A commissioned fanfic by a BraveVesperia01. Chapter 7.
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Josie could definitely say she slept soundly that night. Oh sure, they stayed up for a majority of it, but the fatigue and cuddling that came after was more than enough to put some pep in her step the morning after. Including the shower that followed. As romanticized as it was, neither Josie nor Blake wanted to sleep in the "afterglow" of sex. That wasn't romantic nor comfy for the newly romantic pair.
But something important was amiss. Josie was alone in her bed when she was supposed to have Blake lovingly beside her. And being the clever minx she was, Blake had managed to switch herself out with one of her damn clones! How did she know? Because it literally deteriorated the moment Josie leaned in for a kiss, turning into nothing the moment her lips landed on the construct.
And under the fading construct of semblance lay a note that waited for her. She groaned, rubbing her eyes and straightening her hair with her hands out of habit as best she could, before picking up the note to read through bleary eyes. A few more blinks and she was good to go.
"Dear Josie," the note began, "Last night was… truly something else. Passionate. Loving. Downright sexy," mentally, Josie couldn't help but fist bump herself for her apparent good job yet again, "But I needed to go. I pray my clone keeps you in good company for as long as possible."
"She did her job I guess," Josie muttered bitterly before lightly smacking the pillow "Blake" had her head on.
She kept reading, "I'm going to tell you that I'm going on with my investigation. Alone. I won't drag you or RWBY into this mess. I think I can convince at least some of the White Fang that they're wrong. Or something along those lines. At bare minimum, I can figure out why they're doing this.
"That's nuts," Josie muttered, but thinking it over for a hot minute, she figured this was in line for Blake to do and kicked herself for not realizing before it was too late. She doubted she could stop her from going, but maybe at least get her to bring her alone if not the team. This was bigger than just one person.
Thinking that over, Josie couldn't help but mutter, "Oh my gods, now I'm nuts."
Again, she continued all the way to the end, "When I'm done. I'll come meet you at the hotel. We'll talk about the rest of the team when I get back. Or what I found. Anyway, please just wait for me. And there should be breakfast on the shelf."
At the bottom was, "love Blake" with some X's and O's at the bottom. And to Josie's right as the breakfast she had mentioned. Pancakes, an omelet, some hot dogs… and of course, fish. Not that she would complain, she did need something to eat after all that activity last night aside from Blake Pie after all.
And just as she reached over to take a bite of her meal, that's when she noticed Blake's face in the window. After first she thought that Blake was directly outside of it thanks to her case of "early morning brain". But the first bite of her omelet, she turned around to see Blake standing in front of the doorway with a nice tuna salad in her hands. Slowly, Blake walked to set it down on the dresser as Josie finished her bite.
After that round of uncomfortable awkwardness, Blake said, "Josie… good morning. Did you read the note?"
"I did," Josie tried to sound as terse as possible, but ended up nearly hacking out the last bits of her tasty omelet. She quickly fixed herself up after getting it down her throat and folded her arms across her chest, not minding that she was still naked, "I also got the nice feel of cuddling a semblance clone rather than my lover. That was interesting."
Blake had the courtesy of looking a tad guilty at least. But that clearly wouldn't cut it for Josie without a further explanation, "Right. Sorry. Look, I needed to go alone."
"You didn't," Josie sharply cut in, more so out of hurt and worry rather than anger, "but do go on."
"And I'm glad I did. Because I found out something troubling," Blake finished with a serious edge in her tone.
That's when the mood dropped in another direction. It was no longer too focused on their relationship, at least in the moment. That could wait while White Fang could not, "What did you find out?"
Although that couldn't wait, Josie still needed to fill her stomach as her head filled with info. While she would be in charge of her stomach, Blake began talking, "The White Fang have started working Roman like we confirmed and it wasn't just a one time deal. And apparently, Roman is working under someone else. What exactly they're trying to steal it all for, I don't know. But it is reality to Beacon."
"Beacon?" Questioned Josie, "what interest would the White Fang or whoever have with Beacon?"
