6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS 6 MONTHS
Disclaimer: I do not own anything of DBZ/DBS or RWBY so please support the official release.
Spring is a season where the weather is supposed nice and warm with cool winds to keep you cool from the sun's rays. Unfortunately, this was not one of those days. Today the sun was bringing absolute hell on Vale, the heat basically baking anything outside. Yes, it was one of those hot days today, the ones that make you want to dive into a pool of ice cubes or want to stay inside to escape the unbearable heat from outside.
But not everyone had the same idea of staying inside.
Deep within the Emerald Forest where the field of vision from the cameras of Beacon could not reach. Two blurs zipped and clashed with each other all around the forest at high speed. One left a black trail, the other left a trail of roses.
In an instant Black and Ruby appeared in the middle of the forest and clashed opposite elbows. Holding their positions both shook from the power struggle. They pulled back and collided opposite fists, then clashed knees before jumping back to gain some distance from each other. With both teens now still, it could be seen that they were not wearing their original outfits, Black was wearing a black tank top along with black shorts, but still wore his white boots and red wrist band. Ruby wore a red sports bra, short black shorts, red sweatbands, and red sneakers. They both stared at each other before reengaging in a barrage of kicks and punches.
The pair flew further into the forest with their battle. The small shockwaves produced from their battle shook the forest. Trees fell and animals run scare.
In the midst of their battle, Ruby managed to get a one-up on Black, tilting her head out the way of his fist Ruby grabbed Black by the wrist then turned her back to him and took hold of his wrist with her other hand before lifting him over her and throwing him.
Black landed on the ground with a roll, quickly turning around he caught Ruby's fist in his hand. He went for a kick to the chin but Ruby burst into roses and appeared in the air behind him. She brought her leg around aimed at Black's head. The older teen quickly reacted and leaned all the way back dodging Ruby's kick. Black placed his hands on the ground behind his head and pushed upwards to kick her.
Ruby gasped, seeing both his feet coming straight at her. She twisted her body towards him and stretched out her hand to push off his legs. Black smirked at her as he was going up, Ruby returned the smirk as she was going down. When they landed on their feet, they both faced each other.
Ruby was breathing heavily with sweat dripping down her chin. Black also sweating and breathing a little heavy but not from the exhaustion Ruby was suffering from, no but from the unbearable heat that was hitting his body. None the less the two teens continued to smirk at each other.
"Had enough?" Black questioned.
"Heh, not even close." Ruby replied.
"Are you sure, you've been slowing down for the past three minutes." Black pointed out.
"I'm only slowing down because I was worried you were getting tired." Ruby's reply made Black chuckle.
"Don't worry about me, I still have plenty of fight in me." With that Black skipped forward with a fist aimed at her. Ruby skipped back and blocked the punch with her forearm. Black pursued her continuing his assault.
Ruby was bluffing about not being close to tired, it was taking everything she had to block and dodge his attacks. Lifting right her arm up she blocked a kick to her head then moved her head out the way of Black's fist while using her other hand to push it away. She quickly raised her right knee up to block Black's fist before bringing her left arm in front of her and blocking another fist.
Ruby was being pushed to her absolute limit right now. As she continued to evade and block, Ruby closely followed each of Black's attacks trying to see an opening to his attacks. After blocking a couple more blows. She raised her knee to block Black's own knee and then raised her left arm up again to block his left fist, as he pulled back right fist, Ruby's eyes widen. "There!"
Just as he was throwing his straight punch, Ruby leaned forward and ducked under it, surprising the ex kaioshin. Using her semblance, she boosted her speed and nailed him across the face with her own fist. The blow must have been hard because it caused Black to stagger back.
Ruby took no time to pursue him, putting Black on the defensive this time. Using her semblance to its utmost limit, throwing one punch after another, involving several kicks aimed to his sides. Black was actually struggling a bit in blocking and evading her attacks.
From her barrage of attacks, Black felt several of them heavier than others. That's when he began to notice something in her attacks, a burst of white aura came from her each time he blocked a blow. "Her aura is finally manifesting itself." Black couldn't help but smirk at this, "She's getting stronger."
He blocked several punches with his palms before ducking under a roundhouse kick and jumping back. Ruby readjusted her footing which she used and kicked off the ground towards him while bringing her other foot up. Black crossed his arms to block the kick, his feet dug into the ground as he slid back.
Ruby pulled back her leg and grabbed both of Black's wrist and pulling his arms apart, taking the older teen by surprise. Jumping up she pulled both her legs close to her chest then brought them down straight to Black's chest.
Black grunted from the unexpected force he was hit with. As he falling to the floor, Ruby flipped in the air and landed on the ground, using her semblance she skipped forward with immense speed and pulled her fist back for the final blow.
Only mere inches away from receiving Ruby's attack, Black narrowed his eyes and disappeared. Ruby gasped when she hit nothing, almost tripped over herself. Quickly getting over her shock she turned around and searched for the older teen.
Black suddenly appeared behind her and placed her in a full nelson. "Wha—when did you?!"
"Give up."
"Never!" Ruby yelled as she attempted to escape from the hold. Since Black had her held up her feet were barely touching the ground, making it impossible to try to fling him off. She then tried to wiggle herself out of the hold but that proved futile. Next, she tried to use her strength to break free but of course, that didn't work either.
For the next minute and a half, Ruby struggled to escape Black's hold. Finally, realizing that there was no way of getting out, she gave up. "Okay, you win."
Black gave a light chuckle before releasing her. Turning around she let out a sigh, "I really thought I had you there."
"You were close."
Ruby smiled at his response, "By the way, what's your face made from. I nearly busted my hand when I punched you in the face." Ruby complained while massaging her left hand.
