Date: 4/19 Tuesday
Location: Outside of Principal Lionheart's Office
I never liked going to his office, even though he has promised that recommendation many a time. He acts like a coward whenever someone challenges his ideas; I've seen it happen with Taurus-sensei whenever they think they are talking in private. Standing in front of the door, I take a quick look around and notice that there was a distinct lack of students around, even though it was the beginning of lunch. 'How strange.' Taking a deep breath, I smooth my clothes out and made sure that my hairpin sat tight before I knock on the door.
When I heard the Principal say "Enter", I entered and closed the door behind me before moving to stand in front of his desk. "Miss Schnee," He said finally after placing his pen down. "How can I help you?"
"It's about Taurus-sensei, Sir." I said grasping both of my hands behind my back.
"And what about the Olympian?" His cold, dark-brown eyes bore into me.
"It-It's about some rumours that I've heard about him the past few days, about his… unsavoury activities with some of the student body, mainly with the female volleyball students than the male." I said before shivering at the thought of what happened to Amitola-san.
A pale look crosses his face as I notice a drop of perspiration rolls down his face and into his beard. 'Why is he perspiring? Could he know about what Taurus-sensei is doing?' I watch him rub his hands over one another like a nervous tick before replying as I bring my hands to my sides.
"Why are you dealing with such trivial matters Miss Schnee? I can rest assured you that whatever is being said about him are merely lies, so please Miss Schnee," He pauses. "forget about those rumours and focus on getting those grades your Sister wants." He said sitting back in his chair and steeple's his fingers.
"But Sir," I was grateful that his desk was high; otherwise he would have noticed me clenching my hands. "even if those rumours are true or not, shouldn't we at least investigate those claims?"
I notice more perspiration roll down his face before he leans forward. "I would like it if you drop this matter this matter this instance Miss Schnee, I will look into this for you, you have my word."
'Your word? So far, Principal, your word hasn't come through for me ever since you promised that letter of recommendation.' "Thank you Principal Lionheart." I bow before walking out.
As soon I closed the door, I noticed that the students had come out from wherever they were hiding and I couldn't help but see red-tipped hair next to blond and black as they moved towards the stairs leading up. 'It seems like they are going to the roof once again for lunch. I should really talk to them about it again…'
As I made my way to the Student Council Room, I pulled my phone out and sent a message to the rest of the Student Council informing them of an impromptu meeting that was being held in the next few minutes. By the time I sat down in the Council Room, my thoughts drifted back to Ruby and her chosen company.
'Why does she have to have to hang around with those two, I know she said that Wukong-san has treated her like a normal person and I get that, but why is Belladonna-san with them now? Those two have practically nothing in common. Maybe I could invite her to join the Student Council and maybe those negative rumours about her could disappear. She could be my Yuu… but she would actually be into me.'
Hearing the door open brought me back as Fox Alistair, Fennec and Corsac Albain, Arslan Altan and Terra Cotta walk in. After exchanging pleasantries as they sat down, I stood and told them why I had called this emergency. I asked them about the rumours about Taurus-sensei and whether or not they had any truth to them and I told them that the Principal would look into and that we should also look into as well.
I was surprised to hear that they all had heard about the rumours and after Cotta-san asked why we should look into if the Principal plans on to, I informed them all that Amitola-san attempted suicide happened because of him apparently. Hearing the gasps and some protests from my Council, I notice the Albain brothers share a worried glance between the two of them before making their voices heard in favour of us investigating him. 'What was with that glance? Could they know something?'
When they quieten down, I tell them that it is still rumoured at that, and for the safety of the student body; we should investigate as well as we might yield better results. When they agreed to help, I couldn't help but think about the prospect of saving Ruby…, Sun and Jaune.
With their help assured, I ended the meeting thereafter giving the Council members a couple of weeks - three at most - to gather what evidence they can and told them to enjoy the rest of their lunch. As I sat down in my chair, I watch everyone leave with Albain brothers being the last to leave and I notice them start to whisper to each other before looking back at me and then closing the door.
'What are those two up too and what do they know?' Reaching into my school bag, I pull out my container which had my lunch in and set about eating the Baked Tonkatsu that I made the night before.
'Don't worry Ruby; I will prove that he is responsible for what happened to Amitola-san and save you from being expelled.'
Date: 4/19 Tuesday
Location: Castle Taurus - East Building 3F Safe Room
"Fast Travel successful"
Putting my phone away, I look at the others standing around the table. "So… everyone ready to get going?"