"I still have to do more digging," Blake answered, but started to go a little wide-eyed when she realized what she had just said and the look on Blake's face.
And that's when the previous atmosphere returned and Josie set her food down just to fold her arms, "Yeah "I" huh? Really Blake?"
Blake rubbed the back of her head. She was ashamed. Ashamed she dragged others into her mess and over the fact she was excluding those who wanted to help. Especially Josie, "I… really don't want you or others, even someone like Weiss, to get her because of my demons."
"Blake, this is everyone's demon now, you know that," Josie replied as she got up and put on her robe. Blake did her best to not openly ogle while being scolded, but it was difficult not to. Josie's tone became softer as she spoke, "We're all involved, even if we don't want to be. And because of that, we need to work together… even if you're afraid."
She came over to place her hand on Blake's shoulder before giving her a quick peck on the cheek. A simple gesture, but one that helped ease Blake's mind nonetheless. She takes a moment to just eat and sit at the foot of their bed. It was harder to think on an empty stomach, especially if the second of fish kept wafting into her sensitive nose.
"So, with that in mind, we need to talk to the rest of our team," Josie finally cut to another chase. The lack of communication with the team. Mainly Blake's lack of team playing.
Blake didn't even so much as flinch. It would've obviously been far more flabbergasting if she never said that, more so if she said the opposite. After a momentary pause, Blake nodded, "Okay. Tonight we can do that."
"Tonight?" Josie asked a bit incredulously.
"Yes," Blake quickly ate the last of her fish, "after me and you investigate the docks. It's better if we do this as a small team rather than a large one."
Josie gave Blake the most deadpanned look before sighing, rubbing her temples before nodding, "Alright, done deal. We can do that."
After finishing up her food, Josie began to get dressed, but a thousand that hit her mind. She asked, "Blake, you said you used to be a member of the White Fang… when they were still peaceful… How did that happen?"
Blake hesitated again, but mustered up the courage to begin, "it all starts with my childhood…
XXXXX
Young Blake, around ten years old, stood there with an amazingly stern yet cheerful expression as hefted up her sign that read, "NO Fair!" and already knew exactly what to say when the other head human tycoons came.
"Are you ready, little one?" One of the Faunus protestors known by close family sent to watch over her, along with a few dozen others interspersed in the crowd.
"Yes sir!" She said cheerfully and determined to help change the world for the better, "we're going to show them we're people too and we have a voice!"
"Atta girl!" The man said as he patted her head, "who taught you that line?"
Blake beamed and answered excitedly with, "My daddy of course!"
That's when some of the corporate heads of the dust companies came out. Including Mister Jacque Scheme himself, wearing that same apathetic look he always did, sometimes smug when his more… rough bodyguards were present in the area.
"Faunus are people!" And "Equal Rights, Equal Pay for Equal labor!" were shouted from the crowds around the men and women coming in from their gaudy Bullheads and limos. Blake's voice was among them and she would happily scream her voice raw with the crowd.
She saw the way they looked at the crowds, perhaps even her, and could feel their disgust like a tangible, oily substance drip from them. And it disgusted her back that people could be such a way.
"Faunus are people too!" She continued to shout.
More years passed…
At this point, in her later teens, Blake had donned the famous mask of the White Fang without hesitation. Despite her parents wishes, the group had yet to be a full fledged terrorist cell.
Instead, they called themselves heroes and supporters of the Faunus kind. And they would take any help they could get.
Though there were some troubling individuals… Blake let out a heavy sigh as her parents had to cut ties with the war hungry Sienna Khan. She was a staunch supporter of warfare and taking the fight to the humans… all of them. Blake couldn't help but shudder at the thought of her leading the White Fang.
Luckily for both Faunus and humans alike, they were being led by a man she admired.
Adam Taurus. He replaced the older leader. They said he was killed by humans. They were lied to, but she had yet to find out.
He understood the plight of his people, but didn't let the hatred and bigotry cloud his judgement. Under him, the White Fang would do nothing but good. At least, from what she heard and from the little she had seen.
