Chapter 8: Runaway
Blake stared at the roof, thoughts buzzing a million miles a minute. They all lead back to where this started, to her family, and to him. She remembered her life on Menagerie, and her parent's various ventures into the human's territories for peaceful protests, for equality, as leaders of the White Fang.
When Blake was ten, she came along with them, her parents deciding that she was finally old enough to see what they were fighting for, attending an organized peaceful rally in Atlas, against the Schnee Dust Company. However, this was the first of many White Fang protests to turn violent, all starting with one police officer bumping one deer Faunus a bit too hard, resulting in a full-blown riot. In the chaos she was separated from her parents, nearly getting trampled by a panicked mob, but was saved by a twelve-year-old boy, with red hair and small bull horns.
Adam was an orphan, his parents dying in a dust mine collapse, and after an argument with a particularly cruel official who tried to write off the death, was branded across his face with the SDC logo, permanently scaring him in bright red letters. He kept Blake safe during the riot, and when his parents eventually found them, he was invited to come live with Blakes family on Menagerie. Ghira, her father, saw an individual with a strong sense of justice, and a living representation of who the White Fang was fighting for.
When he was sixteen when he joined the organization, working with Ghira and Sienna Kahn, and started to make some real strides for the recognition of Faunus rights, vandalizing stores that wouldn't serve them, and liberating Faunus workers from the SDC's death trap of mines. However, Adam's anger began to bleed through, using violence in situations where her father thought it was unnecessary, even killing a human who attacked her father. This resulted in the two getting into an argument, with Adam leaving their home at age seventeen, to live with Sienna, who used Adams anger to help light the fires of revolution, with the young Faunus jumping up the ranks to become her right hand. Her father stepped down as leader a few weeks after he left.
At first, Adam was like a big brother to Blake, who secretly trained her in the combat lessons that her father taught him, and refused to teach her when she was twelve, and when she turned fifteen convinced her father to let her join the organization. A little before Adam left their relationship turned romantic, with Blake falling head over heals for the passionate young man. Within a year of Adam's departure, she followed suit, leaving her home to be with Adam in the White Fang, despite her parent's protests. Under Sienna and Adam's tutelage, she became a highly skilled asset to the organization, using her natural feline abilities to specialize in stealth, evasion, and adaptability in combat. She made friends like Illia, her sisters and brothers in arms. However, as the White Fangs methods became more violent, and Adam's sense of justice shifted to vengeance and spite, Blake began to get second thoughts, especially as "accidental" killings of their enemies became the rule, rather than the exception.
After a successful train robbery, she disappeared, with her parents taking her back in. She came home, distraught and in tears, over the boy she thought she knew, who had become a monster. However, after nearly a year of mourning one of her oldest friendships, and her first relationship, Blake expressed that she still wanted to help the Faunus, and her parents, old friends of Ozpin and other huntsmen, asked her if she would like to work with them.
While they never admitted to it, Blake knew that the reason they reached out to Ozpin. They feared that if Blake didn't have something to fight for, she would go back to Adam, and the now openly violent White Fang. Blake didn't mind, as deep down, she feared the very same thing. Plus, this way she could attend Patch University, taking classes on literature and getting her degree. It would be a fresh start for the raven-haired Faunus, and by hiding her true identity with nothing but a bow, she would be judged only for who she was, not what.
How did things go so wrong, so fast? Well losing her temper, telling her teammates that she was once part of a terrorist organization, and running away into Vale probably wasn't a great start. Not exactly a good way to build team comradery. But if that racist little brat hadn't kept running her mouth…
…No, she couldn't focus on that at the moment. She was stranded in Vale, a city she barely knew, with no one to rely on but herself. She needed a plan. She supposed she could start with what the hell the White Fang were doing in Vale, stealing dust and weirdest of all, working with humans. Getting answers for that could be a good start, especially since she really wasn't sure what else she could do at the moment.