Turning to face me, Panther was the first to speak up. "What took you so long?"
"Sorry, when nature calls, nature calls." I said scratching the back of my head as I notice Skull chuckle slightly.
"Anyway…" She sighs. "I can't stay that long today; my parents are coming home later tonight so I need to clean the apartment." I look of disgust washes over the visible half of her face.
"Coming home?"
"Oh… you don't know, do you? I don't look it but I'm half Italian on my father's side and with him being a fashion designer, it takes both him and my mother away for long periods of times, which gives me free rain over our home till they come back." Panther said with mirth as I notice Zee looking at her with hearts in his eyes.
"But, the only problem is… is that because of me being half Italian, everyone thinks that I am exotic and easy so they think that I will open my legs for anyone, which I don't… by the way." She said stomping her foot.
"I believe you, Panther, so that's why you're a model then?" I asked in hopes of steering the convocation to a happier place.
"Kinda… I didn't really want to be a model when I was younger, but when my father asked me to be one for one of his designs, it kinda just snowballed from there." Panther said moving her mask so it sat behind her cat ears.
"Must be busy juggling school life and a Modelling career then?" Zee said coming out of his daze as I notice Skull patting himself down and checking his pockets.
"Not really, I talk to my agent most days to let her know what's happening with school."
'Smart, at least we can plan around her if need be.'
"OH crap!" Skull shouted. "I've just remembered that my mom wanted me to pick up some food for dinner on the way home today, so I can't stay here too long as well." He said looking at a piece of paper.
"Well, let's get a move then, shall we?" I said moving to the door and opening it.
Making our way down the halls, I did get the sense that we were heading towards a dead end after we took down a Shadow (which looked like a blue imp inside a pot after it formed) that was standing in front of a door. When we entered, my suspicions were true when a bookcase greeted us, a couple of vases and chairs and no other way through.
"I told you we should have taken that right corridor instead, Skull." I heard Zee say before hearing the tell-tale sound of a slap.
"HAY! How should I know that this was a dead-end, this place is like a freaking maze." I heard from Skull as I looked at the bookcase.
'There has to be a reason why this room is here… but what is its purpose.' Turning around on the spot, I didn't notice anything unusual. 'I wonder if that ability could help out here.' As the world darkens and the other's speech slows, I look around again and saw a book in front of me glowing blue. "Why is it blue this time?" I said more to myself than anyone else as I moved closer to the glowing book and the colour returns.
"What you got there, Joker?" Panther said following me.
Ignoring her, I picked the book and read the title. "The Slave Book… what kinda name for a book is that?"
"It's not a name of any book I know of and what made you pick that book up?" She said taking it out of my hands and examining it.
"Huh, oh yeah, I forgot to mention this to you guy this but, it's one of the abilities Ozpin gave me, it lets me see the unseen and apparently things of importance… it also slows time a bit as well." I said taking the book back once Panther had finished looking at it.
"I thought that we agreed that you wouldn't use that till you got a better understanding of it?" Zee said in a concerned way.
Turning around to face the other two, I look at Zee before speaking. "I did and why do you think I've been using it more in our fights, you know what they say, practice makes perfect, right?"
"You're hopeless, Joker." Zee said shaking his head.
Activating the ability once more, I noticed that one of the vases was glowing gold. "Can someone check that vase please?" I point to a vase near the door and watch as Skull shrugs his shoulders before he pulls his metal pipe out and takes a swing at it.
I watch it explode into bits as a small, as a gold looking bust drops to the floor. "What the…" Skull said slowly.
As the colour returns, I watch Skull pick the bust up. "What is this thing?" He said holding it towards me as I walk over there.
The bust itself looked gold and felt nearly as heavy, but the disturbing factor about it was that it looked like Shadow Taurus. I was tempted to destroy the thing, but Zee told us that there might be more of these and similar items about the Palace's and that would be able to sell them if we could find the right buyer.
After pocketing both the book and the bust, we left the room and continued on. I was lucky enough to negotiate with a few Shadows and gain them as allies. The first one being a called Kelpie, a half-horse, half-weed Persona who was week to lightning but strong against Ice. The second was a Persona call Silky; she wore a silky, floor length red dress and had olive coloured hair and skin, she was apparently week to lightning and fire, but like Kelpie, was strong against Ice.
The last one was one which I didn't really want to have, but one I know about due to his counterpart. The pink skin and long, high wings were a giveaway for the Incubus, giant red and black-hearted penis aside that is, but at least he was good for something, seeing as he the skill of 'Life Drain' whereas my other Personas didn't.
