Sun meticulously inspected each crate in the starboard side of the ship's cargo hold, and was careful to not leave any evidence of tampering while his stomach grumbled loudly. He silently cursed to himself, as he had waited for the perfect opportunity to nab some more food; he often went a day or two at a time without eating so as not to leave noticeable signs of food going missing. However, today of all days, he felt the hungriest he had been during this entire voyage, and decided to risk going at the crates again. He carefully lifted the lids of a couple crates, and, like most of the containers on the port side of the hold, they held either expensive fabrics or building materials, and quickly dismissed them. He ate when he absolutely had to, but was careful never to dip from the same crate more than once.
Once he had gotten to the crates on the starboard aft side of the hold, to the second half of the crates that were stacked on top of each other, did he finally find his prize. Inside were fruits of different kinds, but what had caught his eye was the crate filled with bunches of bananas that were still attached to one another at the stem; a grin fell upon his face as he picked out a couple of yellow, barely ripened bunches, while also taking a few bunched that were still green, but close to becoming ripe; they would sustain him for the rest of the journey. He went back to a new hiding spot that he had made in the portside aft corner of the hold, careful to avoid the scale plates that would give away his presence by his weight, where a few crates were set up so that he could lay behind them and sleep when he needed to. He sat right outside of his nook, and began to quickly eat the fresh bananas, while he hid the spare bunches behind the crates.
However, during his meal, he stopped chewing and he froze as either his Faunus senses, or his thieving instinct told him that someone was coming. He quickly shrunk as close to the corner as he could, and slowed his breathing, wary of whoever was coming and fearful that they could somehow sense him by just his breathing, just as he had been during his trek in the fetid honeydipper barrel; he peeked out slightly, so as to see what might be going on.
Two of the ship's crew members, one with a clipboard who was meticulously reading over it while he mouthed something to himself, while the second man stood behind him with his hands at his hips. "Everything seems to be in order; I don't know why you are freaking out," said the man who had his hands at his hips.
"Something just doesn't add up. These crate scales for the produce don't match the numbers we had when we left port," the man who had the clipboard responded. At that moment, Sun realized what it was they were searching for, and he inched slightly back into his hiding spot while still keeping an eye on them. The man with the clipboard then climbed a metal ladder to the top one of the numerous stacks of crates, and began to open the ones to the left and right of him, one by one; he took a few moments to seemingly examine the contents of each crate for obvious signs of theft. After he was done, he climbed down again and checked the scale readouts for that pallet columns, and compared it to the numbers on the clipboard again to make sure that everything matched, but still seemed disgruntled.
"Nothing seems seriously amiss, but the scale readouts don't lie. Could it be evaporation? The numbers should be a little off; that's just natural, but not this much. It's almost like one of the crew is dipping into the produce on the side," he said. "Nothing is off on the stacks of the non-edibles."
"The scales might be in need of recalibration. The salt air does that sometimes; otherwise you probably didn't weigh them correctly when we first set off; I notice that sometimes your toes brush the scale plate when you're leaning in to examine the readouts," the second man said and he crossed his arms in front of him. "Anyways, so what's this the Captain mentioned at morning mess about a second job when we get into port?"
"Well, from what I've heard, the Captain has hired us out to the Schnee Company to offload a huge shipment of Dust from Atlas a couple of days after we finish offloading our own cargo. We get in Friday afternoon, and are at liberty after we finish offloading for a couple of days. Apparently, with all the Dust robberies in Vale, and Dust being at a premium there because of it, the Schnee Company sent a massive freighter, the biggest in their fleet, to resupply their depleted shops. The Schnee freighter gets in Sunday afternoon, so we're to report to berth YB-37 at seven o'clock. Double overtime," he smiled.
Sun quirked a brow upon mention of robberies, then became curious as to the reference of Dust. He had practically searched all the cargo containers, at least the ones at the tops of the stacks, and not one of them had Dust in it, but then it made him wonder if there was any supply on the ship that he could plunder; it might come in handy, especially if he got caught.
"I heard it was the White Fang behind the robberies. If you ask me, the Captain should be giving us hazard pay for this," the second man responded.
"I agree, this whole situation stinks, but that's not the worst of it. We'll be working with the crew of the freighter to offload it, but we're supposed to be working late into the night, possibly well past midnight, just so they can immediately get underway again and load up with Dust in Atlas. I can't wait till it's over so we can load up and get back underway ourselves," the man with the clipboard concluded, and they both started to walk back up to the ship's deck.
"Do you know if we're supposed to have any kind of layover in Vale during the Vytal Festival?" one of them asked as they walked.
"I'm not sure," the other, the one with the clipboard responded. "Why?"
"I want to catch some of the Combat Tournament; I hear Beacon is fielding Pyrrha Nikos. What red blooded man of Mistral wouldn't want to see her in action? I mean, why do you think I ask the Captain to stock Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes in the larder for me? Just so I can see her beaming face looking back at me every morning." The rest was unintelligible as the two walked out of range of Sun's ability to hear them, and as they left, Sun let out a sigh of relief.
However, the conversation still bugged him, but he tried to disregard it, as it had nothing to do with him. Now, he was left with no other choice than to bide his time, as Vale was only a couple days away.
Sun was blissfully unaware of who he would meet, and how they would change his life, as when he finally landed in Vale, and after he nabbed another banana, he would stumble upon a very curious girl; a girl with a black bow in her hair and a pair of interesting yellow eyes. A girl named Blake Belladonna.
