RWBY: Lost and Forgotten
Chapter 32
Chrome
Blake rushed towards the door but Ilia tried to stop her using her whip. Shooting at Ilia before it could reach Blake, she had to move her whip to block my shot, allowing Blake to leave. "You come in here to hide?" I asked her.
"I told you, I didn't want this."
"Yet you're still here!" I shouted.
"I don't have a choice!" she yelled back.
"There's always a choice!" I growled. "You could have chose to join my family back in the alley, but you led me into a trap! And now, there's another choice. Fight me, or lower your weapon and help my family." I pointed my sword at her. "What's it gonna be?" Ilia turned her head. "Fine. Just stay out of my way." turning to the door, I started walking towards it.
Seeing Ilia lunge at me out of the corner of my eye, I quickly faced her and blocked her whip with my swords. Pushing her back, I readied myself as I glared at my former friend.
Swinging her whip at me, I blocked it as I slowly backed up. Ilia pushed on with her attack until my back pressed against one of the desks. Ducking under another one of her swings, I created a glyph and used it to hold Ilia in place while I rolled over the desk.
Taking cover as Ilia swung her whip at me again, I quickly peeked over the desk and shot three rounds at her. She blocked each shot with her weapon.
Standing up as I shot another two rounds, I created a glyph behind me. Pulling the trigger again, I heard my weapon click, signaling the magazine was empty.
Seeing Ilia pull her weapon back, I ducked under it and shot an icicle at her. Hearing her grunt as the piece of ice hit her, I quickly reloaded my weapon before vaulting over the desk, rushing Ilia and locking one of my weapons with hers.
"Why do you feel like we have to harm innocent people to get our way?" I asked her.
"Because it works!"
"You really think that makes it right?!"
Ilia pulled the trigger on her weapon, sending an electrical charge that caused me to drop my weapon. Quickly kicking her away, I felt myself press against another desk. Rolling over it, I took cover.
"Stop lecturing me!"
Slowly peeking over the desk, I saw Ilia's mask laying in the middle of the floor. Suddenly, the lights in the room dimmed, engulfing the room in darkness.
"You do realize that won't work on me, right?" I shouted at her.
"Yeah, I do." Ilia's voice echoed in the room. Hearing footsteps approach from behind, I turned back and was met with a handful of dust in my eyes. Trying to wipe the dust from my vision, my eyes started to burn, causing me to growl in pain.
Feeling my legs get kicked out from under me, I landed on my side and felt something slash across my chest. "You brought this on yourself."
Keeping my eyes closed, I slashed my weapon at the source of her voice but felt no resistance on my blade. Rubbing and blinking my eyes, my vision slowly returned. Seeing Ilia standing over me, she raised her weapon into the air.
I saw her arms move before suddenly stopping. "Why is this so difficult?"
Finally clearing my vision, I pulled my leg back and kicked Ilia's thigh, causing her to fall backwards. Using my sleeve, I wiped the rest of the dust off my face as I got to my feet. "You won't be able to force yourself to kill me, Ilia." I slid the magazine out of my weapon before loading in a dust filled one.
With Ilia's camouflage, it was a bit difficult to see her. Aiming my weapon at the shrubs on the balcony, I shot a fire round into them, causing them to catch fire and spread, revealing Ilia.
Ilia let out a yell of frustration before swinging her whip at me again. Jumping backwards, I landed on the balcony railing. "Just stop, Ilia."
She swung her whip at me again but I grabbed it with my free hand and yanked on it, pulling her to me. Kicking her back into the ground, I dropped both of our weapons as I lunged at her. Landing on top of Ilia, I quickly grabbed both of her wrists and pinned them above her head.
"Ilia." I said softly as she struggled under my grip. "You're not a bad person, but you keep letting yourself follow all of the wrong paths."
"SHUT UP!"
"Do you think this is what your parents would've wanted?"
"I don't know what else to do!" Ilia shouted, her voice starting to break as tears welled up in her eyes. "I don't know what else to do..."
Hearing a loud crash, Corsac was thrown through the wall. Dad jumped into the room through the wall, growling at Corsac before his eyes landed on me. "Chrome!"