My other-self was very happy with the new Persona to feed on. Her words, not mine.
After a brief stop so I could have a look at my new Persona's, we ventured on till we hit a barred door with a chain and a circular hole underneath nearby. We talked about how best we could carry on and I made the suggestion that maybe the book I kept might be the key to getting whatever the actual key was. With Zee agreeing, we set off looking for the shelve that the books belong to.
Backtracking a bit and taking cover from some Shadows, we ended up in another small room with a high bookcase expanding one wall and vases, chairs, a couple of tables and some smaller bookcases decorating the rest of the room. With them taking a five-minute breather, I took a look at the bookcase that lined the wall and noticed that it looked like the same one that 'The Slave Book' was on.
Using my ability, I notice one of the books higher up glowing blue like before. 'Another one…? Just how many are there?' Looking to my left, I saw one of those rolling library ladders up against the wall. 'How convenient that they have one, at least it saves me from climbing.' Climbing to the right height, I push off the wall and roll over towards it.
Using my foot as a brake, I stopped just in front of it. Pulling it out revealed the same red leather binding with the same plain font on the front. 'The Queens Book? They could at least have better names then these couldn't they?'
"Hey, guys," There conversation stops. "I've got another one!" I hold the book out to my right before leaping and spinning backwards off the ladder and landing to face them, I show the book to them.
"We've got The Slave Book and now The Queens Book… How much are you willin' to bet the next one will be The Kings Book?" Skull said in a less than happy tone.
"Remember who we are dealing with here Skull, so that would be a pointless bet." Panther said moving to take the book from me and examining it like she did with the other.
'Does she enjoy reading books or something? It the second time she is doing that.'
"This is the same as the other one, judging by the paper thickness and weight." Panther said handing the book back to me.
"That's amazing, Panther." Zee said taking a spot near her on the chair as Skull and I share a knowing look with one another. 'What is up with his weird obsession over her?'
Putting the book with the other one, I looked at her with a smirk. "I might have a job for you, Miss Book Lover."
Bright Amber eyes look at me before she smiles. "Sure, I'll be happy to help."
Moving on, we found out that Shadows respawn after a length of time… so that was fun, especially when I could feel the strain of using multiple Personas'. So when we got another room that looked like the same room as where we found the last book, Skull ran straight to the bookcase and started to throw books of the shelve. I looked over to Panther and saw a pained look in her eyes as Skull cleared a shelf and moved onto the next one.
Taking a seat, the three of us made small talk whilst Skull cleared more shelves. I could have gotten the book myself or told him that it was five shelves up and to his right, near the end of the bookcase, but we… well, Zee and I found it funny, Panther wasn't too happy about it, but she did laugh when I told where the book was.
I can't remember how long it took for Skull to get to the book, but when he did, he fell off the ladder with the book held high. Surprise, surprise, the book he got was called The Kings Book. After putting the book with the others, we moved on to look for where these books were meant to go.
It turns out that a Library was the place to go and when we opened a door and was greeted by a larger Library than the others, I couldn't help but laugh. "I wasn't expecting to find one on this floor."
"What's He even doing with a Library?" Panther said as we moved into the room.
With bookcases lining each wall with several plush chairs and tables around the centre. The room did give off that old English library vibe, especially with a large globe sitting in the centre of the room.
"This room feels out place." Zee said hopping up on to one of the tables.
"You're not wrong; I could never stand the smell of Library's." Skull said pinching his nose.
"It depends on the books, to be honest, manga's and comics are more my thing." I said walking next to one of the bookcases and noticing that they are in alphabetical order by the last name.
Stopping in my tracks, I look around and see Skull and Panther doing the same to the others and as I face the rows of books, my eyes fell on to the spine of a book with a name I know, Nebula Violette. 'What's her name doing here?' Pulling the Indigo bound book out, the style of the text on the front was different from the ones we picked up. 'Nebula Violette - the Beautiful Markswoman… What the fuck is this?'
As I flipped to some of the pages in the book and I started to feel like that I was crossing some sort of line as I realized that this book had a very –and I do mean very– detailed description of Nebula, her day-to-day activities, a list of likes and dislikes and a bunch of photographs of her in various stages of undress that I hoped to god that they were fake.
Slamming the book close and back into the case, I turn around and spot Zee looking at me with worry. "Are you okay Joker? It looks like you've seen a ghost."
"I wish I didn't read what's in that book." I said pressing my head against the books. "That book had all kinds of info about Nebula Violette."