"Flesh and Bone." Black answered.
"Heh, I doubt that." The two began walking over to a nearby tree which they left their refreshments and first aid kit. During the walk Ruby glanced at the older teen, a smile forming on her lip. It's been a couple of days since the Beacon Dance, the night they both confessed to each other. At first, Ruby thought things between them would change, but surprisingly, nothing has. They still talk and act the same way as before. Maybe it's because this is a first for them being in a relationship. At least for herself that is.
Arriving at where they left their stuff, Black reached and pulled out a bandage roll. "Here, let me see your hand." Ruby held her hand up to him as he began to wrap her hand with the bandage. "You've exhausted most of your Aura during our spar, so it'll take some time before your Aura completely heals your hand. In the meantime, try not to move it as much." Ruby nodded her head. She felt her face warm up from how Black held her hand, for someone with kind of rough hands he was really gentle with handling hers. It reminded her of the first time he helped her put on a bandage.
Ruby giggled a bit from the memory, she had a feeling that this wasn't going to be the last time he's going to help her like this. "Something funny?" Black's voice bringing her back to reality.
"Huh. Oh, sorry. I was thinking about the first time you helped me with treating my injures. Ya know, after my fight with Dark Saiyaman." Ruby missed the faint cringe in Black's expression. He really hated that name.
"Right, but back then you were pretty weak and quite helpless without your weapon. But you've gotten a lot stronger and faster since then. I may dare say you've gotten strong enough to stand your ground against him"
Ruby raised a brow, "Really?" Her voice sounding hopeful.
"No." His blunt response earned him a deadpan stare.
"That was a bad joke."
"Might've been but's it the truth none less," Black reached in the bag and pulled out two water bottles. "Here." Tossing one of the water bottles to her.
He wasn't lying when he said she's gotten stronger. Ruby has surpassed his previous expectations on how far she can climb. Today's spar proved how she managed to actually hit him and push him into defending himself. Her speed was something else too, just adding her Semblance on top of her natural speed made her just as fast as himself right now. Looks like he'll have to raise his power a little bit in their next spar. Jaune better watch out, if he continues to miss out on his training to go train with Nikos the gap between Ruby and him is going to widen.
As he drank his fill of water his eyes traveled to the Scythe wielder. Her body had developed quite a bit since day one too. Eyes traveling from her legs to her toned abdomen, to her chest, neck, and finally to her face. For some reason seeing her drinking the water bottle made her look very alluring. It didn't help that she was covered in sweat too which added more to that alluring effect she was already giving off.
Ruby felt eyes on her and turned her head to him causing the older teen to flush slightly red and immediately turn his head away, confusing the younger teen. Black cursed himself from almost being caught staring.
These stares he keeps doing seemed to have developed after that night when the two of them confessed to each other. Remembering the dance night Black frowned when he later heard about Ruby chasing some suspicious person before fighting that said suspicious person in the CCT tower. It was through Neo that he found out that the suspicious person was Cinder.
Flashback…
Black entered the dorm where Cinder and her two mongrels, and his 'sister' resided in. "We need to talk." He said.
"Oh, and what is that we need to talk about, Black?" Cinder said, her voice carrying an uninterested tone.
"That stunt you pulled last night. Why wasn't I informed of it?" Black questioned.
"Is there a reason why you should have been informed?" Her answer made the ex-kaioshin glare harden. "If I remember correctly your job here in Beacon is to locate the Fall Maiden which I must say, you've been doing a very poor job." Cinder ending her sentence with an annoyed tone.
Black gritted his teeth.
"I think he's mad that you hurt his new girlfriend." Mercury taunted with a smirk from the bed. Black's eyes moving to him. "What didn't know we were there did you." This time Emerald speaking up.
"Yea, we saw you being all lovely dovely with the redhead. Ha, it made me laugh when I saw you go all red." Mercury said, all the while Cinder had her eyes on Black.
The ex-kaioshin boiled with anger but refused to let it show. Otherwise, that would just prove they were sort of right and would most likely put Ruby in danger. With a scoff Black crossed arms, "You both must be absolute idiots if you believed all that was real." Their cocky expressions shifted into confused ones. "Did you forget that Ruby and her team have been a nuisance to Roman. He asked me to get close to one of them so I can try to avert their attention away from his operations. Ideally, I chose Ruby, being the leader of her team, she would have to most influence over her team and the final voice in her team's decision making. Humans are very easy to manipulate when using romance as a weapon. How else do you think there haven't been problems with Roman's operations these past two and a half months."
"Bullshit," Mercury says, "I think you're talking out your ass." Black's glare moved to the silver-haired teen.
"So, it's all just an act then, you hold no attachment to the girl?" Cinder questioned, her eyes scanning for any sign of him possible lying.
"I care little about that human insect or her batch of cronies."
"Then you wouldn't care if someday my plans might require Ruby to killed then, do you?" Cinder pushed on.
Black leaned forward, never breaking eye contact. "I'm waiting for the day when I can drop this charade so I can kill her and her friends, myself." His voice was colder than ever.
Neither said anything else but stared down at each other. The room they were all in became very tense and heavy, causing Cinder's subordinates to quiver a bit. Neo was the only one out of the three that was able to keep her composer. After a couple of seconds, Cinder spoke up. "Neo, is what is Black saying true?"
Neo looked towards her 'brother', his eyes never moving to look at her. She stared at him for a second before turning to the half maiden and nodding her head.
After receiving her answer Cinder continued to eye the black-haired teen for a couple more seconds. Then the tense atmosphere dropped with Cinder removing her eyes from Black. "It seems you are telling the truth. Very well, the next time we plan on making a move you'll be informed so you can keep those brats' attention away."
