Two days had passed and the resident bookworm had yet to return.
Yang stayed in her bed for the most part, leaving only for the bathroom and for whenever she felt hungry — she wanted to be there to greet her partner when she returned.
If she returned.
The thought of going out there to look for her had been on her mind since the night she left, but a part of herself understood that even if she found her, she wouldn't have the right words to say to her anyway.
She wasn't like Ruby who, even though she was the type to dislike speaking more than 5 words a sentence even when necessary, knew what to say more often than not.
And two nights ago, she proved it again.
"Why didn't you?"
Yang mentally scoffed at herself from the memory. She turned on her side to face the wall on her bed with her headphones on, near full blast.
"Yeah, why didn't I?" She whispered in a low frustrated voice.
Three words were all it took to take her down and shut her up, she thought.
She wanted to be angry at Ruby, the person who did nothing, but when her question was returned right back at her, she clammed up.
Because even though she tried, she couldn't do anything at all. When she reached her hand out to grab her partner's hand to stop her, she couldn't. What stopped her was a call from her sister.
And it irked her that Ruby didn't stop her when she could have.
And yet what irked her more was that, even though she was the one that called out to her partner first, she wasn't heeded.
She wanted to be angry at Ruby, but at the end of the day, the person she's truly angry with was her own inadequate self.
Not Ruby.
Not Blake.
Hell, not even Weiss, no matter how much she wanted to smack her upside the head.
Just her own inadequate self.
The sound of a book shutting and being set down a table resounded in the quiet room.
Yang didn't hear it as her headphones kept her isolated from the goings-on in their room while Weiss simply didn't bother reacting when she was focused on her own school work.
Weiss heard the door open and shut, and it was only then when she turned her eyes away from her school work and looked around the room.
"She's out again. She's not looking for that traitor, is she?"
She looked up at Yang's bunk bed and her eyes were met with a mane of gold and a back turned to her.
She closed her eyes and shook her head to dispel her growing frustration and re-focus on her school work once again.
"Whatever, it's not like Ruby ever says anything unless you ask her. And right now, I don't feel like asking anyone anything."
Ruby paced the halls of Beacon with one destination in mind, the airship docking station.
It was mid-morning, half past 9, and most students that had free time were loitering here and there, unlike her own team.
Along the way, she met a friend coincidentally.
"Hey, Ruby."
"Hm." She nodded at him.
"How's Blake? Has she returned yet?"
"Not yet."
"Oh."
There was a short, uncomfortable lull between them, but it was hard to tell as only he was awkwardly scratching his head.
"Are you sure you don't need us to help you look for her?"
"It's okay, Jaune. I'll tell you when I need your help."
He nodded and smiled reassuringly. "I guess that's fine. Just, seriously, let us know how we can help and we'll come running to you guys ASAP."
Ruby nodded. "Thank you." She gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and walked ahead. "Don't forget to study and train. None from me today though."
Jaune felt a little cold feeling creeping up his spine the moment she mentioned training but breathed a sigh of relief when she said that there would be none.
He was about to return to his dorm but he remembered something he had to ask her.
"Hey, Ruby?" He called.
She paused in the middle of the hallway and turned her head towards him. Her eyes were as bored as they always had been since the day they met and it had slowly become a comforting sight.
It's like a sign that never failed to tell him that things will be fine no matter what happened.
"Are you looking for Blake?"
"No." Ruby let out a little sigh through her tiny nose and shook her head before turning away. "She doesn't need to be found."
Her answer confused him, much like always. He wanted to ask her for clarification but she was already out of sight when she turned at the corner.
"Does that mean she knows where Blake is?" Nora asked out of nowhere.
Jaune was a little surprised by the appearance of her bubbly teammate but he quickly collected himself and shrugged. "Knowing Ruby, I don't know."
Nora's mind went buffering for a few seconds as she blinked at Jaune a few times before erupting into laughter. "'Knowing Ruby, I don't know,' is definitely a mood."
Ruby took the 10-minute airship ride to the city and as soon as she landed, she headed straight for the airship dock's public female comfort room.
In there, she removed her dearly beloved cloak, folded it up neatly, and put it inside a sling bag she had with her. She then took out a dark red leather jacket that she wore over her everyday clothes and a pair of fake red-rimmed glasses.
Once done, she turned to the mirror with her hands on the rim of the sink, though her head was hung low as she mindlessly fixed her gaze on the drain. She slouched and took a deep breath before lifting her head and meeting her reflection's gaze.
At first, it was subtle but gradually it showed more prominently.
Her expression slowly morphed from that of her usual boredom to a mixture of hate and disgust. Like a deep vexation that she couldn't help from wearing on her face despite her best efforts to appear as neutral as possible.
Her mouth was closed but her teeth were tightly gnashed in frustration. Her eyes ever so subtly quivered, twitching. Her breathing turned deep and slow, an attempt to regain the composure she was slowly losing with each shaky breath.
Her silver eyes were reflected back at her and she gazed deep into them, lost in her thoughts while other washroom goers came and went past her. Her hands clenched tightly with enough force to leave minor, almost unnoticeable cracks on the marble sink.
After minutes that felt longer than they actually were, she let out an exhausted breath and fixed her look, wearing that expressionless face she always wore much like before.
She took another short moment to steady her breathing and collect herself. She stretched her neck left, right, and around, causing popping noises.
And with a final huff of air through her nose, she left the comfort room.
"I still have things to do."
As she walked forward with a steady gait, she pulled her personal scroll out and sent a quick message to her two remaining teammates before switching to her school-issued mission scroll and checking the last known coordinates of her team.
[R. Ruby:
Aura level - 100%
Last known location - Coordinates: X/Y/Z (Vale City, North Airship Docks)
Last update - 2 seconds ago
S. Weiss:
Aura level - 100%
Last known location - Coordinates: X/Y/Z (Beacon Academy)
Last update - 2 seconds ago
B. Blake:
Aura level - 100%
Last known location - Coordinates: X/Y/Z (Vale City, Townsquare)
Last update - 19:47 VST, Friday, Xth day of Xth month
X.L. Yang:
Aura level - 100%
Last known location - Coordinates: X/Y/Z (Beacon Academy)
Last update - 2 seconds ago]
"Hmm."