Location: Warehouse District, Vale
"…so, then she ran." Yang reported to Ozpin, with the rest of the team behind her, each having said their say regarding their technically successful mission earlier that night. However, to give Blake the benefit of the doubt, she didn't include the part about her potentially being involved with the White Fang.
"What should we do?" Ruby asked, "I mean, we need to go find her and bring her, back right?"
Ozpin held a neutral expression on his face, pausing a moment before he spoke "This is a team matter, and Blake is an adult, free to make her own decisions. As a team, you will decide what you need to do, and if you are able to make contact with Blake, it is her choice whether she wants to come back, and your choice if you will allow that. If that is all, we will end your debriefing here, and allow you all to go home, so you can all get some rest."
He was about to end the call, but he added one more thing.
"If you are going to go looking for her, I recommend you wear civilian clothing, and wait until morning. It will be easier to avoid drawing attention to yourselves, and a good night sleep does wonders when in comes to clearing the head."
With that the monitor turned off, Ozpin's face disappearing, and leaving the team in silence.
"So, we're going to go look for her right?" Jaune asked, looking at the rest of his teammates in apprehension.
"Of course!" Yang responded, "She's our teammate, and she could need help!"
"SHE could need help!" Weiss exclaimed "Did you forget that she admitted to being part of criminal organization? We should be calling the police! I don't know why you all said not to mention it to Ozpin."
"We don't know her side of the story, Weiss" Ruby added softly "I think that before we accuse anyone of anything, we should know that."
"We're all tired from the mission." Pyrrha chimed in, trying to keep the peace as Yang was staring daggers at Weiss "Perhaps it would be best to get some sleep, and look for Blake in the morning."
"Well, I'm going to take Bumblebee around town and see if I can find her! If anyone cares enough to join me, I have room on the back." Yang said, with an uncharacteristically harsh tone.
"Yang, it's late, and you heard Ozpin." Ruby pleaded "Blake's an adult, and has the right to go where she wants. I'm sure she can take care of herself, at least for the night. We should wait until morning when we'll have a better chance of finding her."
Pyrrha and Jaune nodded, agreeing with this, while Weiss simply stormed onto the Bullhead.
"REALLY! She's our teammate, I can't believe that you guys would abandon her, just to get some sleep!" Yang yelled, particularly at Ruby, whose eyes were wide in shock. Yang never yelled at her like that.
Pyrrha, again trying to be the peacekeeper, added "Yang, we're not abandoning her, and your sister's right. We'll be more successful when it's light out."
Yang rolled her eyes, before mounting Bumblebee, about to speed off. Right before she left, she heard a small voice behind her.
"…Yang, if you find her tonight…make sure to let the rest of us know okay? We'll join you in the morning" Ruby stuttered out quietly "Let me know that you're okay, please."
Yang's expression softened, and she turned to give her sister a quick nod, before she revved her bike and raced off into the slums of Vale.
Location: Industrial District, Vale
Well as much as Yang hated to admit it, the team was right. It would be difficult to find anyone in the darkness of Vales night, especially a stealthy ninja girl, who wore pretty much all black, and didn't particularly want to be found.
Which is how Yang spent all night cruising around Vale, with nothing to show for it but sleep deprivation, and a few deeply unpleasant cat calls from drunken assholes. Well, she probably should find somewhere to rest for a bit before she continued with her search, and for that she needed a hotel room.
She pulled into a sleezy looking motel, close to the warehouse district where Blake left them. She figured she'd get a few hours of sleep, and then ask some of her sketcher contacts, who seemed to know everything that went on in Vale. Hell, maybe Junior saw something.
She paid for a room, and sauntered down the paint pealed hallway to her room. She shot Ruby a quick text to let her know that she was okay, before getting in her room and hitting the hay.
Just as Yang closed her door, across the hall, Blake's opened and the huntress strolling out to find some food, not having eaten anything since yesterday at lunch. Maybe she'd try that café down the street. Hopefully, it wasn't a front or anything. Goodness knows she'd dealt with enough of that shit.
