Chapter six: Who's who?

"PLEASE! NO! DO-!"

I smirked as I moved my blade across the man's throat, my beauty carving easily through his fragile flesh as my tail kept pumping potent poisons into his wife, keeping her sedated. She was still alive, but all she could do was watch as I killed her husband. I let out a little laugh as I swung my blade around, licking the blood off of it. I smiled, "You're already looking thirty years younger beautiful~" I said, seeing the red blood, what I hadn't licked off anyway, carving flows of red into the tarnished steel of my precious blade. I looked over, seeing a small dog looking at me. I could sense the disbelief, I could tell what it was. A little faunus. "Show them your true nature, she can't stop you anymore~" I said, giving an insane smirk towards the little… chihuahua if I had to guess the breed.

The little dog complied, closing her eyes as her 'master's' eyes widened. I kept her paralyzed until the little dog became a little girl, almost as tall as my waist, with the dog ears and brown hair she had in her dog state. Her face was horrified, "Why… why did you hurt them?" "I got bored." I replied, causing her little faunus eyes to widen even more. I looked back, taking my tail out from the woman as she slumped over, splayed out on the floor in her nightgown, like her husband was in his pajamas. I gently set my blade on the ground, kicking her over to the little faunus girl. "Sorry sweetie…" I thought with a frown as the girl looked down, seeing my blade resting at her feet. "One of you is going to die. You decide who it is. Will you kill yourself and save this wretched whore? Or will you do the world a favor and end her life? I'm giving you ten seconds, or I'm killing you both~" I said, giving her an insane smirk as I stepped back, standing on the dead husband's chest.

The woman was trying to move, her chest moving up and down as her panicked eyes met the little faunus's. "Ten." I said. The girl looked at the blade, seeing herself reflected in my babies bloody lense. She was thinking about it. "Nine." She slowly walked over to the whore, her hands shaking as she looked down at the woman. "Eight." The woman was crying now, silent tears slipping down her face as she opened her mouth, trying desperately to fight through the poison and speak. "Seven." The girl was shaking wildly, my baby shaking and throwing beams of light everywhere as I crouched down, ready to pounce. This was normally when they'd try and play hero if they were weak. "Six." The girl slowly set the blade down, the woman's eyes focused on it, being as it was only a few inches from her face. "Five." I looked down, giggling as I saw that the woman's white nightgown was suddenly yellowed towards the front. She was good and terrified now. "Four." I saw tears coming from the girl's eyes as she shook. "Please… please don't make me kill her…"

"Three." I said, smiling as I showed her I had no intention of listening to her pleas. She would kill that human, or herself, or I would kill both. "Two." the girl slowly shut her eyes, taking a few breaths as I felt disappointment setting in. She was going to kill herself, the blade was ready to slice her open. "One." "I'M SORRY!" I froze as I saw the girl swing down, striking against the human's neck over and over, making messy cuts. The woman was spitting out blood for a few seconds before she stopped, lying still against the ground. The girl kept hitting her, using my poor blade like a baseball bat. I just let her, knowing better than to interrupt someone while they were wildly swinging a blade. After a minute she stopped, tears streaming down her face as she looked down at the mess she'd made. It was a mess, there were no patterns, no elegant blood flows, only wild strikes… it did make a kind of ironic beauty though.

"What are you douuuuuh." the girl said, falling to the ground as I gently prodded her rear with my stinger. Her eyes shut as she fell, her breath steadying as I grabbed my blade. I walked over to the human woman, making one quick slice across her throat, trying to correct the work that the little faunus had done. "No fixing this mess… oh well." I thought as I picked up the small girl, swinging her over my shoulder as I sheathed my blade, wrapping my tail around my waist so it looked to be a belt. I started humming as I walked out of the small, country home. I looked off in the distance, seeing the city lights as I smirked, "One, two, I'm coming for you. Three, four, lock the doors." I started softly singing, slowly walking towards the city in the distance. I'd drop the girl off with the White Fang, they'd make a decent home for her. I started laughing to myself as I envisioned my target, Weiss Schnee, the little toddler. If she was anything like her mother or her father, she'd have white hair, white skin, and blue eyes.

