AN: Well, here we are. The finale of Volume 1 of this story. This has been an absolute blast so far, and I'm so happy to be hitting this milestone.

Before we go in, just a heads-up that I changed this around a little bit so the fight at the docks happens the day after Blake runs away, and not two days later. As I said last chapter, I thought it was dumb in canon that they waited two days before looking for her or even talking about it.

Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 29

Ruby marched what was left of her team towards the airships into Vale, determined to find Blake after she didn't come home the night before. Weiss had of course wanted to immediately report her partner after what she said in the dorm, but Ruby and Yang had successfully managed to talk her down, barely convincing her that they needed to hear her side of the story.

"All right, team, let's go find her," Ruby said to her sister and Weiss.

"Blake's a big girl," Weiss said dismissively. "I'm sure she can handle herself."

"Weiss, come on," Yang said in frustration. "She's our teammate, and your partner."

"Is she?" Weiss asked. "We all heard what she said!"

"Weiss," Ruby said warningly. It was exactly this pig-headed attitude of Weiss's that made Blake run away in the first place. Why couldn't she see that?

"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't," Yang said, trying to be as diplomatic with the heiress as possible. "Either way, she's missing, and we need to find her."

"A member of the White Fang!" Weiss continued to rant. "Right under our noses!"

"I just hope she's okay," Ruby said.

"And where exactly do you three think you're going?" a familiar voice asked them, startling the girls. They turned around and saw Mom standing there, her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed. "If I recall correctly, you have a mountain of schoolwork to make up, so why am I catching you trying to sneak off to Vale?"

"Mom!" Ruby said in alarm. "Uh, we can explain!"

"…Well?" Mom asked, beginning to tap her foot impatiently.

"We were going into Vale for…" Ruby began, looking at her sister for help coming up with an excuse.

"Snacks!" Yang supplied. "Yes, we were going to get snacks for when he hit the books!"

"And you couldn't go to the cafeteria?" Mom asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"…No?" Ruby said, trying as hard as she could to sound sincere. Mom sighed. Maybe she bought it?

"Does this have anything to do with why Blake isn't with you?" Mom asked. She didn't buy it.

"We have reason to believe that Blake is a member of the White Fang," Weiss said before the sisters could stop her.

"Weiss!" They yelled at her angrily.

"We know," Mom said.

"…Wait, what?" Ruby asked.

"We already knew that it was likely Blake had some kind of connection to the White Fang," she reiterated.

"How?" Weiss asked. "And why didn't you tell us?"

"Her last name is the same as Ghira Belladonna, the founder of the White Fang. All it took was one look through the public records to learn that Ghira has a daughter named Blake. As for why I didn't tell you, we wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, and not assume she was up to no good. Besides, we knew that all hell would break loose if the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company learned that her teammate was a member of the White Fang, former or otherwise."

"Well, you definitely weren't wrong about that," Yang said, shooting Weiss a glare.

"So, what happened?"

Blake was sitting across from her newfound companion on the balcony of a café in downtown Vale, sipping on a cup of tea, while the blond Faunus used his monkey tail to hold his cup.

Now that she had calmed down a little bit from the previous night, she could actually appreciate how handsome the boy in front of her was. From his messy blond hair, to his nicely tanned skin, to his white shirt left open to reveal his washboard abs, he was definitely easy on the eyes.

His name was Sun Wukong.

And for some reason, he hadn't left her side since the night before. She sighed and put her cup of tea down.

"So, you wanted to know more about me," she said.

"Finally, she speaks!" Sun said in mock celebration. "Been nearly 24 hours and you've given me nothing but small talk and weird looks!" She glared at him in response. "Yeah, like that." She rolled her eyes.

"Sun, are you familiar with the White Fang?" she asked.

"Of course! I don't think there's a Faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them. Stupid, holier-than-thou creeps that use force to get whatever they want. Bunch of freaks, if you ask me!"

"I was once a member of the White Fang," she said. It was probably better to just rip that bandage right off. He promptly choked on his drink at her casual reveal of her criminal past.