(A couple days later)
It was nighttime, and in the darkness Blake stood in front of a pair of statues that stood erect in front of the academy's courtyard; a sculpture that portrayed a Huntsman and Huntress as they stood over a fallen Grimm. As she continued to scan the sculpture, her mind reverted to an argument she been having all evening with her teammate, Weiss Schnee, about the heiress's disposition towards the Faunus, and the White Fang in particular; it was an argument that was sparked after her team heard about a Dust shop robbery in downtown Vale, and that the suspects were possibly the White Fang; it didn't help that almost immediately afterward they ran into another Faunus, a monkey-Faunus, who had stowed away on a nearby ship and stole some food before he disappeared. Although Weiss had made many comments about the Faunus in the past, enough was enough, and Blake felt that she was forced to defend them. Defend herself.
"They're all degenerates! Liars, thieves and murderers!" was what Weiss spat, after she revealed that like some of the Faunus, she and her family were victims due to their own prejudice and labor practices.
"Well maybe we just got tired of being pushed around!" Blake yelled without thinking, and she realized that she had revealed too much, and after standing, stunned at her own words for a long moment, ran out of their dorm.
At that thought, her heart sank and her eyes continued to examine the statue until they fell on the Grimm that stood underneath the Huntsman, an artist's representation of the creatures that had plagued humanity and the Faunus for centuries. Members of the White Fang wore ceremonial Grimm masks in defiance of humanity and to mock what humanity thought of them as: monsters.
She was once someone who once stood for the idea of being proud of being a Faunus, but also the idea that she was a person, just as humans thought of themselves; now she only felt shame, after years of making excuses, she had to come to terms that the White Fang had become exactly that: thieves and murders, just as Weiss had said, What was once an accessory, had now become a symbol of her shame: her bow.
Ever since the fateful day she had put on her bow, she wanted to be relieved of that shame. She reached behind her head, and slowly tugged at the ends; she felt it give as the knot that held the bow loosened, until finally it give way and fell into her hand. She glanced at it briefly before she closed her eyes as she only wanted to feel the cool breeze along her now freed cat ears, and she gave them a slight wiggle. However, this did not alleviate her misery and fear, as she realized that she would have to put it back on and go back into hiding. Her fingers curled around the ribbon and she wiped the tears from her eyes with it.
"I knew you would look better without the bow," she heard from behind, and strangely enough, that was all it took for her sorrow to disappear completely as she stared into the smiling face and shaggy blonde hair of Sun Wukong, the boy who had stowed away on the ship.
(A couple days later)
It was late on Sunday afternoon, and Zed finished the final touches to his hair as he stood in front of the mirror in his team's bathroom. He took a bottle of cologne and sprayed it a couple times around his neck, before he set it down with a heavy sigh; he looked up again, this time to make eye contact as he silently thought to himself. His thoughts were disjointed, as he tried to juggle his many worries, but in the end, it only frustrated him more, as he couldn't put them in order. He took a deep breath and backed away from the mirror as he turned his gaze to his orange tie before he went to fix it; he shifted it a little to the right and tightened it so that it sat snuggly beneath the collar of his black shirt with white sleeves.
Once he thought he was ready, and his hair impeccably messy, he stepped out of the bathroom and into his team's dorm, and saw that the rest of his team had come back from intramural sparring, an extra credit weekend event. Cecilia had wanted to test Haiiden after his injury, to see if he was back in fighting trim, but Glynda stopped the fight short as she worried that he was going to tear his wound again, which was a rare sight to see in Glynda, and she was glad that no one else caught onto it, as it would tarnish her reputation for being strict. Zed also noticed that although it seemed Haiiden was fine, he did grimace in pain after as he sat down, however, everything was fine now as Vaughn and Haiiden got together with Cecilia for a game of cards. Haiiden reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of Harucodone, dry-swallowing a pair of pills.
"Well, I'm off," Zed announced, and made his way towards the door as everyone turned their attention towards him.
"Have fun, Zed. Don't scare her off on the first date," Vaughn remarked and a grin fell on Cecilia's and Haiiden's faces.
"Scare her off? Bollocks," Zed replied. He had a better, ruder reply in his head, but wasn't in the mood to say it out loud.
He waved farewell to everyone before he stepped out the door and closed it behind him, but before he left, he looked back at the face of the door. After his run-in with Blake on the stairs, it became a ritual that every time he left his dorm, he checked his door for the telltale mark that Blake said she would leave behind when she wanted to talk. As usual, there was nothing, and he chuckled to himself as he knew he shouldn't get his hopes up. She joined an Academy to fight Grimm, there was no way for her to have the time to search for Torchwick, let alone dig for clues.
He then made his way down the corridor towards Team CNBR's room, but he did meet with Team JNPR along the way, and for a while made idle chat before he continued forward. Before long, he was in front of the entrance to Team CNBR's dorm room and he raised in hand, ready to knock on the door, but hesitated for a moment; the other girls that he used to be with were a lot wilder than he was, so he worried for a moment as to how to conduct himself in front of Byeli. She was a lot more well-mannered, and he knew that he had to respond in kind.
To his surprise, the door to CNBR's room swung open, and in front of Zed stood Celise.
"Look who's here," Celise said with a grin, before Byeli quickly jumped in front of her and turned to her.