"A blank canvas I can paint red… I can hardly wait~"

"Are you sure it was her sir?"

I looked down at the man sitting in his chair, the cane, gray hair, and small ovular glasses giving away who it was rather easily. He just slowly nodded, his eyes taking on a much more serious tone as he sipped at his coffee mug. "Yes… the name isn't the same, but you've described a woman that has the exact resemblance to the Pale Lady." he said. I slowly nodded, still finding it hard to believe that that woman that had wanted to compete with me for a job at the Beacon Pet Center was the legendary 'Pale Lady'. "What do I do?" I asked, shrugging slightly as I sat down, feeling as if this conversation would take awhile. I reached up, lightly tugging on my bow, not enough to undo it of course, but enough that it gave my hand something to focus on. "You wait… he'll give you a call soon enough, when he does, you answer like nothing is wrong. This 'Maria Long', or whatever name she's using this time, doesn't know who or what you are. She has no reason to suspect you, just play your role." he said. Sure enough, not a minute after he'd said it, I got a call. I reached down, fishing around in my pocket for my scroll as I held it up. "Hello?"

"Hello? Is this Blake Belladonna?"

I felt my eyes widen that Ozpin had guessed what would happen so correctly, but I nodded regardless, "Yes, this is she." "Good, I've been trying to get ahold of you for awhile now but I couldn't get through. Anyway, I'm calling about the job." I heard him say. No wonder he couldn't get through to me. When you were separated by fifty feet of concrete and rock, it was hard to reach someone via scroll. "Did I get the job?" "Well… not exactly. I want you coming in for work tomorrow, we open at six. Consider it a… trial run. If all goes well… then we'll talk more." he said. I looked up, seeing Ozpin nodding and smiling slightly towards me. I fought back a sigh of a relief as I looked down, committing the scroll number, likely Jaune's personal one, to memory as quickly as I could before I spoke. "Okay… I look forward to working with you Mr. Arc." "Please, just call me Jaune." I heard him say.

I nodded, "Alright, Jaune. I'll be there tomorrow. Goodbye." "Goodbye." Jaune echoed as the line went dead. I moved my scroll back around in front of me, quickly typing in the number and saving it as Jaune Arc. I looked up at Ozpin, who just smiled at me. "Here's your directive Blake. Not that you'll need it I'm sure." he said, handing me what looked to be a dark brown docket. I picked it up, nodding towards him as I stood, pushing in my hair and walking towards the door. "Shoes Blake." he said quickly as I was about to walk out the door. I looked down, seeing my socks as I felt my face flush slightly. How did I forget I had to take my shoes off every time I walked in here? I stepped back, quickly flipping my high heeled boots with my feet as I slipped them on, reaching down and buckling them before I stood, walking out the door. I heard it shut behind me as I looked off to the left. It felt strange looking out at what equated to a sewer tunnel when I was just in such a clean office. I walked forwards, reaching down and flicking the small, nearly unnoticeable lever near the bottom of the outer brick wall. I heard the grinding of gears as the walls slid back, shutting the pristine white door behind them.

I turned off to the left, heading down the old, abandoned sewer tunnel towards the manhole cover as I started thinking about what I would do. I mean, the Pale Lady was responsible for the deaths of dozens, maybe even hundreds of our agents. She was one of the most well trained of the huntsmen, with reflexes that let her go toe to toe with even the most naturally advanced and highly trained faunus. "Hope I don't have to end up fighting her… she might actually be able to beat me." I thought as I saw the familiar ladder that lead up into my designated retreat. We left out of different one's and entered out of different one's each time, kept the huntsmen guessing as to where we were. I started climbing up the ladder, grabbing each rusted rung with a hint of disgust. I knew we were in an abandoned sewer, but it didn't make climbing up rusty ladders any more pleasant.