She took one final second to look at her mission scroll before pocketing it and checking her personal scroll again.
[Group Chat: Team RWBY
10:08
R: Need you girls here at the City. Partner up and look for Blake.
I'll look for her in the West District.
Ask around in places you know she frequents. Check hotels, inns, and cafes too.
Report any findings immediately.
Meet up before dusk at the Pizza Cafe in the Townsquare.
Y: aight ill be there innabit just gotta freshen up and change into something and probs also breakfast or mayb u can buy something for me when we get there?
W: Very well. We'll be with you as soon as we can.
R: I'll get you a cheeseburger.
Y: make it 2
R: Fine. Weiss, anything you want?
Y: sweet
W: I'm fine, thank you for asking. I already ate something earlier.
R: Ok, let's meet up at the docks first before we split and search for Blake.
Y: *thumbs up*
W: Okay. Take care.
R: You girls too.]
With their quick meeting arranged, Ruby bought the 2 cheeseburgers her sister asked for and waited near the front of the arrivals area.
Some time between 5 and 10 minutes passed until Weiss and Yang finally showed up. When they found Ruby, they were a little surprised that she was wearing something different from what she normally wore — particularly the lack of her signature red cloak.
When Ruby saw them, it was clear to her that the short ride they shared wasn't particularly thrilling. They were never the best of friends but they still got along quite well — Yang would always have something to talk about with Weiss and Weiss always responded to Yang no matter how silly Yang was.
When they appeared out of the arrivals area, the awkward air between them was so palpable to her she could almost see the "greyness" of their mood leaking into the air around them.
"Rubes, when did you change clothes?" Yang raised a curious brow. "Got a date or something?"
"I changed here." Ruby handed the small plastic bag of 2 cheeseburgers and an additional cola and fries. "And no."
"What's with the getup then?" Yang graciously accepted her brunch and quickly took one out to munch on as they talked.
"It's a warm day."
"So you wore a leather jacket over your blouse."
"This covers less than my cloak."
"But that's thicker and you never take your cloak off."
"I do when I bathe."
"You know what I mean." Yang rolled her eyes. "Whatever, it's fine. It looks good on you anyway. Also, are those real?"
"Thanks." Ruby bumped her fake glasses up a bit, readjusting it stylishly. "And no."
Yang shrugged and ate quietly as she had no more questions at the moment. Meanwhile, Ruby took them to a nearby bench where they could all sit down for the moment.
"Do you remember what I called you here for?"
"To search for Blake." Weiss promptly answered.
Yang still had a bit of food in her mouth to speak clearly, so she swallowed it first with the help of her cola and wiped her mouth with her finger. "Is that what you did yesterday?"
Ruby looked between the two of them for a moment before answering. "No."
Surprised, Weiss and Yang couldn't help but look at Ruby in confusion. Weiss intensely scrutinized Ruby's expression, searching for any signs of falsehoods and found nothing, for better or for worse. However, it couldn't be any more obvious that she was hiding something. She's just not lying about it.
"I'll tell you about it later."
"Again with the secrets…" Yang clicked her tongue. "Ruby, if you haven't noticed, I'm not really in the mood for secrets right now. So if you don't wanna tell me, fine, just don't bother letting me know you have a secret in the first-"
"Later."
Yang met Ruby's doll-like look with an annoyed stare of her own before looking to the side, shaking her head disapprovingly, and clicking her tongue. "Sure, fine. Whatever."
Ruby nodded and gave her partner a look. "Any questions?"
"Do you have any leads on Blake?" Yang quickly asked though she'd much rather look around instead of at her team.
"Just that she went to the Townsquare the night she ran. She turned her scroll off at 19:47-"
"What?"
"-7:47 pm-"
"Ah."
"-and her coordinates hadn't updated since."
"Coordinates?" Weiss asked. "Do you mean from the mission scroll the Headmaster gave you?"
"Yes." She pulled it out and showed them their last known coordinates. "So for now, let's split up and look for her. Remember what I told you to do by checking our group chat."
When the both of them had nodded, Ruby put her scroll away again.
"Any questions?"
"Yes." Weiss replied.
Ruby gave her a look that told her to proceed.
"Have you tried calling the police?"
Yang's eyes twitched as she glared back at Weiss. Meanwhile, Ruby shook her head.
"No."
"Why not? I'm sure they could help us look for a missing person. Perhaps they may already have leads about her."
"Weiss, what the fu-"
"The police can't be trusted right now."
Ruby cut Yang off with a surprising remark that got them looking back at her in confusion once again.
"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.
"It's related to what I'll tell you about later." She stood from the bench and dusted off her skirt. "For now, just look for Blake. I'll look for her in some other places."
"How do we even know she's still in Vale? For all we know, she's halfway across to Mistral already." Weiss crossed her arms.
"She left everything at the dorm, the only thing she has on her is whatever she had the day we went out."
"So her scroll and maybe some lien." Weiss shrugged. "She could very easily get on a boat and be a stowaway. She was always stealthy." She narrowed her eyes as she looked away.
"Hey!" Yang grabbed her by the shoulder. "Are you still not done talking shit about everyone?!"
Weiss struggled to get out of Yang's hold. "Let go of me-!"
"Enough."
Yang quickly let go of Weiss's shoulder while they both looked away from meeting Ruby's eyes that seemed more exhausted than angry.
"You have your orders. Follow them." She commanded. "If I see any further insubordination and mindless petty arguments, I'll put you both on toilet cleaning duty for a month."
Weiss and Yang were visibly put off by the punishment should they err. Weiss, particularly, wasn't willing to clean up all the hair build-up at the sink of their shower floor after everyone's done using them for the day. Not to mention she'd never done anything like cleaning in her whole life.
Seeing as the both of them were willing to play nice for the time being, Ruby nodded and walked away.
