Patty's eyes fluttered open, looking around in confusion. The room she was in was far more bigger than what her room was supposed to be. What's more, it was quite decorated, not at all spartan, to look much more comfortable. Plus, there was a window that overlooked the front yard.
And then it hit her. She wasn't at the orphanage anymore. She was taken in by Jaune and his family. She was no longer alone. Patty rubbed her eyes, trying to fight off the drowsiness, but a yawn had escaped her lips.
"So, you must be Patty."
Said little girl looked up to see Noir standing at the doorway, staring right at her with a warm smile. The older blonde gestured to herself and introduced
"It's fine. I'm not gonna hurt you." she assured. "I'm Noir, Jaune's eldest sister. Sorry I wasn't there to meet you yesterday. Was busy with something."
Patty smiled back, and shook her head. "It's fine. To be honest, I, was kind of scared of meeting everyone else… "
Noir smiled and started ruffling her hair affectionately, and to ease her worries. "Well, there's nothing to be afraid of, squirt. All of my sisters are friendly. I'm almost positive that they'll like you." She stood and picked Patty up, placing her on her shoulders. "Now come on! Mom made us some waffles and scrambled eggs."
The two blondes walked into the dining room and saw Jaune was already at the table, munching on some syrup-coated waffles, with a side of hash browns and bacon, and some orange juice. Helena and Selene had the same thing, but they were fighting over the bowl of strawberries. The white-haired teen swallowed and waved at the two.
"Morning, guys."
The twins stopped their little squabble and decided to greet their newest little sister.
"Hey! So you're Patty, huh? Nice to meet you! I'm Helena. The grumpy version of me over here is Selene."
The younger twin jabbed her in the stomach for the comment before giving the young girl a smile. "Ignore her. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Patty. Like what she said, my name is Selene."
Patty meekly nodded and smiled back at them, saying how it was nice to meet them too. The eldest Arc daughter nodded back in greeting and placed her down on a chair, before sitting down herself. Just in time, Jeanne came back with a fresh batch of waffles and homemade syrup. She settled it down in the middle and placed a couple on Patty's plate, before drizzling it with some syrup. The Arc Matriarch smiled down on her.
"Go on. Dig in."
Patty gingerly picked up her knife and fork, piercing into the crispy yet fluffy waffle, and took a bite. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, the flavors in her tongue dancing around. Once she recovered, she started scarfing down her plate, making the others laugh,
"Yeah, that's the reaction that we were hoping for." said Helena, unable to wipe away her large grin. "Mom cooks like her food was blessed from the heavens itself, so enjoy it, because that's what you'll be eating from now on."
Patty had no complaints, continuing to devour her breakfast. Jeanne turned to her currently present children, and asked them what their plans were for today. Jaune put down his glass and answered.
"Well, I promised Pyrrha and Kyrie I'd be hanging out with them, because I had to cancel on them the other day."
"Gonna have a double date with two pretty ladies?" Helena wagged her eyebrows suggestively. "My, since when has our little brother become-"
Whatever she was going to say was cut off by Selene, who had smacked her over the head. "There's a child in our presence. Behave yourself." She sipped some of her coffee before looking at Jeanne. "And to answer your question, mother. Helena and I will be joining Noir for a little mission."
The First Daughter took over as she swallowed her waffles. "We've recently recruited a scientist that...dabbles with demons. He also holds precious cargo that could otherwise attract unwanted attention. Unfortunately, my squad isn't quite ready to fight against something like that, so, I requested Commander Sky I be allowed to take my sisters instead. Wouldn't want to c-block Jaune."
He nodded appreciatively at that and bit into his food once again. His eyes glanced over to his mother, and decided throw the question back at her. "What about you, mom? Got anything planned?"
The Nephilim nodded, turning to Patty. "Well, I'll be taking Patty over to the store to get her some new clothes, of course, and all the toys she'd like as well."
At that, the young child's eyes brightened and sparkled, making the others laugh at her reaction. The rest of their meal went along quietly, with Noir and the twins excusing themselves as they went ahead to get ready for the mission.
"Come on, put your backs into it! We got a schedule to keep up here!"
Selene sat on one of the unoccupied seats at the Argus Limited station, wherein the train that's been privately sanctioned for military usage is at, being boarded with all of the equipment needed. She was reading a book of hers. One of the last gifts Vergil gave to her before his disappearance. Sighing, Selene closed her book and stood up to oversee the workers loading up the crates into the train. So far, nothing of interest has happened yet.