I pushed open the manhole cover, looking up as I saw the starry night sky above me. I stepped out, moving the cover back behind me before I stood, brushing down my black shirt to get some of the dirt off of it. I looked around, and just started walking down the alley, heading towards my hideout. "Don't move bitch." I heard a voice say. I froze up, pretending to be scared as I held up my hands. Hopefully it was just some thug and not a huntsman. I looked behind me, fighting back a sigh of relief as I saw a man in a hoodie, holding a nailed board in his hands. There were two more next to him, each holding what looked to be rusty pipes. "Hand ove-" "Hold it Sky… we caught ourselves quite a cutie didn't we?" one of them with a rusted pipe said, and I could feel his eyes moving around my body. I stepped back, letting my face tinge red as I pretended to be embarrassed. The one with the board, Sky apparently, spoke, "I wouldn't know remember?" he said, looking towards the other guy. The other one just slowly nodded, moving his hands around a bit.

"Right, right… always forget. Anyway, what I'm saying is maybe her lien… ain't gonna cover the fee on it's own. Though… those shoes look like they'd fetch quite a price don't they?" the other one said, gesturing his pipe towards my feet. The other one, who was slightly taller than the others, decided to just put it bluntly. "Bitch strip naked and then come home with us, let's cut all the toying with her bullshit Russel." he said, looking towards the other one with the pipe. Sky just sighed, slowly shaking his head as I started slowly backing up, putting a bit of distance between myself and the arguing thugs. I could take them all if I needed to, but I'd rather avoid having to fight. "You two always do this, you want to fuck every girl we hold up," he said, pointing towards Russel, "Cardin wants to just get it over with," he said, gesturing to the bigger man, "And I have to step between you before the girl gets away. See! She's doing it right now!" he said, gesturing towards me to find that I'd backed away at least five feet.

Russel sighed, "Alright fine, we'll compromise, you can take her from the front and I'll take her from the back." "That doesn't even relate to the conversation." Cardin said, glaring towards his shorter companion. Russel glared at him, jabbing him in the stomach with his pipe. I would leave but, it was almost humorous watching the three go at it. "Don't care! I want this bitch tied up and fucked every way from Sunday, are we gonna rob her and then get busy or not?!" "Not if you two keep acting like this!" Sky said, glaring between them. It seemed he was the only one that noticed I was now ten feet away, nearing the other edge of the alley. Cardin growled as he loomed over Russel, "Why do you always want to fuck anyone we rob anyway? Why not just get a girlfriend?!" "I've got a girlfriend jackass! You know she won't fuck around with the likes of me… literally."

"You haven't got a girlfriend." Cardin said, gripping his pipe a bit tighter. Russel glared at him, swinging his own pipe around and hitting his palm. "You callin' me a liar?!" "I ain't callin' ya for dinner!" Cardin yelled in response as he swung at Russel, Russel ducking and tossing his pipe as I saw the two get in a fistfight. Sky just sighed, walking over to me as I stepped back. Though, he just tossed the board, walking past me and towards the street. "Uhh… what was that?" "Idiots being idiots." Sky replied to my question, walking over and sitting down on the sidewalk. I stood next to him, standing next to a lamppost and looking down over at him. He was actually rather short up close, his head only maybe coming up to my chest, his face was hidden by a hood, but even then I could tell he was a bit depressed. "You okay?" I asked, deciding to sit down, honestly not even afraid at this point. Those two were still fighting, and I could take on one person easily. He sighed, "First my mother dies, then I get put in a hellhole of an orphanage, then I run away with these two idiots and try to make a living as muggers… we couldn't even rob an old lady because those two kept argueing about the way to do it!" he said, throwing his arms up in frustration.