Location: HQ, Island of Patch
"Is Yang doing okay?" Jaune asked Ruby, sitting with Weiss and Pyrrha, having eaten breakfast in mostly silence. After Yang went after Blake, Ruby elected to stay over at the HQ with the rest of them, not wanting to go home without Yang.
"She texted me early this morning that she crashed at a motel." Ruby shrugged "So I guess? She seemed pretty upset last night."
"I'm sure that she's okay" Pyrrha added, placing a hand on her shoulder comfortingly "and we can definitely go over to help her once we're done breakfast."
Ruby nodded, still picking at her cereal, her typically upbeat demeanor lying dormant. While she was definitely worried about Blake, and what her reveal and subsequent disappearance meant for the team, but her mind was mostly focused on Yang snapping at her. I mean sure they sometimes fought when they were younger, but in recent memory she couldn't remember Yang ever yelling at her, would Yang even want them to help her after last night?
"Maybe some of us should stay here?" Pyrrha suggested "If Yang isn't able to find her and she comes back, someone should be here, to let the rest of us know."
"Well, I want to go look for her" Weiss announced, surprising everyone "I want answers for what she pulled last night, and for you all to know that I was right."
At that comment Ruby glared at Weiss, getting up from the table and heading into the living room to sulk.
"What?" Weiss exclaimed, surprised at Ruby's actions. "What did I do?"
"I think that it might be best if Ruby remained here" Pyrrha said, ignoring Weiss's comment "She seems pretty bothered by last night, so someone should probably stay with her."
"Pyrrha, if you can stay here and talk to her, Weiss and I can take one of the Bullheads into Vale to look for Yang and Blake." Jaune offered, recognizing that Pyrrha would be a much more comforting presence than him or Weiss. Plus, he didn't really want to subject Pyrrha to an afternoon with a grumpy Ice Queen.
Weiss rolled her eyes, and strutted out to get ready to go "I'm going to get the Bullhead to depart in ten minutes. If you aren't on it, I'm leaving without you."
Jaune sighed "Wish me luck then" giving Pyrrha an exasperated expression, who attempted to give him an encouraging smile and thumbs up in response. Shoulders slumped, and already exhausted from what was likely going to be disastrous day, he headed out to join Weiss.
Location: Sketchy Hotel, Downtown Vale
Yang awoke after a couple hours rest, feeling somewhat refreshed. Granted it smelled like piss, and the room was in questionable condition, but anything beat trying to catch some sleep on her bike in the middle of the questionable side of Vale. Yang could obviously take care of herself, and was certainly a bit of a daredevil, but she wasn't stupid.
After checking out from the motel, she took her bike to cruise the streets, driving slow enough to catch any clues to Blake's location. Surprisingly, her search didn't take long, and she found the black-haired girl sitting on her own in the patio of a Café, back turned to Yang. Guess she didn't think that anyone would come looking for her, or wasn't particularly trying to hide.
Yang parked her bike across the street, and snuck up behind Blake, trying to avoid giving her a chance to bolt. With each step her temperature rose, and before she knew it, she felt her lilac eyes switch to red. Yang paused, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. If she went into this with a heated head Blake would just run or refuse to come back. She honestly couldn't understand why she was so bothered by this. Hell, she snapped at Ruby, something she never did, and ran off into the middle of the night in a city she only kind of knew, to find a girl that she has known for like a week.
I mean, they were probably friends at this point, and she supposed she would do the same for any of the rest of her team. That must be why she was so upset. Her teammate, her friend, left the rest of them without so much as an explanation, showing that she didn't trust them, and the rest of the team decided that the best move was to go home and rest, instead of helping her out. Weiss especially, acted like she didn't even care about Blake.
Yang would be lying if she said that she didn't understand Weiss's concern about Blake's identity though. Better to give her the benefit of the doubt, but it did sound like Blake just admitted to being part, or was once part of the White Fang, a criminal organization that steals, destroys, and kills to get its message across. I mean Yang understood fighting for what you believed in, and she did notice how badly Faunus were treated by some people but still. That kind of senseless violence wasn't the solution. Well, she wanted answers, and now she had a chance to get them. It was now or never.