"The hell are you doing, you damn mutt?!"
Her eyes drifted to a scene of a man looking absolutely ballistic as he screamed at a canine Faunus, who was nervously trying to pick up the scattered pieces of spare parts that seemed to belong to a robot.
"Useless animals can't do anything right! Why the hell did we even bother hiring you shits?!"
Selene unconsciously clenched her fist, eyes narrowing in fury at the man. She could see the canine Faunus trying not to break down under his rage. "To generalize is to be an idiot." she mumbled under her breath before walking up to them, intent on defusing the situation.
"Perhaps you should stay your hand?" she said, his tone almost threatening. "Even us 'mighty humans' make mistakes, don't we? Forgive the man, and move on with your life."
The man snootily faced her, a scowl on his ugly mug. "Who do you think you are? Are you another one of them animal sympathizers? Faunus belong nowhere but under a under our heel, licking our boots and worshipping the fucking ground we walk on! They're just freaks of nature who should be lucky that we let them live! We're more superiors than these filthy beasts! "
The Twin of Dusk just shook her head and clapped sarcastically. "Congratulations, everything you just said is wrong. You're too bigoted to even see the good a Faunus can do, and can do better than a human. They have overall better senses than us because of their traits. No one is superior, we all have our flaws. Look, I don't want any trouble-"
Selene was interrupted when a wad of spit hit her right in the cheek, courtesy of the bigot. The man wiped his lips and sneered at the Huntress. "Well it looks like you do! I don't take kindly to bitches who think they can tell me what to do! So get ready for a beating, you son of a-!"
"Is there a problem here?" a voice asked, tightly clasping the man's shoulder.
He didn't take kindly to this and spun around to sock the person for touching him, but found his fist caught before being abruptly broken. He cried in pain and looked up to glare up at his assaulter, only to turn pale white at seeing the most horrifying glare that he has witnessed.
Noir looked down on the bigot, her eyes piercing his very soul, her sword out and ready to draw blood, if necessary. "I don't take kindly to anyone who insults my family. And I don't take kindly to idiots who think they're something, when they're nothing but scum. Never show that face before me again. Or else."
The man frantically nodded and ran away without a second thought. The Specialist placed back her weapon into its scabbard as Selene helped up the canine Faunus stand up.
"Are you alright?" she asked, brushing off the dust on his uniform. "You people don't deserve this kind of treatment."
"I-I-I'm fine, it's nothing miss. I-I still need to get back to work." the poor soul stammered out. He didn't even bother looking at Selene as he excused himself.
The blonde couldn't help but deepen her frown, wiping off the spit on her face. "The entire thing is just wrong. Humans are such bigoted idiots, too busy being racist and abusive against the Faunus, which leads to some of them snapping and joining up with the White Fang to become terrorists, and this all just breeds negativity for the Grimm to gobble up."
"I know, and I agree with you, little sister." said Noir. "It's unfortunate, but some just can't look pass their hatred to work together for a common goal." Ultimately, she was right. Some were a stubborn bunch that just really couldn't let go of the past.
The siblings grew quiet, overseeing the operation to make sure another incident like that never happened.
"It seems like everything seems to be ready." said a voice from behind them.
The two turned around and saw Helena accompanying a man wearing a lab coat, presumably the scientist they were supposed to escort. The man smiled and bowed, introducing himself.
"Hello, Ms. Selene Arc. I am Achroma Colress, at your service. I hope you take care of me throughout the duration of this trip."
Selene's eyes lit up in familiarity, remembering what Jaune and Dante told her about the time they found Ren and Nora. She looked at her sister, asking for details. "I thought he was imprisoned?"
"He was." Noir confirmed. "But, Commander Sky ordered for his release and decided to use his intellect and ingenuity to help out instead of letting it all rot in prison."
"I see..." Selene said, after a moment of silence. She simply nodded at him back in greeting. "Well, I supposed it's good to have your knowledge with us instead of against us."
Achroma smiled, accepting it. "Likewise. Now, let's get to business. I'm sure your sister has informed you that we will be transporting some 'equipment' all the way to our new testing grounds for research and development. And because of its supernatural origins, well, it's all but guaranteed that something is bound to happen. There will be two trains, as you can see.
