Black Paladin

Chapter 7: Dramatic reveals

AN: So, originally I was going to have this be a showcase of Obsidians abilities, and big release, as all of you had seen Sun and Penny's intro scenes in the canon. However this developed better, and I can go a little of script, and have more actual character development in my character. Enjoy.

-V

As Weiss dragged us through Vale down to the docks, she can't seem to help herself. "The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!"

Ruby asks, concerned "I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss." frowning "It's kinda weirding me out..."

"Wait for it." I stage whisper to Yang.

Weiss turns on Ruby, "How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"

"Told you." I whisper, to almost unanimous agreement, and amusement.

Weiss demands, "Quiet, you!"

Yang asks, looking bored "Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?"

Ruby complains, "Ugh, they smell like fish!"

"Well it is the ocean, Ruby." I say, waving her off.

Weiss explains, "I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!

Blake reveals, "She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament."

Weiss scoffs, "You can't prove that!"

Ruby looks over, at a destroyed storefront, "Whoa. What happened here?" Walking over to investigate.

The taller detective, says "Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle."

Yang sighs sadly, "That's terrible."

The shorter detective says, "They left all the money again."

Ruby asks, "Huh?"

The taller detective asks, "Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?"

The shorter detective guesses, "I don't know, an army?"

The teller detective asks, "You thinking the White Fang?"

The shorter detective snarks, "Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."

Weiss begins another rant, "Hmph! The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates!"

Blake demands, "What's your problem?" making we wonder how it is possible no one else knows.

Weiss demands, "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

Blake rebuttals, "The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus."

Weiss scoffs, "Misguided? They want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet!"

Blake retracts slightly, "So then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!"

Ruby interjects, "Hmm... Blake's got a point. Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago... Maybe it was him."

Weiss continues on her rant, "That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

I walk up, "Weiss, stop channeling..."

By the docks, someone calls, interrupting "Hey, stop that faunus!"

We rush over to investigate. A faunus with a monkey tail runs down the length of the boat and leaps on to the edge as two sailors try apprehend him.

The faunus, says "Thanks for the ride, guys! Haha! He runs down the docks, and jumps on a lamp post.

One of the sailors calls, "You no-good stowaway!"

The monkey faunus, hanging by his tail, retorts, "Hey! A no-good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" then one of the detectives throws a rock at him.

The taller detective demands, "Hey! Get down from there this instant!"

The faunus drops the banana peel on the detective's face, who growls. The monkey-like faunus twirls up to crouch on the lamppost, laughs, then proceeds to leap and run away from the detectives. As he runs past us he continues to evade the officers.

Yang snarks, "Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes..."

Weiss yells, "Quick! We have to observe him!"

The four of us give chase. Blake stands still for a moment and then follows us. We round the next corner, but then Weiss bumps into someone and falls. She looks up only to see the faunus jump onto a building and disappear from view.

Weiss whines, "No, he got away!"

Yang asks, "Uhh... Weiss?" gesturing to the girl Weiss is laying on.

Weiss finally sees that she fell on a smiling girl, which startles the heiress and she hastily gets up.

The young women wearing lots of green says, "Sal-u-ta-tions!" This girl is giving of some weird vibes.

Ruby responds, "Um... hello."

Yang asks, "Are you... okay?"

The women, still laying on the ground, "I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking."

Yang asks, confused, "Do you... wanna get up?"

Penny pauses, and think, then responds, "Yes!" she jumps back up, startling all of backward, "My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Ruby says, "Hi Penny. I'm Ruby."

Weiss says, "I'm Weiss."

Blake says, "Blake."

I say, "Obi."

Yang asks, "Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" as Blake elbows her, and then follows, "Oh, I'm Yang."

Penny says, again, "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Weiss comments, "You already said that."

Penny pauses unnaturally, and says, "So I did!"

Weiss apologies, "Well, sorry for running into you!" as we turn to leave.

Ruby waves, "Take care, friend!"

Yang comments, as we walk away, "She was... weird..."

Weiss looks round, "Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?"

Penny is suddenly in front of us, and my hand sips to my sword, "What did you call me?"

