Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions
Edited by ToxicExotic
Chapter 82 - The White Fang
"Weiss!" Turning around, Weiss shot her father an angry scowl. "You are embarrassing yourself!"
"Me!" She cried incredulously, making sure to keep her voice down so as to not disturb the other diners just behind the door. "You are the one you decided to barge in on my meeting! One that I could easily handle alone!"
To say she was angry would be a rather large understatement. After waiting two weeks to hear back from the Remnant Medical Research Foundation regarding her presentation of the nerve chip, they had finally contacted her and arranged a meeting. However, despite having spent the last two days preparing for it, she had not even been able to sit down and exchange a few pleasantries with the representative before her father had shown up out of nowhere and immediately taken control away from her.
However, after almost a month of being forced to do nothing more than schedule dinners and pass along phone calls, Weiss had very much not been in the mood for it and had walked off to a hallway between the kitchen and the dining area.
"Be careful of your tone, Daughter." Jacques growled, his blue eyes glowing dangerously. "But I believe I made it quite clear that you were going to be under my supervision from the time being. This really should come as no surprise."
"Because of Yang?" Weiss laughed bitterly, her anger keeping the fear at bay. "What do you think I am going to do? Convince him to divert some of the funding to the White Fang?"
"What I think is that your connection to that girl puts this grant at risk." The man scowled, his walrus mustache bouncing as he spoke. "And since the STC has already invested a large sum of money into this project, that means you put the company at risk of a loss."
"So you don't trust me to do my job?"
"Your job…" The man stepped forward. "... Is to be my assistant, where I can keep a close eye on you and ensure that you do not do more damage to this company than you have already."
"For how long?"
"For as long as is needed."
Weiss knew what that meant. Until she left Yang, there was no hope that she would ever be anything more to the company than Jacques assistant. She'd already known that was likely the case, but having the man admit it felt like a slap in the face. With that fact acknowledged, gone was any hope of doing something meaningful at the STC. Even for her own project, it was clear that she was now nothing more than the face of it.
"This is my project."
"And this is my company. Which means everything that you can and cannot do is at my behest."
Well then… she thought to herself. If that was the case, then there was no need to pretend anymore. If she was no longer able to do anything of use, if her future was to be nothing more than the man's assistant, then there was no point in staying. So, taking a deep breath, she squared up to the man and looked him straight in the eye to make sure he understood her.
"Fine." She sneered at him. "If you want the meeting, then take it. But if you think for one second that I will go back to being your receptionist after this, then you are sorely mistaken. I quit!"
"No you do not!" He commanded. "I will not allow you to throw your life away, so either do as you are told or-"
"I am not your fucking puppet!" Weiss spat at him. "You do not get to pull my strings anymore, so find someone else to schedule your dinners because I am done!"
Seeing her father turn a violent shade of red as the rare curse word and declaration settled in, Weiss turned away from the man and stormed over to the doors that led into the restaurant.
"WEISS!"
Not bothering to listen to him as there was nothing left to say, she pushed the double doors open and stepped into the dining area, ignoring the nervous looks that told her their argument had definitely not gone unnoticed. However, knowing the man cared too much about his public image to chase and berate her in public, she slowed her pace and walked calmly over to the table where the RMRF representative was waiting for her.
"I am so sorry." She said with a fake smile, though the regret it held was very much real. "But I just received a call and I am afraid I must leave."
"Oh…" The man said, clearly a little put out as he glanced over at Jacques. "Well… We can reschedule if you'd like?"
"That hardly seems necessary." Even Weiss was impressed by how well the anger the man surely felt was suppressed. "I'm sure I can help shed some light on our little project for you."
"Umm…" The rep was clearly not very excited about that. "I s-suppose that would be fine."
"Good." Jacques' smile finally made Weiss understand how Yang had felt days before with the reporter. "Then shall we order?"
"Of course." There was definitely reluctance in the man's voice. "I hope whatever your phone call was about ends well, Miss Schnee."
"Thank you, Robert." Weiss nodded gratefully and slung her bag over her shoulder. "Have a good day."
Receiving a tilt of Robert's head in return, Weiss turned on her heel without bothering to say goodbye to her father and exited the restaurant. Seeing Emerald parked across the street, she quickly made a beeline for her and pulled open the door. Slipping inside, she let out a loud, frustrated groan and threw her clutch into the opposite seat.
"You uhhh…" Emerald paused uncertainty, her long legs rested on the dashboard as she looked back. "You doing alright?"
"I'm fine." She replied, her tone a little short as she pulled out her Scroll. "Just take me to the library please."
"Ooookay then." The girl muttered, starting up the engine.
Seeing the tall steeples of a city library begin to peek over the buildings, Weiss started to feel a little guilty. Ever since the girl had begun to cover for her uncle, she and Emerald had developed a nice little rapport. While she wouldn't exactly call them friends, they were friendly and tended to talk during the journeys. However, for the first time since meeting, the drive to the library had been completely quiet; and that was entirely her own fault.