Yang took another deep breath and walked past Blake, who surprisingly didn't notice her, seemingly lost in a train of thought of her own. However, as Yang sat down across from Blake, the Faunus was startled, nearly jumping into the air.
"Hey, easy there" Yang explained "I just want to talk?"
Blake took a moment to calm herself down, before looking back into Yang's eyes with a nervous expression, still deciding if she wanted to make a break for it "Do the rest of them know where you are?"
Yang held up her hands in protest "No, I decided it would be best to hear what you had to say, before getting the rest of them involved. Especially after last night."
Blake nodded, grateful for the Blond's decision, but didn't say anything after that simply staring at Yang, waiting for her next move.
"So, you're a Faunus then?" Yang asked to break the awkward tension "Why didn't you tell us before?"
Blake paused before answering "Yes I am. All my life I have seen people assume things about and discriminate against people like me, just because of who we are, something that we can't control. When I found out that the Heiress was on our team, it only further cemented my decision to hide who I am, at least until I thought I could trust the rest of you. I want to be judged for who I am, not what."
Yang was hurt at first, that Blake didn't trust them with such a basic thing. Who cares if she has a tail or something. But then she thought about Weiss, the way that she reacted when she found out the truth, and Blake only really knew them for like a week, so Yang supposed it was fair that she didn't completely trust them, at least not yet.
Now for the important question "Okay then, are you a part of the White Fang?"
Blake continued with her neutral expression, and spoke slowly, careful not to say too much "No…not anymore anyway. I'm sorry, but humans just don't get what it's like to be discriminated against for the way they look. Jaune, surprisingly, was able to grasp it a bit, but without living through it, you can never understand why someone who just wants peace, would join an organization like the White Fang. But once I realized that they were no longer fighting for that, and instead were fighting for revenge, to hurt those who hurt them, I knew I couldn't support them any longer. So, then I left, and I have no plans to return."
Satisfied with her answer Yang nodded "Okay what's the plan then? Are you gonna come back to the team or what?"
"I don't know" Blake answered honestly "It depends if they are willing to have me, now that they know what I am. I know that most of you aren't discriminatory, but would they be comfortable living with, and trusting a former criminal?"
Yang thought about this. She would be fine with it, I mean she heard Blake say that she wasn't part of them anymore, end of discussion. Jaune and Pyrrha were certainly the understanding type so they were likely to be okay, and Ruby was nothing if not compassionate and forgiving. The only issue was Weiss. While she didn't completely agree with Weiss's attitude towards the White Fang, she could see why Weiss would have issues with living in the same place as someone who was once part of a group that regularly targeted her family, regardless as to why they did.
"I don't know." Yang admitted "But we can't have you sleeping in sketchy motels in Vale. I'm sure if we go back Ozpin will figure out something. I'm just going to let Ruby know that I got you and we're okay."
"DON'T" Blake protested, surprising Yang "I'm just…not ready to go back yet. There's some things that I have to figure out here first."
"Like what?" Yang asked exasperated, putting away her scroll.
"Like why the White Fang are stealing dust in Vale, and working with human criminals. The White Fang would never do that, and I want to know why."
"Okay, lets find out then" Yang responded, much to Blakes surprise.
"What?"
"Let's find out why the White Fang are stealing dust and working with Humans. There's someone I know in this area that knows everything that goes on in Vale. If the White Fang are setting up shop here to rob dust stores, he'll have heard about it."
Still surprised, but not disappointed, Blake responded "Okay then…um lead the way I guess…"
Yang pointed to her motorbike across the street, and Blake followed her over to it, wrapping her arms around Yang's, waist as Yang gave Blake her helmet.
"Um, Yang…what if your guy doesn't tell us anything" Blake asked, as Yang gripped Bumblebee's handles.
"Oh Blake." Yang grinned, as she reved her engine. "Believe me, he'll spill."