"I thought these were about the students." Skull said placing a book back. "This has all the names of the male students…"
"… and this one is the list of the female students." Pushing off the bookcase, I scan the books in search of a name.
'Please say you're not on his radar, please, please, please say you're not.' As my eyes made it to 'S', I breathed a sigh of relief when I couldn't see her name. 'Oh thank god… I wonder if there's one for me?' Finding the 'R' section didn't take as long as I thought it would and when I found the black and red bound which had my name on it, I couldn't help but pull it out.
"Ruby Rose – The Marred Doll." I muttered as I flipped the book over and back as I notice that my book was concededly thinner and lighter than the others. 'I'm… I'm not damaged… am I?' The fact that someone had thought that I was damaged because of my scar hurt me… deeply. Even back in Yasogami High after I got my scar, a lot of students thought it looked cool at the beginning and even with my intense gaze; no one said that I looked broken because of it.
Putting the book back out of fear of what I might have found and when it was back in its place, I realized that I was breathing rapidly and my hands were shaking. 'Get it together Ruby, now's not the time to lose focus.'
"If you did what I said before in his office, then you wouldn't be having a panic attack."
'And I told you that this was the best choice didn't I?'
"You need to lighten up more babe… Ooh, I know, you should get that out of our box when we get home, hmm?"
I could feel my skin heat up at the thought of the item. 'I'm so glad you can't control me.'
"Don't worry babe, when I do, I am going to be using that on a lot on everyone."
"Hey, Joker! Panther and me have found a gap on the shelves and we were thinking that those books we found could go there." I heard Skull say from behind and I was great full for the distraction from her.
"Nice find, there's one on this one as well." I said looking up from where my book sat to see an empty space. Taking a deep breath and clenching my hands to get the rest of myself under control. 'At least you are good for something.' Feeling her lips press against my cheek, I turn to face my friends. "The question is which one goes where."
"We don't know," I watch as Zee hops up on the back on the chair near me. "with the one you and Skull were looking at are about the about students and the one Panther was looking at was all about Shadow Taurus, the books could go anywhere."
We sat down in the chairs and tried to figure out which book went where but with our time limit we had set, we called it there and head back to the Safe Room.
Date: 4/19 Tuesday
Location: Outside of Shujin Academy
When we got back to the real world, I reached into my backpack and pulled The Kings Book and The Queens Book out and handed The Kings to Blake and The Queens to Sun. "I want you to read these."
Taking the books, they both regard me with the same disgusted look. "Look, I know you probably don't want to know what's in these, but we might find out what bookcase these belong to and we might find out more about that asshole."
A look of realization appears on Blake before she spoke. "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles. If you know you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
Sun looked at me then back to her in shock. "I-I wasn't thinkin' you could say somethin' like that Blake."
"I didn't…" A light blush creeps onto her. "I quoted it from the book, The Art of War by Sun Tzu."
"I didn't know that you were such a book nerd, Blake." I said finding Blake kinda cute at that moment.
"Hey! I might be a model, but I'm not stupid." She said as she balled her fists up and stomped her foot.
I was glad that Zwei fell asleep when we left as I held my hands up in defence. "I'm not saying you are, I'm saying I think it's cute that you like books so much."
"You're insufferable Ruby." She said turning around to hind her blush.
"What… I find smarts sexy." I said and watch her turn back around so fast that Sun and I get whipped by her hair.
"Would you stop, please?" She said with little anger and red face.
"Anything for you, sweet thing." I said with a wink as she groans and buries her head into her hands.
Hearing Sun laugh, I look at him to see him wiping his eyes. "It's strange to see you like this Blake; I only thought that Ilia could bring that colour out." He said before Blake punches him in the arm. "OW, hey… and you," He looks at me. "I thought you said that you didn't know how to talk to girls?"
"I don't and shouldn't you guys get going?" I said changing the subject and looking down.
"Shit, yeah. See you tomorrow Bro." "Goodnight, Ruby." The said before walking out of the alleyway and off towards the station, leaving me with a passed-out Corgi.
"Maybe I should start covering my scar up." I mumbled as the thought of that book still lingered before I walked up Shujin's steps to start reading the book.
After reading The Slave Book in the empty school library and finding out that it was page after page of rules for the male slaves, I decided to head to the bathhouse once I got back to Yongen.
I didn't sleep that well that night.
Date: 4/20 Wednesday
Location: Student Council Room
My main plan for the day –apart from heading back to the castle– was to have lunch with Weiss. After all, Blake did say that she wouldn't stop me from pursuing a relationship with her, so I thought why not have lunch with her. The only problem I had, was, that I wasn't that great of a cook, so when James showed up to open up, I asked him if I could take enough curry and coffee for two.
