Battle between Brothers part 2

( Normal pov )

What happened to me? The last thing I remember was thinking about how much I wanted to tell everyone the truth and the next thing I know it's dark and now my brain feels like it wants to climb out of my skull. As I slowly began to open my eyes I quickly noticed that I was lying in bed and it was completely dark out. Just how long have I been unconscious for? As I tried sitting up I noticed Blake had her head rested on my leg and her hand was holding mine, she must have been so worried about me that she stayed to keep an eye on me. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I noticed Jonathan over on his bed and he looked a little out of it as well. I didn't know that our curse could become so strong like that, it was the first time I ever experienced that kind of pain, I didn't know what was going on but I was hoping that Ozpin had the answers I needed. As I carefully got out of bed I went over to the restroom to wash my face, as I did I felt this odd burning sensation on my back, it wasn't painful but it was still weird so I took off my shirt to see if I was injured or something like that. When I got a good look I was completely horrified at the sight, I had these black markings on my back that resembled burn marks and when I looked at it in my mirror the markings revealed to be a symbol that I knew all too well. On my back was Venom's spider symbol, after taking a moment to get over the initial shock of what I was seeing I noticed the symbol resembled the one from Web of Shadows.

Carlos: ( Okay this is bad, this is seriously bad. Why the heck do I have Venom's symbol on back?! )

I tried hard not to freak out right now, mostly because if I did I would wake up Blake and the last thing I needed was to make her worry even more than I already did. As I put my shirt back on and made my way back into bed I accidentally bumped into my desk and it was enough to wake Blake up.

Carlos: ( Nice going there Spidey, you may have gotten abilities of a spider, but the grace of one you do not. )

As she woke up she quickly noticed I was awake and she didn't hesitate to knock me over onto my bed while holding me tight on the way down. I tried to pry her arms off of me since she was kind of cutting of my circulation but as I did I noticed she was crying into my chest so I just held her close to me in the hopes of calming her down. After a few minutes more she seemed to get a little better and just settled herself closer to me.

Blake: I'm so glad your awake, I was getting worried about you.

Carlos: I know, and I'm sorry that I scared you girls, I don't understand why that happened.

Blake: Don't lie to me.

Carlos: Huh?

Blake: I said don't lie to me.

I looked at her expression and I could easily see that she wasn't in the mood for me to try and avoid the subject. I slowly got up again and I convinced her to walk with me out to the courtyard, even though it was late we didn't really care about breaking any rules, at least not tonight. As we made it to our destination we simply sat down on one of the benches while holding hands the whole time.

Carlos: ( I'm sure she's aware about what's happening to me. Judging by her earlier statement, not to mention what happened before I blacked out it's definitely possible. )

I tried starting off the conversation but I didn't know how. A part of me believes that the trust I worked on building between us was beginning to crumble, I didn't want to put Blake in this position. No doubt she felt like she was being betrayed again and it was all my fault. Suddenly I felt her squeeze my hand gently as she has done many times before, when our eyes met I saw that warm smile that always comforted me.

Blake: Carlos, you know that you mean everything to me, and I know that I mean everything to you. I understand that you may have your secrets, we all do, which is why I want you to share them. If not with everyone than at least with me.

I knew she meant it, that she honestly wanted me to trust her enough that I would confide in her. Under normal circumstances I would, but our situation was anything but normal. Rather than say anything I let go of her hand and stood up, she was about to come up to me until she noticed I was lifting the bottom of my shirt to show her the mark on my back.

Carlos: Blake, you know that I have complete faith in you, that I love you with all that I am. Only I can't say anything that could jeopardize our mission, not because I don't want to, but because I can't.

In my mind I could only imagine the look of disappointment on her face. Any minute now I was expecting her to yell at me, asking me why I couldn't trust her or why did I lie to her. It honestly broke my heart that I was about to hurt her again. She has already gone through so much and here I am about to add even more for her to deal with.

( Blake's pov )

I couldn't help but stare at the mark on his back, for some reason that mark made me feel uneasy and it wasn't just because it looked like it was burned onto his skin. It wasn't like the other symbols I saw in some of his drawings, this one seemed like it was meant to represent something dark, something evil. When he said he wanted to tell me what was happening but he couldn't I could tell by the pain in his voice that he was being serious. He still doesn't know that Ruby and Yang's uncle told us about his curse. Now I understand that he was unable to say anything too important otherwise who knows what would happen. I began to feel my heart break, but not because I felt like he was hiding something, it was because he had to carry this burden in silence when we could've been helping him and his brother otherwise. As I made my way to him I could see tears fall from his eyes as I slowly went to face him so I could hold him properly. We just stood there in silence for what felt like hours just to feel a sense of normalcy if only for a moment. As he calmed down I decided to lead us back to his room and just sleep with him for the rest of the night, in a few hours the exhibition match would start and I just couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen, so we just held each other as if it were our last time doing this.

( Normal pov )

As morning arrived once again I awoke to see Blake waking up at the same time as me. When I got up I got a message from Ozpin saying to be prepared for today. It took me a second to realize that I had been unconscious for about a day so today was the day that Jonathan and I would fight in the arena. After getting myself ready I decided that if Ironwood already suspected that Spider-Man and I were one and the same than it was no use hiding it so I opened up the secret compartment that Jonathan installed underneath my bed and took out my spider jacket and web shooters. Not long after that Jonathan woke up and got ready himself. As we finished getting our things set we received a knock on our door, Blake opened it to reveal some Atlas soldiers waiting for us.

