Blake opened and closed her mouth several times before reaching to undo her bow.
"I think it would be easier if I just showed you." She undid her bow to reveal the cat ears she kept hidden. She moved them around, enjoying the feeling of air against her natural ears and how much clearer everything sounded. Sun took a sip from his mug while he used the end of his tail to wave at her.
"Yeah, I got one of those too. So what's the big deal?" Blake cocked her head at him.
"Where are you from?"
"Vacuo, born and raised." Blake nodded in understanding; the one place in the world where her people weren't treated any different.
"Well here in Vale, the Faunus aren't treated like regular people; we're nothing more than animals to most people. Degenerates, thieves, rapists, and murderers to others." Sun leant back in his chair, the front legs lifting into the air as he put his hands behind his head.
"I'll never understand you foreigners. It was like that back in Mistral too." He lowered the seat back down and leaned forward. "So what does you being a Faunus have to do with anything?" He asked. Blake looked down.
"I've kept it hidden for the past year or so, and I've kept it a secret from my team at Beacon."
"And?" Neptune asked. Blake bit her lip.
"I outed myself to one of my teammates."
"That doesn't sound too horrible." Sun said. He picked up his mug and started to drink.
"Said teammate was Weiss Schnee." Sun started to choke on his coffee and she saw Neptune's eyes widen.
"Oh shit," Neptune said as Sun set his mug down, coffee running down his chin.
"As in, hates every living Faunus, Schnee? Or does she just happen to have the same last name?" Sun asked.
"The former," Blake said. Sun whistled.
"Yeah, that's a pretty bad person to out yourself to."
"So what are you gonna do now?" Neptune asked. Blake shrugged.
"I guess I'm just going to live with Honey until I can face Weiss." She said.
Ruby walked down the streets of Vale, her head hung low. She had searched the docks and there wasn't any trace of her. All of the merchants and fishermen there hadn't seen her either. She sighed; Vale was huge, she had no idea where she could be hiding.
"Hello Ruby!" a voice behind her said. Ruby yelped and spun around. Penny was standing there, a big smile plastered on her face.
"Penny! Don't do that." She said. Penny's smile dropped.
"I am sorry Ruby. Did I do something wrong?" Ruby shook her head.
"No, you didn't. Just don't scare me like that."
"Understood! So what are you doing here?" she asked. Ruby scratched the back of her head.
"I'm looking for one of my friends," she said.
"Is it me?" Penny asked with a smile.
"No. I'm looking for Blake." Penny furrowed her brow before asking.
"That is the Faunus girl, correct?" Ruby stared at her, her mouth partially open.
"How did you know she was a Faunus?" Penny looked at her and pointed at her bow.
"Her cat ears," she said.
"Cat ears? What are you talki…" Realization dawned on Ruby. Her bow. Blake used it to hide her actual ears.
"Why are you looking for her?" Penny asked.
"She ran away the other day and-" Penny gasped and grabbed Ruby's shoulders.
"That is horrible! Running away is so awful." She hiccupped. "But don't you worry Ruby my friend, I will not rest until we find your friend." Before Ruby could protest Penny started to march down the street, dragging her along.
She brought the forkful of fish to her mouth and took a bite. It was delicious and she started to dig into the rest of the meal; seasoned rice and steamed vegetables. After her talk with Sun and Neptune, Blake made a home for herself in one of the bedrooms. She had spent the day reading whatever books Honey had in her home, most of them being mystery novels. She felt bad about leaving Ruby and Yang in the dark but she wasn't ready to face Weiss; maybe in a couple of more days. It's not like her being gone for one day would kill them. Blake had come down from her room to eat dinner with Honey, Neptune, and Sun.
"This is wonderful, thank you Honey," she said. Honey beamed at her.
"Glad you like it, Blake." She said. They ate in silence for a while, the only sounds to be heard being forks scraping against plates and their chewing. Blake cleared her throat before saying
"Have you received any news about your son?" Honey looked down at her plate.
"They still think he robbed that store. I told them that my son would never rob a store, let alone steal all of that man's Dust." Blake looked at her, confusion on her face.
"Steal all of his Dust?" she asked. Honey nodded.
"That's what they're saying. That only the Dust was stolen, none of the money." Blake looked down at her plate, at the delicious food, before looking up and admiring the house. She finally looked at Honey, who was eating her food but looking a tad more distraught. Sun and Neptune were too busy shoveling the food into their gullet's to bother talking.
She was going to help this woman.
"Honey," she looked at Blake.
"Yes?"
"I'm going to find the real culprit, and get your son out of prison." Honey's face lit up as Sun stopped eating and looked at her.
