Last chapter's title: The title of the Day 24 in 358/2 Days.
EDIT: I haven't played Melody of Memory yet so I don't know what goes on in the game. Refrain from spoilers for others who might've not played, especially me lol
Ch.6 - The Past Never Forgets
During Sora and Velvet's pursuit of Blake…
Shortly after Sora rushed out of the room, there was a bit of silence between Charlemagne and the two sisters of Team RWBY. The sounds of a shower being turned on was heard letting those in the dorm know Weiss was getting ready for bed and also probably not to hear the conversation. Ruby sat on her bed, Yang next to her, and Charlemagne decided to borrow one of the chairs and sat across from them. It wasn't best to hold off the explanation for much longer so Yang decided to speak up first.
"So... where do you want us to start?" Yang finally spoke up.
"Ahh... I guess you can start at when this became a problem."
From how quiet Ruby was and how it looked like she had a lot on her mind, it didn't look like she was going to talk anytime soon. It prompted Yang to resume.
"When we were in the city earlier, we oversaw a crime scene where a dust shop got broken into. The cops said the White Fang was up to this and stole only the dust. Weiss spoke up saying how they are no-good scum and Blake took offense to that, saying that they are just misguided. Their argument continued even when we came back, Weiss talking about her family's history with the Fang and Blake accidentally revealing her own past membership in the Fang as well as being a Faunus herself..."
It was quiet after Yang finished her explanation while the sounds of the shower were still present. The sisters were looking nervously at Charlemagne as he was contemplating on his words.
"Hmmmm… the bow on her head."
"What?" Yang said, confused.
"I would see her bow twitch sometimes, ya know. You girls really haven't noticed? Under that bow might be… you know..." Charlemagne had both of his hands circle above his head. It took a bit for the truth to settle in for the girls. "And we can point to her high sympathy for Faunus and the White Fang and turn it into actual empathy. Man, it really does make sense."
Yang had a long drawn sigh, "I can't be on Weiss' side completely though, we now know Blake is a Faunus and we all know the discrimination they face."
"That much is given sadly," Charlemagne responded crossing his arms, "I won't dismiss Blake's hardships yet Weiss is also a victim of her circumstances. Having seen her dad for myself and learning about what lengths he goes to keep his business and reputation afloat, I wouldn't call him an honorable man at all. It looks like his only real concern for the family is the family name itself. It's really something that grinds my gears." Charlemagne clenched his fists.
"I could've stepped up and done something…" Yang and Charlemagne turned their faces to look at Ruby, who finally said something after being silent.
"Ruby…" Yang turned her focus onto her sister.
"All I did was stand to the side while they both argued. There were many times where I could've stepped forward and said something... but all I did was stay quiet. I-I'm not being a good leader." Ruby lowered her head even, looking like she was on the verge of tears. Even with Weiss putting more faith into Ruby's capacity for leadership, the events that transpired made Ruby's doubt of upholding that mantle even stronger.
"Rubes, don't say that! It hasn't even been a month since school started. You can't just expect yourself to know what to do exactly in that amount of time!" Yang responded, putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"I just wish to be like the heroes in those stories, doing the right things to save the day for everyone," Ruby rubbed some tears away from her eyes as she continued talking, "but… but it's so difficult in this situation. I want to be like you Charlie when you act like a leader and I want your confidence, Yang. It feels th-that I'm not doing enough as a leader…"
It was hard for Charlemagne and especially Yang to see Ruby reduced to a state of self-doubt. It's not necessarily Ruby's fault at all for being an inexperienced leader, so trying to defuse deeply rooted personal issues between Weiss and Blake's experiences was going to be rocky regardless.
"Even with all my confidence it still didn't help me solve this anymore than you. This is just a hard topic, Ruby. And it doesn't help that this feels a lot more personal." Ruby tried for a rebuttal but was cut short by Yang continuing her talk. "Sora told you that these leadership things don't come automatically, right? You're just a leader for a few weeks and still learning, so don't beat yourself up too much sis!"