No matter how angry she had been with her father, and still was, that was no reason to snap at Emerald for enquiring how so was. So as the girl pulled into an open space and turned the engine off, Weiss put her Scroll away and looked up into the rear view mirror to see the girl's red eyes looking back at her.
"We're h-"
"I'm sor-"
Falling quiet again as Emerald looked away, Weiss let out a small sigh and shook her head.
"I'm sorry for how I talked to you earlier."
The girl's eyes returned to the mirror. "Huh? Oh… Don't sweat it. We all have those days."
"Still, I shouldn't have snapped at you. It wasn't right and it will not happen again."
"Good to know." Emerald smiled.
Thankful that the girl was at least understanding, Weiss gave the girl a grateful nod and picked up her bag. Stepping out of her car and breathing in the fresh air, she looked up at the large, white brick library. Though it had formerly been a cathedral, it had been abandoned for nearly a century before the council had scooped it up and turned it into a library. As such, the building was more grand than most libraries, even more so than Beacon's, and held pretty much any book that one could need; even if those books did tend to be a little more damaged than Beacon's.
Entering through the giant oak doors and into a wide open space that was the library's first floor that had previously been used for sermons, she looked around for the head of blonde hair that she knew would be somewhere inside. Unfortunately her initial scan of the numerous bookshelves and table proved fruitless, though she did find Jaune and Pyrrha tucked away in a corner with a large stack of study material in front of them. Opting not to bother them since they were so busy, though she knew they wouldn't mind, she instead made her way towards a set of stairs at the end of the room that led up to the balconies above. Finally though, after exploring two of the balconies, she found Yang tucked away on one of the smallest tables between the business and economics sections.
However, Weiss couldn't help but notice she looked a little stressed as she doodled something on a scrap piece of paper. Her brow was furrowed, and her hair seemed a little more dishevelled than usual; a clear sign that she had been frustratedly scratching her head. In fact, the girl had been doing that a lot more over the past week for some reason. Moving over before the woman could notice her, she picked up one of the books from the pile and read its title.
"Paars Loran's Failure in Fortune?" She asked curiously, startling the girl and causing her to look up. "This is more advanced than even my business courses."
"Oh." Yang brow furrowed a little more. "That was... There when I got here. Aren't you supposed to be in a meeting?"
Putting the book back on the table and sitting down opposite her girlfriend, she shrugged her jacket off and shook her head.
"I was supposed to be in a meeting." She said, feeling her annoyance rise again as her mind went back to how it had been interrupted. "Before I quit, that is."
"WHAT!" Yang's eyes snapped open and numerous people nearby shushed her. "What do you mean you quit?"
"Well my Father decided that, instead of allowing me to do the job he has raised me to do my whole life and have yet to fail at, I cannot be trusted to even handle a simple lunch without supervision."
"He showed up at your lunch?"
"And then told me that I would be doing nothing more than being his assistant for the foreseeable future." Weiss said bitterly. "Something that I refuse to do any longer."
"But what about the company?" Yang replied, a hint of worry in her tone as she scratched the back of her head. "What about the chip? Your position as heiress?"
"None of those things are mine." Weiss shook her head. "He made it quite clear that they were his now and that I would have nothing to do with them."
"Okay, but maybe if you just stuck around a bit longer he would…"
"He wouldn't. We both know what he's like."
"I know, bu-"
"But what, Yang?" Weiss asked heatedly, unsure why the girl was trying to make her second guess herself when she had never done so before. "We both know he's never going to let me do anything until I do what he says, and I refuse to be someone who does nothing. So why are you fighting me on this?"
"I…" Yang let out a pained sigh and leaned back in the chair. "I'm not fighting you, Weiss. It's just…" She scratched her head again. "The company is your dream. The thing you've worked your whole life for. Are you sure you've thought about this and aren't just doing it because your dad pissed you off?"
"I've been thinking about this since Mistral." Weiss breathed. "All my future there would have been was fixing his mistakes, but I can't even do that now. So long as we are together, he won't let me do anything; and, as I just said, I refuse to be someone who does nothing."
Though Weiss had hoped that revelation would at least lessen whatever worries Yang was clearly having, that was not the case. Instead, the woman's brow furrowed even more and the stress Weiss had been seeing more and more over the last week entered her eyes again as she shook her head.
"So you're giving up more stuff for me." She muttered.
"Yang.. that no-" Seeing her girlfriend's face drop, she reached out to take her hand. Before she could however, the woman pulled it away and picked up some of the books while standing up.
"I just need a minute, Weiss."
"I…" She was extremely confused as to why Yang was behaving in such a way, but didn't want to deny the woman a moment to think. "O-Okay."