"Cool, how you gonna do it?"
"Well I remember the police saying that it was a group of Faunus, not just one person. Plus if they're only targeting Dust stores for just their Dust then it shouldn't be that hard to notice a trend in the robberies and catch them at the next store." She said. Neptune scratched his chin.
"Didn't one of those guys on the ship say a SDC freighter was coming in tomorrow night?"
"I think so, yeah." Blake grinned.
"A perfect target. I'll try and catch them there." Sun cocked an eyebrow and pointed his fork at her, bits of fish still stuck to it.
"You going to need back up? A whole group of people is going to be a tough fight."
"A couple of petty crooks isn't going to be enough to stop me. And I don't think it would go over well for you two if the police showed up."
"Hmm, ya got a point. But call us if things get out of hand, aight?" Blake nodded at them.
She backed out of the alleyway as the group of Faunus drew closer. Some of them started to pull knives out of their pockets. She took a breath to steady her nerves; she could do this.
The leader of the group lunged at her with his knife and she sidestepped him, placing a glyph on the ground in front of him. He was launched into the air with a scream before he came falling back down with a crash. He didn't move from the spot he landed. Another one went after her and she parried the blow with her sword. The man tried to stab at her stomach and she jumped back, pulling the trigger on her handle. Her blade was encased in flames and she swung it at the group of men; fire jumping from the tip of her blade and falling onto the sidewalk.
One of the men grasped his head and fell to the ground, screaming. Another's eyes widened at something in the alley, and turned and ran. The rest just stood there, pointing and screaming. Weiss stared at the group of men in confusion, before looking at the alley entrance. A man with a white mustache stood at the alley entrance; dressed in a white suit. She gasped at the sight and started to back away; the flames on her blade sputtering and dying. It couldn't be him; it was impossible. The white suited man leapt into the group, smashing his fist into one of the men's face. Weiss backed away as the white suited man began to pummel the group of Faunus. She backed into a wall, closing her eyes and holding her hand over her head. She was free of him, she was free, and he didn't have any power over her anymore.
"Hey," a voice in front of her said. She kept her eyes closed and threw a punch.
"Go away!" she screamed. The owner of the voice caught her fist and she opened her eyes. A man stood in front of her, he wore a black leather jacket, faded jeans, and a blue shirt. His salt and pepper hair was more salt than it was pepper. A large scar ran diagonally down the side of his face. He was ugly with a big bat like nose. Not bat like, Weiss realized, he was a bat. A bat Faunus. She jerked her hand out of his grasp and brought it back to her side.
Weiss stared at him in confusion; where did he come from? The bat smiled, appearing more gruesome than reassuring.
"Not who you were expecting?" His voice was deep and raspy. Weiss nodded.
"Where did-? What happened to-?"
"I was hoping I would only get those bastards with my semblance."
"Your semblance?" she asked. The bat walked away from her, heading back to the alley. He didn't look back as he said.
"I can cause people to see their worst nightmares. Very useful when taking on groups of people." She saw the bat pick up a bag full of groceries off the alley floor, the group of men lay on the curb, groaning in pain, several had blood running down their chins or from their noses. Weiss followed after the bat as he started to walk down the alley.
"Why did you help me? I had that under control." She said.
"I don't doubt it. But I find that two against six are better odds." Weiss glared at him.
"But why help? I'm a human and you're a Faunus." The bat stopped and turned to look at her.
"And?" Weiss stopped and rubbed her arm, avoiding eye contact with him.
"I mean, what those men were going to do to me… that's what all Faunus want to happen to us humans, right?" He scowled at her, or at least that's what she guessed that expression was.
"What are they teaching you kids nowadays?"
"So you don't want to see me dead? Or worse?" she asked.
"If I did I would have helped them instead of you." He turned and started to walk down the alley.
"Wait! Where are you going? What's your name?" she asked.
"I'm going home before this milk spoils. And the name is Obsidian. Bruce Obsidian." He said. She continued to follow him as he exited the other end of the alley and started to walk down the sidewalk. Weiss side stepped people as she tried to match his pace.
"Can you help me?" she asked.
"Already did that." Bruce said.
"I'm looking for someone. She's a friend of mine and she's missing and I need to find her." Bruce stopped, people walking around him and giving him dirty looks as he stood in place. Weiss stood behind him. She saw his shoulder's sag and heard him sigh.
"Fine. But we're dropping my groceries off first." Weiss smiled.
"Thank you. I'm Weiss Schnee by the way," she said.
"I know," Bruce said. He started to walk again and Weiss walked by his side, starting to talk about Blake.