Ruby thought about her sister's words, still contemplating on what was said and the events of today. She still felt doubts though she was reminded about what Sora told her after Weiss' fight with the Boarbatusk. A hand was placed on her other shoulder as she turned to see it was Charlemagne who stood from his chair to give a comforting hand.
"Hey, don't be too down on yourself. Everyone learns at a different pace and everyone is a different sort of leader for each other. Right now, I think your silence in this matter is made up for by your amazing sense of battle strategy! Don't forget about that!"
"Well I guess you two have a point…" Ruby began relaxing as Yang and Charlemagne's words had their intended effects on her.
"And Ruby…" Charlemagne got her attention, "I appreciate you want the level of leadership that you think I have. Feels good being some sort of role model to someone else, but I will encourage you to go even further. Be a better leader than me!" He smiled as he pointed a thumb towards himself.
"We'll all be here you ya, Rubes!" Yang gave Ruby a tight hug.
"Hnnghh! Nyehh! Yaaang, I can't breaaathe…" Yang had a hold on her for another second before releasing her hold. Ruby took a few deep breaths. "Thank you as always guys. I'll try my best to improve upon my leadership. I won't disappoint you, Charlie!"
"That's the spirit!" Charlemagne replied.
"And we got that settled! With that out of the way, hopefully Sora is able to get her back tonight." Yang said.
Charlemagne had a hearty laugh to what Yang said, "I'll sure give him a hard time if he comes back empty-handed! Sora should have a lot to say to her to make her reconsider running."
"If she doesn't come back tonight, we'll just use our free time to look for Blake and drag Weiss along." Ruby suggested.
"I'll see if I got any free time to do that, but I will be down." Charlemagne gave a thumbs up as he headed towards the door. "That's gonna be it for me for the night. We'll let you know if we find anything about Blake to ya! Have a good night, girls!"
"Thanks for the talk, Charlie!"/"See ya in the morning!" The two sisters responded as Charlemagne went out the door. He returned back to his dorm room and closed the door. Wanting some fresh air, he went and opened the window to feel the cool night breeze. The information he got moments ago was quite taxing on the mind so he just wanted to relax.
With a sigh, he left the window to go brush his teeth in the bathroom before suddenly hearing movement behind him, where the window was. Turning around, he couldn't help but be slightly confused at the sight of Sora coming in through the window with a battered-up Blake on his back. Sora paused once he met Charlemagne's gaze.
"Uhhh… I'm back!" Sora said sheepishly with Blake holding in silent embarrassment.
"What have you two been up to? Blake looks like she fought an Alpha Grimm!"
Sora set Blake down on a chair before explaining, "It might've taken a little scuffle to convince her to not run away from Beacon."
Blake decided to elaborate, "Yeah, I sure can't run right now, and probably for the rest of the night." The fight with Sora left her unable to support herself alone as her legs felt like jello. Because of that, Sora had to carry her all the way back while Velvet went back to her dorm alone. She felt the soreness of her legs subside slowly and it would probably take until the next morning for her Aura to fully treat the bruises. That guy really went for the legs with that crazy reprisal he did.
"We're gonna bring Blake back looking like this? Sora..." Charlemagne imagined the befuddled reactions of Team RWBY.
"Wellll…"
"I am not going back into that room yet. I'll be staying in this room for a little bit, maybe a couple days." Blake said.
"Huh? And why is that?" Charlemagne had a surprised look as that wasn't the response he was expecting.
Blake casted a downward gaze as Charlemagne noticed movement on her head, finally noticing the cat ears that bent down in correspondence to Blake's reaction. The girl gave a long sigh before continuing, "I don't have the confidence to face my team yet. There are things I still need to decide and think about. No doubt are they going to look for me and if you two are going out to help them, being in this room will allow me to be undisturbed. Please..."
He looked at Blake, watching with deep thought and looked at Sora. His partner gave a nod and a smile. It seemed that Sora was already down to let Blake temporarily stay in the room to think her next moves over. Luckily for them, he wasn't opposed to it either.