"So yeah, I'm just fine." he said, his voice laden with sarcasm as he set his chin on his hand, looking out into the street at the cars passing. I leaned forwards, seeing a flash of pale white skin as he moved back, frowning towards the other side of the road. "You don't look like criminal type." I said. I should know, I'd seen plenty of criminals in my line of work, and he didn't look like any of them… heck in the eyes of the law I was a criminal. He slowly shook his head, sighing as he turned to me, exposing a pair of blue eyes. "Yeah… what choice have I got though? Not many jobs are gonna let me in when the highest education I have is in middle school. Not to mention I'm only seventeen." he said, tossing back his hood, revealing his hair to be silver. I just shrugged, leaning back against the light pole as I gave him a little smile, "Well… isn't there something that you can do better than anyone else? Or that you enjoy doing?" I asked.

"Other than cultivating plants, I worked alot with botany… turns out there's no jobs in it around here though." "Why not open a flower shop?" I said. I wasn't lying either, of all the shops in Vale there actually weren't any flower shops, at least, none that grew their own flowers. Most people would have to go pick them from the meadows around the city. He scoffed, "A florist? I still have my dignity woman!" "Dignity doesn't exactly put food on the table now does it?" I said, smiling slightly. He looked up, opening his mouth to speak, but then he sighed, turning away and standing up, walking off towards the left. "You make a point actually… thanks." he said, looking over his shoulder. I just smiled, waving towards him as he walked away. I couldn't help but keep smiling as I walked away, the ongoing fight between Cardin and Russel fading away behind me.

"Never thought I'd be able to talk someone out of crime so easily…"

"Bark! Bark!"

I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes, seeing my vision slightly blurry as I tried looking around. I felt it on my face before I saw the little husky puppy. I chuckled as I reached over, grabbing her and sitting upright, lightly running my hands along the top of her head. "Better than an alarm clock, that's for sure." I muttered as I stood up, walking over to the still sleeping toddler across from me, laying in her own crib. I walked over to the door leading into the shop, setting Ruby down and cracking it open. "Go get your sister!" I said, watching as she skittered out of the room before I shut the door. She'd open it in a second anyway. I turned around, walking over and getting on one knee as I looked at Weiss. "Still sleeping… probably a good thing." I thought as I reached over, surprised to find that, once I pulled the covers back, her diaper wasn't wet in the slightest.

I chalked it up to luck more than anything, setting her back in and tucking her in as well, walking into the bathroom to get ready for the day. When I walked out, I saw that Ruby, Yang, and Pyrrha were all sitting, right in front of the door that lead out. I looked down, smiling slightly as I heard a tiny little yawn. There, laying in her crib, I saw two little blue eyes gazing up at me, a small smile adorning the pale face of Weiss. "How're you doing?" I asked, slipping into that babyish voice I used with Ruby so often, picking her up and holding her at arm's length above me, as I'd done with other children many times. She let out a few giggles as I moved her back, cradling her in one arm and tickling her with the other. After a few seconds I set her back into my arms, walking past Yang and Pyrrha as Ruby jumped up around my legs, the five of us entering the store. I sat down on the familiar stool behind the counter, pulling open the filing cabinet drawer and gently laying Weiss in it, and maybe I just wasn't thinking, but I leaned down and planted a little kiss on her forehead. "I'll be right back okay?" I said, smiling at her.

Then I stood, walking around and restocking the shelves, taking inventory, feeding the animals, the usual things I did every morning. Strangely though, I found that my eyes kept wandering back over to the tiny bundle of white directly behind the counter, concealed from view. Every little noise and I nearly dashed over there, wondering if something was wrong, fearing the cabinet had broken. Of course, Yatsuhashi made it, and the stuff he made was built to last. I knew I was worried for nothing. I'd just finished my morning checklist when I heard a knocking on the glass door outside. I looked over, smiling slightly as I saw the familiar figure, clad in a black jacket with a white shirt beneath, a pair of skinny jeans, and the little black bow and sunglasses, walk up to the door, smiling and waving at me. I gave her a smile, waving back as I walked over, grabbing out my keys and opening the door as I always did. "You're early." "I prefer being early over being late." she said, walking in as I shut the door behind her, twisting the sign from closed to open.