I was surprised when he said he would, but under one condition, that I told him why I wanted it. I could and still can understand why; it was his special curry recipe after all, hell it taken me years before I remember how to make it to perfection. So when I told him that I wanted to have lunch with the white-haired Student Council President, he broke out into a wide grin before disappearing into the kitchen.
When he returns, he was carrying a couple of smallish sealed boxes and a thermos with two plastic cups. I couldn't thank him enough as he placed them on the counter and as I went to pick the thermos up - which I assumed was the coffee and I was correct, he handed me a folded scrap of paper and told me to memorize it before we ate. When I asked about it, he said it was some information about the coffee he gave me and said that women love it when you know how to brew coffee.
I thanked him again when I placed the thermos into my backpack and next to Zwei and the piece of paper into my blazer pocket. Picking the bento boxes up, he mentioned that they and everything inside were disposable so I didn't need to bother bringing them back which was handy seeing as we were planning on going back into the Palace after school was done.
I was lucky enough not to get them squished on the train ride over to Shujin, but the main problem with carrying them on the subway was the fact that I and presumably everyone on the train could smell the hot curry. So, by the time I got to Shujin, I was pretty much starving and I was grateful that as I walked in, the receptionist called me over and handed me a key to a locker so I at least had a place to store our lunch for the time being.
So that is how I found myself sitting in silence across from Weiss in the Student Council Room with a still-warm curry and the coffee poured between us both. 'This is not how I thought this was going to go… hell; I'm still surprised that said yes to this.' I thought as I ate some more curry and as I looked up towards Weiss, I catch her looking at me before she averts her gaze. 'Can she get any cuter?'
Looking back at what curry I had left, I didn't notice that Weiss had placed her fork down and placing her hands on the table. "I don't normally eat curry that often, but I have to say that this curry has an amazing flavour, you… wouldn't happen to know what is in it, Rose-chan?"
"Please, don't use any honorifics for me, Ruby is just fine and I don't actually, it's a closely kept secret apparently" Which was true, I have the piece of paper with the recipe in a safe. "But I did help brew the coffee that we are drink though." I lied as I remembered what James said.
"The coffee that we are drinking is Salvadoran Pacamara and as of 20XX, over fifty per cent of all exports from El Salvador is coffee and the Pacamara is a hybrid coffee unique to El Salvador. The Pacamara comes from a hybrid plant that produces high amounts of large-sized coffee beans. It has a dense body with chocolate notes."
Taking a sip of the coffee afterwards, I could help but look at Weiss and notice her eyes widening slightly. "I didn't know you knew so much about coffee Ro- Ruby." She said before she started to eat again.
"I honestly have to give my guardian, James Ironwood the credit for the coffee knowledge and the curry, the man sure knows his stuff." I said noticing that I had just shy of half of my lunch left.
"I'll have to thank him the next time I see him then." She said before she resumed eating.
As the silence falls over us again, there didn't seem to that awkwardness that was here before. We made small talk as we ate until there weren't any small topics left. So I decided to ask the one question that I never thought to ask.
"So, how has your day been so far?" I asked looking up pass my glasses and hair whilst poking my food a bit.
"Oh… erm, it's been going okay so far, I've still got some paperwork regarding the clubs, but it's nothing that I can't handle"
"Still? It seems like every time we speak, you are dealing with the clubs, can't you like, shift some of your duties onto one the other members?" I ask with the idea of if she could, then at least we could on a date.
"I do, but most of the time I find that I have to do the job myself." She said frustratedly.
I raised my fork to point at her. "You know what you shou…" Before I could finish what I planned on saying, there was a knock at the door. 'It seems like I can't have a peaceful lunch nowadays.'
"Come in." Weiss said as I shovelled some more curry into my mouth.
Hearing the door open, I kept my gaze glued to my food. "Sorry to bother you President," I heard before I felt eyes land on me. "I've seemed to have misplaced my phone; you wouldn't have seen it have you?"
"I saw a phone on the counter over there, Albain-san," Weiss said pointing at a desk to our right, just up from the door. "I don't know if it is yours though."
A silence fills the room as Albain-san walks over towards where Weiss pointed; taking a brief look at the guy who spoke, the only details I could get was that he was a tanned skinned, brown-haired Fox faunus of about Suns height, maybe more. That is when I felt another pair of eyes on me. 'Why do I get the feeling that I'm public enemy number one in this school?'