"Thanks, Celise," she said before she ushered Zed inside and closed the door behind him. For a moment, they exchanged glances and before long, they realized that neither of them were wearing anything too fancy, outside of their usual outfits. Byeli was the first to notice his eyes scrutinizing her, and she cocked her head to one side. "Zed? Everything alright?"
"Ummm, to be honest, I thought you were going to change into something more… fancy," Zed commented and scratched the back of his head.
" I could ask the same of you, but to be honest, this is just a first date anyway. No need to worry ourselves about formalities," she replied and smiled warmly at him. Zed felt a wave of relief wash over him, as he realized that at least one of his fears wasn't warranted. Zed continued to stare before he let his fox ears pop out of his head, which made the little Faunus girl giggle, then with a grin, he backed away and bowed, at which point Byeli reciprocated, and they both made their way down the corridor to the school entrance.
As they both walked down the streets, Byeli and Zed noticed how lively and how much more decorative the streets of Vale had become. Flowers, especially roses, were set up on lamp posts all along the streets, and the final touches to the signs that were hung to greet visitors were just finished. Shops were opened early at the influx of incoming tourists in the hopes that it would increase sales as the Vytal Festival came around.
Byeli marveled at the sight, she even compared it to the streets in her home kingdom of Mistral and how they were always decorated. They were ahead of schedule, so they decided to do some window shopping, where Byeli was fixated on the little trinkets and knick-knacks, Zed had his eye on a very particular wrist watch. They even stopped to observe some street performers from Vacuo that hoped that the tourists would also be fun and generous spectators.
"The Vytal Festival was created to serve as a celebration of peace between the Kingdoms. As a remembrance of the armistice signed on Vytal Island at the end of the Great War, every two years, a Kingdom is chosen to open its doors to the world, allowing citizens from every corner of Remnant to meet and indulge in one another's cultures," Ozpin once announced to his students, as they would soon be acting as ambassadors and representatives of Vale, as well as Beacon, because they would be sharing their school with the exchange students that would come for the Festival; as well as contestants for the coming Combat Tournament.
No truer words had been spoken, as Byeli and Zed weren't the only ones who marveled at the sights of Vale; even Zed hadn't seen Vale this beautiful before, and the amount of attention and media coverage wasn't enough to do it justice. The high class of Mistral, and the poor from Vacuo, none of this seemed to matter when they all came here and melded together as one; citizens and patrons came to enjoy such a momentous occasion, but oddly enough however, not many from Atlas were in attendance. While some citizens of Atlas had come over, they weren't many in number and made it feel strange, as it did miss that final touch to really make the Festival whole.
"Look who it is!" Zed heard and turned to see a group of people swarm around Byeli, many of whom took photos while Byeli nervously stood in the middle of the throng. "It's her! The Warrior Princess!"
Some of the visitors from Mistral immediately recognized Byeli and rushed in to surround her. The atmosphere was almost suffocating as even Byeli began to feel a little uncomfortable at the attention, but Zed had an idea. He inched his way through the group, and as simple as it was, it took a while as he reached through and grabbed Byeli by the wrist just as she had finished giving her third autograph, and pulled her out. With a smile, they both ran away from the large group, and left some of them quite confused while others saw what was happening and attempted to follow them, but the two quickly ran out of sight.
When they finally stopped, Zed checked behind him to make sure that no one was still tracking them, while Byeli covered her face.
"I don't think they managed to keep up," Zed said with a grin and turned to face Byeli, but was struck when he noticed that her face was covered. Her shoulders heaved up and down, and she took quick breaths which made Zed worry. "Byeli, you okay?"
At that moment, she lowered her hands to reveal that her eyes were closed but had a large smile on her face. She then began to laugh loudly and held on to Zed's arm so as to not fall over.
"That was so much fun!" She said, and continued to laugh, which made Zed smile and he felt a warmth inside of him as he watched her laughs slowly die down to sighs, until finally she managed to compose herself and stood straight in front of him. "Thanks for getting me out."
" Anytime," Zed replied and he looked down at the time, at which point, he shrugged and led Byeli down toward Little Menagerie.
Samsara was just finishing her morning duties at her new job in Vale in a small Dust shop, which was owned by an elderly man who had just reopened after renovations following a robbery. Even though everything was brand new, she was told to sweep up before they opened, just to make it sure it was all ready for the day's customers. When she was done, the old man nodded his approval, and she approached the door and flipped the sign that hung in the glass which revealed the word 'OPEN' on the other side.
Immediately, many of the workers who contributed to the Festival entered, and bought various types of Dust that would help them in their work. Pyrotechnic technicians bought red Dust that would act as propulsion for the fireworks, along with a variety of colors for the display; even some officers came to buy Dust cartridges for their weapons, just for security. It was at that moment that she realized how important Dust was for everyone's lives: how every appliance, every automobile, as well as the electricity that they used was all powered by Dust. The realization then turned to surprise as more people came in, which made the store bustle with energy as they all looked over the assortments of Dust and bought them quickly. The work began to tax her mind, as she was the only worker in the store aside from the old man, and she tried her best to handle them all.
"Is it normally this busy?" Samsara looked over her shoulder and asked the old man, who was on a step ladder and placed a couple of jars of Dust on the shelves before he turned to answer her with a shake of his head.
"It is busy mostly because of the Festival then?" She asked rhetorically, but the old man nodded anyway. With a gentle smile, she went back to her duties and one by one, she helped each customer.