"Are you ready, Blake?" A strong yet gentle voice asked her.
"Of course. Change won't come on its own," She answered as she grabbed her gear. Gambol Shroud. For use against Grimm only.
About two years passed… and the regret came.
Blake kept running and didn't look back. This train was her way out of a dream turned into a nightmare. She could hear him say the words "Let her go…" she knew better, she knew she'd thought she'd come crawling back.
Not a chance in hell. Not in the way he wanted.
Just as he changed the White Fang for the worst, she would one day change it for the better…
XXXXX
"Uh, we've been looking all night and still nothing," Weiss complained as she checked their surroundings, from rooftop to bottom staircases that line the city streets. Not so much as a hairball or track from Blake nor Josie.
"Josie told us they were together at least," Yang told her after shrugging, "And It's not even been, what twelve hours-"
"We're well over twelve hours!" Weiss cried with exasperation with her hands in the air.
Yang continued on, "And they said they got to me hotel-"
"Without elaborating which one!" Weiss was practically grinding her teeth together at this point, "you're far too optimistic about this whole situation!"
"True, but unlike you I don't have any gray hairs," Yang smirked once Weiss gasped and nearly went to pluck out a strand of her hair. She stopped just short of plucking it and glared harshly at her teammate, "made you look."
"And maybe I should make you look harder," Weiss groused before she spotted some rose petals nearby, "Ruby…"
"Rubes?" Yang asked before she noticed the petals herself and clicked her tongue, "shit, we must've lost her again. Went zipping around here like she found a plate of fresh cookies."
"I just hope she doesn't get distracted and run into another friend again…" Weiss groaned as they walked on.
Yang silently led the way for a moment before asking Weiss, "Hey, question."
"Ask away, not like I can say no," Weiss grunted out as they kept walking.
"True," Yang chuckled, getting an annoyed "tch" from Weiss. Her tone turned serious and she asked, "But have you thought about what Blake said. And Josie?"
Weiss was curt with her response, "I have."
Yang quirked a brow and after a few seconds, asked, "And?"
"And I still have my doubts," Weiss answered truthfully, "someone truly innocent shouldn't have to run away."
Yang actually had to stop and think on that one. While she was hard pressed to even consider that due to Weiss' previous rhetoric, she did have a point with what she said. Running didn't help Blake's case in the slightest nor did her sympathies with a really radical group… but she wouldn't place a harsh judgment on her teammate until all was said and done.
"You have a point, but so might Blake," Yang told her, ignoring the scoff noise Weiss made. She threw her hands up and said, "hey, that's how you feel and this is how I feel. We aren't changing each other's minds, we'll just have two air for the others to do that."
Weiss grumbled and continued forward. Her eyes became softer, just a small bit, and said, "it's not like I don't want to be proven wrong you know…"
"Yeah…" Was all Yang could reply with. She didn't want to say it, but deep down, she was leaning towards Weiss Opinions even if she wanted to be fair. Worst part was this being her first and only partner. Even if the time was relatively short, it would still hurt.
"Perhaps we should get the police to locate them," Weiss blurted out, clearly tired of aimlessly searching, "they could at least help us locate them."
"Yeah, I don't think police would be exactly helpful for tracking Blake, never mind the fact that would be excessive," Was Yang's rebuttal after a deep sigh.
Weiss groaned as they walked on only for both to immediately stop when they heard the clack of shoes behind them and a cheerful yet odd voice said, "Hello, friends of Ruby Rose!"
""Ah!"" Both Yang and Weiss jumped back from that. Despite being Huntresses, some people could get the drop on them, especially this particular girl.
Weiss proceeded to exclaim as she shook the girl, "Where'd you even come from!?"
"She was down the street!"
""Ah!"" Yang and Weiss jumped back again as another person got the drop on them and it was Ruby this time. She at least had the decency to look sheepish about it though, unlike the other oblivious redhead.
"No, stop that immediately!" Weiss shouted as she pointed between both Ruby and the other girl.
