I help you?" she asked plainly, spinning Yuànhèn through her hand. Time seemed to slow down for Blake, as she let out her own scream. But that scream quickly changed into something else, into a roar. There was a burst of energy, and the people around Blake were sent tumbling away. Ilia got down, as she looked on, knowing what was coming next.
Bai's instincts kicked in, as she leapt away just in time to avoid a black dragon leaping at her. However, she wasn't fast enough, as the blades on the wing spines grazed her side. Bai failed to make a proper landing, as she tumbled to the ground. She grabbed at her wounded side, as the dragon turned to face her, black flames leaking from the corner of its jaws.
"What the…," Sun said, speaking the words everyone was thinking. As Kali and Sienna pulled themselves up, they could only stare at the great reptile that was once their daughter/niece.
"In all my years," Darwin said slowly, as he weakly propped himself up with his staff, "I've never seen anything like this." But that wasn't entirely true; true he'd never seen a dragon before, but the power exuding from Blake seemed familiar, like something from his past. Like something from he once saw during the Great War….
Bai, for her own, knew when she was outmatched. At any rate, she knew Salem had to be alerted as to what was happening. She couldn't dwell on her thoughts, as the dragon sprung at her again. This time, Bai was able to move out of the way, and as she did so, she vanished into thin air. The dragon scanned the area growling, its eyes glowing angrily, but there was no sign of the snake anyway. With that, it turned its attention to Ghira. It purred slightly, as it advanced on the panther, who was now sprawled on his back, breathing weakly. The dragon then faded into black mist, which Blake promptly emerged from.
"No! No! No! No!" she said, as she fell to her knees beside her father, as she took off her coat, and used it to try and apply pressure to her father's wound. She looked up for help, only to see her family and friends are staring at her, like she had… just turned into a dragon.
"Blake…," Kali said softly.
"I'll explain everything later!" Blake shouted, "But Dad…" That didn't really satisfy anyone present, but Kali had to remember that this was still her daughter standing beside her husband. She then hurried over, and was followed shortly by Sienna. It took a moment, but Sun managed to get his tail off the ground, and over there as well, followed by Darwin. Ilia was the last, but she still kept an appropriate distance.
"Ghira," Kali said, as tears started to well in her eyes. Ghira could only groan in pain.
"No, please," Blake whimpered, as she started to cry as well. This couldn't be happening, this wasn't supposed to be happening.
"Please," she said, putting her hand on her father's chest as she cried. That was when she sensed a presence. She glanced up to see Dr. Shade slowly approaching the group, his arms behind his back as they always were. Soon, everyone else's attention was on the doctor as well.
"What's he doing here?" Sienna asked.
"Get out!" Kali shouted.
"Yeah!" Sun shouted, "Where were you when this was all going on?" Shade remained silent, as his attention was entirely focused on his student, who looked him in the eye.
"He can save him!" Blake said, causing everyone to look at her.
"Blake…," Sun said, putting a hand on her shoulder, only to have it shaken off.
"I know you can!" the cat declared, as she stood up, "You've done greater things with less effort!" Shade just looked at her in silence.
"Blake, what're you talking about?" Sienna asked. Blake looked around at her family and friends, before she took a sharp breath in, and looked back at Shade.
"Do you want me to pray?" she asked, "Because I'm praying?" For a time, Shade stared at her, before he took a breath, and shook his head.
"Well," he finally said, "I suppose I can bend my rules slightly if it involves answering a prayer."
"Blake, what's going on?" Sun asked, "What can he…." That was when there was a flash of energy, and in the Faunus place stood a four meter tall giant made of purple energy. The room turned dead silent, save for the sound of Darwin's staff and Ilia's whip hitting the floor. Darkness then held his hand up to Ghira, before he just flicked his wrist slightly. In an instant, Ghira's wound closed up, like it wasn't even ever there, he didnt' even have a scar. He then let out a gasp as he sat up, holding his stomach.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Dad!" Blake said, throwing her arms around her father's neck, as her mother did the same.
"Blake, Kali," he said, "How…" That was when he noticed Darkness looming over them, and he instinctively stood up. When he did, he found he was barely half the god's height.
"What the hell…"
"Everyone," Blake said, as she stood up, and held her hand out, "This… is the God of Darkness. One of the creators of Remnant... and humanity." Those words sat in the air like they weighed a thousand pounds. Everyone there knew about the Two Brothers, at least in passing; it was a human religion, and thus something most of them (or at least Ilia and Sienna) never gave any thought to. But now, one of the Brothers was standing right in front of them.
"I understand that this may indeed by quite overwhelming," Darkness said," But I do give you all credit, you are not screaming by the revelation." Blake would've laughed at that, but couldn't find it in herself to do so now.
"But, the Spirits…," Ghira began. His daughter cringed at that; there it was, the hard question. But there could be no hiding it now.
"The Spirits aren't…" Blake couldn't finish, as Darkness held up his hand.
"No," he said, "The Spirits are indeed real." Blake's eyes went straight to her teacher, as did everyone else's.
"The Spirits are real?" she asked slowly. The faith of the Faunus wasn't false after all?
"They are, but they are not beings to be prayed to," Darkness continued.
"What do you mean?" Sienna said, rising to her feet, "What's going on here?"
"A question for the ages, indeed," Darwin, as he slowly retrieved his staff. Darkness was silent for a time, before he again sighed.
"Oh my children," he said, shaking his head slightly, "There is so much you do not yet know." He then swung his finger out to point to what seemed like nothing, only for a dark vortex to appear in mid air.
"You will now behold the answer to the question that has plagued you for so long," he said.
"You mean...," Blake began.
"Yes." The god then flicked his wrist, as the vortex expanded, to consume everyone present.
"Bear witness, to the true history of the Faunus."
Note: That scene in the very beginning between Yang and Pyrrha may have seemed out of place, but I wanted to include it in this chapter, because if I included it elsewhere, it wouldn't have flowed well with the events in Mistral.
Writing this scene was actually not easy. Aside from the addition of other characters, I knew I had to do the scene between Ilia and Blake, and I also knew I wanted to include Blake's dragon form in it. It may not have had the same impact as the canon scene, but I still hope I did it justice. I considered giving Blake some dragon action against Bai, but figured that it wouldn't have been a real fight, and would've just consisted of Blake attacking, Bai dodging, Blake attacking, Bai dodging, you get the idea.
Sorry for those who were looking forward to see the Albain brothers fight. I'll confess, I'm not overly fond of those characters, and their fighting styles/weapons didn't make for entertaining fight scenes in my opinion. Next chapter will likely be mostly flashback, devoted to exploring the history of the Faunus in this continuity.
Bai's weapons are Yuànhèn and Ráoshù, which essentially translate as "Grudge" and "Forgiveness".
Be sure to review.