Watching Yang walk away, Weiss wondered what was going on with her. Though they had only been able to see each other a few times in the past week, the blonde had seemed extremely distracted. Whether they were watching a film or enjoying lunch together, her mind seemed to drift more and more. There was also the fact that she began to disappear from time to time, and when Weiss reached out all Yang would reply was that she was still at college despite the timing never matching with her schedule.
She wasn't sure what was going on with the blonde, but she was pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that her next therapy session was in less than twenty-four hours. While the last session apparently went well, she knew Yang's reservations about therapy were still there and the prospect of a full appointment might be scaring her; but she didn't know for sure. So letting out a frustrated sigh at not being able to tell what was wrong with her girlfriend and reaching out for the slip of paper Yang had been doodling on, she pulled in towards herself in hopes it might reveal something.
It only gave her more questions though.
Etched upon the paper was a girl sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking a field of flowers. In the distance was what looked to be a city, but something about it was wrong. Half of it was faded, almost imperceptible from the paper it was drawn on, while the other half was fading into smoke. And though all Weiss could see of the perched girl was her back, the hung head and loose posture told Weiss that she was sad about what she was seeing.
It reminded her of the pictures that littered Yang's notepad. The drawing of oceans with monsters rising from it, the small field of golden grass on a hill too steep to climb. The same uncertain, scared energy ran through every line of the picture before her and only made her worry more.
What was Yang so scared of? Was it just the upcoming therapy session? Or was there more going on that she wasn't telling her about? Surely not. After all, Yang had always been honest and open with her. No matter how hard the truth was, or how scared she was to do it, Yang had always told her when something was bothering her. So figuring there was something about the picture that she was missing, Weiss returned her focus to it and tried to see what her girlfriend had been thinking when drawing it.
Before she could though, she heard her Scroll ring in her bag. Seeing a nearby librarian cast a dirty look her way, she quickly reached into her clutch and pulled it out to silence it. However, where she had been expecting to see her father's name there and had been entirely ready to reject the call, she instead saw Blake's name light up her screen. Knowing that Blake only ever called her when it was important, she pressed the accept button and put the device to her ear while continuing to glance over the picture.
"Hello?"
"Hey." Blake said in a happy tone. "You busy?"
"Not at the moment." Weiss breathed and leaned back in her chair, trying to make out the faded city.
"At the moment? What about tonight around six?"
"I believe I will be just as free then as I am now." That was pretty much given since she no longer had a job. "Why?"
"So… remember how you asked Luna if you could attend a meeting?"
Weiss sat up a little straighter. "Yes?"
"Well we talked to the people who attended them and most said they're fine with it. So if you wanna come tonight, you can."
"Today?" Weiss repeated with a groan. Though she definitely still wanted to follow through on that despite not being at the company anymore, she wasn't sure she was in the right mood for it with everything that had happened. "I don't know. It has been a long day."
"Oh…" Blake grunted. "Well you see, there were a few people who weren't okay with it so opted not to come in case you show up, so Luna said it's either tonight or never."
Groaning again and dropping the drawing back onto the table, Weiss rubbed her eyes and shook her head. Given her mood, she would very much prefer not to be going to a meeting where she was likely to be on the receiving end of filthy looks and scepticism; but since she was unlikely to get another chance, she really didn't have much choice.
"Alright." She sighed. "Tonight will have to do then. Tell Luna I will be there."
"Okay." Blake said, a notable uptick in her happy voice. "I think this'll be good."
"I hope so." Weiss agreed, noticing Yang returning in the corner of her eye. "But I have to go. I will see you tonight."
"Later."
Hanging up the call as the blonde sat back down, Weiss switched her Scroll to vibrate mode and put it back in her clutch.
"Your dad?" Yang asked.
"Blake. Luna said I can come to the meeting tonight."
"Oh…" Yang looked at the table. "I still don't think you should go."
"Are you going to fight me on that one too?" Weiss scowled at her, causing the woman to shake her head.
"I'm just worried about you." Yang snapped back, though the fire in her eyes quickly faded and was replaced with regret. "I just don't want you to do something you regret."
Feeling a little bad for snapping at yet another person, Weiss let out a sigh and picked up the picture again. Looking back up to see the woman scratching her head again, the same worry she had felt earlier rushed through her.
"Yang," She said softly and held up the picture. "You have been acting weird all week. Please tell me what's wrong."
The blonde's eyes glanced at the picture, but quickly looked away as if she couldn't stand the sight of it. Something was definitely wrong.
"Is it your therapy session tomorrow?" She asked.
"It's…" Yang's eyes glanced at the picture again and she let out a large breath while scratching her head. "Y-Yeah. Just… worried, you know."
"But the last one went well." Weiss said reassuringly, happy that Yang's hand didn't move this time as she reached out and took it. "You and your dad are going to be just fine."
"I know…" The artist said and took the picture back, crumpling it into a ball and throwing it into a nearby trash can. "I'm just being dumb."