"Stop what, friend of Ruby?" Ruby's new friend asked again.
"Sh!" Weiss shushed her and turned to Ruby with her index finger on her lips. After glancing between those two, she looked around for a few seconds. After no one else was spotted, she sighed in relief, "Okay."
After both the startling girls blinked, the new girl cheerfully clasped her hands together, "you were right, friend Ruby, your team is indeed made up of very eccentric characters!"
"Excuse me?" Weiss put both her hands on her hips and glared icily at Ruby.
"You think I'm eccentric," Yang asked as she folded her arms and quirked a brow, "Yeah, okay sis, I see you."
All while Ruby sheepishly shrunk underneath both of their gazes, "Uh, so anyway, my friend's name is Penny."
"Nice to meet you all," She chirped before taking a note of certain things… such as their expressions, "oh wait, I wasn't supposed to say something, correct?"
"Ugh," Ruby groaned and decided to switch topics, "so, no sign of either?"
""No,"" both her teammates answered.
"Ah, yes," Penny hummed, "You are looking for a missing friend, yes?"
"Well…" Weiss was about to say something else, but Ruby gave her a look that pleaded for her not to say anything negative, especially regarding Blake's ties, at the moment, "yes, we are. It's incredibly imperative we find her."
"There are five of you on your team, correct?" Penny asked while locking her head to the side without a single blink.
"Yeah," Yang drawled, a little weirded out from the way the girl spoke, "She dresses in black and white, has a bow on her head, and yellow eyes, "seen anyone like that?"
"Not at all, but I can help you track such a person!" Penny said as she made a thumbs up and posed. It was unnatural, somehow stiff in the way she did it.
But they didn't focus on that, they focused on what she said, Ruby being the first to ask, "really? That would be super cool!"
"Come and we will track her whereabouts!" Penny told them before walking in front of the group. Ruby was the first to follow her while Weiss and Yang glanced at each other. Weiss scoffed while Yang shrugged before they walked behind them.
XXXXX
"I managed to make it here not too long ago," Blake took a nice long sip of her before speaking again, "As for how I was allowed into Beacon… legal paperwork."
"That last part has to be an actual joke," Josie deadpanned after finishing her tea, "did you have an inside man or something? Ozpin pull some strings for you?"
Blake nodded at the last part, "Yes. Ozpin let me in. I believe he did."
"With all due respect to you and him, I really doubt the man's enrollment ethics," Josie muttered as she thought back to her and Blake being allowed, "I mean… you used to be with… wayward protestors."
"You can say terrorists," Muttered Blake as she pinched her nose, "but…" she held back to think on what she wanted to say but shook her head, "anyway, Ozpin is an odd headmaster. Certainly the strangest I've ever heard of… and ever met."
"No kidding," Josie grunted, "do you think he knows."
"Maybe, maybe not," Blake answered with an apathetic shrug, "but that's not important right now, the White Fang is."
"Right," Josie nodded with her eyes narrowing, "so, you said you had info on where we would go tonight, right?"
"Yes, the docks," Blake pulled out her scroll and showed her a map of where they would be going, "tonight, there will be a delivery of Dust made here between the White Fang, Roman, and their mysterious benefactors. The more we learn, the more ammo we have against them. They can't be allowed to get whatever it is they want."
"And we're really going to go just for reconnaissance?" Josie wanted another confirmation, "Or… did you actually have something else in mind?"
"What would make you think I have more in mind?" Blake narrowed her eyes and her bow twitched. She still felt more comfortable with them hidden out in public.
"Well… call it a hunch, but given your ties and what they're doing along with your tone." Josie trailed off, "maybe you might actually want to interfere. That's all I'm saying."
"How good are you in a fight?" Blake asked as they looked eyes and she clasped her hands together to lean her chin against her fingers, "I want to hear your confidence."
"I… think I could handle myself well enough. Certainly after training with you all and Pyrrha with Jaune," Josie answered with a bit of well earned pride in her voice, "but we can't just straight up fight an entire set of armed guards… Can we?"