"Wait a minute, you were in the White Fang?!" he asked once he recovered.

"That's right," she said. "I was a member for most of my life, actually. You almost say I was born into it. Back then, things were different. After the Faunus Rights Revolution, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between Humans and the Faunus. Of course, despite being promised equality, the Faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings. And so, the White Fang rose up as a voice of our people. And I was there.

"I was at the front of every rally. I took part in every boycott. I actually thought we were making a difference. But I was just a youthful optimist. Then, five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one took his place." That memory was a painful one for Blake. At the time, she had actually believed in Sienna Khan's vision of the future for the White Fang, to the point that she had called her own parents cowards.

It was only now that she realized that they were right.

"That new leader brought a new way of thinking. Suddenly, our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fire to shops that refused to serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that used Faunus labor. And the worst part was, it was working. We were being treated like equals. But not out of respect. Out of fear.

"So I left. I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence, and instead, I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress. So here I am: a criminal hiding in plain sight. All with the help of a little black bow." To help demonstrate her point, she made her ears twitch beneath the aforementioned bow. Sun took a few seconds to process what she had just said.

"So…" he finally said. "Have you told your friends any of this?"

Her silence served as her answer.

Aqua had insisted on coming along with the remaining members of Team RWBY after hearing about what happened, and the four of them were walking around Vale calling out Blake's name.

Well, three of them were. Weiss was just pouting.

"Weiss," Ruby scolded. "You're not helping!"

"Oh! You know what might be able to help?" Weiss asked sarcastically. "The police!"

"Ugh, Weiss!" Ruby said, crossing her arms angrily.

"It was just an idea!" Weiss said in her own defense.

"Yeah, a bad one."

"That's enough," Aqua said. "We agreed that we'd let her tell her side of the story before jumping to any conclusions."

"Well, I think that when we hear it, you'll all realize that I was right," Weiss countered.

"And I think Weiss's hair looks wonderful today!" A cheery voice said from behind them, making the girls jump, while Aqua just looked at her curiously.

She was a teenage girl with puffy, ginger hair, and bright green eyes, with a pink bow on the back of her head. She wore a cream-colored blouse under a grey overall-styled minidress.

She had a pleasant smile on her face, but something about her seemed…off.

"Ahh! Penny, where did you come from?!" Ruby asked, stepping back in surprise.

"Hey, guys!" The girl, "Penny" apparently, greeted happily.

"Who's this?" Aqua asked.

"Oh, sal-u-tations!" the girl said. "I'm Ruby's friend, Penny!"

Penny managed to sound supremely proud of herself for being friends with Ruby, which Aqua couldn't help but find incredibly endearing.

"Nice to meet you, Penny," Aqua said with a friendly smile. "I'm Aqua. I'm Ruby and Yang's mom."

"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Rose!"

"Uh, actually, my last name is Branwen." Penny blinked owlishly.

"I do not understand."

"It's a long story, but the three of us all have different last names," Yang explained.

"I see," Penny said. "I will adjust my dat—I mean, I will remember that."

Well, that was weird.

"Anyway, what are you guys up to?"

"Oh, yeah!" Ruby exclaimed. "We're looking for our friend Blake!"

"Oh, you mean the Faunus girl," Penny said in understanding, leaving the others in silence.

"Wait, how did you know that she's a Faunus?" Ruby asked.

"Uh, the cat ears?" Penny said, pointing to her own head.

"What cat ears?" Yang asked. "She wears a…bow."

Realization dawned on her halfway through her sentence, leaving the team feeling very stupid for missing something that, in hindsight, was painfully obvious.

"She does like tuna a lot…" Ruby commented quietly.

"So, where is she?" Penny asked.

"We don't know," Ruby answered. "She's been missing since last night." Penny gasped.

"That's terrible! Well, don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!"

"Uh, that's nice of you, Penny, but—"

"The more the merrier!" Aqua interrupted Ruby, not sure why her daughter seemed to be so uncomfortable being around her friend, especially one this nice. "Right, girls?" she asked, only to realize that Yang and Weiss were nowhere to be found.