"You are never dumb." She chuckled and squeezed her hand.
She hated seeing Yang so doubtful, but upon receiving the first smile since she arrived, Weiss happily returned it. Glad to see a little of the light return to her girlfriend's eyes as the blonde reached for a nearby book on culinary practices, she settled back into her chair and reached out for what she recognised to be another business book called How To Land The Deal. Whoever had been sitting at the table before Yang had clearly not known what they were looking for since no person studying business would think themselves ready for Failure in Fortune if they were still reading How To Land The Deal.
However, with a meeting coming up with Fletch, Weiss figured it wouldn't hurt to at least brush up on the more intermediate stuff again, so opened it up and flipped through to the chapter she knew she wanted.
"Thank you, Emerald." Weiss said, leaning through the open window. "I'm not sure how long I'll be so I'll give you a call when I need you to pick me up."
"No problem." The girl hummed. "I've got plenty to keep me occupied."
The girl reached over and struck the storage compartment causing it to pop open. Grabbing a green handheld gaming console from inside, she held it up and with a smile.
"Dude keeps breaking my illusion spell." She shrugged. "Be nice to have some time to figure it out without Hazel telling me to study."
"He's not wrong." Weiss chuckled, Emerald waving her away jokingly. "But have fun."
Moving away from the window and allowing the girl to close it, Weiss turned away from the car and looked around the area. It was definitely not the kind of area she would usually be found in. The entire area looked rather run down. More than a few of the buildings were boarded up, and those that weren't were covered in graffiti. The only building that seemed to be in relatively good condition was the one in front of her, which looked to be a rather small community center with light blazing through its open doors. Sat on the steps where three teenagers, each of them faunus going by the fact that they all had a trait.
Knowing she looked incredibly out of place, Weiss wrapped her shawl around her a little tighter and began to move towards the door. Unfortunately, as she did, one of the teenagers, a girl with a dark green mohawk and scales, stood up and gave her a nasty look. Already being on edge, Weiss felt a small bit of fear pulse through her and clutched her purse tighter.
"Bit outta place, ain'tcha, love?" She said with a mean grin.
"I-"
"Fuck off, Tock." Weiss heard from the doorway.
Looking up, she saw Ilia emerge from inside and give the girl, Tock, a tired look. Never before had she been more grateful to see the girl.
"Luna already told you not to come back here after the shit you pulled last time."
"Pfft." The girl scoffed. "Don't wanna come in anyway. Come on, Trifa, les go somewhere that ain't stinkin' of silver."
Watching the girl pick up a bag from the floor and stalk away with her friends, Weiss let out a long breath and released the death grip on her clutch.
"Ignore her." Ilia said, her trait quickly turning from red to purple. "All bark, but no bite."
Weiss highly doubted that. The look in the girl's eyes, the maliciousness of her voice; both had reminded her of the man who had given her a permanent reminder of his hatred. Not wanting to start the day off appearing judgemental however, she let it go and forced her face into a smile.
"We're glad you decided to come."
"Really?" Weiss asked skeptically and walked up the steps and through the door in a small reception.
"Mhm." Weiss couldn't help but notice that Ilia seemed in a much brighter mood than usual. "Quite a few of the people here today are ex-STC employees who're hoping this will help change things."
"Oh." Weiss muttered. "Well that is a hope I share."
It wasn't technically a lie. Though it looked rather clear that whatever she learned would no longer be applied to the STC, she was intent on using the knowledge for her own company with Fletch.
"I know." Ilia smiled and led her over to a door on the far side of the room. "Have you ever been to a group session before?"
Weiss shook her head. "No, but I'm guessing the rules are standard for therapy? No talking over each other and no devaluing peoples' opinions?"
"Pretty much." Ilia nodded, resting a hand on the handle. "And just remember to relax. This is a safe space for people to talk about their problems, if you want to speak up too then we'll listen."
"I will keep that in mind."
"Alright." Smiling and pushed the door open, the faunus stood aside and allowed room for her to enter first.
Weiss had to admit, she was nervous. Despite knowing that none of them would be like the one that had attacked her tower, the fact that that just beyond that door was multiple White Fang members was more than a little scary. She knew she shouldn't feel that way, and that it was merely the remnants of her fears created by the incident, but it was still there. Still strong enough that she had to force herself to take a shaky breath before stepping through the doorway.
Within seconds of stepping into the room, the eyes of every person inside, nine to her count, turned to look at her. The quiet buzz of conversation died down and left nothing but an eerie silence that sent a chill down Weiss' spine. Looking around the room itself, she was that despite its size, it was rather empty. Save for a dishevelled pool table and a small television, there really was not much inside that one would usually find in a community center.
"H-Hello." She said, finding her nerves return a little at the familiarity of having people stare at her expectantly. "Thank you for having me."
"I- oh stop staring, Mata." One of the women said, shaking her head and hitting a large boy with dark hair and ram horns that stood next to her. "She's just a girl."