Ruby walked in front of Penny, trying to figure out where to look for Blake next.
"Ruby?" She looked back at Penny, she looked confused.
"Why did Blake run away?"
"She and Weiss got into an argument, and Blake told her she was a Faunus on accident, and well she just kinda ran off after that."
"I do not understand Ruby. Why would Blake being a Faunus cause her to run away from her friends?" Ruby sighed.
"Well, Weiss is… she just doesn't like the Faunus that much."
"Why?"
"I don't know. That's just a way a lot of people think."
"That seems like an illogical way to think. Disliking someone for something they cannot control does not make sense to me Ruby." Ruby laughed a little.
"Me either" she said.
The rooftop felt cold against Blake's stomach as she lay there. She was at the docks, watching as SDC employee's unloaded freight off of a huge cargo ship. The cargo was branded with the Schnee emblem, the sight making Blake feel on edge. Honey had been kind enough to let her borrow some of her son's clothes and they fit her rather well; if she was going to be in a fight she would rather be wearing pants than the only dress she owned. She had put her bow back on as well; she didn't need to end up in prison as well. The sun began to set as the worker's unloaded freight after freight. It was dark by the time they were finished and finally left. Blake didn't move from her spot as she waited to see if her hunch was right; any second now a small group of thugs would start skulking their way in and she would be able to catch them red handed.
Her ears twitched as the roar of an engine drew closer. "A bullhead?" she thought. The ship roared past her a moment later, kicking up dust and gravel as it flew past the rooftop. It landed next to the cargo and the pod bay door opened. Her eyes widened as she saw who walked out.
"No," she whispered. The Faunus coming out of the ship wore Grimm masks and their jackets were marked with a blood red snarling wolf head and three claw marks; the White Fang. There was about a dozen of them or so, each carrying an assault rifle. Blake reached for her pocket and silently swore when she realized she left her scroll back in the dorm room at Beacon.
"Alright fella's will you pick up the pace. The coast is clear, hook those tow cables up." She heard a voice say. It came from a human; Roman Torchwick if she remembered correctly. The White Fang members gave him rude hand gesture's before going to the nearest freight and starting to hook up a cable to it.
Something was wrong about this entire thing; why on Remnant would they be helping a human? Especially a scum bag like that? And last she checked they were supposed to be destroying Schnee property, not stealing it. She undid her bow before she stood up and jumped off the roof top.
She ran through the maze of freight, her steps silent. She peeked around a corner and saw Torchwick directing the White Fang members with his cane; they all had their backs to her. She ran up to Torchwick, grabbing him by she shoulder and placing her blade against his throat.
"What the fu-?" Torchwick said. The White Fang members spun around, aiming their rifles at her.
"Nobody moves or I slit his throat!" she said. The White Fang member's continued to aim at her. She looked at them, her eyes darting to each one of them. "Brothers and Sisters, why are you aiding this human scum?"
One of the White Fang members started to laugh.
"You've got a lot of guts to call us your Siblings, Traitor." She said. Blake heard Roman laugh as some of the White Fangs members took steps toward them. She pressed the blade further against his throat, pressing into his skin.
"I'll do it!" she said.
"You think we care about that human, Traitor?" One said.
"Adam told us about what you did. We know you've gone soft, you don't have it in you to kill a disgusting human." She swallowed, her mouth dry.
"Why are you working with a human anyway?" she stalled.
"Didn't you get the memo, kitten? The White Fang and I were bought out and we're working on some very important operations."
"Like what?" They all laughed at her.
"Not sure why you care, you're not leaving this place alive." A White Fang member said. Two bullheads roared over top of them, spotlights shining down. Blake grit her teeth; this wasn't good. She gasped as she felt something pull at her leg and she fell to the floor as Roman shouted
"Now!" She saw the White Fang open fire on her, and the end of Roman's cane wrapped around her ankle. She bolted and ran for cover as gunfire rained around her, leaving shadow clones behind to take the hits.
She ducked behind some cargo, and turned Gambol Shroud into its gun form. Sparks flew as the bullets rained down on the container. She saw a small grenade land next to her feet and her eyes widened as she jumped away. The grenade exploded and blew a hole in the container.
"You can run Traitor, but you can't hide!" She poked her head around the hole and fired at the closest White Fang member. The first two shots broke her aura and the third blew a hole in her head. She collapsed, and the White Fang member behind her yelled and started firing.
"Shit," Blake said; she had no spare magazines, she had left them all back in the dorm room. She heard the pod bay doors in the two Bullheads open up and dozens of other White Fang members land on the ground.