Aqua sighed.

"So, what's the plan now?" Sun asked Blake as they walked around Vale, trying to stick to the back alleys and side streets. This served two purposes: In the event that her team was looking for her, it would make it harder for them to find her, as she wasn't ready to face them yet. On the other hand, in the far more likely event that Weiss called the cops on her after she left, it helped her stay hidden from them, too.

"I still don't think the White Fang is behind these robberies," she said. "They've never needed that much Dust before.

"What if they did?" Sun asked, his eyes widening as if he made a grand revelation. She gestured for him to continue. "I mean, the only way to prove that they didn't do it, is to go to the place where they would most likely go to if they were to do it, and not find them there. Right?"

"But I have no idea where that would be."

"Well, when I was on the ship, I heard some guys talking about offloading a huge shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas."

"How huge?" Blake asked.

"Huge," he answered. "Big Schnee Company freighter."

"You're sure?"

"Thanks anyways!" Yang called to the shop owner as she stepped outside to re-join Weiss. She let out a sigh after the shop's door closed. "This is hopeless." She looked at Weiss, who just seemed to be standing there, and had never put that much effort into searching for Blake. "You really don't care if we find her, do you?"

"Don't be stupid. Of course I do," Weiss snapped back at her. "I'm just afraid of what she'll say when we find her. The innocent never run, Yang."

"But they do get scared," Yang responded.

"What does that mean?"

"Weiss, you have to admit, you didn't exactly make yourself look very tolerant towards the Faunus."

"I…" Weiss said, finding no argument. Yang sighed.

"Look, I know that the White Fang made your childhood rough, but you have to think about it from Blake's perspective. You spent all day talking shit about that Faunus guy from the ship. I know, he broke the law, but you insisted that he was total scum just because of that, and we're pretty sure you wouldn't have said that if he wasn't a Faunus. When you, specifically, accidentally found out that she was a Faunus, she was probably terrified about what you were going to say, and bolted." Weiss didn't say anything in response to that. "Just think about it. We believe in seconds chances."

"So, Blake is your friend?" Penny asked as she, Ruby, and Aqua were walking along a sidewalk.

"Yes, Penny," Ruby answered.

"But you're mad at her?"

"Yes. Well, I'm not. Weiss is."

"Is she friends with Blake?"

"Well, that's kind of up in the air right now…" Ruby said.

"But why?" Penny asked, trying really hard to get a grasp on the situation. It honestly reminded Aqua of when Ruby was a child and her favorite word was "why". Ruby sighed again.

"Well, Blake might not be who we thought she was." Penny gasped.

"Is she a man?" she asked completely innocently, causing Aqua to chuckle, while Ruby was flustered.

"No! No, Penny. She's…" She sighed yet again. "I don't know what she is. She didn't exactly talk to us before she decided to run off."

"I don't have a lot of friends," Penny said. "But if I did, I would want them to talk to me about things."

"Me too," Ruby said sadly.

"I think we can all agree that it would be better if friends went to each other with their problems," Aqua said. "Unfortunately, it doesn't always happen that way."

Night had fallen over the docks as Blake's stakeout continued. The black-haired Faunus was lying on her stomach on the roof of a warehouse overlooking the freight depot. There were rows and rows of shipping containers bearing the distinctive snowflake of the Schnee Dust Company. She heard a ruffling next to her as Sun sat himself down, a bundle of fruit held in his arms.

"Did I miss anything?" he asked.

"Not really. They've offloaded the crates from the boat. Now they're just sitting there."

"Cool," he said, holding out an apple for her. "I stole you some food." She raised her eyebrow at him.

"Do you always break the law without a second thought?" She asked.

"Weren't you in a cult or something?" He countered. She glared at him. "Okay, too soon." The wind suddenly picked up, whipping all around them as they heard the roar of an approaching engine. Within seconds, a Bullhead had appeared over the docks, shining a searchlight over the area. It descended, and extended a ramp, allowing its occupants to exit the vehicle. Several figures stepped out, wearing black and white gear, each one with a small Grimm mask covering their face. They were carrying a variety of weapons.