"Sorry." He said in a regretful tone.
"No, No." Weiss shook her head and held out a hand in appeasement. "It is fine. I supposed this is quite awkward for all of us. I know that my co- my father's company has caused a lot of pain, but I hope that me being here today can help shed some light on how to avoid such a thing in the future."
"We've definitely got some stories for ya." Said a man off to the side, his gruff tone matching his wild bushy beard.
"That will be told shortly." Said a familiar growl. Emerging from the crowd with Blake at her side, Luna walked over and held out her hand. "But first you can help yourself to some food if you want."
"Thank you." Weiss smiled and accepted the handshake. Just like last time, the woman applied more force than was necessary.
"Don't thank me." She said in a lower voice. "Blake and Ilia are the ones who vouched for you to the group. And the fact that people who like being here are choosing not to be today because of it doesn't sit well with me, so you better not take this for granted."
Though it was not said in a friendly way by any means, Weiss understood where the woman was coming from. She knew from her own experience, and from watching Yang over the last month, that therapy was definitely not something many people went to willingly; especially when it was group therapy. So for someone trying to create a safe space where those people could go, it was no doubt frustrating when something caused those people to consider it the opposite.
"They all said they'll be back next week." Blake cut in before Weiss could reply. "And Weiss knows how important this is. She wants to fix things too, right, Weiss?"
"Absolutely." Weiss replied with a smile and a nod.
The woman didn't say anything, instead merely gave her a stern look before walking off back to the group.
"She really doesn't like me, does she?"
"Don't take it personally." Blake replied. "I can count the amount of people she actually likes on one hand. And me and Ilia take up two of those spots."
"She also misses her brother." Ilia added and shut the door. "She hates what he did, but they were really close growing up and seeing you kinda reminds her of what he became."
"Well…" Weiss exhaled. "Hopefully today can be the first step towards making sure that nobody else ends up like him."
"That's the goal." Blake chuckled and motioned for her to follow. "Come on. I'll make you coffee."
"The first time it happened I thought it was just another stupid prank. You know, prank the janitor. Dye in the water bucket, purposely messy desks, the same stuff that's happened at every job. They always meant I had more work to do, but it never really bothered me so I just kept my head down and kept working. But after about a month, there was an office on the fifth floor, the logistics department. I dunno if it was because I never told them to stop, but every now and again I'd find mouse traps hidden among paper or bits of cheese left on desks. I never knew when it would happen, as they were never in the same place so I had no idea who was doing it, but I knew why they were doing it."
Weiss could hear the pain and frustration in Field's voice as she watched his nose and whiskers twitch.
"But I ignored it. I kept on working, kept on doing my job. My wife had just had a baby and I was there to provide for my family you know, so I wasn't going to let them push me out of the first job I got that actually paid well. But... one day someone put a rat trap under the paper instead of a mouse trap. I dunno if they thought it was the same thing or if they knew they were stronger, but I ended up in hospital with two broken fingers. And with no insurance we really couldn't afford the extra hospital fees."
"After that, I talked to a buddy of mine and he agreed to swap shifts and times with me. It was tough swapping from night to mornings, I've never exactly been the best with social interaction so I always preferred night shifts, but I didn't want to risk anything like that happening again. And things were good for a while. I even made a friend there. But then things started to happen there too. Again, smaller things like last time like wiggling their noses or asking if I could speak 'squeaky chair' as they called it."
"That time I went to HR about it though. I didn't want to risk it progressing like it did last time since we were already struggling to get by. I told them about everything that was happening, everything that had happened in logistics, and they said they would look into it. I thought things were good, but after two weeks they called me in and said that nobody had seen anything or heard anything close to what I said so they couldn't do anything."
That definitely sounded like Human Resources to Weiss. It was a department she had never particularly liked herself since many people mistakenly thought that they were there to protect the workers, when in actuality they were there to protect the company. Rare was the occasion that HR actually solved an issue instead of covering it up, something she knew all too well from just how many complaints Cornell Winchester had been allowed to have against him.
"I knew that couldn't be right. My friend had definitely seen them doing it, he had even told me to just ignore them because they were idiots multiple times. But when I asked why he didn't defend me, why he didn't speak up, he said that would only make things worse for him too. After that, things started to get worse again, just like before. Everyday I hated going into work to face them. I was scared of where it was going, scared that something would happen again and we'd have to pay more medical bills. Some night I was so anxious that I wouldn't sleep or eat, which just ended up putting me in the hospital again when I fainted in the street."
"When I got out though, my wife finally put her foot down. She said that the money wasn't worth it and that I should quit. I told her I couldn't because we needed the money more than ever; pretty sure all of you know the kind of argument that followed." There was a muttering of acknowledgement from the group as almost everyone gave a nod. "Eventually though, I decided she was right. The job was killing me, and I had to leave before it did."
