Two days later, Blake, Julius, and the faunus boy who had introduced himself as Sun sat at a table outside of a café in the Vale city. They had been sitting in silence for some time, though Julius did try and make some casual conversation with Sun, finding out he was a Huntsman from Vacuo, though the conversations did not last long.
Finally Blake, after taking a sip from her tea, said. "So, you want to know more about me?"
"Finally, she speaks!" Sun said, "Been nearly two days and you've given me nothing but small talk and weird looks."
Blake glared at Sun, which only caused him to say. "Yeah, like that. You've been pretty chill though, Julius."
Julius shrugged. "What can I say? I'm easy to talk to."
"Sun," Blake said, "Have you heard of the White Fang?"
"Of course," Sun replied, "I don't think there's a faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them. Stupid creeps who use force to get whatever they want. Bunch of freaks of you ask me."
"See," Julius said, "when your own species starts calling you out like that is when you know you're going too far. If only they could get that through their thick skulls."
"I know right!" Sun agreed, then the two noticed Blake's glaring expression.
"Too much?" Julius asked.
"No," Blake said, her expression softening, "It's just that…I used to be a member of the White Fang."
Sun nearly choked on his tea. "Wait a minute, YOU were a member of the White Fang."
Blake nodded. "That's right. I've been a member for most of my life actually; you could almost say I was born into it. Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of unity and peace between the humans and the faunus. However, despite being promised equality, the faunus were still being subjected to discrimination and hate; humanity still thought of the faunus as lesser beings. And so, the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people, and I was there. I was at the front of every rally. I took part in every boycott. I actually thought we were making a difference, but I was just a youthful optimist; even at rallies, faunus were being discriminated and even beaten."
"Then, five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one rose up; a new leader with a new way of thinking. Suddenly, our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We set fire to shops that refused to serve us, hijacked cargo from companies that used faunus labor, and the worst part was, that it was working. We were being treated like equals, but not out of respect; out of fear. So I left; I decided that I would no longer use my skills to aid them in their violence, and would instead dedicate myself to becoming a Huntress. So here I am; a criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help of a little black bow." She finished, wiggling the cat ears under the bow.
"Were you the only one to leave?" Julius asked.
"No," Blake replied, "Someone else left before I did; his name was Hector. He was a good friend of mine, but what was interesting is that he was one of the most loyal soldiers, before something happened on a mission that made him leave. I once thought he was just being a coward, but now I think he may have seen what I know now about the White Fang, and just like me, he wanted no part of it."
"So, have you told your friends any of this?" Sun asked.
"Only Julius, but that was because he figured it out on his own. Plus, despite being a human, he's one of the very few who actually cares about the pain the faunus go through and will go out of his way to stand up for them."
Julius shrugged and smiled. "I know what having a target on your back just for being who you are feels like; it's something the faunus and I have in common. So, Blake, you said people at rallies were being beaten, but you sound like you've seen a pretty bad one firsthand."
"Not experienced, I WAS beaten."
"YOU!?" Sun and Julius said in unison.
"Yes, and it was when I was little. I'm not sure who it was, but they pulled from the front of the rally and started attacking me to make an example out of me. I thought I would be killed. But then, someone saved me, a boy who was about my age at the time, somehow got me out of there in time and helped me recover a little bit until my parents found me. I honestly don't know what was more shocking to them: that I had survived, or that the one helping me was a human."
Julius had to lean on the railing of the café for support as a very distinct memory resurfaced.
"You okay?" Sun asked.
"Hang on," Julius said, straightening back up. Whipping out his sketchbook, he flipped through the first few pages before he came to what he was looking for; so THAT is where he had seen Blake before!
"Blake," Julius asked, "Did the person who saved you have an eyepatch and one of his arms in a sling, by any chance?"
"How do you know that?" Blake asked.
Julius showed her the picture in his sketchbook. "Because I think our paths have crossed before."
Blake looked at the picture and widened her eyes in shock; it was a picture of her as a kid, covered in bandages, and next to her was a boy with an eyepatch on his left eye and his right arm in a cast, but now Blake recognized the boy as…
"Julius, it was you!" Blake said.
"Wait, you two…?" Sun said. Julius showed him the picture and said, "I was the one who rescued Blake that day. I saw her getting beaten, as the clan I was with was in town that day, so I ran up, tackled the one attacking her to the ground (which was pretty impressive considering I only had one hand at the time), then grabbed Blake and teleported away before his friends could stop me. After I helped her recover a bit, we actually became pretty close friends; heck, we even sent letters to each other for a time, though that was a long time ago."