"Punctual, I like that." I thought, a good quality to have in an employee. At least I wouldn't have to worry about her being late anytime soon. She walked towards the counter, stopping right in front of it as Yang and Pyrrha both walked in front of her. She reached down, petting Yang with a smile. "How're you doing girl?" she asked. Yang barked in response, panting as Blake rubbed behind her ear. Yang seemed to like her, "Oh, how's your daughter by the way?" she asked, smiling back at me. I raised an eyebrow, but then my face paled as I realized what she was talking about. Weiss. She'd seen me at the supply store being baby items for her, she'd seen Weiss and me… maybe she recognized the dogs. "Granted, if I'd known I had to keep her a secret, I wouldn't have brought them in the store." I thought. Not many people in Vale could say they had a husky puppy, a half-dhole half-fox, and a german shepherd that followed them around everywhere without the need of leashes. Even the puppy.

"Oh, umm… about that. She's not mine, not really. It's uh… it's complicated." I said, rubbing a hand behind my head as I tried to think of a way to explain this. She already knew who Weiss was, so I couldn't just lie and pretend she didn't exist. Not to mention Yang and Pyrrha could only keep her away from the counter for so long. She raised an eyebrow, "Would you mind explaining?" "Look all I can say is that she's supposed to be a secret, I'm supposed to make sure no one knows she's here." I said, holding my hands up and hoping against hope that she wouldn't ask anymore questions. No such luck it seemed, as her expression seemed to get even more confused. "What? Is she someone important?" "I don't know alright, all I know is someone somewhere is paying me to keep her safe and hidden." I said. It was true enough, that was the reason that I could even afford a new employee in the first place, considering the large sum of lien that had been deposited, and would be for the foreseeable future, into my bank account yesterday.

Blake just nodded, smiling slightly at me. "Alright then, you're my boss, not my business." she said, holding up her hands. I was conflicted as to whether I should be relieved or confused. On one hand, I was relieved that I didn't have to reveal to her the entire Winter conversation, but I was also confused as to why she accepted it so easily. "Well who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth?" I thought as I smiled towards her, giving her a slight nod. "I'd uh… also appreciate it if you could keep this between us, alright? Like I said, she's kind of a secret." I said. She walked over towards me, smirking slightly as she looked towards the counter. "Well, I do always keep secrets between me and my employer…" she said, looking up before rolling her eyes back to me. It was easy to tell she was blackmailing me to get the job. If I didn't give to her, what would keep her from talking about Weiss. Well if she expected me to roll over and give in so easily…

She'd be right.

"Well, I am your employer, and I'm telling you to keep this a secret." I said, giving her a small smile, hoping against hope that she was actually a good employee. She just nodded, smiling at me as she looked down at Yang and Pyrrha. "Understood. So… what now?" "I'll be organizing the storefront, do you think you can handle feeding the animals in the adoption center?" I asked, planning on doing things the way I always did, just maybe with me having to do less of the work for a change. She just nodded, walking towards the familiar door, but then she stopped, smiling at me. "I look forward to working for you Jaune." she said. The door shut behind her as I sighed, walking towards the same door, Ruby jumping around my feet. Had to be careful not to hit her. I walked in, heading to the right as I saw Blake grabbing a large bag of dogfood, the animals starting to bark as they began stirring. I turned right, heading in through a door marked 'supply room', the place I kept the rest of my inventory, provided someone actually bought something other than dog-food.

I grabbed out two boxes, as not much had been sold the past couple of days, and started walking towards the actual door. "WAAAH!" though, I hadn't counted on a piece of paper being where my foot was going to go. I shut my eyes as I felt the boxes leave my hands, likely about to crash into the floor. I braced for impact but, strangely, I didn't feel anything. I opened my eyes, feeling my face tint pink as I saw Blake standing over me. I felt one of her hands behind my neck, the other beneath my knees. I looked down, seeing that Blake had stopped both boxes from hitting the ground, balancing them on one foot, holding herself up with the other. I looked up at her, amber eyes meeting blue ones, and she smiled. "Have a nice trip?" "Yeah, I'll see you next fall." I said, smiling up at her as I managed to get a slight giggle out of her. I looked down, seeing her slowly setting the boxes down on a nearby table before standing back on her own two feet. "Uhh, can you put me down now?" I asked.