"We can. Despite their reputation and ways, many White Fang are not trained fighters. They're just people," Blake informed her.
"And… you're not worried about going overboard?" Josie asked and Blake raised a brow, "I mean… we're Huntresses, what if we hurt them? Overdo it?"
"You won't," Blake immediately answered.
Josie hesitated but asked, "And you?"
"I won't either," Blake answered once again, "I've been doing this for a while now."
Josie stared at her before nodding. It was best to focus on the task of learning and stopping the White Fang as best they could rather than any accidents, at least for the time being.
"Okay," Josie began, "so what should we do for the time being?"
Blake smirked, clearly already having a few ideas in mind, "well, I do like this tea. And we could go to another hotel."
"Tempting on both ends," Josie wryly replied, making Blake giggle, "but maybe something a little more productive. Terrorist stakeouts don't exactly get me going."
"Fair enough," Blake shrugged as she finished her tea, "we could explore the area. Might also be good to keep moving too. I doubt the others are sitting at the dorms and waiting for us."
"Mhm," Josie really wished she wasn't doing this but went along. After they paid the bill, they were out.
XXXXX
It was the dead of night. Most people were sound asleep and the docks were off limits to most people with the proper clearance. Not a single ship was coming there tonight and all trades had been dealt with for the day.
At least the legal business had been attended to. The White Fang was just getting started and their overseer looked moderately pleased at the progress.
"All right, load it up, let's go, let's go!" Shouted Roman Torchwick. He dressed and carried himself like a businessman with standards. Low standards, "my business associates need all that dust on the dot! Pick up the pace, animals!"
On a building, as out of sight they could be, the duo of Blake and Josie watched the Faunus and Roman along with their Dust shipments. And Blake was absolutely shocked out of her mind, "what the hell? This doesn't make any sense?"
"What?" Josie whispered to her, "This guy?"
"The White Fang under Adam would never voluntarily work with a human," Blake answered. Suddenly, she went off by herself and ignored Josie's confused whispers. She had to figure out what the hell was going on.
With a groan, Josie went after her and that's when she finally got her first taste of real combat.
She didn't like it.
XXXXX
"Gunshots?" Muttered Ruby as she and the others turned in the direction of it.
"Yes," Penny answered with a serene smile, "might I recommend intervention? This is no doubt illegal activity and White Fang has been active as of late."
"You're damn right we're intervening," Weiss practically growled. A rare moment of her being hot headed.
Rabu could easily have given chase, certainly better than Yang, but Penny has grabbed and asked, "Are you combat ready?"
"Huh?"
"Are you combat ready?" Penny asked again in the same cheerful tone, her eyes glowing with power.
XXXXX
"Not bad for a couple of uppity brats," Roman snidely commented as he ducked under one of Josie's spear swings before she shifted it into a gun, "You perky roaches are all over the place these days!"
"There's literally an academy right-," Josie had to duck under a bullet from one of the arriving White Fang members, "hey!" then she had to lower her head as Blake flipped over her, "hey!"
"This one is mine!" Blake roared as she activated her semblance to dodge under one of Roman's cane swings.
"Blake!" Josie roared herself before having to duck under a bat swing from one of the White Fang members, "stop interrupting me!"
After that shout, she began retaliating against the group that cornered her. Compared to all the combat training she had, they're practically punching bags that occasionally struck out. It was baffling how easy it was to dodge then swing at a group of all things.
A swing, a flip, another swing then then, a duck, then even a right hook. It almost frightened her how easily the last guy crumbled after the punch to the jaw. His jaw rattled from the blow. But she shook it off immediately after hearing Blake grunt.
She turned and saw Roman about to shoot her but stopped it with a blast from her rifle. But he was quick too and fired at the crate above them, making it fall towards Blake and her. They jumped out of the way just in time not to be crushed.
But Josie was open and Roman stood over her, his weapon aimed towards her face, "not bad brat, but certainly not good enough."
But then his arm went to the side and a loud crack rang out. And Josie recognized that fire from anywhere, "Ruby!?"