Looking over to the door, I saw light brown eyes and a similar build to the Fox that just walked in but with a fox-like tail behind him instead of ears. 'Are they brothers? They do look similar.' Turning back to my food, I could still feel his eyes on me.
"Ah yes, this is mine, thank you, President, and sorry for interrupting your… lunch." The fox ear guy said in a soft tone but with plenty of distaste in his eyes.
I snapped my head to him and glared as best as I could and I received one back from him. 'I know that I'm the "criminal transfer student," but fuck you, you don't know me.' I wanted to stand and tell the guy to fuck off, but I was beaten by Weiss speaking.
"No worries, Albain-san and yes, I would like to get back to eating lunch with my friend, so you two can go now." The sternness in her voice was chilling.
As fox ears leaves, I watch Weiss get up and lock the door. "I'm sorry about that, Ruby; I hope they didn't make you feel uncomfortable."
"Its fine, I've got used to people treating me like shit since I got here. I take it those ass-hats are a part of the Student Council?" I asked wearily.
"Sadly… yes, the Albain brothers, Fennec and Corsac, I do wish I could get rid of them as they have been slacking on the responsibility as members of the Student Council, but sadly I can't as their family are shareholders." She said as she sat back down. "Honestly, I've never really like there kind and having them on the Council just irritates me to no end."
'She hates Faunus', I wonder why?' "Why do you dislike them? Not all of them are bad." I said moving some of my hair out of the way and raising an eyebrow at her.
"I-I'd rather not discuss this right now if that okay Ruby." She said in a small tone as she hugs herself and looks at me with wet eyes.
'Something traumatic must have happened then if she is nearly crying.'
"I'm sorry if I've upset you my Snow Princess, I didn't mean to."
"No it's okay, you wouldn't have known about it." She said as she pulled a handkerchief out of a pocket and wiped her eyes.
"Again, I am sorry." I said before we fell into a silence as we resumed eating till lunch ended.
Date: 4/20 Wednesday
Location: Castle Taurus - Library
When we got back into the Palace, we made a beeline back to the library with the sole purpose of solving the puzzle that we ran into yesterday. Even though it had only been about three to four days since we started this whole endeavour with Blake joining us only a couple a days ago, it was strange to see how fast we worked well together. I somehow became the leader during our time exploring the Palace, I don't really know how it came to fruition but the rest of them seem to just follow my lead when it came traversing the Palace.
By the time we got back to the Library, I did manage to snag myself a couple more Personas', so all weren't too bad, the first one was a horse like Persona with two long curved horns called Bicorn and the other was a plant-like Persona called Mandrake.
Taking a seat in the Library, we discussed the books that I gave out and it turns out that the King's Book was Taurus dairy; Panther was not happy about finding that out and had to resist casting Agi (Fire) on it. The Queens Book was the rule book for all the female students, Skull apparently threw the book to the side of his room when he found out and then I told about the Slave Book, how it was the rules for the male students.
As Panther, Skull and I sat around talking about the books and where to put them, we didn't realize that Zee had picked the books up, walk over to each bookcase and essentially solve the puzzle. We only found out when we heard the sound of wood against metal. Turning to see what the hell was that noise was only to see Zee standing on the back of one of the chairs, doing his best impression of a superhorse pose with the centre bookcase sliding to the left and revealing a room behind it.
From where I was sitting, I saw the same thing that Panther was strapped to before she became Panther with what looked to be like polaroid's stuck to it and the wall behind too. Zee, on the other hand, looked like a cat that got the cream because he solved it without us.
"Don't look so smug, we would have solved it at some point!" Skull said as we made our way over to the hidden room.
With me and Zee being the first ones to enter the room with Skull and Panther following up behind, I was able to see the polaroid's more clearly and the sight of seeing Ilia bound to the X with cuts and bruises all over her naked body, other than that, there was a table near the entrance to the room.
'And here I thought you were sadistic.'
"I only like seeing you in pain babe, not others."
'Well… that's reassuring to know… Shit! I can't let Panther see this; it will hurt her to see her best friend like this.'
"We can't let Panther see this, Zee." I said turning to face him.
"You're right." He nods.
Turning again just in time to see Skull and Panther enter, I move to stand in front of the X. "Skull, keep Panther out of here."
"What? Why?" She said with ferocity at me.
"There's shit in here that I don't want you seeing." I said noticing her try and look at what's behind me.
"I think it's best for you, Panther." I heard the Corgi say as he lands on my left shoulder and blocks her sight.