After the next few hours, the influx of people had died down, and Samsara finally found time to simply sit down and rest. She would occasionally get up again to help the next customer, wearing a fake smile all the while; her job here was just a cover, as she had her own reasons for coming to Vale. The bell on the door jingled as another customer entered, and with a heave, she got up, but was suddenly surprised as a picture was forced into her face.
"Have you seen this girl?" someone asked, and Samsara was forced to scan the image. She had never seen this person before but then something began to ring in her head intensely, and she tried her hardest to hide the pain.
"Did you hear me? I asked if you've seen this girl," the blonde repeated and placed a hand on her hip as she stared at Samsara.
"I'm pretty sure she heard you, sis," said the little girl.
"And you did just stick a picture in her face. Rudely, I might add," said the girl in white.
"Look, I'm sorry; she has been missing for two days now, and we're starting to get worried," the blonde said.
"I- I'm sorry, but I haven't seen her before," Samsara said and shook her head.
"Dang it, come on guys," the blonde said, while the girl in red and black nodded, but the girl in white rolled her eyes and stalked towards them.
"H- hey, if you give me her name and how to reach you, maybe I can help if she comes around," Samsara said after them.
"My name is Yang, and this is my sister, Ruby," the girl named Yang responded as she also pointed to the girl in red and black, before finally pointing towards the girl in white with red collar and the scar over her left eye. "And this is Weiss."
"The girl we are looking for is our teammate, Blake," Ruby added.
"And you're from Beacon?" Samsara asked.
"That's right," Yang said, writing down a Scroll number on the back of a business card taken from a small holder next to the register and handed it to Samsara. "Call us if you see her?"
"If I see her, I'll be sure to let you know," Samsara responded after taking the card and waved to them as they departed. "My name's Samsara."
"Ok, thanks anyways," Yang said before she exited the store, and after they disappeared from view, Samsara quickly checked the time and wished that they would close soon.
Zed and Byeli sat down as they finally made it to the tea shop in Little Menagerie, and Byeli still had a wide smile on her face after their exciting day. Even after all that entertainment, she was still a bit antsy but it began to die down, and all she wanted to do now was relax. They were sitting on the terrace overlooking the tables along the street, as Zed wanted to make sure that Byeli wouldn't be noticed by passersby, resulting in another mob like the one they had encountered earlier.
"I thought it weird that you would ask me out when your friend was in the infirmary," she said in an attempt to start a conversation.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Zed replied, while he looked away to his right and awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
"Honestly, I'm glad you did, and Haiiden seems to be doing well, too," she added, this time her smile softened.
"Yeah, he's tough, in more ways than one," Zed said with a sigh and relaxed in his chair while his expression softened and he smiled. He spaced out shortly after, and Byeli noticed and leaned in closer to see if he was alright, and almost jumped when Zed finally snapped back into awareness and apologized.
"What are you thinking about?" Byeli asked and tilted her head at him.
"Something good," Zed replied, and Byeli wondered what it was that he was thinking about; she leaned on the table with both elbows on it and her chin propped on her palms.
"Is it about Haiiden?" Byeli asked, and he nodded slightly.
"Of all the people who have ever put up with me, he has done so the longest," Zed replied.
"You both seem to stick together quite a bit, a lot better than most humans and Faunus. How did you two meet?" Byeli asked and tilted her head again. Zed, again, let out a long and drawn out sigh, as if he was happily reminiscing.
"Hehe, yeah well… We were both about nine years old, and I was being bullied along with my friends. It was a common thing, you know, humans kicking down the Faunus," Zed explained while Byeli nodded at the point he made. "It then became a frequent ritual with me and my friends to defend ourselves; bunch of stupid kids making up gangs to fight each other, all for the horrible crime of us Faunus not having the good sense to stay in Little Menagerie where the neighborhood kids thought we belonged."
As she listened, Byeli's smiled disappeared and she kept her gaze on Zed, not once breaking away. "Was Haiiden one of these friends?"
"That's the thing," Zed immediately replied and looked up with an amused expression. "He just came out of nowhere one day. We were outnumbered, and he jumped out of the shadows and started wailing on them with a wooden stick."
Upon mentioning that, Zed burst out laughing, but Byeli was the one who sat with a perturbed look; in her mind, she was genuinely interested and saw nothing funny about it.
"After the fight, we were all bruised and beaten, and he leaned down and offered a hand. I did hesitate at first, as he was a human, but he did help us, so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and…" Zed paused and blinked a couple of times, as if he had thought about this many times and still tried to make sense of the event. "And I don't know. Something clicked inside me and I knew that I liked him, then and there. Although, we didn't see each other again, at least for a while, but then all of a sudden he showed up again a couple months later and jumped into the fray once more."
Zed paused, as the familiar waitress came by and greeted them, then took both Byeli's and Zed's order before she left with a bow. After a few silent moments, she returned with both of their orders in hand: fresh tea for both of them; while Byeli's had berry extracts in hers, Zed again had tea with a bit of Cognac. Byeli took a gentle sip, so as not to burn herself, and as she lowered the cup from her lips, she saw that Zed had a blank expression again.
"No matter how many fights we got into, no matter how many times we got beaten down, he always had my back." When Zed had finished, he looked down at his tea and brought it to his lips, but not before licking them. Once the tea had smoothly gone down his throat, he took another deep breath and looked down, this time his eyes flashed orange for a second before they went back to green.