"Very well then, why not! I find it admirable that you are trying to redeem yourself; a second chance that you deserve. We'll make sure to keep your stay a secret." Charlemagne winked at Blake.
His response made Blake perk up, relieved by his kindness, "Thank you so much… Charlie and Sora."
"Anything for a friend!" Sora beamed with hands behind his head. "Hey Blake, did I hurt your legs too much?"
"It's a bit bruised, but I can walk now," Blake slowly rose from the chair as she made her way to the bathroom before stopping and blushing a bit, "...any of you guys have clothes I can sleep in…"
The two boys couldn't help but also turn red as they figured that Blake didn't have access to her sleepwear and sleeping in her dirty combat outfit was going to be uncomfortable.
Sora went to his drawer before digging out some spare sleepwear for Blake to wear and tossed it to her. "Here, you can wear these in the meantime!"
"...Thanks, Sora." Blake said with a small smile before closing the bathroom door. The two boys looked at the door a bit longer before they both sighed. The sound of the shower was heard not long after.
"So Sora, did you really have to fight Blake?" Charlemagne asked with slight apprehension.
"Hey!" Sora replied and defended himself. "She kinda started it! When she started running away, she was in complete flight mode and I doubt if we'd let her go we would know about her whereabouts… she felt that guilty about her White Fang past. Putting herself down and painting a self image of a monster."
"Mmm… no doubt being in Weiss' vicinity ate at her mind. But once Weiss made a bit of an uncalled generalized blurb of Faunus and the White Fang during their outing, Blake had to argue back." Charlemagne shortly summarized what he had been told by Ruby and Yang.
"It all makes sense now since we know Blake is a Faunus and a former member of the Fang. Was what Weiss said really that offensive?"
Charlemagne pondered, "I feel for former members who were around for their peaceful days, this is within their valid reasoning to feel that many of their kin are simply fighting the wrong fight."
"But!" Charlemagne laid back on a chair with an exasperated sigh, "You cannot entirely excuse their uncool acts even if that stingy Jacques Schnee did make the perfect reasons to paint the Schnee Dust Company as their public enemy number one. Weiss has legitimate fear of being a target."
Sora thought back to his final battle with Master Xehanort. The old man at the end of it all had an admittedly sympathetic intention of restoring the balance of light and darkness. However, his methodology to go upon his plan to plunge the universe in darkness to weed out the evil of people's hearts in order to bring light was a huge issue.
Light and darkness always exist with one another. Though Xehanort's years of unethical trickery and experimentation were because of a distorted interpretation of how to maintain such balance which; his plan bordered being the tyrant of fate itself. In the end, Xehanort conceded because he finally understood that what he was striving to do was by no means only going to work with his plan. Xehanort was redeemed to a degree as even the spirit of Eraqus gave his long time friend a chance.
Now could redemption apply to Jacques Schnee's company and the White Fang?
"Even despite all of this," Sora vocalized his thoughts, "I feel that both sides can be redeemed. We know that both the company and the Fang were better in the past though now this isn't the case."
"Oho? And is there something ya suggesting?"
"I'm sure you feel the same. You and the Oracles of the Elder strive for harmony in order to defeat the Grimm together." Sora decided to bring up Charlemagne's affiliation.
The knight puffed his chest and pointed a thumb at himself, "Ya right on that one, chief! It's our job to find common ground so we can slay those creatures of darkness, not fighting amongst ourselves!"
"We just have to solve that gap in understanding between Faunus and humans," Sora said with a slight wince.
"Nothing to worry about my friend! I got a feeling my Pops' work will pay off sooner or later! As for me, I might have another word with Weiss."
"Look at you, Charlie. Giving Ice Queen another lecture? Ya sure the King isn't just trying to go somewhere with the Queen?" Sora had a smug face to drive it in further.
Charlemagne was surprised by this sudden change in topic, "And what are you trying to insinuate, eh?! I just want to talk to her about her not so awesome takes on Faunus as a whole!"