"For your sake you better." Black turned back to the door but not before saying one last thing to tick the half maiden off. "Because from what I heard you barely managed to handle one teenager, can't imagine how you'll be able to deal with three others." As expected, his words made Cinder face twitched snarl with anger.
End of Flashback…
He should count Ruby lucky that Cinder didn't fight her with her Maiden powers that night, but then again Ruby has gotten far stronger than what he previously predicted, which aroused the thought of whether or not she would be able to take on a half maiden or better yet a complete one. The same thing could be said with Jaune as well, but he's been switching training between himself and Pyrrha for some time. It wouldn't surprise him if Ruby manages to widen the power gap between them.
Black must've been starring off for some time because Ruby waved a hand in front of him while saying his name. "Black, you okay?"
"Hm? Yea, I'm fine."
"You sure? I was calling your name, but you kept starring off." Ruby said.
"I was…thinking about the night of the dance with what happened between you and the other person you fought." He replied.
"Oh," Ruby scratched her cheek with her index finger, "Yea, sorry for again making you and others worry."
"I wasn't worried. I'm confident enough to know that you would've prevailed in your fight if Ironwood had not stepped in." His words earned him a smile from the Scythe Wielder.
"Thanks," She snapped her fingers and wore a slightly disappointed look, "Man, I wished I had Faunus ears when I chased her."
Black raised a brow, "Why?" He questioned, not able to find a reason in how that would help in her fight.
"Well, you see when I was chasing that person I kinda lost track of her midway. But found her again with the help of a feather."
Black's confusion rose again, "A feather?"
"Yea, I don't know, it looked like a plain old feather, but I had the distinct feeling I had to follow it. Before I knew it, I found where that person was headed to." Ruby explained.
"I see," Black said still unsure as to how a feather helped her find her way to Cinder. Strange intuitive maybe?
Ruby crossed her arms and looked up with a pout. "Still, I wish I had awesome hearing like a Faunus or something to help keep track of someone."
"There is a way."
"…" It took Ruby a moment to register Black's words. "Wait really?!"
Black nodded his head, taking another swing of his water. "You can track someone by sensing their Ki."
"That's a thing?! Why didn't you teach me that before?!"
"I wanted to make sure you've gotten the hand on feeling what Ki is before teaching you how to sense it from others." Though using it on Huntsmen and Huntress or more specifically people with Aura will be difficult. After spending a lot of time in Beacon around others with Aura and then with Ruby and Jaune who developed their Ki, he's come to the closest theory he could come up with as to why sensing Ki from those Aura was harder than those without it.
"So how does it work. How do I sense someone's Ki?" Ruby asked.
Black stared at the redhead, "…It's the same method as to how you learned to detect your own Ki within. Only this time you're expanding your senses to all around you."
"Expand my senses huh, sounds easy enough." Ruby says.
"No, it's not. For one, sensing the Ki from those who have Aura than those who don't, requires further concentration and practice."
"How so?"
"To sense someone their Ki must be able to emanate waves of energy from their body. Aura helps prevent that, the barrier Aura creates around your body encases your Ki enough to keep it partially hidden from detection." Black explained.
"…So in other words, it's like using mud to hide your body heat." Black sweatdropped at how she understood his explanation.
"If that's how you see it then yes, it is like using mud to hide your body heat." Black collected himself, "But this factor is useless to you now." Ruby expressed her confusion forcing Black to further explain. "Aura can only hide your Ki so much as it does not surpass your Aura's strength. Everyone in Beacons' Ki is small and weak which in comparison to their Aura is strong, thus making it easier for them to hide their Ki, whereas yours and Jaune's Ki have grown to the point where your Aura can no longer hide it."
"Oh, then what's the point learning this technique?"
"Were you not paying attention. I said that Aura encases your Ki enough to keep it partially hidden. You can still sense those who have Aura, but it will require further practice. My advice, try sensing your teammates Ki first, your sister should be a good start. It's easier to sense those you're familiar with."
The alarm clock on their scrolls rang indicating that it was time to head back. Black handed the bag with their water bottles to Ruby. "Go on, I'll follow in a bit."
"You're not coming?"
"Not yet, I want to meditate for a while before heading back." Black said. Ruby wanted to say that she could stay and meditate with him but the reminder of Yang probably waiting for her return from her 'Ruby training' as she liked to call it now, caused her to hold her offer. "Alright, but don't stay out here too long, I wouldn't want you to get eaten by a Grimm." Ruby joked.
"Hmph, as if there was a Grimm out there that could possibly defeat me." Black responded.
The scythe wielder smiled before turning her attention away and stretched her legs. "Alright, Beacon here I come," In an instant, Ruby disappeared into the forest.
Black turned to look in the direction she had run off to, "Fast," He stated, "Now then," The ex-kaioshin gazed down at his scroll and pulled up a picture of a local map near Mistral with the coordinates Adam gave him pinned. Taking into the air Black headed to the location.
He would be lying if he said he wasn't the least bit curious as to why or what it was that Adam wants him to go to. His ex-partner wasn't one to just give him a location for him to check out unless it was important and remembering when he told him and the rest of his new secret team BRAN (Burans) to relay any information about Salem and her subordinates. Could this location be tied to her?
It didn't take long to arrive at the location. You could say he was a bit surprised that the coordinates led him to a cave entrance. Walking inside he saw nothing out of the ordinary it just looked like any old cave. It was only when he walked further into the cave when he began to pick something up. Up ahead he spotted a large hole, looking down it seemed to quite deep.
Black jumped down, after reaching the bottom he took a look around his surroundings expecting to find something but only spotted more rocks. After a couple more minutes of walking Black found himself at the end of the cave. His eyes searched everywhere but found nothing that made this cave stand out, at least not anymore.