"It was, though now that I think about it, didn't we end up fighting each other more recently without knowing it?" Blake asked.
Julius took out his scroll and flipped through a few recorded videos, having the same thought she was, then placed it on the table and started one of them, saying, "I think we did."
Blake looked, it was a video of Julius and a few other bandits raiding from a train. They were running across the top of the train while shooting back and her and Adam.
"Well, that's one way to ruin a friendship." Sun said.
"That's the thing." Julius explained, "It had been so long since we were even in contact at that point that I didn't even know it was her."
"Same here," Blake added, "But at least we recognize each other now. It's so good to see you again."
"Likewise, old friend," Julius said with a smile as the two shared a brief hug.
"Well," Sun interrupted, "Now that we've got the old friend reunion out of the way, what now?"
…
That same day, Penny and Novus were walking through town again, but this time it was because Penny had seen Ruby go in this direction and wanted to follow her, and of course, she wanted Slayer to go with her.
"Remind me again why this is a good idea." Novus said.
"I want to try and hang out with my friend, Ruby," Penny replied.
"You make it seem like you've never had friends before."
"Not really actually."
This caught him off guard. "Wait, seriously?"
Penny nodded. "I have hardly been allowed to leave my home in Atlas until now. You and Ruby are the first real friends I've ever had."
Novus started to feel bad for Penny, as well as understand where her excessive curiosity and awkwardness comes form. Just then, they spotted Ruby, Yang, and Weiss, which Penny immediately ran off after, Novus following close behind.
"I think, when you hear it, you'll realize I was right," Weiss said.
"And I think Weiss's hair looks wonderful today." Penny said, walking up behind them, causing Novus to facepalm in frustration. Team RWBY spun around, startled.
"Ah, Penny! Where did you come from?!" Ruby asked.
Novus walked up next to Penny. "Penny, we need to have a talk about getting people's attention later. How's it going by the way, girls?"
"Hey, Novus," Yang said.
"So, what are you guys doing?" Penny asked.
"We're looking for our friends, Blake and Julius." Yang said.
"Ohhh, you mean the one with the robot eye and the faunus girl." Penny said.
"What, how did you know she was…?" Ruby asked.
"Uh, the cat ears," Penny said.
"What do you mean, cat ears?" Yang said, "She wears a…bow…"
The group stood in silence for a few moments. Novus just shook his head in disappointment.
"It WAS kinda obvious," he said.
"She does like tuna a lot," Ruby whispered.
"So, where are they?" Penny asked.
"We don't know," Ruby replied, "They've been missing since Friday."
"That long, huh?" Novus said, "You guys scare them off or something?"
"No," Yang said, "Weiss just made Blake angry, that's all. Odds are, Julius went with her."
"It's not MY fault that she was a criminal." Weiss argued.
"A criminal?" Novus asked.
"Yes," Weiss said, "She's a White Fang member."
"Maybe," Ruby said, "We don't know anything for sure yet. All we need to focus on right now is finding her and Julius."
"We can find Blake, but I think Julius should be better left gone."
"You shouldn't say things like that," Yang said, "He's our friend, and our teammate just as much as Blake is. Besides, he probably went with Blake when she left, so we'll be finding them both, whether you like it or not."
"Well, count me in. I'd personally like to hear more about this." Novus said.
Penny walked up to Ruby and grabbed her arms. "As am I. Don't worry, Ruby, my friend, Novus and I will not rest until we find your teammates."
"That's really nice of you, Penny, but we-we're okay. Right guys?" Ruby said, looking over to where Weiss and Yang were standing, only to see that they weren't there anymore.
"Yeah, they walked away a few seconds ago," Novus said, "You sure you don't need help?"
Ruby sighed. "Fine, I guess we need a little help."
Novus nodded. "Don't worry, I'll try not to be a drag."
"Why would you drag Ruby?" Penny asked.
"I'm not going to literally drag her. It's a metaphor. It means I won't be too disruptive. Come to think of it, you probably should be too."
"I will certainly try." Penny said.
"Well, we should probably keep going then," Ruby said.
"Lead the way," Novus said, and the three continued walking in search of Julius and Blake.