Sora gave a hearty laugh while Charlemagne continued to defend himself. The unlock of the bathroom door caught their attention as Blake opened the door, already done with showering and drying up. The clothes were clearly big on her as she had a black t-shirt a handful of sizes too big and red shorts that required her to tie the drawstring three times in order to avoid a rather unfortunate wardrobe malfunction.
"You boys are free to use the bathroom now. I'm feeling really exhausted so I might just sleep now." Blake said.
Feeling chivalrous, Charlemagne spoke up, "Ah! You can sleep on my bed for the meantime! I can sleep on the couch for the remainder of your stay."
"The couch…?" That's when Blake finally noticed a rather vanity looking sofa that occupied the free space thanks to there being only 2 beds in the room. "Lemme guess… this was from your father."
"A spare he didn't want, hehe…"
Sora chimed in, "It did feel weird bringing that thing in with many people looking at us funny."
"Well it's not everyday an expensive couch gets shipped to Beacon." Blake said with her rolling her eyes as she made her way to Charlemagne's bed. "You sure, Charlie?"
"It wouldn't sit well with me if I didn't offer comfort to a conflicted friend!" Charlemagne said with a smile.
Blake nodded before deciding to pull open the sheets and lay down in them before closing them again. Feeling the comfort sink in, she decided to ask one more thing.
"I heard you were going to talk to Weiss again. Are you sure you can do anything about her viewpoints about the Faunus and the White Fang?"
"We'll make sure to let everyone know about what you really stand for." Sora gave Blake a kind smile.
"Leave it to us, Blake. I have words to say to Weiss already that will definitely make her think!" A thumbs up from Charlemagne was given to Blake.
"Hmm… I see…" Blake replied as began to close her eyes. A few moments later, she was out cold and her even breathing said as much. Her cat ears momentarily twitched in her sleep.
Both Sora and Charlemagne were surprised with how fast Blake knocked out. "Well, I guess she was that exhausted…" Sora quipped.
With that matter settled, they went back to their businesses quietly as to not disturb the sleeping Blake. Sora took a look at Blake, looking back at when he told Blake about Riku. He thought of one thing before turning back to his business.
"Riku fought for his second chance and he's all the stronger for it. You can do the same, Blake."
Torchwick needed another cigar.
Even if they were a bit more organized and competent than Junior's ragtag henchmen, the terrorist zoo animals still had some polishing up to do in terms of their services. They didn't have much time until the next Schnee Dust cargo arrived and they were a bit behind on preparations. So Torchwick was rubbing his head, looking down from an upstairs office of the warehouse trying to sooth the incoming migraine.
Neo wasn't supposed to be around during the Dust heist due to other obligations (which was Roman actually telling her to take a little break). He didn't want Neo to see this show of incompetence by these Fang grunts though she might've just had silent laughter anyways. However, a sudden call from Cinder came and she requested Neo's involvement due to a slight change in plans.
As much as he loved annoying the woman, it was also annoying in itself if any plan didn't go her way. Neo had the same idea as well as she was standing next to Roman, tapping her feet. They were waiting on Cinder to arrive.
"Sometimes, I really wish we can achieve all of this ourselves, Neo. Ya dig?" Roman said.
The mute girl took a glance at what Roman was looking at and seeing the hectic preparations for the heist made her do a mute giggle.
"Of course you'll be enjoying that sight. As for what I'm seeing, they just love being messy. I'm starting to have second thoughts on accepting this gig from Cinder." Roman lit a cigar and puffed out a smoke ring.
The office door opened as the woman they were waiting for arrived with her two personal lackeys. Emerald smelled the smoke in the room and waved her arms to get the smell away, much to the amusement of Roman. Mercury took a look at the diminutive girl at Roman's side as they've never actually met before.
"So where's the ice cream truck parked at? You lost, kid? Because it's definitely not here, that's for sure." Mercury took this chance to be annoying, but Neo only responded with a challenging smirk.