Yang looking around, wondering how she got in front of us. "Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me!"

Penny dismisses her, "No, not you." walking into the middle of us, and pointing at Ruby, "You!"

Ruby asks, startled, "Me? I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh...""

Penny asks, "You called me 'friend'! Am I really your friend?"

Ruby looks confused, and is looking to us for guidance, "Uuuum..." and all our of us are gesturing not to say yes, to do something other than that. "Y-Yeah, sure! Why not?"

Penny responds happily, as the other three mock faint, and I facepalm, "Sen-sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

Ruby groans to Weiss as she stands, "Oh, is this what it was like when you met me?"

Weiss snarks, "No - she seems far more coordinated."

Yang asks, "So... what are you doing in Vale?"

Penny response, "I'm here to fight in the tournament." that would explain some vibes, but not these.

Weiss asks, "Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?"

Penny salutes, "I'm combat ready!"

Weiss scoffs, "Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."

Blake comments, "Says the girl wearing a dress."

Weiss retaliates, "It's a combat skirt!

Ruby speeds to her partner, and defends, "Yeah!" with a low five.

Weiss realizes "Wait a minute." walking over and grabbing Penny, "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed... rapscallion?"

Penny asks, "The who...?"

Weiss gestures to a suddenly appearing, poorly drawn picture of the monkey faunus from before, "The filthy Faunus from the boat!"

Blake demands, "Why do you keep saying that?!"

Weiss questions, "Huh?"

Blake demands, "Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!"

Weiss mocks, "Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?"

"Weiss, stop channeling Cardin, or I will pin you to that wall, and leave you here." I say, my knife spinning in my hand. "You are familiar with my preferred method of stopping him?"

"I am not channeling that brute, he is a criminal!"

Blake demands, "Stop it!"

Weiss asks, "Stop what? He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!"

Yang takes this time to grab my arm, to prevent Weiss from ending up pinned to a wall somewhere, and drags me away to cool off, unfortunately, Blake isn't quiet.

Blake growls, "You ignorant little brat!"

Weiss scoffs, offended, "How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate!"

Blake responds, "You are a judgmental little girl."

Weiss asks, "What in the world makes you say that?"

Blake explains, "The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!"

Yang tells Ruby, "Um, I think we should probably go..."

Penny asks, popping up behind Ruby, "Where are we going?"

Weiss exclaimed, "So you admit it! The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!"

Blake demands, "That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

I leave them behind, hoping they will have resolved this before they get back. I was wrong.

Weiss asks, "I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!"

Blake responds, "That is the problem!"

Weiss stands to yell, "You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"

Blake stands to yell as well, "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

Weiss asks, hurt, "People like me?"

Blake yells, "You're discriminatory!"

I walk out, and yell, "Enough!" I look at Weiss, and Blake, "Both of you are to fixed in your opinions, we are going to debate this like rational human beings, or we are not going to be discussing this at all." I turn to Weiss, "Begin, calmly."

Weiss breaths and begins, "I'm a victim. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" leaning on the windowsill. "It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood."

Ruby goes to comfort her, "Weiss, I-"

Weiss yell, "No!" and turn to my glare, simmers down, "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers."

"Weiss, the White Fang had existed as it is for almost 5 years. Something happened, and they changed. I should know, the White Fang weren't particularly happy when my town closed our medical practice and our walls to them, when instead of police brutality being treated, it was combat wounds, from attacks. Now Blake, would you like to defend the Faunus, if not the White Fang."

"The White Fang was an organization dedicated to peaceful protest, and getting equality through legal, peaceful means. "No one is precisely sure what changed them into the terror organization it has become." She says, simmering like Weiss.

"They fell back to their baser instincts like the animals they are!" Weiss yells.

Blake yells back, "Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"

Silence falls upon the room, as shock and surprise bring everyone to a standstill. A surprised Weiss backs away slowly, and Blake realizes her mistake as she looks around at her teammates.

Blake stutters, "I... I..." as she disappears out the door.

Ruby calls, "Blake, wait! Come back!" she runs to the door, and doesn't see anyone.

It would be 2 days until we saw her again.