She heard them start to scream and she poked her head around the corner to see the White Fang member's clutching their heads or screaming at nothing. Roman was staring at them in confusion. She looked up to cargo container to see a bat Faunus in a black jacket and-
Her jaw dropped. Weiss stood next to the Faunus, her sword drawn, and a scowl on her face. They leapt down from the container, the bat Faunus pulling out what looked like a star shaped shuriken. He threw himself into the crowd of confused White Fang members, using the shuriken to stab and slash their hands. They dropped their rifles and the bat started to punch and kick at them. Some of the White Fang members broke out of their trance and punched the bat in the stomach. She heard him grunt before dodging the other blows, kicked the White Fang member in the shin and slammed his elbow into their face, knocking them to the ground.
"Bruce!" she heard Weiss shout. Bruce looked over at her as she placed a huge glyph underneath the group of White Fang members He leapt out of the bounds of the glyph and Weiss flicked her sword up. The White Fang members where launched into the air, some still screaming their heads off before they came crashing to the ground. Blake heard them groan with pain, and saw a few stagger to their feet. She saw Torchwick aim his cane at Weiss, who was bent over, gasping for breath. Blake ran from her cover and sprinted towards Torchwick. He fired and she saw Weiss' eyes grow wide as the grenade landed at her feet.
The explosion launched her into a cargo container and she slumped to the ground. Blake narrowed her eyes as she swung her sword at Torchwick. He blocked the blow with his cane just in the nick of time. She drew her sheath and swung at his face while she swung at his stomach with her sword. He blocked both blows, she could see him gritting his teeth. She left a shadow clone in her position and leapt over him. He swung at the clone, and she smiled as it evaporated into thin air. She swung her blades as he spun around. He couldn't raise his cane in time and she ran her blades over his chest. He hissed in pain and leapt back, raising his cane.
"Back off kitten, or I blow the ice queen up." He sneered.
"You're bluffing." She said. He smiled.
"I may be a gambling man, but I never bet my own life." They stared at each other before Blake looked back at Weiss; she was still slumped on the ground. Bruce was busy fighting the few remaining White Fang. She felt an explosion of pain in the back of her head as the cane smash against her skull. She fell to the ground, and looked up, her vision bluured, to see Roman running towards the docked Bullhead. He closed the pod bay door behind him and the ship took off. Blake staggered to her feet, and ran over to Weiss.
Weiss groaned as she felt herself being shaken; her whole body felt horrible and her head was pounding.
"Weiss. Weiss! Wake up!" she groaned and opened her eyes. Blake's face filled her vision. Weiss weakly smiled at her.
"Found you." She said. Blake looked confused and Weiss felt her body move into a sitting position.
"You were looking for me?" she asked.
"Of course I was you dolt, we were all worried about you." Blake's bow flattened against her head. Weiss cocked her head; that wasn't a bow. She raised a hand and pointed at Blake's ears.
"So that's why you wear a bow." Blake's eyes darted upwards as she realized she hadn't put her bow back on.
"I'm sorry, I'll get it back on. I know you hate-"
"No, you look good without it." Blake pushed a piece of hair behind her ear.
"Really?" Weiss nodded. She felt Blake pull her to her feet, holding onto her shoulder.
"Can you stand?" Weiss nodded.
"I'm fine, Blake. Just a little explosion is all." She looked over Blake's shoulder to see Bruce walking over to them, the White Fang left as a pile of groaning bodies. She smiled at him and motioned for Blake to turn around. She did so and Bruce stood in front of her, crossing his arms.
"You Blake?"
"Yes." He looked her over.
"I thought you would be taller." Blake looked at Weiss.
"How do you know this guy?" Blake asked.
"He helped me deal with some riff raff, and I convinced him to help look for you."
"She dragged my ass through half of this city until we got to the docks and heard gunfire." Bruce said. He nodded at Weiss and turned to leave. "I'll let you two deal with the police. I'm leaving; don't want to miss my soaps." They watched him leave. Blake turned to Weiss.
"Why were you looking for me? I thought all us Faunus were murderous animals?" Weiss looked away from Blake and crossed her arms.
"I…I was wrong about you and some of the Faunus."
"Weiss Schnee wrong. That's a surprise."
"Don't be rude. I was always taught that all Faunus were like the White Fang, and you were right; that isn't fair."
"Weiss-" Weiss held up her hand.