"This is Neopolitan," Roman gestured towards Neo, "your boss requested her assistance so unless you want to live: don't tempt her."
Neo was very brutal. And surely he wasn't the one to teach her how to be as such.
Cinder decided to speak up before they digressed even more, "So you brought the girl here. Good. I wouldn't be here as well if plans were not changed. This isn't my part to be involved with anyways."
Roman rolled his eyes. He didn't want her to monologue like usual to build herself up so he interjected, "You can get to the point, we're not trying to write a screenplay."
"Hmph…," Cinder clearly didn't like being interrupted but decided to cut to the chase, "my superior decided that it was best to include another individual to this heist. While I requested Neo to be brought forth, another collaborator has recently joined and very much so was keen on attending."
"So who's this other guy?" Roman asked. Mercury and Emerald were also curious because they weren't notified of any new key collaborators.
The question was answered when the sound of liquid being poured in a cup was heard. Everyone turned to see an individual on the couch pour some liquor for himself. Said individual gave a silent cheers gesture with the cup before downing it.
Said man was not there before.
And said man had his face concealed under a hood, wearing a black leather coat.
"Uhh… that him?" Roman did not like how no one seemed to notice the man entering the room and not only that but also taking one of the liquor bottles without alerting anyone. Cinder didn't like it either as she narrowed her eyes, that man was a complete enigma. Neo's usual grin turned a bit on guard, Emerald inched her hands toward her weapons, and Mercury stopped being cocky for once.
Maybe Roman was too harsh on the White Fang grunts, because the vibes of that man in black was just dangerous. And that's with being in the same room as Neo and Cinder.
The hooded man opted to be silent as Cinder responded for him, "Yes, this is our new collaborator. He will be joining you on your assignment on his own terms."
"On his own terms? I'm starting to think that there's really no need for this man to be here." Roman stood up from his chair as he approached Cinder.
"He is using this as an opportunity to further his own smaller personal agenda. As long as you don't impede on his work negatively, he will not do the same." Cinder snapped right back, having a serious tone in her voice. For the duration of time Roman knew Cinder, she was the type who thought she was the top shit other than when she references her one superior. Condescending, power-hungry, and manipulative were words that fit Cinder's base description when one interacts with her. So to see Cinder right now give this man in black a level of respect–rather forced respect–is enough to speak volumes on what this man might be capable of. After all, three highly capable individuals failed to notice him enter the room.
Cinder sighed as she continued, "The one thing that he did disclose is that he wants to draw out one certain individual. We both know who he is, after all he almost helped derailing that Dust heist."
"That kid with the giant key?" Roman instantly knew who she was talking about. "What does Red's random friend have to do with all of this?"
"He and that boy, according to him, are connected to each other from their past. No other details were given other than the fact that he simply wants to give the boy a reminder. What reminder? I have no idea, but now that I've said all I've heard from him: don't get in his way. Understood?" Cinder matched Roman's glare. The thief took a glance at the man in black, completely relaxed on the couch not saying a word since he got here. But his extreme level of comfort in this room full of predators told Roman that the man was a predator in of himself. Wanting to get this conversation over with, Roman gave the green light as he threw both hands up.
"Fine! Fine. Whatever it is he's gonna do he can do, as long as he can conduct his other business without messing up ours, I can care less what he does." Roman conceded as he drew another long breath of his cigar. Maybe the man can make this process of stealing the cargo easier and that'll better secure his chances of lining his pockets with more Lien. Though one question is why in the hell Cinder needed so many Dust Crystals. The amount stolen over the past months could've gotten him the hell out of Vale and let him live the rich life even in Atlas, but a vast majority of the shares went to whatever Cinder was trying to do. The advent of this man's existence made Cinder demand even more and was the reason why they're planning to hit this Schnee cargo in the first place.
"Then we have no more to discuss here. I'll leave you men to do the job." Cinder simply said as she turned and walked out of the office with Mercury and Emerald following behind her. Both she and Roman were glad that the conversation came to an end, Cinder not wanting to be in the hooded man's vicinity for long. An even bigger migraine started to form in Roman's head.