"Meet up at the Pizza Cafe at the end of the day if you find anything."
"Wait!"
Ruby paused in her steps after a call from her sister. She looked back and tilted her head quizzically.
"What if we find Blake? Where do we meet? Same place? Pizza Cafe? Seems a little weird, don't you think?"
Ruby paused for a moment and nodded, acknowledging the proper question. "Home."
Yang smiled a little at that. Somehow, Ruby considering Blake as family even after everything was a comforting thought that put her heart and mind at ease, even if only slightly.
Weiss, however, didn't share the same sentiment. At that moment, she was feeling more confused, anxious, and betrayed. Her exchange with her questionable teammate had been on her mind ever since no matter how hard she tried to distract herself and forget about it.
"'ALL WE EVER WANTED WAS TO BE TREATED EQUALLY!'"
Somewhere, somehow, a tiny seed of doubt was planted in her mind.
And she was conflicted because a small part of her felt that her relationship with Blake and the rest of her team may be worth doubting everything she was taught for.
A little over half an hour passed after Ruby parted with her team. In addition to her earlier wardrobe change, she also wore a black trilby that went well with her leather jacket.
She was sitting at a table outside by the window of a certain coffee shop. She ordered a single slice of a strawberry shortcake and an espresso to contrast the sweetness of her dessert.
While leisurely enjoying her snack, she was again scrolling through her news feed, looking up related topics about the White Fang and Roman Torchwick in Vale, recent or old.
"So… you wanna know about me."
"Finally, she speaks!"
Ruby heard familiar and distinct voices coming from the balcony above her. So while she scrolled, she strained her ears and listened.
"I'm actually quite impressed that you'd wait this long just to get a word out of me. If I didn't think you were a creepy stalker, I'd praise you for your persistence."
"W-Whoah!"
"I'm sure the police would appreciate an anonymous tip about a certain faunus stowaway."
"L-Let's not do that, please… My team would kill me."
The boy's words drifted off into the wind. He most likely was whispering, she figured.
"Then please explain to me why I shouldn't alert the authorities and the reason for your incessant stalking, Mr. Not-A-Stalker."
"Hey! The name's Sun-"
"So my stalker's name is Sun."
"A-And I am totally not a stalker!"
"Sounds like something a stalker would say. That's not gonna get you any girls if that's what you're aiming for. By the way, it's not flattering. So you can forget about learning anything about me."
"Then why are you letting me sit with you here?"
He sounded quite sure of himself with that line, Ruby thought. A real smooth-talker. But knowing what she knew of Blake…
"To let you know that I have your name, your photo-"
"Wha-?!"
"-and that I have the VPD on speed dial."
"F-Fair."
As she quietly ate and scrolled and eavesdropped, time passed slowly. From around 11 am to half past noon, she silently listened. And from what she got, Blake was planning a stakeout by the docks while Sun forcibly tagged along.
Her drink and cake was long finished and she'd already gone through at least 6 months' worth of articles about Roman Torchwick and the White Fang in Vale.
Adding to that the intel she gathered from eavesdropping in Sun and Blake's conversation, she'd already pretty much confirmed when and where they should all be reconvening.
They really should mind where they talk about sensitive topics, she felt. So before Blake and Sun could leave, she stood and left first.
"By the way, do your friends even know about what you're about to do?" Ruby heard the boy ask as she was about to leave.
There was a moment of silence between them — Ruby guessed that Blake wasn't comfortable being asked about it.
A minute or so after Ruby left the coffee shop, Blake and Sun smelled a very faint fragrance of roses wafting and weaving into the mixed scent of coffee and sweets. So Blake looked around discreetly, though her heart was already pounding.
Her eyes followed where her nose took her and it led her to a little table for two where the scent was strongest. And on the windowsill beside it was a small potted rosebush — deeply red in color, reminiscent of a certain cloaked girl.
"Thank goodness… I thought she was here. She can't be, right? I'm just being paranoid. There's no way. I need to focus on the White Fang right now."
"Thanks anyways!"
Yang and Weiss shut the door behind them as they exited the fifth bookstore they found. After the third, it didn't matter whether Blake frequented the place or not. To them, the sooner they find Blake, the better.
Yang sighed, scratching the back of her head in frustration. She looked back at her current partner, Weiss Schnee, who had been silently following behind Yang since Ruby left them on their own.
Well, at least she wanted to find Blake sooner.
"You really don't care whether we find her or not, do you?" She asked without looking back at her irritating white-haired teammate. Her eyes were too busy scanning the area for any possible "Blake attractions" after all.
"Don't be stupid, of course, I do." Weiss scoffed.
Yang scoffed in turn. "Sure fooled me."
"Hmph." Weiss crossed her arms and walked ahead of Yang, her heels loudly stomping at the pavement, indicating her frustration. "Unlike you, I actually have a brain."
"Where's your heart though?" Yang quickly quipped back.
Weiss abruptly halted her steps to look back at Yang with a glare only for the blonde to return it just as fiercely. They held their stare-off for a moment until eventually, both of them tired of seeing each other's face.
"Think, you blonde bimbo." Weiss tapped her own head in annoyance. "If Blake's so innocent, why in the world would she run in the first place?"
Yang groaned and rolled her eyes. "Maybe because you're not willing to listen."
"Excu-"
"MAYBE because you're SO convinced that whatever she says will never change your mind."
"..."
"Or maybe, just MAYBE, you're a bit of an entitled selfish bitch."
Weiss glared at the ground with gritted teeth. "That's uncalled for."
Yang scoffed. "Is it though?"
Weiss sent her glare back at the unamused Yang. "Perhaps I am, but you're no better."
"Maybe." Yang shrugged. "But I'm not the one that drove a damn wedge between the team because I couldn't keep my mouth shut about my hateboner for White Fang."
Weiss couldn't help but grind her teeth at the low blow, but since she had a relatively cooler head compared the night of her argument, she simply stomped away instead of picking the fight.
But not long after a few steps, she stopped when Yang called out to her.
"Wait!"
She stopped but didn't deign to turn around nor grace Yang with a verbal response.