"I think it's best to do as Joker says, Panther." I watch as Skull place a hand on her shoulder and lead her out of the room.
"Fine, but I want her next share of the loot after the next fight." I heard as I turned around to look at the room.
"I think that that is a fair sacrifice don't you agree, Joker?" I heard the Corgi say as he continued to stand on me.
'Not really the sacrifice I was hoping for, to be honest seeing as you lot left me in charge of getting our meds and weapons.' I let a sigh out as I moved over to a small table that was sitting just inside the room. I when I got there, Zee hoped of me and onto the table, that was covered in more books and other polaroids of other students.
"So we are looking for a small disk-shaped object." I said as I moved some of the books and crap aside to find a palm-sized, gold disk-shaped object. "Found it!"
Picking it up, I showed Zee it. "Good job Joker, let's get going." He said before hopping down and walking out.
'At least we didn't have to search this room that much.' With the disk in hand, I walk out of the room to regroup with the others.
After showing the others what we found, Skull was ecstatic that we would be able to continue on while Panther was still annoyed at me about before. I did say that I would tell her what was in there if she truly wanted to know under the premonition that she wouldn't like what I saw and I was grateful that she decided not to know about it in the end as I really didn't want to tell her.
Just as we were about to leave the room, I couldn't help but see a white bound book sitting on one of the tables. The reason why it did was that I didn't remember seeing it there the day before. Bring it up with the others; they agreed with me that it wasn't there the other day.
The fact that it was white stood out a lot more than the other, so when I picked it up and noticed the blue title, my grip on the book tightened exponentially as I read it out loud. "Weiss Schnee – The Prissy Princess."
"Whoa! Who knew that the Prez would have a book here?" I heard from Skull as I felt him looking over my right shoulder with Panther looking over my left.
"I wonder why her book is out and not on the shelves like the others." Panther said moving to stand next to me.
'Why do you have a book? Why? What have you done to get him to set his eyes on you? I shouldn't have gotten involved with you until after we took Taurus down.'
Feeling my grip tighten, I could feel my anger rise, the sound becoming a white noise as she took over.
"Let's go get that bastard!"
"Wait! Officer, I didn't do anything, that women was attacking her." I said as a Police Officer was slapping handcuffs on me.
"I advise that you remain quiet." He said as he led me to a police car and sat me in it. "Your dad is not going to enjoy hearing about this kid."
"He doesn't care about me, he never has." I said and when the Officer didn't reply I was grateful for the silences.
It didn't take long for the other Police Officer to return to the car and when he did, we set off for the Okina City Police Station. The ride over was quiet save for the odd conversation between the two Officers.
It was strange, I remember Tai mentioning how long it can take to process someone before they get sent to a cell and yet I was being shoved into one as soon as I stepped foot into the building. I was expecting to be sharing a cell with one or two other people, but I was given solitary confinement for some reason, if it was due to being Tai's daughter, then I was at least somewhat grateful for his position.
The next day I remember Tai and my mom showing up, not like in a visitor's room, but to the cell that I had to sleep in. The look on my mom's face when the door opened nearly killed me. She was crying heavily into Tai's and I wished at that moment that I just kept my nose down and continued walking home.
Tai was angry that I was here and so was I, but after telling them what happened, he at least cooled off about why I was here. They left shortly after under the premise that he would sort it out.
With the incident taking place on Sunday, it meant that people would of notice that I wasn't there at school and it didn't take long before the whole of Inaba found out about the situation that I was in. I did have some visitor's over the week that I stayed there, mostly my mom just checking to see how I was doing. But during one visit, she told me that the schools' board had ruled in favour of suspending me in light of what happened as apparently, the whole of Inaba thought that I was dangerous.
About halfway through the week that I was kept in solitary confinement, I was told by Tai that I was going to be moved to a Youth detention centre by the end the week and then be on trial the week after. I was shocked to hear him say that and I asked him was that all he could do to help me and he told me that he was still working on it and that this was from this was the higher-ups doing, not his.
Out of everyone who had shown up to visit me –most of them being students I didn't know who just wanted to see if it was true or not, - I was always waiting for Pyrrha to show up and offer some form of comfort, but she didn't.
I cried every night when I didn't hear from her.
Hearing the familiar sound of a heavy door slamming shut, I awoke to find myself lying on one of the plush armchairs of a Safe Room with a splitting headache, a pain in the side and with Zee, Skull and Panther looking over me and looking like they were ready to pounce at a moment's notice.
