-Semblance of Brotherhood-

Chapter 14: Confliction

"Uh, you alright?" How quickly she averted her eyes, the barely contained shudder in her shoulders at the question, it painted enough of a picture for him to venture a guess.

"You told them?"

"I-I didn't even mean to, Weiss just wouldn't stop, she kept poking, and jabbing, and eventually it slipped out." She explained, letting her head rest in her hands.

"Didn't I warn you about this?" She shot him a glare.

"I know, okay? Right now I just... I just need some space to think."

"In Vale?" That... that could be a problem.

If she runs into the Fang, things could go south fast. Not to mention how much leverage Cinder would have over them if she got her hands on a Belladonna.

"Y-yeah, why?"

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing. Didn't want you wandering off into the woods somewhere to get eaten by Grimm." That actually got a small laugh out of her.

"I think I can handle a little walk in the woods, Silva."

"You'd be surprised. It's always when you think you're fine that things go wrong." Crimson leaves and a sea of black flashed through his mind. By the way her eyes softened, smile fading, he could tell she was remembering as well.

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

"Shit, sorry. I-"

"No, it's alright." Silence followed for a while, only broken when a voice buzzed over the intercom.

"This ain't a dorm room, and I've got two more trips to make tonight. Care to, I don't know, get a move on!?" Silva got to his feet with a huff, giving his arms a stretch.

"Take care, Blake, I hope you get this whole thing sorted out soon." She gave him a half-hearted wave, smiling weakly.

"Yeah. Me too."

And so, he stepped off the Bullhead and onto solid ground, the ship's engine roaring back to life as the bay door lifted shut. Silva didn't waste a second, dropping into his own shadow and racing in the direction of his Team's room. It took him all of three seconds to make it there, blinking into existence to see Cardin, Russel and Sky scattered about the space, all earnestly peeling through various textbooks, stopping to make a note here and there.

I've really outdone myself with these three.

"And here I thought I'd come back to a warzone." Cardin and Sky looked up at him, the former quickly getting up from his bed and walking over. Sky just threw a peace sign and went back to reading.

"Just missed it actually, had to give asshole over there a taste of my shoe." There was a lot more there, the look on Cardin's face made that very clear. In spite of the joking talk, his eyes looked heavy, weary.

"Fuck off." Similarly, Russel vitriol had seemingly vanished. He spoke in a laid back, offhanded way, noticeably not even lifting his eyes from his book.

"I don't know, man, Russ had you in a hell of a chokehold for minute there..." Sky sniped, already Silva was deeply confused.

What the fuck happened while I was gone? Since when did he call Thrush 'Russ'?

He shook his head violently, focusing on what he was here for. He still had a Bulkhead to catch.

"You can fill me in later. Listen, I just got roped into something. I can't tell you what, but if I'm not back by Monday, tell Ozpin. I know this is sudden, and that I should be here talking things out with you guys, but you need to trust me." Cardin's shoulders sank deeper, his eyes rolling sarcastically.

"Oh, wooow, I'm so surprised by this unexpected twist!" He jeered, but both Russel and Sky's heads snapped up.

"Wait what?"

"Dude, the fuck is going on?" Winchester suddenly looked like a stunned deer. The Faunus frowned.

"You didn't tell them anything?"

"I was kinda busy, okay!?"

"Whatever. Well, now you know." He turned away, painfully aware of the time he had. "I'm leaving now. Keep your Scrolls on, I'll be in touch."

And he left.

I'm a terrible leader for this.

He only had one other stop in mind before he left Beacon again, slipping out from the shadow of a windowsill next to the room of Team RWBY. With quick, centering breath, he knocked.

Keep it cool, Taro. Not here to give Schnee hell. The door opened as he replied, revealing the last person he was wanting to answer it.

The heiress eyed him up and down for a moment, before asking, "Did you know?" At least she wasn't being outright toxic.

"I did."

"Are you...?" Silva couldn't blame her for being suspicious. He pointed a thumb to his scar.

"They disowned me a while back. Like Blake, I was opposed to diving headfirst into violence." He explained, but didn't give her a chance to reply yet. "Now before you go ballistic, let your Leader know I'm going to keep tabs on Blake while she's gone." He couldn't just come out and say 'don't come to Vale' without encouraging them to do just the opposite, but maybe some peace of mind would work instead.

Feeling the meltdown coming, Silva faded into his Semblance and started heading back in the direction of Vale.

Who's that?

Even with how clouded his visual perception was within shadows, he could make out a figure atop Blake's Bullhead. Coming to the end of his current shade, Silva shot out of the darkness, propelling himself through the air like a cannonball. He'd almost wasted too much time with Weiss.

Regalis slid from its sheath, Silva leading his aim as he began to fall downward.

Do not miss, Taro.