Location: Vale Warehouse District
Jaune thanked the Bullhead Pilot, as he and Weiss got off the Aircraft. Weiss decided that the best idea was to start where they'd saw Blake run off and then follow in the direction that she went, and hopefully run into her, but considering how big Vale was, Jaune wasn't feeling particularly optimistic. Granted it was the best plan they had, and Jaune really didn't feel like arguing with Weiss right now.
Both of them were dressed casually, or at least in Weiss's case, as casual as she could dress. Even in a rather sketchy part of the city, she wore a light blue cardigan over a white short sleeved blouse, with a knee length skirt to match her cardigan. Jaunes outfit fit the scene much better, wearing a grey hoodie and brown khakis.
So, they walked in silence, as after about two minutes Jaune realized any attempts at small talk could result in him being frozen in a block of ice. Jaune didn't really mind especially considering this was his first time seeing a city as big as this, although it didn't seem to be a particularly nice part of it.
Weiss on the other hand was moderately disgusted by the sight around her. Growing up in luxury and privilege did make one more sensitive to seeing poverty, and while she did on a very rare occasion visit the less well-off areas of mantle, there was a nastiness to this part of the city that put her on edge. Any crime in Atlas was either blatantly in your face, or invisible to all but the most trained eye. This was more subtle, but still visible. Like hearing the call of a predator in the middle of the wilderness, unsure when, how and if it was going to attack, but still being aware of its presence. She actually felt herself drifting closer to Jaune, before she realized who she was, and more importantly who he was.
Weiss did admit that while she was a well trained and highly disciplined fighter, her physical appearance didn't particularly represent that. Lightly built and barely above five foot without heals, she was absolutely diminutive looking, and if people weren't aware of her abilities and status as a huntress in training, most would assume that she was unable to defend herself. Her speed, technique and versatility with both dust and her semblance made her perfectly capable of defeating large and dangerous grimm, let alone some Vale street toughs, but she had to admit that her physical strength and durability was fairly low, at least for a huntress. Plus, she had her sword, myrtenaster, in it's collapsed form in her bag, the blade pulled into it's revolver like hilt.
That was the wonderful thing about aura. It allowed a person to be several times stronger, faster, and more durable than they would be otherwise, and exponentially increased those physical abilities when the user specifically trained them. For someone like Weiss, who almost never trained specifically in strength, she was as strong as someone 3 or 4 times her size when her aura was engaged. Someone like Yang or Pyrrha, who were fitness machines, were at least several dozen times stronger than they reasonably should be without aura usage.
She laughed to herself, as most people walking by would assume Jaune was the more formidable one of out of them. He was scrawny but he was still tall, around a foot taller than Weiss, and probably had at least fifty or sixty pounds on her. But he also looks like an absolute dunce so it's not like that would be any help. She certainly hoped that no one decided to try to cause them any problems. It would be annoying if their cover was blown like that, and would make finding Blake all the more tedious.
Oh, don't even get her started on that delinquent. A member of the White Fang under her nose, someone who pretended to be human and a huntress, and could have attacked her at any time. She didn't like her to begin with, and now she knew why. If and when they found Blake, she was going to make the rest of her team see that she was right. She had no idea where the rest of them were getting off, trying to see the criminal's side of the story. Yang of all people, snapping at Ruby and herself for not wanting to run off in the middle of the night to find a terrorist that infiltrated their team and threatened their safety. Not only that, but doing so because she was concerned about said terrorist!
She hoped Yang was alright though. While she tried to hide it, she was really worried about the blond bruiser. Yang could certainly handle herself, but she was still on the trail of a member of the White Fang in the middle of the slums of Vale. There could be a hidden cell under her nose, with Blake leading Yang right into a trap! She couldn't wait to find Yang, make sure that she was alright, and then knock some sense into the dunce for doing something so thick headed!
Jaune then interrupted her thoughts "You…uh doing alright there Weiss?"
"I am fine Jaune, now if you don't mind, we should be focusing on find Yang, not talking about our feelings?"
"You mean Yang AND Blake, right?"