"Upupupup, I wasn't done." Weiss took a breath. "While I was out looking for you I started to think and I realized that you weren't any different than me, and you certainly didn't act like the boogeyman I thought Faunus were. And while I was out looking I got jumped by a group of Faunus that fit my mental image a bit better. And then Bruce showed up to help me fight them. The Faunus aren't that different from us humans; there are murderous thugs and helpful citizens in both groups." Weiss looked away from Blake. "And I guess this is my way of saying I'm sorry. For making you feel like you had to run away."
Weiss looked over at Blake to see her smiling.
"Apology accepted." Weiss pointed her index finger at Blake's face.
"But the next time something this serious comes up, don't you dare run away. Or keep it all bottled up inside. You're my teammate and we need to be able to communicate. Promise that you'll be more open and won't keep secrets like this anymore."
"I promise," Blake said. Weiss smiled and pulled out her scroll.
"Great. I'll let Yang and Ruby know where to find us. I think you should put your bow back on before the police arrive." Blake nodded and wrapped her ears up in her bow as Weiss talked to the rest of their team.
Ruby ducked underneath the police tape, Penny following after her. There were several police cars, and vans parked as police dragged handcuffed Faunus into the back of the vehicles. She saw Yang standing next to a police car, her arms crossed as Weiss and Blake talked to the police. Ruby smiled, Blake was okay.
"Hello Yang!" Penny said. Yang looked back at them, cocking an eyebrow at the sight of Penny.
"Hey, Penny. What are you doing here?"
"She was helping me look for Blake. How are they?" Ruby asked. Yang looked back at them, the flashing lights illuminating her hair.
"Hard to tell. Hard to believe they took out this many White Fang members all on their own."
"I agree Yang that does seem most improbable!" Penny said. They watched Weiss and Blake talk to the police until the police left them and went to their vehicles. Weiss and Blake walked over to Ruby and Yang. Ruby smiled and embraced Blake, who went rigid at the contact. Ruby felt Yang join the hug.
"I'm so glad you're okay Blake!" Ruby said.
"Please let go of me," Blake said. Ruby broke the hug and took a step back.
"So what happened?" Ruby asked.
"I came down here to prove Ho- a friend's son was innocent and I ended up fighting a bunch of White Fang and Roman Torchwick. Weiss showed up to save the day."
"Oh please, you did most of the heavy lifting." Weiss said.
"So did you clear his name?" Yang asked. Blake nodded.
"The White Fang match the shop owner's description more than him; they should be releasing him soon." Yang glared at Weiss and looked at Blake.
"So why'd you run away?" Blake sighed and looked at Weiss, who nodded her head. With shaky hands she undid her bow. Ruby squeed at the sight; Blake had adorable kitty ears.
"Oh my god you look like a cute little cat!" Ruby said. Yang scowled.
"That's it? You put us through this because you're a Faunus?" She looked at Weiss. "She didn't do anything else to make you leave?" Blake shook her head. Yang's shoulders slumped and she exhaled before looking at Weiss. "Sorry," she said.
"For?" Yang sighed and crossed her arms before looking away from Weiss.
"For blaming you for this."
"And?"
"For threatening you. Ya happy?" Weiss grinned.
"I am. Apology accepted." Ruby threw her fist in the air.
"All right! Team RWBY is back!" Penny cleared her throat and they all looked at her.
"If it would not be too much to ask, would it be acceptable with you all if I were to live with you? I do not have very many friends and I very much enjoy your company." Ruby nodded her head.
"Of course you can Penny. Right guys?" she looked back at them, they were forcing smiles but they nodded. Penny smiled and pulled Ruby into a hug, crushing her against her chest.
"Oh happy day! Thank you Ruby!" Ruby smiled as Penny hugged her.
Roman grunted as he was painfully shoved against a wall, a blade placed at his throat.
"You what?!" Adam demanded.
"Look it wasn't my fault, your ex and some of her friends showed up and there wasn't much I could do to stop them."
"You cost us an entire freighter of Dust! Two bullheads! And three dozen of my men!" He leaned forward, his face centimeters away from Roman's. "And worst of all, you let her escape. I should kill you right now."
"That won't be necessary Adam," a female voice said. Roman looked over Adam's shoulder to see their boss enter the room, her two lackeys tailing her like always. She was an average sized woman with long black hair and orange eyes. She wore a red and black dress and black heels. Adam withdrew his blade and Roman slid down the wall.
"We still have plans for Roman, he's just going to have to recuperate tonight's losses in the coming months."
"Fine." Adam skulked off. Roman rubbed his throat; he could see where the kitten got the throat cutting thing from.
His boss held out her hand, and a flame appeared above it. She smiled at him, the sight making his stomach go into knots.
"You had best get to work Roman, you have a lot of Dust to replace." Roman swallowed as she stared at him.