During those two days, my displeasure with Weiss was evident.

Ruby calls into the city, "Blaaaake!"

Yang also calling, "Blaaaake!"

I was using my more than human abilities to look for her, while using my scroll, and a variety of hacked security cameras to look for her.

Ruby screams into the city, "Blaaaaaaaake! Where aaaare yoooouuuu!?"

Yang yells, "Blake!"

Ruby reprimands, "Weiiiiss, you're not helping!"

Weiss snarks, "Oh! You know what might be able to help? The police!"

"Schnee if you aren't going to be supportive, shut your trap before it causes another mess for us to clean up." Never looking up from my scroll.

Weiss tries to defend, "It was only an idea."

Ruby sparks, "Yeah, a bad one."

Yang says, being the calm one, "Weiss, I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions."

Weiss defends, "I think that when we hear it, you'll all realize I was right!"

Penny comments from behind me, "And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today!"

Before I even realise it, my sword, is in my hand, and held at her chest. To which she has no reaction.

Ruby gasps, "Aaaah! Penny! Where did you come from!? Obi, put away the sword, Penny is a friend!"

Penny asks, "Hey friends! What are you up to?"

Ruby blankly says, "Uhh..."

Yang says, "We're looking for our friend Blake."

Penny says, "Ooooh, you mean the Faunus girl!"

We all stare at Penny.

Ruby asks, "Wait, how did you know that?"

Penny says, fairly plainly "Uhh, the cat ears?" pointing to her head.

Yang laughs, "What cat ears? She wears a... boooohhh..."

The realization leaves them in silence as a tumbleweed blows through in the wind.

"Well at least one other person noticed." I mutter.

"How did you know?" Yang asks.

"Staunch defender of faunus rights, fear every time someone talks about faunus, and when she gets angry her bow moves." I say, frankly.

Ruby whispering, "She does like tuna a lot..."

Penny asks, "So, where is she?"

Ruby admits, "We don't know. She's been missing since Friday."

Penny gasps "That's terrible!" as she approaches a visibly uncomfortable Ruby, "Well, don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!"

Ruby, trying to looks happy, says, "Uh, that's really nice of you, Penny, but we're okay! Really! Right, guys?"

We look over, as she directs her question at Yang and Weiss, who's blinking outlines are all that's left of their sudden departure. A tumbleweed blows past them again in the quiet.

Penny comments, "It sure is windy today!"

"Cowards." I mutter under my breath.

After almost a minute of awkward silence, looking for Blake, Penny asks, "So, Blake is your friend?"

Ruby sighs, "Yes, Penny."

Penny asks, "But you're mad at her?"

Ruby explains, "Yes. Well, I'm not. Weiss is."

Penny asks, "Is she friends with Blake?"

Ruby says "Well, that's kind of up in the air right now..."

Penny thinks, then asks, "But why?"

Ruby sighs, "Well, you see, Blake might not be who we thought she was..."

Penny gasps, "Is she a man?"

I stop, and Penny runs into me, and the look on my face must be priceless, as I sputter, "What?"

Ruby stutters through an explanation, "No! No, Penny. She's...I don't know what she is. She didn't exactly talk to us before she decided to run off."

Penny says, "I don't have a lot of friends, but if I did, I would want them to talk to me about things."

Ruby sadly remarks, "Me too..." and we continue walking.

For hours we look through the city, and then, to our chagrin, we can see the smoke from the docks.

"Oh no…" Ruby says, as we run toward the danger.

We leap onto a warehouse as we get closer. RUby yells, announcing our presence. "Hey!"

B

The man with the cane, who I think is Roman Torchwick, turns, calling "Well, hello, Red! Isn't it past your bedtime?"

Penny asks, danger seeping into her voice. "Ruby, are these people your friends?"

Ruby commands, "Get back!" and while her attention is diverted, Roman fires his cane at her, and I act instinctively. A wall of feathers sprouts from my back, and takes the explosion. And that hurts. The unexpected shock to my system allows the second round, the one actually meant to hit me, to catch me off guard catching me in the crook of my neck, throwing me for a nasty loop. The wings retract into nothingness, as I fall into black.