It was faint very faint, but there was definitely something here. The energy he picked up was dark and ominous, it reminded him of the freakish Grimm he battled with Adam and the others. Black placed a hand on the wall, there was also something familiar within the faint energy he was sensing. Just couldn't put a finger on it.
Whatever it was it brought an uneasy feeling to him and that certainly doesn't happen a lot.
Back over Beacon, very few students were outside their dorms, as an unfortunate power outage caused every AC in Beacon to stop working. Which made the unexpected heat very unbearable too many.
"Oh my gods, this heat is killing me." Yang said, from the cafeteria floor.
"Yang get off the floor it's dirty." Weiss ordered from the table.
"No way. The floor is the only thing left that's keeping me cool." Yang retorted. The Schnee let out an annoyed sigh before placing what's left of a cup of iced tea on the side of her face. The rest of the gang wasn't doing so well either. Ren was basically keeping Nora from melting on the table with a straw fan. Lewis was trying to beat the heat by eating ice cream and Alli rested her head on the table.
"Where's Jaune and Pyrrha with our smoothies." Nora whined.
"They should be coming back any minute now. Though I don't blame them for taking their time, it must be hotter in the city than it is in here" Ren said, taking his turn it the straw fan.
"Say anybody seen Gohan or Blake?" Lewis asked handing a spoon of vanilla ice cream to Alli which she gracefully accepted.
Yang turned over. "I think Gohan went out to help Ironwood with something. Crazy to think he and the General we're friends for some time huh." The day when Ruby returned from her meeting with Ozpin, Gohan informed them about his relationship with the Atlas General and the times he's worked alongside him despite being really young. They were all equally surprised by it that they began questioning the Saiyan hybrid about many things.
"I'm still surprised I never heard of Gohan before considering how close my father works with General Ironwood. Would've been nice to have met him when I was little." Weiss drinking the rest of her iced tea.
"Oh right, you were a pretty lonesome kid weren't you Ice Queen." Yang grinning at her joke.
"One, stop calling me that, and two, I'll have you know that I enjoyed my solitude…most of the time."
Yang rolled her eyes. "Yea and I'm really enjoying this heat."
Before Weiss could say anything back the doors to the cafeteria opened, walking inside were Jaune and Pyrrha both carrying two trays of smoothies. "Were back."
Nora shot up from her seat, "What took you guys so long." Running to grab her smoothie and drinking it.
Jaune scratched the back of his head and gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry, we kinda had the smoothies stolen from us by a couple of kids, had to go back in line to order some more."
Yang snorted, "Ha, you got robbed by kids."
"Well, they were pretty clever on their part." Pyrrha says, handing the brawler her drink before walking over to Weiss and Lewis to hand theirs.
Jaune handed Ren and Alli their drinks. "So heard anything about when the power coming back on?"
"Nope," Emphasis on the p, "Nothing yet." Yang answered.
Again the doors to the cafeteria opened, walking in was Coco and Velvet. "Sup guys."
"Hi Coco." Alli greeted, the others greeting the two members of team CFVY as well.
"Whatcha guys doing?"
"Trying to survive the day." Weiss responded.
Velvet and Coco both noticed the sweat they were all covered in and how bad the heat was getting to them. "Why don't you guys visit the pool then?" Velvet suggested.
Instantly all heads turned to the rabbit Faunus. "There's a pool!"
"Yea, you guys didn't know? Goodwitch sent a message to all team leaders this morning about how to get your team a spot for the pool." Everyone's eyes shifted to Jaune who nervously chuckled. Two cups were thrown at him which he managed to dodge but not the chair.
Weiss turned back brown-haired girl. "So, is the pool free to walk in or…"
"Teams have to sign up for a turn at the pool. Luckily for you guys, my team and another have to go on a mission, and we were looking for someone to take our spot-."
"We'll take it!" Yang shouted, grabbing Coco by the arms.
While everyone looked happy that they were going to the pool, none of them noticed the look of fear creeping in Alli's eyes.
Over in docking bay, Gohan was returning from assisting Ironwood with a full inspection of one of the General's airships. It felt nice working with the engineers again, he got to meet some old acquaintances too. Remembering his preteen years working with the Generals and other Atlesian scientists and engineers brought a smile to the hybrid's face.
Up ahead he saw Blake waiting by the front entrance with downcast eyes as if she was in deep thought. Remembering how their last conversation and how it ended, made him a bit nervous.
Blake's bow twitched when he got close, lifting her gaze to meet him she took a step forward. "Gohan, how was your reunion with General Ironwood?"
"Hey Blake, it was nice got to meet and work with some old colleagues." He replied.
Blake offered a smile, "That's good." Her expression then turned somewhat serious. "Can we talk somewhere privately?"
"Sure." Gohan's nervous levels increased.
They headed inside the school to look for an empty classroom. Thankfully they did not need to search for long since Professor Ports classroom was right around the corner and was canceled for the day. They stood inside in silence before Blake decided to speak up, "Gohan, I want to apologize for my behavior the day before the dance. You were just looking after my health and wellbeing and I…got angry at you for that." The disappointment towards herself was very clear.
Gohan softly smiled. "It's okay Blake, you were under a lot of pressure and stress with the whole investigation. Plus the lack of sleep and nourishment wasn't helping you either was it." He ended with a chuckle.
Blake chuckled as well. "Yea, it wasn't. By the way, I wanted to tell you that you should try to find a better way to go on your nightly patrols than just taking off in the gardens."
"…" Gohan stood quietly trying to process what he just heard. Sweat beginning to roll down his face as he tried to keep a straight face. "W-What do you mean by-."