The man fell quite, his head hung low in shame; shame that Weiss knew he should not be feeling. That none of them should be feeling. Though his definitely seemed more disturbing, his story had not been the first she'd heard that night. Five had come before it, three of which had involved the STC, but all of them had made her feel equally as unhappy.
"Sometimes people don't understand just how much the little things can hurt." Blake acknowledged him. "How they build up and eat away at you, constantly making you scared that they could become something more. And that pain doesn't go away when you remove yourself from the situation because all you're left with is the knowledge that it can happen again wherever you go because too many people don't understand how those things feel."
Another muttering of agreement ran through the crowd.
"I remember when I moved here from Menageries and started school, I was so scared what people would think of me that I wore a bow to cover my ears. But since I'm a cat faunus and my ears move a lot when I'm feeling certain ways, I always had to make sure that I kept them still. It was difficult, and I purposely kept people at a distance because if they got to close and made me happy then people would see my ears move and realise what I was. And even though I have friends now who accept and love me for who I am, who eventually convinced me to get rid of my bow, that habit to push people away is still something I feel on a daily basis."
Despite having heard many stories from Yang about the pair's time in school, Weiss had never heard that one; but it certainly did seem to put the pieces together. With the exception of Ruby, Yang, or Sun, the girl had always been very quiet, preferring to sit in the back and watch things happen more than get involved. Even after knowing each other for so long, and despite being very confident that they both considered each other friends and trusted each other, Weiss could tell that Blake kept a safe distance from her too. In fact, upon thinking about it, she realised that outside of Yang and the White Fang, she really didn't know that much about Blake's life.
"That's a pressure we're all familiar with." Luna smiled at Blake. "The desire to fit in, to feel normal and accepted is something we all strive for. But it is important that we all remember that we must strive to be accepted for who we are, not for who they want us to be. But I think that is a good place to take a break. I know those memories were painful for you all, but thank you for telling them again."
A muttering of agreement ran through the circle as everyone pushed their chair out. After waiting until everyone was up so as to not seem rude, Weiss followed suit and walked over to standby one of the tables. So much had been said in the last forty minutes, much of which had been more and more disturbing and once again made her question how her father had managed to make the company so vile. If her grandfather was still alive and had heard everything that had just been said, she knew he would have been just as disgusted.
More than anything though, the stories had helped her realise that her choice to leave the company had been the right one. If the company was so far gone that a janitor was harassed to the point of hospitalization by multiple departments, then Weiss wasn't exactly sure how she could ever fix it. Especially when she wasn't allowed to actually do anything that bettered those things. What she could do however was make sure that her own company would never fall to such atrocities. Just as her grandfather did, she would build a company that people could say they were proud to work, no matter whether they were human or faunus.
"So how was it?" Blake asked, arriving by her side and picking up two sandwiches.
"Disgusting." She replied and shook her head at the food. "The things those people went through, how little I knew of what actually happened there. Nobody should have to deal with that when they are just trying to make a living."
"Yeah, well like I said, not many people know they are doing it." Blake sighed and took a bite of her sandwich. "Some do, but a lot of people think the harmful stuff they're doing is just a joke."
"Yang jokes about you being a faunus?" Weiss observed.
"It probably appears that way." Blake nodded. "Though I guess it would be more fair to say that she makes jokes about who I am as a person."
Weiss raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Well…" Blake hummed and took another bite. "As much as films and stuff like to play it off as a joke, most faunus generally do have some habits that are close to the animal we share a trait with. It's those habits and behaviors that Yang teases me for; not because they are like the animal, but because they are who I am. She knows I like tuna so she makes fish jokes, she knows that when me and Sun first had sex I kinda purred at him after, so she teases me for that. It's not a relationship that everyone would be fine with, but mine and Yang's relationship has always been one of mutual respect and we've always understood where the boundaries are."
"Ahhh, so the puns don't bother you?"
"They bother everyone." Blake laughed. "And for good reason. But not for that reason. I'm not against people noticing that I am in fact a cat faunus, I'm proud of what I am, but Yang knows how to comment and joke about it without being offensive and will stop immediately if I ever ask her to. But a lot of other people don't, and a joke can easily go too far."
"I suppose that makes sense." Weiss hummed, another question coming to mind. "Have I ever done anything to offend you?"
Amber eyes locked onto hers and Weiss saw a familiar conviction enter them that told her an unpleasant truth was about to be told.
"There have been a few ignorant moments." Blake nodded, though a smile quickly took over her face. "But nothing that has actually offended me. Besides, you always make an effort to listen and learn; like you are now."
"Well I'm sorry regardless." Weiss offered, ignoring the dismissive shake of the girl's head. "I hope it doesn't happen, but please don't hesitate to call me out on it in the future if it does."
"Believe me, I will." Blake chuckled. "Speaking of Yang though, I'm guessing you've noticed that she has been acting off lately too?"
