A/N:
Hi friends!
Welcome back to RWBY: The Selection. I hope you enjoyed the past two fluffy, date-worthy chapters. Now get ready for some ANGST :). But seriously, why does Watts hate Ruby? ;) and who WILL Jaune pick for the next date? It's sure to be someone good. After all, he's not stupid, right?
Once again, please review with any thoughts/comments/questions/concerns/anything else that strikes your fancy!
Enjoy!
Chapter 38: Blake
"He is the biggest idiot I have ever met," Ilia complained as soon as Blake let her in. Blake smirked. It was good to know that Ilia hadn't lost any of her aggressive nature since she'd been relocated in the White Fang.
"What happened?" Blake asked, closing the door behind her friend after giving the hallway a quick, cursory glance to make sure no one was eavesdropping.
"First off, the whole idea of the date was insulting. Mini-golf?" Ilia threw her hands into the air. "Who is so privileged that they have the time and resources to make a mini-golf course? You know what makes the neon plastic dragons and bright pink palm trees glow in the dark? Dust," Ilia snapped. "Our people are working and dying in slavery so that humans can power their mini-golf courses."
Blake cringed. "Disgusting…"
"I know…" Ilia groaned. She fell back on Blake's bed and Blake fell beside her, so that their bodies lay opposite of each other with their heads side-to-side. "He talked to us all one-on-one, too. He told me that he was shocked I wasn't a Faunus, being an Eight,"
Blake groaned. As a chameleon Faunus, Ilia could change colors at will. She looked human now, but if she lost her temper, or started crying, or wanted to blend into the natural environment on a reconnaissance mission, she could change her physical appearance in a heartbeat. Growing up, Ilia's parents had illegally enrolled her in an uppity, Atlas prep school, where she'd been forced to keep her Faunus trait hidden, until her parents died in a dust mine explosion, and she'd changed colors out of angst. Insinuating that Ilia wasn't a Faunus was, to her, just as bad as any other anti-Faunus slur. Ilia was proud of being a Faunus, it was a part of who she was, and Blake could tell that it was hard for her to keep up the human charade.
"He wanted to know all about the things that made my life hard… trying to get personal on the first date," Ilia scoffed, "if I were you, I'd call in sick when it's your name on that date card,"
"I'm seriously considering it," Blake admitted.
"How was your night?"
Blake shrugged "It was good, I hung out with some of the other girls that didn't get a date card and watched some movies. Velvet's really nice, so is Ciel, we talked about books, and Yang…" Blake tried to hide the heat that spread to her cheeks. Yang had told so many cheesy puns throughout their movie night. Every time she told a particularly bad one, Blake had thrown some popcorn at her, and Ruby had shouted for them to stop being so distracting. They had spent the rest of the night snickering, Yang sprawled out on the couch and Blake dropping pieces of popcorn into her mouth as they watched what had to be the cringiest romantic comedy ever created. "Yang's fun,"
"Yang's reckless," Ilia pointed out. "Have you seen the way she fights?"
"Yeah," Blake laughed, "but she's like… the cool kind of reckless, you know?"
Ilia raised an eyebrow, and they sat in silence for a second, before she asked, "have you talked to Adam tonight?"
Blake bit her lip. "No, I… kind of told him I had a date," Ilia turned to look at her. "Can you back me up on that, if he asks?"
"Sure." The silence welled up between them again. "Can I ask you something?"
Blake nodded.
"Why are you still with him?" Ilia asked softly.
Blake bit her lip. Why was she still with him? Because she loved him? Because he'd always been there for her? Because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't leave him? Because he would never let her leave him?
"It's complicated," Blake replied. "He's… complicated."
Ilia sighed. It wasn't a satisfying answer, Blake knew, but at the moment, it was the only answer she could give. "As long as you're happy," Ilia conceded.
Blake nodded hesitantly. She was happy. Adam loved her. Once this was over, she would be his forever, fighting for justice alongside one another, braving the new world order together. A forever love is a happy love. She was happy. She was happy.
Ilia let out a yawn. "I'm going to go pass out. Long day in the Women's Room tomorrow, dealing with 'honorable' Huntresses and prissy little Princesses," she shook her head. "That White Fang attack can't come soon enough…"
Blake chuckled weakly as Ilia left. She hadn't yet received word of when the White Fang attack would take place, but she hoped she had a little bit more time, at least one or two eliminations, to send Yang home safe before the palace came crashing down.