"I'm sorry."
Surprised, she couldn't help but take a look at Yang — she wanted to make sure that she wasn't being made a fool of after all. It's quite easy to apologize with words if you don't mean them. And to her surprise, Yang's apology seemed genuine enough.
Yang was looking to the side and scratching the back of her head while wearing a pout. "I said too much. You're not a bitch."
Weiss disbelievingly raised an eyebrow at Yang and it caused the taller girl to stammer a little.
"Okay, so maybe you're still a little bit of a bitch, but definitely not as big of a bitch as I made you out to be."
Weiss scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She turned to walk ahead once more but was once again stopped.
"Hold up, wait."
She sighed in exhaustion, slumping her shoulders a bit before facing Yang. "What is it?" She asked tiredly.
"That's not all I was trying to say." Yang chose her words a bit more carefully. "I'm just a little frustrated that I couldn't do anything to keep Blake from going so I took it out on you. So, yeah, I'm a bitch too, like you said."
"..."
"I think of you as a good person, Weiss, even if you don't show it a lot with your words. I can tell that you put a lot of thought into everything you do before doing it and, most of the time, I can see that whatever it is that you're doing is for the betterment of the team."
"..."
"So I was really surprised that you had this side of you that seemed so… I dunno, hateful? Like, how can someone that caring hate someone that much, you know? But then you told us about your past a bit and, yeah, it made sense. Not that I generally agree with hating the faunus but it makes sense that you'd think and feel that way. Even I don't think I could stay unbiased if I had to experience what you went through too, y'know?"
"..."
"So… I guess what I'm trying to say is… if I look past that hateful side of you, I can still see that awkwardly caring person that does her best for the team. And I'm hoping you do the same for Blake too."
"..."
"So… yeah… sorry."
A moment of silence awkwardly passed between them as Yang patiently waited for Weiss to react to her whole speech while the girl herself stirred in her thoughts.
"Right, anyway." Yang perked up with a clap. "Let's go find Blake?" She asked with a forced smile.
Weiss easily saw through the fakeness of the smile, but unlike the ones she was used to seeing, it appeared more genuine in its attempt to be real. So she quietly nodded and followed alongside Yang as they resumed their search for their runaway teammate.
Hours passed since she left the coffee shop. She was walking down the street when she met a familiar head of orange bob cut hair. As she approached the girl from behind, she quickly turned and smiled.
"Hello, Friend Ruby! You look quite nice today."
"Thank you, Penny." Ruby nodded graciously.
"What are you doing here today? It looks like you don't have your team with you."
"I'm looking for Blake."
"The faunus girl?"
"Yes."
"Oh, why is that?"
Ruby walked ahead with a beckoning tilt of her head, gesturing for Penny to walk alongside her.
"She and Weiss had an argument."
Penny gasped. "Oh, dear. Was it a bad argument?"
"Insults were thrown, slaps were given, and Blake ran away."
"Does that mean it was really bad?"
"Yes."
"Oh, no." She looked back at Ruby in concern. "Are they okay?"
"Physically, they're okay."
"But what about mentally and emotionally?"
"They're probably in turmoil."
"But why?"
"They have conflicting ideologies."
"Oh."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Do you have conflicting ideologies with them too?"
"Yes."
"But how come you're still friends with them if that's the case?"
"It's a matter of compromise and convenience."
"Hmm…" Penny appeared quite perplexed. "I don't understand, does that mean that you and your friends don't truly understand each other?"
"Yes."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Isn't that lonely?"
Ruby sent Penny a short look. "It is."
"But you look okay?"
"You get used to it."
"That sounds quite sad…" She cast her eyes on the pavement. "...sad and lonely."
"Yes."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Penny looked up and sent Ruby a hopeful gaze. "But you're still friends, right?"
"Yes."
She smiled albeit a little hesitantly. "And that's all that matters?"
"Yes."
"Hehe, that's good."
"Hm."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"What about Blake and Weiss? Are they still friends?"
"That's what they need to confirm for themselves."
"Oh."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"But as their friend, what do you think?"
"They'll be fine."
Penny's eyes widened in curiosity. "Really? How can you tell?"
"Because they don't truly hate each other. And that's what matters too."
"Oh!" Penny smiled wide. "I hope they get to talk to each other soon then! It must be hard not being understood by your friend."
"Hm. It is."
Night came and at the docks, a cat and a monkey stalked among the roofs.
"Anything happen yet?"
"None. They've offloaded a bunch of crates but that's about it."
"Cool. I stole you some fruit." Sun asked with a bright smile on his face as he hands the stolen green apple to his partner in crime.
Blake shot him a narrowed look. "Do you always break the law without a second thought?"
"Uh…" Sun looked away when he had nothing to say in return.
Suddenly, the air pushed down on them harshly and cacophonous turbines blared above them. They looked up and found a pair of airships slowly descending in the middle of all the crates.
When the hatch opened and the first person came out, Blake couldn't help but despair at the sight of the infamous red claws symbolizing the White Fang.
Blake shook her head in disappointment and all she could do after was sigh.
"That's them, huh?" Sun asked after taking a look at Blake. "You really thought they wouldn't be the ones doing all the robbing, huh?"
"No… well, I guess deep inside, I already knew it was them. I guess I was just being blindly optimistic."
Blake shut her eyes when memories of a time she deeply regretted a lot of the things she'd done resurfaced in her mind. But she couldn't keep herself from reacting wide-eyed at the voice that commanded her old comrades derogatorily.
"Hey!" Yelled a man in white, wearing a bowler hat, and strutting with a cane that he twirled. "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"
Blake shook her head in disbelief. "This isn't right."
"Hm?"
She abruptly stood while drawing her sword. "The White Fang would never work with a human — especially someone like that." And she jumped from the roof and landed quietly on her feet behind the crates.
"Hey, wait! What are you doing?!" Sun whisper-yelled.
He immediately laid flat on his belly when he saw a few heads turn in his direction, then quietly crawled away in search of Blake.