"Which is more than I can say for some," he whispered under his breath, which went unheard by Byeli. She didn't want to ruin the moment, so she sat quietly as they both drank their tea. However, what did disturb the peace was the people she could hear with her fox ears.
"Finally she speaks!" Byeli heard, and she looked up to Zed as she thought that he had made a joke to break the silence, but he sat as if nothing happened.
"Zed?" she tried to ask, but Zed cut her off when he placed a finger to his lips, and kept his gaze down at his tea. Byeli tried to speak again, curious at his reaction, but only managed to move her mouth and no sound came out, while Zed watched the person who was talking; how he held a teacup with his blonde tail.
"Past two days you've been giving me nothing but small talk and weird looks." She heard the voice again, and tried to turn her head in the direction of the voice, but Zed stopped her with a slight grunt and a shake of his head; instead, he wiggled his ears at her at which point Byeli responded with a nod. As where Byeli had her back to the person who was talking, Zed could see the two clearly.
"Yeah, like that," the voice said again, and it took all of her self-control to not turn and see who it was. This time, she wiggled her ears as well, not as a playful gesture, but rather to position them so she could hear. However, a feeling lingered over her as she wondered why it was that Zed was eavesdropping.
"Sun, are you familiar with the 'White Fang'?" Byeli's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing the all too familiar voice of Blake, and her eyes reverted to Zed to see that he was looking straight at her; he then let out a long, drawn out sigh.
"Of course! I don't think there is a Faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them! Stupider holier than thou creeps who use force to get whatever they want! Bunch of freaks if you ask me!" Byeli found some amusement from this back and forth banter, although she still wondered who this 'Sun' was, but she immediately began to like his bold attitude. However, the question remained: how did he know Blake? Then there was a slight pause, where even Zed held his breath.
"I… was once a member of the White Fang," Byeli immediately covered her mouth to stifle a gasp as she heard Blake make this confession.
"Wait a minute! YOU were a member of the White Fang?" The question even rang her mind, as Byeli then turned again to Zed to see his reaction and was surprised to see that he didn't merely fail to express surprise, he didn't have any reaction to it at all.
"That's right. I was a member for most of my life, actually. You could almost say I was born into it. Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between the 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," Byeli hung her head upon hearing this truth; not just because of her confession, not just because of how humanity treated them, but also because of what came after.
"And so, the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people, and I was there. I was at the front of every rally, I took part in every boycott, and 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. A new leader, with a new way of thinking. Suddenly our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fires to shops that refused to serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that used Faunus labor, and the worst part was… it was working." Zed scoffed at Blake's words, which then caught Byeli's attention for a moment but her attention quickly reverted to Blake's story.
"We were being treated like equals, but not out of respect… out of fear," Blake finished. "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."
At this point in the year, Byeli considered herself Blake's friend, and to hear that she spent most of her life fighting, in one way or another, made her want to cry. As if he knew her feelings, Zed then reached across the table and gently placed his hand over hers; as fellow Faunus, they knew what it was to constantly fight for who they were.
"So here I am: A criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help with a little, black bow." At that moment, Byeli couldn't contain herself and she just had to turn to look at Blake; she knew that she always wore the bow, but the thought that she used it to hide was too much, and just as her eyes were laid upon the bow, she saw it wiggle. There was a brief pause as all parties took in the information; Byeli swallowed nervously, and kept herself from saying anything.
"So, have you told your friends any of this?" Sun asked, and Zed immediately quirked a brow at the question, as she surely would have told her team, just as he did with HAVC.
"Well, not exactly; it just sort of came out by accident," Blake responded and Byeli immediately remembered how Blake reacted when she also stated that she revealed she was a Faunus by mistake. However, she knew the situation was different, and that only made the revelation worse.
"Well, the tea has been soured, so how about we just take a walk?" Sun asked and even though Zed couldn't see, a smile crept onto her face and she nodded. Zed watched as they both got up and paid the waitress as they made their way down from the terrace.
"Byeli, go back to the school," Zed demanded as he too got up from his seat, but not without picking up the cup one last time and took a huge gulp from it.
"What?" Byeli said as she also stood, but rather to block Zed from wherever he was going to go. "Why? Where are you going?"
"I'm going to follow them," Zed responded, nonchalantly, as he reached for his wallet and pulled out a cash card, not even bothering to check its denomination beforehand, and just tossed it onto the table. His eyes fixated on Sun and Blake as they left without noticing either him or Byeli.
"Zed, do you know this 'Sun' person?" she asked, but he pushed past her and began to control his pace; he so desperately wanted to run after them, but he wanted to hear more, especially since he hasn't heard from Blake in a while. Although they promised to avoid seeing each other, this conversation made him curious, and he wanted to see what would happen next.
"Zed!" Byeli whispered, which almost came out as a hiss and she stepped in front of him. "Do you know Blake?"
Zed looked down, and for the first time during this exchange, he showed a hint of emotion, one of sadness. As Byeli held eye contact with him, she remembered his own story about his upbringing, and the realization dawned onto her, and her eyes widened.
"Zed, were you also part of the White Fang? Is that how you know her?" Zed stood tall in front of her, but felt so small at the same time, he then took a deep breath before he silently nodded.