"We'll be disguising them both as SDC cargo to throw off anyone who's idiotic enough to try and infiltrate the trains for whatever reason. Captain Arc and Ms. Selene will board the first train, while Ms. Helena and I will board the second train. All in all, if nothing happens, it should just be a simple one-hour train ride."
The crew finished loading up everything in the train, giving them the go ahead to finally board it and set off to their destination.
"So it begins." Achroma said. He nodded at the two as he and the sisters boarded their respective trains.
Noir tapped her ear and activated the communication device. "Let's try to keep communications up. Best of luck to us."
"Are you sure we don't need to keep an eye on the carts?" Selene asked, looking at her sister as she operated the train.
Noir nodded. "Positive. We have sensors in each one that'll alert us if anyone is brave enough to sneak inside. Make yourself comfortable, little sis, we have an hour long ride ahead of us."
Selene sat down and pulled out her book, flipping to the page she was last on.
Two female figures stood on the edge of a cliff that overlooked the train tracks. One had red hair, and black and red clothing while the other had black hair and black and white clothing. The both of them wore a mask that hid most of their faces. They smilef as the SDC train soon came into view. They nodded at each other and slid down the face of the cliff, jumping off at the right time and landed down on the train, stabbing their weapons on the roof to prevent themselves from falling.
The redhead ran up to one of the hatches and sliced off its lock, allowing them to get inside. The car they were in slowly lit up, revealing that it was filled with robots, the Atlesian Knights-130.
"Figured it wouldn't be easy." commented the one with cow horns, brushing her fingers on the trigger of her scabbard. "You ready for this, Blake?"
Blake nodded, readying her own weapon. "As always, Eve."
The AK-130s activated, glowing a menacingly red as one of them shifted its arm into guns. "Intruder. Identify yourself."
Eve responded with pulling the trigger, launching out a red blade and knocking it back. Before it could react, she dashed forward and grabbed it in a reverse grip, slicing the robot in half in two swift motions, sheathing back her blade. The other AKs looked at each other before changing their arms into weapons, charging at the duo.
Blake flipped behind two of the robots and dealt with them easily. She regrouped with Eve, covering each other's backs as they attacked on both fronts, decimating the AK-130s. One of them fired off its guns at the duo. Eve dashed to the front, deflecting the bullets with ease so Blake could destroy it without worry.
The black-haired female went ahead, slicing through their enemies, blurring around with incredible speed. She finished off of the AK and sent it into the air, letting Eve rush forward and kick it outside, breaking down the door. The two Faunus jumped onto the next car, with more robots meeting them ahead.
"Let's dance!" the redhead announced.
She drew out her blade and sent multiple robots into the air. Blake jumped and struck them down, as Eve sheathed her blade once more. She raised her weapon, switching it to a sickle mode, whipping it around while she shot out Dust bullets at the same time.
Eve drew out her weapon once again, slashing down every AK-130 that appeared in her sight, sheathing and unsheating it every so often, all the while using her scabbard to shoot an android that came from behind.
Back at the conductor's room, Noir noticed the sensors of the robots given to them by the Atlesian military slowly dwindled down in numbers, making her frown.
"Looks like we got company." she concluded, grabbing the attention of her little sister. "They're shredding down the AK-130s like they're butter. And from the looks of it, they're heading for our 'special equipment'."
Noir activated the train's auto-pilot as Selene secured her weapon. The Twin of Dusk nodded at her eldest sister as they ran out to confront the intruders.
Eve grunted, defending herself before shooting down the two androids that attacked her. Slamming back her blade into her scabbard, she dashed forward and sliced through them with one swing.
Locking blades with another AK-130, the redheaded Faunus shot it in the head before swiftly decapitating it. Blake embedded her weapon into its chest and swung it around, pushing off some of them off the train, clearing the way.
The duo kicked down the door, revealing to them their objective. Blake gasped in shock and surprise as her sister-figure opened up the chest. It didn't have any Dust, instead, it had weapons and demonic artifacts galore. A large smile made its way up Eve's face despite it not being their exact goal.
"Even better... We take this back home and learn to control it, we won't have any trouble anymore with dealing with our enemies. We may finally have a chance to get the treatment we deserve."
Before they could take another step, a bullet shot the ground in front of them. Noir jumped from out of the shadows and attacked Eve. The Faunus didn't even manage to defend herself as the Specialist struck her twice before kicking her out of the car, jumping after her.