Blake, meanwhile, dashed from crate to crate, using the shadows, hiding amongst them in a bid to get closer towards the human that dared to order her old comrades like some sort of slavemaster.
"No, you idiot! This isn't a leash!" Roman chided, with barely hidden disdain, his faunus subordinate.
Her anger burned within her, welling to the point that it pushed her to motion.
She snuck behind Roman in a flash and held her blade to his throat while holding one of his arms.
"What the-? Oh, for f-"
"Nobody move!"
Immediately, half a dozen White Fang members closed in on them with guns pointed and ready while some drew their swords, poised to strike at any time.
"Now, now, little lady."
Blake eyed each person that closed in on them before removing her bow and revealing her faunus heritage for them to see. Effectively, all of them halted their advances, though their weapons were still up.
"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang, why do you aid this scum?"
They became hesitant, some even lowered their weapons. But the person with a blade held to his neck didn't seem to mind the situation much at all.
"Didn't you get the memo?"
She pressed the blade deeper into his neck. "Speak."
"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together." He grinned.
She tilted her blade to just underneath his jaw. "Tell me what it is or it ends now."
The cacophonous turbines resounded in the air above them once more, accompanied by harsh winds that blew down on them.
"Oh, kitty cat… Good luck trying to end our little venture."
As they both looked up, one of the faunus finally recognized her.
"She's Blake Belladonna!"
And the others did so as well when the detestable name was uttered.
"I remember you now! You're the bitch that betrayed the Captain!"
Everyone that hesitated before no longer had any doubts in their minds as they all pointed their weapons at her, eager to get the first strike.
Atop one of the crates, Sun overheard the yelling through strained ears.
"Wait, what? Blake's with the White Fang?! No, was with the White Fang?! Crap, this isn't the time for this! I gotta help her!"
Blake hesitated a bit, moving a step back while dragging Roman with her.
"Ohoho! So you're the little kitty cat that was Adam's protege!"
"What?"
With that final bit of distraction, Roman triggered a powerful explosion at her feet that summoned clouds of dust reaching high into the sky.
The towering cloud of smoke that blotted out the shattered moon's light was seen from everywhere around Portside Vale.
Gasps echoed as civilians looked up at the sky and saw the ominous cloud.
From the Western district, Yang and Weiss heard the explosion even from within a nondescript inn. They rushed out to see the smoke rising, and one look at each other confirmed that they had to go towards it.
At the Eastern district, Penny identified the explosion immediately and quickly calculated its coordinates based on the sound of the explosion.
Ruby, meanwhile, simply walked towards it appearing as though she'd yet to acknowledge its existence.
"Penny?"
"Yes, Friend Ruby?"
Ruby took out her scroll and went through her contacts. "Can I ask you to go there as fast as you can and help out?" She quickly pressed her scroll to her ear and waited for the other end to connect.
"Of course!" She saluted. "I'm combat ready!"
Penny took a runner's starting sprint and kicked the ground as strong as she could, leaving small cracks on the pavement as she leapt dozens of meters forward and up.
[Ruby? What's up? Did you find Blake?]
"Found Blake. Portside Vale, Dust Warehouse. Look for a large Schnee freighter. Take arms, need backup. White Fang and Roman Torchwick."
[Wait, what? That's a lot to take in. Seriously?]
"Yes."
[...]
"..."
[...we'll be there in 30.]
"15."
She quickly disconnected before the other end could respond. She then went through her contacts another time but instead of making a call, she simply sent a message
[I have a report on the situation concerning the recent robberies in Vale. Please check the images I sent below.]
After sending the message, she briefly looked up in thought, and pulled up her contacts again to make another call.
[Sis?]
"Do you see it?"
[See what?]
"The explosion."
[Yeah, I'm heading towards it with Weiss. What's that about?]
"Torchwick, White Fang."
[Wha- really?]
"Yes."
[Do you think Blake is there?]
"Yes."
[Ok, we're rushing now. Are you heading there too?]
"Take a cab. No, you won't see me there but I'll provide support."
[Ah… the usual?]
"Yes."
[Ok. Be careful.]
"You too."
With her intel gathering and sharing done, she disconnected and pocketed her scroll. After one final step towards the explosion, she disappeared in a burst of rose petals.
Dazed and heavily disoriented, Blake found herself lying on the ground with her head spinning and ringing. Her ears strained to hear anything and her eyes could see nothing but a muted white. But she felt the concrete on her hand and forearm, so she pushed herself up to stand.
Roman, however, took this opportunity to finish Blake off with another explosive shot that obliterated her in a cloud of smoke.
Except, Sun stood in his way and successfully swatted the projectile away with a powerful swing of his staff while simultaneously kicking a banana peel at his face.
"Leave her alone." Sun glared.
Roman threw the banana peel away in disdain but when he saw the lone monkey faunus standing valiantly to protect the distressed damsel, he couldn't help but grin snidely at the sight.
"You're not the brightest banana in the bunch, are you kid?"
Sun saw a bunch of White Fang grunts surrounding them from all sides. One of them rushed him without hesitation with a downward swing of his sword.
He quickly countered the swing by entering the offender's space, making it nearly impossible for the sword wielder to slash him with his blade.
He took this moment of hesitation as a chance to quickly strike with an uppercut to the sword wielder's chin and a powerful swipe of his staff to the sword wielder's underarm, greatly disorienting him, before finishing him off with a devastating downward smash with his staff.
From there, another grunt charged in, taking the chance to attack from behind, only to be struck away with a powerful high back kick.
And the rest followed suit.
Weapons clashed and blows were traded, but ultimately, barely trained recruits with subpar guns and swords forced on them upon initiation never stood a chance against a huntsman trainee.
As Sun defended Blake from the onslaught of White Fang grunts, Blake slowly regained her bearings enough for her to stand on her feet and assess the situation.
With all the grunts down, Roman shook his head disappointedly before taking a potshot at the back of Sun. But Sun was quick to react, he twirled his staff to block Roman's attack with ease.
And quickly from Roman's blindspot, Blake swooped in with a downward slash to Roman's head, only for it to be dodged by a quick and easy back step.