"I have. She seemed a little better when I left her earlier today though."
She actually had. After returning to the table and admitting that the upcoming therapy session was worrying her, the blonde had seemed a little calmer. Though there had still been a little bit of nervous head scratching and distraction, she had definitely seemed to be in a more upbeat mood when Weiss left.
"Did she say what's wrong?"
"Only that she was worried about the appointment tomorrow." To her surprise, Blake let out a noise that was very clearly disbelief. "You think she was lying?"
The girl shrugged. "I dunno. She hasn't been like this since she left home. Can't help but feel like there's something she isn't telling me."
Looking up at the girl to see worry in her eyes, Weiss took a second to think it over. Blake knew Yang better than anyone, so if she thought there was something else wrong then it was definitely something worth investigating. Maybe when she returned to the apartment after the meeting she would try and talk to her a little more.
"I'll figure it out though." Blake sighed and looked over to Ilia who was talking to Mata over near the pool table. "But right now I should go and save Mata before Ilia talks his ear off about her upcoming date with Ruby. I swear, she's worse than Yang was with you."
"Have fun." She blushed and smiled at both the reminder of how much Yang loved her and at the reason for why every inch of Ilia's hair was a vibrant purple.
"Doubtful." Blake groaned and began to walk away. "But thanks."
Smiling and feeling a little better after the conversation, Weiss turned around and picked up what looked to be an egg and cress sandwich. However, as she lifted her head, she noticed a small hint of movement in the corner of her eyes and cast a glance at the window. It was a decision she immediately regretted as she found herself face to face with the very thing that had haunted her nightmares for the past two years. Stood in the darkness and framed by the light was a person peering in, the upper half of the face obscured by a white mask. The same make that had been worn by the people who'd attacked the tower.
Terror ripped through her body like a tidal wave. Blood overpowered her sense of taste and smell. A hand came out and slammed on the window, the bang reverberated around her head and caused echoes that turned into explosions that surrounded her, filling her ears so completely that she couldn't even hear the scream that she felt tear from her throat. Falling backwards and scurrying away, she felt her back collide with something as arms latched onto hers to keep her secure as they tumbled to the floor.
Cracks spread across the wall like spider webs before her eyes. Each one a deep canyon tearing the world in half and shattering the glass as the frame ruptured. Dirt and debris began to fall from the ceiling in thick clouds as a rumbling causing renewed fear to surge through her. It was going to collapse, she knew it. It was going to bury her alive, but there was nowhere to go. Her back was pressed against something holding her in place, and with each desperate flurry to get herself free the grip on her arms tightened and the voice in her ear spoke louder.
But there was something off about both the arms and voice. While they trapped her in place and stopped her from escaping, there was something warm about them; something comforting in the way the hand gently moved up and down as soothing, unintelligible words were muttered into her ear. Whatever they were though, they were making the rumbling stop.
Ever so slowly, as she listened to the voice, the falling dust slowed and the cracks began to close. Eventually the explosions even quietened until she was finally able to make out Blake's voice.
"-re okay." She was saying. "You're safe."
Just knowing that it was Blake's arms around her made Weiss feel safer, and needing that more than anything else in that moment, she reached up with shaky hands and grabbed them to pull them closer.
"I just need you to breathe, okay?" Weiss gave a short nod and closed her eyes. "In, and out."
Fighting down the urge to vomit, she let her friend's soft voice guide her breathing. It was tough. Her whole body ached, but nothing hurt more than her chest and throat. With each breath, she could feel them screaming at her to stop, but she knew she couldn't. And thankfully, after a minute of deep breathing, the tightness in her chest began to subside. Opening her eyes again, she felt a large wave of relief to see that all of the crack in the wall had vanished.
"I…" She tried to speak, sending more ripples on pain through her neck. "I'm f-f-fine."
"You sure?"
"Y-yeah."She lied, though made no attempt to get up since she knew her legs had the consistency of jelly. "I just n-need a minute."
"Take all the ti-"
Blake was cut off by a loud bang that only caused Weiss to flinch again as another wave of fear pulsed through her. Determined to not let it overcome her again though, she clutched Blake's arm a little tighter and looked to where the sound had originated to see Ilia walking through the door into the room, quickly followed by Luna who seemed to be struggling with something.
"Gerroff me!" Said a familiar, heavily accented voice. "I ain't done shit."
Weiss didn't have to wrack her brain for who it was, of which she was very grateful for since the usual headache that followed her episodes was beginning to settle in. Gripped in a vice grip and struggling to get free was Tock, the girl she had met outside. A few groans from the group on onlookers told Weiss that they were also not fond of the girl
"Ilia, second drawer." Luna commanded, Ilia immediately taking off towards a nearby filing cabinet. "You fucking idiot."