Blake gave him a look. "Gohan, I know you're Saiyaman."
Panic began to make its way to the half breed, "M-Me? Saiyaman? That's, that's crazy talk! I can't be Saiyaman I-."
"Gohan!" Blake once again cut him off. "It's okay." Her eyes telling him he had nothing to worry about.
Gohan took in a deep breath before letting out a sigh. "How…how long have you known?" He asked.
"Since our little chase with Roman on the highway. Remember, you didn't have your helmet, and your change of color of your eyes and hair weren't that much help in keeping your identity secret. The only reason why the others didn't notice it was you was that they were all too amazed at seeing Saiyaman without his helmet. Though to be fair I wasn't 100% sure at the time till after I began noticing how much you disappear. The real kicker was when I saw you take off into the air one night in the gardens." Blake explained.
Gohan slumped down to the floor with a hung head. "Man, I thought if I went during the night no one would see me." Lifting his head, he stared up at Blake. "So only you know?"
Blake looked up in thought, "I think Allison might know, she talked me about her suspicions about it being you during that night and other times." Blake notices how nervous he still was. Walking over to him she squatted done and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Gohan, I'm not going to tell anyone." Her words bringing a smile to the hybrid's face. Just then their scrolls vibrated, taking them out they saw it was a message from Yang telling them about the pool the gang is headed to.
"The school has a pool?"
"It would seem so. You go on ahead, I'll join the rest of you guys in a bit." Gohan nodded and made his way to the door only stopping by the doorframe when Blake spoke once more, "Oh, and Gohan, thank you, for everything you've done."
The hybrid smiled and then let the famous Son grin spread across.
In a span of half an hour, the whole gang met by the pool in their swimwear. Weiss was relaxing within the cool waters of the pool alongside Ren. Yang was also relaxing at the side of the pool but spared glances at Gohan upper half. Gods he was a masterpiece. Lewis was having races with Nora and Jaune with Pyrrha and Gohan being refs. They all were having a fun time minus Alli. The squirrel Faunus sat on one of the seats surrounding the pool, her body shaking as she kept her eyes glued on the waters of the pool.
"Hey Alli," Ruby's voice bringing Alli back to reality. "You okay?" She asked concerningly.
Alli offered her a smile. "Y-Yea, I'm fine. Just n-not really a fan of…water."
"Oh, well you don't have to stay here if it the water makes you uncomfortable. I think the others will understand." Ruby said.
"No, it's okay. I'll be fine." Alli reassured the scythe wielder.
"Alright, if you say so." Ruby stood up and walked over to the pool. Seeing her little sister finally here Yang waved at her. "Yo Ruby! Took you long enough."
"Sorry, I had to go buy me a swimsuit." Ruby says, pulling her shirt off and removing her shorts, leaving her in a two-piece red bikini.
"Wow, someone's been working out." Yang teased, Ruby raised a brow before looking down at herself. She hadn't noticed before, but she's gotten quite toned. Must be due to all the training and spars she's gone through with Jaune and Black. "Uh yeah, I've been hitting the gym the past couple of months." She nervously responded.
"Really, trying to catch someone's eyes or something?" Yang's tease caused the scythe wielder's face to almost flush red.
Ruby waved her arms. "What of course not! I'm not trying to catch anyone's eyes." In the midst of franticly waving her arm, Ruby accidentally hit someone in the face. Looking over her shoulder she saw her hand had hit Black. Immediately removing her hand, she apologized to the older teen. "Black! I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there."
Yang snorted as she tried to suppress her laughter. The ex kaioshin massaged his nose, "It's fine. I should've said something before."
Ruby took a glance at his and noticed he had changed back to his gi. "You're not getting in the pool?"
"No,"
"Oh," Ruby said, pretty disappointed that she was not going to be able to see—wait stop! Why is she thinking like that?! Don't think like that!
"So what, did you come here to look at some skin?" Yang inquired.
Black gave the brawler a look at her attempt to tease him. "No, I didn't. I didn't even know the school had a pool. All I was told was that everyone was present in this side of the school and I was curious as to why."
"Fair enough," Yang grinned as she looked up at Ruby who was still looking at Black, jumping up she wrapped her arms around her sister's waist. "Yang!" The older teen merely watched as Ruby was suplexed in the water while taking a step away from the splashing water.
He watched the two wrestled each other in the water. He hated to admit it but it took him quite the willpower to keep himself from gazing over to Ruby in her…swimwear. Black's eyes moved to the rest of the pool, everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun.
From the corner of his eye he saw Alli standing at the edge of the pool. Maybe she doesn't know how to swim?
His guess was wrong as he noticed how intensely she was staring at the water, bringing a wave of confusion over him. Unknown to Alli two teens were playing catch with a football behind her. One of the teens suddenly lost his footing and bumped into her. Falling into the pool Alli began to franticly flailing her arms in the air as if she was trying to grab something while gasping for air.
The sisters notice the thrashing, "Alli? Alli!" Yang and Ruby shouted as they rushed to the squirrel Faunas aid. Being the closest to the Faunus Black reached in, grabbed her by the arm and pulling her out the water, and dropping her on the floor.
The teen who accidentally bumped into Alli approached her. "Hey, I'm sorry I didn't mean to-,"
"NO! Nononono!" Alli yelled catching both the teen and Black off guard. Alli shielded her face with her arms, body shivering. "Alli?" Ruby questioned, expressing her concern about what she just saw. Yang was just as shocked as Black and her sister.
Alli didn't seem to register her friend's presence in front of her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Her broken voice made the two sisters' eyes widen. Black just equally surprised at how weak and vulnerable she sounded
Finally looking up, her eyes were filled with tears, and immediately bolted outside. "Alli wait!" Ruby called out. Grabbing their clothes, she along with Yang ran after her.