"Well," Byeli exclaimed, and swallowed before she looked down onto the ground. "Honestly, after your story, I did think that maybe you would have joined them, but it was mostly a joke in my mind."
"It's not. How Sun described them was spot on," Zed replied and looked up to see if Blake had gone from view, only to see that she just turned the corner. He pushed forward past Byeli again, but then turned as he walked backwards. "Please, don't ever tell anyone. And go home, Byeli. I need to see what happens next."
"Wait. I'm coming too," she said and ran after him, forcing Zed to give up, as he had already tried twice to get her to leave, but she stayed anyway. They quickly ran to the corner to catch up and peeked around it, but then quickly hid as they were now just feet away from Blake; she still walked with the Faunus boy, Sun, who walked with his hands behind his head.
"So, what's the plan now?" Byeli and Zed heard Sun ask with their Faunus ears.
"I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies. They've never needed this much Dust before," Blake pointed out and threw her hands up in frustration, while Sun looked ahead for a few moments as he thought to himself; but Zed had to agree, as strangely enough, Blake did have a point, if they were behind the robberies, what would they be doing with all that Dust?
"What if they did? I mean, the only way to prove that they didn't do it…" Sun said, and for a moment he sounded unsure of the idea himself but decided to wing it anyway. "…is to go to the place where they would most likely go to if they were to do it… and not find them there."
"Not exactly the best way to word it… but a good idea nonetheless," Zed thought.
"Right?" Sun asked, and hoped that he had gotten his point across.
"The only thing is, I would have no idea where that would be," Blake replied.
"Well, while I was on the ship, I heard some guys talking about offloading a huge shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas." Zed's eyes widened at this discovery and he inched closer to the corner.
"How huge?" Blake asked.
"Huuuuuge. Big Schnee Company freighter," Sun replied, while spreading his arms to further illustrate his point.
"You're sure?" Blake asked again, as she leaned forward to give him a harsh glance.
"Positive; she ship is probably pulling into port right now," Sun replied with a nervous grin, and without so much as a word, Blake began to walk away with a brisk pace and Sun followed behind her. Zed waited until they were out of sight again, before he then reached into his pocket, pulled out his Scroll, dialing a number.
"Hello? Zed?" Haiiden asked on the other line, with a tinge of surprise in his voice. "How is your date going? You need a buddy to drink with?"
"Mate, grab Cecilia and Vaughn, and meet me at the docks. Grab your weapons," Zed quickly demanded on the Scroll, and Byeli turned to him once she realized what it was that he was going to do next.
"Wait, why?" Haiiden asked.
"No time to explain on the Scroll, just get to the docks now," Zed demanded again, and quickly turned off the Scroll and diverted his attention to the white vixen beside him. "Go back to Beacon, Byeli."
"No," she responded and shook her head. "I'm going with you." She pulled out her Scroll and called Celise, telling her to bring team CNBR, fully armed, and meet up with HAVC to come to the docks, and to be sure to bring her rods from her locker.
Zed thought for a moment, and realized he wouldn't ever get her to go home. He had already tried three times, and each time she stayed at his side, so he shrugged and waved for her to follow closely, taking her hand in his as they followed Blake and Sun.
After an hour of staking out the area, it got dark, and Byeli and Zed were peering out of a window from a catwalk inside a warehouse that overlooked the docks. He heard a blip go off, as his Scroll received a message, and after inputting a message, he sent the reply; and after a few minutes more, someone could be heard ascending the ladder behind them as HAVC and CNBR joined them.
"Okay, what's going on?" Celise asked quickly, handing Byeli her rods, and Haiiden nodded in response as he approached Zed.
"Yeah, what's this about?" Haiiden reiterated but Zed pressed a finger to his lips and motioned for him to bend down next to him, and they both peered out the window.
"The White Fang might be here," Zed responded quietly.
"Torchwick as well?" Haiiden said with a frustrated grunt and he reluctantly looked out the window. However, Zed ignored him, as he was looked out intently while everyone stood in a line and looked out the window.
"The White Fang?" Celise whispered to Byeli just out of earshot of Zed, while Raine and Nadira all looked to Byeli with worried expressions. "Princess, what's going on?"
"Blake was once a member of the White Fang, and we followed her here" Byeli said, her eyes just as intent as Zed's as she continued to stare out the window. The silence among the teams was almost deafening, as the CNBR did not know how to respond to this revelation.
Finally, Celise broke the silence. "I wasn't even aware Blake was a Faunus."
Byeli then looked towards her teammate and with her index finger pointed up, she placed her hands behind her head, at which point, Celise nodded.
"That makes a lot of sense, actually," she responded.
However, at the mention of the White Fang, Vaughn motioned a signal to Haiiden and he nodded in reply and Vaughn stood up and slowly unlatched the window; and just as slowly opened it just a crack and reconfigured his rifle into sniper mode. He remembered his training with his adopted father, and how he should never stick the barrel of his rifle outside of a window; so Vaughn got up and climbed onto the rails on the catwalk and pointed his rifle out the window, with the barrel still fully inside the building. There wasn't much light at this time of night, but there were some lampposts that illuminated it just enough for him to see without his echolocation.
"Sorry to bring you into this," Zed quietly said.
"Well, you did say that if we ever got rid of Torchwick, then the White Fang's support would be shut down," Haiiden replied. "I wouldn't do this for anyone else."