He pulled the trigger, grapple tearing through the air before thankfully biting into the Bullhead's left wing. Letting go, the spool began to reel him closer, but he only needed to make it into the thing's shadow. The instant he did, Silva blinked up to where the figure was still sitting. The boy was a blonde Faunus, one he didn't recognize, armed with what seemed to be a collapsible polearm.

No ears, easily concealable tail, and he's following a Belladonna? I don't see how Adam would have tracked her specifically to Beacon, but I wouldn't put it past him.

The sheering wind made for a perfect cover, no doubt the boy was so focused on staying stable that he hadn't noticed Silva's arrival.

He sank about knee-deep into his own shadow, making it impossible for his footing to be compromised.

It was only when he had his blade lined up with their spine that a thought occurred to him.

Am I overreacting? Regalis dipped aside. Something about this situation felt uncomfortably familiar.

How many times have I done this? He wasn't even planning to ask the guy a single question. Just... kill him. End the possibility of a problem before it had any chance to come to fruition.

Why was it such an obvious choice to him?

Dial it back a bit. I can teleport, he probably can't. Just leave him be until he actually tries something. I could just be missing context.

With a shallow breath, he dipped back into the shadows, quickly reforming in the Bullhead's storage bay. Silva sat, his back flopping against a crate, gazing at the blade of Regalis.

I am more than a murderer. I must be more than a murderer. I can't spill blood so lightly.

But... what if I'm wrong? What if someone dies, only because I hesitated?

"Stop!" He hissed, palming the side of his face.

Be good enough, and no one should die. That's all you have to do. Be better than you were.

Earlier, With Cardin...

"You knew!?" Russel sneered, "You knew how much of a gods-damned psycho that bastard was, since yesterday, and you didn't say shit!?"

"And you'd do what, exactly? Go and get the piss beat out of you?" Cardin shot back, rolling his eyes, "At least try and make sense here, man!"

"You're the one not making any fucking sense, how are you so okay with this!?"

"Because Silva could have easily turned tail and ran in Forever Fall! Because, even when he was gone and looking for a way out, even when he had a golden ticket out of that hell, he came back!" Cardin seethed. "And he saved all of us! He didn't have to do that shit, but he did! You expect me to just ignore that!?"

"Bu-!" Russel began, but he wasn't going to hear a word of it.

"But fucking nothing! Where would we be without that 'psycho'!?"

"I-!"

"Where, Russel!?" Silence followed his roaring voice, and it took him a moment to get his breathing steady.

...

"So I'm just supposed to be cool with him now?" Russel replied, his voice much tamer than before. "Just shut my mouth and act like everything's fine?" The boy dropped onto his bed, sitting and staring at the floor, his balled fists fidgeting uncomfortably.

"I don't think I can." Sensing the shift, Cardin took a seat directly across from his now somber Teammate.

"Look, bro, I get it. You don't need to say shit, just... hear me out, okay?" He wanted to say 'hear him out', but he was already in a mine-field as it was.

"Fine." That helped. At least the guy wasn't shutting him out.

"I don't expect you to just flip a switch and be good. Nobody's like that. All I'm asking is that you look at Silva, the guy who's done nothing but good for us since we've known him, even when we didn't realize it. Not the White Fang, not... that," He flinched just as Russel did. "but the person you know."

"That's the problem, though..." The boy piped up. "I don't feel like I know him. I mean, I thought I did, but..."

"What is it?"

"I-it's just... hard, man. Like, yeah, he did all that. Helped us. Kept us alive." He paused, clasping a hand over fist and burying his chin into it.

"So why does someone who did so much for me, have to be part of same group who-"

"Stop." He cut Russel short with an outreached hand. "I told you, you don't have to talk about it. And... yeah, I get that. I was pretty confused, too. Not like you, I mean, but it's not like I was happy when I found out. For me, it just came down to weighing my choices. I could cut ties, maybe switch Academies, or I could trust him." He paused a moment. "After what he did for us in that forest, it's not even a debate in my mind."

...

"What about you, Sky? You seem like everything's just sunshine and rainbows." Cardin was actually rather curious himself. Their fourth member had been in oddly high spirits lately.

"Hm?" The boy looked over from the kitchen, having been simply sitting at the coffee table with a mug. "I, uh, don't really care that much. Mainly what you said, Card, but I mostly just went along with you guys back in Combat School. Now I'm kinda caught up in, well, being me, I guess?" He stopped for a sip from his drink.

"Am I the only one here who ever actually hated Faunus?" Russel was eyeing them with confusion, like they were ghosts or something. Sky was quick to reply.

"Hey, I'm not talkin' for the big guy. Just figured, y'know, since we were sharing?" The mowhawk-headed boy rolled his eyes, then glared at the Winchester.

"Do I look like the type to just go along with things if I disagreed?" Cardin pointed out, "It's not that I didn't have a problem with them, it's that my problem wasn't as real as yours. For me, all it really took was having one put my face in the dirt, then save my life without hesitation."