Black remained where he stood. His expression remaining the same from when Alli looked up. Those eyes, they were filled with absolute terror.
Looking behind, Black stared at the water.
The two sisters managed to find Alli who locked herself in the bathroom of her team's dorm. They tried to persuade her to open the door and talk but it was no use, she didn't respond to anything that was said to her. For the first 5 minutes, they sat in the room and waited for her to come out, all the while trying to figure out what caused her to become so terrified.
Eventually, Gohan and Lewis open the door to the dorm with Wiess who was searching for her friends. They asked what they were doing inside the dorm. The sisters explained what had happened back at the pool and the trio became extremely worried with they've been told.
As the clock turned for an hour, the four teens continued to sit around the room. "I've never seen Alli so terrified before." Ruby said.
"I don't think any of us have." Yang commented.
Schnee turned towards Gohan and Lewis. "You guys are her teammates, are you sure you don't know anything?"
"Like I said Weiss, Alli's never mentioned anything that might scare her to this point. For all we know, it could have been the water." Gohan replied, his eyes returning to the floor. Gohan was ashamed of himself, while he was having fun his friend was here crying.
"She did mention that she wasn't a fan of the water." Ruby added.
Lewis spoke up next, "Do you think it probably brought up a traumatic experience or something?"
"Hit the nail on that one sunshine." All heads turned to the bathroom door. At the entrance was not Alli but Allison. Her eyes were red from crying and her hair was kind of a mess.
"Allison, how's Alli?" Gohan asked.
"She's fine, won't be waking up anytime soon though."
Ruby approached the Faunus girl, "Allison, what happened to Alli?" The squirrel Faunus stared at the redhead for a moment before gazing at all her friends who were in the room. Letting out a tired sigh, Allison took a seat on her bed. "Whelp, this was bound to happen at one point, though I wished it hadn't. Where to start? Well, we could start by telling you guys that I didn't always exist." Noticing the confused looks she continued on. "Alli had a nice family to start with a mom and dad like most people living in Mantle."
Weiss and Gohan both shared a surprised look. "You're from Atlas?"
"Surprising huh," Allison smirked before resuming her story.
"Her Mom a Faunus and her Dad a human all living in one apartment. Dad was an officer in the Atlesian military and Mom a stay home wife. It was nice, everything was good for Alli and her family, at least for a while. One day her Dad didn't come back. He died during a Grimm attack at a town he and his squad were staying at. I remember through Alli's faint memories how distraught our mom was when she got the news."
"But of course, our bad times didn't stop there. Since our mom couldn't find a job that didn't involve leaving Alli alone and most jobs in Mantle didn't pay enough to cover both the rent and us. We pretty much saw ourselves soon to be evicted from our home. Luckily, Dad had a sister who found out about us and offered us to stay at her home over in Argus. Mom was desperate so she took the offer and moved in with Dad's sister." Allison let out a chuckle. "You would think 'Hey, things are finally turning around for us.' Well let me tell you, it only got worse."
"It only took our aunt for two weeks to reveal what kind of person she really was. An abusive, unforgiving, racist bitch. You see Dad's sister hated the Faunus she despised them and blamed us for her brother's death, said that we brought this upon him, said that it was because of us that he always took on dangerous missions. So she took anger on our mom, beating her up time after time for taking her brother. Oh, did I forget to mention she also had a husband that took part in all this too? Yea, he was just as nice as she was. It didn't just stop with the physical abuse our Aunt also neglected us from any food or supplies that belonged to her and her husband. So my mom had to find a job that could at least give us money to buy food. It was barely enough though since our 'Aunt' would take half of our mom's earnings says it's to cover the privilege of living in her home. Sometimes mom would go days without eating just so Alli could. Alli had to witness those bastards beat up and shout at our mother for a year till…our Aunt decided it was time for our turn." Everyone's eyes widen.
"Whenever mom would leave for work Dad's sister would come in our room. Crying only induced Dad's sister to give out more punishment. Hair pulling, throwing, shoving, slapping, and…drowning." Allison could tell without looking that everyone was equally shocked. "Yea, drowning was her favorite method of punishing Alli, sometimes she drowned her to the brink of Alli almost crossing over. Alli had to go through all that for a whole year till one day something snapped in her and I was created. I don't think our Aunt ever noticed Alli's change of appearance since she never let up in her torment. Anytime she would start punishing Alli I would take over and take it, all the beatings, the hair-pulling, the shouting…the drowning. I endured it every day for three years taking one abuse after another. At one point I accepted that this was how the rest of my life was going to be." Allison's eyes became dull.
Yang clenched her fist in anger. How could anyone do such a thing to a child much less. Ruby felt nothing but sadness for Alli.
"I know this may sound insensitive but, why didn't you and your mother ever run away?" Wiess asked.
"Heh and go where? Mom had no relatives, and the world isn't nice enough to help two lonely Faunus with barely any money. But it didn't matter, cause those dark days ended thanks to Atlas military, apparently someone noticed the bruising mom had on her body and reported it to the Atlesian military that was posted there. Dad's sister and her husband were arrested, and I was taken along with our mom to the base posted in Argus. It was there we met a lady who was newly appointed at the base and was in charge of the arrest operation. I'm still not sure why she chose to but when she looked at us, she promised to take care of us. Since then our lives took a turn for the better, Alli got to spend the rest of her childhood as a normal kid or as normal you can get in a military home, and mom, she got whipped into shape by our new Aunt and offered a well-paying job."
"So there you have it, that's our story. Might not be the best sad story you've heard but oh well." Allison shrugged; her carefree attitude brought some uneasiness to the group.
"We're sorry that you had to go through all that." Gohan said.