"Eve!" shouted Blake in concern.
As she was about to help her, Selene rushed forward and pounced. Blake raised her weapon and defended herself, ultimately being pushed back by the force behind the strike. The raven-haired Faunus did her best to block the attacks, but the Huntress was relentless and swift in her attacks.
Eve groaned and composed herself, quickly drawing her blade to lock with Noir's. The Specialist grunted, pushing the Faunus back.
"Eve Taurus. Leader of a White Fang subsidiary in Vale. Aren't you a bit far away from where you should be?" she taunted.
The two of them pulled back and exchanged strikes, sparks flying off their blades. Eve struggled as Noir dominated the fight. She pulled back, narrowly avoiding a slash that would've cut off her head. She pulled the trigger on her scabbard, firing a few shots. The blond cambion, deflected the bullets before returning with her own.
Eve weaved through the shots and the two of them began another clash. Noir's eyes narrowed, feeling as though her opponent's fighting style was familiar. Like she'd seen it before. She dashed back, letting loose a barrage of quick-draw strikes. Eve managed to evade most of them, then proceeded to her own counterattack.
Noir sidestepped the downward slash then the upper strike. She parried the stab and struck the cow Faunus with the hilt of her katana, before performing a stream of slashes at her body that sent her into the sky. She jumped after her and juggled her around, ending her attack with a spiral strike.
Eve skid across the train car, gritting her teeth. She rolled out of the way of Noir's descending slash. Quickly slipping into an Iaijutsu stance, she unleashed a barrage of quick-draw attacks at the blonde, which forced her on the defensive. Seeing an opening, Eve rushed forward and disarmed Noir of her weapon.
The redheaded Faunus smirked and proceeded with her attack. She struck her twice on the stomach, then launched her up into the air with a kick before following it up with a rising slash. Eve slammed her blade back into its scabbard, which proceeded to glow red. Pulling the trigger, she drew it out once more and unleashed a flurry of slashes all at once.
Noir could only grunt as the attack struck true, chipping at her Aura. And yet it told her all that she needed. Why everything seemed familiar, but not yet, she needed further proof. Recovering, she landed down and made a drawing motion, Agni and Rudra materializing in her hands.
Eve took a step back, seemingly recognizing what the swords were. Nonetheless, she stood her ground and slipped into her battle stance. Noir smirked and scraped them together before charging with a war cry.
Blake blocked and weaved through Selene's attacks, not even getting the chance to retaliate. The blonde was just too relentless in her attacks, and didn't even show any signs of exhaustion. She activated her Semblance, leaving behind a copy of herself, which Selene struck. It exploded, blowing her back, giving Blake some time to recuperate.
She looked at the chamber of her weapon, finding that it still had some Fire Dust in them. Nodding, she placed it back, only to blink as Selene came back, soaring at her for a sweep attack. Blake ducked in time, letting it slash at the crate instead.
The Twin of Dusk turned her focus on her and charged. Her attacks grow even more faster with renewed effort, striking Blake at such a fast pace, she almost couldn't keep up. Once more, she used her Semblance, but this time, infused it with Ice Dust, trapping her weapon, finally giving her an opportunity.
The feline Faunus launched her counter attack, putting all in her effort to strike Selene as fast and as hard as she could, making step back again and again. Blake struck him twice with her blade, before using her sheath to smack her up. Shifting her weapon into its kusarigama form, she hooked it around her is ankle and dragged her across the floor.
Selene grunted. She planted her foot and stopped Blake. She wrapped her arm around the ribbon, using it to pull her towards her. She socked her right in the cheek then backhanded her. She pulled back on the ribbon once again and clotheslined her and tossed aside her weapon, using the shadows to pull her weapon out of its confinements, shifting it into its scythe form.
Blake's eyes widened in absolute surprise at what she just saw. She rolled out of the way of the blade and onto her knees. The raven-haired woman used her cat-like flexibility dodging Selene's strikes to retrieve her weapon.
She was successful and fired at her opponent. The cambion smirked and twirled around her blade, catching the bullets, much to Blake's shock. Lining them all up on the ground, she flung it at the cat Faunus, who quickly reacted and sliced through them.