Shoving the younger faunus against the pool table and easily forcing her to her knees despite the girl's attempt to fight back, she reached out and took the item from Ilia and secured one of the faunus' wrists to the heavy wooden table. Reaching into the backpack over Tock's shoulder, Luna pulled out the white mask and Weiss felt a shiver run through her.
"Still want to say you've done nothing?" She spat angrily and waved the mask in front of her face. "Do you think these people are heroes to us? Are you so stupid that you think that what they did helped us in anyway whatsoever? What the hell were you thinking?"
It only took a second for the feigned innocence to fade from Tock face and be replaced with a malicious grin.
"Just givin' tha rich bitch a fright." She said, clearly finding what she had done funny. "Shoulda seen 'er face. Fucking priceless! Woulda made you brother pro-"
CRACK!
The sound of Luna's hand striking Tock face echoed around the room, quickly followed by a loud gasp from Mata's mother. Kneeling down and getting in the girl's face, Luna's voice turned back to a snarl.
"My lunatic brother and his nutjob friends are the reason things are so much worse for us now." She growled. "But if you want to follow their example, then when the police get here, I hope they chuck you in a cell and throw away the fucking key. Just like they did with him."
Weiss watched as Tock stared deep into Luna's eyes. There was no remorse there, no regret or compassion, only malice and pride. Licking a trickle of blood from her split lip, she pulled her head back and spit, giving a vicious laugh as Luna wiped it from her face and stood up. Turning around and walking over to them, Weiss saw that there wasn't anger on the wolf faunus' face, only tiredness.
"Blake…" She said and tossed the mask onto a nearby chair. "Take Weiss home."
"But won't the polic-"
"I'll handle them." The woman said and ran a hang through her silver hair. "For right now, she needs to get somewhere she feels safe so she can rest."
"Weiss?"
Glancing up at her friend, she gave her a short nod. Luna was right, she didn't feel safe. Tock may have been restrained, but being in such proximity to someone who so clearly wanted to hurt her was definitely not helping with her anxiety.
"I want to go home." She admitted, her voice still a little shaky.
"Alright." Blake accepted with a smile.
Clutching on the Blake arm as she was lifted to her feet, Weiss tried her best to keep her legs steady.
"Thank you for letting me come." She said politely to Luna, slipping a hand around Blake's waist.
Receiving only a nod in return, she felt Blake give her a gentle nudge and let the girl guide her through the crows and towards the door. It took less than a step to be thankful for her friend's support though as her legs immediately threatened to give out, causing her to clutch the girl tighter. Nevertheless she remained on her feet and took a few deep breaths.
"Sweet dreams, love."
"Rot in hell!" Blake spat back at Tock, only causing her to chuckle evilly. "Fucking psycho."
Not daring to look at the girl as they pushed through the door and made their way outside, Weiss let out a relieved sigh. The wide open space, the cool wind blowing against her face, they all felt wonderful and made her want to take deep gulps of air in hope that the wonderful feeling would help subdue the fear that was still coursing through her veins.
"I'm sorry about her." The raven-haired girl said with a shake of her head. "She's been an issue for a while now, but we didn't think she'd do something like this."
"It's not your fault." Weiss breathed, holding up a hand to stop Emerald who had begun to make her way over.
"I know." Blake sighed and guided her toward the door that Emerald opened for them. "Still… I should have been paying more attention."
"You shouldn't have had to." Weiss countered with a note of finality and slipped into the seat, shuffling over so that Blake could get in as well.
Looking past Blake towards the community center, Weiss shuddered again and quickly looked away. She was grateful to all the people that had shared their story with her that night, and would definitely be taking the things they had said into account when backing her own company; but she also knew she would never be going back there, even if she was invited again.
"Is she okay?" She heard Emerald ask. "What happened?"
"She'll be fine." The faunus replied. Despite her friendly tone, there was enough meaning behind it that Emerald got the hint to not ask anything more. "Just take us back to Compass Tower please."
"You got it." The green-haired girl said and shut the door behind Blake.
Happy that Blake had understood what she meant by home, Weiss moved in a little closer as the girl wrapped an arm around her shoulder. It felt a little odd to be seeking comfort in a girl who most of the time greeted her with a nod of the head, but it was definitely nice. And absolutely what she needed at that moment.
A/N
Hello everyone. So it appears not everything is well in paradise ;-;
Anyways, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. It was goo to finally explore some of the white fang stuff, and even the PTSD stuff. I've been very specific with how I depicted that over the course of the series, so I hope its paid off. Another thing I was very specific with was the lead up to that first scene.
Anyway, as I've said a lot in the last few chapters, notes are gunna be short from me. We are reaching the climax now so hard to really talk about anything without giving away whether its important or not xD But I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I will see you again, hopefully, for the next one.
Chapter 83 - Scars will be up on the 29th.
Reviews
timrocks99, Zoro50, and jm4reader. Thank you so much for the comments. I'm glad you liked that chapter so much :)