"Hey buddy, ya mind speaking at least one word befor—" He wasn't going to get the opportunity to hear the man's voice yet as the couch was vacant along with the liquor missing.
"Jackass, I was looking forward to drinking from that." Roman muttered before noticing how Neo was still a bit tense. "Heh, you still wish you were here now?" Neo's only response was sticking her tongue out at Roman, much to the thief's amusement.
The personal lackeys of Cinder definitely knew something was off about her. Ever since the meeting was over, there was tension around her that replaced her usual poised demeanor. Really the only thing that would get her like this is if there's something that is outside the influence of her power. If she doesn't have the power to subdue it, she gets angsty.
Emerald decided to ask about her superior's mood, "Cinder… is something the matter?"
Running a check on his metal feet, Mercury looked up in curiosity to see Cinder's response. In the dark warehouse of an undisclosed location, you can barely make out Cinder's frame since she wasn't in the lamplight that helped Mercury with his maintenance. Only her glowing amber eyes shone and those eyes narrowed. Emerald gulped, thinking that was a bad thing to ask but Cinder responded.
"I would assume that you two would know already."
Emerald guessed, "Is it the man in black?"
"You didn't tell us anything about that guy!" Mercury fastened the final bolt before securing the metal leg, done with his maintenance.
"Because nothing had to be said. His existence is a complete enigma. And the fact that the power I sense within him is something… that irritates me so." Cinder clenched her fists.
Watts, Tyrian, and Hazel maybe were made aware of the man's existence but it really was only her and Salem who were present at the meeting with the man in black. Salem wouldn't just easily accept a random individual into the inner circle unless she felt comfortable with how their viewpoints and goals align. And like Cinder, Salem wants to make sure all pieces fall within her jurisdiction.
Not only did the man in black manage to gain Salem's favor with a certain amount of leeway to further his own personal objectives, but he made Cinder do what she doesn't do to anyone else other than Salem: respecting his power.
Because for an unknown reason, he can also use magic. Salem confirmed as much for how long she's lived to distinguish magic from Semblances.
There was also one thing Salem seemed to confirm to the hooded man. A legend that predates even Salem's existence. It's a legend all but forgotten though individuals like Salem and Ozpin would know… and others like the hooded man and that boy, Sora.
"Did you two perhaps know about the legends of the Keyblade?"
"Blaaaake!? Helllooooo!" Sora yelled out loud.
Teams RWBY and JNPR were committed whenever they didn't have classes or homework to search for Blake with the help of Team King. Of course Team King actually knows where Blake is, but they had to play the part of concerned friends even though they felt bad for having to lie to them. Sora had to tell RWY the following morning that he simply lost Blake, much to the dismay of RY.
Sora decided to join JNPR's search party while Charlemagne stuck with RWY, wanting to have that talk with Weiss. Playing that act again, Sora pretended to sulk, head laying low and shoulders slumped.
"Man I really wished I acted faster. I might've caught Blake in time."
Ren went to comfort Sora with a shoulder pat, "You did your best with good intentions. That's all that matters. If we were back in our dorm room, we would've stopped by too."
"Though to find out not only is she a Faunus, but a former White Fang member as well." Pyrrha said.
"That came as a shock to me too." Sora responded, "Though that changes nothing about how we think about her. She's good to the heart, I know it." The heads of Team JNPR all nodded in agreement to Sora's words.
"It does make sense seeing how she'd primarily eat anything relating to fish!" Nora chimed in.
"And I think I heard her hiss one time." Jaune shuddered.
"How about we try this to call for Blake? Pspspspspsps—"
"Nora, I know she's a cat Faunus but…"/"Nora…" Pyrrha and Ren respectfully replied.
"Whaaa? You'll never know." Nora said, trying to defend her methods.
Sora, being in front of the group, looked back while walking to look at Nora, "Cmon Nora, it's not like wondering how sloths sound. Blake can understand human speech fine—"
He was abruptly interrupted when he seemingly walked into something. Said something yelped and seemed to have dropped something. Sora immediately went to apologize to whoever he bumped into, though mentally noted how it felt like he bumped into a metal wall.