"Oh no," Blake said.

"Is it them?" Sun asked. One of the militants turned around, allowing them to see the red wolf logo on his back.

"Yes," she said. "It's them."

"You really didn't think it was them, did you?" Sun asked.

"No. I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to be right." How could things have gotten this bad in the White Fang? How did stealing Dust further their cause? Most of the shops that they robbed in Vale didn't even discriminate, so they were ruining the livelihoods of completely innocent people. And for what? A new voice startled her out of her thoughts.

"Hey! What's the holdup?" She looked down again, and saw a very recognizable white coat, black bowler hat, and cane. Roman Torchwick was walking down the ramp out of the Bullhead. "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"

"This isn't right," she said. "The White Fang would never work with a Human. Especially not one like that." She stood up, drew Gambol Shroud, and stepped off the roof. Sun tried to stop her, but she ignored him.

She snuck around the freight depot, hiding behind crates to get closer to Torchwick. He was standing in front of a White Fang member who was holding a coil of rope.

"No, you idiot! This isn't a leash!" He berated them. Blake decided she had heard enough and ran up to him, wrenching one of his arms behind his back, and placing her sword against his throat. "What the-? Oh, for fu—" he said.

"Nobody move!" she shouted, catching the attention of the White Fang members, making them draw their weapons on her.

"Whoa! Take it easy there, little lady," Torchwick said. The White Fang members slowly closed in around them. Her eyes might have been playing tricks on her, but she could swear that she saw black fog coming off of some of their bodies. She used the hand not holding her weapon to take off her bow, revealing her cat ears to her fellow Faunus.

"Brothers of the White Fang!" she called out to the group of Faunus. "Why are you aiding this scum?!" Some of the White Fang members started to nervously lower their weapons, unsure of what to do with her declaring herself as a Sister. Torchwick chuckled in her grip.

"Oh, kid, didn't you get the memo?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" She demanded, pressing her blade closer against his neck.

"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together."

"Tell me what is or I'll put an end to your little operation." She suddenly felt the wind kick up around her, along with the roar of engines.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a 'little' operation…" Torchwick said, and Blake looked up to see two more Bullheads arriving at the scene.

And then an explosion at her feet threw her back.

Ruby, Penny, and Aqua saw the smoke coming from the direction of the docks, having been drawn to the sight by the explosion.

"Oh, no," she said.

"Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that Blake has something to do with that?" Aqua asked.

Sun watched as Blake was knocked away by the explosion Torchwick fired at her feet from his cane, and immediately left his hiding spot to back her up. She had taken cover behind a shipping crate, with Torchwick slowly walking towards her.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty," he said, but was interrupted when Sun threw a banana peel at his head, before planting both of his feet in the criminal's face, knocking him to the ground and rolling away from him.

"Leave her alone!" he shouted, before more White Fang members dropped in from the Bullhead still hovering above. Torchwick slowly stood up while the terrorist surrounded Sun.

"You are not the brightest banana in the bunch, are you kid?" he asked condescendingly. The White Fang members charged at him, but he managed to take a few out bare-handed before pulling out his weapon, Ruyi Jingu Bang, in it's staff form. He twirled it several times around him, knocking down terrorists left and right.

Another White Fang member went flying through the air, having been defeated by Blake, and Torchwick ducked underneath him and fired a round at Sun from his cane. Sun blocked it and saw Blake run past him, heading straight for the criminal.

"He's mine!" she yelled, assaulting Torchwick with a barrage of blows so fast, that it honestly looked like a blur. Sun couldn't see any way to jump in without messing her up. But Torchwick proved faster, jabbing her in the side with his cane, and messing up her rhythm.

He laughed as he was able to smack her several times in the head, knocking her down. Sun decided now was the perfect time to jump in, separating his weapon into two sets of shotgun nunchucks (the coolest thing ever, in his humble opinion), and fired an onslaught of shells point-blank.