I feel a poking in my side, and it feels like I took a truck to the side of my face, as I slowly sit up, and take in the scene. Ruby, Blake, and Penny are hovering, with the monkey faunus from the docks standing further back, and Ruby is poking me in the side. As my embarrassingly short bout with Torchwick comes to mind, I ask, "What the hell is in that cane?"

Drawing a laugh from Ruby, and the monkey. Penny looks concerned, and Blake looks upset. I quickly learn why, "Wings. Explain."

I sigh, looking at the monkey, and Penny, and say, "Later. What happened?"

"Well." Ruby begins, "Sun, that the monkey faunus from the docks, fought with Blake against Torchwick, and were doing fairly well, until he got them with the cain, and escaped. But Penny stopped a lot of the airships with a cool laser beam, and her swords, which wook like your daggers, and crashed one, I was fighting the White Fang like all," She precedes to make several ninja noises, while spastically jumping around. "Then the police got here." she finishes.

I sit up, and we walk over to some crates that have been adapted into chairs. By being flipped over.

As Weiss walks up, Ruby quickly tries to explain, "Look Weiss, it's not what you think, she explained the whole thing. See, she doesn't actually have a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute..." Weiss ignores her and walks over to Blake.

Blake calmly says, "Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-"

Weiss demands, "Stop! Do you have any idea of how long we've been searching for you?" she pauses seeming to expect an answer, "Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in that twelve hours, I've decided..."

Yang, Sun, and Ruby look on, worried.

Weiss finishes, "I don't care."

Blake asks, surprised, as are all of us, "You don't care?"

Weiss asks, "You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"

Blake nervously says, "No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-"

Weiss waves her hand, "Ah-bah-bah-bah-bah! I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some..." glaring at Sun, "Someone else."

Blake looks the rest of us smiling, and wiping a tear away, nodding "Of course."

Weiss smiles and nods. The moment is serious for a second more until Ruby screams:

Ruby waving about madly, "Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!"

Weiss glares at Sun, "I'm still not quite sure about how I feel about you!" Sun laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

Ruby asks, looking around, "Hey, wait a minute... Where's Penny?"

After we get back to the room, Blake points, and has me sit, before asking, "Explain."

Weiss and Yang both look questioningly at me, as Ruby says, "He had wings, he put them into the path of Roman Torchwick's blast, then got hit with another."

Yang and Weiss both look to me waiting for an explanation of the wings. I stand, and shrug, as I reveal my wings to them again. "I should probably begin with apologizing for keeping them from you."

"You damn well should." Yang begins, "You could have flown down to Vale and gotten us any day of the week. Instead we needed to wait for a weekend, and get a ferry pass. Those things are cramped!"

"I really can't say anything, but what I was hiding was substantially smaller, but you can trust us." Blake says.

"Well it doesn't end here." I say, breathing deeply, and relaxing control, and when gasps are heard, I know there is no longer any turning back. I saw my reflection in the window across the room, and saw I hadn't changed any. Still carrying the same horrifying visage as before. I cracked my shoulders, and the white rolled down, and visible on my hands, were strange marking, new markings. Looking like some kind of eye. It gives my pause for a moment, and I look up to four very different reactions. Concern, fear, horror, and an unusual mix of confusion and interest. However the people showing them were what threw me.

Yang's fear, terror really, I could feel, in an almost blinding hue.

Weiss's confusion, fading away into a terrifyingly callous interest, before settling into a fearful look.

Blake's concern, presumably as to how this will affect our team, one that was just put back together.

However what truly hurt, was the horror and disgust Ruby had in her eyes. A gaze, glare really, had an intensity of anger and disgust that tore at my heart. Knowing that whatever trust we had was shattered, and in a moment, horror turned to hate. In the instant Crescent Rose came out, I had summoned my tent, and my belongings, with my Geist's tentacles, and was gone. As the shot rang out, only feathers were left where I had been. I flew up, and sharply curved, three stories up, and landed on the roof. I waved my hand, setting up my tent on little more than instinct.

Knowing that I had lost my team, and possibly every friend I had made here in an instant. I cried.