"Could you not make me sound so petty?"

Idiot.

"That's not what I mean. Faunus haven't done anything to me personally. We've got way different levels of commitment to this, that's all." To that, Russel actually seemed like he'd gotten the message.

"Makes sense, I guess..."

"Remember, bro, I'm not trying to convert you or some shit. It's okay to be mad, especially in your case. Just... take some time and think about it. Maybe not all of them are black-and-white evil?" Just then, he noticed a darkening shadow across the room.

"Yo!" He exclaimed, pointing whilst simultaneously tossing a textbook Russel's way and turning to his own, still open from earlier. Sky simply pulled his own up from his lap, taking another sip as their Leader walked out of nothing.

With Silva...

Blake had gotten all the way to a cheap hotel completely unaware of and, more importantly, undisturbed by the conspicuous blonde Faunus. The stalker in question had just waited about half an hour, then went in and booked a room himself, the cocky bastard.

What on earth is he after?

That was the biggest question in his mind as he waited, arms crossed and leaned against the far wall, for the mystery man to walk through the door. That, and whether or not he'd made the best choice.

He could be killing her right now, and I'd be none the wiser.

No, no, he couldn't let himself make assumptions like that. It was that sort of pessimism that had led him to murdering a boy and his father in cold blood.

That is the single greatest misstep I've ever made. All for a meaningless advantage.

He had to have faith that he'd judged this person correctly.

Thankfully, his worries were washed away when the boy in question entered the room. Eyes of a surprisingly similar in hue to his own widened in shock.

"U-uh, 'scuse me, but, I think you might have the wrong room?"

"No." There was a gulp, at that. "I'm here to get a few answers out of you."

"Answers...? What for?"

"Why you're tailing her." The boy's eyes shot even wider.

"W-woah, woah, it's not like that! We were supposed to be heading here together, I just missed the Bullhead!"

"Then why not reveal yourself after she'd landed?"

"Okay, yeah, I admit it, that's pretty weird. But!" He proclaimed, "I had a good reason! She, uh, seemed a little out of it. Like, never looked up from the ground once on her way here, out of it. Figured I'd just annoy her if I started running my mouth, y'know? Do, uh, do you know Blake?" Silva felt an immense pressure lift from his shoulders.

He's either such a good actor that I'd never catch him in a lie, or I made the right choice.

It was out of his hands, at least. Were the boy an assassin, this would be the moment of checkmate.

But the attack never came.

"I do. Regardless, I've gotten the answers I came for. Now, I have only a warning." He took a couple steps forward, arms unfolding. The monkey Faunus' previously upbeat but confused gaze settled firmly on caution.

"There are people in the City who would like nothing more than to capture her. I'll be doing my part to keep them off your scent, but I am not infallible. Should you encounter them, defend yourselves. I cannot guarantee that I will be there to assist." There wasn't a shred of merit to saying any more. The kid had Aura, clearly he was either a Huntsman or a fellow student. Hadn't there been a transfer-thing going on or something?

Shaking the thought from his mind, he teleported up to the rooftop.

Like I have money to waste on a hotel room.

He should have at least gotten Roman to actually pay him for those hits.

Sitting back against the rear wall of an access stairwell, taking care to ensure he'd remain in shade until the moment of the sun's rising, he began to let himself drift off. It made for a... passable alarm, he supposed.

Hello again! Shorter chapter this time around, had like three separate versions of this damn thing, but finally I think I found one I like from start to end.

WARNING: NARRATIVE RAMBLE AHEAD

Specifically, the bit with CRL (yes, team Carl XD). That scene came about from sheer luck, I was writing a more extended version of the Silva one prior to it, but I just couldn't land on a series of events/moments that felt good. It was like I'd stretched it thin, I guess. So, I just dropped a line and started something from scratch, and that's what came of it. I'm really glad I found something to characterize Russel with, it'd been really hard because of how I'd been handling him. He came off as just the asshole and I didn't like that, but I needed him to react differently from Cardin and Sky, otherwise it would have felt like they were all the same people. Same reason I'm having Sky hit his stride in the wake of Forever Fall, and why Cardin's so chill(mostly). This is a molding period of time for these people, something deeply scarring and draining has destroyed their status quo and now they're having to put themselves back together. But, I didn't want the truth of Silva's upbringing to have every one of them up in arms. It just didn't make sense with the development they'd undergone, but in thinking about that I realized that I never really did anything with Russel. So, why not have this revelation resonate with him on a more personal level? The other two can even act as balancing factors moreso than Ruby or Yang could with Weiss because they've known Russel for so much longer.

What's that meme? 'It just works'

Given the long-term arcs for these characters, I'm quite pleased with this chapter. (if you couldn't tell lol)

Anyway, that's all for now. Buh-Bye!