"Eh, it's in the past. Alli and I try not to think about it too much. We wouldn't be here trying to become a Huntress if we were constantly being affected by our past trauma." Allison stated. The others couldn't really argue with that.
"Does anyone else know about this?" Lewis asked.
"Nope, and I would like to keep it that way. Don't want people treating Alli differently, especially you bunch." While they weren't sure if they could just forget what they've been told Ruby and the others still agreed to Allison's wishes.
From the other side of the dorm room's door Black stood at the side, his eyes staring at the floor with a clear frown on his face, having listened to everything that was said, thanks to his Saiyan hearing, he felt disgusted at how inhuman humans can be. No limit to their barbaric actions. It ticked him off and reminded him of the very reason why he despised humanity. But while those reasons did anger him, there was another that annoyed him.
The next day when Alli awoke she apologized to both Ruby and Yang for running off on them. Having now know that truth as to why she ran away the two sisters accepted her apology and assured her that it was okay. The coming days were difficult for our batch of friends to act normal in front of Alli. They all wanted to do something for her, to help her get through her trauma. But remembering the promise they made with Allison they chose not to.
Yang threw a flurry of jabs and hooks at Gohan who evaded and blocked them effortlessly. Coming with a fast left hook Gohan raised his right arm and blocked it, he countered with a jab of his own. Seeing the attack coming Yang quickly skipped back enough but unfortunately left open for Gohan to spin back and drive his foot into her gut.
She skidded back on her heels and gasped at having the wind knocked out of her. Coming back to her senses she moved out of the way when Gohan came at her with a knee. While in the air Gohan twisted towards her and aimed a fist at her face. With her hand, Yang caught Gohan's fist and with her other, she grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and with such strength, she flipped him over her and sent flying.
Gohan managed to land with a roll but when he turned back, he was surprised to see Yang in the air. Her red eyes burning with anger which matched the flames covering her hair. With a mighty yell, she brought her fist down, the impact creating a large explosion of flames and sending debris everywhere in the combat arena.
Gohan coughed and waved some of the dust away. After a brief moment, the dust cleared, in the center where Yang's attack landed was a large crater. Gohan winced at the soon to becoming scolding they were going to receive from Goodwitch. But that didn't matter at this moment, right now he had to check up on his friend. "Yang?"
At the front of the crater, Yang stood, "Gohan, sorry I'm didn't mean to-I…" Unable to find her words she turned her head away in shame of letting her anger explode.
Approaching the brawler, he placed a hand on her shoulder. Her skin felt hot, but it wasn't enough to actually burn him. "I'm sorry Gohan, I just—this whole thing with not helping Alli and forgetting what we were told is just so infuriating. How can Allison just expect us to forget and act like nothing ever happened to Alli." Her eyes finally leveling with his. Gohan grimaced, he had a feeling it was this. She wasn't the only one having a hard time dealing with this issue.
He knew even with all his powers and abilities there were still a lot of people out there that he couldn't reach, but hearing what happened to Alli, his friend, his teammate, made the truth harder to bear.
The doors to the arena opened, walking in were Lewis and Ruby. "Hey guys have you've seen Alli anywhere?" Lewis questioned.
"No, not since Professor Ports class." Gohan answered. "Why?"
"We can't find her anywhere." Ruby says with a troubled expression.
"Have you asked Weiss? Maybe she's seen her." Yang suggested.
Lewis shook his head. "She hasn't seen her either
Gohan's concern for his friend began to rise. Closing his eyes, Gohan began to search for Alli's Ki. "I know sensing Ki from those with Aura is harder than those without it, but if she's close by I should be able to sense her." He searched and searched for Alli. After a couple of seconds, he found her. She was near the pool area with someone else. A gut feeling told him something bad was going on.
"Black wait! Stop! Please!" Alli shouted in distress as she was being dragged by the arm. Black ignored her pleas and continued to drag her. Kicking open a pair of doors Black threw Alli inside.
Alli's blood ran cold at the sight of the pool. Her heart rate sped up as her body began to tremble. The sound of Black's footsteps approaching ripped her attention away from the water. "B-Black please I-I can't swim."
"Stop. I know you don't fear the water because you can't swim. You fear it because of what your Aunt did to you with it."
Alli's eyes widen from the revelation. "H-How do you-."
"How I know about your past doesn't matter. What matters is that my partner has a great weakness, a weakness that others can exploit and use against us and I cannot allow that." Grabbing Alli by the front of her shirt he raised her up over the edge of the pool. Alli's heart went into overdrive as panic to set in. "N-No! Please-!" Black dropped her in the water. He watched as she thrashed in the water. After a couple of seconds, he reached in and pulled her out.
Alli choked and coughed, she looked on to Black. "Please." She begged. Again, she was dropped. This continued three more times before Black raised her up longer. "Please Black. N-No more." The tears combined with her begging and fearful state caused Black to grit his teeth. "Enough!" He finally yelled shutting Alli up. "You're a Huntress for gods sake! You cannot be like this. What if one of your friends is unconscious and is sinking to the bottom of a lake or a civilian trapped on a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean. Or better yet, a child who helplessly being dragged by a strong river current. Will you let your fears get the best of you and watch them all drown?" Alli stared at her partner with trembling eyes.
"You have everything you need to stop that from ever happening…" Black paused for a moment before asking, "Why do you want to become a Huntress Alli?" then dropping her again. From behind him, she saw Gohan and Yang barge through the doors. Why did she want to become a huntress?
The horrible memories of her abuse played before her as she sunk deeper into the pool.