Her eyes widened behind the mask as Selene was instantly upon her, like she had teleported. She swung in an arc motion, slashing through the metal wall. Blake looked at it with fear, distracting her enough for Selene to strike again.
The blonde dashed forward and dealt a four-hit strike combo over her chest, following it up with a devastating overhead attack, smacking Blake onto the ground. Selene didn't let up and repeatedly slammed the blunt side of his sword over her back, until he pulled back and launched her into the air and dealt a powerful swing that knocked her out of the car.
Eve grunted. Noir was absolutely better than she expected and she wholeheartedly underestimated the blonde. The two of them continued to trade blows, until the Fang branch leader noticed her charge flying through the air.
"Blake!" she cried out in worry.
Eve pushed back Noir and stunned her with a whack to the head and a subsequent shot that stunned her. The redhead raced below the person she could call a little sister and jumped, catching her in her arms.
She sighed in relief, letting her down. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." assured Blake, before looking at Noir, who was soon joined by Selene. "They're tough. Maybe even stronger than us. Think we need to cut our losses."
Before she could even retort, the Arc siblings charged together, this time, changing opponents. Noir launched herself at Blake while Selene went after Eve.
The blonde held her Devil Arms in a reverse grip as she furiously slashed at Blake. The cat Faunus couldn't even see most of the attacks coming at her, unable to read to be able to defend. Her grip on her weapon is inadvertently loosened, allowing Noir to disarm her and continue her attack.
The First Daughter struck her twice with each blade, spinning around to perform a cross then downward slash, she ended it with a flurry of strikes, her movement, becoming to go blurry. What's stranger, laughter erupted out of nowhere, until it ceased when Noir joined the two pommel together and generated a firestorm that burnt and blew her away.
Eve gritted her teeth, currently in a stalemate with Selene. She couldn't help Blake, because she wouldn't let her. She decided to take a risk. The redhead pulled back and managed to deflect her scythe with her scabbard, countering with a quick two-strike attack. She followed it up with a point-blank shot, before doing a rising, spiral slash, sending the both of them in the air. Eve grunted and let loose a series of attacks, then finished it a descending, spin-slash attack. The redhead looked over and quickly tended to Blake, helping her stand.
The Twin of Dusk grunted, twisting herself up and re-joined her sister. "You felt it too, right?"
"Yeah... There's no mistaking it. Her fighting style. It's almost like his. But we can't jump to conclusions yet. We'll need to gather more evidence."
Selene nodded and used her Devil Arm, the shadows slithering towards the two Faunus ladies. They weren't able to react as the shadows melded around their bodies and restricted them.
Eve's eyes widened behind her mask as Noir charged for her. She roared and launched her skyward along with her, with an upward strike, then dealt out a four-hit aerial combo. The First Daughter grunted and crashed the cow Faunus back to the ground with a descending twirling slash.
"Where's your motivation?" Selene taunted, forcing Eve to stand back up with her shadows.
Blake cried out to Eve in worry and concern. The two looked at the sisters in surprise as an aura began to envelop them, eyes turning red. The Leader of the White Fang Vale subsidiary gasped, and could only gasp out a certain name.
"Master Vergil?"
Both Noir and Selene unconsciously clenched their fists tightly. That cinched it for them. The Specialist was the first to recover and grabbed Eve by the throat, slamming her down onto the cold floor, crossing her blades over her.
"Why did you say that name?" she interrogated, trying her best to remain calm. "Where have you heard of it? Have you met this person? Where is he?!" Frustration and desperation leaked into her voice. It's been years since she last saw her father, and she wanted to see him again.
Before she could make an attempt to speak, the sound of metal clicking against metal caught their attention. All four turned their heads and saw a large mecha in the shape of a half-human/half-spider hybrid burst from the weapons car, all of its weaponry armed and ready.
"When did the Spider-Droid start malfunctioning?!" Noir mumbled in surprise.
The Spider-Droid quickly found them in its sights and aimed its weapon at all four. Noir frowned, letting a noise of further frustration. It fired off its cannons, forcing all four of them to jump out of the way. Noir grunted, twirling around her blades as she glared at the mecha.
"Let's end this quickly, little sister!"
The blonde nodded in agreement and the two charged off to attack it. Selene slid under its legs and struck the weak points she could perceive, all the while Noir distracted it, slicing through its projectiles like they were nothing.