"I'm sorry that I wasn't paying attention!" Sora quickly apologized to an orange haired freckled girl with a pink bow and a gray pinafore dress. The girl only looked a bit surprised and it didn't even seem like she was knocked back by the collision.
"Oh! I am quite fine, dear sir! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going either!" The girl responded.
"Heh, this girl really reminds me of Pinocchio. Innocent, cheery, and full of energy." Sora remarked in his mind. He didn't forget that the girl dropped something. "Hey, lemme go get that for you!"
The girl seemed to have some sort of lunchbox. As he got closer, he noticed that it looked oddly very technological with some cold air even coming out like it kept whatever was in there cold. Even though the lid popped open, luckily nothing fell out much to Sora's relief and as he took a peek of what was inside…
Sora instantly froze.
The contents...the contents that were in this lunchbox were things that brought a flood of memories to him; some not even his own yet so viscerally real.
Ice cream bars that very much so resembled sea-salt ice cream bars wrapped in plastic covering.
"This...th-this has to be a coincidence!" Sora… was understandably extremely conflicted. There's no way that this world somehow remotely had sea-salt ice cream exactly like this. The many ice cream stores in Vale did not have this flavor at all nor in this form!
"Do you like what you see in there?" The voice of the girl broke him out of his deep thoughts as it seemed she was oblivious of the tension Sora went through, though the same couldn't be said for a visibly worried Team JNPR.
"Ah! Uh… umm… no I was just curious about what these ice cream bars are!" Clearly that was a lie.
"They are what the good citizens of Atlas call them, 'sea-salt ice cream bars!' I couldn't leave Atlas without having some, so I had someone ship me a box of them and those are the bars that I just picked up!" The girl confirmed Sora's guesses as he sort of just went a bit still.
Pyrrha mentally noted Sora's off behavior but went further with the ice cream topic, "Sea salt ice cream? I recently heard it became a huge fad in Atlas a couple weeks ago after it was created."
The other orange haired girl in the vicinity on the other hand made a face of slight displeasure. "Salty ice cream? Who puts salt on their ice cream?!"
"A couple weeks ago?" Sora asked, getting a bit more inquisitive while handing the box back to the girl.
"Yes!" The girl answered Sora, "I will say that the sea-salt ice cream has become my favorite snack! My father sometimes told me I have eaten too much. Hey! Since you are so interested in them, you can have some, mister!" Sora was about to protest but the girl stuck three bars right in front of his face which at this point he didn't want to refuse the offer.
"Where are you gonna put those ice cream bars though?" Jaune gave a reasonable question since no one other than the girl had a way to store ice cream in a cold container… unless you're like Sora who just slipped those bars in his pocket.
"...Sora," Jaune was really trying hard to form words, "are you sure that's fine to put those in there?"
Sora winked at him, "Don't worry, I have my ways." What the others didn't know was that a Keychain shaped like Olaf the Snowman was also in that pocket emitting cold aura. Sora was glad that the clothes Master Yen Sid gave was extremely good at insulating temperature .
"Yeahhh anyways, we should continue our search for Blake, guys. It was a pleasure meeting you!" Sora waved at the girl as the others did the same, but the girl tilted her head like she recognized something he said.
"Blake… Blake? Are you also the friends of Ruby as well?"
"Y-yeah! You've met Ruby and her team before?"
"I met them yesterday, it seemed like they were in a hurry. I was so happy when Ruby called me 'friend!' Do you guys want to be friends, too?"
Team JNPR were a bit lost of words on the girl's sudden question. Even Nora was struggling a bit. Though ever the guy, Sora always took the opportunity to make a potential friend.
"Yeah! My name is Sora. And with me are Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren!" Sora stuck a thumb towards the team's direction as they all politely waved at the girl.
The girl made a salute, "Salutations! My name is Penny Polendina! It is a pleasure to meet you all!"