Torchwick somehow managed to block every single one of them.

Seriously, how was he this fast?

He finally got a break when Blake recovered and slashed Torchwick in the side, knocking him back. But then he fired his cane up in the air, and Sun heard the groaning of metal above him.

He rolled forward just in time to avoid getting crushed by a falling shipping crate. But as he looked up, he realized that he was kneeling right in front of Torchwick, the criminal pointing his cane right at Sun's head with a wicked grin on his face.

"Hey! Guyliner!" a voice called from above them, drawing both of their attention, and a growl from Torchwick's mouth.

Ruby stood on the edge of a warehouse roof, her Keyblade drawn, Penny and Mom approaching from behind her. She was looking down at Roman Torchwick attacking Blake and that blond Faunus boy from the day before. Apparently, she had been with him this whole time. Torchwick stepped away from the blond boy and waved to her.

"Well, hello, Red!" He yelled happily. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Ruby, are these people your friends?" Penny asked nervously.

"Penny, get back!" Ruby yelled, turning around to look at her, only to hear an explosion right next to her. She turned back around, and saw Mom standing in front of her, her Keyblade raised defensively.

"Don't take your eyes off the enemy," Mom scolded before charging forward at Torchwick.

Torchwick barely block Aqua's strike in time, causing her to press her Keyblade up against his cane. She glared fiercely at him. This man had tried to kill her daughter on two separate occasions.

He was going to pay.

"Well, hello, beautiful," he said, straining against her.

"Don't bother, I'm married," she growled.

"Message received," he said, stepping back so he could try to kick her in the stomach, but she stepped back, too, causing him to miss. "So, what's your stake in all this, Bluebird?"

"First off, don't call me that," she responded, being reminded of Hades calling her "Bluebird" while he was clearly checking her out. "Second, you're a criminal and I'm a Huntress. Figure it out. Besides, that's my daughter you just attacked."

"Boy, if I had a lien for every time I pissed off a girl's parents, I could retire." She charged at him again, her Keyblade raised. He raised his cane to block, but something else got in the way.

One of the White Fang members had blocked her attack with his sword.

Only, this White Fang member was oozing Darkness. Aqua's eyes widened at that realization.

"Huh, nice job," Torchwick said. "Guess you animals aren't so useless after all."

"Key…" the terrorist mumbled. "Key…blade." He roared, and Darkness exploded around him, leaving a Neoshadow where he was once standing.

Aqua backed up, putting some distance between herself and the Neoshadow, and saw that Torchwick was running as fast as he could towards the nearest Bullhead.

"Wait!" she tried to chase after him, but had to duck under the Neoshadow's claws. She struck it with her Keyblade, and it backed up from her, only for her to realize that she was surrounded by them.

Several of the White Fang members had just turned into Heartless in the middle of the fight. She got into her usual stance, when a sword came flying from behind her, impaling a Neoshadow before retracting. She turned around and saw that the weapon belonged to Penny, and several swords were hovering over her head.

"Don't worry, Miss Branwen," Penny said. "I'm combat ready!"

"Mom, what happened?!" Ruby asked frantically, her Keyblade raised defensively.

"We'll talk later!" Aqua said, and the three of them engaged the Heartless.

The group was sitting on boxes surrounded by police cars, having finished giving the officers their story. Blake had put her bow back on, and Aqua had threatened a few of the officers who wanted to bring Blake and Sun, and only them, in for questioning, accusing them of being racist. After explaining that she was a teacher at Beacon, and that Blake was a student and Sun was a transfer student, the officer had finally relented, not wanting to start problems with the Huntsmen.

Ruby hopped off her box when the group saw Yang and Weiss approaching.

"Look Weiss, it's not what you think," Ruby tried to quickly explain to the heiress. "She explained the whole thing. See, she doesn't actually have a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute.." Weiss ignored her and walked right up to Blake, staring her down…

And then slapping her across the face.

"Weiss!" Ruby yelled.

"No, I probably deserved that," Blake said sadly.