Blake didn't relent, however, as she followed up with an onslaught of slashes from all angles, sometimes leaving shadows of herself to take the blow for her whenever Roman managed to get a counter or two in. She took these moments to attack, but ultimately, Roman was the more skilled fighter as he could very quickly and easily respond to such surprise attacks from Blake.
When Blake summoned another shadow to take the blow for her and disorient Roman, she dashed low to his left and crouched behind him to spring up powerfully with an upward slash.
But Roman, once again, easily turned on his heel to dodge such a wide slash while managing to hook Blake's left forearm with his cane. He pulled on her quickly before she could even react and kneed her in the stomach before letting her go and smacking her on the head and her back multiple times and finally swinging at her face, sending her up and away to roll on the ground half-dazed.
Sun quickly chimed in with a flying kick, but Roman quickly blocked it with the shaft of his cane. Unperturbed, Sun collapsed his staff into nunchuck form and barraged Roman with a series of quick and heavy strikes.
Roman managed to defend through most of the attacks while dodging the ones that came close. Even when Sun started firing away with the lever-action shotgun part of his nunchucks, it still wasn't enough to faze him.
He'd simply fought too many and lived through too much to even think about worrying over a teenager's overloaded weapon.
Still, even with all his skill, grace, and experience, huntsman trainees are still "huntsmen" technically.
So when Blake rose and dashed back into the fray and began coordinating together with Sun, even he would have trouble.
Blake dashed to Roman's right and slashed his unguarded flank diagonally when he managed to defend himself from all of Sun's attacks.
He fell back on the concrete with a grunt. But when he looked up, he found a metal crate suspended in the air by a metal crane that was situated just above the two upstarts.
So he quickly got back on his feet with a kip-up and took no time to shoot at it, destroying the cables and sending the huge metal crate crashing onto Blake and Sun.
The both of them quickly rolled away from the crashing metal crate, but it stood between them, separating them, and it was just as Roman needed.
Roman proudly stood in front of Sun who was still on the ground after rolling and pointed the tip of his cane on him.
"I'm usually above animal abuse buuuut I guess I can make tonight an exception."
He was about to pull the trigger when, out of nowhere, a shot was fired at his forearm, nearly blowing through his Aura and into his skin. It carried enough force with it that he had inadvertently let go of his cane. Sun then took the chance to scurry away and retreat to Blake's side.
"GAH!"
When Roman tried to look for the shooter while holding his arm in pain, he found a single girl atop one of the warehouses. She had orange bob cut hair, and she had what appeared to be a number of floating swords around her.
It was possible that it was that girl that shot him, but he couldn't see whether she also had an overloaded weapon that transformed into a gun. So it confused him greatly when he couldn't find the shooter.
"I see you."
From around 600 meters away, atop a 20-storey building that gave her the perfect vantage point of the docks, Ruby extracts the cartridge she'd just fired as a warning shot and chambered a new one while never taking her eyes off the scope.
It was no wonder Roman couldn't hear the sound of the gun that disarmed him.
She adjusted her aim a little higher and Crescent Rose's crosshairs found its perfect mark right on his dandy little bowler hat. She watched him panic for a bit, looking everywhere around him in search of her.
Afterwards, with the help of a ballistics computer that she installed on her personal scroll, she adjusted her aim again after calculating the distance, velocity, and air resistance for the perfect headshot.
She could easily do without the ballistics computer, but if there was something available to her that could make her life easier, there was no reason for her to not use it.
She pressed a finger to her ear and spoke, "Penny, are you ready?"
[Combat ready!]
"Perfect. You're my eyes and ears on the ground. Just stick to Roman. Can you stop any airships they have?"
[Do you want me to destroy them?]
"Can you?"
[It would require a bit of effort but, yes, I can.]
"Then do whatever you think is best, just make sure none of their airships leave."
[Orders received! Engaging target Roman Torchwick in combat!]
Ruby pulled the trigger. The recoil was felt by her shoulder, but it was nothing she wasn't used to. Less than a second later, she confirmed a direct hit on Roman Torchwick's bowler hat. The shot pierced through very easily and left a small hole in the ground where it stopped.
She extracted the cartridge and chambered another one again. "I'll provide support."
Roman, through sheer skill, dodged the second bullet by a literal hair's breadth. A bit of his hair fell off but the most humiliating part was that someone he couldn't see had the gall to aim for his hat.
He loved his hat!
There was also the matter of his cane being out of reach and further out in the open.
So he ducked and rolled behind a crate. But he didn't get much of a reprieve as four swords pierced through it, cutting open a square for the little girl from before to suddenly burst through with a flying kick.
He was forced out into the open again, and it didn't even take him a full second before he got shot on the shoulder — only that time, he barely dodged it as he was grazed by it.
Still, he was beginning to learn the direction of the sniper. All he had to do was make that person shoot once or twice more before he could pinpoint their location.
So after taking the shot, he rolled and scrambled behind another metal crate. But the floating sword girl was easily on his tail.
It was then that Roman Torchwick realized that he was playing the shittiest game of cat and mouse he'd ever experienced in his life.
As he ran for his life, he found great cover behind one of the warehouses where he was certain the sniper's view was blocked. So he only had to wait for about a second before the sword girl to appear and engage her in combat.
It was troublesome to deal with 10 floating swords all at once, as he couldn't successfully dodge and block all blows, but it was fine. All he had to do was buy time for his retreat, another airship should be on its way.
Much to his dismay and surprise, he felt another painful bullet hitting him on the back of his left shoulder, causing him to trip forward and meet the knee of the sword girl.
He fell back and rolled away a few meters, completely boggled out of his mind how in the world he was still shot. The only thing he could think of at the time was that either there was another sniper or the sniper switched locations very quickly.
And in a world where one can find all sorts of semblances, it's not unlikely for someone with a super high mobility semblance to exist.
"These kids just keep getting weirder and weirder!" He grunted as he stood back up.
[Direct hit, Friend Ruby!]
"Hm. Nope."