She wants to become a Huntress…to save and protect those…whose cries go unheard. To protect and save those who are suffering the same fate she had before. "You have everything you need to stop that from ever happening." Black's words echoed as more of her memories played. Alli's fists began to clench. To protect and save herself from that ever happening. A light brownish glow enveloped her body before disappearing.
In front of Gohan and Yang, Alli appeared and fell to the ground coughing up water and gasping for air. "Alli!" Yang and Gohan rushed to the Faunas side. Having checked on his friend Gohan turned his eyes to Black; anger rose within him. "You! How could you do this to her?!"
Black narrowed his eyes, "How could I do this to her?" Black repeated, "This is what she needed, not what you and the others were providing."
"You're insane if you really believe that." Yang argued.
"I could never be saner than I am now. Think for a second. Do you really think giving her space, protecting her from the source of her trauma will help her? No, it won't, especially if she's trying to become a Huntress. You and I both know the job of a Huntsmen is a dangerous one, and you or the others won't always be there to protect her from it." Gohan wanted to say something but deep down…he knew Black was right.
"When…" Alli's voice spoke out. "When you said, I have had everything I needed to stop it from ever happening. You were talking about my Semblance."
"You were too consumed by your fears that you forgot the very abilities you possess to escape them." Alli's gaze fell to the floor. Letting out a sigh Black walked past Gohan and continued. "There's nothing wrong with having fears. You did well in achieving your first step in recovery from your past, deciding to become a Huntress. Not many choose paths that will eventually lead them back down the dark hole they escaped from. Good Job." His words hit something in Alli, tears formed at the corner of her eyes before falling. Yang was there to comfort her. The Brawler looks on at Black walking out the room.
"He's an asshole. But not a complete one, huh." Gohan couldn't respond to her words only stare at Black.
Dark Realm…
The halls of the Grimm Queen's castle were quiet, deadly quiet. Something the Grimm Queen very much enjoyed. Especially when she was further proofing her plans or coming up with contingency ones in case her original plans have a fallout. But right now, she wasn't thinking of any of that. Instead, she was meditating, expanding her senses to the furthest reaches of the Dark Realm and beyond. Focusing them on one single direction.
With a little more effort Salem found her target. Her mind projecting an image of the incoming comet of energy. Inside the comet, her Lord. "Two months until he arrives." It's quite unbelievable that it's already two centuries since her master's departure into deep space. Did he manage to find the brothers during his journey? She hopes he did. She hopes he made them suffer.
Floating up behind Salem was her Seer, a low humming coming from it to grab the attention of its master. Salem turned her gaze to the Grimm as it showed images of one of her loyal subordinates. Hazel.
Shifting her hand over the Seer the images changed to another person, or should she say to two new people. A man and a woman. Huntsmen. They look like no one she recognizes, but they seem to know who Hazel is. Her guess, they're most likely part of Ozpin's inner circle ordered to keep tabs on Hazel. Salem saw how the two Huntsmen kept their distance from Hazel.
Hazel was tasked with finding the Summer Maiden, if any leads he finds are discovered by Ozpin's subordinates then it'll pose a problem for them later in the future. Narrowing her eyes, she gave it some thought of what to do about this…predicament. She did not want the same mistake with the Fall Maiden to repeat itself, but she doesn't want to be too aggressive. A smirk formed on her lips.
Salem shifted her hand again this time the Seer took its leave. She'll let Ozpin's people watch Hazel, but if they decide to act on him then…well it'll present a perfect opportunity for an experiment. Red eyes traveled down to the field of Grimm pools located at the bottom of the castle. Standing in the middle was her Grimm Knight slicing through some Grimm.
"What results will you present to me…Black."
Hello my friends, I have returned with another chapter of Black Roses.
Sorry about what was written on the first author's note. Still coming to terms that it's been 6 &*%$ing MONTHS since my last update. For the longest time, I truly believed that I updated late July. So when realized it's been 6 MONTHS! I practically rushed through writing the rest of the chapter. I'll probably return to this chapter later to further improve it.
I'm glad you all liked the last chapter, as I said before I'm not really the best when it comes to writing romance scenes so I try to take my time when writing it. The little funny dance battle was something I came up with when I was driving and listening to Dancin.
I know some of you are pretty tired with all the slice of life but I'm sorry to say there will be JUST a bit more of it. It's my fault really, I practically gave Lewis and Alli the Ren and Nora treatment, basically not giving them a back story until very later on in the story. At least that's how I see it. What I'm getting at is that in this and the next chapter we'll be digging into Alli and Lewis backstory. But it won't be just all talking and stuff, let just say things get pretty tense.
Also new cover image is up for Black Roses and the credit goes to DoomWriter105, looks freakin amazing. Reminder, if you have art or fan edits you'd like to present as the cover image for Black Roses, doesn't matter if it's good or bad, or its made by a friend or someone else just PM me, and I'll let you know how to send it to me. And of course, I will credit your work unless you want to remain anonymous then that's fine too.
Okay a little discussion about what happened with the chapter over the course of this week. For those who don't know Fanfiction was experiencing a glitch where whenever a writer updated their story, it would show on their profile but would not show the newly updated chapter when you searched it up on the website. To my knowledge, new chapters would appear to those who used the app. That is why by my next update I will be making an AO3 account and start posting there as a backup just in case something like this happens again or when the admins abandon the website (Been hearing that possibility a lot). Hopefully, it doesn't come to that but in case it does that is my plan so you guys don't miss chapters.
Now as for the next update I will post it in two weeks to make up for the 6 MONTHS. Yes, you heard me. November 20 I will drop Chapter 29. Write it on your calendar, Set up an alarm on your phone, tattoo it on your arm! But mark my word, I will drop Chapter 29 on that day!
Well, I think that's all I needed to say. I'll catch you guys next time. PEACE!