"I got movement!" Vaughn whispered loudly, which made him sound hoarse, and he immediately threw a pair of binoculars to Zed, who quickly peered through them. "Incoming VTOLs! One nearby, and a few more on standby in the distance; Bullheads, from the look of them."
"Strange," Zed and Haiiden thought as the spotlights illuminated the ground further and revealed the Schnee family logo on the containers that held the Dust and the first Bullhead came in for a landing in a clearing surrounded by the shipping containers.
"They are getting pretty bold if they are willing to risk coming into Vale like this," Cecilia added and she turned to Vaughn to see how he was doing.
"More movement! Ground level, running towards the containers!" Vaughn exclaimed again and Zed quickly diverted his attention to what Vaughn was pointing at, and saw Blake run into the shipments before disappearing from sight.
"It's Blake," Zed said and lowered his binoculars.
"Who?" Haiiden asked.
"A bird that used to be a Lieutenant the White Fang; she goes to Beacon now," Zed replied and handed the binoculars back to Vaughn as he kept looking on to see what would happen next.
"Brothers of the White Fang!" Everyone heard shortly, as Blake's voice echoed and they all froze and lowered themselves so as not to be spotted through the windows. "Why are you aiding this scum?"
"Used to be?" Haiiden asked, although he knew what was going on in terms of the White Fang, he wondered what the story was with this new person. Zed had been careful to avoid mentioning his former affiliation with the White Fang in front of the rest of HAVC and CNBR, so Haiiden wisely chose not to mention it.
"She left for the same reasons I did," Zed whispered to Haiiden so that no one else could hear, then the tension in the air became thick, as Haiiden gripped the handle of his blade, Vaughn loaded a non-lethal magazine into his rifle and Cecilia reached behind her and grabbed the handle of her blade as well.
"Hold up, not yet," Zed peered over to see what was going on, only to see an explosion and that Blake was launched back into view and fell on her hands and knees. After what sounded like gunshots, and a few more explosions that resulted after, Blake reeled around the corner and Sun came into view as he jumped on top of a container and leaped down. After a few more gunshots later, someone in white flew into view and landed on his back. The figure clutched a red and white cane, Torchwick's signature accessory, and a very deadly one, at that, as it was loaded with explosive Dust rounds, and could be fired like a gun.
"It's him! It's Torchwick!" Zed growled and he got up and was just about to jump down from the window until Haiiden grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.
"Not yet, we will jump in if they need help. Besides, if he gets away, he will tell the White Fang where you are," Haiiden said.
"That's why we will make sure that he won't!" Zed exclaimed and was just about to jump out until suddenly a girl's voice stopped him.
"Hey!" HAVC and CNBR heard, and began to scan the area around them to see where it came from, but couldn't spot the voice. Whoever it was, Torchwick caught onto it first and spoke.
"Hey, Red. Isn't it past your bedtime?" he asked, then shot towards a nearby rooftop and hit his mark as the shot exploded on contact. Shortly after, Vaughn spotted a little girl with orange hair who then jumped down from the rooftop.
"Penny?" Vaughn said loudly, and Cecilia grabbed the rifle from his hands and looked through the scope. Just as he said, it was Penny, but more surprising than that was the numerous amount of blades that seemed to follow her and obeyed every command as she waved her hands from side to side to guide them. With quick succession, she cut down the vast White Fang forces that Torchwick had brought with him, but there were more on the way, as three more VTOLs could be heard from behind the warehouse, and they began to open fire on the girl; who easily blocked the incoming bullets as she spun her blades in a circle in front of her, then arranged them into a cannon, the center filling with light, all pointed at the VTOLs, before releasing a blast from it, and a pair of green columns of light shot out and cut two of them in half, leaving the third untouched.
Next, she shot several of the blades into a backup VTOL, and controlled the blades to pull it back down towards the ground; leaving the VTOL a flaming wreck upon the ground, the shipping container attached to the bottom of it rolling away unharmed.
CNBR and HAVC stood in shock at this display, and the question that was in everyone's mind was: who was is this girl? But their shock was quickly replaced with surprise, as the wreckage from the halved VTOLs spun in and came crashing down behind the warehouse the teams hid in, splashing down in the harbor, spilling the reinforcements that was meant to aid Torchwick as they descended towards the water.
"Come on!" Haiiden yelled out, and both teams jumped down the catwalk and ran out into the access road to meet with the White Fang. As they made their way out of the building, they saw that most of the White Fang were still able to fight, as they all got up and were mobilizing to aid Torchwick. However, the group of twenty soldiers stopped in their tracks once they saw that CNBR and HAVC stood in their way.
"Hey, mates," Zed said with a grin and he rushed in, along with his team. Zed went high, as he jumped and punched down into the first soldier's head, and as he landed, he finished off his attack with a quick spin to the left, and a kick with his heel into the soldier behind him. Vaughn backed away and climbed onto the roof of the warehouse to survey the battle, and as he made it up, he raised his rifle and quickly fired a round into the chest of a soldier that came to back up the two that Zed had taken care of. As support, Cecilia stood back and constructed pillars of ice to block incoming fire that was directed at her teammates, the perfect cylinders of ice created perfect cover for her comrades, while Haiiden went in to back up Zed.
Celise attached a metal ball to the end of her chain and quickly spun it around to gain momentum; she swung the chain low and tripped a group of soldiers; and those who managed to back away from her attack were swiftly knocked down by Byeli, as she butted the end of her staff directly into the chest of one soldier, then another.