[Really?]
"Hm."
Contrary to his conjectures though, Ruby hadn't made the slightest move to relocate at all. The only thing she really moved was her aim. It was difficult to shoot with a wall between her and her target, but with Penny as her eyes and ears, making the bullet ricochet off the surroundings and landing a direct hit was possible.
She intended for a headshot, but alas, her target was quite focused on evasion.
"Airship at your 8."
She peered through her scope to scan the area again. When she found blinding beams of green light shooting up into the sky, slicing through the airship, she scanned the surroundings. Most of the civilians had been evacuated, to which she mentally nodded in approval.
A familiar pair of blonde and white came out of a cab by the docks. A small bullhead arrived as well, dropping altitude to just above rooftops to drop four other familiar faces.
"Friendlies incoming."
[Is it your team?]
"Yes, and another team from Beacon too."
[Okay!]
And in the distance, the police were also on their way.
[Friend Ruby, Roman Torchwick escaped when I took my eyes off of him, I'm sorry!]
"It's fine. Focus on rounding up the remaining White Fang members and preventing the airships from leaving if you can."
[Copy that!]
She collapsed Crescent Rose and stood at the edge of the building. Her signature red cloak billowed in the wind. With her gear packed, she took a step forward and let herself fall.
During her freefall, she gathered Aura into her legs, summoning rose petals around her, and kicked the red brick wall as hard as she could, leaving a bit of cracks on it.
She propelled forward, reaching the top of another building, landing safely with a roll only to get back up into a sprint to jump from rooftop to rooftop.
Sun threw a White Fang grunt into the middle of an empty warehouse, all tied up, with the rest that they managed to capture. Surprisingly, almost none of them tried to escape on their own. He respected their camaraderie at least.
Blake was taking a breather by the wall, her back against it. She slid down and sat cross-legged as she took a moment to catch her breath.
"Traitor." One of them spat in pure indignation.
Blake looked at him, a goat faunus based on the horns. She spent a moment just staring at him, at all of them looking back at her hatefully until she sighed and looked away.
In the distance, sirens blared.
"Looks like the police are here." Sun commented as he peeked out the window.
Blake let out another sigh, one that let out all the tension in her body, hanging her head low in exhaustion for a brief moment.
She stood, and not long after she left the building to report the captured White Fang agents, she found Yang, Weiss, and half of Team JNPR, weapons drawn while coming out from another warehouse.
"That's probably all of them, right?" Yang asked while ejecting shells out of Ember Celica.
"Probably," Weiss replied while checking the chamber on Myrtenaster. "Still, we didn't find Blake."
"Nora and I are going to look around some more and meet up with Jaune and Pyrrha." Ren suggested, earning Nora's dutiful nod.
"Okay, thanks." Yang sighed. "Be careful." She watched as the two walked off before looking down on the concrete. "No sign of Ruby either. But I guess that's fine, she said she'd provide support." She sighed again, shaking her head while looking up and ahead. "Maybe we just mi-"
Yang paused as soon as she met a familiar head of black hair and amber-colored eyes looking back at her in hesitation. When Yang paused in her steps and words, she looked back at her confusedly, but she eventually found the reason for the blonde's confusion standing in front of her.
They both stood silently, unable to utter a word to each other after finally meeting.
When Blake finally noticed Weiss staring at her with a neutral expression, she felt her heart race a mile a minute while a pit grew in her stomach.
Meanwhile, Sun was just standing in the back trying to make himself as unnoticeable as possible because of the tension.
Blake took a hesitant step forward. "Weiss, I-"
"Before you speak-" Weiss quickly interrupted with a raised hand.
Blake quickly pressed her mouth in a thin line and blinked several times at Weiss.
Weiss took a breath, sheathed her sword, and straightened out her clothes. "Before you speak, I want to say something to you first. If you'll let me."
Blake quietly observed Weiss. Her tone, her posture, her expression, her body language — all of it told her that it would be different, despite the nagging at the back of her head and the loud drumming of her heart.
"Of course," She answered after swallowing a small lump in her throat.
Weiss took another breath and spoke in a low whisper that only Blake could hear. "Thank you…" She cleared her throat and righted her posture. "I'm sorry."
Blake's eyes widened. She was beginning to fancy the idea that little miss Schnee might have a change of heart after a quick look at the way she was acting earlier, but she really, truly, very honestly did not expect it to happen.
Weiss continued in Blake's speechlessness. "I still haven't forgiven the White Fang, and if I'm being honest, I probably never will."
Blake felt grounded when her next words came out, so it sombered her down enough that she wasn't hearing the near-deafening beating of her heart in her ears anymore.
"But in the days you were gone, I've had some time to think. In the past half day that Yang and I spent looking for you, she said something to me that helped me reconsider… my… well, my views... a-at least with you."
Touched, Blake sent a look towards her partner, and there she was smiling shyly while scratching the back of her head and looking away, only to look back at her again with a bright and proud smile on her face.
Blake slowly nodded as she observed Weiss again. She found that, underneath the dignified front, Weiss appeared to be nervous, much like her if not even more so.
"S-So, I'm sorry." Weiss ended.
There was a moment of lull between them with Weiss waiting for Blake's response and Blake carefully considering her words as she stirred in her thoughts.
"What exactly are you apologizing for?" Blake asked.
It was a question asked without a hint of negativity to it, only that it carried genuine curiosity in her voice that Weiss thankfully caught. The doubt in her mind wouldn't let her fully accept the turn of events no matter how much she wished for it.
"I… well… I was hurt."
"..."
"The mention of the White Fang… reminded me of some memories I sorely wish I didn't have."
"..."
"So I took it out on you when I failed to understand your point of view. I didn't want to understand your point of view. And, truthfully, even now, I fail to do so."
"..."
"But I now realize that my… um… p-personal baggage is no excuse to treat you the way I did."
"..."
"S-So, again, I'm sorry." Weiss blinked repeatedly as she averted her eyes to anywhere but Blake, desperately holding in the tears that threatened to spill. "I understand that… t-that things may never be the same between us. B-But I hope that in time, w-we'll become friends agai- eep!"