On the other side of Vale, Team RWBY and Charlemagne walked around looking for the missing cat Faunus. Three of the people in the group were anyways, one of them clearly had to be dragged into this. Charlemagne definitely was in the know of Blake's whereabouts so he knew none of them were going to get anything out of this search except getting familiar with the city of Vale.
Though Charlemagne was going to get one extra thing, which is that one on one talk with the Schnee Heiress who didn't help this situation.
"Hey Weiss, at least call her name out once so if she hears it, she can at least maybe think about talking it over." Ruby tried involving Weiss more into the search.
"I think we should call the authorities instead. Blake has been affiliated with the White Fang, and I'm sure Ozpin knew this when accepting her into the Academy!"
Yang didn't really like that answer, "Hey Princess, I think she regrets being in the Fang and was already out when Ozpin accepted her. And if Sora couldn't catch Blake, then I don't think the cops can."
"Hmph! That White Fang could've made her a perfect covert spy. We don't even know exactly for sure about her status with the Fang!" Weiss responded.
"Weiss… she's our teammate and friend." Ruby tried reasoning with her.
"And can you be too sure of that after what she said last night?" The heiress replied.
"Weiss…" Yang said in a low tone. She was really starting to piss her off. Meanwhile, Charlemagne hasn't said a word but was clearly not happy with Weiss' attitude. Part of him was also wondering if they were being watched, because he felt a pair of eyes watching them for a while. He was focusing on where the potential stalker might be.
The knight stopped walking, which prompted the girls to notice and look back at the knight. Yang and Ruby thought Weiss said something to piss him off and was anticipating "King Charlemagne" to deliver judgement to the Ice Queen. They were wrong though when instead, Charlemagne looked up to the building next to them.
"You can come out now!" Charlemagne yelled towards the top of the building. The girls thought he was going mad until a figure leapt from the building. Their trajectory going towards the lamppost, the figure latched on with… a tail. Hanging upside down, said newcomer gave them a grin and dropped to the floor with grace.
Charlemagne gave a glance over at the newcomer: blond monkey Faunus who wore a collared shirt that showed his bare chest, jeans, and red combat gloves.
What was most intriguing was the necklace area. He had one gold pendant with a monkey symbol while another necklace accessory… surprised him when he saw it. It was two winged spears that looked just like the ones he could summon forming an "X" and a sword vertically in center.
"Hey," Weiss recognized the Faunus before them as did Ruby and Yang, "aren't you the—"
"Call me Sun, Sun Wukong! I remember seein' you three yesterday, though I wonder where the other girl is at?" Then Sun looked at Charlemagne, "As for you…"
Sun quickly took a knee, a bit of excitement building up.
"It's an honor to finally meet you!"
I've been thinking about making chapters a bit shorter than usual so I won't be confined to making on average 9k-10k word chapters. 6k-7k should work fine and hopefully that mitigates burnout a bit for me. My inconsistent upload times strike again but though to be fair, Genshin took a hold of my life and so does college.
A more laid-back chapter this time, though it is to set the mood for the main event. Next chapter might be a bit like this too depending on what I'm currently planning. So Penny and Sun both get introduced a bit later. I decided to give Sun a small new nuance being that he thinks highly of Charlemagne. Next chapter I'll go more into detail but I can tell you that it will build up an ideology clash between Weiss and Charlemagne; both heirs of Atlissian families with opposite beliefs and goals.
For Penny, there isn't any new substantial nuance to be added but her having sea salt ice cream will certainly make Sora think a bit harder about the state of this world. The man in an Organization XIII coat is here, and it's only a matter of time when paths cross.
I might add a filler before we end the "Volume 1" portion of this story. I just wanna fluff the narrative such as candid character interactions when not in serious plot moments and making attempts to add more character to some of the original cast. Most likely this would be after this current arc and the close-out arc will be one that will heavily focus on Sora.
Anyways, hope to see y'all in the next one!
Peace,
Re-Eternal