"Hey!" And that was from Yang. And beside her stood some mysterious ginger in green.
And that girl had ejected blades from the back of her body, "I am combat ready!"
Josie was gawking and had to turn at the signature sound of one of Weiss' glyphs. And White Fang screams.
XXXXX
Policemen were scattered about the area to analyze any clues they could to dig up the White Fang and one Roman Torchwick. Any Dust left over was collected as evidence… well, they hoped it would be, Dust companies weren't exactly charitable and such corporations could be above the law.
Those of the White Fang left behind were arrested and would no doubt be brought under heavy prosecution. Whether it was justified or not was left up to the law and peers.
And as for the girls, "where'd Penny go?" Ruby asked as she came up to her team, "she disappeared as soon as the police got here."
"No clue, none of us saw her either," Yang answered. She then subtly nodded over to Blake, Josie, and Weiss.
Ruby gasped before she managed to put in a stern look, "oh right, Josie, Blake, what the heck was that back there? We were worried sick, looking for you, then we find you fighting terrorists?"
Ruby glowered and told them, "you both have some serious explaining to do."
Josie turned to Blake and she sighed, realizing that was a signal for her to speak, "I had to at least see what was going on. I asked Josie to come with me. I didn't want to get the whole group involved."
The group had expressions that ranged from hurt to anger, but all of it was laced with shock. Luckily, Josie spoke up, "I insisted on coming too. Let's be real, I wouldn't have let her gone alone no matter what."
"I honestly wanted to go by myself," Although that took heat from Josie, that just some more on her and she had to say, "I'm sorry. That was wrong of me. As was storming off like that. I'm already a burden enough and-"
"Stop, stop that!" Yang immediately cut in, "you're not a burden, no one thought that."
"But I -"
"Tried to stop the White Fang and Roman just now," Ruby spoke up with a shrug, "yeah. Not a burden. You just need to be a team player. Duh."
"And before you say you bring up being a White Fang," Weiss now cut in, "emphasis on were. You're no longer a criminal and you fought to stop them. I bore you no ill will over your past."
"And the Faunus?" Blake had to ask.
"Not everyone is the same," Weiss said in an oddly meek voice, "but I'll be honest… I still have trust issues."
"Baby steps!" Ruby has to nervously add.
All eyes were on Blake now and she slowly curled her lips onto a small lopsided smile, "I… think you guys are great."
That took off the tension for the rest of the team. Despite the rough patch, this situation would ultimately make the team stronger together. Blake and Weiss could get past their hang ups with time. That much was cemented. But for Josie, there was one lingering and very big issue…
The romance of her team and she couldn't get that out of her mind. Her and Blake were a thing now. Blake had given her permission to get the others involved now. They were officially back together now.
One hurdle was ticked off, and Josie was very happy with that, but now another needed to get settled. And god's know Josie did not know how to handle even bringing it up. It was just so odd to think about alone. And she couldn't nor didn't want to even imagine what their reactions might be.
Blake was a kinky lady, her novels were proof enough alone, but she highly doubted Yang and Ruby were in the same category as her. And this wasn't even covering Pyrrha and Nora.
"Josie?" The voice of Ruby cut her out of her thoughts again, "ready to go home?"
"Big time. I need another shower," Josie laughed, not missing a beat, and followed behind her now elated team. She muttered to herself, "a nice cold shower and a hot meal."
Blake may have heard that part as Josie noticed a slight wiggle in her hips. Or maybe she was just thinking that? She couldn't tell and figured it was best not to know for now.
While they were walking off, they were being watched from afar by one Penny. She had on a neutral expression as she analyzed them. She cocked her head to the side and wondered aloud, "those hormonal readings are very much at odd levels. Is that what Ruby had described?"
"Penny," a car pulled up and the door opened, "get in."
"Yes father," Penny immediately and obediently replied as she stepped into the car, "I had an adventure today."
"I know," the man calmly replied, "you know better than to wonder by yourself."
Penny nodded, "I apologize."
"Let's go," and the car door closed before they drove off.