Soldier: We are under orders to escort today's combatants to the arena. Please follow us gentlemen.

Before we left the room I went over to Blake and told her something important. After that I gave her one last kiss before the soldiers insisted that I hurried along. As we made our way to the bullhead several of the students of Beacon were watching as we passed them by. From among them I could hear their whispers about today's fight, some of them were even talking about me being Spider-Man since they weren't fully aware of me being a faunus in the first place. Soon we suddenly had to split up with Jonathan and I heading in different directions, after getting on the bullhead my spider sense quickly put me on high alert as I noticed the whole ship was filled with soldiers and guns.

Carlos: ( This isn't good, I know that Ironwood is extremely cautious and that he has something against Spider-Man but this seems like...)

Jonathan: ...Overkill

That's weird, I almost jumped out of my skin. I was sure that Jonathan was taken to a separate bullhead so why was I hearing his voice right now?

Jonathan: Calm down, I know what you're thinking and yes we are on separate bullheads and you are hearing my voice right now. I'm using remote piloting on my stealth armor and communicating with you using a frequency only audible to faunus.

Over at the second bullhead Jonathan was sitting down while wearing his tech glasses. Unlike me the only soldiers there were the ones who came to pick us up and they were too busy piloting the ship to even keep an eye on him.

Jonathan: I guess Ironwood is really suspicious of you and that's why you're completely surrounded by soldiers. I got a tip from Ozpin the other day saying that he was close to figuring out your identity and I was going to warn you until I passed out.

I looked around and every soldier was on alert, several of them had their fingers at the trigger ready to open fire at a moments notice.

Jonathan: Listen we only have a few minutes so I'll try and keep this brief, you and I both know that we could easily call out Ironwood if we wanted to. Heck I could even hack into the bullhead I'm in right now and take the fight to him if I felt like it, but we both know that he's been acting differently so we aren't sure just how far he might go to capture you, he might even go so far as to arrest the others or worse.

Just the thought of Ironwood arresting the others was enough for me to stay put, I didn't want to put our friends in that kind of position just because they knew me.

Jonathan: As it stands we have no choice but to go along with Ironwood's little performance. Also you may not want to hear this but I think the two of us should fight like we mean it.

Is he crazy?! Does he really want me to go all out?!

Jonathan: Look I know you think that it's a bad idea, but if anything it might show Ironwood that we aren't to be messed with. Even if he still considers us his enemies we can still show him that we aren't afraid to fight back if we have to. Just think about it, I'll see you at the arena. Take care big bro.

It was really difficult for me to hear all that while keeping a straight face. Honestly he did make a good point, but at the same time I couldn't get this uneasy feeling to go away and I just didn't know what to do. After a few minutes more we finally arrived and the guards all led me to the entrance of the arena. To say I was really nervous was a complete understatement, but I had to put on a brave face and go along with my brother's plan no matter how much I didn't like it. As I made my way outside the cheers of everyone watching began to grow louder with every step I took. Soon a bright light temporarily blinded me and once I could see again I was stunned by all the people around me.

Carlos: ( Woah, that's a lot of people. )

After taking a quick moment to look around I spotted team CFVY in the stands as well as teams JNPR and RWBY. They all looked really worried and who could blame them. Soon enough Jonathan came out from the other side and I could tell he was trying hard not to let his social anxiety get the better of him with everyone watching.

Port: Welcome everyone to today's exciting exhibition match. This one is sure to be unlike anything we have witnessed so far in this year's Vytal Tournament.

Oobleck: Correct, this match will be between fellow teammates Carlos Ortiz and Jonathan Stark of Beacon Academy. Both members of our schools only two man team: team AVGR.

Port: Yes, not only will this be a fight between teammates, but more importantly a clash between brothers. Who will be left standing in the end is anyone's guess. Will the young genius Stark come out as the victor with his intellect and technology? Or maybe Ortiz with his blades and his animalistic attributes?

Oobleck: The time has come to finally answer that question. For this match we will be using the same rules as normally applied to team matches, the arena will be split into two different landscapes and the match will end when one or the other is either knocked out of bounds or has their aura depleted.

Soon the arena began to shift into its selected battle fields with an ice field behind Jonathan and a ruined city behind me. As the arena settled we backed away from each other as the audience both here in the stands as well as those watching on t.v. grew silent. Once we were far enough away I took out my swords and infused my blades with wind and hard light dust while Jonathan used his nanotech to make his jet boots and a red and gold replica of the Buster Sword from Final Fantasy that began to surge with electricity. As the countdown began we each took our stance and prepared for battle. Once the signal to begin rang we both rushed forward with Jonathan using his jets at max speed while I ran at him with all that I had

Jonathan: CARLOS!!!!!

Carlos: JONATHAN!!!!!

Upon reaching halfway I fused my attacks together while Jonathan added rocket propulsion to his sword and increased the voltage on his weapon, once we met at the center of the arena we didn't hesitate to strike at full force. As the clash of our attacks connected an explosion of force began to erupt with the crowd loving what they just witnessed. The battle between brothers has begun once again.