That is when I questioned them about what happened. Apparently (according to Skull,) back in the Library, shortly after reading Weiss' name, I teleported over to the door in a cloud of rose petals, I did find it hard to believe but I couldn't really argue seeing as I don't remember how I got there.
After that, they followed the rose petals and the maniacal laughter up to the safe room that we were in and into a church like area, and that is where they witness the end of a battle between her and a heavily armoured, winged Persona with a great sword.
Sitting up, the pain in the side flared up, what happened was that she leapt off one of the pews into the air to kill the Winged Persona as he raised his sword to attack, the end result was his sword piercing through the left side of my stomach while she was able to kill him.
At the revelation of having a sword through me, I stand and look down at where it through only to find no damage to my clothes. "Why don't I have a hole in my clothes?"
"Well… you did." Panther said with a squeamish look. "There was a lot of blood when we got to you, but Zee was able to heal you and your clothes."
"I did the best I could, Joker. I don't know why your clothes regenerated though." Zee said from behind me.
"Thanks boy." I said reaching behind me to pat his head.
'What the fuck was that for?' I thought, hoping that She could explain herself
"…"
'Fucking answer me!'
"…"
Getting no response from her, I let out a groan as I flop back into the chair and next to Zee. "Well, I'm not getting anything from her."
"She is going to be nothing but trouble." Panther said sitting down next to me and as Skull hands me one of Doctor Fall's meds.
"Cheers." Taking the pill and swallowing it, I could feel my pain slowing fading.
When I started to feel better, I made sure that everyone else was doing fine before setting off again. When we got near the hideous statue of Taurus in the church, I couldn't help but notice the large bloodstain that was near the front-row pews. That is where my body landed after I was impaled according to Skull. I was surprised by how much blood I lost, like how the fuck was I still alive, Zee said that some of the more powerful healing magic can revive someone back to full health. We left shortly after due to Panther looking like she was about to throw up.
Making it to a small portion of the roof was a breath of fresh air, literally. I didn't know about the others but it was getting kinda stuffy in there, so after we cleared it out and started to claim to get to the tower, I took a moment to sit down on the edge to catch my breath. It's then that I took a look at the red and black striped sky of the Metaverse.
"It's oddly relaxing don't you think?" I said leaning back and noticing the shattered Moon. 'Huh, how cool is that.'
"If you like that sort of thing, then yeah." Skull said sitting to the left of me as Zee and Panther take a seat to my right.
"Why is the Moon like that Zee?" I heard Panther say as I fall back with my arms outstretched.
"I don't know, but I use to look up at the sky before I fell to sleep." I heard from Zee before I felt Panther's head against my arm.
'Don't worry Blake, I'll make sure that we get there and that he gets what's coming to him.' I looked at her as I place my hand on her shoulder as best as I could and gently squeeze, hoping to convey my thoughts. Feeling her stiffen and then relaxing, I watch her turn to face me with a worried look but when I smile, her expression softens and her eyes sparkle.
"Thank you." She mouthed before turning back to face the sky.
We sat like that for what felt like hours till Zee suggested that we should get a move on and find a Safe Room and call it there for the day. It didn't take too long for us to find the Tower Safe Room as after the small breather outside, the aches and pains of the day were finally catching up with me.
Before I could even close the door, Skull already had his phone out and had selected to travel back.
Authors Note
Good Day, Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good Night ladies and gentleman,
And here is the next chapter of Beneath the Rose-Tinted Mask, this is the more interesting chapter that I have written seeing as all the others chapters have covered most of a day or a full day, whereas this one covers two full days.
During Weiss's segment, you would have seen the name Yuu, rest assured, I do not mean Yu Narukami, I am referencing the main character of Bloom Into You, Yuu Koito. If you haven't watched/read it, I highly recommend it for anyone wanting a cute Yuri romance.
I hope you guys like how I dealt with the whole Library puzzle and how Ruby finds her own book there. Knowledgeseeker66 was the one who came up with the idea of Ruby being seen as damage by someone due to her scar across her left eye and I had planned on using that in a later chapter, but I wanted to show that Ruby is sensitive when it comes to her scar and I hope that I was able to portray that well enough.
The scene with them sitting down and looking up to the sky mid-climb to the tower was inspired by the box art to Kingdom Hearts 3, It's the one with Sora and gang standing on the rooftop looking up at the sky.
I hope you guy and gals enjoyed this little bit of insight of some of the things that made this chapter and I look forward to hearing from you guy and gals and I hope you lot enjoy your day.