Weiss's words abruptly halted when she felt arms wrapping around her in a tight hug.
"I'm sorry too!"
Weiss was so baffled that she hadn't even realized her tears had stopped already. All she could do was let Blake hold her.
"I-I was being overly defensive, sensitive, and confrontational. I was also very prejudiced against you just because of the name you carried, especially back when we first met. But after spending months together with you, and Yang, and Ruby in a single team I-..." Sniffle. "I-I thought that maybe things wouldn't be so bad. A-And, so, I-"
Blake couldn't find the words to continue as she quietly cried with her face buried in Weiss's shoulder. Weiss couldn't help but let her tears fall too as she reciprocated the warm hug.
Yang watched silently, smiling softly over her two teammates finally making up, wiping the single tear that raced down her cheek.
Sun nodded at the scene, silently giving his approval at what he could only describe as an "all's well that ends well" moment.
But despite the touching moment, Yang had to step in with a hand on both Weiss's and Blake's shoulder.
"I hate to interrupt but…" Yang didn't finish her sentence, only that she looked ahead of them, prompting both to follow her eyes.
"Sgt. Grayford." A man wearing a uniform and a badge introduced himself with a nod.
Reminded that they were in the middle of a crime scene, Weiss and Blake wiped their tears.
Yang looked around, searching from corner to corner. Anxious eyes scanned everything.
"Where's Ruby?"
In a car parked near the scene of the crime, Penny sat in the backseat with her head hung low.
"You shouldn't be going around in a strange city all by yourself, Penny." The man at the driver seat said.
She looked upon the tips of her shoes, averting her gaze from anything else.
"I know, sir."
The man sighed and started the car. "Your time will come."
[Where's Ruby?]
Ozpin minimized his surveillance feed of the docks through his scroll upon receiving a message from one of his most trusted aides.
The message read as:
[QROW: Queen has pawns.]
With a sigh, he let his hand fall to his side. He looked out his window in silent contemplation. In his mullings, he remembered the unexpected message he received.
[I have a report on the situation concerning the recent robberies in Vale. Please check the images I sent below.]
The first photo revealed a tall male with distinct animal ears (fox) at the top of his head. He wore a mask and the back of his uniform showed the mark of the White Fang.
He was in contact with another tall male with distinct animal ears (cat), but unlike the former, he wore a blue uniform and a badge.
The following photos were more similarly dressed people in different locations found near the docks like the port, the warehouse, and even on some cargo ships.
The last photo revealed a shot taken from a high place peeking down on a dimly lit warehouse with all the same people present but with the addition of a man in a white coat, a cane, and a bowler hat.
AN: Hello again!
I disappeared again for quite some time, huh?
I'm not gonna apologize though. I do this a lot when writing. What I will do is explain why so you guys aren't completely in the dark.
So… first of all, Hololive. If you've been reading all of my ANs up to this point, then you already know what I mean.
Secondly, I've been dissatisfied with this chapter for so long. Most of the time, I take days off from writing it because I just sit and stare at it for hours, not knowing what to actually do with it. I even had to revise this chapter at least 3 times after thinking up dozens of different endings.
I just couldn't find myself satisfied with how to properly end V1. Oftentimes, I'll finish the chapter, read it, then think "something's missing/off" or "wow this is ass" then do it again.
I wanted to end it (the first volume) in a way that finally differentiates it from the main story other than the whole "Ruby is emotionless" trope. After all, there's a reason I named this Frozen Rosen Maiden.
With this, I'm still not sure whether it's the best ending I could think of, but I like this a lot more than the previous ideas I had.
Thank you very much for reading Frozen Rosen Maiden! I appreciate all of you who took the time to read it, all of you who took the time to comment on it, and especially all of you who took the time to critique it.
This isn't the end of the story, but I may or may not be taking a longer break from writing it because I want to go back to my other story, "Lost Star".
I said "may or may not" because if you've checked my profile, I've mentioned that I tend to upload sporadically.
Thanks again! I'll see you when I see you!
Extra:
At a warehouse district northeast of Vale, the only light that could be found was the shattered moon's, piercing through the hole on the rusted roof.
On the concrete floor, blood flowed.
In the middle, a girl, draped in red, alighted by the moon, sat in despair.
She cried in silence, the moonlit girl did. For even if she wailed, no one would hear her.
She was injured.
Her red cloak was torn and her black dress was too.
She was cut and bruised all over.
And a sword ran through her body, piercing her in the stomach.
Tears flowed from tightly shut eyes, washing away the droplets of blood that stained her rosen cheeks. She bit her lower lip so harshly that she drew blood. Her body shook from grief.
There was a man, lying on his back, arms and legs splayed on the floor.
He was tall with hair bearing the color of flames.
His white coat was torn and stained with blood. And in his chest, a large crescent blade pierced through, pinning him to the concrete underneath.
His face was contorted in anguish, sign of a painful death.
Roman Torchwick had finally met his end.
She loomed over this man, hanging her head low while tightly clenching her fists in a ball.
Overwhelmed by sorrow, her breath hitched repeatedly despite her attempts to collect herself.
For a time, nothing but her harshly suppressed weeping and whimpering could be heard inside the warehouse.
But eventually, the sound of footsteps came — closer and closer — until the metal door was opened, letting in a little bit of the light of the lamps outside into the dimly lit room.
The person that stepped in was a woman in a fiery red dress and she was accompanied by two others who followed dutifully behind her.
The meager light in the room wasn't enough to illuminate everything, so she summoned a ball of fire at the top of her right palm.
And with the light she summoned, she saw bodies that were laid to waste with weapons strewn all over.
On the floor.
Among the destroyed crates.
Against the walls and pillars.
Pitiful lives thrown away for a cause that took more than it gave, and all of the blood they shed dyed the concrete floor red.
In the middle was a bloodied sword stabbed into the concrete next to the man who was formerly known as Roman Torchwick and the lingering scent of rose petals mixed with the stench of blood.
"What the hell happened…?"