Suddenly, Fennec jumped on his back, stabbing his shoulder. "Dad!" I let go of one of Ilia's wrists. Looking back to her, I was met with her fist hitting my cheek. Stumbling back, Ilia pulled her foot back and kicked me into a nearby chair, causing me to stumble over it and land on my side.
Placing a hand on my knee, I slowly started rising to my feet, only to fall back to the ground as something hit my back, hard. "Ilia! What are you doing?! Fight!" Fennec shouted.
Fighting to my feet again, I looked over just as Corsac was knocked unconscious by a blast from Fennec's weapon, which dad had pointed towards. "BROTHER!"
Sun suddenly jumped in and kicked Fennec away before noticing Ilia and glaring at her. "Help Chrome!" dad told him.
"Got it!"
Sun engaged Ilia in combat, delivering a flurry of attacks from his shotgun nunchucks. Quickly overwhelming Ilia, Sun disarmed her and pressed her against one of the balconies pillars. Noticing the pillar start to crack, I got to my feet but had to steady myself by holding onto the desk. "Stop!" Sun and Ilia both looked at me. "Please."
Ilia managed to get free of Sun but fell to the ground in the process, directly under the crumbling balcony. Seeing the pillar give way, the balcony began to fall onto Ilia, only to be stopped by dad as he held the balcony up with his own strength. "Go!" he told Ilia, who quickly obeyed.
Sun used to of his copies to help dad hold the balcony. However, I noticed Fennec get up and turn to them. Charging towards my father, I quickly created a glyph under him and used it to pull my dad to safety as Fennec leapt under the balcony in an attempt to kill him, only to get himself crushed.
Falling to one knee as my aura broke, I held onto the desk just as mom and Blake walked in, dragging an unconscious Yuma. Ignoring my fatigue, I rushed over to hug my sister and mother. "What have you done?" Corsac got to his feet. "You ruined everything...EVERYTHIIIING!" suddenly, Ilia's whip wrapped around him, shocking him into unconsciousness.
Tears started streaming down her face as she fell to her knees. "I'm sorry."
Glancing at my family, I turned back to Ilia and walked up to her, offering my hand. Looking into my eyes, she wiped her tears before accepting the help up.
Minutes later
Walking outside, I sat down next to the entrance of our damaged home. Sun sat down next to me and let out a sigh. Leaning my head against the house, I closed my eyes to let them rest. "Blake!" dad suddenly said.
Opening my eyes, I saw Blake walk down a few of the steps before pausing. "Humans didn't do this." Blake said as she pointed at our house. "We did this: Faunus. We did this to ourselves. We are just as capable of hate and violence as the humans, but I don't think any of us would jump at the chance to point that out. So why are we letting Adam do it for us?! By doing nothing and staying silent, we let others speak and act in our place. And if we're not proud of the choices they make, then we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is the message that Adam Taurus will bring to the world if no one stops him. But we can stop him! You have to understand that all of you are looking for simple answers to a very complicated problem. And I can't give that to you. I don't know how to make hate go away, I don't. But I know that this kind of violence is not the solution. I understand that to ask you to leave your homes and protect Haven Academy is asking you to put your lives at risk. But that's what's at stake. So I'm going, and I'll stand by myself if I have to."
"I'll stand with you!" Ilia said, rising to her feet. I looked over to her and couldn't help but smile. "If... if you'd have me."
Ilia took a step forward but Saber, one of the Menagerie guards, stopped her. "You're not going anywhere!"
"Let her come." I said as I got to my feet.
"Huh?" he turned to me. "You're just going to forgive her? After everything she did?!"
"Yeah, I am." Walking next to them, I placed a hand on Ilia's shoulder.
"I'll go!" a ram Faunus moved to the front of the crowd. Followed by another.
"I'll go too!" more Faunus started raising their hands.
"I'll stand with you!"
"I'll go!"
"Yeah!"
"Me too!"
"Let's go!"
"Yeah, let's go!"
Smiling, I turned to Blake. "Guess we have more work to do."
Suddenly, Ilia jerked and grabbed her arm. "Ow!"
"Now we're even for you stabbing me." Sun told her with a smirk.
"We're gonna need transportation to reach Haven." mom said as she joined us.
"I think I know a ship captain who owes us a favor." Blake smiled.
End of chapter 32