Weiss scowled at him "Yang, Ruby, and now even you. Why on earth are you all so concerned about that criminal?"
Jaune shrugged "We don't know the whole story, and she's part of the team. It's our responsibility to make sure she's okay."
Weiss then sneered at him, before snapping "What exactly are you going to do about it if she's not?
Right as she said it, she knew that she had gone too far. Jaune looked down with a dark look on his face and resided himself to silence, using his longer legs to walk well ahead of Weiss.
While Jaune might be thick headed, at the absolute worst he was being terribly naïve in this scenario, and was doing what he thought was right. Sure, he could be annoying, with his occasional and miserably sad attempts to flirt with Weiss, but even Weiss had to admit the boy had a good heart. Her snapping like that made her no better than Yang when she yelled at Ruby last night.
"Jaune…I'm sorry. That wasn't fair" Weiss called out as she ran to catch up with him.
Jaune stopped, and turned to face her with a curious expression on his face "Did you just apologize?"
Weiss struggled against the urge to roll her eyes, before she painfully choked out a "Yes."
"Huh, never thought I'd see the day." Jaune said, shrugging his shoulders, as he waited for her to catch up.
"I'm just bothered by how you all can be so, not worried about someone who just hid their identity like that? What else could she be hiding?" Weiss said exasperatedly.
Jaune stopped to think about this for a second before he responded, "Weiss have you ever felt that people see you a certain way, judge you before they get a chance to know you, just because of how you look and who you are."
"Of course, everyone thinks certain things about me, at least when they find out I'm the Heiress anyway. They expect me to look, act and think a certain way before they even get a chance to figure out if it's true." Weiss shot back without missing a beat
"Exactly, and it's like that for everyone on this team. Everyone thinks Ruby is some immature child, Yang is some braindead party girl and I'm some idiot who's going to screw up as soon as you give him the chance, and obviously we're all insecure about people seeing us like that. For Blake it's got to be even worse." Jaune said
Weiss frowned "What about Pyrrha?"
Jaune thought about this, before giving another shrug "Well I mean she's Pyrrha. Can't imagine she's insecure about anything, she's perfect."
Weiss surprisingly let out a giggle at this, before realizing an issue "Wait how is it worse for Blake?"
"Well, she's a Faunus. Being different from others isn't easy, but at least no ones scared of us. I remember growing up and the faunus kids got bullied just as much as I did. I never understood it and thought they just got bullied for the same reasons I did, because the bullies thought they looked like easy targets. But after talking to Blake, I understood it a bit better. People think that they are animals, and when people see them like that, well they get scared of them, and treat them like animals. If you knew people might treat you like that, just because of how you look, wouldn't you do the same?" Jaune asked.
Weiss paused to think about this, before she heard a cry come out from behind an alleyway. Her and Jaune looked at each other, before rushing over to see what it was.
A small woman, even shorter than Weiss, wearing dirty and scruffy clothes, was tossed from a door onto the gravel of the alley. She struggled to get up, with the gruff looking man who threw her out, before slamming the door on her face. She noticed that the woman's hands were sloth like, with long claws instead of fingernails.
Jaune ran up to the woman to check on her, as the woman looked like she was having a tough time trying to breath, grasping her chest, and appeared to be in intense pain. Weiss stood frozen, unsure of what to do, before Jaune snapped her back to reality.
"Weiss, I think she's having a heart attack! What do we do?" He called out, as he draped one of her arms over his shoulders, while he supported her waist by wrapping his arm's around it. However due to his height, he had to bend down significantly, almost pulling her off the ground.
"Jaune, I'll support her! It'll be easier for me because I'm closer to her height," Weiss instructed quickly "You call 9-1-1 on your scroll!"
Jaune listened to her instruction, and switched the woman over to his teammate, before calling 9-1-1 to report the heart attack, while leading Weiss and the Faunus over to the alleyway's entrance.
Once they were fully out of the alley, Jaune helped Weiss lower the woman to the ground, who was still gripping her chest in pain. Jaune supported her, but as they had no aspirin to give her, were unfortunately forced to just watch and let the woman ride it out.