With Selene focused on the Spider-Droid the two were freed from their shadow restraints. Eve gained an idea, slamming her sword back into its scabbard and seemingly started to charge up. Blake saw this and moved to assist the two.
If they were surprised, they didn't show, more focused on ending the threat. Noir kicked herself off and plunged her two swords, sending forward a large wave of fire, letting it crash against the mecha. Selene surged her blade with her energy and released a shockwave that put a large gash against it.
Blake charged in, slashing at its remaining legs as she ran under it. Kicking herself into the air, she blasted at it with her weapon's gun variant, with Noir joining her in shooting it.
The machine looked absolutely confused as to which it should target, before making the decision firing off shots at random. The three dispersed, evading the attacks before charging back in. Blake pounced at its face, repeatedly firing her gun while Noir and Luna finally dealt with its legs, letting it fall down.
The Spider Droid transformed into its cannon variant and blasted one giant laser at the Arc siblings. Eve ran right in front of them and blocked the attack with her sword, managing to stand her ground.
Once it ceased, she slammed back her blade into its scabbard, the color red glowing in her body. With a roar, Eve drew drew her sword and sliced through the robot, sending it into the air. The world shifted to red and black, dozens of petals falling as the machine disintegrates into nothingness.
With a satisfied grunt, Eve sheathed back her weapon, and was unable to react Luna captured her in her shadows once again. The redhead struggled against it, shouting out for Blake to help her... Only to see her jump off the train and into the wilderness, without so much as a second glance.
Noir knocked her out before she could make any sort of verbal reaction. She grunted and contacted Achroma to inform him about what had just happened and if to inquire if they were attacked as well.
Blake sadly watched from her spot while the train zoomed pass her. She could only lower her head and silently ask for Eve's forgiveness as she headed into obscurity.
Eve arose from her state of unconsciousness and immediately sat up. Three things she immediately noticed: she's been unmasked, her limbs are cuffed to the bed she's on and she's locked behind a cell.
"You're finally awake."
On the other side of the bars were Noir and Jaune looked at her with an impassive expression. She sat down and crossed her legs, eyes narrowing at the redhead.
"We have much to discuss, don't you think?"
The blonde raised up a Scroll, opened to reveal an image of Vergil and Jeanne standing together with a smile on their faces, in what seemed to be their wedding. Noir put it away, leaning forward.
"Now, why is it that you have my father's Scroll? The same father who's gone off the grid for sixteen years. There's only one explanation to it, so why don't we cut to the chase and tell us."
Eve remained quiet, stewing in her mind on what to do. She's without her weapons and her own partner abandoned her. The sting of betrayal hurt very deeply. They were like sisters... How could she?
"Hey!" Jaune slammed his knuckles against the glass, heatedly glaring at the cow Faunus, growing impatient at her lack of response. "Answer the question; how the hell do you know Vergil!?"
She stared into his eyes and was taken aback by the hint...of jealousy? Noir placed a hand over her brother's arm, shaking her head, making him pull back and let her take charge.
"See? Don't you feel any sort of guilt? My little brother never had the chance to bond with our father. He disappeared the day before his first birthday, and now here, in front of us, a total stranger that our father decided to interact with for a year...it stings. Vergil is a good man, and you know it. A cold yet caring father. A strict but fair teacher. An honorable warrior who would never dare to do something underhanded!... My mother searched for him for years, and it bore no fruit. Even after I've achieved my ranking and access to such great resources, I couldn't even find a trace of him. Not even his twin brother, my uncle, could sniff him out. So tell us...where is our father? We just want to see him again. "
Eve regarded the two silently, mulling over what she was told before finally telling them her tale.
"Back then, I thought only the SDC and the Grimm were the only monsters I had to worry about, until demons ravaged the small community I lived in. Everything was in flames and in ruin. I just held onto my parents before they were torn away from me. I thought it was all over, until he came. It just so happened that Vergil was passing by and saw the situation. He slaughtered all of the demons and saved what was left of the village...
I had nowhere else to go. I was lost, and so I followed and begged him to teach me. He was reluctant, but he relented, nonetheless. I stayed with him for a full year, teaching me whatever knowledge he could instill. That whole year was one of the best things to happen to me. He treated me like his own, protecting me while he taught me some of his techniques so I could protect myself when the time came. And when that year passed, he vanished like the wind, leaving behind his Scroll and a message to deliver to his family if I ever come across them. That was the last time I saw him. Like you, I've tried to look for some him, but I never found any results."