She complied, standing me upright rather quickly as I stumbled forwards, getting my bearings. She turned away, walking towards the bag of dogfood she'd seemingly abandoned to catch me… hold on, "How did she get over here that fast? That bags almost twenty feet down the hall." I thought as she reached the bag, picking it up and dumping about the right amount of food into each dog's respective bowl. I watched her for a few seconds before I turned around, grabbing the boxes and heading back out into the front of the store. "Eh, maybe she's an athlete? Would explain why she could carry me and those boxes so easily." I thought. Yeah… yeah that made the most sense out of the explanations I could come up with. I shut the door behind me, laying the top box on the counter and starting to restock the shelves with what I had on the bottom box, mostly leashes and collars. I hadn't restocked in awhile. I finished the box and was about to start the second one whenever I heard the familiar high pitched crying.

I set the box back on the counter and moved around, pulling the filing cabinet drawer out and quickly picking up the small, white haired girl. She quickly leaned against me, a smile forming on her face. I raised an eyebrow, slightly confused. I reached down and felt her diaper, not wet or lumpy in the slightest. Had she really just… missed me? "No, that couldn't be it. Babies form attachments to their parents when they're younger than two years old right?" I thought to myself. There was no way she was so attached to me so soon, she just… she must've just been having a nightmare or something. Though, when I looked down, her eyes were wide open, and she was smiling at me. I couldn't help but smile back at the adorable little girl, a strange, warm feeling hitting my chest. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew I'd felt it before. Whenever I was feeding her, changing her, once even bathing her, I felt it. Why couldn't I figure out what it was?

"Sure she's not yours? You seem pretty good with her." I would've jumped if not for the child in my arms when I heard that voice. I looked up, smiling slightly in relief when I saw Blake standing there, apparently already done with feeding the dogs. Not that I was surprised, there weren't that many of them. The store was only so big. "Do you need me to finish restocking the shelves?" "No, better to let me handle that much. Though… do you think you could hold Weiss for a minute?" I asked, standing up and slightly holding the young child forwards. Blake just nodded, meeting the girl's eyes. "I'd be glad to." she said, holding out her own arms. I was about to let Weiss down… but I hesitated. She'd never been held by anyone but me… no, it would be fine. Blake wouldn't be so heartless as to hurt a child, at least I hoped not. Getting over my inner struggle, I laid the girl in Blake's arms. Though, just as I walked out from around the counter, I heard Weiss's little cries again. I looked back, seeing her hands making little grabbing motions towards me. "What is it Weiss? Do you want Jaune?" Blake asked. I turned, about to just go on with my work, when one sound pierced the air, better than anything I'd ever heard before it.

"Pa-pa!"

I froze as I spun around, looking down towards Weiss, my eyes slowly widening. "Was that…" "Pa-pa!" There was no mistaking it now. Weiss was making those motions towards me. I was the one she was calling papa. I felt that same feeling in my chest, stronger than ever. I couldn't help the smile that sprung to my face as I walked over, picking up Weiss and cradling her to my chest. She smiled right back, almost nuzzling her head into my chest. "Pa-pa!" "That's right sweetie, papa's here." I said, almost out of instinct putting a more babyish tone on it, gently rocking the girl back and forth. I saw Blake moving out of the corner of my eye, grabbing the box I'd not yet taken. "Was that her first words?" "Yeah… it was." I said, looking down towards the child in my arms. Her eyes were shut as she seemed… content, seemed to be the right word, content to just lay there against my chest. I walked back behind the counter, sitting on my stool and just smiling at the girl. I was still finding it hard to believe… that she was calling me papa. "Don't worry Weiss," I thought to myself, making a promise, right then and there.

"Papa's here. And he always will be."