Meanwhile, Nadira used her hand-to-hand skills to punch into another soldier repeatedly, her hands moving quickly as she repeatedly laid into her opponent, starting from the stomach as she worked her way up until she struck him with an uppercut, then brought her elbow down into his neck as he fell backwards.
With five enemies down in quick succession, the two teams advanced towards the remaining forces, with Haiiden leading the charge this time. He swung his blade towards one soldier, then quickly diverted his attention to another, as he began to juggle between the soldiers and blocking their incoming attacks while using any opportunity to take advantage of an opening.
Unbeknownst to Nadira, a soldier jumped down from a container and was just about to catch her off guard, until he was launched into the opposite direction by an explosion. Nadira turned, to see that Raine had his arm outstretched, with a lever action shotgun in his hand, and he quickly spun the gun and used its weight to pull down the lever to reload the next shot while raising his other arm to fire another shotgun of identical design.
With a wave of her sword, Cecilia created a column of ice to block incoming fire that was aimed at Celise and Zed, then diverted her attention to the assailants and froze them in place, and Zed came in to finish them off as he punched through the ice and launched them into the containers behind them.
With rapid and calculated strikes, Byeli broke through the ice that held down another soldier, her strikes aimed to throw off her opponent and to not give him the chance to counter. After each attack, she quickly used the other end of her staff and alternated with each attack, until finally she spun to the right and swept her staff under his feet, and as he was in the air, she brought the staff down over his head.
Haiiden tired out the two soldiers that he kept busy, and when he noticed that their movements became sluggish and slow, he flipped his sword so that he held the blade in his hand and clubbed the first in the head. To avenge his comrade, the second one let out a battle cry as he charged Haiiden, but was quickly stopped as Haiiden pulled his arm back, and struck him in the nose before he spun to gain momentum and hit him in the head with the handle of his blade.
Now ten soldiers were down, and whatever Faunus remained now took the defensive as they waited for HAVC and CNBR to advance, but as if to set off the next phase of the battle, a gunshot echoed through the air as another White Fang soldier fell down, unconscious due to Vaughn's non-lethal round. Rather than watch as their comrades were taken down one by one, the soldiers all spread out to divert the teams away from each other, except for one, as Celise used her chain to grab on to one soldier around the neck; the ball smashed into his face, and pulled him towards her before she finished him with a swift kick to the chest.
Nadira used her knives to deflect each incoming attack, as her opponent tried to break through her defenses, until finally, he slipped up, at which Nadira punched him in the throat and made him recoil backwards; she used the opportunity to put her hand over his face and slam his head down onto the ground. Cecilia finally rushed into the battle, and swung her large claymore through the air to quickly disarm an enemy that was firing at her, but the soldier was nervous, which threw off his aim. Once her opponent was unarmed in front of her, she held the blade with both hands and pummeled the handle into his head.
Haiiden took longer than usual to deal with his next opponent, however, as the wound in his side opened up again and was bleeding. Every movement he made only threw off his attacks as each pang of pain shot through his body, which gave the soldier breathing room until he found an opening and managed to knock Haiiden's weapon out of hand; it was as if the world slowed down around him, and he watched as the White Fang's sword swung through the air towards his neck, but was blocked by Zed, as he quickly came in with his karambit and quickly dispatched the enemy.
"I got your back this time, mate," Zed said through raspy breaths and he began to gasp for air. Afterward, they turned their attention to the remaining soldiers, who were now backing away slowly and turned to run away. Both teams decided not to give chase, as the fleeing White Fang were no longer a threat, but also because sirens began to blare and echo as Vale's law enforcement began to converge onto the docks.
"Crap, we have to go!" Zed exclaimed, then placed a hand on Haiiden's shoulder and turned him around as they both began to run in the opposite direction from the sirens; Haiiden held his side as he ran, and Vaughn jumped from the roof to join with his team, followed by CNBR.
Once both teams had made it back to Beacon, they all sat down on the stairs of the amphitheater to catch their breaths.
"Ok, explain what just happened, Zed?" Celise asked, and stood over him with her hands curled into fists.
"We had a fun night?" Zed joked.
"You brought Byeli with you to stakeout some huge Dust theft?" Celise exclaimed and quirked a brow at Zed.
"He didn't bring me, I went with him," Byeli interjected and looked up at Celise.
"Why did you go with him?" Celise asked, any anger she had was replaced with worry. Byeli quickly peeked over at Zed, who returned a quick glance, before she turned back to Celise.
"For Zed, and when I realized that Blake was at the docks, I stayed," Byeli answered quietly and Celise took a deep breath and sat down next to her.
"Can't believe that Blake was a part of the White Fang," Nadira commented.
"We eavesdropped on a conversation she had with someone else, so that's why we decided to follow her," Byeli added, keeping Zed's secret, and all eyes turned to him, as well as Cecilia and Vaughn, but they were expecting that he would also reveal that he was a member, but alas, he didn't.
"Look, guys, I think it's best to not let anyone know what Blake was once a member of the White Fang; it could get her in a lot of trouble," Zed asked.
The teams all turned to one another to exchange a glance, and as if everyone all thought the same thing, they replied with a nod in unison.
Samsara slowly walked home for the night, a shiver crawling up and down her spine as she reflected on what she had witnessed at the docks.
The intensity of the ringing in her head died down but still lingered.