Eve finished her tale, having nothing more to add. Jaune looked over to his sister, who nodded with an impassive expression.
"She's clear. No trace of deception. Heart rate is normal. Breathing is stable." Noir informed him, handing over the Scroll to her brother. "Mind giving this to mom? I'm sure she'll be happy. I'm gonna be busy interrogating our prisoner here. Commander Sky was kind enough to give me jurisdiction of her."
Jaune nodded and lightly clasped Noir's shoulder, silently telling her to keep safe. His foot steps grew fainter with every second, leaving the two of them all alone. The blonde stood up and locked eyes with the redhead.
"What are you going to do to me?" Eve asked, without any trace of fear in her voice.
Noir shrugged. "Haven't thought about it yet. We could ship you over to Vale's government and let them handle your punishment...but I think having you as an asset in our organization would be a far better outcome."
A quirked eyebrow and an incredulous look was Eve's only response to the Captain's words. Noir smirked, sitting back down.
"Not many know it, but most of the soldiers in the Cross? They're all criminals. Either former or current. Some volunteered to get a second chance in life and move away from their past. Others...were a danger, and needed 'help' to make sure they can never hurt anyone. Actually, now that I think about it, we had some former White Fang soldiers within our ranks."
A fire lit up in Eve at the mention of her brothers. The cuffs restrained her as she tried to get out of the bed, looking at Noir with a heated look. "What did you to do them?" her tone promising a world of hurt.
The blonde raised her hand to placate her. "Relax. We just had them brigged for a couple of weeks. They all decided to join us on their own accord when the hostilities ceased." She let a moment of silence reign over them before Noir asked another question. "Why did you join the White Fang?"
Eve scoffed at the question. "Why else? To free us from the shackles that humanity placed on us!" A passionate fire erupted within her as she spoke. "Faunus are treated like nothing but animals and second-class citizens... We wanted nothing more but to be seen as equals. Peaceful talks and negotiations never worked. No matter how much we tried. Abused and mistreated. Insulted and laughed at for being different... It made me sick that humans would act no better than demons! Then I remembered the legend of Sparda that Vergil shared to me. I wanted to be just like that. Rising up against our oppressors, and have my brothers and sisters wake up to the injustice that we're all suffering!"
"But did it really work? Was all that bloodshed worth it?" Noir questioned. "Sure, some had started to treat Faunus fairly, but blatant racism also grows bigger than ever. For every one Faunus that gets better treatment, there are three out there who get harsher ones. Fear and paranoia motivates people to do crazy things, after all."
The cow Faunus stared her in the eye with a frown. "So what? You want me to stop? Just drop all of the progress I've made?"
Noir shook her head. "No, of course not. If a solution doesn't work, you need to look at it from another perspective..." She leaned forward and clasped her hands. "So here's my proposition: for a few months, you act as a soldier under us, and we won't throw you to the wolves. A week after this, you can go back to the WF, but will be establishing communication with the Dawn's Cross. You're free to do whatever, but if we have something for you, you need to do it."
Eve didn't respond, seeking to mull over the offer. Noir smiled and stood up to leave, but not without leaving her with some more words to think about.
"My father saw something in you that he thought would be worth the time to cultivate and grow. Are you going to let his efforts go to waste, or will you do what's right?"
The Captain left the redhead, locking the door behind her as she went to report to her superior.
And here's the second chapter of the 'TAS' Arc. Originally, the train chapter was of Noir taking Patty to somewhere else and facing off against the first Hakesshu, and Eve appeared later on, teaming up with Jaune to fight against Iori. This time, I merged them together and incorporated most elements from the Black trailer to introduce Eve earlier, as well as Blake.
This serves as to give Eve more time to get to know more of the Arc family, either on or off-screen. As well as to perhaps serve as a foundation of a rivalry between Noir and Eve.
And if you noticed, there are characters named 'Helena and Selene', those are Sol and Luna respectively. For quite some time now, the name 'Sol' started to not sit right with me, so I decided to change not only her name, but her twin as well to fit. I'm sorry if threw you all off. My apologies.
Next chapter will be a surprise, because I decided to adapt one of the episodes in the TAS. You'll see which one and you'll understand why.Thank you for taking the time to read and/or review. Stay safe and healthy.