But as the woman struggled to breathe, and Jaune offered her words of encouragement, her movements suddenly froze. Her arms and head fell to the floor, passed out at the two huntsmen's feet. Panicked Jaune checked her breathing, and found no air coming from her nose and mouth.
"Crap!" Jaune cried out as he went into CPR, with Weiss positioning herself at the woman's head, prepared to give rescue breaths after Jaune finished his cycle of chest compressions.
However as this went on for several minutes this was proven to be ineffective, with nothing happening, despite going through several cycles of CPR. The sirens of an ambulance were no where to be heard. If something didn't change soon the woman was going to die!
"Jaune" Weiss cried out, an idea suddenly coming to her "Get back, I know what to do!"
Jaune pushed himself away from the woman, as Weiss pulled myrtenaster from her purse, extending the blade to its full length, and smashed some dust into one of the rapiers compartments.
She tore the woman's shirt open, and pointed the blade at the woman's chest. A bolt of electricity emerged from the tip of the sword, and striking the woman's chest, causing her whole body to jolt in shock!
"What did you…" Jaune muttered out before he noticed the woman's chest rising and falling, indicating that she was breathing again. Both sighed in relief, as they got to their knees and checked the woman's vitals, which seemed okay from what both of them could tell.
They waited until the woman stirred, before shakily sitting up from her back.
"What happened" She mumbled, eye's barely open, as both of the huntsmen steadied her.
"Easy there" Jaune said comfortingly "We think you had a heart attack. But because of her..." Pointing to Weiss "…you're going to be alright. The ambulance's are coming."
She looked at Weiss with a curious expression, like she was trying to place who she was. "…You're the Schnee Heiress…"
Surprised at the woman's recognition of her, Weiss nodded "Yes, I am."
Confused the Faunus asked "…You…saved me?"
Weiss just nodded again, unsure of what to say. Jaune noticed this awkwardness and decided to change the conversation.
"If you don't mind telling us, what happened?"
The woman scratched her head, struggling to remember, before shakily responding "I was…trying to find some food in the dumpster outback. Then my chest, it…it started hurting, really, really bad. I ran into that place…" She said pointing at the dingy looking restaurant she was thrown from "…for help, but they…. they said that they don't want Faunus's in here. I tried to tell them what happened, but…but they wouldn't listen…" Tears began to fill the woman's eyes. "…then they threw me out back, and…and that's all I can remember."
Jaune nodded along understandingly, while Weiss just stared at the woman in a state of shock.
"They wouldn't help you…just because you're a Faunus."
The woman turned to Weiss and nodded as tears ran down her face "…it might be because I'm homeless too, I dunno. But I think that was part of it."
She paused before adding "You...you saved me though. Thank…you."
Weiss swallowed, and simply nodded again. She stayed quiet, and just listened, as Jaune continued to talk to the woman. Eventually the ambulance arrived, and they placed the woman on a stretcher, carrying her into the ambulance, as the paramedics asked Jaune and Weiss some questions.
Careful not to give away who they were, with thankfully none of them recognizing Weiss, they simply said that they found her thrown from the restaurant, that she had a heart attack, before they did CPR on her. At the news of how the restaurant owner acted the EMT that was questioning them, who was sporting a pair of deer antlers, turned and gave the restaurant a look of loathing, before continuing to ask them questions.
When the EMT's were done, they thanked Jaune and Weiss for their help, and promised to call Jaune on his scroll before driving off to the hospital. It was now late afternoon, and with the fall season began to get dark earlier. Jaune and Weiss walked in silence, with Weiss in particular reflecting on her experience. The anger that she had before was gone, replaced with a deep sadness for the woman.
Jaune noticed her change in expression, and tried to lighten the mood with a joke.
"If you want, I won't stop you from burning the restaurant down with fire dust."
Weiss let out a rare, genuine laugh, before rolling her eyes at her teammate.
"Please as if you could stop me from doing anything."