"You did," Weiss asserted. "For making us worry about you."

"Huh?" Blake asked, perking up. She was then pulled into a hug by the white-haired heiress.

"Please, don't ever run off like that again."

"You-you don't hate me?" Blake asked.

"No, I don't," Weiss answered. "You're my partner." She pulled back from the hug and looked Blake right in the eyes. "You're not with them anymore, right?"

"Right," Blake said, nodding her head a little bit.

"Then it doesn't matter. I am so, so sorry that I made you feel unwelcome on this team. I guess my father had more of an influence that I would care to admit. I promise, I will do better. In return, I want you to promise that the next time something big comes up, you come to your teammates and not…" she looked over at Sun, "Someone else." Blake wiped a tear from her eye.

"Of course." Weiss smiled, and then Ruby ruined the moment.

"Aw, yeah! Team RWBY is back together!" Weiss pointed a finger at Sun.

"I'm still not sure how I feel about you." Sun laughed nervously.

"Holy crap, you could grind meat on those things," Yang muttered.

"Hey, wait a minute," Ruby said, looking around. "Where's Penny?"

Sure enough, the ginger-haired girl was gone.

Ozpin sat at his desk, watching security footage of the fight at the docks, when he received a message. He opened it up, revealing it to be from Qrow. The message contained only three words.

QUEEN HAS PAWNS

Roman stumbled into the warehouse he was using as his hideout, placing a briefcase on the table at the end of the room and slumping against it.

What in the hell had happened back there? Everything was going fine until Red and Bluebird showed up. And what the hell were those creatures?

He hadn't signed up for this. All he wanted was just to do what the woman said, steal some Dust, and get himself and Neo as far away from this freakshow as possible.

He put a cigar in his mouth, lit it, and took a long, relaxing drag.

"I'm disappointed, Roman," a sultry voice said from the darkness, startling him. He turned around and saw his current…employer and her two flunkeys. The woman stepped out of the shadows, revealing her in all her glory.

She was an absolutely gorgeous woman, decked out in a little red number that showed off her shoulders and stopped just past her hips, baring the entirety of her smooth, slender legs, topped off with elegant black heels. Her silky black hair covered her left eye, the other one being a smoldering amber. The eyes were drawn to her chest, and not for the usual reasons his eyes are drawn to a woman's chest (though those were also quite lovely). No, the eyes were drawn to an amber-colored, star-shaped pendant she wore on a leather strap. She sauntered towards him, her hips swaying enticingly with every step.

Yes, Cinder Fall was everything a man like Roman wanted. Or she would be, if he wasn't so scared of her.

"Oh, uh, hey there," Roman said nervously. "I wasn't expecting you to show up so soon."

"No small talk, Roman," she scolded. "What happened?"

"I don't know," he said. "Everything was going fine until those brats showed up."

"What brats?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"A couple of Faunus kids, and then Red interrupted us with some blue-haired woman," he explained. Cinder's eyes widened ever so slightly, in what looked suspiciously like recognition.

"…Ruby," she said very quietly. Her eyes gained back their ferocity. "Tell me more, Roman. Leave no detail out."

AN: And that's it for Volume 1! We got a slightly different fight at the docks, and Cinder has made her triumphant return to this story!

Now, with her backstory having been finally revealed in canon, I'm going to pretty much ignore it, since it won't work for what I have planned out. In fact, there will be things in the future from canon that I will be ignoring if it contradicts my plans.

Now, some of you may not be okay with me having Weiss slap Blake, but I felt that since they are partners in this version, I needed to have their reunion after the fight be a little bit more emotional. I also noticed that in canon, Weiss never really owned up to the fact that she was actually kinda racist, and they essentially agreed that because Blake left the Fang, they were going to just pretend this never happened. They actually kind of acted like Blake was the only one that needed forgiving. Here, I had Weiss at least a little bit own up to her own mistakes and apologize for making Blake feel unwelcome, and had Yang more directly call her out for being racist.

I'm debating doing a short flashback chapter next or just diving into Volume 2.

As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next time!